# Hosea God’s Special Tool

Key Passage: Hosea 1:1-3
Date: June 7, 2024

Book of Hosea. We are actually going to do it. We’re going to start the minor prophets. We’ve been talking about it for months. And you are beginning to question, is the pastor ever going to get to the minor prophets?

I’ve been wondering myself if it’s going to happen or not, you know. But Hosea and the minor prophets, they are the last 12 books of the Old Testament. Many of the adults in Sunday school classes, we’ve been learning about these sayings, but there are 17 books called the prophets. And 12 of them are the minor prophets. It doesn’t mean they’re minor in importance, but minor as far as the length, for the most part. They start with Hosea, and they just go on through, all the way to Malachi, 12 books. We’re going to try to just go through them. We’re not going to be in a race to get through them, but we won’t try to drag behind either. We just kind of want to get the introduction out tonight in this book.

We do have some things a little bit later on here, so I think we’ll be very quick tonight. I felt another wave of disbelief come over when I said that too, you know. But we’ll see what we can do on that. Hosea. And let me just give you a couple of things as far as the introduction. You may want to write these things down now. Of course, it’s up to you. You write things down, but I always forgot to write them down. I mean, I forgot to look what I wrote down later on. You know where I put that at. So, but Hosea, he prophesied in the northern kingdom. Israel was split. Remember, up north is the ten tribes—that’s Israel. And down south is Judah, the two tribes. Hosea primarily was up here preaching to the northern kingdom.

The northern kingdom went astray, backslid much quicker than the southern kingdom. Did you all hear that? The northern kingdom backslid quicker than the southern kingdom. I’m not trying to say anything there, but, you know, they got some looks on that one there. In Israel, they did so for sure on that. It was a time of prosperity. Economically, it was a very good time, but a very wicked time in the northern kingdom, a very sinful time.

The theme, if I had to put a theme on the book, would be “return.” Fifteen times you’ll find the word return. God calling them to return unto Him. Many of them, just, “Would you return unto me?”

Hosea, in the book of Hosea, in other places in the Old Testament, it will refer to the northern kingdom as Ephraim. I remember I used to get confused: What is it talking about, Ephraim? Ephraim typically, he’s just talking about the northern kingdom. Samaria is the capital of Israel, the northern kingdom. Samaria is inside Ephraim. So often when you read Ephraim, it is talking about the northern kingdom, all right?

I’m not losing y’all this introduction. Y’all stick with me. I’m just trying to give a couple of facts as we get going into it. The word Hosea, the name Hosea, means “the Lord is my help.” When we study about what all Hosea went through, you’ll realize he needed—we all need the Lord’s help—but he needed it so desperately. Hosea’s life would be an illustration of Israel backsliding and going away from Jehovah and leaving the Lord and cheating on the Lord. The Bible, even for us in our day and time, if I go to the world—the Bible calls that, James 4:4—“You adulterers and adulteresses.” Friendship with the world is enmity with Christ. When I go to the world and all the world’s things, it breaks the heart of God, and He calls them, “You adulterers and adulteresses,” making friendship with the world. Israel had done that for sure, and it was breaking the heart of God, and Hosea was going to illustrate that. It was life, just a very hard task or cross. Hosea had to follow Jesus.

Who would you want to preach about how you just broke God’s heart and make it real to you? Who could do such a thorough and good job at it as a man that just had his heart broken by his wife? And that’s what happened to Hosea. Nobody could—I mean, just feel it like someone that just had it happen in him. Can you imagine Hosea going out and preaching and shedding tears and just a pathos in his voice? Because he knew what it was like. He’s preaching to them, “Hey, you’ve left God, you’ve broken His heart.” Boy, he knew what that felt like. That’s Hosea.

We’ll just get into it a little bit here tonight. Hosea, chapter number one, we’re going to start in verse number one. Would you stand, please, as we read God’s word together? We’ll read just a little bit and pause and talk about it—just three verses here, one, two, and three, Hosea, chapter number one. If you’re there, would you say amen? If you’re tired, would you say, “Oh me”? More than I thought. Wow, okay, okay. If you have energy, say, “Glory Hallelujah!” I’ve got a couple of those, God. Amen, amen. Brother Frank’s ready to go over there. I like it. I like it. Amen, that’s good.

