Restoration

Hosea 6 Restoration

Rebellion we encounter

Fading love v. 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. -The people did not have a genuine love for God it is passing as a morning mist or dew. It was probably like an emotional response to God like those today who consider themselves “Christians” because of the faith of their parents or grandparents, but who have no true abiding and enduring love for God (Boice)

Facetious worship v 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.- In Hosea’s day as in ours there are three types of worshippers: those who worship the right God in the right way, the right God in the wrong way, or the wrong god in every way. There worship was ritualistic but without any true transformation in their lives. What they wanted was the external and ceremonial –sacrifices and burnt offerings, but God demanded internal and transforming worship–steadfast love and knowledge of His presence (Boice) The primary problem today is the same as the people of Hosea’s day they worship God “culturally” but holdfast to their commitment to their idols. Their lifestyle does not match what their lips profess 2 Kings 17:39-41, Is 29:13, Matt 15:1-9. Jesus said the father is seeking true worshippers those who worship him in Spirit and truth John 4:23-24; 1 Sam 15:22-23; Amos 5:21-24; Is 1:11-17; Ps 51:16-17

Heartless worship is always offensive to God. Many believe that the formal acts of worship -whatever form they take-constitute legitimate worship that will be accepted by God. People from their opinions of God based on their opinions of themselves, they are satisfied with outward acts so they assume that God must be satisfied as well. They substitute religious piety and performance for private devotion and a sincere heart. (Barrett)

Faithless living v. 7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.- The rebellion lives deep within having been inherited from Adam, but this does not excuse them since “they” have broken the covenant. We can’t hide our sins “their deeds surround them; they are before my face” Hosea 7:2 (Boice)

Rejection that we feel

· Torn v. 1 for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

· Struck down v. 2 he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

The person who wrote these words discerns the Presence of the Lord, for he is convinced that his trials come from God. Whichever way the trial comes, it comes from Him. If the trouble was caused by a triumphant enemy or by a deceitful friend,. If it comes as a loss in business or as a sickness of body—or if it wounded us through the arrows of death piercing the heart of our beloved—in either case it was the Lord.

Learn that lesson! He has smitten or struck you! He has torn you! He has done it all! He has ordained our trials for judgment and established them for correction—let us not despise them by refusing to see His hand or by angrily rebelling against Him. He means to follow with stroke upon stroke and tearing upon tearing till at last you shall realize that He is saying to you, “Return to Me, for you will never rest until you do.” You shall never know prosperity until you have come clean out and made your peace with God! He smites, He tears, He slays—but this is all the surgery of love! O tried Sinner, the way to God for you is through your troubles. Remember that the path to joy is sorrow, the door to life is by death, the road to salvation is by condemnation in the conscience. The way to enjoy God’s love is, first of all, to be troubled under God’s wrath. Let those who feel the burden of their sins, remember, that it is God who has given them to see their iniquities; and that the heavier their burden is, the more abundant encouragement they have to cast it on the Lord. (Simeon)

Response we are to have

Let us return v. 1 "Come, let us return to the LORD - Hebrew word is shuwb it means to turn back either to turn back to sin or turn back to God, either way it is a complete turning around to head the opposite direction. It is wonderfully easy to believe in God when you have all you need and are free from trial. But such fair-weather faith as that is very often a mere sham. True faith believes in God when He is angry and trusts Him when the rod is in His hand. The man has been torn as a lion tears his victim—there are the gashes, bleeding and smarting—yet he cries, “Come, and let us return to the Lord.” What, to the God who has torn us? Yes, yes! Let us go to Him, for He will receive us and will not cast us away, but, on the contrary, He will heal the wounds He made! (Spurgeon) God does not forsake us until we have forsaken Him . . . the Israelites were deserted by Him, they did not say, Let us pray that God will return to us, but Let us return to Him: for they were all assured that as the alienation begun on their part, so it would be terminated when they should humble themselves and come to Him, (Simeon) The truth is that God seeks a sinner with grace before a sinner seeks Him. (Barett) Dear Friends, if we have wandered away from God and if God is angry with us, what ought to be our first step? Why, to get back to God!

