Sin's mockery of the sinner. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good.... Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. The power of the human will to choose good or evil. This evidenced by the representation Hoses gives of a people resolved on iniquity, whom God was longing to save. Refer to the teaching of our Lord upon this subject; e.g. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life;" or, "How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, but ye would not!" Appeal to experience for proof of our power to receive or reject good. Our text describes a fallacious, sinful, and fatal choice. The sin for which sacrifice was made ultimately sacrificed the sinner. Look at the two sides of this moral picture.

I. THE CASTING OFF OF THE GOOD. "Israel hath cast off the thing that is good." Illustrate this by a delineation of the depraved condition of Israel at this period. Show that what they cast off is still being cast off by multitudes in modern life; e.g.:

1. Faith in the nearness of God. It was the loss of this which led Israel to form fatal alliances with the heathen. In our day materialism and Positivism are enervating, and sometimes destroying faith. The symbol of the spiritual is becoming the substitute for it, This may be traced both in the teachings of a school of philosophy, and in the sensuousness of ritualistic worship. Many have cast off the old faith - "the thing that is good" - instead of believing where they cannot prove.

2. Fidelity in witnessing for God. It had been the glory of Israel to proclaim, both by its worship and in its history, the unity, the invisibility, and the holiness of God. By turning to the worship of visible idols, diverse in their attributes, yet all hideous in their impurity, they had deliberately repudiated this Divine commission. Still it is man's peculiar dignity to appear as the witness and the worshipper of God, in whose image he was created, and over whose works he rules. Pre-eminently he may be the Divine witness by the moral character and the spiritual life inwrought in him by the Divine Spirit, who conforms us to the image of God's Son. Falling short of this, man fails (as Israel failed) to fulfill his destiny. Hence, in proportion as a man refuses the grace of God, he casts off the thing that is good.

3. Obedience to the Law of God. Show from pagan history, and from the condition of modern heathen, as well as from the growing degradation of those to whom Hoses spoke, that idolatry brings with it moral deterioration. The man who ignores the first table of the Law will of necessity ignore the second also. Religious faith and moral rightness stand or fall together. When Israel turned from Jehovah to Baal and Astarte, the nation gradually but surely became false, self-seeking, ambitious in its political alliances, and hideously corrupt in its inward social condition. Israel had cast off the thing that was good.

4. Loyalty to sacred resolves. The people often appeared about to repent, but their goodness was transient as the morning cloud. How frequently now right impressions and even holy vows are cast off! How jealously all should guard themselves against the subtle influence of a busy life, or of an alluring pleasure, or of an ill-chosen companionship! There are many whose hearts are hard, and whose lives are godless, respecting whom, in memory of their early promise, it may be truly and sadly said, "They have cast off the thing that is good."

II. THE CASTING OFF OF THE SINNER. "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off'." History shows that Israel was ruined by trusting to Egypt and to its own martial prowess, instead of confiding In God and simply doing righteousness. Jeremiah's words were fulfilled, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Casting off good, Israel was cast off by evil. See how often this principle is exemplified in the broader sphere of human life. That which men put in the place of God sooner or later fails them.

1. Pleasures fail to give satisfaction. When the soul tries to quench its thirst with these the words of Isaiah are fulfilled, "It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty." The awakening comes ultimately to every man, and it is well when it does not come too late.

2. Intellect fails to find spiritual truth. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and the unrest of many arise from the fact that they have cast off the yoke of him who alone was able to say, "I am the...Truth."

3. Self-righteousness fails to bring salvation. See our Lord's words respecting the Pharisees. The house built on the sand stands side by side with the house founded upon the rock; but the testing-time comes to both.

4. The world fails to afford a home. Whether we will or not, the world must fail us at last. If we make it our servant, we shall rule like kings; if we make it our god, in our hour of helplessness it will cast us off.

CONCLUSION. "There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us." - A.R.

I. BY THEIR MURMURINGS. So long as they trusted God's Word, they continued to walk safely. When they began to murmur, Amalek came upon them.

II. BY THEIR IDOLATRIES. When God was arranging for their worship, they made and worshipped the golden calves.

III. BY THEIR REBELLION. As in their response to the message of the returned spies. Referring to Israel in their later history, we may say —

IV. BY THEIR REJECTION OF CHRIST. Because, when Messiah did come, He did not suit their expectations, they despised and rejected Him. And the enemy was not slow in pursuing them. Their city was destroyed, and they were scattered over the earth. This threat is not confined to Israel. It is equally applicable to nations and to individuals now.

(N. Ashby.)