repentance

Fallen One, God Pleads with You to Return to Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. – Hosea 14:1

“Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” Sin is the root of the mischief. Do not say, “I was fated to be so.” “Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” It is true that thou hast fallen in Adam; but thou hast also fallen by thine own actual sin, and thou hast enough to do to confess thine own act and deed. Thine own willful omissions and commissions have ruined thee. Thou art wounded, but thine own hand has given the injurious stab. “Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity”; blame no one else. That you are an unbeliever is your own fault; you will not come to Christ that you might have life. The way you follow is the way of your own choice, in which you follow the imaginations and devices of your own heart. All the misery of your present estate is due to yourself alone. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself”! Feel that it is so, and confess it before God, taking to yourself shame and confusion of face.

“Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” What a wonderful argument is this! You are in an evil plight through sin; therefore return to the Lord your God. But, saith one, I was afraid I might not come because I had fallen.” See how your fear is anticipated. The case is reversed, and your having fallen is made by the Lord into an argument why you should return to Him. “I am broken-kneed,” saith one; “I have fallen so badly that I shall never be worth a penny for any good work.” Yet the Lord cries, “Return, for thou hast fallen.” I hear one moaning, “I am broken to pieces by sin: I am like an old pot that has fallen on the stones. I am useless henceforth. “For that very reason the Lord of mercy bids you return. “Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen.” What ingenuity of mercy there is in the heart of God! I pray you, yield to so gracious a plea. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2192.cfm

A Joyous Return

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. – Hosea 14:1

“Return unto the Lord thy God.” If thou, O sinner, wilt return to the Lord, He will be thy God; He will enter into covenant with thee, He will give Himself over to thee to be thine. Henceforth thou shalt have a property in Jehovah, and all the wealth of His infinite nature shall be thine. Thou shalt be able to say, “This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” That man hath made a great speech who hath truly said, “God is mine.” There is more in calling God our God than if we could hold the title-deeds of both the Indies, or claim possession of the stars. God, in the infinity of His grace, declares, “I will be their God.”

Oh, that you were wise, that you knew what was good for you! Then would you answer to this call. O sinner, how I wish that thou wert delivered from thy madness! for then thou wouldest no longer turn thy back upon thine own blessedness, nor wouldst thou reject the Lord thy God to thine own confusion. Thy present course will lead thee down to destruction utter and entire; wherefore, pause, I pray thee! Nay, I say more; do not stay where thou art, but return, return at once! Seest thou not what a welcome God will give thee? for He says not, “Return unto thy Judge,” but “Return unto thy God.” It is not written, “Return like an escaped prisoner to thy jailer, return to the whip and to the stocks”; but, “Return unto the Lord thy God.” This God shall be thine exceeding joy. Albeit I cannot put my soul into such words as I could wish, I am sure that men who are wise and prudent will think upon these things, and will be led to seek after the Lord, from whom all blessings flow. I remember how, when I perceived the freeness and preciousness of the gospel, I ran towards it, being drawn that way by a strong desire for that which promised such great things to me. May many a man and woman out of the present company say, “I will answer to the divine entreaty. Jehovah bids me return and return I will”! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2192.cfm

God’s Sacred Pleading to the Wandering One

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. – Hosea 14:1

“O Israel, return”! is a sorrowful, tender, gentle, wooing voice, which I beseech you to regard. Possibly some of you may have had to plead with one of your own children, who has been very willful, and has threatened to do that which would have been exceedingly injurious to him. You have said, “Oh, do not so, my son! Oh, do not so, my daughter!” and you have thrown your soul into your pleading. Even thus doth God, with sacred pathos, with love welling up from the depth of His heart, plead with every sinner and He words the pleading thus-“O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” The first motion towards reconciliation is never from the sinner, but always from God. The sinner does not cry, “O Lord, my God, permit me to return”; but the Lord Himself, who watches the wandering one, and sees him falling to his ruin, cries out, in the freeness of His grace, “O Israel, return!” What matters it to the Lord, though a man should even plunge down to hell? The Lord will be glorious, though the rebel perish. The Lord hath no need of men. Yet the Lord thinks much of wandering men, and longs for their return. Out of the freeness and riches of His love He calls them to Himself. He swears by His own life that He willeth not the death of the sinner, but that he turn unto Him, and live. Because of His spontaneous love and pity, He crieth, plaintively, “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” Hearken, then, my hearers. If it were my call, you might refuse it with small blame: but it is God’s call: shall your Maker call in vain? Will you add to all your sin the turning of your back upon the God of love. Shall Jehovah cry in pity to your souls, and cry in vain? God grant it be not so! Here from this text, which, once written, remaineth, there soundeth out of the eternal deep of boundless mercy this cry of grace: “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God”! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/hos/14/1/s_876001

Return!

