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Hosea, what is this book all about? Well, it's really, I think, encapsulated in this one Hebrew word - hesed. And the word 'hesed' means loyal, steadfast, faithful love. Hosea is a book about God's loyal love for a very disloyal people, God's faithful love to a very unfaithful people. And it is about God's loyal love to unfaithful Israel.

In order for us to really understand not just the theory of it but the emotions of it, God calls Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer. And He told Hosea that Gomer will be unfaithful to him.

And indeed, Gomer went on to pursue other lovers. And it is in that betrayal, in that adulterous relationship, that we can sense the grief and the pain and the agony of Hosea. And in that sensing of that grief and pain of Hosea, we can begin to understand a little about the grief and pain of God when Israel betrays Him.

You see, sometimes we think about God as someone who is so sovereign, so all-knowing, so in control that we think He's almost robotic or mechanical, that He will not feel grief nor pain in sin. But that cannot be further from the truth. Over and over again in the Bible, God emotes, God expresses His grief when people sin against Him. And certainly in the case of Israel, God is grieved with their constant betrayal and unfaithfulness.

And it is in that light of that pain and agony and emotion of betrayal that we see how stunning God's love is. Because even though Israel is so undeserving, God never gives up on Israel. His love for them is loyal, is steadfast, is faithful. It is absolutely out of this world.

Some of you today come to church, maybe for the first time. And you ask, "What's so special about the God of the Bible?" Let me tell you what's so special about the God of the Bible, this singular word - hesed. That this is a God who is not just great in power and wisdom and might, but great in love and generosity and magnanimity. Who would know of a Being like this, if not for the Bible?

So maybe today you're asking yourself, "I'm so messed up in life, I'm so steeped in sin. Can I ever, ever find love and acceptance? Will this God, will any God love me or want me or save me? Can there still be forgiveness for someone like me?" Or maybe today you are a Christian, but you have messed up. You have sinned against God and you're so filled with guilt and shame and you ask, "Will God still accept me?"

Well, I hope today's message through the book of Hosea would bring an answer and comfort to your heart. We worship a God who is known for his hesed love, his loyal, steadfast, unwavering love for an unfaithful, undeserving people.

So Gomer, she's going to go after other lovers. And she's meant to depict and to display how Israel has gone after foreign idols or strange gods. You will see that in this text, these gods or these idols would be known as 'Baals'. That's a term, that's a title. And she will go after these other gods.

But in the midst of it all, I would like to remind you about the overall and overarching theme, theme of the book of Hosea and that is really still hesed and steadfast love. How is this seen in Gomer or Israel going after foreign gods?

Three things I'd like us to notice in our very long Scripture today, Chapter 2 all the way to Chapter 3. Just three things that I hope would anchor your thoughts.

1. Warning of Punishment
Number one: we see that in Chapter 2 verse 2 to Chapter 2 verse 13 or 14, there is this warning of punishment. God is going to punish Israel for her unfaithfulness. And God warns about it. But even in that warning and in that punishment, it is all out of love. Let me try to show it to you.

In verse 2, we read, "Plead with your mother, plead ̶̶̶ ̶̶ ̶̶ for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband ̶̶̶ ̶̶ ̶̶ " [2:2a]. Now, you've got to understand that this is Hosea speaking to his children and you know their names? Not Mercy, John and Jane but, Jezreel, No Mercy and Not My People. Strange names, right?

But Hosea speaks to his children and say to them, "Son, daughter, go and talk to your mom. Plead with Gomer, plead with her because she's not behaving like my wife and I am not treated like her husband. Tell her that she should put away whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts." [2:2]

What he's saying is, tell her to turn because she's putting on the makeup, her cosmetics, her perfume, her clothing, ready to seduce some other men. Tell her to stop all that. We get a picture - Gomer is adulterous, hell-bent on seducing other lovers.

