The Long Way Back

Intro

Sometimes there are things in scripture that we selectively ignore. They make us uncomfortable to consider them. Unfortunately, they come up regularly in the prophets. We love stories of redemption; stories of the Lord triumphing over evil; stories of his mercy and grace. We sing "his mercy is more, stronger than darkness, new every morning, our sins they are many, his mercy is more." Everything in that song is true, but it's not the whole truth. For our God is not only merciful, he is also wrathful, "and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face." (Deut. 7:10). "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29), "who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him" (Nah. 1:6).

We must not do as the liberals have done in the mainline, scrubbing out any reference to God and his wrath. Because when you scrub God of His wrath you end up with a weak doctrine of sin. For if God is not angry towards sinners, and will not judge them in the fury of his wrath, then sin becomes little more than mistakes we make usually out of our 'brokenness' which is really not our fault anyway. A diminished view of sin, leads to a diminished view of our savior who died they will say, just to set an example to us of self-sacrifice and love for our fellow man, and not so that he might turn away the righteous anger of God, when the Father poured out His wrath in judgment for the sins of all those who belonged to Jesus. What a hopeless gospel of self-help that is.

No, we must have a God of wrath if we are to ever have a God of mercy and grace, for salvation comes through judgment. Each one of you here today started life as a rebel to God, hating him and justly deserving his wrath in judgment, for that is the natural state of all mankind. But God being rich in mercy, sent His Son to stand in your place so that he might take on himself all the wrath and judgment of God your sins deserved. I say this by way of introduction so that when I give you a heavy dose of the nature of God's wrath you may not be overcome by sorrows and believe there is no hope. "All scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). This morning the Word of God will be teaching us much about the nature of sin and the nature of the Lord's judgment. Reminding us that because the LORD is faithful to His word, covenant-breakers can be certain of His judgment.

Hosea 5:1-15

Summary of the Text

Hosea directs his message to the leadership of Israel, the priests and king, but the people are never far out of view, since as we noted from Ch. 4, "like people, like priest" (4:9). The leaders have corrupted what once used to be holy, what once used to be places that would remind you of God's faithfulness. Because the Lord sees everything, Israel's sin is not hidden from him. She has played the whore running after false gods causing her to no longer know the Lord. It is her pride that causes her to stumble, even when she seeks the Lord in worship she will not find him for the Lord will give her over to her sins and they will devour her. That is the first part of the prophet's message from v. 1-7.

He then follows that with a series of metaphors that describe the Lord and the nature of his judgment. Faithless Israel will receive the punishment her sins deserve when the Lord dismantles her by bringing upon her all the curses for those who break covenant with him. But first, let us consider the nature of sin.

The Nature of Sin

So much of sin is carried out in the dark, or at least in the metaphorical dark, where we think no one will see. But God sees everything. A sobering thought. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me" says the Lord in v. 3. While that is the language of a husband who knows his wife, it's of a husband who knows his wife's infidelity. Why do people think that God can't see? Why do nations think that God can't see? Often because they seem to get away with it. Not just get away with it, they seem to be prospering because of their sin. (Eccl. 8:12-13). You may think no one sees simply because you have gotten away with it, but the Lord knows. He sees what you do in the dark when you think no one sees, he knows your thoughts the moment that you think them.

You will say to me then who can stand? None. None can stand. That is none that are not dressed in the righteousness of Christ. So if you don't know him, then one day you will stand before God and give an account for all that you did in the dark. All those dark deeds and even darker thoughts will be exposed and you will pay the just penalty for every one of them, for you will drink the cup of God's wrath for all eternity. If you think that's bad, that's because it is. But I implore you, don't try to hide. Bring them out now and give them all to Christ. He has taken the cup of God's wrath and drained it down to the last drop. He is your only hope. If you have come to him, and trust in his finished work on your behalf on the cross, then the fact that God sees you, and knows your sin should be a sober reminder to flee from sin. Don't even entertain the idea that no one sees what you look at on your phone late at night, or those corners you cut on the job, or the wicked thoughts that fill your head. Cultivate the discipline of daily confession. Come to Christ, unburden yourself of sin, and receive the benediction of his forgiveness and grace.

