Let us turn to God's Word in
that portion of scripture that we were reading in the book of
the Prophet Hosea and directing you by way of text to words that
we find at the beginning of chapter 6. The book of the Prophet Hosea
chapter 6 and the first two verses. Come and let us return unto the
Lord for He hath torn, and He will heal us. He hath smitten,
and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive
us. In the third day He will raise
us up, and we shall live in His sight. I want to take up as a theme
tonight the subject of the sinner's condition and the sinner's cure. It's very much the theme that
runs throughout this book of Hosea. The sinner's condition
and his cure. It's not an easy book. It's a
difficult book in many ways for us to understand and to try and
interpret. I read that opening chapter because
it really sets the scene and makes us to see something of
the controversial nature of the book. There in the second verse,
that opening sentence in the verse, the beginning of the word
of the Lord by Hosea. And then, in the next sentence,
the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms,
and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord's. It appears that he's
commanded to go and take for his wife a harlot, a common prostitute. Now, when we think of that, might
be tempted to ask, was that really what the Lord intended that the
Prophet Hosea should do? When we come to the New Testament,
of course, we are reminded of the quality that must belong
to one who is the wife of the deacon. When Paul is dealing
with the officers of the church there, in the third chapter of
his first epistle to Timothy he speaks of the the bishops
as it is in our authorized version literally the overseers and he
speaks of the deacons and when he speaks of the deacons he says
there even so must their wives be grave not slanderous, sober,
faithful in all things, qualities that are to be possessed by one
who is the wife of the Lord's servant, a deacon. The same would
apply, surely, to an overseer or a bishop, and would not the
same also apply to one who in the Old Testament exercised the
ministry of one of the Lord's prophets? Is there not then some
sort of contradiction that this man Hosea should receive such
a commandment from the Lord as that that we just read there
in chapter 1 at verse 2? Did he actually marry that woman? Now, John Calvin the great Protestant
reformer in his commentary says that he didn't actually marry
a prostitute but he was bidden to do this in a sort of vision
well that's the that's the view of calvin we respect that but
i i have to confess i i'm not altogether satisfied with that
it does seem to me i i i wouldn't I wouldn't make it a strong principle,
but it does seem to me that what we have here is that that Hosea
actually did. Remarkable are the ways of God.
What is happening here is that he is being shown by the Lord
a representation of the states of the people of Israel and the
people of Judah. He's ministering, of course,
after the division of the kingdom There's two kingdoms now. There's
Israel, the ten tribes in the north with Samaria as their capital. There's Judah and little Benjamin
in the south with Jerusalem still as their capital. And what we
have said before us in what the prophets, either he does literally
or does it in a vision, is a representation of the unfaithfulness of God's
ancient people. Or what sort of a situation were
they in? In chapter 4, hear the word of
the Lord, ye children of Israel. For the Lord hath a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth nor
mercy nor knowledge of God in the land. They were really guilty
of spiritual adultery. That's what God is saying by
what actions this prophet is told to perform. There in chapter
2 and verse 7 God says she shall follow after
her lovers, but she shall not overtake them, and she shall
seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will
go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me
than now. For she did not know that I gave
her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and
gold, which they prepared for Baal. All that God had favoured
them with in His kind providence, what did they do? They brought
these and sacrificed to Baal, to idols. All they were in a
sad, sad state. Ephraim is joined unto idols. Let him alone, we read here in
chapter 4 and verse 70. And yet when we come to the words
that I've announced as our text, Do we not see that God is yet
a gracious God, still in spite of all their sin, in spite of
all their spiritual adulteries, in spite of all their provokings
of the Lord God? Yet what does the Lord say here
in the words of our text? Come, come and let us return
unto the Lord, for He hath torn and He will heal us. He hath
smitten and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive
us. In the third day He will raise
us up and we shall live in His sight. And what do we have here,
the very first word of the chapter? It's that great gospel word,
it's the word come. Oh, that is pure gospel. When
the Lord God says to any sinner, come. We have it there right
at the end of the Scriptures, remember? In Revelation 22, the
Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that is athirst,
Come. And whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. That's the Gospel. Oh, that's
the Gospel. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye,
buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. That's the free gospel, is it
not? And the sinner is to come. the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself there at the end of Matthew 11 come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden says Christ and I will give you rest take
my yoke upon you learn of me I am meek and lowly in heart
and ye shall find rest unto your souls come this afternoon at Hejen, we had
Mr. Paul Tyler ministering, he'd
been preaching earlier in the morning at Swanwick Shore, came
over and he was preaching this afternoon there in Matthew 14.
