Eyes Opened Pt. 2

Read Acts 9:32-43

Background

Back in January, we looked at the first part of chapter 9 – Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and how his eyes were opened – physically and spiritually. This month we’re still in chapter 9 but we’ve got a new cast – the actors have changed. The newly converted Paul disappears from our pages for a while, living and ministering in Tarsus, his hometown. Ananias fades into obscurity, having fulfilled the purpose to which God called him, and the church is enjoying a time of peace and growth (v.31).

Back onto the stage comes Peter, who remains the main character right through until the end of chapter 12. Then, he too, fades into the background with only one further mention of him in Acts (ch. 15), a couple of mentions in Galatians and, of course, the two letters he wrote.

Now that there’s a break from the persecution instigated by Saul, Peter takes the opportunity to get out of Jerusalem to visit Christians in other parts of the country. It will be a journey that sees transformation in the lives of many, and in Peter’s life too.

The Miracles

In our passage, look at v33. How long had Aeneas been bedridden for? What do you think were the effects of that on his body?

Aeneas was completely disabled and Tabitha was dead, but their lives were transformed beyond all imagination. How does their physical condition and these miracles of healing and resurrection illustrate the spiritual parallels of salvation?

The miracles recorded here closely resemble two miracles that Jesus did – see Mark 2:11 and Mark 5:38-42. What are the similarities?

In our passage, note that it was Peter who spoke the words, but who was it who actually did the healing?

Tabitha’s eyes opening echoes Saul’s experience earlier in the chapter; what’s the double meaning?

What was the effect of these miracles in the wider community?

The Holy Spirit isn’t mentioned in this passage, but how was He at work in these events?

As you close, praise God for the transformative power of Jesus in the lives of helpless men and women. Just as He has the power to heal and restore the physically sick, He has the power to raise those dead in sin to new life! Pray for your loved ones who need this transforming power in their lives.

Acts 9:1-31

Here we are with such a well known passage. I am praying tonight God can open our eyes and show us new things to soften our hearts and turn them to Him.
Let us pray.

So how can we get a new take on this passage? I know many of you will have read it again with your study buddies but let us try again with fresh eyes. I am going to break it down in different ways to see if getting different perspectives on it will illuminate things not seen before. None of this is new or an original thought and I am grateful to a lot of resources, especially John Stott, but praying that God
has helped me pull it together in a way that will make us think afresh tonight.

We are now going to read the passage; it is quite long but worth listening to.
As you listen: What strikes you?
Do any words or phrases stand out?
Anything that makes you think I have never noticed that before?
Anything you think, I wonder what that means?
After the reading I will just give you a minute to jot your thoughts down, with pen paper or phone, whatever works for you.

Read Acts 9:1-31

You will have heard of colouring by numbers, which is about my level, but tonight it is ‘Bible study by numbers 1 to 5’.

So number 1: Saul

Saul is our main character of the story tonight. We have already seen him in these studies where Jill showed him to us approving of and encouraging the death of Stephen by stoning. Now encouraged and fired up by his ‘success’ of
crushing followers of The Way, he decided to go out on the road to continue his persecution. (As a small aside, followers of or people belonging to ‘The Way’ was the original name for early Christians, describing their life as a path or journey following Jesus, who called Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,”. This was emphasizing a dedicated way of living, believing, and practicing His teachings).

Who was Saul?
Apart from being the last person anyone expected to turn out to be a goodie! Saul was a Jew as he says in Philippians, “circumcised on the 8th day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee”. But he was brought up and lived in Tarsus, which is now in modern Turkey. At this point it was a Greek city, so he would have spoken Greek, but it was under Roman rule so being born there he would have been a Roman citizen. All of these are points God uses in the story much further along than our passage goes today. But it goes to show he was chosen, a particular person with the right gifts for God to use.

When are we talking about? There is some debate but this passage was thought to be between AD 34-37. Why Damascus? There is no clear answer to that, but there was a large Jewish committee there with many of them following Jesus, so I guess he thought it was a good place to start the next stage of persecution. We know that Damascus is about a 150 mile journey from Jerusalem which would have
apparently taken about a week, and he was almost there when the life changing events happened.

Saul was proud, arrogant, and thinking he was there to wield power and influence. Remember he was carrying his letters which showed his authority. Then Jesus intervenes!

This is a scene depicted often in pictures. Look at the image and imagine yourself in the scene. Supernatural lights, and voices from heaven jolt Saul into a new reality. A voice speaks to him in Aramaic; “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me??” Saul grasped that this was a supernatural voice. So he asked “who are you Lord?”. He answered him, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. Wow, Saul was laid low and humbled as his eyes were opened to realise Jesus was speaking to him. Jesus who was alive and resurrected, who identified so closely with his followers that when
you persecuted them, you persecuted him. What a life changing moment. His spiritual eyes were opened and his physical eyes were shut; why was this?

Maybe it was as a sign, to just give him the space to process what was happening. Just reflect on that moment how do you think he felt, as his rage and self righteousness melted away. How sweet would that grace have seemed. Hopefully, those of you who have done the study will have already been reflecting on your own
‘eye-opening’, or do I mean ‘eye-shutting’ moment?!? Just take a moment now to think back. It may have been this dramatic, but it may have been more gentle. It doesn’t matter what the moment was like, it is how you respond to it that matters.

What about the poor men with him? They must have been completely confused! They heard sounds but no words; they may have seen lights, but most dramatically their angry, bullying, arrogant leader was now on the floor needing them to guide him.

Now we move on to number 2: Ananias and Barnabas.

There are two other people named in our passage who often don’t get much of a mention but they play a very important part in God’s plan. Saul could have not gone on to do his life’s work without the actions of these two men.

Lets start with Ananias, who has been called an unsung hero. Just imagine – Ananias was a Jew, and well aware of Saul and his reputation and the plans he had made to come to Damascus to arrest believers. Ananias might even have been at a prayer meeting calling on God to stop Saul coming!! So imagine his shock and horror when he is told by God to go to him. I’m not surprised he is reluctant and needs telling twice. Ananias then took a deep breath and went “ok God” and walked off down the street to see Saul. I can’t even think how hard he would have been praying…
“God I really hope I heard you right, otherwise it will be short visit” and potentially Ananias would not be coming home that day. As he went through the door, maybe aware of Jesus’s love for him and the forgiveness he had received, Ananias reached out his hands. “Brother Saul” or “Saul my brother”. What a welcome into
the family of God! Who of us can say we are that welcoming to new believers we meet? What a role model; Ananias saw Saul as God sees him… washed by Jesus’s blood and loved and forgiven and welcomed. It is not totally clear from the text, but it can be assumed that Ananias then baptized him and they ate together. Ananias put aside his personal fear and hesitations and trusted God, and welcomed Saul in to the family of believers in Damascus.

A bit later in our passage we come to Barnabus son of encouragement. There is some debate of how long this was after Saul’s conversion, but from his later letter it is thought to be 3 years or so after the early events. People were afraid of him still; his violent acts and plans were still fresh in people’s memories and he
was feared by many, so he was not welcomed. God however did not want his plans interfered with; this was the chosen instrument of God to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. So he sent Barnabus to Saul’s rescue; Barnabus presented Saul to the other apostles, especially Peter and James, and testified to his work preaching in Damascus and of the story of his conversion. He was then welcomed in to the family.

So a few things to notice. In both places Saul sought out other Christians. Straight from his conversion he wanted fellowship with others, to encourage and
witness to each other. From this we need to be aware of the great responsibility of the church to welcome new believers and befriend them, drawing them into the family of God. Are we as individuals and as a church living out the challenge of Ananias and Barnabus, putting aside our own prejudices and judgements to accept and welcome people as Jesus welcomed and accepted us?

As we reflect on this, let’s stand up and move to a different seat. Why did Jesus meet Saul on the Damascus road? Saul would have been praying in the synagogue regularly. Why didn’t God meet him there? Sometimes a change of place takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us more open to God, so let us move seats and see if it gives us new perspectives.

Ok as we settle again we are onto number 3: 3 days, 3 relationships.

So what had convinced Barnabus that Saul’s change was for real. Saul demonstrates true change by radically changing his relationships, his conversion brought dramatic changes in 3 different relationships.

1) Relationship to God.

His first 3 days as a Christian were days of prayer and fasting. As he talks about in later letters, in those 3 days Saul was increasingly aware of his sin and the forgiveness he had received. As he reflected on his past behaviour he was filled with an awareness of the depth of divine grace and mercy. His theology changed forever and he realised the new and old way could not co-exist. For if righteousness is through faith by grace then it is no longer by works and sacrifices. As all believers do, he gained a new awareness of God the Father; no longer the distant rule bound God of the Old Testament, but ‘Abba Father’ who gave his son for our forgiveness. He also grasped a key concept for all his later preaching, of the believer being in Christ, of dying with Christ and
being raised with Christ.

2) Secondly, Saul’s relationship to the church had a complete 180 degree about turn. He went from persecuting the church, to being an integral leader in the church. He went from breathing fire, dragging people to prison and trying to tear the church down to spreading encouragement, teaching people and building up the church. He went from aggressor to brother. This complete change was one of the most striking aspects of the conversion and many have said it is a convincing proof for the existence of God and the truth of the Bible.

3) Thirdly, his relationship to the world saw radical change; he went from a narrow minded, strictly hierarchical, ‘Yahweh for the Jews and Jerusalem’ focused mind set, keeping only the right people in, oppressing and persecuting any who disagreed with him. To witnessing to the end of the earth welcoming all who believe into fellowship and sharing God’s love with all people. Jesus appointed him as a servant and witness, and an apostle to the Gentiles, as he says in Romans 11:13.

As an aside, what does being an apostle mean? And why is Saul one when the other 12 were all with Jesus from the beginning? As you can imagine many books and hours of sermons are written and spoken about this. The short answer is that he had a divine commission from Jesus himself; He was the sent one (‘apostolos’) to the Gentiles. He was a witness to the resurrected Christ in the encounter on the Damascus road and showed he had been given divine authority through the signs and wonder he performed. He was also recognised by the other apostles (in the end) in his lifetime as an apostle.

Moving on to number 4.
These are the 4 characteristics Saul showed as a witness.

1. He was Christ-centered.
   As soon as Saul started preaching he was fully focused on Jesus. As we can see from our passage, he was preaching Jesus was the son of God and proving he was the Christ. He wasn’t just telling people about the amazing things which had happened to him, but using them as a hook and then redirecting people’s gaze to Jesus. His story was just a proof of Jesus’s resurrection and Lordship.
2. He was Spirit-empowered.
   As we read in the rest of Acts and Paul’s letters, he spoke with the convicting power of the Spirit, he healed the sick, he was guided about where to go and who to talk to by the Spirit. Many miraculous things happened in his presence to add weight to his message as a witness for Christ to the world.
3. He was courageous.
   Having been a persecutor of the church, he was well aware what he was getting into and the opposition he would face. He spoke boldly and courageously, and not unexpectedly, as we see in this passage, very quickly he was running for his life. But this did not stop him. He just moved to the next place and spoke boldly again.
4. He was sacrificial.
   Saul suffered throughout his life; he was imprisoned, had personal rejection, was stoned and left for dead. He could easily have been martyred like Stephen early in his ministry but God had other plans and warned him to flee.

Lets just take a few moments to reflect on our own relationships and witness. This is not about comparisons but more about letting the Holy Spirit talk to us and maybe prompt us in areas He wants us to move and grow.
Thinking about your relationships with God/church and the world, are there things you need to focus on or change?
As you think about your witness in the world, what strikes you? I am aware I need to be more aware of the movement of the Spirit and listen more closely to the small quiet voice to guide my life and relationships.
Happy to talk more about this if you want to ask later.

