And look try to look at Hosea a little bit now we looked at Jonah try to look at Hosea chapter 1 I'll read verses 1 through verse number 11 and try to These names now if I mispronounce some of these names, that's all right. You tell me about it I'll let you come pronounce them. Okay. I Tell you after reading the Bible, it won't be too many say a whole lot to us Willie I mean because I tell you there's names and I find a lot of you you're a Theologians sometimes they'll pronounce them two different ways anyway, so I mean it's like names You ought to hear what I'm called on the telephone, but telemarketers Amen, I mean a little bit of everything you know sometimes if it's the right kind of wrong kind of stuff They'll help say my name so wrong my wife say he's not he'll live here No. Sometimes I might even tell him that. Oh, that's the wrong name. You got the wrong phone number or something, you know, because it's it's Pasquale and it's Pascal and it's everything, you know. Well, it don't matter what you call me as long as you call me to church. Amen. Thought it's going to say dinner, didn't you? But church, that's what we need to get him. All right. Hosea, chapter one, verse number one to verse number 11. Hosea chapter 1 verse 1, The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Bera in the days of Uzziah and Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of Hortums, and children of Hortums, for the land hath committed great Hortum. departing from the LORD. So he went and took Gomorrah the daughter of Diblam, which conceived and bare him a son. And 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. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bear a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loharama, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But I'll 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. Now when she had weaned Loharama, she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Lo-Ammi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people there, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 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. Let's pray again. We need help tonight. I plead the blood asking that your will be done. I pray you'll forgive me for where I've sinned against you and just help me and the Lord to sign us his problems as we'll have that against the rest of the days of our life. But if it please you I pray you at least alleviate them just for a little while while we try to preach and not be a hindrance to anybody from hearing what needs to be said. Lord, I need help. I'm a needy person. I need help tonight. And I pray, Lord, that you'd strengthen us, that you'd encourage us. Lord, you've been touching us a little along the way this week. I don't know what it all means. I'm looking and expecting something to happen in an unusual way. Lord, it could happen tonight. All it takes is just you to move. I pray a wave of the Holy Ghost conviction would fall over us. I pray our hearts would be broken over our sin, over our need, and Lord, whatever kind of a spirit we need, move on us. I pray you'd move. But most of all, I pray there come the time when the spirit of saving faith will move over the congregation, that souls might be saved. Just help us to see some truth that will help us where we're at And Lord, like the people of old, when Paul went to the synagogues, they had a foundation because they understood the Old Testament. We don't understand it like we should. Give us a foundation which you can build on. fuel for fire, where souls can be saved. Move on us, Lord, in a great way, and we'll praise you for what's done. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for what you're doing and what you're going to do now. Give us grace. I want to say I love you. Help me to love you more day by day. Help me to walk in your willing way, and we'll praise you for what's done. For we ask it all in Jesus' name, and for His sake we do pray. Amen. You may be seated. I don't have exactly a theme for the entire book of Hosea, but I just try to break it down as we go chapter by chapter and deal with at least some things in Hosea. But the writer of this book is of course the human instrument is Hosea. The Word of the Lord came into Hosea. It said in verse number 2, the beginning of the Word of the Lord by Hosea. So he is the writer, the human instrument God used. according to I Peter, or II Peter chapter number 1, verse number 21, we use it often. He said, For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It means that God had His hand upon the hand of the prophet as they wrote it down, or they couldn't make a mistake in the tenses of the verbs or anything. In other words, that's what we call infallible, inerrant word, that's what happened. And he did that to them, to Hosea. Now his name, Hosea, means deliverance or salvation. Deliverance or salvation. Now as far as Hosea, we don't know a lot about him. We don't know exactly too much about him. We do know what little we know. He's from one of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. And that northern kingdom was called Israel or Ephraim. And, of course, it was split in the days, as we've said from time to time, in the days of Solomon's sin, because the next son will have only two. Rehoboam had two kings and king tribes in the south, and then Jeroboam, who was not this Jeroboam, but the first Jeroboam, came back out of Egypt. He had been over in