God uses this picture to describe Israel now and to warn Israel what is going to come to her. Because in verse 3, the imagery shifts to Israel. So we begin with Gomer, but it quickly goes to Israel. Israel, put away your adulterous ways, "lest I strip you naked, strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst." [2:3]

This is poetic language. It's talking about how God is going to inflict drought and famine to the land of Israel. God will strip all the blessings and abundance from the land of Israel.

Now these are not threats that are new. These are not warnings that are new. Because way back during the days of Moses - Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus 26 - God had already warned Israel that if you are unfaithful to Me, if you sin against Me, I'm going to do all these things to you. In fact, there is a whole long list of curses and consequences if they should disobey. So this is nothing new, but God now reiterates this threat, this warning of punishment upon Israel if she should not put away adultery.

"Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. For their mother (Israel) has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me bread, water, wool, flax, oil and drink.' " [2:4-5]

The reason why she went after all these foreign gods is because she believed that she could get stuff and things and materials she wants for her own comfort. And God said, "I'm going to stop you. I'm going to be hedging up your ways with thorns. I'll build a wall against her" [2:6]. So like an animal stuck in a pen, I'm going to hem Israel in. She's going to get nowhere, she's going to be frustrated, she'll be hemmed in.

"She shall pursue other lovers but not overtake them, she shall seek them but shall not find them" [2:7a]. She will not have her way with the other gods. There will come a day I will stop her.

Why? Why all these pain and suffering? Why all these punishment?

Well, it is not because God is vindictive. It is not because God just wants to deal away with them or eliminate them or annihilate them. Because the Bible tells us, "Then she shall say," this is key, I do all these things so that one day, "she shall say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then, then than now.' " [2:7b]

So God does all these things, not because He will forsake Israel, but because He still loves Israel and He wants Israel to learn and to turn.

I suppose, as parents we all understand this. When we deal harshly or strongly with our children, we discipline them but we do that out of love. I hate to discipline my kids. I hate to inflict consequences on my kids. But it is necessary, not because I hate them but because I want the best for them, I want them to turn.

And God is saying the same thing. The punishment I inflict upon Israel is not to eliminate them, but because I want them to turn, to turn back to Me.

". . . she did not know," you see, "that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold" [2:8]. All that she had was from Me.

But the tragedy and the travesty is that they took all that I gave them and poured it out for Baal. They.. they took all that I gave them to love other lovers.

What are, what is this Baal? Well, the Hebrew word means 'master' or 'lord' or 'owner'. It's a title, not quite a name. It's like the word 'lord'. Lord is not a name, it's a title. So you have Lord Hutchinson or Lord something else. But that's the title.

And this word has been associated with Canaanite gods. So they have used it for the masters, the lords, the gods of the Canaanite people. So in the Bible, you read of the Lord Peor, Baal Peor [Numbers 25:3] or Baal Hermon [Judges 3:3], Baal Berith [Judges 8:33]. These are the geographical gods, geographical Canaanite gods.

So Israel has foolishly followed the Canaanites. They did not realize, they did not accept, they did not believe that the riches and the blessings they have gotten is from Jehovah God, but they've used it to pursue other gods hoping to get even more stuff for themselves.

Therefore, I will take away your phone and your TV and your Netflix. I'll take away all these things from you. ". . . I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of My hand." [2:10]

This graphically portrays the total impotence of the Baals. When God does this, when God removes and when God sends a drought and a famine, no other Baals could do anything about it. They can only stand there and watch Israel stripped bare. They are no gods.

And God 'will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her celebrations' [2:11]. "And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees . . ." [2:12a]. There will be absolute disaster, agriculturally speaking. "I will make them a forest, the beasts of the field shall devour them" [2:12b]. Their crops will be no more. "And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them . . ." [2:13a].

So in verses 1 to 13, you clearly read about the warning and the punishment that is to come. But I want you to see this in the right context. Again, this is not about God wanting to annihilate Israel and say, "I'm done with you guys." No, it's exactly the opposite! God does all these things so that one day they will return.

