Now let's turn to the last chapter
of the book of Hosea, Hosea 14. And as we close this book out,
I hope the study of this prophet, the word of God through this
prophet has been a help to you, has been an encouragement to
you. What a picture of grace this is. What a great picture,
a vivid description of the sovereign free and unconditional grace
of the Lord to save sinners in Christ. Hosea, the prophet of
God, and Gomer, his whorish wife, fallen in sin, the failure. And
Hosea, who is a type of Christ, and Gomer, who is a type of the
redeemed of the Lord, sinner saved by grace, describes us
spiritually in every way, doesn't she? And then we see God's long-suffering
with the nation Israel, as they are, in essence, in many ways,
a type of the church. We know that there was no eternal
salvation in that earthly covenant, but in many ways, they are a
type of the church, the redeemed of the Lord, and we'll see that
tonight in this message in chapter 14. The title of this message
is, Return Unto the Lord. return unto the Lord. And this
final chapter begins with a call to repentance, a call to the
people of God to repentance. And then it's followed by a promise
of divine, sovereign, merciful restoration. So let's look first
at this call to repentance. Look at verse 1. The prophet,
or God through the prophet cries out, O Israel, Israel. Return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Return unto the... And when I see verses like that,
I think of several things. I think about the fall of man,
Adam. Our father Adam, the representative
of the whole human race, when he fell, he left God because
of his own iniquity. He took sides with Satan against
God, and we fell in him. That's our ruination by the fall,
that we're dead in trespasses and sins, we identify with Him.
And when God brings us to Christ by the power of His Spirit, that's
exactly what we do, we return unto the Lord. And this fall
is to be cast down, it's to be destroyed, it's to be ruined,
it's to be overthrown, it's to fail. Everything that Hosea's
wife, Gomer, pictured, it's to stumble, it's to be totally impotent. As we say in theology, totally
depraved. And understand this, that total
depravity does not mean that every person who fell in Adam
is always as bad as they could be. That's not the case. But
it does mean that it's impossible for any of us to be saved by
our works, by our deeds. For by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in Christ. So we fell in Adam. And the only
way that we can be restored and return unto the Lord is by His
grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this title
Lord here, remember that, it's in all capital letters, that's
the covenant-keeping God, that's Jehovah God, that's the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's the God who is merciful
as well as just. It's the God who is gracious
as well as righteous. It's the God who is a God of
covenant love, redeeming love, as well as the judge of all the
earth. He is both a just God and a Savior. He's the one who saves sinners
by grace, as exemplified in all of His works and His ways. And
the point of it is, is that though we fell in Adam, we cannot fall
in Christ. We cannot fall in Christ. It's
impossible that we fall away unto destruction and perdition
and damnation in Christ. You know, people today talk about
that phrase, once saved, always saved. Well, listen, once you're
saved by God's grace in Christ, you're always saved in God's
grace by Christ. And it'll never be any different
in that sense. But now, believers, even God's
people, Just like Israel under that earthly covenant. Just like
the nation Israel under that earthly covenant. Believers can
be overtaken in a fault. Look over at Galatians chapter
6. Believers can stray from the Lord. They can stray. When I was studying for this
message, I thought about that hymn that we sang. We sang it
last week. Come thou fount of every blessing. And that one, I think it's the
last verse, it says, O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm
constrained to be, let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering
heart to thee, my wandering heart. And then it says, prone to leave
thee, Lord I wander, prone to leave the God I love. Here, take
my heart and seal it, seal it for thy courts above." I think
I messed up the words there, but that's the case, isn't it?
And I want to tell you something, even a sinner saved by the grace
of God has to fight the flesh so that we won't, by the power
of the flesh, be overtaken in the fault. in sin. And you can
call that a lot of different things. Hosea calls it backsliding. I know a lot of people have a
different view of backsliding, different ideas of that. We'll
talk about that in just a minute. But I want you to look at Galatians
chapter 6. It says in verse 1, brethren, and he's talking about
believers here, if a man be overtaken in a fault, now we've all got
faults, but we're all sinners. There's nothing, listen, we think
about this, you know, there is at no time that any of us, even
as sinners saved by grace, can say, now I've arrived and I've
made it in myself. The only way that I can tell
you that I have arrived is I believe stated in 1 John 4 in verse 17,
where it says, as Christ is, so are we in this world. In Christ,
I've arrived. In Christ, I'm as righteous as
I'll ever be. In Christ, I'm as complete as
I'll ever be. You can't add anything to Christ.
