Summary: Love costs something, sometimes it hurts to love, Jesus taught us that, Hosea discovered it, in this passage.

THE MESSAGE OF GOD’S LOVE FOUND IN HOSEA

INTRODUCTION:

Hosea was a contemporary of Amos in Israel, and of Isaiah and Micah in Judah. Hosea’s message is that Israel is Jehovah’s adulterous wife, repudiated, but ultimately to be purified and restored. But Hosea learned about God’s love for Israel through his wife Gomer and how God wanted him to treat her.

I/ THE PROBLEM

A/ ISRAEL- SPIRITUAL ADULTERY - Hosea 4:12-13

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. {13} They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

Worship of the calf- leaving the spiritual but invisible worship of God by faith - they turned to a carnal worship of something they could see. But it ended in forgetfulness of God as is the result of all nature worship or materialism

B/ HOSEA’S WIFE GOMER - ADULTERY - Hosea 1:2-3

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, from the LORD. {3} So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

Gomer was probably not a prostitute when Hosea took her as his wife, she was however a daughter of spiritually adulterous people.

She had not learned to respect and fear God in her youth, and therefore did not respect or honor her marriage vows later on.

C/ HOSEA’S CHILDREN WERE NOT HIS

1. JEZREEL - Threatened Judgement - Hosea 1:4

And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little , and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

2. Lo-ruhamah - Mercy not obtained - Hosea 1:6

And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

3. Lo-ammi - Not my people - Hosea 1:9

Then said , Call his name Loammi: for ye not my people, and I will not be your .

II/ HOSEA’S REACTION

A/ HOSEA’S WITHDRAWAL - Hosea 2:2

Plead with your mother, plead: for she not my wife, neither I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

B/ HOSEA’S ANGER - Hosea 2:3-4

Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. {4} And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they the children of whoredoms.

C/ HOSEA’S CHARGE - SHE HATH PLAYED THE HARLOT - Hosea 2:5

For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

III/ THE RESULT OF SIN FOR GOMER

A/ She found out Sin is a Lie - In the Garden Satan said "Hath God Said?" Gomer was deceived into thinking that her lovers would do for her. But it was a lie, all they did was take from her, then cast her aside.

B/ She found out Sin is a Delusion - Sin is naturally treacherous. Sin offers much pleasure, but in the end man is cruelly betrayed. Sin offers itself as a friend, then becomes a fiend. Gomer sought pleasure and someone to build her ego, but ended being used and cast away.

C/ She found out Sin is Separation - Sin separates man from God and man from man. The sinner is not only separated from God here and now, but dying in sin, is eternally separated from God. Gomer was separated from all those who truly loved her by her sin.

D/ She found out Sin is Perversion - Sin is crooked, a perverse , distorted thing, it perverts man’s thoughts of God and His will for our lives. We only think of ourselves, not of God or of others.

E/ She found out Sin is Servitude - The Bible makes in plain in the stories told, how that sin brings servitude. Not only Gomer, but Samson, and the whole nation of Israel paid the price of servitude for their sins.

F/ She found out Sin is Emptiness - A Man or a Woman who serves sin gets nothing for it. Failure, defeat, disgust and disappointment are written over the life of a sinner. The rewards of sin are confusion and dissatisfaction.

G/ She found out Sin is a Mistake - All who sin discover, sooner or later, that they have made a mistake. I wonder how many times Gomer wished she could go back and undue her sins.

H/ She found out Sin Ruins Life and Hope - As we view Gomer on the Auction Block, we see a life in ruin, a woman without hope.

IV/ THE MESSAGE OF LOVE

A/ GO YET LOVE - Hosea 3:1

Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

Here was Hosea’s greatest personel test for obeying God, yet in obedience he learned much about God’s love.

B/ THE COST OF LOVE - Hosea 3:2

So I bought her to me for fifteen of silver, and an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

The life Gomer had been living must have taken a heavy toll on her in terms of her physical body. She probably had become old before her time, losing her beauty and desirability. she could have become diseased. Never the less Hosea spent all his cash and even bartered his food supply to buy her back and bring her home.

V/ THE AUCTION: Picture It!

1. The place; the town square

2. The auctioner; Starts the bid very low. Because Gomer is a fallen woman. To be a slave to her sin.

3. Gomer stands naked, abused, without hope, without happiness.

4. Gomer remembers her marriage to Hosea, her children, and all she has lost.

5. She remembers her many lovers, who dragged her down and down.

6. The bid is not very high for this almost worthless woman when someone who does not have much, bid’s all that he has.

7. She does not even look up when the winning bidder approaches

8. Then she feels a robe around her nakedness, and a soft voice bidding her to come home.

She recognizes the voice, and tears flow down her cheeks as she realizes she has been redeemed by one who loves her.

A/ THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVE - Hosea 3:3-4

And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for man: so I also for thee. {4} For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and teraphim:

Love is not harsh. Neither should it be gullible. Hosea redeemed his faithless wife. But before he took her to his bosom she had to prove that she was truly repentant and could be trusted with her husbands love.

She had been sexually promiscuous, now she must prove that she had learned her bitter lesson. So he isolated her for a given time during which she was to prove that she would be for her husband only.

Hosea saw in his personal experience that the children of Israel also must prove themselves before they could be received into God’s fellowship again. They must prove they were truly repentant.

B/ THE GOAL OF LOVE - Hosea 3:5

Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

1. RETURN - Repentance

2. SEEK - Worship

3. FEAR - awe, honor and reverance

VI/ QUALITIES OF GOD REVEALED

A/ God suffers when His people are unfaithful

1. Hosea’s suffering is a picture to him and to us today.

a. "in their distress, He too was distressed" Is. 63:9

2. Each of us bears only our own sorrows, God bears the total sorrows of all man.

3. When we lose a loved one, we have sorrow partly because they are gone

4. God’s sorrow is for the person’s suffering alone. Luke 23:27-31

B/ God cannot tolerate sin

1. "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil" Hab. 1:13a

2. Sin destroys man, whom He loves

3. If our sin could be tolerated by Him, His love would be weak.

C/ God still loves us, in spite of our sin

1. Hosea was commanded to go and show his love again (3:1)

2. "I will show my love to the one I called ’Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ’Not my people,’ ’You are my people’; and they will say, ’You are my God.’" (2:23)

D/ God seeks the sinner in order to restore

1. "Therefore I am now going to allure her . . . " (2:14)

2. "And if he finds it . . . he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off." (Matt. 18:13)

3. ". . . if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." (Gal. 6:1)

4. Hosea’s task was to love Gomer, God would restore her. We on our own cannot do this, God is needed.

5. Did Hosea go after Gomer because he loved her, or because God commanded him? When did his love for her return?

6. Motive for Christian service does not require love for the people you are serving as much as love for God. "Do you love Me? Feed My sheep." Jn. 21:15-18.

VII/ THE CONCLUSION

A. The sinner cannot open the door of hope, only love can

1. We must reach down to the sinner

2. It requires no more than what we already have - love.

B. The sufferings of God opens the door for all of us

1. The door of salvation is open to all, we need to point the way.

2. We cannot make our own door of hope through our works

C. Those to whom God has given hope are called to give hope to others.

1. We are witnesses of the greatest love.

2. We are examples to the world of hope in the midst of trouble