Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Hosea chapter 9. The name of the message is unequaled
love. Unequaled love. Do you know God's
love for his people is unequaled love? No love in this world comes
close to it. The world has never seen a love
like this love. And that unequaled love was actually
manifested at Calvary's cross when God the Father sent God
the Son to purchase us with his precious blood. And again, like
I've been saying more and more lately, from Hawker, I loved
us, we are saved through the blood and righteousness of Christ.
Right? Without his perfect righteousness,
we could never stand in God's presence. Without his perfect
blood, we could never be cleansed from our sins. So his life and
his death are so vital. for the believer, and his life
and death was a substitutionary life and death for his people.
It's wonderful, it's absolutely incredible. So we'll be looking
at Hosea 9 tonight, and we will see that amidst Israel's wanderings,
the text says whorings, what that means is chasing after other
gods, following false gods, Worshipping false gods, like Baal and different
things like that. Roman gods, whatever, any kind
of false god from man's imagination. Because there's only one true
living God, isn't there? There's only one, Yahweh. There's
only one. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, and the three are one. One God. One God. Now in Romans, it says
this, But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. What a statement. Our God is a God full of compassion,
isn't he? For his people. And really, compassion
for the world, too. Think of this. The world hates
him. And we, in our natural state,
we were the same. And yet he gives them air to
breathe, Food, homes, right? Oil and gas and the earth to
fuel, for fuel. Trees for all kinds of things. My, all comes from his hands. So, so he's, he's a God full
of compassion. He's the one true living God.
All the false gods require you to do something to please them.
God says his own son in our room and place to please him, to satisfy
him, to pay for our sins. It's incredible. So he's a God
full of compassion. And he's gracious. And can we
not say, Brother Zane, that he's long suffering with us? before
we were saved and even after we're saved. We see it even more
after we're saved, don't we? He's so long-suffering with us.
He's so, and tonight in our text, we are gonna see him long-suffering
with Israel. And remember, we gotta go back
to the beginning. God told Hosea, you go and you
take a wife, a certain woman, right, from among the prostitutes,
and you marry her. And she's a picture, she's a
picture of how Israel has wandered away, went astray from her husband,
who is the Lord Jesus Christ. But Israel is a picture of the
church, who in our fall wandered away and chased after other gods. And even, we've talked about
this, Brother Zane and Brother Brian, we've all talked about
this, that even after we're saved, our hearts can wander. So easily. So easily. We've seen friends
and brethren wander away from the Lord. What do we do? We keep
praying for them, don't we? Or bring them back. We know they're
your sheep, bring them back. Bring them back. And he will. He'll either take them home or
bring them back. Oh yeah. And what a picture of
how the Lord is long-suffering with us, we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
How long-suffering is He with us? Here He's, even before we
were saved, we didn't know Him, we didn't care to know Him, we
wanted nothing to do with Him. And then after we're saved, He's
everything to us, and yet we're still sinners. Our hearts still
wander. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above." Right? If he doesn't
keep us, we're gone, aren't we? Oh, but praise God, he won't
lose one of his sheep. Oh, man, that's something to
hold onto, isn't it? That's something to hold onto, beloved. Romans
2, 4 says, Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and
forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness
of God leadeth thee to repentance? My, how longsuffering was he
with us before we were saved. And it was his goodness that
led us to repentance, right? Who's the epitome of goodness?
Amen, brother. Jesus Christ. He's the good shepherd. He's the perfect man. It's wonderful. It all points right back to him,
beloved. Right back to Christ. Now, so
okay. So as we read this chapter again,
it's another chapter of reproof and condemnations upon the nation
of Israel for what they're doing. But remember, it's a picture
of us in our natural state and can be a picture of us even after
we're saved and our heart starts to wander. but marvel at the
long-suffering of God with Israel, which is a picture of His church.
