Hosea chapter 14. Hosea chapter
14. And the title of the message this
morning is, A Great Message. A Great Message. A Great Message. As you're turning here, it is
my heart's desire this morning that God would speak to you. Every time I stand, it is my
heart's desire God would speak. I do feel sorry for you if all
you hear is my voice. I do. But if God speaks to you, if
God speaks to you, it's worth it. And that's my prayers that
He might speak and that He might raise the dead. There are some
here that do not believe. And it's my hope that God would
raise you. It's my hope. The passage before us, here in
this book, is concerning Ephraim. It's concerning Ephraim and God's
call to repentance. Look at this in verse 1, "...O
Israel, return unto the LORD thy God, for thou hast fallen
by thine iniquity." This call of God to Israel is a call of
God to sinners. A call of God to sinners. See how God calls them to turn
from their idols. And yet they did not. Ephraim did not. And yet God
still in this passage pursues them with love. And there are
five things that I want us to see concerning the sin of Ephraim
and God's call to repentance here in these verses. We're going
to look through most of these nine verses here. First of all,
I want you to see a great fall. A great fall. Notice that he
said, Thou hast fallen by thine iniquities. Secondly, I want
you to see a great cry, which is in verse 2. Take now thy words,
and say unto him, Turn away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. This is a great call. Then a
great promise is found in verse 4, I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely. The fourth thing is a great Savior
which is found at the end of verse 4, for mine anger is turned
away from Him. And we know this is only by the
Savior that the anger of God is turned. And then we see fifthly,
a great people. He said, I will heal their backslide,
I'm sorry, in verse 5, He said, I will be as the dew unto, who? Israel. He shall grow as the
lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon, a great people. So
let's go and see these things together. First of all, a great
fall. Now, throughout the book of Hosea,
the nation of Israel is referred to as Ephraim, or rather, is
pictured by the harlot Gomer. Remember, Gomer was the harlot
that God had told the prophet to go and marry, to show forth
God's love to Israel. Israel was pictured by the harlot. The harlot. Even because they
had turned from God, as a harlot turns from her faithful husband.
Israel turned from God. And in chapter 12 of this book,
the Lord shows the vanity of Ephraim's sin when he says that
he followed after the wind. Look at that in verse 1 of chapter
12. Ephraim feedeth on the wind and followeth after the east
wind. He daily increaseth lies and desolation. And they do make
a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt."
Isn't this the same as Solomon said? Vanity of vanities, all
is vanity. Isn't that what he said? When
men chase after the pleasures, the education of this world,
the things of this life, he said, it is chasing the wind. Chasing
the wind. That's what Ephraim was doing.
He was chasing the wind. He was following after gods.
What are gods? They're nothing but wind. They're
a puff of air. They're nothing to stand on.
They were chasing after them. They were following after the
vanity of their own lusts. Yet Ephraim was not without religion.
Not only were they following their own lusts, they were following
after other gods. Other gods. Ephraim having heard
of the grace and mercy of God, having received the law and the
prophets, yet they still rebelled against God." Can you imagine
that? After all these years of Israel
seeing God again and again intervening for them, and giving to them,
and speaking to them by the prophets, and yet they still rebelled against
God. Thus God pronounces in verse
9, that He was One that delivered them from Egypt. He spoke to
the prophets. Look at that. He says, "...I
am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet make
thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn
feasts. I have spoken to the prophets, I have multiplied visions,
I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets." What
is this similitude? He was preaching Christ to them
the whole time. He was preaching salvation to
them. And yet in rebellion and iniquity,
they sacrifice to false gods. To which God said to those sacrifices
in verse 11, He said, they are empty. Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity. They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal. Yea, their altars are heaps in
the pharaohs of the field. They're nothing. They're empty.
