Bought With A Price

TRANSCRIPT

The text for this morning is taken from the Old Testament from the Minor Prophets in the prophecy of Hosea, Hosea 3:1-5. This is actually the whole chapter of Hosea, Hosea chapter 3. Let me read to you this whole chapter, the passage for our consideration this morning.

"Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” Amen.

Hosea was a prophet of the northern kingdom, although he had also mentioned about the concern of the southern kingdom of Judah. As we know, in this period of time, the Kingdom of Israel was divided. There was the northern kingdom called Israel, and in the case of Hosea, he was pointing out to the capital city of the northern kingdom, which was Samaria, which he referred to here as Ephraim.

And this was a time of prosperity in the land of Israel, by the world standards. Jeroboam II, who was the king in this period of time, was the greatest King in terms of the material things or worldly goods that were experienced by the people of Israel, the northern kingdom. That's the reason why the people were so into worldliness. They loved the things of the world. And with this financial stability, they were also mighty in their armies. That's why there was relatively a sort of peace in the country. Assyria was still in the time of increasing its power, and Syria, which was once an enemy of the northern kingdom, was defeated by Assyria. So, there was somehow peace in that land. But this was around 30 years, three decades before the fall of Samaria.

Hosea was a prophet, calling the people of Israel to return unto the Lord and to warn them that there is an “impending judgment that will come if you continue with your sin, if you will continue with your promiscuity, with your hostilities, with your iniquities. You're so proud of yourself that you think that you are made strong because of your own gains. You are so proud that you think you are so mighty because of your army. And no one, not even Assyrians or whatever countries around, can defeat you.” This was what was in their heart. This was what they thought because they were at peace with alliances with other nations, and they trusted in these alliances. They have cooperations, and they trust that some of these nations around will help them in case they will be attacked. And so, they have this assurance, and they cooperated and have that close association with these foreign nations, which worship the heathen gods. And because of this association and cooperation, they also worship the gods of these heathen nations.

And it was the time that Hosea was called by God, the Lord God of Israel. He was called to tell the people that you have done all this promiscuity, all these iniquities. You must come back to me. You must return. And the way by which the Lord asked Hosea to call them was not just in words. This is a prophecy that is very interesting because Hosea was asked to proclaim the words and show also their iniquities and promiscuity through his own experience. They will see in the life of Hosea their own lives, and they might see and mock Hosea, “What kind of prophet are you? What kind of servant are you? What kind of man of God are you doing this?” They were blinded that God is using Hosea as a vivid visual aid to show, ‘this is how wicked you are in the eyes of God.’

And we know that here in chapter one, Hosea was told by God, commanded to take a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms. There're so many debates on this, and so many papers are written on this, whether this is a parable, this is a vision, or this is a real command of God, and Hosea really married a woman of harlotry. Well, I believe that God used this to show to the people how wicked and how promiscuous were their lives, that Hosea did what was commanded by God. It was not just a vision. It was not just a parable. It was not just something that Hosea imagined. It was real. For if we consider this as just a vision and a parable, it will take lightly what was the message of Hosea. And so he did, imagine a prophet of God, a pastor, an apostle, or a disciple doing this. This is not, of course, a normative command. This was specifically only for Hosea. It's very clear in verse two. He was not saying that, “Okay, you Christians do this.” He was saying this particularly, “the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for’” - and there was a reason - “’for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the Lord.’ I will show them what they are doing through your own personal life." And for Hosea, it is painful. It must be a very hard decision for him. But he, as a prophet, will also understand deeply God's concern and love for his people. As he received and experienced the pain of how adulterous was his wife, he will be able to understand what it means to God to see his people who left Him and worship other gods. For adultery is idolatry, and idolatry is spiritual adultery.

Not only that he has the wife of whoredoms, he said also here that he will take the children of whoredoms. Many would think, theologians think, that maybe the paternity of even their own children or these children mentioned here were questionable. How horrible, how unacceptable. In our days, this will be a very good reason and basis for divorce, can immediately file separation with this act that Gomer did. But we have in this morning's message, ‘Bought With a Prize’. A title that was commanded by God telling Hosea to buy back, to redeem his adulterous wife. And this we must consider because today we see how Israel has departed from God's ways. And I pray that we will also see ourselves and think, "what is God's message for me with this passage?"

