God's Messengers Series

GOD’S MESSENGERS

CHAPTER 15, “THE STORY”

Hosea 1-14

INTRODUCTION… “The Story” so far by the numbers

This morning as we begin to think about this chapter in the story, I want to share some numbers with you:

15 is the number of weeks we have been going through “The Story” as an entire church

16 is the number of Biblical books we as a church will have covered so far

12 is the number of tribes that settled the land of Palestine and became the nation of Israel

1050 is the year BC when King Saul began his reign

40 is the number of years King David ruled over all of Israel

40 is also the number of years King Solomon ruled over all Israel

10 is the number of tribes that rebelled against Rehoboam and formed the Kingdom of Israel

2 is the number of tribes that remained in the Kingdom of Judah in the south

19 is the number of kings that ruled in the Kingdom of Israel before they were destroyed in 722BC

20 is the number of kings that ruled in the Kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian Captivity in 586BC

17 is the number of named prophets to were sent to Israel and Judah to preach and minister

[Cell phone call interrupts the sermon. The caller wants a request granted.]

I’m so sorry about the interruption. People should know not to call a minister during their sermon! I’m so embarrassed… somehow I have to save this message now… uh I know… this cell phone interruption is very much the idea of “The Story” today. God is trying to reach His people with a message through the 17 or more prophets that He sent to His people. You know some of the names of these men: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, and many more.

God calls the people through His prophets and gives them directions in their relationship with Him.

God calls the people through His prophets and encourages their faithfulness.

God calls the people through His prophets and warns them that faithlessness would have dire consequences.

This morning I would like to look at one of these specific prophets and the message that he had to bring to the people of God. It is an important message especially as we come to understand more and more what “The Story” of God is all about. This morning we will be in the Book of Hosea which is in the Old Testament and Hosea was a prophet who spoke during the reigns of Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in the Kingdom of Judah and Jeroboam II in the North.

Hosea brings an important message to the people of God through his life and his preaching. God put Hosea in a difficult position where he was living out his message while he was preaching it to God’s people. This was extremely difficult, but also showed how important God’s message was.

[Cell phone call interrupts the sermon. The call is rejected.]

I suppose that is the question this morning, isn’t it: Will the people of God respond to God or reject the call of God? Let’s read about this special message that the prophet Hosea has to teach us.

I. HOSEA’S MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

READ Hosea 1:2-10

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel." 6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them-- not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God." 8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. 10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

The opening of the Book of Hosea reveals to us that Hosea’s marriage to Gomer begins as his prophetic ministry begins. The most natural reading of this passage seems to indicate that God commands Hosea to marry a woman of ill repute and marry her even though he knows her character flaws. Verse 3 shares with us that Hosea obeys God and marries Gomer, a woman of adulterous character and loose sexual morals. There is no mention if his feelings or doubts or prayers of complaint. There is no mention of a courtship or betrothal period. Hosea simply obeys the Lord His God and enters into a marriage with a woman who he knows will not be faithful to him in marriage. I do not know what their life was like. I do not know if they had premarital counseling where she committed to leaving her life of prostitution. It doesn’t say any of that. It does say that in verse 3 after their marriage that Gomer bore Hosea a son.