Okay, open your Bibles, if you
would. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Hosea chapter 7. We'll
continue our journey through this wonderful book written by
the prophet Hosea. At this time, Israel has been
committing spiritual adultery, going after idols and worshiping
false gods, and so much so that there's even been another altar
erected in Dan for people to go there and worship there instead
of going to Jerusalem. And the kings of those nations,
or the kings of those tribes, they were all for it. And the
princes of those tribes, they were all for it. They wanted it. We're
going to see that mentioned tonight in our text. And Israel is just
a picture of us. Israel's a picture of us. We
were dead in trespasses and sins. We followed after false gods. We can be led astray. Praise
God, he keeps his people. We can be led astray and hear
different winds of doctrine, but we won't never fully grasp
it, will we? We'll never fully take it, because
God keeps us. He pulls us out of that stuff.
Remember? O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? The Judaizers
had bewitched them, hadn't they, with a false gospel. And this
chapter again we will see God reproves, God the Holy Spirit
reproves his people. Just as we looked at in chapter
6, this is continued, this reproof is continued into chapter 7 of
the book of Hosea. And let us ponder this fact that
we do not understand the sinfulness of our sin. Even as believers,
we've talked about that many times, Zane, we don't understand
just how sinful we are. We don't understand how much
of an affront sin is to God. We get a glimpse of it, don't
we, when the Holy Spirit starts to teach us and show us our sinfulness,
and then as we grow in grace, we've talked about this many
times, as we grow in grace, we don't see ourselves getting better,
we see ourselves getting worse. We see sin permanates us more
and more as we grow and become more like
Christ. God's conforming us to the image
of Christ. So we end up hating sin more
in ourselves than we do everywhere else. I've talked to several
guys that are in religion, and they're, oh, the sin here and
the sin there. Yeah, that's bad. But the sin
here is even worse. And we're going to see tonight
that our hearts are like a warm oven. In our natural state, Our heart's
like a warm oven, and it just produces sin after sin after
sin. Just cooks them up. My. That's the illustration Hosea
is going to give us. Actually, God, the Holy Spirit's
going to give us through the pen of Hosea. And we're going to get a glimpse
tonight of how wicked our sin is in descriptions like what
we will look at tonight. And let us marvel. Let us marvel
at this. Despite our wickedness, this is the wonder of the gospel. Despite our wickedness, where
sin abounds, grace does much more abound. Right? Sin abounds
in our lives, but grace abounds in the believer's life more and
more and more and more and more. Isn't that wonderful? Paul wrote
those words. The same fellow that said, O
wretched man, though I am, who could deliver me from this body
of death? I thank God. I thank God. I thank Christ. That in Christ we have the victory
because he's done it all. He's redeemed our eternal souls. He purchased us with his precious
blood. It's wonderful. And think of
this. Despite our wickedness, despite
our spiritual adultery in our natural state, God forgives all
our sins in Christ. They're washed away, beloved,
by His precious blood. And this is all according to
His great mercy. God's mercy isn't just mercy.
It's great mercy. It is great grace. It is great
love for His people. It's absolutely incredible, isn't
it? And we're going to see, even here tonight, despite the sinfulness
of man, we're going to see weaved through, beloved, we're going
to see weaved through the wickedness of man, we're going to see the
mercy of God. God's mercy and God's grace weaved
through all that. It's amazing. God is a God of
justice. He is a God of wrath, but he's
also a God of mercy in Christ and grace shown to sinners in
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? My Turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter 5. We'll look at something that
Paul wrote. Again, let us always remember these words are by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. So this is what the Holy Spirit
had Paul pen for you and I, even as believers. Not just for the
Romans that he was writing to, but for you and I today. Romans
chapter 5. This is amazing. Starting in
verse 18. Let us ponder, this week, let
us ponder these wonderful words right here. These are amazing
words. Look at this, Romans 5.18. Therefore
as by one offense, or by the offense of one, judgment came
upon all men. Again, all men to condemnation. So that's talking about our fallen
Adam. Because of Adam's fall, judgment came upon us all to
condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, that being Christ, the second Adam, the free gift of God, the free
gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Now all men there are
all his people. All the elect from all the ages. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, notice that word many, well that's all
of us really, isn't it? All of us were made sinners.
So by the obedience of one, Christ shall many be made righteous.
God's elect will be made righteous, right? They will be. They'll
be made righteous by Christ, by his perfect obedience to the
law. and clothed in his perfect righteousness.
It all points back to our king. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. So the law is a mirror of sin
and it magnifies, it shows us how awful sin is. Doesn't it? But we're sin abounded? Oh, we're sin abounded. Yep,
it does. In our life's end, it still does. But look at this, with sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Praise his mighty name. Praise
the name of Jesus. Grace abounds in Christ towards
sinners such as we. Oh my, this is wonderful. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so grace might reign through righteousness. Grace
reigns through righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
It reigns through the righteousness of Christ. unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise his name. So think of
that, think of where sin abounded, grace did much more abound when
we read what we're gonna read tonight in chapter seven. Keep
that right in our minds. Now let's turn to Hosea chapter
seven. Let's read verse one of Hosea
chapter seven. Again, let's keep that in mind.
But, there's that but, right? But God, we love those little
words, don't we? But, I'm going to read it again,
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Praise His
mighty name. And that's in Christ. Sin abounded
and He fell. He took us all down. We're born
a bunch of sinners. But grace, grace came to us,
Brother Brian. Grace in Christ. And grace abounds
in Him, doesn't it? oh it's wonderful what a king
what a savior is Jesus Christ our Lord now let's read Hosea
chapter 7 verse 1 when when I would have healed Israel then the iniquity
of Ephraim was discovered in the wickedness of Samaria for
they commit falsehood and the thief cometh in and the troop
of robbers spoils without now let we who are the people of
God marvel that the subject of reproof is continued through
this chapter but again we're going to see mercy mingled all
through it. Let's wonder at that. That's
undeserved mercy. That's undeserved mercy. Note
the words when I would have healed Israel. John Gill brings this
forth. I thought this was really important to bring forth. And
Robert Hawker as well. that the words should read, when
I had healed Israel, as there is no doubt that God healed the
Israel of God. from their spiritual wickedness.
God saved us from our sins. There's no doubt. Listen to this.
I even, I downloaded, I finally got a hold of the Septuagint.
I've never heard it before and listen to what the Septuagint
says. That's a Greek version of the Old Testament. Listen
to what it says for this. When I have healed Israel, Then shall the iniquity of Ephraim
be revealed, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have wrought
falsehood, and a thief shall come into him, and even a robber,
spoiling in his way. So we're not have healed Israel.
There's no doubt. There's no doubt that Israel,
the Israel of God is going to be healed. No doubt. So the mercy
of God here spoken of cannot be considered as intended only
and not executed, but rather the word should be read, when
I healed Israel, just like it said in the Septuagint, and just
like Gellin Hawker said. Now think of this. Why should
it be read that way? Well, because Christ, the almighty
Lamb of God, is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. It's not a question of when,
or it's not a question of if. If he will heal us is when? 2,000 years ago at Calvary's
Cross. Right? I was marveled. I learned. I
was like, wow, I didn't see that before. Isn't that wonderful? Yeah. It's not a matter of if or when. There's no question about it. There's no question that God
is going to heal his bride, the Israel of God. So marvel at this
wondrous fact that before Israel, Before the Israel of God, the
elect of God even existed, Christ is a lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. Before man ever sinned, there's
already a remedy. My, we didn't have a clue about
that, did we? And now that God's revealed to
us, we're in awe. Do you know if God hadn't of
chose anyone, Christ would never have to have come to this earth? If God hadn't of chose, I remember
D.J. Ward saying, if God hadn't of chose a people,
heaven would have none. There'd be no one, there'd be
no one saved. But because God chose a people,
and because Christ is the Lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world, He had to come, didn't He? And He redeemed us,
beloved, on Calvary's cross. He paid for our sin. He paid
it in full. He paid it in full. So before
any of us ever sinned, the remedy for sin was before the disease. See, now we as humans, the disease
is coming and we try to find the remedy. The remedy for sin is set from
before the foundation of the world. His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ, God the Son, the Word of God, who became flesh and
dwelt among us and delivered us from our sins, purchased us
from the wrath of God by his precious, precious blood. My,
that excites me. Does it excite you? That excites
me, beloved. It's wonderful. And think of this, he's the lamb
slain from before the foundation of the world. Again, the remedy
for sin went before the disease. There's a pandemic of sin in
this world, 100% kill rate. But the cure for it already has been on this earth and left
and is in glory. And he's been set as the only
remedy for sin. the great physician, the Lord
Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world. Oh my, it's amazing. And what
does this show us? This fact that before there was
ever a sinner, there was a savior. What does this show us? Well,
this shows us the freeness and the greatness, beloved, of grace. God's grace. The greatness and the freeness
of God's grace. The fall of man is set before
us. It's said here of Ephraim's iniquity.
