how faithful he is. I love that verse that says,
when we believe not, he remaineth faithful, for he cannot deny
himself. I was thinking as we were singing
that hymn, what David said in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. His hand provides everything
we need. everything we need in this world
and everything that we need in the world to come. He provides
it all and he gets all the glory. Mark and I were talking about
that before the service tonight and how that, you know, we we
we are oftentimes presumptuous when it comes to the daily needs
that the Lord provides, the air we breathe, the food we eat,
the fact that the sun's going to come up tomorrow, we don't
always express our gratitude to the Lord as we ought, what
we never do as we ought. But when it comes to the gospel,
we have no doubt where that came from and who gets all the glory
for it. And when we gather for worship,
we especially want to make this a time of praise and thanksgiving. That's our expression back to
him for his mercy and for his grace. Let's open our Bibles to Hosea,
the third chapter, Hosea, the third chapter, chapter three
of Hosea. I wanted to read that verse in
Revelation 19. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. I remember in religion, we used
to always be concerned about one another's testimony. And
we would try to win people over by telling them our testimony. We would, of course, elaborate
on our experience and make them wish that they had had such an
experience. Truth is, our testimonies are
not the testimony that we need to be concerned about. Our testimonies
are, at best, subjective. We look back and we wonder, well,
what was the Lord really doing? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how much of it was
me, how much of it was him, how much of it was my circumstances,
how much of it was what I had for dinner. I don't know. But
his testimony, his testimony, and that word testimony is the
word witness. His testimony is sure. He's faithful
and true. And his testimony is the gospel. Before we look at this verse
in Hosea chapter 3, turn with me back to Revelation and look
with me if you will at chapter 12 of Revelation. And this is
a prophecy of what the church goes through in this world, being
persecuted by Satan. And in verse 17, the last verse
in this chapter, And the dragon was wroth with the woman. That's
Satan and the church. The dragon was wroth with the
woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ. We have the witness of Jesus
Christ. We have his testimony. We have
a revelation given to us as to who he is and what he did. That's his testimony. And when
we preach from wherever in God's word, we are declaring the testimony
or the witness of Jesus Christ. Most people, when they look at
Bible prophecy, are kind of like a financial advisor reading the
tea leaves of the stock market trying to figure out where to
make an investment so they can make the best profit at the end. That's not how we go to prophecy.
We're not looking at prophecy to see what's going to happen
tomorrow. Everybody wants to know what's
going to happen tomorrow. We don't know what's gonna happen
tomorrow. We know what the Lord's going to do in the end We know
that he's gonna come and that he's going to deliver his church
from this world And we long for that day what he has in store
for us between now and then we don't know we walk by faith We
don't study the prophets or any part of God's Word for that matter
Looking for details concerning the future events of our lives.
We study God's word, looking for Christ. Even the book of
Revelation itself, the word revelation, as you know, is the word apocalypse. And when you listen to people
talk about something that's apocalyptic, or the apocalypse, they are generally
referring to the end of the world, then the fiery, you know, wrath
that will be poured out on this world. But if we read Revelation
chapter one, verse one, this whole book starts with the revelation
of Jesus Christ. The word apocalypse doesn't mean
a judgment at the end of the world. The word apocalypse means
an uncovering. It means a revealing. And all
of scripture reveals the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it reveals him to Israel. We read these Old Testament prophets.
Most of the minor prophets lived and ministered before and during
the Babylonian exile. And we can read these prophets
and see the fulfillment of these prophets as they related to Israel
being carried off because of their idolatry into captivity. And then the Lord correcting
them in that captivity and bringing them back. But that's history. The real meaning of these prophecies
are for us. We are the true Israel and the
promises that God made to national Israel in Christ are fulfilled
in spiritual Israel. These prophecies in the Old Testament,
the testimony of Jesus, the witness, the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the spirit It is the meaning, it is the message, it
is the power, it is the purpose of all prophecy. What is the
witness of Christ? The revelation of Christ in the
preaching of the gospel. That's the meaning of this verse.