You know that incident after the Lord had fed the 5,000 and
he sends the disciples away and he departs to pray. They've gone away in the boats
and there's a great storm and they're afraid. It's a terrible
storm. and of course it was a stormy day today and he was saying how
in a sense it was this storm that led him to his particular
text so he was dealing with that whole passage of scripture and
remarked how the Lord doesn't come to them until the fourth
watch of the night not the first watch or the second or the third
the fourth watch, the last watch between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. when it's the darkest hour are
there to wait until the Lord came and then the Lord does come
and you remember that incident where He assures them, be not
afraid He says it is I and old impetuous Peter says to the Lord
if it is Thee let me come unto thee and the Lord said come it
struck me as he was reading the passage and the Lord responds
to Peter if it be thee Lord bid me come unto thee and the Lord
says come oh it is surely truly a great gospel words this word
come come and let us return unto the Lord For He hath torn, and
He will heal us. He hath smitten, and He will
bind us up. As I said, I want to deal with
these two things. Firstly, to say something with
regards to the sinner's condition, and then secondly, to say something
with regards to where it is that the sinner can find a cure to
his awful plight. First of all, then, to say something
about the condition of Ephraim and Judah at this time. What does the Lord say there
at verse 4? O Ephraim, what shall I do unto
thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness is as a morning
cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. Whatever appearance
of anything that was good or prizeworthy in them out, it so
quickly vanishes away. Why? They were such a sinful
people, and they were guilty of many sins, and we're told
throughout the book something of what these sins were, and
when we examine the Word of God, how close it comes to us. Can
we say that we're any better really than Ephraim and Judah
at this time? What were their sins? Well, they
were guilty, often times, of backsliding. They were those
who were departing instead of going forward, they were going
backwards from the Lord. And see how they're rebuked here
in Verse 16 of chapter 4, Israel slide us back as a backsliding
heifer. And then again later in chapter
11 and verse 7 it says, my people are bent on backsliding. Or they're
not just backsliding once, they're backsliding again and again and
again. And can we say that we're not
those often times backsliding in hearts? Isn't that the truth
that we do backslide in heart? We might not backslide outwardly. It might appear to others that
we're still walking in that narrow way. We're those who are going
on with the Lord. But what is the real state of
our hearts? Or there is such a thing you
see as backsliding in heart? the wise man says in Proverbs
the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own wives
remember man looketh on the outward appearance and the Lord looketh
on the heart we come, we attend the chapel regularly you sit
in the pew, I stand here in the pulpit but how much of that is
maybe just a pretense that's how others see us but the Lord
sees us as we really are And now, again and again the Lord
God rebukes His people. Remember this man Hosea, he is
ministering at exactly the same time as the prophet Isaiah. It's the same kings who were
reigning, those kings that are mentioned here in the opening
verse of the book. Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Ezekiah,
kings of Judah, the same men who were ministering as we see
there in the book of Isaiah. And remember what Isaiah says
concerning that people how they were drawn near to God with the
mouth. How they would come time and again and honor God with
their lips, but where were their hearts? Where were their hearts? They were backsliders in hearts. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch
as these people draw near me with their mouth and with their
lips to honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and
their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, therefore,
behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among these
people, even a marvellous work and a wonder. for the wisdom
of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their
prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them! And so it goes
on. Oh, the backslider in hearts,
filled with his own lie. And this is one of the sins that
they were guilty of. And now we have to look to ourselves.
Well, we have to examine ourselves. This is what This is what David
was brought to, was it not? I mean, David's backsliding was
so open, so obvious. Why? He was guilty of the very
act of adultery. And he was a man implicated in
the murder of Uriah the Hittite, trying to cover his sins. But
he's brought, you see, by the faithful dealings of the Prophet
Nathan. to see the folly of his way.
