All right, Hosea, Hosea. Book of Hosea, chapter one. We started a new series last Wednesday evening in Hosea, and we'll continue again tonight, and Lord willing, continue until we get to the end of the book of Hosea. But right now, we're still in chapter one. Hosea chapter one, verse one. the word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Berib in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. 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 to Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, which conceived and bared 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. And it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel. And 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 will utterly take them away. 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 forces, nor by horsemen. Now when she had weaned lo Ruhamah, she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name lo Amai, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. 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, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. 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. Why don't we stop at this place right here and let's pray together. Heavenly Father help me do my best to expound the word of God this evening. For those still on their way we do pray you'll get them here safely. We know it's rainy and bad conditions and heavy traffic and so on. I pray to get him here safely. Give us a good meeting tonight, we pray. May the Spirit of God be with us tonight, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I mentioned last week, last week was my introductory message, my first message in this new series. I mentioned how the Lord told Hosea to go take unto himself a wife of boredom, and many people, of course, are kind of shocked by that, why the Lord would tell a prophet to marry a woman like that. And I tried my best to explain that she was not a wife of boredoms when he married her. She became unfaithful and immoral later on. and also of course the main point is that she's a picture of Israel. Israel, of course, is the wife of Jehovah, and Israel has been unfaithful, but yet the Lord's heart is broken, and it takes Israel back, and so on. So that's the picture here. Hosea's wife was unfaithful, he still took her back, and that is the picture God is painting for us of the love of God and the unfaithfulness of men, and so on. Now, God's judgment upon Israel is pictured by the names of Hosea's three children. And that's what we're going to look at tonight, the three children of Hosea, and that God's judgment upon Israel is pictured by the names of these three children. Now, the first one we already saw is Jezreel. Jezreel means God will scatter. in Hosea chapter 1, Hosea chapter 1. So the first one is God will scatter and Israel has been scattered among the nations. And that's a fact. Second one, lo ru hamah, that means no more mercy. God would remove his mercy. God would no longer be merciful. And God would allow Israel to suffer for their sin. You see, God would no longer be Thirdly, lower mine, verse 9, not my people. This refers to the present dispensation, I should stress, now. Israel today is out of fellowship with God, but not his people. But verses 10 and 11, their future, verses 10 and 11 await future fulfillment, and these verses point to the future restoration of Israel. Okay? So that's the message tonight. The three children of Hosea and the significance of their names and the prophecy of Hosea. Now, let's look at Jezreel, verse 4. The Lord said unto him, Call his name. That's the first child, the first boy. The Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel. And that means God will scatter. And as I said, Israel has been scattered. There is Israelites all over the world. And they will remain like that until the Lord comes back. So he says, call his name Jezreel for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. Now, Hosea married Gomer. And their first boy was Jezreel. And The name means God will scatter, which indicates the Lord was soon going to scatter Israel. Remember when Hosea was given this prophecy, Israel was not scattered yet. They were still in the land. It was before the Assyrian captivity. So they weren't scattered yet. Yes, God will scatter. God's about to judge Israel. So it's still future. And Jezreel is a familiar word in the Bible. Jezreel was the royal city of the wicked king Ahab, and it became the scene of bloody murder inflicted by Jehu. In short time, the Lord would avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and he would bring an end to the northern kingdom of Israel. That's what verse 4 is teaching. He said, call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, meaning a short while, And I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will cause to cease, watch this, first of all, I'll cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. In other words, the kingdom, the northern kingdom, the kingdom of the house of Israel is going to come to an end. And that's exactly what happened when the Assyrian army came down and captured the Israelites and destroyed Samaria and took the people away. That was the end of the northern kingdom. By the way, they never returned. You know, we often think about the Jews returning to the land. Well, that was the people of Judah who returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple and the walls to the city of Jerusalem. But the people of the Northern Kingdom never came back. In fact, if you know your Bible history, they intermarried with the heathens. And that mixed breed was called Samaritans. There was no more Northern Kingdom of Israel. They were all scattered and intermarried and so on. Jezreel, as I said, is a very important Bible name, the name of the first son. It was in the valley of Jezreel that Jehu had displeased the Lord by committing an excessive bloodbath on the house of Ahab. Now, it is true that God told Jehu to judge the house of Ahab, but Jehu went over and above what God wanted him to do. It was very excessive. And though Jehu piously claimed that the brutal slaughter was God's will, Jehu was an ungodly man, a ruthless man, and he was motivated more by political ambition than by religious zeal. And I'm going to read you a verse, you don't have to turn there, I'll read it to you, from 2 Kings, chapter 10, verse 31, about Jehu's slaughter and Jehu's character. 