All right, let's look back at
Hosea, the prophecy of Hosea, in chapter 5, the last verse,
and chapter 6. And the mainstay of what I want
to bring to you tonight from the Word of God in the preaching
of the gospel is in that last verse of chapter 5, verse 15,
and the first three verses of chapter 6. And the title of the
message is Revival and Resurrection in Christ. Revival and Resurrection
in Christ. Now what you have here in these
verses, chapter five, verse 15, through chapter six, verse three,
is a promise from God of a future revival, a revival of his word. Most of the time when the scripture
speaks of revival, that's what it's speaking about. A revival
of the word of God in the land. The preaching of the gospel.
And also a future promise of the resurrection of his people. And what we're going to look
at tonight is this. What is the nature of this promise? How is this promise fulfilled? And when was it fulfilled? Well,
I believe it was fulfilled when Christ, our Lord, came to this
earth and finished his great work. In fact, what you have
there in these verses is a prophecy of the abolishment of the Old
Covenant. The finishing of the Old Covenant,
the abolishment of the Old Covenant by way of fulfillment, that time
of reformation that Hebrews chapter 9 speaks of. When the Old Covenant,
that which was old vanished away and that which was new, is new,
was brought in by the coming of Christ. And that's stated
here when God says, I will go and return to my place. That's
the Lord speaking through the prophet Hosea. Now that may sound
like strange language because God is omnipresent. What do you
mean God's going and returning to his place? God is, you know,
you can't contain God. The Lord told the people you
can't build temples and houses that will contain God. You can't
contain God. He's everywhere. He's spirit.
He's omnipresent. So what does it mean when it
says he will go from here and go here and return here? Well,
he's talking about his glory. He's talking about the presence
of his glory. You know, the scripture says
that his glory dwelt in the tabernacle above the mercy seat, the Shekinah
glory of God for a while. And that was a manifestation
of the glory of God that he gave to the nation Israel for about
1,500 years. That was the time of the old
covenant. It lasted about 1,500 years. And his presence It doesn't mean that he wasn't
everywhere. It doesn't mean that he stopped being omnipresent
because he didn't. But his glory, the glory of God
revealed in salvation, in redemption by Christ which settled above
the mercy seat where the high priest would go in one time a
year with the blood. And that all pictured and typified
Christ and salvation. It typified and pictured the
glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's
what he's talking about here, that he's going to take that
away from the nation. That's going to be finished.
That's going to be abolished. And he's going to return to his
place, his glory in heaven. And that's all going to take
place when the Lord Jesus Christ would come to this earth and
finish his great work and the fruit of the work of Christ would
be the revival and the resurrection of his people. Now that's what
the prophecy is about. But let's look back at this.
First of all, I want to direct your attention back to verse
11 of chapter 5. I want you to first consider
God's rejection of the nation Israel. Israel as a nation now
when we say Israel's a nation what we're talking about is the
leaders and the majority of the people we're not talking about
every individual Israelite Hosea was an Israelite, but he was
a sinner saved by the grace of God looking forward to the promise
of the coming of the Messiah and There was others there. There
was a remnant. We're going to see that you know
God always has a remnant and he never left himself without
a witness but as a nation under that covenant according to the
terms of that covenant a God rejected the nation Israel look
at verse 11 Ephraim remember Ephraim was the largest tribe
in the northern kingdom and sometimes the The tribe Ephraim was indicative
of the whole nation. So this is really referring to
the whole nation Israel Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment
God oppressed them and broke them with judgment because he
willingly walked after the commandment, literally the commandments of
men. As I told you last time, this is almost the literal language
here would be like Ephraim followed the teachings of a drunk man.
A man who's drunk on his pride. A man who's drunk on his self-righteousness. That's what it's talking about.
They had followed leaders, the kings and the priests and the
false prophets, who had taught them not in the ways of the Lord,
but in the ways of men. It's like Christ told the Pharisees,
you do err teaching for the commandments of God, the commandments of men.
And so Ephraim is oppressed because he refused to listen to God.
