Thank you for listening to Servants for Christ. In all that we do, in all that we say, we want to give glory and honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning us in as we get into the wonderful Word of God. For the next few minutes, let's take the beautiful Word of God and share it with each and every one of you as we have a sense of anticipation to take the Word of God and to listen to its truth for each and every one. Thank you for tuning in for my podcast here, Service for Christ, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake. Here, as we start on our series, A Heartache of Divine Love, out of the book of Hosea, of the minor prophets. Here, when we look at Hosea chapter one, Amen? Hosea chapter 1. Amen? We begin to look at how God hates sin. And when we look at this typical story, we see a story that goes and it talks about how a man has a wife and that lady basically cheats on him. And after having three children, she goes with other men, falls in a bad way, gets sent back to the slave market. He goes back to the slave market and buys her back and restores her as his wife. Now, this almost sounds like a pretty woman, a Hollywood classic. A hooker with a heart of gold that's forced into a wayward life by adverse circumstances, but longing to be delivered by the handsome leading man who discovers her true worth and falls in love with her. And they settle down and they raise a happy family. However, in Hosea, we see a real-life script being played out, drama in real time. A man marries a prostitute who does not have a heart of gold. They have three kids. She leaves him for other men. And when her life falls apart, he goes, he buys her back and restores her status as his wife. And so, the point of the book of Hosea is that the prostitute, Gomer, symbolizes the spiritual problems that Israel had. And so, When we look at this, we see the unfaithful bride. Every one of us, you know all of us love a love story. Romance novels are the best sellers because everyone loves to read a love story. Movies that have their theme as a love story sell in the media because everybody loves a love story. Unfortunately, much of what people in our world today call a love story is really a lust story. because I share with you a story which comes from the pages of the Word of God, a book in the Old Testament that tells the greatest love story ever told. I'm referring, of course, to the book which we have before us, the book of Hosea. Because in your Old Testament, the last 12 books are known as the Minor Prophets. They begin with Hosea and they go all the way to the little book of Malachi that goes into 400 silent years before it gets in to the New Testament of Matthew. It's something of a misnamed section, really, because the messages of these Minor Prophets are not minor. They're the most important messages, I think. in the whole entire Bible because they tell us a message and when we look at the name of Hosea it means salvation and so as we look at the greatest love story You know, as we open up, I read a story about a young woman who after years of marriage, she found herself lost in the chaos of life. She discovered a note in her husband's pocket that read, I love you because please come back to me. It was a simple message, but it represented a plea for reconciliation and a reminder of the commitment that they once made. And this story mirrors the profound truth of Hosea, where God calls his wayward people back into a loving relationship despite their unfaithfulness. And so, when we look at the unfaithful bribe of Hosea chapter one, going all the way down to verse 10. Let's open up with a word of prayer first. Father, we acknowledge our need for your grace, your forgiveness. Forgive us for our daily transgressions, our sin. Help us to put on the armor of God that we may stand against all of the temptations and the deceits of the pretty women of the world, or the pretty men of the world. that begins to bring us into our own Hollywood stories of life. Open our hearts to receive your word and may it transform us in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. Here in this series, A Heartache of Divine Love, we look at the first message of Hosea chapter one and we call it the unfaithful bride. As we look at the unfaithful bride, we see a call of Hosea. You know, adultery is condemned by God. There's no exceptions. All adulterers will face the justice and the punishment of God. But there's one way for an adulterous person to escape God's coming judgment. Listen to me. Repentance. A person must turn away from sin and turn back to God. A person must trust the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him, the promised Messiah, to forgive his or her sins. And so God will forgive anyone who approaches Him through his Son. But it is through Christ alone that a person can be restored and reconciled to God. And so, here in this first chapter, it sets forth adultery, punishment, and restoration, or reconciliation. We look at the family of Hosea. It's a picture of Israel's adultery, punishment, and restoration. And when we do, here we see, first of all, the call of Hosea, a time of prosperity and moral corruption. And so, when we look at the Word of God, we're going to read it as we go, as we deal with our podcast of Hosea, where in the King James, it says, The Word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beri, 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. There we see a verse that introduces Hosea as a prophet and he mentions the kings of Judah and Israel during whose reigns he received messages from God. God's messages, they came to Hosea during the reigns of five different kings. History reveals that these were times of prosperity, political turmoil, moral corruption, and nothing else is known about the call to Hosea other than what is given in this first verse. The Lord himself issued the call to Hosea because his call to be a prophet did not come from Baal or from other so-called God-worshipped by many of the prophet forms of worship of that day. His call came from the Lord, the only living and true God. Hosea was not a false but a true prophet of the Lord, and his message needed to be heeded. Hosea's name, again, means salvation, which suggests that he was chosen to be a messenger of God's wonderful redemption. He was to claim, proclaim salvation to a lost people who desperately needed to be saved from the coming day of God's justice and judgment. And so the kings who ruled during Hosea's ministry give us a glimpse into the prophet's day and time. A period of history that was to lead to the fall of the northern kingdoms of Israel to Assyria and Hosea's prophetic ministry was primarily directed to the northern kingdom and spanned several decades of the 8th century. Here we see a quick glance at verse 1 that shows Hosea named the four kings of Judah, the southern kingdom who ruled during his ministry, yet strangely he named only one king of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam II. I wonder why? Well, Jeroboam II was the last significant king of Jehu's dynasty to rule over Israel. And after his death, his son Zechariah ruled only six months before he was assassinated by Shalom, who coveted the power of the throne. Following the deaths of Jeroboam and his son Zechariah and the Jehu dynasty, a dynasty that was appointed by God himself, they died out. You can read about this in 1 Kings chapter 19. and 2 Kings chapter 9 down to chapter 10. But no ruler was directly appointed by God to rule over the Northern Kingdom. No king had any divine authority whatsoever in the Northern Kingdom. Their legitimacy to rule was apparently always doubted by some of the leaders of the nation, including Hosea himself. and perhaps this is the reason Jeroboam II is the only ruler of the northern kingdom named by the prophet. In the case of Judah, though, all the kings were descendants of David's dynasty, the legitimate dynasty of kings from whom the Messiah was to come. It was the promised Messiah, the son of David, who would be the eternal king to rule forever over the people of God. those who truly follow the Lord. And I'm glad Hosea named all the kings of the dynasty that was to give birth to the Savior of the world. As mentioned, I'm glad of the five kings by Hosea, that lived in a day of great influence, of political chaos and moral depravity. The rulers, the citizens, they flourished, living of luxury and good fortune. From a financial perspective, Hosea's days were good times, a period of enormous wealth and prosperity for many within the society. Construction projects, when you get over in Hosea chapter 8, you'll see that deals with public works. Successful businesses, rich farms, busy markets, a booming economy assured the flow of wealth throughout all the society. But prosperity led to a sense of self-sufficiency and sinful pride. Prosperity led to a sense of all of these things, but the Lord who had blessed the people's ancestors and founded their nation was ignored. Soon thereafter, he was forgotten as people pursued more and more worldly goods, greater pleasure, personal recognition. all forms of dishonesty, lying, stealing, cheating. They were common. They were acceptable practices among the people. The rich oppressed and stole from the poor, including widows and orphans, and justice was twisted and denied. Lust and greed, immorality, lawlessness, violence ran rampant throughout society. In Hosea's day, everyone had rejected the Lord and His holy commandments, and they had turned to worship of all the idols and the so-called gods up on the mountainsides created by the depraved imaginations. When the northern kingdom split off from Judah, Jeroboam I established a new religion in order to sodify his rule over the ten northern tribes. He sought to use that new religion to keep the people from returning back to Jerusalem to worship the Lord. And to prevent this dual allegiance, which would have been a threat to his throne, and the survival of the northern kingdom, which God had nothing whatsoever to do with, Jeroboam imposed his own religion on the people. and his scheme worked down through the decades, the citizens of the Northern Kingdom became immense, and all of the religion that mixed the true worship of the Lord with the idol worship established by Jeroboam I. In addition to Jeroboam's new religion, the worship habits of all the surrounding nations seeped into the Northern Kingdom. The Canaanites' worship centered upon the so-called Baal. Baal was looked upon as the god of fertility, a fact that led the people into a lifestyle of immorality. People that worshipped Baal were seeking the fertile soil, good harvest, rain, increase in livestock, or more children being born. Baal was supposedly the god of fertility. And so to arouse the priest and the priestess engaged in sex with the worshipers. And the sex act was a symbol of the fertility that was desired. It was a visible sign that showed the sincerity of the worshiper, an act that demonstrated the worshiper's willingness to give himself or herself up to the priest or priestess who represented Baal. Man, what a disgrace. And after worshiping through sex, a false worship fabricated by man, the seeker offered a gift and a prayer to the false God. And of course, this worship appealed to the lower nature of the human race, the carnal, the flesh, the gratifying nature of people. And it was a worship that stood totally opposed to the Lord God and His Holy Word. The prophet Hosea thundered out against this horrible form of idol worship. All through the book of Hosea, politically, the nation would face one crisis after another, caught up in a turbulent whirlwind of events. Jeroboam's son, Zechariah, was murdered. His assassination, Shalom, ruled for only one month before he was assassinated by Menahem. And although Menahem managed to rule for 10 years, his son, Pekiah, was assassinated after only two years on the throne. His assassination, Pekiah, ruled for 20 years, but he was ruling with the Assyrian army invaded and conquered much of the Northern Kingdom in 733 BC. Soon thereafter, he was assassinated by Hosea, who ruled for 10 years, at which time Assyria invaded and conquered the entire nation of Israel. You see, the Northern Kingdom fell in 722 BC, never to rise ever again. Historical background to the times of Hosea. You know what? Morally corrupt and depraved, the people of Hosea's generation, they were in a time that walked in wicked ways of the world. Filth, covenants, lawlessness, violence, idolatry, immorality that flowed through all the society. God's way of righteousness was rejected and his holy commandments ignored. And the people were like so many of every generation. They were corrupt, they were depraved, they were unclean, and they were filthy. And so, we see the call of Hosea, a time of prosperity, political turmoil, and moral corruption in verse one. But in verse two, we see the adulterous wife of Hosea, a picture of an unfaithfulness to one's spouse and to God. The word of God says in verse two, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea and the Lord said to Hosea, go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord. Can you imagine? Listen to what I'm saying. Listen to what I'm reading in the King James Version. God says to Hosea, I want you to go marry a woman who will be unfaithful to symbolize Israel's unfaithfulness to him through idolatry. You see, Hosea's wife was an adulteress. God actually instructed the prophet to marry an adulterous woman. Hosea, in obedience, was faithful to God's call, marrying a woman by the name of Gomer. And we look and we see that these instructions from God, they really, we need to ask the question, was Gomer an immoral woman before marriage or did she become immoral after marriage? Was God instructing Hosea to marry a defiled young lady or to marry a young lady with urges so strong that she would not resist the attention and invitations of other men? You see, all opinions vary with the scholars. But, in addition, some interpreters are bothered by the fact that God would instruct the prophet to marry an immoral woman, or for that matter, a woman who would have strong urges to become immoral. And so, they say the instructions of God are hypothetical, merely a story that Hosea was to think through in his mind and apply to the people, but these interpreters of the whole story and this allegory is a simple story with a much needed lesson. A story that has no basis in fact, because to show how different the positions are, Gomer, and we look, Gomer was morally impure before marriage and bore three children by Hosea. Gomer was sexually impure before marriage and bore three children by Hosea. So we look and we realize, huh, what's the story? Gomer was sexually impure before marriage and bore a son by Hosea, but she also bore a son and a daughter by one or perhaps two other men. Or, Gomer was sexually impure before marriage and already had three children when she married Hosea. But Hosea later divorced Gomer and married another sexually impure woman. Huh. All of this, when we look at the clearest meaning of what scripture says, is that Gomer was a promiscuous, adulterous woman. It does not say that Hosea was to take a woman that with tendencies are bent to adultery. Reading the scripture in such a way seems to stretch and add to what God is saying, but it seems far better to take scripture at its word literally, that Hosea's wife was an immoral woman, and when he married her, and that the children were his children born by him and Gomer. But having said this, we do not know what Gomer's status was when Hosea first met and dated her. had she turned away from her immoral lifestyle and firmly committed herself to serve the Lord, Scripture is silent about that matter. And so we have no way of knowing all of the possibilities that have been mentioned that it might have been much easier for Hosea to eventually marry the young lady that he was dating. And so, when we see, verse two, that it means the children were actually born through Gomer's adulterous acts with other men. But it probably means that the children would follow in the footsteps of their mother and they would become sexually immoral themselves. And so, as we look at all of these things, the Israelite had been guilty of worshiping idols long before God formed them into a nation at Mount Sinai. And when God first called Abraham, he steeped He was steeped in idolatry and false worship in Joshua chapter 24. And his descendants, the Israelites, continually slipped back into idolatry. They committed spiritual adultery, repetitively turning away from the Lord, giving themselves to false gods. For Gomer to fully picture Israel's adultery against the Lord, it would seem reasonable that she would need to be an adulteress when Hosea married her. and the picture of what happened to Abraham and his descendants. And so, throughout the Bible, adultery is a picture of people turning away from the Lord to give themselves to the love of false gods. When committing spiritual adultery, people no longer give their love to God. Rather, they give their love to the things of this world. And in America, we see people everywhere that are in love with the things of the world more so. The illicit sexual pleasure, the wealth, the possessions, the recreation, the fame, the honor, the recognition. Why every kid wants some fame from somewhere. They don't care where it comes from. The idol is anything that is given first place in our lives, anything to which we give our first devotion and loyalty, and if we trust anything, place our lives and hopes upon anything, more than we do the Lord, this thing is an idol. It was this lesson that Hosea's wife symbolized. She committed adultery, turning away from her husband, giving herself to another man, and her adultery was a perfect illustration of what the people of Israel did down through history. They turned away from the Lord gave themselves to the idols of this world, and the people committed adultery against God himself." Gomer is a strong reminder to all of us. We must never commit adultery, neither sexual or spiritual adultery. None of us should give ourselves to any person other than our own husband or wife, and none of us should ever commit spiritual adultery against God. We must not turn away from the Lord to give our first love to the things of this world. You know what? We listen to what God's Word says about sexual impurity and having sex outside of marriage. And we listen to what God's Holy Word says about spiritual adultery, turning away from the Lord to the idols and the things of this world. And so, we look at verse 3 and it says, So he went and he took Gomer the daughter of Diblam, which conceived and bear him a son. Hosea obeys God, he marries Gomer, and they have a son together. In verse four, the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. You see, God instructs Hosea to name his son Jezreel, which signifies, it means judgment. God's planning to punish the house of Jehu for all of their sins. In verse five, he goes on and he says, and it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. You see, God warns that he'll weaken Israel's military power, the bow, in the same area associated with past bloodshed, Jezreel. He goes on in verse six, and she conceived again and bear a daughter, and God said unto him, call her name Lorahamah. for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away." Gomer has a daughter and God tells Hosea to name her Lo-ru-ha-ma, which means not loved. And it signifies that God will stop showing mercy to Israel. We go on reading in verse 7, the Bible says, but I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. We see that in verse seven, unlike Israel, God promises to show mercy to Judah and will save them through his own power, not through military strength. We continue to read in verse eight, and it says, now when she had weaned Lurahama, she conceived and bear a son. You see, after Goma raises Lurahama, she has another son. In verse nine, then said God, Call his name Luami, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. You see, in verse nine, God instructs Hosea to name the son Luami, meaning not my people. And it indicates a broken relationship between God and Israel. You see, the family of Hosea included three children. And since Gomer had sexual relations with other men during her marriage to Hosea, there's a question as to whether all three children were actually Hosea's. But in verse three, where it specifically states that Gomer bore a son to Hosea, but verse six and eight simply state that Gomer bore the children. No mention is made of Hosea. Does this mean that the children were illegitimate? Not necessarily. For example, in Genesis chapter 29 verse 33 says that Leah conceived again and bore a son. And without mentioning the father Jacob, Jacob had been mentioned in the preceding verses and therefore it was not necessary to mention him again. Another example of the same is in Genesis chapter 30 verses 16 through 24 that we see in the present passage that the last two children could have been Hosea's legitimately since there was no statement in scripture saying that the last two children were born to Gomer by other men. All three, most likely, the legitimate children of Hosea, as the scripture reveals, all three names were chosen by God himself. And so, The first child was a son named Jezreel which means God scatters our souls in verses four and five. A sign that God will scatter Israel and end the dynasty of King Jehu because of the cruel murders that he had committed in Jezreel. And when we look and we see out of all of this, as the name of Hosea's son, Jezreel, pointed to the fact that God would execute judgment against Israel by scattering the people throughout the world, amen. The bow of Israel's army and power would be broken in the Valley of Jezreel, and the Valley of Jezreel would be the site of Israel's final defeat and existence as a nation. The power of Israel was broken when Tigris Pileser III crushed Israel's military in the Valley of Jezreel in 733 BC, and after this disgraceful defeat, the Nornum Kingdom was nothing more than a small province within the Assyrian Empire. Just a few years later, Assyria set up a three-year siege around the capital of Samaria, and then in 722 BC, the Assyrian army took the capital. deported all the surviving citizens throughout the empire, and the northern kingdom of Israel was never again to arise as a nation. We see the second child was a daughter named Lu-Rohamah, which means unpitied, not loved, in verses six and seven. Her name was also a sign of God's coming judgment. Down through the centuries, the Lord had demonstrated his love for the people, but now his love would be withdrawn. And so, the Assyrian army would be allowed to crush the northern kingdom of Israel and to deport the survivors to other nations, amen. And as we look, the third child was another son who was named Lo-Ami. His name means not my people in verses eight and nine. In no uncertain terms, God was again pronouncing judgment upon the people. God was divorcing. God was disowning. He was severing, cutting loose the relationship with them. No longer would He be their God, for they had committed adultery against Him, and the people had forsaken the Lord and given their love to the false gods and other things of the world. And so, when we look at the call of Hosea, there was a time of abundance and strife. a season of prosperity, a political unrest, a moral decay, as in the days of Noah, that we see all of this transpiring. But in verse 2, the unfaithful wife, a reflection of Israel's infidelity, the image of betrayal, Hosea's marriage to Gomer symbolizing Israel's turning away from God. Thou hast plagued the harlot. the pain of unfaithfulness, just as Hosea felt betrayed. God feels the anguish of his people's sins. But he said, even in Jonah, he said, my soul is weary for life. And we see a call to repentance, amen. And so each and every one of us, when we look at the children of Hosea, a warning of rejection in verses three down to verse nine, the names that they have their meaning with, amen, the names like Jezreel, And when we look at all of these names and what they mean to this, the names of Hosea's children are a picture of God rejecting the wicked. And when we commit adultery against God, turn away from Him, and choose the wicked ways of this world, we doom ourselves. God will execute justice. and judgment against any of us who are any of us who live wickedly on this earth and will face the justice and the judgment of God. God will reject all who deny him and his word. And so we see in verse 10, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said, here we look, Unto them, ye are not my people. There it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. What is he saying? Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, God promises that their descendants will be as numerous as the sand. He also hints at a future restoration where they will be called his children again. Continuing on in verse 11, lastly, then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head. and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel." Finally, we see that God speaks of a time when Judah and Israel will unite under one leader, indicating hope and restoration for future days. And so, I'm glad that when we look at this, God made seven wonderful promises to Hosea and the people of Israel. That a day was coming when the nation of Israel would be restored, when the pronounced judgment on them would be reversed. And we see in verse 10 that God promised that the people would become numerous like the sand on the seashore that cannot be counted or measured. I'm glad that one day in the future God will fulfill his promise to give Abraham a countless number of descendants who truly trust in Father Lord. Secondly, we see God promise that the people would be called the sons of the living God because in Hosea's day, Israel was being divorced, cut off by God. But someday in the future, A new relationship will be established with the people, a relationship of adoption. All Jews who truly put their trust in the Lord will be called the sons of the living God, amen. And God promised that the people would be reunited. No longer will there be two kingdoms in Israel. The rupture and the poisonous spirit between the two kingdoms would be healed and they would be reunited. united under the banner of one nation and one people. And fourthly, God promised that the people would have one ruler, a ruler that they themselves would choose. Only one ruler will ever be accepted to all Israel, and that is the son of David, who will be the ideal ruler promised long ago by God, amen. And I'm glad, of course, this ruler is the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus himself. And fifthly, God promised that the people, in verse 11, would be restored to the promised land. They'll be called out of the land of exile, returned to their homeland, the land God had promised ever since. He called Abraham. Amen. And then also in verse 11, we see the sixth thing. of this because I'm glad out of these promises that we look at, amen, of what God was going to do, amen. There were seven wonderful promises. We see that they would be oh so, as I said, God promised that the people would be restored to the promised land. They'd be called out of the land of exile, returned to their homeland, the land God had promised ever since that he called Abraham, praise God. And I'm glad the seventh, or excuse me, the sixth, God promised that the people would share in the great day of Jezreel. One of them in the future will bring about the great day of Jezreel, the day when the promised Messiah returns to establish God's kingdom on earth. And at that time, all the enemies of God and his people will be destroyed in a final battle