Now tonight we're going to continue
in the book of Hosea. The Old Testament prophet Hosea. In chapter two, concerning the
subject of unconditional love. Unconditional love. And most
of you by this time are very familiar with the story of this
prophet. This man who was chosen of God
to deliver a message to Israel. At this point in time, Israel
was in a very open and continual rebellion against God. This nation,
the northern kingdom of Israel, as the divided kingdoms, was
immersed in idolatry, and yet they tried to retain some of
the religious particulars of the law of Moses. They were religious,
but they were lost. And like people today, religious
but lost. They had a lot of outward ceremony.
They went through the motions, but they had no heart for the
true and living God. They had no heart for the real
issues of God's truth revealed in the old covenant that exposes
us for what we are, sinners who are in need of mercy and grace.
sinners who are in need of a Savior, a Savior who is none other than
God in human flesh as he was pictured and prophesied and typified
in that covenant. And so God in his sovereign mercy
and in his sovereign wisdom and goodness commanded this man Hosea,
the prophet of God, to go and find him and marry a wife of
Hortums. That was back in chapter 1 and
verse 2. And I know, as I've said before, that sounds like
one of the strangest commands that God has ever given to an
individual, but nonetheless, He tells us why He gave it. Verse
2, it says, The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.
And remember, Hosea's name means salvation. That's what his name
means. It's an Old Testament form of
the name Joshua or Yeshua, which filters down into the New Testament
into Jesus, which means Savior. And he gave this word by Hosea,
and the Lord said to Hosea, go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms
and children of whoredoms. And the reason, he says, for
the land, the nation, hath committed great whoredom, that spiritual
whoredom, spiritual harlotry, and they are departing from the
Lord. And God determined in his wisdom to use this man's very
life as an illustration of how he saved sinners. An illustration
of unconditional grace and mercy and love. Sovereign grace and
mercy and love. And so Hosea went and married
a woman named Gomer. That name means failure. It means
consumption. It means consumed. One who's
consumed with sin. Gomer's a picture of us by nature. Sinners who are in need of grace. Gomer's a picture of one who
did not deserve her husband's love. and could not earn her
husband's love. She did what came natural to
her as a selfish, self-righteous, self-fulfilling sinner. But Hosea
chose her and Hosea loved her nonetheless. And what a great
picture of God's unconditional love for His church. Of Christ's
unconditional love for His bride, the church. And that's what this
is all about. You know, man by nature does
not want salvation without conditions. You hear what I say? Man by nature
does not want salvation without conditions. Now the conditions
may vary. They vary with cultures. They
vary with denominations. They vary with different thoughts.
Different ideas in the conscience, but man by nature does not want
salvation without conditions. Give me something to do in order
to attain it or at least maintain it. Now the reason man doesn't
want salvation without conditions is because by nature we all want
something, whether it's a little something or a great big something. Something that we can boast in.
That we can say, I did this, but you didn't. Now let me prove
that to you before we get into Hosea chapter 2. Turn to Romans
chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, the Apostle
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, brings all men and women without
exception in Adam, as fallen and ruined in Adam, guilty as
charged he says there's none righteous there's none that doeth
good that is in the sight of God and according to God's standard
of righteousness and goodness now and the reason we have to
make that distinction now is you know what we do by nature
now this is what religion does it gets you to compare yourself
with each other And usually when we compare ourselves to somebody
else on this plane, we pick somebody who's either just a step below
or way below us, and we come out looking pretty good. It's
kind of like the guy who said, well, he said, I know I'm not
perfect, but I'm not as bad as so-and-so. The problem with that
is, is that old so-and-so, whoever that so-and-so is, that so-and-so
is not going to be the standard of righteousness at the judgment.