We finally arrive at number 5.
For the final verse of our passage which shows the 5 characteristics of the church at that time.

There was peace; Saul who had been leading on the persecution of the church had converted and become part of the church and this seemed to have meant there was a respite from persecution for a short while. God had provided a time for his church to regroup ready for the next challenge and not to get complacent. There were also changes in the Roman Emperor’s priorities at this point which again might have taken some pressure off.

A little phrase here which we might not even notice has huge significance: ‘the church through out Judea, Galilee and Samaria’. If you know your Bible, the whole book talks of conflict between these countries and people groups, but here they are united. It also says ‘one church’ in 3 places, showing unity and fellowship. If only people spoke this way about the church today.

It was also ‘strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit’. This speaks of gaining spiritual maturity and being guided and empowered by the Spirit. Strengthened to endure the trials ahead. This is the work Jesus spoke of the Spirit doing; that he would be the comforter and remind them of Jesus’s words.

The church was also ‘growing’ numerically, as seen in other places in Acts with the early Christians communal way of living; breaking bread together, financially supporting one another and having close fellowship drew people in so they could then hear the good news of Jesus. Is our church that attractive today?

They were also ‘living in fear of the Lord’. This is not cowering fear, but holy reverence respecting God and his holiness and authority. This would have been counter-cultural and bore fruit of genuine joy in the goodness of God.

As we draw to a close. Lets listen to the passage again. Do different things strike you? Do you have any thoughts of comments to share?

As we begin this new year we are continuing with our studies in Acts; we have seen how the Holy Spirit is setting the church afire. So far the church has grown in Jerusalem and surrounding areas amongst the Jewish people. Now for an event which will shake this up and take the Good News to the ends of the earth and, radically, to the Gentiles.

This month we are on the road to Damascus with Saul for one of the most well-known events in scripture; so much so that “Damascus road experiences” and “the scales fell from my eyes” are well used phrases even by people who don’t know the origins of them.

We know this is a very important event by the fact the story is relayed in Acts by Luke 3 times and then referred to multiple times by Paul himself in his letters.

Read Acts 9:1-31 together.

Now read the shorter versions in Acts 22:4-16 and 26:12-18.

This is the story of Saul receiving Jesus as Lord and Saviour, radically changing his relationships and outlook on the world. As a good Jew he already knew God the father, Yahweh, and the holy spirit from the scriptures and rabbinic teachings, but this is a step change.

What did he come to understand? See Act 9:20 and 9:22

Think back to the time you accepted Jesus as Lord, was it sudden and dramatic? Or more of a gradual eye opening?

Although Saul’s acceptance seems sudden, if you look back you can see it had a gradual beginning. As a Jew, visiting the temple in Jerusalem, he would have been aware of Jesus during his earthly ministry. Were they ever in the temple at the same time? Saul certainly knew about him. He would have been aware of Jesus’ death. And of the stories of resurrection. Stephen witnessed to him (Acts 8:1). Was he so angry and hateful to the followers of Jesus who knew they were saved by grace exactly because he was aware he could not perfectly keep the law and save himself? So, Saul accepting Jesus was the climax of a process that had been going on for years.

Return to your own situation. How was your conversion? If you are still on the journey and not quite made that commitment yet, don’t worry, keep reading and praying and talking to people.

Saul had flashing lights, voices from heaven and miracles of blinding and healing; did you have a dramatic moment? Not many of us do but that doesn’t mean the change of heart is any less dramatic. We all go from denying and persecuting Jesus to accepting and loving him, even if it isn’t as obvious to others as Saul’s behaviour.

Praise God for his mercy and grace to us all.

The road to Damascus brought Saul salvation but it was only the beginning. God’s sanctifying work still takes a lifetime. Saul was not made perfect on that road but just started on the next stage of his journey with Jesus.

Where are you on your journey? Discuss together. Saul needed friends and support throughout his life encouraging and teaching him and so do we.

Acts 8:1-25
Wizards and Weirdos; Transformed Hearts

We are continuing in our series working through the book of Acts; we can’t cover it all in one year, so we are dipping in and out as we look at some of the key moments in this exciting book. Remember, it was written by Luke to be a continuation of his first book, the gospel of Luke; just as the gospel describes what Jesus taught and did, Acts looks at the continuing teaching and ‘doings’ of Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. After Hollie’s introduction, Anne talked us through how the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, and the role of the person of the Holy Spirit in pointing us to Jesus, equipping us and enabling us to share the gospel and uniting us with our Saviour. Last month with Jill, we looked at the first persecution of a Christ-follower; Stephen was brutally murdered for pointing out the resistance of the Pharisees and scribes to the work of the Holy Spirit. We were challenged to cultivate that open and tender heart, and to truly ‘see’ Jesus and reflect him.

We come to today’s passage; if you met with your study buddy you will know that this is the beginning of the fulfilment of what Jesus said in the great commission in Matthew 28; “Go and make disciples of ALL nations” and again in Acts 1:8, right before he was taken up to heaven he said “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. It is so exciting that we see these words starting to come true.

Let’s read Acts 8:1-4.

Scattered

We’re going to start by setting the scene. Without a committee or organisation being set up, the gospel is spreading. And why? The threat of persecution and intimidation. With the death of Stephen, the new believers are forced out of Jerusalem and into the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. Look more closely at the language used to describe this ‘scattering’; the persecution ‘broke out’ and it was ‘on that day’ with all the ferocity of a sudden storm. Can you imagine the fear, the panic? ‘Quick, we have to get out of here! What is God doing? Why is this happening?’

What is amazing is that in the midst of that fear and chaos, these ordinary new believers flee, but don’t go silent! I sometimes wonder what my response would be to testing like this – I think I might go quiet and keep my head down. But no, these guys take the message of the cross with them. Luke uses the word ‘evangelizo’ five times in this chapter, meaning ‘bringing good news’; different to the word used to describe the ‘teaching’ of the apostles. The word ‘shared’ would be a better translation than ‘preached’ here in v4; that fits with the idea of this being ordinary believers like you and me, filled with and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ wherever they went. One speaker I listened to talked about this ‘sharing’ like a ‘leaking’ of the gospel; these people were so filled to the brim with the love of Jesus and his message, that they were embodying being the fragrance of Christ wherever they went. What a picture of the transformation of the Holy Spirit! God, in his sovereignty, taking ordinary people, transforming their hearts by the gift of his Spirit, so that despite intense persecution the message of the saving work of his son is spread further and further afield!

It is that picture of hearts transformed by the Holy Spirit that I want to focus on today. We will see two different responses to the message of Jesus Christ in this chapter; firstly the Samaritans and then Simon (or as one speaker coined it – weirdos and a wizard!). Let’s read Acts 8:5-8 as we consider the response of the Samaritans.

Read Acts 8:5-8.

Samaritans

Now we meet Philip; this is not Philip the disciple of Jesus. This is Philip, a Greek-speaking Jew, one of seven deacons appointed to help out with the issue of distributing food to the believers in the early church; we read about this last month at the start of Acts 6. He was not originally a preacher – he was a do-er! However, the Bible says he was “full of the Spirit and wisdom”.

Philip is one of the Jews who has to flee for his life, and he runs north from Jerusalem, straight into enemy territory. I think we can find it hard to imagine to level of boldness it took, for Philip to even contemplate heading in the direction of Samaria. Perhaps it was that his brain was scrambled by the persecution and he just found himself there. Or maybe it was intentional and he had Jesus’ words ringing in his ears “you will be my witnesses in Judea, Samaria…” and he jumped at the chance to make this reality! We don’t know. But it is helpful for us in our understanding just to refresh our historical knowledge here. The Jews and the Samaritans had hated each other for hundreds and hundreds of years! Why?

Do you remember Hollie’s great map last year when we looked at Israel’s history as part of our study of Hosea? There was the great divide after King Solomon’s death when the monarchy broke down; the north of Israel was made up of 10 tribes who made their new capital in Samaria, and in the south, the two tribes that formed Judea continued to have Jerusalem as their capital. Things only got worse when the north fell (remember all Hosea’s prophecies?!) and Assyria conquered in 722BC; the King of Assyria took a lot of the Jews there captive, and repopulated the area with foreigners. The remaining Jews did what God had forbidden; they intermarried, and thus they were seen as half-breeds and heretics by pure Jews. Strong words! Real hatred! The apostle John explains it simply in his gospel (John 4:9) “Jews do not associate with Samaritans”. This partly explains why in Luke’s gospel (Luke 9:51-56) son-of-thunder-John is heard requesting to call down fire upon the Samaritan village that rejected Jesus, such was his hard feeling!

Yet that was not Jesus’ heart for the Samaritans. Yes, they were seen as ‘weirdos’ by the Jews; hated, mistrusted and NOT the kind of people who they’d want to associate with. But God had a bigger plan to bring these guys into his family; to unite them all and prove there was no boundary to the saving grace of Jesus’ message.

Receptive hearts

When we look at the Samaritan’s response to Philip’s teaching we see something unexpected; we see receptive, open hearts. Very different to the response Stephen had from the Jewish leaders in the previous chapter! Look at verse 6 and note the verbs; the Samaritan people ‘heard’, they ‘saw’ and they ‘attended’. This shows us they were receptive to this news. Remember Jesus’ teaching of the four soils; these guys were soil that was ready to receive the good news.

More than this, we know they were receptive, because of what we read in the account of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:4-42. She herself said “I know that Messiah is coming” and because of her conversation with Jesus; his insight, and his clear declaration of “I am he”, she believed him and spread his message to her town. You can imagine that rumours would have spread of the coming of the Messiah, so these crowds may have been curious, and expectant. If you look ahead with me in Acts 8 to verse 12, we can see the result of Philip’s evangelism (“But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”); they heard, received, believed and were baptised. And it says in verse 8 “there was great joy in that city”. Hearts and lives were being changed. Transformation had begun.

United by the Holy Spirit

But something was still missing. Read v14-17.

One commentator says that verse 16 is ‘perhaps the most extraordinary statement in Acts’. Why? Because it begs the question to be asked – how could the Samaritans have believed and been baptised without receiving the Spirit? We know from God’s word, that when someone believes in the saving work of Jesus Christ; his death on the cross for their sin and his triumph through the resurrection, at that point of repentance and faith, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. According to Peter’s first sermon in Acts, forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit are twin initial blessings which God bestows on everyone whom he calls and who repents, believes and is baptised (Acts 2:38-39 “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.)

I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole here, but it is such a strange circumstance that it needs addressing briefly. Firstly we need to know that this was NOT normal. This example of two stages of believing and then separately receiving the Holy Spirit is the only time in Scripture this is done and is not to be taken as the norm for us today. Remember Hollie saying Acts is a narrative and cannot all be applied to our situation? This is a good example. You can almost hear the surprise in Luke’s tone as he writes that the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Samaritans.

This unusual set of events brings about two things – the transformation of the Jewish believers hearts, and the unity of the new church.

United – Transformation of the apostles

The Holy Spirit wasn’t just at work in the hearts of new believers, but the old ones too! (If you can call them ‘old believers’!) One commentator talks about how the Jewish apostles Peter and John “hot-foot it” all the way from Jerusalem. As this was the first time the gospel had been received outside of Jerusalem (and inside Samaria), we wonder if they were coming to check if this was authentic faith. In coming to Samaria, there is a whole lot of heart-transformation going on for the Jewish Christians! Remember before, I mentioned John, the ‘son of thunder’ wanting to call down fire on a Samaritan village? Here he is, coming and laying his hands on those-once-his-enemies in order for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine the mix of feelings these apostles would have been dealing with as they approached Samaria? What the conversation would have been like between Peter and John?! The disbelief “really?! This message is for…even THEM??” And here they were, with Jesus’ words ringing in their ears “you will be my witnesses…in Samaria”, with hope and excitement building in their hearts as they walked into enemy territory. The same Holy Spirit, received by them in that upper room at Pentecost, was working in their hearts; healing division, transforming those who were once self-centred and insecure into courageous and sacrificial servants. They were willing to go where they once would never have dreamt of going, in order to spread the love and message of Jesus with the crazy, beautiful idea of UNITY.

Unity of believers

The other reason I think we have a non-normative event going on here, is exactly that; unity. There was a great danger here that the new Samaritan believers could become a separate faction of ‘Samaritan Christianity’ as opposed to ‘Jewish Christianity’. Division had happened before and it could certainly happen again. So it seems reasonable to suggest that in view of their background, and to avoid the potential disaster of the church being divided just as it was getting started, that God deliberately but temporarily withheld the Holy Spirit from these new converts. In doing so, as the apostles prayed, laid hands on their former enemies and the Holy Spirit was received by them, the early church was united. This was a public sign to everyone, to Jewish Christians and to the Samaritans, that these guys were to be welcomed into the redeemed community on precisely the same terms as all Jewish converts. What a strikingly visual picture of unity! There was now one body, because they all received the same salvation and the same Spirit.

So having looked at the transformation of these ‘weirdos’ into joyful, believing, Jesus-followers, we are now going to turn our attention to the ‘wizard’ in this passage; the sorceror Simon and look at his response to the gospel.

Let’s go back and read Simon’s story. Read Acts 8:9-13.

Simon

As we see in those opening words, ‘for some time’ before Philip arrived in Samaria, the area had been under a very different kind of influence. Simon was a sorceror; a magician who performed amazing signs. He could have been just a trickster, but it is much more likely that he was operating under Satanic-power. Simon was making a living from his magic; more than that he was well known in that part of the world for his ‘mighty acts of magic’; a historical record from that time recalls a Simon from Samaria who was ‘considered a god’, which matches the exclamations of the people in v10. Simon also had a very high opinion of himself. He had a boastful heart. We can see as we look at this passage that his motives are based around himself; his reputation, prestige, power, authority.

But, of all the people in Samaria, why does Luke focus on this one man? I think he wants to paint a picture of how it is possible to have all the outward appearance of belief but have the wrong motive; to warn his readers against the dangers of belief without true salvation or transformation. We’ll look at both these things; how he believes, but does not allow his heart to be truly changed.

Simon believes but not to saving faith

Once Philip arrives in town and begins preaching, we observe Simon’s reaction. He seems genuinely astounded that someone has a greater power than he does. And he’s intrigued! He wants to know what this power is! He follows Philip everywhere! The Scripture tells us he’s also astonished – isn’t that ironic? The one who is used to amazing others, is amazed himself. John Piper talks about how that amazement becomes the basis for Simon’s belief; there is nothing written here that gives us any reason to think that Simon’s initial belief was not genuine belief. But crucially, it was not enough to just believe in what he saw. He wasn’t sceptical, he accepted the supernatural. And he believed, but not to the point of saving faith. James 2:19 talks about how even the demons believe in God (and shudder); it is possible to believe but not to saving faith.

John Piper uses a clever illustration that really helped me to understand this further. How can Simon believe but not be saved?

It is an experience every mother/grandma/carer of toddlers has probably had. Suppose you have a one-year-old child sitting on your lap and suddenly in the window there is a beautiful bird and you hold out your hand to point at the bird and say, “Look, look at the bird!” What does the child look at? He looks at your hand and the sign you are making with your fingers. He might even try to imitate the sign by putting out his index finger. He sees the sign. He is excited because you are excited. He joins in imitating the sign as best he can. But the problem is he never sees the bird. The whole point of the sign is missed.

That is what happened to Simon here. He saw the signs that Philip was doing. They were better than his own magic. He got excited about those signs. He followed Philip around and wanted to imitate them. But he never saw the bird in the window. He never saw the ugliness of his own sin, the need for repentance, and the glory of Christ in the gospel who forgives and makes us new and clean. You see, the truth is, Simon’s heart was never captured by the beauty of the gospel. His heart was utterly captivated by the signs and wonders he saw. As we look at the next part of the passage, his true motives for believing are revealed.

Read Acts 8:18-25.

A heart not transformed

Luke is careful to capture Simon’s response to the laying on of hands and the outworking of the reception of the Holy Spirit in the new Samaritan believers. Simon was once again amazed and wanted this for himself. His motives were seeking the POWER he saw displayed and he wanted the ATTENTION that was now on Christ. His understanding was so limited that he thought the gift of the Holy Spirit was something that could be bought.

With Holy Spirit eyes, Peter sees into Simon’s heart and gives a clear and necessarily brutal response to his offer of money in order to receive the Holy Spirit. He is literally saying ‘to hell with your money, because that is where you’re going’… ooofff!! Hard-hitting! But you cannot BUY a GIFT God wants to give! You can’t bargain with God, not after He has given us the ultimate gift of His son’s life in exchange for ours!! The Holy Spirit is not available for purchase.

This is more than a misunderstanding on Simon’s part. When Peter says in v 21 “You have neither part nor lot in this matter”; he is talking of the matter of saving faith. Peter sees that Simon’s heart is not right with God; he still needs to repent. He is still enslaved in sin and not yet a believer. There is no transformation of his heart. The root of the problem is there in v21 as Peter says “your heart is not right before God”. Translated, this actually means ‘Simon your heart is not straight’. You have a crooked heart; it is selfish, ambitious, vain, proud and bitter.

We have already talked about the parable of the four soils this evening; the Samaritans had soil ready to receive the word. This kind of belief Simon displayed reminds me of the soil in the parable that has rocks in it; Jesus says in Luke 8:13 the seeds that fell “on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away”.

Peter tells him what he needs to do; REPENT and PRAY. Why? Repentance is at the core of our salvation; we can only know we need saving, when we know what we are being saved FROM. When we see the mess of our hearts; the sin, the selfishness, we know we need to be made right. It starts with falling to our knees and acknowledging our brokenness. I think that is why Peter calls him to pray; prayer is how we receive God’s supernatural help when we pray through the Spirit God has gifted us with as his adopted children. Peter is giving Simon a life-line here; there is still a chance for restoration and forgiveness!

Sadly Simon’s response is to neither repent OR pray. He doesn’t seem to have any confidence in his own ability to pray and he asks Peter to pray for him instead. He seems to be more concerned for the consequence of his sin, rather than sorry for the sin itself. He’s more interested in avoiding God’s punishment, rather than receiving God’s forgiveness. So sad! What a contrast to Stephen; Simon wasn’t consumed by Christ, he was consumed by himself! We are left ‘hanging’ by Luke in what happens next; he doesn’t tell us the end of the story, and I think that is because he wants his readers to examine their own hearts.

REFLECTION

I have been thinking a lot in my preparation for this evening about my own heart response to the work of the Holy Spirit in this passage. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work in Acts 8;
…in how the Samaritans responded to Jesus with joy;
…in how the apostles grew in faith to accept their previous enemies;
…in the unity displayed as divisions are healed;
…in how Peter sees right through Simon’s self-interest and rejection of Jesus through Holy Spirit -eyes.
Transformation… or lack of it, is evident.

God has been teaching me much in this season about the transformation of my heart. I have been challenged particularly by the softening of the heart of the apostle John, who went from being that fiery son-of-thunder, to coming and laying his hands on his enemies for them to receive the same gift he’d already been given. It is so beautiful when we see the fruit of transformation in our own lives and the lives of those around us; a cause for great joy and encouragement! I thought I’d share a bit of testimony to finish before we pray. Some of you already know this story so apologies you’re hearing it again, but I need to keep telling myself how the Holy Spirit does GREAT things, even in me, when I ask him for help and lean in to what he is doing in me!

Some of you will know that I do not do conflict; I would rather run/hide. In my marriage that often looks like the prickly-hedgehog approach to conflict; the silent treatment and avoiding eye contact! I have been working on this for YEARS as it does not honour God or my poor husband! Back in September, we had been gearing our youngest up to start swimming lessons; he’d been highly anxious about it, and we were on egg shells as to how the first session would go. R was in charge of the swimming bag – it was hanging on the front door handle ready to go. We get to the pool in plenty of time, into the changing rooms, open the bag…no swimsuit. NO SWIMSUIT! What???! Called him; he’d forgotten to put it in the bag. I can’t tell you how frustrated with him I was. SO CROSS! We had no time to go and get it, a new one from the desk costed £22, and poor C was so upset after the ramping up of pressure and energy just getting him there. We made the decision just to go home, and in the car I was swallowing down rage and just about stopping myself saying anything negative in front of the boys. Once we started driving, as I started praying out loud “Lord you’re going to have to help me, I’m so so cross”, I began to see the ugliness of the bitter hatred forming in my heart. I asked the Holy Spirit out loud to help me, because in my own strength I knew I couldn’t walk through the front door and not let rip at my husband.

Honestly, it was such a miracle; after repenting of my bitterness, and asking the Holy Spirit to work in my heart because I knew I needed him so badly, I was able to walk through the front door and there was literally no resentment; I was completely floored! God is SO GOOD! It has become a line in the sand for me, and even for the boys who knew how angry I’d been.

I want to say I’ve nailed it and learned that lesson, but no. I have also seen times in the last two months since then, when so stuck in my own self-interest and selfish motives I couldn’t pray, so the prickly hedgehog approach was back with vengeance. I’m not proud of that at all; there are no situations that justify sin in my own heart!

What encourages me though, is all the promises we are given in God’s Word. Scriptures like:
…‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion’ (Phil 1:6)
…‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life’ (2 Peter 1:3) and
…‘ask and it will be given to you’ (Matt 7:7).

When we ask for something in line with God’s will, he will answer! And it IS his will that we are made like Jesus; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” so we can be confident when we ask the Holy Spirit for help we will receive it. Don’t hear me wrong here – we are not sanctifying ourselves; this is not depending on us. As Eddie once said, the Holy Spirit does the work, but we must collaborate with him! And Reinier said yesterday to me, ‘the sword of the Spirit needs to be picked up, in order to slay any dragons!’

So although I’m learning transformation can be a step-by-step slow process in dealing with the sin in my heart, by journeying with the Holy Spirit, and leaning on him, and leaning on the totally-and-utterly-completed atonement of Jesus for me on the cross, I will be made more like him!

We can’t do any of this in our own strength; but we can choose to give our hearts fully to the God who made us for relationship with him. Have you allowed him the space to reveal what he wants to do in transforming your heart? Let us not shut him down as Simon did, but joyfully embrace the gift of our salvation as the Samaritans did. The same Spirit that was at work transforming the hearts of those in Acts 8 is still working today; what is he revealing to your heart?

Acts 8:1-25

This month’s study covers the spread of the gospel following Stephen’s death. We will see the different heart-responses of those who hear the good news of the salvation of Jesus for the first time. There is a challenge in here for us to invite the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts into the likeness of Christ, rooting out sin, so that we can be effective in continuing that great commission set by Jesus to spread the gospel to ‘the ends of the earth’.