It's amazing. It's wonderful. Let's read the
first two verses of Hosea chapter 9. Rejoice not, O Israel, for
joy is other people, for thou has gone a-whoring from thy God. Thou hast loved a reward upon
every corn floor, "'The flour in the winepress shall not feed
them, "'and the new wine shall fail in her.'" Well, here we
see the Lord's threatened visitations upon Israel, and we see their
transgressions. What have they done? They've
gone whoring after other gods. Were we not like that in our
natural state? We had all different gods, didn't we? My, oh my. And we read these awful condemnations
of God, but let us keep in remembrance their accomplished, Hawker bought
this out, and I thought this was fantastic. He said their
accomplishments were in the Babylonian captivity when they were taken
from their land. They couldn't offer sacrifices
anymore. They were taken from their land. And they found themselves in
this captivity. So, you know, what a picture
we have of the church in her natural state. Before we were
born again by the power of the Almighty God, the Holy Spirit,
think of how, how lovely and gracious God was with us. The
Lord Jesus Christ, as the husband of his people, who are called
the Bride of Christ, We see, even though Israel had gone a-whoring
after other gods, whoring from God himself, and we see her worthlessness,
right? He's bringing that forth. And
the base gods who they're going to worship are nothing. They're just base gods. They're
gods of man's imagination. And they can offer absolutely
no hope. So they left the only one a sinner
can have hope in. Did we not do that in the fall?
Right? So here we are born in this desperate
state, right? Dead in trespasses and sins now. Now think of this. Even after
we've been saved, And even after we're unfaithful,
because we're not all faithful, right? We're unprofitable servants
in the sense that we cannot, we're still sinners. We do what
we can, right? And any good that we do, it's
because of God doing it in us and through us. I don't even
try to do good things anymore. I just try to be myself now in
Christ. If it blesses someone, well,
that's the Lord doing that. That's not me, right? Do we not have a hard enough
struggle, brothers, my dear brothers and sister? Do we not have a
hard enough struggle just resting in Christ every day? My, oh my. and think of this, Israel could
not have been charged with this crime of unfaithfulness had it not, had not the Lord
been her husband. Remember the picture? Right? Gomer's unfaithful to
Hosea, right? It's a picture of Christ in the
church. It's a picture of Israel at that time, gone whore. So
if Israel wasn't God's wife, she couldn't have been counted
as unfaithful. Again, let's bring it right home
to the church, though. Right? Because that's who Christ
died for, isn't it? And marvel that we see in the
scriptures the Lord lamenting this disloyalty of his spouse. I love this. And yet, yet, he
continues to show Israel mercy. That's what he does for us, isn't
it? Isn't that amazing? That's amazing, brother. He is
manifesting grace and mercy that Israel may return to him. And think of that for us. What
a truly blessed view of Christ. He manifests himself to us. That we might be blessed with
all spiritual blessings in him. Salvation, justification, sanctification. So we see in the long suffering
with Israel, a picture of how he is with his church, with his
people. It's absolutely incredible. It's
amazing, like you said, brother. It's amazing. Now let's read
verses 3 and 4 of Hosea chapter 9. They shall not dwell in the
Lord's land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall
eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings
to the Lord. So when they were in captivity
in Babylon, they couldn't do any of these offerings. They
weren't allowed to. neither shall they be placing
unto him. Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of
mourners. All that eat thereof shall be
polluted for their bread, for their soul shall not come into
the house of the Lord. They couldn't go in the temple
because they're in Babylonian captivity. We couldn't enter into the temple.
We couldn't enter into God's presence until the Lord saved us. Isn't that amazing? And His eye
was always upon us. Always. I marvel at that. All
the things I went through as a child with all the surgeries
and all this, and I thought I was alone. But I wasn't. Isn't that amazing? All the times
that we went through with our dads and stuff, we weren't alone,
brother. All the things, sister, all the
things you went through as a young lady, you were never alone. Oh,
we felt so lonely sometimes, didn't we? Yet we were never
alone. I love that song, Linda, his
eyes on the sparrow. She sang on something. So I know
he watches me. How much more valuable are we
than the sparrows? Oh, my beloved. It's amazing. It's amazing. Now, let's keep
looking with an eye to the captivity in Babylon. The Lord threatens
Israel with removing them from the Holy Land, which an unfaithful
wife shouldn't dwell in the house of a wronged husband. Most men,
when they find out their wives are unfaithful, they put them
aside for a while and say, well, it's hard to build that trust
again. But marvel that Hosea just kept taking her back. What
does the Lord do with us? How many times are we unfaithful? Before we were saved and after.
