Hello, everybody. Good seeing
you. I thought this evening, I don't
think I've ever preached on a Monday before. I don't think I'm any more nervous
than normal. If you still have First Corinthians there, I have
to touch on it. All of mankind has what they
think. People think things, well, I
think this and I think that. All of mankind has an opinion
for somebody else, don't they? And I've been accused of things
since I was very young. And it still stings some. Everybody wants somebody to be
happy with them. I don't want people to be mad at me. But I'd
say, you're one of them frozen chosen, or I don't know, pick
some kind of childish name. And you believe in election.
I sure do. God's word declares it as plain
as it can be written. You can get mad and refuse to
believe it or whatever. God chose a people. And then
say, you think you're better than everybody else. Well, that's
what you think. Do you know what God says about
that chosen people? This goes hand-in-hand with the
message. Now, I got to take a little bit.
Look here in verse 27. God hath chosen. He's chosen
the people. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 27. God
hath chosen. Who chose? God chose. What did
He choose? The people. Now, what's those
people like? Foolish. Foolish things of the
world confound the wise. God has chosen the Weak things. Confound the things that are
mighty. God has chosen the base things. They're foolish. They're
weak. They're base. God hath chosen things which
are despised. God hath chosen, yea, the things
which are not. That means they're nothing. Nothing. They're fools. They're weak.
They're base. They're despised. They're nothing. To bring to naught the things
that are. Why? Why? That's the title of my message
tonight. Why me? Why me? Why you? That God's chosen. The judge saying, why not me? That's what natural man thinks. A believer that God's worked
in their heart and he saved them by his grace and in his power
and his doing, by good pleasure, his will. They say, why me? You ever wake up in the morning
and look in the mirror and you say, there ain't no way that
that fellow right there is a child of God. You ever thought things
and you think, there's no way. There's no way. If there's someone
that's going to trifle with the gospel and there's someone that's
going to come in contact with this holy God and that if it's
up to them, if it's up to me, I'm going to fail. I'm weak.
I'm going to be despised to God. How in the world could I be saved? Why me? Well, why does God chose
a people? Verse 29, that No flesh should glory in His
presence. It's for His glory. Not for mine,
not for mom and daddy's, not for Sunday school teacher. It's
for God's glory. That's why. For the glory of
Christ. For Christ's sake, we're not
consumed. That's why. That's why I'm me. Well, there's a character in
the scriptures. There's a lot of women in the scriptures. And
I'm thankful for their stories. And there's a lady that depicts
us, us fools, us weak, us base things, us despised, us things
that are nothing. There's a lady that depicts us. And God sent
this thing that really happened on this earth. He sent this woman
and sent her a husband so he could show what he was going
to do to his bride. He said, I'm going to do all
this so I can show Israel this is what I'm going to do for them.
He turned to Hosea, Hosea chapter 1. You got Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea. If you get to Joel, you went
too far. That's what scholars refer to
as the minor prophets. I wouldn't dare say that to Hosea. It's a major gospel and that
might be short. It's the outcome. Why don't they
just call it the shorter gospels? That's plainer. Hosea is the English name for
Hosea, which means deliverer, savior. That's Joshua, Jesus.
This is his name. It says in verse one, the word
of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Berea in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah. In the days of
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." This is the same
kings that was in place whenever Isaiah was. Isaiah was the prophet
and Hosea was the prophet. We're on good ground this evening,
ain't we? And it's got the list of those kings. And that's not
just so we know that, so scholars can say, well, Isaiah was a major
prophet and this is a minor prophet. The big, the longer prophet,
the shorter prophet. I looked up these names one time and I
preached on a little bit and I looked up and it was just crickets.
You can go look this up on your own. But to me, this was very
sweet. Uzziah, the son of Bariah, that's the fountain. Here's the
fountain of life. This is the son of the fountain.
Uzziah, that means in the days of the strength of the Lord.
