Well, good morning again. And turning now for our message to the book of Hosea and Hosea chapter 2 and verse 14. Hosea chapter 2 and verse 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably, comfortably unto her. And the title of my topic was, Is She an Amazing Therefore? The first part of the second chapter of Hosea is very dark. And the second part of the chapter is very, very bright. And it is separated, if you will, by the use of a therefore. an amazing use of the therefore. But before I explain that, this book historically is written by the prophet Hosea around 750 BC. And by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this, of course, depicts the northern kingdom of Israel in a terrible unfaithfulness to God. They had fallen into idol worship and they had fallen into immorality and all manner of sin. And here in our text, as we see throughout the Old Testament, is a living parable of sorts, if I can use that term, whereby true historical events reflect an infinite wisdom and will for us today as Christians, as seekers. This is where the Lord is revealing to us lessons to be taken personally regarding his will for us. We know this, brothers, but many seekers don't. The Old Testament and the New is not just a biography. It's not a dead biography. But it is a living Word. And Christ Himself is a living Savior. And therefore, He still speaks as He never spake before to us. And He still says, I am with you all way. And He is still doing good for us. This is a living word. And the more that by the Holy Spirit we can take these words as alive in Christ, then we may learn of His will and we draw closer to Him. So I have three heads, and the first is the woman as a picture of depravity and inability. And my second will be how God dealt with her. And the third will be the love of God to sinners in the person of Jesus Christ. So firstly, Israel here is depicted as a woman. And this is a woman who was false to her marriage vows. She left her husband and she defiled herself and her Sinful passions were inflamed, and she committed all manner of numerous betrayals. And in response, the Lord Jehovah, Israel's true spiritual husband, in the abundance of his love, sought to bring her back again to himself. So he exercised her with severe discipline taking away from her many things which she delighted in till she became poor and sick and wretched. He hedged up her way with thorns and put obstacles in her way so that she could not find her paths. And when she went after her lovers, she could not overtake them. But despite that, she still continued to go further and further away from him Him to whom all her love was due, to God to whom she owed everything. She went after vanities, and God, who should have been her all, she forgot. Read with me chapter 2 and verse 13 again. And I will visit upon her the days of Balin, wherein she burned incense to them, Balaam is a, strictly speaking, is a word for Lord. But why it's such a defiled word is it was being directed at idols. And she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord. You see, this is the course of her sin. to which the soul gives way in greed and ambition and worldliness, sensuality, godless science. Consider the unfaithful spouse in this chapter and what sin she manifested. She pursued guilty pleasures, and she was ungrateful, and she worshiped idols. Now, idol worship is an interesting thing these days. Because we don't have to go out into the streets and into the houses to look for little graven images and golden calves hidden under the bed. Regrettably, we, I, can sit down and stay put right here and search my heart and find a little idol somewhere. Because what is idolatry after all? It is when we put something or someone as more important than God. It is when we love anything better than God. It is to trust anything more than God or to wish to have a God that is not He who has described Himself in Holy Scripture. Parents can make idols out of children. Spouses can make idols out of their spouses. Congregations can make idols out of their ministers. And men and women can make idols out of their own identity. Titles, accomplishments, abilities, looks, and achievements Human depravity has the capability of making an idol about over almost anything. Even mechanical religion can be an idol, which looks great on the outside, at least, like a spotless record of church attendance, but not in connection with Lord Jesus Christ. Anything however holy it seems on the outside which comes between us and personally dealing our soul with God as he is revealed in Christ Jesus by faith becomes an idol. And since the Lord will not permit an idol to enter into heaven and sit at the right hand of God with him, then we as a human race are all doomed unless we look for a way of forgiveness that is not dependent upon our merits. Now, if any of our dear friends listening have been stirred up to some conviction or contriteness or sorrow, then I thank the Lord for softening hearts. It may be that the Holy Spirit is working right here, right now, and that's an encouraging thing. If there is a woman, perhaps, who looks at the unfaithful spouse and thinks of her unfaithfulness to God, Well, that's a wonderful thing, and I can't wait to see what the Holy Spirit can do in her heart next. If you feel that there's no merit of your own that can get you to heaven, and you feel lost and undone, well, let me tell you this, is that when God is about to save someone, he finds a reason for grace where there is none. Now, my second head was how God dealt with the woman. Let's take a look at that. When you see no reason for the Lord to have mercy on you, it is then that that very brokenness and that very helplessness glorifies Him to show you grace and love and mercy. He delights to deal tenderly with us just as we are in repentance towards God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I hope that we can fully understand this amazing grace in this text. So let me read verses 13 now through to 17, okay? And she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels. And she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Ekor for 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 in that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Bali. For I will take away the names of Balim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name." You see, after all that sin and iniquity and betrayal. Therefore, instead of dealing with her with the threat of destruction, the Lord allured her into the wilderness and there he manifested himself to her beautifully. He drew her away from all her companions, brought her into the place of solitude, and then spoke to her very heart. His infinite love won her over again. He gave her once more the joys that she had lost, and a great many other things, and made her rich with everything that could cause her to be indeed blessed. And then the Lord says, the name of your idol will no longer be remembered, and you shall call me Ishi. which means really husband. This is the almighty, infinite God who condescends to his child and offers to be called by a term of endearment. Because ishi, if you look at the Hebrew, it's the expression that a loving wife gives to a tender husband. It's the expression that has