See, so often we think of pain and difficulties and tragedies of life as if God is done with us. Does not always mean that.

This week I was reminded of a man - a doctor. Er, I just thought about him as I was preparing the sermon and someone also sent me a video of this man. So I thought, okay, let me share this with you.

He's a medical doctor. His name is Richard Teo Keng Siang. He was very successful in his practice and in his business. When he was in the 30s, he was already having a practice that brings in millions of dollars a year. He got to have his Ferrari 430. He rubbed shoulders with Eduardo Saverin, who is the co-founder of Facebook. He rubbed shoulders with Miss Universe Singapore and so on and so - he was living it up.

But, in mainstream media, we read 'Late millionaire surgeon's last words on money, Ferraris and true joy'. When he was about 40, he was diagnosed with cancer. And these are the things he would share whenever he could to different groups of people.

"In my death bed, I found no joy whatsoever in whatever objects I had - my Ferrari, thinking of the land I was going to buy to build my bungalow, having a successful business."

He actually even said, "What's the use of my Ferrari? I can't hug the Ferrari in my coffin."

"When I faced death, when I had to, I stripped myself of all stuff totally and I focused only on what is essential. The irony is that a lot of times, only when we learn how to die, then we learn how to live."

"And most importantly, I think true joy comes from knowing God. Not knowing about God," or just the facts about God, "I mean, you can read the Bible and know about God, but knowing God personally; getting a relationship with God."

Oh cancer! It's a curse on you, Richard! It's a tragedy on you, Richard! But if you speak with Richard today, he will say to you, "It's not a tragedy! It's like what Hosea is saying. God is stripping me bare. God is hemming me in so that I will turn and realize that there is no satisfaction, no joy, no meaning in the Ferraris or the bungalows way of life. It can only be found in my first Husband, my Creator God."

Is it a tragedy? No. It is a blessing. I'm 100% sure that's how Richard would think henceforth forevermore.

You see, this is the love of God. I'm not saying, I'm not assuming that everything that happens in everybody's life is good. Sometimes, if you're hardened in your sin, hell-bent on rejecting God, then there will be many, many things that happen in your life that is not for your good because ultimately you may end up without Christ, without salvation. That to me is absolutely devastating.

But there are for some people, I hope many people, seemingly bad things that can happen, but they are actually for your good. A cancer, a pain, a road traffic accident, a humbling moment - they may not be the final chapter of your life, they may be the entrance to a new life with God.

And I'm saying to you that the Bible does hold for us a glorious message of hope. That even though we go through hardships, God is directing all our attention that we may seek Him and Him alone.

I was meeting someone this week and after that conversation, I received a text from the person. It says, "Forgot to ask you this question yesterday, Pastor Jason. Do you still think there's hope for my dad? I've been thinking that God abandoned my family already."

Well, the father was someone who professes faith in Jesus Christ but whose life is anything but that at this point. Living in sin, disregard; suffering has come into the family, and the person asks, "Are all these things signs that God has abandoned us?"

It's a difficult answer, or question to answer, right? Because how do I know? I'm not God! I didn't get a memo from God telling me exactly what the situation is and His verdict is.

But this is my reply. "I.. I think one can choose to repent and believe Jesus whilst one is still alive." I'm talking about the dad. I still think there is possibility, if he is not saved, really not saved, that he can still be saved. "And if so, then one will not be abandoned for sure." That's how it is.

"Perhaps all these losses and pains are possibly ways God is turning your family to Himself too." I cannot be sure exactly what's happening right now, but I do know that the invitation to receive God and His Son as your Lord and Saviour is still available.

My point is, instead of wondering and struggling with, "Has God abandoned me or not?"; I say the Gospel invitation is very much available. ". . . whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" [John 3:16b].

Doesn't matter how messed up your life was. Doesn't matter how messed up your life is. If you are willing to repent and to believe, you receive everlasting life. You receive the adoption into the Kingdom of God. You are greatly loved and you will never be forsaken because of Jesus.

