A script for reading this morning will come from the book of Hosea, that'll be after Daniel, right? Before Jo, first portion will come from chapter 1, verse 1-2-3. And the second portion will come from chapter 4, verse 1-2-3. And chapter 1, taking verse 1-2-3. The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the Son of Mary, in the days of Uzziah, the Son of Ahaz, and Hezotah, kings of Judah, in the days of Jerusalem, the Son of Jo'an, she came with Israel. And the Lord first spoke to Hosea, the Lord said Hosea, though take yourself a wife of hordom and have children of hordom, that the land commits grey hordom by forsaking the Lord. So he went into Goma, the daughter of Dibba, and she conceived and bore him a son, chapter 4, verse 1. Here the word of the Lord, Hosea, the Son of Israel, to the Lord has a great controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, no knowledge of God in the land. They are swearing, lying, murder, stealing and committing adultery. They broke all the bonds and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore, the land mourns in all who dwell in that language, and also the beast of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away in that. What a nice graphic. Isn't that a nice graphic? I don't think too much credit for it, Phil. Somewhere between Phil and Ruth, we came up with that graphic, but sometimes I think it's more on the roof side than Phil. Amen. But we give fast to Phil some credit for it. Amen. Amen. I came with AIDS. I grew up. My adolescence were the 80s. Everybody knows that the 80s music is the best music. Why don't you have the 80s radios, you know, broadcast and stations that play the 80s music because the 80s are the best music. Amen. Amen. Amen. Some of you, perhaps not most of you, but a few of you, would remember the band foreigner. I know most of you don't. That's okay. You missed it. I'm telling you. In the mid 80s, they had a hit singer of the biggest of all time. And the song was, I want to know what love is. I want to know what love is. What a great song that is, by the way. It was recorded with the New Jersey mass choir in the background, singing the background vocals. And the chorus was simple and said, I want to know what love is. I want you to show me. I want to feel what love is. I know you can show me. But I am convinced that that is the heart cry of every person in the world. The person they were honest and their heart of heart, they would tell you, I just want to know what love is. We all want to know what love is. That's why love is such a popular and seemingly ubiquitous subject. More songs have been written and composed. More poems have been written. More movies have been made. More books published on the subject of love than on any other subject in human history. Because we all want to know what love is. Most of us think we know what it is. In fact, if I was to ask you for a definition of love, I am quite certain and confident that I would receive as many very definitions as the people that I ask. And all of us have some idea of what we think love is. And yet, we will have to admit that it is not easily defined. And if we think that we know it when we see it, and we think we can sense it when it is not present, when there is a lack of it. And yet, beloved, because of sin, and because of sin affects upon our minds and our hearts and our bodies and our emotions, we too often confuse love with infatuation, for affirmation. If we are honest this morning, and there I say that most of us will admit that our lives are filled with hurt, pain, and regret, because of this confusion, many, many, many lives have been shipwrecked and hearts, because of us being misidentified as love. And yet, despite all the pain and the hurt and the heartache and the regret, this has not diminished our desire or our resolve one bit, we still want to know what love is. So we open our Bible. We turn to 1 John chapter 4 and verse 8, and the Bible seems pretty clear there. Couldn't get any more clear than that. You want to know what love is? The Bible says, God is love. God is love. Now the truth of that statement, beloved, is undeniable. Plain and simple, there it is. And yet for most of us, the abstract nature of that statement and that thought is too difficult for us to really comprehend. In other words, we look at that, and we still ask the question, what does that mean? Sin, sin, the hardness of our hearts, the dullness of our minds, the grace of God to us is not only that the Bible would tell us that God is love, but God condescends to show us. Could this tell us, and that should be sufficient, that would be enough that God would say, that I am love, and that should be sufficient, that should suffice. The hardness of our hearts, the dullness of our minds, the waywardness of our lives, God condescends in mercy.
He goes beyond, call, and then just tell us that he is love. He shows those who want to know what love is. This morning, we turn to the prophecy of Hosanna. And for the next three months, we're going to look, and we're going to listen, and we're going to learn what God said, love. I love our series, here is love. To understand the prophecy of Hosanna, is to understand Hosanna's prophecy is really sane. Here is love, because here is God. Here is God. Now, when most Christians ask about love, they are familiar with the New Testament Greek word, agape. That's what we think when we think about love. If you've been in church for any length of time, then you've heard somebody, quote, or misquote, pronounce, or mispronounce, or whatever. Agape. And this is what we think about love, when we think biblically about love, and it's defined for us there in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Bible tells us love is patient, love is kind, love is dot, dot, dot. Yet not only does the New Testament speak about the love of God and love in general, but so too does the Old Testament. In fact, beloved, the Old Testament speaks more adequately. Speak more fully. Speak more eloquently about love. And in the Old Testament, single most important word was not the Greek word, agape, passively. But indeed, the Hebrew word, Catholic. Amen? Catholic. There may not be, beloved. A more important word, or at least I think we could say that there is not a more meaningful word in all the Old Testament. Then that word cuts. The curse over 240 times is so rich and full with meaning. And it carries with it a breath and a depth of translation that you find it translated variously in various concepts. You find it translated as goodness and kindness. Sometimes steadfast love and mercy and loving kindness. Defined as covenant, faithfulness, or as covenant, love. It is descriptive. It is most descriptive of the love that God has for his people and that he enters into a gracious covenant. And he condescends to be in relationship with them based upon his desire to love, this that he swears his love, he swears his faithfulness, he swears his devotion, he swears his commitment to his, you can understand why it is so frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. So it is on the lips and minds of so many of God's people, it is speaking at oftentimes to his people himself, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. But then you should understand that you probably can get it in your mind that nobody mentions it any more than David. Catholic mind, estimation, I doubt that there was anyone who loved the Lord any more than, you can see that this word was frequently on his lips and his mind and in his heart. And as you might expect, the songs are filled to mention more in the songs than it is anywhere else. Songs of Israel, same of the matchless covenant to the faithful love of God. David said in Psalm 100 and verse 5, but the Lord is good, and it is mercy or it is Catholic, so it is love, it is covenant faithfulness endured for Psalm 63. David said, because your loving kindness, because your covenant faithfulness, because your steadfast love, because your covenant love is better than life itself. When David had conquered all of his enemies, he looked around his kingdom and all was at peace, and he was reigning the king of Israel. The second Samuel chapter 9 looks around his kingdom and he says, is there anyone left of the house of Saul that I might show? Covenant faithfulness, covenant love for my friend Jonathan, and the heart of the king was the love of God. David could be and should be referred to as the king of heaven, and David as the king of heaven, and Hosea is the prophet. Hosea is the prophet. And this morning we would dip our toes in this water, and hopefully next week that the Lord is willing will die only in. And this morning we are just going to dip our toes a bit and give us a little overview and context for the series as we go forward, that we might understand this prophet of Beth, and Beth sees it this morning, and he was a man on a mission, and that he was a man with a message. Hosea, I doubt many of us are very familiar with Hosea, probably haven't heard too many sermon series through the prophecy of Hosea. When Josh stood up to read Hosea, if it hadn't been for your own and electronic devices, you'd probably still be looking for Hosea. Josh said it's after Daniel and before Joe, but after no help, because then we have to find Daniel and Joe. But indeed, Hosea is the first of what is called the minor prophets. They are minor not in terms of their significance, or in terms of their importance, but the people who teach us these things suggest to us that they are minor prophets because of the length of their prophecy. As compared with the length of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, there would be considered a minor prophet, and yet beloved for there was a prophet. And like Jeremiah and like Isaiah and like Ezekiel, the Bible says that God called him like Jeremiah, like Isaiah, like Ezekiel. Chapter 1, verse 1, the Bible says the word of the Lord came to Hosea. Since this is the case, there is nothing minor about that. Well, no much about it. He was the son of Mary. And unlike some of the other prophets, like Amos, we don't know Hosea's occupation prior to being called by God. We are not sure what he did with his life and how he toiled in his days. But we do know this that at some point in time, God called him to the prophetic ministry. And at that point, beloved, that, oh, that man. Verse 1 says that he prophesied during the days, the kings of Judah, the southern part of the kingdom, during the days of Isaiah, and Joseph, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and when Darabom's king of the north, Kosea presided in the north. And the prophecy that we shall read and study has a prophecy that is primarily to the people of the northern kingdom that is known as Israel. The ministry lasted, but it was pure and active ministry of approximately 35 years. Name, Hosea. Name. Similar to that of Joshua. And even Jesus, the same root meaning as the Lord has saved. It is the Lord who saved. And this is most important when we seek to understand the prophet and the prophecy. For God has called Hosea, whose name says the Lord saved, and He calls this prophet to deliver a message of love and salvation to the people of Israel. But then just call him, beloved to teach and to preach this message, but He calls him to deliver and to show and to live out. Ah, difficult doctrine. But this is only fitting because when God calls this prophet, He doesn't call them to life to eat. True prophets of God. Those who got it called, you read in the script, He doesn't call them to lives of luxury, unlike modern prophets and prophets today. Doesn't call, they don't call them to luxury liners and personal planes, holding crusades with their names at the front line, recording CD, but God's prophets are called the difficult place, the trouble, the hardship, the heartache, the pain, and no one knew this anymore than Hodea. But God called him to do what no godly man would want to do. He was a man of God called to love the ungodly. Call to share a home and call to share a bed with the unlovely. Put him and an adulterous and troublesome marriage. See what it says in verse two. When the Lord first spoke through Hodea and the Lord said to Hodea, go, take to yourself a wife of Hordeum and have children of Hordeum for the land commits great Hordeum for safety, the Lord. And don't miss that beloved. Those words there are powerfully instructing the heart, covering it in high a scene. Proverbs 18 and 22, all the men in here can quote it. Amen. He who finds a good thing, Brad, from the Lord. Amen. Say, Amen. If Hodea would be here, he'd be hola. Hold up. There would say a lot of things. But I'm not sure if he would say, Amen. So he would not have seen his wife as a good thing. Nor his marriage as a painting favor from the Lord. And yet beloved, this is the point. This is the very point that God is making. Israel had been unfaithful. She had played instead. Israel had been unfaithful. She had played the hollet. She had played the spiritual prostitute. Giving herself in worship to any and everyone who came and dropped a few coins away. One of chapter 9 says it well. rejoice not, O Israel. Exalt not like the peoples. But you have played the whore. forsake in your God. You have loved the prostitute's wages on all the thrashing or affect description. And yet it is only a fraction of the issue. The love of adultery is an awful thing. Those of us who have experiences and no firsthand the pain of it know the deep wounds and scars that it can cause. And yet adultery among a husband and a wife is an awful thing. adultery when God is your husband is an abomination of the worst. So this is what happens to all of us. This is what happens to all of us beloved. This is what happens to God's people when we want to know what love is but we go looking for love in all the wrong place. People, where teach us that? To be unequally yoked. Why? Because! We are loving that which God has not loved and loving those who don't love Jehovah. God is not mine. He will not allow this adultery and idolatry among his people to go unchecked. He loved Israel too much for that. He loved you and I too much for. And so he sinned Hosea on a mission and he sinned him with a message. The message, God is not pleased with Israel's idolatry and therefore the judgment is coming. Chapter 9. Again, you read, rejoice not for Israel, result not like the people. Then he says to them, for you shall not remain in the land of the Lord. But every and shall return to each and they shall eat the unclean food of a Syrian. Judgment is coming. This is the message that Hosea brings to the people. It is a message, beloved. Don't miss it. It is a message of God's unfailing, unflinching and inexplicable love to his people. We tend to think of God's love as his warm and fuzzy kind of winning a poo type of thing. Yet the Bible reminds us that God's love is both kind and severe. It is not this sentimental notion that we have in this world of love but it is a love that comes from the holiness of God that is both righteous and both. And this reminds us that God is a jealous God. He is a jealous God. In fact, Exodus 34 and 14 tells us that his name is jealousy. That is who you marry. You marry the man whose name is jealousy. I am amazed at how often that couples get upset or a little put off because one of the other is jealous. He recounts, are you jealous? Are you being jealous? Are there actions of his wife? Jealous, but the affections of our husbands? A child should be jealous but the affections of their parents? Should be jealous but the affections of their children? Jealousy can be misused and jealousy can be abused and like anything that is taken over the top. It can bring hurt and it can bring pain of the love of God. He is a jealous God. That is why he is heartbroken. When Israel plays the heart. For he loved her as a husband. Faithful husband loves. But this is also why he is castied because he not only loves her as a wife. But he also loves Israel as a father with love a child. And Hebrew tells us does it not in chapter 12, beginning in verse 5, that all those whom the Lord loves are chasing? And this too is a sign of his affection for his people. Love does not mean no discipline. It does not mean no judgment. Love does not mean no correction. It means that in the midst of the discipline there is acceptance. Love means that in the midst of the correction there is acceptance. God would call them to demonstrate love on the one hand and to preach the testimony of God on the other. Because if you want to know what love is, you carry both of those. They are for the prophet of passage. Because our God is a God of passage. Numbers chapter 14, verse 18, the Bible says, the Lord is slow to anger and a bounding and steadfast love. A bounding and covenant love. A bounded and bounding and faithfulness. A bounding and mercy. Forgiveing a nicody and transgression. However, he will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord is good to all. And is mercy. His steadfast love. His covenant faith. To all his people. To all his people. He doesn't overlook you sin. He loves you enough to offer the correction. He loves you enough to discipline you. He loves you enough to shake you out of your adultery and ideology. He loves you enough to never let you go. I come from a big family. One of my older brothers. I spent a great deal of his life in and out of jail, in and out of prisons, various things. And as a consequence, he has proven himself untrustworthy. By friends and family. He has stolen, violated the trust. Stolen from many of those who love him. Most including his own mother. He had time and time again. She goes see him when he's in jail. When he gets out, he opens him into a house. One day, I just said, why do you keep doing that? She looked at me and said, because I'm his mother. And if I don't love him, who will? That reminds me of love. That's what God said. That's what God said the whole day. That's what he says the whole day to go and tell Gomer. Why do I have... joy that seeketh me through the pain? I can not close my heart to thee. I trace the rainbow through the rain. I feel the promise is not in vain. That mourn shall tearless be. Beloved. And God comes. And he comes to discipline and to chest pass. It is only to awaken us to his love. It is only to turn us from our sin which is taken up down the wrong path and to turn us, awaken us to see what love really is. Israel to repent because he wants Israel again to know his love. You want to know what love is? Here is love. Israel was rebellion. So are we. Israel was unworthy. And so are we. Israel was unfaithful. And so are we. Israel was ungodly. And so are we. You want to know what love is? Here is love. And that while we were yet unfaithful. There is a time when we were yet unfaithful. We were yet unfaithful. And so are we. There is a time we were yet unfaithful. And so the words are always on. So when we were yet unloved and that while we were yet rebates and that while we were yet unfaithful. That which was the most unbecoming is now and God's eye. The most here is love, best as the ocean, loving kindness as the flat. When the prince of life hour rents him, shed for us, his precious blood, put it low and will not remember who can speak to sing his praise. He can never do out him. I want to know what love is for the next few months. And let God teach us, we look and listen and learn from the prophet.