Route 66: Hosea - God's Passionate Love Confronts Israel's Spiritual Adultery

Hello church family.

It's nice to see you guys.

Hello, it's always funny.

You know, every time I get to preach to a lot of people, I'm reminded of my preaching experience with the homeless people in the past.

I don't know if you guys remember.

We used to have a ministry to the homeless in the Macaulay Mission, and so these guys were like a captive audience.

So these men were waiting for us, they were about to eat and all of them got a coin so that they could give the coin and they would get food.

But they had to listen to the sermon first and after a while I didn't know I was preaching that long, but you hear like drops of the coin Ding, and that's when I knew I had to stop, goodness dear.

So I know that Carol was going to pass out coins, but I don't want you guys to do that.

First I want to thank Pastor Doug and Pastor Micah for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight.

I just want to cite the resources I use.

I use John MacArthur's and famous preachers like Tim Keller and also Doug McMaster's, and so if I sound like a Filipino, doug, you'll know where that's coming from.

Okay, so we're going through the book of Hosea In the Old Testament.

It's after Daniel, before Joel.

If you guys want to turn to that, so Hosea, that so Hosea.

The title of the book is the book of Hosea.

The title is derived from the main character and author of the book.

The meaning of his name is salvation, similar to that of Joshua and Jesus, which means God saves.

So Hosea is the first of the 12 minor prophets.

Minor because it's not like the minor versus the major league.

It's minor because of the brevity, the prophecies, compared to Isaiah and Ezekiel and other Jeremiah and other prophets.

So let's just read Hosea, chapter 1, verse 1.

Hosea 1:1

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, son of Beeri, during the reigns of Uzziah, jotham, ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam, son of Johash, king of Israel.

So let's stop there.

Hosea was a prophet called by God, was a prophet called by God and he was actually at the time.

It was like the 8th century, late 8th century, that he preached.

And not much is known about Hosea except in this book that we have, and Hosea 1-1 marks out the time period of his ministry.

They gave the list of the southern kings, the Judean kings, and then they also mentioned Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash, king of Israel.

Hosea primarily preached to the northern kingdom and he was a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah, who also preached about the northern kingdom, but primarily in the southern kingdom.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the division of Israel, why there's a northern kingdom versus a southern kingdom.

Okay, because that's really important as far as understanding the history of what took place regarding Israel.

So the division of Israel into the northern kingdom, which is called Israel, and the southern kingdom, which is called Judah, was a very significant event in the Old Testament.

The split occurred around the 10th century BC, following the reign of King Solomon.

After Solomon's death, his son, rehoboam, became king and, however, his harsh policies and refusal to lighten the heavy burdens imposed by his father led to widespread discontent.

Jeroboam I, a former servant of Solomon, led a rebellion against Rehoboam and the ten northern tribes of Israel supported Jeroboam and declared him king, forming the northern kingdom of Israel of to Ephraim, as we will see.

So the ten northern tribes of Israel supported Jeroboam and declared him king, forming the northern kingdom, and the southern kingdom known as Judah, including the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with its capital in Jerusalem, became the southern kingdom, also known as Judah, judah.

The split was seen as a fulfillment of a prophecy given by the prophet Ahijah, who had foretold that the kingdom would be divided due to Solomon's sins and idolatry.

The division also had lasting impacts, leading to a separate political, religious and cultural developments in the two kingdoms.

So the book of Hosea is again the sole source of information about the author.

Little is known about Hosea.

We know that he was probably a native of the northern kingdom, since he showed familiarity with the history and topography of the north.

Hosea does address both Israel and Judah, but for the most part he focused on the northern kingdom.

Amos preceded Hosea.

He was a southern kingdom person from Judah, but he spoke against the north.

So Hosea was more of a like, was within the northern kingdom and he specifically knew what was going on.

He was there firsthand.

Hosea, again, was a contemporary of Isaiah, of which we had a good talk this morning and it was really interesting.

A lot of what Micah said this morning will be reiterated today.

So sometimes, when there's coincidence, you wonder.

You know God is definitely there, okay, so again, the references of Hosea's ministry is also found in 2 Kings 14-20 and 2 Chronicles 26-32.

And it records the historical period of Hosea's ministry.

Now again, hosea's ministry started around 755 BC.

