Promise for the Remnant

Hosea  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

If someone asked you to summarize the Gospel message in one or two sentences, how would you summarize it? One of the ways you could do so is to say that the Gospel shows us the love of God while inviting mankind to repent and accept Christ’s incredible gift.
The last couple of weeks in Hosea we have seen the condemnation of the people and how Hosea declares that the people will be punished for their treachery and treason before God. In chapter 14, though, we see a promise of future blessing. This chapter gives encouragement to repent and receive grace that can only come from God. Healing and restoration can only come whenever the person repents, though.
This was true in Hosea’s day and it remains true today. The Gospel message is a call to repent. A call that we have fallen short, just as the Israelites in Hosea’s day had, yet a promise that God can and will restore what has been broken. A promise that cannot be taken away. A promise to give us something that we do not deserve and something that we could never earn on our own. All we must do is repent of our wrongdoings and confess Him as Lord. We must remember that we are specks of dust. Our lives are but a vapor when compared with eternity to come. While this life is short, it carries with is eternal consequences. Christ saves sinners, yes, but friends we must share this wonderful truth to a lost and dying world around us. Preach the Gospel, as Spurgeon noted, Preach the whole Gospel to all people in order to exalt Jesus Christ!
Hosea 14 NASB95
1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips. 3 “Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ To the work of our hands; For in You the orphan finds mercy.” 4 I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. 6 His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the olive tree And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. 7 Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon. 8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like a luxuriant 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 righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them.

Invitation to Return (1-4)

Hosea urges the people of Israel in the opening 4 verses to return to the Lord. Hosea has used the word “return” numerous times in this book and we see it 4 times in this final chapter in order to contrast the half-hearted return the people made in previous chapters. They have stumbled time after time due to their iniquity and fondness of idolatry and worshipping gods made by their own hand. Yet, God still offers them an invitation to return. Is this not similar to us today? We have forsaken the King of Kings time and time again yet we are offered an invitation to return. Some continue to reject this invitation, yet others accept it as some of the Israelites do. This is called the remnant. God promises to always have a remnant that will continue to worship Him.
Literally all that man does is ask God, as puts it
1 John 1:9 NASB95
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You are responsible for absolutely nothing other than confessing your sins and asking for forgiveness. The cross is the ground of forgiveness but it is also the seat of judgment. The cross either is the place where your sins were born by Christ or the place where you reject the gift of forgiveness and will face the judgment on your own one day in the future. Verse 2 serves as a wonderful reminder for us today: pray to God and ask Him to take away our sins and forgive us so that we might be transformed from the inside out. That is our prayer today and a great way we can describe repentance to a non-Christian.
The Israelites realized that other nations could not save them. In previous chapters the people wavered like a silly dove to these other nations, but now they see that there is no hope in turning to fellow humans. Rather, the only hope is to turn and trust in God. Hosea’s prayer at the end of verse 3 and in verse 4 shows the truth of God.
Hosea notes that the orphan finds mercy in God. This does not simply mean that God shows love and compassion to orphans and the poor, although He certainly does, but instead it means that the orphan seeks and finds compassion in God. In other words there is no mercy outside of God for these people. They have no where else to run to. Just as an orphan has no where to call home and no one to call mom/dad, Israel has become orphans. The nation has turned their back upon God but whenever they are destroyed and their leaders are killed, the people will be orphans. The priests, kinds and false gods will not be able to help them. But in suffering through this tragedy, the people will return back to their one true Father, the refuge of orphans!
Do the people of Israel have any reason to boast in their title “God’s people”? They have a unique relationship with God, but they literally have turned their back on Him at every turn. They go through this period of exile and suffering, yet they still have the opportunity to return and be forgiven. Does this mean that they have this opportunity because God is in debt to them or because they simply deserve another chance? No! The people have messed up, yet God is faithful and gives them a chance. Even the remnant acknowledges that their hope and salvation is not of their own doing but the result of what God has graciously done for them.
God promises to heal the people who return. He will love them and turn His anger away from them. This is good news because without this promise we would be facing the wrath of God without a mediator. The healing will be greater than simply forgiving them of their external actions, but He promises to heal their apostasy. This is much deeper than simply actions, is it not? Apostasy is something much deeper. It starts in the heart as we simply do what is right in our own eyes. We want to be the master of our fate and not be forced to depend on others, sometimes this includes God!
The book of Hosea shows this paradox time and time again as Hosea calls the people to turn back to God, but it shows that they cannot do so without a saving act from God.

