Would you turn with me to the
book of Hosea? Ezekiel, Daniel and Hosea. And we'll be observing the Lord's
table together tonight, and I'm going to speak from that passage
where the Lord said the last shall be first and the first
shall be last. What does the Lord mean when
he makes that statement? In Romans chapter nine, you don't
need to go there. I just read this passage of scripture,
but let me read it again. Verse 25, as he said in Hosea. Now, when he says this, he's
referring to the people that the Lord had called. Last week,
we considered the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and
the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.
And he identified those people who he had afore prepared unto
glory as those whom he had called. As, verse 25, he also said in
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're not my people
there. So they'd be called the children
of the living God. Now, those are two different
verses from these first two chapters of Hosea. I've entitled this
message, the call of God and Gomer. The call of God and Gomer. Hosea is the same word in the
Hebrew as Joshua. Why one is called Hosea and one
is called Joshua, I can't answer that, but it's the same word
in the Hebrew and his name means savior. So he is quite obviously
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was a prophet for a long
time under the reign of numerous Kings in both Israel and Judah. And he was a contemporary with
Isaiah. Now look in verse two of chapter one, 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 living, departing from the Lord." Now,
what a strange command. Go marry a prostitute. Now, that's a strange command.
Seems wrong, doesn't it? It almost seems immoral. How
could he say, go and marry a prostitute? What is right about that? And
yet, that's the command to Hosea, you go and marry a prostitute,
an immoral woman. How must he have felt with that
command? But he uses a prostitute to depict
the children of Israel. He says, the land has committed
great whoredoms in departing from the living God. Verse three. So he went and took Gomer, the
daughter of Debalaim, which conceived and bare him a son. He married
a temple prostitute by the name of Gomer, and he had a child
with her. Verse 4, And the Lord said unto
him, Call his name Jezreel, which means the seed of God. For yet
a little while I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the
house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house
of Israel. Now he talks about something that had happened a
hundred years ago. And he still says, I'm going to get my vengeance
through Jezreel. Verse five, and it shall come
to pass at that day that I'll break the bow of Israel in the
valley of Jezreel. The bow is what they trusted
in. He says, I'll break that bow. I'll take away what they
trust in. And she conceived again and bear a daughter. Now this
daughter was not the daughter of Hosea. This was through an
illicit relationship that she'd experienced. She conceived again. And God said unto him, call her
name Loruhamma, for I will no more have mercy upon the house
of Israel, but I will utterly take it away. Now, what a name
for this daughter. I'll not have mercy. How would
you like to have a name like that? How grievous that must
have been and how horrible Jose felt after what had taken place
with Gomer. Now can you imagine he gave himself
to be this woman's husband and she lives up to her billing and
she has a child through somebody else and look at the name that
was given her. I will not have mercy. Verse
seven, but I will have mercy upon 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. Now
he makes a reference to his absolute sovereignty and salvation. He's
not gonna have mercy on the kingdom of Israel, but he is going to
have mercy on the kingdom of Judah. Now, verse eight, when
she had weaned Leruimah, She conceived and bear a son. And
this also was a son of somebody else. This was not Hosea's child.
Then said God, call his name. Lo am I for you are not my people
and I'll not be your God. What a name. You're not my people
and I will not be your God. What a name given to this child. Verse 10 yet. The number of the children of
Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured
nor numbered. And this is what Paul quoted
in Romans 9. Yet, the number of the children
of Israel 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. Where is that place? Where is
that place? He's speaking of a specific place. In the very place where it said,
you're not my people. There shall it be said unto them,
you are the sons of the living God. You know where that place
is, don't you? That place is the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where he said, you're
not my people. And they were punished accordingly in that
very place. You're called the sons and daughters
of the living God. That's what the gospel has accomplished. I love the word yet. Yet, I think of what David said,
although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for
this is all my salvation, and this is all my desire, though
he make it not to grow. Verse 11, 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, the seat of God. You know who that one head is
that's appointed, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, chapter
two, Hosea is speaking to these illegitimate children, but he
changes their names. He says, say ye, unto your brethren,
Ammi, unto your sister, Rumah. Their name has been changed.
