1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,409 Way back in 1994, there was a song released by David Lee 2 00:00:04,410 --> 00:00:06,090 Murphy called Dust on the Bottle. 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:11,910 Uh, I only recently as an adult learned that that was sing bottle and not Bible. 4 00:00:12,540 --> 00:00:14,639 That's what you get for growing up as a kid in the church, 5 00:00:14,639 --> 00:00:15,600 always talking about the Bible. 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,820 There might be a little bit of dust on the Bible, but don't let 7 00:00:17,820 --> 00:00:19,200 it fool you about what's inside. 8 00:00:20,205 --> 00:00:21,105 It works. 9 00:00:21,165 --> 00:00:22,365 It's just not what he wrote. 10 00:00:22,725 --> 00:00:23,865 He wrote about something different. 11 00:00:23,865 --> 00:00:26,955 But we're coming to a portion of the Bible that might be a little dusty for us. 12 00:00:27,375 --> 00:00:31,065 The minor prophets, uh, this section of scripture is not one 13 00:00:31,065 --> 00:00:32,445 that we camp out in a whole lot. 14 00:00:32,445 --> 00:00:34,935 It's not one that we spend a lot of time in regularly. 15 00:00:34,935 --> 00:00:39,015 It's, it's one that we come to yearly as we do our daily Bible reading together, 16 00:00:39,015 --> 00:00:43,425 and we, we read through them maybe without fully understanding what we're reading. 17 00:00:43,890 --> 00:00:48,510 And even the name minor prophets, we think to ourselves, what is this referring to? 18 00:00:48,510 --> 00:00:50,340 Is it like a, it's a minor key? 19 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:51,570 Are they small? 20 00:00:51,570 --> 00:00:53,190 What, what's, what's going on here? 21 00:00:54,210 --> 00:00:56,850 Well, that's one of the reasons why we're going through this together 22 00:00:56,850 --> 00:01:00,420 this summer, because this is a, an important part of scripture 23 00:01:00,420 --> 00:01:02,339 as all of scripture is important. 24 00:01:03,029 --> 00:01:05,910 And though these 12 books, and we're not gonna go through all 12, 25 00:01:05,910 --> 00:01:10,380 but I think 10 out of the 12, um, are these 12 books are, are written 26 00:01:10,380 --> 00:01:12,419 primarily to Israel or to Judah. 27 00:01:12,419 --> 00:01:15,210 There are truths within them that impact you and I today. 28 00:01:15,929 --> 00:01:20,339 And as the whole Bible is necessary and good and relevant and helpful 29 00:01:20,339 --> 00:01:24,059 for us to live lives of, of godliness, we find that we need to 30 00:01:24,059 --> 00:01:27,240 understand this portion of the Bible. 31 00:01:27,449 --> 00:01:30,779 And so there might be a little dust on our Bibles in this portion, but don't 32 00:01:30,779 --> 00:01:32,130 let it fool you about what's inside. 33 00:01:33,015 --> 00:01:37,545 We're coming this morning to the Book of Hosea, and on the back of your notes, 34 00:01:37,545 --> 00:01:39,464 you're gonna find this timeline here. 35 00:01:39,649 --> 00:01:46,155 And, and this is a, a rough and dirty estimate of where these authors all fell, 36 00:01:46,485 --> 00:01:50,505 uh, their prophetic ministries fell in the course of the history of Israel. 37 00:01:50,804 --> 00:01:53,804 Uh, you'll see on there that Jonah, it's our best guess, was the earliest of the 38 00:01:53,804 --> 00:01:56,235 writing prophets around seven 90 bc. 39 00:01:56,505 --> 00:02:02,054 To put that in perspective for you, king David was around 1000 bc. 40 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:05,520 And so we're a couple hundred years removed from David. 41 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,750 By the time we get to Hosea, about 250 years removed from David. 42 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,460 The kingdom has divided. 43 00:02:11,610 --> 00:02:14,850 You've got the Northern Kingdom and you've got the Southern Kingdom. 44 00:02:14,850 --> 00:02:18,030 The Southern Kingdom being Judah, the Northern kingdom being Israel. 45 00:02:18,300 --> 00:02:22,860 And so you've got the prophets writing post divided Kingdom to 46 00:02:22,860 --> 00:02:25,829 these two nations, these two peoples. 47 00:02:25,829 --> 00:02:28,980 In fact, it wasn't just to them, this is might be hard to read, 48 00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:31,890 but these are all of the prophets and the people that they wrote to. 49 00:02:32,430 --> 00:02:36,870 And so Hosea wrote to Israel, the Northern Kingdom, Joel, to Judah, the 50 00:02:36,870 --> 00:02:38,640 Southern Kingdom, and so forth and so on. 51 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:40,410 There's a couple of outliers there. 52 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:42,780 You've got Obediah writing to the Edomites. 53 00:02:43,290 --> 00:02:48,810 You've got Jonah and Nahum writing to the Ninevites, and then most of them writing 54 00:02:48,810 --> 00:02:50,670 to the, the Southern Kingdom to Judah. 55 00:02:51,390 --> 00:02:54,420 And so as we go through these, uh, we're gonna say, man, these were 56 00:02:54,420 --> 00:02:56,100 written to people that aren't us. 57 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,240 These were written to the the Israelites, or to the Judeans, or to 58 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:01,650 the Edomites, or to the Ninevites. 59 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:06,450 And so, pastor, what, what, how do I understand what this means for me? 60 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,860 Well, this is gonna be a unique series because it's not gonna be the type of 61 00:03:10,860 --> 00:03:13,980 series where we're gonna get into the weeds on every single verse or every 62 00:03:13,980 --> 00:03:15,510 single chapter, every single passage. 63 00:03:15,750 --> 00:03:17,190 We just don't have the time to do that. 64 00:03:17,190 --> 00:03:20,040 We're covering a book a week, and so for example, this morning, 65 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,900 our book has 14 chapters. 66 00:03:22,170 --> 00:03:26,070 Y'all don't want me to preach 14 chapters of my normal preaching 67 00:03:26,070 --> 00:03:27,210 up here for you this morning. 68 00:03:27,450 --> 00:03:30,090 Otherwise, we're gonna be here until next Sunday, and we're supposed 69 00:03:30,090 --> 00:03:31,380 to be up in Prosper next Sunday. 70 00:03:31,890 --> 00:03:34,740 So that said, here's my goal for us in this series. 71 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:38,190 I want us to walk away from every single week understanding the core 72 00:03:38,190 --> 00:03:42,720 message of the book, and I want us to walk away understanding how that 73 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:46,620 message impacts us as New Testament followers of Jesus Christ, because I 74 00:03:46,620 --> 00:03:48,780 believe wholeheartedly that it does. 75 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:53,070 So as we get into the Book of Hosea, some background information here, the author. 76 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,350 Uh, hopefully that's not news, is Hosea. 77 00:03:55,470 --> 00:04:00,390 We find that in Hosea chapter one, verse one In the days of us, Isaiah Jotham, 78 00:04:00,390 --> 00:04:00,990 Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah. 79 00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:03,570 And in the days of Gerome, the son of Josh, king of Israel. 80 00:04:03,750 --> 00:04:07,500 This is when Hosea, as he starts out here, uh, wrote the word 81 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:09,240 of the Lord, came to Hosea. 82 00:04:09,630 --> 00:04:10,890 We don't know a lot about Hosea. 83 00:04:10,890 --> 00:04:13,350 There's not a lot of information in the Bible outside of what 84 00:04:13,350 --> 00:04:14,490 we read here in the book. 85 00:04:14,670 --> 00:04:17,250 He appears to be somebody that was from the Northern Kingdom, as that's 86 00:04:17,250 --> 00:04:18,750 his main target audience here. 87 00:04:19,050 --> 00:04:22,860 He wrote from about seven 50 or ministered rather from about seven 50 88 00:04:22,860 --> 00:04:26,610 to 7 22 BC probably beyond 7 22 bc. 89 00:04:26,610 --> 00:04:29,820 But in 7 22 BC something significant happened in the northern kingdom, 90 00:04:30,060 --> 00:04:34,020 and that is the Assyrians came in and took captive the Northern kingdom 91 00:04:34,020 --> 00:04:35,460 and carried them off into exile. 92 00:04:35,700 --> 00:04:38,640 And so that's why I put a little bit of a hard stop on Jose's ministry, even 93 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:43,890 though it probably continued, some people believe into maybe seven 15 BC even. 94 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,060 In context though, uh, the audience he's talking to is Israel. 95 00:04:48,270 --> 00:04:51,090 And, and as we get into the context, the context is this, uh, things 96 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:52,710 were going really well initially. 97 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,820 In fact, the background to this, we read about in Two Kings 26 through 98 00:04:56,820 --> 00:05:01,320 32, and or second Chronicles, excuse me, second Chronicles 26 99 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,420 through 32, and Second Kings 14. 100 00:05:03,930 --> 00:05:06,600 So that's a little bit about what's going on the Northern Kingdom. 101 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:07,440 Things are going well. 102 00:05:07,830 --> 00:05:10,980 Under Jerome's reign, he was restoring the borders. 103 00:05:10,980 --> 00:05:13,500 He was establishing Israel on the map. 104 00:05:13,500 --> 00:05:18,780 It was a time of prosperity and security for the people in the south back in Judah. 105 00:05:18,930 --> 00:05:20,280 Things were going well there too. 106 00:05:20,670 --> 00:05:25,950 Siah had strengthened the the defenses of Jerusalem and was expanding 107 00:05:25,950 --> 00:05:28,290 Judah's power even during this time. 108 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,110 But along with this came moral decay. 109 00:05:31,170 --> 00:05:36,090 The, the ease and comfort and the wealth and prosperity of the time 110 00:05:36,300 --> 00:05:39,930 introduced moral decay, especially there in the northern Kingdom. 111 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,920 And so as time went on, the, the Northern Kingdom began to 112 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:49,680 rebel more and more against God to understand what is going on. 113 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,670 And so many of the minor prophets, we have to understand the backdrop 114 00:05:53,670 --> 00:05:55,710 to this being the mosaic Covenant. 115 00:05:56,415 --> 00:06:01,365 Deuteronomy chapter 28 lists the blessings for Israel if they would obey the Lord 116 00:06:01,575 --> 00:06:05,205 and the cursings for Israel, the judgment for Israel if they would disobey God. 117 00:06:05,685 --> 00:06:09,945 And so, so much of the minor prophets is looking at Israel and looking at Judah 118 00:06:09,945 --> 00:06:12,825 and saying, y'all did not obey the Lord. 119 00:06:12,825 --> 00:06:15,344 And so here comes the judgment of God. 120 00:06:16,395 --> 00:06:19,185 And so in the Book of Hosea, we're gonna deal with that. 121 00:06:19,605 --> 00:06:22,485 God is going to call Israel out for her sinfulness. 122 00:06:23,070 --> 00:06:25,080 For her unfaithfulness, and he's gonna say, you know what? 123 00:06:25,290 --> 00:06:27,750 Judgment is coming upon you Israel. 124 00:06:28,290 --> 00:06:32,880 And yet at the same time, the undercurrent in so many of these books, there is a 125 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:37,770 hope that's held out to say, but this is not the end, that God is not done, that 126 00:06:37,770 --> 00:06:41,250 God is not going to create a, a burn mark on the ground with the nation of 127 00:06:41,250 --> 00:06:45,090 Israel, but even for the nation of Israel, even for the Northern Kingdom, there 128 00:06:45,090 --> 00:06:50,880 would be hope in a future, a hope and a restoration, a hope in coming back to God. 129 00:06:51,525 --> 00:06:54,225 That's anchored to a different covenant called the Abrahamic covenant. 130 00:06:55,005 --> 00:06:59,355 The Abrahamic covenant was given to Abraham, obviously by name, and 131 00:06:59,355 --> 00:07:02,835 it was a, an unconditional promise of God to the people of Israel. 132 00:07:03,255 --> 00:07:08,385 It was a unilateral covenant, meaning one sided covenant where God promised Israel 133 00:07:08,385 --> 00:07:11,565 that he would bless them and that they would have a future, and that he would 134 00:07:11,565 --> 00:07:15,075 give them land and give them descendants and give them all of the blessings 135 00:07:15,075 --> 00:07:17,085 therein that he promised to Abraham. 136 00:07:17,835 --> 00:07:20,145 And so that's why God was never gonna be fully done. 137 00:07:20,610 --> 00:07:21,480 With the people of Israel. 138 00:07:22,170 --> 00:07:25,080 And so even in the pages of Hosea, we read about his judgment. 139 00:07:25,230 --> 00:07:28,590 We read about Israel's sin, and yet the undercurrent there is God's not done. 140 00:07:29,070 --> 00:07:32,940 And so there is going to be a, a promise, a hope of redemption. 141 00:07:34,230 --> 00:07:37,500 As we go through this study, I hope that you can walk away associating 142 00:07:37,500 --> 00:07:40,650 a, a word or a phrase with each of the minor prophets that we cover. 143 00:07:41,190 --> 00:07:44,010 And the phrase of the word that I'd like you to connect with Hosea is 144 00:07:44,010 --> 00:07:46,530 the theme, redemption, redemption. 145 00:07:49,020 --> 00:07:54,420 Th this is a book about how God's unfailing love pursues 146 00:07:54,420 --> 00:07:56,940 us, even as our love falters. 147 00:08:00,450 --> 00:08:05,340 As we get into the text together, we're really gonna cover this morning, just 148 00:08:05,340 --> 00:08:11,670 three chapters, just out of 14, and the three chapters that we're gonna 149 00:08:11,670 --> 00:08:12,990 cover are the opening three chapters. 150 00:08:14,010 --> 00:08:18,510 Because the way that Hosea breaks down is this, it breaks down into this living 151 00:08:18,510 --> 00:08:20,340 parable in the opening three chapters. 152 00:08:20,340 --> 00:08:23,490 That's then explained in chapters four through 14. 153 00:08:24,450 --> 00:08:28,320 And so I think if we can get the message and get the picture of this living parable 154 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,230 in the opening three chapters here, then we're gonna walk away with a good 155 00:08:31,230 --> 00:08:33,090 understanding for the rest of the book. 156 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,490 The rest of the book actually goes through a cycle of judgment and mercy as God is. 157 00:08:38,850 --> 00:08:42,539 Indicting Israel for their sin, but also promising to be merciful to them. 158 00:08:42,900 --> 00:08:45,960 Again, the judgment and redemption theme that courses throughout the book. 159 00:08:46,199 --> 00:08:49,470 But as we look at this opening three chapters, this living 160 00:08:49,470 --> 00:08:53,610 Parable of Hosea, we're gonna encounter this woman named Gomer. 161 00:08:54,285 --> 00:08:57,990 And and Gomer is going to be defined as a woman of unfaithfulness, a 162 00:08:57,990 --> 00:09:01,920 woman of Harlotry, and even some stronger language that he uses. 163 00:09:02,819 --> 00:09:07,829 And the uncomfortable reality as we study the book of Hosea is this, we are Gomer. 164 00:09:09,765 --> 00:09:11,204 And God is, is Hosea. 165 00:09:12,735 --> 00:09:16,425 So the uncomfortable part is coming to terms with the fact that we are Gomer, 166 00:09:17,655 --> 00:09:21,285 but our hope is that God is Hosea. 167 00:09:21,975 --> 00:09:25,365 So with that in mind, let's jump in in chapter one, look with me at verses 168 00:09:25,365 --> 00:09:30,165 two through three, God says to Hosea, it says, when the Lord first spoke 169 00:09:30,165 --> 00:09:35,655 through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go and take to yourself a wife of ham. 170 00:09:37,065 --> 00:09:41,775 And have children of horde for the land commits great horde by forsaking the Lord. 171 00:09:41,925 --> 00:09:45,465 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of de blame, and she 172 00:09:45,465 --> 00:09:47,295 conceived and bore him a son. 173 00:09:47,985 --> 00:09:50,265 Now, if you are familiar with anything about Hosea, you're 174 00:09:50,265 --> 00:09:52,095 probably familiar with this story. 175 00:09:52,725 --> 00:09:53,775 Hosea and Gomer. 176 00:09:54,675 --> 00:09:58,275 A and the word that's used in relation to Gomer is a word that's uncomfortable. 177 00:09:58,275 --> 00:09:59,505 It's unsavory. 178 00:10:00,225 --> 00:10:03,315 By the way, if just a shameless plug for our podcast. 179 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,240 I warned you guys about the word on our podcast. 180 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,030 If you listen to the Daily Bible podcast this week, you knew that this was coming. 181 00:10:09,900 --> 00:10:12,960 It, it's a word that makes us uncomfortable. 182 00:10:12,990 --> 00:10:14,610 It's a word that's translated differently. 183 00:10:14,610 --> 00:10:17,460 In other translations, uh, other translations will say, 184 00:10:17,460 --> 00:10:18,810 go and take a wife of Harlotry. 185 00:10:19,260 --> 00:10:22,890 Go take a wife of prostitution, uh, go take a wife who is unfaithful. 186 00:10:23,550 --> 00:10:27,210 And, and the reason being is, is the Hebrew word is a word 187 00:10:27,210 --> 00:10:28,920 that that can mean those things. 188 00:10:29,655 --> 00:10:32,625 And so it's left to the translators of the English text to say, okay, 189 00:10:32,625 --> 00:10:34,365 what's being communicated here? 190 00:10:34,959 --> 00:10:38,295 And, and the reason why I'm, I'm uncomfortable with the concept of 191 00:10:38,625 --> 00:10:42,555 prostitution or even harlotry, is we don't know that that's specifically 192 00:10:42,555 --> 00:10:44,415 the sin of his, of, of Gomer here. 193 00:10:44,865 --> 00:10:46,935 We know she's going to prove to be unfaithful. 194 00:10:47,745 --> 00:10:51,405 We don't even know if she was unfaithful prior to Hosea marrying her. 195 00:10:51,885 --> 00:10:56,055 It's possible that she was simply a, an Israelite virgin that Hosea 196 00:10:56,055 --> 00:10:57,765 married, who then would prove to be. 197 00:10:58,170 --> 00:10:59,520 Unfaithful to him. 198 00:11:00,210 --> 00:11:03,870 And so there's a difference, for example, between somebody who is an adulterous 199 00:11:03,870 --> 00:11:05,100 and somebody who is a prostitute. 200 00:11:05,850 --> 00:11:08,640 And so that's why I think as we study this, we need to understand that the 201 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,900 best we can say is that God was telling Hosea, Hosea, go marry a woman who's 202 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:14,490 going to prove to be unfaithful to you. 203 00:11:15,870 --> 00:11:17,790 That's enough though for us, isn't it? 204 00:11:18,870 --> 00:11:22,800 To pull the E-brake a little bit here and to say, I'm sorry, God, 205 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,820 you want me to do what I imagine. 206 00:11:27,390 --> 00:11:32,070 Those of you married in the room, if, if you knew that your spouse was going to be 207 00:11:32,070 --> 00:11:38,970 unfaithful to you, egregiously unfaithful to you, would you still have married them? 208 00:11:38,970 --> 00:11:39,660 On the front end, 209 00:11:42,750 --> 00:11:45,810 God is saying to Hosea, go and marry a woman who's gonna be unfaithful to you. 210 00:11:47,190 --> 00:11:51,030 God has often done this with the prophets that has caused them to be 211 00:11:51,030 --> 00:11:53,370 a, a living story, a living parable. 212 00:11:54,060 --> 00:11:57,540 He does this with Ezekiel and, and with some of the others as well, where he 213 00:11:57,750 --> 00:12:03,450 commands them to act out things that represent his judgment, and that's what 214 00:12:03,450 --> 00:12:05,640 God is doing here with Hosea and Gomer. 215 00:12:08,430 --> 00:12:11,850 Hosea has told, go and marry this wife, by the way, that word, the word 216 00:12:11,935 --> 00:12:17,190 ham, the same word unfaithfulness, is used multiple times in the scriptures 217 00:12:17,190 --> 00:12:19,080 to refer to the state of Israel. 