Sunday January 4th | Micah Watterson

[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Tristan Chambers and I'll be reading from the book of Hosea, chapter 2, verses 14 through 20.

Hosea 2:14–20

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says, therefore behold, I will allow her her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I will give her her vineyards from there and the value of aqua as a dwarf hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she will sing there as in the days of her youth as in the day when she came up from the line of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will come about in that day to clears the Lord that you will call me Ishi and will no longer call me Bailey.

[SPEAKER_00]: For our remove the names of the Bales from her mouth so that they will be mentioned by their names no more.

[SPEAKER_00]: In that day I will also make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and we'll make them lie down in safety.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will betroth you to me forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice and loving kindness and in compassion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you will know the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the word of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Good morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: clear the air.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going as long as I did last time.

[SPEAKER_01]: So do you know how to buckle in for anything?

[SPEAKER_01]: Please turn it to me to Joseia.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's a very lesser known profit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you don't know where it is, no judgements.

[SPEAKER_01]: After Daniel's if you know where Daniel is, go ahead and go there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, you got to open up to the table of contents.

[SPEAKER_01]: Find that page number.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, turn there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So at the beginning of the year, I know we had a great new years and Christmas together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was just thinking of how to start the new year, Kurt asked me to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think hopefully by the end of this morning service, you'll understand why I chose Jose, if not, you might, I don't know, am I have to come talk with you afterwards and make it more clear, hopefully it makes sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, Hosea is a 14 chapter book about the man Hosea and his ministry and really his prophecy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so chapters 4 through 14 are some excerpts from his preaching and really 4 through 14 are more so God speaking directly to Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, directly to Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now chapters one through three, which is what we're going to cover this morning, our Hosea's symbolic marriage with his wife, Gomer.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so we're just going to focus on the first three chapters, because I think if you can get these first three chapters, then four through 14.

[SPEAKER_01]: is really just an unfolding of everything that we see in chapters one through three.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, yeah, I'm on the clock, so let's get at it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So the book of Hosea is, we re-read in verse one of chapter one.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, the word of the Lord came to Hosea, the son of Beere, during the days of Uzaya,

[SPEAKER_01]: and during the days of Jerobone, the son of Joe Ash King of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, this gives us a good time frame of really what the cultural context was, what was happening within the land at this point for Hosea to come and get this, it's really this commission that is so other, you know, otherworldly, right, than what we see or expect out of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the culture and the time frame of Hosea,

[SPEAKER_01]: really lends to why God chooses him and tells him to go do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see all these different kings of Siyah, Jonathan May, has in Hezekiah, Jeroboam, the son of Joach.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this puts us during the split kingdom time frame, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: David and his sons, there was some falling out between them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so the kingdom split.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ten of them made their own kingdom and the other two kept

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're, they're kingdom together and so we had the northern kingdom which would be Israel also known as Ephraim.

[SPEAKER_01]: So as you read through a lot of the prophets and the Psalms, you'll see Israel Ephraim and then the other kingdom, the southern kingdom is Judah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see that, you know, there's this 200-year frame between the splitting of the kingdoms.

[SPEAKER_01]: 200 years later to where we get to Hosean, Hosean is really going to prophesy around the last 40 years of the northern kingdom.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is Israel and Ephraim.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's interesting because Israel slash Ephraim, they established as their official god, a golden calf.

[SPEAKER_01]: which we would also characterize, they also name it as bail, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: This idle, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: This golden calf is their official god.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so in this meantime, this 200 years before Joseah, God has sent some amazing prophets to this people.

[SPEAKER_01]: that we would expect would be very effective.

[SPEAKER_01]: People like Elijah, Elijah, Jonah, Amos, and now Hosea.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he gets to this point of all these big name prophets.

[SPEAKER_01]: They come and they're saying the exact same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: All the prophets have the same banner that they're flying under, which is return to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: no longer be unfaithful, don't follow after these other idols.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to return back to him.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the banner that all the prophets fly under.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we see again and again between Elijah, Elijah, Jonah, Amos, they don't respond to it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They continue in their sin and in their idolatry.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we get to Jose here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so let's read verses two through three.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when the Lord first spoke through Jose, the Lord said to Jose, go take to yourself a wife of harlatry and have children of harlatry for the land commits flagrant harlatry for saking the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he went and took Goma, the daughter of the blame, and she conceived and bore him a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, my version says harlatry, I'm sure your version doesn't, because I have a older translation.

