Go with me now, if you would,
to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Our text tonight will be verses
25 and 26. But let's begin reading in verse
22. What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted 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, or Hosea, I will call them my people, which were
not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it
shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto
them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the
children of the living God. You know, what God has to say
to his people in his word, it truly is amazing. What we read
a moment ago in Isaiah 54, and as we read these things, it's
amazing. What he says he will do for us,
what he says he's purposed to do for us, it truly is full of
wonder. It's amazing grace. Amazing,
amazing grace. While there are some who do not know what this word says
and they don't even want to open the book, because they say it's
too hard to understand. That's what people will say.
That's too hard to understand. They don't even want to open
the book. It's just too hard to understand. And then while
there are some who open the book, but they are eaten up with their
own self-righteousness and their own works before God. And when
they read that salvation is not by our works of righteousness,
but it's by the grace of God alone, this is what they say.
That's hard to understand. I just can't understand, it's
too hard to understand. While some say that in ignorance,
and while some say that in self-righteousness, God's people who know something
of what they truly are, they really do know something of their
sin. When they see the goodness and
the kindness and the graciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to them,
this is what they say. That's hard to understand. That
is just hard to understand. That is full of wonder. This is what God's people say.
If they really get a hold of it, this is what they'll say.
Why me? That's what they'll say. Why
me? If God doesn't open their eyes
to the truth of who they are, they'll never say, why me? Never.
But if God really does something for a person, that person will
say, why me? Why me? That's amazing. The apostle
Paul said right here, he said, the Lord described that goodness
and that graciousness to his undeserving people, he described
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy in the book
of Hosea. That's what Paul said right here.
The Lord described it in the book of Hosea, and he did. If you know anything about the
book of Hosea, he sure did. Verse 25, it says, as he saith
also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my
people, and I will call her beloved, which was not beloved. And it
shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto
them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the
children of the living God. Let's turn over there to the
book of Hosea. Hosea is the next book after Daniel. It goes Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea. Page 1126, if your Bible's like
mine. This earthly story is a parable. This is a picture of a heavenly
meaning. This is the truth of the relationship
between Christ and His bride. And it is amazing. This is full of wonder. This is hard to understand. This
really is. In this story, this man, Hosea, represents the Lord
Jesus Christ. Hosea is the same name as Joshua. Same name. And that is the same name as
Jesus. Exact same name, exact same meaning.
The name Hosea means savior. It means salvation and it means
savior. So Hosea represents Christ. And
in the story, this woman Gomer represents his people. Gomer
represents his bride. The name Gomer means Complete,
it means to end, to cease, complete. That's what the chosen bride
of Christ is, complete in Him. But this right here is the truth
concerning the bride and Christ's relationship with the bride.
And Paul said, Hosea described it very well, very well. The first three chapters in this
book, they tell the story of Hosea and Gomer. And then the
remaining chapters relate it to our Lord and His people. That
is also being related in the first three, but that's what
the remaining chapters of the book focus on. So chapter one,
verse one, it says, the word of the Lord that came
unto Hosea, the son of Beera, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. And 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 to Hosea, go,
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms For
the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord. That's what God the Father told
Hosea to do. He said, go take for yourself
a wife of whoredoms. That's who I've chosen for you.
That's who I have set apart for you. A wicked, sinful, unfaithful
wife who has children of whoredoms. The only thing that sin can produce
is sin. That's the only thing sin can
produce, sin. Verse three, so he went and took
Gomer, the daughter of Debalaim, which conceived and bare him
a son. He married her and that union
produced life in her. He took her to himself. He called
her for his own. He loved her. He provided for
her. What did she do in return? Chapter two, verse one. Say ye unto your brethren, am
I, and your sister, Ruamah, plead with your mother, plead, for
she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Meaning in her
mind, by her actions. Verse two, let her therefore
put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries
from between her breasts. He's saying she won't stop doing
it. She will not be faithful to me. She will not stop going
after the desires and the lust of her flesh. Verse three, 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. And I will not have mercy upon
her children for they be the children of whoredoms. For their
mother hath played the harlot, she hath conceived them, hath
she done shamefully. For she said, I will go after
my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my
flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find
her paths, 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. For 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 thought they were given all
those things to her. providing her with all those
things. She had no idea, he said, that I was doing every bit of
that for her. While she was off doing what
she was doing, I was the one who set all that there for her.
I was the one who took care of her. In spite of her lewdness,
in spite of her rejection of me, the shame that she brought
to our union, I was the one who did all that for her. So he said,
I'm going to strip her of all those things and I'm going to
show her her need. And then verse 14, therefore,
behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness.
And I'll speak comfortably to her. I'll speak peace to her.
I'll do all these things for her. Verse 19, he said, and I
will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. He said, that's
what I'm going to do for her. In spite of her, that's what
I'm going to do for her. Now, what did she do in return?
Chapter 3, verse 1. Then said the Lord unto me, go
yet. That means go again. Go once
again. Go yet, love a woman, be loved
of her friend. And that word friend means husband.