Let's look at after. What mercy, what mercy, how merciful
is our great God. My, and we see here that the
Lord's jealous for his honor. When Israel no longer dwells
in the Lord's land, how shall they enjoy the Lord's sacrifices?
They can't. Now let's read verses five and
six of Hosea chapter nine. What will you do in the solemn
day and in the day of the feast of the Lord? For lo, they are
gone because of destruction. So look at, what do they do when
the feast of the Lord comes? They can't do anything. They
can't offer sacrifices. They're no longer in Jerusalem.
They're no longer in Israel. They're in captivity. How we
were in captivity, weren't we, brother? We were captive to sin. Oh my, we were slaves to sin. This, for lo, they are gone because
of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up. Memphis
shall bury them. The pleasant places for their
silver. Nettles shall possess them. Thorns shall be in their
tabernacles. When people aren't around to
take care of things, what'll happen? Well, nature starts coming
back, doesn't it? Yeah? My, let us observe the Lord's
grace, though still to Israel, and how tenderly the Lord mourns
over his captives. They're captive now. His bride is captive. Such a
picture of us, wasn't it? We're captive in sin. He had
to come, brother. He had to come and save us. He
had to come deliver us. He had to come redeem us from
our sins. It's glorious. It's glorious. And how it must have grieved
his heart to behold the void of the ordinances in the days
of feast to him. And it was all a result of their
own sinfulness, wasn't it? Adam plunged the whole human
race into sin. And we're born sinners. We come
out of the womb, we willingly are sinners. We're conceived
in sin. No one has to help us sin, do
they? No. So the Lord says, what will you
do, saith the Lord to Israel? What will you do? Marvel, and
keep in mind, that the whole of what is said in judgment is
all with an eye to mercy. It's all with an eye to mercy,
beloved. Mark also how Egypt and Memphis
are spoken of as cities of desolation to Israel. Now let's read verses 7 to 13
of Hosea chapter 9. The days of visitation are come.
The days of recompense are come. Israel shall know it. The prophet
is a fool. The spiritual man is mad for
the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred. The watchman
of Ephraim was with my God, but the prophet is a snare of a follower
in all his ways, and hated in the house of his God. They have
deeply corrupted themselves, as in the day of Gaiba. Therefore, he will remember their
iniquity. He will visit their sins. Aren't
you glad God doesn't remember our sins? Aren't you glad that
God doesn't visit our sins? Praise his mighty name. It's
all been taken care of by the Lord Jesus Christ. I found Israel
like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first
stripe or Yeah, first ripe in the fig tree at her first time.
But they went to Beopor and separated themselves unto that shame. And
their abominations were according as they loved. So they're following
the lusts of their flesh. As for Ephraim, their glory shall
fly away like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from
conception. Now remember, remember we've
read earlier studies God's got his eye on Ephraim. She ain't gonna fall away, is
she? No. Though they bring up their children,
yet will I bereave them. Look at that. That there shall
not be a man left, yea, woe also to them when I depart from them. Ephraim, as I saw, Tyrus is planted
in a pleasant place. But Ephraim shall bring forth
her children to the murderer. Some of these false gods required
child sacrifices. One such was such a monster of
man's imagination that they would boil the, they had two arms that
stood out like this. I think it was Moloch. and they
would superheat those arms and place the baby in that arm. Oh my, the horrendous things
that the depravity of man brings forth, and that's in all of us
too, beloved, by nature. Praise God for salvation through
Christ. Praise his mighty name, that
that's appalling to us. my oh my oh our lord so merciful though
and let us keep our eye to the lord's grace beloved for this
whole chapter is full full of god's grace all these things
they're doing and yet god still has mercy still calling them calling them to the lord And
think of this. Note that the Lord has the whole
comprehensive view. All things past, present, and
future, right, are but one at the same time. And note he beheld the visitation as at the door in his watchman.