in it, embedded in the meaning of it, tenderness and approachability. And this is the name that the Lord is giving to this woman. So that, therefore, is a profound use of the conjunction Did you know, I was reading that there are two old, way back in the few centuries ago, two Catholic writers who were commentators, and they looked at this word ishi, sorry, at the word therefore in 14, verse 14. And they both agreed that it should be stricken from the Bible, that the word therefore there should be expunged from Holy Scripture. Why? Because they felt, these Catholic writers, that her works could not possibly justify the Lord's response. They felt this was what we call a non sequitur. If you know what a non sequitur is, it's where you have a conclusion that does not logically follow the previous argument. They believed that this was an error. They may have had an idea of the holy God, the fact that God is in his perfect holiness and his perfect justice must punish sin. They may have even understood something of the Son of God, who being God himself, offered himself to atone for the sins of his people. But these writers didn't understand the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God. They, as we, saw clearly that this woman shattered the laws of marriage and her offenses abounded. The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Do you see how Romans chapter 5 verse 20 is packed into that little therefore? These writers didn't know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and not by works. Grace is the amazing therefore that bridges these two contrasting passages. No merit of her own could have saved this woman from her sins. Nothing could be done to erase her many transgressions. Think about it. You sin. And in an attempt, a vain attempt, to earn your way to heaven, a non-believer might think, I'm going to not sin anymore. I'll cease to do it. And so he or she does. Perhaps she does. Is this person right with God? Well, no. And this sinner would say, well, why not? I've stopped. Well, let me put it this way. If I owed the bank a great sum of money and I had no money to pay it back, what would happen if I walked in to the president of the bank and I said, sir, I cannot pay back my debt. But you should erase my debt. because I have decided that I will never ask you for another loan. There. Should you expect him to forgive my debt? Of course not. But when a man or woman comes to God without an excuse and without a reason for pardon, but he says in truth and humility and sincerity, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man will go down to his house justified, that is, forgiven of his debt. These are the Lord's words in Luke chapter 18. Which leads me to my third head, the love of God to sinners in the person of Jesus Christ. How do we understand love like this? How do we understand a reaction to a woman like this? We can't understand this because this is in no way natural. It's not human nature to do this. But we can understand it in the person of Jesus Christ. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, said the Lord in Luke chapter 5, verse 32. And that he did. in the eternal courts of heaven when God, the triune God, saw the calamity of corruption and sin upon mankind and the imminent destruction that they would deserve, the Lord authored the covenant of grace. Let us save them, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Son of God exalted in heaven, condescended to earth and took on human flesh where he was praised in heaven. He would be spat upon on earth and he did this for love and he came down and he lived an earthly life, sinless, completely obedient to his father and he went to Calvary. there he suffered the full weight of the wrath of God due to his children. This is substitutionary atonement. And then he rose and he sits at the throne of heaven now continuing to do good for us, a living Savior. He continues to intercede for us even now. He is praised in heaven now constantly by angels and saints in a place where there is day without night, but he has not forgotten you and me. What kind of love is that? That's incredible love. How can we help but love him." Well, I'm not trying to say we ought to love him, because that's not how love works. I would never say that. But I will say this, is that if we know him, if we know our Lord Jesus, then we can't help but love him. Well, wrapping up, but I I want to give a little bit of advice to those who are yet far from the Lord, or perhaps to brothers and sisters some advice you can give to those who are yet far from the Lord, and that is this. Just recently a young man came to me and he said, the Lord draws people to him first through repentance, this young seeker. He was a young seeker. And I thought to myself, just so, and perhaps for him that is certainly the way he's being drawn. And as the Reformed Baptists, we know that repentance and faith are intertwined within the very fabric of belief, and that is the way that it is in Holy Scripture. But what is also true, brothers and sisters, is this. Verse 14 is also true. Therefore, behold, I will allure her. God also draws men and women to himself through allurements, sometimes soft allurements. And to be drawn to the Lord through some of these allurements is also a covenant way. How do you know this? Well, it's right here, it's verse 14. Let me give you some examples for me. The Lord drew me through my hope of a personal God. You don't have to turn, but if you want to, it's in Luke chapter 19 and verse 5. Zacchaeus in the crowd, he clambers up into a sycamore tree. And the Lord sees him in this crowd. And he says, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide in thy house. That was the scripture that made me start to think about a personal Christ. Here's another example of an allurement. Pastor Spurgeon. Now he says that his allurement was one of personal safety. And his text, now I know we all know the text from Isaiah 45.22, that was his conversion text. But this is the one where he says, this is where I started to be drawn to him by the need for his personal safety. And it was actually 2 Timothy 1.12. And I'll read it. Spurgeon said this, he read this text, for I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. That's the text that first began to draw him, that would finally send him into that little chapel on that snowy day, if you know the story. This is a soft allurement. Other people out there who are outside the kingdom may be allured by the happiness of Christians, and that's an important one. Others may be allured by the idea of the peace that we are given in turmoil. Perhaps there are some that have never experienced the great terrors of conscience or the distresses of their souls, and they may come to you, saying, what's wrong with me? Tell them to fret not. Because if they are being drawn by these allurements, it is still a covenant way. If they are fascinated by the charms of Christ, let them yield to them. Let them yield to all that fascination and all the charms and the love of the Savior. And then pray for them, because perhaps it shall be in that day, one day, that the Lord shall say, thou shalt call me Ishi. Well, let's close our thinking with the hymn 551, Just As I Am. as I am with God.