Turn back with me to Hosea, Hosea
chapter 14. This whole passage of scripture is
beautiful and wonderful. I don't want to look this morning
at just the first three verses, but oh, there's so much here. There's so much here. The title of the message this
morning is is God's institution of repentance, or God's instruction,
sorry, God's instruction of repentance. The Scripture says, O Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine
iniquity. In this prophecy, of Hosea. If you remember, the Lord commanded
the prophet Hosea, a man of God, to go and find a woman of whoredoms. He was commanded to go and to
take a prostitute and to marry her, a woman defiled, a woman
outcast, a woman that had sold herself, defiled herself, a whorish
woman. and he was to marry her. And
this marriage, he married a woman named Gomer. And if you remember,
Gomer, by the very definition of her name, means wasted. Wasted. And this marriage, God
said, was to be a picture, a type, of His relationship to Israel
and Israel's relationship to God. The prophet was to represent
God in this relationship and the whorish woman was to represent
Israel, His people. You remember it was God that
chose the nation of Israel to be His peculiar people. God chose
them not because they were the greatest nation, not because
they were the largest nation. Matter of fact, they were the
smallest, they were the most insignificant and truly one of
the most wicked of all nations. God chose them Plainly, not because
of any value they could add to Him. But God tells us plainly
He chose them because He would love them. You can see that in
Deuteronomy 7. God says, I chose you. I chose
you because I would set My love upon you. This is why I chose
you. And yet Israel, though chosen
of God, was a very wicked people. An evil people. who, like this
prostitute, Gomer, though betrothed, married, cared for, and had a
faithful husband, yet she went a-whoring after her lovers. Though God had given Israel His
Word, though God had sent His prophets, though God had testified
concerning the coming of His Messiah through types and pictures
and shadows and His very Word, yet Israel forsook Him. They forsook God and went a-whoring
after other gods. Other gods. And this nation of
Israel, Was a physical nation chosen of God? And they were
given many wonderful benefits. You think of all the benefits
that nation was given. They were the only one in all
the world that had the Word of God. Every other nation was left
to themselves. Every other nation was left to
the worship of false gods. And yet God proved that He cared
for them. Proved by giving His Word, by
delivering them from bondage time and time and time again. He delivered them and cared for
them. But the Apostle in Romans, and you can look over there,
Romans chapter 9, the Apostle in Romans chapter 9 tells us
plainly the purpose of why God chose this physical nation. He chose it as a type of His
spiritual people. His spiritual people. His true
Israel in Romans chapter 9 and verse 4. Paul said that, you
know, before, he said, I could wish myself a curse for my kinsmen
of the flesh who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption
and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and
the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of
whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all,
God bless forever, amen. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect, For they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel. Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed." This plainly tells
us that the nation of Israel was a type. It did not represent
God when He set His love on the nation of Israel. He did not
love every one of them. He did not set His love on that
whole physical nation. There are many of those who died
in unbelief. But this was rather a picture
to show us that Israel is a type, a picture of God's children,
God's elect. Israel is not physical, but spiritual. "...of which the physical was
a shadow of the true church of God." Now, spiritual Israel.
