The Love Story

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Introduction / Recap

He said "I'll love you till I die", she told him "You'll forget in time" As the years went slowly by, she still preyed upon his mind
He kept her picture on his wall, went half-crazy now and then He still loved her through it all, hoping she'd come back again
Kept some letters by his bed dated nineteen sixty-two He had underlined in red every single "I love you"
I went to see him just today, oh but I didn't see no tears All dressed up to go away, first time I'd seen him smile in years
He stopped loving her today They placed a wreath upon his door And soon they'll carry him away He stopped loving her today
Or How about this one
Hello darlin' Nice to see you It's been a long time You're just as lovely As you used to be
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These iconic love songs are stuck in our minds forever right? At least the ones old enough to remember. Who knows what love songs they will remember when they are older, but it wont be as good as ours. We remember love stories. We love them and Disney has made billions off of it. Today we will dive into a love story and view it in context. This event was not made up or simply an illustrtaion. It was a real story and a real event that took place in a particular time. This story had direct purpose for the Israelites in those days, and there is application for us today.
Remember from last week. We have to have a working knowledge of the Bible as a whole to understand Hosea. Scripture is the best tool for interpreting scripture. Deuteronomy and the rest of the Torah lays the ground work for the covenant placed for Israel and that if they would obey they would be blessed. But the Israelites, like us, did not obey and were cursed. Yes redemption is immediately offered and ultimately through Jesus, but the consequences are in place. Israel is on the doorstep of being slaves in their own land once again and the northern kingdom of Israel is about to be taken over by Assyria, just as prophesised. If you want more on the background and history then Go back and watch the sermon on our Youtube Channel, Facebook, or our website.

The Story

Lets dive into this story. This story portion of the book of Hosea is 3 chapters long. We will read some of the verses this morning and also summarize in order to save time. Lets look at verses 2 and 3 which lay the plot or premise for this story.

2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

So how many of us have heard the story of Hosea preached? Some more than others, yes, but there is typically a problem in interpretation with this book just like other stories in the Bible. These are not allegorical stories, but real stories with real people with real Purpose. Here is what I mean. When we look at the story of Moses, many preachers will say and teach how one must push through adversity and lead even in the hard times, but guess what? You arent Moses in the story. When looking at the story of David and Goliath, many teachers and preachers will say how you too can slay your Giants of temptation and defeat what is ahead of you, but guess what, youre not David in the story. And here in Hosea we see that he is called to Marry a promisicuous or adulterous woman. The hebrew does not necessarily mean that she was adulterous when he married her, that is not how the eliptical language works, but it means go and marry a woman who will prove to be adulterous. So preachers will talk about how we are all called to do hard things like Hosea and we should be faithful in our calling and seek those who will not love us. Those truths can be founf in other truths in scripture, but guess what? You arent Hosea in this story, and technically, as gentiles, we arent even Gomer.
The Bible is not a story written about man. We arent the protagonist. if anything we are the antagaonist. The Bible was written about God. So this love story in Hosea is not written about you and how loveable your are or are not, but it is about the Boundless love of God and His covenant to His people.
So Hosea is told to Marry a woman who will prove to be promiscuous. We also see the purpose in this second verse. “ like this wife, this Land (Israel) is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.
What a task? Prophets were asked to do many crazy things in those days in order to communicate God’s message in that time. Elijah ate from a bird, Ezekiel laid on his left side for 390 days, Isaiah and Jeremiah both walking around naked and Jeremiah did so with a yoke around his neck and it was broken off. All this to show the message of a loving and redeeming God.
Hosea was walking into this marriage knowing what she would be. God, also, when he made the covenant with Abraham knew what Israel would be. An adulterous nation that would turn their back on him time and time again, and get this, will even murder His one and only son on the cross. God knew.
So we end vs 3 and see they had a son. Lets pick up in verse 4.
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4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”

There is much focus on Hosea and Gomer and the story of an adulterous lover who is redeemed, this is good, but there are three characters we will now meet that have just as much importance to the story. The first son is not named with an important idea as he is named with an imprtant place in mind. It is Jezreel. Once again this makes no sense if you do not know the rest of scripture so I will summarize. You can find this in 2 kings. Jehu was called to go and kill the prophets of baal and the house of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehu goes and does this and God commends him for it, but upon closer study He also kills Joram, ahaziah king of judah, and 42 of his relatives.
Why is this problematic?

God’s Commands Are Not A Suggested, Best Way, But They Are The Only Way.

He was commanded to one thing but does more than he wants. Saul was guilty of this on many occasions and was cursed. He was told to go and kill Agag and all his nation yet he let Agag come back and live. Samuel take matters into his own hands and kills Agag.
God is unchanging, and guess what. What he has commanded to do he means it. When his love your neighbor, he means it. When he says consider others better than yourself, he means it. When he says you must lose your life, he means it. When he says Go he means go. The commands of God are not mere suggestions. I told the illustration wednesday night of Ryan and Gary Anders. If Ryan is somewhere at practice and Gary says to him to come straight home after practice, then Gary means just that. If Ryan says well first I went to the store and thena friends house and then walked around the mall and then I came home. I came home, thats all that matters right? No. Come straight home. What God commands he means and He will indeed follow through on his commands and His character.
Church we must not continue to be disobedient as the israelites were. We must take serious the commands of God. We are thankful for His grace that picks us up when we fail. As Gentiles, we are responsible for what Jesus and the apostles taught and instructed us to do. We are workers in the field, slaves to the king, and soldiers at battle with a mission to follow the commands of our King.
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6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the LORD their God, will save them.”

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So if things were’nt hard or difficult enough with the first child, things do not get any better here. This Hebrew word Lo Ruhamah is so powerful. yes it means not loved. But it is even stonger than this. It is a pittied and compassionate love. The same word for when Joseph heard of his little brother and he loved him and felt compassion for Him. God says i will now for a time not pitty or show my compassion to the northern kingdom of Israel. I will not save them. He indeed is right as Assyria comes and takes over the northern Kingdom.
Then he says I will show my compassion and love to Judah, the southern kingdom. Not with a sword or battle. When they come to take over the southern kingdom, God miraculously kills 185,000 troops and the southern kingdom is saved. They are indeed saved, but will soon fall into exile by Babylon.
I honestly believe this is Messianic as well. Jesus will come from which kingdom? The southern. And he will not save us with sword or battle, but He YWH lay his life down and save His people.
This is difficult. This is hard language and God is looking and saying I will no longer SHOW love to my people for this time. I think that is important. He will no longer show his love but yet he still does love his people.
Now to the third child

8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God. t

This is possibly the most heartbreaking of all the children. This one was the dagger in the back of the northern Kingdom. What does it mean to no longer be God’s people, and more importantly for Him to not be our God? This final phrase in verse 9 is not just YWHY but it is hyh or the same phrase that Moses would here at the burning bush. This is when Moses asked God who he should say sent him and God says, tell the I am that I am sent you. The greatest of Gods names. The God eternal. And here in Hosea he tell Israel and what is a better translation of the Hebrew is this “ I Am not I Am to you any longer.
This Loving God that brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and delivered them from exile and declared that I am that I am to them is no longer I am to them. I know that can sound confusing but this would have echoed through the hardened hearts and ears of the Israelites and still has impact today. AND UNTIL THE GREATER MOSES COMES. They will not be experience his special saving Grace of the I am.
Church,....... there is not a more dangerous or worse place in the world than being apart from the will and from the saving grace of God. I can remember when I was 23 years old, I am the baby of the family, I was a few days from moving 8 hours south to south mississippi. All of my family lives here in knoxville and seperation was new for us. But my momma cried knowing I was leaving and so did her baby boy. But I knew one thing and so did she. If I was moving in accordance to the will of God, it was far safer for me in Mississippi than here in knoxville. She taught me that my whole life.
There is no better place for you to be than to be in the center of the will of I Am that I am. And the opposite is true. If he is not your God, destruction awaits you and it was awaiting Israel. Our Father who art in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, YOUR WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. that is the prayer of his children and that should be our prayer church. It was not the prayer of Israel and God said no more am I your God and they would have to await the greater Moses.
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The difference between life and death and blessing and cursing is and always will be Jesus.

Look at vs 10- 2:1

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. z

2  “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

This powerful word YET comes on the heels of the harshest thing the Israelites have ever heard. They have disobeyed and their will be generations of “Not my peoples”
YET
There is a king thats coming. There will be but one that comes and is the ruler of all the nations. Vs 11 is yet again another Messianic prophecy. Come out of the land (eres) is imagined as a sprout just as was prophesied as a tender shoot in Isaiah 53. And it is God that is sowing. That is what Jezreel means.
So we see, in Christ, there is restoration for all three children. Jezreel is where the northern kingdom will fall, but then like a shoot from Jezreel comes. The people who are not loved will be loved again and the “not my peoples” will once again belong to the I am.
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Chapters 2 and 3 finish what happens with Hosea and Gomer and God and Israel. Just like we saw with the children we will see the pattern of poetry here in chapters 2 and 3. There is the call to repentance and warning, the indictment, the punishment, and the restoration.
Once again, I cannot read every verse for times sake in this series but I will hit most of them today and I am asking you diligently read this book each week. But in verses 2 and 3 there is a call to repentance. Stop the adultery and stop the unfaithfulness.
Even in this warning and call for repentance, there is grace and mercy. According to levitical law, a husband could not only divorce the wife but she was guilty to be murdered. They like their mother, did not listen and first offense was this in vs 5

5 Their mother has been unfaithful

and has conceived them in disgrace.

She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me my food and my water,

my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’

Israel, Gomer, and yes even us are convinced that we know whats best. We have all that we need in God, and just like the story of the fish last week, we chase the bait and fall into temptation. We take for granted what God has given us, life itself, and not only take it for granted we do whats even worse and what is convicted of Israel in vs 8
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8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,

who lavished on her the silver and gold—

which they used for Baal.

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There is nothing that makes me more sad then when I see a human mock God. Its not an angry thing for me, it is a sadness, because they have no clue the implications of what they are saying. When I hear a teenager or college student say, “This is my life and I can do what I want”. Or a scientist look at the beauty of creation around us and say that there is no God. Or when one human looks at another human and because of their political belief, their color of their skin, or their lifestyle belittle them. All of these things take for granted the gifts that God has given us and we no longer acknowledge Him as the one who has supplied us of all our needs and giver of good gifts. Paul says it best in Romans 1 . They valued the creation more than the creator.
So in verses 3-4 and 9-13 the judgement from God is given. They looked to BAAL for grain bread wine and oil and God removes it. There would no longer be any way for them to have their yearly celebrations nor a way for them to even clothe themselves. These judgements were not meant to torture Israel but they were intended to bring them back. Just as a loving father would do. Once all was removed from them and they are at a moment of desperation, they will once again see their need for God.
If their is anything we need more of today in the American church. It is desperation and fear of God. We have been blessed with so much and we have become spoiled. We complain about everything. We bicker with one another. We are sooooooo comfortable. If God removed himself from the church here in America i am convinced an overwhelming majority would have no clue who left. Folks we need more desperation from God, we need more fear of God. Even if he needs to take all of it from us it is worth it know how much we rely and need God and here is why. Listen to this

14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;

I will lead her into the wilderness

and speak tenderly to her.

15 There I will give her back her vineyards,

and will make the Valley of Achor n a door of hope.

There she will respond o as in the days of her youth,

as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 “In that day,” declares the LORD,

“you will call me ‘my husband’;

you will no longer call me ‘my master.’

17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;

no longer will their names be invoked.

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them

with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky

and the creatures that move along the ground.

Bow and sword and battle

I will abolish from the land,

so that all may lie down in safety.

19 I will betroth you to me forever;

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,

in love and compassion.

20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,

and you will acknowledge the LORD.

21 “In that day I will respond,”

declares the LORD—

“I will respond to the skies,

and they will respond to the earth;

22 and the earth will respond to the grain,

the new wine and the olive oil,

and they will respond to Jezreel. e

23 I will plant her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one. g’

I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;

and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

Restoration is what God is about. it is what He has always been about. We do not serve a God the loves to punish and anialate his children, but a God who is awating for his children to repent to restore them to their rightful place. ITS GONNA HAPPEN. and we even gentiles get to be a part of that. What an amazing God we serve.
The story of Hosea and Gomer finishes like this
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The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

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Hosea looks at his wife, who is guilty on all acounts of adultery and should be punished to death, and he takes her back and restores her as his wife and lavishes upon her His boundless love.
God looks at Israel, who is guilty on all acounts of adultery and should be punished to death and hell, and He takes Israel back and will restore Her to her rightful place and will raise the Messiah from Her.
The Messiah looks at you and I, gentiles, guilty on all accounts of adultery and even worse and should be punished to death and hell and he offer his grace and salvation for us to be grafted into His family and restored for eternity.
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Hosea is yet another book declaring the life transforming power of the gospel. Adulterers being made clean and death being brought to life.
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Application

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Our indictment and our judgement is finished. Go read romans. We are guilty. BUT GOD (Eph 2) has made away for us to turn to him and be restored through Jesus. Have you done that today?
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As the band comes up I have a last question for us all to consider. Does your life reflect the I AM? or do you act like Lo Ammi. a “not my people”. There is a world that is watching and a world that God desires to draw unto himself. Are you reflecting a life of restoration or are you valuing what is created over the creator? I want us to be a church that is desperate for God. And talking to our members here for a moment, there has been plenty hardships for us in the past couple of years, but our answer cannot be to look to one another, but we need to set our eyes on Jesus and be desperate for the presence of God in this place. Lets pray.
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