Well, Hosea is the start of the section in the Old Testament called the smaller prophets, the shorter in their size. And Hosea, the first of these prophets, is not given to us in their chronological order. Our Bible translation follows the Masoretic or Hebrew text of the scripture, and they follow identically to what we have in our translation. And yet chronologically, Joel is the oldest of the prophets to speak around 860 BC before Christ. And Isaiah, who is part of the major, larger prophets, he prophesied a thousand years in some sections of his book before the time of Christ. These prophetical books are, well, let's just say they're difficult to understand. And one of the great challenges for in the book of Hosea, it has to do with the symbolic and figurative language that leads to many different explanations by commentators. Sometimes when you read them all, you might come away a little more confused than when you started. Well, I say that a little bit with tongue in cheek. because it's important always to study the Scriptures and the broader understanding you have and knowledge you have of the Word, well, the Lord's Spirit will guide us into all truth. One of the interesting things that we will find in our study of the minor prophets is that when the New Testament gives a quotation from one of these prophets, then we have oftentimes a New Testament commentary on the Old Testament prophet, which helps us to understand what the Holy Spirit wants us to learn from it. Hosea is certainly no exception here. And several of the scriptures that Hosea used are quoted by Paul, quoted by Peter, and quoted by the Lord. So that's significant. And it is a real blessing when you gather these in the course of your study. But as far as the hardness of it goes, one commentator, a guy by the name of Ebenezer Henderson, he said, the minor prophets have generally been considered more obscure and difficult of interpretation than any other prophetical books of the Old Testament. I think that's a true saying. As we think about Hosea himself, very, very little is known about him. In fact, we really only know his father's name and that he served as a prophet during a time of Israel's history when there were some prominent kings of Judah, but only one king of Israel is mentioned. A little bit of the background to do with that. There was a division in the kingdom of Israel. That division happened after Solomon, whose son Rehoboam took over from him. But what happened was Rehoboam was not able to keep the kingdom together. And so there was a split, a division. And a man called Jeroboam I, the son of Nebat, he became the king of the 10 northern tribes known as Israel. And the two southern tribes made up of Judah and Benjamin, well, They took up the name Judah, and Jerusalem is the capital of Judah, and Samaria was the capital of Israel. There were no good kings in Israel. Every one of them was said to be evil and to do evil in the sight of the Lord. That's not a very good heritage. As a matter of fact, most of them had this follow-up. It says that they did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed after Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that caused Israel to sin. And what Jeroboam did at the very beginning, now it's not the same Jeroboam that we have just read about here in verse one. This is actually Jeroboam II, the son of Joash. He has come several years later. But the first Jeroboam, what did he do to cause Israel to sin so seriously in idolatry? Well, he set up two golden calves, one of them in Samaria, another one up in the northern part of the empire kingdom. Because Jeroboam figured that if Judah, or pardon me, if the Israelites were to go back to Jerusalem during the annual feast of atonement, of Passover, of the other feasts that they were to have, if they were to go back, then he would lose power because they would join themselves back to the King of Judah, and things would not go well for him. So he came up with a plan. And he said to the people, don't trouble yourself to go to Jerusalem, just stay in Samaria here, have the feasts and worship the Lord here. And so he said, worship the Lord. But he set up the golden calf. Now, we know it's not the first time a golden calf appeared in Israel's history. You go back to the time of the wilderness, back to the time when Moses was taken up into Mount Sinai to receive the law. And the people were down and they got Aaron to make them a golden calf and they worshiped. No, idolatry has been in the blood in the history of Israel from years. And so it did not turn out well for them. So here's this guy, Hosea, the prophet, and he's been now called by God to minister primarily to the nation of Israel, though Judah is mentioned a couple of times. But his focus, the direction God had given him, was to minister to the 10 tribes of the North. And the word and the message that he had to bring was not a good one in many respects, because it was a word of the pending judgment that God was going to bring against those people for their idolatry, for their rejection of God and his word. The name Hosea, it is the exact same name of Joshua. In fact, Joshua is called Hosea, and it's another spelling, another way of saying Hosea. And Jesus is the Greek word for the Hebrew Joshua. So really, we could say that Joshua, his name is Jesus, and Jesus' name is Joshua. That's exactly what it is. And the meaning of that name is Jehovah is salvation. We know from Matthew 1, verse 21, that you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall what? save His people from their sins. Jehovah is salvation. Jehovah is Savior. Jesus is Savior. So that's a very good name that Hosea has. And his message was one of God's mercy and God's salvation. In fact, the theme that runs through this book is a theme of God's unmerited favor to an ill-deserving people. But I say to you today, is that not the gospel message? Is it not true that we are an undeserving people? We are ill-deserving