Would you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Hosea chapter one? Hosea chapter one. I want to
begin reading tonight at verse 10. The last two verses of this
chapter and the first verse of chapter two. I dealt with these
verses a little bit in the last message, but I want to go back
and show you some things here as the Lord teaches us from his
word. It says in verse 10, yet, And
there's a contrast there because God had just prophesied and stated
through the prophet Hosea to Israel that he was going to utterly
take them away, utterly cast them away. This rebellious nation,
the ten tribes of the northern kingdom where Hosea prophesied
because of their sin and their rebellion and their idolatry,
because they had failed to meet the conditions of the covenant,
the old covenant, the Mosaic law, which all Israel did fail
to meet, that God was going to punish them for their sin and
cast them away. But he says, yet, in verse 10,
yet, now listen, the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea. Now, can you recall where you've
heard that phrase before? The sand of the sea. It reaches
back to another covenant. A covenant made before Moses
and Sinai. The covenant made with Abraham.
In fact, God made this statement to Abraham right after Abraham
took Isaac upon the mount, Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. And when
Abraham was obeying God and God stopped his hand and said, Abraham,
your faith has been tested. You've proven that you believe
God. And then he promised him that the number of his children,
the children of Israel, would be as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be measured, look at it in verse 10, 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,
and this is what God said up there in verse nine, you're not
my people, I will not be your God. You remember in the naming
of Hosea's children, his last child was named, Lo am I, which
means not my people. And he said, it shall be said
unto them, you are not my people. There, in that same place, it
shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God. Now, does that, you know, somebody
listens, reads that and says, it sounds like a contradiction.
Are they, are they not? What's he talking about? Well,
he's talking about the future restoration of spiritual Israel. And he says in verse 11, then
shall the children of Judah, that's the southern kingdom.
Remember back in verse seven of chapter one, he said, I'll
have mercy on the house of Judah. Now, the question is, is did
Judah deserve mercy? And the answer is obviously no.
If they deserved it, they wouldn't need it. Mercy cannot be deserved. Brother Joe and I were talking
about this, about some preacher who said that grace is not deserved,
but mercy is deserved. Well, picture it this way now. Here's a criminal standing before
a judge to be sentenced for a crime that this criminal committed.
And he's guilty. He committed the crime. That's
a picture of us as sinners. We're sinners. We committed the
crime. But the judge looks down and
he says, now, I'm going to have mercy upon you even though you're
guilty. Now, is that deserved? No, mercy
cannot be deserved. So he says, I'm going to have
mercy upon Judah. Now, why would God have mercy
upon Judah? It's because of his sovereign will. That's the only
reason the Bible gives you. People need to understand that
now. You say, well, that doesn't seem fair to me. Listen, listen,
anytime anybody shows mercy, you cannot accuse that person
of being unfair or unjust. And why? Because mercy is not
deserved. Nobody deserves mercy. That's
the nature of mercy. You know what it is? Grace is
God giving us something we don't deserve. Salvation is by grace. Mercy is holding back what we
do deserve, not giving us what we do deserve. So it is undeserved,
you see. We deserve to be damned forever,
but God has mercy upon his people. Now God must be just when he
shows mercy to his people, everlasting, eternal mercy. How's he gonna
do that? Through Christ, who is the mercy seat. That's why
Christ is called a mercy seat. That's why there's blood on the
mercy seat. That was a type in a picture
of Christ who got what I deserved. Because he was made sin for me.
And look here in verse 11 of Hosea 1. Then shall the children
of Judah and the children of Israel, both nations, now Israel,
in the fulfillment of this, Israel's obliterated. The northern kingdom's
obliterated. And they're no more, and he says,
they'll be gathered together. And appoint themselves one head,
and they shall come up out of the land, for great shall be
the day of Jezreel. Jezreel means God sows, or God
has sown. and it's God sowing his grace
among his people. That was the name of a place.
