Hosea-18 – The Fruit of the Lips

Scripture: Hosea 14:1–3

 

"Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say "Our gods" to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.'" Amen.

 

Unconscious Betrayal and the Unrequited Love of God

The entire Book of Hosea serves as a practical illustration of the relationship between God and humanity through the narrative of a couple, Gomer and Hosea. They were bound by a covenant and a mutual commitment. However, this bond, which should have remained steadfast, was ultimately fractured by our transgressions.

 

The pinnacle of our betrayal does not lie simply in a list of sins. The true gravity of the problem is that we remain utterly unaware of our condition, even as we commit sins, kiss idols, and allow our hearts to become excessively proud. Thus, God continues to speak to us, saying, "Come to Me; look at Me," carrying on a narrative of salvation that resembles a poignant, unrequited love.

 

Why does the Lord repeatedly command us to return? We often believe we are serving Him fervently, diligently offering our sacrifices. In some ways, we pride ourselves on never having forgotten His name. Consequently, it becomes profoundly difficult for us to recognize our true state and understand where exactly we are meant to return.

 

Self-Centeredness: The Metric of Distance from God

Today’s text in Hosea clearly reveals our estrangement from God and the grounds upon which He commands us to "return." How can we discern if we have drifted away from Him? The message permeating Hosea warns us that whenever we place ourselves at the center of all things or begin to focus exclusively on ourselves, it is a sign of spiritual crisis. If our gaze is fixed only upon ourselves, we must solemnly examine our faith. We must ask our own souls: "Am I drifting away from God?"

 

Turning away from God does not only mean an explicit rejection of worship or an outright denial of His name. It is not limited to extreme circumstances of contempt or complete departure. Like the Israelites, we certainly call upon God with our lips. But what truly resides at our center? Is it our material possessions, our talents, or the joys and successes we enjoy? Or perhaps it is our pain, the problems we face, or our emotions that occupy that central place? Scripture asks us what the true concern and core of our lives really is.

 

Even if what lies at the center is deep wounding and pain, if our hearts are entirely consumed by that suffering rather than by God, it is evidence of our estrangement. Even if we have achieved success and everything has flourished this past year, if our hearts are devoted only to those achievements, we are practically distant from God. Today's text warns that such a state will eventually lead us to "stumble." Why do we fall, even when God is with us?

 

Spiritual Poverty and Despair in the Absence of God

The reason we remain precarious despite God's promise to hold us is that we feel as though we are walking this path alone, having forgotten Him. When we walk while oblivious to the Lord, we quickly fall into despair at the slightest deficiency. This does not merely refer to material lack. When the soul begins to grow impoverished, our spirit easily withers—even through minor things like a cooling of religious fervor, weariness in service, or finding scripture reading burdensome. As the roots of faith dry up, we shake helplessly and sink into despair when trials arrive. This is the inevitable result of forgetting how to be satisfied in God and attempting to find satisfaction in oneself. The more we forget the Lord, the deeper we sink into the mire of frustration.

 

I understand well how painful it is to rise again from the perspective of one who has fallen. Those in suffering may want to ask, "Pastor, try falling down yourself. Do you know how bleak it is to stand up alone with no one to help?" Indeed, I have had such experiences, and those trials often come without warning. The agonizing pain of not even having the heart to pray due to economic crisis or physical illness is an undeniable reality. Yet, while that is true, there is another truth we must grasp: we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; we may be struck down, but we are not destroyed. Though our knees may tremble and we appear to fall, it is an unchanging truth that we do not surrender in defeat.

 

The moment we forget this—that God is beside us and with us—our lives become desolate. But remember: even if a fierce storm blows and everything you possess seems to be swept away, you are still an heir of God and a possessor of the eternal life of Christ. You have never, for a single moment, been outside of God's love; you are His precious child. Therefore, the prophet Hosea declares to us today with a voice full of conviction: Return to the Lord. Look only to Him.

 

The Glorious Restoration of Relationship

This call from the Lord is not merely a command to change direction. It goes beyond a simple recommendation to stop living for the world and go to God. If we look deeply into the text, we see it is an earnest invitation to intimacy. It is a call not just to look at God from afar, but to draw near to Him. It is not just about turning around, but about entering into the deepest and most intimate relationship with Him.

