Can you please open your Bibles to the prophet Hosea? And today I would like to speak with you about Hosea chapter 6. Actually, when we finished chapter 5 in our last ministry meeting, we should really have continued into the first three verses of chapter 6. In fact, this is where you learn to see how the divisions of the chapters that we found today in the Word of God is not spiritually divided. It is simply given by someone who felt that that should be the break in certain chapters. You find it in some passages in the New Testament. You also find it in the Old Testament. There are certain breaks of the chapters that should really not be there, but nevertheless, we still follow those breaks of chapters because that's the way it had been brought down over the generations.

So I'm going to begin today to read in chapter 6 and verse 1, which says this way. Come, and let us return unto the Lord. For he has torn, and he will heal us. He has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us. In the third day he will raise us up. And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, since we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain unto the earth. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?

O Judah, O Yehudah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew is going away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant. They dealt treacherously against me. Gilad is a city of them that work iniquity and is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent, for they commit lewdness.

I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel. There is whoredom of Ephraim. Israel is defiled. Alas, O Judah, he has set an harvest for thee when I return the captivity of my people. I'll stop here with verse 11 at the end of chapter 6 of the prophet Hosea. And I would like to remind you of what we just finished to study in the last ministry meeting in the prophet Hosea in chapter 5. And if you remember, the title of chapter 5 was the fact that God had hidden himself from the people of Israel. God has removed himself. He withdrawn himself from his own people, the nation of Israel.

These are the northern tribes of Israel because of the state of the nation, the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel. And you remember when we have looked at those verses in chapter 5, we really could see how God, because of the sin of the nation, He withdrew Himself and let them experience the consequence of their sin. I made mention last time in a ministry meeting that is very similar sometime in our own life. We sometimes feel as if the Lord is not with us. We sometimes feel as if the Lord is not blessing us because it seemed to be that He withdrawn Himself from us because of that which has existed in our lives.

And that's what He did. If you remember, we have read in chapter 5 and verse 14 where God said to the northern tribe of Israel, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, verse 14, and as a young lion to the house of Judah, I, even I, will tell and go away. I will take away and none shall rescue him. And the last verse of chapter 5, verse 15, says, I will go and return unto my place. Here is God. The God of Israel is saying to the nation, he says, look, Ephraim, look, Israel, you have been living on an ongoing basis, a life of whoredom, disobedience to me, and I'm going back unto my place until you are going to acknowledge your offenses.

And that's what God does. Remember, we also read in the Song of Solomon, with this Shunammah, it wanted so much. To see her beloved and she was at the time when he wanted her to come and wanted her to open the door that she didn't open the door she was not going up from bed she was not going to approach and to come to him and to allow him to come in so he withdrew himself and then she began to search for him that's what happened in our lives as well brothers and sisters when the Lord wants to have fellowship this is the Lord Jesus the Messiah he wants to have fellowship with us and when we do not allow him to come into our lives we shut the doors if it were and he's not allowed to come in what happened when we go through difficult time and trouble And we want now to have His presence.

We want now to have His guidance and His blessing. And He's seemingly withdrawing Himself from us. And let us experience the consequence of our hardness of heart. You remember we read in the book of Revelation concerning the church of Laodicea. We read this in these chapters, in chapter 2 and chapter 3, when the Lord himself is speaking to the people to the professing church and he said if you remember in chapter 3 and verse 20 says behold i stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door i will come in and i will sup with him and he with me the Lord Yeshua the Lord Jesus is knocking on the door of the hearts of the professing church and i would like to suggest that sometime because of the hardness of the hearts of the saved company the believers because of self-will he's knocking and knocking and knocking he find himself out while the person do not allow him to come in and have fellowship and so beloved brothers and sisters in Hosea chapter 5 and 6 continuing now you can see that it is exactly what happened and the Lord is going back as he has said here in these verses he withdrawing himself he removed himself and he's.