had shown that this displays his absolute sovereignty over
all things. He sees everything. It's all
set before him. He's proclaiming this before
it even happens to them. And let us mark how tenderly
the Lord still speaks of Israel. In the days of his espousal,
in verse 12. Look at verse 12. Though they
bring up their children, yet will I bereave them. That there
shall not be a man left, yea, woe also to them whom I depart
from. Look at that, he bereaves them. My. The Lord, do you know the Lord
found Israel like grapes in the wilderness? Turn, if you would,
to Jeremiah, chapter 2. Jeremiah, chapter 2. That is, is grapes particularly grateful in such
a place? When you're in the wilderness
and you find grapes, it's wonderful. Now, the Lord always knew where
they were. But look what an illustration
he gives of us, of Israel. They're pleasant and delightful
in his sight. And is not God's people, the
elect of God, pleasant and delightful in his sight through Christ?
Look at this in Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 2 to 3. Go and cry
in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember
thee. The kindness of thy youth, the
love of thine espousals, When thou wentest after me in the
wilderness, in a land that was not sown, Israel was holding
the Son to the Lord. The only way we can be holding
the Son to the Lord is through Christ. In the firstfruits of His increase,
all that devour Him shall offend, evil shall come upon them, saith
the Lord. Isn't that wonderful that the Lord says of His people,
I remember them? Paul wrote in Hebrews that God
will never, never leave us nor forsake us. His eye is always
upon us. He can't forget us. You know,
sometimes we get older and we forget friends we had when we
were younger, right? I can remember a few friends
from when I was little, little, but not many. I remember more
in my teenage years, but the ones from when I was little,
I know I had lots of little friends then, but I can't remember them
all now. God will never, ever forget us. Ever. His eye is always upon
the Israel of God. And He's jealous over His people,
beloved. He's jealous over His people.
Even after He saved us, He's jealous over us, isn't He? Yeah. Because we're His blood-bought
bride. And the Lord watches over His
people, doesn't He? Now let's go back to Hosea chapter
nine. We're gonna read verses 14 to
17. Give them, O Lord, what wilt
thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gigel. For there I hated them in the
wickedness of their doings. I will drive them out of mine
house. I will love them no more. All their princes are revolters."
See, even the princes and kings we found out in our study a couple
chapters ago, even the princes and kings of Israel, they were
encouraging the people to follow after these false gods. Remember,
they set up another place where they could offer sacrifices other
than Jerusalem, and God was not pleased with that at all. But
they encouraged the people, you don't have to go to Jerusalem
now. You can worship here in Dan. Oh my. My. Ephraim is smitten, their
root is dried up. They shall bear no fruit. Now
we can't bring any fruit forth, can we? Without me, the Lord
Jesus says this, I love this verse. Without me, you can do
nothing. Praise your mighty name, Lord
Jesus, because anything fruitful out of me all comes from you.
Amen, brother. All glory and honor and praise
for any giftings we have, any knowledge we have, praise his
mighty name. Ephraim is smitten, their root
is dried up, they shall bear no fruit, yea, though they bring
forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him.