218 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,460 In Deuteronomy 31 16, it's there to point to the fact that Israel was going 219 00:12:23,460 --> 00:12:28,380 to to to be an adulterous by going after other gods of the other nations. 220 00:12:28,980 --> 00:12:32,940 In Psalm 1 0 6, verse 39, it shows up in Isaiah 1 21. 221 00:12:32,940 --> 00:12:33,540 It shows up. 222 00:12:33,540 --> 00:12:39,240 It shows up three times in the book of Judges, seven times in Jeremiah, 40 times. 223 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:44,160 The word happens in Ezekiel in relation to Israel, and it shows up 224 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,380 11 times here in the book of Hosea. 225 00:12:47,430 --> 00:12:50,280 And so God tells Jose, go and marry a wife of unfaithfulness. 226 00:12:50,370 --> 00:12:54,090 But more than that, he says, and have a family with her, 227 00:12:54,900 --> 00:12:58,080 have children of unfaithfulness. 228 00:12:59,790 --> 00:13:03,060 And so these children then, as we continue on, are born to Jose one by one. 229 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:05,910 In verse four, it says, the Lord said to him, the firstborn 230 00:13:05,940 --> 00:13:08,250 son, call his name Jezreel. 231 00:13:08,370 --> 00:13:12,090 For in just a little while, I will punish the house of Jehu, a northern king. 232 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:15,660 For the blood of Jezreel, and I'll put an end to the kingdom of the House of 233 00:13:15,660 --> 00:13:21,570 Israel, and on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. 234 00:13:22,230 --> 00:13:27,810 This is referring back to a situation in two kings, chapter nine and 10, Jay, 235 00:13:27,810 --> 00:13:32,190 who had killed a Isiah, the Southern king and destroyed his family members. 236 00:13:32,190 --> 00:13:34,500 On top of that, that was against God's command. 237 00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:36,690 That was not something that God had told Jehu to do, and it was 238 00:13:36,690 --> 00:13:38,550 an abomination in the eyes of God. 239 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:40,680 And so God is calling receipts now. 240 00:13:41,010 --> 00:13:44,280 For the breaking of God's commands, the breaking of God's law. 241 00:13:44,340 --> 00:13:47,280 And so here he says, name the firstborn Jezreel. 242 00:13:47,340 --> 00:13:49,200 It's a reminder of Israel's sin. 243 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:50,910 It's a reminder of Israel's rebellion. 244 00:13:50,910 --> 00:13:54,000 It's a reminder of Israel's unfaithfulness against me. 245 00:13:55,290 --> 00:13:57,060 But then she was going to have another child. 246 00:13:57,060 --> 00:13:57,990 This is gonna be a daughter. 247 00:13:57,990 --> 00:14:01,230 And it says in verse six, this time she conceived and bo a daughter and the Lord 248 00:14:01,230 --> 00:14:07,650 said to to Hosea, call her name no mercy for I will no more have mercy on the 249 00:14:07,650 --> 00:14:10,560 house of Israel to forgive them at all. 250 00:14:12,310 --> 00:14:13,570 Lo Ruma. 251 00:14:14,805 --> 00:14:20,655 In Exodus 34, God defines himself or calls himself Ruhama. 252 00:14:21,285 --> 00:14:23,085 Lo is the negative of that. 253 00:14:24,015 --> 00:14:30,615 And so in Exodus 34, when Moses says to God, God, show me who you are, God passes 254 00:14:30,615 --> 00:14:32,445 before him and declares to him his name. 255 00:14:32,445 --> 00:14:38,355 And one of the attributes that he declares as part of who He by nature is, is Ruhama. 256 00:14:38,355 --> 00:14:40,035 That he is a God of mercy. 257 00:14:40,319 --> 00:14:42,209 That he's a merciful God. 258 00:14:43,439 --> 00:14:46,469 And yet at the same time as he passes before him, he says, but I 259 00:14:46,469 --> 00:14:50,069 will by no means pardon the guilty. 260 00:14:51,510 --> 00:14:54,660 And so God, in this birth of this daughter is again calling 261 00:14:54,660 --> 00:15:00,569 receipts, and he's saying to Hosea, call her name, no mercy, low ham. 262 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,290 My mercy, my patience has run out with the northern kingdom 263 00:15:04,290 --> 00:15:05,579 and I'm coming in judgment. 264 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,020 And then he continues and he has another child after Lo Ruma. 265 00:15:10,020 --> 00:15:11,100 And this one's in verse eight. 266 00:15:11,310 --> 00:15:14,670 It says, when she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 267 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,210 And the Lord said, call his name not my people. 268 00:15:18,510 --> 00:15:22,980 For you are not my people, and I am not your God. 269 00:15:23,010 --> 00:15:29,040 Lo am me in Leviticus, chapter 26, verse 12. 270 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:34,110 God had said to the nation of Israel, he had said this, I will walk among you. 271 00:15:34,469 --> 00:15:37,829 And I will be your God and you shall be my people. 272 00:15:40,170 --> 00:15:45,750 This is God indicting the unfaithfulness of the nation of Israel, this 273 00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:48,689 living parable, uh uh, Hosea go and take a wife of unfaithfulness. 274 00:15:48,689 --> 00:15:48,839 Why? 275 00:15:48,839 --> 00:15:50,280 Because Israel has been unfaithful. 276 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,950 And have children of unfaithfulness. 277 00:15:52,950 --> 00:15:54,960 By the way, there are some that argue that these are children that 278 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:56,490 that Gomer had with another man. 279 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,330 But I think the fact that Hosea is given the naming privileges over these children 280 00:16:00,510 --> 00:16:05,190 conveys the idea that he is having children with Hosea e or with Gomer, even 281 00:16:05,190 --> 00:16:06,750 though Gomer had been unfaithful to him. 282 00:16:06,930 --> 00:16:11,490 So I think these are Hosea's sons and daughter, and he is given the 283 00:16:11,490 --> 00:16:14,940 charge, name them these things to remind the people of their rebellion 284 00:16:14,940 --> 00:16:16,650 against God, and it continues. 285 00:16:16,650 --> 00:16:18,000 Then in chapter two. 286 00:16:19,935 --> 00:16:25,395 Verse two, the the language continues to be stark and graphic and hard to palate. 287 00:16:26,265 --> 00:16:29,564 It says this plead with your mother, plead for she is not my 288 00:16:29,564 --> 00:16:31,275 wife and I'm not her husband. 289 00:16:31,665 --> 00:16:35,834 That she put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her 290 00:16:35,834 --> 00:16:40,245 breasts, lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born and make 291 00:16:40,245 --> 00:16:46,515 her like a wilderness and make her like a parched land and kill her with thirst. 292 00:16:48,270 --> 00:16:50,610 It's uncomfortable for us to read these things. 293 00:16:51,990 --> 00:16:54,720 If you feel uncomfortable, then mission accomplished. 294 00:16:56,460 --> 00:16:57,720 That's where God wants us. 295 00:16:59,190 --> 00:17:00,329 That's where God wanted Israel. 296 00:17:01,890 --> 00:17:06,450 Israel had turned to other nations and other gods over and over again 297 00:17:06,630 --> 00:17:10,140 thinking that it was in them, that they would find security and wealth 298 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:14,849 and provision and, and blessing and honor and, and prestige and power. 299 00:17:14,849 --> 00:17:18,480 All the while, all of those things were meant to be found in God and given 300 00:17:18,690 --> 00:17:23,190 to God, and now God had had enough and his patience was wearing thin 301 00:17:23,190 --> 00:17:26,790 with his people, and he was coming in judgment against their unfaithfulness. 302 00:17:27,525 --> 00:17:29,505 Chapter two verses nine and following. 303 00:17:29,505 --> 00:17:35,145 Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season. 304 00:17:35,415 --> 00:17:39,105 I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 305 00:17:39,315 --> 00:17:43,545 Now I will uncover her lewdness, her shame in the sight of her lovers, and 306 00:17:43,545 --> 00:17:48,855 no one shall rescue her out of my hand, and I will put an end to all her mirth. 307 00:17:48,855 --> 00:17:50,655 That word mirth is not a word we use often. 308 00:17:50,895 --> 00:17:51,825 It's a word that means what? 309 00:17:51,825 --> 00:17:54,255 It doesn't sound like mirth is frivolity. 310 00:17:54,255 --> 00:17:55,845 It's joyfulness, it's happiness. 311 00:17:56,355 --> 00:18:01,455 I'm gonna take away her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, 312 00:18:01,575 --> 00:18:04,455 and all her appointed feast, all of her religious pomp and circumstance. 313 00:18:04,455 --> 00:18:08,295 I'm gonna take all of that away and I will lay waste her vines and her fig 314 00:18:08,295 --> 00:18:11,865 trees, of which she said, these are my wages, which my lovers have given me. 315 00:18:12,435 --> 00:18:15,495 I will make them a forest and the beast of the field shall devour them. 316 00:18:15,705 --> 00:18:19,125 And I will punish her for the feast days of the beals when she burned 317 00:18:19,125 --> 00:18:22,515 offerings to them and adorned herself with ring and jewelry and went 318 00:18:22,515 --> 00:18:25,185 after her lovers and for forgot me. 319 00:18:25,590 --> 00:18:26,520 Declares the Lord. 320 00:18:28,530 --> 00:18:31,290 Israel had taken the Lord and cast the Lord behind her back. 321 00:18:32,070 --> 00:18:35,400 She had forgotten the one to whom she had been betrothed. 322 00:18:36,420 --> 00:18:38,970 In fact, in Hosea chapter four, verse one, it puts it this way, here, the 323 00:18:38,970 --> 00:18:42,210 word of the Lord, oh, children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy 324 00:18:42,210 --> 00:18:43,560 with the inhabitants of the land. 325 00:18:43,890 --> 00:18:46,050 There is no faithfulness or steadfast love. 326 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,860 There is no knowledge of God in the land. 327 00:18:51,060 --> 00:18:55,230 Hosea six verse four drives it home even further for us. 328 00:18:55,230 --> 00:18:58,920 It says this, what should I do with you O efm, and what should I do with you? 329 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,770 O Judah, your love is like a morning cloud. 