Of course, we are going through a series on the minor prophets, and we now get back into that particular study, taking up this most beloved book, the book of Hosea. We begin by just reading the first chapter. We'll be looking at that this evening. It says in chapter 1 of Hosea, verse 1, the word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Berei, 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 first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of Horeb, and have children of Horeb. For the land commenced great Horeb by forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son. The Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel. I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel, and on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. She conceived again and bore a daughter. The Lord said to him, Call her name No-Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen." She had weaned No-Mercy. She conceived and bore a son. The Lord said, Call his name not my people for you are not my people and I am not your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or number and the place where it was said to them, you are not my people. It shall be said to them, children of the living God, the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together. They shall appoint for themselves one head. They shall go up from the land. For great shall be the day of Jezreel." Then chapter 2, verse 1. Say to your brothers, you are my people. And to your sisters, you have received mercy. Now let's join together in prayer. Father, as we come before your Word again tonight, As we look at this first chapter of Hosea the prophet, we seek God again, Your guiding hand, Your Spirit's ministry, our open hearts, and our obedient commitment to do as You have revealed in Your Word. We pray, God, that You would give us the grace to gladly receive and follow and believe as true everything You have revealed, and that we as Your people would be salt and light living for you, heeding the warnings of the sad history of your people Israel, and living with a commitment to walk in fidelity to what you have revealed as your will in Holy Scripture. We pray to your God that we would be truly a light for the world, presenting your Gospel, showing others about Christ, And may our testimony be confirmed by not only claiming to follow your word, but actually following it. Father, grant us this by your mercy and your enabling as we devote ourselves to you in Jesus name. Amen. As we come here to this first chapter of Hosea, I think it is appropriate that before we even get to the exposition, we deal with an issue of interpretation. Indeed, one of the most difficult things in studying the book of Hosea is dealing with the whole question as to what was this marriage between the prophet Hosea and Gomer and the three children. How are we to understand it? Well, obviously, it spiritually represents how that Israel had departed from their husband God, they had entered into spiritual adultery, and they had turned from being faithful to the Lord, and they went whoring after the gods of their day. But the real question for us as we look at the beginning words of this prophecy is how are we to interpret the marriage itself in these chapters? To what extent are we to see this as history, as prophecy, as allegory? What is going on in this chapter? Let me share with you four different approaches to the first three chapters. And there are actually more than four, but there are four main approaches that have been taken. We need to be aware of them and consider the value of each of them. The first one is what I would call the symbolic vision view, or you could just write the allegory view. This sees the marriage that is presented in these chapters as merely a vision. It is like a parable. It is an allegory. It is not a literal marriage that Hosea entered into with a wife of Horeb. But it was a revelation he received from God as a message which would constitute the ministry he had to Israel. This particular view, that it is not a literal view, is concerned with some of the ethical dilemmas of God declaring to a prophet to take unto himself a wife of whoredom to be his wife. Indeed, when you look at the Old Testament law, and I want you to turn back with me to Leviticus 21, there are very clear statements revealed by God concerning his will for his ministers. We read in Leviticus 21, and let's just take up our reading in verse one. I'll read the first seven verses of Leviticus 21, and then I'm going to jump down and read verse 14 if you're jotting these references down. But here we have this statement about God's standard for his ministers, his priests, says in Leviticus 21.1, And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people. except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister who is near to him because she has had no husband. For her he may make himself unclean. He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. They, that is the priests, they shall not make bald patches on their heads or shave off the edges of their beard. nor make any cuts on their body. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore, they shall be holy. If they notice in verse 7, the key verse, they shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled. Neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband For a priest is holy to his God." There you have a very explicit statement of God's will in His law. His servants, His ministers were to be set apart, they were to be consecrated, and they were not even to get close to this issue of any impropriety in their covenant relationship of marriage. Again, in verse 14, it says a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled or a prostitute. These he shall not marry, but shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people. So the law is very clear on this point. This is a revelation of God's will. This is God's standard. And so whenever we turn now back to the book of Hosea from this passage in the law, many have read this and they have said, how is it that God, who already declared his will on the nature in his law, would contradict himself and say to one of his servants that he is to go marry a wife of whoredom? Accompanying that, you might just want to jot down First Timothy chapter three, the New Testament revelation of God's will for his servants. And we find, of course, there the various qualifications for the office of overseer or of elder. And among those, and I'll just state these, we're not going to look it up, but an elder, a minister must be above reproach. He must be respectable. He must be one who manages his household well. How is it that if these are the standards and this is the revealed will of God for his servants, that God would command such a marriage to take place? Now, who are some folks who have held this view? Let me just give you a list. You may not perhaps be as familiar with this particular view. It was held by the church father, Jerome. It was held by John Calvin, held by John Gill, the great Baptist preacher, held by Edward J. Young. You may be familiar with that name, a great theologian, Westminster Seminary. And if you're familiar with the commentary set, Kyle and Dalich, this is the view of Kyle of Kyle and Dalich. The list could go on and on. There have been many, particularly of the Reformed faith, who have held this first view. Now, before we evaluate that, let's go on to the second one. The second one is, again, another approach to how do we understand this marriage between Hosea and Gomer is that Gomer, this is what you want to write down, that Gomer was spiritually unchaste, not physically. So what you have here in the phrase, a wife of whoredom, is not that she literally had committed acts of harlotry and spiritual indiscretion, but that she, along with the others of her nation, were spiritually unclean and immoral. This is an attempt, I believe, to try to deal with this issue of the dilemma ethically, if she actually, in fact, was a whore of whoredom. And, of course, the imagery here of the spiritual adultery being a constant image in the scriptures of the reality of this relationship between God and His people. This tends to try to dilute what we read in the text, I believe, in an attempt to reconcile some of the difficult issues involved. Thirdly is the view that Gomer was unchaste at marriage. The third view says, that Gomer was unchaste at marriage. Now, this is the most obvious reading of the text, straightforward reading of the text. Some have suggested as kind of an aside of this that she perhaps was a temple prostitute. She was a wife of whoredom, and that is what God commanded him to go and take unto himself a wife of whoredom, not a wife who would become this, but one who was and is. The difficulty with this view is what we have again revealed in the law of God concerning how God's people were to deal with a sin like this. And let's just turn back again in the Old Testament law to Deuteronomy 22. Deuteronomy 22, we have this statement as to what is to take place if this infidelity is found among the covenant community of God. Deuteronomy 22. I'm going to read beginning in verse 13 and read down through verse 21. Here it says, if any man takes a wife and goes into her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her saying, I took this woman and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity. Then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her. And behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity. And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. The elders of that city shall take the man and whip him. And they shall find him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon the virgin of Israel. She shall be his wife, and he may not divorce her all his days. But if the thing is true, now here is the issue. If it is true that she is unchaste, then that evidence of virginity not found in the young woman Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst." Those words may sound harsh in our 21st century world, But that was the revealed will of God for his covenant community and maintaining purity and fidelity in the covenant relationship of marriage. It was just that serious to the Lord and for his people. So whenever we read, having read from God's law again, this statement about Hosea and Gomer and about how Hosea is to go and take a wife who is a whore of Horem, it would seem very difficult that that could stand on its face because the law already said what to do with such an unchaste person. So again, there's a lot of difficulty there in reconciling with the law of God. The fourth view, and let me just share this with you as well to round out these kind of a cursory interpretive approaches to the chapter. And the idea is that Gomer was pure at marriage and then later became unchaste. She was pure at marriage and then later became unchaste. The idea here is that Hosea married his wife. She was a virgin. She was faithful. She was pure. And then later on over time, She became, as the word says in verse two, a wife of whoredom. The strength of this argument is that it seeks to alleviate the ethical dilemma of God declaring and commanding his prophet to, in fact, have a wife who already had participated in such a sin. Now, it's still difficult because she ultimately became such. And of course, the issue of respect and above reproach in Manningham is one household well, all is invoked at that point. Verse