Sermon #1491 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: “I Will Love Then Freely.”
Text: Hosea 14:4
Subject: The Freeness of God’s Love to His People
Date: Sunday
Morning –
Tape # W-78a
Introduction:
Open your Bibles with me to
the Book of Hosea. My first message of the New Year will be taken from the same
text as my last message in the Old – Hosea 14:4.
As I sought a message from
the Lord for you today, this being my first message to you in the New Year, I
wanted to bring a message that would inspire renewed devotion to our God,
renewed zeal for and commitment to the glory of God, and renewed determination
to give ourselves ever more fully to the great and glorious work the Lord God
has trusted to our hands as a congregation.
At the same time, I wanted
to bring a message that might, by the blessing of God’s Spirit, persuade you
who are yet without Christ to come to him. Oh, may God be pleased to grant you
his mercy and grace in Christ. May he be pleased this day to rend the heavens
and come down in our midst, pouring out his grace upon us!
If the Lord is pleased to
bless his Word as I endeavor to preach it to you, I am confident I have the
message that will serve my purpose. You will find it in Hosea 14:4.
Here is God’s great promise
of grace, super-abounding grace to sinners who come to him seeking mercy and
grace in Christ. Are you ready? Are you
listening? The Lord God says,
(Hosea 14:4) "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him."
In verses 5 and 6 he tells
us how he will heal the apostasy of sinners by his grace. Then, in verses 7 and
8, the Lord calls our attention to a specific people, a people who are the
objects of his grace, a specific people whom he has loved with an everlasting
love, a people who demonstrate the infinite freeness of his love.
In these two verses, our
great, gracious God, declares that the salvation of sinners is a matter of absolute certainty. There are some sinners in this world to whom God will be gracious. There is an elect multitude of
men and women who fully deserve his everlasting wrath, who are the objects of
his everlasting love, a people who shall be brought to him in repentance, a
people who shall be saved by his matchless grace.
(Hosea
14:7-8) 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
1.
There is a people, a
great multitude, who dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, who shall be
saved.
This 7th verse is
talking about God’s elect. – Both those who are already saved and those who
have not yet been saved. They all dwell under his shadow.
·
They dwell under his shadow.
·
They shall return.
·
They shall revive.
·
They shall grow.
·
They shall possess all the beauty of Christ. – “The scent thereof
shall be as the wine of
2.
Like Ephraim, God’s elect are a people full of iniquity, worthy of
wrath, deserving to be abandoned forever in hell; but they are his people and
they shall yet be saved.
Ephraim was full of sin. Ephraim was idolatrous.
Ephraim was joined to his idols and would not let them go. Ephraim was a people
so obstinately joined to their idols that God told his prophet to leave them
alone (
(Hosea
13:4) Yet I am the LORD thy God
from the
(Hosea
13:9) O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself; but in me is thine help.
(Hosea
13:14) 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.
·
Blessed be his name, repentance is not in him (Rom.
Read verse 8 again, and hear
what God says about his chosen Ephraim.
(Hosea
14:8) 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.
·
Ephraim is mine!
·
I’ve heard him! – Referring to verses 2-3.
(Jeremiah
31:18) "I have surely heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as
a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned;
for thou art the LORD my God."
·
I’ve observed him! – “While he was yet a great way off, his father
saw him, and had compassion on him!”
·
I am a green fir tree. – This is our God. This is our Savior. This is our
all-glorious Christ! -- The green fir tree is a tree with branches hanging so
low to the ground that anyone who wants to can get hold of it. – It is a tree
with leaves so thick that when you stand under it, even in a heavy rain, it
will shelter you from the storm. – Its fragrance is sweet, subtle, not over
powering. Yet, any one who touches it smells like it!
Read the last line of verse
8 and learn its doctrine. -- “From me is thy fruit found.”
Grace is God’s gift.
Salvation is God’s work. If we live, if we revive, it will be because he gave
us live, because he brought us to himself, because he gave us faith, because he
wrought repentance in us.
(Romans
9:16) So then it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
(Romans
11:26) "And so all
3. This is God’s method of
grace.
