The Unrelenting Love Of God
#LoveIs
HEY – anybody out there excited, pumped, grateful for the ‘Reckless Love Of God?’
I would like to begin today by reading some words that God breathed and the Apostle Paul put to paper 2000 years ago to the church in Corinth.
NOW – there is a good chance that you have heard them before in church our at a wedding… 1 Corinthians chapter 13 beginning in verse one…
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Prayer
OKAY – welcome the church! And welcome to week one of our brand new series simply called ‘Love Is…”
A few years back researchers asked the following question to a group of 4-8 year olds, "What does love mean?"
NOW - the answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
SEE - what you think…
Rebecca (age 8)
When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore so my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.
Billy (age 4)
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.
Chrissy (age 6)
Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.
Terri (age 4)
Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
Bobby (age 7)
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
Nicky (age 6)
If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a somebody who you hate.
Tommy (age 6)
Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.
Jessica (age 8)
You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.
Wow…
Talk about some depth, insight and pictures as to what love is…
NOW - love is probably the most misunderstood word in the world.
AND - part of the problem is that we use the same word to describe a lot of different things "I love…
My wife, pizza, football, my country,
YEAH – this one word ‘love’ gets tossed around more than a football in the Super Bowl… so much so, that in some ways it has lost it’s power and meaning…
NOW – the Greeks didn’t have that problem because they had more than one word for love… Basically that had 4 words…
• Phileo ‘ fee leo’ (brotherly love, friendship)
• Eros (passionate or sexual love)
• Storge (parental or family love) and
• Agape
NOW - the word agape was not used all that much in ancient literature but it is all over the NT.
IN FACT - 92% of the time you find the Word love in the NT it is the Greek word agape… which describes
(a selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love of the will)
IT’S - A love that is not dependent on there being any lovable qualities in the object being loved. IT’S - love when it is undeserved. IT’S – the kind of love that Paul describes for us in 1 Corinthians 13…
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-8
NOW – next week we are going to start unpacking Paul’s definition, in a conversation simply called, ‘Love is patient.’
BUT THIS MORNING – I want us to talk about ‘The Unrelenting Love Of God.’ Because as the apostle John wrote in his first letter…
We love, because He first loved us. – 1 John 4:19
Repeat… Me - “we love” You - “because He first loved us”
LISTEN, LISTEN… - here’s the deal…
Understanding and experiencing God’s love is the foundation, the fuel for loving others the way God calls us to love them.
LIKE – the key to living out ‘love is patient’ is experiencing what Paul calls (in 1 Timothy 1:16) the unlimited patience of God.
Repeat… Me - “we love” You - “because He first loved us”
OKAY SO TODAY – I want to share several things about God’s Love.
HOWEVER – before I do that I want to tell you why we are doing this series, Love Is…
#1 – because there is nothing more important than love
I MEAN – isn’t that exactly what Paul is saying
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
I MEAN – do you see what Paul is saying in those 3 verses?
He is saying that without love…
• what you say,
• what you know (and we live in an age of exploding knowledge and information… like human knowledge doubles every 12 hours. In the 1900’s it doubled every century… in 1950 every 25 years…. BUT (have you noticed that) we still have the same old problems – abuse, prejudice, hatred, violence, war, crime. Why? Because what the world needs is not more information, not more education… NO - despite what the world thinks that is not the solution to the world needs… LOVE is. Knowledge is not the answer, love is… Checkout what God’s word says in 1 Cor 8:1, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up…”
• Without love - what you say, what you know, and
• what you give, what you sacrifice, what you accomplish and even your faith does not matter… gains nothing.
UNDERSTAND MGCC – (and someone in this room needs to hear this)… Your relationships are more important than your accomplishments
AGAIN – we are doing this series
#1 – because nothing is more important than love
#2 – because nothing is as powerful as love
I MEAN – think about it, love has the power to change people…
UNDERSTAND…
WHEN A PERSON – is loved by someone with God’s kind of love… it changes them. They are not the same anymore
AND WHEN A PERSON – loves someone with God’s kind of love… it changes them. They are not the same anymore.
