Can we turn again to the book of the prophet Hosea chapter 11 we read that a moment ago and at the heart of this chapter are the words of verses 8 and 9 where God says How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can I set you like Sibol? My heart churns within me. My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man. The Holy One in your midst. And I will not come with terror. Over the last few weeks we've been thinking about the love of God. That's a great theme of the Bible. And when we think about it very often, we think about it as an experience we may have had, or may not have had. Or we may think of it simply as the love that He shows, and we believe it because it's in the Scripture, whether we experience it or not. However, if we think of it only in terms of the Scripture leads us to believe about His love to ourselves, if we think only of it in terms of what we personally have experienced, we are limiting it greatly. We dare not measure God by our own experience. Indeed, we dare not measure God by the way he deals with us or his attitude towards us as individuals, we are not the only people in the world. Instead, we will better understand the love of God and we are more likely to experience it if we look at the scripture and think about how he has shown his love to people down the ages. then we better understand our place in the big scheme of things and we are in a better position to know what to pray for and what to expect. And so when we began thinking about these things we began at what seems to us to be the beginning, namely the creation. And we were seeing how that itself was an act of God's love But more than that, when he created humanity, he expressed that love for us in a covenant that he made with Adam. A covenant that Adam, our first parent, broke and thereby forfeited all the blessings he could have expected under that covenant. Where then were all the implied promises of God expect that he was no longer entitled to them in terms of a covenant, that relationship was broken, it was gone. And so we saw then the love of God in promising a Redeemer, the seed of the woman who would come and undo the work of the serpent of Satan, the great enemy, We thought of how that promise of the Redeemer was repeated in God's covenant with Abraham. The promise of a child, the promise of a descendant in whom all nations of the earth would be blessed. And then we went forward about 400 years, a little more, and we thought of how God again entered into covenant with the descendants of Abraham in the days of Moses. the terms that he made with them then, the relationship he entered into. A relationship that was weak in one way, it was weak in that it depended not only on his faithfulness to them, but also on their faithfulness to him. Included in it was the concept of law. Now it was all based on the promise made to Abram and and earlier in the Garden, but part of it was very limited. Weak through the flesh, as the New Testament puts it. And so we realise that in fact that covenant made in the days of Moses was a pointer a pointer to something greater, a pointer to something better, the coming of Christ himself and the giving of the Spirit through whom we are enabled to do what in our own human nature we would be unable to do. As the epistle to the Romans puts it, the law being weak through the flesh, the Spirit enables us now to fulfil its righteous requirement. And so we go on in the Bible as the history of this unfolds. And we see, among other things, how the relationship between God and His people was At best, a very variable one. You think of how in the days of judges, they turned their back on him, again and again. A cycle of rebellion and slavery, followed by prayer for rescue and God giving them a redeemer, a judge, and then rebellion again. He gave them David, a man after his own heart. But after the days of David, even in the days of Solomon, they rebelled against him again. And so it went on, until Christ would come, and the New Covenant would take effect. And so, it's worth our thinking about the message of this book of the Bible, the Prophecy of Hosea. A message that casts very interesting and comforting light on the love of God. It's a shocking book. At least on first reading it is a shocking book. It's the sort of book you wouldn't expect to find in the Bible. And yet, when we read it, and once we've come to terms with it, We realise what it's saying about God's love for his people. We find it a very comforting book indeed. God instructed his prophet Hosea to marry a certain person who, it turns out, was a prostitute. That itself is the last thing we would expect, isn't it? The outcome of that marriage was predictable. in part at least. And it happened! Poor Hosea, what is he going to do now? Is he going to keep his promise though she has broken hers? And we see as the book unfolds the tension in this man's heart pulled one way, pulled the other and the utter perplexity perplexity that all too often occurs in human life but as we see this and the amazing reaction under God's words of this man we realise God is actually speaking about himself He is the one Hosea represents. And Israel, God's people, are the ones that Gomer represents. And God is the one his people have turned their back on. And they have abandoned him and they've gone to serve other gods and what not. And what is he going to do about it? And we can sense the tension here. We We may hesitate to use the expression, tension in the heart of God, but there is something akin to it, surely. We look at this book, and as we look at it, we begin to see some of the most amazing things that are in the love that the Lord has for his people. Verses 1-7 of this chapter sum up the history of it. and verses 8 to 12 tell us about God's reaction to it. What's the history of it? When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. He's going back to their roots. He's taking them back to the beginning of their life as his people, a child, unsophisticated, vulnerable, tender, trusting, well sometimes, a nation that was not really a nation, a group of desert tribes who were in a foreign land, oppressed, what could they do? They had a promise from God, a promise that was given 400 years before, what good It's a promise given 400 years ago. I mean, who reasonably could expect that to be kept? But he did keep it! And he called his son, what a wonderful expression that is, God to use about his people, I called my son, out of Egypt. That's the relationship he had entered into with them. He could call them, my son. He brought them out of that land of bondage, out of that prison, that place of death. I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms. What a picture! You could feel it. The unsteadiness. Oh, but they will walk. Give them time. Give them practice. They will. The Lord dealing with His people in that way. Leading them out. leading them through the Red Sea, all the uncertainties that they had about that, into the wilderness. There's no water, water from the rock. There's no food, manna from heaven. Leading them to trust Him, if they would. Leading them to obey Him, if they would. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love. I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. And then I stooped and fed them. The Lord himself came down. That's the thing. I came down to their level. And I fed them. I put the spoon in their mouth. But we see something else in this history. There's two They sacrificed to the bales, and burnt incense to carved images. The Lord calling his people, but his people not responding. The Lord calling his people to himself, but they go in the opposite direction. It can be very frustrating when a child does that, especially when they reach the age when they can run as fast as you can. But they don't really know, do they? It's different here. This is willful disobedience. This is the apostasy of people who should understand what the Lord has done for them. It is gross ingratitude. There are simply no words for it. They're in the wilderness, they're unbelief. Yes, he's given us water from the rock, but can he give us food from heaven? Can he save us from our enemies? Can he take us across the Jordan into the promised land? Oh, but yes, if we go there, there are walled cities, there are giants there. Unbelief after unbelief after unbelief. And then, when he does take them into the promised land, they do not destroy the culture around them. They leave the idols. They adopt the idols. They begin to serve false gods. What an insult to the true God. They love their idols. They no longer love God, their Saviour. And so it went on. The days of Samuel, After King David and the days of the kings, what's the Lord going to do? How is he going to react to this? And it's as if they just don't understand. Verse 3, But they did not know that I healed them. Did they not know? Did they not? Go back to the records, it's all there. Their early days, they experienced God's deliverance, and then in their old age, they fell back into idolatry again. Yes, they knew what the Lord had done for the previous generation, but this one, we are our own people, we'll do our own thing. Did they not know? Of course they knew. They knew, but they did not take it to heart. They did not know in the sense that they did not grasp it. They did not understand the implications of it. They did not take it to heart. They did not respond appropriately. That was the Lord's people in the days of the Prophet Hosea. Now, the New Testament says, these things were written for our instruction. And so we ought to think and to examine ourselves. That's a call to God's people, whoever, wherever, whenever they are. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, the scripture says. And we think about ourselves and the Lord's dealings with us. Most of us, perhaps all of us, in our early days, the Lord taught us. Through parents, through friends, through a church, a Sunday school, we were privileged in that way. One way or another, we came under gospel teaching, and it was such that, some of it at least, we could understand. The Lord stooped down and he fed us, and he protected us. And we think back to times when our life could have been very different. We might not even have lived. But the Lord kept us. And the Lord provided for us. Times when we couldn't see how he would, but he did. Maybe we think back to the days of our conversion. And we knew little. We knew little. Maybe it was a gradual thing. The Lord gradually opening to our mind the way of salvation and gradually drawing us to himself and we couldn't tell when, but looking back it happened. Or in the case of others, it was indeed a time of love. The Lord made himself known in a manner that we could not deny. And we rejoiced in him for a day at least, or a week at least, or a bit longer. And he fed us. He fed us with his word. He fed us with the truth. He brought the truth home again and again, sometimes in conspicuous ways, applying to ourselves, and we knew it. This is the Lord speaking to me. Now, The question is, and it is a question and it's only a question, and it's no more than that, but it's a question that we ought to address to ourselves. Have we at any time grown tired of His ways? Has pride arisen in our heart because that was one of the sins of the people of Israel success, prosperity, bread, pride, and pride takes all manner of shapes we don't usually recognize it. For example, I know all this. I don't need to study the scripture. I'm secure in Christ. I don't need to call on his name. Really? Really? That's pride, isn't it? And where pride comes, self-will comes. Not all the time, because that would shake our confidence that we really are the Lord's people, but sometimes, in some circumstances, I will go my own way in this matter. Well, there it is. And when that happens, sure as anything, there is little or no communion with God. Our desire for Him wanes. Have you ever thought how often in the scripture we find the expression, seek the Lord, or they sought the Lord? Expressions such as, my heart and my soul faint for the living God, How many examples there are of a desire for God, and we're so familiar with that. And then the day comes when we ask ourselves, do I have that? And prayer becomes formal, not altogether, but to a large extent. It's for things, and not for Him. And if we realise that if that has ever been the case, and we've discovered it, we will also have realised that we have gone after idols. The things that society values have become the things we value, rather than the Lord himself. Valuing and choosing other people before God, sharing the goals and aspirations of the world rather than being filled with the love of God. These things do happen. Now this is only a question, I say that again, no more, but has this ever happened to us, is a question the Christian from time to time ought to ask, because we are called to guard our heart. Now, back to Hosea and the people of his day. How did God react to this? Well, how would we expect him to react? Human patience is limited. Isn't it just? We think we have a great deal of patience. Maybe that's true in the Lord's goodness, but it's still limited. Sometimes we discover that in unpleasant ways. And we sometimes think that the Lord must be the same as us. Not that he loses it, he can't lose it, but surely there will come a time when he says that's enough. That's what we would think, isn't it? After all, when he speaks about the relationship he has with his people and how he values that, he calls himself a jealous God. You are my treasured possession. He's going to defend that relationship, come what may. So, we might think, isn't there going to be a time he may just wash his hands of us? And as we think along those lines, we realize, well, there is in the Bible such a thing as God's judgment, and indeed we shouldn't be surprised at it. We read there the letter to the seven churches, and yeah, there's a lot of judgment there, isn't there? Encouragement to return. Return. Return. It's not only there there's encouragement to return. Isaiah 55. Call upon the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near. I will have mercy upon Him. I will abundantly pardon. Why? because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Laodicea, we read Jesus' address to that church, a church that's very similar to what we find in the Book of Hosea. Lukewarm, not abandoning God, can't say we're cold, but not exactly inflamed with desire for him, or a desire to serve him. Lukewarm. So, we think about these things, and we ask the question, or we ponder the question, do you think God's love is strong enough to handle this? And some people ask the question in a very wrong spirit, because they're provoking him. They're seeing how far they can go before he reacts. Isn't that what Jesus said? You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. What a dangerous thing it is to try to find out how patient is he. It's like the youngster learning to drive a car. He's got his first car, he's just passed his test. How fast can it go? How well does it handle on corners? But you don't know how well it handles on corners until the thing goes over. And so it is when we put the Lord to the test. Is his love strong enough? We should take nothing for granted. And yet, there is another side to it, is there not? Think about Jonah. He is an example of someone who provoked the Lord and put him to the test. And we know where he landed for his pains. But in the middle of that great fish, Jonah said, I will look again towards your holy temple. Why? Because salvation is from the Lord. And we know the rest of that story. So, yes, the Lord does speak here about judgment. No, he won't return to Egypt. That's true. There's five. that the sword shall slash in his cities, devour his districts, and consume them. Because of their own counsels, my people are bent on backsliding from me. But supposing in their trouble they call on the Lord. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him. Yes, they might call, but the prayer is insincere. As soon as I rescue them, they're going to go back and do exactly what they were doing before, if not worse. That's what the Lord is saying. Why should I answer that? So there we are. And as far as our thinking goes, that surely is the outcome. But, we forget one thing. I am God, not man. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? And it's as if it's the Lord's voice that quavers. His heart is moved for them. He's God, not man. It's not because he's not provoked. It's not because he's not grieved or angered. But he says, my heart churns within me. That's quite a strong expression, isn't it? My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. for I am God and not man. Notice, let's highlight the first three words of their speech. How can I? After all this provocation, after judgment is temporarily executed, the Lord says, no, I can't do it. I can't do it. And here we see something of the intensity of God's feeling, not the grief and anger that he feels mercifully, that's hidden from us to a large extent, but the intensity of his love to his beloved people. After all of this, And he's going to, yes he's going to give them up, he's going to abandon them to the sword, he's going to... And then he pauses. And he says, no, I can't! My sympathy is stirred. Speaking in a human manner, he's saying, I feel compassion for you, developing in my heart. O fellow sinners, let us take hope there. I will not destroy them, for I am God and not man. Indeed, he will not be defeated by evil. Sin will not have the last word. Satan, the enemy, will not be able to say, I have destroyed God's creation. No, no. Never. God's love will not be frustrated by our lack of love. He cannot deny himself. And so, To use that illustration in Revelation 3, that instance of it in Revelation 3, he says to his backsliding people, Behold, I stand at the door as dock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in himself with him, and he with me. We've been thinking of God's people in any age, ourselves included, We've also been thinking of God's people in a particular age in the days of Hosea, which reminds us, of course, that God's work develops through history. And it comes to its climax, His covenant love comes to its climax in Christ himself, promised first as the seed of the woman in the garden of Eden, promised to Abraham, the saviour to whom the law of Moses' day was pointing. Here we see his love in the coming of Christ. After all of this rebellion, after all of this coldness of heart, he comes in person. And though he is rejected and crucified and slain, when he tells his apostles to publish the good news, of eternal life and forgiveness for his sake. What does he say? Beginning at Jerusalem, the very place that had rejected and crucified him. Gentiles haven't done that. It's to his own rebellious people. He says, first of all, there is mercy for you. There is forgiveness in thy name, there is eternal life. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me. It is only if we despise and reject the Christ offered us in the Gospel It is only if we refuse to have Him that these judgments on rebellious people will come to pass. God grants that if at any time we find ourselves in a similar position to His people in Hosea's day, we will hear His voice, and not only hear it, but open the door And if we do, willing for the Lord to come in, longing for the Lord to come in, waiting for the Lord to come in, truly then, He will sup with us, and we with Him. May God bless His word to us.