The nation refused to hear the Word of God. They didn't listen,
they didn't heed, and they didn't love God's Word. It reminds me
of what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
when he's talking about the great apostasy. That great falling
away that will take place just prior to the second coming of
Christ. And you know what he's talking about there. He's talking
about religion that comes in the name of Christ, but denies
the truth of Christ, denies the doctrine of Christ, denies the
word of God. And he said that they would perish
because they receive not the love of the truth, the love of
the word of God. You see, the word of God, listen,
to reject the word of God is to reject God himself. Never, never fool yourself on
that. You reject his word, you reject
him. You reject his son. Christ, you
know, we've talked about this, how Christ himself is the living
word of God. John chapter one. And here we
have the living word through the prophet as preached in the
prophet Hosea. We have the priest word. We have
the written word, the word of God. He's the incarnate word
of God. You reject the word, you reject
him. And to reject the word of God is to reject the only way
of salvation. Look at verse 13 of chapter five. It says, when Ephraim saw his
sickness and Judas saw his wound. Now, you know, It's awful to
be sick and not know it. You know, sometimes, you know,
we think about that with an issue like heart disease or cancer.
You know, somebody can be walking, you've all heard of people who
walking down the street and they drop dead of a heart attack and
they never knew that they had heart disease before that time. Or somebody has cancer. You could
have a cancer cell growing in you right now and not know. It's
awful to be sick and not know it. But what happens when you
know it? Well, you seek a cure. You go
to the doctor. You find out, well, doc, I've
got this pain. Now what do I do? Is there a
cure? Give me an x-ray or an MRI or something. But here it
says Ephraim saw his sickness. Israel realized, and then Judah.
Now this is the southern kingdom of Judah. Judah saw his wound. He knew he was bleeding. And
it says here that they saw their sickness and they saw the wound,
but what did they do? They realized the trouble they
were in. But what did they do? Did they seek help from the Lord? Did they seek help from the great
physician, the only one who can heal this kind of sickness, sin
sickness? The other one who can heal this
kind of wound, the wound of sin, the guilt and the defilement
of sin that demands death and condemnation? No, listen to what
they did. It says, when Ephraim saw his
sickness and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian. The Assyrian army and the Assyrian
empire at that time was the most powerful army and empire in the
world. And that was who was threatening
the nation Israel and the nation Judah. So what did they do? Instead of looking to the Lord
and depending upon the Lord and trusting in the Lord according
to the covenant that God made with them at Sinai and even before
then with Abraham, what did they do? They went to the Assyrian.
They went to the arm of the flesh. They put their trust in kings.
They put their trust in horses, in chariots, in weapons, in earthly
means, and not in the Lord. And it says here, and sent to
King Jerob, that was the king of, his name wasn't actually
Jerob, but that means king warrior, king combat, one writer says,
yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound? My friend,
never, never seek help. and salvation from sin from anyone
but the Savior of sinners. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. And he's able
because his name is Emmanuel being interpreted God with us. He's the only Savior of sinners. So here's what we have here.
We have a conviction of sin here. But now listen to me. Conviction
of sin can come from a lot of different places. You can be,
listen, conviction of sin can come from natural conscience.
Bible says that God gives every man a conscience in Romans chapter
two, whereby he accuses and excuses one another, even himself. So
he can come from natural conscience. Conviction of sin can come from
just a surface view of the law, the law of God. Conviction of
sin can come from exposure, getting caught and facing punishment. Conviction of sin can come from
fear of that punishment. Conviction of sin can come from
disapproval of society, of family, friends. Conviction of sin can
come even from traumatic experiences. You get into a car wreck or something
like that and you survive it or a plane crash, it can come
from that. But let me tell you something, the only godly conviction
of sin that comes from God by the Holy Spirit is that conviction
of sin that leads a sinner to seek and find help and relief
and salvation and healing only in the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified and risen again. You seek help anywhere else,
seek relief, satisfaction, peace, whatever. Anywhere else, it's
not Holy Spirit conviction. And that's why it's said here
that Ephraim rejected God's word. They wouldn't listen to God.
