Hosea 14, the whole chapter,
there's basically three divisions laid out as I was looking at
this and studying this and reading this. There's three divisions
that were outlined, laid out by Robert Hawker, of which I
can do no better than to just recite his headings, his outline. He says in verses one through
three, we have basically God's call and our fall. The second
we see in verses four through seven, God's gracious assurance
of pardon, mercy and peace. And then lastly, verses eight
and nine, the blessed effects, the blessed effects of grace
in the soul. I'm just going to use those headings
as it were. And we'll go through this. The first section. Well, before
I get started, as I was looking at this. From verse one. Oh, Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. To verse nine. Start to finish, whether it is
in this chapter or of the whole volume. Grace to grace. Grace to grace and from Genesis
to Revelations and a lot of stuff happens, a lot of things are
taught, a lot of doctrine, a lot of exhortations, a lot of rebukes,
a lot of history, a lot of all these things. But the theme,
God's free grace in the redemptive glory that's found in Christ
from start to finish. And here we have, you know, almost
a miniature I never thought about this, but almost a miniature
outline of this book in this chapter of nine verses. Start
verse one, finish verse nine, grace to grace. Verses one through three, we
see God's call, then our fall, and then instruction, his instruction. He says, return, O Israel, return
Israel unto the Lord thy God. For reasons found only in himself
and by pure and free sovereign grace, our God begins to work
in a sinner's heart. He will call effectually, and
none can withstand his bidding. He and he alone must initiate
this thing we call regeneration, salvation, and effectual calling.
He says, O Israel, return unto the Lord. Return to the Lord
thy God. And when God truly says to return,
I know there's general calls and specific calls. We preach
and we have tell people to repent and or they'll perish, repent
and come to Christ. But the words that I speak are
just they're general. There's there's not power, no
power in them. But when God says return. Unto
the Lord thy God. He begins to And in this particular
context, in this section here in this chapter, that's exactly
what he's going to do because we see that obviously in verse
4 he says, I'll heal their backslides. I will love them freely. So I
take this call as to be a specific Israel to the church, to his
lambs, to his sheep, to the remnant, the chosen. And when he calls,
none can withstand his bidding. He alone, as I said, initiates,
start to finish. He starts with this call through
the gospel, through the message of Christ to them crucified,
return. So then we come to the second portion of this first
division. And this charge. Is always correct,
for thou has fallen by thine iniquity. We looked at this similarly
last Wednesday and in this this last Lord's Day, this last Sunday,
the charge that God has against us is always correct. Thou hast
fallen by thine, by our, our iniquities have separated us
from our God. There's none righteous, no not one, that we fell representatively
in Adam, but we by practice and by nature. We follow suit. We
ourselves have polluted our own souls. Yes, in Adam the seed
of rebellion was planted, but we do the growing and flourishing
of iniquity all by ourselves. You know, a little child, he
has that seed of rebellion in him, and you don't have to nurture.
What we have to do, what we do as parents, is we kind of correct
that nature. But that nature, the sin nature,
it doesn't need any coaxing. The sin, it's going to do it
all on its own. There's always the boundaries.
The parents say no, no, and spank you, slap the wrist. Why? Because
foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. I remember one man
said, and I talked to somebody the other day, and I still think
it's very accurate. No is the first word that our
children hear, and it's probably the last word that they really
learn. You know, why? Because the charge of God against
us. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. We take responsibility for our
own sins. But this first section of his
call, And our fall, and then his instructions, it's not over.
Blessed be God. Blessed be the workings of the
Holy Spirit in conviction and true enabling grace. Look at
verse 2. He says, take with you words.
Who? Israel, those who are fallen
by their own iniquity, take with you words, and turn to the Lord,
saying to him, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously,
so we will render the calves of our lips. This is just biblical
repentance. And again, It's not something
that we can conjure up. It's not something that we have
the ability to do. If the working of the Holy Spirit,
which is tied with the first part of verse 1, return unto
the Lord. He gives grace for us to return. We're going to return. We're
going to return to Him. We're going to turn unto Him.
