INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Over the past few weeks, we have been examining the subject of love, and particularly God’s love and how it operates in one’s life.
• Love is about commitment and priorities. If we love Jesus, He will be the priority of our life.
• Love is a verb, and God for his love on display by extending his mercy to mankind.
• God actually did something to show us he loves us, He sent His son to die on the cross for our sins so that we can experience and possess eternal life!
• God had shown the nation of Israel as special love throughout the nation’s history.
• However, the nation of Israel continually rejected God’s love by putting other things ahead of their relationship with God.
• In the passage today, which comes from the book of Hosea, the prophet is seeking to get the people to turn back to God.
• Hosea was a prophet for God for over 40 years from about 760-720 BC.
• Hosea was unique because God had him marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer.
• I am not sure which is worse? Promiscuous or being named Gomer? ☺
• Hosea’s marriage was to symbolize the unfaithfulness of Israel as well as the fact that God still loved Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness.
• Hosea message mainly focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel who would eventually fall in 722 BC to the
• Overall, after all God had done for the nation of Israel, Hosea is saying IT IS TIME!
• To bring this thought to us today, let us consider all that God has done, let us consider all the love and patience God has shown to us, let us consider all the blessing God has given, maybe IT IS TIME for us to make some serious changes in our lives today.
• Let’s turn to Hosea 10:12 together as we see that IT IS TIME!
• SLIDE #2
• Hosea 10:12 (HCSB) Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
It is time to:
I. Sow righteousness.
• In the 10th chapter of Hosea, Hosea has talked of the past struggles the people had staying faithful, in the passage we are examining, we see the challenge he lays out before the people.
• In verse 13 we go right back to the theme of disobedience again. Then 14 warns of the coming punishment.
• Verse 12 gives the nation a glimmer of hope, and it gives us hope as well. In between all the disobedience and punishment, we see God is calling the people to get back on track; He has not given up on them, even though He knows they will fail again.
• God still offers His disobedient people a change to get back on the correct path.
• God is patient.
• SLIDE #4
• 2 Peter 3:9 (HCSB) The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
• When a farmer wants a harvest, one of the things he must do is to sow or plant the seeds. Without sowing, there is no potential harvest.
• We need to understand that if we sow corn, we will not harvest wheat.
• The nation was sowing seeds of disobedience; however, Hosea pleaded with them to sow some new seeds.
• In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul says if we practice the deeds of the flesh that we will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• In chapter 6, Paul uses the illustration of reaping and sowing.
• SLIDE #5
• Galatians 6:7–9 (HCSB) Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
• We will reap what we sow, if we sow the seeds of disobedience, we will reap accordingly; however, the message of Hosea is for the people to sow a new seed, the seed of righteousness!
• In the Old Testament, righteousness is one of the complex terms, which describes the nature of God. Righteousness conveys the goodness and fairness of God and implies an important characteristic He seeks in His people.
• So instead of sowing seeds of selfishness and such, we sow seeds of righteousness. This phrase concerns our relationship with other people.
• We will seek to treat them as God would.
• Paul reminds us of a simple principal concerning sowing and reaping.
• SLIDE #6
• 2 Corinthians 9:6 (HCSB) Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
• Since God has done so much for us, we want to sow the seeds of righteousness in abundance!
• Why?
• Hosea says when we sow the seeds of righteousness we will reap faithful love!
• Love is the commitment and devotion from God we will reap as a result of sowing the seeds of righteousness!
• We can never out-give or out-love God!
• SLIDE #7
• Luke 6:38 (HCSB) Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
• What a BLESSING!
• Next we see…
• SLIDE #8
It is time to:
II. Break ground.
• This is another issues tie to repentance, the concept of doing things a different way.
• Before the seeds can be sowed into the ground and a harvest reaped, the soil needs to be prepared.
• Up to now their lives had been like ground that had never been turned over and opened up to the LORD. Before it was too late, the people had to break up the stony ground of their hearts so they could receive God’s Holy Word
Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary - The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible – Daniel, Hosea.
• This is a call to change the old ways and commence with a new course of life!
• To break up the old habits, to leave the old road so long traveled, to turn around and go in an opposite direction—that is not easy. But without such change of mind God cannot forgive. Interpreter's Bible, The - Exposition - The Interpreter's Bible – Volume 6.
• What are some of the things in your old ground of life that need to be plowed under and left behind?
• What are some weeds that need to be pulled from your life?
• What do weeds do to a garden?
• Jesus, in the parable of the sower states…
• SLIDE #9
• Mark 4:7 (HCSB) Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop.
• When our life is full of weeds, what God is seeking to instill in us gets choked out.
• What vices need to be plowed under? What hurts need to be plowed under? What pain needs to be plowed under?
• What is holding you back from fully committing to Jesus?
• This is a question I have to ask my self all the time also.
• Until we understand that in order to live of Jesus, so that we can sow the seeds of righteousness, we need to break new ground!
• Plowing and planting are necessary preliminary steps for growing a crop, which eventually sprouts when the rain falls in season. In the same way, repentance would set the stage for restored blessing, which God would eventually rain down on His people.
• Next…
• SLIDE #10
It is time to:
III. Seek the Lord
• The call in this section of verse 12 is a call to re-establish a relationship with God!
• The word for SEEK in the Hebrew is not a word that just means to sort of look, but it denotes looking with URGENCY!
• It stresses personal concern on the part of one who wants to both KNOW the will of God and to make efforts to carry that will out!
• The word can also represent a person consulting an oracle, or inquiring of God. An oracle is a message from a deity.
• When one seeks God, they are not simply striving to SEE Him; they want to HEAR from Him so they can incorporate His will into their life!
• If a person would begin to seek Him, Hosea says God would come to them and shower righteousness upon them. They would stand justified before God and He would accept them.
• It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.
• Crops need rain to grow and we need God to grow!
• SLIDE #11
• Acts 3:19 (HCSB) Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
• Why do we not seek the Lord? FEAR. WE need to fear seeking God, He will be there for you!
• Sitting between verses 11 and 13, this verse is like a ray of sunlight through a cloudy sky. Vs. 11 describes the heavy yoke that her sin imposes on Israel, and vs. 13 enlarges and elaborates the grim results of continued disobedience.
• But here is a word of hope and comfort, a final appeal to turn before it is too late, a warm and winsome invitation to seek God while he may yet be found, and to do his work while it is yet day Interpreter's Bible, The - Exposition - The Interpreter's Bible – Volume 6.
• Think about how dark and hopeless life would be without a God who loves and cares.
• SLIDE #12
• Psalm 106:1 (HCSB) Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.
CONCLUSION
• When we think about repentance and turning to God, consider this.
• Forgiveness is a costly business both to the forgiver and the forgiven.
• SLIDE #13
• Luke 23:34 (HCSB) Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided His clothes and cast lots.
• Did he?
• Yes!
• If He forgave what was done to His son on the cross, then we can approach God and know He will forgive us also.
• However, we must realize that without repentance forgiveness has no meaning at all.
• When you consider what God has done for you, don’t you think IT IS TIME?
