Morning, everybody. If you will,
let's turn to Hosea. We've got Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, and then Joel. If you've got Joel, you went
too far. So the book of Hosea. I was instructed, I had a long
conversation yesterday with Brother Marvin Stoniker. I was told I'd
better tell you all hello from him and that he loves you and
he is doing real well. He's still got a road of recovery
ahead of him, but he's back to preaching and He was embarrassed,
and I told him the same thing happened to Todd when Todd had
throat cancer years ago, and he couldn't preach for a few
months. When Todd finally was able, as soon as he was able
to move, he went back to services. Couldn't talk, but he went back,
and all the brethren there, Todd Rhodes stood up and clapped for
him. And Marvin said, when I finally made it back, I was gone for
a couple weeks. He said everybody just was so happy. They stood up and
clapped, and they're glad to have their pastor back. It embarrassed
him, but I think it was good. Hosea chapter one. There's a wedding announcement
here and then the wedding and the outcome of it. I don't know
if someone wants to go through Hosea. I don't know how anybody
could preach through this book if they knew nothing about the
Lord's elective grace and his absolute power and his sovereignty,
his lasting eternal love. I guess they wouldn't be preaching.
They'd just have some historical facts, but this book's magnificent. It really is. Hosea is the first
of the 12 minor prophets, as people say, and I hope we don't
find anything minor about this book. In verse 1, it says, The
word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Berei, in the
days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and
in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. What a verse. It appears just
to be like a timeline or giving you who's who and who's in charge
to give you a timeframe of when this took place, but there's
so much more here. And the opening verse declares
who this book is from, who this book is to, and why. Why? All in one verse. All in
just the intro. I gave you that handout there
with the bulletin, and I hope that'd be helpful. There's a
lot of names here, and if I just tell them to you, you may not
remember them, but if you can look at it, that's good. Old Brother
Moose, if he started a new book, if y'all been to college, he
handed out a synopsis before they started the book of what
his intent was to teach out of this book, and then each day,
you'd show up to services, and he had a syllabus. He'd give
you a handout and say, this is how you study this chapter. And
so that's good for us to do those things. Maybe the Lord will make
it sink into us. But Hosea, that name's the same
name as Joshua in the Old Testament and the same name as Jesus in
the New Testament. It means deliverer, savior. The son of Berea, it means fountain.
And in the days of these kings, this is the time frame of it,
but Uzziah means the days of the strength of the Lord. Jotham,
Jehovah's perfect. Ahaz, possessor. Hezekiah, the
strength of the Lord. And in the days of Jeroboam,
the people will contend. The people's gonna fight, they're
gonna strive, they're gonna have controversy. And the son of Joash,
Jehovah's fire. So it could be read this way,
about us contentious people, us children of the Lord that
were rebels. During the days of that contentious people, the
children of the Lord had offended Him. We willfully offended Him.
During the rule of His strength and His perfection, this great
possessor of all things and all power, in His strength, He comes,
sends the word of the Lord of hosts to Hosea, Christ our Savior. The Father spoke to the Son,
the Son of the living fountain. God the Father spoke to me. This
isn't just a feel-good story about two people getting married,
something happened on earth, and there's a good moral lesson
we can learn about marriage in this. No. There's things we can
learn, but this is a recorded Word of God concerning, it's
from the Father that's given this, concerning His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and His bride. That's a rebellious, heathen
people. A bride of whoredoms. That's
why Hosea the prophet, the one that the Holy Spirit moved his
hand to pen this book, he speaks in the third person. Didn't you
catch that? He does. He keeps talking about
Hosea. Well, Hosea's the one writing it. Look at verse two. In the beginning of the word
of the Lord by Hosea. He didn't say by me, by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, God
the Father said this to brother Hosea, his prophet, but the father
said this to the son, he entered into a covenant before time,
before there's ever a garden made. And it says, and the Lord
said to Hosea, go, take thee a wife of Hortums and children
of Hortums. Now to Hosea physically, he said,
go, go find you a wife. That's the whole family and whole
source of income and everything they've ever known from birth
is adultery for money. And you go find you a wife. To
our Savior, the Father says, you go take you a wife of idolatry.
