Number 69, from your hardbacked
hymnal. I know there's words at the end
here that Sabbath is being a day of rest, and people associate
that with the Lord's Day, but any time we can get together,
it's a day of rest in the Lord for us. So, safely through another
week, we'll all stand together. Number 69. Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in his courts today. Day of all, the week, the best,
emblem of eternal rest. Day of all, the week, the best,
emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
through the dear Redeemer's name, show thy reconciled face, take
away our sin and shame. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. Here we come, thy name to praise. Let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our eyes while
we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospels' joyful sound
conquer sinners' comfort saints. May the fruits of grace abound,
bring relief for all complaints. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Please be seated. I want to read
from Hosea chapter 14. Hosea 14 for our scripture reading
tonight. It's good to have Cyril and Lenore
with us, and Fred Tuttle from Danville. Hosea chapter 14, O Israel, return,
return unto the Lord thy God. I hope that's why you're here
tonight. That's why I'm here. I'm always in need of returning.
I'm always in need of the Lord turning me. I'm a perpetual backslider,
as Jeremiah said. Return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words
and turn to the Lord. Say unto him, take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. Oh Lord, you're the ones that
are gonna have to do it. You're gonna have to take away all my
sin, all my righteousness. Strip me of my righteousness.
Leave me with no one but Christ. Be gracious to me. Then will
I offer to you the calves of my lips. The sacrifice of God
is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. And that's expressed by
what we say. By your words, you'll be justified. And by your words, you'll be
condemned. If a man believes in his heart and confesses with
his mouth, Jesus is Lord, he shall be saved. The calves of
our lips. That's the sacrifice of praise. That's what we just did when
we sang that hymn. We were offering up to God the
calves of our lips. Asher shall not save us. We will
not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the works
of our hands, you are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findest
mercy. Lord, I need you to be my father. You know how you know if Christ
has been formed in you? You relate to God the Father
the same way the Lord Jesus Christ did. Our Father. You don't cringe and run from
him in fear. You flee to him for mercy. And in affection, the Spirit
of God enables you to say, Abba, Father. I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned from him."
Oh, all the wrath of God has been put away through the sacrifice
of his own dear son. I will be as the dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and
cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and
his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon. Let's pray together. Brother
Charlie Pennington, you all know is very struggles with a lot
of health issues, and he has pneumonia right now, which is
very difficult for him. And Cheryl's sick also, but I
know Charlie's very sick. So let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
that we can come before you in the person of thy dear son and
call you our father, which art in heaven. Oh, hallowed be thy
name. Lord, we pray that your kingdom
would come. We pray that you would bless us this hour with
your spirit and that you would open our hearts and that you
would cause your word to be living and effectual and that you would
cause Christ to be lifted up and give us faith to trust him. Lord, we pray that you would
inspire our hearts to praise you with the calves of our lips. We pray for Charlie, and Lord,
we ask that your hand of strength and comfort would be upon him.
We pray that you would enable him to recover from this pneumonia.
And we ask, Lord, that you would draw him in his heart close to
thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 125 in the hardback temple. 125 in the hardback temple. Jesus paid it all. Let's all
stand together again. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Christian had left a crimson
stain, He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And
melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow For
nothing good have I Whereby thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments
white In the blood of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all, all to
Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. Please be seated. Why can't I remember that all
the time? Why can't I Be consciously aware
of my dependence upon the Lord every moment of every day, knowing
that every breath that I draw is by His strength and by His
grace. Why can't I? You have your Bibles if you would
open them with me to Hosea chapter 11. I hope that this passage
of scripture will give you some hope and comfort in your struggles
with your unbelief. That's the reason. That's the
answer to the question I just asked. Why can't I? Because I'm
in this body of flesh and I'm filled with so much unbelief. And I'm presumptuous. I just
presume upon the Lord to provide for me. And the Lord speaks to
me in this passage of scripture as a backslider. That's the title of this message.
