Faithful Love
Sermon Notes
Introduction:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called The Story, where we’re going through the biblical narrative from the very beginning in Genesis 1 to the last amen in Revelation 22, and today we’re studying the story of Hosea. The story of Hosea is a story about God’s love. It’s a story about a deeper, more committed, more faithful love than any of us have ever experienced before. The reason I say that is because the love we give and receive isn’t a faithful love, it’s an unfaithful love. I mean sometimes we fail to love others like we should...Sometimes we fail to love our spouse...our children...our parents...our friends and neighbors as we should...So the love we give and the love we receive isn’t a perfect faithful love, it’s an imperfect unfaithful love... But the kind of love everybody wants in their relationships is a faithful love. We know the deep wounds that come when we aren’t loving in our relationships. So the kind of love we’re all wanting in our relationships is a faithful love, which is exactly what the Lord wants us to see in the story of Hosea. The Lord wants us to see that he has a deeper, more committed, more faithful love that’s greater than anything we’ve ever experienced before. So let’s turn to Hosea ch 1 and get into it. You’ll find the book of Hosea in the middle of the bible, and we’ll start in Hosea 1:2. Title of today’s message is Faithful Love, and here’s the big idea. God’s love remains faithful and willing to save, even on the days when you’re unfaithful and failing to follow...God’s love remains faithful and willing to save, even on the days when you’re unfaithful and failing to follow.
Context:
Here’s your context. Hosea was a Jewish prophet between 753-715 B.C, when the people in the Norther Kingdom of Israel were being very unfaithful to the Lord. So the Lord uses Hosea’s love and marital relationship as an example, of what his love and marital relationship is like with Israel and us. The Lord uses a real historical marriage to show that hislove is faithful and willing to save, even when our love is unfaithful and failing to follow. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Hosea 1:2 states, “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.’ 3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” So the Lord tells Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer. The text says she was a woman of promiscuity, meaning she was a woman who’s been sleeping around with other men. Scholars debate over whether Gomer was promiscuous before or after their marriage, but either way their marital relationship is meant to illustrate the marital relationship between the Lord and Israel. It’s meant to illustrate the Lord’s faithful love, and Israel’s unfaithful love. The Lord’s basically saying, “Hosea you and I are going to give our hearts to loving people who will fail to love us back. We’re going to give our hearts to loving people who will keep being unfaithful to us. But we’re still going to pursue them and seek to restore them. Hosea you’re going to feel what I feel, which a broken heart...You’re going to feel a broken heart, so you can better communicate my love for those who are keep breaking my heart.” In the rest of ch 1 we learn Hosea does what the Lord asks, he marries Gomer. She ends up having 3 children with Hosea, but the last child isn’t his. She was unfaithful to Hosea, she gives birth to another man’s baby, and then she walks out on Hosea to pursue life with other men.
Ch. 2:5, “Their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, ‘I will followmy lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink...’” Notice the text doesn’t say she had a lover, it says she had lovers. It isn’t singular, its plural, meaning she had multiple lovers after she left Hosea. But eventually she ends up living with a man who doesn’t treat her well. The grass looked greener on the other side, but that grass turned into a desert that’s left Gomer in some pretty bad shape. This guy isn’t treating her well, he isn’t providing for her, instead he’s neglecting her to the point where she’s in bad shape. So Hosea goes to the guy’s home, knocks on the door, and says “Are you the guy living with my wife Gomer?” The guy says “Yes I am,” which is the moment I’d probably throat punch the guy...I’m not throwing a leg kick, because apparently I’m a little rusty. At The District they have a game that shows how hard you punch, and there’s a kicking game too. So I went to kick it, but I missed...My shoe went flying across the room and hit my daughter in the head...The embarrassing part is I train at an MMA gym, I train kickboxing every week at American Top Team, and out of 1000 pts I scored a 1...But I realized it wasn’t even a leg kick machine, it was a soccer machine. So my 2nd try I kicked it lower, I did a Cobra Kai “Sweep the leg Johnny,” and it was all good. But if I’m Hosea I’m going throat punch on this guy. Hosea has the chance to get this guy, but instead he gives the guy cash. He gives him grain, wine, expensive oil, some silver and gold to help provide for Gomer. The guy uses the money to provide for Gomer, but he never tells her it’s from Hosea. So she thinks this guy’s the one providing for her, but it’s really Hosea.
