July 21, 2025 • 23 mins
The love story between Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer stands as one of Scripture's most powerful metaphors for God's relentless pursuit of His people. This ancient prophet's marriage reveals profound truths about divine love that still transform lives today.
When God commanded Hosea to "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress," He was illustrating His own heart toward wayward Israel—and by extension, toward us. Hosea had already rescued Gomer from a life of sexual sin, offering her dignity and a fresh start. Yet she abandoned him, returning to her former lifestyle until those who used her for pleasure eventually sold her into slavery. Despite this devastating rejection, God tells Hosea not just to retrieve her but to love her again.
What makes this story especially powerful is that Hosea doesn't merely invite Gomer to return—he pays the redemption price: "fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley." This beautifully foreshadows Christ's sacrifice for us. While we were still sinners, Jesus paid the ultimate price not with currency but with His blood. This episode explores how we often mirror Gomer's experience, taking God's grace for granted and returning to old patterns when we become spiritually complacent.
Pastor Jim vulnerably shares his own story of walking away from ministry and feeling disqualified by his mistakes. Like Aaron who built the golden calf yet became Israel's first high priest, Jim discovered that God's grace is bigger than our failures. When we're carrying what Jim calls a "backpack of shame," God's Word reminds us that "if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).
Where might God be calling you to step back into obedience? What ministry, relationship, or divine assignment have you abandoned out of fear or unworthiness? Remember, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow—not because of your efforts, but because of His unfailing love. Join us as we explore the depths of redemption through the incredible story of Hosea and Gomer.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday.
Another episode here in thestudio.
As always, I'm with Pastor Jimat the table.
I'm Pastor Lee and we pastorthe church in Virginia Christ.
Family Outreach Pastor Jim.
Good day to you, my brother.
How are you?
Family Outreach, pastor Jim.
Good day to you, my brother.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
How are you Blessed and ready to go?
We're going to be in the OldTestament back-to-back weeks.
How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, brother, I'm really excited.
Today we're going to be digginginto the book of Hosea and it's
going to be in the thirdchapter, and really we see that
God is using the life of Hoseato show us, in New Testament
time, right now, the love thatGod has for us and the price
that Jesus Christ paid for us.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, and the thing about this story is this is just
one of many, many stories thatwe can relate to redemption and
being bought with a price andforgiveness, and it's exciting
to read this story specifically,but I'm also excited to be able
to touch on a couple ofdifferent other ones that we
find throughout all thescripture as well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely yeah.
So we're not going to get,obviously, through the whole
book today, but I encourage you,this is something that, when
you've got time, you've got somequiet time to just sit down,
pray, that the Holy Spirit wouldgive you understanding.
My friends, open up the word ofGod and read the book of Hosea.
(01:50):
It is so refreshing.
I know the other morning I wasgetting into it myself, pastor
Jim, and it was just likewatering my soul.
It was so good just to bereminded of the love that God
has for us through this story.
So let's jump right into it.
If you've got your Bibles, let'sgo ahead and get them cracked
open to Hosea, chapter 3, 3,verse 1 is where we're going to
begin today.
And Hosea 3, verse 1 says thisand the Lord said to me Go again
(02:10):
, love a woman who is loved byanother man and is an adulteress
.
Even as the Lord loves thechildren of Israel, though, they
turn to other gods and lovecakes of raisins.
Pastor Jim, the story of Hoseaand his wife represents, as we
mentioned earlier, just how muchGod loves his people.
Amen.
We've got Hosea's wife, who isgoing to be an unfaithful bride
(02:34):
to him, but God told Hosea to goget her and to do something he
said go love her.
It's a representation of Israelbeing unfaithful to God and how
God does not give up on Hispeople and how he loves them and
how he wants the best for themat all times, even when they're
not acting right.
So we, the church Scripture,says that we are the bride of
(02:58):
Christ and that there are timesin our lives where, yes,
unfortunately, we aredisobedient and we become
unfaithful to God.
But, praise God, he's alwaysthere, loving us through it,
even through our disobedience.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I take this story very, very personal.
You know, I've got my own story, my own testimony, like all of
us do, and mine is this feelingof I blew it, but I was able to
find God's grace just waitingfor me, and that is how we're
going to learn about GOMAR.
And so, if you stay with us aswe continue on to the podcast
(03:33):
and you've ever felt like yourmistakes have put you on God's
bench, I just want you to stickwith us for this one, because
I'm excited to get into my owntestimony that I can relate with
as it pertains to Hosea,chapter three.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, hosea loved his wife.
There's no doubt about that.
The brother had to.
You know what I mean when youget into the story and, friends,
if you haven't read it yet, alot of this of what we're going
through today is going to makesense after you go read the full
book of Hosea.
It's only a few chapters, butno doubt Hosea loved his wife.
(04:07):
He wanted to give her a brandnew life, right?
So here Hosea is.
He's pulling her out of a lifeof sexual sin and he's offering
her the absolute best that hecould to her.
So Gomer, his wife Gomer, shehad never experienced this kind
of love before Up until now.
Here's the deal about this ladynamed Gomer.
Up until now, everybody wasjust using this woman for their
(04:30):
own personal gain.
It's a really sad story for herup until this point of where
she meets Hosea and she fallsback into her old lifestyle,
Pastor Jim.
She falls back into her oldlifestyle of personal sin and
pleasure.
But I personally believe andthis is just what I feel and you
can kick in here in a minute,pastor Jim, tell me what you
(04:51):
think but I personally believethat the reason Gomer, the
reason she falls backwards, isbecause she did not value her
current relationship with Hosea.
You know they're married,they're husband and wife.
He's got her, he's plucked herout of the literal trenches of
filth and she's not valuing thisrelationship that she has with
(05:13):
her husband now.
So, because she's not valuingit, she is lured back into her
old pleasure.
And she went backwards to theold pleasure because she didn't
treasure, she didn't invest inthe current pleasures with the
life of Hosea.
And I just want to say, beforeI hand it over to you, pastor
Jim, how easy that can happen toChristians today.
If we're not careful, we can gobackwards.
(05:35):
If we are not invested in ourcurrent relationship with God,
in walking with Jesus Christ,remaining in step with the Holy
Spirit, if we're not careful, wewill go backwards by not
investing into that relationshipwhich, by the way, that
relationship is meant to carryus forwards.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I believe the term is taking it for granted.
Yeah, and you see that allthroughout the text, especially
with Israel.
When they got taken out ofEgypt, what'd they do?
They took it for granted, youknow, and so oftentimes in the
text we're constantly remindedof how Israel misses it.
They're delivered, they'reforgiven, they miss it Right
(06:16):
back into the old sin.
The same thing, and it allcomes down to taking it for
granted what God is doing in andthrough their lives.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, how many times do we in life as Christians, we
get a really good run, and whatI mean by that is you know we'll
go days or weeks withoutfalling to that sin that trips
us up.
You know whether it be anattitude, behaviors, addictions,
how we respond to people.
We'll go days or weeks We'llhave this really good run and
(06:48):
then bam, you know we fall to itagain, we slip up, we become
disobedient.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I think.
Well at least I know for me iswhen it's revealed to you that
you're being disobedient.
In that moment you realize, ohman, I messed up, and we begin
to rely on the strength of God,we begin to rely on his grace,
and then again, just like theIsraelites, you get complacent
with okay, I'm in this, I'm inthis, and you take the eyes off
(07:19):
of God, you put them back on you, you feel like you're doing
something and then, all of asudden, when you do that, it's
when you trip up and fall.
And then you're reminded again.
The Holy Spirit will quicken inyou, you're messing up, and
then it's like, and we forgetthat we need to rely on God
every single day.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, and rather than there be this condemnation that
pushes us away from growing inGod, like because we just feel
like we're unworthy, or maybewe're reminded that we're
unworthy because here we areslipping up in the trenches of
sin again, we need to use thattime as a true opportunity to
have a real heart of repentanceand instead of it push us away
(07:55):
from God because, you know, wejust feel like trash, we feel
like filth or dirt.
We need to be reminded that ourRedeemer is loving us and
accepting us and even in themoment where we may be walking
in disobedience, he is rightthere.
Right there, loving us.
I know this whole point withGomer.
Other men used Gomer until shehad nothing left.
(08:19):
Because Hosea comes and getsher right, he's going to pay the
price for her.
He gets her and he loves herand then for a while she's
loving him, but she goes awayfrom him because she is lured
and tempted back out to that oldlifestyle.
So the Bible teaches us rightthat when she goes back out
there, pastor Jim, and she'swith these other men, she's left
her husband Hosea.
(08:39):
She's back out there, pastorJim, and she's with these other
men.
She's left her husband Hosea.
She's back out there with theseother men.
These other men use her,literally use her until she got
nothing left to give.
They've taken all they can takefrom her.
And then what they do is theBible lets us know, brother that
once they use her and they'vetaken everything that she's got
to offer them, they then go andsell her into slavery.
(09:00):
I mean, think about how crazythis is that Sister Gomer has
allowed herself to get to thispoint, to where she has been
redeemed.
She's been literally bought andpurchased by Hosea to become
his wife, and he gives her thislife of freedom and
sanctification and righteousnessand purity, if you will,
because she doesn't have to gohave sexual sin with these men
(09:23):
any longer.
She doesn't have to do that.
But it's like she finds herselfgoing back into the pig pen,
she finds herself going backinto the slop, she finds herself
going back into the situationthat made her dirty to begin
with, that Hosea had purchasedher and cleansed her from.
And so this is the beautifulparallel that we see with Hosea
(09:44):
and Gomer, and God and Christand us as his people, right?
So imagine when Gomer goes back.
Imagine how hurt his feelingsmust have been.
He loved her, he rescued her,he redeemed her, even when she
wasn't worthy of it, from thelife of sinful behavior.
And he did all this because Godtells him to.
And then she leaves him and shegoes back to do it all over
(10:09):
again.
