Returning to Our God: Hosea 14

Our scripture reading this morning comes from Hosea chapter 14.

Hosea 14 · chapter mention

We come to the end of this series from the Old Testament prophet Hosea.

We've traveled with him these last three months.

We probably have a deeper appreciation for his ministry, don't we?

How he experienced the love of God, the character of God in new ways.

There's no question in my mind that Hosea grew spiritually through this journey.

How about you?

Have you been growing?

Has the Spirit been at work in your heart these last few months in new ways?

I pray that he is.

This is a powerful message with the most vivid pictures of God's relationship with his people.

Before I read the text, I'd like to just also invite many of you visitors, new people, to APC.

God has blessed us with many friends.

New friends, we we love making new friends.

We welcome you wherever you are on your spiritual journey.

I want to mention that there's an inquirer's class coming at the end of May, May 31st and June 1st.

There's a dinner Friday night, there's a lunch Saturday, and this is an opportunity for you to peek behind the curtain of this church.

You see what we do on Sunday mornings, but the Inquirer's class is an opportunity to better understand why we do the things that we do, how we do the things that we do, and we'd love to have you join us.

No commitment to join, but sign up.

Come.

Meet some new friends at the church.

Get a peek behind the curtain.

Love to have you join me.

Hosea chapter 14.

Hosea 14 · chapter mention

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words and return to the Lord.

Say to him, take away all iniquity except what is good.

And we will pay with bowls the vows of our lips.

Assyria shall not save us.

We will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, our God, to the work of our hands.

In you the orphan finds mercy.

I will heal their apostasy.

I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

I will be like the dew to Israel.

He shall blossom like the lily.

He shall take root like the trees of Lebanon.

His shoots shall spread out.

His beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.

They shall flourish like the grain.

They shall blossom like the vine.

Their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.

I am like an evergreen cypress.

From me comes your fruit.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things.

Whoever is discerning, let him know them.

For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

This is the reading of God's perfect, holy, matchless word.

That we get to hear.

We get to hear the words of God.

What a privilege that is.

Let's pray for the Spirit's work.

Oh, Father, thank you again for this story.

What a story you gave to Hosea, to Gomer, to Israel.

What a story you give today to us.

Lord, I thank you for the ways that this story has wrapped us into your love in new ways.

I thank you, Father, for what your spirit is about to do now.

As you continue to speak powerfully, Spirit of God, through the word that you inspired.

And now the hearts that you will illumine.

We thank you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Returning to the Lord.

What a conclusion.

Spurgeon said, if I had never, I had never expected from such a prickly shrub to gather so fair a flower, so sweet a fruit.

But it is so in this book.

No chapter in the Bible can be more rich in mercy than this chapter.

That's true, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, the clouds.

We've seen the clouds, haven't we?

The storm clouds.

There's a purpose for the storm clouds in life.

There really is.

We don't like them.

They're hard.

But there's always a purpose.

And we've seen that.

And we've seen that God will do many things to get our attention.

And yes, we've seen there are wildernesses and deserts out there that He will graciously call us into.

We don't like being called into deserts, do we?

We'd rather be called into the confines of a very comfortable home or life.

But he knows better.

He says, I know, I know there are, I know the time in my people's lives when I need to call them into desert so that I can speak tenderly to their hearts.

This is what we see.

Are you learning that?

Are you fighting?

You know, when you fight against the clouds, you fight against God.

God sends the clouds.

But as Spurgeon has just reminded us, this is all for a great purpose.

This is not to harm us, this is to bless us.

These two themes that we've seen intertwine throughout the book are wayward hearts so often wandering from God.

But secondly, the matchless grace of God drawing us back.

Time after time drawing us back.

My first point this morning, I'm going to speak about the way to life.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.

We're going to break this first point down why we must return, how we must return, and what happens when we return.

Why we must return?

Because God's people have strayed.

That's what this book is about.

But it's not only people who lived 2,700 years ago.

This is just as applicable today.

Because people, sheep like us, we stray.

And he says, I want you back.

I want you back.

Remember a couple weeks ago, the compassionate heart of God?

My children's hearts have turned my heart over.

What an incredible thought that is.

My heart for my children has turned my heart over.

