13th Sunday After Pentecost :
Date: August 23, 2015
SERMON
Hosea 1
The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the
reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel: 2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an
adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of
the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.” 3 So he married Gomer
daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the
LORD said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house
of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of
Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to
Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of
Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to the house of
Judah; and I will save them–not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and
horsemen, but by the LORD their God.” 8 After she had weaned LoRuhamah,
Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, “Call him LoAmmi,
for you are not My people, and I am not your God. 10 “Yet the
Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured
or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the
people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will
come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
Theme: An Extreme Example In Extreme Times
I. The example is a call to repentance
II. The example is a promise for salvation