A syllable has been taken away, and now they are people. They
are God's people. But he says with them regarding
their mother, plead with your mother. Plead. Hosea loved this
woman, and she was unfaithful to him. And he says, plead with
your mother, plead, for she's not my wife, neither am I her
husband. Let her therefore put away her
whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her
breast. Now, this woman, Gomer, pictures
me and you. Adulterers. What a horrible sin. What unfaithfulness. Looking
for something outside of the covenant. And that's what adultery
is. It's looking for something outside
of the covenant, the covenant of grace. And he says in verses
three and four, 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, verse 5, hath played the harlot. And I know
Hosea was broken as he said this. For their mother hath played
the harlot. She hath conceived them, hath done shamefully. For
she said, I'll go after my lovers that give me bread, and my water,
and my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my wine. Therefore,
behold, Hosea says, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make
a wall that shall not find her paths. And what a blessing that
is when the Lord hedges our way with thorns and makes a wall
to where we cannot go where we would have gone. He said, I'm
gonna permit this. Isn't it a blessing when God reaches down his hand
and makes a wall to where you can't go any way but one direction. Verse seven. And she shall follow
after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall
seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will
go and return to my first husband, Hosea. For then it was better
with me than now." She was like the prodigal. Remember how he said, how many
of my father's servants had bread enough to spare and I perished
with hunger. I'm going back to him. Verse
eight. Hosea says, she didn't know that
I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver
and gold, which they prepared for Baal. She didn't know I was
supplying her with all she had all this time. 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 given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers and none shall deliver her out of
my hand. Now this is what's called the conviction of sin. Your covering
is taken away and all there is is lewdness. shame and disgrace
before God. He's going to bring her to that
place where she sees her lewdness. He says in verse 11, And I will also cause all her
mirth to cease. She's not going to enjoy herself
at all, her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and her
solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines
and her fig trees, whereof she had 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. I'll take all of these
away, verse 13, and I will visit upon her the days of Balaam,
the false religion that she was practicing, wherein she burned
incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and
her jewels, and she went after other her lovers, and forget
me, saith the Lord. She's going to see the false
religion she was practicing, but look what Hosea says next.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably unto her. Now I'm going to empty her out
and I'm going to allure her. I like that language, the allurements
of the gospel. I will allure her and I'll speak
comfortably to her. You remember when God said to
Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, speak to her heart and say unto her, and this is
the only thing that's comforting, he tells us what's already been
done. Say to her, her warfare. is accomplished. Her iniquity
is already pardoned. You know, the only thing that
comforts this sinner is what Christ has already done. Speak comfortably to her, allure
her in the wilderness. Verse 15, And I will give her
vineyards from thence, and 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.
I restore her to her first love. And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call
me no more Bailey." Now both of these words, Ishi and Bailey,
mean husband. One is the word that was used
in Baal worship though. And the other was used with regard
to this intimate relationship that every believer has with
the Lord where he's their husband, their intimate husband. But the
other is more of a kind of a master, boss type of title. He said,
you won't call me that anymore. You won't call me master. You'll
call me husband. What this is referring to is
when I bring you to this, you're going from law to grace. Isn't that a blessed thing? To
be brought by the Lord from law to grace. How kind he was to
her. Hosea took this prostitute and
brought her to himself. Now you think, end of the story,
she'll no longer be unfaithful. She'll be true now after how
faithfully he's treated her. Look in chapter three, verse
one. Then said the Lord unto me, go
yet, 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." Now evidently something happened to her once
again. Evidently she was unfaithful once again. And she goes off,
and the Lord says to Hosea, you go love her again. Now, what happened to this woman
at this time, I don't know. But I know that she's being sold
as a slave. She's on an auction block being
sold as a slave. I don't know what all kind of
trouble she got into during this time, but she got into some kind
of trouble and now she's being sold as a slave. And who knows
what all was going through her mind at this time, but look what
happened. Verse two. So I bought her to
me. for 15 pieces of silver, and
for an homer of barley, and a half a homer of barley, I bought her
back." I was the one that bought her. How do you think she felt
when she had been unfaithful to him, she was gone, here she
is getting ready to be sold as a slave, and he buys her back. Verse 3. And I said unto her,
Thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the
harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also
be for thee. For the children of Israel shall
abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without
a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without
a teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and
seek the Lord their God and David their king, and shall fear the
Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Now, God uses this
story that we just considered about Telling his prophet, you
go after a prostitute and you marry her and you remain faithful
to her with regard to all the things that she's done. You make
sure you be her husband. He uses this to illustrate the