One that's made their living, their whole lives playing church
and pretending they know God and they don't know nothing of
them and you marry that one. that's rebellious and hates you.
And there's proof of this adultery. It says this idolatry, Hosea
was able to make children, wasn't it? Just like all the children
that's going to come with offspring of this one is going to be just
like their parents. She's the same and all the offspring is
going to be just the same, that whole bunch. Just like we're
the child of Adam, aren't we? Adam rebelled against God, he
disobeyed Him, he didn't believe Him, he believed himself over
God, and every one of us come into that world the same way.
I know. I know better. I ain't never
been wrong. I was mistaken one time, but
I've never been wrong. That's us by nature. That's our go-to,
isn't it? If somebody tells me that I'm wrong, what's the first
thing I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get mad. I'm gonna tense up. What's the chances
I might be wrong? Well, there's no chance. There's
no chance. Maybe there's a skosh of a chance. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. We're wrong. That's the Lord's word to us
because Christ, our substitute, took his people, the very offspring
of idolatry and idolatrous hearts, didn't even know him, didn't
want nothing to do with him. And he took all of our sin, all of
that idolatry, and made it his, and he paid for it in full for
forever. Just like whenever we got married.
If Kimberly had any student loans, guess whose student loans they
were now? They're mine. She ain't responsible to pay them no more.
I'm responsible to pay them. They said, well, her name, you
know what I mean. 6,000 years, it's starting to
change nowadays. But whatever's hers belongs to
me. Whatever's mine belongs to hers.
We're one. We're one. Only considering Hosea the prophet
Here's the thing about that man, Hosea. Is that an appealing ministry,
as we call it? From his point of view, God said,
here, I want you to do something. Go marry a harlot. As a human being, you can enter
into that. That was the mission God gave you to go on. Here's
what I want you to do. He told that to the son and with the
joy on his face, sat before him. He said, I'll do it. I'd love
to. Yes, sir. In our day, sin's so
overwhelming and it's so accepted, and it is expected to be accepted,
that this is not a shock to us as it should be. This is illegal. He wasn't allowed to marry them
women. That was against the law. And this is a God's prophet going
to marry a whore. from a family of them. What do
you think she's gonna turn out like? That one fella, I wish
he preached the gospel, but he makes some good poets sometimes.
He said, you give your children over to Caesar, don't be surprised
when they come home acting like Romans. That's so, isn't it? This ought
to be shocking to us. And just as us being Gentiles
always say that we're Gentiles, that's bad. You get that? Oh,
I happen to not be born of the race of the Jewish people. No,
we're Gentiles. It's bad. It's real bad. We think
a lot of these things, because we think so highly of ourselves
and we think so little of God. It's a shame. Because of the
good pleasure of the Father's will, He chose a people that
were adulterous in heart. He says in the Scripture, there
are no people at all, undeserving, vile, wretched, spiritual harlots. And He espoused them. He engaged
him and then he married him to Christ our Hosea. And we're made
one with him. Christ took on our children of
whoredoms, our sin, and we're adorned by him. He dresses us,
he robes us, gives us that ring that's white, that diamond ring,
and gives us his name. He said, we're one. Why was that
necessary? Why was it necessary for Hosea
to do this? Why couldn't Hosea just have married an okay woman?