Look what it says again. Then shall the iniquity of Ephraim
be revealed. Hawker says this is the fall
of man in Adam. So the fall of man is here, but
sovereign grace already has a remedy. Already has a remedy. And them being clothed in those
skins pictures us being clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
beloved. And think of this. Because remember,
they said they were naked. They discovered they were naked.
So God clothed them in lamb skin. That lamb was innocent. It didn't
do nothing wrong, did it? Christ is the lamb of God, the
sinless one, dying for sinners such as we. And we say, praise
God. We're grace. We're sin abounded.
Grace does much more abound. I name this message sovereign
mercy. That's sovereign mercy, isn't
it? That's mercy unsought, that's mercy that's not earned, that's
mercy that's given by the grace and mercy of God according to
the freeness of God's sovereign grace. My, and what happens? Ephraim's iniquity becomes more
discovered. What happens as we grow in grace?
We discover our sin more, don't we? My, oh, my. And think of this, pervenient
grace, the pervenient grace of God has already supplied the
remedy. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, who
came to this world and lived a perfect life, absolutely perfect,
fulfilled the law of God perfectly, and redeemed we who are under
the law. All the elect before he came
and all the elect after. All his sheep. He says, I lay
down my life for the sheep. All his sheep. All of them. When he cried on
the cross, it's finished. He redeemed us with his blood.
He purchased us with his blood. He extinguished the wrath of
God that was against us. and he bore it himself. And our
sins were imputed to him, and his perfect righteousness is
imputed that we believe. That's incredible, isn't it? That's amazing. That's free grace. That's undeserved grace. That's
undeserved mercy. Isn't Jesus Christ wonderful?
Isn't our God amazing? That he would plan and purposes
and execute it? And then he'd send the Holy Spirit
to regenerate us and give us faith to believe this? Let us shout it from the housetops,
eh? Oh my. It's amazing. The greatness of God's sovereign
mercy. The greatness of sovereign grace. the greatness of the love of
God for his people. Oh, sovereign mercy, sovereign
mercy, sovereign mercy is what we receive in Christ, beloved.
Listen to this in Romans 7, 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law
had said, Thou shall not covet. We don't know what sin is until
God saves us or he's drawn us, then we get a glimpse. And then
as we grow in grace, we say, oh my, I'm the chief of sinners. Praise God for his mercy. Praise
God that we're sin abounds. Grace does much more abound.
What a wonderful savior. And think of what Paul said. He said, in respect of his ignorance
of his sin, but by the laws equally true of our discovery, through
God the Holy Ghost, of our fallen state. We were ignorant of our
fallen state, weren't we? I was. I didn't think I was a
sinner. I thought there's a whole bunch
of other people out there that are, but I had such ignorance when
it came to that. And I still don't have a full
understanding. I'm just scratching the surface about how sinful
my sin is. Am I? And we only discover this through
God, the Holy Spirit, teaching us. He teaches us about our fallen
state. He reveals to us our fallen state.
And he regenerates us and gives us faith to believe on the only
remedy for our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
he didn't come to save us from hell. He came to save us from
our sins. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Just leave him alone. He's dead
in his sins. What does God have to do for
a man or woman to go to heaven? Everything. And Christ did it
all, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? There's
nothing for us to do. We're given faith, we just look
to Christ to go, I'm such a sinner, Lord, please save me. And I'll tell you this, we're
already born again if we're crying that out. Because people who aren't born
again don't cry that out, remember? The publican and the sinner.
That old sinner, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He's born again.
He went home justified, not another fellow went home condemned. That
fellow sure thought a lot of himself, didn't he? The Republican
goes, I'm nothing but a sinner. I need mercy. Isn't that not
what we say? We still say it, don't we? Every
day, I need mercy. I need mercy. Now let's read verses 2 to 10
of Hosea chapter 7. Oh my. Again, think of this too
again before I read that. Think of God's provision made
for our recovery from the fall of Adam. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's all according to His
grace and sovereign mercy. Let's just let that stick in
our mind this week. I am saved because of the grace
and sovereign mercy of God in Christ, showing to me an unprofitable
servant. Isn't God good, Brother Brian?