It isn't only that God knows everything, and everything is open and exposed in his sight, that might seem terrible enough. But our text also teaches that sin that is often repeated forms habits that are not easily broken, and those habits lead to a disposition, and after a while in that disposition a return to the Lord is impossible. The progression goes something like this. At first they sinned in the dark, thinking no one saw them and because no one was hurt (not!), they got bolder. What was once only privately done now is done for all to see. Again nothing seemed to happen so they carried on in sin. Oh they thought if I need to I can repent, but I've got time. As Augustine prayed 'Lord make me chaste, but not today.' This is the sin of presumption. The puritan Thomas Manton said, "Men grow wilful by frequent sinning, and their hearts become as hard as the highway by frequent treading upon it. These kinds of sinners, the most grave admonitions, seasonable reproofs, powerful exhortations, and convincing reasons, will not move them. By every presumptuous sin they put a new difficulty in the way of their conversion"(Works, 21:344).

What a sec do you mean that if these people wanted to return to the Lord they would not be able to? Yes, but they won't want to return to him. They are so hardened by their sins that they don't know the Lord, and can have no desire to even try. Remember, repentance is a gospel grace, not the product of human striving, but is wrought by His Spirit.

Notice that even when they make a show of returning to the Lord, the Lord withdraws from them so that they cannot find him (v. 6), now that doesn't seem fair. On the outside it looks like these people are coming to worship the Lord. They've got their sacrifices, and they're headed to the temple for worship. The kids are in their Sunday best, they're sitting in their spot at church, they stand up, sit down, and lift their hands at all the right cues. They even throw ten bucks in the plate. And they have developed the helpful skill of appearing to be listening to the sermon, without the inconvenience of actually having to listen. For God's sake they might be convicted if they did.

It's the heart motive behind this kind of worship that God will not accept. It was their pride that blinded them causing them to think that they could bend God to their will. As sinners we often look for quick-fix solutions to life's problems. Crops are bad bring a goat; you feel guilty for cheating on your wife bring a lamb; Here priest, here's my offering. Do you repent of your sins? Uh sure, yeah, yeah. Good the priest says as he thinks what a great meal he's going to have later from this offering. The whole thing, root and branch is corrupt, and God hates such worship. You can seek him all day long that way and you will never find him, he's gone.

Religious hypocrisy is one of the greatest tools Satan uses to trap people in sin. It's a way to make us feel good about ourselves. We have this uncanny ability to go through the motions in worship convincing ourselves that God is pleased because we are. This is happening in churches right now throughout this valley. And it can happen right here too. The proof Hosea says that Israel has carried out faithless worship is bastard children. Probably literally and spiritually. Parents bear the guilt of insincere worship when their children go one step farther and leave it altogether.

Then what you offered hoping it would commend you to God, he will turn into something that will devour you. Insincerity in worship is not the only reason covenant children walk away from the faith, but it's a big one. If your heart is not wholly devoted to the Lord why would you think that your child's would be?

What Hosea has taught us is that sin cannot be hidden. What was done in the dark will one day be exposed to the light. "Be sure your sin will always find you out" (Num. 32:23). One of sin's most pernicious lies is that you can put off repentance until later. One you don't know when your end will be. And two, you underestimate the hardening effect of sin. Once you walk down that path so far, there's no going back. In that hardened state, you can offer all the worship in the world, it won't commend you to God. For you will seek him, but he has withdrawn and is not there. While I believe these descriptions describe the unregenerate covenant-breaker, the danger of trifling with sin is held out for you who fled to Christ for refuge from the Lord's devouring wrath. Even those who have been born again can be hardened by habitual sin and come under the consequences of the discipline of the Lord for a season. And all believers struggle at times with coming to worship the Lord with godly sincerity.