And yet now in the scripture wesee that God is telling Hosea
to forgive her again and also topay again whatever it takes to
purchase her out of slavery soshe can come home with him again
.
Right, and what a beautifulpicture of that is of what God
has done for us, pastor Jim,that even though we're unworthy,
(10:32):
god gave us his only begottenson, jesus Christ, for us, that
Jesus laid down his life for usso that we could be saved, so
that when Lee Day or JimArchambault messes up again,
it's like Jesus is just standingthere saying come back home,
boys, come back home.
I've loved you the entire time.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, and in verse 2, it talks about this price that
he bought her back from.
It says in verse 2, so I boughther for 15 shekels of silver
and a homer and a lethic ofbarley.
And you know, I think it's wildthat you look at this story and
God is telling Hosea to go lovea woman who's been unfaithful,
(11:11):
who's been chasing other people,other lovers, and he doesn't
say go woo her back.
God says I want you to go payfor her, I want you to redeem
her at a cost.
Yeah, and it's this picture ofGod's love for Israel.
It's this picture of God's lovefor us, as we keep running away
and we choose idols over whathe's done for us and, honestly,
(11:36):
when we chase things like prideand fear or self-doubt instead
of God, all that's messy.
But we're getting thisbeautiful picture here of God
not quitting on us and, as youtalked about, being bought back
with a price, not just wooed inlike, hey, listen to what I have
(11:56):
for you.
What can I offer you?
It's not about all that, it'swhat I paid for you.
What can I offer you?
It's not about all that, it'swhat I paid for you.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, what I love about the piece that you're
bringing up right now, hosea'snot out there trying to woo
Gomer.
It's like God is showing us inrelationship.
Okay, it's time to get down tobusiness.
I'm not here to woo you.
Here's light, here's darkness.
Choose one.
Here's truth and here's whatthe world offers.
(12:24):
Choose one.
And I think oftentimes as apeople in flesh and this was
Gomer's problem this is why shewent backwards.
We like to get wooed.
Yeah, I mean, the truth is welike to get wooed.
There's been people that I knowpersonally that have left church
not just our church, but otherchurches because they didn't get
(12:45):
wooed by the pastor or thepastor's wife or the leadership.
You know what I mean.
I mean you know you kind ofchuckle at it, man, but it's
truth.
It's unfortunate truth.
Like they come in and ratherthan want to be an equal part of
the body of Christ, rather thanwant to be an equal part of
what's going on in ministry,they want to be wooed and it's
(13:07):
like no, no, no, that's not howthis works here.
You could come in and you couldbe an equal part of the family,
but, pastor Jim, you've knownme long enough.
I don't even set myself up andI'm the pastor there and I
understand that I'm just aperson.
I'm the pastor there and Iunderstand that I'm just a
person.
I'm just a servant of JesusChrist that God is currently
using and everything that I havedown here is on loan.
It's just on loan.
(13:29):
So no, the Bible says revere noman.
But yet in flesh people want tobe wooed and I understand it is
a completely natural feelingand desire to want to be wooed.
And I understand it is acompletely natural feeling and
desire to want to be wooed.
I mean, who doesn't want to befelt like they're important?
(13:49):
I get it, but we have to bevery careful to make sure that
who we are and the benefits ofwho we are come through Christ.
And it's because Christ islifting us up, it's because
Christ is loving us, it'sbecause Christ is blessing us
and we're not looking aroundwith an expectation of the
people in the church to be doingthe wooing.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, you know, this story really hits home for me.
I told you in the beginning Iwas going to talk a little bit
about my own testimony and theway I feel like Israel sometimes
, where I'm redeemed, I'mwalking with the Lord.
And then, over time, I walkedaway from ministry and I felt
like I failed God in a lot ofways.
(14:31):
I messed up in ways that mademe think there's no way that he
can use me right now and Icarried this heavy backpack Some
would call it a backpack ofshame.
You know what I mean.
But God didn't give up on me.
Lamentations 3, actually inthis time, was becoming my
lifeline.
The Bible says in Lamentations3 that His steadfast love of the
(14:54):
Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to anend and they are new every
morning.
Great is your faithfulnessspeaking of God, and every day
God was, like Jim, my mercy's,fresh.
Let's try this again.
It wasn't about me beingperfect, it was about his
faithful love.
And I want to talk to you just aminute about Aaron.
You know, I know that you'veheard my testimony, but in
(15:18):
Exodus 32, the Israelites are atMount Sinai, fresh out of
leaving Egypt, and they'reimpatient, and Moses is up the
mountain with God and the peoplecome to Aaron and they're like,
hey, we want a God that we cansee.
And Aaron, he folds right, justlike I fell.
I was doing ministry and Ifolded up and I did the same
(15:42):
thing where, like Aaron, hefolds and he collects all of the
gold and all of the jewelry andhe makes this golden calf and
they start worshiping it andthey start calling it the God
that saved him.
And this is straight-up idolatry.
It's huge betrayal and ifanyone deserved to be benched,
(16:03):
it was Aaron.
When I read this story, ifanyone deserved to be benched it
was Aaron.