Jotham, Jehovah is perfect. Ahaz, possessor. Hezekiah, strength
of the Lord. This is important. This is about
us. And in the days of Jeroboam,
that means the people will contend, they're gonna strive, they're
gonna have controversy. The son of Joash, Jehovah's fire. Well, the Lord was pleased in
this day when he speaks to his prophet, Hosea, Joshua, Jesus,
to give him Gomer. Look here in verse two. In the
beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea, and the Lord said
to Hosea, go, take unto thee a wife, They're gonna get married. We can just stop there. No, he
keeps talking, doesn't he? What kind of wife, Lord? A wife
of whoredoms. What? And children of whoredoms. This is us. What'd the Pharisees get mad
about? Are you saying we're, our father's the devil? You saying
we're sinners? Well, for someone that's proud,
this could be something to make you rage and have fury. But for
somebody that's just nothing, that's base, that has no hope,
that ain't no merit, it's us. God said, go take you a bride
and children, offspring. There's going to be life in this
covenant of whoredoms. God came to his prophet, Hosea,
to his preacher, and he said, you go down to this country,
down to this nation of people, where their livelihood is prostitution. That's the way of life for these
people. And you go down there and you pick out a woman, and
you love her, and you enter into a covenant with her, and you
marry her, and you have children with her. That's exactly what
he said to her. Go and love her. He says, take unto thee a wife
of prostitution down in the land of whoredom. That's a strange
command, isn't it? Well, I thought we'd be building
churches and schools and helping little sick children. It's God's
command. That's a strange and mysterious
command, isn't it? Don't you ask a question? I asked this
for Hosea. It's a real man. And if the Lord
had done something like that to me, why? Have you ever been
in a trial and something that just seemed so strange? And we
know the Lord's on his throne. You know that. I know that. The
Lord's controlled every molecule that there is. If something happens,
well, we hope that was the will of God. Well, if it came to pass,
guess what? That's God's will, isn't it? You know that. It's a Monday night, and it's
just us. You know that, and I know that. Now, Job, whenever he lost
everything, he shaved his head, and he fell down and sat cross-legged.
He said, the Lord gave, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. He praised God for what he gave. That's easy.
Err. Isn't that easier? And he praised
God for what God took away. But he wasn't some stoic robot
and just some piece of metal. He fell down on the ground and
wept and mourned. He's a person. I'm a person.
You're a person. I hurt. I have feelings. I'm
half human anyway. You are too. And you wonder.
We know God's on the throne. We said, Lord, why are you doing
this? He said, you must be like a child enter my kingdom, didn't
he? Most children ask, why? A friend of mine reminded me
this evening. Us parents say, because I said
so. We don't get answers sometimes, do we? Lord, why are you doing
this? Most times, well, because he
did it. That's why. And thank you. and go eat your
supper and take a nap, right? Brush your teeth. We got something
to do. That's a strange and mysterious
command the Lord told his prophet. You know, this is illegal. It's
against the law. A prophet can't take a wife outside
of their house. They can't go down there and
go lay in the whoredoms and take some heathen wife. That's against
the law. You know, it's against the law outside of Christ, outside
of that covenant of marriage for his eternal bride, for us
to be in a holy God's presence. Sin can't be in his presence.
Can't even be around. It's illegal. or name it, whatever
you want to name it, it can't happen. And in the face of that,
the Lord said, that wicked and people that spit in my face and
want nothing to do with me, go down and pick. There's a bride
in it, a little 15-year-old girl, probably 16, that's pretty young.
And that's all that's in their nature, it's all in their DNA,
and love them. Love them. The Lord says His ways
are mysterious. People say, I heard a man tell me, he said, the Bible
says God moves in mysterious ways. I said, that ain't a direct
quote. That's a direct quote from William
Cowper, the hymn writer. And people said, this too shall
pass. Well, that's what the text was alluding to, but that ain't
what the scriptures say. Man said it, and that's kind
of, that's what it means, but God said something different,
didn't he? He says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, That's infinite, his heavens. So are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
He don't do things the way we do it. He don't think the way
I think. And any, and I've experienced
this, you have too. I think, well, I think probably, you know,
this is probably what's gonna happen. Or how's this conflict
gonna be resolved? I live long enough to be excited
to know that how the Lord's gonna do it is not a way I'd ever guessed. Can you believe he did it? I
never would have thought that. That's amazing, isn't it? So
poor Hosea is sitting there. And Lord said, go down there
to where there's nothing but prostitutes and go find your bride. When God told Hosea to go down
to the land of prostitution to marry Mary Harlot, you know,
it had to shock him. It was so strange. And not just
Hosea. You think, you all know this
story, Hosea and Gomer. You think of that congregation
that he's preaching to. Can you imagine after she comes,
has some children and goes off and she's out there and she's
got her getting her wine or oil she thinks from her lovers and
he goes and says, hey folks, brethren, let's get together.