He didn't go down there and pick out, said, well, now out of all
these, that one's got the most potential to be a good wife. He could have still been good
to one of those, couldn't he? Couldn't that still have been a good picture? No,
there were no okay brides. There's none to be found. Isaiah
wrote, said, we are all an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf in our
iniquities, like the wind has taken us away. We don't even
know what's happening. And there is none that calleth
upon thy name." He'd say, well, I was out just looking for God
and then I found him. You wasn't looking for him. If you found
him, he's going to prove to you that he drew you, that you had
no, you was looking for a God or God that matched up to your
criteria and makes all your little check blocks. They will. You'll say, he found me. I didn't
find him. Oh, and there is none that call upon thy name that
stirth himself up to take hold of thee? I didn't pick myself
up by my bootstraps and I'm gonna find God today. You didn't stir
yourself up, he said so. For thou hast hid thy face from
us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. Sin has separated
us. We can't get to him. Just like
Adam can't get back in that garden. You can't do it. I'll sneak around
the edges. Ain't gonna happen. Lord separated,
there's a great gulf fixed. In the verse two there says,
and the Lord said to Hosea, go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms
and children of whoredoms, colon, for, because the land hath committed
a great whoredom departing from the Lord. The earth, all of mankind,
born of Adam, has committed a great whoredom, a great and permanent
adultery with lasting proof and lasting consequences. That's
not just the Israelites, and it's not just the Gentiles, it's
all of mankind. Everybody. Jeremiah said, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which
are circumcised with the uncircumcised. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and
the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all there in the utmost corners
that dwell in the wilderness. Everybody. For all these nations
are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised. What in the heart? It's a heart
work, it's not an outside work, it's an inside work. It's an
inside job. It is. Those that have a circumcised
heart given life from God, that's his Israel. That's why he told
Abraham just as plain as it could be said. He said, I'm going to
give you this token, this symbol of what I'm going to do in the
heart, you're going to do it on the outside. Because whenever it takes place
in the heart, it's going to make its way out. That's just so.
God must provide himself as that lamb, as that payment. And we
must be married to Christ our Savior and made one with him
and given his name and given his righteousness. And he's given
us this institution of marriage in the home, family government,
to show us these things. Isn't that gracious? To show
us. I know a man, I know both of
them, is in a local assembly of the saints, and he needed
a kidney. Three or four of them that knew that they had the same
blood type witnessed here. The brethren in the congregation,
take my kidney. You need to think about it. No,
I don't need to think about it. I love you. I love that article
by Tom Harding is in the bulletin. You can't keep from that. That's
natural. You can fake anything, but you can't fake love. If your
wife needs a kidney, how long do you got to think about it?
Well, give me three weeks and I'll see if I... No, cut it out right now. Take it. Why? There's love. We
have to have that unity with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
it's nice to hear about him twice a week. I don't want to hear
about him, I want to hear of him, from him, and him speak
my heart. I want communion day in and day
out. That's why I had that article of Henry's in the book. It goes
hand in hand. I need to look to him, walk with
him, and pray to him, and hear from him all day, every day. Verse 2 says, The beginning of
the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said unto Hosea,
Go take thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. For
the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the
Lord. There's a theme that scripture's Lord says, I will, and they shall.
The Lord's going to command it, and then it's going to happen.
This is amazing to me. Verse 3. So he went and took
Gomer, the daughter of Biblium. So Gomer did it. Or Hosea did
it. The Lord said, Hosea, do this. And he did it. Gomer's
name means to end, cease. Gomer's name means death. That's
her name. All the other ladies in Gomer's
profession, all those other harlots, I'm certain none of them had
the name death. Probably something nice, rose, or something that
smells good, or something pretty and elegant, delicate. What's
your name? My name's death. God's gonna
teach us that. This was his bride's name. The
worst of the bunch. the Savior and his motley crew.
That's good news if you're one of them. Verse 3, So he went
and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, which conceived and
bare him a son. And the Lord said unto him, Call
his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the
blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. and will cause to cease
the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass in
that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel." Jezreel means scattered, broadcast, it's God's sowing.
He said, I'll spread them out. Verse six, and she conceived
again and bear a daughter. And God said unto him, call her
name Leruamah. For I will no more have mercy
upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.
No pity is what Lerumo means, no pity, none. Gentiles were
born without the benefits of all these pictures of God, without
this tabernacle, without this showbread, and this light, and
this candlestick, and this water, and we didn't have those things.
That tent with the badger skin on the outside and the holiest
of holies on the inside, we didn't have all those pictures, no pity taken.