They're gods and they're sacrifices. But listen, I'm not talking about
Israel in the past. What good would that do if we
just had a history lesson about Israel and all their evil things
that they've done? This is why people don't like
to read the Old Testament, because they just think it's a history book. They
don't see it speaking to us. This is speaking to us. Matter
of fact, Israel in Ephraim is a type, a picture of God's elect. The Apostle Paul reveals this
in Romans chapter 9 when he says this about the Israelites. He
said, "...to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the sacrifice of God and
promises, whose are the fathers, and whom concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is God, blessed forever." And he says this is
that the Word of God is not without effect. He said not all those
people in Israel were saved, were they? Well, the Word of God is none
effect. Why, Paul? For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Neither, because are they the
seed of Abraham, are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. In other words, there's a promised
one, a son, Isaac. You see, both Jacob and Esau
were of the lineage of Abraham. They were both of the lineage
of Isaac. And yet God chose Jacob and rejected Esau. And we see this, that not all
those who are born of Abraham's seed are true seed. So it's speaking
to true Israel, spiritual Israel. And what is the result? What
does he want us to see in this concerning Israel? First of all,
like I said, a great fall. Look at this. O Israel, return
unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Behold how God created man in
his own image. God made man in His own likeness,
upright and perfect. Adam, He set him in the garden
and gave him everything, and commanded him only one thing,
Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In
the day thou eatest, you shall surely die. Now consider the
grace of God. People mock at that. They say,
how horrible of God to deny Him. God gave Him every tree in the
world, but one. But one. He said, that's mine,
and you're not to eat it. It's mine. God could have said
that about all the trees. But in grace, He gave him all
the trees, except one. And you know what happened when
he ate. The scripture says both of their
eyes were opened. That's important. You know why?
Because when Eve ate first, what happened? Nothing. You know why? She represented no one. She was
not a federal head of anybody. And so when she ate, nothing
happened. It was when the man ate, when Adam ate, both of their
eyes were open because he represented both of them. And when he ate,
he died, he fell. He fell. Seeth in the heart of our Father, as he raised his fist into the
face of the Almighty and said, I will not have him to rule over
me. That is exactly what happened when he ate. Make no mistake,
Adam was not eating a bunch of fruit and accidentally ate that.
He willingly in rebellion defied the living God, knowing he would
murder his entire race. He did it anyway. He did it anyway. His love for
Eve was greater than his love for God. And we know what the scripture
says about this in Romans 5.12. Wherefore, as by one man's sin,
he entered into the world. And what was the result? Death
by sin. What does that have to do with us? Death passed upon
all men. Why? We all sinned. When Adam
sinned, you sinned. I don't like it. Can't do anything
for you. I can't do anything about that. Adam was our representative and
when he fell, so did all his race fall. Ever since Adam's
fall, the race of man has been born and dead in sins. And behold,
how great is the fall of Adam that the whole human race is
fallen. The whole human race is fallen. Not one escapes. Not one escapes
the corruption of the old man, the nature of Adam. So great
was this fall that all, like Ephraim, feed on the wind. We
by nature all have forsaken God and trusted in the gods of our
imagination. We, like Ephraim, We've heard of God's deliverance,
we've heard of God's salvation, and yet we refuse to believe. We've heard of God's power, and
yet we still bow to the gods of our own making. You know,
I love that story about that believer in Mexico who was saved,
that young boy, and his father had all those idols, and how
he told his father those idols were nothing, that they could
not save. And he said, no son, these are my gods, these are
my gods. And he took a hammer one day and smashed all of his
father's idols but one, and put the hammer right next to the
idol. And his father said, why have
you done this? He said, I didn't do it, they did it! He said, Son, that's impossible. That's what I've been trying
to tell you, Dad. They can do nothing. They're powerless. And
yet this is the God of our imagination. This is the God of modern religion.
The God of modern religion is that He wants to save everyone.
But He cannot save. What good is a God like that
that cannot save? I need a God who can save. I
need a God that doesn't need my help. I need a God who can
help me. And that's the God of Scripture.
That's the God that we preach. We preach a God that saves. A God that purposes to save.
A God that actually saves. A God that actually keeps those
who are saved, saved. That's the God I need. And that's
the God that's pronounced here. Now let me ask you, does this
describe you? Ephraim, can you read yourself when you read Ephraim's
Rebellion? Can you read your nature there?
