The Plowman

 

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An exposition of Matthew 14:13-21. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, August 1, 2010.

Introduction
The task of preaching is an intimidating assignment to say the least.  It is a task that is filled with both joy and frustration.  While there is never a lack of material – for one can never exhaust the subject, there is the frustration of knowing you are not adequate for the job!  There is a level of presumption if one thinks he can adequately express great eternal truths.  There is something absurd about a man standing to say, “My subject this evening is God, the universe and related topics.”  To try and capture the character and nature of God in a sermon is a bit like attempting to capture the Pacific Ocean in a thimble.  At times seeking to explore the riches of a given text are like drinking from a fire hose!  While I feel wholly inadequate there was one who perfectly revealed Him.

In fact we are told 0that God spoke to man in various ways, through various means in times past but He has spoke His final word in this man.  This one was called the exact representation of the eternal God.  In fact He was the God made flesh.  John tells us that as we behold the Lord Jesus we behold the glory of the only begotten Son of God.  John goes on to say that no one has ever seen God but this one makes Him known.  This one reveals Him, unfolds Him, and explains Him.  This is why Jesus said; “If you’ve seen Me you have seen the Father.”  What is God like?  Look to the Lord Jesus.

This is important because there are so many false pictures of God circulating.  False notions of what God is like and how He acts.  These false notions are often promoted by the way believers live and act.  We must strive to accurately reflect the character and nature of God, yet we must also realize that we are at best a flawed, imperfect representation.  We must constantly point to Christ.  Keep that in mind as we consider one of the great miracles of our Lord, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 14.

Text: Matthew 14:13-21
This is the only miracle of our Lord that is found in all 4 Gospels.
It is a very familiar story.
We’ve all heard it since we were children – but there is a great truth to be found in it.
For this passage reminds us that:

Thesis: The miracles of Jesus provide profound insight into the character of our God.
There is one great hermeneutical principle to keep in mind when reading the Scripture.
That principle is that Scripture is a revelation of God.
He is the focus.
The primary purpose of Scripture is to reveal God to us.

In looking at our text we must keep in mind that this reveals God.
This is what God is like.
This is how He responds to need.
This is how He handles interruptions.

There are three things I want you to note from our text.

1. The feeding of the 5000 reveals the wonder-working power of the Lord Jesus.
2. The feeding of the 5000 demonstrates the tender, compassionate heart of the Savior.
3. The feeding of the 5000 displays the abundant generosity of the Sovereign One.

What does all this mean to us?
The God we serve is a God of great power who intervenes on behalf of the hurting and does so with great generosity.

 

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This Bible study by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, July 21, 2010.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:12-26. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 1, 2010.

Introduction
It seems to me it starts earlier and earlier.  We start asking kids, at a young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  It’s one of the fruits of living in a free and prosperous society.  We condition kids early on to understand, “You can be anything you want to be.”  In many parts of the world you won’t find kids dreaming of what they will be when they grow up - they just hope to live long enough to grow up!  As a young person moves toward high school we expect them to have a plan.  “What are your goals?”  “What college are you plan to attend?”  “What do you want to do with your life?”  What is interesting is to see how things change.  I love to go to high school homecoming and senior recognition and hear what the students’ plans are.  “After graduating Susie plans to attend MIT with a double major in nuclear physics and medieval renaissance theology.”  A couple of years later you learn Susie is taking some night courses through TCC and working at Wal-Mart.  My point is youth is filled with optimism and hope and it should be!  I bring it up because it is important to note Solomon did not write Ecclesiastes as a young man but rather as an old man looking back on a life of experience.  When you ask a kid what he or she wants to be when they grow up - they do not answer, “I hope to be a bitter, disillusioned failure.”  The goal, regardless of what path they may choose to follow, is to be happy, successful and live with meaning and purpose.  That is why it is critically important for us to hear and heed the message of “the preacher.”  Solomon’s years of empty experience taught him that experience is empty.  Life under the sun is filled with bitter disappointment and is unsatisfying.

Life without regard for God or the things of God is an empty, vain thing.
While there are momentary joys, times of peace and contentment, they do not last.
Thus the preacher cries, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity.”
He sought satisfaction through wisdom and found it empty.
He sought satisfaction through pleasure and found it was an illusion.
In the text we are going to explore this morning he reaches an end to the first section of his book.
Our text is found in the second half of the second chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Keep in mind the preacher is “thinking out loud.”
He is bringing us along in a process.
He is walking us through his life experience and sharing what he’s learned.
I want to point out three things in this summary and then draw a final conclusion.

1. Wisdom while advantageous cannot, in itself, secure lasting joy.  (2:12-17)
2. Wealth and professional success, while providing momentary peace, ultimately falls short of lasting joy.  (2:18-23)
3. Lasting joy only comes through the gracious work of God in the hearts of His people.  (2:24-26)

Conclusion: Satisfaction is the gracious gift of God to His people.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 25, 2010.

Introduction
It’s one of life’s most disappointing experiences.  It is the kind of thing that leaves you jaded, skeptical and disillusioned.  Getting what you’d hoped for!  Have you been there?  Maybe it was your dream job but it turned out to be a nightmare.  Perhaps your dream house was, in fact, a money pit.   Your dream car?  A lemon.  That girl you had to marry…well we’ll not go there but you get the idea.  Life under the sun is filled with broken dreams, disappointing successes and unfulfilled expectations.  In short, satisfaction is just beyond your grasp.  Satisfaction is the “fulfillment of one’s wishes” or the pleasure derived from experiencing dreams come true.  In fairy-tales people live happily ever-after.  But, in case you haven’t noticed, life is no fairy-tale.  In the real world it seems we are forever on the trail of satisfaction.  It’s just around the corner.  Perhaps it will come with the next promotion.  Maybe if we get in the right neighborhood.  Surely when we get out from under this debt - but by the time we get there satisfaction has moved on.  It’s why the preacher cried, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!”  Empty, transient, passing, hollow.  What is?  Everything!  Everything that is, “under the sun.”  When you evaluate life without regard for God or the things of God the logical conclusion is - it’s empty, meaningless, unsatisfying.

Solomon is looking back over his life and evaluating.  He sees his life as a grand experiment.  He has done a little bit of everything.  He has tried everything.  And he has come to this conclusion - “after all my I’ve experienced, after all I’ve accomplished, if you add up what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve accumulated, what do I have?  A great big jar of nothing!”  He is not saying he has not accomplished anything.  He isn’t suggesting that he has not enjoyed himself along the way.  He is saying, “ultimately it does not satisfy.”  The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that the Old Testament Scriptures were written for their benefit.  They were to learn from them so as not to make the same mistakes.  We have the benefit of Solomon’s experience.  He’s been there, done that and he has the t-shirt but it seems we are determined to learn the same lessons the hard way - through our own painful experience.  Our text this morning is found in the 2nd chapter of Ecclesiastes and we will begin at verse 1.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon leaves no doubt about where he is heading - 1:2-3.
He states his conclusion at the very beginning.
Keep in mind he is “thinking out loud” we are traveling this road with him.
Solomon shifts gears with chapter 2.  If wisdom proves to be ineffective then maybe the “good life” is the key to a good life.  If not wisdom how about pleasure?

It is here that we learn…

Thesis: Genuine, lasting satisfaction cannot be attained through human means.
This is something our culture needs to hear.  We have been raised to believe we can accomplish anything.  If you want it bad enough and you work hard enough you can have it.  We idolize the “self-made” man.  We love those rags to riches stories and want to believe it can happen to us some day.

In addition we’ve convinced ourselves that the “successful” are happy and fulfilled.  They must be because they have it all.  That’s not what Solomon says.

Let me point out three things as we work our way through this text.

1. The promise of satisfaction through pleasure proves to an illusion.  (2:1-3)
2. The notion that power, position and prestige brings peace and contentment is an empty dream.  (2:4-8)
3. Though the pursuit of pleasure and the accumulation of power bring momentary relief and provide a temporary distraction they do not, in fact, cannot satisfy.  (2:9-11)

Conclusion
He had a thousand women - 700 wives and 300 concubines (all them beautiful).
He had more money than a man could spend.
He had vast estates.
He had time and means to pursue every possible pleasure.
And it all amounted to what?  Nothing.  Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Why is that?
Hebrews 9:27 - appointed unto man to die once and then comes the judgment.
Death comes to all and then what?

