I'm going to ask you please to turn to the book of Hosea, chapter 1. Hosea, chapter 1. And we begin reading at the first verse. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Be'eri, 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 Hordom, and have children of Hordom, for the land commits great Hordom by forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son. And 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, and 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. And the Lord said to him, Call her name No mercy. By the way, you may have in your Bible L'Ruhamah and that is the Hebrew for 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. When she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, Call his name, Not my people, or Lo-Ami. 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 numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, it shall be said to them, Children of the living God. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, And they shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel." And I believe that the first verse of chapter 2 goes with this. It says this, "'Say to your brothers, you are my people, and to your sisters, you have received mercy.'" Let's go together to our God in prayer. Lord, we ask now your blessing upon your precious word as we strive by your spirit to declare it in a way that pleases you and that is edifying for your church. We thank you for the privilege we have to gather around your word tonight. And Lord, we look forward to the ways that you will instruct us and the ways that you will deal with our hearts. We also pray for those in our midst tonight who don't know you and ask that in your mercy and grace, they would see who your son really is, that they would place their faith and trust in Christ Jesus as their Lord and their Savior. Lord, I pray that where there is sin in our lives that we're not aware of, that even tonight through the ministry of your word and by your spirit, we would come face to face with those sins and Lord, you would break our hearts and bring us to a place of turning away from those things. Lord, where we need strength and encouragement to be able to persevere and to be diligent in our walk with you, I pray that tonight we would receive that strength and encouragement through the nourishment of the scriptures. We're so blessed, God, you're so good to us, and we praise you for this and ask your blessing upon this time we have together for the sake of your name, for the sake of your glory, for the sake of your work in this world. We pray for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, tonight we begin to study the book of Hosea. It is at the head of the minor prophets, 12 minor prophets, and Hosea is the first one listed. I know you know, but I want to remind you that when you talk about minor prophets, they're not referred to as the minor prophets because they are less important than the larger prophetic books, but rather because of their brevity, because they're not as long. Hosea is the longest of the 12 minor prophets. And so it's appropriate that it would be at the head of the list, but it's also appropriate to be at the head of the list for another reason. Because this is perhaps the most unique of all the books of the prophets. No prophet had a more unique calling than the prophet Hosea. In fact, James Montgomery Boyce refers to this as the second greatest story ever told. Outside of the story of Christ himself, James Montgomery Boyce sees this as the second greatest story in the Bible. Hosea has been referred to by one writer as the prophet who prophesied at the zero hour in Israel's history. That is, this was the last prophet who prophesied to the northern kingdom prior to the invasion and the destruction brought about by the Assyrians in 722 BC. And so, just before the Lord brought judgment on the Northern Kingdom, here was Hosea giving a final warning. God, through this prophet, giving a final word concerning their judgment. So, most of his message is focused on the Northern Kingdom, but you will find, as we study this book, references to the Southern Kingdom, to Judah. And in all likelihood, after the Assyrian invasion, this message was taken to the southern kingdom and it would have had great impact in the south just on the heels of what God had brought in terms of judgment upon the north. He ministered for close to 40 years. His ministry spanned the rule of several kings, both in the north and the south. In fact, notice in verse 1, "...the word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Baari in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." Right? Kings ruling in the south and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king. of Israel. Some have asked why, if this man ministered in the north, which he obviously did, why does he list all of these kings in the south but only one king in the north? Well, it may be that Hosea is giving us the message that in all reality the only ones who had a legitimate claim on the throne were those descendants of David, and so really there wasn't legitimacy in the north anyway. And so he focuses on the kings who ruled in the south. Whatever the case, the real uniqueness of this man's ministry is that God chose him to be a living object lesson for the message that he was to preach. Hosea would himself be a sign. His family would be a sign. The message that he's going to preach about, he's living. That is, the people of God have been unfaithful, you know, picturing the people of God like a bride, like a wife, the people of God have been unfaithful to their husband. And so Hosea is going to picture for the people he's preaching to, he's going to picture God's relationship to the nation. His relationship to his wife, Gomer, is going to picture God's relationship to his people. The way that Gomer treats him, namely through adultery and unfaithfulness, she is going to picture the people's relationship to their God and the offspring, the children of Hortem, will picture individual