Going back he said i will return unto my place chapter 5 and verse 15 until you will acknowledge your offenses and seek my face and now there is a break here according to those who divided the chapters but if you will see reading the next three verses into chapter 6 you will see how much connected those next verses in chapter 6 with the previous verses of chapter 5 what really we see here in the next three verses of Hosea chapter 6, we can see and we can hear the voice of the remnant of Israel at the end of the tribulation when they are finally being restored to the Lord. Actually, the Holy Spirit of God taking us over the ages, passing the ages of the time of the people of Israel divided state of the two nations taking us over the ages the time where the assyrian took the northern tribes captives later on the Babylonian took the southern tribes captives and takes us over the ages and bring us over to the end of the tribulation period.

Where the remnant of Israel finally come into a place of confession before the Lord and repentance this takes us those verses all the way to the end of the tribulation and it takes us to see a remnant who is truly repented before the Lord and so we see in verse 1 the first part we hear the voice of the repented remnant and what do they say come they say and let us return unto the Lord for he has torn and he will heal us he has smitten and he will bind us now it is interesting because the English one is actually not come but go it is a word that tells us of an action of this remnant of Israelis at the end of the tribulation who will say let us go and return unto the Lord That is exactly what the Lord is waiting for.

He is waiting for the restoration of the nation. He is waiting when the nation will finally be so broken before Him that they will say, let us go and let us return unto the Lord. In Hebrew, it says, Go and we are going to return. The word here for return is the Hebrew word that has come from what we know many times the word teshuva or tshuva. Tshuva means to turn about, to return to the Lord, to make 180 degrees change in your direction. When a person is lost in trespasses and sins, this person needs to make 180 degrees change in saying, I will repent and I will return and I will change my ways and turn to the Lord.

And that is exactly what the nation is doing here. And you hear the voice of this remnant and they say, let us go and return unto the Lord. You see, they need to return. Why they need to return? Because they have gone astray. You only need to return when you are going astray away from the Lord. When we are going astray, we need to turn around and return. You know, this is very practical. It's practical in a Christian life, in our lives as well, the life of the believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. When we're going away from the Lord, the only way to fix things up is to return to where we left, the place where we have left already we used to be there we used to be in fellowship with the Lord Israel used to be in fellowship with God enjoyed God's word enjoyed God's feast but they have turned away they have turned to other gods they have turned to hudam to spiritual hudam and they needed to now return back unto the Lord like the prodigal son in Luke chapter 16 he have left his father he have gone away from his father he have gone to the world and to the pig pen and he experienced all the folly and the sadness and the sorrow and at the end he had to do the very same thing to come to the very same place where he have left years before he went back unto the father he said i will return unto the father and i will confess before him and this is what we see that.

Is doing here let us turn unto the Lord it says here let us return unto the Lord because we have left this place and now they need to return unto the Lord and Jeremiah speak about this as well in chapter 50 and verses 4 and 5 where we read there in those days in that time says the Lord the children of Israel shall come and they and the children of Judah together going and weeping and they shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their faces see the word saying come let us join ourselves to the Lord in the perpetual covenant that he or that shall not be forgotten let us turn around they will say let us go back unto the Lord we have left him we need to go back and to be restored to him and it's so precious isn't it to see this here in chapter six they are the voice of the nation the voice of the remnant of Israel in the future.

Day and so as they said that let us return unto the Lord and then they said in verse 1b that their affliction that the Lord had given to them is for reason to do something in their hearts and conscience in order the day will be healed ultimately see what they are saying he has torn and he shall heal us he has smitten and he will bind us that's what the Lord did to this nation to the nation of Israel he have torn them you remember in the chapter before chapter 5 we read I will be unto Ephraim as a lion as a young lion to the house of Judah and then he says a little bit later on also that he will tear you notice it says in chapter 514 i will tear and go away so now the people of Israel after they acknowledge and recognize that the punishment that they receive because of their sin they say listen God will tear but also God will heal God has smitten us but he also will.