My compassion, all of my compassion has been aroused within me.

I need my kids.

Yeah.

Our sins, however, have been our downfall.

Almighty God calls us to return to him for change.

It was of no use for the prodigal son, as we looked at over this series in Luke 15, to say, I will arise unless he arose.

It does us no good to sit here in the sanctuary and just think and consider and meditate and say, perhaps one day I will arise.

That does you no good.

Unless you arise and go back to your Father.

And only the Holy Spirit can get you to do that.

You'll never do that on your own.

I promise you.

But that's what this book is about.

Your sins have been your downfall.

That's what he says.

Not another's sin.

Not the sin of the person next to you, not the sin of the person in your office.

Not another's sin.

But your sin, my sin.

They've been our downfall.

There's no room for blame shifting.

There's no room for being defensive about this.

There's no room for finger pointing at other people.

If that's where you still are, you've missed the whole book.

You've missed the whole series.

My sins have been my downfall.

Your sins have been your downfall.

Return.

Turn around.

Reverse your course.

Oh Israel.

You see those words?

That is one commentator said, this is not an oratorical embellishment.

Oh.

This is a loving entreaty that breathes life in it.

It's not a cold command.

It's the warmest of overtures.

This is God getting very personal.

And sometimes that disturbs us.

Sometimes we struggle with how God could be so personally involved in our lives.

It reminds Jesus, right, when he was going down to Jerusalem on the last trip.

And he looks out over the city.

What does he say?

Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! What did David say about his son Absan when he saw Absan wayward?

Oh Absalom.

When we read this expression here in the Hebrew, Oh Israel, God is expressing his heart in the most tender way.

Come back.

Come back.

God's grace is only for sinners.

He doesn't ask us to change our ways and then come.

No, he says, come, and in the coming we're changed.

That's how the gospel works.

He's not saying to you today, get your act together, pull your life together, and then come to me.

That is not Christianity.

Christianity is wherever you are, whatever you're going through in your life, whatever the challenges may be, you come to Christ and He will bring about the change.

This is the gospel.

He doesn't say return to your judge.

He says return to your God.

It's been said this is not like returning, the return of an escaped prisoner to go back to jail, but to your true home, to your true father.

Isn't that true?

That's why sometimes repentance just seems like I don't want it.

I don't want this change.

I'll tell you why.

You're not seeing the gospel.

If it feels that way to you when God says your sins have been your downfall, come back, and you think, I don't know if I want to.

I don't know if I'm ready to.

Your fundamental problem is your misconception of the gospel.

You see why?

You think it's like going back to jail.

You see yourself as an escaped prisoner, you've gone out for a while.

You don't understand the gospel.

The more we understand this gospel, you mean I get to come back?

And it's not to a jail, it's not to more shackles.

The shackles are taken off and coming back.

And there's a freedom in coming back.

Because you're coming back to your truest home.

It's not a prison.

Secondly, how we must return.

With words.

Take words with you.

Only the Holy Spirit can give you the right words.

Only the Holy Spirit.

Otherwise, we will fumble, we will like get stuck, we'll get writer's block.

If it's not the Holy Spirit working in you, what you'll do is you'll say, you know, boy, you know, Tom really kind of challenged me today.

I probably ought to be feeling something that I'm not.

I probably ought to be doing something that I'm not.

And when it's really God's word, you know, you kind of just get that writer's block.

I wish I could, I wish I had something to say.

I wish I had something to confess.

You don't have the Holy Spirit in your life.

He's not working.

When the Holy Spirit is at work in your heart, you have something to say.

You have something to confess.

You don't just sit back and twiddle your thumbs and say, Oh, I wish I had something.

That just indicates that your heart's pretty far from God.

The book of Isaiah.

With words.

As we've seen in this series, borrowing from the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, repenting of your particular sins, particularly.

The Holy Spirit is showing us.

Where have our hearts been freezing over?

Where have we been wandering away from God and not moving toward God?

Remember chapter 6 of Hosea we looked at a few months ago?

That's not genuine repentance.

Beautiful words.

Well, some of them are.

Many Christians have read Hosea 6 and thought, what a beautiful confession of sin.

No, that's not a beautiful confession of sin.

Let's do a little bit of review.