Vs. 8, “She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil. I lavished silver and gold on her....” Gomer doesn’t even recognize it’s Hosea who’s been providing for her. She doesn’t recognize it’s Hosea who’s been keeping her alive. Instead of thanking Hosea, she thanks the man she’s currently sleeping with. She wraps her arms around this guy and hugs him, kisses him, gives him her love instead of Hosea...Can you imagine how Hosea must’ve felt?...Can you imagine the heaviness on Hosea’s heart?...What’s happening in Hosea’s marital relationship, is exactly what’s happening in the Lord’s relationship with Israel. In this period of Israel’s history the Lord was blessing them with things, but instead of praising the Lord they started praising a Canaanite god named Baal, and it breaks God’s heart. Hosea’s broken hearted over Gomer’s unfaithfulness, and the Lord’s broken hearted over Israel and our unfaithfulness. But both Hosea and the Lord continue to be faithful and willing to save!
Ch. 3:1-3, “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...’ 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley.” Notice Hosea has to “buy” her back, meaning she’s put into slavery. Whatever guy she’s with abandoned her, put her into slavery, and Hosea has to pay to get her back, even though it’s his wife. It’s a terrible situation where she’s probably standing naked in the marketplace so those bidding can see what they’re purchasing. Instead of treating her as a person, they’re treating her as a commodity which is wrong. It’s wrong, it’s sinful to treat any race, gender, human being as a commodity. Gomer’s being treated like a commodity, probably standing naked in the marketplace feeling degraded and humiliated. They start bidding and somebody yells “14 shekels of silver!” Hosea yells “15 Shekels!” Somebody else yells “15 shekels and 6 bushels of barley!” Hosea yells even louder “15 shekels and 9 bushels of barley!” These men want to buy her to use her, but Hosea wants to buy her to save her! They want to buy her to use her as a commodity, but Hosea wants to buy her to love and restore her as his wife!...What we’re learning here is no matter how dark your life’s become, the Lord’s still willing to buy you back...No matter how dark, how low, how sinful your life’s become, the Lord’s still willing to buy you back, to restore you back to health again! Some of you’ve been standing in the marketplace enslaved by guilt and shame over something you did. You’ve been enslaved by guilt and shame over your sins, your failures, your unfaithfulness, and the Lord’s saying “I’ll buy you back!...I’ll buy you back to save you! I’ll buy you back to restore you! I’ll buy you back to remove the shackles that are enslaving you and preventing you from living the abundantly joyful life I have for you!” No matter how far gone you think you are, the Lord’s still willing to buy you back. He’s willing to save and restore you, like Hosea did with Gomer.
Again vs. 2, “So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. 3 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 toward you.’” So Hosea wins the bidding war, he’s able to buy his wife back, he’s able to save her life. He takes her off the marketplace, covers her up to restore her dignity, and says “Gomer, I want you to be my wife not my slave...I want you to be my wife, and nobody else’s wife...I won’t force you to stay with me, so you’re free to leave if you want. But if you’re going to stay and live with me, you can’t be promiscuous anymore. You can’t sleep around with other men anymore. I’m your husband, you’re my wife, and we aren’t for sharing.” What we’re learning here is that loving and forgiving somebody, doesn’t mean you continue to let them walk all over you. It doesn’t mean you continue to let them treat you like a doormat. That wouldn’t be good for you, or for the person sinning against you. It wouldn’t be good for Hosea, for Gomer, for their children if Hosea doesn’t set some boundaries. I mean Gomer’s sin has wrecked Hosea’s life, her life, and her children’s lives which we didn’t get to read about. So it would actually be unloving for Hosea to not set any boundaries after seeing all the devastation her sin has caused them and their family. The boundaries he’s setting are a loving response against the sin that’s devouring her and their family. He sets those boundaries because he loves her, he loves his family, and he doesn’t want this sin to keep devouring her and their family.
City Awakening this is exactly what the Lord does in our relationship with him. He loves us and is willing to forgive our sins, but he won’t tolerate our sins. He loves us and is willing to buy us back, but he won’t tolerate our sins because he doesn’t want our sins to keep devouring us. He loves us and forgives us, but he also expects our faithful obedience. This is important to realize because we live in a culture where tolerance is the new buzzword. We live in a culture that thinks we should be tolerant of other people’s beliefs, but what we’re learning here is there’s some beliefs that shouldn’t be tolerated. There’s some beliefs that shouldn’t be tolerated because they’re destructive to us and those around us. There’s things in your life that you’re believing and doing that are wrecking your life and the lives of those around you. The loving response isn’t to tolerate those things, it’s to address them and set boundaries around them so they don’t keep destroying you and those you love. The God of Christianity loves us enough to forgive our sin, to buy us back, but also to set boundaries and expect obedience from us so our sin doesn’t keep devouring us and those around us. Both Hosea and the Lord are saying “I love you and I forgive you, but I’m not going to let you keep walking all over me. I’m not going to be your door mat.”
Ch. 11:1-11 states, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 Israel called to the Egyptians even as Israel was leaving them. They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the hand,, but they never knew that I healed them.” Notice the Lord shifts from a marital illustration to a parental illustration. He’s saying when Israel was a child, it was him that provided for them. It was him that took care of them and taught them how to walk. But now they reject him for Baal.
Vs. 8, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; my compassion is stirred!” Admah and Zeboiim are two cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. Like a loving parent the Lord’s pleading for his children to turn rom their unfaithfulness before it destroys their lives. He’s saying “I don’t want that to happen to you. I don’t want my children’s lives to be destroyed like Admah and Zeboiim. I’ve had a change of heart! My heart’s filled with compassion!” In Luke 13 we learn that Jesus weeps for the city of Jerusalem saying, “If you only knew what could bring you peace today...But you didn’t recognize the time when God visited you.” The Lord pleading and weeping for his children like this, shows how much he really loves his children. It shows his love is like a marital and parental love where he intertwines his heart with our hearts. He's like a loving husband whose wife keeps leaving him, and a loving father whose children keep rejecting him. But his love for them is so strong, he can’t abandon them.
This is the story of Hosea...This is the good news of Hosea, the good news of the gospel! It’s that the Lord wants to intertwine his heart with your heart...He wants to love you in a deeper, more committed, more faithful way than you’ve ever experienced before. We know this is God’s heart for us, because Jesus proved it when he died for our sins on the cross. Jesus is so loving, so faithful, so willing to save us, that he took a spear to the heart for us. When he was on the cross the Romans shoved a spear in his heart to make sure he was dead. He literally took a spear to the heart, for our sinful hearts. He died on the cross to remove the shackles of sin and death that are enslaving your life like it was doing to Gomer’s life. He died on the cross to pay for your sins so you can be saved, restored, have an abundantly full and joyful heart that’s intertwined with his heart. Jesus is always faithful and willing to save anyone who wants to intertwine their heart with his. Like Gomer, her children, and the Israelites we often fail to love God and others like we should. But Jesus has a deeper, more committed, more faithful love than ours. His love is always faithful and willing to save, even on the days when we’re unfaithful and failing to follow.
But what about Gomer?...What happens to Gomer?...Was her life transformed?...Does she end up remaining faithful in her love for Hosea?...We don’t know...Hosea never tells us what happens to her...It’s because this story is really a to be continued story. It’s supposed to cause the Israelites to say “Wait! We’re Gomer! We’re the ones who’ve been unfaithful to the Lord!” It’s supposed to cause the Israelites to ask not how it ends for Gomer, but how will it end for them? It’s supposed to cause us to ask not how it ends for Gomer, but how will it end for us? Will we receive the Lord’s forgiveness?...Will we faithfully love the Lord?...Will we intertwine our hearts with the Lord’s heart, so we can enjoy an abundantly full and joyful life with him?...
The Big Idea:
The big idea is that God’s love remains faithful and willing to save, even on the days when you’re unfaithful and failing to follow...Have people been unfaithful to you, failing to love you like they should?...Have you been unfaithful to people, failing to love your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends and neighbors like you should?...Have you been unfaithful to Jesus, failing to love Jesus like you should?...Healing, forgiveness, salvation, restoration can be found, when you align your heart with the heart of Jesus. A deeper, more committed, more faithful love can always be found, in the heart of Jesus...Communion is a reminder of this...
COMMUNION
Communion is a reminder for us to re-align our hearts with Jesus. It’s a reminder that Jesus died on the cross so we could be forgiven of our sins, and have our hearts re-aligned with his heart...If you don’t believe he died for your sins, if you aren’t a follower of Jesus, then please refrain from taking communion so you don’t go through the motions of this. Instead use this time to reflect on today’s message, and consider asking Jesus to align your heart with his heart today... Let’s go ahead and start passing the elements at this time, and as they’re being passed let’s take a few minutes to prep our hearts, and for those watching at home to prep their tables. Take a few minutes to pray asking Jesus to forgive you for not loving him and others as you should. Then thank him for dying for your sins, for being willing to forgive and love you far more than he should.
On the night Jesus was betrayed he took some bread, gave thanks for it, broke it saying “This is my body which is to be broken for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done for you.” When supper ended he took the cup, blessed it, gave thanks for it, and said “This is a symbol of my blood which is to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done.” Let’s eat, drink, and worship Jesus for his faithful loving heart.