Desperate Times… | Sunday, May 26, 2024

Good morning, Cross Connection. You guys can have a seat. We just sang about the fact that we are free, free indeed, because of the work that Jesus has done for us on the cross. We also sit here as a very privileged people today because the freedoms that we have in our nation—the freedom to gather together like this to worship the Lord freely—are significant. A lot of those freedoms have to do with those who have given their lives so that we could have this freedom.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, an important celebration in our culture where we take some time, and hopefully you will take some time, to remember those who gave their lives so that we could have this freedom or continue to have this freedom. We have the constant reminder here, living in San Diego County. Many times a day, just at this facility, we hear the huge helicopters flying back and forth between Pendleton and down in Coronado. We have the reminder of the military community; many of our members here at this church served in the military. We are so grateful for you, but we recognize that there are those who not only served but gave their lives so that we could have these freedoms. I don't know about you, but I am very, very grateful for that. Amen? Amen! Praise the Lord!

Thank you. We are going to be starting a new book this morning, so if you take out your Bibles—if you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. It has become our pattern here at Cross Connection Church to go through a book during the year. Right now, we are in the Book of Judges, but for the last several years, we've paused our study through whatever book we're going through to go through a different book for the summer. Last year, we went through the Book of Daniel, which is the last of the major prophets in the Bible. This year, we are going to go through the Book of Hosea, which is the first of the minor prophets in the Bible.

When you hear "major" and "minor," don't think that these guys, like Daniel, were walking around with a little name tag that said "major prophet," while Hosea had a tag that said "minor prophet." It has nothing to do with the weightiness of their words; it just has to do with the fact that many times the minor prophets had smaller writings than the major prophets. These were titles given to these passages of Scripture much later.

We are going to be in the minor prophet, the first of the minor prophets, Hosea. So if you take out your Bibles, turn to about the middle of your Bible. You'll be in the Psalms; turn to the right, and you will pass some of the big books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Right after Daniel is Hosea, which is where we are going to be for this summer.

Reading through the text and the history that surrounded this period of time, I found myself thinking this last week about what it would be like to watch your nation disintegrate and effectively destroy itself, going off a cliff. You might feel this morning, as you sit here, that you are living in such a time. If you find yourself feeling that way, in some respects, I have to say I can relate. There are some days when I see the things that are going on in our culture, and it feels like our culture is barreling towards a cliff. There are times when I almost have the sense that I wish I could grab people by the shoulders, shake them, and say, "Wake up!"

If you can relate to that and have any of those feelings, then you are experiencing the emotions that many of the Old Testament prophets felt. When we think of the Old Testament prophets, names like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Habakkuk, and Micah come to mind. As you read through the works that they wrote, you can sense those same sentiments, concerns, and feelings. They looked at their own nation—these were often very nationalistic, patriotic people—and they were brokenhearted by what they saw. I see some of you nodding your heads this morning; you can identify with that brokenheartedness.

It was from those emotions, from that brokenhearted state, that these individuals were often stirred to write and then to speak. Even though we find in the text that these individuals wrote, we see that they were many times very fearful about what they had to say. They were hesitant and reluctant to share the things that they were stirred to write. We see this most clearly with the Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was stirred to write and speak to the people of his day, who were barreling towards a cliff. He was called to deliver a message of repentance, which is often the message that these prophets would bring to the people, calling them to turn from the path they were on. However, the people were not listening to what he had to say, which is often the response to the prophets. Jeremiah was truly burdened by the reality he faced.

The message was heavy, and the people had hardened hearts. They were not hearing what he had to say. At one point, he just said, "I can't do it anymore. I just can't speak." There was this reluctance, this hesitancy. I want to say that I think that’s one of the marks, many times, of a person who has a prophetic word. There is a reluctance to share it. Jeremiah writes about this hesitancy; he was hesitant to share, but the word became such a fire in him that he couldn't contain it. In Jeremiah 20:9, he says, "God's word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary to hold it back, and I could not."

Maybe you've had that experience before. You have a friend, coworker, or family member whose life is being lived in such a way that you can see where it is going to lead. You do not have to be some amazing prophet who has visions and dreams to see it. You can just observe, "Hey, you're doing this, this, this, and this, and this is where this is heading." Perhaps you know that from your own experience, and so you can identify it. However, there is a reluctance to share it because, if you say something, it might hurt the friendship, or they may not want anything to do with you.

