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Introducing Hosea (1:1-9)
43 Plays2 years ago
The Study of the book of Hosea
Sunday Message recorded 08 October 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Jacob's Missionary Work
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. I'd like to begin the service today by introducing two people to you. A little bit later, I'm going to introduce Hosea, the prophet to you. But first, I want to introduce, in case some of you don't know who he is, I want to introduce Jacob the missionary to you. So Jacob, would you come up here just for a second?
Jacob's Reflections and Future Plans
00:00:39
Speaker
I want to say on behalf of this congregation, welcome back. Jacob has been serving as a missionary in Japan, and you went over there initially for what, two years? On a two-year assignment? Three. Did you extend it? Yeah, I extended it until October. I came back last week.
00:01:15
Speaker
But the reason I wanted to introduce him, I want you to know who Jacob Tice is, because he's been serving faithfully the Lord in a very difficult place. The people of Japan are still less than 1% Christian. And so there are not very many Christians there. And so every time I would talk with him on the phone to encourage him and so forth, he was always modest. And he would always say, I don't think I'm making a difference here. And yet, as we would keep talking,
00:01:27
Speaker
Monday or Tuesday, all the days of blending together.
00:01:44
Speaker
He would tell me about this one that he was meeting with and sharing the word with. He would tell me about a barber that he's discipling, and on and on. And so I thought, man, it sounds to me like you're doing a good job in a very difficult place. So Jacob is home. You'll be here for what? About six months.
00:02:03
Speaker
about six months. But he's shared with me that he senses in his call that the Lord's calling him to go back. So he's in the process of reapplying that he could go back. And so I'm so excited.
Prayer for Jacob and Power of God's Word
00:02:16
Speaker
I wanted us to be able to give him a rousing First Baptist Church Columbus welcome home because this is where he grew up. At one time he was in our youth group and
00:02:28
Speaker
He was in our Sunday School classes and so forth. So anyway, Jacob, thank you for what you've done. And we just want to say welcome home. Let's welcome him.
00:02:46
Speaker
We love you, man, and we want to pray for those seeds that you were able to sow while you were there. So I'd like for us to begin with prayer. We'll pray for the seeds that he has sown, but we'll also pray for what God wants to do in the Word today, as each one of us are opening our hearts, hopefully, to receive what God has.
00:03:04
Speaker
You know, in Psalm 19, right at the mid part, it begins to talk about what can the Word of God do? And so this is what we're gonna pray that the seeds that Jacob has sown across Osaka, this is what we're gonna pray that the God would do. So I'm gonna start with Psalm 19 verse seven and pray down to the end of the Psalm, but let's bow and go to the Lord in prayer and let's pray for the power of God's Word, not only to be at work in Osaka today,
00:03:33
Speaker
but also to be at work right here in Columbus today. Lord, I thank you so much for Jacob Tice. Thank you for who he is. Thank you for all that you have done through him.
00:03:46
Speaker
Lord, Japan's a very difficult place. Spiritually, it's a very dark place. And yet he went there gladly. He went there obediently. And he wanted to lift up your name as a banner of light in that place. And so thank you, Father, for three years of faithfulness and dedication. Lord, we pray that over these next six months that he would be renewed and recharged and refreshed.
00:04:10
Speaker
Help him as he reconnects with his family. I know that his dad Stephen, his mother Brenda, they're so excited to have him back, and rightfully so. They've raised a fine son. So anyway, Lord, together we wanted to pray for the seeds that he has sown across three years. Lord, I heard for myself the number of relationships that he built, relationships that at least in that country are very important.
00:04:36
Speaker
They build bridges of trust. And so we pray, Lord, that you would use the word that he has shared to revive the soul.
00:04:44
Speaker
We pray, Lord, that You would use the seeds that He has sown to make wise to simple. Lord, use it to rejoice the heart to enlighten the eyes. We pray the same thing for today as we look into Your Word, that You would enlighten our hearts. Lord, that You would rejoice our hearts, that You would help us to make wise decisions in our lives, that You would revive our souls.
00:05:08
Speaker
Lord, it says here that your word should be desired more than gold. Lord, I pray that more than any other obsession in our lives, that the one great obsession, the one magnificent obsession would be for the word of God.