Read Acts 8:1-8

Acts 8 begins with the scattering of believers, as the persecution following Stephen’s death ramps up. Wherever these Christ-followers went, they took the saving gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

1. Compare Acts 8:1,4-5 and Acts 1:8. How are the believers already fulfilling the commission Jesus gave? Where do we fit within this instruction Jesus gives his followers?

After fleeing Jerusalem, Philip proclaimed Christ in Samaria. This is significant!

2. Read Luke 9:51-56 and John 4:5-9. How does seeing the attitude of the apostles toward Samaritans in these passages help us understand the significance of what we read in Acts 8:5-8? How does this challenge your heart about sharing Jesus with others?

The Samaritans receive the salvation offered to them in Jesus with joyful hearts (v8). Now we are introduced to a man called Simon, a highly influential magician living in Samaria.

Read Acts 8:9-25.

3. Looking at Acts 8:5-6 and 9-13, what are some key differences between Simon and Philip? Consider the words and concepts used to describe them, and how the crowd react to them.

Simon appears to believe and is baptised (v13). He is amazed when he sees the Holy Spirit being received by the Samaritans (v17); clearly there was something different about them, and this power was more powerful than his own sorcery otherwise he would not have sought it for himself.

4. Simon’s request to buy the Holy Spirit brought a sharp rebuke from Peter (v20-23). According to Peter, what was wrong with Simon’s attitude and his offer, and ultimately his view of God?

5. What did Peter call Simon to do to get right with God?

Luke leaves us ‘hanging’ in our understanding of Simon’s response to Peter; it is not clear if his request for prayer is the start of genuine repentance or another self-interested attempt to bargain with God. However, the offer of salvation through repentance and faith, and the transforming of the Holy Spirit remained open to him, as it does to us.

Take some time to reflect on your heart.

• Identify the areas in your life where you are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit; it may be callousness to a particular sin, or where you may be trying to bargain with God, or an area you know you need to repent of.
• Share with your buddy, and then pray together, inviting the Holy Spirit to transform you into the likeness of Jesus.
• Thank our Father for his love and forgiveness, and that he is not finished with us yet!
• Close by reading Philippians 1:6 together.

Acts Chapter 6 and 7

Let’s just remind ourselves or for those of you who are here for the first time this term or even the first time to this ladies’ bible study. The book of Acts doesn’t make much sense without the book of Luke, they go together. Luke tells us how Jesus began to teach – Acts picks up with Jesus ascension it tells how Jesus worked through the Holy Spirit continuing His ministry. Acts is not a how to guide or how we do church today. Acts is the story of the Holy Spirit weaving through lives allowing us to see how they encountered Jesus through such a real way. Tonight, we are looking briefly at chapter 6 but mostly at chapter 7.

So far in the book of Acts there has been explosive growth in this young church. We heard from Anne last week in Ch 2 about the dramatic arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost just as Jesus had promised. Peter preaches a message about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, declaring Him as both Lord and Messiah; this message cut to the hearts of the people – that day about 3,000 people were added to the church. Chapter 2 ends with a beautiful picture of the early Christian church.

In chapter 6 we see that there was some unrest in the church – the Hellenists (Greek speaking Jews) believed their widows were being neglected by the local Hebrews in the church. To resolve this issue seven men were chosen from within the church to coordinate provision to the widows. One of the men was named Stephen who was described in both v5 and v8 as a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and a man full of Gods grace. He was mature in his faith but may have only been a follower of Jesus for a short time. Stephen would go to the Jewish synagogue and share his faith, although for Stephen following Jesus was more than just doing the right thing; his life was devoted to following Jesus – he ordered his life around Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit. The Jews of many provinces became angry and began to argue with Stephen; v10 they couldn’t stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Interestingly it wasn’t them who brought Stephen before the Jewish court (the Sanhedrin), they persuaded some other men to say that they had ‘heard’ Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. Stephen was brought before the same court who convicted Jesus and had him crucified around 2-4 years prior. This is the most powerful court in the land, the supreme Jewish council and high court around 71 members, chief priests’ scribes and elders. Stephen is accused of speaking against Moses, against the law and against the temple. I don’t know about you, but I would be feeling very defensive by now, I would want to fight my corner – I would like to think I would remain calm – trying to get my words out. In Acts ch6v15 we are beginning to get a picture of a man who, through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, is continuing to build God’s kingdom.

Chapter 7 is a long sermon which can look a little overwhelming, and is on the face of it just a history lesson, but Stephen is very strategic in retelling the story of their history with specific points that address the core tenants of belief. The Jewish leaders have a long history of rejecting God and the Holy Spirit and his chosen deliverers; they also believe the temple is not where God dwells. Through this sermon Stephen is emphasising God is with his people wherever they are at – God was never confined to the temple but this was blasphemy to these leaders. God is bigger than the temple. As believers we receive the Holy Spirit, so this means God is with us wherever we are – he dwells with us by his Spirit.

Stephen could have denied the charges but instead gives a history lesson to the experts in history. Stephen would have learned Old Testament history as a Jew; he now has the Holy Spirit in him bringing the truth, but he is not a scholar, and he is faced with these 71 people of the Sanhedrin who claim to know history inside out they are all round him from all sides. At the beginning of Ch 7 the high priest asks Stephen “are these charges true”; at once Stephen refers to them as brothers and fathers, he is starting with a soft heart not a defensive heart. Stephen identified with them as much as he honestly could, he was not up for a fight. He then says to them “Listen the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham in Mesopotamia” – Stephen starts with the call of Abraham and Gods promises to him (Genesis 12 v 1-3). Stephen is highlighting that God is the one who initiated the promise with Abraham appearing to him in a glorious majestic way to begin his redemptive plan. He then in turn mentions Joseph, Moses and David; all chosen prophets who have been mistreated by the Jewish leaders of old. In Stephen’s speech, God’s redemptive plan starts with his promises to the patriarchs in Genesis to give an inheritance to the offspring of Abraham. All the men in the Sanhedrin that Stephen is addressing prided themselves on the fact that they followed the law of Moses and yet they missed the foretelling of the Messiah (Acts ch7v37 and Deuteronomy 18v15).

At the end of his sermon, he turns the accusation round and says ‘I am not the one blaspheming against the law and the temple; you are rejecting Jesus’ – this was a huge challenge to this group of people just like Jesus said in John ch 5 v 39-40.

Let’s read Acts 7 v 51-53 – Stephen is saying that though they have undergone physical circumcision to mark themselves as belonging to God (which was the Jewish requirement), their hearts are far from Him. Verse 51 uses the uncircumcised heart phrase which refers to their spiritual state despite being physically circumcised. Stephen is using language familiar to them straight out of the Old Testament, from the rebellion of Israel in the desert. In Deuteronomy Ch 10 v16 Moses says to the Israelites ‘Circumcise your hearts therefore and do not be stiff necked any longer’ – it is a call to change, urging the Israelites to move past spiritual stubbornness and have a circumcised heart before God. It’s like Stephen is saying ‘can’t you see, you are just like our ancestors! You fell into the same trap’. Stephen is trying to warn them not to miss the blessing of Abraham – the PROMISE of the Holy Spirit. They refused to listen then, and they are refusing to listen to Stephen now.

Being an authentic follower of Jesus with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit demands an open tender heart. This has been a personal challenge for me. Do I have a tender heart? This has made me ask myself ‘do I just hear and talk about spiritual things? Or do I live up to what I talk about? Where in my life am I not reflecting Christ?’ – for me I know when I’m neglecting my daily time in his word, I drift. The Holy Spirit works in us though his word it; becomes locked in our thoughts, speaking to our hearts. Spending time with Jesus in the word clothes us with the Spirit becoming more like him. Stephen finishes his speech with a direct challenge to the Jewish authorities who think of themselves as holy, Stephen argues that they are just like the Jewish leaders of old who persecuted and rejected God’s prophets – including Jesus, although the difference is the prophets of old spoke of the righteous one to come whereas Jesus IS that righteous one. It was through his persecution and death that our sin was removed, and we can now share in his righteousness in fact we do (Corinthians 5 v 21).

So when the Sanhedrin hear this (ch7v54-56), they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him – imagine this crowd of leaders all around facing Stephen with gritted teeth. So angry at what Stephen has accused them of. At this point Stephen knows his life is about to end and yet he is full of the Holy Spirit. What does he do at that moment? Is he looking at the people about to kill him? No, his eyes are not on his present situation but on the one who put creation in place – as he looks to God, he sees a vision of what is happening in heaven. Stephen sees something beautiful; he sees God in all his glory, which is amazing, but then he sees something more spectacular – he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He says to the angry crowd ‘Look I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’.

This is how Jesus referred to himself; ‘the Son of Man’ (Matthew 26 v64-66). In this passage we see the response from the high priest to Jesus – he tore his clothes in rage. This is what Stephen is presenting to the angry crowd of leaders; although Stephen is not copying Jesus, he had become like Jesus with the Holy Spirit guiding him. So, what is so special about what Stephen is saying? Whenever the Bible talks about Jesus in his relationship with the Father, the position in those situations every single time is that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father – but here for the first time in history of the first martyr of the church, Jesus is standing. There is no direct explanation in the text for this, but the image for me is Jesus standing up to welcome Stephen into the kingdom – the picture is amazing – he stands up from his throne to cheer Stephen on as he welcomes him. Even now Jesus is at the right hand of the Father cheering us on.

By now the Jewish leaders are so angry, they rush at Stephen with their fingers in their ears – these are very dignified men, they are the 71 top religious leaders of their time, the most respected scholars consumed with murderous rage towards Stephen at this point. I imagine them picking up their robes and rushing forward to Stephen. Just as a side note v 58 says they laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul who approves of what’s happening. v60 keep an eye out for Saul you will hear more about him later in the series. They drag Stephen outside the temple ignoring any legal process and begin stoning him with stones of all sizes. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed “Lord Jesus receive my spirit”, then he cried out “Lord do not hold this sin against them”. Just before Stephen’s death, or as written ‘fell asleep’, what pours out of Stephen is his heart toward his enemies. Stephen has his eyes on Jesus right until the end.

There is something amazing about seeing Jesus and seeing his work everywhere; maybe you are wondering where Jesus is working in your life right now, but you can’t see. Do you have an open tender heart? You might even be crying out for him. You may have a discouraged heart tonight and wonder where Jesus is. In the middle of what you are going through or what you may be facing Jesus is closer than you ever imagine; just because your eyes have been unable to see him don’t believe he is not there – just as Stephen saw Jesus – Jesus is with us now. He knows how weak we are. He knows about our relationships with our family, or the grief we bear from the loss of loved ones or the desire to be in a loving relationship. He knows the struggles we have with parenting or maybe the desire to be a parent. He knows about that health issue which is overwhelming or the concern for a loved one with ailing health. He knows about the days we wake up and feel like we just can’t face the world and the times when we are surrounded by people but cripped by isolation and loneliness – you may have struggled to get here tonight – Jesus knows.

The book of Acts isn’t something that ‘we do’. It’s the story of Jesus continuing to work in us. The early church got it wrong sometimes, but they also got it right; they lived like Jesus. As we study Acts we’ll see people who lived out their lives in such a way that will illustrate what went well and not so well.
Start this study by reading Acts chapters 6 & 7

This young church is beginning to experience opposition and division; Acts 6-7 is an account of internal division in the church. The Hellenists, who were Greek-speaking, believed that their widows were being neglected by the local Hebrews in the church.

1. How do the apostles handle this situation?

   Stephen is chosen as one of the seven servants to oversee the ministry of food service among Greek speaking members of the congregation.

2. What do we learn about Stephen in Ch 6 v 1-8?

   Stephen lived his life and pursued Jesus in such a way that the Holy Spirit dwelt in him, giving Steven the strength and authority to do what he could not do on his own. Stephen exhibited Christ-like characteristics; walking like Jesus, up to the day he said the words, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit” as
   he was stoned and he cried out, “Do not hold this sin against them.”

   The following references give examples of how Stephen models Jesus:
   Acts 6.15 – Matthew 26.29
   Acts 6.13 – Mark 14.56
   Acts 6.14 – Matthew 26.61
   Acts 7.48 – Mark 14.58
   Acts 6.11 – Matthew 26.65
   Acts 7.60 – Matthew 27.50 & Luke 23.24
   In Acts 7.48-50 Stephen quoted Isaiah 66.1-2 to show the religious leaders that God is not limited to a structure made by man, but that God is near to all who call on him – most fully in Jesus Christ. In grace, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us, to seal us to Christ and lead us to truth.

3. What does it mean to live and love like Jesus and are we living with the desire to be transformed by the Holy Spirit? (top tip: look at Acts 7.55-60)

   Take some time to pray and consider what you have learned from Stephen’s life that might lead you to praise God and call on him to draw near to you.

A Merciful Love
May 2025

We’re nearly at the end of our Hosea series — and what a journey we’ve been on since September! So before we dive into chapters 11-13, I want to summarize where we’ve been, so you know how we got to where we are tonight!

In chapters 1-3, Hosea showed us that God is a lover who has a plan and a purpose! But instead of joyfully following him, Israel wanted to go their own way. They were seduced by the world and gave their hearts, minds and bodies up, like a prostitute does with their body.

Then, in chapters 4-10 we see God’s holiness: He is perfect – and pure! His standard is high. To be holy is to get rid of anything that hinders us from seeking life in Him — ONLY. But as we saw, Israel fell short. You might remember Hannah and Vicky showing us some intense courtroom scenes where God was both judge and the prosecutor. We saw these how God is just, fair and right — which are all the things we want in a trial, except when we’re the ones in the box: right?

When we’re the ones being judged, we don’t just want fairness — we want MERCY. And that’s why chapters 11–14 are so powerful! They remind us: God is love. God is compassion. God is grace. And He is mercy.

There’s a temptation to major on the feel-good attributes of God but, as Bible students we’re called to embrace ALL of who he is – even the parts that challenge us!

But what makes all God’s attributes lovely? Even the ones we aren’t naturally attracted to? Like his jealousy, anger and sorrow.

J Edwards (paraphrased) said: “A true vision of God’s beauty must start here: with a deep delight in His holiness! Any joy in His other attributes is false unless it flows from this, for no other attribute is truly understood apart from His holiness.”

If we don’t wrap our heads around his holiness (his purity and perfection!) and if we’re not totally satisfied in that – then we can’t possibly know God fully – or love him! Instead, we love some version of him that suits our imaginations. But then, when we get to hard books like Hosea, our faith is a rocked. Or, we maybe close up our ears and wait for Jesus because we all love him, but the Father, we’ll, he’s a little frightening.

But what did Jesus say: if you have seen me – you have seen my Father! We can ONLY understand the Father as lovely when we see him through the lens of the holy beauty of Jesus!

Hosea shows us how God is KIND and JUST, COMPASSIONATE and FAIR, MERCIFUL and HOLY.

And God says to us, “Be holy as I am holy”: but how? Well, even 800 years before the cross, the way to holiness was — and still is — only possible by the Spirit who gives life! And that’s what we’re digging into tonight.

Hosea 11.1, ‘When Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt’. So, what’s this in reference to? Moses! The Lord used Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, from under Pharaoh. You’ll likely recall how Jacob had ended up in Egypt – sold into slavery by his brothers,
settled there, and then for about 450 years, the Jews were slaves to the Egyptians and that’s when they were broken into the 12 tribes of Israel. That was the birth of a nation – born in slavery!

But it’s interesting that that the Lord said, ‘I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.’

It raises a curious question: why did God choose Israel? I’m sure you’ve wondered – like me – why didn’t he choose Americans? You know, back in 1776, why didn’t God say, ‘you know, those people right there, they’re my people.’ Nope. Instead, he chose the Jewish people. And as you know, Jesus was born a Jew, one of god’s chosen people, and we get to be joined into that vine (Romans 9-11). What a gift!

But why the Jews? Why Abraham and his sons? Why didn’t he choose the Moabites or the Canaanites or the flashlights?

Well, there’s really only one reason we’re given in scripture and it comes from Deuteronomy 7.7-9: God chose Israel because — he loved them! (I set my love on them.) And he chose you because — he loves you! He cannot help but love you – with all his heart!

Out of interest, have you ever tried to control love? Tried to turn it on or off? Picture a dad telling his teen daughter, ‘You can’t love that boy!’ The daughter replies, ‘Oh sure dad – I’ll stop today.’ –As if!

Love is a beautiful mystery! And maybe God’s deep love for the Jews feels curious but, he tells us he loved them, that’s why he chose them. It’s that simple!

But this challenges us because it touches God’s sovereignty — something we’ve resisted since Eden. We want control. We want to decide right and wrong. We want to figure God out… Truth is, most of us struggle with full, wholehearted submission to him because deep down, we think we know best and we want to choose good and evil for ourselves.

Here’s a little example: Romans 9.13 is a verse tends to freak most of us out as it’s written, ‘Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.’

I just read this Genesis account in April in my read-through, and I get angry every time! Esau gives up his birthright (blessing) to Jacob — his conniving, deceptive, devious twin – and his devious mother! The two trick Isaac, the boys’ father, who is blind. And, at first glance of this story, Isaac either seems a bit dim or a coward! I mean, who can’t tell the difference in their two children who are polar opposites! This story gets my heart-rate up every time…!

Here’s Jacob – this ‘smooth’, kind of creepy guy. He liked to cook, maybe do dishes, and I reckon he probably smelt like sun kissed coconut. Then you have the original Bear Grylls – Esau. He’s the pin-up for Cotswold Outdoor. A man’s man!

So, Isaac, their dad, is about to die and he tells Esau to go hunt and make his dying father his favourite meal, and then he’ll bless his firstborn… But meddling Rebecca was listening in, crafts a plan for Jacob to deceive Isaac, and robs her own firstborn of his inheritance!

So then I go: ‘Jacob I have hated! Esau I have loved!’
But the Lord says, ‘nope Hollie, that’s not the way I wrote this story. You see so little of what I’m doing here. I have a promise to keep. But you question me – you demand, “how can I choose Jacob over Esau!”.

Well, let’s look at the very next verses Romans 9.14-15: Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” So, it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it, nor work for it.

That’s God’s sovereignty: it’s why we can say that he chose the Jews, and be satisfied, because we trust his plan is just and compassionate.

Israel didn’t do anything – good or bad – to earn God’s love. And they are powerless to make God stop loving them! Even in their harlotry – his love for them is unconditional and powerful!

Maybe this opens up a question for you: has the Lord chosen you? How do you know? People get into this debate and it’s complex… Calvinism and Arminianism: did God choose you or you choose God? And why do you need to accept his love if he already knows who’s going to be saved?

Some people get derailed by all the theology but I don’t have a problem with it because I’m convinced that God is the perfect gentleman. He wants your heart-felt love – he doesn’t need love-slaves!

In Eden, he gave us a back-door option: you can respond to his love or reject him. But before the dawn of time, he knew what which way you’d go! It starts to get confusing because God exists outside of time and space. He doesn’t have the limitations we do. I can’t wrap my head around all of it, but I don’t see a conflict. I just see that God is huge – and if he was small enough to figure out – he wouldn’t be big enough to worship.

So, Hosea 11.1, this is such an important verse! It’s a perfect example of the layers on layers we get in the Bible (like Hannah mentioned in March). And Hosea is full of them! For instance, Hosea 11.1, when God says, ‘When Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt’, any Hebrew Jew would say that of course Hosea was talking about the Jews in Egypt. Let’s call this Layer 1.

But then, you go to Matthew – and he tells you – forget everything Hollie just said about Egypt, Jews and Moses because he feels this passage differently. Matthew tells us about when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Herod was king at the time and he got wind of Jesus’ birth – a baby who’d grow to be a man who Herod feared would steal his power. So Herod told the wise men, ‘oh I’d love to meet him! King of the Jews! Come back, tell me where he is, I’ve bought him the cutest onesie!’

Wisely, the wise men – bolt! But Herod was so evil and totally obsessed with his power that he goes through the whole region and kills every Jewish male child, 2yrs and younger. What a night of catastrophic evil as Herod’s army stormed through the land, forcing their way into homes, killing these precious little baby boys…unimaginable.

But in Matthew 2 we see Joseph, where in the night, he took little Jesus and his mother and left for Egypt and they stayed there until Herod died: Layer 2 – the fulfilment of Hosea’s prophesy.

Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, ‘yeah, you guys think Hosea 11.1 is about the Jews in Egypt – but it’s actually even more about Jesus! Like the quote from J Edwards at the start – It’s God, the father, saying – this is my son, who I called out of Egypt – this is how I reveal the beauty of my holiness to you!

Isn’t it fascinating that everything in the Bible brings us back to God’s son!

The layers are the genius of a loving God who wants us to catch glimpses of his fingerprints and creativity to show you the lengths he’s gone to, to make you his!

Right – so we need to get past v1 so with the perspective of Layer 1, let’s look at 11.2-4.

Here the newly formed Jewish nation leaves Egypt, but rather than loving the Lord and adoring Him – the people sacrifice to idols, two-timing God. I wonder if you hear the pain in the Fathers voice: I taught them to walk, held their hands, lead them with kindness, I made them free from bondage they carried for over 400 years – and I knelt down and fed them… This is such tender love, but it’s met with pure ingratitude.

As a parent, maybe you’ve felt this in another way – have you ever tried to teach your kids gratitude? A friend said to me it’s easy to correct behaviour: the do’s and don’t’s. It’s 100x’s harder to confront deeper, heart-level sin issues, like ungratefulness. We’ve all experienced it at some time: ingratitude is so ugly! So how do you help your kids, not just to work out the bad behaviours – but help them to cultivate thankful hearts!

Here with Israel – that’s what’s happening! The Lord’s saying, ‘you guys are so unthankful, you’ve done nothing to return your affection to me. Instead, you deserted me – and you gave your heart to another.’

You and I might not be worshipping Baal, but don’t be deceived; it’s the same root problem! You know what you’ve given your heart to – maybe it’s security for the future, love, money, family? Maybe the Lord is nudging you? What’s most important to you in life? What gets your affection, your love, ahead your love for the Lord?

Then we come to the next section where ingratitude is met with penalty.

Couple important things to note: v5: my people will return to Egypt and be slaves to Assyria. Then in v6 there’s a war mentioned. The war will be with the Assyrian Empire who will be a tool of punishment God will use to devour Israel. They will be led by Tigalat Palasser, in 722BC. He’ll plunder their cities, crash their strong gates, and destroy Israel. It’s horrifying.

The bit I find most humbling is the end of v6: Assyria will destroy Israel because they followed their own evil plans. The ESV says they, ‘took their own council’. They didn’t listen to God, they listened to council of men.

We women have to take this seriously. The world loves to push its advice on you and me and tell us what we should and should not be doing. Women, don’t be fooled by the council of this world. Psychology is fascinating, and some things in psychology are true and align to the Bible – but if psychology contradicts scripture, that’s when you have to firmly choose the counsel of God.

