HOSEA 1-3 BE AN EXAMPLE OF FAITHFUL LOVE2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hosea 1-3 Be An Example Of Faithful Love

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 2019. Well, this morning as we look at Hosea, we're going to be looking at Hosea chapters 1 and 3 this morning. And I've titled the message, Be an Example of Faithful Love.

Be an example of faithful love. And it's that way because, well, that's really what Hosea is.

Hosea was a prophet of the Lord. He's the first that we'll look at of the minor prophets as we continue to work our way through the Bible in three years. We're finishing up the Old Testament. We've gone through the major prophets. Now we're in the minor prophets. Now the minor prophets are not minor because they're less important. It was just a way of grouping these books together. These writings are shorter than the writings of the major prophets. And so the

Here we have this group of prophets that the Lord used to minister to his people. But Hosea was one of those prophets that God used in a very unique and a specific way in that not only did he proclaim a message with his words, with his voice, but his very life

His day-to-day activities and the manner of life that he had was a very loud proclamation of the Lord to the people around him in Israel. And so Hosea himself is an example of faithful love. He's an example and he really represents the Lord in God's love for his people. And so the way that he lives his life is a great example for us.

We can learn a lot from the example of Hosea and be reminded this morning that like Hosea, God has called you and I to be an example, to be a witness. And that's not just with our words. It's not just with our, you know, posts on social media. It's not just with the things that we say or the images that we portray.

but that our very lives are meant by the Lord to be an example, a message to the world around us. And so this morning, I want to encourage you. You be an example of faithful love that is loud and clear for the world around you to hear.

Now, as we get started here in Hosea, just to give you a little bit of the context of what's going on in Hosea's day, here's a quick look at the timeline. And as we enter into the minor prophets, we're going to be jumping around that timeline quite a bit as the different prophets ministered at different times and to various people. Hosea, the first of the minor prophets ministered.

came on the scene around 760 BC and he ministered through around 720 BC. This was a prophet that was sent primarily to the nation of Israel.

Now Israel at one time was one single united nation, but after David's son Solomon died, then the nation was divided. And so the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, the bigger of the two, they kept the name Israel. And then the southern kingdom was named Judah.

And we spent a lot of time looking at prophecies to the nation of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, through the prophet Ezekiel, who is ministering to the captives in Babylon, but then Jerusalem that was back home as well. And so we looked at that. We saw the ministry that took place there. Well, Hosea has a similar ministry to Jeremiah in that Jeremiah was the final prophet to the nation of Judah before they were destroyed by Babylon.

Hosea is the final prophet to the nation of Israel. That is, he ministered to the end of the nation when the nation was conquered by Assyria. And then a little bit after that, Hosea was ministering as well. And so there is this final chance that the nation of Israel has through the prophet Hosea to hear the call of God, to respond in repentance and to turn back to God.

And so God is going to use Hosea to speak this message to his people. Again, not just with his words, but with his life, with his activities, with the decisions and choices that he makes. And so we're going to look at this example in a few different portions this morning, beginning here in verses 1 through 3 of Hosea chapter 1. Here's point number one for this morning. Love the people God instructs you to love.

As we see the example of Hosea and are encouraged to follow that example, here's where we begin. We need to love the people that God instructs us to love. And that's what begins to happen here in chapter 1. God gives instruction to Hosea and he says, this is who you need to love, Hosea. Let's jump into verse 2 again. It says...

Here we're getting a glimpse into the beginning of Hosea's ministry. Here's how God began to speak through Hosea. And how was he speaking through Hosea? Well, he instructed Hosea who to marry.