330 00:19:01,830 --> 00:19:04,590 Like the do that goes early away. 331 00:19:06,660 --> 00:19:10,080 Have you ever gone out in the morning and, and seen the brilliance of the clouds? 332 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,900 And they stand out in, in stark contrast because of the morning light 333 00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:14,190 and the way that it hits the clouds. 334 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,400 But then by two, three o'clock you go outside and there's 335 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:18,420 no more clouds in the sky. 336 00:19:18,420 --> 00:19:18,990 They've gone away. 337 00:19:19,875 --> 00:19:23,205 Or you go out into your yard in the morning and it's covered in dew and 338 00:19:23,205 --> 00:19:24,795 you think, wow, it's so saturated. 339 00:19:25,275 --> 00:19:27,195 This must, there must be so much water here. 340 00:19:27,195 --> 00:19:30,795 Look at how saturated the ground is would dew, and then you go out a few hours 341 00:19:30,795 --> 00:19:33,225 later and it's as dry as it could be. 342 00:19:34,305 --> 00:19:37,365 That's how God compares the affections of Israel for him at this time. 343 00:19:38,685 --> 00:19:40,785 There's no substance, there's no endurance. 344 00:19:40,785 --> 00:19:41,580 There's no persistence. 345 00:19:42,375 --> 00:19:47,445 See Israel's sin at this time was spurning the God who had betrothed her to himself, 346 00:19:47,715 --> 00:19:50,925 the God who had led them out of Israel or out of Egypt, rather, and into the 347 00:19:50,925 --> 00:19:54,195 wilderness, and delivered them through the, the wilderness wanderings and brought 348 00:19:54,195 --> 00:19:58,215 them into the land and given them their, their territory and given them King David 349 00:19:58,215 --> 00:20:02,055 and given them King Solomon and given them the law and given them all these blessings 350 00:20:02,985 --> 00:20:08,115 only to have Israel turn her back at the Lord and go after these other lovers. 351 00:20:11,054 --> 00:20:17,030 I mentioned a second ago that these texts may cause some discomfort in you and I. 352 00:20:17,034 --> 00:20:18,345 I, I hope it does. 353 00:20:20,355 --> 00:20:22,814 And what's even more uncomfortable is for us to ask the question, 354 00:20:22,814 --> 00:20:25,455 okay, where are we in Hosea? 355 00:20:27,345 --> 00:20:27,554 Yes. 356 00:20:27,554 --> 00:20:29,024 This is written to the Northern Kingdom. 357 00:20:29,610 --> 00:20:30,600 This was written to Israel. 358 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,240 This is not written specifically to the church, and yet because it is God's 359 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,570 inspired word and it is relevant at all times in all seasons, for God's 360 00:20:36,570 --> 00:20:38,940 people, there are truths for us to glean. 361 00:20:39,090 --> 00:20:41,940 And the uncomfortable reality that we first have to come to terms 362 00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:46,860 with this morning in this book is this, that you and I are Gomer. 363 00:20:48,180 --> 00:20:52,620 We are the unfaithful ones before our faithful gal. 364 00:20:53,130 --> 00:20:54,000 Point number one this morning. 365 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,110 Along those lines is this, recognize the adulterous nature of your sin. 366 00:20:59,355 --> 00:21:01,995 Recognize the adulterous nature of your sin. 367 00:21:03,675 --> 00:21:06,675 Uh, and none of us wanna be Gomer, not only because the name 368 00:21:06,675 --> 00:21:07,965 is a horrible, horrible name. 369 00:21:09,345 --> 00:21:11,595 None of us want to be the harlet. 370 00:21:12,735 --> 00:21:15,885 None of us want to wear the title of unfaithful. 371 00:21:16,995 --> 00:21:19,485 None of us want to be considered the wife of ham, 372 00:21:21,615 --> 00:21:24,915 and yet in our sin, that's who we are before God. 373 00:21:27,504 --> 00:21:31,560 Two Corinthians 11, 2, 2 Corinthians 11, two. 374 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,260 The apostle Paul says this, I feel a divine jealousy for 375 00:21:34,260 --> 00:21:38,340 you since I betrothed you. 376 00:21:39,060 --> 00:21:45,750 I weed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin bride to Christ. 377 00:21:46,860 --> 00:21:50,070 Uh, Paul's writing to the Corinthians and, and he's, he's writing to them 378 00:21:50,070 --> 00:21:51,570 saying, I'm jealous for your godliness. 379 00:21:51,570 --> 00:21:52,770 I'm jealous for your holiness. 380 00:21:52,770 --> 00:21:54,000 I'm jealous for your purity. 381 00:21:55,304 --> 00:22:01,215 Because I wed you to, God, you are his bride and I don't want 382 00:22:01,215 --> 00:22:02,415 you to be unfaithful to him. 383 00:22:04,274 --> 00:22:07,995 And so church, we are the bride of Christ. 384 00:22:08,175 --> 00:22:11,985 When you individually came to faith in Jesus, you were betrothed 385 00:22:12,794 --> 00:22:15,344 to him, you were wed to him. 386 00:22:15,344 --> 00:22:19,304 And just like in our human marriages, God expects faithfulness from us. 387 00:22:19,304 --> 00:22:23,294 The problem is that we so often turn to other lovers. 388 00:22:26,685 --> 00:22:29,774 In the Old Testament, Israel's relationship with the Lord was expressed 389 00:22:29,774 --> 00:22:31,784 by their obedience to the Mosaic law. 390 00:22:33,735 --> 00:22:38,024 Thus breaking the law was equivalent to unfaithfulness in their relationship 391 00:22:38,024 --> 00:22:43,544 with Yahweh, and that's what God was entering into judgment with them over. 392 00:22:44,685 --> 00:22:47,115 Well in the New Testament, our relationship with God 393 00:22:47,115 --> 00:22:49,274 is similarly expressed. 394 00:22:49,845 --> 00:22:51,255 Let me be clear on that word. 395 00:22:51,435 --> 00:22:57,675 Not founded, not based in, but expressed by our obedience to 396 00:22:57,675 --> 00:23:00,105 him, our faithfulness to him. 397 00:23:01,635 --> 00:23:05,325 In fact, we studied the gospel of John together, where Jesus says, if you 398 00:23:05,325 --> 00:23:08,175 love me, you will keep my commandments. 399 00:23:09,405 --> 00:23:15,225 Our love is known by our obedience, our faithfulness, and that's 400 00:23:15,225 --> 00:23:16,635 not a difficult concept for you. 401 00:23:17,355 --> 00:23:21,255 If you are married, you can speak all of the tender words and the the 402 00:23:21,255 --> 00:23:24,015 passionate words and the words of devotion to your wife, and yet, if 403 00:23:24,015 --> 00:23:29,115 you are not faithful in action towards her, then those words are nothing and 404 00:23:29,115 --> 00:23:30,555 they're hollow and they ring empty 405 00:23:33,885 --> 00:23:34,545 like Israel. 406 00:23:34,545 --> 00:23:37,790 This means that our disobedience should be seen as unfaithfulness to 407 00:23:37,795 --> 00:23:39,075 the God to whom we have been betrothed. 408 00:23:41,625 --> 00:23:44,475 Gomer wrongly believed that it was her adulterous lovers that were providing 409 00:23:44,475 --> 00:23:47,295 all of the good, the wine, the food, the, the clothing, all of these things. 410 00:23:47,295 --> 00:23:50,385 She thought that that was coming from her, her adulterous lovers, when in reality, 411 00:23:50,385 --> 00:23:54,105 even in her unfaithfulness, Hosea was still the one that was providing for her. 412 00:23:58,020 --> 00:24:01,620 For you and I, our belief that, that God is, is not the one that 413 00:24:01,620 --> 00:24:03,030 provides, it looks different. 414 00:24:03,030 --> 00:24:03,750 It's more subtle. 415 00:24:03,750 --> 00:24:07,530 It's not going after a a, a, another woman or another man, although 416 00:24:07,530 --> 00:24:12,000 maybe in some context that's what it has been, but it can be more 417 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,409 insidious and more subtle than that. 418 00:24:13,409 --> 00:24:18,629 For example, we can look to our job in our intellect and our work ethic. 419 00:24:19,139 --> 00:24:23,670 And think, well, that's what's been the, the key to providing a, a high paying 420 00:24:23,670 --> 00:24:25,530 job and a secure future for my family. 421 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,750 And, and we look to the, the gift rather than the gift giver, 422 00:24:32,940 --> 00:24:35,970 or we take our eyes off of God and, and we, we believe that it's our, 423 00:24:36,210 --> 00:24:40,440 our workout regimen in our healthy diet, in our routine checkups. 424 00:24:40,470 --> 00:24:41,879 That's what's keeping me healthy. 425 00:24:41,879 --> 00:24:44,910 That's what's providing my health and, and my strength. 426 00:24:46,020 --> 00:24:49,890 I'm in, I'm in good physical condition because of me, because I've done these 427 00:24:49,890 --> 00:24:55,140 things and we've taken our eyes off of our, our husband, our, our father, the, 428 00:24:55,140 --> 00:24:58,800 the one that has given us these good gifts and put them instead on ourselves. 429 00:25:00,060 --> 00:25:03,960 Or we believe that it's, well, our approach to parenting our discipline 430 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,440 because we put our kids through this particular school and not that one that 431 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,940 has produced the children that we have. 432 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,200 And so we look to those things and we give those things the credit 433 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,450 and glory rather than our God, 434 00:25:17,610 --> 00:25:20,640 or we believe that the images on our computer screens are gonna satisfy us 435 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,230 more than our wife or our husband Will. 436 00:25:23,850 --> 00:25:26,880 We believe that the bottle of wine is gonna provide the calm and the escape that 437 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:32,130 we need rather than turning to the Lord instead, or we believe that the outburst 438 00:25:32,130 --> 00:25:36,240 of anger is going to really satisfy our thirst for justice rather than allowing 439 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:38,160 the Lord to be the God of justice. 