Respond to God's Love

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Date: 25 January, 2018

Text: Hosea 14

Title: Respond to God's Love

Theme: Hosea's call to Israel to repent and turn back to God.

Introduction:

ill. Grandma and Grandpa Shore - Godly - Grandma was very verbal and funny. Grandpa was quieter but had a good sense of humour. 

Funny Stories - I have some favorite stories about them.

old age - going on a date - flipping the picnic bench and leaving.

argument - reaaranging furniture - getting up in a huff - flopping in bed.... almost - bed shaking

It is hard when we get out of sorts with someone we love. But, when you get right it can be a very sweet treasure of a relationship restored.

Our sin is an offence to a holy God. Although he loves us, sin takes us away from him and puts us against Him. But, it is a very sweet thing to get right with God. TO BE RIGHT WITH HIM IS LIFE. TO HARDEN OUR NECK AGAINST HIM IS DEATH.

9  Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. 

Are you wise enough this morning to get right with God?

Hosea - is pleading with Israel to get right. He has written a book by God's inspiration which shares his ministry as God's prophet warning Israel that they have committed spiritual adultery. THEY WERE GOD'S PEOPLE BUT THEY HAD TURNED ASIDE AFTER STRANGE GODS.

Our text - is the last chapter in Hosea's book where he is pleading with Israel to respond to the great love of God.

JESUS WANTS YOU TO RESPOND TO HIS LOVE. Are you content to stay in your sin while the Saviour is pleading with you to be restored to Him?

I. Hear the call to repentance.

1  O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; 

exp. Like he Great Shepherd which he is - he is seeking to bring his lost sheep back into His fold.

 ill. Parable of the lost sheep - Luke 15

4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

exp. Are you saying in your heart today - Jesus hasn't done anything for me - He hasn't sought me.

1.) He left Heaven and came to earth for you.

Luk 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

note: Proud sinners say - I'm not lost.

 exp. Tom Ferrell would say, "You are lost as a goose in a hail storm."

app. You are so lost - you don't think you are lost at all - you think your on your way to the grave or on your way to Heaven - and YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO HELL.

2.) He died on an old rugged cross for you.

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

ill. Last year - car in Ireland turned around on a slip road into a harbor. It lost it's grip and plunged into the water. A brave man on shore swam out to the car - the father handed out the 1 year old child and the rest of the family perished. The last act of that father was to lovingly save the life of his infant child.

exp. The last act of our Saviour was to give His life so that you can live!

app. The problem this morning is not that God doesn't love you. It is that you do not love God. Don't say that He hasn't done anything for you - He did everything and you have done nothing in response.

II. Observe the seriousness of your short coming.

for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

exp. Sin is to miss the mark. You can't hit the high mark of God to get into heaven because sin has caused you to fall.

 ill. Grad School - had to have high marks - 2 c's would put you out of the program. Systematic Theology was a very tough course. I studied hard but it was my most difficult course - I knew how many I could miss on the final - and I missed several more - I WAS GUTTED.

HOWEVER, in mercy and grace my teacher lifted my grade up. I rejoiced in His mercy.

note: It would be a better illustration if I had had to humble myself - ADMIT MY FAILURE - and ask for His mercy.

 exp. You need to understand this morning that you do not measure up to God's high standard.

ill. Disney World - every ride has a standard for getting on the ride. Nelson loved rides - He was only 4. It didn't matter what it was - he would go on it. However, he couldn't go on every ride - because he didn't measure up. IT IS SAD WHEN YOU REALLY WANT ON BUT YOU CAN'T GET ON.

 app. You can't begin to realize today how much you want to go to Heaven and don't want to go to Hell. YOU AREN'T IN THE CUE YET - BUT WHEN YOU DO GET IN THE CUE YOU WILL COME TO GRIPS WITH WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT JUST NOW. IF YOU AREN'T IN THE CUE TO HEAVEN YOU ARE IN THE CUE TO HELL. YOU MISSED THE MARK.

III. Repent of your failure.

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

exp. Repent means to turn away from your sin and turn to God.

app. If we had a come forward invitation - it is to get out of your chair, come up to the front and do business with the God you have scorned.

A. Prepare your apology.

2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, 

ill. Guys - you ought to know how to do this. We who miss the mark in marriage and offend our wives. You find yourself thinking - how do I get right. What do I say.

1.) I'm sorry.

2.) I was wrong and you are right.

3.) Will you please forgive me? (next point) BUT THOSE ARE THE WORDS.

 exp. Do not go to your wife and say - I'M SORRY BUT HERE IS MY EXCUSE. 

app. To make excuse or to be insincere IS NO APOLOGY AT ALL and God knows your heart. Put the words in your mouth - GOD I'M SORRY - YOU ARE RIGHT, I AM WRONG - PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

B. Submit to God's authority.

....turn to the LORD: say unto him,

Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: 

Exp. It's not an easy thing to admit failure and submit to authority.

 ill. Getting in trouble for saying something I should have said to some girls with whom we were having a water fight. I didn't mean anything by it (you could say I had good intentions - I didn't mean to offend.) I shouldn't have - but I argued with my parents late into the night - refusing to submit to them - BUT THEY WERE GOING TO KEEP ME GOING TO CAMP IF I DIDN'T SUBMIT - I HAD GOOD PARENTS WHO LOVED ME MORE THAN THEY DID THEMSELVES. I had to humble myself and apologize to gain her forgiveness.

App. It doesn't matter if you had good intentions - YOU STILL ARE A TRANSGRESSOR! You have offended a Holy God and you must humble yourself and apologize OR YOU WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN. Only THE ONE YOU HAVE OFFENDED CAN FORGIVE YOU OF YOUR TRANSGRESSION.

