Redemption, Restoration and Return
Hosea 3:1-5
August 2, 2020
Peter Yoo
Sermon Script
Review
These past four weeks, I spoke on the gospel. The same gospel that Christians have been preaching for generations. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. But for these next two weeks, I will be looking at the Old Testament. Specifically, I will be speaking on two chapters in Hosea. And I hope to speak on how the gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ, may still be seen, even during such difficult times.
Introduction
About five years ago, in the summer of 2015, something completely unexpected happened. There was a data breach and people’s sensitive information got leaked to the public. But what got leaked wasn’t credit card information or social security information. Instead, what got exposed was people’s very private, very personal sexual information. Ashley Madison, if you’re not familiar, is an online service for people to commit adultery. Their slogan actually says, “Life is short. Have an affair.” “Life is short. Have an affair.” And the leaked data publicly exposed 32 million people. 32 million people. To put 32 million people into perspective, imagine if every single person in New York and Illinois combined was having an affair. That’s about 32 million people. This is absolutely horrifying. And among those 32 million people were many Christians. And among those 32 million people were many pastors.
Now, it might be easy for some of us as believers to condemn such people and scream at them the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery!” But brothers and sisters, make no mistake. All believers are vulnerable to all kinds of sin, especially sexual sins. Just because we’re born again by the grace of God by the Holy Spirit does not mean that we cannot fall into sin; and in this case, sexual sins.
Context
The prophet Hosea knew about this all too well. Hosea lived during the time when the kingdom of Israel split into the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah. Hosea primarily prophesied in the Northern kingdom of Israel. And the Northern kingdom of Israel had zero good kings. And the Southern kingdom of Judah and a few good kings. Zero good kings in the North, a few good kings in the South. In other words, almost no king did what was right in God’s eyes. But here’s what’s worse. Even though they had zero good kings, the Northern kingdom of Israel lived pretty comfortably. Actually, they lived very comfortably. Enemy nations weren’t really attacking them at this time. And so, they were comfortable worshiping whomever they wanted and however they pleased. And this included having sex with prostitutes in the temple of God to please others gods. This is what other pagan nations were doing to worship their gods. God’s people were not to worship God that way, but they have adopted the world’s way of worshiping other gods and by doing so, they have prostituted themselves to other gods.
So how does God choose to reveal his heart to his people through Hosea? God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute. Marry a prostitute. Do you sense the irony? People don’t marry prostitutes. Quite the opposite. We marry our spouses expecting them to be faithful to just us, not someone else. But the Northern kingdom of Israel, who literally had prostitutes in the temple of God, is acting as a spiritual prostitute in her relationship with God. And God shows us his heart for his unfaithful people by commanding Hosea to marry someone unfaithful. Why? Because this imagery of prostitution is one that the Northern kingdom of Israel knew intimately.
God Redeems His People (3:1-2)
And this is how our passage begins this morning. Verse 1. “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 raisin.” Hosea is to love his unfaithful wife, just as God loves his people, who rebel against him and turn from him again and again and again. Israel would worship other gods in the face of the one true living God and in his temple. They would worship a god like Baal, the pagan god of fertility. And they would offer him cakes of raisin as an offering and as a sacrifice, and then eat the cakes of raisin, thinking it would give them fertility.
Israel would whore herself to other gods and even chase after them. But God loves his people. Not because God loves their sin. He doesn’t. But God remembers his love, his everlasting love. And so Hosea must love his unfaithful wife as the Lord loves such an unfaithful and adulterous people.
Now, how easy would it be if love was only verbal; if we could say we love someone and that was it. But that’s never the case, is it? When you say that you love your wife, it can’t just be words. It can’t. Love always manifests itself somehow. Love always manifests itself somehow. Love always takes a form, love can never stay at the word level. For example, when a husband and wife give their wedding vows, their love for each other must not only be expressed in words. But their vows must be lived out. Because if you don’t live out your vows, your spouse will say, “But you promised! You promised!” Love is never just words. Love must be expressed and show itself somehow. Brothers, let us take note of such wisdom.
So how does Hosea love? He doesn’t just love with his words, does he? Verse 2 tells us that “[Hosea] bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.” It cost Hosea. Love comes at a price. It’s costly. The definition of love that I teach youth group over and over again is that love is the self-sacrifice for the benefit of someone else. Self-sacrifice for the benefit of someone else. That’s the definition of love. And Hosea loves his wife and he redeems her. And how much did Hosea actually end up paying to redeem his wife? Altogether, most likely about 30 shekels worth, which is about half a year’s worth in wages. Half a salary, if you will.
