Turn if you will to Hosea chapter
2, the gospel of Hosea chapter 2. The title of my message and my
subject is grace. That's my hope, that's my joy,
grace, grace. Without question, this book declares
that salvation is altogether, from start to finish, the work
of God's free, sovereign, effectual grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. That is the declaration that
man's will Man's work, man's worth has nothing to do with
the accomplishment of God's salvation. The universal testimony of scripture
is salvation is of the Lord. We are justified freely by his
grace. The scripture tells us that the
gift of God is eternal life. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. If you mix works with grace,
grace is no more grace and work is no more work. Salvation is
by free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord without anything done
by you. Before, during, or after. Salvation is by free grace alone. Now having said that, we recognize
that most everyone talks about salvation by grace. Every heaven-born
soul certainly is happy to confess with the Apostle by the grace
of God I am what I am But what does God mean when he declares
that salvation is by grace? Sometimes a subject is better
understood by pictures than by definitions. Brother Darwin was
preaching in Danville at a conference and he told about going to the
Smithsonian Institute in Washington and he was looking at the art
museum there and all the old Dutch masters. When he got done
I found out they were paintings. I thought they were cheap cigars.
But let's look at a picture. A picture painted by God the
Holy Spirit of God's free, saving grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. When you've gotten to Hosea chapter
2, just hold your Bibles open on your laps. I won't ask you
to turn anywhere except to the prophecy of Hosea tonight. Grace
is the boundless, free, effectual goodness of God toward fallen
sinners. By which he's elected, redeemed,
regenerates, calls, justifies, sanctifies, and preserves, and
at last glorifies every sinner who is the object of his love.
By grace, ye are saved. Here in Hosea chapter 2, God
speaks by the mouth of his servant, Hosea, and describes for us his
reasons for his grace to us. If you read the second chapter
of Hosea, you will find the word, therefore, given on four different
occasions. And he gives the reason why he
does what he does for us. But read carefully this second
chapter. The chapter is all about Gomer's
fault. Her failure, her sin, her woe,
her miserable condition, the corruption of her heart, the
corruption of her nature, the corruption of her deeds. And
God says, this is the reason I'm gracious for these things. Look at Hosea 2, verse 14. Therefore,
behold, I will allure her. She left me, therefore I'll allure
her. She's gone after her lovers,
therefore I'll allure her. She made sacrifice to Baal, therefore
I will allure her. She will not hear me, therefore
I will allure her. She will not come to me, therefore
I will allure her. Read it. I will allure her and
bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her. What a word. What a word. Therefore, because
this woman, my wife, has been the harlot she is, therefore
I will allure her into the wilderness. I'll get her alone with me and
I will speak to her heart comfortably. All right, the story begins with
God commanding his prophet Hosea to go down to the red light district
and take a harlot for his wife. Look at verse two of chapter
one. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the
Lord said to Hosea, go take thee, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms. and children of whoredoms. Here's the reason. For the land,
that is my people, the children of Israel, hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord. What a strange, strange
command. God's priests, by God's law in
Leviticus 21, were forbidden to take harlots for themselves
as wives. Joshua took a Babylonian woman,
Joshua the high priest, Zechariah chapter three, took a Babylonian
woman for his wife and thereby defiled himself. And so the priests
were forbidden by law to take a harlot for wife because the
harlot was profane and unclean. But here, God commands his prophet
to go down to the red light district and take a harlot and marry her. What a strange command. The purpose
of this divinely arranged marriage is described for us in chapter
three and verse one. Why would God give such a command?
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 look to other gods and love
flagons of wine. God said, Hosea. Go marry a whore
and show my people my love for them. Go down to the red light
district and marry a woman of whoredoms and thereby I will
show my people my love. So the purpose of this divinely
arranged marriage, the purpose of this story being given by
God the Holy Ghost in the book of God is to teach us something
about the love of God for our souls. Back in chapter one again,
verse three. It is love altogether undeserved. So he went and took Gomer, the
daughter of Deblim. The name of the prophet Hosea
is the same as Joshua. It means savior. Hosea is presented
in this story as a type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
commands him to go take a wife from among the harlots. The woman
he chose and married was Gomer. Her name means consumption. That's
us. God's elect are a people consumed
with sin and consumed by sin. Gomer was the daughter of Dibliam.