00:05:24
Speaker
Lord, I pray that through your word, you would warn us if that's what we need. Lord, maybe some need to be reminded that in keeping your word, there's great reward. I pray that you would give us discernment and keep us from error.
00:05:39
Speaker
I pray, dear Lord, that you would also declare to us hidden faults. I pray that you would keep us back from presumptuous sins. I pray that you would not let presumptuous sins have dominion over any of us. Help us, O Lord, to allow the word of God to work such a powerful work in our lives that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our heart would be acceptable in your sight.
00:06:07
Speaker
Oh Lord, we give you this sermon, we give you Jacob's service and say thank you so much for what you can do just through the active living word of God. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Introduction to the Book of Hosea
00:06:21
Speaker
I would like to invite you to turn in the Old Testament book of Hosea. I'm going to give you some things by way of introduction. I know it may take a while to find it, so don't forget there is a table of contents at the beginning of the Bible. But we're going to be in Hosea for a while, so you may want to put a bookmark there so that you don't forget. You know, whenever you begin the New Testament, quickly you are introduced to 12 disciples who said, I'll follow Jesus.
00:06:51
Speaker
Whenever you're ending, not beginning, but when you're ending the Old Testament, you're introduced to twelve prophets. They're called minor prophets, not because their legacy of all the content and the truth of what they delivered was not important, but because of the length.
00:07:12
Speaker
their brief. Hey, listen for preachers, that's important whenever you can learn how to be brief. But these guys are called the minor prophets, the last 12 books of the Old Testament. Hosea is the first one out of these minor prophets.
00:07:29
Speaker
But also, what I thought was interesting, if you begin with Hosea's ministry, go all the way to the last minor prophet, Malachi, it covers a 450 year period, from 850 to 400 BC.
00:07:44
Speaker
John MacArthur says that Hosea's ministry by itself was 45 years from 755 to 710 BC. Whenever this man was trying to deliver the Word of God, his country was not the main dominating country in the world. There was another place called Assyria. The Assyrian Empire was strong.
00:08:06
Speaker
and his country was divided. It was divided between the south and the north. The southern kingdom was composed of Judah and the northern kingdom was called Israel. So you had Israel and you had Judah. Whenever you hear Israel in this book, you'll think northern kingdom. When you hear Judah in this book, you'll think southern kingdom.
00:08:29
Speaker
But Hosea will have a message that he's going to deliver to that northern kingdom. It's not just a message of his lips. We're going to see that he also had a message from God from his life. And I think that all of us, God wants to give a message through our lips, what we say, but he also wants to give a message through our life, the way we live. The way we live will validate what we share with our mouths if they are in sync.
00:08:57
Speaker
But Romans 15.4 tells us, why even bother with the Old Testament? Why don't we just leave it alone? Why don't we never talk about the Old Testament? Why don't we just talk about the New Testament? Well, I'll tell you why. Romans 15.4 says, for whatever was written in former days was written
00:09:15
Speaker
for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
God's Love and Human Resistance
00:09:25
Speaker
So in other words, God is saying, I'm going to show you things that happened in the Old Testament era that are going to even apply to you now that you're in the New Testament era. You know, the message of the New Testament, it's clear.
00:09:39
Speaker
It's clear because it says while we were still sinners, while we were still sinners, God was demonstrating his love for us that Christ died for us. As a matter of fact, if you were to read Romans five, six through 11, it's not just while we were sinners. It says while we were still weak, while we were still sinners, while we were still enemies,
00:10:02
Speaker
Christ loved us. God was loving you all your life from your very first breath. I want you to know that God's been loving you, but we resist God. We resist his love. We resist his truth. We will not submit to God. And so that's what this book is also going to be about.
00:10:21
Speaker
But all the while that we're in Hosea, I want you to remember Romans 5.8, Romans 5.8, which says, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
00:10:36
Speaker
You see, God not only loves us, He demonstrates how He loves us. When we read through the book of Hosea, you're going to see an incredible demonstration of the love of God. It's going to take your breath away. No wonder God said in His word in 1 Corinthians 10, 11, now these things happen to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
00:11:07
Speaker
You see, that's why I want this series to be entitled, While We Were Still Sinners, because it was the same in the Old Testament, same in the New Testament, same in their day, same in our day. God's been loving you, but you will not give in. Some of you, many of you have already given to the Lord. You've already surrendered your life to Him, and you know that He loves you, but others of you are resisting
00:11:30
Speaker
Why? Why resist the one who loves you more than anyone else in the whole world? But it starts with
Hosea's Symbolic Marriage
00:11:37
Speaker
us confronting our own sin. It starts with us saying, God, I'm tired of doing things my way. I'm going to do things your way. Would you stand with me as I read Hosea 1, 1 through 9? And I believe that all through here, God is going to speak to our hearts because I've been praying for that all week long.
