Hosea chapter 2. And this evening my text will
be found in verse 16. Hosea chapter 2 and verse 16. The scripture says, and it shall
be at that day, saith the Lord, Thou shalt call me Isha, and
shalt call me no more Baaleh. And the title of my message this
evening is, In that day. In that day. Now what I want
us to see from this is that in that day, this day refers back
to verses 14 and 15. In that day. Meaning the day of our salvation. And so that's the first point
that I want to make to us. In that day means the day of
grace. The day in which the Lord comes
in mercy and power and delivers us and quickens us to life and
faith. But also, the second point that
I want to make tonight is, in that day or at that day also
means now. At that day, you see, salvation
is not something that's just passed. It's not something that
has been checked off. But rather, it is perpetual. The Lord's salvation is constant. It is necessary. I was saved. I shall be saved. But I tell
you this, I am being saved even now. So this is a very present
day. So it's not just something that's
past, it's something present. And this is the two things that
I want us to see out of that this evening. So at that day.
At that day refers to the Lord's alluring. In verse 14, I will
allure her into the wilderness. in love and mercy. In that day,
when He comes to the salvation of our souls, it is a measure,
it is by infinite, eternal love and affection of God that He
comes to us. If He ever came to you and me,
it's because He loved you. Surely, we never loved Him, but
He loved us before we ever loved Him. He loved us, and in mercy,
He came to us in salvation. And when He allures us, what
does He do to us? He allures us into the wilderness. The wilderness. He shows the
wilderness, the barrenness of our hearts, the fruitlessness
of our flesh. He allures us here. This is where we were by nature. When God comes to a sinner, you
know He comes to where He's at. He never expects the sinner to
go to Him. He finds the sinner. And when
He finds the sinner, He always finds him in the same place. The wilderness. The wilderness. He finds us in the depravity
of our own hearts, worshiping the God of our own making. He finds us there. Even as millions
and millions today are worshipping a false God, so did we. So did
we. You know, I was raised under
the doctrines of grace. I was raised under Calvinism.
But I tell you this, I had a God of my own making. I had a God
of my own imagination. I thought my God accepted me
based on my knowledge of the doctrines of grace. No. And I'll tell you, millions today
are worshiping a false god of free will, works, religion, a
god of their own making. And truly, the god of this age,
Pink said this, and I think it's worth repeating, the god of this
age no more resembles the sovereign god of Scripture than a flickering
candle does the noonday sun. He just doesn't even compare.
The God of today and today's religion is only an imitation,
a counterfeit, an idol set up in the minds of depraved men.
Listen, any God that is not sovereign is not God. God, by very definition, is sovereign. And any God that is not sovereign
is not God. Any God that desires to save,
but cannot save, except man give Him permission, is no God at
all. You see, our God is in the heavens. And our God hath done whatsoever
He hath pleased. But what does our God please?
Psalm 135. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He, in heaven and earth and in deep places. Whatever
that is, God pleased, He does it. He does it. Now, we in time past walked in
the same darkness and were blind. Matter of fact, that's where
God found us. God found us walking in the darkness
of our own depravity. And this is where He finds all
of His elect people. This is where He finds all of
us. Go to Deuteronomy. I'll show you this. You know,
Jacob in the Scripture is a type of the elect. He's a type of
the elect. Israel throughout the Old Testament
is a type and picture of the church. Deuteronomy 32. And verse 9. Listen to this. For the Lord's
portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. You realize that? That you are
the inheritance of God? You're the inheritance of Christ?