I'm gonna need a pay raise. Why? I gotta buy Gomer some more
oil and wine to put down there by the door. You gonna buy her
some more oil and wine? She ain't worthy. I know. I know. Lord's teaching me something
in this. He's teaching me something that I ain't, I'm unworthy. He
feeds me anyway, and He covers me with that oil. He anoints
me anyway. And I'm going to go feed her
because He told me to. Because He's loved me first, so I'm going
to do it. I'd have had a hard time. I thought long and hard
about that. If I was in that congress, I hadn't. Come here, buddy. You want some
mental health counseling? Can we get you some medicine?
I'd worry about him. But he was a man. He was shocked. But our
Lord does everything on purpose. And He does everything according
to His will. And even though we know that, and even though
we We know that God is the first cause of everything. All things,
A-double-L, all things work together for good to those that love God.
Then they're called according to His purpose. This is on purpose. And everything He commands or
everything He permits to happen, we know that it is for our good.
It don't feel like it. And it's for His glory. We may
not see it. We know that's so. But still,
our human nature asks, why? Why are you doing this? Or, and
when we're down on ourselves, why me? Why me? Why would God
command a prophet to go marry a prostitute? Why would he command
one of his preachers to marry a harlot? And human nature, unobedient,
new creation. They say, Lord's got it. You all want to sing some hymn?
Thank you for that, Ruth. Thank you for that hymn. Let's
just sing to him. What's he doing? Storms come
ripping the roof off this building. That's all right. Let's sing.
But we have a flesh, and our flesh says it wants to know why. We know God is the one ruling
over all things, but why is he doing this? Job wondered those
things, didn't he? Joseph probably wondered those
things. He said, I just told my brethren what dreams I had.
God gave me the dreams. And boy, you're mad. And then
he said, I'll tell mom and dad. So he went and told his mommy
and daddy, and they got mad. And then he ended up in the pit.
And then he ended up in a prison after he was trying to be the
best servant he could be after he sold him to slavery. And you
think at some point, there's nothing recorded negative of
Joseph in the scriptures. Lord, I did everything you said. Like
those apostles in the boat, and they're commercial fishermen,
and they're rowing in that storm. Lord said, go over that side
of the lake. And they get in that sea and they start rowing.
And then the storm comes and the water's swamping the boat.
It's coming over the sides. And they said, we're going exactly
where you told us to go. Why are we about to drown? They're
nervous. I did what you told me, Lord.
Why are you doing this? Moses. Moses was so fit. And he was young and strong and
sharp and well-educated, trained up by Pharaoh. And he was ready
to lead Israel. And the Lord sent him on the
backside of the desert for 40 years to watch another man's
sheep on a mountainside. And he's getting old. His back
starts hurting, you know, and slow. And I can't see. I start
to get a cataract in this eye. I can't shoot as good as I used
to. And how am I going to be a general now? I've been out
of practice. I'm rusty. What are you doing,
Lord? I'm going to use you. How? We ask how too, don't we? It
kind of goes hand in hand. How's that going to happen? I
believe you're going to do it, but boy, I'm confused. God's saints throughout time,
we've all had some mysterious things happen. We've had some
odd circumstances, some strange providence. Why is the Lord doing
this? Well, I'll tell you why. God
tells Hosea there in chapter three, Hosea chapter three. He tells him a little bit there
in the first couple of chapters what's going to happen. It says in Hosea 3 verse
1, then said the Lord unto me, go yet. He says, go again. This one that's evil to you and
sinned against you and had these children, abandoned you, abandoned
her children, she sold herself into prostitution, and now she
ain't worth nothing. Nobody even buy her. Go yet,
go again. He done went once and got her,
now go again. Love a woman beloved of her friend,
yet an adulteress Rahab the what? Harlot. What was that fellow
on the cross? The thief. We don't forget that, do we?
I've heard your pastor say that before. People say, forgive yourselves. How could we? It's not what we
done, it's who we sinned against. He's revealed himself, we know
him. It's ain't just like, well, I broke the law. I sinned against
God. And it's not to the fact that
I got caught and I'm just admitting guilt. I love him. I do things,
I know you men, Something might be like me. We don't do anything
wrong, but sometimes we're unintentionally took the wrong way with our wives,
right? I hurt my wife's feelings sometimes.
I don't mean to, but I don't want to. I love her. You love your wives. You don't
want to hurt your wife's feelings, but we do. I don't want to sit
against God. And everything, what Paul said,
I know what I want to do. I can't do it. And everything
I know, I don't want to do that. That's exactly what I do. Why me? Why me? God says, what I'm teaching
you, Hosea, is this. This is a lesson for Hosea. It's
a lesson for those brethren that Hosea was preaching to, that
he's a prophet over. It's a lesson for us. This is
a family lesson. God's people throughout time.