Israelites and God's attitude toward Israel. So he's not just going to preach a message, he's going to live it out. And that's by God's design. That's what God is calling this prophet to do, as we're going to see tonight. Now before we begin to dig into this first chapter, there's just a couple of things I want us to reflect upon together. Just sort of take note of, just in what we've already talked about. First of all, Hosea reminds us that we really are servants of God, aren't we? I mean by that, that as believers, we exist to tell God's story. We exist to tell God's story. We exist to tell the story about God. God's the star, so to speak. God's the one that we exist for Him. We exist to make His name known. God has the right to make use of any one of us in any way that He chooses to make Himself known. I mean, we stop and we ask the question, you know, what is it to be called by God to enter into a marriage that you know in advance will involve the person you're marrying being unfaithful to you. You talk about a difficult calling. God tells this prophet, as we'll see tonight, in advance you're going to marry someone who is going to prove to be an adulteress. And there are going to be children born from this union that represent children of adultery. What a calling! And yet that's exactly what God calls this man to do. Tells him in advance it's going to happen. But do we understand that we exist to tell the story of God, that we exist to make the truth about God known? And do we understand that we are privileged to be instruments of God, to make God known, not only when the circumstances in which we do that are pleasant, But even when the circumstances that God chooses to make Himself known through, when those are painful to us and difficult for us. I'll say it to you this way. Even when you're going through difficult times, even when you're going through painful times, there is the opportunity in and through your life to make God known and, child of God, you are privileged, you are blessed to be able to make God known in those circumstances, even when they're painful, even when you wish it were some other way. Do you recognize that tonight? Maybe there's someone here this evening, you're going through a really, really difficult time and if you obey the Word of God, if you embrace God's calling upon your life right in the midst of the difficult situation that you're in, do you recognize that you are privileged and blessed to reflect the truth about your God even though those circumstances are painful? Do you feel blessed by that? Do you feel privileged by that? Do you recognize that as a calling? You see, we're not to see that as some kind of great sacrifice. We're to see it as a blessing. I mean, the Lord could have left us to ourselves, couldn't He? could have left us to ourselves. We could have perished, but instead He has redeemed us. He has saved us. And now we are instruments of His to make His glory known. And that's a good thing. We really are slaves of God. We really are servants of God. We really do exist for His name, for His glory. That's the reason for our existence on this earth and how blessed and how privileged we are to be able to serve God that way. Which gets to a second reflection I want you to think about with me, and that is we then are to be, just like Hosea, we are to be living sermons. We are to be living sermons. We are to be living letters. God makes us sermons. He puts us in situations where we're called upon not just to hear the gospel, Not just to intellectually be instructed about the gospel, but he puts us in situations where we must live the gospel. We live it out. We demonstrate it. We put it out there on the stage that this world observes. We have the opportunity to feel the truth of the gospel. We have the opportunity to demonstrate the truth of the gospel. For example, did God love us before we loved Him? He did, didn't He? So does God put us in situations, as believers, where we are called to love people who don't love us? Anyone in your life tonight who's not loving you, but you're called to love them? Do you stop and just let it sink in and recognize that wherever you are called to love someone who doesn't love you back, there is an opportunity for you to feel and to demonstrate The truth of the gospel from God's vantage point. God loved us when we didn't love Him. And now we have opportunity to love someone who's not loving us. That's an opportunity to be a living sermon. To be a living demonstration of the character and nature and goodness and grace and kindness of God. You see? Does God love us now? at times when we don't love Him as we should. Do you ever, as a believer, make a poor return on God's love towards you? Does God love you more than you love Him? Is God more faithful to you than you are to Him? Are you ever guilty of spiritual adultery? Are you ever guilty of spiritual unfaithfulness? And yet God loves you, doesn't He? And He's faithful to you. So that when you and I are put in situations where we're called upon to love someone who is actively mistreating us, called upon to love someone who is actively betraying us or being unfaithful to us, there is an opportunity to be a living sermon. Not just to know the gospel, not just to intellectually learn about the gospel, but to live the gospel, to feel the gospel, to demonstrate the gospel. God sacrificed Himself in the person of His Son to rescue us, to forgive us of our sins. And we're going to be put in certain situations who are called upon to sacrifice for the very ones who wouldn't give a dime for us. Is anyone ever in a situation where not only are you called upon to love someone, but you would have to love them in such a way that you would make sacrifices for them? Sacrifices of time, sacrifices of concern, sacrifices of effort. I mean, you're put in a situation where you are actively pursuing them even when they don't want you to pursue them. What is that? That is a living demonstration of God's love for us. That is a living demonstration of God taking