1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:06,000 As has been mentioned, we're thankful for all that have come 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,560 this morning, thankful for your presence and we hope and pray. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:14,640 That we worship God this morning in spirit and truth. 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,640 And I hope what I have to say this morning will give us a 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,840 deeper knowledge for the most famous verse and all the Bible 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,160 that the world knows of. We can read it and we can 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:26,480 understand it. But I hope. 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,860 That we have a deeper understanding of what this 9 00:00:29,860 --> 00:00:33,660 means, I want us to. Read the verses leading up to 10 00:00:33,660 --> 00:00:39,500 John chapter John 16 in chapter 3 so we can understand the 11 00:00:39,500 --> 00:00:41,500 context. It's not something that Jesus 12 00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:43,820 kind of just all of a sudden blurted out. 13 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:46,460 There was an entire scene up to that point. 14 00:00:47,660 --> 00:00:49,780 He was in the middle of a conversation with a very 15 00:00:49,780 --> 00:00:53,900 religious man named Nicodemus and I want us to hear the 16 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:56,540 following. Of what is leads between, you 17 00:00:56,540 --> 00:01:00,570 know, between one and 15 to that point, and then we'll get into. 18 00:01:01,090 --> 00:01:05,290 Verse 16 So John chapter 3 beginning in verse one. 19 00:01:05,570 --> 00:01:10,330 Says there there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. 20 00:01:10,810 --> 00:01:14,610 A ruler of the Jews, this man came to Jesus by night and said 21 00:01:14,610 --> 00:01:18,410 to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for 22 00:01:18,410 --> 00:01:22,970 no one can do this, these signs that you do, unless God is with 23 00:01:22,970 --> 00:01:25,250 him. Jesus answered him, and said to 24 00:01:25,250 --> 00:01:28,850 him most. Assuredly I say to you, unless 25 00:01:28,850 --> 00:01:32,970 one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God, Nicodemus 26 00:01:32,970 --> 00:01:36,170 said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? 27 00:01:36,650 --> 00:01:39,770 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 28 00:01:40,690 --> 00:01:44,370 Jesus answered most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born 29 00:01:44,370 --> 00:01:47,650 of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 30 00:01:48,210 --> 00:01:51,850 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born 31 00:01:51,850 --> 00:01:53,130 of the. Spirit is spirit. 32 00:01:53,650 --> 00:01:56,490 Do not marvel. That I said to you, You must be 33 00:01:56,490 --> 00:01:58,420 born again. The wind. 34 00:01:58,420 --> 00:02:01,700 Blows where it wishes, and you have heard the sounds of it, but 35 00:02:01,700 --> 00:02:05,220 cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. 36 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:08,419 So is everyone who is born of the spirit. 37 00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:12,860 Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these these things 38 00:02:12,860 --> 00:02:15,940 be? Jesus answered and said this to 39 00:02:15,940 --> 00:02:18,220 him. Are you the teacher of Israel 40 00:02:18,220 --> 00:02:20,340 and do not know these things most? 41 00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:23,580 Assuredly I say to you, we speak what we know and. 42 00:02:23,580 --> 00:02:26,260 Testify what we have seen and you do not. 43 00:02:26,260 --> 00:02:29,710 Receive our witness. If I have told you worthy things 44 00:02:29,710 --> 00:02:32,630 and you do not. How will you believe if I tell 45 00:02:32,630 --> 00:02:36,230 you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven 46 00:02:36,230 --> 00:02:40,710 but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of man 47 00:02:41,030 --> 00:02:44,390 who is in heaven. And Moses lifted up the serpent 48 00:02:44,390 --> 00:02:47,150 in the wilderness. Even so must the Son of Man be 49 00:02:47,150 --> 00:02:50,550 lifted up, and whoever believes in him should not perish, but 50 00:02:50,550 --> 00:02:54,550 have everlasting life. Here's verse 16 for God so loved 51 00:02:54,550 --> 00:02:57,940 the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever 52 00:02:57,940 --> 00:03:01,940 believes in him should not perish but have everlasting 53 00:03:01,940 --> 00:03:06,780 life. So now what I want us to. 54 00:03:06,780 --> 00:03:10,540 Focus on are the first few words for God, so love the world here 55 00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:13,140 in John 316 and in order to understand. 56 00:03:14,220 --> 00:03:17,780 Those few words I want to take a couple different angles. 57 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:20,220 I want us to think about really, who's? 58 00:03:20,220 --> 00:03:24,580 Involved with this phrase and then I want us to realize kind 59 00:03:24,580 --> 00:03:26,100 of the. Set up to the story that leads 60 00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:29,340 up to this point. So we'll start with the first 61 00:03:29,340 --> 00:03:33,140 part of who is involved. Basically there are two people 62 00:03:33,140 --> 00:03:35,860 involved in this phrase for God, so love the world. 63 00:03:36,420 --> 00:03:40,380 Number one is an infinitely infinitely. 64 00:03:40,380 --> 00:03:43,740 Holy God, And Nicodemus knew this. 65 00:03:44,140 --> 00:03:46,740 He understood that. He understood. 66 00:03:47,140 --> 00:03:49,220 The laws of the Old Testament he under. 67 00:03:49,220 --> 00:03:50,980 He was part of the the Pharisees. 68 00:03:50,980 --> 00:03:54,620 He was a religious leader. He understood who God was and 69 00:03:55,090 --> 00:03:56,970 and sometimes, you know, we give. 70 00:03:57,010 --> 00:03:59,930 The Pharisees, a bad stereotype where these guys were actually. 71 00:04:00,730 --> 00:04:04,210 Lovers of who God was, and they they were trying to. 72 00:04:04,450 --> 00:04:06,290 Follow what God had prescribed for them. 73 00:04:07,210 --> 00:04:10,330 They were very well, well respected, he knew. 74 00:04:10,530 --> 00:04:12,890 All the laws. But they also tacked on some 75 00:04:12,890 --> 00:04:15,850 laws of tradition that, of course, we know was frowned 76 00:04:15,850 --> 00:04:17,890 upon. As we read further into the New 77 00:04:17,890 --> 00:04:20,290 Testament, so we know that Nicodemus. 78 00:04:20,290 --> 00:04:24,370 Was that he knew that God was infinitely holy. 79 00:04:25,670 --> 00:04:28,390 But what Nicodemus didn't realize is basically the 80 00:04:28,390 --> 00:04:32,750 ramifications of the second subject that we want to see 81 00:04:32,750 --> 00:04:35,790 here. Of for God so love the world, we 82 00:04:35,790 --> 00:04:39,350 have an infinitely holy God, and secondly we have a sinfully 83 00:04:39,350 --> 00:04:43,390 rebellious. People, when we hear the words 84 00:04:43,390 --> 00:04:48,070 for God, so love the world. We need to realize kind of the 85 00:04:48,110 --> 00:04:50,950 context to the time frame that this was happening and where 86 00:04:50,950 --> 00:04:53,830 John was writing. It's not necessarily when he 87 00:04:53,830 --> 00:04:58,510 says love the world. The world was. 88 00:04:56,070 --> 00:04:59,550 It's not a commentary on how. That's not what John was. 89 00:04:59,550 --> 00:05:02,150 Describing here whenever we see the world. 90 00:05:02,190 --> 00:05:06,390 The word world mentioned in God's in John's Gospel as well 91 00:05:06,390 --> 00:05:08,390 as some of the other. Letters that he wrote later in 92 00:05:08,390 --> 00:05:10,990 the New Testament he uses this word and this is a kind of a 93 00:05:10,990 --> 00:05:13,110 dominant. Word A theme that he uses over 94 00:05:13,110 --> 00:05:16,670 and over, and it's almost always in a negative light that John 95 00:05:16,670 --> 00:05:20,470 uses this in John 319. He says the world loves darkness 96 00:05:20,990 --> 00:05:23,750 in John 7/7. He talks about the world hating 97 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:27,910 Jesus and John 15. Says that the world hates 98 00:05:27,910 --> 00:05:31,990 followers of Jesus and John. Chapter 14 talks about the world 99 00:05:31,990 --> 00:05:34,390 hates not just Jesus. But also hates the spirit of 100 00:05:34,390 --> 00:05:36,830 God, and we get to John 16 and it. 101 00:05:36,830 --> 00:05:39,430 Talks about how the world rejoices when the people of God 102 00:05:39,830 --> 00:05:43,590 are weeping and the world. Is the source of trouble. 