The Great Change
(No. 2474)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 19, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
18, 1886.
"Ephraim shall say, What ha ve I to do anymore with idols? I have heard
him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From Me is your
fruit found." Hosea 14:8.
THIS passage is in very vivid contrast to what Ephraim had previously
said, as it is recorded in the early part of Ho-sea's prophecy. If you
turn to the second chapter, and the fifth verse, you will find this
same Ephraim saying, "I will go after my lovers that give me my bread
and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink." These lovers
were the idol gods and Ephraim was determined to go after them, for she
ascribed to them her various comforts, her bread and her water, her
wool and her flax, her oil and her drink. So desperately set was this
Ephraim upon going after her idols that God had much ado to drag her
away from them, for that second chapter continues, "Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall
not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she
shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find
them."
So, you see, this people had been desperately set upon following after
idols, yet, before the prophecy is ended, we find this same Ephraim
saying, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" What a change the Grace
of God works in the heart! It reverses the action of the entire
machinery of our being. It puts, "No," for, "Yes," and, "Yes," for,
"No." It is a radical change–that which we hated, we come to love–and
that which we loved, we come to hate. Whereas we said, concerning this
and that, "I will," and, "I shall," the Grace of God makes us change
our note and we say, "I will not, by God's Grace. I will not act as I
said I would, for what have I to do anymore with idols?"
At the beginning of this discourse, I would like to put to each one
whom I am addressing this question, "Have you, my Friend, ever
experienced this great and total change?" Remember, if you have not, it
is imperatively necessary that you should if you desire to be numbered
among the Lord's people. "You must be born again," and this being born
again is not the evolving of some good thing out of you that is already
there, but hidden away, but the putting into you of something which is
not there! It is the quickening of you from your death in sin. It is a
change in you as great as was worked upon the Person of our Lord Jesus
when, after lying dead in the grave, He was brought to life. Nothing
short of this new birth, this resurrection, this thorough, total,
radical change will make you fit to enter Heaven! You have no right to
expect that you will ever stand within yon gates of pearl unless you
have been created anew in Christ Jesus! He that sits on the Throne of
God says, "Behold, I make all things new." And He must make you new, or
else into the new Kingdom where there is a new Heaven and a new earth,
you can never come! No, you cannot even see that Kingdom, for our
Lord's words are as true, today, as when He said to Nicodemus, "Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Let that
searching thought remain with you and try yourselves by it.
But now I shall take you at once to the words of the text, that we may
think of the change which was worked upon Israel, or Ephraim. We will
consider, first, the character of this change–"Ephraim shall say, What
have I to do anymore with idols?" Then, secondly, let us note the cause
of this change. And thirdly, the effect of this change.
I. First, then, we are to consider THE CHARACTER OF THIS CHANGE.
Ephraim had been drunk with her idolatry. The Israelites were never
content with idols of one sort–they went to Moab, to Egypt, to
Philistia, to Assyria, to the Hittites and to any other ites–to borrow
idols. They introduced fresh idols from distant countries. They were
never satisfied with the number of their images, yet now, when God has
effectually worked upon their hearts, they say, one voice speaking for
all, "What have I to do anymore with idols?"
Notice, that this change was a very hearty and spontaneous one. Ephraim
did not say, "I should like to worship idols, yet I dare not." She did
not say, "I should like to set up engraved images, but I must not." On
the contrary, she, herself, said, "What have I to do anymore with
idols?" I wish that some people whom I might mention understood what
conversion means. They say to us, "So you do not attend the
theater–what a denial it must be to you!" It is nothing of the kind,
for we never have a wish or a desire to go there. What have we, the
twice-born, to do with these vain things of the world?" Oh, but the
drunk's cup–it must be a very great piece of self-denial to you to
forego it!" On the contrary, it is loathsome to us! We have come to
feel as if the most nauseous medicine that could be mixed would be
sweeter to us than that cup! What have we to do anymore with idols?