 

Consider the parable of the Prodigal Son. When the son turned to go home, the father did not merely stand and wait. As soon as he saw his son from a distance, he ran to him, kissed him, embraced him, put a ring on his finger, and threw a feast. To be completely immersed in a relationship where that joy and delight are shared—that is the true meaning of returning to the Lord. Rather than a forced turning of the head, God is granting us this glorious restoration of relationship.

 

We have now reached the Father's house and live within the Kingdom of God. Therefore, we ought to confess: "Lord, now rule over me. Let the love of God, not my own designs, govern my life. May the joy of God, who delights in me, be the driving force of my life, and may the faithfulness of the Lord, who guides me rightly, rule over me."

 

Reflecting on the year 2025, I realize through this Word that there are no gaps in God's truth. Even as I prepared this message for the congregation, I, as a pastor, could not escape the blade of this Word. I looked back at what was truly at the center of my life. To be honest, I wonder if my ministry governed me more than God did this past year.

 

It wasn't that I had forgotten God. However, the responsibility of ministry sometimes brought me joy and other times brought me despair. I reacted to ministerial situations as if everything depended on them. Looking back at why I was so shaken and pained, or what made me so glad, I realize I was bound by ministerial performance or the quality of my sermons. I had to ask myself: "Was God truly my everything?"

 

I, too, deeply repent. Even if I despaired, I should have done so within the name of God; even if I loved, I should have loved through the power of the Gospel. God ought to govern every area of my life, yet I failed in this. I may have adorned myself with pious rhetoric like "ministry" and "the Lord's Kingdom," but I must ask if I was actually agonizing over the results I wanted rather than seeking God. I realize deeply that this is the very essence of what I must repent for.

 

Preparing to Approach God with Words

Our individual circumstances and reasons for repentance may differ, but how has your past year been? Throughout 2025, who was truly at the center of your life? What governed your emotions and thoughts, shaking your existence? If that center had been only God, His grace, and the Gospel, how joyful and blessed our lives would have been. But even if we were lacking, it is never too late to turn back. We can approach Him again with hope.

 

The prophet urges us to return and clarifies the meaning of that return. Verse 2 says, "Take words with you and return to the Lord." I, too, initially thought of this simply as returning to the Word of God or finding comfort through it.

 

However, a deeper look at the original meaning reveals a much more profound insight. This expression means that if you wish to return to the Lord, you must thoughtfully reflect on who you are, how you have lived, and what your current state is, and then approach God with those sincere confessions prepared in refined language. In other words, "taking words with you" is a solemn exhortation to stand before the Lord after deeply reflecting on your life and honestly clarifying your life's purpose.

 

Therefore, the context shows that this expression is an introduction to the specific confessions that follow. Scripture says, "Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him..." This suggests that specific confessions of faith, which the prophet Hosea asks us to prepare, will follow. The prophet is earnestly requesting: "Prepare these confessions in your heart and approach God."

 

The Four Confessions of Repentance

Today, on the final day of the year, we stand before God. As we consider how to approach the Lord, Hosea presents four specific confessions. The first is the plea: "Forgive all our sins" (or "Remove all iniquity"). This confession is a mystery that cannot be fully understood apart from the grace of the Cross. Here, the word "all" goes beyond a mere quantitative sense to mean qualitative completeness. It is a desperate confession saying, "Completely remove my unrighteousness and let me stand righteous before God solely through the merit of the Lord."

 

Who would dare stand righteous before God on their own? No one has the power to stand rightly before the Lord by their own strength. This righteousness proclaimed by Hosea is closely linked to the words of the preceding chapter. Hosea 13:14 records: "I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?"

 

These words have a very familiar resonance for us. The victory song Paul proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" is a quotation of this very passage from Hosea. Ultimately, both passages sing of the same salvation. It is God's powerful declaration: "I have redeemed and delivered you from the power of death; therefore, death can no longer subdue you."

 

Children Approaching Boldly through the Righteousness of Christ

God clearly declares to us: "I have redeemed you and saved you from death; I have rescued you from the sin that leads to death and called you righteous. You are righteous before Me, a precious being who will share eternity with Me." This is the core of what Hosea emphasizes. It is the truth we must never forget when we approach God.