He's so good, isn't he, sister? He's so good. Oh, my. Oh my. Let's read these certain verse
two, we'll read the verse three so far. And they consider not
in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their
own doings have beset them about, and are before my face. They
make the king glad, the king glad, that, Gail said that should
be kings, it should be plural, it should be plural, and glad
with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. This
is telling us here that all our sins are manifested in God's
eyes. All of them. Praise God. That the Holy Spirit had David
right. Here, not mark our iniquity,
brother Jezaine. And he had Paul right. He had
Paul right as far as the east is from the west. So far, they're
transgressions. They're covered. They're lost. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. My, oh, my. All of our sins,
again, manifest before our great God. No one gets away with anything.
People think they get away with stuff all the time. They don't
get away with nothing. They don't. They don't. All our deeds are
before him. Listen to this in Job. I was
sitting there pondering this as I was putting this together.
And there's a verse in Psalms that talks a little bit about
this, too. But as I put in the search on Esau, this portion
popped up. And this is wonderful. Job chapter
34, verses 21 to 22. For his eyes, God's eyes, are upon the ways
of man. and he seeth all his goings.
So here's a man thinking he's getting away with all kinds of
stuff. God sees everything. And if he dies in his sins, remember,
God's justice will be satisfied either in the substitute, the
Lord Jesus Christ, or in the sinner. They're not getting away
with nothing. They're not getting away with
nothing. Look at this. There is no darkness, no shadow
of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
Now look at this, look at that. We see wicked people in this
world getting away with all kinds of stuff, don't we? There's nowhere
they can hide from God's sight. Nowhere. Nowhere. They go to hell, God's
there in his wrath. If they go to heaven, oh, God's
there in his love and his joy and his satisfaction with Christ. They try to hide themselves in
a cave in the mountain, God still sees them. They go down to the
depths of the sea, God still sees them. They go up into outer
space, God still sees them. Isn't that amazing? There's nowhere.
I like that what Job said there. Now, now, being under the blood,
I praise God that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. If
I read that scripture as an unsaved man, that would terrify me. It
already makes me go, oh, right? But praise God for forgiving
the saved brother's name. My, oh, my. God will not count
the iniquity of his people against them, because it's all being
paid for in Christ. That's what makes grace amazing,
isn't it? The freeness of it, the greatness of it, the marvel
of it. See verse three where it says,
they make the kings glad with their wickedness and the princes
with their lips. This is kings in succession.
John Gale brings out that it's kings in succession. kings in
succession, one after another, who were highly delighted and
pleased with the priests in offering sacrifice to the calves and with
the people in attending that idolatrous worship which was,
they hoped to secure the kingdom of Israel to themselves. They hoped to prevent the people
going to Jerusalem where they were supposed to worship. Remember
they set up in Dan and in Bethel, they set up altars And it pleased those kings that
those folks didn't go to Jerusalem. And it pleased those princes
that they didn't go there. That was wickedness. God had one place where you go
to sacrifice. God's got one saver, doesn't
he? One place you go, up in that temple. And you sacrifice there. Because
Christ is the only sacrifice for sin. He's a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world according to God's sovereign grace and
mercy. My. So they hope to prevent,
these kings and these princes, hope to prevent the people of
Israel going to Jerusalem that were in their territories. They wanted to be in command
and secure their own kingdoms. made them happy, that made them
glad in their wicked hearts, to hear them say that God was
just as well pleased with sacrifices that day and in Bethel as he
is in Jerusalem. No he wasn't. No he was not. Now let's read verses 4 to 10
of Hosea chapter 7. They are all adulterers, as an
oven heated by the baker, who ceases from rising after he hath
kneaded the dough until it be leavened. In the day of our king,
the princes have made him sick. with bottles of wine. He stretched
out his hand with scorners. He's pleased in their wickedness.
He's pleased to partake in their wickedness. These kings, for
they have made ready their heart like an oven. Look at this. While
they lie in wait, their bakers sleepeth all the night. In the
morning it burneth as a flaming fire. They are all hot as an
oven. and they have devoured their
judges, all their kings are fallen. There is none among them that
calleth unto me. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself
among the people. Ephraim is a cake, and cake not
turned. Strangers have devoured his strength,
he knoweth it not. Yea, gray hairs are here, and
there upon him, yet he knoweth not. in the pride of Israel,
testify it to his face, and they do not return to the Lord their
God, nor seek him for all this." What a picture of us in our natural
state. We do not seek God. We do not call out to God, except
if we're in trouble or something. Now we seek God all the time,
don't we? Now we can come to the throne of grace boldly, anytime
we want, through Christ, the King, the Redeemer of our souls. And we see here in this portion,
studying this out, this was amazing, because Gil and Hocker were really
right on with each other about this stuff, about this being
a picture of the heart of natural man. It's like an oven. And they even said, this is so
even after we're saved, too. We've still got this old body
of flesh cooking around, don't we? We still fight sin every
day, don't we? Anyone who tells you that, well,
I don't sin as much as I used to, you're deceiving yourself. You're deceiving yourself. Because
the heart is wicked. It's deceitful and desperately
wicked. My. So the heart of man is like an
oven, always heated. A likeness to display the unceasing
disposition to what? To evil. To sin. In our natural state, we have
an unharnessed desire for sin. Just cooking us. My, that's where we were. We still fight that, don't we?
We still fight that. Think of this. All other wombs
of nature wear out by bringing forth. Eventually, humans get
older and they can't have babies, right? Animals get older and
they stop having babies. So the womb eventually becomes
barren, right? But let us consider that the
human heart, at the oldest age, does not cease ascending forth
of sin. Doesn't cease, even after we're
saved. It's a womb that's never barren. It's always birthing. sin. That's why Spurgeon said, he
said, the best sermon I've preached, the best prayer I've ever prayed,
not that he was measuring them, is tainted with sin. And he said
as a saved man, when I wake up and I go from my bed to my breakfast
table, I've sinned enough to damn a thousand souls. He knew
a little bit about the sinfulness of sin, didn't he? You think,
well, I don't think much when I'm going down there. Sins of
omission and sins of commission. Sins we know we do and sins we
don't even know we do. My. You know what? They're all under the blood.
They're all under the blood of Christ, beloved. Where sin does
abound, oh, grace does much more abound. In the Greek, it's super
abounds. Grace super abounds. Isn't that
wonderful? That's good news for sinners
such as we, isn't it? Oh, God's grace abounds in our
lives, beloved. It abounds. You don't have to
tell me how wretched of a sinner I am. I already know. But I praise
God that in Christ Jesus, I'm a saved man. And I know you do
too, don't you? My, oh my. So the human heart is like an
oven, like a womb that's never barren. It naturally produces
sin. And you know what else it doesn't
need? It doesn't need help from the
devil. People say, oh, the devil made me do it, or Satan attacked
me. The human heart doesn't need
his help. It does not need his help, although
he does tempt us. But it don't need his help, does
it? You know what else it doesn't need? It doesn't need the help
of the world either. Even though we have three enemies,
right? The world, the Satan, and I like to say this, self. The flesh, as scripture says
it. That's us. Three enemies. The flesh, Satan, and the world. And this is the worst one. So
our hearts, it don't need any help producing sin. So now, as
born-again blood-washed believers, now we know that. We had no understanding
of that before, did we? And what a picture Hosea gives
us of this oven, always heated, always ready to go. And all it does is produce sin. Oh, praise God for salvation.
Praise God for salvation in Christ. Praise God He makes us willing,
because none of us would come to Him because of that little
sinful heart we have. But He makes us willing on a
day of His power. He raises us from our spiritual
deadness, beloved. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, and He raises us up with, God the Holy Spirit raises us
up with the same power He raised Jesus with. And we say, hallelujah,
what a savior. What mercy, what sovereign mercy. And it isn't because of anything
in us at all. Only because God chose us in
Christ. Only because God wrote our names
in the land book of life before the foundation of the world.
Praise his mighty name. Are we ever going to get over
that? No, I don't think we will. I don't think we will, beloved.
My. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So we see the Prophet Hosea uses
a figure that the heart's like a baker's oven. It burns all
night. While the baker sleeps in the
morning, he's ready to go. Think of us. Now, we sin in our sleep still,
right? But in the morning, woo, it's ready to go, isn't it? Send
it. Well, you got mad at such and
such. Oh, I'm so mad at that fellow. All right. Turn the news on. Oh, what's that guy doing? He
needs to keep his mouth shut. Why are we getting worked up
about it? My. My oh my. Our hearts are always heated
by sin, beloved, fanned by the flames of sin within, in which
unless, think of this, which unless restrained by the sovereign
grace of God, it breaks out. How bad would we be as Christians
if it wasn't for the restraining grace of God? Oh my. Praise God for his restraining
grace and his restraining mercy in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. Beloved of God, how infinitely
precious Jesus is to us. Let us marvel at that. How precious
he is to us. He's wonderful. And how precious
he ought to be to us, right? Because it's amazing. This grace
is incredible. This grace is amazing. And once the Holy Spirit convicts
us and convinces us of sin, and we're born again, then he teaches
us like he taught Paul. He taught Paul this in Romans
7, 18. And I know we're all going to
say amen to this. He said this, I know that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And we say, amen,
Paul, don't we? No good thing. And Paul's right. He's a saved man. See, he's grown
in grace, hasn't he? He's grown. He's starting to
see himself. I'm more sinful than I ever thought
I was. There's no good in me. Nothing. Now, we're ordained
to good works, but that's by God ordaining us to them. And
that's despite ourselves, isn't it, Brother Zane? Oh my! Now let's read verses 11 to 16
of Hosea chapter 7. Ephraim also is like a silly
dove. With our heart they call to Egypt
and they go to Assyria. Now, where we hit verse 13, you're
going to see mercy. Just sprinkle in here. Oh, listen
to this. Verse 12. When they shall go,
I will spread my net upon them. I will bring them down as the
fowls of the heaven. I will chastise them as the congregation
hath heard. Woe unto them, for they have
fled from me. Destruction unto them, because
they have transgressed against me, though I have redeemed them. Mercy, beloved. That's sovereign
mercy right there, isn't it? That's sovereign mercy. Oh my, yet they have spoken lies
against me. And they have not cried unto
me with their heart. That's us in our natural state,
isn't it? When they howl upon their beds, they assemble themselves
for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. That's natural man.
We were all there. Though I have bound and strengthened
their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return,
but not to me, not to the Most High. They are like deceitful
bow. Their princes shall fall by the
sword for the rage of their tongue. This shall be their derision
in the land of Egypt. We have a continuation again of the same subject in verses
11 to 16. Nay, may the Lord's evidence
against Israel, against his people. And take note and observe the
sweet and gracious expressions of our great God, which again
are mingled within these verses with grace and mercy, beloved. The Lord points out their unworthiness
in their rebellion, doesn't he? We just read that. He speaks
of his punishments to his people in mercy. And he calls his bringing down,
when he brings them down, his chastisements. Let us always
remember, and I learned this from Norm when he was preaching
one time, he said, God never chastens us in anger. always
in love. He's chasing them because he
loves them. They're his people. He said, I've redeemed them. My, oh my. Remember, there's
a lot scattered through Israel. Not all Israel is Israel, but
there's a lot scattered through there, isn't there? Remember
the Lord told Elijah, I've got 5,000 that haven't bowed their
knee to Baal. He's always got a remnant, doesn't
he? He's always got a remnant. And I'm amazed here, he points
out their unworthiness, he points out their rebellion, points out
their spoken lies against them, and before that he says, though
I've redeemed them. before he points out, before
he points out that they spoke in lies against me, they've cried
to me with their heart, they held their beds, they assembled
to get themselves together in wine, and they rebelled against
me, but look it up in verse 13, though I have redeemed them. That's a picture of how we were,
brother, in our natural state, whether we were in religion or
whether we weren't. but Christ being the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. And 2,000 years ago,
Christ redeemed our eternal souls, didn't he? Even though we rebelled
against him? Even though we sought mischief
against him? He said, well, I never did that. Our sins were ever
in front of him. We may not have said, I hate
you, God, but we did by our actions, beloved. Now we love him. Isn't that amazing?
He takes the rebel, he turns him into a person who praises
his mighty name now. It's amazing. You see how grace
is mingled all through this? Sovereign mercy is mingled all
through this? It's incredible. And note the wondrous words of
grace and mercy. He says, I have redeemed them,
notwithstanding their lies. Right? Oh, he bound and strengthened
their arms, even though they imagined mischief against them.