Now you know who's going to be the standard of righteousness
at the judgment? Christ is. Acts 17 31. How many times do
I quote that scripture? Probably two or three times during
a message. But it's so telling where it says how God commands
all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day
in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath anointed. ordained, in that he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
He's going to judge the world in righteousness by Christ. Christ
is going to be the judge and he's going to be the standard
of judgment, both. So when I compare myself to Christ,
I'm not even on the map there. How about you? I'm not even on
the scale. You say, well, I try to love everybody. Christ didn't
try to love his people. He did love them. And he proved
that because it says he loved them to the end, that is to the
fulfilling of the work. He went to the cross to die for
his sheep. The good shepherd, he gave his
life for the sheep. Herein is love. We talked about
this last time because of unconditional love. Herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and he proved it by sending
his son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction for the sins
of his people, for our sins. So he didn't try to love his
people, he did love them perfectly, and still does love his people
perfectly. Now we can try as hard as we
want, but we still will not measure up. So Paul brings everybody
in guilty and deserving of damnation for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. So he says in verse 21, now he
says that no flesh will be justified in God's sight by deeds of the
law. But now listen, verse 21 of Romans 3, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, that's a righteousness established by Christ, not established
by you and not established by me. You see, this situation of
Hosea and Gomer. Gomer was a whore. That's what
she was. She was a wife of whoredoms.
And there's no way, having been that and still being that, that
she could make herself righteous in order to earn or deserve Hosea's
love. And the Bible teaches us that's
what we all are by nature spiritually. And so he says here, it's the
righteousness which Christ wrought out. He says, unto all that is
preached unto all and upon all them that believe, for there's
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Now look at verse 24, being justified, that is made righteous,
declared righteous, being declared not guilty. And what's that next
word after that? What's it say? Freely. That means without a cause. That
means that if I'm in Christ, if I'm a sinner saved by the
grace of God, there was no cause in me for God to justify me and
declare me not guilty. It was unconditional, that's
another word for it. Being justified unconditionally
by his grace, that's the nature of grace and mercy. It cannot
be earned or deserved. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Now, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter two. Now
that's what salvation's all about. Unconditional grace. And you
know what, there's no other kind. Because let me tell you something,
anybody who claims to preach grace and then puts conditions
on the recipient of grace, you know what they've just done?
They've just denied grace. And if they do that to mercy,
somebody who says they preach mercy, but they put conditions
on the mercy, they've just denied mercy. Because grace and mercy,
by the very nature of those two glorious truths, are unconditional. You give mercy to people who
don't deserve it. You give grace to people who
don't deserve it. But now look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. Now look at verse 14. He says, but the natural
man, now that's the unregenerate man. That's a sinner who has
yet to come to faith in Christ. And it says, he receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them,
that is, savingly, because they are spiritually discerned, spiritually
understood, spiritually known, spiritually received. Now, what
is it specifically that the natural man will not receive? The things
of the Spirit of God. What are those things? Well,
look up at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 2. Now, he said, we have received
not the spirit of the world. Now, here he's talking about
regenerate people, believers, those who have been brought to
faith in Christ. And he says, we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are, what's that next word? Freely given
to us of God, unconditionally given to us of God. You see,
it takes a work of the Spirit of God even to get us to receive
these things unconditionally, freely, because by nature we're
so proud By nature, we're so religious and self-serving, you
just got to give me something to do. That's the self-righteousness
of the natural man. But now here back here in Hosea
now, let's turn back to Hosea chapter 2. Here's a woman named
Gomer and you cannot, there's no way that you can read this
story, there's no way that you can can go back to the original
Hebrew and parse a verb or delineate a noun, to get it in any way,
shape, or form, or fashion, at any degree, at any time, at any
stage, that you can say this woman deserves to be loved and
saved and taken care of by this man. There's just no way you
can do it. I mean you can't get a better
picture than this. This is the most beautiful picture of how
God saved me and how God saved you if you're saved. There's
no way. She's a sinner and she deserves
death. The first thing that he brought
up was a matter of law. In verse 1 of chapter 2 it says, Chapter 2, verse 2, it says,
plead with your mother. Plead, that doesn't mean beggar.
That means contend with her. Literally, it means charge her.
She broke the law of marriage. And under the Mosaic law, what
does she deserve? She deserves death. That's what
adultery deserved under the law of Moses. It was a capital crime. That's right. That's why David,
when he prayed after committing adultery, he said, sacrifice
thou wouldst not. There was no sacrifice provided
for in the old covenant law for murder or for adultery. That
was that law given. And here's this woman. There's
a charge against her. And you see, in Adam, there's
a charge against us. That's why David cried, Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth or chargeth not iniquity. In
order for me, a sinner, to be saved, God has to devise a way
in which He will not charge me with my sin. And God cannot just
say, well, I'm just not going to do it, because He's a just
God. He's got to be just. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
a just judge. Always judges according to truth.
