Amen, all right we are in Hosea chapter number two and before we get into that I'm just going
to quickly review what we went over in Hosea chapter one.
Of course in Hosea chapter one we see that God is using an allegory to basically illustrate
the condition, the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel and he instructs the
prophet Hosea to take a wife of whoredoms, which is a difficult task obviously, a wife
of whoredoms and children of whoredoms.
This is basically saying he's taking the wife of whoredoms and he's also adopting her children,
these bastard children that she had illegitimately with other men but she bears Hosea children
which we see later on is Lo'ruhama and Lo'emai and basically through chapter one we see that
God is basically trying to illustrate the spiritual truth and that spiritual truth is
this is that Gomer is represented by the pollution in the idolatrous practices that is taking
place in Israel and Hosea is basically representing God.
And the whoredoms it's talking about right there is representing the idolatry that's
taking place in Israel and the lover is who?
It's Balaam.
It's the false gods that are being worshiped in this land here.
And so through 11 verses I mean Hosea is just hammering this entire point.
He's basically introducing these different characters in the book of Hosea that are very
important for us to know about but then later on you see that in Hosea chapter one at the
latter end we see the restoration because every time you see one of the prophets casting
judgment or preaching judgment on the nation he always reminds them of a coming restoration
and often it's a prophecy of that coming millennial reign where it will be restored but it will
be saved, the remnant that is restored there.
And so we're going to jump into Hosea chapter two and verse number one it says here, Say
unto your brethren, Am I, and to your sisters, Roohama, plead with your mother, plead for
she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, let her therefore put away her whoredoms out
of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts.
Now the first thing I want you to notice is that am I and Roohama they're not different
characters.
He's not introducing different people.
They're simply abbreviations of Hosea's children that he had with Gomer there.
And here we see that God is basically calling the nation to repentance.
Now he says there, Therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries
from between her breasts.
Now what is the significance of that phrase?
Why is he telling the children to say unto their mother, Hey, put away her adulteries
from between her breasts.
Now remember that whoredoms of a nation, that idolatry is synonymous with spiritual adultery.
Go to Proverbs chapter five, hold your place there in Hosea chapter two and we're just
going to briefly cover this because this is important just to help us to understand the
terminology and the phrases that God is using in order to call the nation of Israel to repentance.
He said, Hey, you need to put away your whoredoms out of their sight and the adulteries from
between her breasts.
Remember just keep that in mind that the connotation there is not only in regards to idolatry,
but it's using adultery to symbolize that.
Look at Proverbs chapter five verse 19.
It says here in verse number 19, give an instruction to a husband how to treat his wife and to stay
with his wife and not commit adultery.
He says there in verse number 19, let her be as the loving hind and pleasant robe.
Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love.
So the, what he's saying there is saying, look, hey, you need to be satisfied with the
breast of your wife.
Now why is he saying that?
What does that mean?
Well look at verse number 20 and why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange woman and
embrace the bosom of a stranger.
You see when it talks about being satisfied with the breast of thy wife, it's referring
to be satisfied with embracing only your wife.
Because when you embrace your wife, you're basically pressing up against her breast.
You're hugging her, you're embracing her is what you're doing.
And here he's telling the husband, hey, don't embrace the bosom of a stranger, let the breast
of thy wife satisfy thee at all times.
You should embrace your wife at all times and not seek to try to embrace a strange woman.
So we see here in Hosea chapter 2, go back to Hosea chapter 2, is he's telling him, hey,
put away the whoredoms out of her sight, her adultery is from between her breasts.
What is that referencing?
What is that trying to allude to?
Well, he's basically insinuating that Israel has embraced Balaam.
Israel has embraced idolatry.
Israel has embraced paganism.
So it's not just a matter of them stumbling and doing something that's just a casual thing.
No, it's gone to the point where they're just embracing the idolatry.
They're embracing Balaam.
I mean, you'll see later on that they're giving offerings unto Balaam and worshiping Balaam.
At that point, according to Jeremiah chapter 6, they're reprobate silver.
The Lord's going to reject that generation of Israelites and try to raise up a new one
who's going to worship the Lord, the true God.
Now I told you to go back, but go back to Proverbs chapter 5, excuse me, I'm sorry.
Go back to Proverbs chapter 5.
I'm going to keep reading here because as we read the latter end of the verses in Proverbs
chapter 5, it really gives us an understanding of what's taking place in Israel and why God
told Israel, hey, put away the adulterous from between your breasts.