the initiative to rescue us from that which would have destroyed us. And in the same kind of way, we will be called upon to actively seek the salvation, the rescue of people who don't even want to be rescued, and to sacrifice in ways as we do that. What is that? That's a living sermon. That's a living letter. That's a message in life by the way that you're living. God patiently, persistently, we could even use the word stubbornly, loved us and still does love us even at times when we are foolish and inviting His punishing hand And God calls upon us to be living letters, to love people persistently, patiently, stubbornly, even when they're living foolishly. Folks, do you recognize that's what church discipline is about? How many of you know that church discipline is about loving people? It is, isn't it? Why do you go to someone one-on-one and then if they won't listen, you go with two or more? Why don't you just say, well that's it, we told him, we told her, we've done our duty, our hands are clean. Why do you go with two or more? And then if they won't listen, why do you tell it to the church? And then if they won't listen to the church, why would the church take formal action to remove them from membership, but in a way that has a spiritual purpose. Why this pursuit of sinners who have professed to know Jesus Christ as Lord and who have belonged to the fellowship? Why walk through those steps? Do you recognize that each one of those steps represents an unwillingness to let go of the person? We aren't going to just let you go to destruction. We're going to patiently, persistently, stubbornly, prayerfully, humbly, gently, lovingly pursue you for as long as we can. Why? Because we love you even when you aren't loving us. We love you even when you don't want to be loved by us. That's what church discipline's about. And in that way, the church serves as a living sermon, a living letter of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why when people don't want church discipline to be enacted in the local church, they don't even understand the gospel as they should. Second Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1, Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says this, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you? Corinthian church, what a difficult people for Paul to love and yet he did. And listen what he goes on to say, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation. You want to know what our ministry is about? Just look at you. The fact that you know Christ, the fact that you've been born again, this is the result of our ministry. And he goes on to say this, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you're a letter from Christ. Delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." Corinthian Church, you are a letter of Jesus Christ. Well, that's what Jose is being called to right here. Not just to preach with words, but to preach with his life. Notice how the Lord does this. The first thing we see tonight is God's instruction to Hosea. By the way, the first three chapters serve as a prologue to the rest of the book. It's not just the first section. It's like the message of the whole book in miniature. It begins with a narrative about Hosea's life. At the end of chapter 3, you have another narration about his life. So it begins with two stories about Hosea. The first one having to do with judgment, the second having to do with hope. Between these two narratives, you have three oracles. The first one having to do with judgment, the next two having to do with hope. So you have an A, B, B, B, B, B, A construction. You have narrative, narrative, and sandwiched between, you have free messages. So his story is told in two parts, separated by these three oracles. And so the first thing we see tonight is the beginning story about his life. Notice what the Lord does, verse 1. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Be'eri 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. That's really all we know about Hosea. know the name of his father. We know that he's ministering as a prophet to the northern kingdom. As you read the book, that becomes apparent. Outside of that, we don't really know much about him. We know he followed the ministry of Amos. We know the time period in which he ministered. We know about how long he ministered. We know the content of this prophecy. Notice how it begins, verse 2, when the Lord first spoke through Hosea. I want you to get that. This is not talking about the Lord speaking to Hosea. This is how the Lord chose to speak through him. This is how God is going to communicate his message through Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, go take to yourself a wife of Horeb and have children of Horeb. For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom." He tells him at the very beginning both of those things. You're going to take a wife of whoredom, children of whoredom. This is what you're going to do. Now this has been much debated. What exactly is going on here? What did Hosea do? Let me give you three options tonight. There are actually four, but I'm just going to mention three and then tell you what I believe is going on here. Option number one is some have thought that he really did nothing, which is to say that this is not really history. This is all symbolism. This is all allegory. He never really had a wife of whoredom. They never really had children of whoredom. This is just an allegorical construction and the reason why they say they believe this is, why would God tell a man to go take a prostitute for a wife? It's unthinkable. So this is just all figurative language meant to communicate a message. The problem with that is there's nothing in the narrative that indicates this is just figurative. In fact, there are details in the narrative that are completely unnecessary if this is just an allegory. For example, when you get down to verse 8, when she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. If this is just an allegory, there's no reason to mention the fact that the other child had just been weaned. There's no reason to give the name of Gomer's father, Diblium. There's no reason to give Gomer's name. There's no real significance to any of that. So if this is allegory, those features have no meaning and there's no reason to give them. All of this represents historical reality. This is something that really happened. Which leads to option number two, that is to think that God told him to actually go marry a woman who was already a prostitute. One of the great sins confronted in this book is the worship of Baal. And one aspect of the worship of Baal was the belief that the Baals were fertility gods. And one of the ways to stir the Baals to action was ritualistic sexual activity. So you had ritualistic prostitution. And in the life of Israel, as it sunk into this moral cesspool, you had both men and women engaged in that kind of ritualistic sexual activity. And so some believe that Gomer was already sort of a prostitute in the service of Baal, and God told Hosea to go marry her. According to this view, the children would have already been hers. In that sense, they would be children of Horeb. Already exhibiting the character of their mother is the idea. So he marries this woman and her children are already there and all of it represents adultery or whoredom. There are some major problems with that view, as you might already recognize. One, you would have God commanding the prophet to enter into a marriage with a woman who is already in sexual sin. That's not the character of our God, is it? But not only that, it would also destroy the comparison that's going to be made throughout this book, which is Israel had A beginning with God that then she became unfaithful to. God delivers her from Egypt. God plants her in her land. There's a good beginning, but then there's unfaithfulness after this beginning. If he goes and marries a woman who's already immoral, then that picture would be destroyed. No, that's not what's going on here. So that leads us to option number three, which is God commands Hosea to marry a woman who is chaste when he marries her. She's just a normal Israelite woman and their beginning is a good one, but in short time she proves to be an adulteress. In short time she proves to be unfaithful to him. So as he marries her, he's violating the laws of God. She is a chaste woman But God tells the prophet in advance, she will not remain faithful to you. There's going to be adultery in your future that you're going to have to deal with and it's not just going to involve your relationship with her, it's also going to involve your children. Hosea is going to come face to face with the sad situation of his wife bearing children that are not his. And through this, he's going to be a living letter, he's going to be a living sermon. Because notice the significance of this command. Why is God telling the prophet to do this? Verse 2, when the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take yourself a wife of Horeb and have children of Horeb for the land commits great Horeb by forsaking the Lord. Because this is what my people have done. This is what my people are doing. My people are spiritual adulteresses. My people represent children of whoredom. And one of the great expressions of this whoredom, not just the misuse of material things and all the sorts of things talked about in the book of Amos, but really in focus in this book is the false religion of Baal. going after the bales, spiritual adultery. And God is going to preach to the people through a prophet who is a living illustration of God's faithfulness to His people and His people's unfaithfulness to Him. But the future that God has promised regarding this people The promise of reconciliation, the promise of restoration, the promise of a future despite their sin, despite their unfaithfulness. God is going to use Hosea to demonstrate this. So the first thing we see is God's command to the prophet. Go marry this woman and this is going to be your future. The second thing I want you to notice is Hosea's obedience to God. What does the prophet do? Verse 3. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son." Now, does Hosea fully understand everything God is revealing to him? I mean, does he have a full comprehension of all that this is going to involve? Perhaps not. Whether he did or whether he didn't, here's what we know. He immediately obeyed the Lord. He does what God commands him to do. And he takes this woman, Gomer, for his wife. And the result of this union is what we can refer to as a significant family or a family that signifies something, a family that serves as a sign. Because as they are married and as the children begin to be born, each child that's born, God attaches to this child a message. There's a message related to these children. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son, And 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, and 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." God says concerning this first son of theirs, name him Jezreel. He talks about the Valley of Jezreel. This is the place, you may remember, where Ahab and Jezebel had an innocent man by the name of Naboth put to death so they could take his vineyard. Do you remember that? Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard and Naboth refused because Naboth understood the divine allotment of the land that was given. He didn't have any right to give away his inheritance. So even for a king, he wouldn't do it. Ahab, who promoted the worship of Baal along with Jezebel, so resented this that he brooded over it and his wife's solution was to send some letters that accused this man of treason and as a result he was taken away and stoned to death and they took his vineyard. The Valley of Jezreel is also the place where Jehu, you can read about this in 2 Kings 9 and 10, Jehu slaughtered the entire house of Ahab by taking the life of Joram and his household. Ahab's dynasty, Jehu takes action. Now he does this through the word of the prophet Elijah. He's obeying Elisha the prophet. and he exterminates the household of Joram. Also puts to death Ahaziah, the king in Judah at the same time. So God is saying here that He is going to avenge this bloodshed. The sin that was committed in the Valley of Jezreel is going to be avenged. And the result will be that the kingdom of Israel will be put to an end. The question is, how do you explain this? Because, as I said, if this is referring to what Jehu did with respect to Joram and his house, God told him to do that through the prophet Elisha. And, in fact, God commended him for it after he did it. Look over, if you would, at 2 Kings chapter 10. We don't have time to read it all, but I want to show you some of this. Chapter 10, Jehu also took some other action that we read about here. Look at verse 28, "...Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebar when he made Israel to sin, that is, the golden calves that were in Bethlehem and Dan. And the Lord said to Jehu, because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." And you can read on your own time, 2 Kings 9, 2 Kings 10 will put all this in context for you. But for tonight's purpose, look back at the book of Hosea. So the question is, how could God commend him for that? in 2 Kings chapter 10 and now say in Hosea chapter 1, I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. How would that be connected to what he had done? Well again, a couple of options. One option is that Jehu here is simply be taken as another name for Israel. So it's not the specific thing we read about in 2 Kings 9 and 10, that's not what the prophet has in mind here, but rather he is going back to what happened in 1 Kings chapter 21, Naboth's vineyard. We have Ahab who's promoting Baal who takes this Israelites vineyard and God is saying, I haven't forgotten that. And I'm going to avenge that, not only through the death of Ahab and Jezebel, which God had already done, but I'm going to avenge this by putting an end to the Northern Kingdom. Because the Northern Kingdom is following the Baals. You still have this showdown between Baal and Yahweh. And just as Ahab promoted the Baals, now God is going to avenge the bloodshed as a result of that. So, the Northern Kingdom is in danger because they're following the Baals, just like Ahab did. If you have the ESV Study Bible, Down at the bottom you'll notice this note. It's a good summary of this position. Many suppose that the blood of Jezreel refers to the shedding of blood of the house of Ahab and Ahaziah when Jehu usurped the throne. 2 Kings 9, 10, 2 Chronicles 22. But this proposal suffers from serious difficulties. First, the kingdom of Israel did not come to an end with Jehu's dynasty. Israel survived for 30 years after Zechariah, the last king of that dynasty. Second, God commanded Jehu to exterminate Ahab's dynasty and commended his work. It seems unlikely that the Lord would punish someone for carrying out His command. It is better to take the phrase, House of Jehu, as parallel to House of Israel, and thus another name for Israel. By this reading, the blood of Jezreel refers to 1 Kings 21, Naboth's Vineyard. Appropriately, this verse sets the tenor for the rest of the book, the ongoing confrontation between Baal and the God of Israel. So that's one, is to understand Jehu here as synonymous with Israel and thus with Ahab's sin. But there's another option and that is even though God commended Jehu in 2 Kings 10 for wiping out Ahab's dynasty, if you read carefully that whole section, you'll discover he killed a whole lot of other people also. And it may be that what God is remembering here and is going to avenge is that he really didn't do what he did. His real motive was not the glory of God, though he obeyed the word of the prophet Elisha. And one way he demonstrated that is he went beyond the command of God. He didn't limit himself to killing those that the Lord had told him to exterminate. He went on a killing rampage. And there were many people put to death that had nothing to do with that command. Listen, regardless of which option you take, here's what we can be clear on. I always like to go to what we can be clear on. What we can be clear on is this. God doesn't forget sin, does He? God doesn't forget sin. God does avenge sin because He's remembering something that has happened in their past. It has still not been answered for and God is going to avenge it. He's going to bring judgment. And in addition, we're reminded that there's a symmetry present in God's judgments. Because where the sin was committed is where the sin will be judged. Do you notice what he says? I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day, I will break the bow of Israel, where? In the valley of Jezreel. Where the sin has been committed, there the sin will be avenged. Folks, can I say to us tonight, we will always have to revisit our sins in the place where they've been committed, either by repentance or in judgment. We either have to come to where we have sinned before God, honestly, brokenheartedly, and confess our sin where we have departed from God and meet with His forgiveness there, or one day we will meet there with the Lord in judgment. Israel is going to meet with the Lord in judgment in the valley of Jezreel because the sin that was committed there, they still have not turned from as they are actively committing spiritual adultery against the Lord. So the first child is named Jezreel. It speaks of the judgment that God is going to bring upon the nation. Now there's a second child born, verse 6. She conceived again. and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, Call her name Loruhamma, or No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all." Here's the first indication of a problem in this marriage. Do you notice something about the first son that is born? Verse 3, "...and she conceived and..." What does the Bible say? What does it say? "...bore him..." Who's the him? Hosea. "...bore him a son." She bore him a son. But when you come to verse 6, it simply says, "...she conceived again and bore a daughter." It doesn't say she bore him a daughter. She bore a daughter. Now some have pointed out, and this is true, that there are other places in the Old Testament where you know you have a legitimate birth and the same kind of language is used. So just the language by itself wouldn't be proof that this child's father was questionable. But there are other indications in this book that I think, when we look at verse 6, then makes this a questionable birth. Because just look down to the application of the symbolism in chapter 2. Verse 2, "...plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife and I am not her husband, that she put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. Upon her children also I will have..." What? No mercy. Why? "...because they are children of whoredom." For their mother has played the whore. She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink." Right? These are children of whoredom. And by the way, when it says here, call this daughter's name no mercy or no love, In all likelihood, what it's referring to is this father doesn't have the natural affection for this child that he would his own because this child is not his own. No mercy, no connection, no love. This is not his child. No natural affection. The symbolic name is given pointing to the fact that judgment is going to come upon the northern kingdom soon and there will be no mercy in the judgment. But God still has mercy that He's going to demonstrate. You see that in verse 7, but I will have mercy on the house of Judah. You see, there's still time for Judah. Judah, will you learn the lessons that God is putting on display with your sister in the north? Will you learn the lessons? Will you listen to the message? By the way, folks, can I say this also about church discipline? Do you realize one of the reasons why church discipline needs to be faithfully enacted in local churches is that others may see and fear? That is, that we would understand that sin is a serious issue? That's a loving thing? That's a gracious thing? That's a merciful thing from God? So God is dealing with the Northern Kingdom in such a way that it may result in mercy for the South. But even then, when God brings this mercy to the South, they need to understand it's not because of any kind of military strength that they have or anything they've supplied for themselves. He says, 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. God said, I'm going to show you that it's God, it's me who keeps a nation safe. You're not safe because of your military power. You're not safe because of anything you provided for yourself. If you are safe as a people, you're safe because God says, I do it. I do it. That would be a good lesson for our own nation to learn, wouldn't it? Put our faith in our material things, and all of a sudden our material things are drying up. Put our faith in our military power, and one day we may find out that that's not where our strength has ever been. If we have any prosperity, true prosperity, if we have any true safety, it's because of the grace and mercy of God. So the next child has significance too, doesn't she? No mercy. Laruhama, no mercy. Verse 8, when she had weaned, no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. Again, it doesn't say his son. She conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, Call His name. Now it becomes more explicit, doesn't it? Call His name, Lo-Ami. That is, not my people. This is not my son. For you are not my people and I am not your God. This is the language of being disowned. And what God is saying is that in terms of how He is going to treat this nation in judgment, their judgment will reveal their apostate condition. They are His people in terms of physical history. They are His people in terms of their future and a covenant that God has made with respect to national Israel, but they are not His people from a spiritual point of view. They have forsaken the true and living God and have gone after false gods. And the time of mercy has passed and judgment is going to fall. And Hosea's own marriage and his own children are a living sermon of what the relationship is right now between the Living God and the Northern Kingdom. But this narrative doesn't end without hope, does it? Verse 10, "...Yet, despite all of this, the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered, And in the place where it was said to them, that is right here in your land, where you're hearing the words, you are not my people. It shall be said to them in the future, children of the living God and the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together. No more divided kingdom, but a united kingdom. and they shall appoint for themselves one head." There's going to be this uniting with one king, one ruler, one head, one leader. We know who that is, don't we? It's the Messiah, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. "...and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel." By the way, Jezreel means God sows. Where there has been judgment, there's going to be restoration. Where there has been division, there's going to be reunion. Where there has been apostasy, there's going to be faith and faithfulness. In fact, God wants this announced. I mean, if the people will hear the message, receive the message, believe the message, say to your brothers, you are my people, and to your sisters, you have received mercy. If they would respond in faith even now, there is mercy to be had. Will they listen? Do you know why there's a message of hope here? Because God has promised to do a salvation work with respect to physical Israel. God has promised to do a salvation work among this people that is not depending on their faithfulness. but ultimately depends on God's faithfulness to fulfill a promise that He swore by Himself. You see, there's something God has determined to do, that He's going to do despite their unfaithfulness. Now listen, He's not going to leave them in an