That's what the Bible tells us. He can't just say, well, let's
just forget it. Y'all made a few mistakes. That's the common language
of the day. We're not sinners. We just made
a mistake. No, we're sinners. And the Bible
even goes further. We're transgressors. You know
what that, we're trespassers. You know what that means? That
means we're rebels. We didn't just trip up or slip up. We rebelled
against God. You see this Gomer here. She
did what was in her heart to do. I had a lady tell me one
time down in Albany, going out after I preached a message. I
don't remember what passage I was preaching on. And she said, you
know, she said, I believe that even believers sin, but not willingly. And I looked at her and I said,
are you for real? Are you for real? I mean, that's
just a denial of reality. She did what she wanted to do.
That's what Gomer did. She did what she wanted to do.
And that's what we do. What we want to do. And she deserved
to be punished. But, God who is rich in mercy. Don't you love those passages?
But God, but God. God who loved us, I read from
Romans chapter 5 last week, God who loved us even when we were,
what, enemies. That's amazing grace. You know,
we've seen something of it, but we just, we haven't got, like
I said, we haven't seen, we've just skimmed the surface. If
we really understood how God saw us in our sins, And the fact
that he gave his only begotten son to save sinners like us,
just old gomers. That's right there. When we were yet enemies. That's
amazing grace. People who deserve nothing but
damnation and have earned nothing but damnation. But here, God
in this great illustration, the first thing he does in the first
few verses of this chapter, he calls for repentance. Repentance. Man by nature won't repent. That repentance is a gift from
God that comes from faith, which is a gift from God. And yet,
he tells her, he says, repent. He says in verse 5, their mother
hath played the harlot. She that conceived them hath
done shamefully. She said, I'll go after my lovers
that give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my oil,
my drink. Her lovers hadn't given her any
of those things. You know who did? Hosea did.
And I look at that all the time. I say, that's us by nature. Because
before God saved us and brought us to a saving knowledge of Christ,
that's exactly what I did. I attributed it to an idol of
my imagination. All of these things he brings
forth. And then Hosea hedged Gomer about,
just like God hedged us about. You know, how long has God loved
his people? He told Jeremiah, he said, I've
loved you with an everlasting love. Christ is the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. The everlasting covenant
of grace was made before time. The salvation that God has purposed
and provided for his people was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. And he hedged us about all that
time that we were in our rebellion and in our unbelief and in our
idolatry and in our sin. We took it for granted that Hosea
hedged Gomer about. I called it the Hedge of Unfulfilled
Desire because God's not going to let His children settle for
anything less. Now listen to me. God is not
going to let His children, even in our rebellion, and in our
idolatry, and in our unbelief, He's not going to let His children
settle for anything less than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You may, like the prophet Isaiah
said there in Isaiah 51, ye that seek after righteousness, before
we know Christ, how do we seek righteousness? By our works.
By our baptisms. By our church membership. By
walking an aisle. By our tithing. All kinds of
things we can name. But you know, if you're one of
God's children, he's not going to allow you to settle in there
forever. He's going to bring you to see that you're destitute. that you have no place to go
but Christ and him alone. And then Hosea provided for Gomer. Look at verse eight, it says,
for she did not know that I gave her corn. Hosea gave her wine,
and oil multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared
for Baal. She was ignorant of the sovereign goodness and mercy
and grace of God. That's what we are before we
come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And then came the tough love,
where he took everything that she boasted in and took comfort
in away from her. That's a great picture of conviction.
That's what God's going to do to his children. He's going to
strip us of every bit of religion and profession that we have to
cover our spiritual nakedness and leave us with no hope but
in the blood and righteousness of Christ. He's going to bring
us down. He's going to make us hungry.
He's going to give you a hunger that can only be filled by the
bread of life, Christ. He's going to give you a thirst
that can only be quenched by the water of life, Christ. He's
going to show you that the only place you can find and have righteousness
is in Christ and Him crucified and risen again. No other place. And then look at verse 14. Now
here's Hosea drawing Gomer with love. Listen to this. It says in verse 14, Therefore,
behold, I will allure her. I'm going to draw her to me.
