Good evening New Life Baptist Church. I'm glad to be able to preach for you guys
again this evening. I will say before I start preaching please continue praying
about the border issue. I can't wait to get back up there and see you guys in
person. I do miss you guys a lot and so I'm just looking forward to
being a travel up there and to just be able to preach to you in person. So let's
go to Hosea chapter 2. Let's go to Hosea chapter 2 and we are continuing
our series in the book of Hosea and I would say that it you know for me
preaching for this book has been a little challenging you know it does
bring quite a lot of questions so there are a lot of things to be answered and
you know I've not really heard a lot of preaching on Hosea but just thinking
back to what I have heard or the interpretations that I've become familiar
with I've realized that I kind of as I've studied for this book I
you know I do tend to believe much of what I heard but there are some
differences that I think we're going to notice in this book and I think what's
important to understand in the book of Hosea is that Hosea chapter 1 chapter 2
and chapter 3 serve as an introduction to the other 11 chapters in that book
and one thing that we noticed in chapter 1 is that God told the Northern Kingdom
that they would no longer be his people and that he would no longer be their God
and so God was rejecting that physical Old Testament nation but then God
prophesied about his people you know receiving mercy and of course we saw how
that ties into you know believers of the New Testament and how that ultimately
ties to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Well in Hosea chapter 2 we see
something very similar as well and I'm not going to give you the title for the
sermon till the end of the sermon today but let's start there in verse number 1
all right I just had to turn the light on say sorry Hosea chapter 2 in verse
number 1 it says say ye unto your brethren Ammi and to your sisters
Ruhamah now those words should sound familiar to you if you remember chapter
1 but then it says plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife
neither am I her husband lest her therefore put away her whoredoms out of
her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts and so what we are
need to understand is well let me let me tell you the the general idea that a lot
of people hold to when it comes to the book of Hosea and that is that we saw
that in Hosea chapter 1 God asked Hosea to marry a woman of whoredoms a woman
who had not kept herself faithful and and pure for her wedding day and so
Hosea was taken you know as it were damaged goods you know for a wife and
one thing I went back to listen to my sermon that I preached in chapter 1 one
thing that I do want to clarify in that sermon I never said that the wife Hosea
takes Goma that she committed adultery or what I was trying to say of course is
that she was a woman that was unfaithful to her wedding day but she wasn't
necessarily someone who was unfaithful toward Hosea the general idea in the
book of Hosea is that Gomer eventually becomes unfaithful toward him she
commits adultery toward him and and most of the reason they believe that is here
in chapter 2 and then what they teach is that in chapter 3 let's go to Hosea
chapter 3 and verse number 1 let's have a look at that Hosea chapter 3 verse
number 1 it says then said the Lord unto me go yet love a woman beloved of
her friend yet an adulteress and so the idea there is that well you know Hosea's
first wife was unfaithful she committed adultery therefore Hosea went to marry
another woman or that Gomer was adulteress and in chapter 3 Hosea is
going back and winning back his first wife now I don't I don't believe any of
those things I have read these chapters over and over and over again you know
during the last couple of weeks and I don't believe that I will explain to you
what Hosea chapter 3 verse number 1 is about next time when we get to the next
chapter but as I said most of that idea comes from chapter 2 and so what we see
here and I'll tell you the misunderstanding here because it says
say ye unto your brethren now look at Hosea chapter 1 verse number 9 you may
remember that Hosea took Gomer as his wife as I explained to you and they had
three children and the children's names that we're looking at here is the second
and the third well in Hosea chapter 1 verse number 9 it says then said God
call his name lo Ammi now remember Ammi is mentioned in Hosea chapter 2 verse
number 1 okay lo Ammi for ye are not my people and I will not be your God okay
so what we learn there is lo Ammi means not my people okay so Ammi on its own
without the lo means my people if that makes sense lo Ammi means not my people
but Ammi means my people and now let's look at verse number 6 Hosea chapter 1
verse number 6 it says and she conceived again and bear a daughter and God said
unto him call her name lo Ruhamah for I will no more have mercy upon the house
of Israel but I will utterly take them away so Ruhamah means mercy and lo Ruhamah
means no mercy all right so let's go back to Hosea chapter 2 and verse number
1 and so those that believe that Gomer became an adulterous woman in marriage
will teach or have taught so some people teach that Hosea is telling his second
