This past Sunday evening, I meant
to mention to you that we would be beginning a study in the book
of Hosea. And actually, probably go through
the minor prophets. Those who are in literature,
biblical literature, called the minor prophets. They're not minor
because of the message. They're minor because of the
length of the books. which is sort of interesting because Hosea
is actually longer than Daniel, but I don't know how they worked
all that out. I don't really care. I just know this, that
the message of the minor prophets is not a minor message. It's
a major message. It's a gospel message. It's a
message of the glory of God. And so tonight we're going to
begin in Hosea chapter one. And it's good for you to read
ahead on these chapters just to familiarize yourself with
the language and some of the history of it. But what I want
to talk to you tonight about is this subject, Present Judgment
and Future Salvation. That's the title of the message,
Present Judgment, Future Salvation. Now the first part of Hosea begins
with God's indictment against the nation Israel. God brings
charges against Israel. He has a matter, a controversy,
sometimes the prophets would say. God has a controversy with
you. God has a matter against you. And the nation had sinned greatly. That included the kings, the
leaders, the religious leaders, and the majority of the people.
And it says in verse 1 that the word of the Lord that came unto
Hosea, the son of Berei. So what we're confronted with
at the opening of this chapter is that this man Hosea is a prophet
of God. He's not speaking on his own.
This is not the national news network in which he has a round
table discussion where men and women give their opinions. This
is God's word speaking through a man named Hosea. Now Hosea
was God's prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. And he prophesied
probably around 45 to 60 years. Some say less, some say more,
doesn't really matter. But he prophesied quite a long
time. He preached the word of God.
He preached the word of judgment. He preached the word of promise
also. But he preached in the northern
kingdom that was made up of the ten tribes, the ten northern
tribes except for Judah and Benjamin which comprised the southern
kingdom. Now he did prophesy concerning
the southern kingdom of Judah, he mentions that here in In verse
one, look at it, he says, the word of the Lord that came unto
Hosea the son of Beriah in the days of Uzziah. Now Uzziah was
a king in the southern kingdom. Remember, he was king when Isaiah
was around. Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings
of Judah, the southern kingdom. And in the days of Jeroboam,
this is the second Jeroboam, you remember when the kingdom
was first divided right after Solomon, it was divided between
Rehoboam and Jeroboam, this is Jeroboam the second, and he says,
Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. So he did prophesy
concerning the southern kingdom of Judah, but his message was
mainly to the north. and concerning the Northern Kingdom.
Hosea was from the Northern Kingdom, and he prophesied in the Northern
Kingdom. Now, if you're not familiar with
that, I'm not going to go into all the history of all this.
You know how I'm apt to get into that a little bit, but it is
interesting to read about it. You know, after Solomon died,
there was a great civil war in the kingdom. You know, David
and Solomon, they reigned over a united kingdom. We saw the
seeds of division when we studied the life of David. when the 10
tribes came back and Judah was being favored with Benjamin.
But after Solomon, there was a civil war, and this is about,
oh, somewhere around 900 years before the birth of Christ, to
give you an idea, 900 to 950. Hosea prophesied around 700 years
before the birth of Christ. But after Solomon, the kingdom
was divided by civil war, separated into two kingdoms. The northern
kingdom, that was the 10 tribes with its capital in Samaria.
And yes, that's where eventually the Samaritans came from. They
intermingled. They were a mixed breed. They
weren't purebred Jews. You see, that's why Paul in Philippians
chapter 3 boasted that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. No mixed
blood there. And I've often said I don't really
know how he knew that, but that's what he boasted of anyway. But
the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, and its capital was Samaria. It was known as the house of
Israel and it was sometimes called Ephraim because that was the
largest tribe. Hosea refers to it as Ephraim
sometimes, the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom was known
as the house of Judah. And you know Judah was the royal
tribe. That was the kingly tribe. That was the tribe that our Lord
came through according to the flesh. That was the tribe that
Jacob prophesied of to his sons when he pointed out and singled
out Judah. Judah the lion's whelp. And he
said, the scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh come.
And that was comprised mainly of Judah and Benjamin. Its capital
was Jerusalem. Hosea followed the prophet Amos. And yet in our King James Bible,
he's the first of the minor prophets. But in time, he followed Amos.