R U tracking with me?
LIKE – you cannot be loved that way or love others that way and remain the same. Get It?
YES – love has the power to change people, and…
LOVE – has the power to show the world that we are Jesus disciples…
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. - John 13:34,35
YOU SEE – according to Jesus the way we love one another is…
our greatest apologetic,
AGAIN – we are doing this series
1. because nothing is more important than love
2. because nothing is as powerful as love
3. because nothing is more needed in our world and in our homes, community and relationships) than a bunch love people living out God’s kind of love.
I MEAN - Burt Bacharach was write when he composed this song in 1965…
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.
OKAY – let’s do this, let’s spend a little time talking about ‘The Unrelenting Love of God…
UNDERSTAND - 2 times the bible comes right out and says that God is love. NOT – that God loves (which he does).. BUT – that God is love.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.– 1 John 4:8
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. – 1 John 4:16
NOW - to be honest I find it pretty intimidating to stand up here and talk about the unrelenting love of God.
I MEAN – I don’t even understand human love…
SO – how in the world can I talk about God’s love…
FORTUNATELY – in my studies I came across a quote by A.W. Tozer, who also struggled to explain God’s love (that gave me some comfort) He wrote:
I can no more do justice to this awesome and wonder-filled topic than a child can grasp a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. And so, I stretch my heart toward the high, shining love of God so that we may be encouraged to look up and have hope. – AW Tozer
AND B/S - that’s what I am attempting to do this morning…
CALL – your attention to the unrelenting love of God.
STRETCH - our hearts toward that love…
SO THAT – we will be encouraged to look up this morning and have hope.
QUESTION - could you use some hope, today?
IF SO – you are in the right place at the right time…
BECAUSE – I’m convinced that despite my limitations…
THAT - the shining, reckless and unrelenting love of God,
IS - going to both fall on, and move among, us beginning right now!
QUESTION – do you think that God wants that to happen in this place, at this moment?
Of course HE does, because God doesn’t just love…
HE soo loves the world, He sooo loves you!
ALRIGHT HERE – we go… 5 powerful truths about God’s love,
AND - brothers and sisters I encourage you to let these truths wash over you…
II. God’s Love…. Is A Love Beyond All Reason
YOU KNOW – I can still remember back to the days when my each of my children discovered that 3 letter word that all 2-3 year olds find and all parents dread.
DO – you know what that 3 letter word is? Why?
I MEAN – I can still hear myself telling them such things as…
• You can’t eat the wax candle, why?
• It’s time to go to bed, why?
• Don’t throw the batteries in the toilet, why?
• Stop jumping off the table, why?
• You can’t have candy for breakfast, why?
• Stop hitting the window with the broom, why?
• You can’t pee in our front yard, why? (pee in the back)
• Don’t shove those little beads up your nose, why?
QUESTION…
WHY – do 3 years olds love to ask why all of the time?
I THINK - there are many reasons:
1. because it’s fun to say
2. because they know in that sinister little 3 year old mind that it drives us crazy and they want to send us to an early grave…
3. BECAUSE – they simply don’t get it, it doesn’t add up… BECAUSE - in their mind what we are saying is beyond all reason, it doesn’t make sense, like all the dots do not connect…
YOU KNOW – as I read of, and reflect on, the unrelenting love of God, that I see so vividly displayed on the pages of Scripture.
I – find myself going back to that same little word that 3 years olds love to say so much…
A WORD – that pretty much sums up the entire thing. Why?
I think that is exactly what David is saying in Psalm 8…
Lord our Lord, your name is the most wonderful name in all the earth! It brings you praise in heaven above… I look at your heavens, which you made with your fingers. I see the moon and stars, which you created. But why are people even important to you? Why do you take care of human beings? Psalm 8:1,3,4
UNDRSTAND MGCC – the unrelenting love of God…
• It doesn’t add up
• It doesn’t make sense
• It’s not logical
• It’s not reasonable
• None of the dots connect…
WHY…
• Does God act so crazy?