So, each thing that is evil becomes to the real convert a disgusting
and distasteful thing. He does not say, "Oh, how I should like it! How
I long for it! What a hungering I have after it!" If he detects in
himself the least hankering after evil of any kind, he cries out, "O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" But as far as the work of God's Spirit has been worked upon
him, he has a thorough hearty severance and divorce from those things
which he once loved. He has as great a horror of them as once he had a
desire for them. Now he sings–
"Let worldly minds the world pursue, It has no charms for me. Once I
admired its trifles, too, But Grace has set me free. Its pleasures now
no longer pleases, No more content affords. Far from my heart are joys
like these, Now I have seen the Lord! As by the light of opening day
The stars are all concealed, So earthly pleasures fade away, When Jesus
is revealed."
I say again, the change is a very spontaneous and hearty one. Ephraim
shall herself freely say, "What have I to do anymore with idols? I have
done with those things and I am glad to have done with them. Oh, that I
had done with them once and for all!" I asked a convert, this last
week, a question which, perhaps, I have asked a dozen others, "My dear
Brother, are you perfect?" "No, Sir," each one has said, "I am not."
Then when I have enquired, "Would you not like to be perfect?" the
answer in every case has been, "Yes, indeed I would. It would be Heaven
on earth if I could but be perfectly holy. Oh, that I were clean rid of
sin!" So we sing, with Cowper–
"The dearest idol I have known, Whatever that idol be, Help me to tear
it from Your Throne, And worship only Thee."
Let the idols go! Smash them all up, break them in pieces like potters'
vessels! If there is a lust, if there is a passion, if there is a joy,
if there is a desire that is not according to the mind of God, away
with it! We cannot endure the evil thing and want to get rid of it.
Ephraim shall say, and shall say it cheerfully, spontaneously,
heartily, "What have I to do anymore with idols?"
Observe, also, that this change is the work of God's effectual Grace.
Notice the wording of the text–"Ephraim shall say." It is God who
says, "Ephraim shall say." Perhaps you ask me, "Did you not say that
Ephraim said this voluntarily, spontaneously, with all her heart and of
her own free will?" Yes, that is so. But the Holy Spirit, without
violating the freedom of man's will, is the Master of that will! There
used to be great wars and fights among Christian people about free will
and Free Grace. And when I read the reports of those controversies, I
am struck with the great amount of the Truth of God that was spoken on
both sides. When I hear a man stoutly affirm that if there is any good
thing, it is all of the Grace of God, I know that it is so. But when
another declares that man is a free agent and that if he acts
virtuously at all, his free will must consent to it and that this
condition is essential to the very making of virtue, is not that also
true? Certainly it is! And why should we not believe both?
Ephraim cheerfully says, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" And
yet, at the back of that is the great mysterious energy and work of the
Holy Spirit bringing to pass the eternal purpose and decree of God so
that they are fulfilled!
For God to work His will with mere materialism, with dead blocks of
wood or stone, with rivers or with tempests is but ordinary
Omnipotence! But for God to leave men absolutely free and responsible
agents and never to interfere with the freedom of their agency, and yet
for Him to accomplish His eternal purposes concerning them to every jot
and tittle, this is, if I may so say, Omnipotent Omnipotence! This is
almighty power carried to a climax! It is just so with the Grace of
God–we spontaneously quit our sin–but it is because almighty Grace is
working within us to will and to do of God's own good pleasure!
"Ephraim shall say, What have I to do anymore with idols?" because God,
in His effectual Grace, has weaned her from her idols!