What does God say about this issue of sin? How sinners are
saved. Look to Christ. Look to him alone. Look to his blood. Confess your
sins and he's faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins.
Based on what? The blood of Christ. the satisfaction
that he made. So to reject the word of God
is to ensure self-destruction. You go to places and people that
cannot help you. Now look at verse 12. He says
in verse 12 of chapter five, therefore will I be unto Ephraim
as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottenness. Now that
speaks of a slow decaying process. And you think about that, you
know, that's what religion is. False religion. False religion
that doesn't point a sinner to Christ for salvation, for righteousness,
for life, for healing. It's a slow decay. You don't
even know what's happening, see? But over a period of time, they
get sealed in that false religion of pride and self-righteousness
and freewillism and works. And it eats at their conscience.
It eats at their soul. And it ultimately destroys them.
So there's the utter destruction of anyone who doesn't listen
to the word of God and run to Christ. And look at verse 14.
He says, for I will be unto Ephraim as a lion. That's Christ of judgment
there. He said, 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. That describes a
very violent and public destruction. That's coming. That's coming
when everything, when the Lord comes again and all things are
brought to the light. And he gathers his people unto
himself and publicly, before the whole universe, destroys
all his enemies. That's what it's talking about.
So there's no help anywhere else. So listen to me now. This conviction
of sin must drive us to the only way of salvation. And that's
the blood and righteousness of Christ. And the only way we're
going to know that is to hear and listen to God's word. That's
what faith is all about. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Everything else is decay. Everything
else is destruction when it comes to salvation. That's why Peter
told the Lord when he said, will you go away also? He said, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of life. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And in that gospel
is revealed Christ and him crucified and the righteousness that he
established by his obedience unto death. So think about that. Now, consider next God's faithfulness
to bring his people to repentance. Now he says in verse 15, look
at this, he says, I will go and return to my place, talking about
his glory now, his glory, his presence of glory, and he says,
till they acknowledge their offense, their guilt, that's what that
is. In other words, until they admit their guilt. Now that's
a conviction of sin. That's what it is to take sides
with God against ourselves. To say unto God by inspiration
and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God, if you would mark
iniquity, I wouldn't stand. I'm guilty. I deserve nothing
but condemnation. I deserve nothing but death.
I'm a sinner. And he says, I'm going to go
away and return to my place till they acknowledge their sin and
their guilt and seek my face. His face is his glory. That's
what it is. It's his presence. It's his favor. That's what his face is. 2 Corinthians
4 and verse 6 speaks of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what it's talking about.
His comforting, saving presence. That's His face. That's what
identifies Him. When you see His face in this way, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, as He's revealed and identified
and distinguished in the Word of God, in the Gospel, that's
when He's identified. That's when His glory shines
forth. And we see that in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So God removes Himself from Ephraim,
and eventually He does it from Judah. But he knows his purpose
to restore his people to himself. He said, I will go away and I'll
return to my place. God removing his covenant, that
temporal old covenant, that favor with that nation as set forth
in the old covenant. But he speaks of the place of
his glory among his chosen people. Now who's he talking about here?
He's talking about spiritual Israel. He's talking about what
Jeremiah prophesied of in Jeremiah 31. That he said in those days
he will make a covenant with Judah and with Israel. Not like
the covenant that he made with their fathers when he took them
out of Egypt and established them on Sinai. But it's a covenant
grace, a covenant of eternal salvation. It's a covenant that'll
reach to the heart and to the mind and to the affections and
to the will. It's a covenant that will bring
his people to himself. It was fulfilled in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that was testified of plainly
and openly at his crucifixion when he cried it's finished and
when he gave up the ghost when he said father into thy hands
I commend my spirit and he gave up the ghost and the veil in
the temple was rent torn into from top to bottom opening the
way into the very holiest of all what is that way it's not
the way of an earthly priesthood It's not the way of the Levitical
priesthood. It's not the way of a blood from
an animal. It's the way of the blood of
the Lamb of God. That's what Hebrews chapter 10
teaches us. And any sinner, Jew or Gentile,
who comes to God confessing their guilt, like that old publican,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner, be propitious. That's what that
literally means. I need a satisfaction. I need
mercy with justice. And he says, be merciful to me,
the sinner, any sinner, Jew or Gentile, who comes to God pleading
the merits of the blood and righteousness of Christ. has free access into
the holiest of all by that blood. And that's what he's talking
about here. This till they acknowledge their offense and their guilt
and seek my face. He said in their affliction,
look at it again, verse 15. In their affliction, they will
seek me early. You know what that means, and
I'll show you in just a moment a little bit more about this.
