And turn with me to the book
of Hosea, just right after Daniel. Hosea. I'm so thankful that we're studying
these prophets. Going through and taking each
of the prophets right on through. And beholding how our Lord speaks
to His people. Now, you know that these prophets
were sent to national Israel, but they were sent as a type
of Christ speaking to his spiritual Israel. So let's have a word
of prayer, and then we're going to look at the faith of Hosea. Our Father, for Christ's sake,
we ask your blessing. And Lord, we're needy people.
Help us to worship. Help us to hear. Help us to see. Lord, speak, we pray this evening
in power to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. I believe that the book of Hosea
is summed up in this one verse. Let me just read this verse to
you. It's Hosea 13, verse 9. And the Scripture says, Thou hast destroyed thyself,
but in me is thine help. Now let me ask you something.
Is that not truly every one of God's people? Is that not the
answer that all of God's people in regenerating grace say? My problem is myself. I'm the problem. And all of my
help, all of my hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the book of Hosea, this book
that was penned by this prophet, this book is concerning one that
ministered about 800 years before the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he actually ministered about
70 years, I found out. His name, Hosea, means Savior. And Hosea is a beautiful type
picture. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
he was a prophet during the time of Isaiah and Amos and Micah. And he actually ministered about
150 to 160 years before Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel. So the book is not actually written
in chronological order the way that they ministered. Hosea was
long before Jeremiah and Ezekiel. His actual ministry took place
in the northern kingdom of the land of promise called Israel. But he did mention the southern
part of their land that was referred to as Judah. And during his ministry,
I found out that he would address Israel under the direction of
our Lord. He would speak to Israel and
he would refer to her as Samaria or Jacob or Ephraim. And he was
actually using names that the Lord directed him to use to set
forth their rebellion and their corruption. They're idolatry. So I mean, you know, you would
use a word like that from the Lord. It was a reason. That's
just like if you referred to somebody as a Benedict Arnold
or something. Well, you know what that means.
That's, you know, you're a traitor. You refer to them as a Jew. Well,
you're just a Judas is all you are. That's a Jezebel. When the Lord would direct Hosea
to refer, to his people and would use names like that. That was
the reason the Lord was bringing forth the character. So Hosea is actually setting
forth his message. It's one that sets forth the
rebellion of God's people as opposed to, as a backdrop, to
the immutable love of Almighty God and His purpose to do His
people good. Now have you noticed that every
one of these prophets, if you look at it, the message never
changes. It's always, it's always, it
always comes down to this. God's people are rebellious people. They're born rebellious. And
after they're regenerated, that old nature is still there. But
Almighty God who has everlastingly loved His people according to
His eternal covenant to do them good, to show mercy and grace
and longsuffering to them, He will not leave them to themselves. He's going to chasten them. He's
going to deal with them in loving chastisement. Whom the Lord loveth,
He chasteneth. He loves them. He's going to
deal with them. Now here's the thing we know. God Almighty has
a people. And He's going to save His people
from their sins. He's going to have compassion
on them. I want you to look at Hosea 11,
verse 8 and 9. Hosea 11, 8 and 9. Now listen to these words. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I out-deliver thee,
Israel, prince with God? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboam? My heart is turned within me.
My repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness
of mine anger. I will not return to destroy
Ephraim, for I am God, and not man. The Holy One in the midst
of thee, and I will not enter into the city that is in wrath. But I want you to notice something.
Back to that first verse, verse 8 right there. How shall I make
thee as Admon? How shall I set thee as Zoboam? I looked that up. I was thinking,
now why did he use Zoboam? Well, who was that? They were
cities. They were cities. They were cities
that were in the plain when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
And those cities were destroyed too. He said, now how can I treat
you like that? How can I allow my wrath to fall
upon you? I'm not going to do it. I love
you. You're my people. And I'm not
going to destroy you. Now you think, oh the mercy of
Almighty God. That God Almighty would have
mercy according to His good pleasure. What was the difference between
Israel and any other country? The grace of God. That's it. The grace of Almighty God. that were destroyed, Admah and
Zeboah. They merited punishment. Those cities of the plain, they
were wicked cities and they deserved punishment. But you know what? So did Israel. And so do we. In ourselves, there is no difference
when you consider Us or them. That's how the Scripture speaks
of us and them. We are what we are by the grace
of God. And it's not for our sakes that
God shows mercy. For His namesake. For my sake. Now, the book of Hosea starts
with A story, you can turn back to verse 1, it starts with a
story about the prophet Hosea and a woman named Gomer. Now here's a picture, now this
is what the book of Hosea is all about. Hosea is a picture
of Christ. Gomer is a picture of the church. Now you know that. A picture
of God's people. What she is in herself and what
she is in Christ. Now, I want us to look at this.