Amos was another northern prophet, prophesied during the same period
as Isaiah and Micah in the south. Now, the background of his prophecy
was this, and this is very important to understand who he's talking
to. Listen to what he says here in verse two. It says, the beginning
of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, now
here's the strange commandment. You all are familiar with this.
You know about Hosea and what God commanded this man, this
prophet to do. He says, go take unto thee a
wife of Hortums. And he said, and children of
Hortums. Now why? Well he tells us right
here, for the land, the nation, hath committed great whoredom.
Here's the charge, here's the indictment against the nation,
God's indictment. And this is why he told Hosea
to do this, you see. For the land hath committed great
whoredom. Now what kind of whoredom had
they committed? Spiritual whoredom, spiritual
harlotry. And that's the best, you know,
no holds barred, this is what it says, spiritual adultery,
if you will. And how do you know it is? Because
he defines it right here, departing from the Lord. The nation had
departed from the Lord. And this is the background, this
is the setting of Hosea's prophecy. It's one, in this kingdom under
Jeroboam II, the northern kingdom actually was very prosperous,
very wealthy. Its borders had been reestablished
against all of its enemies, but it was a time of great spiritual
and moral depravity and decline. It was a time of unbelief. It
was a time of great idolatry, adultery. and it was a time of
great decline religiously and so as they were at peace and
prosperous materially and things of the world and what most people
the world would say this was a very successful kingdom spiritually
speaking they were a total total failure total failure the king
Jeroboam he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord
there was no truth There was no heart, there was no covenant,
no regard to God, no fear of God. In fact, I want you to turn
over with me to the book of Amos chapter 5. Now I told you, Hosea
and Amos, they prophesied just about the same time period. Amos
was first and then Hosea followed. But if you want to read what
the nation was like, how God viewed the nation, look at Amos
chapter 5. Amos chapter 5 and look at verse 21. And listen
to God's indictment against the nation through Amos in verse
21. God says, this is God speaking
through Amos. Here's what God says. He said,
I hate, I despise your feast days. They're religious holidays. and I will not smell in your
solemn assemblies." Now that's just a way of, you know how when
the Bible sometimes refers to the burnt offerings being a sweet
savor unto God and the smell of God, meaning that God accepts
them. And that's what he's saying here. He said, I won't accept
them. They're a stench in God's nostrils. He says in verse 22,
look, though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
I will not accept them. Neither will I regard the peace
offerings of your fat beast. Take thou away from me the noise
of thy songs. I don't even want to hear your
hymn singing. That's what he's saying. Your religious songs.
For I will not hear the melody of thy vials, thy instruments.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as
a mighty stream." Judgment, that's what he's talking about. Have
you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel? But you have borne the tabernacle
of your Moloch. That's a false god. That's an
idol. Kion your images all false gods he's accused in other words
under that they claim to be worshipping the one true and living God they
claim to be worshipping the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob God
says you're you're in idolatry he says you're the star of your
God which you made to yourselves therefore will I cause you to
go into captivity beyond Damascus saith the Lord, whose name is
the God of hosts." Now, that's the state of the nation. That's
the state of the nation address there. And that's who Amos prophesied
to, and that's who Hosea is prophesying to. If you want to read the history
in the Bible of the time of Hosea's prophecy, read 2 Kings chapters
14 through 20. 2 Kings chapters 14 through 20
and 2 Chronicles 26 through 32 But here they are a prosperous
nation, but spiritually morally declined depraved Now what is
that? Well, that's a picture of fallen
sinful humanity Deserving nothing but God's wrath. It's a picture
of fallen man. It's a picture of us in our sins
That's exactly what it is the state of this nation. It's a
picture of even God's people, his chosen people, who are objects
of his unconditional, electing, redeeming love in Christ in our
own fallen human nature. What are we? We're sinners who
deserve nothing but condemnation and nothing but wrath in and
of ourselves. And Hosea, he's clear about what
Israel deserved. But I'll tell you what, and you
know this is so. If you're familiar with the book
of Hosea, I know you've heard some messages on it. Brother
Joe Bryson preached a great message on it several weeks ago about