Verse number one, the Bible says, “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Now, remember that—help me out—Judah, is that the northern or the southern kingdom? Good, good. How many tribes is that? Two, good, good, good. That’s right. But notice this also in verse number one: “The word of the Lord came.” It wasn’t Hosea’s will to do all this. It wasn’t him dreaming up and finding some new technique on YouTube or something, a new way to do it. No, the Lord was leading him what to say and to do. It was of God. The Southern Kingdom went through four kings, and look at the last part of this verse: “And in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.” Now, just one king. He reigned as a king for many years, but he was a very wicked man. It was a wicked time—prosperous but wicked, sinful. Four kings in the southern part. If you use the dates in Schofield’s Bible, Usher’s dates, his ministry was about 60 years. So you’re not talking about a man that did this for about 60 years—a long time. Hosea just faithfully followed what God wanted to do.

Verse number two, if you would please: “The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.” It wasn’t somebody else’s word or what Hosea dreamed at nighttime, or he had pizza with anchovies on it and had a nightmare and so he preached on it. It was the word of the Lord. That’s where it ought to be: the beginning. By the way, let me say something about that. There were several other prophets—Isaiah and Amos and others—that were preaching at the same time. But some say Hosea was the first to start preaching God’s judgments coming. That’s why he’s saying, “Hey, the beginning. If you don’t get right, judgments are coming.” Many say he was the beginning of that message, and others did it, but he was the beginning. It says, “The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.” And the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.” It’s amazing how many people try to explain that away. But, friend, that’s what the Bible says. God said, “Go. Take a wife of whoredoms”—a sinful lady, unfaithful. Some of Schofield’s notes talk about how he wanted to do that, or God allowed her to do it. No, that’s not what the Bible says. I like Schofield; I have an old Schofield Bible. That’s not what the Bible says. God told him, “Go and take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms.”

Now, can I just be honest for a moment or two about this? I have questioned in my mind, did she already have children? I’ve studied it out; I’ve read a lot of different commentaries and whatnot, and most will say no, it was after. I don’t know if anybody could prove it either way. I don’t know exactly where I land on it, just to be honest with you. But God told him. We know later on for sure she has children by Hosea. The Bible tells us that by him. Whether she had before or not, I don’t know. But God told him to go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. By the way, the children that Hosea was a dad to seemed like they broke his heart later on, too. This man, just an amazing man, stayed faithful and followed out God’s leading in his life. “Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” There’s a reason for what God called him to do. There’s a reason for it. Your life is going to illustrate how Israel has departed from Me. Preaching is an expression of your soul. It’s not just a little outline. If it’s true preaching, the preaching goes after the heart; teaching goes after the head. There’s a difference. Both are important; the Bible mentions both, but there’s a difference. Preaching is an expression of your soul, not just an outline something you learned, but it ought to be something of your soul, your heart. He was a living illustration, see, of Israel backsliding and committing whoredom against the Lord.

Verse number three: “So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.”

Now, would you pray with me? I don’t think it’ll be long that God would just use this thing maybe to encourage us and challenge us a little bit, maybe make us a little bit wiser for the Lord. Would you pray that God works in your hearts as I pray the same? Lord, we sure need you tonight, Father. I really would like to rightly divide your word. Lord, I don’t want to back away from something you said. Lord, I don’t want your word to say something it really doesn’t. So, Lord, help us to rightly divide it. And then, Lord, I do pray that you would heal some, challenge some, encourage some. Lord, help us maybe not to play the pity party or victim. Let us be what you want us to be and follow your will for our lives. Help us to do so, Lord. I yield to You. Would You help me to say everything You want said? And, Lord, we’ll thank You and praise You for what You do. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Can you imagine the pain Hosea went through? I mean, just imagine. I’ve been with men over the years when their wife has cheated on them. Wow. I’ve cried with them. It’s just so heartbreaking. The pain—and I’ve watched—I don’t know how some men have been so strong while they’re hurting going through it. I can’t imagine; I’ve never been through it, praise God for it. But just being with them… I pulled up one time, one morning, a man who used to come years ago, he’d drop in here and there. He pulled up here to the wall in his vehicle, a very wealthy man, and he just pulled up, and he found out some things about his wife. The hurt, wow, and the tears and the pain. Can you imagine Hosea? This woman is unfaithful to him, and she’s a sinful woman, and just the pain that he felt. Can you imagine the gossip around town? “Well, the prophet, the preacher, doesn’t he know who he’s married? He thinks he’s going to reform her. He’s in for news.” Can you imagine the gossip around town? “Well, that’s a naive preacher. He doesn’t know what he’s about to get into. Dumb, dumb, dumb. What in the world is he doing marrying someone like that?” Foolish people are people. I guarantee that’s going on, friend. The pain he felt, and then everybody, just the scuttlebutt around town about him and Gomer. I imagine some probably went and said, “Hosea, don’t do this thing. I know things about her. Look, don’t do this, Hosea. I’m telling you, this doesn’t make sense. No, don’t do it.” I’m just talking about the pain.