I'm teaching you something. I'm saying, Hosea, you are atop
of Christ. You're a picture. Learn the hard way. God's people
want to serve him. But before you, be careful about
asking to be used of the Lord. I bet Hosea woke up one morning
and said, Lord, I want to be useful. Lord, use me. Okay. Head over and get married. Oh,
and hold on. He said, you're a picture of
me, and I love lost sinners who didn't love him. You're a picture
of me, and I love the people that didn't love me. They looked
to serve other gods. They loved their flagons of wine.
They served those other gods, and they had no need of Christ. That's who they are. You're going
to be a picture of me. Now go down and love them and
buy them. They're bound by another. And
there's a cost. There's a high price. Pay all
of it. Don't just go down and ask for
no church discount. You pay all of it. Christ paid full price
for it. He didn't get 10% off, did he?
He gave it the whole thing. Full, complete payment in his
blood. That's pricey. John said, herein
is love. John was young, and he was a
son of thunder. He was about my age. And there
was a group of people, and they said, we're not going to let
Christ into this town. And he looked at them and said, Lord,
you want us to call down fire on them? We'll burn this place alive.
They'll reject you. And the Lord looked at them,
and he said, you don't know what spirit's in you. You've got the
wrong spirit in you. And then John was old. He was
90 some years old. They had to help him get up there
in the pulpit. And he said, little children, Love one another. Love
one another. I called Brother Henry, I said,
you calm down a lot. He said, I hope so. Somebody
told me, they said, you need to be calm and patient. I said,
I ain't 90 yet. I still got a little thunder in me. I said, so? I
ain't there yet. I'm learning, Lord's tucking my tail between
my legs too. But John said, here is love.
He learned something. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. That's a big old word. What's
that mean? It's an accepted, bloody sacrifice. It's the absolute,
the perfect sacrifice that God requires, and he sent his son
to be everything that he requires. He provided it. Beloved, if God
so loved us, you that are loved, if that's how God loves us, we
ought, that's just a reasonable service. We all also love one
another. And if we love him, it's because
he first loved us. This didn't originate with us.
Gomer went down there wringing her hand and said, how am I going
to get Hosea back? She said, it's Friday night, let's go.
There's a party going on somewhere. I imagine Hosea prayed to be
used to God and the Lord was praised to do so. Just not the
way Hosea planned. First of all, why? How? So many questions, isn't it?
I ain't going to tell you how many points I have. Frank Tate
said that one time he got up for each. He said, I'm not going
to tell you young people how many points I have. He had like 17 or 18 points.
And I was young, and I'd have been like, oh, I'm going to sleep
now. I guess it's terrible. I don't have that many points.
I'll tell you after the service how many points I have. First
point, Hosea chose a bride from the most sinful people of his
day. He went down among that Baal
race, the most sinful tribe that was there. And he took a young
lady named Gomer. That was a girl's name. It's
going to be his bride. And he entered into a covenant
relationship with her. Marriage is a covenant because
it's a picture. God gave us that, the family,
as a picture of what God's going to do with his people. And Hosea
went down and he picked out the worst of the worst. Why? It's a picture of his sin-filled
people. Us, isn't it? The dregs of those that hated
God, his enemies. Why would he do that? Paul told
us plainly, this isn't something new, this isn't isolated to this
short book, this short prophet, is it? Paul said there in Romans
5, God committed his love towards us in that while we were yet
sinners, nothing in us, no accepting Jesus, no, Christ died for us. For if when we were enemies,
enemies, I had a guy tell me one time, he said, I ain't never
been at war with God. I said, you still are. If God
ain't showed you you're his enemy, you're still his enemy. He said,
because that's when he saved his people, all those undesirable
nothings that are foolish and weak. They're enemies. What enemies? Well, enemies of holiness, enemies
of truth, enemies of light. Heck, it's maybe him or not.
Christ said they love darkness more than light. And he's the
light. Enemy of God and His people.
