Hosea 1:7

Josea chapter 1 verses 1 to 9 the word of the Lord they came unto Josea the son of Barry 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 the beginning of the word of the Lord by Josea and the Lord said to Josea go and the Lord said to Josea go take unto thee a wife of hordoms and children of hordoms for the land hath committed great hortem departing from the Lord so he went and took Gomer the daughter of Dibliam which conceived and bear him a son the Lord said on him call his name Jesreal for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jesreusel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jesriu. And she conceived again and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, call her name Lohruhama. I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But it will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God. It will not save them by bow or by sword nor by battle by horses nor by horsemen. Now when she had weaned Lohrauma, she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, his name lo ami for ye are not my people and I will not be your God. May God bless to us the reading of his holy and sacred word this evening. There are instructions given in Luke or excuse me in Leviticus chapter 14 regarding the cleansing of a leper that involve two birds. The priest would take one bird, kill it in an earthen vessel with running water over it. And the second bird, he would take that, some cedarwood, some hyssop, and a scarlet ribbon, and would dip this into the bloody solution. Then the second bird would be allowed to fly away. The one bird was granted life. The other bird was granted life. was given death. The priest would make the decision. As the witch bird, he killed in which bird, he showed mercy too. God, in our text, is teaching Israel an object lesson through the marriage of Osaya to Gomer. just as Gomer was unfa faithful to Josea, so Israel was unfaithful to her husband, Jehovah. And he charges them with adultery for following other gods. The naming of the three children, as we said last week, includes the idea of some kind of progressive judgment. of God against the northern kingdom. Jezreel here spoke of God scattering Israel. The idea is of going into captivity, of military defeat. The second child, Lohrauma, spoke of God showing no mercy to Israel. That’s a devastating blow. A heavier blow. and the first captivity that he mentioned. At this point, the people of Israel might say, well, Josea, you’re a severe preacher. You preach nothing but fire and brimstone. Is there no mercy at all? Is not God a merciful God? And Josea is going to answer, yes. God is a merciful God. God knows how to show mercy, but he’s going to show mercy to God, and he will not show mercy. to you. Just as in the case of the two birds in Leviticus 14, God decides to give Judah mercy, and God decides to withhold it from Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Let me begin tonight by saying this. You should realize that God sovereignly shows mercy. As you read verse 6. and then you read the stark contrast in verse 7. It has to make you realize here that the Lord distinguishes among guilty men according to his sovereign mercy. The Northern Kingdom certainly deserve God’s wrath. They had been doing evil. Can we say this? Southern Kingdom was better, had not Judas sin too. Might not God have given up on Judah and given them the same fate of Israel? Well, he might have justly done so. But the scripture tells us that God delights in showing mercy. God utterly rejects some, and he shows mercy. That’s pretty much the basic teaching of Scripture. People sin, righteously bring down upon themselves God’s wrath and judgment for their sins, and yet God has mercy on some and refuses to have mercy in others. God says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. It’s my prerogative. No one can diminish. is mercy. You know, if anyone has saved, it is pure mercy, unmerited mercy, for which God deserves all the praise. Therefore, it is not wise for you to say, well, I’ve been living sinfully, yet I’m sure God will show mercy to me as if it were a sure thing, as if you could obtain that mercy any time you wanted it. What if God is merciful? He may be merciful and not show you mercy, and yet show it to someone else. You can’t demand God’s mercy. He’s not under any obligation to show anyone mercy. He may utterly reject you as he did Israel of old. Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 4 that Russell read to us, but I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the sun was shut up three, or the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But under none of them was Elias sent, save under Serepta, a city of Sidon, under a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Israel. Eliasius, the prophet. And none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman, the Syrian. What God is saying here, as Jesus’ teaching, is that I have a right to show mercy to whom I will have mercy. And if I want to reject Israelites and show it to Gentiles, I can. Now that is a truth that is a truth that is cutting. it’s difficult to receive. If you think you can live sinfully all your life and at the end, seek God’s mercy and find that you may be in for a rude awakening, there’s no guarantee of that. So we find here this idea of the Lord distinguishing among guilty men according to his sovereign grace. Notice that God often shows mercy to the four poor and afflicted. were rejecting those who enjoy the prosperity and comforts of life. Not too long ago, Israel had prevailed in a war against Judah as it is recorded in 2nd Kings Chapter 14. Now Israel was the more prosperous military successful nation. of the two. She was enjoying a tremendous time of wealth and prosperity. Amos speaks of Israel’s ivory houses, the abundance of wine, being at ease from military aggressors, a time of plenty, a good day taking place. So Israel was before a superior nation. and yet God says I will show mercy to Judah, the more inferior nation. Many who are in a low and afflicted state will find God will show them mercy. Yet those who live richly and were well-stocked in this world’s possessions and goods are often rejected. I remind you that it was poor Lazarus, who lay at the gate at the rich man’s house, eating the crumbs that fell from his table, seeing the wild dogs licking his wounds, who finds mercy in the eyes of God. Well, the rich man who eats and lives in extravagant manner every day of his life, life finds no mercy. When he dies, it ends up in eternal punishment. Notice that what God says in Zachariah 312, I will also leave in the midst of you and afflicted in poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Isn’t that interesting? He says here that even though he’s going to bring His people low, afflicted, it will benefit them because they will trust in the name of the Lord. And so it’s actually a sign of mercy to them, and it benefits them. So we can’t judge the real happiness of people from what’s going on on the outside. We have to realize that you may be delivered from much suffering and sorrow and yet have no mercy. Look at Israel. So God often shows mercy to the poor and inflicted while rejecting those who enjoy prosperity and the comforts of life. A third thing we see here. It greatly aggravates the misery of the wicked that God shows mercy to others. Why does God tell the Israelites that He is going to show mercy to Judah, but not to them? Why would he do that? It’s to aggravate the misery of Israel that God mentions his mercy to Judah here. In Isaiah 6513, God makes part of his threatening against the wicked the fact that he will show mercy to his servants. Here’s what he says. Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold, my servant shall drink. but ye shall be thirsty. Behold my servant shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. Behold my servant shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall how for vexation the spirit. The butts here are very cutting to the heart of the wicked. The beholds, which there are for, indicate this is something you need to stop and pay attention. to give it some thought a similar passage is in Matthew 8 11 Jesus Christ tells the Jews many shall come from the east and the west sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth this message is that the Gentiles shall be gathered into the kingdom and you Jews who should have been heirs of the kingdom will not inherit it so that’s a pretty serious statement isn’t it notice that they will gnash their teeth when they hear this truth when they see how rejected they are and others are received. They will gnash their teeth out of envy and vexation of spirit. It will greatly aggravate the misery to see others received by God and they themselves are cast out. The same thing is found in Luke 4. Our Lord told the Jews of the widow of Sarepta and how Elisha the prophet was only sent to her or Elijah the prophet was only sent to her and that Nathan the Syrian and all the leopards found in Israel cleansed while he was how did they respond to that did they calmly accept that teaching now they were furious the bible says try to push christ off the cliff and break his neck as soon as he he’s finished talking about this. They were so vexed with him. It was because God said that he would choose to show mercy to Gentiles and not to them who were the Jews and thought they were the chosen people of God. And this will be an aggravation to the misery of the lost. When they see others be given birth, of God, but they themselves will be shut out and not receive it. It would be like Lazarus lifting up his eyes in hell and looking over and see, or the rich man lifting up his eyes in hell and looking over and seeing Lazarus leaning upon the bosom of Abraham comforted and he is tormented. It’s going to be difficult. So you should realize that God sovereignly show them his mercy. secondly, God’s mercy may come to you in surprising ways. God may intend to show you mercy and yet bring upon you great trouble. Now when we think about the misery of Judah here, God shows mercy to Judah, and yet you find Judah under sore affliction. Look with me at Second Chronicles, Chapter 7. 28 verses 5 to 8. 2 Chronicles 28 versus 5 to 8. Wherefore the Lord to His God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. And they smote him, carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he also delivered into the hand. He was also delivered into the hand of the King of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Peca, the son of Ramalia, slew in Judah 220,000 in one day, which were all valiant men, because they had forsaken the Lord of their fathers. In Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Messiah, the king’s son. And our is Aricham here, the governor of the house, in El Cana that was next to the king. And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren, 200,000 women, sons, and daughters. And took also away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. What a slaughter here. 120,000 were killed after this promise was already given. 200,000 were taken captive after this promise. And if that weren’t on enough, look at verses 17 to 20 in this same chapter. For again, the Edomites had come and smitten Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines also invaded the cities of the low country and of the south of Judah. And had taken Bath Shamesh and Adjlon and Geteroth and Shoko with the villages thereof. In Timna, with the villages thereof. In Gizmo, also in the villages thereof. for the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, King of Israel. For he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord. And Tiglath, Policer, King of Assyria, came unto him and distressed him, but strengthened him not. What a situation. Judah finds herself in. Blow after blow is rained down upon her. And yet this was after Josea’s message that promised mercy. For this promise was made at the beginning of Josea’s ministry. The word of the Lord as it began to be given at this time. And we believe that Josea was the first prophet that had actually written even before Isaiah. By the way, why Jeremiah Burroughs started with Jose. If you read his introduction, he said it started with Jose because it was the first prophet written. Interesting. And then, if you add all the misery to this, they had wanted the king of Assyria to help them against their enemies. Snackerab, the king of Assyria, came up against them. Judah in the days of King Hasichaya and 2nd Kings 18 and conquered the land and surrounded Jerusalem and wanted to finish off the Jews at that time and completely crushed Judah. Hezekiah called it a day of trouble and rebuke in chapter 19 and verse 3. And yet during this sad time God promised show mercy to Judah. Now your suffering and troubles do not negate God’s intention of mercy towards you. If you think that with the promise of mercy, you shall be delivered from all trouble and afflictions in life, well, you’re wrong. This concept of if you come to Christ, everything will go well with you is a false notion. You know, well, if you come to Christ financially it will be great. Your whole life will be great. Your health will be great. That’s not true necessarily. It’s a great evil for you when you are facing difficulty to actually say, well, God has forsaken me and he will not show me mercy. That’s not necessarily true either. How ready we are, though we be in God’s way of mercy, when any difficulty comes along to think that God has abandoned us. Surely this is unworthy of Christians. profess the name of Christ. We need to see what’s going on here. You know, Peter walked on the waves of the sea of Galilee by the power of Christ. And yet when the waves got bolsterous, his faith failed him, and it began to sink. God made us as a people to walk upon the waves. He has carried us through many times. He has carried us through many times. troubles in this life. It’s a great miracle, what he does for his people, even for us as a church. Shall we look at the boisterous waves that are facing us now and think, well, the Lord has deserted us, we’re going to sick, we’re going to perish? No, we should not. So God may intend to show you mercy and yet bring great trouble upon you. Interesting, isn’t it? God’s mercy. God’s mercy may be shown without the use of visible means. The special hand of God is going to save Judah. He says here, he is going to save them. But I will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. That’s not how I’m going to do it. Here’s Judah, poor contemptible nation. Her military might is broken. Her military might is broken. God promises personal intervention on their behalf. But he’s not going to use the bow. He’s not going to use the horse and so forth. How is this fulfilled? Well, you remember the story in 2nd Kings 19. The angel the Lord came. Struck down 185 Assyrian military men and one evening. And when I up they were all dead. God tells his people that the king of Assyria will not shoot an arrow there nor come before the city, you know, with bullarks and so forth and take it. He said, I will shield you. So God save them. Without a bow, without an arrow being shot, without any military force being used, didn’t he? Now think about this. The Lord delivered Hezekiah without a battle, without any funerals in Jerusalem, without any blood being shed. No one lost their life fighting against the Assyrians. God did it all. He did it easily. Sent the angel the Lord, boom, it was all over. This is encouraging to us. When we look back upon these things, that we might see that God is not dependent upon human means to deliver his people. God does not bind himself to outward means in doing good to his people. God often shows special mercy to you. You know, we’re not always sure what the Lord can do if he always works within the bounds of ordinary means. If he only did it that way, we might not be sure what he can do. And we’re apt to forget that God provides us for us because he gives us a job. If he gives us a job and we’re working, that’s how he’s providing for us. But when you lose your job and he still provides for you, that’s a different case, isn’t it? That’s special. That’s unique. It is these difficult moments of life that come that show us God’s special hand of mercy to us. Just as dark as reveals the stars. So sorrow and trouble reveals and reveals and manifest the Lord’s presence in helping us. God often brings difficulty into your life so that you might see him work in a spectacular. way. God weans us off secondary agencies. And trust in secondary means that we might see that he doesn’t need these things to help us and to deliver us. So God’s mercy may come to you in surprising ways. Now let me close with a couple of practical thoughts. And the first is this. ministers need to be impartial in their message. It would be nice if we could always preach, God is a merciful God. But I’m afraid that we also have to preach the hard sayings that God will not show mercy to some while he shows mercy to others. It is difficult for us at times to stand before you. you and give out the hard things. To give out the message that’s not comforting to the soul. And yet, Josea had to do it. There is a message of mercy. And he doesn’t say that God’s unmerciful, but that just Israel as a nation is going to be cut off from the mercy of God. God thundering messages of judgment that come through his servants. Sometimes that’s the message God gives you to bring. that preach the one, the exclusion of the other, would be to be on faith. We can’t be partial in God’s law. We have to give the whole counsel of God out when we give it. So ministers need to be impartial in their message. Now, notice here that God will always have a church. We’ve talked about this in the past and I’m not going to dwell on it. Well, God may not show mercy to Israel. He’s going to show mercy to Judah. So we need not think that somehow or other the church is going to disappear from the face of the earth. There’s always a remnant according to God’s election of grace. Even when the nation as a whole departs from the Lord, it always has a people. according to his election, purpose and life, that he will save. Always. We can count on that. They will maintain his truth and his honor. So let us be comforted by that and look for brighter and better times. God’s going to save his own and they will keep his glory bright in this world, even though they are few in number. God will always have a church. God will save his people his own way. Now, when it comes to revival, only God can make it happen. Now, certainly we should work as each of us are called to do to promote the kingdom of God on this earth. But this idea that you can announce a revival is plain foolish. That’s the end result of of all the people when it’s all over. Well, nothing. After a few years, where are all the converts? Why is the church just as dead as it was beforehand? I hope that we do have a deep and widespread revival, a great work of the spirit in our midst. But how are you going to bring it about? You can’t just announce we’re going to have a revival as if it’s up to you. You don’t work up a revival. You pray it down. Think about that a minute. Look at the apostles. Look at the New Testament. How is it that great multitudes of people were saved? They preached the word, and they prayed to God. And it was through this means that God worked. They didn’t have some kind of special plan. It’s very simple. They preached the church. and they pray God for God to work. And look what happened. Can’t we see that the revival doesn’t depend upon us. Depends upon God. But let’s give him no rest until he sends down some kind of work of grace among us. Let’s keep praying about it. Let’s keep being faithful to proclaim the truth of God’s work. But don’t think somehow or other, you know, we can conjure it up and make it happen. We need to preach a gospel like Josea’s gospel. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. What a glorious vision here of Jehovah alone, with his own right hand, granting him the victory. He brings it about. He saves whom he pleases. Is it not because the church won’t let go with the bows and their spears? there’s swords. We want to use the human means that we’re stuck here and we have trouble winning the battle. Is it not because we have refused to preach that salvation is of the Lord that we’re having trouble? God will not give his glory to another. And so therefore the church needs once again to believe in a sovereign God pray to that sovereign God, and see him work. Let’s close with a word.