Title of the message is Gathered Together Under Christ. Gathered Together Under Christ. Now that is what Hosea is ultimately
prophesying of. He's talking about a great gathering
of people. He identifies them as Israel
and Judah. But he's not talking about a
physical nation. He's not talking about an ethnic
people. He's talking about a spiritual
people that Israel and Judah being gathered together symbolize,
that they typify one nation, just like they were one nation
under David, King David. David was a type of Christ. Now
that one nation under David did not last. David himself personally
did not last as king. He died and went to be with his
Lord. He was a sinner saved by grace, but there was a picture
there. They were one nation under Solomon,
but Solomon's nation, the physical nation, did not last. Solomon
went to be with his heavenly father. Solomon was a type of
Christ. David was a man of war. He pictured
Christ the warrior, Christ on the cross, going up against sin
and Satan and the world, and achieving the victory for us
by the shedding of his blood, by the establishment of righteousness
on the cross. Solomon was the man of peace,
the man of rest. He pictured Christ who is seated
at the right hand of the Father, who had done the work and finished
the work, and we rest in him. Now after Solomon, the kingdom
was divided. And it never came back together
again and it never will. But there is a gathering, a unity
under the one head, Christ. And that's talking about spiritual
Israel. Now one of the problems that
people have in reading the Old Testament, and this holds true
especially in the reading of the prophets, is that many people
just don't understand the nature of the Old Covenant. the Law
of Moses. It was a temporal covenant, an
earthly covenant, a conditional covenant given to that nation
for a limited period of time. It lasted about 1,500 years and
most of the Old Testament is recorded during that period of
time, that 1,500 year period of time. But you see, here's
the thing you've got to understand about the Old Covenant. There
was never any eternal salvation provided for in the Old Covenant
itself. No one, no Israelite, the best
Israelite or the worst Israelite, could ever be saved eternally
according to the terms of the Old Covenant. It wasn't given
for that reason. Now, why was it given? Now, here's
Hosea, the prophet. God's prophet. He got a vision
from the Lord. That's a word from the Lord.
Just like the brother read in Ezekiel there. Hear the word
of the Lord, the vision of Ezekiel. That's the word of Ezekiel to
his generation. And Hosea chapter 1 here showed
God's just punishment of Israel for their sins according to the
terms of that conditional covenant. It was conditioned on their obedience,
their national obedience. It wasn't conditioned on them
being perfect now. But it was conditioned upon their keeping
the terms of the covenant in every way. That's not just the
Ten Commandments. That's the ceremonial law too.
That's the sacrifices, the priesthood, the whole thing together. You
can't separate that covenant. You can't section it out and
say, well, now, if they kept this part but not this part,
they were okay. No, it was one whole unit covenant. It was an economy for that nation.
But there was no eternal salvation provided for. Now, in that covenant,
in those ceremonies, there were types and pictures of Christ,
but that was to lead them to another covenant, an unconditional
covenant towards the sinner. The covenant of grace, the covenant
of redemption, the covenant of salvation, the everlasting covenant. Who met the conditions of that
covenant? Christ did. By his obedience
unto death. All the conditions of our salvation
were laid upon him. The government would be upon
his shoulder. The government of grace, the
government of redemption, the government of love, the government
of salvation. It was all conditioned on Christ
who fulfilled the conditions. Everything God requires of me
for my eternal salvation and entitlement and assurance of
glory is found full and complete and free in Christ. Do you believe
that? That's called grace. That's a
covenant of grace. But you see Israel, their obtaining,
God's choice of them was unconditional. God said I didn't choose you
for any reason in yourself. Their obtaining the land was
unconditional. But their blessedness physically
in that land according to the promises of that covenant was
conditioned on their national obedience and they failed miserably. Israel failed, Judah failed.
We read it last week in Jeremiah 31 when Jeremiah was prophesying
of the future coming of Christ and the establishment of the
new covenant. He said, I'm going to make a covenant with the house
of Israel and the house of Judah not like the covenant that I
made with their fathers when I pulled them out of Egypt and
established them as a nation. Which covenant, he said, they
what? They break. They break it. You see, They
broke that covenant. And God punished them. And that's
why they were sent into captivity. That's why Hosea comes along
with a word of judgment against their sins. That's why he said,
look at it. Look at it again. Look at verse four of Hosea one. The Lord said in talking about,
he told Hosea to go out and marry a woman of whoredoms. He's gonna
illustrate something through Hosea's life here. And it says,
and she conceived and bear him a son. And the Lord said, verse
4, unto him, call his name Jezreel. It means God has sown or God
has scattered, which literally means here that God has sown
his wrath among the people. He said, I'm going to avenge
the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. That was the line
of kings that was current in the land of Israel at this time.