Verse seven, but I will have mercy upon the house of Judah,
and will save them by the Lord their God. Here's how I'm gonna
do it. I'm gonna save them by the Lord their God. And I will
not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by
horses, nor by horsemen. I ain't gonna do it the way you
think I'm gonna do it. They had two children and both
of them got bad names, don't they? One's scattered, the other
one has no pity. Well, what hope do we have? All
hope's gonna have to be taken away. I mean, all of it. We ain't
got nowhere to go but the Lord that was saved by the Lord, their
God. They said, you're not all flesh is grass. Behold your God.
That's him. So I'm going to save them. I
want to save them only saved by the Lord, the God of our salvation.
They're saying salvation to the Lord. That's miraculous. Verse eight. Oh, that's showing
them 10 tribes that went into captivity and never returned. Depart from me. Those that were
scattered and those that were born without pity and those that
went into captivity and couldn't get out. How will they be saved by the
Lord? How? He said he's gonna save them,
how? Verse 10. Yet the number of children of Israel shall be
as the sand of the sea. Doesn't that seem impossible?
We're scattered, there's no pity, there's no quarter. And we ain't nothing but captivity. And he said the number of the
children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot
be measured nor numbered. Our brains can't go that high.
And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said
unto them, you are not my people, there it shall be said unto them,
you are the sons of the living God. Now, what order does that
have to come in? If you want to have an evangelical
message, as God commands throughout his scriptures, we're nothing. He's made us sons. That has to
take place or we ain't safe. We have to be brought low to
see him high. We must decrease, he must increase. If we're doing okay, we don't
need a savior, we just need some help. We need a co-pilot to help
us land this plane. If we're doing all right in ourselves,
but if we have no hope in ourselves, if we have, what does the scripture
say? No confidence in the flesh. People can get mad at me all
they want. It's throughout the scriptures. And that's what God
says. And I want to tell people, I
want to tell our friends that refuse to go to services. I want
to tell my family that hates the gospel. I want to tell anybody
that'll listen. We ain't nothing. We're in trouble. Talk about
problems. We got problems. There's one
thing they, there's one solution. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's
him. He has to come to us, show us
we're not his people, in that same place, in that same gathering
of the saints, in that same preaching of the gospel, and at the same
time saying, well, wait a second, I ain't okay. He says, you're
the sons of the living God. I birthed you, because there's
a new creation in you. See that? Verse 11, then shall
the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered
together and appoint themselves one head. We've got one thing
in common, Christ our King. And they shall come up out of
the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel. As you go through
Hosea, if you want to go read the whole thing this evening,
go through it slow. You're going to see that Gomer
did not remain a faithful bride. She didn't. They had these children,
they named them as God told her to name them, but she didn't
remain a faithful bride. She fell in body and she fell
in spirit, and she thought she was good to go. She said, oh,
look what my lover's done for me. But what a great love that
brings her back. She willfully left, she willfully
ran away, she willfully did everything the way she wanted to do it,
but God. Look here in chapter three, verse
one. It says, Then said the Lord unto
me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend. Yet an adulteress,
according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel,
who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. Isn't that the
charge to husbands? Before we go getting married,
you think about that. The Lord said, you love your
bride as Christ loved the church. That sets the tone for everything,
doesn't it? And you want to get away from whatever it is, get
frustrated. Well, how much have I frustrated
Christ? How much have I frustrated the Lord and been disobedient
and murmuring or whatever? And yet, no matter what I did,
he was consistent. He was faithful. Never failed.
That's what he said. He said, she's looking to flagons
of wine. She's loving other gods. He said, but according to the
love of the Lord, You love him as Christ loved the church, what
Paul said, verse two. So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver. In this earthly picture, we see
half. What's the scripture say? He received double from the Lord.
He was bought for 30, wasn't he? So I bought her to me for
15 pieces of silver and for an omer of barley and a half omer
of barley. And I said unto her, thou shalt abide with me for
many days, that means forever. Thou shalt not play the harlot,
thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee. I am my beloved's and my beloved's
mine. For the children of Israel shall
abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice,
without an image, without an epod, and without a teraphim.
Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the
Lord their God and David their king and shall fear the Lord
and his goodness in the latter days. In chapter 1 we see that
wedding announcement and that marriage of Hosea and Gomer.