And so these pains that you are experiencing today are not necessarily curses from God, but maybe it's meant for you to redirect your attention back to Him.

Perhaps some of you today are Christians, I hope many of you are Christians, and you are today facing trials. And it's tempting for even Christians to think, "Oh! God, You must hate me for allowing me to go through this hardship." No, it's not!

Sometimes it's God redirecting your focus. Don't treat pain and suffering as if they are God's rejection. He will never reject His children. His love for us is so strong, 'nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus' [Romans 8:39]. But these pains and trials may be redirections because you are living in a sinful way. And He does want you to come back to Him.

So, when God warns of punishment to Israel, it was not out of just a desire to annihilate them, but it flows from a heart of love. We've got to see that hesed here.

2. Wooing with Promises
The second thing I think you should notice is that the tone suddenly changes in verse 14. So there's very severe, heavy, scary warning, again all in the context of love. But quickly it switches to a super, super positive, appealing, alluring language. Because He now woos. This is about love. He warns them of punishment but now He seeks to woo and to win back Israel with beautiful promises.

For example, in verse 14, "Therefore, behold!" Look! Pay attention! "I will," there will come a day, a future day, "I will allure her," I will romance her, I will win her back. Oh yes, Israel sins against Me, Israel betrays Me, and I will punish Israel, but I have not given up on Israel. I will never give up on Israel. There will come a day I will romance her, win her back, "and bring her into the wilderness . . ." [2:14].

What is this wilderness? Well, this wilderness, I think, is with reference to Sinai. Mount Sinai is where God and Israel were wedded together in Holy Matrimony. Remember Exodus 19? If you do all these Words, you will be My people and I will be your God and they say, 'We will, I do' [Exodus 19:8]. So when God says, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness," God is saying, "I will bring her into our '老地方' [lao di fang - chinese] - our old, usual, romantic place. And there I will speak tenderly to her."

Some of you, your 'lao di fang' - Sentosa; some of you 'lao di fang' - zoo. I don't know where lah. But God brings Israel, in a sense, to a place where He would win her back.

"And there," I will reverse all the curses and punishments, "I will give her her vineyards . . ." Previously, I'll make her a parched land, but now 'I will give her her vineyards and I will make the Valley of Achor . . .' [2:15a].

What is the Valley of Achor? Achor is a place where Achan sinned against God. He stole from God. And Achor was cursed and therefore it is synonymous with failure and sin and shame. But God says, "I'm going to turn Achor around, just like I'm going to turn Israel around. I'm going to make 'Achor a door of hope' [2:15a]. Likewise, I'm going to make Israel a place of blessing."

"And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth," like was in Moses' days, "as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt" [2:15b]. So you know that wilderness Sinai imagery is what Hosea has in mind here.

"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call Me 'My Husband', and no longer you will call Me 'My Baal' " [2:16]. 'Baal' means owner, master or lord. So you're not going to know Me as just a high and far away Lord, but you'll know Me intimately.

And secondly, there will be absolutely no confusion whatsoever; you will not syncretize, you will not mix the worship of Jehovah with the Canaanitish gods. It will be clear. There will be no traces of idols. "For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more" [2:17]. I will rid you, I will cleanse you, I will purge you from all idols in that future day.

"And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground" [2:18a]. You will live in absolute security and peace.

Previously, the beasts will devour your fields. Now, no more. I have made a covenant, I will make a covenant with the animals and they will not touch you. They will not destroy your fields. You will have peace from animals and you will have peace from men. 'And I will abolish the bow, the sword, the war, and I will make you lie down in absolute safety' [2:18b].

Be My wife, "And I will 'betroth' you to Me forever" - just three times in these two verses [2:19-20]. Clear, I am going to take you as My wife. I have not forsaken you. But this time, our marriage will be of a totally different quality, totally different character because it will be 'in righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness'. Things that are absolutely missing from you right now.

