Romans 3:23

You Are My God.

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And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, “You are my people”; and he shall say, “You are my God.” – Hosea 2:21-23 ESV

Remember the three names that God commanded Hosea to give his children? His first son was to be named Jezreel, as a reminder of the sins of the Israelites committed in the Valley of Jezreel. His daughter was to be named Lo-ruhamah which means “no mercy”. His third child, a son, was to be named Lo-ammi, which means, “not my people”. As we have seen before, these names all held an important significance in God’s message that Hosea was to give to the people. His own family life was going to be a living testimony to the judgment, as well as, the love of God.

God was gracious to give Hosea a glimpse into the future so that the commands of the Lord regarding Gomer and their children would make sense. What God was telling Hosea to do  was not some arbitrary and unloving task designed to make his life difficult. It was meant to give the actions of God regarding the people of Israel an earthly and easy-to-understand picture of what was going to happen. And it was probably as much for Hosea’s sake as it was for the people of Israel.

God graciously informed Hosea about a day to come when He would renew and restore the people of Israel, but not because they would somehow deserve it. He would reach out and redeem them in spite of their spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness. And God told Hosea, “in that day…” He would do some pretty incredible things for the people of Israel, ultimately restoring them to their former position as His children. Even the land of promise, given to the people of Israel to Abraham by God would go through a physical transformation. God would bring about the miracle of agricultural rebirth. And it is interesting to note that Baal, one of the false gods that the people of Israel worshiped, was known as the Canaanite god of rain and fertility. What he had been unable to do for the people of Israel, God would do. This is where the names given to the children of Hosea come in. The name Jezreel meant “God will sow” and spoke of what God would do for the land of Israel “in that day”. The name Lo-ruhamah or No Mercy referred to God’s present attitude toward Israel, but God told Hosea that the day was coming when He would show mercy on No Mercy. The name Lo-ammi or Not My People, which was a reminder of the Israelites’ current status before God because of their sins, also plays an important role in God’s future plans for Israel’s restoration. He told Hosea, “I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’” (Hosea 2:23 ESV). In that day, things would be different. God would not only restore the Israelites to their former place of prominence as His people, He would make that relationship even better than it had been before. They would not just worship God out of duty, but out of delight. He would not just be another deity thrown in among their litany of false gods. He would be their one and only God. And they would say to Him, “You are my God” (Hosea 2:23 ESV).

There is a personal, intimate aspect to that phrase, “You are my God”. It conveys the idea of an up-close and personal relationship, in which God and His people enjoy unbroken and non-distracted community, free from unfaithfulness and idolatry. God would no longer have to compete for their attention and affection. He would be their only God. It is interesting to note that the apostle Paul used this very passage when speaking to the Gentile converts in the church in Rome.

As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” – Romans 9:25-26 ESV

Paul was not appropriating the prophecy of Hosea regarding the people of Israel and transferring it to the church, but he was simply using it to illustrate that God grace and mercy regarding all mankind is one and the same. Regarding the Gentiles or non-Jews, God takes those who were not His people (Jews) and makes them His children. He does this when they place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When they do, He shows them mercy and He makes them sons and daughters of the living God, not because of anything they have done or any merit on their part. It is all due to the grace and goodness of God.

In terms of the immediate future for Israel, things were going to get worse before they got better. Their destruction was coming. God’s punishment on their sins was unavoidable and inevitable. But there was going to be a happy ending to the story. Why? Because God is the author of that story and He is loving, gracious, merciful and forever faithful. The story of redemption is a love story. It reveals the love of God towards a rebellious and unloving people, both Jews and Gentiles. While some people may rail against the judgment of God, they fail to recognize that any mercy shown to any human being is due to God’s love, not man’s merit. As the apostle Paul so succinctly said it, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV) and the punishment for that sin is death (Romans 6:23). No one is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). Everyone human being on the planet is living in opposition and rebellion to God and deserve His just judgment. But He graciously offers mercy and restoration through His Son. He provided a remedy to man’s deadly sin problem by sending His Son to die on man’s behalf. Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we deserved to die – so that we might have eternal life and be able to say, “You are my God”.

Cleansed by God.

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Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. – Psalm 51:7-9 ESV

Psalm 51

David came to God humbly confessing his sin. He took full responsibility for what he had done and acknowledged that his sin had been against God. But David was not done. He came to God because he desperately needed something from God. Yes, he desired God’s forgiveness, but he greatly needed and wanted God to cleanse him from his sin, guilt, shame and brokenness. David’s sin had taken its toll on him. He was burdened by what he had done. He knew he had displeased God and as long as his sin remained unconfessed and hidden, he was miserable. In another one of his psalms, David gives a description of just what his mindset would have been. “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (Psalm 32:3-4 NLT). The purpose for David’s confession was far more than a guilt-free conscience. He knew that confession alone would not remove his sin. He needed God’s cleansing. The apostle John gave us an important reminder on the power of confession in the life of a believer. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10 ESV). Refusal to believe that we are even capable of sin may make us feel better, but it doesn’t fool God. To deny the sin for which God convicts us is to call Him a liar. But if we will own up to our sin and humbly confess it to God, He will not only forgive us but cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God doesn’t just remove the guilt, He takes away the cause of the guilt.