Hosea and his wife, Gomer. And this book is one of the shining
diamonds, the shining jewels of an example and message of
God's unconditional love. and his sovereign grace and mercy
towards his people." You know what Hosea's name means? It means
salvation. That's what his name means. His
name is a derivative from the same name as Joshua or Yeshua,
even the same name in the Greek as Jesus, which means Savior,
from the same word. And the theme of this book, even
though it begins with God's charges against Israel and the indictment
that he brings, The theme of this book is none other than
salvation by the free grace of God as a product of God's unconditional
love in Christ. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Look over at chapter 14 of Hosea,
the very last chapter. Let me show you a verse in the
concluding chapter here in verse 4. where the Lord proclaims through
Hosea. Listen to it. He says in verse
four of Hosea 14, I will heal their backsliding. I will love
them how? Freely. That means unconditionally. That means without a cause. In
other words, God's love, his sovereign, divine, redemptive
love will go out to no one, go out to those who in themselves
have nothing with which to earn, deserve, or have God's love. He said, for mine anger is turned
away from him. That's the good statement of
the theme of this book. Salvation. And this is seen first
in Hosea's life. God says, you go marry a wife
of whoredoms. Now, no self-respecting prophet
will go out and look for a woman like that. And yet, What a great
picture of Christ and his bride, the church. Christ church, his
elect people, who were betrothed to him in the everlasting covenant
of grace, not as those who would earn his love or deserve his
love, but those who would fall, would fall in Adam. and commit
spiritual harlotry, spiritual adultery, spiritual whoredom. And that's exactly what Hosea's
life pictures, and that's exactly what his message is all about
in his life, his marriage to Gomer. And then we're going to
see in after chapter 3, the message that he has to the nation is
going to typify the same thing. Go marry a wife of whoredoms.
What a strange command. That's certainly not the word
of men. That certainly wouldn't be the instructions of the so-called
holier-than-thou's today. But here's a prophet of God,
and he's taking unto himself a harlot to be his wife. I read a message on this called,
The Prophet Who Married a Prostitute. Now, who would ever think of
such a thing? He's certainly not a man whom we would want
to have as our pastor, would we? A man who married a harlot. What a great picture, though,
of my salvation, of your salvation, by God's grace and mercy and
unconditional love in Christ. Christ, in that everlasting covenant
of grace, took unto himself a fallen, sinful bride. And I, you know,
when I saw this, I thought about the Pharisees. You know, when
they confronted the disciples and confronted our Lord, one
of the main things that they, one of the main charges that
they brought and the main questions that they had is, why does your
master eat with publicans and sinners? They called him a gluttonous
man, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. You
remember when the prostitute came and dipped her hair into
that costly ointment and anointed him? They got offended. They
said if he was a prophet of God, he'd know what kind of woman
that was, and he wouldn't have anything to do with her. Well,
my friend, never let it slip your mind or your heart. that
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, real sinners. And I'll tell you what, if we
really knew ourselves The way God sees us outside of Christ. I know He doesn't see us outside
of Christ, but I'm talking about in our sins and in our depravity. We've never looked down on anybody
else. We never would. Now that's so. Christ Jesus, He said, I came
to call sinners to repentance. The whole don't need a physician.
And God uses this prophet. And I'll tell you something now.
And listen, Hosea really loved this woman, Gomer. I'm convinced
of it. And you know how I know that?
Because Christ loves his church, loves his bride. He didn't just
say, well, if I have to do it, I'll do it. No, he fell in love
with this woman. And there's a lot of arguments.
Some people say, well, she wasn't a prostitute when she married
him, but later on. I don't know, and I don't care.
It doesn't matter. I know what she is by nature.
If she hadn't committed the act, that's what she is by nature,
just like us, sinners who deserve nothing but damnation. Well,
look at verse 3. Now, from here to verse 9, we
have God's just punishment against Israel. Now, God's brought the
charge. My people have departed from the Lord. They've forgotten
God. They're religious. They're religious
now. They keep the feast days, they
bring the sacrifices, but they've lost the heart, they've lost
the truth, they've lost the message. It's religion without Christ.
It's religion without truth. It's religion without grace. It's religion without heart.