It's texts like these that speak most loudly to the reality of the nature of sin, and by way of warning, they call the people of God to return to the Lord and remain faithful to him. Because it is the blast of the trumpet that sounds the alarm of God's impending judgment, which the prophet Hosea takes up next as we consider vv. 8-15 and the nature of the Lord's judgment.

The Nature of the LORD's Judgment

The Lord gives warning of His impending judgment, calling for the blast of the trumpet to sound an alarm that desolation is coming. Desolation spells ruin, a horrific scene where a land once fruitful and blessed becomes a barren wasteland. Here, God makes His plans known before they happen so that when desolation overtakes them, they remember from whose hands they suffer. Judah is not exempt from His judgment. What characterizes the leadership is theft and avarice on a scale that will have generational effects. But God will pour out His wrath like water. Have you ever been to the beach and built a sand castle, only to watch the tide slowly come in, knowing that soon it will overtake your creation? And when the waves finally crash upon your castle, the waters cover it so it disappears, then as the waters recede in place of the castle is smooth sand. The castle in the torrent of the waves was taken up and spread evenly, washing clean so that nothing remains. Such is the wrath of God when it breaks against His covenant people who, through their unfaithfulness, have become covenant-breakers.

Who can be saved from such wrath? We are right to think of Noah, that preacher of righteousness, and the promise God made to flood the earth. Noah, like Hosea, preached a sermon of the Lord’s impending judgment. Few listened to either. But God had prepared an ark for Noah and his family, “in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Baptism which corresponds to this,” says the Apostle Peter, “now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pe. 3:20-21). Only those who have fled to Christ will find refuge from the deluge of God’s wrath. Your baptism serves as a reminder, that the Lord poured out His wrath on another, so that instead of being deluged by the fierce waves of His wrath, you are washed clean in the waters of baptism.

The scene moves back to Ephraim, and at first glance, we might be sympathetic. Oppressed, crushed sounds almost as if by Judah. But it's not from Judah that they are being judged but from the Lord, and not for her innocence, but for a determination to run after filth. Most likely a reference to the idolatrous worship practices instituted by Jeroboam. Determination implies a persistent desire to stay the course, only to their condemnation, this course is after filth.

The prophet’s message continues through a series of three metaphors. The Lord uses striking images to describe the change of relationship He now has with Israel. Gone are the images of a shepherd, or a rock, or a father, to be replaced with images of the moth, dry-rot, and a lion, and not a tame one.

I am like a Moth and Dry Rot

If your theology doesn’t have room for the Lord describing himself as something that brings corruption, then it is deficient. Both a moth and dry rot are images of something that corrupts from within.

Moths were a major problem in the ancient world, where they did not have climate-controlled houses that were sealed to keep out the bugs. If moths got into your clothes, they would eat away at them until there was nothing left. The same can be said about dry rot when it comes to houses. Elaborate steps were taken to ensure that rot did not spread in a house, and if it did, it was deemed unclean by the priest and torn down to be left in a heap.

But how can the Lord be this corruption that eats away at the people of God from the inside? What are we to make of this? Going back to the previous point on the nature of sin, when people persistently run after sin, God gives them it in abundance. The corruption that is rotting away at the center of Israel, both Ephraim and Judah, is the filth of their sin. Sin is a corruption that starts small but like the moth eats its way out in the garment; or as dry rot spreading in the timbers. Sin is self-destructive.

You’ve heard the expression I’m sure, “how can something that feels so good be bad?” Which is often said in defense of some self-destructive habit. Most of us like to eat, some of us a little too much. And too much of a good thing can kill you. I am sure that the number of deaths which are the consequence of obesity would be staggering. And it’s preventable, but obviously not easily. We literally eat ourselves to death. And I know, how dare you touch eating, that’s my darling sin, and it’s respectable. It may be that the sin of gluttony is the scourge that God will use to rot out a people from the inside. We don’t need an invader. Thank you very much. We can destroy ourselves well enough on our own. Israel in the wilderness had a strong craving for meat, so God gave it to them in abundance.

