← ArchiveSunday, January 15, 2017DateJanuary 15, 2017Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermonHosea 13:49Exodus 3413:462 Timothy 2:1215:07Colossians 115:572 Kings 1019:27Romans 229:23Romans 934:32John 3:1641:53TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The New Year of the Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.0:20The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.0:48The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.1:16The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.1:44The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.2:12The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.2:40The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.3:08The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day.3:37The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. The New Year is a production of the New Year's Day. I invite you to turn with me to Hosea chapter 1. It's not often in the same worship service you hear Revelation and Hosea read at the same time. We began a series called "The Holiness in the Heart of God."4:03The Holiness in the Heart of God. So I'm excited as we begin a new series in Hosea. Hosea is a difficult message with a difficult story that forces us to wrestle with the ugliness of our sin. That forces us to get serious about who we are. So I spend the first moment saying this:4:31If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have put your faith and trust in Him, if you know that He has died on the cross for your sin, if you are seeing His sacrifice as yours, one day you will see Christ face to face as a promise in Scripture. And I don't know, biblically or not, but if you recognize Hosea in heaven one day, or the new heavens and the new earth, go up to Him and embrace Him and say,4:59"Thank you for the picture of your life that shocked me into realizing how serious my sin and unfaithfulness truly is." If we're honest, sometimes images like this shock us into saying, "How could anyone do that?" And the Lord says, "How could you?" We say, "Lord, how could we?" So we owe Hosea a deep response of gratitude,5:25knowing that the prophet was called to live a life that none of us would ever want to live. He was called to marry a woman who most likely was promiscuous before their marriage, that she remained unfaithful during their marriage while taking some payment for her services. And in this, we see a small glimpse of the bitterness and pain from God's perspective of our relationship with Him5:47and His relationship with His bride, Israel. Not that God is bitter towards us, but that in our relationship with God there is bitterness, as if He was drinking bitter water because of who we are. You see, in God's eyes, the worship of Baal and other gods, participation in the fertility cults and practices of the local culture6:13was a direct abandonment of the one true God. From Israel, of God's perspective, everything that Israel had done had abandoned the faithfulness of the covenant that God had made with them. And oftentimes, God looks at us and says, "Our striving for bigger and better, for religion without commitment, for grace without discipleship,6:43or when we fashion a Jesus in our image that ignores sin but yet loves us in the end, is us being unfaithful to the one true God." And He asks us, "How could you?" You see, some pictures are never fully grasped until they are seen. This is the story of Hosea, the holiness in the heart of God. So begin reading with me in verse 2. I ask you to join with me in this minor prophet.7:11Not minor because of his story or the message minor because of the length of the book. I begin reading in verse 2. The sermon today is entitled, "Some People's Children." Some People's Children. "When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry,7:34for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord." The name says by departing, but the word again is by the people, the land has been committing harlotry towards the Lord. So four times it is used. "So he went and he took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him, 'Call his name Jezreel,8:04for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, 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 of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.' And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And that God said to him, 'What a lovely name for a daughter. Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son.8:32And God said, 'Call his name Lo-Ami, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.'8:48Let's pray, Father. As we have seen the image of our sin, but as we have seen the message proclaimed through Hosea to the nation of Israel, a nation of unfaithfulness,9:18Lord, we ask this morning that you would help us confront our sin and see our relationship with you from your eyes. That we would not be selfish. That we would take our sin serious and in that midst, that we would take our faith serious. That we would desire to be faithful people, not faithless and unfaithful. Lord, prepare our hearts to hear your word. Move us in a way that we will never be the same.9:47And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Let me set the stage for you briefly. You say that video was enough. That was the stage. But let me set the stage of what's going on here. In the Olympics, they do the same thing. We have Olympic athletes that train