Apathy - A Calloused Heart
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Hosea continues to speak the sentence from God to the nation of Israel. Israel was unfaithful to God in their heart. It was a heart problem with them. They didnt hate God just because they didnt love God. Most people incorrectly believe that the opposite of love is hate - but the truth is hate is misdirected love. The opposite of love is apathy and grows from a calloused heart. Apathy says “I dont care”, whereas ignorance says “I dont know” and complacency says “I am comfortable” and laziness would say “I dont feel like”. Israels heart had become calloused and hard leading to apathy towards the Lord and because of the condition of the heart they have sinned and now are reaping the consequences of their sin - the fruit from their hardened hearts.
We would be wise to understand Israel’s drift towards apathy, identify their own apathy and single it out and deal with it. The last days are defined as the church becoming apathetic, apostate which leads to a falling away. Now apathy has been in the church for some time but I cant help but see a dramatic increase in apathy among Christians just within the last almost two years. Major disruptions in church attendance had led many into a sense of apathetic stupor and a lack of concern or care for the things of God and their own soul.
Apathy isnt because one is ignorant they pretty much know what they should be doing and recognizes that God exists and is worthy of worship and service. Not necessarily lazy either was active once before but routines were changed and or blocked and dryness came and soaked up their concern and they find themselves not caring.
Apathy is a deadly heart condition, it doesnt come from ignorance, one knows what to do but because the heart is apathetic they just dont care.
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Lets read Hosea 10 and see causes of apathy, consequences of apathy and conquering apathy so we can maintain a right heart with God.
1 Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better they made the sacred pillars. 2 Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.
3 In fact, they are now saying, “We have no king! For we do not fear the Lord. What can a king do for us?” 4 They speak mere words, taking false oaths while making covenants. So lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
5 The residents of Samaria will have anxiety over the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it; the people will mourn over it, over its glory. It will certainly go into exile. 6 The calf itself will be taken to Assyria as an offering to the great king. Ephraim will experience shame; Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
7 Samaria’s king will disappear like foam on the surface of the water. 8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 Israel, you have sinned since the days of Gibeah; they have taken their stand there. Will not war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? 10 I will discipline them at my discretion; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim is a well-trained calf that loves to thresh, but I will place a yoke on her fine neck. I will harness Ephraim; Judah will plow; Jacob will do the final plowing. 12 Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.
13 You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in your large number of soldiers, 14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, and all your fortifications will be demolished in a day of war, like Shalman’s destruction of Beth-arbel. Mothers will be dashed to pieces along with their children.
15 So it will be done to you, Bethel, because of your extreme evil. At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.
Causes of a Calloused Heart
Causes of a Calloused Heart
1 Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better they made the sacred pillars. 2 Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.
Ingratitude
In verse 1 Hosea says Israel was a lush vine - lush can mean spreading or empty. As vine it yields fruit for itself and as the fruit increased so did the altars. The better the land produced the better the sacred pillars.
Israel was a spreading empty vine. What’s more is that they are empty because they misuse their fruit. By attributing the harvest and blessing of their increase to the false idols. They attributed to the idols what should have been attributed to God. This is a sense of ingratitude to not acknowledge the source of our good things - which the source of every good thing is from God
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Sometimes our ingratitude catches us unaware but we can practice gratefulness and we need to make it a practice in our lives and there are three different areas where we can practice gratitude
Grateful for everything we have now and what we continue to be blessed with
Grateful for the hope of blessing to come and not yet realized
Grateful during trials
21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Ingratitude takes seed in our heart when we allow it in any of these areas.
Divided heart
Hosea in the next verse -2 says their hearts are devious now they must bear their guilt. The word devious means divided - to be marked by deliberate deceptiveness, slippery and smooth. The Lord is saying that Ephraim has a smooth flattering and insincere heart. The same way a cheating spouse tells their partner they love them, all the while they are cheating and being unfaithful. This was Israel’s heart towards God. Israel’s heart was divided between God and idols. A divided heart is characterized by hypocrisy in devotion to the Lord.
21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.
5 those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lord but also pledge loyalty to Milcom;
33 They feared the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the practice of the nations from which they had been deported.
No one can serve two masters - Jesus of Nazareth He will love the one and hate the other.
15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”
16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?
