Hosea 2 – Responding to the Love of God

Hosea 3:1-5; 14:1-9                                  

How Do We Stray So Easily From God?

Hosea 13:5-6 (NLT) 

    I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. [6] But when you had eaten and were satisfied, then you became proud and forgot me.

Complacency

Psalm 49:7-8 (Msg) 

    Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee

Psalm 49:7-8 (NIV) 

    No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him--the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough--

Forgetfulness

Laziness

Hosea 3:1-5 (NLT) 

Hosea 3:5 (NIV)

    Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.

Hosea 14:1-9 (NLT) 

1. Return humbly before God, verbally confess our sinful condition, admit our helplessness, and that our genuine help can only come from God

Admit our helplessness and that our genuine help can only come from God. 

John 15:5 (NLT) 

    "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

2. A genuine return to God leads to healing, refreshing, safety, flourishing and a life that is fragrantly attractive.

Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV) 

    Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

Acts 3:19 (NIV) 

    Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

2 Cor. 2:14-15 (NIV) 

    But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. [15] For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

3. A genuine return to God is followed by genuine repentance

Repentance is literally changing the way we think and changing the way we behave that corresponds to our new life and promises in Christ.

Hosea 6:6 (NLT) 

    I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings.

More than anything else, God desires our heart and a rich relationship with each one of us.