born and his third born Ammi and Ruhamah to plead with their mother to go hey
mom stop being an adulterous woman stop cheating on dad you know people teach
that Hosea sent his own children to correct their mother and you know when
I remember when I heard that it just didn't sit well with me it didn't make
any sense all right now here's the thing I actually believe that Gomer remained
faithful after she got married you know she made very well look I can't prove
this to you from the Bible but she could have very well been a great mother a
great wife you know she probably cleaned up her life of her past you know when no
longer went in that horrible you know perverted ways of living but just
remained as a faithful wife that's what I personally believe I can't prove that
but those that say that she became an adulterous woman that cheated on her
husband can't prove that either okay but they use this passage to say that
Hosea is sending his children to get their mom their mother right okay now
why doesn't this sit well with me well number one if Hosea is sending his own
children to confront their mother about their adultery that just seems unusual
Hosea who's supposed to be a man of God and we know he's preaching God's Word we
know that he's an unpopular preacher we know he's preaching God's judgment on
the wicked nation of Israel you're gonna tell me that man can't run his own
household you're gonna tell me that man can't keep his wife in subjection can't
lead his wife or even if his wife was unfaithful you're gonna tell me he's not
taking that upon himself as the leader of his own home to go sort out his wife
that he's sending his own children you know that would that just doesn't sit
right with me whatsoever when we consider the Lord but secondly it's not
Lo Ammi or Lo Ruhamah his children that he's sending no these are different
names it's not Lo Ammi it's just Ammi and it's not Lo Ruhamah it's Ruhamah
okay so that's the second reason the names don't even match up even though
the names are similar and they're similar for a reason but the names don't
match up with his children's names and the third reason I don't believe he's
sending his children to confront their mother is because in verse number one it
says say ye unto your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ruhamah and so Ammi and
Ruhamah are not being described as his children but they've been described as
his brethren all right now let's put this all together what is going on here
well what what is happening is of course we saw the illustration in chapter one
that Israel had become as it were a whorish wife to God okay and of course
Hosea being one man who is faithful to God one believer of course this nation
even though this nation as a whole rejected God and was that unfaithful wife
symbolically there were still people in the land that were faithful to God there
were still believers of course in the land and of course Hosea is one of those
and so when he's talking about his brethren what's Ammi oh Ammi? Ammi
means sorry what was it Ammi means my people okay it's not not my people Ammi
means my people and Ruhamah means mercy or those people that God would be
merciful toward and so God is telling Hosea go to your brethren who are my
people go to your brethren who I have had mercy upon and get them to go to
their mother which of course is the nation of Israel okay talking about the
the city and tell her plead with us with that nation plead with the wickedness of
you know or the sin you know preach against the sin of that wicked nation
and so Hosea is trying to get the support of other believers other people
that are people of God you know and other you know Hosea had a few
contemporaries one contemporary of his one other prophet was Amos you know and
we'll look at Amos later on he was also a man that God used to preach against
the northern kingdom of Israel and so Hosea has been asked by God we'll gather
other believers don't be the only one going out there preaching against the
sins of the nation but use your brethren use the other safe people use your
brothers and sisters in the Lord to go and preach against this wicked nation
and so it's not saying that Gomer had become an adulterous woman again it's
using the illustration of a married woman being unfaithful to God and that
his people would be the ones that would preach against the wickedness of the
nation and this is why there's nothing wrong with preachers preaching against
you know we're in Australia preaching against the wickedness of this nation
you know highlighting the fact that there is you know you know all manners
of sins as abortions you know this legalized same-sex marriage all this
kind of nonsense that's going in this world it is perfectly right for God's
people to preach to call out this stuff because that is what God requires from
his prophets now let's keep going let's go to verse number three lest I strip
her naked strip her naked Gomer no not Gomer the nation of Israel okay and set
her as in the day that she was born and make her a wilderness and set her like a
dry land and slay her with thirst so Gomer is not being made into a dry land
right it's the nation of Israel it's the it's the country that they they reside