David asked God to purge him with hyssop. This was a reference to the practice of the priest sprinkling animal blood on the altar with a hyssop branch. The animal was killed as a substitute for the sinner and its blood was sprinkled on the altar as a sacrifice or payment for the sins of the individual. The writer of Hebrews, speaking of the Old Testament sacrificial system, said, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV). While David would have surely taken advantage of the opportunity to offer sacrifice for his sins, he was asking God Himself to make him clean. He wanted God to do for him what no human being could do: remove the stain of his sin completely. He asked God to restore his joy and gladness. He begged God to blot out all his iniquities. David’s broken relationship with God, caused by his own sin, was as painful and debilitating as an actual broken bone. He needed the healing of the Great Physician. Sin brings sorrow, guilt and shame. It leaves us alienated from God. And while we are responsible to come to Him in confession, we are completely dependent on Him for forgiveness and cleansing.

David was appealing to the mercy and love of God. He knew God well. He understood God’s holiness, but he also depended on God’s unfailing love and mercy. In another one of his psalms, David revealed his personal view of God’s relationship with him. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:10-14 ESV). That was what David was counting on. He knew that God understood his faults, failings and weaknesses. He understood and was counting on the fact that God was compassionate and kind. David was relying on God’s unfailing love. He knew that if God removed the guilt of his sin, it would be complete and permanent, as far as the east if from the west. The apostle John would have us remember that “Jesus came to take away our sins” (1 John 3:5 ESV) and “the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 ESV). Jesus died in order to pay the debt owed for our sins. He came to remove the penalty of death that hung over our heads due to our sin natures inherited from Adam, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). But John reminds us that “the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 ESV). God has provided a means by which we can receive forgiveness and cleansing from ALL our sin – past, present and future. We will still sin, because we still have our sin natures. But the debt has been paid. The blood has been shed. All we must do is confess our sins and God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The result is the removal of guilt and shame, restoration of fellowship with God, healing from our pain and sorrow, and renewed joy and gladness. There is an old Scottish proverb that says, “confession in good for the soul.” David would agree. But it is not the act of confession that brings the benefit. It is the cleansing power of the blood of Christ that provides the gracious and complete forgiveness of God.

Sinners by Nature.

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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. – Psalm 51:5-6 ESV

Psalm 51

David was well aware of the seriousness of what he had done and he knew that he had sinned against God. Whatever punishment God might bring his way was well-deserved and completely justified, which is why all David could do is appeal to God’s mercy. And even if David had never committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the death of her husband, he would have still been just as guilty before God. Why? Because his sin and guilt were inherited by him and inherent in him. He had been born a sinner. From God’s perspective, every man and woman ever born came into this world having inherited the sin nature of Adam. Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12 ESV). Even David’s own son would confess, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV). And Paul would conclude that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). Adam’s “one trespass led to condemnation for all men” (Romans 5:18 ESV)

So David knew that his guilt before God was not simply tied to his affair with Bathsheba. He wasn’t a sinner because he had sinned. He had sinned because he was a sinner. That is a hard concept for most of us to accept, because we want to believe that we are somehow good at heart. We want to think that we are born with a clean moral slate, free from sin and capable of doing good. But the Scriptures paint a much more bleak picture. Adam’s rebellious heart was passed down to each and every one of his descendants. And it doesn’t take long to see that even young children have an innate capacity to reveal their sin natures at very early ages. Lying, deception, selfishness, and manipulation all come naturally to children. They don’t have to be taught. Which is why David knew that he stood before God as guilty, because he had been that way from the very moment of conception. David was in no way minimizing what he had done or blaming his actions on Adam. He was simply admitting that his actions stemmed from his sinful heart – his sin nature. And Paul warns us about our sin nature. “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT).

David’s dilemma was that he had been born with a sin nature and was prone to sin, yet God expected more. “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (Psalm 51:6 ESV). God wanted David to be honest about his sin. He wanted David to confess his guilt and allow God to do some serious rehabilitation on him at the heart level. Simply confessing his sin would not have been enough. Making sacrifices for his sin, without having a broken and contrite heart would have accomplished nothing. Later on in this same prayer David will say, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Psalm 51:17 NLT). God mends broken hearts. He takes our brokenness and guilt and lovingly restores our wholeness and gives us the joy of His forgiveness. David knew that God delighted in truth in the inner being. God has high standards. But God also lovingly teaches those who come to him in brokenness and humility. God wants nothing more from us that our humble dependence upon Him. We are incapable of nothing but sin. “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT). But the amazing thing is that God offers us a way to be made right with Him. He has provided a means by which we can be forgiven, not just of the sins we commit, but of our very sin natures. “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17 NLT). Just as David had to come to God with his brokenness and humility, aware of his sinfulness and completely dependent upon God’s mercy, so do we. God’s free gift of salvation made possible through Jesus Christ is available to all who will believe that they are sinners in need of a Savior. Paul makes the process quite clear for us. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Romans 3:23-25 NLT). Guilty sinners can become forgiven saints. Enemies of God can become His children. The condemned can become the redeemed. But it all begins with the acknowledgement of our sin and our desperate need for a Savior.