I read my nature clearly, because we have all fallen in that, and
we have all sinned, and we are all born sinners, so that we
cannot bow any works of the flesh, please God. Are you this morning trusting
in your works? Now listen, all of you are trusting in something.
Everybody here is trusting in something. Some of you might
be trusting in hopes that there's nothing. People trust in that.
They say, well, I hope there's nothing after this. Keep on hoping. What are you trusting in? Are
you trusting in the vanity of your gods? Are you trusting in some ceremony
to be performed, religious deed to be done, And listen, if your
God is pleased with your works, your God is not God. If God is
pleased with your works to save you, your God is not God. Some of you say, well, I believe
in Christ. I've been saved by His blood
and righteousness, and yet you're still depending on something
you've done. That is nothing but the fallen nature of Ephraim. That is nothing but the fallen
nature of man. To depend on works and determination
of will to save himself. What a great fall. Can you not
see how great that was? How great Adam was? Adam was
a great man. The best of us, I know this,
we say, Man! Why did you do it? And in private
we say, well, I wouldn't have. Yes, you would. Adam was the
best of us. And he fell, and how great was
that fall! The fall was so great he died! How much lower than dead could
you get? How great a fall. Well, secondly, we see this,
because of our iniquity we have fallen. Now then, notice this,
a great call. A great call. This call, then,
is to those who have fallen. Look what God says, "...O Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen in thine
iniquities." Now we know that it is the responsibility
and call of the church to preach the gospel. We are to preach
the gospel. That's what I'm doing this morning.
I desire this morning to preach the gospel. And listen, here
it is in a very capsulated form. Repent and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. God here
is calling Ephraim to what? Repentance. He is calling him
to turn unto the Lord his God. The gospel we preach is Christ,
Jesus Christ. We proclaim that God has sent
His Son into the world to save, who? Fallen man. You see, God is only calling
the fallen to repent. Isn't He? I'm not fallen. What
do you need repentance for? If you're not fallen. Only the
fallen need repentance. You know, if you could see, you
wouldn't go to an eye doctor, right? You wouldn't use glasses.
Why? You don't need them. And listen,
if you're not fallen, you don't need repentance and you'll never
come to it. But see, God is calling. He's making a great call. To
who? The dead. To those who are fallen in iniquity.
God calls them to repentance. Are you fallen in iniquity? Behold, sinners, God calls you
to repentance. God calls you to repentance.
No matter how far you fall, no matter how great your sin, and
regardless of your unworthiness, God doesn't say, return to Me
because you deserve it. Return to Me, you that are fallen,
is who God calls. He calls the fallen. Why does He call us? Why? Because judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. Scripture says in Acts 17, "...because
he hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained." That
man is Jesus Christ, whom He will judge the world by Him. "...Wherefore He hath given assurance
to all men that He has raised Him from the dead." Sinner, you were created in God's
image, yet You are fallen. You're worshiping other gods,
and here is the message to you. God is coming, and He will judge
you. Listen, this is very simple.
The judgment of God is not complicated. It's not like our judicial system
where they look at certain aspects of things and they say, well,
you know, this person was poor and he needed to steal food,
so then we're going to give him a lesser sentence. God doesn't
do that. There's only two people, righteous and wicked. Righteous
and wicked. The righteous enter glory in
heaven. The wicked shall be eternally
damned in hell. Very simple judgment, isn't it? Now, which are you? By nature, what are you? You're
fallen. You're iniquity. You're sin.
You're wickedness. Is it not just reasonable to repent? Is
it not just reasonable to hear the great call of God to repentance? Isn't it the grace of God that
calls you to repentance? Calls you to repentance. Seeing then that all your works
are vanity? Seeing that all your gods are
nothing? Is it not cause for you? What are you trusting in?
What are you hanging on to? Why will you not repent? Why
will you not hear the call of God? What are you trusting in
that's so vitally that you must hang on to it? Let it go! Turn
to God! Why? God calls you to. Do you
need more sufficient reason? In the eyes of some, they say,
well, I'm not that bad. I'm doing alright. I don't need
repentance. I'm better than this person over
here. Isn't that what most people do when they hear about repentance?
