March 20, 2019 - “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” Hosea 6:6

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings”Hosea 6:6 

In our journey to obey our Lord by “Going and learning what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt 9:13, we have arrived in Hosea 6 from which our Lord quoted when He challenged the Pharisees on that day in
Matthew's house.

It seems very clear from Hosea 6:5,6 that the reason the Lord sends us Words of judgement that hurt and kill our sin nature, is so that we might actually see the sin that grips our lives, and come to Him to seek forgiveness. 

Now we come to the cross of Christ, the sacrifice that ended all sacrifices, in order to receive forgiveness for our sins, but the people Hosea is speaking to would bring their animals to the temple to be sacrificed to God. God instituted these sacrifices for the purpose of granting forgiveness for sins. Those who didn’t see sin in their lives, still brought the sacrifices, but the sacrifices had no meaning for they had no sin, and so they made the mistake of thinking that God wanted the sacrifices for the sake of the sacrifice. God didn’t want the sacrifices for the sake of sacrifices - He wanted to show them mercy for their sins on the basis of the animal bloodshed – but they didn’t see their sin so they didn’t need mercy!

The word used for people who come before God and don’t see their sin is self- righteous! 

This was the Pharisee’s problem, and for some reason this self-righteousness creeps into Christians’ lives, the longer they live as children of God. It seems that as we surrender to God and His Spirit, and our behaviours begin to change, we stop comparing ourselves to our Holy God and begin comparing ourselves to people around us - and honestly, we look pretty holy compared to others - as long as we are doing the comparison of course! What a terrible trap we are in - what do we do on those Sundays when participating in communion? Well, it becomes an outward show, and outward action, with no inward meaning.

What do we do if we have no sins to confess? Well, we begin to think that the cross has a meaning other than the forgiveness of our sin and our love for Christ grows cold. In this we are the same as the people Hosea is speaking to - their issue was that their love was as temporary as the morning mist and dew.

Our Lord told us (Simon the Pharisee) that those who have been forgiven little love little, and He was very clear in pointing out Simon’s little measure of love for Christ. (Luke 7:40-50)

Is our love for Christ little or fleeting?

Pray for sight of sin - read the Bible and pay particular attention to the Words that pierce and hurt, Words that we disagree with or seek to hide from.

Bow before our Lord, seek forgiveness for these sins and bless His Name for His sacrifice and His blood that bought forgiveness for our souls.

The more we go to Him for forgiveness and receive mercy, the greater our love will grow!