HOSEA 1-3 UNFAITHFUL WIVES OF GOD AND HOSEA2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hosea 1-3 Unfaithful Wives Of God And Hosea

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

Well, as a little bit of an introduction as we head into the Minor Prophets, Hosea begins a section of the Bible that we refer to as the Minor Prophets. And the Minor Prophets are not called Minor Prophets because they're insignificant. Okay, so don't get that idea. You know, these are like the kind of the worthless prophets, you know, but we need to fill some space in the Bible, so we put them in anyways.

The reason why they're referred to as the minor prophets is because of the size of their writings. That they're originally, you know, smaller. I'm sorry, not originally, but they're smaller than, say, Isaiah or Ezekiel or Jeremiah, including Lamentations. You know, their writings are a great...

There's a lot that those things cover. It's a lot of paper that is used to cover Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah. But as we head now into the minor prophets, these are smaller books that we'll be studying through. So we'll be kind of touching them quickly and then moving on on many of them because many are just a couple chapters. So we'll hit them in one night and then we'll be on to the next book.

Now as we look at these minor prophets, another reason why they're all grouped together like this and called or referred to as the minor prophets is originally these smaller prophetic books were able to fit on one scroll. And so if you could think about it, you know, in the mindset of a scribe, you know, you wouldn't want to waste a whole scroll and have, you know, a bunch left over and you can only fit, you know, half of the next book on there.

So this was a very convenient size, very convenient package. You could fit all the Minor Prophets on one scroll. And then you could have Jeremiah probably on one scroll and Isaiah on one scroll and those could all fit. But all of these together filled up one scroll. And so it was an easy way to group together these works because it fit nicely for those who are working on it. So as we head into the Minor Prophets then, we also need to talk a little bit about history.

And I'm not going to spend, like I said, a lot of time on this, but just to kind of give you a little bit of a glimpse on where we're at and what these minor prophets are dealing with as they're bringing forth the message that God has given to them. And so I want to run down for you a little bit of Israel's history and kind of a timeline of the minor prophets. So inside, on the first page,

page of this handout is all of the different prophets that are referred to as the minor prophets, the books of the Bible there. Each prophet has a book by his name. And they all speak to different people and different times. And so to give you a sense of where Hosea is and where these other prophets are, I want to just do a quick rundown of Israel's history for you. And so we'll start at the year 1050 B.C.,

In 1050 BC, King Saul begins to reign in Israel. Remember, he was the first king in Israel. He was anointed by Samuel. He reigned for 40 years and then David took his place. And so at about 1010 BC, David takes the throne. He reigns in Israel. There's a lot of details that I'm skipping over, but just hitting kind of the highlights here.

And then David reigns for about 40 years. And so at about 970 BC, Solomon reigns in Israel. So you're probably familiar with these guys so far. Saul and then David and then Solomon, his son. Well, Solomon reigned for 40 years and then his son Rehoboam took the throne.

But Rehoboam had a problem with really ministering to the needs of the people. And so what ended up happening is under Rehoboam's reign, the kingdom of Israel was divided. And so now there was a southern kingdom

I'm sorry, that's a pun. So that's northern kingdom and then a southern kingdom, right? So north and then south. And so the kingdom of Israel was divided under Saul, David, and Solomon. It was one nation.

But then after Solomon, under his son Rehoboam, it split into two nations. The southern kingdom had the city of Jerusalem, kept the line of David on the throne for the kings, and had the temple, of course, because that was in Jerusalem. The northern kingdom didn't have the temple, and so immediately they turned away to false gods and idolatry, and they began to walk away from the Lord right away.

The southern kingdom walked away from the Lord as well, but it took them a little bit longer. They went a little bit slower than the northern kingdom did. And so here the kingdom is divided, and because the northern kingdom turned away from God right away, their corruption began to increase more and more, and so much so that in 722 BC, the northern kingdom...

called Israel, by the way, was conquered by the Assyrian Empire. As a result of their rebellion against God, God brought this discipline on them, and so they were conquered by Assyria.

Well, the southern kingdom continued on. Assyria tried to conquer them, but God didn't allow it. And so the southern kingdom continued on for about 100 years longer than the northern kingdom. And so they lasted quite a bit longer and they were able to endure. But all the while, they were getting worse and worse as well.

Now in 612 BC, the nation of Assyria was conquered by Babylon. And so Babylon is rising up as a new world power. Assyria conquered Israel. Babylon conquers Assyria. And now Babylon sets its sights on the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah. Really, the city of Jerusalem. It was the stronghold for the nation.

And so Babylon sets its sights on Judah and the city of Jerusalem. And in 586 BC, the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah, is conquered by Babylon. Now,

Now, Judah and Israel were both conquered by these foreign nations because of their rebellion against God. God sent them prophets and said, look, you guys, you need to turn around, you need to repent, and if you repent, I'll bless you, I'll protect you, and you will not be conquered by these other kingdoms and nations.

Even though all these prophets came, both kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, ignored the warnings and kept on rebelling against God and therefore were conquered by these other nations.

So the southern kingdom was conquered by Babylon. Then in 539 BC, Babylon is conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. And that's important because it was at that time that Babylon had taken captives from Jerusalem to Babylon.