• Does He give so much?
• Does He continue to pursue such a rebellious and prodigal
people?
I MEAN…
WHY - does GOD choose to…
Welcome, turn to, bless, forgive, and extend His grace, mercy and love to people who constantly turn from Him, reject Him and ignore Him,
PEOPLE WHO - so often choose to walk away from Him and live a life, that like the prodigal son in Luke 15, is intentionally in a far away and distant land?
B/S - I gotta admit…
THAT – it just doesn’t make sense to me… it is beyond all reason.
AND LISTEN – one of the reason why God’s love is so hard for us to wrap our brains around is because God’s Love is unconditional.
AND – (now stay with me) the reason we have such a hard time getting our hearts and minds around unconditional love, is because most of us have had more experience with unconditional loves evil twin ‘conditional’ love…
YOU KNOW…
A LOVE - that loves only because of what it gets in return.
A LOVE – where that places expectation on us that we constantly fail to measure up to.
MAYBE – some in this room up in a home like that…
QUESTION – have you ever experienced conditional love? Have you ever loved conditionally?
UNDERSTAND – when I say ‘I love McDonalds fries, I love my car, I love chocolate, I love Maryland Crab Cakes..’
IT IS – a conditional kind of love… BECAUSE…
• IF – McDonald fries started tasting like BK fries,
• IF - my car broke down
• IF - chocolate suddenly turned into onions…
• AND IF – the crab cakes have more fillings then crab meat
I would no longer love those things…
YOU SEE – I love those things because of what they give me in return… IT’S – a conditional love.
NOW - most of you know that I am a New England Patriot’s fan.
(You knew I would find a way to work that in, right?)
BUT LISTEN – if The Pats become the worst team in the NFL…
I am not so sure how long I would continue to stick with them.
Just being honest
NOW – I know what some of you are thinking #NotARealFan
YEAH – I get it, and I admit it… it’s a conditional kind of love
AND – sometimes… sometimes, I love people conditionally…
I love them because they:
• act the way I want them to act,
• give me stuff I need or want,
• make me feel happy or good about myself…
• they love me.
OKAY – here is the truth of the matter…
WE ALL - at times love conditionally…
AND WE ALL - have been loved conditionally…
BUT – the good news is… God’s love is unconditional – it is beyond all reason.
HEY CHECH THIS OUT…
A FEW – years back I printed out every verse in the O.T. that had the word love in it… There are ~ 366 verses that have the word love in them…
Of those 366 verses 204 (54%) are talking about God’s love?
[the remaining 162 verses talk about; our love for God, our love for His word, our love His wisdom, our love for our friends, romantic love… and several verses talk about our love for wrong things… LIKE – sin, idols and money]
AND – 175 of those 204 verses (that’s about 86% - nearly 9 out of every ten verses) said the exact same thing about God’s love.
THAT - God’s love is unconditional.
THAT - God’s love is not based on who we are OR what we have done…
BUT RATHER – on who God is. AND REMEMBER – God is love!
111 times God’s love is described as “unfailing” (Could you use an unfailing love in your life?)
AND - 40 times His love is described as ‘enduring forever…
AGAIN – could you use some enduring forever kind of love in your life?
UNDERSTAND…
NOTHING – you could ever do, could make God love you more than He loves you right now.
Not greater achievement.
Not greater beauty.
Not wider recognition.
Not even a greater level of spirituality and obedience.
AND NOTHING – you have ever done can make God love you less.
Not any sin.
Not any failure.
Not any guilt.
Not any regret.
LISTEN – God loves you, He has always loved you. And he will always love. HE – just cannot help Himself.
An unconditional love, a beyond all reason kind of love.