Notice next, dear Friends, that this change is always a very personal
one. Ephraim says, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" She does not
say, "What have the nations to do with idols?" That would be a wise
question, but, as a rule, national or general religion does not amount
to much. We say with Mr. Bunyan, "Those are generals, Man, come to
particulars." Believe all the Truth of God with the general company of
those who hold it, but mind that you come to particulars and say, "What
have I to do anymore with idols?" Do not ask, "What has my mother to do
with idols? What has my brother to do with idols? What has my neighbor
to do with idols?" but, "What have I to do with idols?" If all other
men go into sin, I must not. I ask each believing one to whom I am
speaking to feel, "God has done so much for me that I must turn away
from sin. To me, willful wickedness would be a horrible thing. I must
quit all iniquity. Whatever all the rest of the world may do, I must
not go with the multitude to do evil–I must loathe it and leave it.
'As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.' 'Ephraim shall say,
What have I to do anymore with idols?'" Abhor selfishness and egotism,
but, at the same time, be very personal and individual about your own
religion! You were born alone and you will die alone–and you have need
to be born again individually and personally. And it must come to a
personal transaction between yourself and God, so that you can, for
yourself, say, as we did in our singing–
"'Tis done! The great transaction's done–
Iam my Lord's, and He is mine!
He drew me, and I followed on,
Charmed to confess the voice Divine!
High Heaven that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear
Till in life's latest hour I bow
And bless in death a bond so dear." "What have I to do anymore with
idols?" The change here implied must be spontaneous and hearty. It must
be the result of Divine Grace and it must be personal.
And then, dear Friends, it must also be a truly repentant change–"What
have I to do anymore with idols?" There is, in that question, a
confession that the speaker has had to do with idols! Let the time past
suffice us to have worked the will of the flesh. Brother, if you are
resolved to serve God, through His Grace, yet before you begin that
service, remember how you have, in the past, served the devil! Quit not
your old ways without many a tear of regret and many a blush of deep
humiliation, for whatever you may do in the future, you cannot undo the
past. Your wasted time, your injured faculties, your angered God, your
friends you influenced for evil by your example–you cannot blot out
all these– therefore, at least stay a while and shed penitent tears
over the graves of your dead sins and ask your God to help you to feel
that you have had enough of your evil ways, sin and neglect. Say, "What
have I to do anymore with idols? I have had far too much to do with
them already. O Satan, O Self, O World, I have served you all too long
and now, my God, with deep regret for all the past, I turn my face to
You!"
This change must also be, dear Friends, life-long. Notice two words in
our text, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" Where the Grace of
God really converts a man, he is not converted merely for the next
quarter of a year, with the possibility of afterwards falling from
Grace. That is a human conversion which can always come to an end! But
if God converts you, you can never be unconverted! As conversion is the
work of the Spirit of God, it is clear that it must need the same power
to undo it as first did it. He who has made you a Christian will keep
you a Christian! And unless a stronger than He shall come in and undo
His work, you shall never go back to your old idols!–
"Where God begins His gracious work,
That work He will complete,
For round the objects of His love,
All power and mercy meet
Man may repent him of his work,
And fail in his intent;
God is above the power of change,
He never can repent.
Each object of His love is sure
To reach the heavenly goal,
For neither sin nor Satan can
Destroy the blood-washed soul." Oh, how I love to preach this glorious
doctrine of everlasting salvation! The salvation that only carries you
a little bit of the way to Heaven, I never thought worthy of my
acceptance. I would not have it as a gift and I never thought it worth
preaching to you. I remember hearing one of the revival preachers say
that there are some who go on the road to Heaven and just take a ticket
to the next station. Then they get out and take a new ticket and rush
back to the train! And so they keep on. "But," said the man, "when I
started, I took a ticket all the way through." That is the way to
travel to Heaven! When you start, get a ticket all the way through!
Listen to these words of Christ, "My sheep hear My voice and I know
them, and they follow Me and I give to them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My
Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able
to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Listen, also, to these words of
our Lord to the woman of Samaria–"Whoever drinks of this water shall
thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him
a well of water springing up into everlasting life." O my Brothers and
Sisters, God does not play at saving men, first doing the work and then
undoing it! If He saves you, you are saved! "He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved." There is the Gospel which we are sent to
preach to you so that, when once converted, truly converted, you will
say, "What have I to do anymore with idols?"
