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.
The son was to be given a symbolic name. To be honest, Hosea was not the first prophet to give their child a symbolic name. This happened in the life of Isaiah. Isaiah 8:3-4, tells us some of Isaiah’s story, “Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria." The name means “Hurry to spoil” and was meant to show the people of God that their demise was coming soon. Even in the New Testament, Matthew 1:21 records for us that an angel told Joseph to name the child born to Mary, Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) because the name “Jesus” or “Joshua” or “Yeshua” depending on how you want to say it means “God saves.”
The boy born to Hosea was to be named Jezreel. Hosea could share with those he preached to that God was not pleased with the people of Israel for what occurred in Jezreel which is recorded in 2 Kings 9-10. The second child born to Hosea is a daughter. Please notice the verses. With the son Jezreel, verse 3 says, “she conceived and bore him a son.” Verse 6 says, “Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.” It says absolutely nothing about Hosea being the father. The second child born to Hosea seems to be the result of unfaithfulness on the part of Gomer. The girl is given the name Lo-Ruhamah which means “Not loved.” I want to think the best of Hosea, but I wonder if the name of the child reflected that Hosea did not feel loved by Gomer because of her betrayal or if the name reflected that Hosea did not love the child. In any case, there is a breaking of trust. Probably three years pass and verse 8 tells us that Gomer had another son and again Hosea is not mentioned as being the father, only that Gomer had the child. The boy is given the name Lo-Ammi which means “Not my people.” Again, we get the sense that this child is not from him and is “not mine” and Hosea names the child for a reason. This prophet has now endured years of being married to a wife who is not faithful to him. She has children by other men.
What was the point of all this? Why would God have his prophet marry an adulterous woman? To be honest, God asked His prophets to do many strange things in the Old Testament. Isaiah was commanded to go barefoot and naked for three years in order for him to preach a particular message (Isaiah 20). Jeremiah was given the task of wearing an ox’s yoke every day as a way of preaching his message about the people and their sin (Jeremiah 27). Ezekiel had to physically eat a scroll (Ezekiel 3), lie on one side for 390 days (Ezekiel 4), and shave his head and beard (Ezekiel 5) all in an effort to get the attention of the people of God and give the message. The prophets of God at times had to do many things to get the attention of His people to share the message that had been given.
But again, what was the point of all this? Why would God have his prophet marry an adulterous woman? The message that Hosea had to give to the people of God had to do with faithfulness and unfaithfulness. The issue at hand was God’s relationship with His people in which God felt deeply betrayed. The entire Book of Hosea is flavored with the language of adultery and unfaithfulness because God is telling the people that they have betrayed Him as one spouse betrays another.
ILLUSTRATION… “Theology of the Pain of God” by Kazoh Kitamori
There is a book I read a few years ago, “Theology of the Pain of God” by Kazoh Kitamori, which added to my view about how I see my relationship with God. It is a deep theological book which looks at our relationship with God from the perspective of pain… and not our pain, but God’s pain. The author says at the beginning, “We cannot believe the pain of God unless it is His revelation. Man’s thought can never produce such a truth” (page 25). The Japanese author explains in his book that when we sin, we not only break our relationship with God, but we also cause God pain. It pains God to extend His wrath to us, those He has created because we are sinful. Not only that, the only solution for our sin is that God send His only Son to suffer and die on a cross for you and me. That is pain. The author says, “When the love of God bears and overcomes His wrath, nothing but the pain of God takes place” (page 109). Through God’s pain our sin is forgiven and healed.
This thought does occur in Scripture. Jeremiah 31:20 says, “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.” Even in the New Testament, Hebrews 2:9-10 says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
You see, our sin causes God pain. God is Holy and therefore must bring the full weight of His wrath upon sin and those who sin. God created each one of us and He loves us far more than we know. Bringing such wrath on His Creation pains Him. The price for our salvation pains Him.
Why bring up this book in relation to the Book of Hosea? I see in the Book of Hosea God choosing one prophet to live out the pain God felt because of the adulterous and faithless relationship He was experiencing with His people. The Truth about God, the God who made the world (Genesis 1), the God who called Abraham to make a nation (Genesis 12), the God who saved Israel from Egypt (Book of Exodus), and the God who is described in the Old Testament and the New Testament is a God who desires to have a personal relationship with His people. That is why he calls Hosea to prophetic service and frames everything he says with painful relationship terms.
II. GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS PEOPLE
Hosea’s job is to describe the relationship that Israel is having with God. The relationship is not going well. In fact, the overall theme of Hosea’s messages is found in Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.”
The first indictment against the people of God is that there is no faithfulness to God. Hosea must share with the people that there is no consistency between their words and their deeds. They are saying one thing with their mouths, but their actions betray their words. Hosea 8:2-7 says, “Israel cries out to me, 'O our God, we acknowledge you!' But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. 5 Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity? 6 They are from Israel! This calf-- a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria. 7 "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”
ILLUSTRATION… Your Father Loves You by J. I. Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986
Author J.I. Packer described the propensity to other gods: "What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy trinity constituting one god: self), and the other enslaving trio, Pleasure, Possessions, and Position, whose worship is described as ’The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life’ (1 John 2:16). Football, the Firm, and Family are also gods for some. Indeed the list of other gods is endless, for anything that anyone allows to run their life becomes their god and the claimants for this prerogative are legion. In the matter of life’s basic loyalty, temptation is a many-headed monster."
