Sermon Summary (8/28/16), “Show-Me Grace.” Hosea 11:1-9
We often reject God for convenience. Whenever our urges arise, God gets in the way. We set him aside. Another Boone County arrest for child pornography.. Where had he placed God in his life? Entanglements that threaten marriages. My guess that God was inconvenient and was set aside. Drug addictions and alcoholism. When choices could have been made, God was inconvenient and set aside.
Oh, we make other excuses: “I reject the wrathful God of the Old Testament. I want a God who care about me, not the God of the Old Testament. I want a God who loves me, a God that forgives me even when I don’t deserve it.” Let me tell you about the God of Hosea!
When God spoke to Hosea, he told him to not only to speak for God (that’s what prophets do), but “I want you to show them my grace.” He told Hosea to take as a wife a woman of Il repute, and have children with her. Hosea married Gomer and after having children, Gomer left Hosea to return to her life of sin (Just like the Children of Israel leaving God for other small g gods). But God told Hosea to bring her back, redeem her, “love a woman who is an adulteress.” Just as God loves Israel and calls her back, redeems her even when she is undeserving, Hosea, the “Show-me Prophet”, shows us the grace of a God who cares for us, loves us, forgives us even when we do not deserve it.
But the verses that truly show the grace of God are from Hosea 11:
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
I love these verses. Here’s the deal. Everyone of us has someone that needs to be shown grace. God asked Hosea then. He asks us now.
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