And the crazy part is God stillchose Aaron to be the first
high priest.
So this guy who built an idol,he gets to wear holy garments
and serve in God's presence.
Amen, why?
Because God's grace is biggerthan our failures.
(16:25):
The Bible says if anyone's inChrist, he's a new creation.
That's right.
The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come.
See, aaron's past didn'tdisqualify him, and neither did
mine.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13,.
Pastor Jim says if we arefaithless, he God, he remains
faithful.
And then it says this for hecannot deny himself.
You know what I mean.
So just think about howbeautiful that is in relation to
your testimony, in relation tomy testimony, into relation of
Gomer's testimony and Hosea'stestimony.
(16:58):
Even when we find ourselves attimes to be faithless, god still
remains faithful, amen.
And the reason he does remainfaithful, you know, he's not out
there smiting us, he's not outthere flicking us off the face
of the earth.
The reason God still remainsfaithful is because it says at
the end of 2 Timothy, 2.13,.
For God cannot deny himself.
(17:20):
So because God is faithful,right, because God is faithful,
he is always going to fulfillhis plan.
So you know what, even if Gomerwould have left again, right,
just like we see Israel time andtime again leaving, just like
we ourselves, all of us havethis flesh suit and time and
(17:40):
time again, we'll end up needingto seek repentance.
You know, because of what we'vedone, god is just loving us
every single time.
Why does God love us everysingle time, even when we fail?
Because that's who God is.
He's faithful, he will alwaysremain faithful.
So I'd like to give thelisteners something to think
about here.
This is just something thatI've been chewing on this
(18:03):
morning, prior to even cominginto studio to do this is that
even when we sin as God's peopleand we're disobedient to what
God tells us to do, even thoughthrough our disobedience we have
rejected God and let me justsay that's exactly what that is.
When God says, don't do it andyou go do it, that's a rejection
(18:24):
of God.
You know, when we know betterand we still go do it, that is a
rejection of God.
It's a rejection of His Word,his truth, it's a rejection of
His authority.
It's a rejection of the callthat he wants for our lives.
It's a rejection of Hissanctification and consecration
for our lives.
It is total rejection, right?
So, even through ourdisobedience, even through our
(18:46):
rejection, in that moment, can Ijust say this we cannot even
fathom the height or depth ofGod's love that, even in that
rejection, god still loves us,in that moment of rejection,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And you know, when I came back to ministry I didn't
feel worthy.
And even now, sometimes I'mhearing that voice oh, you're
not enough, you're not enough.
But God's Word always drowns itout.
When I get into His Word Irealize, nope, the Lord is
merciful, the Lord is gracious,he's slow to anger, he abounds
in steadfast love and the Wordis what gets me out and jars me
(19:24):
loose of that feeling of notfeeling worthy.
And as far as the East is tothe West, he says he removes our
transgression from us.
We talked about that yesterdayin the office and you know it's
not poetry, it's not like youread the word and you're just
reading a good story.
It's a promise from God mosthigh.
God took my mistakes and hetakes your mistakes and he
(19:44):
throws them so far away thatthey're gone.
He did the same thing for Aaron, he did the same thing for me
and I know that he can do thesame thing for you, if he's not
already done it for you.
Yeah, I mean, have you everfelt like your mistakes have put
you out of the game?
Yeah, maybe you walked awayfrom your calling.
I know that was true for me.
Maybe you've hurt somebody,maybe you just feel like you're
(20:07):
stuck in this perpetual cycle ofguilt.
Here's the truth.
God's not looking forperfection, he's looking for
obedience, like we find Hoseadoing right here.
God told him to buy back hisspouse, and he did it.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, yeah, no matter how low we go and this may be
hard for someone who'sstruggling with the sin of
self-righteousness to understandand agree with but this is
truth no matter how low we go,the love of God goes with us.
Amen.
Now, I'm not saying that heagrees where I'm at, I'm not
saying that he agrees when we gothat low, but his love goes
(20:45):
with us.
Why and this is good word,friends?
Because 2 Timothy 2.13 saysthat God remains faithful even
when we are faithless, for Godcannot deny himself Amen.
So, even in the lowest trenchthat you may feel like you're in
right now, friends, can I justsay that the love of God is
right there.
He may not love what you'redoing, but he still loves you,
(21:06):
and that's huge, because thelove of God always pursues us.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Here's a question that you want.
Where's God calling you to stepback into through obedience?
Is it a ministry that you left?
Is it a relationship that youneed to mend?
Is it a step of faith thatyou've been dodging?
This is what Isaiah 1 tells us.
Though your sins are likescarlet, they shall be white as
(21:30):
snow.
Amen.
The truth is, god's grace canmake you new.
Just like he did for Hosea'swife, just like he did for Aaron
, just like he did for me, hoseapaid a price to redeem Gomer.
It was 15 shekels and somebarley.
But guess what?
God paid a higher price for us.
It was his son, jesus, andthat's how much he loves us.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Amen.
And no matter how far we run,that love will always be right
there with us.