upon that will be made dry and you know the nation will be slayed with thirst
now I want you to go to the book of Amos Amos so we're in Hosea right now you've
got the book of Joel and then you've got the book of Amos so Hosea Joel Amos
please go to Amos chapter 8 as I told you Amos was a contemporary of Hosea
during this time Amos chapter 8 verse number 11 Amos chapter 8 verse number 11
the Bible reads behold the days come sayeth the Lord God that I will send a
famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of
hearing the words of the Lord and they shall wander from sea to sea and from
the north even to the east they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the
Lord and shall not find it and so we see that Joel is preaching the same message
that God will make this land a thirsty land this land we first enforce
specifically the Word of God the wisdom of God the knowledge of God and even you
know there will come a time when it's too late too late for them to come back
to God they're going to be overtaken by the Assyrians and they will not be able
to find the instruction the leading from God's Word okay because hey the
authorities they've become corrupt the preachers of God's Word they have become
corrupt they're not gonna be able to find the Word of God and you know God
sent them Amos God sent them Hosea but when they rejected the preachers by
default they rejected the Word of God let's go back to Hosea chapter 2 in
verse number 4 Hosea chapter 2 verse number 4 reads and I will not have mercy
upon her children for they be the children of whoredoms now understand
there that there are two types of people in the nation of Israel there are those
that God has had mercy on the believers okay the saved believers but then most
of that nation is made up of non-believers people that God would not
have mercy on people that would become as it were children of whoredoms because
they went and served false gods verse number five for their mother have played
the harlot again this is not speaking of Goma this is speaking about the nation
of Israel she's gone to play the harlot she's been as a prostitute she that
conceived them 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 and so
the nation of Israel you know just like a prostitute you know sells her body
for money right sells her body for possessions and she has the idea that
words my lovers that give me what I have okay but here's the thing you know and
sorry I should say that the nation of Israel in the same way as they worship
these false gods they thought it was a false gods that gave them the blessings
of the land we'll soon see that it wasn't the false gods that blessed him
on the land it was the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of the Bible
that blessed them and they had forgotten that truth look at verse number six
therefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns and so God say look I'm
bringing tough times your productivity will be hurt okay and make a wall that
she shall not find her paths God will make a wall and you know it'll stop this
nation from oh you know God will put a stop to their sinful ways and you know
God will you know not allow them to continue down this spiral and so let's
keep going to verse number seven there it says and she speaking of Israel 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 then now and so she's hoping that her
former her lovers will come to her rescue but when she finds out that
they're not helping her when the nation of Israel finds out these false gods are
not giving the nation what it needs she you know she's going to finally realize
that I better go back to my first husband now there's a few thoughts that
I want us to consider here you know in 1st Corinthians chapter 8 verse number
4 it says we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is
none other God but one listen Brevin there is one God there is one God that
provides all that we have it is the Lord God you know it is the one whom
Jesus Christ has opened up the way so we can be with the Father one day Jesus
Christ of course being the Lord God himself but what there is one God and
idols can do nothing and so you know when a nation goes and worships you know
a false religion of false gods they're going to be left with nothing in the
times of difficulties you know and you know when it comes to this nation of
Israel they decided well let's go back to our first husband now I want us to be
careful about this I've been teaching the men down here to be careful when you
preach when you build Bible doctrine don't build it on illustrations and you
know I I explained that you know God was not literally married to the nation of
Israel alternation of Judah otherwise you could easily make a case that God is
a polygamist because he was married to two you know wives Israel and Judah you
know when we when the Bible gives us illustrations it's just to help us
understand what is going on some doctrinal truth okay now when we
consider that Israel is saying that she's going to return to her first
husband this implies that she had a second husband or a third husband right
that she was even though she left a first husband that she was married to a
at least a second husband and again this is symbolic this is all symbolic because