We definitely see that reluctance with these prophets. But what was it that Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Micah, and Hosea saw that stirred them to speak and made them unable to hold back? They saw the very things that God warned through Moses would ultimately bring devastation and destruction, and eventually lead to exile. That word, "exile," is key because it means that God would expel them from the land He had promised to their fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had brought them out of Egypt to possess the promised land, but eventually, God would exile them from that land. They saw the people doing those things that would lead to that, and they could not help but speak.

If you have been a Christian or a student of the Bible for any length of time, when I mention names like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or Micah, you might feel a little bit of excitement. You might think, "Ooh, the prophets!" Certainly, there is that thought for a lot of people when they hear these names from the Bible or think about the prophetic passages. They think, "Oh man, there are so many amazing apocalyptic end-times things that the prophets spoke for us." I do want to say that there are times when we find eschatological end-times themes in the prophets that seem to point toward the future, and those are good.

But that's not the primary reason that these individuals were stirred to write, and it shouldn't be the primary reason that we come to the texts. I've wanted to teach through the prophetic passages of the Bible for a long time. They are something that I have taught for many years at the Bible College. I taught there for nearly 20 years, and in many semesters, I was asked to teach Isaiah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophetic books in the Old Testament.

I have spent a lot of time researching and studying these passages. I have a lot of things I could say about them, but I have kind of been held back from going into the prophetic books for the last several years for a very important reason. You see, when you study these books, there are two very important keys that you need to keep in mind that unlock understanding to these prophetic books. A lot of Christians read them trying to figure out what they say for us today. While they may have things to say for us today, there is some greater value than that.

To understand the prophets, you need to keep in mind the first key, which I call the Deuteronomy key. This is why we started going through the book of Deuteronomy back in the beginning of 2020. I knew that I wanted to get into some of the Old Testament passages, and a big bulk of the Old Testament passages are the major and minor prophets. However, you cannot fully grasp or understand the Old Testament prophets until you have this key from Deuteronomy. The prophets were, if you will, doctors of Deuteronomy. They knew and understood the words of Moses in Deuteronomy, and the Book of Deuteronomy became a lens through which they looked at their own nation.

If you want to understand the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, or even Hosea, you need to understand Deuteronomy. The "if this, then that" nature of what is called the deuteronomic principle of Deuteronomy is applied in the prophets. So, to understand the prophets, you need to understand Deuteronomy.

The second key is to grasp and understand the history of the times in which the prophets lived. They were compelled to speak by the things they saw in their culture and the history they lived in. To understand the prophets, you need to be acquainted with Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles—the history of Israel. Each of these prophets, like Isaiah and Hosea, lived during the times that are spoken of in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.

Now, there's a challenge with that. Some of you have taken on that challenge at the beginning of the year to read through the Bible in a year. You start off excited.

In January, you might finish the book of Genesis and move into the book of Exodus, making great progress. However, you may find yourself struggling when you hit Leviticus. If you can get through Leviticus, you're doing really well until you reach Kings and Chronicles. There, you encounter a long list of names, with phrases like "so and so begat so and so," which can be confusing. You might wonder about the value of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.

The value lies in their ability to unlock our understanding. They provide the historical context, while Deuteronomy offers the theological context necessary to grasp and understand the prophets. The prophets make far less sense without the key of Deuteronomy and the history of Israel.

It's important to recognize that the primary message of the prophets in the Old Testament was directed to their people at that time. While this message may not be directly for us in the 21st century, it remains valuable for our consideration. I would contend that the God who worked during the time of Hosea is the same God who works today. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and I don't believe He has changed in the way that He operates.

The Old Testament prophets become much clearer when you begin to understand the history of the times in which they lived. Additionally, when you grasp Deuteronomy, you see that these individuals were people who knew and believed the words of Moses. For instance, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, it states, "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and you cast out many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—seven nations greater and mightier than you, when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them utterly and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show them mercy. You shall not make marriages with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve their gods, and then the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you to destroy you suddenly."

Prophets like Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Zechariah knew and believed passages like that.

Believed that those words were true, that God had spoken through Moses, they understood the conditional nature of the Old Covenant, the Deuteronomic Covenant. The "if this, then that" nature of it was clear. The Old Testament prophets understood the conditions of blessing: if you do this, you will be blessed; and the conditions of cursing: if you do this, you will be cursed. They recognized and understood these things, and then they applied them to their day.