They didn't allow them to return to their land until the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon. King Cyrus comes in and he hears about the things that God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah that he would send the people back to rebuild. And so he is obedient to God. He fulfills the prophecy. And so he sends the Israelite people back, the Jewish people back. He gives them the opportunity to go back and rebuild the temple.

Now as they go back and rebuild the temple, there's some things that happen and we'll cover that when we get to it in the Minor Prophets, but the people need to be encouraged and so God sends them prophets to encourage them and help them to continue the work. But finally in 515 BC, the temple is rebuilt and then in 445 BC, Jerusalem's walls are rebuilt under the leadership of Nehemiah.

And so here's just a little bit of an overview, just to give you a little bit of an idea and a context about these minor prophets. All of the minor prophets take place within the divided kingdom. 722 BC, when Assyria conquers

northern kingdom is pretty much the end of Hosea's ministry. And so he's prophesying to the nation right up until that time that they're conquered. He's kind of, you know, God's last effort, last attempt to reach them, their last opportunity to repent before the Assyrian Empire conquers them.

And so you can see these prophets sent as warnings, calling the people to repentance. And so we're going to be talking a lot about judgment over the next couple of months. A lot about punishment and discipline and rebellion, much like we did when we were going through Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And so we're going to be spending some time once again.

I really believe that God has us in these portions for a reason. That it's not just that's where we are next, but because God wants to deal with rebellion in our midst. He wants to deal with sin issues. He wants to call us to holiness and repentance.

And so as we study these things tonight, as well as the coming weeks and months, I really want to encourage you, don't kind of just get in the routine of, okay, well this is just the next passage that we're going through, but really present it before the Lord and say, God, is there something in my life that you need to deal with? Because there is certainly things that God wants to correct in our midst and things that He wants to address for us.

Well, these minor prophets, like I said before, are addressing different groups of people. And so I'm going to run down that with you really quick. So here's a map of the divided kingdom.

And there in the north you can see the area marked Israel, it's the lighter portion, that's the land, it was much bigger than the southern kingdom, but that northern kingdom had and occupied that territory. The southern portion, the green portion, was the kingdom of Judah, it was the southern kingdom, and it was just a very much smaller portion, it was the tribe of Judah as well as the tribe of Benjamin that were part of that southern kingdom.

And so it was a very small portion, but that was the divided kingdom. So to the northern kingdom, God sends Hosea as well as Amos. And these minor prophets that we'll be studying ministered to the northern kingdom up until their death.

The time that they were conquered by Assyria. The southern kingdom had quite a few more prophets that we have recorded here. It had Joel and Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. And so all these guys were ministering to and announcing and sharing God's message to the southern kingdom prior to their destruction. Well, we have also two prophets that were sent to Nineveh.

And that's Jonah. You probably have heard of him and know his story and how he ministered to Nineveh. But also the prophet Nahum had some announcements and a message from the Lord for Nineveh. And so it's interesting to understand that context. And as you look at the timeline and see when Jonah ministered and then Nahum ministered and how they repented under Jonah's ministry. But then it wasn't much longer before they turned back. And so then God did bring the judgment upon them.

that he promised through the prophet Nahum. Well then finally you have those last three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi and they all ministered to the nation of Israel after the people had returned from Babylon. So they're rebuilding the temple, they're rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and during that time frame God sends Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi to minister to the people.

So that's a quick overview of the minor prophets that we're going to be studying over the next couple of months. And like I said, I encourage you to dig in a little bit more, spend some time, get to know the timelines and the circumstances of the different prophets because it really will help you to understand the messages that they're giving and what they mean for them at that time but also for us today.

And so as we look at the prophet Hosea this evening, we're now looking at the time in the nation of Israel, there that northern kingdom, it's leading up to their final destruction by the nation of Assyria. And so God is sending Hosea to this people to warn them, to call them to repentance, to give them an opportunity to turn and get right and not experience the judgment that he's about to bring upon them.

Well, Hosea is introduced to us in verse 1 here of the book of Hosea. So would you look with me at verse 1. It says, And so here the prophet Hosea is introduced to us.

He's introduced as the son of Beri. We don't really know anything about him or where he came from. But he also gives the context of the time frame. When is he ministering? Well, under King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah. That's the southern kingdom. And so during their reigns, Hosea was in the northern kingdom ministering to the people.

Also, it says, during the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. And so, here under Jeroboam's reign, Hosea is there in his kingdom, ministering to the people and announcing the judgment that is about to come as a result of their rebellion.

If you want to get an idea and a sense of what was going on when Hosea is prophesying, I would encourage you to check out 2 Kings 13-17. Those are the chapters that deal with these kings that are mentioned here. And you can get a sense for the type of rebellion, the idolatry, the wickedness that was going on, and then the final destruction that comes as God sends Assyria to conquer them.

What's interesting about this, as you look at the prophet Hosea, is on the outside, the nation of Israel, that northern kingdom, it looked pretty good. It didn't look that bad. I mean, they had money. They were pretty wealthy. They were very strong, especially compared to the southern kingdom. I mean, they had a strong army. Their cities were fortified. They were doing really well as far as the outside was concerned.

But the problem was the inside. And the inside, their hearts were turned away from God and they were worshipping false gods. They were talking about God and they were, you know, pretending like they were worshipping God. But the reality was that they were involved in this false worship, in worshipping these other gods.