if you take this to teach on divorce and marriage you're going to be left with
the idea that you could leave your second husband or your second wife and
be reunited reunited with your first or second wife or husband okay that is
against the Word of God please keep your finger there let's go to Deuteronomy
chapter 24 Deuteronomy chapter 24 please Deuteronomy chapter 24 and so you know
it's it's using marriage and divorce illustrated illustrative you know in
this relationship between Israel and God and if you go you know while you turn
there just back in Hosea chapter 2 and verse number 2 it said that it's it said
neither am I her husband it said sorry for she is not my wife neither am I her
husband and so God uses this language as though they've had a divorce okay and
now Israel's wanting to come back to a first husband right again implying that
she was married to at least a second husband right but in Deuteronomy 24
verse number 1 it says when a man have taken a wife and married her that's the
first husband and he come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because
they have found some uncleanness in her then let him write her a bill of
divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house and when she's
departed out of his house she may go and be another man's wife so now she's got a
second husband and if the latter husband hates her and write her a bill of
divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house or if the
latter husband died which took her to be his wife okay so the second husband
either divorces or passes away verse number four her former husband that's
the first husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife
after that she is defiled for that is abomination before the Lord and thou
shall not cause the land to sin which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance so God makes it very clear that if you've been married and so your
first and then you marry a second you cannot go back for whatever reason and
be reunited with your first spouse okay and so this is black and white
commandments of God it cannot be done then when we look at Hosea and we see
illustratively you know Israel wanting to go back to a first husband we know
that we cannot take the doctrine of marriage and divorce from this
illustration okay it is only there to serve a purpose of giving us some visual
aid of what it's like for God to have this nation turn its back against him as
though she was adulterous as though there was some type of divorce though we
know that marriage is not between God and a nation marriage is between a man
and his wife okay so we have to be careful not to build doctrines on
illustrations build your doctrines on the clear commandments of God let's go
to verse number eight verse number eight now we're gonna see God's judgment
on Old Testament Israel here verse number eight 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 so he's saying look you know how she thought she got
all of those possessions because of her false gods God is saying she doesn't
even know that I was the one that gave it to her okay verse number nine 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 hope nakedness
and so the first judgment that falls upon Israel is that they're going to
lose their possessions and their wealth of course this comes with the Assyrians
as the Assyrians come and conquer them they're going to lose their possessions
and wealth you know God blesses us and if we're wicked people if we sin against
the Lord God can easily remove all the blessings all the possessions that he
has given to us on this earth hey we can even lose our rewards say if we live in
a wicked way there are rewards in heaven that God did want to give us in eternal
life but that we're going to lose that because we did not live after his ways
let's keep going verse number 10 and now will I discover her lewdness in the
sight of her lovers and none shall deliver her out of mine hand so the
second judgment to fall upon Israel here is that they will be brought to shame
before God right he's going to discover her lewdness you know she's going to be
like a what's the word I'm looking for you know she's gonna her shame is gonna
be put on show you know to the to the surrounding nations and the people of
the land verse number 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease her feast
days her new moons and her Sabbath's these are all the feast days and all her
solemn feasts and so the third judgment to fall upon the Old Testament Israel
here is that they will lose their national identity as the people of God
don't forget all these feasts the Sabbath's these were all things that
were unique to the to the Israelites that showed as a type the coming of
Jesus Christ the sacrifice of Jesus Christ all these things were to point us
to Christ and so they as a nation were a peculiar people right there a
peculiar nation and they stood out as the people of God but God will even
remove all these things that gave him a national identity as the people of God
verse number 12 and I will destroy her vines and a fig trees so all the farming
right where of she have 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 so
you know the farmland all the stuff they've grown is going to be overrun by
