The Lord gave me a Rhema Word when I prayed for a situation, which was Hosea 5:3. Hosea, whose name means “Salvation” or “Deliverance,” was chosen by God to live out his message to his people by marrying a woman who would be unfaithful to him. His sensitivity toward the sinful condition of his countrymen and his sensitivity toward the loving heart of God fitted him for this difficult ministry.
There are many things about God that is difficult for us to grasp. The very concept of a great and gracious God is nearly beyond us. What we know of Him, He has revealed to us in the Scripture. And even though we read it, we still struggle to fully understand Him. One aspect that is especially difficult for us is to understand the love of God. We ask ourselves, "How could He love me?" And yet the Scripture reminds us again and again that He does! We realize that God showed His love for us in giving His Only-begotten Son to die on Calvary. We read it, but it is hard to grasp.
In the small O.T. book of Hosea, we find a glimpse of God's love. Hosea, along with Amos, prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel while Isaiah and Micah ministered to the southern tribe of Judah. In the first two chapters of Hosea we see a broken home and a broken nation. A broken relationship between a man and his wife, and a broken relationship between a people and their God. God used a heartbreaking tragedy in the life of Hosea in order to enable Hosea to catch a glimpse of the sorrow and suffering God experiences when His people sin against Him. In the five verses comprising chapter 3, the love of God is described and demonstrated four ways.
I. God's Seeking Love
- A. God commanded Hosea to love Gomer
- 1. She had left Hosea to follow after other lovers.
2. By all human standard, Gomer had forfeited her right to any degree of acceptance.
- B. He was to love her according to the love of God.
- 1. Here is a great lesson to be learned about God's love.
2. God does not love man because man is lovely!
3. God loves man because God is love!
4. Gomer was Hosea's wife and the mother of his children.
5. Hosea loved her before she fell and now He is to love her as she is.
- C. God's seeking love is seen through the ministry of Jesus Christ.
- 1. Man had willingly disobeyed God and thereby lost any right of acceptance.
2. But God so loved…while man looked to other gods, God looked down with love.
- (Romans 5:8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
- A. Hosea redeemed Gomer (bought her back) from the slave market.
- 1. She had voluntarily sold herself, she had become a slave…a concubine.
2. Hosea bought her back at the price of a slave which speaks of her worth and value.
3. When Hosea found her, a woman who had defiled herself in prostitution, he saw her in a way he had never seen her before.
4. He saw her through God's eyes and loved her with the love of God.
- 1. We were once slaves to sin, Satan, and self but God sought us and loved us with a redeeming love!
2. Mere silver and gold could not buy us back.
3. Peter reminds us that it took the blood of God's only Son, Jesus.
- (1 Peter 1:18-19) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
- A. For Gomer, a period of discipline was necessary.
- 1. She was to be kept separate.
2. She was not to behave in the same manner as before her redemption.
3. This renewed relationship was not to be taken lightly.
- 1. There needs to be a time of instruction and nurturing for proper growth.
2. Just as our own children need time to grow into maturity, the same is true for God's children…those who have been born again.
3. They need time to grow in grace and knowledge.
4. That is what discipline is all about…it is about discipling…training and teaching.
- 1. God knows how subtle our adversary is.
2. Satan attacks us when we are at our weakest point.
3. Obedience to Christ's commands, Bible study, coming to church, are important to all believers…but they are especially important to new believers in Christ.
4. Discipline leads to spiritual growth and maturity.
- A. The nation of Israel will experience triumph.
- 1. History records for us that the nation is about to be taken into captivity.
2. But God gives the promise of their return and their great victory.
3. God's love encourages the nation that He will not forget them.
- 1. God is a longsuffering God.
2. It is His love, not our merit, which will bring triumph.
- (Romans 8:35-39) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- (Job 19:25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
(2 Corinthians 5:8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 15:57) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. These statements of victory and triumph are not based upon man's achievements or man's abilities.
2. The victory is in God through His Son Jesus Christ!
Jesus also, in at least two of His sermons to the Pharisees, takes His text from Hosea. When questioned about His spending time in the homes of tax collectors and sinners, Jesus quotes Hosea to show that God desires not just empty words or heartless rituals, but genuine care and concern for people (6:6; Matt. 9:13). And, when the Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of Sabbath breaking, Jesus defends them with the same reminder that the heart of God places concern for human need above religious form (Matt. 12:7).
The love of Hosea for his wayward wife reminds us that the preeminent fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).
The Book of Hosea teaches two outstanding lessons concerning the Holy Spirit: 1) It is important to depend on the presence of the Spirit, and 2) negative things happen when the Holy Spirit is missing from a life. Twice Hosea uses the phrase “the spirit of harlotry” (4:12; 5:4), and tells the consequences of being filled with an unholy spirit. Like Paul in Ephesians, Hosea connects such a spirit with wine, which enslaves the heart. This spirit of harlotry also causes people to stray into false ways and false worship in contrast to the Holy Spirit who guides us in true ways and true worship (4:11–13; Eph. 5:17–21). John records the words of Jesus concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit who will witness to Christ; on the other hand, the spirit of harlotry keeps people from knowing God (5:4; John 15:26).
If the people around us do not see the love of God in us, they will not find it anywhere. Like Hosea, all believers are called to demonstrate to their neighbors by their attitudes and by their actions God’s love in Christ to a world blindly groping for indications of authentic love.
To Walk in Love
Father, in Jesus’ name, I thank You that Your love has been poured forth into my heart by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to me. I keep and treasure Your Word. The love of and for You, Father, has been perfected and completed in me; and perfect love casts out all fear.
Father, I am Your child, and I commit to walk in the God-kind of love. I endure long; I am patient and kind. I am never envious and never boil over with jealousy. I am not boastful or vainglorious, and I do not display myself haughtily. I am not rude and unmannerly, and I do not act unbecomingly. I do not insist on my own rights or my own way, for I am not self-seeking, touchy, fretful, or resentful. I take no account of an evil done to me, [and I pay no attention to a suffered wrong]. I do not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but I rejoice when right and truth prevail. I bear up under anything and everything that comes. I am ever ready to believe the best of others. My hopes are fadeless under all circumstances. I endure everything [without weakening] because Your love in me never fails.
Father, I bless and pray for those who persecute me [who are cruel in their attitude toward me]. I bless them and do not curse them. Therefore, my love abounds yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. I approve things that are excellent. I am sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. I am filled with the fruits of righteousness.
Everywhere I go I commit to plant seeds of love. I thank You, Father, for preparing hearts ahead of time to receive this love. I know that these seeds will produce Your love in the hearts to whom they are given.
Father, I thank You that as I flow in Your love and wisdom, people are being blessed by my life and ministry. Father, You make me to find favor, compassion, and loving-kindness with others (name them).
I am rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, knowing that You are on my side and that nothing is able to separate me from Your love, Father, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ precious name, amen.
To Walk in Love
Bible Gateway
Brandon Webb/Sermons
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