A Call to Repentance
Notes
Transcript
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
Introduction
Introduction
The title of this evening’s sermon is “A Call to Repentance.”
I think it’s a truth about most people at least, that true repentance doesn’t come easily. Within the pride of our hearts, we don’t like to acknowledge faults. We don’t like to confess sin. In fact, very often the greatest stumbling block to people becoming Christians is that they don’t like being told that they must change, or that they need to repent of wrong-doing and sin in their lives.
This has led many preachers and churches to abandon the preaching of repentance. Some churches will teach that to preach repentance is too negative, and makes people feel bad. They would prefer to say things that encourage people and build them up, rather than things that would make them feel bad.
I’ve even read of pastors saying that we must not preach about repentance, but rather we must preach the Gospel. This just demonstrates their lack of understanding of the true Gospel!
Indeed, both the John the Baptist, and Jesus our Lord, preached a Gospel message of repentance and faith.
In repentance there is confession of sin, there is contrition for sin, and there is consecration to a new way of life - a way of life that brings great joy and freedom in Christ.
In the words of Kevin De Young:
“The importance of repentance cannot be overestimated for true biblical religion. There is no gospel, there is no heaven, and there is no Christianity without the call to repent.”
In our passage from the book of Hosea this evening, we see a wonderful call of the people of Israel, together with the prophet Hosea, to repentance, a turning to the Lord. And we find the most wonderful truths expressed concerning God in the face of a people are repentant.
I do trust that we will be greatly encouraged through this passage towards true repentance in our own lives, so that we may know the joys that come with repentance and faith.
1. The Call to Repent
1. The Call to Repent
At the beginning of verse 1 we read...
“Come, let us return to the LORD.”
The prophet Hosea sounds a call to the people of God.
You will recall from this study that Israel had abandoned God in various ways. She had prostituted herself to false gods and idols. We even saw last time we were in this book how Israel had placed her trust in Assyria.
They were trusting in a covenant made with the Assyrian people and the king of Assyria to be a source of protection, and a source of well-being and prosperity for them. They were not placing their trust in the Almighty God.
And we have read and considered together many of the words that were spoken through the prophet Hosea, warning them of judgment.
Elaborate...
But now.... harm has already come to them
They are feeling the effects of God’s judgment… even though perhaps not in its full force.
But at this stage, they have a deep sense of their departure from God.
Elaborate...
Application: if we would come to true repentance, we must recognise our departure from God.
Notice in these words by the prophet Hosea, that he includes himself in the call to the people to repent of their sin.
““In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 50:4–5, NIV84)
2. The Call to Acknowledge
2. The Call to Acknowledge
By this, I refer to the call to acknowledge the sovereignty of God over their lives.
Israel comes to this place where they must acknowledge that the harm that is coming upon them is out of the divine and sovereign will of God for them.
Verse 1 continues...
“...He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us...”
This is an acknowledgement that the pain that is felt and being experienced by them is at the hand of God.
The Israelites knew from their own law and Scriptures that God was the one to raise up, and to bring low… to give life and to take it...
39 “See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
But further than this… they had been warned by hosea himself...
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.” (Hosea 5:14, NIV84)
They must acknowledge as a people, that God’s hand is involved in their lives, and that His sovereign decrees and will have led to these circumstances, even as they themselves have forsaken him.
...he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds....
Literally he has “struck us”
Here is a glorious truth concerning our God - that even as he strikes, for whatever reason, His purpose is ultimately to heal and to bless His children.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
The ISraelites were indeed going through a time of great trial and difficulty.
They were responsible for their own wayward acts. They failed to heed the calls of God when he spoke.
And so God had done what he had said he would…
Let us learn, quickly to turn to our Lord. Always to turn to our Lord...
Horae Homileticae Vol. 10: Hosea to Malachi Discourse 1153: The Characteristic Marks of True Penitence (Hos. 6:1)
[The impenitent heart murmurs and rebels under the Divine chastisements: the penitent “hears the rod and him that appointed it.” He blesses God for the troubles that have brought him to reflection; and while he smarts under the wounds that have been inflicted on him, he regards them as the merciful tokens of parental lovec.]
3. The Call to Hope
3. The Call to Hope
When God brings Israel into this deep time of struggle, they are not without hope. And this is acknowledged in verse 2...
2 After two days he will revive us;
It is a most striking truth in Scripture, that God’s grace is profound… His mercies are great…
God has wrath… but comparatively short lived.
Many focus on wrath… not correct...
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
After only 2 days, God will restore Israel.. Not literal, but the emphasis is on brevity of time.
...on the third day he will restore us…
Again - speaks to brevity…
The fact is, they will be restored by the grace of God.
He brought them low, he would raise them up.
But must see link to Christ...
“that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:4, NIV84)
“According to the Scriptures” - this is the only Scripture reference that contains this…
But this idea of restoring is meaningful to us also...
Christians are those who, with Christ, have been raised up.
Through repentance and faith in Him, we are made alive with Christ!
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
“...that we may live in his presence.”
Lit. that we may live before the face of God.
The Israelites are called by Hosea to turn back to God, so that they may live in His presence.
Recall that God had said that He would no longer have mercy, no longer show compassion.
they would feel the effects of a life lived apart from God.
They long to live in his presence again, to sense the closeness and nearness of God
Similar may be said of us…
Have you perhaps deserted God, or wandered off along paths that have led you far from Him.
Do you sense a nearness to him now, or are you far off, longing for the joy of being in His presence.
God is the fountain of living waters.
We must drink from Him.
We must look to Christ.
4. The Call to Know
4. The Call to Know
In verse 3, Hosea says...
The New International Version (1984) Israel Unrepentant
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
We’ve seen the importance of knowing God...
must be a deep knowledge, and a knowledge that is lived out...
Israel is here called to return to a deep knowledge of God, not a superficial knowledge.
Ultimately - the church would be the people of God that would truly know Him!!
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
That word has gone out into the nations!!!
People from all over have come, and continue to come to Christ ---
Hosea goes on...
The New International Version (1984) Israel Unrepentant
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
We have little doubt about a rising sun...
“It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.” (Psalm 19:6, NIV84)
But this speaks of one appearing that is the One that truly brings light!!!
““But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”” (Micah 5:2, NIV84)
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
Hosea continues...
The New International Version (1984) Israel Unrepentant
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
The times of refreshing will come as the people of God return to the Lord.
Again, there was certainty about the winter and the spring rains.
But bound up in this is the idea of refreshing and life giving.
Recall, the Israelites had trusted in the fertility cults
“They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.” (Job 29:23, NIV84)
“He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth.” (Psalm 72:6, NIV84)
But the great realisation of this refreshing is in the coming of our Saviour!
When
Application and Conclusion
Application and Conclusion
Much of this is to be true of us...
We are called to repent...
We are called to acknowledge...
We are called to hope...
We are called to know...
This is life eternal, to know God…
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.