Seems strange to speak after singing a song like that. How can God's people? Even begin to fathom. His love for us. It does help us to have words like that to sing though, doesn't it? It helps to hear God's people sing that His love for us really is rich, and it really is pure, and it really is measureless. And it really is strong. And as that wonderful hymn proclaims, if the ocean were our inkwell and the sky was our parchment, we'd run out of sea and sky before we had ever fully traced the love of God for His own. But the thing of it is, helpful as those words are, We need more than song lyrics to help us grasp the depth of God's love for us. Even the best of human words fall short. God sent his prophets to ancient Israel with words. Words of warning, as you know, warning of judgment for his people's wickedness, but also words of comfort, words of hope for those who returned to God, the love that he so graciously lavished upon them. But as you know, God gave his prophets, many of them, more than just words. He gave them lives to live that actually illustrated the message that they were called to bring to God's people. They became living object lessons as they prophesied to God's people, as they confronted God's people with sin, as they warned of impending judgment, as they gave hope of reconciliation to God's people. Quick example, Isaiah embarrassed people by walking the streets dressed nearly naked like a prisoner of war. Why? Because that was about to happen. Jeremiah carried a heavy yoke on his shoulders. Ezekiel actually built a miniature Jerusalem and laid siege to it. That's weird, isn't it? He even used his very own strange haircut as a theological lesson for God's people. But I trust we'll find that no prophet lived out and proclaimed the loyal love of God for his people, as did the prophet Hosea. God told Hosea, as he had the other prophets, look, words are not enough for my people to understand the depth of my love for them. So here's your commission, Hosea. Go marry a whore and have children with this whore. For the land is engaged in flagrant whoring, whoring away from Adonai. So begins the experience that Hosea must live out if he is to comprehend God's love for his own and if he is to speak of God's love for his own to Israel. Hosea's own marriage His own family life becomes the sermon he was sent to preach to Israel. A people married to God. A people who cheated on God repeatedly with their gross idolatry, their immorality, their insincerity. And friends, if you and I are to benefit from the message of Hosea, let alone the gospel that his life foreshadows, we will need grace from God to see ourselves for who we really are. You see, we're not meant to read Hosea and think, you know, I also understand what it's like to be cheated on. I know the pain of what it's like to love someone and not have that love returned. I can so identify with Hosea. Some of us can. But here's the thing. You and I are not Hosea in his story. I'm afraid from God's perspective we are the whore in this story. And if that shocks you, the gospel must shock you if you're to receive it. We, like Israel, are the unfaithful bride, not the loyal husband. But the gospel, listen, the gospel is the good news of God's love for wayward people, unfaithful people, whoring people, if you will. And Hosea will show us that God's loyal love prevents him from giving up on his people. So let's turn there now, if you haven't already. Hosea, as we often do, we'll start with chapter one. And we're gonna consider God's loyal love for the next few weeks, and we're gonna start simply by meeting the prophet and the prostitute. Hosea one in verse one. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri 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. When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblim, and she conceived and bore him a son. The Lord said to him, call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to Hosea, call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen. Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said, call his name, lo, am I, for you 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 or numbered. and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there it shall be said to them, you are sons of the living God. Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. Say to your brethren, my people, And to your sisters mercy is shown. But what in the world is going on here? All we know about this man Hosea is what we will read of him in this book. Verse one simply tells us that he was a man of God whom God has chosen to speak through him. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the sons of Joash, king of Israel. This prophet's name hints at his message. Hosea also rendered Yeshua in Hebrew. Joshua or Jesus are names derived from a Hebrew verb that means to save. To save. You might just write that in your neighbor's Bible right at the title page of Hosea so you remember a theme here. In addition to his name and his vocation, we're told that Hosea's dad is called Biri, and they lived during a period when God's chosen people were divided into two kingdoms, Judah, the southern kingdom, and Israel, the northern kingdom. Hosea's ministry was primarily to the northern kingdom. Israel, or as it sometimes was called by the name of the largest tribe, Ephraim, The prophet Amos also ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel at about the same time. And we notice right away in verse two that God prepares his prophet. How does God prepare a preacher of the gospel in Hosea's day? Well, not by sending