I want to give you just a moment
to find the little book of Hosea in the Old Testament. I'm going
to be speaking to you in just a few moments on the subject
Hosea, a type of Jesus Christ. Now, I won't say that this is
going to be the most unusual sermon you've ever heard, but
I will say this, this is going to be a different message, a
different message. And I'd like you to listen to
it carefully all the way through. a type of Jesus Christ. Now,
there are very few sermons preached from the book of Hosea. Most
of you have never heard one sermon from the book of Hosea. You may
have heard one or two. But this is really surprising,
because the word Hosea, the name Hosea, means deliverer. That's what the name means, deliverer,
or salvation, salvation. And the word Hosea is very similar
to the Old Testament word Joshua and the New Testament name Jesus. That's right. Hosea means deliverer,
means salvation. And I tell you, Hosea was given
this name just because he, like Joshua, is a beautiful type of
Jesus Christ our Lord. And his writings, though difficult
at times to understand, are filled with grace and love. And I believe
that I can give you, in this half-hour program, a key to the
book of Hosea. So if you'll open, find the little
book of Hosea, and look at it with me, will you? First of all,
I'm going to read from Hosea, chapter 1, verse 2. Now find
Hosea, chapter 1, verse 2. Read it with me. And the Lord
said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of whoredom and the children
of whoredom." In other words, God came to his prophet, Hosea,
to this preacher, and said to him, go down to a country, down
to a tribe of people, whose common practice is prostitution. That's
a way of life with these people. You go down there and pick out
a woman, and love her, and enter into a covenant with her, and
marry her. That's exactly what he's saying
in Hosea 1, 2. Go and love her. Go take unto
thee a wife of prostitution down in the land of whoredom. Now
that's a strange and a mysterious command. That's a mysterious
command. But my friend, our God moves
in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps
on the sea, and he rides upon the storm. Judge not the Lord
by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning
providence, God hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen
fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. When God told Hosea to go down
into the land of prostitution and marry a harlot, I know it
shocked him. I know it was a mysterious and
strange command, but our Lord has a divine purpose in everything
that he does. His providence and his purpose
will work together for his glory and for our good. I know that
God is the first cause of all things, but even though we know
that, even though we know that God is the first cause of all
things and that all things work together for good to them that
love God and everything that God commands us to do, or permits
to happen in our lives is for our good and his glory still.
Human nature asks, why? Why? Why would God command a
prophet to marry a prostitute? Why would God command one of
his preachers to marry a harlot? Why? Human nature wants to know
why. Well, I know Moses wondered why
he was kept on the backside of that desert for 40 years. He
was all set to lead Israel out of Egypt when he was 40 years
old. Why, he killed an Egyptian. He became a judge between the
people of Israel. He was all set. He said, I'm
going to deliver you folks out of this place. And God took him
out there to the backside of a desert and kept him till he
was 80 years old. Now don't you know he wondered
why? And then don't you know Joseph wondered why that he should
be sitting down in Egypt in a prison while his evil brothers were
at home enjoying the love and blessings of their father. Don't
you know that Job wondered why all his family and possessions
were swept away? They were, just in a moment.
He had nothing. I know he wondered why. And John
Bunyan, the great preacher and writer of Pilgrim's Progress,
don't you know he wondered why he was in prison for 12 years?
instead of out preaching the gospel that he loved. Charles
Spurgeon, one of God's greatest preachers back in the 19th century,
spent 30 years of his life sick out of his pool pit, three, four,
and five months at a time. Why? Why? God moves in a mysterious
way. His wonders to perform. Well,
let me give you the reason. God gives us the reason here
in Hosea 3, verse 1. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. Here's
the reason God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute. Here's
the reason why God sent Hosea down into the land of Horeb to
pick out a wife and to love her and to enter into a covenant
relationship with her. Then said the Lord to me, listen,
Hosea 3, verse 1, go yet, no matter what she's done or what
she is, go yet, love a woman, an adulteress, according to the
love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who looked to other
gods. Here was a man who was told to
marry and love and live with a woman who loved other people,
who gave herself to other people, who did not love him. And God
says, what I'm teaching you, Hosea, is this. This is what
I'm teaching you. I'm saying that you are a type of Christ.