call of grace. The call of God and Gomer. Now I got seven or eight things
I'd like to say that I see in this beautiful story of God's
faithfulness to his people. Now, the first thing that I see
in this story regarding the call of God is the call of His electing
grace. Where do you get election out
of this? It's where the story begins. God told Hosea, you go
after this prostitute, Gomer. This begins with God telling
Hosea, the Savior, who he's going to save. That's the call of God's
electing grace. And somebody says, well, what's
election mean? It means God chose according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before it." God picked out Gomer. He
picked out Hosea's bride. Oh, I'm so thankful for God's
electing grace. No election, no salvation. Certainly wouldn't mean salvation
for Gomer. But you know what else I see
with regarding to this electing grace of God? Thank God it is
unconditional grace. And we certainly see that with
regard to Gomer. There was not anything in Gomer
that made her worthy. There was nothing she did that
caused Hosea to select her. She was a prostitute. She was
an evil and an immoral woman. I mean, you've reached the bottom
when you become a prostitute. I don't have any question about
that. You've reached the bottom as far as baseness and immorality,
and that's how you would describe this woman, and that's the one
that God called upon. Hosea to save. Look in verses
13 and 14 of chapter 2. 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 forget me, saith the Lord, therefore, I love this
word, therefore. What's a therefore? Well, it's
therefore for a reason. Therefore, behold, I'll lure
her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. God finds a reason for grace
when there is none. He makes a reason that overrides
all reasons against. He turns reason against us into
reasons for us. But she's the most wicked woman
alive. That's why she needs my grace. And oh, the love of this grace,
this call. Look in chapter 3, verse 1. Then
said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman, love her, beloved
of her friend, yet an adulteress according to the love of the
Lord. toward the children of Israel. Now this is a love that cannot
be extinguished. Her adulteries did not keep Hosea
from loving her. It's a love that cannot be extinguished. There are people right now who
in love, you know, you see people get married, they're in love,
and they end up getting divorced. They end up hating each other.
They begin loving, they really do. They love each other. I've
heard people say, well, if you love somebody, you still do.
It's not in human relationships. People fall in love, they're
enamored, they love one another, and something happens, they end
up getting divorced, hating one another. But you know, that never
happens with the Lord. Never. He never stops loving. If he loves me, he's always loved
me, and he always will. He said, Behold, I will love
them freely. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, notice God's love will never
go unreciprocated. Look what he says in verse 3
of chapter 3. And I said unto her, thou shalt
abide for me many days, and thou shalt not play the harlot. I'm
not going to let you do that. And thou shalt not be for another
man, so will I also be for thee. You know, if the Lord loves you,
you know what he's going to do? He's going to cause you to love him
in return. There's no such thing as a believer who does not love
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to cause you to love
him in return. And this grace he calls us with
is Redeeming grace. Look in verse 2. I love to think
of her being auctioned off, sold as a slave, and who knows what
all is going on in her mind at this time. I can't even imagine
what that would feel like, to just be waiting to see who's
going to buy you if anybody would buy you. Maybe if she was all
worn out at this time and no longer beautiful, who knows what,
I don't know how many years had passed between the initial experience
and then when she left again and she's being sold as a slave.
But his call is a call of redemption. So I bought her. I bought her. I redeemed her. I paid for her. Now, you're bought
with a price. See, you're His anyway, if you're
a believer, but now you're His doubly. He bought you, and you
belong to Him. He bought you. With the price of His precious
blood, He put away all your sin. You know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold received by
tradition, by the vain conversation of your fathers, but you were
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. When he said it is
finished, think of this, when he said it's finished, all your
sin was put away. You've been bought with the price. You belong
to him. He bought this woman. And his grace is the call of
alluring grace. Look in chapter 2, verse 14.
Therefore behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably unto her. He makes it to where you have
to have Him. What a blessed place that is
to be brought to. You might not know whether you're
one of the elect. You might not know whether Christ died for
you. You might not even know whether you have faith. You might
not know whether you've been born again, but you know this,
you have to have the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have Him. You can't bear to be without
Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
I don't want to have anything to do with that which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. You're allured by Him. You have
to have Him. That's all you know is that you
must have the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever else could be said or
said against, for you against, you know this, I have to have
Him. And when He allures, the scripture
says, He speaks comfortably. And that word means literally,
He speaks to the heart. Well, you see, when the Lord
speaks, He speaks to the heart. He speaks comfort to the heart.
And I've already quoted this once, speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, speak to her heart, saying unto her, her warfare
is accomplished. The battle's already over, and
Christ has won it for me. My iniquity is pardoned, it's
put away, it's blotted out. I've received the Lord's hand
double for all my sins. And this call of grace that was
given to Gomer is a restoring call. Look in verse 16 of chapter
two, or verse 15, I'm sorry. And I
will give her vineyard from thence, and the valley of Achor for 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."