103 00:05:43,910 --> 00:05:46,630 John 17 says the world doesn't even know God. 104 00:05:46,630 --> 00:05:50,390 And then when we get to the end of first John. 105 00:05:50,750 --> 00:05:54,400 He basically says that the whole world is under the control of 106 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,640 the evil 1 and so when we hear for. 107 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,560 God, so love the world. It's not, it's not describing 108 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,080 how lovely the world was at that time. 109 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:08,240 It is more a commentary or description on the depth. 110 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,200 Of love that God had for an unlovely world. 111 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:15,920 Now we need to. I want us. 112 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,330 To try to put ourselves in the shoes of Nicodemus, to 113 00:06:19,330 --> 00:06:23,250 understand when when Jesus was telling him these things, what 114 00:06:23,530 --> 00:06:26,730 where Nicodemus was. And and Nicodemus understood 115 00:06:27,730 --> 00:06:33,610 from Jewish background that. The the Israelites were God's 116 00:06:33,610 --> 00:06:38,410 people, not everybody else God had set plans for. 117 00:06:38,730 --> 00:06:41,650 For the Israelites to be free from, slave from the from. 118 00:06:42,010 --> 00:06:44,130 They were God's people. And then when? 119 00:06:44,250 --> 00:06:46,810 Jesus said for God so loved the world. 120 00:06:46,810 --> 00:06:48,930 That's kind of a well, hang on a minute. 121 00:06:49,010 --> 00:06:50,330 Jesus, what are you talking about here? 122 00:06:51,010 --> 00:06:53,610 God loved only the Israelites, is kind of what Nicodemus was 123 00:06:53,610 --> 00:06:57,890 thinking at that time. We need to understand that 124 00:06:57,890 --> 00:06:59,490 background leading up to this point. 125 00:07:00,170 --> 00:07:04,650 But there's a whole back story for Nicodemus. 126 00:07:05,050 --> 00:07:06,850 There's an. Entire story of the Old 127 00:07:06,850 --> 00:07:09,170 Testament that leads to this point. 128 00:07:09,850 --> 00:07:12,090 So if you have. Your Bibles, please open them 129 00:07:12,090 --> 00:07:13,490 up. I want us to go back into the 130 00:07:13,490 --> 00:07:18,950 Old Testament. Into the book of Hosea, we find 131 00:07:18,950 --> 00:07:22,030 Hosea and we're being kind of the 1st. 132 00:07:22,030 --> 00:07:24,510 Few chapters of there if you don't know where he was a minor 133 00:07:24,510 --> 00:07:26,670 prophet, If you don't know where Jose is at, if you want to use 134 00:07:26,670 --> 00:07:28,870 your table of contents in the front of your Bible to find him. 135 00:07:29,350 --> 00:07:32,750 Please do so. He was a prophet in the 8th 136 00:07:32,750 --> 00:07:36,030 century and basically a prophet means that he was speaking for 137 00:07:36,030 --> 00:07:38,630 God. God spoke to the prophets, and 138 00:07:38,630 --> 00:07:42,670 the prophets then proclaimed. God's word to the people around 139 00:07:43,310 --> 00:07:47,210 that they were around. And in that 8th century Hosea 140 00:07:47,210 --> 00:07:51,250 was prophesying in the Northern Kingdom of Israel where sin was 141 00:07:51,250 --> 00:07:55,410 very, very rampant. And we see that all the evidence 142 00:07:55,410 --> 00:07:58,770 of immorality and rampant sin and Hosea and Hosea was. 143 00:07:58,770 --> 00:08:01,610 This prophet of God speaking to his people and he would give 144 00:08:01,610 --> 00:08:04,970 messages from God through himself. 145 00:08:06,810 --> 00:08:09,210 Now Prophet's job when it's primarily. 146 00:08:09,210 --> 00:08:12,090 Just God would speak to the prophet and the prophet would 147 00:08:12,090 --> 00:08:14,980 then proclaim it to the to to those around. 148 00:08:15,220 --> 00:08:17,820 Sometimes God would. Require that these prophets do 149 00:08:17,820 --> 00:08:20,540 what they I don't know any other word for, but kind of like an 150 00:08:20,580 --> 00:08:25,620 action sermon or an action they would have to perform certain 151 00:08:25,620 --> 00:08:28,740 things physically. To teach what God was 152 00:08:29,060 --> 00:08:34,059 proclaiming to these prophets. Isaiah for example, the things 153 00:08:34,059 --> 00:08:36,820 Isaiah wrote and prophesied are pretty incredible. 154 00:08:36,820 --> 00:08:39,059 Me. We don't realize sometimes that 155 00:08:39,059 --> 00:08:41,780 God told Isaiah at one point that for three years he had to 156 00:08:41,780 --> 00:08:45,550 walk around stripped and naked. Of his clothes and barefoot in 157 00:08:45,550 --> 00:08:47,950 order to show a demonstration. Of what God was trying to teach 158 00:08:47,950 --> 00:08:51,950 his people. The Ezekiel had to do all kinds 159 00:08:51,950 --> 00:08:55,390 of things that were extremely painful in his own life that 160 00:08:55,390 --> 00:08:56,870 affected him deeply and emotionally. 161 00:08:56,870 --> 00:09:00,310 And we get to Jeremiah, who's walking around at one point with 162 00:09:00,310 --> 00:09:03,870 a yoke around him. And then when we come to Hosea, 163 00:09:04,670 --> 00:09:07,710 we've got a major, major action sermon if you want to. 164 00:09:07,710 --> 00:09:13,030 Say that Hosea does for God and what God tells Hosea to do. 165 00:09:13,530 --> 00:09:18,770 He says. Hosea, I want you in order to 166 00:09:18,890 --> 00:09:21,650 for for me to demonstrate what I'm going to be speaking through 167 00:09:21,650 --> 00:09:22,730 you. I want you to. 168 00:09:22,730 --> 00:09:29,130 Go and marry a woman named Gomer and there was 2 problems with 169 00:09:29,130 --> 00:09:32,930 that. The first was her name was 170 00:09:32,930 --> 00:09:38,170 Gomer. God tells somebody Go marry 171 00:09:38,170 --> 00:09:42,450 somebody Gomer. God go, go marry Lizzie. 172 00:09:42,650 --> 00:09:45,450 Oh, yeah, That's good. Oh, Mary Lizzie Gomer. 173 00:09:46,370 --> 00:09:49,890 Okay. Secondly, of course, more 174 00:09:49,890 --> 00:09:52,690 importantly. She was a prostitute. 175 00:09:53,090 --> 00:09:55,490 Gomer was a. Prostitute that God had told 176 00:09:55,490 --> 00:09:58,890 Hosea to marry. And we don't know all of Gomer's 177 00:09:58,890 --> 00:10:01,970 history before she married Hosea, how involved or not 178 00:10:01,970 --> 00:10:05,610 involved in prostitution it was. But she we do know that that 179 00:10:05,610 --> 00:10:08,010 once they were. Married, she was very much 180 00:10:08,010 --> 00:10:11,900 involved in an adulterous. Life if you look at Hosea one 181 00:10:11,900 --> 00:10:15,460 and verse two and three. This is what God tells Hosea to 182 00:10:15,460 --> 00:10:18,540 do, he says, when the Lord began to speak to. 183 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:21,540 By Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea. 184 00:10:21,860 --> 00:10:24,900 Go take yourself a wife of harlatree and. 185 00:10:24,900 --> 00:10:28,740 Children of Harlatree, For the land has committed great 186 00:10:28,740 --> 00:10:30,780 harlatree by departing from the Lord. 187 00:10:31,540 --> 00:10:36,340 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblium, and she 188 00:10:36,340 --> 00:10:40,160 conceived and bore him a son. And so from the very beginning 189 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,280 of the book, we need to. Realize that there's kind of two 190 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,440 levels that we're getting taught at from this book. 191 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,920 We're getting of. Course this is. 192 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:54,400 This is God is talking, of course, about, you know, a man 193 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:56,640 and a woman being married, Jose and Gomer. 194 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,280 And on the another. Level God's talking about his 195 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:04,360 people of Israel and himself. It's a picture of that. 196 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,280 It's depicted all the Israelites, the people of God, 197 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:13,240 which is Hosea in our in our study this morning, and then the 198 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,560 children of Israel are actually. Depicted as Hosea's children, 199 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,840 the individual. It's a real story. 