Remember what they were doing?

They were negotiating with God.

They were saying, God, if you do this, you know, I don't think you've been doing what I need you to do in my life, but if you come and you start doing what I need you to do and you start answering my prayers, then I'll come back.

That's not repentance.

That's manipulation.

That's negotiation.

There was no mention in those words in Hosea 6 of our sin.

That was all about our need, our wailing on our bed, our shaking our fist at God.

God, why aren't you doing a better job of taking care of me?

They were more focused on their woundedness than their sinfulness.

But now in chapter 14, there's no longer negotiating with God.

It's not negotiating, it's surrender to God.

Fall into his arms.

It's no longer wailing on our beds.

Chapter 5 of Hosea, verse 15.

We seek God most earnestly in our misery.

Have you found that to be true?

We seek God most earnestly in our misery.

That's when God takes us into the desert so that He can speak tenderly to us.

I pray that that's been your experience these last few months.

Repentance.

Admitting our worst, concealing our best.

You know your heart is far from God when you're trying to, when you're trying really hard to conceal your worst and put out your best.

That's the flesh.

The flesh is always trying to put my best out there in front of God and other people, but concealing the things that I'm ashamed of.

That's not repentance.

But in real repentance.

It's focused on the inward heart.

It's not focused so much on our outward behavior, even.

It's not focused so much on our pain inside.

It's like Jesus talked about all the time in the New Testament.

Clean the inside of the cup.

The inside of your heart needs washing.

And then the outside will reflect it.

This is the gospel.

Spurgeon said that he who has a tongue can bring words.

Whatever you cannot bring, you can bring words to God.

All you need is a heart.

And that's what the Spirit is here to help us understand our hearts.

Take away, did you see that little word?

Take away all iniquity.

Do you need to be forgiven?

You've come to the right place.

You've come to the right God.

This is the God who takes away all the iniquity, all of the sin of his people.

That we will not bear.

We will not be judged.

We will not be punished for our sin.

Jesus Christ took that penalty.

Praise God.

Come home, he says.

Take away all iniquities.

The psalmist David said it in Psalm 51.

Blot out all of my iniquities.

I don't know about you, but that's a lot for me.

Blot out all of my iniquity.

What would your life look like if you lived this way?

Would you be different?

Would the people around you notice something different about you if you actually believed that God has freed you, that God has forgiven you?

Might there be joy in a different way?

Might there be a hope in your life in a different way?

It's been said, don't look on one sin and say, spare it.

Do not look on any one sin and say, spare that sin, Lord.

Do you wish to have one favorite sin spared?

It will be your ruin.

Lord, take it away.

It will be of no use to give up one poison to drink down another poison.

Surrender.

Father, we're coming back.

He says, Haven't I seen you here before?

Yes.

And didn't you go back to the far country again?

Yes.

Come back.

Come back.

This is our God.

How we must return, we've seen with words.

How we return with words.

Receive us graciously.

Only grace can open the door for our return.

Again, it's like Luke chapter 15, the parable of the prodigal son.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

The Father is well rehearsed in that scene.

It was not only for the prodigal son, it was not only for him that the arms were open, that the eyes were focused, waiting.

It wasn't just for him.

What if you actually believed that it was for you?

What would you do if you actually believed that his arms are open for you and he doesn't wait for you to come back?

He runs towards you.

This is our God.

Assyria will not save us.

They finally came to that conclusion, some of them.

We need to stop trusting Assyria.

We can't buy off trouble with protection.

So, some questions I've been wondering about in my own life, and I'll ask, share with you.

Have you identified your Assyria through this sermon series?

Have you identified your Assyria, or is it still very vague?

Is it just a concept?

You see, if that's where you are, if you think, well no, I get Tom, I get the idea.

Assyria is, you know, things that we run to other than God, I get the concept.

So what?

It doesn't matter if you get the concept.

Have you identified your Assyria?

That's what this book is about.

Where have you been looking for comfort?

Where have you been looking for approval?

Where have you been looking for security?

Where have you been running into the arms of other lovers saying, you make me feel so good when I have you?

When I have this.

Oh friends, let the Spirit do His work in your life.

Surrender to the Spirit's work in your life.