for years for sometimes one event. For instance, the 100 meters. The world record is about 9.63 seconds.10:14Imagine training for years of your life for 10 seconds. That's it. And it's the same thing is true for Hosea. God called him to live a life that is setting the stage now for the message. Because if we're honest, many of us, and as I was watching the video again and reading God's word, we're shocked by it. Because this is something that many of us, most of us, I would say, do not want to be called to a life of this.10:42And we're shocked. Thank you for being shocked. Now wake up. I want you to be shocked by your sin. That you would cling to the cross of Jesus Christ. So let's set the stage. We are confronted here in God's holy word with our relationship from God's perspective. You see, God takes your sin personally. He takes our sin personally. How do you know that? He sent his only son to die on the cross for it.11:11That's how serious he takes our sin. Knowing that if you believe, if you repent of our sin, if you trust his sacrifice, that you will be covered and he will make you whole. You see, Hosea establishes the basis for our relationship with God. You know, we are not Hosea. You're not. You are not Lo-Ami. You are not his third child. You are not, ladies, you are not Lo-Ruhamah.11:39You are not the daughter of No Mercy. You are not Jezreel. If anyone, if we are anyone in this story, who are we? We are the bride. We are Gomer. We are Gomer. A person of unknown unfaithfulness. The scholarship is divided on Gomer. At what point was she a prostitute? At what point was she unfaithful?12:07We don't know. And I believe there's biblical reason we don't know. God wants us to wrestle with that. And God doesn't want us to know because he wants to magnify the idea it's not her life. It's the unfaithfulness that now Hosea is struggling with in this marriage relationship. See, Gomer literally describes acts of infidelity. Gomer was literally, historically unfaithful. This is not a parable.12:36This is true life. This is real for Hosea. And symbolically she represents the unfaithfulness of Israel. The abandoning of worship of the one true God. And oh, how jealous must Hosea have been. How jealous must he have been. Because faithfulness is the core of any marriage relationship. I officiated a wedding last week, I believe. Maybe it was several weeks ago as my weeks run together.13:05It was in 2016, so several weeks ago now. And one thing that we commit to in these marriage relationships is what? Forsaking all others. What is that a commitment to? That is a commitment now to faithfulness. That in the marriage covenant I say I will be faithful to my wife. I will forsake everyone else for my bride. What is Hosea telling us about God here?13:33The story of Hosea is telling us that God is a jealous God. He doesn't want you worshiping other people. Not only does he not want it, he demands it. Exodus 34, 14, the Lord whose name is jealous. He doesn't say he is jealous. He said that is his name. Is a jealous God. He demands our singular worship. Now let me just kind of set the stage even more.14:01Hosea is going to be uncomfortable for many of us. And as uncomfortable as it is for you because you're hearing it today, it's worse for me because I've heard it for several weeks and months I've been praying over this for several weeks and months. So if you're uncomfortable, let me just say from a pastoral nurturing perspective, get over it. I've been uncomfortable for several weeks. Join the club. Because it's difficult to wrestle with our unfaithfulness. God offers and enters a relationship with us knowing that we are unfaithful.14:31Think about that. God enters a relationship with you knowing you are unfaithful. The Lord does not wait for us to become faithful because he pursues you. And he knows we have unfaithfulness. He knows that we will be unfaithful. So God does not love you because you are faithful. Which means God will not stop loving you because you are unfaithful. And you say, well, I don't understand that.15:01This is the power of the good news of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12. If we have died with him, we also live with him. If we endure, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless, Gomer, he remains faithful. For he cannot deny himself. If you're here today and you say, man, Jose is hitting me in the face because I am unfaithful.15:31But God does not love you because you are faithful. That is not why he enters into a relationship with us. He doesn't pursue us because we are holy, perfect or faithful. God pursues you because his son is faithful. He pursues us because his son is faithful and he will not quit pursuing us. Listen to this verse. Colossians 1. Once you are alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions.15:59But now he has reconciled you. That is to make amends. Reconciliation means to bring back a broken relationship. He has reconciled you by his physical body through his death. Listen to this. These are the words to Gomer.16:19These are God's words to Israel. These are God's words to the unfaithful that his son will present us as blameless, as holy and as faithful. And for Gomer, what more could she hear than that encouragement? You who are faithless will be presented as blameless.16:48You who are full of blame will be presented as blameless because of Jesus Christ. So here is the stage