Go and find yourself a wife, he says, of harlotry. And then have children of harlotry. Because, God explains why here, the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. And so God is seeking to develop this illustration, this real, with like flesh and bones on it, illustration of his love for the nation, his love for his people and their relationship with

He's illustrating that through the life of Hosea and his soon-to-be wife and the children that they will have. And so he began to speak. It's a different commissioning, a different calling than perhaps Jeremiah or Isaiah experienced, right? Their ministries were a little bit different. Here he gives instruction to go and marry, to take yourself a wife of harlotry. Now,

For Hosea to go take a wife of harlotry, you can understand this was not what he dreamed about, right? As an adolescent, you know, growing up, he didn't always dream about marrying a prostitute or, you know, that kind of thing. That wasn't what he envisioned for himself. But this is what God instructed him to do. There are a few ways to look at this verse and understand it. There's some kind of discussion between Bible teachers and scholars that perhaps Gomer was a prostitute.

already engaged in prostitution, and then God told him to go and marry her. There's another idea, another perspective that says, Gomer wasn't a prostitute at the time, but here what God is doing is saying, look, this woman you're about to marry, she's going to be unfaithful to you. And so he is telling Hosea in advance, perhaps, that she will be engaged in infidelity and harlotry.

Another perspective, though, that's also interesting to consider is that Gomer was a girl that Hosea loved, but they found out, it was discovered while they were engaged, perhaps, that she had been unfaithful and basically cheated on him before they even were married. And

You could kind of maybe imagine a Joseph and Mary situation, right, where Joseph understands that Mary is with child and thinks she's been unfaithful to him and he's wrestling with what to do with that. And so perhaps Hosea is in a similar situation. And here in this case, God says, yes, she was unfaithful. She cheated, but go ahead and marry her.

anyway. So those are three different takes on what the Lord is telling Hosea to do here. Either she is a prostitute, go marry her, or she's not a prostitute yet, but she's going to be, go marry her anyways, or you love her and she cheated on you, but still go and marry her. Now, either way you take it, you can wrestle with those different perspectives if you'd like, but either way, any way you take it, as I look at this, Hosea's faithfulness to God impresses me.

Hosea is faithful to God. Again, this is not what he imagined and envisioned and desired for his adult life. He didn't always dream about, you know, growing up and, you know, he dreamed about marrying the perfect person and having an amazing family and a different life. But here God gives him instruction and we're going to see him walk through it and carry it out. And Hosea's faithfulness to God stands in stark contrast to

to his unfaithful wife, in stark contrast to unfaithful Israel that is all around him and their unfaithfulness to the Lord and to everyone around them. Here you have this beam of light, this radical witness, because he was faithful to God. Hosea is a real life illustration. Again, God says in verse 2, "...the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord."

There's a serious issue going on, God says, and Hosea, you're going to be used by me. You're going to be my instrument to show this, to help illustrate this truth to the nation. And so you're to marry this woman who is a harlot or will be a harlot, this woman who will be unfaithful to you. He's to represent God in this way. Pastor H.A. Ironside says this. He says, such is the marvelous loving kindness of our God.

that he finds the objects of his love not among the righteous and the holy, but among sinners lost and ruined, deserving not but judgment, stained with guilt and polluted by sin. Hosea here is going to represent this aspect of God, his loving kindness and his love towards people who do not deserve it. His love towards people who are sinful and ruined by their sin, overwhelmed with the burden of guilt.

This is how we are when God gets a hold of us. And yet God loves us. And so what he calls Hosea to do is not something different than he himself has done or is doing. But instead he calls Hosea to accurately represent him by loving someone who will behave this way and treat him this way. Well, verse 3 goes on to say, So he went...

and took Gomer, the daughter of Deblame, and she conceived and bore him a son. You see this pattern throughout the Bible, and it always amazes me. In verse 2, God said. In verse 3, so Hosea did. God said, so Hosea did. You'll see this pattern all throughout the scriptures, where God is addressing one of his people, one of his children, one of his servants, and he's asking them to do hard things, challenging things, difficult things, huge steps of faith.

And over and over you see this pattern of here's what God said, and so the person went and did what God said. Again, a great example for us. Love the people that God instructs you to love. This is not going to be easy. This is going to be difficult. But it is what God has said. And so Hosea went and did what God said. Will you go and do what God has said? And love the people that God instructs you to love.

to love. Now that may seem impossible in our minds, and it might be because of our misunderstanding of what love is. Pastor David Guzik says, "...we are filled with many romantic illusions about love. One of these illusions is that love has very little to do with our will. We're just captured by love. But in principle, the scriptures show us that love is largely a matter of the will. And when we direct ourselves to love someone, it can and will happen."

