Hosea 13:9-13

Man's marvelous perversity and God's restorative mercy.

I. RUIN BY SIN , RECOVERY BY GRACE . When Israel had destroyed himself, and when there was neither help not' hope for him in himself or in aught that man could do, help was to be found in God and in God alone. Throughout the whole course of human history wrath and ruin are the deservings of man, goodness and mercy the dispensation of God. In the worst of times and in the darkest day help is to be bad in God In the midst of merited wrath he remembers mercy. God volunteers his help to his erring children even when their sins have been blackest and their need greatest. When there is no human help at hand or anywhere available, God graciously proffers aid. There was now no king to save them in all their cities; God interposes and says, "I myself will be your King." When there was no judge to deliver them, such as those that had been raised up for them on great emergencies in ancient times—no Gideon, no Jephtha, no Samson—God himself stepped forth for their protection and stretched out his helping hand.

II. RELIANCE ON HUMAN HELP IS OFTEN AS FRUSTRATING AS FOOLISH .

1. Israel had expected much, but got little, from a king and princes. Thus we read in 1 Samuel 8:5 , "Make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Princes, though not expressed, are clearly implied in that passage, for wherever there is a king, there mast of necessity be a court and nobles, or officers of high rank, to attend him. The people gained their object, bat find their trust misplaced; in the day of their calamity and their oppression, those fro? whom they confidently expected such great things, are powerless as themselves and m just as great need of help. Thus history confirms the lesson, "Trust not in princes nor man's son."

2. The folly of obstinately neglecting or rejecting warning well meant and faithfully given. Forewarned is forearmed; this should be the ease, but the maxim is often disregarded. Samuel had faithfully warned Israel of the inconveniences to which they would expose themselves by imitating the surrounding nations when they sought a king. He told them truly, for God had instructed him, of the oppressions they might expect, the exactions they would be subject to, and the arbitrariness of rule to which they would have to submit; but, though they could not gainsay aught of his warning, they obstinately persisted in their determination, saying, "Nay, but we will have a king." To their folly they added sin, as is usually the case, for in rejecting Samuel's counsel they rejected the prophet's Master, as it is written, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me."

3. How little men know what is really good for them! Frequently we set our heart on things most prejudicial to our best interests. Like children crying for hurtful objects which a wise parent withholds in tenderest affection, and which if granted would be sure to inflict injury or even prove fatal, we clamor for things that would prove not only unsuitable but most harmful; and, childlike, we complain if our requests are not granted. We pray, and in our ignorance we know not what to pray for as we ought. What need we have of grace, that the right desires may be put into our hearts and right words in our lips; that, coming before God with acceptance, we may obtain those things that are most conducive to the Divine glory and expedient for ourselves!

III. REQUESTS GRANTED IN WRATH . God, in his providence ever wise and holy, may, as it were, stand aside from men for a season, and allow them to have their way. After rejecting the salutary warning of his Word they may succeed in their wicked enterprises, and seem even to be seconded in them.

1. No ground for caviling at God ' s providence . Without any imputation on the Divine holiness, men may be permitted to have their way and to get their will, yet in much wrath. "God," says Calvin, "so executes his judgments, that whatever evil there is it ought to be ascribed to men; whatsoever good to himself.... God by his secret counsel had directed the whole business, and yet he had no participation in the sin of the people Let us learn wisely to admire the secret judgments of God, who thus makes use of wicked men, and directs for the best end what is done by men wickedly and foolishly."

2. There appears to be an answer to a latent objection . The people might say to the prophet, "Why blame us when God permitted us to have a king, appointing Samuel to anoint Saul, and allowing Jeroboam to reign over ten tribes?" To this God, by his servant, replies, "I gave you a king when your hearts were so set on one; but I gave him to you in anger and as a punishment of sin—Saul to punish your sin in rejecting Samuel; and Jeroboam to punish the idolatries in the reign of Solomon, as also your rebellion and apostasy."

3. God ' s gifts are sometimes tokens of his wrath . "God," says Augustine," many times in giving is angry, and in denying is merciful." We have positive proofs of this in Scripture. Besides the passage before us, there is a notable instance on record in Numbers 11:1-35 .; there God gave the people what they greatly longed for, but in wrath. They had "wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it ,was well with us in Egypt." They got the flesh they so vehemently craved; their desires were gratified; why? Just, we are told, because they despised the Lord who was among them. Thus God gave them flesh to eat, but it was in anger. The psalmist ( Psalms 78:1-72 ), commenting on the fact, explains it so, "While the meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them."

