WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.580 We are in our second installment in our series, 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:06.320 Scandalous Grace, as we make our way or journey 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:09.140 through Hosea. And today we will be in Hosea 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.000 chapter 2. And for our reading, it's going to 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.419 be chapter 2, verse 14, on through the rest of 00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:16.539 the chapter. So if you have a Bible, you're welcome 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:19.579 to turn over to Hosea chapter 2. It'll also be 00:00:19.579 --> 00:00:22.899 up here on the screen, beginning in verse 14. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:30.690 Hosea 2, 14 says, I am going to persuade her, 00:00:30.850 --> 00:00:35.329 lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly 00:00:35.329 --> 00:00:38.649 to her. There I will give her vineyards back 00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:41.850 to her and make the valley of Achor into a gateway 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:46.289 of hope. There she will respond as she did in 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:48.929 the days of her youth, as in the day she came 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.789 out of the land of Egypt. In that day, this is 00:00:52.789 --> 00:00:56.109 the Lord's declaration, you will call me. my 00:00:56.109 --> 00:01:00.270 husband, and no longer call me my Baal. For I 00:01:00.270 --> 00:01:02.570 will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth. 00:01:02.729 --> 00:01:05.590 They will no longer be remembered by their names. 00:01:05.849 --> 00:01:08.129 On that day, I will make a covenant for them 00:01:08.129 --> 00:01:10.909 with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, 00:01:10.930 --> 00:01:13.629 and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:17.030 will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:20.329 the land and will enable the people to rest securely. 00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:24.099 I will take you to be my wife forever. I will 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:26.760 take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.040 love and compassion. I will take you to be my 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:33.060 wife in faithfulness and you will know the Lord. 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:37.500 On that day, I will respond. This is the Lord's 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:40.920 declaration. I will respond to the sky and it 00:01:40.920 --> 00:01:43.439 will respond to the earth and the earth will 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:46.459 respond to the grain, the new wine and the fresh 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:50.359 oil and they will respond to Jezreel. I will 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:53.459 sow her in the land for myself and I will have 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:59.340 compassion on Lo -Ruhamah. I will say to Lo -Amai, 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.900 you are my people. And he will say, you are my 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:14.889 God. This is God's word. In 2004, the U .S. men's 00:02:14.889 --> 00:02:17.830 Olympic basketball team, which was once this 00:02:17.830 --> 00:02:21.069 undisputed powerhouse of the sport. If you guys 00:02:21.069 --> 00:02:23.990 remember back in the 90s, the dream team, the 00:02:23.990 --> 00:02:26.030 dream team that went to the Olympics and just 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:31.810 swept the floor with their skills. Well, now 00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:37.330 2004, once undisputed powerhouse, now we're humiliated. 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:43.090 Despite being stacked with NBA talent, they walked 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:47.250 away with a bronze medal that year. And for a 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:50.449 team that once dominated, it was really a national 00:02:50.449 --> 00:02:54.009 embarrassment. The world no longer feared them, 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:57.250 and they no longer feared failure or discipline 00:02:57.250 --> 00:03:02.509 or accountability. And so in 2005, Coach Mike 00:03:02.509 --> 00:03:06.330 Kujewski, or Coach K as they called him, was 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:09.900 hired to fix the problem. But he didn't start 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:12.300 with new plays. He didn't start with a new playbook. 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:16.060 He didn't come in and get right to recruiting 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:19.240 new talent. What he did was he started at the 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.659 heart. And it was said that in one meeting, he 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:26.400 told the players, and remember, these are NBA 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:32.939 stars. These are millionaires who are used to 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:36.340 being catered to. He came in and said, you haven't 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:41.360 earned anything. The world doesn't fear us anymore. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.539 If you're not ready to sacrifice and to change, 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:52.639 we will simply lose again. And sports analysts 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.120 have marked that as a sort of turning point. 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:59.639 Coach K began to rebuild the culture in the team 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:03.400 with discipline and humility and a shared identity. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.060 The players had to put aside their egos, their 00:04:06.060 --> 00:04:10.740 big egos sometimes. And embrace the grind. And 00:04:10.740 --> 00:04:14.300 be unified around something greater than themselves. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:19.180 And by the year 2008, the next Olympics, they 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:21.899 returned to the Olympics not as the dream team. 