440 00:25:38,504 --> 00:25:39,675 Who says vengeance is mine. 441 00:25:39,675 --> 00:25:40,274 I will repay. 442 00:25:42,044 --> 00:25:44,835 Or we believe that divorce is gonna provide the reset. 443 00:25:44,835 --> 00:25:46,544 We need to find happiness in life. 444 00:25:48,885 --> 00:25:50,685 These are the lovers that we chase. 445 00:25:51,225 --> 00:25:54,794 Even still today as a church, it's not a be all. 446 00:25:54,855 --> 00:26:00,254 It's not an Astra for, but the idols that fill our lives are there nonetheless. 447 00:26:00,345 --> 00:26:03,014 And what we have to understand church is that our sin is adultery against 448 00:26:03,014 --> 00:26:04,485 the God to whom we have been betrothed. 449 00:26:06,795 --> 00:26:09,225 And we can't clean it up or domesticate it or tolerate it or 450 00:26:09,225 --> 00:26:10,815 think it isn't as bad as someone else. 451 00:26:11,025 --> 00:26:11,895 So why does it matter? 452 00:26:11,895 --> 00:26:14,685 Let me ask you this question, lemme phrase it first. 453 00:26:14,685 --> 00:26:17,655 To those that are married in the room, would you be okay with your 454 00:26:17,655 --> 00:26:20,505 spouse committing a little bit of unfaithfulness, so long as it wasn't as 455 00:26:20,505 --> 00:26:22,275 much unfaithfulness as somebody else? 456 00:26:23,835 --> 00:26:24,735 Would you be okay with that? 457 00:26:24,915 --> 00:26:25,995 Would you be willing to live with that? 458 00:26:25,995 --> 00:26:28,485 Because you could say, well, at least you're not as unfaithful to 459 00:26:28,485 --> 00:26:29,655 me as that person is over there. 460 00:26:31,935 --> 00:26:33,075 Those of you that may not be married. 461 00:26:34,110 --> 00:26:35,460 Think about other marriages. 462 00:26:35,460 --> 00:26:37,410 Think about your parents growing up. 463 00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:41,640 Would you have been okay knowing that your dad was unfaithful to your mom as long 464 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:46,800 as it wasn't as unfaithful as somebody else was unfaithful to their parent. 465 00:26:50,070 --> 00:26:53,910 See, we're not okay with unfaithfulness in in our our lives. 466 00:26:53,910 --> 00:26:56,160 Why are we okay with unfaithfulness in our relationship with God? 467 00:26:57,930 --> 00:27:00,510 Why do we sit here with our sin and, and think, well, it's not as bad as 468 00:27:00,510 --> 00:27:01,920 somebody else's, so God, it's okay. 469 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:02,220 Right? 470 00:27:03,225 --> 00:27:04,335 I'm not as, as adult. 471 00:27:04,335 --> 00:27:08,475 I'm not as much of a harlett as that person is when it comes 472 00:27:08,475 --> 00:27:09,314 to my relationship with you. 473 00:27:09,314 --> 00:27:09,915 So I'm okay 474 00:27:12,645 --> 00:27:12,885 now. 475 00:27:12,885 --> 00:27:17,054 We, we, we need to recognize our unfaithful as the 476 00:27:17,054 --> 00:27:18,284 full weight of what it is. 477 00:27:20,324 --> 00:27:21,225 We are goer. 478 00:27:23,715 --> 00:27:28,004 But like I said, the good news is that God is Hosea, and so God's not 479 00:27:28,004 --> 00:27:30,345 gonna leave us in our unfaithfulness. 480 00:27:30,345 --> 00:27:31,665 Keep going with me here. 481 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,620 In fact, look back at this interlude, I jumped over it. 482 00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:36,870 But look back at between chapter one and chapter two, look 483 00:27:36,870 --> 00:27:38,040 at verse 10 of chapter one. 484 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:39,960 It says this. 485 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,740 It says, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea. 486 00:27:43,740 --> 00:27:45,150 This is the Abrahamic covenant. 487 00:27:45,570 --> 00:27:48,510 So right after God has told Hosea, go have these three children, 488 00:27:48,660 --> 00:27:50,520 and here's their names, Jezreel. 489 00:27:50,550 --> 00:27:52,560 'cause I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna smoke you. 490 00:27:52,860 --> 00:27:53,550 I'm gonna blow you up. 491 00:27:53,580 --> 00:27:54,540 You're gonna get judged. 492 00:27:54,750 --> 00:27:55,410 Jezreel. 493 00:27:55,530 --> 00:27:56,850 Second, no mercy. 494 00:27:56,850 --> 00:27:58,320 'cause I'm not gonna show mercy to you anymore. 495 00:27:58,320 --> 00:27:59,610 And third, not my people. 496 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:01,020 Right after that. 497 00:28:01,544 --> 00:28:03,254 He calls back to the Abrahamic covenant. 498 00:28:03,675 --> 00:28:07,635 He says, but the number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the 499 00:28:07,635 --> 00:28:09,135 sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. 500 00:28:09,405 --> 00:28:12,225 And in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, it shall be 501 00:28:12,225 --> 00:28:13,875 said to them, children of the living God. 502 00:28:14,115 --> 00:28:17,445 So now he's, he's reversing these names of these children 503 00:28:17,445 --> 00:28:18,465 that he gave in chapter one. 504 00:28:19,004 --> 00:28:21,794 He said, you're, you're gonna name one of your kids to your sons, not my people. 505 00:28:21,794 --> 00:28:25,304 But in the future, Israel will again be the children of the living God. 506 00:28:25,875 --> 00:28:28,335 And then he goes on, he says, and the children of Judah and the children 507 00:28:28,335 --> 00:28:30,255 of Israel shall be gathered together. 508 00:28:30,255 --> 00:28:33,435 Both the north and the south shall come together and they shall 509 00:28:33,435 --> 00:28:37,095 appoint from themselves one head, and they shall go up from the land. 510 00:28:37,095 --> 00:28:39,705 For grace shall be the day of Jez Israel. 511 00:28:40,155 --> 00:28:42,675 Notice that Israel is no longer gonna be the place of judgment. 512 00:28:43,005 --> 00:28:45,675 It's gonna be the place from which Israel grows up. 513 00:28:45,675 --> 00:28:47,415 That's what it means they're to go up from. 514 00:28:47,625 --> 00:28:49,905 It's the idea of a plant bursting forth and growing. 515 00:28:50,685 --> 00:28:54,105 And so God says in the place that it was once judgment and destruction. 516 00:28:54,435 --> 00:28:56,804 I'm gonna come back and my people will be planted there and they 517 00:28:56,804 --> 00:28:58,365 will grow and they will flourish. 518 00:28:58,814 --> 00:29:01,695 And then he says, and say to your brothers, you are my people. 519 00:29:01,695 --> 00:29:05,145 And to your sisters, you have received mercy. 520 00:29:05,715 --> 00:29:08,294 And so when God was gonna withhold his mercy for a time, 521 00:29:08,294 --> 00:29:09,195 it was not gonna be forever. 522 00:29:10,185 --> 00:29:14,415 But he was gonna bring his faithfulness and his mercy back upon his people. 523 00:29:14,415 --> 00:29:18,255 So in the midst of the judgments that he's giving against the unfaithfulness of 524 00:29:18,255 --> 00:29:21,825 Israel, with the Assyrians about to come and carry them into exile, he's at the 525 00:29:21,825 --> 00:29:23,895 same time saying, Hey y'all, there's hope. 526 00:29:24,855 --> 00:29:29,625 There's hope because though we are Gomer, God is Hosea. 527 00:29:30,105 --> 00:29:33,615 So what change is gonna bring about these reversal, this reversal of fortunes? 528 00:29:33,855 --> 00:29:35,480 Jump down to verse 14 in chapter two. 529 00:29:36,810 --> 00:29:37,380 Verse 14. 530 00:29:37,380 --> 00:29:40,710 It says, therefore, behold, I will allure her. 531 00:29:41,490 --> 00:29:43,260 This is, again, strong terminology. 532 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:49,830 It's the, the terminology of a husband, wooing his wife, alluring his wife. 533 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:54,930 He's gonna draw Israel and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 534 00:29:55,170 --> 00:29:58,205 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of aco. 535 00:29:58,679 --> 00:30:02,580 A door of hope and there shall she answer, as in the days of her youth at the time 536 00:30:02,580 --> 00:30:04,139 when she came out of the land of Egypt. 537 00:30:04,199 --> 00:30:05,879 And in that day declares the Lord. 538 00:30:05,879 --> 00:30:10,620 You will call me my husband, and no longer will you call me my Baal for I will remove 539 00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:14,340 the names of the Baals from her mouth and they shall be remembered by name no more. 540 00:30:14,669 --> 00:30:17,580 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beast of the 541 00:30:17,580 --> 00:30:20,429 field and the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the 542 00:30:20,429 --> 00:30:22,709 ground, and I will abolish the bow. 543 00:30:22,905 --> 00:30:26,805 The sword and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety 544 00:30:26,865 --> 00:30:31,215 and I will notice the language here betroth you to me forever. 545 00:30:31,635 --> 00:30:35,145 And I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, 546 00:30:35,145 --> 00:30:37,215 in steadfast love and in mercy. 547 00:30:37,485 --> 00:30:42,825 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. 548 00:30:44,295 --> 00:30:48,555 That's how the reversal of fortunes is gonna take place. 549 00:30:49,395 --> 00:30:50,985 God's gonna come after his people. 550 00:30:51,959 --> 00:30:55,530 God's gonna come after his people, even in the midst of their unfaithfulness. 551 00:30:57,300 --> 00:30:58,230 Does that sound familiar? 552 00:30:59,459 --> 00:31:04,830 While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us here. 553 00:31:04,830 --> 00:31:06,810 It's, he's gonna allure his people. 554 00:31:07,470 --> 00:31:09,030 There's a couple of references in here. 555 00:31:09,030 --> 00:31:14,490 For example, the the Valley of AOR that goes back to the sin of Aiken during 556 00:31:14,490 --> 00:31:16,590 the conquest from Joshua chapter seven. 