Will you kindly turn in the words of
scripture to the book of the prophet Hosea
in chapter 14, our subject this morning the
prospect for penitence and we shall be basing
our message on verses 4 to 7, but
at this stage I think it is more
important that we should read again verses 1
to 3 in the chapter.
Since you have your Bibles open before you,
you'll be able to follow as we look
at various aspects of verses 4 to 7
as we proceed.
Let me therefore read what really introduces the
theme of the chapter.
You remember that at the death of Solomon
the one kingdom of Israel was divided into
two.
Solomon's successor could only persuade two of the
groups, two of the twelve tribes to be
loyal to the old things and to the
Davidic rule Judah and Benjamin.
Ten tribes rebelled and they became known as
Israel the northern of the two tribes, of
the two sections Israel in the north, Judah
in the south now at this particular point
in time Israel has been exceedingly rebellious against
God that rebellion has taken the form of
the worship of false gods and of course
there can be no greater offense than that
in the sight of God to elevate someone
or something into the place that the only
true God should occupy.
Such was the sin of Israel along with
that of course they sought to find some
defense for themselves not being sure that God
would defend them they would have to look
elsewhere and so they looked to Assyria and
to Egypt.
They thought that by means of political alliances
and the military prowess of these two nations
they would be all right if trouble came
they would have a place of refuge into
that situation God sends his prophet Hosea and
he calls the people back to repentance my
friends if I'm not mistaken God is calling
his people again and he has not summoned
us here today other than that we should
hear his word of summons to repentance.
If like Israel of old we have wondered
in any way from him the call of
God still is return, repent listen to it.
Return oh Israel to the Lord your God.
Your sins have been your downfall take words
with you and return to the Lord say
to him forgive all our sins and receive
us graciously that we may offer the fruit
of our lips Assyria cannot save us we
will not mount war horses we will never
again say our gods to what our own
hands have made for in you the fatherless
finds compassion.
Repentance finds its consummation in that threefold renunciation.
Never again will we say never again will
we say to the work of our hands
you are gods, you are our gods.
Assyria cannot save us neither can Egypt save
us.
Military power political strategy as well as our
idolatries are impotent.
Now that is the climax of the repentance
to which God called his ancient people the
question now is this where does repentance lead
us to I have had many people over
the years say that repentance is a very
very hard searching experience and a very hard
experience to go through and so it is
it means a right about turn a turning
away from your sins that God condemns and
a coming right back to God humbly acknowledging
that you've been wrong and that's hurting to
the pride, to the ego.
But where does it bring us to?
Now that's what I want you to see
this morning repentance may be hard and your
heart may be thumping at the thought of
it but when you and I return to
the Lord in terms of the summons of
this prophet and indeed of others and of
New Testament apostles when we return to the
Lord there is something that awaits us which
eye has not seen and the imagination of
man has not conceived what is it?
Well let's come to it it begins with
4a first part of verse 4 what God
says he will do for those who are
genuinely repentant.
Now will you notice I have to leave
that side of my message this morning I
cannot underscore the significance of verses 1 to
3 anymore may the Spirit of God do
that.
Assuming now that every man and woman every
fellow and girl in our service this morning
is repentant, penitent on account of sin and
we want to turn back to God and
we are doing it inwardly in our hearts
and our presence here this morning and perhaps
at this table means this that we're coming
back to God from any wanderings of thought
and spirit and attitude any rebellion of will
we're coming back to God.
All right, where will it lead us to?
Oh look at these lovely words, I will
heal their waywardness.
Who says that?
Well it's none other than the God of
Israel says that the God who summoned the
prophets and sent him out to call the
rebels back says look you come back to
me and I will heal your waywardness.
Undoubtedly underlying the action of worshipping false gods,
underlying confidence in political leadership and in military
power per se, as apart from God or
as alternatives to God there is a grave
serious condition of soul and says the Lord
through the prophet look he says I'll deal
with that underlying waywardness of yours that thinks
that men and people and military might and
strong people in the land they can shield
you, they can lead you, they can contrive
something to save you in the dire hour,
they cannot.
If you come back to me I will
heal that basic stream in your spirit that
makes you wayward and rebellious and evil and
entertain such notions of rebellion at any given
time.
Now my friends I think that there is
something here that touches the raw spot in
all of us this morning there is a
diseased area in the mind and in the
spirit of many of us who bear the
Lord's name and we if we were honest
enough we would have to say we have
more confidence in men political man and military
man than we have in the Lord God
Almighty and it is no less a sin
this morning in the 20th century than it
was a way back in the 7th century
BC or the 8th.