One of the best examples of that today is the ‘self-care’ narrative. It says: you take care of you, you do you, you deserve it. Sister, that is not Biblical! Find me ONE verse that says ‘you put you first! ‘You need me time.’ You won’t find one! Why? Because God‘s love is always others-centred!

He created us out of the overflow of his love, and out of the overflow of our love for him, we love others, and they love us! And yes, our world is broken. That’s why we feel the need to fill that gap with self-love, but it’s not a Biblical model! Don’t fall for that lie. 

Now, you may feel a real hole inside you. Maybe you give and give and give – and you’re running on empty. But we must take that to Jesus!
Talk to him about that – let him minister to you, FIRST! The Lord promises to take care of you. He knows you intimately. He knit you together. He knows what you need better than you do. Do you trust him? Lean into him and he will give your heart rest. And what’s more – he loves you better than you will ever be able to love yourself.

But also we have each other. We can, and should, hold one another up, carry one another’s burdens and love each other. It’s not wrong to say to a sister, ‘I’m feeling empty, drained, I haven’t got anything left.’ You tell me – or someone else here tonight – because then we better know how to be a conduit of the Lord’s bountiful love!

Here, Israel fell for the con of listening to the world’s counsel. They trusted what others told them to do and so their ingratitude is met by punishment.

v7 My people are bent on leaving me. Even though they call me the Most High, they don’t mean it… It’s reminiscent of Romans 1: They were neither thankful nor gave thanks, but they worshipped the creation rather than the creator. So, the Lord gives them over to their lusts and desires and sins and they will be destroyed.

And that brings us to the final part of chapter 11, where future compassion brings restoration. The Lord wants to be gracious to this rebellious people and we see that in v8: How can I give you up Israel? How can I destroy you? My heart is TORN inside me!

I picture tears in the Lord’s eyes! ‘I cannot destroy you! YES – I’m angry with you – because I love you and you’ve hurt me!’

Then he mentions Admah and Zeboiim; these were surrounding cites to Sodom and Gomorrah. What we often mix up is that Sodom and Gomorrah’s total annihilation wasn’t by God. Yes, he rained fire and brimstone from heaven and crushed the cities, but He did that in his love for them. He was trying to woo Israel away from their stupidity! His punishment is always motivated by his protective love for those he cares for.
He’s pleading with them, ‘get out of the line of fire!’

But they carried on – so the Lord lifted his protective hand and allowed the Assyrians to be the tool that actually wiped Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim out.

God tells them in v8, ‘My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows’, and then in v9 ‘I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal.’

Sometimes we superimpose our human emotions on our perfect God. So you may have read this and thought, ‘He’s gone nuclear!’ But God’s anger isn’t like ours: ours is violent, extreme, severe, disproportionate (or at least that’s what my husband tells me)… But be clear – God is measured, long suffering and merciful! What he really wants is restoration.

Now, v10-11, the promise to return the people to the land.

The lion will roar, and the children shall tremble – who’s he talking about? Well, it’s speaking of the diaspora of Israel. They were scattered so many times (like in 586 and 70AD). But in Hosea’s lifetime this happened 722 when the Assyrians invaded. And from that invasion we get the half-breed of Jews called the Samaritans. They were Jews, taken in captivity, who settled in Samaria and became Assyrians instead of returning to the Jews.

The Jews hated them for assimilating with the Assyrians and not keeping their Jewish culture. The Jews wouldn’t even walk through Samaria – so remember that time when Jesus said to his Disciples, ‘We need to go to Samaria-‘ they were probably freaking out inside! But here in chap 11, when it says ‘the lion will roar and the people will return’, this is the Jews, coming back to the land the Lord gave them, having been scattered all over the world! It’s why we celebrate May 14, 1948 – the promised return of Israel to their land.

Another layer is Ezekiel 37: the Lord being a lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and the closer you get to the end times, the more we see him as the lion. We’ll still see him as a lamb that was slain – the man from Galilee who walked around fishing and doing stuff with his Disciples, who was humble, who made no reputation for himself, but took the form of a servant. But in his second coming – he’s coming as the conqueror, not carpenter. He’s coming to judge, not being judged.

He came first as a lamb, but NEXT TIME he’s coming as a Lion.

I love the Chronicles of Narnia. If you’ve read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe you’ll know what a powerful picture it is of the work of the Cross! For anyone who doesn’t know the story line, there are four children (Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan) who are transported into this new land and they’re trying to figure out who this ‘Aslan’ is that they keep hearing about. So let’s hear a little (paraphrased) section of the story:

“Who is Aslan?” asked Susan.
“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why, don’t you know? He’s the King. He’s the Lord of the whole wood… and the word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this moment. He’ll settle the White Queen!…”
“She won’t turn him into stone?” said Edmund.
“Lord love you, Son of Adam!” answered Mr. Beaver with a great laugh.
“Turn him into stone? If she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it’ll be the most she can do! No. He’ll put all to rights, as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:

‘Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more…’
You’ll understand when you see him.”

“But shall we see him?” asked Susan.
“Why, Daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here. I’m to lead you where you shall meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.
“Is–is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Aslan is a lion– the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe?”…
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “…Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

What a beautiful description of our Lion! He’s good! Good to his people and he protects them ferociously! But if you’re on the wrong side of the lion – he’s not safe at all. That’s really what Hosea is talking about – the coming saviour, Jesus, who’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Aslan only gives us a glimpse of the father’s protective love, but when we see the Father through Jesus – we can totally appreciate his beauty and majesty. That’s what it is to have a spiritual sight! But how do you get that?

Like Dan’s message a couple weeks ago – we do nothing to earn God’s favour. We just respond to his love. And when we do, he gives us his Spirit to live with us! That is mercy!

So now let’s look at CHAPTER 12. Verse 1 is a rough start, ‘Israel feeds on the wind’ doesn’t that sound filling… And, ‘they make an alliance with Assyria’! So, what’s going on? Well, Israel’s trying to buy over Assyria. They think they’re being wise, but they’re actually throwing money into the wind! Instead of turning to God – they try to make a peace treaty with their enemies… It’s like negotiating with terrorists!

Then in v2 the Lord unpacks his issues with Judah. But up to now, he’s been focused on Israel (the northern 10 tribes). At end of chapter 11 Judah (the southern 2 tribes) got a wee mention, and she was in good standing, but it doesn’t last! Here in v2 the Lord says he’s going to bring charges against Judah and punish Jacob – so, what’s that all about?

Well, although Judah’s gotten off easy – a storm is a-coming! But rest easy, the storm is about 117 years away. (Which certainly puts our weather men to shame! They can’t even get the afternoon prediction right!) So, what happens 117 years later – well, the Babylonians happen! And you can read all about that in Jeremiah! But sadly we don’t have time tonight for the whole book of Jeremiah when we’re struggling with 3 chapters of Hosea!

So, moving on, v3-5 we get a quick summary of Jacob: Hosah says, do you remember when Jacob grabbed his brother’s heel, when the boys were in the womb? And what about that time when Jacob wrestled with God – and Jacob won! Remember that too?

Now, here a question comes up – was it really God, or Jesus (God on 2 feet) or an angel? Because, if it was Jesus (who exists outside time & space like we know it) then doesn’t he know kung fu!? Surely he would have won! But you know, that’s not the Lord’s objective!

He wanted to work something into Jacob…

Do you know what Jacob’s name means? ‘Deceitful one’ or ‘heel snatcher’. But the Lord says to Jacob, ‘I’m changing your name: Yes, you were a heel snatcher – trying to get your way. Yes, you were deceitful – you stole you brother’s inheritance! Yes, you tricked and lied to your dad Isaac! BUT, after wrestling with the Lord, God gives him a new name – Israel, meaning: governed by God. This is a good name change!

Brett Meador (NYC) pointed out in a message how name changes in the Bible are really important. For example, remember when Abram and Sarai got their name changes? Well – there’s a whole study on the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, which both use symbols, and each symbol expresses something. So, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a picture of an ox which speaks of strength.

Well, the ‘h’ speaks of the spirit or wind! So Brett highlighted that when Abram and Sarai got new names, the Lord added a single letter – the ‘h’ – and he added the Spirit! And now — the Lord’s Spirit is on Abraham and Sarah!

And Jacob went from deceitful to ‘governed by God’. Yes – the Lord could have crushed Jacob easy in the wrestling match, but isn’t it just like him to stick there all night with Jacob, let him battle it out, feel all the anger, grief, frustration, anxiety, and pound into him with all his big feelings – and then, as the sun rose — God showed him his merciful heart!

‘I’m still here – I AM bigger than all your doubt and fear and hurt, and YOU are more than all your doubt and fear and hurt — YOU ARE MINE!’ And then he changes his name…!

And one more name change because we’re on a roll – Saul to Paul! He had a spiritual vision of Jesus on the Damascus Rd and his eyes were closed by scales, but something gave him eyes to see Christ! (Acts 9.17-18). But when Ananias laid hands on Saul, he received the Holy Spirit and
the scales fell off his eyes and he could see!

We come back to God in the same way! We stop being double minded! We give up our prostitution of other lovers!

We ask him, that by his Spirit living in us, that HE will change our identity, as he did to Abram, Jacob and Saul! We ask him to give us sight of Jesus so that the scales will fall off our eyes and we can see Jesus in his splendour and be changed into his likeness!!!

v6 So now come back to your God – depend on him! v7 But, you won’t, because you’re deceitful… and the chapter finishes with v9-13: Over the years I rescued you, protected you, sent prophets – and you just keep provoking me…!

First, we saw the birth of a nation – Jacob (changed to Israel) being loved, rescued from the grip of Egypt — but now in chapter 13 we have the death of a nation.

This chapter reads like a tragedy because Israel is dying. In spirit: they’ve given their love to lifeless idols. In their souls: they’re emotions are failing, so they move further away from God. And in body: because soon they’ll die when the Assyrians crush them.

But the Lord’s compassion hasn’t shrunk. 13.4 I brought you out of Egypt, v5 I took care of you, v6 but when you had all you needed – you forgot me.

Hosea goes on in v9-11 warning them: You’re about to be destroyed, so where’s your king and leaders I gave you? He’s reminding them of how they wanted to be like the other nations. They begged for a king, so he gave them what they wanted even though he knew a king would distract them and draw their eyes and hearts away from God. And even though it broke his heart, he was willing to let them go, learn the hard way, after all, he wanted their genuine LOVE ——– NOT their ALLEGIANCE!

v14 should make you think of another: ‘Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?’ (1 Cor 15.55) 400 years after Hosea’s prophecy –
Jesus, the son, did redeem us all. He dominated death – to give us life! But right here in Chap 13, Israel was about to lose everything to the Assyrians. This is the consequence – not a punishment – of being an unfaithful bride. If you’ve ever witnessed unfaithfulness up close, you’ll know it leaves a trail of destruction all by itself.

Thankfully – this is not the end of the story!

Tonight’s theme is, A Merciful Love. I hope you leave here tonight knowing that you’ve been freed. And even when you slide backwards into old ways – God doesn’t stop loving you!

He’s given you a piece of him – his Spirit, breath! This is His mercy – that never let’s go! He’s willing to live with us every moment of every day, He constantly invites us back to the Father, redirecting our affections.

Edwards said, ‘The hypocrite delights only in what God thinks of him, but the true saint delights in a vision of the holy beauty of Christ.’ We are a bride with a past! Even though we’ve prostituted ourselves our whole life, the groom, in all his majesty and splendour – loves us deeply – and he chases us down!!!

When you fully grasp that, I promise that you will be more deeply satisfied than EVER, and you will love him back with everything you’ve got in your heart!