You're His lot. You're His inheritance. The Father
gave you to Him. And you are His. You are His
chosen people, and in love He chose you, and in love Christ
received you into union with Himself. And He, He swore in the covenant
of grace to accomplish our salvation. In that covenant of grace, Christ
swore to be our surety, didn't He? And you know what? You, the
elect of God, are His portion. And He, by a surety ship, you
remember that type of Judah, when He said, If I bring not
the lad to thee, let Me bear the blame. This is a picture
of Christ. And He says, If I bring not mine
inheritance, let Me bear the blame. And all of this was before the
day of our new birth, wasn't it? This inheritance was given,
we were given to Christ before the world began. And notice this,
where does God find His portion, His inheritance? He found Him
in a desert land, in a waste, howling wilderness. He led him about. He instructed
him. He kept him as the apple of His
eye. Before God came to you in grace,
do you not realize He was leading you about? He was leading you
about as the apple of His eye. He was keeping you in the way
so that you should not perish before He should come and give
you life. Didn't He lead Jacob all that
way before He met him in the wilderness? Yes, He did. And
what did He do when He found him? He instructed him. What
did He do with you and me? He instructed us. They shall
all be taught of God. Therefore, whosoever cometh to
Me is taught of God. That's what Christ said in John
6. He finds us in the waste-howling wilderness. And though unknown
to us, He led us about by grace until the moment of our birth." Have you seen the wilderness
of your own heart? Have you seen the barrenness
of your own goodness and righteousness? That you can by no means please
God. Have you seen that? If you have, that's because God
found you right there. That's where He finds us. Friends,
this is my desire for all who hear the Gospel. Because this
is the only place where God finds His elect. In the wilderness. And there He does what? In that
day, He finds us, He allures us to the wilderness, and then
in that day of grace, what does He do? He speaks comfortably
to us. He speaks comfortably to us by
two things. By two things, go back to your
text. He said, I will allure you to the wilderness, speak
comfortably to you. He said, I will give her her vineyards
from thence and the valley of Achar for a door of hope. So
two things He speaks comfortably in that day. The vineyard and
the valley. This speaks to us of the promise
and the work of Jesus Christ. Since His people are barren by
nature, Jesus Christ has come to fulfill all righteousness
by His faith and obedience. That's why He came into the world.
This was His whole purpose for coming into the world, so that
He might fulfill all righteousness for His elect. And so, whereas
your righteousness was a wilderness, His righteousness is a fruitful
vineyard. A fruitful vineyard. You remember
what Paul says in Romans 3, 22. It says, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. The cause, the
merit of the righteousness of God is the faith of the Son of
God. In this wilderness, God reveals
to us then our need of righteousness. He speaks in that day and reveals
our need of righteousness, but comforts us to show us that Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is all the righteousness
we need in that day of grace. In that day of grace and power,
when God comes and gives the new birth, we see the righteousness
of God. And then, we do what? Receive
it. Receive it. You see, Christ earned
and merited the righteousness of God, and in the day of our
birth, in the day of our regeneration, we are now able to receive it,
to believe on it, to trust in Him. That's why He said, this
righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and
upon all them that believe. You see, Christ's faith obtained
it, our faith receives it. Our faith receives it, both the
imputed and the imparted righteousness which is by the Holy Spirit.
Have you believed? If you have believed on the Son
of God, then that is that day. That is the day of the birth
when we believe on the Son of God. Have you received His righteousness? Then know this, His righteousness
is yours. God accounts His righteousness
as your very own. That's what He says in our text.
I will give to her her vineyards. Now wait a second. She didn't
have any. It was all taken away. Hers was destroyed. How is it
hers? Because He merited it and gave
it to her. And that's what He does for us.
He gives us His righteousness. And not only that, the valley
of Achar for a door of hope. This speaks in pictures to us
the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ by Achan, that man
in the valley of Achar. You remember Achan's sin, God
said, was the sin of Israel. This is a picture because Adam's
sin is the sin of Israel. Adam's sin and sentence was death
and it passed to us all. And so because of the sin of
Achan, you remember that they were not able to defeat that
little town of Ai. That's how they knew there was
transgression in Israel because they could not defeat. They just
defeated Jericho. That big city. And now they come
to this little city, Ai, they cannot defeat it. Why? There
is sin in Israel. And what does this tell us? This
is a picture that no man by nature can overcome his own sin. You see that little town of Ai
and you? We could by no means escape it.
We could by no means overcome it. The world, the flesh, the
devil, we could not overcome them. But I'll tell you this,
as soon as Achan was killed, you know what happened? They
defeated Ai. And you know what? The Lord Jesus
Christ is a picture of this valley where Achan was killed. When
Christ died, all of the sins, all of our sins were imputed
to Him, His charge, and God punished Him in our stead. Substitutionary
death. The justice of God poured out
on Christ. All our sins were put away. Lord
Jesus, by His one sacrifice, satisfied God forever. Can you
get a hold to that? You know you find a lot of peace
if we could ever get a hold to that. That God by Christ has
forever put away our sins. Never to be brought again to
our charge. And yet in this wilderness of
our flesh this question plagues the soul. How can God be just
and justify the ungodly? How can God who is holy and pure
take the sacrifice of another and charge it to us? How is that? Behold the valley of Achar, the
hill of Calvary, for God hath made Him to be sin for us. God made Him to bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. And justice was satisfied. Isn't that interesting? That
God never set aside His justice for His mercy. We do it all the
time, but God could not do that. God could not put aside His justice
and show us mercy. He must satisfy His justice to
show us mercy. And all those sacrifices, all
those animals that had been offered ever before were only a picture. Thousands upon thousands of animals
were slain and none of them could take away sin. Yet this man,
this one man by his one offering perfected forever them that are
sanctified. And therefore he is the door
of hope. In that day, at that time, when the Lord comes in
grace, He exposes our sins. He shows us the righteousness
of Christ. He shows us the death of Christ.
