1. Betrayal causes separation

---

Let’s open out Bibles and meet the characters of the story: (Ushers forward) **PAUSE** How does the title of the message set with everyone, “Betrayed” Betrayal comes lots of ways: Ponzi Schemes – Treason – Telling secrets you confided = Betrayal How do you feel when I say to you, “She cheated on her husband?” That is what our story is about today…a woman who cheats on her husband. In our world today there is no lack of cheating spouses. Sexual infidelity makes up over half of the reasons couples get divorced. When we hear about a couple going through an affair we start to assume blame, become judgmental… I also become insecure. I have ridiculous thoughts of my wife cheating on me. I’m also brought back to a place of humiliation and guilt, as I was an adulterer at one time early in Autumn and I’s marriage. At the core of adultery is betrayal I think we are conditioned in our makeup to hate betrayal…Have you ever seen the movie “The wedding singer” The only reason I ask is because my wife and I danced to: (Sing) The girl was about to marry a cheating jerk, and we all rooted for the poor wedding singer to profess his love for the girl and sweep her off her feet. And with the help of Billie Idol he does. EVEN IN PRISON BETRAYL IS THE WORST OFFENCE Bottom line is betrayal is sin…a sin that tears apart. I’m sure most of us have been victim of betrayal, in one form or another. That is why our message is easy to relate to. Proposition –Betrayal, if not confronted Biblically, it can destroy you. Let’s get into the text and get to know our characters: A. Hosea –The Prophet – Someone who spoke the Truth of the Lord – Hosea lived during a time when the People of Israel were divided into two kingdoms. We had Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Hosea lived in the North where:  Spiritual apostasy o Abandoned faith – Following idols  Social disintegration o a breakdown of morality. Now I’m sure putting yourself into the culture of this time isn’t difficult. We live in a time of spiritual apostasy – 100,00 Public schools & God isn’t allowed in any. Thousands of churches close down every year – Less than %20 of Americans even go to any church. We are certainly living in moral corruption…for crying out loud our government is shut down over division…Looking at 17 Trillion debt = Moral corruption – SAME AS HOSEA’S TIME Now the Lord came to Hosea and told him to take a wife (1:2-3) ”The Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.’ So he went and took Gomer.” B. Gomer – Some versions say Gomer from whoredom Harlot, , or the promiscuous – Had lustful intentions in her heart – This is an unlikely couple brought together by Divine appointment The prophet – a man of God The promiscuous – a woman of the night The prophet – a lover of One The promiscuous – a lover of many The prophet – saved for God The promiscuous – estranged from God The prophet – a name known in time The promiscuous – a name known in town The prophet – who stands up for righteousness The promiscuous – who lays down in unrighteousness After their marriage, we are not told how long before Gomer steps out on Hosea, but when she does, as betrayal always does, it causes separation…

1. Betrayal causes separation Betrayal always causes separation between the Betrayer and the Betrayed Adultery never happens all of a sudden…it’s progressive. Verses 4-11 lay out how Hosea and Gomer started their family  First Child – A boy named Jezreel  Second Child – A girl named Lo-Ruhamah (Lo-ru-HAY-ma)  Third Child – Another little boy Lo-Ammi (Lo-Amie) We can see it now…the family that looks fine on the outside. Mom and Dad…Two boys and a girl. But paradise was not something to be held on to. Gomer starts to want things that her poor husband could not afford, and begins to act on the lust that has been building in her heart. (2:5) “For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who gave me my bread and my water my wool and my flax, and my oil and my drink” Sin is enticing...no question about that. She sees good things like abundances of food and drink and clothes. She then trades herself sexually for those things. But trading always means you have to give something up…to get to greener grass on the other side, you have to leave the yard you’re in. She trades a husband who loves her for things. Her flesh got her the things heart desired. But at great expense… (2:6) Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.” Sin is enticing…but sin is lonely…This betrayal is a solitary lifestyle. As Gomer falls for more and more men, the depravity grows…as well as…the isolation…sin doing what sin does…killing. We all know how this story unfolded. At first everything is good, but then your spouse doesn’t come home when they say they will, and they start dressing differently as if to impress someone new….your suspicion rises. You start to ask, “Are you okay?” Your friends start telling you they think your spouse is up to something, or that they saw him or her with someone they didn’t recognize. When your spouse comes home they have a sent of perfume or cologne that is unfamiliar. When you ask them about the lunch date they get defensive and claim it was for work. Lies start to compound and stores get more involved. As time passes more and more indicators point to betrayal…until one day everything comes to a screeching halt with a major fight…then someone leaves. In this case it was Gomer who left. Left Hosea with three kids asking when mommy would be home, and what would he say to them? No matter what this story leaves you hurting. Hurting for Hosea being left, but still getting by doing what’s right Hurting for Gomer because she is on a path that doesn’t lead anywhere good Hurting because you are feeling the loss again of someone who betrayed you, or the guilt because you betrayed someone you love. Betrayal hurts…period. It leaves wounds that sometimes never close. I know you can feel it When we pick back up the story of Hosea and Gomer we see just how far Gomer has fallen because of sin. We find Gomer is used up…whoever had enticed her with fine things had gotten what they had wanted and was now selling her into slavery. Gomer had left in pursuit of owning property and had now become property – Sin does that…entices you with something appealing until it owns you.

As Hosea is walking through the markets he comes across the place of auction. Merchants would auction animals, grain, precious metals, crafts, art…and people - Gomer is for sale! As was customary, when selling a woman as a slave, she would be brought up as cattle, she would be presented naked so bidders would see what they were buying Look clearly at what sin does and choose any sin, addiction, lust greed…you can pick any one is at first its enticing, then it’s lonely, then it owns you …once it’s destroyed you, then it casts you into humiliation. The thing that promised you better has left you broken. It’s humiliating when you’re at the bottom of the barrel…when you know your mistakes have all caught up with you and you’re so humiliated you can’t even lift your head to face the music. The last person in the world Gomer would have wanted to see was Hosea…as she is being sold as a slave, disheveled, disgraced, naked and scared…she wouldn’t have wanted to face the man who had loved her and she had turned her back. – But in our darkest moments… (3:1-2) And the Lord said to me, “Go again, and love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods…(Then some of the most amazing words in Scripture) So I bought her for fifteen sheckels of sliver and a homer and a lethech of barley.”

Betrayal may cause separation but, love requires sacrifice 2. Love requires sacrifice Hosea has every reason to relish in her pain. He could have stood and smiled as Gomer got what she deserved. Now Hosea, by law, could have just gone up and proved Gomer was is wife and he could have just taken her as property himself…and the man who owned her wouldn’t have been able to stop him. But as the auctioneer called out for bids for Gomer…overcome by the pull from the Lord Hosea calls out,  “Stop…that’s my wife…I will pay whatever she owes.”  “Stop…that’s my wife, and I will give everything I have to purchase back her freedom.”  “Stop…that’s my beloved and my love for her is unconditional…and I will sacrifice whatever I have to in order to bring her back…back from her sinful life, back from betrayal…back from slavery…out of shame and darkness and into restoration and into the light. “ What a story! A story of betrayal and love and sacrifice…what a story! It’s a beautiful love story, but it isn’t the best…it points to the greatest love story ever told Throughout the narrative of Hosea and Gomer The Lord Says:  1:2 “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”  1:4 “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel”  1:6 “I will no more have mercy on the house of Judah”  1:8 “For you are not my people and I am not your God”  ** 3:1 Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, even though they turn to other gods.” Ladies and gentlemen…in this story we are not represented by Hosea the righteous prophet…we are the Whore!    

We are the people of God who have traded his love for another We have traded his promises for something less. We have been enticed by sin, we have traded his company for loneliness We traded safety for destruction We have traded freedom in Him for slavery to sin.

When we are at our lowest…and we are at the end of our rope…and we are hanging our heads in shame…and the last person we want to come face to face with is The Lord He has every right to leave us to our devices…and he could leave us to our own destruction…(Pause) – Jesus is in the crowd We will hear Jesus saying to sin as it calls out to death for another bid on your life…  Stop! That is my beloved! I will pay what he owes!  Stop! That’s my beloved…and I have given everything to purchase her freedom.  Stop! That’s my beloved, made in my image, and I have sacrificed everything I had to in order to bring them back… o Back from their sinful live o Back from betrayal o Back from slavery…out of shame and darkness and into restoration and into the light. My cross was enough to pay whatever debt you have…welcome home! And all you have to do is say, “yes.”

3. Repentance brings restoration Homer kneels down to Gomer and says, (3:3) “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so I will also be with you.” This is Hosea saying you have lived on the other side…you have seen the terrible things the fast and hard lifestyle has brought you…you must turn from that lifestyle and no longer engage with what was killing you…you will be with me now…and I will also be with you. It is in turning from her sinful ways and embracing the one who loves her…the one who will protect her…it’s an issue of trust…her best decisions had left her broken It’s an issue of trust…she has to release her trust in the world and embrace the one she was meant to be with all along. It was in Gomer’s turning from her rebellion and returning to her husband that restoration can begin. It is in repentance that restoration has power. The perfect end to their story, but not the end of ours…(Have them turn to Hosea 14) Hosea 14:1 “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity…(4) I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.” This is our God saying to us, “Return” God in this place today is saying:  “Yes you have stumbled because of your sin.”  “Yes you have betrayed me and turned to other things to satisfy…return.” The Lord is calling us to repentance …saying you no longer need to hide your face.  But you have to come clean with your betrayal  Adultery – Lust  Theft – Greed  Lying - Gossip - It’s time to repent and restore – It’s time to return The Lord is saying through the story of Hosea and Gomer, “I have seen what you have done, I know where you have been, I’m asking you to return.” “I will heal your apostasy, I will hear your broken heart, and I will love you freely, and turn my anger from you.” I said in the beginning that “Betrayal, if not confronted Biblically, can destroy you. It’s yours and my betrayal before the Lord that has to be confronted…that we have all betrayed the one who loves us, we must repent of our sin realizing it separates us from God, knowing His love required a sacrifice in Jesus Christ, and accepting his offer to restore us.