He Delights In His Children

HoHum:

Top 10 things people enjoy or delight in doing by James Chapman

1) Sleeping 2) Listening to music 3) Reading

4) Watching movies 5) Playing sports 6) Exercising

7) Making love 8) Playing games 9) Talking

10) Visiting old friends and family

WBTU:

A. What does God enjoy or delight in? His children “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.” Psalms 149:4, NIV.

B. Like a husband and wife delight in each other. “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.” Isaiah 62:4, NIV.

C. Like a parent delights in their newborn baby. “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”” Zephaniah 3:17, NIV.

D. “For I delight in loving-kindness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.” Hosea 6:6, Dby. Theme verse for today.

Thesis: From Hosea 6:6 let’s examine, in what does God delight for his children?

For instances:

Mercy- I desire mercy (NIV)

1) From God to us

God’s ultimate goal was not to sacrifice animals for sins. He did not delight in that (Hosea 6:6). The animals were just forerunners of the real sacrifice and that sacrifice is Jesus.

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2, NIV. Jesus takes away God’s wrath from us. Must punish and Jesus took the punishment for us.

Not getting what we deserve- Mercy.

What do we deserve? Condemnation but we get mercy instead.

“God... is rich in mercy” Ephesians 2:4, NIV.

Getting what we don’t deserve- Grace

The Hebrew word for mercy here in Hosea 6:6 can be translated differently such as loving-kindness, loyalty, faithfulness, goodness and favor. One of the definitions of grace is unmerited favor. All of these added together come very close to the context and meaning of the NT word grace. The idea is that God gives his favor upon the undeserving.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--” Ephesians 2:4-8, NIV.

From us to others- Showing mercy and grace to others

On two occasions in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus told the Pharisee’s that mercy was more important that sacrifice.

A. In Matthew 9:9-12 gives the calling of Matthew himself by Jesus. Look up and read

1. The people during Hosea’s time were turning away from God, Hosea was trying to get them to see that God did not care about them going through the motions of religion, He wanted them to be sincere and He wanted them to be a merciful and gracious people.

2. The Pharisees were upset because Christ associated with tax collectors and sinners. But Jesus was more concerned about helping people than about doing what seemed socially acceptable

B. other instance in Matthew 12:7, where Jesus and the disciples were walking through a grainfield on the Sabbath and they are eating the heads of grain. Lawful for the poor to do but unsure about the Sabbath. The Pharisees complain about this infraction to Jesus and Jesus gives a defense of their actions. Not reading this section but vs. 7 Jesus says, “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

1. The Pharisees were operating by the letter of Law, but Christ was focusing on God’s intent.

2. Christ said the disciples were guiltless. Christ’s quotation from Hosea 6:6 was a plain reference to the corruption and guilt of the Pharisees. The real trouble was not in Christ and his disciples but in the hearts of the Pharisees.

3. “because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James 2:13, NIV. If we will not show mercy toward others, GOD WILL NOT SHOW IT TO Us EITHER! We will reap what we sow.

C. Man once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a 4 year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and jsut sat there. When his mother asked him what he had siad to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”