And so on the outside, everything looks good, but Hosea is calling their attention to the inside and reminding them, look, it's not about the outside. God sees the heart. He knows what's going on in secret and behind closed doors. He knows what's going on within the heart, and that's what God is addressing. So now as we go on in Hosea's ministry, we see some really challenging things for us to consider. Look at verse 2 and 3.

It says,

We see here, it tells us that this is when God began to speak to Hosea. Now, imagine being in Hosea's shoes for just a moment. You know, you're there, you're walking with God, you're enjoying a relationship with God, and God says, I want to call you into the ministry. I want to put you to work, Hosea. Great, Lord. I'm willing. You know, like Isaiah, maybe he said, here I am, send me. So what does God say? God says, alright.

Go marry a prostitute. That's your first order. That's your first command. That's your first instruction. You need to go find a prostitute and get married to her. I bet Hosea went back to the drawing board a couple of times and said, are you sure? You know, maybe like Gideon, he's throwing out a fleece like, I don't know, Lord, this doesn't sound like it's of you.

But God is going to be using Hosea not just to speak a message to the nation of Israel, but to live out a message to the nation of Israel. And Hosea is not the first prophet that God has done this with. We saw this in Isaiah where he had to live out some pretty radical messages. Remember the time that he had to go for a couple of years without clothing to speak a message to the nation to try to get their attention?

Ezekiel as well had to act out and portray and his life was really a message to the nation of Israel. In fact, Ezekiel, remember, his wife died and God said, don't cry, don't weep, don't mourn for her. Why? Well, because I'm going to be showing the people

How the rest are going to react when this nation falls, when this kingdom falls. And so God was speaking a message, not just with Ezekiel's words, but with his life. Well, the same is true in Hosea's life. And we'll see that as we continue on this evening. That God was speaking a message to the people. And this is the way that God works. And this is something we need to really come to grips with and come to understand.

That God is not just looking for people who will talk a lot or say the right thing. But He's looking for people who will live the message that He wants to bring to the people around them.

For Hosea, that was going out to marry a prostitute. Now for you and I, that's probably not the message, that's probably not what God is asking us to do. But He is asking us to live out the message that He's given to us. That you and I, like the prophet Hosea, we've been enlisted into the ministry, and we're called to bring forth the message from God, and that involves speaking it,

But it also involves living it out, demonstrating it, showing it to the people around us by what we do and how we live. Well, the issue with the nation of Israel that God is addressing is what he refers to as harlotry. Now, harlotry, of course, is prostitution, it's adultery, it's sexual immorality, it's all of those types of things.

as God is referring to the nation of Israel, is spiritual harlotry. Although they were involved in sexual immorality, literally, what he's referring to is that their hearts have turned from God. They're spiritually being unfaithful to God. God is their God, and yet they've turned away from Him, they've been unfaithful to the true God, and they've been

Spending time and worshipping and entertaining all these other false gods. And so all throughout the scriptures, God relates idolatry or unfaithfulness to God to adultery or harlotry. It's turning away from God in the act of spiritual prostitution or harlotry.

And so God says, I want to show them what they've done. I want to show them and demonstrate to them. So Hosea, you're going to be my illustration. You're going to be my message that's lived out before them. You need to go and find a harlot and then get married to her. You're going to have children of harlotry. That is, she's going to have children, but...

You're not necessarily going to know, and maybe for sure in some cases, they're not going to be your kids. Because she's not going to stop her harlotry just because you got married to her. And we'll see that as we go on this evening. And so Hosea now obeys. He goes, it says in verse 3, that he takes Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she becomes his wife, and she conceives and gives birth to a son.

So much like many other prophets, his life was part of his prophetic message. And again, I want to challenge you to consider this is true for all of us. When God asks you to serve him, it's not just in the times that you speak or the times when you show up on the church property or are involved in the outreach that's coming up, but it's how you live your whole life for him that God is asking you to do.

And so he says, look, this land has committed great harlotry.

Now as we look at the minor prophets and these calls to repentance, much like we saw in the major prophets in Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, there's so many parallels and it's a call to really prayer for our own nation as we see is where we started off good, but we've come to a place where we're much like the nation of Israel, where the land is committing great harlotry.

and has turned from God, and is pursuing many other gods. And as a result, we should expect for there to be a similar type of discipline and judgment like the nation of Israel experienced when they turned away from God. And so, as we look at this, you can keep that in mind. You can be praying for our nation.

The land had committed great harlotry, and so Hosea is now called to picture that, to demonstrate that by marrying a harlot.

Going on to verse 4 through 9 now, we begin to see the children that Hosea has, and God incorporates them into the message and the visual that he's giving to the nation of Israel. Verse 4 says, Then the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Verse 8.

Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said, Call his name Lo-Ami, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. So now, God incorporates Hosea's children into this message by asking Hosea to give them particular names. Now these names have meanings, and they have explanations that go along with it, so that the people would know

what the message was. So the firstborn was named Jezreel. Jezreel means scattered or it's the idea of sowing seeds. But Jezreel is also a location, a place within the nation of Israel. In fact, the valley of Jezreel is a very important location because it's also known as the valley of Armageddon. The valley of Jezreel is right there. It's a fertile place, but it's also been a place historically where lots of battles have been fought.