Men are called of course to undertake a
work for God in society and in the
political field and in the military field and
we need to remember them and to bolster
them with our prayers may it please God
to send more God-fearing, righteousness-seeking men
and women into these areas but for men
and women of God to withdraw their confidence
from their God and repose confidence in the
political field or in military power is a
slur upon the Almighty when the tornado comes
there is no one but God himself who
can save you and he says I will
heal your waywardness you come back to me
in penitence and I will deal with that
basic streak in your attitude in your spirit
I will deal with it I will heal
it now the actual treatment is not stated
here and so I cannot deal with it
as perhaps the prophet Hosea would if he
had written about it but I want to
remind you that a basic factor in the
dealing in dealing with this kind of thing
is simply of course to live in the
conscious presence of God see the only people
that have greater faith in something other than
God or someone other than God are the
people who do not really know God see
if you know God in his glory and
in his greatness and in his covenant and
in his promises then you do not need
you're not really tempted to have confidence in
anybody else if you know God and so
the way to deal with this basic skepticism
and unbelief is this come back to God
from the avenues of wandering come to know
God come to live close up to him.
Now on Wednesday night we were noticing that
in calling the people back literally what Hosea
was doing was this he was calling the
people to come back right up to God
as it were face to face eyeball to
eyeball that you can whisper to one another
near enough to whisper.
Tell me my friend believing man and woman
this morning have you ever been that close
to the Almighty do you know God is
God.
If you don't you too will be tempted
to rest in the power of some Assyria
and to make idols of something or other
and bow down and worship them the day
will come your price will be given you
as it was given Judas and that's the
danger the only real answer to it is
in the knowledge of God when you know
him you know you have the answer to
every problem Judas was tempted by 30 pieces
of silver to sell his Lord do you
think that the man who leaned on Jesus
bosom at supper would have been tempted by
30 pieces of silver to sell his Lord
not on your life.
John the beloved well why not John?
Well for this reason John you see knew
the Christ in a way that Judas didn't
or they were both with him they could
both tell you the color of his hair
and something about his features and his height
and how much he weighed and what he
ate and what he liked of course they
could but the one was only physically present
with him the other was spiritually united to
him.
My dear men and women this morning listen
it is not enough to know the doctrines
of God you've got to know God and
that's the answer to the temptation to apostasy
of every kind it's to know him, really
to know him when you turn away from
him you say in effect I really don't
know him look next, the next
thing God says is I will love them
freely.
What a sweet little statement but how utterly
profound.
I will love them freely.
I think it is Alexander McLaren, the late
Dr. Alexander McLaren you know where he comes
from anyway by his name.
He's in the glory today many of us
thank God for him I think it was
he who said that at this point the
dam is down what he meant was this,
when men and women rebel against God there
emerges a dam between them and God.
The Lord God of Israel has a myriad
things he wants to give his people, a
myriad things he wants to tell his people
a hundred thousand things he wants to do
for us and in us and through us
but there emerges a dam and the tide
of blessing that God wants to give us
is as it were held in abeyance.
Oh there are trickles of benefits coming through
but when you return in genuine penitence and
renounce your idols really do so.
And the dam is down and the tide
of God's purposes the ocean of his love
begins to flow again and you become inundated
with it.
That's the picture I will love them freely.
You know brothers and sisters sometimes in our
prayers we kind of try to coax God
to love us we try to persuade him
to do this and to do that you
don't need to do that when you're really
penitent God says so.
You only need to do that when you're
uncertain of him and if you're uncertain of
him then you can be certain of nothing
I will love them freely says the Lord
nothing shall hinder me.
I will come to them, I will put
my arms around them I will caress them,
I will kiss them, I will bless them
does that language make you uncomfortable?
I know many people who are made uncomfortable
by language like that and by some of
our hymns that speak of this kind of
thing it isn't all that long ago when
I was preaching somewhere and we sang that
hymn which I love immensely especially when it's
sung to the right tune Oh the deep,
deep love of Jesus vast, unmeasured boundless, free,
rolling like a mighty ocean in its fullness
over me, underneath me, all around me is
the current of thy love, leaning onward ever
homeward to my glorious home above somebody challenged
me about the appropriateness of singing a hymn
like that because what does it mean?