It says, when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled shall
we be saved by His life. That one that died for us, he
went to that furnace for us, just like we looked the other
day, yesterday. Christ died to put away the sins
of His people. Okay, well guess what? He's alive. He's risen from, we don't have
some tomb like Muhammad and all that stuff. You can go to a physical
place, go pilgrimage in your life one time and go look at
it and say, well, our God's in that grave over there. No, we
have an empty tomb. And he ain't sitting around just
wringing his hands pretty please hoping that his bride comes home
at him. He's on his throne. And I need to reminded of that
every day. I said yesterday, I need somebody
stormed in them doors. I hope I grit my teeth and fight
them hard. You know, I need help at a stoplight. It turned yellow and I caught
a red light. Lord, let me know that that's your red light. I
know those are simple things, but I need you. I need thee every
hour. I do. Gomer didn't deserve Hosea's
love any more than I deserve the love of God in Christ. And
she didn't love him. She didn't. But he loved her. That's what matters. And when
you talk about alluring, when God turns the light on and she
gets it, you think they rode off in the sunset together pretty
good? You think sitting on that porch when they was old was a
happy time? Oh, it'd be more precious, wouldn't
it? God's love for his people is not based on our loveliness.
It's not based on our goodness, on our learnedness, on how much
we know. It's based on his mercy. Look Romans 9. Look over in Romans
9. Verse 11, For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was God's calling. It's his
purpose to save his people and nothing in them. Is that consistent? Ephesians 1. It ain't that many pages. I can't
see. There we go. Okay. Ephesians 1. It says in verse 4, according
as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. That's a covenant. That's the
same as a marriage, isn't it? By Jesus Christ. That's what Hosea
is picturing. To himself. He said, you're not
going to be for another. You're going to be for me many
days. That means forever. According to the good pleasure
of his will. Why? Why? What's going to come of
that, Lord? I know you're on your throne. I know you chose
the people. What for? To the praise of the glory of
his grace, because he was gracious. And we're going to thank him
for it. If the Lord sheds that love abroad
in your heart, it's going to poke out. I love it. It's just
the old thing. You know it. That little boy
asked his mama, he said, well, if Christ is in me, wouldn't
he stick out? She said, yep, he would. Can't keep from it.
There's still an old, there's an old man there. As to the glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. That sounds like a marriage ceremony,
don't it? My Beloved, I am my Beloved's and He is mine. I'm
His, but guess what? He's mine. He's mine too. It's a marriage. The two become
one. What a thought. Back in our text
there, Hosea 3. Hosea's love for Gomer was not
because she is loving, not because she was pure, holier, but because
he loved her. And not for any good in us, not
for any foreseen merit. The Lord didn't have a crystal
ball look down through time. It's a covenant of mercy. That's
exactly what a covenant of mercy is. The Lord not giving us what
we rightfully earned. And when our Lord came to this
world, that angel who announced his birth, he said, call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people. Well, if you're going
to be saved, you're going to be saved from something. We used
to joke like that. Somebody have an eyelash or something,
they'd grab an eyelash and say, I just saved your life. An eyelash
ain't going to kill you. Like, it's a joke. It's funny
because you wouldn't be in no trouble. We's in trouble because
of our sin. Because we didn't believe on
him. That's what he said. Some man said, hey, he's come to seek
and to save the lost. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. And I'm the chief. I'm the head
one. That's why he came into the world,
to seek and to save the lost, to die for sinners, and then
to live for them. Live for them and live in them.
He said, how are we going to get around? The Lord said, I'm
going to walk in them. I read that to Ezekiel. He said, the
Lord said, stand up. And he said, the spirit entered
me and he set me on my feet. He stood me up. Give him credit for all.
He gets the praise and glory of all of it done. Why me? Or
how? What's going to happen? The questions
that we have. Second point. He chose an evil
girl and he entered into a covenant relationship with her. But even
after he made this covenant and he fulfilled this marriage, she
followed the ways of her people. He set his eyes on her, and he
loved her, and he said, this is an everlasting covenant, and
this is done. And she still followed the ways
of her people. She didn't adopt his ways. She
didn't go his way, did she? She went the way of her people.
It says there in chapter two, verse five, he tells her children,
go plead with your mother, because right now she ain't my wife.
She's acting like somebody I ain't even married to. I don't even
know her. So you talk to her. He says, for your mother hath
played the harlot, she hath conceived them and hath done shamefully.