Bind us. Sometime, in the disciplinary actions of God, he's tearing, he's smiting his own people. He's disciplining his own people, but he doesn't leave them that way. He ultimately is binding them, and he's ultimately seeking to heal his very own people. And that's precious as well that we learn here in these verses there is always grace available from the Lord for the people of God there is always even sometime when he discipline when he's tearing and he's smiting and he give us the spanking that we deserve he also ultimately want to heal us and to restore us and to bind us up that word to bind up in the Hebrew is Yahveshenu it's coming from the word tachboshet from binding wounds and you know when you hit somebody or you hurt somebody he has many wounds and those wounds need to be healed and the Lord is binding he's healing them he's putting ointment and then he's binding these wounds the samaritan who came down and he met that man that fell among thieves who left Jerusalem and went to Jericho and he bound him and he put ointment on.

Him and he sought to heal him. This is the picture that we get here, brothers and sisters. God is tearing and God is healing. God is smiting and God is binding up. There is always grace available for the people of God there is always the binding of God and the healing of God for his own people the verse in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 39 God have already said to Israel those words verse 39 of chapter 32 of Deuteronomy see he said to them now that I even I am he And there is no God beside me I kill and I make a life I wound and I heal See, God said it to Israel long before They have divided Long before the Assyrians came He says, listen, I am your God I am your Lord I wound because of discipline But I also would heal you And will restore you unto myself And so they recognized it This is so precious when somebody recognizes.

You know that when God disciplines us, He does not discipline us because He hates us. He disciplines us because He loves us. Just like a parent. When we, our children were at age that we had responsibility over them and we needed to discipline them because of disobedience, we didn't enjoy it at all. But the discipline was necessary in view of embracing them and correcting them and restoring them to a right relationship with their parents. That's what God does here. And that's how they realized those, these remnant in the future day, they would realize that God is the one who tears and God is the one who heals.

God is the one who smites and God is the one who binds up. And so now, in verse 2 of this chapter, we see interesting expressions here, because the remnant is saying, after two days, will he revive us. In the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Now, that is extremely interesting. Now, what do you think they have meant here? Were they looking and mentioning these two days and the third days meaning two 24 hours in which they thought that God will revive them as a nation after two 24-hour days? Well we know that's why we read today. I would like you please to turn to 2 Peter chapter 3.

Almost every Bible teacher that I have heard or read speaking on these verses in Hosea chapter 6, almost every one of them have taken these two verses that I found in Psalm 90 and in 2 Peter chapter 3. In 2 Peter chapter 3, we have a statement that Peter is saying to the brothers to whom he was writing, to the believers to whom he was writing. And look what he is saying to them. And I'm reading now verse 8 of 2 Peter chapter 3. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years. And a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slick concerning his promises.

Some men count slackness, but he is long-suffering to us, Lord, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance. Peter, of course, in verse 8, is quoting that which the psalmist of Israel was writing in Psalm 90 and verse 4, that one day in the sight of God is as a thousand years. And a thousand years in the sight of God is as one day. You know, we are looking at a day and sometimes 24-hour day look to us so long. But as far as God's concerned, it is as one day is as a thousand years. And a thousand years is really as one day.

You and I, time is passing by and time is passing by and we are getting tired and we are waiting for the coming of the Lord. And that's what Peter was telling to those believers, first century Hebrew believers. And he was telling them, listen, brethren, you are suffering. You are going through trials in your life. You have to wait patiently. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. He is telling them, listen, don't be ignorant of this one thing that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are as one day. And as I mentioned before, most of the Bible teachers would say to you that verse 2 of chapter 6 of Hosea really speaks to us of the present day dispensation of which we live in right now.

The two thousand years that have already passed by from the time that the Messiah had come, and the time that he died, and he was buried, and he rose again, and he formed the body of Messiah, which we know as the church, the assembly, the church of the living God. But when this present-day dispensation will end, he's going to begin his direct dealing with his own earthly people, the nation of Israel. And so after two days, he will revive us. That's what the remnant is saying here. And if it is true that these two days would refer to us to the 2,000 years when Israel had assassination since they have rejected the Messiah until the restoration of Israel, we really do not live too far from the second coming of the Messiah to establish the Messianic kingdom upon the face of this earth.

