"I Will Have Mercy"
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Introduction
Introduction
Soap Operas featuring unhappy marriages and cheating.
Loving The Unlovable
Loving The Unlovable
v. 1
“Go again...”
The story. Gomer (freed from her past). Jezreel and Lo-Ruhama and Lo-Ammi.
And now, this woman has completely strayed away from Hosea.
And, what does God instruct him to do? Go and “love” her again.
Imagine just for a second if you were a friend to Hosea. What would your advice to him be?
“She doesn’t deserve you. Look at how she treated you!” We’d keep them apart!
Guess, what? God knows what kind of woman she is: moved on and is an adulteress.
Yet, God says, “Love her anyway.”
Their lives serve as an allegory for God and Israel.
They’d pursued other gods, rejecting the God who had created them, chosen them, and redeemed them from the nation of Egypt.
God would have every reason to turn His back on them.
He tells Hosea to go and love Gomer because...
God’s love is unconditional.
Illustration for unconditional…??
It doesn’t matter how far you’ve ran from God, He loves you.
You don’t have to earn it
Loving The Unfaithful
Loving The Unfaithful
vv. 2-4
Hosea goes and purchases her. Indicating she had entered into some form of prostitution. Purchased her contract.
$8 in silver. $9/bushel = $900.
Redemption has a cost.
And here we see the conversation turn from God to Hosea to Hosea to Gomer.
There is this mutual commitment: you will belong to me and I will belong to you.
Everything that Gomer had been used to having, all the men and attention and relationships, are being stripped away so that her focus would be alone on Hosea.
All the empty things she had chased after would be behind her.
V. 4 begins this stripping away of everything from Israel. Israel that had sought after other gods.
King/prince. Sacrifice/pillar (elements of the priests). Ephod (urim & thummim) / household gods (tools of prophecy).
Prophet, Priest, and King. The three offices that Jesus holds for all eternity.
They shall dwell many days without…indicating that there will be a time when Prophet, Priest, and King will be present with them.
Not how they are probably anticipating it, but in a much better way!
Jesus takes the place of all that fails us.
This includes you and me.
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Yet, the way that God receives us!
Loving The Unfailing
Loving The Unfailing
v. 5
1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”
God has accepted and loved just as Hosea accepted the children born in adultery.
Even in Gomer’s adultery, Hosea was the one who took care of her.
8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
Despite how unfaithful she had been, Hosea continued to love her.
It is this love that God has loved you with.
Not because you are deserving of it, but because He has chosen to love you.
And what should be our response to that love?
See what the Israelite children did:
Return and Seek.
Salvation requires repentance.
To turn around! Where rebellion was leading - destruction.
Seeking David. They were expecting someone to come who would be their eternal king.
Jesus!
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Can you imagine this message of acceptance?
And God says to you today - you once had not received mercy, but now you have. Once you were not my children, but now you are.
This comes with the confession that, “You are my God.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
What is the point of this story? Who was the audience?
Hosea’s life was the message.
Who are we in this message?
Characters: God, Hosea, Lo-Ammi and Lo-Ruhamah, and Gomer.
God. Certainly not.
Hosea. Maybe that is who we’d like to think, but it isn’t.
The children. There are some aspects, but the name changes deals more with Gomer than them.
Gomer, the unfaithful spouse. That’s us.
You and I, we are the one who ran away in rebellion from the one who loves us.
You and I, we are the ones that are pursued despite our rebellion.
You and I, we are the ones who are loved still.
You and I, we are the ones called to turn back to God.
You and I, we are the ones who should
Love God for all that He is and all that He has done.