For she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread
and my water and my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. She's self-serving. And I've thought it too. And
the Lord taught me after. If somebody's sitting around
thinking, I can't believe a believer would do such a thing. Lord ain't give you a mirror
to your soul, to what you are. That's me. Lord takes his hand
off of me. What would I do? It's truth,
isn't it? Though Christ loved us with an
everlasting love, He was the Lamb slain before the world was,
we were born in sin. We came to this earth in sin,
didn't we? Saul of Tarsus, he walked this earth for 40 years
in rebelling against the whole of God and killing the saints
as fast as he could, and then subcontracting it out to others
and leading them. And every one of us, we're carnal. We walk
the course of the Lord in this world. And we live in an old flesh,
don't we? That old man's still with us. Chris Cunningham said
that. He said, man don't believe in
two natures until he has two of them. That's so. We don't
even know our own hearts. And Gomer Lockley thought she
was doing just fine. She's like, well, that ain't
that bad. If I thought I was doing something that was wrong,
I wouldn't do it. I've justified it somehow in my head, right? And the easiest thing to find
on this earth is a yes. If you want somebody to agree
with you, you look long enough. It may be some homeless guy down
the street, You'll find you, yes, if that's what you're looking
for. It's a dangerous thing. And like Christ, Hosea provided
for even in her sin and rebellion. The whole time I was an enemy,
the whole time I was fighting, and now the whole time I'm still
doing dumb things and the things I wouldn't do, I'm an unprofitable
servant. I just seem like a terrible child.
The whole time, in spite of myself, The Lord's blessing me, and the
Lord's taking care of me, and he's hedging me about, and I
ain't gonna stump my toe unless I need to stump my toe. I dropped
a weight on my toe last week, and it still hurts. I thought
it'd heal up by now. I read that the other day, and it sunk home.
I thought, well, the Lord had that toe hurt, didn't he? And
it's still in chapter 2, verse 8. It says, for she did not know
that I gave her corn. She kept saying, my corn, my
lovers, my wine, my bread. She did not know that I gave
her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and
gold, which they prepared for Baal. She is using all this stuff
I gave her for false worship, to worship false gods, the god
of her imagination, and I'm the one that gave her that to do
it. How the Lord provides. Jehovah-Jireh,
huh? Even when they're making offerings
to false gods. But we must be made to know this
sin. We have to be There has to be a need. There's something
we gotta be saved from. The war against God's gotta be
brought to light to us. We must be convinced and convicted
of sin. Lord said the Holy Ghost is gonna
do. Convict him of sin, convict him of righteousness. I'm sin,
the feminine noun. Christ was made sin, that's a
feminine noun. Bride's a feminine noun too, isn't it? He was made
me. I'm convicted of sin. I'm convicted
of righteousness. Well, what's good? Christ. There's none good but God, and
he's God. He came down here just himself
for his bride, just like Hosea. He went down and got her. And
I'm convicted of judgment. There's therefore now no condemnation.
That has been dealt with. Law's been dealt with. My old
man's been dealt with. It's been consumed in that fire.
It's took care of. Convicted convinced Holy Spirit's
convicted me those things mankind can't change my mind And chapter
2 verse 10 He says and now I will discover her lewdness in the
side of her lovers and none shall deliver her out of mine hand
Lord said I'm gonna do this and ain't gonna be undone. I'm gonna
try to do it. I'm doing it. I Will also cause all her more
mirth. That's joy to cease. She's having a good time. I'm
gonna turn that off. I Her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
all of her solemn feasts, all that religion that she has. I'm
going to turn it off. It's going away. I'm going to
purge it out. I was talking to a guy one time, this religious
fellow, and he said, oh, you grew up in a Christian home,
and you grew up in a church. And I said, yeah, I grew up underneath
the sound of the gospel, and I believe in parents. He said, well, you
must not have many grave clothes then. And I said, buddy, I'm
a child of Adam born. I had a grave tuxedo. Just because
I happen to be in a home doesn't mean my flesh was any different. The Lord started chipping that
away. What did He say to Lazarus? Loose him. Get them clothes off
him. Let him go. Don't take it off all at once.
You didn't cut him and take it off. You've got to kind of unwound him, don't
you? We need to get unwound. Verse 12, And I will destroy
her vines and her fig trees. Wherefore she hath said, These
are my rewards. He said, I'm doing this because
she said it. It come out of her mouth. These are my rewards that
my lovers have given me, and I will make them a forest, and
the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon
her the days of Balaam, wherein she burned incense to them, and
she decked herself with earrings and her jewels, and she went
after her lovers, and forget me, saith the Lord." The Lord
said, I'm going to make you, you didn't even have a thought
of me. You thought you was fine. That's a low place to be, isn't
it? We got to be, I must decrease. And when I do, he increases. And then I'm going to decrease
some more. And I'll say, boy, he's even more faithful than
I thought he was. I know he's the faithful one. And then guess
what's going to happen 10 years from now if I'm still alive?
