Hosea 6:1

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1)

God's heart for His people is full of love and grace—but also accountability: turn, or face the consequences.

Love, Grace, and Last Chances

I've titled this message "Turn or Burn," also known as "Love, Grace and Last Chances." We're going to see the love and the grace of the Lord, His heart for His people, but we're also going to look at the reality that you are going to be accountable. If you don't change, this is what will happen.

God in His amazing grace allowed Israel centuries of doing their own thing, always sending prophets to draw them back, to warn them of the danger of putting other things above the one true God. Those things soon become idols, and you become a worshiper of an idol. That idol has replaced the love of the one true God in your life.

First, look at the love and grace of God. From Isaiah 59:1–2:

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Don't ever say, "God isn't going to listen to me." Try it. Talk to Him. Draw near to Him. Don't let this other stuff get in the way. God is wanting to restore and heal His people.

The Setting: Israel on the Brink

In the context of Israel, we're about 700 BC, near the very end of the Northern Kingdom—the ten tribes that split off after Solomon's son Rehoboam listened to his young friends rather than the wise counsel of the seniors.

The people weren't loving mercy. They weren't walking humbly with God. They were going through religious motions, but their heart and lifestyle were self-centered, wicked, and rebellious. The Lord saw it all. So the message from the prophet Hosea is: you're going to be held accountable. Open your eyes. Open your heart.

In the last verse of chapter 5, the Lord says He's leaving: "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence." They thought sacrifices and offerings would appease Him, but that's not what the Lord wanted. He wanted their hearts. Because they were so stubborn, He warned them: "then they'll seek my face, and in their affliction they'll earnestly seek me."

God wants to bless you and me above what we could ask or even think. But sometimes, particularly in our Western culture, we have to guard against blessings turning our hearts away from Him. Sometimes God reluctantly withdraws His hand of blessing so that we might once again seek Him. John Corson said the question becomes not "why is God so hard?" but "why are we so dumb?" Why can't we get it?

A Beautiful Prayer—With a Potential Problem

The first three verses are such a beautiful section taken by themselves. But we have to look at the context, and there's a potential problem in this prayer. First, the blessing:

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

I'm constantly amazed and overwhelmed by the love and grace of God. That a holy God would ever bother to intervene in a sinner like me is astounding. I gave my life to the Lord in 1971, and I look in the mirror in 2024 and go, "Really? Why do You love me? I'm a mess inside." I'm amazed at His grace.

God uses sometimes shocking ways to get our attention and wake us up, and I'm glad He bothers. Remember Jesus' heart in Matthew 11:28: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me... for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Maybe you're carrying heavy burdens this morning. The Lord wants to lift those and guide your walk. So come to Him.

If your lifestyle has been anything but what the Word teaches, confess. To confess means to agree with the testimony of another—and that testimony is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He doesn't just forgive—He cleanses. He wipes it away.

Point one: God remembers our sins until we confess them. Then He forgets. As far as the east is from the west, He removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us. Do you deserve that? I don't. But that's His grace—undeserved, unmerited favor. He says, "You're clean. Now walk in that cleanliness I have brought upon you."

Revived on the Third Day

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2)

Some commentators see Paul looking back at this in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day. On the cross, Jesus was torn and stricken for our sake; He took our sins upon Himself, and yet He was gloriously raised up on the third day.

Others see it as prophetic of the millennial reign of Christ. They calculate that we've had two thousand years of church history—two days, since a day is like a thousand years—so we must be entering the third day, and Jesus is about to return. And I say, Maranatha, come quickly, Lord! I asked the Lord to come quickly fifty years ago.

But when looking at end-times things, be balanced. Maybe we are in the third millennium and Jesus is about to come back. Maybe not—we might be here a while. So be about your Father's business while you're here. Don't just look for the Antichrist or the rapture; look at Jesus. Be careful of charts and timetables. A friend once called it "newspaper eschatology," where we try to fit everything in the news with prophecy, and that distracts you from being the humble servant God calls you to be. Keep your eyes and heart on Jesus, not on the clock.

Pursuing the Knowledge of the Lord

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

He wants us to know Him—personally, relationally. Paul had this in mind when he encouraged the Philippians: "Forgetting those things which are behind... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Let all who are spiritually mature press on to know Him.

