← ArchiveSunday, February 5, 2017DateFebruary 5, 2017Speaker—Text—Passages in this sermonHosea 3:14:13John 1320:25Matthew 2027:55Colossians 228:35TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music*0:30*music* *music*1:00*music* *music* *music* *music*1:28*music* *music* *music* *music* *music* *music*1:56Thank you.2:20Thank you. The question we answer today and God's word answers for us is this.2:50What happens when you sin? What happens when you turn your back on God? Will he still love you? Will God still care for you when you don't care for him? That's the answer that his word gives us.3:17It's his redeeming love. And if you wonder what the videos have in common with what we're preaching, we've been working through the text of Hosea, one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. This is our fourth week in Hosea. Hosea called to marry a woman, Gomer, who was unfaithful. He knew that going in, called to marry a woman who would have children of unfaithfulness. And God today reminds us, this is the picture of my redeeming love.3:44This is not just Hosea's story. This is the story of the gospel, the story of the good news of Jesus Christ. Gomer's story is your story. So, Lord, what happens when we turn our backs on you? Here is his answer. Verse 1 of chapter 3 of Hosea. I invite you to join me there. Hosea chapter 3, verse 1.4:13I want to remind you, at the end of our time together, we will have a moment of response. And the reason we do that as a church, the reason I believe in that as a pastor, because I believe every time we encounter God's word, we are moved. Something in us changes. We either take a step toward our faith to Jesus Christ, or we take a step back towards ourself. So, what step will you take this morning? Begin praying now, Lord, how are you going to move me?4:41How am I going to respond to your grace? Verse 1, chapter 3. The Lord said to me, this is to Hosea, Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover, and is committing adultery. Just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who took other gods and loved the raisin cakes of the pagans. So, I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one half homers of barley.5:07And I said to her, you shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man. So, too, will I be towards you. The best translation would be, you will be mine again. Verse 4, For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, prince, without sacrifice, or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.5:30Afterward, the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. Let's pray. Father God, we are reading our story this morning. Lord, a story of unfaithfulness. So, Father, we ask you today that you would move in our minds and our hearts that we could understand your word.5:59Lord, that you would answer the question that many of us have. Father, what happens when we turn our backs on you? Will you still love us through that? Father, give us a resounding response this morning. Show us of your redeeming love. Show us what that looks like and show us that you have purchased us through the blood of your Son. Lord, and prepare our hearts right now to receive your word and to be moved and transformed by it.6:28I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. We're going to look at two things this morning. We're going to look at the mark of redeeming love and we're going to look at the qualities of redeeming love in itself. So, what does the mark of love look like? The sermon is entitled, Redeeming Love, the Holiness and the Heart of God. We see the prophet answering our question.6:57We say, well, God, what is your response to our unfaithfulness? You call that sin. We can call it falling short of the glory of God. You can call that error. Whatever you like to term that, the Bible calls it unfaithfulness. So, what is God's response to our unfaithfulness? Hosea here in chapter 3 gives us one word. Look at verse 1. Four times God says to us, When you are unfaithful, go again, love a woman who is loved by another.7:23Just like that, the love of the Lord for children of Israel. God is reminding us that He responds to your unfaithfulness and mine in love. You say, well, I don't understand that. I don't understand how that works. From a human perspective, that does not make sense. God should not respond to our unfaithfulness for love. Actually, we see in this tragic story of Hosea, a magnifying glass into God's heart.7:50So, what does God's love look like? You say, well, we know God is love. But what exactly does that look like? And as we dive deeper into the character and nature of our Savior, we see several things here in Hosea that give us hope. First, we see that God's love is available to all. God's love is available to all. Go again, verse 1. Love a woman who is loved by a lover.8:20This is a dominant theme. That God's love is available to all people. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue will one day confess. Everyone past, everyone present, everyone future. I know what you're going to say. Well, how about this person? How about this person that killed hundreds of people? How about this dictator that killed thousands of people because they were evil? God still loved them, but they rejected. The sacrifice.8:50The sacrifice. The sacrifice. But his love is available to all. We must never think that anyone is outside of God's love because it is available to us. It is available to all. You and I are not worthy of his grace, but we are not unworthy either. So what has Gomer done for Hosea to love her again? Silence is a good answer because she's not found at home.9:17She's found back in the streets. We don't know where Gomer is, but we know that Hosea has to find her and then purchase her back. We're going to look at that shortly, that idea of purchasing, that idea of Jesus buying us back through his blood. But never think that anyone here or anyone out there is outside of God's love, but we also remember that you and I are not beyond the love of Christ. Remember, there is not enough sin in your life to make you outside of God's love.9:47Because I believe that the men and women who stood before you earlier in the service that were baptized would tell you that we have sinned and we have fallen short and I am not outside of God's love. You are not outside of his grace. That's the beauty of the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. Never think you are beyond that love. Spurgeon said it this way, that the grace of God can go into the gutter and bring up a jewel.10:16The grace of God can go into a gutter and bring out a jewel. Some of you need to hear that because you're in the gutter. You say, well, God can't love me. And Hosea's response to us is, God loves everyone. Some of you believe that you're already the jewel. You don't believe you're in the gutter, you believe you're in the jewel. And you might not be unworthy of God's love, too unworthy, but you're not too worthy of God's love either.10:45That's why it's available to everyone. And this is what is so tragic about Gomer. You see, we are all unfaithful and we are loved by another. Look at verse 1 and he says, go love again your wife who is loved by another. What does that mean? It means that she loves someone else also. And that's what sin in our life does. Sin in our life is saying to God, God, they love me more or I love it more.11:15I'm going to go that way. And God says, but Josh, don't you realize you are not, there's no gutter that I can't pull you from because you're not outside of my grace. And on the opposite end it is, but you're not worthy enough either. Church people, we need to hear that. Because we automatically default back into this idea of credit that now that we go to church often, and I'm glad that you're here.11:40God has brought you here for a purpose. But we think, well, now I'm good because I do things. And God says, Gomer, don't you realize you're not good, but I love you anyway. His love is available to all people. Never think you do not need his love or his mercy. And never think that you can't be loved by his grace and his mercy. The second thing that we see about redeeming love this morning is not only is it available to all, but that his redeeming love is embraced.12:11It is not earned. It is embraced. It is not earned. See, Gomer knew this truth. I believe that's why she ran away. Where she struggled with, I've been unfaithful, yet Hosea loves me anyway. This prophet, this man of God, loves me anyway. And there's struggle there because we live with a paradigm that says, when I am unlovable, then you should hate me.12:36And God's paradigm is, when you are unlovable, I let my son die for you. And so we struggle with God, I want to earn your grace because I feel like if I can earn it, then I deserve it. And God says, but you don't deserve it, therefore you can't earn it, therefore you must embrace it. That's the story of grace in the gospel. The gospel is you can't earn it.13:06And this is the beauty of the scripture, that God takes what is foolish by our standards and makes it wise in the heavenly realm. You see, Hosea did not ask Gomer to prove herself before he loved her again. And God does not ask you to prove yourself before he will love you again. He didn't say, Josh, why don't you prove it? You prove your faith and then I'll let my son die for you.13:35The opposite is true. While I was still a sinner, Christ Jesus died for me. The Ephesians reminds me of, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love, which he has loved us, even when we are dead in trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. That when I was dead in my sin, Christ died for me. I know this about death. When I die, I can't earn anything at that point.14:03And God says, but when we were dead, then I loved you, then I sent Christ for you. And I know what we think. Sometimes we've heard this before and we say, okay, here we go again. I get the grace. But for those of us who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, this should never get old. Every time I sing, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from my Savior's veins.14:28It does something within me. Every time I hear, look, Pastor, remember, you can't earn God's grace. I let out a sigh of relief and said, you know what? Why am I trying then? Because his grace, his love is not earned. So are you willing today to embrace his redeeming love for you? Because it is available to all. And he invites us all to follow him.14:57Not only is it not earned, but we see that God's love is constant in all circumstances. God's love is constant in all circumstances. I don't know where you are today in your life. I'm guessing you're not where Gomer is. How do I know that? Because you're not on the streets right now. You're here. And so this is what Hosea does. He goes and pursues her. Love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery.15:24Just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel. Say, I don't know what your situation is, but God reminds us, I don't care where you are. I still love you. And we understand that, but sometimes we struggle with that concept. It would be like myself going to the beach. Now, full disclosure, I'm not a huge beach person. I'm just not.15:54Give me a football, I can play on the beach all day, but I just can't look at the ocean all day. That's just not my, I can't read on the beach because it's too bright. I just, you know, the sand and I don't get along very well. So that's full disclosure. But if I went to the beach this weekend and I jumped in the ocean because the tides were rising up and I came home excited, and I tell you guys, look, I want you to know something. The ocean was low and then I jumped in it.16:22And when I jumped in it, the ocean came up. If I came back and I was excited about that fact, what would you tell me? You'd probably tell me and say, Pastor, sit down. Let me tell you about the tide. Right? The waxing and the waning of the moon, it makes the water go up and down. Because, Josh, you're too small to make the oceans go up and down.16:48So my circumstance does not change the ocean. God's love is the same way. God's love is exactly the same way for you. Because sometimes we think, well, based on my circumstance, then God's love will go up or down for me. His grace was measured by my circumstance. And God's word says, look, I'm too small to change his redeeming love for me.17:11So I want you to know that your circumstance does not change his love. You say, well, you don't understand. Go back and read Hosea. Go back and read the immenseness of God's love and his grace for you. This does not mean that God does not give us tough love. But it means that he does give us redeeming love. We also see not only is God's love not directed by our circumstance, but that God's love goes above and beyond our feelings.17:38So let's kind of address that. Because we live in a world that we love based on how we feel. So we can go in and out of love based on what we feel for the day. There are days that I love chocolate. There are days that I don't. There are days that I love broccoli. There are days that I don't. There are days that I love to eat oatmeal. There are days that I don't. If we're not careful, then that carries over to our relationships. Because we've heard it said or said to us, you know what, I just don't know if I love that person anymore.18:10Let me just say this about my relationship first. When I committed my life to my wife, the I don't know went out the window. So if I wake up and say, you know what, I don't feel like it today, that's the day that God says, you know what, you don't have an option. Because you've committed. Because in love there is commitment. It's not based on how I feel. And there are days where I am not as lovable as I should be. And that's when God is gracious to my wife and say, you know what, thankfully it's not based on how you feel today.18:39It's based on your commitments. That's love. So it's not based on our emotions. Redeeming love is not based on us. Because if it was based on our emotions, there will be days instead of loving Christ, we would be chasing raisin cakes. That's what Gomer does here in verse 1. Israel says that those who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of pagans. Now you say, well, no one would choose raisins over God.19:09Yes, we do. And these raisin cakes were cakes that were offered to other gods, to the gods of the fertility, the gods of Baal, the gods of Baal. There were days where Israel woke up and said, you know what, my crops aren't growing like I want them to. And I think that Baal would make them grow better than the one true God. So you know what? What would it hurt if I made a raisin cake today? Thank God that his redeeming love is not based on how I feel.19:39Because some of us walked in today and you didn't really feel like worshiping. And those are the days that God said, don't worry, let me take over. That's his love for us. So how do we live then considering his redeeming love? So if God's love is available to all of us at any time, if God's love is embraced and not earned, if it has no bearing on my emotions, that it is greater than my emotions and it's greater than my circumstances,20:03then how do we live in light of that love? I think several things here for us. First, we must ask, does my life model the love of Christ to the world? Does my life model? John 13, Jesus says, I give you a new command. Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.20:30So if you have put your faith in Christ, we don't have an option. He didn't say, you know, love if you feel like it. He said, you must love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Another way of saying that is if you're not loving, if you're not modeling the love of Christ, you might not love him. And yet, his redeeming love is not beyond your grasp this morning.21:00If you don't love God. And you might say, well, you don't understand what church I'm a part of. I don't. But that is not going to earn you his grace. You say, well, pastor, you don't know how many sermons I've heard of yours. Believe me, that's not going to earn you God's grace. Because there's nothing that we can do to earn his grace. And are we modeling his love?21:29I asked myself as I was reading God's word, am I loving the one who loves me? Am I worshiping not because of guilt or obligation, but am I worshiping in a way that says, God, I want to show you how much I love you back. I know I can't show you that much, but I want to try. Because we no longer worship out of guilt or obligation. We worship because we get to. I don't hug my wife because I have to. That's a privilege of being her husband.21:59I feel the same way in worship. The guy we don't worship because you force me, Lord. That is a privilege of being your son. And it's the same way about community. I am not plugged into the community of Christ because God made me. I'm plugged in because I want to be a part of the body of Christ. Because when he saved me, he now saved me to be a part of the body of Christ. He gifted me to use in the body of Christ. And I love this church.22:29I love what the Lord is doing here. And there's so much more he's going to do. But that's why I'm a part here. Not because of obligation. Because, Lord, I want to love you back. And this is the way I show it. And that's the reason that we serve. We don't serve because someone called us and guilted. We serve because we say, Lord, I work not unto man, but I work unto you. Are you modeling that love in your life? And then we have to ask ourselves, are we marked by love? Lord, is my life more marked by love or law?22:58God, is my life now marked more by faith in you or fear? God, is my life marked by redemption or religion? Because we live in the religious belt buckle. And so many of us were born with a life marked by religion. And how can I say that? Because that was me. I was born religious. I didn't have a choice. But thank God I now can live in redemption.23:26And he has set me free from that chain of trying to earn his grace. Are you marked by love? Redeeming love. Are you marked? That's the answer that only Holy Spirit can bring in your life. Are you marked by his love? But we're reminded that the greatest mark of love was a wooden cross over 2,000 years ago. That Jesus stood before the people and he was mocked and he was ridiculed and he said nothing.23:51Except, my God, my God, why do you forsake me? And God's response was, because I love the world so much that I would send my son to die for them. That whoever believes might not perish but have everlasting life. So these are the marks of love. So then how now can we be marked by redemption? Because that's the picture we see in Hosea.24:19Go again, love someone else. And now we see in verse 2, so Hosea goes and he finds his wife. And so the idea of redemption defined is this purchasing back something. As if you would go to the store and you had a coupon for 100% off of something. So you give the cashier a coupon and by giving them that coupon, they give you your trade in return. That's the idea that Jesus Christ died, that he traded your guilt for his righteousness.24:49That he traded my sins for his forgiveness. So let's look at the idea of redemption in our lives. Verse 2, so I, Hosea, bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and one and a half homers of barley. We are not told why Hosea had to buy Gomer back. Most likely she had either sold herself back into debtor's prison because she was destitute.25:18That she left and things got difficult. So that she sold herself into slavery, meaning that she would live at someone's house and work for them. That she would clean, that she would do things and they promised to take care of her. Or she was back at the temple of Baal as a cultic prostitute. But either way, we see Hosea going to the bail bondsman and getting that bond and going to the debtor's prison and buying her back.25:39And that is exactly what Christ does for us. More than likely we see from Hosea. He says, I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and for one and a half homers of barley. More likely because he had to bring barley and money that he was not wealthy. It was difficult for Hosea to purchase her.26:08And why is that important for us? Because I believe it was difficult for God to purchase our salvation. You say, well, God is God. It was not difficult. Think about how Scripture teaches our redemption. That he sent his... Scripture doesn't say that he sent one of the sons. He didn't say... God didn't send one of the boys for our price.26:36What did he send? He sent his only begotten, the only child of his, to purchase your redemption. You see, I don't believe that was easy. It wasn't easy for God to look at his son and turn his back on his son. To pour out the wrath that was deemed for me on Jesus Christ. But he did it. He did it so that you and I would have the offer of salvation. That's the picture of redemption here.27:07And this is the gospel reality that just like Gomer, we have a price. I don't know your price. I do know this. I know the more I sin, the higher my redemption is. And I know this about my debt, just like the national debt. Every day it gets bigger. There is nothing that you can do to make your sin debt go down. And here's the beauty of the gospel.27:36That the greater my debt goes, the greater his redemption is poured out upon me. That's the picture that we see in Christ, that he gives us this beautiful picture. And Jesus Christ purchases us and calls us, follow me. That's why Matthew 20 says, just as a son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So here is your price, let me put a value, let me put a number on you, let me put a value, let me put a number on you.28:05Your value is Jesus. Your value is the son of God. And I think once we know that, it changes us. Sometimes we struggle, well, I don't know who I am. You are purchased, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you're purchased by his blood. And he does not just cancel our debts. Colossians 2, 14 says that he erased the certificate of debt that was against us and opposed to us and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.28:35You see, the debt that we owe was not necessarily canceled, it was paid in full. That's the beauty of what Christ has done. That's the beauty of what Hosea does for Gomer. The price is not cheap. Martin Luther said that we carry in our pockets his very nails.29:02That you and I carry in, just put your hands in your pockets real quick. You carry in your pockets the nails of Christ. That is the price that he paid for you. And glory to God that he paid that. This is redemption. And Jesus has purchased us now to live free.29:31This is my heart for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First of all, have you ever walked into the store, especially if you have kids or had kids in the past? Certain stores you go into, there's aisles that you're okay for your children to roam around. For us, it's the toy aisle. We don't care that the kids are running through there. Most of those are kid-friendly. But there are certain aisles that, especially if this is an antique store that we don't go in. But if we were, there are certain stores that have these, sometimes they're handwritten.30:01The note says, do not touch. We don't go in those stores. You know why? Because our kids are going to touch it. And not only are they going to touch it, they're going to break it. And we most often don't want to purchase those things. I believe as Christ followers, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, we need to live our life as people who have that slogan on us. Do not touch. That's what we should tell the world. Satan, do not touch because I am worthy and I am worth it.30:31And sometimes I believe that we walk around and we feel like someone found us on the clearance rack. That we've been beat up and we just feel like we can't do anything. That's not what Christ paid you to live. He paid and said, you are worth my son. So do not touch, world. And if you do, I have a Savior that you can deal with. And not only should we say, Lord, that's my price.31:01We should say, then now I can live free. If Christ has paid my debt, then we live free. And I love the picture we see in Hosea. Not only does Christ buy us freedom, but that he calls us home. And not only does he call us home, that he restores to you that covenant. Which is why I love how that video ended. Not only does Hosea call Gomer back home. He didn't say, you know what, I'm just going to deal with you for the rest of your life.31:31He says, I'm going to restore the relationship we had. Here's the ring back. And we don't know how Gomer responds. And I don't know how you're going to respond. But I do know that Christ asked us to. So have you been touched and marked by his love? This is the beauty of the gospel.31:59That God looks at us and says, you have a price, but it's not too big for my son to pay. And he stamps on our life if we put our trust in him. So how can we now respond to his mercy? We're going to sing a song of response. And that song is entitled, Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It.32:25Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. In my heart is this. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you should sing louder than you have ever sung before. That you can say, God, I am worth it because your son paid for me. That God, I am now living free. And that God, I can't sing, but I'm going to sing loud. And I'm going to show you that I am thankful because I am marked by love and I am marked by redemption. But maybe the Holy Spirit is moving in you because you feel like you've been in the gutter.32:56And you need to hear today that God can go into the gutter and pull up a jewel. Because he went to the cross for you. If that's you, we're going to open up our floor and you can just come and pray at the altar. Say, Lord, revive me, renew me. God, I'm thankful for your salvation. And we will have people, counselors here to my right and to my left. You can just go to the sides if you want to talk to someone and say,33:25I need to put my faith in Jesus Christ, but I don't know how to do it. Here is Jesus. Here's his invitation. It's so simple it almost blows our mind spiritually. His invitation often is, follow me. You say, well, what do I need to do? Follow me. And we say, well, God, I'm not ready. And his invitation is, follow me. And you say, well, you don't understand the debt I have. And God says, follow me. And how beautiful are those words.33:54For those who have not yet put their faith in him, follow me. So I ask you this morning, if you have not put your trust in Jesus Christ, that you today would follow him and make that public. And that we as a church, we will celebrate that with you. That when heaven rejoices, we desire to rejoice. He has purchased you by the blood of his son. And in so doing, he now marks us by his redeeming love. That we would not live by own credit, but that we live in freedom.34:23Thank God we live by the blood of the lamb. Let's pray.