Oh my friend don't you know you good
people who believe the book, who know the
catechism who have the doctrines, tell me, tell
me, don't you know anything about the torrents
of God's love breaking in upon you into
the wilderness of your life so that God
becomes the supremely conscious one in your consciousness
you see we've moved now into experiential religion
and it's a great step.
I didn't do it the prophet didn't do
it, God said I will love you freely,
no holds barred I'll be so intimate with
you I'll do so much for you I
will love you freely, absolutely freely do you
know anything my friend, is there anything in
your experience this morning that corresponds to that?
Do you know God?
now doctrine is all important in our Christian
religion God has seen fit to reveal himself
to us in words written as well as
in the word incarnate and so knowledge of
the Bible is important but some of us
have gained the idea that Christianity is learning
and repeating a textbook so that we think
that we are it when we've learned the
scriptures now please, please let no one say
that the senior minister of Knox doesn't believe
that reading and repeating of scriptures may be
unimportant but I tell you, you can repeat
the scriptures till you're dead and yet not
know God loving you freely, yet not knowing
the kind of intimacy with God that the
prophet holds out here a doctrine is vital,
it is basic, it is important God will
do nothing contrary to his word, but over
and above the word is the God of
the word who is a living God, who
is not in chains to his own word
and he's alive, and he comes to one
another and if some poor woman breaks her
alabaster box of precious ointment at his feet,
do you think he has no alabaster boxes
of precious ointment to pour upon our feet?
how poverty stricken we think of our our
God must be.
No, no, no things which eyes have not
seen, ears heard, the heart understood or the
imagination conceived of, are yet in the heart
of God for those who repent and return.
After all Jesus said, did he not this
is life eternal, that they might know you,
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
you sent knowing him.
Now you and I do not only need
therefore the certainty that God loved us at
a point in time where he did not
withhold the only begotten of his bosom, but
delivered him up on a cross to die
in our place instead to redeem us from
the curse of sin and eternal misery we
need to know that, but brothers and sisters
we need to know that God's love didn't
die on Calvary you and I need to
know that the river of God's love was
not damned on Calvary, it's come flowing down
the centuries and as the Holy Spirit came
into the church and the fruit to the
Spirit is love, into every part of the
world into every age and time, his men
his servants have gone bearing the spirit of
grace and sometimes where his servants haven't gone,
he's gone himself a love of God today
is no less than it was on Calvary
but it is for us to follow the
Word of God if we want to know
it, know what it meant when he said
of old I will love you freely.
Now listen if he could say that and
mean it before Bethlehem, before Calvary before Pentecost,
brothers and sisters there's no reason why you
should have to modify it now on the
contrary Pentecost and all that has transpired since
Jesus rose from the dead including his session
at the Father's right hand means that the
waters must flow, the ocean is abroad you
return to me and renounce your sin and
come back to me with all your heart
you shall surely find me.
I must close with this last word I
will heal their waywardness, I will love them
freely I will be as the dew unto
Israel have you ever contemplated that?
I will be as the dew unto Israel.
The towel as it was called meant sprinkled
moisture.
The Hebrew word seems to have been used
indiscriminately both of dew and of night mist
moist air drawn in from the sea was
largely responsible for the dewfall in Western Palestine
especially in coastal areas and near mountain slopes
and it's more than probable that the reference
here is to night mist which one scholar
describes as rolling masses of vapor brought from
the Mediterranean which counteracts the dry heat and
keeps vegetation alive I will be as the
dew unto Israel.
Clearly the ministry of this kind of dew
was very evident.
First of all it was refreshing refreshing to
man, to beast, to all nature alike and
as it was refreshing it was softening it
softened the soil so that you could sow
in it and if plants were already sown
or seeds then the soil would still remain
soft and pliable and something would grow under
the refreshing of the dew and then of
course along with that comes the third point
it was a fructifying influence.
You could expect fruit there might be no
excessive rain, real rains as they call them
in some parts of the world, there might
be none but if you had this sufficient
saturating dew you could have a sweet green
garden behind your little house communion with God
is the only sure means of spiritual refreshment
leave your sin turn right around, come back
to him beg pardon and acceptance, renounce renounce
your sins in his presence and you'll come
to know him and as you come to
know him you will find that the more
time you spend in his presence you'll receive
something that can only be described as the
dew it'll keep your soul fresh and your
thoughts sweet I have a friend in the
Anglican Church I suppose we've preached together many
many many times during the year if ever
we are together before we go on to
a platform or to a pulpit he always
says this whoever's with him this is not
only for me but when I'm with him
he says Glenn remember all our fresh springs
are in him, he's got it all our
fresh springs are in him, it's just the
other way of putting this truth, I will
be as the dew to Israel, are you
dry this morning?
are you hard this morning?
do you want to enter into the singing
of the praises?
were those anthems touching anything in you?
you wanted to praise God did some of
you wish that we could just do something
even more than we were doing?
do you want to break the bounds?