The valley of Jezreel is where the final battle takes place when Assyria conquers the nation of Israel.

And so he says, listen, call your firstborn Jezreel because I'm going to break the bow of Israel, that is the strength and the army of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel. And so at that location, they're going to be conquered. So call your firstborn Jezreel so that every time you call his name, every time his teacher calls on him in school or they're calling out to him in the marketplace or whatever, every time...

you know, people are calling him, they're reminded what God has said, that they're going to be conquered at the valley of Jezreel. Their bow is going to be broken. Well then, they have a daughter. And God says, call her Lo-Ruhamah. And Lo-Ruhamah means literally, it means no mercy. And what is God saying? He says, call her this, because you need to tell the people of Israel that I will not have mercy on them any longer.

I'm not going to hold back. Mercy is the withholding of judgment or punishment that is deserved. And he's had mercy on Israel. They, for a couple hundred years now, have been in rebellion against God. And he's withheld, although they've experienced trouble and difficulty and some discipline, he's withheld what they really deserve. And he's not conquered them completely. He's continued to be patient and give them opportunities to repent.

And so he's shown mercy thus far. But here is his announcement. Time is coming where I will show mercy no longer. Time is up. This is the way that God works. Sometimes people are deceived about their sin because God is merciful. And you may have noticed when you sin, you don't immediately die. Have you noticed that? No? Nobody's noticed that? Okay.

God doesn't strike you down at the second you mess up or you fall into sin. He's merciful. He holds back the judgment that we deserve. Why? Because He is okay with us living in sin? No, absolutely not. Because He's giving us opportunity to repent. Because He's merciful. He wants us to be right with Him. He wants to give us opportunity to turn back and to get right with Him. And so He's been giving Israel opportunity

But we need to understand, those who are practicing sin need to understand, God's mercies are new every morning. But that doesn't mean that God allows you to continue on in sin indefinitely. There comes a time when He says, it's not that mercy's run out, He says, time's run out. God says, I'm making a choice. I will not show mercy any longer. That's enough. That's it. And then you will experience the judgment, the consequences, the penalty, however you want to phrase it,

of your sin and rebellion against God. And that's what's happening to the nation of Israel. And so he announces to them, I will no longer have mercy. Notice what he says there in verse 7 though. He says, yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah. Now the house of Judah, that's the southern kingdom, Assyria tried to conquer them, but you may remember what happened at that point. When Assyria tried to conquer the nation of Judah,

They cried out to God, God protected them, sent an angel, and in one night, 185,000 of Assyrians army was slaughtered. God had mercy on Judah. They deserved judgment too. They were in rebellion against God too. But God says, I'm still going to show them mercy. No more mercy for you, northern kingdom, nation of Israel. And so he tells them to name his daughter Lo-Ruhamah. Well then finally he has a third son named

God says, name him Lo-Ami, which literally means, not my people. And why is he saying this? Why is he to name his child this? Because God is saying to the nation, you are not my people anymore. God says, look, you've lived in rebellion, you've been running away from me, you've been ignoring my message, and so now I'm making an announcement, no longer are you my people. You're not mine.

I'm separating myself from you. You're on your own. You've brought upon yourself what you want. You've insisted on your way. So you're yours. It's all up to you. You deal with the consequences and the penalty of your sin. You're not my people anymore. I'm not responsible for you, God says. Pretty heavy stuff that God is speaking through the prophet Hosea in his marriage as well as his children. But it's not the end.

And it's not God's final word to the nation of Israel. In fact, there's a silver lining that's given here as we close out the chapter. Look at verse 10. It says, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass, in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there it shall be said to them, You are sons of the living God.

You see what God is doing here in these next three verses? You see how He's turned it around?

Here we get a glimpse of how amazing God is. How merciful and how gracious He is. This pronouncement of judgment, this pronouncement of not showing mercy, this pronouncement of them not being His people any longer, it's not a permanent condition. It's a temporary condition. He's going to allow this to take place, them to be conquered, them to be disciplined, them to experience severe hardship,

so that he can turn it around, bring them back, and do the exact opposite of what he's announcing. You see, all three of Hosea's children and the meanings of their names are reversed here in verse 10, 11, and then verse 1 of chapter 2.

Look at the end of verse 11. It says, For great will be the day of Jezreel. Remember, the first one is named Jezreel because that's where they're going to be destroyed, that's where they're going to be conquered. But when God comes back, when He brings them back around, then great is going to be the day of Jezreel. That place is going to be a place of rejoicing. It's going to be a place that's great, not a place of destruction. But also, in verse 1 of chapter 2, He says, Say to your brethren, My people...

Remember God said, "Hey, name him Lo-Ami, the third son, because they are not my people." But there's going to be a time coming where God says, "You're my people." And then He says, "Say to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown,'" because the daughter that he had was named Lo-Ruhamah, which means "no mercy." God says, "I'm not going to show you mercy anymore." But there's a time when God's going to turn it around and say, "I'm showing you mercy."

