Loving The Unfaithful (Outline/notes from the first sermon that I preached during our ministry in Palacaguina, Nicaragua.)
This subject matter is close to my own heart and I hope that it resonates with you as well – that you are convicted of the depth of Christ’s love for you, His never ending faithfulness, and His passionate pursuit to have a eternal relationship with you.
Cheating On God – 3/16/2014
I am so honored to be here today with all of you; it is a blessing to share the Word of God with my brothers and sisters of Christ in Nicaragua.
Intro:
* If you were in a relationship with a person that you loved more than anything, the person that you pursued passionately, the person that you wanted the best for, the person that you desired to spend the rest of your life with…what if that person cheated on you, would you leave them?
* If you knew that the person you loved and wanted to marry would end up having an affair, not just once, but multiple times, would you still marry them?
I know someone who did exactly that…. God. God knew before the world came to be that His beautiful creation, us, would be unfaithful… that we would cheat on Him… and He still created us. He still loves us unconditionally… He still desires to have a relationship with us for all eternity… even though we can’t love Him in perfection as He loves us. He still sent His son to die for our sons so that we could be in a relationship with Him in this world and the next.
Main Points:
The story of Hosea…
In the book of Hosea, chapter 1:2 says, “When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife tis land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” So Hosea did as the Lord commanded him and married Gomer – she committed adultery numerous times, but in his faithfulness, Hosea continued to pursue and honor his marital commitments even though his wife was unfaithful….
– Hosea 2:5b-8 “She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’ Therefore I will block her path with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first for then I was better off than now.’ She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold – which they used for Baal.”
– Hosea 3:1 “The LORD said to me, ‘Go, show your love to our wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
– This story is a beautiful allegory of God’s love and pursuit of the church, the fellowship of believers. HIS PASSION FOR US IS NOT DAMPENED BY OUR MANY BETRAYALS. Even when we run away from God, looking to people and things of this world, God continues to pursue us. Despite our adulterous hearts, even in our unfaithfulness, God loves us…and whether you realize it or not nothing but an intimate relationship with God will satisfy your hearts.
God has feelings too…
When someone breaks our hearts, we feel it. When someone hurts us, we feel it. When someone breaks their promises to us, we feel it. We are affected by these things, and we feel it deeply. So does God, even more so.
– Jesus wept. John 11:35 (At seeing them mourning over their brother and close friend… Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
– Song of Songs 8:6-7a “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.
– Hosea 2:13b “…she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,’ declares the LORD.”
When we give anything more priority than we give to God, we commit idolatry.
– James 4:4-6a “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace.”
– Take a moment and think of how you are living your life… Are you pursuing a relationship with this world or with Christ? Are you causing Jesus to weep, are you making God angry or jealous… ARE YOU BREAKING HIS HEART?
The church/fellowship of believers as Christ’s bride….
There are many illustrations throughout the bible of Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His eternal bride.
– Isaiah 62:5 “As a young man marries a young woman, so will your builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
God wants a lifelong marriage with you.
– Hosea 2:19-20 “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion, I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”
He wants all of you…not just part of you, not only when you’re available, not just when it’s convenient or you. He wants all of you, all the time, forever.
Condemned under the law, saved by Christ’s sacrifice…
We fall short of perfection every day. We break the commandments. We choose ourselves, others, things, this world, over God every day. Basically, we are continuously cheating on God.
– Daniel 9:9 “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.”
– I am so grateful that God doesn’t deal with us as our sin deserves… God’s love for us moves beyond justice, it goes deeper than the law. Under the law, a person is expendable…but under Jesus’s saving sacrifice a person is important, given grace.
– John 8:2-11 (Adulterous woman in the temple courts) … GO AND SIN NO MORE.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
– “Though God’s people sin, He loves them and wants them to return to Him, but to refrain from sin.”- anonymous quote
– Lamentations 3:22-24 “Because of the LORD’S love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
You are beloved…
– God created you in HIS IMAGE. Even before you were knit together in your mother’s womb, He knew you intimately, and He loved you unconditionally.
– God created you to be in relationship with Him. You were made for Him, not for someone or something else.
In Ephesians chapter five it talks about submitting your lives to God…
– Ephesians 5:1-2 “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Live a life faithful to God, walking in covenant relationship with Him; commit your lives in faithfulness to the One who created you. Knowing that, give your lives completely to Christ, walk in His ways.