Amen, father, we thank you forthis episode.
We thank you, father, that youare in control of all things.
We thank you for your son,jesus Christ.
For you, father, god so lovedthe world that you gave your
only begotten Son that whosoevershall believe in him shall not
(22:14):
perish but have everlasting life.
And if you're out therelistening right now and you are
not currently walking with JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior,
can I just lead you in a prayer?
If you could just talk to theLord right now, just you and God
and repeat a prayer like thisLord Jesus, I am a sinner and I
ask you, lord, to forgive me ofmy sins.
(22:35):
I recognize, jesus, that youdied on the cross so that I
could be saved, and I ask younow to come into my life,
forgive me of my sins and savemy soul In Jesus Christ's name
and blood.
Amen.
God bless you.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes
you deeper into the Word of Godthroughout your week with your
hosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday.
Another episode here in thestudio.
As always, I'm with Pastor Jimat the table.
I'm Pastor Lee and we pastorthe church in Virginia Christ.
Family Outreach Pastor Jim.
Good day to you, my brother.
How are you?
Family Outreach, pastor Jim.
Good day to you, my brother.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
How are you Blessed and ready to go?
We're going to be in the OldTestament back-to-back weeks.
How about that?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, brother, I'm really excited.
Today we're going to be digginginto the book of Hosea and it's
going to be in the thirdchapter, and really we see that
God is using the life of Hoseato show us, in New Testament
time, right now, the love thatGod has for us and the price
that Jesus Christ paid for us.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, and the thing about this story is this is just
one of many, many stories thatwe can relate to redemption and
being bought with a price andforgiveness, and it's exciting
to read this story specifically,but I'm also excited to be able
to touch on a couple ofdifferent other ones that we
find throughout all thescripture as well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely yeah.
So we're not going to get,obviously, through the whole
book today, but I encourage you,this is something that, when
you've got time, you've got somequiet time to just sit down,
pray, that the Holy Spirit wouldgive you understanding.
My friends, open up the word ofGod and read the book of Hosea.
(01:50):
It is so refreshing.
I know the other morning I wasgetting into it myself, pastor
Jim, and it was just likewatering my soul.
It was so good just to bereminded of the love that God
has for us through this story.
So let's jump right into it.
If you've got your Bibles, let'sgo ahead and get them cracked
open to Hosea, chapter 3, 3,verse 1 is where we're going to
begin today.
And Hosea 3, verse 1 says thisand the Lord said to me Go again
(02:10):
, love a woman who is loved byanother man and is an adulteress
.
Even as the Lord loves thechildren of Israel, though, they
turn to other gods and lovecakes of raisins.
Pastor Jim, the story of Hoseaand his wife represents, as we
mentioned earlier, just how muchGod loves his people.
Amen.
We've got Hosea's wife, who isgoing to be an unfaithful bride
(02:34):
to him, but God told Hosea to goget her and to do something he
said go love her.
It's a representation of Israelbeing unfaithful to God and how
God does not give up on Hispeople and how he loves them and
how he wants the best for themat all times, even when they're
not acting right.
So we, the church Scripture,says that we are the bride of
(02:58):
Christ and that there are timesin our lives where, yes,
unfortunately, we aredisobedient and we become
unfaithful to God.
But, praise God, he's alwaysthere, loving us through it,
even through our disobedience.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I take this story very, very personal.
You know, I've got my own story, my own testimony, like all of
us do, and mine is this feelingof I blew it, but I was able to
find God's grace just waitingfor me, and that is how we're
going to learn about GOMAR.
And so, if you stay with us aswe continue on to the podcast
(03:33):
and you've ever felt like yourmistakes have put you on God's
bench, I just want you to stickwith us for this one, because
I'm excited to get into my owntestimony that I can relate with
as it pertains to Hosea,chapter three.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, hosea loved his wife.
There's no doubt about that.
The brother had to.
You know what I mean when youget into the story and, friends,
if you haven't read it yet, alot of this of what we're going
through today is going to makesense after you go read the full
book of Hosea.
It's only a few chapters, butno doubt Hosea loved his wife.
(04:07):
He wanted to give her a brandnew life, right?
So here Hosea is.
He's pulling her out of a lifeof sexual sin and he's offering
her the absolute best that hecould to her.
So Gomer, his wife Gomer, shehad never experienced this kind
of love before Up until now.
Here's the deal about this ladynamed Gomer.
Up until now, everybody wasjust using this woman for their
(04:30):
own personal gain.
It's a really sad story for herup until this point of where
she meets Hosea and she fallsback into her old lifestyle,
Pastor Jim.
She falls back into her oldlifestyle of personal sin and
pleasure.
But I personally believe andthis is just what I feel and you
can kick in here in a minute,pastor Jim, tell me what you
(04:51):
think but I personally believethat the reason Gomer, the
reason she falls backwards, isbecause she did not value her
current relationship with Hosea.
You know they're married,they're husband and wife.
He's got her, he's plucked herout of the literal trenches of
filth and she's not valuing thisrelationship that she has with
(05:13):
her husband now.