exile, and he came out of Egypt, and God gave him two, ten kingdoms over there on the northern kingdoms, and they call that one Israel. That's called Israel, and the south is called Judah. Northern kingdom, southern kingdom, Israel, Judah. Ephraim was also a name for the northern kingdom in some places. And so we know he's one of those ten tribes in the northern kingdom there, and he was a prophet. We do know that. Now here he's called, man has called this a minor prophet because of the length of the book, even though there's several chapters to Hosea. It's longer than some of what's called the minor prophets. of the prophecy after Daniel are labeled by man as minor prophets. And that doesn't mean they were less significant than what they had to say. It just simply means they were shorter and labeled them that way. I don't know why they didn't put Daniel with them. Daniel has the same number, I think, or at least close to the same number of chapters, and he's just as small as some others, but they put him in the major section. So it doesn't matter. That's man's division, but it's still important if it's only five words. If God said it, it's important. therefore it's man's designation because of the length, minor prophet. Now the time of the book, verse number 1, identifies the time. Can't give you the year exactly, but it gives us some association of when he prophesied to Israel in this situation here at this time. It said, The word of the Lord came unto Hosea the son of Beriah 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. Now this is not Jeroboam the first one that was king in the northern kingdom this is Jeroboam we label him Jeroboam the second because he was same name as the first king but there was many years in between as far as his time. And he's the son of Joash, or in some places it'll read Jehoash. In other words, the spelling's different. Now why the translators didn't be consistent on translating their names, I cannot tell you. But we know sometimes, even in the same verse, they'll translate it two different ways. And that's sort of frustrating at times. But still, we know that about, this period of time, according to the kings, is about 180 years after the division of the kingdom. About 180 years had transpired. And the ministry of Hosea's ministry probably began toward the last of Jeroboam II's reign. I don't know exactly how many years was left in that. But basically the first three chapters was probably written during the time of Jeroboam's reign, Jeroboam II. Now he only mentioned Jeroboam as far as one of Israel's kings. No more kings. It was mentioned even though he was from the northern kingdom. and his message was basically to the northern kingdom and yet he only mentioned one Jeroboam. He didn't mention the others. Now during Jeroboam's reign Israel was in a state of prosperity. They were and he Jeroboam the second ruled with a strong hand which checked the open turbulence and lawlessness of the people. A strong hand upon the people caused some things to cease even though Jeroboam was an evil wicked king. Now I can't explain that prosperity was there because he he run a what's the saying he run a tight ship I guess you could say it's what it amounted to well when he died Jeroboam died his son Zachariah now that's not the Zachariah of the prophet it's the Zachariah of the king of Israel and he took over and he reigned for six months and he too was evil. And he was assassinated by Shalem which is no kin to him because the northern kingdom did not have a continuity of the family. The southern kingdom did all except for the wicked king a queen that was in there at one end. I don't know how she got in there. God let her get in there. But as far as the men, they were incontinent in the southern king. But Shalem, no kin to Zechariah, assassinated him and reigned one month and was killed by Menahem, who was one of his generals. And he was cruel and wicked. He was a tyrant. And then he reigned for ten years. Now to escape the attack from Assyria, he became tributary to them. In other words, he didn't stand for anything. He was weak-kneed, and he gave in to Assyria, and he didn't stand. His son, Pekahai, took over the king after he died, and Minaham died. And he reigned for two years. and was murdered by one of his officers named Pekka. No kin, but one of his officers. And Pekka reigned for 20 years. And it was during the time of Pekka that the two and a half tribes of the Northern Kingdom first went into captivity. Remember, they stayed on the wrong side of Jordan. tribe of Reuben, tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Manasseh stayed on the wrong side. And as a result, they were the first to go into captivity. And basically, that's what the message is all about. You're going into captivity if you don't repent. But they went in during Pekah's reign. Now, he was slain by Hosea, which is no kin to Pekah, who reigned for nine years and was overrun by Assyria and went into captivity. All of the other tribes went into captivity after Hosea was slain. He was the last of the northern kings and the northern kingdoms kings at that time and Israel lost their identity. In other words as they were scattered all over the ten tribes lost their identity and they say they're still basically lost even today as far as a lot of the identity of those tribes. But because of the evil kings of Israel, Hosea probably only mentions Jeroboam. Hosea, Hosea, I got the two. Hosea