Wrap Me In Your Arms

// OPENING

Honor:

Merinda

Pastor Tom & Rhoda

// INTRO TO HOSEA

Congregational reading of

Hosea 1:1–10 ESV

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 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.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” 10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Hosea Background

Hosea means “salvation” **remember this later**

Gomer is his wife that ultimately committed adultery

Children

Jezreel - named to foreshadow the end of Jehu’s dynasty and the fall of Israel that takes place in the Valley of Jezreel

No Mercy - named to foreshadow the lack of mercy shown by God toward Israel because of Israel’s betrayal

No My People - named to foreshadow the fact that Israel rejected God, therefore no longer making them God’s people

Hosea was a prophet about 250 years after King David ruled, and just a mere 650 years after Israel stepped into the promised land!

Hosea’s ministry began at one of the most economically and politically strong times in Israel’s history.

// MAKING IT PERSONAL

The first thing that God says to Hosea is, “GO...”

before God carries out His plan, He wants to make sure that we have it personally before we can take it to others

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.”

Hosea’s Name

Hosea comes from the same Hebrew root as Joshua and Jesus

What Hosea is instructed to do here is exactly what Jesus was going to do a few hundred years later!

The same obedience that Hosea shows here, is the same obedience we see what Jesus lays down His life

Fact or Fiction?

Did God really tell Hosea to marry a prostitute?

some commentators believe that it never could’ve happened, and that God would never ask a prophet to marry a prostitute

this idea is only hard to believe if you can’t believe the story of salvation!

for some of us, it’s hard to believe that we can be loved after all the wrong that we’ve done.

// WHO’S IMAGE ARE WE?

I think it’s hard for us to understand this kind of love because we dont understand WHO we are!

Hosea 4:6 ESV

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Knowledge can be dangerous if we think we know it all...

Know It All Syndrome

what we “know” can make or break us, it all comes down the thoughts that we think!

We might think we know about God, but knowing about God is totally different that having a relationship with and knowing God.

The people in Hosea’s day knew about God, but didn’t Know God

The second thing is that the people didn’t know God’s Word.

says, “...for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”

When God thought to express His nature, He calls Himself “The Word” in

the idea of just having a prayer/revelation life with Him isn’t enough — there is an abundance of revelation waiting to be found in the scriptures!

it’s not that one is better than the other, it’s that one can’t stand without the other.

That I May Know Him

The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians:

Phil 3:7

Philippians 3:7–11 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Image Problems

In the beginning, God made man in His image! Ever since then, man has been trying to make himself in his own image.

We have been in constant strife with God since that very first sin!

The curse to the woman...

Genesis 3:16 ESV

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Gen

Why Is This Significant?

We as the bride and God as the husband - part of our curse of sin is that we will be contrary to our husband, God!

The Solution

the wife must now fight the desire to master her husband

we as the bride must fight our desires to be the master of God or be god-like

// THE ADULTERY

Gomer’s Motive

Hosea 2:5 ESV

5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Hosea 2:4–5 ESV

4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. 5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Gomer goes after he lover because of what he gives her

Gomer goes after he lover because of what he gives her

God’s Response

Hos 2:

Hosea 2:6–8 ESV

6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’ 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.

Hedge Up Thorns: this might sound harsh, but this is the mark of God’s tru love towards us. He sets up “thorns” so that when we stray off course we are guided back!

Pursuit of Idols Leads to Dead Ends: after searching all over and going from lover to lover, she returns to her first love

I Gave Her Grain: even in the midst of betrayal, God still CHOSE to love and provide

It’s as if Hosea went to the house of Gomer’s lover, where she lived apart from her husband and in adultery.

He knew that this scoundrel of a man couldn’t provide for Gomer, and that she lived in poverty and rags. Hosea knocked at the door.

He spoke to the man who answered, “Are you the man living with Gomer?” The man wondered what business it was of Hosea’s; then he revealed: “I’m Hosea, her husband. I’ve brought these groceries and money so she can be provided for.”

When Hosea left, Gomer and her lover must have thought he was a fool. What a great dinner they had together with the food Hosea brought!

God’s Punishment for Israel

In , we see that God lifts His hand from her life.

No longer would Israel live under the blessing of God.

// REDEMPTION IN THE SECRET PLACE

Worship Team

Hosea 2:14–15 ESV

14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Hos

The Lord will draw us to the wilderness and speak tenderly to us.

Valley of Achor = Valley of Trouble

the Lord will make our trouble turn to hope!

Restoration

Hosea 14:4–7 ESV

4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; 6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Hosea 14:4-

Apostasy (Backsliding) is healed

Growth is restored

Beauty is restored

Strength is restored

Value is restored

Delight is restored

Blessed to be a blessing!

Our Salvation is Calling

Hosea means “salvation”

Throughout this prophetic letter over 40 years, the whole time, Salvation is calling us to return to our First Love and to the Secret Place

// CLOSING

prayer team, pastors & elders

repent and return to the secret place

the return to the secret place is not a one time thing, this is something we have to work at

working at marriage

until we return to the secret place and restore our intimacy with God and His Word, we will never see the fullness God intended for our lives!