Good morning, church.

Hope you all have a blessed week.

Today's Bible reading is from Hosea 2 verses 14 to 23.

Therefore, I am now going to allude her.

I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the valley of Akko a door of hope.

There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the days she came up of Egypt.

In that day declare the Lord, You will call me my husband.

You will no longer call me my master.

I will remove the names of the boughs from her lips.

No longer will their names be evolved.

In that day, I will make a covenant for them, with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky, and the creatures that move along the ground.

Bowls and salt and battle, I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

I will be serve you to me forever.

I will be serve you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

I will be serve you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

In that day, I will respond, declares the Lord.

I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the great, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to jesrual.

I will plant her for myself in the land.

I will show you my love to the one I call, not my loved one.

I will say to those called, not my people, you are my people, and they will say, you are my God.

Thank you.

So we have been studying the book of Hosea, a book about the faithful love of God for an unfaithful people, the people of Israel, and the metaphor that we're presented with in this book is one of husband and wife, God being the husband and Israel being the wife, who is unfaithful.

She has forgotten her covenant vows and has, as the text says, gone off with other lovers.

This is the language of Hosea.

Today, we are in chapter 2, 14 to 23, as we've just heard from Gary, two Garys, praying and reading.

And it's a pivot, isn't it, compared to last week?

I mean, it's just, the contrast is quite astounding.

Today's passage, I think, is defined by this little story.

Imagine a husband and a wife whose marriage falls apart.

The wife leaves the husband.

The wife has been unfaithful to the husband.

And the husband is left with a choice.

What is he going to do?

He decides to invite her back, not to a courtroom or even to a counselor's office, but to the little cabin in the mountains that was so special to them because that's where they went for their honeymoon.

He invites her to come back and he went to the cabin beforehand to prepare it, especially for them.

He took photos when things were far better in the marriage and he blew them up and he framed them and put them on the wall and he put his wife's favourite flowers in a vase on the table.

And he left a note for her and it simply said, I still choose you.

The wife had been unfaithful, yet he doesn't lecture her.

He chooses not to give her a guilt trip.

He just says, I brought you here to speak to your heart.

That's what God is saying in this text.

Amen.

It's a wonderful truth to know that there is a God in heaven whose character is like that.

As you heard in the text, the wilderness that he wants to take his wife to, his people, Israel, is not about punishment.

It's like the cabin in the mountains.

He's saying, I want to take you back.

I want to woo you back to me.

I want to take you to the wilderness where the idols fade.

The noise of the world dissipates, and my voice becomes clear again.

I think this is some of the more intimate love language you find in the Bible, what we will look at today.

God's love is not deterred by our unfaithfulness.

He lovingly pursues us, restores us, and betrothes us to himself forever.

Our job is to respond, and to respond with faith.

Our God's love is not deterred by our unfaithfulness.

Can you hear that today?

As my granddaughter would say, for real.

God's love is not deterred by our unfaithfulness, for real.

His love takes his people firstly to a wilderness of grace.

Let me read from verse 14 and 15.

Therefore I am now going to allure her.

I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the valley of Acre a door of hope.

There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

I wonder if you were here last week when we looked at the passage just before, or maybe heard it or watched it online.

That passage was brutal.

It was talking about really verses 1 to 13 of chapter 2, God denunciating Israel's unfaithfulness, and in the strongest of language saying that his judgment will come upon them.

But God's response to their unfaithfulness is not a final rejection.

But now we see a restorative pursuit.

Verse 14 says, Therefore, I am now going to allure her.

Now when we read therefore, we always know it's connected to what's just been said.

Why is the therefore?

Therefore.

And you would imagine from the 13 verses before, what he's going to say is, Therefore, let me explain in more detail the condemnation I am about to bring on you.

But it's not what happens.

The therefore connects to a statement of compassion.

I am going to allure her.

In Hebrew, the word means to entice.

