LOVE THAT TRIUMPHS
INTRODUCTION:
I/ Verse 1 - THE NEED FOR GENUINE REPENTANCE (Hosea 14:1) O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
God does not grudgingly offer forgiveness to sinful people. But there is a difference between forgiving sin and condoning it. The Lord wants to do more than forgive the sin; He wants to change the sinner. To automatically forive sin with no requirements attached would be to condone it. This within itself would be an encouragement to sin. God’s basic requirement for forgiveness is true repentance.
A Sunday School teacher once asked a class what was meant by the word "repentance." A little boy put up his hand and said, "It is being sorry for your sins." A little girl also raised her hand and said, "It is being sorry enough to quit."
II/ Verse 2 - THE NATURE OF GENUINE REPENTANCE - Hosea 14:2
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive
Hosea was giving the people the exact words to say. The nature of these words is threefold:
a. REPENTANCE - "take away all iniquity"
b. CONFESSION - "receive us graciously"
b. COMMITMENT - "so will we render the calves (fruit) of our
lips"
Likewise today, You must repent of and confess your sins, confess Jesus as your Savior by grace through faith, and commit yourself to Him as Lord with the pledge to share your experience with other lost people.
III/ Verse 3 - Hosea 14:3
Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands,
a. "Asshur" is Assyria; In Hosea’s time, Israel had been tempted to turn to Assyria for help. The fact of the matter is that Assyria proved to be Israel’s downfall.
b. "not ride upon horses" means that Israel would not trust in their own military might.
c. They would cease all idol worship, refusing to recognize the "work of our hands" as "our gods".
d. "For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy" is a faith acknowledgment that, while Israel was helpless, God was ready to come to their air in mercy and power.
IV/ Verse 4 - GOD’S RESPONSE TO GENUINE REPENTANCE - Hosea 14:4
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
a. "I will heal their backsliding" - backsliding is a sickness, only God can heal it. We wonder what can be done with a rebellious child, or a morally corrupted young person. The great physician is the only one who can heal them.
b. "I will love them freely" The love of God is free! It cost him every thing, it costs us nothing.
c. "for mine anger is turned away from him" When we change our mind, God changes His; genuine repentance restores fellowship
with the father.
V/ Verse 5 - Hosea 14:5
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
Dew is a emblem of the Holy Ghost:
a. Silent in its coming
b. Saturating in its contact
c. Refreshing in its ministry
d. Always rich in its contents
e. Always falls most in the lowest places - Matthew 5:3
Blessed
Other emblems are Oil, Fire, Wind, Rain, Water, and Rivers. But that is another study.
VI/ Verse 6 - Hosea 14:6-7
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
A revived and repentance Israel would have deep and broad rootage like the cedars of Lebanon, And they would be as beautiful as the olive tree. The widespread branches symbolize abiding prosperity. And they are known for their smell or sweet fragrance.
VII/ Verse 8 - Hosea 14:8
Ephraim
This was a prophesy concerning the end of idol worship among God’s people. It was fulfilled with the return of the remnant to Judah following the Babylonian exile.
VII/ Verse 9 - WALKING IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD - Hosea 14:9
Who
1. First, we learn that there are two classes of people.
The "just" and the "transgressors". The whole of the human race may be divided into these two classes. This has always been the case since Adam fell and sin entered into the world.
a. These two classes are variously described in the Bible as the righteous and the wicked (Psalm 37:32); the saved and the lost (Luke 19:10); believers and unbelievers (Acts 28:24); Christians and those who are not Christians (Acts 11:26); sinners and saints (Romans 1:7).
b. We have vivid illustrations of this in the stories of Abel and Cain, of Noah and his seven relatives who were inside the ark and those who were outside the ark, in John 1:11-12, which reminds us of those who received Him and those who received Him not, and at Calvary where there were those who crucified Him and those who loved Him.
2. Second we learn what it is that makes these two classes
of people different.
a. We learn that "the just" walk in the ways of the Lord,
whereas "the transgressors" walk in their own ways.
b. This is the difference between these two classes of people. They are different in the way they walk, the path in which they walk, the one for whom they walk and the destiny to which they walk.
3. Third we learn that God’s way id right and man’s way is
wrong.
a. We are distinctly told that, "the ways of the Lord are right" - not only right to Him, but right for His people.
b. By inference we are also told that the ways of transgressors are wrong and lead to disappointment, despair and disaster.
4. This verse summarizes the entire Book of Hosea. He commended it to the "wise" and discerning, or "prudent".
Approximately 2,800 years separate us from Hosea’s day. His prophecy was needed then. It is needed today. God still responds to people who genuinely repent of their sins by forgiving them and giving them eternal life.