 

We must stand before the Lord with this conviction: "Lord, I stand before You as one clothed in the righteousness of Christ. I approach the Father relying only on Jesus Christ; therefore, please count me as righteous." This may seem like an overly bold or even shameless request, but Scripture encourages us to approach Him in exactly this way. It is because the Lord has already paid the full price for us. The Lord's call to "Come to Me" is a promise that He will remove our iniquity. Because this promise was perfectly fulfilled through Christ, we have now obtained righteousness in the Lord.

 

Despite our reliance on Jesus, who conquered death, the voice of Satan accusing us remains relentless. We are often deceived by those lies and shaken, or we reproach ourselves as we see ourselves spinning our wheels without making spiritual progress. The fragile reality of asking, "Why am I so lacking? Why can't I take even one step forward?" exists within us.

 

Satan and the old self constantly block our vision to keep us from seeing God, forcing us to stare only at our pathetic selves. But Scripture commands us firmly: Look at God and discover yourself within His grace. Furthermore, it tells us to look at our brothers, sisters, and families within God. In the face of death, sin, and Satan's deception—which seek to divide and scatter us—we must declare: "Where is your power? Where is your sting? We will look only to Jesus and never forget the grace of the Cross."

 

2 Peter 1:5–7 exhorts us: add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. Continually putting on the character of the Lord in this way should be our true prayer as we approach as righteous ones before the Lord who removed all our iniquity: "Lord, since You have called me righteous, I approach You boldly as a righteous person."

 

The very fact that you can kneel and pray is clear evidence that God has already recognized you as His child. If you were not a child, who would dare call the Creator God "Father"? Though we may at times appear as insignificant or immature children, we are still the beloved sons and daughters of God. "What can I do? I am Your child." This holy boldness has been granted to us. We are the proud children of God.

 

Receive Us Graciously: We Who Have Become God's Delight

Secondly, Hosea teaches us to confess, "Receive us graciously" (or "Receive what is good"). This confession contains two deep meanings. One is to offer ourselves as a sacrifice: "God, please receive us." Do you remember the primordial goodness when God created us and said, "It was very good"? Now, through Christ, we have been restored as beings who are once again good in God's sight. Therefore, we can boldly confess: "Lord, please receive us, whom You have called good."

 

The other meaning is the plea for Him to receive our confession—our "words." Essentially, these two are one. Because our iniquity was removed and we were accepted by God's grace, we finally open our lips to confess: "I am a child of the Lord. We are the people of God and the true Israel." This is a request for God to accept this sincere confession of faith as something "good."

 

We often approach God saying, "Lord, I am a sinner who cannot possibly stand before You," and bow our heads. This is certainly a precious prayer of self-reflection. However, if our prayer stays only in that place, is it not too weak? Has the thrill and conviction of salvation become too dry in our prayers?

 

Have you ever heard a voice in a communal prayer setting declaring, "Lord, since You have removed all our iniquities, we now stand as righteous ones before You. Receive the good things that delight You"? It is likely very rare. Someone might wonder how we could dare offer such a prayer given our status. Yet, the prophet Hosea clearly exhorts us to pray in this way. What good thing is in us, or what could possibly satisfy God to make such a prayer possible?

 

If we look only at ourselves, there is not a single goodness we can present to God. Nevertheless, the fact that we can pray, that we can approach in the name of Jesus and call God "Father," is itself a miracle and a marvelous grace. We enjoy this immense blessing but often fail to realize its value. We too easily forget how glorious it is to call God "Father" and how much joy that brings us. Hosea urges us to remember this truth: "Receive us graciously." This is a plea to receive not me, but the Christ who lives in me, and a desperate yet glorious cry to remember the merit of Jesus that covers me.

 

The Offering of the Lips instead of Bulls: A Broken Spirit

The third remarkable expression to note in Hosea's prayer is the confession "that we may offer the fruit of our lips." To explain this confession, the prophet mentions the sacrificial system. Instead of slaughtering animals to offer traditional sacrifices, he declares he will offer the "fruit of the lips" upon the altar. In fact, this passage is quite difficult to interpret and translate. The Korean Bible translates it as "fruit of the lips," while the New Korean Revised Version renders it as "praise offered by the lips."

 

If we interpret the original meaning more directly, it becomes: "Bulls, that is, we offer our lips in peace (shalom)." This implies that it is not the animal bull, but our "lips" themselves that become the fellowship offering linking God and us. In other words, it is a radical declaration that our lips become the actual sacrifice replacing the bulls.