Ask him, if you need help, ask him to show you you're Assyria.

Ask him to show you where you've been looking for these things.

What has felt most life-giving to you?

Praise from other people?

The need to be needed?

Do you know that's a serious sin?

We used to call it codependence.

Do you know that that's a serious sin?

That if you need to be needed by other people, why?

Why would that be a serious sin?

It's a violation of the first commandment.

There shall be no other gods before you.

The person that goes through their life needing to be needed to feel good about themselves is an idolater.

I know I've been that person.

That was one of the biggest revelations in my first year of taking sonship many years ago in this church, is when the Spirit helped me to see how desperate I was to be needed.

And I had to repent deeply.

And I've had to repent since then of that sin.

Because God will not accept idols of any shape, of any form.

Charles Spurgeon, one day on his way to church to preach, said, I saw on a building on my way to church this morning a new building, a shelter that was for the homeless.

It had three words in large print painted on the building.

This building is for the helpless, the homeless, and the hopeless.

That's the gospel.

That's what this church is for.

This church is not here for the proud.

This church is not here for those who have it together.

This church is a hospital for the wounded, for the broken, for the hopeless, for the helpless.

Are you weak enough to need Jesus?

That's the question.

Oh God, I keep me in my weakness to see how much I need you, God.

Thirdly, what happens when we do return?

Oh, this is powerful.

God heals our waywardness.

That's what he says.

Our waywardness.

Do you know that you not only need to be forgiven, but you need to be healed?

So do I.

I wonder as a pastor how many people spend so much of their lives desperately looking for this kind of healing and trying to find it in all the wrong ways and all the wrong places.

Something that says, you're okay.

You're okay.

Oh, God, please don't let me be somebody driven for that.

God heals the waywardness of his people when they return.

Our strong desire to wander from God will not completely go away in this world.

Not always, yet decisively and substantially.

That's the power of the gospel.

The power of the gospel will change your life.

It doesn't mean that you will no longer struggle, but it will be a different, a whole different thing in one sense.

Why?

We receive a new power when we receive Jesus.

We receive a new power to say no because we have a new heart that says yes to God.

We have a greater love, we have a greater devotion, we have a new master.

There's so much that the Bible has to say about this.

Let me just read a few words from Titus chapter 2, verse 11.

Titus 2:11

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing and the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

I remember the first time I read that passage, I really read that passage.

I remember the first time I read that.

I remember the Spirit doing a deep work in my heart, giving me hope like I had not hope.

Giving me confidence in the power of the gospel like I had not had.

Believing this in a new way.

Have you had that experience?

When you come to Jesus, you do have a new power.

You do are given a new heart.

You have a new master.

You don't want to please the old master anymore.

This is healing.

Oh, we desperately need not only forgiveness, but healing.

Come to Jesus for it.

Now, if you're paying attention closely, this is all under the first point.

A lot of subpoints.

This is the second main point.

This is also the way of life.

A way to live.

As we oftentimes say at this church, a lifestyle of faith and repentance.

Not a one time, not every so often.

As Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 theses nailed to the door at Wittenberg.

It is intended that the whole of the life of the believer should be one of faith and repentance.

Let's break that down.

Repentance regularly, specifically, and honestly.

Regularly, we are always returning home.

This is what Alexander White, the Scottish Presbyterian, said.

We are always returning home from the far country, always saying, Father, I have sinned, and our Father is ever ready to receive us back.

Specifically, as we've seen, take words.

You know, Ben, I don't know how many times we sing William Cooper's songs.

I was thinking this week, quite often, don't we?

Recently, another song.

The dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee.

You know why we sing Cooper's hymns?

Because he understood grace.

How much he needed it.

What would be your dearest idol?

If you had to answer that question, could you answer that question?

What has been your dearest idol that I've ever known?

Whatever that idol might be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee.

It's been said, nothing weans the heart from idols like a sighting of Christ.

Fresh sightings of the beauty of Jesus will wean the idols from our hearts.

Is that not true?

Fresh sightings of the beauty of Jesus will tear those idols from our hearts.

Nothing else will.

Honestly, we repent, we come, we live by faith.

Have you noticed that sometimes when we're confessing our sins, we immediately rush to remind God that although we've sinned in one particular area, how obedient we've been in other areas.

