Powerful People Are Called To Love The Unlovable (The Story Of Hosea & Gomer) Series

POWERFUL PEOPLE ARE CALLED TO LOVE THE UNLOVABLE

Friday was Valentines Day. Some people overlook the origin of Valentine's day and assume it is just a day to celebrate love.

The name Valentine is derived from the Latin word Valens which means worthy, strong or powerful.

This evening as we continue in our series on Powerful people Valentine is a good place to begin.

Valentinus was the name of a man who lived in Rome during the reign of Claudius II.

It was a time when Christians were being persecuted.

If you are wondering about the picture on the screen, the left picture is a 3D rendering of what Valentinus may have looked like based on a relic that is currently kept in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Allegedly the flower-crowned skull on the right of the picture is Valentinus.

Valentinus was not a Christian, but history records how he was willing to help them. Valentinus was caught and put into prison. In prison, he became a believer in Jesus. While he was in prison he sent messages to his friends saying, “Remember your Valentine!” and “I love you.”

Here is where the story gets a little ugly!

His new-found faith led to Valentinus being sentenced to death. He was beaten with clubs, stoned and finally beheaded. Not really an expression of love - but it does perhaps explain why someone decided to keep his head in a box.

Love. The whole area of love is a big one, and the word appears multiple times in the Bible.

The Bible I use most often is the New Living Translation and in that the word love appears 810 times. In the NIV 681 times and in the King James 546. Regardless of the translation of the Bible you or I use, it is clear that God, through His word, expresses the importance of love.

Throughout the Bible, God gives us many examples of how in love He has powerfully operated in individuals lives. God gives us spiritual lessons and guidance that we can learn from.

In the story of Moses, we see how Gods love for His people enabled them to be delivered from slavery and bondage in Egypt. In the 40 years the Hebrews spent in the wilderness, we can see how God loved His people through His provision for them.

In the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we see how His love for us brings us out of where we do not belong - the place of sin, darkness and death - and delivers us to the place of forgiveness, restoration and eternal salvation.

From the account of Noah, his family and the ark we see that in love, God provided them with salvation from the judgment He brought upon the sinful world.

In Christ, God has provided us with something far better than an ark made of wood, Jesus is our place of safety and security in the midst of the storms and the floods of life.

There was only one door into the ark, for those with faith to enter in. God in His love has given us one door to forgiveness and salvation, only one way to be saved, repenting and trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.

Love has many aspects, what I want us to consider together this evening is the truth that: POWERFUL PEOPLE ARE CALLED TO LOVE THE UNLOVABLE

Perhaps one of the best examples of this truth in the Old Testament is the prophet Hosea.

Hosea was a prophet during the reign of four different kings spanning approximately 38 years in the 8th century B.C. God told Hosea to marry a “promiscuous woman” called Gomer. Their life together was an enacted prophecy illustrating the pain God experiences because of our sin and the love He has for us despite our sins.

The words of Hosea’s prophecy speak about the wrath of a spurned husband and the forgiveness of true love.

Just like Valentine, the lives of Hosea and Gomer are linked to love, but their story is not a perfect love story.

There are three parts of Hosea’s story I want to cover:

The Prophet is called to love the Unlovable.

The Unlovable abandons the Prophet, and

The Prophet pursues the Unlovable

The Prophet is called to love the unlovable

Listen to Hosea 1:1-2 - The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshipping other gods.”