If you try to add anything to Christ, you deny Christ. If you
say, if you try to add anything to Him for salvation and for
completeness and for righteousness, then what you're actually saying
is that He's not enough. And He is enough. His blood is
enough to save me from my sins. His righteousness is enough to
justify me. But in myself, in my own experience
while on this earth, I have a long way to go. And nothing I do or
try to do is perfect. And that's what Paul meant in
Philippians chapter 3 when he was talking about how he had
not already attained. I pressed toward the mark of
the high calling. Well, so we all have our faults,
and sometimes our faults can overtake us. So he says, brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, and what
he means there is mature and grown. And the reason is, you
talk about backsliding, here's the point. And again, I'll define
that in just a moment. But if you're not growing in
grace and in knowledge of Christ, you're backsliding, in essence. I'll show you that. But he says,
restore such in one in the spirit of meekness. Now that's the spirit
of humility. And how, what does that mean?
Well, look at it. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tested. What if God put you in that position? That that person who's overtaken
in that fall. He says, verse 2, bear ye one
another's burdens. That means empathize with each
other. and so fulfill the law of Christ, which is the law of
love. Love one another. In other words, when a man or
a woman is overtaken in a fault, you're not to cast them off and
to browbeat them and whip up on them with the law. Now, you
know that. Now, there are times when there
are people who have to be put out of the assembly. Read it
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and 5 about the man who was bringing
public scandal upon the church. But even that was with having
this in mind. restoring him, bringing him to
repentance. So he says in verse 3 of Galatians
6, for if a man think himself to be something when he's nothing,
he deceiveth himself. You look at that brother or sister
who's overtaken in a fault, you say, well, I would never do that.
Not me. Or how could anybody do that?
Well, if you really think you're that good, then you better think
again because you're nothing. That's what he's saying. You're
deceiving yourself. So he says in verse four, let every man
prove, test his own work and then shall he have rejoicing
in himself alone and not in another. In other words, your rejoicing
will be in the fact that God's delivered you and forgiven you
freely and not because you think you're better than somebody else.
Go back to Hosea 14. This is the issue here. Believers
can be overtaken in a fall, but we cannot fall unto perdition. Paul wrote about that in Hebrews
chapter 10. John wrote about it in 1 John
chapter 3. That verse 9 that is so perplexing
to so many people where it says that one who is born of God cannot
sin. For his seed remaineth..." That's
talking about he cannot fall away unto perdition because his
seed, Christ's children, cannot fall away. They remain in him. They remain in Christ. Now, Hosea
says here in verse 1, "...O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Adam's fall was because
of Adam's sin. Our fall is because of our sin
in Adam. And whenever we are overtaken
in a fault, it's because of our sin. The blame belongs to us.
We cannot blame God. And you think about it now. I
know what the Scripture says about God's absolute sovereignty,
that God purposed all things and works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And that falls through all of
God's providence. God's in control. We're going
to look at that next time when we start into the book of Joel.
Jehovah is God. That's what Joel means. That's
his name. It means Jehovah is God. And
what the point is through that prophet is that no matter what
goes on here on earth, God is still God. He's on the throne. He's in control. And I know we
can't understand and grasp the magnitude of that truth. And man, what he wants to do
when he hears that, he wants to blame God for his sin. But
you can't do that. You know why? Because the Scripture
says you can't. Because God's Word says you can't.