That's what Hosea is saying. And then I'm going to bring her
into the wilderness and I'm going to speak comfortably under her. Notice here that it's Hosea who's
the first prime mover in all of this, not Gomer. Hosea loved
her. She didn't even think about Hosea. She had her mind on her lovers. They weren't doing anything for
her, but that's what she thought. That's who she attributed it
to. But Hosea loved her. You see, this wasn't just a forced
command of God to this prophet to go marry this woman even though
you can't stand her and you hate her. No, Hosea loved her. He
said, I will allure her. That's a term of love. Just like
God draws His children with cords of love. Now how does He do that?
Through the preaching of the gospel of His unconditional love
in Christ. His unmerited grace in Christ. His unearned mercy in Christ. When He tells us what we are
by nature and what we deserve and what we've earned. And if
God were to give us anything based upon our best, it would
be damnation. And then He tells us. who He
really is through His Son. We preach Christ. My friend,
you say, I'm such a great sinner, God cannot save me. Well, let
me tell you something. Now listen to me very carefully.
That God that you just described that cannot save you because
you're such a great sinner, that God is no God at all. That God is an idol. You see
what I mean when I say we worship a God of our imagination? There
are people who actually think that they've sinned so greatly
that God cannot save them. Well, that God is an idol because
I'm gonna tell you something, the God of this Bible, there's
nobody that he cannot save in Christ. If he can save Gomer, And everyone
whom he saves, out of every one of that mass of people, that
mess of people, there's not one of them who deserved to be saved
and who earned that salvation. I've heard people say, you know,
back in the 70s, and I've heard people talk like this too, but
there was a famous preacher on TV, he used to appear, you remember
the old Phil Donahue show? And he used to appear on the
Phil Donahue show. And he had a most wanted list that he'd
read to Phil Donahue. And he said, these are 10 people
that if I could get them saved, he said, we could save the whole
world. That's the way he talked. And
of course, Phil was on the list. That's how he got on the show,
I guess. But let me tell you something. That's not the way
the true and living God of this book operates. The Bible says, not many mighty,
not many noble. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise. Just the moment you
think, well, if I could just get this great, powerful, influential
person to be... No, sir. Let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom, or the mighty man glory in his might, or the
rich man glory in his riches, but let he that glorieth, glorieth
in this, that he knoweth and understandeth me, that I am the
Lord, who saves sinners. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Hosea loved her. Hosea allured
her. Hosea brought her. She didn't
come of her own free will. He went and got her. And later
on, you're going to see in chapter 3, he bought her. Because there's
a redemption price that had to be paid. Christ paid that redemption
price for his bride on the cross of Calvary. when He shed His
precious blood to save us from our sins. That's when He made
an end of sin, finished the transgression and brought in everlasting righteousness.
And then it says here, He spoke comfortably to her. The issue
there is literally He spoke to her heart like a friend would
speak to her heart. That's the story of Christ and
His church. That's His bride. Over here in Isaiah chapter 40
that Brother Terry read, God tells his prophet, he says,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak to them
comfortably, tell them, well, you finally made it. You're good
enough now for me to save you. No, those wouldn't be words of
comfort to a sinner. No, that'd be words of damnation
to a sinner because we haven't finally made it by our works
or our efforts. No, he says you speak comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. What is that warfare? Listen,
verse two, that her iniquity is pardoned. How does God pardon
iniquity? The Bible says through the death
of his son, through the blood of Christ. And it says, for she
hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Christ
was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. That's how he spoke comfortably to his people. That's amazing
sovereign grace. As I asked you this question
last time, would you of your own choose such a woman as Gomer
to marry? Why, no. And yet God chose people
like us, sinners, enemies. God's reasons are within himself
and for his glory in Christ. But that's amazing grace. And
you know this is covenant language here. Verse 14, he says, I will,
I will. Over there in verse 23, look
how he says, I will sow her unto me in the earth. I will have
mercy upon her. You see, that's the nature of
God's covenant. It's not I will if you will, it's I will and
you shall. That's the nature of his covenants.
That's the power of grace. I will. You know the Bible says
in Ephesians chapter one and verse 11 that God works all things
after the counsel of his own will. God's will is a sovereign
will. In the book of Isaiah chapter
46 and verse 9, he told Israel to remember the former things
of old. For I'm God, there's none else.
I'm God, there's none like me. declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. You know
what that means when God says, I'll do all my pleasure? That
means God says, I'll do what I want to do. That's covenant language. I will. I will. Hosea said that to Gomer.