That's what it is. There's no gospel there. It's
a self-righteous religious exercise. That's what it's become. It's
like most religion today. In fact, once we get into Hosea,
you're gonna be amazed at how much the days that he speaks,
the people that he speaks to and their situation is almost
like reading our newspaper. Very, very appropriate for all
of us. But from verse three to verse nine, he shows God's just
punishment against Israel. And what he's saying here is
God must punish sin. Look at it in verse three. So
he went and he took Gomer, the daughter of Debalaim, which conceived
and bare him a son. Now remember Hosea means savior. That's what his name means. He's
a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. who was commanded by the Father
in the covenant and who agreed willingly to come to this fallen
earth and take a wife from among the fallen spiritual harlots
of humanity, his elect people who have been given betrothed
to Christ. Hosea took Gomer. That name Gomer
means consumption, represents God's elect consumed with sin
and consumed by sin. And it also means consummation.
For as we in ourselves are the consummation of sin and depravity,
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, according to God's purpose and
will, we're the consummation of his great unconditional redemptive
love. And that's the glory of God.
Gomer was the daughter of Debalaim. That name means dried or dead.
In other words, she was a, it's like being the dead child of
a dead father. Doesn't that describe us? Children
of Adam, born dead in trespasses and sins. You see, it's not,
no, somebody says, well, this is so strange. This is so strange. You read this story and you want,
you know, and you'd be amazed at how much argument there is
among so-called theologians, whether or not this really happened.
Because people just can't believe this would really happen, that
God would, let alone that a man like Hosea would go and marry
a prostitute, but that God would command him to do so? That's
so strange. But let me tell you something
now. It's no stranger than God loving, choosing, redeeming,
and joining Himself to me or to you. In fact, it's pretty
mild when you compare it to that. Hosea is going to illustrate
Christ's unconditional conquering love for us on Calvary. Here's
the one, here's the one who redeems us from our sins and gives us
a robe of righteousness, a bridal gown, the bride's robe of righteousness,
and marries us, his church. Look at verse four. It says,
now, Gomer conceived and bare Hosea's son, Verse four says,
the Lord said unto him, call his name Jezreel. For yet a little
while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Now, and he says, and it shall come to pass at that day that
I will break the bow of Israel, the bow being a symbol of power,
military power, in the valley of Jezreel. That name Jezreel. In the Bible, it's first the
name of a place. It's a place where it has a lot
of history, a lot of glorious history, and a lot of bloody
history too, Jezreel does. It's the place where Gideon defeated
the Midianites. It's the place where Samaria
was in Israel. It's the place where, you remember
King Ahab when he stole Naboth's vineyard? It was the place where
Elijah proclaimed that Jezebel would be killed. 1 Kings 21. And this man Jehu, now he says,
I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. A lot
of history there. Jehu was a king of Israel. He was anointed as king by the
prophet Elisha. And then he became a very bloody
man. He killed King Jehoram of Israel. He killed King Azariah of Judah
and other kings. He's the one who commanded that
Jezebel be thrown out of the window. remain in the streets
where the dogs could eat her. That was Jehu. And Jehu, like
every other king of Israel, proved himself to be a wicked man with
no heart for God, no love for the truth, no worship of God,
no leadership spiritually according to the covenant. And although
he did, now, he did some good things. Turn back to 2 Kings
chapter 10. Let me show you something about
Jehu here. And this pretty much describes all the kings of the
Northern Kingdom. Remember, one time I was, I think
I told you in a message, you know, in the history of the Northern
Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, every king of the Northern Kingdom
was a wicked king. Idolatrous, selfish. Not one
of the Northern Kings led the people in the ways of the Lord,
according to the covenant. Not one of them. Now in the southern
kingdom, there were a few what the Bible calls good kings. In
other words, they did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord. Hezekiah was one of them that was mentioned here. Uzziah
had a good beginning, but a bad end. But on the whole, most of
the kings of Judah were evil, too. And so Jehu is just one
in a long line of wicked kings of the northern tribes. Look
at verse 28 of 2nd Kings chapter 10 and listen to what happened
to Jehu there it says in verse 28 of chapter 10 thus Jehu destroyed
Baal out of Israel now you know what Baal is that's an idol Baal's
an idol well Jehu wouldn't put up with Baal he destroyed Baal
but read on verse 29 It says, how be it from the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, that's the first Jeroboam, who made Israel
to sin, Jehu departed not from after them to wit the golden
calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. He allowed
them to build, to make golden calves. Well, that seems to be
a thorn in Israel's side, doesn't it? The golden calves. Where'd
they get that from? Well, they got it from their
heritage in bondage in Egypt. That's why they did it at the
bottom of Mount Sinai. when Moses was up there and he come down,
he saw the golden idolatry that is in bondage. You see, that's
why we must come to repentance of dead works and former idolatry,
the scripture says. When we come to Christ in faith,
we come also in repentance because we must leave the idolatry of
our bondage in sin. And it says here, and it says
verse 30, and the Lord said unto Jehu, because thou hast done
well in executing that which is right in mine eyes and hast
done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart,