that is set in Hosea. You and I have fallen short of the glory of God by our sin and by our unfaithfulness. We are unfaithful, yet Christ presents us as holy, faultless and blameless. Gomer, have you trusted and accepted his offering of grace? Have you accepted his offering of grace?17:18Gomer, if you have, know that he loves you in spite of your previous reputation. Because I know that we have many gomers here saying, you don't understand my reputation. And God says, I do. And I sent my son to die for you. That I will present you, he will present you as faultless before my throne if you believe. I will set the stage knowing this. If you believe in Christ, he has proclaimed you faultless and blameless before his throne.17:47Stand upon that. Now with that stage, we're now going to look at the offspring of our sin. The offspring of our unfaithfulness. Because we cannot just sin. We cannot remain in unfaithfulness as if God does not care. So one of the first offsprings of our unfaithfulness is Jezreel. Look at verse 4. And you might say, well, I don't know what that means. I'm glad you asked.18:16Jezreel means to be scattered. Jezreel means to be scattered. So the first offspring of your unfaithfulness is brokenness. It is brokenness. Literally, Hosea named his child scattered. He named his child scattered. For a prophet to name his son Jezreel would be like an American naming his son Columbine. Or Bin Laden. Or Charles Manson.18:46Names that bring back terror and shame. You see, Jezreel was a valley of destruction. Jezreel was one of the few valleys in the area where chariots could turn around. And cavalry could march and infantry could maneuver. So this was a known valley of destruction. It's close to a valley near the mountain of Megiddo. You might know it as the mountain of Har, mountain Megiddo. Known in Revelation as the battle of Har Megiddo.19:14Jezreel represents brokenness. It was at Jezreel that Naboth was killed by the evil queen Jezebel. It was at Jezreel that Jehu massacred the rest of Ahab's followers and his friends and his 70 sons and priests in 2 Kings chapter 10. So the valley of Jezreel was synonymous with bloodshed. So who in here today has named your child Bloodshed?19:42Anyone? I don't know of any Jezreels. So why would God ask the prophet to name his son this? Because Jezreel was a constant reminder of judgment, shame, and hurt caused by neglecting the one true God. Jezreel was a reminder that when we are unfaithful, brokenness will follow at all times.20:06The first offspring of our sin and unfaithfulness, brokenness, it breaks our relationship with God. And Israel would stand before you and say, "We are God's chosen people." And God would say, "Even if you are a covenant child of mine, do not think that your sin will not lead to brokenness." How foolish we are to think that. So I ask you, do you feel scattered today?20:34Sin always leads to Jezreel. It always leads to the valley. There are times in our life that it's not our sin. It's others' sins. There are times in our life where we are abused because of others' sin and it leads us to the valley of darkness and shame. And it leads to brokenness because that is what sin leads to in our lives. And so what does Jezreel say to us?21:02Hosea would say, "Look, church, Jezreel reminds you to see sin from God's perspective. Look at your relationship from God's point of view. Gomer, look at your relationship from Hosea's point of view. Look at the one true God. In his eyes, sin never makes sense." In the eyes of the Lord, sin never makes sense. Why would we trade the glory of the king for the slop of the hogs?21:30And yet, that is what we do. We say, "God, thank you. I know you're the one true God, but these other little gods that are made out of my hands. God, I know that you're building a mansion for me one day, but I really like my house made of straw. God, I know you say who you are, but Lord, just forgive this sin. Act as if I'm not doing it."21:58And God says, "No, look at it from my perspective. Your sin doesn't make sense. And you are going to a valley that will only lead to brokenness." Oh, that we would see our sin. Why would Hosea go to such lengths? Why would he forfeit the joy of not naming his first child? Think about that. Those of you who have children, the joy of naming your first childs.22:26And yet, Hosea was obedient to God's word in his life, and he named that child bloodshed and judgment. You see, God reminds us that his path is always right. His will is always righteous, and there is great joy in serving him. Hosea says, "Wake up. Your offspring of your sin is brokenness." Every time, so I just say this, if you are broken today,22:53go to the only place where redemption is found. The cross of Calvary. If you are Gomer and you are broken today, know that your groom, Jesus Christ, will present you as faultless before the throne. Knowing that he can pick up the broken pieces in our life. Knowing the picture in communion that Jesus took the bread and said, "People who are broken, this is my body broken for you.23:16This is my blood shed for the forgiveness and remission of your sins." So we stand here as we reflect on God's word, saying, "God, we know that my sin leads to brokenness, but I know your body was broken for me." And Lord, may we trust in that. Though things in your life don't make sense, Hosea would say, "Are you looking at your life with the eyes of