I will. I'll lure her. I'll bring her.
And that's the allurement of grace. That's a persuasion that
only God can bring a person to. Drawn to Christ by the loveliness
and beauty of His person. Drawn to Christ by the power
of His work. You remember He said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all unto Me. Everyone for whom He died
will come to Him. He said, all that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will
in no wise cast out. That's the work of grace. Look
here in verse 14 again. He says, I'll bring her into
the wilderness. First of all, there's the idea
of separating her out. Going to get her away from the
world. God made her to differ and God
makes us to differ. And brought her out of bondage
and brought her into the wilderness of grace. And you say, well,
why would God bring you into a wilderness? That doesn't sound
good. Let me tell you something about the wilderness. You're
walking in it right now if you're a believer. And whether we know
it or not, everything that's happening to us is directed sovereignly
by God for this purpose, for His glory and our good in Christ. And let me show you how that
trickles down just into simple language. As you grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ, and as you experience things, and
you go through times of joy and happiness, and you go through
times of trial and disappointment and heartache, and as you grow
older, it usually seems like the times of happiness and joy
get fewer and fewer, and the times of the heartache and the
trial get more and more. You know what God's showing us
in the wilderness when he puts you out in the wilderness? You
remember when Israel was in the wilderness 40 years? They didn't
have any water. You know what God did? He said,
there's a rock, Moses. Strike it one time. That rock
was Christ. You know how he gave them bread?
Manna from heaven. That's the bread of life, that picture Christ,
the bread of life. You know what God's teaching
us in the wilderness? That's why Hosea brought her into the,
because he wants us to know and to learn by experience that we
at all times are totally, totally, totally dependent on him and
not on ourselves. You'll learn that in the wilderness.
You see, that's the wilderness of grace. That's where God brings
his people. He brought Israel out there,
and they had enemies. God defeated them. Israel didn't. Remember
the very first ones that attacked them, the Amorites? Remember
how Moses had to lift his hands up, and while his hands were
up, the Hebrew children won, and when Moses' hands got tired
and they went down, the Hebrew children lost, and therefore
Joshua, and I can't remember the other fellow's name, stood
up there, and they held his arms up. That was God doing that. Well, it was the same God who
brought him out of Egypt. The same God who defeated Pharaoh.
It was the same God who opened the Red Sea. They're dependent. Listen, that's what grace is
all about. We don't deserve it. We haven't earned it. We're totally
dependent upon God. That's the wilderness. God says, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I'll raise
him up again at the last day. And then it says he spoke comfortably
unto her. That's the comfort of grace.
He tells us there is a way of salvation, but it's his way,
not our way. There is a way of life, but it's
his way, not our way. There is a way of righteousness,
but it's God's way, not our way. It's one way. It's a narrow way. Don't try to bring in your works
and your efforts and your experiences and all that you think that recommends
you unto God, leave that behind, just come as a sinner seeking
mercy. He speaks comfortably to his
people in Christ. He says, God has forgiven your
sins in him. God has put a new robe on us. Look at it in verse 15. He says,
I'll give her vineyards from thence. That vineyards, that's
plenty, that's joy. and the valley of Acre for a
door of hope." You know what that valley of Acre is? That
means the valley of trouble. You say, well, what do you mean?
Speak comfortably and then give us a valley of trouble. Look
what it says now. It says, the valley of Acre,
the valley of trouble, for a door of hope. That valley of Acre
was a place of trouble. There was a man named Achan.