200 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,160 It's we need to understand there's a real marriage there 201 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:27,840 and. Also a spiritual picture that we 202 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:31,480 want to pick up on and I want to. 203 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,320 Try to hopefully explain and see kind of one of the most. 204 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:36,920 Most beautiful pictures of God's plan for. 205 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,680 Us that Hosea shows us in these scriptures that we're going to 206 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:45,000 read. Hosea 2 We want to look at 207 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,680 verses 2 and I want to I want to read a few verses starting in 208 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:52,040 chapter 2 verse. Two, these are kind of very 209 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,040 stunning words that are coming from the mouth of God sometimes. 210 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,440 They're almost uncomfortable to read it. 211 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,250 Sometimes. But this is God speaking to his 212 00:12:02,250 --> 00:12:04,410 people, and I want us to realize he's on those two. 213 00:12:04,410 --> 00:12:07,290 Levels that we just talked about Beginning of verse. 214 00:12:07,290 --> 00:12:11,450 Two of chapter two of Hosea bring charges against your 215 00:12:11,450 --> 00:12:13,090 mother. Bring charges. 216 00:12:13,610 --> 00:12:17,050 For she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. 217 00:12:17,530 --> 00:12:20,650 Let her put away her harlot trees from her sight and her 218 00:12:20,650 --> 00:12:23,850 adulteries from between her. Breasts lest I strip her naked 219 00:12:24,090 --> 00:12:28,380 and expose her as in the day she was born, and make her like a 220 00:12:28,380 --> 00:12:31,260 wilderness and set. Her like a dry land and. 221 00:12:31,260 --> 00:12:34,900 Slay her with thirst. I will not have mercy on her. 222 00:12:35,020 --> 00:12:38,180 Children for They are the children of Harlot Tree for 223 00:12:38,180 --> 00:12:39,860 their mother. Has played the harlot. 224 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,500 She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. 225 00:12:44,060 --> 00:12:46,460 Or, she said. I will go after my lovers who 226 00:12:46,460 --> 00:12:50,380 give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and 227 00:12:50,380 --> 00:12:52,980 my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge 228 00:12:52,980 --> 00:12:57,220 up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot 229 00:12:57,220 --> 00:13:00,860 find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but 230 00:13:00,860 --> 00:13:02,140 not overtake them. Yes. 231 00:13:02,140 --> 00:13:04,180 She will seek them but not find them. 232 00:13:04,580 --> 00:13:06,620 Then she. Will say I will go and return to 233 00:13:06,620 --> 00:13:09,140 my first husband. For then it was better for me 234 00:13:09,140 --> 00:13:13,130 than for me than now. For she did not know that I gave 235 00:13:13,130 --> 00:13:17,570 her grain, new wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold. 236 00:13:17,810 --> 00:13:22,530 Which they prepared for bail. Therefore I will return and take 237 00:13:22,530 --> 00:13:26,730 away my grain that in its time and my new wine in its season, 238 00:13:26,930 --> 00:13:30,450 and will take back my wool and my linen given to cover her 239 00:13:30,450 --> 00:13:33,410 nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness 240 00:13:33,410 --> 00:13:35,530 in the. Side of her lovers, and no one 241 00:13:35,530 --> 00:13:39,850 shall deliver her from my hand. I will also cause her mirth to 242 00:13:39,850 --> 00:13:41,860 cease her feast. Her. 243 00:13:42,060 --> 00:13:45,740 Her feast days, her new moons, her sabbaths, all her appointed 244 00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:50,060 feasts, And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees of which 245 00:13:50,060 --> 00:13:54,380 she has said, These are my wages that my lover has given me, so I 246 00:13:54,380 --> 00:13:57,540 will make them a forest and the. Beasts of the field shall eat 247 00:13:57,540 --> 00:13:59,020 them. I will punish her. 248 00:13:59,020 --> 00:14:01,740 For the days of the of the Bales, to which she burned 249 00:14:01,740 --> 00:14:04,060 incense. She decked herself with her 250 00:14:04,060 --> 00:14:07,980 earrings and jewelry and went after her lovers but me. 251 00:14:08,140 --> 00:14:15,620 She forgot, says the Lord. So we have two levels here. 252 00:14:15,860 --> 00:14:18,900 Picture of a man relating. To his wife is a picture of God, 253 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:23,100 of the universe relating to his people, and much like we are 254 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:27,500 thinking about them in terms of two characters in the word of. 255 00:14:27,500 --> 00:14:29,940 For God, so love the world. I want us to see two different 256 00:14:29,940 --> 00:14:34,060 groups that work. In the story of Hosea, the 1st 257 00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:38,740 is a story of the unfaithful people from the very beginning. 258 00:14:38,740 --> 00:14:42,860 In verse five of Hosea 2 it says their mother has played the 259 00:14:42,860 --> 00:14:45,780 harlot and when we realize when we get. 260 00:14:46,340 --> 00:14:49,060 Verses 2 through 13, it's kind of a vivid picture of 261 00:14:49,220 --> 00:14:52,020 unfaithfulness of God's people toward. 262 00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:56,540 It starts off in the very beginning of Hosea. 263 00:14:56,540 --> 00:15:00,900 To verse two it says bring charges against your mother. 264 00:15:00,940 --> 00:15:04,380 Bring charges. It's repeated twice there for 265 00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:08,920 emphasis. It's a legal accusation, Breed 266 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,480 charges against her because of her unfaithfulness, he says. 267 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,560 For she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. 268 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,320 These are kind of got to be some heavy things that we get into, 269 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,240 some some heavy scriptural things that we're going to talk. 270 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,840 About that also you know may be heavy on our. 271 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,240 Physical side as well. I want us to realize the depth 272 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,280 of the unfaithfulness that is here in God's people, that is 273 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,000 being. Talked about the different 274 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,020 themes and when he talks about Gomer, he's talking about his. 275 00:15:40,020 --> 00:15:43,340 People and the number one thing, that one of the things that we 276 00:15:43,340 --> 00:15:44,980 want to talk. About is that she was 277 00:15:44,980 --> 00:15:50,460 adulterous, he says in verse 2. For she is not my wife, nor am I 278 00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:52,780 her husband. Let her put away her harlot 279 00:15:52,780 --> 00:15:57,420 trees from her site. We find out later in the book of 280 00:15:57,420 --> 00:16:00,540 Hosea that there's not necessarily been a divorce or 281 00:16:00,540 --> 00:16:02,900 separation or anything like that. 282 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,280 There's not been an official. You're not my wife anymore, 283 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,440 Gomer. That we don't read about that. 284 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,400 That hasn't happened. What it is is a picture though. 285 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:17,480 It's it's a practical severing of a relationship. 