“Bought With the Price” - we are very calculative in our spending. We want to buy things that are worth our money. Even sometimes we think that we want to buy things, if things that are more than what we pay. Of course, that is delusion. but that's what we think. "Oh, this is sale on sale, so I have to buy this. And look, I pay this with this price, And I got this thing.” Businessmen are wiser than us consumers. We want to buy things that are worthy of our money. We don't just buy things where we pay more and then we receive very little. But that seems to be a very different perspective in the eyes of God. How come, going to chapter 3, that He Commanded Hosea to buy back his wife, when we see in Chapter 2 how she was so wicked in her actions and left her own husband and did live in another man's house. And that's the reason probably that she was enslaved.

If you go back to how she was described here in 2:2, he says: "Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her Sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I stripped her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she hath conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool, and my flex, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.” - the husband was trying to keep her, preventing her - “And she shall follow after her lovers” - but she still continued on - “she shall not overtake them; and she Shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.”

This was not a vision, this was an actual act of the wife, Gomer, finding, seeking for another man. How revolting it is for Hosea to think of this woman. And then in chapter three, we have a Command. He said, “the Lord said unto me: 'Then said the Lord unto me, go” - go, divorce their wife, no - “go yet, love a woman.’” Love a woman - how can you love such kind of woman? How can you express your affection in the way she deceived and in the way she left you? How can you love such a wicked act of harlotry? “Love a woman beloved, over her friend. She's now with another man, and now you go love her” - and then she was even described here as an adulteress - “according to the love of the Lord” You don't just love as love of a man forced to love a woman or a girl or a wife. It Is the love as the love of the Lord. It Is a sacrificial love. It is a love that does not see what she has done before. “You must love her because I love her.” And this was Hosea's command from God “as love of the Lord toward the Children of Israel. That is the love that you have to love this woman. And even though these children of Israel look to other gods and worship other gods and love flagons of wine” -flagons of wine is actually a word that is also translated as ‘raisins of cake’ which is believed to be a form of sacrifice for their gods among heathens, and they use it as an aphrodisiac. They love all these things, “And how I love the children of Israel who even worship other gods and love all these harlotry and prostitution in their temples and engage with all this worship of Idols. You have to love also your wife.

I believe that if that will be the case of us, it would be a difficult decision to make. I myself also think and thought if this is God's command for me, if I was Hosea, could I do It? Thinking of how she was so wicked in the things that she did and how she left and how she went with another man. Can I love her again? Can I bring her back to my place? Can I express my affection to her again when she loved another man? She was with another man. and even the children that they got were of questionable paternity. Could I love and care for her? But who said obeyed God's command? And this is the cost of what he paid the price for his wife.” So, I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver.” Now the fifteen pieces of silver is just half of the value of a slave. But it is also said that a homer of barley and half homer of barley is equivalent to this. And this total of the pieces of silver and that of body would equate also as the value of a slave. So, she was enslaved by this man, and he bought her to bring her back to his place. Imagine you have to spend something for a wife that, in the mindset of any ordinary man, she is already useless. How can I bring her back and continue a joyful life filled with good and a relationship that will cause us to rejoice together? There is no point. You don't have to spend something, even a cent for this kind of woman. You didn't have to spend something to bring her back, yet God commanded him, and he did, buy back the wife - fifteen pieces of silver and homer of barley and a half homer of barley.

So, she was brought back into the place, she was brought back into his home and there is a condition - he was commanded, the cost is paid but there is a condition for her. And Hosea said, “I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days" - and this describes that ‘you must be with me. You didn't have to go again to those men. You didn't have to live me. You must stay with me.’ - “Thou shalt not play the harlot” - ‘you don't have to go and find another man; you shall stay here - “Thou shalt not be for another man” - ‘thou shalt be for me alone. But with me we shall also be not having this the relationship as a husband and wife, thou has made yourself contemptible because of what you have done. You also must not be or having any form of couple or husband and wife marriage relationship’ and so they must be together. Gomer must stay with him, but they must just be at a time that they can be together.

And this was for a reason, here the scripture describe that this is a picture of what will happen to Israel - “The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king”. This is looking forward to how they will experience this chastisement and punishment from God, and they will be without a prince, without the sacrifice. The temple will be destroyed and without an image and without an ephod and without a teraphim and this describes that they have no priest there are no time that there be some priestly ceremonies sacrifices that will be done. They cannot come before God. They will be brought into a foreign land. They will be captives. They will be slaves. They will be in Babylon and in the case of the northern kingdom, they will be in the places of occupied by Assyria.