thy children of thy fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, God of
Israel, with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins
of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. So he sinned greatly. against God. He was a murderer
of kings. And Jeroboam of the northern
kingdom here, during Hosea's prophecy, he was a descendant
of Jehu. Now here's what God said. Go
back to Hosea 1. He said, Hosea, you name this
boy, this boy, his firstborn son, born by a harlot, you name
him Jezreel. That's to remind his people of
these crimes and sins which had never been repented of. You know
what Jezreel means? It means one of two things, both
of them very similar. It means God will scatter or
God will sow, as in sowing seed. And here's what he says. He says
he's going to cause, verse 4, he will cause to cease the kingdom
of the house of Israel. Think about it. He's going to
scatter the nation by sowing his wrath. And he's going to
cause that kingdom, that northern kingdom of Israel, to cease to
exist. That's what that means. No more. That's why you all the time hear
stories in literature today about the lost ten tribes. You see,
just a few years after this, the Assyrian army came down and
just obliterated them, took them into captivity, and scattered
them throughout, and everybody's looking for the Lost Ten Tribes. Now, you're not going to find
the Lost Ten Tribes. And you want to know why? Right
here in verse 4, God will cause to cease the kingdom of the house
of Israel. That's why. Some of them say,
well, that's America is the Lost Ten Tribes. That's crazy. That's just prides, all that
is. Actually, I guess you could say, what do you have to be proud
of if you look at them? But it's just as much idolatry
today as there was then. This prophecy was going to be
fulfilled as God brought the arm of His judgment to scatter
this nation and cause them to cease to exist, and that's God's
judgment. Now look at verse 6. He says,
and she conceived again, Gomer conceived again, and bear a daughter.
And God said unto him, call her name Loruhamma. That means no
mercy. For I will no more have mercy
upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. I will utterly take them away.
God's not gonna have any mercy on them. Now that also shows
us the nature of the covenant God made with the nation Israel.
It was a temporal covenant. It was a temporary covenant,
and it was a conditional covenant. You see, if this were eternal
salvation in that covenant, God would never stop having mercy
upon them. But this was conditional upon
that nation, and it was temporal. You know, there's 41 times in
the Old Testament that you'll read this phrase. Y'all know
what it is. His mercy, what? Endureth forever. For the Lord God is good, his
mercy is everlasting, his truth endureth to all generations.
Now what kind of mercy is that talking about? That's talking
about his mercy in Christ. According to the covenant of
grace. That's not talking about his temporal, conditional blessings
and mercy upon the nation Israel under the old covenant. The covenant
of Sinai. You see, here's what he's showing
us. The law provides for no mercy. It will not because it's always
conditional. The law can only pronounce death
and wrath because of sin. That's why it's called the covenant
or the ministration of death and condemnation. It can provide for no eternal
mercy. It's always conditional. But
now look at verse seven. He says, but I will have mercy
upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their
God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle,
by horses, nor by horsemen. Now think about that. God purposed
to have mercy upon the house of Judah. Now why? Why didn't God have mercy upon
Israel, and then did have mercy upon Judah? Well, we know Judah,
as I said before, they did have a few faithful kings, a few obedient
kings. such as Hezekiah. He was one
of them. In fact, he was the king when the Assyrian army came
down and destroyed the northern kingdom. When they attacked the
southern kingdom, Hezekiah was the king, you remember. And you
remember what happened. God didn't deliver Judah by bow
or sword or battle or horses or horsemen. He sent an angel
of the Lord who destroyed 185,000 Assyrians. You remember that? You can read about it in 2 Kings
19. That's what happened. But let me tell you something,
and here's the fact of it. Judah was no more worthy of God's
mercy than Israel was. And if you want to know that
for sure, read the first chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
prophesied in Judah. And it's almost like a carbon
copy of Amos chapter 5 there, where you see a nation that is
religious but lost. It's religion without truth,
religion without Christ, religion without grace, religion without
heart. In fact, God even compares the
southern kingdom to Sodom and Gomorrah. He made this statement
through Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 1. He said, except the Lord of
Sabaoth, which means the Lord who is over all, except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a remnant, a small group of truly believing
people, by the grace of God, we would have been as Sodom and
Gomorrah. So Judah, God didn't have mercy upon Judah because
Judah was more faithful or more obedient or better than Israel. Again, now they had some times
of national obedience, but it never lasted. It never lasted. And he says here what in verse
seven? He says, I'll have mercy upon the house of Judah. Now
mercy by its very nature cannot be deserved. You cannot earn
mercy, and you cannot deserve mercy. If you deserve leniency,
if you deserve blessings, it's not mercy, it's justice. Did
you know that? Mercy can only be shown to the
guilty. Mercy can only be shown to the
undeserving. And therefore, it's within the
wise and loving heart of God to show mercy, as Romans chapter
9 and verse 15 says, to whom he will." Now what he told Moses,
and what Paul repeated by inspiration of the Spirit in Romans 9.15,
God said, I'll have mercy upon who I will have mercy, and I'll
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. But let me tell you something.
