Missions Paul

Of course the Bible is full of them. But as we come to the close of what has been a challenging journey through Hosea we see that if Israel repented and came back to Him then the benefits are many:-

• I will heal their waywardness and love them freely.
• for my anger has turned away from them.
• I will be like the dew to Israel;
• he will blossom like a lily.
• Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
• his young shoots will grow.
• His splendour will be like an olive tree,
• his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
• People will dwell again in his shade;
• they will flourish like the grain,
• they will blossom like the vine
• Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
• Ephraim, what more have to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him.
• I am like a flourishing juniper;
• your fruitfulness comes from me.

(Hosea 14 v 4-8)

15 promises. 15 benefits that follow repentance. None of them is of ourselves. They are all of His grace and mercy. They are all found in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His act led to these benefits for our lives.

Today we all need to hear these words of healing; love; mercy not anger; dew; blossom; rooted; growth; splendour; fragrance; protection; flourishing; blossoming; reputation; being heard and cared for by Him; flourishing again; fruitfulness.  They are all here.

Over the next few days we will unpack each one but maybe this morning it is simply that to meditate on one or two is what we need to face our day.

In this final chapter we are reading Hosea wrapping things up. It has been quite a message! A message that he has personally lived out with Gomer. One that has had him pleading for his generation. None more so than here in these next few verses “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. (Hosea 14 v 1-2)

Hosea is doing all he can to save them. He even gives them a prayer that they should use. He wants to make sure they are saying the right thing to God.

Here is that prayer:

Confession of sin

Say to him: Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips, v2

To forgive is to take the sin away. It is to remove it. Owning the sin and asking for it to be removed and then at the same time asking to be received as if the offence no longer existed needs much grace. God abounds in grace thankfully! So in the confession of sin ask for grace.

• Renounce what has previously been wrongfully followed.

“Assyria cannot save us.” (v3) What they looked to could not be trusted.

God was their Saviour no one else. Here is the decision to turn away and turn to Him.

• Commit to trusting God alone.

“…we will not mount warhorses.” (v3) We will not put our trust in what we have always known to be successful and that is horses in war. The more horses we have the more powerful we are seen to be. For us it is any badge of qualification or experience and even gifts from God that we flaunt as revealing how strong we are and how successful we have been. We commit to putting our future in the hands of God and not these things.

• Announce the abolishing of idolatry

“We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made.,” (v 3) This is the commitment to go and do something. To destroy what is created for our own pleasure. A commitment to be counter-cultural. To not fit in. To be separated to Him.

• Ask for mercy.

“…for in you the fatherless find compassion.” (v3) We pray to the one who is a father to the fatherless. He is merciful to those in need. To ask for mercy is to see yourself in a mirror, to have self-awareness and to realise that you need Him.

They were flourishing. They had all that they wanted. Then this:

 “I will have no compassion, even though he thrives among his brothers. An east wind from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures. The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open.” (Hosea 13 v 15-16)

Even though … despite what it looked like … it was over.

Assyria came and decimated God’s people.

It is a repeated message. We have heard it before. It is awful. And it happened. Ephraim and Samaria were destroyed and it was brutal.

And as we read these solemn verses, in the background are the words also found in this chapter:

 (There is) no Saviour except me, v4.

Then they forgot me, v6.
“You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper, v9.

Do you think some may have remembered Hosea’s words of v4, v6 and v9 when they were being killed or taken into exile?

When your flourishing days are over and the opposite are happening you would think at last you would call upon your God?

You would think wouldn’t you?

With so much evil and anger around the streets of our world we need the gospel of Jesus Christ more than ever.

4 Gospel steps from Hosea 13 v 12-14.

1. God knows everything about you. He has a record of every sin. “The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record”, v12.
2. These sins will bring pain like that of a mother with childbirth. “Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him”, v13.
3. But the pain will not bring new life because you have not recognised the time of new birth, you think you know more than your mother. “…but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb”, v13.
4. So God does what is needed. He delivers and He redeems. “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” v14 But it can also be translated “I will be your plagues and I will be your destruction.”

The Apostle Paul knew this gospel message when he wrote:

Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

! Corinthians 15: 54-57

If you don’t have the LORD how will you survive?

God’s people had wanted to be like every other nation and have a king (1 Samuel 8).

So God gave them a king though it wasn’t His purpose for their lives. He wanted them to be led by judges. The result was that they put their trust in the king and not the KING of kings.

And now facing the looming threat of the Assyrians:-

“Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away.” (Hosea 13 v 10-11)

Saul lost the kingship because of his sins and the northern kingdom, Israel, did not choose the line of David but their own kings, the first being evil Jeroboam. But in the end every king they chose was eventually defeated.

What they asked for, what they reached out to, who they took regardless of God’s will and purpose for their lives, led them to their downfall and destruction.

Be careful what you ask for and who you follow.

Some make the nature of God fit into their lifestyle which they will not repent from. His nature must bow to their nature. And of course that is nonsense. This is what we see in the next several verses of Hosea’s prophetic message to God’s people prior to the invasion and destruction from a foreign army.

“But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Saviour except me. V4
I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat. V5
When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. V6
So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. V7
Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them—a wild animal will tear them apart. V8

“You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper. V9

(Hosea 13 v 4-9)

The other side of God is revealed.

He is a lion and a leopard lurking by the path, v7. And at that time the Assyrian army were indeed lurking nearby waiting to pounce.

He is an angry bear whose cubs have been stolen, v8. And soon the Assyrians will attack.

He is a lion who devours and a wild animal that tears at the flesh of its prey, v8. And Assyria does conquer His people bringing total destruction.

Why?

You are against me, your helper! V9

It could have been different. For God has another side.