But there's going to always be, because of our proud nature,
because of the old nature, that cold heart, that stony heart.
But when the new heart gets put in, that heart of flesh, there's
Going is going to be a broken and a contrite spirit. And it
comes out in words. And in this particular instance,
the words are turn, say unto him, take away all iniquity. There's got to be and there will
be a confession of sin because that's what we are. Followed
by iniquity. Take away all iniquity, receive
us graciously, it's all it's all in God's hand, whether he
will or he won't. He's the one that's sovereign.
He's the one that's in control of all these things. He says,
take and turn. That's repentance. That's repentance. Is God changing our hearts and
our minds on what we think about him, ourselves? You know, we
don't think of him correctly by nature, birth or practice.
We don't think of ourselves correctly. But when he starts to work on
us, he starts that call, that call of his divine, super bounding
grace. and conviction of the Holy Spirit
through the preaching and proclamation and belief in the truth, we begin to see, no, what I thought
about God was wrong. This is what this book says.
I thought something else. I had my own opinions of who
God was. I had my own tradition of who I thought God was. I had
my own Sunday school people, you know, Mom and Dad taught
me these different things. All these different things turn
away all iniquity, receive us graciously, so we render the
calves of our lips. That is, we're going to confess
with our mouth. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, but there's a confession that we are what he says we are. We own up to that. He gives us
the words and heart desire to honor and glorify him. And then
in verse three, it continues on in this repentance, this attitude. It's more than attitude, it's
this heartfelt desire, it's this conviction, it's this soul contrition. Asher, this is the The sinner,
speaking, shall not save us. We will not ride upon horses,
neither will we say any more to the works of our hands. You
are our gods, for in thee the fatherless find mercy." This
is just glorious, this riding under inspiration of God, this
prophet, this minor prophet. Just absolutely glorious how
this is worded. What was once thought to have
redeeming qualities in verse three, I think this is the gist
of it. What was once thought to have redeeming qualities.
Now we see clearly. That to have been useless and
blasphemous, you see that verse three. Asher shall not save us. That is might. We will not ride
upon horses, neither will we say any more of the works of
our hands. What we thought had redeeming qualities now is clearly
seen by Holy Spirit conviction to have been useless and blasphemous. Our might, somebody else's might
for us, power, a name, some things in the name, people think the
name is so important, position, our own works, our own duties,
false religion. We're not going to say anymore.
You are gods. You are gods. Rather, we see
and understand our tremendous need, as said in the last statement
of verse three, for indeed the fatherless find mercy. We see
and understand our tremendous need, one, that we're fatherless
and two, that we are in total need of mercy. And again, there
is so much in here that my, you know, small mind cannot fully
comprehend. But the gist, the glorious scarlet
thread in these nine verses, for indeed the fatherless find
mercy. You say, well, you know, our father, if it's not Christ,
it's the devil. Well, not much of a father. And you talk to anybody who's
lost. And I, you know, I wouldn't agree
to that anyway. I have my own. I don't you know,
I'm in charge myself. You know, God helps those who
help themselves. You know, I'm no man's, no man's
dominating over me. So in effect, fatherless, but
in him, the fatherless find mercy. We see and understand tremendous,
two tremendous needs. We're fatherless and we're in
total need of mercy. Then verses four through seven,
we see the cure for our fall and the promise. Verse 4 through 7. He says, I will heal their backslidings. It's the cure and the promise.
I will love them freely. I will love them freely. For mine anger is turned away
from him. There's the Father. We see the Father, the Son, and
the adopted children, all in these several verses here. We
see, before eternity, God the Father
chose the people, in time the Son redeemed them, and was sacrificed
on the cross for our iniquities, imputing unto us His righteousness,
and He taking upon Himself our iniquity. We see the I wills
of Jehovah God, the Father. We see the he shalls of Christ
Jesus and then we see we will in verses 7. Verse 4, the I wills
of Jehovah. I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely. There is free unmerited favor,
for mine anger is turned away. His justice has to be dealt with. And it is dealt with, who? In
a substitute. I will be as the dew unto Israel.
He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
This is speaking of Christ, I believe. His branches shall spread, and
his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as leavened. And they that dwell under his
shadow, Christ, the shadow of his wing, the shadow of his redemptive
grace, the shadow of his free mercy, the shadow of his protecting,
lovely grace. So we see the I wills of God
in eternity past. We see that he shall. He shall,
verse five, grow as lily, the workings and beautiful, the the
full ordination of God in the specific day and time and hour
that he would would be a sacrifice for us. The beauty is beauty,
even though there was no beauty in him that we should desire
him. But when he begins to do a work of grace, oh, he's altogether
lovely. grow as a lily and cast forth
its roots as Lebanon. His work cannot be moved. It
cannot be shaken. It cannot be thwarted around. When I used to work for the city
in several parks, that one park that's down off of Cape Rock,
and there's hickories there saying those things are so deep-rooted
or so firm. Well, we had a real good, a real
hundred-mile-an-hour winds in that area, and it just took those
hickories and just pulled them right out of the ground. I mean,
root and all, some of them were shattered, but most of them,
it's just because that stays so wet. But then the hickories
that were in a higher area, where the root system developed, those
things didn't budge. And Christ's work honoring the
Father and His work in redeeming His people cannot be moved. Cannot be moved his branches
shall spread and beauty shall be as I'll treat of course this
is the church in him also and his smell as Lebanon and verse
7 we see we will if God wills Christ shall then thirdly we
will look at what this says here about his church so like I said
these three these three the father the son and the Of course, the
Holy Spirit was seen in the first part, but these three, the Father,
the Son, and us, His adopted, these three are always seen together,
the Father, Son, and adopted children, what He does, the cure,
the promise. Look at what we will become and
what we will do by His enabling grace. Verse 7, they that dwell
under His shadow, one, shall return. Most people don't have
a clue. I haven't left anything. Yeah. Yeah, we have. We've created
in his image and we'll have nothing to do with him. And the beautiful
thing is, is that we were his before time and then we're going
to return to him. We're purchased, we're redeemed,
we're bought back. We are all we've always been
his. We return to him. There's no one else that has
salvation. No one has salvation in his hands, in his heart, in
his. His abilities, they one return to revive, they shall
revive as corn. Dead in trespasses and works
and now alive to him. Thirdly, grow as the vine. There's no, you know, if somebody
says, well, I believe this, this and that and God saved me and
there's no growth, there's no fruit. It's not of God. It's not of God. And then fifthly,
The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." Now, all
I can say is we smell the rich fragrance of grace is all over
us. We're perfumed in Him and by Him. A sweet smelling
savor. Christ is that to His Father
and we in Him. Scent. Scent. thereof shall be
as the wine of Lebanon. And in closing, we see the effects,
the effects of blood redemption, of Christ's redemption. Negatively,
we leave off idols. Ephraim shall say, what have
I to do anymore with idols? And I take that, you can go,
you can spend a lot of time here, idols, tradition. People worship tradition and
cling to tradition more than this book. That's an idol. Anything that takes God's place...
Nobody can take his place on the throne, but you know what
I mean. People put up different things. And a lot of it's tradition.
Well, Mom, Melinda dealt with somebody today, briefly. Oh,
I believe this. I believe that. I believe the
sovereignty and stuff. But they're not going to leave where they've
been going for 20-something years. It costs too much. And the other
thing is it's an idol. No one will leave it. But when
the believer, the effects of blood redemption, of Christ's
redemption and the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart, they
say, what have I to do anymore with idols? And there's a long
list of them. And that particular person will
know by God's revealing. Now this I thought was important.
This I thought was great. It's nothing anymore. Tradition
and maybe and mostly religious foolishness. you know, 40 Days
of Purpose, pageants, Easter things, and Christmas things,
all these different things that in and of themselves, fine, but
then they tie it into what this, they try to tie it into what
this book says, and it just, it becomes religious foolishness. It has
nothing to do with the grace of God, our walk, our life in
Him. And the believer says, what have
I to do anymore with idols? Positively, the effects are we
hear Him and observe Him. That is, hearing and seeing Him,
what that means, that equates to service, worship, love, adoration,
commitment, desire, communion, and promotion of Him and His
gospel. I have heard Him and observed
Him. And he says, I'm like a green
fir tree. Now, you all know me in my college
background, forestry and all that kind of stuff. So I look
at that and I'm thinking, OK, green fir tree, you know, we could
get into all this. And I just thought, no, let's not be removed
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now, when we've been
to the Smoky several times and been to some places that have
fir trees, Basically, when you're walking up those paths, and I
remember, you know, I don't know if I ever said anything to Bruce
and Jackie when we were walking up, but you see a green fir tree, and
then you see a dead fir tree. You know, I mean, there's just
not a whole lot, even with the deciduous trees, they got leaves
on, and they drop leaves, and you're wondering, well, is it
sick or not? Fir trees, evergreen. So it's
green in him, Or it's there's no needles on
it. It's deadness. You know, and you can see what
are side by side. You go, well, that's really nice. And then
that thing. It's not. We're in him. Or not, and the
believer says, I'm like a green fir tree and then. It's a statement
that seems to stick out. And yet it does stand alone.
He says from me. From me, from Christ, is thy
fruit found. From me is thy fruit found. From
me, the great I am, the Alpha and Omega, the way, the truth,
life, our peace, health, and comforter, from me is thy fruit
found. May we never forget it. May we
never forget it. And that is an effect of blood
redemption. We do not forget. that from him. He. I think this is the Old Testament
equivalent to what Paul says, that Christ has a preeminence
in everything. He is a preeminence. In all things
and closing, verse nine is, I think, a parallel passage turned to
second Corinthians concerning this is speaking concerning Christ's
gospel and the saving work. In the redemption of men's souls,
I think this is the parallel passage to this verse 9, who
is wise, and he shall understand these things, prudent, and he
shall know them. For the ways of the Lord are right and the
just, you've got two divisions, the just shall walk in them,
but transgressors shall fall therein. Concerning Christ's
gospel and His saving work in the redemption of men's souls,
it's life and wisdom. But to the unbeliever, is death. 2 Corinthians 2, I think this is the parallel passage
to this closing verse in Hosea, 2 Corinthians 2, verses 12-17,
because we'll see here, when I came to Troas to preach
Christ's gospel. So that's what he's talking about,
preaching Christ's gospel. And a door was opened unto me
of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them,
I went from thence into Macedonia. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ, and making manifest the
savor of his knowledge by us in every place, by the preaching
of the gospel. For we are unto God a sweet Savior of Christ
in them that are saved and also in them that perish, which is
what he's saying. To the ways of the Lord are right and the
just shall walk therein, but the transgressors shall father
in on the gospel. The just walk in them. They believe
it. They love it. They love him.
They love everything this book says about him. But transgressors,
they can't. They don't want to hear the gospel.
There's a stumbling block. For we are unto God, as I said,
verse 15, a sweet savior of Christ, and them that are saved, and
them that are perished. To the one we are the savior of death
unto death, and to the other the savior of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Preach the gospel. And to some it is life unto life,
and to others it is death unto death. Who is wise, and he shall
understand these things, prudent, and he shall know them. May God
give us grace to know these things which speak of him, and to know
him, and return unto the Lord our God, take with us words,
And know that He will heal our backslides and He and He alone
has loved us freely. I got a little note here. Jack
Shanks preached on this passage in 2004. So I'm going to have
to go find my notes on that. May God bless the preaching of
His word. Before we close in prayer, John's
surgery went great. He's home. For John, it went
very well. So he's doing great. Matt, would
you close us please?