HOSEA
Twelve Voices #2, The Book of Hosea
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
“All mankind love a lover.”
Love -Ralph Waldo Emerson
YOU CAN BREAK GOD’S HEART BUT YOU CAN’T BREAK HIS LOVE
God gave the ultimate in order to save us
(John 10:10–11, NLT) “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.”
1. God calls Hosea to marry a woman who would be unfaithful
(Hosea 1:2, GN) “When the Lord first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, “Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way, my people have left me and become unfaithful.”
(Philippians 3:10, NASB) “The fellowship of His sufferings…”
(Hosea 1:4, NASB) “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.”
(Hosea 1:9, NASB) “You are not My people and I am not your God.”
(Hosea 1:10–11, NASB) “Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.”
GOD PUTS FULLNESS INTO LIFE
2. HOSEA 3, THE ESSENCE OF REDEMPTION
(Hosea 3, NLT) “Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.” So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine. Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.” This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.”
a. God’s blessings are interrupted by unfaithfulness
b. God’s love is not quenched by temporary rejection
(2 Peter 3:9, NLT) “The Lord … does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”
(Colossians 3:19, NLT) “Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.”
(Romans 11:25, NLT) “Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.”
3. A FAITHLESS NATION
(Hosea 4:1, NLT) “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.”
(Hosea 4:6, NLT) “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.”
(Hosea 5:13, NLT) “When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria— to the great king there— but he could neither help nor cure them.”
(Hosea 8:7, NLT) “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.”
4. GOD IS FAITHFUL
(Hosea 11:1, 3, NLT) “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. … I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him.”
GROWTHWORK
(Hosea 14:1, NLT) “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down.”
1. ADMIT YOUR SINS
2. CONFESS YOUR SINS PRAYERFULLY TO THE LORD
(Hosea 14:2–3, NLT) “Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises. Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.”
(Proverbs 28:13, NLT) “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”
3. THIS IS HOW GRACE UNFOLDS
(Hosea 14:4–6, NLT) “The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.”
4. LIVE LIKE JESUS WITH OPEN ARMS
(Luke 15:20, GN) “He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms round his son, and kissed him.”