They shall be wanderers among the nations. Now again, remember,
Hosea was told to go and take a certain wife from prostitutes. Again, this is a picture of Israel
at the time of our text here. And that nation has played the
harlot, falling after false gods all
around them. All through the last few chapters,
we beheld the Lord's grace in Israel's unworthiness. The Lord's grace Israel's unworthiness. What a picture of us. The Lord's
grace in our unworthiness. How it just shines a mirror,
doesn't it, beloved? Isn't God great? Isn't he wonderful? Isn't he merciful? It's incredible. And then the Holy Spirit teaches
us that the chastisements of the Lord here spoken of in the
text, and that's what they are, they're chastisements, are the
chastisements of a friend. And all that is here spoken by
the Lord in reference to punishment is with the view that his people
are sanctified in him. And that where sin is, grace
does much more about. Isn't that wonderful? So we see
all this, a picture of us in our natural state. Where sin
about it, grace does much more about. And remember, he sees
the whole picture, beloved. When he died on Calvary's cross,
he looked and saw you and I dead in trespasses and sins. He didn't
see that. Like the false teachers out there
say, he died for us as lost sinners. Love and sin. My, think of this text too. Greater love hath no man than
a man laid down his life for his friends. Christ laid down
his life for us. Oh, my. And Hosea's text to this
chapter and every sermon in his prophecy is suited in that blessed
scripture over in Hosea 13, 9, which says this, and this is
what we were talking about earlier. Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me is thine health. Oh, we fell in Adam. We couldn't
help ourself, Brother Brian, but in Christ is our help. In
the Lord is our help, our Redeemer, our Savior, our God, the one
true living God. God himself becomes a man and
saves us from our sins. Oh, it never gets old, does it,
beloved? It never gets old. Oh, blessed Emmanuel, let we
who are your people, Lord, let we who are your people behold
you in this chapter, especially in the loving character of a
husband and a wife who's gone astray. And yet he still loves
us with an everlasting love, an unequal love, a love that
can't even be compared with anything in this earth, an everlasting
love. And he purchased his bride, the
church, with his precious, precious blood. Give his life for us.
Life of the flesh is in the blood. Sheds his blood for us and dies
on Calvary's cross. And look at that, the Lord's
dealing with Israel of old and her wandering off, whoredoms
after other gods, and her fornications with other gods, because that's
spiritual adultery, right? Marvel at the Lord's long-suffering
with us in that picture Isn't that amazing Before we're
saved and after I gotta keep saying that cuz it's true, right?
Oh My we've all experienced times when our hearts cold No one else
might not know But we know, and God knows, doesn't he? Does he
leave us? Say, well, your heart's not on
fire for me now, so I'm just gonna put you on the shelf. No, he doesn't. He lovingly watches
over us. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. How precious Jesus is that the
Word of God, how precious Jesus is that the Word of God has married
our nature, beloved, in becoming a man to save us from our sins. Remember,
he left heaven, the Word of God. He re-entered heaven as the God-man. Oh my, listen to this beautiful.
Let's turn there. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter
10. This beautiful, and think of this too. He took upon our
nature, but it's pure, it's perfect, it's sinless. No spot, no blemish. He's the perfect spotless lamb
of God. He's the second Adam. He's the
seed of the woman. He doesn't have inherent sin
like we do. He's conceived of the Holy Spirit
of God. But he entered into a body prepared
by God. A sinless one. And was he, he's sinless all
his life, right? Brother Zane, was he sinless
in his death? Amen. Same body, right? Even when our
sin was laid upon Him, He's still the sinless, spotless Lamb of
God. Oh my! That's our Savior. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
10. For it was not possible, but the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sins. So all those Old Testament sacrifices
could never ever take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, this is speaking of Christ, the Messiah, the word
of God coming into this world, he says, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared me. Oh, my goodness, he took upon
our nature, brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
God himself grew weak. Remember, he sat at that, oh,
and we know, I must need to go to Samaria. And he's sitting
on that well because his body's wearied. He felt hunger like we do, thirst
like we do, weariness like we do. He slept like we do. Look at this. But a body has now prepared me
in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin now has no pleasure.
Those Old Testament sacrifices never take away sin. See, that's why, now think of
this quickly, just a sidetrack, think of this, how foolish it
is that people want to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. God
just told us there, He takes no pleasure in sacrifices and
offerings. Do you know why? Because He gave
His Son the last perfect spotless offering. the only one that all
those sacrifices that could never take away sin pointed to. So
if they ever instituted those sacrifices, it's an abomination
in our great God's eyes. They're spitting in God's face.
