Introduction

Good day to you all! Let us turn to Hosea, Chapter 3. Though this chapter has only five verses, there is much to unpack. The Bible is filled with intriguing details. For example, Genesis Chapter 5 lists names, who begat whom, and how many years they lived before they died. To the average reader, it might seem meaningless. What is this chapter truly about? Initially, I too struggled to understand. But I am one who likes to ponder, and I wondered: such writing seems wasteful, especially since paper didn't exist back then. Couldn't the author have been more concise? Eventually, it dawned on me! People live and then die, and God, with tireless patience, writes it out for all to know!

Hosea Chapter 3, though just five verses, reveals profound truths! It unveils God's heart to us, a God of both abundance and love! When I was seeking God, I sought a God who loves me, for I knew such a God existed. Life itself is tiring enough; to add a God who needs tending to would be too much! I sought a God who is powerful, needing nothing from me, nor my care. A God who breathes life into me, who blesses, who has power and loves me! Consider your parents; they love you, but sometimes with helplessness. You love your grandparents, but you feel helpless when they are in the hospital, hooked up to machines.

Therefore, I felt it was vital to find a God who loves me! Eventually, I found Him, and now I have the opportunity to share with you! I felt God was extraordinary! I had uttered words against Him, yet He still loved me! My heart was stirred, and I felt God was truly good! This chapter speaks to my heart, with the theme: Return to the Lord with reverence and receive His bounty! which is found in the latter half of the last verse of this chapter. In the last days, they shall return to the Lord with reverence and receive His bounty! We who trust in the Lord not only have fellowship with the God who created the universe but also receive His blessings! Do I need to persuade you of what benefits you?

Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:5)

Man's Natural Inclination is to Love the World

Man's natural inclination is to love the world! From the moment a child is born, they are selfish. Have you ever seen a newborn who is selfless? No! For example, when parents buy toys, children guard them jealously. Therefore, man is naturally inclined to love the world. Returning to God with reverence is something learned later. Which child is born already a Christian? Coming out of the womb shouting Hallelujah! Who is born speaking? The family would be terrified, thinking they had birthed a monster!

Man is naturally worldly, naturally carnal, without exception! Everything is learned. You certainly weren't born shouting Hallelujah! Even hymns of worship are learned. So why do people learn these things? Because they are effective! I believe everyone is intelligent. If you believe it's effective, how else would you give your money to God in offering? If it weren't beneficial, why would anyone do it? Man is born carnal, loving the world, with natural instincts. The logical system within is unexamined, needing no learning, requiring no literacy, filled as it is with pleasing the flesh, loving the world, and discerning good and evil. In time, man discovers this system is ineffective, for it is a systemic problem. This system is the system of the world, which to a certain point, becomes uncontrollable. This is the work of sin.

Man is born with inherent sin, which we call sin nature! I call it a demon, this sin nature has a personality! Sin lies at the door, you must master it, but who can master sin? No one can, for it cannot be mastered. So this thing is like being controlled, like a woman sold into prostitution, no longer in control of her own life!

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:7)

Recently, there was a significant news story about scam groups in northern Myanmar that have formed an entire industry. There are several powerful families that run these scam operations, scam groups, and scam parks as a way to make money. Each building is filled with people engaged in scams! What has happened as a result? People who enter these organizations lose control of themselves. Why? Because what they are involved in is evil. Once someone embarks on that path, there are many things to be taken care of, even corrupt military officials who are waiting for money. Without money, you cannot proceed! Where does the money come from? Many people are trapped.

So I pondered this and realized that anything aimed solely at making money is fraught with danger! Extremely dangerous! Many people think making money is a matter of course. What else can you do? But think, people aim to make money, but what is the result? The four major families and those running scam groups were all destroyed. If they had known the consequences, would they have done it? But once someone goes down that road, it is extremely dangerous. They have a noose around their necks, tightening with each step. They are trapped, unable to move, completely out of control! They have to continue down that path!

I wondered, isn't this a path to destruction? Is it good or bad? Neither is good! But people have embarked on this path of inhumanity! Because people are naturally that way, naturally unwise, they insist on walking towards destruction! When people have a little money, they forget themselves! Young people in their twenties are dehumanizing themselves, killing as easily as crushing an ant. How can such people have a good end?

Man, naturally loving the world, lives amidst a series of lies! They don't realize that their actions are pushing themselves towards destruction. What good is that? But among people, many will seek something. Man naturally loves the world, but there is something else within man: the search for eternal life! God plants the seed of seeking eternal life in our hearts. Though man is as he is, God still loves man!

Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. (Hosea 3:1)

Since man is so foolish, why didn't God destroy him? God sincerely hopes man can figure something out! What can man figure out? That continuing on this path seems wrong! Hosea is not writing about others, but about the Israelites! Israelites are different from the world and those in northern Myanmar because they are God's chosen people! God brought them out of Egypt to the Promised Land, but they loved the world, worshiped idols, which is called adultery! Our God should have destroyed the Israelites because they were all ungrateful, but God did not destroy them because the Lord still loves them!

God told Hosea to take back a prostitute. Hosea was quite the trooper; God asked him to love an adulterous woman again. If that was told to you, you might find it difficult, because now you need yet another green hat to wear, which would be hard to accept! Even though the hearts of the Israelites turned to other gods, the Lord still loved them.

God Still Loves Us

We must understand the boundless love of God! Do we, as Christians, have a love for the world? Yes. Some people remain worldly even after being Christians for many years, always seeking benefits from God. They feel it would be unfair to themselves not to love the world! Their internal logical system is flawed! But God still loves us! If not for God's love, who could be saved?

We are born with sin within us, controlled by it, with no way to escape! Man naturally has a worldly logical system. If not for God's redemption, how could we have come this far? Are we truly that good? Far from it! Why didn't God destroy us? Now, I am grateful to God, because time and again I served God with a carnal system, and God didn't destroy me, so my life is given by God.

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

While we were still sinners, God sent His only Son to die on the cross for us, paying the price of redemption, so that we would not perish but have eternal life! God's love is demonstrated here. If we still do not revere God, it is unjustifiable.

God Will Redeem Us

God, through Hosea, bought back his wife, telling him to love her again. She was no longer Hosea's wife; she was like a prostitute in a brothel because she had sold herself to sin and the world, which fully possessed her.

Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley. (Hosea 3:1-2)

If you are sold into prostitution you cannot just run away. In fact, we are all the same, we are all sold to this world. The demon legally does corrupting work in our lives, then God sent His Son to be our atoning sacrifice, and we are freed through faith in Jesus, all our sins and debts are placed on Jesus. Some, after gaining freedom, say, I will not leave the brothel, I enjoy being a prostitute. You still have the right to continue doing so.

Chapter 3 of Hosea is actually about God being our redemption, rescuing us from our adulterous state! People live for their stomachs, for a morsel of food; prostitutes also do it to make a living, to earn a grape cake. God redeems us with a price; if you continue to love the world, then you are not a true Israelite.

Thank God! When I was hitting walls from all sides, when there was no help from above or below, I was redeemed by God's love. There are two sets of logic: one is living by God, and the other is living by one's own hands, yet living under a curse. How wonderful it would be if we turned to Him with a heart of reverence for God and received His grace! God has redeemed us, but we still live in the old system of logic, and that system is deeply rooted. Are we willing to demolish that carnal system within us? It is worth pondering! Yesterday, a sister said to me: Teacher, I have realized a principle, it seems that our system is wrong. I thought: It took so many years to realize this! I have been waiting for this sentence for a long time.

God Redeems Us to Demolish Everything We Rely On

God redeems us to examine what works and what doesn't. Christians, as they progress, actually experience God's grace first, just like getting sick or encountering an event, and experiencing God's help in a helpless situation. Then they begin to walk the path of verifying that God is gracious.

If you say: I want to rely on work, connections, idols, or worship a king, find a powerful leader. Actually, these things do not work, and you will eventually find that there is no king, no leader, no sacrifice, no pillar, no ephod, no household idols, because leaning on a mountain causes it to collapse, and leaning on a tree causes it to lean. Brothers and sisters, you should know that after days of hiding, you can verify that kings, leaders, sacrifices, pillars, ephods, and household idols do not work; only when our hearts return to God does it work!

Sometimes I feel particularly sad. I really do not want everyone to take such a long detour, only to realize in the end that the best choice is to fear God and receive His grace. After you believe in the Lord, has the worldly logic inside you been demolished? If it has not been demolished, then I can only wish you good luck. Because even if you do not want to demolish it, God will help you demolish it. If people are self-righteous, mess around, and act recklessly, they will be like prostitutes in a brothel, unable to control themselves.

When God wants to demolish everything inside people, the Israelites discovered that nothing worked! What should they do? Return and seek God! If a person experiences very little grace, but their heart begins to turn back to God and seek God, they will suffer less sin. But why is it so difficult to demolish the logical system inside people? Because the worldly logical system inside people is very stubborn. You can try it, and you will find that many people try it once and go back to loving the world.

Later, the Israelites Will Return to Seek Their God

Know that there are many people who only seek God when they are at the end of their rope! I rarely see someone suddenly slap their head and say: I want to know God, I want to seek God! I only saw those who slapped their heads and said: I want to love the world, I want to go to northern Myanmar to make big money! As a result, they were scammed. Because people not only describe it well, but also introduce it very well. When they arrive in Myanmar, they see that it is not the same thing! Those people have either had their livers cut or their kidneys cut, and as a result, they begin to come out and test God. In the process of testing God, these people seem to have realized something. So I often say: People just need to be beaten and disciplined! How can people seek God without suffering?