How does God save backsliders? Jeremiah called us perpetual
backsliders. And that's my experience. That's
my experience. And I need for the Lord to save
this backslider. I just can't. Look at, you have your Bibles
there in Hosea. Look at Hosea chapter four at
verse 16. For Israel slideth back as a
backsliding heifer. Now, the imagery here is that
of an ox, I guess, that's pulling a plow and gets in the mud and
begins to slip and its feet can't find traction. From what I understand,
when that happens, the one thing that that heifer doesn't do is
put her head down. Though her feet are slipping,
her head is up high, and she's looking straight ahead, doing
everything she can to get herself out of that mire. And that's
what we are. We're like that backsliding heifer. Our feet are slipping in the
mire and muck of our own sin, and yet by God's grace, we're
his child. He keeps our head up, keeps our
eyes looking to Christ. And he pulls us out of that mud. Now in verse 12, the last verse
of Hosea chapter 11, the Lord distinguishes the difference
between Ephraim, which is also known as Israel, and Judah, these
two nations. The nation of Israel, after the
death of Solomon, as you know, was divided. Jeroboam, who was
the servant of Solomon, became king of the northern nation of
Israel, also referred to in Hosea as Ephraim. Rehoboam, who was
a descendant of Solomon, became king of Judah, the southern nation. And there was never a king on
the throne in Judah that wasn't a descendant of David. fulfilling
the prophecy that God had made to Judah when he said, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. So in the southern kingdom of
Judah, you have a descendant of David. Now all the promises
that God made to David were not to David as the son of Jesse. They were to the son of David
who was the son of God. David was just a type of Christ. And so we have the Lord Jesus
Christ reigning on the throne of Judah in every generation. In the Northern Kingdom, on the
other hand, we have whoever can kill the king can become next
king. And that's basically what happened.
And Jeroboam in the Northern Kingdom immediately led the people
into idolatry. In order to garner support for
himself, he said, if I don't build idols and temples in the
North, they're going to go down to Jerusalem and I'll lose them
all. These two kingdoms are spoken of all throughout the book of
Hosea. And I see them representing my two natures. My two natures. Look what he says in verse 12. Ephraim compassed me about with
lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. Now that's my old
man. That's my old man. He's just
a perpetual backslider. He's an idolater. He's going
to die the same way Solomon died. He can't improve himself. There's nothing holy about him.
He's nothing but sin. That's who he is. It's called
the flesh. And that flesh walks by sight. And the Lord is dealing with
Ephraim now in this chapter. He says, Ephraim, what am I gonna
do with you? How am I gonna save you? How
am I gonna save you? Well, here's how he's gonna do
it. Look at the rest of this verse. But Judah, yet ruleth with God, and is faithful
with his saints." Oh, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is reigning
sovereign on the throne of that southern nation. And as John
says, because of that, the seed is in him. And he cannot sin. He's faithful. Why? Because his king is faithful.
His king is representing him before God. And there you have
the new man. Paul spoke of Christ being formed
in us. And that we are one with him. As he is, so are we. The hope of glory is Christ in
us. And so we have this new man called
Judah, who's perfect before God, he cannot sin, he's perfectly
holy before God, and yet he's trapped in this body of flesh
known as Ephraim, known as Israel, that can't do anything but sin. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is ever present with me. And this old man, he wants to
worship God because of the new man, but he can't. He can't. He says, I would do good if I
could. to will is ever present with
me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not, I can't
do it. Got this old, how am I gonna
be saved? With such iniquity, with such
wickedness bound to me, how am I going to be saved? We can't
separate these two men. They're one person. They're one
person. Go back to the, Here's the encouragement
to those who are able to recognize this in themselves. The older, that's the new man,
shall serve the younger. I'm sorry, the older, which is
the old man, shall serve the younger, which is the new man.
So we come into this world as flesh. That's all we are. That's
our old man. And just like Esau was appointed
by God to serve Jacob, so we have this old man. God's left
him there. He's left him there in order
to expose our need for Christ. He exposes our sin. He drives
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his role in our salvation. What if the Lord allowed the
old man to be like he is in the unbeliever? Successful. Successful. What if he was, what
if he in your life was able to achieve some level of righteousness
before God? That's what the old man does
in the unbeliever. The old man in the unbeliever
has a righteousness before God. And so he's satisfied with himself. He doesn't know he needs a Savior. The Lord has revealed this Israel
to us, this Ephraim to us, in order to cause us to see who
it is that sits on the throne of Judah. Go back with me to the beginning
of this chapter. I love what that woman at the
well said after she met the Lord. And she went back down into Sychar. Do you remember what she said
to the man in Sychar? She said, come, meet a man who told me
everything that I ever did. Now, if you've met Christ, that's
what he's told you. He's told you everything you've
ever done. And everything that Israel, everything
that Ephraim, everything your old man has ever done is sin. That's all he's ever been able
to do. He can't do anything else. And everything Judah does, because
of who is sitting on the throne of Judah, everything Judah does
is perfect before God. Perfectly righteous. That's who
we are. Verse one of chapter 11, when
Israel was a child, then I loved him. I've loved him with an everlasting
love. There's never been a time I didn't love him. I placed my
love on him in the covenant of grace and reckoned the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the lamb that was slain before the
foundation of the world. I reckoned him to Israel before
he was ever born. I knew him. I formed him in the
womb. I knew him and I loved him. in spite of the fact that he's
full of sin, I've loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."
Now, yes, the children of Israel are called the sons of God, and
yes, they were taken out of Egypt. and delivered from the taskmasters
of the law, and brought by the hand of God through the wilderness,
and Joshua delivered them into the promised land. That is a
picture of our salvation. But the picture here, the reference
here, is not so much to national Israel or the people of God being
delivered from Egypt. It's a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Matthew chapter two, the scripture
says, out of Egypt, I have called my son. You see, the hope of
our salvation is not that God has brought us out of Egypt.
The hope of our salvation is that God has brought the Lord
Jesus Christ out of Egypt. He's our salvation. You remember
when, right after our Lord was born, Herod heard of it and sent
out a decree to have all the children murdered and Mary and
Joseph fled to Egypt and took the Lord to Egypt. And the scripture
tells us in Matthew chapter 2 that when Herod died, they came back. What was the reason for that?
Everything that God requires of us, the Lord Jesus Christ
had to do it. He had to be brought out of Egypt.
It's not our profession, it's His profession. It's not our
baptism, it's why was He baptized? To fulfill all righteousness.
You see, I've taken my son out of Egypt, and the hope that you're
saved, in your backsliding ways is that the Lord Jesus Christ
has accomplished everything that God requires for you to stand
righteous in the presence of God. God requires perfect obedience. It's His obedience. God requires
perfect justification. It's His shed blood on Calvary's
cross that justifies us before God. You see, our salvation is
completely bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had to do
everything for us. He had to be born of a woman
in the likeness of sinful flesh. He looked just like the rest
of us and was tried and tempted in all ways that we are, yet
he was without sin. He had to be born under the law,
born of a woman, to deliver those. He had to become a man. Everything
that we need in order to stand in the presence of a holy God,
the Lord Jesus Christ did it. It was Him that was brought out
of Egypt. It was him that was tried by
the taskmasters of the law. He's that precious stone, that
tried stone. He's the one who presents himself
before God on behalf of his people. And so the Lord says, here's
how I'm gonna say backsliders. First of all, the first cause
of our salvation, the very first cause, everything in salvation
goes back to this. the love of God. That's the first
cause of salvation. The first cause is not, is not
Your faith, the first cause is not the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the first cause is not election. All those things came
as a result of the fact that God placed his love on a particular
people in the covenant of grace according to his own will and
purpose before time ever began. That's the first cause of salvation. And so the Lord's telling us
now in Hosea chapter 11, Excuse me how he's gonna save
these backsliders and he declares to them. I've loved you I've
loved you when you were a child with an everlasting love and
I brought my son out of Egypt for you as They called them so they went
from them the prophets declared the gospel and But Israel didn't
hear. Israel couldn't hear. The natural
man cannot receive the things of the spirit. Israel in Ephraim
is your natural man. He can't believe the gospel.
