Apply Within

Bob Davis: These are Christians who have left the Lord, their first love. And he said, "You need to repent and you need to remember from where you have fallen, and you need to do the first works again. You need to come back and get into a love relationship with the Lord." And he was talking to us, to believers. These Ephesians are Christians.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his Word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. As we begin the book of Hosea, we are introduced to the prophet and the message God gave him for Israel. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: The author of the book is a man named Hosea, the son of Beeri. That's basically what we know about him. The word "Hosea" is a form of the word "Joshua." In the New Testament Greek language, you would pronounce it "Jesus." That's how you would say the word. It's a form of the word "Yeshua" or "Hoshea." You can already guess what it means. The word "Hosea" or "Hoshea" means "Salvation."

The date of the writing—well, Hosea was a prophet of the living God and he worked from approximately 780 BC to approximately 715 BC. So he worked for about 60 years in the ministry as a prophet of the living God. I don't know why he's called "minor." I still don't understand that, but whatever. For just about 60 years, this man served God.

Hosea was a contemporary, meaning he lived and prophesied at the same time, of Micah, Amos, and Isaiah. Now, Hosea and Amos were prophets of Israel, prophets of the North, while Micah and Isaiah were prophets down South. So you've got these four major prophets of the Lord: two down South, two up North, preaching. Not too many people were listening to them, but there they were preaching.

That's what you need to know about Hosea. He's not going to tell us much about himself. He's just going to suggest when he served. You read verse 1 and that tells you when he served. I've already told you, but we'll read it anyway. "The word of the Lord that came into Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." You notice he lists kings from the South and kings from the North. That way, you'll be able to pinpoint when he worked and when he served the Lord.

Again, it was from approximately 780 BC to about 715 BC. You remember Isaiah mentioning King Uzziah. I'm sure you recognize the names of these kings when you read verse 1. Here we're talking about the kings of the South, which is called Judah, and the kings of the North, which is called Israel.

Verse 2 says, "The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, 'Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.'" God sends Hosea out to get a wife. God sends him to this woman who is not really all that great.

Now, the argument among the Bible teachers is: when did she go bad? It looks like she went bad after she married him. So when he says "go down and take a wife of the whoredoms," what it looks like the language is saying is: you'll marry this girl, but she will turn out to be a whore, a prostitute. That's what she'll do. But I want you to marry her, even though you realize that, even though you know that. I want you to marry her.

And the "children of whoredoms"—in other words, she doesn't come from a real high-class outfit, basically. An adulterous woman. Some say she was an adulterous woman to begin with. The reason that I would lean away from that is because if she were an adulterous woman, she wouldn't be alive. They would have, according to the law, she would be dead.

But the battle still rages. Here's what I do know: after she marries him, she does go bad. Whether she was bad to begin with or not, she certainly does go bad, and God wants him to do that. And notice in verse 2 that God compares that which is physical to that which is spiritual. As we start out this book in Hosea, notice that. He compares that which is physical to that which is spiritual.

Here's what I mean: "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms." Why? "For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord." So your marriage is going to be a picture of what's happening to me, God says. Now, Hosea marries this girl knowing trouble is coming. And so with Isaiah, and so with Jeremiah. Isaiah took a job knowing it was going to bring him grief and trouble. Isaiah took a job knowing that in his generation, nobody would pay attention to him, and he still took the job.

Hosea took a job knowing that this young lady that he's marrying is going to turn out to not be such a nice lady, but he obeys God and does it anyway. Is there a lesson for you and me there? Figure it out. I think so. Don't we learn in the New Testament that all those who choose to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution? Remember hearing that? Remember hearing Jesus say, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world"? Do you understand that you knew the job was dangerous when you took it?

Within your first few days of being a Christian, you realized this is not a cakewalk. This is not going to be all roses and rainbows. This is not going to be a picnic. As you walked a few months, you started going, "Holy cow, Batman, this is tough." And it was then that you gave up, was it? Or was it then you began to pray, "Lord, you need to grow me up, you need to teach me"? I'm shocked at us. We're all shocked at us and how easily we quit, how easily we break down and cry, "This is hard. I don't like this. Help," when we knew all along that this walk is a daily walk, that it's a tough walk.