That's part of what you're doing this morning. But I pray you're doing it tomorrow morning too, that the joy of fellowship goes with you wherever you work or serve. Gary Laughton, who pastored Calvary Chapel Santee, once said, "I want to walk so close to Jesus that I keep bumping into Him." I want that kind of walk.

But even with our blessings, we begin doing this and that. In our Western culture we have so much to distract us—maybe the fruit of our wealth, the time we have, the ease of life. Jesus keeps walking, but I'm back over here playing around, and He goes around the corner, and I have to get back. Maybe that's what you need to do this morning—get back close to Him, confess. Right where you're sitting, you can ask the Lord to renew you, forgive you, and commit yourself to walking with Him.

Presumption or Repentance?

However, the context could indicate more presumption than genuine repentance. The old Life Application Bible notes that the people did not understand the depth of their sin. They didn't turn from idols, didn't reject their sins, didn't pledge any changes. They thought God's wrath might last a couple of days—little knowing their nation would soon be taken into exile. Within ten to twenty years of this writing, the Assyrian Empire came in and wiped out the Northern Kingdom.

Israel was interested only in the material benefits God would give them. They didn't value the eternal benefits of worshiping Him. Before judging Israel, consider your own attitude. What do you hope to gain from your Christianity? Do you repent easily without seriously considering what changes need to be made? Your mom finds your hand in the cookie jar; you say, "I'm so sorry, I won't do it again." She leaves, and back to the cookie jar you go. That's not repentance. Repentance is changing your direction completely—you were following the flesh; now you follow the Spirit. And it's a lifestyle, not a one-time event.

Point two: repentance is evidenced by a changed character—a manner of living that always seeks to grow more and more like Jesus. There's an old chorus: "I want more of Jesus, more and more... I'll give Him more of me." That's a great prayer.

Faithfulness Like the Morning Cloud

But there was a problem. The prophet says:

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. (Hosea 6:4)

How many of you saw the fog settling this morning, but an hour later the sun burned it off? They were like the fog and dew that quickly burns off. They brought sacrifices and engaged in religious services, but that activity made no difference in how they lived. They had a lot of religious training and knowledge, but it wasn't reflected in their character.

I have hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. (Hosea 6:5)

God's word, through the prophets, had been chipping away at their stony hearts and exposing sin. And what He desired all along was mercy: "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." This doesn't mean the sacrificial system was wrong—it was meant to point them into a closer walk with the Lord. But they got hung up in the routines.

The sacrifices God truly wants are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. If we're broken inside over our sin and walking in His mercy, He can use us toward a hurting people. But if we're not, we won't be merciful to those outside. We live in a very diverse culture, and we sometimes wish it would all stay outside. But the church is not meant to be your safe zone—it's your refueling station. The real work isn't coming to church on Sunday; it's practicing what you learn here when you go out.

Knowledge Versus Relationship

Point three: information about God can never replace relationship with God. It doesn't matter how much you know about God or the Bible. There are seminary professors who teach the Greek, the Hebrew, and all the "ologies" of theology, yet many don't have a personal walk with the Lord—no broken spirit, no contrite heart. They have knowledge, but knowledge puffs up; love builds up. God doesn't want you brain-dead—He wants you to think and use the capacities He's given you—but He wants your character to bring Him glory.

Over and over in Hosea, we hear God saying, "I want your love. I don't want your duty. I want your love." The sacrifices were substitutes for obedience, and God didn't want Israel's rituals if He didn't have their hearts.

This is repeated throughout the Old Testament. Samuel told Saul to wipe out the Amalekites and destroy everything, but Saul came back with plunder—the best sheep and oxen—claiming he kept them to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel said:

Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice... For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:22–23)

Amos chapter 5 echoes this: "I hate, I despise your feast days... Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs... But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." That's what God is looking for in our lives.

Idolatry and Willful Refusal

Through these first six chapters, the sin of Israel is exposed and detailed. They rejected the knowledge of God and embraced the lies of idols. The same thing is happening worldwide today, as people reject the one true God and create substitutes that are lies. Paul warned Timothy that in the latter times "some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

Jesus told the Pharisees, "These people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." And Isaiah 29 says these people honor God with their lips while their hearts are far, their worship "nothing but man-made rules learned by rote."