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:26.040 They came as the redeem team. To redeem back 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:31.300 what they had lost. And you know what? They didn't 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:35.899 just win gold. They went 8 -0. Swept it back 00:04:35.899 --> 00:04:40.949 on top. All the way. And you know, sometimes 00:04:40.949 --> 00:04:47.750 love doesn't sound sweet. Sometimes it sounds 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:52.209 like truth. Sometimes the way forward comes through 00:04:52.209 --> 00:04:57.610 hard conversations and harder decisions. And 00:04:57.610 --> 00:04:59.829 that's where we find ourselves in Hosea chapter 00:04:59.829 --> 00:05:03.209 2. And we're going to actually back up a little 00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:05.569 bit before verse 14 and go all the way to verse 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:08.930 2. And in our first point, walk through to see 00:05:08.930 --> 00:05:16.009 that God's love takes a sharper tone. He blocks 00:05:16.009 --> 00:05:21.310 paths, it says. He removes blessing. He exposes 00:05:21.310 --> 00:05:27.269 shame, not to destroy, but to redeem. Not because 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:31.480 he's done loving. but because he refuses to love 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:37.740 his people halfway. And today we'll see how his 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:42.920 severe mercy clears the way for tender restoration. 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:47.220 He speaks the hard truth because he wants your 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:51.139 heart. And he is the kind of God who turns valleys 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:54.920 of trouble into doors of hope. And so we're gonna 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:58.389 walk now through. Hosea chapter 2. If you're 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:01.329 taking notes, the first of four points is this. 00:06:01.649 --> 00:06:08.089 God's discipline is a severe mercy. So we pick 00:06:08.089 --> 00:06:10.730 it up in Hosea chapter 2, verse 2. And this is 00:06:10.730 --> 00:06:13.829 God speaking, not to the nations, but this is 00:06:13.829 --> 00:06:17.649 God speaking to his own people. And he doesn't 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:22.889 open with soft words. He uses the relational 00:06:22.889 --> 00:06:27.480 metaphor of marriage. of a household. And he 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:29.779 begins in verse two by saying, rebuke your mother, 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:34.819 rebuke her, for she is not my wife and I am not 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:38.100 her husband. That's the way to start, right? 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:43.639 Rebuke her. She's not my wife and I am not her 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.139 husband. God's using maternal or marital language, 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:51.439 again, to describe Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:55.199 And that's the covenantal language that we'll 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.079 see throughout. And these are words of grief. 00:06:57.339 --> 00:07:00.019 These are words of separation. And these are 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:04.240 words of righteous confrontation. Begins with 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.740 rebuke your mother for she is not my wife. I 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:09.060 am not her husband. And then in verse two through 00:07:09.060 --> 00:07:13.399 five, God begins to name what's gone wrong. His 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:16.199 people have not just wandered away. They've run 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:20.199 after another lover. They've run after Baals, 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:24.300 which were idols to a God. They've chased this 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:27.399 fertility god of the Canaanites. They've run 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:31.220 after foreign alliances, not trusting in God 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:35.600 to protect them. And they've run after a comfortable 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:39.759 religion that they can control. And so verse 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.800 5 says, she thought, talking about Israel, I 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.040 will follow my lovers, the men who give me my 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:49.899 food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and 00:07:49.899 --> 00:07:54.089 drink. You see, Israel believes that her blessings 00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:58.490 are coming from somewhere else. She credits her 00:07:58.490 --> 00:08:01.129 idols for the gifts that God has been giving. 00:08:01.970 --> 00:08:05.350 She says, my lovers provide for me, and God steps 00:08:05.350 --> 00:08:11.529 in and says, no, I did. This is a sort of spiritual 00:08:11.529 --> 00:08:15.089 amnesia, and it's not just ancient Israel's issue, 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:21.240 is it? It's ours today. Sometimes we... make 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:26.860 good things into idols, like our career or our 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:30.259 social status or relationships, which means that 00:08:30.259 --> 00:08:34.200 we view those things as giving us meaning, significance, 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:37.720 purpose, and security, and we tether our hope 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:42.340 to those things. And we end up treating God like 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:45.320 he's a backup plan. I'll get to you if I'm in 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:50.590 trouble or if I have a need. Tim Keller, the 00:08:50.590 --> 00:08:54.070 late pastor Tim Keller, said, people say I'm 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:57.470 the product of my decisions. But you didn't choose 00:08:57.470 --> 00:09:01.070 your birth century. You didn't choose your family. 