I will be as the dew unto Israel,
refreshment and with refreshment a softening process so
that whatever God wants to sow in the
garden of our souls he can do it
we're soft we're sensitive he can put any
seed in your mind any thought and it
is received you see there are some people
who come to church and they're just like
bits of rock now don't be cross with
me but it's true I know it's true
and we come to the house of God
and we're not prepared to hear God though
he shout at us and call us by
name but the penitent you see who's come
really back to him it means this the
abandonment of all other loyalties submission to him
and now as the dew begins to saturate
our souls we become pliable like the clay
in the hand of the potter it's changing
the metaphor it's the same basic truth and
out of all this comes fruitfulness fruitfulness even
when there are no rains it's not raining
anywhere else but it's raining on my soul
it's parched all around but my soul is
wet with the dew of heaven do you
know that I sometimes wonder however whether there
isn't here in Hosea 14 5 a little
gentle reminder that whereas God meets his people
and communicates his love to them in torrents
in the daytime literally or when all is
well if it means that his dew also
descends in the night time you see the
dew does fall at night it's all dark
nobody sees it nobody hears it but it's
coming down and some of you are going
through dark places at the moment and I
believe that the words of the prophet are
a reminder to you and to me it
may be dark where you are and you
may not be aware of the of the
mighty torrents of God's love breaking into your
life but in the night time the dew
descends and softens and fructifies and refreshes I
will be as the dew unto Israel and
then comes the response into which I can't
go this morning let me just read to
you what happens now following what God says
he will do I will is the relevant
verb so far I will do this I
will heal their waywardness I will love them
freely I will be as the dew to
Israel you see it's divine action so far
now what okay says God as sure as
I do these things listen he will blossom
like the lily see the lily blossoming in
its purity in its whiteness and its uprightness
he like a cedar of Lebanon will send
down his shoots the lily has no shoots
the lily grows upwards but its roots I'm
sorry its roots are not there she has
very little roots and so says the Lord
the character that I will build now is
a character that has roots going down as
well as growing up like the lily in
beauty and in uprightness neither is that everything
his young shoots shall grow out we've got
the picture of a tree still and the
shoots are going out the branches are going
in all direction little shoots that have never
come to anything now they begin to grow
and there are no limits to them so
you see there is beauty here the lily
growing up the roots going down the branches
going out and what then his young shoots
will grow his splendor will be like an
olive tree I can say nothing about that
his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon if
you've been with the cedars of Lebanon and
this is they are the same today as
they were in biblical times all the trees
in Lebanon the cedar area used to grow
together and they were overlapping so that if
you went through an area of territory where
cedars grew if you went there on a
warm summer's day you would find that the
perfume was concentrated because there was no room
for the air to pass through the foliage
was so thick and it came down and
it was as if the order was caged
in it was concentrated and says the Lord
what will happen to the person I'm describing
he says his fragrance will be like that
of the cedars of Lebanon he'll be condensed
with a fragrance of myself and my son
and my spirit he will dwell men will
dwell again in his shade people will find
him a shelter in a weary land people
will thank God on behalf of this person
there will be blessing through him to the
needy and the weary hallelujah oh Israel
return unto the Lord your God if you've
fallen you have fallen by your own iniquity
take with you words and say to him
what the prophet bids us say plead as
the prophet bids you plead forgiveness acceptance renounce
the objects of your false faith which is
a denial of God and just begin to
walk humbly with him and this is the
dimension of things that you can expect the
church at large this morning knows very little
of this because we live in a day
where not only the world is arrogant but
the church is arrogant men and women want
their own thing and their own way and
their own glory in the very church of
the almighty God and because of that we're
only reading about these things whereas we ought
to be experiencing them God grant us at
his table to see again the extent of
his love in history on Calvary purchasing our
redemption but oh may God grant us to
see and to recognize that the love of
God was not damned up on Calvary it's
penetrating and percolating down the years of time
and the author of it the God of
love who is love is here today open
the sluice gate in order that he may
pour out upon you his sweet refreshing grace