WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:01.550 I'm going to invite you to turn to the book of Hosea. 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:05.480 I think it's an important book, especially as it relates to the condition of our country today. 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:11.020 I will add a little something in the end that will I think help all of us in where the Lord is leading us. 00:00:11.020 --> 00:00:18.320 As we go through this series together, we started a new series last week called recovery road from the book of Hosea 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:25.340 and if you're here with us last week, you found Hosea is one of those shocker books that when you read the content of what's in it, you're like, I can't 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:27.610 believe this story is in the Bible. 00:00:28.040 --> 00:00:29.980 This is, this kind of blows you away. 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:37.680 It just the depth that God is going to communicate his message of love and grace to us as people and 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:38.820 we said last week. 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:46.040 If you think about the book of Hosea, it's really a picture of God's plan for humanity, for us as people coming to 00:00:46.040 --> 00:00:48.980 know him and enjoy him. 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:56.740 And the Bible has this theme that carries itself throughout all of scripture, that God created us in his image, that 00:00:56.740 --> 00:01:02.480 we could connect to him as created beings, made in his image and enjoy his presence for all of eternity. 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:10.820 But after God creates us, we see in the garden, Adam and Eve, what they call it, theologians call as the fall, which I think is one of the greatest understatements in 00:01:10.820 --> 00:01:11.070 theology. 00:01:12.080 --> 00:01:14.300 It's more drastic than a fall, but it's sin. 00:01:14.360 --> 00:01:15.800 And that separates us from God. 00:01:16.460 --> 00:01:18.580 And from that point, man has tried to reconcile that. 00:01:18.740 --> 00:01:24.400 But what we find in the scriptures that is impossible apart from the grace of God and God, I'm going to line this up straight, sorry. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.630 God gives us a plan of redemption. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:27.950 And that's the whole point of Jesus. 00:01:28.260 --> 00:01:35.360 God gives us a plan of Virgin dumpsters to bring us back to him and ultimately restores what we lost in the garden from sin. 00:01:35.860 --> 00:01:36.620 And so we find restoration. 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:42.270 And so the book of the Bible creates a picture of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. 00:01:42.860 --> 00:01:45.160 And Hosea is a picture of that. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:52.920 And as we go through this message today, I want, I want to, so typically when I go through a section of scripture, what I like to do is explain 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:55.120 the text and make application for our lives. 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:57.210 And I'm actually going to do the reverse that today. 00:01:57.660 --> 00:02:02.550 But I want, I want us to have a sort of a target on our mind as to the significance of where we're going together. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:10.320 Hosea chapter 14 the end of the book, if I were to give you a theme verse on what Hosea is about, I think it's the first four verses of 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:14.900 chapter 14 which is the last, the last chapter in the book of Hosea. 00:02:15.420 --> 00:02:16.570 And so this is where we're going together. 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:20.030 This puts a picture on our minds, a goal of what we want to accomplish today. 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:27.620 But it says this return O Israel to the Lord your God for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:36.300 And you think about the context of this passage is we've entered in it's Intuit together that this is taking place around seven 20 BC. 00:02:36.420 --> 00:02:43.340 This is when the Northern tribes of Israel have separated from the Southern tribes of Israel that we said in the beginning that God created Kings. 00:02:43.380 --> 00:02:50.500 In Israel there were three Kings that led Israel unified, and after those three Kings, Solomon being the last Israel divided, 10 tribes went 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:53.260 to the North, often referred to as the tribes of Ephraim. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:00.580 Two tribes went to the South, often referred to as the tribes of Judah, and from the North hadn't was never a another 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:02.440 godly King to lead Israel. 00:03:02.480 --> 00:03:04.460 They're all ungodly Kings. 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:11.900 And Jose's message is predominantly to the Northern tribes of Israel, though it relates to all of Israel, calling them back to him. 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:18.020 And so you see in this chapter, this call of returning in chapter 14 and we'll lay out why it's significant as we get towards the end. 00:03:18.440 --> 00:03:21.500 But this is what God's desire is for Israel. 