In terms of thinking about ourselves:
Are you being faithless in your relationship with God? What are you doing without God’s consent or approval?
What idols are taking away your money or time or energy from God? What is stealing away your purity?
What or who would God have you throw out of your life in order to be faithful to Him?
The second indictment against the people of God is that there is no steadfast love or loyalty for God. The people of God love other things more than God:
They love other idols and festivals devoted to other gods (Hosea 3, 5). They love cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed (Hosea 4). They love to do evil and then ask God for forgiveness and expect Him to grant it (Hosea 6). They love political corruption and to follow corrupt leaders (Hosea 7, 9). They love to depend on their own strength and their own armies (Hosea 10)
Perhaps it is Hosea 6 that shocks me the most when I read it. Hosea 6:1-4 says, “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. 3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." 4 "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
There is such an arrogance presented in those verses. The people thought that they could come to God in faith when life was poor and when they suffered and God would just make everything right… and then they could go about their business. God says their faith is like mist that vanishes and dew that disappears. My God deserves more than that! He deserved more than that from them. He deserves more than that from me!
ILLUSTRATION… adapted from a Wayne Field Illustration (sermoncentral.com)
I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our relationship with God and to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives?
If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?
If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy?
If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee?
If your fridge stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it work most of the time”?
If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?
If you skipped a couple of electricity bill payments do you think TECO would mind?
If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
If you only pray when you need something, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
If you attend church only when you want something from God or from your fellow believers, would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
If you attend church only when you have to volunteer to do something or at certain times of the year would you expect to be called a faithful Christian?
We expect loyalty and reliability from things and other people and even from our God - isn’t it reasonable then that God just might expect the same from us?
The third indictment against the people of God is that there is no acknowledgement of God in the land. This is more than intellectual understanding about God, who He is, and what He has done. “Acknowledgement of God in the land” means that faith is reflected in values and lifestyle choices. The people of God were not acting like the people of God in their personal lives. Hosea throughout his book describes the activities the people are involved in and prevalent attitudes they shared.
Prostitution and idol worship were present (Hosea 4). Theft was prevalent (Hosea 7). Drunkenness was common (Hosea 7). Intermarriage with foreign people brought false gods to the land (Hosea 7).
They believed that fortified cities (Hosea 8) and mighty armies would be what kept them safe (Hosea 10).
The end result was that the people of God did not look like the people of God, but looked like the nations around them. What does acknowledgment of God look like for us? I think perhaps this is different for different people, but I have to tell you, many Christians today look like and sound like exactly like people who are not Christians. We believe the same things… we vote the same way… we watch the same movies… we laugh at the same dirty jokes… we attend the same festivals… and we wonder why people can’t tell what is a Christian person and what isn’t.
ILLUSTRATION… Author Brennan Manning
Christian author and Catholic Priest Brennan Manning passed away this month and I was reviewing some quotes from his books this past week. One of them caught my eye and I shared it at the church staff meeting this past week. It fits with our though this morning:
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
So far the sermon this morning has just been a great uplifting message… hasn’t it? Not really. Hosea has experienced adultery and pain and betrayal. Hosea’s life is meant to share with us the pain and anguish and betrayal that God feels. BUT, that is not at all the point of the life of Hosea and that is not the point of the message from the Book of Hosea.
The purpose, is the grace-filled purchase which comes as a complete shock in Hosea 3.
III. THE GRACE-FILLED PURCHASE
READ Hosea 3:1-5
The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you." 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.
So, how far was Hosea willing to go for Gomer?
So, how far is God willing to go for you and for me?
Please see exactly what happens in the life of Hosea in chapter 3 because I believe it shows us so much about God’s heart. What was Hosea commanded to do? Hosea is commanded to buy back his own wife. He was already married to her and yet he had to purchase her out of her life of sin and love her again!
He had to ignore the betrayal. He had to ignore her sin.
He had to buy back what was already his in the first place.
Please understand this… our Heavenly Father has done EXACTLY the same for you and for me through His Son Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Acts 20:28 tell us that God bought us “with His own blood.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23 tells us “You were bought at a price.” God bought us back from sin and if you know anything about the Bible, you know we were already His! Sin broke that! And God bought us back with a grace-filled purchase.
God is willing to ignore betrayal. God is willing to forgive sin.
God sent His Son Jesus Christ buy you back from sin.
[Cell phones begin to ring all over the sanctuary]
The message for us this morning is that if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, He wants you! He paid for you!
The message for those of us who are already believers is that we have such a responsibility in our relationships with God. We are called to be faithful. We are called to have loyalty. We are called to acknowledge God in all aspects of our lives.
Will you accept the message of God or will you reject it?
Will you accept the message of God or will you reject it?