wilderness you know forests you know all kind of wild vegetation and verse
number 13 and I will visit upon her the days of Balaam that's the false god they
worshipped wherein she burned incest incense to them and she decked herself
with her earrings and her jewels and she went after her lovers and forget me
saith the Lord so again you can see that this woman that is unfaithful is not
Gomer it is Israel okay Israel now what we looked at was God's judgment that
would fall upon the northern kingdom of Israel what we're about to read from
verse number 14 is Israel's deliverance not how God will judge Old Testament
Israel but how God will now deliver Israel now this is a really important
time to pause and explain a couple of things number one as an independent
Baptists you know my my brethren most of the brethren that I have I caught up
with a pastor just this past week for for the interview that I want to do for
a documentary and you know he's a dispensationalist you know he's very much
sees that one day God will reinstate the physical Old Testament nation of
Israel the Jews at some point will come back to the Lord Jesus Christ and look
I'm a non-dispensation in fact I'm an anti-dispensation I'm against
dispensationalism you know I think it's an unnecessary and confusing framework
of interpretation that a lot of people use but that's just a reality of you
know our type of church that there are many people many say brethren many
people that I love and care about that are dispensationalists okay and so the
dispensationalist view of what we're about to read from verse number 14 is
that Israel's deliverance is that God will bring them and you know that they
tend to think about what happened in 1948 when the nation of Israel modern day
of nation of Israel was really you know when the people came back to the land
they re-established that nation they see that as a partial fulfillment of God's
promise to deliver Israel now here's the problem with that we can see here
that God's judgment fell upon them for believing a false religion for following
after false gods you know what even to this day the Jews of the land have a
false religion they have a false God okay they literally bow their heads
and worship a wall okay so I mean do you gonna tell me that now God's bringing
them back into the land even though they're still in defiance against God
even though they're still committing spiritual whoredoms that God's using
that land those people somehow of course not all right now what did we learn in
chapter 1 chapter 1 is that God had done away with a physical nation but the
people that are saved in that physical nation the Jews or that sorry the
Israelites I should say because they were the northern kingdom and the
believers you can go back and listen to chapter 1 prove this from the Bible that
they make up all Israel the New Testament spiritual nation of Israel of
God is not of one race it's not of one DNA or one type of blood you know it is
made up of all people that are in Jesus Christ and I say this because as we
read these passages I want you to have this in view and as we get toward the
end this will be confirmed once again this is not speaking about Old Testament
Israel but speaking about the spiritual nation of God Jews and Gentiles in Jesus
Christ that's let's start there in verse number 14 therefore behold I will allure
her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her so we saw
God's judgment to them but God says look there's coming a time when I'm going to
bring her and I'm going to speak comfortably I'm gonna speak words of
comfort to this nation what nation again it's a spiritual nation that God
is speaking about here I'll prove that to you shortly and of course there is no
greater comfort there is no greater comfort brethren than the gospel
salvation being sure that you're going to heaven being sure that you're right
with God knowing for certain that you will not go to hell because you received
Jesus Christ in faith there's no greater comfort than that all right verse number
15 and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the value of a core 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 out of the land of Egypt and so God is saying that these
people that he comforts they're going to be singing praises to God just like the
Old Testament Israel Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt and
they sang the song of Moses they they they worshipped and made a joyful noise
unto the Lord God is saying in the same way that these people will be singing
praise to God like the Israelites of old this is 16 and it shall be at that day
safe Lord that thou shall call me ish I and shall call me no more
bail I for I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they shall
no more be remembered by their name and so God is saying look there's coming a
time when Balaam again that's the false gods that you're not going to worship
those false gods anymore you know those that are comforted by Jesus Christ those
that are comforted by the gospel and become people of God and sing praises to
God they're not going to seek after false gods they're not going to get
themselves they're not going to be following a false religion all right