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And so when
we look at these prophecies, they're sort of like parables. You know, the disciples asked
the Lord, why do you speak to them in parables? And you remember
what the Lord said? Because it's not for them to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This is something
that's for you. This is an unveiling that's hidden. It's a hidden message in a prophecy. not to show you some historical
events that took place in national Israel when they were carried
off into captivity, and not for the purpose of revealing some
specific events that might take place between now and the second
coming of Christ. These prophecies are allegories. They are parables. They are messages
given to the people of God, spiritual Israel, to reveal to us what
the Lord has done in Christ to save his people. And if there's
any book of prophecy that that's clear in, it's the book of Hosea.
Hosea all through this book is a type of Christ. Gomer is his
elect people. And here we have in chapter three,
Hosea, Christ, purchasing off the slave block
his wife. Her life of harlotry and drunkenness
have left her wasted. They have left her used. They have left her battered. These scriptures, in the Old
Testament law, if you if you owned an ox and that ox killed
your neighbor's slave, then you had to redeem the life of that
slave with money. And the money for the life of
a slave, according to the Old Testament law, was 30 pieces
of silver. So that was the price of a slave.
You paid your neighbor for the death of their servant because
it was your ox that killed it. And that's not lost in how much
money Judas took in the denying of the Lord Jesus, in the forsaking
of him, in the turning of him over. He took 30 pieces of silver,
the price of a slave. The Lord Jesus became servant
first to his father to fulfill everything that the father required
for the salvation of his people. And he became a servant to his
people, laying down his life for us. And what we see in Hosea
chapter three is that Hosea buys Gomer back for 15 pieces of silk. and some barley. Barley was the
cheapest of all the grains that the poor people ate. Gomer was
not even worth the price of a slave. Whatever is being auctioned off,
whatever is being sold, it's worth what someone will pay for
it. That's what it's worth. Whatever someone will pay for
us what it's worth, doesn't matter what it is. No one would be prepared
to pay for even one half the price of a slave to have Gomer. That's how, that's how battered
she was. That's how, that's how, Useless she was. Who would want her? Who would possibly love her? Her sin had left her ravaged.
Her beauty is gone. She's full of shame. She has
nothing to offer. Her head. As she stands there
waiting for someone to make an offer, her head is hung in humiliation. She can no longer appeal to a
man with a smile or a wink. She's taken home by Hosea. And she finally asks him, why? Why? Why did you buy me? And he says to her one reason. And one reason only. Because
I love you. I've always loved you. And I
always will love you. That's why I bought you. And
her heart was broken by the love that Hosea had shown toward her.
And she loved him in return. the rest of the days of her life. It's an allegory. It's a parable. It's a gospel story about God's Children who left to themselves have wasted their lives in riotous
living like the like the prodigal. She's not only an adulteress.
Well, let's read these few verses together. Verse one of Hosea
chapter three. Then said the Lord unto me, go
yet, love a woman, beloved of her
friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel, who took to other gods and loved flagons
of wine." Not only has she been unfaithful
to her husband and sold herself, as Isaiah says, for naught, sold
herself for naught, she didn't get anything in return. The gifts
that she thought were being left at her doorstep by her lover
were actually being given to her by Hosea, her husband. He was the one providing for
her. She didn't know it. And so the Lord is telling Hosea,
you go down to the slave yard, and you buy this adulterous drunkard
She's been given to a spirit that would inebriate her in thinking
that she was right with God when she wasn't. Is this not the Try
the spirits to see whether they be of God. It's not lost in translation
that we refer to alcohol as spirits. This is what's being told us
here. This is the allegory. We're not preaching against alcohol. We're trying to interpret this
passage of scripture as it relates to us, as it relates to who God
is. We would be intoxicated by the
spirit of this world. We'd be intoxicated by the spirit
of false religion and works religion and free will religion. And we
would be unfaithful to our God, have been. An adulterous drunkard. Verse two, so I bought her to
me. for 15 pieces of silver and for
a homar barley and a half homar barley. And I said unto her,
thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the
harlot. Thou shalt not be for another
man. So will I also be. for thee, so will I also be for
thee." Oh, he didn't take her home and crack the whip of the
law and remind her every day of what he had done to deliver
her from the life that she had put herself in. He didn't subject
her to to submission to him against her will and make her live a
life of shame and obedience to him. No, he did for her what
the Lord does for us. Though we find ourselves kicking
and screaming before the day of our love, in that day, He
makes us willing. He makes us willing. And we love
him because he first loved us. And we delight. We delight in our husband. We
delight in living for him and following him and looking to
him. And he delights in us. No man will ever see himself
in the likeness of Gomer as we've described her until first they are brought
to see the glory and the grace of God. Not just his glory. This is why it's so important
that we preach Christ and him crucified. We're preaching His glory and
we're preaching His grace. We're lifting up Christ and the
obvious response to ever seeing Him in His glory and rejoicing
in His grace is that we see ourselves for what we are, unworthy, adulterous
drunkards, Left to ourselves, we'll be eternally condemned
and separated from God. Turn with me to the book of Daniel.