Hosea means Savior. Gomer means waste. Waste. So, the Lord directed Hosea. Hosea 1. And two, the word of the Lord
that came unto Hosea, the son of Beriah in the days of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah in the days of Jeroboam,
the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said unto Hosea,
Go, take unto thee a wife of Hortums, and children of Hortums. For the land hath committed great
Hortum. departing from the Lord. Now, here is, and every believer
will admit this, what I am by nature is waste. I am consumed by sin. I come forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. I am a rebel by nature against
God. I have no desire for God's glory,
God's honor. I just by nature, as born in
Adam, I just don't care. I just don't care. And here's
the sad part. That nature right there is still
in every believer. You know, there's a new man there
in a believer. And he loves God Almighty. He loves His Word. He loves His
people. But there's an old nature about
him that just don't care. And you struggle with it, don't
you? Yes, you do. Yes, you do. There's
an old man that wars within. Well, the Lord gave Hosea and
Gomer three children. Let's look at verses 3-9. So
he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Bib-lehem, which conceived
and bare him a son. And 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. And it shall come to pass at
that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel. And she conceived again and bear
a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-Ruhemah. For I will no more have mercy
upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the
house of Judah. And we'll save them by the Lord their God, and
we'll not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses,
nor by horsemen." Now when she had weaned Lu-ro-ha-ma, she conceived
of their son. Then said God, call his name,
Lo-em-i. For ye are not my people, I will
not be your God. Now, Jezreel. The name of the first child means
God sows. And I want you to notice the
names of the other two children began with L-O, Lo. Lo, Ruhamah, and Lo, Amai. And the word Lo, I found out
by just trying to read what the words meant. The word Lo means
no, no. No mercy. No, not my people. Now because of sin, there is
no mercy upon those looked upon totally in themselves. But only those looked upon in
Christ. Leave a man to himself And Almighty
God looks upon that one in wrath. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ,
only for Christ's sake, only according to God's mercy to show
compassion. Look over in Romans 9.22. Leave
a man to himself. What does he have? The wrath
of God. Romans 9.22. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted or made up to destruction, and that
he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us? whom he
hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were
not my people, and her beloved which was not beloved." The Lord
is saying, I have a people. They are mine by my choice. Not only of the Jews, God has
a people out of the Gentiles. Not His people in natural Israel
only. They're mine. I've called them
mine. So now back in Hosea, in chapter
2, this chapter begins now with the indescribable exhibition
of God's grace. Now, remember, Over the name
of the three kids, Jezreel means God's souls, Lo-Ruhamah means
no mercy, and Lo-Ammi means not my people. Now listen to verse
1 of chapter 2. Now say ye unto your brethren,
Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. The Lo is gone. You're mine. You're mine. in electing grace. You're mine by my choice in Christ. Those who had no mercy, those
who were no people in themselves, are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because the Lord out of
every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue has chosen a
people, and they're His. Now here the church, pictured
by Gomer and Ammai and Ruhamah, are called to hear of the backsliding
of God's people. We want to hear. I want to hear
about myself. Tell me what God has to say about
me. I know that in myself, in my
fallen nature, I don't think that I'm that bad. I'll justify
myself and I'll think, well, I'm as good as the next guy.
But as I heard someone say one time, yeah, but when you compare
a maggot to a maggot, you still have just two maggots. Hear what
Almighty God has to say about His people. Hosea 2, verses 2
to 5. Plead with your mother. Plead. For she's not my wife. Neither
am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her
whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her
breasts, lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that
she was born. and make her as a wilderness,
and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. For
I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be upon the
children of Hortums, for their mother hath played the harlot.
She hath conceived them, hath done shamefully, for she said,
I will go after my lovers that give me my bread, my water, my
wool, my flax, my oil, and my drink." Now here is what we discover. This is what God has to say about
His people in their fallen state. This is what He has to say concerning
them naturally speaking. When He says, plead with your
mother, plead for she's not my wife, that is, she doesn't see
herself as my wife. Neither am I her husband. She
doesn't see me that way. Now, I know this. that we've
been everlastingly betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
always been our Husband. There's no doubt about it. But
before the Lord called you out of darkness, did you see Him
as your Husband? Did you love Him as such? Did
you see Him as His Bride? Did you cherish that thought?
