Bible Passage: Hosea 3:1-5
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: September 11, 2022

Bulletin September 11, 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Has it ever occurred to you that God’s love is such a special and unique thing that it has to have its own word?  The word I am referring to is “grace.”  “Grace” doesn’t just mean a feeling of affection for someone, but grace is affection for someone who is completely unworthy or undeserving of such affection.  It is this grace of God that is the moving force behind all of his saving activity:  It is by grace you have been saved…(Ephesians 2:8).

We as Christians talk a lot about grace.  We sing about it.  “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”  But every once in a while, grace is taught or presented in the Bible in a way that it takes our breath away.  We hear of grace in such a way that we are stunned and speechless.

May I say to you, our text for today is just that.  It presents God’s love, God’s grace, through the prophet Hosea.  And it is not just the message of the prophet that teaches grace,  God uses the prophet himself and his marriage to teach grace.  The story of Hosea, the lesson on grace in our text will lead us to say today:  He Loves…HER!

Let’s talk for a moment about Hosea and his wife.  Chapter 1 of Hosea gives us the story of how they came together.  The short version goes like this:  the Lord came to Hosea and told him to take for his wife a woman named Gomer.  Gomer was a woman with a past.  She had been quite promiscuous, possibly even a prostitute.  She brings into the marriage the children she bore out of her encounters.  But the Lord told Hosea to take her as his wife.  That’s right…take HER!

It would be nice if Gomer’s marriage to Hosea made her a changed woman.  But that does not seem to be the case.  As chapter 3 begins, she seems to be up to her old ways.  The LORD says in our text, Go again.  Show love to a woman who is loved by another man, a woman who keeps committing adultery. Show love… (v. 1)  Do you at this point feel for poor Hosea?  Can you imagine his hurt and betrayal, maybe even anger?  It’s got to be one of the worst thoughts for a husband to deal with – the thought of another man loving your wife.

Gomer was broken.  And in her brokenness, she broke everything around her.  She broke the 6th Commandment.  She broke a marriage promise to her husband.  She likely broke Hosea’s heart.  Now the Lord says to Hosea, “Go again.  Love HER!”

And Hosea does.  Notice what he does first of all.  I bought her for myself. (v. 2)  Somehow it seems Gomer got herself into a situation from which she could only be freed by redemption.  A price needed to be paid for her to set her free.  Hosea does it.  He redeems HER!  Imagine how tempting it might have been for Hosea to say, “You have treated me and our marriage like garbage!  You’re crazy if you think I’m going to rescue you from this circumstance.  You brought it on yourself!  Deal with it!”  But, with his own resources, he buys HER back.

And then he has a talk with his wife.  You will stay with me for many days.  You must not be promiscuous.  You must not be with any other man, and will also be for you. (v. 3)  Hosea’s words remind me of the Kenny Roger’s song.  “Ruby, don’t take your love to town.”  That is what Hosea says.  “Gomer, stay at home now and be a faithful wife, and I will be your faithful husband.”

Hosea’s love for Gomer is astounding love.  It is costly love.  It is committed love.  It is, in many ways, a scandalous love.  It is also the story of the Lord’s relationship with Israel.  Did you catch that in our text?  When the Lord told Hosea to go again to adulterous Gomer and love her he said, …just as the LORD loves the people of Israel, even though they keep turning to other gods and loving the raisin cakes. (v. 1)

Israel was Gomer!  Israel had run after other gods.  They had worshiped the Canaanite gods Baal and Asherah.  The raisin cakes mentioned were often part of this pagan worship.  Israel had treated the Lord the way Gomer had treated Hosea!  Not once.  Not twice.  But again and again. Heartbreaking!  And yet, there was the Lord, loving his bride.  Redeeming his bride.  Committing to his bride.  And calling on her to commit to him.

Let’s not stop there.  The story of scandalous, costly, committed love has reached you, too.  The Lord’s love for us sinners is, in many ways, scandalous.  There were many who thought Jesus’ conduct was scandalous.  “This man eats with prostitutes and sinners!”  It was scandalous!  It was love.  Jesus’ love is costly love.  Like Gomer, we need to be redeemed, we need someone to pay to set us free from the slavary our waywardness has caused.  And Jesus pays.  He sheds his own holy, precious blood to make you his own.  It makes me think of another song (not by Kenny Rogers).  The grand hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” says this about Jesus’ love for the Church:  “From heaven he came and sought her, to be his holy bride.  With his own blood he bought her, and for her life, he died.” (CW 538:1)  He bought HER!  He loved HER!

We all are adulterous, redeemed, loved Gomer!  And let’s remember, there are many more out there just like us.  Broken people who in their brokenness have broken marriages and the hearts of many who love them, and careers, and their health, and just about every good thing they have ever touched.  They are habitual offenders, recidivistic adulterers, paramours of lovers who will eventually destroy them.  They are Gomer.  And maybe, just maybe, Gomer lives on your street.  Jesus loves the Gomer on your street.  Jesus redeemed the Gomer on your street.  Jesus wants the Gomer on your street to be his bride.  Will you tell her this wonderful news?  Be the one to tell her that Jesus loves HER! 

Amen.