You know, even before we're saved, the Lord is taking care of us. Binding us up so that we won't
destroy ourselves. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
sovereign mercy. He knows all who Christ died
for, doesn't he? And they must have their time
of love. They must have a time when they
will hear the gospel. When they're gonna be born again
of the Holy Spirit of God, when they begin, they're gonna be
given faith to believe on Christ, and they're gonna hear the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're already regenerated.
And they're gonna go, like you did, Brian, I believe. Driving home in a car. I imagine
for Linda and Stacy that must have been amazing. I believe. Oh my! Isn't that wonderful? We go from darkness to light. From the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of God's dear son. Just like that. Oh, it's
amazing. What a great deal of gospel is
in this section, isn't it? There's a great deal of gospel
in here, beloved. We know Christ, he told us the
law and the prophets, they testify of him. We've seen that. Who's
redeemed him? Christ. Christ, he's being set forth
here. We rebelled against our great
God, being born into trespasses and sins, and yet 2,000 years
ago, We were redeemed by his precious
blood. That which was planned and purposed
of him in eternity, the lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world, takes place in time and space. And it's finished. And we're not even born yet.
That's sovereign mercy, isn't it? That's sovereign, sovereign
mercy. Oh, it's wonderful. And marvel
that amidst all the Lord's people's forgetfulness of the Lord and His mercy towards us, the
Lord has not forgotten His covenant faithfulness, His covenant mercy. He's not forgotten for us. He's not forgotten the promises
of His grace towards us. which he had made to a thousand
generations. Psalm 105 verse 8, he hath remembered
his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand
generations. Oh my, here we are in our generation,
redeemed. Oh, he's not forgot his covenant
mercies towards us is he? What mercy we've received in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us marvel that we have a
covenant God. We have a covenant Father. We
have a Father in Christ to look to. To trust in. Though we deny Him, yet He abides
faithful. You know, He'll not deny Himself.
Listen to this in 2 Timothy 2.13. This is a beautiful verse. If
we believe not, yet he abided faithful, he cannot deny himself. So what's that saying? That's
saying when our faith is so low, which it gets that way sometimes,
doesn't it? It gets real low. He's still
faithful. He's still faithful. He abides
faithful, even when we're not faithful. Marvel, even when our
faith is sometimes quite low, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ
is faithful to his covenant engagements, beloved, that he made with the
Father and the Holy Spirit for his people and will not suffer
any of his sheep to fall away, not one. Not one. All praise his mighty name, where
grace abounds, sin does much more abound. Super abounds. Super
abounds. So rejoice, we who are the redeemed
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is ever the same. He's ever
the same in love. He's ever the same in mercy.
He's ever the same in grace. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, our Lord Jesus Christ. And let we who are redeemed of
the Lord rejoice, as God's faithfulness does not depend upon man's belief. Although we believe, all we who
are redeemed will believe, but his faithfulness doesn't depend
upon our belief. You say, what? Well, I like this. Hawker said this. God's yea and
amen are founded in Christ. Not in what we do. Not in our works. That's why
the scripture says, if we believe not, yet he abides faithful,
he cannot deny himself. Well, there's a time when we
didn't believe, didn't we? But he is still faithful to us. And when there's times when our
faith is so low, he abides faithful. He can't deny himself. This is so blessed and so refreshing
to our souls, isn't it? My heart makes my soul sing.
My. And when we who are the born
again children of God hear about these things, we enjoy, Hawkers
calls them love tokens from God. He abided faithful, even when
we're not. My, and let us marvel, as the
elect of God, that the Lord's grace is not founded in any human
merit at all. No merit, as Brother Tim James
says, no merit, no merit, no merit, we have no merit. And therefore, depends not upon
any human improvements or works. Think of that. People striving
to do all these things. God's grace is not dependent
upon man's works. Not at all. As a matter of fact,
the scripture says, for by grace that we save through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And we say, hallelujah. What
a Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, the preciousness of our unchanging
God and His purposes in Christ. I'm going to close with this
verse in Jeremiah 32, 40. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, with His people, with His elect, that
I will not turn away from them. Oh, praise God. Isn't that honey
to our soul, brothers and? He says, I'll not turn away from
them. Oh, this Jesus is incredible. He's God, and you're not turned
away from his people. I will not turn away from them
to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, and
they shall not depart from me. What sovereign mercy, what sovereign
grace has been shown to we who are but sinners. And God saves
us by his grace and mercy, all according to his will and purpose.
And we say amen and amen. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?