Isaiah 14, verse 1. O Israel, return to the Lord
thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with
you words, and turn to the Lord, saying to him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves,
the offerings, the praise of our lips. As Sir Assyria shall
not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we
say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods. For in thee the fatherless find
mercy. I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely, for my anger is turned away from
him. I will be as the dew unto Israel,
and he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and
his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow
shall return. They shall revive as the corn,
and grow as the vine. The scent thereof shall be as
the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have
I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed
him. I am like a green fir-tree, from
me is thy fruit found. 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 shall walk in them,
but the transgressors shall fall therein." If you are familiar
with the book of Hosea, you will realize that the Lord has spent
this entire book denouncing Israel's sin. and predicting her certain
destruction. I want to read some places with
you concerning that, because it makes this 14th chapter so
gracious and so blessing. Look here in some places with
me, and look in the 4th chapter of this book, and look here in
verse 1. Hosea chapter 4 and verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye
children of Israel, For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants
of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge
of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing,
and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and
blood touching blood." Look what he says down in verse 6. My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will 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." What an awful pronouncement. Look in chapter
5, look down in chapter 4 rather, look in verse 16 what he said.
This is a very important verse here in chapter 4, verse 16.
For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer. Now the Lord will feed
them as a lamb in a large place. Ephraim is joined to idols, let
him alone. Now look what he says over in
chapter 5, and look in verse 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel
is not hidden from me. For now, O Ephraim, thou committeth
whoredom, and Israel is defiled. And the pride of Israel doth
testify to his face. Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim
fall in their iniquity, Judah also shall fall with him. Look in verse 7. They have dealt
treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange
children, they now shall a month devour them with their portion."
Now look down in chapter 7 and look in verses 1 and 2. When I would have healed Israel,
then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness
of Samaria, for they commit falsehood, and the thief cometh in, and
the troops of the robbers falleth without. And they consider not
in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. how their
own doings have beset them about, they are before my face." Look
down in chapter 8, look down in verse 13. They sacrifice flesh
for the sacrifice of my offering, an idiot, but the Lord accepteth
them not. Now will he remember their iniquity
and visit their sins, they shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath
forgotten his Maker, They build temples, and Judah hath multiplied
fenced cities, but I will send a fire upon their cities, and
it shall devour the places thereof." Look at chapter 9 and verse 7.
The days of visitation are come. The days of recompense are come. Israel shall not know it. The
prophet is a fool. The spiritual man is mad for
the multitude of thine iniquities and for the great hatred. Look
down at chapter 10 and verse 13. Chapter 10 verse 13. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye
have reaped iniquity. Ye have eaten the fruit of lies,
because thou didst trust in thy way and the multitude of thy
mighty men. Now look at chapter 12 and verse
14. Chapter 12, verse 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger
most bitterly. Therefore shall he leave his
blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him. Look at chapter 13. Look at verse
3. Therefore they shall be as the
morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the
chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and
as the smoke out of the chimney. Yet I am the Lord thy God from
the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me. There is
no Savior besides me." Then he comes here in the 8th verse,
and look at this, I will meet them as a bird that is bereaved
of her welts, and I will rend the call of their hearts, and
there will I devour them like a lion, and the wild beasts shall
tear them. O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me is thy health. And it seems like in every chapter,
In so many of the verses of this book, the Lord spends all of
His time denouncing Israel and Judah and Ephraim for their sins,
and seemingly foretelling their certain destruction. O Israel,
you have destroyed yourself. And it's in the light of all
of these threats and this pending judgment that now we come here
to chapter 14 and verse 1, and then suddenly it seems as though
the Lord changes His entire message. His message goes from one of
threatening, one of certain judgment, to one of grace, and to one of
mercy. He suddenly changes his whole
tone, and he says to this, O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. Isn't that grace upon grace? O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself. O Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. O Israel, you have fallen by
your iniquities. Return unto the Lord thy God."
