The World’s Best Love Story

The World’s Best Love Story
Hosea 1-3
Young and in love…
We all remember that feeling…
The whole world loves a love story..
The best loved book..
Hosea compares with the greatest romance stories …
Yet so unique the most amazing of all..
The love story begins..
Setting in Samaria .. Capitol city of the Northern kingdom of Israel
Hosea.. young preacher meets Gomer
God’s covenant..
Exodus 19:5 if you will indeed.. keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people...
Leviticus 26:12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.




Israel’s unfaithfulness in Hosea’s day..
Hosea 1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.



God’s command to Hosea..
Hosea 1:2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:"Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry… for the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord."

Hosea’s wedding..
Hosea 1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
A young prophet with heart and zeal for God..
Idealistic hope this young woman would be pure..

The love story unravels..
As children are born, Hosea realizes these children were not really his own..
One day Gomer left him.. Hosea is left alone a heartbroken father
The love story goes on..
Hosea still loved Gomer…
Gomer thinks she is better but passes to a man who cannot provide for her..
The love story goes on..
Hosea 2:5 For 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.'
Hosea 2:9 "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.

Gomer did not change..
Hosea 2:14-16 'Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. 15 I 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,'

She is sold into slavery..
Hosea 3:2-3 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you."
She is sold into slavery..
Hosea 3:2-3 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you."
Hosea brings her back home..
I want you to live with me and be my wife… and so I will live with you
I want you to be faithful … whether you are faithful or not, I will be faithful to you…
God’s love never changes..
Hosea 3:1-3 Then the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans."
God’s love never changes..
God does not love you because of what you are…
He loves you in spite of what you are…
God’s love never changes..
Hosea 6:4 "O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away.
Hosea 11:8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.
Hosea 14:4 "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.
God’s love and justice meet at the cross…
Romans 5:6-8 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The World’s Best Love Story
Hosea 1-3