"GOD'S BROKEN HEART"
Intro. There used to be a song that became quite popular whose lyrics went, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return." One of the saddest things you can ever experience is to love and not be loved in return. God loves you, and he desires to be loved in return.
I. GOD SPEAKS OF BEING BROKEN WITH THE WHORISH HEART OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.
A. In the beginning God created man that He might have someone to love and to love Him.
1. God was looking for love.
2. For love to be truly meaningful, there has to be freedom of choice.
a. A robot may be created that can do many functions in place of a human being, but a robot can never be created that can offer meaningful love.
b. Why? Because a robot cannot be created that can make a choice, it can only operate within the programmed parameters.
B. Man used his capacity of choice in a destructive way. He chose to follow his own lust, rather than the will of God.
1. This brought alienation from God a broken relationship.
2. Man had a love that was greater than his love for God.
3. This turning from God brought pain, suffering and death.
C. God still loved mankind and sought to restore man to a loving relationship with Himself. He looked for a man who would live in simple trust and faith in Him, that through His descendants He might bring the Messiah into the world.
1. God found such a man, his name was Abraham, and God promised him that he would make of him a great nation, and through his descendant, all of the world would be blessed.
2. Thus God began to create from his descendants the nation that would be called Israel, which means governed by God.
3. God was seeking first of all a nation that would follow His commandments, through which He could demonstrate to the world how blessed a nation and people could be if they would only choose to walk in a loving fellowship with God.
D. God loved the nation of Israel.
1. He had manifested His love for them in many ways.
2. He brought them out of the intolerable bondage of Egypt.
3. He gave to them His rules for a happy prosperous life.
4. He gave them a fertile land with great potential.
5. He made them strong and delivered them from their enemies.
E. He had chosen this nation for the purpose of bringing the Messiah into the world.
1. Some of the people began to rebel in their hearts against the Lord.
2. They began to love the gods of the heathen.
a. The first two commandments that God had given to them were, "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all of your heart," and "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."
b. But some of the people had become obsessed with the desire for pleasure, and had begun to worship the god of pleasure who in those days was called Molech.
c. Still others became obsessed with sex, and had begun to worship the goddess of sex, who was known as Ashtoreth.
d. Still others became obsessed with the desire for power, and they began to worship the god Mammon.
3. God knew that to give your life to these other gods meant bondage, suffering, and moral weakness that would lead to captivity.
a. He sent His prophets to warn them.
b. They had ample proof through their history of how when they served the Lord, they were blessed, but when they turned from the Lord, they experienced bondage.
c. One of the prophets said to their king, "The Lord is with you if you will be with Him, and if you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." The historian recorded concerning that King, "And as long as he served the Lord, God made his ways to prosper."
4. As a nation they had finally turned away from the ways of the Lord completely and were now in captivity in Babylon. You would think that they would have learned their lesson, but even here, God is speaking to them through the prophet Ezekiel of how He was broken over their whorish heart. They were still resisting the love that God was offering to them, if they would only be faithful in their love to Him.
5. How would you like it if the one you loved, and had committed yourself to, was always having affairs with someone else?
6. So was the case with the people that God loved and had committed Himself to. They were in love with other gods. They liked God, but they loved and were truly devoted to the other gods.
a. I wonder if that is not also the case with some of you.
b. If questioned by a pollster you would be among the 87% in America who say that they consider themselves to be Christians, but what could you show to prove that you truly loved Jesus?
c. If we would have followed you this past week 24 hours a day, how much time would we have observed your giving yourself in showing your love for Him?
d. How would that time compare with say the time you spent in front of the T.V. being entertained, as you worshipped Molech?
e. The scripture speaks of a people who feared the Lord, but worshipped other gods.
f. Would you say that that was an apt description of you? You respect the Lord, but you are really serving other interests.
F. Surely as a nation, you could no longer consider us a Christian nation as we were once known to be.
1. Though our coins still bear the inscription, "In God we trust" We are spending our money for all kinds of ungodly purposes.
2. In our public schools they can have instruction in witchcraft and Satanism, they can observe the satanic holiday of Halloween, have their parties, and dress like goblins and witches. But Christmas carols are outlawed at Christmas time.
3. I wonder if God is not possibly saying to us, "I am broken with your whorish heart?"
II. WHY IS GOD SO CONCERNED?
A. He still loves us more than we could ever know. Paul said that the love of God passes human comprehension.
1. He knows that these other gods are unfaithful lovers.
2. They will desert you when times get tough.
3. They will let you down when you are in a crisis.
4. When facing life or death situations they will forsake you and can be no help or condolence to you.
5. He knows that these other gods in your life are going to destroy you, for you are actually worshipping Satan in disguise.
6. The Bible says that they that worship idols, which were in reality idols that were erected to pleasure, and sex and power, were worshipping demons.
7. That explains why these other things get such powerful hold on a person's life.
a. People get addicted to sex.
b. They get addicted to the pleasurable experience of taking drugs.
c. People get addicted to pornography.
d. We speak of a man as a workaholic. Addicted to gaining more possessions.
8. They are actually under a demonic hold.
B. Satan is not interested in respecting your choice, he cares nothing about love, but is determined to force you to serve him.
1. We thus see him gaining a stronghold on people's lives.
2. There are some of you here today whose lives are under the stronghold of Satan.
3. You find yourself bound by habits that you cannot break, even though you can see their damaging effect, and you have tried and failed.
C. Only the power of God is stronger, than the power of Satan. Only God can set you free from the power of Satan, but God is interested in love, thus your choice, and will not force Himself upon you but allows you to make the choice.
1. Satan is doing everything within his power to keep you from making that choice.
2. Some of you at this minute are going through a violent battle within as you are again facing this choice.
3. The prophet cried, "Choose you this day whom you will serve." That is what you must do. Will you serve God or Satan disguised in your own passions.
D. God's heart is broken for you. He knows that the day will come when you will loathe yourself for your folly, is choosing to serve God, when you finally begin to reap the consequences of a life given over to sin.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