In fact, brothers and sisters, again I would like to say that we are often hearing today in preaching that the next thing in God's calendar is the rapture of the church. And it may be very well, very soon at any time. And if the Lord coming to rapture His people to take us out of here, the church that is, the heavenly company, And He will begin after the tribulation to restore the nation of Israel as a nation. And so you can see there that after two days He will revive us. The us is the nation of Israel. He will restore us. He restores, it speaks also of resurrection because the word immediately, the third day, is mentioned here in verse 2.

In the third day, He will raise us up. In the third day. And that will take us also, knowing from Revelation chapter 20, that the millennial or the messianic kingdom is a thousand years long. And so it will lead us from the end of the present day dispensation, the church age, which is now about two thousand years long, To the beginning of the millennial age, which will be a thousand years long as well. Now again, I'm going to lay this before you. You weigh it as before the Lord, but I can tell you from what I have heard and listening and reading other Bible believers who teach the Word of God, almost every one of them have a reference to these 2,000 years of church history and ultimately to the messianic age in the time that the Messiah will restore the nation of Israel it's also interesting that the number three speaks of the resurrection you know that Yeshua the Messiah was in the grave three days and three nights he himself said that on the third day I will rise again he himself said in the gospel of John that he will rise on the third day it speaks of a resurrection and Israel as a nation need to be revived and resurrected it is the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 37 who speaks about the valley of the dry bones where you can see the bones are scattered speaks of the nation of Israel who are scattered and divided and then would God bring the bones bone to bone he brings them together.

And he connects the bones together and he and he put them together and then he cover the bones with the skin and the sinew and the skin and ultimately he breathe into these bones He brings it to this body and He gives us the new spirit and He's reviving that whole body which is speaking of the nation of Israel. He will revive us. In the third day He will raise us up. And we shall live in His sight. Now here is Israel. Who were living away from the Lord. Who are living in a lifestyle that is hurting the Lord, away from him. Now he promised a revival to the nation and a restoration, a full restoration to the nation of Israel.

And that's the cry of the people of Israel, the remnant of Israel, who will remain after the seven-year tribulation before the millennial age, the Messianic kingdom will start. And now notice that. In verse 3, we see the remnant of Israel encouraging one another. And look what they say. Then shall we know, since we follow on to know the Lord, His going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain unto the earth. The remnant now is speaking, and they really speak about knowing the Lord. Not only knowing about Him, but knowing the Lord.

Last night in our Bible study, when we talked about John chapter 14, where the Lord Yeshua said unto Philip, He said, Philip, he who knows me, he who sees me, you know the Father. He who sees me, sees the Father. You know the Father. And you not only know about Him, but you have a relationship with Him. You know Him. The Lord Jesus the Messiah said in John 17, And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah, whom you have sent. That's what we read here. And then we shall know. And then it used the word in the King James, it said, if we follow.

But it's not in Hebrew, there's not the word if, but since we follow on to know the Lord. We are pursuing to know Him more. We are pursuing to learn more about Him and to follow after the Lord. That's what they are saying in verse 3. And He's going forth, He's prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former reign unto the earth. You know, the latter and the former reign that we get in Israel in the past, as well as in the present, is very important. The Yoreh and the Malkosh, the latter reign and the early reign.

And this is very important. When the rain comes down, it's a sign of God's blessings. And so the rain that is going to pour out upon the nation is the shower of God's blessings that is going to fall upon a restored, redeemed, repented nation of Israel, who said, come, let us return unto the Lord. He hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and he will bind us. After two days he will revive us. In the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his side then shall we know since we follow on to know the Lord his going force is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain and the latter and the former rain unto the earth interesting that those three verses really really brothers and sisters belong to the previous chapter chapter 5 and that really should be read alongside with chapter 5 so we got some glimpse here of Israel restoration we got some glimpse here of Israel repentance and being brought back to the knowledge of the Lord but then you see now that in the next verses, verses 4 to 11.