His name means dried or dead. Like Gomer, we are the dead children
of a dead father. His name is Adam. The name Gomer
also means consummation or completion. And there again, she's a picture
of ourselves. Gomer was the consummation of
all Hosea's purposes, the consummation, the completion of all Hosea's
desires and his work. And so God's elect, you and I
are the ultimate end. the consummation of all God's
great purposes and his great works of grace. I see my friend
brother Feldman Sins back there. Glad you're here brother. God
Almighty does everything just for us. God Almighty does everything
just for us. just for us. We are the consummation
of God's purpose in our everlasting salvation. The completion of
God's design in eternal predestination, in creation, in redemption, and
in providence, when at last we stand with Christ in glory made
like our Redeemer. The Lord gave Hosea and Gomer
three children. They also represent God's elect.
Jezreel means scattered or seed of God and so the Lord God scattered
his elect the seed of the woman in all the nations of the earth
the seed of Jesus Christ scattered here and there among all nations
and people and tribes and tongues Leruahma means no mercy. Loame
means not mine or not my people. We who were not by nature his,
we who had not obtained mercy are now his people and we have
obtained mercy in Christ Jesus. Well, how do you know that's
what all this means because in Romans chapter 9 verses 25 and
26 God the Holy Spirit tells us that's what I was saying when
I spoke to Hosea and said you name your children this the Holy
Spirit here identifies God's people then after Hosea and Gomorrah
had been married for a good many years They already had these
three grown children, Jezreel, Leruhemah, and Loahimeh. Hosea
came home one day and Gomer was gone. She had gone back to her lovers.
Chapter two tells us about Gomer's great sin in the time of her
rebellion, in the time of her terrible fall. Chapter three
tells us how Hosea's love and grace prevailed to fetch Gomer
back to himself. Now let's look at this marvelous
picture of grace and I want to call your attention to seven
distinct characteristics of God's grace set before us in these
three chapters. First, understand this. God's
grace, that grace of God in Christ by which we are saved is sovereign
electing grace. Hosea was commanded of God to
go down to the red light district and take a woman of Horeb. He told Hosea to love a woman,
not just any woman, but a fallen woman. Not just a fallen woman,
a harlot. Not just any harlot, but a particular
harlot. So he went and took Gomer. Remember, we're told in chapter
three, verse one, this was done to show us a picture of God's
love and grace to us. Hosea loved Gomer. according to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel. What a picture of God's infinite
everlasting love for his own. Remember too, Hosea means Savior,
Gomer means consumption, which is what we are by nature, and
consummation, which is what we shall be when God's finished.
There are many, many people in this world to whom God is not
gracious. Many who have never heard and
will never hear the gospel of God's free grace. Can you imagine
that? Can you imagine that? There are
people settled in large metropolitan areas all over the world. who have never heard the things
that you regularly hear, here in this little out of the nowhere
place called Sinicauga, Alabama. People who've never heard the
gospel of God's grace, let alone experienced it. There are multitudes,
multitudes, to whom God never sends his word, to whom God never
sends a prophet, who are never touched by the hand of God's
mercy, who never hear God speak by his word, who never are called
by God's grace, who are not chosen of God, people who are not redeemed
by the blood of Christ. God is not gracious to all men.
People talk about grace and talk about special grace and common
grace. I cringe when I hear folks talk
about common grace. That's like, that's all about
grace that's useless. Common grace is useless grace.
God's grace is special. It's set upon his people and
only his people. Folks say, well, but God causes
it to rain on the just and the unjust, that's common grace.
I reckon when he sends a tornado, that's common judgment. He causes
the tornado to come on the just and the unjust. No, no, no, no.
