Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. Blessing affirms identity and identity shapes destiny. Be empowered in these trying times with today's blessing, which is taken from Nehemiah 8, verse 10. You might feel weary from the strain of trying times. You might feel weak under the weight of difficult days, but in Christ, you have a secret pathway to power.
You've been given in your inheritance a hidden weapon. Joy, the joy of the Lord is your strength.
So I bless you to walk in the joy of the Lord, His own joy in you. With God's joy. You become a Moses in the face of every Pharaoh. With God's joy, you become a Samson in the face of all your Philistines. With God's joy, you become a David in the face of all your giants.
So may you be strengthened today. and the joy of the Lord. It's the fruit of the Spirit, and it's the fuel for your journey. That's today's blessing, and that is the gospel. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
As Jesus hung on the cross. And as he bled, The scripture says that he who knew no sin became our sin.
So that whoever would trust in him would be given, imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Word and Spirit: The Beauty of Balance, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina.
Now, if you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you this resource today's special offer. Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. What's taking place in Hosea chapter 11? is in a mysterious way.
God is talking to himself. When Israel was a child, I loved him. He's now shifted the image out of a father for a love for a child. Any parent knows what he's talking about. I called my son, and the more they were called, he said the more they went away.
He said, verse 3, but yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. I took them up in the arms. It was a picture of a father taking his toddler's arms who's learning to walk and walking by holding his little arms up because he knows that without him, he would fall. He said, I taught them how to walk. I taught my people what it is like to be free.
I showed them love. I showed them grace. I just wanted them to be able to grow up at the end of verse 3. But they did not know that I healed them. They didn't know what I've done for them.
They didn't know all the mercy. And it's almost like, God, I understand that. They're people. They're human. They can't have the mind to be able to understand in the same way that a father is not too disappointed that his little Tyler doesn't understand what daddy did that day to go out and make a living so that little one could have some food.
It's all right, but I do not want you to reject my love. They didn't know what I had done for them. I led them, verse 4, with cords of kindness. What is interesting about this is that this literally says, I led them with a human. It's an unusual thing, and so most of the translations don't render it exactly that way, but Some would say that maybe it's referencing Moses.
Who was a human mediator. And maybe it's just prophetic that he's saying, This is the way that the only way that I could lead them is that I must become flesh. With the bands of love, I led them. God leads from his love. It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.
And I became the one who eases the yoke on their jaws. I lifted the burden. I'm not a burden giver. I'm a burden lifter. And I bent down to feed them.
I stooped. I came to their level in order to be able to feed them. And then you just see it just turns at verse 5. He said, They're not going to go back to Egypt. They probably ought to just have to go back to Egypt.
But instead, there'll be another nation that'll come up. There will be another exile. There's going to be punishment for this because they've refused to turn to me, and the sword shall rage against their cities. The justice of God, the righteousness of God is speaking out here. And then at verse 8, it just shifts back again.
But how can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like odd ma? How can I treat you like Zebo Em? The Adva and Zeboim were the other smaller cities alongside of Sodom and Gomorrah that were destroyed.
over their wickedness. How could I do that to you? At the end of verse 8, my heart recoils. within me. The word for recoil is actually a Hebrew word.
that means to overthrow. And what is interesting about this Is it another place where The word is used. Admah and Zeboim are also referenced. And it's Deuteronomy 29, 23. where we read the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, Nothing sown and nothing growing.
where no plant can sprout. an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma'ah and Zeboim. which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath. That word overthrow. in his anger and wrath.
All the nations will say, Why has the Lord done thus to the land? What caused this heat of this great anger?
So Adma and Zeboim were overthrown. In the God's righteous wrath, But here at the end of verse 8. God says, my heart. is overthrown within me. Evidently When there's wickedness Something, someone.
is going to be overthrown. And it's either going to be us Or is it going to be God Himself? My compassion grows warm. And tender. I will not.
I cannot. Execute my burning anger. I'll not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God. And not a man. The Holy One in your midst, I will not come in wrath.
Probably a more literal translation is better here. I will not come into the city. Like I did Sodom and Gomorrah. and Zeboim and Adma. where if the Holy One comes in close to the sin, The sin And those who committed could not survive.
God is saying I am An inward Conflict. Because I am righteous. And I have declared my righteousness. And I cannot let. Wickedness go unpunished?
And yet I am loving. But I love this people. And I can't let them go. What can be done? And you must understand.