Thank God! It was God who allowed me to realize a principle in this world, that these worldly dreams are corrupting people! God used things in this world, which seem bad to you, but they completely demolished the worldly dreams inside me! I realized that I should seek the way of God. What does it mean to seek God? It means that people have nothing to rely on, so they come to see if this God works or not, and whether they can rely on Him.

When the Israelites returned to seek God, they became true Israelites! If they refuse to return to seek God even to death, then they will become those who should be destroyed! We are all people who have returned to seek God, that is, after experiencing many times and finding that people cannot have worldly dreams, but can only have godly dreams, then you will become a true Israelite! You will have the attributes of Isaac's son, Jacob, and you will begin to seek the eternal, incorruptible glory!

Hosea used only five short verses to describe this matter very clearly. This is what the prophet foretold: Later, the Israelites will turn back and seek their God, constantly knowing God! Know that the Israelites not only seek their God, but also seek King David. They want to emulate David and be a man after God's own heart! Later, they realized that after the governance of Samuel, the governance of King Saul, and then the governance of David, only during the reign of David did Israel become a powerful nation! We have to accept it, because David was a man who relied on God and feared God.

The Israelites ate so much pig food that they realized that relying on themselves did not work, that they had to come and seek God, and that they had to demolish the worldly logical system! I encourage you to demolish this worldly logical system. Know that running on this path is very difficult! The Israelites sought King David because David was the king after God's own heart!

Return to the Lord with a Reverent Heart and Receive His Grace

Why return to God with a reverent heart? Because it is not okay not to fear God! God is relentless in demolishing the worldly and carnal! Our God absolutely does not cater to the flesh, nor does He follow your will. Our God acts according to His will! You do not want to act according to His will? God says: That will not work. Those who obey me prosper, and those who go against God perish! If you do not want to fear God, then try it and see if your little arms can twist God's thighs!

We must learn to fear God! You say: God! Sorry, I suddenly recognized good and evil. God says: Why are you always sorry? What does carelessly mean? Why can't you carelessly fear God? You always carelessly recognize good and evil, love the world, and cater to the flesh! Is there a problem with the system inside you? We must return to the Lord with a reverent heart in order to receive His grace. If you do not return to the Lord with a reverent heart, are you going to receive God's discipline and God's wrath?

When will the worldly logical system inside people be demolished? How much disaster must people experience to know that God is to be feared? Know that after the Israelites experienced the destruction of their country, the disasters they experienced were unbearable, similar to the situation of people going to northern Myanmar. The Assyrian Empire was a very cruel empire, and its punishments were the most severe in history. If people do not fear God, they carelessly enter into loving the world; they carelessly recognize good and evil. People cannot control themselves because the system inside is wrong. Once the system inside people is wrong, what can they do?

We must demolish this system little by little, because God has already redeemed you! You can no longer tell God: God! I cannot control myself. God says: You are already free, why can't you control yourself? Because the logical system inside you prevents you from controlling yourself. If the logical system inside you is not demolished, you will continue to be unable to control yourself, until you receive God's wrath! Have the Israelites not received enough of God's wrath? How much sin have they suffered for thousands of years! That is very hard. God loved us first, but the characteristic of God's love is extremely strict discipline, so that we can learn to fear Him, so that we can receive His grace. I eagerly hope that brothers and sisters will all begin to demolish the worldly things inside themselves and receive more of God's grace.

How do we know that we have a worldly logical system inside us? The worldly logical system can push people to conditions like ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, urticaria, blindness, deafness, headaches, foot pain, colds, etc.! How much sin must you experience before you are willing to repent? If you have experienced a lot of pain in your body, you know that this is all a clear proof of our carnal logical system and worldly logical system.

If a person's spirit prospers, their body will surely be healthy. Do not tell God: I am already very good, what more do you want from me? God will tell you: You are not okay the way you are now! How much sin must you suffer before you are willing to completely destroy that worldly logical system! This is God's love! Know that God is helping you. God allows you to have so many problems and so much suffering from illness, and you are still unwilling to repent. If you did not experience these illnesses, then you would go to heaven?

We must begin to receive God's grace with a heart of reverence. If you love the world, you will pay a heavy price for loving the world! That logical system is actually a very miserable logical system, but God loves us because of His love and has prepared redemption for us, releasing us from the bondage of the world, and then demolishing what we rely on.

Whether it is an ephod or some idol, image, pillar, or various relationships, do not think that those things work. After you have tried them, you will find that God still works! Do not be as ignorant and stubborn as some people, unable to resist even a cold virus and still thinking that they are great! His mother felt sorry for him and asked him to pray, but he said: No! We must all begin to turn back and become true Israelites!

May God bless everyone!