THE COMPASSION OF GOD HOSEA 11:1,7-8

I. Introduction

A. In the first ten chapters of this prophecy, the emphasis has boon on the disobedience of the people and the inevitable judgment as a consequence.

1. But the dominant chord in the last four chapters is the wonderful love and patience of God.

2. God brings them back to their birth as a nation and reminds them of their history. He traces His loving concern for them all the way down to the present (11:1, 3, 4,8)

B. God personally addresses these people as to the loving interest He has in them.

1. Seven times God gives personal affirmations.

2. I put a red circle around every capital "I " I have God speaking to them under the personal pronoun 17 times.

3. Here are some examples: I loved them - I called them - I taught them - I healed them - I led them - I fed them - I lifted your yoke.

C. Four times God questions the people (11:8)

1. How shall I give thee up.

2. How shall I judge you like Admah and Zeboim.

3. These were the two cities that were destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah.

D. Five times God makes some positive declarations about them.

I. I will not execute my anger - I will not destroy Ephraim.

2. 1 will not come in wrath. They will walk after the Lord.

3. I will make them to dwell in their land.

II. God is Seen as the Persistent Lover (11:4)

A. Israel is the perpetual resistor (11:5,7)

1. That being the case, what is to be done?

2. Naturally speaking there is only one thing to do - give them up.

3. When I see how much God loves them and how persistently they refuse that love, my own feeling is that I would abandon them to their own choices.

B. It shows how unlike God I am - look at verse 9.

1. I will not destroy Ephraim again because I am God and not man.

2. What was holding God back from exercising judgment?

3. The answer is found in verse 8 - My heart is turned within me, my compassion are kindled together.

C. Was it something in Israel that made God say - How can J give thee up?

1. It was not something in them but something in the heart of God.

2. God saw in Israel possibilities that I can't see.

3. God always sees the possibility of human life.

4. That is the meaning of the Cross.

D. Whatever we think of human nature our God thought it worth dying for.

1. He saw the possibility in His people because of who and what He is.

2. Jn spite of your disobedience God is saying to you this morning - I cannot give you up - I will not, I will not,

I will not.

3. This reminds me of Hebrews 13:5 - I will never, no never, no never leave thee or forsake thee.

4. God says I can't give you up because my heart is turned within me - it is moved to its depths.

III. My Compassion are Kindled - Literally Contracted.

A. Not in the sense of narrowness but my compassion are in spasm.

1. God's compassion are being deeply affected.

2. That is why God can't give them up - He cares for them and cannot find it in His heart to give them up.

B. No wonder Ian MacLaren once said - God is the chief sufferer in the universe.

1. God suffers because of His love - it is a love in agony or to use our previous word, it is a love in spasm.

2. No wonder God says - How can I give thee up.

3. Yet in that word "How" we have the suggestion of difficulty.

4. Justice alone says it is the right thing to do.

5. But how can I do it?

6. God's compassion led to the decision - I will not.

IV. How did God come to the Conclusion - I will not.

A. At the end of verse ~ we have the answer - I will not because I am God and not man.

1. Yet there is no lowering of God's moral standards because of His refusal to execute His fierce anger.

2. God can be compassionate and remain holy because He is God and not a man.

B. But how can God be just and yet justify the sinner?

1. We have to go to the N.T. to find the answer but this time we find the same yearning heart of love in a man - God's ideal man.

2. In Hosea we learn facts about God's nature that seem to be in conflict. How can I give thee up.

3. In Jesus Christ we see the reconciliation of this conflict.

4. In His supreme sacrifice we see how God can be just and still justify the sinner.

C. God's redemption of our soul is not a pity that ignores sin.

1. It is a power that cancels it and sets it free from its dominion - Sin shall not have dominion over you.

2. Through Christ the one loved is regained, restored, renewed.

3. God says of you this morning - "How can I give you up"?

4. You may have given up on yourself but God has not given up on you.

S. The Lord Jesus will make a way by which you can be restored to His image, likeness and will.

6. The gospel beams brightly in Hosea but its full radiance is found in the face of Jesus Christ.

7. John 3:16