286 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,200 If you want to say in that Gomer leaving Jose and going after all 287 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,000 these other men and people of God, leaving God and going after 288 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:26,400 all the other things of the world. 289 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,920 That we could practically, you could practically never tell 290 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,280 that Gomer was even. Jose's wife at a certain point 291 00:16:33,650 --> 00:16:36,130 you can never tell that the. People of God that the 292 00:16:36,130 --> 00:16:38,530 Israelites were people of God were his people. 293 00:16:38,530 --> 00:16:41,890 They've gone so far away from what he had prescribed for them 294 00:16:42,890 --> 00:16:46,250 and it's. Pictured as adultery in this 295 00:16:46,250 --> 00:16:49,930 reading that we have and we don't need to think hard. 296 00:16:50,050 --> 00:16:55,290 To realize that God is using the pain of a wife leaving her 297 00:16:55,290 --> 00:16:59,130 husband for other men. We don't need to think hard 298 00:16:59,130 --> 00:17:03,250 about that to understand the the seriousness of sin, what that is 299 00:17:03,250 --> 00:17:06,609 against. God, how serious that is. 300 00:17:06,650 --> 00:17:10,890 That sin is spiritual adultery. It's leaving our Creator and 301 00:17:10,890 --> 00:17:13,130 getting pleasures from the things of the world instead of 302 00:17:13,130 --> 00:17:16,650 Him, and running after those things as lovers we would run 303 00:17:16,650 --> 00:17:19,849 after. Lovers, as it says here, we need 304 00:17:19,849 --> 00:17:23,450 to realize that sin this is, this is actually a personal 305 00:17:23,450 --> 00:17:25,650 affront. To God, sin is a personal 306 00:17:25,650 --> 00:17:28,910 affront to God, and sometimes I think we kind of lose. 307 00:17:28,910 --> 00:17:34,110 Grasp of that concept. Obviously if a if a wife leaves, 308 00:17:34,110 --> 00:17:37,190 her husband goes running around with all the other men, that's a 309 00:17:37,190 --> 00:17:40,030 personal front to that husband. And the same goes with God too 310 00:17:40,030 --> 00:17:43,790 when we sin against him. God has created every single one 311 00:17:43,790 --> 00:17:47,910 of us for himself. And He is worthy as our Creator 312 00:17:49,670 --> 00:17:54,470 of each of our worship. So to not give him that worship, 313 00:17:55,890 --> 00:17:58,890 to not give him what is due to Him and give. 314 00:17:58,890 --> 00:18:02,810 Others that worship, that's where the picture is showing 315 00:18:02,810 --> 00:18:05,930 here she was adulterous not. Only was she adulterous, but she 316 00:18:05,930 --> 00:18:09,810 was idolatrous. It's what we see through verses. 317 00:18:09,850 --> 00:18:15,210 Through these verses we see bail or bails mentioned here and 318 00:18:15,210 --> 00:18:16,370 whenever we. See bail. 319 00:18:16,370 --> 00:18:21,010 It's referenced to foreign gods. There was the Canaanite rain God 320 00:18:21,010 --> 00:18:23,490 they called Bail. And he wasn't just the the God 321 00:18:23,490 --> 00:18:24,330 of Rain. He was. 322 00:18:25,620 --> 00:18:29,220 They believed he provided crops. They believed he provided fruits 323 00:18:29,220 --> 00:18:31,500 from the earth. A God who brings crops and 324 00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:32,660 rains, that's who. They kind of. 325 00:18:32,660 --> 00:18:37,100 Described Bail as he's the God of prosperity for your family 326 00:18:37,100 --> 00:18:41,780 and my family. And so Israel and the people of 327 00:18:41,780 --> 00:18:44,900 Israel were surrounded by all kinds of Pagan nations all 328 00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:48,940 around them, and these Pagan nations worshipped all these 329 00:18:48,940 --> 00:18:52,620 different gods, including Bail. And what happened is the 330 00:18:52,620 --> 00:18:57,520 Israelites made, sometimes made, if you want to say, trade 331 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,360 agreements with these nations, they would go there and they 332 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:01,640 would get things that you would we. 333 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:06,120 Would see listed here in these verses, Wine and oil, food, 334 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,320 water, all these things Israelites. 335 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,160 Would go to these other Pagan nations and receive those 336 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,480 things. Trade for them and when they 337 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,080 would have these things, they would hear these nations kind of 338 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,480 talking about how. They have gotten these things 339 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:23,680 from Bail or from these other gods, and those other Pagan 340 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,120 nations worship those idols, and so the people of Israel then. 341 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:29,560 Started to worship these Pagan gods is what? 342 00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:34,720 They started to worship bail. They were giving bail the credit 343 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,000 for the things that they were receiving. 344 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:40,240 Now they were attributing those things. 345 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,960 To other gods. So that's the picture of God and 346 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,160 his people. And if you want to imagine this 347 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:50,840 on Jose and Gomer's level, try to think kind of a scenario to. 348 00:19:51,330 --> 00:19:55,530 To put together for this, but imagine God coming to Hosea and 349 00:19:55,530 --> 00:19:59,210 saying Hosea your wife Gomer is living in a. 350 00:20:00,450 --> 00:20:05,010 Very dirty part of the city. Very dangerous part of the city 351 00:20:05,010 --> 00:20:08,090 right now and her needs are not being met. 352 00:20:08,810 --> 00:20:14,370 Gomer says or Hosea says. I know and God says the Hosea, 353 00:20:14,370 --> 00:20:16,290 Hosea. I want you to provide for her 354 00:20:16,290 --> 00:20:20,060 anyway. I want you to go to the store 355 00:20:20,060 --> 00:20:22,380 and get the food and the water that she needs and I want you to 356 00:20:22,380 --> 00:20:26,500 take it to her. And I couldn't only imagine kind 357 00:20:26,500 --> 00:20:29,980 of the struggles and pain that Jose would go through. 358 00:20:29,980 --> 00:20:32,540 Saying okay, I know what God's asking me. 359 00:20:32,540 --> 00:20:35,180 That's going to be tough to do, but I'm going to go ahead and do 360 00:20:35,180 --> 00:20:36,820 that anyway. I'm going to go get that stuff 361 00:20:36,820 --> 00:20:40,580 and Jose goes to that part of. Of that city and doesn't look up 362 00:20:40,580 --> 00:20:45,260 Gomer, but instead looks up the man that she's living with and 363 00:20:45,260 --> 00:20:48,770 goes and knocks on his door. And he opens the door and Josea 364 00:20:48,770 --> 00:20:51,850 says, are you the one living with Gomer? 365 00:20:53,850 --> 00:20:55,970 And he says, yeah, what's it to you? 366 00:20:57,570 --> 00:21:04,010 And Josea says Gomer is my wife. Of course, that man takes a step 367 00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:05,410 back. Doesn't know really what's going 368 00:21:05,410 --> 00:21:09,410 to happen here and Josea pulls out the food and the goods and 369 00:21:09,410 --> 00:21:11,410 the supplies that he brought for Gomer. 370 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,120 Provisions. And he says, I want you to make 371 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:15,920 sure that these needs are taken care of. 372 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,160 Will you give these to her? Will you give? 373 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:22,080 These to Gomer and the man says kind of thinks to himself, this 374 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:27,160 guy's a fool, What a foolish. And he takes them, slams the 375 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,880 door in Josea's face. And then this man turns around, 376 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,800 goes to Gomer and says look what I've got for you, look what I've 377 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,400 provided for you. And Gomer gives that man. 378 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,000 All the love and says thank you, thank you, thank you wraps her 379 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,240 arms around him and gives him the love that Hosea deserves. 380 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:55,840 That's the picture of what worshipping idols other gods 381 00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:00,120 was. That is the essence of idolatry. 382 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:02,560 It's being what's talked about in verse eight, it says. 383 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,280 For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oiled. 384 00:22:07,710 --> 00:22:10,790 Oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared 385 00:22:10,790 --> 00:22:15,390 for bail. She used it to build idols to 386 00:22:15,390 --> 00:22:17,470 bail. The things that she could have 387 00:22:18,190 --> 00:22:20,430 that she used to worship other gods, so. 388 00:22:20,630 --> 00:22:23,550 I don't want us to miss it. It was actually, they had a they 389 00:22:23,550 --> 00:22:28,550 had completely left out God out of the picture, the Israelites. 390 00:22:28,750 --> 00:22:30,750 Left him out of the picture, but he was still there. 391 00:22:31,230 --> 00:22:34,070 God was still there. You get to verse. 11 of chapter 392 00:22:34,070 --> 00:22:38,250 two of Hosea. It says I will also cause all 393 00:22:38,250 --> 00:22:41,170 her mirth, which are celebrations I will also cause. 394 00:22:41,170 --> 00:22:43,690 All her mirth to cease her feast days. 395 00:22:43,770 --> 00:22:46,730 Her new moons, her Sabbath, all her appointed feasts. 396 00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:52,170 She was hypocritical. I want us to understand what 397 00:22:52,170 --> 00:22:54,130 that means. That that means that while the 398 00:22:54,130 --> 00:22:56,250 people of God. Were living in spiritual 399 00:22:56,250 --> 00:22:58,850 adultery to God. While they were worshipping 400 00:22:59,090 --> 00:23:02,240 other gods and not giving. You know, giving God the glory 401 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,720 for what was being provided, They will start having their 402 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:05,880 festivals. They were still. 403 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,720 Having all their feast, they were still. 404 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:12,080 Doing all the things that prescribed all their all their 405 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,680 celebrations, all their sabbaths week after week they would go 406 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,800 to. And I don't want us to miss us. 407 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:23,560 The, the, the, Jose. At that time, the Israelites 408 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:24,400 were really. Really. 409 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,840 Engrossed in idolatry, they had mastic. 410 00:23:28,380 --> 00:23:31,100 Masked that idolatry with spiritual devotion. 411 00:23:33,460 --> 00:23:36,380 It was a tactic that. I think Satan used in that 8th 412 00:23:36,380 --> 00:23:39,380 century and I'm almost convinced today that he uses it today. 413 00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:45,420 That we can we can go to. Worship once or twice or 414 00:23:45,420 --> 00:23:47,740 whenever it's prescribed. A week during the week, on the 415 00:23:47,740 --> 00:23:52,340 Sundays we still. Go through the motions, but yet 416 00:23:52,340 --> 00:23:55,220 we are so. Far spiritually in tune with 417 00:23:55,220 --> 00:23:58,350 what God wants from us, that is a possibility. 418 00:23:58,510 --> 00:24:00,750 And that is very, very frightening and dangerous that 419 00:24:00,750 --> 00:24:03,750 we need to be make sure that we are not part of. 420 00:24:04,990 --> 00:24:08,390 She was adulterous, idolatrous. She was hypocritical. 421 00:24:08,870 --> 00:24:11,950 She was running around with the things of the world she had, but 422 00:24:11,950 --> 00:24:13,430 she. Still had time to give God a 423 00:24:13,430 --> 00:24:18,990 little bit of lip service. Not only was she those, but she 424 00:24:18,990 --> 00:24:24,030 was also forgetful, being forgetful. 425 00:24:24,030 --> 00:24:26,230 Okay, that's no big deal, right? I forget to. 426 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,440 Pull out meat in the morning sometimes for dinner, You know, 427 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,120 we forget to do things here and there. 428 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,120 We forget. That's not what's being talked 429 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,440 about here. Those simple things of 430 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,600 forgetfulness is not what's being talked about. 431 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:43,440 It's a much, much deeper and much more larger problem that 432 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,360 they had to get to the end of the verses we can read in. 433 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:50,480 Verse 13 God says I will punish her for the days of the bales to 434 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:51,680 which she. Burned incense. 435 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,040 She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry and went 436 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,390 after love her lovers. But me, she forgot. 437 00:25:00,830 --> 00:25:03,310 It's not forgetting just something small here or there. 438 00:25:03,310 --> 00:25:04,710 That's not what's being talked about. 439 00:25:04,950 --> 00:25:10,870 Deuteronomy 8 and verses 11 and 19 and 20 years before this, 440 00:25:10,870 --> 00:25:12,350 what happened? God said to his people. 441 00:25:12,830 --> 00:25:15,190 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God. 442 00:25:15,230 --> 00:25:17,630 Failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his. 443 00:25:17,630 --> 00:25:21,840 Decrees that I'm giving you this day, if you ever forget the Lord 444 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:23,920 your God and follow other gods and worship. 445 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,440 And bow down to them. I testify you today that you 446 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,680 will surely be destroyed like the. 447 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,000 Nations of the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be 448 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,640 destroyed. For not obeying the Lord your 449 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,960 God. You don't just forget God. 450 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,160 It's not easy to forget the one who created you in his own 451 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,280 image. That's something this is that is 452 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:51,830 a willful forgiveness willfully. We choose to engross ourselves 453 00:25:51,830 --> 00:25:53,990 sometimes in this world instead of what? 454 00:25:53,990 --> 00:25:57,110 God says, and God says I will punish her. 455 00:25:59,310 --> 00:26:01,790 That's. Strong language from God, Very, 456 00:26:01,790 --> 00:26:04,150 very strong language. And of course, the world. 