two would be read as a prophecy. The other strength of this approach is that when it comes to the children there, obviously that is speaking in terms of the future, isn't it? The children of whoredom would be a future reality, the offspring of their union. Which of these views is best? Well, frankly, All of them have some merit and all of them have some issues of difficulty. And good and godly men have disagreed on these points, maintaining the inerrancy and sufficiency of scripture all along. So I don't think it is good that we take a hard and fast statement and say there's only one way a godly person could take this passage. That's just not true. I believe that in terms of the first view, the view of John Calvin, and who wants to argue with John Calvin on a view like that? The strengths of that view are two. It does maintain the ethical harmony of God. He is not contradicting himself or his word at all, and is merely a vision which is bringing across the point that he's seeking to bring. Secondly, the statement, while it does not declare itself explicitly to be an allegory, It does have elements that are consistent with an allegory. Whenever you find the names of the children, those names represent and mean something of a spiritual significance. And so that does lead some credence to that, because on the face of the story, that is what is going on. And of course, the greatest weakness of view number one is that the text does not say explicitly that it is a parable or an allegory. It is an interpretation of the passage. Perhaps the best view would be either the first view, which I am leaning towards at this point, or the fourth view, one of those two views. But again, all four of them have some merit to consider. It's interesting because in studying this over the years, I have always been a fourth view person on this passage. But as I have started to look into some of the issues more conscientiously in the study, the first view is looking a little bit better to me at this point. I may disagree with myself in a year, but at this point, that's where I am. So having just laid before us these different approaches to this prophecy, obviously the point here is not Hosea's marriage. The point is the message to the people of God. The point is that it is a symbolic relationship pointing to the spiritual reality that was going on in the ten northern tribes of Israel. Now, having said that, let's go ahead and begin with our exposition. Roman numeral one, we have the revelation of judgment, the revelation of judgment. In verse one, it says the word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Barai 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. First thing you might want to jot down if you have some place there on the side that phrase the word of the Lord. Now, this is a distinctive phrase in the Hebrew Bible. It is found four hundred and thirty eight times between Genesis fifteen one and Malachi one one. It is a recurring phrase that speaks about how the Lord God, the Lord Yahweh, has and does declare his will to his people through his representatives. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea. This is distinctive of biblical religion. In all other religions of the land, you do not have this distinctive reality. God constantly lets his people know what his message is. Amen? He has always done that. And he continues to do that through his word. Now, sadly, God's people do not always heed or obey that word that has been given. But the word of the Lord has come and it came through. And in this instance, this prophet named Hosea in the name Hosea itself, you may just want to jot this down somewhere. It means to save or to deliver. It is the same verb from which we get our names, Joshua and Jesus, Yahshua. And of course, that is exactly the message this prophet was bringing, that God is a God who delivers, as he certainly will. We are told here in verse one that he is the son of Barai. This is the only information we really have about the prophet Hosea. We don't know who Bari was, and we don't know anything more about Hosea. That's not relevant to the message. And so very often we see in our own day that we get so wrapped up in the personality and the individual intersyncrasies of a minister when really the issue is the message. Amen. It is what is being declared. Not what kind of clothes they wear, or how they talk, or what they look like, or how they cut their hair, or what they like to watch on TV. It is the Word that matters. It is the Word that is supreme. It is the Word that must be the thing we're concerned with. And so we have here no other information about Hosea, except his name was Hosea, and he was the son of Barai. Notice that says here it was in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. Now, if you were here last week, you know that Here we have four of the southern kings, kings of Judah listed, and then one northern king listed. Kind of interesting, since he was a prophet to the north, that he listed all these kings from the south. But of course, we see it's a consistent pattern of the prophets. They would identify the reigns of the southern kings as being those legitimate descendants of David and therefore often identify their ministries with those reigns even if they were called to prophesy to the northern tribes. This phrase here about the days, it is an interesting statement on the very eighth century of Israel. Some of you are familiar with the phrase, the very often quoted statement of Charles Dickens in The Tale of Two Cities, it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Now, of course, in that he is referring to the city of Paris during the French Revolution. But I think that we could take that and say that was true of 8th century Israel. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. It was the best of times because of their great military victories, because of the various material prosperity that had come to the land, the trade routes and everything that bring great wealth into Israel. And we noted some of that in our exposition of Amos. It was a time where they expanded their territory. So in many ways you could say it was the best of times. And yet it was the worst of times. Because it was a day of spiritual apathy and even outright idolatry and iniquity and injustice and all manner of turning away from the law of God and seeking to synchronize their religion with the beliefs of other foreign religions. So it was indeed, spiritually speaking, the worst of times. Now, Jose, if you want to jot this down, I gave the date last week, but it was around 760 B.C. that he prophesied. He had a long ministry, if you want to call it that, about four decades. His contemporaries ministering in Israel would have been during the days of Jonah and Amos. Of course, we already studied those books. And in Judah, Isaiah and Micah were ministering at the same time. So that kind of gives you something of an idea of the context with the other ministries going on, the prophets of God. So we have here this revelation of judgment. The word of the Lord came. In these days, Roman numeral to note with, if you will, the reason for judgment, the reason for judgment. And we have here, if you'll note in your outline letters A, B and C. First of all, letter A, the instruction, the instruction. It says the Lord's first spoke through Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, go and take to yourself a wife of boredom. and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord." Here in this introductory statement, we have already explained what this marriage represents. It is not other than the picture of this failed relationship between Almighty God and the people of Israel. So this is the instruction he received in this, as I am taking it, a vision concerning the Word of Jehovah. Secondly, notice with me letter B, the explanation. And the explanation, as we've already read, is that this is a picture of this unfaithful nation who broke their vows with Jehovah, who entered into a covenant with them and decided to go after other delights, other people than God Himself. It is a spiritualized statement of the condition of Israel. You might want to jot down this reference here, Ezekiel 16, 8-34. It's another one of those passages which speaks of this common image. God being the husband, His people being His bride, His wife, and they being unfaithful to Him as their husband, let her see the connection that is made. We read in verses four, beginning in verse three. Well, verse three, of course, tells us that he did indeed do as God had said in this vision. He went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblium, and she conceived and bought him a son. And then we have in the first offspring, a statement here of the reason for judgment. The Lord said to him, call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel. I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. This, of course, is the picture of what God was judging through the first son, whose name was Jezreel. So if you'll note there under letter C, I have four different sub points. First of all, the name, the name, the name Jezreel means literally God will scatter. God will scatter or God will sow. And so we see here this symbolic, allegorical, spiritual significance in the name given to this first son. God will scatter. Number two, the place. There's, of course, a literal place known as the Valley of Jezreel or the Valley of Esdralon. It was a very fruitful valley between Galilee and Samaria. Third, the history. We read here in this verse this particular place called the blood of Jezreel. So just jot down there next to the history, the blood of Jezreel. Jehu, king of Israel, slaughtered in that day of his reign Jezebel, all of the descendants and house of King Ahab. Ahab is already gone. In addition to that, he killed King Ahaziah of Judah, 42 of his relatives, that would be the princes of Judah. He killed some of the prophets of Baal. He killed many innocent people. So in that day, this phrase, the blood of Jezreel, would be kind of like in our day saying 9-11. Everyone would have looked back and said, oh yeah, we know about the blood of Jezreel. We remember what happened in that day, around 841. It was in that day when Jehu slaughtered all those people, good and bad, innocent and guilty, going way beyond the commission of God and way beyond what God had decreed and, in fact, acted in a hateful act of disobedience. Indeed, the very phrase the blood of Jezreel became a symbol of the evil nature of the dynasty of Jehu. It was indeed a bloody, bloodthirsty dynasty. And this is what God has come to judge. Number four there in these verses, the irony of this. Well, it is stated very clearly in the passage. On that day, verse five, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. You see the irony there? It was in the valley of Jezreel that Jehu slaughtered all of his competitors. killed all those around him, went beyond God and defied God's Word. And so it is going to be in that same place, that blood of Jezreel, that God is going to come and visit this nation. And He is going to break their bow. He is going to judge this people. And the blood that was shed in previous days is going to be reversed. And now Israel is going to be the ones. They will have their blood shed. Of course, this was prophesied and it literally came to pass in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians came and in that very valley shed the blood of Israel and