Let us Know v. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; . . knowing the Lord.- It is not here a knowing about God but an intimate knowing of God You cannot follow on with that which you have not commenced. There is a religiousness which contains in it no knowledge of God whatever. Beware of it! The religion which consists only in the knowledge of outward rites and ceremonies, or the knowledge of orthodoxies, the knowledge of doctrinal distinctions, the knowledge of religious language . . . and experiences . . . that religion is vain. There must be knowledge of God! . . . if you know God, you will think very little of yourself. He who doesn’t know God thinks man is a noble being—he who has seen God thinks man to be dust and ashes. He who doesn’t know God’s holiness thinks himself to be a good creature, but when he sees a thrice-holy God he says, “I abhor myself.” He who doesn’t know God thinks man to be a wonderful being, able to accomplish whatever he wills. But in the sight of God, human strength is burned up and man becomes lighter than vanity. Do you know God? O my dear Hearer, do you know God in the majesty of His Justice as condemning your sin and you for sin? Do you know God in the splendor of His Love, as giving Jesus Christ to die for sinners, blending that Love with Justice—for Love gave Jesus and Justice slew Him? Do you know God in the fullness of His power to save, renewing the heart, changing the mind, subduing the will? Do you know Him, even, in this which is, comparatively, a slender branch of knowledge? If you do, you have begun to know Him and you have begun to know yourself, too, for he knows not himself who does not know something of God. Oh, to know the Father as my Father who has kissed me and put the best robe upon me! Oh, to know the Son as my Brother, in whose garments I am accepted and stand comely in the sight of God! Oh, to know the Spirit as the Quickener and the Divine Indweller and Illuminator, by whose light, alone, we see, and in whose life we live! To know the Lord—that is true religion! And I say again, any religion, whatever it is—Churchianity or Nonconformity, or whatever you like—if it does not lead you to know God, it is of no use whatever. The knowledge of God is the basis of all saving experience. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” “Acquaint yourself, now, with Him and be at peace.” This is the one great business of human life—to know the Lord.

There must be a continual desire to “press on” to know the Lord We must shut out of our minds all ideas that we fully know the Lord, Now a man will never follow on if he judges that he has reached the end! If he comes to the conclusion, “I know the Lord. I know all about Him. I know all that is knowable”—that man will not press on and, therefore, I am afraid that he will never know the Lord at all. Phil3:7-16, I know Him so sweetly, so blessedly, but I would wish to know Him better still. The more I know Him, the more I find there is yet to be known. He is such a deep of Love! He is such a mountain of Mercy that as I dive deeper, a further deep opens up to me! And as I climb higher, a loftier peak towers above me. (Spurgeon)

Restoration we will Experience

Promise for those who return

· He will heal v. 1 that he may heal us

· He will bind us up v. 1 he will bind us up

· He will revive us v. 2 he will revive us

· We will live before Him v. 2 we may live before him

· He will come to us v. 3 he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth

The invitation and promises of God’s word is evidence to us that he is willing to receive every returning prodigal son, and that he will in no wise cast our any who come unto him. (Simeon) The Lord will come as the morning as to His freshness, for every morning is a new morning. No second-hand morning has ever dawned upon the earth, yet. The dawn is always fresh with the sweet breath of the zephyrs and bright with the sparkling dews which hang like new jewels in the ears of nature. The light is always as of newly minted gold and the air is as perfume fresh pressed from its spices. All the earth seems like a newly married bride in the early morning. Well, now, such shall you find true religion to be as you press forward— it will always be fresh for you—never flat and stale. I have wearied of a thousand things, but never of my Lord!

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has a way of coming unto us which is as the rain when it waters the earth. The earth is dry and dusty, parched, barren. The rain does not ask the earth for anything, but it looks down from the heights and sees the gaping mouths of the parched fields and the clods crumbling as they lie baking in the cruel sun, and the rain says, “I will go and bless that field.” And down it comes, drop after drop, in plenteous refreshment. Each drop finds its way, until the rain enters the crevices and descends into the bosom of Mother Earth and the field is refreshed, the hidden seeds start up to life, and the green blades take another shoot.

Now, press on to know the Lord, Beloved, and you shall find the Lord Jesus Christ not only giving you more light and knowledge like the sun, but giving you more life within yourself, more sap of Divine Grace, more vigor within your own soul so that you shall become fruitful and shall grow to perfection! (Spurgeon)

Period of time for the Return

After three days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up- When you see a physician using a very severe remedy in a very difficult case, say a blister, or some form of bleeding, or the like—you feel certain that he does not mean to leave his patient to bleed to death and that he does not wound without a purpose. . . . the physician does not do that out of unkindness, but that he intends the good of his patient. He means to do something which, for the time, the patient cannot appreciate, but about which he must exercise faith. If I were at any time to be subject to the surgeon’s knife, I should have no hesitation in feeling that if he wounded me he would see me through the operation and do his utmost for my restoration. God is the great Surgeon of men’s souls and sometimes He has to put man upon the table and cut—and cut to the very bone! But He never means to kill. He never takes the knife of discipline except with the intent to bind up every wound. He makes and set the man upon his feet again. . . such is the faith of this text that the writer expects to be restored though he writes himself down among the dead. “After two days,” he says, “will He revive us.” Job 13:15 though He slay me yet will I trust in Him