Well, it is a delight, a real
delight to be with you again this evening. My subject tonight
is grace. Grace. That's the title of my
message. That's my hope. That's my joy. Without question, the universal
testimony of this book is that salvation is by the grace of
God. By grace, without any work or
effort accomplished by you and me, salvation is of the Lord. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Faith is the gift of God's grace. That faith by which we receive
Christ is the gift of God's grace. The act of faith as we now believe
our Savior is the gift of God's grace. We believe only according
to the working of God's mighty power. You and I believe God
just in proportion as God gives us grace to believe Him. Now
I recognize and I declare plainly that it is our responsibility
to believe on the Son of God. But we believe him only when
he gives us grace to believe him and only in proportion as
he gives us grace to believe him. Now that shouldn't require
much to be clearly demonstrated to you and to me. How often have
you found yourself in a position where you tried to believe God? you tried to believe God before
he saved you by his grace you try to believe him and you couldn't
believe him except to give you life and faith to believe and
as we go through what trials we have in this world difficulties
we have in this world we try to believe God and we stay up
at night and wring our hands and pace the floor and try to
believe God and we try to figure out what we can do and how we
can handle things and try to believe God and when God shuts
us up to himself and causes us to be at our wits end. Then,
when we can do nothing else, we believe him. Faith itself
is the gift of God's grace. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But what does the book of God
mean when it declares to us that salvation is by grace? What does it mean? There are
lots of definitions that could be given But I'm told one picture
is worth a thousand words So let's look at one of the pictures
God gave us turn to Hosea the gospel of Hosea chapter 1 Hosea
chapter 1 What does God mean when he declares to us that salvation
is by grace? here we have a picture painted
by God the Holy Ghost and he tells us exactly what God's grace
is in this marvelous marvelous picture the story of Hosea and
Gomer is a story that illustrates magnificently beautifully and
tenderly and in great detail the whole work of God's grace
for us grace is the boundless free effectual goodness of God
by which sinners are delivered from sin and death and condemnation
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God at last in resurrection
glory. All that's involved in bringing
us from the gates of hell into the gates of glory is God's grace. All that's involved in bringing
us from the gates of hell into the gates of heavenly glory is
god's free and sovereign grace in christ jesus Let's start in
hosea chapter 2. I said chapter 1. Let's start
in chapter 2 verse 14 after showing us our desperate
need of grace by showing us Gomer's great sin in chapter one. Hosea
speaking here as God's voice to our souls and as you read
this second chapter of Hosea Whatever he says concerning Gomer,
take it as God speaking to you directly concerning yourself
and his love, his mercy, and his grace to you. You say, well,
Brother Don, is that right that we should do so? You stay with
me. I'll show you that this is exactly how God tells us to read
the passage. Look here in Hosea 2, verse 14. Here's what God says concerning
every one of his elect. Therefore behold, I will allure
her. I will allure her. And bring
her into the wilderness. God begins a work of grace in
a sinner's heart. And he allures the sinner to
himself. And I'll bring her into the wilderness.
I'll get her alone with me. And I will speak comfortably
unto her. I will speak to her heart. Now,
turn back to chapter one. Our story begins with the Lord
God commanding his prophet, Hosea, to go down to the red light district
and take a harlot for his wife. Look at verse one. The word of
the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beriah, in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. And
in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.
the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord
said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of Hortums, and children
of Hortums. For the land hath committed great
Hortum departing from the Lord. What a strange command. What
a strange command. God forbade in his law that his
priests should take harlots for wives. The harlot was profane
and unclean. But here the Lord God takes his
prophet Hosea and says, you go down to the red light district
and find you a common whore and take her for your wife. so the
purpose of this uh... arrangement is given to us very
clearly by God's word now look how he describes his reason for
it in chapter three chapter three verse one why would God give
his prophet such a command then said the Lord unto me go yet
love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteress. Now watch
this. According to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel who look to other gods and love
flagons of wine. Hosea, you go down and find you
a harlot and marry that harlot and love that harlot as a picture
of the love I have for the Israel of God, my chosen, my elect in
all the earth. My elect who look to other gods. My elect who love flagons of
wine, who drink with great gusto the flagons of wine in this earth
with which they intoxicate themselves and the wine of Babylon with
which they're intoxicated by the devil. so the purpose of
this divinely arranged event and the purpose of this story
is given to us by God the Holy Ghost here in this book to tell
us something about the love of God for our souls now back to
chapter one again verse three so Hosea went and took Gomer
the daughter of Dibliam Hosea is the same as the word Joshua
it means Savior Hosea here is a type a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ our great Joshua our Savior He was commanded by
God to go down to the red light district and take his wife from
among the harlots He chose Gomer her name means consumption That's
us We are consumed with sin How can I describe that? Consumed
with sin. It's not part of our lives. It is the way we live. We're
consumed with sin. Everything we do, even as believers,
is marred with sin. And we're consumed by sin, by
nature. Gomer was a daughter of Diblium. His name means dried or dead. Like Gomer, we are sinners consumed
with sin because we're the dead children of a dead father, Adam.