Bc to 710.

So that's like around close to 40 years.

You know, actually 45 years that he was prophesying and preaching in the Northern Kingdom and he experienced, under the leadership of Jeroboam, they were enjoying political peace and material prosperity, as well as undergoing moral corruption and spiritual bankruptcy.

And then, after Jeroboam's death, that this is Jeroboam II.

After his death in 753 BC, there was great upheaval in the kingdom, anarchy prevailed and Israel declined rapidly.

After over 30 years, four of Israel's six kings were assassinated by their successors.

The nation's rebellion against Assyria led to the end of the northern kingdom around 732 to 722 BC.

Yet God did leave a remnant, who were the Samaritans of Jesus' day.

So Hosea prophesied about Israel's moral waywardness and her breach of the covenantal relationship with the Lord, announcing that judgment was imminent.

In the book, hosea penned God's judgment against Israel because of its spiritual apostasy.

There was robbery, drunkenness, adultery, murder, and the people were worshiping the Baals.

The Baal simply means Lord.

That name, baal, means Lord.

Baal had many different manifestations.

Primarily, he was the Lord of fertility.

He was the Lord of the wind, the cloud, the earth.

People participated in fertility cults, open sexual acts with prostitutes on top of the earth.

People participated in fertility cults, open sexual acts with prostitutes on top of the hills and, as Micah cited's, crazy.

So along with that, they would erect images of a golden calf.

They were called the calf of Samaria.

And in all this they were still thinking that they were right with God, that they were worshiping this way, but they were still faithful to Jehovah, our creator.

Let's turn first to Hosea 8, 8, verse, 2 through 9.

Hosea 8, 2 through 9.

2 through 9.

I remember, you know, I came from a Catholic background, and I asked my friends who were, you know, strong Christians.

I told them, can I just stay in the church and worship God that way and still be a Christian?

But, as you know, coming from the Catholic background, they also had worshiping of saints, you know, worshiping statues, and they said, basically, god doesn't want that type of mixture in his devotion to him.

It should be sincere and pure and scriptural.

And so, thank God, they told me that, because I was going to remain in the Catholic Church and God really wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth, and it's got to be according to God's word.

It can't be mixed with any other gods.

And so I wonder if Israel was thinking the same thing, that they could worship God by worshiping other forms of God.

And that's not true, right?

So?

Isaiah 8, verse 2 through 9.

Isaiah 8:2–9

Israel cries out to me my God, we know you.

Israel has rejected what is good.

An enemy will pursue him.

They have installed kings, but not through me.

They have appointed leaders, but without my approval.

They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves, for their own destruction.

Your calf idol is rejected, samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

For this thing is from Israel.

A craftsman made it, and it is not from God.

The calf of Samaria will be smashed into bits.

Indeed, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

There is no standing grain that sprouts what sprouts fails to yield flower.

Even if they did, foreigners would swallow it up.

Israel is swallowed up.

Now they are among the nations like discarded pottery.

They have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own.

Ephraim has paid for love.

So not only were they in sin by worshiping the Baals and idols, they were also trusting in other nations to protect them and to provide for them, when all along.

God had been the one providing so in the midst of Israel's unfaithfulness.

Yet a major theme of the book is actually also God's immeasurable love.

God gives Hosea a message which would really hit him in the gut, just as God would want us to experience his anguish.

Surprisingly, one of the commentaries mentioned Hosea as like the Gospel of John in the Old Testament, because it does talk about the unconditional, immeasurable love of God.

Okay, so the Lord's true love for his people is unending and will tolerate no rival.

The love of God towards his people is full of passionate emotions.

God's love is a consuming fire.

He's a jealous God.

He's jealous for you and me.

I think about in 2 Corinthians 11, where Paul said that he was afraid for the Corinthians because, like Eve, they would be deceived by the serpent.

Like Eve, they would be deceived by the serpent, and how Paul wanted to protect the church from heresies.

He really had a jealous love that we continue in the sincere and pure devotion regarding Christ, that we would not be led to legalism or some form of idolatry.

And it's very subtle, you know it's very subtle.

I told someone recently that our default as human beings is to be legalistic.

I used to think if I didn't do my daily readings of God's word, that I wasn't right with God.