But God is not going to afflict his people only to leave them
in that affliction. You know, I've heard people say,
well, you know, God may leave them there for a year or two
years. I don't believe that. I don't believe that's scriptural.
That sounds good in a Puritan book or something, but it's not
scriptural. God doesn't afflict His people. To leave them is what Bunyan
called the slew of despond. He afflicts them to heal them.
And he's the great healer. And he said, they'll seek me
early. In other words, when you realize what you are and what
I am and what we are as far as the law of God, what we deserve,
when we finally, when God the Holy Spirit brings us to a realization
of our depravity and our wretchedness and our sin, you know what you're
going to do and you're going to do it early. You're going
to seek his face. You're gonna seek his relief.
You're not gonna wallow in that mud. You're not gonna wallow
in that dirt for a year or two, you know, just to prove to some
Puritan that you really convicted. I'll tell you how you can prove
to anybody you're really convicted. I have no hope of salvation,
of righteousness, of life, but Christ, period. And that's it. That's it. Don't let some preacher
beat you down and keep you down just so you can prove to him
that you're a trophy on his wall. That's not what this is all about.
God delights to show mercy. And that right early. And they'll
seek my face early, he says. Think about it. God knows his
people. And he brings them to a saving
knowledge of Christ. Now, I want you to think about
something here. He says he'll go and return to his place till
they acknowledge their guilt and seek his face. And in their
affliction, they will seek me early. They will seek the Lord. Now, we know that sinners by
nature will not seek the Lord. None of us. If we sought the
Lord and found Him, we don't have anything to boast in in
ourselves, do we? Because we know that God sought
us first. He's the great shepherd. He gave
his life for his sheep and he comes and he gets his sheep.
And he picked us all up off of Dung Heap Drive, as Brother Tim
says, and brought us into the banquet hall of his grace, just
like Mephibosheth. He came and he fetched us, didn't
he? That's what God does to his people. He doesn't send them
an invitation and say, now you walk down the aisle. No, no.
He comes and he gets us. He fetches us. We're lost sheep
in the wilderness. And the good shepherd comes out
and he comes out and he picks us up and he brings us into the
fold, brings us home and he keeps us there and feeds us in the
green pastures. Isn't that what he does? So when
we talk about seeking the Lord, we're talking about the sovereign
Grace and power and mercy of God you read Romans chapter 3
sometime Study that it says there. There's none righteous. There's
none good. There's none that seeketh after God No, not one
so if you sought the Lord you don't have anything to brag about
Don't use don't use that as a pedestal upon which you can boast of what
you've done or what you thought you did Listen, it's God's mercy
that any of us seek the Lord. But He does tell us and command
us to seek Him. And He does promise any sinner
who seeks the Lord will what? Find Him. Whosoever. You know
that verse that's repeated quite often in the New Testament. But I think about Romans chapter
3. specifically, Romans chapter 10 specifically, it says, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know
that's true. Listen, that's a great, awesome, comforting promise from
God, isn't it? Whosoever shall call upon him.
There's nobody who's gonna call upon him that he won't save.