Spiritual Israel is like national Israel in this. They were chosen
of God. These are the elect of God who
were chosen of the Father, not according to their works, not
according to any merit that we could earn in God, earn from
God, but Israel. The elect were chosen solely
based on free and sovereign love. The elect of the Father were
chosen, predestinated, the scripture tells us, to be holy and without
blame before Him. In love, having predestinated
them unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. You see, the elect, Israel, the
spiritual Israel, were to be the children of God, the bride
of the Son of Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you, this was not
our experience when we came into this world. This is not the experience of
the elect as we came into the world. God made man holy. God made man upright. But when
Adam, as soon as he sinned and rebelled against God, he as the
federal head of all the human race, plunged us into ruin. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. You and I sinned in our father
Adam, and died in our father Adam. Therefore behold then,
that Israel is all ruined by nature. Israel's ruined, and
truly our name by nature is Gomer. Wasted. Wasted. Behold then that all Israel is
ruined. We are by nature as a stubborn,
whorish woman, wasted with sin, defiled by our iniquity, dead
in our trespasses, and polluted in our own blood. This is who
we are by nature. If you go back in Hosea and you
look in chapter 4, this describes us by nature. Hear the word of
the Lord, verse 1 of chapter 4. You 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. In verse 6, he said, My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me. Seeing
thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children. All men are born spiritually
dead. Ignorant. Ignorant. The law of God is written on
our hearts, and yet we by nature are neither willing nor able
to keep it. We are destroyed. Ruined. Here is knowledge. Here is the
wisdom of God. Can you receive it? Can you know
it? Here's the wisdom of God. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous. No,
not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. There's none that doeth
good. No, not one. And this means you. Just in case
you thought I was talking about somebody else. I want to make
sure that every one of you understand I'm talking about you and I am
talking about me. This is who we are by nature,
ruined, waste. Sin has taken us away and separated
us from our God. The Scripture says we are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, and we do fade as the leaf. Our iniquities, like the wind,
have carried us away. Carried us away from who? From
God. From God. People think that they're separated
from God by not doing things, or by keeping things, or by ceremonies. That's the way they think they
can approach unto God. No, our sin has separated us
from God. Our sin. Behold then, O foolish, wasted
sinner, then the hope of our text. You know, God spends a
majority of this book And it's like a thunderstorm in the distance. You see the clouds rolling in
and it's dark and it's black. It seems to be that lightning
would strike at any moment on the head of Ephraim, on the head
of Israel, at any moment. In chapter 14, you expect God
to put His fist and crush Israel because of their sin. But no,
it doesn't come. Look what comes instead. Oh Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. Return. This oh is not oh, but
it's oh. It has a loving inflection. He's
been this whole time telling how worthless Israel is, how
they've left Him, how they've abandoned Him, how they're destroyed,
how they're wicked and evil and served other gods. And then He
says, instead of wrath comes this awe, like His heart was
aching for them. Oh, Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. For thou hast fallen, you've
been ruined, you've been wasted, you've been destroyed by your
iniquity. Therefore, return unto the Lord
thy God. Here is a call of God then to
faith and repentance. Here is a call of God to sinners. for faith and repentance. If
the Spirit of God has made you to see your hopeless spiritual
condition, then may He also cause you to trust in Jesus Christ. This is the way to return. This is how sinners come to God. Through faith and repentance. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and repentance from sin. No man will ever turn to Christ
unless he trusts God. Unless he trusts Him. But without faith, the Scripture
says, it is impossible to please God. For him that cometh to God
must believe that He is. and that He is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. O sinner, if you know yourself
to be ruined by your sins, then you know this, you cannot trust
yourself. Anyone who knows they're wasted
cannot trust himself. If you still trust yourself,
you don't know yourself. You don't know what God says
about you. But if you ever know what God says about you, you'll
never trust yourself. And because you can't trust yourself,
you wouldn't go to yourself. For the heart is deceitful and
desperately wicked above all things who can know it. And if
you can't trust yourself, you definitely can't trust any other
man, because they're in the same condition you are. My son has come to me several
times asking me questions concerning his salvation. And you know what
I tell him every time? Why are you coming to me? I can't
do anything for you. I'll point you to one who can.
You have to go to Christ. I can't do anything for you.
Don't trust any other man. Because we're all in the same
condition. We all need the same thing. We
all need the salvation that comes from God. We can't trust any other man
because they too are a son of Adam's fallen race. They too
are wasted and ruined. And God says this, Cursed is
the man that trusteth in man. If you trust in somebody else,
you're cursed. You're cursed of God. Cursed
is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his strength,
and whose heart departeth from the Lord. See, you can't trust
God and you. You can't trust God and another
man. To believe and turn unto God,
you must trust God completely. Completely. But God is not a man that he
should lie. God says, oh, Israel, return
unto Me, for thy sins, for you've been ruined, you've fallen in
thine iniquity, return unto Me. If God says, return unto Me,
is He a liar? No. He's to be trusted. When God says something, He's
not a liar like we are. He gets no gain out of this. You add nothing to Him. And when
He says, come, why will you not come? Why will you not return? You say, well, because I'm ruined. Friends, that's the very grounds
He gives for returning. Look at that. He gives you the
grounds. He gives you the cause. He gives you the argument for
returning. It says, O Israel, return unto Me, because for thou hast fallen. By thy iniquity. This is the
grounds. This is God's reasoning. You
need to turn to God because you've fallen. That's no excuse not
to return to God. That's an excuse to return to
God. To repent. And second of all, see this.