2 Kings 10.31 says, For Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin. In other words, he was not a saved man. He was not a righteous man. He was not a godly man. He was an unsaved, ungodly man. Now the Lord set a time clock for judgment. And that time clock would last for four generations of the house of Jehu. The Lord promised Jehu. Again, I'm going to read from the Old Testament. This is 2 Kings 10, verse 30. 2 Kings 10, verse 30. This is what the Lord told Jehu. This is the promise that the Lord gave to Jehu. Thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. What does that mean? for generations God was going to cut off the house of Jehu 100 years later 100 years after that prophecy in 2 Kings 10 30 100 years later the Lord told Hosea for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu Hosea chapter 1 verse 4 and this prophecy was literally fulfilled when Jehu's great grandson King Zechariah was assassinated. Now you start to think about it. How accurate the Bible is. Down to these little details. That's why we know the Bible is the Word of God. No other book can make such amazing prophecies. Let's look at that fulfillment. That fulfillment of that prophecy. Turn with me please to 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 15. 2 Kings chapter 15. 2 Kings chapter 15 verse 8. 2nd Kings 15 verse 8, in the 38th year of Azariah, king of Judah, did Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, reign over Israel in Samaria six months. Remember, Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He departed not for the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Bigod, who made Israel to sin. And Shalem, the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead." And the rest of the Acts of Zechariah, behold, they're written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. This was the word of the Lord, which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy son shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. So that prophecy was fulfilled. Jehu was long dead. But his great-grandson was killed, assassinated, in fulfillment of that prophecy. Now, when Hosea was prophesying, it was not long before the Assyrian captivity. In other words, not long after he gave these prophecies, the Assyrians came in and captured the Israelites. Go back to our text in Hosea 1, verse 4. He says, I'm going to cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel, verse 5, and it shall come to pass at that day, what day? Well, when God wipes out Israel. It will come to pass that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. So soon the Assyrian army would break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. The northern king of Israel would go into captivity and they will not return. until the Millennium Kingdom, when God restores Israel. I mentioned earlier they have not returned, but they will return someday. So how do you know? Well, there are numerous prophecies all throughout the Bible, in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, all throughout the Bible. But let's look right here in Hosea 1, verse 10. Hosea 1, verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea. Now, there are a lot of people today who are boasting and bragging, we're going to wipe Israel out. We're going to push them into the sea. There'll be no more Israel. Well, that's not according to the Bible. What they're saying is totally contrary to the Bible. The Bible says, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea. So nobody can wipe them out, whether it's the Iranians or Hitler. A lot of people have tried over the years, but they can't do it. It says, 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, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Now look at verse 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together. So the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom would be reunited again. Well, that certainly has never happened. That hasn't happened since the days of King Solomon. But it's going to happen. when the Lord comes back. And Ezekiel talks a lot about that. You read Ezekiel chapter 37, where it talks about Israel and Judah being united again? And here we see it again. "...shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head..." Of course, that head would be the Lord Jesus. "...and they shall come out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel." Let me say this also. Verses 10-11 are very interesting and very significant, very important. regarding Bible prophecy. Let me say this, what we're seeing today in the news, what we're seeing today happening over in the Middle East is not a fulfillment of Hosea 10, I'm sorry, Hosea chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. Now you say, well, aren't the Jews coming back to the land? Yes, in a small measure they are. But this talks about the Jews coming back, believing in the Messiah, being restored to God. Well, they're not like that today. They don't believe in Jesus, and they are not frank with God. So, you could say it's a step towards the fulfillment of these prophecies. It's leading up to a fulfillment of these prophecies. But what we're seeing today in Israel is not a fulfillment of Hosea chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. I think it's important. I think it's important that 1948, Israel was a country again. Certainly these things are important, but they're not a direct fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Certainly they're probably leading up to a fulfillment. of Bible prophecy. I would say the stage is being set right now for the Second Coming of Christ. I would say the stage is being set for the Battle of Armageddon. And interestingly, the Battle of Armageddon will be fought on the western edge of the Valley of Jezreel. You do a little studying, study your Bible geography, and look up the Plain of Megiddo, and where the Battle of Armageddon is going to be fought, you'll see it's going to be fought right on the western edge of the Valley of Jezreel. Jezreel, the first son of Hosea and Gomer. Let's move on. First son, Jezreel. Second child, in verse 6, and she conceived again, Hosea's wife conceived again, and there a daughter. So the first child was his son, second child was his 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 will utterly take them away. Well, this means God's going to remove his mercy. God's been very