457 00:26:04,150 --> 00:26:06,430 And culture that we live in today, you know, it's all about 458 00:26:06,430 --> 00:26:09,950 toleration you got to tolerate. What's being said? 459 00:26:09,950 --> 00:26:11,590 You can't. You can't draw a line in the 460 00:26:11,590 --> 00:26:13,630 sand. You got to tolerate what's? 461 00:26:13,630 --> 00:26:17,330 Happening around you. And if God is a loving God, of 462 00:26:17,330 --> 00:26:20,050 course we hear If God is so loving, why does he? 463 00:26:20,650 --> 00:26:24,610 Why doesn't? He tolerate sin, then why? 464 00:26:24,970 --> 00:26:30,770 So if God is loving He, you know why, If He loves us. 465 00:26:30,770 --> 00:26:33,410 So much Why is he punishing sin? Why is he punishing it? 466 00:26:35,570 --> 00:26:37,810 We hear people say I can't follow a God like that. 467 00:26:38,410 --> 00:26:42,810 Who punishes for sin? That's not the God that I know. 468 00:26:44,850 --> 00:26:48,730 But we know, I want to make sure we understand that God punishes 469 00:26:48,730 --> 00:26:55,890 sin because sin hurts not only against us sometimes, but like 470 00:26:55,890 --> 00:26:58,050 we mentioned before, it is a affront to God. 471 00:26:58,050 --> 00:27:04,210 It hurts. God, when we sin, would a loving 472 00:27:04,210 --> 00:27:07,450 God sit back and watch? Without doing anything when we 473 00:27:07,450 --> 00:27:10,690 sin. Is it not the fact that because 474 00:27:11,410 --> 00:27:15,360 that he loves us? So much is what causes him to 475 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:19,640 punish sin. All of us as parents, if we're a 476 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,720 parent, we understand that, you know. 477 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,240 If our kid, you know it's out of great love that we see if a kids 478 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:27,280 going. To be our child is going to be 479 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:31,440 doing something wrong. We say no, do not do that if you 480 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,200 do this. You will be punished because we 481 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,480 know what is good for them. It's the same concept. 482 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,000 It's a picture of his. Love and we need to praise God. 483 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,880 For his punishment of sin. Me. 484 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:45,920 She forgot it, says. They're in Jose at 213 485 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:49,120 Deuteronomy. You forget I'm going to go ahead 486 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:51,680 and destroy and that sounds severe. 487 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,800 And we got to. Realize in in the context of 488 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,680 Jose and in the. Even in the context. 489 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,720 Sometimes in our culture, not even in our our culture, but. 490 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,080 Parts of the Middle East. Today, when a woman commits 491 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,200 adultery in the Middle East, their punishment is death. 492 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:09,520 Of course, we know that's not right. 493 00:28:11,540 --> 00:28:14,500 But that happens still today and it's not even they don't go to 494 00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:20,380 trial. She gets caught and come in 495 00:28:20,380 --> 00:28:22,340 adultery. The family goes ahead and takes 496 00:28:22,340 --> 00:28:25,420 care of that punishment. For them, it's severe. 497 00:28:26,020 --> 00:28:27,700 Death was punishment. For adultery. 498 00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:30,020 Back in that time, and even if you weren't look going to go 499 00:28:30,020 --> 00:28:32,620 that far, you know, even, let's say at least divorce or 500 00:28:32,620 --> 00:28:34,940 separations, what's? What's needed there? 501 00:28:37,020 --> 00:28:41,650 Major consequences. Now when we get to to the 14th 502 00:28:41,650 --> 00:28:44,090 verse of chapter 2. The first word is going to be 503 00:28:44,090 --> 00:28:47,610 there for. Whenever we see the word there 504 00:28:47,610 --> 00:28:49,210 for in the. We know that it's about. 505 00:28:49,610 --> 00:28:53,010 That you know whatever is going to be talked about is because of 506 00:28:53,010 --> 00:28:56,730 something that was just talked about because of these things, 507 00:28:56,730 --> 00:28:59,650 therefore. These things, that's what we 508 00:28:59,650 --> 00:29:01,370 read through verses 2 through 13. 509 00:29:01,370 --> 00:29:04,770 Give us a stinging indictment of adultery, adultery, hypocrisy, 510 00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:07,530 and completely turning your back on God. 511 00:29:07,770 --> 00:29:11,810 Therefore God says. In light of the fact that you 512 00:29:11,810 --> 00:29:14,090 have run after the things of this world, don't even think 513 00:29:14,090 --> 00:29:16,250 about me anymore. You're completely out of my 514 00:29:16,250 --> 00:29:19,330 mind. In light of the fact that you 515 00:29:19,330 --> 00:29:20,770 are. Bowing down and worshipping 516 00:29:20,770 --> 00:29:22,650 other gods in light of the fact that you still. 517 00:29:22,650 --> 00:29:25,770 Pretend like you're following me in light of the fact. 518 00:29:25,770 --> 00:29:29,370 That you completely blocked me out and have love and affection 519 00:29:29,370 --> 00:29:31,970 I've shown and and blocked that affection out that I tried to 520 00:29:31,970 --> 00:29:35,170 show you in light of all that. Look at what it says. 521 00:29:36,170 --> 00:29:40,900 Therefore, behold, I will allure her will. 522 00:29:40,900 --> 00:29:48,180 Lead her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her that 523 00:29:48,180 --> 00:29:54,020 defies. All human logic, this is the God 524 00:29:54,020 --> 00:29:57,340 of the universe that has the basis for. 525 00:29:57,340 --> 00:30:01,060 Infinite judgment on his people, using that as the base basis to 526 00:30:01,060 --> 00:30:03,860 show. His infinite grace towards his 527 00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:08,470 people. Defying all human logic, we know 528 00:30:08,470 --> 00:30:10,510 what we would do if we had a spouse who was. 529 00:30:11,430 --> 00:30:14,750 As bad as Gomer was, God said you. 530 00:30:14,750 --> 00:30:16,870 Did all these things Israel to me. 531 00:30:18,070 --> 00:30:19,750 You've done all these bad things to me. 532 00:30:20,310 --> 00:30:22,710 Therefore, I'm going to allure you. 533 00:30:26,230 --> 00:30:28,390 I'm going to pursue her with my love. 534 00:30:30,510 --> 00:30:33,270 I am. I kind of think this is one of 535 00:30:33,630 --> 00:30:36,390 very few verses that are. Very, very beautiful in the word 536 00:30:36,390 --> 00:30:40,030 of God story of an unfaithful people. 537 00:30:40,030 --> 00:30:45,350 And it's also a story of an. Unrelenting God defies logic, 538 00:30:45,590 --> 00:30:48,870 defies reason that God would say these things. 539 00:30:49,550 --> 00:30:52,390 And what's amazing is this is all his initiative. 540 00:30:52,390 --> 00:30:56,550 This is God's initiative. There's not a verse here that 541 00:30:56,550 --> 00:30:59,230 talks about. What Gomer does to come back to 542 00:30:59,230 --> 00:31:02,010 God. It's all about him going to her, 543 00:31:02,010 --> 00:31:04,170 he says over and over again. I will do this. 544 00:31:04,170 --> 00:31:05,490 I will do this. I'll do this. 545 00:31:05,490 --> 00:31:06,690 I'll do this. I'll do this. 546 00:31:07,010 --> 00:31:11,130 That's what. God is saying to Gomer, this is 547 00:31:11,130 --> 00:31:13,050 God. Speaking to an unfaithful people 548 00:31:13,050 --> 00:31:18,170 and he says, first I will allure her, I will. 549 00:31:18,170 --> 00:31:20,330 Allure her means basically woo her. 550 00:31:21,090 --> 00:31:23,010 Is one of the definitions of that word there. 551 00:31:23,570 --> 00:31:27,870 I want to attract her. One definition of the word in 552 00:31:27,870 --> 00:31:29,790 the original language of the Old Testament is to. 553 00:31:29,790 --> 00:31:32,550 Persuade her by means of attractive benefits. 554 00:31:33,310 --> 00:31:36,870 It's not a forceful love. He's trying to attract her. 555 00:31:36,870 --> 00:31:42,430 I'm not God's not wanting to force Gomer to love Jose back. 556 00:31:43,590 --> 00:31:45,510 That's not what's going on there. 557 00:31:46,350 --> 00:31:48,830 You know, we think about this, you know, when we were, you 558 00:31:48,830 --> 00:31:51,510 know, dating. You know, I think about, you 559 00:31:51,510 --> 00:31:54,030 know, when we were, I was dating Lizzie, you know, I wanted to 560 00:31:54,030 --> 00:31:56,690 allure her. I wanted to get her attention. 561 00:31:56,690 --> 00:32:00,450 I wanted to impress her. I was always thinking about okay 562 00:32:00,450 --> 00:32:04,010 if I wear this. She going to like this and like 563 00:32:04,010 --> 00:32:06,770 she even cared. She didn't care, but that's our 564 00:32:06,970 --> 00:32:11,730 that's our thought. You know we want to allure our 565 00:32:11,730 --> 00:32:16,210 spouse. How can we draw her? 566 00:32:16,210 --> 00:32:18,450 To myself that was God was trying to do. 567 00:32:18,890 --> 00:32:21,810 I will allure her also. I will lead her. 568 00:32:21,810 --> 00:32:25,140 Into the wilderness. I will lead her into the 569 00:32:25,140 --> 00:32:26,980 wilderness early in that chapter, that world. 