You are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who loved sinners
who didn't love him. who loved the people who didn't
love him, who loved the people who looked to and served other
gods, who gave themselves to other gods, and had no love for
you, had no love for Christ, but he loved them. God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Herein is love, not that we love God. He loved us and
gave himself to be a propitiation for our sins. We love him because
he first loved us. That's the reason. You see, the
Lord God in the Old Testament illustrates the redemption of
Christ all the way through. We have in the Bibles Christ,
Old and New Testament. From the very first pages of
the Old Testament, you have Christ in promise. Later on, you have
Christ in prophecy. Later on, you have Christ in
picture. And then in the New Testament, you have Christ in
person. And when God came to this fateful man, Hosea, who
was unmarried, and told him to go take a wife, And he said,
what you do now when you take a wife, don't pick out the finest,
fairest lady in the land. You go down to the skid row,
down to the red light district, down to a tribe of evil people,
and pick you out a harlot, marry her, and love her. And then you'll
see my love for sinners. And then you'll show my love
for sinners. Well, let's cover four or five
points. I told you it'd be an unusual sermon. Different anyway. All right, look at the first
thing. Hosea chose a bride from among the most sinful people
of his day. He went down among a vile race,
a most sinful tribe, and he took a young lady named Gomer, G-O-M-E-R,
that was the girl's name, to be his bride. He entered into
a covenant relationship with her. Marriage is a covenant.
When a couple stands before a preacher, they promise in the sight of
God and assemble witnesses that there will be this, that, and
the other to one another. Hosea went down to the land of Hortums
and picked out a young lady named Gomer and entered a covenant
relationship with her. He chose her to be his bride. What's this showing? God chose
his bride from among fallen sinners. It says the Lord had chosen the
foolish to confound the wise. God had chosen the weak to bring
to naught the strong. God had chosen the base that
despised that God chosen, that no flesh should glow in his presence.
Romans 5, 8 said God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we were enemies,
enemies, enemies of holiness and enemies of truth and enemies
of light, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
Gomer didn't deserve this love. We didn't either. Gomer didn't
deserve this mercy of Hosea, and we didn't deserve God's love
and mercy. And Gomer didn't love Hosea.
She didn't love him, but he loved her. You see, God's love to us
is not based on our loveliness, on our, what we deserve. God's love for us is based on
His mercy, His mercy. And Hosea's love for Gomer was
not because she was lovely, not because she was pure, not because
she was holy, but because he loved her. Not for any good in
us, not for any foreseen merit, the covenant of mercy is just
that, a covenant of mercy. When our Lord came into this
world, the angel who announced his birth said, call his name
Jesus, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. The Son of Man said, I've come to seek and to save
the lost. Paul said, this is why he came into the world, to
seek and to save the lost, to die for sinners. All right, what's
the second thing? Hosea chose his bride from among
an evil people. He chose an evil girl, and he
entered into a covenant relationship with her. But even after he made
this covenant and fulfilled this marriage, she followed the ways
of her people. She didn't adopt his ways. She
didn't go his way. She went the way of her people.
Listen to what Hosea says after they were married and after a
few children came along. He said, Your mother, Hosea 2.5,
Your mother, my wife, has played the harlot. Gomer was from a
people of prostitution. That was the way she was raised.
