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Thursday, March 28th, 2024
Maundy Thursday
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Bible Commentaries
Hosea 6

Bell's Commentary on the BibleBell's Commentary

Verses 1-11

  1. THE CALL TO REPENTANCE! (chapter 6)
    1. Guilty Israel Speaks! (1-3)
    2. (1) God hurts to heal!
      1. Example: Setting my broken arm in 4th grade.
      2. Torn – from lion in vs.14.
    3. God Speaks! (4-6)
      1. (4) Here God has Divine doubts about their sincerity!
      2. It was a “Shallow Religious Revival”!
      3. Their loyalty drifted like a morning cloud, & dried up like the dew.
        1. Here one minute gone the next.
      4. (6) Mercy – (○"⊙$⊙⊙ hesed) 275 in OT.
        1. Means “covenant love”, “loyal love”. It is a steel-ribbed love.
        2. The NIV translates 10:12 as “unfailing love”.
        3. Kathy Troccoli’s song, “It’s your stubborn love That never lets go of me.”
      5. This scripture must have been one of Jesus’ favorites! He quotes it 2 times, & even adds a “Go & learn this” & the other time “if you only knew what this meant!”
        1. Mt.9:9-13(esp. 13) – Jesus only came to save “real” sinners. 6.3.5.1.1.He never deals with our merits, only our demerits! (Spurgeon (Matthew; pg.59))
        2. (re: 9:10) From time to time we hear statistics about how people first came into church membership. These figures trace back to the Institute for American Church Growth, which asked 10,000 people about their pilgrimage. What led them in? Answers were: Special need, 2 percent; Walk-in, 3 percent; Pastor, 6 percent; Visitation, 1 percent; Sunday school, 5 percent; Evangelistic crusade, 5 percent; Program, 3 percent; Friend/relative, 79 percent.
        3. Q: Folks are we showing Mercy by sitting at the worlds table? (Howard Hendricks tell this story) I had a dear brother in the ministry who went down the tubes morally—bad case. By the grace of God he was brought back into fellowship, and by God’s grace restored to his ministry. One time when we were fellowshipping together, I said, “I want to pick your brain. I need some help. Where are we failing, in your judgment?” He said, “Howie, when I fell into sin, it was like going down in the surf for the third time. I was looking over at the shore that was filled with believers that I knew, some of whom were crying, ‘Isn’t that tragic?’ some of whom were cursing, saying, ‘You’re supposed to know the Word of God; why did you allow that to happen to you?’ There were some who were wringing their hands, saying, ‘What can we do?’ But there was only one who risked the surf to pull me out while I was going down for the third time.”
        4. Mt.12:1-8(esp. 7) – He assails them again w/the charge of ignorance!
      6. Key – “The inner quality of Mercy is far more pleasing to God then the correct performance of rituals.”
        1. Mercy to the tax-collectors & sinners(Mt.9); Mercy to the hungry disciples(Mt.12); Israel was showing no Mercy during the time of Hosea(Hos.4:1).
      7. And the knowledge of God - It’s not what you do, it’s who you know!
    4. But like men(adam) (7-11)
      1. They dealt treacherously with God!!!
    5. Ending Prayer:
      1. Lord we count on… Your Mercy for our past mistakes; Your Love for our present needs; Your Sovereignty for our future.
Bibliographical Information
Bell, Brian. "Commentary on Hosea 6". "Bell's Commentary". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cbb/hosea-6.html. 2017.
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