557 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,500 Remember they had destroyed the, the, the city there. 558 00:31:19,505 --> 00:31:24,240 And, and Aiken had taken some of the spoil for himself when God said, don't do that. 559 00:31:25,260 --> 00:31:27,660 And then Israel went out and was defeated the next time out in battle. 560 00:31:27,660 --> 00:31:29,760 And then it was revealed that it was Aiken and Aiken and his family 561 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:31,560 were destroyed for their sin. 562 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,640 And so as a result of that, the valley of ACO was named in that spot. 563 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,700 And that came to be known as the Valley of Trouble, is what Acore means. 564 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:40,740 But notice the reversal here. 565 00:31:40,740 --> 00:31:43,470 What God's gonna do, he's undoing everything that Israel's 566 00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:44,760 unfaithfulness had done. 567 00:31:45,270 --> 00:31:49,350 The Valley of Acore, the valley of trouble is now gonna be a door of hope. 568 00:31:50,550 --> 00:31:52,830 And also, did you notice where he's gonna allure her? 569 00:31:52,830 --> 00:31:57,659 Where he's gonna call her into, he's calling her into where the wilderness, 570 00:31:58,230 --> 00:32:02,550 the place that Israel had failed so miserably after the Exodus was gonna again 571 00:32:02,550 --> 00:32:09,510 become a place of hope and restoration for her because God was gonna pursue her. 572 00:32:11,024 --> 00:32:14,175 Listen for Israel, the passage that I just read, verses 14 through 573 00:32:14,175 --> 00:32:17,625 20, is going to that realization that fulfillment is yet future. 574 00:32:17,625 --> 00:32:20,925 We believe in the millennial kingdom when they're gonna realize this, 575 00:32:20,925 --> 00:32:23,565 when they're gonna know the Lord in this way, when they're gonna be 576 00:32:23,565 --> 00:32:26,355 betrothed to the Lord forever and ever. 577 00:32:28,155 --> 00:32:31,034 Uh, Ezekiel describes this reality even more for us. 578 00:32:31,034 --> 00:32:37,485 Ezekiel 36, verses 24 through 28 says this, I, I will take you from the nation. 579 00:32:37,875 --> 00:32:41,415 And gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 580 00:32:41,625 --> 00:32:44,475 And I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean 581 00:32:44,475 --> 00:32:45,825 from all your uncleanliness. 582 00:32:45,825 --> 00:32:47,265 And from all your idols. 583 00:32:47,685 --> 00:32:52,035 I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new 584 00:32:52,035 --> 00:32:53,625 spirit I will put within you. 585 00:32:54,075 --> 00:32:57,855 And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 586 00:32:58,125 --> 00:33:02,295 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statute 587 00:33:02,415 --> 00:33:04,725 and to be careful to obey my rules. 588 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,760 You shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be 589 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,550 my people and I will be your God. 590 00:33:12,660 --> 00:33:16,800 This is Ezekiel speaking of the new covenant, and the reality 591 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,490 of that, again is gonna be for Israel in the millennial kingdom. 592 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,840 Here's the good news for us though, church, with all of this, we don't have 593 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:25,950 to wait for the millennial kingdom. 594 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,600 We don't have to wait for the millennial kingdom to realize God's pursuit of us. 595 00:33:31,230 --> 00:33:34,320 That as we are Gomer, that God is Hosea. 596 00:33:34,380 --> 00:33:37,110 And for you and I, we're not waiting for the millennial kingdom right now. 597 00:33:37,110 --> 00:33:40,950 The offer is there for us, and, and the, the, the promise is there for us. 598 00:33:40,950 --> 00:33:44,340 And even some of the blessings in the new covenant are there for us as the 599 00:33:44,340 --> 00:33:46,920 church to realize God's pursuit of us. 600 00:33:48,690 --> 00:33:51,570 And so what's left for us is to respond to that pursuit. 601 00:33:51,570 --> 00:33:52,560 Point number two this morning. 602 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,850 Along those lines is this, respond to the unflagging pursuit of God. 603 00:33:57,675 --> 00:34:00,285 Respond to the unflagging pursuit of your God. 604 00:34:01,544 --> 00:34:02,925 Now, let me qualify this. 605 00:34:03,825 --> 00:34:06,735 This is how God treats his people. 606 00:34:08,324 --> 00:34:11,324 Meaning for us in this room, this is how God treats Christians. 607 00:34:13,004 --> 00:34:16,904 If you are not in Christ, there is a very dangerous reality that you 608 00:34:16,904 --> 00:34:21,495 are flirting with in which God may turn you over and stop pursuing you. 609 00:34:24,194 --> 00:34:25,214 He may say, I'm. 610 00:34:26,070 --> 00:34:30,570 I've been patient long enough the way he did with Israel back in Jose's day. 611 00:34:33,030 --> 00:34:37,830 But if you are in Christ, he will never forsake you. 612 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:40,230 He will never turn you over. 613 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:42,570 He will never stop pursuing you. 614 00:34:44,489 --> 00:34:47,909 And so it's for us to respond to the unflagging pursuit of God, 615 00:34:47,909 --> 00:34:50,159 but first we have to understand what that pursuit looks like. 616 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,980 How does God allure us today? 617 00:34:54,344 --> 00:34:57,314 Well, one of the ways is through the reality that, that you and I have 618 00:34:57,314 --> 00:34:59,084 the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 619 00:35:00,555 --> 00:35:03,555 Back in Ezekiel, as I read about that, that God promised Israel he 620 00:35:03,555 --> 00:35:05,444 would put his spirit within them. 621 00:35:06,075 --> 00:35:08,954 Again, new covenant promises when Jesus in the upper room declared with 622 00:35:08,954 --> 00:35:11,834 the disciples, this is the cup of the new covenant, which is my blood. 623 00:35:12,104 --> 00:35:15,285 That was the, the partial fulfillment of that meaning that we as the church 624 00:35:15,285 --> 00:35:18,434 get to know some of the blessings of the new covenant already. 625 00:35:18,434 --> 00:35:21,464 One of those being that the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. 626 00:35:22,884 --> 00:35:25,529 And so are the, there are ways that through the Holy Spirit's dwelling 627 00:35:25,529 --> 00:35:27,749 within us that God is pursuing us first. 628 00:35:27,749 --> 00:35:30,269 Among those foundationally, number one is regeneration. 629 00:35:30,869 --> 00:35:32,579 That he causes us to be born again. 630 00:35:32,999 --> 00:35:36,419 That he takes us from death to life, that while we were yet 631 00:35:36,419 --> 00:35:38,069 sinners, Christ died for us. 632 00:35:39,389 --> 00:35:44,969 That is where God's pursuit of us is first realized by us, but the second 633 00:35:44,969 --> 00:35:48,809 way that he continues to pursue us is through the Spirit that dwells within 634 00:35:48,809 --> 00:35:51,179 us, causing us to be obedient to him. 635 00:35:52,140 --> 00:35:54,269 The spirit producing within you this morning. 636 00:35:54,269 --> 00:35:58,289 Your desire to be in the word, your desire to obey the Lord, your desire 637 00:35:58,289 --> 00:36:02,729 to fight that sin, your desire to break off that pattern of disobedience, 638 00:36:02,729 --> 00:36:04,620 that is God's alluring you. 639 00:36:04,620 --> 00:36:06,299 That is God's pursuing you. 640 00:36:06,299 --> 00:36:08,789 He drawing you out into himself. 641 00:36:10,665 --> 00:36:14,234 The third way the Lord still all lures us or allure us as the church 642 00:36:14,234 --> 00:36:19,365 is this, that the Lord sanctifies us in our understanding of who he is by 643 00:36:19,365 --> 00:36:22,245 purging us of our idols in our life. 644 00:36:23,984 --> 00:36:28,875 In Hosea chapter two verses 16 and 17, that passage that I just read, it says 645 00:36:28,875 --> 00:36:30,645 this, and in that day, declares the Lord. 646 00:36:30,645 --> 00:36:34,935 You will call me my husband, and no longer will you call me my Baal. 647 00:36:35,895 --> 00:36:39,435 For, I will remove the names of the BALs from her mouth, and they 648 00:36:39,435 --> 00:36:40,634 shall be remembered by name no more. 649 00:36:40,634 --> 00:36:44,835 In other words, God was saying to the Israelites, I'm going to purge you of 650 00:36:44,835 --> 00:36:47,865 all of the faults, gods that you've been worshiping, so that you will 651 00:36:47,865 --> 00:36:50,234 worship me in purity, in full devotion. 652 00:36:51,464 --> 00:36:56,625 He does that for us as the church as well, for you as a Christian by the spirit. 653 00:36:56,625 --> 00:36:59,115 He's gonna drive the idols out of your life. 654 00:36:59,565 --> 00:37:03,555 He's gonna drive away from your life the things that compete with him, 655 00:37:03,555 --> 00:37:05,475 for your affections, for your love. 656 00:37:06,555 --> 00:37:10,154 Because he wants to be your one and only your exclusive. 657 00:37:11,714 --> 00:37:17,024 And then finally, the way that he pursues us is by sealing us in permanent union 658 00:37:17,024 --> 00:37:19,935 with Christ as a bride to the bridegroom. 659 00:37:20,865 --> 00:37:22,214 Again, that's through the spirit. 660 00:37:22,214 --> 00:37:26,355 As Paul writes in Ephesians, that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit 661 00:37:26,625 --> 00:37:30,585 as a guarantee of the inheritance that we will one day inherit. 662 00:37:32,264 --> 00:37:33,345 Hosea puts it this way. 663 00:37:33,345 --> 00:37:34,154 Same concept. 664 00:37:34,154 --> 00:37:38,474 Hosea two 19 through 20, God says to Israel, I will betroth you to me forever. 665 00:37:39,389 --> 00:37:41,024 I'll betroth you to me forever. 666 00:37:41,024 --> 00:37:43,724 I will betroth you to me in righteousness and injustice, 667 00:37:44,055 --> 00:37:45,494 steadfast love, and in mercy. 