Don't ever think you can hide. "The Lord can't see us," they say. Did you ever do that—"I'll just go do this; the Lord will forgive me later"? Don't go there. He is omniscient; He knows exactly what's going on. You might hide from me or your friends, but you can't hide from God. Isaiah asks, how foolish can you be? He's the potter; you're the clay. Does a jar ever say the potter who made it is stupid? Sometimes we act that way.

Charles Feinberg said, "God is requiring something deeper than the mere routine of sacrifice... It is easy to substitute the visible for the real." The Lord would have godliness first, but instead they were covenant breakers, shedders of blood, and workers of iniquity:

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. (Hosea 6:7–9)

These were cities of refuge, where the priests should have taught the people the Word and given fair judgment. Instead they were enjoying the sacrifices of sinful people—"the more they sacrifice, the more it lines my pockets." If the people got right with the Lord, they'd lose money. There could be parallels today; if the shoe fits.

When men turn their backs on God and walk headlong to their own destruction, the entire social fabric becomes insecure. The Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, was beyond hope of human recovery. God called Israel to repent and turn, but they refused. This was willful refusal. In Hosea 4:17 we read that sad verse: "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." They were married to idols.

A Harvest of Judgment

Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. (Hosea 6:11)

Harvest here implies a coming time of judgment. The word means "severed" or "reaped." Judah was never far from the prophet's mind, and here he warns Judah to learn from the critical mistakes of her northern sister.

God wanted to heal them. Chapter 7 begins, "When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered." But the more He spoke, the more their wickedness was poured out. It's amazing that God still wanted to heal them—how patient He was. Miles brought you to Deuteronomy several times: the blessings if they followed the Lord, the destruction if they went their own way. They knew right from wrong and willfully chose wrong.

Back in Genesis 6, the Lord said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man." There is a point of no return in our rejection of God. I assume none of you are at that place—you wouldn't be here. But maybe a few of you have strolled in just because it's Sunday, with all kinds of wickedness going on: lying, cheating, stealing, hurting. God wants to be the light that exposes it this morning. I won't point at anyone—but the Holy Spirit is good at pointing. He can say, "Today's the day to deal with this. Don't put it off."

God Will Not Woo Us Forever

Point four: God will not woo us forever. There's a point where He will say, "No more." We live in an age of amazing grace—by grace we're saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Jew and Gentile alike can call on the name of the Lord and be saved. So if you haven't committed your life to the Lord, now is the time. Don't put it off.

Because there is a reality of judgment, in both Old and New Testaments. Judgment is coming to this fallen world. We look around at the craziness and think surely it can't last much longer; surely the ungodliness of our own nation will be judged. How and when, I don't know. But there is a judgment waiting.

There's a train heading for a bridge that's out, and nothing can stop that train. Judgment is happening. What we can do is get people off the train—run alongside, jump in, and answer, "What must I do to be saved? Get off this train. Come to Jesus, because it's heading for a wreck." That's our job now. Why are we free in America to believe and follow the Lord? Because the train is heading for judgment. Sin will be accounted for. If you come to Jesus, your sin was accounted for on the cross—you're free, you're saved, you'll be with Him forever, and now you've got a mission: help others get off that train, so we can all walk close to Jesus and keep bumping into Him.

Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

Let these verses sink in. Isaiah 55:6–7:

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Jeremiah says similarly, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." So let us search and examine our ways, turn back to the Lord, and lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven.

I learned this just this last Wednesday night at our Through the Bible study at Calvary San Diego. In 2 Chronicles 30:18–20, during Hezekiah's great revival in the southern kingdom, a multitude of people came—many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, the northern tribes already scattered by the Assyrians. Though they hadn't cleansed themselves, Hezekiah prayed, "The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers." And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. What blows my mind is that even in the midst of that revival, the Lord was still dealing with scattered exiles from the north who heard and came to worship.

Maybe you've been like an exile, floating around in other places, and the Lord wants you so badly. Ephesians 2:4–5:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)

How many of you are glad for that "but God"? But God intervened in your life. But God snatched you out of darkness.

We've heard of love and grace, and we've studied a little about last chances. I don't know if this is your last chance to get right, but I wouldn't mess with it. If you haven't been walking close to the Lord, today is the day. Get back to walking close to Him. We'd love to pray with you. You can commit your life to the Lord this morning, or recommit your life to serving Him, and be the men and women God has called to this culture in this day.

May God bless you richly and pour out His grace upon you.