Okay. Turn, if you would, in
your Bibles to Hosea chapter 1. Hosea chapter 1. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book, which pictures Christ and his church. Christ
is pictured in Hosea, and the church is pictured in Gomer.
And last week we looked at how God came to Hosea and told him
to do something that was very difficult. He said, go down and
marry or go down and choose a wife from among the prostitutes. And so Gomer went down and he
chose a wife. And he chose Gomer. What a picture that is of us
being chosen in Christ, right? And by Christ too. The Father
chose us in Christ and gave us as a love gift to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Christ loves us so much from
eternity that he gave his life for us and redeemed us with his
precious blood on Calvary's cross. And we will see here the faithfulness
of Hosea in not putting her away, even though she steps out multiple
times on him. Right? And think of us in our
natural state. How many times did we chase after
gods of our imagination, which is spiritual adultery. Right? And God had mercy on us, didn't
he? We'd been his children from eternity, and we didn't know
it. And his love for us never changed. It's absolutely amazing. So he was to marry a woman who
would be unfaithful to him and disgrace him, but Hosea was to
continue to love this woman and to be faithful to her. What a
picture of Christ in the church. Do you know the scripture says
even when we're not faithful, he's faithful? Isn't that wonderful? So even
when Gomer wasn't faithful, Hosea stayed faithful. What a picture.
What a picture of Christ in the church. It's absolutely amazing. So let's read verses one to three
again, which we looked at last week. And we'll see this woman's
name was Gomer, and she bear a child, the first being Hosea's,
and the others, which we'll look at tonight, they think A lot
of commentators think that they weren't Hosea's. That they were
a result of her stepping out. But this first one is from Hosea. The word of the Lord that came
unto Hosea, the son of Berei, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, in the days of Jerobim,
the son of Joash, king of Israel. beginning of the word of the
Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, go
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, so a prostitute, and children
of whoredoms. So he was to, he was to take
her and also the children that she was have, he was to care
for too. Oh my. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer,
the daughter of Diabylum, which conceived and bare him a son.
So tonight we're going to look at the names of these children
and what they represent. What they represent. Aren't you
thankful? Again, as we see here, how, and
we're gonna see throughout this study, how faithful Hosea will
be to Gomer and how that's a picture of how Christ is with us. How
many times have we, now we may not have wandered off, we may
have, away from the Lord for a while,
or we may have wandered off in our hearts, but that the Lord
won't let us go. Think of Jonah. Jonah ran, didn't
he, Brother Brian? Jonah took off, man. He got on
the ship and he took off, right? But the Lord got him, didn't
he, Brother Jim? This huge storm comes up, he
gets spit out into a fish or a whale, and the whale takes
him and spits him out in the ground on a beach by Nineveh. And you know, he never got refunded
for the money that he spent. You ever think of that? Oh no! But the Lord took care
of him, didn't he? He learned a great lesson. He
learned salvations of the Lord. Right? My, oh my. So we're seeing the scriptures
tonight in the book of Hosea that God came each time a child
was born and told Hosea what to name him. what to name those
children. Right? Three boys and one daughter. And Hosea was to name them what
God told him to name them. And it's symbolic. All their
names are symbolic. We'll look at their meanings
tonight. Let's read verse 4. Chapter 1. We see that God named
the first child Jireh. Je... Jezreel. Thank you, brother. Jezreel.
Thank you. You help me anytime with names because I have a hard
time with them. Jezreel. The name in the Hebrew means
God will sow. God will sow. And also this name
means scattered. Scattered. This was a word of judgment.
For the Lord would soon scatter Israel throughout the whole world
for her unfaithfulness. For her unfaithfulness. And think
of this on the side for we who are God's elect, where are we
scattered? All over this world, all through
the ages. A couple here, a couple there,
a couple over here. And God, look how he's brought
us all together here. You guys got two Canadians, Annie
and I, here. It's amazing though. And people
from all different places, right? Some from Michigan here, some
born in other states. I think Sister Carolyn said she
was born in Arkansas, I believe. But by God's providence, she
came here. Tom was born in Tennessee. Brought
to this place to worship together. Scattered and then brought together.
Absolutely amazing. But this is how God works. And
he's got us all together right here. All according to his will
and purpose. His eternal will and purpose
too. It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And
God is faithful. God's faithful to his people.
Look at verse five. And it shall come to pass at
that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel. Jezreel again means scattered.