Hosea, he marries him a woman. God says, "I want you to marry this kind because it's going to show Israel." Your marriage will show Israel what they've done to me. Israel is adulterous. They've committed spiritual adultery, departing from the Lord God. How did it make God feel? It hurt him. He's very hurt. How is it going to make Hosea feel when his wife takes off and goes into prostitution? And wait until you see why she does it.

Remember, you take that physical and you turn it to spiritual. The Lord compares that which is physical to that which is spiritual. He says Israel has departed from the Lord. They've left me. Keep in mind what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus. All the things he said, "I know your works," and he mentions what's going on, and then he says, "But this I have against you, that you have left your first love, your most important love, you've left it."

As we read through this, I think we're going to see that we as Christians are more than capable of doing that and probably do it more often than we think—even those of you who think you don't. That we have a tendency to leave our first love. I was reading the commentaries and most every one of them suggest the same thing—interesting thinking. I wouldn't have thought that way and I'm not sure I still do, but the commentaries each mention that when a man goes bad, it's a pity, it's a shame.

But when a woman goes bad, it seems to be a thousand times worse. Have you guys noticed that throughout life? You get a woman who becomes a gangster, and she seems to be ten times worse than most any man that you deal with. Why is that? I know it's got something to do with makeup—not what they wear, but how they're built, how they're made up. And it seems to be they suggested it and it's logical. It seems to be Satan understood that and went after the woman first. So there's something to it somewhere. We'll just drop it there and you guys can go before the Lord with that yourself.

God says Israel has committed adultery, departing from the Lord God. So we read verse 3. "He went," Hosea did, "and he took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim." I hope she was prettier than her name; I'm sure she was. As soon as they were married, she conceived and bare him a son. Almost right away, they have a baby, a baby boy. And the Lord said, "I'm going to name your baby. I want you to call him Jezreel, for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel."

That's some bad news, everybody. You name that baby Jezreel to let all Israel know I will destroy it. What does Jezreel mean? Jezreel literally means "God will sow" (S-O-W). How do you sow? What does it literally say? When you sow, you do what with the seed? Scatter it. So the way you and I would use the language today, Jezreel means "God will scatter." That's what he's saying. Name your baby boy "God will scatter." Even the children of this marriage are a symbol and a communication to all of Israel.

The kids of the prophet, not only his wife but even the children, are a communication to Israel. And the boy's name is Jezreel, "God will scatter." And he says, "I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel." Remember, we're talking about the North. As you remember us studying through 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings—read through those, it kind of helps you to understand what these prophets are saying—you'll remember that the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was destroyed completely. The Assyrians came in, they were taken captive, they were raped, it was a mess, and they were gone.

And the South was still protected. Do you recall that? The South still remained intact. And God said to the South, "You ought to learn from your brothers and sisters up North." And what happened to the South? They did not learn and they were taken into captivity to Babylon. See how it all starts fitting together in the Old Testament? It all starts really making sense. It's all written for our examples so that we can learn, so that we can remember, so that we can say, "Oh my goodness, I remember Israel doing that and I don't want to go that way and I don't want to have that attitude."

The Lord said unto him, "Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." God's going to destroy the power of the Northern nation of Israel.

Now, notice, keep this in mind as we go through this book—it's a short book—not only the marriage but the children from that marriage present a lesson to the nation of Israel, and therefore present a lesson to us. We need to learn from this wife and these kids. We need to learn.

Verse 6: "And she conceived again." And she had a baby girl this time, a daughter. And God said unto him, "You name your baby Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses nor by horsemen."

So they had a little girl. They've got the little boy now and it's not too long, they now have a little girl. God says, "Name this baby Lo-Ruhamah." That means—ready?—"no pity." Never knowing a father's pity, no mercy. Boy, you go to kindergarten, you go to third grade, you're starting to grow up, people say, "What's your name?" "No pity. No father's pity." Great name to grow up with. Tough family.

What did God say? Israel for a time will be cut off and they will not know a father's pity or a father's mercy toward them. They will be cast aside. Why? Well, remember the wife. What did the wife do? She left her first love and she went off into prostitution. What did Israel do? I'll read it to you again: they departed from the Lord, the one that loved them, the one that cared for them. They departed.

