Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel constitute a section of the OT commonly known as the Major Prophets.

As we move into Hosea, we begin the final section of the OT which is called the Minor Prophets..

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12 books beginning with Hosea - Ending with Malachi

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Major = length of book / Minor = books are shorter

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The book of Hosea has a theme.

He is prophesying to the northern Kingdom of Israel.

-Their king, Jeroboam the second, was a good leader.

He led the northern Kingdom of Israel into a place of military success and financial prosperity.

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Things were good.

Business was booming.

Poverty was at a minimum..

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THESE WERE A PEOPLE WHO, EVEN THOUGH THINGS WERE GOOD ON A SOCIAL LEVEL…things were really bad on a spiritual level.

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In the entire history of the northern 10 tribes of Isreal… after the split from Judah and Benjamin… there were no ‘good kings’.

-Every on of them, did evil in the sight of the Lord.

-And yes, Jeroboam was a good King… but he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

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Hosea’s message, was to a prosperous people, imploring them to come back to the Lord… for if they didn’t… they would be conquered by the Assyrians and hauled off into captivity.

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The people of Israel were lost in their sin… and this book gives us a portrait of what that sin looks like and feels like to God. - But not only that, this book also shows us the depth of God’s love and His willingness to forgive and restore.

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Hosea was a reminder… that God was their strength… even as they believed that their economy was their strength… and their military might was their strength..

+He let them know, that their strength would fail them.. and God was going to bring them to their knees.

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Hosea was a plea, from God to His children, pleading with them to walk away from their sin, and come back to Him.

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The name Hosea means, ‘Salvation’… in the Hebrew, it is closely related to the name Joshua, which is pronounced Yeshua, which of course, in the Greek, is the name Jesus.

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The period of his prophetic ministry spanned about 70 years… A part of his ministry took place during the reign of the kings listed here..

He lists the kings of the southern kingdom who reigned in the south during his reign..

And then..

The one king in the north: Jeroboam the second… who was actually Hosea’s king, since he was part of the Northern Kingdom.. and his message was mostly to the people of the N. Kingdom

The time period of the Kings listed 753 BC - 722BC (the fall of the Northern Kingdom).

The southern Kingdom stayed intact for another 150 years or so before they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

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NOW, YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING WHY ISRAEL IS BROKEN INTO TWO DIFFERENT NATIONS…

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When Solomon finished his reign, his son Rehoboam became the king… and the people were upset about the taxes that Solomon had established.

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In and 2 Chron 10, Rehoboam went to the older advisers and asked what he should do about the people… and they told him to give a soft answer.

If he is gentle with them, they will be inclined to follow him and do what he declares..

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Then, when he went to the younger guys they gave the opposite answer.

If Rehoboam wanted the respect of the people, he should respond by instilling fear in those who would dare complain.

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Rehoboam took the wrong advice.

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As a result, the 10 Northern tribes broke off leaving the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south carrying on the lineage of David.

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Jeroboam… the King of the Northern Kingdom immediately had a religious problem.

He had a new nation of Jewish people, but he didn’t have Jerusalem.

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So… he decided to give his people a new religion… - In Bethel and in Dan he set up temples where they worshipped idols instead of worshipping Yahweh.

- He established cow-idols, and told the people that these are the gods that delivered them from Egypt.

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This Northern Kingdom was very successful… but they were also in great rebellion against God.

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Now, you might be wondering… what is the appeal of worshipping idols?

Why were they tempted by it so much?

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Well… if a god was given the responsibility of being in control of the weather, and you were a farmer who was completely dependent upon the weather for your financial success… -You might be compelled to give the offerings that such a god would require.

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So, for the sake of financial success, you’d go to the temple and offer it up.

-Most of these people weren’t worshipping that idol… they were worshipping their business.

They were worshipping the profits.

They were worshipping their money.

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Other gods… like Ashteroth, were responsible for fertility… so if you went to that temple, you paid your “offering” and in exchange, they would then have sex with one of the temple prostitutes.

They weren’t worshipping Ashteroth… they were worshipping their own lust… they were worshipping sex.. and desire.

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You might ask… where is the idolatry today in America?

Well, we don’t have a lot of graven images to bow down to… but people are still worshipping sex and money… and that is the very same kind of idolatry that Israel was falling to.

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Hosea was a contemporary to Amos who was also prophesying in the N. Kingdom.

In the S. Kingdom, Micah and Isaiah were prophesying in the southern Kingdom… and Jeremiah would follow about a hundred years later.

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What God is doing with Hosea is very similar to what he had Ezekiel do…

Ezekeil was told to lie on one side of his body for a long time… then the other…and at another time he was told to dig his way out of his house… and when he dug his way out, he was to run across a field..

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And the people looked on and thought that this man was crazy… and maybe he was..

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But Ezekiel was acting out… living out… a representation of events that would take place in the future.

-One day the siege of the Babylonians would be so great that they would have to dig their way out from under their foundations and run for their lives.

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God often had his prophets live out their sermons in a very personal way.

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And Hosea was going to be an extreme example of this.

He was going to live out this sermon through is wife and through his children.

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Hosea was told to marry a prostitute.. not only that… he was told to have children that would be born to Hosea… but they would be children of other men.

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Obviously… this marriage was a representation of God’s relationship with Israel.

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In fact… The institution of marriage is intended to be, for the Christian, a picture of Christ’s relationship with the church.

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I was thinking about this concept the other other day… and it caused me to think more deeply about the origins, Biblically of the marriage institution.

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MARRIAGE ISN’T SIMPLY AN ILLUSTRATION THAT GOD USES so that we can better understand something about Him.

It’s not an allegory and it’s not analogy.

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It is, in fact… an extension of something that God is.

God didn’t say, “OH YEA, MARRIAGE… THERE’S A GOOD THING THAT I CAN USE TO EXPLAIN MY LOVE FOR ISREAEL.”

OR “OH YEA, MARRIAGE… THERE’S A THING I CAN USE TO EXPLAIN THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR THE CHURCH.”

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God simply had this love and this commitment to these people… and that love relationship is at the core of what our marriage relationship is supposed to be.

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Think about his for a moment… we humans are created in God’s image.. Adam and Eve got the pure stuff… we have all inherited the broken down, corrupted version… BUT ALL THE SAME… IT’S STILL THERE..

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We humans… from the beginning of time, have been getting married… Different cultures and different religions do it differently… but the groups that don’t marry are rare comparatively.

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Our compulsion to seek out an exclusive love relationship with the opposite sex, and commit to it for life… is part of God’s image being worked out in us.

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-Of course… as we all know… God’s image in humanity is broken because of sin.

-Therefore… this intention of God in us… doesn’t always translate over the way it is intended…

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But all the same - The Marriage Relationship: IS A GOD THING.

Before it ever became a ‘human thing’… it was a part of who and what God is.

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THEREFORE… when God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute… He’s literally showing this prophet, what His relationship with Israel is like.

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Hosea is to marry a woman who is unfaithful… she is adulterous… AND THESE ARE TERMS THAT GOD USES TO DESCRIBE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

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The people of Israel are repeatedly accused of spiritual harlotry.

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Now, a harlot, in the most basic terms… is a person who can be bought.

They have a price, and for that price, they will give themselves over to another person.

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FOR ISRAEL… THEY WERE GIVING THEMSELVES OVER TO IDOLATRY… AT THE EXPENSE OF REJECTING GOD.

++They were willing to forsake what was true… for the right price..

-SO BASICALLY… a harlot is someone who has a price.

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Spiritual harlotry, is when we have a price… and such a thing is completely inappropriate for the Christian.

As a Christian, we have made all that is ours, Christ’s.

We are no longer our own.

We don’t possess anything that we can give away at a price… and if we have a price… THEN WE DON’T TRULY UNDERSTAND WHO JESUS IS… WHAT HE HAS DONE… AND WHAT OUR LIVES MEAN AS REDEEMED BELIEVERS…

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SPIRITUAL HARLOTRY… is when I, as a Christian, have a price… that is, if there was something that someone could offer me… something so great and wonderful… that I would be willing to walk away from my faith, to get this thing which is being offered..

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Be it a relationship… be it for financial gain… be it for fame… -If it is something I choose over my relationship with Jesus… then it’s determined… THAT I HAVE A PRICE… and that thing… is spiritual harlotry.

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If you’re married… imagine how you would feel… if your spouse continually and casually broke that vow.... -As you do that… you will sympathize with the Lord’s heart for Isreal.

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Let’s move on.... Notice what Hosea does in verse 2…

Hosea obeyed… he married her..

Hosea 1:4

God gives the name of the name of the first boy who was born:

JEZREEL = GOD WILL SCATTER.