THE LOVE OF GOD
Scripture: I will read
selected passages as I preach.
Prayer
Christians look back on the
death of Jesus as a great example of God’s love.
But suppose you lived during
Old Testament times.
Suppose you lived before the
death of Jesus.
How would you describe God’s
love, if you lived before the death of Jesus?
I don't know what I would
say.
But I know what the prophet
Hosea said.
He used his unfaithful wife Gomer
and their broken home to reveal God’s
love for His people.
God gave us the home.
It’s the basic foundation of
our society.
It was on God’s mind when He
created Adam and Eve.
He said, “A man shall leave
his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife; and they shall be
one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).
God performed the first
marriage;
Blessed the first couple;
Made marriage a sacred
relationship;
Made marriage so important
God allows only two things to break the
relationship: death and
adultery.
Death automatically severs
the marriage.
And adultery rips it apart.
It’s one of humanity’s worst
sins;
Something that God said must
be dealt with in the harshest manner we can
imagine.
“The man that committeth
adultery with another man's wife,”
“Even he that committeth
adultery with his neighbour's wife,”
“The adulterer and the
adulteress shall surely BE PUT TO DEATH”
(Lev. 20:10).
God abhors adultery.
He even said the man or woman
who does that should die.
This brings us to the 1st
Scripture: Hosea 1:2-3
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, departing
from the LORD. So he went and
took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which
conceived, and bare him a
son.
It’s important to notice that
Hosea said this is the word of the Lord because
he made a statement that
startles many Bible scholars.
Some say, “God would never
tell a man to marry a woman who committed
adultery;”
“God would never tell a man
to make a terrible mess out of his life.”
Hosea said, “God told me to
take a wife of whoredoms and children of
whoredoms:”
This is the problem.
Would God who strongly
opposes adultery approve of one of His prophets
marrying an adulteress?
Yes!
And Hosea told us why.
“For the land hath committed
great whoredom, departing from the Lord.”
God told Hosea to marry an
adulteress to create a living picture of what
spiritual adultery was doing
to Israel and God.
Hosea’s broken home would
illustrate that Israel’s sin was breaking up the
house of God.
His broken heart would
illustrate that Israel’s sin was breaking the heart of
God.
Gomer’s adultery would let
the people know that God considered their sin
worthy of death.
And Hosea’s problems with his
children would demonstrate what God was
going through with the
children Israel.
We can usually see what the
sin of a loose woman is doing to her husband
and children.
But we often overlook what
our sin is doing to God when we play fast and
loose with the Word of God.
We can readily condemn the
sins of a harlot.
But we often ignore the fact
that our sins make us spiritual harlots.
That’s why God told Hosea to
marry an adulteress.
He wanted Israel to see the
seriousness of her sin.
So Hosea married an
adulteress named Gomer.
God gave them three children.
He named all three.
He named the first child Jezreel.
Jezreel means “God sows” or “God
scatters.”
He was saying, “I intend to
scatter Israel like a farmer scatters his seed.”
He named the second child Lo-ruhamah.
Lo-ruhamah means “not pitied.”
He was saying, “I won’t have
pity on Israel anymore;”
“But I will utterly take them
away.”
He named the third child Lo-ammi.
Lo-ammi means “not my people.”
He was saying, “The children
of Israel are not my people.”
After that, Gomer deserted
Hosea for another man.
She resumed her work as a
harlot.
She wound up broke and sold
into slavery.
Wouldn’t you think it was
time for God to let Hosea out of this ugly
marriage;
Time for God to say, “Hosea
you’ve suffered enough;”
Time for God to give Hosea a
good marriage?
These questions are answered
in our 2nd Scripture selection: Hosea 3:1-2
Then said the LORD unto me,
Go yet, love a woman beloved of her 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. So I bought her to me for
fifteen pieces of silver, and
for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
God told Hosea to buy Gomer
out of slavery;
“To take her back.”
“She has a lover.”
“She is an adulteress.”
“But you have to take her
back and love her in spite of everything she’s
done.”
Hosea said, “God even told me
how much I should love Gomer.”
He said I had to love her “According
to the love of the Lord toward the
children of Israel, who look
to other gods, and love flagons of wine.”
God told Hosea to love Gomer
as much as God loved the adulterous children
of Israel who worshipped
other gods and involved themselves in drunken
pagan rituals.
How would you describe the
love of God, if you couldn’t talk about the death
of Jesus?