Perhaps someone asks, "Yes, but do not some professors go back and yet
you say that if men, after making a profession of religion, live in
sin, they shall be saved?" Certainly we say nothing of the kind! We
say, on the contrary, that if truly converted they will not live in
sin, but if the work of Grace is worked in them, they will be kept from
sin. Or if they shall, through sudden temptation, fall, they shall be
speedily restored–weeping and sighing they shall be brought back to
the good way. We never said that men could live in sin and yet go to
Heaven! That were damnable talk, not fit for a Christian to utter! But
he who is truly saved is saved once and for all and he can say, "What
have I to do anymore with idols?" Throughout the rest of his life he
will have done with them, he will have quit them. He will burn his
bridges behind him, never to go back to the country which he has quit
once and for all. This is a salvation worth having! Therefore, I pray
you, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be a partaker of it!
Yet once more, notice that this is a very thorough change–"What have I
to do anymore with idols?" O you who have done with idols, remember
that you are also done with the idol temples, you are done with the
false priests, you are done with the so-called "sacred thread" and
other idolatrous tokens! You are done with everything pertaining to
idolatry! You who once were drunks have done forever with the
public-house and the drunk's cup! You who once were lascivious, if the
Grace of God has changed you, what have you to do with fornication,
what have you to do with any kind of uncleanness? You who were, before,
dishonest, if the Grace of God has changed you, what have you to do
with the tricks of trade? What have you to do with fraudulent
bankruptcies? What have you to do with cheating and lying? Let each
true Believer cry, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" Be gone, sin
and Satan, bag and baggage! What has a man, who is bought with the
blood of Christ, to do anymore with idols? He quits them once and for
all, by God's good Grace!
I find that the rest of my text would take up far too much time for me
to expound it fully, so I shall have to content myself with the second
division of the subject.
II. This was to be, you will remember, THE CAUSE OF THIS GREAT CHANGE.
The first cause of this change is the Grace received. In the previous
part of the chapter, we find the Lord saying, "I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely: for My anger is turned away from
him." Then our text naturally follows, "Ephraim shall say, What have I
to do anymore with idols?" We cannot get you to give up sin, however
earnestly we may exhort you to forsake it, but if, by God's Grace, you
receive Christ as your Savior, then you will abandon sin as a natural
consequence! What is the best way to keep chaff out of a bushel
measure? Fill it full of wheat! And when the heart of a man is full of
Christ, there will be no room for the world, the flesh or the devil!
These evil things cannot find an entrance where Christ has full
possession. When God is as the dew of our soul and we receive freely of
His Grace, then we do not need telling, urging and driving, but we at
once say, "What have I to do anymore with idols?"
Another cause of this great change lies in our perception of the
beauties of the Lord. I do not quite know whether what I am going to
say is the exact teaching of the text, but I think it is. It is very
difficult, sometimes, in these prophecies, to know who is speaking.
There are often dialogues and the dialogues are not always so clearly
marked that we can tell who is the speaker. I have always thought, when
I have read this chapter, that it was the Lord who said, "I have heard
him, and observed him," but on thinking the passage over very
carefully, I am not quite sure that it is so. Let me give you another
version, which I met with in two verses by an unknown poet, and then
see whether this is not the meaning of the passage–
"I have heard Him and observed Him,
Seen His beauty rich and rare,
Seen His majesty and glory,
And His Grace beyond compare.
What ha ve I to do with idols,
When such visions fill my eyes?
How be occupied with shadows
When the Substance passes by?" Does the text mean, then, "I will have
nothing more to do with idols, for I have heard my God and I have
observed Him? I have heard Christ speak and I have observed the
excellence of His Character"? This much I know–whether that is the
teaching of this passage, or not–nothing weans the heart from idols
like a sight of Christ! O you worldly Christians, who are getting to be
so fond of this world, I am sure that you have not seen your Master
lately! If you had, the world would sink in your esteem. O you who are
beginning to be fond of human wisdom, you cannot have heard Him speak
of late, or else He would be made of God to you, wisdom–and everything
else would be folly! O you who are seeking to live for self and for
earthly gain, your heads have not been lately pillowed on the Savior's
bosom! You have not recently looked into those dear eyes which are more
radiant than the glories of the morning! You cannot have known the
fragrance of those garments which smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia, or
you would never be enamored by this poor, foul, unsavory world!