The predictions that they made were, in many ways, conditional predictions. They could see through the lens of Deuteronomy what was happening in history at their time. They could say, "Because of what they saw through the lens of Deuteronomy, you are doing X, Y, and Z, and this is what's going to follow." They would urge, "If you would but repent and turn to do these things, then you would receive God's blessing." So, their predictions were very conditional.

Now, I will say that when we get to prophetic passages, the case can be made—and often is made by commentators and Bible teachers—that books like Hosea and Isaiah had limited application. Their limited application was to the people they spoke to because they were delivering the words of the Covenant of Deuteronomy to a people who were under that Covenant. They were speaking to them words that had limited application to those people at that time.

You will read Bible commentary and hear Bible teachers who will say there is really no ultimate value for us in these things because this was for the children of Israel. I will say there are many Bible teachers who think that way. There are a lot of Bible teachers who don't spend much time in the Minor Prophets, not because they are the Minor Prophets, but because they just don't think they have much application. They believe they have minor application to you and me.

However, I want to challenge that view and say that while these things did have a limited primary application to the children of Israel, say, in this case with Hosea 2,800 years ago, there is still a general application that is true for you and me, even though we are not called Israel. You see, the general application is put forward for us in passages like Proverbs 14, which says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin brings a reproach and shame to any people." Keep that in mind. Yes, we are not Israel; we are not the covenanted people of God under the Deuteronomic Covenant, but we still live in a nation, and righteousness exalts a nation.

Sin will bring reproach and shame to any people; it will bring condemnation to any nation. What is sin? It is breaking the commands, statutes, and laws of God. This is very clear as we study through the Scriptures. We see it illustrated for us in passages like Isaiah and Hosea. If a nation does what is right according to what God identifies as right, then that nation will experience success according to the biblical definition of success. However, if a nation disregards the statutes and requirements of God's law, then shame and condemnation will await them.

Prophets like Hosea knew and believed the words of Deuteronomy to be true. They looked at what was happening in their nation at the time and reflected on what God had revealed through Moses in Deuteronomy. They said that if the people continued to do these things, then this is what would happen. If you believe what the words of Deuteronomy say, that they identify the world and the created order as God the Creator made it, then if you see the people around you doing the things that the Bible in Deuteronomy says will lead to destruction, what would you conclude?

It’s like a logical progression: if Deuteronomy chapter 28 says it shall come to pass that if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall your basket and your kneading bowl be. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

The Lord will send upon you cursing, confusion, rebuke, and all that you set your hand to do until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Him. The Lord will make a plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess. These are heavy and harsh words. If you came here on Sunday morning for a light and encouraging message, I’m sorry to say these are heavy words.

The conditions of God's covenant with His people Israel 3,400 years ago, and at the time that Hezekiah or Hosea lived, were utterly clear. The stipulations were clear, and the children of Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God without coercion.

They did so willingly. They entered into that covenant and said, "All that you have said, we will do and be obedient." In effect, they said "I do" to God in Exodus chapter 24, after He explained to them the stipulations. Many of you sitting here today said "I do" at some point in the past with your spouse. You stood before maybe a pastor who gave you the stipulations of being faithful, taking care of one another, and loving one another. Hopefully, in that context, without coercion, you said, "I do. I accept that" before witnesses.

It's kind of fascinating. The only legal requirement for me when I lead a wedding, according to what the state of California says, is that I need both individuals, without coercion, to say "I do." Effectively, the wedding could be as simple as this: "Do you?" "I do." "Do you?" "I do." You're married. That's it. As long as you, without coercion, before witnesses, agree to the covenant, you have entered into that covenant.

Israel entered into a covenant with God willingly. They said "I do" and professed their devotion. Maybe you professed your devotion at some point in the past to your spouse. Israel professed their intended devotion to the Lord under the covenant that Moses brought them into at Mount Sinai.

What happened? How did it work out? For the first half of this year, we've been studying through the Book of Judges. Israel said, "All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient." Then they came into the promised land, and God gave them the blessings of this land. As soon as Joshua was dead, Judges 2:10 says, "There arose a generation that did not know the Lord nor the works that God had done for Israel." The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They committed spiritual whoredom; they harlot themselves away from God, with whom they were in a covenant relationship, to other gods: to Baal, Asherah, and Molech.