Look what it says in verse 21.
For the ways of Amanda before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings,
his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, and look what it says, and he shall be holden
with the cords of his sin.
So just as a man embraces the bosom of a stranger, eventually the cords of his sin
will hold him.
Eventually the cords of his sin will keep him trapped, will basically destroy him.
And in fact, verse 23 says, he shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly,
he shall go astray.
So what is it telling us there?
It's basically telling us, making the parallel to Hosea chapter 2, that Israel is embracing
false gods.
And what's going to happen?
Those false gods are going to embrace Israel and end up destroying them, whether through
the judgment of God, or just other means, the end game of worshiping devils and worshiping
idols is that they're going to be destroyed, is what he's saying there, okay?
Now go back to Hosea chapter 2.
So right off the bat in chapter 2, he says, look, you need to repent of this, because
you need to repent of this, and the way you can repent of it is just, hey, don't look
upon wickedness, put away thy hordums, put away the hordums, the adulterous from between
thy breasts.
Don't embrace wickedness, don't embrace idolatry, don't embrace Balaam, repent of those things.
Look at verse number 3, it says, lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that
she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her
with thirst.
So keep in mind that he's using Gomer as that example, right?
Because what has Gomer done?
Well, she's a horse, so she's embracing the bosom of a stranger.
And so God is telling Hosea to say this to Gomer, as if God is the one saying this to
Israel.
And he goes, look, if you don't repent of this, if you don't put away your hordums,
and you continue to embrace the bosom of a stranger of a false god, I'm going to strip
you naked.
He says, and set her as in the day that she was born, which is naked, and make her as
a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
What is he doing?
He's threatening them.
Now what is he threatening them with?
He's basically saying, I'm going to make you desolate.
But how is a nation made desolate?
As a wilderness, dry land, slaying them with thirst.
That's in reference to drought and famine.
And look, you look throughout the Bible, you'll see that God will often judge his people in
such a way.
He'll send a famine, he'll send a drought, he'll send some sort of judgment that will
cause him to starve and be thirsty and not have just the necessities of life.
That's judgment upon his people.
And he goes, if you continue to embrace false religion and false gods, I'm going to make
you desolate.
I'm going to strip you.
You're not going to have anything.
You're not going to have the basics of life.
And let me say this, that, we can apply that to us today.
Because the Bible tells us, but seek ye first the kingdom of righteousness, excuse me, seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you.
Well what are these things?
The necessities of life.
Because in context, it's referring to food and raiment.
Now look, God doesn't, God blesses the just as well as the unjust.
He sends the rain upon the just as well as the unjust.
But at the end of the day, when it comes to Christians, he's not going to bless us with
the necessities of life if we're just living in blatant sin.
The Bible says the condition to be blessed of God and for God to provide for our needs
is that we seek him first and the kingdom of righteousness.
We seek him first and the principles found within his word.
We seek to be obedient to him.
If not, he's going to strip us naked.
If not, he's going to cause us to thirst.
If not, he's going to allow bad things to happen in our lives to cause us to refrain
from embracing the world, to cause us from embracing sin and things that could potentially
destroy our lives.
You see, it's not so much as, though it's important that we love the Lord our God with
all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, a good motive to stay obedient to God is that
God doesn't destroy us, that he doesn't strip us naked, that he doesn't cause us to be thirsty
and desolate.
That's how God motivates us and prongs us to do right.
Obviously we ought to love God emotionally, obviously we ought to love God with our minds,
our souls, and hearts, but a good motivation is his judgment, it's his chastisement.
In fact, you don't have to turn to 2 Samuel 21 verse 1, it says here, then there was a
famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord.
And the Lord answered, it is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the
Gibeonites.
So we see there that God is judging Israel because of who?
Because of Saul.
How is he judging them?
Through famine.
Look at verse number 4.
It says there, and I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be the children of
whoredoms.
Now this is very important here, okay?
Because remember, I don't believe that these children that it's referring to is referring
to the children of Hosea, obviously, because he takes her to be his wife, she bears children,
the two children, which is Ammi and Ruhamah, but then she also has the children of whoredoms.
Now if you remember in chapter 1, he says that he's gonna restore Judah, and I believe
that's in reference to the remnant, the righteous remnant found in Israel and in Judah.
But here he says in verse 4, that he's not gonna have mercy upon her children, for they
be the children of whoredoms.
He did not say he will not have mercy on the Ruhamah and Loami, he says he's not gonna
have mercy upon the children of whoredoms.