I believe that, but what is it to call upon him? Well, if you
go back to the Old Testament and look at it, you know, the
first example, we know, well, for example, Abel called upon
the name of the Lord, but the first time that that language
is used, he called upon the Lord, was with Abraham. And you know,
the first thing Abraham did before he called, before it was said
he called upon the Lord, or as he called upon the Lord, it says
he built an altar and he sacrificed. Well, that's what Abel did. That
language isn't used, but it's the same thing. What did Abel
do to call upon the Lord? He brought the blood of sacrifice. What's that talking about? To
call upon the name of the Lord is to run to Christ, to seek
his mercy and grace in Christ. So he says in verse 15, they
will do it. Whoever he's talking about here,
they're going to seek his face early. And when they gonna do
it? When they acknowledge their guilt. when they acknowledge
their guilt, when they're convicted of their sin. That's what he's
talking about. Now my question is this, did
Ephraim as a nation, did Israel as a nation ever do that? Read
the Old Testament. No, as a nation, they never did
that. In fact, the northern kingdom
of Israel was totally, in their whole history, their kings, their
priests, it was all idolatry. It was all spiritual whoredom. It was all unbelief. Every bit,
they never did. So if he's talking about the
nation Israel here, then it was a failure. It was a failure. All right, did the nation Judah
ever do that? Well, they did in the whole later
on, but it didn't last because it wasn't long till they descended
into idolatry. So you can't say the nation Judah
did. Well, what's the problem? Well, look at chapter six. Now,
go to verse four. Let me just read these last verses
to you. Now, here's the state of Israel and Judah. It's not
a description of people who are seeking the Lord here. He says
in verse four, he says, O Ephraim, or Israel, what shall I do unto
thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness, now you notice
in your concordance it might have your mercy or your kindness,
means your loving kindness. Your goodness is as a morning
cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. What's he using
the analogy of a morning cloud there for? Because it's all form
and no substance. And it's temporary. Just like
the dew. Doesn't last. In other words,
you really don't have any goodness. Because if it's goodness, it's
of God and it lasts. It's eternal. We don't really
have any goodness of our own. So he says, it's all clouds.
Morning like a morning cloud, it doesn't last. Look at verse
five. He says, therefore have I hewed
them by the prophets. Now if you want to put that in
our modern day country lingo, that would be like this. I've
skinned them alive by the prophets. These prophets didn't come crying,
peace, peace, where there was no peace. The prophets of God
didn't come saying, well, now we don't want to offend anybody.
No, he said, I skinned you alive. I brought you a message of judgment
against sin. God must punish sin. He told
them what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear.
Told them the truth. So I've skinned you alive by
the prophets. They've sinned against, he said,
I've slain them by the words of my mouth. In other words,
the sword of the Lord. That's what he's talking about.
The sword of the word of God. He said, I've slain them by the
words of my mouth. In other words, if you believe
the word of God, you'd be like Paul. Look over at Romans 7,
9. Hold your finger there at Hosea and look at Romans 7 when
he says, I slain them by the words of my mouth. And he says,
and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth, the light
that exposes the evil deeds, even of their best efforts of
their religion. Paul said in verse 9 of Romans
7, Here's what it is to be slain by the Spirit. Now listen to
me now. To be slain by the Spirit is
not to have some preacher come and knock you on the forehead
and knock you down. That's not being slain by the Spirit, that's
just being hit by a guy. And they ought to get up and
hit him back. Well, they oughtn't do that.
Turn the other cheek is what we're supposed to do. But that's
not being slain by the spirit. Here's what being slain by the
spirit is. Paul said in verse nine, for I was alive without
the law once. What he's saying there is I thought
I was saved when I didn't understand and know the reality of the law,
because I thought I was saved by my law keeping. And so he
says, but when the commandment came, That's when God the Holy
Spirit showed me the reality of the law, the spirituality
of the law, and how far that law reached even to my heart
and my thoughts and my motives. He says, sin revived. That sin
that I thought was dead and taken care of, it revived. There's
a revival. And he said, and I died. When
I really understood, somebody says, well, I'm just trying to
keep the law and God'll save me. My friend, you don't know
what the, do you not hear the law? That's what Paul told the
Galatians. Do you not hear the law? What that law says? That the man who lives by the
law shall do the law. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Oh, my soul. A person who's seeking salvation,
or any part of it, or to be made righteous by their law keeping,
they don't know the law. They don't know the law. But
if the Holy Spirit ever convicts us of sin and shows us the reality
of what we are according to the law, sin will revive. It will well up in our hearts
and our minds and we'll die. We'll say, we deserve death.