No? No, none of us did. She doesn't
see herself like this. She has one desire. He said,
this is it, verse 5, to go after my loves that give me my bread,
my water, my wool, my flax, my oil, my drink. Here is the natural
man speaking confidently with a high hand of rebellion, resolving
to see in himself, I can handle it. I am my own
stability. I am my own best friend. I have
the power to do whatever I want to do. I am my own God. But in mercy, Almighty God, who
has in covenant compassion and grace purposed that His bride
will not perish, Listening to what she has to say. Listening
to that arrogant spirit. What does the Lord have to say
concerning the arrogance of His people and the way that they
speak in such rebellious terms? Ignorantly, blindly, foolishly
speaking. What is His attitude toward her?
Look at verses 6 and 7 of chapter 2. I will hedge up thy way with
thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her pass. And she shall follow after her
lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them,
but shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go
and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me
than now." in compassion, grace, raises
the perplexities in the lives of His people. And you know how
He does it? He's going to hedge them about,
moving them predestinatingly, causing them to come this way
and that. He's going to get them under
the sound of the gospel. And He's going to give them a new
heart, under the preaching of the truth. He's going to give
her a new mind. He's going to regenerate her.
She said, this is what I'm doing. I'm going after my lovers. I'm
going to have my own way. I'm going to do what I want to
do, when I want to do it, how I want to do it, and nobody's
going to stop me. You say, well, that wasn't my
attitude. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Every one of us
says that's an unclean thing. Every one of us is rebellious
against God. Every one of us has got that attitude in Adam.
But Almighty God who will not allow His people to perish. What's
He going to do? He said, in time, I'm going to
head you up. And He said, this is what you
will end up saying. You're going to say that last
verse right there, verse 7, last part, I will go. Then shall she
say, Shall she say, I will go and
return to my first husband? Who was her first husband? The
Lord Jesus. He was her first husband. He
was the one that eternally joined Himself to her and she to Him.
Joined her in Christ. Gave her to the Son. betrothed
in mercy. For then was it better with me
than now." Boy, if that's not the answer to every believer
that God calls out of the darkness. Here's the consequences of that
new heart. Though the people of God have
committed gross rebellion, against the Lord in Adam's fall. Spiritual adultery. The Lord
gives them a new heart to believe, and she's going to admit, I have a first husband. He's mine. And I'm his. And he who's always
loved his own is going to deal with her in kindness. Look at
verses 14-17. Chapter 2. Behold, I will allure her, and
bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.
I will give her her vineyards from thence, the valley of Achor,
for a door of hope. She shall sing there in the days
of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of
Egypt. It shall be at that day, saith
the Lord, that thou shalt call me Eshi, and shalt call me no
more Baal. or I will take away the names
of Balaam out of her mouth, and there shall no more be remembered
by their name." He says, I'm going to give her vineyards from
thence back in verse 15, the valley of Achor, for a door of
hope. The valley of Achor, I found
out, was that valley when Achan, remember Achan, was the man that
found the wedge of gold. The Lord told him, he said, I
don't want you to go in and touch anything. Don't take anything.
Achan went in there, and he found this wedge of gold in this Babylonian
garment, and he hid it under his tent. And then the nation
of Israel went out to war against Ai, and the Lord It caused them
to be defeated. They couldn't believe it. What
happened? Well, the Lord told them, He
said, we've got an issue. So Joshua came and he started
numbering. Brought it down, brought it down,
brought it down. And he came down to Achan. Achan had taken
the forbidden thing. And Almighty God made him deal
with Achan and his family. All of them were slain. Now that
valley of Achor, that's what it's talking about. And that
was for a door of hope. What is the door of hope that
was set forth in the dealing with Achan in the valley of Achor? What's the door of hope? Almighty
God is going to punish sin. Let the whole nation not suffer. Almighty God set forth in type,
one is going to bear the penalty, and the rest shall go free. Oh,
what a picture of our blessed Lord and Savior. Mercy of Almighty
God. And now we see Gomer here. One that she was taken as Hosea's
wife, Hosea loved her. It wasn't Hosea's ability or
anger or frustration with Gomer. You know what conquered Gomer? It was Hosea's love for her.
