This morning, once again, turn with me to Hosea, this time to Hosea chapter 11. We'll read and consider together the first 11 verses of Hosea chapter 11. Recall, I trust that this prophecy is a story, also a representation. Hosea and his wife Gomer, who was a prostitute whom he was called to marry, That's a picture of Jehovah and Israel. And you may recall that back in chapter 3, Hosea was commanded by God to go take her again. He had married her. Maybe they had a good time for a while in their marriage, even though she was a prostitute, but she had gone off with others, and he was commanded to go get her again. That's exactly what happened with Jehovah and Israel. And now as we come to chapters 11 through 14, this kind of corresponds really with chapter 3, with Hosea going to get Gomer and bring her home, restoring her. And that's what we will find in these chapters somewhat. We still see the sin, we still see the judgment, but also the beauty of God's restoration. Chapter 11, beginning with verse 1 through verse 11. Hear now the word of our God. When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals, and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. Will they not return to Egypt? and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from Me. Even if they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Adma? How can I make you like Zeboim? My heart is changed within me. All my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim, for I am God and not man. The Holy One among you, I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord. Again, may God add His blessing to the reading, the listening, the preaching of His Word this morning. Beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most powerful expressions of love and compassion that we as people, as human beings, experience is the love and compassion of a parent for their children. As children, you know this is true, even though maybe you have not always appreciated it. But as parents, parents love their children so much. Parents rejoice with their children's successes. They hurt with their children's failures. They are torn when their children are hurting and experience troubles and difficulties. And as parents, we say that we would take their miseries upon ourselves. We would die for them if we were able to. and even when they do sin, even when they do wrong, and we get so mad and angry and frustrated with them and know that the punishment, as we say, must fit the crime. We know that our punishment of our children must be severe. As parents, because of our love and compassion, we don't always give them what they deserve. That might be debatable on the side of the child. But we don't always give them what they deserve. Sometimes we take our word back. Sometimes we change it completely. Sometimes we simply back off on that discipline. Because we are compassionate. We love them. And indeed, we desire that they be restored. We desire that they grow and learn from their mistakes. But this love and this compassion of parents for their children is but a glimpse, you see, of the love and the compassion of God for His people and well as of how our salvation exceeds anticipation. You can see that's the title this morning. And for those of you who are into acronyms, maybe you've already noticed that if you take the first letter of each of those words, the title, it comes up with a familiar word, and that word is Hosea. I did not think this up. In a conversation with one of you who swore me to secrecy this past week, you came up with this acronym, and I thought, that's neat. And the more I thought about it, I thought, you know, really that's the message of the prophecy of Hosea in general. How our salvation exceeds anticipation when we consider Israel's sin and what she deserved. And what we know she gets. And really, it fits chapter 11, I believe, in particular. As along with Israel, we, in our sin, we cannot help but to see that our every motive and our every action in sin is against God. It violates His holiness. In sin, beloved, we are so other than our holy God. When we talk about the holiness of God, we're talking about the fact that He is other than all else. In sin, we are so other than our holy God. In sin, we have nothing that deserves His love and compassion. Instead, because of our sin, we deserve the hottest fury that He can pour out upon us. That's all that you and I can anticipate. Nothing more. Yet, because of His love and compassion, because His ways are not our ways, we can claim His favor in Jesus Christ alone. And in Him, we can exclaim, Hosea, how our salvation exceeds anticipation. And I believe we see this here with Israel. First of all, through a merciful call. God's call. Verse 1, When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. A merciful call of a helpless people by a loving God. Now, as we have considered before, I think I mentioned it last week again, from what Moses says to Israel in Deuteronomy, the motivation of God's call of Israel had nothing to do with them, not because they were so great and mighty, not because they were so wonderful, not because they had something to offer Him, but the motivation of God's call of Israel was simply His love. His love, which is not an involuntary emotion that comes and goes based on whatever whim happens to come by, like human love often is. But God's love is a purposeful, deep affection, a covenant loyalty kind of love. Very simply, God chose to love them. He chose to. And as we consider here, especially this first verse and how God speaks of this child, my son, That ought to have been amazing to Israel and ought to be amazing to us in the context of the idolatry that she had fallen into. In the context of the pagan deities who were considered to be far off and uninvolved in the lives of their worshippers, these pagan deities, who were considered to be often so angry because their worshippers had not done enough to appease them or please them. But they were not near at hand. They were not close. They were not considered to be close to the people who served them. But not so with Israel's God. Israel's God was a loving God who had called Israel not because of what she had done or would do for Him, but because of what she needed Him to do for her. A merciful call of a helpless people. Helplessness seen in the fact that she was a child. He calls her a child when Israel was a child. And