Thank God for His mercy in keeping all of us. As we continue to live on this earth, we shall learn more and more how undeserving we are of the mercy of God. We feel that most keenly in ourselves, for we are well aware of our own corruptions that are in our own hearts. the waywardness, the idols that we are often so unwilling to put aside. And today, let us learn that we are just like Israel and the transgressions which they committed against God. is a mirror of our own. We who are the Church of God must hear this, for we have gone too long in excusing our sins and justifying ourselves. So let us look inwards as we look at Israel, and may God graciously speak to each one of us that being touched by His mercy, we may all be restored in holiness and in love towards Him who showers us with His blessings. Our first point, see yourself in Israel's Hortum. See yourself in Israel's Hortum. The Book of Hosea is written during the time when both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah still existed. But for its message, it is mainly directed towards the Northern Kingdom of Israel. From chapter 1 verse 2 to chapter 2 verse 23, which we shall look at today, is found the first portion of this book. And the next portion is from chapter 3 onwards to the end of the book. And for both, it begins with a command to Hosea, namely the command to go, where we find in chapter 1 verse 2, the first command, chapter 1 and verse 2 of Hosea. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of Horeb and children of Horeb, for the land hath committed great Horeb, departing from the Lord. What a command this is. Don't get a good godly girl for your wife, Hosea. Go to the adulteress, go to the prostitutes and find a wife from them. And even worse than this, look again in the middle of verse 2. And from her have children of Horebs. That means the children that will come from his wife are not even his own children. What a grief this must be for Jose. O you may say, what an unloving thing for God to command, but O that you may see who it is that is truly unloving. For it is the land, as the end of verse two says, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. It is the land, the promised land, that has been polluted by both the northern and the southern kingdom. Both Israel and Judah have polluted the land, that God as a loving husband had given to them. And they have gone after others, they have strayed away from Him, they have exchanged the most intimate of relations and bestowed it upon strangers. O how great a whore you are, O Israel, and so are you, O Church of God. You have played the whore against your husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, and have left his sanctuary of worship, and have given yourselves over to flaunt his commandments, and have born children for the world and its ways. O wicked and adulterous generation, as our Lord Jesus said, how shall you escape from the judgment to come, the judgment of your own husband? Therefore look at the names given to the children of the whore, which Hosea's whorish wife bore to him, in verse 3 to verse 9. Let us focus especially upon their names. 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 verse 6, the next one, And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God called, said unto him, said unto Hosea, Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Lo-Ruhamah means no mercy or not beloved. That is the meaning of the name. But I will have mercy, verse 7 says, upon the house of Judah, and will save them by their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. Now when she had weaned Lord Ruhama, she conceived and bear a son. Then said God, Call his name Lord Ami. Lord Ami is not my people. For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. O children of Israel, how you have fallen from God, scattered of God, without mercy, without an identity anymore. But on Judah, who has not completely forsaken me, I will still show them my mercy, as verse 7 says, which God did when He saved them by His angel from the hands of the Assyrians. And it is none other than the Lord Jesus who saved them, for it is said here, and will save them by the Lord their God. Verse 7 says, which He did when the angel came, the Lord Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ, to kill the 185,000 who were gathered against Jerusalem. But Israel is desolate. Israel has ceased and have been broken by their husband for their adultery. But we shall see in our next point that Israel, instead of taking heed to this prophecy, will still continue in their ways. Our second point, abhor yourself in Israel's obstinance. At this time in chapter 2, the children of Hosea were grown up, and Hosea had other children as well with Goma. Which is why in verse 1, we look at verse 1, the young boy, Ami, is called to speak to his brethren, say ye unto your brethren, meaning his brothers. And the younger, Ruhama, is to speak with her sisters, which she does. And do you notice how Hosea does not call them Lo, Ru, Lo-Ruhama or Lo-Ami, meaning no mercy or not my people, but instead he calls them mercy and my people. For God has still been merciful to Israel even at that time. Oh, how many years he has given to them since the prophecy in chapter 1. And yet, where is their repentance? For Goma, despite having a household of children, still would not stop with her whoredoms. This is what Goma's children were supposed to tell her in verses 2 to 5. Plead with your mother, plead with your mother Goma, plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her hoardoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts. Why was she not possess wife anymore because if we look down, we shall find later on that she had found other husbands to herself. We shall see that later on. But let us focus on verse 3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be the children of Hordoms. For their mother hath played the harlot. She that conceived them hath done shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. O shameless Goba! O shameless Israel! Shall God bear long with you? Shall God warn you again and again and you still continue in your sins? How can you still be my wife who carries on in your deception? For what did Goma say? What did Israel say? Oh, it is my lovers, it's my lovers that have been providing for me. They give me what I want, so therefore I will go to them. Oh, whoreish woman! or that you might know who truly loves you. For it is God who is still showing mercy upon you, who is still calling you His people and providing for all your needs. While you are going off in your evil, finding husbands to yourself, there He is providing and providing again. Therefore now he will reveal this to you, that it was him all along that provided for you. Which he does in verse 6 to verse 13. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, Note this, I will go and return to my first husband. For she, Gomer, had married others besides Hosea. For then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flecks given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her suburbs, and all her solemn feasts, and I will destroy her vines and her fig trees. Well, she hath said, these are my rewards that my lovers have given me, and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. and I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, when she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forget me, saith the Lord. Abhor yourself, for even now God is showering upon you so many good things. And how dare you attribute these good things to the world? Oh, it's my company that has given me the raise. Therefore, I need to work harder for them. I need to do my work on Sundays. It is my disobedience that is bringing me so much good fruit. O foolish people, do you want God to strip you of everything before you realize that He has been the one providing you with everything despite your sin? O return to your first husband, you great whore and adulterer, for even now He wills to show His mercy to you. Our third point, find yourself in God's salvation. Find yourself in God's salvation. At the end of both chapter 1 and chapter 2, we find a similar turn of events. For instead of utterly destroying, we shall find that Israel and Judah are being blessed by the Lord. Yet, despite all this, despite the horror that they had done, 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." God will keep his covenant to Israel. God will keep his covenant to Abraham to multiply them as the sand of the sea. That is what he said to Abraham and to call them his people again. What grace for God will unite both Northern and the Southern Kingdom once again under one head in the future as verse 11 says. And in the end of chapter 2 in verses 14 to 19, the Lord goes even further. to fully consecrate Israel to Himself by removing all remembrance of her former lovers, her former husbands, her former Baals, so that He alone may be the one for her, to marry her forever to Himself. And from verse 20 to 23, He will use the scattering of Israel just as a sower scatters the seed upon the earth. For what purpose? For the purpose of bringing the Gentiles to Himself. So we look first at verse 14 to 19 and then 20 to 23. Verse 14 to 19. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. Why does God bring Israel into the wilderness? so that being destitute of all the comforts of this life, she may find out that it is God who has been showing mercy towards her. And verse 15, And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. Where is the valley of Achor? It is the place where Achan, the one who stole the things from Jericho, It is there that he was stoned because of his disobedience. It is as though it's a place of a curse, but now it is a door of hope. And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, which is a closer term of familiarity as a husband, and shalt call me no more Ba'ali, for I will take away the names of Ba'ali out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground, and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely." God will bring in a time of peace. He'll bring in a time of of joy when he brings Israel back into the land and marries her to himself. And I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. No more to go after her adulteries and her fornications any more. And verse 20 to 23, what he promises will not only spill over to the Israelites, but even to the Gentiles. And I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass, hear this, in that day I will hear, saith the Lord, and I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jethreel, they shall hear the scattered of the Lord. And I will sow her, sow Israel, as a seed unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, that is the Gentiles. And I will say to them which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. This is what Paul quoted in Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, if we will quickly go to Romans chapter 9 and verse 24. Look at what it says from verse 24 to 26. Paul quotes there Hosea 1.10 and Hosea 2.23 in relation to the Jews and to the Gentiles. Romans 9.24 Even us whom ye have called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as is said also in Osip, meaning Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. That is Hosea 2 verse 23. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. That is Hosea 1 verse 10. The first 25 of the Gentiles and the second 26 of the Jews. How merciful our God is! For even in the time when there are strains so far away from Him, there He is promising to them mercy and grace. Oh, that we would humble ourselves! For have you ever seen such love? Have you ever tasted of such grace? Oh, what a wonder that all of us should be part of God's salvation who have strayed so far from Him, who have divorced Him and married other lovers as Goma did. But oh, He has not divorced you. His mercy is the same towards you. His grace is still extended to you. Humble yourselves therefore, O people of God, and let us come before the Lord in prayer to seek His face and be renewed back towards Him. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are brought to bow to Thee. We are whores who have departed from Thee so often, but Thou in Thy mercy rules and rules us back unto Thee again and again. What grace that Thou bestows upon us as we contemplate upon it! Will Thou move us to return unto Thee? Move us to love Thee, to be faithful unto Thee, as Thou art faithful unto us. Wash us, cleanse us, renew us by Thy mercy. Our hearts are lifted in gratitude towards Thee. Bring thy church back unto thee, to see of thy lovingkindness, to see of thy love through our Lord Jesus Christ. That we may live from this day, not after our whoredoms, but being faithful and joyful and praise, full of praise towards thee for all that thou givest unto us on a daily basis. This we ask and pray with thanksgiving in Jesus' name. Amen.