Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19960204.htm

THRU THE BIBLE SYNTHESIS
"Part XX: Hosea - The Attitude Of God Toward Judging People"

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) The Bible teaches that God is a loving God. We can quote 1 John 4:8 which claims: "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love."

(2) However, Scripture also teaches that this same God will send people to an eternal lake of fire we know as Hell: Revelation 20:12, 15 reads: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was ope ned, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works . . . And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

(3) Problem: How can God be loving and simultaneously cast people into an eternal lake of fire and brimstone?! Isn't that contradictory? WHAT IF A CHILD DOESN'T WANT GOD'S WAYS, WILL GOD SEND HIM TO HELL?! How?



(We turn to the "Need" section of the sermon . . . )



Need: "A tough thing for me to handle is the idea that a loving God could send people I know and LOVE to Hell! Doesn't God pity the children? Is it easy for God to condemn people, or hard?! WHY?!"
  1. Hosea served God just before and when the Northern Kingdom, Israel fell to CRUEL Assyria in judgment for failing in her mission:
    1. Though God created the world and set man up as His deputy, sin deposed him, so Satan became ruler on earth, Gn. 1-5; 2 Cor. 4:4.
    2. The Lord renewed history through the Noahic flood, Gn. 6:1-9:7.
    3. Yet, Noah's descendant, Nimrod, began an apostasy opposing God's rule of the earth, Gn. 10:8-10; 11:1-9; Rev. 12:1-3.
    4. God thus chose Abraham to start a nation to check this sin, Gn. 12:1-3
    5. After many challenges en route, that nation, Israel failed to curb Nimrodian error, itself becoming so seduced by it that judgment fell:
      1. Because of Solomon's apostasy, God divided his kingdom, giving most of the tribes to his servant, Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:1-13.
      2. But Jeroboam started an idolatry to keep people from returning to Solomon's side! That led later kings to sin, so God sent Jeroboam's nation, Israel into Assyrian captivity, 1 Kings 12:25-2 Kings 17:41!
  2. However, the invasion by CRUEL Assyria was to cost Israel great human suffering, and THAT required an explanation about the HEART of God Who permitted such a terrible event to occur!
  3. Hosea was used of God in a FIFTY YEAR ministry to reveal God's FEELINGS about judging Israel by the hand of CRUEL Assyria!
    1. To show His feelings about Assyria's invasion, God put Hosea in His "shoes" with a heart-wrenching, 50 year ministry assignment, Ho. 1-3:
      1. God commanded Hosea to marry a woman, Gomer who God said BEFORE the wedding would become a harlot later, 1:1-2b,3. This would illustrate God's feelings as the "Husband" of Israel who abandoned God to prostitute herself spiritually with idols, Ho. 1:2c.
      2. When children were born to Hosea, God named them as symbols of His view of the problem relationship He had with Israel:
        1. The child, Jezreel recalled Jehu's slaughtering & dismembering of Ahab's 70 sons there in doing God's judgment, 1:4; 2 K. 10:1ff! God was furious at this CRUEL application of His judgment to these boys, and would take vengeance for it, 1:5!
        2. The second child He named Loruhamah, meaning "unpitied" as God had decided to go ahead and permit Assyria's invasion, 1:6.
        3. The third child God called Loammi, meaning "not My people" to picture God's rejection of Israel so He could punish her, 1:8-9.
        4. Yet, like a husband who divorces his wife but still loves her, God announced the day when He would bless Israel, 1:10-11
      3. In Hosea 2:1-13, God described details of His complaint with Israel, even using a "divorce decree" in Ho. 2:2, Ryr. S.B., KJV ftn.
      4. Still, God announced that THROUGH Israel's judgment He would woo her back to be His bride, 2:14-23! The language here is "astonishing" as GOD is seen in graphic terms as a lover intent on winning a woman's love, and this surprising divine role displays the feeling God has for those He judges, B.K.C., O.T., 1385!
      5. Gomer, Hosea's wife, tore his heart by fulfilling God's prediction that she would be unfaithful by becoming another man's lover. God commanded Hosea to do what no husband would normally do -- pay a second dowry, and buy her back AGAIN from her LOVER, Hosea 3:1-3. This pictured God's restoration of sinful Israel, 3:4-5!
    2. Like the mixture of wrath and affection a husband feels toward an immoral wife he adores, Ho. 4:1-14:8 is a group of impulsive, abrupt addresses repeating these themes of God's intolerance of Israel's sin and resulting resolve to judge with interspersed themes of restoration due to God's unfailing love for her, Baxter, Explore the Book, p. 91.
    3. Finally, Hosea 14:9 ends the book with a summary proverb: No matter what, God is righteous AND loving, so (1) disobedience to Him brings His reluctant, heart-wrenching, BUT INEVITABLE judgment where (2) obedience yields His loving blessings!
  4. Hosea's "thread of redemption" predicts God's changing Israel's heart in the wilderness in the Great Tribulation in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom, Ho. 2:14-16; Rv. 12:14; Ho. 3:4-5; 14:4-8.
Application: Realizing that God is BOTH PERFECTLY loving AND just, receive His blessing -- not His judgment -- by (1) believing on Christ as Savior from sin to escape Hell and gain eternal life, John 3:16! (2) Then as a believer, STAY blessed a nd escape God's discipline, even escaping an early physical death by confessing our sins (1 Jn. 1:9) and depending on the Holy Spirit for behavior control (Ga. 5:16-23) to obey Christ (1 John 2:1-6), cf. 1 John 5:16!

Lesson: Like a jilted husband with an unfaithful wife he adores, God has both wrath and deep affection towards those He judges. But God is PERFECTLY just AND loving, so He WILL fully discipline the sinner for his sin AND generously bless the repentant who turn to Him for mercy.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 To illustrate how a perfectly righteous and loving God will have to judge some and bless others, we use this illustration:

curve. Let's suppose that there stood a very upright, religious person, a naughty but cute child, a beggar, a thief, a robber, a man guilty of accidental manslaughter, an abused housewife guilty of manslaughter of her husband by intent, a murderer, a serial killer with a horribly abused childhood, a World War II German SS officer, Ghengis Kahn and Adolph Hitler. If God were to let the very upright person into heaven along with the naughty but cute child, He would have a tough time not letting the be ggar in as the beggar might argue that he is not cute, but better in life than the child. But if God let the beggar into heaven, how could he keep the thief out, for that wouldn't be very fair to send the thief to Hell for eternity while letting a "lazy" beggar in. In fact, once God were to grade on the curve, He'd eventually have trouble even keeping Adolph Hitler out of heaven, for there would always be a person slightly less evil than he, and anot her person slightly less even than that person, etc. making grading on the curve ineffective!

out of heaven for his great sins, it would be necessary for God eventually to keep everybody out. If God were to draw the failing line with Adolph Hitler, what would He do about his SS officers who actually did the evil deeds for him--wouldn't they deserve Hell as well? Then how about those who were slightly better than they, an d those in turn who were slightly better than even those men, etc., etc.?

fair AND loving is for Him not to grade on the curve at all, but to do what the Bible says He did: God has to condemn all men, and then cover their sin by the death of Christ so that any man or child who freely receives Christ's atonement by faith is graciously forgiven! (Romans 3:19-27) As Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."