A look at the deceitfulness of faithlessness. Hosea. Part 6

A look at the deceitfulness of faithlessness. Hosea. Part 6.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

So we have tax-gatherers, sinners, which includes the prostitutes, Pharisees and scribes, a very interesting combination for a congregation.

You have the lost sheep, LUK 15:4-7, the lost coin, LUK 15:8-10, and then the lost sons, LUK 15:11-32.
The Lost Son, The Two Lost Sons, The Waiting Father, The Parable of Divine Mercy, God’s Love for the Lost, and The Lost Son and the Dutiful Son.

We will see how dangerous it is for us to desire to be at our own disposal, and to live in a state of independence, and to be our own rulers!

The man in this parable represents God the Father and the sons represent believers, therefore, this is not a gospel message, this is a doctrinal message for born-again believers.

Each one had enough so that he was independently wealthy…..and that represents the doctrine of logistical grace applied to your life.

The prodigal son did what most people have done throughout history, he accepted the blessings of the Father while at the same time he turned his back upon his Father.

God does not violate our free will nor does He force us to remain in fellowship with Him.

Notice that it was the son who moved away from the Father not the Father moving away from the son.

JAM 4:8 says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners [rebound]; and purify your hearts [perceive doctrine], you double-minded.”

Whenever a believer goes astray, eventually he will come to a point as the last part of this verse says when he will begin to be in need.

Having forsaken his Father who represents God, he can now find nothing but poverty, misery, and want.

The famine represents the fact that there’s a famine in every heart which is no longer nourished by the word of God!

In this state, he attached himself which is the Greek verb kollao meaning to glue or to closely unite himself to a citizen of that foreign country which represents the devil’s children instead of God’s.

Times of distress often lead to self examination and are used by God to bring about changes or repentance in people’s lives.

His emptiness was shown by the job that he had to take, tending pigs.

Pigs were considered to be unclean animals and expressly forbidden in the Mosaic law, LEV 11:7; Deu­ 14:8.

2PE 2:22 says “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

This man finally became honest with himself and looked at his life from a biblical perspective….which means to face up with the situation as it really exists…..

Notice the correlation with HOS 2:7 “And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find {them.}”

Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!

Self-realization of the hopeless and useless predicament of the sinful life is the first step towards true repentance.

You must realize that the seeming pleasures of the sinful life are vanishing and un-satisfying, while life with the Father is full and rich.

Whether we are worthy or unworthy doesn’t change our son-ship. This is a picture of what happens in rebound, restored righteousness. The best robe represents restoration to full experiential righteousness. This was a signet ring representing withdrawing from the Father’s resources, logistical grace.

LUK 15:22 “…….and sandals on his feet;” which means that once again you’re getting the opportunity of service and production.

The fattened calf represents fellowship in the word, feeding on divine truth or Bible doctrine.

Now, that is the divine attitude of grace when you’re brought back into fellowship with God.

When it says in LUK 15:28 “But he became angry,” he went from self-righteous arrogance to mental arrogance.

The Father had the right to treat his children as he thought best and that’s why we have no right to get angry at the way that our Father treats another believer in grace. God’s attitude when believers have rebounded is to forgive them.

If we do try to penalize people for their failures and their mistakes, then we are the most arrogant of creatures.

God the Father entreats us to have compassion on other believers, that’s grace orientation. Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another’s suffering or misfortune accompanied by a desire to alleviate the pain and remove its cause.

Because of compassion God forgives sin, PSA 78:38 “But He, being compassionate, forgave {their} iniquity, and did not destroy {them}; And often He restrained His anger, And did not arouse all His wrath.”

LAM 3:22-23, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”

Compassion motivates forgiveness toward others, MAT 18:27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.” He even had compassion on the ignorant in HEB 5:2 “He will have compassion with the ignorant and misguided,”

LAM 3:32 “For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant loving-kindness.”

MAT 9:13 “But go and learn what {this} means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

MAT 12:7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

COL 3:13 “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

As our Lord said in LUK 7:47 “Your sins which are many, have been forgiven,”

ISA 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”