Listen & Learn

[dave c]

simpletruth #138x Revisited 07JUL10 salicart@msn.com

HOSEA 10:12—Part Twenty Four: Listen And Learn

by rev. dave c

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).

Over the past few months we have been discussing Scriptures that support, and Scriptures that refute, Calvinism and Armenianism. Effectively, they are both right/both wrong. Perhaps the real problem with each theological position is that it is an attempt to lock God into a system, or a pattern that ultimately denies His sovereignty. Perhaps they each try too hard to be all inclusive in their effort to explain God. Hardcore Calvinists and Armenians attempt to define God and His relationship with His creature through their respective theological philosophies, rather than being satisfied with Biblical description—and there is an eternity of difference between trying to define God and working to describe Him. Although we are limited by time and space, He is not. We are a part of creation...He is the Creator. He is eternally All Knowing, All Present, and All Powerful. He is holy and His judgments against our sinfulness are righteous...but He is also merciful and His forgiveness of our sins is absolute. God is not a system. He is not a pattern. He is not a machine. God is three Persons (He is three personalities) and He operates in the Universe in any fashion He so wills. He is Our Father who loves us beyond anything that we are capable of understanding. We are His children and He desires for us what any parent desires for dearly beloved children...only on a divine scale.

In John 6:37, 44&45, Jesus tells us, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away..."No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me (NIV). Once again we are confronted with concurrent verses that seem to contradict each other...and these are spoken by Jesus, Himself. Verse 44 states that only those whom the Father calls, or attracts, can come to Christ, but verse 45 says that They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.

As the subject of John 6:45, how do (can) the unsaved listen and learn from Father God? The first chapter of Romans states, ...since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men [the unsaved] are without excuse (NIV). In chapter two of Romans, verses 6-15, Paul teaches that God writes His law on the minds and hearts of the chosen and the un-chosen (Jews and Gentiles, alike). ...Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Ro 2:14&15, NIV). And chapter three of Romans, verses 1&2, says, What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God (NIV).

The first three chapters of Romans, then, provide us the means by which God the Father reaches out to all of humanity. 1. Everyone born of woman witnesses the reality of God through the material universe in which we live. 2. God’s moral and ethical character is written upon the rational fabric of our existence. 3. The very Words of God (His Holy Testament) were given to a chosen people (first as the OT to the Jews, and then the NT to the Church) so that the world at large might spiritually recognize and resonate with the Truth. The issue is not to whom, and how does, God the Father attempt to reach and teach lost humanity—rather the issue has always been, who will respond to the all pervasive material, rational, and spiritual lessons in which God engulfs us? John 6:45&46 assures us that everyone who learns from the Father by listening to Him, will be taught by Him, and (if he, or she, is receptive) will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to the eternal grace and mercy offered in the person of Jesus Christ. While the Gospel, the Message of Good News, is broadcast universally...the decision to accept it is entirely personal.

Listen to God’s attempt to teach Cain the way of righteousness as described in Genesis 4:4-7, ...The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (NIV). God’s choosing Abel and his sacrifice over Cain was not an ultimate rejection of the older brother. In fact He clearly spoke to Cain about what must be done to gain acceptance. In the same fashion, God speaks to each person, the saved and unsaved, through our external environment, our internal conscience, and through His Word. Do we allow the Father to draw us into the righteousness of Christ, or do we choose the way of Cain? Jesus assures us, “They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” Jesus, please help us to listen and to learn. Amen.