So we see the full work of God here, the complete redemption, going from judgment to greatness, from not being his people to being his people, from having no mercy to having been shown great mercy. We see very clearly here in the book of Hosea as well as the rest of the scriptures that God is not done with the nation of Israel. Now the ultimate fulfillment of these things is going to take place when Jesus returns for the second coming.

and He establishes His kingdom and He reigns on the earth for a thousand years. That's when these things will ultimately be fulfilled. But God is promising, "I'm not done with Israel. They're not my people. I'm not showing mercy anymore. Judgment is upon them." But it's not forever. Now as we look at the nation of Israel, there's also some parallels that we can look at for our own lives, for us personally.

The same type of thing. Listen, you cannot continue in sin without discipline. No nation can and no person can. Now with nations, you know, God allowed Israel, you know, a hundred years to have opportunity to repent. God's probably going to shorten that for an individual because you're probably not even going to live for a hundred years, right? So the time frame is different, but the principles are the same. That God will allow a season...

As you rebel against Him, He'll give you opportunity to repent. He'll give you opportunity as He shows mercy and withholds the discipline, the punishment that you deserve. He'll be calling you back to right relationship with Him. But the great encouraging thing is that when you do push beyond that point and you experience the discipline of God, this means that God is not done with you. God's not done with you.

Just because your life has fallen apart, just because you've experienced the discipline of God, the chastening of God for your rebellion. Maybe now your marriage has fallen apart. Maybe now your job is gone. Maybe now whatever the case may be. Listen, I've experienced the discipline and the chastening of God more than once in my life, quite a few times. And it's comforting to know when you're in the midst of that.

Because it feels like, and the enemy will try to speak into your ear and tell you, God's done with you. That's it. That's why you're experiencing this. Just forget it. Don't even try anymore. But you need to know. That's why God puts it here. Why does He say right here at the end,

I'm going to show you mercy and you're going to be my people once again. Why does he say that? Because he wants them to know, listen, it doesn't mean I'm done with you, but I need you to repent. And if that means that I'm going to allow you to experience some consequences and some severe punishment and discipline, and you're going to have to go through some very difficult and painful things as a result of your sin, well, I'll let you do that. I'd rather not.

Send you that way. I'd rather not bring those things in your life. But if that's the way you want to live, well, then I'll let you have the repercussions of that so that you can realize what you're missing out on and you can turn and get right with me. And we can see that as we go into chapter 2. Let's read together verses 2 through 8. It says this, Bring charges against your mother. Bring charges. For she is not my wife, nor am I her husband.

Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. For their mother has played the harlot. She who conceived them has behaved shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers, and

Verse 6.

Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and wall her in so that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers but not overtake them. Yes, she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better for me than now for she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal.

Here now, it's going beyond the visual illustration of Hosea and his family. And now this is the message to the nation of Israel. God says, Hosea, tell them, charge them, let them know she's not my wife. There's a separation going on here, Hosea. I'm separating myself from them until she puts away her harlotries. They've been involved in idolatry. They've been worshipping these other gods. Hosea, you need to let them know

I'm stepping away. She's insisted. I've given her opportunity. But she said, no, I'm going to continue worshipping these other gods. So God tells Hosea, charge them. Let them know this is what's happening. This is what they need to do. Let her put away her harlotries. This is what repentance is. Stop living in that sinful condition, in those sinful activities. He warns her, look, if you live in this condition, I'm not going to have mercy on your children because they're the children of harlotry.

You're teaching your kids to rebel against me too. And so they're not going to experience mercy because you've taught them to walk away from me because you've been involved in this idolatry. But notice what God says in verse 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns and wall her in. So God says, look, I'm still going to do a work. He says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put hedges of thorns around her. She's wandered, she's wandered, she's not stayed on the straight and narrow.

She's refused to walk in my ways. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put hedges of thorns so that if she tries to wander, it's going to be painful. It's going to be difficult. God's going to take measures to help her get right with him so that she has to rebel against God at great personal injury and cost. And so he's hedging her ways with thorns so that she can't find her passion. She's going to chase after her lover's.

So even though God's hedging her in, she's saying, no, I want these things. I want to pursue these gods. I want to be involved in this sinful activity. But God's going to keep them out of her reach. Why? So that she comes to the conclusion there in verse 7, I will go and return to my first husband. For then it was better for me than now. So God says, I'm going to be allowing Assyria to conquer. I'm going to be allowing these difficult things to happen in her life.

It's what they deserve for their rebellion against God. They deserve actually much more. So he's still showing mercy even when he's bringing the discipline. But he's allowing it to happen so that she comes to the conclusion and realizes, I need to turn back to God. Verse 8 is very interesting. He says, For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil. The whole time as Israel's been rebelling against God and they've been blessed, God says, They didn't realize I'm the one blessing them.

I'm the one giving them their supplies. I'm the one giving them what they need. I'm the one who multiplied their gold and silver. But notice what it says there at the end of verse 8, which they prepared for Baal. And so you get the understanding here, God is giving them all these blessings. They're taking those blessings and they're using them to worship other gods. So husbands, you know, you're giving your wife all these blessings and then she's taking those blessings to go and

Spend time with another guy. I mean, that's what's happening here. That's the relationship that God is describing. That God is pouring into. He's blessing them. He's taking care of them. But they're taking those things and using those resources God gave them to worship these false gods. He's helping them to understand this is how bad of a condition you are in. And this is for us. We need to understand as we rebel against God, as we practice sin, that's what we are doing as well. We're taking...