scattered that nation so that indeed, as this first son is called Jezreel, God will scatter. The ten northern tribes were scattered never to be again. So we see here in this the reason for judgment. Now, Roman numeral 3, the reality of judgment in verses 6 and 7. Look at verses 6 and 7. She conceived again and bore a daughter, and the Lord said to him, Call her name no mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God not save them by bow or sword or war or by horses or by horsemen. You have in verse six this declaration of judgment. In verse seven, there is this distinction made. They will not come to the house of Judah. Here is the reality of the judgment. The reality of the judgment was not just that blood was shed, but no mercy was found. That was the reality. So if you have a place there in verses six and seven, maybe to the side there, the daughter in our translation, it has no mercy. Some of your translations may actually have the Hebrew name low row hammy. If you're going to write that down, if you don't have that, it's L-O-R-U-H-A-M-A low, no whole Rami, which may rope row hammy rather, which means mercy. There will be no mercy. God was judging them and they had forfeited the mercy that God had continually extended to them. Again, you see this symbolic allegorical picture of how the children represent a spiritual reality. And then Roman numeral four, you have the result of judgment. What is the result of judgment? Well, verses eight and nine, it says, When she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, called his name, not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God. That was the result of judgment. Again, this third child was a son, not my people. Lo ami, that's L O dash A M M I, literally not my people. Our translation doesn't use the Hebrew there, but just gives you the translation of it. He says this is the result of judgment, symbolizing, of course, the lost severed relationship that God's people had with him because of their sin and because of the sins which will be enumerated in greater detail throughout the rest of the prophecy. Now, Roman numeral five, we come in verses 10 and 11, and then in chapter 2, verse 1, we have one of those notes of hope that we talked about last week. It's as if the prophet now, having stopped at verse 9, then received another word and was of a totally different tenor altogether. Before everything was judgment. No mercy. Not my people. Blood is coming. And I will shed it as I prophesy. Now we read a reversal of judgment. That's Roman numeral five, the reversal of judgment. What is the reversal of judgment? Well, several things are said. Let me just read the text and then we'll fill in the blanks. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, it shall be said to them, children of the living God. Here's that idea of total reversal of what we just read. Children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together. They shall appoint for themselves one head. They shall go up from the land. Great shall be the day of Jezreel. Here you have this statement again, speaking of the reversal of what we have just read, the reality of God's scattering. Now God's reuniting in this statement of hope. Say to your brothers, verse one of chapter two, You are my people and to your sisters you have received mercy. Again, there's that reversal of what we just saw in judgment. So we have here several things we want to consider. Letter A under Roman numeral five. The first statement of reversal of judgment is that God will replenish them. God will replenish them. That is found in the phrase there, God's people, Israel, shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. Now, I hope if you know your Bible, those words sound familiar. If they don't, they should, because those are the words that come right out of where? Genesis. Thank you. Whoever said that, you get an A. They come right out of Genesis. Those are the words of the Abrahamic covenant, aren't they? You have it stated. I'll give you the references. Genesis 13 verses 14 to 16 and chapter 22 verses 15 to 18. Probably just had a study Bible back there. But those statements are statements which speak of that covenant God made with Abram. Genesis chapter 12, calling him out of Ur of Chaldees. I am going to bless you, bless those who bless you. Covenant restated in chapter 13. And I am going to make you a great nation and you are going to be like the sand that is on the seashore, innumerable. In chapter 15, that statement of a miraculous picture of the unilateral covenant God made with His people in that vision He gave to Abraham. And again, after the most dramatic act in all of His life, the call of God where He said, I want you to take Isaac, your only son, And I want you to sacrifice Him. And He was faithful to the Lord. And after that act of fidelity to God, again, these words are repeated by God. I am going to bless you. I am going to make you a great nation. You are going to be like the sand on the seashore, innumerable. Here we have Hosea quoting that promise again. Here in the midst of judgment, in the midst of a people who no longer are my people and a people who no longer deserve my mercy and a people who are going to have their blood shed, not because of you or anything you have done or how you have acted. Nevertheless, this is the promise that I have made to my people and therefore I will replenish them. What a statement of the grace of God. Amen. How God is faithful to his word. Secondly, not only does God say here, he will replenish them. He says, I will restore them. I will restore them. They will be called the children of the living God. Those who are not my people will be my children. Let her see, he says, I will reunite them. Did you notice