The reason God causes it to rain on the unjust is because they
live next door to you. That's exactly right. He causes
it to rain for his people. God's grace is special. There
are those described in this book as vessels of mercy and those
described as vessels of wrath. There are those who are spoken
of in this book as sheep. and those who are spoken of as
goats and the two were never mixed there are those who are
God's elect and those who are reprobate God said to Hosea go
down yonder to the red light district there's a gal down there
by the name of Gomer you go love and marry Gomer she's your wife
and so the Lord God set his heart upon his people in free sovereign
election before the world was Oh, what mercy, what grace. The only person who doesn't love
and rejoice in God's sovereign electing love are those who've
never experienced it, who've never seen it, who've never received
it. God said, Hosea 14, four, I will
love them freely. will love them freely for mine
anger is turned away listen now from him I will love my people
freely for my anger heaped upon my son you just read about in
Isaiah 53 is turned away from him who has satisfied my anger
my justice and my wrath and now fury is not in me I will love
them freely "'Tis not that I did choose thee. "'For Lord, that
could not be. "'This heart would still refuse
thee. "'Hast thou not chosen me? "'My
heart owns none before thee. "'For thy rich grace I thirst. "'This knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first.'" All right, here's the second
thing. God's grace is sovereign, electing grace. And God's grace
is free. Unconditional grace. We are saved by grace that's
free. Undeserved, undesired, unwanted,
unconditional grace. Gomer, this streetwalker, wasn't
looking for a husband. She didn't want a husband. She
had no desire for a husband. And she certainly didn't deserve
a husband. But Hosea chose her. Hosea loved
her. Hosea wanted her. Hosea was determined
to have her and Hosea would never be content until he had Gomer,
not only had her in his house as his physical wife, but had
her heart so that she loved Hosea being called by his grace. God's
grace toward us in Christ, understand this my friends, never tire of
hearing it and thinking of it is altogether undeserved. The
grace of God is not something we desired. When we began to
desire his grace, his grace had already fetched us to him. When
we began to seek him, we sought him because he sought us. When
we turned to him, it's because he turned us to him. When we
called on him, it's because he called us. When we run after
him, it's because he draws us after him. The grace of God. was totally and is totally undeserved
by us. I didn't deserve God's grace
when first he called me and revealed his son in me. And I confess it to my shame.
I deserve his grace less now than I did 47 years ago. I know, present tense, that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And that grace
by which we are saved is absolutely free, unconditional grace. We were chosen unconditionally. We were called unconditionally. We were redeemed unconditionally
and we are kept unconditionally. Though the righteous man falleth
seven times in a day. Wonder why he used the word seven. He could just as well have said
70 or 70,000. The righteous fall repeatedly,
constantly through the day. Why did he use the word seven?
Because seven speaks of completion. Seven speaks of wholeness. The
righteous man, you who are born of God, Lester, you, you, the
righteous man, made righteous by God's grace. You've been fallen
since you opened your eyes this morning. The righteous man falls
in everything he does, in everything he does, in everything. We don't
have a thought that's not fallen. We don't have a thought that's
not corrupt. The righteous man falls in the totality of his
life. But the Lord raises him up because
grace that's free is grace that's unconditional. We like to hear
and talk about unconditional love. People say, well, I love
my children unconditionally. No, no, you don't. Oh, no, you
don't. I love my wife unconditionally. Oh, no, you don't. No, no, you're
just bragging on yourself. The only love that's unconditional
is the love of God for our souls. Would to God, pastor, we could
say we love him unconditionally, but we don't. We love him because
he first loved us. Our love for him is nothing like
it should be and nothing like it shall be, but our love for
him is caused by his love for us. His love for us is uncaused. It's unconditional. It's unconditional. Number three, the grace of our
God by which fallen, ruined, helpless sinners are saved. always
begins with what we might call prevenient preparatory grace. Now that's not a subject about
which there's much written or said in our day. Prevenient grace. That is grace that goes before
grace. Grace that prepares the way for
grace. Grace that lays down the road
for grace. Grace that prepares the heart
for grace. Grace that makes chosen redeemed
sinners ready to receive grace. Prevenient grace. It's impossible
to tell when the grace of God begins to operate upon the hearts
of His elect. Sometimes we may be able to tell,
and I say may, when the quickening, regenerating, converting grace
of God comes, but not grace itself. We can't tell when God begins
his work of grace because God's grace is always at work for us. There is a time when grace begins
its work in us, but there wasn't a time when grace began its work
for us. This is eternal. Prevenient grace
is grace that precedes grace. Listen to this. Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You fellas, any of you
hunt? I used to hunt a good bit when
I was a boy. And we used to go coon hunting with my uncle. We'd
go out in the middle of the night and go coon hunting. And most
of the time all we did was listen to the hounds run. That's all
we did. We just listened to the hounds. I mean all night long. You know what would make them
holler? Man, that hound would get on the trail of a coon and
you could hear them for miles in the woods. They were chasing
that coon. They were chasing that coon till
they got him treed. And when they got him treed,
then you could flat out hear them. And what we'd do, not try
to kill the coon, we'd try to shoot it down so they'd fight.