00:09:01.529 --> 00:09:04.529 You didn't choose your culture. You didn't choose 00:09:04.529 --> 00:09:08.029 your talents. Yet these are largely responsible 00:09:08.029 --> 00:09:11.990 for who you have become. So how can you take 00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:16.009 credit for your achievements? You're not as autonomous 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:20.019 as you think. These aren't your personal accomplishments. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:26.419 They're gifts of grace from God. So here's the 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:30.279 truth. God loves us too much to let us keep doing 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:35.460 that. And so what does he do? Well, verse six 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:39.480 says, therefore, this is what I will do. I will 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:43.419 block her way with thorns. I will enclose her 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:46.299 with a wall so that she cannot find her paths. 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:53.139 This is called severe mercy. God doesn't set 00:09:53.139 --> 00:09:56.220 fire from heaven. He doesn't, in a rage, strike 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:58.519 down all the idolaters. He does something that 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:04.259 is far more merciful and yet painful. He frustrates 00:10:04.259 --> 00:10:10.919 their way. He frustrates their way. He closes 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:19.909 doors. He blocks every path. provision, not to 00:10:19.909 --> 00:10:28.490 get revenge, but to get their attention. Sometimes 00:10:28.490 --> 00:10:33.330 the most loving thing that God can do is afflict 00:10:33.330 --> 00:10:47.200 us. Thank you, little beep. Every time I say 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:52.500 something and I pause, I need that beep. She 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:57.940 will pursue her lovers, but not catch them. She 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:01.820 will look for them, but not find them. In other 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:05.120 words, God is letting her run and then lets her 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:12.899 hit a wall. Why? Verse 7b. Then she will think. 00:11:13.450 --> 00:11:16.669 I will go back to my former husband for it was 00:11:16.669 --> 00:11:21.470 better for me then than now. I will go back to 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:24.730 my first love. I will go back to the one who 00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:27.789 called me out of slavery and brought me into 00:11:27.789 --> 00:11:35.350 freedom. I will go back to my covenant. The aim 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:38.169 of God's discipline is not payback. The aim of 00:11:38.169 --> 00:11:42.490 God's discipline is restoration. As Paul David 00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:45.049 Tripp puts it, the Lord never disciplines us 00:11:45.049 --> 00:11:52.299 to pay us back, but to bring us back. God doesn't 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:55.440 discipline to destroy. He disciplines to restore. 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:58.419 He removes the gifts, not out of cruelty, but 00:11:58.419 --> 00:12:01.840 to show her who the giver really is. Look at 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.759 verse 8. She does not recognize that it is I 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.639 who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:11.600 fresh oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:17.220 which they used for Baal. You can almost hear 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:21.250 the heartbreak of God in that verse. Everything 00:12:21.250 --> 00:12:24.269 she had, every blessing, every provision, every 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:27.529 gift, that was me giving it to her. She took 00:12:27.529 --> 00:12:34.889 it and then offered it to someone else. And so 00:12:34.889 --> 00:12:41.289 God responds in verse 9 through 13 with this. 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:47.889 He takes it all away. The grain, the wine, the 00:12:47.889 --> 00:12:53.159 oil, the wool. The jewelry, the festivals, the 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:59.820 music, all of it. Why? Because he wants her heart 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:06.840 back. And so let's pause here for a moment. Has 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:11.679 God ever done that to you? Have you ever found 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:15.519 yourself at a dead end or the path that used 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:20.279 to work doesn't work anymore? The joy you used 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.120 to find in that relationship or that habit or 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:28.100 that success or career, it's gone. The comfort 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:31.620 you built your life on suddenly gets pulled out 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:37.480 like a rug. See, an improper prosperity -focused 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:41.399 view of the gospel gets this completely backward. 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:45.059 And some of the American Western church buys 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:49.879 into it fully. And hopefully not anyone here, 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:52.519 but the prosperity gospel teaches that if you 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:56.720 have enough faith, you'll experience success, 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:04.360 health, ease, and favor. So when things are falling 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.019 apart, when you hit a dead end, when you lose 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:09.600 a job, when you face heartbreak or watch a dream 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.080 crumble, it can feel like God is punishing you. 00:14:13.139 --> 00:14:17.259 He is against you. He has... withdrawn from you, 00:14:17.299 --> 00:14:22.600 he has left you. And that you have failed him. 