Romans 9.25, as he saith also
in OC, which is Hosea, the book of Hosea, I will call them my
people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not
beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. And of course, this refers back
to verse 24, where the Apostle Paul showed that all of these
teachings that he's been expounding in this chapter concerning the
free grace of God, concerning God's will to have mercy on whom
he will, applies not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles.
And thus this verse where he said, Hosea prophesied of this,
that it wouldn't just be the Jews. And this was another prejudice
that the Jews had. This was another objection that
the Jews might raise as the ones that he has addressed before
concerning the sovereignty of God. They would say, why did
he yet find fault with us if everything is purposed by him?
And then it's God's fault in effect is what men say. And of
course, Paul addressed that. And here he anticipates another
objection that this grace, this free sovereign grace of God would
come to the Gentiles. The Jews felt that it was exclusively
God's favor and blessing was theirs exclusively as the people
of God. But Hosea, this is not a new,
this is not a new doctrine. Hosea prophesied of this and
many others in the Old Testament. And here's one lesson here, how
contrary to man's ways are God's glorious ways. He said, your
ways are not my ways. And I'm glad, aren't you? Because
religion loves to exclude others. We see many examples of this.
The Pharisees would excommunicate anyone who disagreed with their
dogma. And of course, Gentiles, they
were called dogs. never looked upon with anything
but contempt by the Orthodox Jew. Likewise, we know that the
Koran calls for the destruction of the infidel, which basically
means anybody but them. I know that the megachurches
now, they don't exclude, they want everybody to know, they
want certain kinds of people too. If a real sinner walked
in there, they wouldn't know what to do. Just like the Pharisees,
they couldn't tolerate the simple honesty of that blind man in
John chapter 9. That's religion toward a real
sinner that just acknowledges who Christ is and what he did.
But this Bible that we have open before us, it's not the rantings
of any radical religious group. This is the gospel of the gracious
and sovereign God. He saves whom he will, and he
has declared that he's chosen a people out of every tribe,
every kindred, every nation, and every tongue under heaven.
all of whom richly deserve his condemnation and wrath. The gospel
is not a gospel of exclusion. God with irresistible power calls
his people this way, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth. Are you living on God's earth?
Then that call goes out to you. Of course, we know that his effectual
call is unto his own chosen that he has elected from the foundation
of the world. But he says, look unto me and
be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I'm God and there's
none else. Are you interested in salvation? There's no salvation.
There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. And this call, the general call,
goes out to all. And here's the lesson here. Only
the God of all grace would and does, as Paul put it, break down
the middle wall of partition. There was a wall of partition
between Jew and Gentile. But all earthly distinctions,
all distinctions, period, are done away in Christ. Galatians
3.28. The Lord, you remember what John
saw in the book of Revelation? He said, I looked and I beheld
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. The victory, the
conquest of our Savior's cross is immense. John said the Spirit and the
bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him
that's thirsty come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water
of life freely. The only ones excluded are those
who exclude themselves. Isn't that what Paul said? Those
who are their own enemy. Those who have counted themselves
unworthy. I'm not afraid to make the gospel
call so broad that a non-elect person will believe. Are you?
Are you scared of that? That doesn't frighten me. I know
who are thirsty. It's the ones to whom God gives
a thirst. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They'll be filled. It doesn't
say worthy are they. It doesn't say good for them.
It says they're blessed of God. We know that. And this call goes
out to all and those who are not thirsty have no excuse. The Lord Jesus said, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me. We know that, don't we? And we rejoice in that. The Lord
Jesus thanked the father and said, I think the father that
you hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them to babies. And we thank God for that also. All that the Father gives to
the Son, gave to the Son in the eternal covenant of grace will
come to Christ and no more and no less. Because no man can come
except the Father which gave them to him and sent him draw
them. And he said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And he didn't say but. These
are not contrary truths. These are not conflicting truths.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and he that
cometh to me. I will in no wise cast out. No
wise. Our message to sinners is clear. It's to declare the truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ and call upon sinners to believe on him,
to come to him. No matter who you are or what
you've done, regardless of any distinction, look unto the Lord
Jesus Christ and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. What
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. In Christ, there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor
free, but Christ is all, and in all. It's Hosea that's referred to
here in verse 25, and both of these verses, 25 and 26, are
from Hosea's prophecy, so this is not new revelation. The Jews
were slow to submit to this, and they were angered by it,
generally speaking, that the Gentiles would be included. But
they shouldn't have been. God had long ago. Declared his gracious willingness
to save the people from every nation. The distinction here
in this verse, look at, let me read this to you, or you can
turn there if you'd like. Hosea chapter two and verse 23. This is the verse to which Paul
refers in the text, Hosea two 23. 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." I've changed my mind. Turn over there if you
would, please. In Hosea 2.23, God said, I will sow her unto
me in the earth. He's talking about a people,
her, his bride. I will sow her unto me in the
earth. Like seed is sown and that seed
bears fruit. Herein is my father glorified
that you bear much fruit. He sows his people in the earth.
That's why he said, God so loved the world because this world
is the garden where his seed is planted. He didn't love the
weeds, he didn't love the pests, those who destroy. But he loves
his garden, doesn't he? He loves his garden. And I will
have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. Those who
were not known to be the people of God. I will say to them which
were not my people. They weren't known to be the
people of God by the Gentiles, and they weren't known by themselves
yet to be the people of God. And this is true not only of
nations but of individuals. You didn't know he was one of
God's people either until he told you. He said to somebody
that wasn't one of his people as far as they knew, as far as
this world knew, as far as anybody but him knew, you're my people,
you're one of mine. That's what he said. Thou art my people and they'll
say you're my God. Those who were not known to be
the people of God will be revealed to be the people of God. And
look at this one last glorious truth here. This is talking about
salvation. That's what Paul's talking about
in all of Romans chapter nine. God's going to have mercy on
sinners, not just Jews, but Gentiles also. And he quotes Hosea in
support of that. Our only warrant for saying anything
is God's word. Talking about the salvation of
his people, of every kindred. So of course we know that they'll
hear the gospel now, won't they? It pleased God by the foolishness
of the preaching of the gospel to save his people who believe
on him. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. He said, go ye into all the world
and teach. But in Hosea's prophecy here,
it's revealed that what God is doing in effect is simply revealing
to these ones what is already true. In the manner of gospel
preaching, by that means, he's simply saying to them, to us,
to you, if you're his, you are mine. You see how Hosea puts
that? Isn't that beautiful? We know
something of the means that God uses to save a sinner, but the
simple statement here by Hosea is this. God's gonna save him,
and here's how he's gonna do it. He's gonna come to him and
say, you're mine. He's gonna come to a people,
that had no idea they were God's people. Nobody did. And he's
gonna say, you're mine. Now what he did, has he ever,
have you ever heard God say that to you? You're mine. That's why
I'm here. Because God said to me one day,
you're mine. And when he says that to us,
what's our response? Right there in Hosea 2, 23, that's
why I wanted you to turn there so you could see this. with your
own eyes he's going to come and he's going to say he does it
by means of his gospel I will say to them you're mine and they
shall say when he says to us when he shows us in his word
who he is and what he did and why he did it and for whom he
did it and that it was for me that he did it We look at this one who came
where we were, God with us, God in human flesh, the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. We look at him and hear of him,
the one who John pointed to and who all of his preachers point
to and who somebody standing in a pulpit one day in the room
that I was in pointed to and said, behold, the Lamb of God
that takes sin away. We see God with us laying down
his life for his own, for his sheep. I lay down my life for
the sheep he said. And he comes to us and says you're
one of my sheep. Is that what he did? That's what
Hosea said he was going to do. You're my people. And we hear
that gospel and we see him shedding his precious blood for sinners
such as we, knowing that if his blood is shed, that if his blood
is shed, there's redemption for sinners. And he doesn't try to
do anything. And when he comes where we are
and speaks in these terms, what is our response? Like Thomas,
we see the nail scars in his hands. And we see where the Spirit
went into his side. And we say, my Lord and my God. He says, you're mine. And we
say, you're mine. My beloved is mine. And I'm his. Thank God he included me. Somebody sang that recently.
He included me. That's what these two verses
say. Talking about the mercy of God, think about that. His
mercy extends even to a dog like me.