That was the way she was taught. A land of whoredoms, the scripture
says. She was an evil person from an evil tribe and an evil
people. And even though she was loved
by Hosea and chosen by Hosea and married to Hosea when she
came of age, she walked the ways of her people. She walked the
way that she was raised. She followed the behavior pattern
that was in her from a little girl, what she had lived with,
what she had been taught, what she was used to. Let me apply
that now. Though God loved us from the
foundation of the world, he said, I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. Paul said this about the Lord God. He said, God who separated
me from my mother's womb and chose me by his grace was pleased
to reveal his Son in me. Although God chose Saul of Tarsus,
for 40 years Saul of Tarsus followed his race. He followed his nature. His nature of evil, and lust,
and sin, and hatred, and bigotry, and prejudice, and ceremonialism,
and all of this corruption. You see, even though Hosea had
chosen Gomer, and loved her, and made her his own, she followed
the way that she wanted to go. She followed the ways of her
people. That's what we do. All of us do. We come into the
world speaking lies. Psalm 58 says the wicked are
straying from the womb. They're born of sinful parents.
We're born of evil parents. We come forth. Sin is natural
to us, just like this was natural to Goldman. That's the way of
life with her. The heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know
it? From the sole of the feet to the top of the head, there's
no soundness, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. In sin, my mother conceived me. It's nature. And when she went
home with Hosea, she followed her nature. She walked the path
of evil because she was of an evil people. We walk the path
of evil because we are evil people. The scripture says she went after
her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord. Israel followed her
sins and forgot me, saith the Lord. Paul said in Ephesians
2, we walked according to the course of this world. We are
of the world. By nature, by birth, by practice,
we're people of the world. We're born in this world. We're
born of worldly parents, and we walk according to the course
of the world. We fulfill the lust of our flesh and the lust
of our mind, and we are by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. You got the picture? Hosea, deliverer, salvation,
type of Christ. He loved a woman he found in
Hortum. And though he loved her, and though he made her his own,
and though he entered a relationship, a covenant relationship with
her, she walked the way she was used to. She went the way she
loved. She went the way of life that
she was taught. And that's what we do. But Hosea
provided for her even in her sin. Look at Hosea 2.8. He's talking about her here.
She lived, so she left him. She left him. And she set up
her own room somewhere where she entertained her lovers. And
he said, Hosea 2A, she didn't know. I gave her corn, wine,
oil. I multiplied her silver and gold.
Evidently, he'd go down there at some time and leave, and by
the front door of her place, he'd leave corn and wine, something
to eat and drink. He'd leave oil, he'd leave silver
and gold. And all this time, Gomer was
saying, my lovers are taking care of me. She was praising
them for giving her the things that she wanted and the things
she needed. And she didn't know that all this time, Hosea was
the one who was providing everything she needed. They weren't giving
her anything but a miserable time. But Hosea, and oh, how
the Lord takes care of his people. How he takes care of his own,
even in the days of their sin. Even in the days of their evil,
even in the days of their rebellion, even in the days of their terrible
sins, even in the days when they did not love him, he provided
for us, he protected us, he gave his angels charge, lest we dash
our feet against a stone. Guardian angels, sent to be the
ministers of those who will be the heirs of salvation. He leads
our steps, keeps us from harm. Yes, sir. Old Saul of Tarsus,
how he hated the name of Christ. how he hated the people that
believed on Christ. But he was one of God's own, chosen by grace,
loved by God, and redeemed by Christ. But even on his road
of rebellion, God took care of him, and God wouldn't let anything
happen to him. And God clothed him, and God fed him, and God
gave him breath to breathe, and eyes to see, and ears to hear,
and legs to walk. And all the time, we praise ourselves.
We're self-made men. You know, we take credit for
our good fortune. or we praise others for our good
fortune. But it's God who gives everything,
every good and perfect gift comes from above. A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from heaven. God gives us everything
fit to eat and fit to wear and fit to love. It's all a gift
of God. The songwriter put it this way,
in shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads his children
along. Where the waters cool, flow obeys
the weary one's feet. God leads his children along,
some through the waters, some through the flood, some through
the fire, and all through the blood. Some through great sorrow,
but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. God provides. God protects. God's providence watches over
his own. And all this time that Gomer
was living away from home and violating her covenant relationship
and sinning against this man that loved her, he loved her.
took care of her, washed over, and provided for her. And that's
a picture of God's grace and mercy. That's prevenient grace,
restraining grace, supplying grace, sufficient grace. God's
love. The story's not ended. Thank
God it's not ended. One day, Hosea's wife, Gomer,
came to her cell. She was brought down in humiliation. She was brought down. This is
what God will do to every one of his children. They may rise
high and mighty. They may fly higher than a kite.
