Hosea 14:5-7

Isaiah 14 verses 5 to 7 I will be as the dew unto Israel He shall grow As the lily Cast forth his roots As Lebanon His branches shall spread And His beauty Shall be as the olive of trade and his smell as Lebanon. 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 Lebanon. The Lord bless to us his Holy word this evening. This spring, you know, many people plant a garden, maybe a vegetable garden, maybe a flower garden or both. And we can see, you know, how the vegetables are growing and the rainbow colors from flowers and so forth. But in our text here we see that God says he’s a gardener. Only he, he, is not growing vegetables or flowers. He’s growing his people. And he likens them to some type of garden here that he is bringing up and producing. And I would like to consider Grace’s influence from this passage. How God produces spiritual fruit in your life as a believer. We see the gracious work of God upon your soul here. In the first part here, he talks about being due unto Israel. He shall be as due to Israel. That’s a beautiful promise that we have here. Now, because of where we live, due is not necessarily vital to us. We get it. But it’s not something we have to have. But if you live in Palestine, you can hardly imagine how important due is. Because of where you live, you may not right now. But it makes a little difference there. It makes little difference there, whether it’d be rain or to rain or not, as long as they had due and on the land each morning. Remember, Gideon was able to squeeze entire bowl of water out of a piece of cloth that he left overnight on the ground. And that’s why the judgment here of Elijah is so frightening when he went into Ahab. He not only said that it wouldn’t rain. He said, if you check it carefully, there shall be neither rain nor do, so that they would not get any moisture at all. Due is what refreshes the land at night. After a scorching day out in the sun. son. Now, I need to remind you that the Christian, under the symbol here of Israel or the people of God, is compared to a plant. A plant which cannot be watered by any water that is to be found on the earth. He needs heavenly water, water from above. And God is saying that his people here are dry, parched without him. You have a promise of life and abundance for those who receive God’s grace. Once you were in a miserable state, consumed by your own sin and guilt, God has said is heavenly due to water and to refresh you. The grace of God is of God is like due. which comes down from heaven and touches, parched hearts, and makes them fruitful. Psalm 1.10.3 says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of my youth. That the gospel be preached, and the chosen of the Lord will be gathered. by troops rallying in the day of battle. They shall come arrayed by grace in shining uniforms of holiness. And for number, beauty, freshness, and purity, and purity, they as dewdrops, which come mysteriously from the morning womb. come from God above. Thus, Osaya, here, makes a rich promise when he speaks here of the dew. The final analysis, it is the promise of the outpouring of his spirit on the people of God, an outpouring in which Israel was born out of the flesh, but of the spirit. So, you do not obtain spiritual life and health through your own power here. God’s work of grace in your life is constant. The blessing would rest on spiritual Israel that we have here as a whole, but also on such individuals, each individual, dew on the smallest blade of grass in Israel is like what we’re talking about here. And the blessing of the Lord would not be every now and then, but the dew that appears on the ground each morning going Palestine’s dry season. God is faithful in blessing you. God is not withhold his grace from, you as one of his people. He daily supplies what you need. Thus God can say to you, as he said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. You will have the supply of it, which you need. And this is why the people of God sing of the showers of blessing, the Bible talks, about grace which God sheds upon Israel is due. So we see the work of God’s grace is constant in your life every morning. You enjoy God’s grace because you are one of his people. The word Israel here has to be understood as the true Israel God on which the dew falls, his chosen people. This is not a blessing that everyone enjoys. Grace is something which is reserved for God’s elect. The question is, are you among the number of those classified as belonging to Israel? You’ll recall that the name Israel was given to Jacob because he wrestled with the name Israel because and prevailed. Let me ask you something. Are you a person of prayer? Prayer is the spirit, the life, the desire, the agonizing, pleading with God to obtain his favor and his grace. If you’re prayerless, and you have no right to consider yourself as God’s people, as belonging to Israel because God’s people wrestle with him in prayer. Also Israel may represent those who have chosen a better portion like Jacob, who gave up his mess of potage, sold it, those who have their portion, as Esau did. He must be a person. He must be a person who, who has their portion in this life, looking for