[SPEAKER_01]: This would be the same word as a prostitute, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Go take for yourself a wife that is a prostitute.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, that's pretty that's pretty out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Isn't it we see God call a lot of people different things.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean with Jonah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, go talk to this the capital of this enemy nation and yet this one.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's really shocking.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know the first time I read Jose first of all.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean we're talking about reading the Bible in a year.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not doing that, it's kind of hard to find this book because it's not talked about often.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not one of these, you know, it's not like the New Testament gospel or one of Paul's writings or the Psalms or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lesser-known book, but man, it's message and it's purpose.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think is so powerful and it's something that the Lord has really spoken to me through.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, go and take for yourself a wife of harlotry or a prostitute.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what is the reason for this?

[SPEAKER_01]: God has a reasoning behind everything he does.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I want you to go do this because it is symbolizing the second part of a verse two.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, for the land commits flagrant harlotry for saking the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, Hosanna, your life is going to be a parable or symbolizing my relationship with Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: Israel, my people, this land that I've given him, they have turned for me, they have been an unfaithful wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are harlots and prostitutes in this relationship that I have made with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, and so he says, go and do the same.

[SPEAKER_01]: You go and take a wife that is unfaithful to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to see how this plays out, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so Hosea is obedient.

[SPEAKER_01]: He goes out and he does what the Lord commands him to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's difficult as it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: We would never think a good Christian believer would go out and Mary, someone who obviously is not a believer, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who's not following the law of the Lord and yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ozeo base.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's seen verse 4.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, the Lord said to him, name him Jez Reel.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the first born son, his name is Jez Reel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to see something that happens with these three children that Ozeo has, is that they have specific names.

[SPEAKER_01]: that had meaning for the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: These names have a symbolic message that is going to play out later on in this story.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, Jez Reel, he says, for in a little while, I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jez Reel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jez Reel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so for my Bible scholars out there, Jez Reel, if you know, is the place where Jehu, the king of that time in Second Kings, he goes, and the Lord commands him to go and conquer this city, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: This region, which is Jez Reel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so Jehu does that, but Jehu has this problem of this ruthlessness, this godlessness, this high-handedness of, I'm gonna take, and I'm gonna be totally inconsiderate, and I'm gonna go too far.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: God has commanded me to do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go and make a point.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, kind of this solidarity of political power that J.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who is taking.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so it goes and he does what the Lord has commanded him, but not in the manner in which the Lord commanded him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see later on that there's a lot of different things that Jose is calling back to that does this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, just real, um,

[SPEAKER_01]: Is this valley where this sin is committed of this high-handerness, this ruthlessness, this abandoned godlessness of power?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's really this violence, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I will punish the house of J. who for the bloodshed of Jezreel.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he says in verse 5, on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what I take that verse 5 to mean is that that bow

[SPEAKER_01]: that he's going to break.

[SPEAKER_01]: It lets me know that this spirit of ruthlessness, Godlessness, violence for going too far, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Not following what the Lord has commanded to a T. That is still the spirit of the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, I'm going to break that spirit so that you would return to me, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: So this first son stands for the sin of the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: He means that Israel's spirit needs to be broken because there is a recklessness, this proud, high handedness that J.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who does in Jezreel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see the first son, Jezreel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he continues in verse 6, then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel that I would ever forgive them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now this is, it gets very dark before it gets hopeful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so what God is saying is, my people are so obstinate and they are selling themselves out, they are unfaithful to me, they are harlots and prostitutes.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he says, name your daughter, no mercy, no compassion, no love.

[SPEAKER_01]: because I have no love, no mercy, no compassion for my people.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, in verse 7, but I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God and will not deliver them by both sword battle, horses or horsemen.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, this northern kingdom is real Frum.

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys, I have no compassion, but this southern kingdom of Judah, I will have compassion on them.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we need to be like Judah, Israel turned to be like this southern kingdom for there at least doing something right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so in verse 8, we see the third child.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when she had reigned low Rwama, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord said, name him, low ame, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he's saying to Israel through Jose's life, his marriage and his children.

[SPEAKER_01]: No more mercy, you are not my people, and I will break the spirit of rebellion in you.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's where we're at at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he continues in verse 10, it gets a little bit better, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: It gets better because there's a promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's this hopelessness, but now hope comes because we know that God has never given up on his people and he never will.

[SPEAKER_01]: In verse 10 it says, yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in the place where it is said to them, you are not my people.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will be said to them, you are sons of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see, right, there's this change, there's this, it flips on its head, there's this opposite nature of what God is going to do through his people, where it is said to them, you are not my people, it will be said to them, you are the sons of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel, what gather together and they will appoint for themselves one leader and they will go up from the land for great will be the day of Jesereal.