A Merciful Love
Hosea 11-13

Hosea exposes our unfaithful hearts and show us how relentlessly God will pursue us, because of how
passionately he loves us! In May we’re looking at chapters 11-13 and they are chunky! As I’ve been studying them, it reminded me of a time about 6 years ago when I baked a 30-layer cake for a cake competition; that’s Hosea in pâtisserie form! Layers are really important so that’s where this study is going to focus. For each chapter we’ll look for all the connections. Jot them down and see how many you come up with. If you’re working on this study with a buddy, see how many of the same you’ve spotted – and why not compare your answers with others in our Captivated Facebook group! There’s nothing like a little healthy competition to motivate us
Can’t wait to see you on May 19!
Hollie

Read Hosea 11

1. Layers: What references can you connect to Hosea 11, from other texts across the Bible?
2. How does God describe His relationship with Israel in Hosea 11:1–4?
3. What emotions does God express in verses 8-9? What do these reveal about His character?

Read Hosea 12

1. Layers: What references can you connect to Hosea 12 from other texts across the Bible?
2. Thinking about the historical references you’ve just spotted:
   a) how does Hosea use these to confront Israel?
   b) why are these significant?
3. How can remembering God’s faithfulness in the past help us stay grounded today?

Read Hosea 13

1. Layers: What references can you connect to Hosea 13 from other texts across the Bible?
2. How is Israel portrayed in verses 2, 5 and 6 — how can you relate?
3. How is God portrayed in verses 4, 7 and 8 — why is this imagery so intense?
4. Hosea 13 ends on a very dark note— how does this set up the hope to come in chapter 14?

A Jealous Love
Hosea chapters 8-10

We are continuing in our series studying the book of Hosea, and if you were here last month or have been able to meet up with your study buddy, you’ll know we are currently in the prophetic section, which can feel a bit like wading through treacle! We have looked at the narrative; the story, where the prophet Hosea was instructed by God to marry a prostitute in order to provide a vivid, living picture of God’s relationship with his people Israel. Just as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, Israel were unfaithful to their God. Just as Gomer broke the covenant of their marriage, Israel broke the covenant between God and his people; the covenant that was established way back when they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and given the Promised Land.

In the past months, through listening to Jill and Vicky’s talks, we have moved into the prophetic part of the book of Hosea, where Hosea is now revealing God’s heart further; His devastation and pain at the depth of their sin in their disobedience, impure motives and blatant disregard for His holiness and covenant. But Hosea is also revealing the depth of God’s love for his people, despite their waywardness. Being a prophetic book of the Bible, Hosea is foretelling things that have not yet happened. He is warning the people, over and over again, of the consequences of living with their fingers in their ears and turning from Him to worship false gods, even whilst giving Him lip-service. He is exhorting them to turn back to Him.

Jill and Vicky both mentioned how this section of Hosea is presented a bit like a court scene. In chapters 4 and 5, the court was convened; the people were addressed and charges were brought. Jill talked about the things Israel had not done; no faithfulness, no steadfast love, no true knowledge of God, and the things they had done; adultery and unfaithfulness (even the priests leading the people astray!), murder and bloodshed, lying and stealing. They were breaking the commands the LORD had given them.

In chapters 6 and 7 we saw the Israelites lodge an appeal which was rejected. We saw their false repentance; it sounded great… “Come, let us return to the LORD” (6:1) but it was a sham. God revealed the duplicity and insincerity of their empty words. There was no real repentance, and no true devotion. John MacArthur put it like this “they wanted happiness not holiness, healing but not cleansing, a change of their circumstances but not their character”. That really makes it hit home doesn’t it? How often is that my heart? I think we can see ourselves on trial here too.

Now we have reached chapters 8-10, a huge passage. It is impossible to go through it all, so we won’t be covering all the details, however I want to share with you what the LORD has laid on my heart and what He has been teaching me through studying it. We are back in the courtroom again, and judgement is being given and a sentence is being pronounced for God’s wayward people. And yet, even in the midst of the wrath, there is still overwhelming love, and I can’t wait to share that with you.

Two themes have come up again and again; these are of God’s judgement and God’s jealousy. If you have been able to do the study questions, they were mainly around judgement. We’ll recap what that judgement looked like for the Israelites before we move on to God’s fierce and jealous love for His people, and what that means for us today.

Let’s look at this judgement and courtroom scene in more depth.
Read 8:1-3 (Reader 1)
Hear the warning cry from Hosea for what is coming. The trumpet blasts! An instrument used to announce danger or war. The eagle/vulture picture symbolises trouble looming on the horizon/danger hovering nearby. The imagery couldn’t be clearer; watch out Israel! Your relationship with the living God is in danger! But what had they done and why were they in the courtroom dock?

Broken the Law
At a most basic level, they had broken the law; v1 makes that clear. They had broken the covenant that had been established between Moses and God’s people and their holy God. Remember Mt Sinai and the ten commandments? Further than that, rules were given to help the Israelites stand out and be different from the pagan cultures in the countries surrounding them in their new land. God said to Moses to tell His people, “if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19: 5-6). What a promise! A ‘treasured possession’! A ‘holy nation’! Cherished and loved by an almighty God.

In the padding out of the law in Leviticus 26, it talks about the rewards for obedience and keeping the covenant; there would be blessings of fruitfulness, peace and prosperity. But it also warns of the punishment for disobedience. These specific punishments even included warnings of exile and the dispersion/breaking up of God’s people, as well as ruin; Lev 26:33 “I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid to waste and your cities will lie in ruins.” The people would have known these laws from childhood. So the Israelites were receiving the punishment that had been long promised for breaking the covenant. God was being JUST and FAIR. Also, this is the kindness of God! He is setting up boundaries for his people, just as we set loving boundaries for our children. The people had no excuse. Judgement had come because they were warned from the very beginning; there had to be a consequence for disobedience.

So, that was why the Israelites were in the dock. But what was Hosea predicting in terms of their sentencing? What was going to come their way?

Read 8:7 (reader 2), 9:1-4a (reader 3)

Reap what they’d sown
There are many pictures of sowing and reaping in the Bible; it is where we get our well known phrase ‘you reap what you sow’. Usually, this phrase is intended to show cause and effect; if you do a certain action, you get the natural consequence. However, here in verse 7, the ‘reaping’ appears to be far far worse than what was sown. I’m sure we can all think of examples of this; sowing a small lie to cover up embarrassment but then having to lie again and again to cover the original lie until it becomes too big to hide any more. We reap widespread exposure and embarrassment. Or maybe like King David who sowed a ‘second glance’ at Bathsheba, and reaped lies, murder and death.

In this instance, Hosea talks about ‘sowing the wind’. The words ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’ are interchangeable here. Look back at chapter 4:12 “for a spirit of whoredom has led them astray”; this is ‘the wind’ they are said to be sowing to here. In other words, they are being unfaithful in their sowing. We will look at this in more depth in a minute, but their unfaithfulness looks like turning to idol worship, and turning to alliances with the nations surrounding them, in the vain hope that these things would save them and make them prosperous. What Israel hadn’t realised was the consequences of doing these things would be truly awful; they would reap a whirlwind!

To make it worse, they pretended that they were interested in maintaining their relationship with God (we saw this in the previous chapter as well); they used empty words (8:2), built extra altars (8:11) and even offered sacrifices (8:13). But it was all empty. As one speaker summarised it, chapter 8 speaks of planting or sowing an empty religion, and chapter 9 speaks of reaping an alienated relationship as a consequence. The road of religion without God leads to death, alienated from God’s presence and his love. This is the sentence. A literal alienation when they are exiled; they are removed to a foreign land (9;3), where they will not be able to worship God or offer him sacrifices (9:4), and he would remove their prosperity (9:2). Heavy stuff!

Now, there’s an ‘elephant in the room’. Where is the loving, forgiving God we know? Why does this sentence have to be (what we think of) as so harsh?

I think our sometimes westernised and sanitised version of Christianity focusses heavily (and maybe with blinkers on) on a loving God who loves to give good gifts to his children. This is true, but only part of the picture! This is the version of God that my children are presented with at their school; no mention of His holiness, no mention of sin and the need for wrong to be punished. Without that though, we are left with a false view of ourselves and a false understanding of the nature of God and the beauty of our salvation.

What is our God like? He is holy. His holiness demands perfection! God cannot have sin in his presence. But alongside that, our God is relational. He’s not a robot. He, the three in one triune God, at His very core a relational God, wants a relationship with the people He created! At the start of chapter 8, Hosea says the same three things in different ways; you do not really know me because you have broken my covenant, rebelled against the law and rejected what is good. You want religion, but not a relationship with me. You don’t know me and you don’t want me. Can you hear his relational-heart break here?

So then why didn’t he just forgive them? If He is so loving, why not forget their sin and pour out His love on them more? We’ve already alluded to God being just and fair; we cannot have a sovereign God ignoring wilful sin as that would go against His justice. We repeatedly see the Israelites have their back to God and their fingers in their ears. The consequence is that the LORD withdraws His presence. You get the feeling they have made their choice so clearly and wilfully that He has now said; you have chosen this path, so I will let you continue on it. It is the same ‘giving over’ to sin we have seen in other passages in the Bible.

But our God is also kind. Despite the rejection of His people, in His mercy, He exposes their hearts through His prophet and tries to draw them back to Himself. He is longing for them to repent. What does it mean to repent though? More than just saying sorry, it means to change direction, or turn. Tim Chester said the word ‘repentance’ or ‘turn’ or ‘return’ is used 22 times in the book of Hosea in varied ways. There aren’t many in today’s chapters, but I feel there is an overwhelming sense of God’s people facing the wrong way; with their backs to their loving God. 10:12 says “it is time to seek the LORD”; you can’t seek the LORD if you are facing the wrong way!

He is holy yet relational and just yet kind. But He is also jealous, so let’s look at that now.

The title I was given for this talk was ‘A Jealous Love’. After all we have talked about; the courtroom scene with the sentence being pronounced and judgment being proclaimed, it is hard for us to initially see where the love is at all. But it is there!

When we hear the word ‘jealous’, we probably first think of the negative; a strong feeling of envious resentment against someone, maybe because of something they have or their success (“I’m so jealous of their beautiful house”). It can make a lot of people very uncomfortable to think of God as a jealous God. In fact, if you look up Oprah Winfrey and this subject, you’ll find it was the very thing that caused her to walk away from God and the mainstream church. She sadly misunderstood God’s jealousy, and saw it through a human lens instead. I don’t want that for us today; I want us to leave here with an appreciation of how beautiful the jealous love of God is.

Jealousy, a bit like anger, is not inherently bad. Whether these emotions are sinful or not actually depends on two things; their motivation, and their fruit. So often our own motives are sinful, which means the ‘fruit’ or the outworking is not pretty. For example, if I am feeling discontented with what God has given me, and am finding my identity in what I own/my stuff, then jealousy of someone else’s beautiful home is an outworking of that and might lead me to strive to have more. What led to the jealous feeling was what was impure, so therefore the action that came from it was too.

God’s motives are unquestionably pure, therefore his jealousy for his people is pure. Throughout Hosea we have seen God’s longing for an intimate and exclusive relationship with his people. John McArthur said “the LORD’s true love for His people is unending and will tolerate no rival”. If you think about that marriage relationship, which we have seen depicted in our studies in Hosea so far, it is only right that a husband and wife should jealously guard the intimacy of their relationship. If Reinier wasn’t bothered if I flirted with other men, it would show me that his heart wasn’t fully for me, right? I want him to defend our relationship jealously. In the same way, God longs for our full and undivided attention. His jealousy for us is rooted in love.

Let’s read about that exuberant first love. (Reader 4) “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert: when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree” (Hosea 9:10). (slide) This is one of three pictures of God’s delight and his sheer love for His children. He took joy in their belonging to Him. Grapes in the desert is a picture of a rare and refreshing find! Tim Chester says that Hosea is alluding to how God first met with Israel in the desert at Mount Sinai; it was there that they became His people and received His law. And look at how God sees it!

Another picture is of Israel as once a luxuriant spreading vine (10:1), and another image as a trained calf (, a beautiful heifer, in fact so beautiful He could barely put a yoke on her neck, so she just threshed grain (which was a nice easy job compared to being yoked and working the land; the heifer would not have been muzzled and would have had access to the chaff on the threshing floor to eat). These are images that show the abundance of God’s love for His people and His joy in their belonging to Him.

But then it goes badly wrong. Israel spurned his love (spurned meaning to reject, or literally ‘throw out’); they broke the covenant they had made and broke His heart over and over again. We see them time and time again turning to other things. Remember we said God’s love would tolerate no rival? Well, there were plenty of rivals here and we are going to look at four of them from chapters 8-10. God is showing them their complete dependence on human things, not on Him.

Kings
Kingship is a big issue in these chapters; kings get a lot of mentions. Historically you’ll know that Israel were desperate for a king; someone they could rely on, something to make them feel safe and look like the other countries that surrounded them once they were in Promised Land. The instinct of the Israelites to crown a king wasn’t entirely a bad thing; they knew they needed someone to lead and defend them. But they looked in the wrong place! They cried out to God for a king, instead of simply crying out to God. They wanted a king, they didn’t want Him. They wanted a human to fight their battles, instead of taking their battles to the sovereign God. Ouch – the rejection! In 8:4 God says “they set up kings without my consent”. God wanted to choose for Himself the kings who would rule over His people; those who would be obedient to His covenant, like how He chose King David.

It is no coincidence then, that Hosea mentions the ‘wickedness in Gilgal’ in 9:15 because this was the place where Israel crowned their first king, Saul. Saul, who turned to traditions and superstition, who ignored God’s voice. This choice led to disaster for God’s people and Saul was rejected. Saul is in the background of this passage; notice in 9:9 and 10:9 a place called Gibeah is mentioned “Since the days of Gibeah, you have sinned Israel”; again commentators don’t think this was a coincidence as this was where Saul was born and where he chose to rule from. It was like his HQ! Saul stands in these passages for all the subsequent kings the Israelites would turn to in place of turning to their rightful king, the King of heaven.

Calves
Not only did the Israelites turn away from God as their rightful King, they turned their hearts away from Him to worship idols.
Read 8:4b-6 (Reader 5)
A part of the original covenant, in fact, one of the ten commandments, was to ‘have no other gods but me’ and ‘don’t bow to man-made things’ (Exodus 20). But here we see them constructing idols for themselves out of gold and silver. Remind you of anything? Remember when Moses was up on Mt Sinai receiving the covenant, and the people were down below, waiting and doubting and getting ever more restless? In Exodus 32:1, they persuaded Aaron, the brother of Moses, to “make us gods who will go before us”, and he obliges by collecting all their jewellery and fashioning a golden calf out of it. Then he has the audacity to present it to them as the god who brought them out of Egypt! Tim Chester says it was like Israel’s original sin and it set the pattern for the rest of their history; it is constantly revisited throughout the Bible as a description of their idolatry.

You might wonder what Hosea means when he says ‘the calf of Samaria’ (8:6) as this is obviously not the one Aaron made. No, this calf, and the one mentioned in 10:5, refer to the two golden calves created by King Jereboam after the kingdom was divided into two following the death of King Solomon. The division was formed as Jereboam led a rebellion against slavery; he could have been seen as a sort of ‘Moses’. However ironically, after making himself king, he did not want the people going down to Judah to worship in Jerusalem. So he presented the people with golden calves he’d made at Bethel and in Dan, saying “Here are your gods O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). Crazy, it was happening again! They hadn’t learned!

Canaanites
As we’ve seen already, Israel had been warned multiple times not to worship the Canaanite gods of their neighbours and to be set apart for Him alone. However, Israel had been worshipping the fertility god Baal since they had come across him at a place called Baal-Peor; have a look at 9:10b. Baal-Peor was the site of an idolatrous orgy between the Israelite men and the women of neighbouring Moab. They didn’t just get into bed with these women, they also got into bed for the first time with their god; Baal. Read the account for yourselves in Numbers 25 where God said they ‘yoked themselves’ to Baal, or ‘consecrated themselves’ to him. The consequence was truly awful; 24,000 Israelites died of the plague and God said “they became as vile as the thing they loved” (Hosea 9:10b).

When we look at the consequences of the adultery of the Israelite’s hearts in Hosea 9, we read the language of infertility as the result; v11 “no birth, no pregnancy, no conception”. This should have been unsurprising for the Israelites because infertility was one of the predicted punishments for failure to keep the covenant (Deut 28:18 “the fruit of your womb will be cursed”). It was also ironic, as they were worshipping Baal the fertility-god; exposed as a false god with no power over fertility at all.

Cavalry
If those things weren’t bad enough, now we’ll see how they turned to political alliances in the hopes of avoiding war and having foreign cavalry on their side. Listen to how Hosea words it in 8:9 “For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.” (Reader 6)

Assyria was the neighbouring enemy in Hosea’s time. I thought a donkey was an odd choice of picture language, but there’s a reason; in Hebrew the words donkey and Ephraim have the same consonants, so it is probably a play on words, and an insult. These similar names indicate a similarity; a wild donkey would have restlessly searched for a partner, and so Israel restlessly searched for alliances with foreign nations instead of trusting the LORD for the security of their nation. One commentator put it more strongly and said it was like they were prostituting themselves by negotiating with the surrounding gentile nations for protection, instead of going to God. So, although the dodgy kings of the north managed to ‘buy’ peace with their enemy with silver (2 Kings 15:19), this was only a temporary solution and Israel got ‘swallowed up’ by Assyria (Hosea 8:8); their reliance on foreigners who cared nothing for them ended up being fatal for Israel. They were relying on their own wisdom and failing to put their trust in the living God. Once again, their loving God had a rival.

It makes for pretty depressing reading, doesn’t it? Knowing what we know, we want to shout at the Israelites, “COME ON! What are you doing?!”. It feels frustrating; their waywardness, sin and terrible choices seem to make no sense when we know how much God treasured them and loved them. His heart was for them; He wanted so badly for them to remain faithful to Him and know the blessings He was longing to pour out on them. In fact, hear that longing in Deuteronomy 5:28-29 when Moses says to the people when he has come down from Mt Sinai “the LORD said to me… ‘Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!’”. You can actually hear His heart there, can’t you? Why would anyone fly in the face of that beautiful, jealous love?

Before we put ourselves on a pedestal in judgement of the Israelites, I think we need to stop and examine our own hearts. Remember that phrase I said earlier, that the LORD’s love for us is unending and will tolerate no rival? That has been hitting me pretty hard as I’ve studied for this talk. I know there are plenty of rivals in my heart that regularly upend my ability to give God the undivided love and attention He deserves. I am no better than the Israelites in lots of ways. OK so that doesn’t look like bowing to a carved idol or worshipping the god of another religion, but in my heart – who is really on the throne?

I thought we could have maybe mind-map what we rely on instead of God and have a little audience participation. What kind of things do you think we might have as rivals in our hearts? What do we trust in instead of God?

(People call things out: Ourselves, reputation. Own strength and health. Job, status, reputation. ‘Stuff’ – what we own. Family and friends. Doing good. Rituals and traditions.)

If we are honest with ourselves, we often have divided hearts. We can say we rely on God. We affirm we know He is the source of every blessing we have. But the reality is our actions do speak louder than our words! As we saw with the Israelites, it is often self-reliance that can cause us big problems.

But while we may not be outwardly battling the same sins as the Israelites, we are all caught in that tension of the ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ of living in a sinful world, born with a propensity to sin and yet knowing we are saved by the blood of Jesus. It’s what we call that journey of sanctification as we become more and more like HIM. We can get so frustrated with ourselves on this journey; this has recently been my experience.

I have been struggling with a particular sin for years; every New Year I’ve vowed to do better. For as long as I can remember I’ve struggle with laziness, distraction with social media particularly, and procrastination. My poor time management directly impacts my relationship with my Father, as I so often ‘don’t have time’ for Him. You may think, oh Hannah that is nothing, and I’ve had well- meaning friends try to make me feel better and explain it away “oh but you’re in such a busy time of your life”. (On a side note, if a sister in Christ wants to unburden and share their battle with sin with you, rationalising is not a helpful/godly thing to do. Best response – “how can I pray? How can I help?” because there is nothing more important than our relationship with our Father!). In my battle with this, I have tried SO hard in my own strength! Well intentioned new daily devotionals that fall by the wayside after a few weeks. A prayer diary that has two pages written in it. Plans to do this or that. Excuses, excuses. And time after time I feel guilty that I haven’t managed to ‘get on top of it’.

On my 40th birthday, I had a good time with Jesus, pouring out my heart. I’ll read from my journal. “In reflecting on my struggles, the lyrics of the hymn came to me “prone to wander, LORD I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart LORD, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above”. I realise I have wandered. I have chosen to be far from Him. I haven’t prioritised my relationship with Him. I have not been listening to HIS voice, but rather, to my own negativity. I feel very humbled, but feel incapable of turning back to Him and so very weak. Then, amazing grace! I have just turned to my Bible reading notes for my birthday-day, and the verse is 2 Cor 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What a direct word to my heart!”

Praise God our divided and wayward hearts no longer lead us to exile away from God. Our salvation is amazingly not affected by our continuing to battle with sin, because we trust in the saving work of Jesus on the cross. However, the consequence of having a divided heart, like I’ve been experiencing, is that we reap that alienated relationship. We feel the distance from Him and we find ourselves wondering what happened to that ‘life to the full’ Jesus spoke of. That is why God is jealous for us! And why He exhorts us to have undivided hearts. He knows what we are missing out on! And how He longs for us!

You know it is hard work breaking up the unploughed ground of our hearts (10:12) in order to sow seeds of righteousness. But this side of the cross, we do not do this in our own strength! What a joy and release it has been to have that affirmation once again, that HE has done it ALL and He has given us His precious Holy Spirit within us. His grace is sufficient. Please encourage me to keep walking in this!

So, we’ve seen our God is still a jealous God for the affections of His people, and that is all of us! Whilst preparing for this, I’ve so often had the first line of the song ‘How He Loves Us’ by David Crowder Band stuck in my head. The lyric says “he is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy”. Loves like a hurricane; this seems to sum it up so well. Fierce, unyielding, mighty and powerful. And the chorus says “oh how he loves us, oh how he loves us” again and again. God has demonstrated the great depth of His fierce love for us by sending His only Son Jesus to die in our place, to do what the law never could completely do for the Israelites – making us righteous in His eyes. We are so blessed to live this side of the cross!

I will end with the same verse Vicky ended with last month, as it is so good. Hebrews 8:12 talks of the new covenant made between us and Jesus. “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” What a wonderful freedom we have! Our sin is remembered by the Almighty God no more, all because of Jesus.

We are going to take some time to pray now in small groups of two or three. Let’s be open and honest about our hearts; do we have divided hearts? Let’s thank God for his beautiful jealous love, and for the freedom we have in Christ.