And yet you talk to most Christians, they're like, oh, they got to
rebuild that temple. They got to. No, they don't. It's finished. Amen. It's finished. The work
is done. God sent the Lamb of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he finished the work of salvation in our
room and place. And look what it says in verse
7. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is
written to me, to do thy will, O God. What was God's will when
Christ came here? To save his people from their
sins. And as Vicki just said, he cried
out on that cross, it is finished. Isn't that wonderful? Done! And we just look to Him, don't
we, brother? By God-given faith, being born
again, and by giving God-given faith, we look to Him. That blood
was shed for me, for all my sins. I'm going to cling to Him. As
Spurs used to say, sink or swim, I'll cling to Him. I like that.
Isn't that wonderful? My our greats are and think of
this our great Savior has proved to his people By his great sacrifice
on Calvary's cross to save us from our sins By his blood and
righteousness he proved his eternal everlasting love to us It was
manifest right there wasn't it? He's dying there brothers and
saying and we're we're we ain't even born he's dying for us and He knows all about our sin that
we're gonna commit our whole life. And here He is redeeming
us from all our sins. Oh my, this is real? Yes it is. And it's glorious, isn't it?
Well, I can't comprehend that. Well, I can't comprehend it all
either, but it's true. I know a little wee bit, and
I'm going to tell everybody about it. Oh, my. And marvel. through the mercy
of our great God. In the last few chapters, we've
studied how the love of Christ is fixed upon his people, his
spouse, his blood-bought bride. It's a picture of this. His church
of the living God, comprised of all whom Christ died for,
made up of all the Old Testament saints who were the elect, and
all the New Testament saints who are the elect. And they're
all called the body of Christ. Right? My beloved is wonderful. They're his and marvel at how
God's love for his people is greater again than any love in
this world. It's unequaled and yet it's unequaled
and yet it's fixed on his bride. It's fixed on us, brother. The
love of God, sister, the love of God that cannot be compared
is fixed upon you and I and all of us here are born again. That's
incredible. And you know what? His eye never
wanders away. When we're struggling through
the day, when we're at our lowest and when we're at our highest,
His eye is ever fixed on us in a love, an everlasting love. I know some people say, well,
yeah, yeah, you know, everybody preaches about the love of God.
I'm talking about the real love of God. I'm talking about the
everlasting love of God. It's different than the love
people peddle out there in religion. God's everlasting love is shown
to his people and manifested in the sacrifice of Christ, dying
for sinners. My, and God's love never changes. It never changes, beloved. God's
love has, from everlasting to everlasting, always be the same. And it's fixed on His people
in Christ. That's the key, in Christ. It's fixed upon his spouse, his
blood-bought bride, the church of the living God. And it's unequaled. And marvel again at how God's
love never changes. He knows the end from the beginning.
He knows all about us. He knows all about our sinfulness
before we ever are. And yet, his love is ever fixed
on us. How can we not praise him? How
can we not rejoice in him? That is the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance, isn't it? When we think about that
love, even though he, 2,000 years ago, none of us ever were, and
yet he's dying on the cross for us. And he says, Father, you've
loved them as you love me. John 17. And he cries about the
work of salvation. It is finished. Oh my. Oh my. He knew. He knew. Think of this.
He redeems us despite our unfaithfulness, despite our unworthiness. He
redeemed us from all our sins at Calvary's cross. And he knew,
he knew we would be treacherous from the womb. He knew we'd come
out of the womb speaking lies. He knew we were conceived in
sin. He knew we were born dead in
trespasses and sins. And yet, God, God's everlasting
love for his people is so great. that this does not stop him from
being gracious to us and showing us mercy in and through Jesus
Christ, whom he sent to save us from our sins. Oh my, the graciousness of the
Almighty can never be stopped, can never be hindered. And does
he not keep showing us graciousness, beloved? Is he not still longsuffering?
