A Call To Come Back Home

TTILE:

TEXT: Hosea 14.

INTRODUCTION: Setting the Stage

From my perspective, Hosea has likely been our most difficult study yet. ACTS seemed to be never ending, but it was foundational for us as a church. PHILIPPIANS challenged us relationally as a church family as we saw Paul’s love for the Philippians and his desire for them to be united in their love for Christ in any situation. ROMANS was mind-blowing as we saw Paul detail God’s great redemptive plan in the justification, sanctification, and one day glorification of sinners.

But Hosea… Hosea has been a wild ride with sermons that have carried many common themes along the way.

Spiritual Adultery, Idolatry, Unfaithfulness, Unrepentant, Indictment, Judgment

Love, Faithfulness, Mercy, Grace, Redemption, Reconciliation

Through it all we have seen a God who is choosing to love a people who do not love Him. Though He is patient and longsuffering, He is justly judging them in their sin. At the same time, He is always calling them back to where the belong - In covenant, loving relationship with Him.

THIS WEEK - Hosea 14.

ILLUSTRATION: My Dad’s Whistle

When I was young, I use to be amazed by how awesome my father’s whistle was. It was elite. Perfectly executed every time. It was piercingly loud, and my ears were perfectly tuned to hear it. It really did not matter how far away I was, I would always hear his call and I knew what it meant - It is time to go home.

I used to look forward to the day when I became a father and the secret club of dads told me how to whistle like this. Turns out, that is not a real thing.

Jokes aside - I always knew it was my father’s call and I knew what it meant. It was a call to come back home to where I belong. It was a call back to safety, a call back to security, a call back to where I was loved deeply and provided for…where all my needs were satisfied.

In Hosea 14, God is calling his covenant people to come back to Him. They had proved themselves unfaithful. They had broken his commandments giving themselves in the worship of false gods. The glory that was due His name for their blessing and fruitfulness as a nation was given over freely to idols of stone and wood. And yet… He loved them.

God’s Compassion and Justice

Hosea 11:8–9 ESV

8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. 9 I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

Main Idea:

True repentance leads to restoration, new life, and holiness.

Outline:

1. We Are Called to Repentance (v1-3)

2. We Are Promised Renewal (v4-8)

3. We Are Blessed by the Word (v9)

PRAYER

A Call To Come Back Home

Hosea 14 ESV

1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. 3 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.” 4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; 6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 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. 8 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. 9 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.

1. We Are Called to Repentance (v1-3)

Hosea opens the final portion of his text with a heartfelt plea, a call to “Return” to the Lord. At different points within the heavy Book of Hosea, we have seen these glimpses of hope and promise that truly reflect who the heart of the God of Israel.

Hosea 2.14-23, After stating that Israel’s unfaithfulness will be punished, He promises to once again allure her, to speak tenderly to her and rescue her from her lovers. God will extend steadfast love and mercy to Israel once again, an undeserving unfaithful bride, a violator of their covenant.

Hosea 3, God will pursue His bride, His people who do not love Him. He will retrieve her from their bondage and cast His love on her once again. They shall be His people and He will be there God.

Hosea 7.1, God speaks of restoring the fortunes of Israel and healing His people.

It would be a great error for us today to reflect make on the Book of Hosea and remember the Lord as just angry and wrathful towards Israel. No…He is a heartbroken Father whose children have rejected His name. He is a Husband whose bride has given away her love to another.

May we not read this wonderful book and see him only in that light for He takes no pleasure in their judgment.

A Prophet to an Exiled People

Ezekiel 33:11 (ESV)

11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

The Lord has proclaimed His coming judgment because of who He is, for he is holy and perfect in every way and He must act in accordance with his character. Even so, he calls them once again to “Return”.

Hosea 14:1 “1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.”

Why is this reminder of their sin necessary?

Throughout this text, we see that the Lord through the prophet Hosea is constantly returning to the problem of Israel’s sin. And again here we see that just following the Lord’s call for Israel to RETURN, he reminds them that their transgression/iniquity has caused them to stumble.

The Hebrew term used here is used across the OT to indicate physical falling, but here it is used in the figurative sense - meaning that Israel has staggered, failed, and has fallen into ruin Spiritually.

The Cause of Their Stumbling

Jeremiah 18:15–16 ESV

15 But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, 16 making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.

Israel’s Idolatrous worship has made them spiritually weak and has driven them into ruin.

Why was this reminder (once again) necessary? The awareness of our sin before a holy God is what draws into repentance and a true appreciation for the forgiveness offered in Christ.

The Effect of Our Sin

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

(v.2-3) Confession and Obedience

2. We are Promised Renewal (v4-8)

3. We Are Blessed by the Word (v9)