people because we have rejected the Lord. We've rebelled against him. And yet the God of salvation, the God of grace, the God of mercy and love has come to us with gospel truth. And Christ has come with a message of hope. And so we have received the gospel. But do you know the message that was delivered to Israel was a message to a rebellious, backsliding people. Yes, God's mercy was to people who had received much mercy, much grace, but they had spurned the grace of God. They had rejected the Lord's overtures of love. They had completely thrown out the warnings of fleeing from idolatry and of sinful behavior. The themes of sin and judgment of retribution, they come throughout the entire book. The message was calling people back to the Lord. I wonder, friend tonight, Is the Lord calling you back to himself? Have you slidden away from God? Have you become cold? Have you gone a distance away from God? Tonight, now is the time to come back. Now we know that backsliding has various degrees. We know that We can become cold and drift away from the Lord very, a small amount, imperceptibly sometimes, but that soon turns into a month, maybe six months, maybe a year when we have not been walking very close to the Lord. We left off our Bible reading, we left off our prayer, because that's, of course, where all backsiding starts, isn't it? But is it not time, my dear friend, My brother, my sister, come back to the Lord, wherever you are. I don't know your heart, but I know my own heart. And I know the need as I preach to myself tonight. I don't want to drift away from the Lord. I don't want to be at a distance. I don't want to be cold in heart from God, because as we drift away from the Savior, from the source of heat and light, well, what's going to happen to us? Well, the farther we go away from the sun in our solar system, the colder things become. We need to come closer to the light and the heat. in order to be warmed. So if the Lord has a word to anyone here tonight, if you have slidden away from the Lord, well, it's time to come back. It's time to renew your heart and your love to him. You know, when Hosea started preaching the Lord's message, It was not welcome. I don't think that would be any surprise, would it? If he's preaching about repentance and return to a rebellious people who've heard the word before and they don't want to hear it again, well, he's not going to be warmly received in the religious halls of Israel. He certainly is not going to be received in their cultural stages. Any nation that has rejected the Lord does not want to hear from the servants of God who are being very faithful to him. Among the many, many lessons that can be learned from studying this book, it's the repeated appeals of repentance and returning, the faithfulness of God's servant and how he handled the word of God. And I want us tonight for a few moments to think about the preciousness of God's holy word. And I pray that our hearts, believers, will be renewed in the scriptures and in the word of God. It was just last week that we were thinking about the Protestant Reformation, thinking about what God gave to us in that great revival of spiritual things, revival of truth. It wasn't an invention of truth, we know that, but it was a revival of truth. And one of the major issues or the tenets of the Reformation was the Bible, alone as a rule of our faith and practice the bible alone as the chart and compass of a christian's life a bible the bible alone that is able to direct us in our conscience and teach us the way that we are to go when we read tonight in psalm 119 it's so precious that psalm and that verse 41 according to the word Cata Christos, according to the scripture? Well, our prayer is that God's holy word would be seen as valuable, precious, holy, the holy scriptures of our God to us. Believer, let us be encouraged and let this truth be something we're reminded of continually. The first thing I want you to think about tonight is that God's message is the message that came to Hosea. And if it was God's word, it was therefore an inspired word. God's holy message. is therefore an inspired message. Now, when we use that word inspiration, it's a good English word. It comes from two Greek words, a compound Greek words, theopneustos. And the word theos is the word God, and the word pneuma or pneustos is the word spirit. or breath, or wind. So in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, when the apostle said, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that's the very compound Greek word right there, theopneustos, God breathed. or God-spirited. And the God-spirited word, he has breathed out his mind. He has communicated his mind to the mind of men through the written scriptures. So when we think about God's inspired message, we realize it is come directly from God himself. This is very encouraging for us because God has revealed to this world the nature and the being of God himself through nature, through creation. Psalm 19 tells us that, that the heavens have declared the glory of God. But what that nature and heavens do not declare is detail about the person of the Lord. Nature does not tell us about how we can come to know God. Nature does not really tell us that we are separated from God in that sense and how to be reunified to God, reunited to Him. but the written revelation, God's breathed out word, gives us that communication. So when we think about the inspiration of God's truth, it being breathed from the Lord, well, the next question comes to us, well, what were the ways in which God did this? What were the methods of transmitting the word to people. So in the Old Testament days, before the scriptures were brought together in what we call the canon of God's written revelation, the Old Testament text, the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch, those first five books of Moses, well, the Torah, the law of God, they are very sacred to the Jewish people and the Jewish religion. And