again speaking of believers now verse number 16 was a little challenging
because I don't speak Hebrew right but I did a bit of research on this and there
and and what I got out of the research was pretty consistent I'll tell you what
what this is so it says here and it shall be in that day verse number 16 say
of the Lord that thou shall call me ish I so ish I means husband all right again I
looked at many sources and this seemed to be very consistent so I didn't have
any doubt that this is correct but maybe how they apply it was I don't
necessarily agree with how they apply it so there's coming a time when you're
going to call me husband remember as an illustration you know Israel had gotten
divorced from God okay but there is coming a time when this union and listen
there's no greater relationship there's no closer relationship in this world
than between a husband and a wife so it makes logical sense to me that God will
use marriage symbolically as his relationship with his people with those
that believe on Jesus Christ okay so we'll call him husband and then it says
this and shall call me no more bail Bailey okay now Bailey means master or
Lord now of course Jesus Christ is the Lord okay so what we're learning here is
that you know there's coming a time where God is not some sort of distant
Lord and master it's not like it's not that he just has authority because
husbands have authorities over the over the wife don't do they not so it's not
just that God has authority over his people but there will be a close
fellowship a close relationship as as it were between a husband and a wife and so
God is not some distant God like what Islam teaches you know the Muslim teach
that God is just simply unknowable he's too just too great just just and of
course God is great okay but they don't think anybody can know what God is like
and yet God tells us we can be close to God and God reveals a lot about himself
to us through his words so you know the fact that you're calling him husband
rather than just Lord or master means that there will be a close fellowship
right and again marriage he being used symbolically because there's no close
relationship then between husband and wife and also when it says Bailey and
then in verse number 17 Balaam I know these words sound very similar they do
have obviously a very similar root word and so Balaam even though it's a name of
a false god it comes from the term of master the Lord okay so it's not saying
that it's the same term even though he has a very similar root word there now
the reason this is important please keep your finger there let's go to Revelation
19 Revelation 19 because what we will soon see is that God is pointing us to
the millennium the millennial reign of Christ when Christ comes back in his
second coming sets up his kingdom for a thousand years and we're going to rule
and reign with Jesus Christ well just before Christ comes to rule on this earth
for a thousand years we have Revelation 19 in verse number 7 revelation chapter
19 and verse number 7 and the Bible reads let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife have made
herself ready remember God spoke about a time when we're gonna call him husband
as it were well the wife has gotten himself ready here for the lamb verse
number 8 and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean
and whites for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints so this wife
symbolic wife is made up of believers of the Saints okay and the clothing you
know how a woman wears whites on her wedding day well that white linen is the
righteousness of the Saints again it's the impure righteousness of Jesus Christ
and in the new man of course we're gonna have new resurrected bodies by then all
acts that we do be righteous none of it will be filthy rags done in accordance
to the desires of the flesh but rather by the will of God all right that's
number nine and he's safe unto me right blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb and he's safe unto me these are the true sayings
of God and so in the end times we see again marriage being used to symbolize
Christ's coming Millennial Kingdom and how he's going to rule and reign with
his Saints okay so again that symbolism is used and when we look at Hosea it's
look into that time when there's that close union once again between God and
his people all right let's go to chapter sorry back to Hosea chapter 2 verse
number 18 now verse chapter verse number 18 proves that this is about the
millennium because it says here and 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 bow and the sword and the
battle of the earth and will make them to lie down safely God is saying there's
coming a time when he established a new covenant with all the animals all the
beasts of the field there'll be no more sword there'll be no more fighting there'll
be no more wars okay and of course we still have wars today right and you talk
about what is this covenant well if you want to keep your finger there I can
read it to you quickly but it's Isaiah chapter 11 you can go there if you want
Isaiah chapter 11 verse number 6 Isaiah chapter 11 and verse number 6 the Bible
reads the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little
child shall lead them God is telling us in Isaiah 11 there's coming a time when
