I had started this sermon series a few weeks back regarding ‘the wrath of God’ we had a wee break for the Olympics as that was the topical thing to do. We had a guest here last week Major Bruce who spoke on placing our faith in Jesus because there it is well placed.
I like to summarise sermons by way of writing a benediction for them; I summed up his sermon this way:
Be sure of what you hope for,
Be certain of what you don’t see,
For in Christ Jesus, life is worth living,
Be safe in his arms,
Trust God,
He is always with you, faithful, always faithful,
Jump into his big arms!
Now if our relationship with God was as He would have it, none of us would ever need to hear such messages. But, hey we humans are fallible, interesting that if you look for synonyms of fallible you get words such as imperfect, weak and even the name of our race ‘human’ is listed. We are all, all of us humans in continued need of being made aware of our place in the scheme of things, our place before God. For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Hosea was a prophet and his role as a prophet was by and large to put the people of Israel the northern kingdom, right on its place before God. Judah was the southern kingdom at the time, the time being around the middle of the eighth century B.C.
Remember the history of this nation, God had lead them. But they moaned on about wanting a king, so God gave them a king, Saul, he didn’t do the best of jobs. King David followed, King David was a man after God’s own heart because he worshipped the one true God in one place. Then King Solomon, then strife, it all went belly up the nation was divided in two Israel and Judah. Under the leadership of king Jeroboam in the North and King Rehoboam in the South. Israel was ruled by nine different dynasties and finally it was destroyed by Assyria in 721BC. Judah lasted about another 250 years then was toast!
This nation / these nations were really blessed in the first place; they then turned their backs on God. In the two sermons about the wrath of God so far I have discussed two things that we can hold onto when it is all going to custard around us, because of our own actions. Two things that are characteristics of God, the first is that God longs to redeem, to rescue people. The second is that God desires mercy, in saying that it means He desires a loving relationship, a two way loving relationship with people, his nation Israel. We hear about it in this in Hosea’s writings, but as we know because of Jesus it’s all people. God desires to have a loving relationship with.
Now there is one other characteristic about God I’m keen to look at, that it’s probably a good thing to have an understanding of when we encounter God’s disapproval and as we come under God’s divine judgement. Now this might sound a bit heavy and the whole book of Hosea sounds pretty heavy in the whole smiting and destruction scene. As I said a few weeks ago a bit heavy and hell fire and brimstone’ish; but it’s not and hopefully the opposite will become clear.
But then again God had warned the Israelites a fair old number of times prior to Hosea and at this time about their behaviour and that the consequences of this behaviour were going to hurt (repeat).
But why?
Because they had strayed from God, because they had rebelled against God and because they spoke falsely about God! This was a nation who God had brought into being and it had turned its back on him.
When things got tough for them through their own foolishness, there was no seeking God, they slashed themselves, and appealed to other gods ‘small g’. The reason for this was because their crops had failed and they were mourning over this failure, their cutting of themselves was a sign of mourning, but this itself was forbidden by the law of God due to its pagan background.
God in this passage comes across as a ‘hard man’, a wrathful, angry God who has turned his back on his people…
But the question arises, “Had He?” Had God really turned His back on His people? Well, we know that they had turned their backs to Him, but was he doing the same? The third characteristic of God that I am keen to discuss from the book of Hosea makes it clear the opposite is true, let’s have a look at chapter 14:1-7(read).
The stuff that Hosea is pressing the point on here is fairly straight forward.
Return to God, your sins have been your downfall! Now there are a couple of things that come out of those words and you’ll probably notice that I have taken out the whole “O Israel” because I believe that we can all do with a reminder to return occasionally. I’ve paraphrased it a wee bit.
Now the first bit ‘return to God’ is fairly straight forward.
Your sins have been your downfall, is where the tar starts sticking to the tyres, most people generally don’t like the whole “s” word thing. For some reason there is an issue with the human brain that tells us to kick up stink when we are having a good time, a pleasurable time and someone, some higher than thou individual tells us that we are sinning, how dare they? Usually though the person pointing the sin out, understands the danger of this sticky black tar sin because they have sinned themselves and have a fair idea of what constitutes sin. Not just that but they understand that freedom from sin is a better place to be than with the tar of sin sticking to your tyres. Clean tyres, sin free tyres actually adhere better to the road of life and life is easier to control, they corner better and they stop before hazards, in fact the journey is just better, the grip on the road of life is sound and driver confidence is assured.
So Hosea tells these Israelites to stop sinning, saying that they should use their words to let God know that they have blown it. “Forgive us our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips”(pause). Now we know that when we ask God to forgive our sins, when we repent God is really fast at honouring that request, we also know the freedom that this brings, the peace of God that we experience when we turn away from wrong actions, from wrong living! That is what the fruit of their lips was, praise for God! Worship! Giving God the glory that is due to him!
While it was yet to happen, the people of Israel were to discover that Assyria would not save them, that the “god’s”, idols made by their own hands would not save them. That in the one true God alone would they find true compassion, healing and a sound future
Through Hosea the prophet God says something in verse four that is profound, really insightful, really deep, something that we could easily brush over, but something that has a depth of meaning that we gain a lot from. These words, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely.”
