Hosea, chapter 1 and verse 2, look what
it says. The beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. Now, this is when God first began
to speak to Hosea, first began to use him. Now, he served under
five kings. He was a prophet under five different
kings. And it talked about the word
of the Lord came to him there. But this is the beginning. This
is the first time God spoke to him, this first time that God
called him, manifested himself to him to be a prophet. The beginning
of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said unto Hosea,
Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went, went and took
a heart, went and married a whore, going to have children from this
woman. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblum, which
conceived, and buried him aside. And then down in verse six, and
she conceived again and buried a daughter. Son and a daughter. Now, let
me tell you just a little bit about this book and some things
about it. Hosea means deliver. It means salvation. It's pretty
similar to the word or the name Joshua. Joshua. In the Old Testament, in Jesus,
in the New, Hosea means deliver, salvation, the same way that
Joshua does. Salvation, deliver, Jesus, Jehovah,
our Savior. And Hosea was given this name
because he's a beautiful, beautiful type of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, there's a lot in this book that's hard to understand, but
it's full of grace, full of truth, full of love, full of mercy,
and what God does for poor sinners in this world, what God does
for His elect. And here's one of the strangest
things about this book and that you'll ever find in the Scriptures.
that God commanded Hosea to go marry a harlot. Now here's a
prophet of God. Here's a man that God's got his
hand on, going to use him, going to preach through him. Got something
to say to Israel through him. And he tells him, now you go
marry a harlot. Go marry a harlot. Didn't ask
him to, didn't plead with him to, said, now you go and do this.
And it says there in verse 3 that he went and took Dominion. That
certainly seems a strange thing to be told to do. But we know that everything that
God does in this world has a purpose behind it, that His will is done,
His purpose is behind it. We know that in everything He
does, His providence and His purpose, they work together for
His glory first and foremost. When he told Hosea to go take
this harlot and then to have children by her, he had a purpose
in his providence in doing this, and they worked together for
his glory and for our good. And I do know this, that he's
the first cause of all things. The first cause of all things.
The human nature, being what it is, wants to know why. Why in the world would God tell
a preacher, a prophet, to go marry a harlot? Why would he
do that? Why would God command a prophet
to go marry a harlot? That's what human nature wants
to do. That just don't even make sense. Well, God's ways are fast
finding out. There's no doubt about that.
And you know, it's like Moses. He wondered why he was kept on
the back side of the desert for 40 years, tending sheep, when
he wanted to go down to Egypt and set the Lord's people free. And Joseph, when he sat in prison,
down in Egypt, and his evil brothers sitting down there, and they're
not suffering at all, and he's suffering down there in Egypt
in prison. And we wonder, and children will
wonder, why he lost all of his children and all of his possessions
in the space of a day. And old John Bunyan, why in the
world was he kept twelve years in prison, and why wasn't he
out preaching the gospel? And Mr. Spurgeon, who had anywhere
from 5,000 to 7,000 people, and he preached to every service,
he often had to be out of his pulpit for weeks at a time because
he had an awful disease called gout and had to go to real warm
climates to get over it. We wonder why these things. But
the old hymn writer, William Cowper, he says, yes, God moves
in mysterious ways. His wonders to perform. He plants
His footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storms. So just
not the Lord by feeble sense, but trusting 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." I'm going to give you a reason
why he married a harp. Look here in chapter 3, verse
1. Let me give you a reason. It said here in Hosea 3.1, Then
said the Lord unto me, Hosea speaking now, The Lord said to
me, Go yet, and you love a woman, a woman beloved of her friend,
beloved of you. Beloved of her friend. Yet, she's
an adulteress. She's loved. She's beloved. And you love her. And you were
not told to go marry her. And yet, she's an adulteress.
And she's an adulteress according to the love of the Lord towards the children of Israel.
Now, God had him marry her to let us see how much she loved
us. Loved of a friend. Goliath loved this woman, loved
the Lord toward the children of Israel who looked to other
gods and loved flagons of wine. You don't love this woman, this
is adulterous. And compared to the love that God has for his
people, even though they look to other gods and love flagons
of wine. He done this because of the love
that he had towards us. But let me show you something
here. The first thing is that Hosea chose his bride from among
the most sinful sinful people. Now, he hasn't told her to go
marry a woman or a harlot, but Hosea chose his bride from among
the most sinful people. Look over in chapter 7 with me
just a moment. And ain't that the way the Lord Jesus Christ
did us, choose us from among the most sinful people? Like
that prodigal son that went and wasted all of his father's
living that he gave him. And look what he said here in
verse 14. God's speaking about Israel, speaking about us, speaking
about His people. They have not cried unto me with
their heart when they howled upon their beds. You reckon they
were crying out to me? You reckon they were seeking
me? When they howled upon their beds,
when they was in great trial and great affliction and howled
upon their beds, they assembled themselves for corn and wine,
and yet they rebelled against me. And though I have bound them,
and chastened them, and strengthened their arms, yet what do they
do? They imagine mischief against me. And here Hosea entered into
a covenant relationship with Gomer, with this wife of his,
and marriage is a covenant. And thy Lord Jesus Christ chose
his bride among the fallen, among the most sinful, among the most
rebellious. Among those who imagine mischief
in their heart against Him. Now you keep that and look with
me in Psalm 14. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. I'll show you what I'm talking about here in Psalm 14.
You know, the Lord of glory, our blessed Savior, chose His
bride among the most wicked, among the most fallen, among
the fallen men of this human race. That's why He said, for
when we were yet without strength, No strength, no ability. In due
time, when the time was right, Christ came and died. For who? The ungodly. God commended His
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And look what he said here in
Psalm 14. And this is where we were. The fool that's here in
his heart. There is no God. He's not watching me. He don't
know nothing. They're corrupt. They've done abominable works.
There's none that doeth good. Can you find yourself there before
God saved you in His mercy? You've done abominable works.
There's none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
among upon the children of man to see if there were any that
didn't understand and seek God. How much did you understand?
How much did you seek God before God first sought you? before
God chose you. Go marry that harlot. That's
what God says about us. We're rebels. We're mischievous.
Do mischievous works. And look what he says. They're
all going aside. Where'd they go? They went after
their own way. They're together. All every one of us becomes filthy. There's not one among the sons
of men on the face of this earth that doeth good. No, not one. You want to know why God chose
to send him to church with a harlot? Because that's what we were.
And he come to save us. That's why he told Jeremiah,
he said, Jeremiah, I knew you. Talking about entering into a
relationship with, I knew you before you was formed in your
belly, in your mother's belly. He told Paul, he said, he separated
me from his mother's womb and called me by his grace. And as
Hosea was dishonored as a prophet and contentable for choosing
Gomer as his bride, our Lord Jesus Christ was hated and despised
for calling sinners to himself. You find so many places in the
Scripture. Luke 15, 2 says, the Pharisees,
they said, this man receiveth sinners. Why does your master
sit down beneath with publicans and sinners? And they ridiculed
him because he came among people like us, sat down to eat with
sinners, sat down to eat with these people I talked about,
came down to be with them and choose them, and they could not
understand, oh, what ridicule and contempt they held him in
that he would have anything to do with anybody like us. And
you know, when Mary went into Simon the Pharisee's house, our
Lord Jesus Christ was eating there. And she came in, and she
sat down at his feet, gelled down at his feet, and she began
to weep and cry, and wore his feet with her tears, and dried
with the hairs of her head. And you know what Simon said?
He said, if this man was a prophet, he'd know what manner of woman
this is, that she's a sinner. Why in the world is he doing
that in a sinner, at his feet? And that's what they thought
about Hosea when he went to take Gomer. And God's love to us,
just like it was for me to enter that marriage covenant with Hosea,
with Gomer, God's love to us is based solely on His mercy,
based solely on a covenant of mercy, a covenant of grace. And
beloved, I tell you, the Scriptures tell us, after the kindness,
and love of God our Savior toward men appeared." Where did it appear
at? It appeared in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That to the mercy and grace and love of God toward
men appeared. Not by works of righteousness,
but according to His own mercy, He saved us. He did not look
for any of the good He did not look down and see anything worth
us and anything about us worth having. But He said, after, and
beloved, after, the kindness and love of God appeared. When
did it appear to you? Has it appeared to you yet? Has the kindness and love of
God appeared to you? Has it made you understand that
it's not by any work of righteousness you ever done that He saved you? That there was no merit? Paul
said, you know, I was ignorant and injurious and murderous and
a blasphemer, but He said, I take mercy. And that's what sinners
need. They need mercy. Now, you keep
Hosea and Micah. Go right over to your right.
A couple of books over here in Hosea, and look in Micah chapter
7, talking about the mercy of God. So you see, He took this bride
among the most sinful people, and when He married her, He entered
into a covenant relationship with her. Marriage is a covenant. And our Lord Jesus Christ, as
He chose His bride from among the most sinful, our Lord chose
His bride among the most sinful. He was honored and held contemptible
for choosing a harlot for a bride for a wife. Our Lord was ridiculed
for choosing sinners and having anything to do with sinners.
Look what is said here in Micah chapter 7 and verse 18. He asked this question, Who is a
God like unto thee? What God in all this universe
of all the gods in this world, of all the gods that men worship,
of all the gods that men call upon. He asks this question,
who is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, pardoneth
iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?
Passes by him. And he doesn't hold on to his
anger forever. Why does he do this? Because
he delighted in mercy. That's why he does it. He delights
in mercy. And I tell you, beloved, there
is no goodness in us that calls God to choose us, enter into
a covenant with us, and call us. It was absolutely because
of his mercy. And then let me tell you something
else about this back over in Hosea. Hosea chose his bride,
chose his harlot, chose Goldman and entered into a covenant relationship,
but you know what she done after he had already chosen her to
be his bride and entered into this covenant relationship with
him? You know what she did? She followed the ways of all
her people. She followed the same ways that
she had always done it. Now look what here it says over
in Hosea 2.5. Look what she said. She played the harlot. Said,
for their mother hath played the harlot. She's been chosen
now. She's entered into this relationship
with them. Chose her out of the awfulest people in the bunch. For their mother hath played
the harlot. She that hath conceived them hath done shamely. For she
said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my
water, my wool and my flax and my oil and my drink. She said, I'm going to go after
other lovers. But you're in a covenant relationship with Hosea. I'm
going after my lovers. He chose you. I'm going after
my lovers. He loved you. I'm going after my lovers. Going
after my lovers. She was chosen, loved by Hosea. But when she, beloved, came of
age, she walked in the path of evil. And that's the way we were,
beloved, though God loved us from all eternity. And he entered
into a covenant with us before we ever were, to make us his
bride. Do you know why we did? We walked
that on in our sinful ways. Walked that on in our sinful
ways. You know, David said it like this, I was shapen in iniquity,
and I was conceived in sin. And the wicked go astray from
the womb, speaking lies. And Jeremiah says this, can the
Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can the leper change
his spots? And why in the world did we walk
right on in the path of evil? Why did we walk on in sin? I'll
tell you why. We chose sin because we're sinners.
Men choose sin because they're sinners. Look there in verse
13 of chapter 2. Men choose sin because they're
sinners. You choose not to come to Christ
because you're sinners. And look what it said here, and
I will visit upon her the days of Balaam. Now, this is what
she was doing now. Wherein she burned incense to
them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,
and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.
And ain't that where we was? I mean, we went after everything
but Christ, and though we were chosen to give love to Him. And
here we was, going on in our own way. Going on in our sin. Chosen of Christ, loved of Christ,
redeemed of Christ. And yet, beloved, here we go.
And I would say I chose this. And Christ chose us to be His
bride, the most sinful. And here we are going on in our
way. And I tell you, beloved, this
is a natural, natural fact, biblical fact. And everybody has to agree
with it this morning. There's not a person in this
building that can change their own nature. I know preachers
will tell you to stop your sinning. You can't stop something. You
are by nature. They'll tell you that you need to start living
right. If the opium can't change the color of your skin, the leopard
can't change his spot, how then can you do good that all you've
ever done is evil? And I'll tell you some of the
evilest things we've done. We've talked about her going after
these other gods and these other lovers. In our religion, in our
legalism, in our dress codes, in our self-righteousness, that
was going after other gods and attributing everything we had
after other gods. That's what that amounts to.
When we were in our freewillism, in our works, in our self-righteousness,
and claiming we had a righteousness, claiming we had a works, thinking
that we was good because of the way we dressed and the places
we went and the places we didn't go. That was the wickedest thing
we'd done. Because we were claiming a God,
we were claiming a salvation, we were claiming a religion,
and we was attributing everything that we got to that false god.
And that's what she was doing. And we could not help ourselves.
We couldn't change our nature. And ain't you grateful, that
boy? And now we know what we were. Now we know that Christ
chose us to be His bride. Now we know where we walked and
Christ came and got us. And let me show you something
else about here. Hosea not only loved her, not only did she walk
in her own sinful ways, after she has entered into a covenant,
loved and chosen to be a bride, Hosea provided for Gomer even
in her sin and her rebellion. This is what's one of the most
amazing things. Look in verse 8 of chapter 2. For she did not know. She did
not know. that I gave her corn. You see,
she said, I'm going to go ask my lovers to give me my bread,
my water, my wool, my flask, my wine, my oil, my drink. But see here, Hosea said this,
she did not know. While she's in there with her
lovers, while she's following her lovers, while she's following
her false idols, while she's playing the harlem, she did not
know that I gave her corn, and I gave her wine, And I gave her
oil, and I multiplied her silver and her gold. And you know what
they did with it? They prepared it for Baal. She'd come out there in the morning,
she'd thank her lover, left her all this corn, left her all this
wine. This is what they paid her with. This is, they loved
her so much and bought so much of her. Here, this is what we're
going to give you for your harlotry. Oh, we want to pay you. And they
gave her the corn, they gave her the wine, they gave her all
of the silver and that, and she thought, oh my, these fellows
really think I'm something. And all the time, what she was
paying the harlot, who's head would walk up there and put the
corn outside the door. Set the wine out there. Set the
oil out there. And while you and I are walking
in sin and walking in rebellion, and following them gods, talking
about how we got this and how we got that and how we accomplished
this and how we done that, and we pulled ourselves up by our
bootstraps and all that rigmarole, our Lord Jesus Christ, He was
brand new. And He's the one who set the
coin by the door. He's the one who put the wine and rejoiced
our hearts by the door. He's the one that put that oil
by the door. He's the one that provided for us when we were
going home, playing the harlot. He did that. And while she was
praising her lovers, and that says there in verse 7, and she
followed after her lovers. While even as she was following
other lovers, while she was praising her lovers for providing for
them, Hosea was the one who did it. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, God takes care of His own, even in the days of their
sin and their rebellion. It's one of the most mysterious
things that's ever been known to the human mind. When God saves
a man by His blessed grace, that God, from the day we're born
until the day He brings us to Christ, He watches over us. The
Scripture says that He sends ministry spirits sent to minister
unto them who shall be heirs of salvation. He had someone
watching over us, taking care of us, providing for us, until
our salvation was brought and made manifest to us. That's what
He did for us. It's like Saul. Remember how
Paul, who Saul had parsed as, oh, he hated the Lord Jesus Christ.
He despised the name of Christ. He went on his way. putting men
and women and children in jail who met to worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. He had wards in his pocket to
go arrest a bunch of people over at Damascus. He's on his way
over there, and he knows who he's going after. He said, I'll
catch those folks. I'll catch them worshiping. I'll
catch them praying to Jesus. I'll catch them praying to Him.
I'll catch them bowing to Him. I'll catch them praising His
name. And I'll take them, and I'll serve this Lord over them,
and I'll have them put in jail. Unbeknownst to him, he was chosen
from his mother's womb. And on that Damascus road, with
all that enmity in his heart, there is a light. He had never
seen a light like that before, above the brightness of the sun.
It came down, and it was so bright, it made his eyes. You know, when
you look in the sun, look right up in the sun, and you look back
down, you can't see nothing. Well, he looked up there, and
he couldn't see nothing for three days. But the Lord done that. You know why? He's going off praising his other
lovers. But the Lord said, this is Him. John Newton. John Newton. Oh, my. You know what he was? He made
his living going into Africa, capturing black people. Capturing
black people, packing them in to ships, chaining them in to
ships, laying them in ships, laying them down, stacking them
in ships. There he is living, going and taking men and capturing
black people and hauling them back and selling them, selling
human beings, mistreating human beings. And they would die and
just throw them overboard. Disease go overboard. And then finally one day he went
to get him a bunch of slaves, and then this African princess,
a bunch of Africans called him. And this African princess, she
put a chain around his neck, put him out on the beach. chain
around his neck, send a bowl out there where he'd just have
trouble to get it, and fill it full of garbage and everything
else, and if he had anything to eat, he'd have to get on his
knees to eat out of that bowl. No wonder he said, "'Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once
was lost Now am found. I was blind, but now I see. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I did believe. It was cause my heart to fear. Grace. Grace. That's what we're talking about.
God's got something. He's got a time. He's going to
take care of his people. He's going to take care of them.
Well, he's a rebel. That's Saul and Tarsus. If anybody's
going to go to hell, he's going. No, he ain't. If anybody's ever
going to hell, John Newton. He ain't going. We were like Gomer. We gave the
praise to everything we had and everything we did and all that
we were to everyone but God Himself. And more than another, one of
the old hymn writers, and I think it's in our hymn book, it says,
In shady green pastures so rich and sweet, God leads his dear
children along. Where the waters cool flow, obeys
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some
through the waters, some through the flood. Some through the fire,
but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us hope. in the night season and all the
day long. But here's what happened. He was taking care of her. She's
in there with her lovers, giving her praise to her lovers, saying,
Oh, look what my lovers give me. And Hosea's putting her right
there by the door for her, providing for her. We were praising our
other lovers. We attributed everything we had
to our other lovers, and Christ kept His hand on us. But the
day came when Hosea's wife is going to be brought down in humiliation.
She's going to find out what she is. God's going to teach
her. God's going to show her what
she is. Look what it says here in Hosea
2, verse 10. I will discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers. I'll make her in the sight of
her lovers to be lewd. I'll make her to be lewd to herself,
and her lewdness, her folly, her villainy, her wickedness,
and none shall deliver her out of my hand." And look what he
said, "'And I'll also cause her more mirth to see.' She was happy. She laughed. And all of her feast
days, and her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and her solemn
feasts, I'm going to destroy her vines and her fig trees,
whereas she said, these are my rewards that my lovers have given
me. And I'm going to take those fig
trees and those rewards, and I'm going to make them a forest.
And the beasts are going to eat them. I'm going to visit upon
her the days of Balaam when she burned incense to them. She decked
herself with earrings and her jewels. She would ask her lover,
and forget me, saith the Lord. Then look what he does. Look
what he does now. You know, her life became a burden. Her mirth
is going to be turned into, it's going to cease. All of her feast
days, no more feast days, no more rejoicing, no more laughing.
No, no lover wants anything to do with her. She'd become lewd.
And I'm going to destroy my visitor in that day. Her life became
a burden to her. Her sweetness turned into bitterness. Joy turned into mourning. And
that she once loved, now she hated. Do you know what this
is? This Holy Spirit conviction. The Holy Spirit conviction of
sin. Look what he says there in verse
14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her. I'm going to bring
her into the wilderness. She's going to know what it is
to be in the wilderness. I'm going to bring her out into
the wilderness, and look what He says, and then I'll speak
friendly to her. After I've stopped her foolishness,
after I've stopped her laughing, after I've stopped her thieving,
after I've stopped her joy, after I've showed her her lewdness,
and the sign of her lovers, and how wretched she really is, and
I've destroyed all the things, the chivine trees, big trees,
I've destroyed them all. I destroy them all. And all beloved,
this is Holy Ghost conviction. I tell you, there's nothing,
nothing like being made a sinner by the Holy Ghost. You know, there's a lot of men,
people that's made sinners by men. I guess everybody here would
say, yeah, I've committed sins, but I'm talking about being a
sinner. Not just some sins you've done,
but what you are. What are you in the sight of
God? Human nature. Human nature compared to human
nature comes out really good. You can compare human nature
to human nature and say, boy, I'm in pretty good shape. But
when you stand in the light of God's holiness, You stand in
the light of God who is holy where the seraphims cry, holy,
holy, holy. It's a different story then,
ain't it? Look at the person sitting next to you. Pretty good
fellow. I'm, you know. But oh my. God don't compare us to one another.
We've got to measure up to the standard that he set. Holiness.
Righteousness. And it's a fool who would think
for a moment that because he's as good as anybody else, that
makes him alright, when there ain't nobody else that's any
good either. You know, if you compare yourself
to somebody that's a worm, and you're a worm, that's just two
worms bragging on one another. And that's what the Scriptures
calls us, calls us worms. Grasshoppers. And here's what
she was. She said she goes on in her happy
way, and God says, I'm going to destroy everything. I'm going
to stop her from her life and her foolishness. And oh, beloved,
I tell you what, we'll go on in our appointed sin until that
appointed day and that appointed hour, and God will make us weary
with our sin, make us weary with our rebellion, and He'll call
us into the wilderness, and He'll allure us. How He will allure
us? By these kind of things. By telling us these things. And,
Lord, oh, God don't leave me here. And He'll start bringing
you out. And He'll make you end up out in the wilderness, just
you and Him. And then He'll speak comfortably, speak friendly to
you, speak to your heart. And I tell you, it's like the
prodigal son. For as long as he had everything
it was that he wanted, took all of his money, went over there
and wasted it. That's why his brother said he
wasted it with harlots. His elder brother said, Your
son has taken and wasted what you gave him on harvest, and
here you are giving him a fatted cat and a robe? He said, Oh, this my son is dead. Now he's alive. He was alive,
now found he. God's going to pay. He's going to find us. And oh,
it's like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a thief. Charged people oftentimes four
times what they owed in their taxes, and he'd pocket half of
that. Give the other half to the one of the fellas in his
pan often. One day, God came by and the
Lord Jesus came by and said, Zacchaeus, today, today, today
is the day of your salvation. And this was Hosea's day of salvation. Now, and I know this, beloved,
we can't taste of grace, cannot taste of grace, appreciate grace,
thank God for grace, enjoy grace until we're weary of sin, until
it's such a burden to us that we can't bear it anymore. will
not flee to the Lord Jesus Christ until we're convinced of our
sin. It just won't happen. But oh,
beloved, how desperately, desperately men need to be told, and only
God can do that, what sinners they are. And look what else
we say about Gomer. That Gomer, though she's been
made Sorry, though God's destroyed everything she's had, took away
her laughter, discovered her lewdness, yet she belonged to
her slaves' masters. Look over here at chapter 3 and
verse 2. Gomer belonged to her slave masters. She sold herself into sin, sold
herself into slavery. Look what he says there in verse
2, Hosea 3. So I bought her to me for fifteen
pieces of silver, And for an omer of barley, and for half
an omer of barley, she was in bondage to this awful fallen
system. She was a harlot, couldn't set
herself free. She sold herself as a harlot,
sold herself into slavery, sold herself into this awful sin. And here she is, she's up there
on the slave block. She's up there for everybody
to see. Here's Hosea standing there,
and everybody says, ain't that Hosea's wife? Didn't Hosea marry
her? Didn't he have a couple of children
about her? Surely that's not Hosea.
Surely that's not Gomer. Look how awful she looks. How much do you want to get for
her? Five? Somebody give me five? Ten? What are you giving me for? She
ain't worth much. She's old, she's decrepit, her
body's used up, she's lewd, she's filthy, nasty. Nobody wants her
now. What do you give for her? Ten?
Twelve? Fifteen? Oh, she said, I'll take
her. I'll take her. You mean you want
your wife in that condition? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll take her.
I'll take her." And he paid the price of the slave for her. She
was already his by marriage covenant. Already belonged to him, but
he had to buy her back. from her corruption, from her
lewdness, from her lovers, from her filthiness. You're talking
about love. You're talking about mercy. Oh,
my. And what were we? Paul says we
were slaves, soul under sin. He cried, O wretched men that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? He said, we're carnal. The law
of spirituality, but I'm carnal. I'm sold under sin. Well, who
in the world is going to pay for us and our sin? Who's going
to pay for our lewdness? Who's going to pay for our sinfulness? Who's going to pay for our repayment?
Who's going to pay for us going after other lepers? Who's going
to pay for us while we stand on the slave market? Who's going
to pay for us? Who's going to pay our sin? How
are we going to get off this slave block? How are we going
to get out from under this bondage of sin? The law says they can't
go. They can't go. I tell you, the wages of sin
is death, and until they die for their sin, they can't go.
And justice raises up and says, I agree with that. I tell you,
justice says, well, I'll never be satisfied until their debt's
paid. Well, when the fullness of time
has come, God sent forth His Son. made of a woman, made under
that very law that held us in bondage, to redeem, pay the sin debt of His children. Christ was made
a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law. The Lord
laid on Him, take Him off that market, put me up there. What price you give thirty pieces
of silver? Put me on that slave claim. Put
their sin to me. Put their lewdness to me. Put
their rebellion to me. Put their filthiness on me. Put
their rebellion on me. Put it all on me. Christ was
made a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law.
Wounded for our transcriptions. Bruised for our iniquities. And
oh my, let me show you the last thing here. Look what it says
here in verse 3. Hebrews, Hosea chapter 3 and
verse 3. So I bought her to me for fifteen
pieces of silver, for an omer of barley and a half omer of
barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many
days, and shalt not play the harlot. and thou shalt not be
for another man, so will I also be for thee." He took her home
and said, it's just me and you now. You're going to be for nobody
but me, and I'm going to be for nobody but you. He said, you're going to abide
with me for many days. You'll never play the harlot
again. And you'll never be for another man. And that's the way
I'm going to be for you. Hosea said, I'm going to take
you home with me. Can you imagine what folks thought
when he had her by the arm and taken her? Boy, how much Hosea
must love her. Oh my, I've never seen such love. I've never seen such grace. I've
never seen such pity. I've never seen such commitment. I've never seen such power to
forgive, to forget. To put our sin away? Oh, beloved,
Hosea takes her home. Well, God chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. God came and redeemed
us with the blood of His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God
called us from our sin and rebellion. He called us to confound the... chose us weak ones to confound
the mighty. And then God keeps us by His
power. And one of these days, God will
raise us up. He said, I'll raise them up in
the last day, and not one of them shall be lost. And that's
why the Lord said to us even now, He said, you believe in
God, believe also in Me. And my Father's house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I'd have told you. But I go away
to prepare a place for you. I've done bought you and paid
for you. And I will come again. I'll come again, and I'm going
to get you. And I'm going to take you home with me. And I'll
tell you, there's a verse of Scripture that said in Revelations,
there was silence in heaven for the space of a half hour. Now,
I don't know if it's a 30-minute, a half-hour one. If a day, I don't know how long
it is, but I do know this, and this is what I think. Now, I'm
going to tell you what I think it means, and what it speaks
to me. He says for that thirty minutes, the silence in heaven
is going to be when God brings all His children home and every
angel and every celestial being, everything in heaven, hell and
earth, behold the bride that Christ bought and purchased and
they stand there in utter astonishment, in utter wonder. I mean, them
folks right there is His bride. Look with me over in Revelation
21. Look in Revelation 21, and I'm done. Revelation 21. And that's what's going to happen.
The world is going to stand in awe. There's going to be people
that call me a false prophet, call me a leader of a cult, call
you all fools and idiots for believing in election, predestination, salvation being of the Lord from
start to finish. that brag about nothing but the
righteousness of another, have nothing to claim, nothing whatsoever
to claim before God at any time, any time in the middle of the
night or the middle of the day or the morning or the evening,
have nothing to claim. Nothing in my hands I've got
to claim before you, Lord. And people say, you all are fools.
You make fun. You do. You all talk about you. You're God's elect. You're God's
chosen. You're God's loved. And I know, I've seen you say
this, and I've seen you go there, and I've seen you do this. I
love them. I'm mad at them. I've been writing
for them. This is mine. And I tell you
what they did, they looked at me and me alone. And they're standing here, and
you go ahead and brag about your rites. You go ahead and brag
about your prayers. These folks ain't got nothing to say, except
praise be unto the Lamb, and watch us for mercy in His own
blood! No wonder they'll be silenced
in this place. I mean, even people will put their hands over their
mouths and say, oh, what did I say about them people? How
falsely accused feel? But look what it said here in
Revelation 21.9, And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials, full of the seven
last plagues. And he talked with me, now listen,
saying, Come up together, and I'll show thee the bride, the
Lamb's wife. Look at her! Oh, wasn't it like a girl said,
what a day that'll be. And he said, John, come up here,
I want you to see something. Look at her. That's
a big surprise. Hosea, that's your bride? She's
mine. What are you going to do? I'm
going to take her home, and I'm going to love her. And she's going
to be mine, and I'm going to be her. I'm my beloved, and my
beloved's mine. Oh, what a day that will be.
What a day that will be if God called you and brought you in
a lurgy of the wilderness. Is He speaking comfortably to
you now? Is He speaking to your heart? God help you to trust Him, look
to Him, believe Him. You say, I'm one of them gomers.
Well, Christ is the Hosea. He's our Hosea. Oh, gracious, gracious Father,
the blessed, glorious, holy name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for allowing us to have this time this morning.
Thank you for the gospel of your blessed grace, your love and
your mercy and your power. We were all gomers, all gomers, and yet you loved
us, chose us, called us, made us to be your bride, paid for
our sin, took us off the slave market, set us free from our
bondage. And Lord, soon, soon, soon you'll
take us home to be with you forever. God save you people in this place.
Open hearts, open minds, open wheels. We ask these things in
Christ's holy name. Amen.