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:25.460 And it becomes an illustration for all of God's people. 00:03:27.160 --> 00:03:32.340 Well, what you find as you look at the story of Hosea, you look at the beginning of God's creation. 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:41.720 For us as individuals, when man was created, we were secure, secure 00:03:41.720 --> 00:03:47.500 in Christ, secure and future secure and relationship. 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:56.780 But when mankind fell, we were no longer secure, rather 00:03:56.780 --> 00:04:03.980 insecure and the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve fell, we find that they try 00:04:03.980 --> 00:04:11.160 to fill or satisfy their insecurity with things that were broken, things that could not satisfy immediately, soon as Adam 00:04:11.160 --> 00:04:15.660 and Eve sin, having that security removed from them, that tells us that they run and they hide. 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.899 They try to clothe themselves to create the first manmade religion you find in the text of scripture. 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:21.820 I don't have time to dive into that, but that's what they do. 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:24.440 They hide, they try to cover up their insecurity. 00:04:25.200 --> 00:04:28.550 They create religion to try to create that sense of security. 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:33.980 And when God finds them in the garden, then they begin the blame game towards each other as to what went wrong. 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:37.500 So they can find security and other people's faults rather than themselves. 00:04:40.020 --> 00:04:42.260 But the truth is, all of us deal with insecurity. 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:51.680 It's a result of the fall, physical insecurity, something that you would change about yourself, mental 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:57.040 insecurity, maybe you struggle with memory or emotional insecurity. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:04:59.980 I ask the question, am I lovable? 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:03.820 Financial insecurity or how about spiritual insecurity? 00:05:03.820 --> 00:05:05.980 Wondering if God would accept you. 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:15.850 All of us struggle with insecurity and in order to recognize that within our lives, 00:05:15.900 --> 00:05:22.960 I think in the book of Hosea, we see it predominantly played out in the life of Gomer as Hosea is called 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:25.910 by God to deliver a particular message. 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:33.660 But the way that God chooses to deliver this message is in such a way that Israel is in a place where they're spiritually low and asleep. 00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:35.860 We sat in seven 20 BC. 00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:39.360 This is, this is the pinnacle of the Northern tribes of Israel. 00:05:39.440 --> 00:05:42.240 They, in comparison to other nations do not lack. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.260 They're satisfied with where they are. 00:05:44.340 --> 00:05:46.020 They are content with life. 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:48.880 They don't recognize their own depravity and their need for God. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:56.140 And so in that situation, God uses Hosea to preach a particular message that would shock 00:05:56.140 --> 00:05:59.340 the people, penetrate their hearts and awaken them to their need for God. 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:08.660 And so what God chooses to do through Hosea, it tells us in chapter one verses two and three that he calls Hosea to marry a 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.320 harlot or a prostitute. 00:06:13.460 --> 00:06:16.820 Why does, why does God choose Hosea to marry a prostitute? 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:19.560 When we've said one, it was intended to shock us. 00:06:21.960 --> 00:06:26.360 It wakes us in the loling of our own insecurities of our need for God. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:34.020 And so God chooses this Holy man to enter into a relationship with maybe an unholy situation in order to shock 00:06:34.020 --> 00:06:36.540 Israel to recognize their need for God. 00:06:36.580 --> 00:06:41.880 Because Hosea is life becomes a living example of Israel's relationship to the Lord. 00:06:44.900 --> 00:06:52.260 So when it was intended to shock us, but to and further understanding of war, the word harlotry 00:06:52.260 --> 00:06:53.980 represents for Israel. 00:06:55.060 --> 00:07:01.100 This word for harlotry was often in Israel's time, looked at as an interchangeable word for the word of idolatry. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:11.700 In the time of Israel, the in washing of ball, the people would often engage into temple prostitution. 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:20.180 And so the idea of the word idolatry became a synonymous with the thought of harlotry and so by picking one in 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:27.420 engaged in idolatry or in harlotry is pointing out to Israel their idolatry 00:07:27.420 --> 00:07:28.940 in their relationship with God. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:40.180 What you see in the garden of Eden is 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:46.130 that even for Adam and Eve, that what led to their idolatry was really the sense of lack of security in their lives. 00:07:46.260 --> 00:07:48.000 They pursued other things. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.380 They cover themselves up. 00:07:49.380 --> 00:07:52.760 They tried in their own efforts to create their own religion, to find God's sat. 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:57.810 I find themselves satisfied with what they lost and in their insecurity. 00:07:58.280 --> 00:08:05.280 It leads to idolatry and what you see in the story of Hosea 00:08:05.280 --> 00:08:09.380 and the garden of Eden, that security and identity is powerful. 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:20.980 Understanding who you are and finding security and the identity that you have in 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:28.700 Christ, because we as people, when our identity is broken, our 00:08:28.700 --> 00:08:35.860 lives are broken and when we feel insecure or when we live in that insecurity, I 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:37.640 think for us two things become true. 00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:41.530 One is an insecurity. 00:08:41.900 --> 00:08:47.130 It will lead you where you do not belong and in insecurity. 00:08:47.880 --> 00:08:50.260 It will keep you from where you are called to be. 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:55.770 We talk about insecurity leading us where we do not belong. 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:59.280 You think about examples in life. 00:08:59.280 --> 00:09:06.080 I think when we live in insecurity and it leading us to where we do not belong, becomes the explanation why women end up in the arms of men. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:13.120 They have no sense of being with why guys seek to conquer women as if it's some sort of accomplishment. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:21.800 Maybe even why you shop to satisfy or maybe why it's the reason why some 00:09:21.800 --> 00:09:25.250 people put their fists through the wall as if to gain control of a situation. 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:26.920 What's the really out of control of? 00:09:29.810 --> 00:09:36.360 It comes from a sense of insecurity, not understanding the identity in which you have created in God's image. 00:09:39.900 --> 00:09:47.220 Insecurity will lead you where you do not belong and it will also keep 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:48.630 you from where you're called to be. 00:09:51.040 --> 00:09:55.640 I think insecurity eliminates opportunity. 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:02.820 See when God calls you and God identifies you in him, makes you a new creation. 00:10:03.560 --> 00:10:10.780 He tells us in Ephesians one he gives you every spiritual blessing that what he does for the believer is he gives us, we become 00:10:10.780 --> 00:10:12.640 a child of God in Christ. 00:10:12.760 --> 00:10:20.160 He gives us a new family that we belong to, a new kingdom for which we live in and when we live 00:10:20.160 --> 00:10:27.540 outside of that and the insecurity of owl apart from Christ and what God has identified with us in him, 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:33.980 that while we try to do is validate ourselves rather than, than rest in his presence and what he has associated with us. 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:38.580 And so in that insecurity keeps us from where we're called to be. 00:10:40.460 --> 00:10:48.200 Rather than live out where you are in Jesus, you become competitive to prove your worth or 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:55.360 you come become combative, to defend whatever insecurity you hold on to or complain 00:10:56.580 --> 00:10:59.800 with what you don't have that keeps you from where you think that you need to be. 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:04.210 It eliminates opportunity. 00:11:04.540 --> 00:11:10.000 I even think it relates to our own relationship in God and how we live it out in this world, right? 00:11:10.760 --> 00:11:13.680 We see the significance of who Jesus is in our hearts and in our lives. 00:11:13.900 --> 00:11:20.920 When it comes to share that the insecurity of just communicating that with other people keeps us where God 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:21.640 might lead us. 00:11:24.420 --> 00:11:28.940 I think insecurity is something not, not just unbelievers wrestle with, but also believers. 00:11:30.680 --> 00:11:37.840 You see in the story of Gomer, she's representing the nation of Israel to God and in coming into relationship 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:42.340 with Hosea and marrying Hosea, her past begins to Rob her of her future. 00:11:44.880 --> 00:11:46.400 I think Christians can even do this. 00:11:46.420 --> 00:11:51.100 You get so stuck in sin and the insecurity of it that you don't even feel the strength to get up and continue on. 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.800 Well, you find in Christ is that right? 00:11:59.180 --> 00:12:02.240 Identity leads to security. 