This tension If you're going to understand the gospel. The nature of God. is infinite. If you have ever Scene of great offense. or contemplated A great wickedness, the enslavement of girls for prostitution.
Abuse. and neglect of children intentionally by Great wickedness, whatever you might conceive of that. You in your heart know this cannot be. That instinct towards righteousness. is in the heart of God to an infinite degree.
And if you've ever had someone in your life a child, a spouse, a friend that you could say, I think I love this person enough to lay down my life. Everything in my life. bends towards wanting. the well-being of this other. If you've ever tasted of a love that keeps no record of wrong, A love that is patient and kind, A love that is everlasting.
If you've ever tasted of that, even a glimpse of it. Please try to measure it out in your mind to an infinite degree, and you will know the heart. of God. All the attributes of God are always God. There's not a time in which God is just, but He's not loving.
There's not a time in which He's loving, but He's not just. Instead, every attribute of God is totally God at every point in God's life. and he who preexisted creation and has made all things, Is therefore outside of time, and so there was never a time in which God was one but not the other.
So there's absolutely no sense in being able to say the Old Testament God was a God of judgment, but the New Testament God is a God of grace. He's the same God, and He has always been the same God, and He always will be the same God. He is at all times, in all places, in all eternity, both holy and loving, both just and merciful. It is his nature. And he is infinitely so.
The love of God Is not somehow distinct from the justice of God, but is connected to the justice of God. I wish the whole world could understand this. There's great confusion because in the spirit of the age, people who have seen judgmentalism in the church label the church as a place of judgmentalism. And in the spirit of the age, there are many who would notoriously say that they are exceedingly bothered by the fact that the Bible calls God a jealous God. Because in human terms, jealousy is something that points to insecurity or immaturity.
But jealousy in its purest sense is actually demonstration of love. If it didn't bother Hosea that Gomer ran after others, If he didn't have any jealousy for Hmm. you would question his love. If a husband had a wife of unfaithfulness and he learned of it and he said, Oh, well, that's fine, I don't mind sharing you with just anybody, that doesn't matter. You wouldn't say that that was noble.
You'd say there was something that was badly wrong. That's the sort of jealousy that is in the heart of God, is that His love for you is so intense. His love is so pure. His love is so powerful that He cannot be content to share you and I and His children with others. You don't want a God who's not a jealous God because if you had a God who's not a jealous God, you'd have a God who didn't know how to love.
He's jealous for you to know the abundance of life. He's jealous for you to know. That He is the only true God, because every other lesser love will lead you into destruction. And so it is that there is a dilemma. How?
Can God Be both. Just and merciful. In human terms. If you've ever had a conflict with someone, let's say it's a husband and a wife. and one has committed some sort of offence.
Right. Thankfully, in most of our marriages, We just work our way through these things and we find a way to note how to forgive. But the forgiveness that you Grant. It's not easy. And it's not free.
In the transaction of forgiveness, Somebody pays. You could think of it this way. If you had your car parked at the restaurant after church today, And you saw somebody back up, and they just ran right into your car and scraped down the whole side of it, and halfway demolished part of your car.
Well, You got pretty much two choices. You could say You're going to need to pay for the repair of my car. Or You could say I forgive you. Uh just go on your way. But if you say, I forgive you, you're going to pay for the repair of your car.
But somebody's going to pay for the repair of the car. The Bible says there is no forgiveness. without the shedding of blood. It's just something in the design, the fabric of the cosmos. Sin has to be paid for.
That's a dilemma. It's human sin. Human sin must be Punished. The most fascinating stor part of the story of Hosea is What happens in chapter three? Because Gomer has run off, maybe the text implies.
sold herself back into slavery. Or maybe is just having her life controlled by some pimp, somebody's taking over her business.
Okay. And God And maybe Hosea and chapter 2 are wrestling. What shall I do, God says about Israel? She should be punished. Gomer should be punished.
You know what you do with a woman of adultery in that day? You could take her and just publicly shame her. The law would even allow for publicly stoning her. What should she do? In Hosea chapter 2, God says back and forth, back and forth, until finally.
God says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take her out into the wilderness and I'm going to lure her. and speak tenderly to her. And I'm gonna woo her back. Perfect.
So he comes to Jose and he says, Jose, now that you have felt what it's like. To be committed to someone who's not committed to you. Here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to shame her. I want you to go love her.
