Good morning. Welcome to Big Valley Grace Community Church. Congratulations to all the friends and family of those who were just baptized. We’re so glad that you’re here celebrating with them. What an amazing moment — getting to be a part of an important moment in someone’s spiritual life, obeying the Lord. We celebrate with you and your loved ones.

Well, I don’t know how you grew up, but I grew up a couple blocks that way behind Target on McKenry in the Woodrow Elementary School neighborhood. And I was taught to work. I was taught at a young age to work, to work hard, to do a good job. I had odd jobs growing up, I had actual jobs growing up, but I always worked. I’ve always had a job — or jobs — in my life, and it’s carried through with me my whole life.

Well, when I was a young adult, I hit a rough patch. And to say I hit a rough patch is a huge understatement. I ruined relationships with my family. I ruined relationships with my friends. I ruined relationships with the people I worked for. And at that time in my life, I had multiple jobs.

One job I had was working on a farm. I signed up to work on this farm with a particular type of job. As time went on, my job kind of changed, and I was doing something different than what I thought I signed up for. I began to become very frustrated and very angry.

It was a Friday at noon. I walked into the trailer where the owners of the farm were running things and I said, “I quit. I signed up to do this type of work and I’ve been doing something else and I don’t want to do it anymore. I quit. I’m done right now.”

The owner of the farm looked at me and said, “Well, if that’s what you think you need to do, then I guess that’s what you’ll do.” The guy standing next to me said, “I’m only here because he works here, so if he’s quitting, I quit too.” So the two of us got in the Jeep, top down, country road — a couple of arrogant young men.

I wouldn’t have been able to tell you all that was wrong about my life in that moment, but I knew driving away from the farm that I was not in the right. I carried the guilt and the shame of that moment with me for a long time — wishing I could go back to that day, wishing I could get a clear headspace to make a different decision. The damage was already done.

Years later, I saw the owners of the farm. And when they saw me, they opened up their arms wide and gave me a hug and said, “It is so good to see you. How are you doing?”

The way I had gotten that job was because the owners of the farm were family friends with my parents. They had watched me grow up since the day I was born. Not only had I ruined a work relationship, but I had ruined a family relationship. And when they saw me, they opened up their arms and embraced me. “It is so good to see you. How are you doing?”

We’re studying the book of Hosea together. If you have a Bible, I want to encourage you to turn to Hosea chapter 2. If you need a Bible, our team wants to give you one after the gathering — come to the prayer room.

In Hosea, Pastor Scott Elliot did a great job opening up week one last week. If you missed it, I really want to challenge you to go watch that message because it will be so helpful for you as each of these messages are linked together.

Let me pray for us as we begin. Heavenly Father, may we see your arms open wide. And may those of us who need to be embraced find ourselves in the arms of a merciful God today who looks at us and thinks, “It’s so good to see you. How are you doing?” Lord, would we come into contact with a merciful heavenly Father? We are in desperate need of that. So would you work in us by your word and by your spirit today? We pray this in Jesus’ name, and all God’s family said, amen.

The book of Hosea is back and forth — like a switchback trail. It goes over here for a little bit and then it goes over there for a little bit, and there’s incredible tension all the way through the book. On one side of the tension is love and mercy and grace and forgiveness from God. On the other side of the tension is threatening and condemnation and judgment and consequence.

The book of Hosea has multiple levels to it. At one level, it’s about an individual — a prophet named Hosea who had a very difficult job to communicate on behalf of God to the people of God. Then there’s the level of his family. He was asked by God to take for himself a wife who would be unfaithful to him. And then he had children, and each of the children were given names of unfaithfulness. Then there’s the level of the nation of Israel — the ten northern tribes of the divided kingdom — and the individuals who lived in Israel and their relationship with God.

As we walk through chapter 2, I’m going to do my best to unpack some of those layers. But I give you a challenge: if you really want to understand the book of Hosea, you’re going to need to spend some time reading it on your own. You’re going to need to dig into it, pray, and ask God to reveal to you what he wants you to know from his word. Because this book is thick, but it reveals so much of who God is and who God is toward us. So I want to challenge you to dig in — there’s a lot to be found about a merciful God in the book of Hosea.