I'm slain by the law. And that's when Paul, you know
what he's talking about there, is when he was convicted on the
road to Damascus. When God, our Savior, put him
in the dust where he belonged. Go back to Hosea 6. And he said in verse 5 there,
he says, and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
The light that not only reveals the glory of God in Christ, but
exposes our sin, and our guilt, and our depravity. Look at verse
6. He says, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge
of God more than burnt offerings. Our Lord quoted this twice in
the book of Matthew. Matthew 9.13 and Matthew 12.7. He told the Pharisees, have you
not learned the reality of what it takes to please God? He says,
I desired mercy and not sacrifice. Knowledge of God more than burnt
offerings. That's the knowledge of the God
of grace. That's mercy that comes from God to us in Christ. And
my friend, without understanding and knowing the reality of God's
mercy, and the knowledge of God that comes through Christ and
him crucified and risen again, all the religion and all the
ceremony and all the religious activity in the world put together
cannot save you or me. That's what he's saying. David
realized that when he was convicted of the sin that he committed
with Bathsheba and against Uriah and against the Lord. He said,
against thee and thee only have I sinned. and committed this
evil in thy sight. He said, sacrifice and burn offering
I would give. But that's not what you want.
He said a broken and a contrite heart. That's the sacrifices
of God. That's a sinner who needs mercy. That's a sinner who seeks
grace. So here we see what the problem
in Hosea's day was. They were trying to cover their
sin with religion. I desire mercy, God said, not
sacrifice. You can sacrifice till the day
is long. But without mercy, what does
it mean? Without Christ, what does it all mean? Nothing. And
the knowledge of God, what knowledge? That knowledge that comes to
a sinner who's been slain by the law to know that his only
hope of salvation is in Christ and Him crucified and risen again. You can bring all kinds of burnt
offerings, won't mean a thing. Look at verse 7. He says, but
they, like men, have transgressed the covenant. Now, you probably
have in your concordance, instead of men, you have the name Adam,
don't you? You know, actually, the original
word there that's translated men is the singular word for
Adam. And I believe what he's saying
here is you're just acting like your daddy Adam. You're showing
your oneness with Adam in the fall. Fallen, sinful humanity. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death passed upon all men for that
all sin, and were born dead in trespasses and sin in Adam, in
Adam all die. But they, like Adam, have transgressed
the covenant. They've broken the covenant.
Adam broke the covenant that God made with him. And it says
here, verse 7, there they have dealt treacherously against me. They took sides with Satan. Adam
took sides with Satan against God. Adam declared his independence
from God. He said, God, I don't need you.
I can go on my own. I don't need to go by your standard
of good and evil. I can set my own standard of
good and evil. They dealt treacherously against
me, he says. And this is even in their religion.
even in their religion. Look at verse eight. He says,
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity and is polluted
with blood. Now you may have heard of the
city of Gilead. What was Gilead known for? It
was known for producing healing ointments and resins. It was
a great city. It had a wide reputation in the
nation for being a good place to go if you're seeking healing
or soothing from a sickness, and that's the reputation. Jeremiah
made reference to it when he grieves over the sins of Judah.
