Fran and Bill. I want to, you know, when you, Hosea's name,
let me tell you what Hosea's name means. We're in Hosea, chapter
1. Hosea means deliverer, it means
salvation. It's like Joshua in the Old Testament. And Joshua in the Old Testament
is Jesus in the New Testament. And it both means deliverer,
it means Savior. Jehovah's Savior. And so, Hosea
was given this name because he is such a beautiful type of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly a wonderful type
of the Lord Jesus. Now this is a difficult book
to understand, but it's full of the grace of God. That's how
God saves sinners, by grace. And he saves him because he loved
him from before the foundation of the world. And what God does
to Hosea, he commands him to say, go marry a harlot. Go marry
a harlot. That's what he says there in
verse two. Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms. Go take
unto thee a wife of whoredoms. That certainly seems a strange
thing for somebody to tell somebody to do. For God to tell a man
to do. You go take a wife, you take
a wife, and you find the sorriest woman you can find and marry
her. You find the sorriest woman you can find and marry her. And we know, and he did. So it says in verse three, so
he went and took Gomer, The daughter of Dibliam. We know that God
has a purpose and a will in all that He does. God's purpose in
everything that He does, He has a purpose behind it. His providence
and His purpose, they work together. God's providence and purpose,
they work together. They work together for His glory
first. That's the first and foremost
thing that God does. He does it first and foremost
for His own glory. and then for our good. And we
want him to have the glory, but his providence and purpose works
for his glory and our good. But now, can you imagine what
Hosea thought? He said, now listen, he told
me to go marry this harlot over here. You know he thought that
was strange. You can't help but wondering,
did he wonder about it? Why should God command a prophet
to marry a harlot? Huh? Why? That's a strange thing
to do. It's like Moses. Moses no doubt
wondered why he spent 40 years on the backside of the desert
tending sheep when God already told him he was gonna deliver
his people Israel through him. But he spent 40 years on the
backside of the desert tending a bunch of old sheep. What am
I doing here? What am I doing here? And Joseph,
Joseph, cast into prison, sold into slavery, cast into prison
through no fault of his own, but he has 11 brothers that ain't
suffering none whatsoever, whatsoever. And Job, can you imagine, and
of course you can read the book of Job, He lost his children,
lost everything that he had, lost his wealth, lost his health,
lost everything that he had. He would be unfeeling had he
not wondered what in the world is going on. Though he submitted
to God. Joseph submitted to God. Moses
submitted to God. Hosea submitted to God. but you
know they got to wonder what is going on in my life. And John
Bunyan, I told you so much about John Bunyan. He no doubt wondered
why in the world I spent 12 years in prison when I could be out
preaching the gospel. Why am I doing here in this prison
when I could be out preaching the gospel? And Charles Spurgeon,
he had a horrible, horrible, problem with gout. Gout is one
of the most painful things that I've read about and said it's
a very, very awful thing and he'd have to leave the pulpit
and go to real, real warm weather to get over it, to get over it. But it's like William Cowper
said, God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
Plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm. Judge
not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace.
Behind the frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. His
purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have
a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Oh, I'm gonna tell you the reason
he married a harlot. Look what I said here in chapter
three in verse one. Then said the Lord unto me. Hosea
chapter three and verse one. Then said the Lord unto me, go
yet, love a woman, beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress,
according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel,
who loved other gods. Hosea chose his bride from among
the most sinful people that there was. Among the most sinful people. Now when he married her, he entered
into a covenant relationship with her. Marriage is a covenant. We all had that, when you had,
when whoever done your wedding, they talked to you about entering
into a covenant. A covenant relationship. It took
vows in this covenant relationship. And you made all kinds of promises
to one another. Well, God just didn't. He said,
just go and get this woman. And he said, oh, she's a, what
do you say about her? A woman beloved of a friend,
yet an adulteress. Yet an adulteress. And he ended
up in this covenant relationship with her. Marriage is a covenant.
And I'll tell you, this being the type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord, The Lord of Glory chose His bride from the most miserable,
worms, sinners, fallen people on this planet. I mean, He chose,
you know, He said this, that when we were yet without strength,
they had no strength. Christ died for what? The ungodly. You say, I don't know if I was
ever ungodly. Well, if you never was ungodly, you ain't never
been made godly yet then. Because I tell you what, for
one thing, you'll understand how ungodly you are. And then
he also said this, that he commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, listen,
God God said it to Jeremiah. He said, Jeremiah, say you as
ever before you as ever formed in your mother's belly, I ordained
you to be a prophet. So he chose people out of the
worst kind of people. And he chose his bride among
the fallen. He didn't, but you know, this
is something that, that, you know, most people do not understand.
that they're thinking that they're doing something to get on God's
good side, to do something to get God to look at them in a
kind, favorable way. But there's not a human being
on this earth that God can look at in a favorable way. If he
don't look at them in Christ and through Christ, you're not
gonna get him to look at you at all. And that's what he said
here. That's why Paul said, you know,
will it please God? who separated me from where?
My mother's womb. So God gets his bride, Christ
gets his bride among the most fallen, I mean fallen people.
Fallen, I mean, how far did we fall? We fell all the way to
the bottom. We was at the bottom. You know
they sang that song, when he reached down his hand for me?
He reached way, way down for me. I tell you what, if he reached
for you, he had to reach down. And you tell why? He had to reach
down. And Hosea was dishonored. He was held in contempt for choosing
Gomer as his bride. This adulteress, this harlot.
And I tell you, he was dishonored. He was held in contempt. Why
in the world would this prophet go take Gomer? Why would he take
this harlot? Why did he take this adulteress
to be his bride? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ He
was hated. He was despised. You know why? For calling sinners to himself. You keep Hosea, and look over
in Luke chapter 15. You know, the Lord's enemies
had a gospel. And everything they said about
the Lord Jesus Christ, everything they held against Him, that's
what we find to be the most glorious thing about Him. Look what it
said here in Luke 15. Verse one. What it says here. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him. Now a publican was
one of the most despised people by the Jews because they was
Jews themselves and they were tax collectors. It said publicans
and sinners for to hear him. Now listen to this now. And the
Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners,
and then he eateth with them too. What an awful accusation. This
man, sinners come to him, this man eateth with sinners. He pharisees
with sinners and eats with them. Can you imagine that? What an
horrible thing, what an awful thing. That's what they said
about our master. And you all remember very well,
when our Lord was in Simon, the leper's house, Pharisee. He was
invited for supper. Simon asked him to come over
for dinner. Come over and eat supper with me. So he went in,
he was sitting there, and they reclined. You know, they don't
sit in chairs like you and I do. They sit around low and they
recline. And this woman came in, and she
came up to Christ's feet. And she began to weep so profusely. Oh, she just began to weep so
greatly. And his feet were just covered,
soaking wet with her tears. She just drenched his feet with
her tears. And then she rushed down there,
she had so much hair, she pulled it around and she dried his feet
with her hair. And old Simon, oh Simon, he said
within himself, if this man were a prophet, he'd know what kind
of woman this is. She's a sinner. Well, my, he's
got to let the sinner get close to her and to him. And that's what they say about
him. See, the things that they find fault with him about, that's
the dearest things about, that's what makes him so precious to
us. That's what makes Him so precious to us. And God's love
to us, God's love to us was based solely, entirely, and completely
upon His mercy, on a covenant of mercy. Titus said it this way, after
the kindness and love of our God toward men appeared, not
by works of righteousness, but according to His own mercy. He
saved us, and washed us, washed us. Oh, what a blessed covenant
of mercy our Lord had. And you know, you go through,
I've been studying through Ephesians, and I don't know how many times
it has that word rich in Ephesians. But one of the words rich is
this, is that God who is rich in mercy, wherewith he loved
us. How many things are rich? He's
rich in it. He's rich in it. You know, there ain't no goodness
in us. There's no merit in us. And then Hosea, not only did
he choose his bride from among the most sinful people, God chose
his bride among the most sinful people. And Hosea chose his bride
and entered into a covenant relationship. But you know what she did? She
went back to her old ways. Went back to her old ways. Huh? Oh, listen to what it said here
in chapter two and verse five. Oh, he had children by her. He
had her body. Had three children by her, had
her body. But look what happens now. For
their mother hath played the harlot. She that conceived them
hath done shamefully. For she said, I'll go after my
lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax,
my oil, and my drink. Oh my. She was chosen, loved
by Hosea. But when she got older, she walked
away from Isaiah and walked in the path of sin and evil and
wickedness. And though God loved us from
all eternity. Oh, how he loved us. We can't
imagine the love of God has towards us. Though God loved us from
all eternity and entered into a covenant to make us his bride.
You know what we did? We walked, went right on in our
sinful ways. Went right on in our sinful ways. He loved us
and entered into a covenant to make us his bride. But we went
on in our sinful ways. David said, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. The wicked go strange from
the mother's womb, speaking lies. And Jeremiah said this, he said,
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately, desperately
wicked. And oh, how desperately wicked
he is. We walked in the path of sin.
We walked in the path of wickedness. We walked in the path of false
religion. We had other gods. We had idols. We had our own free will as idols. We had our self-righteousness
as idols. We had self-confidence as idols. We had every kind of idol you
could imagine. And we had all these idols. And
you know why we walked in sin? We didn't become sinners when
we started walking in sin. We became sinners. We do sin
because we're, we commit sin because we're sinners. Can't
do anything else. There's nothing else that a person
can do. Y'all remember Todd coming here one time several years ago
and he preached a message on, are you a Roman seven sinner? Are you a Roman seven sinner?
You know what a Roman servant sinner is? He says, I would, what I would
do, I don't. What I wouldn't do, I do. So
then that I would not do, that's exactly what I do. That that
I hate, I do. That that I love, I don't. The
will is present with me, but how to go for it, I don't know
how. So there's not, My mind, I serve the law of God, but with
his flesh, I serve the law of sin. And then Paul cries out
like this. He said, O wretched man that
I am! Do you know, if it wasn't for
the grace of God, if it wasn't for the grace of God, and if
it wasn't for what God done for us, we would still be walking
in our own way. Huh? We chose sin because we're
sinners. You don't become a liar when
you tell a lie. You lie because you're a liar.
Born that way. And oh my. Look what it said
down here in verse 13. Chapter 2, excuse me. Hosea chapter
2 and verse 13. And I will visit upon her the
days of Balaam. Oh, why? Because she burned incense
to them. She burned incense to Balaam.
She burned incense to these idols. She decked herself with earrings
and jewels. And listen to this, went after
her lovers. Went after her lovers. Dressed herself up really good.
Put on her makeup, decked herself, got earrings on, got jewels on.
And she said, listen, I'm going out and have me a big time. And
this is what God said, forget me, and forget me. Oh my, that's the way we lived.
We didn't know anything about God. Now Hosea, he provided for
Gomer. Told you it's a beautiful type
of Christ. He provided for Gomer, even in her sin and her rebellion. Look what it says down here in
verse eight. For she did not know that I gave
her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and
gold, and they had prepared it for Baal. Oh, you remember what
she said down here, down in verse five, she said, oh, she said,
I'll go after my lovers. They'll give me my bread, my
water, my wool, my flax, my wine, my drink. And Hosea said, she
thought they all done it. She thought they all done it.
But I was the one going up there to the door and putting everything
out there outside her door. I took the corn. I took the wine. I took the flax. I took the drink.
I took everything she needed, huh? And I tell you, he is the
one that really took care of her. And that's the way it is
in this world. The world absolutely cares nothing
about the Lord's people. Cares nothing about them. And
God takes care of His children, even in the days of their sin
and rebellion. I am so thankful for that, that
you know when He says, all things work together for good to them
that love God, that call according to His purpose, He started that
from the mother's womb. That's why Paul said, when it
pleased God, He separated me from my mother's womb. And then
all the days of his rebellion, he was 30-something, he was about
30 or 35 years old before God ever apprehended him. So he lived
30-something years in rebellion. But God loved, you know, and
here's the thing, they think their God's, their lovers are
doing it for them, and God said, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. Oh my. He takes care of us even
in our days of sin and rebellion. And you got so many illustrations
in the scriptures. Saul of Tarsus, here's a man
who was a blasphemer, a persecutor, he was injurious, and he thought
to do many, many things against Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's
why he says, that I thought to do many, many things about him. Said I hated him, I despised
him, he was as far as I concerned a false prophet. Until one day, one day, on the
Damascus road, God met him. Christ met him. Christ apprehended
him. And he spent the rest of his
life trying to wonder, why in the world did Christ apprehend
me? Why did he apprehend me? And then he turned around and
said, later said, it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb. He let me live in rebellion, hated him, persecuted
him. despised him as a blasphemer. I blasphemed his name. But God took care of him all
those years. Huh? John Newton. I don't know if
y'all know this about John Newton or not. Got six volumes of his
works in there. Two of them's his own, his hymns.
But John Newton was a slave trader. He went and bought slaves. and
hauled shiploads of slaves, and laid them and sold them. That's
what kind of, that's the living he made. Selling bodies, selling
people, selling children, selling old men and young women, selling
them, bringing them off that boat, sending them out there,
putting them on the block. That's what he did for a living.
And you know he fell overboard one time. And he looked like
he was going to drown, but some man reached with a big old hook
and rushed down and got him and jerked him out of there by the
leg. Put a big gash in his leg. But then he is the one who said,
amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like
me. You know how wretched he felt
after he realized what he had done all his life. And then God
saved him? God saved him? Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I've already come? Oh my. And I tell you what, look
what it says here in Hosea 2 in verse 6. Look what it says there. Look what God says He does for
us now. He said, therefore, behold, I'll
hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, and she will
not be able to find her path. She'll have to walk the path
I got her headed up in. He said, no, put thorns over
here, and hedges over here, and she gonna look a way out, and
there ain't gonna be no way out. I'm gonna hedge him up. I'm gonna
hedge him up. We were like Gomer. We gave the
praise for what we had to everybody but God. There's a hymn, I believe
it's 228, 298 in the hymn book. It said, in shady green pastures,
so rich and sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where
the water's cool flow bathes the weary one's feet, God leads
his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the floods, Some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Oh, he takes care of us. Oh,
don't he? And then the day comes. Let me hurry up. I'm gonna try
to hurry up here. But when the day comes and Hosea
is brought down in humiliation, Her life caught up with her,
her adulterous life caught up with her. Start looking here,
read with me in verse 10 of chapter 2. It's what God says now. He says, now will I discover
her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver
her out of my hand. I will cause all her mirth to
cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and
all her solemn feasts. I will destroy her vines and
her fig trees. Well, she said, these are my
rewards that my lovers have given me. And he goes on to say in verse
13, and I'll visit upon her the days of Balaam when she burned
incense to them. She decked herself with earrings
and jewels, went after her lovers and forget me, saith the Lord.
Therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness,
and listen to this, and speak comfortably unto her. And I'll
give her her venues from this in the valley of Acre for the
door of hope. And she shall sing there as in
the days of her youth, as in the days when she came out of
Egypt. Oh, God brings her down. He made her life to be a burden
to her. He made her life, he brought
her down in humiliation, made her life to become a burden.
Her sweetness turned into bitterness. Her joy turned into mourning.
Things that she once loved, she now hated. And this is Holy Spirit
conviction of sin. If a person misses, you know
that's a missing note in preaching. I don't mean take too long. But
Holy Spirit conviction is a missing thing in today's preaching. And
the Holy Spirit must convict a man of sin. And conviction
means that you're convicted of it. God will convict you, you'll
be convicted of it. And the God who chose us lets
us go on in the path of sin until He said, that's as far as you're
gonna go. You're not going any further. Huh? Ain't you grateful
He does that? You hear the two, you come and
you're going no further. You're not going any further.
And He makes us weary with sin. makes us weary with it, like
the prodigal. He went out there and he got
so poor and so sorry and so low down that he was eating the husk
that he was feeding the hogs. Had a little bit of corn left
on him, he was trying to eat it. And he got to thinking, he
said, oh my father, oh my father, and that's what happened to us.
Oh my father, here I am out here eating hogs food, eating slop. And there's my father. He has got more bread than I
can ever eat. He's got more rooms than I can
ever live in. He's got more wealth than I can
ever spend. He said, you know what I'm gonna
do? I'm gonna go home. And he found
out his daddy was just waiting. He said, listen, Father, I've
sinned so against you. And this is what we say. Father,
I've sinned so against you. Just let me be a hard servant.
Let me just take any place. And he said, oh, we can't do
that. I can't treat my children like that. No, I can't treat
my son that way. Bring forth the best robe. Put
a ring on his finger. Put shoes on his feet. And it's like Zacchaeus. Today,
Zacchaeus, you've went as far as you're gonna go. I'm gonna
go home with you today. I know you didn't invite me.
I know you didn't open your heart and ask me to come in. I know
you didn't hold a cross up and said, I want Jesus. No, no, he
said, Zacchaeus, today I'm going home with you. And when I get
there, salvation's coming into your house. You know why salvation's
coming to your house? Cause I'm coming. And wherever
I go, I bring salvation with me. That's what he did to us. Today
I'm going home with you. Today I'm going home with you
and salvation's gonna go with me. Oh my. Oh we keep, until we weary of
sin, and it becomes such a burden to us, grace won't taste like
grace. And oh my, until we're convinced
of our sin, we will never feel our need of Christ. When human
nature, compared to human nature, it comes out just fine. But when
human nature's compared to the holiness and glory and righteousness
of God Almighty, it becomes exceeding sinful. Uh-huh, exceeding sinful. Well, I'm done. Listen to this
next one. You thank the Lord Oh, thank
God. He took this woman, she went
back into her old adulterous ways. But look what happened
now. Gomer belonged to her slave masters. Look what it says here in chapter
3 and verse 2. She sold herself into slavery.
She got old and she got, you know, she just lost everything.
And look what it says. So I bought her to me." I love
that. Christ said, I bought her to
me. For 15 pieces of silver and an omer of barley and a half
omer of barley. Oh my. She was in bondage. She was on the slave block. She had sold herself into sin
and bondage. And you know Hosea loved her,
was married to her, and then he had to go back and buy her. Had to go and buy her. And ain't
that the way we were? Sold unto sin. Held in bondage
by God's law. Held in bondage by God's justice. And she said, so I bought her.
And listen to this, bought her to me. He paid her the price
of a slave. Oh, she was his by marriage covenant,
but he had destroyed her by her corruption. But oh, when he bought
her and said, I bought her to me, what love, what mercy. Oh, we were sold under sin, carnal
sold under sin. People say Satan held us. No,
God's law held us. Justice held us and wouldn't
let us go until Christ came. He said, I buy them to myself. What price you gonna pay? My
blood. I'll be wounded for their transgressions. I'll be bruised for their iniquities.
Lord, lay on me the iniquity of all of them on us. Oh my. And then look what it says there
in verse three. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide with me
for many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot.
And thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. It's just me and you now. That's
the way Christ does that. You're coming to me and ain't
gonna be nobody else. And I'm coming to you and ain't
gonna be nobody else. It's just me and you. It's just me and you.
It's just me and you. Christ bought us and paid for
us. And oh, he takes her home, takes her home. And God takes
us, he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
He redeemed us by the precious blood of Christ. Calls us by
his grace, keeps us by his power, and will one day raise us from
the dead. And look over here in chapter
14, and I'll show you why. Why? Why did it go like this? Why did he take her home? Why
did he buy her? And why did God deal with us
this way? Listen to what he said here in
Hosea 14. I will hear their backslidings
and listen to this, I will love them freely. I'll love them freely, for mine
anger is turned away." You know why he loves us? Freely. I just will to do it. Huh? Oh, we're a bunch of gomers.
A bunch of gomers. We's held by slaves. Christ said,
what price will it take to buy them? God said, you. Your death, your blood, That's
what it'll take. And he said, I'll pay it. And
now we're all been bought. We belong to him. And it's just,
he said, you're going to be for me, and I'm going to be for you.
And you know, I'll love him freely. Oh, our Father, in the precious
name, oh Lord, We look at these things and we
see our Lord Jesus Christ. We see the love of God. We see
the grace of Christ. We see the work of Christ. We
see how far off we were. And yet when we were far off,
we thought we were getting our lives by ourselves. Other people's
taking care of us. But Lord, you said everything
at our door. You provided for us even when we were in sin and
in rebellion. And Lord, we thank you that you
crossed our path one day, crossed our path with the gospel of the
grace of God, of the gospel of redeeming love, of the gospel
of redeeming blood. Lord, bless you, praise you,
and thank you. Meet the needs of these dear
people and keep them. for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. I'll see you next Sunday,
God willing.