And as you'll recall, way back in Exodus, remember they made that golden calf and they worshiped the golden calf and it really created trouble? Well, as you read through what Israel was doing as they split into the North and South kingdom, in 1st and 2nd Kings or in Chronicles, as they split, they up North were worshiping those golden calves again. They made two of them. Remember? And they put them on the high places. They were worshiping those golden calves again. Not just a few of them—listen—the entire nation of Israel, the North, the entire nation walked away from God, left their love, and went after other gods.

And so God says, "No pity. No mercy." They will not know a father's pity. When it goes wrong, God says it's going to go desperately wrong. You say, "Does God do that?" Very clearly he does that. The day came—is what we're seeing here—what God's prophesying when he says, "I will utterly take them away." The day came when Israel had played games just a little bit too long. And God said, "I will no longer take pity on you."

But notice in verse 7, God said, "Now the house of Judah was not so far gone." He said, "I'm not ready to judge the house of Judah yet." And God says, "I'll deliver them." How? "I will save them by the Lord their God. I'll not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses or horsemen, but by my power," is what he says. And you do remember, I mentioned it earlier, you can go back and read their history: the North was conquered, but the South still remained for years. What did God say? "I'll spare them. They're not as far gone. There's mercy there. They've got an opportunity to see what happened to their brothers and sisters and turn around."

God did deliver the Southern Kingdom, but he did not deliver the Northern Kingdom. I think there are lessons there for you and I as Christians. We're playing with it sometimes. We're going along in disobedience as we saw Jonah did, going along in disobedience, just doing so much right, but then there are some things wrong we know is wrong. We go along in disobedience, and God continues by the power of his Holy Spirit to call us: "Turn around. Turn back."

Even as a believer, you can get out there pretty far. What are we told? We'll read the verse later on. Aren't we told not to grieve the Holy Spirit? I think that's written to Christians. That's written to true believers. Why? What'll happen? Most people don't even give that thought. What will happen if you and I continue to grieve him? What's he going to do? Good point. He's going to do something. He'll do something. Do you want to wait and see what that something is?

We learn from here—oh yeah, God is merciful, God is kind, God is good, but we're learning about the Lord our God that Jesus says to the Ephesians, "Here's what you need to do: you need to repent." Who was he talking to? These are Christians. These are Christians who have left the Lord, their first love. And he said, "You need to repent and you need to remember from where you have fallen, and you need to do the first works again. You need to come back and get into a love relationship with the Lord." And he was talking to us, to believers. These Ephesians are Christians.

Verse 8: "Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bare another son," a baby boy. Here's number three, they've got three kids. And God said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi" (or "Lo-Ammi," some would say). "For you are not my people and I will not be your God." There's a name to carry. The name means literally "not my people." "Lo-Ammi" or "Lo-Ammi," "not my people." God, I would say, is a little bit hurt, wouldn't you?

Hosea, when you see him start some heavy preaching in chapter 4, he's not just going to be saying it without any emotion. He's going to have experienced what it feels like to love somebody and they walk out on you and give themselves to someone else. He's going to have experienced the feeling, so he's going to be speaking the words of the Lord with some strong emotion behind them. You'll see Jeremiah do that, too. Isaiah, too.

So what a difficult assignment. They had a baby boy they named him "not my people." What is God saying? "You are not my people and I will not be your God." Now, if you want to read it in the Hebrew, put it in our language literally, it's kind of cool. It says, "I am not I AM to you anymore." Did you hear that? "I am not I AM to you anymore." What does that mean? They would no longer experience God's special presence. "I AM," the all-existent one. He says, "I am no longer that to you. I am no longer I AM to you."

"How will we get through the wilderness?" "I AM, I will be with you and I AM." But "I'm no longer that to you." They're no longer going to experience his special saving presence. Now, the good thing about you and I is we don't have to worry that he'll go that far. One thing that I've been promised is he'll never leave you nor forsake you, although you'll continue to wander off from me, I will never leave you. That's grace. Aren't you excited? Aren't you glad?

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is: Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the livestream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.