And what does he say in his great penitential psalm? Behold, speaking
to the Lord God himself, Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward
parts, and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to understand
wisdom. It's truth in the inward parts. That's where real religion is.
It's in our hearts, is it not? The Lord Jesus says the kingdom
of God is within you. It's not having a form of godliness.
We have a form of godliness when we come together like this and
worship God. Oh, but what a reality. You see
these people, they were backslidden in heart. They seem to be so
religious. But what were they really? They
were guilty. They were guilty of sins. They
were guilty of idolatry. Now, again, we would have to
say in many ways their ideology was so open, so blatant. Ephraim
is joined to idols, it says, in chapter 4 and verse 16. And then again, in the 8th chapter, and there at the end of the 4th
verse, We read how they made them idols. They have set up kings, but not
by men. They have made princes, and I
knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made
them idols, that they may be cut off. Or God will cut off
idolaters, you see. Now, I'm sure we do not make
Idols are the silver and gold. We don't make idols in that sense. And yet, are we not many, many
times guilty of the worst sort of idolatry? Remember how Paul speaks of covetousness,
which is idolatry. Covetousness, the tenth commandment,
thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, thy neighbor's house, thy neighbor's possessions. It was
that Tenth Commandment, of course, that found out Saul of Tarsus,
that self-righteous man. Oh, outwardly, you see, he was
such a good Jew. He was a Pharisee. Why he was
the son of a Pharisee, he was living the life of a Pharisee,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless,
that was his boast. Ah, but the commandment came,
and sin revived, and he died. And what was the commandment
that came? Thou shalt not covet. And he saw what his heart was,
it was full of concupiscence, I like the word, I know it's
a strange old-fashioned word that we have there in Romans
7 but concupiscence, all manner of evil desire, full of desire
desiring things, longing after things coveting things covetousness
which is idolatry and these people were idolatrous people, that
was their sin backslidden in heart Idolaters. Again, what does Paul say concerning
this idolatry, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, who
glory in their shame, who mind earthly things. Here's idolatry,
minding earthly things, or setting our affections on the things
of this world, the things that are sin, our temporal things.
The unseen things are the eternal things, where are our affections
set? Are our affections really, honestly, truly, as we must answer
before God, are our affections set upon things above, where
Christ is, at God's right hand? Oh, they were such a sinful people.
You know, they were the worldly people also, these people. Again
there in chapter 7 verse 8, Ephraim, He hath mixed himself among the
people. He hath mixed himself among the
people. They were not separated. Be not conformed to this world,
says the Apostle, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. We are not to conform to the
world. and the ways of the world. God's people are to be a separated
people. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, it is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the
world and the fashion thereof vanishes away. All that awful
sin of worldliness, How hard it is to be different. How easy
to follow the crowd. To be just like others. We want
to be liked by others. Quite understandable in a way.
We don't want to stand out. We don't want to be persecuted
as that people who spoil sports. All that awful sin of worldliness. Ephraim mixed himself. among
the people. He had no testimony. Or do people have to take note
of us that we're different? We've been with the Lord Jesus.