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, The Father Leave a comment

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God… – Hosea 14:1

This 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 cavils; 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 unto your Father. Do not barely 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! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2192.cfm

Behold a Noontide of Light!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

“O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine 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. 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.'”- 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 their fall upon the tender herb like music soft and low. God does not say, “O Israel, depart accursed!” But instead thereof, in dulcet tones He cries, “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” In the midst of wrath He remembers mercy. He stays His uplifted hand, reins in the steeds of vengeance, and holds communion with grace; “for His mercy endureth forever,” and “judgment is His strange work.” 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 doth 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 judgment. Where we looked for the blackness of darkness, behold a noontide of light! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2192.cfm

Oh, He is a Wonderful Saviour!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. – Mark 10:45

He is One who lays Himself out tenderly to help such as come to Him. He did so when He was here in body, and He is the same now; all His life was given in tenderness… And the Lord Jesus Christ has a very loving way now of helping His people. So tenderly does He do it, that the doing of it is almost as great a wonder as the thing that is done. He abounds towards us in all wisdom and prudence, and we may each one say, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” Oh, He is a wonderful Saviour! There is none like Him for sympathizing with us, and dealing tenderly with us.

I have to say of Him that never can be said of anybody else:, He is One who never repelled a single person. Not even the most ignorant, the most out of the way, was ever turned back from Him. It was always true: “This man receiveth sinners.” And for ever this word is settled in heaven, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” All who have read the life of Christ know what a gentle and tender High Priest He was towards men.

His heart is on earth, though He has ascended into the heavens. If anyone here groans after Him, He will hear that groan; if your heart only aches after Him, He will feel that ache of your heart, and know what it means; and if you do not know how to pray, the very desire to pray He will interpret… But, oh, you must have Him; you must have Him, you cannot get to God without Him! I pray that you will feel such confidence in His tenderness that you may come and take Him as your own High Priest; if you do, He will be yours at the moment of acceptance. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2251.cfm

Trust in the Mercy of God through the Death of Jesus Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. – Romans 5:6

Those of us who can address thousands should be diligent to cry aloud-“Christ died for the ungodly”; but those of you who can speak to one, or write a letter to one, must keep on at this-“Christ died for the ungodly.” Shout it out, or whisper it out; print it in capitals, or write it in a lady’s hand-“Christ died for the ungodly.” Speak it solemnly, it is not a thing for jest. Speak it joyfully; it is not a theme for sorrow, but for joy. Speak it firmly; it is indisputable fact. Facts of science, as they call them, are always questioned: this is unquestionable. Speak it earnestly; for if there be any truth which ought to arouse all a man’s soul it is this: “Christ died for the ungodly.” Speak it where the ungodly live, and that is at your own house. Speak it also down in the dark corners of the city, in the haunts of debauchery, in the home of the thief, in the den to the depraved. Tell it in the gaol; and sit down at the dying bed and read in a tender whisper-“Christ died for the ungodly.” When you pass the harlot in the street, do not give a toss with that proud head of yours, but remember that “Christ died for the ungodly”; and when you recollect those that injured you, say no bitter word, but hold your tongue, and remember “Christ died for the ungodly.” Make this henceforth the message of your life-“Christ died for the ungodly.”

And, oh, dear friends, you that are not saved, take care that you receive this message. Believe it. Go to God with this on your tongue-“Lord save me, for Christ died for the ungodly, and I am of them.” …Accept this truth, my dear hearer, and you are saved. “Christ died for the ungodly”…Trust in the mercy of God through the death of Jesus Christ, and a new era in your life’s history will at once commence. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1191.cfm