They may be without trouble or sorrow. They may be self-made
men. But if God has his hand on them,
he's going to bring them down. You see, a man never partakes
of grace till he tastes guilt. A man will never be found till
he's lost. A man will never be saved till he's a sinner. So
God's got to bring us down. He's got to bring us to the end
of our sail, the end of our rope. The Psalm 107 says, to our wit's
end, listen to it, Hosea 2.10, God says, I will discover to
her her lewdness. I'm going to open her eyes. I'm
going to show her what she is. I'm going to discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers, and nobody will deliver her out of
my hand. I'm going to cause her joy to
cease. Her life is going to become a
burden. Her sweetness will turn to bitterness. Her joy will turn
to mourning, her happiness will turn to sorrow, and that which
she once loved, she is going to hate. And God did. He stripped
her, and He broke her, and He humbled her, and He made her
life a heavy bitterness, a heavy toil, a heavy bondage, and He
brought her down to where she was sorry and broken and wanted
to go home. She wanted to be free from this
awful, awful evil and sinful life. She wanted to be rid of
it. God brought her down. This is Holy Spirit conviction
of sin. God who chooses us and permits us to walk our way. Oh,
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. But there'll come a time when you'll hate your way, when
you'll hate your way, which you once loved, when you won't walk
your way. You'll want God's way. You'll
come to see that your way is the way of destruction. You'll
hate your thoughts, you'll hate your ways, you'll hate your words,
you'll abhor yourself. That's what Job said, I've seen
you Lord, now I hate myself. That's what Isaiah said, I've
seen the Lord, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips. Though
God chose us and permitted us to go our way and provided for
us and loved us while we were in our own way, one day, by Holy
Spirit conviction, like the prodigal son who came to himself. And
he said, what am I doing here? What am I doing sitting on a
pig pen railing? What am I doing eating corn husk? What am I doing
getting the juice out of a corn cob, when in my Father's house
even the servants eat better than this? What am I doing here?
He hadn't thought of that before, but he came to himself. And Hosea's
wife, God brought her down. But my friend, you can't taste
of grace till you taste of and weary of sin. You can't flee
to Christ till you're convinced of your guilt. I know human nature
compared to human nature doesn't look too bad, but human nature
seen in the light of God's holiness is rotten as hell itself, exceeding
sinful. So Gomer was brought down, low,
broken, sorrowful, mourning. But, you say, why didn't she
go home? She couldn't. She belonged to
somebody else. She belonged to a slave master.
She had sold her soul. She had sold her body. She was
in bondage to a fallen system. She had sold herself. Now she
was a slave. She wasn't free to go. Somebody
else owned her. So look at Hosea 3, verse 2.
God says there in verse 1 to Hosea, Go yet, go yet, go yet,
and love a woman, an adulteress. according to the love of God
for the children of Israel who looked to other gods. So Hosea
said in verse 2, Hosea 3, I bought her. I bought her. Here she is. Her loveliness has turned to
shame and humiliation. Her joy and laughter has turned
to bitterness and tears. And there she is standing on
the slave block. She's for sale now, probably
stripped to the laughter and gaze of the multitude out there.
And the people are bidding for her. They're offering different
prices. They're going to buy her. People
are going to offer. And here comes a man right up
in the middle of them. And everybody turns around and
sees him coming. Somebody said, that's her husband.