him to seminary, but by arranging a marriage. Those of you who are married, take notice. Marriage is a great training ground, is it not? A great proving ground. And I don't even know why you're laughing. You have to explain that to your spouse now, don't you? What's so funny? Hosea, you're going to go down to the chapel and you're going to get married. That's your deal. When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take yourself a wife. Now just stop there. You guys know we tend to not go too quickly here. Stop there for a minute. Those first five words of Hosea's commission. Put yourself in his sandals for just a minute. Any young man of marrying age probably has his own dreams of what marriage is. Maybe Hosea already had a girl in mind. A high school sweetheart, perhaps. Maybe another prophet's daughter, you know, somebody from a respectable family, a God-loving family. And yet God says, Hosea, I know what you've been thinking, and you're right about that girl you're dreaming of. She will make a wonderful wife, but not to you. Not to you. I have other plans for you. I got a wife already picked out for you, Hosea. Your marriage is to be an arranged marriage. Don't miss that. A few years ago, our friend Babu John from India was staying with us, and he let us know that his son was soon to be married. And he explained to me how he and his wife had spent an awful lot of time and energy and travel expense searching for a bride for his son. And I thought, and I said to Babu, I said, wait a minute, What are you talking about? Doesn't your son want to choose his own wife? And he just looked at me and he smiled and he said, you guys think you have this marriage thing figured out, don't you? And he said, you know, Indian parents make sure that they pick a spouse whose looks and character and social standing and ambitions for life are the perfect match of the ideal spouse they've heard about from their children. And then he looked at me and he just said kind of jokingly, I'm not going to pick an ugly bride for my son. As a father, Babu chose the best, most beautiful bride inwardly and outwardly that he could find for his son by God's grace. An arranged marriage, he says, is a wonderful thing. Do you realize that God's marriage to his people is an arranged marriage? Israel did not choose God. God chose Israel. And this is still true today. God chooses his people. God chooses those who are called his people. You say, well, I'm not sure I agree with that. Well, it doesn't matter a hill of beans whether you agree with it or not. It's just what the scripture says. And we saw this very recently in our study of the Ten Commandments. God gave his moral law to a people whom he had already redeemed. A people he had already chosen. He had already rescued Israel from bondage in Egypt. The law was not given in order for Israel to somehow try to become God's people through their obedience. No, the law was given to those who already were declared to be God's children. And the law described the marriage relationship, the love relationship between God and his chosen people. The law reflected the best life that God has for his people. And as it turns out, it still does. And the law reflected the obedience that would express Israel's love for her God. Remember, Jesus says the law describes what love for God actually looks like. It turns out it isn't just a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's so much more than that. Obedience from a loyal heart is God's love language. And all through that study of the Ten Commandments, I trust the Holy Spirit was asking each one of us who was attentive at all, hey, how are your language skills these days? During the Exodus, God dramatically demonstrated his loyal love for his own, didn't he? God provided for and protected Israel again and again and again, and he eventually made them like a sparkling jewel where his glory was seen throughout the world. I'm thinking of the Queen of Sheba coming to visit Solomon, who was kind of a big deal. And this was a fulfilling of God's promise to Abraham that goes all the way back to Genesis 12. It was a promise God's people delighted to remember again and again and again, especially when they were in trouble, especially when they were afraid, especially when they thought God was done with them. God had promised his people, I will surely treat you well and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. But the thing of it is, you guys know the story. Israel struggled mightily when it came to her own faithfulness to God. God's people often failed to reciprocate his love. They chased after other gods. They gave themselves to the made up hollow gods of their pagan neighbors. Israel gave herself to the gods of material prosperity, sexual indulgence, military might, political power, if you can imagine such a thing. And as they did this, they still went through the motions of being God's people. They still wore the uniform, if you will. Failing in their love toward God, they failed in their love for one another. Those things always go together, by the way. That's why there are two kingdoms in the days of Hosea's prophecy in the first place. God's people are at war with themselves because they are at war with God. And that brings us back to Hosea's arranged marriage. The marriage he dreamed of as a young man is not going to occur. Hosea's marriage is to be a marriage that perfectly reflects God's marriage to Israel. Listen to the prophet's commission again. Go take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. You see, through their very lives, not at their