This becomes the reoccurring phrase that we have seen in the Book of Judges: "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord." This becomes the reoccurring theme for the children of Israel for the rest of their history. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they turned and bowed down to false gods for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years until...

During the time of Jeremiah the prophet, some 500 to 700 years after the time of the Judges, God spoke to the children of Israel through Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 7:23, He commanded the children of Israel, saying, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk in all the ways that I've commanded you, and it will be well with you." However, they did not obey or incline their ear. Instead, they followed the counsels and dictates of their own evil hearts, going backward and not forward. God said, "I have sent all of my servants, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them to you, yet you did not obey or incline your ear. You stiffened your neck and hardened your heart, and you did worse than your fathers."

This is the sad and sorry ongoing story of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. All these things were written for our learning, that we might learn from their cycles of sin and mistakes. This is the unfortunate situation into which Hosea was born some 2,800 years ago.

We don't know a lot about Hosea; in fact, we know very little as we read through this book. His name, Hosea, means salvation. It is the same name as Oshea, which is the family name of Joshua, the great leader who brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land several hundred years before Hosea lived. It is very possible that Hosea was of the household of Oshea or Joshua. He was probably from the tribe of Ephraim, which was the largest tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel in the northern part of the nation.

While we don't have much information about him, we do know that his father's name was Beeri, as mentioned in Hosea 1:1. However, we know very little about Beeri other than that he had a son named Hosea. As we read the opening words of Hosea chapter 1, we can key in on some important details.

Hosea 1:1 states, "The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Some of you have taken the challenge to read through the Bible and have gone through Kings and Chronicles. You may have become confused while reading about the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, wondering why there were two separate lines of kings.

All the same people, but they're not. You see, after the time of the judges in the Book of Samuel, we read that the children of Israel said, "We want a king to rule over us like all the other kings." So, God acquiesced to their request, and they chose for themselves King Saul. He turned out to be an epic fail because sometimes we choose bad leaders, don't we?

Then God raised up another king. This next king had all kinds of problems himself, but he was basically the best that Israel had to offer. God raised up a king after His own heart named David. David had all kinds of issues and problems, but for the most part, he did a good job and led the children of Israel as a good king.

David had a son named Solomon, and Solomon was, as the Scriptures tell us, one of the wisest men who ever lived. We still get much wisdom from Solomon's writings in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. If you want to grow in wisdom, it would not be a bad idea to read a proverb a day. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, so you can read one chapter a day each month, and it would make you wiser. I guarantee it; it's not a bad practice.

However, Solomon had a really dumb son. The apple fell pretty far from the tree. His son, Rehoboam, did not listen to the counsel of his father's counselors. He rejected the advice of the wise men in the household of Solomon, and as a result, through Rehoboam, the nation of Israel was split by a civil war. After the reign of Rehoboam, there were two kingdoms: the northern kingdom, called in the Bible sometimes Israel or by the largest tribe among them, Ephraim, and the southern kingdom called Judah, which was identified by the largest tribe of the southern kingdom.

So, you had the tribes of Israel in the North, or Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel in the South, Judah. Judah held the city of Jerusalem and the temple there in the city. For the next several hundred years, you had this conflict between the North and the South. This is where you have the split between the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, which is exactly what is talked about here: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah in the South, and Jeroboam, the king of Israel in the North.

Thus, we have this idea of Israel as two kingdoms during the time of this man, Hosea. We are also told some information.

Hosea lived during the 8th Century BC, specifically in the 700s BC. This is a period of time that you can read about in the books of Kings and Chronicles, particularly in 2 Kings chapters 15 to 21 and 2 Chronicles chapters 26 to 33. It would not be a bad idea to note these references down and read them, as they provide context for this period.

During this time, Hosea preached to the northern kingdom of Ephraim. We know from the Bible that he was a contemporary of other prophets, including Amos, Isaiah, and Micah, who also lived and ministered in the 8th Century BC. Hosea's ministry spanned approximately from 760 to 710 BC.

You might wonder why it is important to know these dates. Understanding the historical and cultural context of the 8th Century BC is key to unlocking the meaning of Hosea's message. This was the time when the phrase "the Lost Tribes of Israel" became significant. It was during Hosea's ministry that God effectively told His people, "I'm done. My mercy is over. You are no longer My people; I am casting you out."

Hosea was given a very difficult task. If you think your job is challenging, consider how hard it must have been for him. Can you understand why he might have been hesitant or reluctant to share his message? His message was that God was done with them, and it was over.

Point number one, if you're taking notes: God calls His prophets to call His people to repentance.

Accountability is what Hosea was called to do. God calls His prophets to call His people to account, and there’s a problem: generally speaking, people do not respond well to being called out. I know that not everyone at the second service at Cross Connection Church is included in this, but you guys are probably fine when people challenge you about the things you say or do. You probably learn from that corrective criticism. I’m sure every single one of you is perfectly fine when someone, maybe your spouse, comes and says, “I really want to challenge you about something you did the other day or said.” You’re probably like, “Oh please, speak! I would love to hear what you have to say.”

But generally speaking, it might be news to you that people don’t respond well to being called out. Because of that, and because sometimes we are hard-hearted, stiff-necked, and stubborn, God calls His people to account. He does so in very shocking ways, which is exactly what God did with Hosea. In fact, the way that God decided to speak to and through Hosea to the people of Israel in the 8th Century BC is outright stunning.

Look at what He says in Hosea 1:2: “When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Hosea, I want you to go and take a wife who’s a...’” Now, Hosea is unmarried, which indicates to us that he was probably relatively young. You see, today the average age for people to get married is in their late 20s and approaching 30s. But back in the 8th Century BC, the average age for a man to be married in the land of Israel was in his mid-teens. A Jewish boy was considered a man at about 12 years old when he became a son of the law; that’s what bar mitzvah means—son of the law. Then he would begin to build a house adjoining his father’s house or onto his father’s house, and he would take a bride, probably when he was about 15 years old.

Some of you have 15-year-old sons. Think about that for a moment. I have a 15-year-old son, and I’m teaching him to drive right now. I’m thinking, “Man, I don’t know if I’d be ready for you to get married. I don’t think you’re ready to get married.” But Hosea was very possibly a 15-year-old.

As a 15-year-old man in Israel, Hosea may have had some visions of what life was going to look like. Perhaps he pictured in his mind what his beautiful Jewish wife would be like. Then God woke him up one night and said, "Hosea, I want you to take a wife." He responded, "Yes, yes, Lord." But God continued, "I want you to take a wife who is a harlot." Hosea protested, "No, no, Lord, not so!" But that is what God said. The Lord began to speak to Hosea and instructed him to go take for himself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: God sometimes calls His prophets to do shocking things to shock His people. Sometimes, it is only the shocking act that disrupts the stubborn heart. Around the same time that Hosea lived and ministered in the northern kingdom, Isaiah lived and ministered in the southern kingdom. God called Isaiah to do strange things to get the attention of the people. He instructed Isaiah to walk naked for three years as a sign to the people. Do you think that got some attention? I think it probably got Isaiah's attention.

Many commentators try to bend the text to suggest that he didn't exactly walk completely naked, but rather with his undergarments. However, the text clearly states that he walked naked for three years. Why? As a sign to the people. About 200 years later, God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel to the people living under Babylonian captivity. God called Ezekiel to do something shocking: He said, "I want you to bake bread using dried human excrement as the coals." Ezekiel responded, "Not so, Lord, that's gross!" God then said, "Okay, fine, you can use cow dung instead." Regardless of how you slice it, it was a difficult situation, but that is what God told him to do.

You might say that is just absurd. Yes, but God also called Ezekiel to lie on one side every single day for a year in front of the people as a sign to them. That seems strange, but it illustrates that God sometimes calls His prophets to do shocking things to get through to His people. To the prophet Jeremiah, God said, "Jeremiah, you are not to take a wife from these people," as a sign to the people. And to Hosea, He said...

Jor Hosea, you are to take a wife, but you are to take a wife who is going to be unfaithful to you. She is going to commit harlotry. Now, we may ask the question, and it's probably the right question for us to ask: how could God do this? I have to be honest; I don't always have the best answer for some of the questions about how or why God would do something like this. However, I will say this: sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, and this was a desperate time.

I don't always understand why God works the way that He does, because as Isaiah the prophet recognized in Isaiah 55, His ways are far above mine. But I can say this: God always has a reason for why He does what He does. I may not understand the reason, but He still has a reason.