In chapter 2, verse 1, it starts out: “Say to your brothers, ‘You are my people,’ and to your sisters, ‘You have received mercy.’” If we look back to chapter 1, we find that there was a people who were called “not my people,” and a people who were going to “not receive mercy.” And now we get to chapter 2 and we see this back-and-forth movement where now it’s saying: you are my people and you have received mercy.

I know for me, when the owners of the farm opened up their arms and welcomed me in — “It’s so good to see you. How have you been?” — to be on the receiving side of mercy was so impactful to my life. I’ve needed to receive mercy many times.

When I was young in my family — my wife and I had a couple young kids, been married for a handful of years — we weren’t doing so good in our marriage. One day a man called me up and said, “How are you doing?” I thought, “Wow, this is interesting that a guy called me just to see how I was doing.” He said, “I want to invite you to Celebrate Recovery — to be a part of a 12-step program.” I didn’t know what Celebrate Recovery was and I didn’t know what the 12-step program was. But I thought: if this guy’s taking the time to call me up and invite me somewhere, I probably should at least listen to what he has to say. So I went and I completed a 12-step program with Celebrate Recovery.

And the way I found out something was changing in my life was when I heard my wife say, “I can see the difference in you. I can see how you are changing.” I needed mercy from God and I needed mercy from my wife and I needed mercy in my marriage.

Last week, we asked our church family: “Share how you have received mercy from God. Write it on the cards and put it up on the lobby walls if you want to.” And a lot of people did it. I went and grabbed three of them. There are no names on these cards — I do not know who wrote them. But they put them in a public location, so they’re okay with people reading them.

First card: How have you received mercy from God? “God has shown me the hardness of my own heart and is in the process of changing me — humbling me, helping me to resist youthful passions in favor of delighting in him and giving me new desires.”

Second card: How have you received mercy from God? “I had an abortion. Yet in my repentance, God gave me two beautiful babies after. I had a divorce and God brought me a Christian husband. From an abusive relationship to one with love and mercy. All my sins and bad choices, yet God still came to me offering eternal life, salvation through his Son Jesus. He still loves me. I have been transformed in his mercy and love.”

Third card: How have you received mercy from God? “A new life with him. Strength and recovery from drugs and alcohol. Life has a new meaning other than that stuff. Children, family, wife, job, and a new relationship with people.”

Pretty awesome. We know we need a fresh start. God is offering a fresh start. So the question is: how do we get it? How do we get a fresh start with God? There’s a heavenly Father with his arms open wide waiting to embrace us. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?” How do we get this fresh start with God?

Well, we get to verse 2 and Hosea switches again. It goes this way, then it goes that way. In verse 2, it says: “Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband, that she put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts.”

Remember, there are multiple levels in the book of Hosea. One level is that it would be Hosea actually speaking to his children: “Hey kids, go plead with mom. Ask mom, please stop.” And many of us have been in moments where there’s someone pleading with a family member: “Please stop. Please stop doing what you’re doing.” The Bible’s pretty clear, though — it’s not the children’s job to raise the parents. It’s the parents’ job to raise the children. It’s the parents’ job to say, “Kids, let’s follow the Lord together. Let’s go follow the Lord.”

Another way to look at this is that it’s a picture of God’s relationship with the nation of Israel. When God’s saying, “Tell the children — plead with your mother,” it’s like saying, “Tell the individuals of Israel to plead with the nation as a whole.” Why would God say individuals in a nation should plead with the nation as a whole? Because they had gone after another god — a false god. And God is using the picture of a family to describe that unfaithfulness to God is like unfaithfulness in a family. So he’s saying, “Go plead with yourselves.” Why? Because they were probably pleading with God: “God, fix our problems for us.” And he’s saying, “You’re in the situation you’re in because you created your own mess. If you’re going to plead with somebody, plead with yourselves. Stop. Cut it out. Stop sinning. We’ve turned away from the Lord.”

How do we get a fresh start with God? Well, when we’re pleading with somebody, what are we doing? We’re saying, “Please surrender.” And that’s number one. How do we get a fresh start with God? Surrender to God.

Our own way didn’t lead to a good place. We’ve got to raise the white flag and surrender. “I can’t do this on my own. My own way has only caused trouble. God, I need you to do it. I need to do it God’s way, not my own way.” Surrender to God.