Christ?"23:43With the eyes of the Lord, the covenant name of God, the one true God. The first offspring of sin is brokenness. But that's not the only son we see here in Hosea's life. After the joy of this firstborn Jezreel, we have a second child. A daughter. And I can relate because we have a son and we have a daughter in our family.24:12And I would imagine that Hosea's daughter is beautiful. Lovely. The apple of his eye. Dad, you know what it's like to protect your daughter. We love our son. I protect him, but I protect my daughter a little differently than I protect Eli, our oldest. And along comes a second child. And her name in verse 6 is Lo-Ru-Chama.24:39Practice that at home later. Lo-Ru-Chama. And the name literally means no mercy. No mercy. And so the second reminder that we have in Scripture this morning is there are other offsprings of sin. And not only is it brokenness, a broken relationship with God, brokenness in our life, but it leads to ruin. Sin will always lead to no mercy. And no mercy is no compassion.25:08Compassion is a lack of ruin or a ruin in your life, a lack of mercy. Now, if you just woke up this morning, at this point you would realize that Hosea and Gomer aren't going to Google and finding the top ten baby names of the year. Right? They might have gotten confused on the first one. Or Jezreel. Maybe they like the valley. Maybe they drove there on their honeymoon and said a beautiful valley. They didn't know what it was about. But you don't choose a name, number two, no mercy, unless God is now directing that.25:38So why would God direct Hosea to say the second child, name this child, this daughter, no mercy? See, no mercy means not pity. It's even more terrifying than the valley of Jezreel. Because this name is not at all ambiguous and needs no explanation. No mercy means no mercy. You see, God is reminding us that sin will always lead to the total destruction of something.26:08Ruin reminds us that God will end his tender feelings of deep affection as a mother has for her child. That are foundational to his covenant relationship if his people remain in sin. Now, I want you to hear that again. Because this is Hosea speaking to Israel. Now, who is Israel? God's covenant chosen people.26:35We are not Israel. You are not of Abraham's seed. I am not. So these are God's covenant people hearing a message from the Lord. These are the people that God said, I will give you this land. These are the people that God said, Abraham, look up in the stars, count them. When you get tired of counting, I will give you more than that. These are the people that God said, you will be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests in Exodus.27:00This is a nation that God said in verse 6. I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel because you have refused to quit sinning. You see, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking because Christ died for us that we can remain in our sin. Because mercy is not an excuse to sin. It's an opportunity to find forgiveness.27:30Mercy is not a reason for us to say, well, God, I know you've forgiven me, so I'm just going to live my life like I want to live now. And ultimately love wins. God would say, but Israel, Gomer, you don't understand mercy. Because there will be a day where mercy runs out. You see, sin causes us to forfeit God's favor and mercy on our life. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, well, I know God's a merciful God.27:59So how can a merciful God then run out of mercy? He doesn't run out. God says there will be a day where there will be no mercy. And in that day, what will we do? See, this daughter reminds us that the love of God is not blind or coerced. We don't twist God's arm for his mercy. And it reminds us that Jesus Christ lived a sinful, sinless life for sinful people.28:25And he walked a road to the cross being mocked, being abandoned, being in isolation. And think back with me through the Gospels that when Jesus Christ was on the cross, what did he cry out? He didn't cry out, God, thank you for giving me this cup. What a joy it is to serve you.28:53Things are going great. He didn't give God the church answer. Why did Jesus cry on the cross? My God, Eli, Eli, lamaq sabachthani, right? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As if he was saying, God, why did your mercy run out today? See, this is the reminder that Hosea points us to. That there will be a day in all of our life where we will see, in Romans 2, 5,29:23there will be a day where we are storing up for ourselves the day of wrath. When God's righteous judgment is revealed. And on that day, what will you say? On the day where Lo Ruchamah is born in your life. In the day where God said, this is it, there is no more mercy. You will not stop sinning. What will your answer be?29:53We know that if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice has covered us, we already have our answer. Christ walked on to that day of wrath. And when he looked at the day of no mercy, he cried out, God, why are you forsaking me? And it was such a day of wrath that the sky darkened the sun gave up. And the veil of the temple was rent in two. Because judgment had descended. And in three days, the grave could not contain him.30:23Because he satisfied the wrath of God. So I just say this, if you are walking that day and you have not trusted in Jesus Christ, there will be a day of wrath in