The One that Got Away

The Heart of God

Lamentations 3:33 (ESV)

33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

God’s first instinct is not to punish. He does so only when his patience with sinners does not lead to their repentance.

Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Tapenios - Lowly (Humble)

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Most Famous Verse

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

A Love Story Gone Wrong

The central theme of the Bible is a love story between God and a fallen humanity.

Starting with Adam and Eve, his children have been stripped away from Him because of their sins.

Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people broke their covenant with him by embracing and worshipping other gods.

In Hosea, his marriage served as a reflection of the Lord’s relationship with his people.

Hosea 1:2 ESV

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

A Broken Covenant

Tell the story of the ring and the pulpit.

Throughout the Old Testament, God compares Israel’s sin of Idolatry to an act of an adulteress/ treacherous wife.

Jeremiah 3:20 ESV

20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.’ ”

The prophets of God always served as a reflection of Christ, and their relationships with the wives or people represented the adulteress state of God’s people.

Ephesians 5:25–29 ESV

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Why would Paul make that comparison?

The Forbidden Love

The Philistines learn of Samson’s love for Delilah, and they offer her money if she will discover the Samson’s strength and betray him.

The Hebrew verb rendered “seduce” is the verb rendered “entice.”

The moral of the story is that Samson falls in love with a woman, the woman entices Samson to reveal a secret, the woman betrays Samson by telling the secret to the Philistines, the Philistines use the secret for Samson’s harm, and Samson eventually overcomes the enemy.

Judges 16:4–6 ESV

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

Hey There, Delilah

Samson loved three women throughout his life. The third is Delilah. Interestingly, all three showed no love for him.

The children of Israel were no different by turning to idols and the Philistines rather than turning to the Lord, God.

Return to Me

Jeremiah 3:6–10 ESV

6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

Shepherds After My Own Heart

Jeremiah 3:15 ESV

15 “ ‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The Good Shepherd

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He Left the 99

Matthew 18:12–14 ESV

12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Lovers of Pleasure or Lovers of God?

2 Timothy 3:2–4 ESV

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

Conclusion: This Is Love

1 John 4:10 (ESV)

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.