And guess what's going to happen to him? You want it any other
way? Now, I hope that decrease is gentle and I have preferences. I want to take cliff notes and
it not be terrible trials, but the Lord's going to increase.
And the increase of his government is without measure. He's in charge
of everything. Yeah, and we're going to get
to see more and more and more and more and more. He controls
that too. If the Lord will save a person, there must come a time
when they take sides with God against themselves. And there'll
come a time when you'll hate your way, the way you once loved,
the way I once loved, and I don't want it my way. I've had that,
as the Lord allowed, I don't want it my way, I want his way.
Lord's will be done. Not my way, Lord, thy will. And
I hate my thoughts, I hate my ways, I hate my words. So that
sounds like negative self-talk. Well, Job said, I abhor myself. He said, wherefore I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes. That's what Isaiah said, that
other prophet in Hosea's time. He said, I have seen the Lord,
woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. He
said, everything I just said was bad. Not that, but throughout
time. That prodigal son, what did he
do? He came to himself. He said, what in the world am
I doing here? I'm going to go home. You're going to go home
and demand that I get my room back? No, I'll live in the shed
out back. That's fine. I ain't worried about it. I just
want to be home. When we were brought down low, we was, I've
seen people age. I've seen a little bit in my
lifetime, but I could imagine if I live double, if I make it
to 90, I want to go home. I do now. The things in this
world grow strangely dim. I want to go home. Now I think
I've got a job to do still. I've got children to raise and
the Lord's got a purpose for me. I want to do that. But I
want Him to come. Lord haste the day. We sang that
right there, right? Naomi, she went down to that
highfalutin lab at Moab. Finally got starved out, didn't
she? The Lord killed her husband, killed her sons. Bad state of
affairs. And she said, I'm going to go
home. There's bread there. I'm going to go to the Lord's
house of bread. I'm going to go home. Then what?
Verse 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure
her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her.
That don't mean he's going to say something nice. He's going
to speak to the heart. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people, says the Lord. Speak ye comfortably. Speak to the
heart. I can speak. I can't speak to your heart.
God has to bless that. He can do it. He'll use me or
a rock or anything he wants. He'll be a preacher to speak
to the heart. But he said, I'm going to do
it. Kevin Thacker can't speak to your heart. I can't do it.
Nobody else can. God said, for my people, I'm going to bring
them out. I'm going to hedge them about. They didn't have no choice. I'm
doing it. I'm going to bring them out in
the wilderness. I'm going to get them along, get them by themselves. speak
to their hearts. And I will give her her vineyards
from thence. I'll give you plenty to eat, and you'll know that
I did it. In the valley of Achor, for a door of hope, and she shall
sing in there, and in the days of her youth, and as it is in
the days she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be
at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi,
and shalt call me no more Belial." I had to look those words up.
I don't know what that means. You're going to call me husband
and no more master. Well, there's fatalism in everybody. Well, that's just the way it
is. That's what the Lord did. It's fate. My husband did that. My God did that. I may not understand
it. I don't know why. I don't know
how he's going to do it. I don't know where I'm going
to land. But he knows and he loves me. That's all I need to
know. I don't need to know. The Lord knows. And he says,
you're going to call me husband and not master. I'm not some
austere man. I'm not just some stoic God somewhere. That's the
one that loves me. That's the one that loves me.
Lord told that salvation to Hosea. But we can't just snap our fingers
and it's so is it. Gomer can't just go home. This
ain't just a few words. She belongs to somebody else.
These things took place. It really did. And she really
went down there to prostitution. And she really did ruin herself.
And now she really is on auction block. And Hosea can't just go
down and say, honey, I love you. That grandkid told his grandpa,
he said, I'm getting married. He said, how are y'all going
to live? You ain't even got a job. He said, we're going to live on love.
He said, you'll starve to death. A payment had to be made. A price. There's somebody that had to
be dealt with, isn't it? Chapter 3. Paul said in Romans 7, he said,
I'm carnal. I'm sold under sin. And the rules,
they're in the Old Testament and in the book of Ruth. There's
a kinsman redeemer. I mean, that kinsman didn't have
to be related. He had to be able and he had to be willing to purchase
that bride. But, and Ruth, someone else had
to claim on her first. That's the law. That's what we're
sold to sin. We sinned against God. We broke
his law. And she's standing right at slave block. Hosea 3 verse
1. Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, go again. Love a woman
beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the
love of the Lord toward the children of Israel. who looked to other
gods and loved flagons of wine. So I bought her to me." I didn't
just set her free and if she really loves you, she'll come
back. No, I bought you and for me. Bought her to me for 15 pieces
of silver and for an omer of barley and a half omer of barley. How much is 15 pieces of silver?
