Majoring in the Minors Part 1 - Hosea
Majoring in the Minors • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewGod's grace is incomprehensible. It is so profound that we sinners have a hard time understanding it. For this purpose God asked Hosea to act it out in a real-life charades. This reality show is as shocking and painful to watch as those on TV today.
Notes
Transcript
According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man's feet and gave him food and drink.
The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, "Don't you worship God?"
The old traveler replied, "I worship fire only and reverence no other god."
When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out his his tent into the cold night air.
When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, "I forced him out because he did not worship you."
God answered, "I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?"
Thomas Lindberg.
Human grace
falls woefully short
grace of God.
Today we meditate
on the grace of God.
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Background
Jeroboam II
Prophet to Israel
unrivaled prosperity
spiritual compromise
final prophet to Israel
Grandfather Jehoahaz
left left God.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.
God punished him.
Jehoahaz repented...
Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. (Therefore the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly.
Father Jehoash
promised victory
from dying Elisha
When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.
Now Jeroboam II
getting stronger
2 Kings 14:25 (ESV)
He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah...
Regained kingdom
pushed back enemies
fully restored kingdom.
Did they turn to God?
Did they honor Him?
Stop idol worship?
Of course not
turned back
sinful way.
God allowed them
completely destroyed
40 years after
Reign of Jeroboam II.
A Palm City man has been arrested for the 34th time! Scott Sutto, with ABC ACTION NEWS, reports:
On Sunday, Martin County deputies said they caught Sammy Luciano, 39, driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Okeechobee County.
Just after 4 a.m., deputies spotted the vehicle with Luciano driving recklessly at speeds of more than 110 mph.
... Luciano has an extensive criminal history for crimes such as burglary, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, robbery, fleeing and eluding, battery on a law enforcement officer, violation of probation, possession of drugs, driving with a suspended license, reckless driving, and causing serious injury or death by failing to stop. This time he was charged with felony drunk driving, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and resisting arrest.
He has now posed for a mug shoot 34 times!
APPLICATION
What do you do with a man who has posed for his mug shoot 34 times, and counting? Is it time for the system to give up on Mr. Lucianio, to consider him a lost cause, to lock him up and throw away the key? Before you register your “Amen,” reflect on how many times you’ve broken God’s moral laws. Are you a repeat offender? Has God ever given up on you?
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Last 6 kings of Israel
Last 6 kings of Israel
Jeroboam 2
reign lasted 41 years
blessed.
Next 6 kings
combined together
lasted ~40 years.
Hosea’s ministry
goes from
prosperity of Jeroboam 2
until final destruction
of Israel.
God turns back on them
Last 6 Kings
Zechariah
Shallum
Menahem
Pekahiah
Pekah
Hoshea
Murdered Each other
Zechariah
6 months
Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place.
Shallum
1 Month
Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place.
Menahem
10 years
Only one not murdered
or taken captive
Pekahiah
2 years
And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the people of Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; he put him to death and reigned in his place.
Pekah
20 years
Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
Hoshea
9 years
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
taken captive
If you understand
historical context
Book of Hosea
makes sense.
Politically
From prosperity
to destruction
Spiritually
From compromise
to destruction.
Last Call
Last Call
Home Depot
30 minutes
15 minutes
5 minutes
closing now!
Hosea
gave last call
back to God.
Sadly,
that call was
largely ignored
leading to
destruction of
10 Northern tribes.
Two Stories
Two Stories
Book Hosea
two parts.
Personal life of Hosea
Chap. 1-3
Spiritual life of Isreal.
Chap. 4-14
Life of Hosea
Life of Hosea
Reality TV
drama
pride
inappropriate relationships
sick to stomach
but keep watching.
Real life charades
Spiritual condition of Israel.
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
Extremely unusual
not allowed elsewhere
equally yoked
believers together
don’t try to win worldlings
through marriage.
This story shows
how it normally goes.
God illustrating
His relationship
with Israel.
I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
Israel = Woman
For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
God calls himself husband.
closest relationship
in this world.
But God’s people
cheat on Him.
Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband,
So have you dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
To illustrate God’s love
He asks Hosea
to marry prostitute.
Newlyweds
Newlyweds
So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
But God decides
name of baby...
Hosea 1:4–5 (ESV)
And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Names 1st child
Jezreel
after place of destruction!
Name literally means:
“God will sow”
God will scatter”
Think about
play on words
Spiritual meaning
to sow
to plant
to grow...
good.
To scatter
(seeds are scattered)
reference to destruction.
Story gets worse.
She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
You can guess
reason for such
bad name...
But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
Again,
speaking of destruction!
Story gets worse.
When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Name is “Not Mine”
can’t help but wonder...
She is a prostitute.
Child’s name is
“Not Mine”
Not hard to
figure out why...
In spite of
spiritual adultery
God calls Israel
back to him.
Being a prostitute
marriage is predictable.
As with Gomer
so with Israel:
A recent poll of 5,000 students concluded that 46 percent of them would cheat on an important test. Thirty-six percent said they would cover for a friend who vandalized school property, while only 24 percent would tell the truth. Five percent would steal money from their parents if given the opportunity.
Moody Monthly, June, 1990, p. 8
Moral fabric of
humanity has been
same wicked thoughts
selfishness and sin.
The Breakup
The Breakup
There is a consequence
to the infidelity...
Hosea 2:2–6 (ESV)
“Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;
lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and make her like a parched land,
and kill her with thirst.
Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
Notice:
who leaves who?
Woman leaves man.
As Gomer chases
after other lovers.
So Israel chases
after other Gods.
God does not
abandon His people.
Imagine the pain
of Hosea
in the marriage.
Imagine the pain
of God.
More than husband
creator
savior
A marriage like this
is not a marriage.
External forms
legal marriage
no relationship.
Spiritually
we can go through
external forms
that is not true
spiritual relationship.
Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me."
John Stott in The Contemporary Christian.
Sometimes
Christians think.
Consequence of sin
isn’t coming quickly.
They assume
not going to come.
They become
more bold in sin.
Let us remember,
God is patient
merciful
judgments don’t come quickly.
Remember
they will come!
Our God will
not be mocked.
Gomer thought
life of adultery
was better than
life with Hosea.
She had:
money
fun
possessions
Let us remember
our actions do
catch up to us.
in this life
or the next!
Time of punishment
= Assyrian Captivity
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
… more
And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
… more
And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
Justice does eventually come!
There once was a burglar robbing a house in Antwerp, Belgium. The thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down the other side, and found himself in the city prison.
Renewing Vows
Renewing Vows
The amazing thing
even after punishment
God pursues relationship!!!
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.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”
God says,
go get her back
from the brothel.
He pays his wife
to be loyal to him!!!
This illustration
God’s amazing
love
mercy
patience.
Hosea 2:14–16 (ESV)
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
So God pursues
disloyal people.
God renews
His vows with them.
re-establishes covenant!
One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself.
Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor." the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson." LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren don’t starve. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant." So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner.
God’s abundant grace
is hard to accept.
But it is transforming.
God calls them back
offers them love.
After Assyrian Captivity,
Israel (10 northern tribes)
never returned
to their nation.
Some worshiped
with Hezekiah
after most taken away.
Some did come
back with Judah
after Babylonian Captivity.
Offer of grace
still offered.
Not as national people...
but as part of Judah.
God’s grace continues.
You have to wonder
paid to be wife?
Really?
How that will last???
She is getting payment
but you can’t
buy love!!!!
Will she stay with him?
You already know
the answer...
Israel and Judah
reject the Messiah
Cut off forever.
God end covenant
Not restored again.
No future significance.
The Easy Way
The Easy Way
When I was child
dad used to say:
want to learn your lesson
hard way
or easy way....
Easy way is
learning from
mistakes of others.
Don’t have to
repeat their sins.
Today,
we must learn
the easy way.
What was failing
of Israel?
Hosea 4:6 (ESV)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
Failure to
spiritual boundaries
believe in coming judgment
believe that probation ends.
Today we must choose
God’s path
not world’s path.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NASB95)
for He says,
“At the acceptable time I listened to you,
And on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “the acceptable time,”
behold, now is “the day of salvation”—
The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! . . . The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: "No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness." Sacrificial love has transforming power.
Don Ratzlaff, "The Christian Leader".
Appeal
Appeal
Revel in the grace of God.
Relize...
I am Gomer
I am the sinner
Praise God for
love
patience
forgiveness
grace
See the depth
or our sinfulness
Greater Depth of
God’s grace.
Romans 5:20 (HCSB)
... But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more...