Gomer also means consummation or completion. That's us too. Gomer was the consummation of
Hosea's love. You read these three chapters
we have before us this evening and you'll see that Gomer consumed
all his thoughts and was the consummation of all his works
and of all his purposes. So you and I, God's elect, chosen
sinners, loved of God from everlasting, are the consummation of God's
purpose. Everything God has done, is doing,
and shall hereafter do, he does because of his love, his everlasting
love for his Israel, his chosen ones. The Lord God gave Hosea
and Gomer three children, and they too represent us. Jezreel
means scattered or seed of God. Leru hama means no mercy. Loeme
means not mine or not my people. We who are not his people and
had not obtained mercy are now the people of God and we have
obtained the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Now I want you
to see that I'm not guessing about this. Turn to Romans chapter
9. Hold your hands here in Hosea and turn to Romans chapter 9. here the Spirit of God tells
us this is exactly the meaning of Hosea chapters 1, 2, and 3
Romans chapter 9 verse 25 he saith also in Hosea that is in
Hosea I will call them my people which were not my people and
her beloved which were not beloved you see the nation of Israel
the physical seed of Abraham were only typical of the Israel
of God, Abraham's spiritual seed. We who are God's elect among
the Gentiles, not the physical seed of Abraham, but the spiritual
seed of Abraham. We were not by nature his people,
aliens and strangers from the covenants of promise. But now
God says, I will call them which are not my people, my people.
Look at verse 26. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Now
back to Hosea. After Hosea and Gomer had been
married for some time, they had three grown children. They'd
been married for a long time, a long time. Preparing this message
today, and I thought they probably been married about as long as
Donna Shelby have We've made 47 years in June. That's a long
time You think this never happened after such a long time it did
and it still does Hosea came home one day and Gomer was gone
She'd gone back to her lovers Chapter 2 tells us about Gomer's
great fall and Hosea's purpose of love and grace concerning
her. In Chapter 3, we read of how
Hosea's love and grace prevailed and he fetched Gomer home again
to himself. Now, just hold your Bibles open
and relapsed and let's look at this picture together. This picture
of God's free, saving grace in Christ Jesus. And I'll call your
attention to a few things as we move along. First in chapter
1 I want you to see that the grace of God in Christ by which
we are saved is free, sovereign, unconditional, electing grace. The beginning of the word of
the Lord to Hosea, or by Hosea, chapter 1, verse 3. The Lord
said to Hosea, go take unto thee a wife of Horeb and children
of Horeb. God told Hosea to go love a woman,
but not just any woman, a fallen woman. a vile woman a woman who
was uh... disapproved of by everybody around
her so he went and took Gomer now remember he did so to show
us a picture of God's love toward the children of Israel and remember
this too Hosea means Savior Gomer means consumption which is what
we are by nature. And I remind you, gomer means
consummation, indicating that the whole consummation of our
Savior's being The whole consummation of our
Savior's being from that time when he stood forth before the
world was as our covenant surety and took on him all the responsibility
of our souls and all the will of God for the glory of the triune
Jehovah. The one thing that consumes him
is his love for our souls. Oh, God help you to get hold
of that. The one thing that consumes him is his love for our souls. There are many in this world
to whom God is not gracious. There are many in this world
to whom God gives no love, no mercy, and no grace. I know that
there are many who talk about common grace and common mercy
and special grace and special mercy, common love and special
love. But there's no such thing as
common grace concerning God. No such thing as common mercy
concerning God. No such thing as common love
concerning God. People say, but he causes the
unbelieving as well as the believing to enjoy the sunshine and the
rain. That's true, that's true. He also causes the believing
as well as the unbelieving to endure starvation and pestilence
and disease. That's not common judgment. We're
never the objects of God's judgment. How do you explain these things
then? That which men call mercy, I've heard lots of fellas say
anything outside of hell is mercy. I wouldn't be quick to say so.