Now go to Hebrews, chapter number 12.
You see, these children he's referring to are the bastard children of Gomer.
That's what a bastard is.
A bastard is not a bad word.
It's simply a word that defines a child who was born, illegitimate, out of wedlock, as
we would say today, okay?
A woman who fornicates and has a child out of wedlock, according to the Bible, that child
is referred to as a bastard, okay?
Now I'm gonna read to you from Deuteronomy 23, verse 2, it says, a bastard shall not
enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation shall he not enter
into the congregation of the Lord.
Look at Hebrews, chapter 12, and verse number 6, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
So it's telling us here, and verse 8, let's read verse 8, but if ye be without chastisement,
care of all our partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.
So here he's saying that God chastises his sons, and if they're his sons, they're not
bastards.
He said, oh, hold on a second, but don't we see chastisement in the nation?
Don't we see that God, no, no, he says I'm not gonna have mercy, remember that.
You see, here in Hebrews, chapter 12, look at verse number 10, for they barely for a
few days chastenest after their own pleasure, but heed for our what?
That we might be partakers of his holiness.
That's not what we see in Hosea chapter 2, verse 4.
Hosea chapter 2, verse 4, he says I'm not gonna have mercy on you.
I'm gonna strip you naked.
I'm gonna destroy you.
You will no longer be my people, he says in Hosea chapter 1.
Here he's saying these are my children.
I'm gonna chastise them, because they're not bastards, but I want them to be partakers
of my holiness, is what he's saying there.
So the concept that we see here is that the legitimate children of God, right, are those
who believe in the only true God.
Those in the New Testament, obviously, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but even
in the Old Testament, when they're worshiping the true God, that's a legitimate child.
That's the righteous remnant that we see in the Old Testament.
So we say, well, what is the other one referring to then?
You know, if he's saying, you know, Lorahami and Amai are his legitimate children, who
are the other children?
Well, those are the bastards.
You get where I'm going with this?
You have the righteous remnant, who God's not gonna judge, but then you have the bastard
children, the whoredom, the children of whoredom of Gomer that's referring to unsaved Israel.
Because remember, there's always been a righteous remnant.
There's always been saved people, 7,000 prophets who have not bowed the knee to Baal, which
is exactly who they're worshiping here.
Those are the 7,000 prophets, these are the 7,000 people who are the righteous remnant
of Israel, whereas he says in verse four, I'm not gonna have mercy on these bastard
children.
I'm not gonna have mercy on the children of whoredoms, why?
Because they're not of Israel, okay?
The Bible even says, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
And we can say likewise, they are not all of Hosea that are of Hosea.
Because remember, he adopted the bastard children because he married Gomer, but his legitimate
children, right?
His legitimate children was L'Rohama and Amai, okay?
You know, he's using it as an allegory.
I mean, I thought there was like another place in the Bible where we see that same kind of
concept, don't we?
Oh yeah, that's right, Galatians 4.
All right, go to Galatians 4.
So this is not, Galatians 4 is not the first time that we see that concept used.
He used it with Hosea and Gomer.
He used it with L'Rohama, Amai, or L'Rohama, Amai, and the bastard children, okay?
This is not a new concept.
Look what it says in Galatians chapter four, verse 22.
It says here, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondman and the
other by a free woman, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he
of the free woman was by promise.
Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai,
which gentereth to bondage, which is Agar.
For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children.
So this is referring to unsaved Jews, okay?
Because it says that they answered to Jerusalem, which now is, answereth, another synonym for
answereth is reflects.
As water, faith, answereth to faith, that's referring to the fact that it reflects.
So he's saying that Agar, Mount Sinai in Arabia, is reflecting Jerusalem, which now is, referring
to the Jews of that current time, and is in bondage with their children, but Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.
Skip down to verse number 28.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, but as then he that was born after
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless, what saith the scripture?
He passed out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be
heir with the son of the free woman, so then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman,
but of the free.
So we see that same concept being repeated and reflected in the New Testament.
La Ruhama and Ammai are like the righteous remnant in the Old Testament.
The children of whoredoms reflects those unsaved Israelites who God will not have mercy on.
Go to Romans chapter 9.
Romans chapter 9, look at verse number 6, it says, not as though the word of God hath
taken an effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because are they
the seed of Hosea, or Abraham here, are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed
be called.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Now go back to Hosea chapter 2.
That's why it's important that when we read the Old Testament, you know, don't buck when
you see something where he's like, I'm not going to have mercy on these bastard children,
or the bastard cannot come into the congregation.
You need to read it in the spirit of the Bible, okay?
You need to read, obviously God loves bastard children today, right?
The bastard children in the Old Testament were a reflection of those who did not have
a father, that's what a bastard is, but it's a spiritual reflection, it's a spiritual meaning
of the fact that they're not saved.
Or even worse, that they're children of the devil, right?
Because here's the thing, Gomer was going out sleeping around with people who were not
her husband, just as Israel was going around with who?
Balaam, which is who?
Satan.
So the bastard children obviously are an offspring of Balaam.
You see the comparisons there that God is making there?
Now look at verse number five.
For their mother hath played the harlot, she hath conceived them that have done shamefully.
For she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and
my flax, my oil and my drink.
So here we see that Gomer's deceived, obviously she's going out and she's looking for these
lovers who she thinks will provide the sustenance that she needs, okay?
And it just goes to show that even today, in a spiritual manner, the spiritual application
here is that often people will sin because they think it'll bring them a certain pleasure
that later on they're gonna regret, right?
They get into sin, they get into drinking, alcohol, pot smoking, or fornication, or whatever
sin you fill in the blank with, thinking that that's gonna offer some sort of gratification,
but in the long run it's gonna destroy their lives.
They think it's gonna give them bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink, but guess
what the Bible tells us?
In Proverbs 20 verse 17, bread of the seed is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth
shall be filled with gravel.
You see, when you sin, it's pleasurable for a season, but guess what, that season comes
to an end.
Sin is pleasurable for a season, but once that season is over, what happens?
The wages of sin is death, eventually it'll produce death.
That ought to be a motivation to us to stay away from fornication, to stay away from
drunkenness, to stay away from pot smoking, drugs, or whatever it may be that may destroy
our lives and displease God, is the fact that yeah, you may enjoy it for a season, but it's
gonna cost you in the long run.
You know, you may enjoy laziness for a season, but it's gonna cost you in the long run.
How's it gonna cost you?
You're not gonna have character, and you need character to be a functioning, successful
member of society, to provide for a wife, to provide for your children, to be an example.
You need character, but you know what, that goes out the window when you allow yourself
to be lazy, when you allow yourself to be slothful, or being lazy and slothful, maybe
he may have some immediate gratification that you just get to chill out and do nothing,
but guess what, it's gonna bite you in the rear end in the long run.
Your mouth shall be filled with gravel, and you can apply that to any type of sin that
you think will give you the immediate gratification.
It probably will, but afterwards, thy mouth shall be filled with gravel.
And that's what Gomer's thinking.
She's like, well, I'm gonna go to my lovers.
They give me wool and flax and all these things that are enjoyable, but her life's gonna be
destroyed.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter nine, verse 16, whoso is simple, let him turn and
hither, and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, stolen waters are sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he knoweth not that the dead are there, and
that her guests are in the depths of hell.
And this is in reference to adultery, okay, he said, look, stolen waters are sweet, bread
eaten in secret is sweet.
You know, when you sin, it's sweet, but you know what, death is abiding there.
That coincides with James chapter one, when sin hath conceived, it bringeth forth death,
for the wages of sin is death.
Death is always the end game to sin, okay?
Go back to Hosea chapter two, I think you're already there, look at verse number six, therefore
behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her
paths.
These people were not gonna return back to their land, they're gonna be made desolate.
But the application there also is that the way of the transgressor is hard, because he's
saying I'm gonna hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her
path.
You see, the path of the righteous is as a shining light, right?
It's made plain.
When you're doing right, he that walketh uprightly, you know, those who do right, their path is
made plain.
Life is not complicated, you don't have to worry about covering sin, you don't have to
worry about, you know, if someone's gonna find out what you're doing, why?
Because you're just living an honest life of integrity, reading the Bible, serving the
Lord, you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose.
Whereas someone who's involved in sin, and they're getting away from God, they're doing
things that are displeasing to God, what is it?
You know, their way is hard.
The way of the transgressor is always hard.
You know, and that goes to show us that, you know, don't ever envy someone who's out in
the world who looks like they may be successful without God.
You know, they have their end.
There is an end to their so-called success, there is an end to their so-called pleasure,
and look, most of them are already suffering the consequences, and they're already at their
end.
You say, but they look happy.
Yeah, they're trying to make it look like they look happy.
Social media is great with that, isn't it?
To portray happiness, they're not happy.