Love is a choice. It's not just something that happens to us. It's not just something where we get caught up in the emotions and the feelings and the fluffy worm feelings or whatever it might be. It's not just something that happens to us, but it's a decision. It's a choice and it's a commitment that we make. And so when God instructs Hosea to go love an adulteress, a harlot, he can do this if he chooses to.

And when God instructs you to love people, regardless of who they are or what they've done or previous relationships or situations that have occurred, you can love the people that God has called you to love. And I would encourage you to consider, who is that? Who has God instructed you to love? For Hosea, it was Gomer. Who is it for you? And of course, like we're looking at this example, you can immediately think of your spouse.

God has instructed you, if you're married, to love your spouse. That's for sure. We all understand that. We know that. And so, well, you are to love your spouse. One of the privileges of being a pastor is you get to participate in wedding ceremonies in a unique way and being part of that, joining together of husband and wife.

I was blessed yesterday to participate in a wedding like that. It was a daughter of a co-worker and she asked me to do the ceremony for them. And it's a blessing every time. But over the years as I've been doing the weddings, I've begun to appreciate more and more as time has gone, the meanings of the words and the commitment that is being made.

As I first became a pastor, actually, I did my first wedding even before Kim and I were married, and I didn't understand what the words meant. And if you go with the traditional ceremony, it's like, you know, a little bit of old English and kind of very wordy, you know, paragraphs. And I went through it and sought to be faithful as best I could. But as you continue to grow and to develop and understand what it is that you're committing to one another, you

to love each other. No matter how you feel, no matter what circumstances are going on, no matter what you're experiencing in life, that commitment and devotion to each other is to continue. Husbands, wives, love the people that God has instructed you. Love your spouse in the way that God has instructed you. Of course, also you, if you are a parent, can think of your children. God has instructed you to love your children and you ought to.

You should be faithful to. There can be great difficulties in that many times. But God has called you to be his representative. God has called you to be his agent to demonstrate how he feels about the people in your life. And so your spouse, not only do you love your spouse for the sake of your spouse and for the

And your spouse needs to know where God stands with them, how he feels about them, what he thinks about them. Your children need to know. And your job as a parent is to accurately represent God to your children through all the circumstances and conversations and things that you will face. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be very difficult. But God instructs you to love. So love.

Make the choice, make the commitment, and be devoted to love your spouse, to love your children. But it's not just for those immediate family connections. Think about what Jesus said in John chapter 13. He said, He's talking about love between believers.

that we are to love one another. And the kind of love that we're talking about here, you can find described for us in 1 Corinthians 13. It's a passage that's often referred to in the context of marriage and marriage relationships, and it was even read at the wedding that took place yesterday, right? But actually, 1 Corinthians 13 is not specific to marriage love. It's specific to church love. This is the kind of love that we are to express ourselves

to one another as believers in the Lord, where we suffer long and are still kind. And you can go down the list and consider those things. We are to love one another, our fellow believers. God instructs us to, commands us to. And notice how he goes on from there in John 13, 35. He says, by this, all will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another. That the love that you have for one another, it's not just for the two of you.

But that demonstrates, it shines a bright light. You become a beaming witness for God by doing what God said and being faithful to love one another. You represent God to the person that you love, but you also represent God to the world around you in loving your spouse and loving your children and loving one another faithfully, doing what's best for them, seeking what's in their best interest for eternity. But one last thing.

group of people to consider. There's many more that we could, but just to kind of run the range of people that we're instructed to love, we also need to remember what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 5. He says, I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. And then he goes on to say that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. And

For he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Jesus says, don't just love your spouse. Don't just love your children. Don't just love one another. But also you are to love your enemies. Those who hate you, those who hurt you, those who persecute you, you're not going to feel like loving them. It's not going to be natural to love them, but make the choice to love them. And he goes on to explain why. He says that you may be children of your father.