In chapter 2 we see the fall of Gomer. We see her run away
and the Lord's declaration of how he'll bring her back. He
says, I'm going to get her out in the wilderness. Out in the middle of nowhere,
I'm gonna put thorn bushes all around, hedges all around. I'm gonna
get her right where she needs to be, right where I want her.
And then I'm gonna lure her. I'm gonna speak to her heart.
He said, I'm doing all this. I'm doing all this. In chapter
three, we see the purchase of Gomer. And all this took place,
this life of Hosea and Gomer. All this happened physically.
It really happened on this earth for a purpose. We are given this
on purpose. For God to give the picture,
of the sin of his people, of the righteousness of Christ,
our Hosea, of his love, and that judgment and payment for sin
was satisfied in our divine husband. He paid it all. He took care
of all of it. We're given this book. We're given this to read
it. Chapter four, verse one says,
hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. Hear! You
have to be alive to hear, don't you? I go out in that graveyard
and yell, hey, listen up! Y'all hungry? Are you thirsty?
Are you awake? Are you hearing? Not dead. Live! Hear! The Lord said, hear. Hear the
word of the Lord, ye children of Israel. For the Lord hath
a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there's
no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. He said,
I got a problem. Now that you have life, you're
going to find out about it. He goes on in chapter four talking
about the judgments against the people. In chapter five, it's
the judgment against all the priests. I've heard my pastor
say that a lot. I understood it, or I knew it,
and then I understood it. He'd say, I hate telling people
and letting people find out I'm a preacher. He's like, because
99.99999% of them have ruined the office. They've ruined the
occupation. And people say, ugh. And they ought to. It's a shame. The Lord will deal with it one
day. Out of common knowledge, they just think I'm one of them. They don't care to hear what
the message is. They just lump you all in one pile. But there's judgment
against those priests in chapter five and chapter six and chapter
seven and chapter eight. That's a lot of chapters, isn't
it? Sin's exposed. He's just throwing arrows. This
is what you are. You're beating me down when we
ain't beat down far enough. He just keeps throwing arrows.
Keep throwing arrows. Now I get it. No, I don't. He
just keeps throwing arrows. Chapters 9 through 11, 9, 10,
11, it's the distress of their captivity. Now we know we're
in captivity and it's bad. No, you don't know how bad it
is. Keeps going. Chapter 12, he says, you provoke
me to anger. And now in chapter 13, let's
look there. They've learned now, right? After all them chapters,
now they got it. No, we still need it. That's
what I was talking to Marvin about yesterday, too. A long
time ago, I heard a man say that one of my friends was preaching,
and it was a strong message, and he said, I don't think we're
in need of this generation of hellfire and brimstone preaching.
And I couldn't help myself. I just popped off, and I said,
I think now we need it more than ever. Look around you. That's needed,
we didn't know what we are. We need to know that we need
a savior. We need to find him irresistible. This whole nation
does, don't it? Hosea 13, verse two. And now
they sin more and more and have made them molten images of their
silver and idols according to their own understanding, best
they knew how. All of it the works of the craftsmen.
And they say of them, let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early
dew that passes away, and the chaff that is driven out in a
whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney
that is going to be gone. Verse four, yet I am the Lord thy God
from the land of Egypt. and now shalt know, no God but
me, for there is no Savior beside me. With all that, you mean to
tell me, as low of a worm as I am, the Lord will be pleased
and love to save me, and take away all my lovers, and take
away all my flagons of wine, and make me committed to him
for eternity, for many days? Let's read through all them chapters
and it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse. And we're
starting to get a glimpse of what we are. And then he says,
but I'm going to do it anyway. Oh, it melts the heart. What
love? What love? Look at verse 9, Hosea 13, 9.
Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. Who's brought this evil
upon us? That's what they ask in Jonah.