Time, energy, blessings, we're taking what God has given to us and we're wasting it, investing it in these things that are not of God. It's really insulting, offensive, much more so than we can really describe with words. And Israel didn't realize how good they had it. God's providing for them,

And so what God says is, look, I'm going to expose your ways. You're going to be ashamed. You're going to be disciplined. And then you'll realize what you've done and you'll come back to me.

Going on to verse 9, it says, Verse 12,

And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, These are my wages that my lovers have given me. So I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry and went after her lovers, but me she forgot, says the Lord. So God says, look, so this is the punishment I'm bringing upon Israel.

Because they used the provisions that I gave to them to worship these idols. They've been worshipping these Baals, these false gods that were there. Now as we talk about worshipping false gods, for them it was quite literally what you think of when you think of idolatry. It was images and statues and they were bowing down to them and offering their children to them and just doing all kinds of horrible things.

But as we carry that over to you and I today, I understand that idolatry is not limited to just that context of bowing down before a statue. Idolatry, probably more relatable and understandable to us today, is when anything else has the place of God in our heart. And so when we're more passionate about something,

than we are about God, then that thing that we're passionate about is an idol. When we care more about something in our life, more than we care about God, that thing that we care about becomes an idol. And so we practice idolatry not just by bowing down and worshipping, but by where our devotion is, and our attention is, and our passion is, whatever we're focused on, more so than God. Those things become our idols.

And so we need to be very careful because there is a punishment that goes along with worshipping these false gods. And God says, look, I gave them the grain, I gave them the protection, I gave them the vine, I'm just going to withhold it. The punishment that he brings, you see, is just his withholding of the things he had been giving to them. It's not even that, you know, he's lashing out in anger and throwing things at him. He says, okay, well, I'm just going to stop giving you your allowance.

I'm going to stop blessing you with the things that I've been blessing you. I'm just going to hold back those things and you're going to experience the punishment, the consequences for your rebellion against me. Verse 20, I'm sorry, verse 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her. Now we see once again a turnaround. So you see, this is what God says, I'm going to be bringing against the nation because of their rebellion.

But then God's not done with Israel. He's not saying, that's it. Never again will I work in your life. Never again will I work in this nation. Never again will I use this people. That's not what He's saying.

He says, "Look, I'm going to turn it around. I'm going to bring her into the wilderness. I'm going to comfort her." Verse 15, "I will give her vineyards from there, the valley of Achor, as a door of hope. She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." God's going to be working like He did when He brought them out of Egypt. Verse 16, "And it shall be in that day," says the Lord, "that you will call me my husband and no longer call me my master.

Verse 17, For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more. In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth to make them lie down safely.

Verse 19, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice and loving kindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. So here's what God says. Here's the big picture. I'm going to allow these things in your life and you're going to think I'm done with you. You're going to think I've written you off, but the reality is I'm allowing this so that I have the opportunity to call you back.

So that you have the opportunity to realize why sin is sin. Why it's called sin. Why I'm forbidding it. Because it's destructive and it's deadly. And so I'm allowing this so that you can turn and get right with me. So that you can come back from this place of judgment and punishment. And come back and you won't call me master, you'll call me my husband. Interesting.

See, they were still worshipping God, quote-unquote. They were on the outside pretending to worship God. They still talked about God. They still said, praise the Lord, hallelujah. They still, on the outside, acted as though they were worshipping God. If you would ask them, hey, do you love God? They'd say yes. Much like today, you know, you ask someone, are you a Christian? Oh, yes. Well, how come you're living with your girlfriend?

Well, it's okay. God wants me to be happy. Well, no. This is idolatry. This is sinful. That's not the way that a Christian behaves. But that's what Israel is doing. Well, how come you're worshipping the Baals? They're trying to worship both gods. Multiple gods. They weren't just turning away from God. They were just saying, well, yeah, we'll be religious. People do that today. I'm still going to go to church. You know, I'll be religious. I'll kind of go through those motions because it makes me feel good. It's important. And

I think by that, you know, if I'm good enough, I attend church enough, then I should be fine. God overlooks all these other things in my life. That was their attitude. That was their mentality. God says, look, I'm going to bring judgment upon you so that you realize the devastation of your sin, so that you turn and get right with me. And we see here God's betrothal to Israel. Notice here that God is the initiator. He's always the initiator.

Sometimes we mistakenly think, you know, I found the Lord or, you know, I got saved, you know. He initiated, He's the one who found us, right? He's the one who saved us. He's the one who starts it. And so He says, look, I'm going to allure Israel. I'm going to entice them. I'm going to flatter them. I'm going to persuade them. This idea of being betrothed to Israel, it's the idea of wooing a virgin. I'm going to go and I'm going to court them. I'm going to woo them. I'm going to call them back to me.

Show them how much I love them. And so the relationship is going to change. Right now they're calling God Master. He's one of the gods that they serve. But God says, I'm going to change that relationship. They're not going to call me Master anymore. They're going to call me my husband. You see, this is so important because this is the relationship that God wants with each one of us. That's why He uses marriage and adultery and harlotry and these things to describe this situation because

He gave us marriage as a picture of how much He loves us and the relationship that He wants with us. You can check that out in Ephesians chapter 5. That's what marriage is for, to show us that picture. The best marriage that you can think of, that's a picture for you of the relationship with God that He wants with you. So He wants us to change. He wants that intimacy where it's not just, this is my duty, this is my obligation to go to church. No, He's my husband.

