"The Extravagant Love of God" Hosea 3: Pastor Paul Hovey

But it is good to be here with you this morning and get to take part in the sermon series that we've been going through this summer as we move through

the book of Hosea, so

So start off today, I want to talk about fairy tales

So we all love

Fairy tale stories with fairy tale endings

Don't we whether it's a book or a movie or even a video game with an intense storyline

We all love to see

Happy endings of a fairy tale nature now even grown men love their fairy tale endings

We just choose to call them epics

Lord of the Rings Braveheart Marvel movies and Star Wars

So regardless of the storyline or the characters we all love to see that happily ever after

Now Hallmark has made its name in the movie world by writing some of the worst and the

cheesiest fairy tale stories that could possibly exist and turning them into sappy movies

I know I just lost some of you didn't I so

The problem with these terrible movies is that in spite of how cheesy they are if we start watching them

They threaten to ensnare us to find out if the fairy tale ending really happens

Just once I would like to see Hallmark produce a movie where the couple doesn't end up in their happily ever after

I mean think about they're driving up in the mountains and they crash in a ravine out in the wilderness

And he dies leaving her to struggle alone to survive as she makes her way back to civilization

Or maybe she gets

Enamored with this innocent seeming pretty boy only to find out that he sits atop of an

International drug cartel and he has to flee the country to avoid the FBI

Or how about this for a Hallmark movie title a Hallmark Christmas alien invasion

So if anybody has connections with Hallmark movie people just let them know I've got some ideas for them. All right

So there are certain elements and features of these stories that really help us get into them, right?

How endearing are the main protagonists and when things start going wrong?

How high are the stakes? What's at risk and how dire and dark do the circumstances become and all of this determines?

How epic the victory will be and how great the fairy tale ending really is

Does the world whether it's the entire world or just the world and life of our protagonist get saved and become a better place and

Are we more?

In love with the main characters and are they still as endearing to us after we experienced the ups and downs of their story?

Now if you didn't know the Bible has some of these fairy tale stories in it think about Joseph's story of tragedy turned to triumph in Genesis or

The book of Ruth or the story of Esther one could even look at the entire Bible in this fairy tale way and thinking about

Revelation being that climactic happily ever after that we are all looking forward to

now as we continue through

This journey through the book of Hosea

We are going to return to the relationship of Hosea and Gomer and we're going to find out that their relationship has taken a turn for the worse

But through this terrible term we are going to learn about the greatness of

God's love for his people and we're going to learn that God does indeed desire a fairy tale ending not only for Gomer and Hosea

But for his people which means all of us

So if you would you could turn over in your Bibles to Hosea chapter 3

Hosea 3 · chapter mention

Now just to remember that Hosea is a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel after they had split from the southern kingdom and

Hosea's ministry is near the end of the northern kingdom before the Assyrians come in and take them captive and disperse them

Hosea 3 is a short chapter of scripture

But don't let its size fool you into thinking it is insignificant. This is a powerful section of scripture

Now this passage breaks down into two sections verses one through three and verses four through five

But let's read it in its entirety to start

The Lord said to me go

Show your love to your wife again though. She is loved by another man and is an adulterous

Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raising cakes

So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and about a Homer and a lethach of barley

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 towards you

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince without sacrifice or sacred stones without a fad or household

God and afterward the Israelites will return to 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 let's recap the story of Gomern Hosea in chapter 1 Hosea is told to take for himself a wife of Hordom

Hosea a found and married Gomer together. They had three children whose names

represented Israel's relationship to God there was Jezreel and he represented punishment that was to come to Israel for their spiritual adultery

There was low Ruhama whose name meant no mercy and

And represented the fact that when this punishment came Israel would receive no mercy from the Lord and finally there was low on me

Which means not my people

Representing that through their actions and desertion of God the covenant relationship was broken

We need to remember that God likes to use imagery to communicate theological truth

So God doesn't just say things he likes to show them and this little family is a

representation of God's relationship to Israel and when we pick things back up in chapter 3 we find that

Circumstances have not improved but worsened

Look at the state of things in verse 1

Gomer even after having had these children with Hosea has deserted him

Hence God has to tell him go again and love this woman

Not only has Gomer deserted Hosea, but she has run into the arms of another man

She was promiscuous and wayward before and she has returned to her old ways

The spiritual adultery of Israel which Gomers actions represent is described by the specific actions that Gomer takes

First we note that she is loved by another

Now the Hebrew word for love here has a number of

Canotations it could be about sexual relations. It could be about falling in romantic love

It could be about a deep emotional care or commitment or simply making an alliance with someone

So this is a complex relationship

And we know for certain that this relationship is not just a business transaction

The adulterer took that took Gomer in is all in on this relationship and

She is taken by him

Like many broken love relationships this relationship is messy and out of whack on many levels

Now second we have to note that Gomer and Israel in turn reciprocates this love

Israel has turned to other gods and gone after them with their

Affections and actions when Israel has turned to other gods

This means that they have turned their backs on the God who loved them from their youth and provided for them throughout many generations

Now you'll notice that there's a comment in there about sacred raising cakes now the mention of these sacred raising cakes

Which I hope they taste a better than rice cakes that but they give us insight into exactly

Who Israel has put itself in spiritual bed with these cakes were used in their worship?

Celebrations for the goddess a share a share was known as a goddess of war and sexuality and fertility

and some scholars even suggest that in Israelite folk religion

A share was viewed as Yahweh's divine consort

Which is why she is referred to as the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah 7 and 44 and in Deuteronomy 12

God explicitly commands the destruction of her shrines

explicitly for the sake of the purity of Israelite worship

But they didn't obey and now they have turned their back on him

Now we must also note that God asked Hosea to initiate the reconciliation process

Hosea is supposed to go Hosea is supposed to love this wife who deserted him and love her with the same

affection and devotion with which she has gone after another man with this all-in

Kind of love with which he gives himself fully back to her

This is how the Lord loves the Israelites

No matter how great their spiritual apostasy and desertion

God is going to pursue them and take them back

His love is shown by the nature of his undivided and undeterred heart

It is also shown by his unrelenting pursuit

Even though there are consequences for their choices

He will inevitably come back for his beloved people

Do you know

That God's love for you is this extravagant and this

Unbreakable

Do you know that in spite of any

Circumstances or actions that might have carried you away whether you have experienced spiritual apathy

Idolatry sin or disobedience along with the shame or guilt or condemnation that accompanies these things

God loves all of us and each of you personally

With a powerful love that will cross any chasm and break down any barrier to bring us back into right relationship with him

He desires you that badly

Now in verse 2 we see that Josea has to buy Gomer back

He buys her for 15 shekels of silver and some barley now scholars have some

Various ideas about what exactly it is that Josea is paying this price for

Some think that he is purchasing her out of some form of enslavement

Some think this has to do with simple financial indebtedness

Now it is interesting to note that in Exodus 21 32

Restitution for a slave who had been gored to death was 30 shekels of silver

So if this is the case

Gomer's worth in society was that of a dead bond servant

Possibly even less

Nothing that was valid valued grandly in the world's eyes

Regardless of the interpretation we know that Josea bought her back

And God will buy us back out of whatever we are indebted or enslaved in

Whatever the price is set he will pay

And this is extravagant love because we already know what the price was that the Lord paid for us in the world

The price was that the Lord paid for us in sending his son to the cross for us and

That we are definitely not worth the price that God paid

Peter describes the value of what he paid to redeem us and bring us back to him in 1st Peter 1

18 and 19 he says there that you know that you were

Ransom from feudal ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things as silver or gold

But with the precious blood of Christ like that with of a lamb without

blemish or spot

How great is the love of the father that he would send the son to pay the price of our redemption

Do you know that God loves us so deeply and profoundly and do you not just give a nod to it?

But do you have the well of that love alive in your hearts?

Because this is the hope that we have in Christ as Paul puts it that our hope does not put us to shame

Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom he has given to us

This is a living hope

It's a living reality free for us to drink deeply from and we don't just drink deeply from this well

We live vibrantly from this well in freedom knowing that through the cross of Christ

Our God has bought us back out of all the shame and guilt all of the hurt and all of the heartache

Our sin and rebellion has bought us

He has traversed

Every stretch of brokenness we have run across in our retreat from him

He his love will break down every barrier

We erect and push aside every hurt that we use as a shield to fend him off

And it will throw off every sin that we entangle ourselves in

But the question is do we turn to the Lord and receive his extravagant love?

Have you turned to the Lord and received his extravagant love for you?

Have you strayed far down the wrong road thinking you are too?

Unlovely too ugly too scarred or too ragged to experience such a powerful and redeeming and all enveloping love

It's not true

No one is too far gone to receive the love that God has for them in Christ

And he is there waiting patiently for you to turn to him even now if only you will avail yourself of that opportunity

Now a word of caution here I

Don't want to let us believe

That simply because we are sitting in this church building today

That we are actually living in the reality of that extravagant love

You know sometimes it is the one who has been too close for too long

That doesn't realize that they have forsaken the one who loves them so

And

Since the Lord ordained that we should learn from Jose's broken marriage relationship

I thought that Matthew phrase own story might help us

Matthew wrote down his story in the lessons that he learned the hard way in a book called. This is how your marriage ends

He tells about how he always thought there were what he called major marriage crimes a

category of offenses that if committed would destroy a marriage

He thought that only things like sexual affairs

abuse or gambling away the family savings would break a marriage

So when he and his wife disagreed about something

When she was upset that he would never do the dishes when he got offended by what he perceived as her over reaction to the issue

He wasn't really concerned

He described his feeling of offense as being charged with pre-meditated murder

When his infraction was something closer to driving over the speed limit without with a burned-out tail light

That he didn't even know was burned out

And yet he writes the reason my marriage fell apart seems absurd when I describe it

My wife left me because sometimes I leave dishes by the sink

It makes her seem ridiculous. It makes me seem like a victim of unfair expectations

However, it was only when his marriage crashed that he was finally able to see and he writes

But it wasn't the dishes not really it was what they represented

He figured out the hard way that the dishes issue wasn't really about the dishes

But about the level of his concern and consideration for her

His refusal to even consider changing his ways

Communicated disrespect and a lack of loving concern for her

It was his attitude of in lieu aloofness and entitlement that drove her to the breaking point

And it ended with the breaking of their marriage

He was so bent on being right and having his own way that he became blind

To the hurt that he had been causing throughout all the various aspects of their marriage relationship

Now there are two ways we can go with this on one level you may now be reflecting on some of the seemingly minor

Misunderstandings and disagreements that you have in your own marriage or some other relationship

or even

You might need to recognize that

What you thought was the issue

Wasn't really the issue that there was something much deeper and of much more significant concern behind that issue

now you may not completely understand it or

You may have to admit that you really do understand what it is, but you just haven't wanted to face it

But if this is the case, maybe you need to go home and have a conversation that is long overdue

You may need to humble yourself and admit that there is a deeper problem there

But I also want each of you to consider that your own

Relationship with the Lord can go so far astray because you have no regard or consideration for him

and

Our disregard for the Lord can be found in the little things far more often than it can be found in the big things

Sure, we'll show up to church

maybe a bit midweek Bible study or small group and

We haven't killed anybody in small blood and cold blood. So that's a plus, right? However

Are we developing the daily consideration to inquire of the Lord the decisions we make of

The attitudes we have towards his people and whether or not we are actually honoring him with our lives at home at work at church and in public and

Then will we be patient?

Patient and humble enough to listen

without feeling the need to get defensive or

to self-justify or

to ignore

The input as being too invasive to demanding or just too out there for us to consider

For it is in the little ways that we show

Disrespect to the Lord that we end up going astray in big ways and all together too often

We only realize this in retrospect when the damage is already done

So I reflect on my own life

On the times when my wife tells me that the kids feel like I'm spending too much time on my phone

When she is concerned that

Seemingly insignificant things draw out unwarranted outbursts of anger from me

Or when the Lord pricks my soul and asked me to sit with him in prayer

Or about my failure to respond to his warnings about things that can become idols in my life

You know, it's not just these things that matter

But it's the people behind them

Will I show such disregard or

In consideration for the Lord and for my family

And what about you what are those things that the Holy Spirit has put on your conscience

Where it is not really about the thing itself but about your level of

consideration and appreciation for the people and relationships that are suffering and

And slowly burning out because of your lack of response

So if your conscience is being prodded

Act now while you can and revitalize those relationships with the Lord and the important people in your life

While those relationships still have a chance to be revived. We don't want to end up like mr. Frey

learning only afterward

When everything has fallen to pieces

Now as we continue through our passage

We find that there are conditions for us to return to the Lord

We come to verse 3

Where is written and I said to her you must dwell as mine for many days

You shall not play the horror or belong to another man

So I will also be to you

So here in verse 3 we get the words of Hosea to his newly redeemed wife

And not just words but restrictions conditions

Some translations have that last phrase reading even as I will not go into you

But it is important for us to know that there is not a negative participle present in the Hebrew

And this matters because we want to know that as Gomer returns to Hosea

Hosea is also returning to Gomer without putting up distance or boundaries to their relationship

Because as we return to God he will return to us and give himself fully to us again

So

What about these conditions that Hosea lays out for Gomer well, I'm actually going to turn to Paul

Because I feel like he gives us some good insight into why such conditions are laid out for Gomer

so if you want to

Keep your finger in Hosea and turn over to the book of Ephesians. We will be in Ephesians chapter 4 here

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

And I feel like Paul

You know does a great job in this

Section telling us what our new lives in Christ ought to look like with some notable contrasts so Ephesians 4 we're going to start in verse

25

And Paul writes

Therefore

Having put away falsehood let each one of you speak truth to his neighbor for we are members of one another

Be angry and do not sin do not let the sin son go down on your anger

And give no opportunity to the devil let the thief no longer steal

But rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths

But only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen and

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption

Get rid of all bitterness rage and anger brawling and slander along with every form of malice

Instead be kind and compassionate to one another

Forgiving each other just as Christ God forgave you

There is a simple principle at work here

That when you put the old life behind you you must replace it with habits belonging to the new life

When you put that old life behind you you must

Replace it with habits belonging to the new life. That's why Paul says don't lie

speak truth

Don't let your anger lead you to sin resolve the issue without sinning

Don't steal do honest work with your hands to bless others

No more dirty perverse talk

But speak things that love others and build them up

See this is what Jose assets out for for Gomer conditions for living a new life

She has spent much time investing herself in her old ways, but Jose has says to her no more

And in the same way God says no more we are going a new direction together you and I

Come follow me be with me allow my guidance to transform your life

So let me ask you and maybe you'll have something come to mind when I ask you this when is the last time

You tried to change a bad habit or start a good habit

How easy did you find it to do?

Now I find that changing habits are simple

Enough when it's fresh and we're enthusiastic about it

But as time wears on it can be difficult to maintain that habit

Stuff gets in the way the new habit just isn't as fun or exciting as we thought it was going to be

Or we run into stress in life and we want a quick release

Or some pleasure and so we stopped doing that habit

Now I'm learning this

Right now in my life as I make my second attempt in the past year to learn the slap guitar technique on bass guitar

Yes, I have to say second because the first attempt only lasted about a week

Before I let things get in the way and it is still a struggle to find time to put into it

But that's just the habit of practicing an instrument

What about when we are trying to change an entire lifestyle?

You know if you talk to somebody who's dealt with addiction in their life

And they are serious about turning their life around you will find that they have put some important things in place

First they will have set themselves up in community and they will have accountability

And they will have boundaries

Most of them will have an attitude of humility and a teachable heart

You know they are willing to learn a new way of life

Even if they run into bumps along the way because they have resolved to say goodbye to their old habits and lifestyle

Hosea wants to restore his relationship with Gomer the way God wants to restore his relationship with Israel

And with all of us and all he is doing is setting up a healthy pathway forward with healthy boundaries in place

He wants to see Gomer develop the things that matter most to their relationship

Purity faithfulness intimacy and togetherness along with a sense of their relationship moving in the right direction

And this is what God wants for you

You know spiritual habits and disciplines aren't just about the practices themselves

They communicate to God that you are willing to live within his will for the sake of having a vibrant relationship with him

And for me personally this is what I appreciate so much about being in discipleship relationships

And I'm not talking about leading in these relationships

I'm talking about being a participant because it's so much easier for me to set up and continue in those fundamental habits

Of relating to Christ when I am in ongoing community with others

And they are heading in the same direction that I am

They help me keep my life and my focus and my activity within the guardrails and focus on the Lord

And perhaps maybe you need to seek out a relationship like that as well

So this setting up of new boundaries and direction for Gomer translates into setting up new boundaries and direction for Israel

We read in verse 4 that the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without fod or household gods

So this list is a thing, is a list of all the things that have caused Israel to fall away from God

I won't go through them all but I will highlight one in a way that summarizes why the Lord put these restrictions in place

That of being without king or prince

You see if you go and read 1 Samuel chapters 8 and 9

1 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

You will get to read about how Israel decided that they needed a king

And in 1 Samuel 8 verse 7 God reveals the true heart of the problem

1 Samuel 8:7

God says to Samuel, obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you

For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them

The reason God takes away Israel's king and kingdom from them is so that they will learn that they need to accept him back as Lord of their lives

Not otherworldly rulers and leaders

And it is the same for everything else that's listed in this verse

He removes those things from them so that they will draw close to him again

And likewise we must put aside the things that get in the way of our worship with God and our communion with him

And we must recognize that this is a means to an end

That we may experience the blessings of the Lord

As we read in verse 5

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king

And they shall come and fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days

So when we are willing to set aside the barriers in our relationship with God and come to him with open hands and a willing heart

He will open up the storehouse of his blessings and pour them out on us

And we will experience the blessings of the Lord

So God has a glorious future in store for his people

He has a glorious future in store for you

And even a present day glory that you can experience now

Do you want to know what it means to truly live being known as a child of God?

Do you want to know what it means to have an identity given to you by the one who created you

And knows you better than you know yourself?

Do you want freedom, purpose, hope, acceptance, righteousness

And to be done with the fear and the shame and the guilt that so plague us all when we choose to live in our old lives

Instead of the new life that God desires for us

Now ultimately the doorway to experiencing the blessings of the Lord is Jesus

You see Jesus came to be the way

He came to be the truth and he came to be the life that we all need

Jesus is the door through which we enter into the blessings and abundant life of God

He is the Savior and Redeemer for you and for me

He is the one who came to welcome us into the abundant goodness of the Father

Saying, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they will follow me

I will give them eternal life and they will never perish

And no one will be able to snatch them out of my hand

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand

He is the living hope, he is the trailblazer of our salvation and the guarantee of a better covenant

He is living water and he is the bread of life

Where else would we run to?

So whatever you have tried to run to, whatever you have tried to hide behind

Whatever other little God or idol you have tried to find life in, just put it down

Set it down

Turn from those things to the living God

Be restored to Him through Christ our Redeemer

Place your trust and faith in Him today again

And don't leave here without telling us if you have

Because we want to walk alongside you in your new life

Now the blessings of God and the experiences of His love may be interrupted by our actions

But that love will never be quenched

We need to come to Christ

We need to rest in the extravagant, eternal and deep and abiding love God has shown for us in Christ today

Would you join me in that?

Do you want that? Does that sound like something you need today?

Let's bow our heads, close our eyes

Just for a moment Lord, we're open before you

Lord, I believe that in this place you have made it known to people

Things that are standing in the way of their communion with you

Of knowing you and knowing your love deeply

Whether they're actions or objects or attitudes Lord

I pray that in this moment of silence that you would just reveal these things to them

And God that each individual would give up those things

And lay them down at the altar and allow them to be taken away

And Father as we turn from those things God we turn to you

And we turn to experience the loving embrace of a good God who loves us so

We give thanks that you are here with us

We give thanks that you love us beyond any of the stupid things that we can wrap ourselves up in

That you will cross every boundary and barrier to bring us back to you to be with us

That is our open Christ

You have thanks in Jesus' name, amen.