Redemption: Hosea
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA
A. Hosea, the Prophet.
1. Hosea's name means God is salvation, help, or deliverance. It is equivalent to Joshua and Hoshea. The
Greek form of the name is Jesus.
2. He was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which was also known as "Ephraim."
a. Hosea 4:17: “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.”
b. Hosea 6:4: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”
3. This latter name derived from the tribe of Ephraim, the most prominent of the ten tribes which comprised
the Northern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom was known as Judah, owing to the fact that it was more
prominent than Benjamin, the other tribe in the Southern Kingdom.
4. Hosea did his work about 745 B.C. In Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah reigned; in Israel,
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, was king.
a. Hosea began preaching in a time of great prosperity, but at the death of Jeroboam, the nation's power
began to weaken. They lost their independence, and paid tribute to Assyria and Egypt.
5. Hosea's family.
a. He was commanded to marry a harlot. It is likely that Gomer was not a harlot at the time of his
marriage to her, that she was "brought up under the influence of idolatry and in whose character would
have been planted the seeds of immorality. She was not unchaste at the time of the marriage but was
a maiden of such background that in later conduct the fruit of idolatry was fully borne" (Hailey, p.128).
b. The children born to this union were given significant names by the Lord, names which depicted the
condition of the people of Israel before God.
B. The Condition of the Northern Kingdom at the time of Hosea.
1. "Two systems of religious worship prevailed in Israel, and each was a reproach against God—namely, the calf worship and the Baal worship. Jeroboam I had introduced the calf worship...[I Kings 12]....Thus,
he changed the object of worship, the place of worship, the time of worship, and the access of
worship....
2. Israel had plunged into various kinds of sin.
a. They offered illegal sacrifices from the high places.
b. They practiced open idolatry.
c. Women prostituted themselves at the local shrines.
d. The nation entered entangling alliances with other nations.
e. The nation put its trust in material armaments instead of in the Lord.
a. Lack of knowledge. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law
of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore
will I change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their
iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward
them their doings. For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall
not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord. Whoredom and wine and new wine
take away the heart" (Hos. 4:6-11).
b. Pride. "And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their
iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them" (Hos. 5:5).
c. Instability. "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away" (Hos. 6:4).
d. Worldliness.
1) Hosea 7:8: "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadows of Things to Come
Scott Ingram
TEXT: Hosea 14:1-4
O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.” “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.
THESIS: To convince everyone today that the idea of forgiveness, mercy, and the condition of confessing your sins is not new to the New Testament but has been part of God's policy all along.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Israel was told to return to God and that they had fallen in their iniquity, which can happen to us in the church today.
2. The people were to take their words and offer them up to God, showing that words have been an acceptable form of sacrifice throughout all time, that God wants our praise, communication, and honesty.
3. When we read passages in the New Testament we see that God always asks those who sin to be honest, and to own up to what they have done when they ask mercy.
DISCUSSION:
I. Israel's Call - Israel is told to return, they receive a call to come back to God, an invitation to be forgiven and to be treated as God's “bride” once again.
A. Israel had been told that they needed to return to the Lord, that they had fallen by the sins that they had committed, but that there was a way back and that God wanted them back.
B. They were given a call to come back to the Lord, to accept mercy and were made aware that it was there waiting for them.
C. Everyone alive today has the chance to accept Gods mercy through the gospel.
1. Matthew 11:28 we are all called to come to the Lord today.
II. Israel's instructions - God gives them instructions on how to seek Him and desires their return despite what they had done previously.
A. Israel was told to take with them words and to turn to the Lord and offer them, to render the “calves” of their lips.
-Leviticus 16:11
This echo leads forward to the words we read in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all righteousness.
3. We offer up spiritual sacrifices today, not sacrifices for our sins to be forgiven but sacrifices of our lips, Heb. 13:15
B. This was a form of spiritual sacrifice, a reflection of things to come, a shadow of our means to approach God for forgiveness in the New Covenant.
There are many shadows of things to come found in the scriptures
God want's peoples hearts, their minds, not the motions
III. Israel's mercy - Honesty is important and required by God for all of those that seek to have His mercy and Grace.
A. Honesty is important in obtaining mercy of God, honesty with oneself and towards God concerning one's sins.
B. We can not simply ask God to forgive us of whatever we “might” have done and expect that to cover it when we know specifically what we have done wrong but we have to be humble enough to say it and learn from it.
CONCLUSION:
1. Israel was told to return to God, he gave them a call to come home which still goes out to all of us today that live in the New Testament system and are part of the church that was bought with Christ's blood.
2. There are many foreshadows and images of the New Testament found in the Old and this is yet another, which shows God's love and desire for redemption in the time so many think of a harsh and less forgiving when it comes to God's wrath.
3. We have to be honest just like the Israelites were required to be and that is easily shown to be true in the New Testament text as well as the Old Testament scriptures.