00:11:56
Speaker
But Hosea chapter 1, verses 1 through 9, the word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beery, 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.
00:12:15
Speaker
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,
00:12:32
Speaker
He went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, 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.
00:13:01
Speaker
and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, call her name, no mercy. How scary. 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.
00:13:29
Speaker
When she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, call his name not my people. For you are not my people, and I am not your God. Let's pray together.
00:13:47
Speaker
O Lord, how sobering are these words? And yet I know that they're just as true today as they were back then. That Lord, the word of God is relevant from Genesis to Revelation. And so speak to us, O Lord, what this congregation needs to hear. What do each one of us in this place need to know? Lord, we know from Jeremiah 31.3 that you said, I've loved you with an everlasting love.
00:14:14
Speaker
but some have not surrendered to that love. Some feel that they can be loved and continue to only reject you and to ignore you and to disobey you. But I pray that today you would open up our eyes on how it works, how wonderful grace is, but also how serious sin is. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. Well this,
00:14:42
Speaker
book begins with an introduction of this prophet, so I hope through this that you will be able to see. I'm going to try my best with the help of God's Word and God's Spirit to explain the text, to illustrate the truths, and to apply the theme. Let's begin with the historical context in which Hosea was called.
00:15:02
Speaker
You know, whenever you're called, whenever I'm called, there's a context. Things are going on in our family. Things are going on in our lives. Things are going on in our world. Things are going on in our country. And so we have to be alert to say, what was happening when God called this man, Hosea the prophet?
00:15:21
Speaker
Well, he gives us the verse one to kind of put a timestamp on this. He used the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, which are well-documented. People know exactly so. When I'm talking about Hosea, I'm not talking about something that was made up. This is not a fable. This is not a fairy tale. This is true. This is history in motion. So in that history, God called somebody.
00:15:47
Speaker
So what do all of those kings, what were things like whenever Hosea was called to preach to the northern kingdom? I'll tell you what it was like. People were lying. In the courts there was perjury. There was drunkenness. There was lust. There was robbery. There was murder. There was treason. There was idolatry. There was immorality.
00:16:09
Speaker
Sounds a lot like what we are going through in our lives, in our country, in our society. But notice the initiation. Did Hosea said, I just think I want to serve the Lord. I think I want to do something for God. No, look at how it happened.
00:16:26
Speaker
the word of the Lord that came to Hosea. It was God's initiative. God says, I want you to have a special place in what's going on in this country in history. And so God called him. Notice God called him. He called Hosea. This is an individual. This is one man. What can God do through one woman, through one man, through one
Obedience and Disobedience in Hosea
00:16:52
Speaker
boy, one girl?
00:16:53
Speaker
Well, we're gonna see as we go through this entire book over a course of weeks. But you know, Hosea is actually a popular name. I don't know if you realize it, but there are four other Hoseas in the Bible. So it's like, will the real Hosea please stand up? And all five of these guys stand up. But how do we know which one? How did they know which one? Because for us, it's obscure. We don't care. But wait a minute.
00:17:20
Speaker
What about for them? How did they know which Hosea? They know because his father's name is given. Hosea, the son of Beery. Beery means my spring. So this anchored it. This is a real person. But then notice also the timestamp, the interval.
00:17:37
Speaker
The reign of these four kings of Judah, one king in Israel. The kings of Judah, if I were to summarize them, I'd say, well, Uzziah started good, but he ended poorly. Have you ever seen a leader do that? They start good, they end poorly. Jotham was a good king, but he was permissive. Have you ever seen a permissive leader?
00:17:57
Speaker
Ahaz, how can I describe Ahaz? He was just bad to the bone. I don't know if you know that song, but he was bad to the bone, he was into idolatry, and he even offered up his kids as a burnt offering. So I don't need anybody else to tell me if that's evil or if that's good. I know that's evil because of the instincts I have based upon God's word. And then Hezekiah was strong when he started, he veered off, but he came back. And so he had a strong finish.