God’s promise of Restoration (5-9)

Just as the people cannot repent and turn back to God without God opening their eyes, it is impossible for a person in our world today to save themselves. They must be convicted by the Holy Spirit first. Scripture says that our heart is wicked and our eyes are blinded to our sinful condition. We are not just lost but we are dead as Paul writes in Ephesians. Yet, God is in the business of bringing the dead back to life! He certainly has made a way through His Son and Jesus’ death on the cross serves as a reminder of God making good on His promises. He promised to send His Messiah and He did.
Verses 5-9 show that God promises restoration. His promises encompass every aspect of life! Israel’s loyalty in was described as the morning dew which goes away early, here in God’s loyalty is said to be like the dew to Israel. Rather than thinking of dew coming and going quickly into the day, as Israel’s loyalty came and went, the loyalty of God is never changing. Through thick and thin, the dew comes in the morning. God provides. He will take root in the people and spread out to produce fruit in the people.
The promise from God is that those who will but follow Him will be raised and blossom. That promise exists today as well. God promises to reconcile sinners to Himself. We see this theme often in the second half of Hosea as God reconciles the past of Israel. Most of the time the past of Israel was the basis of their condemnation and their past showcased their shortcomings and failures, just as ours does. Our past is marked by failure and disappointment often times, yet we look at and we see a tender memory between God and Israel
Hosea 11:1–4 NASB95
1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. 2 The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols. 3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.
This leads to the climax a couple of verses later
Hosea 11:8 NASB95
8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled.
Even though the people have fallen short, God’s memories of Israel and His covenant with them becomes the basis of their salvation. Because of God’s faithfulness and mercy, the people can be restored despite their continued failure because God remembers. Aren’t you thankful that God remembers? Not only does God remember the bad stuff, the failures, the words you say when you’re in pain and the thoughts that cross your mind when you’re mad, but He also remembers the pain and the suffering. He knows what we walk through and He loves us even with our worts. He loves His people. This is good news!
The final 2 verses serve as a basis for us to submit. God says that He is the one who looks after His people and He has said all that He can say. The only thing left to do is for Israel to respond and submit. That is the call for mankind thousands of years later as well.
“Stop falling victim to lower g gods and idols who are nothing more than statues built by man. Understand the gravity of the cross and the call of the cross which demands a response on our end”

Conclusion

As a sports fan, I would be lying if I said that this was a “normal” Sunday afternoon as one of the greatest athletes of the last 30 years passed away this morning in Kobe Bryant. The sports fan of me could spend hours and hours talking about Bryant’s accomplishments and championships and how he compares with other elite players in the history of basketball. The man had a ferocious will to win and he was an absolutely sensational player. He had a confidence about him that was truly second to none. He impacted many people on and off the court through charities and because he genuinely cared about others. While all of this is true, his life ended in a split second as his helicopter malfunctioned in California and all 9 passengers passed away.
Whenever we see situations like this happen among famous people we are reminded of the frailty of life. Friends, we aren’t promised tomorrow! We aren’t promised this evening. What we are commanded to do, in the words of Midwestern professor Owen Strachan is to flee Sodom and run to Christ while there is still time because we know not our hour.
We know what God has done for us: send His Son to take our place on the cross. He invites us to repent and simply ask for forgiveness and He promises to restore us and to forgive us. Death is undefeated, no one will escape it. With that said, we know that death does not have the final word, Christ does! I pray that we would be reconciled to Christ and love/encourage others to do the same!
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