So, because she's not valuingit, she is lured back into her
old pleasure.
And she went backwards to theold pleasure because she didn't
treasure, she didn't invest inthe current pleasures with the
life of Hosea.
And I just want to say, beforeI hand it over to you, pastor
Jim, how easy that can happen toChristians today.
If we're not careful, we can gobackwards.
(05:35):
If we are not invested in ourcurrent relationship with God,
in walking with Jesus Christ,remaining in step with the Holy
Spirit, if we're not careful, wewill go backwards by not
investing into that relationshipwhich, by the way, that
relationship is meant to carryus forwards.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I believe the term is taking it for granted.
Yeah, and you see that allthroughout the text, especially
with Israel.
When they got taken out ofEgypt, what'd they do?
They took it for granted, youknow, and so oftentimes in the
text we're constantly remindedof how Israel misses it.
They're delivered, they'reforgiven, they miss it Right
(06:16):
back into the old sin.
The same thing, and it allcomes down to taking it for
granted what God is doing in andthrough their lives.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, how many times do we in life as Christians, we
get a really good run, and whatI mean by that is you know we'll
go days or weeks withoutfalling to that sin that trips
us up.
You know whether it be anattitude, behaviors, addictions,
how we respond to people.
We'll go days or weeks We'llhave this really good run and
(06:48):
then bam, you know we fall to itagain, we slip up, we become
disobedient.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I think.
Well at least I know for me iswhen it's revealed to you that
you're being disobedient.
In that moment you realize, ohman, I messed up, and we begin
to rely on the strength of God,we begin to rely on his grace,
and then again, just like theIsraelites, you get complacent
with okay, I'm in this, I'm inthis, and you take the eyes off
(07:19):
of God, you put them back on you, you feel like you're doing
something and then, all of asudden, when you do that, it's
when you trip up and fall.
And then you're reminded again.
The Holy Spirit will quicken inyou, you're messing up, and
then it's like, and we forgetthat we need to rely on God
every single day.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, and rather than there be this condemnation that
pushes us away from growing inGod, like because we just feel
like we're unworthy, or maybewe're reminded that we're
unworthy because here we areslipping up in the trenches of
sin again, we need to use thattime as a true opportunity to
have a real heart of repentanceand instead of it push us away
(07:55):
from God because, you know, wejust feel like trash, we feel
like filth or dirt.
We need to be reminded that ourRedeemer is loving us and
accepting us and even in themoment where we may be walking
in disobedience, he is rightthere.
Right there, loving us.
I know this whole point withGomer.
Other men used Gomer until shehad nothing left.
(08:19):
Because Hosea comes and getsher right, he's going to pay the
price for her.
He gets her and he loves herand then for a while she's
loving him, but she goes awayfrom him because she is lured
and tempted back out to that oldlifestyle.
So the Bible teaches us rightthat when she goes back out
there, pastor Jim, and she'swith these other men, she's left
her husband Hosea.
(08:39):
She's back out there, pastorJim, and she's with these other
men.
She's left her husband Hosea.
She's back out there with theseother men.
These other men use her,literally use her until she got
nothing left to give.
They've taken all they can takefrom her.
And then what they do is theBible lets us know, brother that
once they use her and they'vetaken everything that she's got
to offer them, they then go andsell her into slavery.
(09:00):
I mean, think about how crazythis is that Sister Gomer has
allowed herself to get to thispoint, to where she has been
redeemed.
She's been literally bought andpurchased by Hosea to become
his wife, and he gives her thislife of freedom and
sanctification and righteousnessand purity, if you will,
because she doesn't have to gohave sexual sin with these men
(09:23):
any longer.
She doesn't have to do that.
But it's like she finds herselfgoing back into the pig pen,
she finds herself going backinto the slop, she finds herself
going back into the situationthat made her dirty to begin
with, that Hosea had purchasedher and cleansed her from.
And so this is the beautifulparallel that we see with Hosea
(09:44):
and Gomer, and God and Christand us as his people, right?
So imagine when Gomer goes back.
Imagine how hurt his feelingsmust have been.
He loved her, he rescued her,he redeemed her, even when she
wasn't worthy of it, from thelife of sinful behavior.
And he did all this because Godtells him to.
And then she leaves him and shegoes back to do it all over
(10:09):
again.
And yet now in the scripture wesee that God is telling Hosea
to forgive her again and also topay again whatever it takes to
purchase her out of slavery soshe can come home with him again
.
Right, and what a beautifulpicture of that is of what God
has done for us, pastor Jim,that even though we're unworthy,
(10:32):
god gave us his only begottenson, jesus Christ, for us, that
Jesus laid down his life for usso that we could be saved, so
that when Lee Day or JimArchambault messes up again,
it's like Jesus is just standingthere saying come back home,
boys, come back home.
I've loved you the entire time.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, and in verse 2, it talks about this price that
he bought her back from.
It says in verse 2, so I boughther for 15 shekels of silver
and a homer and a lethic ofbarley.