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:29.559 And this is not the gospel. The true gospel isn't 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:34.159 follow Jesus and your life will get easier. It's 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:38.379 follow Jesus and your life will be redeemed even 00:14:38.379 --> 00:14:44.120 through suffering. A prosperity gospel tells 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:48.100 you that blessing means nothing goes wrong in 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:51.639 your life. But the real gospel tells you that 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:55.559 God is so good and so wise and so committed to 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.460 your soul that he'll even let things fall apart 00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:03.740 in your life to bring you closer to him. I've 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:10.039 experienced it. I went through that roundabout 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:20.230 a few times. We're here again. Wrong turn. See, 00:15:20.269 --> 00:15:22.470 it may not be that God is rejecting you. It may 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:27.549 be that God is rescuing you. And that's grace. 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:33.190 Prosperity teaching can't make sense of a God 00:15:33.190 --> 00:15:37.950 who frustrates your plans on purpose. But the 00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:41.080 gospel tells us he does it in love. To pull us 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:43.840 away from what will fail us and lead us back 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:49.179 to what won't. See, he frustrates the false hopes 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:54.740 that we cling to. Not because he's angry, but 00:15:54.740 --> 00:16:03.039 because he's better. Hebrews 12, 6 says, the 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:07.159 Lord disciplines the one, what? That he loves. 00:16:08.490 --> 00:16:11.509 The Lord disciplines the one he loves. Not the 00:16:11.509 --> 00:16:13.649 one he's given up on, not the one that he's mad 00:16:13.649 --> 00:16:19.309 at, the one he loves. And so if you're in a season 00:16:19.309 --> 00:16:22.929 where your idols aren't satisfying anymore, where 00:16:22.929 --> 00:16:26.950 your plans are falling apart, thorns in your 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:29.490 way, where your comfort has been stripped away, 00:16:29.570 --> 00:16:32.990 it just might be a severe mercy you're experiencing. 00:16:33.370 --> 00:16:41.299 It might be God saying, come back to me. If you're 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:43.700 taking notes, the second point I'll have you 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:46.559 write down is God draws us close in the wilderness. 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.419 And just when you think that the discipline and 00:16:51.419 --> 00:16:54.019 judgment can't get any heavier, just when you 00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:56.320 think that God might be finished or fed up or 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.139 walking away, we get one of the most beautiful 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:05.339 therefores in the Bible. Verse 14, therefore, 00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:12.000 I am going to persuade her. lead her to the wilderness 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:20.019 and speak tenderly to her. Like, what? Wait a 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:25.640 second. Like, did you read 1 through 13? Did 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:28.299 you see what was going on? This whole thing started 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:30.759 with rebuke your mother and tell her, I'm not 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:34.660 your husband. You're not my wife. And now we're 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:37.259 like, therefore, in light of all of that, in 00:17:37.259 --> 00:17:39.619 light of the frustration that I've introduced 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.259 to draw her and woo her back, I'm going to persuade 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:43.980 her and lead her to the wilderness and speak 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:47.539 tenderly to her. Like you and I, you and I are 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:51.200 like, you know, you just don't know about me. 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:54.039 You just don't know. I could have another you 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:57.339 in a minute. Matter of fact, he'll be here in 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:02.200 a minute. To the left, to the left, and everything, 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:04.539 you know. Sorry, if you don't get the reference, 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:09.380 it's a song. Right? That's you and I. It's like, 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:13.059 you just don't know about me. I could replace 00:18:13.059 --> 00:18:20.480 you in two shakes of something. Right? But God 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.440 says, therefore, I'm going to persuade her. I 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.220 am going to lead her to the wilderness and speak 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:30.380 tenderly to her. Therefore, I'm going to allure 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:35.450 her. After all the betrayal, after all the idols, 00:18:35.549 --> 00:18:38.789 after all the forgetting and forsaking, God doesn't 00:18:38.789 --> 00:18:44.150 say, therefore, I'm done. He says, therefore, 00:18:44.269 --> 00:18:50.109 I'm going to woo her. Man, that's scandal of 00:18:50.109 --> 00:18:53.529 grace part two right there, isn't it? God doesn't 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:55.750 just pursue us in our faithfulness. He comes 00:18:55.750 --> 00:18:59.650 after us in our failure. Praise God. Amen. Hallelujah. 