God almighty saves whom he will. Those he saves are the most obstinate,
undeserving, apostate rebels to be found among men. He saves them in such a way
that their salvation glorifies him alone. And his ways are right.
(Hosea
14:9) 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.
·
God’s ways are right.
·
The just, the righteous, those who are made just before God, bowing to
God’s ways in all things, shall walk in them.
·
The rebel, the unbeliever, every sinner who will not come to Christ,
shall perish in them.
Now, let’s go back to verse
four. I want us to take one sentence from this verse and milk it. The Lord God
says, “I will love them freely!” How I love that word, “freely!”
Have you ever noticed how that word is used in the Scriptures with reference to
God’s grace and salvation in Christ?
At the very beginning, even before Adam and Eve fell in the Garden, the
Lord God seemed to point our original parents to the fact that everything our
race gets from him is free. And after the fall, the whole of salvation is
described as God’s free gift to sinners in Christ.
(Genesis
2:16) "And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat:"
(Matthew
10:8) "Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye
have received, freely give."
(Romans
3:24) "Being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"
(Romans
8:32) "He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things?"
(1
Corinthians 2:12) "Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
(Revelation
21:6) "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely."
(Revelation
22:17) "And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is
athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Proposition: The love of God is free. The
grace of God is free. God’s salvation is free!
The
Lord God says, “I will love them freely!” This is God’s answer to the
prayer of penitent sinners, “receive us graciously.” The love of God
for us does not begin when we repent and turn to him in faith, or when he
grants us a sense of pardoned sin. His love is from everlasting. But as his
love for us, being everlasting must be free, so when he manifest
his love in saving mercy, he manifests it in such a way that we know it is
altogether free. God’s love to sinners in Christ is a love that is…
·
Without Cause.
·
Without Condition.
·
Without Measure.
·
Without Beginning.
·
Without End.
It is free. There is nothing in us to motivate it, nothing in us
to merit it, nothing in us to influence it, nothing in us to destroy it! It is
free!
John Gill put it in these words. – God’s love to
poor, needy sinners, “as it flows from the free sovereign will and pleasure of
God in Christ; so it is as freely manifested, and continues upon the same
bottom, and is displayed in a most liberal and profuse donation of blessings of
grace to them. This love is free in its original, and is liberal and bountiful
in the effects of it; and makes the objects of it a free, willing, and
bountiful people too.”
“I will love them
freely!” – Learn what that means, and you have learned the message
of this Book. Spurgeon said, “This sentence
is a body of divinity in miniature. He who understands its meaning is a
theologian, and he who can dive into its fullness is a true Master in divinity.”
“I
will love them freely!” – That is a condensation of the gospel of
God’s grace and glory. It is the gospel message of salvation which was
delivered to us in Christ Jesus our Redeemer.
Everything
hinges upon the word “freely.” -- “I will love them
freely.” God’s love gushes out to sinners as a mighty
river from heaven to earth “freely!”
The
holy Lord God could never love us in any other way. The only way in which love
can come from the holy, infinite God to fallen, guilty sinners is “freely.”
This
is spontaneous love flowing forth to those who neither deserved it, nor
purchased it, nor sought it, nor even desired it. It is free!
That
which is free is given without money and without price. It is opposed to all
idea of bargaining or bartering. He who gives freely gives only because there
is a need, expecting nothing in return. That which is free is without
compensation. That which is free is spontaneous, without inducement of any
kind.
How
can I speak of the freeness of God’s love? I certainly can’t describe it. There
are no examples in human history that can adequately illustrate it. Even those
pictures of God’s love in Holy Scripture (great as they are) fall short of it.
·
Adam’s Love for Eve.
·
Jacob’s Love for Rachel (Gen.
29:20).
·
Boaz’ Love for Ruth.
·
Hosea’s Love for Gomer.
·
The Father’s Love for the Prodigal.
– “He saw him. – He ran. – He fell on his neck. – And kissed him!”