And we desire to walk with Him. Or we love, we love the Gospel. We love those exceeding great
and precious promises of the Gospel. Thank God for them. But
let us not be partial in the Word of God. Do we love the precepts
also, those gospel precepts? We want to walk in that way,
that way of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Oh, they were such a worldly people. These that the Prophet
is called to preach to, and his very actions you see, and what
he's doing. Taking this wife take unto thee a wife of whoredoms,
and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom." What is this whoredom? It's spiritual adultery, backsliding,
idolatrous, worldly. But also they were a people so
lukewarm. That's an interesting expression
that we have at the end of the 8th verse in chapter 7. They
likened to a cake not turned. What's the point? What's the
purpose of that imagery? A cake, not terms? Well, they're part bread, and
they're part dough. They're not a proper cake at
all. They're lukewarm, you see, in
their religion. think of the words that the Lord
speaks of that church of the loudest sins because they're
not lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew them out
of my mouth just as a person you see taking that cake that's
not been turned part dough part bread would he not spit it out
of his mouth? someone say everything? all friends
are we those who are only lukewarm Are we only lukewarm in the ways
of God? Or is this religion that we profess,
is it everything? Is the Lord Jesus Christ that
one who occupies that chief place in all of our lives? And we want
to live to His glory, or we want to know more and more, we want
to discover more and more about Him, the wonder of Him, the person
of the Saviour, who He is. All that great mystery, and it
is a mystery. The more one tries to look into
the mystery of God manifest in the flesh, why, the greater the
mystery becomes. We cannot begin to understand
how it's possible for God to be a man. A real man, and that's
what we have in Christ. He is a real man, as much human
as any of us here this evening. And yet, and yet, never anything
less than true Almighty God. Or do we love Him? Or can we
say at least we do desire to love Him? Or that we could love
and praise Him more? His beauty's trace, His majesty
adore, live near His heart, upon His bosom lean, obey, his voice
and all his will esteem, that was the religion of William Gadsby
and sometimes we might like to refer to ourselves as Gadsbyites
but is that our religion? or are we those who are only
lukewarm, these people they were lukewarm see so many sins so
many sins that they were guilty of, this is unfolded the faithful
dealings of the Prophet of the Lord spelling all of this out
to them they were ignorant they were ignorant in chapter 7 verse 9 strangers have devoured his strength
and he knoweth it not yea grey hairs are here and there upon
him yet he knoweth not again look at the language that we
have in chapter 5. The end of verse 4. They have
not known the Lord. What solemn words! They have
not known the Lord. You know we can know a great
deal about the Lord. We can have our heads full of
doctrine, full of sound theology, we can know a great deal and
yet we can still be those who are ignorant we know not the
Lord we won't know much about Him but do we know the Lord? all
these people you see they know not themselves and they know
not the Lord that's what we see in that verse in chapter 7 strangers
have devoured his strength and he knoweth he not Yea, grey hairs
are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. He doesn't
seem to know himself. He is so ignorant. And he knows
nothing of God. That's what we have there at
the end of that fourth verse in chapter 5. They have not known
God. I think I mentioned it before,
but it does strike me, the opening sentence the opening sentence
in that great work of the Reformation, John Calvin's Institutes of the
Christian Religion. And this is how Calvin begins
that great volume. He says, true and solid wisdom
consists almost entirely of two parts. The knowledge of God and
of ourselves. That is the beginning of true
wisdom. To know God's and to know ourselves. Some say, you know, we need to
pray that prayer to the Lord. Lord God, show me myself. And then the next prayer, Lord
God, show me thyself. We have to know what we are.
where we are and then we have to know that
it is only God who can help us, only God who can save us there's
a sense in which really the first prayer has to be Lord God show
me thyself it's only as God begins and reveals himself to us that
we see where we are and what we are God reveals himself in
his holy law That law which is holy, that
commandment which is holy and just and good. Or is it not a
manifestation of the very character, the attributes of God? That law. In it we see all God's holiness
and justice and righteousness. And then we see ourselves. Oh,
that law, it's good if a man use it lawfully. It's not made
for the righteous man, but for the lawless, for the disobedient,
for ungodly, for sinners. That's the administration of
the law, is it not? We see where we are, we see what we are, as
sinners. Whatever thing the law says,
it says to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. Our mouths have stopped. What
have we to plead? We're sinners. God has shown us himself and
he's a holy God and we're sinners. Ah, but there's something more
to know of God. Law and terrors do but harden
all the while they work alone. But a sense of blood brought
pardon soon dissolves the heart of stone when we see God revealing
Himself to us in all the fullness of His glory in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus. For no man hath seen God at any
time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared Him." Oh friends, what a blessed declaration
it is when Christ declares God to us, shows God to us, reveals
God to us. and we see then how horrible
our sin is in all the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ that
one who is the great sin bearer those are good words are they
not that Elihu speaks in Job 34 and verse 32 that which I
see not teach thou me that's what we need to pray that which
I see not teach them that ignorance is a terrible thing. This ignorance that these people
were so guilty of, they knew not. They knew not themselves,
they knew not God. Oh, this is the wonder God is
to be known. That's a great wonder, is it not? God is altogether
unknowable. He is the Great Creator. We are
the creatures. He's the Eternal One. And we
only know all the limitations of this mortal life. All the
limitations of time and of space and God. Why? God is omnipresent. He's everywhere.