God is now reminding the unfaithfulness of Ephraim. And He's bringing it back to the surface. I really do not know the wisdom that God had placed those verses here in the beginning of chapter 6, because now God is going back and He's showing to Israel His Israel unfaithfulness to the Lord. He's dwelling upon it in order to really press and reveal again the importance of seeking to be faithful to the Lord. And so now, verse 4 of chapter 6 is really a continuation of what we had here in verse 14 of chapter 5. I remind you once again, please allow me to remind you in chapter 5 verse 14, he says, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, as a young lion to the house of Judah, I, and I will tell and go away, I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

Then verse 4 of chapter 6, we read, O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away. See, God is now revealing again, he's speaking to Ephraim, he's speaking now also to the tribe of Judah, and he's saying, listen, Ephraim, listen, Judah, he says, look, look at your goodness, and that word goodness really should be your graces, your mercies, that's what it should be. He says, look, the way you are showing really mercy and grace is the way that the clouds and the dew disappears in the morning.

He's saying to them, really, in verse 4, he's saying, Ephraim and Judah, your grace disappear like the clouds in the morning. Your mannerism toward each other, your ways towards the Lord, disappears just like the cloud and just like the dew which goes away. You know, it's not only sufficient for a person to show grace and to behave proper for a certain time, and then very quickly it disappears. In other words, when things suits them, they show grace, and they repent, and they show love. But when things do not suit them, this grace that needs to be seen disappears. What about us? When we are called by the Lord to show the grace of God towards one another, how long do we behave in such a way?

Is it only for a temporary season? Is it coming and going like the clouds disappear? Is it coming and going like the dew in the morning goes away? Well, there's no value in it. If it's only temporary, it's only for a short season, and there's no consistency, the Lord is saying to Ephraim, he said to Ephraim and Judah, what I'm going to do with you, he's saying to them. What I'm going to do with you? You are, in a sense, you are pretending that you are showing grace. You are pretending that you are showing goodness. He says, look, what am I going to do? You see, your goodness, your chasad, your graces are really like the morning cloud.

And as early as the dew which goes away. You know, you get up very early in the morning and you see dew. And you see these clouds, the dew in the morning, very early in the morning. But then it doesn't take too long and it all disappears. Non-existence. You see, that is exactly what God do not want from his people. He didn't want that their grace and their goodness and their behavior are going to be disappearing very early in the morning. It's only for a short season. God was not finding pleasure in there. That's why he's saying to them, O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?

O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? He said, what am I going to do with this type of behavior? In verse 5, he continued, he's telling them, Listen, the prophets spoke judgment upon you, and what they said is like God's judgment. The words they spoke will be, it is like the hammer, the slaying of God because of what they were doing. Therefore, he says, I have hewed them by the prophets. And then he said, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, And thy judgment are as the light that goes forth. See, God sent messengers to Israel. And the messengers, the prophet said, Thus sayeth the Lord.

And when they spoke the word, the word that they spoke was the word of God. They spoke judgment upon Israel because God disciplined the nation that sinned and rebelled against him without repentance. And so the prophets became like a vehicle like a channel of judgment whatever they said came to pass and so the prophetic messages and you know very well how the prophets spoke to the nation of Israel and God said one prophets and another prophet and again he said other prophets and again and again the nation rejected the message of the prophets and ultimately they rejected the Messiah sheep of Yeshua and we see it very sadly here mentioned by the Lord in the gospels i sometimes it's kind of very painful to hear those verses but the Lord Yeshua said that and i want to read it to you Mark chapter 12 please turn to Mark in the gospel chapter 12 and verse 1 and look what he says about Israel, Jesus is saying, he began to speak unto them in parables, and he said a certain man planted a vineyard, verse 1, and he set hedges about it, and he digged a place for the wine fit, and he built a tower, and let it out for the husbandman, and he went.

Into a far country. And as the season he sent to the husbandman a servant, that he might receive from the husbandman of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and they bit him, and they sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant, and at him they cast stones, and they wounded him in the head and they sent him away shamefully handled and again he said unto them another and him they killed and many others beating some killing as well and now notice in verse 6 having yet therefore one son his well beloved he sent him also unto them and he said they will reverence my son but look what he said but those husband men said among themselves this is the heir come let us kill him that the inheritance shall be ours and they took him and they kill him and they cast him out of the vineyard and then it says in verse 9 what shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do he will come and he will destroy the husband men.