Look over at Jeremiah chapter eight. And here Jeremiah, now this is
much later than Hosea, and he's grieving over the sin sickness
of Judah. And in Jeremiah chapter eight,
look at verse 22. He says, he says, is there no
balm in Gilead? Is there no healing, no ointment
in Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Why aren't they healed? Gilead,
that great city that was known for those ointments and those
resins and those balms of healing. But what is Gilead now? Well,
just the same as it was back in Hosea's day, it's a city that
works iniquity. They've turned it into a place
of idolatry. It's polluted with blood, the
blood of sacrifice without truth, without heart, without grace,
without Christ. You know, it's interesting that
Christ identifies himself in one of the most comforting ways
to his people as the great physician, isn't he? He is balm in Gilead
for his people. Isn't that something? He's the
great physician. And he said, I came to heal the sick. I didn't
come to heal the well. They don't need healing. And
it's also interesting that Jeremiah When he stood up and dealt in
opposition to the false prophets of his day, one of the things
that he accuses them of is what he says, here's the way he puts
it. He said, they have healed the daughters of my people slightly. In other words, not a real healing. It's like putting a Band-Aid
on a cancer. You can cover it up, and that's what man's religion
does, but there's no healing. And you know how they did it?
You know what their message was? Said twice, in Jeremiah 6 and
once in Jeremiah, they cried, peace, peace, when there was
no peace. My friend, there's only peace
in Christ. There's only healing in Christ. You know who the first
one ever preached that message, peace, peace, when there was
no peace? His name was Satan. When he said to Eve, thou shalt
not surely die. Could you imagine going to a
doctor today with a terminal illness and that doctor looking
at you and saying, you're okay, you won't die. What would you
call that doctor? You'd call him a quack. And you'd
never go back, wouldn't you? Well, that's what's going on
here. That's what's happening here. this look at verse 9 he
says and as the troops of robbers wait for a man so the company
of priests murder in the way by consent for they commit lewdness
now this is kind of a difficult verse to to interpret but actually
that word for the way in the way is is the name of the city
of Shechem that was a city of refuge you remember the cities
of refuge is in the book of Numbers Shechem was one of the cities
of refuges And there's a couple ways you can look at this, these
troops of robbers. Just like a troop of robbers,
the company of priests, the religious leaders now, the ones who are
supposed to be the spiritual leaders, who are supposed to
comfort the people of God, they're waiting for them like a troop
of robbers wait for a man to kill that man and to rob that
man. What's he talking about? Well, the priest, in refusing
to give the people The Word of God, the truth, the water and
the bread of life. What were they doing? They were
actually murdering the people. Just like the Pharisees in their
days, when Christ said, you're of your father the devil and
the lust of your father you'll do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, he abode not in the truth. He only spoke what comes
natural. Some translations kind of indicate
that what he might be talking about is these priests refused
to let anyone in that nation who wanted to go to Shechem,
which was a city of refuge, to worship, or who wanted to travel
to Jerusalem to worship. In other words, it would be referring
to a small remnant of true believers in that nation, but the priest,
the false priest, went after them. And that's possible. You know, Isaiah spoke of a small
remnant in his day. He said in Isaiah chapter 1 and
verse 9, he said, except the Lord of Sabaoth, Lord of hosts,
had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been
as Sodom and Gomorrah. We should have been like unto
Gomorrah. And so he says in verse 10, I've
seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel. There is the
whoredom of Ephraim, spiritual whoredom. Israel is defiled,
unclean. Also Judah, oh Judah, verse 11,
he hath said in harvest for thee, now this is a harvest of judgment
for Judah also, but he says when I return the captivity of my
people. There is a return of Judah. Now
that takes place after the Babylonian captivity when they return under
Nehemiah and Zerubbabel and Ezra and rebuild the city and rebuild
the temple. And that was a return. So he's not going to utterly
forsake Judah at this time as he did Israel. And Judah was
always going to last until the Messiah came. Remember, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. But there would
be a day of reckoning. Now, that's the issue. And that's the reality. Now,
when did all this take place? Look back at verse 1. He speaks of a revival. He speaks
of a resurrection. He speaks of repentance. Verse
one, come and let us return to the Lord. There's a return to
the Lord. For he hath torn, the Lord hath torn, and he will heal
us. He doesn't tear to leave the
wound open and gaping. He tears to heal. That's conviction
of sin to drive a sinner to Christ, the great physician. It says
he hath smitten. And He will bind us up. I think
about Christ when He read from Isaiah chapter 61, I believe
it was, in His hometown synagogue and it said, He will bind up
the brokenhearted. He's not going to smite us in
order just to leave us wretched. He's going to bind us up with
grace, with the comforts of His love and His mercy in Christ.