He's the love of my life. He's my passion. I want to go spend time with Him. Not what Christians are supposed to and I don't feel like it, but it's my duty. It's not meant to be a burden. God says, look, I want you to serve me, but when you're through with this, it's going to be you're serving me because you love me. You're engaging with me. You're walking in relationship with me because you love me. You're not just going through the motions. You're not just doing the rituals. You're not just being religious because you're calling me Master.

And so God wants this relationship to change, to go from beyond not just obeying Him because that's what you're supposed to do because otherwise He'll send you to hell, to walking with Him and pleasing Him because you love Him, because He's shown His great love to you. And as you consider this, isn't God amazing? Look, He's the one who reaches out to us. And He says, look, surrender all to Me. This is what you must do. You must die to yourself.

And follow me. You must take up your cross and follow me, Jesus said. Oh man, that's hard. That's a burden. But then as you do it, God changes the relationship and it changes from slave and master to love and intimacy. Because it's only as we surrender, it's only as we lay our lives down or give ourselves to him that we get to experience a far better relationship of love and intimacy that he has for us.

Let's keep going in verse 21. It says, It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer, says the Lord. I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth. The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine and with oil, and they shall answer Jezreel.

Again, we see the full picture of redemption here. Full restoration. God's not allowing this judgment to happen just so that He can, you know, kind of burn off some steam.

He's allowing it to happen so that they can be fully restored, fully redeemed, fully complete in His will and His plan for them. And so He announced, Jezreel, you're going to be judged, you're going to be broken there in the valley of Jezreel. But now He says, Jezreel, you're going to be fruitful, you're going to be productive, you're going to be blessed. He says through Hosea's child, Loami, He says, you're not My people anymore. So that...

through the process, they would come back to Him and He could say, "You're My people. I'm your God. Come walk with Me." He called the daughter of Hosea, "Lo-ruh-hah-mah," saying, "No more mercy. That's it. I'm stepping back. You're going to experience punishment, consequences, judgment as a result of your rebellion." So that God could bring it around

They go through the process and then they would come back to God and He could say, I'm showing you mercy. I'm having mercy on you. You're not getting what you deserve. You see, God allows discipline. He brings chastisement to bring us full circle so that where we walked away from Him, now we're right back where we once were. Right in the center of His plan. Right where we wandered off. He brings full restoration, full redemption in our lives.

Now, this is the message to the nation of Israel. And now God is asking Hosea to demonstrate it for them. Look at chapter 3. Verse 1 says, Then the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and one and one half homers of barley.

And I said to her, You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man. So too will I be toward you. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days."

Here in chapter 3, God says, okay, here's the message in chapter 2. Now, demonstrate it. Give him an illustration. Hosea, go find your wife. They've already been married. They already have three children. Based on the wording and the names, you know how God says, you're not my people. It's very possible that one or more of those three children are actually not Hosea's children. That she didn't stop practicing her harlotry even though they got married.

And so here in chapter 3, it's come to the point where Hosea, right now, he's a single dad. She's off somewhere. He doesn't know where she's at. She's off somewhere. And God says, go find her. Go find her. Bring her back. Love her like I love the nation of Israel. Demonstrate it. Show them, Hosea, by your life, how I love them. Show them by how you love Gomer how much I love them.

So he's commanded to bring Gomer back. And so you see there in verse 2, he goes and he has to purchase her. She's either been sold into slavery or sold herself into slavery. Who knows what the conditions are. But she's his wife. She's been practicing adultery. She's been sleeping around, practicing harlotry. And he goes and he purchases her back. And he says, you're going to stay with me. You're going to be my wife. I'm going to be your husband.

I'm going to love you, demonstrate kindness to you. This is the picture of God toward the nation of Israel, but also the picture of God towards anyone who has been walking in rebellion. Remember Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, as well as chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians, you have been bought with a price. This is us. Sometimes, you know, I'm sure we'd like to think we're Hosea, but we're really Gomer. We're the ones who wander, we're the ones who stray, and yet...

God purchased us and he loves us. And he continues to demonstrate and show grace and mercy to us, even though we don't deserve it. What does he call us to do? What did Hosea call his wife to do? Stay with me. That's what God wants of us. Stay with him. Walk with him. Don't wander anymore. Don't turn away. You know, as we consider this, there's lots of things that the Lord may be speaking to your heart. He may be speaking to you about some sin in your life.

and some things that you've allowed to continue on you've allowed to continue God's saying look if you continue on just like the nation of Israel you will experience the withholding of God's blessings and protection and you're going to experience the consequences and judgment as a result of your sin and so it's a call to repentance for some but as I look at these things I think there's another message that God wants to highlight for us and that is through the example of Hosea and I want to end by asking you what kind of servant of God are you?