AND LISTEN – God’s love for us will always be beyond our understanding. LIKE – it will never make complete sense to any of us. THAT – is why John said the following in 1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! - 1 John 3:1
‘what great’ ('potapos' in Greek ) – from what country
This love is like from another country, another place…
BUT LISTEN – even though God’s love is beyond all reason…
This morning, this moment, could be the day that many in this room will STOP questioning God’s unconditional love and begin to simply accept and embrace it.
What in the world would happen if people actually began discovering the actual message of Jesus Christ – that love is unconditional? What would happen if we began to realize that God was not, in fact, waiting for us to earn His love, but that He was passionately pursuing us with His love? What would happen if the word God out that Jesus was offering His love freely and without condition? - Erwin McManus
NEXT…
II. God’s Love… Is A Love That Delights In You
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17
As man rejoices over his new wife, so the Lord rejoices over you. - Isaiah 62:5
UNDERSTAND – God does not love you out of obligation or duty. HIS LOVE – for you is not an in spite of kind of love…
YOU KNOW – where He looks at you and discovers that you are kind of smelly, BUT - He decides to hold His nose and love you anyway. LISTEN B/S – you are not a booby prize that God is stuck with for all eternity.
YOU SEE - God doesn’t just love you because he has to…
He loves you because He wants to.
IN FACT - God delights in you.
HE – rejoices over you as a man rejoices over His new wife!
HE – loves you not because of what you do but because of who you are.
AND LISTEN – His love for you, when you begin to plunge it’s depths will as Zephaniah wrote..
he will quiet you with his love
he will rejoice over you with singing.
NOW OF COURSE – that doesn’t mean that God delights in everything you do…
BUT LISTEN – the fact that you exist – is a very good thing in God’s eyes and HIS face lights up whenever you walk into the room…
I love how Lewes Smedes puts it; “it may be a very bad thing that I needed God to die for me, but it is a wonderful thing that God thinks I’m worth dying for.”
TELL – the person sitting next to you…
“You’re worth dying for”
“I’m worth dying for”
IN – the Psalms David speaks of being the apple of God’s eye. NOW – that little phrase ‘apple of your eye’ is pretty sweet and it is used several times in Scripture.
IT’S – based on what happens when you look a person in the eye at point-blank range.
WHEN YOU DO THAT – you see an image (a reflection) of yourself in the eyes of the other person.
UNDERSTAND B/S…
WHEN – you look into GOD’S eyes you will see an image of what The Almighty is so fixated on...
YOU – will see an image of you! The apple of God’s eye!
DAVID writes…
Show the wonder of your great love… Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings – Ps 17:8
God’s love is…
• a love that is unconditional and beyond reason
• a love that delights in ‘you.’
NEXT
III. God’s Love.. Is A Love That Is For You
UNDERSTAND – when we love someone, it means that we are in their corner, we are on their team, that we have their back, that we have their six.
IT MEANS – that we want to see them realize their FULL potential and become all God made them be.
B/S… (man, this is soooo good)
GOD (The King of Glory, The LORD of all creation) is not just with you…
HE - is for you.
HE – is on your team…
HE – is in your corner.
HE – celebrates you victories and mourns your setbacks.
AND HE – He most definitely regardless of where your life is at the moment… (mountain high or valley low, hopeful/hopeless, faithful/unfaithful, fallen or standing)…
HAS - plans, dreams, thoughts and intentions for your life.
HEY CHECKOUT – the following Scripture. YEAH – you probably have heard them a bunch of times before, BUT… hear them again as the echo’s the depth of the Father’s love for you.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jer 29:11
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Eph 2:10
MGCC – God is FOR you and He has awesome plans for your life. PLANS…
• to prosper you
• to give you a hope and a future
• to create you anew in Christ
• to put your life on display as one of His masterpieces.
• For you to do the good things HE PLANNED for you to do long ago
Yes God is for us!