He's sure longsuffering with me. Oh my, he's sure gracious
with me. I sin and fall into sin. He's so gracious. I cry, Lord,
I'm such a wretch. And yet his everlasting love
is set upon us. We have not known greater love
than this, have we? It's unequal. That's why I named
the message. You can't measure it. You can't
plumb the depths of it. It's unequaled love. It's unequal
love. My, from generation to generation. The worthlessness of God's chosen
in our natural state has been made so clear by our sinfulness. And yet it has never stopped
God from loving us. Never. He has not kept back his
mercy from us. He has not kept back his mercy
from his redeemed ones. even when, like Israel here in
our text, God's church has gone whoring after other things. Yet His love for us never changes.
Now, someone will say, well, you preach like that. You can
go do whatever you want. That's not what I'm preaching,
is it? No. We mourn over our sin, don't
we, brother? We never did before. Now we mourn
over it. Now we mourn over our sin. And
this just fills us with such joy. God has not kept back his
loving mercy from his redeemed. Even like Israel, we've gone
astray. Listen to this. Jeremiah 31.3, the Lord appeared
of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee, That's for every one of his sheep,
isn't it? In Christ. I have loved thee with everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Oh my! He draws us with cords
of loving kindness to Christ beloved. And we're made willing
in the day of God's power. What mercy we've received, we
who are the people of God, and how long-suffering God has been
with me and with you, with all of his people, and let us marvel
at the Lamb of God. No one but Christ could have
borne our sins. No one but Christ, no one but
the Lamb of God could have borne our sins, paid for them all,
no one. No one but Christ could have
cleansed us from all our sin. No other blood would be acceptable
but the blood of the God-man, the perfect, sinless, spotless
Lamb of God. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. All sin! Hallelujah. What a Savior. All sin. Oh, what mercy we've received,
beloved. And we look back, it's, look
what the Lord's done. Lord, you purchased me with your
blood. Praise your mighty name. Lord,
you were sent by God the Father. Praise your mighty name. God
the Father, you sent Christ to die for my sins. Praise your
mighty name. Holy Spirit, you came to me when
I was dead and trespassed and sinned and made me alive and
gave me faith to believe on Christ. Praise your mighty name. Lord,
Jesus, you rose from the grave for my justification. Praise
your mighty name. And right now, Lord, we know
from the scriptures you're interceding for us. Oh, my Lord. Showing
your blood. He's one of mine. She's one of
mine. I paid for them. Satan, the accuser,
comes to God, and Christ says, I bought them with my blood. Oh, my! Isn't that wonderful? So marvel
that it was God the Son, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the creator of all things, who beheld our whole nature cast
out to perish, polluted in our blood, and he said to us, live! And we lived. Oh, my. What a saviour. So let us marvel at the Lord's
love and long-suffering for his people, and how his love, his
everlasting love, has been proved to us as believers over and over
and over again, and also from generation to generation to generation,
and it will be all the way until it's all over. He will continuously prove his
love until the consumption of all things. And when it's all
done, then we'll be in heaven, and we will behold the one who's
loved us with an everlasting love. My. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord cry out in the language of the prophet, of God saying,
who is a god like unto thee? that pardons iniquity and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. Who's like unto
our God? None. None. Praise you, Lord Jesus, as even
today you continue to have compassion upon us, we who are but sinners. And does not God continue to
subdue our iniquities? Imagine how we'd be if he didn't
subdue our iniquities. even as the people of God. Oh, and beloved, he's cast our
sins into the depth of the sea, and things that get cast into
the sea are never found again. I was talking to a friend of
mine. He went from Michigan here back in the 60s over to Germany
to serve. And he said, every soldier that
was on that ship had a quarter or a dime or a penny. And as
they threw it in the water, they said, no one will ever see this
again. I'm the last person to ever look at that. Think of our
sins. Gone from God's sight. Oh, my, what a Savior, what a
Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Brother Brian, can you
close us in prayer, please?