"I have heard Him, and observed Him–what have I to do anymore with
idols?" "I have heard Him say, 'I have loved you with an everlasting
love.' I have observed Him go up to the Cross and lay down His life for
me–'what have I to do anymore with idols?'" When you, as the bride of
Christ, love your first Husband as you should love Him, then your
wanderings will be at an end. When all your heart goes after the
Well-Beloved and He enraptures you with manifestations of His love and
of His Grace, then will you say, "What have I to do with idols–I, so
favored, so enriched with Divine blessings, who am on the road to
Heaven, who am so soon to see the face of Him I love–what have I to do
with idols?"
That seems to me to be a grand meaning perfectly consistent with
earnest Christian experience, so I leave it with you. This great
change, then, is worked in us by the Grace of God and by a sight of the
true beauties of our Lord.
But now, taking the text as it is generally understood, you will get
another meaning. One cause for this great change is the sense of
answered prayer: Ephraim shall say, "What have I to do anymore with
idols?" And God says of Ephraim, "I have heard him." I remember, even
as a child, God hearing my prayer. I cannot tell you what it was about,
it may have been concerning a mere trifle, but to me, as a child, it
was as important as the greatest prayer that Solomon ever offered for
himself! God heard my prayer and it was thus early established in my
mind that the Lord was God. And afterwards, when I came really to know
Him–for, like the child Samuel, I did not then know the Lord, I only
felt after Him in prayer–afterwards, when I came to cry to Him
intelligently, I had this prayer answered and that petition granted,
and many a time since then. I am only speaking what any of you who know
the Lord could also say–many a time since then He has answered my
requests. I cannot tell you all about this matter. There is many a
secret between me and my dear Lord. This very week I have had a
love-token from Him which, if I could tell you about it, would make
your eyes wonder and fill with tears! I asked and I received, as
manifestly as if I had spoken to my brother in the flesh and he had
said, "Yes, there, take all you need."
Well now, I always find that, in proportion as I am conscious that God
is hearing my prayers, my heart says, "What have I to do anymore with
idols?" If I can have from my God whatever I ask for, why need I cringe
and bow my knee to men? If I have but to go to God and wait upon Him
and He will give me the desire of my heart, what have I to do with
fretting, fuming and being anxious? What have I to do with idols? If
there is everything in Christ and that everything is to be had for the
asking, what have I to do with idols? It is wonderful how you are
weaned from the dry breasts of the world when you can drink in all that
your soul desires from the living God! If God, the Jehovah of Hosts, is
no more to you than the gods of the heathen, or the gods of the men of
the world, why, then, you will have to do with idols! But if your God
is the God that hears prayer and if you live in His Presence and speak
to Him–and He speaks to you. If you keep up perpetual communion with
Him so that God can say to you, "I have heard him and observed
him"–then I am sure that you will also say–"What have I to do anymore
with idols?"
If I am addressing any poor soul that has been craving mercy from God,
one who has been crying for months to God to give him forgiveness
through Jesus Christ, why, dear Heart, if you will only believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, you shall get all that you are asking–you shall
receive peace, pardon, joy and rest! And then you will say, "What have
I to do anymore with idols?"
"Oh," says one, "my dear Sir, I have been trying to overcome sin and I
cannot!" I know you cannot, but if you begin by receiving Christ, by
praying to God and getting the answer, then you will be able to say,
"What have I to do anymore with idols?" You want to first wash yourself
and then come to the Fountain. That will not do! You must come, black
as you are, and wash and be cleansed. You want to get rich spiritually
and then come to God to enrich you. No! You must come to Him, poor!