You are unfaithful to Me. You don't really love Me. But there will come a day, O Israel, though you treat Me as such, I will love you and win you back and betroth you to Myself. And in that day, ". . . you shall know the LORD" [2:20]. Not know about the LORD, but know the LORD in intimate relationship.

"And in that day I will answer . . ." [2:21a]. What is the word 'answer'? Well, He says 'answer the heavens, answer the earth, answer the grain'. The word 'answer' in the Hebrew means to speak to or to sing to or to respond. The idea here is God is going to trigger and to start that process to bless Israel agriculturally. I'm going to speak to the heavens and the heavens would rain. And the rain would nourish the earth and the earth will respond with fruitfulness.

And you have abundance because I, the LORD, will speak to the heavens and to the earth and to the crops 'and they shall answer Jezreel' [2:22], which means to sow. I am the One who 'will sow her for Myself in the land'. I will see that she flourishes and blossoms and blooms. "And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are My people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.' " [2:23]

So there will be a scary time of pain and suffering and punishment for Israel. But God will not give up on Israel and there will come a day of abundance and blessings and mercy and betrothal and marriage. That's what Hosea is talking about.

The apostle Paul understands Hosea completely. And so he quotes Hosea 2:23, this verse in Romans Chapter 9. He says that there will be this whole group of people called 'Not My People' who will become 'My people'. And the apostle Paul applies this not only to the Jewish people, but he applies this to the Gentiles. You and I today are Gentiles. Gentiles are non-Jews.

So God is not only going to save the Jews, but God is going to save the Gentiles because they were not My people but they will one day be My people. And so I am today, by the grace of God, many of you today are by the grace of God, God's people.

But, let's not forget that even though the Gentiles are being saved today, the Jews will also one day be saved. There are Jews being saved today, I think. For the past 2,000 years, I am 100% sure there are Jews being saved but they are saved in small numbers. The Bible holds out a promise that there will be a day when many Jews will be saved.

And I think Paul understands this when he continues writing in Romans 9; he goes on to Chapter 11 where he says, there is '. . . a partial hardening that has come upon Israel . . .' [Romans 11:25]. There's a kind of blinding, there's a kind of hardening of heart that has happened to Israel. Some are saved but not a lot.

But this hardening is not forever. It will be '. . . until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in' [Romans 11:25]. What do you mean by 'the fullness of the Gentiles'? It means when that complete number of Gentiles who should be saved are saved. When there's that demonstration of God's grace for the Gentile people; when that is done, the hardening will be removed, then 'all Israel will be saved' [Romans 11:26].

There will be a massive conversion amongst the Israeli or the Jewish people. ". . . all Israel will be saved. . . ." Why? Is it because they suddenly become good people and they earn their way to God? Oh, not at all!

". . . as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion . . .' ", and I'm 100% sure this refers to Jesus. Jesus will be the One who will save them, and 'He will banish ungodliness from Jacob' [Romans 11:26].

So we today, are looking forward and anticipating a future day, even as we speak today in 2023. Hosea was written thousands of years ago. Now in 2023, we are saying there will come a future day where Israel will be richly blessed. They will dwell in security. They will know God personally. They will flourish as a people. That is a clear sign that God is hesed, is loyal in love, and will never give up Israel.

The nation of Israel is really a country, a nation, with a very colourful history. No matter how they went up or down, up or down, you know one day God will do this. Because God is faithful in love.

So, God's love, God's hesed for Israel; oh it's so beautifully seen in Hosea.

When he warns them so that, and punishes them so that they may turn. And when he woos them with promises - promises of the new covenant, promises of how God will change their hearts and betroth Him to righteousness and steadfastness and mercy and so on.

But finally, this hesed love of God is again demonstrated in a story. It's interesting. Chapter 1, you start with a story, then you explain the issue. Chapters 2 and 3, you kind of reverse it. He explains the issues that are needed about the punishment and then the alluring, before it ends off with a story.