Therefore, because of all that she has done that's unfaithful, I am going to woo her, even seduce.

The language is romantic, courtship language, not coercion, but to bring her towards her husband.

I will lead her into the wilderness.

Now, the wilderness we so often think of as a place of lostness, of challenge, but it's also a place of dependence.

In Exodus, we read about that in Numbers.

It's a place of testing in Deuteronomy, but also originally, it was a place of intimacy, wasn't it?

God said, he said to Egypt and Pharaoh, let my people go.

I want to take them to the wilderness so they can worship me there.

The wilderness was always a wilderness of grace, and speak tenderly to her, it means, I want to speak to her heart.

My people who have been unfaithful to me, who have forgot me, I want to bring them back.

And verse 15, I will give her back her vineyards.

That's a picture of fruitfulness, isn't it?

Blessing, joy, it's restoration.

As Gary prayed in his prayer, God promises to make the valley of Acre a door of hope.

Do you know what the valley of Acre is?

Back in Joshua chapter seven, they were taking over and destroying the city of Ai, and they were successful, the people of Israel, in the conquest of the land.

And God said, do not take any of the plunder for yourselves, but Achan took some of the plunder, and it was revealed, and then God's judgment came on him in the Valley of Acor, which is the Valley of Trouble.

All of his family were killed under God's judgment.

But here, God is saying, you deserve the valley that Achan died in.

You deserve the Valley of Acor, but I will transform it into a door of hope, an entry into something new.

There she will respond as in the days of her youth.

He's saying, not begrudgingly, but I'm going to woo you, and you will respond as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

Obviously a reference to the Exodus.

God is taking his people to a wilderness of grace.

Could it be, this is a genuine question, could it be that we can extrapolate from this story that he is interested in us in the same way?

Could it be that when we sang that song about God so loved the world, it's from John 3.16, the wonderful verse, God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

Could it be that he loves you and I in the same way that he loved his people Israel?

Such that his love would be so radical that even in our unfaithfulness, he is not deterred by it.

I know if I was to ask for a show of hands, many hands would go up in the room to say, I am unworthy of his love.

In fact, I struggle to believe even today, you might be a Christian and have been for many years.

I know many of us, we struggle daily with our unworthiness because of sin, because of habits that are destructive and ungodly, unhelpful.

We think, how could God love me?

Even though I understand that He does love the world, He sent Jesus, could it be that we can be encouraged today, that God loves us with a love that is not dependent on our perfection?

Could that be?

It is.

That's the story we find in the whole of scripture.

So, I wonder if you're in a wilderness right now.

Many of us are.

Could it be a wilderness of grace?

Could you see God's fingerprints in that space and His footprints?

Our God is a God who is a faithful pursuer of the unfaithful.

The text transitions from the wilderness of grace to a song, it's poetry, it's rich poetry from God.

Let me read from verse 16, where God, through Hosea, says, In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband.

You will no longer call me my master.

I will remove the names of the baals from her lips.

No longer will their names be invoked.

In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky, and the creatures that move along the ground.

Bow and sword and battle, I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

I will betroth you to me forever.

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

It's like God is musing here.

And because he's the most creative being in existence, he writes his thoughts down in such a way that it's beautifully poetic.

It's like a song that he's singing, but he's also Alpha and Omega, isn't he?

He's eternal.

So as he's musing about his love for his people, it seems natural and poetic that he would talk about what will happen in the future as well.

His love for his people will be manifest even more fully into the future and the language is in that day.

He will show his everlasting, everlasting devotion to his people.

Verse 16 is significant.

You will call me my husband.

You will no longer call me my master.

My husband in Hebrew is Isi.

In Hebrew, my master is Baali.

Baali.

Baal was the name of the Canaanite fertility god that the people worship so frequently.

God refuses to be associated with that language.

Instead, he says, no, no, you will call me my husband, Isi.

And Baal also means lord and master.