00:18:27
Speaker
But what about Jeroboam? That's where he's going. Hosea is told to go to the north, not to the south. And so Jeroboam, the son of Joash, it says in 2 Kings 14, 24, he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
00:18:43
Speaker
Wow. And so that's why God was calling Hosea to come, and maybe some of the things make us feel uncomfortable. But you know what? God is omniscient. He's all-knowing. He sees everything. And so God knows everything that's going on in your life, at your work, in your school, in our neighborhood, in our community, in our country, in our world. God knows it all. And so that's why he's able to confront sin when he sees it.
00:19:11
Speaker
And so I thought to myself, wow, you know, in the north, not only Hosea the prophet was called, but also Jonah the prophet was called. And Amos the prophet was called to deal with these people at the same time. In the southern kingdom, Micah was called and Isaiah was called.
00:19:30
Speaker
But what would you say would be more challenging? Look closely at verse two. Look with me at verse two. What would you say is more challenging if God has something he wants to say through you, like he took Jacob to Osaka, Japan, and God spoke through him? Or would you say, no, for me, the most challenging thing is when he speaks to me. Notice what he says. When the Lord first spoke through Hosea,
00:20:00
Speaker
The Lord said to Hosea. You know, when God says, I'm talking to you, listen to me. Of course, God is from heaven. He's not from Tennessee. If he were from Tennessee, he'd call you Bubba. Listen, I'm talking to you, Bubba. But through you and to you, it's like through you is you being used as an instrument. It's instrumentation. You're going to be an instrument of God.
00:20:25
Speaker
But when he's talking to you, it can be inspection. It can be something more personal. I tried to find out who is it that calls plays. Sometimes a head coach calls the play. Sometimes an offensive coordinator calls the play in football. Sometimes the quarterback calls the play in football. But regardless of whoever has called the plays, have you ever in your life been watching a game like this weekend and you say, I don't know why they call that play.
00:20:54
Speaker
That is not the play I would call. Have you ever had that, a play you didn't like? Well, listen to what God, as the coach, tells Hosea, who's the quarterback, this is the play. I want you to run. He says, okay, go take to yourself a wife of Hordom, have children of Hordom, for the land commits great Hordom by forsaking the Lord.
00:21:17
Speaker
What would you do? It's like what he's telling him to do is what he wants him to expect. So in other words, his wife at the beginning is going to be just your normal average woman in Israel.
00:21:30
Speaker
But over time, God's trying to tell him over time, just like Israel with me, she's going to be unfaithful to you. And so can you imagine going in knowing that you're standing at an altar and you're going to make vows to somebody that God's already said they're not going to be faithful to you for the distance. Man, would that ever be hard.
00:21:51
Speaker
Because what's happening is, God says, I want it to be like an illustration. It's going to be an illustration of unfaithfulness. He says, for, this is why, what is it for? For the land commits great hortom by forsaking the Lord. Wow, that's what it was all about.
00:22:12
Speaker
The people of that land were not being faithful. And so God says, you know how it feels? It feels like to me when you're in a marriage and someone is not faithful to you. They're unfaithful to you. It breaks your heart.
00:22:27
Speaker
You know, I know a lot of times Jeremiah in the Old Testament is referred to as the weeping prophet, but he's going to come sometime after Hosea. But I submit to you, Hosea, he must have been a weeping prophet.
God's Patience and Offer of Mercy
00:22:40
Speaker
It must have broken his heart. But notice that regardless of what it felt like, he consecrated himself to what he knew to be God's will.
00:22:51
Speaker
Notice what it says in verse five, and on that day, I will break the bowl of Israel. Oh, sorry, verse three. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Deblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. So he knows what's coming. So he just says, you know what, I'm gonna have to be faithful to what God wants. So he obeyed God. It doesn't say he took time even. He just went, took Gomer, the daughter of Deblaim, she conceived and bore him a son.
00:23:21
Speaker
Wow. Now, we don't know why she's going to later be unfaithful. Some people say it was probably her dad's fault. He was to blame. But anyway, I don't know. That's not right. But she conceived and bore him a son. A lot of Bible scholars say that son was from a very faithful marriage. So she bore Hosea, a son. Hosea was the father. That's not going to be the case.
