Tonight we turn to Hosea chapter 11. Hosea chapter 11. I had assigned last Lord's Day evening for you to read chapters 2 through 10. Hopefully you have done that so that you might see the completeness of Israel's sin as God uses very poetic language there to describe how Israel has fallen. God's call to repentance, their unwillingness to bend, God coming forth in judgment. And yet all of this is going to reveal to us once again the deep, deep love of God for his people. That's where we come in chapter 11. So chapter 11 is where we're going to get to tonight. But to get there, we've got to go through chapters 2 through 10. But here's where we'll end up. Let's hear the living word of God. When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away. They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. I took them up by their arms. But they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love. And I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws. And I bent down to them and fed them. They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own consuls. My people are bent on turning away from me. And though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can I treat you like Zoboil? My heart recoils within me. My compassion grows warmer and tender. I will not execute my burning anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst. And I will not come in wrath. They shall go out after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. And when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. And I will return to them their home, declares the Lord. Let's fire the reading of God's word. Let's again bow in prayer. Amen. So last Lord's Day, we considered chapter 1 of the book of Hosea. And in that, we were looking at the deep love of God and the depth of God's love that is on display for us in chapter 1. How? Well, Hosea's very name reflects God's love, Hosea being the Same or a form of Joshua, Joshua being a form of Jesus, Jesus, and Jesus, meaning he will save, even as we looked at God's word this morning. His ministry reflected the depth of God's law of 66 years. He ministered, whether it be good kings, evil kings, but always God seeking through his prophet to draw his people to himself. And then Hosea's actions demonstrate the depth of God's love. He was to go out and marry a woman who would become unfaithful. He was to name his children. And in the name of each one of those children is revealed the waywardness and the unfaithfulness of his wife, Gomer. Hosea was to continue to declare the mercy of God. Oh, the depth of God's love for his people. This evening, then, as we consider chapters 2 through 11, we'll consider it under these three main points. First of all, Israel's unfaithfulness. Secondly, the Lord's judgment. And then thirdly, the Lord's deep love. Let's go back and demonstrate from those chapters Israel's unfaithfulness. Now if you read the chapters you know that the way God is depicting this, He is depicting Israel's waywardness, fallenness, as the picture of an unfaithful wife. He's picturing it as spiritual adultery. The wanderings of Hosea's wife, Gomer, after other lovers is that which God is using to depict that which Israel is doing to him. He had covenanted with them, and yet they are breaking that marriage bond by their spiritual adultery. Go back to chapter 2, verse 5. God's words, for their mother, that is Israel's mother, has played the whore. She who conceived them has acted shamefully, for she says, I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. Verse 7, she shall pursue her lovers. This is Israel running after other gods. This is how God depicts it throughout this book of Hosea. They're running after other gods, other suitors, other husbands, other than the Lord their God. And in the process of running after these other gods, they are turning away from the Lord. Chapter 2, verse 8. And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for bail. Or we can go down to verse 13. And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry and went after her lovers. And here comes the words, and forgot me, declares the Lord. This is what Israel, those tribes in the northern section, Samaria, as it's sometimes called. Ephraim, as it is sometimes called. They've wandered away from the Lord, committing this spiritual adultery, running after other gods, turning their back upon the Lord. But this unfaithfulness is demonstrated in other ways as well. Go to chapter 4, verse 1. Their unfaithfulness is seen not only in this spiritual adultery, but, verse 1, hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love and no knowledge of God in the land. People don't even know about the Lord. These people have wandered so far from the Lord, they've turned their back on the Lord for such a long period of time. They have embraced all of these other gods that God is saying, you don't even know who I am anymore. You don't even understand what I've done. You have no knowledge of who I am. That same phrase repeated in verse 6, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I reject you from being a priest to me, and since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. Those words, by the way, are directed at the priesthood, at the spiritual leaders, who are no longer instructing the people in the truth of God, the truth of God's word, but the priests themselves are becoming instrumental in leading the people away from God. away from the truth of who he is, so that they continue their spiritual adulteries. But there is another as well. Chapter 4, verse 2, there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery. They break all bounds and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Or go to verse 7. The more they increase, the more they sinned against me, and I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of my people. They are greedy for their iniquity. This is what life has become like in Israel. They no longer live for the glory of God. They no longer live for the Lord. They have no knowledge of the Lord, and they're running after other gods. This is what God is depicting in all of those chapters. We read about it in various ways, in different images, in different words that God uses, but the message continues to come back, Israel is unfaithful to me. And you hear even in that 11th chapter, the heart of God breaking over these people. The heart of God is their husband breaking over