And he will give the vineyard unto others and he says have ye not read in the Scriptures the stones which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes you know when I read these verses it really speaks to my heart and it hurts me because it really is speaking, the Lord is speaking to the leaders, to the Pharisees, who should have received the Messiahship of Yeshua. And He's speaking to them and He says, Listen, the husbandmen, this is the farmers that God placed over a vineyard, the responsibility that they had over the nation of Israel.

And He left the vineyard in the hands of these husbandmen, those farmers, and He went away. And he sent his servants every time to take some of the fruit from his vineyard through these farmers. But you know what they did? They killed the one, they stoned the others, they rejected the third one, they rejected his word, and ultimately he said, I have one son left, and I'm going to send my son, they are going to reverence him, they are going to receive him. But sadly they didn't receive him and we know what we have read and it is really speaking about the rejection of the messiahship of the Lord Jesus by the nation of Israel as a nation and the Lord must have been so grieved to tell it to his own people in the land in the city of Jerusalem when he was speaking to them about the rejection of himself as he was that well beloved son who came to restore the nation of Israel and unfortunately God had to send the messengers the prophets and the prophets message actually the word that they spoke was judgment and judgment again upon those that rejected his word and so the prophetic message we read in verse 5 God sent prophets and their words were words of judgment because of the rebellion of the nation and now notice that verse in the next verse verse 6 God is saying look what do you think I want from you Israel and you and I can learn from this a lot it says here in verse 6 I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

And the knowledge of God more than the burnt offerings now this is an interesting verse because God is really saying to the nation he says look I don't need you to bring me those sacrifices without true repentance from your heart I do not want you to just come and bring those sacrifices go through the ritual put a sacrifice on an altar and yet go away and have no mercy and have no knowledge of the law just going through the routine of bringing a sacrifice now do you know that Jews for Judaism take this verse from Mosea chapter 6 and verse 6 and you know they say to people like us who believe that Yeshua is the Messiah to Jewish believers they say look you say that you must bring blood sacrifice but look what God says to the nation of Israel he says I desire mercy and not sacrifice we don't need to bring sacrifice to the Lord they say we need to know God we need to show mercy to.

Show love we don't need blood sacrifice anymore but that is not what the verse is saying verse 6 of Hosea 6 does not negate for a moment the instruction that God gave in the book of Leviticus that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. It doesn't negate for a moment the truth in Leviticus 17 11 that it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. But what this verse really teaches us that it is not sufficient to go through the routine of bringing a sacrifice when the heart is not right with the Lord. It is not sufficient to go through the routine and going through the motion without a change of heart.

To you and I it is the very same thing today when a person who have heard about the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior and reject him in his or her heart and going to church meetings or sitting in church pews and singing the song and carrying on with this routine without a real repentance before the Lord and acknowledgement that the only way of forgiveness is through the person of the Lord Jesus. God says, listen, all the facade has no power, no value before a holy and a righteous God that's what he's really teaching us he says really Israel you know what I want he says I want you to come to me you need to bring the sacrifice because you cannot be forgiven without the blood but I want you to come with a knowledge of the Lord and with true repentance and mercy asking for the mercy of the Lord a change of heart must also happen and that's why God is mentioning this verse here you know when David repented from his sin David said in Psalm chapter 51 he says in verse 6 behold thou desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts of the heart he said thou shall make me to know wisdom purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean and wash me and i shall be whiter than snow and he's just speaking as well here you can see that David is really giving a true confession and he wanted the Lord.

To change his heart but the sacrifices are given by God but it must show us also a change of heart and also if i can read also in chapter 50 of the book of Psalm verse 8 i will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices and then verse 9 i will take no bullock out of thine house no goats out of thy field for every beast of the field is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills God wants a real repentance from the nation from the people of Israel and the sacrifices have no value if there is not a change in the heart and so verse six is an interesting verse God's desire mercy God desire knowledge and sacrifices on their own if there is no true repentance they do not change the heart of a person and so i desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering and so now quickly to the last verses here of this chapter verse 7 Israel transgressed against God's covenant but they like men have transgressed the covenant.