probably only mentioned Jeroboam as the king and he leaves out Zechariah, Shalom, Menahem, Pecah, and Hosea even though his ministry covered all those kings. all the way down until they went into Assyrian captivity. Now, but he did mention the kings that reigned in the south, because he mentioned there. He mentioned Uzziah, Jotham, Jahaz, and Hezekiah. Now, why these? Why did he mention them? In other words, they're not the kings of the north. I don't know, except it could have been that he recognized that Judah was the only legitimate representatives of the theocracy. That's God ruling is what it amounts to. And so while recognizing the civil authority of other rulers, he fixed the dates of his prophecy primarily by the reign of these kings, of the people of God as he listed that. So therefore his ministry covers the years for approximately an 80-year period of time. 50 years, excuse me, 50 years approximately he covered that period of time. Now why was his prophecy? What was the reason for his prophecy? Well, the nation of Israel, the northern nation, was deep in sin. They were rotting away inwardly and they had gotten involved with foreign alliances instead of trusting in God to lead and protect them. And I think we need to learn from that, even as America. Amen? If we ever leave, and we've left already, but if we go further and leave out God's direction, even though, I don't care how many alliances you've got. Amen? I don't care how good they are. I'll tell you, they'll still go down the tubes, amen, one of these days. but that's what really happened during that period of time. So this book shows the unfaithfulness of Israel and yet it shows the wonderful longsuffering of God with a nation that was deep in sin. Now in chapter 1 we see that God uses symbolic action to show Israel something, her condition. He used something to show her condition and he reveals God's longsuffering and love in the action of Hosea. Well, what did he do? Verse number 2, he said, In other words, he uses this action here, and so he spoke to him by the Lord and said, Go take a wife of Hortums. Now that seems like a strange request for a man of God. Go take a wife off of the slave block in a sense, a wife of the whoredoms. The word whoredoms means adultery, fornication, and idolatry. It's all connected together. In fact, the business, her name, it tells us in verse 3, Now, she had committed this sin again and again and again, the sin of whoredom, if you please. Probably a lot of it was in connection with some religion. some religion of idolatry at that time. You see, some temple worship, because many religions of the day, they had temple prostitutes at the temple, and they committed all kinds of sins in the name and guise of their gods, whatever it was. And the reason for that, Israel had followed what Jeroboam, 1st Jeroboam, had set out when the kingdom was divided. Well, what did he do? 1 Kings 12, verse 26-32, It says about Jeroboam, it says I Kings chapter 12 verse number 26 he said, And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. That is after God gave him the ten northern tribes. If the people go down to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy God, look ye here, these golden calves that he made, look at them, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Which means that he had to look back and he got some thinking of this from what Aaron had done when they came out of Egypt. And so he set one in Bethel and the other in Dan, one in the south, one in the north, to make it easy for the people. See, God had commanded the children of Israel to go back to Jerusalem three times a year to worship. And yet he's trying to keep them from going back down there. If they go down there, they might get caught up in the things of God again, and he didn't want that. He wanted them to stay loyal to him, so he put them some idols out there. And he said, And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the One, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, which were not the sons of Levi, a violation of God's word. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar So did he at Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places which he had made. In other words, he built calves, and the idea may have, as I said, come from the golden calf that Aaron, or Aaron's calf, Exodus chapter 32. we find that Moses was up in the mountain, he'd been there for 40 days, well I don't know how long it was before this started, but he got there and it says in chapter 32 verse 1 through 6, and the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, and this is after they'd come across the Red Sea, hadn't been out there too long, they'd had the water made bitter, made sweet, the bitter water made sweet, they'd saw the water come out of the rock. They had the manna there. They saw God's hand on every side. And they said, When they saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not, or we don't know what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, and of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings which was in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play and verse number 25 of chapter 32 says that they and when Moses saw the people and this is after he was coming down that they were naked for Aaron had made them naked under their shames among their enemies you think about that They'd committed whoredoms, is what it amounts to, in that day. And Jeroboam