3. Weaving of a Picture
And the story is weaved in as a picture here in Hosea and Gomer once again. We see that the LORD said to Hosea. Now this is what I want you to do. This is the picture I want you to set. This is the example I want Israel to see. "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress . . ." [3:1a]. Go and love Gomer. I know she had betrayed you, she went after other lovers but don't give up on Gomer. Go and get her back to be your wife.

Why? ". . . even as," in the same way, "as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins" [3:1b], things that they offer in idolatrous worship.

Hosea, I want you to do this. Why? Because I want you to be the picture. I'm weaving a picture; I'm using you to display my hesed love.

So Hosea obeyed and bought Gomer 'for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley' [3:2]. You say, what is this? Scholars tell us this is roughly altogether 30 shekels of silver, which is about the price you pay for a slave. The implication is that Gomer has so prostituted herself, so degraded herself, so abandoned herself that she has become now a prostitute, sold like a slave in a marketplace.

And Hosea comes and pays the price for her redemption. Perhaps a picture of how God pays the price of redemption for those who have sold themselves in sin, for all of us who are in sin.

"And I said to her, 'You must dwell as mine for many days' " [3:3a]. Gomer, now that I've set you free, I've redeemed you, you shall be mine. I've paid for you, I've bought you, I love you. "You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man" [3:3b] anymore. Don't you ever do that again.

But this is interesting, ". . . so will I also be to you" [3:3c]. In the Hebrew, it's really difficult to get. But I think the best sense of it is, just as you will not have any other man, nor intimacy with other men, so I will also not have intimacy with you.

Hah? What? Hosea, I thought you are supposed to get your wife to be with you again! Yes, she will be my wife, she will not have any other man, but I will not have intimacy with you. Why? Because my marriage to Gomer is meant to be a picture. Picture of what?

"For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods" [3:4]. I'm not going to have a relationship, intimate relationship with my wife because this is what God wants me to display. That God, though will save Israel, one day there will be a time where Israel will not have intimacy with God.

Now, without king or prince, you know what this is. They will have no leader, no king. Without sacrifice, they will not have sacrifices unto God, that's clear. Pillar, what is this pillar? Well pillars, I will not belabour or encumbrance you too much with all the proof texts about where the pillars occur in the Bible. But pillars are often associated with idol worship, Canaanite worship; they set up pillars to worship their Canaanite gods.

So God is saying there will come a time you will not do these things anymore. You will not do this Canaanite worship thing anymore. Without ephod - ephod is that dress or that attire for that priest, wherein is that Urim and Thummim, where they can seek guidance from God. So you will not have guidance from God, that's what the ephod symbolizes. And you will not have household gods; so obviously these are idols.

So there's a mixture of good things, Biblical things, godly things and there is also bad things or idolatrous things. What God is saying is there will come a time where all the orthodox and the heterodox things will be taken away from your national religious life.

When did this happen? Zhun bo [are you sure it's accurate - Hokkien dialect]? When did this happen? Well, I think this happened when the Assyrians came in AD or 722 BC and Israel lost the kingdom. They have no king, no prince. They have no temple worship. And after those years, they were stripped and cured of idol worship. That's what happened.

And so Hosea's abstinence from Gomer is meant to display that state that Israel will be in. But 'afterward'..., hah! when you read the Bible, some words are just hard to grasp. When we read the word 'afterward', we think 'immediately'. But now that we look back at history and we look at the Scriptures and how Paul understands Romans and how he understands the plan of God in saving Israel and the Gentiles, we now realize that the 'afterward' is not immediate.

This 'afterward' ah, very long 'afterward' ah - thousands of years! And we still don't even know when! But I think there will come a time in the future, alright, not now! Because 'a partial hardening has happened to Israel, the fullness of the Gentiles has not yet fully come in' [Romans 11:25].

But "Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God . . ." [3:5], just as God said they will. In verse 7 of Chapter 2 and in verse 16 of Chapter 2, you will do that. There will come a day you will do that. And that day will happen when you 'seek the LORD their God, and David their king' [3:5].