Jeroboam II being the current king. He was of the line of Jehu. Jehu was a disobedient man. He
was king of Israel. He did some things right, but
he was disobedient to God. He did tear down the idols of
Baal, but he allowed the idols of Molech and the golden calf
to go on. He was particular about his idolatry. Most people are. We don't like
that idol, but we'll keep this one. It's kind of like somebody
today who'd say, well, I don't want your idol, but I'm going
to keep Mama's. See what I'm saying? And that's the way Jehu
was. And that sin had gone unrepentant all through the line of these
kings, and even Jeroboam II, who was the current king, while
Hosea prophesied in Israel. He was a good king economically
and politically, but religiously he was an idolater, disobedient. And he says here, I'm gonna cause
to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. Down here in verse
six, It says that Gomer, Hosea's wife, she conceived again, bear
a daughter, and God said unto him, call her name Loruhamma,
for I will no more have mercy. That's what her name means, no
mercy. I will no more have mercy upon
the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Now let
me tell you something about God's mercy in Christ. It is eternal. It is everlasting. It is never
ending. His mercy endureth forever. And let me tell you, if you can
earn it, it's not mercy. If you can lose it, it's not
mercy. If you can gain it back, it's
not mercy. It's either mercy or it's not.
Don't make any mistake about that. He said, I'm gonna take
them away. And there in verse nine, he says,
I'm going to tell them through another child of Hosea, call
his name Lo-am-i, which means you're not my people, I will
not be your God. All of these things, God's judgment
against sin. But Isaiah also has a message
of hope. It's a message of hope. Where
is that message? Here in these verses that I read.
Verse 10, the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand
of the sea. Verse 11, the children of Judah and the children of
Israel shall be gathered together. And they'll point themselves
one head, they'll look to Christ. He's talking about the future
restoration of spiritual Israel. Look at verse 1 of chapter 2.
Then he says, Say ye unto your brethren, Am I? Now you remember
the name Lo-Am-I means not my children. But gathered together
under Christ, this future prophecy, this prophecy of the future here
shows us that gathered together under Christ, your name won't
be Lo-Am-I, not my children. You're going to have a new name.
A new name. What is that new name? My children. God's children. And then he says,
and to your sister, Ruhamah. You remember, low Ruhamah means
no mercy. But gathered together under Christ,
it's gonna be Ruhamah, which means those who have obtained
mercy. God's been merciful to me. We
sing that chorus, oh, how merciful. How merciful, blessed Lord. How merciful thou art to me.
It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Isn't that
right? Every day of our lives. Well, somebody says, well why
if that old covenant given to Israel on Mount Sinai If it was
not for their eternal salvation, then why was it given? Well,
let me show you two passages of scripture. Turn to Galatians
chapter three. First of all, turn to Romans
chapter five. Let's go there first. Romans chapter five. Why was the law given? Paul had been describing in Romans
chapter 5 here the reality and the nature of grace. Salvation
by grace through Christ, who is the seed of all grace. The
Bible says in John chapter 1, I believe it's verse 17, it says
that the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Now, if salvation is totally
by grace and not conditioned on the sinner according to the
terms of the law, the law covenant, the Sinaitic covenant, then why
was it given? Look at verse 20 of Romans chapter
5. He says, moreover, the law entered that the offense, what
is the offense? That sin might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life, not by the law, but by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see that? The law was given
to expose their sinfulness. The law was given to expose their
guilt and their need of grace. And that's why these prophets
like Hosea, not only did they pronounce the judgments of God
against sin, they promised a future restoration of grace through
the coming of the Messiah. Look at Galatians chapter three.
Why was the law given? It was given to expose their
sin. That was the main reason. And in Galatians chapter three,
He talks about the law that was given after Abraham. Abraham
was called of God before the law was given. It was about 400
to 430 to 50 years before the law was given on Sinai that Abraham
was called. And Abraham's promises, you know,
God gave Abraham several promises. Some of those promises were physical
and pertain to the physical nation Israel. The giving of the land,
for example. All of that, you see. They're
having that land of Canaan, that land of Palestine, was not conditioned
on them because it wasn't according to the terms of the law of Moses
on Sinai. It was according to the terms
of the law given to, of the promise given to Abraham. And it was
physical. But now, God promised Abraham
a physical seed. And he brought that physical
seed to Abraham through his two children, Isaac and Ishmael.
The Jews through, the Israel through Isaac, and the Arabs
through Ishmael. You know that, that the Arabs
are Abraham's physical seed? They sure are. They're the wild ones that cannot
be tamed, and we see that. But they're still physically
children of Abraham through the bondwoman, Hagar. You remember
that, you know the story. But then Abraham had a spiritual
seed. The first one is singular. That's
what he says here. Verse 16 of Galatians chapter
3. Now to Abraham and his seed,
that's a singular seed, where the promise is made, he saith
not unto seeds as of many, As if, I'm talking about many
children, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ. Christ,
according to the flesh, was born of the seed of Abraham. Seed
of David, right down through the line of the tribe of Judah.
And then Abraham has a spiritual seed in the people of God who
are gathered together, as Hosea says back here, under one head,
under Christ. Who's that? That's every sinner
saved by the grace of God according to the terms of the everlasting
covenant of grace fulfilled, ratified, and finished by the
Lord Jesus Christ. So why was the law given to that
nation? Well, look on. He says, verse 18, look here,
of Galatians 3. Now listen to this. For if the
inheritance, that's salvation, if it be of the law, the law
of Moses, it's no more of promise. In other words, if there could
have been eternal salvation for Israel or Judah or any individual
Jew under the law of Moses, then that would have canceled out
the promise that God made to Abraham, the promise of grace. You see that? So in other words,
God didn't give that covenant as a way of salvation, that law
covenant. He didn't give it as a way of
salvation. He gave it for another reason. It says, but God gave
it to Abraham by promise. That's the inheritance. Promise. And the Bible says all the promises
of God are in Christ, Jay, and in Christ, amen. Verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law?
Why did God give the law? It was added because of transgressions. What's transgression? That's
another name for sin. And that's why the law was given
to show them the transgression till the seed should come, till
Christ should come to whom the promise was made. You see, the
initial promise that was given to Abraham had already been made
to Christ before the foundation of the world. And this law was
given because of transgressions till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in
the hand of a mediator. Why did God give them that law?
He gave them that law to show them their sinfulness and their
need of the promise of the coming of Christ to save them by grace. He gave that law to show them,
and we can see it too, even though we're not under that covenant,
we see it as we read it, that it's impossible for any sinner
to be saved by their works. Salvation cannot be by works.
The law of Moses proves that. That's why in 2 Corinthians 3,
now you read that whole chapter sometime in your personal study,
2 Corinthians 3. That's why in there Paul is talking
about the greater glory of the new covenant. The new covenant
that was ratified and fulfilled in Christ on the cross and what
he accomplished for our redemption. He says that old covenant was
a ministration of death. You know why? Because it was
added because of the transgressions and sin demands death. It was
the ministration of condemnation. It was the ministration of the
tablets, written on tablets of stone. But you see, it couldn't be written
on the heart. The law could show a person what God requires, but
it could not fulfill the requirement for us. The law could show me
my need of grace, show them their need of grace, but it could not
be gracious to them. For that, they had to look to
another covenant, a covenant of promise that was fulfilled
in Christ, gathered together under one head. As I said before,
didn't God make promises to Abraham? Go back to Hosea 1. Now look
here. He says in verse 10 again. Now look at it. He says, Yet the number of the
children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea. Now that
reaches back to the covenant God made with Abraham. What's
Hosea saying in this prophecy? He's saying that salvation, this
gathering together, And this gathering together under Christ,
that means redemption, that means the forgiveness of sins, that
means justification before God, that means acceptance with God,
all based upon what this one head, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the head of the church, the head of the body, will accomplish
in the future as Hosea saw it in his time. We look back on
it already accomplished. What's he saying here? He's referring
back to the covenant God made with Abraham. In other words,
he's telling them that this great gathering of people is not going
to be according to the terms of Sinai. It's according to a
promise that God made to Abraham. And it's the promise of a coming
Messiah, a coming Savior, a coming Redeemer, a coming King, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He told Abraham, let me read
you some scripture here out of Genesis, God dealing with Abraham.
Genesis 12 verse 2, God told Abraham, he said, I will make
of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name
great. And thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless
thee and curse him that curses thee. Now there was a physical
fulfillment of that in Israel. But the ultimate fulfillment
of it, the eternal fulfillment of it, comes through spiritual
Israel. Listen to this at the end of verse three of Genesis
12. And in thee, Abraham, shall all families of the earth be
blessed. Not just Jews, but Gentiles too. You see that? Genesis 15 and
verse five, listen to this. It says, look now toward heaven,
God telling Abraham, look now toward heaven and tell the stars
if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall
thy seed be. as the number of the stars. And
then where he quotes from here, Genesis 22 and verse 17, he says
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand
which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth
be blessed. All nations of the earth, because
thou hast obeyed my voice. Didn't God prophesy through Isaiah? About the same time, Hosea was
prophesied. Hosea was a contemporary with
Isaiah and Micah. Isaiah prophesied in the southern
kingdom of Judah. Micah did too. But Hosea was
up in the northern part. Remember Isaiah prophesied this,
the word of God. In Isaiah 45 and verse 17, he
says, Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor
confounded, world without end. Now that didn't have its fulfillment
in this physical nation. Didn't at all. And of course,
Isaiah 45 and on through, So many great prophecies and descriptions
and identifications of who? Christ, the Lamb of God. Think
about Isaiah 53. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. It's talking about spiritual
Israel. So, when you look at the judgments that God brought
down upon Israel through Hosea here, and then later on, the
kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom, Several years later,
they were obliterated too. Now they did have a restoration
back to their land under Zerubbabel, under Nehemiah and all that,
but that didn't last either. That didn't last. Their national obedience was
very short-lived under certain kings. They were a people of
disobedience. No salvation in that covenant. Only salvation under the one
head, Christ. Well, didn't God keep his promise?
Well, you remember we read this last week. Look at verse 7 of
Hosea 1. God said, I will have mercy upon
the house of Judah. Why did God have mercy on Judah
and not Israel? Judah was just as disobedient
as Israel. All you have to do is read Isaiah
chapter 1 and you'll see that. How this, they were religious
now. Now understand this now. These folks were religious to
the core. They showed up on the Sabbath.
They showed up at the temple. Now in the Northern Kingdom,
the temple is another temple and it was in Samaria. And you
remember that's the one the woman at the well was referring to
in John chapter four. We worship in this place and
you worship in that place. And Christ said, you don't know
what you worship. and then the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
But they were religious. They prayed. They sang their
hymns. They kept the feast days. But
there was no... Listen, number one, there was
no Christ in their religion. It was a religion of works. Trying
to be saved by their works. It's like people today who read
their Bible and they don't see Christ. They don't see grace. All they see is just conditional
promises, which if they do their part, God will do His. There was no truth in their religion.
There was no heart. Remember Christ said, they draw
nigh with their lips, but their heart is far from me. There was
no knowledge. Paul said of his generation,
they're ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, which is of the law. And they have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And
then in Romans 10 and verse 4, he defines the righteousness
of God for us. What is the righteousness of
God? To whom or which I must be submitted. Romans 10, 4, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Christ is the righteousness of
God. I must have him gathered together
under one hand, submitted to him and his finished work. So he says, I'll have mercy upon
the house of Judah in verse 7. Why? Was Judah better than Israel? No, they weren't. They were sinners
just like us. They were in need of mercy and
grace just as much as any of us are in need of it. Why? Well, it was because of God's
purpose of grace from the very beginning. God had purpose before
the foundation of the world to send Christ into the world to
save his people from their sins, to gather his people together
under one head. You say, well, what does Judah
have to do with that? Well, read Genesis 49 and verse
what, 10. When Jacob on his deathbed is
pronouncing the blessings upon his children, And he comes to
Judah. And you remember what he says.
He says, the scepter, that's the king's rule, will not depart
from Judah, from Judah, until what? Until Shiloh come. Who's Shiloh? That means peace.
Who's the prince of peace? Who's the king of peace? That's
Christ. God purposed to keep Judah together until Christ came. And that was the end of it. And
his people would be gathered under one head. Now turn to Hebrews
chapter nine. Even Judah would eventually be
destroyed and scattered just like Israel. When did that happen?
It happened in A.D. 70. When the Roman Empire destroyed
the temple at that time and scattered the people throughout the nations.
That's after Christ had come. That's after Shiloh had come
and established his rule. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
What is it? That's the kingdom of grace.
That's the finished work of Christ to save his people from their
sins. Well, look at Hebrews chapter
nine. Now, listen to this. This is what the whole book of
Hebrews is about. That old covenant has ended. It's finished, folks. It is. And to bring it back up
again, the scripture says, is to deny Christ. Isn't that right? Somebody says, well, that's too
harsh. Well, that's what the book says. It's what God's word says. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. It
says in verse 10, let's start there. He's talking about the
old covenant here. You can read the whole chapter.
Verse 1 says, then verily the first covenant had its ordinances
of divine service and worldly sanctuary. See, it was an earthly
covenant. It was temporal. That's the old covenant made
through Moses. The first tabernacle, he says. And he goes through
and he mentions all the instruments of that first tabernacle, the
candlestick, the table showbread. He talks about the veil, the
holy of holies. He talks about the priesthood.
And he says in verse 10, verse 9, he says, all these things
were a figure. Now that word figure is the same
word that we use for type. Those things which was a type
or a figure for the time being present. It was for that present
time. And he says, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices.
