Actually, I'm going to start
reading in chapter 1 of Hosea. Just a few verses. Hosea and the first chapter. the beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said unto Hosea,
Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord. So Hosea went and took
Gomer the daughter of Debalaim, which conceived and bare him
a son." Now, chapter 2, and verse 11, I, says God, will
also cause all her, I'm assuming that's speaking of Gomer, if
not, it's Jezreel, it's from the whole offspring, same thing.
I will cause her mirth to cease. her feast days, her new moons,
her Sabbaths, and all her Solomon feasts. And I will destroy, says
God, her vines and her fig trees, whereof she has said, 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 verse
14, Therefore behold, God says again to this same woman, I will
allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably
unto her. And verse 23 of the same chapter
of Hosea 2, And I will sow her unto Me in the earth, and I will
have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say
to them which were not My people, Thou art my people, and they
shall say, Thou art my God." What's going on here? What is
going on here? Well, it's none other than our
glorious God having mercy upon the ragged, vile, and corrupt
sinners that we are. Just like He promised. Just like
He promised. I will have mercy upon her that
had not obtained mercy." I want to draw our attention to two
verses in Hosea 2, verses 19 and 20. Look at these verses.
Let me read them. God says, I will betroth thee
unto Me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness, in judgment, in lovingkindness, and in mercy."
And verse 20, I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness,
and thou shalt know the Lord. I want us to note together this
morning this wedding this marriage union, this betrothal, as it
is stated here in verses 19 and 20, and truly be amazed, be astonished,
and be humbled at the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Betrothment. Betrothment unto
the Lord. What a privilege. If we know
anything about that this morning, what a privilege. What a joy. What a token of the free and
unsolicited favor of Jehovah God. Remember who He's talking
to. And in case we forgot, look back
at chapter 1, He's speaking to us gomers. Gomers. That word, gomer, I just looked
it up. You don't have to look it up
to know what she is. She's a harlot. She's a lady
of the night, a lady of the street. She's a sinner through and through.
Or the Hebrew word means failure or a waste. Failure by birth, by nature,
and practice. That's what we are. A waste. Waste as in useless. That which
is discarded, forgotten. As Paul states in Corinthians,
the base things, things despised, things that are not. How, my soul, how then and why
then Will this marriage take place? How does it take place? Why does it take place? Well,
all hail sovereign, free, electing love as it all begins in Emmanuel. It all initiated. It all begins. You have the preeminence. Look
at what He says in verse 19. I will. This is God speaking.
I will betroth Thee. I will betroth Thee. I stop and
I pause and I ask myself and I ask you, have you ever heard
such wonderful words proceeding out of our compassionate God's
mouth? The word betrothed, it means
to engage or a commitment for matrimony. Not on our part. Not on our part. We've played
the whore. Despite His grace, not us, we
didn't initiate anything. We did not come to Him that we
may have life. We would not come to Him that
we may have life. This is an engagement or commitment
for matrimony, thought out really from before the foundation of
the world. Who is speaking here? I will betroth thee. God, our
Husband, Christ, our Friend, the Holy Spirit, our Enabler.
