“Don’t Go Backwards!”

TEXT: Selected passages from Hosea
TITLE: “Don’t Go Backwards!”
SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Our Father loves and restores the backslider.
THEME: Backsliders make life hard on themselves by not fully and faithfully following Jesus.
Introduction:
Ephraim’s importance and history: The name Ephraim means “two fruit land” or “two pasture lands.” He was the younger son of Joseph by an Egyptian priest’s daughter named Asenath (see Gen 41:52). Adopted by his grandfather Jacob, he received the first born blessing over his older brother Manasseh in Genesis 48:14. Ephraim became the progenitor of the tribe of bearing his name. The tribe of Ephraim became the leading tribe of the Northern kingdom. So much so, that Israel and Ephraim are interchangeable terms.
Ephraim played an important role in Israelite history. Joshua, Samuel, and Jeroboam I all bore the title Ephraimite. The holy sanctuary at Shiloh was situated in the territory of Ephraim.
This is why Hosea uses Ephraim as an illustration of a backslider. No person, no family, no tribe, no nation who once loved and served Yahweh ever intentionally sets out to become backslidden. Instead, it happens slowly and almost unnoticed; quietly the numbness and laxity of spiritual retreat creeps over the unthinking and uncaring Child of God.
From the Old Testament book of Hosea, let’s study the “Beware of Backsliding.”
Outline:
I. The Steps of the Backslider
A. Lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)
B. Backsliders begin well (see Gen, 41:52; 48:17-20; Deu. 33:13- 17)
C. At some point the backslider begins to turn from fully and faithfully following Jesus.
1. God rebukes the backslider, but to no effect.
2. See Judges 1:29 and Joshua 17:14-18; Psalm 78:9-11 and Isaiah 28:1
II. God Turns the Backslider Over to Self and Sin
A. God told faithful Judah to stay clear of Ephraim (Hosea 4:17) but Judah was also infected by Ephraim’s defection (Hosea 5:5).
B. Pride binds and blinds the backslider (Hosea 5:5)
C. Instability cause the backslider to vacillate wildly (Hosea 6:4).
D. Self-interest takes over the backslider (Hosea 10:1)
E. Falsehood and self-deception keep the backslider away from God (see Hosea 7:1, 11-12).
III. What Does God Do With Backsliders?
A. Rebuke turns to desolation (Hosea 5:9).
B. The backslider becomes half-baked (Hosea 7:8)
1. Cold on one side and burnt on the other!
C. The backslider reaps a bitter harvest (Hosea 8:7)
D. The backslider loses confidence and may lose his or her life (Hosea 13:1)
1. No confidence in Christ, the Bible, the ekklesia, the brothers and sisters in Christ.
E. The backslider grows progressively worse (Hosea 13:2)
IV. God Revives and Restores the repentant backslider: hope for the backslider
A. Our Father will not let the backslider go too far
1. Hosea 11:3,8-9
2. Hosea 14:4
B. Our Father deals gently with the backslider (Hosea 14:5a)
C. Our Father causes the backslider to grow (Hosea 14:5b)
D. Our Father reestablishes the backslider (Hosea 14:5c)
E. Our Father restores the beauty and fragrance of Christ in the backslider (Hosea 14:6-9)
1. “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)
Conclusion:
Our Father keeps His promises. In Ephraim, during the days of Hosea, did not repent and experience revival; however, Hosea’s preaching looked beyond his days to a future time.
The first mention of Mount Ephraim denotes the beginning of Israel’s backward slide (Judges 17:15). Jeremiah saw the day when Ephraim experienced full restoration. He wrote, “But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.” Again, Jeremiah tells us, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9).
A Tour and a Turn Around: A backslidden member of Dr. Philips Brooks’ (December 13, 1835 – January 23, 1893) parish called at the study to request that his name be dropped from the roll. Dr. Brooks reminded him that the step he proposed was a serious one and appealed to him to reconsider. However, the man was insistent.
Just then a poorly dressed boy entered the study with a note scribbled in pencil on crumpled paper. After Dr. Brooks read it, he challenged his visitor: “My friend, this note is from a poor, sick woman who is requesting that I visit her. I must go to preach a funeral message in a few minutes. Would you be good enough to go along with this lad to his home and supply whatever his mother needs?”
“Certainly, Dr. Brooks, I shall gladly do that for you and for her,” was the answer.
He followed the lad down the wide street into narrower streets and finally, into an alley. The boy stopped at a shanty whose half-open door, held by one hinge, led into an unlighted room. When the stranger stepped in, the half-blinded woman welcomed him, “Oh, Dr. Brooks, I knew you would come! You are God’s man. You always come to the call of trouble. I am sick and hungry, but first I want you to pray for me. Please pray.”
The backslider had not prayed in years. Should he tell her that he was not Dr. Brooks? While he was hesitating, she pleaded, “Oh, pray for me.” His heart would not let him refuse the request. He dropped on his knees. Following his first sentence which was a petition for himself in his own backslidden condition, he prayed for her and closed the prayer. Then he explained, “My dear woman you have discovered by this time I am not Dr. Brooks. He is conducting a funeral and he sent me to help you. Oh, how you have helped me! What do you need?”
She told him anything would be appreciated. There was no food, fuel, or medicine. Accompanied by the son, they went to a store, filled a basket with fruit and goodies which the lad carried home. He then ordered and charged to himself, groceries, medicine, and coal to be delivered.
Hurrying back to the pastor’s study, the man, no longer a backslider, found Dr. Brooks in his study. Renewed in spirit, the man extended his hand and said softy, “Oh, Dr. Brooks, I do not want to be dropped from the roll: I am all right now sir, I am all right.”