Second Presbyterian Church Sermons

Love Story
Hosea 3:1-5

And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” (Hosea 3:1)

Big Idea:

God reconciles us to himself by calling us, redeeming us, and sanctifying us. 

Hosea illustrates the way God calls sinners; he goes to them and calls them from where they are.  Hosea did not send a letter or text.  He did not stand on his porch and yell as loudly as he could.  He did not send an intermediary.  Hosea went to the brothel where Gomer set up shop and called her to come home.  But notice that God says this action was, “showing love.”  Further notice that God doesn’t ask Hosea to do anything that he was unwilling to do himself.  No, he tells Hosea to imitate what he had already done toward Israel. In fact, God pursues his people before we are worthy and despite persistent unfaithfulness. 

Next in this pageant of God’s love, Hosea purchases Gomer from those who are trafficking her.  Though she already belongs to him legally through marriage, he pays an additional price.  It would have been humiliating for a husband to do such a thing.  He was probably mocked by those who demanded the price as one who could not satisfy his wife and jeered by others who thought he was a fool to expend any more resources on this ingrate.  But he did so nevertheless.  After the purchase, he also pronounced a condition that should have been obvious, “You must be faithful to me as I will be faithful to you.” Redemption is always costly. For God to remain perfectly loving and perfectly just, it required immense personal sacrifice. This costly redemption merits a response from us, namely faithfulness.  

Some authors try to overcomplicate Hosea’s demands on Gomer (3) and the probation prescribed for Israel (4).  Rather than speculating as to whether Hosea was demanding sexual abstinence even within their marriage or asking why licit things like a king and ephod are denied Israel along with illicit things like idols, it is best to focus on the big idea.  God is making clear through Hosea’s example that life after redemption must be one of faithfulness.  Just as it would be pure insanity for Hosea to redeem Gomer and then allow her to persist in sinning against their marriage, so God reasons with Israel that those he redeems must live loyally and gratefully for him. 

Discussion Questions

Download a PDF of the sermon recap.

Therefore…

Hosea 2:2-23

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14)

Big Idea:

Because God loves his people in Christ, the Spirit pursues. . .

In this pageant, Hosea’s tragic experience with Gomer parallels God’s with Israel. Hosea’s tough love for Gomer reveals the way God must, at times, love his rebellious children—by defeating them. In v. 6, Hosea says he will take whatever actions necessary to keep his wife from reaching her lovers, even if it means locking her in the house or blocking her path with thorns.

Verse 7 is clearly a reference to divine providence because Hosea could not ensure Gomer would be unsuccessful in finding her lovers. Failure can be the most assuring experience in someone’s life because it can prove that one is a beloved child of God. When a child of God is pursuing a dream or a lifestyle or a goal or a pleasure that is not an ideal plan for him, then denial of that desire is assurance that Christ is active in his life. It could actually be more frightening to gain it because it can mean that God has crossed his arms and said, “Get what you want; I have no plans for your eternal blessing.”

The job that would have fed your ego, the relationship that would have satisfied your lusts, the business deal that would have made you financially independent, the ministry position that would have given you significance, that accolade for your child that would have stoked your pride—that success could have been the most tragic thing ever to happen to you because it would have reinforced the delusion that anything can satisfy you more than Christ. In the hand of a sovereign God, denial is a gift and an expression of love.     

When God’s children continue to rebel even after experiencing failure, the Father must take more severe action. The bigger message is that this is what God does to us when we take his gifts, but spit in his face. He does not take these severe actions because he enjoys making people miserable. It is with the pain of a parent and through the tears of a true Father that he cuts off blessings in order to draw our hearts back to him.  

In these verses, it is the “Lord who declares” that he will expose, stop, ruin, devastate, and punish Israel because they forgot him, not Hosea (13).  And it is the sovereign Lord who continues to love us severely like this when we take his gifts but refuse to show gratitude.  

The final “therefore” is shocking to any who are not familiar with the grace of the gospel. When you see a “therefore” in scripture, you must ask what it’s there for. It’s a logical connecting point that link what follows with what precedes. What is so shocking about this “therefore” is that is doesn’t seem to make sense. In view of Gomer’s blatant ingratitude and unfaithfulness, we would expect Hosea to say to her and God to say to us, “therefore, I will judge you.” Instead, he says, 

            “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

                        and bring her into the wilderness,

                        and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14) 

God now explains his gifts of denial and defeat were entirely for the purpose of restoring his wayward bride, the Church. 

Discussion Questions

Download a PDF of the sermon recap.

Big Idea:

God pursues unloveable people, conquers them with his love, and makes them his beloved.

God used Hosea’s life as an illustration of the spiritual state of the nation of Israel. First, God commands Hosea to go and take a wife from the Northern kingdom. Next, God tells Hosea the names his children will have, which are indicative of the relationship between God and his people. First, Hosea and Gomer have Jezreel, which means “scattered.” Next, Gomer commits adultery and has one child named Lo-Ruhammah and another named Lo-Ammi, which means “no mercy” and “not my people” respectively. The names of these children describe what people forfeit when they refuse to yield their lives to the Sovereign Christ anticipated by Hosea. Remember, Jesus was essentially called “Hosea” or “Hosanna” when he entered Jerusalem. The name means “salvation.”  So rejecting Hosea’s prophecy was no different from rejecting Christ—it was to forfeit salvation. And turning one’s back on salvation brings terrible consequences.  

But this is not necessary! God warns so that you do not have to live this way. When you come to Christ, he ushers you into an experience of faithfulness, mercy and justice. Not only do you receive its benefits, but you become a joyful partner with God in showing the same to others. One reason Hosea is so difficult to interpret is that he often makes paradoxical statements without bridging them. For instance, the Hebrew of 1:6 reads, “I will no longer love the house of Judah; I will completely forgive them.” Both the NIV and the ESV try to emend the reading to make it more “logical.” Hosea 1:4 and 1:10-11 are similarly contradictory: “I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. . .The Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore.”

To have a biblical mind requires the ability to believe two seemingly contradictory statements at the same time, trusting that God holds the reconciliation of the idea in his infinite mind. Hosea does not provide even the scant explanation of the relationship of the two statements that I am going to posit. He just states them both as stand- alone concepts. On the one hand, he means that if any person, even a professing Christian, persists in conscious rebellion against Christ’s lordship to the end of his life, God will not love him.  On the other hand, God will forgive anyone who repents, no matter what he has done.  

Discussion Questions