That's not sincerely.

Be on alert for that.

If you find yourself confessing your sins while at the same time thinking, yeah, but God, I've been good here, right?

You know what that's like.

But God, I've been obedient there.

That's not repentance.

You're still bargaining, you're still negotiating.

God, when I come to confess, I come to confess this particular sin.

Forgive me.

It's been said that change is a three-step process.

You change.

Secondly, your God's react.

And thirdly, the Holy Spirit brings you back and reminds you where your true home is.

Surely you've experienced that.

When God has done a work in your heart, a real work of God, and you're beginning to see real spiritual change in your life.

Do you think the gods just your idols just sit back and say, well, he's all yours, God?

She's all yours.

Congratulations, God.

You know they don't.

Your idols, your gods, will react.

And they will push back.

And they will push back harder.

Because they don't want to let you go.

That's the flesh.

That's the world.

That's the devil.

What did Jonah say?

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

Don't forfeit the grace that could be yours.

And the last main point, third point, is the fruit of such a life.

The text says, we will render and we will pay with bowls the vows of our lips.

See, that's why I honestly believe this, okay?

This is my opinion.

I believe our worship is getting better at APC.

I do.

Do the acoustics of this beautiful building help?

Yeah, they do.

But I believe the singing is getting louder.

I believe the singing is getting richer.

Because I think God is just growing this church in grace.

I want to say too, I've just taken note, Sharon and I have had these conversations.

This last year in particular, God has brought so many of your young families to this church who have such a heart for God.

So many of you.

It's like you don't want to miss a day.

If the word is being taught, sunny morning, sunny night, whatever, CFC, you're there.

You're hungry.

I see you.

I see you.

And I also see people who have been here for a long time, hearts being changed in new ways.

I see you.

More importantly, God sees you.

This gospel is powerful when it touches us at the heart level.

It changes us from the inside out.

It's that powerful.

The fruit of such a life.

Praise.

And I'm just going to quickly summarize this beautiful description in verses 5 and below.

The freshness, like dew, like flowers, like the fragrance of a garden, like the beauty and the shade of a garden.

The freshness, the stability, like a tree rooted deep down in the soil.

The strength like a spreading chute going out with new growth.

Take your time.

Stay in this chapter.

Stay in this chapter for a while.

Let the truth just continue to soak your heart.

And look at the beautiful descriptions of what happens in the life of somebody who's returning to their God.

Let me say in closing, the deeper the repentance, the deeper the joy.

I'm looking forward to the men's retreat next week.

The subject is joy.

Guys, don't we all need more of that?

I'm looking forward to the being taught next weekend about gospel joy.

The deeper the repentance, the deeper the joy.

And so as we start the service, we end the service.

Jesus says, Come, come to me.

Come back to me.

The repenters don't focus on their sacrifices.

Repenters focus on his sacrifice.

And as long as I keep my eyes on his sacrifice for me, I will know that I can come back.

How about you?

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for what you have taught us and what you're teaching us.

And even now, as we are about to confess our sin, we pray that, Holy Spirit, that you will continue to speak to our hearts that we might take words with us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Please turn to the panel with the confession, printed confession of sin.

Would you read with me?

We're going to just, we're going to pause after the second paragraph.

Would you read with me?

Would you confess with me, please?

O Lord our God, you tell us that we must return to you and you alone.

We acknowledge that only you know how far off your people have wandered.

Please forgive us for trying to negotiate with you, presuming on your forgiveness.

You tell us further to return to you with words.

We confess our reluctance to use our words to name the specific sins, not just sin in general, that have been our downfall.

Holy Spirit, please direct our hearts to identify and grieve over the sins that have wounded you.

My friends, my friends, let's invite the Spirit in now to do just that.

By your grace, we hear your invitation to lay down the work of our hands and cling to Jesus, our bridegroom, renew us to desire his righteousness until every thorn in our tent is overtaken by the blossoms of your beauty and the roots of your flourishing.

Only your love for us could accomplish such an astonishing work as this.

Have mercy on us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

There is pardon, there is forgiveness.

Hosea reminds us, speaking for God, I will heal their apostasy, and I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

Praise God in the name of Jesus.