Notice how a sinner is to turn to God in faith and repentance.
God doesn't leave this up to opinions. I like that. This is
not an opinionated subject. God actually gives you, and people
like those how-to books, right? They always, how to, and then
step one, step two. I don't know why. I don't I don't
particularly like that. I usually go to step 12. And
then I usually mess it up. But God here gives us a plain
how. Here it is. Look. Verse 2. How
do we turn? Take with you words and turn
to the Lord. Say unto Him. When the heart
of a sinner is pierced through by a just condemnation of God,
it's then that they begin to cry. It's then that the sinner
begins to groan within himself concerning his guilt, concerning
God's holiness and justice. He sees his condemnation and
he doesn't know what to do with it. He begins to cry out and
begins to find no rest. Tries to go back here and there's
no rest there. They turn this way and then there's
no rest there. It's kind of like laying in a
bed of thorns trying to take a nap. Everywhere you turn it's
pricked and you can't find rest. That's a sinner under conviction. Their guilt gives them no rest.
And then, God by this leads them to a wilderness called hopelessness. Have you ever been there? You
ever been to that wilderness place called hopelessness? He said in chapter 2, He said,
I will allure her into the wilderness and give her the valley of Achar
for a door of hope. He'll lure her into the wilderness
of hopelessness and it's then that we must turn to God for
mercy. But how? How will He accept us who have
refused Him so long? How will He accept us who have
rebelled against Him and sinned against Him, who said in our
heart, we will not have this man rule over us? How will He
take us? O sinner, return unto the Lord,
because returning to the Lord, and because
we would not know how to return, God gives us the very words to
say. He said, take with you words.
God does not leave these words up to us. He prescribes them very detailed. Very detailed. He said, say this. Take away all iniquity. Take away all iniquity. These are always the first words
of repentance. Always. These are always the
first words of repentance. Not take away my suffering. Not take away my pain. Take away
my sin. There's a great distinction,
isn't there, when people are suffering because of their actions,
they get into some kind of bind, some kind of trouble because
of their sin, and then they go to God and they say, Lord, take
this burden or this trouble away from me. You see, they don't
want to take away sin. But a man who is convicted of
sin, this is the first thing that he knows must go. Sin! If you are to ever return to
the Lord, you must first cry and take with you words. Not
just mere words. Not just recantation. Not just
regurgitation. But from the heart you must say,
Lord, take away my guilt. Take away my sin. My sin. These aren't recited words, but
these are rather words of confession. To return unto the Lord, you
must confess your sins. You don't even have to go down
the list of them. You would never get off your
knees. but rather come to God confessing
sin is what you are. You are full of sin. Lord, please, take it away. Take away my sin. This is the
true repentant heart. Take away my sin. There are many
who desire God to remove his justice and stay his hand of
vengeance. But they'd rather keep their
iniquity. Now that's not repentance. Nobody wants to go to hell. You
got that? So when most people come to God,
they'll say, Lord, take away your justice. That's not what
we're saying. I deserve hell. and God is right
if He gives it to me. I confess that. And I don't want
God to remove His justice, but I do desire that God remove my
sin so that I might escape it. The problem is our sin. O Lord, take away my sin that
I should escape Thy holy justice. This would be no comfort if God
just took away His justice. Isn't that right? If God left
your sin and took away His justice, who's to say He wouldn't come
back? Because then that would make God unholy. And He could
twice demand payment. Oh, but no. Lord, take away my
sin. How can God be holy who must
punish sin? Take away my sin without becoming
unholy. This is only done through the
person and work of Jesus Christ. Behold Israel, all you elect
of God from eternity. You were given to Christ. And Christ was from eternity
to be the surety of Israel. He was promised to be the Redeemer,
the High Priest of Israel. And so then at the appointed
time, Jesus came into the world to be made a man, to seed of
the woman, the stem of Jesse, the root and offspring of David,
that He should be made a man. And this was necessary so that
He might be a High Priest. Remember, I read to you just
a minute ago in Hosea chapter 4, God says you are no priest
to me. In other words, there's no way that you could offer any
sacrifice acceptable to my justice. But we need a priest. We need
someone to intercede between us and God. If we were to return
to God just with our sins, we would be condemned forever. We
need someone to intercede, to offer a sacrifice on our behalf. And this is what Christ has done.