He can't hear the gospel. That's why we have to ask the
Lord, Lord, give me your spirit. Lord, give me a new nature. Nicodemus unless you're born
from above you can't see the kingdom of God Lord Give me the
new man Give me the man that's able to believe the man that's
able to see And if the Lord's pleased to do that
it'll be by hearing it'll be by hearing I You know, I notice
sometimes people, some people are just feverishly taking notes
during sermons and asking questions and doing, and I want to say,
put that down. Put that down. Listen. God's not gonna let you make
a contribution to your salvation. Salvation doesn't come by study.
Salvation doesn't come by effort. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
Faith comes by hearing. Lord, open my ear. Enable me
to believe, otherwise I'll be like Israel. Here's my old man. God called them, they would not
come. They sacrificed unto Balaam and
burned incense to graven images. That's all the old man, that's
all the natural man can do. All he can do is look to the
works of his hands. They. Oh. The old man looks for his
peace. He looks for his comfort. He
looks for his happiness. He looks for his joy. He looks
for his contentment in the world. It's all he can do. He's walking
by sight. He can't see the gospel. He can't
see Christ. He can't see the truth. So the Lord says, I sent the
message out, but he couldn't hear it. He could not hear it. I taught Ephraim also to go,
taking them by their arms, but they knew not that it was I that
healed them. Now he's talking about what the
old writers used to refer to as prevenient grace, grace before
grace. All the things that God did in
your life before He gave you the new man. All the times He
protected you. You know, we look back at those
experiences and we see the big things, but how many millions
of little things the Lord was doing. Why? Because you were
always His. If you're a child of God now,
you were always His child. And now he's saying, I led you
by my hand before you knew me and you didn't know it was me.
You didn't know that it was me doing it. I drew them with cords of a man. Now that word cords is the word
sorrow. And that's how God draws his
people to himself. One of the first things he does
is he breaks their hearts over their sin. He causes them to
see at least something of their iniquity. He causes them to mourn. He gives them a mourning spirit. Blessed of God are those who
are poor of spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed
of God are you if he's made you to realize that you ain't got
a dime. You've got nothing whatsoever
that you can bring before God. Nothing. to have the Spirit of God give
you something of the affliction of soul. That's the cords of
a man. It's not with the yoke of a beast. It's not with the terror and
the fears of the law. It's not with threatenings of
judgment. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth to repentance. It's the cords and the sorrows
and the affections of a man. Look at the rest of that verse.
The cords of a man with bands of love. Oh, what did the prophets
say? They looked upon him whom they
pierced and they shall mourn for him as a father mourneth
after his only son. We come to some realization of
what God has done. putting away our sin through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our hearts are broken. They're broken. I've drawn them
with cords of a man and with bands of love. It's the love
of Christ that constraineth us. For we thus judge that if one
died, than are all dead. Reckon yourself to be dead indeed. That old man, he's just a dead
man. There's no life to him. All my life is bound up in the
new man. Christ himself is your life. He's your life. Outside of him,
you've got no life. You're just a zombie. Earlier we saw in Hosea where
the Lord said, I will allure her. We speak of irresistible
grace. You know what irresistible grace
is? It's irresistible love. That's what it is. It's being
loved by God irresistibly. Oh, you're just drawn to him.
That's what he's saying. I'm going to draw them with the
sorrows of a man and with bands of love. I was to them as one
that takes off the yoke. Takes off the yoke of bondage. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. That's the law. I'm gonna take
it off of you. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. For my burden is light, my yoke
is easy. I'll give you rest for your souls.
Oh, what hope. That's what he's saying here.