668 00:37:45,644 --> 00:37:48,974 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. 669 00:37:51,164 --> 00:37:53,624 Church, our our God is a pursuing God. 670 00:37:54,914 --> 00:37:57,884 Our God is a God who leaves the 99 to go after the one. 671 00:37:59,775 --> 00:38:04,575 In fact, listen to this as, as Hosea chapter 11, in one of the 672 00:38:04,575 --> 00:38:09,285 sections of the Lord's passion and mercy and love is talked about here 673 00:38:09,285 --> 00:38:10,845 as God is talking to his people. 674 00:38:10,904 --> 00:38:13,425 He says this in Hosea, chapter 11, verse eight. 675 00:38:13,605 --> 00:38:15,195 He says, how can I give you up? 676 00:38:15,285 --> 00:38:18,735 Oh, ere Israel, how can I hand you over? 677 00:38:18,795 --> 00:38:21,585 Oh, Israel, how can I make you like Ahah? 678 00:38:21,585 --> 00:38:23,200 How can I treat you like Zebo? 679 00:38:24,015 --> 00:38:26,174 My heart recoils within me. 680 00:38:26,444 --> 00:38:30,075 Notice this, my compassion grows warm and tender. 681 00:38:30,615 --> 00:38:32,835 I will not execute my burning anger. 682 00:38:32,984 --> 00:38:36,915 I will not again destroy efraim for I am God and not a man. 683 00:38:37,095 --> 00:38:38,325 The holy one in your midst. 684 00:38:38,325 --> 00:38:41,174 And I will not come in wrath. 685 00:38:43,185 --> 00:38:44,295 See y'all. 686 00:38:44,384 --> 00:38:46,545 This is, this is God. 687 00:38:48,134 --> 00:38:49,004 This is Yahweh. 688 00:38:49,754 --> 00:38:50,714 This is the father. 689 00:38:52,439 --> 00:38:56,669 I think a lot of times our, our concept of him is, is weighted 690 00:38:56,669 --> 00:39:00,750 towards his wrath and his, his anger and his, his just retribution. 691 00:39:02,100 --> 00:39:04,140 He's the holy one that we can't really approach. 692 00:39:04,140 --> 00:39:06,629 We need Jesus to go before us and be like, Hey, Jesus, can you go 693 00:39:06,629 --> 00:39:09,299 make sure everything's okay with God before I come before him? 694 00:39:09,299 --> 00:39:14,790 'cause I, what I did this week, y'all, what I love about Hosea and, and 695 00:39:14,790 --> 00:39:17,220 so many of the other minor prophets too, is it's gonna give you a picture 696 00:39:17,220 --> 00:39:19,200 of God, that God, God loves you. 697 00:39:21,390 --> 00:39:22,829 God is compassionate towards you. 698 00:39:24,930 --> 00:39:28,109 He is pursuing you. 699 00:39:29,669 --> 00:39:32,279 So my question this morning for you is, have you been keeping him at arm's 700 00:39:32,279 --> 00:39:35,009 length as he's been pursuing you? 701 00:39:37,229 --> 00:39:39,119 Have you been resisting his pursuit? 702 00:39:40,259 --> 00:39:42,720 Have you been going back to play the Harley even after 703 00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,309 he's betrothed you to himself? 704 00:39:45,450 --> 00:39:47,700 Is your love like the morning clouds or the morning dew? 705 00:39:49,725 --> 00:39:53,565 Or are you leaning into his pursuit of you? 706 00:39:55,575 --> 00:39:58,665 Have you sat with him with your Bible open and your soul beared before him? 707 00:40:00,225 --> 00:40:02,775 Have you cherished his words and treasured them up in your heart 708 00:40:02,775 --> 00:40:04,065 that you might not sin against him? 709 00:40:06,075 --> 00:40:07,875 Have you felt broken over your sin 710 00:40:10,305 --> 00:40:13,095 and your proclivity to return to that life of unfaithfulness? 711 00:40:14,834 --> 00:40:17,894 Have you been silent before him in gratitude for how he pursued 712 00:40:17,894 --> 00:40:21,914 you, even when you weren't pursuing him this morning? 713 00:40:21,914 --> 00:40:25,124 Some need to hear Hosea six verse one. 714 00:40:25,124 --> 00:40:27,374 Come let us return to the Lord. 715 00:40:28,515 --> 00:40:33,435 Let us return to the Lord for he has torn us that he may heal us. 716 00:40:33,705 --> 00:40:36,914 He has struck us down and he will bind us up. 717 00:40:38,205 --> 00:40:39,254 Let us know. 718 00:40:39,314 --> 00:40:40,095 Hosea six three. 719 00:40:40,095 --> 00:40:41,084 Let us know the Lord. 720 00:40:41,084 --> 00:40:43,214 Let us press on to know the Lord. 721 00:40:43,545 --> 00:40:46,395 His going out is as sure as the dawn and he will come to us as 722 00:40:46,395 --> 00:40:48,375 the showers, as the spring reigns. 723 00:40:48,375 --> 00:40:52,634 That water, the earth, the Lord Church is after you. 724 00:40:53,984 --> 00:40:56,265 This pursuing love of God is unique to Christianity. 725 00:40:57,915 --> 00:40:59,984 You're not gonna find it in Islam. 726 00:41:00,765 --> 00:41:02,025 You're not gonna find it in Hinduism. 727 00:41:02,025 --> 00:41:03,315 You're not gonna find it in Buddhism. 728 00:41:04,424 --> 00:41:07,455 You're not gonna find it in the perversions of Mormonism and Catholicism. 729 00:41:08,775 --> 00:41:11,955 Those perversions in, in both of those religions will say, you have to come 730 00:41:11,955 --> 00:41:13,605 to God before God will come to you. 731 00:41:16,634 --> 00:41:17,895 Now, God is a pursuing God. 732 00:41:19,935 --> 00:41:21,525 God is the God who's going to come to you. 733 00:41:22,154 --> 00:41:27,375 And that is unique to Christianity, unique to the gospel. 734 00:41:28,245 --> 00:41:30,404 And the reason is because of what follows. 735 00:41:31,575 --> 00:41:34,424 So, so far we've seen Israel's unfaithfulness, and 736 00:41:34,424 --> 00:41:35,355 that's our unfaithfulness. 737 00:41:35,355 --> 00:41:36,795 We are Gomer. 738 00:41:37,694 --> 00:41:40,784 And the good news that that God is pursuing Israel, he's got a future 739 00:41:40,784 --> 00:41:44,084 for Israel, that Abraham Abrahamic covenant is unconditional and 740 00:41:44,084 --> 00:41:45,374 he's gonna bring that to fruition. 741 00:41:45,374 --> 00:41:46,874 And so he's gonna pursue Israel. 742 00:41:47,324 --> 00:41:50,474 And we've seen that he's also going to pursue us as well. 743 00:41:51,134 --> 00:41:52,634 And now we're gonna find out why. 744 00:41:54,014 --> 00:41:55,424 Because he is Hosea. 745 00:41:55,424 --> 00:41:56,444 Look at chapter three. 746 00:41:58,034 --> 00:42:01,004 The Lord said to me, chapter three verse one, go again and love a 747 00:42:01,004 --> 00:42:02,654 woman who is loved by another man. 748 00:42:02,654 --> 00:42:03,974 This is still Gomer here. 749 00:42:04,724 --> 00:42:06,615 There are some that wanna argue that this is another woman. 750 00:42:06,615 --> 00:42:09,404 This is not Gomer, but he doesn't say that. 751 00:42:09,404 --> 00:42:10,904 He doesn't say, go marry her. 752 00:42:10,904 --> 00:42:12,854 He says, go love her again. 753 00:42:14,084 --> 00:42:18,224 And so Hosea is meant to go and take the wife of unfaithfulness, the wife of 754 00:42:18,224 --> 00:42:25,394 Harlotry, from the arms of her lover, and to bring her back, go again and 755 00:42:25,394 --> 00:42:30,194 love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulterous, even as the 756 00:42:30,194 --> 00:42:32,115 Lord loves the children of Israel. 757 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,430 Though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. 758 00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:39,690 And so verse two, I bought her for 15 shekels of silver in a 759 00:42:39,690 --> 00:42:41,609 homer and a letic of barley. 760 00:42:43,950 --> 00:42:47,250 This love that God instructs Hosea to go and demonstrate 761 00:42:47,250 --> 00:42:49,410 towards Gomer is his love for us. 762 00:42:50,790 --> 00:42:54,750 And just like Hosea's love for Gomer was going to cost him, 763 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:57,750 God's love for us, cost him. 764 00:42:59,024 --> 00:43:00,854 For Hosea, it was a financial investment. 765 00:43:00,854 --> 00:43:05,865 30 shekels was no small amount, but I think more than that, it was the cost 766 00:43:05,865 --> 00:43:17,059 of, of just his, his dignity, his honor, his having to go and condescend and, 767 00:43:17,294 --> 00:43:21,374 and get the picture in our, your mind of going and knocking on the door of 768 00:43:21,374 --> 00:43:25,604 the man who his wife has gone to live with in a relationship of infidelity. 769 00:43:27,495 --> 00:43:32,955 And that man answers the door and he says, I'm here to buy my wife back from you. 770 00:43:35,504 --> 00:43:36,615 What's the cost? 771 00:43:41,714 --> 00:43:44,805 The cost of our redemption. 772 00:43:50,024 --> 00:43:52,185 Listen, God's love for Israel is going to prevail. 773 00:43:53,685 --> 00:43:57,734 Hosea alludes to this In in chapter three, verse five, it says, afterward, 774 00:43:57,734 --> 00:44:01,245 the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their 775 00:44:01,245 --> 00:44:05,265 king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter 776 00:44:05,265 --> 00:44:10,845 days, okay, again, millennial kingdom here, what's gonna be the key to Israel's 777 00:44:10,845 --> 00:44:13,365 return to God, the same as the key? 778 00:44:13,395 --> 00:44:17,924 That was the key for us coming to him in the first place, and 779 00:44:17,924 --> 00:44:19,125 that is the cross of Christ. 780 00:44:20,430 --> 00:44:22,470 We're gonna get to Zachariah a little bit later on in our study, 781 00:44:22,470 --> 00:44:26,490 but Zechariah chapter 13 verses one and two says, this says on that day. 782 00:44:27,165 --> 00:44:30,104 There shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the 783 00:44:30,104 --> 00:44:33,314 inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncles. 784 00:44:33,765 --> 00:44:35,834 And on that day, declares the Lord. 785 00:44:35,984 --> 00:44:38,384 I will cut off the names of the idols from the land so that they 786 00:44:38,384 --> 00:44:41,564 shall be remembered no more, and that will remove from the land, the 787 00:44:41,564 --> 00:44:43,064 prophets, and the spirit of uncles. 788 00:44:43,754 --> 00:44:46,365 That fountain that's gonna open up for the house of David is the 789 00:44:46,365 --> 00:44:48,375 fountain of the blood of Christ shed for them on the cross. 790 00:44:48,615 --> 00:44:50,984 That fountain is the fountain that's gonna lead them, as Zacharia 791 00:44:50,984 --> 00:44:54,645 says elsewhere, to look on him whom they have pierced and mourn. 