II, I got some ideas from Aaron's calf, if you please, even though that calf was ground up into powder, and they were made to drink it. Moses had done that. But still, he made other calves, one at Dan, one at Bethel, where they could make it a little closer, wouldn't have to walk so far. But they committed whoredoms. And now then, we see then what God tells Hosea. He's wanting to make an illustration. He wants to make a point. picture and he tells him to go take a wife of whoredoms and he speaks there in verse number 2 he said, He said, And take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. Well what it amounts to here, in other words, Gomer was a product of her upbringing. She was probably had grown up in the temple worship of idolatrous worship and her mother committed whoredoms and she followed along suit and committed whoredoms there if you please lifestyle followed her and so it seems and so what after he took her I don't know all about exactly what transpired about the Gomer I know she was unfaithful to Hosea I know that was she at first I don't know it's hard to know But the first time, anyway he took her as his wife and he went over and the Bible says that in verse number 3 he said, So he went and took Gomar the daughter of Diblam which conceived and bare him a son. And bare him a son, notice that. He had a son by his wife Gomar which was a woman of ill repute I guess we could say. a woman of whoredoms and that was a strange request in a sense for him to do that. Now the next two sons that he had, the next two children, one of them was a daughter, one of them was a son. Look how it reads here. It says in verse number six, it said, And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. It didn't say anything about his daughter. It seems like after she was so used to, she went back to the old lifestyle and got with child possibly by someone else, but Gomer was good to her to raise that daughter up by, as his own. It said there, verse number 6, it said, and he said, unto him, he told him, he said, You call that daughter, call her name, she bear a daughter it said, and said, Call her name Loharama, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, I will utterly take her away. In other words, and he also said, But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and, and so forth there. And verse number 8 then, we find she, when she had weaned Loharama, She conceived and bear a son probably about two years less than three years there whenever the child was born. And as a result she had a son. And as a result here they named him of course. What was that law. Low am I. I don't know how to pronounce it that close enough. All right. but they're children of Hortums, if you please. Seemingly, she was unfaithful to Hosea, and the first one was his, and the next two wasn't his, as best I can understand. Now, if I've got that wrong, you forgive me. It's hard, really, to see. But God is making a point here to show the children of Israel the long-suffering of God, because Gomar took her and loved her and raised up the children as his own, in that sense. He's long-suffering to her. He's demonstrating that. But it's a strange request. In other words, what would people think of a man of God today who went out and married a lewd woman such as Gomer? What would they think? Well, I tell you, it'd be the gossip line of before. But you also got to remember, today God doesn't speak through signs. We have the completed Word. And there He was speaking through a sign. He told Isaiah to go naked for three years. Well, he had on more clothes than they have on at Wal-Mart in the summertime, amen. He had on the tunic and the undergarment, but that was call neckiness at that time. And so, but what I'm saying is strange sometimes, but he's using it for signs to speak to the people. Today we've got the completed Word. We don't need a sign, amen. We don't, we have the sign already. He said, all you need is the fact that Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the belly of the fish, and so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. but he's risen he's at the right hand of the Father that which is perfect has come the Word of God and we don't need signs today and so therefore these people who coming up with some ideas and say God told me to do this if they don't agree with the book and don't don't pay any attention to it I'll tell you there's somehow some revelations it's kind of off base they're really off base and so as a result there's some revelation I've been hearing about this past week or two that some have had and said God said this and God did this and God showed me this and I'll tell you what it's what's going on in their lives is not of God he's not anywhere around it so I can tell them it's the wrong God wrong Jesus wrong spirit because it doesn't agree with the book but that day he had a strange request In other words, he wanted her, and by the way, even today, that day, you sure couldn't put God in the box, and you can't put God in the box either, but you can put Him in His Word. he's going to abide by his word what he says he will do and what he's already laid out will happen exactly like he said well in those days though they were they were using signs in fact Hosea you couldn't you couldn't put the put him put God in the box in other words who would have thought about God doing something like that and tell him to go get a lewd woman to wife well at least he married