church services, but through the way that they live their lives, The people of Ephraim had been saying to God for decades, I'm so glad we're married to you, but we're sleeping around. And friends, it's very possible that you're here today and your relationship with God is basically that way. You name God as your own. You pay lip service to being united to him and united to his people, but you're sleeping around. Your true loyalties and interests and preoccupations are far from God. They're the same false gods of ancient Israel. money, sex, politics, patriotism, all of it a form of self-fulfillment wrapped in religion. It all looks really churchy. We'll come back to that. I want us to first and foremost, though, see what Hosea's marriage tells us about God. God says to his prophet, Hosea, go marry a whore because I want you to understand my heart toward you and the rest of my people. Then you will be ready to tell somebody about my loyal love. Can you imagine what Hosea must have thought when he first heard this commission Hey Lord, how about I just act weird for a little bit like Isaiah? Tell you what, I'll carry a heavy yoke around like Jeremiah. Man, I'll even get a crazy haircut like Ezekiel. God says no. No, your message of my loyal love is going to be best told like this. Go marry an unfaithful pagan prostitute, a woman whose reputation precedes her. She has a whoring reputation. Go start a family with her. And then you come back and we'll talk. But Lord, does it have to be a girl named Gomer? Yes, Hosea. Now get going. What does that tell you? About the God who chooses those who are called his people. God chooses to give his loyal love to the unlovely. To the unfaithful. To the undeserving. If you have any burden in your conscience this morning about being disloyal to God, unlovely to God, you have a history of being unfaithful to God. Be encouraged. No earthly father would choose a spouse for his son the way God has chosen a bride for his son. Are you hearing this? Because if we're not careful, we're going to hear the gospel. Right in the Old Testament here. Turns out the Old Testament is also saturated with the grace of God. It's almost as if it's all one story. Verse three says, Hosea went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblom, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the thing of it is, friends, is everything seems to be going just peachy right at the start, doesn't it? Homer and Hosea are happily married, apparently. Apparently that awkward discussion about her maybe changing her name went okay. And as any bride would, listen, there's no reason to think that she didn't pledge her loyal love to Hosea. her devotion to her husband, just as Israel had at Mount Sinai. When God said, hey, I'm your God. You're going to be my people. And everybody said, yep. A hint of something unusual in the home, though, takes place when it's time to name the boy. Did you notice that? He's not going to be called Little Hosea Jr. Look at verse 4. Then the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. What in the world is this? Well, the name Jezreel means God sows. And Jezreel, as you may know, is the name of a town and a valley that contains a town by that name. It's the place where a fellow by the name of Jehu, who was the ancestor of Israel's current king in Hosea's day, Jeroboam II, it's where Jehu came into power and then violently overthrew the dynasty of a wicked king named Ahab. And so this was a bloody, bloody overthrow. And Jezreel refers to a place where God's violent, bloody judgment has been sown. Jezreel is a very ominous name. Nobody in their right mind names their kid Jezreel. I mean, that's like naming your kid Auschwitz or something like that. Everybody would instantly recoil from a name like that. And people would ask Hosea, hey, just curious, why'd you name your kid that? Why would you name your firstborn such a horrible name? And he'd have to explain again and again and again. That's the ministry of a prophet, right? He'd have to explain again and again. I named him Jezreel as a reminder that God is going to judge the sins of his people. He will break the kingdom of Israel so that it is no longer a force for God in God's world. It's a sober message. And in the book of Hosea, we're going to notice this again and again, I trust, as we go through it. There's a particular prophetic cycle that gets repeated. I alluded to it earlier. It's the cycle of sin that's followed by judgment, or justice if you prefer, that's followed by a message of hope. Sin, judgment, hope. Keep that in mind because you'll see it again and again throughout the prophecy of Hosea. And we see it for the first time in verse six as we start to get a sense of the state of affairs in Hosea's marriage and in his family life. Let me ask you something. Do you think you got a messed up family? You got a few crooked branches in your family? Look at this one. And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said to him, call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen. Now when Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. And God said, call his name Lo-Ammai, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Notice a change in the language between verse four and verses six and eight. In verse four it says, Gomer bore Hosea a son. The boy is his child. Verse 6 and 8, we're just told she bore a daughter and then another child, a son. The implication is that these next two kids are not even Hosea's. And we can try to imagine what happened, but words aren't enough, are they? Hosea loves his bride. He no doubt