merciful to Israel, but God says, no more mercy. So the second one was the girl. Now, in addition to being called, no more mercy, some people say that Hebrew word literally means, un-pity. That's what it has here in my Schofield Bible. Un-pity. It means the same thing. No more pity, no more mercy. This signified that Israel would no longer be pity. but would be sent into captivity. It was in the past God was merciful and said, oh, I'm not going to allow them to be taken into captivity. I'm not going to allow them to be destroyed like that. But now God said, no more pity. Let them go. Let them suffer for their sins. That's what's happening here in Hosea. Now, let me say this too. When we preach the Bible, we certainly have to be accurate in our interpretation. I strive for that. But we also should make an application. So there's interpretation. and his application. Of course, it's illustration, too, but we'll leave that alone for now. Interpretation. I already gave you an interpretation. That issue, being invaded by the Assyrians, and God has got no more mercy on them, and he's going to send them off into captivity and so on. That's the literal interpretation. But there's an application. These principles, brought out here in the Book of Hosea, can be applied to anyone. Jew, Gentile, Christian, Church, You see, I'll give you some examples. The Apostle Paul applied Hosea's prophecy to the Gentiles in Romans chapter 9, verse 24. And this is what he said. I'm quoting here from Romans 9, verse 24. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. So, here we have Paul quoting Hosea chapter 1, verse 10, and applying it not just to Israel, but to the Gentiles. Peter did the same thing. Peter said this in 1 Peter 2.10, which in time passed for not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy. See that? So Peter's applying this to Christians. Before we had no mercy. But God now is merciful to us. Not before we weren't the people of God. We were just lost sinners. But now we're part of God's family, see? We've been born again to God's family. So you can apply these principles here to Christians, to Gentiles, and so on. Now there are several themes in the book of Hosea. And I mentioned quite a few of them last week. Backsliding. Just go through the book of Hosea and mark all the verses talking about backsliding. A lot of warnings about backsliding in the book of Hosea. The judgment of God, obviously. I mean, hanging over the book of Hosea is the Assyrian captivity, which is about to come. So the judgment of God is certainly very important foremost in this book. So, that's the judgment of God. And the forgiveness of God. You know, remember, Hosea took a wife, she was unfaithful, he forgave her. God took a wife, Israel, she was unfaithful, God forgave Israel. You see? God is faithful to us. God forgives us. You see, we're unfaithful. God is faithful. God forgives us all. These are the themes. But a very important theme in the book of Hosea is this. Sin breaks God's heart. Hosea had a wife. She was unfaithful. It broke his heart. You see? And there's a picture of what sin does to God's heart. When we sin, it breaks God's heart. You see? That is the theme. Now, G. Campbell Morgan said this. Hosea has been described as the prophet of the broken heart. The pain and agony of the man's heart is everywhere apparent. But it had become to him an interpretation of the agony of the heart of God. No one can read the story of Hosea without realizing the agony of his heart. Then lift the human to the level of the infinite and know this, that sin wounds the heart of God. Get into Hosea's soul when Gomer played him false and left him. That is how God feels, and that is what Hosea learned. In other words, the book of Hosea is simply a picture of what sin does. It's a relationship between God and man, and how Gomer is a picture of Israel. Israel is the wife of Jehovah, but she was unfaithful and it broke God's heart. That's what the whole book is about. Now, getting back to this second child, this first daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, her name means no more mercy. Verse 6 says, but I will utterly take them away. Look at verse 6. For I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. That means God would allow the Assyrians to take the Israelites away into captivity. And it's interesting. God says, I will utterly take them away. That reminds us the Assyrians were just his instruments. His instrument of judgment. In fact, you could place here, there's a verse that has always fascinated me. I want to show it to you real quick. Go to Isaiah chapter 10, in verse number 5. Isaiah chapter 10, verse number 5. God says, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. What is God saying? He said, Assyrian, you're like a rod in my hand that I'm going to use to give a strike into Israel. That's what Isaiah is saying here in chapter 10, verse 9. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger. Like a rod that God was going to use to give a chasing to Israel. That's why when it comes to Hosea chapter 1 verse 6 because I will utterly take them away Well, if you know your Bible, you know history the Assyrians took them away because I'm doing I'm just going to use the Assyrians to do it I'm going to use the Assyrians to chase an Israel to punish Israel very important and we see that over and over again God used the Chaldeans and the Babylonians to chase in Judah and And if you read the book of Judges, God used all sorts of different people to chase in and judge the Israelites. And they'd get a good whipping. They'd cry out and repent. And then God would raise up a judge. And the judge would give them victory over their enemies, their oppressors. And then they'd get complacent and backslidden again. And then God would raise up some other neighbors, Midianites, Philistines, all these different heathen neighbors to vex them again. and they cry out unto the Lord, and God would have mercy, and God would raise up another judge, and so on. You read that book of Judges, it goes round and round again. But here, God says, no more mercy. I'm not going to raise up a judge now. I'm not going to raise up a good king. I'm not going to raise up a mighty warrior. I'm just going to let you go into captivity. No more mercy. No more mercy. Yes, it's quite a sad, sad book, the book of Hosea. God was going to lift his mercy. God was going to allow them to suffer for their sin. And as I said, the Israelites never did return from that captivity. And you've got to keep in mind, Hosea 1, verses 10 and 11 are future. It's talking about the restoration of Israel when Christ comes back, when the Millennial Kingdom is established. And again, Judah didn't return after their 70 years in Babylon. And that return is recorded in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. It deals extensively with the return of Judah, but Israel never returned. By the way, look right here at verse 7. Hosea 1-7, But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah. Now you've got to think about it. Why would God have mercy upon Judah? Well, I'm looking at the clock. I can't go too long on this, but I'll give you one good reason. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ that descended from the tribe of Judah, He had to preserve the Lion of Judah. You see? he had to preserve that royal line from the tribe of Judah. So, that's one good reason right there. Also, Jerusalem was in Judah. Some of you have many other reasons, but let's move on. So, God did promise to have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them, verse 7, by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. I don't need horsemen. I don't need a bow in battle. I'll save them. I'll protect them. All this has never been considered tonight. Whereas the northern kingdom of Israel, establish their own idolatrous worship. For example, the golden calf worship, which I mentioned quite a bit last week. If you were here last week, we could spend some time on that. In Dethzel, they worship a golden calf. In Dan, they worship a golden calf. Whereas the Northern Kingdom was worshiping idols, Judah preserved the true worship of Jehovah in the Temple at Jerusalem. That's one good reason right there why God had mercy upon the house of Judah. They did not go into idolatry the way the Northern Kingdom did. Now, let's move on. Let's move on. We look at the first two children. Quickly, let's look at the third child. Lo, am I. Verse 9. Then said God, well, verse 8, Now when she weaned Lo, Ruma, she conceived their son. Verse 9. Then said God, Call his name Lo, am I, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. That's pretty sad, but all throughout the Old Testament, we hear over and over again, I'm your Lord, I'm your God, you're my people. And now it gets us no more. I'm not your God, you're not my people. It's quite sad. And again, I want to stress, this refers to the present dispensation. Today, Israel is out of fellowship with God. Verses 10 and 11 await fulfillment. and point to the future restoration of Israel. So verse 9 is a very sad verse. God is saying he's no longer recognizing Israel as his covenant people. You know, today many Israelites, many Jews are very proud that they're God's chosen people, but really if they understood the book of Hosea, they'd realize they're not. They're not my people. It's sad. And let me just say this, that doesn't mean God is through with them. There will be a future restoration of Israel. But right now they're not his people according to Hosea chapter 1 verse 9. And again, though this verse, verse 9, is dealing specifically with Israel, we can certainly apply it in many ways. Many people think that way, but they're not. I don't know how many times some old lost sinner told me, well, we're all God's children. I said, no, you're not God's children. You're not a child of God. No, you're not. You're not right with God. Jesus said you must be born again. You're just a lost sinner. That's all you are. But a lot of folks think they're children of God when they're not. And some folks think, we're all God's children. That's not true. Now, we're all God's children by creation. But the Bible says we need to be God's children by regeneration. That's an important point, you see. A lot of people think they're God's children when they're really the devil's children. I heard about a very devious, liberal pastor who preached a message entitled, we are all the children of God. That sounds pretty biblical, right? And he proceeded to preach that we're all God's children. Protestants, Jews, Catholics, Muslims. He even said a good word about the Baptist, you know. And that we're all God's children. And he used a scripture verse too, Galatians 3.26. But you know what he did? He cut Galatians 3.26 in half. Here's what he preached. For ye are all the children of God. by faith in Christ Jesus. He left out the second part, by faith in Christ Jesus. The only way to be a child of God is by faith in Christ Jesus. If you don't have faith in Christ Jesus, you're not a child of God. The Bible is very clear about that. Jesus said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. The Bible says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because you have to believe in the name of the Lord. So the Bible is clear, you have to trust Christ to be saved, but a lot of people try to get around that. The Lord Jesus said, in Matthew 7, verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. A lot of folks who aren't doing the will of God, they're out of the will of God. They couldn't care less about the will of God. They don't care about the will of God. But yet they have the nerve to say, I'm a child of God. No, no you're not. This verse would certainly apply to them. You're not my people, and I will not be your God. The Lord Jesus said to the religious leaders. Remember that now. He didn't say that to the drunkards. He didn't say it to the prostitutes. He didn't say it to the crooks or the tax collectors. He said to the religious leaders in John 8.44, Ye are of your father the devil. That's pretty strong words, because when you consider, he was saying it to the Pharisees, to religious leaders of Israel. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. So, this third child has a very important name. in many ways even more important than the first two, because this is really where it all comes down to. They're not God's people anymore. Lo, am I signified the judgment of God in verse number six, but that, I mean, in verse number eight and nine, but this judgment was temporary, temporary. Now let me, how do you know it's temporary? Well, let's read verse 10 and 11. It's temporary. Now let me give you six Specific blessings that can be seen here because I know most of this message is on judgment of God, but verses 10 and 11 deal with the