00:23:50
Speaker
later. What do you base your interpretation of God's will on? Would you say, well, I'm going to do something if I feel, if I feel good about it, my emotions, if it makes me feel happy, then I'm going to do it. I wonder if Hosea felt happy about this. Others may say, no, I'm going to go with it. If it makes me more comfortable, if it's convenient, I'm going to go with it. If it makes me more popular and more people like me, if I do that,
00:24:20
Speaker
I'm going to do it if it leads to favorable results. If it'll just make me more successful, well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it if it matches what I've always done my whole life, my experience, my tradition, and so forth. What I'm trying to tell you is that's not a good grid for God's discerning God's will.
00:24:42
Speaker
No, not any of those kinds of things, you know, not even personal fulfillment. There was one thing that Hosea said, this will be the determining factor in my life. You know what it was? Verse one, chapter one, verse one, the word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Mary.
00:25:03
Speaker
You keep following every verse as it goes down through here. How often does it keep saying the word of the Lord when the Lord first spoke? The Lord said, the Lord said to him, it's repeated over and over and over again. That's the one thing that Hosea the prophet said. Whatever God has said in his word, that's what I will do.
00:25:26
Speaker
I wonder what would happen in our community, what would happen in our church, what would happen in your family, what would happen in our country if we all decided together that's the one thing that's going to determine the course of our actions. We're just going to do exactly what God has said.
00:25:43
Speaker
And if you read these verses in verses four and five, you'll see that doing this was gonna lead to brokenness. For Hosea to open his mouth and to say judgment is coming, Northern Kingdom, it was gonna be bad because brokenness was just down the road. Look at verse five. And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Dresserael. I will break it.
00:26:11
Speaker
You see, what if God's will involves you sharing about hell, you sharing about discipline, you sharing about chastisement or something like that? Does it always have to be something happy? The personification, God says, you know what, I want you to name your son Jezreel. Jezreel, that's the name of the firstborn son. He said, call his name Jezreel. Why?
00:26:39
Speaker
For in just a little while, I'll punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel." Whoa, wait a minute. I thought God's always going to bless everybody, no matter what.
00:26:54
Speaker
That's not exactly biblical, you see. Sometimes when we get back to God's word, it reorients us to where truth is, to where God is. Notice that God is so precise that he even tells you when. He says, for in just a little while, I'll punish.
00:27:13
Speaker
Do you know that this man Jeroboam, do you know that he was the third generation after a king named Jehu? Do you see Jehu's name mentioned there in verse four? I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel. See, God had told Jehu, I want you to wipe out the king of Ahab and all of his family. But Jehu got too carried away. He went beyond that. He started killing kings in Judah. He got that bloodthirsty,
00:27:43
Speaker
a desire within his heart, and so he just kept going. And so God didn't like that, and God didn't forget that. And so now, whenever Jehoboam dies, 31 years later, you know what? The Northern Kingdom is no more. Just like he says, he even predicted the place of the brokenness in the Valley of Jezreel. Do you know that in 733 BC, the Assyrian troops defeated and captured the Israelite troops?
00:28:14
Speaker
Man, that was the same exact place where Jehu had been swept to power with a lot, a lot of bloodshed.
00:28:24
Speaker
So I'm just saying, you know, God's call, sometimes it leads to conflict. Sometimes it's like, wait a minute, I thought everybody's gonna be at peace whenever you follow Christ. It'll all be peaceful between me and my family, between me and others. Well, just try to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and see if that will lead to everybody getting along with you and everybody giving you a high five.
00:28:50
Speaker
See, it's not just Hosea's call. Jesus said these words, I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Wow, the world hates you? Those are pretty strong words.
00:29:04
Speaker
See, there are consequences whenever anyone chooses to walk away from God's will. Let's say that we tell people, turn to Christ. He died on the cross. He sacrifices life for you. Just turn to Him and let's say instead of turning to Him, they turn away from Him.
00:29:21
Speaker
So should there be consequences for that? Because they're saying, I don't care about God in God's ways. I don't care that Jesus died for me on the cross. I'll live any way I want to. Should there be consequences for that? Why does God even cause there to be consequences? Because He's holy.