And He presents before us a door. Christ's the door. And what does a man do when he's
presented with Christ? If it's by the Holy Spirit, he
can do nothing but go through. He can do nothing but enter in.
Imagine Lazarus laying in the tomb, and Christ says, Lazarus,
come forth. You suppose he stood at the mouth
of the tomb and wondered if he should go out. No! He heard the
voice of his Master. He heard the voice of his Lord,
and he got up. I don't even know how he walked
out. He was bound. I imagine he could have hopped,
but I think he kind of just moved and floated on out. I'll tell
you what, that's what God does in the day of grace. Before we
even know we believe, we believe. Before it even becomes a choice,
we've already believed. The day of grace is a merciful
day. And in the door of hope, Jesus
said, if any man enter in, he shall come in and out and find
pasture. I saw this video of cows who
hadn't seen grass for six months. They'd been shut up. And man,
when they opened that door, those cows just were leaping and jumping.
And that's what it is when the door's open. We leap for joy
because there's pasture. There's food for the starving
soul. There's righteousness which we
hunger and thirst for. He speaks comfortably. Now, have
you experienced that day? Have you experienced that day? Well, I want you to see that
that is not just a day past, but it's also a day present.
At that day, this is a very present day. It is a perpetual day for
believers. Even now, We are allured to the
wilderness, and God speaks comfortably to us. This is a perpetual thing
for every believer in Christ. A day is not just a day passed,
but one that is perpetual speaking, perpetual comfort to His people. And we who know the wilderness
of our own hearts, Is it not God's purpose to continually
show you that? Have you ceased from seeing the
wilderness? Have you just saw that one time? And then when
that was over, oh, well, I'm glad that was over. No. You and I still see the wilderness
of our own heart. This is not something that just
passed. This is something perpetual.
This is something that the Lord reveals to us at that day. At this day, He reveals it to
us. Have you not seen it today? Has
the Lord not shown you more of the wilderness of your own heart?
He does this to us. He shows, continually reveals
the barrenness of our own nature. By this God has purposed, and
this is the reason, that God still brings you and allures
you to the wilderness of your own heart, so that you might
grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the more we walk by
faith in Christ, these two things become more evident. the wilderness
of our heart and the greatness of Christ's sacrifice. Isn't
that always the same? And these two are constantly,
we have need of these things. The more aware we are of our
spiritual weakness, the greater the sacrifice of Christ appears
to us. The more precious it becomes.
the more endearing it becomes. The more we learn of our depravity,
the greater and more glorious the righteousness and death of
Christ is to our hearts. You remember what the apostle,
he was struggling with that thorn in the flesh. And the Lord Jesus
Christ appeared to him and said, My grace is sufficient for thee. Four, my strength is made perfect
in what? Weakness. Weakness. Now, is Christ saying that our
weakness perfects His strength? No, Christ's strength, His omnipotent
strength is perfect. It doesn't need our weakness
to perfect His strength, but rather He uses our weakness to
manifest His strength. You see why we need to be perpetually
shown the wilderness of our heart is that so the righteousness
and perfection of Christ's strength might be magnified. might be more revealed to us. Now, you take a person who's
strong in the flesh. You got somebody who's strong.
Well, I'll show you a person who doesn't need the strength
of Christ. Now, you show me a man who's
weak, and I'll show you a man who longs for the strength of
Christ. He longs for it. The Lord does this. He perpetually
reveals the wilderness of our hearts so that we should lean
on His perfect arm of strength. And I'll tell you this, have
you and I not found His arm sufficient? We've found it sufficient. Always
sufficient. But I'll tell you, if you've
never been weak, you don't know anything about His strength.