C. Give sacrifice of truth to God.

so will we render the calves of our lips.

exp. As you take this truth to God on your lips - it is a sacrifice which God acceptable to God.

 ill. The Jews woshipped God and had dealt with their sin at the temple by offering a blood sacrifice, by a priest, on an altar. They were in exile and could not do that. Hosea makes reference to this VERBAL REPENTANCE as being a sweet offering which God accepts.

app. When is the last time you cheered up the heart of God - BY GETTING RIGHT WITH HIM BY VERBAL REPENTENCE.

D. Forsake idolatry - trust in anything other than God.

3  Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: 

exp. Asshur  represented the Assyrians to whom they had turned for help, the horse represented their own strength, idolatry had been their besetting sin.

 ill.  David said - Psa 20:7  Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

THE REST OF OUR PASSAGE - V.3 ....for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

question: Whom do you trust in?

evolutionist - science

humanist - self

atheist - intellectual humanistic unbelief

other gods - money, medicine, strength, occult, 

 ill. Have you ever noticed that you can't help someone, until they are ready to be helped? You may give a child a job to do and offer to assist them because you know it is beyond their ability. In their pride they insist that they do not need your assistance - SO YOU LET FAILURE HUMBLE THEIR HEART to bring them to you to request your assistance.

 app. If you think those other things can help you, God will not hesitate to show you that you are wrong - THE OBSTINATE WILL CONTINUE IN FAILURE - but the humble will find their help in God. Won't you forsake your pride and idolatry and turn to the living God for His assistance.

IV. Be fully restored to God.

 exp. Restoration is wonderful!

 ill. Have you ever been really ill and thought I just want to be well! - IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE BACK TO FULL HEALTH AND STRENGTH.

ill. My brother is good at restoring things - rusty engine - to incredible engine. He took a 100 year old barn (grainery) and moved it to a foundation and made his house. Old bath tub to beautiful tub.

 note: Restoration takes something that is far from it's original condition and brings it back to THE GLORY IT ONCE HAD.

app. Man was created to have unbroken fellowship with God. Sin broke that fellowship and perverted man's course away from the way of God. Don't you want to get back to the glory of a restored relationship with God.

A. No more departure.

4  I will heal their backsliding, 

exp. A back slider - is someone who knowing God departs from Him. Instead of going forward with God, they drift further and further away. Israel's eventual restoration will bring him back to God!

8  Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

ill. This past week -witnessing to a hardened atheist trying to convince me that the Bible is false.

 ill. A few weeks ago - witnessing to another rabid atheist - (Both men left the truth) trying to convince me to read, "The God Delusion." The right title is the Satanic Richard Dawkins Dillusion.

exp. However, it is like someone saying to me as I eat my sweet ripe apple that it is sour and worm infested. 

 app. Once you taste the grace of God, you are hooked on the goodness and grace of God. (DON'T THINK TODAY - I CAN'T TURN AWAY FROM MY FORMER LIFE - JUST TURN TO GOD - YOU WON'T WANT TO TURN BACK.)

B. No more disfavor.

1.) God's love is given.

I will love them freely: 

exp. Israel would perhaps be wondering - if I turn to God - what if he refuses me? (They would be right to think that - they had committed spiritual adultery.) BUT GOD ASSURED THEM OF HIS LOVE FOR THOSE WHO REPENT.

 ill. To show God's love to the people by way of illustration, God has Hosea marry a prostitute. They had 3 children and then she is unfaithful and goes back to prostitution. Hosea is told to take her back to him in love AS A PICTURE OF THE GREAT LOVE OF GOD.

 app. You don't deserve the love of God this morning. But, God guarantees that He has deep love waiting for those who come to Him.

2.) God's anger is removed.

for mine anger is turned away from him.

exp. What unbelievers don't understand is that they have angered the holy creator God and his anger is on them.

ill. The great awakening has a famous sermon associated with that glorious event. It was preached by the most famous preacher of that movement - Sinners in the hand of an angry God.

 note: God's anger brought the destruction of the world by flood. God's anger brought fire slew the firstborn children of Egypt. God's anger brought fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

exp. Unbelievers  have angered the Holy God.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Eph 5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

 app. If you are forgiven today, you can rejoice that you are not longer an offence to a holy God. You have been given his love and His anger is removed.

C. No more discipline

5  I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

6  His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7  They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

exp. Israel had been shriveling up because God had taken away his blessing, but now His blessing was restored. DEW, GROWTH, FRUIT, REVIVAL, SCENT (REFRESHING LIFE)

 Ill. Palestine - where modern day Israel is again in the land was a wasteland 100 years ago. Mark Twain in the late 1800's wrote

"Come to Galilee - these unpeopled deserts, these rusty mounds of barrenness, that never, never do shake the glare from their harsh outlines... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes... desolate and unlovely...."

exp. But, the dessert is blooming with cultivation and friends of Israel and planting the dessert and it is alive. Isaiah 35:1  The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2  It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: 

exp. The blessing of God is again upon the land - even as God promised.

 app. Are you enjoying the blessing of God today? Is there a sweetness to your walk with Jesus? Have you passed from death unto life? Do you know the joy of being restored to God?

conclusion:

9  Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

Jesus is call you to Himself today!

1.) Are you listening?

2.) Do you agree with him about the seriousness of your failure?

3.) Have you repented

taking words of apology

submitting to His authority

turned from all other dependence (idolatry) to trust Him alone

4.) Do you know the sweetness of restoration?

no more departure, discipline, disfavor,