Don't think that the people in Hollywood, or your friends who are succeeding, and they
got all kinds of money because they're successful, but they're just not even saved, they don't
have the Bible, that they're just happy without God.
Most of them are not, because none of those things bring happiness.
None of those things bring fulfillment.
Don't let them lie to you and think that, and to try to portray this life that they're
just living lavishly without God, okay?
It's a hedge of thorns.
The way of the transgressor is always hard.
The Bible says in Proverbs 15, 19, the way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns,
but the way of the righteous is made plain.
Look, I like when things are just plain.
When you tell me something, I'm just like, just make it as short as possible.
When my wife is trying to tell me something, and she's trying to tell me a story or something
like that, you know, she has this tendency to just kind of like elaborate and give details.
I mean, she's like, the clouds were in the sky, you know, it was around 2.30.
She gives a lot of details.
I'm just like, just get to the point.
Just tell me what you got to say, you know, and it had like nothing to do with what the
scenery was like.
It was just, but they just elaborated a lot, right, on what they're talking about.
I just like it plain.
Just tell it to me plain, number one, two, three, give me the commandment, and that's
it.
But you know, as Christians, that's how it ought to be, right, that everything should
be made plain, and we should live in such a way, righteously, that everything is just
made plain.
We should complicate things.
Whereas the way of the transgressors is not like that.
They have thorns, they have walls.
What are walls, roadblocks, things that they can't overcome, things that can't get over?
You know, what are thorns?
Picture yourself walking through a vineyard of thorns.
I mean, it's probably not the most comfortable thing.
You're probably getting stabbed and cut, and it's just a very uncomfortable path, and you
don't even know where you're going.
In fact, in order to move the thorns out of the way, you got to use your hands.
You ain't probably going to cut up your hands.
Whereas the righteous, if you're just doing right, you can see what's right in front of
you.
Why?
Because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a lamp unto my path.
You see everything that's right in front of you, okay?
But he tells her that, therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make
a wall that she shall not find her paths.
So you know, this goes to show us that even Israel, God is placing these thorns in front
of Israel so that she can come back.
So that Israel can come back, so that they can repent of their wickedness and come back
to God.
Now, look at verse number seven in Hosea chapter two.
It says here, and she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them, and
she shall seek them, but shall not find them.
Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with
me than now.
For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver
and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Now, the first thing I want you to notice there is that they were using the resources
that God gave them for sinful and wicked deeds, and it should never be said of Christians
that we would ever use that which God gives us to consume it upon our own lusts, to consume
it upon our own wickedness, the things that we would desire to have that are wicked things.
We should never use God's resources for sinful acts.
But another thing that we see here is that Gomer, she's just regretting it.
I mean, who does this sound like when she says, for then was it better with me than
now?
Well, that sounds like the product of sun, right?
He's like, man, I should have just stayed home with dad.
You know, I had it made with dad.
Well, Gomer's now thinking, man, I should just go back to my first husband.
It was better then than it was now.
And that just goes to show you that when you get involved in sin or you get out of church
and you seek something of the world, you love the world, the things of the world, or
whatever it may be, at the end of that trip, at the end of that journey, you're only going
to come to the conclusion, man, it was better when I was just in church.
It was better when I just had to get my butt up out of church, or excuse me, get my butt
up out of bed and go to church, get dressed, get ready, read the Bible, go Sony, even when
I didn't feel like doing it, that was better.
People think it's better when you leave church and you go out and you go sow your wild oats,
but it's not better.
And you will soon realize that once you suffer the consequences of your actions, you're going
to say like Gomer did, it was better with me than now.
But here's the goal though, that you come to that realization before you get to this
point.
That you say, you know what, I'm not going to go down that path because I don't want
to be like Gomer and say that then.
And in fact, God says, for she didn't know that I gave her corn and wine and oil, this
is Hosea speaking, and multiplied her silver and gold.
What does that say?
Hosea had everything, excuse me, Gomer had everything from her husband.
He was providing everything that she needed.
She didn't need to go to some foreign lover to get these things.
She can get it from her husband.
He was providing for her needs.
And what is the spiritual application there?
We don't need to go anywhere else to fulfill our desires.
You know what, we can delight ourselves in the Lord and He shall grant us the desires
of our heart.
We can just stay in church and do that which is right inside of the Lord, and God can fulfill
our every need.
He said, well, you know, I have these needs that I don't think are right or whatever it
may be.
Well, you know what, you just don't have the right desires then.
