WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 Chapter three of Hosea. Hosea chapter three is 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:07.620 a very short chapter. And this is our third week 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:09.919 in the book of Hosea. And up till now, we've 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.640 learned that Hosea was a prophet to the nation 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:17.339 Israel. Hosea was probably somewhere around the 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:21.699 700s BC. And he was a prophet to the nation Israel 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:26.000 during a time of turmoil, especially spiritually. 00:00:26.539 --> 00:00:29.559 The people had abandoned their love and their 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.399 faithfulness to God, and had instead chased after 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:36.240 idols, had chased after other gods, and had left 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.380 the God who brought them out of Egypt and gave 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:41.560 them a land in order to establish them as his 00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:44.320 people so that he might rule and govern and love 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.920 them and lead them, and they might become a light 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:49.679 to the nations, a hope to the ends of the earth. 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.780 That was the plan. The plan has gone sideways. 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:57.229 And so Hosea is sent into that situation to begin 00:00:57.229 --> 00:01:00.530 to speak to the people of Israel. And he's going 00:01:00.530 --> 00:01:03.390 to take on a unique dimension in his prophecy, 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:06.189 because where other prophets might come in and 00:01:06.189 --> 00:01:09.530 declare the word, thus saith the Lord, Hosea 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:13.829 is going to actually live it out. The Lord calls 00:01:13.829 --> 00:01:17.049 him to live out the prophetic message to the 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:20.670 people of Israel, and specifically through his 00:01:20.670 --> 00:01:23.680 marriage. And we learned in chapter one that 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.519 God came to Hosea and said, go and marry a woman. 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:31.260 We later find out her name is Gomer. Go and marry 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:35.019 a woman, a promiscuous woman, or in some translations, 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:40.219 a prostitute or a harlot, a woman who sleeps 00:01:40.219 --> 00:01:44.780 around. Go and marry her and love her and take 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:48.599 her as your own because she represents the people 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.140 of Israel. and how they have been unfaithful 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:54.079 to their God. And Hosea gets to play the role 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:56.780 of God in the sense that he is going to love 00:01:56.780 --> 00:02:01.599 her in spite of her unfaithfulness. And now, 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:03.879 a couple chapters later, we're in chapter three, 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:06.480 a really short one, only five verses. And we 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.539 get this message from the Lord. Then the Lord 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:14.319 said to Hosea, go again. Show love to a woman 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.699 who is loved by another man and is an adulteress. 00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:21.270 Just as the Lord loves the Israelites though 00:02:21.270 --> 00:02:25.210 they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:28.229 anyone out there love raisin cakes talking to 00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:33.430 you today Last week was figs and I told you if 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:36.449 you like fig newtons, you're weird today. It's 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:42.289 raisin cakes We might even we might even substitute 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:44.169 raisin cakes for raisin bread any of you guys 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:48.960 do raisin bread still ah I guess you could choose 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:53.300 to live that way if you want. But there is a 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:56.159 program for that, and I'll get you plugged in 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:00.780 afterward. All right. Jess says the Lord loves 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:03.479 the Israelites, though they turn to other gods 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:05.199 and love raisin cakes. I'll explain that in a 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:06.639 little bit. We'll just let that one linger for 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:10.080 a little bit. So I bought her, this is now Hosea 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.479 speaking, first person. So I bought her for 15 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.740 shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. 00:03:17.050 --> 00:03:21.169 I said to her, you are to live with me many days. 00:03:21.669 --> 00:03:24.610 You must not be promiscuous or belong to any 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:27.650 man, and I will act the same toward you, for 00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:30.569 the Israelites must live many days without king 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:33.330 or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, 00:03:33.990 --> 00:03:37.469 and without ifad or household idols. Afterward, 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:40.280 The people of Israel will return and seek the 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:43.039 Lord their God and David their King. They will 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:45.719 come with awe to the Lord and to his goodness 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:53.680 in the last days. This is God's word. So imagine 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:56.199 for a moment as we get started, it's the 13th 00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:00.400 century and we're in the region of the Mediterranean 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.479 and coastal towns Along the Mediterranean are 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:10.740 living in constant fear of pirates raiding. North 00:04:10.740 --> 00:04:14.280 African corsairs and Muslim raiders are prowling 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:17.120 the seas and they're capturing entire crews of 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.259 merchant ships and raiding small villages. They're 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:23.600 dragging men and women and children away in chains. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:28.779 They're taken across the sea, across the Mediterranean 00:04:28.779 --> 00:04:33.529 and sold in these bustling slave markets. Human 00:04:33.529 --> 00:04:36.069 lives that are reduced to nothing more than a 00:04:36.069 --> 00:04:40.129 number and a price. And now imagine you're at 00:04:40.129 --> 00:04:42.769 one of those slave markets where there's the 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:45.889 buying and selling of humans and into one of 00:04:45.889 --> 00:04:50.569 those markets walks a robed friar or priest. 00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:53.990 And the white cross of his order is stitched 00:04:53.990 --> 00:04:58.089 into his chest. He's a part of an order called 00:04:58.089 --> 00:05:02.199 the Mercedarians. The Mercedarians were a Christian 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.339 order that were founded with one mission in mind. 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:11.800 They were going to ransom captives. And their 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:15.920 founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, he believed this 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.420 work reflected the very heart of Christ's mission 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:21.639 in this world to set captives free even if it 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:25.160 came at great personal cost. And so this priest 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:28.779 moves from stall to stall in this human marketplace, 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:32.339 speaking quietly to merchants, counting out coins 00:05:32.339 --> 00:05:36.439 and striking deals. Each transaction that he 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:40.360 makes is a life, a father or a mother or a child, 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.540 pulled from slavery and restored to freedom. 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:48.560 But the ransom funds, as you can imagine, never 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.300 stretch far enough. Some years, the friars They 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:56.899 can't buy back everyone in the marketplace. And 00:05:56.899 --> 00:05:59.220 when the silver runs out, guess what happens? 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:01.420 When the silver runs out and there's no money 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:06.740 to buy anymore, they fall back on their sworn 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:11.160 vow as a part of their order. Their unique vow 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:17.100 in this particular order was this, that they 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:20.079 will offer themselves in exchange for the prisoner. 00:06:21.149 --> 00:06:24.850 that when money runs out, when they don't have 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:29.110 the coins to buy, they commit to offer their 00:06:29.110 --> 00:06:38.730 life if they can free a captive. One friar might 00:06:38.730 --> 00:06:41.649 walk away from a marketplace empty -handed, not 00:06:41.649 --> 00:06:44.269 because he failed in his mission, but because 00:06:44.269 --> 00:06:46.870 he is wearing the very chains of another, taking 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:49.470 that captive's place so the person could go free. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.379 This is not a metaphor and this is not a made 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:56.220 -up story, but it was a very public and costly 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:59.759 act of redemption. The friars bore the humiliation. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.579 They paid the price. They carried away the shame 00:07:02.579 --> 00:07:08.300 that belonged to someone else. Where did they 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:13.740 learn this kind of love? In a world of taking 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:16.399 whatever is mine or whatever I can get my hands 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:19.180 on, where did these priests learn this kind of 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:25.420 love? Why were they so committed to setting captives 00:07:25.420 --> 00:07:30.060 free? Well, they did it because they believed 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:33.779 this was exactly what Jesus had done for them 00:07:33.779 --> 00:07:41.560 They were moved by Jesus redemption his salvation 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:46.579 and his freedom Now imagine that scene in picture 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:50.720 Hosea In Hosea chapter three, we watch God command 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:54.660 his prophet to step into his own kind of marketplace. 00:07:55.819 --> 00:07:58.860 Gomer, his wife, isn't just to be forgiven, she's 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:03.079 to be bought back again. Hosea will bear the 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.199 shame, he will pay the price, and then he's going 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:08.680 to walk her into a season of restoration. It's 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.639 a living picture of what God has done for his 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:16.089 people and what Christ has done for us. And today 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:18.250 we're gonna walk through this short chapter in 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:23.730 five movements, the command to pursue the price 00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:26.670 of redemption, the purpose of waiting, the promise 00:08:26.670 --> 00:08:29.769 of restoration, and ultimately our response to 00:08:29.769 --> 00:08:32.769 costly grace. And by the end, my prayer is that 00:08:32.769 --> 00:08:35.990 you and I will not only understand God's love 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:39.289 more clearly, but you will feel the weight of 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:41.889 it and you will be moved to live in light of 00:08:41.889 --> 00:08:45.980 it. So if you're taking notes, the first point 00:08:45.980 --> 00:08:49.639 I'll have you write down is the command to love 00:08:49.639 --> 00:08:56.220 the unlovely. Hosea chapter three opens with 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:59.279 this surprising and weighty command. Then the 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:03.080 Lord said to Hosea, go again and show love to 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.940 a woman who is loved by another man and is an 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.759 adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites, 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:11.940 though they turn to other gods and love raisin 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:19.460 cakes. Notice that it begins with this one word, 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:24.059 again. Go again. This isn't Hosea's first act 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:26.980 of obedience like this. He's already felt the 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:30.320 sting of betrayal. He's already lived through 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:32.919 the pain of Gomer's unfaithfulness, and yet God 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:35.840 tells him to go again to her. She's run off. 00:09:37.409 --> 00:09:40.450 She's with another man, and so Hosea's wife Gomer 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:43.809 is described in the present tense. She's actively 00:09:43.809 --> 00:09:47.789 with another man now. She's actively living in 00:09:47.789 --> 00:09:51.649 adultery. This is not a situation where repentance 00:09:51.649 --> 00:09:54.710 has already taken place in her life. She hasn't 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:58.529 come to her senses. She hasn't turned her life 00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:02.730 around, and still Hosea is told to go and pursue 00:10:02.730 --> 00:10:07.769 her. And the heart of the command is this, go 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:11.389 and love right in the middle of unfaithfulness. 