You would talk about Hosea’s
love for an adulterous woman named Gomer.
Hosea said, “I bought my
adulterous wife back for fifteen pieces of silver, and
a homer of barley and a half
homer of barley.”
He redeemed his adulterous
wife from slavery with silver and barley to show
how much God loves His
adulterous people.
There’s something precious
here.
If half the fee was fifteen
pieces of silver,
And the other half was a
homer and a half of barley,
Then, the total fee was the
equivalent of thirty pieces of silver.
This is probably right
because Moses told the Hebrews, if they owned an ox
that killed a slave,
They had to pay the slave
owner thirty pieces of silver (Exodus 21:32).
If one of your animals killed
a slave, your fine was thirty pieces of silver.
And you would have to kill
the animal.
Did you ever wonder why the
chief priests paid Judas Iscariot thirty pieces of
silver to betray Jesus (Matt.
26:15)?
They were saying the life of
Jesus is worth no more than the life of a dead
slave.
His life is worth no more
than the life of an adulterous woman who’s been
sold into slavery.
They thought they were
insulting Jesus.
But God was letting His Son
be sold for the price of a slave so He could
redeem those who are slaves
to sin.
Anyway, Hosea redeemed his
wife out of slavery.
And this is a beautiful
picture of God’s love.
Gomer was a dirty tramp.
But Hosea bought her.
And loved her.
Israel was a rotten nation.
But God brought her into
existence.
And loved her.
We’re slaves to sin.
But God bought us.
And loved us.
He redeemed us not with
corruptible things, as silver and gold (or silver and
barley), but with the
precious blood of Jesus.
Think about the love of God.
It seems like He asked Hosea
to do an unreasonable thing.
I called Gomer a dirty tramp.
But Gomer’s sin is a picture
of Israel’s sin.
And our sin.
It’s meant to help us
understand how offensive our spiritual adultery is to
God;
To help us understand that He
loves us with a love that’s beyond our
comprehension.
He could’ve told Hosea to
marry a godly woman.
He could’ve told Israel I’ll
find another nation.
He could’ve told us I’ll
redeem someone else.
But He was really saying I
love you in spite of adultery or anything else you
have done.
I think we can say, God’s
love is unreasonable.
God’s love is beyond our
comprehension.
Now, let's look at something
else.
We know Hosea loved Gomer.
But did Gomer love Hosea?
No!
Hosea deserved the best wife
on earth.
But Gomer committed adultery
AGAIN.
God was telling Israel, “That’s
what you’ll do when I allow you to become a
nation again.”
“When I end your captivity,
you should love me with all your heart.”
“But you’ll commit adultery
AGAIN.”
When God saved us, we should’ve
stopped sinning.
But we do it again and again.
I hope this shocks you a
little.
God asks us to love Him.
But we are constantly finding
ways to do our own thing.
God asks us to trust Him to
run our lives.
But we often run our lives to
suit ourselves.
We’re like criminals who won’t
give up their crime.
They keep running afoul of
the law and we keep running afoul of God.
Now, I want to read Hosea
6:4-6
O Ephraim, what shall I do
unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for
your goodness is as a morning
cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
Therefore have I hewed them
by the prophets; I have slain them by the words
of my mouth: and thy
judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired
mercy, and not sacrifice; and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
I don’t know if God ever gets
frustrated or not.
But this sure sounds like it.
God asks Ephraim and Judah
(the northern and southern kingdom), “What
shall I do unto thee?”
This is the picture.
Hosea bought Gomer out of
slavery;
Took her home;
Loved her;
Did everything he could to
make her happy.
But she committed adultery
again.
We can almost hear a
frustrated Hosea ask, “O Gomer, what shall I do unto
thee?”
That’s what God was saying to
Israel.
“You’ll go into captivity for
spiritual adultery.”
“But I love you with an
everlasting love.”
“After many years, I’ll
redeem you from slavery in a foreign land.”
“I’ll bring you home.”
“Love you like nothing ever
happened.”
“But you’ll reject me again.”
Concerning Israel, God said, “Your
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as
the early dew it goeth away.”
The morning cloud floats
away.
The early dew evaporates.
And the promises of many to
be faithful to God are often nothing more than
fading words.
Unless one’s salvation is
real, a slave to sin will always be a slave to sin.
How about your vows to
support your Church with your prayers, your
presence, your gifts, and
your service?
Did you mean it?
Or, were those vows like the
morning cloud and the early dew?
Okay, let's look at God's
response to Israel’s adulterous religion.
