An Inevitable Breakup
Hosea 2:1-2a, 6-7, 14-23
1. It's been a long but meaningful week.
2. Camp is a good time, but it makes for a mighty tight schedule.
3. I teach daily for two weeks, and I also start my lessons off with 15-20 jokes.
4. I didn't tell the joke about the couple who had twin boys and gave them up for adoption as babies… One was adopted by a middle eastern family and named Ammal, the other was adopted by Puerto Rican couple and named Juan….years later, they rec'd photo of Juan….
5. In actuality, no two people are exactly alike; nor are nations. In Israel, entire generations were mostly apostate, having deserted the faith of Yahweh. But a future generation of that same people group will respond to the Lord because God is sovereign.
Main Idea: God’s long term blessings often require times of discipline and disharmony.
I. A Break-Up That Dismays the Entire FAMILY (1-2a)
A. Hosea sets aside GOMER
1. Normal couples argue to resolve differences.
“So what’s new in your house?” a nosy neighbor asked little Frankie.
“Who knows?” answered the little fellow, “They spell everything!”
2. That’s normal, but unfaithfulness, that’s in a different league. It’s not just another difference or problem; it is a violation of the marriage covenant.
3. Hosea wants Gomer to stay and be faithful, but he refuses to cling to her if she has no intention of reforming her ways…
4. Divorce with later remarriage or separation?
5. Notice how this affects the children…
6. It is sad to see children used as pawns in a failed marriage
7. Children should not even know what marital unfaithfulness is…
B. God sets aside ISRAEL
1. God’s people can become smug and spoiled
2. Idolatry is a violation of God’s Covenant with Israel made at Mt. Sinai…and probably Covenant of Noah made with all mankind…
3. Like adultery in marriage, literal idolatry is no minor transgression
4. God set Israel aside & can set each of us aside and use others in our place
5. The same concept is repeated in the New Testament. Romans 11:25ff
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved…
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
C. Who actually INITIATED this break?
• Israel did; the break was God’s consequence for her behavior…
• When people do wrong, the disciplinarians are often faulted
• Children and adults need to understand the idea of consequences…
D. Application: Modern Breakups are PAINFUL
1. In families, kids are always affected, as in Hosea’s case
2. In dating relationships, breakups are painful (depression) – listening ear
3. In churches, break ups are hard, too
To live above with saints we love, That will be glory!
To live below with saints we know, That’s another story!
4. Having said that, break-ups are sometimes necessary, as here
5. God had been patient with Israel, but enough was enough.
II. A Future Reconciliation that Blesses All the EARTH (6-7, 14-23)
A. God will bring trouble and create REMORSE (6-7)
1. Often He has future generations in mind…
2. We tend to think of our days and not beyond, like King Hezekiah.
3. God thinks in term of our descendents and millennia
4. To Abraham: your descendents will be enslaved in a foreign land 400 years (Genesis 15:13)
5. Many do not think of how our lives affect our grandchildren/ great
6. In time, God would force Israel to reconsider via misery
B. God will INVITE a willing people (14-15)
1. When Israel gets right with God, God’s Kingdom comes to earth
2. Of course God causes Israel to get right with God when it is time
3. Paul talks about a time when the natural branches – the physical descendents of Jacob – will be grafted back into the olive tree
4. God invites us to himself to be part of his bride, the church; but he requires repentance and faith, and faithful must be of the faithful kind
5. Jesus provided for our redemption, just as Hosea offers buys his wife out of slavery, but we are obligated to be faithful; saving faith involve commitment..
C. God will relate to Israel as a HUSBAND, not a master (16-17)
There are many figures for believers and their relationship to God; we call him "abba," Father, we will be brothers and companions of Jesus, his people, and he will gather us like a shepherd gathers lambs and protect us as a hen shields her chicks under her wings. Each of these figures communicates a certain tenderness and acceptance on the part of God. Difference between a husband and a master are many…
D. All nature will ENJOY this faithful relationship (18-20)
Romans 8:19 captures this same idea: " For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God."
There is a principle: when God's children walk with God, others are blessed.
Secular and ungodly Americans have been blessed by those Americans who walked with God. As America deteriorates, the evidence suggests that it is we Christians who have failed to live up to what we believe; we point the finger at the world instead of ourselves.
We must remember that judgment begins with the House of God.
CONCLUSION
1. Are you walking with God?
2. Or do you scold the lost while excusing yourself?
3. You can start to renew your walk with God today (Rom. 12:1-2)