Now God’s going to go on and explain the consequences for not surrendering. In verse 3: “Lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness and make her like a parched land and kill her with thirst.” And verses 4 and 5: “Upon her children also I will have no mercy because they are children of whoredom. For their mother has played the whore… For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’”

Think about it in the layers. God is speaking to a prophet who is leading a family and using the illustration of that family to describe his relationship with the nation of Israel. How did the nation of Israel start? It wasn’t a nation at all. God made it a nation out of nothing. And what God is saying in this verse is: if you do not surrender, the consequences are going to be severe — I’m going to take you right back to nothing. You were nothing before I got a hold of you. I’m the one who made you a nation. And if you’re not going to surrender and you’re going to keep going after other gods, I’m going to bring you back to nothingness.

What kind of promise did God make to the people of Israel when he started the nation? He said: “If you obey me and have me as your God and follow me, I’m going to bless your kids. And then I’m going to bless your kids’ kids. And I’m going to bless them to the third and the fourth generation. I’m going to keep blessing you as you obey me.” And what he’s saying now is: “If you won’t surrender, if you won’t stop going after other gods, not only am I going to take you back to nothing just like you started — but instead of your kids getting my blessing, your kids are going to pay the price. Instead of receiving a blessing, they’re going to receive the curse of your unfaithfulness.”

He said, “You think that these fake gods — ‘my lovers,’ as the text says — you think that your lovers, the idols, gave you your bread and water and wool and oil and drink? All of your provisions, you think idols gave those to you? That is so like our culture. Our culture is so driven toward: where’s the resource? I will worship the resource.” You know what that sounds like? Materialism. More, more, more, more, more. Wherever I can get more, that’s where I’m going to give my adoration and love. It sounds just like the culture we’re in right now.

What happens when we don’t surrender to God? In Celebrate Recovery, step one says this: “We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.” You know what that sounds like? That sounds like we need to surrender to God.

You may be looking at this and thinking, “I can really relate — I’ve been in situations where we had to plead with a family member: please stop. Please stop hurting yourself. Please stop hurting someone else.” I’ve sat with marriages where one spouse is saying, “Please stop.” I’ve sat with parents and kids where the parents are saying to the child, or the child is saying to the parents, “Please stop.” I’ve sat with friends where one is saying to the other, “Please stop hurting yourself and other people.”

What does surrender look like? It looks like admitting we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors and that our lives had become unmanageable. You may say, “Well, I don’t know if I can really relate to the words addiction and compulsive behavior.” Okay, I’m pretty sure there’s been at least one thing in your life that’s been unmanageable. And I’m very confident that you are powerless in many situations. You probably still need to surrender to God.

Romans 7:18 says: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” I want to do the right thing. I just can’t figure out how to get it done. You know what that sounds like? Raise the white flag. Time to surrender. You need God’s help.

So as we look at this passage, what do you think you need to surrender to God? How would you fill in the blank of this sentence: Lord, I surrender my _____ over to you. What would you put in that blank? I’m guessing you know exactly what you would put in there.

So now in the book of Hosea, we go to another switchback. It turns direction again. Verse 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. She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them. She shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’”

In Christian insider language, we love the term hedge. We love to pray hedges. “Lord, I pray a hedge of protection over my life. Over my marriage. Over my kids. Over my church.” And when we pray hedges, we usually pray them this way — we pray a hedge so that bad things don’t get to us. Well, in this text, it’s used in the opposite way. God says, “I will hedge up her way with thorns and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.” In other words, God’s saying, “I’m going to install a hedge around you so you don’t get to your sin.”

So maybe we need to pray differently. Maybe we need to pray: God, put a hedge around my life so that I don’t pursue the sin I want to pursue. God, put a hedge around my mind so that I don’t keep thinking the things I shouldn’t be thinking. God, put a hedge around my heart so that my heart doesn’t desire the wrong thing. God, put a hedge around me to protect me from going after things that are wrong. God, put a hedge around my marriage, around my kids, around my church.

What is this hedge? It’s a guard against us going to sin. It’s like a barrier. And when we hit the barrier, we bounce back — because we hit it and we’re unable to go further into sin. It bounces us back. And the purpose of these barriers, these hedges, these boundaries, is to bounce us back to God.

It says: “Then she shall say…” So after she hits the hedge, after she hits the boundary, she will say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.” There’s the level of Hosea’s family, and there’s the level of the entire nation hitting up against the hedge and bouncing back: “I better go back to God.”