See the rich man on the hill? Never has any trouble. Doesn't
have a rebel son in his house. Doesn't have a rebel daughter
in his house. His wife is just a fine, fine woman. See that
man? Why is he in such a position? You read this book and you find
out God has set him in a slippery place. And is determined to take
him in judgment. Who would envy a calf that's
put in a stall and fed a bucket of grain every morning and every
evening? That calf is about to be slaughtered. God fattens men
for the slaughter by that which men call common grace and common
mercy. That's not mercy. That's not
grace. That's judgment. God's mercy, God's love, God's
grace is always special. It's always distinct. It's always
directed toward his elect. the love of God toward his Israel. Many, I repeat, know nothing
of God's mercy, love, and grace. Our Savior said in Matthew 11,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed
them unto babes. God hides the gospel from some
and reveals it to others. The children of Israel were in
Egypt. They were in Egypt for 400 years
and God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel and told
Moses to tell the children of Israel He said whispered in their
ears I'm going to pass through the land this night and you tell
every man in Israel to take a lamb and slaughter that lamb and and
Smear the blood on the doorpost in the lentil and go behind his
door and I'll pass through and judge this land But don't tell
the Egyptians a thing about it They knew nothing about what
was going on. All they knew from God was a word of judgment. The
Lord God said to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for one purpose,
but just one purpose. I've raised you up to dump your
carcass in the river so that everybody in the world will know
that I'm God. Who on this earth hasn't heard
of Pharaoh and the drowning of the Egyptian army, the most powerful
army in the world in the Red Sea by the hand of God? God's
grace is always special and always distinct. For 2,000 years, only
the children of Israel had a prophet from God. For 2,000 years, only
the children of Israel had the revelation of God. For 2,000
years, only the sons and daughters of Abraham's physical seed had
the word of God given to them. The tabernacle, the temple, the
priesthood, those things were just for the children of Israel.
The rest of the world was left in darkness and shut up in darkness. and to this day God still sends
his gospel only to chosen sinners at the appointed time of love
when he would call them by his grace people get upset with this
thing of God's sovereignty and there's absolutely no excuse
for them being upset as if this is some strange thing I've never
heard tell of anybody, I've been preaching this message for a
long time, I've never heard of anybody getting upset when you
talk to them about the angels who fell. Who fell with Lucifer
before we get into Revelation very far in Revelation 12 you
read about that war in heaven and the fall of Satan and one
third of the heavenly host. And those angels are shut up
in chains of judgment until the judgment of the last day. No
opportunity given them for repentance. No mercy given them. No grace
offered them. No love extended to them. They fail and they're
shut up in judgment immediately. I've never heard anybody get
upset with that. But folks get upset when you talk about God's
sovereignty and God's election and God's grace being special
for His elect among the sons of men. Why? because everybody
presumes he has a hold on God and has a right to claim God's
goodness and grace for himself. And I'm here to tell you that
you and I have no claim on God. If God sends you to hell, before
I get done with my next word, you have got exactly what you
have earnestly desired and deserved by your rebellion against God
and your constant unbelief of the gospel you hear. Most people
in this world have never heard a man preach the gospel. Most
of those who hear it are never called to life in faith by the
Spirit of God. Many are called by the outward
preaching of the word, but few are chosen. I never think about
God's election and God's calling, except that I remember a companion
of mine. I sure wish somehow by this means
of mass communication he'd hear one of my messages now. Tommy
Bailiff, just in case he hears. Lived, oh, half a block from
me on the next street up. He and I hung out together all
the time. We did everything together. We got in trouble together and
found a way to get out of it together. When I started going
to church because I wanted to date one of the girls who was
attending church, Tommy went to church with me. He heard every
word of instruction I heard. He heard every sermon I heard. And God called me by his grace.
As far as I know, Tommy's either in hell or on his way to hell
still. Now what do you say concerning
that? Thank you my God for your great grace. For your great grace. There are vessels of mercy and
there are vessels of wrath. There are those who are called
elect, and there are those who are reprobate, cast off. There
is the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and
the two never mix. The seed of the woman never becomes
the seed of the serpent. The seed of the serpent never
becomes the seed of the woman. Elect never become reprobate.
Reprobate never become elect. the whole human race is divided
into these two categories and just these two sheep and goats
goats never become sheep sheep never become goats and some years
ago I was flying out of Louisville and uh... had to go through the
inspection you know they opened up my bag and thought I saw a
bible laying there he said are you a preacher and I said yes sir and he said
uh... He said, where are you from?