This is the purpose of the Son of God. That He should offer
gifts and sacrifices unto God. You see, sin could only be removed
by blood. It can't be removed by tradition
or ceremony or determination. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. Blood must be shed. Justice must
be satisfied. The justice of God demands payment
for sin. And the price is too high. It's
too high for us to pay. I tell you, there have been men
trying for 5,000 years to pay for one sin in hell. They can't
do it. It's too high. But God's sending His Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. In His flesh, Jesus Christ, the
great High Priest, offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down
forever. How is it that a man's sins could
be taken away? I'm telling you that it's only
through the work of the person of Jesus Christ. He alone, by
His one sacrifice, has forever taken away sin. forever removed
sin, forever satisfied God's justice. So when I ask and I
return to God and I say, Father, forgive me of my sins, I'm not
asking God to move His justice. I'm asking God to take away my
sins, which He's already done in His Son. I'm not asking God
to do something that He hasn't already done. Take away my sins. He was condemned. Jesus Christ
made His soul an offering for sin, and was forsaken and punished
for sin without mercy, and His blood poured from His body. And
when His soul was flooded with death, then was all the iniquity
of Israel taken away. Taken away. Sinner, repent from your sin
and self. Turn to God with words of confession. I am a sinner and there's no
soundness in me. Lord, take away my iniquities.
How? By the blood of thy only Son. And notice this, second of all,
he says this, receive us graciously. Every sinner that comes to God
in repentance seeking to be freed from sin, forgiven of sin, pardoned
of sin, is to be received solely by the
free grace of God alone. For by grace, you are saved. If you are saved, I tell you,
it is by grace. And therefore, everyone who comes,
comes by grace. Well, what do we understand the
word grace to mean? Most religious people use this
word, but have not the same meaning. Most people say grace is something
to be obtained by seizing it. As though God's grace is floating
in the air, as though all you have to do is reach up and grab
it. And then you seize God's grace
and you take it. That's not grace. That's not
what we mean by grace. God's grace means without merit. God, I desire
to be received of Thee without any merit of myself, without
any glory to myself. Grace means unmerited favor and
therefore, by its very definition, excludes all works or merit to
obtain it or keep it. Lord, if I'm going to be saved,
I must return to Thee. I'm ruined. I'm a sinner. Take
away my sins and receive me by Your free, sovereign grace. This is what repentance is. Repentance
is to seek grace and mercy from God. So then, as a sinner repents
and turns to God, he looks by faith to Jesus Christ alone,
who has taken away his sin by his blood, and we come, not demanding
to be received, but rather begging. This is very obstinate and hated
by the natural man. Some men see God as needing our
grace. God doesn't need your grace.
You need His. I need His. Behold, O sinner,
I show you that God is full of grace. Now this is good for someone
who needs grace. Someone who has no merit. Someone
who has no standing by which to be accepted. We ask for grace. And God says, bring this word
with you when you come. Ask me for grace and I'll give
you grace. Ask me for it and I'll give it
to you. Is that not gracious? I read this. A man was desirous
of pardon. He was a rebel. And he was desirous
of pardon from a king. But he was an uneducated man.
He was a very low man. And he did not have the words
to say. He didn't know how to approach
a king. He didn't know what to do. The king, hearing this, gave
him a letter. Showed him how it is that he
would approach How it is that he would ask. And by that letter, the king
already approved before the man approached. I tell you, even before you come,
God's already given you grace. He's already given grace. To
those who come, He's already given grace. Come, ye sinners, and bow down
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing your sin,
seeking grace, and you will have it. Bring with you these words, take
away my sin, receive me graciously. Is that not, is that complicated? Is that, did I muddy the waters?