Now, this call is a call of restoring grace. It opens back up the door
of hope and mercy and brings us back to our first love. Do
you know, I can remember, I can remember, how I first heard the
gospel as gospel. I can remember. You know what
my song was at that time? Amazing Grace. How sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, now I'm
found. Was blind, But now I see." Oh
what a blessed thing it is to be brought back to your first
love. We leave it so easily and the
Lord brings us back. And this grace is making grace. Look in verse 10 of chapter 1. Yet the number of the children
of Israel, this is what Paul quotes in Hebrews 9. Yet the
number of the children of Israel 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 be said unto them,
you are the sons of God. Look in verse 23 of chapter two. And I will sow her unto me in
the earth. I'm sorry, chapter two, verse
23. And I will sow her unto me in
the earth, and I'll have mercy upon her that had not obtained
mercy. And I'll say to them which are not my people, thou art my
people, and they shall say, thou art my God. Now here's the glorious
thing about his grace. He makes us to be what we were
not. Now this happened in a place.
He said, in the very place where it was said, you're not my people. Now, have you ever felt in your
heart, how can I be His people? How can I actually take such
a claim to myself? How can I be His people? The sin, the disobedience, the
unfaithfulness, how can I be His people? I don't see how I
can't be. Well, on the cross, he said,
you're not my people. And here's what's going to happen. And he punished me. In the cross,
he punished me. I'm not his people. And I was
treated accordingly. But in that very place, that's
where he says, there shall they be called the children of the
living God. In the cross, he calls me, you're
my child, you're my lover, you're without spot before me. That
place. Now, think about this. Christ
was made to be what he was not. See him. You know, that's Scripture,
2 Corinthians 5.21, For he hath made him to be sin who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Christ was made to be what he was not, sin. You know, I don't
know what all that means. We quote it all the time, but
every time I do, it becomes more mysterious to me. What does that
mean? I don't know. I know it's awful. I know it's
horrible. Christ made to be sin. Made to
feel and experience all the shame and the guilt of sin. He experienced
it all when he was made sin. No, he never committed sin, but
this is worse. He was made sin. And because
he was made sin, I'm made to be what I was not, the very righteousness
of God. I was not justified, but I am
now. I was not wise, but I am now. I was not a believer, but I am
now. I was not a child, but I am now. I was not a Christian, but I
am now. I was not a follower of Christ,
I am now. I didn't have a divine nature,
I do now. Partakers of the divine nature. Now this grace is saving grace. This call of grace is saving
grace. Look what he says in chapter 3, verse 3. And I said unto her,
thou shalt abide for me many days. Now if the Lord says you
shall do something, you know what? You shall do it. You shall
do it. It's not like you have an option.
This is his saving grace. You shall abide for me. Thou
shalt not play the harlot. And you know when he says you
shall not play the harlot? You won't play the harlot. He
says, and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be
for thee. Saving grace is seen in these
words, what God says. You shall. You will. you shall. And you know what?
When he says you shall, you shall. It's saving grace. By grace ye
are saved. And then look in chapter 2 verse
16. This call of God is a call from
law to grace. Verse 16, and it shall be at
that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and
shall call me no more Bailey. Now, like I said, both of these
words mean husband, but one is the word husband from Baal worship,
and it is husband Master, boss, you do what I say. The other
is a husband of love. Law to grace. Now, we were married to the law
and divorce was not permitted. And we were stuck in a bad marriage. And it was all our fault. But this bad marriage we were
in with the law, it was like being married to a husband who
cannot be satisfied with anything we do and can only condemn us. And he calls us ugly and worthless
and lazy. and evil. Can you imagine, wives,
if that's all you heard from your husband? You're worthless.
You're lazy. You're no good. You're nothing
but a burden. That's the marriage we were stuck
in. But when we were delivered, he
said, don't call me that anymore. Call me is she. That means we
now have a husband, we've been delivered from that first husband,
and we now have a husband who sees us as perfect. My husband looks at me and says,
thou art all fair, my love. there is no spot in thee. Thou hast ravished me with one
of thy eyes." The Lord looks at every one of his people and
he says, you've ravished me, you're so beautiful, you're without
spot, you're without wrinkle, you're without any such thing,
you're altogether lovely to me. Now that's the way the Lord looks
on every one of his people. Don't call me Bailey anymore.
That's what's associated with false religion and false worship. Don't even think that way anymore. Call me Ishi, the husband of
my love. Now go back to Romans chapter
9. Verse 22, this is what we considered
last week. 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 had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called."
Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And this is
the way that call works. As he said in 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're not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Gomer, you know who you are? You're his people. You're beloved. your children of the living God. Well, how can I know he's called
me? I want to be this. I want to be
this Gomer whom he's called. How can I know if he's called
me? The called of God all have this
in common. They all call. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray.