Hosea 2:16-17

Isaiah chapter 2, I’m going to read verses 14 to 17. Our focus is going to be on verses 16 and 17. Therefore, behold, I will lure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably under her. And I will give her vineyards from thence in the valley of acore for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, said the Lord, thou shall call me Ishi, and shall call me no more bawley. For I will take away the names of Balim out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembered by their name. God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening. Israel in our text has been upbraided for being the unfaithful wife of Jehovah. You recall that Josea’s marriage was meant to portray something about Jehovah and Israel. and we see that as Josea’s wife was unfaithful, so has Israel been to the Lord. The Lord is a good husband, and he takes steps to bring her back, as we have been talking about. He promised a sense of year discipline, take away the many things that she found delight in, to make her poor and weak and wretched, to hedge her, way up with thorns to put obstacles in her path. But Israel endured all this and kept pursuing her sinful ways. Finally, God promised to lure her into the wilderness in verse 14. The wilderness is the place of suffering. It’s the place of hardship. And yet there, God promises that he will speak. comfortably to her. This indicates a gracious purpose in God. And so we see that this valley of acore, which is literally the valley of trouble, becomes the door of hope. God brings her into this state of misery that he might deal with her heart, changer, and restore her. Her sins would be purged, and she would be brought back to God, as verse 15 indicates. Now, as we’ve already mentioned, National Israel never came back from captivity. God here is speaking of true Israel, but godly remnant among the northern tribes that would come back and settle in Judah when the high. other Jews returned from the southern kingdom. So God promises here tonight that he’s going to remove the name of a false lover from the lips of his wife, Israel. Bail is going to be removed from their lips. Now, as a Christian, you’re privileged to have an intimate relationship with God. 16, if you’re part of the bride of Christ, then, of course, the word issue should be important to you. That day speaks of a future period, lying beyond Israel’s present coming judgment and the suffering in the wilderness, that God is affirming that there is coming a day when his people will call him Ishi. Now, it would seem that Israel did not normally call God Ishi, but they will. It means my husband, they stood in awe, dread of the most high God. They called him God and Lord and Almighty and the Holy One, but the majority of them never dared to address him evidently as Ishi. but God has been acting all along as a husband, a true husband to them. Obviously, God is willing to enter into an intimate relationship with the people that repent. We speak of knowing the Lord, and God speaks here of a close and intimate fellowship with Him. God says that the people. people shall know him. Now, remember in Jeremiah and also the book of Hebrews, where it’s quoted, we have this. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind, write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man, his brother is saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Now, Ishi is a name of love as well as intimate relationship. There is a bond of love between God and his people. Thus, the church, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, are caused. the bride for the wife of Christ. As part of the true church, Christ is to you a husband, and you are to him a loving bride, a dearly loved bride. There is, however, I guess, a reluctance for the sinner to call Christ issue and claim the relationship. Now the scripture tells us that we are to love the Lord our God, our husband with all our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength to give ourselves fully to him. In the song of Solomon, we have a portrayal of the marriage relationship between the bride, which is the true church, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. And there’s an interesting passage in Chapter 5 where the bride refuses the Lord’s late-night advances of love when he knocks on her door and asks for admission. And he says, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. And the bride replies, I put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I’ve washed my feet. How shall I defile them? Oh, Lord, can’t it wait? Can’t you see that I’m tired in bed trying to sleep? I’ll get my feet dirty if I have to get out and cross the floor. So she’s not willing to give herself to her husband. And you remember that the Lord leaves. And when she thinks about it and is convicted about it, she goes to the door, but it’s too late. He’s already gone. And then she has to set about seeking him. Now in the book of Revelation, there’s a parallel passage which is very interesting. When Christ is addressing the church at Laoticaean, we read that he knocks at the door. He knocks at the door. Behold, I stand at the door, knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and eat with me. We can have intimate fellowship, one with another. Why is Christ say this? He says it because remember the church at Laida C was lukewarm. Where is their love for the Savior? They have not responded to his advances of love. God expects you as part of the bride to be intimate with him, to know him in a special way, to give your fully to him. And so you were part of the bride of Christ, if she, my husband. And you are to render cheerful obedience to Christ. Now he says here, call me no more belly or bawling. Now, the Holy Spirit has guided Jose in the writing of these words. There’s a little play on words here that is important for us to properly understand. in. Obviously, the word bail is connected with the Canaanite God that’s mentioned so many times, and 1st and 2nd, Samuel, and kings and elsewhere. And you all remember the contest of the Elijah had on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. But the word bailey here is a very good word. It’s certainly applies to God himself. In fact, in Isaiah 54-5, it says, Thy maker is thine husband. In the Hebrew, thy maker is thy bail. God is speaking here of himself. Sarah called her husband, Abraham, My Lord, using this same word, Bolly. Both Ishi and Bali Bally or Bally, therefore both refer to a husband. But here’s the meaning, I think, Josea wishes to convey to us. Pauli contains the idea of God as Lord, as master, as ruler. The emphasis is on dominion, the emphasis emphasis on authority. It speaks of the husband as the Lord and master of the home. And we know that in some homes, the poor wife cringes in fear before her husband, or the slave serving his master because he fears the crack of the whip upon him. So Pauli can imply a tyrant or a stern or a harsh husband. Is she, on the other hand, is more tender and more loving. It comes from a root word signifying strength that the husband is the wife’s strength. The wife, as the weaker vesser, finds her protection, her comfort, her security, and the strength of her husband. It is this kind of expression that would be used by a devoted and loving wife to her husband, my dear husband, Is she? The Emperor Caesar Augustus at first refused to take the title Lord. He wanted his people to look upon him as a kind father instead. Zutonius, the Roman historian, tells us about a poor man that came to make a petition before Caesar. And his hands were shaking and trembling from fear. and the emperor was very upset that he would be so shook up and it bothered him this man was afraid of him so he said it’s not fit that any should come with a petition to the king as if he were giving food to an elephant fearing every moment to be destroyed by him God’s point seems to be this he wants his people to cheerfully serve him out of love not out of dread of punishment. Now the Bible says the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ as the head of the church, as Russell read from Ephesians 5 tonight. Therefore, you as a member of the body of Christ are subject to Christ as Lord, as you should subject yourself. And certainly I think the mother of Jesus was right when she was, as you should subject yourself. And certainly, certainly, I think, I think, she said to the servants, whatever he said unto you do it. And that’s certainly the case with us. Christ’s will is our law. He’s teaching is our doctrine. But he does tell us that his yoke is easy and his burden is life. Because he’s a loving husband. And as Ephesians 5 reminds us, He sacrificed himself for his wife. He laid down his life on our behalf. He loved you and gave himself for you. Therefore, he expects a joyful obedience to him, not an obedience out of cringing fear. He is is he is the loving husband, not Bailey, the harsh husband. Many attempt to serve the Lord as a stern, taskmaster rather than as a loving husband. And we see what the Lord now is saying. C.H. Spurgeon tells the story of a woman who had been preparing herself to partake of the Lord’s supper. And she said that she spent a whole week preparing for the Lord’s supper, getting her heart ready to take of the supper. And then she found out she had mistaken the day. She got the wrong day that they were going to have the supper. And she said, through my mistake, I’ve lost a whole week. That’s the way people act and think to whom God is bailing. But not the child of God, who has a true intimate relationship with Christ. If you think it’s right to spend the whole week preparing your heart for communion, what you should say if you have mixed up the dates is this. Well, I’ve had a blessing. preparing for the Lord’s supper. Anyways, and I’ve drawn closer to God during this time. It should be one of our great delights to attend a place of worship. The way some people look at worship, you’d think it would be an act of self-denial, show up at church, a real sacrifice. If that’s the case with you, then you’re not coming to church with the right spirit and right attitude. You’re not looking at Christ is. Is she the beloved one? You’re not the cheerful wife of the Lord. God would have you worship him in the spirit of freedom and joy, not in the spirit of slavery. As Paul indicates in 1st Corinthians 734, the married woman is concerned about how she may please her husband. Well, that’s what at which you should be with us. We should be concerned about how we can please our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Christ. So as a Christian, you’re are privileged to have an intimate relationship with God. Now, as a Christian, you must avoid even the appearance of spiritual idolatry. In this case, idolatry. We might say adultery, but they’re both connected together. You’ll notice verse 17. He says here, for I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembered by their name. We see here that God is a jealous husband. Bailey and Ishi are very familiar words. God says, I don’t want you to use the word Bailey anymore. Because Israel had used that name to refer to a Canaanite God. And it became so associated with the Canaan-I-God that God says, I don’t even want it on your lips. Jehovah says, you speak of this God and that God and various gods as Balaam or the Bales. You can’t use that title in reference to me anymore. I don’t even want to hear that name coming from your mouth, because I am the true and the living God. Psalm 16 in verse 4 says, Their sorrow shall be multiplied that hasten after another God. I will not take up their names into my lips. I won’t even speak the names of these gods. God’s love has a holy jealousy associated with it. He doesn’t want to hear you mumbling the name of another lover. Both Ishi and Bally mean husband, but Bally has been banned. God’s saying, don’t use that term. anymore. The word tyrant used to mean Lord or King. However, there are so many little kings from Greece that were terrible that the word tyrant became known as someone who was cruel and harsh in their leadership. In the Latin, the word fur used to mean servant, but it came to mean thief because the servants were stealing from their masters and stealing things. So that the term had a bad connotation to it. In the same manner, but bail here has been disgraced by its association with the false God of Canaan. God says, don’t use it. Don’t even take it upon your lips. Now, what is the principle for you? and I today. Well, it seems to be that we’re not, we were to abstain from all appearance of evil. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. As a Christian, there are many things you should not do, in many places you should not go, not because they’re absolutely wrong in and of themselves, but because they are associated with evil. So you must be careful to live above reproachers. your faithfulness that Christ must be above suspicion. So the Lord would have us to be careful to guard ourselves carefully so that we don’t grieve the Lord. When I was growing, my father would not play cards. I don’t know, we played hearts or something. I don’t remember what we played with when we were kids. But when he was in the Navy, it was associated with gambling. And so associated with gambling, he was associated with gambling, he was. wouldn’t touch cards. He refused to play any card games at all. And so we have to realize that for certain people, there may be things that you just don’t want to get involved in. It may be dangerous for you or a temptation for you. And so it’s better to be more precise than to be lax in some of these areas here. We don’t want to be falling in. We don’t want to be falling in. We don’t into the wrong hands, the wrong things. So your God is a jealous God. Now, God demands that you thoroughly reform from your past unfaithfulness. The very name of this false God, Israel once worship, is taken away. It is to be remembered no more. One benefit of the long captivity was when the Jews came back, they were pretty much broken with regard to idolatry. at that point. They never fell in the idolatry again. God cured them. In our Lord’s Day, you find the Jews associated the word bail with the devil. Bailzee-zebub the Lord of the Flies. They associated with the devil. Because those who worship these false gods were worshipping demons according to the scriptures. And so they associated with Satan. So the things you used to love when you were in the world and made perhaps your God are to be like the devil to you now as the Christian. What a change the grace of God makes in your life? No doubt there are some things you could blot out from your memory. Vileness has a way of entering your mind. mind unwelcomed. But now that you’ve learned to call a spade a spade, you see sin for its wickedness and its blackness. And he said, I don’t have anything to do with that. I don’t want to remember what I used to do anymore. I want to forget that. And you want to break clear of that. The drunkard, having come to know the Lord, is very careful. He doesn’t want to partake of alcohol at all. all because he doesn’t want to fall back into sin. And so people become set against everything that once injured them. He looks with suspiciousness on these things. You know, the man who was a flagrant violator of the Lord’s Day becomes a very strict Sabbath keeper when he knows the Lord. It changes him. much. The sin that hurt you most before conversion is the very sin you want to kill and paint in the blackest colors imaginable. So you as a Christian must avoid even the appearance of spiritual adultery. Two things in conclusion. The first is this. God speaks of his purposes, not here of man’s free will. According to the free will plan, it would be absolutely be necessary for God to change the wording in verses 60 and 17. Something like this. At that day, said the Lord, if you are willing, you shall call me issue and shall not call me Bali or Bailey. And if you are willing, I will take away the names of Balam out of your mouth. But you’ll notice God doesn’t put any ifs in here, does he? He talks about men as if they had nothing to do in the matter and he did it all himself. I’m going to do this. You might object. You might say, but suppose they’re unwilling to forget the name of Balam. God says, but I have their will in my hands. I have the key of man’s will. I can open it and I can shut it according to my own will and purpose. Have you noticed how positively God speaks with regard to the acts of salvation throughout the scriptures. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. There’s no ands or ifs or bots or maybe here. There’s never any doubt about it, never any frustration of God’s purpose. God has such power over men that he can turn men’s hearts just as he pleases. no matter how opposed these people may be to the gospel and submission to Jesus Christ, that’s never an obstacle to God. You look at Paul. Who else was as forceful in opposing the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ as he was. And yet the Lord reached out and plucked him from the burning and saved him. And so struggle as you may against the Lord, the hour will come. when the blow from the hammer of the word of God breaks your heart, changes you. And that’s the great gospel doctrine. The power of God’s grace. It’s the power of God under salvation. Secondly, your repentance must be in proportion to your sins. In verse 13, God charges the Israelites with having forgotten him. Now God says, you know those idols you used to be worship? You used to worship? I want you to forget them. You forgot me to follow these other gods. Now you forget them and you follow me. Your heart was so set on those idols. But once you were converted to the Lord, he expects those desires to be no more remember. It’s not enough that we merely avoid the acts of sin, but that you do not even think about them. They won’t dwell on them. Long for them. You must remember, not remember your sin, except what disgust and sorrow. When I was growing up in the 70s, Imelda Marcos was the former First Lady at that time of the Philippines, and she must have really loved her husband, Ferdinand. She even threw a birthday party for him after he died, and he attended in a refrigerated casket. Amelda commented and said, modern technology can preserve the debt for years on end, and she added that she changed his shirt twice a week. She even capped the evening with a soulful rendition of happy birthday to the course. My friends, you’re not to do that with your sins. You’re to mortify them, bury them. Don’t try to preserve them or keep them alive. Put them out of your memory. Put them away. That’s what this passage is talking about tonight. Well, let’s close with the word.