I didn't want to muddy the waters on that. May God just make that
as plain and simple as He possibly can by the Holy Spirit. You sinner,
ruined, wretch, you come to God and take these words, Oh, remove
my sin, receive me graciously. And notice the result of this.
He said, We shall render the calves of our lips. What is this
calves? Well, the calves were what they
sacrificed. What is it that a repentant man brings as a sacrifice? He brings nothing but praise
and thanksgiving. That's what God requires of everyone
that receives His mercy. You who have been forgiven of
all your sins. God wants nothing but your praise. Nothing but your thanksgiving.
We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of our Lord. Sacrifice of praise. Thanksgiving. We who have turned to the Lord,
are you a sinner in need of mercy? Then turn to the Lord and take
these words. And notice this in verse 3, I
sure will not save us. In other words, Assyria. Israel
had turned to Assyria, I don't know how many times. They just,
every time they had trouble, they'd either turn to Assyria
or Egypt. Assyria or Egypt. And God said, why are you turning
to them? Why have you not turned to Me? But I'll tell you, when a man
turns to God, he'll stop turning to himself. When a man repents and turns
to God, he'll stop turning. I know this, I cannot save myself. How do I know? I've tried. And
failed miserably. I cannot save myself. I will
not turn to Assyria anymore. I cannot save myself. I will
not turn to my flesh. We will not ride upon horses.
This is Egypt. In other words, everyone who
repents will not turn to law. Everyone who repents and turns
to Jesus Christ will not turn back to the law. Those who have
Christ never turn again to the weak and beggarly elements of
the law, the bondage. We who have been saved by the
grace of God through Christ are free from the law. And even though
we've been made righteous and by the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, we know this, that the law, though we love it, is no
helper to God. We do not believe on Christ,
which is a spiritual thing, and then turn back to trying to obey
the law. Oh, how some have erred from
the faith by returning to the law and trying to finish the
spiritual work by fleshly obedience. Not us. We will not ride upon
horses. We will not turn again to the
bondage of Egypt. Neither will we say any more
to the work of our hands, you are our gods. Everyone who repents
forsakes all other gods but the true and living God. I worship no other God but the
sovereign God of Holy Scripture. I worship the God who is in the
heavens, and has done whatsoever he hath pleased. I will not worship
any other God. Any God who is dependent upon
man or subject to man's will is no God at all, and we will
not worship them. Behold, my God has purposed salvation
of Israel by the work of His Son, and by the work of His Son
He has accomplished the salvation of Israel. I worship a successful
Savior. That's who I return to. That's
who's taken away my sin. That's who's received me graciously,
and I will offer my praise to Him alone. I like this. Some have translated
this first verse, if you go back to the first verse, it says,
O Israel, return. Some have translated this in
the past tense, and I like that. O Israel shall return unto the
Lord. Israel shall return unto the
Lord. We believe on Jesus Christ, who
is a successful Savior. His blood did redeem and reconcile
all of the elect of God. And I know this, every one of
Israel shall return. Have you returned? And if you
have not, why not? Hear God's Word. O Israel, Return unto the Lord
thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with
you words, turn unto the Lord, saying to him, take away all
iniquity and receive us graciously. For in thee, verse three, the
end, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. When Adam sinned, man was orphaned,
wasn't he? And yet God says to the orphan, you'll find mercy. If you need mercy, why will you
not come? Is it not because of your own
rebellious heart? And you who believe, do we not
still come in the same way now? These words are just as fresh
to me now as they were when I heard them the first time. And I still
come saying the same thing. Take away my sin. Receive me
graciously. Take away my sin. Receive me
graciously. Take away my sin. Receive me
graciously. And He does it every time. Every
time. Is this not a gracious God? Is
He not worthy of our trust? You bet He is. You bet He is. I've found Him true every time.
Haven't you? I pray you will. May God bless
this to you. The stand will be dismissed in
prayer.