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:11.920 Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse five it tells us to take every thought captive in Jesus, meaning 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:19.270 there is a war waging within us, apart from Christ that would lead us in other directions, trying to find satisfaction and things that do not satisfy. 00:12:19.660 --> 00:12:26.780 It may, it may temporarily pleased, but ultimately does not satisfy and learning in the mind to retrain the mind, to take everything 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:29.280 captive for the cause of Christ. 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:36.500 In fact, Romans 12 tells us to renew our minds and things of God that we may prove what the will of God is. 00:12:38.260 --> 00:12:44.090 The Bible tells us in first John chapter four in verse four, that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:51.280 Meaning wherever you go, you and God are always a majority. 00:12:53.520 --> 00:13:01.040 And when it comes to identifying yourself in Christ, apart from other things, finding security in him, I think our identity is important to recognize that you 00:13:01.040 --> 00:13:08.860 do not find your identity in your inability nor your capability, but 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:11.530 you always are who you are about the grades. 00:13:12.940 --> 00:13:13.340 Oh God. 00:13:17.380 --> 00:13:24.440 So the problem thinking, recognizing the insecurity that existed in the garden of Eden is that finding 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:30.360 identity in insecurity lead to instability in your walk with God. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:40.340 What happens in the midst of those challenges in our lives that we get so focused on what's wrong with us, that we cannot focus on what's right with Jesus. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:52.760 We get so absorbed, thinking about where we fell that we refuse to look at where Jesus succeeds, but 00:13:52.760 --> 00:13:59.800 when we're secure and cry, yes, we're able to look beyond ourselves and look at the 00:13:59.800 --> 00:14:01.680 hope of what Jesus brings to us. 00:14:04.020 --> 00:14:06.740 And that's where I'm going to pick up this morning and Hosea chapter two. 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:14.580 And so if you flip over there for just a moment, Hosea chapter two then gives us the backdrop to what I just explained to us this morning as it relates 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:17.540 to security and insecurity in our walk with God. 00:14:20.040 --> 00:14:27.560 When you look at the story of Hosea Marian Gomer called by God Hosea to marry a prostitute, it's been sad categorically 00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:34.520 about Hosea, about this book that Hosea is described as the greatest lover to ever live. 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:43.970 And the reason God chooses Hosea to demonstrate this type of love is because in him, he is the example of God's love towards us. 00:14:46.300 --> 00:14:53.680 And the reason God wants to declare this to Israel is because I said this last week for us as people, oftentimes the Bible says 00:14:53.680 --> 00:14:59.620 things for us as people because the antithesis of those statements are often what we believe in our heart. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:04.400 For instance, the love of God. 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:15.300 Repeatedly throughout scripture, God declares for us his love and 00:15:15.300 --> 00:15:21.920 as human beings, you know how significant that is to your own life and even thinking about relationships that are close to you. 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:24.280 Use the example of husband and wife last weekend. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:32.460 No one in here would say this about their spouse, that when you got together at the very beginning, you use the L word for the first time, 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:32.640 right? 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:36.260 I love you. 00:15:36.380 --> 00:15:37.580 I hope they see I'm back. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:37.800 Right? 00:15:37.880 --> 00:15:39.120 You just let that out there in space. 00:15:39.420 --> 00:15:46.570 You said theL word, but after that point you didn't look at each other and be like, yeah, you said it to me once 34 years ago, so I still believe it today. 00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:47.580 Right? 00:15:47.680 --> 00:15:50.270 No, I mean that's a word. 00:15:50.560 --> 00:15:57.560 As you, as you begin to experience that relationship and you go deeper in that relationship with each other, that you continue to exercise the use 00:15:57.560 --> 00:16:06.320 of that word just to lavish on one another, to remind one another of where your heart is toward each other cause 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:07.650 we wrestle with insecurity. 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:17.460 No, I think the demonstration of Hosea and relating to God here is a pronouncement to us, a continual reminder of 00:16:17.540 --> 00:16:23.480 where God stands and connection to you and no matter where you are in this world. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:29.420 And so Kyle Kyle Yates, he wrote this about this passage or this chapter of the Bible. 