570 00:32:26,980 --> 00:32:28,940 I will that. That phrase lead her into the 571 00:32:28,940 --> 00:32:30,700 wilderness. That was A that was a picture. 572 00:32:30,700 --> 00:32:34,940 Of danger. We don't want to be in the 573 00:32:34,940 --> 00:32:38,100 wilderness, but now God says I will lead her. 574 00:32:38,540 --> 00:32:41,580 Into the wilderness so that it will just be. 575 00:32:41,860 --> 00:32:45,340 And I get her out there by myself, get the Israelites out 576 00:32:45,340 --> 00:32:48,580 there, the the people of Israel. By myself, so she can be 577 00:32:48,580 --> 00:32:51,340 completely encapsulated by my advance towards her. 578 00:32:53,180 --> 00:32:55,900 This is intimate language that we see here. 579 00:32:55,900 --> 00:32:57,260 You know, we I would expect to see this. 580 00:32:57,260 --> 00:32:58,540 Stuff maybe in the Song of Solomon. 581 00:32:58,540 --> 00:33:00,580 Very romantic passages that we see. 582 00:33:01,660 --> 00:33:04,700 I will lead her. Into the wilderness and speak 583 00:33:04,900 --> 00:33:07,260 softly. Or speak comfort to her. 584 00:33:08,460 --> 00:33:11,260 And that's a Hebrew idiom that we can read about. 585 00:33:11,260 --> 00:33:13,660 Sometimes It literally means to speak to her heart. 586 00:33:14,900 --> 00:33:16,900 It's a phrase that a guy when he was asking. 587 00:33:16,900 --> 00:33:20,340 The girl to marry him that he would use in that day and that's 588 00:33:20,340 --> 00:33:27,430 what God is using here. I will give to her verse 15. 589 00:33:28,430 --> 00:33:31,710 I will give her her vineyards. From there and the Valley of a 590 00:33:31,710 --> 00:33:35,110 core as the door of hope. The valley of a core. 591 00:33:35,110 --> 00:33:38,110 Literally means valley of trouble back in Joshua 7, 592 00:33:38,110 --> 00:33:40,670 earlier in the Old Testament, it was a place where. 593 00:33:40,670 --> 00:33:43,990 Major sin had been committed in the valley of a core. 594 00:33:45,070 --> 00:33:48,190 Against God that jeopardizes the Israelites from. 595 00:33:48,190 --> 00:33:50,270 Going into the Promised land, they called it the Valley of 596 00:33:50,270 --> 00:33:52,570 Trouble. What they called it from that 597 00:33:52,570 --> 00:33:56,970 point, and God says I'm going to take the death of. 598 00:33:56,970 --> 00:34:00,490 Israel's sin, and I'm going to turn it into a door of hope 599 00:34:00,490 --> 00:34:12,250 here, it says. There is no one whose magnitude 600 00:34:12,250 --> 00:34:17,330 of sin that God cannot turn into an open door for us. 601 00:34:19,370 --> 00:34:23,130 There's not one person, no matter how deep or how bad or 602 00:34:23,130 --> 00:34:26,570 how. How much we've dealt with sin in 603 00:34:26,570 --> 00:34:32,370 our life that God cannot take the magnitude of that sin and 604 00:34:32,370 --> 00:34:38,370 turn it into a door of hope. I will give to her. 605 00:34:39,090 --> 00:34:42,850 I will restore her verse. 16 It says, And it shall be in that 606 00:34:42,850 --> 00:34:45,130 day says the Lord that you will call. 607 00:34:45,130 --> 00:34:50,489 Me, my husband, and no longer call me my master in the 608 00:34:50,489 --> 00:34:52,449 beginning of this chapter. She is not my wife. 609 00:34:52,449 --> 00:34:54,880 I'm not her husband. I'll bring her to this place to 610 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:56,880 that day. That you call me my husband and 611 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:58,520 you will no longer call me my master. 612 00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:02,760 It's not us coming back to God and say okay God, I've messed 613 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,320 up. Sorry I've messed up. 614 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:11,000 What do I need to do now? The picture here is of a. 615 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:16,000 Wife coming back to her husband and and gazing into her 616 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,000 husband's eyes and saying you're my husband. 617 00:35:21,660 --> 00:35:24,060 It's coming back to him as a husband, not as a master. 618 00:35:24,540 --> 00:35:30,580 Next it says I will protect her. Verse 18 In that day I will make 619 00:35:30,580 --> 00:35:34,060 an A covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the 620 00:35:34,060 --> 00:35:36,620 birds of the air, and with the. Creeping things at the ground, 621 00:35:36,980 --> 00:35:39,340 bow and sword of battle I shall shadow from. 622 00:35:39,380 --> 00:35:42,060 The earth to make them lie down safely. 623 00:35:43,100 --> 00:35:47,180 Going to protect her, I will betro with her. 624 00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:49,700 That's not a word, of course, that we. 625 00:35:49,700 --> 00:35:57,580 Use nowadays, but this word betrothed means that it's more 626 00:35:57,580 --> 00:36:02,940 than just an engagement. If you want to say it was a word 627 00:36:02,940 --> 00:36:05,380 that's used to describe. How a man would betro the woman 628 00:36:05,380 --> 00:36:08,380 he wanted to marry and it was almost like they were. 629 00:36:08,380 --> 00:36:09,860 Already married at that point. It was. 630 00:36:10,180 --> 00:36:12,900 It was going, it was happening. They were married, they were 631 00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:15,420 betrothed. They would legally. 632 00:36:15,420 --> 00:36:17,580 Be looked at as being married, he would pay a. 633 00:36:17,580 --> 00:36:20,340 Price for that to happen, God says. 634 00:36:20,460 --> 00:36:24,020 In verse 19 it says I will betroth. 635 00:36:24,020 --> 00:36:28,060 You to me, and righteousness and justice, and loving kindness and 636 00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:31,980 mercy for an unfaithful people I will betroth. 637 00:36:32,100 --> 00:36:35,660 You to me and Faithfulness, Jose, at verse 220. 638 00:36:36,220 --> 00:36:42,780 Beautiful. Picture the language here. 639 00:36:44,210 --> 00:36:47,130 It's kind of like it's it's more of like a clean slate. 640 00:36:47,530 --> 00:36:52,530 If you want to say Gomer wasn't going to going to go to Hosea 641 00:36:52,530 --> 00:36:55,610 and say okay, I've I've done all these bad things. 642 00:36:55,650 --> 00:36:58,610 I want to make it right. I want to do all these things to 643 00:36:58,610 --> 00:37:00,850 get back in good graces with you and all that stuff. 644 00:37:00,850 --> 00:37:02,330 That's not what's being talked about here. 645 00:37:02,930 --> 00:37:06,090 This is a clean slate that God is offering to the. 646 00:37:06,090 --> 00:37:09,570 Children of Israel, I will. Betray with her. 647 00:37:09,610 --> 00:37:12,490 Next I will answer her. He repeats this word. 648 00:37:12,570 --> 00:37:16,580 Over and over again. Versus 21 through 20 two, he 649 00:37:16,580 --> 00:37:18,020 says. It shall come to pass in that 650 00:37:18,020 --> 00:37:20,020 day that I will answer, says the Lord. 651 00:37:20,020 --> 00:37:21,820 I will. Answer the heavens and they 652 00:37:21,820 --> 00:37:24,300 shall answer. The earth viewer shall answer 653 00:37:24,300 --> 00:37:27,220 with grain, with new wine, and with oil, and they shall answer 654 00:37:27,220 --> 00:37:30,780 Jezreel. God says I'm going to go 655 00:37:30,860 --> 00:37:33,420 directly to the skies and. They're going to go ahead and 656 00:37:33,420 --> 00:37:36,220 bring you rain, not the king. And I got bail. 657 00:37:36,220 --> 00:37:38,180 He's not going to do that. I'm going to do that. 658 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:41,400 I'm going to bring the rain. I'm going to go tell the Earth 659 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,880 to yield its fruit. To you so you can prosper 660 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,760 because of the way. I respond. 661 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:50,960 He literally says I'm going to move heaven and earth to provide 662 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,760 for you. I will answer her. 663 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,120 Additionally, I will establish her. 664 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,640 He uses that word Jesreel at. The end of verse 22, which is 665 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,600 I've read is another name for Israel, but but it's a word 666 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:05,560 that. Also means to plant, he says. 667 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:07,800 Says. Then I will sow for her myself 668 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,670 in the earth. In verse 23, I'm going to 669 00:38:11,670 --> 00:38:15,670 establish her there. So God has said these nine 670 00:38:15,670 --> 00:38:20,990 things. Incredible words from God, but 671 00:38:21,750 --> 00:38:23,390 while he's. Saying all those things, Gomer 672 00:38:23,390 --> 00:38:26,390 hasn't returned yet. She's still over there with all 673 00:38:26,390 --> 00:38:27,990 these other. People and grossed in the things 674 00:38:27,990 --> 00:38:32,070 that she was doing, all the worldly things, that being 675 00:38:32,070 --> 00:38:34,790 adulterous and and Harley tree and all that other stuff. 