AND YOU KNOW – whenever I think of God’s love being for me I almost always think of these words that Paul penned in Romans chapter 8.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:31,32
YES – God’s love is a ‘for us’ kind of love…
Tell the person to your right and left “God is for you”
IV. God’s Love… Is A Love That Pays Attention To You
UNDERSTAND – attention is one of the most powerful forces in the world.
ALONG with food and water – a baby needs the attentive gaze of a human face. A baby lays in the crib and smiles – the faces smile back… and the baby realizes that someone is watching – is responding, that what the baby does counts.
YOU SEE - a child simply cannot survive without attention.
AND – for that matter no one can… We all need attention.
In his book Love Beyond reason John Ortberg has a chapter called, ‘Love Pays Attention….” writes;
One of the great miracles of life is that God pays attention to us. This is partly why the writers of Scripture speak so often of God’s face. This is the hope of the great priestly blessing that God himself taught the people of Israel.
‘The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine upon you And be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you And give you peace.’ - Numbers 6:24-26
To turn your face toward someone is to give that person your whole-hearted, undivided attention. It is not the casual listening of a preoccupied mind. It is a statement: ‘I have nothing else to do, nowhere else I’d rather be. I’m fully devoted to being with you.’ THIS is the kind of attention God lavishes on us.
It gets better. This blessing says that God will not only turn his face toward us, he will make it ‘shine’ on us. The shining face is an image of delight. It is an image of delight. It is the face of a proud parent beaming while a child plays in her first piano recital.
It is the radiant face of a bride as she walks the aisle to her groom. We can turn our face toward (pay attention to) anyone, with little effort. BUT our faces shine and beam and grow radiant only in the presence of those we love most deeply. And this says the prayer, is how God love us. God pays attention to us.
AND CHECKOUT - what the Bible has to say to us in Psalm 139 verses 1 through 3. “You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and You know all about me. You know when I am resting or when I am working” -- Would you read this last part with me -- “You notice everything I do and everywhere I go.”
B/S - God pays constant attention to you… He never takes His eyes off of you. IN FACT - He never stops thinking about you.
HAVE – you ever wondered…
• does anyone care
• does anyone notice
• do I matter
• Is anyone paying attention to me
God answers – “I am!”
God’s Love is…
• A love that is unconditional and beyond reason
• A love that delights in you
• A love that is for you
• A love that pays attention to you
AND – 5th…
V. God’s Love… Is A Love That Unrelentingly Pursues You
Unrelenting - that which does not diminish in intensity or in effort.
UNDERSTAND – as you flip the pages of the bible…
FROM – the fall of man and the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter three…
TO - an old rugged cross and a hill called Calvary…
YOU FIND - a passionate and unrelenting God in pursuit of a prodigal people… that He so loves.
AND LISTEN – 750 years before Jesus would come to this planet and solve the sin problem. God’s – extraordinary, ridiculous, illogical, unconditional, reckless, unrelenting love shows up in full display through the life of a young man named Hosea.
Hosea is a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. Now a lot of prophets in the OT were given some pretty crazy or challenging assignments… BUT – I dare say that Hosea is given the most ridiculous, difficult and embarrassing assignment.
God comes to Hosea and says, ‘Okay, Hosea this is your assignment. I want you to marry a prostitute.
Not a former prostitute, but a full fledge, card carrying active prostitute.
AND SO - Hosea marries a prostitute.
And what is her name? Gomer.
Bummer of a name, right?
SO – he marries Gomer and for awhile things are going pretty well They have a baby boy, then they have a baby girl and then they have another baby boy.
SO – it’s 3 or so years and their marriage seems to be going pretty well.
UNTIL – one morning this prophet of God wakes up and Gomer is nowhere to found. Like he searches the entire house but she is just gone. AND INSTANTLY – he’s a single day with 3 young children.
NOW – I am not sure what happened after that he some long days and difficult nights.
BUT EVENTUALLY – God comes to Hosea and says, “Okay Hosea, here’s the plan. I want you to go find your wife and marry her again.”
Boy Hosea deserves a lot of credit, he is a special guy.
And we read in Hosea chapter 3…
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” – Hosea 3:1
In other words they are enamored by the things of this world.
Now at this time in Israel they are experiencing a period of prosperity, like everything is clicking – everything is going well.
And love is a major theme for them.
But they have 3 primary philosophies of what love.
• they believe that love can be purchased
• they believe that love is just about self-gratification
• they believe that is found or can be discovered in things, in inanimate objects.
Man, this seems so eerily familiar to our world today. Where the meaning of love has been so convoluted.
Love ya, Love ya
AND LISTEN – it is into this environment where people believe…
• that love can be purchased
• that love is about self
• and that love is about things
This is not love… So God says I will demonstrate to ‘my people’ what love really is.
One scholar wrote – other than the crucifixion and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly the story of Gomer and Hosea is the greatest expression and demonstration of God’s love in all of Scripture.
SO – Hosea gets this assignment. Go look for her. What was that like. He has to go looking for his wife in a place that men of God should not be.
SO – he goes to that part of town, if you know what I mean.
AND – he approaches people who are obviously in that industry “have you seen my wife”
“No man, sorry I haven’t seen her in awhile…”
AND SO – he keeps walking and asking…
AND – when he finally finds Gomer, do you know where she is?
She is on the selling block… she is being sold in the sex slave industry.
NOW – what most scholars believe is that He walked in on an auction. I want you to see this… Hosea is walking in on an auction… and that’s his wife.
“Excuse me sir, but that’s my wife”
“I don’t care who you say she is, but she is mine and she is for sale and this is the price.”
I wonder what that was like for Gomer. She probably can’t even look at Hosea. She never fathomed that he would come here and pay the price of the auction.
Does he have to out bid other bidders, maybe.
As it happens he ends up paying 15 pieces of silver, 5 bushels of barley and a measure of wine.
If you put it all together it would have been about thirty pieces of silver in the ancient world, which was the price that was paid for a slave in the ancient world.
Hosea went to his unfaithful wife who chose sexual slavery over him and bought her back.
Can you imagine the emotions?
Can you imagine the pain, the embarrassment, the humiliation on both parts?
Can you imagine her feeling like she couldn’t accept his love or kindness towards her?
SO – Hosea says I’ll pay whatever the price is… I’ll pay it.
Wait a second Hosea, she’s already yours.
I know, but I’ll pay for what is already mine.
And then he takes her to be with Him and he renews his vows to her…
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 behave the same way toward you.” – Hosea 3:3
That’s not what I would have said…
QUESTION – who is Hosea? …God
Hosea means ‘salvation.’
Gomer means ‘completion.’
Whose Hosea… that’s our God.
Well whose Gomer? Me, you
He won’t stop will He?
He won’t stop… He’s unrelenting.
He will search the most despicable, horrible pockets of this planet.
To find you, and to pay the price for you.
There's no shadow He won't light up
Mountain He won't climb up
Coming after You
There's no wall He won't kick down
Lie He won't tear down
Coming after You
Whose Gomer? Me… and Jesus is my Hosea.
And He, He, He completes me.
UNDERSTAND – nothing needs to be added when I meet my Hosea
Nothing can be added… I am complete, He’s paid the price.
In Matthew chapter 9… you remember Jesus is sitting with tax collectors and sinners. And the religious get all bend out of shape and ask him why do you eat with such scum, with such bad people, with such rejects… why do you do it…
And Jesus quotes Hosea…
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.” - Matthew 9:13
Have not come to seek those who think they are righteous but those who know they are lost and they are desperate.
What is Jesus saying, “I am your Hosea”
Go and learn what this means. Whose He talking to? He’s talking to Jews who understand and would have heard stories of the great prophet Hosea.
He’s saying ‘I am Hosea. I am your salvation. And I will go and I will look, and I will search and I will pay whatever the cost… for you…
MAN – I pray I am making sense here. I pray that I am getting across exactly what God wants you to hear this day…