I often quote this passage back just a few pages, Daniel
chapter 10. But I want to look at a couple
of more verses. I quote one verse out of this passage, Let's look
at Daniel chapter 10 and begin at verse 5. Daniel speaking. Daniel is in
captivity in Babylon. This is after Hosea. Hosea is
prophesying long before they were taken into captivity. Daniel
was taken and he's there longing to return to Jerusalem. Then I lifted up my eyes and
looked And behold a certain man, a certain man clothed in linen
whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body
also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of
lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his
feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words
like the voice of multitudes. Now Daniel's not making the mistake
that John made in Revelation 19. John saw an angel and tried
to bow and worship an angel. Daniel is seeing a vision of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I, Daniel, alone saw the
vision. And the men that were with me
saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that
they fled to hide themselves. Now here's what I meant by we
see ourselves for what we are only when we see his glory and
his grace. All the other men that were with
Daniel knew that they were in the presence of God but all they
knew was the power and the glory of God and it caused them to
be afraid and they ran. Daniel heard his voice and he's
standing there alone And he's understanding that this isn't
just a God who's omnipotent, but this is a God who's filled
with compassion and love for him. Verse eight, therefore, I was
left alone and I saw this great vision and there remained no
strength in me for my comeliness, my strength, my vigor, my appearances,
whatever good I thought that I might have had, whatever good
qualities I thought that I might have had. This is the same experience
Job had. Job, for chapter after chapter,
complains about his circumstances, insisting that he doesn't deserve
it. And then God speaks. Brace yourself like a man, Job.
I'm gonna ask you a few questions. You've been asking me and accusing
me of wrongdoing. Let me ask you a few questions.
And when the Lord reveals himself to Job, Job's first words out
of his mouth, before he says, I spoke without knowledge, before
any of that, he says this, behold, I am vile. I am vile. I see myself in light of who
he is, in light of his glory, and in light of his grace. And
I see myself as Gomer, an adulterous drunkard, not worthy, not worthy,
like that publican beating himself upon the breast.
Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. I'm not worthy. I'm not
worthy. And my comeliness was turned
in me. There's a very important distinction
there. Other people might have seen
something good about me. But what I saw about me? Yeah. In me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Well, not when I'm standing in
the presence of God. Nothing good in me. Everything good about
me has got to come from him. And I got to be found in him.
My comeliness was turned in me into corruption and I retained
no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his
words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a
deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground, and behold,
a hand touched me." Here's the hand of Hosea. Can you just see
him getting Gomer home and being so tender with her? and cleaning
her up and giving her new clothes and putting her in a place of
honor in Hosea's home, taking her to himself. A hand touched
me, which set me upon my knees and
upon the palms of my hands. Now I'm no longer Prostrate on
the ground with my face in the dirt now. I'm on my hands and
knees. He's he's picking me up He's giving me a place to stand
and Here's what he's gonna say. That's gonna enable me to stand
upon my feet and he said unto me Oh Daniel a man greatly loved
Greatly loved Here's what Hosea would have said to Gomer when
he got her home. I love you. You're going to be mine. That's
why I did it. I always have loved you. My love
for you has been an everlasting love. And nothing can stop me
from loving you. And I'm going to provide for
you. And the scripture says it is the love of Christ that constraineth
us? Then said he unto me, verse 12,
Daniel, don't be afraid. Gomer must have been scared to
death when Hosea first bought her. What's he going to do with
me? How's he going to punish me for what I've done? Don't
be afraid. Daniel, from the first day that
thou did set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before
thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come to thy words. Daniel been praying for some time, and the Lord is
now saying to Daniel, Daniel, I heard you. I love you. Don't be afraid. Like all the people of God, he
never saw anything in himself that was comely again, except
that which was given to him by the comeliness of Christ. I have
given to you my comeliness. Your beauty is my beauty. Your strength is my strength.