It's the love of God that constrains us, constrains us by giving us
a heart after Him. Now, as we go through, if you
look at a couple of verses here, chapter 1, chapter 2, now the
rest of the book sets forth Gomer as continuing to struggle with
the allurements of her lovers. But the Lord, through this whole
book, sets forth this one promise. Though she does, yet I shall. I'm not going to let her go. In chapter 3, we behold the exhibition
of Hosea's love for Gomer. It pictures the Lord Himself
redeeming His own. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, Then
said the Lord unto me, Go yet. Beloved woman, beloved of her
friend, yet an adulteress according to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons
of wine. So I bought her to me for 15
pieces of silver. for a homer of barley, a half
homer of barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt
abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot,
and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee."
Gomer, obviously, has gone after her lovers, has found herself
because of the waywardness of her actions. She's found herself
in bondage. And she's in need of redemption.
Now, let me ask you this. Who was our first husband? The Lord Jesus Christ. What did
the Lord say that His people would say in time? I'm going
to go back to my first husband. He was better for me then than
it is now. Whenever Adam fell in the garden,
when we fell into sin, we were actually married ourselves, aligned
ourselves to the responsibility of another, to the law of God. We offended in one point is to
offend in all. And we found ourselves in bondage,
in bondage to sin, bondage to the law. Bondage to the curse
of the law. And what did Almighty God tell
Hosea he was going to have to do? You're going to have to go
buy her. And you're going to have to pay
whatever the cost is to buy her back. He said, I bought her to
me for 15 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Bought her
for a homer of barley, half homer of barley. That was the cost.
That was what it was going to cost. So now here's Hosea going
back, buying her back. As the Lord saw us in the fall
from our first husband, we forsook Him in Adam. We rebelled against
Almighty God, aligned ourselves with a debt that we couldn't
pay. She needed to be redeemed. I read that story and I think
to myself, I cannot enter in to the depth of love that God
Almighty has for His people. I've always said this, and I
mean this, I truly believe that humanly speaking, Somebody can treat you with such
disrespect. Someone can just bow beat you
and beat you down and beat you down and beat you down until
they kill their love for you. Humanly speaking. To where you
just cannot and will not take anymore. You killed my love for
you. I don't trust you. I just don't
want you. But Almighty God, said, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. And in that rebellious
state that God Almighty, who first aligned Himself in that
betrothal of love to His people, and they sinned against Him and
rebelled against Him, and He had the right to put every one
of us in hell. Justly, justly. We came into this world, gomers,
waste, whores. That's all we were. And deserved
in ourselves. Absolute justice. Deserved it. And what did he do? He said,
I'll buy you back. I'm going to buy you back. I'm
going to pay the debt. I'm going to make good on the
guilt. The payment of the guilt against
my law. And He came into this world and
absolutely, when we had no righteousness that would stand before God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, humbled Himself,
God Himself, the Word, made flesh, And for his people, I'm telling
you, Hosea loved Gomer. He loved Gomer. He didn't love
any of the others. No other woman, and there was
not another one in there that was any better than she was.
He loved Gomer. Almighty God had given him a
love for that woman, and she was a harlot. And she had an
attitude against Him that would have caused any human being,
any frail creature like us to say, I'll tell you what, I can
do a whole lot better than this. I'm not going to put up with
this anymore. But not Him. Not Him. He came into this world and in
absolute obedience to God's law, He lived before God Himself. and fulfilled every jot and tittle
of God's law that she never could, and earned the righteousness
of God Almighty. That righteousness that He robed
her with. He made a curse. He was made
a curse to deliver us from the curse of the law. Redeemed her. Redeemed her. made her His own
in regenerating grace to know it. She knows it. Now we look upon Him and we see
what we are. See what we are in nature by
Adam and see what we are somewhat, through a glass darkly, in Christ. And admit, I am in myself. I'm gone. That's me. That's me. But by the grace of
God, He has redeemed me by blood and robed me in His righteousness. Lord, how can it be that you
can treat and love one such as I am? How? Concerning Gomer and
her strugglings, I want you to notice something else. Beautiful
picture of us. Look at chapter 4, verse 17. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Now, who is he
talking about? His people. Remember, he talks
to them He calls him Ephraim. He calls him Jacob. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. I have always
read that verse of Scripture and looked upon it in such a
way to where the Lord would just say, No more. No more. Just leave him alone. But he's
talking about his people. What does he mean? I can tell
you this, those words right there are words of mercy. Mercy. You say, how can it be? Here
is the mercy of God. Let me give you a quick little
story that causes you to know what this verse of Scripture
means. You remember when the prodigal son came to his father
and says, I want everything that's coming to me. So he gave him
his money and he let him go off. Scripture says he wasted all
of his goods, everything he had, on riotous living. And he found
himself in despair. feeding the hogs. And the Scripture
says that he would have filled his belly on the husk that the
hogs ate. And the Scripture says he came
to himself. What am I doing? What in the
world am I doing? Servants in my daddy's house
are eating better than I am. And he's a son. He's a son. He came to himself and he said,
I'm going to go back to my father's house and I'm going to tell him,
I've sinned against heaven and before you, if you just make
me as a servant. And the Scripture says that that
dad saw him while he was afar off. He's looking for him. And he ran out there and he fell
on him and kissed him. And he kissed him and he said,
this is my boy right here. You get the best robe and you
put it on him. You get some shoes on this boy and you put his feet
in some shoes. You put the ring on his finger. You kill the fatted cow. This
is my son. He was dead. Now he's alive. Now let me ask you something.