So this is not something that would happen too early. It is only after they know David their king.

Now, what is this David the king? David has already died! Ma keow liao! Si liao [already died - local dialects]! Why would you seek the dead David the king? Oh no.. no.. no. Then you understand. It's not about the David who was the shepherd boy, but it's about the King who would come from David's line. The forever King, the Davidic King that is promised to David in 2 Samuel Chapter 7.

Now this David their King is not unique to Hosea. The other prophets also talk about David their King. Jeremiah 30 verse 9: ". . . David their King . . ." Jeremiah 33:17: ". . . David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne . . ." The Davidic King - 2 Samuel 7.

Ezekiel 34 tells us, ". . . I will raise up for them one shepherd, my servant David . . ." [v 23]. I will raise up, not yet, but I will. Even though David is dead, because there's another David, a greater David, the descendant of David who is also the Son of God. "My servant David shall be King over them and one shepherd for them" [Ezekiel 37:24].

And so, salvation for Israel will be found in David their King. When Jesus walked on the earth and performed miracles, the beggar would come and say, "Have mercy on me, O Son of David." Even though he was blind physically, he was sharp spiritually. He knew that Jesus, the carpenter's son, was the Messiah, the Saviour, the promised King of David.

And so one day Israel will have their eyes opened. Their hardening will be removed and in great numbers, they will come to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. For now, the Gentiles are being saved in great numbers. God intends for this to provoke Israel to jealousy. But one day, the Israelites or the Israeli or the Jewish people will be saved. And when they are saved in great numbers, the whole world will be saved.

And Paul ends off that description with saying, "Wow! How unsearchable is the riches and the wisdom of God!"

This is God's plan. But running through it all is the theme, hesed - God's loyal love for an unfaithful people. It's true for Israel; it is true for the church of Jesus Christ.

And if you today do not know God, do not know the Bible, I will say this to you, think about this - is there any other religion or faith or God that displays hesed?

Many religions talk about the might, the power, the wisdom of the deities. But I've yet to hear of a God who is the God of all grace. The God of amazing hesed and faithful love even when we are unfaithful.

Today you are the creature; you are created by a Creator. But you have betrayed Him, you have refused to acknowledge Him, you wanted to live your own life, you wanted to chart your own course. You have enjoyed your life, the blessings, the provisions of life and never ever given thanks to this Creator.

I tell you today, if you would repent and believe in Jesus Christ, you would still be loved, you would still be accepted, you would still be forgiven. The Bible tells us God commands men everywhere to repent. This is God's Word to you, this is the God we serve. May the goodness of God lead you to repentance today.

And for all my brothers and sisters in Christ, it's painful to live in sin and you will be filled with shame and guilt. But realize today God is going to forgive you not because you are deserving, but because He is good. He's the God of hesed. You can, even today, turn back to Him in humility, in brokenness and believe He loves you still, because of Jesus. Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

Father, thank You so much for Your Word. The Bible You gave us is not a manual for DIY quick fixes or self-improvement. But the Bible is a description, a revelation of who You really are and what You have done and will do. We greatly rejoice in knowing You through the Scriptures today. That You are the God of amazing mercy and grace and love, hesed, faithful love. May Your love draw men and women to Yourself this morning.

For sinners who need to repent and to believe in Jesus, O God, please work in their hearts. Cause them to humble themselves that they may know their need for Jesus.

I pray for Your children. Lord, there are idols in our lives. There are Baals, there are Ferraris, there are bungalows that we are dreaming about. O Lord, forgive us for using all that You have given us to pursue these lovers.

Thank You for sometimes, oftentimes, hemming us in, giving us pains and thirsts and droughts and famines. May we not turn bitter against You, thinking that You reject us. But may we thank You because You are simply redirecting us.

May we break down the high places. May we worship You alone. Thank You. We pray all this in Jesus' Name, Amen.

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