I told him I was from Danville. And he happened to know one of the
preachers in town. I guess he was praying or something. He
said, you don't believe in that election and predestination stuff,
do you? I said, well, of course I do. It's all over this book.
He said, well, why on earth are you going to preach? I said,
that's the reason I'm going to preach. There's a people in this world
whom God will save by his grace, whom he will call out by his
grace. They're called God's elect. They're called the Lord's sheep,
and he calls them by the preaching of the gospel. There are few,
few, to whom the straight gate is revealed. Fewer still who
enter it, fewer still who walk in the narrow way, and fewer
still who do so unto the end. In your short time here together,
you've seen that. And you will see it again, and
again, and again. Because there are many in this
world to whom God is not gracious. Now I've known most of you for
a long time. And I'll tell you why you're still here seeking
God and seeking to worship Him. Bob Miller, just one reason. By the grace of God, you are
what you are. Why you and not your neighbor? Why you and not your husband?
Why you and not your wife? Why you and not your son or daughter?
Because God said, I will love them freely. And so he does. Blessed be God, He has chosen
to be gracious to some. There are some men and women
in this world who are loved of God and chosen of God from eternity
whom He is determined to save. To them He's gracious. Always
gracious. Only gracious. Gracious in everything
He does. Always gracious. Only gracious. Gracious in everything. You all
know that your pastor's wife or dad going through some difficult
times. Their family's got some difficult
days ahead of them. And I was preaching with regard
to God's good providence just the other day and I looked up
and there sat Teresa just beaming. Oh, it did me good. This too
is God's gracious purpose. And when you're in the middle
of the night and the night's dark and your heart's breaking,
this is still God's good, gracious purpose. You understand this? God is always gracious to his
own, only gracious to his own, everlastingly gracious. The only
person in this world who doesn't rejoice in God's sovereign electing
grace is one who's not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious. Here's
the second thing. Hosea and Gomer teach us that
the grace of God by which we are saved is free, undeserved,
unwanted, undesired, unconditional grace. Gomer was a common strumpet,
a prostitute, a streetwalker, a hooker. She was a whore. She wasn't looking for a husband. She didn't want a husband, and
she didn't deserve a husband. But Hosea chose her. Hosea loved her. And having loved
her, his heart could never be satisfied without her. So it
is with me. So it is with my God. God's grace toward us in Christ
was totally undeserved, totally undesired, and the grace by which
we are saved is completely unconditional. I mean by that, God doesn't wait
for you to do something before he's gracious. I have a friend
who was asking me just recently about forgiveness. And he was
saying to me, he said, I read in the scriptures and best I
understand forgiveness is that forgiveness is conditioned upon
repentance. And I responded to him and said,
read the book again. Read the book again. Forgiveness
is conditioned upon repentance, but repentance is given by grace. And the forgiveness that we experience
from God's grace upon repentance is forgiveness that was already
ours in Christ before the world began. Oh, God's forgiveness
is free. free, no condition, no qualification,
nothing to be met by us. We call sinners to Christ. I
call you, right where you are, believe on the Son of God, come
to Christ. But pastor, that's your problem. But you don't know, that's your
problem. But you don't understand, that's your problem. You're still
trying to make yourself acceptable with God by something you do.
Grace is free No qualification no conditions
nothing to be met by you Here's the third thing the grace of
God is by which we are saved, by which fallen, ruined, helpless
sinners are saved, always begins with what the old writers used
to call prevenient grace, or preparatory grace, grace that
goes before grace. Turn over to Jude. Hold your
hand here in Hosea and turn to Jude. God's grace works for us long before we ever
experience it in preparing us to receive grace. You remember
how the last verse of Psalm 23 goes? Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Goodness and mercy are nipping
at my heels all the time. All the time. Goodness and mercy
are chasing me. That's what the word follow means.
Back home There's still some fellas who go coon hunting. I used to do a good bit of it
when I was a kid. I used to go coon hunting with my uncle. Go out
in the middle of the night, usually leave home about, oh, eight,
nine o'clock at night, and hunt all night long. And really, we
weren't interested in getting the coons. You know, the pelts
were worth a little something, but I don't ever remember taking
one and selling it. I don't ever even remember killing one. We
just try to get them out of the tree so we watch the dogs fight
them. That was the purpose. But what'd
you do? You'd take those dogs out and set them out in the woods
and man, you'd hear them bark and holler and bark and holler
and then all of a sudden you'd hear that dog. And Blue was on
the trail of that coon and you knew it. What's he doing? He's
chasing the coon to get the coon in a spot where he can get him.