So God is inviting his people into an intimate and covenantal fidelity of relationship.

In verse 17, he says, I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips.

This is the removal of idolatry at the heart level.

Invoke is a word that they knew about Exodus 23.

Be careful to do everything I have said to you.

Do not invoke the names of other gods.

Do not let them be heard on your lips.

So God says, I'm going to take them away from your lips.

Because if they're on your lips, they're in your heart.

I'm going to change you at the deepest level.

I'm going to do a deep internal cleansing of your heart's Israel.

It's at a linguistic and psychological, yet so much more, it's at a deep spiritual level.

They won't even think about the other gods.

That's what he's saying to them.

I'm going to transform you.

And this is the hope of Ezekiel 36, where he says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.

I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

I wonder, are there names that you need cleansed from your lips?

Are there names of other gods, of other passions that have been in your heart, and then they come out through your lips?

Maybe the sins are sins of jealousy, of bitterness, of lust.

Sometimes we need cleansing of our lips, but of course, it needs to be at a deeper level of our heart, and that's what God is promising to his people.

Verse 18, I will make a covenant so all may lie down in safety.

It's going back to Genesis language again, Noah's covenant, harmony with creation, the beasts, the birds, the creeping things, cessation of war, the bow and the sword, it's all going to go away, shalom, comprehensive peace, and flourishing.

It's cosmic in scope, this promise.

Cosmic.

It pulls together all of creation.

What a song.

What an enormous and powerful song.

And then he finishes that part by saying, I will betroth you three times.

I will betroth you.

I will establish and reestablish the covenant of marriage, but it's going to be forever, because I am an eternal God in righteousness and justice, he says, in love and compassion, in faithfulness.

Israel has failed every time, but God is saying, I'm going to take full responsibility, just like I did back with Abraham in Genesis 15, when I went through the animal that was cut in half.

I'm going to do this.

And where's it all heading?

You will acknowledge the Lord.

That word is yada.

It means to know.

You will ultimately know me in the same way that Adam knew Eve in Genesis 4.

It's a word of intimate knowledge.

This is not just reconciliation.

It's a renewal of vows.

Are you seeing that?

God is recommitting himself to Israel in the most extravagant way.

We expect a courtroom and we find a wedding chapel.

So God has clearly had what seems to be, from verses 1 to 13, a change of mind, it seems, but he was going to divorce her as an unfaithful wife, judge her, but this passage is all hope and healing and restoration, isn't it?

So what actually happened?

This is happening between 755 and 722 BC around the Northern Kingdom.

So what happened?

It's a wonderful promise.

It's a wonderful promise, isn't it?

722, the people who heard this, they had the Assyrians come in.

Most of them were killed, the Israelis, Israelites, and anyone left was taken off, deported.

And as we've said many times, we don't know where they ended up.

So you might scratch your head and go, what happened to God's promise?

To allure them back.

Didn't he say, I would change you at the heart level?

What was God doing?

Well, there are three words in a phrase that are very important to give context to this, aren't there?

In that day, I'm going to do this amazing work of restoration in that day, when the curse of sin and disobedience is paid for.

But it's not yet.

It's coming.

A harvest of righteousness is coming, verse 21.

In that day, I will respond, declares the Lord, I will respond to the skies and they will respond to the earth.

And the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil.

And they will respond to Jezreel.

I will plant her for myself in the land.

I will show my love to the one I called not my loved one.

I will say to those called not my people, you are my people.

And they will say, you are my God.

There will come a harvest of restoration in that day.

I will respond, declares the Lord.

A day was coming.

This is 700 and a bit years before Jesus.

A day is coming when God will respond to the groans, Romans 8, of creation and come and redeem all of creation.

A day was coming when he would replant his people and they would thrive.

A day was coming when those called not my people, not loved, would be thoroughly loved.

And the day that came is quite bizarre in a way.

It was when the bride, Israel, actually did what she was meant to do.