This was a prophecy and so, with this buying back there was a condition, a condition for them that they must remain in God, but they will experience God's chastisement, God's discipline, God's punishment, because they have done that with which is transgression to the eyes of God. But we have this hope that is given here through the Prophet. This may come, they may experience this, and they will suffer for a period of time because they will be in a foreign land. They will be slaves and captives, but there will come a time that they will be brought back and when they will return, Israel shall return and seek the Lord. This was not just the time that they returned from Babylon or from any other parts of the world back to Jerusalem, this is a more future prophecy which describes how the Jews will return and seek the Lord their God. The word ‘seek’ here is an intensive expression of the word that describes they must go after and hunger and thirst after God. This is the change that will come into their lives, this is the result of what God has done for them in buying them back from harlotry and from idolatry and adultery, from promiscuity, they will come and humble themselves and submit to God and seek Him with all their hearts mind and soul. This is the result, the change that will come, and they will seek God and David, your king, this is a representation of the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who will come. They will seek after the Lord their God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will fear - they “shall fear the Lord” - they will no longer go back to their old ways, they will no longer go back to their heathen ways and will no longer go back to their promiscuity. They will be loyal, they will be devoted, they will worship God alone and they will enjoy God's goodness in the latter days.

This is a future prophecy for the people of Israel, and they must understand this call. But we know that they did not take heed to this prophecy, they did not take heed to the call of Hosea. They continued on so that 20 - 30 years after this was announced by Hosea, they were invaded savagely by the Assyrians. This was God's way of telling the people of Israel “you see the servant of God, His prophet of God, having this experience so painful to him to see his wife living him and trying to find another man and you may say what kind of prophet is this. But please, Israel, understand God allowed this to happen to this Prophet because this pictures the love of God to you. You are My people, I called you out from idolatry in the city of Ur, when your father Abraham was brought into this place in Canaan. And I protected you, and I multiplied you, and I left, or I caused you to leave, Egypt and provide you this Promised Land, a land filled with milk and honey. Now that you are provided with everything, you want to worship other gods who were even nothing. They didn't even have anything to do with whatever they receive and yet you worship these gods.” And God chose - “this is you, Israel. You are Gomer. You think it is wicked for Hosea to do this? It is God's love for you, to reach out to you even in what you have done against Me”. And this is God's call for Israel, not just for the northern kingdom, but also for the southern Kingdom not just for the Israel in those days but even Israel today. Israel today, the prince of God, is majority atheist. They say they believe in God, but they don't believe in the god even in their Jadeitic faith, they don't believe the God of the Bible. They rejected the Messiah, and they worship their own strength. They trust in their alliances, they rely on their economy, they rely on that “we can do it, we are powerful, we have a great Army, we have a dome that will protect us. We are a protection for ourselves. We can do it. We are a powerful nation, and we trust our own.” And this is idolatry, loving their own selves, loving their own alliances, trusting in other countries that supports them.

This is Israel, Gomer, and probably for us, we may think that we are a people who are not as wicked as Gomer. For Christians today, we may think that we are a people who might be holier than what this woman did. We might say that we are so devoted to God, we come to church on Sundays, we worship Him, and we devote ourselves on some fellowship meetings, attend prayer meetings, give tithes and offerings and we show that this is how we love the Lord our God. But on other days of the week, we are like Gomer - shamefully, we look for other gods. We look for other men, we look for other strength, we look for other provider, we look for some other things that would please us, not God. We look for the entertainment and the pleasure of the world, we look for what is satisfying and what will cause us to rejoice in the things of this Earth. We lay up treasures for this world and we forgot that it is God who provides all these things. We thank all the people and the companies and the things around for our provision, never thanking God for what we have received. This is not just a call for Israel, this is not just a call for modern Israel today, but this is also a call for us as Christians, as Believers. And you may think “why”? Well, we know even if you claim to be born again and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ when you were 2 years old, 3 years old or at 16 years old, 18 years old or at 60 or 70 years old, we know our past - so wicked, we are dead in trespasses and sins and we were like Gomer finding our lovers outside, exploring things to enjoy ourselves and be pleased in the things of this world. We are all, we were all adulterers, we were all idolators.

Though you were raised up in a Christian family, though you were raised up in how many generations of Christians - Christian parents and grandparents and Grand grandparents - you have done that which is wicked, abominable before God's eyes and yet you find yourself being bought back by the Lord Jesus Christ. And you were not paid only by fifteen silvers, you were not paid by a homer and then half homer of barley. You are paid, and we are paid, by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and now that we are bought back, and now that we are now given this cleanness, this being pure and being forgiven of our sins, are we mindful of the condition that what God has said for all of us? Do we still go back to those old ways, do we still rely on the things of this world, do we still love the pleasures of this world? That is what is the case - all of us. No one is exempted.

