By Woodrow Kroll
Part 11: Life Lessons About Sin Learned From Hosea - Number 2 of 3
Now, in the Book of Hosea there are lessons for us to learn about our relationship with God. I want us to focus today on the lessons that you and I learn right out of this book about God and us and how we get along with God.
Chapter 7, verse 1, "Whenever I would restore the fortunes of My people, whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets; but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds."
Now, having a kind of relationship with God in which He remembers all of our evil deeds can somehow be a threat to us. I'm the first to admit that, but I want you to learn from God's Word that God is far more eager to restore us to our relationship with Him than He is to punish us.
Look back one chapter at chapter 6, verse 1, "'Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds.'" If there's anything I've learned in my own spiritual pilgrimage with God about the character of God it is God is holy; God is just; God must deal with my sin. But God is much more anxious to heal me than He is to wound me. God is much more anxious to forgive me than He is to punish me. God is much more apt to deal with me in grace and in mercy than He is in His own wrath.
Now, He has to take my sin into account and He has to deal with that sin because He's a holy God. But when I get to know God, this God, the God that I see in the Book of Hosea, I discover a God who's far more eager to restore me than He is to punish me. Micah, chapter 7, verse 18 says, "Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but You delight to show mercy." See, that's the kind of God that we serve; a God who must be angry at our sin, but a God who delights much more in showing mercy to us than being angry with us.
In fact, isn't that true when Jonah, remember the prophet Jonah? He's the guy who had a good dose of whale-belly theology. And he got his life straightened out. Jonah was going the wrong way, a great fish swallowed Jonah and Jonah finally got his life right with God, or so it seemed. And then he went to the Ninevites. In chapter 3, he preached an eight-word message to the Ninevites and the whole city came to Christ. I mean, can you imagine? How would you like to have a pastor who could preach eight words and sit down?
Some of you would like that to happen right now, I understand. Eight words, that's a pretty short message, but it was very effective because God was in that message. This whole town of the Ninevites came to God, Jehovah God of Israel, because of the great repentance that came to the city. Now, it'd be delightful if the story ended there. But if you remember chapter 4 of Jonah, Jonah is arguing with God. And he's complaining that God showed mercy on his hated enemy, these Assyrians.
In fact he says in verse 2 of chapter 4, "I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." I just knew You were that kind of God. And he's complaining because God showed mercy on the hated Assyrians.
But I want to tell you, friends, that's the kind of God you want to confess your sins to, a God who is more apt to show mercy than show wrath. That's the kind of God you want to get to know, that's the kind of God you want to be intimate with, a God who is more eager to restore you than He is to punish you. God will punish us for our sins, don't make any mistake about that. But God is far more eager to restore us to Himself than He is to dish out punishment on us.
Certainly Gomer in the story of Hosea can appreciate and understand the coming back to God's love. It means your coming back to a God who is far more interested in forgiving you than He is in punishing you. Now go back with me to Hosea, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, two of the best verses in this whole book. "'I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but she forgot Me,' declares the Lord.'" 'Therefore, I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.'"
I'm never short of amazement the more I learn about God. I mean, He's talking about Israel here in the person of Gomer. And He says to Hosea, "My people Israel have forsaken Me, they've forgotten all about Me, they've gone after the Baals. I'm going to lead My people Israel into the desert." And, you know, if I were a good prophet in those days, I'd say, "Yeah God, good this is great. Yeah, really zap them good when they're in the desert."
And then He says something like; "I'm going to allure her in the desert." This is love talk, friends, this is not hate talk. God is going to speak tenderly to her. And I, the righteous person that I am, say, "No, no don't do that God, give it to them, they really deserve it."
God says, "Shut up and listen to Me."
Well, maybe, He didn't say that; but He came close. He said, "Pay attention because this is the kind of God I am." I want to learn something about God from the Book of Hosea. And I find out that here is a God who is far more eager to restore me than He is to punish me. And I also find out that this is a God who shows His tender side, even in His judgment. I mean God is so loving, so tender, so caring that even when He's dishing out judgment to these people, you see something about the tender side of God. Come see the many sides of God.
The tender side just constantly shows through. Listen to the tenderness in the Father's words as He pleads, "Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). Feel the tenderness in Jesus' words when He says, "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is a God who is just and righteous and perfect and never makes a mistake.
And we're just the opposite of that. And yet His tenderness shines through. God is holy and He must judge sin. But give Him the opportunity, my friend, and He will show you His tender side because He's just that kind of God. I want to learn something about God from this book. And I know that He's more eager to restore me than He is to punish me. And I know that even in His judgment, He's going to show me His tender side.
But in the same chapter, chapter 2 of Hosea, look at 21 and 22 and 23, the last 3 verses of the chapter. Hosea, "In that day I will respond," declares the Lord---"I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will plant her for Myself in the land; I will show My love to the one I called 'Not My loved one.' I will say to those called "not My people,' 'You are My people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"
I want to tell you, friends, as a Gentile, I'm glad these verses are in the Bible. See, what I learn about God's love is that God's love is not ethnically restricted. Sure, He chose the Jewish people. He also told them why He chose them, not because they were brighter or smarter or more abundant. He chose them because of His grace. But then the day came, my friends; and Paul assured the Ephesian believers that even though they were Gentiles, even though they were not the chosen nation of God, God loved them too.
God's love is not ethnically restricted. God doesn't love just one race and not other races, God doesn't love one kind of people and not other kinds of people. God doesn't love one country and not other countries. God doesn't love one gender and not other genders.
Paul said to the people of Ephesus, "Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
See, the great equalizing force, the great leveling force in the universe, friends, is the blood of Jesus Christ and the love of God. God loves us in such a way, and what I learn about God from this passage is that He could love Hosea; He could also love Gomer and He can love you and He can love me.
Perhaps the greatest verse in all the Bible, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever in this world believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." You know, those who experience God's love are from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every kindred. In fact, Revelation, chapter 5, verse 9 says, "And they sang a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.'"
Now, it's been my great joy to speak and preach God's Word in more than 70 countries in this world. I enjoy meeting people from every tribe, every nation, every ethnic background. You know what I've learned? God loves the Muslim of Saudi Arabia as much as He loves me. God loves the fire-walker in Sri Lanka as much as He loves me. Linda and I have watched these people walk on hot coals without getting burned. And it's a religious thing, and God loves them in their religion. He doesn't love their religion. But He loves them as much as He loves me.
God loves the Hindu in India as much as He loves me. He loves the Jew in Tel Aviv, He loves the Buddhist in Nepal, He loves the atheist in Germany, He loves the New Ager in California, God loves people. And He's not ethnically restricted in His love.
And I learned that when Gomer was out in her sin, it would've been very easy for God to tell Hosea, "Get rid of her, I'll give you a new wife." But instead God said, "Hang in there Hosea, I want you to love her and love her and lover her and never let her get away from your love. Sure, she's not going to love you back. She's not going to be faithful to you back, but because she is not faithful to you doesn't mean that you shouldn't be faithful to her." Because if it does mean that then every time you and I are unfaithful to God, He has the right to be unfaithful to us.
And God's love is not ethnically restricted.
In fact, what I learn about God's love is that God's love is never exhausted. Look at chapter 14, verse 4, one of my favorite verses in this whole book, chapter 14, verse 4, "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them." "I will love them freely." Paul picks up on this theme in Romans, chapter 4 and chapter 5. He uses the word 'dorean' in Greek. "I will love them freely." That means no strings attached, prior conditions not having been met.
What do I have to do to receive God's love? I have to breathe because God loves me. And God's love is not restricted. And God's love is never exhausted. That great Frederick M. Lehman hymn, I am just taken aback every time I hear this hymn,
The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
and reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair bowed down with care,
God gave his Son to win.
His erring child he reconciled and
pardoned from his sin.
God is more apt to want to forgive us than He is to punish us.
Could we with ink the ocean fill
and were the skies of parchment made;
were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
though stretched from sky to sky.
Oh love of God, how rich and pure,
how measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure
the saints and angel's song.
You cannot exhaust God's love. You don't have a son or daughter that's gotten so far away from the Lord God that He can't love them. You don't have a church that's gone so haywire from in-fighting that God can't love the people in that church. And you, my friend, have not hidden sin so long that if you confess that sin, if you repent of that sin, you've not hidden sin so long that God will not be there to express His love.
The love of God is absolutely inexhaustible.
Paul came to grips with this, at least he tried to. In Romans, chapter 8, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (Romans 8:35). I mean it's almost like grasping at straws here. Now, give me an idea of what might separate me from the love of Christ. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth," just in case I've forgotten something, "nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
See, the great thing about God's love is not that God loved Gomer while Gomer was living out in sin. The great thing about God's love is, God loves me. I'm appreciative of the fact that He loved Gomer. I'm appreciative of the fact that He loved Israel while Israel was sinning against the Lord God.
But the most amazing thing to me about God's love is that He loves me and His love is inexhaustible to me, as it is inexhaustible to you.
God would much rather love you than punish you. That's why God is so interested in our coming to grips with our sin. Because when we come to grips with our sin, we know that sin brings judgment. And when we come to grips with that sin we can avoid that judgment by repenting of that sin because repentance brings salvation. And underneath it all is the love of God calling us to come home to Him.
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