recompense in another world. Are you content with what you have in this life? You receive, or does it receive all the attention that you have? If you abhor the world and spend time seeking God’s favor, you may be assured that God’s due rest upon you. So the gracious work of God upon your soul here is, it says, to be like due. And then the fruits of God’s grace in your life, taken up in the last part of verse 5 and 6. Spiritual beauty, the lily. Christ used the same metaphor when he pointed out that the lily of the field and declared even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Who gave the lilies to the lilies to the field? their beauty. Who gives you spiritual beauty? When the dew of the spirit forms upon you, you will blossom just like a lily. The metaphor of the lily speaks of the inner beauty of Christians, the Christian’s heart that is changed by grace. So when you are reborn and enjoy do from heaven, your callousness, your insensitivity that naturally are part of you, start to give way to nobler traits. Grace makes you gentle in your judgments, careful in your speech, and holy in your way of life. The purpose of grace makes you gentle in your judgments. The purpose of grace, is to conform you to the beautiful image of Jesus Christ. Ugliness is connected with sin, but it’s driven away by the beauty of grace. You are a lily among thorns as we saw in the Book of Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 2. A light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, Philippians 21. Your beauty is to be unspotted by the world. The Bible, you know, speaks of the beauty of holiness in Psalm 110, verse 3. So you have spiritual beauty. You have spiritual strength. Talks about your roots here. I don’t know where you blossom under the dew of the spirit of as a lily, that it will produce a root like that of a cedar tree. By comparing what Josea says here, it introduces a completely different idea. First, he speaks about the tender lily. Now he speaks about the mighty cedar. The cedar’s roots extend far into the depths of the soil. So while he speaks about feral flowers to begin with, he also says that we’re going to be like a majestic tree, which can withstand all the storms of life. So God’s grace provides some type of balance here. It’s gentle, but is also strong. And certainly there are indications here the fact that the people God are unshakable. Thus, the storms of life and all the attacks of Satan, we find that through it all, God’s people persist. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. Throughout the centuries, Christians have been hated and viciously opposed in many nations, but persecution did not destroy Christianity. Even on the most severe persecution, Christianity is not only survived, but it’s thrived. Because God’s people have grown roots in this earth, and they will continue to grow. all the opposition of the world. Spiritual strength. Spiritual profession. Branches. That’s like branches here. Now the Church of Christ, his pictures is a tree. Spreading its branches in all directions. The Bible speaks of the filling of the earth and growing to a great. Daniel 235, the kingdom of God. And the idea is the mustard seed becomes a tree. All of this speaks of your Christian profession. Your witness before the world, the advancement here of the kingdom of God. There are those who talk a great deal about secret Christians, but wouldn’t you think a soldier? who would not tell you what regiment they belong to, is ashamed of that regiment? When he doesn’t join the ranks of others? What would you think of a soldier who was ashamed of professing who he was who he was and where he belonged? And yet today there are those who professed to be Christian soldiers, but they’re not, you know, they’re not proud of where they stand and they lack interest in the things of Christ. And so we have to say there’s something seriously wrong. If we’re not growing branches under which to bring people, and there’s something seriously wrong with those people who do not bring people. branches. Truth of the matter is you’re different than everyone else. Truth of the matter is you bring people under your branches and they thrive under them. You know, despite the spread of political freedom around the world, religious liberty is not enjoyed by all Christians in the country of Nepal. In near India, there is an automatic one-year-year, there is an automatic one-year, sentence for Hindus who convert to Christianity. I read about a man that because he was witnessing, and he spent 10 years in prison for telling others about Jesus. This Christian man, who operated an orphanage in several businesses, suffered in the wretched and vermin infested conditions. each time he got locked up for witnessing. What keeps this man from being a secret Christian? Grace in the heart causes him to spread out his branches. And that’s the same way it should be with you. We see spiritual productivity. Also, we see about the olive tree. Now the olive tree, is not necessarily beautiful. I think what Josea seems to be mentioning here is the splendor of the olive tree. The olive tree is used for oil, as we know. It was highly valuable for lamps and so forth, equivalent