Be loved of her husband, yet an adulteress. according to the
love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look on other gods
and love flagons of wine. This time she got herself into
so much trouble, she became a slave and she sold herself into bondage. She ended up on the auction block
to be sold off to another. Didn't the Apostle Paul say in
Romans 7, I am sold under sin. I'm just sold. Understand. Well, here she is on the auction
block. She's ruined. She's wasted. She's up for sale
because this is what Hosea said. Verse two. He said, so I bought
her to me. For 15 pieces of silver and for
an omer of barley and a half omer of barley, I bought her
to me. This is the relationship of Christ
and his bride. This is exactly what Christ endured
with His bride and for His bride. And it's amazing, isn't it? It
is amazing. We know this is us. We know it is. We see ourselves
in Gomer. We see her and say, yes, that's
me. That's exactly me. There I go
again. ruined, wasted, worthless again. And then he'll speak some peace to
my heart and bring me back. And then what do I do? Gone again. But this was the promise of God
to her. This is what Paul quoted in Romans nine. And this is God's
promise to his heathen, separated, outcast people. Go back to chapter
one, verse 10. Hosea 1 verse 10, he said, yet
the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come
to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are
not my people. There shall it be said unto them,
you are the sons of the living God. In the place where it was
said unto them, you are not my people. Right there in that very
same place, shall it be said unto them, you are the sons of
the living God. Where was that place? The very place of the cross of
Calvary. right there on the cross, Hosea,
Joshua, Jesus, the Savior, gave his life for the sin of his bride. In the very place where God rejected
his people in Christ, with us being in Christ, God looked at
him and saw us and saw our sin in him and said, forsaken. not mine, cast away. And because of that, in that
very same place, God now looks at us with Christ in us and his
perfection in us, and he says, you are the children of the living
God. One place, one transaction. The rest of the book of Hosea
declares that very thing. If you have headings at the top
of your pages, yours may be different from mine, but they summarize
what's being said on the page. And if you look above chapter
4, mine says, God's judgments against the sins of the people. That's what's declared on the
page. And then above chapter 5 it says, His judgments against
the priests and the princes of Israel. And then above chapter
six and seven, it says a reproof of Israel for their manifold
sins. And then above chapter eight,
it says destruction threatened for their impiety. That means
their irreverence and idolatry. The next one says, the distress
and the captivity of Israel for their sins. Above chapter 10,
it says Israel reproved for impiety, idolatry, and ingratitude. Above chapter 12, it says the
sins of Ephraim provoked God to anger. But look above chapter 13, it
says, a promise of God's mercy. A promise of God's mercy. Chapter
13, verse nine says, oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,
but in me is thine help. Hosea 14, verse four, he said,
I will heal their backsliding I will love them freely, for
mine anger is turned away from Him." That's an amazing love. That is an amazing love. How
did He heal our backsliding? He took it from us. He took that sin from us. We
bear it no more. That denial of Him. That rejection
of Him. That absolute sin of backsliding
away from Him. That's what we're doing. Backsliding
away from Him. He took that from us. He laid
it on Himself. He bore the punishment of it.
He put it away. And now that it's gone, this
is what He has said. My anger is turned away. Completely turned away. Now,
I want to see that in the very place where he accomplished that,
in that very place. All right. Turn with me, if you
would, to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples
and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup
and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of
it. For this is my blood of the New
Testament, which you shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they
had sung and hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives,
then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because
of me this night, For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered
and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him,
verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. All of them said that. And the
rest of Peter's account is right here, but I want to read what
Luke says about it and what Mark says about it. So look with me
at Luke 22. Luke 22, verse 54, it says, Then took they him, and led him,
and brought him into the high priest's house, and Peter followed
afar off. And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter
sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him
as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This
man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman,
I know him not. And after a little while, another
saw him and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man,
I am not. And about the space of one hour
after another, confidently affirmed, saying, of a truth, this fellow also
was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not
what thou sayest. And immediately while he yet
spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Can you imagine that look? Can
you imagine that look? He just looked at him. And Peter
remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, before
the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out
and wept bitterly. Peter cried, oh, how unfaithful
I've been to him. How unfaithful. This is what
he cried. I'm Gomer. I'm Gomer. We all are. We all are. Peter represents all of us. Can you not see yourself saying,
though everybody else denies you, I won't. Oh, pride comes right before
a fall. All of us are gomer, but look at what our Lord said
in spite of us and in spite of that. After it was all done,
That judgment was met, he went to the cross and everything that
happened on the cross, the law was satisfied, the sin was put
away. After death, after the grave,
after all that was over and Christ was risen again, this is what
he said. Turn with me over to Mark 16. Mark 16 verse 1, it says, and
when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome had brought sweet spices that they might
come and anoint him. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the
rising of the sun. And they said among themselves,
who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away,
for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in
a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith
unto them, Be not affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. But go your way, tell his disciples
and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall
you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and
fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed. Neither
said they anything to any man for they were afraid. You know
good and well they ran straight to Peter. You know they did. They knew, everybody knew how
utterly broken he was over how he had betrayed his Lord. Absolutely crushed over what
he'd done. That depression that came over
him. Thinking he was lost, utterly
lost. There's no way that God could
love me now. I betrayed him in that very hour. knowing how the
Lord had looked at him. Don't you know that he couldn't
get that look out of his mind? I can see those girls running
up to him crying, he said, and Peter. Peter saying, are you sure? Are
you sure he said and Peter? He said, and Peter. God is not angry with you, Peter.
That's an amazing thing to hear, isn't it? God's not angry with
you. He said, you shall see him there. You, Peter. You, Gomer. You shall see him there. Isn't
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ something wonderful? There will never be a sweeter
story. Story of the Savior's love, divine. Love that brought him from the
realms of glory just to save a sinful soul like mine. Boundless
as the universe around me, reaching to the farthest soul away, saving,
keeping love it was that found me. That is why my heart can
truly say, isn't the love of the Lord Jesus Christ something
wonderful? Paul said, Hosea described it
real well. Very well. Look one more time
at Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 22, it says, What
if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction? 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 I'll
call her beloved which was not beloved, And it shall come to
pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are
not my people, there shall they be called the children of the
living God. That's amazing. I don't know
who wrote this poem, but it's so good. I've quoted it to you
before. It's so good. It says, could
we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment
made, were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. It truly is amazing. It truly is amazing love. And
I have to agree with Paul. Hosea described it real well.
Really well. All right, let's all stand together.