 

This context is vividly seen in Psalm 51. Through this psalm, David sings of the essence of worship that we often overlook: "Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings." Then, David concludes with this confession: "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."

 

Here too, the confession of the lips appears as a sacrifice. God does not seek outward bulls or magnificent burnt offerings. If that were the purpose, David would have gladly offered them. However, the sacrifice God truly seeks is the "broken spirit" that flows through our lips.

 

We do not seek God by leading herds of cattle or flocks of sheep; rather, we offer the truth of our core through the channel of our lips. The lips are like a door through which the true intentions filled deep within the heart flow out. If so, what exactly would God wish to receive when what is in our core bursts forth through our lips?

 

We often think that resolute determinations like "I love the Lord" or "I will live according to the Lord's will" are the best sacrifices to please God. Of course, God delights in the confession of one whose heart is filled with the Lord. However, Psalm 51 and the Book of Hosea remind us that the essence of sacrifice reaches a place much deeper than our conventional thoughts. If our lips are the sacrifice, what must be the reality of that sacrifice?

 

The Place of Grace: Approaching with a Broken Spirit

The sacrifice God truly seeks is a broken spirit. If God had said to us, "Prove the sincerity of your love for Me with a 100% perfect confession without a single lie," how would we have fared? Among those worshiping here today, is there anyone who could confidently affirm that the center of their heart is directed only toward God? Probably not a single person.

 

Even as I, the one preaching, proclaim this Word, I often feel that even in this moment, my own self, greed, and avarice have not completely vanished from my deep interior. The same is likely true for you, the congregation. To offer the center of our hearts perfectly and exclusively to God is nearly impossible given human nature. This is the undeniable, honest portrait of our inner selves.

 

Yet, most gratefully, God does not force us to "bring the very best" or "offer what you consider the cleanest." The "broken spirit"—the sacrifice the Lord truly desires—is a heart that, in desperate realization of who I am, prostrates itself saying, "God, I am weary, tired, wounded, and I come to You just as I am, unable to help myself."

 

Brothers and sisters, if this is not grace, on what basis could we possibly stand before God? What could we offer that would satisfy and please the Creator God? The sacrifice God delights in is the broken spirit itself. God values most highly that heart that turns back to the Lord and that earnest desire to stand before Him, even in a wretched state.

 

A Resolute Confession Cutting Off Worldly Idols

The final confession presented by the prophet Hosea contains a truly remarkable resolve. The core of this prayer, which reverses the entire flow of the Book of Hosea, is this: "God, Assyria cannot save us." This is a desperate yet clear admission of the fact that the world can never save us.

 

We pride ourselves on knowing this truth well, but is our life truly consistent with it? In reality, we are beings who crave to live comfortably by paying some tribute to the world and compromising reasonably. We want to lean on things already tamed by the ways of the world rather than on God, believing that those things are the protective shield that will keep us safe.

 

However, Scripture commands us to firmly say "No." It warns us not to try to enjoy comfort by compromising and paying tribute. Such a path of compromise is ultimately the path to spiritual death. Though living roughly in harmony with the world may seem reasonable, that path stops our spiritual breathing. It is because, without realizing it, we become slaves to the world and surrender our life's sovereignty to worldly values. Therefore, we must constantly declare that it is not worldly power, like Assyria, that will save us.

 

Following the resolve not to rely on the world, the prophet confesses, "We will not mount war-horses." Here, the "horse" symbolizes human strength and ability. It is the recognition that no talent or resource we possess can save us. Instead, it is a confession of the desire to use everything God has given according to His good will. It is a holy commitment to use all those things for the Kingdom of the Lord and for the joy of our brothers and sisters.

 

Looking deeper into this confession, we see a powerful will not to rely on one's own possessions. It is a declaration that we will no longer use strength, success, fulfillment, or a brilliant career as the foundation of our lives. This includes our own pain and wounds. Brothers and sisters, do not rely on your wounds any longer. They can never be your savior.

 

No matter how deeply we gaze at our suffering and pain, there is no salvation there. We often sink into our own pain, but pain can never be the master of our lives. No matter how harsh a trial may be, gripping you and refusing to let go, you must not hand over the sovereignty of your life to it. Neither success nor pain, nor anything in this world, is qualified to save us. Only God and His Kingdom possess the authority and qualification to rule over us.

