Thursday evening, Dr David McKenzie spoke under the title: ‘Hold on! All is not lost.’
Punctuating his sermon with rhetorical flourishes, and the verses of favourite hymns, Pastor McKenzie connected with his very vocal audience.
Preaching on the story of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, he illustrated what is the breadth and depth and height of God’s love for fallen sinners. Hosea in Hebrew means deliverer. God’s command for him to marry a prostitute makes him one of the most unusual prophets in the Old Testament. But the story of Hosea is the story of a deliverer running after a sinner.
In the relationship between Hosea and Gomer, God reveals three facets of his love for Israel and fallen mankind. His love is unconditional. His love is founded on freedom. His love is redemptive. Despite Gomer being unfaithful, running off with another man, and abandoning her husband and three children, Hosea still loved her. So much so that he even bought her back. Pastor McKenzie drew the parallel with Jesus: ‘I know a man named Jesus who bought us twice. When we were owned by the devil, he made his way to the market place, to buy us back. The son of God became the son of man, so that the sons of men could become the sons of God.’ Hallelujah!