What are we to do? We're to take the blame for our
sins. We're to take sides with God
against ourselves. And God instructs the fallen
here, return unto thy God. And he's speaking here in covenant
relationship. Now to Israel, the nation, it
was the covenant of law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, given
to them through Moses on Mount Sinai. And it was a temporal. He's talking about temporal restorations,
all of that. But to the people of God, spiritual
Israel, it's a covenant relationship in Christ made before the foundation
of the world. And it's because of that covenant
relationship instigated by God's sovereign grace from the very
beginning that the people of God will be saved and will return
unto the Lord. God is the first cause of our
salvation. He's talking about repentance
here, return unto the Lord. And the first action of repentance
is an acknowledgment of our sin. It's a confession of sin that
will mark the return of God's people to the Lord. John the
Baptist spoke of it. He preached the word of repentance. He baptized with the baptism
of repentance. He told the religious majority
and leadership of his day who were religious but lost, he said,
bring forth fruits, meat for repentance. The Lord himself
spoke of it. He said, repent ye and believe
the gospel. Faith and repentance come together. You can't trust Christ and trust
anyone or anything else. If you turn to the Lord, you've
got to turn away from sin, turn away from self, turn away from
all idolatry. You can't have both. You can't
serve two masters. You can't serve God with a divided
heart. The apostles spoke of it too,
talking about repentance which is a gift of God, God to His
people. Look at verse 2 of chapter 14,
he says, take with you words and turn to the Lord. He says,
say unto him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so
will we render the calves of our lips. What's he talking about? The thing about repentance is,
first of all, it involves a confession of sin, an acknowledgement of
our sin. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I don't deserve anything from
you. Whatever you do to me is right. If you save me, it's by
grace and mercy. If you bless me, it's grace and
mercy. I don't earn it. I haven't forgotten.
That's a confession of sin. But it's also a confession with
the mouth. And that's what he means, take
with you words. Let me read you this passage
in Romans chapter 8 beginning at verse 9. It says, or verse
8, it says, but what saith the word? The word is nigh thee even
in thy mouth and in thine heart. Now it's not a confession made
with words or with the mouth, that doesn't involve the heart.
There's a lot of people, our Lord said this, they draw nigh
with their lips but their hearts far from me. But now this confession
that he's talking about with these words is a confession what
the mouth confesses out of the heart. And he says, the word
of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, that is, that He's my Savior, He's my
righteousness, He's my forgiveness, He's my hope, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, that
is, that He finished the work, He redeemed me from my sins,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. You know, when you believe in
Christ, that's what you do, you believe unto righteousness. and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." But did
you notice here in Hosea 14, 2, he says, take with you words
and turn to the Lord. What words do we take? Where
are we going to find the words? Who's going to give us the words?
I'll tell you exactly who he is. God's going to give us the
words. God gives us these words in repentance. Because repentance
is from the Lord. Repentance, like faith, comes
by hearing God's words. And here's what he says. Here's
exactly what we say. Now, this is not a formula. You
know, I get so tired of hearing these preachers on TV saying,
now pray this prayer and repeat after me. And then they give
them that formula. I don't like that. I don't like
that because it's too mechanical and people will do that and they
don't even know what they're saying. But now here's what the
Lord says. He says, take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously or give us the good. That's what
that literally means. In other words, take away all
iniquity. When we return to the Lord in
God-given repentance, We take His words with us, coming humbly,
recognizing our sin and our total dependence on the grace of God.
This take away all iniquity is literally lift all my sins off
of me. That's what that is literally.
Here's what you say, Lord, lift all my sins off of me. Now, if
God's gonna lift your sins or my sins off of me, what is He
gonna do with it? What's He gonna do with it? He's
gotta do something with it. He's going to put them on Christ.
Don't impute, charge, account my sins to me. I need a mediator. I need a substitute. I need a
redeemer. I need a sin bearer. I need someone
to stand in my place. That's what you're saying there.
He put them on Christ. And then he says, receive me
as good. Now how in the world is the Lord
going to receive me, a sinner, as good? There's not but one
way, and that is under the blood and in the righteousness of Christ.
This is repentance that's based upon blood atonement. That's
what he's talking about here. This is the offering of praise. This is a sinner standing before
God like that old publican. pleading unto God for an atonement
for sin, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, be propitious. Satisfy your justice for all
my sins. Give me the good. Embrace the
good. How do you embrace the good?
You turn to Christ for all goodness. You look to him for all righteousness
and forgiveness. It's a return to covenant worship,
worshiping God in spirit and in truth. And look at verse 3.
He says, Asher shall not save us. Now, Asher is another name
for Assyria. That's the great army that's
getting ready to come down upon Israel. And they had gone to
them to try to strike a treaty and an agreement to get protection.
Well, he says they won't save you. The heathen nations and
their gods cannot save you. That's don't look to them. They're
no good. They won't save you, they'll
do you no good. And then he says, we will not ride upon horses. You know, back then the horse
was an imminent symbol of power and wealth. And what he's saying
is you can't be saved by your own power and your own wealth.