Just get him out the tree till the hounds fight the coon and
see if they were tough enough to handle it. That's exactly
what David's talking about, goodness and mercy. are on my heels pursuing
me all the days of my life and pursuing me right into glory
Goodness and mercy had been nipping at my heels all my life Pushing
me constantly into the arms of Christ and at last into heavenly
glory itself I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Look at Hosea 2 verse 5 For their mother hath played
the harlot She that conceived them hath done shamefully. For
she said, I will go after my lovers. I will go after my lovers
that give me my bread, and my water, and my oil, and my flax,
and my oil and my drink. Therefore. She said, I'm going after my
lovers that provide all the stuff that I want. I'm going to pursue
the world with all my heart. I'm going to pursue my lovers
with all my heart. This is where I get my satisfaction. Therefore,
what a word. Behold, I will hedge up thy way
with thorns and make a wall that she cannot find her paths. Shelby and I have two grandchildren.
We pray for them and have done so now for 16 and 13 years respectively. Every day, throughout the day,
God hedge up their paths. Oh, God put a hedge about them.
Don't let them have their way. Don't leave them to themselves.
This is what God says he does for his elect. I put a hedge
about you so you can't go where you wanna go. I put a wall around
you. I wouldn't let you go where you
wanted to go. Look at verse seven. And she
shall follow after her lovers. She's gonna follow after her
lovers. She's gonna follow after her lovers. She's gonna follow
after her lovers. She's gonna follow after her lovers, but
she shall not overtake them. She shall seek them, but shall
not find them. Then shall she say, I will go
and return to my first husband. Now watch this. For then was
it better with me than now. Now watch the eighth verse. We'll
come back to it later. For she did not know. Remember what we
just read? I'm gonna go after my lovers.
They give me my oil and my flax, my wine. Oh, they make me so
happy. They provide everything for me.
I'm gonna go after my lovers. She didn't know. I gave her corn
and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold. Watch this.
Which they, she and her lovers prepared for Baal. Grace, Paul
said, separated me from my mother's womb. Grace followed me. Grace directed me throughout
the days of my rebellion and brought me to the place where
Christ was revealed in me. There's a fellow by the name
of Onesimus. who was a servant in the house of a man, apparently
a wealthy man by the name of Philemon and Onesimus often heard
the Apostle Paul preach the gospel. He was known well to him. I've
been coming down here, called us all these years and I'd know
you if I ran into you in New York City. I'd recognize him.
I'd just recognize him. I've known him. Onesimus was
well known to the Apostle Paul And he heard Paul preach many,
many times, but he never believed the gospel. He never heard it.
He never heard it. Then one day, his master, who
trusted him with his goods, Onesimus said, I've been at this business
long enough. And he took everything and ran
away with his master's goods. And he went down to Rome, down
to the big city of Rome. I could hide out there, nobody
would ever find me there. And he got caught. and wound up in
jail and as luck would have it, as luck would have it, guess
who was there? Guess who was there? There's
a fellow there by the name of Paul and Paul preached the gospel
to him and now Onesimus is ready to hear what Paul's got to say.
You mean outward circumstances cause that? Oh, no, no, no, no,
no, no. But God does use outward circumstances
to bring you down in your heart. And now Odysseus is ready to
hear the word. And Paul said, he departed from
thee for a season, that you might receive him forever. That's what
the book says. The reason he left you, Philemon,
was because God had his heart on him from eternity. That's
the reason he left you. We read about that particle sun.