Frank, can I say this? Sometimes there is pain in being used by God. God had a purpose for it. God was going to use Hosea in a powerful way to be an illustration to Israel. Friend, sometimes there is just pain in being used by God. We don’t like it. I don’t like it, friend. We don’t like to talk about it sometimes, but sometimes that’s part of it. Now just think for a little bit. We won’t be long. Think about Paul. God gave him a thorn in the flesh. He said that’s Satan’s messenger—this is the Tennessee way of saying it—to beat the tar out of me, all right? Or you can say it beat the snod out of me, you know. He said, “Why?” And by the way, he had those three great prayer meetings and asked God. God said, “No, no, no.” God changed his heart. He said, “I realize I’ve got to go through the pain.” He said that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Friend, none of us like it, but I’m just trying to be honest with you that sometimes it’s painful to be used by God.

Think about David running from Saul. He ought to be the anointed king, and God was going to use him greatly, and yet he spent probably several years in the woods running like a fugitive, hiding. He couldn’t be around his hometown; he couldn’t be with his parents. He had to take his parents over to Moab for protection.

Go throughout the Bible. Moses didn’t grow up in his own home. I mean, they were aborting babies back then. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s home, Pharaoh’s daughter, and then it seemed like he was like, “Am I Israelite or am I an Egyptian?” He finally made the right decision: “I’m going to go to God’s people” when he was 40. That didn’t turn out the way he thought it would. He had to go to the backside of the desert for 40 more years. I think he had a lot of pain. Later on, his own brother and sister turned on him. You see how that works for you. Go through the Bible. What about Joseph? His brothers hated him. They sold him into human trafficking, you know, and he ends up over there in Egypt, gets lied about, and is in prison for all those years—13 years, painful. He had a child and said, “Boy, God’s blessing, and He’s going to cause me to forget.” I don’t think he ever forgot. He sure didn’t seem like he forgot when his brother showed up for corn. “God’s caused me to forget.” I don’t think so. It’s painful. It hurts. Yet Joseph, at the end over there in Genesis 50, he said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” God had a plan. God was going to use me. Sometimes it hurts to be used by God.

I always think it’s interesting: even when Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes, if you notice, it’s in all four of the Gospels. If you notice, it will often say, “He blessed it and brake it,” and then, of course, you had the multitudes. Often, God’s going to use you to help a whole lot of people, but who’s got to break you? That’s so fun. I’m just saying, it’s not always, you know, fluff and puff and glitter and all that. Sometimes it is… And here’s the thing: sometimes it’s an open illustration, like it was for Hosea, and sometimes nobody knows about it.

I think about some of our people in our church that are just having incredible pain and issues, and nobody knows about it. It’ll never be told in the church. As a pastor, I probably know a little bit more than anybody as far as all their sorrows. Everybody’s got a story, and that’s true. You know some of the stories. Some will be known out in public; some nobody ever knows about. I think those, honestly, I think those will be the ones that get in the further light in heaven, if you will. They just have been… Hosea was an open illustration, but sometimes nobody ever knows about it.

I’m saying sometimes it’s painful. Abraham had to leave his home, his home country, and his family, his relatives, to go to the promised land, Canaan. The classic example is Jesus. He was going to be used, and He is our salvation, and He is bearing the sins of the world, and yet the pain: plucking His beard out and putting on the crown. Can you imagine the pain as they took that reed? They beat the reed down into His skull, and the blood’s coming out. And then the thirty-nine lashes, and that cat o’ nine tails, it just fillets His body with pain. And then He’s on that cross, suffocating, sliding up and down that old rugged cross, and the pain of that. I’m talking about sometimes it’s super painful for God to use you. Yet Jesus said, “If you’re going to follow Me, hey, take up your cross and follow Me.”

Hosea—you talk about brokenhearted. Wow. My hat’s off to this man. He’s an amazing man. Yet for almost 3,000 years, people have been getting encouragement from the book of Hosea. I don’t know how many people have said, “Well, I questioned my eternal security, but at the end of the book of Hosea, I realize, no, He never, never will He divorce them.” And how many people have read it and got comfort and said, “Well, if Hosea can go through it, I can go through it, and I don’t want to break the heart of God.” For almost 3,000 years, God’s been using Hosea, but it was painful. It hurt.

Here is another thought about this introduction to Hosea. It’s amazing what he went through. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, honestly, but it wasn’t Hosea’s fault. The Bible never records, “Well, Hosea had to go through this because of his certain sin or certain issue in his life.” The Bible never alludes to anything like that. Hosea had to put his reputation in God’s hands. He knew everybody was going to talk about him, look down on him, and all the rest of that, but it wasn’t his fault. Family and relatives probably said, “What in the world is wrong with you? I can’t believe you did that. What a mistake you made,” and all the rest of that, but it wasn’t his fault.

Here’s the thing about that. Satan, one of the titles of the devil in Revelation, is called the Accuser of the brethren. He accuses you before God, but he’s just an accuser. When you’re going through tough times, he’ll come along and accuse you. Can I say there’s a difference between conviction and guilt? Conviction is when the Spirit of God convicts you. You know you’re right, and He says, “You better get that right. You need to confess your sins and get things right.” That’s conviction. But when you go to God and say, “Hey, Lord, I’m so sorry. As best I can see, would You forgive me? I plead the blood of Jesus, and I won’t ever do it again. Lord, I want to get this thing right. I want to repent over this thing. I want to be right before You. God, please cleanse me”—and yet you still have those feelings—that’s guilt. Conviction is from the Spirit of God. Guilt comes from the devil or our own flesh. Your own flesh can condemn you. Sometimes you just can’t forgive yourself. Friend, you ought to see yourself as God sees you. God has forgiven you.

I promise, as Hosea is going through this and his heart’s so broken and he’s probably crying—can you imagine him going to sleep with tears and waking up with tears, unable to sleep well, his heart hurting so bad he can’t physically feel it—the devil comes along. I promise, the devil comes along and says, “It’s all your fault. If you hadn’t done this, you did this, you did this.” Friend, the Bible never says anything about Hosea doing something wrong here. Was he a sinner? Sure. But it wasn’t his fault. Satan will try to convince you every bad thing in your life is your fault and try to magnify your sin. Sin is sinful, but friend, that sin has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, and you get it forgiven, and you move beyond that. As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far your transgressions are removed. But Satan will try to bring them up every day, and he’ll try to blame every bad thing in your life on that sin from sometimes 30 years ago. I’m sure Hosea went through that: “Man, what did I do to deserve this?” The old devil loves to get us in some corner in the darkness, away from everybody else, in solitude, sucking our thumb and having a pity party. Satan loves that, man. He’ll give you every little thing you want to hear. Honestly, friend, it was his cross to bear. It was God’s plan for his life to be used greatly. Nobody likes it, but friend, it’s not always your fault when you go through hard times. I imagine David: “What did I do wrong? Why do I deserve this?” He was out in the woods running. Joseph in prison for so long. Friend, Jesus went through suffering like we can’t imagine. He committed no sin. He never messed up one time. He never said a dirty word, never looked at something he shouldn’t look at, never was critical when he shouldn’t have been critical. His mind never did one thing wrong. Yet He went through incredible suffering. You tell the devil to put that in his pipe and smoke it for a while. Oh, friend.

What about that old song they used to sing? “Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.” Hosea had a cross to bear. I don’t find him having a whole lot of pity parties. I find him—and here’s the thing—60 years. He didn’t say, “Well, I’m not going to do that. Look what kind of mess it got me into.” Forget it. He didn’t know. He was just 60 years, stayed faithful, following God’s plan. Wow. He just kept putting one foot in front of the other, doing what God wanted to do. That’s sometimes… Dr. Lee Robertson used to say that’s the secret to the Christian life: just keep going forward. He said the difference between those that fell and those that succeed is that one just keeps going. Just keeps going. 60 years.

I was talking with Sarah the other night. My mom’s down in Florida, and Sarah’s been with her a little bit, visiting some family and whatnot. We were talking about it on the phone, and I was talking about one of my uncles. He’s had a very rough life. He went through Vietnam, saw a lot in Vietnam, came home, and he wasn’t raised in church one bit. He was coming out of a bar one time—I don’t know what had happened in the bar—but he came out, and a bunch of guys had tacked him. They hit him over the head with a crowbar, stabbing him, both biceps twisted the knife, stabbed him in the lungs multiple times. He lived through all that. A little while later on, remember they used to have those big truck tire split rims? A tire blew up in his face. An EMT worker said by the time they got there, his brain was hanging out of his head. He has a glass eye; he used to take his eye out sometimes. He has a metal plate in his head. Rough. Sarah said, “Dad, did he ever get saved?” As best we can tell, he did. In our church, when I was a teenager—I didn’t have anything to do with it; Mom and Dad and others did—we had a man come and preach. I think he changed a little bit over the years, unfortunately, but he used to preach in a lot of our type of churches. His name—somebody may know him—Tim Lee. How many know who Tim Lee is? Yeah, he was in Vietnam; I think he was a Marine. My uncle was a Marine, and he stepped on a mine and blew both his legs off. He used to go around churches preaching from a wheelchair. He came to our home church, and Mom and Dad said, “Hey, would you come?” He never went to church with us, but he heard somebody else had been through what he had been through. He knew what pain was about. He said, “Well, I’ll go hear that man because he knows what pain’s all about. He’s suffered before, too. He’s been through some things I’ve been through, so I’ll go hear him.” Praise the Lord, he came to church. God used that man who had been through a lot of suffering. I don’t think it would have ever come and hurt him if he hadn’t had his legs blown off, preaching from a wheelchair. But God used that man who had been through a lot of pain and suffering to work in my uncle’s heart. My uncle prayed that the Lord Jesus Christ would be his Savior. He hasn’t been everything we dreamed of him being for the Lord, but I believe he really got saved, and every once in a while, somebody can see the Lord working in his heart, my uncle. Sometimes, for God to use you, there has to be suffering.

Someone went to a pastor one time and said, “Pastor, why is all this happening in my life? This has happened, this is happening. It seems like I get my head above water, and something else pushes me down—one tragedy after the next tragedy. These are not minor; these are major things in my life. Why do I have to go through so many of these things?” The pastor wisely said this—a pastor from Michigan. He said, “Hey, do you have some special tools maybe in your garage or somewhere?” He said, “Typically, it’s kind of packed away. It’s one of those tools you don’t use very often. But when you have a specific job that you want to get done, you have to have that tool to do it. There’s no other way around it. You’ve got to have that tool to get that job done.” So you use it very often. The bad part is that a lot of the time, those special tools are expensive. But if you want to get that job done, you’ve got to have that tool. He said, “Friend, God’s making you into a special tool. God’s got some jobs, some specific jobs down the road that He wants you to do. It’s expensive, and it costs. And it hurts. But there’s going to be somebody that needs someone that’s been through what you’ve been through. God—it’s costly—and God is taking you through that to make you into a special tool.”

Hosea—that’s the title of tonight—Hosea, the special tool. He was a special tool to Israel.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Our heads are closed. I’m going to ask you this: Would you just spend some time at an altar if the Lord laid it on you, where you’re at? Would you spend some time? “Lord, would You use me? What all I have been through, what all I’m going through, and what I’m going to go through—would You use that? I’d like to be a special tool in somebody’s life.” Would you let Him know that? Maybe it might look something like this: “Lord, if I’m going to hurt like this, then please use it. I don’t always enjoy it and like it, or understand it all, but Lord, if I must go through it, would You use me? Let me be a special tool.” Would you tell Him that?

Would you please stand? And would you please come, let the Lord know that? Father, thank You for the illustration of Hosea. Forgive me, Lord, I complain and whine sometimes, but I’ve never been through anything like he’s been through. Help us to stay faithful, Lord. Whatever we’re going through, would You use it to be a special tool for You, for somebody’s life? We’ll thank You for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, if you will. Hey, you know, the shame is those that get bitter and they turn away from God, they give up in the middle of the trials. And Romans 8:28 is never fulfilled in their life, and they don’t get to be used like God would like. So let’s just stay faithful. Hosea stayed faithful. He’s an awesome man. We’ll be studying about him in the next coming weeks, and my hat is off to this man. He’s an amazing man. God used him in a great way, and he just stayed faithful. Praise the Lord for him.

Original File: Hosea God’s Special Tool - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday 21622