They start looking around. They try to find somebody who's
worse than they are. In Luke chapter 13, the Lord
gives that, the scripture gives that account of those that brought
to the Lord's attention, those Galileans that Pilate killed. Those Galileans were wicked people.
They were wicked people. And Pilate killed them! And Jesus,
they were bringing these men to Jesus' attention so they could
obviously appear better. He said, oh, did you hear about
those wicked people? What'd Jesus say? He said, look,
suppose you, that they were the greatest sinners, I tell you,
no. They're not the greatest sinners.
But, except you repent, you shall likewise perish. I love the Scriptures. It is
the great leveler. I just don't care who you are,
where you come from, or what you've done. The Scripture levels
all men of this. You are a vile, wicked, worthless,
useless sinner. And what you should do is repent
and turn to God. Why? God commands everyone everywhere
to repent. Except you repent, you shall
perish. Is that not cause enough to repent? So you've got a great
fall, then you've got a great call. Repentance. The old vile man, repent from
your wickedness and turn to God. Release all your self-righteousness
To be accepted of God by your works and turn to God. Well, listen to one who has repented.
This is the third part, a great cry. A great cry. Look at verses
2 and 3. This is the cry of one who is
repenting. Take with you words and turn
unto the Lord. Say unto Him, Take away all iniquity. and receive us, how? Graciously. So will we render the calves
or the praises or sacrifices of our lips. Asher shall not save us. We will not ride upon horses.
Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, you
are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy." To
a man who's been convicted of the Holy Spirit of his sins,
this is his one great desire, take away my sin. Is there any desire greater to
a man exposed before the justice of God? Is there anything greater?
Take away my sin. Why? It is my sin that has separated
me from God. You see, to repent is to turn
to God. And in order to come to God,
this must be removed. My sin. My sin must be taken
away. Yet I've recognized this, that
I cannot take it away. Otherwise, I wouldn't repent.
I repent because of my sin, and my sin stands between me and
God. Therefore the cry of the repentant
is this, take away my sin, so that I might come to Thee. How
then should God take away my sin? Graciously. The cry of the
repentant is always grace, grace, grace, mercy, mercy, mercy. That's what we need. We need
mercy. We need grace. The repentant don't need merit.
The repentant need mercy, grace. Those convicted of the Holy Spirit
know this and cry this. In Jeremiah 31 and verse 18,
this is what God heard when Ephraim cried. He said, I heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself. Is that not what a repentant
does? Bemoans himself. You see, we stop blaming God,
we stop blaming others, and we recognize the blame belongs square
right here. We're bemoaning ourself. Bemoaning
our sin. And this is what God hears from
a bemoaning sinner. Thou hast chastened me and I
was chastened. as a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, that's me. Every time God says something,
I kick. Every time God said do this,
I said I will not do this. But I'm thankful God chastened
me. And we said, turn thou me and
I shall be turned. I know this, I could not turn
myself. But it is the desire of the repentant heart to turn.
Recognizing we cannot turn ourselves. So what do we depend on? The
grace of God to turn us. The power of God to turn us.
Turn us. Turn thou me and I shall be turned.
Why? For thou art the Lord my God.
I understand this. You're God. And I'm not. You're
God and I'm not. How then shall a sinner repent?
Take with you words. Isn't that good? Take with you
words. What words? Remove my iniquity, receive me
graciously, and I will praise thee with my lips. Not only that,
he says this, that false god, Asher, he can't save me. We know that. Any repentant sinner
knows this, there is only one God, and only God can save me.
That's what we know. We know our other gods are nothing.
Have you ever recognized that? You believe, I know you have.
All of your gods before God were nothing. And you gladly let them
go. They can't save you. They can't
help me. I don't want them. They're nothing but superstitious
wind. We will not ride upon horses.