There have they dealt treacherously against me God is saying in verse 8 he says Gilad is a city of them that work iniquity and is polluted with blood in verse 9 he says as the troops of robbers wait for men so the company of priests murder in the way by consent for they commit lewdness and you can see those verses are really showing to us that they broke the covenant with God Gilad is polluted with blood. By the way, the place Gilad is a mountain range where actually Jacob, after fleeing from Laban, he met Laban on Mount Gilad. You can read it in Genesis chapter 31. Gilad is a mountain and a mountain range where apparently what happened here, God is saying that gilad is polluted gilad is a city of them that work iniquity and is polluted with blood apparently there was such frictions and bloodshed and fighting and aggression that God is saying to them robbers he said the troops of robbers wait for men in verse 9 company of priests murder in away by consent they commit lewdness there's all kind of behavior that was not right with God and so God is pronouncing judgment upon Israel and God showing the unfaithfulness of the nation and finally in the last two verses verses 10 and 11 we read that God declaring that there is a horrible thing that Israel is defiled in verse 10 he says i have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel there is hudam of Ephraim and Israel is defiled see God declared this to the nation and that's expression a horrible thing what not seemed to be horrible in the sight of man.

Is horrible in the sight of God what the nation have practiced on an ongoing basis became so horrible before God that God declared the nation defiled and it is so true isn't it when certain things that to us seem to be not a big deal but to God is really horrible what we kind of you know we allow things in our life to happen God it's horrible before him and that's why God declare defilement in the nation defilement in the lives of even his own people in Joshua in chapter 6 and 7 when we talked about jericho we are studying the book of Joshua in chapter 7 God declared the city of jericho accursed God declared the city of jericho horrible accursed and God said to the people of Israel not to participate with this city not to take anything that belong because they will defile the rest of the nation and ultimately this is exactly what happened i've seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel God is saying there is the whoredom of a faim and Israel is defied.

And so he concluding here this chapter Hosea chapter 6 with also giving a warning to Judah not only Israel in the north which specifically Hosea was speaking to but he's also speaking to Judah and to Judah he gives a warning he says Judah he says he has set this is the Lord the Lord has set a harvest for thee when i return the captivity of my people you see he gives warning to Judah because Judah will ultimately also going to be taken captive and Judah eventually also will be returned from captivity back to the Lord so Israel was defiled but a warning to Judah which a few years later also have gone to the diaspora have been dispersed by God because ultimately Judah have been defiled as well and God had to send them to Babylon as well and he promised that he is going to return the captivity of his people you notice by the way brothers and sisters that even though God pronounced judgment on Israel even though God pronounced sin in Israel he pronounced horrible.

Thing Israel is defiled look what he's calling them in verse 11 he says i will return the captivity of my people he calling them my people they were his people he's judging his people that's the ones that he was speaking about. They were his people. And let us always remember that. Even if they have gone astray, even if they have been defiled, they are my people, God's saying, about the nation of Israel. I will discipline them. I will spank them. I will end up to disperse them. But I am going to return their captivity because they are my people. When they will confess, When they will repent, I will ultimately restore them to myself.

This is what the word of the Lord is saying. So, in the midst of all this, we had a little bit of glimpse of Israel restoration in the beginning of chapter 6, but we are actually back to being again and again reminded by Hosea. The Lord, through Hosea, is speaking to us again and again about the state of the nation of Israel. And he doesn't stop here. He is continuing in chapter 7, and he's continuing to show us what's happening with the nation of Israel and how he will need to deal with them and ultimately restore them. May the Lord help us to be reminded of this for ourselves, that we also need to be restored when we go astray.

We also need to repent when we go astray because the Lord wants the restoration of His people. He wants His people to enjoy His presence. And He surely will do it in the coming day. Can you say Amen to that? Amen.