If God spoke to you in the way that He spoke to Hosea, would you be willing to obey? Would you be willing? You see, the reality is you have to be willing to serve God even if it means marrying someone that you don't want to marry. When we talk about laying down your life or giving your life to Christ, we say it so often it's kind of just commonplace. We don't really think about what it means. But listen, if you give your life to Christ...

you don't have authority over your life anymore. And so if He says marry that person, you don't have the authority to say no. You and I, we need to be willing to do what God says no matter what, whether we like it or not. And so if God says stay married, even if you don't want to, you need to stay married. It's not about whether that makes you happy. It's not about whether you're excited about that or if that's your plan or that's what you want. It's about the reality that you're God's servant.

And you need to be willing to do whatever He says. If it means that you have to show forgiveness when you don't want to, it means you need to choose to show forgiveness even though you don't want to. You don't have the authority to not forgive when Jesus said, forgive just as I've forgiven you. And so to rebel against God and not forgive or to not stay married when He's called you to stay married or to not do whatever it is that He's calling you to do, not to love someone who's hard to love,

Not to show mercy when he's called you to show mercy. To disobey him is idolatry. It's rebellion. We really only have two choices. Here's your choices. It's either be willing to serve God to the same degree that Hosea was or rebel against him. Those are your choices. Which is it going to be? Will you serve God like Hosea did to that extent, to that degree? It's pretty radical, I know.

Now, God's probably not calling you to go and marry a prostitute, but you know what? He doesn't have to. Because there's a lot of other things that He's called us to that are just as hard. So we have to be, like Hosea, committed to the Lord to that degree. And if we're not, that's rebellion. God doesn't ask us to, you know, mostly serve Him. Or serve Him when we like it, or when we want to, or when it's convenient. It's all or nothing.

And if we try to do the middle of the road thing, that's what Israel was trying to do, well, he's going to start hedging up our way with thorns. We're going to begin to experience the difficulty and the consequences that come from rebelling against God and having other idols and not putting God first in our lives. It's all or nothing. Those who are trying to walk the middle will experience the discipline of God. That's a guarantee. That's a promise. We tend to...

categorize different types of sin. So we look at harlotry, "Oh man, she's committing harlotry and then he had to stay married to her, oh that's terrible." I mean that's a pretty rough sin, that's a pretty gruesome sin. But understand that adultery, harlotry, prostitution is just as bad, it's just as sinful as not doing something that God has told you to do. They're both sinful, they're both rebellion against God, they're both deserving of judgment,

And continuing in either will experience the discipline of God, will bring the discipline of God in your life. And so Hosea for us is a really good example of being willing to obey God and do whatever God is saying. You might think, well, I'm not committing harlotry, I'm not committing adultery. Awesome. Great. Now if you are, hey, you need to repent and get right. You're going to experience judgment if you don't. Try to get right with God. Learn what it means that He's my husband.

I love him. There's this intimate relationship. We need to pursue God. But also, we must not be deceived like the Pharisees and think, I'm religious. I must be fine. I don't kill people. I don't commit adultery. I'm not involved in pornography. I'm not involved in, you know, this or that, whatever it may be. So you think, I must be good. Listen, if God's speaking to your heart and you're not being obedient, the Bible tells us,

For the one who knows what is right to do, what God wants you to do, and doesn't do it, it's sin. It's rebellion against God. So you need to stop fighting against it, and you need to obey. Now here's the incredible and wonderful thing about our merciful God. You will discover that when you fully surrender to be obedient to God, what He has in store for you is infinitely better than

than what you have in not surrendering to Him. We hold on to these things. We hold on to, "No, I have to get out of this marriage. It must be better for me out there." But if God's telling you to stay, you need to stay. And what God has for you in that marriage is far better than whatever you might find outside of that marriage. Or you say, "I can't marry that person. That's terrible. That's not what I had in mind. He's not Mr. Dream Boy that I've been thinking about." God says, "That's the guy."

What God has for you in that marriage is far better than whatever you could find outside of it. I can't forgive that person. It's just so hard. They did so much. It's so hurtful. What God has for you as you lay down your life and surrender and forgive as He commands you to is far better than what you can find holding on to unforgiveness and bitterness and on and on and on. We could go.

We look at the things that God asks us to do sometimes. Oh my goodness, Hosea, he has to go marry Gomer. Oh my goodness, go buy her out of harlotry. Oh, that's terrible. Not true. What God had for Hosea in that marriage was far better than what he could have found outside of that marriage. So I want to close with that encouragement, that exhortation. Listen, are you like Hosea? Are you willing to be obedient to God no matter what?

Ronnie's going to come up and close us in one last song. And as he does, I would ask that you would search your heart and allow God to speak to you. Where are you at? Where do you stand? Are you in a place where you do need to repent because you are practicing sin? And so you need to stop rebelling against God and get right? Hey, it's a perfect opportunity right now. Let's do that. Let's get right with God. Turn things around. That's what God desires. That's why God has this message this evening and the things that are happening in your life.

But maybe it's not so much an open rebellion that you're practicing sin, but you're just not holding on to or you're not doing what God is calling you to do. That's sinful as well. That's rebellion. So let's take some time. Ask God to show you your heart and show you those areas that He wants to work in. And let's take this time to give it over to the Lord and surrender to Him and say, Yes, Lord, I'm Yours. I'll be obedient. I give my life to You. Let's worship Him together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.