 

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An exposition of Matthew 11:1-19. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, July 18, 2010.

Introduction
It is part of who we are.  We can’t help it.  We are by nature curious.  Don’t you find yourself wondering and questioning things?  I mean, why do people without a watch look at their wrist when they ask you what time it is?  Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?  Questions, we wrestle with them everyday.  Some are important, others are not so important.  Some mold or alter our lives, while others have little or no lasting effect.  This evening I want us to consider one of life’s vital questions.  Webster defines vital as concerned with or necessary to the maintenance of life; something fundamentally concerned with or affecting life.  I’m certain that we can agree that there are some questions that are of vital importance.  I would suggest that life’s most vital question has to do with the Lord Jesus – is he indeed the Messiah?  Is he the Savior?  Is he who he claims to be?

We are going to look this evening at a crisis point in the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  John found himself imprison for his faithfulness in declaring the truth of God.  He had faithfully and consistently declared Jesus as the Messiah.  As reports reached him about the ministry of Jesus, John came to a crisis of faith.  Through John’s story we learn something about the response of the Lord Jesus to the questioning heart.  We will consider John’s story is it is recorded in Matthew chapter 11.

Text: Matthew 11:1-19
There is that part of us that thinks faith eliminates all questions and struggles.  Sometimes we get the idea that it is “wrong” to question or wonder why.  But Christianity welcomes honest questioning.  Truth always invites investigation.  The Gospel is not afraid of someone asking too many questions.  Faith does not eliminate doubt.  In fact doubting is a tool for building faith!

Os Guinness has suggested there are two dangers to be avoided when dealing with doubt.

1. Being too soft on doubt – never needing any kind of assurance.
2. Being too hard on doubt – equating all doubt with unbelief.

Alister McGrath adds, “Faith isn’t a product of absolute certain knowledge.  Faith is about being willing to live through trust in the existence and promises of God, knowing that one day his existence and those promises will be totally vindicated.  But for the moment, we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Our text is fascinating to me given the background of John the Baptist.  This is a remarkable question coming from this man.  Yet it is a question that each of us must deal with.  It is a matter of life and death.  It is a “vital question” – a vital issue.

“Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?”  “Are you the Christ?  Are you the Messiah?  Are you the long awaited Savior of the world?”  This question is at the heart of the Christian faith.  Mark it down.  Underline it.  Circle it in red.

Christianity is not primarily a teaching.  It is not primarily a philosophy.  Neither is it primarily a way of life.  It is a relationship with the Sovereign God of heaven and earth, through the person of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel is the story of the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God left the glory and splendor of heaven and was born on this earth.  His purpose in coming was to redeem fallen and broken humanity.  He and He alone is the savior of the world and there is no heaven apart from Him.  If that is true, then the most important question in this world is “What about Jesus of Nazareth?”

If He is who the Bible claims that He is, then there is no more important question.  The question then before the house is – “What are you going to do with Jesus?”  “How are you going to respond to Him?”

These are the issues/questions surrounding this snapshot out of the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  From this story we learn something about the questioning heart and the search for assurance.  In fact we discover that:

Thesis: The questioning heart finds assurance in the person of the Lord Jesus.
As this drama in the life of John unfolds before us we find three acts.

1. Act One: A crisis of faith.  (11:1-3)
2. Act Two: A clear word.  (11:4-6)
3. Act Three: A comforting reassurance.  (11:7-11a)

Have you ever struggled to believe?  You are in good company.  The questioning heart finds reassurance in the person of the Lord Jesus.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 1:12-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered by Pastor Rod Harris on Sunday morning, July 18, 2010.