00:29:40
Speaker
Because he's just, because he's in control, because he doesn't like chaos, because he doesn't want bad things and evil things to happen across this world. And that's why the symbolic name that he gives to Gomer, second born, who by the way is not said to be born to Hosea. No, it doesn't say the same thing that it said before.
00:30:03
Speaker
It said, she conceived again and bore a daughter, but it doesn't say to him. And it won't say it to the third child either. So more than likely, there's already unfaithfulness that's beginning to take place. But just think about when there's no acknowledgement of sin, there's no repentance from sin,
00:30:23
Speaker
There's condemnation. You know what Romans eight one says? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So the safe place to be is in Christ Jesus. That's the shield where there's no condemnation. But what about the people who are outside?
00:30:43
Speaker
of Christ Jesus. The ones who say, no, I'm not going to follow Christ. I don't want to trust Christ. I don't care if he died on a cross. I don't believe he rose from the dead. What about those people? Well, condemnation. Read Romans 5.
00:31:00
Speaker
You know, salvation was gonna be for Judah and not for Israel. Look at verse seven. Verse seven says, but, there's like this abrupt contrast, but I will have mercy on the house of Judah and I will save them. Well, why are you gonna save Judah, the southern kingdom, and not save Israel, the northern kingdom? I'll tell you why, it's right there. The next words tell us,
00:31:27
Speaker
He said, but I will have mercy on the house of Judah and I will save them by the Lord their God, their God.
00:31:35
Speaker
You see, Judah had a king named Hezekiah. And Hezekiah, whenever he heard that there were 185,000 Assyrians that were gathered around Jerusalem, ready to just snuff them all out. You know what Hezekiah did? He didn't do the same kind of things. Jeroboam did things that were evil in the eyes of the Lord. Remember? That was Jeroboam in the north, but in the south, Hezekiah. Hezekiah called on the Lord. Hezekiah called on the Lord and he said, save us.
00:32:04
Speaker
that earth may know that you are God alone." Wow, you can read about it in 2 Kings chapter 19 verses 14 through 20. And you know what God did? Whenever people humble themselves and say, you're our God, we're going to put our complete trust in you. You know what God does? He pulled them out. He delivered them.
00:32:23
Speaker
185,000 troops were whipped by one angel. One angel took care of 185,000 troops. It's not a problem when you're the Lord God the Almighty, when you have angels like that. And so all I'm saying is it's better to say, I don't want the consequences of being outside God's will. I want the blessings of being inside God's will. There's one last thing I want to ask you. We'll close with this.
00:32:52
Speaker
See, Hosea 189 addresses a very important question. Is everybody, is everybody already in God's family? Is everybody that lives, everybody that dies, they're all going to heaven, they're all going to be in God's family. I've never heard of something called universalism until I got to Japan.
00:33:10
Speaker
And there were pastors that said, well, just because Jesus died on the cross, that makes everybody good. Everything's good. But you see, that's not biblical because the Bible says a man has to repent from his sin. He has to put his faith and his trust in Jesus Christ. The only way to get to heaven is through Christ. That's why Christ said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
00:33:38
Speaker
And so when you get down to this verse in Hosea 1, 8 and 9, and you hear the Lord say, call his name, he had a third child, it was a son.
00:33:50
Speaker
not my people, not my people. And so it's shocking because we're already preconditioned to say everybody's in, but that's not in alignment with God's truth. Everybody's not in. That's why we have to share the gospel with people so they can be in, but on our own, by our own flesh, by our own good works, by the best that we have to offer, we won't be in.
00:34:17
Speaker
Man, you know, despite how low it sounds, I want you to see something that's mentioned in this verse. Look with me at verse eight.
00:34:27
Speaker
A commentator named David Allen Hubbard said that for a child to be weaned back then would have taken two to three years for a child to be weaned from his mom. So it says in verse eight, when she had weaned, no mercy. That was the second child, no mercy. When she had weaned, no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, call his name, not my people. You know what was happening?
00:34:56
Speaker
God was patient. God was forbearing. God was long suffering. And God was saying, this is a time of grace. And so he was waiting. He didn't want there to be judgment. But the people continued. So notice what happens. If you start with verse 2, and you go all the way through the beginning of verse 9, the same thing's happening every time God talks about Israel, the northern kingdom. It's always he's talking about Israel.
00:35:25
Speaker
He's not talking directly to them like we talked about with Hosea the prophet earlier, right? But listen to the last part of verse nine. God talks to them, for you are not my people and I am not your God.