It won't do any good. And horses were also means. They
were a means to get from point one to point B. And he said,
the means will not save you. Earthly powers and earthly means
cannot save us from our sins. It reminds me today, people look
to the means today. For example, you know, there
are a lot of people today, they don't have faith in Christ. You
know what they have faith in? They have faith in their faith.
Well, faith is a means. If it's truly faith in Christ,
it's a God-given means. And that's why you'll have people
running around here worried about, have I believed enough? Have
I believed enough? You see, the issue in salvation
is not have you or I believed enough. The issue in salvation
is who is the object of our faith? In whom do we believe? And has
he done enough? Now that's the issue in salvation.
Not do I believe enough or have I done enough. The answer to
that question, just let me give you a blanket answer to that
question. No, you haven't. No, I haven't. But I know this,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Christ
has done enough. So don't have faith in your faith.
because your faith will not save you. I know the Lord told that
woman, He says, thy faith has saved thee, but He's talking
about the object of faith. Her faith was in Him. And that's
what He meant by that. Don't get confused about that.
Don't have faith in your faith. Don't have faith in your repentance.
Those are just means, like these horses say. They can't save you.
Only Christ can save a sinner from sin. Have faith in Him.
There's the key. And I'll tell you, if you ever
come to true repentance, that's it. Right there. Forsaking all
idolatry. Look at it. He says, verse 3,
Asher shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither
will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods.
That's talking about the idols that they made with their hands,
but it's also talking about their works. The works of their hands. You see, idolatry. Idols can't
save us. Men cannot save us. We cannot
save ourselves. Repentance is a rejection of
all false gods made by men's hands, and it's a rejection of
all the works of our hands that are aimed at salvation. And then
look at the last line there. He says, For in thee, in God,
in the Lord, in Jehovah, the fatherless findeth mercy. Fatherless,
that's an orphan. Many times in the Bible, widows
and orphans are emblematic for those who are the least able
to do anything for themselves. They're totally helpless. They're
totally without hope, without help, without any means, left
destitute. And that's a great picture of
a sinner in need of salvation. Man in his fallen state without
God as his father. And in thee, he says, in the
Lord, the helpless and the needy. Well, who's that? That's me.
That's you. The helpless and the needy who cannot provide
for ourselves, who cannot help ourselves. You see, that phrase
that people like to say, God helps those who help themselves,
that does an orphan or a widow no good. We can't help ourselves. That's not grace. In fact, that's
not even in the Bible. Did you know that? I don't know, I don't remember
who said that. It's like that phrase, cleanliness is next to
godliness. That wasn't in the Bible, that
was John Wesley who said that. But you see, those things, those
things cannot help us. It's only in the Lord, the God
of grace that can help a sinner like me and a sinner like you
find mercy. But look at verse four. Now here
begins the blessings of God's grace to the repentant. Listen
to what happens here. This is to those whom God brings
to repentance. This is how God reveals Himself
to them. He says, number four, I will
heal their backsliding. In other words, He reveals Himself
first as the healer. Now this backsliding, you know
a lot of people, they use that term today. And a lot of people
think, well, this backsliding means that a person was saved
and then they lost their salvation. Well, that's not what that means.
The word actually means simply what it says, going backward.
It means to relapse, to relapse and go backward. And what I'm
saying is this, even a believer can do that because the Scripture,
listen, the Scripture is very plain on this issue. where there
is life there is growth now some growth is slow some growth is
faster and there might be growth in different areas at different
times but where there is life there is growth and where there's
no growth now you read this in john chapter fifteen we won't
go there tonight where there's no growth there's no life that's
what it says so if you're not growing what are you doing well
you're backsliding in essence you're relapsing You see that
in the scriptures. You see it in King David. We
studied the life of David. How many times did David himself
in his own personal growth, how did he relapse? And he didn't
lose his salvation, but he lost the joy of his salvation. How
many times have we seen that happen among our brethren? Sometimes
we don't know. Sometimes we don't know what's
going to happen to us. But here's the thing. Only God
can heal our backsliding. He's the healer. Now, there's
no healing in idols. That's what he's trying to tell
Israel here. There's no healing. You see, people, they get discouraged.
Even believers can do this, will get discouraged, and they'll
go after other things to find fulfillment. That's an idol.