And you know, I think it's wildthat you look at this story and
God is telling Hosea to go lovea woman who's been unfaithful,
(11:11):
who's been chasing other people,other lovers, and he doesn't
say go woo her back.
God says I want you to go payfor her, I want you to redeem
her at a cost.
Yeah, and it's this picture ofGod's love for Israel.
It's this picture of God's lovefor us, as we keep running away
and we choose idols over whathe's done for us and, honestly,
(11:36):
when we chase things like prideand fear or self-doubt instead
of God, all that's messy.
But we're getting thisbeautiful picture here of God
not quitting on us and, as youtalked about, being bought back
with a price, not just wooed inlike, hey, listen to what I have
(11:56):
for you.
What can I offer you?
It's not about all that, it'swhat I paid for you.
What can I offer you?
It's not about all that, it'swhat I paid for you.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, what I love about the piece that you're
bringing up right now, hosea'snot out there trying to woo
Gomer.
It's like God is showing us inrelationship.
Okay, it's time to get down tobusiness.
I'm not here to woo you.
Here's light, here's darkness.
Choose one.
Here's truth and here's whatthe world offers.
(12:24):
Choose one.
And I think oftentimes as apeople in flesh and this was
Gomer's problem this is why shewent backwards.
We like to get wooed.
Yeah, I mean, the truth is welike to get wooed.
There's been people that I knowpersonally that have left church
not just our church, but otherchurches because they didn't get
(12:45):
wooed by the pastor or thepastor's wife or the leadership.
You know what I mean.
I mean you know you kind ofchuckle at it, man, but it's
truth.
It's unfortunate truth.
Like they come in and ratherthan want to be an equal part of
the body of Christ, rather thanwant to be an equal part of
what's going on in ministry,they want to be wooed and it's
(13:07):
like no, no, no, that's not howthis works here.
You could come in and you couldbe an equal part of the family,
but, pastor Jim, you've knownme long enough.
I don't even set myself up andI'm the pastor there and I
understand that I'm just aperson.
I'm the pastor there and Iunderstand that I'm just a
person.
I'm just a servant of JesusChrist that God is currently
using and everything that I havedown here is on loan.
It's just on loan.
(13:29):
So no, the Bible says revere noman.
But yet in flesh people want tobe wooed and I understand it is
a completely natural feelingand desire to want to be wooed.
And I understand it is acompletely natural feeling and
desire to want to be wooed.
I mean, who doesn't want to befelt like they're important?
(13:49):
I get it, but we have to bevery careful to make sure that
who we are and the benefits ofwho we are come through Christ.
And it's because Christ islifting us up, it's because
Christ is loving us, it'sbecause Christ is blessing us
and we're not looking aroundwith an expectation of the
people in the church to be doingthe wooing.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, you know, this story really hits home for me.
I told you in the beginning Iwas going to talk a little bit
about my own testimony and theway I feel like Israel sometimes
, where I'm redeemed, I'mwalking with the Lord.
And then, over time, I walkedaway from ministry and I felt
like I failed God in a lot ofways.
(14:31):
I messed up in ways that mademe think there's no way that he
can use me right now and Icarried this heavy backpack Some
would call it a backpack ofshame.
You know what I mean.
But God didn't give up on me.
Lamentations 3, actually inthis time, was becoming my
lifeline.
The Bible says in Lamentations3 that His steadfast love of the
(14:54):
Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to anend and they are new every
morning.
Great is your faithfulnessspeaking of God, and every day
God was, like Jim, my mercy's,fresh.
Let's try this again.
It wasn't about me beingperfect, it was about his
faithful love.
And I want to talk to you just aminute about Aaron.
You know, I know that you'veheard my testimony, but in
(15:18):
Exodus 32, the Israelites are atMount Sinai, fresh out of
leaving Egypt, and they'reimpatient, and Moses is up the
mountain with God and the peoplecome to Aaron and they're like,
hey, we want a God that we cansee.
And Aaron, he folds right, justlike I fell.
I was doing ministry and Ifolded up and I did the same
(15:42):
thing where, like Aaron, hefolds and he collects all of the
gold and all of the jewelry andhe makes this golden calf and
they start worshiping it andthey start calling it the God
that saved him.
And this is straight-up idolatry.
It's huge betrayal and ifanyone deserved to be benched,
(16:03):
it was Aaron.
When I read this story, ifanyone deserved to be benched it
was Aaron.
And the crazy part is God stillchose Aaron to be the first
high priest.
So this guy who built an idol,he gets to wear holy garments
and serve in God's presence.
Amen, why?
Because God's grace is biggerthan our failures.
(16:25):
The Bible says if anyone's inChrist, he's a new creation.
That's right.
The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come.
See, aaron's past didn'tdisqualify him, and neither did
mine.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13,.
Pastor Jim says if we arefaithless, he God, he remains
faithful.
And then it says this for hecannot deny himself.
You know what I mean.
So just think about howbeautiful that is in relation to
your testimony, in relation tomy testimony, into relation of
Gomer's testimony and Hosea'stestimony.
(16:58):
Even when we find ourselves attimes to be faithless, god still
remains faithful, amen.