Look at Hosea chapter 1, verse 2. Again, when the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry." For, would you circle, highlight, or underline the word "for" in your Bible or maybe your neighbor's Bible? For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. Hosea, I am calling you to do this because it's a sign to the people, the people of Israel, who had entered into a covenant with God and said, "I do." Now, for centuries, they had been going out on God and committing spiritual adultery, harloting themselves with Baal, Asherah, Molech, and all the other gods of the Canaanites around them. God says the land has committed a great harlotry by departing from the Lord.

Point number three, if you're taking notes: God sometimes works in shocking ways to shake us up and get our attention. That's certainly what He did during the time of the prophet Habakkuk. In Habakkuk 1, verse 5, God said to the prophet Habakkuk, "I want you to stand and look among the nations around you and be utterly astounded and amazed, for I am going to work a work in your days that you would not believe if it were told to you." In other words, God says, "I am going to do something shocking, and it's going to blow your mind." Why does God do such shocking things sometimes? To shake us.

In our stubbornness, we have hard hearts and stiff necks, closed eyes, and stopped-up ears. God has to shake us up and say, "Snap out of it!" Knowing this, it makes me wonder what shocking thing God might be doing right now to wake us up.

Maybe He would allow us to have foolish and dumb leaders who lead us toward bondage and destruction. You might say, "No, God would never do that." Well, He did it in the past. Perhaps He would allow another nation, one that is more unrighteous than ours, to rise up and overtake us. You might respond, "God would never do that." But He did it during the time of Habakkuk. Maybe He would allow our economy to tank, making us the laughingstock of all our enemies. You might insist, "God would never do that." Yet, He has done so in the past.

I simply ask you: Is the God of the Old Testament different from the God of the New Testament? You might say yes, but this was a word to Israel. Yes, but it had general application because righteousness exalts a nation, and sin brings condemnation and reproach to any people.

I don't know about you, but I sometimes find myself looking at the things happening in our country. In fact, I just had a conversation two days ago with someone about this very issue. I said, "Sometimes I look at the things our leaders are doing, and I think, why are they doing this? It doesn't make any sense to me why they would choose this path. It seems like they are doing everything you would do if you wanted to bring destruction to our nation."

It's just a head-scratcher; it doesn't make sense, whether it's on the right or the left. I don't understand it. Yet, I wonder if it is that God has allowed us to have foolish and dumb leaders as a judgment. It happened in Isaiah's day, in Hosea's day, and during the times of Habakkuk, Obadiah, Zephaniah, and Zechariah. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Sadly, sometimes there is no other way to get our attention.

God called Hosea to do something outrageous because Israel was doing something outrageous. They had harlotized themselves.

The false gods around them prompted God to speak to His people in an outrageous way. While God does not always act in such a manner, there are times when desperate times call for desperate measures. For Israel, in the eighth century BC, God's patience was about to wear out. After centuries of immoral idolatry and harlotry, the northern kingdom was just a few short years away from total destruction and devastation. Hosea was one of God's last prophets sent to the children of Israel to call them to repentance. This was their last chance.

It makes sense why God would do something utterly shocking through Hosea to call the people for this final opportunity. In the passage from the book of Hosea that we will study throughout the summer, Hosea and his family become a shocking sign to God's people because they had hoarded themselves out for the very last time.

In Hosea 1:3, we read, "So Hosea went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son." The Lord said to him, "Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the blood of Jezreel and the house of Jehu, the royal line of the northern ten tribes, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow, or the power and strength, of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

God instructed Hosea to take a wife who would be unfaithful to him. He took Gomer, and she bore him a son. God commanded Hosea to name his son Jezreel, which is the name of the large, fertile valley in the northern kingdom of Israel. You can still visit the Jezreel Valley today; it is located in the region of Galilee. This area was prosperous because of its fertile land, allowing the people to produce great goods and generate wealth.

God instructed Hosea to name his son Jezreel because He was about to destroy the children of Israel, the northern ten tribes, in that very valley. Hosea, his wife, and their son would become a sign to the people, as God was preparing to judge them.

Point number four: eventually, God's grace and mercy will give way to His justice. This is what I would call the heavy side of God's nature, and it's the part that we often don't like to think about. We love to remind ourselves that the Scriptures teach that God is good. We love to remind ourselves that the Scriptures teach that God is love, that God is merciful, and that God is gracious. Is there anyone here this morning that is grateful that God is love, good, gracious, and merciful? I certainly am.

