Hosea 7:6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. 7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.
Here is a lament of what the Lord said to his people through the prophet Hosea. When you read this book it’s almost like God is discouraged and depressed. He said of Ephraim in another passage “how shall I give thee up?” Ephraim is one of Joseph’s sons. Instead of a tribe being named after Joseph, tribes were named after his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. They, along with other sons of Jacob, were the 12 tribes of Israel and made up that nation. It took them all. It takes all of us too. We’re of equal importance in the eyes of God. You can help me and I can help you. Consider your role and responsibility as a child of God. No person lives his life in private. A strong relationship with God cannot be had when we refuse a relationship with our brothers and sisters. How can we say we love God if we don’t love them? When you love someone you want to have a relationship with them. Some want to come and be uninvolved. They don’t look back nor think about the church till the next time they take a notion to come.
This broke God’s heart. He told Ephraim to consider the other nations. The oven was on high and what the baker baked was well done. Their resolve was to be “done”–usable. God said Ephraim was a cake not turned. He was half done. We’ve heard this about people’s emotional state, but we’re not talking about the mental state; this is about the spiritual state. Are you in the state that Ephesus was in, that of leaving your first love? You don’t love the things of God like you used to. Sardis professed to be Christian, but they were dead and didn’t even realize it. How alive are you and I? We get wrapped up in ourselves. Christianity has become a grocery item that some put on the shelf. Sunday comes. Then they think “what am I going to do today?” It should come to us to serve the Lord. To be a real Christian, we must be one in heart and one with others. Strive for unity of spirit in the bonds of peace. God told the church of Laodicea he would rather they be hot or cold but being lukewarm he would spew them out of his mouth. Lukewarm makes God sick!
You can eat an egg any way you like but I like them done. I like steaks done. How well done are you as a Christian? Are you one through and through? Or are you half baked? If you are just half committed, half concerned about the church, half concerned about the lost, something is wrong. The bacteria of sin will start growing. You get used to it. That’s not the norm. Ephraim mixed himself among the people and was a cake not turned. God wants a baked Christian. You might say all sorts of things to God about all you do trying to convince him it’s all right. We can say our little prayers. If you have to read a prayer to say it, you’re raw–not baked. God wants us to be well done.
Why aren’t we? We’ve been “on the eye” long enough to be baked. Some are just next to the heat but not on it. God wants sincere and realistic Christians. It’s not about what we want, what society wants, or what other churches want. It’s time to forget all that and call on God. Maybe you and I need to be turned. Are you courageous enough to let God do that to you? Half done is undone. Would you eat a half done egg? When God takes a taste of you does he turn up his nose? He wants well done Christians.
When we look around and see people cooked into the things of the world and we’re just wishy washy, we’re not doing well. The world is sold out to sin and it takes Jesus Christ to turn it around. Don’t be afraid to be a real Christian. That’s what it takes to see the lost saved. God will not accept just part of us. He wants it all. He didn’t ask for a piece of our heart; he asked for it all.
Do we need to turn the cake? Are there things in our lives not where they should be? Turning the cake means to repent. That will bring revival of heart. I’d rather be cooked by the fire of revival than the fire of judgment. So, are you a cake not turned?
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 