[SPEAKER_01]: and continue in verse, or chapter two, verse one, it says, say to your brothers, Ami, and contend with your sisters, Rwama.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that means, low Ami means not my people.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's gonna say, say to your brothers, you are my people, he says, say to your sisters, I have mercy, I have love, I have compassion on you now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because the Lord is going to do something, and He's gonna call them back to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see all these different names, this symbolic marriage is a direct parallel between God's relationship with Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to be thinking, I'm sure you've already caught onto it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can think all we want to about Gomer, this unfaithful wife, it's going to get worse for Jose and his relationship.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we should not be judgmental because in this story, I think the direct application for us is, we are Gomer, we are Israel, we have been unfaithful, we have prostituted ourselves out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so at the beginning of 2026, everything that we have done in 2025 can be wiped away if we would just return to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, return to me, and I will say that you are the sons of the living God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will have mercy on you.

[SPEAKER_01]: No more will I say to you, I have no mercy, you are not my people.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I will love you again, like he loves his wife, just like Jose loves this unfaithful wife that the Lord has commanded him to marry.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so as we continue through this book, we can, I think chapter two, verses one through 13, I think there's three verses that would summarize the line of thought here and really the pattern that the Lord is laying out for these people.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so the first one is going to be verse five.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, if you go with me, look at verse five here in those edge after two.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, for their mother has played the harlot.

[SPEAKER_01]: She, who conceived them, has acted shamefully.

[SPEAKER_01]: For she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: and us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go after these other lovers, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We have played the harlot.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have been on faithful and we go after these other lovers who we think gives us the things that we need, we desire that makes us feel good, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: These are good things.

[SPEAKER_01]: bread, water, wool, flacks, oil, and drink.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we go after these things that we think satisfy us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the reason why we go to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: We know the Lord is good, and yet these other things, they have this momentary promise of delight, of pleasure.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we go after these things.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will go after my lovers, it says in verse five.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if we go down to verse 8, it says, for she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil, and I have lavished on her silver and gold which they used for bail.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see these lovers that we go after because they give us all these good things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who does it really come from?

[SPEAKER_01]: It comes from the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is God who gives us those things.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what it says in verse 8.

[SPEAKER_01]: She doesn't know that it was I who gave it to her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we have our priorities off.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're trusting in these other lovers whether that's the world, ambition, money, pleasure, all these different things that give it to these momentary pleasures.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's really the Lord who gives us the ultimate pleasure.

[SPEAKER_01]: Satisfaction in him, desire in him.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is satisfied, always satisfied.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then if we finish this section, I think verse 13 gets to the end of this.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, I will punish her for the days of the bales when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry and follow her lovers so that she forgot me declares the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he says, we have followed after these things, not knowing that it was the Lord who gave it to us, and we have forgotten the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: Isn't that so true?

[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's true of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure it's true of you as well, that sometimes we forget it is the Lord who gives us all things.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is the one who gives us every blessing.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who provides.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives us daily bread, the breath, and our lungs, every time we wake up, it is because the Lord has a point in for that to happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And how often we take it for granted and attribute it to something that something else has done outside of the Lord or something that we have done ourselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we follow after these other lovers.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we don't give the Lord the right do of our desires.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so God says, I will punish her for the days of the bails when she used to offer sacrifices to them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think in these verses, we see the tragedy that Israel has

[SPEAKER_01]: is experiencing, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: The first one is God wants to be your husband, but she is unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: She loves other gods.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have been unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: We love other gods.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then Versailles, we see that all that we get, um,

[SPEAKER_01]: we get from our true husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we think we get it from these other things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then first 13, it says that God will punish this unfaithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: For when he is treated as less than a husband, he's going to show us that he is so much more than a husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: He is the Almighty God, the majesty on high.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's who he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so when we don't give him his right, do of our affections and our time and our purpose and life glorifying him and everything, he's going to show us that he is so much more than just a husband that he is the creator, the master of everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think before we get to

[SPEAKER_01]: 14 through 23 which is what Tristan read.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's really, it's one of the most beautiful passages I think in Scripture because it's this love song that the Lord is singing to this unfaithful wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's singing to us and our unfaithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: But before we get there, I want to get to chapter 3.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because this is kind of the last time we see Hosea and Goma.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so chapter 3, it goes like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord said to me, go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulterous.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and listen to this, and love raising cakes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Isn't that crazy?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think, I mean, it says they turn to other gods and they love like little Debbie Cookies, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's how we got to read that to understand the, the just the absurdity of it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That these other gods, some of their, some of the offerings that they would give would be raising cakes and they would eat them and be merry and worship of these other gods and so Israel is so far gone and they're so trivial and just, it's so ridiculous, what they do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what we do really, right, because this is talking about us as well, is we turn to these other gods and we love these momentary satisfying things of raising cakes people, raising cakes.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what it takes to sell these people, sell us to these other lovers, these other gods.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's interesting here in verse one, it says, go again in love a woman who is loved by her husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's two things that we can get right there that give us a little more insight to this story.