792 00:44:55,755 --> 00:44:57,495 And so I'm saying all that to, to say this. 793 00:44:57,705 --> 00:45:02,265 The fact that Hosea is, is demonstrating that God is gonna bring Israel back to 794 00:45:02,265 --> 00:45:06,855 him is going to all come down to the cost that God is gonna pay to redeem Israel. 795 00:45:06,915 --> 00:45:10,424 And that cost that God is gonna pay to redeem Israel is the same 796 00:45:10,424 --> 00:45:14,085 cost that God paid to redeem every single one of us in this room. 797 00:45:14,115 --> 00:45:18,015 And that is the death of his son, Jesus Christ, on the cross, so that 798 00:45:18,015 --> 00:45:21,194 your sins might be forgiven and the resurrection so that you might 799 00:45:21,194 --> 00:45:22,904 one day live with him forever. 800 00:45:23,205 --> 00:45:24,615 That's the cost. 801 00:45:25,124 --> 00:45:26,624 Of our redemption. 802 00:45:26,745 --> 00:45:28,095 That's the humiliation. 803 00:45:28,214 --> 00:45:29,714 That's the condescension. 804 00:45:29,805 --> 00:45:31,394 That's the ign amenity. 805 00:45:31,455 --> 00:45:32,234 That's the shame. 806 00:45:32,234 --> 00:45:33,975 That's the dishonor, that's the humiliation. 807 00:45:33,975 --> 00:45:39,404 That's all of it that Jesus paid so that he might bring us and buy 808 00:45:39,404 --> 00:45:42,705 us back to the one who created us to be his in the first place. 809 00:45:44,414 --> 00:45:48,164 See, we are Gomer, but this, the good news is that God is Hosea. 810 00:45:49,154 --> 00:45:53,595 And the cost he paid was the cost of his son. 811 00:45:53,805 --> 00:45:56,984 Third and finally this morning, remember the inconceivable 812 00:45:56,984 --> 00:45:58,274 grace of your redemption. 813 00:45:59,115 --> 00:46:02,834 Remember the inconceivable grace of your redemption, 814 00:46:06,164 --> 00:46:07,064 Isaiah two 14. 815 00:46:07,064 --> 00:46:10,184 Again, therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the 816 00:46:10,184 --> 00:46:12,674 wilderness and speak tenderly to her 817 00:46:15,224 --> 00:46:16,814 the only way that that was gonna be possible. 818 00:46:18,315 --> 00:46:23,775 Is to deal with her unfaithfulness in the first place and in a temporal fashion. 819 00:46:23,775 --> 00:46:29,055 He did that through Assyria, but Assyria didn't satisfy God's 820 00:46:29,055 --> 00:46:30,375 eternal wrath against his people. 821 00:46:32,415 --> 00:46:34,755 Whatever suffering, whatever discipline God has brought in your 822 00:46:34,755 --> 00:46:41,145 life, has not satisfied his eternal wrath against your sin for God to 823 00:46:41,145 --> 00:46:45,345 bring you to himself, to betroth you to himself forever, as Hosea says. 824 00:46:46,635 --> 00:46:49,095 Uh, then he has to deal with our unfaithfulness and put an 825 00:46:49,095 --> 00:46:49,965 end to it once and for all. 826 00:46:49,965 --> 00:46:56,235 And the way that happens is through the cross that the actions of Hosea in this 827 00:46:56,235 --> 00:47:01,725 chap chapter are shocking and sobering, and they're meant to be that a man would 828 00:47:01,725 --> 00:47:07,515 go to another man to buy his own wife back from his arms, and that he would take her 829 00:47:09,675 --> 00:47:11,415 and forgive her infidelity. 830 00:47:15,029 --> 00:47:20,850 And functionally cleanse her from that infidelity and betray 831 00:47:20,850 --> 00:47:22,020 with her once more to himself. 832 00:47:24,270 --> 00:47:26,850 That's a love that this world knows nothing of. 833 00:47:28,470 --> 00:47:31,020 And yet the love of God for us through Christ is even greater than that. 834 00:47:32,759 --> 00:47:36,299 What God did with Christ on the cross for us is even greater than that. 835 00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:40,290 And so church, remembering the cross is the key component to 836 00:47:40,290 --> 00:47:41,669 our growth in Christ's likeness. 837 00:47:44,354 --> 00:47:47,894 We don't know the rest of the story of Gomer, but my guess is this, that 838 00:47:48,044 --> 00:47:52,515 she was, I at least I hope, and I hope that one day we will meet Gomer 839 00:47:53,624 --> 00:47:58,484 and, and I hope that she was so overwhelmed by the grace of Hosea 840 00:48:00,584 --> 00:48:02,564 that she vowed never to be unfaithful to him again. 841 00:48:05,144 --> 00:48:05,535 And church. 842 00:48:05,535 --> 00:48:09,104 That should be our response to the cross of Christ. 843 00:48:10,845 --> 00:48:15,464 That we seeing the cross of Christ would say, God, you loved me to that extent when 844 00:48:15,464 --> 00:48:18,075 I was Gomer, when I was the wife of Ham, 845 00:48:20,924 --> 00:48:22,724 when I was in the arms of my other lovers. 846 00:48:24,704 --> 00:48:31,694 You loved me then enough to kill your son in my spot enough to take 847 00:48:31,694 --> 00:48:34,244 my infidelity and charge it to Jesus 848 00:48:37,604 --> 00:48:38,774 and gimme his righteousness. 849 00:48:40,589 --> 00:48:43,259 So that I can stand before you as the pure and spotless bride. 850 00:48:46,980 --> 00:48:48,209 What love is that? 851 00:48:51,540 --> 00:48:57,779 If you guys want to grow in humility, mercy, grace, love, compassion, patience, 852 00:48:57,779 --> 00:49:05,910 tenderness, look at the cross, look at the cost, where all of those things were 853 00:49:05,910 --> 00:49:07,859 exemplified by Christ on the cross for us. 854 00:49:09,585 --> 00:49:14,145 And the father's love poured out for us in wrath on him. 855 00:49:14,355 --> 00:49:14,805 Not you. 856 00:49:16,060 --> 00:49:17,325 You know, a lot of people wear a cross. 857 00:49:17,325 --> 00:49:18,465 You may have a cross on this morning. 858 00:49:18,465 --> 00:49:18,945 That's great. 859 00:49:20,205 --> 00:49:22,785 A lot of people wear the cross to show other people that they're a Christian. 860 00:49:23,925 --> 00:49:27,165 I wanna wear a cross because it's, it's a bold testimony to other 861 00:49:27,165 --> 00:49:28,245 people that, that, that I follow. 862 00:49:28,245 --> 00:49:29,115 Jesus. 863 00:49:30,705 --> 00:49:34,755 Do you know the cross as, as a, a symbol of jewelry, as something that we wear? 864 00:49:34,755 --> 00:49:37,395 It really was not a thing until about the fourth century. 865 00:49:38,250 --> 00:49:42,180 Ad after Christianity became the, the official religion of Rome, that's 866 00:49:42,180 --> 00:49:44,460 when it kind of came into, into vogue. 867 00:49:44,460 --> 00:49:47,100 It started showing up in, in works of art and became something 868 00:49:47,100 --> 00:49:48,330 that people would even wear. 869 00:49:48,660 --> 00:49:51,120 'cause prior to that, the, the cross was an instrument of execution 870 00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:53,970 and shame and nobody really wanted the cross to be on them. 871 00:49:56,069 --> 00:49:59,879 And so while we wear a, and it does convey something to other people, 872 00:49:59,879 --> 00:50:03,149 can I suggest that the chief thing it should convey to us is to remember. 873 00:50:03,495 --> 00:50:08,685 The shame to remember the cost to remember God's love, not for 874 00:50:08,745 --> 00:50:10,755 other people, but, but for us, 875 00:50:12,915 --> 00:50:15,615 wearing the cross around your neck should have more of an impact when you look in 876 00:50:15,615 --> 00:50:18,045 the mirror than it does when you look at the person across the table from you. 877 00:50:20,025 --> 00:50:22,275 'cause it needs to remind you of how much God loves you. 878 00:50:23,415 --> 00:50:26,505 It needs to remind you that though you were Gomer, that he was Hosea. 879 00:50:27,854 --> 00:50:30,974 And it needs to drive you to say, God, I never want to ever, ever, 880 00:50:30,974 --> 00:50:33,345 ever, ever be unfaithful to you again. 881 00:50:35,654 --> 00:50:37,454 I want to live in perfect faithfulness to you. 882 00:50:40,484 --> 00:50:42,374 That day will come for us. 883 00:50:43,484 --> 00:50:44,174 It's not here yet. 884 00:50:45,494 --> 00:50:49,334 And so we're about to go into a week where we will have moments where we 885 00:50:49,334 --> 00:50:51,284 find that we are, once again, Gomer. 886 00:50:53,444 --> 00:50:56,865 And it's gonna be necessary for us to remind ourselves that God is Hosea, 887 00:50:59,174 --> 00:51:00,615 that God is the pursuing God. 888 00:51:01,664 --> 00:51:07,724 That God is the God of love and mercy and grace, that God is the patient, God, 889 00:51:11,740 --> 00:51:14,984 until we get to be home with him where sin is not gonna be anymore. 890 00:51:16,754 --> 00:51:19,034 It's interesting, I think, and not on accident that. 891 00:51:19,935 --> 00:51:23,564 That's described by Jesus through the the revelation that he gave to John 892 00:51:23,564 --> 00:51:25,305 as the marriage supper of the lamb, 893 00:51:27,674 --> 00:51:33,345 when the final betroth of us and the Lord is fully realized at that time. 894 00:51:34,814 --> 00:51:36,044 Jose is a hard book. 895 00:51:37,544 --> 00:51:40,754 We've just hit three chapters of it, and again, if you read the rest of it, and 896 00:51:40,754 --> 00:51:44,354 I encourage you to do that, you're gonna see these themes show up time and time 897 00:51:44,354 --> 00:51:46,064 again throughout the entirety of the book. 898 00:51:48,284 --> 00:51:51,044 It's hard because it confronts us with the ugliness of our sin. 899 00:51:53,325 --> 00:51:54,194 Uh, we are Gomer 900 00:51:56,654 --> 00:51:59,294 and that's hard because we live in a world where sin is more and more 901 00:51:59,294 --> 00:52:05,865 being trivialized into life choices or orientations or, uh, just no big deal 902 00:52:05,865 --> 00:52:07,724 or it's not as bad as that over there. 903 00:52:07,964 --> 00:52:10,034 And, and, and the sinner is no longer guilty. 904 00:52:10,034 --> 00:52:12,224 But we live in a world that is taking the sinner and making 905 00:52:12,224 --> 00:52:15,584 them a passive victim of our sin. 906 00:52:19,019 --> 00:52:23,220 So Hosea is refreshing for us because it reminds us that 907 00:52:23,220 --> 00:52:24,539 we're not a victim of our sin. 908 00:52:26,339 --> 00:52:27,209 We are the perpetrator. 909 00:52:28,769 --> 00:52:29,609 We are Gomer. 910 00:52:32,100 --> 00:52:34,259 But the good news is that God is Hosea. 911 00:52:35,339 --> 00:52:38,039 We stand with me as we pray and wrap up.