No one is ever unfair or unjust for not showing mercy. Ever. You see, this verse 7 is not
a testimony to Judah's goodness. It's a testimony to one thing,
and that's God's sovereign purpose of grace. Why did God show mercy
to Judah? It was because he purposed in
his sovereign will to keep that one tribe together, out of all
those tribes, at least to keep that one tribe together because
he had already made a promise according to a covenant that
was made before the foundation of the world that the scepter
would not depart from Judah until Shiloh come." Now, who's Shiloh?
That's Christ. Genesis 49 and verse 10. And here's what he did. He spared
Judah in spite of itself. And I'll tell you what. You're
going to see how Hosea who married Gomer. And when Gomer leaves
him and goes off into her highlitary and forgets Hosea, Hosea never
stops loving her. Hosea goes out and gets her and
redeems her in spite of herself. And I'll tell you something else.
If God saves me or you and brings us into glory, it will be in
spite of ourselves. Now you can mark it down. It's
mercy. Look at verse 8. He says, now
when she had weaned Lo-ruamah, she conceived and bare a son,
and then said, God, then said, God, call his name Lo-amai, for
you are not my people and I will not be your God. Not my people,
that's what Lo-amai means. God disassociated himself with
that northern kingdom. Again, that's the nature of the
Old Covenant. It's temporal, it's temporary,
it's conditional. There was no eternal salvation,
no eternal grace, no eternal mercy, no righteousness in that
Old Covenant. It was given to expose their
sinfulness and show them their need of God's grace in Christ
who was to come. So he says, you're not my people
anymore. God joined himself temporarily, ceremonially, through that covenant
of Sinai to that nation for a particular period of time, but no more.
That's over now with the ten tribes. Not over yet with Judah,
but it will be. It will be. And compare this, now look at
verse 10. Now here's the future restoration of spiritual Israel. He says, now I will not be your
God, you will not be my people. Now God's the God of everyone.
But he's talking about that covenant relationship, that's no more.
That earthly covenant now. But he says in verse 10, yet
the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered, And it shall come
to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are
not my people, there it shall be said unto them, you are the
sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah
and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint
themselves one head at one heads Christ now. And they shall come
up out of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel. God sowing his people. his seed, his children, and God's
scattering them throughout the world to preach the gospel. What's
he talking about? This future restoration of spiritual
Israel. We'll turn to Jeremiah 31 with
me first. Jeremiah 31. Now, those last
two verses and the first verse of chapter two of Hosea, where
he says, say ye unto your brethren, am I? In other words, you are
my people. And Ruhamah, that is, you have
obtained mercy. Those verses, they don't speak
of a physical nation, they speak of a spiritual nation. According
to another covenant, Not a temporal, temporary covenant, not a conditional
covenant that is conditioned on sinners. But it's a covenant
that is worked out, fulfilled, and ratified by one head. And
who is that head? That's Christ, the head of the
church. So he's talking about that God's people will be restored
and eternally saved, you say, by His grace according to His
covenant. and that's spiritual Israel.