tries to win her love and her loyalty to him. And he starts to believe, perhaps, that she really meant it when she pledged her love at their wedding in front of all of those people. But what was it that the prophet Jeremiah asked? Can a leopard change its spots? It's against Gomer's very nature to be loyal, to be faithful. Even despite her best intentions. And so while the prophet is off holding crusades in Israel. She plies her trade. She's back to her old ways. Chasing after other loves. Gomer's pledge of loyalty to Hosea was as thin and short-lived as Israel's pledge of loyalty to God. The first part of the prophetic cycle is sin. The second part, as I mentioned, is judgment or justice. Notice the kids' names. First, the daughter. Call her name Lo-Ruhamah. No mercy, no compassion. That's almost worse than Jezreel, isn't it? And God says, I mean, neither one of these kids' names were in the baby name book that the husband and wife had looked at before they started having kids. They're not in there. Nobody names their kids this stuff. God says, I'm gonna pour out my justice upon all of Israel. Judgment is coming, and every time somebody asks you, Hosea, why'd you name your kids that? You tell them, I've made it easy for you. And it will be a judgment as bloody as suits the name Israel, or excuse me, Jezreel. And there is no hope of compassion, Hosea. Call her no mercy. And you can imagine, Hosea maybe was a little bit like the Apostle Peter later. Remember when Peter hears of what the Lord had ordained for the rest of his life and how his life would end, he looks at John and says, hey, what about him? And Jesus says, nevermind about him, I'm talking to you. Well, that's sort of what happens here because God says, hey, Judah, Judah I will preserve. Remember, Israel is two kingdoms now, Judah to the south, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and Israel, or Ephraim, to the north. And Israel soon is to be destroyed by the Assyrians, but God spared a remnant from Judah, didn't he? Miraculously, during the reign of King Hezekiah. And you gotta wonder, why would God spare a remnant from Judah And yet say what he says to Israel. Well, that's something else that we need to know about God, isn't it? Turns out God is sovereign. You know what that means? He's in charge. God does what pleases him, and God is always right. He's even in charge of those whom he spares judgment for sin. Those whom he saves. God chooses those who receive his mercy by his sovereign grace, not by his people's merit. We must understand this if we're to understand the gospel. Paul speaks of this in Romans 9. We'll come back to that later in this series, but he quotes Hosea in doing so. If anyone is to be saved from God's just wrath, it must be by his grace alone. Spurgeon puts it this way. He says, God has mercy according to the greatness of his heart. upon multitudes who could not be saved on any other footing but that of undeserved mercy. Nobody earns their rescue from God. It's all of grace. I will have mercy on Judah, God says, the southern kingdom. They won't save themselves from judgment, though. I will take care of that miraculously. But as for the northern kingdom, as for your people, Hosea, I'm done with them. I have no mercy for Israel. It's absolutely futile for them to hope for divine pardon. Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, no mercy. That's a chilling message, isn't it? And what of the son? What about Jezreel's little brother? Well, call his name Lo-Ammai. Not my people. Can you imagine Hosea going to the grocery store? Oh, what a cute little boy. What's his name? We called him, he is not my son. His nickname is, I'm not his father. That ain't funny. That's horrifying. God says to Israel through the naming of this boy, you are not my people and I am not your God. Sounds like a divorce announcement, doesn't it? Is God divorcing himself from his people? Is the marriage over? If you were Hosea, surely you would have wondered that. Even as you preached the words. Is this it? Is there really no hope for those who by nature are disloyal? Who are unfaithful to God? Will such people? Always be called. Low am I. Not my people. Well, what was the prophetic cycle? Sin, justice, and hope. We're going to read a lot about God's justice in this little book of Hosea. Israel's unfaithfulness soon will be judged. And friend, let me just say, As tenderly as I can think to say it, if you're to rightly understand the gospel of God's mercy, you must understand that all sin will be judged. Your sin will be judged. Your disloyalty to God, my unfaithfulness to God will be judged. You've earned judgment. So have I. What you and I need is mercy. See, you've been created for relationship with God. You have been created by God's sovereign hand to reflect his holiness. You've been created to reciprocate his great love and radiate his great love to the people around you. And time and time again, you've put love for God aside. And you've chased after other loves. And the thing of it is, is so have I. A preacher standing here in front of you. Remember, we're not Hosea in this story. We're Gomer. We're all Gomers, every one of us. A spiritual whore, unfit for marriage. You say, I'm offended by that. Good, the gospel's offensive. God is gracious, but the scripture says what? His spirit will not always strive with men. Apart from grace, It's very possible that you are living very near the point of no return like Israel was. A little more sin, a little more self-indulgence, a little more whoring, and you'll be just like Israel. A living parable of God's justice. And to you, the scripture says what? Repent. Repent. This is the message Hosea would bring to God's people. Repent. And turn to the God who loves you. So already in chapter one, we're seeing this cycle, the sin, and we'll see it more, and the justice, the judgment, we'll see that much more, but how about some hope? How about some hope? Look at verse 10. Yet, circle that word in your friend's Bible. You're gonna do a lot of writing in your friend's Bible in the weeks ahead, right? Circle, this is a very important word, yet, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people. There it shall be said to them, You are sons of the living God. Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head, note that, and they shall come up out of the land for great will be the day of Israel. This is astounding. And it gives you whiplash, doesn't it? The first time we read through that, or the first time you read through that earlier in the week, this past week, you probably stopped there and said, I think I might've misread this. It's a 180 that happens here. What on earth happened between verse nine and verse 10? Well, we're gonna spend the next few weeks figuring that all out. There's a sense in which you can fit the rest of the book of Hosea between verse 9 and verse 10 of chapter 1. But let me just give you a little preview. I teased to it earlier, don't miss that word yet. It's a very important word. How is it that Israel's discipline and judgment will not last forever? Jezreel, remember, among other things, as we'll see, Jezreel is a title, a word that speaks of great violence and bloodshed. You know, there's another word, another location that speaks of great violence and bloodshed. All you have to do is mention it. And God's people know what you're talking about. Calvary. Calvary. It's at Calvary that sin meets justice. It's at Calvary that judgment is poured out upon sin. Where the sins of God's people are judged once and for all, it's at Calvary, all that blood, all of that violence, it's at Calvary where justice brings hope. And as it turns out. God of the New Testament. hasn't changed since the God of the Old Testament. It's the same God. It's all of grace. It's all of his mercy. And I pray that as we begin to just immerse ourselves in this look at the loyal love of God for his people, that you will be greatly encouraged. That you who have fears of being rejected by God, though you're a saved person by his grace, you fear that you've been unfaithful one too many times. You're just not the person you ought to be. Let me just encourage you with this reality that you already know about, Jesus. Remember that remnant from Judah? Who is Jesus? Well, he's the lion from the tribe of Judah, isn't he? And he came and he lived out the life of perfect faithfulness to the father that you haven't lived. His heart only be with loyalty toward God, something your heart has not and does not do. And the son gave himself for his bride. His loyal love moved him to shed his blood for his people's sin. He took the justice, the judgment his chosen ones deserve. And he offers the hope of reconciliation to God, to all who repent and believe upon him. Do you believe this? There is a unique promise to Israel in chapter one that we will explore later, but Israel's hope comes in the larger context as the Israel of God, the scripture says, as all of God's elect from every tribe and tongue and nation come under the gracious rule of King Jesus. You see, God's loyal love, not his people's faithfulness, but his loyal love is what ensures their reconciliation and restoration to him. Does not the scripture say that God's people are kept by his power unto salvation? Verse 11 alludes to this kind of gospel culmination. God will restore Israel to himself, but all of God's people to himself through the marriage of his son to the bride, his church. But look at Hosea 2 and verse 1. Say to your brethren, my people, and to your sisters, mercy is shown. That's the message of the cross, isn't it? I mean, isn't that what Calvary is all about? God, through the work of his son, the substitutionary work of his son, saying to a people who ought to be called not my people, saying to a people who ought to be named no mercy, are declared his people, are given mercy. And friend, if your heart has been estranged from God, and you wonder if he'll ever have you back, look no further than the marriage of Hosea to Gomer. Look no further than the divine love that this very real marriage between two very real people pictures so clearly, God's love for you. Our hope of not being cast away is anchored to the nature of God, not to our nature, not to our track record. God glorifies himself at Calvary as he marries holiness to whoring people like us. And we're gonna see through Hosea's marriage, it's God's loyal love that also wins the loyal love of his spouse, his bride, his people. Listen to how Peter puts it in his first epistle. He says to believers in Jesus, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this startling and amazing reminder of your great love for your own. Lord, I pray that by your spirit you will grant us understanding right now and in the days ahead as we soak in this account of your love for your people. Lord, that we might be freshly startled by your gospel of grace. that we might be humbled by the reality of what's really going on in our own hearts so much of the time, and that we might find our security, our assurance, our hope, not in the measure of our track record, but in the measure of your great love for your people. We pray this, Jesus, for your namesake. Amen.