to petroleum today. The olive tree is also. very fruitful. The oil is used for light, fuel for the lamps, and people eat the olives. They’re nourished by them. And olive oil is mixed in with other herbs and so forth to make some kinds of medications, as we see in in scripture for healing wounds. After your branches have spread. There is a promise here of being like the olive tree. They have splendor and fruitfulness. The Bible, you know, calls you the light of the world. And you possess the hidden manna of Jesus Christ. which nourishes a person’s soul. You have a brightened face. Like Stephen, as he was before the Jews, his face shown. You have a feeling, a healing message that you bring. You have a spiritual productivity in your life. When in two thousand years ago, there was a sculptor. who erect a statue in a Greek temple. And he had spent quite some time perfecting it. He was asked why he spent so much time on the back of the statue when nobody sees it. But he said he would always strive to do his best because he felt the gods would see it. Well, we should have greater concern for doing our work conscientiously. Because God knows all about what we’re doing. And we should labor for not man’s applause, but for God’s blessing upon us. So Christians always have been the most productive people in the world, because they do their work, not for the work, not for the themselves or to be men pleasers, but as under the Lord. Spiritual productivity. Spiritual influence. This is his smell and scent. Fragrant things bring pleasure to us. To all who breathe it in, flowers and cedars, I carry a wonderful, you know, aroma about them, and so does the Christian. 2. Corinthians 2, 14, and 15. God causes us to triumph in Christ and makeeth manifest the savor or the fragrance of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God, unto God, a sweet savor. or a Roma of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. If you’re a true Christian, you have influence. Wherever you go, there’s an influence about you. In one of Whitfield’s sermons, he speaks about a man who said that I will not live in my old father’s house, for there is not a chair or a table there, but smells of his piety, his faith. That is what you should endeavor to be to do yourself. Wherever you go, whoever you’re around, be a witness, and carry spiritual fragrance with you. Lastly, you see, the benefit of you’re around, be a witness and carry spiritual fragrance with you. benefits you bring to others the cause of God’s grace in your life in verse 7. We read about shadow, we read about grow as the vine. You know, Christians cannot, you know, confine their faith to themselves. Others are going to be brought under the influence or the shadow. if you would of your tree. As a minister, the church is under my shadow. As a father or mother, your children are under your shadow. As a business owner, your workers are under your shadow. The idea is discipleship, dependence. Once people used to gather, under the nation of Israel’s shadow, if you would, enjoy the fruits of Israel, but then Israel sinned and lost its position. God here is promising this will all change. His people will once again support, maintain, sustain, and care for others. They’ll spring up like a cedar. And under its branches, there’s shade. Useful. They’ll be useful and helpful to others. Vines in our culture mainly grow up on sides of walls. They need something to support them. You as a believer are to be the support to others. So that they can grow in grace and be strengthened in the Lord. You bring up your children like a vine, and they cling to you for support. And you have a godly influence on them and aid them in their growth. And so we see this is the case here in this text, the scripture, as we’re like the cedar tree, the vine can wrap around and grow. Well, God is a spiritual garden. If you’re a Christian, you’re part of that spiritual garden. And we see how it is grown, and it’s by the spirit of God and the dew of heaven supposedly upon us here. So you’re not to be dry and part of God. but you are to be useful, healthy, spiritual life. And the dew comes from above. You enjoy God’s grace as one of his chosen people. You have a spiritual beauty about you. There’s holiness, gentleness, graciousness. You have spiritual strength, there’s doctoral conviction, your unstealthy. They’re spiritual profession. You spread your branches and stand for Christ. Your spiritual productivity. You’re fruitful, active serving Jesus Christ, and spiritual influence. You’re a Christian fragrance. And it’s about all that you do in this life. Are you growing in grace? And in the knowledge. of the Lord. How is your life influencing others around you? God bless us as his people. And we see how he works in people’s lives. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your watch, care, and provision in our lives. We pray, Lord, that you would be gracious to us and forgive us. Lord, for our many sins and shortcomings. Bless us this day and watch over us, we pray. And I ask, Lord, that you would encourage us in our Christian walk of life. Let’s stand for the benediction of God. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.