[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, it says, go again.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this lets us know that Goma has left, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: She is obviously not with Hosea at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's somewhere else, just as an unfaithful wife would do, she's gone again, unfaithful again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so she's not with Hosanne and he says go again, love her, love a woman.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says love a woman.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some people would say that this is a different woman.

[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't specifically Gomer.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that falls apart when we get the symbolic nature of Hosanne's marriage because God doesn't have two wives.

[SPEAKER_01]: He only has one wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if there's two wives in that totally falls apart with what God is doing here through Hosanne.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's Gomer again.

[SPEAKER_01]: She has gone.

[SPEAKER_01]: She has left.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we would think, Jose is free, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: By law, by the Exodus law, she's an adulterous.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's left him.

[SPEAKER_01]: She could be stoned to death, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Jose is totally justified by the law to commit her to death.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet the Lord says, go again, love a woman who's loved by her husband, yet an adulterous, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's interesting here.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't say,

[SPEAKER_01]: you know, just to go get her.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we would, yeah, he's got to go get her.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Jose, go and get your wife who's unfaithful to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't just say that.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't say just go get her and bring her back.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he says, go and love her.

[SPEAKER_01]: Love a woman who is loved by her husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's so telling about the nature that the Lord has for us as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: that he doesn't just want to go and get us, but he says, go and love her.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to come and love us again.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even though we are totally unfaithful, we time and time again turn to these other idols to these other gods, these other lovers.

[SPEAKER_01]: says go again, love her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even if that wasn't some sort of emotional and possibility, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: She's unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's left him again.

[SPEAKER_01]: God says, hey, go love her again, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if I would be able to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Jose has to go do that, but also if we reverse two, he can't afford it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, not only is their difficulty in the emotional aspect of going and getting her back, but he's got to pay for her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so it says in verse two, so I bought her for myself for 15 sheckles of silver and a Homer and a half of barley.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's interesting here.

[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, he can't pay this in full.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we see that because he doesn't pay everything in cash.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has to give it literally everything he has to go and purchase for himself this unfaithful wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can't pay everything in cash.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives some shackles of silver, but then he's got to make up the rest of it for a Homer and a half of barley.

[SPEAKER_01]: So everything, he's got to scrounge up everything he has to go and purchase, gomer again.

[SPEAKER_01]: in Exodus, this is the exact price that someone would pay for a slave.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we can gather by insight that Goma is now enslaved to some of her other lovers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not only is she unfaithful and a harlot, she is a slave, she is in captivity, she is bound by these other lovers.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so not only is Hosea, her true husband, right by law, he is her husband, but he's also got to go and pay her and buy her back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I hope you would see the obvious similarity there between Christ and us, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Not only has the Lord created us, but Christ has come and purchased us back to him, even in our unfaithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Ephesians 2 says, while we were enemies of God, He has come to save us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, he continues in verse 3, then I said to her, you shall stay with me for many days.

[SPEAKER_01]: You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have him in, so I will also be toward you for the sons of Israel will remain for many days without King or Prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols.

[SPEAKER_01]: Afterwards, the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their King, and they will come trembling to the Lord and to his goodness in the last days.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what we see the end of for Hosea and Goma.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, 4 through 14 are just excerpts from some of Hosea's sermons that really just unfold the rest of this story.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if we get this story, Hosea and Goma, this loving husband who loves this unfaithful, totally rotten, unlovingly wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what she is.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's who she is.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet he still is obedient to Lord goes and loves her.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Christ does for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think if we think for a moment about Hosean and Gomorrah, what God asked him to do, we kind of get a glimpse into what God's love for us in our unfatelness is like, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: This sort of exasperation of all my goodness, like, just return back to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love you, and yet we are still unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, Gomer has been unfaithful all along, and finally she goes up with this other man.