To waver between is to never choose and thus actually make a choice to be lukewarm. Jesus spoke of being lukewarm to the church of Laodicea. The condition of a divided heart is intolerable to the Lord in fact for the one who is such He will spew him out.
Do you have a divided heart today? The difficulty in answering this is that we can not know our hearts. David had the sense to pray and ask God to search His heart.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
10 I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.
Being at church in service is no guarantee that your heart is undivided.
Where is your focus - are you here present or planning the afternoon?
You may here now and praising God now but where will you be this week and what will you be doing?
Being of the world is a symptom of a divided heart
It is quite miserable to be divided for you have too much of God to enjoy the world and too much of the world to be happy in Jesus. You feel pulled in both directions by both desires.
8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
3 In fact, they are now saying, “We have no king! For we do not fear the Lord. What can a king do for us?” 4 They speak mere words, taking false oaths while making covenants. So lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
Irreverence
Hosea goes on in verse 3 to show where the divided heart comes from and a divided heart comes from a heart that is callous and becomes irreverent. Israel says “We have no king!” For we do not fear the Lord what can a king do for us. The word for fear talk about a reverential fear - awe of the awesome God is gone and therefore they have no regard for Him. We see the tragedy of how far Israel has fallen. Originally at Mt. Sinai they pledged themselves to God’s rule through Moses and Aaron. A long and continuous apostasy followed, and has finally brought them to the point where they would not even accept a king’s rule over them.
God (theocracy) —> Moses (prophet-lawgiver) —> Joshua (spiritual/military general) —> Judges (judicial government) —> Kings (monarchy) —> No king (anarchy - everyone doing whats right in their own eye no government). The people decided they had no need for God in their lives by minimizing their need for God in their lives.
12 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.
25 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.
12 There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filth.
1 Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.
When we minimize the need for God we minimize the presence of God within our lives.
False Promises
Hosea in verse 4 says Israel speaks mere words - literally words worth nothing more than their breath for they hold to nothing. They take false oaths while making covenants and the result is no one is held to their word anymore and their words become worthless. Lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds. The lack of reverence for God moved people to have a lack of regard for their agreements with one another. As goes our relationship with God so goes our relationship with others. Disloyalty to God breeds disloyalty to men. Our attitude towards others is reflective of our attitude towards God.
The continual increase of laws and lawsuits points to the loss of integrity and credibility within society.
A callous heart leads one to not care about promises or to swear without considering the consequences. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. If you are full of integrity and credibility this is enough - to have to add on to this by swearing by anything else is indicative of a lack of integrity.
34 But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.
5 The residents of Samaria will have anxiety over the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it; the people will mourn over it, over its glory. It will certainly go into exile.
Misplaced Devotion
The residents of Samaria have anxiety - or fear over the calf of Beth-Aven (Bethel). The people have more fear towards the calf then they do for the Lord God. The priests rejoiced over it and the people mourn over its glory.
Israel doesnt fear the Lord or mourn for their sin but only the coming loss of her idols.
What does your heart fear losing more? Free time, rest, afternoons, money, TV, comfort, etc or the presence, protection and provision of the Lord?
9 Israel, you have sinned since the days of Gibeah; they have taken their stand there. Will not war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
Sinful Lifestyle
The days of Gibeah are mentioned again - it was the lowest point of Israel. A priest’s concubine was mistreated, assaulted and ultimately killed. The priest dismembered the body and sent a piece to each tribe telling them of the inactivity and the negligence for justice of the tribe of Benjamin. The fury with which the tribes responded almost wiped out Benjamin.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
The nation was so distant and calloused to God that it took a monumental action to bring about vengeance and retribution for the act committed against the concubine.
Involvement in sin ceases the convicting power of our conscience and the conviction of the Holy Spirit to effect change within the heart. The heart becomes hardened when this convicting ability to effect change is seared or quenched. Soon the heart becomes so hard as to not allow seeds of change to be planted.
Consequences of a Calloused Heart
Consequences of a Calloused Heart
2 Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.
The first consequence of a calloused heart is that God does not accept it. The Lord will not take whatever He can get. So those will a calloused heart will bear their guilt. Their divided offerings will not be accepted and the Lord will break down the altars and demolish the sacred pillars.