The elder brother stayed home. And the elder brother was always
good. The elder brother, he never did
anything wrong. I know what that's like. I didn't
have a brother, but I've got an older sister. I love her to
death. She's sweet as she can be. She's just a remarkable lady.
But it's tough growing up in a house when you're a boy like
I am and like I was with a sister who never did anything wrong.
I had to go to school behind her all my life. I had to come
home behind her all my life. And I hated to hear her name.
I just, every time her name was mentioned, I was in trouble because
she never did anything wrong. That's the Particle's brother.
He never did anything wrong in his life. He's a fine fellow.
But the Particle wasn't the object of his father's love and mercy.
You know what his father did for him? He left him alone and
gave him everything he wanted. He's given him everything he
wanted. But there's a prodigal. There's a prodigal who took his
father's wealth and wasted his substance in riotous living.
And all the time he was gone, his father had a servant looking
out after him. I know he did because when he came home, he
already had a fatty calf ready for him. He was expecting him
to come home, but he wouldn't bring his son home until his
son needed to come home and wanted to come home. And when he was
trying to fill his belly with the husk the swine ate, he said,
my father's got hired servants in his house better off than
I am. I got no choice, the only place I got any hope is to go
back to my daddy and I'll ask him to make me one of his hired
servants. And he came home with his tail between his legs and
his head ducked down and his father saw him when he was a
great way off. And the only time in the Bible,
the only time in this book, brother Darwin, if there's any indication
of God ever getting in a hurry, he got up and ran. He read and
fell on his neck and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him
and kissed him It's called prevenient grace grace that goes before
grace and prepares the way for grace and Brings us God's grace
God's grace begins in the earliest years Formative grace How come some folks are raised
where they are, the way they are, under the circumstances
they are, and others raised in totally different circumstances? Some of God's elect raised in
circumstances that would make you dead sure certain they're
reprobate. And many reprobate folks raised
in circumstances would make you dead sure they're one of God's
elect. God puts us where he puts us. In the families in which
he puts us. In the circumstances in which
he puts us. All the days of our lives because
he ordered his mercy for us before the world began. And ordered
his mercy in such a way that we would look upon his mercy
and grace forever giving him thanks and praise for all he's
done. I look back on my life, and I
own all my crimes against God, against family, against government,
against law, against order, and against myself. I own them all. They're mine. They're mine. So much I wish I could undo. But if I could undo everything,
I wouldn't undo anything. Not a thing, not a thing. This
is the way by which God brought me to his son. How do you explain
that preacher? I'll wait for God to explain
it if he's of a notion to do so, but I can rejoice in it. This is God's grace, prevenient
grace. God's prevenient grace protects
us. Sometimes we can get a peek,
just a peek, at some of God's secret operations. The psalmist
said, our God only doeth wondrous things. Isn't that amazing? He
doesn't do anything ordinary. He only does wondrous things.
What are the angels? Why do those heavenly beings
exist? Meeting here with us tonight
in this building are the angels of God wondering about redemption. wondering about forgiveness,
wondering about God's salvation, but why did God create them? Hebrews chapter one, verse 14.
Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
to those who shall be the heirs of salvation? Not to those who
are, those who shall be the heirs of salvation. Back when our granddaughter,
was old, three, maybe four years old, no older than that. Doug
and Faith, Audre Grace, before Will was born, so she's three.
They had been down to South Carolina on vacation and coming back through
Asheville, North Carolina. And I told them, I said, you
be sure to stop at Biltmore Dairy Bar. This is where you get off
best ice cream you'll ever eat. And they got off and went to
Biltmore Dairy Bar. And Audre Grace is in there waiting
to make her order. And she's swinging on the bars.
They're swinging back and forth. And this lady came in. And she
had some kind of necklace on her. Audre Grace looked up at
her and said, what's that? And the lady said, oh, that's
my necklace. And Audra Grace said, no, that.
And pointed this little doodad on the necklace. And she said,
oh, that's my guardian angel. Audra Grace said, what for? And
she said, well, it watches over me, make sure nothing happens
to me. And Audra Grace paused for a little bit. She said, how?
Got no eyes. And Doug had to call me as soon
as I got out before they ate the ice cream, told me what all
the grace said. Well, that's very observant. I'm not talking
about you having guardian angel like the papers talk about. Oh,
no, no, no, no. All the host of heaven created
and sent forth by God to be ministering spirits, to watch over and protect
and care for God's elect until the day they're called by God's
grace. how he kept us by his mercy. The Lord God comes in prevenient,
preventive grace. And he often keeps us before
we're called from the evil of which we're capable. You don't need to know much about
it. But I could just as well have been in prison tonight to
be here. Rightly so. But God stops things. Stops you dead in your tracks
before you killed that fellow you were planning to kill. Before
you committed that evil you were planning to commit. God stops
it. no no no I got another plan for
you I got another purpose for you sometimes he lays the reins
on the necks of the wild asses coat and says run run run but
it says hitherto shalt thou go and no further then he just stops
right there and sometimes he takes another and raises them
in refined, polite, moral uprightness, object of his grace. But don't
pop your suspenders. The difference between you fine,
moral, upright ladies and the harlot is just the outward difference
God has made. I meant outward. Not all of you
ladies are whores in actuality. All of you are at heart. Not
all of you men are whoremongers in actuality. All of us are at
heart. I can't take that. You're going
to take it or you'll never know God's grace. That's what you
are. That's what I am. Read Matthew
chapter 15. Hear what God says about you
and about me. This is God's word and it's plain
and clear. God may be bringing you down. And whatever God does to bring
you down, I'm gonna be happy and give thanks to God on your
behalf. Whatever it takes. Whatever it
takes. You see, the Lord sends out his
word, some seed cast by the wayside, and some sown among thorns, and
some on stony ground, and some of it falls on good ground. I tell you, your heart's not
good. What's that good ground talking about? That's talking
about ground that's been prepared to receive the seed. That takes
breaking up. that takes some plowing and some
tilling and some harrowing it takes some tough work and if
the ground could cry it would say don't put the plow here but
God knows what he's doing and he prepares his own at his appointed
time of love to receive the seed sown by his own spirit and causes
the seed to grow and bring forth fruit we don't We don't twist
arms and try to talk folks into making a profession of faith
and join the church and do something for Jesus. No, we just preach
the word and pray and wait on God. You know what God does? He saves sinners at his appointed
time of love exactly as he will. Gomer's ruin was horrible. She was a harlot. But Hosea loved
her, and the godly prophet brought Gomer into his house. And he
made her his wife. And Hosea lavished all he had
on Gomer. He lavished his love upon Gomer. Gomer and Hosea had three children. God gave them three children.
Looked like she'd be happy. Oh, Joe and Abby are gonna have
a baby, Lord willing. And you're just as happy as you
can be. Ah, wait till you kiss that baby. Oh man, you talk about
happy. Gomer ought to have been happy,
but she wasn't. You see, Hosea had taken Gomer out of the red
light district, but he hadn't taken the red light district
out of Gomer. She was still a harlot at heart. And she lusted after
her old companions. She was religious, but not redeemed. She was correct, but not changed. She was dutiful, but not devoted.
One day, Gomer's sitting on the wall of the house, and she sees
one of her old lovers come by, and she weeped at him, called
him over. And they began to talk a little
bit, made their desires known to one another. And Gomer hearkened
to the counsel of the ungodly in her own heart. While she slept
in the arms of her loving husband, she only thought about her lovers.
Hosea came home one day and Gomer was gone. She's real, where's
your mom? Little Emmett, where's your mom?
Little Rehoboam, where's your mother today? I can't find her
anywhere. And he looked and he looked and he looked and Gomer
was gone. And Hosea continued looking for her. He loved her. Oh, he loved her. He sought for
her everywhere. No doubt as he looked for her,
Gomer was fully aware he was looking. She'd see Hosea go hide
from him, kind of like Adam and Eve in the garden. Finally, Hosea
found her. He found out where she was. And
he could have gone at any time and brought her home. That was
law. He could have gone at any time
and had her stolen to death. That was law. She was his property.
