HOSEA—PROPHET OF GRAPHIC INTROSPECTION
#682 HOSEA—PROPHET OF GRAPHIC INTROSPECTION
Scripture Hosea 2:1-23, NIV
Orig. 10/26/1977
Passage: [a]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
Israel Punished and Restored
2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
turn her into a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.
4 I will not show my love to her children,
because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
and has conceived them in disgrace.
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.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 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.’
8 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.
9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
before the eyes of her lovers;
no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.
14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor[b] a door of hope.
There she will respond[c] as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.[d]’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in[e] righteousness and justice,
in[f] love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in[g] faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[h]
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[i]’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[j]’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Introduction
Approximately half a life-time would pass between the death of Jeroboam II and the Assyrian invasion that would spell the end of the northern kingdom. Hosea, then, probably reached adulthood soon before the death of that king. He was sensitive enough to know what was going on among the people. Little could he imagine, however, that he would be called upon to be the prophet of graphic introspection. Hosea would be called upon to do things for the purpose of spiritual introspection for the nation.
Because they [would be] unfaithful brides, Hosea would be called upon to wed a woman of harlotry. Because God’s spiritual children were being directed to the gods of the nations, the prophet’s children, at least the children of the prophet’s wife, would be given names by which Hosea would call them, that proved that they were not his children. Because the nation had chased off after other lovers, Hosea would stand by helplessly as his wife left him to return to his lovers of the past. It would be commonly accepted knowledge the wife of the prophet was unfaithful to him and publicly flaunted it.
Finally, because God was in the business of bringing His people to repentance, and because He would willingly receive them back to Himself again, the prophet would willingly open his life again to this woman without virtue who comes back to him only when she has nowhere else to go. And Hosea would do it all gladly, so that the people would understand the love of God.
I. Hosea’s Marriage: The Symbol of Crisis, Chapters 1-3.
Hosea’s character is questioned. Gomer was his chosen bride. Her harlotry could have preceded. It could have followed her marriage.
The children of the union [were] Jezreel (“God shall sow”), Lo-ruhamah (“not loved” [or] “no mercy”), and Loammi (“not my people”).
The names of the two children are called back to our attention in chapter 2. “Say to your brothers, ‘My people’; to your sisters, ‘Objects of my mercy.’” 2:22f, “The fruit of the earth shall answer for Jezreel. Israel shall be my new sowing in the land, and I will show love to Lo-ruhamah, and say to Loammi, ‘You are my people,’ and he will say, ‘Thou art my God’” (NEB). And in 14:3, “Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Ye are our gods’; for in Thee the fatherless find mercy.”
No way this could be an allegory. Certainly much can be made of the symbolic names. No symbolism in using "Gomer.” A prophet was chosen in whose life and experience the sin of the nation could be revealed.
Dealing with sin realistically: Gomer has sinned and she must pay. The nation likewise. Only after proper restitution is paid will restoration be made. The offended party goes in search of the offending one. Love finds a way.
Jeremiah 3 has an interesting parallel.
II. Israel’s Sin—The Indictment of Evidence, Chapters 4-7.
Hosea 4:1, The Lord has a controversy with the people of the land because there is no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Religious leaders—“Like people, like priest” (4:9). Princes—“Give ear, O house of the king” (5:1). People—“They sacrifice on the top of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth because their shade is good” (4:13). Their foreign policy—“Ephraim is like a silly dove. . . . They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” (7:11).
II Kings 15:19, Menahem; 17:1, Hoshea; 18:13-15, kings of Judah (Hezekiah).
III. Israel’s Punishment—The Judgment of Compromise, Chapters 8-10.
The judgment upon Samaria’s false religion, Hosea 8:6. The calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. Jeroboam I had arranged to keep them away from the temple.
Judgment upon their lifestyle, Hosea 9:6. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. Hosea 10:1, Israel is a luxuriant (empty) vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built.
IV. Israel’s Restoration—The Yearning of Covenant Love, Chapters 11-14.
The love of the father for his child. Hosea 11:1, When Israel was a child, I loved him.
Love of the husband for his wife. Hosea 11:4, How shall I give thee up?
Love of the parent in the regret of necessary punishment. Hosea 12:9, I that am the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.
It is the Love of One who has chanced all on the outcome of love and has won. Hosea 14:8, Ephraim shall say, what have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and observed him: I am like a green fir tree, from me is thy fruit found.
AS THE HEBREW WORLD TURNED
#681 AS THE HEBREW WORLD TURNED
Scripture Hosea
Recapitulation, 10/19/1977
Introduction
With the coming of Hosea upon the scene, we approach the end of an era. It was pointed out last week that Hosea would be the last prophet to the people of the Northern Kingdom, called Israel or Samaria (the capital). Before we conclude the history of the prophets as related to the ten northern tribes, an overview of the contemporary scene is in order. We need to understand, before Israel is phased out, what was happening in the world of the Hebrew complex.
Our study will move into a neutral gear at this point: The contemporary Hebrew complex tonight; the prophet Hosea next Wednesday, the Lord willing; and a review of the structure as related to the prophets the week after that. We may well be taking a break at that point. Wednesday nights during November and December have a preliminary priority. There will be an extra business night, a mission emphasis, Thanksgiving, some Christmas music, etc. We will probably continue after the first of the year, and Isaiah will be our first subject. I will be happy to have the extra time to capsulize such a prophet as he.
Let me encourage you to read ahead. Hosea for next Wednesday. (Pass out outlines.) Start Isaiah for completion in December. If the interest is sustained, we will continue with the other eleven prophets.
I. The Political Scene: From Stability to Chaos.
Following the great years of the united kingdoms under David and Solomon, came division, 922BC. Next, a century and a half of deterioration. In 786BC, Jeroboam II became Israel’s king. 783BC, Uzziah became Judah’s king. These two men would reverse the trend.
It was a time of peace and prosperity. No foreign nation strong enough. The only warfare of the period was Israel and Judah in expansion rumblings. Prosperous trade agreements. Forward reaching agricultural progress. 2 Chronicles 26:10 Uzziah—towers, wells. Amos “winter and summer house.” External peace and prosperity overshadowed internal spiritual sickness.
It would do the Western nations much good to consider their own plight. Amos: For 3 transgressions and for 4. Amos 3:2, You only have I known, therefore I will punish you.
Hosea 4-7, Israel’s sin. 4:1, Hear the Word of the Lord ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
II. A Pinpoint of Political Upheaval.
You can mark down the year, 746BC. As long as even the corrupt Jeroboam lived, there was stability. In twenty-six years—six kings total, unrelated—most assassinated. Each with his own foreign policy (Hosea 5:13 / 7:11 / 12:1). Religious inequities undermined (Hosea 4 / 8:13 / 13:1-3).
But don’t overlook what happened outside. 745BC Tiglath-Pileser III (Pul) seized the Assyrian throne. Within two years he was secure and ready to conquer the world. Pact between Syria-Rezin and Israel-Pekah (2 Kings 15:29-16:10 / 2 Chronicles 28 / Isaiah 7). Ahaz-Judah appeals to Tiglath-Pileser. Assyrian record indicates Hoshea who was assassin.
Pekah was in fact appointed by Tiglath-Pileser. He was a proper vassal king until Tiglath-Pileser’s death. He tried to pull away (II Kings 17:1f).
Shalmaneser summoned and imprisoned Hoshea and marched on Samaria [in] 724BC. Late in 722BC, Samaria fell. Records indicate 27,290 leaders [were] deported. Captives from Babylon, Hamath came in. Hosea 5:7 [shows] dealt treacherously.
Conclusion
The circumstances of these years caused the prophets to wear heavily the judgment of God. Moral corruption, social injustice, religious ritualism demand the prophetic message. Israel’s sin is intolerable—God is Holy. Israel’s sin shall be punished—God is just. Israel shall be restored—God is Love.
The ten tribes will be definitive no more. The Northern Kingdom will cease. The remnant will survive.
· Amos 3:12, “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s [mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued].”
· Hosea 13:8, “Devour like a lion.”