4 They speak mere words, taking false oaths while making covenants. So lawsuits break out like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
A calloused heart brings conflict into our lives - conflict with God and conflict with others.
5 The residents of Samaria will have anxiety over the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it; the people will mourn over it, over its glory. It will certainly go into exile.
The Lord will remove anything that goes against Him and that includes the idols that take the hearts of the people from Him. The calf that the Israelites are do devoted and attached too will go into exile. It will be banished from the presence of the Lord. Fear will become prevalent.
6 The calf itself will be taken to Assyria as an offering to the great king. Ephraim will experience shame; Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.
A calloused heart brings shame. A calloused heart will be shamed in the wisdom it followed and allowed or that it blocked and kept out.
7 Samaria’s king will disappear like foam on the surface of the water. 8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
A removal of guidance and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness surrounds a calloused heart. For the Lord has been removed from around a person and the light of His love and mercy has been blocked. Hopelessness and even contemplation of suicide or self-destruction can come from a hard calloused heart.
10 I will discipline them at my discretion; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double iniquity. 11 Ephraim is a well-trained calf that loves to thresh, but I will place a yoke on her fine neck. I will harness Ephraim; Judah will plow; Jacob will do the final plowing.
Discipline and condemnation accompany a calloused heart that rejects the call to change and repent. Bondage and slavery to the hardness and the callousness. The yoke to restrict rather than freedom to enjoy a harness to holdback.
13 You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in your large number of soldiers, 14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, and all your fortifications will be demolished in a day of war, like Shalman’s destruction of Beth-arbel. Mothers will be dashed to pieces along with their children.
15 So it will be done to you, Bethel, because of your extreme evil. At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.
Destruction comes for the calloused for they continue in what they are doing or in not doing. The calloused trust themselves and no one else. Everything will be demolished while they stand back in apathy because their hearts are calloused over.
Sin is always dealt with and sin always brings defeat.
Conquering a Calloused Heart
Conquering a Calloused Heart
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.
In order to conquer a calloused heart you must soften it for new seed to be sown. The heart is hard because it hasnt been moved, plowed or sown in a long time it is like fallowed ground - unplowed ground. The ground is compact and difficult to get through and so you must plow the ground and break it up. Instead of plowing wickedness it must be plowed in righteousness. In order to conquer a calloused heart it must be broken.
3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up the unplowed ground; do not sow among the thorns.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
3 He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
Sow righteousness for yourself and reap faithful love from a softened heart that is alive and on fire. Sowing righteousness indicates the season of not only sowing but also of reaping - it takes time and its not a one thing deal. You may begin the process by coming to the altar and confessing to the Lord - but you must continually sow righteousness in your life and when the time comes to reap you will reap faithful love.
7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
Do not grow weary in doing good!
Understand that neither of these two things can wait - you can not wait to break the heart and you cannot wait to begin sowing righteousness. It is time NOW to seek the Lord.
13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
29 But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call to him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive.
Seek the Lord for the Lord is looking to receive and forgive those who would come to Him. It is not a one time seeking part of sowing the seed of righteousness is to begin and continue seeking God - seek Him until He comes. Seek Him until He sends righteousness on you like the rain.
8 “Heavens, sprinkle from above, and let the skies shower righteousness. Let the earth open up so that salvation will sprout and righteousness will spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
A calloused heart is a serious condition of the soul. But it can be overcome break up that hard heart overcome the apathy by bringing it to the cross. Humble yourself and watch that heart of stone crumble as you admit and confess. It is hard to admit when we have come to the point of apathy and simply not caring for one we dont care and for two we know we should care but we dont.
If you are in church today you are not completely apathetic and so part of you cares and maybe part of you has been sounding the alarm as you have stopped caring as much and as the heart has calloused and the apathy has crept in — if you are noticing the problem confess it to Jesus.
Sow the seeds of righteousness in your now broken heart by trusting in faith that Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to forgive apathy and a calloused heart. Continue sowing the seeds of righteousness by doing the things you did at first - if this is the first spend time with the Lord allow your heart to become on fire for Him by continue to devote yourself to Him - care about the things He desires, wants and guides you too. Read His word.
Fight Apathy with effort - effort grounded in righteousness and Jesus. The same as one who suffers from overeating must force themselves to stop - so the apathetic must force themselves to start again.
Communion
Communion
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.