UNFAITFULNESS
LOSES BLESSINGS
Hosea 1:1-11
In general, we don't think of ourselves as being the bride
of Christ. Jesus is
the bridegroom and His Church is the bride. All believers
have been brought
with a price; the blood of Jesus. We are His forever. Anytime
we sin, go
against His commands or ignore His commands we are being
unfaithful.
Unfaithfulness has consequences.
THE WORD IS THE AUTHORITY
V:1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri
during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah ,
and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel :
A. The Lord uses faithful people as messengers to bring a
word to His people.
1. God identified
His prophet by his father.
2. He fixed the
time of His message by the reining kings of that time.
3. Our history
books can confirm the time and the names of the kings.
B. The only word worth repeating is a word from the Lord.
1. In studying
God's Word, we will find the truths for successful living.
2. In studying God's
Word, we will find reproofs for our sins.
3. In studying
God's Word, we find examples of how God deals with sin.
4. In studying
God's Word, we will find the tools for successful living.
V:2. " When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the
Lord said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of
unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing
from the Lord."
A. Following God's Word is not always easy.
1. Sometimes
following God's Word will appear to go against our traditions and His
teaching.
2. It takes faith
in the Word of God to do what He says do.
B. God directed
Hosea to marry an adulterous woman or a woman brought up in a
society where
adultery was common practice.
1. This went
against the doctrine of marrying a virtuous woman.
2. Be not
unequally yoked with unbelievers. 2 Cor 2:14
3. God's command
to Hosea, had nothing to do with him but everything to do with
the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel .
4. God's ways are
not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
C. Hosea's
marriage was an example to Israel
1. Israel
had rejected God in favor of idol worship.
2. God made a covenant with Abraham which
was based on Israel
faithfulness to
Him.
3. Israel
failed, not God.
END TO THE KINGDOM
V:3-4. " So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and
she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel,
because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I
will put an end to the kingdom of Israel
A. Without hesitation Hosea allowed his life to be used
as an example for Israel.
1. Obedience to
God's commands is best even when we don't understand them.
2. The name Gomer means, corruption or rotten
figs.
3. God commanded
Hosea to marry a women who He knew would be unfaithful
to him.
4. Jesus the
bridegroom is married to the Church in our unfaithful state.
5. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died on the cross.
B. Gomer gave Hosea a son.
1. God commanded
Hosea to name the son Jezreel.
2. The name Jezreel was used as a prophecy
that the unfaithful of Israel
would no
longer be
called Israelites but Jezreelites,
3. Jezreel means
scattered.
4. Instead of being
God's people settled in the promise land, they would be scattered
outside the
promise land.
5. Obedience to
God's commands provides comfort, protection, security and provisions.
6. Disobedience
leads to a separation from God and a lost of blessings.
V:5 In that day I will break Israel 's
bow in the Valley of Jezreel
A. This is a
prophecy of God's wrath on the nation of Israel
1. Because of Israel 's
disobedience, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy
2. There is
always a consequence for disobedience.
B. God knows beforehand that we will be disobedient.
1. He punishes us
in our disobedience to draw us back to Him and to
strengthen
our faith.
2. By ourselves,
we are unable to keep His commands.
3. His wrath is
designed to break us down so that He can reshape us in the image
of His
Son.
NO LONGER SHOW LOVE
V:6 ."Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a
daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no
longer show love to the house of Israel ,
that I should at all forgive them. "
A. The worst thing that can happen to you is for God to
withdraw His love.
1. When God takes His hand of protection from you,
Satan is allowed to destroy you.
2. It is by the
love of God that we continue to exist.
3. It is by God's
hand of protection that our enemies cannot do to us what they planned.
B. God will tolerate our disobedience for a while.
1. God is
longsuffering.
a. He
tolerated Israel 's
disobedience for 700 years.
2. God gives us
time to repent and get right with Him.
3. There comes a
time when God allows us to suffer the
consequences of our sins.
GOD'S LOVE IN THE MIST OF DISOBEDIENCE
V:7. " Yet I will show love to the house of Judah ;
and I will save them — not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen,
but by the Lord their God."
A. In 701 BC, God delivered the southern kingdom from the
hands of the Assyrians.
1. God killed
185000 Assyrian soldiers
2. The Lord sent
an angel into the camp of the Assyrian army to kill them.
2 Kings 19:32-36
3. Tough times
sends us to our knees in prayer.
a. Hezekiah
prayed to the Lord when the city was threaten by the Assyrian
Army.
4. Prayer works.
You and God is the majority.
5. One angel of
God is more powerful than 185000 armed men.
B. The battle is
not yours, it is the Lord.
1. It is out of
the tribe of Judah
that Joseph and Mary were descendants.
2. Jesus took on
human flesh in the body of Mary a virgin,
3. God's promises
are not changed by the sins of any group of people.
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
V:8-9. " After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had
another son.
9 Then the Lord said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are
not my people, and I am not your God."
A. The third child of Hosea was called Lo-Ammi.
1. Those who
reject the Lord are not His people.
2. Jesus said, If
you love me, keep my commandments. John
14:15
3. Jesus also said
My mother, brothers and sister are those who obey my commands.
Mark 3:33
B. The nation of Israel
the Promise
Land
1. God promised a
redeemer in the Garden of Eden after the sin of Adam.
2. The promise of
a redeemer was fulfilled with birth of Jesus.
3. God has a
history of keeping His promises and being tolerant with us.
C. It is by the Grace of God that we were drawn to
Christ.
1. It is by the
Grace of God that we were given a measure of faith to accept Jesus
as our
personal Savior.
2. The world
cannot receive Christ and are left in a state of damnation.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE LIVING GOD
V:10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the
seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said
to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living
God."
A. When Jesus established His Church with His death and
resurrection, both Jews
and Gentiles
became the new Israel
1. The members of
the body of Christ can not be numbered.
2. Everyday the
Church adds new members as God's elect are drawn to Him.
B. In Jesus Christ we are new creations in Christ Jesus.
1. We have been
adopted in to the body by our faith in Jesus.
2. We are sons and
daughters of the living God.
JESUS THE HEAD OF
THE CHURCH
V:11. " The people of Judah
and the people of Israel
will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the
land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
A. This prophecy will have it's ultimate fulfillment in
the Millennium Kingdom.
1.
Christ is the Head of the Church.
2. The Nation of Israel
has rejected Christ as their head.
3. They believe in
God but not the Holy Trinity.
4. They follow the
Old Testament Laws but not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
B. After Christ returns for His Church, He will establish
the Millennium Kingdom
in which He will
be ruler on earth for a thousand years and all Israel
will be saved.
1 Thes
4:16-18, Rev 20:4, Rom 11:26
1. God will take the
remnant that come out of the tribulation and grow up a new
nation of
Israelites who will worship His Son. Mic
2:12, Jer 23:3
2. At the Name of
Jesus every knee shall bow. Phil 2:10.
FOLLOW CHRIST AND NOT THE WORLD
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
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