Yes, before time, seen in the fullness of time, He initiated,
He begins, and He commences all this betrothal. Now, what is that called? That's
what we call free grace. That's what we call free grace. He initiated, He begins, He commences
this betrothal, this engagement for matrimony. Now, Linda looked
up this morning and we've got the word engagement. That's what
we use in this country. Well, that doesn't really mean
to take care of the import of this word. The word engagement
means an agreement. You're in agreement. But the
word betroth, it's a commitment. It's why it's used in this light. But read on. Look at what it
says. I will betroth thee, this gomer, this vile, this corrupt
person, these sinners, unto me. That would be good enough, but
he says forever. Forever. There's never going
to be or can be a broken engagement, a broken commitment, never a
separation or even thought of divorcement. It's not in God's
language. If he betroths, if that one went
and is fetching that sheep, he's going to find that sheep, he's
going to throw it over his shoulders, and he's going to bring it home. This is one way. This is one
way. This three-fold cord, says Ecclesiastes,
can never be broken. Three-fold cord. He also says
in Malachi, I change not. Therefore you sons and daughters
of Jacob will not be consumed. Now he says sons of Jacob, but
sons and daughters of the redeemed will not be consumed. Why? Because
that commitment. It's a commitment of grace. And I like it what he says. He
says the word betrothed in these two verses three times. I will
betroth thee, I will betroth thee. Verse 20, I will betroth
thee. It's as if he's indicating the
importance of his purpose of grace and the certainty of his
decree. Let's look, as it were, at these
five diamond rings. Every woman, I don't know of
any woman that doesn't like diamonds, but we're the bride, he's the
groom. Let's look at these, as one writer said, these five diamond
rings that he puts on each finger. Righteousness, judgment, loving
kindness, mercies, and faithfulness. This is what he gives his bride. I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth, I will engage
and commit thee unto me in righteousness, righteousness of which we must
have in order to inherit glory with our groom. His rightness
is our rightness. And this too is forever. All
these rings are forever. They're not going to be put on
and then taken off. No, it's forever. The just or righteous,
says Peter, for the unjust, that's the unrighteous. In Jeremiah
23 and verse 6, he's called the Lord our righteousness. But that's
because he betrothed us unto me, unto him in righteousness. We've got to have righteousness
in order to enter glory. The second ring, I will betroth
thee unto me in judgment again forever, and this judgment is
solely based upon the union we have in Christ, God's justice,
His holiness, and His character are therefore satisfied on our
behalf. Justice has been taken care of
on our behalf. The third ring that he slides
upon our fingers, I will betroth thee unto me forever in loving
kindness. I like what Psalms of Solomon
chapter 8 and verse 7 says, many waters cannot quench love. The waters of the wrath of God
as it overflowed, it couldn't quench the love that Christ had
for His people. It couldn't do that. Not the
everlasting love of the triune God of Scriptures, not the predestinating
intimacy of the great martyr Lamb. As that song says, Hallelujah. What a Savior. Well, what's this
fourth ring that He puts upon our fingers? In mercy, I will
betroth to Me forever mercies. Plural. Plural. Multiplied. Oh, the love that drew salvation
in His plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Mercy, there was great, and grace
was free. Pardon, there was multiplied
to me. There, my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah 54 verses 4-7. Fear not,
for thou shalt not be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for
thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. For thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is his name.
Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, a gomer, and a wife
of youth. When thou wast refused, saith
thy God, for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great
mercies will I gather thee." Hang on to that ring. Hang on
to that ring. Once and again, back to our text,
verse 20, I will even betroth thee unto me forever, It's implied
in faithfulness. This betrothal, this engagement
for matrimony is finalized by His faithfulness to us. And subsequently, we're faithful
to Him because we have to be, we want to be, we desire to be.
He remains faithful, 2 Timothy says, He cannot deny Himself.
Faithful is He that calleth you who will also do it, says 1 Thessalonians
5. He's faithful, true, unspotted,
pure, holy, harmless and undefiled. Bless the Lord, O our soul. It's not our grip of Him. It's
His grip of us. It's His betrothal. It's His
commitment. to honor God, honor His righteousness,
honor His character, honor His attributes, honor the law on
our behalf, in our room, our stead, our place. But we're recipients. We're recipients. In closing, these five golden
rings upon our person, once again, righteousness. Righteousness
comes in to make the covenant legal. Judgment sanctions the
alliance with its decree. Lovingkindness warrants that
this is a love union. Mercies sing because she is multiplied
and abounding in grace, and faithfulness is the registar and records the
marriage." And I added here, I don't know, I'd be interested
to look at it further. Perhaps this is the Lamb's Book
of Life. All of our names are written
in there. And the Holy Spirit says, Amen.
in verse 20, and thou shalt know the Lord. If you're married to Christ,
you know it. You ought to know it. He has
done great things, such great things for us. Well, I'll close
and read you this Hymn 509, the bride, that's us,
eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will
not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace. Not at the crown
he gives, but on his pierced hand, the lamb is all the glory
of Emmanuel's Lamb. I've never heard of a successful
marriage when people talk about things, but rather persons, husband,
wife, bride and groom. He says, the Scriptures, I will
betroth thee unto me forever. what a Redeemer we serve and
we worship. Bruce, would you close us?