Come, Let us return to the Lord
Hosea 6.1-3
August 29, 2004 Chester FBC, Chester, Illinois Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
Hosea was a prophet in the Northen Kingdom of Israel (753 BC to 715 BC) Map 142
A Elijah, Elisha, Amos were before him: Isaiah & Micah were his contemporaries in Judah, the Southern Kingdom.
a Israel had struggled for many years under sinful kings.
b Jehoahaz lost land, bounderies. (Syria from the North; Assyria from the East) MAP 136
*II Kings 13.7 (Humiliated, depressed, hungry)
B Jeroboam I
a Took back land, brought back jobs, money, pride.
b Jeroboam II: Economy was doing well.
(Hosea was raised hearing how bad things use to be during the great depression.)
C The social setting
a Ultra rich vs. Ultra poor (SUV filled w/ food from Sam’s passing a guy on a street corner pushing a K-Mart shopping cart with half-spoiled left overs that had been thrown out at the Red Dragon All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet.)
*The Rich were rich by raping the poor.
b Rich got richer and the poor got poorer.
D Seldom does prosperity lead to behavior that is pleasing to God.
a Israel had prospered financially, expanded her borders, . . . they were dying from internal decay. (Sound familiar?)
b The priests (preachers of the day) stopped preaching about obedience, commitment, total surrender. (Hos 4.6)
*Syncretistic (God plus . . .)
*Baal worship was ramped. Most girls from 13/14 had offered Baal their virginity for the blessing of fertility.
*Israel went to temple (church), but they also worshiped Baal on every hill.
E Hosea guided Israel to return to a faithful relationship with the Lord. (ETS)
a 1 "Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. 2 "He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. 3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Hosea 6:1-3 (NASB)
b God wants our love for Himself exclusively. (ESS)
c I hope my you’ll chose to be a faithful lover to God. (Objective)
d When will you replace the pieces of your fractured relationship w/ God?
T.S.: Let’s look at two pieces of relationship advice that God’s Word gives to stimulate a faithful relationship between Him and His people.
I. The first piece of advice was...Let us return to the Lord.
1 "Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. Hosea 6:1 (NASB)
1. God commanded Hosea to enter into one of the most controversial marriages in the Old Testament.
2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD." Hosea 1:2 (NASB)
(4 views of Hosea’s marriage: 1) Hypothetical, 2) Symbolic, 3) Modified Literal, 4) Literal)
A. When Hosea married Gomer he knew either she was already cheating, or that she was the cheating kind.
a. Gomer: * Bore three kids with Hosea (1:3, 6, 8)
* Left her husband, kids, to be with her lovers
* Stayed with her lovers, went out of town on the weekends
b. Hosea: * Few things hurt more deeply than a spouse’s infidelity
* Sense of loss, failure, violation
B. Gomer, like most people who are unfaithful in a marriage, lived to regret her adulterous activities. She wanted to go home. 1 Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." Hosea 3:1 (NASB) God told Hosea, "Bring her back!"
a. Hosea was talking to a nation who had stepped out, away from God.
b. Israel was faithful during the honeymoon, but almost as soon as they set up house, Israel started sleeping with other gods, flirting with other deities, romancing other religions. "Come, let us return to the Lord!"(6:1) heal us, bandage us. "Bring them back, Hosea!" God said.
T.S. Hosea not only advises Israel to return to God, but also to the restoration of intimacy with the living God of Israel.
2. Just as God was (is) waiting to shower His love on His people in Israel, He’s waiting for many of us to return to Him today.
A. Hosea, by Levitical law, could have had Gomer killed. 10 ’If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Lev 20:10 (NASB
a. Hosea allowed his adulteress wife to come home.
b. Picture of God’s love for a cheating nation, people.
B. God is waiting right now for some of us to return.
a. We’re worshiping an altar of pornography, gambling, pride, addiction, apathy, money, lust, homosexuality, materialism
b. To get back to where God is...we’ve got to leave where we’re at.
3. Marriage ceremony is a perfect picture
A. The groom doesn’t move!!!
a. The bride meets the bridegroom where he’s at!
b. Church, the bridegroom is waiting for his bride to meet him at the altar-Return!
II. The second piece of advice was...let us press on to know the Lord.
"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." Hosea 6:3 (NASB)
1. Israel "knew" (in the biblical sense) other gods.
A. The words "to know" were used routinely to describe sexual knowledge.
OT: 19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. 1 Sam 1:19 (KJV)
NT: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. Matt 1:25 (KJV)
a. More than sex. Intimate union, relationship of love & trust which was the foundation of the sexual union. MARRIAGE
b. This was (is) the only sex God condones
B. The only relationship He would settle for with Israel was one of exclusivity.
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. Ex 20:3 (NASB)
5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deut 6:5 (NASB)
9 "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; Deut 7:9 (NASB)
Israel: remembered the Lord had chosen them, delivered them, promised to bless/protect them. They forgot He also commanded them, demanded obedience, warned them of judgement if they disobeyed.
a. Given the experience of Hosea and the imagery of his prophecy (married to a cheater), his hearers should have understood the challenge he offered at this point.
aa. Stop worshiping Baal altogether
bb. Start worshiping God altogether (pray, read the Word, go to church)
b. Hosea is saying that God will not be in a love triangle. (Flirt, half-hearted live-in trial). Them or Me, now or never, all the way or not at all.
2. Some of us are hurting because we are not "pressing to know" God.
A. We have distorted intimacy with God.
a. Flirting with God: Talk about how much we love God, what we’re going to do for Him...flirt with Him but we never go all the way.
b. Live-in trial: You are involved with God, intimate, something happens that hurts you/breaks your heart-I’m not married to You, God, I’m gone.
B. How do we "press to know"
a. 1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips. Hosea 14:1-2 (NASB)
1. Return: Come home!
2. Repent: Come clean! God’s forgiveness is accompanied by an awareness of sin.
b. God’s telling us...world or Him, now or never, all the way or not at all
3. Jerry McGuire Clip
A. You had me at "Take away all inquity"
B. God is waiting for wayward believers to press to know Him!
CONCLUSION:
Hosea guided Israel to return to a faithful relationship with the Lord. (ETS) God wants our love for Himself exclusively. (ESS)
A We’ve looked at two pieces of relationship advice that God’s Word gives to stimulate a faithful relationship between Him and His people.
a Let us return to the Lord.
b Let us press on to know the Lord.
B I hope my you’ll chose to be a faithful lover to God. (Objective)
Choices?
Righteousness or rebellious Scorn the love of God or Embrace the Love of God
Flirt with God or Fall in love Live-In Lover or Faithful Spouse
C When will you replace the pieces of your fractured relationship with God?
A Hosea took Gomer back . . . only after he bought her back.
a Hos 3.2 NASB "So I bought her for myself . . ."
b Hosea paid 15 shekels of silver and several bushels of barley.
B God is calling across eternity saying, "Return to me. Press to know me"
a God has paid for you and me to come back. He’s bought us!
b I Cor 6.20 NASB "For you have been bought with a price . . ."
C "Paid in full" on the cross of calvary.
a Give Jesus what he paid for! Return to Him, Press to Know Him
b When will you replace the pieces of your fractured relationship with God? (Probing Question)
d When will you replace the pieces of your fractured relationship w/ God?
T.S.: Let’s look at two pieces of relationship advice that God’s Word gives to stimulate a faithful relationship between Him and His people.