You think when that boy left, do you think that the father
called him no more, his son, forsook him? Do you think that
daddy ever went a day that he didn't think about that boy?
Now let me tell you, in the indescribable mercy of God, Almighty God, in
mercy and kindness, will allow us to go through chastenings
that are for our good, to teach us, I must have Him. Things that we think we want. I heard Don Fortner say one time,
he said, God just might give a man what he thinks he wants
and make him live with it for the rest of his life to do him
good. Boy, that's right. Ephraim is
joined to Isis. Leave him alone. The Lord will
teach him. God will bring him to himself.
Let him wander. Allow him to waste on righteous
living. We're going to see. He is all
we have. He's all we need in time. That boy came to himself. And
I'll tell you this, in time, Almighty God calls His own to
Himself. And He does it for our good.
Oh, how we need His teaching. He does not allow His people
to do anything that's not for their good. And not for His glory. Time and time again, Israel,
Ephraim, Rebel. Look at chapter 12, verses 1
and 2. If we wrap this up. Chapter 12,
verses 1 and 2. Ephraim feedeth on wind. and followeth after the east
wind. He daily increases lives of desolation. They do make a
covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. The Lord hath also a controversy
with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, according
to his doings. Will he recompense him? Look
at verses 7 and 8 in chapter 12. He is a merchant. The balances of deceit are in
his hand. He loveth to oppress. And Ephraim
said, Yet I am become rich. I have found me out substance
in all my labors. They shall find none iniquity
in me. That was sin. But in chapter 13, verses 1 and
2, when Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel.
But when he offended in Baal, he died. And now they sin more
and more and have made them molten images of their silver and idols
according to their own understanding. All of the work of the craftsmen,
they say of him, let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves."
This old man never leaves while we're in this world. Never. As I said at the beginning of
this message, every believer will admit That whole nature,
that thought right there is with me. And I struggle with the mercy
of God. The mercy of God. Look at chapter
13 and verse 4. Yet, yet, I am the Lord thy God
from the land of Egypt, And thou shalt know no God but Me, for
there is no Saviour besides Me. Look at verse 9 in chapter 13. O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in Me is thine help. Look at chapter 14, verses 1
to 9, and we'll close. O Israel, Return unto the Lord
thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with
you words, and turn to the Lord, saying to him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves
of our lips." Asher. I looked that up. Asher was an
Assyrian false god. That's who it is. Asher shall
not save us. Just a picture, let me say this,
of man's free will. That's what it all comes down
to. Asher shall not save us. We will not ride upon horses,
neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ye
are our gods. For in thee the fatherless findeth
mercy. I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely. For mine anger is turned away
from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as
the lily, cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall
spread in his beauty, shall be as the olive tree, his smell
as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow
shall return, they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the
vine. The scent thereof shall be as
the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have
I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and observed
him. I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand
these things? Prudent, and he shall know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk
in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein." Now, I'll
tell you something. If that's not a picture of us
by nature, I'm talking about before we were converted and
after we're converted. The struggles that we have if
any man was left to himself, any man regenerated by the grace
of God, if Almighty God left him to himself, what would we
do if God left him alone? He'd go right back to his vomit.
He's just like the hog that would just go right back to the mire
and wallow in it. That old man is there and God
Almighty will not let him. He said, you can go this far.
You can go this far. He's going to let us be taught
what we are by nature. And a believer sees it, and he
admits it, and in seeing it, When I think about that Scripture,
when he says, Ephraim was given to idols, leave him alone, let
him alone. Boy, when I see, when I see that
old man, when I see the privacy, and I see it, and I see it, I
think, Lord, oh, how merciful you are. When God allows a man
to see what's in himself, right now, in conversion, he's going
to say, Lord, I have no one but you. Save me, I'm going to perish. For Christ's sake, bless these
words.