It seems like here that the Lord is loath to bring judgment. It seems like He has threatened
to awaken them to their sin and impending judgment, but yet He
delays this judgment. And instead he inserts here grace
upon grace. Gracious words, not of judgment,
but words of reconciliation. Israel returned unto the Lord
thy God. He seems to bring Israel to this
point of seemingly no return. where seemingly there is no hope
for him whatsoever. And then he comes here and says,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. The Lord seems to be
telling here that Israel, in effect, when you perish, you
perish of yourself. When you destroy, you're destroying
of yourself. You've fallen, and he says here
in verse 1, you've fallen by your own iniquity. Therefore,
your destruction is a just destruction. It's of yourself. The pen having
confronted Israel with this terrible rebellion and the awful wrath
of God upon it. He changes here and now and instructs
Israel to return to the Lord. Though they have rebelled, return
and be reconciled unto God. Isn't that grace? Isn't that
grace upon grace? Grace abounding. The Lord speaks
to us in words, brothers and sisters, that you and I can hardly
get a hold of. If He'd have said, return because
you're good people, We can get a hold of something like that.
Return because you have such potential. But He doesn't say
that. He uses language that's so foreign
to us. Return because you've fallen. Return because you've rebelled. Return because you're ready to
perish. All Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God. Words of reconciliation. Oh,
truly, our God, in sending judgment, is so hesitant to do it. He takes
no pleasure in the death of the weak. Oh, why will you die, O
house of Israel? The Scripture tells us that He
delights in mercy. He's slow to anger, but He's
quick to forgive. And what we see here in verse
1 is we see this very thing. First and foremost, it's not
the sinner who takes the initiative in reconciliation, but it's God. It's always God that sends the
word and instructs and encourages the sinner to be reconciled. Return unto the Lord, O sinner. Who says that? Well, that's the
Lord. He is God. He always takes the
initiative. And why does He do that? Why
does God take the initiative to be reconciled to the sinner? It's not because He owes us anything. He owes us nothing but judgment. He owes us nothing but what we've
earned, the wages of sin, is death. It's surely not because
He needs us. He's eternally full without us.
He's satisfied. He's complete in Himself. It's
not because if He's not reconciled to us and us to Him that He be
diminished. You can't diminish the Lord.
The Lord would not set trembling upon His seat of judgment if
He assigned us all to eternal ruin. It's not because He's helpless. He doesn't say, return unto me,
sinner, and be reconciled because I'm helpless to do anything about
it. He's not an impotent God. He's
not desperate. He's not frustrated. He's not
done everything that He can do, and He's just hoping that somebody
will do something for Him. That's not why He sends this
message of reconciliation. Then why is the Lord always the
one taking the initiative to be reconciled? Return unto the
Lord, O my God, and I tell you, may the answer to this question
break that heart that has long been hardened to the deceitfulness
of sin. May the answer to this question
woo and win that heart that has secretly resolved that it will
never return to the Lord. And may the answer to this question
woo and win and give hope to that heart that thinks it's too
late to return unto the Lord. What is the answer to this question?
Why is it that the Lord is the one who takes the initiative
and tells the sinner, be ye reconciled to me. Why does he do it? Here's the answer to that question,
brothers and sisters. It's God's nature to do it. It's God's nature to seek reconciliation. He's not forced to do it. He
cannot be compelled to do it. He cannot be persuaded to do
it from some outside influence. The Lord takes the initiative
and says, return him to me, old sinner, because it's his nature. He is a reconciling God. What does the cross of Calvary
tell us? What does the cross of the Lord
Jesus reveal to us but the very reconciling nature of God Himself? He commended His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. If any would desire
to know the cause of the dear Son of God coming into this world
and hanging on a cross and pouring out His heart's blood outside
the city of Jerusalem. If you're interested in knowing
the one single cause of Him doing that, here it is. It's the nature
of God to do it. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world. We were already condemned. But he sent his son because that's
his nature to do it. He's a saving God. He's a reconciling
God. He's the one that always takes
the initiative for the sinner to be reconciled unto himself. Return unto the Lord, O Israel. You have fallen by your iniquities. He takes the initiative. It's
not the sinner. It's not the sinner that takes
the first step in reconciliation, it's the Lord. In this was manifested
the love of God toward us, because God sent His only begotten Son
into the world in order for us to live through Him. Herein is
love, herein is real love, herein is unconditional love, not that
we love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning
victim for our sins. And He doesn't stop with sending
His Son to bleed for us. He didn't stop there, did He?