All the immensity of God. And yet God dwells in the highest
heavens. How can we know God? Can't say
by searching find out God? Of course not. And yet God is
to be known. That's the wonder. But do we
desire to know Him or are we content to be so ignorant, just
to paddle along? Or to say with that good man
Elijah, that which I see not, teach thou mine. Many sins in of these people.
Their backslidings, backsliding in
hearts, their idolatry, all these sins
that they were so guilty of worldliness, lukewarmness, ignorance that's
the condition but let us turn secondly to say something tonight
before we close concerning the cure the spiritual cure for Ephraim
and Judah and we have it here in the text come and let us return
unto the Lord for He has torn and He will heal us, He has smitten
and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive
us. In the third day He will raise us up and we shall live
in His sight. Now, I want to observe two things
with regards to the cure. There's a negative and there's
also a positive. The negative and the positive. What does the Lord do? Well,
first of all, he tears and he smites. He hath torn, it says. He hath smitten. That's what
God does. Now, the reference here is to what we have at the
end of the previous fifth chapter. God says in verse 12 of chapter
5, Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of
Judah as rottenness, or the Margin says, as a worm. I will be unto
Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as a worm. God's going to eat away at them.
God's going to destroy them. There's rottenness there, there's
beauty, there's apparent beauty. It must all be consumed, burnt
up, taken away. that we read of again in the
language of the Psalmist, in Psalm 39, and verse 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct
man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like
a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah. Pause. The sea lions are significant,
are they not? There's a pause there, maybe
we're meant to stop, to consider, to think about what's being said
in that verse. When thou, that's the Lord God,
when thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity. This is how
God begins to deal with that silly sinner. Thou makest his
beauty to consume away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. And God begins to deal with his
people. That's what God was doing in the days of Hosea, in the
days of Isaiah. He was dealing with them as his
ancient covenant people, as that typical people, that people who
are a type of the true Israel, the spiritual Israel. God was
dealing with them time and again. And what did they do as the Lord
began to deal with them? there in chapter 5 verse 13 when
Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound then went
Ephraim to Assyria to the Assyrian and sent to king Jareb yet could
he not heal you nor cure you of your wounds? Oh the Lord deals
with his people what do they do? They don't turn to the Lord
They look elsewhere, look anywhere but to the Lord. And I have to
confess that many, many times, and that's me all over. Why the
last thing sometimes we do is to turn to the Lord in prayer.
We'll look this way, look that way, we'll think, well, I'll read my books, I'll try
to understand, I'll consult someone wiser than I am. We look to men.
This is what they were doing. They were looking to men. And
we're not to look to many. I know there's that scripture
in the multitude of counsellors they recited, that's good. And
I don't decry that for a moment, that's biblical. But the first
thing is to look to the Lord. Seize from man whose breath is
in his nostrils, for whereof is he to be accounted of? asked
the psalmist. We're to seize from men. But see how God deals with His
people. He says in verse 12 of chapter
5 that He will be as a moth to Ephraim, as a worm to Judah. What does Ephraim do? Turn us
to the Assyrian. So what does God do? Verse 14,
I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house
of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away,
I will take away and none shall rescue him." Or God's got to
deal with His people more severely. That's how it is sometimes with
us. The Lord has to deal with us more severely. He's a good
God, He's a gracious God, He's gentle in His dealings, but sometimes,
sometimes God has to become more severe because we're so foolish.
And how was it that God did this? How did He cut them up? How did He wound them? Well,
the image is that of the lion, the young lion, but what is God's
way really? He does it by the ministry of
His words. He does it by the prophets. Look at what we have here at
verse 5 in chapter 6. Therefore have I hewed them by
the prophets. I have slain them. by the words
of my mouth. That's how God does it, His Word.
Oh, it's sharper than a two-edged sword. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Sometimes we need reproofs and corrections. That's how God deals
with us. That's how God deals with His
people. They have to hear His words. And that's the exhortation,
is it not? There in the beginning of chapter
4, hear the word of the Lord. Ye children of Israel, for the
Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in
the land. Hear the word of the Lord. Oh, what a blessed and privileged
people we are. We hear the Word of the Lord.