unfaithful condition. What He's going to do will involve the salvation of the nation. Not every single Israelite who's ever been born, but rather this spiritual remnant that the Lord is going to bring to Himself. God is going to accomplish salvation in a physical, national Israel. He's promised to do it. He promised it to Abraham. And he swore to do it by himself. What he's referring to here in this verse is found in Genesis chapter 15. When the Lord said this to Abraham, listen to this, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me for I continue childless? And the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus." And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, this man shall not be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward the heaven. and number the stars if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "'So shall your offspring be.'" Genesis 22, 16, and he said, by myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this, this is after the offering of Isaac, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that's on the seashore. By the Spirit of God, he's gathering up that language, isn't he? When he says in verse 10, "...the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered." He's going all the way back to the promise made to Abraham. "...I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that's on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This is what God promises to do. He has sworn by Himself to do it, and He will. so that her adultery and her judgment and her separation from her husband is not the final word. Not because she doesn't deserve for it to be the final word, but because her God is gracious and powerful and able to perform what He has promised. What do we take from this tonight? Well, I would ask you tonight, do you recognize you really are a servant of God? Child of God? Do you recognize that you exist, I exist, to tell His story? And we're privileged and blessed to be a people who tell His story. And He has the right to tell His story through us in any way He sees fit. in whatever circumstances He places us in. If He had said to us, I want you to go marry this person and I'm telling you in advance, you're going to be a living sermon concerning My love. Is that okay? Is it right for God to do such a thing? What's the answer? Yes. Was Hosea blessed and privileged to be chosen for such a task? Do you realize that you exist for His glory? So then I would ask you this, are you ready then to be a living sermon wherever God's love is meant to be put on display through your life? Are you ready to love the unlovely? Are you ready to love the one who's not loving you back? Are you ready to love the one who is actively, knowingly being unfaithful to you, betraying you? Are you ready to sacrifice for them? Are you ready to stubbornly, persistently, tirelessly, the proper kind of way. Pursue them. Are you ready to be a living letter? Are you ready to be a living sermon? And do you recognize that whatever your pain is, whatever your difficulty is in that situation, it pales in comparison to what God has experienced from us. You know why that's true? Because if I think about anyone who has ever mistreated me, if you think about anyone who is currently mistreating you, what do we deserve? Isn't it true to say tonight, we all have it better than we deserve? Amen? Can you say that you've been completely faithful to every person in your life so that whatever unfaithfulness you experienced from another person, you deserved so much better? I mean, is that true? But what unfaithfulness is there in God? Where has He ever been unfaithful to us? Where has He been anything but perfectly good and kind and faithful to us? What has God done to deserve our unfaithfulness? I would also ask you this, and I close with this. Where are you playing the harlot? Where has your heart wandered? Where are you running after the bales? Where have you looked to this world in all of its lies about pleasure to meet the needs of your life and fulfill the desires of your heart instead of remaining faithful to the one who has betrothed you to himself? Would you put away your idols tonight? Would you stop putting your confidence in the bales? Would you return to a wholehearted love relationship with your God? Let's bow together for prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that we exist for your glory. Lord, we could have been vessels for dishonorable use because we were vessels fit for destruction. But in your great mercy and love, You delivered us from that, and You've made us Your own children. And now we joyfully agree together and confess together that we exist for one purpose on this earth, to tell the story of You. We thank You, Lord, for the times that we can do that in pleasant circumstances, but we also tell You tonight that we feel blessed even when we do that in painful circumstances. Strengthen us to understand that. Strengthen us to see how privileged and blessed we are, even if our calling is one that is painful. Make it, Lord, our chief desire for this world to see nothing more or less in our lives than You. Thank You for bringing us to Yourself, to the perfect One whose perfect work answers for all of our sins. Thank You for our Savior, Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Lord, forgive us when we feel that we deserve better than what we have. Humble our hearts. Make us a grateful, thankful people who realize, Lord, how graced we are. I pray for my brothers and sisters who are going through painful circumstances right now, called by you to be a living sermon in the midst of those circumstances. I ask for their strength. I ask for their encouragement. I ask for clear thinking. that they would see these situations from the vantage point of your word and be wholeheartedly committed just to being your letter, your sermon, right in the midst of that circumstance. Thank you for your word and your spirit, Lord, who teaches us your word. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.