Really determines to do
John 7:17 LNT “If any of you really determines to do God’s Will, then you will certainly know, whether My teaching is from God, or is merely My own.”
It is not some half-hearted effort to know and to do His Will…..but it is really determining to do His Will.
(For it is certain, the world, the flesh and the devil will stand against any who really determines to do so.)
It is not to “go with the flow”…..but just the opposite. It is to absolutely swim against the current. Anything and everything that stands against you. This will require a great deal of determination on our part.
Hosea 6:3 “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”
To know. This is not hope so….or maybe…..but to know….if we follow on to know the Lord. Everything we need and can have is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(It is interesting to note: that the term “going forth” is suggestive of warfare. God is seen as the morning….faithful, powerful against darkness, enlightening.)
As sure as this old earth keeps turning there will be sunrise tomorrow. We may not be able to see it….there may be clouds and the day dark and dreary….but the sun is there….and the day has arrived!.
And He shall come unto us…..though as a warrior, for us……. God comes unto us like rain….the latter and former rains upon the earth…..enlivening, refreshing, cleansing. Rain speaks of temporal mercies….and Israel had to have these rains for a good harvest. They had to have the early and latter rains in their seasons. And all by the mercy of God.
Hosea 6:4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”
The morning cloud and the early dew promised much help….but delivered little…for they “goeth away”….as soon as the sun was up…they disappeared.
So was the “goodness” (kindness) of Ephraim and Judah…..it soon disappeared and they thought only of their own things….forgetting how merciful God was to them.
Hosea 6:5 “Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.”
God sought to restore them to fellowship with Him through the prophets. Showing them their sin and how to deal with it….and the consequences of that sin.
But though they began…..the changes were never lasting, because they were not of the heart.
Hosea 6:6 “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
Here we see externalism. They could bring their sacrifice to God…with all the form and ritual….and their hearts not be int it at all.
There were certain love-offerings and those of worship that meant nothing without the heart being in the giving.
Mercy here is “heased”. It is a word that speaks of covenantal affection…..love for God and our fellow men…..brotherly kindness and loyalty. (Twice in Matthew Christ Jesus quotes part of this verse “I will have mercy and not sacrifice”....once He tells them to: “But go ye and learn what that meaneth” Mat. 9:13 and in the other place He says, “But if ye had known what this meaneth” Mat. 12:7. He was saying, we can never be truly right with God…worshipping in Spirit and in truth….and at odds with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Heart attitude is everything.)
Knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
This is what the Lord has wanted all throughout the ages….for His people to know Him.
But to know HIm, whom to know aright, is to have eternal life,….a little….is to want to know Him more.
And for us to know Him more is what He wants from all of us.
What of us? Have we “put up the sails” to the Holy Spirit working within us? Moving us along toward heaven?
Have we yielded to His Word of rebuke about mercy? Have we soaked in the mercy He has given us…..yet withheld it from others?
Let us learn from the Lord. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.”
Again I repeat….everything we need is in Christ….are we yielding to His way….and getting it?
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 