her in that sense but over in the book of book of Judges chapter 14 there's another strange thing that goes on it's hard sometimes to get hold up but he said in verses 1 through 4 of chapter 14 of Judges and Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines and he came up and told his father and his mother and said I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines now therefore get her for me to wife now he's had a Nazarite vow his mama made it for him and then his father and his mother said unto him Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among thy people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto her father, Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord. Now that's a strange request isn't it? Why you say that's not what the Bible says. Listen that was in the Old Testament time and God wanted to do something. What did he want to do? He sought an occasion against the Philistines for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. He's showing something. I don't understand all that. We'll just have to ask him about it in the future. But today God operates within the realm of his word. Amen. It's complete. But that day you couldn't put God in the box. That's for sure. It's strange. I know the Bible tells us in the New Testament time now, he said over in the book of, he said in the book of II Corinthians chapter 6 verse number 14, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? Philistines was the world in a sense, and Samson was supposed to be of God, a godly man, and yet we don't, it's hard to believe sometimes, but he was. He's listed in the Hall of Fame, Hall of Faith if you please, there in Hebrews chapter 11. absent it says and so we just don't understand some things in the Old Testament time but a strange request but God had a purpose and that was to find bring bring he wanted to destroy he wanted to he said the purpose there he said he sought an occasion against the police team in judges and and and so therefore the same is true with taking life of whoredoms for Hosea he had a purpose and what he was doing and you notice what he said he said for the verse to the last part for the land have committed great whoredom departing from the Lord so it's a symbol of Israel who had committed the whoredoms in other words she had committed spiritual adultery to the Lord and Hosea had to live his message before he could preach it to the people. He had to experience it by taking a wife of whoredom. Now he also had to experience deep agony in his own home because of the sins of his wife. But all of this was a divinely sent object lesson to him and his people. In other words, what they were going through was for a purpose and God sent it that way, to cause others to see their error and their way of salvation. In other words, that was God's way. A sign came. Now, in Ezekiel's day, Ezekiel said, I've set where you've set. He told the children of captivity. I've set where you've set. Sometimes you've got to go through some things. And I know you say, well, God didn't tell me to go take a wife and hoard them or anything like that or go tell me to go naked across the street and whatnot and all those things. I mean, we don't have to do it. But still, some things you're going through today is for a purpose so that you can say, I've set where you've set. And you know, I look back and some of the things I went through in those days as God showed me and said, if he was where he was and he is where you are, you'd be harder on him. He is on you. If I hadn't set where I've said I couldn't, I couldn't stay with you. I couldn't continue. I'd be trying to make something happen, make this happen or make that happen. But the further I go, the more I know I can't make nothing happen. Amen. And any time you try to make something happen, you're going to come up with problems on your hands. And there'll be blood on the hands of these preachers who try to make something happen. And they'll point back one day, and many of them I know will be on the wrong side at the great white throne of judgment, you understand. They'll be in judgment there as well as those that they led astray. They'll say, why didn't you tell me the truth? And, boy, I want to tell you what, the truth will set you free. I got to thinking about, you know, some invitations in some churches are so, they're so cautious to do everything just right because, you know, we don't want to offend nobody. We want to make sure everybody get in and we don't want to cause, listen, you can't make somebody the Holy Ghost is on. You can't offend them. You can't run them off. You're not going to bother them. I mean, listen, they may not even hear a word you're saying. in that sense, because God got a hold of them. You do, you practice right, that person will be saved no matter what you say. You might say, boom, and they'll get saved, amen? I mean, that may sound strange, but I'm talking about when God is on them, and they're zeroed in on God, they've already heard truth, God's already plowed their soil, God's already brought them to a place, and what we need to do is stay with those folks that time through those sayings that they're going through until God moves with power and Holy Ghost conviction on them and finishes that work. Ezekiel said, I've set where you've set. And yet he suffered with the children of Israel in captivity, but he understood them. And you know what? You're suffering some things, but one