What does God do when people
just pretend to love Him?
1st---God said, “I
hewed them by the prophets.”
God’s prophets confronted
Israel's spiritual adultery.
Today, His preachers confront
our sins.
We may not want the preacher
to talk about our sins
But God’s preachers should
talk about our sins.
They’re a fact of life.
If we don’t want to deal with
them, we’re under the influence of the Devil.
2nd---God said, “I
have slain them by the words of my mouth.”
God’s prophets used the Word
of God to condemn the Jews who were
committing spiritual
adultery.
Preachers should use the Word
of God to condemn our sins.
The Word of God says loving
God today and doing what we want to
tomorrow is useless.
It says a lukewarm
relationship with God will be worthless when we stand
before the judgment seat.
When we hear the Word of God
we should change our ways that are wrong.
3rd---We learn
that God’s “judgments are as the light that goeth forth.”
The destruction of Israel and
Judah sheds light on what God is like.
The Jews didn’t get away with
faking their love for God.
And we won’t get away with it
either.
When Gomer wanted to be a
harlot, Hosea let her.
As a prophet of God, he knew
what would happen to her.
But she had to learn some
lessons the hard way.
When the prodigal son wanted
to squander his inheritance, his father let him.
His father knew what would
happen to him.
But the prodigal son had to
learn some lessons the hard way.
If we want to leave God out
of our life, He will let us.
But we will have to learn
some lessons the hard way.
Hosea said, “They have sown
the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”
(Hos. 8:7).
“They have sown the wind”
means they have lived a life without God.
A life without God is a
wasted life.
It’s like sowing the wind.
What do you have when you sow
the wind?
God said when you sow the
wind, the crop will be a whirlwind, a tornado or a
hurricane.
The harvest for a life
without God will be a harvest of destruction.
If we choose to disappoint
God with our life, we should expect to be
disappointed when the harvest
comes.
This reminds me of a sign I
saw in front of a Church one time.
It said, “If you don’t want the
fruit of sin, don’t play in the Devil’s orchard.”
4th---God said, “I
desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings.”
The Jews couldn’t substitute
slaughtered lambs for loving God
And we can’t substitute
Church membership or anything else for loving God.
What does He want?
He wants us to be a people of
mercy.
And to know Him in a very
personal way.
He doesn’t want us to be like
Gomer who just went through the motions of
marriage.
He wants us to establish a
real relationship.
Finally, I want to read Hosea
11:1-4
When Israel was a child, then
I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they
called them, so they went
from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense
to graven images. I taught
Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they
knew not that I healed them.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love:
and I was to them as they
that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
These verses are comparing
God’s treatment of Israel to raising a child and
caring for an ox or a horse.
When the Hebrews were slaves
in Egypt, God looked upon them as a father
looks upon his child.
He led them out of Egypt.
He led them to the land of
Canaan.
He called prophets to
patiently teach them.
But His children ignored what
the prophets said.
They got involved in false religions.
They served other gods.
This is the point.
God reached out to you like a
father reaches out to a child.
He loves you.
Are you going to turn away
from Him?
Let's talk about horses.
We put a bridle on a horse
and a bit in his mouth;
Leather reins on the bridle
to guide the horse.
When it’s time to eat, we
remove the bridle and bit so the horse can eat in
comfort.
We set food and water in
front of the horse.
We love the horse.
God loved the children of
Israel.
He put reigns of love on
Israel.
He gently guided Israel.
He was good to Israel.
He fed and watered Israel.
He’s like a husband who loves
an adulterous wife;
Like a father who raises the
children of a harlot;
Like a farmer who cares for
his horse.
He loves us with an
unreasonable love.
He loves us so much He let
Judas sell Jesus for the price of a slave.
He let His only begotten Son
suffer and die for us.
He wants us to return that
unreasonable love.
Perhaps, there’s someone here
who hasn’t been returning God’s love.
We all do our share of
wandering.
We all fail to love God the
way we should.
But I’ll tell you this.
It’s not too late to
straighten things out.
The story of Hosea and Gomer
has a happy ending.
Their turbulent marriage
eventually succeeded;
Not because of Gomer’s
faithfulness;
But because of Hosea’s
faithfulness.
We can straighten things out.
We can have eternal life;
Not because of our
faithfulness;
But because of God’s
faithfulness.
Will you rededicate your
life?
Will you accept Jesus for the
first time?
“If we will confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to
cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:9).