00:10:14.629 --> 00:10:17.669 Now the reference to those raisin cakes, right? 00:10:25.070 --> 00:10:28.509 I cannot, okay, I don't know why I'm doing this, 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:31.350 but we're going off the rails, someone get me 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:35.870 back on. Anyone know who Brian Regan is? Okay, 00:10:37.009 --> 00:10:38.929 well, not enough of you know, so you won't know. 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:41.169 But there's a, if you ever come across Brian 00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:45.809 Regan and his bit on grapes and raisins, you'll 00:10:45.809 --> 00:10:49.610 be rolling in the aisles. I pull it up ever so 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:52.350 often just so I can not breathe for a while and 00:10:52.350 --> 00:10:55.830 just laugh. Okay, we're gonna set that aside 00:10:55.830 --> 00:10:58.009 though. The reference to raisin cakes. Raisin 00:10:58.009 --> 00:11:00.450 cakes, this is just pointing to a cultural backdrop 00:11:00.450 --> 00:11:03.509 of the moment right now. These sweet treats, 00:11:03.549 --> 00:11:06.240 these raisin cakes, were often connected with 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:08.440 pagan worship. They were the offerings that were 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:11.059 brought to the worship festivals to pagan gods. 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.940 And what this means is Israel's unfaithfulness 00:11:14.940 --> 00:11:17.480 wasn't just that they were drifting away slowly 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:19.480 from the Lord, but it was that they were actually 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:23.360 celebrating life with other gods. They were celebrating 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.879 their life with their idols while they're at 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:27.899 the same time turning their back on the Lord. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:32.840 And see, God isn't asking Hosea to engage in 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:36.700 some mere sentimentality or some mere sentimental 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:40.279 affection for Gomer. But instead, he's being 00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:45.580 commanded to move toward Gomer in her disobedience 00:11:45.580 --> 00:11:50.120 with a deliberate covenantal choice to love the 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:53.960 one who has broken the covenant. If you're married, 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:59.509 that should be convicting. We oftentimes use 00:11:59.509 --> 00:12:03.110 our marriage covenant, you know, as a 50 -50, 00:12:03.269 --> 00:12:06.070 man, meet me halfway, right? What happens when 00:12:06.070 --> 00:12:09.370 your spouse doesn't meet you halfway? Do you 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:13.070 move away or do you move toward? The love of 00:12:13.070 --> 00:12:17.070 God as communicated in Hosea is to move toward, 00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:20.570 to pursue. Oh, they're not holding up there into 00:12:20.570 --> 00:12:26.700 the bargain. Move toward, pursue. Deliberate, 00:12:26.700 --> 00:12:30.600 covenantal choice to love. To feel the weight 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:32.399 of this, we also have to understand what a covenant 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.440 actually meant in this time. A covenant was really 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.759 important. You could think of it as a contract, 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:41.740 but it was more than a contract. You know, even 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:44.799 in a marriage, you might have vows, right? But 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.559 oftentimes the vows is, I'll do this, I'll do 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:48.740 that, I'll do this, I'll do that. Not many of 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:51.460 our marriages nowadays say, and if I don't, you 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:55.490 can do this to me. Right? It's just I'll promise 00:12:55.490 --> 00:12:57.330 to do that. You promise to do that. There's no 00:12:57.330 --> 00:12:59.350 enforcement mechanism, especially in a world 00:12:59.350 --> 00:13:01.110 where there's no fault divorce, right? You just 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:08.110 didn't work out. But to understand covenant in 00:13:08.110 --> 00:13:09.710 their time is so much more than that, because 00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:12.889 in the ancient Near East culture, a covenant 00:13:12.889 --> 00:13:17.129 was sealed in blood. Now, not in your blood. 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:20.009 What you would do is each of the parties of the 00:13:20.009 --> 00:13:23.080 covenant would sacrifice an animal. And they 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:24.980 would divide the animal into pieces and they 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:28.820 would lay it on altars on each side, right? So 00:13:28.820 --> 00:13:30.960 you might imagine there's some altars or some 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:32.779 pillars here and you would lay them on this side 00:13:32.779 --> 00:13:34.820 and on that side. And if I was one of the parties 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:37.080 and Adrian was the other party, I would walk 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.240 through the pillars between these animals on 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:43.820 each side first. I would walk through them and 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:46.759 I would say something to the effect of this. 00:13:47.700 --> 00:13:49.399 If I could find it on the page, there it is. 00:13:50.219 --> 00:13:53.039 I would say something like, may I become like 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.539 these animals if I break this covenant. May I 00:13:57.539 --> 00:14:00.960 become like these animals who have shed their 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.980 blood, who are dead here on the side, if I break 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:04.860 the covenant. And once I've walked through, Adrian 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:06.700 will walk through and say the same thing. And 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:10.519 now our covenant is sealed. And so that's how 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:15.000 important covenant was in the Old Testament times. 