Go find her. And take her back. And that's what he does. How he finds her, I don't know. But at verse 2 of chapter 3, Hosea said, So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver.
and a homer. and a lisach of barley. And I said to her, You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore or belong to another man.
so will I also be. To you. I guess he went and he found her. And her boss said, you can't have her. She works for me.
She belongs to me. If you're gonna take her. It's gonna cost you. And so Hosea had to reach deep in his own pocket. and take out his treasure.
And buy back the wife. It was already his. And in so doing The Holy Spirit must have whispered in the prophet's ear and said, Now You can preach the gospel. For in the fullness of time, beloved, God the one who had been betrayed. revealed his redemptive plan.
A plant so marvelous and beautiful that the angels had stooped to look into it. and no one had been able to fully see it. and those who did were surprised and shocked by it. A God indeed came to lead them by a human. Whose name was Jesus.
And he was God himself. The church Jesus said, it's like the bride. And he is our groom. And God came. In this God-man Jesus.
with this express purpose. That in Jesus God had an answer for the dilemma of how can one God be both just and justifier. Be both righteous and merciful. And as Jesus hung on the cross, And as he bled, The scripture says that he who knew no sin became our sin.
So that whoever would trust in him would be given imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
So that God would not be made out to be a liar, but instead His word would have its integrity. And human sin would be punished in a wrath being poured out upon a human being. And Jesus Himself, He took the punishment that you and I deserved. And in that cross, you see, therefore, demonstrated the unspeakable, infinite justice of God and the marvelous, never-ending, abounding mercy of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. You see both his holiness and his love, his wrath and his mercy met at the cross of Calvary, and Jesus paid it all.
And we who are in Christ have therefore been utterly set free forever and ever, wed unto him, his beloved, betrothed, married for eternity, never to be rejected. He is our beloved, and we are his. He is our husband, and we are the bride. He is the Lord, and we love him and we worship him and we honor him because he's done for us what we We could have never imagined that any God would do. No other religion in the world has anything like this.
This is our God. He is holy, holy, holy, and he will not acquit the wickedness of this world, but he is loving, loving, loving, so much so that he laid down his life so that at one moment in history he could demonstrate to all he is both just and justifier, and everyone who accepts him is his forever and ever and ever. And that's the gospel. Alan Wright, you have heard the good news and live in that light today. It's our teaching as we're wrapping up this particular moment of justice and mercy, but continuing on in the series, The Beauty of Balance in our next broadcast.
And Alan Wright will be back here in the studio with us in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want, Want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement? Get Alan Wright's daily blessing.
It's free and just to click away at pastorallen.org.
Someone has joked that nothing is really lost until a mom can't find it. Mothers. They're not only treasure finders, they're treasure givers.
Sometimes, like a she-bear, a mom protects with fierce resolve.
Sometimes, like a teddy bear, a mom comforts with tender touch. Moms are God's plan for nourishing and nurturing the generations. Can we ever thank them enough? No, but we can bless them. We can share a positive biblical vision over their lives in faith that fosters their God-given destiny and reminds them of their infinite worth.
That's what Alan Wright's newest devotional book does. In Blessings for Moms, Pastor Alan leads mothers in a four-week journey of daily blessing. 20 Blessings Tailor Made for Moms and What They Need. The beautiful booklet is perfect for the bedside or coffee table to help a mom start out the day inspired or to pillow her head in peace at night. When you make a gift to Allen Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you Blessings for Moms as our way of saying thank you.
So don't wait. Make your gift today and let us send you this brand new treasure, Blessings for Moms. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.
We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-455. 4860. That's 877-544-456. 4860.
Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Alan, somebody's listening right now, and boy, this seems to just really hit home. This is a celebration moment they could hear in that worship service. And boy, they want to celebrate, but they're just having trouble figuring out that this good news also applies to them too. Yes, yes, yes.
I think that many, many people, Daniel, including some Christians, are so aware of the demand for justice that runs throughout all of the cosmos that we have an understanding deep down within us that there must be justice, right? Just have somebody pull out and traffic in front of you or break in line or steal your pocketbook and you'll know there's something inside all of us like that's not fair. That's not right. And knowing that things somehow need to be just or else we have nothing but chaos, we yearn for it and we tend to condemn ourselves because we know that we have erred and fallen short. On the other hand, there's the mercy of God and we speak of God in tender terms and loving.
When people find themselves in conflict within their own hearts, how can God be both? And thus the gospel is such joyous news because in Christ God is just and justifier. He is executing justice and pouring out mercy through the cross of Jesus Christ. And that's what makes the gospel so wonderful. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