Listen, this is how God loves them. And so you, his agent, his representative, are called to express that, to demonstrate that with your very lives. That you would love even those who hurt you and hate you because that's how God feels towards them. That's what God thinks about them. That you, even in the midst of those who are against you,

are still commissioned, still called by God to be an example of faithful love. That they might know, that they might see the love that God has for them. And again, it's not just for the immediate people in that relationship, but it's the testimony for the world around as well. Our love is our witness. Love the people that God instructs you to love. You have a great responsibility to represent God.

And it's more than the words that you say and the things that you post. It's in the very life that you live and the way that you interact with and relate to the people around you. Well, we're going to move on to verses 4 through 9 here of Hosea chapter 1 for point number 2 this morning. And that is, obey God regarding the people you love most. So not only are we to make the choice to be committed to loving the people that God instructs us to love, but

But we also need to be careful that we love God first and foremost, and that we always obey him, even when it comes to things related to the people that we love greatly in this life. And so here in verses 4 through 9, we're going to see God give Hosea instruction about his children and how he is to specifically name them. And it's things that are going to affect them for the rest of their lives. Check out verse 4 and 5.

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. It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. Here we are considering the firstborn of Hosea and Gomer. They have a son. And God says, all right, Hosea, name him Jezreel.

And what God is doing in this, and the following children that they're about to have, God is speaking a message to the nation of Israel. This is not just about Hosea and Gomer and them having a family. It's not just about, you know, how they relate to each other and internally how their family is doing. But their family itself is a message of the Lord to the nation around them. And here God is calling Hosea to make decisions about his children and

that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Call his name Jezreel, God says. Jezreel wasn't the name that Hosea had always dreamed about, naming his firstborn son. He wanted a little Hosea Jr. They were going to call him H.J. He had it all figured out. But God intervenes and says, no, not Hosea Jr., Jezreel. Not a common name. Not a name probably that, you know, would be chosen or found in 1,001, you know, Hebrew children names that

they would pick out of. The name Jezreel means God sows or scatters, as in sowing seed or scattering seed. And God gives this explanation in verses 4 and 5. I'm not going to get into it. There's some in-depth details there. It goes back to a man named Jehu back in 2 Kings chapter 10. And God commissioned him to clean house after the wickedness of Ahab. But he did that and then went further than God had commanded. And

God said, all right, well, I'm going to end the house of Jehu then. And that affected the king of Israel, who was the king during Hosea's ministry. And you can see there's a lot of details here, a lot. But through this name of this little boy, God is speaking this message that the people around them would have understood. This mention of Jezreel, a location, a place, but a message of judgment upon the people of Israel. They're going to be sown and scattered just like seed.

It's at the end of Hosea's ministry that the nation of Assyria does this. They conquer the nation of Israel. They take them out of the land, just like we've been talking about with Jerusalem in the previous weeks. They did that with Israel first. And they were scattered throughout the nations as a result of their rebellion and judgment against God. For the rest of his life, Jezreel bears this name. And every time his parents call him, every time he introduces himself, every time, you know, people name him or

having conversations with him he is the very proclamation of what god has said and what god will do and so hosea names him jezreel just as the lord instructed moving on to verse six and seven we see his daughter it says and she conceived again and bore a daughter then god said to him call her name for i will no longer have mercy on the house of israel but i will utterly take them away

Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah. Will save them by the Lord their God. Will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen. So now Gomer gets pregnant again. This time she gives birth to a daughter. And again, God gives Hosea a specific name, Loruhamah. This was not a typical name. It was not a normal name. It literally means no mercy, no mercy.

God says, name her this because I'm not going to have mercy on Israel. Assyria is going to come. They're going to be conquered. And I'm not going to have mercy. In contrast, he goes on into verse 7. For Judah, I will have mercy. And the situation he describes there, you might remember that one occasion where 185,000 of the Assyrian army were killed in one night by the angel of the Lord. That's what the Lord is describing in verse 7. And so Judah is not conquered by Assyria. God has mercy on them. But Israel, God says, no mercy there.

Their wickedness has progressed too far. They will not experience mercy. They will experience the judgment that they actually deserve. And so here this little girl gets named No Mercy. Now, keep in mind, like we read this, okay, Lil Ruhama, you know, that's a weird name. Maybe you get some weird, you know, nicknames and teased and that kind of stuff. But we may not connect really with what was going on there.