fought in the valley of Jezreel, praise God. And I'm glad we're talking about the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 16, Revelation chapter 19, because in this one final battle, Jezreel, the land that had witnessed so many bloody struggles down through history, will finally be given permanent peace. And the great day of Jezreel will come because of the victory and the peace brought to earth by the promised Messiah. The very meaning of the name Jezreel, which had meant God scatters or God sows, would now mean God plants. God will plant the Jewish people once again in their homeland. And lastly, God's promise that the people would be called my people, Amni, and my loved ones, Ruhamah. There would be a complete change in the names of Hosea's last two children, instead of Lu-Ami, meaning not my people, or Lu-Ra-Ama. meaning unpitied, not loved. The negative lo will be dropped and the names would simply be Ami, my people, and Ruhama, my loved ones. A day was coming when each Jew would address all other Jews as his brothers, as his sisters. They would hear God call all Jews, my people, and my loved ones. And although some of these wonderful promises were partially accomplished during the return of the Jewish exiles from the Babylonian captivity, None were completely fulfilled. These wonderful promises point to a future day of fulfillment. Wonderful promises that a day when they will be thoroughly carried out, a day that will be when the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, returns to set up God's kingdom on earth, a glorious day that the Jews will look upon Christ who has been pierced for our sins, who will believe and accept him as their Savior. Then Christ will restore all the Jews back to the promised land and establish the seat of his government in Jerusalem. That glorious day will fulfill all of the hopes, all of the prophecies proclaimed by God's dear prophets, amen. God's kingdom is coming to earth. The Lord Jesus Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords. And he will rule right here on earth, establishing the seat of his government in Jerusalem. And only those who truly believe and follow him will become the citizens of God's kingdom. Boy, we see one of the greatest love stories ever told, amen. And so, All of this, when we look and we realize that as everything that has transpired in the nation of Israel, amen. God's message is that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're married to the Lord Jesus Christ. It happened like this. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, it's like a wedding ceremony took place. The Lord Jesus looked at you with love in his face and he said, I, Jesus, take thee sinner to be my lawful and wedded wife. to love and to cherish from this day forward. And when you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, it's as if you said, I, Jesus, take thee to be my lawful and wedded husband, to love and to cherish from this day forward. God says be true to him, be faithful to him, and that's why it's such a sad, serious word. In the book of Revelation, chapter two, verse four, when the Lord Jesus said, I have somewhat against thee, because you have left your first love. It's an awful thing to be spiritually unfaithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when we go through life today. when we look and realize out of all the things today, a lot of Christians, they say, Jesus, I'm glad you saved me. I'm glad I'm going to heaven when I die. I'm gonna come back and check with you on Sunday and see how things are getting along. But the Lord Jesus, take care of all my needs and problems, meet every need in my life, but stay out of my daily life now. I wanna serve whom I want to serve and live for who I want to live for and run around with whom I want to run around with. That is what the world is all about today. And so, when we look and realize the unfaithful wife in this series of Hosea, a heartache of divine love. I hope and pray that Hosea's narrative is not just a story of heartache. It's a testimony of divine love that pursues even in our waywardness, that God's call through Hosea echoes throughout generations, reminding us that no matter how far we stray, He waits with open arms ready to forgive and to restore us. And so I hope and pray that each and every one of you, as we go through life, And as we look to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, there's no one. There is no one that can love us like Him. And there is no one that can forgive us and be able to bring us back to the family of God. Because this is a picture of Israel's adultery, punishment, and restoration. And adultery is condemned by God. There's no exceptions, amen. And so, I thank God we reflect on all of our priorities And I hope and pray that the unfaithful bride in Hosea chapter one, verses one through 10, that you get something from this, that you begin to keep your relationship close with God. Set aside time daily for prayer and reading of the word of God. Engage with a community of faith to encourage each other. and I'm glad, understand that God's love is unconditional. Reflect on how you can extend that grace to others in your life. Father, thank you for your unending love and forgiveness, and we pray for those who do not know you, that they may find out, Lord, that salvation in your embrace. And for those of us who are believers, Help us to repent and turn back to you. Strengthen us as we seek to live out our commitment to you and reflect your love to the world. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. you