Hosea 5:15-6:6

“Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

People of God, rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Your name is Mudd! Have you ever heard that expression—your name is Mudd? It’s Mudd—M—u—d—d—two ds—Mudd! Richard Mudd—a little grandpa in Saginaw, Michigan died the other day. Richard Mudd was 101 years old. Richard Mudd spent most of his life—trying to clear the name of his grandfather Samuel Mudd. You see Samuel Mudd was Dr. Mudd, Physician Mudd. Dr. Mudd was convicted by a military tribunal of helping John Wilkes Booth. You remember after John Wilkes Booth fatally wounded President Abraham Lincoln—Booth jumped from the balcony—the presidential box at Ford’s Theater to the stage. When he jumped—he broke his leg. Still he escaped and went by Dr. Mudd—who set his broken leg—thus helping Booth to further escape. Helping the assassin of the President—a pretty horrible thing to do. Unless you didn’t know that Booth was an assassin. Unless you just thought here is a poor soul—with a broken leg that needs to be set. Richard Mudd spent the better part of 101 years giving speeches, writing magazine and newspaper articles and books—trying to clear the name of his grandfather! Your name is Mudd and my name is Mudd. We are guilty and we are to blame. The hundreds of people here in church today are guilty of literally millions if not billions of crimes, sins and mistakes. Add to that billions of times when we should have done something right, good and helpful and we didn’t! That’s wrong too. I am guilty. I am to blame. I am without excuse. The precious good news is—Jesus Christ—the Son of God—has not just argued or written newspaper and magazine articles in our defense. Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead—to wash away all our guilty stains. Today God’s Word is an urgent plea:

Come, Let Us Return to the LORD!

He has wounded us—but he will heal us
He desires mercy and acknowledgment of God—not sacrifices

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today comes from the scroll of the prophet Hosea. When you came to church—and looked at the service folder and saw that the basis of the sermon was from Hosea—what did you think? Did you think to yourself—Hosea—that’s the guy that the LORD—the great I AM—ordered to take an adulterous wife! Imagine that! A wife named Gomer. She would have hugs and kisses with men she was not married to. Pastor Hosea had three children. The LORD—the great I AM chose their names. The first-born son would be called Jezreel. That would be like today naming your child Vietnam! It would immediately bring to mind bloodshed, disaster, grief, defeat! Jezreel meant disaster and defeat and separation from God’s grace! The next child was a little baby girl. The LORD said her name would be Lo-Ruhamah. That means “she is not loved—not loved!” The third child would be a son. He name was to be Lo-Ammi—“not my people—not mine!” The LORD was calling his people in the north—people about to be carried off into political exile—calling them to repentance. The LORD was calling his people to return to the LORD—to return to the LORD before it was too late!

“Come, let us return to the LORD.” We move away—far, far away from the LORD whenever we sin. There is a University in Washington for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Almost two years ago there were two terrible murders there in the dorms. One student was beaten and battered to death—another was stabbed to death. What made these murders especially horrible was the fact the victims could not hear their attacker—could not hear their murderer sneaking up on them. The fear was that the attacker was a classmate—one that they counted a friend—one from within their special very quiet family. The other day a fellow student named Joseph was found guilty in a court of law—guilty of murdering two of his friends so that he could steal their credit cards and buy a whole bunch of stuff! How sad! Joseph said he did it—not because he heard a voice that told him to. No—Joseph cannot hear! No—Joseph said imaginary hands—wearing dark gloves—two hands told him in sign language—to commit these murders! July 10^th Joseph will be sentenced. He could get life in prison without possibility of parole. What do you think? What would be a fitting punishment for someone who murdered two of his classmates—just so he could go shopping? There is a terrible danger—that we who come to Church faithfully—who come to Lord’s Supper often—think of people like Joseph as the bad guys and ourselves as the good guys. After all—some of us don’t even like to go shopping. Surely we would not murder someone for their credit cards! And yet—if the truth be told—and it is the truth we expect here in church—we are guilty of murder if we have ever hated anyone. Ever get angry? Ever tell someone you wish they would go to eternal destruction? Ever tell someone in your own home to shut up? It’s tough to imagine a kind and gentle heart saying shut up under any circumstance isn’t it? For any sin we deserve forever in hell where there is never ever any parole! Our only hope and our only rescue is in the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God!

