Hosea 3

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 113
• Hymn — O Worship the King (#2)
• Westminster Shorter Catechism Reading — Questions 31 & 32
• Hymn — Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (#529)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Hosea 3
• Sermon
• Hymn — O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (#535)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Vast and Active Love of God for His People

Scripture: Hosea 3

I. The Redeeming Action of the Lord's Vast Love (vv. 1–2)

A. God speaks and calls Hosea to act — "the Lord said to me" reflects God's gracious condescension as a speaking God

• Hosea is commanded to go and love his unfaithful wife Gomer again, mirroring God's pursuit of unfaithful Israel

B. The love takes a specific, costly shape: redemption

• Hosea buys Gomer back for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley — approximately 30 shekels total, the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32)
• Gomer's "free love" had led to bondage; to love her again, Hosea must redeem her

C. This living picture points to Christ's redemption of his people

• Israel's idol worship put them in spiritual bondage, requiring both physical and spiritual redemption
• The price inflates from silver and barley to the blood of the Son of God
  1. Ephesians 1: "In him we have redemption through his blood"
  2. Acts 20: Christ obtained the church with his own blood
• Christ's death pays our debt (justification); his resurrection confirms full redemption of body and soul

II. The Reconditioning Patience of the Lord's Vast Love (vv. 3–4)

A. After redeeming Gomer, Hosea calls her to a season of faithful dwelling and abstaining — a time of purification and heart-resetting

• "You must dwell as mine for many days… so will I also be to you"
• These are gentle, instructing words calling Gomer away from old ways

B. Verse 4 applies the same pattern to Israel: a prolonged season without king, sacrifice, temple, or household gods

• All the elements that had ensnared Israel are removed for a season of cleansing and reconditioning

C. This patience reflects the ongoing work of sanctification in the believer's life

• We live in the "already/not yet" — redeemed, yet still being conformed
• James says we all stumble in many things; Romans 7 — Paul does what he does not want to do
• Sanctification is "a long obedience in the same direction" (Eugene Peterson)
• Israel's 40 years of wilderness wandering illustrates God's patient reconditioning after centuries of pagan influence
• All whom Christ justifies, he also sanctifies — the work is being done progressively, by faith

III. The Resounding Future of the Lord's Vast Love (v. 5)

A. The word "afterward" carries great theological weight — it points to a promised future beyond redemption and reconditioning

B. Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king — fulfilled in Christ

• Christ is both Lord and King; the latter days have dawned with his coming
• All who respond to Christ's invitation in faith (Matthew 11:28) come to their king in reverent, Spirit-wrought fear

C. The latter days are both breaking in now and yet to be fully consummated

• The Spirit poured into our hearts is a foretaste of what will be fully ours at Christ's return
• 1 Corinthians 3 — gold, silver, precious stones will endure; wood, hay, and straw will be burned away
• 1 Thessalonians 4: "We will always be with the Lord" — the word of encouragement for the saints

D. The fullness of the latter days: all counterfeit satisfactions will fall away

• As Gomer's unfaithful lovers give way to her true husband, so our hearts' wandering will give way to full and final satisfaction in Christ
• The consummation is Christ himself — the bridegroom with his bride; all longings finally and fully satisfied

E. Summary of the ordo salutis seen in Hosea 3

1. Justification — redeemed, the debt paid, standing not guilty before God
2. Sanctification — reconditioned, affections remade and refashioned
3. Glorification — the resounding future, brought fully home to Christ