He's following the trail of the coon. Goodness and mercy. had been chasing me through this
world all the days of my life to chase me into the arms of
my Redeemer and I shall at last dwell in the house of the Lord
because goodness and mercy are after me. Are you at Jude verse
1? Jude 1. Jude the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called boy that looks
like Jude got that all messed up doesn't it He should have
said that we were called and sanctified and preserved. No,
Jude got it exactly right. We were sanctified by God the
Father in everlasting electing love. Preserved through the fall
of our father Adam. Preserved in all the days of
our ungodly rebellion preserved unto the appointed time of love
when God would call us by his grace and then Called and let's
look at look at it back in Hosea chapter 2 Hosea chapter 2 Verse 5 For their mother hath played
the harlot and She that conceived them hath done shame for them.
For she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread
and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find
her paths. Shelby and I have just two grandchildren
and we pray for them like you do yours all the time. And this, I suppose, I have been
praying throughout every day of their lives since we first
found that Faith was pregnant with the first child. Oh God,
hedge them about. Hedge them about with thorns,
if need be. But hedge them about. Don't let
them have their way. Don't let them find their own
path. Hedge them about. And look at
it, verse seven. And she shall follow after her
lovers, but she shall not overtake them. She shall seek them, but
shall not find them. Then, then she shall say, I will
go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me
than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine
and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared
for Baal. Grace prepares God's elect for
grace. How he does so, so difficult
to get any grasp of it all. I think one of the bliss, blissful,
blissful, blissful things of eternity is to stand on the glory
side of time and look back over the Alps of time and see the
marvels of God's providence. How he arranged everything just
for me. just because of his love for
the children of Israel. Just because he's determined
to be gracious. Let me give you a couple of illustrations.
There was a fellow by the name of Onesimus. He was a servant
to a fellow named Phibemon. Phibemon was apparently a wealthy
man. He had a church meeting in his
house. And the apostle Paul was frequent
guest in his house. And he preached there often,
but Onesimus never heard him. Onesimus never heard him. I never
did meet Onesimus. I'm a little old, but I'm not
that old. I have a suspicion that he would sit and listen
to Paul preach kind of like this. Sure wish he'd hurry up and get
done. Wish he'd shut up so I could get about my business. He didn't
pay any attention. He stuck his fingers in his ears
and would not hear him. And one day Onesimus, being the
trusted servant of his master, had access to his master's wealth.
and he stole a bag full of money and took off to Rome. Ah, now
he's got it made. Now he's got it made. He's gotten
away from Philemon and he's way down in Rome and nobody gonna
find him in that crowd. That'd be like looking for Don
Fortner in San Diego, California. Nobody gonna find him in that
crowd, nobody. But as luck would have it, Onesimus was arrested and arrested
at the same time a fellow by the name of Paul was arrested.
And apparently put in the same cell. And now Onesimus heard
Paul preach. Because God had brought him to
his wit's end. And he had prepared Onesimus
now, through all he'd been through, to hear Paul's words. And Paul
wrote back to Philemon, he said, Philemon, perhaps this explains
why he stole your money. He departed from you for a season
that you might receive him forever. So it was with God's elect. We fell in our father Adam and
were parted from God according to his purpose by the fall of
our father Adam until the day when he caused us to be reconciled
to himself, revealing his son in us. We read about the particle
son. His brother did just fine. His brother stayed at home. His brother took care of all
the father's business. But the prodigal said, give me
what's coming to me. And took all of his father's
wealth that he gave him and wasted his substance and right to his
living. And if you read between the lines in Luke 15, it looks
like, now I'm just guessing about this, but it looks like the father
sent one of his servants, right along the trail of that sod,
because he was fully aware of everything his son was doing
and when he came home his father knew before he got there that
he was coming because he had a fatted calf in the stall ready
for the party he was fully aware of it now I don't know about
that parable of prodigal son but I do know this God's created
heavenly angels who are ministering spirits sent forth to minister
to serve for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Look at Hosea
2.8. This is one of my favorite texts
of scripture. For she did not know that I gave
her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold,
which they prepared for Baal. Hosea went looking for Gomer. And he found out where she lived,
where she was staying. And he went up to the back stairs,
went up to the room where she was in the arms of her lover
at night. And every night, he'd set a bag
of groceries by the door. And they'd sneak back down the
stairs. Now, he could have taken her anytime. She was his wife. That meant she was his property.