But remember, what’s going on in Hosea’s life is not only about Hosea, but about God and his love for faithless Israel. If Hosea paid half a salary to demonstrate true selfless love to a prostitute, then, dear Christian, imagine the price that Jesus paid to purchase his faithless and adulterous bride! 1 Peter 1 tells us that we were ransomed and redeemed, not with perishable things like shekels of silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who too was sold for 30 shekels worth of silver, gave himself up for her. And he redeemed and purchased his church, his sinful, prostitute bride with his own blood. And he died for her. We’ve heard this so many times that it seems to lose weight. But imagine, dear saint, that it’s as if Jesus, the greater Hosea, said, “Give me my wife’s sin! Give me her sin! Give her my righteousness so that she may be saved! Take me! Save her!” Brothers and sisters, this is the redemption of God. Just as Hosea redeemed his wife, God redeems his people. And just as it cost Hose to redeem his wife, it cost our Lord Jesus Christ his very life to redeem his sinful church for himself.
God Restores His People (3:3)
But God doesn’t just redeem his people, God also restores his people. If we look at verse 3, Hosea says to his wife, “‘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.’” This sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This sounds very formulaic of something we’ve heard before. This verse closely resembles the Ten Commandments that the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai after the exodus. Before God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses, God reminds his people who he is and what he has done. That he is the Lord and he brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The Lord redeemed Israel. And because God redeemed Israel, Israel engages in this covenantal relationship with God.
And we see a microcosm of this incident in Hosea. Hosea redeemed his adulterous wife. And because Hose redeemed his wife, Hosea engages in a covenantal marriage relationship with her. He is hers and she is his. They are each other’s. She is to be with him for many days and he too is to be with her for many days. She shall not play the whore and he too shall not commit adultery. She shall not belong to another and he too shall not belong to another. She has been purchased and redeemed by Hosea.
And now, Hosea restores her. She’s no longer a prostitute that Hosea has bought for her to stay in his home. She’s now, to him, his wife. I hope you can see where I’m going with this. It’s not only the case that Hosea redeemed his wife. Hosea also restored her. And brothers and sisters, it’s very easy for us to talk about our redemption, Jesus died for me. Yes that’s true, but I hope it can become more commonplace that we talk more about our restoration. Our restoration. Jesus both redeems and restores us. What does it mean that Jesus redeems and restores us? In one simple sense, it means that a broken relationship has been made right again. A broken relationship has been made right again.
Brothers and sisters, this isn’t easy. At one point in our lives, we were enemies of God. Enemies of God. How could our relationship with God possibly be made right again? It’s one thing to no longer be an enemy of God. Jesus’ blood took care of that, that’s redemption. But it’s another thing to actually be a child of God, Jesus’ righteousness takes care of that, that’s restoration. That’s a restored relationship. And so I remind you this morning, dear saint, that you were once at war with God and his wrath and judgment was once for you. But because of our Lord Jesus Christ, he redeemed you by his blood and he restored you as a child of God by his righteousness. And just as Hosea redeemed and restored his wife, you too have been redeemed and restored by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, is there a relationship in your life that needs restoring? Is there a broken relationship in your life that you don’t think will ever be mended whole? We are sinful people and this world is filled with sinful people. We inevitably hurt people without wanting to, almost permanently. And people in this world are seeking restored relationships from all of the hurt from this world. So brothers and sisters, I encourage you this morning, be reminded that you are redeemed and restored in your once broken relationship with God. You went from enemy of God to child of God, all because of Jesus. Live out this wonderful redeemed and restored relationship that you have with God now through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s People Return to Him (3:4-5)
God redeems and restores his people, no matter how unfaithful she is. But there will come a time when God’s unfaithful people will return to him. Hosea foretells both the exile and the return of faithless Israel in verses 4-5. It says, “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.” Remember, during this time in Israel’s history, they were at somewhat of a rest. Even though they had zero good kings, the Northern kingdom of Israel lived pretty comfortably. Enemy nations weren’t really attacking them at this time, and so they were comfortable worshiping whomever they wanted and however they pleased.
But during this time of prosperity and safety, Hosea spoke about horrible times coming, which nobody wanted to hear. Hosea prophesied of a time when Israel would soon be kingless and princeless, priestless and templeless. Because God revealed to Hosea that soon God would raise up Assyria, an enemy nation, to take over the Northern kingdom of Israel. And Assyria would take Israel away from their land and they would be scattered all throughout the world.