And his sin, when they came over into the promised land and they
defeated Jericho, this man named Achan,
he kept back part of that which should have been destroyed and
God discovered it and judged him and he was killed in the
Valley of Achan, the Valley of Trouble. And what he's saying
here is this. That's where that sin was discovered
and judged, but out of that trouble came hope because it was through
there that the children of Israel entered into the promised land
and occupied it. And I think about this, our whole
salvation came out of the Valley of Acre, the Valley of Trouble,
first of all at the cross of Calvary. Look at the trouble. that our Lord went through, where
our sin was discovered openly as it was charged to Him and
judged on the cross. And through that valley of acor,
through that valley of trouble, came our hope of salvation. And
then God brings us into trouble. He shows us our sins and our
deservedness of judgment and damnation. He shows us our nakedness. He shows us our thirst and our
hunger and our poverty. But not to leave us in the valley
of trouble, but to lead us through a door of hope, which hope we
find in Christ. And we find it all in Him. You
know, it's interesting how the devil will tempt sinners with
pleasing words such as the false health and wealth gospel. No
trouble. But God says, I'm going to bring
them through the valley of Acre as a door of hope. And we see
the trouble we go through in conviction as God brings us to
Christ. And look here in verse 15, it
says, And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth,
and as in when she came up out of the land of Egypt. That's
the song of redemption. That's the song of the Lamb.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Look at it. Here's Gomer restored
to her husband. Look at verse 16. And it shall
be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishai,
that's husband, and shalt call me no more Baalai, which means
master. Now, we still, we call Christ
our husband, and he's still our master. But the issue here in
Baali is a slave driver, a legal slave to a master who owes a
debt. And we're not that to Christ.
We're willing, loving bond slaves of Christ. Our debt's been paid.
It was paid by Christ on the cross. And then in verse 17,
Here's the restoration, it says, for I will take away the names
of Balaam, that's the idol, out of her mouth, and she shall no
more be remembered by their name. You won't speak the name, you
won't worship that idol, you won't invoke the name of that
idol, and you won't be identified with that idol. And he says in
verse 18, and in that day will I make a covenant for them with
the beast of the field and with the fowls of heaven, And with
the creeping things of the ground, and I will break the bow and
the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them
to lie down safely. That's figurative language now,
describing a time of peace. Not peace here on earth between
men now. Remember Christ in Matthew chapter
10 and verse 34, he said, I didn't come to send peace on earth,
but a sword. But much the same as was described over in Isaiah
11, talking about peace in the kingdom of God, in the kingdom
of heaven, safety. My friend, we're safe in Christ
no matter what men do to us. We have a refuge in Him. In verse
19, he says, I will betroth thee unto me forever. This is an eternal
marriage. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment. Now this isn't going to happen
without justice being satisfied. This isn't going to happen without
the law being perfected and completed. God must be just when he justifies. Christ must take care of the
sin problem in order to have his bride to himself. That's
why he had to go to the cross. He must be a righteous judge
as well as a loving father. He must be a righteous judge
as well as a merciful, gracious father. And so he says, I'm gonna
betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving
kindness and in mercies. We hear that preached out in
the gospel when we answer the question how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Through the blood of Christ,
through the righteousness of Christ. Verse 20, he says, I
will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt
know the Lord. God made a promise, and he'll
never go back on it. All the promises of God are in
Christ, yea, and in him, amen. Great is thy faithfulness. Verse
21, here's the blessings of union, this union, the church's restoration
to God in Christ. He says, and it shall come to
pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the
heavens and they shall hear the earth. In other words, there's
a connection between heaven and earth now. We have free access
to God through Christ, the holiest of all. We can come boldly unto
the throne of grace and find help and mercy in time of need
through Christ. Our access to God cannot be broken
because Christ is our way. And it says in verse 22, and
the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil and
they shall hear Jezreel. Remember what Jezreel, what he's
talking about, this is another, this is a symbolic language describing
the fullness of what we have spiritually in Christ, blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
And that valley, that Jezreel, you remember that means literally
God has sown, like a farmer. And what he's talking about is
God's going to sow his grace throughout the earth in the salvation
of his people, his children, his seed. And he says, I will,
verse 23, I will sow her unto me in the earth. And I will have
mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. Now, you know what he's
talking about there? The ultimate application there
is to the Gentiles. But it's to all his people. And
he said, I will say to them, which were not my people, thou
art my people. And they shall say, thou art
my God. Now, Hosea and Gomer gives us
a great picture of this unconditional love. But, and this tells us,
somebody said, well, this explains Israel's past, present, and future.
Yes, it does. But it's a future that would
be fulfilled by the coming of Christ into the world at this
time, as Hosea and all the prophets look forward to him coming. And
the salvation of a remnant of the nation Israel, a remnant
according to the election of grace, that's what Romans 9,
10, and 11 teaches. and ultimately a remnant out of the Gentiles
all coming together as the bride of Christ called spiritual Israel,
both Jew and Gentile, all gathered together under the blood of Christ,
all gathered together by the unconditional love and mercy
and grace of God, all right.