However, the Scriptures also teach us that God is holy and that God is just. By some accounts, the most referenced or quoted verse in the Bible is a beautiful passage in Exodus that I've referenced many times before. In Exodus chapter 34, God introduces His name and His nature to Moses. Exodus 34:6 states, "I am the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering or patient, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin."

Now, how many of you like that side of God's nature? I do. God is merciful and gracious, abounding in goodness and truth. He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. I like that God. But the very next thing He says is, "I will by no means overlook guilt. I will visit iniquity." That is a biblical way of saying, "I will judge sin."

God is merciful, gracious, and forgiving, abounding in goodness and truth, but He will judge sin. Eventually, God's grace and mercy will give way to His justice, and the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It could hardly be clearer: God is merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth. He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, but He will also one day judge.

We don't like to think about the wrath of God; we don't like to think about the justice of God. However, it would be irresponsible to neglect the truth about God's wrath—that it will be poured out. The Bible reveals that God is gracious.

It reveals that He is patient; it reveals that He is slow to anger. But it also reveals that He will not overlook sin. God says to the northern king of the ten tribes through Hosea, somewhere in the middle of the eighth century BC, "Listen, I know you had these great visions about what your life is going to be, but I'm calling you to take a wife who is going to be unfaithful to you." So, he takes Gomer, and she bears a son. He names his son Jezreel because Jezreel is where God is going to pour out His wrath upon His people in the valley that we know as Harmagedon. That's the same name as Jezreel.

In verse six of Hosea chapter one, she conceived and bore him a daughter. Then God said, "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, and I will utterly take them away." Lo-Ruhamah means "no mercy." Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, the southern tribes, and will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by their own strength, or their bow, or their sword, or battle, or horsemen. But I will no longer have mercy on My people.

God, who introduced Himself in Exodus 34:6 as the Lord, the Lord God merciful, now, hundreds of years later, says through Hosea to the children of Israel, who had harlotized themselves for centuries, "I will no longer have mercy on you. Instead, in the valley of Jezreel, you will very soon be destroyed." It is a heavy message. Can you sense why Hosea and the other prophets sometimes were reluctant to speak?

Well, Gomer had a third child. In verse eight, when Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, "no mercy," she conceived and bore a son. The Lord said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God." Lo-Ammi means "not My people." God, to this same people through Moses in Exodus chapter six, said, "I will take you as My people, and I will be your God." Now He says, "You are no longer My people, and I will no longer be your God."

This is, as I said, the sobering side of God's nature. It's the side of God's nature that we tend to sometimes not look at, but it is wise for us to keep in mind that if we only ever think about God as gracious, good, and merciful...

And loving, we don't consider the other side of His nature. We do not get the full picture of who God is. He will by no means clear the guilty; He will by no means overlook the sin of the United States of America. Billy and Ruth Graham used to say that if God does not judge the United States of America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

You might say, "Aren't we the people of God? Aren't we a Christian nation? Haven't we had God's providential care and direction?" You could maybe make that case, but in so many ways, we've turned from God. You might argue that we haven't turned in the same way that Israel did, as they offered their children to Molech. However, from 1973 until 2023, we have killed 63 million babies through abortion.

I was thinking about this recently while doing some research for work at a seminary. It's fascinating: if you take the 63 million lives lost to abortion and calculate their potential economic output had they lived, along with the taxation on that output, it equals about $30 trillion. This just so happens to be our national debt.

Are you saying that we may have a national debt because we killed 63 million babies? That's part of it. We killed them for our economic future, did we not? We sacrificed them because it would be better for us. I know these are heavy things to say, and I don't say them to hurt any of you who have been affected by this reality, but it affects us more than we realize. Righteousness exalts a nation, and sin brings shame to any people. Yet, we have not been ashamed of the way that we live.

God is holy and just, and He will judge sin. It is important for us to regard the heavy sight of God's holiness. Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Only when we begin to weigh the heavy sight of God's holiness do we truly comprehend the beauty of His grace in its fullest measure. This is why I love how the first chapter of...

Hosea ends with a heavy message. I recognize this has been pretty intense. You didn't come here on this Memorial Day weekend expecting to receive such a weighty message. Unfortunately, our doughnut company, one of the family members is in the hospital, so we don't have doughnuts for you to look forward to after the service this morning.