It wasn't enough for Him to send His Son and make peace for us
through the blood of His cross. No, now He sends words. He sends words of reconciliation. He says, return unto me. It's not enough that he sent
his son and bled and died. Now he sends these words of reconciliation. Return unto me, O sinner, for
you've fallen by your iniquity. Brothers and sisters, what is
the gospel? Is it not called the ministry of reconciliation? God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. We are ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you by us. God is beseeching you
by me, this woman. God is speaking to you. He's
calling you by me. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be you reconciled to God. That's the ministry that God's
given me. That's the ministry of the church.
It's one of reconciliation. Confronting a man and a woman
with their sins. with their fallen state, and
then saying to them in their fallen condition, O sinner, return
unto the Lord your God." Words of reconciliation. Jesus Christ
came into this world and obtained reconciliation. Reconciled us
to God by the death of His own self. And now He sends these
words. And who is it doing all of this?
It's God. It's God. Return unto the Lord
thy God. And brothers and sisters, let
me repeat it again. It's this triune God and not
the sinner who takes the initiative in this reconciliation. It's
God. It's God. Why does He do it? It's His nature to do it. You
can't find any other reason why He doesn't. You want to go to
His heart and find what God is in His heart? Find who He is
and what He is in His nature? He's a reconciling God. Let me
give you this illustration. It's a poor one, but let me give
it to you. Suppose you had a good man. He
was a good man. He was a kind man. He was a tender
man. And someone had continually provoked
this good and gentle man. And finally he reaches the point
where he avenges himself. And how does he feel afterwards?
How does he feel afterwards that he avenged himself? Doesn't he
feel bad about it? Why? Because he's a gentle man. He's a good man. He's a kind
man. And others have provoked him
until finally he's angry and he revenges himself. But he doesn't
like that. Why? Because he's a good man. He's a tender man. He's a kind
man. What am I saying to you this
morning? I'm saying this, God by His very nature is good. God
is mercy. God is grace. God is love. God is long-suffering, and He
takes no pleasure in revealing His anger. He takes no pleasure
in the pouring out of His wrath. He takes no pleasure in the revealing
of the power of His anger and His wrath. Therefore he sends
out these words to those who have fallen by their own iniquity. And he says this, return unto
me. Return unto me. Why? Because
that's his nature to do it. That's his nature to do it. That's
the way God is. Let me show you that. You take
your Bibles here in Hosea. We'll stay here in the book of
Hosea. Look back over in chapter 4 again. I want you to hold verse
14. And look over here in chapter
4. Look here at the nature of God. And look in verse 16. Look
what He says. Look at His nature. Look in verse
16. For Israel slideth back as a
backsliding heifer. A backsliding heifer. I'm having
trouble saying that word, aren't I? And look what he said back
over in 14, in verse 4. Look at this. I will heal their
backsliding. I will love them freely. Now, brothers and sisters, let
me tell you something about backsliding. That's a dangerous practice.
And we know that it's a terrible disease because it's something
that has to be healed. I will heal their backsliding.
And it's a terrible practice because it brings such shame
upon the Lord's name. It gives great occasion to the
devil to blaspheme the Lord's name. And Peter said about it,
it would have been better for them not to have known the way
of righteousness than after they had known it to turn from that
holy commandment. And here the Lord lays this charge
against Israel and says she slideth back as a backsliding heifer. But then what does He say? I
will heal her. I will heal her. Why? Why would you do that? Because
I love them freely. I will not look upon them to
find any reason in them to love them. I love them because it's
found in me. It's in my nature to do it. And
because I can and will love them freely, I will heal their backsliding."
Now, do you find any other reason why he would heal her backsliding
than what's found in himself, in his free love? You can't find
it. Why did he heal Israel's backsliding? Because he said, I love them
freely. I love them freely. Look again at chapter 4 and look
at verse 17. Here's another prime example
of it. Chapter 4 and verse 17. Ephraim
is joined to idols. Let him alone. Ephraim is joined
to idols. Let him alone. Yet look here
in chapter 11. Look in chapter 11. Look here
at the nature of God. He tells his people to let him
alone. Jesus joined idols. And look
at chapter 11, verse 9. I will not, the Lord said, execute
the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy
Ephraim. He tells his people, you let
him alone. He's an idolater. Let him go. Speak no more to him. Let him
alone. And yet now the Lord himself
said, I will not return to destroy Ephraim. Why, Lord, would you
not destroy him? For I am God's, and I'm not a
man. I'm not a white man. I don't
seek vengeance upon the sinner. I don't seek His destruction
first and foremost. I'm God. I'm a reconciling God. I'm essentially good. I'm essentially
merciful. I'm essentially loved. Essentially,
I'm a Savior. That's what He's saying. And
I delight in reconciliation. And therefore, over in our text,
I read to you, Ephraim says this, What have I to do any more with
idols? I have heard Him. What did he
compare that turned him finally from his idolatry? I tell you
what he heard. He heard these words of grace.