the detail of verse 11? It'd be easy to skip over that and maybe not think carefully about it. But did you notice in verse 11 how it says the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together? What a statement. All of these centuries, and yet the 10 lost tribes of Israel, they have been scattered. They're gone to history. And yet here we have a statement that God is going to reunite them. What a statement. And then finally, letter D, God says, I will return them. I will return them. They shall go up from the land. Great shall be the day of Jezreel. These people, brothers and sisters, they have received mercy. Chapter two in verse one. The question that we ask ourselves as we look at this note of hope, this reversal of judgment is this. How do we interpret this? Well, there are, as you can imagine, there are different views at this point. Again, let me just share with you very quickly three different views. There's not actually room on the outline. You may just want to write this on the back. But here you have this reversal of judgment. What are we going to do with this? I mean, here you have the statements that, taken at face value, speak of a glorious restoration for God's people. Well, some have said it was fulfilled historically. That's the first view. It was fulfilled historically whenever the exiles returned in history. So that it was a promise that's been kept and has been kept already. It's not easy to take the words carefully and see that as being true based on history. Secondly, another view that is very commonly held is that it was fulfilled and is being fulfilled spiritually. spiritually. It is being fulfilled now in the church. After all, Christ is the descendant of Abraham. Amen. And we are his sons and daughters. And now we are, as the new Israel of God, a part of this new reality. God having stripped away all of those carnal and physical components And the spiritual reality now remains in and through his people, the new covenant people of God, Jew and Gentile, all distinctions have been obliterated. This is how many interpret this and for good reason. A third approach is that it is to be fulfilled prophetically. It is to say that these words have not found fulfillment yet. They await the return of Christ. Christ will come again. He will save his people and the promises that he has made, he will keep. I am of an opinion that there is some value in taking a combination of the last two. He is fulfilling in this present age, in his new Israel, these realities in a spiritual sense. We are his people. We are his children. We are indeed those who have received mercy and we see the fulfillment in and through Christ our Savior. Those realities, I believe, will be fully and completely realized in the age to come. Whether you envision that being a millennial kingdom or in the new heavens and new earth, Paul seems very clear in Romans 11, invoking the very Old Testament covenants that God is not through with Israel. He hasn't elect Israel, he will save. And I think there is good reason to affirm that reality. So there is this, you might call it an already not yet approach. Some of you are saying that's just a cop out, Pastor. Lay down on one or the other. I'll just take both. Whichever way we take it, there are some things, as we conclude tonight, that I think are helpful to us. And if you have room somewhere, four lines of application. And I'll do this real quickly, but it's maybe on the back. Four things I'd like to say as we conclude. Number one, from verse one, one down through to one, we see this. God's love leads him to discipline the sins of his people. And God does not change in this reality. God's people sinned and God brings discipline. It is an act of loving chastening so that his people may be holy and right with him. Secondly, God often reveals himself in terms of family relationships. You know about how Paul speaks in his correspondence about marriage and he says, I tell you a mystery. This is the church speaking of marriage. God often reveals himself in terms of family relationships. We are his daughters. We are his sons. We are his children. He is our father. We are his bride. He is our husband and we are his wife. It is helpful to see in these terms the words of intimacy and of devotion and love It shows us something about the importance of the family relationship. Number three, God's forgiveness is His freely to bestow, not something that can be demanded or deserved. God's people had sinned. They had no claim upon His mercy. God had every right to say, name that child no mercy, because God showing mercy is strictly an act of mercy. And therefore, God was right to bring in that mercy. And He was right, as He is pleased to do, to grant mercy according to His eternal purpose and to the glory and honor of Himself. And then number four, God is faithful to His covenant promises even when we prove unfaithful. God is faithful to His covenant promises even when we prove unfaithful. This should be a great encouragement to us. It is an encouragement to us that we who are in Christ have been forgiven. Amen? That we will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and our sins are not going to condemn us. And that is not because of us. It is because God is faithful to the promises He makes. He keeps. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word tonight. Blessed to our hearts. Strengthen us as your people. May we be more committed to declaring that word that you are a God of mercy and that you keep your promises. And Lord, may we praise you for the mercy and grace that you show us. Help us to be faithful to that relationship You have called us to that we would walk in a manner that is worthy of that calling. We ask this in Christ's holy name. Amen.