so before those books were written, well, how did God communicate to his people? And how indeed did he tell them the message that he wanted them to write down? Well, it was by vision. God somehow communicated to the mind of his servants by way of a vision, and he gave them the message he wanted them to know. But there was another way the Lord did this, and it was by a dream. And the use of a dream was interesting because it was not singled out only to God's prophets. As a matter of fact, he used dreams by Pharaoh and by Nebuchadnezzar and by others. And for example, God communicated to Pharaoh by a dream, and Joseph, he was the one who interpreted that dream about how God was preparing Egypt with much plenty to take care of the famine and of God's people for the days that were ahead. And so the Lord used even a wicked king, an ungodly man. The Lord can use vessels. He uses vision. He uses dream. But then God also spoke audibly to people, mouth to mouth, face to face. I want you to turn to Numbers chapter 12 for a moment. Numbers chapter 12. We have in the account before us here in Numbers 12 something of all three of these methods put together, of vision, of dream, and of speaking audibly. But the situation was a little difficult. And as we read the context, you'll see what happens here in Numbers 12 and verse 1. It says, and Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. The man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam, come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. Now, I don't know at this point if Miriam and Aaron may have had a thought that, well, God was going to put his stamp of approval upon their objection that they had raised to Moses. Maybe they thought that this was their day, this was their time of glory, time of being promoted, elevated. Well, whatever they may have thought, things were vastly different. Verse number six, and God said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. Miriam became leprous at that moment. Aaron humbled himself and went to Moses and asked him to pray that Miriam would be healed. God answered Moses' prayer and Miriam was healed, but they both learned a very, very important lesson today, that day. They had stepped over the boundary. They had presumed that they were God's honored servants. They had presumed way, way too much. But out of all this, God spoke some important lessons. And what we draw from it, these three things are here mentioned in this one portion of how God would speak to his prophets, how he would give his God-breathed message. Some of the people he spoke to mouth to mouth, and that day Aaron and Miriam also heard the direct mouth communication of God to them, which must have caused them to shake. and to be afraid, because evidently the anger of the Lord was visible when he withdrew in the in the pillar of cloud. But did you notice the other thing that God said about Moses? How that the similitude of God was revealed to his servant? Yes, Moses knew the Lord in a very special way. And God communicated his word But you know, in the New Testament, there is one other way in which God spoke his inspired truth. And it was through the writer's spirit, their being, their person. Most of the New Testament was written in this way. So the spirit of God came upon the author, the writer, and so controlled the person, the being of that writer, that the miracle and the mystery of inspiration took place, whereby when those writers were writing down the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, when the apostles were writing James, Peter, Paul, Timothy, and Titus, God's spirit so possessed them, so controlled them, that they were communicating exactly what God wanted them to say, but he was also using their personality, using their style, because there's quite a variation between the style of Paul and Peter. But that's how God used the authors and the writers of the New Testament. And it's quite an amazing thing. So when we are faced with dealing and looking at God's inspired word, and the word that came to Hosea, the word of the Lord to Hosea, it was God's inspired word. Now, how he communicated that to Hosea, It may well have been in a vision. It may well have been in a dream. It could have been a combination of the Lord speaking audibly to him. But the important thing is that when Hosea received that word, it was authoritative in his life. It was authoritative to bind his conscience. And I think, friends, that as you and I, as God's children, when we face the Scriptures, and the Word of God searches our hearts, and we submit ourselves to it, our conscience becomes bound. by the Word of God. Now, our conscience is not to be bound by other people or other things. We sometimes submit our will. We will submit ourselves to the dictates of someone else, maybe, or maybe the laws of a land, as long as they are not opposed to God's Word. But our conscience must only be bound and controlled by the authoritative scripture. This is where Luther found himself at the time of his stand at the Diet of Worms in Germany. He stood there firmly upon the scriptures. He said, if the doctrines and teachings that he had written about, if they could not be countered apart from the scripture itself, that he would not surrender them. He would not give them up. He said, my conscience is bound by the word of God. And what a great stand Luther took at that day and that time. But you know, as we think about the inspired nature of God's word and the word that came to Hosea, it is from the Lord, breathed out by him, authoritative. And what does that mean? It means it gives us instruction. to guide our lives. There can be no better verse than Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. What does that say? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. My brother and sister, commit that word to your heart. I'm sure many of you have. but that's instruction to guide our life. And when we have submitted ourselves to God's holy, inspired, infallible, and inerrant word, all of those things are true because it's inspired by God, then we will trust the word to be our guide, our compass, our chart through some pretty dark days, maybe dark valleys, Maybe uncertain times, but the Lord's Word is true, and it is certain. But you know, my dear friend, and perhaps there's someone here tonight, and you have not come to trust the Lord yet as your Savior. I say to you, the Word of God is alive and powerful, powerful to awaken your soul. Romans 10, verse 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so the scripture used by the Holy Ghost is able to awaken a man from the darkness and deadness of his sin and bring us into the light and the liberty of the sons of God. And therefore, when a person repents of their sin, when they acknowledge that they need to repent of their sin before God, and they call out, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner, God's Holy Word comes with power to give life. Hebrews chapter four and verse 12 says, the Word of God is quick. That word simply means it's alive. The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce, able to discern between the thoughts and the intents of the heart? Yes, my dear friends, the word of God is alive. It is God's holy and true and living word. Do you cherish God's word tonight, Christian? Or perhaps the scripture has become set aside Maybe we have taken it for granted. Maybe we don't think about it as carefully as we should. You know, if the scripture was taken away from us, we did not have the word, then we would long to receive its instruction, to have its comfort and its counsel and its encouragement. You know yourself that when Someone has lost a loved one when someone is going through a very deep and dark trial. We might try to encourage them with our own counsel, but there's nothing, there's nothing to replace the scripture to bring comfort and counsel and stability and hope when there is no hope apparent. Yes, we're told in the scripture to comfort one another with these words? Well, believer, tonight, as we have thought upon this truth and this scripture, it was given to Hosea, God's inspired word. It was given to him as a consecrated servant of God, to follow after it, to obey it, to live it out. Hosea was not given the option. Well, here's my word, Hosea, the Lord would say, you've got an option. You can either say this word, or you can speak a message that you would like yourself. There is no such thing. Because God's servant was called, and therefore he was consecrated to speak God's word, and he was faithful in that. Because really, what kind of a servant would say something different from what God would say to him. He would not be faithful. He would not be a good ambassador. He would be an unfaithful man. And you know, something else about this message, this word that Hosea got, it was a word that came with God's timing, and therefore it was urgent. Hosea did not have time to delay. When God gave the word, Hosea's responsibility was to faithfully take that word and deliver it. Let us not be careless. when we have God's word in our heart. Do you remember Philip in the New Testament? He was ministering in Samaria. Great revival was happening there. And then God suddenly called him to go down to the desert of Gaza and to meet someone. So off Philip went down to the desert, wandering on that road. And then along came a chariot. It had a man who was returning from Jerusalem to Ethiopia And as soon as the chariot came within view, God said to Philip, go and draw near to that chariot. Join yourself to it. You know what we're told about Philip? We're told he ran to meet the man. Philip, the man who ran for God, because the message that Philip had was urgent. The word that Philip had to give the man was urgent. and the word of God in our lives is urgent, friends. Let us be quick to obey the Lord. Let's be quick to follow him. Let's be quick to do his bidding. Yes. And one final thing, that God's holy word was given, inspired, and therefore It was a sacred trust. We are put in trust with the gospel message. We are put in trust with such a timeless word that we dare not be careless with it. We dare not be negligent about it. Paul said, I don't want to be preaching to others and yet myself be a castaway. I don't want to be guilty of mishandling the word of the Lord. It's a sacred trust believer. Therefore, we want to be careful and to serve the Lord with all of our being, all of our heart. I trust that tonight the Lord would reinforce this truth into our own hearts, that as we have God's engrafted word, the inspired word of God, the holy oracles of God, let us cherish the scriptures and let them be the word that will guide our lives, that we will be obedient to all the precepts, the holy words of God. Let's bow before the Lord, please, now in prayer. Father, as we come to the end of this service and of thinking on this prophet, and the message he was given, the word of the Lord put in his hands. I pray that its truth would reverberate in our minds, that we would receive the word readily, gladly, openly with all our hearts, that our lives and minds would be molded by the scripture. For we know that Christ, the incarnate word, fulfilled to every detail the scriptures of truth. And I pray that we will mirror our Lord's life, that we will be made like him. Dear Father, make us students of the word, diligent in all things, following hard after the master, letting it be the guide and keeper of our way. For as we're called to trust in the Lord, with all our hearts, we lean not unto our own understanding. Lord, hear our prayers. Bless all the people that have joined in tonight. Bless the message as it goes out over the internet. And we pray that any who might come to listen to a message later on would also receive blessing and edification. So part us now, Lord, in your fear with your rich blessing. We ask all these things in Jesus' holy and precious name. Amen.