He was his property at any time. But he didn't do that. He didn't
do that. He didn't go force you to come home. No. He didn't. You folks believe God forces
sinners to come. Well, he does, but he makes you
willing when he does. He didn't force you to come. No, no, no.
Instead, he found out where Goldman was shacked up with her lovers.
It's what whores do, they shack up the fellas. She shacked up up there. Hosea,
Hosea went and bought groceries for her every night. He'd get
a 20 pound sack of groceries and take them and set them by
the door every night. And her lovers would leave and she'd
get more. She'd say, ah, look what my lovers gave me. She'd
say, ah, this is a good life, this is a good life. And Hosea
did that. continually night after night
after night after night. And so God provided me with life
and breath and health and strength and food and clothing and shelter
night after night after night after night while I live with
my fist shoved in his face and cussed him with every breath
how come? because this is how God loves
sinners like Hosea loved Gomorrah and then God says this is what
I'm going to do look at these therefore's in chapter 2 I love
the way God uses this word, therefore. In verse two, he says, therefore,
therefore, let me paraphrase it so you can read it later.
Because she's a harlot, therefore, let her leave her lovers and
return to me. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. No, but Hosea
did, because that's what God does. Therefore, verse six. because she's gone after her
lovers, because she's determined to destroy herself. Therefore,
behold, I will protect her from herself and from them and force her to return to me. Verses nine through 13. Therefore, because she will not return to
me, I will return to her. Let's read this one. Verse nine,
therefore, I will return and take away my corn in the time
thereof. I'll take away everything that
makes her happy, and my wine in the season thereof, and I'll
recover my wool and my flax given to her to cover her nakedness.
Now therefore, I will discover her lewdness in the sight of
all her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause her birth.
I'll cause her happiness to cease. I want to make her miserable.
Her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her
solemn feasts, I'm going to destroy her happiness, and I'm going
to destroy her religion. I'm going to destroy everything.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she
has said, these are my rewards that my lovers have given me.
And I will make them a forest, and the beast of the field shall
eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Balaam, 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. Now, look at this fourth, verses
14 through 17. Therefore, because she's utterly
forsaken me, because she's utterly forgotten me, I'll never forget
her. Oh, how grace reasons! Contrary to all reason, I'll
make her willing to return to me. I'll conquer her with my
love. Look at verse 14. Therefore,
behold, I will allure her. I will bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards
from thence and in the valley of Acre for a door of hope. And she shall sing there as in
the days of her youth. And as in the days when she came
up out of the land of Egypt, and it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shall call me Isha, my husband, and
shall call me no more Bala, my 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 graciously prepares his people
for grace and makes them willing in the day of his power. Like
Gomer, we have to be brought down. Gomer sank and sank and
sank into the dunghill of iniquity and learned by bitter experience
the way of the transgressor's heart. She came to poverty. And she grew old. By the time
we get to chapter three, she's an outcast of society. She's
helpless, worthless. Nobody wanted her anymore for
prostitution. Her beauty was gone. Her strength
was gone. Her youth was gone. At last, she came to the slave
market to sell herself into bondage and servitude, if anybody would
have her. But nobody loved Goldberg. Nobody wanted Gomer. Gomer couldn't
even stand herself. But there was one fellow who
loved her, one fellow who wanted her, one fellow determined to
have her. And Hosea came to Gomer. Now, now, she's ready for his
love. Now, she's ready for his mercy. Now, she's ready for his grace.
Even so, when we were in the arms of another, we belonged
to Christ. He loved us, and he was preparing
us for his grace. At last, made the hard heart
tender, the seared conscience tender. Made the unbending rebel's
heart willing brought conviction to us and brought us down. Fourth, look at chapter two,
verse 19. Understand that God's grace is
distinguishing effectual grace. I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
mercies. Gober, I'm going to knit your
heart to mine. And I'm gonna knit your heart
to mine in righteousness. I'm gonna knit your heart to
mine in justice. I'm gonna knit your heart to
mine in loving kindness and in mercy. The grace of God that
brings salvation is just like this. Everything Hosea did for
Gomer, he did for Gomer alone that he might have Gomer. One
day Hosea is walking in town and he spots Gomer. There she
is on the auction block in the very back, in the very back.
She's back there with the derelicts, the abominable, the wretched,
the slaves that weren't good for anything except maybe cleaning
out the outhouse, just no good, no count. Hosea's walking along
and he spotted Gomer. I can almost picture him. Gomer? Is that you, Gomer? And Gomer hangs her head in shame. He came to Gomer and bought her verse 2 chapter 3 so I bought
her to me for 15 pieces of silver for an omer of barley and a half
omer of barley he paid the price and walked
over and took Gomer stuck her arm, hand right under his arm
and he walked down the street with her As proudly as any man
ever walked down the street with a beautiful trophy wife. And
he brought her home. And he put her in his bed. Oh,
I'd like to have been in the prophet's house that night, wouldn't
you? He put a banner over top of the bed. She said the banner
over me was love. Oh, I'm my beloved's and my beloved's
is mine. Oh, how good Hosea was to Gomer.
So it is with us. When we would not and could not
come to him, our Hosea came to us. He called us, brought us to himself, and took
us as his bride, made us his. But grace is costly. costly redeeming
grace. Before Hosea could have Gomer,
he had to redeem her. And before the Son of God could
have me, he had to deal with God's law
and purchase me at a lawful price. With the silver of his sweats
and the gold of his blood, he redeemed me. and the grace of
God is preserving persevering grace look at chapter 2 verse
20 I hear lots of fellas talk about
us persevering and believers persevere don't misunderstand
what I'm saying but I sure wish somebody would talk about God
persevering If we persevere in faith, it's because God perseveres
in grace. If we don't let go him, it's
because he won't let go us. If we don't abandon him, it's
only because he will not let us abandon him. Do you understand
that? It's only because he won't let
us abandon him. Look at verse 20. I will leave
him betrothed unto me, watch this, in faithfulness. and thou
shalt know the Lord, and it shall come to pass in that day, I will
hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall
hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the
wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel, they'll hear my
people, and I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have
mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them
which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall
say thou art my God one more thing look at chapter 2 verse
18 God's grace is immutable covenant grace in that day will I make
a covenant for them with the beast of the field and with the
fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground
and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out
of the earth and will make them to lie down safely. Isn't that wonderful? God says
I'm gonna make a covenant with them. The covenant was made a
long time before we were born. The covenant was made before
the world was. But he comes, Brother Darwin, and reveals to
us what his covenant is. This is his covenant. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. The fowls of the air and the
beasts of the field. and the creeping things, the
snakes, and the lions, and the lizards, and the worms, and the
mosquitos, all that stuff, all that stuff, all those things,
all those things. Brother Lavender said something
about some Islamic nut sitting in somebody's throat here in
the United States, he's just fascinated, he hasn't heard anything
about it. Oh, aren't you terrified? No, no, I'm not. How come? Because God's broken
the sword out of the earth. He's broken the sword out of
the earth. Well, don't you read the newspaper once in a while?
Don't you watch the news? Not too much, but now and then.
Don't you know what's going on in the world? I know a little
bit of it, but I know more than most folks do. God's broken the
sword out of the earth. There's nothing going to happen to me.
Then nothing is going to happen to me. Then nothing is going
to harm me. It's not possible. It's not possible. God said there shall no evil
happen to the just. Nothing. He only does wondrous
things for his love, for his gold bars. Now, one more thing. Look at chapter four, chapter
six. Grace, free grace, is the strongest motive I know to urge
you to come to Christ. Come, let us return to the Lord,
for he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and
he will bind up. After two days will he revive
us, in the third day he'll raise us up and we shall live in his
sight. That's a prophecy of Christ's coming, his death, his burial,
his resurrection. Come return to him. He's torn
you. He'll bind you up. He's wounded
you. He'll heal you. And this side does it by the
sacrifice of his darling son. And by him who lived and died
and rose again, we live forever with God in grace. Amen.