Now listen, that could not make him that did the service perfect
as pertaining to the conscience. That covenant could not make
the person who was involved in it perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. What does the conscience do?
It accuses and excuses. What's gonna cleanse our conscience?
The only thing that'll cleanse our conscience, the scripture
says, eternally and spiritually is the blood of Christ. Nothing
else will do it. You see, if you can soothe your
conscience with anything else other than Christ and him crucified,
you're not looking to Christ, you're looking somewhere else.
Listen, somebody said, well I know I'm saved and I know I'm not
guilty and I know I'm complete and I know I'm perfected because
I was baptized. Now if that's what cleanses your
conscience, that's a false refuge. Or I've done this, or I've gone
to church all my life, or I had a dream, or I, whatever, anything
but the blood of Christ. Those things couldn't do it.
He says in verse 10, we stood only in meats and drinks, and
those meats there have to do with the offerings. Diverse washings,
carnal ordinances, imposed on them, now look at this, Until
when? Until the time of reformation.
What's reformation? That's change. That's change. Now what changed it all? Look
at verse 11. But Christ, being come a high priest of good things
to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building, not of this temple, he says,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Blood of bulls and goats couldn't
do that. Look over at chapter 10 of Hebrews. Look at verse
one. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things now, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect. No salvation in that law. For
then would they not have ceased to be offered. because that the
worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins,
no more guilt, that's what that's talking about. You know, we're
seeing Christ, I'm not guilty. There is therefore now no what?
Condemnation in whom? In Christ. Who shall I anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father. That
law couldn't do that. And he says in verse three, but
in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins
every year. That's what that law did. It
kept reminding them, you're a sinner, you're a sinner, you're a sinner.
You deserve death and hell. Every year, it was a reminder
of that. Now, under the new covenant,
what are we reminded of constantly? While we take the Lord's Supper
in memoriam, it continually reminds us of Christ. and the salvation
that he's accomplished for us. You see that? And so later on
there he says, so he taketh away the first that he may establish
the second. He took away that old covenant
that the new covenant may be established. Well, the Bible
tells us continually. Look back at Hosea 1 and I'll
close. In Christ, now think about it. In Christ, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female. In Christ were
all children of Abraham. Galatians chapter 3 tells us
that later on. By promise. Children of God by
promise. In Christ were gathered together
under one head. The day of Jezreel, he mentions
there in verse 11. God has sown his seed throughout
this earth. That's his children. He's raised
up his children. Spiritual Israel. Who is a spiritual
Jew? It's a sinner who looks to Christ
for salvation. That's why the way we are identified
in Philippians chapter 3, for we are the circumcision, he says.
That was a way of referring to the Jews. He's talking about
spiritual circumcision. What is spiritual circumcision?
It's the new birth. Read it in Romans 2, 28 and 29.
The new birth. Circumcision of the heart. We
are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice or
have confidence in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh. There's a definition of a Christian. I'm gonna preach
on that next Sunday morning. Think about it. In Christ, in
Christ, all the middle wall of partition, the barriers that
separate Jew and Gentile are gone, gone, gone. How did we get this way? Because
God gathered us together by His grace under the one head, Christ
Jesus, and gave us a new name. A new name. His children who
have obtained mercy. And all whom God saves eternally,
He saves by free, sovereign grace and mercy in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you something.
In this matter of salvation, there are no deserving sinners. Now, you know what the rest of
the book of Hosea is about? God illustrating that very point.
Look at verse 2 of chapter 2. Right after he talks about the
future promise of restoration of spiritual Israel, then he
talks about his wife. He tells his children, plead
with your mother, plead. For she's not my wife, which
literally means she's not acting like my wife. She's not doing
what a wife should do. Neither am I her husband. Let
her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries
from between her breasts. This is Gomer. This is literal.
He says, lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that
she was born. That's how she was born. That's
how we're all born, dead in trespasses and sins. 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 Hortums. For their mother hath played the harlot. She that
conceived them hath 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." Gomer didn't even recognize that
it was Hosea himself who was providing for her needs. She
attributed that to her lovers. Well, that's me and you. Before
God saved us and gathered us together under the one head who
is Christ, all the good things that we got, we didn't attribute
them to the true and living God. We attributed them to an idol,
just like Gomer. And you're gonna see in this
illustration as we go through how Hosea, because he loved her
when she didn't deserve to be loved, went out and bought her
with the redemption price and brought her into his home as
his bride, his wife, and loved her the rest of her days. What
a great picture of God's grace as we're gathered together under
one head, the Lord Jesus Christ.