indeed, again, that points to the intimate relationship that God has with His people, but also it was to be a reminder to Israel of her humility at one time, of her humble beginnings, of her infancy, reminding her that she was needy. The very mention of Egypt was a reminder of her need because of slavery and a reminder of what God had done for her. You see, in slavery, back in Egypt, Israel could, as it were, pull on those chains and tug on those chains of bondage as long and hard as she wanted to, but freedom would not come by her own might. It would not come by her own strength, but one word of the Lord. And a yoke would be broken. She'd be set free. and once she was set free as this young child she needed instruction verse three says it was i who taught ephraim to walk taking them by the arms verse four i led them with cords of human kindness with ties of love i lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them again a beautiful picture isn't it a picture of a parent with a young child just learning to walk and you know how it is. You remember taking them by their hands across the living room floor and picking them up when they fell down? But God's care here, you see, is so comprehensive. Like a parent's care. Feeding the one that cannot feed himself or herself. Giving medicine when they are sick. And indeed, a picture of Israel in the wilderness as her covenant God was providing for her physically and nurturing her spiritually, showing her the way of life and safety. Showing her God's blessing for obedience. Indeed, it was a merciful call of a helpless people who without His care, they would surely die. But it was also a merciful call, beloved, of a rebellious people. not only helpless but also a rebellious people now we would expect especially given our knowledge of having the scriptures before us and given the knowledge that we have been given of the history of god's people and all that he did for them we can list the things even from the plagues that that he used to set them free from egypt and parting the red sea and the walls of jericho come tumbling town, not because they threw rocks at him or anything, or pushed on him, and all the protection and all the victories that God gave to Israel throughout her history, we would expect nothing but gratitude, right? How could there be anything but gratitude? You see, boys and girls, I'm sure that not one of you here, listen up, I'm sure that Not one of you boys and girls here ever forgets all that your parents do for you. Not a thing, right? You remember everything that your parents do for you. And you are so grateful. And you show your gratitude. I'm sure not one of you here ever says to your mom or dad, You don't ever let me, or I don't ever get to... I'm sure not one of you ever says that to your mom or dad, right? You can talk about that when you get home. Israel did. Israel was an ungrateful child. David said in Psalm 103, we sang, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. but that's exactly what Israel did. Notice the second half of verse 3, but they did not realize it was I who healed them. How in the world could Israel not remember that she had her very life because of the mercy of God? How could she not remember that she owed everything to Him? Yet even in the wilderness, you recall that no sooner had they come out of Egypt and they complained, God, why did You take us out here? What were You thinking? Instead, she was busy forsaking Him. Verse 2 says, But the more I called Israel, the further they went from Me. They sacrificed to Baals and they burned incense to images. God sent His prophets one after the other. We have a whole book of them here, don't we? He sent His prophets, but they didn't listen. they just kept going. Again, I think of a small child, and I believe you know what I'll be talking about, a small child looking back as they are running away from mom or dad. They think it's a game, you see, but they're running away, expecting mom or dad to chase after them, but they're running toward danger, maybe toward a busy street. And they're laughing while mom or dad is running after them, shouting for them to stop, shouting for them to come back, because mom or dad sees the danger up ahead. But Israel was not looking back. Israel desired danger. Israel ignored God's prophets. Israel was responding to the merciful love that called and raised her with rebellion. She repaid good with evil, violating the most basic rule of the covenant, you shall have no other gods before me. And not only did she look to other gods, but she gave credit to Baal for everything that Jehovah had done for her. Beloved, Israel was arrogant, forgetting that she was helpless and rebellious, forgetting that her call was not by birth, it was not by right, but it was a merciful call only because of God's electing love and His adoption of her. Israel was ignorant that apart from the mercy of God, she would be destroyed. But isn't it true that the same is true for us. In our sin of pride, sometimes we like to think, well, I'm not so bad. I'm a little bit useful to God. We deserve to be His special people more than those who are really, really sinful. And often we are ungrateful. We forget that apart from His grace, we are helpless and hopeless and rebellious. and we forget that our sinful nature alone, even if we haven't committed any actual sins, our sinful nature alone is enough to condemn us to eternal hell. And we complain if God allows us to struggle with hardships like sickness or job loss or financial difficulties or even marital problems. It's all God's fault because I don't deserve this. See, as those who are saved, beloved, and know it and understand it by the grace of God, we must never forget that our salvation is only by His grace. It is only by God's choice that He nurtures us by His Holy Spirit that we might grow in faith and hope and in love. He protects us and He helps us see Satan's handiwork. He helps us to recognize Satan's attempts to overthrow us. We must never forget that our salvation is only by grace and that the fact of salvation, the fact that there is salvation alone, must exceed our anticipation. Remembering that it is only in the second place through tender compassion. And this tender compassion we see here with Israel, we see it expressed in mercy on the one hand, and we see it also expressed in grace. First of all, this tender compassion expressed in mercy. Now you know what mercy is. When one receives mercy, that means that they do not get what they deserve. Mercy has to do with misery, relieving one of misery, one not getting what they deserve. And God expresses mercy here. Indeed, there's a declaration of judgment. Israel must be and she will be punished. Notice, beginning in verse 5, Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? It's a statement of fact. It's a question, but a statement of fact. Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from Me even if they call to the Most High. He will by no means exalt them. The bottom line is they had gone away from their only true protector and provider and therefore they deserved to be without Him. They deserved no mercy. They deserved to be wiped off completely from the face of the earth and our daily sin, beloved. Our daily sin, the sin that we continue to struggle with, is to be a vivid reminder to you and me that we deserve no mercy. Indeed, it's also to be a reminder of us of what Jesus Christ has done. But those two things, that's what makes salvation so great. It is to be a vivid reminder that we deserve no mercy, but also of what Christ has done. but a reminder that we deserve all the misery that sin earns. But notice, no sooner does the Lord give this declaration of judgment that He follows it up immediately with an exclamation of compassion. Verse 8, How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Adma? How can I make you like Zeboim? My heart is changed within me. All my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. An exclamation of compassion. He will not destroy them. Adma and Zeboim may be names that you're not familiar with, but they are historic examples of God's wrath and annihilation. In Jeremiah, Jeremiah talks in one place about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns around them with them. And in Deuteronomy 29, it speaks of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. It appears that these two towns also were destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah. How can I do that, he says. Yahweh had every right to eliminate Israel from the earth. He said, in essence, that it would happen. And in Lamentations 4, we notice that the punishment of my people, he says, is greater than that of Sodom. But instead, here, we find tender compassion expressed in grace. Not only do they not get what they deserve, they get what they do not deserve. The second part of verse 9 again, beginning there, For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord. Indeed, they will be punished with captivity, but God will not stamp out His rebellious nation as a human conqueror would. Why? Because He is God, not man. David understood exactly what that meant. When David had taken a census which angered God, the Lord gave him a choice of three punishment options, and David said, Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great, but do not let me fall into the hands of men. The focus here is on the character of God. It may seem to us at first sight that God speaks out of both sides of His mouth With one breath he gives the deadly threats and with the next breath he cancels out those deadly threats with the promise of deliverance. How can he do that? You see, we thought that God was changeless. We thought that he said what he means, he means what he says, so how can he change his mind? Could it be here that he was like a frustrated father who got so angry with his child that he spews forth threats of punishment that he never really intended to keep or that he was unable to keep? Is that what's going on? Absolutely not. God says what he means and means what he says. He keeps his word. He's able to keep his word. But neither is he like a man who seeks revenge. Instead, our God works salvation. God remembered His covenant with Abraham. He remembered that He took the oath of death, that He alone passed through those separated pieces. He remembered His promised seed. Now indeed, because God is holy, He cannot tolerate, He cannot accept evil. He had to remove Himself from the wickedness that existed in Israel. Yet He had made a covenant promise to Israel to which His holiness had bound Him. he would not lower his standard, nor would he violate his holiness and truth because his compassion and love was focused on another son. In Matthew 2, we read about Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus fleeing to Egypt because of Herod. And in verse 15, we read where he stayed until the death of Herod, and so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, Out of Egypt I called my son. Israel, we can say, was a type of Christ. We could also say that Christ was preserved in Israel when Israel was delivered from Egypt way back in the Old Testament. God preserved Israel from destruction in order to bring forth the promised Messiah who would preserve true Israel by offering the obedience that she failed to give and by suffering the eternal destruction that she deserves. Beloved, because of Jesus Christ, God is just and He is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus, as Paul says. God is just. He hates sin. Sin must be, it will be dealt with either in the sinner or by another and He will not lower His standard. And when it comes to our sin, we must understand that He hates our sin as much and His wrath burns against our sin as much as it did against Israel's sin. Yet, His wrath has been quenched against our sin in Jesus Christ who felt the full force of God's wrath and punishment as the Father held nothing back of His anger. He was not compassionate upon His Son as He poured forth His anger upon Him for sin. So that God's justice was met. And His word of judgment has been carried out. He is just, but He is also the justifier. So that those who believe in Jesus Christ, their death is paid by Him. God is satisfied with you and me. And our Lord Jesus Christ made our exodus out from slavery to Satan, and He made it a reality. You see, God's redemption of the human soul, as someone has said, is not a pity that agrees to ignore sin, but it is a power that cancels it and sets it free from its dominion. And therefore, beloved, those who have no time for the cross of Jesus can expect no better than Adma and Zeboim. But those who fall at the feet of Jesus have the promise, Beautiful promise of Lamentations 3, verse 22. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. Yet the believer's salvation exceeds anticipation, not only because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, but also what He has done in us by the Holy Spirit. Finally, we consider this through a powerful conversion. Notice verses 10 and 11 again. They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them into their homes, declares the Lord. What a beautiful word of restoration. And I think of the birds in flight there, that the birds don't have to take the freeways and go this corner, that corner. They can take the most direct flight there is. The shortest distance between two points. And the roar of a lion here is not like the roar of the lion in Amos that we find there, which was a sign of doom against Israel because of her complacency, because she was pleased with herself at that time. But this roar was to strike fear and awe into the hearts of Israel's captors that they might let the captives go. This roar would be like music to the captives who would return to the Lord with heartfelt sorrow for sin. And that's what's included in powerful conversion. Heartfelt sorrow for sin. Now, the dove is often used as a symbol of innocence and purity. And we know that earlier in Hosea, he uses it as a symbol of senselessness. But I believe here it's better to be considered as a symbol of innocence and purity. Pointing to that heartfelt sorrow for sin. The born-again heart that is brought to see the hideousness of sin, that is brought to recognize the eternal beating that Jesus Christ suffered for each and every sin of you and me. That heartfelt sorrow for sin includes a love for God and a desire to please Him that cannot live side by side with love for sin. And therefore, a powerful conversion comes also with a headlong flight, like those birds, away from sin. Like the instinct or the irresistible urge of certain birds to fly south for the winter. You see, the Christian, Christians have a new instinct. By the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit, Christians have a new instinct. They no longer dwell, that instinct is to no longer dwell in sin's neighborhood. To no longer take up residency there. The temptations are before our eyes. They are there. Each and every one of us do simply reach out and take the forbidden fruit through lust or envy or compromise or stealing or whatever way. In order to draw us into sinful thoughts and actions. Young people, the temptations are there. When you find yourselves alone with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Or when you find yourself on Facebook. Or in these days, messing with your cell phone camera. To mention a few things. What kind of neighborhood are you in? Is it a pure neighborhood? Or is it a sinful neighborhood? Satan still attacks us with evil lusts and temptations. And in those times, especially, you and I are to remember to whom we belong. That we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And along with the Christian's new instinct comes the Christian's burning desire in the strength of the Holy Spirit to run away from sin. Not at a snail's pace, not at a brisk walk, not at a slow jog, but with an all-out sprint. Because we have been delivered from eternal hell. So how can we stand there by the door? I would imagine that one who was maybe on death row in prison and for some odd reason is set free, is given a pardon and is set free from prison. and the moment they get outside that prison door, they don't stand there and look back and remember all the fond memories they had. But they want to get out of there. They run. Reminds me of recess when I was a kid. Teachers don't take an offense to this, but sometimes classrooms seem like a cell, a jail cell. When recess came, as little kids, there were only so many swings to play on, so we'd get out that door. We would run as fast as we could to those swing sets to be the first one there. That's the Christian's burning desire to run from sin. In the same way here, to strive to please God through obedience because we know that it delights the God who saved me. Beloved, we get to serve the Lord. So think about that. We get to serve the Lord. We get to strive to reflect His holiness. We get to show forth His salvation as imperfect as we do. But we get to show forth His salvation from day to day. Indeed, sin is a constant battle. Yet, because Jesus Christ is victorious in Him, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and nothing will be able to separate us from His love. He has given His life for us. And in this life, if someone saves your physical life, you would do anything for them. So therefore, how could we do anything less for the One who saves us from eternal death? Oh, beloved, our salvation exceeds our every anticipation, imagination, and expectation. Because there is nothing in you and me that can commend us to God. Not our works, not our character, not even our repentance and faith. None of it's good enough. But our salvation was entirely conceived and carried out by Him. And because of His powerful expression of love and compassion in Jesus Christ, we will not even taste one tiny drop of the eternal death we deserve. What amazing love. In His great compassion, God said of you and me, whom He would bless with faith, He said, how can I give you up? And He answered Himself, I will not. I will not. Let that be your comfort, He says. I will not give you up. Jesus Christ Himself delivered us across that infinite span from the eternal death we deserve to the eternal life that we receive. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we must confess to put it in our language that if we could even begin to fathom all of these things, that it would, as we say, blow our minds. Because Your greatness is beyond our understanding. How You could even save such sinful creatures, we cannot understand. For sometimes we fail to be a forgiving people to those whose sin against us pales in comparison to our sin against You. Teach us, O Lord, by what You have done for us that we might be more and more a freely forgiving people because of Your forgiveness of us in Christ Jesus. We thank You, Lord, that we may call You our Father. That You look at us and You say, My child, my children, I love You. I have not given You up. and I never will give you up. Well, Father, may that be our joy, moment by moment, day by day. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.