So, how do we get a fresh start with God? Well, after we surrender to God, number two is: set some boundaries with God. Boundaries are really, really good. God has set up a lot of them. Land, sea, air — there’s a place in this world where you can breathe and a place where you cannot. You have skin, and everything on the inside of that skin is you — boundaries are good. Boundaries are important. God has set up a lot of them.

In verse 8, God is now going to explain how they have responded to him and what the consequences will be if they choose not to surrender and not to respond to the boundaries he has put up. Verse 8: “And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her the silver and gold which they used for Baal.”

This is like saying: “You don’t realize that I’m the one who gave you all of your provision, and you used the provision I gave you to go worship another god.” Put that into the family scenario of Hosea — it’s like saying Hosea provided for his wife and then his wife took the provision to go be unfaithful. The same concept. And God’s saying, “I’m the one who gave you everything you have, but you didn’t recognize it was me, and you went and used it to worship other gods.”

Then in verses 9 through 13, God explains the consequences that are going to come because they are rejecting him.

Verse 9: “Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.” He’s saying: I gave you all of these provisions. You took the blessings I gave you and used them to worship other gods. So I’m going to take them back.

Verse 10: “Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.” That’s like God saying: when I remove my provision from your life, your sin will be exposed, and no one’s going to come to your rescue.

Verse 11: “And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.” God’s saying: I gave you all of these celebrations so that you would celebrate me. But you’ve used the celebrations I gave you to celebrate fake gods. So I’m going to take away all of your celebrations.

Verse 12: “And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.” We’re an agricultural community — farms everywhere, orchards, crops, animals all around us. And God’s saying: I gave you all of this. All the produce you’re growing, all the livestock — I gave all that to you. But you’ve acted like someone else gave it to you and you’ve used everything I’ve given you to worship another god. So those really nice planted rows of grapevines that are producing those amazing grapes? I’m going to make that field look like a forest and nothing will grow. I’m going to take away the prosperity that came to your fields.

Verse 13: “And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals, when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.” This is like God saying: I gave you all these blessings and here’s what you did — you put the ring on, put the jewelry on, nice clothes, looking the part. You’re dressed up. But here’s the problem: I gave you all that stuff so you could enjoy the party with me. But you went and you’re partying with other gods. You’re all dressed up, but you’re at the wrong party. And I’m not going to let that happen anymore. I’m not going to let you keep taking all the things I have blessed you with — meant to help you enjoy your relationship with me — and use them to serve another god.

When it comes to the issue of boundaries, there’s a verse that has been used in my life in a really big way. Psalm 16:5–6: “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” When I read this verse, I’m super encouraged because it helps me understand: I’m here where I’m supposed to be. God put me in a location that’s where I’m supposed to be. I don’t need to try to be somewhere or someone God has not made me to be. He has made me to be in this place, in this time. And it’s pleasant. The boundaries he’s put around my life — they’re pleasant. They’re good. They’re for my benefit.

Let me explain a boundary God has put in my life. God has given me the boundary where I step up onto a stage and I am publicly accountable — where all of my mistakes are livestreamed onto the internet. It’s funny until it’s not. But it’s a boundary that God has put in my life, which means it’s pleasant.

I once had a pastor tell me that the reason he thought God made him a pastor is because God needed to keep a really short leash on him. I thought: “Well, God must love me a lot, because he’s like, ‘Boy, get over here.’ I must be a high-risk case. He’s like, ‘I need you right next to me all the time because if you’re not right here, you’re going to mess this thing up big time.’” Tough being God’s favorite. I’m just kidding.

We just learned about boundaries from Acts 17:26–27 in our recent series: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.” So this is helping us understand: when we bump into a boundary that God has made, it’s supposed to make us go — “Who put that boundary there? Oh, God put that there. Maybe we should know the Lord.”

When you bump into a natural boundary, it’s supposed to bring your attention to the fact that someone put it there. Who put that there? God put it there. We should seek out this God.

In Celebrate Recovery, step two says this: “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” The power greater than ourselves is Jesus Christ. What is this helping us say? It means that on our own, we can tend to operate in an insane way. But God puts up these boundaries to bump us back into place, bump us back into sanity, bump us back into him.

Philippians 2:13: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God is the initiator. God is the one who is putting up these boundaries. And God wants to do a good work in your life because he loves you and he has an incredible plan.

So as you consider this word — boundaries — what boundaries do you need to set with God? How would you fill in this sentence: Lord, I set _____ as a boundary with you. What’s the word that needs to be in there for your life? I’m guessing you know exactly what that boundary is.

As we continue on, I want you to notice how many times the phrase “I will” shows up in the following verses. Every time you see it, you can see God saying he is going to take action.

Verse 14: “Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”

You can see right here it’s referencing the birth of the nation of Israel out of slavery from Egypt — so you can see it’s talking about the nation.

Verse 16: “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.”

God’s coming after you. God sees you as his and he wants what’s his. God’s coming after you. This passage is so clearly describing the activity of God to come after his people — to restore relationship, to restore blessing. I don’t know what situation you’re in, but maybe things aren’t going so well right now because you keep trying to do it all on your own. Maybe it’s time to surrender to God and allow his boundaries to bump you back to him, because he wants to do a bunch of good stuff in your life.

So, how do you get a fresh start with God? Number three is: start over. Start over with God.

The last two verses of our text: “In that day I will answer, declares the Lord. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel. And I will sow her for myself in the land, and I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

God’s saying: I’m going to restore you. Remember Hosea’s kids — they had rough names. One of his kids was named No Mercy. He’s saying: I will have mercy on No Mercy. One of his kids was named Not My People. He’s saying: I will say to Not My People, “You are my people.” And when God restores a family, the kids of the family are going to say, “God did it. You’re my God.” When God restores a nation, the children of the land are going to say, “God did it. Look at our God. You are my God.”

In Celebrate Recovery, step three says this: “We made a decision to turn our lives and wills over to the care of God.” You know what that sounds like? Starting over.

Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

After I had gone through my first Celebrate Recovery 12-step study — I have done a number of them now — after I went through the first time and my wife said, “I can see a difference in you,” she had something else to say. She said, “If my husband can have this type of change in him, maybe there can be change for me too.” So my wife started going to Celebrate Recovery. She went through a 12-step recovery program, and then she ended up going through multiple 12-step recovery programs. She looked at what had happened and said, “If God can do this type of change in my husband, maybe God can do a change in me as well.”

So, where do you need to have a fresh start with God? How would you fill in the blank here: Lord, I will start my _____ over with you. Where do you need a fresh start? What has you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Where do you need a fresh start?

As you think about answering that, I would challenge you: you may also want to fill out one of these cards and put it up on the walls in the lobby. Write on the card where you need a fresh start in your life. You don’t put your name on it. No one will know that you did it. The only person that’s going to know is God. But one of the things that’s cool about doing something like this is that you’re being accountable to God: “Hey, I need a fresh start, Lord.” And other people are going to read those cards and think, “If they can get a fresh start, maybe I can get a fresh start too.” You might be able to help somebody else by filling out one of these cards.

Lamentations 3:22–23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

I don’t know where you need a fresh start. I just know you need one — because everybody needs a fresh start at some point. Maybe you already needed one. Maybe you need one right now. Maybe you’re going to need one. But everybody needs a fresh start. You know who we are? We’re a community of people who have needed a fresh start. That’s who you’re hanging out with. Maybe just one, maybe many — many fresh starts.

I’ve needed a lot of fresh starts. And we’re a community of people that’s celebrating recovery in God. God is recovering our lives out of pits and destruction and evil. He’s bringing us to him. And that’s a lot to celebrate — the recovery that God brings into our lives. We have a heavenly Father with open arms saying, “Hey, it’s good to see you. How have you been?”

So, how do you get a fresh start with God? Start fresh with God’s mercy right now.

I don’t know if you can relate to my story. Maybe you walked off the job. Maybe you walked away from your spouse. Maybe you walked away from your kids. Maybe you walked away from your parents. Maybe you walked away from your friends. Maybe you walked away from your community. Maybe you walked away from your small group. Maybe you walked away from your place of service. Maybe you walked away from the church. Maybe you walked away from the Lord.

No matter how far you have walked away, start fresh with God’s mercy right now.

Father God, Lord, we thank you that you are a merciful God. You are a merciful heavenly Father and we are in desperate need of relationship with you.