He heard these words of mercy, these words of love, and it broke
his heart. Would God be so gracious after
I've continued all this time in my idolatry? I tell you so many times, brothers
and sisters, it's not the wrath of God. It's not the sense of
my perishing state. It's not the reality of hell,
but it's the love of Christ that breaks our hearts. It's the goodness
of the Lord that leads us to repentance. The Lord said this
about Ephraim. after he had already threatened
to destroy him and told his people to leave him alone, he was joined
to Ithos. And then he writes this in Jeremiah 31, 20. It's
Ephraim, my dear son. Is he my present child? For since
I spake against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore,
my heart is moved for him. My bowels are troubled for him,
therefore I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. You and I know how we feel about
a wayward son or a wayward daughter, don't we? Our hearts are troubled
for them. We lay awake in the night. We
can't enjoy life because we're troubled for them. They're away
from us. We want reconciliation. We want what's best for them.
And we have no rest. We're troubled. What does the
Lord say? I'm trouble for Ephraim. I'll
have mercy upon him. Why? Because I'm God. I'm God
and I'm not man. Grace, brothers and sisters.
Grace and mercy. Look back here in our text again.
We find it all through this text. Look here in chapter 14 with
me again. Look at this. Look here in chapter 14 and look
in verse 2. Take with you words and turn
to the Lord, and say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and look
at this, receive us now, graciously, graciously, the free, unmerited
favor of our God, graciously. And look at the last portion
of verse 3, For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy, Why would the
Lord, why would He send out this message of reconciliation? Mercy. Grace and mercy. And He says
there in verse 4, My anguish turned away, and I will love
them freely. Grace. Grace. Reconcile. Reconcile. We see something else here in
verse 2. Look at this. The Lord not only
instructs them here in verse 1 to return to the Lord because
they have fallen, but now he instructs them what to say when
they do return. And see what he says in verse
2? Take with you words and turn to the Lord, and say unto him,
Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. We'll render the
praise and the offerings of our lips." Israel was such a stupid
nation. She was often backslidden, and
the Lord would call upon her to return, and she would go haggardly
offering blemish sacrifices, keeping feast days and new looms,
haggardly worshipping the Lord. And it seems like the Lord comes
here to Israel And it says, you poor stupid child. You poor stupid
child. I come to you and I tell you
that I'm going to save you by my grace. That I'm going to love
you freely. That I'm going to heal you of
your backsliding. I'm going to take away all your
iniquity. I come and I tell you what I'm
going to do for you. And you have no sense enough
just to believe me and render to me the praise of
your lips. What do you do? You come here
and pray in the temple and say, I'm not like other men are. I'm
better. You bring your silly offerings to me. I'm not asking
for your offerings. And then He instructs them not
only to return, but He gives them words to speak. He says,
don't take with you a sacrifice. Don't take your bull off to the
blood of rams. Take with you words. I'm waiting
to hear your words. I don't know what it is about
God, but there's something about Him that His purpose is to wring
out of us a clear profession of our gift. He's going to have
it. He tells Israel, don't you try
to hide it anymore. Don't you deny it anymore. I
want to hear a clear confession. Take with you words. He seems
to slip alongside them and whisper in their ear what to say when
they get there. You may think, dear soul, this
morning you're ignorant. God knows you are. He knows how
fallen we are. He knows how ignorant we are.
We don't know the way to the city. We don't know how to approach
Him. We're always coming wrongly.
So what He does here, He gives us words to say. And He says,
don't go to the preacher. You take these words and go to
the Lord. Don't go to the priest down at
St. Anne's or St. Andrew's. You go
to the Lord. Don't go to the baptistry. Not
until you've gone to the Lord with these words, and here's
what you say when you get there. Lord, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I own it. I've been telling everybody
what a pretty good person I am. Oh sure, I've acknowledged some
slips and mistakes. But after all, and overall, and
in general, I'm a pretty good person. Lord, I confess I'm a
liar. Lord, I'm guilty. I confess it. I'm guilty. I've lived my whole
life against you. I've been your enemy. I've broken
your law. I've sinned against you. I've
sinned against your son. I sinned against the light, I
sinned against the spirit. 20 years, 40 years, 60 years,
80 years, I'm guilty. That's what he called upon you
to tell him. Oh, dear soul, you don't want
to approach him to God telling him that you're a good person.