Now, some of these fundamentalists today will call what I just said
to you the heresy of replacement theology. You may have heard
that. I don't know if you've heard
it. The guy used to come on before me when we come on at 8.30, that's
what he said. He says the heresy, the damnable
heresy of replacement theology, the church replacing the nation
Israel. Well, let me tell you something
now. First of all, let's read the
Bible, okay? That's number one. But it's not
replacement theology. I'll tell you exactly what it
is. It's fulfillment theology. It's not that the church has
replaced the nation Israel. It's simply that God is fulfilling
what he meant to do all along according to an everlasting covenant
made before the foundation of the world. And listen to it in
Jeremiah 31 and verse 31. Listen to this. He says, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Now,
by the time Jeremiah prophesies, Israel is already gone and Judah
is about to be gone to Babylonian captivity. They'll come back
out of that 70 years, but then they'll last only up until a
certain period of time. But he says, I'll make a new
covenant. And verse 32, now look at it. This new covenant will
not be according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break. Although I was in
husband unto them, saith the Lord, in a temporary, temporal,
ceremonial way. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. You
know what he's describing here? He's describing the new birth.
Regeneration and conversion. He said, I'll write it in their
hearts. not just on tablets of stone, but in their hearts. He
said, I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know
me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. That's eternal salvation. Now
turn to Romans chapter nine. I've always said that the best
commentary on the Old Testament is what? The New Testament. Here, the Apostle Paul quotes
directly from Hosea chapter 1, verse 10. And what's he talking about here?
Well, in Romans 9, what's he say? Well, he's praying for his
brethren according to the flesh. That's the Jews. Paul prayed
for them. And we should pray for them too.
We should pray for everybody. I want to see people come to
know Christ. Don't you? Jew and Gentile. I want to see Arabs come to Christ.
Wouldn't you? Somebody said, well, I believe
that in the future the whole nation of Israel is going to
turn to Christ. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. But wouldn't
it be great if they did? It'd be great if any... You know,
God doesn't save nations. He saves sinners. But if the whole nation of America
would turn to Christ tonight, wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't
you rejoice? I sure would. I don't believe the Bible says
that's going to happen. But if it did, that would be great.
It's all right with me. So yes, we should pray for him.
Paul's praying for him. He said, I could wish myself
a curse for my brethren according to the flesh. But the very fact
that the nation as a whole, the majority of that nation, rejected
Christ, and still do, that's why we cannot have today any
religious fellowship with the Jews, because they reject our
Savior. They reject Christ. We can't
have religious fellowship with anyone who rejects Christ. The
Scripture tells us that. The Old Testament and the New
Testament tells us that, you see. But the fact that that nation
in the majority as a whole rejected Christ does not mean that God's
promise to save all Israel was of none effect. Verse 6, Romans
9. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called." In other words, your physical connection
with Abraham doesn't make you a child of God. But it's the
promise that came through Isaac, and that's referring to Christ.
He says in verse 8, that is, they which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. Now who are the children
of the promise? He says those who believe the promise. What's
the promise? God will save you for Christ's
sake. All who believe in Christ. Now
go on over to verse 23. Romans 9. Now listen to this,
he says that God might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he had a for prepared under glory even
us whom he hath called not of the Jews only but also of what
the Gentiles Now, whatever Paul's going to say here, by inspiration
of the Spirit, it includes what? Both Jew and Gentile, all who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jew or Gentile. He said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and to the Greek also, the Gentile. And he says, verse 25, as he
saith also in Osea, or O'Shea, that's Hosea. I will call them
my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which
was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said of them, you are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. That's the fulfillment of Isaiah's
prophecy right there. And Peter said the same thing.
Let me read this to you and then we'll quit. Look at first Peter
chapter two. And Peter wrote this to the strangers
scattered throughout Cappadocia and all of that. That includes
Gentile, this is Jewish and Gentile believers. That's what he's talking
about. Look at 1 Peter 2, look at verse 9. 1 Peter 2, 9, he says, but you
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a
peculiar or a purchased people. that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, you see, but now have obtained mercy.
And therefore, as Hosea says in verse one of chapter two,
say ye unto your brethren, am I? And to your sister, Ruhamah,
you got a new name. It's no longer, lo, am I, not
my people. It's no longer, lo, Ruhamah,
no mercy. It's am I, you're my people,
you're God's people. And it's Ruhamah, it's those
who have obtained mercy through Christ, who is the Lord, our
righteousness. All right.