00:19:03.049 --> 00:19:04.630 And where does he lead her? He leads her to the 00:19:04.630 --> 00:19:08.049 wilderness. Why the wilderness? Well, it's a 00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:10.450 symbol in a setting that is full of meaning in 00:19:10.450 --> 00:19:14.069 the biblical story. The wilderness is where Israel 00:19:14.069 --> 00:19:16.690 wandered for 40 years. It's where they were tested 00:19:16.690 --> 00:19:19.029 and where their hearts were exposed. It's where 00:19:19.029 --> 00:19:21.910 they had no food except what God provided for 00:19:21.910 --> 00:19:24.910 them and no way forward except wherever God led 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:29.529 them. It's back to a place of utter dependence. 00:19:31.470 --> 00:19:33.950 The wilderness is a place of stripping away, 00:19:34.049 --> 00:19:37.190 but it's also a place of shaping and forming. 00:19:38.950 --> 00:19:43.069 It's dry, it's lonely, it's uncomfortable, but 00:19:43.069 --> 00:19:46.369 it's in the wilderness that God gets our attention. 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:51.369 Therefore, I will lead her to the wilderness 00:19:51.369 --> 00:19:56.869 and speak tenderly to her. The wilderness isn't 00:19:56.869 --> 00:19:59.910 God's rejection. It's actually an invitation. 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.460 It's not a punishment, but it's his goodness 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:10.599 running after us and leading us out. God has 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:13.119 to pull us out of everything we're depending 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:16.900 on so that he can reintroduce himself to us. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.619 And so when you've lost the comforts and the 00:20:20.619 --> 00:20:22.859 distractions and the idols, when you have nothing 00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:27.400 left but God, you begin to see that he is enough. 00:20:30.410 --> 00:20:34.509 I love the way C .S. Lewis talks about our pain 00:20:34.509 --> 00:20:37.650 and difficulty that we go through. God whispers 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:40.849 to us in our pleasure. He speaks in our conscience, 00:20:41.130 --> 00:20:46.549 but he shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone 00:20:46.549 --> 00:20:52.309 to rouse a deaf world. The wilderness is where 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:55.670 God shouts, but not in anger. You see, in Hebrew, 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:58.410 the phrase speaks tenderly literally means speaks 00:20:58.410 --> 00:21:03.869 to her heart. He speaks to her heart. God isn't 00:21:03.869 --> 00:21:07.690 just issuing some list of commands. He's wooing. 00:21:07.690 --> 00:21:13.210 He's pursuing. He's restoring not just her behavior, 00:21:13.269 --> 00:21:16.470 but the relationship. I should have thrown in 00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:19.009 this video meme that my wife sent me yesterday. 00:21:20.470 --> 00:21:23.390 She was trying to represent the way that I flirt 00:21:23.390 --> 00:21:27.609 with her. And it was awkward and weird and stupid. 00:21:29.390 --> 00:21:32.049 It's like the way my husband tries to get my 00:21:32.049 --> 00:21:39.130 attention. And I thought, wow, you pulled it 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:45.390 up really quick. No, but it speaks to her heart. 00:21:45.750 --> 00:21:49.829 It draws her out. It doesn't go so far as saying 00:21:49.829 --> 00:21:51.589 flirting, but that's kind of where my mind goes. 00:21:51.710 --> 00:21:56.809 It's like, come, come away. Come here. Come near. 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:06.180 Verse 15, there I will give her vineyards back 00:22:06.180 --> 00:22:11.779 to her and make the valley of Achor into a gateway 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:18.859 of hope. Vineyards represent fruitfulness, blessing, 00:22:19.140 --> 00:22:23.680 joy. And God is saying, I'm not just going to 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.079 bring her back. I'm going to restore what was 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:32.940 lost. I'm going to restore what I withheld. Back 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:34.660 to her. And then that second line, I will make 00:22:34.660 --> 00:22:37.819 the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. Now, 00:22:37.859 --> 00:22:39.619 if you're unfamiliar with the name, Valley of 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:42.519 Achor was a place of judgment and death. It's 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:45.599 where Achan sinned against God in the book of 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.720 Joshua. He kept forbidden treasure from Jericho 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:53.339 and it was found out because Israel was defeated 00:22:53.339 --> 00:22:56.259 in a subsequent battle and Achan was executed. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:01.319 It was a moment of national shame. It was a moment 00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:05.220 of divine discipline. The valley of Achor. Achor 00:23:05.220 --> 00:23:08.500 literally means trouble. The valley of trouble. 00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:11.519 And what God says is, I will turn the valley 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:19.160 of trouble into a gateway of hope. Only God can 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:24.019 do that. Only God can take the lowest, darkest, 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:28.420 most shame -filled place in your story. And make 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:32.880 it the starting point for redemption. Anyone 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:44.099 experience that? Yeah. What is your valley of 00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:48.240 Achor? What's the place of trouble in your life? 00:23:48.539 --> 00:23:51.559 The wilderness season that you didn't choose 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.960 or the hardship or loss or consequence that broke 00:23:55.960 --> 00:24:02.279 you? God says, that's where I meet you. That's 00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:06.819 where I speak tenderly. I literally turn the 00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:13.380 valley of hopelessness into a gateway into hope. 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:19.740 And then the last line of verse 15, there she 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:22.240 will respond as she did in the days of her youth. 00:24:22.460 --> 00:24:25.240 As in the day she came out of the land of Egypt, 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:27.900 this language of renewal, God saying, I'm going 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:29.859 to bring her back to the beginning, back to when 00:24:29.859 --> 00:24:32.559 our love was fresh, our covenant was new, when 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:35.519 her heart was mine. This is not a God who settles 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.400 for some distant obedience. This is a God who 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:41.319 wants her back, not just in body, but in heart. 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:46.400 And that leads to point number three. God wants 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:51.619 relationship, not religion. So after leading 00:24:51.619 --> 00:24:53.640 his people into the wilderness and speaking to 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:56.099 their hearts and turning the valley of trouble 00:24:56.099 --> 00:25:00.799 into a doorway of hope, God makes a promise and 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:04.519 says, in that day, the Lord declares, you will 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:08.119 call me my husband and no longer call me my Baal. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.920 There's kind of an interesting wordplay going 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:13.799 on there because in Hebrew, Baal can mean Lord 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:16.859 or master and is sometimes used even of husbands. 00:25:17.880 --> 00:25:22.720 They're called Baal in the Hebrew. But by Hosea's 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.500 day, it was a tainted word because Baal also 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:30.190 was the name of a Canaanite fertility God. And 00:25:30.190 --> 00:25:32.670 Israel had blurred the lines between Yahweh, 00:25:32.829 --> 00:25:35.630 the one true living God, and the idols of the 00:25:35.630 --> 00:25:37.710 land. And they were treating God like he was 00:25:37.710 --> 00:25:41.109 one of many spiritual options to be appeased 00:25:41.109 --> 00:25:45.630 or to be used. And God says, no more. You will 00:25:45.630 --> 00:25:49.049 no longer call me Baal. In other words, stop 00:25:49.049 --> 00:25:52.410 relating to me like a distant master or like 00:25:52.410 --> 00:25:57.509 a divine vending machine. Instead, you will call 00:25:57.509 --> 00:26:03.380 me husband. Covenant language of intimacy, union 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:08.599 and love. God doesn't want to be treated like 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:11.180 a religious obligation. He doesn't want to be 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:14.339 treated like an appointment on our calendar. 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:22.849 God is rejecting cold mechanical religion. Because 00:26:22.849 --> 00:26:25.130 Israel had all of the trappings of worship, man. 00:26:25.150 --> 00:26:27.329 They had the festivals. They had the prayers. 00:26:27.589 --> 00:26:29.809 They had the fast. They had the sacrificial system. 00:26:29.950 --> 00:26:32.670 They had the offerings. But their heart was not 00:26:32.670 --> 00:26:38.750 there. It was elsewhere. And you and I know that 00:26:38.750 --> 00:26:43.650 we do the same thing. We can sing songs. We can 00:26:43.650 --> 00:26:46.970 read the verse of the day. We can go to church. 00:26:47.710 --> 00:26:50.990 We can do a devotion. We can serve on a team. 00:26:51.109 --> 00:26:54.289 We can give ourselves over and over again to 00:26:54.289 --> 00:26:58.069 religious activity and still be far from God. 00:27:02.589 --> 00:27:05.109 And I think that's why this moment in Hosea 2 00:27:05.109 --> 00:27:08.890 is powerful because God isn't asking Israel to 00:27:08.890 --> 00:27:13.400 go back to more religious activity. He's inviting 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:16.900 her into relational intimacy. In that day, you 00:27:16.900 --> 00:27:19.259 will no longer call me Baal. You will call me 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:25.259 my husband. I will take you to be my wife forever. 00:27:25.420 --> 00:27:27.740 I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, 00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:30.700 justice, love, and compassion. I will take you 00:27:30.700 --> 00:27:34.019 to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know 00:27:34.019 --> 00:27:39.160 the Lord. God doesn't say, if you clean yourself 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:42.319 up, maybe we can talk. Or if you prove yourself, 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:46.440 I'll consider it one of many, maybe. More sacrifice, 00:27:46.579 --> 00:27:49.880 more prayer, more religious devotion, more devotions 00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:52.160 in the morning, double devotions, triple devotions, 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:57.380 more, more, more, more. He says, I will take 00:27:57.380 --> 00:28:04.079 you back. I will bind myself to you again. I 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:07.240 will cover you with righteousness. I will reestablish 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:11.579 the covenant you've broken. I will give you my 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:14.440 love and my justice and my compassion and my 00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:20.680 faithfulness. This is wedding vows. From the 00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:24.380 one who had every right to walk away. Israel 00:28:24.380 --> 00:28:29.039 was the unfaithful spouse. God was the wronged 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.700 party. But here he is extending his hand, renewing 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:34.720 the relationship and pledging himself forever. 00:28:37.700 --> 00:28:41.920 And where does it land? And you will know the 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:47.640 Lord. In Hebrew, the word know is not merely 00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:50.720 intellectual. We have this problem in the West. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:54.400 We're in the information age. In the information 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.140 age, we can find out all kinds of information 00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:02.019 and facts. I could have, you know, Chad GPT print 00:29:02.019 --> 00:29:04.940 me out a fact sheet on God, and then I can know 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:09.539 facts about God. We love structures and frameworks. 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.599 You know, we love to say, I am from this party 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:14.980 or this group. I've got this structure or framework 00:29:14.980 --> 00:29:17.579 work for the atonement or for the sacrificial 00:29:17.579 --> 00:29:20.460 system or for the Trinity or how does this work? 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:22.700 We got all of our structures and systems. We 00:29:22.700 --> 00:29:29.019 can know God. But the Hebrew word for know is 00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:32.720 not merely intellectual. It's experiential. It's 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:35.240 intimate. In fact, it's oftentimes the word that's 00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:39.000 used for when a husband knows his wife, if you 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:47.180 get my drift. Experientially. Intimately. 00:29:47.180 --> 00:29:50.240 A lot of people know my wife, Adrienne. She has a job 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.680 that gives her connections of varying degrees. 00:29:53.529 --> 00:29:57.289 to people in Guam, Alaska, California, Indiana. 00:29:57.630 --> 00:30:00.769 She's on the phone or email with people all over 00:30:00.769 --> 00:30:03.750 the place. They know her name. They might know 00:30:03.750 --> 00:30:05.869 her phone number. They might know how many kids 00:30:05.869 --> 00:30:08.410 that she has or which church that she goes to, 00:30:08.509 --> 00:30:14.430 but they do not know her like I know her. I don't 00:30:14.430 --> 00:30:16.490 know just facts about her. I didn't get a fact 00:30:16.490 --> 00:30:19.490 sheet about my wife every morning, right? Okay, 00:30:19.750 --> 00:30:25.950 good. She changed a little bit. She changed a 00:30:25.950 --> 00:30:30.230 lot. I don't just know facts about her. I know 00:30:30.230 --> 00:30:35.809 her heartbeat. I don't just know shared information. 00:30:37.390 --> 00:30:42.049 We've shared life. We've ran into the cul -de 00:30:42.049 --> 00:30:47.910 -sac of trouble many times together. Mostly my 00:30:47.910 --> 00:30:54.250 fault. And she's been there. We've shared vision. 00:30:55.549 --> 00:31:00.289 We've shared values. This is not about knowing 00:31:00.289 --> 00:31:06.589 God like you know a fact. God is not after ritual 00:31:06.589 --> 00:31:13.849 obedience. He could care less. Or he couldn't 00:31:13.849 --> 00:31:19.150 care less. Couldn't care less. He wants relational 00:31:19.150 --> 00:31:23.680 oneness. He doesn't want a religion of check 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:28.799 the box. He wants union. I will take you to be 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:33.039 mine forever. And so ask yourself, do you relate 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:39.279 to God like he is Baal? Is your relation to God 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:42.579 like he is an idol, Baal? A master that you have 00:31:42.579 --> 00:31:45.319 to try to appease or a divine vending machine 00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:51.319 when you need something? Or is he like a husband, 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:59.920 like a savior who stole your heart? And not just 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:03.500 one who wants your heart, but who wants to be 00:32:03.500 --> 00:32:08.519 known himself by you. That's extraordinary. Like, 00:32:08.599 --> 00:32:11.920 you get that? We sang about holy other, God, 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:14.720 completely like search all over. There's no one 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:18.480 like him. He wants to know you. And he wants 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:27.160 you to know him experientially, intimately. The 00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:30.180 invitation is open and the vows he has made are 00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:34.559 still on the table. I will take you to be my 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:42.680 beloved forever. Number four, God reverses what 00:32:42.680 --> 00:32:50.829 sin has ruined. Verse 21 begins with a vision 00:32:50.829 --> 00:32:53.130 of restoration. On that day, I will respond. 00:32:53.170 --> 00:32:55.609 This is the Lord's declaration. I will respond 00:32:55.609 --> 00:32:59.130 to the sky and it will respond to the earth. 00:33:00.910 --> 00:33:04.490 This is a way of saying, I'm putting it all back 00:33:04.490 --> 00:33:09.970 together again. Where sin has fractured the world, 00:33:10.130 --> 00:33:14.450 spiritually and relationally, even agriculturally, 00:33:14.630 --> 00:33:19.710 God now promises response. Harmony, faithfulness, 00:33:19.869 --> 00:33:23.269 fruitfulness. The heavens will pour out rain. 00:33:23.410 --> 00:33:25.890 The earth will receive it and yield grain. The 00:33:25.890 --> 00:33:29.450 grain will sustain his people. Everything good 00:33:29.450 --> 00:33:34.910 that sin had broken, God will reverse. And verse 00:33:34.910 --> 00:33:38.589 22 continues this cascade of grace. The earth 00:33:38.589 --> 00:33:41.049 will respond to the grain, the new wine, and 00:33:41.049 --> 00:33:43.690 the fresh oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:47.160 If you were here last week, you remember Jezreel. 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:51.180 It was the firstborn son of Hosea. He was told 00:33:51.180 --> 00:33:53.480 to be named Jezreel because he was the one that 00:33:53.480 --> 00:33:57.599 meant God scatters in judgment. For God would 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:01.279 scatter Israel in judgment because of their unfaithfulness. 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:04.380 It was a name of judgment, a warning that Israel 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:08.760 would be torn apart and exiled. But now, what 00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:12.559 is happening in Jezreel? Not scattered judgment 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:17.239 anymore. But the planting and growing of mercy, 00:34:17.420 --> 00:34:21.519 of faithfulness and love, the fruitfulness of 00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:25.639 God, God takes this place of punishment and he 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.420 turns it into a place of promise. And that's 00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:32.440 what he does. He takes the wreckage of sin in 00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:34.440 our lives and he renews it in grace, doesn't 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:41.420 he? So the final verse says, I will sow her in 00:34:41.420 --> 00:34:44.500 the land for myself. And I will have compassion 00:34:44.500 --> 00:34:48.219 on Lo -Ruhamah. And I will say to Lo -Ammai, 00:34:48.360 --> 00:34:52.420 you are my people. And he will say, you are my 00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:57.739 God. This is where the names of shame get reversed. 00:35:00.019 --> 00:35:04.159 Lo -Ruhamah meant no mercy. Now becomes beloved 00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:07.820 again. And Lo -Ammai, not my people, becomes 00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:12.239 mine forever. This is full circle. The names 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:15.099 that once screamed judgment, the labels that 00:35:15.099 --> 00:35:19.360 once represented rejection, now God rewrites 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:25.820 them. He reverses what sin has ruined. And don't 00:35:25.820 --> 00:35:27.460 miss the last phrase. He says, you're going to 00:35:27.460 --> 00:35:33.320 be my people. And lo am I, representing the people 00:35:33.320 --> 00:35:39.659 of Israel, God's people. will say, you are my 00:35:39.659 --> 00:35:47.880 God. This passage shows us something I think 00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:50.480 we all need to hear and that we know, and that 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:55.500 is sin ruins things. But God reverses what sin 00:35:55.500 --> 00:35:59.579 has ruined. You guys remember what we read at 00:35:59.579 --> 00:36:02.239 the very beginning of service? Revelation chapter 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:07.579 21, the new heavens and new earth. The restoration 00:36:07.579 --> 00:36:11.000 of all things. The one on the throne said, I 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:18.659 am making everything new. Sin ruined identity, 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:22.599 but God gives us a new name. Sin ruined relationships, 00:36:22.820 --> 00:36:26.139 but God renews the covenant. Sin ruined our joy, 00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:29.179 but God brings back the wine and the grain and 00:36:29.179 --> 00:36:32.769 he restores what was scattered. It makes it fruitful. 00:36:32.989 --> 00:36:36.269 You may feel like your story is one of being 00:36:36.269 --> 00:36:39.369 too broken and your past is too shameful and 00:36:39.369 --> 00:36:43.469 your sin is piled up too high, but God specializes 00:36:43.469 --> 00:36:47.449 in name reversal, doesn't he? How many guys know 00:36:47.449 --> 00:36:51.469 who John Newton is? Anyone? He did not invent 00:36:51.469 --> 00:36:57.469 the Fig Newton. That guy... Okay, let's do a 00:36:57.469 --> 00:37:02.699 quick survey. Who likes Fig Newtons? Who doesn't 00:37:02.699 --> 00:37:06.719 like Fig Newtons? Okay. There are more people 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:10.320 who like Fig Newtons. I'm in the doesn't. That's 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:19.559 some nasty stuff. You guys are weird. John Newton 00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:21.699 didn't invent the figs. He actually wrote one 00:37:21.699 --> 00:37:27.559 of the most famous hymns sung across all the 00:37:27.559 --> 00:37:33.800 world. Amazing Grace. And John Newton knew firsthand 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:37.000 what it meant to be given a new name and a new 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.960 story because before Jesus captured him by his 00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:44.860 grace, John Newton was a slave trader. John Newton 00:37:44.860 --> 00:37:47.519 was a slave trader and he was a blasphemer. In 00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:49.739 fact, those who knew him, his peers, said that 00:37:49.739 --> 00:37:53.739 he had a heart as hard as iron. That wasn't a 00:37:53.739 --> 00:37:59.000 good thing. He trafficked in human lives and 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:06.639 he cursed God. But you know what? God loved John 00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:11.960 Newton. And God intervened through a storm and 00:38:11.960 --> 00:38:14.659 a near shipwreck, through nearly the end of his 00:38:14.659 --> 00:38:17.780 life, which began a journey of beginning to become 00:38:17.780 --> 00:38:21.179 open to the wooing of God, the leading of God. 00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:23.559 And through the conviction of the Holy Spirit 00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:26.400 and through his severe mercy in his life, it 00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.320 turned this life around that was a life of ruin 00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:33.360 and made it into a testimony of grace. And years 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:39.460 later, Newton wrote some humble words that resound 00:38:39.460 --> 00:38:42.840 with me and maybe will resound with you. He wrote, 00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:48.599 I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I 00:38:48.599 --> 00:38:53.400 want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another 00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:59.320 world. But still, I am not what I once used to 00:38:59.320 --> 00:39:04.820 be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am. 00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:12.139 That's the kind of reversal God specializes in. 00:39:12.179 --> 00:39:14.380 He doesn't just forgive the past. He rewrites 00:39:14.380 --> 00:39:17.400 our name. He reclaims our identity and he restores 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:22.000 what sin tried to destroy. The valley of trouble 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:25.239 can become the gateway of hope in your life. 00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:32.079 Why? Because God still reverses what sin has 00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:32.360 ruined.