It's not like us today. So my name, Jerry. You know what it means? It means mighty warrior. True story. Mighty warrior. Except for different cards, you know, different definitions say different things. But that's the one I choose to identify with. Mighty warrior, right? But it's like, okay, it's from this root and there's all this stuff, right? And so it's obscure. Nobody would know that by looking at me or by hearing my name, right? But imagine...

And I do imagine, what if my name actually was Mighty Warrior? Like, what if you would come to me and say, hey, Pastor Mighty Warrior, I have a question. That's what it was for them. This wasn't, name them some obscure name that has a root that means this, but nobody's going to know that. No, this was, in their language, it would be as if my name was No Mercy. No Mercy.

You're like, hey, Pastor No Mercy, I'm not going to you because I want mercy. Everybody would understand and connect is the point. And so for her whole life, her name itself, her very existence would be the declaration that there is no mercy for Israel because of their rebellion against God. Hosea naming his daughter this, it's not what he wanted to do.

It's not what he dreamed of doing. It's not what he hoped to do. This is not the life that he wanted for her. But this is what God said. And so he is going to obey God even when it's in regards to the people that he loves most. Even when it's different than what he wanted and desired and hoped for them. Well, they have a third son in verse 8 and 9. It says, Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said, Call his name Lo-Ammi.

So similar thing. No mercy. That's the daughter. Now, third son. Name him, not my people. Israel, you're not my people anymore. And for the rest of his life, every time he's introduced, every time someone speaks his name, every time he introduces himself, it will be the declaration. Israel is not God's people anymore. God called Hosea.

to be obedient to him, even in the naming of his kids. And faithful love to God for Hosea would be obedience to even giving his kids these names. It's a pretty incredible thing to consider what Hosea has done and the level of faithfulness to God that he had. He is an example of faithful love to God for us, that we would obey God, even when it comes down

to the people that we love most. And that's a challenge because we do love people. And we are often challenged and tempted to compromise the character of God, the commands of God, the nature of God because of the people that we love. But understand that God, he loves us greatly, more than we can know, more than we know how to love. But he never compromises himself while loving us. He never compromises his holiness.

He never compromises his word. He never compromises his character or nature. He never compromises himself for the sake of those that he loves. It doesn't mean he loves them less, but he will not compromise. He is holy. He is faithful. And he loves us. And God calls us to do the same. Who do you love most? And sometimes for the sake of your spouse, you might compromise what God has said.

You might sway and budge and move from what you know God has instructed and called. Perhaps when it comes to your children, you sway, you move, and you compromise, you bend, and you allow things to go on, you allow things to change, and you are not faithful to do what God has called you to do. Oh, because you love your children so much. That's not the life I wanted for them. That's not, you know, where I wanted them to go. That's not what I wished for or hoped for. And that may be true.

You cannot be an example of faithful love and compromise the things that God has said. Who do you love most? Your spouse, your children, yourself perhaps? I think if we were honest at different seasons in our life and we were asked, what does faithfulness to God look like in your life? We would declare, yes, I'm faithful to God, but what does it look like? Here's what faithfulness to God looks like in my life. Faithfulness to God means I still get to do whatever I want.

And I still get to buy whatever I want. And I still get to watch whatever I want. I still get to eat whatever I want and move wherever I want. I get to say whatever I want and marry whoever I want and divorce whoever I want and believe whatever I want and pray whenever I want and worship whenever I want. I'm faithful to God, but I get to do everything I want. And you need to be careful if that's you and if that's the place that you're at right now. Because if you get to do everything that you want and there's no hard things, there's no difficult things, there's no hard lines that you have to hold.

Well, it could be that you're compromising what God has said because you love yourself or you love your children or you love your spouse or some other thing. You're engaged in unfaithfulness to God for the sake of something else. You're called to be an example of faithful love. You're called to represent God. Your very existence, your very life

including your family, including your children, including the way that you relate to one another. All of that is wrapped up in the example that God has called you to be to the world around you. And will you be that brilliant light, that brilliant example, an example of faithful love? Jesus said that we are to let our light so shine before men that they see our deeds and glorify our Father in heaven. That it's to be lived out our faithfulness to God, our obedience to God.

Even if it's different than what we dreamed or hoped or wanted for ourselves or for those that we love. Well, we're going to finish up in Hosea chapter 3 for point number 3. And that is continue to love people who have hurt you. As you turn to Hosea chapter 3, there's only five chapters, or five verses, but we're only going to cover the first couple. Hosea chapter 3 verse 1 and 2 says this.

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 15 shekels of silver and one and one half homers of barley. Here we're fast forwarding in the timeline of Hosea. They've had three children now, Hosea and Gomer.

Homer? That's funny. Okay, Hosea and Gomer. So they've had three children. Some time has passed. We don't know how much time. But here in chapter 3, we find that Gomer has gone into adultery. Either again or for the first time. But she is now not just in adultery, but in harlotry and sold into it. And God says, all right, she's left you. She's abandoned you. She's been unfaithful to you. She's cheated on you. She's been with many men, Hosea.

Here's what I want you to do. Go find her, bring her back, and love her again. And you see the pattern again? Verse 1, the Lord said to me, go again, love this woman. Verse 2, so I bought her for myself. The Lord said, so I did. It's the pattern for us. This is faithful love to God. Here's what God said, so I did. And Hosea is faithful to do that to God. And so here is Gomer.

There's a lot that we could read into this. There's a lot that you could perhaps consider on your own time. The things that Hosea must have went through. The hurt, the betrayal, the pain of having his wife depart and be engaged in harlotry. Now, there's some perhaps possible indications that it wasn't just at this time when she left him that she was engaged in adultery.

But actually, there's some possible indications in chapter 1 that some of those children that they had were not Hosea's biological children. You can check it out. The first one says that she bore him a son. But then the second one is she bore a daughter. And then the third one is she bore a son. And his name was not my people, singular, that's not my child. And so it's possible, it's been speculated that perhaps Hosea

That third son looked more like the mailman than it did look like Hosea. It's possible. Whatever course that went, whether or not all of the children were theirs directly or through other relationships, you understand that there was a process that went on. There was a long, painful process

history that is behind this betrayal and this life of adultery to the extent that now Gomer is sold into a life of prostitution and Hosea goes to purchase her out of that lifestyle and that life. She's enslaved. Let me just issue a little warning here, a caution. This is what unfaithfulness always does. Listen, unfaithfulness to God always results in

slavery. In Hosea chapter 4 verse 11, God says, harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. Unfaithfulness to God enslaves your heart and it binds you. It's a heavy burden of guilt and it enslaves you to a lifestyle, a pattern of sin that will bring destruction and hurt. This is where Gomer's at. This is where the nation of Israel is at.

So God says it's an apt picture. Now, Hosea, I want to show not just the picture of where Israel's at and their unfaithfulness and their enslavement to sin, but I want to show the picture of my love for them in spite of where they're at. So Hosea, go love her. Bring her back. It's going to cost you. You're going to pay. You're going to have to forgive. You're going to have to overcome the hurts. You're going to have to overcome the betrayal. There's all of this baggage that you're going to have to work through, but go love her.

This is how God feels about Israel. This is how God feels about Gomer. And so Hosea is tasked with representing God to Gomer, just like you. You're tasked with representing God to those who have hurt you. Backing up, maybe that is your spouse. Maybe that is your children. Maybe that is your enemies. Maybe that is one another in the body of Christ, you know, other believers. It might be a lot of people, but you're tasked with the responsibility to represent God. And even though they've hurt you,

God says, go show them that I still love them. You love them to let them know that I love them. It's not a love that is given, I was going to say recklessly, but I don't want to bring up that whole worship song debate, even though I did anyways, right? But it's not without commitments. In verse 3, he says, 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 towards you.

It wasn't, I love you, now you can just continue on in your life of harlotry. No, no, it's come back. Let's be committed to it. Let's recommit, rekindle our love for one another, be faithful to one another for many days. We're going to get back to a restored relationship. This is what God was calling Gomer to. It's what God was calling Israel to. And so Hosea, he's the agent to represent that and declare that to the people. This is our job as well.

we have this task, this commission from God. We're to continue to love people who have hurt us. And in that, we are declaring God loves you. And yes, you've hurt me, and I don't have to pretend like you haven't hurt me. But even though you've hurt me, I love you because God has instructed me to. I love you, not because of something I get out of it, but I love you because God loves you. And I'm going to be looking out for your best interest, and I'm going to be looking out for you, and I'm going to be affectionate towards you because God has instructed me to.

And I want to be faithful to God because God feels this way towards you. Hosea provides for us an example of faithful love. He goes to Gomer. He brings her back. He loves her faithfully because he loves God faithfully, because God loves her faithfully, and because God loves Israel faithfully. He sends them this example of Hosea and Gomer. And because God loves the world around you, he sent them you.

And he's called you. You be that example. You love me faithfully, first and foremost. One of the ways that you do that is you love the people that I instruct you to love. I'm going to tell you who to love. You don't get to choose who you love. I'm going to tell you who to love. You be faithful to me. Don't follow your feelings. Don't follow your infatuations. You do what I instruct you to do. Love the people I tell you to love. And you obey me, no matter what they say or do. Remember the example of Eli the priest,

He had sons who were rebellious against God, but he loved them too much to correct them, which that's not real love. And God sends a messenger to Eli and he says, look, you honor your sons more than me. You're unfaithful to God, Eli, because you will not deal with your sons. When it comes to those that we love, it becomes a challenge many times to obey God. But we love God more than the people that we love.

and obey him, even when it comes to things that impact them and affect them, perhaps for the rest of their lives. What they're named, where they live, what's going on. All of those things are wrapped up in Hosea being obedient to God, even regarding the people he loved most. And then he's an example of faithful love and continuing to love this woman who hurt him deeply. That's the model for us. He's not the only model of that, though. Another model that we could consider is Jesus.

Jesus continues to love people who hurt him deeply. And we get to reflect on that this morning as we finish up our time together in communion, where we stop and remember the fact that Jesus Christ died upon the cross for our sins, where he, like Hosea, is God's demonstration with flesh and blood. Here's what my love towards you looks like. I love you so much. I'm willing to pay for it personally at great expense.

to deal with the issue of sin, to bring about forgiveness so that we can be restored and have real relationship together. Jesus, there upon the cross, accomplishes all of that. Even though we hurt God deeply, even though we, like Gomer, can be unfaithful to a great degree, yet God is faithful to love us, to forgive us, to offer to us the opportunity to know him and be with him.

And so Jesus gave us in the institution of communion, the bread and the cup. And he said, the bread is my body that's broken for you. Remember what I've done for you. Remember how much I love you. It's demonstrated for you in this, my body beaten, broken for you. He took the cup and he said, this represents my blood, which is shed for you. I gave my life for you. Do this often. He says, remembrance of me. Remember my love.

Jesus is that expression of God's love towards us, God's faithfulness to love us in spite of who we are, what we've done, and the unfaithfulness that we've engaged in. So we get this opportunity to remember that and to come back to God, to draw near to him this morning in our time of communion. I'm going to invite the worship team to come up. And the worship team is going to lead us in a worship song, and the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup. At any time during the worship song, you are free to partake.

Between you and the Lord as you are experiencing and receiving the love that Jesus has for you. As you're experiencing and receiving the forgiveness that Jesus offers to you. As you're remembering this great expression of God's love. I would encourage you to receive it. But then also to call out to God for help in expressing it to the world around you. Because, well, Jesus has left you here to be his agent now going forward.

You're to be this expression to others around you. It's going to be intensely difficult, very challenging, but God desires to use you to express His love to the people in your life. And so let's take this time to worship the Lord, receive His love, and seek Him for the strength and for all that we need to love others.

the way that he's loved us. Again, you can partake any time during the song. At the end, Jonathan will give you an opportunity to partake if you haven't yet. Let's worship the Lord 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.