You know, I used to think that if I maybe gave more to the church, maybe God would, you know, bless me.

So it's almost like, you know, it's what I can do, it's not what God has done.

Resting on what God has done.

So, going back to Hosea, let's read.

Well, talking about God's love.

Again, you know this is our base need as human beings.

You know the love of God and we don't even know it.

You know we look for love in so many different places the love of another person, their affection towards us.

That used to mean the world to me.

I was single for a long time, as you all know, and my emotional life would go up and down depending if I was accepted or not.

But the love of God is what we need as human beings to be unconditionally loved and to be able to give love.

That's what we were made to be.

We were made in the image of God and God is this Trinity community of love.

That's primarily his attribute.

God is love Because of the Trinity.

I mean before we were even created, there was love.

Now, when you consider other gods that are like monolithic, how can there be love?

It's just them until they created man.

But God is love.

There was already love in existence before we were created.

So let's read.

I want us to hopefully get a feel for hosea tonight.

I just want to read um, hosea chapter 1, then chapter 3 and chapter 11.

Hosea 1 · chapter mention

So, um, before we go there, I just want to say that you know, hosea um was a prophet called by god and and to be a prophet you were called to be a communicator of God's nature and character.

And one would think that if you're going to be communicating God's nature and character, that you would have to be an upstanding individual, an example, you would need to be somewhat above reproach and blameless.

And yet God tells Hosea to do something very radical as a prophet.

And we're going to read in Hosea, chapter 1, verse 2 and 3.

Hosea 1:2

Hosea, chapter 1, verse 2 and 3.

Hosea 1:2

1, verse 2 and 3.

When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him go and marry a woman of promiscuity and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord.

So he went and married Gomer, daughter of Deblame, and she conceived and bore him a son.

So let's stop there.

So again, I'm sure Hosea was shocked to hear this.

God would instruct him to marry a woman, a prostitute, a promiscuous woman, an experience with her domestic life.

That would be an illustration of the sin and unfaithfulness of Israel.

In wanting us to experience how he feels, god turns Hosea into a living parable.

It was like God telling Hosea you and I are going to give our lives, resources, energy, emotions to someone who will continually reject us.

Have you ever experienced unrequited love?

A continual rejection?

So this is what God is telling Hosea, what he is experiencing regarding Israel.

There will be continual heartache, instability.

We're dealing with someone who has displaced affections.

It's very heart-wrenching when you're with someone who doesn't feel the same way and it's not going to work out.

I remember during a prayer meeting many years ago there was a brother.

He was in the midst of separation and divorce and I really felt for him.

He was pouring his heart out before the Lord.

He was separated from his wife and they might get a divorce and it could just tell the turmoil.

The heart was just so very sad.

He was crying inside.

It was anguish.

He was so despondent and really I know most of us are comfortable.

Thank God we're in stable relationships.

But there's a lot of desperation in the world.

There really is.

There's a lot of anguish in relationships in the world, and so the story goes on.

Hosea takes Gomer as a wife.

Now she's again a wayward woman, okay, a slave to her passions, a woman of ill repute.

She has and had been continually unfaithful to all her lovers, whether she was married to them or not.

And not long after the marriage it seems from you know, read chapter 2 and 3 in Hosea that she immediately becomes unfaithful to Hosea.

She bears him three children, and the last one may not even be his, because God names the child Lo-Ami, which means not mine.

That's in chapter 1.

But then it gets worse.

She leaves him and lives with a man who abused her and doesn't even provide for her basic needs.

And lives with a man who abused her and doesn't even provide for her basic needs.

And behind the scenes Hosea provides for his wife.

In chapter 2, verse 8, god said of Israel she does not recognize that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the fresh oil.

I lavished silver and gold on her which she used for Baal.

And finally we get to chapter 3, where we find Gomer being auctioned in a slave market.

Okay, so again she leaves Hosea, probably gets into abusive relationships and now she's in the slave market.

She was sold to be a slave and people are auctioning for her in Hosea, chapter 3.

Hosea 3 · chapter mention

She was probably standing there in rags, maybe naked.

The buyers probably wanted to see their merchandise.

The buyers probably wanted to see their merchandise.

So she is at the lowest point of her life where she felt most worthless and in despair as people bid for her.

And then, to her amazement, she hears her husband's voice also bidding for her.

Her husband's voice also bidding for her.

Now let's see in chapter 3.

Let's go to chapter 3.

Let's read chapter 3 together.

Okay?

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.

So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley.

I said to her you are to live with me many days.

You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way towards you, for the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or household idols.

Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king.

So if you see that in verse 2 it said I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and 9 bushels of barley.

I mean, they were bidding for her and you know, you could hear, probably, the crowd, you know 14 shekels.

And then Hosea says 15 shekels with nine bushels of barley and he bought her.

Did you know that?

That, you know, intriguingly, equates to 30 pieces of silver, isn't that unique?

He equates to 30 pieces of silver, isn't that unique?

He bought her for 30 pieces of silver, which was the going price for a slave at that point, and barley was used as an offering of one accused, accused of adultery.

In numbers, I don't know if you knew that.

So this is like really symbolic of a lot of things in the old Testament.

I don't know if Hosea knew these things.

Um, so, in numbers 515, barley was used as an offering for adultery.

So imagine what she was thinking.

Imagine what she was thinking my husband is ransoming me again, but is he going to, you know, treat me as a slave now that I left him.

Is he going to tyrannize me?

But rather he takes her to a private place and speaks tenderly towards her.

You must live with me many days.

You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you, saying I want you as my wife and I your husband.

And then what does she do?

And I your husband.

And then what does she do?

We don't know.

The story ends there.

The story about Jose and Gomer ends right there.

We don't know if she was melted by his love, by his sacrifice.

We don't know.

Did she change?

Or did she laugh in front of his face and left?

Now that?

Now, how's that for a story?

So, therefore, that's why we need to go to her children and find out what happened.

Let's turn to Hosea, chapter 11.

Hosea 11 · chapter mention

11, verse 1 through 11.

Let's read together, okay.

When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt, I called my son.

Israel called to the Egyptians.

Even as Israel was leaving them, they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the hand, but they never knew that.

I healed them.

I led them with human cords, with ropes of love To them.

I was like one who eased a yoke from their jaws.

I bent down to give them food.

Israel will not return to the land of Egypt and Assyria and Assyria will be his king.

Because they refuse to repent, a sword will whirl through the cities.

It will destroy and devour the bars of his gates.

Because of their schemes.

My people are bent on turning from me.

Though they call to him on high, he will not exalt them at all.

Verse 8.

How can I give you up, ephraim?

How can I surrender you Israel?

How can I make you like Adma?

How can I treat you Israel?

How can I make you like Adma?

How can I treat you like Zebuim?

I have had a change of heart.

My compassion is stirred.

I will not vent the full anger, the full fury of my anger.

I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim, for I am a God and not a man, the Holy One among you.

I will not come in rage.

They will follow the Lord.

He will roar like a lion.

When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.

They will be roused like birds from Egypt, like doves from the land of Assyria.

Then I will settle them in their homes.

This is the Lord's declaration.

So in verse 8, it's really profound.

There it says here you know God's talking about now the relationship with Israel as a father is towards a child.

Before he was like a husband and now he's talking about this relationship that also is very painful to him.

His children abandon him Like a child whom he took by the hand, he loved and cared for Israel, he gave him everything, and now this child has turned away from him, forgetting him.

And then on verse 8, we hear this amazing noise in the Bible God actually crying.

Okay, how can I give you up ephraim?

How can I surrender you?

Oh israel, can you feel that longing of god, like when he was lamenting in luke 13, when jesus cried out oh jerusalem, jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stone those sent to you?

To her.

How often I had wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

In verse 8 it says I have a change of heart, my compassion is stirred.

Here God says that he's shattered inside, completely shattered.

My compassion is stirred.

This word is akin to an upheaval.

Remember the time where, in the Bible, lazarus died and people were crying and it actually said Jesus wept.

You know, that verse was actually I think someone described it as when a horse makes that noise, like that grunting sound, and Jesus actually cried, looking at the effects of sin, looking at the state of humanity in death, and this is how compassionate our God is.

It's, it's amazing to us.

You know, until we really understand these emotions, until we understand the, the jealousy of a husband for his wife, the longing of a father towards his children who abandoned him and rejected him, longing of a father towards his children who abandoned him and rejected him, until we really go through that, we would not be able to communicate the gospel very well to the world who's hurting as well.

And that's why it's important to experience the emotions involved that God gives us in his word, to really understand and go through them.

That's why I know we're a Baptist church.

It's hard to show emotions, but really I feel like that emotional connection, especially how God feels, will help you to be more God-like.

So God is saying in these passages I am a husband whose wife is unfaithful to me, I'm a father whose children have rejected me and now destroying themselves, and so it's so important for us to share God that way, a very compassionate and loving God.

So what's amazing is that, as you know, god promised that he would not vent his full anger and that he will not come in rage.

But we know that the northern kingdom was sacked by Assyria.

They were destroyed.

But what Micah said today, we didn't compare notes.

God did leave a remnant, even in the Northern Kingdom, and that remnant it said here in the future.

Christ did come back to the Northern Kingdom in the Gospel of John, in John chapter 4, where he met a woman of ill repute in Jacob's well who had lived a life of promiscuity.

John 4 · chapter mention

And he met her there and revealed to her the way of salvation and drew her back to himself to make her whole.

I don't know if there's a correlation with Hosea and Gomer, with John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

You know why would Jesus go all the way in Samaria and meet the woman at the well who also had a past?

Isn't that interesting?

One last thing In verse 4, verse 4, chapter 11, I found this it says that God drew us with human cords of love.

Now what does that say?

God drew us with human cords of love.

Now what does that say?

God drew us with human cords of love, you know, was he talking about how God used Hosea and Gomer as an illustration, as a parable, so that we would be drawn to him understanding his love for us?

Was he talking more about a future time, a more clear demonstration of his love, when God himself actually did become like one of us?

And he has drawn us by human cords of love by hanging on that cross.

In Romans 5.8, it says God demonstrates his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us.

If it were not for Christ coming down and dying for us, how could we really know that God loved us?

Now, think about it.

Think about it.

Let's say Christ never came Okay, we just have the Old Testament.

Think about it.

Let's say Christ never came, we just have the Old Testament.

Could you really know that God loves you so much?

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

The human experience is that we grow old, we fall apart, people we love die, we develop a chronic illness, chronic pain and then death.

I don't think that leads to God loving us.

Experience, you know, and I've met a lot of people in the hospital who are hardened by life's blows.

It's very sad Young people having cancer, young people dying early for many reasons.

It doesn't translate to God's love, this human experience under the sun.

You know, to God's love, this human experience under the sun, you know.

But knowing what we know in the Bible, christ demonstrates his love for us, that he became a human being, that he actually experienced the temptation, our emotions, our loneliness, our rejection, the shame.

We can never say that he doesn't understand, that God doesn't understand.

We can never say that anymore.

If you would recognize, be reconciled to your true husband and father and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will be whole again.

No one has ever died for you before until now, until you realize that Christ died for you.

Right, no one has ever died for us before, but Christ was willing.

Christ wants you to receive him, to receive his death, that you would live.

I'd like to end in Hosea, chapter 6.

Hosea 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6.

Come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us and he will heal us.

He has wounded us and he will bind up our wounds.

He will revive us after two days and on the third day he will raise us up so that we can live in his presence.

Let us strive to know the Lord, his appearance is as sure as the dawn.

He will come to us like the rain, like the spring shower, that water the land.

Let's pray, father, god.

We come before you, lord.

We know that your love for us is so immense, so great for you, so love the world that you sent your Son.

It's primarily your love, father, that created us, that sustains us.

You give the Son and the reign to the righteous and the unrighteous, though they don't know.

They may not know where it's coming from.

But we know you and we're so glad, lord, that you forgive us of our sins.

And though we say we know you, yet we still do sin.

I pray you'd forgive us, father.

I pray that you would cleanse us by the blood of your Son, that you would draw us with this human cord of love, this rope of love, lord.

We pray that we would be melted before you, that we would have such a desire for you continuously and nothing would distract us in this world, that we would represent you and share the gospel in our lives and our deeds.

I thank you for this church, lord.

I pray that we would be like a city set up on a hill, shining brightly for those to see us that, as we love one another, that you would draw people to yourself Again.

Lord, we thank you for the book of Isaiah.

Lord, we thank you for your great love.

We praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen, praise God.