God's Discipline Series

God’s Discipline

Hosea 2:2-23

2 Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

3Lest I strip her naked and expose her, as in the day she was born, And

make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with

thirst.

4"I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of

harlotry.

5For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has

behaved shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, Who give me

my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.'

6"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall her in,

So that she cannot find her paths.

7She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them,

but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first

husband, For then it was better for me than now.'

8For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And

multiplied her silver and gold--Which they prepared for Baal.

9"Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new

wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to

cover her nakedness.

10Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one

shall deliver her from My hand.

11I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons,

Her Sabbaths--All her appointed feasts.

12"And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has said,

'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' So I will make them a

forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

13I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.

She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers;

But Me she forgot," says the LORD.

14"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness,

And speak comfort to her.

15I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a

door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day

when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16"And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My

Husband,' And no longer call Me 'My Master,'

17For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be

remembered by their name no more.

18In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field,

With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow

and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down

safely.

19"I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In

righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;

20I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.

21"It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the LORD;

"I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.

22The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil;

They shall answer Jezreel.

23Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her

who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My

people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "

Today we take our second look at the book of Hosea.

As I said last Sunday, Hosea and Gomer were real people.

This is not a parable.

God used Hosea and his relationship with his wife Gomer

to provide an important message to Israel.

I also believe this true story can serve as a messaged

to many Christians today who are guilty of spiritual adultery.

This book is a story of God's faithful love for an unfaithful people.

Unaware of their spiritual condition,

Israel was going along as though nothing was wrong.

God is portrayed as Hosea the faithful and loving husband.

Like Hosea, God pursued them

despite their continued spiritual immorality.

Chapter 2 is divided into 3 sections.

First, God appeals to Israel to come back to Him.

Second, we read about God's discipline.

Third, we read about God enticing Israel back to Himself.

Point #1. God Appeals to His People to

Return to Him.

2 Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife,