Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 14, Session 2

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A.

Summary and Goal

With great power, God delivered the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, led them for forty years through the wilderness, and then finally enabled them to conquer the land of Canaan—filled with people mightier than themselves—so that they could live there.

Though it seems most logical that people who had been the recipients of these great gifts would have endured in praise of the One who gave them.

Sin never follows logic.

The hearts of the people turned away from their faithful God and went to pursue others gods, other nations, other created things.

By His grace, God endured Israel leaning on their idols, which inevitably collapsed beneath them, and invited them to turn and run back to His loving embrace.

Session Outline

++God’s love remains steadfast toward His unfaithful people (Hos.

2:16-23).

++God’s love pursues His unfaithful people and purchases them out of slavery (Hos.

3:1-5).

++God’s love invites His unfaithful people to repent (Hos.

14:1-4).

Session in a Sentence

God faithfully loves His people even when His people are unfaithful and fail to love Him.

++God’s love for and faithfulness to His children, do not depend on their own merit, but rather His choosing.

Christ Connection

Hosea’s relationship with Gomer reminds us of God’s relationship with the people of Israel and with us.

Even though God’s people are unfaithful and love many other things more than Him, God still loves us.

It was because of God’s love that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sin and bring us back to Him.

DDG (p.

57)

· Contrasts: Hosea’s story differs from a fairy-tale type story because Gomer, Hosea’s “princess,” is not desirable.

No words describe her beauty, talents, or gifts.

Instead, Gomer was an unrepeatable woman.

Though Hosea was faithful to her, she was not faithful to him.

Through their marriage, God was going to show His people what they were like in their relationship with Him.

The people of Israel were like Gomer, an adulterous people who had been casting off their intimate covenant with God to pursue all sorts of idols.

Thankfully in this true story, God revealed the greatest hope: God will do so much more for His children than He ever asked Hosea to do for his undeserving wife.

He is the husband who will not give up on His bride.

He would pursue her and do everything necessary to restore her to the marriage covenant.

The gospel, our true fairy-tale story, reveals that the beautiful, powerful, and holy King of all creation comes to rescue us, an adulterous people who do not deserve such grace.

Point 1: God’s love remains steadfast toward His unfaithful people (Hos.

2:16-23).

Read Hosea 2:16-23 (DDG p. 58).

16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me [Ishi] ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ (Or master) 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.

18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground.

And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.

19 And I will betroth you to me forever.

I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.

And you shall know the Lord.

21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.

And I will have mercy on her who had not attained Mercy, and I will say to those who were Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

DDG (p.

58)

The Lord called the prophet Hosea to act out through his life and marriage a picture of God and Israel.

So Hosea sought out Gomer, a woman of promiscuity, and married her, made his home with her, and bore children with her (Hos.

1:1–2:1).

God wanted Israel to see that He didn’t just call them to be His people because He wanted servants who obeyed out of rigid duty; He called them as a wife to draw near to Him in love.

· Gomer was not sought out to be a maid, a personal assistant, or simply a companion; she was not a servant to be tolerated.

Hosea was to make her his wife to be loved, known, and cherished.

So too was the nation of Israel, as the Lord redeemed her from slavery in Egypt as His covenant people.

Like Israel, we as God’s people, as God’s church, are to be wedded to Jesus (Eph.

5:22-33).

We are to be known, loved, cherished, and drawn in with great intimacy in our relationship.

Christ did not die and rise to make us hardhearted soldiers who bow our knees but harden our hearts.

He went to the greatest lengths and paid every price and bought us out of slavery to sin so that we, the church, would draw near with delight and call Him husband.

Christ has come to make us brothers, friends, servants, and ambassadors, yes.

But the pages of Revelation testify, alongside Hosea, that Christ has come for a bride (see Rev. 19).

This may feel and sound a little weird, especially for men.

We should keep in mind that the emphasis is not on a physical, sexual relationship but on the oneness exemplified between a husband and wife.

Plus, the analogy is communal, not individual.

The church is the bride of Christ, not individual Christians.

DDG (p.

58)

Hosea’s marriage was far from perfect.

In fact, sometime after marrying and having three children, Gomer left Hosea and returned to her life of promiscuity.

But God would soon command Hosea to pursue Gomer once again.

To prepare Hosea for this call, the Lord told him more about His love for His people and how He loved them though they turned again and again to other lovers, whoring after other gods.

And one day, His love for His people would transform them into a faithful bride.

· In verses 19-20, God described the way He will bring His idolatrous people back to Himself as follows: “I will betroth you to me.”

Three times He says this.

This reference to betrothal refers to a man’s pursuit of a virgin maiden to wed.

How could Israel be considered a pure virgin maiden after her idolatry?

How could we?

· This degree of purity is only possible if the sins we have committed in our spiritual adultery are fully forgiven — only if they are cast away as far as the east is from the west (Ps.

103:12; Isa.

43:25).

The blood of Christ provides this forgiveness for us (1 John 1:7,9).

When we stand before Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we won’t be an adulterous bride clothed in a gown stained by our iniquity.

Through the cross, Christ has made us clean by faith.

We will be clothed in fine linen, white and clean—the spotless bride that He has purchased for Himself to make her righteous and what she does righteous (Rev.

19:7-8).

Ask:

What are some ways God’s people today demonstrate unfaithfulness to God?

(hypocritical in calling out the world for the same sins of which they are guilty; refusal to love their brothers and sisters in Christ; choosing to ignore Jesus’ command to make disciples of the nations; holding grudges against others instead of forgiving as they have been forgiven)

Point 2: God’s love pursues His unfaithful people and purchases them out of slavery (Hos.

3:1-5).

Read Hosea 3:1-5 (DDG p. 59).

1 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech [half] of barley.

[The combined price of silver and barley was roughly equivalent to 30 shekels, which the Law prescribes as compensation for the loss of a slave (Exod 21:32).] 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days.

You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

DDG (p.

59)

God commanded Hosea to go to Gomer and show love to her.

Gomer had run off to a lover, but it appears her status had sunk much lower.

Hosea couldn’t just find Gomer and take her home because in her pursuit of other lovers, she had fallen to the status of a slave.

The only way to get Gomer back was to purchase her.

A cost had to be paid to redeem her from slavery, which resulted from her promiscuity, her sin.

Hosea’s love for Gomer cost him something: he had to seek her out and pay the price for her freedom.

Love is more than a feeling of affection.

If Hosea’s love for Gomer were measured only by his feelings for her, then perhaps there would be nothing to show.

But the kind of love that God has for His people, the kind of love He wanted demonstrated through Hosea, is a covenant love—a love rooted in a promise and guaranteed by a commitment to pay whatever cost is necessary for that love to continue.

· Again, God wanted Hosea’s pursuit of Gomer to reflect His pursuit of Israel.

The love that God had for Israel was a love not merely felt but one that demanded to be shown.

And the people would recognize His goodness to them.

We too were slaves when God came after us.