Hosea 6:4 O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? for your goodness is as a morning cloud… There are times in a man's life when he begins to fear that he is too impotent or too sinful for the notice of God. In the activity of the day he may be free from such a thought; but in the solemn night, when he looks up to the vast canopy above him and thinks how those same stars have been brooding over the earth amidst all its changes, there comes to him the thought of David, "When I consider thy heavens," etc. Still more is he oppressed by the sense of the moral distance between himself and God which has been created by sin. If only infinite knowledge can reach him in his insignificance, only infinite mercy can reach him in his degradation l Of both these attributes we have an explicit assurance in the text. "Thou art as much his care, as if beside Nor man nor angel were in all the world." God would save the world even at the cost of his Son; nor will he give up the sinner till the last hope of saving him is gone, destroyed by the sinner's own hand. Our text is the sob of a Father's heart after all means of reclaiming the prodigal had failed. I. THAT GOD LONGS FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN, AND SEEKS IN EVERY WAY TO EFFECT IT. 1. This has been revealed to the world. Even under the old dispensation it was expressly declared, if Moses would know the name or character of God, the Lord passed by before him, declaring himself to be "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6, 7). Daniel (Daniel 9:9) was bold in his prayer, because he could say, "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him" (see also Micah 7:18; Ezekiel 18:32, etc.). In the fullness of time God sent his Son, that men might know his love, that it might be "commended" to them; yet even the Son of God was cast out and crucified. Illustrate by the parable of the wicked husbandmen. The question in our text was answered in the cross. Beyond that, as the means of pardon and the center of attraction, God can do no more. If there be any question unsolved respecting the absolute, infinite, and perfect God, we find its only answer for us in Christ - the Embodiment of love, the Fount of mercy, to all who come to him. Give examples of those who came during Christ's ministry. "No man knoweth the Father, but the Son; and he to whom the Son shall reveal him." Compare the text with the words of Christ on Olivet (Matthew 23:37). 2. This has been proved in human experience. It is one thing to feel compassion, another thing to show it. Much sentimentalism is in the world (stirred by fiction) which finds no outlet in benevolence. But the thought and act of God are one. He is recalling here what he had done for Israel, as well as what he had felt towards Israel, when he asked, "What shall I do unto thee?" Deliverance from Egypt, help in the wilderness, settlement in Canaan, might have been cords to bind them to Jehovah; but "they soon forgot his works." Wealth, success, victory, were ascribed to political skill or warlike prowess, and not to him who "gave power to get wealth." Examples can be given in modern history of nations losing sobriety, self-restraint, modesty, thrift, equity, etc., by the very blessings which were designed to keep them near God. Thus is it with individuals. Their lives are unwearied by pain and their minds untainted by disease; they have had no heritage of evil habit, or of gross shame from their parents; in their homes they are encircled by love and baptized by prayer. Whence and why all this? Is it that strength may be wasted in pleasure, that thought may feed itself on the husks of Positivism, that success may generate self-confidence, that men may be enchained more lastingly to earth? "Knowest thou not," says St. Paul, "that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance?" "We beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." (Text.) Besides all this, sorrow and disappointment have spoken unmistakably. The scheme has broken down and left you penniless; illness has swept you from daily work, leaving you like driftwood on the shore; death has crossed the threshold, and said, "Eternity is near!" What more can God do to arouse to repentance? Words of man, inspired as messages from God, have borne witness. Few in this Christian land can say, "I was never warned against sin, and never knew that' God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.'" Remembering all the pleading and warning sent through the Church and the Wind and the home to conscience, may not the text be uttered by Jehovah over many? II. THAT THE MEANS EMPLOYED TO BRING MEN TO REPENTANCE SOMETIMES FAIR TO DO MORE THAN AROUSE TRANSIENT FEELING. "Your goodness is as the morning cloud," etc. Nothing is more mysterious than the struggle of God's Spirit with man's soul. God created free men and accepted all the responsibilities of doing so, foreseeing the possibilities of their development. Laying aside his power to rule by decree, and watch the work of automatons, he endued man with liberty, so that it could be said to the impenitent, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." If we perish, it is in defiance of him. It was by fighting against God that the good feeling aroused in Israel was dissipated like the morning cloud. 1. Examples of this transient goodness abound. Hosea saw hearers moved to tears, knew their resolves to have done with the idols and return to Jehovah; yet all this came to nothing. In our day, some visited in illness vow that they will live a different life; yet with returning health comes returning indifference. Others, in the hour of temptation, are delivered by the uprising of tender memories; but these are not abiding. In brief, no one has been condemned who could not recall good resolves. The past is strewn with their fragments. 2. The illustration of transient goodness in the text is suggestive. Few things are more beautiful than the cloud tinged with the rosy light of dawn. In an Eastern land it would be full of promise too. It might prove like that over which Elijah rejoiced, only as a man's hand in itself, but the precursor of hosts of rain-laden clouds which would deluge the world with blessing. But imperceptibly it vanishes; and once gone, no power on earth can recall it. The "early dew is exquisite in beauty, scattered like flashing jewels over things unsightly and base, as well as tipping each blade of grass and filling the cups of the flowers. But when the sun has risen the dew is gone, and soon the herbage is parched. How fitting are these illustrations of tears, feelings, resolves, which cause hope to the onlooker, though they leave the life unchanged! In the irreligious home, amid the evil companionship, under the influence of the skeptical writer, through the business of life, etc., these, like the morning cloud and early dew, pass away. 3. The peril of such transient goodness may be shown by: (1) Its gradual and unnoticed departure. It is difficult to fix the moment when the dew disappeared, and equally hard to judge of the time when religious impressions really fade. Probably Judas had no expectation of earning the execration of men and the curse of God. His heart must often have been touched by the words and love of Christ, yet, resisting these, at last he imbrued his hands in the Savior's blood. (2) The woefulness of having such feeling gone forever. No road is worse than that which has been often thawed and often frozen; no curse worse than to have conscience seared, and capacity for feeling gone. Still to the undecided does our merciful Father say, O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?" - A.R. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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