Hosea 14 & Joel 2

The Prescription For:Forgotten God Syndrome

Symptoms of FGS…• Fickle Love• Empty Worship• Sinful Presumption• Misplaced Trust

Hosea 13:6• When I fed them, they were satisfied;

when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me

Hosea 14:1-3Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy."

Locust Swarm

Locust Swarm

Locust Swarm

Joel 2:12-17"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion;…

Joel 2:12-17…consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

RepentanceRepentance onto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it onto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience

(Westminster Shorter Catechism)

RepentanceRepentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

(Wayne Grudem)

Matthew 3:1-2In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mark 1:14-15Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Ezekiel 18:21-23"But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

2 Corinthians 7:9-10

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Anthony WeinerOver the past few years, I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and occasionally on the phone with women I had met online… I don’t know what I was thinking, This was a destructive thing to do. I’m apologetic for doing it. (June 6, 2011)

Genuine Repentance• Reflects Humble, Inner Brokenness

Joel 2:12"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning

Joel 2:15-17Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

Joel 2:15-17Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

Our sin …1. Is Rebellion Against God

2. It Grieves the Holy Spirit

3. Nailed Christ to the Cross

Genuine Repentance• Reflects Humble, Inner Brokenness

• Relies Completely on God’s Grace

Hosea 14:2bTake away all iniquity And receive us graciously,...

Joel 2:13-14and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

Luke 18:9-14• To some who were confident of their own

righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

Luke 18:9-14• "But the tax collector stood at a distance.

He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Pharisee• Proud• Arrogant• Moral• Religious• LOST (Not Justified)

Tax Collector• Humble• Broken• Immoral• Irreligious• SAVED (Justified)

Genuine Repentance• Reflects Humble, Inner Brokenness

• Relies Completely on God’s Grace• Requires a Specific Change of Direction

Hosea 14:3• Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride

on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands.

James BoiceIf our specific sin is covetousness or greed—one of the dominant sins of the western world—we must repudiate that sin. This means we must not buy that extra car, house, or stereo. If our greed is great, we must even give away what we have and adopt a simpler lifestyle. We must remember that it was to the rich young ruler that our Lord said, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Perhaps ours is a sexual sin…

James Boice…In that case we must turn from it rigorously, because until we do, all forms of religious practice will be mere hypocrisy. The one thing we must not do is pretend that our specific sin—whether greed, immorality, anger, pride, gluttony, dishonoring of our parents, or whatever it may be—is not sin, or think that we can retain it while nevertheless serving God.

James SmithRepentance is a radical change of moral purpose implied in an honest renunciation of all sin and full surrender of heart and life to God. It is not just trimming the tree of sin, but cutting it down. It is not just turning over a new leaf, but casting away the old book