Hosea. Chapter one now, verse two, the beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to 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 and took Gomer." the
daughter of Deblayim. I've entitled this message, Gomer. Gomer. Now as we read in chapter three,
Gomer has hit the bottom. She is standing on an auction
block naked before a crowd of people to be sold as a slave. In those days when slaves were
sold, they were naked so the buyer could see what he was getting.
And there were no bidders. The female slave was sold for
30 pieces of silver and there were no bidders. She didn't appear to be worth
that much. No one would give the price of a female slave. Her name, Gomer, comes from the
Hebrew verb which means to reach the end, to fail. to cease. She had reached the end. Utter failure. Her life had been spiraling downwards
and now she's reached the bottom. On an auction block, being sold
as a slave, And no one was interested. Somebody tells Hosea, your wife
is on the auction block. Hosea hadn't seen her in a long
time. You see, she left him. She deserted
him. She was a woman of whoredoms,
the scripture says. She was unfaithful to him, and
the scripture speaks of her having many lovers. And someone tells Hosea, that
woman that you were married to, that left you, she is on the
auction block. This adulterous, immoral, and
all the while a religious woman, Those things really don't go
into conflict. False religion, and here's where
it has brought her, sold on the auction block, up for sale, a
slave to sin. And that is exactly what Paul
spoke of. in Romans chapter 7 verse 14
when he said, we know. Who knows? We do. All believers. All whom God has revealed himself
to. We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal. And the word means sold as a
slave just like Gomer was. Sold as a slave to sin. She's still Hosea's wife though. Hosea never quit being her husband. As unfaithful as she was, Hosea
never stopped loving her. Verse one of chapter three, I've
already read these words. Let's read them again. Then said
the Lord unto me, go yet, love a woman. Beloved of a friend,
that's talking about her adulterous relationships. She's still in
these. Beloved for friend, yet an adulteress
according to the love of the Lord for the children of Israel
who looked to other gods and love flagons of why. So I bought her to me. This is
speaking of Gomer when she was on the auction block to be sold
as a slave. I bought her to be for 15 pieces
of silver. She couldn't get the 30 that
was commanded to be the price of a female Hebrew slave. She couldn't come up with that.
Evidently, she was not desirable to anyone, but she was to Hosea. and he pays 15 pieces of silver
for her and an omer of barley and a half an omer of barley,
a little bit of food. And I said unto her, this woman
who has been so unfaithful, thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot,
Thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee. God commands Hosea again, love this woman. Hosea's name is the name Joshua, Jesus. What a type of Christ Hosea is
here. Now turn back to Hosea chapter
one, verse two. beginning of the word of the
Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, go
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms." Here's
why, for the land, the people of Israel, hath committed great
whoredom departing from the Lord. God selected Hosea a wife. That's the way the father selected
a bride for his son in eternal election. God selected a wife
for Hosea. And he says, go take unto thee
a wife of Hortums. What? Really? Yes. God made that command. You go and take a wife of Hortums. Verse three. So he went and took
Gomer, the daughter of Deblahim. which conceived and bare him
a son." Now notice it says she bare him a son. We're going to
read of a daughter and a son a few verses down. It does not say that she bore
them to him, but she bore children. And these are the children of
these adulterous relationships she would have. But at this time
she conceived, and bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call
his name Jezreel. For yet a little while, and I
will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will
cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. This is
what I'm going to do, and this is what this pictures. And it
shall come to pass that day that I'll break the bow of Israel.
That's their military power in the valley of Jezreel. Verse
6, and she conceived again. It doesn't say she conceived to
him. It says she conceived again. And bear a daughter. And God
said unto him, Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no more
have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I'll utterly take
them away. Call her no mercy. And when Paul
quotes this in Romans chapter nine, he says, call her not loved. What a name. Come here, not loved. I bet you have issues. He says in verse seven, but I
will have mercy upon the house of Judah, not the house of Israel,
but the house of Judah. and will save them by the Lord
their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor
by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." I'm gonna do it myself. Verse eight, now, when she had
weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived a bear son. Then said God, call his name
Lo-Ammai, For you are not my people, and I will not be your
God. Now here's another interesting
name. You're not my people. These two kids, not loved, not
my people. Those are the names that God
told him to name these children. Verse 10, yet the number of these people who
are not loved, not shown mercy, not His people, yet the number
of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea. these
people who are not loved, and not shown mercy, and not his
people. These very same people shall
be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured, nor numbered,
and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said
unto them, You're not my people, There shall it be said unto them,
you are the sons of the living God. And Paul quotes that in
Romans chapter nine. We're going to come to that toward
the end of this message. Then shall the children of Judah
and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint
themselves one head and they shall come up out of the land
for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Now some time passes,
and this is Hosea speaking to Jezreel. He's not speaking to
these children that were born of adultery, but he says to Jezreel,
you go to your half-brother and your half-sister and say this
to them. Say unto your brethren, and their
names are changed, Ami and to your sister Ruhemah. You know what that means? You
are my people. You are loved. Oh, their name
has changed. And the only way you and I will
be saved is if our name is changed. You remember when the Lord wrestled
with Jacob? He said, what's your name? Jacob. cheat, deceiver, sinful man. And the Lord said, you're not
going to be called Jacob anymore. Your name is now Israel, a prince
with God. These peoples, these two children,
their name is changed to my people and beloved. He says to these
children, plead, verse two, with your mother, plead. For she's
not my wife, neither am I her husband. He's talking about the
way she is living as an adulteress, going after her many lovers. Let her therefore put away her
whoredoms, out of her sight. and her adulteries from between
her breasts. You see, Hosea loved this woman,
and yet she's conducting herself like this. He never stopped loving
her. Now he's brokenhearted. He says,
tell her I'm not her husband, and she's not my wife, but he
remained her husband, and she remained his wife. And he says, lest I strip her
naked and set her as in the day that she was born and make her
as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with
thirst. And I'll not have mercy upon
her children for they be the children of whoredoms. For their
mother, speaking of Gomer, this woman, the Lord told him to marry
and he was in love with her. And yet how broken he is over
the way she's treating him. For their mother hath played
the harlot, she hath conceived them, hath done shamefully. For she said, I will go after
my lovers, multiple lovers. Could it have been that she really
was a prostitute? I believe she was. I will go after my lovers that
give me my bread and my water and my wool and my flax, my oil
and my drink. They supply my every need, these
lovers that I have." I suppose that she would wake up in the
morning and she would find her wool and her flax and her food
and she thought, these lovers have supplied this for me. But
you know, she did not know that it was Hosea that was supplying
this all along through her adulterous relationships. Hosea evidently
would go there at night before she woke up and he would put
her supplies there because he loved this woman. She didn't know it. Let's read Hosea's language in
verse six. Therefore, behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find
her paths. And she shall follow after her
lovers, but she'll not overtake them. And she shall seek them,
but she'll not find them. Then shall she say, I'll go return
to my first husband. For then it was better with me
than now." Not I'm going to return to Him
because I love Him. Not I'm going to return to Him
because I've wronged Him. No, it was better for me back
then. I had plenty to eat then. So things are not going good
right now, so I'll go back to Hosea. Verse 8, For she did not
know that I gave her corn and wine, and oil and multiplied
her silver and gold, which they had prepared for Baal. She didn't
know that all this time, it was me that was supplying everything
for her. Verse nine, therefore will I
return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine
in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax to
cover her nakedness, and now will I discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of
mine hand. And I'll cause all her mirth to cease, her feast
days, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn peace. See,
she was very religious throughout all this. He says, I'm gonna
cause it all to cease. 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'll make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I'll visit upon
her the days of Balaam, wherein she burned incense to them. Oh,
she was very religious in all her immorality. And she decked
herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after
her lovers. And forget me, saith the Lord."
Gomer is me and you. Amen? Gomer is me and you. Somebody says, well, I'm Hosea.
No, you're not. No, you're not. Me and you are Gomer. Verse 14. Behold, I will allure her and
bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her. What a word, I will allure her. I'm gonna make her interested.
I'm gonna make it to where she is attracted to what I am saying. As the, I don't know which, it's
a pickup truck right outside. If somebody can. Okay, it's over, it's good, it's
all good. That was alluring. I'll speak comfortably to her. I'm going to speak to her heart.
Now she's going to find out what I say is attractive and enticing. That is what Hosea is going to
be to Gomer. That is what the Lord is going
to be to his people. I'm going to speak comfortably.