of these days you can tell somebody, I understand what God's doing. It may seem like it's awful hard and rough for God to allow this to come my way, but it's all for a purpose so that you can help somebody down the road and say, I, like Ezekiel, set where you said and you can say I understand and God will do and give them hope if you please and he'll give others hope and so Hosea you've got to go you've got to take a wife of Hortim and so we find then she had three children two of them possibly wasn't his And from all indication, I'm not 100% sure of that. It's hard to really decipher. But still, she wasn't faithful to him. I do know that. But look at verse number 4. We see the son's names that was given to them. He did have something to do with naming those children, at least. But here in verse 4, he said, And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel. For yet a little while, and I'll avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. In other words, Jezreel means scattered. and it's referring to the time when God would scatter Israel among the nations of their searing captivity in other words and he said I will avenge the blood of Jezreel in other words a place where Jehush there was a time when Jehush slew seventy sons of Ahab I because they've done some things wrong and it was a fulfillment of Elijah's prophecy when Elijah was out there at the back side of the desert God told him to you know what J.U. and J.U.' 's got a job to do and he told him what he had to do and it was to get rid of all of the descendants of Ahab and he slew seventy sons of Ahab and he also slew forty two brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah in chapter ten it mentions those two things according to the prophecy of Elijah Now somebody said, wow, would God ever tell anybody to kill somebody? He told Jehu to go kill them all. The cup of iniquity was full. They had committed whoredoms, spiritual adultery in the nation, and God said, take them out, take them out, take them out, amen, and binged. The Bible said in 2 Kings, 2 Kings chapter number 15, verse number 12, he said, And this chapter 15 verse number 12, And this was the word of the LORD, which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. Do what the LORD said, and he said, You'll have four generations after you sitting on the throne. And you go back and study history in the northern kingdom sometimes there was four generations, sometimes there was none. In other words, none of their sons got on the throne. but their, their dynasty was destroyed at the time, but here you go back and study about Jehu and you'll find his son Jeho, Jehoahaz took over, Jehoash took over, his son, his son Jeroboam II took over which we're studying and then his son Zechariah took over and that's not Zechariah the prophet but the son of great, great, great, great grandson of Jehu but there's four generations after Jehu just exactly like God said they took over. and so therefore we find that he says there about Jezreel in other words he'll avenge the blood of Jezreel and he's going to do that even after Hosea's time here at this particular time and here we find also the second child which was verse number 6 and she conceived again no mention here of it being his daughter and barren daughter and God said unto him now You name the daughter, call her name, Loharama, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. In other words, Loharama means unpitied, unpitied. It means that God would lift His mercy from the nation and permit her to suffer sin. Oh God wouldn't do that. A God of love wouldn't do that. Did not God lift his mercy from the nation of Iraq? Amen. He has. And they're suffering for their sins. And God will let his mercy lift from America before it's over and she'll suffer for her sins. Amen. But here he's talking to Israel. That's God's chosen people. The northern kingdom went off into idolatry and God said, in other words, you're going to suffer for your sins. In verse number 7, though he did make mention, but I'll have mercy upon the house of Judah. I'll lift my mercy from the northern kingdom, but I'll still 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. In other words he's going to do it in other words and he sent prophets to them after he'd saved Judah had mercy on them he lifted it from Israel had mercy on Judah and for there went about a hundred and thirty thirty five years I believe it was there later the southern kingdom failed to heed God's mercy failed to heed God's prophets and they too went into captivity he lifted his mercy from them at that time. So lo haramah means unpitied. God said I'm gonna, you name it, I want you to demonstrate a sign that I'm gonna lift my mercy from the nation of Israel. Verse eight and nine he says, now when she had weaned lo haramah, she conceived and bare a son. Then said God call his name lo am I, for ye are not my people and I will not be your God. What a statement. Can you imagine making a statement like that? You say God would never do that. He did. You're not my people. In other words, and he said, and I will not be your God. Why? They had already rejected life. They had turned, and if you go back and look at the long suffering that God had with the nation over and over and over and over again, and he's done it with America, and he's done it with us. Amen. But he said, I'll not be your God at that time. And of course, lo, am I, means not my people. So that child was a sign