Come without anything of your own, just as you are, and trust the
boundless mercy of God in Christ Jesus! He will give you all you need
and then you will say, "What have I to do anymore with idols, for God
has heard me, and He does observe my soul?"
You see, then, some of the ways in which this very great and wonderful
change is worked. I have had to omit many other points on which I meant
to speak, but I pray that this change may be worked in each of you. Do
not wait to have the change worked and then come to God, but come to
God for it! If you have a broken heart, come to Christ with it! But if
you have not a broken heart, come to Christ to break your heart! If you
feel your sin, come to Christ to have it forgiven, but if you do not
feel your sin, come to Christ that you may be made to feel it! If there
is any good thing in you, thank God for it, and come to Him for more.
But if there is no good thing whatever in you, come without any good
thing and let Christ begin at the very beginning with you, in all your
emptiness, need, spiritual beggary and loathsomeness! Come to Him just
as you are, for He still says, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise
cast out." May His sweet Spirit graciously attract each of you till you
shall be drawn to Him and so drawn from your idols! And to Him shall be
Glory forever and ever! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 34; HOSEA14.
Psalm 34:1. I will bless the LORD at all times. "At dark times and
bright times when I am alone, and when I am in company. When I feel
like doing it and when I do not feel like doing it. 'I will bless the
Lord at all times.'"
1. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. "I will not only feel
it in my heart, but I will give expression to it with my mouth. Those
who do not care for this blessed employment may leave it alone, but as
for me, 'His praise shall continually be in my mouth.'"
2. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear
thereof, and be glad. "I will ride the high horse when I begin to talk
of the goodness of God–'My soul shall make her boast in the Lord'–and
whereas boasters are generally very vexatious to humble-minded people,
this kind of boasting shall please them. 'The humble shall hear
thereof, and be glad.'"
3. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Come, my Brothers and Sisters, I cannot perform this happy service
alone! It is too much for me all by myself. This bunch of grapes is too
heavy to be carried by one. "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us
exalt His name together."
4. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my
fears. Should not the prayer-hearing God be praised? If He hears the
cries of His people, should He not also hear the praises of His people?
It is not one, only, to whom God has thus listened, but many can say
with the Psalmist, "I sought the Lord, and He heard me."
5, 6. They looked to Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not
ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out
of all his troubles. It is God's delight to hear the cry of poor men!
Sometimes He passes by the rich and great, and gives heed to the poor
and desolate. It is our need that has the loudest cry with God–if our
necessities are urgent, our prayer will be powerful.
7. The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear Him, and
delivers them. God's children are always attended like princes–legions
of angels form their bodyguard. The Angel of the Lord and companies of
holy angels with Him pitch their celestial tents round about them that
fear God!
8. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that
trusts in Him. Try Him, dear Friends, and prove for yourselves how good
and gracious He is–"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is
the man that trusts in
Him."–
"Oh, make but trial of His love!
Experience will decide
How blest are they, and only they,
Who in His truth confide!"
9. O fear the LORD, you His saints: for there is no want to them that
fear Him. He will supply all their wants. You need not fear for
anything else when you once fear God.
10. The young lions lack, and suffer hunger. They are strong, fierce,
crafty and unscrupulous, yet they still suffer hunger–
10. But they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. Though
they are neither cruel, nor cunning, nor strong, "they that seek the
Lord shall not want any good thing." What a promise for you to plead in
prayer, dear Friends! If you are in any need, do not hesitate, but by
an act of faith take this gracious Word of God and plead it with the
promise-keeping God! "Have You not said that, 'they that seek the Lord
shall not want any good thing'? Then, Lord, do as You have said."