Numbers 11:19–20 (ESV) — 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ ”

You want meat, I’ll give it till you vomit it out. You want sex outside of marriage, I’ll give you the slaughter of generations of unborn children in the untold millions. So the Lord brings internal corruption to bring a nation to its knees from the inside out. Arguably that is what happened to the mighty Roman Empire. One commentator put it best:

In other words, YHWH destroys Ephraim and Judah from the inside. The contrast to YHWH’s coming as a flood serves the completeness of the judgment: an overwhelming force in one and a slow-working destruction from within in the other.

Both from without, and from within, Israel will not escape the wrath of God for her unfaithfulness. The last metaphor is perhaps the hardest to hear.

I am a Lion

At some point, the wound from Israel’s corruption began to stink. But rather than returning to the Lord in repentance and seeking his favor, Israel sought refuge in an Assyrian King. But can a pagan king, even if a tool used by God, lead the people of God to repentance? Yes, but not in the way you might think, at least not in the sense of curing or healing the stinking wound of Israel’s sin. For the Lord says,

Hosea 5:14 (ESV) — 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

As lions will kill their prey, and then drag it back to their den to feast on, and to share with the pride, so God will come like a lion and tear Israel from her place and drag her off into exile. This is not an image of a parent saying, now, now Johnny, you’re going to have to go to time-out now, because you weren’t nice to your sister. When Assyria laid waste to Israel, dragging any left in the land not torn in battle, back to Assyria, it was brutal. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem for months, while the inhabitants starved to death, and others resorted to eating each other, mothers eating their own children. For a harrowing picture read, Jeremiah, as he mourns the destruction of Jerusalem in Lamentations.

Lamentations 2:20–21 (ESV) — 20 Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity.

I have entitled this sermon the long way back, for there is a way back to the Lord, but it’s the long way. The shortest way would have been to heed the prophet’s message right then, and then turn in repentance and remain faithful to keep covenant with Yahweh. But Israel took the long way back. It’s a path that leads first down into the grave, before the healing balm of the gospel can have its effect. Through exile, God will save his people. A brief glance at next week’s text will show this.

Hosea 6:1–2 (ESV) — 1 “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

This is one of the few texts in scripture that allude to the three days that Jesus would continue under the power of death (Jonah, three days in the belly of the whale is another). The storyline of scripture is creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, which is told on a grand scale, but is also recapitulated in the stories of individuals and eventually, the nation of Israel. Adam was created, then he rebelled against God and his fall in sin exiled him in death from his covenant relationship with God. But God redeems him, clothing his nakedness, and instituting a sacrificial system whereby he might be restored to covenant fellowship with God again.

And this storyline is repeated throughout the characters of scripture, but most importantly in Israel. God created Israel at Sinai, gave her the promised land as an expanded Eden, calling her to be fruitful and multiply, calling her to be a light to the nations. However, in the promised land she rebelled against God by whoring after other gods, breaking her covenant with him through her sin. God judged her sin, by expelling her from the promised land in exile. Her redemption would be a return from exile in a new exodus, where God would restore her to the promised land, but this would be the expanded promised land of the new heavens and the new earth.

But all these recapitulations of the story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration were all meant to point the people of God to the second Adam, whose final recapitulation of that story would not be a type, but the reality, for only in Christ would the promised restoration, not be a taste of the reality, but the real thing.

Jesus was created when in the womb of the virgin Mary, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, took to himself a real body and a reasonable soul. His story diverges from Adam 1’s in unique ways. Unlike Adam, he was faithful to the terms of the covenant. He obeyed his father, keeping his commands perfectly. But he takes his obedience beyond that, by taking all the sins of his people on himself so that he could suffer the wrath and judgment of God that sin deserved. So he was exiled in death for three days. When God raised Him from the dead, he vindicated his sacrifice, extending the redemption he secured to all His people. But while His restoration was complete, He had become the life-giving spirit of new-creation life, however restoration would be a two-act play. First, restoration broke into this world with the application of redemption to His people by regeneration. He gave them new hearts, enabling them to respond in faith, who are then justified, adopted into His family, and undergo the purifying work of sanctification until they are finally glorified. The final consummation, when Christ returns, will be the restoration of all things, then we will inherit the new heavens and the new earth.