indicating that this present time in God's program when Israel is out of fellowship with God he said and they're not his people. They've gone to a place they've crossed God's deadline. What a message the names of his children proclaim. These children if you please. I'm talking about Hosea. God said name them that. It's telling Israel look this is going to come to pass. You're going to be scattered. You're not my people. Now, names meant something in those days, more so than they do today, because you take, for instance, Methuselah, which was the oldest man, lived longer than anybody else, but his name meant, when he dies, the deluge shall come. And every time he introduced himself to somebody, what's your name? My name's Methuselah. And they understood what those names meant in those days, and they said, when he dies. the deluge shall come. What's a deluge? We've never seen it happen. They knew it was a flood, but they had never seen that water at that depth, never seen it happen, and that's exactly what happened. He was a witness for all those 900 years and plus that he lived. Everywhere he went, God had a name upon him because his daddy named him that, amen, that in those days it was a sign. Now we don't have to live by signs today, but still you realize there's something here that we need to understand that God is good Float on me tonight, amen. He's long-suffering. Why? Look what he is with Israel and he's well to us. Verse 10, he said, 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 of them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. You realize what he's saying? In other words, you're not my people now. But he said, there's coming a day that you're going to be my people. In other words, be a time that Israel will be called my people again. Well, if we apply that to where we're at today, and there is an application right here, I believe. As I saw that when I was reading that, it gave me more hope for new hope. Amen. New hope, not no hope, but new hope, amen. The thing about it, look what he said. You are not my people. They said it'll come to a pass in the place where it was said unto them. You're not my people. There it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God. I don't know about you, whether you even remember it or not. You might not have been in the know, but there's a few years ago it was told that nobody's gonna be saved in new hope. And it put some doubt in there on a lot of people. as it was said. But what did he say? He said, you're in the place where it was said unto them. And it was said right here by others. And it said, you're not my people. There, there it shall be said unto them. You're the sons of the living God. I saw that as I was reading it. That wasn't even in my notes, amen, but I saw it. It jumped out at me as I was reading through it, amen. Right here in this place, God wants to do something, amen. He wants to do something, not just wants to, He's going to, amen, by the grace of God in this place. He's going to, you see, it applies, in other words, listen, in a sense, the Gentiles had no hope, and we have no hope in some ways, I understand that, within ourselves, you understand what I'm saying? In fact, we've got no God in our depraved condition, there's no God. Romans 2, 4, what did he say? He said, in Romans 2, 4, he said, God's been good to us. He's let us stay. He's let you stay. Amen? He's brought some in. Amen? Some have gone, but He's brought others in. And you're still here. That's a miracle within itself. It's a miracle you're here. Amen? I mean, just think about it. I'm talking about it's just a miracle. You look back and you'll realize sometime when things was up, people was up and down, and you even thought about leaving or doing this or doing that, and it seemed like there's been things planted in amongst us to lead you astray and to lead you aside. But God was good to us, He's longsuffering to us, and even though it was said, you're not my people in essence, you're not going to be saved in this place. It was said unto them, ye are, it shall be said, ye are the sons of the living God. Listen to Ephesians chapter 2. He made this statement in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12 and 13 about the Ephesian saints. He said about them before they were saved, He said that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Now if we put a period there and stop there, that leaves us there hanging and nothing but God in His goodness said, but now in Christ Jesus are you who sometimes were false and you're made nigh. by the blood of Christ you see God's long suffering and good to us to give us a space of repentance and that first right there just jumped out at me as I was reading it just just kept jump out I had it underline from before I had it mark from before but it really even as I studied it didn't jump out at me like it did just while ago when I was reading it in other words what did he say there in verse number 10 that he shall come to pass Amen it shall be it's going to be is what he said and under them he'd already said all those names meant you're scattered you're not you're not my people you're not there's no hope for you right now and they had to go into captivity but back he said it's going to come a time It's going to come to pass that you're it's said unto you you're not my people but there it shall be said unto them. You are the sons of the living God. I pray God a nudge at your heart somewhere