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ gave His all for us, not just on the cross but He lived a life perfect for us and He suffered such a life on this Earth. God, who is seated on His glory, that came into this world and became like us and even put Himself down like a slave, even given Himself to the cross to die, and to agonize, and He shed His blood for our redemption. You and I are bought with a price, and you may think that you are worthy to be bought back, you may think that you are better than Gomer, you may think that you are better than the people of Israel because “I have not done such kind of wicked as described here in the Bible. I have not stolen anything, I have not gone into other men's lives, I have not lied” and you think that you're worthy of such price. We all are worse than Gomer and yet, God's love expressed to us by buying us back. We are his creatures, he created us. We fall away, we left him and now that we are bought back, God says, “you must stay with me. You must not go again to the harlotry, you must not go again to your men, you must not go again to the world, you must not go again to the things of the pleasures that Satan and this world offers. You must stay with me, for if you continue, you will surely have this experience like the people of Israel, you will have this chastisement.”

God will punish us and yet, we are like Israel and heeding, not listening, not being aware of what is in God's word. And that's why we continue on with our lives, loving the things of this world. And so James says, “you adulterous and adulteresses”. Making friendship with the world, loving the world, engaging yourself with the world is adultery in the eyes of God - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And we as Believers, take it lightly. We don't have any more that devotion to God to keep our lives to be in His ways and to live holy lives - “I must keep this life only because He has already cleansed me, He has bought me. He shed his blood so that my sins will be forgiven. Why should I go back to sin again, why should I go back to the world and to love the world when God has brought me out of that darkness and now, He has shown me this light and live a life that is solely for Him? He loved me.” What a great love. Can we understand that love of God for us? If we don't, we don't see ourselves as worse than Gomer, you will take lightly God's love. “It's just reasonable for him to get me, it's just reasonable for me to be saved. That's a wise decision for God to choose me, that's a wise decision for God to buy me back and to elect me because I'm such a good person”. If we don't realise how worse we are than what Gomer did, we cannot appreciate how great the love of God for us. You may say, “yes, I have not done that which is like this adulterous relationship.” Yes, but spiritual adultery, as we have mentioned, is far worse. That's what the Bible describes as, when we love the world more than God, we are adulterer and adulteresses and yet, God keeps us, preserves us and that's what we can be thankful for. That even if we have done this, and yet truly we have loved the Lord our God and have received Him as our Lord and as our Saviour, He will keep us and preserve us.

There will come a time that we shall be with Him, a time that we shall keep, and we shall return unto Him. A time where we shall seek Him, and that seeking is not just seeking Him on Sundays. It's not just seeking Him on Fridays for a prayer meeting, it’s not just seeking Him during fellowship meetings, one to two hours. It’s seeking Him all the days of our lives and while that is yet future, let us have that in our hearts, for that will surely come. If we are bored of worshiping the Lord, if we are bored of coming to attend prayer meetings and worship services and Bible studies, I don't know I can't imagine how you'll not be able to sustain yourself. Well, trust the Lord will grant us glorified bodies that no more will we be weak and desires of His words and His praise and how we should thank God for this. Let us be mindful that with this redemption that God has shown us through the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall walk in the light and serve the Lord with gladness and do that which is pleasing to Him and be used mightily for His work.

Let us not be inward looking, let us not just look on the things that we need for my own, for my children, for my family, for my church, but for the benefit of many who are still outside of God's kingdom. There are many. We are instructed to go and teach all nations, to make disciples, to teach them and to baptise them, and to teach them all things whatsoever God has commanded us. This is God's command for us, and truly, this will be the labour and the work of all those who are bought with a price because they understand that, “this price that was paid for me is so much. I was nothing. I was useless. I was without cause. I don't deserve to be bought back. I am made precious. I am made valuable. I am made a good person worthy of such price because of what Jesus has done for me, because of the price that He gave for my sake.”

And I pray that we should be mindful of this, that there will come a time that when this future will now come, we shall glorify God and together we worship God, together we glorify Him, together we honour Him. Understand the love of God in buying us back, understand the love of God in giving His own son to take us back for Him. Understand how wicked we are in God's eyes, and yet He loved us. Understand how good God is, that even though we are bought back, and we still try to evade and escape and do things for the world, He gives us and causes the Holy Spirit to indwell us, to tell us, and to guide us, “this must be done in your lives.” Oh, we thank God for this, and this is how God is keeping us. We must praise God and give Him honour all the days of our lives. We must remain in Him, and we must continue to serve Him. This is a call not only for Israel but for all of us. And I pray this will be our heart towards God.

I can still remember the time when I was yet outside of God's Kingdom, where all my desire and all the things that I looked forward to is just for the things, the prosperity in this world. And that's the normal heart of all of us who desires to prosper and to enjoy whatever we can have in this world. And with this desire, we work hard. We labour hard. Spending nights without sleeping, spending days working, labouring in order to gain more. But we understand and we see that nothing was left. We know that we have lost so much. We accumulated many things, and yet it was just, it is just gone away with the wind. It flies away. All these treasures and riches, we come to trust. All these things, and I realised when God opened my eyes and showed me that indeed, this is the way. He bought me back, unworthy sinner, wicked than Gomer, bought me through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I opened my eyes, he showed me that indeed, this wickedness that I have done is so great. How come that God still has His eyes on me?

I'm thankful that the Lord showed me the perfect way, and that is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We too can do this. We don't have to resign and all give ourselves full time, but in our individual lives, in our private lives, we know we can offer ourselves to the Lord in raising up our families to fear the Lord, in raising up our children to know God, and in bringing them up in order to be believers and Christians that will follow the word of God. Let us invest ourselves away the treasures in Heaven so that when time will come, that He will gather us up, we have the joy of coming together. We don't look back and see our life here on earth wasted. We don't look back and see our life on earth useless. We have done that which is pleasing unto God, and that is because you and I have realised how great a price was paid for me. Me, that instead of me going to be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever, God paid with His own life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can be saved.

This is something that we forget. This is something that we miss. And we are a people who try to just imagine that we are still devoted to God by what we do on Sundays and other days of the week when we appear before God to be holy. And yet the rest of the days we are out, and we are in the world, loving the things of the world. My dear brethren, and those of us here who may have come and first heard the word of God inviting you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s the best time for you to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, who has already paid the penalty of your sins. It's not just in the amount of silver or whatever things. He paid it with His own life. When we realise how He has purchased us back, let us resolve to remain in Him and seek Him and ask Him, "Lord, preserve me to continue on following Thee, living a life for Thee, giving myself to the glory of Thy name, that I may be useful so that others may come to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ." I pray the Lord will help us, and the Lord will bless us.

This is what Hosea looked forward to, the people of Israel. This is why he was called by God. This is why he experienced such a painful experience, an experience that he himself did not want to have. Yet that was a way by which the people should see and by that illustration in his own personal life, they will see and realise we are like Hosea's wife, and even we are worse than her. Yet God loved us. What a great love we have from our Redeemer. And I pray we will always remember this, and may the Lord guide us, strengthen us, help us as we continue to live for the Lord. Don't forget, we are all as believers as Christians, bought with a price. That price is so much, and that price is the life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That's how He sees you as a valuable child of God. And now stay valuable, stay precious, stay holy in the Lord. Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this morning that Thou hast reminded us again of Thy great love. Thou who art our God, who gave Thy son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. How great love you have for us, unworthy, undeserving, wicked, promiscuous people who love the things of this world rather than Thee. And yet, Lord, Thou who is great in mercy, Thou hast extended and spread Thine arms, loving arms to call us back, to bring us back, that we may be devoted unto Thee. We pray, Father, that as we continue on to live for Thee, You will grant us the empowerment of Thy Holy Spirit to be mindful always, to live holy lives, lives pleasing and to Thee, that we will walk in the light and glorify Thee. Help us to focus onto the things eternal, not on what is temporal. Help us to look forward to the coming days where we shall be with Thee and come face to face to worship our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Oh, Father, we pray that we are eager believers to welcome and to be with our Lord and Saviour when the rapture comes. We pray, Lord, that You will encourage us, that while we await for that day, we shall also be active in bringing the good news to others, that they may too, understand how great a sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ has offered for our salvation. We pray, Father, that we truly will live a life that is devoted unto Thee, holy, pure, good witnesses for Thee, that we may exalt Thee and forever glorify Thy name. We pray and ask all this with thanksgiving. In the blessed name of the Lord. Amen.

THE BOOK OF HOSEA

Bought With A Price

Bought With A Price

Hosea 3:1-5