It's how I'm going to draw them to me. You're not going to find
it in Israel. You're not going to find it in
Ephraim. He's an idolater. He can't produce anything that
satisfies God. There's no hope there. There's
no rest there. It's all in the one who's sitting
on the throne of Judah. Don't forget our last verse in
this chapter. Israel constantly going astray. But my love is
upon Judah, for he's the one that has the descendant of David
sitting on his throne. Look what he says. I drew them
in verse four with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was
to them as they that take off the yoke of the jaw, and I laid
meat unto them. Now that word meat is not just
the flesh of an animal. It's used in the Bible to describe
everything that we need. And so the water of life, the
Lord said that he is the water of life. And that quenching our
thirst in Christ, that's our meat. He said, my body is your
meat, indeed. My blood is your drink, indeed. That's all part of our meat.
The robe of righteousness that he puts upon us to cover our
nakedness, that's our meat. Everything that we need. What's
the Lord say? If you have food and shelter,
therewith be content. Do you have, as he provided you,
meat? Drink? Food? Clothing? Shelter? He's gonna take us to
his house, look what he goes on to say. In verse five. He shall not return into the
land of Egypt, Oh, how oftentimes, oh, Israel wants to go back to
the leeks and the garlics and the melons of Egypt. Isn't that amazing how the Lord
was giving the children of Israel manna from heaven The bread of
life, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he gives us. He said,
it wasn't Moses that gave you that bread in the wilderness,
it was my father. I am the bread of life. And while they were
feeding on the manna, what'd they say? We want to go back
to Egypt. Why? Because in Egypt we've got leeks and garlics and
onions. Now where'd those three things
grow? In the ground, under the ground. Isn't that just, there's
Israel, there's Judah. The flesh looking for that which
comes out of the ground and the new man looking for that which
comes from heaven. But Assyria shall be his king
because they refuse to return. Now you remember what Assyria
means? It means steps. Steps. Ain't that what we want
to do? The old man wants to figure out
steps. You know, we've got a problem.
And so let's just organize the steps that are necessary to get
from point A to point B. And that's just what he does.
You know, make your plans as far as earthly things are concerned,
but in doing so, Remember what the Lord said in James. Don't
say, I'm going to go to this city and that city and buy and
sell and make gain. Say, if it be the Lord's will. If it be the Lord's will. Man
makes his plans, God orders his steps. The Lord's the one that's
gonna do that. And as soon as we start making
our plans and ordering our own steps, the Lord's gonna sabotage
them, isn't he? He's gonna make sure that if
you're a child of God, he's not gonna give you success in that.
And that's his grace. That's his grace. If he allows
you to be successful in your own devices, then you'll not
need him and Israel will not be serving his purpose. What's Israel's purpose? To point
to Judah. The older is always gonna serve
the younger. The sword, now look at what God
says in verse six. And the sword shall abide on
his cities and shall consume his branches and devour them
because of their own counsels. Now, the sword of the Spirit
is the Word of God. And I pray right now that the
Word of God is wielding its sharp, double-edged sword against your
flesh and my flesh, exposing the thoughts and the intents
of our hearts. Isn't that what we need? Isn't
that what we need? Lord, expose Israel for who he
is. Cut his cities off. If he has
councils, if he thinks that he's got a better way of doing things
than what you would have it done, Lord, put him to death. Kill
him. Right now, just exposing for
what he is. My people are bent to backsliding
from me. Though they call them to the
Most High, none at all would exalt Him. How often we are bent to backsliding. How often we put our hands to
the plow and look back. And if it wasn't, if it wasn't
for the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of Judah, if it
wasn't For the long-suffering of God's grace and God's love,
every one of us would meet the same end as Lot's wife. Every one of us. We've all done
what Lot's wife did. We do it every day. Oh, his redeeming love. Look unto Jesus. He's the author
and the finisher of your faith. He's everything in salvation. I love the next verse. Look at
verse 8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver
thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zebuam? Now all you gotta do is go to
Deuteronomy chapter 29 and those two cities were destroyed by
the fire of God which fell from heaven that consumed Sodom and
Gomorrah. And what God is saying is that
you deserve what Sodom and Gomorrah got. I've been reaching out,
I've been calling out to you, I've loved you, I've shown you
all these mercies and graces, I've kept you, and you had no
interest in me. And I could justify bringing
the judgment of Solomon and Gomorrah against you. And you know what
the child of God's thinking right now? Yes. I am a hell-deserving
sinner. If God gives me what I deserve,
that's where I'd go for all eternity. And that's what the Lord's saying
here, but I can't do it. I can't do it, Ephraim. My heart
is turned within me and my repentings are kindled together. Now, the
Lord is using language I am the Lord, and I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I'm the same yesterday, today,
and forever. The immutability of our God is the hope of our
salvation. God doesn't repent, and God doesn't
change his mind, and God doesn't have a plan A and then decide,
okay, I'm gonna come up with a plan B. God's using language,
as he often does in his word, to describe himself to us in
ways that we would be. We can't understand the fullness
of his glory. And so he expresses himself to
us in human language. And he's saying that, I could
destroy you, but my heart has turned within me toward you.