In other words, I will not ride upon the pride of my works. You know, Israel was not allowed
to have those horses. Chariots. Why? Because God fought
their battles, what would they need them for? See, God is my
Savior, not myself. I won't ride upon human wisdom
and works. Neither will we say any more
to the work of our hands, You are our God. For in Thee, the
orphan findeth mercy. Isn't that what we are? An orphan,
cast out, polluted in our own blood, and God passed by us and
said, live, live. I said unto thee, live. And what
is the result of this life? Repentance, turning to God. A
great cry. Have you cried to God? You have
if you've fallen. You had a great cry. You heard
Him to say, repent. And this is, this is our call. A cry to God. Now then, the next
thing, a great promise. Look at this in verse 4. To all
who repent, God gives a great promise. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. Two I wills of God. The first
one is this, I will heal their backsliding. You know our sin nature is referred
to in scripture as a disease or a plague. He says, Isaiah
says, from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet are
nothing but wounds and bruises and pussing sore. We are unable to serve God, unable
to please God, unable to come to God. We're a leper. Remember
lepers? They were cast out from everybody else. They were not
allowed to worship God. That's how we are by nature.
And this is what God says to that man, to that one who turns,
I will heal you. I will. You remember that leper that
came to our Lord? He said, Lord, I know. If thou will, thou canst
make me clean. Do you know God can make you
clean? Everybody here, do you know that? Do you know God can
make you clean? You know why you won't come?
Some of you won't come because you don't think he's willing. I just told you, I will heal
your backsliding. I will. I will heal you. I will receive you. I will forgive
you. I will pardon you. I will make you whole. Isn't that what He does to every
repentant sinner who comes to Christ, who believes on Christ?
Does He not make us whole? Second thing, He says, I will
love you freely. I will love you freely. Behold,
there is no way for God to love a sinner except freely. Isn't
that right? Is there any reason God should
love you? If you find a reason, you're not fallen, and you're
not repentant, and you've not cried to God. Only the fallen
need repentance, only the repentant hear the cry of God, only the
repentant call to God, and only the repentant find this, I will
love you without a cause in you. I don't feel like God loves me.
It's because you're looking for a cause in you. If you would
see that the cause is not in you, you would believe God loves
you freely. Consider you who repented, you
who come to God by Christ, how long has God loved you? How long? I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. How do I know He loves me? Therefore,
with loving kindness I have drawn thee. Has He drawn you? Have
you repented? Do you turn to God from your
idols? Do you cry for grace and removing
of iniquity? I love you freely forever I love
you. You know God's love can't ever
diminish. It can't get any higher and it
never goes any lower. It's always infinitely as high
as God is. He loves us freely, without a
cause, in us. And the next thing is, what a
great Savior. How could God heal us and love us? How could God
receive us, seeing we are fallen, seeing we were dead in our sins,
seeing we could not please God? How could He receive such a repentant,
fallen creature, being holy? How could it be? Look at this,
in that verse four. And this reveals the great Savior
for. I'm going to heal you and I'm
going to love you for this reason. For mine anger is turned away
from Him. The reason of God's anger is
what? Sin. Sin. How then could God be just
and justify the ungodly? There is only one answer in all
of the Word of God. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the only way God's anger
would ever turn from a sinner, is that by a substitute. By a substitute that God would
make him to be sin for us. That God would lay on him the
iniquity of us all. And God would, in justice, kill
His only beloved Son in our stead. Therefore, where's His anger?
It is turned from you, and it says, Awake, O sword, and smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. And what? I shall
turn What? To the little ones. Why? My anger
is satisfied. The sword has been plunged deep
into the side of Christ and He had died for sin. He had suffered
all hell for our sins and they are forever removed from us. Therefore, God can love us freely.
Therefore, God can receive us and heal us freely by His grace
because His anger is turned. What a great Savior! How great
is His Savior that He not only took on my sin which is infinitely
large, He took on all the sins of His people. How many number of hells did
He endure in love so that ye might receive a fallen
repentant sinner? What a great Savior. Jesus Christ,
the second Adam. I like this picture in Numbers
chapter 16. It speaks of Israel sinning against
God. And you remember God sent that
plague. And Moses told Aaron, he said,
go to the tabernacle and take a censer and light it on fire. He said, get you up from the
congregation that I may consume them. This is what God says,
I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces.