How could this heaviness be relieved in any way? Hosea, you're going to take a wife, and she will be unfaithful to you, just like my people have been unfaithful to me. As a result, I will judge in Jezreel. Your first son's name will be Jezreel, and I will have no mercy. Your second child, your daughter, will be named No Mercy. I am saying to you, your people are no longer my people. Therefore, your third child will be called Not My People.

This seems devastating. At the end of the eighth century BC, the nation of Ephraim, the northern ten tribes of Israel, would be called the Lost Tribes of Israel and would be completely destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC. How could this possibly contain a glimmer of hope? Imagine fifteen-year-old Hosea receiving this word. God tells him what he is to say to the people, and as he does, Hosea must be thinking, "God, don't you have anything good for me to say?"

God responds with a promise. Look at this verse: after all this judgment, God says, "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered." It shall come to pass, God promises through Hosea. In the place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," in what place did God say, "Lo Ammi, you are not my people, and no mercy for you"? In Jezreel, in the region of Galilee. It shall be in that place where it is said to them, "You are not my people," that it shall be said to them, "You are the sons of the Living God. You are the children of God."

Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel, the nation that has been split by a civil war hundreds of years before this, shall be gathered together again as one. They shall set for themselves one.

Head, and they shall come up out of the land of Jezreel, for great will be the day of Jezreel. Say to your brethren, "My people," and to your sisters, "Mercy is shown." What is going on here? Well, it is a future prophetic promise to the same people. Those people in Jezreel, God says, "There's no more mercy for you because of your harlotry; you are now no longer my people."

God prophesies through Hosea and says, "But there's going to come one who's going to call you back from the region of Jezreel, from the region of Galilee, and he's going to gather together as one people once again. You shall choose to have him as your head." Who do you think that one who's going to come out of Galilee will be? It's Jesus. Through him, they will become the sons and daughters of God. He will give them the right to be called the children of God, and he will cause them to overflow with abundance once again and become great again.

You see, point number five is true: the glory of God's grace is all the more glorious on the backdrop of his justice. Here, God's justice says, "I'm going to pour out my wrath upon you because of your sin," and yet he says, "I'm going to be gracious to you again and call you back to myself." This is one of the interesting things to look for in the prophets. Many times in the prophets, we have this stark picture of God's judgment coming upon sin, but as a result, God brings forth a remnant by his grace.

In fact, the prophet Isaiah is exactly the same. Isaiah had a son; he named his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz. If you or any of your kids are looking for a new name for a baby, Maher-shalal-hash-baz is a great name. But Maher-shalal-hash-baz means "God is going to judge swiftly." Then he had another son and named him Shear-jashub, which is a much better name than Maher-shalal-hash-baz because it means "a remnant shall return."

This is often what God would do: his judgment, like a winnowing fan, would come in to blow away the chaff so that the remnant of grain would be brought forth. God's punishment is for the purpose of purification, which is an encouragement to me because I look at our nation and sometimes I wonder, and maybe you do as well, are we experiencing the judgment of God? I say if we look at the scriptures, we might conclude that it sure does.

It may seem to be that way, but God's punishment is for purification. Through that, He brings forth the remnant of His people. May we recognize that, in this dark time we might go through, God still has a work of redeeming grace that He wants to do. We are certainly going to see that in the book of Hosea. Even though it's a stark story, I would like to say I'm looking forward to going through it. I kind of am, but it's a heavy story.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer today?

Father God, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You that You do not hold back Your truth. You are very clear to us; You want us to know who You are and how You work. You want us to understand what You are like, Your nature, and Your will. You make it very clear, and I pray, God, that we would take note of Your Word and learn from You. Shine Your light upon and through our lives to those in this world who are walking in darkness and desperately need Your grace.

The message that You gave to the people through the prophets was a message calling them back to repentance. It's the same message that John the Baptist preached. It's the same message, Jesus, that You preached. It's the same message that You commissioned Your disciples to preach. It's the message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. It's the message that Paul preached throughout the book of Acts. It's the message that You've called us to continue to preach to this day: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

God, help us to have boldness, even when we're hesitant and reluctant. Grant us boldness by Your grace and Your Spirit to share those important words, calling people back to You. God, do a work of calling people to repentance through Your church in our day and in our nation. We ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen."