June 25, 2017 Pastor John Welborn

God Speaks: Major Messages from the Minor Prophets
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Hosea

“O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!”
Psalm 83:1

“Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?”
Isaiah 64:12


“’The word of the LORD’ appears 438 times in the Hebrew Bible from Genesis 15:1 to Malachi 1:1. This is a distinctive of Biblical religion: God constantly lets his people know his message. The problem lies in a people who refuse to accept and obey his message.”
Trent C. Butler


I. Hosea’s Family Illustrated Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God

“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.”
Hosea 14:1

“God uses the names of Hosea’s children, along with his wife’s unfaithfulness, to send specific messages to the people of Israel.”
Charles Swindoll


God used Hosea and his family to get Israel’s attention:
· Hosea Married a Career Prostitute
· Hosea Named His Children with a Purpose:
o Jezreel: Place of incredible pain and loss.
o No Mercy
o Not My People


II. Hosea’s Faithfulness Illustrates God’s Faithfulness to Israel

“And the LORD said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.’ So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, ‘You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.’ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.”
Hosea 3:1-5

“God’s judgment comes on an unfaithful people but is not necessarily his last word for them. He works to bring them back to him.”
Trent C. Butler

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9

I. To Understand Hosea, We Must Identify with the Characters

“Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; & we will say no more, ‘Our God’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”
Hosea 14:3

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8

The book of Hosea uses an incredibly dysfunctional family to communicate several things:
· God is Faithful, Even When We are Not
· Nobody is Beyond the Reach of God’s Forgiveness
· Actions Speak Louder than Words: Repentance!

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3

God Speaks! The Major Message from the Minor Prophet Hosea invites you to experience God’s faithfulness in spite of your sin, regret & shame

Sources and Further Reading Opportunities:
· Wiersbe Bible Commentary – Warren Wiersbe (2007)
· New Illustrated Bible Dictionary – Ronald F. Youngblood
(1995)
· Strong’s Concordance – James Strong (1890)
· Tony Evans Book of Illustrations – Tony Evans (2009)
· Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes – Charles
Swindoll (1998)
· Holman Old Testament Commentary – Trent C. Butler (2005)
· The New Bible Commentary – D.A. Carson (1994)