And the reason he does remainfaithful, you know, he's not out
there smiting us, he's not outthere flicking us off the face
of the earth.
The reason God still remainsfaithful is because it says at
the end of 2 Timothy, 2.13,.
For God cannot deny himself.
(17:20):
So because God is faithful,right, because God is faithful,
he is always going to fulfillhis plan.
So you know what, even if Gomerwould have left again, right,
just like we see Israel time andtime again leaving, just like
we ourselves, all of us havethis flesh suit and time and
(17:40):
time again, we'll end up needingto seek repentance.
You know, because of what we'vedone, god is just loving us
every single time.
Why does God love us everysingle time, even when we fail?
Because that's who God is.
He's faithful, he will alwaysremain faithful.
So I'd like to give thelisteners something to think
about here.
This is just something thatI've been chewing on this
(18:03):
morning, prior to even cominginto studio to do this is that
even when we sin as God's peopleand we're disobedient to what
God tells us to do, even thoughthrough our disobedience we have
rejected God and let me justsay that's exactly what that is.
When God says, don't do it andyou go do it, that's a rejection
(18:24):
of God.
You know, when we know betterand we still go do it, that is a
rejection of God.
It's a rejection of His Word,his truth, it's a rejection of
His authority.
It's a rejection of the callthat he wants for our lives.
It's a rejection of Hissanctification and consecration
for our lives.
It is total rejection, right?
So, even through ourdisobedience, even through our
(18:46):
rejection, in that moment, can Ijust say this we cannot even
fathom the height or depth ofGod's love that, even in that
rejection, god still loves us,in that moment of rejection,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And you know, when I came back to ministry I didn't
feel worthy.
And even now, sometimes I'mhearing that voice oh, you're
not enough, you're not enough.
But God's Word always drowns itout.
When I get into His Word Irealize, nope, the Lord is
merciful, the Lord is gracious,he's slow to anger, he abounds
in steadfast love and the Wordis what gets me out and jars me
(19:24):
loose of that feeling of notfeeling worthy.
And as far as the East is tothe West, he says he removes our
transgression from us.
We talked about that yesterdayin the office and you know it's
not poetry, it's not like youread the word and you're just
reading a good story.
It's a promise from God mosthigh.
God took my mistakes and hetakes your mistakes and he
(19:44):
throws them so far away thatthey're gone.
He did the same thing for Aaron, he did the same thing for me
and I know that he can do thesame thing for you, if he's not
already done it for you.
Yeah, I mean, have you everfelt like your mistakes have put
you out of the game?
Yeah, maybe you walked awayfrom your calling.
I know that was true for me.
Maybe you've hurt somebody,maybe you just feel like you're
(20:07):
stuck in this perpetual cycle ofguilt.
Here's the truth.
God's not looking forperfection, he's looking for
obedience, like we find Hoseadoing right here.
God told him to buy back hisspouse, and he did it.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, yeah, no matter how low we go and this may be
hard for someone who'sstruggling with the sin of
self-righteousness to understandand agree with but this is
truth no matter how low we go,the love of God goes with us.
Amen.
Now, I'm not saying that heagrees where I'm at, I'm not
saying that he agrees when we gothat low, but his love goes
(20:45):
with us.
Why and this is good word,friends?
Because 2 Timothy 2.13 saysthat God remains faithful even
when we are faithless, for Godcannot deny himself Amen.
So, even in the lowest trenchthat you may feel like you're in
right now, friends, can I justsay that the love of God is
right there.
He may not love what you'redoing, but he still loves you,
(21:06):
and that's huge, because thelove of God always pursues us.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Here's a question that you want.
Where's God calling you to stepback into through obedience?
Is it a ministry that you left?
Is it a relationship that youneed to mend?
Is it a step of faith thatyou've been dodging?
This is what Isaiah 1 tells us.
Though your sins are likescarlet, they shall be white as
(21:30):
snow.
Amen.
The truth is, god's grace canmake you new.
Just like he did for Hosea'swife, just like he did for Aaron
, just like he did for me, hoseapaid a price to redeem Gomer.
It was 15 shekels and somebarley.
But guess what?
God paid a higher price for us.
It was his son, jesus, andthat's how much he loves us.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Amen.
And no matter how far we run,that love will always be right
there with us.
Amen, father, we thank you forthis episode.
We thank you, father, that youare in control of all things.
We thank you for your son,jesus Christ.
For you, father, god so lovedthe world that you gave your
only begotten Son that whosoevershall believe in him shall not
(22:14):
perish but have everlasting life.
And if you're out therelistening right now and you are
not currently walking with JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior,
can I just lead you in a prayer?
If you could just talk to theLord right now, just you and God
and repeat a prayer like thisLord Jesus, I am a sinner and I
ask you, lord, to forgive me ofmy sins.
(22:35):
I recognize, jesus, that youdied on the cross so that I
could be saved, and I ask younow to come into my life,
forgive me of my sins and savemy soul In Jesus Christ's name
and blood.
Amen.
God bless you.
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