[SPEAKER_01]: He could have had her stone, but God commands him to go and love her again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the reason that God can expect that of Hosea is because that is what he aims to do with Israel and with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, God makes great loving and beautiful promises to us, and He is faithful, though we are not.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is faithful, even in our unfaithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so let's look at really the good part of these chapters, Josecha after two, starting in verse 14.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's three things that we see in these verses that God does for us, right, for his rebellious wife to win us back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, three things.

[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing is that he will speak kindly to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We find that in verse 14.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's true.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's true in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's true in your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: We like Homer, we're enslaved to another lover at some point, whether that's the world pleasure, ambition, money, whatever it is, but God has not cast us off.

[SPEAKER_01]: He hasn't abandoned us.

[SPEAKER_01]: He promises to take us into the wilderness and be alone with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And why is that?

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, so he can speak kindly to us, speak tenderly to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: The literal Hebrew there is to speak to her heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what the Lord wants to do is take you aside.

[SPEAKER_01]: Take you into the wilderness alone and speak to your heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, speak kind words to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so go with him, go with him into the wilderness and with your heart, don't think you're too ugly or too rotten.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know that lie is coming up in your mind right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is not true.

[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, the Lord knows who's coming after.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hosea knows that his wife is unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord knows that we are unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet what does he say?

[SPEAKER_01]: Go, love her again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will speak kindly to you and he knows exactly who you are and what you have done.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows all the nasty things, the disgusting things, the rotten things, the ugly things that we have and what we think ourselves to be and yet he says come with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will speak kindly to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will love you and he speaks lovingly as a husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, because that's who he is, he is our husband, the warn that we are in a covenant with.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he wants to woo us, tenderly speak kindly to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't think we're too ugly or too rotten, he knows who we are, he knows that his wife is unfaithful, and that's what mercy is.

[SPEAKER_01]: Getting something we don't deserve, and not getting what we do deserve.

[SPEAKER_01]: So then the second thing is in verse 15.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to promise us hope and safety.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, then I will give her her vineyards from there in the Valley of Acre as a door of hope and she will sing there as in the days of her youth as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_01]: So think for a second, I don't know, we got Neal Testament scholars in here or not, but the Valley of Acre, that is where they, okay, so we got the Book of Joshua, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: This is where this is found.

[SPEAKER_01]: They cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the first time the land has been inhabited by God's people, they've come into the Promised Land that Lord has been pointing to for years and years and years.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And the first day did they go to is where?

[SPEAKER_01]: is Jericho.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so God shows up in this amazing way here at Jericho, but he gives this stipulation.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, when you go in the walls fall, when you go in and you conquer the city, don't take any of the treasure.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't take any of the gold or the silver or anything for it is profane and I don't want it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what the Lord says.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want it, so don't touch it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet there's this one guy, his names Aiken, they go in, they storm, he's the one guy who chooses to not do what the Lord has commanded, and he takes some of the treasure.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so the Lord's anger burns against the people, they'd cast lots, they'd find out it was Aiken in his household, and so they killed them for their sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this sin is visited upon the whole people in the Valley of AI, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: The Battle of AI, where the Lord gives them up because of their sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this land of AI, this Battle of AI is found in the Valley of Acor, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this valley of acore is going to be a door of hope in Joshua chapter 7 verse 26 says that the valley of acore is going to be a door of trouble.

Joshua 7:26

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a valley of trouble from then on out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And yet here we read that this place where they first sinned in the land of God's promise, the promise land, is now going to be a door of hope.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what does God talking about?

[SPEAKER_01]: He brings up all these, you know, he's bringing up some of their past things, which the people obviously would know, it's helpful to have some knowledge of the historical accounts of the Old Testament because of things like this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so what God is saying, if I could simplify it, is that this first time of sin, this valley of trouble.

[SPEAKER_01]: that God is going to take that, and He's going to flip it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Their sin will now become their hope.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says there will, we will sing there in the days of our youth as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so where do we know in Scripture and in our lives and in our faith?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where our sin has become our hope?

[SPEAKER_01]: That is only in one place, in Christ, where He has taken on our sin, where our sin is washed clean because He has taken it on.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have imputed our sin onto Him and He has imputed His righteousness onto us.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's this amazing thing that God does.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I will, he says, I'm going to give you some paradise right there's going to be vineyards there not only is it going to be good, you know, just physically is going to be paradise when we go to the Lord and go into the wilderness with him, but also our sin is going to give us hope because there's the one who comes and takes away the sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, the Agnes stay the Lamb of God behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we see this value of A core is going to be a door of hope now.

[SPEAKER_01]: If only we would come home, we'd find paradise with our husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what God speaks in the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says, it's going to be so, so good.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you would just come home to me, my unfaithful wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to get right or anything, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just come as you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to work ourselves up to a certain point.

[SPEAKER_01]: Work ourselves up to a certain cleanliness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just go with him into the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_01]: He will speak highly to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he will love us what's more.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the last point I see here in verse in chapter two is he will renew his wife's betrothal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, this is down in verses 19 and 20, so read that with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: It says, I will betrothal you to me forever, yes, I will betrothal you to me in righteousness and in justice in loving kindness and in compassion, and I will betrothal you to me in faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: then you will know the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says that three times this is very important and it's he's harping on it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: He's hammering it down.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will betroth you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will betroth you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will betroth you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what is what he's saying here is we can go back to the beginning.

[SPEAKER_01]: When I took you out of out of Egypt and during the Exodus, when I first made my covenant with you with these people, where you would follow me, you were obedient, you loved me.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says we're going to go back to our

[SPEAKER_01]: Even though you've been on faith, even though I've been on faithful, the Lord says, I will engage you again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I will betroth myself to you again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And listen to what He says about these betrayals.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will be forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: It will be in righteousness and injustice in loving kindness and in compassion, and He will betroth us to Him in faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then we will know the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: These things will be made right between us again.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to end with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Ben can come back up.

[SPEAKER_01]: What do we have to do, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We know that we are terrible and the Lord is so good and loving towards us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so what is it that we have to do?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think, man, it's what we read, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to go into the wilderness with her.

[SPEAKER_01]: What does God want from us?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think this answer is found in verse 16.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is, I mean,

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, I think this is the main point.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we can get this thought, this sort of orientation between ourselves and the Lord and that relationship, man, all this is going to make so much sense in this year as we start 2026, is going to be different for some of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says in verse 16, it will come about in that day declares the Lord that you will call me Ishi and will no longer call me Bailey.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's two different meanings for this word, Bayley, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, we know Bayel, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: The false God, we see what the lies in the prophets of Bayel and all these different things.

[SPEAKER_01]: So not only is he saying, hey, you're gonna call me the one true God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not gonna be some other false idols, some other little God, I'm gonna be the one true God, but there's a second translation to that word.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's used 15 times of the Old Testament, and that word is husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: And really what this word means that, that context of husband in the use of Bailey would be a dominating husband, a Lord full of masterful husband, a cruel husband, in a abusive husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: Someone who lords their power over you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so what the Lord is saying when he says issue is a loving husband, a warm husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to call me a loving, warm husband,

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I think the point of this is.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the primary meaning of Hosea, I think is to relate to God as a loving husband, not a harsh master.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the good news at the start of 2026 is God wants you to love him warmly as your husband, not just serve him as your master.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when you think of 2025, how little you prayed, how inconvenient, and how, you know, burdensome reading,

[SPEAKER_01]: God wants you to remember that his desire to have you back is so strong, that he would send his son to die for you, to make things right between you and him.

[SPEAKER_01]: So God doesn't want you to report back to him and say, yes, sir, and set about your duties.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what he wants.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants you to come into the wilderness to listen to him, so he can speak tenderly to you, and he wants you to respond to him with my husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: God wants your heart, not your hands, because if he has your heart, he has everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: So as we close up, I'm going to pray and I just want to leave the altars here open.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you just want to come and, man, maybe just need to get right with the Lord, you have been unfaithful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you just want to come to the wilderness with Him, so you can speak kindly to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you may call Him husband and not some harsh master.

[SPEAKER_01]: And come do that now.

[SPEAKER_01]: If the prayer team will come up as well, they would love to pray with you about these things.

[SPEAKER_01]: So let's pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, you are so amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every thing in your word is just pointing us back to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, you are so amazing in your dealings with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: that even this fringe book of Hosea that might not be so well-known has this amazing story and this amazing purpose for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, that we would know you warmly as a husband to have love and affection for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And not some domineering, fearfulness of doing our duty because you are our master.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Father, we would obey you because we love you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Father, right now, I pray that we would come back to you, even we are so unfaithful, even in our unfaithfulness, in our ugliness, in our rottenness, that we would return to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that you would speak kindly to us, that you give us our hope back, and that you would start new with us, that you would betroth us again, back to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, Father, do that now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, this year, I pray that we would know you

[SPEAKER_01]: Father, you are so amazing, Father, we love you because you loved us first, and all these things we pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.