There's no healing in idols. None at all. I remind you of
what Jeremiah said in his prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse
22 when he was talking about the city of Gilead, Gilead which
was known for its healing institutions and the herbs that they grew
there. And he made this statement, he said, is there no balm healing
in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
False religion cannot heal people. They can make you feel good for
a time. They can give you what they call a placebo, I guess,
you know, make you think you're healed when you're not. Jeremiah
spoke of that twice in Jeremiah 6, 14 and Jeremiah 8, 11. It
says the same thing in both verses. And here's what he says. He says,
they, that is false preachers, have healed also the hurt of
the daughter of my people slightly, not completely, slightly. And how did they do it? They
said, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Turn over to Mark
chapter 5. Listen to this. It's interesting,
you know, sometimes we read these passages of Scripture and we
don't make the connection a lot of times that I think is really
important for us to understand what the Lord really has for
us in our situation. But do you know the very subject
that's being spoken of in these passages here that I want to
show you is healing, spiritual healing. And in this one in Mark chapter
5, it's typified by physical healing, but it's in line with
repentance. And so this healing that the
Lord brings to His people is one that brings about repentance.
But look here in Mark chapter 5, look at verse 25. It says,
a certain woman, Mark 5, 25, which had an issue of blood,
a hemorrhage, 12 years, and had suffered many things of many
physicians. She wanted to be healed and had
spent all that she had and was nothing bettered. She spent everything
she had to human physicians to be healed, but she didn't get
any better, in fact, but rather grew worse. Her spending all
that time and money on human means and ways really just made
her worse. And it said, when she had heard
of Jesus, Jehovah, our Savior, came in the press, that is the
crowd behind, and touched his garment, for she said, if mine
may touch but his clothes, I shall behold. Behold. Now this is not
superstition, this is not magic, and don't go out and see if you
can find that robe so that you can pass it around and cut it
up and sell pieces to people. You see, it wasn't the robe that
healed her. You ever seen that movie, The
Robe? It wasn't the robe that healed her. It was the great
physician that healed her. It was the Lord, it was the man
who, it was the God-man who wore the robe that healed her. You
understand? And it says in verse 29, and
straightway, immediately, the fountain of her blood was dried
up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
He was healed. But now look over at Matthew
chapter 9. Look in Matthew chapter 9 and this right here, this makes the
connection beautifully right here between healing and repentance. And you know this is the thing,
we need healing every day. We need it every day. Look at
verse 11 of Matthew chapter 9. It says, or verse 10 rather,
it says, and it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat, or meal,
in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down
with him and his disciples. The people of ill repute And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why
eateth your master with publicans and sinners? Why would your master
sit down and have a meal with such people, even be seen with
such people? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous. Righteous don't need
salvation. They don't need to come to repent.
But I've come to call sinners to repentance. Now that's what
Hosea is talking about over here in chapter 14. Go back to it. This is the issue. How are sinners
healed from their sin? Well, we're washed in the blood
of Christ. By His stripes we are healed,
Isaiah 53 says. And here's the God of unconditional
love who sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Behold what manner of love. He said, I will heal their backsliding. I will heal their relapsing.
God saves us and He keeps us. He says in verse 4, I will love
them freely, unconditionally, without a cause. You see, if
you're a believer, put it out of your mind that you've got
to do something to get God to love you. It just isn't so. Because if you've got to do anything
to get God to love you, then you're not going to get God to
love you. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us. He said, I will love them for,
you know this verse four of chapter 14 is the theme of the whole
book of Hosea right there. For mine anger is turned away
from him. That's the theme of it, that's
grace right there. He goes on, he says in verse
5, I will be as the dew unto Israel. That's the moisture,
that's what brings the growth. He shall grow as the lily. What
he's talking about here is that he's not only the God of healing,
but he's the God of flourishing, the God of growth, the God of
new, flourishing, spiritual, eternal growth in life. Like
a tree planted by the waters, we can't be moved and we'll flourish. And he says, like the lilies,
you know, a lily grows straight up and quick. That's how we grow
by grace, straight up to God, looking up to Christ, looking
unto Jesus. And then he talks about he and
cast forth his roots as Lebanon. You've heard of the Bible speak
of the cedars of Lebanon. Well, the cedars of Lebanon,
they were strong trees because they had strong, deep roots. The lily grows straight up by
the grace of God, looking up to Christ. The roots of the tree
grow down. What's he showing us? He's showing
us that the way up to God is the way down. That's why, Paul,
when I'm weak, I'm strong. That's what he does. He establishes
our roots in him. And then look at verse six, his
branches shall spread. They'll go forth. They won't
stay in the same place. What's he talking about? He's
talking about how not only will we be in ourselves, but we'll
be an influence on others. In evangelism, spreading the
gospel of God's grace in Christ, and in love to our brethren,
seeking our edification, promoting the life of the body and the
unity of the body, He says in verse 6, his branches shall spread
and his beauty shall be as the olive tree. You know the olive
tree is a common emblem of Israel in the Old Testament, and then
Paul uses it in Romans chapter 11 as an emblem of spiritual
Israel, which includes Jews as believing Jews now, as the natural
branches because they are physically, they're not only spiritually
connected to Abraham, but physically connected to him, but as believing
Gentiles as the unnatural branches who were grafted in, but it's
all one olive tree. So what's he talking about? He's
talking about spiritual Israel. That's who he's describing here.