But I …v4

Can you imagine what might have happened if they had listened to Hosea prior to 723BC and the invasion of Assyria?

Can you imagine what could have happened of through conviction repentance swept through the land?

If they had humbled themselves and changed from their arrogance to being in awe of God, what possible could have been the story?

Now think of the church in 2023: what could be possible?

You see, But I …

Is the Redeemer from Egypt, v4

The Saviour of our lives, v4

The Helper in the difficult seasons, v5

The Provider, v6

The One who Satisfies, v6

And here is why this side was not seen:

They forgot me, v6

In their pride brought on by the twisting of His blessing of their lives:

They forgot me, v6

And then

“You are against me” v9

No one would ever be so foolish to be against God especially those who say they have faith in Him.

Except if you forget Him.

If you forget His Word. If you forget the Bible and Prayer. If you forget what has been passed down to us. If you forget what you have been taught. If you forget the conviction. If you forget the prophetic Word.

If you forget and at the same time pursue you own path then that is when it can be said that your forgetting has moved into you being against Him who is your Helper.

It’s not worth it. Keep to the side of God which means you are close to Him. He is still bringing judgment. “Assyria” is still being used.

If you have ever pleaded with someone to change their thinking and their behaviour. If you have ever been almost on your knees calling for them to repent because you know the consequences of their actions. If you have as I have then you know not only the heart of Hosea but more importantly the heart of God.

Ephraim knew a day in their history when its people trembled before the Lord. They were successful and the other nations looked on with envy. But in their rise they experienced a fall because in their rising they forgot their God.

“When Ephraim spoke, people trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, “They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!” Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window.” (Hosea 13 v 1-3)

Hosea in a last ditch effort to call them back to God lays it out bare once again.

They turned away from God and turned to idols for their help.

Are we still asking God to help us?

Can we admit to the temptation of sorting ourselves out in our own way?

As we get older do we ask for the same kind of help we asked of God when we were younger?

Is God still our helper?

Hosea warns us all. If we stop seeking for God’s help then all that God had for us will be wasted for we will disappear from His purpose.

We will be like the:

Morning mist – gone because of the rising sun.

Early dew – gone because of the rising sun.

Swirling Chaff – gone blown away by the wind.

Escaping smoke – gone escaping into the atmosphere outside.

Some are not where they should be today because they did not go to God for help and today what they had and who they were has evaporated and blown away. Those who rise in this life must take their need for God’s help with them otherwise the higher you rise without Him the harder you will fall.

It isn’t my fault! It was him or it was that. It wasn’t me!

“Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a ploughed field. Jacob fled to the country of Aram; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep. The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him. But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger, his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.” (Hosea 12 v 11-14)

God asks the rhetorical questions and the answer to both is YES.

Gilead whose name means ‘stones of testimony’ was the place where Jacob fled to from Laban. Jacob the deceiver discovered and acknowledged in Gilead that God was indeed the one who cared for him, see Genesis 31. God says this historical place (the stones of testimony) which was a declaration altar of His care has now been laid to waste, a pile of stones. Why? His people were to blame.

Gilgal was the first place the Israelites set up camp on crossing into Canaan and an altar/pillar was set up in honour of God’s leading. But in Hosea’s day there was no leading hand, God had stopped making a way. Gilead had become a worthless site full of idolatry. Why? His people were to blame.

Why had they not learned from Jacob?

Jacob had worked for a wife for 7 years and then he and his family moved to Egypt because of a severe famine. Egypt was tough. The next generation of Jacob/Israel was brought out of Egypt by the prophet Moses. God used his prophet to lead out and also to keep the people through the Wilderness.

Why is God reminding them/us of this story?

It is because whenever we are in trouble then the way out of it is through listening to God and being obedient. The opposite is also true. If you want it to get worse then don’t listen and don’t obey. If that be the case then there is no one to blame but ourselves if destruction comes to our door. If ruin comes because you haven’t kept an altar then the consequence is on you.

These are important lessons for us all.

Are they like Jacob?

Did they have a Jabbok River experience?

Did they have a Peniel experience?

Did they come back to Bethel?

Did they practice loving kindness, mercy and justice with one another?

Did they return to waiting on God?

“The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.” “I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals. I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.” (Hosea 12 v 7-10)

They are a merchant who cheats because they alter the scales so that the weight looks a certain amount but it isn’t the truth.

They have moved the goalposts for their convenience.

They have taken the Bible and change the interpretation and understanding of it so that they can live as the world lives.

God says, His people have placed themselves above accountability. Whether in wealth, popularity of position no one is above being held accountable especially before their God.

Riches, fame and title can easily lead to entitlement. Entitlement says, ‘no one can touch me.’ Touch not the wealthy, the famous and the anointed. Many an old man or woman have lived like this and even in their old age and towards the end of their long working life judgment has come.

God’s response, “Hey! Over here! Remember Me?!”

“I was the one who brought you out of Egypt. I was the one who brought you out of those wilderness tents. And I am the one who can put you back into them! And you will have no excuse. For I have spoken through the prophets down the generations and you have and are still not listening!”

You have become too big for your boots. But you are never too big.

These timeless words could be spoken today. The day of the Minor Prophet is not over.

Hosea calls for the people to learn from the life of their ancestor Jacob.

“But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.” (Hosea 12 v 6)

Be kind, the word is ‘hesed’. It was used in chapter 6. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6 v 6) He is looking for ‘mercy’ – ‘hesed’ – it is a faithful and loyal love.

The term ‘justice’ means to treat one another in the right way, to be right with one another.

Basically, think less of you and more of others.

And then wait upon God; have faith that God will move towards you. Be dependent on Him. Don’t try and make things happen yourself, pray, seek and trust God.

That was the call Hosea gave and it is still the call today.