along the way. And he said Yeah people tried to put you down they've tried to cast you aside they've tried to do everything to divide and they've said it seemed like every time we've been browbeat and knocked down every time we try to stand up somebody else comes along the brethren. But I want to tell you what, I ain't got nobody to answer to but the Lord, amen? I ain't got an answer to them. I was thinking the other night about something, I woke up and I dreamed it, I think. I don't know whether I dreamed it or in the body or out of the body, I know not, amen? But all at once I got to thinking about something I need to deal with on the radio broadcast and I thought, well, boy, that ain't going to sit too well. And it's like the Lord said, well, who are you trying to please anyway? I mean, I can't even lead in silent prayer in most nurseries, amen? So what difference is it going to make, amen? I ain't got nowhere else to go. I've got no agenda, amen? I'm just here, amen? And if you all hadn't run me off yet, pray you won't run me off tonight, but by the grace of God, he who said, you shall not be saved in this place, you'll hear God one day say, ye are mine. I've worked with you. I've pitied you. I've had compassion. That pity don't mean in a bad way like we sometimes think of pity, but it means that you shall be called the sons of the living God. Amen. Salvation's coming. That's what he's talking about. That's Hosea's message. Deliverance. Salvation. Amen. I don't know all about all the ins and outs and ups and downs, but folks, I want to tell you, I believe there's hope for us. And even though some will try to say, ah, there's no hope. Don't listen to them. Don't let people sidetrack you in this meeting. Focus on Him and stay focused this week. Amen. Try not to let things pull you aside as far as your activities of the world. I want to tell you what, you'll have a flat tire on the way to work tomorrow. your motor blow up and something I hope not I hope I'm not prophesying but you know what I'm saying those little things comes along and they may seem big and they'll get your attention but listen their most important thing is for you to be here when God says you are you're my living son amen you miss out that night might be the night he shows up in great power and does he work I don't know when he's going to do it amen it could be right now he could fall on us and everybody in the building get saved if he so chose He won't do it without dealing with your sin and dealing with your problem, amen. But He can do that. He'll personally visit you from on high. And if ten got saved at one time, I'll tell you, it'd still be personal. Every one will be personal. Oh, listen, He's doing something. I don't know what, but there is a stirring. There's a sense of anxiety. That's the wrong word, amen. But there's a sense of anticipation. of him meeting with us in some form or fashion. And you remember that every time that he that you know he knows he's coming he know and the devil's got an inkling he's going to do everything he can to try to offend you or to do something to get you pulled aside and get you off focus. Amen. He'll do it. But thank God this look over because it shall be that you'll be called the sons of God. Hallelujah. Amen. We ought to say praise the Lord. Glory. Glory. God's good all the time. And we're expecting something. I'm not trying to pump you up young. I'm trying to give you hope. It's not me. It's not the preachers. It's coming. It's got to be the Lord and you focus on him and he shall carry you through father. I pray that you'd help us tonight. Pray you'd speak to our hearts. I'm thankful for your long-suffering and your goodness to us that gives us a space of repentance. And Lord, you said if we'd continue, we shall know the truth. We shall know the truth. We've got the promises. You said your word won't return void. We've cast the bread on the waters. We're looking for it to return. It's been many days. Yet there may be many more. I don't know how long the many is. But Lord, we're expecting. We're not trying to twist your arm. We just know, God, you've said some things. And I know that you're not going to save anybody until you deal with their sin, but I pray you'd help people to be moldable this week. I pray you'd, as you come on them in Holy Ghost conviction and saving power and saving faith, I pray that all those things will be worked out. Something that looks like it's impossible to be done, but it can be done. It is going to be done sometime, and I pray it'll be done. This week we'll see, this next week in our meeting we'll see if we come together with people holding the ropes and praying and expecting great things and I pray you'll not let the missionaries get in the way. I pray you'd cast them aside. Don't even let them get here if they're going to cause any problem Lord. And I pray you'll open their eyes and bring them under Holy Ghost conviction. May it be said like it was in Mark chapter 2 that we never saw it on this fashion. Oh Lord, may it be the most unusual meeting we've ever been in that you might get glory. And we'll thank you for what's done and praise you for it. But we ask it all in Jesus' name. Lord, bring only those you want to come. Keep away anybody else that don't need to be here. And we'll thank you for what you do. For we ask it in Jesus' name. For his sake we pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened. Mind the Lord tonight as she plays.