Well, we could weigh it in our day. It's the price of a slave.
That's how much a slave costs. when she came down off that auction
block. And when he had to pay that man what he promised to
pay, he put his arms around her and he said there in Hosea 3,
3, and I said unto her, thou shalt abide for me many days. That means eternally, forever.
Thou shalt not play the harlot. Thou shalt not be for another
man. Nobody else gonna have your eye but me. So I will also be
for thee. This ain't just some act that
Jose is doing, because I'm going to have me a whole harem and
I want everybody to love me. He said, as you look to me and
as you love me, that's how I'm going to look at you. That's
how I'm going to... You ever listen to a message
and it's like, there ain't nobody else in that room but me. And
Lord loves his people throughout time and throughout eternity.
He loves me. Me. But I'm weak and foolish
and worthless. Why me? He's pleased to, for
his glory, that no flesh can glory in his presence. That's
why. That's for our good and our glory. He said, for thee. What do you see in that? Is that
just a story about, oh, there's a prophet, and he had this technical
fatality, and the church might have been mad at him, but he
got her back. Good news story. I see Christ giving a bride,
an unworthy bride, one that's prone, that's its instinct, is
to wander, prone to leave the God that they love. That's its
nature. And he entered into a covenant
of mercy, a gracious covenant. And it had a price. There's a
price to be paid that we earned. It's our fault. And then he allures
those harlots to himself. And as much as they are for him
in that, he's for them. He's for them. If he's for us,
who can be against us? One more, Romans 8, and I'll
let you go. I didn't set a timer, I forgot to, but. Romans 8, 31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how should
he not with him also freely give us all things? Now get this,
this is true for all along on a desert island. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? I got rope next to that,
not even me. Why me? Hush. He said, that's
what I want to tell myself. You know, I'm not telling you.
Lord said it. My feelings don't matter. He
said it. He's revealed a son to me. I love him. Why? He first loved me. Not even me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's light? It's God that justifies. He's already
done it. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation? I've had that. You have. Or distress? You distressed? Ain't gonna separate you from
Christ. or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword,
as it's written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For
I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, I got that underlined
too. You ever thought, well, life
gets in the way. Life ain't gonna get in the way of his love. Ain't
nothing gonna get in the way. I'm 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,
that covers about everything, I can't take nothing that don't
cover, shall be able, our God's able, nothing's gonna be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. My Lord and my God, that's our
God, that's our Lord. There's a lot of things people
say, well, they're in grace and out of grace and they fall from
grace and well, they're losing grace. If my Lord sets his affection
on object to his love, he's going to have them. Whatever it costs,
he's going to have. And if you're one of his, he
will have you and you'll have him. He'll buy you and you will
love him forever and you'll thank him. I guess this is just I never
want to agree. with irresistible grace. That's
true. I don't want to just agree that,
yes, irresistible grace is a doctrine that is true. I want to find
that grace irresistible. I want you to. I don't want you
to just, well, God is love. I want the love of God to be
spread abroad in your hearts. He's done that for me. And for
me, sometimes I say, why me? It's like, why am I so sad? I need to see him, a person,
in my low times and my trials and my life and all those tough
times. And I want you to see him day
in and day out. I do. And guess what? He did
all that to Hosea, for God's sake, to show Israel, to show
his people, he said, that's what I'm going to do and it's going
to happen. I thank him for that. That's comfort. I can't mess
it up. I can mess me up. I can make
it harder on myself or whatever. I can have a bad day. I can't,
I can't frustrate the will of God. I'm not going to tarnish
his glory. I can bring reproach on myself,
you know, but that's his purpose. I can't, I can't blemish my husband. And boy, he's perfect. He's perfect. I pray it's a blessing to you.
Thank you for having me. Y'all took real good care of me. You're
so kind to me. You're kind. Thank you for asking for Kimberly.
She says hi to everybody. And I told her, I said, I'm going
to have to start bringing a scale so I can weigh in and weigh out
at the anvil. I think I've gained about 14 pounds the last couple
of days. Y'all fed me good. And I thank you and appreciate
you and love you. Lord be with you, and Lord willing, I'll see
you next month. So, thank you.