Tell him that you're different from somebody else. No, no, no. He tells you what
to say when you get there. Oh Lord, take away my iniquity. I'm guilty. And notice how he
says this, take it away. He wants to hear from our lips
that only the one we sinned against can take it away. The one we rebelled against is
the only one that can remove and forgive our rebellion. The blood of Jesus Christ is
the only thing that can take sin away. Acknowledge that to
God. That's all He wants from you,
dear soul. He doesn't want your money. He doesn't want your offerings.
He wants you to acknowledge your guilt. And the blood of His Son
is the only thing that can take it away. Acknowledge that to
Him. And say this to Him, Lord, receive
us. Receive me graciously. Are You a gracious God? Then
show me Your grace. Receive me. Hear my prayer. Listen
to my voice. For Christ's sake, accept me."
And look in verse 3, quickly. Look in verse 3. He wants to
hear this from the sinner. A denial. Now he wants a denial. A denial of what? That you'll
never trust again in any other Savior. Israel was always going
down to Assyria. You can read it even in this
book. Every time another nation come against Israel, they ran
off to Assyria for help. Syria will protect us, they said. Send them somebody and they'll
come and they'll fight for us. And now the Lord said, this is
what I want you hearing. Syria shall not save us. And the Lord always forbid the
kings of Israel to have a bunch of horses. When they went out
to battle, they weren't allowed to ride on horses. Because they
trusted in horses. So the Lord said, when you gave
them a king, don't you start building a bunch of stables.
And get a bunch of horses to go out and ride on and fight
the enemy. You're going to fight afoot. You ain't going to trust
in the strength and the swiftness of the horse. You're going to
trust in me. So what does they say here? We will not ride upon
horses. And we'll never say again to
the works of our hands, ye are our gods. And here's the conclusion
of the whole matter. In thee, the Father. Dear soul, can you and I leave
here this day and before God and have Him to bear witness
to it if He's not our Father? We'll remain Fatherless because
we've denied everybody else. Jesus, if you won't save me,
then I'll be damned because you're the only Savior. Will you leave
here with me this morning? God, the Triune God, and He's
yours, and if He's not yours, you have no God because you renounce
all others. And here's the answer of the
Lord in verse 4. I will heal their backsliding.
I will heal their backsliding. Upon their return to Me, I'll
heal their backslide. And I'll love them freely. Why? Because my angel is turned
away from him. Did you notice there how he left
the plural and went to the singular? Did you notice that? He'd been
talking about them. Save us. We shall not ride upon
them. I will heal their backsides.
I will love them freely." And then suddenly, he says, my anger
is turned away from him. Who's he talking about? The Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, Bruce, was God angry
with him? Oh my, he poured out his awful wrath on him, didn't
he? I hid my face from him for a
while, he said. pour my wrath out upon him, but with everlasting mercies
will I receive him." And that's what he says to the returning
sinner that comes with his thorough confession. What would it mean,
dear soul, for you to leave here this morning, knowing that God
was not angry with you anymore? How many years have some of you
felt his frowning face? You've lived under a sense of
it, ain't you? I've been there. I know how it
feels. You pray yourself to sleep for the night. You're afraid
to go into surgery, afraid you won't wake up. You live in torment
in your conscience because you're experiencing the anger of God
against your conscience, against your sin. I've been there, dear
folks. I know what that feels like.
I've seen God's bad side. And I don't like it. What would
it mean to leave you this morning seeing His good side? His friendly
face? His smiling face? His sweet,
gracious countenance? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Do
you know where the glory of God is seen? Do you know where the
grace and the love and the forgiveness and the salvation of God is seen?
In the face of Jesus Christ. You say, Bruce, I want to see
it. Then look, dear soul. Look yonder at the right hand
of God and see the man who sits there with wounds in his hands
and a hole in his side. Look to Jesus, and there's where
you'll see God's smiling face. May God help us to do it.