Heal Backsliding-CHSpurgeon

Hosea 11:1–11

WHEN Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

The ancient love and grace of God ought to have been a powerful motive for obedience, but it was not.

² Asthey called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. (The more they were warned, the more they sinned. Alas, how many do the same!)

^{3, 4} I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. (As the husbandman gives rest to the oxen, removes their yoke, and feeds them, so the Lord set his people free and supplied their needs, and yet they revolted from him.)

⁵ ¶ He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

⁶ And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

⁷ And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

⁸ How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. (Mark the tender love of God, and his unwillingness to smite his people. The same conflict is in his soul still towards sinners. Such compassion should lead us to repentance.)

¹⁰ They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

¹¹ They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord.

At last in alarm they would fly to God, and he would save them. Even if sinners come to God entirely out of fear, he will not reject them.

Hosea 14

OISRAEL, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

What gracious pleading! Can we reject it as Israel did? If we do, we shall fall as they did.

^{2, 3} 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. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

Words are put into the sinner’s lips—will he not use them? He has only to give up his sins, and his false trusts, and God will pity him as he does children in distress. The next words are mercy itself written out in capitals.

⁴ ¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

⁵ I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. (He shall be beautiful and enduring.)

⁶ His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. (He shall flourish and yield shade to others, he shall be fruitful, and therefore fair to look upon, and the fame of his happiness and excellence shall fly abroad like sweet perfume.)

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. (His children and dependents shall be blest also; and shall enjoy divine favour in a manner most choice and sweet.)

⁸ Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (All our goodness comes from God’s grace; we must for ever be barren without him. Let us study well these passages of sacred writ, for the next verse very solemnly calls us to devout attention.)

⁹ Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.^[1]

Hosea 13:1–14

WHEN Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. (Humble walking before God brings honour, but proud and wilful sin is deadly. O for grace to maintain a lowly spirit before the Lord.)

^{2, 3} And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. (If men will have transitory trusts they must have transitory joys. If we love gold our joy will melt; if we live for fame, which is only the breath of man, it will dissolve and be gone as a vapour. God alone provides us an enduring portion, yet how few confide in him!)

⁴ Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. (Vainly do we look to our own works, or to false priests, Jesus alone can save.)

⁵ ¶ I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. (The Lord has not failed us in distress. We have tried and proved his faithfulness in times of great need; let us, then, be faithful to him in return.)

⁶ According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

Oh, shameful ingratitude, the more mercies they enjoyed the more wickedly they behaved! Because God remembered them in his goodness they forgot him and grew proud.

⁷ Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

⁸ I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. (Our God is just, and terrible in vengeance. Sin provokes him, and though he is slow to anger, he is mighty to punish when the time of retribution is fully come.)

⁹ ¶ O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. (This is the sum of the whole matter. Man ruins himself; God alone saves him. Damnation is all of sin; salvation is all of grace.)

^{10, 11} I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. (Saul was such a king: men often covet useless things.)

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid. (It is not forgotten, but laid away for future judgment, as men bind up their title deeds and place them in a secure place. All our sins will be remembered at the last great day, unless they are blotted out by the blood of Jesus.)

¹³ The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. (He is slow to be born again, he puts off conversion. This charge can be brought against many awakened sinners. Why halt ye between two opinions? Death and judgment do not tarry. Hasten, O sinner, to be wise.)

¹⁴ I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. (Though first to be applied to the national resurrection of Israel, this passage has a grand outlook towards the resurrection of the dead. Believing in this promise, we hate our sins, and knowing that they are pardoned, we meet death with joy, expecting to rise from the grave in the glorious image of the Redeemer.)

I knew thee when the world was waste,

And thou alone wast fair,

On thee my heart its fondness placed,

My soul reposed its care.

Can I forget the cloudy days

Of grief in which we met,

When in life’s lone and friendless ways

Thou didst not me forget.

Can I forget those words of love,

So tender and so true,

With which, when thou must needs reprove,

Thou didst so comfort too?

O never, never let me choose

Freedom from thy control;

O never, never let me lose

Thy sunshine from my soul.^[2]