Think about it. Back then, Israel was proud of their form of government and their temple. But God told them that for many days, they will be stripped away of everything they had as a people. Their fearless king to defend them, their temple and other gods they worshiped, everything would be gone. And they would be a completely new people under the Assyrian rule. Just as Adam was exiled east from the Garden of Eden for his disobedience to God, Israel would be exiled east because of her disobedience and covenant unfaithfulness to God. God has always told his people from his Word that obedience to him brings blessing and disobedience brings judgment and curses. And because of Israel’s disobedience to God, they will go through God’s judgment.
But this isn’t the end for them. Because God gave a promise in Hosea 1. In verse 10, God said that his people, who were once not his people, will be called the “children of the living God.” And there will be a union between the children of Judah and the children of Israel and they will be one people under the one head. So Hosea 3:5 echoes this promise in Hosea 1. And this is why for many days, they will be in the exile; but in the latter days, they will return. The people who were once not his people will be his people. The people who once turned to other gods will now return to the one true living God. And not only that, but all the children of God will seek the Lord their God. The people who sought after and pursued other gods will now seek after and pursue after their God, their Redeemer and Restorer.
And Hosea says that they will seek David the king. In one sense, this sounds like complete nonsense because by this point, king David has been dead for hundreds of years. So what does this mean? Hosea is talking about the Davidic king, the greater David-like king, the king from David’s line who will have an everlasting rule and reign. This king will come and God’s people will seek him. And they will fear the Lord and his goodness and his faithfulness in the latter days. And this coming king is not any of the kings that they were expecting. Remember, most of the kings in Israel’s history were wicked kings. Instead, in an ultimate sense, this king whom God’s people will seek is our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is their God and their King and the one they will fear. Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer, the only Restorer, and the one whom God’s people will seek.
No more need for other kings or princes; all we need and seek is Jesus Christ our King. No more need for sacrifices and pagan pillars; our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself up for us as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. No more need for the ephod, which is the priestly robe, or pagan household gods; our Lord Jesus Christ is interceding for us as our great high priest right now in the heavenly places. Jesus Christ is our only Redeemer and our only Restorer, and because of him and his Holy Spirit with us, we return and seek after him. Because of his Holy Spirit changing our hearts, we fear God and his goodness.
Conclusion
But brothers and sisters, we live in a time where we don’t seek Jesus Christ perfectly. We don’t fear our God and his goodness perfectly. We still continue to be unfaithful to him. Despite the fact that God has redeemed us for himself and he has restored us and is restoring us for himself, we’re still unfaithful to him. But I remind you this morning, that even when we are unfaithful to him, he will always be faithful to us. Even when you are unfaithful to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will always be faithful to you. Your redemption is not up to you; you cannot redeem yourself before God. Only Jesus Christ ultimately redeems and if he redeemed you and purchased you with his blood, then you truly redeemed for all of eternity. Your restoration is not up to you; you cannot restore yourself into a right relationship with God. Only Jesus Christ ultimately restores you and he is changing you by his Spirit so that you might be presented to him as his spotless bride.
And though we live in this time of exile, where the promises of eternal life are guaranteed but not yet fully received, we know that we will see our Redeemer and our Restorer face-to-face. You will see him and you will know him. You will fear him and you will love him. And so, no matter how great your sin may be, the love of God for you in Jesus Christ is far greater. The love of God for you in Christ Jesus far surpasses even your worst sin. Even if you were on the leaked Ashley Madison list, by faith and repentance, you have been purchased and adopted into the family of God, and you are now rightly called a child of God in Jesus Christ. No matter the shame you feel and the guilt you experience, you are a child of God in Jesus Christ. And you will behold his face when he comes back soon.
And so brothers and sisters, no matter how bad you think a person is, I remind you this morning God can save anyone. No matter how faithless they are. How do we know? Because he saved you. And he saved me. You were faithless and adulterous. I was faithless and adulterous. And yet God loved you. And yet God loved me. If we have a right and honest understanding of ourselves as sinful and in need of grace, then we know that God’s grace is truly precious and we know that every believer in Jesus Christ was also redeemed and restored, just like us.
So brothers and sisters, let us be patient with others and seek reconciliation with other brothers and sisters in Christ. This includes our spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, classmates, co-workers, and the list goes on. With the love that God has for faithless people, let us also be people who love others who likewise don’t deserve it. Because we didn’t deserve God’s love. We still don’t deserve God’s love, none of us do. And yet, we will be with our Redeemer and our Restorer Jesus Christ for eternity. And so, let us wait together as we see the day of Christ’s return approaching.
Soli Deo Gloria