You don't know anything about His strength. He does it so we
would trust only in Him. You know, our God is a jealous
God. He's not going to allow you to
lean on someone else. Not even the brethren. He's going to make you lean on
Him completely. And therefore, He pulls all those
things from underneath you, so that you would fall on Him. You
now see why you're troubled? Why your difficulties come? He's
not doing this to hurt you or destroy you, but rather just
to reveal your nature. And by revealing your nature,
He comes and He speaks comfort to you again, and again, and
again, and again. He tells you of the valley of
Achar, the door of hope, Jesus Christ. And in that day, today,
listen to what He says. Now He's going to show us a promise
in verse 16. So at that day, which is the
day of our grace when we come to Him, and also in the perpetual
day of grace, even today He says, in that day, at that day, Thou
shalt call Me Isha, and shalt call Me no more Baalei. Now it was interesting to me
that our translators did not translate these words, but left
them. in their original form. You notice
that? What does that mean? Isha, Bilali. It means, the word Isha means
beloved husband. They both have to do with the
husband. They both have to do with a wife and what a wife would
call her husband. The word ishah means beloved
husband or my man. That's what it means. My man!
That's my man. That's an internment of endearment,
isn't it? But this other word ba'ali means
Lord. A wife calls her husband, Lord,
Master. And while both have reference
to a husband, one is one of affection and one is one of duty. Now the
Lord truly is Belale to all men. He is Master to all His creation. And listen to me, every man should
obey the Lord. That's just right, isn't it?
Every man by creation must submit himself, should submit himself
unto his God, and should keep His commandments. Yet all of us, like Gomer, refused. We all rejected our Bilali. We all rejected our master. But in the day of grace, In the
day of grace, we who are bought, we who are born again, we truly
do bow down to Him as Master, don't we? We're like that prodigal
son. You remember the prodigal son
when he came to himself and he said, man, my father's house,
he's rich and he has all this. I'll tell you what, I'm going
to go home and I'm going to say to my father, just make me a
servant. Isn't that how we come to God
at first? We come to God, oh God, just make me a servant in
Thine house. I'm not worthy to be called Thy
son. Make me a hired hand. Put me out in the field. Put
me out. I'm not worthy. I've sinned. And that's how we
come to God. Seeking mercy. But you know what
we find instead of a bill of divorcement? He said, in that
day, you're not going to call me master. Isn't that what the
father said before he even finished? The father said, Put the ring
on his finger. Kill the fatted calf. My son! My son has returned! And this
is what he comes when we come as that, as Gomer, we come to
him and we expect a bill of divorcement, but instead what do we get? He
said, shh, shh, don't call me master. You call me my man. You call me husband, beloved
husband. Jesus said to His disciples,
He said, you know, you call me master, that's good. But He said,
you know, you're not, I don't want you to call me that. Call
me friend. Is that not something? He said,
you are my friend. You're my friend. That day He called me friend.
Who was by nature His enemy. Oh, how precious is that day. Today. Today. He says, don't call me. Don't call me master. Call me
husband. Call me friend. It's a sign of
affection and love. And by this Jesus comforts us.
And by this we learn that He is our Man. The Scripture says
that He took not on Him the nature of angels, but of the seed of
Abraham. It behooved Him to be made like
unto His brethren. That He might be the Captain
of our salvation. That He might be able to succor
us. That He might be able to comfort
us. You know, I know what it's like to be a man, but I don't
know really what it's like he does. He has experienced it to
the full, what it is to be a man. Have you experienced all the
troubles there is to have as being a man? No. We've not come close, have we?
He has. And so he is able to understand
our little troubles, isn't he? He's able to put his arm around
you and say, It's alright, my son. I'll bear you through it. I've
been there. I've been there. And so our Lord
Jesus is our man, our representative man, and He is our husband. And now He has invited us in
that day. He has said, come to the marriage
feast. All is ready. Come. And what
do we find when we come? All is ready. even as He said."
Have you not found that everything He said has been true? Everything
He said. And yet I'm still amazed every
time I find it to be true. All is ready And notice this,
he says in verse 17, I will take away the names of Balaam out
of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their
name. See, when a husband takes a bride,
you know what? She takes his name. She takes his name. His name, Jeremiah chapter 23,
His name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Jeremiah 33, I believe verse
16, and her name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And I'll tell you this, all of
Balaam, all the false gods of our mouth, He's taken them out
of our mouth. I don't want to talk of them
anymore. They are nothing but refuse to
me. And so then, believer, are you in trouble? Well, I know that's a rhetorical
question. Because if you're not in trouble,
just wait. Just wait a minute. You will
be. In this world, my Lord, my man
said, you shall have tribulation. The world is set against you?