So Hosea is telling of the scattering of the Jewish people. Do you
know that, I remember Henry Mahan was saying this one time, he
said that the Israel people, they claim to be from certain
tribes, but they really don't even know what tribe they're
from. They really don't. They know
their Jewish descent. Now some might know, like some,
but they were so scattered abroad, so intermixed. My oh my. And we read prophecy. When we
read prophecy, we have a tendency to apply it only to others, but
it also has to do with ourselves as the principle involved here.
is that when you reject God, you're gonna get in trouble. You're gonna get in trouble.
Now, Hosea is a story of God's faithfulness. And we know that
sometimes God chastens his children, right? We know that. He does. But here's something
I want you to always remember. Remember our mom and dad, we'd
do something and we'd probably set them off and they may have
disciplined us in anger. God never disciplines his people
in anger. Never. It's always in love. And that's important for us because
any anger that was against us for our sins is gone. It's being
extinguished, right? And think of this, when we're
together with a group, we don't discipline other people's children
if they get out of line, but if ours get out of line, we discipline
them, don't we? But it's in love, isn't it? Because
we love them. People take that, spare the rod,
spoil the child, and they take that as they can just do whatever.
That's in love, you're supposed to do that. That's not a license to beat
kids. That's in love. We do it in love. Yes, they require
discipline sometimes. I require discipline sometimes,
right? All of us do. But always remember,
I love this, Norm said this, and it changed my whole view
of the actual, how God disciplines his children. He always does
it in love. It's wonderful. It doesn't change
the whole perspective of a gym. It just changes what we were
taught in other things. It's like, I used to think when
I was in religion, well, man, I didn't do that, so now God's
gonna, he's gonna beat on me. No, he doesn't do that. He does
not do that to his people. We were just listening to David
and, not David, to 2 Samuel, is it, huh? 2 Samuel, the audio
in the mornings. And here's David, Nathan's telling
him, man, this fella here, you know, he's committed adultery
and somebody's husband killed. And then he says, thou art the
man. And then the price David pays,
you know, his son is dying and he's on his face, right? He's on his face. And you know
what he says? He says, he says, well, I can't go to my, or my
son can't come to me, but I can go to him. Speaking of his sons
in glory Now somebody might say well that's
pretty harsh harsh harsh discipline David Rejoiced in the Lord He
knew he had sinned grievous he knew his sin deserved death and
I'm think of this If a child of ours goes to heaven That's
not a bad thing for them, is it? Oh my, my oh my, my oh my. Just a little way for us to look
at stuff that way. So God always disciplines his people
in love, in love. Hosea is a story of God's faithfulness,
but one expression of his love is chastisement, as I just said.
Just as the love of a father for a son will cause him to discipline
that son when he's disobedient. Again, Jonah, I mentioned Jonah
earlier. Jonah's a really good illustration of that, isn't he?
Right? He tried to run from God. He's
one of God's elect. He ain't running. And how we
are, you're gonna run away from God? When you stop and think
about it, it's the most futile thing that we'd ever imagined,
wouldn't it? But he wasn't thinking that, was he? And then he even
tells them, I'm a servant of God, that's why this is all happening.
They're like, well, why didn't you tell us in the first place? He knows he's doing wrong, doesn't
he? Oh, my beloved. Isn't God so
merciful to us? Isn't he so faithful to us? He's
so amazing. He's so amazing, beloved. And
again, he ran away from God, but he never got to where he
was going, did he? He never got to where he was
going, and he didn't get a refund on his ticket. He paid that ship
captain, that ship captain said, thank you very much. But I'll
tell you what, that ship captain was terrified, wasn't he? when
that storm hit. Oh my. We, when we run from God,
we never get to where we're going. You know that? When God's people run from God,
they never get to where they're going. That's mercy. That's grace. That's unfailing love. That's
undeserved mercy. But if we go God's way, we're
always going to get to where he wants us to be. And even if
we're running from him, he's going to turn us back on the
track. Jonah is such a picture of that. Jonah ended up right
where God wanted him, didn't he? And think of this, he wasn't
even happy when the whole city turned to God. I can't understand
that as a preacher. I'd be freaking out. Oh my, oh my, oh my. The illustration of that is God
takes care of us all through this life. I was hearing something. There's a group called the Hyper
Grace Movement. I'm just gonna let you guys know
about this. And I was listening a little bit about them. And
they said, well, these guys, they take grace to the extreme. They say you can go and do whatever
you want and live whatever kind of life you want. And I'm just
thinking, well, that's an antinomian. That's not hyper grace, it's
an antinomian. But listening to how people describe
how what some of the things that they believe, I'm sitting there
going, well, they don't really know how free we are. And you know, they were talking
about the law and all this. And I like what Norm Wells told
me one time a long time ago. He said, God will never lead
a believer contrary to the law of God. We don't want to go break the
law, do we? but we know in our hearts that
we break it all the time. But we rejoice that Christ fulfilled
the law for us and that our sin is not counted against us. That
does not give us a license to sin at all. But how can you explain
still being a sinner? Do these people think that they
just stop sinning or eventually they'll stop sinning? Because
I'll tell you what, the only time, and I'm not puffing sin
away, you know, I'm not saying it's, But the only time we're
never going to sin again is when we're in glory. That's it. So I thank God I have
a Savior who washed all my sins away. And that I can stand here
rejoicing with you who are washed in the blood of Christ. And we
can say, praise be to God, our sins are paid for in full. Isn't that wonderful? You ask
most believers, and you guys have heard me say this many times,
do you sin more than you want to? Oh yeah, I wish I never sinned. But that's not a reality while
I'm on this earth. Oh, my. I think sometimes people
don't understand the sinfulness of sin. I don't, we don't, I
don't even fully understand. I know it's so, so awful that
Christ had to go to the cross, the God in the flesh, and had
to redeem my soul. And I praise his name, though,
that he obtained eternal salvation for me. And it's wonderful. So much so that God says to his
people, I don't count your iniquity anymore against you. So I'm just
going to keep saying, this is wonderful. This is absolutely
wonderful. We have a full, free salvation
in Christ because of his shed blood. Isn't it wonderful? It's
absolutely wonderful, beloved. Oh my. So again, when we run
away from God, things will not go as we planned. The reason this is bought before
us is because sheep wander. We don't even have to wander
physically, we can wander in our hearts. Or in our minds,
can't we? Just being honest. We can. But God always brings us back,
doesn't he? It's wonderful. And then in those
circumstances, don't we see his faithfulness, even when we're
unfaithful? Just like Hosea with Gomer. It's
beautiful, beloved. It's beautiful. Oh my. Gene Harmon used to say, he said
to me one time, he said, Wayne, once you've heard the gospel,
you're ruined for any religious messages, and you're ruined for
the world. Because you can't stand it when
people preach works. And you don't ever want to go
back to the world. He says, you're ruined, man. I said, well, praise God. I love
that. Oh, my. Oh, my. Let's read verses 6 to 8. And
she conceived again and bear a daughter. And God said unto
him, call her name Okay, now I got this one. Lor-ru-ah-ma. Lor-ru-ah-ma. For I will no more
have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take
them away. But I will have mercy upon the
house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God. He will not save them by bow,
nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. So
he's saying they're not going to be saved by anything they
can do. Do you notice that? Look at the statement he says.
He says, he says, we'll save them by the
Lord their God. And then he lists things that
men count as strength. Armies, bowmen, horses now remember
this was the this was all part of the battle array during this
time they didn't have tanks like we have now and helicopters and
all that they they were they rode on horsemen they had they
had foot soldiers chariots bowmen but the lord says all
that basically he's telling us telling us they can't save themselves
which we found out is God's people, haven't we? Right? Now, when
she had Lorama, she conceived and bear a son. So we see the
second child, a daughter's born. We're not told that she was born
to Hosea, so it looks as if Gomer has already played around. She's
already been unfaithful. We don't know how many years
have passed. And if this was the case, if
she had played around, it's remarkable that Hosea didn't put her away. But Hosea is a picture of Christ,
isn't he, brother? So we see even when we're unfaithful,
Christ is always faithful. That warms my heart, I'll tell
you what. Oh, I praise God that he saved
my soul, just like you do. Isn't that wonderful? My, oh,
my. So this child was named Lo-ru-hem-ah. And we see in verse 6, and she
conceived again and bear a daughter, and God said unto him, call her
Lo-ru-hem-ah. For I will no more have mercy
upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Perhaps the birth of the first
son, son first and a daughter afterward was intended to signify
that both sons and daughters had alike corrupted themselves.
We're born into this world, the sons and daughters of Adam corrupt,
sinful. with no righteousness of our
own to make us acceptable to God. And we know by God showing
us, by his mercy and grace and revealing Christ to us, that
there's absolutely nothing in man in any way that we can save
ourselves. Just as we saw with the bowmen,
the horsemen, not by man's strength. The Lord thy God has to save
us. Jehovah has to save us. And God himself became a man. God the Son became a man and
saved us from our sins. That's his whole mission. Right? Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. It's wonderful. My oh my. The latter part of
her name, Ruhemah, is a beautiful name signifying beloved. But
when you put the low in front of it, it goes to negative. It goes to negative. The low
is a negative upon her name. So Ruhemah means beloved. That's a beautiful name. Low
Ruhemah shows the solemn alteration wrought by sin in the human mind. Low Haramah means not pitied. And let us not overlook, though,
the gracious promises that follows in the way by which the Lord
engages to accomplish the salvation that he's promised and that is
holy by the Lord. Over in Hosea 13, verse 9, it
says, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. Israel destroyed themselves,
but help is in the Lord. Have we not found that as the
born-again, blood-washed people of God? Helps in the Lord Jesus
Christ, isn't he, Brother Brian? He saved us. He did that which
is impossible for us. He saved us from our sins. It's
wonderful. It's just remarkable. And what
a blessed thought. What a blessed thought that salvation
is all in Jesus, all in Christ and Him alone. For there's salvation
in no other. Remember Peter said, neither
is there salvation in any other. For there's none other name given
among heaven whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12. So lo ruhemma
means not pitied. God said, we're going to call
this child not pitied. Because the time is coming when
the sin of the people will cause me to have no pity on them. Seems a little strange, doesn't
it? Throughout the Bible, God is
referred to as the God of great love and constant pity. In Psalm
136, we're told 26 times that the love or mercy of God endures
forever, and praise God it does towards his people. towards his people. I was saying
something to Vicki this week. I said, isn't it amazing? The
sun shines on the just and on the unjust. Right? The food grows and we
all get to eat it. All these different flavors and
tastes from all over the world. God's benevolent, isn't he? To
the elect and the unelect. He's benevolent, but his mercy
and his love is set upon his people. And I'm not talking a
nation in the Middle East. I'm talking the Israel of God.
All the elect of all the ages. Spurgeon said at the great marriage
supper of the lamb, All the elect Old Testament saints and New
Testament saints will all be gathered together. The Israel of God. Oh my, isn't
that wonderful? Out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Redeemed by the same blood, the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. Born again
in the same spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. Chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world by God the Father. And
we say, hallelujah, because we never would have chose him, would
we? Praise God. He saved us by his grace. Oh,
what a merciful Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. He pities his people. His love
is constant for his people. God is merciful, long-suffering. Oh, my. My, oh, my. We have a further illustration
of the doctrine of the faithfulness of God as Israel had forfeited
all affection to the covenant. Their covenant interest in Jehovah. And yet Israel was preserved. Not because of their deserving.
But all on account of divine mercy. What a picture of how longsuffering
our great God is with us. We are pitied, as opposed to
not pitied. Praise his mighty name. Now let's
read verses 8 and 9. Now when she had weaned, Loru-ama,
she conceived and bare a son. Then said God, call his name
Lo-emi, for ye are not my people. Now see, there's a lo there again.
Negative. Negative in the Hebrew. It says, for ye are not my people,
and I will not be your God. So the last child is in verse
9. God says to call him Lo-emi.
Am I means my people. But when you put the word with
low it means not my people. God is saying there's a time
coming when the Jews will no longer be his people. Now, we
know that the true Israel of God is the church, right? God showed favor to the nation
of Israel, didn't he? I like what Henry said, we don't
know what God's going to do with Israel in the future. We don't
know. I'm not going to even speculate on that. If there was a great
revival over there, well, pray, I'd be the first one shouting
for joy, I'll tell you that. So I'm not going to say anything
about that. But I do know that the Israel of God is Jew and
Gentile put together. And we're gonna see it in the
scriptures. It's not just my opinion, it's what the scriptures
declare. And we know that the church is
made up of Jew and Gentile, right? Together. Together. My oh my. Now they had a special
place in God's dealings, and they were a picture of the church,
beloved. They are a picture of the church.
In this present day, in this present age, God's people are
those who have entered into the family of God by faith in Christ. Jesus, in Christ Jesus. That is, the church, again, is
compiled of Jew and Gentile. Think of how the Israelites pictured
the church in the Old Testament, right? They were chosen out of
the whole world. were chosen out of the whole
world. The sacrifices that they offered
were only for Israel. Wasn't for the Hittites, wasn't
for the Egyptians, right? When Christ died, the sacrifice
that he offered up to God was for his people. And there's many more, that's
just a couple. There's many more though. Let's turn to Ephesians
chapter two and then put your finger in Galatians chapter three.
Now we're gonna look from scriptures and we're gonna see this wonderful
truth brought forth that the Israel of God are the redeemed
of the Lord. Again, this is not my opinion. This is what the scriptures declare. And the scriptures declare it,
I believe it, and I'm going to proclaim it. This is not replacement theology. The elect of God have always
been the Israel of God. We know that even amongst the
Jewish nation, there was a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt,
wasn't there? There always has been. There's
believers and unbelievers mixed in. Well, that picture's of the
New Testament church, right? There's believers and unbelievers.
The scriptures talk about the wheat and the tares mixed in
together. I don't know who they are, do you? No. So I preach the gospel to everybody,
just like we're supposed to, right? And we take people based
upon what they say. And our spirit bears witness
too, doesn't it? It's wonderful. Look at this
in Ephesians chapter 2. Paul had just finished telling
them that they were dead in trespasses and sins, and then he said, but
God who's rich in mercy. This is spectacular. I remember
Vicki and I were listening to a message one time a long time
ago by Brother Henry Mahan, and we heard this, and we were both
weeping, weren't we, babe? We were both weeping because
we realized that the Israel of God is God's people. Listen to
this. This is amazing. Starting in
verse 11. Wherefore remember that ye, being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. So
Paul's writing to the church at Ephesus. There are a bunch
of Gentiles. And he's telling them that the
Jews, the circumcised, called us uncircumcised, called you
guys uncircumcised. which is what they used to call
Gentiles, uncircumcised dogs. That at that time, ye were without
Christ, they were steeped in idol worship, right? Being aliens from the Commonwealth
of Israel, they had nothing to do with Israel, nothing to do
with the sacrifices, right? and strangers from the
covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."
Look at that. In their minds, they were enemies
with God. They had no hope. They were hoping
in false gods, right? All in their minds. And they
were living life as Gentiles. How is not how we were before
the Lord saved us? Just like them, because we're
all the same. Oh, here we go. But now in Christ
Jesus, ye were sometimes far off. Oh, we were far off, beloved. God ever watched over us. But
in our minds, we were enemies. We wanted nothing to do with
Christ. But look at this. This is so beautiful. I love
this verse. But now in Christ Jesus. Look
at that. Now. Right now. Now in Christ Jesus,
he doesn't say later, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That means
brought close. We can go to the throne room
of God, Brother Brian, and find grace to help in time of need.
Oh my, it's beautiful. For he is our peace, being Christ.
who hath made both one, and hath broken down the wall of petition
between us." In the temple, there was a court of the Gentiles,
and then there was where the Jews would go in. And there was
a petitioning wall. Brother Dan, it's gone. Jews
and Gentiles are one now, in Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Look at this. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle of all partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh, that's his death,
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances,
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. Peace through his cross, peace
through his death, his substitutionary death for his people, peace through
his blood, That's good news, isn't it? That's wonderful news,
I'll tell you what. That's absolutely wonderful.
Oh, look at this. And that he might reconcile both
unto God. Beloved, we've been reconciled
to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. In one body, he's the head, we're
the body. By the cross, having slain the
entity thereby, That which caused us not to be able to approach
God, our sin, is paid for. It's bought and paid for, beloved.
So much so, God says, I don't remember it anymore. Oh, that's
good news for this sinner. I'll tell you why. And came and
preached peace to you who were far off and to them that were
nigh. That means the Gentile elect,
in the Jewish elect. Because we know the whole nation
wasn't saved, right? But those who God had chosen
in Christ, we see they're both woman, along with the Gentiles. And this was hard for the Jews
to understand. That's why it was hard for them
because they thought they were the chosen people. Now they're
finding out there's a bunch of Gentiles who God chose too. Aren't
you thankful, beloved? Oh, my. That's wonderful. That's
what gets me so excited. Look at this. Kim, preach peace
to you. That's through Christ and His
cross and His blood, which were far off and to them that were
nigh. For through Him we both have access, that's the Jew and
Gentile, by one Spirit unto the Father, unto God our Father.
Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners. Remember,
he said we were strangers and foreigners. Oh, look at this.