And my repentings are towards you. I would not destroy you. I'm not gonna do it. I will not
execute the fierceness of mine anger. Why? Why? Because the fire of my wrath
has been quenched. It fell from heaven on the Lord
Jesus Christ and all these backsliding ways that Israel you have, Ephraim
you have, all the time. You can't recover Israel. I've judged them all. I've put them all away. I've
satisfied my divine justice. The fire of my wrath fell from
heaven on my dear son, and there's no more anger. Oh, I'm so thankful. Who is a God like unto thee that
passeth by iniquity? He retaineth not his anger forever,
for he delighteth in showing mercy. I will have mercy and
not sacrifice. The knowledge of God, not your
burnt offerings, not your burnt offerings, I will not execute the fierceness
of mine anger. I will not return to destroy
Ephraim, for I am God and not a man. Now here's the truth. Here's the truth. If anybody
in your life, I'm talking your grandchildren, your wife, your
husband, your most beloved friend, If anybody was as unfaithful
to you as you are to God, you'd have cut them off. And God says, I'm not going to
do it because I'm not a man. You thought that I was altogether
as thyself, but I'm not a man. I'm God. I'm God. And I delight in showing mercy. Why would we cut somebody off?
Why would we do it? Who was so unfaithful to us.
Out of frustration? Out of anger? Out of our inability
to control them? Out of their taking advantage
of us? And hurting us? You see, God's not a man. You
can't hurt Him in that way. You can't disappoint Him. You
can't frustrate Him. You can't aggravate Him. He's
not like us. He doesn't work with the same
feelings that we have. He says, I'm God. I'm not a man. I don't have to respond to you
the way you would respond to anybody else. I'm the Holy One in the midst
of thee, and I will not enter into the city. Now here's why
God's not gonna destroy you and me. Paul deals with it in Ephesians
chapter five, when he says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it, for a man never hated himself. He never hated himself. He's
talking about the husband and wife being one flesh, and then
he goes on to speak of the mystery concerning Christ and his church. Why would God not destroy you
and me? Because in doing so, he'd destroy
himself. He's bound as one flesh with
his bride. and he loves himself rightly
so rightly so he loves himself he's not going to hurt himself
he's not going to hurt his bride he's not going to hurt his body
he said I'm the holy one and I'm in the midst of you and so
you don't have to worry about the fire of my wrath you don't
have to worry I've already I've already taken care of that Verse 10, they shall walk after
the Lord. They're gonna be like that backsliding
heifer. Yeah, their feet are going to
slip in the mire, but the heads are going to be held up and they're
going to be looking at where they're going. They're going
to walk after the Lord. I'm going to pull them out and they're
going to keep coming after Christ. To whom? Coming. In all their
backslidings, I'm going to bring them back to me. With cords of
a man and with the loving kindness of God, I'm going to draw them
to myself. They're going to follow after
me. When? When I shall roar like
a lion. Now, the first experience in
the scriptures we have of a lion roaring is when Samson told his
mother and father that he wanted a wife of the Philistines and
he went down there and on his way he met a lion and the lion
roared at him. And the scripture says that Samson
tore the lion with his bare hands. killed him. And then later, a
hive of bees built a beehive inside the carcass of that lion.
