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“How Does God Love Me?”
Hosea 11
Small Groups
Hosea: The Love of God in Three Stages
Breakdown of Hosea the book: 1-3- narrative; 4-10- judgment speeches; 11-14 love/redemption.
Breakdown of Hosea’s marriage: initial happiness and child, ongoing adultery, redemption- he buys her from slavery.
God’s love described in terms of the past: he chose them and loved them (1-3), present: they abandoned him and he warns them and even judges them (4-10), future- he sends the Redeemer (11-14).
Does God Love Me? God Loves Me Because:
He Chooses Me Though I Don’t Deserve it (vv. 1-2)
This is the biblical doctrine of election. We choose to follow Christ, but the foundation of that is that he chose us first. John 15:16- “You did not choose me, butI chose you and appointed you that you should go andbear fruit and that your fruit should abide.” Eph. 1:4- “Hechose us in himbefore the foundation of the world, that we should beholy and blameless before him.”
Throughout the Bible, God chooses to use people who are the most unlikely candidates. Abraham was a moon-worshiping pagan when God called him. Moses was a murderer who couldn’t publically speak very well. David was a kid when he killed the giant. Paul was a persecutor of Christians. Why does God do this? So he can get the glory! 1 Cor. 1:26-29- “For consider your calling, brothers:not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.ButGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;God chose what is low and despised in the world, eventhings that are not, tobring to nothing things that are,sothat no human beingmight boast in the presence of God.”
God’s choosing of Israel had nothing to do with any of their merits. Deut. 7:7-8- “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that theLordset his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, butit is because theLordloves you and is keepingthe oath that he swore to your fathers.”
God loves you because______(We often think this is due to something inherently good about us). But, he loves you because he loves you!
He Leads Me and Teaches Me (vv. 3-4)
It would be one thing if God chose us and then just abandoned us. What if he had the expectation that we would follow him and obey him, but gave us no training?
How does God lead and teach us today?
He Delivers Me from Trouble (vv. 3-4)
Here’s the next step. He calls us. He then teaches and leads us. But following him in this world is not easy. It isn’t easy because what he teaches us is truth is often contrary to the what the world says is truth. There will be friction. It isn’t easy because we live in a fallen world that is full of death, pain, misery, and loss. There will be heartbreak. When the world beats us up, he heals us. I am not deserving of his help. Never forget that we are Gomer in this story. Israel’s story is our story. We have been chosen and trained. Loved on by a doting Father- and we rebel against him. Yet he comes and heals us.
He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves in a hostile world.
God doesn’t choose and teach us and then leave us. He walks with us through the difficulties of life. Isaiah 43:2- “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fireyou shall not be burned,and the flame shall not consume you.”
How has God walked through the fire with you?
He Doesn’t Give Up on Me When I Fail (v. 8)
I can be chosen, trained, have his presence with me through the Spirit, but I’m still going to mess up. I am a human. I am sinful. Frail children can yield to temptation, be led astray by others, or rebel against God’s will. When we do, God doesn’t not automatically kick us to the curb. He is patient with us. Deut. 4:30-31- “When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon youin the latter days, you will return to theLordyour God and obey his voice.For theLordyour God isa merciful God.He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.”
Following God is a process, a journey. There will be good days and bad days. But the trajectory of our life needs to be moving closer to him.
Ex. Show stock market graph.
God doesn’t abandon us the first time the line dips. He stays with us. He does things in our life to get our attention if we continue to slide down. When we repent and obey, our spiritual health moves up. 1 John 1:9- “If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us our sins andto cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
How has God forgiven you in the past?
He Fulfills His Promises (vv. 10-11)
This is the best part. The promise is that he will redeem us. Look at Hosea 2:23. Despite their rebellion, God will bring them back to himself They will repent and he will redeem. God’s promises to save us and give us eternal life are not predicated on anything we do or don’t do. He will do what he says he will do now and at the end of time. But how can he do this?
How Can God Love Me? The Just and the Justifier (v. 9)
The key is v.9. How can God be “God and not a man” and “the Holy One in your midst” if at the same time he doesn’t give us up, execute his burning anger, and destroy us. If he is holy, he must execute his judgment. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be holy. How can he do both at the same time? The answer is Jesus.
Rom. 3:26- “So that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
In Jesus, God satisfied his demands for righteousness. To be God and to be holy, he must punish our sin. He cannot “look the other way.” For us to be saved we cannot absorb that punishment. Jesus absorbed God’s punishment. He is the Just. He is the perfect sacrifice. And he is the Justifier because his death provides for our salvation.
G. Campbell Morgan- “In Jesus I see how righteousness and peace meet together, and God can be just and the justifier. Through Jesus the claims of justice which are against my soul are all met. Through him the glory of holiness is maintained; for his redemption of the human soul is not a pity that agrees to ignore sin; but a power that cancels it and sets it free from its dominion. Through him the loved one is regained, restored, renewed, and all the lights that flash and gleam upon the prophetic page, astonishing my soul, come into focused unity in Jesus… Through Christ he has made the way by which sinning souls can be conformed to his image, his likeness, his will. The gospel is gleaming in Hosea. It is shining in full radiance in Christ.”
Closing Ill. Part of a father’s love is that he makes sacrifices so his children can thrive and even live. Sometimes he makes the ultimate sacrifice.
In England, George Tyson, 61, and Garry, his32 yo disabledson,were on a long Sunday afternoon walk in the country. A 17 yo driving a sports car too fast and out of control came barreling at them. Tyson pushed Garry out of the way to save his life, but was hit and killed by the car.
Two years ago in Chattanooga, TN, 31 yo Justin McCary was walking along a train track on abridge looking for rocks with his 10 yo daughter and his niece. They heard the train coming and the Justin and his niece moved to safety, but Justin looked back to see that his daughter’s foot was trapped in the tracks. He rushed to her, freed her foot, and just before the train hit he threw his daughter to the creek bed below the bridge. She was injured, but not in a life threatening way. Justin was killed instantly.
This is what God did for us. He gave his life so that he could fulfill his promise and redeem us.