· Hosea 14:4, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”
· Hosea 14:7, “They that dwell under his shadow shall return.”—God, Messiah, but probably is a reference to the kingdom promise of covenant. The repentant of any age and clime and circumstance can believe that God will restore the penitent.
THE PROPHECY OF HOSEA
#572 THE PROPHECY OF HOSEA
Scripture Hosea 1:2-5, NIV
Orig. 8/22/1971; Rewr. 6/21/1989
Passage: 2 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 this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Purpose: Continuing a Prayer Meeting study in the Old Testament prophets, here examining background material as it relates to a prophet and his call.
Keywords: Bible Study Love of God Judgment Unfaithfulness Restoration
Timeline/Series: Sequential
Introduction
Though Hosea appears first among the minor prophets, called the “twelve,” chronologically, he does not appear until after Joel, Jonah, and Amos have already appeared. They were more or less contemporary, called the “Eighth Century prophets.”
Joel prophesied to the people of the Southern Kingdom. Jonah was sent from the Southern Kingdom to address the sins of an up-and-coming power that would confront the Northern Kingdom. Amos went up from the Southern Kingdom to proclaim God’s word to the people in Samaria.
Hosea only of the prophets was native to the Northern Kingdom. He joins Amos as the only other who would prophesy to the people of the Northern Kingdom—Israel or Samaria.
You, perhaps, are aware that his name means “Yahweh delivers,” and as such is identical with the name “Joshua.”
What is unique about Hosea is not so much his message as his method. He was chosen, out of a context of marital infidelity, to be an example to the people of their unfaithfulness to God. When he lived is no problem. He, himself, describes the time (V1). He is mentioned only here. His father is mentioned nowhere else. Some describe him to be the fruit of some other prophet’s imagination. He is merely an allegory put to use to make a point. Not so! It is the story of compromised love under the stress of the times.
We have described previously the time of Joel and Jonah and Amos. It was a time of material imbalance. The rich grew richer. The poor, poorer. God’s word must touch the lives of all of them.
I. Examining the Prophecy in Profile. V1, “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, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash.”
There were no more than fifty years between the death of Jeroboam and the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah was on the throne in Judah. A kind of renewal was taking place. But in the north, debauchery was everywhere.
George Adam Smith, “It is not only as in Amos, the sins of the luxurious, of them that are at ease in Zion, which are exposed; but literal bloodshed, highway robbery/murder, abetted by the priests . . . . Israel’s self-reliance is gone. She is as fluttered as a startled bird; ‘They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria,’ (Hosea 7:11). But everything is hopeless. Kings cannot save. For Ephraim is seized in the pangs of a fatal crisis.”
One named Jehu had been the instrument of judgment upon the earlier sins of Israel. Jehu’s sons to the fourth generation were to come to the throne. II Kings 10:30; II Kings 15:12: “And so it came to pass.” Jehoahaz (17), Jehoash (16), Jeroboam II (4), and Zechariah (6 mo.) From the time of Jeroboam II, a grim picture comes into view. Of Jehu and his descendants evil “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.” II Kings 10:31, 13:2, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9 (6 mo.) The rest of the story is one of assassination. Zechariah (6mo), Shallum (1mo), Manahem (10 y died), Pekahiah (2y), Pekah (20y), Hoshea (9y captivity).
“Things were even worse morally and spiritually than they were politically. Ever since the days of the first Jeroboam, when the ten tribes had disrupted from the house of David to form a separate kingdom, the worship of the golden calf at Bethel had been a snare to Israel. Although the Bethel calf was supposed at first to represent Jehovah, yet more and more the idol itself became the object of worship. . . . Thus the way was paved for the coarse, cruel nature-worship associated with the names of Baal and Ashteroth, with all the attendant abominations of child sacrifice and revolting licentiousness.”
II. Hosea’s Marriage Became the Symbol of the Crisis. V2, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.”
Thus is established the insensibility of sin. Hosea is pictured as from a faithful remnant of spiritual people. He chooses a woman named Gomer as wife. He is directed to take a prostitute for a wife.
Zanah—fornicate, apostatize; or, he is told to take a woman out of such a culture.
Eretz—land (with its inhabitants).
He chooses one with a propensity to moral failure. Some thus call it an allegory. The marriage produces three children: Jezreel—“God sows”; Lo-ruhamah—“not loved” (uncertain); Loammi—“not my people” (no doubt).
God will assess their sin and punish it: They will respond as a people not loved (Proverbs 13:24); separated from God they become foreigners. But the heart of God is revealed here and the intent of the book. V6, “I will have mercy, . . . I will take them away.” V10, “In the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people. . . .”
The guilt of sin at every age is going to be measured and manifested. Gomer was guilty as charged. She pays. Her sin is like the sin of the nation. They, too, must pay for their sin. Once restitution has been made, restoration is in order. Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which were not my people, ‘Thou art my people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
The supreme criterion of relationship is love. Gomer accepts Hosea’s proposal. For a time the marriage is wholesome, v3. In boredom she seeks other pursuits, 2:5. Hosea seeks her out and redeems her from so-called friends who enslaved her. He seeks to do, not as the law allows, but as love demands. Jeremiah 3:1, “. . . ‘Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me,’ saith the Lord.”
III. Israel’s Sin: The Indictment of Circumstance. Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”
It is with the nation. Four of last five commandments (4:2). The land will be affected by this human distraction (4:3).
It is with the religious leaders: striving between people/priest (4:4); priests have forgotten the law; prophets “fall” used both figuratively and in relation to their roles; people/priests (4:9) instead of strengthening are enticing to ruin. Hosea 5:1, “. . . and my people love to have it so.”
There is a mediating word to Judah (Hosea 4;15). Be different in worship (v15). Be different in obedience (v16).
Stopped at Animal Land near Dallas. Children’s zoo revealed a pesky goat trying to feed anywhere, whatever. A lamb nearby waiting docilely to be fed.
The next chapter reveals that Judah will not heed this warning (Hosea 5:5).
They have therefore sinned and are marked for judgment. God waits for sincere repentance (Hosea 5:15). He is not moved by their insincerity. Hosea 6:4, “goodness as a morning cloud”; 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Three things in Israel that God hates: Compromise (7:7,8a), limited development (7:8b), unconscious decay (7:9).
IV. Israel’s Punishment: The Judgment of Compromise. Hosea 8:4-10, “They have set up kings,, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not: . . . they have made them idols. . . . Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. . . .”
There is judgment on compromise in political life. Hosea 8:4, “They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. We will do well to remember that we do not surprise God. The sense of “knew it not” is that God had not been sought for direction.
There was judgment on compromise in religious life. 8:5, “Thy calf, O Samaria.” 8:11, “Ephraim hath made many altars to sin.” 8:12, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”
There was judgment on compromise in economic betterment. 8:14, “Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I shall send a fire . . . and it shall devour the palaces thereof.” 9:2, “The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.”
There was judgment on compromise in family life. 9:12, “Though they bring up their children yet I will bereave them.” 9:16, “Though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”
V. Israel’s Restoration: The Yearning of Covenant Love.
It is the passionate love of a true father for the child. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Same word “love” used by God of Abraham for Isaac (Genesis 22:2). The weight of spiritual/moral things should be pressed upon parents. Getting them involved in drug alert.
More, it is the burning love of a husband for his wife. See 11:7-12 picture of betrayal and rebellion. 11:8, “How shall I give up, Ephraim?” Isaiah 62:4,5, portrays this idea. The pastor is allowed to look in on great love affairs.
It is the love of a parent in the deep regret of some necessary punishment. This is going to hurt me more than you. Tough love. Hosea 12:9, “And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.”
It is the love of one who has chanced all on the outcome of love. 14:8, “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.”
Isaiah 58:11, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden.”
Links and References
Smith https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Adam-Smith
#572 THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH
Scripture Hosea 1:2-5, NIV
Orig. 8/22/1971; Rewr. 6/21/1989
Passage: 2 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 this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Purpose: Continuing a Prayer Meeting study in the Old Testament prophets, here examining background material as it relates to a prophet and his call.