You bet it is. Our Lord said it would be. He
said, I came not to bring peace, but a sword, to set at variance
a man against those of his own household. Is that not so? Have you not found that to be
so? That even those of your own household are the ones that oppose
you the most? They are. Does Satan oppose you? Tempt you? Accuse you? Even so, our Lord said, he's
a walking lion, a roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he
may devour. Our Lord said to Peter, Satan
had desired to sift you as wheat. So we know that Satan has the
darts, those fiery darts that he launches at us daily. Job
found that to be true when the Lord gave Satan everything. He
took it. Is the fleshly nature against
you? You bet it is. It hangs on us like a rotten
corpse, trying to bring us back into bondage. Is that not your
case every day? That the mind wanders back into
sin and all its filth, trying to pull you back down into the
very brink of hell? It always does. The flesh is
always going to be this way. But in all this, our Savior warned
us of these dangers, and yet He promised us. Concerning the
world, He said, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. He says
of Satan, the prince of this world is cast out. That's what
He said. And He says of this flesh, He
said, though in your flesh dwelleth no good thing, he says, there
is therefore now, even in your flesh, even in this body, there
is therefore now, in that day, no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, believer, listen to
the promise of Issac. I want you to see this, because
this is important. Go look back at your text. In that day. What day? Well, that's the day
that we began this, but also this day. In that day will I
make a covenant. Notice, not with them, but for
them. I will make a covenant for them.
Why? What happened when he made a
covenant with Israel? What happened? They failed. Oh, this is precious. Because
He's made a covenant for us, it shall not fail. His covenant
promises shall not fail. He said, I made in Jeremiah 31,
he says, I will make not a covenant like I did in the day with your
fathers, but they broke that covenant, but I will make a covenant
for you. And listen to this covenant.
He said, the beast of the field, the fowls of heaven, the creeping
things of the ground. He's going to make a covenant
for us with the beast of the field, the fowls of heaven, the
creeping things of the ground. What does that mean? all the beasts and demons of
hell, all of the creeping things of men and wicked foes, all of
even the angelic host, everything, everything works together for
your good. That's what he's saying. He said,
you are my wife and everything I've made a covenant for you
and everything will work together for your good. They cannot harm
you. They cannot harm you. The covenant that God made for
us on the behalf of us, for as our husband, all things, whether
beasts of hell, Satan, demon, creeping things, wicked man,
angelic host, all things work together for good. God says,
I know my thoughts for you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, saith
the Lord. See that all things work according
to the sovereign will of Christ. And though Satan roar, he cannot
devour you. Though the world foam as the
sea against you, God has set the bounds of their habitation.
And though the flesh lust against the Spirit, He shall not have
dominion over you. Why? I made a covenant for you. On your behalf, I've made a covenant.
And not one of these things will touch you. But I feel bad. I ain't touching
you. But I'm dying. Jesus said this. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on me shall
never die. Believest thou this? You believe that? If you believe
that, you'll find a lot of comfort. You'll find a lot of assurance
in times of great difficulty. And notice this, that he broke
the bow and sword. See, we were at war with God,
but he's broken the bow. The battle is done. The war is
over. Isn't that true in that day?
Did you not stack your arms in that day? Did you not surrender
fully? And what are you doing in this
day? Are you not still surrendering fully? You bet you are. Why? Because the battle's done.
He's made peace by the blood of His cross. Therefore, believer,
we have a mediator that stands between our soul and God. And as our mediator, He touches
both you and God. He sustains both the glory of
God and the salvation of our souls. Who? My man, my husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He that lured me to the wilderness. He that still allures me to the
wilderness. He that revealed to me the valley
of Acre for a door of hope, still reveals the valley of Acre for
a door of hope. And today, I call him Israel. My beloved husband, my friend,
my God, my savior, my king, my rock, my comfort, my joy, my
peace, Christ, my all. My all. And I'll tell you, if you've
had that day, there is coming a day, one final day, an eternal
day, when this will be revealed to its fullest, when we shall
see our beloved as he is. May God ever make us long for
that day. How will He do it? He'll do it
by showing you the wilderness. That's how He'll do it. He'll
make you long for that day by showing you the wilderness of
your own heart. By showing you Christ is all. I pray God bless this. Let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer.