Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2192
“O Israel, return unto the Lordyour God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Ashur shall not save us, we willnotride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in You the fatherless find mercy.” Hosea 14:1-3.
We are in the last chapter of the book of the Prophet Hosea. Throughout the book there has been thunder— sometimes a low rumbling, as of a distant tempest—sometimes peal on peal, as of a storm immediately overhead. And now the tempest has gathered all its force. Here it culminates. You expect the bolt of Heaven to destroy. Lo, instead thereof, a silver shower of mercy! The gentle drops come down plenteously and you hear them fall upon the tender herb like soft and low music. God does not say, “O Israel, depart accursed!” But instead thereof, in dulcet tones He cries, “O Israel, return unto the Lord your God.” In the midst of wrath He remembers mercy—
“When God’s right arm is bared for war, And thunders clothe His cloudy car,” even then He stays His uplifted hand, reins in the steeds of vengeance, and holds communion with Grace—“for His mercy endures forever,” and, “judgment is His strange work.”
To use another figure—the whole book of Hosea is like a great trial wherein witnesses have appeared against the accused and the arguments and excuses of the guilty have been answered and baffled. All has been heard for them and much, very much, against them—and the convicted stand at the bar to hear their sentence. Behold the Judge, instead of putting on the black cap to pronounce doom of death, stretches out His hands to the condemned and, in tones of pity, cries, “O Israel, return”!
This is a wonderful chapter to be at the end of such a book. I had never expected, from such a prickly shrub, to gather so fair a flower, so sweet a fruit! But so it is—where sin abounded, Grace does much more abound! No chapter in the Bible can be more rich in mercy than this last of Hosea and yet no chapter in the Bible might, in the natural order of things, have been more terrible in judgement! Where we looked for the blackness of darkness, behold a noontide of light!
While I am preaching from such a text, I feel the need of special help from the Holy Spirit. I lift up my heart for it. Will you not, my Brothers and Sisters, pray for me, that my Hearers may not only hear my voice, but may perceive the inward voice of God speaking to their hearts? The Lord Himself is the speaker of the text—it is Jehovah who says, “O Israel, return.” May many of you hear the voice of God and in that voice perceive an over-powering Omnipotence which shall turn your thoughts and souls into the right way, making you willing in the day of His power!
I ask you to consider, first, the call to come to God—“O Israel, return unto the Lord your God.” And, secondly, the argument for coming—“For you have fallen by your iniquity.” Thirdly, we shall dwell upon the help in coming which the Lord gives to those who are willing to obey. He says, “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.” In conclusion, we shall pray to see in many the coming by this help. May my unconverted Hearers return unto the Lord, and know the power of His restoring Grace!
I. First, notice THE CALL TO COME—“O Israel, return unto the Lord your God.” Oh, that the call may be made effectual this day!
It is a very instructive call, for it tells the sinner exactly what he has to do. Return—that is, reverse your course! The course you have taken is the opposite of that which you ought to have taken. Therefore, come back. You have gone from God—come back to God! You have been prayerless—begin to pray! You have been hardened—yield to the Word. You have been full of quibbling—believe even as a little child! Bring forth fruits meet for repentance and not the fruits of obstinate persistence in evil. To many there could be no better direction in spiritual morals than this word, “Return.” Do what you have not done—leave undone what you have been doing! Reverse the original. Take the other track! “Return!” is but a single word, but that word is full of meaning. There is to be a change, a total change, a coming back to God.
The word is also instructive because it says, Return unto the Lord.” Do not only look to God, but return to Him. Arise and go to your Father. Do not think about it, but do it! Do not return part of the way to this and to that good custom and salutary habit, but come right back to the Lord and rest not till you feel that you are in His arms. It is of no use for the prodigal to say, “I will arise,” unless he adds, “and go to my father.” It is of no use his quitting one far-off country for another! But it must be said of him, “And he arose and came to his father.” The best direction we can give to many a sinner is—Reverse your course of life and let your reversed course of life lead you to God, Himself. How surely will he need the abounding Grace of God for such a work as this! Virgil’s lines are true—