You're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints in the household of God. Oh my, this is wonderful. And are built upon the foundation. of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple of
the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit in us,
beloved. And you know what? Look at here, it says, in whom
all the building fitly framed together, you know what the mortar
is? The blood of Christ. Blood of Christ, I love it. Henry
said that one time. I got a hold of that and I'm
never gonna let it go. Oh my. Now turn to Galatians. Turn to
Galatians chapter three. So that, it's so clear there,
isn't it, beloved? It's so clear that the Jews and
Gentiles are now one, that we're the body of Christ. Oh my. And someone would say, well,
that's the Old Testament. That doesn't include the Old
Testament. Yes, it does. The Old Testament saints are
part of the body, too. They're redeemed by the same
blood we're redeemed by, aren't they, Brother Jim? Oh, my. Oh,
my. Sister Rahab is up in glory. She's part of that family. Samson,
Lot. A lot of folks, religious folks,
Lot gives them a hard time. But Lot was righteous in God's
eyes by faith in Christ. He looked forward to the Messiah.
Isn't that amazing? You talk about the faithfulness
of God, just read up about Lot. He's in the hall of faith in
Hebrews 11. Oh my God, so good, beloved. Oh, oh my. Look at Galatians
chapter 3. And again, Paul's writing to
the born-again, blood-washed saints. These people are Gentiles,
right? They're Gauls. They're Gauls. Or the people
of Galatia. But they have a Gaul heritage,
which is a Scottish heritage, mixed in with the Germanic people.
Very superstitious people, as we looked at in our study in
Galatians. But look what he writes to them.
Look what he writes to them. He calls these Gentiles. He tells
them that they're Abraham's seed. And remember, who's the true
author of these words? God, the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen,
sister. Look at this, Galatians 3, verses
26 to 29. Now look at this, this is amazing.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
He's writing to Gentiles. He's telling them Gentile believers,
you're children of God by faith in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So the question is, here's a
question for anyone listening. Do you believe on Christ? Is He your Savior? Is He your Redeemer? Because
the only way we can be truly the children of God, it says
right there, right? By faith in Christ Jesus. And
we know that's God-given faith, but we must believe, right? We
must believe. Look at this. So ask yourself,
if you're listening to this, who am I trusting? Who's my faith
in? Is it in me or is it in Christ alone? Is it even just a little
thing that I do or is it all in Christ? Oh my, what a Savior
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Look at this. For as many as
you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Look at this.
This is so clear. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There's neither bond nor free. So slave or free man or woman. There's neither male nor female,
for ye are what? All one in Christ Jesus. That's amazing. And then look
how he closes, look how the Holy Spirit doesn't close this. It's
so clear it can't be messed up. And if ye be Christ, then are
ye Abraham's seed. And heirs according to the promise.
That's clear, isn't it? That's so clear. Then now turn to Galatians 6.
This will be the last one. We'll look at this. Look at this one. Verses 15 to
16. Again, he's writing to the Gentiles.
He's finishing up this letter to the Galatian Christians. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Verse 15. But a new creature,
you must be born again. You must be. You must be. A new creature. So he's telling
them, remember the false teachers are saying you have to be circumcised
to be saved? He's telling them, circumcised or uncircumcised,
it don't matter. You're all condemned if you're
not in Christ. And if you do that to try to
gain salvation and merit for God, it just shows that you're
not saved. He says, it doesn't avail anything. And as
many as walk according to this rule, faith in Christ alone,
trusting in Christ alone, peace beyond them. Peace be on you,
beloved. Peace be on me, who walk in trust
in Christ alone. Look at this. And mercy, and
upon the Israel of God. So clear, isn't it, beloved?
So clear. Well, let's read the last two
verses of this chapter. Just gonna read them, and I think
next week we'll look at them a little bit more. We see that
both Israel and Judah shall be formed in one. We saw that in
the New Testament, right? The chosen of God. And gathered
to our glorious Shiloh, the Lord Jesus Christ, the head and husband
of his body, the church, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. Look at verses 10 and 11. Yet
the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea. What do we find out in Revelation? We find out that
God's elect are a number that no man can number. Look at that. Remember, we just
read that the Israel of God are those who believe. Look at this. Yet the number of the children
of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured
nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there it shall be said unto them, ye are sons of the living God.
Look at that. Look at God's faithfulness. Look
at God's faithfulness. Then shall the children of Judah
and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint
themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land,
for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Oh my, there was a time
when in our minds we wanted nothing to do with God, but we're his
people. And he sought us out, beloved. What a faithful husband. What
a blessed bridegroom. He gave his life for us. My oh
my. Isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. Brother Jim, can you close us
in prayer?