Click Above to Listen!
A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. REBUKE
A. HEAR
>>1. PROMPT
Hosea 2:2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her wipe the adulterous look from her face, and her unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
>>2. PLIGHT
Hosea 2:3 “Or else I will expose her and make her as naked as the day she was born. I will dry her up like a desert, like parched land, and kill her with thirst.
B. HEED
>>1. PROVISION
Hosea 2:4 Upon her children also I will show no love, because they are children of adultery. Their mother has played the harlot, and she conceived them in disgrace.
>>2. PRESUMPTUOUS
Hosea 2:5 She said, ‘I will chase after my lovers, who give me my food and my drink, my wool and my linen, my oil and my wine.’ (also Heb 11:24-26; Rom 6:23)
II. RESPONSE #1
A. HEDGED IN
>>1. PATH
Hosea 2:6a Therefore I will hedge up her path with thorn bushes.
>>2. PENNED IN
Hosea 2:6b I will build a wall around her, so that she cannot find her way.
B. HARDENED
>>1. PROMISE
Hosea 2:7 She will chase her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will promise, ‘I will return to my first husband, for I was better-off then than now.’
>>2. PITIFUL
Hosea 2:8 Still she didn’t acknowledge that I was the One who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
III. RESPONSE #2
A. HARDSHIP
>>1. PRIVATIONS
Hosea 2:9-11 Therefore I will take away My grain in its harvest, and My wine in season. I will take away My wool and My linen, which were intended to cover her nakedness. Now I will expose her lewdness in the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of My hands. I will stop all her celebrations: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbath days – all her appointed festivals.
>>2. PUNISHMENT
Hosea 2:12-13a I will ruin her vineyards and her orchards of which she said, ‘This is the fee my lovers have given me.’ I will turn them into a thicket and wild animals will devour them. I will punish her for the feasts of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry.
B. HELPLESS
>>1. PURSUIT
Hosea 2:13b However, she still chased after her lovers
>>2. PROBLEM
Hosea 2:13c and forgot Me, declares the Lord.
IV. RESPONSE #3
A. HOPE
>>1. PULL
Hosea 2:14-15a “Therefore, watch – for I will allure her, and lead her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. (also Josh 7:26)
>>2. PREVAIL UPON
Hosea 2:15b “There she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. (also Rom 8:31)
B. HAVEN
>>1. PURITY
Hosea 2:16-17 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Master.’ For I will remove the names of the false gods from her mouth’; their names invoked no more.
>>2. PEACE
Hosea 2:18 “In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky, and the creatures moving along the ground. I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, allowing you to lie down in safety.
>>3. PLEDGE
Hosea 2:19-20 “I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in love and in mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.
V. REPENTANCE
A. HELP
>>1. POWER
Hosea 2:21 And in that day I will respond, declares the Lord. I will answer the heavens, and [the heavens] shall answer the earth, (also Jn 15:7)
>>2. PRODUCE
Hosea 2:22 and the earth shall answer the harvest – the grain, the wine, and the oil – and they shall answer Jezreel (Planted).” (also Mt 6:33)
B. HOME
>>1. PLANT
Hosea 2:23a “I will plant her for Myself in the Land,
>>2. PROCAIM
Hosea 2:23b and I will shower love on the ones I called ‘No Mercy’, and I will say to ‘Not My People’, ‘You ARE my people’. Then they will say, ‘You are my God.'”
One by one He took them from me, all the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed; every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth’s highways, grieving in my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting, “Lift your empty hands to Me!”
So I held my hands toward heaven, and He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches, Till they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended with my stupid mind and dull,
That God could not pour His riches into hands already full!