00:16:29.760 --> 00:16:33.980 He says, Hosea takes his place among the greatest lovers of all ages. 00:16:35.060 --> 00:16:38.360 His love was so strong that the violence behavior could not dull it. 00:16:39.640 --> 00:16:40.660 Gomer broke his heart. 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:47.160 She made it possible for him to give to the world the picture of the heart of the divine lover. 00:16:50.140 --> 00:16:54.720 This book of Hosea in fact is written as a poem. 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.340 You think about, man, you really want to get loving towards your wife. 00:17:00.780 --> 00:17:01.300 You've got to whip out. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.300 The roses are red, violets are blue. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:11.030 You know, poetry is the love language and how fitting when God chooses Hosea 00:17:11.560 --> 00:17:18.980 as an example of his love towards us, that Hosea illustrates the love of God in poetic form 00:17:18.980 --> 00:17:26.040 towards Gomer, his wife, and when you look at this passage in chapter two beginning in verse 14 on to 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:33.760 verse 23 this section of scripture, it talks about the restoration of Israel in God, but God gives five points of 00:17:33.760 --> 00:17:38.560 reminding Israel of where his heart is towards them. 00:17:40.820 --> 00:17:48.720 Chapter two we didn't read all of chapter two but if you look at the first half verses one to 13 it's the judgment of the unfaithfulness or the condemnation 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.680 that Gomer is facing and Israel is facing because of the rejection of God. 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:59.780 But then you see in verse 14 it flips and begins to talk about God's statement towards Israel and where he feels or how 00:17:59.780 --> 00:18:02.340 he feels towards these people. 00:18:06.100 --> 00:18:14.620 Verse 14 he says this, therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring 00:18:14.620 --> 00:18:17.900 her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. 00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:26.780 God's statements from verse 14 verse 23 are our statements of I wills 00:18:26.780 --> 00:18:26.880 you. 00:18:29.800 --> 00:18:34.790 Consider Gomer in this position, a place that we've maybe all been where you feel like a failure. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:35.980 You can't hold your head up. 00:18:35.980 --> 00:18:37.020 You wonder if you can be loved. 00:18:38.300 --> 00:18:42.560 And then God comes in after declaring all that Gomer has done. 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:47.260 And in the beginning of chapter two and he says this is where you are. 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:49.300 This is your heart towards me. 00:18:49.300 --> 00:18:54.480 This is where you've sinned, but I want you to know where I am. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:03.880 And he gives these proclamations of his position towards the people of Israel in their failures. 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:12.510 And the first thing that God says to Israel is something maybe we would all think in that insecurity of ourself and wondering, 00:19:13.020 --> 00:19:15.700 trying to find something that satisfies something that validates us. 00:19:15.860 --> 00:19:18.630 Something that proves our worth having lost it in idolatry. 00:19:18.800 --> 00:19:21.660 Now looking for other places, will God accept me? 00:19:24.820 --> 00:19:26.210 Oh God, how will God respond? 00:19:30.020 --> 00:19:37.380 The Lord says this rather than come to GeMar with a heavy hand, he says, I 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:44.780 will allure her, which is another word for wooing God 00:19:44.780 --> 00:19:49.820 wants to lavish on Israel, on Gomer, his love. 00:19:49.820 --> 00:19:56.840 He's not crushing, but he's bringing about the idea of healing and it says in verse 15 then I will 00:19:56.840 --> 00:20:04.020 give her vineyards from there and the Valley of a core as a door of hope and she will sing there as in the days of her youth as 00:20:04.020 --> 00:20:07.080 in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt. 00:20:08.300 --> 00:20:09.510 What is that talking about? 00:20:11.620 --> 00:20:18.880 Well, the Valley of a core to the people of Israel was a place of judgment, a 00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:22.800 place of sin, a place they wanted to forget. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:32.200 Well, what it's saying in verse 15 is that what God wants to do in recognizing that Israel has left God, that God wants 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:39.240 to bring them back to this place where they are able to sing fresh when the days when they were young in their youth and they want, he wants to take 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:46.440 this place that they've learned to feel judgment and he wants to turn the tables on that to where they learned to sing songs of praise 00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:53.620 before presence because of the love that he's demonstrated towards them, a place of 00:20:53.620 --> 00:20:54.270 darkness. 00:20:56.180 --> 00:21:03.180 God rather wants to bring Israel back into the wilderness where they walked with him in the beginning when he 00:21:03.180 --> 00:21:10.200 brought them out of slavery and the places where they made sin against God or mistake 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:11.540 and saw destruction. 