Your righteousness is my righteousness. And the child of God lives the
rest of their lives, giving to him all the glory and all the
praise for whatever standing they have before God. All based upon his love. Peter never lost sight or memory of
that look that the Lord Jesus gave him. After Pilate had had
our Lord flogged and he came out, Peter standing there having
had denied him three times with cursing, And the soldiers march the Lord
Jesus across what's called the praetorium. And everyone's jeering
and everyone's mocking. And Peter's standing there. And
he looks across this courtyard. And he makes eye contact with
the Lord Jesus who made eye contact with him. And it wasn't a look of judgment,
it wasn't a look of anything but pure grace and love. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. It was the love of Christ that
broke his heart. And don't you know that when
Mary came from the empty tomb to tell Peter, that the Lord
had told her to single him out specifically and let him know
that he had risen. Can you just see Peter? Peter's
so ashamed of what he had done three nights before. He didn't
know if he could ever be forgiven. And Mary comes to him and says,
Peter, I've seen the Lord. And he told me to say to you,
you're the only one he named. He said, tell Peter and the other
disciples. Well, are you sure he said my
name? Yes, Peter, he said you. That's why when the Lord met
Peter, And there on the Sea of Galilee, after he said, I go
fishing, I've ruined it. I'm just going to go back to
my old profession. Peter realized it was the Lord
on the seashore and fell at his feet and cried, depart from me,
Lord. I'm such a sinful man. I'm nothing
but sin. I'm full of sin. And he wasn't just lamenting
what he had done that few nights before. He saw the Lord Jesus
in his glory. He's raised from the dead. He
saw him in his grace. He remembered that look that
the Lord had given him, and now the Lord's coming to him personally.
Peter, lovest thou me? Oh Lord, you know I love you. You know my heart. Feed my sheep. I've given you
the testimony of Jesus, the gospel, the witness of Christ. Take that
message out into the world and let everybody know who I am and
what I've done for you. My testimony will be your testimony. That woman at the well, She was
there in the middle of the day. She was the outcast of Sychar. All the other women you know
gossiped about her when they went early in the morning to
draw their water. She had to go in the heat of
the day to escape the humiliation of all that gossip. She had broken
up so many homes, lived such a life of shame and selfishness. And our Lord begins to converse
with her. and how tenderly he spoke to her. And when he said to her, you
spoke the truth, for you don't have a husband. You've had five,
and the man that you're living with is not your husband. Now, under normal circumstances,
had anybody in Sychar said that to her, she would have turned
on her heels in a huff. She'd heard that before. She'd
heard that accusation. She'd heard those words. She'd
heard other people talk about her like that. And don't you
know that it just infuriated her, shamed her. She'd run from
that relationship if somebody said that to her. But when the
Lord said it to her, she runs back down into Sychar and she
says, come, meet a man who told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? You see, she received his words,
not as judgment and condemnation, but as love and grace and power
and one who could save her. Come, now this is her witness. And when all the rest of the
people came, what did the men say? We believe now, not because
of your testimony, but because we've heard him ourselves. We've
heard him ourselves. Oh, what amazing grace. What
amazing love. We don't need the law. We've
got the law of grace. We've got the law of love. We've
got the law of the spirit. And all the law and the prophets
are summed up in this one thing, love. Love. It's love that constrains
us, it's love that breaks our heart, it's love that saves us,
it's love that keeps us. The golden chain of salvation
begins with love. For them whom he did foreknow,
he loved them. As Jeremiah tells us in Jeremiah
chapter 31, I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore
I have drawn thee with cords of kindness. It's my love that
has caused you to come to me. Those that he foreknew, he loved
them with an everlasting love and a covenant of grace. And
his love can't change. This is our hope. I am the Lord
and I change not, and that's why you sons of Jacob, you adulterous
drunkards, you, you, you. That's why you're not, that's
why you're saved. That's your hope. I am the Lord
and I change not. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not destroyed. You're not consumed. I've loved
you with an everlasting love. This is what Hosea said to Gomer.
Why? Because I love you. I've always
loved you. I've always loved you. You take that golden chain of
foreknowledge and predestination and calling and being justified
and being glorified. Being glorified is going to heaven.