Keywords: Bible Study Love of God Judgment Unfaithfulness Restoration
Timeline/Series: Sequential
Introduction
Though Hosea appears first among the minor prophets, called the “twelve,” chronologically, he does not appear until after Joel, Jonah, and Amos have already appeared. They were more or less contemporary, called the “Eighth Century prophets.”
Joel prophesied to the people of the Southern Kingdom. Jonah was sent from the Southern Kingdom to address the sins of an up-and-coming power that would confront the Northern Kingdom. Amos went up from the Southern Kingdom to proclaim God’s word to the people in Samaria.
Hosea only of the prophets was native to the Northern Kingdom. He joins Amos as the only other who would prophesy to the people of the Northern Kingdom—Israel or Samaria.
You, perhaps, are aware that his name means “Yahweh delivers,” and as such is identical with the name “Joshua.”
What is unique about Hosea is not so much his message as his method. He was chosen, out of a context of marital infidelity, to be an example to the people of their unfaithfulness to God. When he lived is no problem. He, himself, describes the time (V1). He is mentioned only here. His father is mentioned nowhere else. Some describe him to be the fruit of some other prophet’s imagination. He is merely an allegory put to use to make a point. Not so! It is the story of compromised love under the stress of the times.
We have described previously the time of Joel and Jonah and Amos. It was a time of material imbalance. The rich grew richer. The poor, poorer. God’s word must touch the lives of all of them.
I. Examining the Prophecy in Profile. V1, “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, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash.”
There were no more than fifty years between the death of Jeroboam and the Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah was on the throne in Judah. A kind of renewal was taking place. But in the north, debauchery was everywhere.
George Adam Smith, “It is not only as in Amos, the sins of the luxurious, of them that are at ease in Zion, which are exposed; but literal bloodshed, highway robbery/murder, abetted by the priests . . . . Israel’s self-reliance is gone. She is as fluttered as a startled bird; ‘They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria,’ (Hosea 7:11). But everything is hopeless. Kings cannot save. For Ephraim is seized in the pangs of a fatal crisis.”
One named Jehu had been the instrument of judgment upon the earlier sins of Israel. Jehu’s sons to the fourth generation were to come to the throne. II Kings 10:30; II Kings 15:12: “And so it came to pass.” Jehoahaz (17), Jehoash (16), Jeroboam II (4), and Zechariah (6 mo.) From the time of Jeroboam II, a grim picture comes into view. Of Jehu and his descendants evil “departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.” II Kings 10:31, 13:2, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9 (6 mo.) The rest of the story is one of assassination. Zechariah (6mo), Shallum (1mo), Manahem (10 y died), Pekahiah (2y), Pekah (20y), Hoshea (9y captivity).
“Things were even worse morally and spiritually than they were politically. Ever since the days of the first Jeroboam, when the ten tribes had disrupted from the house of David to form a separate kingdom, the worship of the golden calf at Bethel had been a snare to Israel. Although the Bethel calf was supposed at first to represent Jehovah, yet more and more the idol itself became the object of worship. . . . Thus the way was paved for the coarse, cruel nature-worship associated with the names of Baal and Ashteroth, with all the attendant abominations of child sacrifice and revolting licentiousness.”
II. Hosea’s Marriage Became the Symbol of the Crisis. V2, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms.”
Thus is established the insensibility of sin. Hosea is pictured as from a faithful remnant of spiritual people. He chooses a woman named Gomer as wife. He is directed to take a prostitute for a wife.
Zanah—fornicate, apostatize; or, he is told to take a woman out of such a culture.
Eretz—land (with its inhabitants).
He chooses one with a propensity to moral failure. Some thus call it an allegory. The marriage produces three children: Jezreel—“God sows”; Lo-ruhamah—“not loved” (uncertain); Loammi—“not my people” (no doubt).
God will assess their sin and punish it: They will respond as a people not loved (Proverbs 13:24); separated from God they become foreigners. But the heart of God is revealed here and the intent of the book. V6, “I will have mercy, . . . I will take them away.” V10, “In the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people. . . .”
The guilt of sin at every age is going to be measured and manifested. Gomer was guilty as charged. She pays. Her sin is like the sin of the nation. They, too, must pay for their sin. Once restitution has been made, restoration is in order. Hosea 2:23, “And I will say to them which were not my people, ‘Thou art my people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
The supreme criterion of relationship is love. Gomer accepts Hosea’s proposal. For a time the marriage is wholesome, v3. In boredom she seeks other pursuits, 2:5. Hosea seeks her out and redeems her from so-called friends who enslaved her. He seeks to do, not as the law allows, but as love demands. Jeremiah 3:1, “. . . ‘Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me,’ saith the Lord.”
III. Israel’s Sin: The Indictment of Circumstance. Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”
It is with the nation. Four of last five commandments (4:2). The land will be affected by this human distraction (4:3).
It is with the religious leaders: striving between people/priest (4:4); priests have forgotten the law; prophets “fall” used both figuratively and in relation to their roles; people/priests (4:9) instead of strengthening are enticing to ruin. Hosea 5:1, “. . . and my people love to have it so.”
There is a mediating word to Judah (Hosea 4;15). Be different in worship (v15). Be different in obedience (v16).
Stopped at Animal Land near Dallas. Children’s zoo revealed a pesky goat trying to feed anywhere, whatever. A lamb nearby waiting docilely to be fed.
The next chapter reveals that Judah will not heed this warning (Hosea 5:5).
They have therefore sinned and are marked for judgment. God waits for sincere repentance (Hosea 5:15). He is not moved by their insincerity. Hosea 6:4, “goodness as a morning cloud”; 6:6, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” Three things in Israel that God hates: Compromise (7:7,8a), limited development (7:8b), unconscious decay (7:9).
IV. Israel’s Punishment: The Judgment of Compromise. Hosea 8:4-10, “They have set up kings,, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not: . . . they have made them idols. . . . Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. . . .”
There is judgment on compromise in political life. Hosea 8:4, “They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. We will do well to remember that we do not surprise God. The sense of “knew it not” is that God had not been sought for direction.
There was judgment on compromise in religious life. 8:5, “Thy calf, O Samaria.” 8:11, “Ephraim hath made many altars to sin.” 8:12, “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”
There was judgment on compromise in economic betterment. 8:14, “Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I shall send a fire . . . and it shall devour the palaces thereof.” 9:2, “The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.”
There was judgment on compromise in family life. 9:12, “Though they bring up their children yet I will bereave them.” 9:16, “Though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”
V. Israel’s Restoration: The Yearning of Covenant Love.
It is the passionate love of a true father for the child. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Same word “love” used by God of Abraham for Isaac (Genesis 22:2). The weight of spiritual/moral things should be pressed upon parents. Getting them involved in drug alert.
More, it is the burning love of a husband for his wife. See 11:7-12 picture of betrayal and rebellion. 11:8, “How shall I give up, Ephraim?” Isaiah 62:4,5, portrays this idea. The pastor is allowed to look in on great love affairs.
It is the love of a parent in the deep regret of some necessary punishment. This is going to hurt me more than you. Tough love. Hosea 12:9, “And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles.”
It is the love of one who has chanced all on the outcome of love. 14:8, “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree: from me is thy fruit found.”
Isaiah 58:11, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden.”
Links and References
Smith https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Adam-Smith
DISCOVERING GLADNESS
#329 DISCOVERING GLADNESS
Scripture Acts 16:14-15 Orig. 11/13/1966
Rewr. 10/1975, 3/22/1990
Passage: 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Purpose: To share a biographical message of a woman’s search for gladness, and finding it in Christ.
Keywords: Biography, Lydia Joy Salvation Conversion
Revival
Introduction
Discoveries are not left to men and women of science and adventure. Everyone of us has had experiences with such sudden exposure in our lives. Some of our discoveries have left us with joy, others with apprehension.
I remember, as a child, awaking to discover that I had the measles. As a young soldier, in a military hospital, I went to bed thinking I would be released the next day. Awaking that morning, I discovered that I could not get my boots on. During the night a penicillin reaction had surfaced that left me as sick as I have ever been in my life.
My dad told of the discovery that as a twelve year old lad, his dad deserted him and my grandmother. As a seminary student, working in the aircraft industry, I went to work one Friday to discover that a pink slip awaited me. My job had been phased out. How many people have returned from some ordinary visit to their doctor with the discovery of some grievous malady such as cancer, or diabetes?
But all of the discoveries are not sad ones. Many in fact are glad ones. An acquaintance of many years becomes a trusted friend, and it’s a joyous discovery. The doctor tells us of some serious malady, but, he says, there is a cure. Gladness abounds. A letter or phone call gives the news that we are soon to be grandparents. Happiness unequivocal. Lydia tells us of her discovery, as it is told by another in song.
Mankind is searching ev'ry day In quest of something new,
But I have found the living way, The path of pleasures true.
I've found the pearl of greatest price, Eternal life so fair.
'Twas thro' the Saviour's sacrifice I found this jewel rare.
Chorus
I've discovered the way of gladness, I've discovered the way of joy.
I've discovered relief from sadness, 'Tis a happiness without alloy.
I've discovered the fount of blessing, I've discovered the living Word.
'Twas the greatest of all discoveries When I found Jesus my Lord.
I. Lydia Testifies to Us that She Was a Seeker for Gladness. V14, And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us. NEB Lydia—who was a worshipper of God, was listening, and the Lord opened her heart. The state of her mind and heart was in quest for truth. It is obvious that she already had wealth. She was unusual for that day, unusual in the sense that most women would never have the opportunity for assertiveness.
She was not seeking success. Some insist that she represented a firm in Thyatira, a city known for its purple dyes.
She was not seeking religion as such. Often she’d been at pagan altars. In cities such as Philippi with a Jewish element, she would join them. All the more remarkable in light of her business. Her relationship with these Jews was made the more profound by the fact that as a Gentile, she was not accepted as an equal. [The Jews] would tolerate her presence only. To the Greeks she was a silly woman who closed her profitable business to go to church. To Paul and other local Christians she was on object of God’s love and concern.
There are still people around who merely tolerate other people without concern for them as persons. There are still others with us, who, like these Greeks, put their merchandising ahead of everything else. They are creatures of materialistic habits, and not even religion, no, not even truth is to impede their habits.
There are some characteristics that mark her seeking with success:
· By recognizing that material goods don’t guarantee happiness (Terry Meeuwsen—former Miss America—gave her testimony at 1974 LBC; the perspective of her goal was clearly [stated], “As Miss Wisconsin, I was first runner-up to a roller skater”);
· By opening her mind and heart to the search for truth;
· By examining the options;
· By starting where she was—not left hopeless by the past, not overburdened by fear of the future. Someone has share a viable truth. “A religion that does nothing, that gives nothing, that costs nothing, that suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
II. Lydia Found in Christ the Gladness for Which She Had Been Seeking. V14, Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. What she heard of Paul should be evident to us.
· That she was a sinner. The only preaching worth anything is that directed to human need. Romans 3:23, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
· That sin separates from God. That people are created equal is just not true, that death is the only equalizer. Romans 6:23, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
· That God loved her. Romans 5:8, But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
· That Jesus is the means through which all people may be saved. By the time Acts rolls around, the Christians were already being jailed for their faith. God uses the occasion of the jailing for proclamation. Acts 4:12, For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. They took note of that these men had been with Jesus.
· That faith in Jesus is essential. Ephesians 2:8,9, By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
· Finally, that we must openly confess Him as Lord. Romans 10:9-10, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Lydia did the only thing that a human being can do that will bring him into the arena of God’s saving grace. She threw off the oppressive burden of false truth, and half-truth. She voided the meaningless burden of human religious system. At the urging of the Holy Spirit, she opened her heart to the gospel.
III. What Lydia Found Would Affect the Whole Course of Her Life. V15, And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us.
· She accepted the challenge of the gospel: Belief in its truth, hope in its calling and anticipation.
· Her life was influenced by the things which she discovered: Being faithful as she understood faithfulness; being helpful as she interpreted need; being persuasive when she knew that her helpfulness to others was faithfulness to her Lord.
Closing
The daily newspaper told the story. It was datelined Ontario, Canada. A woman named Rose Crawford had been blind for fifty years. After delicate surgery and several days of impatient recovery the doctors removed the bandages. Those who were there tell the story. She wept for joy when for the first time in her life she could do what most of us take for granted. She could see. Her first words were “I can’t believe it.” Even in the sterile white of her hospital room she saw a dazzling world of form and beauty.
The profundity of her story, however, is that for the last twenty years of her blindness, it had all been unnecessary. The surgical technique had been used and her vision could have been restored at age thirty. She just assumed that there was nothing that could be done about her condition. How much of her life would otherwise have been different.
MISSIONS—ENTERTAINMENT OR ENLISTMENT
#441 MISSIONS—ENTERTAINMENT OR ENLISTMENT
Scripture Acts 13:1-13 Orig. 2/2/1964
Rewr. 11/1969, 12/3/1976
Passage: 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
On Cyprus
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
In Pisidian Antioch
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
Keywords: Biography Missions
Introduction
Every person who ever spent any time at all around Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is familiar with the name, William Carey1. You know that there is a Baptist College there, which bears that name. Do you know who William Carey was? He was not a Mississippi Baptist leader and patron of education. In fact, if memory serves me well, he was never even a visitor to the state.
William Carey was an Englishman who carries the distinction of being the man whom God used to give a resurgence to the mission movement. The diary of an English Baptist pastor contains this entry dated October 5, 1783. “This day baptized a poor journeyman shoemaker.” The poor cobbler who was baptized by John Ryland that day was William Carey.
Four years later, this poor shoemaker was called, without the benefit of any formal education, to pastor a church in the same association with Dr. Ryland. By keeping a book at his cobbler’s bench, in seven years, he taught himself to read in five languages. Through his own untiring efforts, he qualified himself to teach.
William Carey began to identify with some of these people whose languages he had learned to speak. He began to realize that the Christian community had a responsibility to share the message of God’s love with people who had never heard. He saw how favored the English people had been, and that that privilege demanded responsibility. He was convicted of the English zeal for foreign trade-goods. If Englishmen would make such sacrifice as to travel half way around the world for economic reasons, he must likewise be willing to go for spiritual reasons.
It was a new concept, and Baptists never have been too quick with new ideas, Biblical or otherwise. Carey was invited to preach to the gathered association in Nottingham. When he declared what was most on his heart, it was this same Dr. John Ryland who spoke out abruptly to him. “Sit down, young man. When the Lord gets ready to convert the heathen, he will do it without your help or mine.”
For John Ryland, missions was entertainment for the mind. For William Carey, it was enlistment of one’s life.
I. The Separation of Missions Demands Enlistment. V2, Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them. The history of God’s work in the lives of His people has been the history of separation. The Greek word found here is the word from which our “horizon” comes. There are boundaries in which the believer will find God’s promises operable. We are no less His children outside of the limits of His will. It just stands to reason that His resources are dedicated to His will. If we are not within the “limits” of God’s will, then His resource may be working against us.
There is ample Biblical evidence of God’s meaning for a separated people. In references to the Hebrew people through Moses in Exodus 19:5,6, If you obey me . . . you will be a kingdom of priests to God, a holy nation. When the times came that the nation would not listen to this prerequisite for fellowship, He singled out men, and on occasion, women. Isaiah 6, “The call came to Isaiah, ‘Whom can I send, and who will go for me?’” Back came Isaiah’s ready response, “Here am I, send me!” But this response of faith came after God’s fire had touched man’s sin, and he was pronounced “Not guilty!” v7.
The all-encompassing characteristic in God’s separated people was a willingness for separation. Phillip (Acts 8) was a New Testament example of this separation. Go over to the road that runs through the Gaza desert. So he did. Go over to the chariot. And he did. . . .
There is a mentality for separation to consider. Abram was called from Ur to Palestine. He was no longer Chaldean, but Palestinian. Israel was called out of Egypt into promised land. He was no longer slave but free. Jesus was chosen to give up his glory above to take up bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The same capitulation to the will of God is our need today. The church staff member is separated from the place where he was to the place where he is. So the individual Christian, when his eyes open on a place even so strange as New Orleans, he is separated in the will of God to that place, so long as he remains there.
II. The Sending Forth of Missions Demands Enlistment. This sending forth is the natural succession to separation. What God separates, it becomes His purpose to use, whether for little or much. At Nottingham in 1792, a resolution was passed at William Carey’s insistence, and with Andrew Fuller’s influence, that led to an establishment of a missionary society. Their first offering amounted to 13 pounds, two shillings, six pence. About $40. But within a year, Carey and a Baptist surgeon were on their way to India. And what God uses, will bless other people and single them out for the work of separation. Within 20 years, the ladies would organize into the Female Mite Society formed “for the purpose of combining feeble efforts and humble prayers for the spread of the gospel.”
What we see of the work of God today is no different. When the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was instituted, it was to direct meager portions of butter and egg money to the cause of Christ in China. This year the goal of our WMU is: SBC, $29,000,000; LBC, $1,000,000; Riverside, $2,000.
The sending forth is enlistment in mission for support groups also. At the forefront of all this is the promised support of the Holy Spirit. It is noteworthy that missions was born in Antioch, and not in Jerusalem as the church had been. In Antioch where they were called Christians. In Antioch where they fasted and prayed. In Antioch where there were willing spirits under the control of Holy Spirit. The church in Jerusalem during this period was trying to survive. There was also the support of believers in prayer/if you have $5 to send or 5 minutes to pray, pray! There remains the need to support financially.
A pastor sent a tongue-in-cheek letter to his flock a few weeks ago. Offerings had tapered off dangerously. It had become apparent, he wrote, that their church would not benefit after all from the Howard Hughes will. They had looked high and low, and no copy had turned up in their files or anywhere on church property. He ended the letter: “I guess it’s back to the old plan of tithes and offerings for the support of God’s work. . . . Just remember, brethren, our giving is to be weekly, not weakly.”
III. The Service of Missions Demands Enlistment. V7, . . . The deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God. It was the word that brought peace with God to Sergius. It is this message that God has Himself given to His church in these latter days. Matthew 22:9, Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye find, bid to the marriage. Romans 9:24-26, As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people; and my beloved, which was not beloved. There shall they be called the children of God.
It is a message of which we are constantly reminded there is a terminal point. Matthew 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all of the world; and then shall the end come: Terminated at the end of the age; terminated at the death of the unbeliever; terminated at severance of the Holy Spirit’s [involvement]; terminated at the cessation of Christian witness.
It was, however, the same word that brought the judgement of despair to Elymas, the sorcerer. It was a temporal judgement as viewed here. We preclude a larger, more engulfing judgement. Jesus reminds us, Matthew 24:5, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. People will be deluded by false claims of salvation. V8, Elymas . . . withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from faith. While we are eager to see our church reach and surpass a coveted and worthwhile goal, there is the greater goal this Christmas season of a people enlisted in the cause of Christ for the accomplishment of missions.
Links/References
Carey: https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/c-d/carey-william-1761-1834/
1Smith, G. (2009). Life of William Carey, Public Domain Books
STUDIES IN ACTS
#789 STUDIES IN ACTS
Scripture Acts 13 Orig. 3/31/1982
Passage: 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
On Cyprus
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
In Pisidian Antioch
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.” 16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct[a] in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
23 “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“‘You are my son;
today I have become your father.’[b]
34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’[c]
35 So it is also stated elsewhere:
“‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’[d]
36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. 40 Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:
41 “‘Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.’[e]”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you[f] a light for the Gentiles,
that you[g] may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’[h]”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 11:19, Scattered . . . went preaching . . . as far as Antioch . . . to Jews only.
Acts 11:20, . . . Some . . . come to Antioch, spake unto Grecians
(1) Pioneered breaking down barriers of Jews and Greeks
11:27f, determined to send relief to brethren in Judea
(2) Pioneered relief to other believers
13:1, . . . In the church . . . at Antioch (leaders) . . . when they had fasted and prayed, . . . sent them away
(3) Pioneered the organized display of the Gospel to people who had never heard
Antioch—15 miles east of Mediterranean on frontier. Military outpost. Seat of Roman justice.
The leaders v1—Barnabas, a Jew from Cyprus; Simeon Niger (an African name) (Simon of Cyrene); Lucius from Cyrene (N. Africa), but a Greek name; Manaen, a foster brother of Herod ([killed] John the Baptist); note two reared together could follow such diverse paths in their lives; Saul, a Jewish rabbi.
Officers
Prophets: foretellers and forthtellers
Teachers: people gifted in instruction
Appointed officers have been the rule
Acts 1:15-26, “the twelve”
Acts 6:1-6, “the seven” (Nicholas of Antioch)
Acts 11:30, “elders”
God works through His church
They ministered: an act of service
They fasted: an act of devotion
In their unit of spirit God spoke through a growing awareness
(1) The call was for specific people (the ministering and fasting were not).
(2) The call was to a certain “work”—any enterprise.
(3) Then their fasting and praying becomes directly related to the task at hand.
A world providentially prepared
Travel was easier
A measure of safety
By water or by land
The first missionary journey (at least for Saul and Barnabas)
V4, Seleucia—point of departure (Antioch port); Cyprus—Barnabas’ home
V5, Salamis (Cyrus) went first to the synagogues; 9:20, And straightaway he preached Christ in synagogues.
They had John Mark to help with the work.
V6, Paphos (Cyprus)—capital city—a sensuous ad superstitious city/Bar-Jesus false prophet. Sergius Paulus—proconsul—heard of these Christian spokesmen and requested an audience. Bar-Jesus was Satan’s tool of confusion.
V9, Saul is given a Roman name—calls upon the power of God to blind him temporarily as a sign
V12, Sergius Paulus believes ???????????
V13, Perga in Pamphylia—John Mark leaves (Why?); Paul and his company (compare 13:2,7)
V14, Entered province of Galatia (see 4:13); Jewish service: 1-Law, 2-prophet, 3-Midrash (notable person)
V13, John Mark leaves—(?) 15:38, Paul thought it not good to take . . . went not with them. II Timothy 4:11, Take Mark . . . he is profitable.
V14-16, Invited to preach in synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia/Jews and God-fearers
V17-23, The coming of Jesus is the consummation of history; v17 God chose the Hebrews, v20 Judges, v21 Saul, v22 David, v23 all of this for one reason—Jesus
V24-29, Contemporary man is no better than historical man; v24 John—baptism of repentance, v26 Jews and God-fearers, v27 ignored the evidence/read every Sabbath, v28 without sin/they demanded he be slain, v29 buried
V30-31, The loving and redemptive purpose of God could not be changed by man’s inconstancies; v30 resurrection the work of God, v31 witnesses (Romans 1:16)
V32-29, The good news is that grace that keeps man has replaced a law that man could not keep; v32 glad tidings, v39 Paul a Pharisee intent on keeping law
V40-41, That which is a gift of love to those who claim it, is condemnation to those who refuse
V42-45, Various responses: (1) were invited to return; (2) the whole city turned out; (3) the Jews decided to stop the show
V46, An unexpected decision: (1) no mention of the Holy Spirit; (2) a recollection from the word—Isaiah 49:6, I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, v47; (3) it is not within the purpose of the church to plan success, it is within our purpose to be faithful—(a) don’t fret over success, (b) don’t apologize for failure, (c) in what measure we give, we shall get; (4) the Jews saw the heathen as chaff to be burned—Jesus saw them as a harvest to be reaped.
V52, The convert and the Holy Spirit: they are filled immediately and fully with the Holy Spirit, and the joy is the resultant of what he is willing for the Holy Spirit to do in his life.
Conclusion (adapted from The Wind of the Spirit, source unknown)
“Don’t try to tame that intractable wind. No act of Convocation or Assembly can circumscribe it, no arrogant political dictator curb it, no personal prejudice patronize it. It is master of the world.
“And—don’t you see?—this is the essential optimism of Christianity. Here in the Spirit of Christ is a force capable of bursting into the hardest paganism, discomfiting the most rigid dogmatism, electrifying the most suffocating ecclesiasticism.
“This is the sovereign freedom of the Holy Spirit. There is no citadel of self and sin that is safe from Him, no unbelieving cynic secure beyond His reach. There is no ironclad bastion of theological self-confidence that is immune, no impregnable agnosticism He cannot disturb into faith, no ancient ecclesiastical animosities He cannot reconcile. And blessed be His name, there is no winter death of the soul that He cannot vitalise into a marching army. This is the glory of Pentecost. ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth.’ Come, Holy Spirit, come!”
Please remember! When the winds of the Spirit begin to blow, they may blow up some trash. But be reminded that the trash is not the wind, and the wind is not the trash.
THE TRADITIONS OF EASTER
#599 THE TRADITIONS OF EASTER
Scripture Acts 12:4, NIV Orig. 4/15/1973
Rewr. 4/1976, 3/24/1991
Passage: After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
Purpose: To share with my people some of the background enabling some of the Easter traditions to surface and to be sustained.
Keywords: Easter Traditions
Timeline/Series: Easter
Introduction
V4, And when he had apprehended him, he put him (Peter) in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
If you are following me in any version other than the conventional King James, then you probably are wondering about the reading of the word Easter. And rightly so!
Of all of the versions that I have checked, including the New King James, the translation is appropriately rendered “Passover.” It was the Passover season. Herod Agrippa was interested only in ingratiating himself to the Jews. He was the grandson of Herod the Great who, by the way, killed his father, Aristobulus. Agrippa was brought up in Rome in its imperial society. He helped Caligula become emperor. He was rewarded with the tetrarchy of Phillip, Galilee and Perea. At Caligula’s death he helped Claudias to become emperor, and was further rewarded with Judea and Samaria. His ancestry was Edomite as well as Jewish, but his heart and soul were Roman.
At the Passover season, he would scrupulously accommodate Jewish tradition to win the approval of the Hebrew leaders. He has put James to death. In discovering the pleasure this brings to the Jews, he takes Peter for the same purpose. But it is Passover, and not Easter, in the context of these current events.
In the mindset of a translator fifteen hundred years later, it was also Easter, and so called.
I. A First Concern Ought to be for Developmental Religion. The word “Easter” does not rightly appear in the New Testament. As we have seen, this is a mistranslation. But we well know that over time traditions surrounding Easter will develop. Some of them are based on honoring Jesus. Others are simply superstitions brought over from other religions.
We are quite secure with date of Easter. Christmas is an illustration of the problem. During third century [Christmas] began to be celebrated. [December 25th] was chosen because it was the day of the festival of Mithra, the sun god. Jesus was “the light of the world.” The date of Easter (resurrection) leaves us with little doubt. Jewish believers chose 14 Nisan, Gentile Christians, a week later. The Council of Nice in 325, settled the matter, eventually adopted. The first Sunday after the full moon following vernal equinox; if full moon on Sunday—following.
We are still inclined to get worked up over festivals. We have our own. Others have Watermelon, Peach, Possum, Turkey, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
II. Our Next Concern is the Word “Easter.” Check any dictionary. It will refer you to the Old English ēastre —the goddess of Spring. Some may refer to Germanic ostern. We begin to muddle around in fertility cults: Assyrian/Ishtar; Hebrews/Ashtoreth; Chaldean/Astarte. The Latins had their own: Aurora/the goddess of dawn. Her son: Phosphor/bright morning star. Thus the reference of Jesus in Revelation 22:16, I am the bright morning star.
The Canaanite fertility cults created serious problems for Israel as they settled. Joshua is a book of victory. Judges shows Israel to be a people beset. Judges 2:13, They forsook the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreth. Judges 10:6, And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served Baal, and Ashtoreth, etc. I Samuel 7:4, So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. Which, of course, explains the stringent measures pronounced against Canaan. How many times through this period do we see capitulation and compromise?
For the origin of Easter, we are indebted to the Venerable Bede. Great scholar of early English churches. Linked it to the Spring fertility celebrations. April called Eostre. For us, the celebration needs to be both appropriate and right. Paul helps us here. I Corinthians 8:1, “Now as touching things offered unto idols” reminds us that “neither if we eat are we the better, or if we eat not are we the worse.” “Take heed less by any means liberty become a stumbling block to the weak.”
III. Probably, the Most Significant Adaptation is the Egg. The old Chaldean story involving Astarte. A great egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates. The goddess of Spring came from this egg. Common to pagan myth, it was the story of the incarnation of what was otherwise unexplainable. The best way to get gods and goddesses is to hatch them out of eggs.
The easter egg became a symbol of reviving life. Early color represented blood of Christ. Over time colorfulness adapted its use to childish games. Egg rolling came from Greenwich, England, introduced by President Madison on the White House lawn. Egg hunts are alright, but Easter is about the love of God.
The egg brings us to the rabbit. Also a fertility fetish. I remember a story of German origin of a poor woman during famine, who took the last egg before starvation, hid them to bring a last pleasure. The children stirred up a rabbit that saved their lives.
IV. One Final Concern has to be in Regard to Lent. It is a forty day period of mourning from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Historically, it was a period of fasting rigidly enforced. Not of Christ, or scripture, but from the church. (About 9th century). Carnival, by the way, from Latin/Italian meaning “farewell to meat.” Fat Tuesday.
For most adherents it is meaningless. Over time dispensations have excluded many. Fasting for Lent may mean nothing more than giving up chocolate. It does not behoove us to be critical. Most never fast. Yet, the scripture enjoins it. Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted forty days and nights. 6:16, When you fast, . . . don’t give the appearance of fasting. Acts 9:9, Paul fasted 3 days and nights. II Corinthians 6:5, Approving ourselves as ministers . . . in fasting.
We must give evidence of our faith in the practice of every aspect of faith. Statement by charismatic priest in New Orleans, “We must not let speaking in tongues keep us from being filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is important that we know our doctrine, and that we give expression of it in the way we live.
DEFINING THE CLIMATE OF A CHURCH
#754 DEFINING THE CLIMATE OF A CHURCH
Scripture Acts 9:31, NIV Orig. 9/2/1979
Rewr. 2/2/1982
Passage: Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Introduction
I heard recently of someone who was flying out of Atlanta on Piedmont Airlines. Some trouble had arisen delaying the departure of the aircraft for Asheville, NC. During the delay, a weather front had come into the area further complicating the flight.
Finally, the call came notifying the passengers that the Piedmont Flight was loading. Having to get to and from the tram in the rain further complicated the loading procedure. Finally, however, all was accomplished and the flight was underway.
As the passengers settled into their seats for the flight, they expected to be accommodated since they had been so thoroughly inconvenienced. They heard flight steward announce, however, “Due to the complications of turbulence, and the time, we will not entertain on this flight!”
Perhaps the most urgently needed message for the people of God is one that understands the complications of the turbulence of the times and the lateness of the hour. The enigma of the hours is that we have become such an entertainment oriented people. I am not sure that the message for spaceship earth is that lucid. I am sure that the message most needed by the church of the Lord Jesus is precisely that. “Due to the complications of turbulence and the lateness of the hour, we will not waste our Master’s time and resources waiting for someone to entertain us.”
There is a climate in which the church is nurtured. It must become the prayer vigil of this hour for every church to become a people aware of the complications of the turbulence of the times. Entertainment is for the make-believe of the theater. The church is an institution in which high drama has become the watchword. It consists of two parts: edification and multiplication.
I. If We Are to Define the Climate of the Church, We Must Understand its Significance in New Testament Times. Then had all the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria. The author of this passage defines church as we understand it today. Not in this instance is he talking about the spiritual bodies of believers. Not the universal church. Not the world wide family of faith. Not the corporate conglomerate international. It is the local church + the local bodies of converted, born-again believers + flesh and blood people, struggling against the temptations of Satan and the world, finding Christ sufficient. One of the highlights of our recent journey to the Holy Land was to drive into the present Arab town of Nazareth, and one of the first things we see was a church sign, First Baptist Church of Nazareth, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
As believers, we certainly are a part of the extended family of God, through His Son, Jesus. He who is God’s son is my brother, she who is His daughter is my sister. The one who reveres Christ as Lord can never be treated as anything less than the closest of friends. His culture, his socioeconomic standing, his education are inconsequential. We stand together under the umbrella of the blood of Jesus.
The picture that emerges of the church here, is not that of a glorified model. Yes, we are to get back to New Testament basics. Don’t conclude, however, that you will find in the New Testament a model church. Churches which claim to be modeled after the New Testament churches need to clarify which one. Is it the church at Jerusalem, which had failed to minister? Acts 6:1, And in those days there arose a murmuring . . . because widows. . . . You were elected to enhance harmony and meet a need. Or perhaps at Corinth (I Corinthians 8:10-11). They were doing things that were harmful to weaker, less sophisticated believers. Paul rebuked them. Maybe, Galatia (Galatians 1:6). I marvel that you have so quickly turned . . . to another gospel. Don’t overlook the Hebrew churches. Hebrews 3:12-13, Take heed, . . . lest there be an evil heart of unbelief, . . . Exhort one another daily. [Or Philippi,} The one preach Christ of contention (Philippians 1:16).
II. The Climate of the Church Must First Be Defined in Terms of Edification. Then had the churches rest . . . and were edified. This thing that was taking place in these churches resulted in positive change. The people were “edified.” It was a term which came directly from the construction trades of the day. Oikodomoumenē (οἰκοδομουμένη) denotes the act of building up. In the New Testament it is used only figuratively. What we know that they were not doing was building a building. It was the people who “were being built up, edified.”
The English captures the word in both these meanings. “Edifice” is a beautiful, carefully constructed building. “To edify” or “edification” has nothing to do with building an edifice. Scripturally, the word is a process word defining how believers are being built up in Jesus.
It is interesting that there are other New Testament characteristics that are linked with edification. The proclamation of the Word is to be done distinctly, clearly, prophetically. I Corinthians 14:26, How is it . . . when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, . . . a doctrine, . . . a tongue, . . . a revelation, . . . an inspiration, . . . an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. Christian love edifies. I Corinthians 8:1 (NAS), Knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies. The various gifts given to individuals are given for edification. Ephesians 4:11, And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, . . . to the building up (edifying) of the body of Christ.
The New Testament message clarifies this building process with the appropriate and adequate message that there can be no building up unless the right foundation is established. I Corinthians 9:11, For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Finally, here, we must not overlook the ultimate contributing factor in edification. New Testament term “rest” is the Greek word “peace”: εἰρήνην (eirēnēn).
III. Defining the Climate of a Church, We Must Now Examine Our Multiplication. And walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. Of this we can be sure, there will be little multiplication where there is no prior edification. Luke 24:47F, . . . that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in (Jesus’) name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. . . . But tarry ye, until ye be endued with power.
It is in this spirit then, that the writer of Acts declares that they are to walk in the fear of the Lord. To walk is to be engaged in a journey, which, if one follows all of the right pathways, will bring him to his destination. If one is traveling from Nome, Alaska, to New Orleans, Louisiana, he may travel all the way to Baton Rouge on the right roads, but if he takes I-12 then he will come nearer New Orleans. Several places he can correct his mistake. “The fear of the Lord” is a reverence for the Lord and for His commandments. It is at this point that the lives of many people are in jeopardy, especially young people. They conclude that they have respect for their own adaptation of Jesus, and may therefore live as they please.
The sum of the matter is to walk in the “comfort” of the Holy Ghost. When the life of a believer is under the control of the Holy Spirit, then he will produce the comfort and the discomfort that tell us whether we are living in obedience. John 14:16-17, And I pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, . . . even the spirit of truth; . . . for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. When we are at peace with each other and our circumstances, and are walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of multiplication is going to be done.
FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
#212a FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
Scripture Acts 9:1-20, NIV Orig. 1/21/1962
Rewr. 5/23/1979
Passage: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered. 11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
Purpose: To call attention to the clear declaration of Scripture of the process of conversion and commitment and setting apart of the believer that is contained in the gospel message.
Keywords: Christ Commitment Conversion
Timeline/Series: Acts
Introduction
Several years ago a Broadway play appeared on the scene called Merrily We Roll Along. It was written by a playwright by the name of Richard Miles. While the author had become successful in terms of his profession, his ideals had suffered greatly, and his life-style had become shameful and degrading.
The play depicted Miles’ life in reverse. Each successive scene showed the actors getting younger. The role representing the playwright became more and more idealistic. The action of this drama travelled back into the past, until finally, the characters in the play were sharing Miles’ college commencement. Richard Miles was the class valedictorian. As the final curtain went down, Miles was saying, “Lastly, this I have learned: I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force.”
The essence of the play declared that the man looked back with regret to the losing of his ideals. They could not be sustained against the temptations to achieve personal success. This was a burden under which Saul was living. He was determined to be a success. The idealistic upbringing and training of a young rabbi had by now been so compromised, that he yielded unthinkingly to the dictates of those he wished to impress.
Meanwhile Saul was still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and applied for letters to the synagogues at Damascus authorizing him to arrest anyone he found, men or women, who followed the new way, and bring them to Jerusalem, NEB.
Saul’s thinking was not far removed from that of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright. The agnostic Shaw wrote: I am by nature and destiny a preacher. . . . But I have no Bible, no creed; the war has shot both out of my hands. The war has been a fiery forcing house in which we’ve grown with a rush like flowers in a late spring following a terrible winter. And with what result? This: That we have outgrown our religion, outgrown our political system, outgrown our strength of mind and character. The fatal word “not” has been inscribed into all our creeds. . . . But, what next? Is “no” enough? Is “no” enough? For a boy, yes; for a man, never. . . . I must have affirmations to preach. . . . The preacher must preach the way of life—Oh, if I could only find it!
It’s too bad about George Bernard Shaw. He never found it. But out on this Damascus road this day, Saul will discover. He will discover what ideals are all about. He will discover what it takes to turn his ideals into reality. He will discover the “way of life” and that “way” will become what the preacher in him must preach.
I. First of All, a Claim is Extended. V6, And he, trembling and astonished said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do.” In blindness we grope. Make no mistake about it, here is a genuine encounter with the Lord of life. It is a matter for marveling to discover how adequate to the here and now God’s working always is.
When I share an extensive coverage of my own testimony, it is blocked out in segments of time roughly paralleling my pastorates. In the first, I had to come to terms with what I would preach. “We would see Jesus.” In this one I have had to learn to trust God to work through problems of church leaders who are not church lovers.
No matter how distasteful the experience is, the end-result is one of growth and spiritual nurture. The Christian life is not unlike those early, formative days in a baby’s life when he has wearied of wallowing and begins to walk. He grows. He is nurtured. A step is taken. A fall. A word of comfort and affirmation. He is encouraged to try again. A step. Then two. With many falls and several hurts, and sufficient affirmation he is on his way.
There then begins to develop a life of form and substance. Go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do. There is this initial act of faith unto obedience. John 14:22, One of the disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, asked Jesus how he would make himself known to his followers and not to the world in general. V23, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him and make our abode with him.
From this initial act of faith there springs the circumstance out of which we grow as Christians. In the city he encountered that which affirmed him in his initial act of faith. It became increasingly more to his advantage to seek and follow the course of God’s will. It is important that we affirm each other. The more settled we are in faith, the more determined to be faithful to our Lord, and supportive of others who are still in discovery. It is essential that we accept the Word of God as the basis of our authority. This means that confrontation is sometimes the appropriate means of affirmation. We are responsible for our advice. It better be thought through very carefully when you speak or act against those whom God has called to give spiritual affirmation.
II. Secondly, a Change is Essential. V8, And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes opened he saw no man: But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. The change was rather a dramatic one. He, at first, was on his way to Damascus to discomfit any who had become followers of Christ. He experiences the presence of the Living Christ. Now, he is on his way to Damascus for others of these followers of Jesus to affirm him in the faith. That doesn’t mean to lay their hands on him, or to ordain him to the ministry, or vote him into the church. You see, God laid his hands on Saul, and that is all that any of us need, or have any right to expect.
The change came about by virtue of Saul suspending his own will in the will of God. Galatians 1:13f, For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church . . . beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. . . . 15, But when he who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me. . . . 23, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
You see, the only miracle that had taken place was that a man had lifted his vision from himself and his own ego needs, to the vision of his loving, merciful heavenly Father. This would be a good place to stop and insert what God has done for you this week.
III. Lastly, Then, a Commitment is Inevitable. V20, And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. With Saul it was unquestionably a commitment to Christ. V5, “Who art thou, Lord?” How often Paul identifies himself as the servant. Romans 1:1 and others: δοῦλος, “doulos.”
He uniquely feels forgiveness. Christ will mean little to you if you do not experience His forgiveness for your sin. The greater the sense of forgiveness, the deeper the impact of Christ upon the life. Remember the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, Luke 7:47, For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.
Acts 1:8 Witness unto me
Acts 2:36 God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ
Acts 3:26 God having raised up His Son Jesus
Acts 4:30 Signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus
Acts 5:30-32 Raised up Jesus, exalted Him to be prince
James Stewart, in his book, A Man in Christ1, writes, “Everyone who has experienced a great forgiveness, everyone to whom the love of Christ has meant all the difference between victory and defeat, between radiant happiness and despair, will understand the spirit in which Paul spoke of himself as Christ’s ‘slave.’ The ransomed soul was bound to its Ransomer. No demand that Jesus could make would be too great. Life’s crowning joy would be to toil unceasingly for the One who had saved him from death and from something worse than death. With glad heart Paul acknowledged himself a bondman to the greatest of all masters. He was slave: Jesus was the Lord.”
But don’t make the mistake of presuming that the commitment is easily made, or for that matter is always made for Christ as Lord. There have been many who refused to turn from their vaunted “Damascus Roads” even at the intercession of Jesus. Judas lived and studied and even prayed with Jesus for three years, but his own will in the end destroyed him. He refused to accede to the will of God. And I remind you, God did not have to reach out in anger and strike Judas. His discordant heart destroyed [him]. And today, even though the evidences of Jesus’ integrity are clearer than ever, people in huge numbers are refusing to believe, to accede to God’s will.
Links and references
Man in Christ (https://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/jsstewartarchive/Stewart%20ManInChrist%201935.pdf), P. 302.
1 Stewart, J. (1935). A Man in Christ: The Vital Elements of St. Paul's Religion. Regent College Publishing.
THE COURSE OF SELECTIVE GRACE
#781/027 THE COURSE OF SELECTIVE GRACE
Scripture Acts 9:1-9, 17-18, NIV Orig. 3/4/1962
Rewr. 8/25/1977
Passage: 1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Vv 17-18
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,
Purpose: To define the careful selectivity of God’s grace coursing through the lives of people who are open to Him.
Keywords: Conviction Gospel Grace Revival Saul/Paul: Biography
Introduction
Human discretion takes a strange course sometimes. Our minds, even redeemed minds, can play tricks on us. We can conceive of something in a totally different light than it actually is.
I remember a story told by Paul Harvey on one of his programs some years ago. It seems that this man was awakened in the dark hours of the night when something hairy crawled onto his skin. I suspect many of us have been through that experience and we probably remember causing quite a commotion. This man will never forget the night he made the Paul Harvey program. He jumped out of bed with a start, half yelled, and half shoved his wife off the bed on the other side, and then went to work. He grabbed up the bed covers with the thing inside, and headed for the front door. On the way he spied his son’s baseball bat and grabbed it up. Reaching the front lawn he threw the bed covers to the ground and began flailing away at the thing.
After several minutes of this commotion, with neighbors attracted by it, he ceased his death dealing blows. Satisfied that his mission had been accomplished, he carefully turned back the covers until he found “it.” As it turned out, “it” was one badly mangled hair curler. He went back to bed, having given his family and friends the best laugh they had had in some time.
Human discretion often takes strange courses. God’s discretion takes carefully plotted courses. His purpose is to see His grace establish itself in our lives with transforming effect. The simple illustration from our text is taken out of the life of a man called Saul of Tarsus. The effect of grace on his life was that he became the apostle Paul.
I. Grace Brings Conviction. Acts 9:1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. You will note first of all that the initial activity is God’s activity. How often this is confirmed in the scripture. Acts 9:15, He is a chosen vessel to me. John 15:16, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. Matthew 25:34, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
But Paul’s initial reaction was to get busy with things with which he was secure. You see, Paul found in life, much as we do, that it is easier to be religious than it is to be godly. No matter how busy he may get, sooner or later he is going to have to deal with the hard issues of repentance, and faith.
Illustration: Saul is following in the footsteps of Moses and many others in learning the course of selective grace. After Israel’s sin with the calf, God isolated Moses. God’s men go through those experiences of isolation. When He spoke to Moses He said (Exodus 33:19), “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” What Moses had to learn of the “goodness” of God, and his surrender to that “goodness,” Saul would also have to learn. That’s where repentance and faith storm the gates of our souls.
It is often in that area of our lives that we know best that God chooses to manifest His grace. See Moses with a “shepherd’s staff” in his hand, and watch as that staff becomes an instrument. See David with a crown on his head, and watch as that crown crumbles to insignificance before the Lord of glory. See Isaiah with contempt for the nations, until Uzziah, and behold Isaiah seeing “the Lord” and saying “here am I, send me.”
II. Grace Brings Compulsion. V6, And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, What will thou have me to do? It is God’s compulsion to a full and happy life for the one chosen. There are two warnings to consider: a) not to grow prideful in the fact of our choice; b) not to become arrogant at the thought that some are not chosen. It is God’s will in both. Illustration: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious; I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” It is one thing to believe that this is what God wants and intends for His children. Philippians 4:19, My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.
Illustration: I heard (see also #195) the story of an old farmer who only had a mule and an ox, and for ground-breaking often had to plow them together. The ox decided he was working too hard and determined to play sick. The mule would not agree and had to plow alone. The farmer brought hay, feed, and water to the sick ox. “What did Farmer Brown say?” “Nothing.” Second day. “How’d it go?” “Not too good. We’re worn out.” Third day. “What happened today? Did the old man say anything about me?” “I didn’t hear him say anything, but he did stop and have a long talk with Butcher Jones.”
Illustration: In the gospel account, Jesus went to the fig tree and found it barren. He then placed a curse on it. You remember, however, that this was not an expression of anger on the part of Jesus, but contempt. It was contempt for what had ceased to perform its natural purpose. The same kind of contempt was placed upon Adam in the form of the curse. He would now work for what he could have owned by faith before.
It is in this compulsion for a full and happy life that we are set apart to serve. Illustration: Saul, without this setting apart, was a dedicated religious fanatic. Nothing more. Aside from this, however, this setting apart likewise is God’s means of making His grace operable in the world. Through this, others are selected as recipients of this grace. Illustration: The same salt that seasons our food, and freezes our ice cream, preserves flesh from decay. And the “salt of the earth” is meant to preserve a society dying in sin. Christ came into our tightly organized, dying culture to save us, to preserve us from the wrong choices, from the decay of carnality.
III. Selective Grace Brings Constraint. Vs. 17-18, And Ananias went his way . . . and putting his hands on him . . . immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received his sight forthwith. . . . It is important that we understand the major factors called truth. Saul had spent the first thirty years of his life in the courtyard of truth. He knew the all-encompassing issues of the life-giving Jehovah God. He knew also, from personal experience, the death-dealing temptations of sin.
But Saul, as a religious Jew, was lost. Philippians 3:5f, . . . of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
There is a major factor called truth that permeates this sensual century. That truth still proclaims Jesus, Lord. Truth as a philosophical discussion is without redeeming value. One and one is two. Hydrogen and oxygen in proper mixture do form water. Jimmy Carter is President of the United States. Evangelical churches have stood through the long years on the principle of the authority of the scripture.
But the constraint of the gospel message is to the individual to share and to receive. Ananias was under constraint to share: He was the Lord’s vessel. Saul was under constraint to receive the message: To believe. To repent. To become what only he could become—Paul, prince of the apostles of the first century congregation of believers.