Introduction
It may not always be expressed in the same way.  In fact, it may not be worked out to the point the person even understands what they are longing for but people want to know, “why they are here.”  I don’t mean why they are in church today.  I mean why are they on the planet?  Why do they exist?  What is the purpose or meaning of life?  Tied directly to this question is the confusion surrounding why the accumulation of wealth, power and influence does not satisfy.  You may say, “Well I’ve really not been given the opportunity to test that hypothesis.  I can’t say wealth, power and influence does not satisfy I haven’t experience any of them for myself.”  Perhaps not but you’ve desired something.  Something that you believed, if you just got it - you would know happiness.  So you worked and you planned and you saved and finally you got what you wanted and it was wonderful…for a while.  But soon the joy passed.  The newness wore off.  It did not satisfy and something else caught your attention and you were certain that it would bring lasting joy.

Just for fun the other day I “googled” - “the path to happiness.”  I found listed several websites that promised to guide me down the path to true and genuine happiness.  One was actually named pathtohappiness.com!  The website assures Happiness is not a result of what happens to us, it is a result of the stories we tell ourselves about what happens to us.  The site promises to guide you through a process of identifying the stories you tell yourself, how to evaluate them, offer you other stories that might better serve you and thus lead you to genuine, lasting happiness.  According to an article in USA Today one of the fastest growing industries in the country is “Life Coaching.”  A life coach is an individual who comes along side to get you “unstuck” professionally or personally.  I would have to add to this, because it was not covered in the USA Today article, “spiritual coaching.”  According to the article, written in 208, there were 10,000 life coaches operating in the United States.  That number has risen dramatically over the last couple of years.  Why?  In spite of all of our technological advances, regardless of our high standard of living, despite Facebook, people are lonely, frustrated, unfulfilled and empty.  The cry of “the preacher” 10 centuries before Christ rings true today, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!”  All of life is empty, transient and passing.  Our text this morning is found in the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
The preacher, the one who calls the assembly is walking us through a process.
He is surveying his life and looking at his life as a great experiment.
He is thinking out loud about life and its lessons.
At times he seems depressed and melancholy but you must remember the phrase, “Under the sun.”

Life with God out of the equation.
Life without regard for God or the things of God.
Life from a merely human perspective leads to these conclusions.
It is a fallacy to believe the writer thinks nothing in life is worthwhile.

He is not saying there is nothing of any value in anything - he is saying, if there is no God and this is all there is - it is ultimately empty and unsatisfying.  Sin always has its pleasures.  The most godless person you can think of has his moments of peace and joy.  The point is such peace and joy ultimately prove to be fleeting.  They do not last and they do not satisfy.

He begins by stating his conclusion - life under the sun is full of vanity.
Vanity = empty, transient, fading, unsatisfying, unfulfilling
Life apart from God is an endless drudgery leading nowhere.
It is a meaningless, monotonous existence.
It is an empty memory.
In other words it is a vain and empty pursuit.

We pick up with verse 12 of chapter 1 (read the text).

Here we discover…
Thesis: Any attempt to gain meaningful satisfaction through intellectual pursuits proves to be a fool’s errand.

You know what a fool’s errand is - it is a fruitless mission or undertaking; a completely absurd and pointless pursuit.  It is a task or activity that has no hope of succeeding.  That’s what Solomon describes in our text.

I think we need to understand this because we live in a culture that believes if you just “educate” people everything will be okay.  The problem is people just don’t know.  When they know this or that is wrong or hurtful they won’t do that anymore.  That’s not true.  It’s not that simple.  Don’t misunderstand me - I’m all for education.  “I are educated” but knowledge, by and in itself, is not the answer.  Solomon makes that clear in our text.

Let me point out 3 things.

1. A sincere, diligent search for meaning through mere human wisdom proves fruitless.  (1:12-14)
2. In spite of profound effort applied with genuine desire answers prove to be allusive.  (1:15-17)
3. Such pursuits only add to the misery of life apart from God.  (1:18)

Conclusion
Solomon did not say, and I’m certainly not going to say, that if you are not a Christian you cannot know any joy in this life.  Of course there are moments of joy, peace and genuine happiness but they ultimately fade.  They are transient, they are passing.  Those moments will not fill the emptiness deep within your soul.  In fact those moments only cause you to hunger more for genuine, lasting fulfillment.  A fulfillment that can only be known through Christ.

 

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This Bible study by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, July 7, 2010.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 11, 2010.