00:21:11.600 --> 00:21:13.910 God wants to write it new on their heart. 00:21:16.300 --> 00:21:24.680 Verse 16 and 17 then he says this and it will come about in that day, declares the Lord that you will call me is she and 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:26.260 will no longer call me Bali file. 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:34.540 Remove the names of the balls from her mouth so that they will be mentioned by their names no more. 00:21:36.900 --> 00:21:43.960 What God's pointing out to Israel in this section of scripture is that there is this war that's going on between them and what they're recognizing 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:50.500 as Lord and where they're finding satisfaction between the false God of all or the Lord himself. 00:21:52.800 --> 00:21:58.580 Yes, she is this word for husband and in Bali is this word for master. 00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:03.200 It's to recognize the FOSS got a ball and he's saying, I want to remove that from your life and all. 00:22:03.540 --> 00:22:10.580 All I want you to have is me as your husband says, I will 00:22:10.580 --> 00:22:11.120 allure her. 00:22:13.060 --> 00:22:20.200 I will give to you and I will take away the next thing God 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:27.280 says in verses 18 and 19 then is this in that day, I will also make a 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:28.410 covenant for them. 00:22:30.020 --> 00:22:37.060 Well, for beasts of the field and the bird of the sky, the creeping things on the ground, well abolish the bow and 00:22:37.080 --> 00:22:41.300 the sword and war from the land and I will make them lie down and safety. 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:50.500 I will betroth you to me forever as I will betray with you to me in righteousness and injustice 00:22:50.580 --> 00:22:53.740 and in loving kindness and in compassion. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:56.670 I will betray with you to me in faithfulness. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:00.600 Then you will know I am the Lord. 00:23:03.020 --> 00:23:06.060 What it's talking about here is the idea of the new covenant. 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:13.800 God's desire is to restore Israel and liquids in this passage of scripture. 00:23:13.800 --> 00:23:17.480 It's literally God in establishing this covenant with them. 00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:24.900 He speaks to the earth and the earth responds and from that the earth begins to supply 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:26.740 for God's people. 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:34.000 It's this, the singing back and forth and for the whole purpose of bringing his bride into this beautiful place to 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:34.920 enjoy him. 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:38.000 And the things that he sows into, that relationship will go to. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:43.890 It says righteousness and justice and loving kindness and compassion and faithfulness. 00:23:47.540 --> 00:23:55.040 If I were to point in this passage, I would say to us this long for security 00:23:55.040 --> 00:24:02.840 in the midst of insecurity from the loss that we experienced in the garden and the fall and said God 00:24:02.840 --> 00:24:04.160 is sowing into relationship. 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:11.210 Those things that continue to build what promotes security together, finding trust in him. 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:19.740 The last thing he says, then verse 21 it will come about in 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:26.820 that day that I will respond declares the Lord, I'll respond to the heavens and they will 00:24:26.820 --> 00:24:33.960 respond to the earth and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil and they will respond to Jezreel and I will sew her 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:41.120 for myself in the land and I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion and I will say to those who 00:24:41.120 --> 00:24:47.240 were not my people, you are my people and they will say, you are my God. 00:24:50.020 --> 00:24:58.900 What happens in this passage should remind you of what we discussed last week when we looked at chapter one verses verses five and on, you 00:24:58.900 --> 00:25:07.940 remember within, within the context of chapter one, when God calls Hosea to marry Gomer, he 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:11.120 calls them to name their children's specific names. 00:25:11.180 --> 00:25:18.440 He tells Gomer, okay, when you have children or when you have children, these are the specific names I want you to give because it's going to be an illustration of 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:19.520 your relationship to me. 00:25:19.560 --> 00:25:24.500 And so what he says in this passage of scripture, he says, call jazz real, which we said means judgment. 00:25:24.820 --> 00:25:26.530 I'm gonna explain that a little deeper today. 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:30.260 And then he says, next kid, call them no mercy. 