Because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, turned up and he lived the life that Israel were meant to live.

Amen?

He lived the perfect life.

But what's strange is we always know Jesus as the husband.

He's the groom, but he actually came and fulfilled what the bride was meant to do.

Israel were unfaithful.

He came and he lived perfectly what they were called to do.

Never once did Jesus sin.

Hallelujah.

Never once did he disobey his father.

Never once did he fail his calling.

He was faithful in every way.

He did both.

He was the faithful bride on our behalf.

And yet he's the faithful husband.

In that day, God turned up.

The husband turned up in human history.

Born of a virgin, he lived the perfect life to die a death that no one else could die.

But Jesus died, the Saviour's death in our place.

And then he rose again from the dead because death had no just cause to keep him down.

Again, hallelujah.

God promised a harvest of restoration.

It wouldn't happen at that time.

700 years before Christ.

But it did happen when he came and accomplished the gospel.

For Goma, the unfaithful wife of Hosea, her sin did not have the last word.

It should have, but it didn't.

Hosea, because God asked him to, fought for her and brought her back.

He redeemed her.

And Christ has done the same for you and I.

That's the point of the day's message.

Amen?

Christ died to redeem us, the faithful for the unfaithful.

Do you know that sin does not have the last word over your life?

Sin does not have the last word.

We feel like it is.

The devil wants to say, sin has the last word.

He's wrong.

He's wrong.

God has opened in Christ a door of hope.

Where there was a valley of trouble, we all know about that.

We deserve the valley of trouble.

We're all sinners, fallen short of the glory of God.

But God, by His grace, has made an entrance open into restoration, forgiveness, and everlasting life.

God draws us into a wilderness of grace.

Sin does not have the last word.

Not in Israel's history, not in Hosea's marriage, and not in your life or mine.

The last word belongs to grace.

Amen?

Truly this is the point where you decide whether you're a believer or not.

Whether you believe in Jesus.

When you believe in a God who has done what he promised he would do, he would fix the problem of sin.

The last word belongs to God's covenant, love.

Isn't that amazing?

What a hope-filled statement.

The last word belongs to a faithful redeemer who speaks over us, you are my people, and you will say, you are my God.

So whatever wilderness you're in, whatever broken song your heart has been singing, whatever fruitless field you've been sowing in, God is not finished with you.

God is not finished with me, because in Jesus the faithful husband has been revealed.

Jesus says to every sinner who will turn to him, I will betroth you to me forever.

You're mine.

And if you're still wandering, sometimes God, it's like verses 1-13, he has to get our attention, and there's a rebuke, but his heart is to speak tenderly, and to allure us back, and say that even in our unfaithfulness, he has loved us and will love us.

This is the gospel story, the faithful pursuit of the unfaithful.

For real.

For real.

Can we close our eyes and stand, please, as the band comes out to lead us in worship?

Can I encourage you, with our eyes shut and focusing on the Lord with open ears?

What is the last word that you're hearing?

About your identity.

What is the first word and the last word you hear in each day?

Is it, I am not?

I am not enough?

I am not loved?

I am not God's person.

Well, if you feel that in a genuine sense of conviction, turn to God in repentance and faith.

Put your trust in Jesus and know you are loved and redeemed.

And if you have already done that, can I encourage you in Jesus' name?

You belong to him, and he has sealed you with his spirit, and he wants to renew your mind.

He wants you to know that he has done everything required to redeem you in Christ.

If you have put your faith in Christ, the unfaithful has been clothed in the faithful.

And our word, the word of God tells us that God sees us clothed in Christ, the righteousness of Christ.

Lord God, what a wonder it is, the gospel.

It is truly good news.

There is not a person in this room today or online who could ever stand before you and say, I am enough.

I have been faithful.

But today, this morning, we celebrate the words of Hosea that tell us of your heart and your desire to redeem and your ability as a holy and loving God.

We give you all the praise today.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

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