Introduction
Power is an illusion.  Fame is fleeting.  Life is but a vapor.  We spend our days fighting and clawing our away to the top.  We struggle and strain in the hopes that we will achieve some success, that we will be remembered for some great thing.  All the while knowing that the vast majority of us will live and die in obscurity.  Few will take note that we traveled this way.  Oh, and those who do achieve notoriety - they too will one day be forgotten.  Doris Kearns Goodwin, the presidential biographer, gives these haunting words about the end of Lyndon Baynes Johnson:

A month before he died, he spoke to me with immense sadness in his voice.  He said he was watching the American people absorbed in a new president, forgetting him, forgetting even the great civil rights laws that he had passed.  He was beginning to think his quest for immortality had been in vain, that perhaps he would have been better off focusing his time and attention on his wife and his children, so then he could have had a different sort of immortality through his children and their children in turn.  He could have depended on them in a way he couldn’t depend on the American people.  But it was too late.  Four weeks later he was dead.  Despite all his money and power he was completely alone when he died, his ultimate terror realized.  (from a commencement address quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs page 20.)

At one point the most powerful man in the world.  A few years later he died…alone.  Just one of many of the once great who are now footnotes in history.  Is it any wonder the “preacher” cried, ?“Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity?”  We live in a skeptical age, among jaded people.  Life has been robbed of any meaning.  The endless pursuit of materialism has proven fruitless.  The power of pleasure to satisfy has proved to be an illusion.  We are left to wonder, “Is life worth living?”  By the way we are not the first to wonder about that.  10 centuries before Christ a perceptive preacher asked, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”  In other words, “What profit is there in living?”  Our text this morning is found in chapter one of the book of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Admit it - this is an odd and confusing book!
It is part of the “wisdom literature” of the Old Testament.
Though the author is not named it has been assumed that Solomon authored this book.
That would make Solomon the author of three O.T books:
Song of Solomon or Song of Songs - written as a young man - about marital bliss.
Proverbs - written during midlife - extolling the virtue of wisdom rooted in the “fear of God.”
Ecclesiastes - written at the end of his life demonstrating the folly of life apart from God.

The book has been a source of conflict through the years.  There have been various approaches taken in trying to make sense of it.  Is this the rantings of an “eternal pessimist?”  Do we have here the reasoned arguments of a religious and philosophical skeptic?  It seems, at times, the author blatantly contradicts other Scripture or at least makes some very unorthodox statements.  When reading the book you get the idea the writer has “issues.”

But actually the dark, foreboding and brooding conclusions we find throughout the book are not the author’s final conclusions.  For his ultimate assessment we have to wait until the end of the book.  The preacher is “talking” through the issues.  He is speaking “out loud” as he works his way through these deep, theological and philosophical questions.

We begin in chapter 1.
The first 11 verses serve to remind us that…

Thesis: Life apart from Christ is a vain and empty pursuit.

There are three things I want to point out in our text.

1. Life apart from Christ is filled with never-ending drudgery that leads nowhere.  (1:1-8)
2. Life apart from Christ is a meaningless, monotonous existence.  (1:9-10)
3. Life apart from Christ is an empty memory.  (1:11)

Conclusion
“Pastor, thanks for the uplifting sermon today!”  That’s my point.  You cannot appreciate the wonder of God’s grace until you taste the despair of life without Him.  Friend, life apart from Christ is a vain and empty pursuit.  In contrast Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that life in abundance.”

 

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An exposition of Hosea 10:1-15. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 4, 2010.

Introduction
I must admit, everything in me feels as if I should say, “Mr. Chairman the great state of Oklahoma cast all her delegates upon the next president of these United States - the honorable…”  I must acknowledge my struggle with this sort of celebration.  I fear too often there is a blurring of the line in Evangelical churches.  Often the church seems to equate patriotism and nationalism with the Gospel.  THAT IS A MISTAKE.  Yet I think it fitting that our celebration of the Nation’s birth begin here in the house of God.  For apart from the mercy of the Almighty there would be no United States of America.  No nation rises to power without his aid.  We are celebrating 234 years – young by the standards of history – yet the longest on-going constitutional republic in the history of the world.  I’m convinced it is the direct result of the blessing of God.  Not that America is perfect – for she most definitely is not!  And never has been.  Not that we are uniquely the people of God and stand entitled to special rank and privilege for we most certainly do not.  At the same time many today seek to “rewrite” our history.  Determined to downplay our Christian heritage modern day scholars say our Founders were at best Deists influenced by Enlightenment philosophy.  That’s simply not true.

While not all were devout, orthodox Christians – it is a fact that 27 of the original 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence held seminary degrees.  An honest reading of the founding documents and correspondence of the Founding Fathers reveals these are not the prayers and words of Deists!  In fact George Read, a delegate from Delaware, also considered to be “The Father of Delaware” wrote that state’s first laws and the 1776 Delaware Constitution. The Delaware Constitution initially read, “Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: ‘I, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given.”  Hardly the words of a Deist.

A significant number of the signers were presidents or vice presidents of various Bible Societies.  Two of the Continental Congress’ first actions were to hire military chaplains and to purchase 20,000 Bibles to remedy a national shortage. America’s first Speaker of the House was the “Reverend” Frederick Muhlenberg.  The reverend John Witherspoon, president of Princeton University played a major role in the American Revolution.  While Witherspoon’s influence alone was extremely impressive, “The record of Princeton men who studied under Witherspoon is outstanding, including President James Madison [primary author of the U.S. Constitution], Vice-President Aaron Burr, nine cabinet officers, 21 United States senators, 39 members of the House of Representatives, three justices of the Supreme Court, 12 governors, and numerous delegates to the Constitutional Convention.”

Those who are upset when politicians make reference to Scripture and the wear their faith on their sleeve have obviously not read the Founders!  The language of Scripture and the Christian Faith has permeated our National rhetoric from the beginning.

Now before this turns into a political rally – let me hasten to say, I’m no Archie Bunker – “America love it or leave” – type.  I love my country.  I am proud to be an American – I wouldn’t trade it for anything – but I do not wear blinders.  I confess that I have a higher Loyalty.  And we, in the church, must not abandon our prophetic post.  We have a responsibility to speak to the nation – both the government and the citizenry.  We must not allow partisanship to distort our vision or silence our voice.  Corruption is corruption, evil is evil and injustice is injustice regardless of who is in “office.”  And we must not fail to hold the moral rope.  We must not fail to point to a higher standard.  We must speak the truth with passion and conviction.  In May of 1776, just weeks before America declared her independence, John Witherspoon declared, “He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I do not hesitate to call him an avowed enemy of his country.”

Love of country and love of God are not antithetical.  God grant us the courage and boldness to speak with a true prophetic voice to the heart of our Nation.  Our text this morning is found in the 10th chapter of Hosea’s prophecy.

Text: Hosea 10:1-17
Israel is in its last days.  After repeated warning and extended grace – the time of judgment was at hand.  Hosea – whose name means “salvation” was called to close the book on the nation.  He was uniquely qualified – who knew the pain of spurned love.
He knew what it was to love a wayward spouse.  Thus he spoke with conviction and compassion – the awful truth was wrapped in love.

We would do well, on this celebration of our nation’s birth, to learn from Hosea the true nature of godly citizenship.  In our partisan culture – few statesmen are left.  Gone are those who love country above party; who are committed to truth rather than power; good rather than glory.  Hosea’s prophecy serves to remind us that:

Thesis: True love of country demands that the church fulfill its prophetic role.

There are four duties of a prophet reflected in our text.

1. The voice of the prophet dares to expose the nation’s shallow faith.  (10:1-3)
2. The prophetic voice boldly addresses the nation’s sins.  (10:4-11)
3. The voice of the prophet passionately pleads for repentance.  (10:12)
4. The voice of the prophet broken-heartedly declares the nation’s doom.  (10:13-15)

Conclusion:
God’s patience will not always abide with us.
Repeatedly turning a deaf ear to his commands – comes with a price.
We do no service to our great country by denying reality.
If we love this land – we must stand as the prophet:

• Exposing its shallow faith
• Addressing its sin
• Pleading for repentance
• Broken-heartedly declaring its doom.`

 

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This Bible study by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Wednesday evening, June 30, 2010.