Isn't that what we come together for on the Lord's days? This morning, again this evening
we come here not to hear the words of men, we want to hear
the Word of the Lord. On Thursday we want to hear the
Word of the Lord. We want the Lord to come and
how does the Lord come? He comes by His Word. and even God's coming by His
words to deal with us severely. I hewed them, He says, by the
prophets. I have slain them by the words
of my mouth. Oh, what a blessing it is, you
say, the negative. But there's not just a negative.
There is not just a negative, there's a positive also. What
was the ministry of Jeremiah is told. Right at the beginning
of the book, Jeremiah 1.10, I have these days set thee over the
kingdoms, says God to the prophet, to what end? To root out, and
to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build
and to plant. Now, I know there's twice as
many negatives as there are positives, but all the negatives ultimately
lead up to the positives there has to be all that destruction
first thou turnest man to destruction and sayest return ye children
of men ultimately God builds up and plants all there is that
positive there is such a balance in God and all the ways of God
there can be no positive except first there is the negative and
we have those negatives there at the end of chapter 5 and then we come to
the text come and let us return unto the Lord for he has torn
and he will heal us he has smitten and he will bind us up after
two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us
up and we shall live in His sight. This is God you see, this is
the way of God. He maketh sore and bindeth up. He woundeth. His hands make whole. We see time after time here in
the Word of God there in that 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy the song of Moses The man of
God. See now that I, even I, am He. And there is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hands, says God. All we have to learn that
He is God. And God must and will have His
way with us. And here is that precious truth,
you see, that where we get our woundings, it's the same place
that we find our healings. That's what God is saying. The
God who wounds is the God who heals. The God who slays and
kills is the God who makes us alive again. And so we have it
here, after two days will He revive us. In the third day He
will raise us up and we shall live in His sight. Now isn't that a Gospel text?
Isn't that second verse here tonight a Gospel text? Isn't
there some allusion here to the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection? In the third day He will raise
us up. Or the Lord Jesus rose again
from the dead on the third day, did He not? And the wonder of
that declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, we read in Romans
1.4. He is made of the seed of David
according to the flesh His human nature, you see, that's made.
The body has now prepared me. The Holy Ghost comes upon the
Virgin Mary. And what is formed in the womb
of that pure Virgin, that holy thing, that spotless human nature
joined to the person of the Eternal Son of God. He is made of the
seed of David. Mary was the seed of David. she
was descended from David made of the seed of David according
to the flesh declared, marked out to be the Son of God according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead
oh He is not made the Son of God, He is the eternal Son of
God but here we see Him now in the resurrection what a wonder,
what a miracle this is that He rises again the third day. And
in the resurrection, in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, all
His people are united to Him. All His people are in Him, in
the eternal covenant. He is the head of the body, the
Church. When He rises, they are really rising in Him. Thy dead men shall leave, He
says. Together with my dead body shall they arise." And He says
to His own disciples, because I live, because I live, ye shall
live also. For the third day He will raise
us up and we shall live in His sight. These who are dead in
trespasses and in sins, they live in Christ. Come, and let
us return unto the Lord for He has torn and He will heal us,
He has smitten and He will bind us up. And to whom is it being
addressed, His call? Who is this word for? Who is
it that God is speaking to here? Well, we've spoken of who they
are. They're idolaters. They're backsliders. They're
worldly. They're lukewarm. They're ignorant. Lord have those, you see, who
have sinned against the Lord. Go to the end of the book and
what do we read there in the last chapter? O Israel, return
unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. Say unto him, Take
away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render
the calves of our lips." Oh, it's the Lord God, you see, who
addresses His people. Verse 4 there, He says, I will
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger
is turned away from Him. All that anger, it's been turned
away. Where has that anger been visited? It's been visited upon
the person of God's only begotten Son. He has died for the just,
for the unjust, to bring sinners to God. Oh, this is the God,
you see, that we come together to worship, the one that we are
to render the calves of our lips to praise him, to bless him,
for all the glories of the gospel of the grace of God. Oh, where
sin abounds, grace doth so much more abound. Thank God for that
gospel then, that gospel of the free, sovereign grace of God
that we see in our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord be pleased
to bless these things to us. Amen.