You need to make sure that you align your desires with the word of God, and the way
you do that is you change your appetites.
You know, I just like worldly music.
Well, you know what, it's not like God's gonna give you a better album if you stay in church.
What it is is that you're gonna be in church, you're gonna hear the hymns, and you're gonna
change your appetite, your musical appetite for the right type of music.
Okay?
Well, you know, I just, you know, I want these worldly friends.
That's probably not the best friends to have.
You know?
What God's gonna do is He's gonna replace those losers who don't have jobs, who are
still living with their mother, a bunch of drunks and potheads with some men of integrity
who love the Lord, who will teach you soul winning, who will eat a pizza with you, you
know?
All right, bye.
The ambulances are always going by here.
When I listen to the sermons online, if I'm reviewing it or something, it's just like,
I'm just like, I can't even hear what I'm saying.
So what am I saying here is that basically God has provided everything that we need.
Okay?
And this reminds me of when Nathan confronted David.
You know, when he said, thou art the man, what did he say to him?
He says, I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives unto thy bosom, and gave
thee the house of Israel and of Judah, and if thou had, if thou had been too little,
I would moreover have given thee unto thee such and such things.
He was like, man, I gave you everything that you needed.
And if that was too little, I would have gave you more if you would have just asked.
You know, we never want to have this attitude that we need to go out into the world or go
get something because God's not giving it to us.
Or do something in an illegitimate way because God's not doing it right now.
We need to just trust God and do it the right way.
You know?
And believe that God has our best interest in mind.
You know, I just need to get out of church so I can make more money.
No, then you have a wicked desire of covetousness and that's what it is.
I just want more money.
Okay.
Well, you know, God's probably not going to give you more money because you're trying
to consume it upon your own lust and you have the love of money.
But you know what God can give you is something more valuable called contentment.
And contentment is a lot greater than any vast amount of money that you can have.
Because no matter how much money you get, you will never be happy.
Don't bite into the stupid ideology that if you become a millionaire, you'll be happy.
You will never be happy.
In fact, you'll be the most miserable human on earth if you become a millionaire.
Okay.
Happiness comes from when we obey God, we obey His word, we do things the right way
and we rejoice in the blessings, the true blessings, the true riches that God provides.
Okay.
And so we see here that Gomer, she's fallen after her lover.
She recognizes her error and she's like, man, it's better that I just go back to church.
And throughout the years that I've been saved, I've seen this a lot.
And I thank God for the people who come back to church, they repent, they get right, they
get back into church.
But you know what, it's better to just stay than to go and to come back.
Because you miss out on a lot of blessings.
You miss out, you have to basically go back to the drawing board.
The drawing board of faithfulness, the drawing board of just getting back in the saddle of
soul winning church attendance.
And the things that you could have benefited from if you would have just been consistent
the entire time.
Okay.
Now, let's see here.
Look down at verse number nine.
The Bible says here, therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof
and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover
her nakedness.
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers and none shall deliver
her out of my hand.
I will also cause all her mirth to cease her feast days, her moons, excuse me, her new
moons and her Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees whereof she had said these are my rewards
that my lovers have given me and I will make them a forest and the beasts of the field
shall eat them.
And I will visit upon the days of Balaam wherein she burnt incense to them and she decked herself
with her earrings and her jewels and she went after her lovers and forgave me, saith
the Lord.
So what do we see here is that God is telling them it's too late.
See that's the scary part right there.
When God says it's too late I'm going to recover your nakedness.
You know, and look the Bible tells us even in the New Testament it could be too late
for certain people.
I'm not talking about reprobates, obviously we know for reprobates it's too late.
But I'm saying for Christians it can become too late.
You can get so involved and embrace sin to the point where God just kills you and he
takes you home.
The Bible says in 1 John 5 16, go to Romans chapter 6, 1 John 5 16, if any man seeeth
his brother's sin as sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him
life for them that sin not unto death.
There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it.
There is a sin that you can commit.
The God's like you don't even have to pray for that, you're already done.
God's going to shelve you.
You know, he's basically done with you.
You've lost your savor, you're disattached from the vine, you're done.
We never want to get to that point.
Look at what the Bible says in Romans 6 verse 20, it says for when you were the servant
of sin, the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things
is death.
And I find it interesting that Gomer is saying in verse 12, and I will destroy her vines
in her fig trees, God is saying this to Gomer, where if she had said these are my rewards
that my lovers have given me and I will make them a forest and beasts of the field shall
eat them.
Talk about the fruit that she's going to produce.