And you move it back in reverse and you begin. You end up. with foreknowledge. I've always
loved you. Nothing can change that. Nothing
can change that. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Look at verse 34 in Romans chapter
eight. Who is he that condemneth? The woman at the well is not
worried about her reputation anymore. I've been justified by God Almighty. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? He's taken away my sin. He's
taken away my shame. He's loved me with everlasting
love. So who is he that condemneth?
Why do I have to worry about the judgments of men? Why do
I have to worry about the judgments of the law? The law can't condemn
me. The law is silenced by the love of Christ. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Like all the glorious attributes
of Christ, they are, they are, most glorified at Calvary. You want to see the love of God?
You look to what Christ did. For greater love hath no man
than this. He laid down his life for his friend. He went to that
cross out of love for his people. He paid our debt, and it was
a whole lot more than 15 or 30 shekels of silver. It was his
precious blood spilled out He suffered the full justice and
wrath of almighty God, separated from his father, cast into the
very pit of hell, bore all the shame of our sin. Now, why'd
you do it? Why'd you do that, Hosea? Why'd you come and buy
me? Why did you purchase me to yourself?
Because I love you. Because I love you. That's why
I did it. There's no other reason. It wasn't because I found something
in you that was worth buying. It wasn't because I thought I
could take you home and clean you up, and you'd be useful to
me. It's because I love you. That's the only reason. I've
always loved you, and I always will love you. It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen again. That's the proof that
he loved us and justified us, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. We have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Oh, and there's lots of those things the Lord ordains for us
to have to suffer in this world. Can they separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? No, absolutely not. Nothing can separate us from
his love. For as it is written, for thy
sakes we are killed all the day long. The reason for the Lord
ordains these things for us, these trials, these troubles,
these tribulations, is for us to die again and again and again
to ourselves, that we might be made alive to Christ. What is
it to die to yourself? To see yourself as an adulterous
drunkard? Apart from Christ, I'm dead. Apart from Christ, I'm hell deserving. I've died to myself. That's the
circumcision of the heart. I've got nothing in my flesh
that would merit me any favor with God. I'm completely dependent
upon my Hosea to redeem me. We are counted as sheep to the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. Who loved us. Hosea, why did
you do this for me? Because I love you. For I am
persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is the royal law of liberty
that James talked about. It's the law of love. Galatians chapter 5 verse 14
says, all, all of the law is summed up in one word, love. 1 John chapter 4, and we'll close.
1 John chapter 4. There's so much in this whole
chapter, but I want to limit our time to two verses, verse
9 and 10. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. Here's how I know God loves me.
This is the manifestation of it. This is the testimony of
Jesus, which is the spirit of all prophecy. This is the message
of hope and salvation for the Gomers of this world. Because that as God, yes, because
that as God sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might
live through him. He left his rightful place in
glory. He veiled the glory of his deity
with the likeness of sinful flesh. How much love is that? The condescension
of God who came into this world to suffer the contradiction of
sinners and to live in a sinful world. There's his love, but then it culminates and reaches
its zenith. Verse 10, herein is love. Herein is love. Here's the definition
of love. Not that we love God. We can't
define love by our love. Our love is so fickle. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
of our sins. Whatever wrath, this is what
the word propitiation means, whatever justice, whatever judgment
for sin, there is in the perfect righteousness of God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ bore that in his body upon the tree, for
God so loved that he gave." Here's the demonstration of love. Love
is giving. The most abused words in the
English language is, I love you. People say it and they don't
mean it. Love is seen in what it gives
and what it sacrifices for the object of that love. And there's
no greater love ever been demonstrated or ever been manifested than
what the Lord Jesus did when he laid down his life for his
sheep. Hearing his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation
of our sins. Amazing, amazing grace. We're amazed by it. Gomer, she saw Hosea standing
there. No one else would make an offer. Hosea steps up, and in compassion and in love,
he buys her to himself, takes her home. Says, you're going
to be mine now. You're not going to play the
harlot anymore. You're not going to worship any other god. You're
going to worship me. And most importantly, I'm going to be
yours. I'm going to remain faithful
to you all the days of your life. Why would you do that, Hosea?
Because I love you. Because I love you. Tom. 18, let's stand together, number
18. We'll sing the refrain as if
it was just verse two.