Now these words imply something, waywardness, what is it? Well you know Jim he’s a bit of a free spirit, he parties, works when it suits him, pays his bills sometimes, he does what Jim wants, one night stands, no real obligations, as long as Jim is doing OK it’s Ok, and he’s not too concerned about anyone else. Now we all know a few Jim’s or Jill’s for that matter, life is free and easy so they say? They are all Dylan Thomas types they don’t want to go easy into the night. My, my, hey, hey they believe that it’s better to burn out than fade away, thanks Neil Young. Now we all know that this is a popular way to live, some even see it as a rite of passage to true adulthood, a privilege of living in a truly free society. But what is it really? We all know these Jim’s and Jill’s they leave behind a trail of damage, taking, lying, breaking, failing any who would count on them. In Hosea’s time the nation of Israel was made up of these people.
Now this won’t come across to well to some, waywardness what is it? I think that the description of Jim and Jill covers it, and my apologies to anyone with the name Jim or Jill. Waywardness is something that God wishes to heal. Straight up wayward people are not right in the head. Their minds have been invaded by what Major Malcolm Herring, and I’ve used this term before says is “stinking thinking, and they need a check-up from the neck up.” God in Hosea says he will “heal” wayward people.
Now I’m going to add to what Major Malcolm has said and say that this check-up is one that cannot be carried out at the hospital, it’s no use going to the doctor, or one of those fancy clinics where they do all those alterative medical things, it won’t get better with a neck realignment or a cranial massage. No amount of C.A.T scans, X-rays, thermal imaging or profiling is going to highlight the problem, new spectacles or a hearing aid won’t help, sinus medication might just clear the nasal passages but these people are still going to continue being snots. The issue is that the wayward are just plain mentally and spiritually ill. Now you might think this a little harsh, but it was God who said he wants to heal them, they are ill! Just so you don’t think I’m the only one who believes this. I want to read you step two of the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve step program, Step 2. [We] came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. The thing I really respect about recovering addicts and alcoholics is that they realise and admit to disease. I personally did a twelve step course that helped me realise that I had a few sanity issues around some of the ways I believed things and structured my thinking. It’s not until you realise you’re waywardly ill that you can get well.
So who is able to help these people, what is the cure and what is the prognosis once they are healed?
1) The first point is that it is God who does this healing. If someone is off on some self-focused tangent that has brought sin into their lives, it is God who will heal them. Now I have to be very clear here I’m not saying that everyone who is suffering from a psychiatric illness is wayward (repeat). In fact I am only talking about people who are wayward, knowingly living sinful lives. People like the people of Israel at the time of Hosea who have turned their backs on God, living lives focused on self, focused on material idols, people who have given control of their lives to something, or someone other than God.
2) The cure is God. God does the healing, but the healing occurs when they repent of their sins. Now this seems to be an easy thing to do, but this will for some be easier than for others. Now I just want to touch on the story in the New Testament about the cripple at the pool of Bethesda, and this bloke had been at the pool as an invalid for thirty-eight years, and no one had got him into the water when the angel stirred the waters, so he never got healed. Now Jesus walks past and asks this invalid one question and it’s this “Do you want to be well?”(John 5:6). Now the blokes answer was not yes and I actually wonder if he was explaining away why he wasn’t well. So Jesus tells him “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And at once the man was cured.
This is what God is saying He will do if this nation, Israel at the time of Hosea, this once great, soon to be destroyed nation of Israel, will repent of its craziness, its sins, it will be healed. No longer collectively wayward! The nation, these people who are wayward, Hosea tells them, return to God, repent, take your words, confess to God your sins and repent, put those things that were put ahead of God away, cast them aside, again, return to your Father, the God of compassion.
So what Hosea is saying here on behalf of God; is be cured of this illness, this waywardness! Be healed! In Major Bruce’s words “jump into the arms of God!”
3) And what was going to happen to this nation once they had returned to God, where was it going to leave them? Well we get this fascinating picture in words, this beautiful metaphor of what this will look like. “I will be like dew to Israel”, now to make this point clear in Israel dew was important, important for horticulture, important for plant growth, this wetting of the ground brings life. What of the nation?
“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 that of an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine.”
So this nation, of people, out for what they could get, idol worshippers, prostitutes, people using one another for money, cheats, a people subservient to foreign kings and nations, these people who because of their own stupidity, their self-induced madness, this insane nation would once again be a splendid thing. Well watered and growing, flourishing, blossoming, a place of refuge! In God’s strength, by his healing power, as they turned from their foolish, sick ways, and be an impressive people; YES! An impressive people.
So what? Do you feel that God is somehow distant? Have you wandered, are you contemplating a stroll? What was it Hosea said?
Do you struggle, within yourself? The cure is God (SBI).
We know where this passage is directing us. Return, your sins have been and will be your downfall, get it together with God. Tell him of your wayward journey and get back on the path of a right relationship with Him and others, stop being a user, a waster, a deviant, insane, repent and bring your praise to God! Do you want to be well, then turn aside from those things that you have put before God and be well? God longs to be your Father, do you want to be well? Then stand up and walk in the way of God! The cure is God.
For if you do your life will more meaningful, more nourished, more interesting than it’s been before and in your life others will see the power of God at work. For he is the cure.
For those who don’t find themselves in this place, who are currently walking with God, who have answered to that question of Jesus, when he asked “do you want to be well”, with a yes. Continue in his will, remembering that it was God who saved you and deserves all the glory for who you are! Be a witness of what the Lord has done for you so that others may come to know, His power and the freedom that comes through Him as he heals them!
For he is the cure.
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