But
if we would know the love of God for us, if we would know anything about this
love so graciously bestowed upon sinners that it can only be described as free,
we must look away to God himself. We must see it only as it is displayed in the
person and work of God’s darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Covenant Love
I
might point you back to that time when there was no time, when God dwelt alone
in the ineffable glory of his own holy being, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Back
yonder, in old eternity, the Lord God loved us with an everlasting love. Eternal
covenant love must be free!
(Jeremiah
31:3) "The LORD hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
(Jeremiah
31:31-34) "Behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and
with the house of Judah: {32} Not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
husband unto them, saith the LORD: {33} But this shall be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the
LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God, and they shall be my people. {34} And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
(Jeremiah
32:37-41) "Behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my
fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I
will cause them to dwell safely: {38} And they shall be my people, and I
will be their God: {39} And I will give them one heart, and one way,
that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children
after them: {40} And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that
I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in
their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. {41} Yea, I will
rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly
with my whole heart and with my whole soul."
(Romans
9:13-18) "As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. {14} What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
{15} For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
{16} So then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. {17} For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. {18} Therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."
II.
How can I persuade you of the
freeness of God’s love to sinners? I am lost in the wonder of it; and I am at a
loss in trying to set it before you. What can I say? Look away yonder, my
friend, to
(John
3:16) "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
(Romans
5:6-8) "For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. {7} For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. {8} But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us."
(1
John 3:16) "Hereby perceive we the
love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren."
(1
John 4:10-11) "Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. {11} Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought
also to love one another."
(1
John 4:19) "We love him, because he
first loved us."
Behold
the Son of God hanging upon the cursed tree. Can you hear what he declares? –
Do you not hear these words echoing from his bleeding heart? – “I will love
them freely!” Herein is love!
·
The Son of God died for sinners who
deserved to die.
·
The Lord Jesus died for sinners who
wished that he should be made to die!
·
The Lord of Glory died for sinners,
bearing their sins and all the wrath of God their sins deserved.
·
He died for us because he loved us.
·
He loved us and gave himself for
us, knowing that he would get no love in return, except he
himself create it!
III.
Converting Love
What
more can I say? How can I make you to see the freeness of God’s love for us?
Let me make one more stab at it. We see the freeness of God’s love in the
conversion of his people by his almighty grace. This is what the words of our
text particularly speak of, converting, regenerating, saving love. – “I will
love them freely!” Here it is.
(Ezekiel
16:1-6) "Again the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying, {2} Son of man, cause
(Ezekiel
16:8-14) "Now when I passed by
thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I
spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee,
and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest
mine. {9} Then washed I thee with water; yea, I
thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
{10} I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers'
skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
{11} I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands,
and a chain on thy neck. {12} And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and
earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. {13} Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was
of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and
honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into
a kingdom. {14} And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD."
(Ezekiel
16:60-63) "Nevertheless I will
remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish
unto thee an everlasting covenant. {61} Then
thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy
sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for
daughters, but not by thy covenant. {62} And I will establish my
covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: {63} That
thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast
done, saith the Lord GOD."
The
Lord God has promised this to all his people. This is God’s promise to every
poor, needy, guilty, helpless sinner who comes to him trusting Christ alone for
grace and salvation. – “I will love them freely!” Let me
tell you what that means.
·
There is nothing in us that could
ever attract the the love of God and induce him to love us.
·
There is nothing in any man that
can prevent the love of God.
·
There is nothing in any of us, and
nothing can ever be done by us to destroy the love of God freely bestowed upon
us in Christ from eternity.
It
is this love, the love of God in Christ; indeed, it is the very freeness of
this love that constrains us to love him. Who can resist this love? Who would
abuse such love?
(2 Corinthians 5:14) "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:"
(Galatians
2:20) "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
(1
Corinthians 6:9-11) "Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
(1
Corinthians 6:19-20) "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? {20} For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
It
is this great, free love that caused the Lord God to cry, -- “How
shall I give thee up O Ephraim? – I will not execute the fierceness of mine
anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man!”
Blessed be his name, he would not give us up! – He could not give us up! – He
will not give us up! He has sworn, “I will love them freely!” – And he
does!
AMEN!