00:25:31.360 --> 00:25:38.560 And last kid called them, not my people when he named Jezreel, he said, the reason when you called him Jezreel is because what 00:25:38.560 --> 00:25:45.760 happens in the house ofJ who, which is an illustration in Israel's past and verse five, chapter one Jay who brought 00:25:45.760 --> 00:25:50.340 judgment in the place of Jezreel in Israel's history. 00:25:54.250 --> 00:25:55.220 And so the name Jezreel literally means God's sows. 00:25:55.220 --> 00:26:02.240 And because he attached that name to what took place with Jay, who it's talking about God's sewing judgment, and so he's allowing his role 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.540 in that harlotry to contemplate those names. 00:26:04.580 --> 00:26:11.180 If you ever met a family that just might shock you, hi, it's nice to meet you, right? 00:26:12.320 --> 00:26:13.440 Tell us about yourself. 00:26:14.760 --> 00:26:21.780 Well, we're in the prostitution business and these are our kids, not my child, and no mercy and judgment 00:26:21.780 --> 00:26:22.540 title it. 00:26:22.540 --> 00:26:23.410 You'd be like that. 00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:29.560 I mean, some of us, you may struggle with remembering names of new people, but I can guarantee no one would forget that here, right? 00:26:29.820 --> 00:26:33.520 I mean, those would be the names that, I mean, you would tell her, Facebook, social media, whatever. 00:26:33.520 --> 00:26:35.090 Everyone would need to know. 00:26:35.380 --> 00:26:36.570 Gosh, can I get a picture with you guys? 00:26:37.020 --> 00:26:37.680 I cannot. 00:26:37.940 --> 00:26:45.260 Okay, and so God's doing that with Israel to shock them in these because he wants to lead them to this passage 00:26:45.260 --> 00:26:45.660 in the scripture. 00:26:48.280 --> 00:26:52.700 It's as if to say, if this story connects to them, let let me, let me now connect it to you. 00:26:56.520 --> 00:27:03.620 Look, if God can love Gomer, if God can be unconditional and 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:13.780 sacrificial towards her, God can love anyone, right? 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:17.280 There's no one out of the reach of his love. 00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:23.820 There's no one that can experience the security that comes with your identity in Christ. 00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:34.600 And I think all of the story that he began in chapter one culminates itself at the end of chapter two when 00:27:34.600 --> 00:27:41.620 he says these words now of Jesu and the end of verse two, then he brings up the word jazz real again, 00:27:41.620 --> 00:27:42.580 which means God sows. 00:27:42.860 --> 00:27:49.960 But this time rather than associating it with Jay who which would mean judgment, he 00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:55.500 now talks about what he wants to sow in his life because of his presence in yours. 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:57.310 He's sowing this to you. 00:27:59.220 --> 00:28:02.160 And so he says, remember, I will sew her for myself in the land. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.340 No, I'll have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion. 00:28:09.060 --> 00:28:12.960 And I will say to those who are not my people, you are my people. 00:28:14.520 --> 00:28:21.700 And they will say, you are my God, super Gomer for 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:22.580 these children. 00:28:23.620 --> 00:28:25.120 Their identity brought insecurity. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:29.360 Not my people, no mercy. 00:28:31.060 --> 00:28:32.760 But with Jesus, they find security. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.120 And becoming his people with mercy. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:43.340 This phrase becomes so important in scripture that in fact it's even mentioned in the new Testament. 00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:44.690 It's quoted in the new Testament. 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:51.460 God broadens the scope here because in this story it's talking about the people of Israel and their relationship to the Lord. 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:56.890 But Israel works as an illustration of all of God's people that would belong to him in the new covenant. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:04.120 And so in Romans chapter nine verses 25 verse 26 who Paul quotes this passage of scripture as if saying to all 00:29:04.120 --> 00:29:07.660 of us, this becomes our identity from the garden of Eden. 00:29:07.660 --> 00:29:12.480 There was insecurity in our walk with God because of the sin that has separated us from God. 00:29:12.600 --> 00:29:19.600 And we pursued things to find our value in life because we're insecure as people in mentally, physically, emotionally, 00:29:19.740 --> 00:29:20.460 spiritually. 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:22.460 There is insecurity in all of us. 00:29:25.460 --> 00:29:29.600 But that security is designed to be found in God. 00:29:29.820 --> 00:29:36.460 And if you're asking the question, how will God approach me if I would pursue him? 00:29:36.460 --> 00:29:38.400 Should I, as Adam and Eve run and hide? 00:29:38.420 --> 00:29:39.660 Should I cover myself? 00:29:39.660 --> 00:29:41.080 Should I prove my worth to God? 