And Samson, after he's married, you know, remember there's a
riddle? Samson gives these men a riddle and he says to them,
he says, what is sweeter than honey or sweeter than, I don't
remember the riddle. But here's the answer that he
gave. The answer to the riddle was, what is sweeter than honey
and what is stronger than a lion? The meat is in the eater and
the sweetness of the, it's a picture of Christ. Here's the, I'm sorry,
I messed that up so badly, but here's the picture. Samson was
a judge. It represented the law. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And the law slayed
him when he roared from Calvary's cross, when he said, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When he cried from Calvary's
cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And by the way, the best evidence that we have that that centurion
was converted was not his confession, but it was the Lord's prayer
for him. The Lord's never offered a prayer to the Father that wasn't
answered. Father, forgive them, for they
know not. It is finished? That's the line of the tribe
of Judah. roaring from the cross. And every
time the gospel of God's free grace is preached to sinners,
the lion roars and God's people tremble. They tremble before
him. Out of the eater will come meat
and out of the strong will come sweet." That was the riddle.
Out of the eater will come meat. Out of the lion of the tribe
of Judah will come your meat. And out of the strong, the one
who's strong enough to judge us, condemn us, but also the
one who's strong enough to save us, shall come sweet. Sweet. Oh, the sweetness of his
grace. That's how he saves backsliding
Israel. That's how he does it. They shall
tremble as a bird out of Egypt and as a dove out of the land
of Assyria. I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord. There's no place in this whole
world where you can be more comfortable and be more yourself than in
your own home. Isn't that true? Isn't that true? I mean, you get home, you can
take off as much clothes as you want. You can sit where you want.
You can eat what you want. I mean, you don't have to worry.
You're home. It's your place of rest. The
Lord says, I'm going to put them in their homes. This is our place of rest. Sheep that are not committed
to a local assembly are either very sick or lost. God says, I'm going to put them
in a home. I'm going to gather them together.
I'm going to put them among God's people. And that's where you
need to be. That's where I need to be. I deal with people that
I think are believers, but they're not associated with the local
church. And every one of them are just so immature. They're
so sickly. It's like, get in a church. Get among God's people. Get under
a gospel preacher. That's where you need to be.
The Lord will grow you in His grace and in the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I will place them in their houses. Ephraim, here's your old man,
come past me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit. That's all your old man can do,
is lie and deceit. But Judah, Judah, yet ruleth
with God. Why? Because of who's sitting
on the throne. And Judah's faithful with all
the saints. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful for your mercy towards backsliding sinners,
and we ask, Lord, that you would cause your word to be living
and effectual to our hearts. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 18, 19, and then stop
back to him. Now let's stand together. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity? Jehovah God, the great I Am,
forgives our sins through Christ the Lamb. Who is a God like unto
Thee, That pardoneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy shall endure. The God of truth must punish
sin, but in His love He formed a plan to satisfy the law's demands. For sinners numerous as the sands,
who is a God like unto thee? Pardoneth iniquity, His anger
He retains no more, His grace and mercy shall endure. Behold His love and compassion
in the death of Christ His Son. The precious sin atoning blood
reveals the love and truth of God. Who is a God like unto Thee,
That pardoneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy Endure He passes by the transgressions
of all his loved and chosen ones. In mercy God delights we see. He casts our sins into the sea. Who is a God like unto thee,
That pardoneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy shall endure. None can with our great God compare,
He gave His Son sinners to spare. His anger He retains no more,
Christ died, and God requires no more. Who is a God like unto Thee,
that hardeneth iniquity? His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy shall endure. Thank you. I'm sorry. Oh! Sorry. Before he hits the parachute,
let's go do this again. Thank you. We're going to go. We're going
to go. Oh, that was exciting.