Hosea 14:1-9 - God's Love Knows No Bounds

See More in the Word @jerrybarbaraseymour #minorprophets #bookofhosea #bibleteaching #oldtestament #oldtestamentbiblestudy . After this call to repentance, they did not change. It is as if they had simply made a “Mistake” instead of committing a “Sin”. “Mistake” is one of satan’s vocabulary words. We say, “It’s really not sin; I just made a mistake.” And we go on with life, usually without correcting the mistake. Like it was a wrong answer to a math problem or a misspelled word or making a wrong turn while driving. A true Mistake usually carry no weight, or little weight, of consequence. A mistake will not condemn your spirit to hell. That’s why satan wants us to believe that our sins are simply mistakes. Ignore them and they will work themselves out. WRONG!! “Sin” on the other hand is a God vocabulary and is necessary to use when speaking and praying to God for repentance. We cannot “think” our way out of sin, we must “confess” our way unto forgiveness as 1 John 1:8-10 instructs the BELIEVER to do. The word “sin” in verse 1 is the same word used in Isaiah 53:6 for “iniquity”. True confession includes three things: awareness of sin, turning from specific sins, and appeal to the grace of God. I’ve heard from many people, pastors included, that there is not a “Sinner’s Prayer” anywhere in scripture. I’d like to offer you evidence that there IS an example of a “Sinner’s Prayer”. Why would Jesus give us His “Lord’s Prayer” as an example to pray to the Father if there was not an example prayer for the Sinner to pray for forgiveness of their sins? The scriptures are very good at showing both sides of a situation, both sides of the coin. Forgiveness begins when we see the destructiveness of sin and the futility of life without God. We must admit we cannot save ourselves; our only hope is in our appeal for God’s love and mercy. Then we can be confident that we have received forgiveness through faith because God is gracious and loving and wants to restore us to Himself, just as He wanted to restore Israel. And because Hosea 14:4-7 is God’s response to anyone who confesses their sins and acknowledges God as their Lord and Jesus as Savior/Messiah. Every place you see the word “Israel” or “Its” or “They” place your name there instead. This promise is for anyone who believes. God’s love knows no bounds toward you and I as well. As we live for Him, His anger will be gone forever from us as well. What a beautiful promise. AND He wants us to be fruitful and flourish and blossom like grapevines. The fragrance of Holy Spirit should permeate out of us like lilies of a field or like cedars in Lebanon. Jerry did a beautiful job last week of explaining the meaning of these agricultural word pictures.
Throughout the book of Hosea, we have seen cycles of Judgment and Salvation. The people sin. God promises to judge. And He promises mercy and salvation. People sin again. God promises and gives mercy and salvation again. Below is a list of the cycles we have studied. The prophecies of judgment are consistently followed by prophecies of forgiveness to show Israel and us that God’s love is greater than our sin. If our sins were greater than His love the prophecies of forgiveness would not continue, but they do! God’s love just keeps on being extended.
Do you feel like you teeter-tooter back and forth between judgment and salvation? Sometimes we feel that way when we get our eyes off of Jesus and onto our problems and sinful nature. Yet, take comfort from this good news. When your will is weak, when your thinking is confused, and when your conscience is burdened with a load of guilt, you MUST remember that God care for you continually; His love knows no bounds. When friends and family desert you, when coworkers don’t understand you, and when we are tired of being good, God’s love knows no bounds. When we can’t see the way or seem to hear God’s voice, and when we lack courage to go one, God’s love knows no bounds. When our shortcomings, and our awareness of our sins overcome us, God’s love knows no bounds.