But what does it say in Romans 6?
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed, for the end of those things
is death.
And that's exactly what Gomer's going to experience.
Go to Hosea chapter 2 again.
Now this is really interesting, in Hosea chapter 2 verse 14, he begins to prophesy of that
restoration period, that time, that millennial reign.
Look what it says in verse 14, therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness
and speak comfortably unto her, and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the
valley of Achor for a door of hope.
And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came
up out of the land of Egypt.
Now the valley of Achor is very significant, what he's saying there, okay?
Don't miss out on that.
If you remember in Joshua chapter 7, there was a man by the name of Achan, okay?
Now what did Achan do?
He took of the accursed thing.
He saw the Babylonian garment, the shekels, he took it when God told him not to.
He brought it into his tent, hid it under the earth, and basically God judged Israel
because of that, allowed many to die.
Now what happened?
When God said, hey, find out who took of the accursed thing, they discovered that it was
Achan.
Well, Achan was stoned along with his family, where?
At the valley of Achor.
And in fact, he goes on to say in Joshua chapter 7 that I have turned away the fierceness of
my wrath from Israel, therefore that's why it's called the valley of Achor.
Now why did he turn away the fierceness of his wrath?
Because Achan was taken away.
So when the fierceness of his wrath was there, we obviously see that because they got destroyed,
they got their rear ends handed to him at Ai, remember that?
They got beat in Ai, Joshua was like repenting, he's like, what's going on?
And he's like, you know, you have someone who's taken of the accursed thing, they found
out it's Achan, Achan is stoned to death at the valley of Achor, and he said, look, now
the fierceness of my wrath has been turned away, why?
Because the wicked has been plucked away.
So what is the valley of Achor when it talks about in verse 14, therefore behold, I will
lower her, excuse me, in verse 15, and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the
valley of Achor for a door of hope.
What is the door of hope?
That God will remove the fierceness of his wrath.
Well how does he remove the fierceness of his wrath?
By executing his wrath upon unsaved Israel in the latter end, right?
The wicked are plucked away, therefore the kingdom can be established in righteousness
because the dross has been removed from the silver, you understand what I'm saying here?
So he's telling, he's saying the valley of Achor because that's gonna be the time when
God actually turns away the fierceness of his wrath from Israel, which is at the millennial
reign.
In order for the millennial reign to be established in righteousness, the wicked need to be plucked
away, and how does that take place?
When God just destroys, it's called the days of vengeance upon the Jews, the unbelieving
Jews there.
Okay, I thought that was interesting.
Now this goes to show us too that God is merciful, okay?
We often focus, we focus a lot on the wrath of God and the anger of God, which is a good
thing to do because it puts the fear of God in our lives, amen?
But we also need to balance that out with the mercy of God because the fact is they
go hand in hand.
Why is that?
Because God is merciful to them who fear him.
If you have a proper fear of God, guess what, then you get to enjoy the mercy of God.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 103 verse 8, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities,
for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear
him.
So that goes to show us, hey, we need to make sure we keep hitting on the wrath of God,
keep hitting on the judgment of God, keep hitting on the righteousness of God, and keep
instilling the fear of God in the hearts of God's people, why?
So they can have the mercy of God.
You know, these people who only want to talk about grace and mercy are not going to get
it because they don't have a fear of God.
They think that God is like some Santa Claus, some old white man with a white beard, a genie
who's just going to answer every single prayer that they have.
They don't realize that, hey, in order for you to enjoy the mercy of God, in order for
you to experience God's grace in your life, you need to fear him because God is pitiful
to those who fear him, who are afraid of him, who hold him to be a terror, God will be merciful
to them.
He's not merciful to those who don't fear him.
And those who only talk about his grace and his mercy don't fear him because if they're
not talking about the wrath of God and the judgment of God, how can they even create
the fear of God that will allow them to experience the mercy of God, okay?
Now go to Hosea chapter 2, go back to Hosea chapter 2 verse 16.
It says here, and it shall be at that day, referring to that millennial reign, saith
the Lord that thou shall call me Ishi and shall call me no more Bali.
Now Ishi was a guy in my old church, okay, do you guys remember that guy, that was Ishi?
But I'm going to explain what that means.
Look at verse 17, for I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they
shall no more be remembered by their name.
Now this is a significant passage because he says there that thou shall call me no more
Bali.
Why is that significant?
Because obviously that goes to show that they were calling God Bali, okay?
Now what does Bali sound like?