The point I am trying to make comes in the middle. Salvation comes through judgment; without exile, there can be no redemption. In order for God to heal, he must first tear. Without the cross, there is no resurrection. To maintain the holiness of God and to uphold justice, sin must be judged. We want justice, but not for our sins. We want restoration, but without having to go through exile. Although Jesus has accomplished the storyline of scripture, he calls all of His people to follow him to glory through the predictable path of exile and restoration, the cross and resurrection. In order to share in the latter, you must endure the former. In order to be raised with him, you must be willing to suffer with him. False religions, like Baal worship, and like easy believism or the prosperity gospel, offer resurrection life without having to suffer. But that is like trying to convince someone in Israel, banished in exile, that they are really in a restored promised land. If it’s possible to live my best life now, what do I have to look forward to? The prosperity gospel sells you beach-front property in Arizona and encourages you to imagine that it is so.

In exile, God says, “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.” Repentance consists of confession of sin, which is the honest acknowledgment of your guilt, and a turn to God for His mercy and grace. But too often, we let the suffering of Exile harden us, and we refuse to confess our sin, persisting in it stubbornly, until we are worn out. That is taking the long way back to God. Sin is never to be trifled with. When habitually engaged in sin, we harden ourselves to the overtures of God’s word, through preaching. And we try all kinds of quick-fix solutions to assuage our guilt; we worship God in hypocrisy. Sometimes we harbor hatred and bitterness towards a brother in Christ, and then participate in the Lord’s Supper. There are myriads of ways we try to use worship to manipulate God in order to get Him to bend to our will. Sin deserves judgment, and salvation can only come when sin is dealt with. And only Jesus’ exile of death, and His resurrection could bring about the promised restoration of all things. Be sure the Lord is faithful; covenant-breakers can be certain of His judgment. So flee to Christ, find refuge in Him from the just judgment your sins deserve. Amen.

Lord’s Supper Meditation

Thankfully, the Lord knows our weaknesses; he considers that we are dust and provides for us this meal as we continue to sojourn in exile while we wait for the promised restoration of all things. And maybe you’re thinking, why didn’t he give us something more substantial? I’m sick of this tiny bit of bread and wine. I want the rich feast of the new heavens and the new earth. So did Israel when she wandered in the exile of the wilderness. Not content with her manna from heaven, she craved meat, and you know how that went. These things were written down for your example, so that you might not crave meat like they did and were destroyed, but so that you would be content with even greater manna from heaven, the bread of Christ’s broken body, and the wine of His blood. Here, he holds out for you the promise of restoration, through the salvation he offers through his death on the cross. Salvation through judgement. So this bread and wine are perfectly suited to equip you to patiently endure suffering, so that you may also share in his resurrection on the last day. By your participation in this meal, you proclaim to the watching world your participation in his death. You proclaim, “died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God shoudst die for me.” Such amazing love, displayed for all the world in the death of Christ, should call forth the greatest devotion from those who see that it was for them He died, and for them he rose, so that your only comfort in life and in death is that you belong to your faithful savior Jesus. If that describes you, then come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Charge

The salvation of God comes through judgment, the nature of sin, and the holiness of God, make any other way a fiction. We rob the gospel of its glory, and we diminish sin when we scrub God clean of any anger or wrath. What we are left with is not the God of the bible at all, but a god of our own making, an idol; and not the Christian religion, but a different religion altogether. Because God is faithful to His word, covenant breakers can be certain of His judgment. Only those covenant-breakers who have found refuge in Christ, will come safely through the flood of his wrath. So flee to Christ, and patiently endure the sufferings of this life, as God judges sin in you and produces righteousness, until at last we are restored in glory. Amen.

Benediction

May our Lord who has laid up for you a hope in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy, Keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.