Ultimately, they're going to be restored. There's going to
be a people who come out of this darkness, out of this backsliding,
into his light. And the olive tree produces the
fruit that they say is the most healthy of all. They tell me
that olive oil is the best oil that you can have today. You
heart patients, you all know about that. And it's good for
you, you see. And that's what it is. That's
what this is talking about, how this repentance will bring about
the influence of grace that God will use in the salvation of
His people and in the growth of His people. And then He said
His smell as Lebanon. His beauty and His smell will
be a blessing to others. In other words, not a stench
to others to turn them away, but one to draw. And then look
at verse 7, he says, they that dwell under his shadow shall
return. Under his shadow. They shall
revive as the corn and grow as the vine and the scent thereof
shall be as the wine of Lebanon. You know, the scripture speaks
of shadows in a good way and in a bad way. Think about the
valley of the shadow of death. But he says, as we walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, what does Christ, the shepherd,
will be with us. He won't forsake us. In Psalm
17, 8, he says, keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under
the shadow of thy wings. We live under his shadow, and
that's where we want to be. That's where we want to be. He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty." And there he'll revive us as
the corn that grows. We'll grow as the vine and the
scent, the smell, literally the memorial. You might have that
in your concordance, thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
In other words, it's the best. And then look at verse 8, he
says, Ephraim shall say, what have I to do any more with idols?
I've heard him and observed him, I'm like a green fir tree, from
me is thy fruit found." This repentance is repentance of idolatry. I speak quite often of repentance
of dead works and idolatry. And that's what it is. Turn from
our idols to serve the living God. Turn from our dead works
to submit to Christ and His righteousness. And this repentance of idolatry
and growth from the grace and life of God in Christ, it's from
Him. He said, we'll be like the green
fir tree growing up, and it's from Him. He says, from me is
thy fruit found. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's the fruit of the life of the vine, which is Christ. Paul
wrote about it in Galatians 2.20, he said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. He
said, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain, but he did not
die in vain. And so the last verse of Hosea
is like this. Now let's read that. It says
in verse 9, he says, Who is wise, and he shall understand these
things? Who is prudent? The word prudent means to be
discerning. In other words, you know the difference between what's
right and what's wrong according to God's standard. And he shall
know them. For the ways of the Lord are
right, and the just, or the justified, that's a sinner saved by grace,
one who's justified in Christ. The just shall walk in them,
but the transgressors shall fall therein." There's just two ways. There's God's way of grace in
Christ and there's man's way of sin. And all who are made
wise and discerning by the Lord walk in the ways of the Lord
which are right. The natural man won't do that.
He receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can
he know them. They're spiritually discerned. He's not prudent,
you see. But those who've been made wise
by the grace of God in Christ, those who've been called by the
Spirit to the gospel wherein Christ is revealed as both the
power of God and the wisdom of God, they'll walk as justified
in the right ways of the Lord. And so what is he saying here?
He's saying what he said so many times after he finished a parable. Or what he said so many times
to the seven churches in Revelation. And it's simply this, he who
has ears to hear, let him hear. That's what he's saying there.
Do you have ears to hear? And those who don't have ears
to hear, they won't hear. They'll perish. But you who have
ears to hear, return unto the Lord God, our Savior. That's
what he's saying. By his grace, we will.