Today’s Reading: Hos 3:1–5:15, Acts 2:1–41, Job 15:10–20

Today’s Theme: Filled with The Holy Spirit

Today’s theme is the wonderful filling of the Holy Spirit which gave birth to the church, saves us and keeps us from the spirit of whoredom so we cherish God above all as we declare God’s great works to the world.

Hosea 3:1–5:15

The love story

And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” Hosea 3:1 (ESV)

This is the love story between God and His bride. He loved her in spite of who she was, this is the sort of love Jesus taught us about.

We need to ask ourselves the question, are we committing spiritual adultery?

Knowledge of God

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; Hosea 4:1 (ESV)

We will not have faithfulness and steadfast love for God without knowing God through His word.

We must know about God, that is why God recorded truth in the written form of Bible for our benefit. He knows we need knowledge of Him to flourish.

Give thanks for the means of knowing God in your life including the Holy Spirit, Bible reading and study, pastors, teachers, books, blogs, videos and mp3s.

Rejecting knowledge

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6 (ESV)

God’s contention was with the priests and prophets because they did not teach the people the word of God.

This is picked up in the New Testament where Paul says teachers and pastors have double accountability before God.

We should thank God that we have good leaders and pray for them. Also any time we are called to serve we must do it knowing God will hold us accountable for it.

As Christians we must avoid anti intellectualism, which is a culture of rejecting faithful biblical exposition and study. Without true knowledge of God we are open to the ‘spiritual elements’ and destroyed by the winds of evil doctrine and heresy.

Cherish the Lord

They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding. Hosea 4:10–11 (ESV)

We should cherish The Lord. Notice wine and new wine are mentioned alongside whoredom and God says that this takes away a man’s understanding and discernment.

Cherish in the Hebrew means to keep, watch over, take care of, preserve, protect, save, retain and to guard. Think about each of these words in regards to your relationship with the Lord.

What do you cherish?

The spirit of whoredom

My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. Hosea 4:12 (ESV)

Lord deliver your people from the spirit of whoredom. We may not think of ourselves as being under a whoring spirit but we must ask God to show us our own hearts so we can see what we put above God and prefer over God.

Be governed by the Holy Spirit, not the deceptive spirit of whoring after other spiritual lovers and the world.

Dear darling sins

When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame. Hosea 4:18 (ESV)

Our problem can be that sins are dear to us, we cherish them, we hold them close, we love them, we adore them. However they will bring us to ruin (see verse 14).

Sin is like a drug, it draws the user into a false sense of satisfaction and a relationship of dependence which is really slavery.

In reality when you love sin you are in love with shame, pain and death masquerading as life.

Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.

Sin blocks us from God

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. Hosea 5:4 (ESV)

Our actions can bar us from knowing or approaching God. Sin works against us by putting a gulf between us and the only one who can deliver us.

Stop sinning and return to God.

The slave master, Sin

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. Hosea 5:11 (ESV)

The driving forceful nature of sin is seen here.

Paul teaches us in Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

The prodigal method

I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. Hosea 5:15 (ESV)

God will not always pursue man. When His people need discipline He will leave them to themselves until they seek Him like the prodigal sons

Acts 2:1–41

The church is born

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:4 (ESV)

This is the birth of the church, also here we see a reversal of Babel where languages were confounded. Here men and women are speaking in languages they were never taught, like Spanish, French etc.

A great functional, evangelical move by God through His Spirit to reach many people from many lands without the barrier of language.

As we read yesterday God fills us with His Holy Spirit for service and to speak for Him.

Declare God’s mighty works

both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” Acts 2:11 (ESV)

They were quite specifically talking about God’s mighty works, likely the mighty works of redemption Jesus had just accomplished. This is wonderful in itself but to speak this in unlearned languages is miraculous.

Open to all

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Acts 2:21 (ESV)

Peter was saying that this prophecy was fulfilled this day. It is wonderful that now because of Jesus the offer of salvation is more clearly open to all people.

God’s plan

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Acts 2:23 (ESV)

The cross was no tragedy it was a victory, God planned it all and nothing took Him by surprise.

The OT in light of Jesus

he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Acts 2:31 (ESV)

Peter who was taught personally by Jesus shows us how we are to exegetically read the Old Testament in light of Jesus.

Foundational Apostles

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Acts 2:32 (ESV)

This (witness to the resurrection) is the foundational key to the apostles ministry, these who were foundations of the church were eye witnesses to the resurrection. This is one of the reasons they went from cowardice to boldness and God even used some of them to write holy scripture.

Those called apostles today are not a part of this special and particular class of apostle.

The victory of the Son

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:36 (ESV)

The victory of God and exaltation of the Son through the cross and resurrection, this is the Gospel we proclaim as God’s heralds.

Salvations’s requirements

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized 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. Acts 2:38 (ESV)

This is the requirement and goal for salvation for all of us. Repentance is crucial, baptism essential and the Holy Spirit is the gift necessary for salvation.

God’s elect

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:39 (ESV)

This salvation is for all God’s elect. God knows whom he has predestined and chosen. We preach to everyone the Holy Spirit works to save whom He wills.

We rejoice that we were elected and when others are chosen too.

Salvation is of God.

A great Start

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Acts 2:41 (ESV)

What a start to the church! Thousands were saved at the first open air sermon given by Peter. This is a sign of the victory of our sovereign God and the healthy and exponential growth the church would go through over the next 2000 years.

Job 15:10–20

Be around older people

Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father. Job 15:10 (ESV)

This gives us a little insight into the age of Job’s friends and the sort of company he kept. It is always good to have friends who are older than you are

Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014.

Additional resources

The Gospel Coalition on Acts 2