their waywardness. This is not some unemotional God. This is not a stoic being who somehow could care less what people do. But all of their actions, all of their words are wounding, as it were, his own heart. The pain. of watching people that he had covenanted with running after other gods. So what else did we read in chapters 2-10? Well we also read of God's judgment. But God didn't just come with the judgment. God warned them. God told them. He gave them opportunity after opportunity. In chapters 2 through 10, we read it over and over again, that he came to them, warning them. Pick it up at chapter 5 with me. Hear this, O priest. Pay attention, O house of Israel. Give ear, O house of the king, for the judgment is for you. He's telling everybody, I don't care if you're the religious establishment, I don't care if you're the political establishment, or if you're just the common people of the land. Listen up. I'm warning you. Your waywardness is going to cause judgment to come upon you. Go to chapter 8. where we read that warning sounded again. Set the trumpet to your lips. One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. Set the trumpet. Sound it out. I'm warning you. I'm coming in judgment. Chapter 8, verse 7 and 8. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads. It shall yield no flower. If it were to yield, strangers would devour it. Israel is swallowed up already there among the nations as a useless vessel." God had brought them down. God had brought incidents into their life as a nation that were warning shots, that while God was saying, listen, listen, you need to turn, you need to repent, And yet they failed to do so. In those chapters, the stubbornness of these people is exemplified. Go back to chapter 6, verse 6. They tried to buy God's pardon. by ritual, chapter 6, verse 6, for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Let's just go through the motions. Let's just show up at the festivals. Let's just bring our lambs. Let's just bring our goats. Let's just bring our sacrifices. Let's just do our religious duties, but no steadfast love of the Lord. Let's try to buy God off with an animal. Maybe, yes, we hear he's coming in judgment. OK. We don't really want to change. Our lives really don't want to be reformed. What we really want to do is to keep up living the way we are. Let's just show. our religion, but let's not love the Lord and let's not really know God in the depths of our hearts and of our lives. They rejected him. And so God is going to come punish. Chapters 9 and 10, repeatedly throughout these chapters, God tells them, I am going to punish. I am going to punish. Verse 3, they shall not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. You're going to have to leave. I'm going to come. I'm going to take this land away from you. Verse 7. The days of punishment have come, the days of recompense have come. Israel shall know it. Verses 11 and 12, chapter 9. Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird, no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them. Or we can go into chapter 10. Verse 2, their heart is false. Now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy. Their pillars, verses 7 and 8, Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters, the high places of Avon. The sin of Israel shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars. And they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us. Verse 9, from the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? Remember what that's all about? That's all about the civil war that takes place with the Benjaminites. God is saying, that's what I'm going to do to you. You've rejected me. You haven't heeded my warnings. Up to this point, as we look at this book, we'd say, well, no wonder not a lot of people read this book and no wonder a lot of people don't study this book. This isn't like really high on anybody's reading list. Because it sounds an awful lot like us. Sounds an awful lot like the world in which we live in. Sounds an awful lot like the church. God has sounded forth his warnings. Yet this book, in the midst of that judgment, shows forth the depth of God's love. See, if you believe that you're 95% good, And Christ only has to die for 5% of some faults that you have? Probably not overly thankful. If you think, well, you know, my life, Pretty good, probably about 75%. 25% I got some problems with, but Christ takes care of the 25%. But 75% of my goodness is me. Even if you're at the 50-50, still think I'm putting in pretty good effort. The reality is the words of Paul, there is none that is righteous, no not one. Not contributing anything. And you see, it's only when we understand the depth of our sin and the wrath and judgment of God against that sin that the love of God looks so amazing and wondrous. Grace is just grace until we understand the depth of our sin. Then grace is amazing. That's why God brings us to this book. He had a purpose for his people then, but he has a purpose for us now, that we might see the extent of his love, the depth of his grace for us. Let's look at that now in our third point, the Lord's deep love. Go back with me to chapter 2. Even in the midst of all of this, God had promised it. He had promised to these people in the midst of their unfaithfulness, His love. Start with me at verse 14 of chapter 2. Therefore, behold. See, just go back and read 13. I will punish her for the feast days of the bales when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with ring and jewelry and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord. They contributing anything? No. Listen. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. God is saying, God is promising. Yes, I'm going to have to come to this time of judgment. I will allure her back. I will win her back with my love. Go down to verse 19 of chapter 2. I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. That intimate relationship. God's promise is not only will I lure her back, allure her back, but also that I will cleanse her, I will clean her, I will purify her. and he will covenant with her again. Verse 23, I will have mercy on no mercy, and I will say to not my people, you are my people, and he shall say, you are my God. You know who those are? Those are those two children. Those two children that Hosea didn't know if they were his or not. God is saying, I'm going to covenant with them. They'll be my children. This is his promise. His promise of his love even for his wayward people that he's going to come in judgment upon. But that brings us to chapter three. Here comes the practicality. Here comes God's illustration. God has said it. He has put it in words of poetry, prose, prophecy. Now he says to Hosea, I want you to show it. I want you to demonstrate it. Well, how am I going to do that, Lord? This is what I want you to do, Hosea. You know your wife? Yeah, I know my wife. Gomer, right? Yeah, Gomer. Where is she? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? She's taken off with her lovers. She's left me with my three kids, and she's taken off. She's off with her lovers. Isaiah, this is what I want you to do. Go find her. Go find her. And then when you find her, buy her back. And when you buy her back, Bring her home and restore her as your wife. But just think about this. In chapter 3, we're switching to the historical reality of this. He was to marry this woman. She became unfaithful after he married her. The children's names are an indication of the fact she is unfaithful to Hosea. She has left. She's moved out. And now the Lord says, go find her. Why? Because that's what the Lord does with his people. They're not running to him. He's seeking them. Adam and Eve aren't looking for him. He's looking for them. God seeks out his people. Hosea, I want you to demonstrate this. Everybody knows about your wife. Everybody knows what kind of woman she is. Now I want you to demonstrate my love. You go find her. He finds her, and what do we find in chapter three? So, I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a letech of barley. You know what that price is? That's the price for the cheapest unwanted slave. This woman had given herself to so many lovers, nobody wants to touch her anymore. Nobody wants to be close to her. She has to sell herself into the lowest form of slavery in order to get by. She's on the auction block. Hosea buys her. And he brings her home. Say it, do you understand? This is what I do. I seek out my people. And I buy them back. I purchase them back and I restore them. As my people. And he said, what incredible love Hosea would have to have to buy back his wife, who's been used by so many men. My friends, that pales in comparison to the love of God for you and for me. who purchases us not with shekels and barley, but who purchases us with the blood of his Son, in order that we can be redeemed as his sons and daughters of the kingdom. Oh, the depth of God's love. But you see, chapter 11 is there as the fulfillment. It's there to point us to Christ. Chapter 11, verse 1, out of Egypt I have called my son. Where do we hear that again? Where do those words come back to us once again? They come back to us in Matthew 2, verse 15. After Jesus Christ had been taken to Egypt by Mary and Joseph to escape Herod, then they return. And what does Matthew record there? Out of Egypt I have called my son. The fulfillment of Hosea 11.1 is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one that God is calling back. To what? To demonstrate his love for his people. To show the depth of his compassion. Did you read, did you hear what's in chapter 11? That heart of God just opening up. No, no, I don't want to damn my people. No, I don't want to judge them. No, I want to show them love. That's what you and I are, the recipients of the love of God through Jesus Christ. But there's another beautiful picture in that 11th chapter. It's the picture that we find in that 10th verse of the lion roaring. What do we read of the lion once again? Revelation chapter 5, the lion of the tribe of Judah with a flaming sword out of his mouth. The lion roars. The word of God goes forth. The gospel is proclaimed. The message of the good news. is sounded throughout the earth. I call my son out of Egypt to show forth my love and compassion to my people. He's going to give his life on a cross. But that message is not a message of defeat. It's a message of triumph. It's the message of victory. It's the sound of the lion roaring, the king of the jungle, the king of kings and the Lord of lords, sounding forth the message of the gospel. See, that's why Paul tells us in Romans chapter one, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it is the very power of God. It is the roar of the lion into this world. You and I don't go into this world with a weak gospel. We don't go into this world with a weak message. We don't go to that coworker. We don't go to that relative. We don't go to Troy in a hospital bed with a weak message. We go with a message of the roaring lion. And what happens? What is the result? Look at that verse, Hosea 11.10. They shall go after the Lord and he will roar like a lion. And when he roars. His children shall come. What a beautiful picture. They shall come. That's the church. That's you and I. That's those who upon this day have heard the message of the gospel and the Holy Spirit has worked within their hearts and within their lives, and they have repented of their sin, and they have turned and embraced Christ as their Lion of Judah, as their King. They shall come. They shall come. When the lion roars, When the gospel goes forth, His people, His children, hear, hear and come. Yes, I'm gonna come in judgment. But there's coming a day. There's coming a day when the lion will roar and they'll come and that remnant came. That's who's assembled there as the New Testament opens, the remnant of God. A picture of the church, you and I. The depth of the love of God that he allows us. to come, he roars, he works, we come to his blessing, to his goodness. This is the message we bring to the world. This is the message of love that Christmas is really all about. Not all the frills, not all the world stuff, not all the distractions. A God who loves us so deeply that his son goes to the auction block of hell and purchases you and I. so that we might sound forth his praise, that we might go with this call of the gospel, the roar of the lion, and the remnant come. What wondrous love is this? And God's people say, Father, we thank you again for your word. Your word that reveals to us the being you truly are, a holy God, a just God, but also a God of mercy and grace and love. Thank you for saving us. We did not deserve it. We were not owed it. We did not earn it. But you, of your electing love, salvation has bestowed. In his name we pray, and God's people again say, amen.