Sermon Tone Analysis

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON AND THE OAKS OF BASHAN

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON AND THE OAKS OF BASHAN

Author Guardian

Psalm 29-31,

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON AND THE OAKS OF BASHAN

Lord God In Jesus name let your powerful and mighty word speak now in Jesus name amen

Now we are going to look at three portions of Gods word to begin with and then we shall go to Psalms, these words or portions , came to me over the last week and they seem to go together and you will see how as we go .

I had no idea at the time of typing how these

three things brought to mind would come together and as usually happens , only after

typing is the message revealed

So lets look firstly at the three portions of scripture, or snapshots.

If I were to say to another Christian " A Christian friend I Know is going to marry a prostitute....what do you think they would say ?

Its sounds a bit unscriptural does'nt it ?

"Marry a prostitute ?

" they would say, " why " and " thats not scriptural, thats not what God would want ?

" how do you believe people would react ?

First we look to Hosea chapter 1

Many see Hosea as a minor prophet but I see him as a major prophet, why ?

because he did'nt just speak out the words given to him by God , but he lived them

This was a major thing, not a minor thing

Hosea Heard God speak and did what he heard, in fact Hosea's whole life would have been changed

You know how life can change when you meet someone ?

you know that you have to start

to change your life pattern to encompass that person ?

you start to realise that your life is changing and that you no longer live for yourself ?

but you now have to think about the other person ?

Imagine for one moment hearing God speak to you and He tells you to marry a prostitute ?

He tells you who to marry and gives you the name and you know that this person is

sharing their body with other people !!

How do you think you would feel ?

To know that you are going to live and sleep and talk and walk with that person day by day and share your life with them and know that it is not just you but you are sharing this person with many many other folk !!

And so the word of the Lord came to Hosea and he was told to marry a prostitute

Some translations put gomer as “a wife of harlotry” (RSV), “a harlot wife” (NAB),

or simply “a whore”

In other other words she was unfaithful and had many men and many relationships

Now you may think "Why did God tell Hosea to marry a harlot ?

"

And so Hosea went and found himself a wife of reputation, a whore, a harlot, a prostitute.

He married this woman " Gomer " and they had children...the first child was named

Jezreel.

And then Gomer the wife of Hosea and of many bore a daughter and they named her

Loruhamah and Loruhamah when the time had come and she conceievd bore a child

named Loammi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; !!

OOooooo what a divorce

O you see what a major thing Hosea did to marry Gomer, imagine having your life changed like this, Imagine having your name dragged through the mud, Imagine what people must have said !! , imagine what people must have thought ?

Imagine your name being associated with Gomer !! imagine the turmoil in your mind as you give away your life to Gomer.. knowing that you are sharing your body with others ?

Do you really believe Gomer changed ?

when married ?

do you really believe that her

children where children of Hosea ? or were they children of another ?

I wonder if Gomer ever changed ?

I wonder if God was able to bring forth children from another ?

I wonder if after all this children were born from another as numerous as the sands on the shore and as the stars in the sky ?

What a major prophet was Hosea to give his life like this ?

because God told him to

and to put up for the rest of his life with the sneers and the rejection from others

I wonder how this would go down in our modern day Church or Christian lifes ?

doing something that means being rejected not just by friends and family but by your

Christian fellow friends because " God told you too "

And yet here was Hosea married to Gomer a reflection of peoples hearts, a reflection

of the house of Israel, a reflection and mirror of what was going on deep down in peoples hearts and lifes and not so deep in others, in fact open worship of gods made of wood and stone

Here was Hosea being a mirror image to the nation of Israel, I bet he was popular ?

" O look...theres Hosea, thats what I have inside me .

looks ugly doesn't it ?

"

God had cried out time and time again " REPENT...TURN...COME BACK TO ME "

You see God was married to the nation of Israel and Israel was married to God ...

But they committed adultery in their hearts and looked away from their partner

They were harlots and whores seeking to find love in the wrong places...

They sought after all kinds of partners, all kinds of gods, all kinds of gods of the heart.

Their hearts were not for God , their hearts were rejecting God, their hearts were far from God, their hearts were committing adultery and seeking relationships elsewhere

Psalms 29:5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh

the cedars of Lebanon.

And so God was looking at divorce, God could not see any relationship, the people were not talking to Him but talking to others, Gods heart was broken, Gods sought them but they did not seek Him,

Whats the use of being married ..if your partner does'nt talk to you and does'nt want to know you and does'nt seem to care and goes after others ?

when your partner commits adultery again and again and again and again

When your partner in life ...the person you are married to , seeks other partners and you have to share your bed ?

when you have to share your partner with others ?

But this is exactly what the nation of Israel was doing and this is exactly what Gomer was doing, Hosea and his relationship with Gomer was the reflection and mirror of God and the house of Israel

The nation of Israel was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked before God

God could see beyond the exterior walls of peoples temples, beyond the outward

appearances and He could see into the lifes of every single person and every single heart and He saw them as wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked

I don;'t imagine Gomer stopped sleeping around anymore than the nation of Israel stopped committing adultery and anymore than some even now in this day and age seek after false gods of the heart

And I wonder if after a while God says " I want divorce ?"

Hosea 1:4 and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Hosea 1:5 I will break the bow of Israel

Hosea 1:6 for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel

Hosea 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah

This sounds like a kind of cutting in half doesn't it ?

You see God will never leave us nor forsake us, but we can leave God

Judges 9:15 And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king

over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come

out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

You may say " well this is spiritual adultery "

" This does'nt apply to me "

Well is there any difference ?

can you think of one of the ten commandments you have

not broken ?

You see we as Christians are married to God, we are married to Jesus Christ.

we as a

Church are the " Bride of Christ " and He is the husband and God is looking for a wife who is faithful and He is preparing a place for us in His house so that when the Son...the groom comes by night to call out to His bride, the bride will be ready and prepared

Has there ever been a time when our hearts have wandered ?