Balaam, right?
Well, Bali simply means Lord, okay?
If you look at the significance of that name, it simply means Lord.
So they were right to call God Bali because he's Lord.
But what happened?
Well, the same thing happens every time.
When they get away from God and start serving other gods, they render that name unto that
false god.
For example, you have, you know, at that time it was a synagogue, but now it's a synagogue
of Satan.
You have the tabernacle of God, but now you have the tabernacle of Moloch.
They render something that belongs to God, and they use it for Satan, they use it for
their false god, their false idol.
And so Bali simply means Lord, and no one really knows that.
Why is that?
Because God basically did what he said in verse 17, I will take away the name of Balaam
out of her mouth.
So in other words, now we understand that the connotation that is attached to Balaam
is the devil, it's not God.
Because God doesn't want him to be, he doesn't want them to call him Balaam anymore because
it's carried that negative connotation of being a devil, okay?
Now he then says, it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shall call me Ishi.
What is Ishi?
Ishi simply means husband, okay?
You say, well, how do you know this?
Because in verse 19 to 20, he states he's going to betrove them.
And remember, what is the allegory being used here?
Gomer and Hosea, the fact that they're married, right?
And what was Gomer doing?
Going after strange lovers, just as Israel is going after strange gods, okay?
Now but we also know this because of the simple fact that even in the Old Testament, Jeremiah
chapter 31, referring to the covenant to come, what does God tell the children of Israel
through Jeremiah?
He says, I was a husband unto them.
When Paul later quotes that in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 9, he says, I regarded them not, saith
the Lord.
So he was a husband unto them, but later on in the New Testament, because they were replaced,
he no longer regards them.
In fact, in 2 Corinthians 11, 2, it says, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy,
for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,
okay?
And this is referring to now all believers, Jew or Gentile.
That's what that's talking about there.
And so what Hosea is simply saying here is that, hey, they will no longer call me Bali
because that's carried that negative connotation, they shall call me Ishi in that New Testament,
in that New Covenant, because at that time, like Paul said, he's espousing them as a chaste
virgin to Christ, okay?
They're separated unto the Lord.
There's not gonna be one person in that millennial reign who's not saved, as far as his people,
I'm saying, okay?
All Jew and Gentile will be saved, Jew from the Old Testament, who are believers, but
also the New Testament Gentiles who have believed on Christ.
They will be in that union, according to Ephesians chapter number 2.
Now go back to Hosea chapter 2, look at verse 18, and we'll finish it off here.
It says, in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and
with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground, and I will break the
bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and I will make them to lie down safely.
And I will betroth thee unto me forever, yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness
and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies.
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens,
and they shall hear the earth.
And the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.
And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained
mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall
say, Thou art my God.
And in fact, later on in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10, it says this, For this is the covenant
that I made with them, that I will make with them with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and write in their hearts, and
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for all shall know me, from the least, even to the greatest, okay?
So that is a reference to that millennial reign there.
So what do we see in Hosea chapter 2, what are the applications that we see here?
Well, we see the spiritual application of the legitimate children versus the children
of whoredoms.
You have the legitimate children who are the righteous remnant, and you have the children
of whoredoms referring to those who are not saved.
We would also refer to them as unbelieving Jews who have Satan as their father.
We also see that sin is pleasurable only for a season.
Gomer saw that, didn't she?
And then we see that sometimes it's too late for some, but also that God is merciful towards
those who fear Him.
So what is the takeaway from this sermon is simply this, hey, make sure you're growing
in your fear of God so you can keep tapping into that mercy when you need it, okay?
Because look, when you study the Old Testament, you're running into some really bad kings.
But a lot of these kings, you wonder, it's like, man, why did God give that person another
chance?
Well, one, because they humbled themselves, and then they feared God, and it went a long
way, okay?
That also shows that, yeah, it's true, as high as the heavens are from the earth, so
great is His mercy towards them that fear Him.
And you can't really measure how high as the heaven is from the earth.
It's a vast measurement right there, but that goes to show you that His mercy is what?
Everlasting.
Towards who?
Towards them that fear Him.
All right?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your Word.
Thank you for the example of Hosea, and I pray, God, that you'd continue to open our
understanding, help us to understand what we're reading here and make.
Obviously, we want to interpret the Bible correctly as far as the immediate interpretation,
but there's also obviously a lot of applications that we can adhere to and apply to our personal
lives, something that's relevant to today, and I pray that you continue to expand our
understanding in that area.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.