 

"We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made." Making a god with our own hands is evidence of the arrogance of trying to become the creator ourselves. The fundamental motivation for making an idol is to satisfy one's own greed, and it is no different from a declaration that I will become the god ruling over all things. Idolatry is terrifying because it is my own greed and the pride of trying to sit in God's seat. Now we must cease all idolatry and prostrate ourselves only before God.

 

A Life Where God Himself is the Final Goal

Now we must sincerely confess before the Lord: "Lord, I approach You, having prepared all these confessions according to Your call. I no longer hesitate because of my sins; I approach by the grace of the Lord who forgave me and called me righteous. I offer myself entirely to the Lord, who did not merely call me righteous but looks at me and greatly rejoices. Lord, every moment of my life is solely in Your hands."

 

This confession and turning that we offer before the Lord, this firm resolve and repentance never again to walk the path of sin, must not be the final destination of our faith. The determination that "I will do really well from now on" or "I will be more fervent in the new year" cannot be the ultimate end of our lives.

 

The goal we truly seek is not the repentance we have prepared, nor is it the confession of our lips. The act itself of realizing something and offering it to God cannot be the essence. What must remain at the very end of our lives, the purpose we truly long for and pursue, is God Himself. To delight in God, and God Himself, must be the sole purpose of our lives.

 

During this time, we have lived holding onto countless powers and riches that we relied on and boasted of, and sometimes despaired of. Within those things were also deep wounds and pain. The prophet Hosea describes our state as being "like an orphan." It is a life lived using suffering and pain as a staff because there was nowhere else to lean. It is the years spent unable to let go of those things, fearing that hope would vanish without them. We must confess that we have walked a lonely path, truly like those who have no father.

 

Not knowing what to rely on, we eventually set our hearts on things that would vanish, and at the end, we tried to endure by holding onto even our pain and wounds. To us, the Lord approaches. And He says, "I have been watching all your broken spirits, and I still love you. Even if you are like a flickering wick, I rejoice in you coming before Me with that broken heart." For that is our true appearance, and that is exactly what the Lord has been waiting for.

 

The Heart of the Father God for the Orphan Receiving Mercy

The heart of God, which notices my broken spirit, is a merciful heart that does not break the bruised reed or blow out the flickering wick. When God says to us, "Look at Me," what He truly desires is not for us to achieve a perfect repentance and stand boldly. Rather, He desires the heart that confesses, "Lord, look at me. I am still just a broken spirit, pained and weary. But I desire only to go to the Lord and I look only to the Lord. Since I have nowhere else to go but to the Lord who loves me, please have mercy on me."

 

Therefore, beloved saints, remember the God who has mercy on us and proclaim boldly: "Death, where is your power? My wounds, where is your victory? My pride, where is your sting? My anger and hatred, where is your victory? I will return to my Father God; my victory is only Jesus Christ, and I give thanks because of Him."

 

Having proclaimed victory in this way, the Apostle Paul concludes the end of 1 Corinthians 15 as follows: "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

 

You have truly worked hard this past year. Among our brothers and sisters are those who have spent the year with aching hearts, and beloved congregants who have spent long hours in sickbeds or in unspeakable pain. Some have endured the sorrow of sending a loved one ahead, and some have spent the year agonizing alone without being able to tell anyone due to sudden economic crises. It was a difficult moment for everyone, and at times it may have been a painful year that was hard to bear.

 

Beloved brothers and sisters, your labor will never be in vain. The Lord remembers the tears and pain you shed alone, the times you endured while clutching your chest, and the moments you desperately sought God from your sickbed. The songs you hummed inwardly when you could not praise aloud, the tears that soaked the pages as you read the Bible, and every moment of prayer offered to God in unspeakable suffering are never in vain.

 

Therefore, come before the amazing love of the Lord with your broken spirit just as it is. Stand before the Lord who stays by our side, confessing, "Lord, look at us." I earnestly hope that you will move forward boldly today toward that Lord of grace, who does not blow out the flickering wick and does not break the bruised reed.

 

Prayer

Holy Lord, as we humbly approach You, please be with us with Your great grace and love. We earnestly desire for You to walk with us and personally become our everything. May the grace of Jesus Christ, who gave His body and shed His blood for us, hold us completely and lead our lives personally onto the good path. We pray in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.