00:35:43
Speaker
Sounds an awfully lot like what Jesus said can happen at the end. When he says to people, depart from me, for I never knew you. I never knew you. Do you know Christ? Do you know the Father through Christ? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? That's what it's all about.
00:36:04
Speaker
You know, God, His grace can bring you from where you are right now. Where you are right now, maybe you'd say, this is the lowest place. I've made so many mistakes in my life. I've blown it so many ways. But God can take you from the lowest place and put you in the highest place.
00:36:21
Speaker
I'm gonna give you one example of that. We'll see it more as we go through. Don't miss next week. Maybe you'd say, this is a rough message. You show up next week with verse 10 and 11 and chapter two, verse one, you'll hear hope next week. You'll hear hope for that day in time. You'll hear hope for this day in time. But I wanna close with one final example.
00:36:43
Speaker
You know, the example was from 2 Samuel 9, King David offered a disabled grandson named Mephibosheth. He was a grandson of Saul who had pursued David, tried to kill him over and over. So now Saul is dead. Most people said, you ought to wipe out all of Saul's descendants. But David remembered he made a covenant with Saul's son, Jonathan.
00:37:07
Speaker
And so he said, I promised Jonathan, if he has a son or a daughter, I will offer them kindness. And so that's exactly what happened. So whenever he finds out there's one son left, he's Mephibosheth, something happened when he was a kid and he lost the use of both legs. So he's disabled, he's hanging out in a lot of art. He said, send a chariot, go pick up Mephibosheth and bring him back to the palace.
00:37:35
Speaker
They go by and they pick him up there. They bring him back to the palace and there he is before King David. He knows that he doesn't deserve anything. He knows he doesn't deserve anything but death. So he humbles himself before the king and he hears these words from David. Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan. The good news is
00:38:02
Speaker
that because of a covenant that's offered to us through Christ, something similar happens. There we are, we're helpless, we can't save ourselves, we can't improve anything. We can't go anywhere and God sends a charity. And he sends the charity and he says, because of the covenant with Jesus, because Jesus died in your place,
00:38:25
Speaker
I'm offering for you the same kind of thing that David offered Mephibosheth. You know what he said to Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth, you'll always be welcome at the king's table. Why don't you sit up here, buddy? You sit up here by me and you be at the king's table and eat the king's food.
00:38:44
Speaker
That's what Jesus has done for us. So can you imagine the travesty and the tragedy? Whenever someone says, I don't need that. I'm good without him. I'm good without him. Don't do it. Because what it's going to mean is someday, someday they're going to be saying, you don't belong to God's family. You see, what's really stunning to me is that since we've all sinned against God, we all deserve punishment for our sins.
00:39:11
Speaker
We do not deserve mercy and forgiveness, nor do we deserve a place in God's family or a place at the table. But because of what Christ did, he took our punishment on the cross. You know what it is that you offered to us? Mercy. Mercy and forgiveness, as well as a place in God's family. And so we all must come through Christ finished work by repentance and by faith
00:39:40
Speaker
and by surrender. Man, don't you want to do that today? That's what we're going to close our service with today. It's a song says, I need thee every hour. That's a song of dependence saying, Lord, I surrender to you. Let's stand together. I want to sing this last song. We'll sing it together as the musicians come and prepare to lead us in it. But I'll be waiting down front.
00:40:05
Speaker
And if God's spoken to your heart, just know that the invitation is to you. If you want to reject it and walk away, you can do that. But the only thing, if you do that, just remember the message. The message is there are consequences. There are consequences. There's this possibility that you will enter eternity cut off.
00:40:27
Speaker
from the family of God. You don't want to be there. So let's pray together. Lord, we pray if there's anyone here that does not have a personal relationship with Christ, oh Lord, let them know. Let them know that this is the time. This is the time of grace. This is the time of opportunity when they can respond to a gospel invitation. And so Lord, I just pray right now in Jesus name.
00:40:52
Speaker
that for those that do not know that their sins are cleansed and forgiven, that they would come today and just surrender to Christ and say, I want to follow Christ. Oh Lord, it's an Old Testament book, Hosea, but it's got such a relevant message for us today. Lord, I pray that you would begin something here that would spread across our community, across our country, and around our world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:41:26
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.