4. The end was as bad as the beginning . A king was given them in anger, and a king was taken away in wrath. The proverb says, "Well begun is half done;" but we may add, "A bad beginning has most frequently an ill end." "Nothing successful," says Calvin, "could then proceed from so inauspicious a beginning. For it is only then an auspicious token when we obey God, when his Spirit presides over our counsels, when we ask at his mouth, and when we begin with prayer to him. But when we despise the Word of God, and give loose reins to our own humor, and fix on whatever pleases us, it cannot be but that an unhappy and disastrous issue will follow."

5. Criteria of God ' s gifts . We may point out a few tokens by which men may judge whether God's gifts are granted in love or in wrath. There are

IV. RECKONING FOR SIN IS SURE TO COME ONE DAY . Men's iniquity, like that of Ephraim, is bound up as treasure in a bag; it is sealed and kept safe, in order to be brought forth in due time. Sin, in like manner, is hid, not, however, from God, but with God, till the day of reckoning arrives. Just as gifts are bestowed, as we have seen, sometimes in anger and not in love, so sin is often hid in judgment, not in mercy, that is, not for protection but desolation.

1. God ' s patience towards, is no acquaintance of, the sinner . His forbearance with the antediluvians lasted several centuries, till all flesh had corrupted its way, and the earth was filled with violence; but his Spirit would no longer strive, and the Flood came, sweeping all except eight souls away. He bore with Sodom till the cry of their wickedness went up to heaven, and Divine vengeance descended on its inhabitants. He bore with the Amorites till the cup of their iniquity brimmed over and brought complete destruction. Every sin, however secretly committed or subtlety contrived, however long overlooked or left unpunished, shall come forth, on the day of reckoning, for just retribution. "Be sure your sin will find you out."

"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all."

2. Security in sin is no safeguard for the sinner . One of the most destructive devices of the evil one is to tempt men to sin by suggesting the thought that what they do is no sin at all, or if it be a sin, that it is a little one, or too trivial to be punishable; or that the sin they commit is not known and shall never be known, or if it should, that it is too long forgotten or unnoticed to be ever punished. Equally devilish is the contrary device, by which, after he has succeeded in tempting men to sin, he drives them to despair by the thought that their sin is too great to be forgiven.

3. The less the apprehension, the nearer the punishment . As in the natural world, so in the moral—a dead calm is sometimes the precursor of a storm. So in the days before the Flood, men were "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage," buying and selling, building and pulling down, planting and sowing, busying themselves in the various engagements of daily life, and all the while felt perfectly secure till the very day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came and took them all away. Agag thought the bitterness of death was past, just before Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. The inhabitants of Laish dwelt securely till of a sudden they became a prey to their enemies. The Amalekites, after taking Ziklag, were feasting and making merry and fearing no danger, when David came upon them and smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day. So in other cases recorded in Old Testament history. So in New Testament times, as the apostle warns that "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."

V. RESEMBLANCE OF SINNERS SUDDEN AND BITTER SORROW TO TRAVAIL - PAINS . When God unlocks his treasury of wrath, and brings forth to light the sins now shut up and sealed and safely kept, men's security and God's forbearance shall in that day issue in sudden and sore sorrows. These sorrows are like the sorrows of a parturient woman, sharp as they are sudden. Many passages of Scripture might be quoted to prove travail-pains to be emblematical of acute anguish and extreme distress. They are at the same time inescapable.

VI. REPENTANCE IS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH RENEWAL OF LIFE . As the travail-pains of the mother are usually associated with birth, and so a new life and therefore joy; so the godly sorrows of repentance are inseparably conjoined with conversion to God, newness of life, and consequent spiritual joy. The unwisdom of Ephraim is evidenced by his staying so long in the birth; in other words, by his delaying repentance. Ephraim persists in his sins, obstinately persists in them, and makes no effort to get out of them by repentance; he endeavors not, by aid of proffered grace, to extricate himself by repentance from his sin and misery and danger. How many there are, like Ephraim, who are content to lie long under convictions, but never think of agonizing to attain to thorough conversion! How many unwise sons there are! How many there are with strong convictions of sin, their conscience aroused, their understandings more or less enlightened, and affections much moved, and yet they stay there! They are brought to the birth, but they stop short—stay where they are, and refuse to come forth. They are not far from the kingdom of heaven, but unhappily they delay to enter into it, and that delay may prove fatal. They come to the place of breaking forth of children, but they stay long, alas! too long, in that perilous position. They are almost persuaded to become Christians, but not altogether; and so they are only almost, but not altogether saved. How sad the case of those who come within a mile of home, yet never reach it! or who come within view of port, yet sink to rise no more before they reach the harbor! How lamentable the fate of those Israelites who had reached Kadesh-barnea, within eleven days' journey or less of the land of promise, but who never set foot in that goodly land, their carcasses having fallen in the wilderness!