She belonged to him. He could have taken her and had
her stoned to death anytime by law. He could have come and forcibly
taken her back anytime. But he wouldn't have Gomer, much
as he wanted her, until Gomer wanted him. But all the while,
he provided for her. When Gomer would get up in the
morning, her lovers would be gone. She said, look here what
my lover left me. She didn't know, Hosea said. She didn't
know. All those years, I was the one providing for her. So it is with us. All the years
of our rebellion and ungodliness, The Lord God, our Savior, provided
for His own, took care of His own, and saw to it that every
need we had, we had supplied by His boundless, free grace
in Christ Jesus the Lord. We are the objects of God's peculiar,
distinguishing love given to us in Christ Jesus the Lord. And God provided for us all the
while. And then after a while, Hosea
found out where Gomer was. And he came down because Gomer
had been brought to utter ruin. Utter desolation. She was no
longer good for a prostitute. In her stupidity, she had ruined
herself. And Hosea walking down the streets one day and he passed
by an auction block and there were slaves there. All kinds
of slaves. And Hosea looked at Gomer and
he said, Gomer? Gomer? That you Gomer? And she
hung her head in shame. Nobody else wanted her. But Hosea
did. Hosea came and bought Gomer for
himself. Now look at chapter 2 and let
me show you how God reasons in his grace. God's therefores our
Lord here uses the word therefore four times Why would he be gracious
to you? Why was Hosea gracious to Gomer
look in chapter 2 verse 2 Because she's a harlot Plead with your mother plead
for she is not my wife neither am I her husband let her therefore
put away her whoredoms and return to me look at verse six verse
six therefore because she is a harlot because she's determined
to destroy herself therefore I will allure her unto me I will
call her to me. Look what it says. Verse six. Therefore, behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns. I will make a wall that she shall
not find her paths. Then shall she say, I'll go and
return to my lovers. Verse eight. For she did not
know I gave her all those things. Then look at verse nine. Therefore,
therefore, because she will not return to me, I'll return to
her. I'll return and take away my
corn and oil in the time thereof, my wine in the season thereof,
and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And I'll discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of
mine hand. I will cause all her happiness
to cease. Her feast days, her new moons,
her Sabbath days, her solemn feasts, all her religious refuges
I'll destroy. And I'll destroy her vines and
her figs, whereof she said, these are the rewards my lovers have
given me. And I'll make them a forest, and beasts of the field
shall eat them. And I'll visit upon her the days
of Balaam. Then in verse 14, therefore,
because she's utterly forsaken me and forgotten me, therefore,
behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably to her. I'll give her her vineyards from
Theodosius and the valley of Acre for a door of hope and she
shall sing there as in the days of her youth verse 16 it shall
be in that day saith the Lord thou shalt call me my husband
Isha and shall call me no more Balaam master for I will take
away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they shall no
more be remembered by their name God has his way of preparing
his own He prepares the heart to receive
his word. Gomer had been brought to utter
destitution. And the Lord God shows us a picture
of how he comes in his distinguishing effectual costly sin atoning
grace and saves his own. Verse 19, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. Chapter three, verse one. I bought her to me for 15 pieces
of silver for an omer of barley and for a half omer of barley.
Hosea came to Gomer and he bought her. And he walked up and took
her by the hand. put her hand under his arm and
walked home as proudly as any man ever took a chaste virgin
perfectly beautiful to be his wife so the Son of God took you and
took me to be his own and wed us to himself we wouldn't have
it we wouldn't have it we wouldn't have it But thank God he refused
to take no for an answer. He lured us, called us, brought
us, and brought us at last into his banqueting house and spread
his banner over us. And the banner he spread over
us is love, everlasting love, the love of the Lord Jehovah
for the children of Israel, his elect. I'd sure like to have been in
the prophet's house that night, wouldn't you? I'd love to have heard the
conversation as Gomer is weeping with joy and gladness and gratitude
and trying to confess all her ungodliness and all her filth
and all her degradation and all her shame. And Hosea says, shh,
it's all right, honey. I've washed it all away. It's
gone. It's gone. I've clothed you in
white garments and I've made you a chaste virgin. So no man
can do that for a woman like that. No, he can't. No, he can't
not possible But God can do that For sinners like you and sinners
like me and he has We confess our sin and He says I have put away thy
sin Mark, we can't even imagine that. What does that mean? He's
annihilated it. It's gone. Gone. I have put away thy sin. It shall never be brought up
again. It shall never be remembered
against you forever. I have put away thy sin. Amen.