all animals will basically be domesticated okay a little child will be
able to have a line for a pet right and you know what we consider as kind of
kind of carnivorous animals they will not be eating animals you know all
animals will be vegetarian that of course comes in the millennial reign of
Jesus Christ and it keeps going verse number seven and the cow and the bear
shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat
straw like and like the ox there it is instead of the lion eating meat it's in
straw verse number eight and the suckling child a little little baby
shall play on the whole of the asp that's a snake and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice then they shall not be hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea so a few things there when Christ comes in
his millennial reign all animals domesticated no wild animals little
children will be able to play with snakes they won't be bitten they won't
die from from venom but not only that the entire world will have knowledge of
God okay now this ties in neatly with what we saw in Hosea chapter 2 verse
number 18 let's keep going there let's keep going let's go back there Hosea
chapter 2 verse number 19 it says and I will betrothed thee unto me forever okay
so the betrothed there as though it were a wedding between husband
and wife okay but notice that it is one that is forever forever this is teaching
us eternal security you know once you're in Jesus Christ once you're in this New
Testament in Christ you have eternal life forever brethren no matter what
happens you can never lose your salvation says yay I will betrothed the
unto me in righteousness of course that's the righteousness of Christ and
in judgment and in love and kindness and in mercies I will even betrothed thee unto
me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord and so you see that the
relationship that God is speaking about here is not like the Old Testament
relationship between God and that physical nation which came to an end
when the New Testament came into effect when Jesus Christ died on the cross the
New Testament came in and the Old Testament was done away with that was
not an everlasting or you know it wasn't a forever relationship in that physical
King nation but rather the New Testament is one that is forever you know under
the Old Covenant you could be an unsaved person and still be in that covenant
with God because you're of Israel and you're carrying about you're doing the
you know the rituals you're doing the sacrifices doing all these things there
are a lot of people like there are many Jews like that many Israelites doing
that but they were not the people of God okay God rejected them because they
followed after false gods and so you know the Old Covenant even though it was
a good covenant and God blessed the people when they were doing rights it
wasn't made up of only believers that that Old Covenant was made up of
non-believers and believers okay and if they did what God required of them they
would be blessed on the land but again only believers would go to heaven and
unbelievers no different today would go to hell but when it comes to the New
Covenant that Jesus Christ brought in through his sacrifice you can only enter
into that covenant as a believer a non-believer cannot enter into the New
Testament covenant you know without believing on Jesus Christ and so it is a
better covenant is a better testament only made up of believers this is why
this one can be one of eternal an eternal nature you know as it were
betrothed forever to God and so the relationship is everlasting in that
sense okay let's keep going verse number 121 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 so let's break this down a little bit we know this is about the
millennium okay and we already saw in Isaiah that the entire world will have a
knowledge of God and so what God is saying here is that he's going to hear
from heaven like all of all of creation will give glory to God in the millennium
all the beasts of the field all of you know the heavens that the clouds you
know the Sun the moon you know the trees the the creatures the people on the earth
everything all of creation will give God the glory and we're how I like how 22
ends verse number 22 it says and they shall hear Jezreel now you may remember
that Jezreel was the firstborn son between Hosea and Gomer and he was
called Jezreel because that was a city in Israel in the northern kingdom of
Israel that was known for its wickedness okay but here's the thing in the
millennium that city will also give God the glory that city will also praise God
okay because it is a righteous kingdom okay the kingdom of Jesus Christ will be
a righteous kingdom over the entire world and so we can see how when Christ
comes back it's not going to be how things are right now I mean we know that
God's wrath and judgment will fall upon the earth before his kingdom so the face
of this earth will look totally different anyway and then when Christ
comes is going to have that perfect government is going to have that you
know perfect law of righteousness which people are going to be governed by in
that time okay verse number 23 now this is really important notice verse number
23 I told you that how it started with the physical nation that God is rejecting
and now it concludes with the spiritual nation of Israel that rule and reign
with Jesus Christ those that are Jews and Gentiles in Christ okay that will
rule with Jesus Christ in the millennium look at verse number 23 God says and I
will sow her unto me in the earth so God's gonna multiply his people and I
will have look at this I will have mercy upon her that had 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 the title for the sermon this evening is thou art my God
hey who can say these words I tell you who can say it I can say those words
you can say those words because we are God's people because God's shown us
mercy by his grace and through his gospel and because of that which we who
were not his people are now his people now the dispensationalist will say well
see the physical nation of Israel will yeah God said they're not his people but
now he's making them his people again now this is where you need to understand
the difference between the opinions of man and just believe in the clear words
of God you know believe in what the Bible tells us about this passage let's
go to 1st Peter chapter 2 1st Peter chapter 2 and I know I preached for 1st
Peter not too long ago so this will just refresh your memory but 1st Peter
chapter 2 in verse number 9 1st Peter chapter 2 in verse number 9 Hosea
chapter 2 verse 23 gets repeated okay by the Apostle Peter so Peter who was a
disciple of Jesus Christ an apostle okay a pastor this is what he teaches under
the influence of the Holy Spirit mind you as he penned these words verse number
9 1st Peter chapter 2 verse number 9 it says but ye are a chosen generation a
royal priesthood and holy nation is that speaking about the Old Testament nation
no a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who have
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light okay who is who is Peter
speaking to look at verse number 10 which in time past were not a people hey
Peter is quoting Hosea now which in time past were not a people but are now the
people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy hey
Peter is explaining what Hosea wrote about he's making it easy for us to
understand in the New Testament verse number 11 dearly beloved I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul
having your conversational that's your behavior honest among the Gentiles that
whereas they speak against you as evildoers they may buy your good works
which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation and so brethren
what do we learn there we learned that when Hosea was quoting about the people
that God will have mercy on the people that would become God's people and that
those same people could say about God thou art my God which is the title for
the sermon this evening that they would be those that were Gentiles Jews those
in Jesus Christ we've gone through first Peter recently you know what I'm saying
to be true okay and so Hosea is not let me make this very clear Hosea is not
prophesying that the Old Testament Israelites that rejected God with their
false religion that somehow they're gonna make a comeback in the millennium
no they've been rejected God told them you are no longer my people I am no
longer your God we saw that in chapter 1 and so what we see is the transition to
the New Testament believers of all nations in Jesus Christ Hosea wrote
about us he wrote about us in chapter 1 he wrote about us in chapter 2 and God
is showing us the great promise to come the promise that should have been for
the people of that land you know the unbelievers they should have believed
on Jesus Christ but hey Hosea was one Amos was another you know and there were
many many other Jews and Israelites of those days that did believe in the Lord
hey and we're going to be ruling and reigning with those people those
believers we're going to be one fold we're going to have one Shepherd over us
the Lord Jesus Christ and I can't wait to rule and reign with him for a thousand
years let's pray the heavenly Father Lord I just want to thank you for the
book of Hosea thank you for the great spiritual truths that we see here Lord
Lord again we see replacement theology in view here and it surprises me Lord
how so many people have swallowed the lie of dispensationalism Lord I pray
that you would open their eyes Lord I do love many of these pastors and friends
of mine that have been deceived Lord I pray you would open their eyes and and
Lord to appreciate this great truth that when we read the book of Hosea it's
written unto us and Lord it can be so tempting to believe the lie of
dispensationalism and to conclude that Hosea well that has nothing to do with
us that has nothing to do with the New Testament Church as they like to say but
truly Lord these are words that you've written for our knowledge Lord you've
written it for our to motivate us Lord to look forward to that time when we can
be with Christ that that new earth although it's not the new earth just yet
but the you know how God will establish a new covenant with all of creation and
Lord I can't wait to to see what it'll be like to rule and reign with him we
thank you so much for your promises we pray these things in Jesus name amen