676 00:38:34,790 --> 00:38:37,030 She was still doing it. She had not come back. 677 00:38:38,700 --> 00:38:40,700 And then when we get to chapter three of Hosea. 678 00:38:41,700 --> 00:38:43,980 It's really, really an incredible chapter. 679 00:38:45,340 --> 00:38:48,180 Look at what it says there, the Lord said. 680 00:38:48,180 --> 00:38:52,940 To me, go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is 681 00:38:52,940 --> 00:38:55,700 committing adultery just like the love of the. 682 00:38:55,700 --> 00:38:58,580 Lord of the children of Israel who look to other. 683 00:38:58,580 --> 00:39:02,860 Gods, and love the Raisin cakes of the pagans, so I bought her. 684 00:39:02,860 --> 00:39:05,260 For myself for 15 shekels of silver. 685 00:39:05,940 --> 00:39:09,740 And 1 1/2 homers of barley, and I said to her, You shall stay 686 00:39:09,740 --> 00:39:11,820 with. Me many days you shall not play 687 00:39:11,820 --> 00:39:13,980 the harlot, nor shall you have a man. 688 00:39:14,340 --> 00:39:17,580 So too will I be. Toward you. 689 00:39:20,900 --> 00:39:24,620 We don't know if Gomer was, you know, in the Old Testament. 690 00:39:24,620 --> 00:39:27,540 Sometimes they had these temples where it was full. 691 00:39:27,540 --> 00:39:29,860 Of prostitutions and these prostitutes would come out at 692 00:39:29,860 --> 00:39:31,780 certain points of the day. We don't know if that's what she 693 00:39:31,780 --> 00:39:34,140 was involved in. We don't know if she was just. 694 00:39:34,140 --> 00:39:38,470 Running around on Hosea. We don't know all that stuff. 695 00:39:38,470 --> 00:39:41,750 We don't know the details of it, but we. 696 00:39:41,750 --> 00:39:45,870 Do know that in order to bring Gomer back to himself, to bring 697 00:39:45,870 --> 00:39:49,950 him back to Hosea. It was going to cost Hosea. 698 00:39:51,350 --> 00:39:54,510 We know earlier in if we read in Exodus that the price. 699 00:39:54,510 --> 00:39:57,870 Of a female slave in that kind of setting was about 30 shekels, 700 00:39:57,870 --> 00:39:59,030 and he didn't even have that much. 701 00:39:59,030 --> 00:40:01,670 He says he has 15 shekels here. God. 702 00:40:01,670 --> 00:40:03,230 God. Comes to Hosea and he says 703 00:40:03,230 --> 00:40:08,880 Hosea, no matter what it costs, I want you to go and buy her. 704 00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:14,280 Back so he goes to the man and he says I don't have enough 705 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,800 money but I have 15. Shekels of silver. 706 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:19,520 Plus, I have all these this food. 707 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:25,920 I just want my wife back. Is what he says, and that is. 708 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,760 The picture that God uses to talk about the way that he loves 709 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:33,270 his people. Yes, he will lure her. 710 00:40:33,270 --> 00:40:35,350 Yes, he will lead her. He will speak to her. 711 00:40:35,350 --> 00:40:37,310 He will give to her. He will restore her. 712 00:40:37,630 --> 00:40:40,470 He will patrol with her. He will answer her, but in the 713 00:40:40,470 --> 00:40:46,070 end, God. Says I will pay the price for 714 00:40:46,070 --> 00:40:50,950 her. That is, the picture of God in 715 00:40:50,950 --> 00:40:53,910 the Old Testament leads up. To the God that we read about in 716 00:40:53,910 --> 00:40:59,510 John 316, listen to one man, one one man said about this when we 717 00:40:59,510 --> 00:41:00,710 see this. Love at work? 718 00:41:01,220 --> 00:41:03,860 Through the heart of Hosea we may wonder if God. 719 00:41:03,860 --> 00:41:06,940 Is really like that, but everything in the word and an 720 00:41:06,940 --> 00:41:11,300 experience shows us that he. Is he will give man? 721 00:41:11,300 --> 00:41:14,860 The trees of the forest and the iron of the ground, then. 722 00:41:14,860 --> 00:41:18,660 He will give to the man the brains to make an axe from the 723 00:41:18,660 --> 00:41:21,380 iron to cut down a tree and fashion it into a cross. 724 00:41:22,020 --> 00:41:25,860 He will give man the ability to make a hammer and nails and when 725 00:41:25,860 --> 00:41:28,060 man has. Cross has the cross and the 726 00:41:28,060 --> 00:41:31,100 hammer and the nails. The Lord will allow man to take 727 00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:33,340 hold of him and bring him to that. 728 00:41:33,340 --> 00:41:37,220 Cross, and in doing so, we'll take the sins of man upon 729 00:41:37,220 --> 00:41:40,700 himself and make it possible. For those who have despised and 730 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:44,940 rejected him to come up unto him, and know the joy of sins 731 00:41:44,940 --> 00:41:48,820 removed and forgiven, to know the assurance of pardon and 732 00:41:48,820 --> 00:41:50,660 eternal life, and to enter into this. 733 00:41:50,860 --> 00:41:53,100 Prospect of hope and glory with him. 734 00:41:55,780 --> 00:41:59,960 That is our God, and there is no one like him. 735 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:09,280 Gomer's only hope was in a love that she never deserved. 736 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:15,680 Our hope is in a love that we do not. 737 00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:24,280 Deserve for God so loved the world. 738 00:42:25,620 --> 00:42:30,860 That he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in 739 00:42:30,860 --> 00:42:35,300 him should. Not perish, but have everlasting 740 00:42:35,300 --> 00:42:41,940 life. Are we spiritually faithfully 741 00:42:41,980 --> 00:42:47,180 married to God? And if we cannot answer that 742 00:42:47,180 --> 00:42:49,140 with a resounding. Yes. 743 00:42:50,420 --> 00:42:53,660 Then we need to run to him. He is. 744 00:42:54,240 --> 00:42:56,560 He wants. Us he wants. 745 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,040 Us to be have that relationship with him to love. 746 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:04,160 Him to forget all the things of this world and give all we have 747 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:06,800 to him. I want you to. 748 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:11,760 I want to invite any who needs. To have a clean slate from God, 749 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,480 we have of course made the opportunity to have an 750 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,880 invitation song to come forward. Of course, that's not the only 751 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,760 time that that's necessary, but we want to get those taken care 752 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:21,760 of. If you haven't been baptized for 753 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:25,650 the remission of your sins, we want to open the opportunity now 754 00:43:26,930 --> 00:43:31,130 to offer that invitation to. Hear Believe, repent of our old 755 00:43:31,130 --> 00:43:33,650 ways, confess the name of. Jesus and Be baptized. 756 00:43:35,250 --> 00:43:38,250 We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by the Church 757 00:43:38,250 --> 00:43:42,730 of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield. 758 00:43:43,410 --> 00:43:46,890 If you would like any additional information or you would like to 759 00:43:46,890 --> 00:43:49,850 receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail, 760 00:43:50,610 --> 00:43:55,920 please e-mail us at info at churchofchristbakersfield.com. 761 00:43:56,680 --> 00:44:01,880 Our service times are Sundays at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and 762 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:06,320 Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us. 763 00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:08,960 We would love for you to be our honored guest.