“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” It is sad to say God’s people didn’t think their sins were any big deal. They counted this all just one small speed bump. Let’s get back with the LORD. Sure things have been less than perfect but we can fix this minor misunderstanding. Two days and it will all be better—three days tops and everything will be back to the way it used to be. It wasn’t that simple. The problem as always was with their hearts—their attitude! The LORD talked about that wrongful attitude when he said, “The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow?” Hosea 4:16 When we lived up north I used to visit the Elmer Schmidt dairy farm. The Schmidts had lots of cows. Before I got to know the Schmidts I used to think cows were pretty smart. They aren’t! At least the cows and heifers I met weren’t very bright. Elmer was a good farmer—he had been a farmer ever since he was a little boy helping his father take care of the cows. One day I saw Elmer with this huge bruise right by his temple. I asked Elmer what happened. He said a cow kicked him—just up and kicked him in the head. It could have killed him! When the LORD said his people were stubborn, like a stubborn heifer that is a preaching of the law. Little children can be stubborn. You make them a nice meal and they won’t eat it. You can make them good vegetables and they don’t want to even taste them! You tell them it’s time to take a nap—or it’s time to go to sleep and they say it isn’t dark yet and they don’t want to go to sleep. You tell them to turn off the TV or change the channel—and they tell you no? That’s not right! Children do not tell their parents what to do. Jesus said parents train and discipline their children. Children are not to be stubborn or defiant. Children are not to give their father a dirty look—nor to ever talk back to their mother. During this summer vacation—when school is out—it is especially time for children to do what their parents tell them—without question and without complaint! Husbands and fathers can nurture their children by being an example of patience, humility, of admitting mistakes and forgiving!

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Mercy is gentle forgiveness and patient love for your neighbor. Do you show that in your life? Are you merciful to the people in your home or not? While I was microwaving a cup of coffee the other day I caught just a snatch of one of those Candid Camera shows. It was a take off on the movie Pay It Forward. The concept is exceedingly simple. Someone does something kind, good and generous to you—for no obvious reason. When you try to thank them—they simply tell you—pay it forward. That is—you thank me by doing something kind, good and generous to someone else. Pay it forward! What surprised me was the original act of kindness was to give someone 6 cans of soda—six cans of diet soda—diet cola with a slight vanilla flavor. Here are six cans of diet soda for no reason—pay it forward. And you know what the recipient said? They said my act of kindness will be this. I will phone my sister who is angry with me. I will phone my sister who hates me—and I will patch things up with her. I will repair the damage between us! Six cans of diet cola with a slight vanilla flavor motivates that kind of love and forgiveness? What about Jesus’ love in your heart and mine? Jesus desires mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. Far far more important than the wrinkled green pieces of paper you put into the offering basket that the ushers will pass out—is that we are merciful to one another for Jesus’ sake. Far far more important than any check you write out to Jesus—is that you acknowledge Jesus by how you live—what you say—how you act all week long. Jesus is the one who fixes everything. Jesus forgives our sins. Jesus changes our hearts. Jesus changes our hearts—so that our actions are colored by his love and his power. And then—we will also bring our thank offerings—the first and the best of everything Jesus has given to us—we will give back to him!

“Come, let us return to the LORD.” It never ceases to amaze me the different ways people die. You hear a lot lately about people being attacked by sharks. And yet, they say, each year only about ten people actually die from shark attacks while 115 people die from getting hit on the head by a falling coconut. The other day there was a man who was killed when his remote control airplane hit him right in the chest. It must have hit his chest so hard it made his heart stop! A boy about 14 years old was struck by lightning at a marina in Texas and he died. Over a year ago Chandra Levy died—and even after experts ran all kinds of tests—they don’t know why she died—just that she is dead. When you think about it—the technical cause of death—what they write on the death certificate or the insurance papers doesn’t really matter. The ultimate and certain cause of death remains sin. What counts—all that really matters is what happens to us when we die—the moment we die. That we come home to heaven—for Jesus’ sake. That’s what will happen—because we are saved—by grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone for Jesus’ sake. Amen!

To God alone all glory!