He says, he says here in verse two, look at this. He says, and
after two days will he revive us and in the third day he will
raise us up and we shall live in his sight. Now what do you
suppose that's talking about? That's talking about the death
and the burial and the resurrection of our Savior. That's a prophecy.
That's exactly what that is. That's exactly what it is. This
is revival. and a resurrection of the truth
of God and the salvation that he's provided for his people.
Christ, the representative and substitute of his people, when
he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again, we arose again. And we shall live in his
sight. You know what that means literally?
It means we have a life that God can take pleasure in because
Christ is our life. and we live in him and by him.
We have a righteousness that God can take pleasure in because
Christ is our righteousness. The sin problem is taken care
of by the death of the Son of God incarnate. The blood of the
Lamb washes us clean. Isaiah said it in his day. Come,
let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be as woe. Though they be red like crimson,
they'll be white as snow. God took care of that problem
on the cross of Calvary. And then as a result, now there's
the ground of the salvation of spiritual Israel. Every believing,
every convicted sinner, every healed sinner, every saved sinner,
who in their affliction seeks the Lord, and that right early,
comes to Him. And then here's the result in
verse three, then shall we know, now that word if is in italics,
you notice that? It really should be because we
follow on to know the Lord. This is not gonna be done in
a vacuum. It's not gonna be done in ignorance. It's not gonna
be religious zeal without knowledge. It's a knowledge the Lord teaches
and it says, here's what he says, his going forth is prepared as
the morning. What's that talking about? It's
talking about Christ. His breaking forth on the scene
of human history is like the sun breaking forth in the east
in the morning. You can't get away from it. You
can't miss it. It's there. When he says, when we follow
on to know the Lord, you remember what he said back in chapter
four and verse six? He said, my people are destroyed for lack
of knowledge. That's not gonna take place here.
They'll all know me, he said, from the least of them to the
greatest. They're gonna know Christ. Oh, there's a lot we
don't know now, don't get me wrong. And what we do know, we
see through a glass darkly, but we know him. We know his grace,
don't we? We know our sin. Listen, we don't
even see the depths of our depression, but we know, we know that if
God were to judge us based upon our best works, we'd be lost
forever, damned forever. But we know Christ. We know Christ. And we follow on, he says here. He says, we follow on to know
the Lord. We, like Paul in Philippians chapter three, we press on toward
the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus because he keeps
us. He who began that great work
in us will finish it to the end. We follow on looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. We grow in grace and knowledge
from faith to faith, from grace to grace. We follow on by the
power of God, not on our own power, And it says, when it says
His going forth is prepared as the morning, that means it's
ordained. That preparation there is the ordination of God from
the foundation of the world. This was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And the light of Christ breaks
upon us like the morning sun of a new day because it's been
ordained from the very beginning. And not only has it been, His
coming been ordained from the very beginning, but our knowing
Him has been ordained from the very beginning. And listen to
what he says here, it says, he shall come unto us as the rain,
as the latter and former rain upon the earth. What he's saying
here is this is not only a matter of light, like the morning sun,
it's not only a matter of knowledge, but it's also a matter of growth. It's also a matter of the heart.
We grow in grace and knowledge, we bring forth fruit unto God,
the life of Christ. And His grace resides within
us. And God gives the rain and the
increase. It's all of grace. Israel, in
their planting cycles, their cycle was a little different
than ours. In Israel, they planted the grain in autumn. And then
the former rains came while the planting, right after the planting. And then heavy rains and then
a little sprinkle. But in harvest time, the latter
rains came. and brought with it all the harvest."
So what's he talking about? The former rain, that's the planting. The latter rain, that's the harvest,
you see. He's going to plant his people
and he's going to harvest them. He's going to come. Now did Israel,
Ephraim, Judah, did they ever experience that only in one way? And Romans chapter 11 tells us,
and I'm gonna go there next time, but it's talking about a remnant
according to the election of grace. And we'll see that.