Moses said to David, take the censer, put fire on there from
the altar, and put it on incense and go quickly into the congregation
and make an atonement for them. There's wrath gone out from the
Lord. The plague has begun. And Aaron
took as Moses commanded and ran in the midst of the congregation.
And behold, a plague has begun among the people. And he put
on incense and made an atonement for the people. And listen, he
stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed.
Is that not a great Savior? That is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He stands with the censer of His own blood and
works. and righteousness and he stands
between the living and the dead. Are you living? Why? Because
you have a great Savior. Stood in the midst of you and
endured the wrath of God in our stead. And lastly, see this. Those who are repentant are a
great people. A great people. Look at this. in verse five he
says i will be as it do onto israel he shall grow as the lily
and cast forth his roots as lebanon you see every center who comes
to jesus christ i want you know this you are israel you are god's
elect your god's elect and to everyone who comes this is always
god's way of salvation he comes and he says this to the repentant
sinner, I will be as the dew to Israel. What is a dew? You
see, by nature, we are a barren land. A barren land. And what causes things to grow
in a barren land is not rainfall, it's dew. Dew is vitally important
to life. How does dew come? Do you see
it descend? Do you see where it comes from?
No, when God comes to the sinner, He comes like dew. He just comes.
You don't know where it came from. You don't know how it got
there. But when God saves a sinner,
he's just there. He's just there as the dew. The
Holy Spirit comes to the sinner as dew on the ground by nature
of barren wasteland, but at the appointed time of grace, God
sends the preacher, and by the power of the Spirit, he hears
the gospel, he repents, and what happens? He shall grow as a lily. Oh, the white lily, what a picture
of our righteousness when God saves a sinner. He grows up out
of nowhere like a lily. And how does a lily grow? He
says, he grows without toiling. Isn't that right? He said, behold
the lily, they spin not, they don't toil, they're beautiful.
Isn't that the way with our righteousness? We didn't earn it, we didn't
grow. That's how it is with the believer that repents. That righteousness
grows in him without his own works. And not only is He like
the lily for righteousness, but He's like the tree of Lebanon.
You know, those trees in Lebanon, they were known for their roots.
They dug down deep. And this is true of everyone
who had repented. We have faith that digs down deep into Christ. Digs down deep. The Apostle says,
"...you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you have been
taught." Isn't this a great people? A great people. A great people
who has been saved by the grace of God. And how then is this people to
come? They're to come by the preaching
of the gospel. He says, "...his branches shall
spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and the
smell as Lebanon. They dwell under his shadow shall
return. They shall revive as corn, and
grow as the vine, and the scent thereof shall be as the wine
of Lebanon." These great people that God has saved, that repent,
that call unto Him, they spread. They spread. Why? By the gospel. The gospel spreads. God sends
His people out into the world, and His great people, they preach
the gospel, and they abide under the shadow of the Almighty. They
dwell under the shadow of His branches. And they grow as the corn and
as the wine. In other words, everywhere they
go is prosper. God's prospering. God's prospered.
Is that not so with you, believer? God not prospered you? You bet He has. He's taken away
your sin. He's given you righteousness. And He's caused you to grow in
the grace and knowledge of Christ, to receive this gospel, to believe
it. And what shall this great people
say? Verse 8. What have I to do anymore with
idols? I have heard Him. Isn't that true? You have repented.
Is that not exactly what you say? How many thousands of years
ago was this written? And yet you know right then that's
talking about you. I've heard him. I've observed
him. He is like a green tree. and
my fruit and me, from me is thy fruit found. Is that not so with
you who have repented? Is that not the fruit that you
desire to eat is of Christ? The fruit of the Spirit, love,
joy, peace, meekness. Is He not like a green fir tree?
Always pleasant, always youthful. This word that we preach is never
old, is it? Never old. Do you know of the great fall?
Have you heard the great call to repentance? Have you made
a great cry to God for the need of your sin? Have you seen the
great Savior, Jesus Christ, and believed on Him? Then you are
a great people. You are a great people who have
forsaken all other gods, and you follow after the God. You
are Ephraim. I pray God will bless this to
you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.