11-13. Come, you children, hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of
the LORD. What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that
he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from
speaking guile. He who can manage his tongue can manage his whole body,
for the tongue is the rudder of the ship. And if that is properly held,
the vessel will be rightly steered. If you would escape the quicksands
and the rocks, look well to your tongue! Keep it from evil, that it
speaks neither blasphemy against God nor slander against your fellow
men. And keep your lips from guile, that is, from deceit, from double
meanings, from saying one thing and meaning another, or making other
people think that you mean another–an art all too well understood in
these days. God make us plain-speaking men, who say what we mean, and
mean what we say! When, by the Grace of God, we are taught to do this,
we have learned a good lesson.
14. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. If it
runs away from you, run after it. Never run into or after a quarrel,
but always run after peace–"Seek peace, and pursue it."
15. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open
to their cry. The Lord is always watching them and He is always
listening that He may hear everything they say, especially when they
cry to Him.
16. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth. He will not only destroy the
wicked, but He will blot out the very memory of them! They may become
great and famous in their wickedness, but they shall not be kept in
memory, as the righteous are. As Solomon says, "The name of the wicked
shall rot."
17. 18. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of
all their troubles. The LORD is near to them that are of a broken
heart; and saves such as are of a contrite spirit. Men do not care for
broken hearts, but God does. "Give me a sound heart and a brave heart,"
says man. "Give me a broken and a contrite heart," says the Lord. If
you have such a heart as that, be not afraid to draw near to your God,
through Jesus Christ, for He is already near you!
19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers
him out of them all. Many who read this verse admit that the first part
of it is true–"Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Yes, but
the latter clause is also true–"but the Lord delivers him out of them
all." Do not omit either portion of the passage, for one part is as
true as the other!
20. He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. God's people
shall suffer no real, lasting, vital injury. You may have flesh wounds,
but as to the bones of your spirit, as it were, the solid part of it,
"not one of them is broken."
21. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall
be desolate. They shall want nothing else to make an end of them but
their own sins–"Evil shall slay the wicked."
22. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants: and none of them that
trust in Him shall be desolate. Now we are going to read the last
chapter of the Book of the Prophet Hosea, the first of the minor
Prophets.
Hosea 14:1. O Israel, return to the LORD your God; for you have fallen
by your iniquity. When we fall by sin, we must regain our comfort by
going back to the place where we lost it. "Return to the Lord your God
for you have fallen by your iniquity." Then, to help us return, God,
through His servant, actually makes a prayer for us.
2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. "What words am I to
take?" asks the poor convicted sinner. "I cannot put words together."
Here are the words put into your mouth–
2. Say to Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so
will we render the calves of our lips. Come with humble confession,
come with sincere repentance, come with earnest supplication, come
trusting to the Grace of God, come bringing your heart with you and
rendering it to God as a living sacrifice!
3. Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will
we say anymore to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in You
the fatherless finds mercy. If you come to God to be saved, you must
bring no other savior with you! What an encouragement is given to us to
come to God! He calls Himself the Father of the fatherless. O you whose
soul is orphaned, you who are left disconsolate in a world of grief,
come to Him in whom the fatherless find mercy, for so shall you find
mercy!
4. 5. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for My
anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew to Israel. "Swiftly
and mysteriously will I come and refresh him."
5. He shall grow as the lily. Quickly, beautifully–
5. And cast forth his roots as Lebanon. He shall be as permanent as he
is fair, like a cedar as well as like a lily.
6. His branches shall spread. The dew of the Lord imparts influence to
men–it gives them, as it were, branches, with which they cast a wide
shadow.
6. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree. The beauty of
fruitfulness. God grant all of us this beauty!
6. And his smell as Lebanon. Oh, to stand in holy repute among men, so
that there is a fragrance going forth from us, like the sweet odors
from the wild thyme and other products of Mount Lebanon!
7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as
the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine
of Lebanon. When God blesses men, He also blesses those round about
them. Your children, your servants, your neighbors shall all be the
better if the Grace of God comes to you. So may it be!
8,9. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do anymore with idols? I have
heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From Me is
your fruit found. Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is
prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the
just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.