That's Hosea. He wouldn't want her back. Surely
he wouldn't bid on her. But as the bidding starts, a
man starts a bidding, and Hosea raises him. Another man raises
that one, and Hosea raises him. And as they raised it, he raised
it higher, and somebody turned to him and said, hadn't she brought
you enough grief? Hasn't she brought enough shame
upon you? Hasn't she caused you enough
trouble? What do you want with her? He said, I love her. I love
her. She's my wife, and I love her.
And I'm going to buy her. I'll pay whatever I have to pay.
I'll pay whatever is required. But I'm going to stand here till
I got the highest bid, and I'm going to buy that woman. And
he looked up at her and loved her. And the scripture said he
paid. He paid the price of a slave.
He paid heavily. But he brought her back. He brought
her back. And when she came down off that
block, when he had paid what he, to the man, what he had promised
to pay, he put his arms around her and he said in Hosea 3, verse
3, Thou art mine now, and thou shalt never leave me. Thou shalt
not be for another. Thou shalt abide with me for
many, many days. And he took her home. You know
what I see there? I see, my friend, that I have
sinned, though God chose his people, and though he loved them,
and though he entered into a covenant. He said, I entered into a covenant
with you, an everlasting covenant, a covenant of mercy and grace,
and you became mine. You were mine. He said, Jeremiah,
before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out
of your mother's womb, I sanctified you and ordained you. You're
mine. I set you apart. But we walked our own way, and
we became obligated. We became enslaved. We became
a captive of the law, the holy law and justice of God Almighty. And justice and the law had us
in chains, had us in slavery, and we were on the block. And
Christ Jesus said, I love them. I love my people. I love them
with an everlasting love. Having loved his own, he loved
them even to the death of the cross. And I'll bow, whatever
the law requires. Whatever justice demands, whatever
the wrath of God has against my people, I'll pay every jot
and every tittle. I'll pay every cent and every
dollar. And our Lord Jesus Christ paid
it, too. He paid it. He went to the cross of Calvary,
and there He shed His blood. There He bore our sicknesses
and sorrows and our diseases and our sins and our transgressions
and our iniquities. And by His stripes we were healed.
We're bought. We're bought with a price. What
a price it is. Hosea didn't pay anything for
Gomer compared to what my Lord paid for me. But he bought me.
And I came down off that slave block. You talk about loving
somebody. The scripture says to whom much
is forgiven, they'll love much. I want you just to imagine. You
know how Hosea loved Gomer. Can't you imagine how from that
moment on she loved him? Can't you imagine? She says,
I'll never leave you. Anybody that loves me like that
is willing to pay the price and bear the shame. Her shame was
great, but his shame was greater, to take her back, to love her
still. And I tell you this, my shame
was great, but my Lord's shame was greater, because sin to Him
is so much more shameful than to me. He bore all my shame,
and he put his arm around me, and he said, you're not going
to be for anybody. You're mine. I bought you. I redeemed you.
You're mine. I chose you. I loved you, and
I bought you. You're twice mine. I made you,
and I redeemed you. And you're going to be with me
forever. He said to his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go to prepare a place for you, I'm coming back and get
you. I'm coming back for you. And where I am there, you may
be also. My friend, you can talk about
in grace and out of grace and falling from grace and losing
grace, all you want to. But when my Lord sets his affection
on an object of his love. He's going to have him. He's
going to have him. And whatever it costs, he's going to have
him. And if you want to hear this, he'll have you. He'll buy
you. And you'll love him forever. Maybe you'd like to have this
sermon on tape. It's on a cassette tape. I have a message I preached
last week on salvation, all of grace, and this message on Hosea,
a type of Christ. If you want them, they just cost
$2. That's what it cost us to make
them and send them. You write in, we'll send it to you. That
address will be given to you in just a moment, until next
Sunday at 11 o'clock. May God bless you, everyone.
Then came my fall, my Saviour God, to me. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! You have just heard a sermon
by Henry Mahan, pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church of
Ashland, Kentucky. Address all correspondents to
Henry Mahan, Box 1700, Ashland, Kentucky.