What's he say? Well, I'm going to be bringing
the same message of comfort that Isaiah brought to the children
of Israel. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Don't tell her what she must
do to make this right. Nothing like that. Now that's
what I do. Now for you to come back to me
Here's the rules. What does the Lord say? Cry unto
her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned. Not that it will be if, but it
is. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins, instead of being condemned,
she's justified in my sight. And he doesn't give her anything
she first had to do. He speaks comfort to her heart. Verse 15, chapter two. I will give unto her vineyards
from thence, And the Valley of Acre, the Valley of Trouble,
is going to turn into a door of hope. And she shall sing there as in
the days of her youth, 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 shalt call me Ishi, and shall call
me no more Bailey. You're going to call me husband,
not master. You see, this is now a relationship
of love and not of law. Law never produces love. It produces resentment. It produces
guilt. It produces fear. but it never
produces love. He says, you're not gonna call
me master anymore. The law that makes me, no, you're
gonna call me husband. For I will take away the names
of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall not even be remembered
by their name. I'm gonna be such to her, she's
not even gonna remember the significance of this. And in that day will
I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with
the fowls of heaven, with the creeping things of the ground.
And I'll break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the
earth and will make them to lie down safely. That's another way
of saying all things work together for good. To them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. I'm going to
make everything work for them. look at this verse 19, "...and
I will betroth thee unto me forever." And look at this marriage, it's
going to be in righteousness, in judgment, in loving-kindness,
in mercies, I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness,
and thou shalt know the Lord. Now let me tell you something
about this marriage. He says it's done in righteousness. Absolute, perfect righteousness. There's nothing unclean about
this. This is altogether righteousness, and the reason is because of
judgment. That's talking about the judgment of the cross. The
Lord made a way for him to be just and justify people like
Gomer. Unfaithful, adulterous people. He made the way to righteously
receive them. You see, here's what my Redeemer
did. He made me righteous. All that
stuff about Gomer was true, but the Lord made it not to be in
judgment, the judgment of the cross. And that's how she is
now righteous. And in loving kindness and mercies. Oh, the loving kindness of our
Redeemer and the mercy of our God. I will even betroth thee
unto me in faithfulness. faithfully covenant, and here's
what's gonna happen. Thou shalt know the Lord. Isn't
that what salvation is? To know Him. This is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent. And I will sow her, and the earth
shall hear, verse 22, the corn, the wine, the oil, they shall
hear Jezreel, and I'll sow her unto me, and the earth, and I'll
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. Now this is quoted by Paul in
Romans chapter nine, a very important verse. We're going to get to
that in just a moment, but look in chapter three. Then said the
Lord unto me, go yet, love a woman that's still in these adulterous
relationships. Beloved have refrained. Love her anyway according to
the love of the Lord for the children of Israel who look to
other gods and love slagans of wines. Now, During this time, somebody
tells Hosea about Gomer on the oxen block. This is where her life had come. The monies she thought she was
getting from her lovers has been cut off. She's all by herself. I don't know if there were chains
on her. Could have been. But here she is standing naked
in shame and humiliation and degradation, all brought on by
her own personal sin and wickedness. It was all her fault. And there
she is. And nobody will bid for her.
She wasn't worth the 30 pieces of silver. Somebody says, Hosea,
Gomer is being sold as a slave. And Gomer never stopped loving
her. Isn't that glorious? The everlasting
love of the Lord to his people. He said, so I bought her to me
for 15 pieces of silver and for an omer of barley and a half
omer of barley. And I said unto her, thou shalt
abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot. Thou shalt not be for another
man. So will I also be for thee. I turn with me to Romans chapter
9. This is what the Holy Spirit
intended to use this glorious story for, Romans chapter 9. Look in verse 25. as he saith also in Hosea, O
see I will call them my people which were not my people and
her beloved which was not beloved and it shall come to pass it
in the place where it was said unto them you're not my people
there shall they be called the children of the living God." Now, we can't really understand
much about this unless we see what's said in the context. Now,
I'm going to read from Romans chapter 9, and I'm not going
to make much comment on it until we get to verse 22, but this
actually begins in verse 6 of Romans chapter 9. It's not as
though the word of God has taken none effect, for they are not
all Israel which are of Israel, Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, Israelites, physical Jews, these are not the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise
at this time will I come. and Sarah shall have a son. And
not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even
by our father Isaac for the children," These twins. "...being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth It was said unto her, the elder Esau shall
serve the younger Jacob as it's written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Those are God's words. What should we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God being unfair? in loving
Jacob and hating Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Next time somebody talks about
free will, read this verse and ask them what it means. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardens. Thou wilt
Say then unto me, why does he yet find fault for who hath resisted
his will? If he hardens my heart, how can
he hold me responsible? He's the one who hardened my
heart. How can he judge me and send me to hell if he's the one
who hardened my heart? Nay, but O man, verse 20. Who art thou that replyest against
God? Since when do you have the moral
authority to sit in judgment on God and say, I don't agree
with this? You don't have a place. For you to sit in judgment, for
me to sit in judgment on God, disagree with God is the basest
hypocrisy imaginable. Hath not, verse 21, the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he hath afore prepared unto glory. Now here we read of vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction and vessels of mercy which he
had afore prepared unto glory. May I say this, if you've got
a problem with this, you've got a problem. This is who God is. This is God being God. And whatever
He does is right, glorious, just, holy, and true. There are vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction, and there are vessels of mercy
aforeprepared unto glory." Well, who are these vessels of
mercy which are aforeprepared unto glory? Verse 24, Even us
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
as he said in Hosea. Now here's where he gets to Hosea. As he said in Hosea, I will call
them my people which were not my people, and her beloved which
was not my beloved. This is what we are by nature,
not His people, not beloved. This is what we are by grace,
His people and beloved. Verse 26, it shall come to pass
that in the place," This is from Hosea again. "...in the place
where it was said unto them, you're not my people, there shall
they be called the children of the living God." Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where?" That's a place. Where? Sin abounded. Grace did much
more abound. Are you a place where sin abounds?
Are you? Sin comes out of your pores? No, I'm not. Good for you. No grace for you though. The place where grace abounds
is where sin abounds. Verse 26, it shall come to pass
that in the very place where it was said unto them, you're
not my people, there shall they be called the children of the
living God. Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant. a small number, shall be saved. For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because
a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." In those 33
years he lived, which is a short period, he accomplished salvation. Verse 29, and Isaiah said before,
except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we'd been a Sodom
and been like a Gomorrah. The only difference between us
and Sodom and Gomorrah is His grace. What shall we say then? What
are we going to conclude from all this? That the Gentiles which
followed not after righteousness. They could care less about righteousness.
They could care less about a relationship with God. It wasn't even on the
radar. They didn't care. They were happy
without it. Those are the people that obtained
a righteousness, even the righteousness, which is a faith. But Israel,
which followed which pursued after the law of righteousness.
They wanted to be righteous. They wanted to be righteous before
God. They pursued it. They didn't attain to it. How
come? Verse 32, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, they
stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it's written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. Now the stumbling stone is Jesus
Christ and him crucified. You mean to tell me that somebody
like Gomer can be saved and stand in glory, redeemed, simply because
of what Christ did for her and it has nothing to do with anything
she did? That's exactly what that means. Why, that's offensive. That's
scandalous. As wicked as she is, as immoral
as she is, and you're going to tell me she's going to be in
heaven? Just because of what Christ did for her and no other
reason. That's exactly what I'm saying.
That's exactly what God is saying. Somebody says that's scandalous. That's scandalous. Why that'll
promote sin. That'll promote to say somebody
doesn't have to do anything to be saved. Here she is so immoral
and yet she's going to be saved simply because of what Christ
did for her. That's scandalous. I only know one greater scandal,
that I'd be saved and stand amongst the redeemed
with Sister Gober. Whosoever. Is that you? Are you a whosoever? Whosoever. believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. First of all, they won't be put
to shame, because there's nothing to be ashamed of. Jesus Christ
has put away to my sin till I stand before God absolutely without
guilt. There's nothing to be ashamed
of. I've got no sin. And I'm sure not ashamed of the
gospel. I love the gospel that makes it to where I have nothing
to be ashamed of. Gomer, she's hit the bottom. And from the bottom, Joshua,
Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, buys her to himself and says,
you're for me and I'm for you. That is grace. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that we realize that by nature we
could not be your people or your beloved, but by your grace, you've
made us your people and your beloved. And Lord, we find that we're just like Gomer
was hopeless. helpless and low as gomer, but
how we thank you that you saved gomers. Lord, make us all gomers
that we may be saved by your grace. Lord, we're so have such a tendency to look
to ourselves and our righteousness. Lord, teach us that we're nothing
more than gomers with nothing but what you do for us. Bless
this message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.