your life. There will be a day where we see no mercy born in our life. And when that day comes, what will your answer be? If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, the answer is, God, I cannot stand.30:47And Jesus stands up and said, but I did. The second offspring of our sin is no mercy. But there's yet another offspring. Verse 8. After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. So I ask you, whose son is this? Verse 8.31:17Verse 8. We know in verse 3 that Jezreel, she conceived and bore him a son. This is Hosea's son, right? It says, no doubt, Hosea's. The daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, we don't know. Whose son is Lo-Ami? This third child is named, not my people. This third son is named, not mine. So whose son is not mine? Biblically, we don't know.31:47And if you were Hosea, and you had a wife that was unfaithful constantly. And you had a third child. And God said, Hosea, name that child, not mine. What would be going through your mind and your heart in that moment? God, whose child is this? And as not mine grew up in this village, and every time they called Lo-Ami to dinner,32:16Hosea would call out Gomer and say, hey, not mine, come here. What do you think is going on in the heart of that village? What would they think? They would think, mm-hmm, we know what happened there. And yet, not my people is a reminder to that nation of Israel. There will be a day where you will be in isolation. There will be a day where you will be cut off because of your sin if you do not turn back.32:44An offspring of our sin, a third offspring, is isolation. See, here is Hosea's reality. He is called to raise and care for a child with Gomer that he might not know is his. There's a cloud of paternity doubt for this third child. Why do I do such a thing? Because God wants us to wake up to our sin. This is why if you see Hosea in heaven one day, you hug him and you say,33:12Hosea, thank you for living a life that I could not live because I get it. You woke me up to my sin. Hosea, you reminded me that faithfulness should be central in my life. Because there will be a day where God will look at me and say, you are not mine because you have not been faithful. See, here is a truth of unfaithfulness. Not everyone is a child of the king.33:41Jesus himself says that everyone who cries out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. That's for church folk. He didn't say for a group in the Amazon that have never really heard the gospel. He is saying, hey, people, Israel, for those of you who know the name of the Lord, not everyone here that says, Lord, Lord, not everyone who sings the wrath of God is satisfied.34:08Not everyone who sings this is amazing grace will enter the kingdom of heaven. For someone who stands here weekly and proclaims God's truth, that makes me want to hit my knees and say, God, how about me? God, because I've been unfaithful. God, how about me? Romans 9, 7 says that nor are everyone children of Abraham because they are of his seed.34:32That it's those who have faith, not of those who are born into the heritage, not of those who were raised in the church, not of those that have a Bible in every room. See, unfaithfulness leads to isolation. And this is the ultimate reality of hell. Hell is not given by God to scare you into running to Jesus Christ as if God needs to scare us.34:56The ultimate reality of hell is that you will be isolated from the one source of light in the universe, and that is Jesus Christ. And that is a product, a fruit of our sin. The second truth is that your faithfulness is displayed whether you do the will of the Father or not. You see, greater faithfulness is because of Jesus Christ.35:25And Hosea reminds us of that. There's a story about a lady in France, Blanche Monnier. I'm not French, so if I've butchered that, please correct me later for those of you who are French. In 1901, they opened up a room in this peasant town, but she was of noble birth, and they found her in her room. And they found out the reason she was locked in isolation because her family did not want her to marry an unsuccessful lawyer who she was in love with.35:54So they locked her in her room, and they found her on her bed in filth, tattered and torn. She had lived that way for 25 years. The police rushed her to the hospital, and she recovered physically, but she never recovered in her mind. That is what isolation does.36:22And God reminds us that is what sin does in our life. Think about your sin. When you sin, what's the first thing that you do? You run away from God. You run away from others. You distance others. As if we're scolded dogs, right? We hide under the couch. If God is about to rain down thunder from us, and if God's thunder as if it would not reach under the couch. That we hide as if God can't find us. Why?36:52Why? Because sin leads to isolation. That is our natural response. And the beauty of the Gospel is don't run from God, but in your unfaithfulness run back to Him. And He will restore to you the joy of your salvation. So I want you to look here in Hosea with me. The offspring of our sin. Ruin. Brokenness. And isolation.37:22And isolation. But if something happens in verse 10. Something happens here in verse 10. The mood changes. The language changes. Yet. Thank God for yet. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea. Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place. I circled that in my Bible. You feel free to circle that or highlight that. In the place where it was said to them. You are not my people.37:51In the place where it was said to them. There it will be said. You are sons of the living God. The children of Israel. And Judah shall be gathered together. You see the word Jezreel means scattered. But it can also mean. Scattering seed that grows. As if God says I can scatter you and I can bring you together.38:18In verse 11. And appoint for themselves one head. And they shall come out of the land. And listen to this verse here. For great will be the day of Jezreel. We've already seen that Jezreel is a day of judgment. It's a valley of shame and destruction and brokenness. And God said but if you trust in me.38:46That day will be great. Say to your brothers. Read that for me. Say to your brothers. Lo ami. Will now be my people. And your sister. Mercy is shown. In the Hebrew we have the article before the word. Lo means not. So it's a construction of lo ruchama means no mercy.39:16Lo ami means not my people. And it's as if God took an eraser and scratched out and wiped away the no. He said I didn't have mercy but I wiped it away. And now the people of no mercy. You will find it. And the people who were cut off from me. And the people who were cut off from me. The lo amis. Now you will be ami. Hosea say to your child.39:45You are not mine but go to him and say you are now mine. And how beautiful must that day have been. When Hosea could walk to his children and say no mercy. No mercy. Come here. Your name has changed. That is the beauty of the gospel in us. That God can look at people who are unfaithful.40:13And he can say I don't love you because you are faithful. I love you because my son who was sinless died for you. That he will present you faultless and blameless before my throne. That is the beauty of the good news. And you say well that's awesome pastor. How do I get that? What's the trick? Why would God exchange my shame for beauty?40:39Why would God look at someone who is not his and say you are now mine? There is no trick. His name is Jesus Christ. And I don't understand why God loves us. And on this side of heaven I will not. I will never understand as a father how God would let his son die for people he knew would rebel. And he said but if you trust I will change you forever.41:08So I just challenge you Gomer. This church is filled with gomers. That he looks at you and says what you need to hear today. I don't care what the world says about you. I don't care what reputation they bring up to the forefront. God says I know your reputation. I know your profession. I know your profession. But I have forgiven you. And you will be blameless before the throne. If you believe in Jesus.41:37If you take his sacrifice as your own. You see God calls his church the bride of Christ. And the son expresses his love for his bride and his self-sacrifice. We see that displayed in John 3:16. For God so loved the world. He so loved Gomer. That he sent his only son. That whoever believes in him will not perish. They will not hear lo ami.42:07Whoever believes in him will not hear lo ruchamah. But that they will receive mercy. That whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you're not here today. I ask you. What are you waiting for? Would you not run into the arms of the father. Who loves you. You said well I've been unfaithful. He can't. That's exactly the point. He can.42:36He can. He does. Find him. Maybe you're a believer. And you struggle because you're a legalist. And you believe that God loves you more when you're faithful. And God says I don't love you because you're faithful. I died for you. That you might be faithful. And that I've called you to live differently. I've called you that the world might see your good works. And glorify your father in heaven. I've called you into faithfulness. But I don't love you because of your faithfulness. I make you faithful.43:06And maybe today you've finally realized that you don't truly know God as he is. Because you think God looks a lot like you. And maybe today is the day that God is taking the veil from your eyes and the shackles of that. Lord I'm going to do good because I want you to love me. And he says I don't love you because of that. I love you because of my son. Who died for you. Maybe you're here today and you need to take a stand for Christ.43:33You said he is Lord but you've never been obedient at baptism. I believe that in many of our lives that God is calling us to be baptized. One because he commands it. But two God is saying look prove your faith. You say your faithful prove it. Be obedient. Show the world. Show that I'm worth standing up for. I know you're scared. Like water. But I want the world to see that you have died to yourself and you are raised in new life.44:00If you need to do that we would love to encourage you and counsel with that. If you say well I don't want to come forward. Take that card and fill out a time of response at the end and we will come to you. And maybe you're a church person and you just need some encouragement. You say this is not a lot of encouragement today. It is. Because I know that in Christ I am blameless. When I am not, when I am full of blame, God says I don't see you like that.44:26I see you as blameless because of the shed precious blood of my son. What a glorious truth that is. Let's pray. Father.