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:18.679 But when we look at God's covenant with his people 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:20.679 Israel, we have to look all the way back to the 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.740 patriarch Abraham and to Genesis chapter 15, 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.659 where the covenant was sealed in this ceremony. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:30.379 And it's the same ceremony it took place between 00:14:30.379 --> 00:14:33.460 God and Abraham, a covenant. And yet there's 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:35.820 some important details that are different in 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:39.519 that story. Instead of God walking through in 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:43.679 some way through the alleyway, the pathway between 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:46.250 these animals, and then Abraham doing it, God 00:14:46.250 --> 00:14:50.190 actually puts Abraham into his deep sleep. And 00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:52.330 then Abraham has a vision. And what Abraham sees 00:14:52.330 --> 00:14:55.769 in that vision is that a torch in a bucket, basically 00:14:55.769 --> 00:15:00.710 a pail full of fire, floating, passing through 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:05.950 between those animals back and forth. And you 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:07.769 may not get the imagery, but it's something like 00:15:07.769 --> 00:15:10.909 this. It was God's way of saying to Abraham, 00:15:11.009 --> 00:15:14.019 I'm going to make a covenant with you. But I 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:16.019 take full responsibility of this covenant on 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:20.860 myself. I take full responsibility. When you 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:24.759 fail, I will remain faithful. When you fail, 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.120 I'll take the covenantial curse on myself in 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.460 your place. Some of you Jesus people are starting 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:35.539 to think things, right? Wait a sec. All the way 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:42.240 back in Genesis 15? When you fail, I will remain 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:47.590 faithful. And so when God comes to Hosea and 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:50.230 says, we're gonna go ahead and use marriage covenant 00:15:50.230 --> 00:15:54.789 as an image so we can better understand this 00:15:54.789 --> 00:15:57.970 relationship between me, God, and my people. 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:03.210 He uses this imagery of this relationship. And 00:16:03.210 --> 00:16:06.870 yes, God wears a lot of hats, doesn't he? Is 00:16:06.870 --> 00:16:10.809 God boss? Yeah, he's boss. Is he king? Yeah, 00:16:10.809 --> 00:16:14.840 he's king. Is he landlord? Yeah, he's landlord. 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:20.500 Food supplier? Yep, he's that too. But you cannot 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:23.820 take all of those and set aside this one major 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.120 image that he puts throughout his whole word, 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:29.080 his whole revelation, and that is it's also like 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:33.700 a marriage. He's like a husband. He's like a 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:39.000 husband to an unfaithful wife. He's in a marriage 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.700 and it's a bad marriage. And it's a bad marriage 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:45.240 because his people are unfaithful. And yet he 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:50.379 remains faithful. Yet he will work it out. It's 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:53.799 his marriage. He took both sides of the covenant 00:16:53.799 --> 00:17:02.600 on himself. And so as Hosea is called to love 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:06.680 Gomer, despite her betrayal, God continues to 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:11.490 love his people despite theirs. And even in his 00:17:11.490 --> 00:17:15.029 discipline, that comes from a place of faithfulness 00:17:15.029 --> 00:17:19.589 and affection for his people. God moves toward 00:17:19.589 --> 00:17:23.450 the unworthy. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:27.430 Thank you, Jesus. God moves toward the unworthy. 00:17:28.829 --> 00:17:31.569 He shows love to those who haven't earned it, 00:17:32.349 --> 00:17:35.849 those who could never repay it, those who even 00:17:35.849 --> 00:17:43.079 might reject it. That's the way he loves. Number 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:47.380 two, the cost of redemption. Verse two brings 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:51.640 up the cost of Hosea's redemption of Gomer. And 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:56.460 it says, so I bought her for 15 shekels of silver 00:17:56.460 --> 00:18:00.759 and nine bushels of barley. And so this scene 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:04.240 shifts away from the Lord's words to Hosea's 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.940 obedience. And the language here is the language 00:18:07.940 --> 00:18:10.960 of the marketplace. Gomer is not simply coming 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:17.220 home to this time. She has to be purchased. The 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:20.019 cost that is listed is also telling, because 00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:22.980 15 shekels of silver is only about half of the 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:26.799 typical price of a slave. And so Hosea has to 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:29.940 muster up the rest of the price in barley to 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:34.160 go all the way to get to the full value. And 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.859 the details suggest that Hosea may have had to 00:18:36.859 --> 00:18:39.500 empty everything that he owned, the silver from 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.299 his purse and barley from his storehouses to 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:45.039 complete the transaction. It was a payment that 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:51.180 cost him in both wealth and pride. And this moment 00:18:51.180 --> 00:18:53.740 makes the situation really clear. Gomer must 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:56.900 have fallen so far that she is in some kind of 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:00.339 bondage. Perhaps she's been sold into slavery. 00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:03.369 or an indentured servitude because of an unpaid 00:19:03.369 --> 00:19:11.329 debt, perhaps her pimp no longer has use for 00:19:11.329 --> 00:19:14.369 her and has decided he's going to put her on 00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:19.109 the open market. One thing is for sure, she is 00:19:19.109 --> 00:19:24.089 no longer free to come and go. And her redemption 00:19:24.089 --> 00:19:29.109 is not a matter of words, but a payment is required. 00:19:30.580 --> 00:19:34.539 Hosea cannot simply ask for her back. He has 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:39.859 to pay the price to bring her home. I don't want 00:19:39.859 --> 00:19:42.759 the weight of this scene to be missed. The prophet 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:46.319 of God walks into the marketplace not to purchase 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:50.200 an ox, not to buy a new plot of land, but to 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:55.460 buy back his unfaithful wife. Every coin that 00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:57.940 is counted out, every measure of barley that 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:01.000 is handed over is an act of humiliation before 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:05.220 the watching eyes of the community. The whispers 00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:07.619 that must have followed, isn't that the prophet 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:19.400 of God? And he's buying her back? In this, Hosea 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:21.720 not only shows the love that God has for his 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.990 people Israel, But Hosea begins to foreshadow 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:28.789 the heart of the very gospel of Jesus Christ 00:20:28.789 --> 00:20:35.150 Redemption is never free friends Someone always 00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:40.410 bears the cost Redemption is never free someone 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:45.569 always bears the cost And for Israel that cost 00:20:45.569 --> 00:20:48.849 was born by God himself who repeatedly rescued 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:51.910 them from the sin their sin at great expense 00:20:52.970 --> 00:20:56.130 But in the end God had a plan to rescue his people 00:20:56.130 --> 00:20:58.250 and not only his people but anyone who might 00:20:58.250 --> 00:21:02.210 put their trust in him They would be rescued 00:21:02.210 --> 00:21:06.130 from slavery to sin and to death God had a plan 00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:10.690 and still someone had to pay the price Redemption 00:21:10.690 --> 00:21:15.589 is never free Someone always has to pay the price 00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:21.069 and so God himself would pay the price in the 00:21:21.069 --> 00:21:25.180 precious blood of Christ Peter wrote in first 00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:28.480 Peter we just studied you were redeemed you were 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:31.839 redeemed from your empty way of life Handed down 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:35.420 to you by your forefathers not with the perishable 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:38.880 things like silver or gold but with the Imperishable 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:43.720 the precious blood of Christ You were bought 00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:47.279 back you were in the marketplace you were unloved 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:51.779 You were put out hung out to dry and God Purchased 00:21:51.779 --> 00:21:57.529 you with his blood. And Hosea's purchase of Gomer 00:21:57.529 --> 00:22:00.410 shows us that love is more than words. It's a 00:22:00.410 --> 00:22:02.950 willingness to bear the cost to set the beloved 00:22:02.950 --> 00:22:09.829 free. Any marriage that has worked out knows 00:22:09.829 --> 00:22:14.829 that full well, doesn't it? Every marriage that 00:22:14.829 --> 00:22:18.529 has worked out, the parties have had to bear 00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:24.440 the cost. to set the beloved free. There's always 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:28.339 a cost. And that's the nature of redemption. 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:31.220 It steps into the place of bondage. It meets 00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:34.019 the terms of freedom. It pays what is required 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.900 without resentment. And when that redemption 00:22:37.900 --> 00:22:40.480 is put on display like the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:43.700 it speaks volumes about the Redeemer. It causes 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:47.539 us to erupt in worship and praise of Him. Songs 00:22:47.539 --> 00:22:52.049 will be written and sung. about that kind of 00:22:52.049 --> 00:22:56.990 redeemer. Friends, do you see this great love 00:22:56.990 --> 00:23:00.630 of God who would rescue and save you at great 00:23:00.630 --> 00:23:05.930 cost to himself? What has loving others cost 00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:13.849 you? Hosea's act shows that true God -defined 00:23:13.849 --> 00:23:17.349 love is always willing to pay the price. If you're 00:23:17.349 --> 00:23:20.009 taking notes, write down Number three, the purpose 00:23:20.009 --> 00:23:27.970 of waiting. After the purchase is made, Hosea 00:23:27.970 --> 00:23:31.829 speaks to Gomer and says, I said to her, you 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:35.289 are to live with me many days. You must not be 00:23:35.289 --> 00:23:38.490 promiscuous or belong to any man and I will act 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:43.109 the same way toward you. So now Hosea, he sets 00:23:43.109 --> 00:23:45.569 the terms for this new chapter of their life. 00:23:45.730 --> 00:23:48.700 She is to remain with him. But there will be 00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:52.940 a period of waiting before marital intimacy is 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:56.039 restored between them. When it says, you must 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:58.720 not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.019 I will act the same way towards you. That's Jose's 00:24:02.019 --> 00:24:04.420 way of saying, we're going to enter into a time 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:07.900 in the covenant where we're going to remain together, 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.380 but we're not going to have marital intimacy 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:13.779 yet. There'll be a time. And this waiting period 00:24:13.779 --> 00:24:16.829 is not punishment for punishment's sake. It is 00:24:16.829 --> 00:24:19.809 purposeful. It's a time for rebuilding trust, 00:24:21.210 --> 00:24:24.130 for healing what was broken, for reestablishing 00:24:24.130 --> 00:24:28.289 covenantal faithfulness. The Lord uses Hosea's 00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:30.750 actions to mirror his own dealings with Israel. 00:24:31.349 --> 00:24:35.029 He will redeem his people, but he will also lead 00:24:35.029 --> 00:24:37.569 them into a season where their idols are stripped 00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:39.950 away from them, where they are removed from the 00:24:39.950 --> 00:24:42.730 false loves that have led them astray, where 00:24:42.730 --> 00:24:47.640 they learn to belong to him again. Restoration 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:53.160 is more than rescue. It's also reformation. And 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:55.460 right here, we should talk about the difference 00:24:55.460 --> 00:25:00.200 between two kinds of graces, two types of grace. 00:25:01.059 --> 00:25:05.299 One grace is cheap grace, and one grace is costly 00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:10.400 grace. Cheap grace and costly grace. What is 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:14.960 cheap grace? Well, cheap grace is forgiveness 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:21.519 without change. Cheap grace is restoration of 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:26.099 relationship without repentance. Cheap grace 00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:31.240 is love without transformation. It rushes past 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:33.720 the waiting because it doesn't want the discomfort 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:38.000 of reordering life around faithfulness. Cheap 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.099 grace treats sin lightly because it treats the 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:45.549 cross lightly. A cheap grace trivializes sin 00:25:45.549 --> 00:25:48.650 because it treats sin as something that is small 00:25:48.650 --> 00:25:52.609 and harmless or inconsequential rather than as 00:25:52.609 --> 00:25:57.869 the deadly rebellion that sin is. When grace 00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:01.670 is cheap, forgiveness becomes assumed rather 00:26:01.670 --> 00:26:06.329 than cherished. Sin is acknowledged, but only 00:26:06.329 --> 00:26:09.809 superficially, if at all, because the cost of 00:26:09.809 --> 00:26:11.569 that forgiveness is ignored because that cost 00:26:11.569 --> 00:26:15.630 of that forgiveness is not much. Instead of seeing 00:26:15.630 --> 00:26:18.529 sin as an offense that required the death of 00:26:18.529 --> 00:26:22.369 the Son of God, cheap grace treats it as a minor 00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:31.549 flaw, just a minor character flaw. Maybe unwise, 00:26:31.589 --> 00:26:37.849 maybe not good. That can be brushed away without 00:26:37.849 --> 00:26:42.109 repentance, transformation or obedience. Dietrich 00:26:42.109 --> 00:26:46.339 Bonhoeffer. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:49.579 wrote a chapter about cheap grace. And in that 00:26:49.579 --> 00:26:51.880 he said, cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness 00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:57.400 without requiring repentance. Cheap grace is 00:26:57.400 --> 00:26:59.660 grace without the cross, grace without Jesus 00:26:59.660 --> 00:27:07.019 Christ living and incarnate. It's not to offend 00:27:07.019 --> 00:27:11.920 anyone who likes Oprah, but it's everyone gets 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:17.440 a car. Look under your seat, everyone gets a 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:28.140 right. Just take it. It's no big deal, it's everyone's. 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:37.319 True, costly grace exposes sin for what it really 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:42.759 is, spiritual treason. But then it magnifies 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:48.920 the cross as the only remedy. It says what sin 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:51.759 is. It doesn't minimize sin. It doesn't say, 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.200 sin, oh, that's not a big deal. We all sin. That's 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:57.579 no big deal, right? As if you and I are the measurement 00:27:57.579 --> 00:28:06.930 of what is good. Instead of minimizing sin, We 00:28:06.930 --> 00:28:10.509 say, yeah, sin is what sin is. Spiritual treason, 00:28:10.809 --> 00:28:13.329 rebellion against God, our creator, to whom we 00:28:13.329 --> 00:28:15.910 are all accountable. But you know what that does 00:28:15.910 --> 00:28:18.410 when we call sin what it is? It makes the cross 00:28:18.410 --> 00:28:26.890 all the more glorious. The remedy, the link to 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:29.910 which God would go to release us from that sin, 00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:46.420 that debt becomes all the more glorious. Costly 00:28:46.420 --> 00:28:50.980 grace tells us that God's grace is free, but 00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:55.319 it came at the highest possible price. And to 00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:59.299 receive it is to walk in newness of life, not 00:28:59.299 --> 00:29:01.980 to return to the slavery that Christ died to 00:29:01.980 --> 00:29:07.299 free us from. It is grace that rescues from the 00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:10.180 pit and then teaches the rescued to walk in a 00:29:10.180 --> 00:29:14.089 whole new way. Costly grace understands that 00:29:14.089 --> 00:29:17.589 the waiting time is part of the healing. It insists 00:29:17.589 --> 00:29:20.470 that restored relationship with God is not merely 00:29:20.470 --> 00:29:24.750 a return to old patterns, but a new life lived 00:29:24.750 --> 00:29:27.930 under the terms of the covenant. It costs God 00:29:27.930 --> 00:29:33.589 the life of his son to redeem us. And what has 00:29:33.589 --> 00:29:37.230 cost so much cannot be made cheap by us again. 00:29:40.109 --> 00:29:43.609 This is why Hosea does not simply buy Gomer back 00:29:43.609 --> 00:29:47.769 and return to life as if nothing happened. He 00:29:47.769 --> 00:29:51.529 redeems her and then he sets the boundaries that 00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:55.930 will guard and grow the relationship. It is the 00:29:55.930 --> 00:29:58.230 same with God and his people. The season of waiting 00:29:58.230 --> 00:30:01.789 is grace in action. It is the space where God 00:30:01.789 --> 00:30:04.549 pulls us away from all of our false gods and 00:30:04.549 --> 00:30:08.809 teaches our hearts to love him again. And for 00:30:08.809 --> 00:30:11.529 us, this means we must be willing to embrace 00:30:11.529 --> 00:30:15.049 the process of costly grace in our own discipleship, 00:30:15.410 --> 00:30:17.849 in our own walk with Jesus. We cannot expect 00:30:17.849 --> 00:30:22.509 instant maturity, instant intimacy with God, 00:30:23.130 --> 00:30:27.529 or instant healing from sin's wounds. God in 00:30:27.529 --> 00:30:29.789 his mercy will sometimes lead us through seasons 00:30:29.789 --> 00:30:32.289 where the old loves are removed from our life, 00:30:33.210 --> 00:30:37.390 where the easy comforts are stripped away. where 00:30:37.390 --> 00:30:43.609 all we have is Him. And those seasons may feel 00:30:43.609 --> 00:30:46.849 like exile, but they are actually preparation 00:30:46.849 --> 00:30:51.950 for deeper, truer intimacy with God. I love this 00:30:51.950 --> 00:30:58.349 quote by A .W. Tozer. It reminds me often of 00:30:58.349 --> 00:31:03.430 God's timing. Go ahead and put it up there. God 00:31:03.430 --> 00:31:09.160 never hurries. There are no deadlines against 00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:13.819 which he must work. His only concern is the perfection 00:31:13.819 --> 00:31:21.420 of your soul. Oh God, but I've been in this valley 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:28.940 of trouble for an hour. Get me out of here. But 00:31:28.940 --> 00:31:31.650 I've been here a day. I've been here a week. 00:31:31.690 --> 00:31:33.789 I've been here for three months. I've been here 00:31:33.789 --> 00:31:37.589 for a decade. God, get me out of here. God never 00:31:37.589 --> 00:31:43.690 hurries. You got no boss. No one laying down 00:31:43.690 --> 00:31:47.490 deadlines for him. No. He'll take whatever time 00:31:47.490 --> 00:31:52.210 it takes to perfect his character and his life 00:31:52.210 --> 00:31:58.319 in you. So when God calls you into a time of 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:01.079 waiting, whether after failure or right in the 00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:05.160 middle of a trial or simply a season of spiritual 00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:08.819 dryness, I would encourage you to not despise 00:32:08.819 --> 00:32:14.380 it. Waiting is where costly grace does its work. 00:32:15.339 --> 00:32:20.259 It is in those many days that God is making you 00:32:20.259 --> 00:32:26.259 His again. Number four. the picture of restoration. 00:32:29.019 --> 00:32:32.279 The final two verses lift our eyes from Hosea's 00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:35.400 home and his life and his marriage to God's larger 00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:39.599 plan for salvation. It says that, for the Israelites 00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:43.160 must live many days without king or prince, without 00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:45.619 sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod 00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:48.420 and household items. And afterward, the people 00:32:48.420 --> 00:32:51.119 of Israel will return and seek the Lord their 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:54.039 God and David their king. They will come with 00:32:54.039 --> 00:32:57.539 awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the last 00:32:57.539 --> 00:33:01.319 days. And remember, he's talking about idolatrous, 00:33:01.740 --> 00:33:04.180 unfaithful Israel here. And he's saying, there's 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:07.849 a day that's coming after the waiting period, 00:33:08.150 --> 00:33:11.710 after the exile, when they will come and stand 00:33:11.710 --> 00:33:16.670 in awe of the Lord and his goodness and seek 00:33:16.670 --> 00:33:21.910 in return to David their king. And here the many 00:33:21.910 --> 00:33:24.529 days for Hosea's personal life are now applied 00:33:24.529 --> 00:33:27.029 to the whole nation of Israel. Israel is going 00:33:27.029 --> 00:33:29.609 to go through a long season of stripping, stripping 00:33:29.609 --> 00:33:32.390 away everything that they've relied on. Before 00:33:32.390 --> 00:33:34.670 the legitimate, whether it's the legitimate structures 00:33:34.670 --> 00:33:37.009 of their worship or the illegitimate structures 00:33:37.009 --> 00:33:40.950 of their idolatry, they're going to have no king 00:33:40.950 --> 00:33:42.769 to lead them. They're going to have no temple 00:33:42.769 --> 00:33:45.890 to sacrifice at and no idols to bow down. They're 00:33:45.890 --> 00:33:48.910 going to go into exile, removed from their land, 00:33:49.329 --> 00:33:53.009 subject to a foreign king and authority for a 00:33:53.009 --> 00:33:57.180 time. And at first this might seem like abandonment, 00:33:57.339 --> 00:33:59.720 like God has abandoned his people, but it is 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:03.819 actually the discipline of love. God is removing 00:34:03.819 --> 00:34:06.299 both the crutches and the poison so that the 00:34:06.299 --> 00:34:10.900 people will learn to lean on him again. This 00:34:10.900 --> 00:34:13.780 time of deprivation has a purpose in it. It is 00:34:13.780 --> 00:34:16.599 leading somewhere to verse five because verse 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:20.679 five gives the hope beyond the exile afterward. 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:27.840 The word is full of promise. After the waiting, 00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:30.719 after the stripping away, after the discipline, 00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:33.059 the people of Israel will return and seek the 00:34:33.059 --> 00:34:36.239 Lord their God and David their king. And it's 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:37.800 kind of interesting that they would mention David 00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:40.539 their king because David is long dead by this 00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:44.460 point in time. David is gone. He's in the ground. 00:34:44.500 --> 00:34:47.280 He's buried. So how are they going to return 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:52.489 and seek David their king? Well, it's this interesting 00:34:52.489 --> 00:34:55.210 reality about the Bible, especially if you open 00:34:55.210 --> 00:34:58.110 up the first pages of Matthew in the New Testament. 00:34:58.570 --> 00:35:01.769 You read in the first pages of Matthew a genealogy, 00:35:02.210 --> 00:35:04.369 basically tracing the roots. Where did Jesus 00:35:04.369 --> 00:35:09.070 come from? What family line is he from? Anyone 00:35:09.070 --> 00:35:14.809 know? He's in the line of David. He is in the 00:35:14.809 --> 00:35:22.199 line of David. Jesus. is the future and better, 00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:27.480 David their King. And after stripping away the 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:29.659 Lord, the people of Israel will return and seek 00:35:29.659 --> 00:35:32.519 the Lord their God and David their King, pointing 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:35.500 forward to the Messiah, the son of David, Jesus 00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:38.199 Christ, who would shepherd God's people with 00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:42.380 perfect righteousness. The return is not just 00:35:42.380 --> 00:35:44.760 to a place, not just back to their land, but 00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:47.400 to a person, to a person who will bridge the 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:50.960 gap and reunite God's people with God and restore 00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:56.940 the relationship. And they will come with awe 00:35:56.940 --> 00:36:04.179 to the Lord and to his goodness. For us, these 00:36:04.179 --> 00:36:07.360 verses remind us that God's discipline is never 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:13.780 the end and never and end in itself. The many 00:36:13.780 --> 00:36:16.059 days are always moving toward the afterward. 00:36:17.579 --> 00:36:20.260 The many days of discipline are always moving 00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:24.960 toward the afterward. God's goal is restoration. 00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:28.099 God's goal is a people who know him and who love 00:36:28.099 --> 00:36:30.420 him and who live under the reign of the greater 00:36:30.420 --> 00:36:33.440 David, Jesus Christ. And when that restoration 00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:36.440 comes, whether in small ways or in this life 00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:39.440 or in... fully and finally in Jesus's return, 00:36:39.699 --> 00:36:42.880 it will produce in us that same awe described 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:45.719 here. We will stand amazed at a God who would 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.260 not only pursue us in our unfaithfulness, not 00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:50.739 only pay the price for our redemption, not only 00:36:50.739 --> 00:36:53.840 reform us through costly grace, but will also 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:59.559 bring us all the way home. Lest the hope Hosea 00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:02.719 holds out, the Redeemer will not stop until his 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:05.500 people are fully restored and completely his. 00:37:08.619 --> 00:37:14.719 And so finally, our response to costly grace. 00:37:18.380 --> 00:37:20.800 Jose's story in chapter three is more than an 00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:23.659 ancient episode between a prophet and his unfaithful 00:37:23.659 --> 00:37:32.079 wife. It really is our story. We are Gomer. Every 00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:37.980 one of us. We are Gomer. pursued even while we're 00:37:37.980 --> 00:37:42.320 running away, bought when we were enslaved to 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:46.079 sin, reformed when we were wayward, restored 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:51.260 when we had no way to bring ourselves back. The 00:37:51.260 --> 00:37:54.340 relentless love in verse one and the price that 00:37:54.340 --> 00:37:56.880 is paid in verse two and the purposeful waiting 00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:59.639 in verse three leads to the final restoration 00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:02.179 in verse four and five, and all of it points 00:38:02.179 --> 00:38:07.800 us to a greater Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And if 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:12.659 this is the way that God has loved us, then the 00:38:12.659 --> 00:38:16.000 question is this, how do we respond to such costly 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:21.519 grace? And I'll tell you, the answer cannot be 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:27.500 indifference. The cross leaves no room for half 00:38:27.500 --> 00:38:32.400 -hearted discipleship. It costs the life of... 00:38:32.349 --> 00:38:35.349 the Son of God to redeem you. The redemption 00:38:35.349 --> 00:38:42.010 is a free gift, but it is not a cheap gift. You 00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:45.989 guys ever got a cheap gift before? Some dilly 00:38:45.989 --> 00:38:49.949 -dally, right? Mom phoned it in for Christmas, 00:38:50.429 --> 00:38:56.269 got you socks. What's this? Actually, the older 00:38:56.269 --> 00:38:59.010 you get, the more I'm like, oh cool, socks. It's 00:38:59.010 --> 00:39:08.289 awesome. Wow, thanks. I remember once I was given 00:39:08.289 --> 00:39:11.210 a gift. I was on staff leading as a worship leader. 00:39:12.210 --> 00:39:14.969 And for my birthday, the staff gathered together 00:39:14.969 --> 00:39:19.170 funds. And I was invited to go to a guitar center. 00:39:19.989 --> 00:39:21.510 And I was a worship leader, so I was leading 00:39:21.510 --> 00:39:26.070 worship. And I was brought there and said, which 00:39:26.070 --> 00:39:29.940 guitar do you want? I was like oh from where 00:39:29.940 --> 00:39:31.719 like there's a lot of guitars around here like 00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:38.500 they're like pick any one you want anyone Well, 00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:42.860 and I'm like, okay, I Don't even care about the 00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:45.460 features. What's the price right? Like if this 00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:47.460 is gonna be a gift, it's gonna be a gift Let's 00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:50.739 make it happen, right? No, there were definitely 00:39:50.739 --> 00:39:52.440 guitars that were more expensive than what I 00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:54.940 chose If you know guitars, then you know there 00:39:54.940 --> 00:39:58.860 are 10, 15, 20, $30 ,000 guitars in a special 00:39:58.860 --> 00:40:02.900 case surrounded by the CIA and FBI and other 00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:08.460 people. Keep people from playing Stairway to 00:40:08.460 --> 00:40:16.179 Heaven on them. But no, I remember receiving 00:40:16.179 --> 00:40:18.820 this gift of a brand new Taylor guitar, around 00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:24.050 $3 ,000 guitar. A blessing. But I remember it 00:40:24.050 --> 00:40:29.110 was a gift. It was free. But it cost way more 00:40:29.110 --> 00:40:32.710 than I would ever spend on a guitar. Way more. 00:40:35.309 --> 00:40:37.030 The gift of salvation, the gift of redemption 00:40:37.030 --> 00:40:41.929 is a free gift to be received by anyone and everyone, 00:40:42.190 --> 00:40:44.510 to be shouted from the rooftops and told to the 00:40:44.510 --> 00:40:47.070 whole world and invited to receive this free 00:40:47.070 --> 00:40:54.550 gift. But it is not a cheap gift. And for you 00:40:54.550 --> 00:40:57.090 who are walking with Christ, I remind you of 00:40:57.090 --> 00:40:59.170 the words of Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor, who 00:40:59.170 --> 00:41:02.650 was a missionary to China, said, Christ is either 00:41:02.650 --> 00:41:08.889 Lord of all or he is not Lord at all. Christ 00:41:08.889 --> 00:41:11.590 is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all. 00:41:11.610 --> 00:41:15.449 So is Jesus Christ Lord of all in your life? 00:41:16.710 --> 00:41:21.690 Or is Jesus not Lord at all? Because costly grace 00:41:21.690 --> 00:41:24.489 means that we leave behind the idols that would 00:41:24.489 --> 00:41:27.670 our hearts and affections away from God It means 00:41:27.670 --> 00:41:30.909 we do not treat sin lightly or assume that grace 00:41:30.909 --> 00:41:34.289 is a license to live however we please it means 00:41:34.289 --> 00:41:37.809 we embrace the seasons of waiting and Refining 00:41:37.809 --> 00:41:40.170 that God brings into our life trusting that he 00:41:40.170 --> 00:41:45.190 has a purpose and that he is making us into The 00:41:45.190 --> 00:41:49.829 perfect soul that he is aiming for It means that 00:41:49.829 --> 00:41:52.750 we extend the same kind of pursuing, forgiving, 00:41:53.269 --> 00:41:56.329 covenant -keeping love to others, even when it 00:41:56.329 --> 00:42:00.369 costs us greatly. We extend costly grace to them 00:42:00.369 --> 00:42:06.550 as well. Tim Keller says that the gospel is this, 00:42:07.090 --> 00:42:10.429 we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than 00:42:10.429 --> 00:42:14.929 we ever dared believe. Yet at the very same time, 00:42:15.170 --> 00:42:18.050 we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ. 00:42:18.199 --> 00:42:24.219 than we ever dared hope. We respond to costly 00:42:24.219 --> 00:42:27.380 grace with lives that are marked by gratitude 00:42:27.380 --> 00:42:30.920 and obedience and surrender. We take up our cross 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:34.239 daily not to earn his love, but because his love 00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:38.219 has already secured us. We follow Jesus wherever 00:42:38.219 --> 00:42:40.719 he leads because the one who paid the ultimate 00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:43.480 price for us is worthy of nothing less than our 00:42:43.480 --> 00:42:48.820 whole selves. And so today here, Hosea 3, not 00:42:48.820 --> 00:42:51.280 only as a story about God's love for his people 00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:55.519 then, but as an invitation to live in light of 00:42:55.519 --> 00:43:01.320 that love now. Remember who you were when he 00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:06.300 found you. Remember what it cost him to redeem 00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:10.360 you. And let your life be a thank you to the 00:43:10.360 --> 00:43:16.460 one who went out again and paid the price. who 00:43:16.460 --> 00:43:20.019 waited for you and who will one day bring you 00:43:20.019 --> 00:43:20.980 all the way home.