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.780 And the statement of chapter two is, no, no. 00:29:47.820 --> 00:29:51.480 In fact, God allure your you. 00:29:53.740 --> 00:30:00.940 He writes the poetry of a lover's heart to you and he gives you those sins 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:04.660 and your past from the Valley of a core that you can't get rid of. 00:30:04.700 --> 00:30:10.960 He brings you into the wilderness of those places that have Marge your life in that insecurity, and he brings you new security in him. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:16.810 And he refreshes those memories of old that were upset any makes them new in him and he takes them away. 00:30:16.860 --> 00:30:23.130 Those false gods and he gives you a new name, calling him your husband and he Buttrose you to him. 00:30:23.340 --> 00:30:30.620 Any you an identity and relationship, you become his people in mercy, quoted to 00:30:30.620 --> 00:30:39.220 the New Testament, bringing us to the theme of chapter 14 return 00:30:40.100 --> 00:30:42.700 O Israel to the Lord your God. 00:30:44.520 --> 00:30:45.680 God, do you love me? 00:30:47.960 --> 00:30:49.560 God, do you care about me? 00:30:51.080 --> 00:30:59.300 God, do you know what a return O Israel, the Lord your God for 00:30:59.300 --> 00:31:01.960 you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:10.960 Take words with you and return to the Lord, say to him, take away all, would he and receive us graciously that we may 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:12.810 present the fruit of our lips. 00:31:14.420 --> 00:31:17.310 Verse four I will heal their apostasy. 00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:22.920 I will love them freely for my anger has turned away from them. 00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:28.200 Let you think about the book of Hosea and what it represents. 00:31:28.540 --> 00:31:31.830 The key word throughout all of Hosea is the word return. 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:41.520 24 times within the 14 chapters, this calling is placed before the people 00:31:41.520 --> 00:31:42.890 of Israel. 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:52.880 It's calling us to return to him, recognizing we are insecure and 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:59.380 when we as people are insecure in our positions, two things happen within our lives. 00:32:00.030 --> 00:32:07.280 It leads us where we don't belong and that keeps us from where we're called 00:32:07.280 --> 00:32:08.020 to be. 00:32:10.650 --> 00:32:15.660 The challenge is the pressure of even validating yourselves to look at other people, to seem it. 00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:18.450 See if you're better than them in order to find security. 00:32:18.760 --> 00:32:24.640 All of us, all of us wrestle is some form of insecurity in our lives, but in Jesus, this is what we find. 00:32:27.800 --> 00:32:28.780 It's okay to be insecure. 00:32:33.140 --> 00:32:36.880 We were never intended to find the security for which we were created to have within ourselves. 00:32:40.780 --> 00:32:47.920 It's always been found not in other things, but in Christ who loves you, who 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:55.060 welcomes us in our brokenness, who lures us into the wilderness to 00:32:55.060 --> 00:33:04.300 recognize that it's okay to not be okay because in the places of a core, he gives us strength and makes all things new rather 00:33:04.300 --> 00:33:06.100 than look to self to satisfy. 00:33:07.890 --> 00:33:15.020 We try to fix it, but God himself, it's the giver of the strength that we 00:33:15.020 --> 00:33:15.180 need. 00:33:17.380 --> 00:33:21.640 Well, let me relate all this politically. 00:33:22.810 --> 00:33:32.580 If you want to make direct application to even today, I think when people feel insecure, we 00:33:32.580 --> 00:33:38.160 have the tendency to go crazy and it becomes divisive. 00:33:42.940 --> 00:33:50.180 Can I remind you this morning, church, no matter any political 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:57.500 future of any place in your country, your security always belongs to Jesus. 00:34:00.800 --> 00:34:02.260 You always have hope. 00:34:04.780 --> 00:34:11.840 And in that you can always walk confidently and in the midst of people that struggle with insecurity, placing their 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:21.460 hope in false things, it gives you the opportunity to point them to a greater hope in Christ and 00:34:21.460 --> 00:34:22.960 seasons of uncertainty. 00:34:26.380 --> 00:34:31.460 There's always insecurity, but greater than that, there's Jesus. 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:38.679 God's designed for us as people is to shape our identity in him. 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:47.920 That through that we find the strength to live in this world as he's called us to live because the validation that we 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:55.139 look for outside of self or even inside of self, they're broken cisterns, never intended and designed for us 00:34:55.139 --> 00:35:02.140 to find our security within those things, the results of those and pursuing them. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:11.140 It leads us to places we do not belong and keeps us from places we've been called to be, but Jesus 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:20.380 and seasons of uncertainty, there's always insecurity, but for 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:26.110 us there is Christ and the call for Rosa is for us to return to him.