I did. You did. We brought it on ourselves. God said so. But for his name's
sake, it's exactly what John was talking about. It's the same
message throughout this entire book. Every book in it. It says,
thou, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. I will be thy king. I'll rule
everything. Hosea 14, verse one. O Israel, Return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Now in verse four,
Hosea 14, four. I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely. What do I have to do? You can't
do something to make somebody love you. What do I have to do
to get God to love me? Freely. Freely. There ain't no cause in us for
him to love us. So, we need it. He said, I'll
love them freely. I'll love them freely. I will
heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger
is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel,
and he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread. What did the Lord tell us? He
said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. What if we're gonna
break one off? You can't, if we're one with
him. We ain't the husbandman he is,
the father is. He prunes as he sees fit. But
if we're one with him, if we're any, we shall always be any.
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive
tree, and his smell as leaven. I say it often. Think about that.
I want to smell him. I put cologne on this morning, so this old
shirt I got don't smell too bad. I got my jacket dry-cleaned,
but I didn't dry-clean my shirt. I forgot. So I tried to make
myself smell good. The Lord just walks around smelling
good all the time, don't He? There ain't no corruption coming
out of His armpits. Nothing in Him. Verse 7. They
that dwell under His shadow shall return. They shall revive as
a corn and grow as the vine. The scent thereof shall be as
the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, what have
I to do anymore with idols? I've heard him and observed him. If we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
if we hear him, we ain't going to go back to them idols. It's
changed. I was telling somebody, I can't
encourage anybody ever to go willfully listen to a false gospel. I can't do that. If you think
that's a good idea, you think wrong. Period. It won't profit. It's a bad idea. But we was talking
the other day, who could? If you're his, and this is a
gospel you have to hear, you can't pick through and get the
good things. A man was talking one time, said, there's this
girl named Kimberly. He said, boy, she did something terrible. I hate her. He said,
she's a blonde. She's about this tall. She's blue eyed. She drives
a little green car. And the more he talked, the madder I got.
I don't care if it's right or wrong. Where I come from, you
say something bad about her, even if you're right and she's right, I'm right
to go out and punch you in the mouth, and then we'll talk about
it later. That's just normal. And boy, I was ready to fist
fight him. And then I found out it was a completely different
Kimberly. I said, you better watch what you say, buddy. I
come close to getting me in trouble. You can't sit and listen to somebody
lie about God. Somebody tell man how good they are. Well,
keep everybody here. We'll have a party this evening
and y'all did such a great job and just lie. And I saw what
great things you've done. I've seen what great things the
Lord's done. And if we know him, we love him, we won't hear about
him. That's so. If for himself say, verse eight,
what have I to do anymore of idols? I've heard him and observed
him. I've seen him. I've seen him
walk, seen him work. I'm like a green fir tree, for
me is thy fruit found. It's your fruit, Lord. Then he
closes down verse nine. Who is wise, and he shall understand
these things. Who's prudent, and he shall know
those that bow to Christ do. That's wisdom, that's prudent.
For the ways of the Lord are right. and the just shall walk
in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein." We've all
transgressed, we've all fallen, but what does the Lord say? Return
to me. Return to me. Repentance towards God and belief
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Him. Paul said, I've
done all I can do. I fought a good fight. I made
it all the way to the end of what the Lord had for me to do.
And I've told you, this summarizes my whole message. He's talking
in church. He gathered all the men of Ephesians. Ephesus said, I'm
going to talk to you before I leave. And he said, I've not failed.
I'm not shunned to preach the whole counsel of God. Did he
preach the whole counsel of God? No, he didn't know it. You don't
know it either, but he didn't shy away from it. And he said,
this is a summary of it. Whether it hurts or it makes
you happy, it don't make a difference. The message is the same. Repentance
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from
y'all. We've transgressed with all form,
but he says, return to me. And Christ says to that adulterous
wife, I've bought you. You're mine. You've always been
mine. You always will be. And you'll receive double for
all your sin. The water and the blood. I hope that book's a blessing
to those that read it and see Christ in it, see us in it. I
got turned to that this week, and one verse in it caught my
attention. I went to look it up in the New
Testament when our Lord refers to it, and then that'll be the
next hour. So we'll meet in 15 minutes and see what he has to
say in Matthew. Let's pray together. Father,
thank you for this. Lord, thank you for this book,
this lovely picture of us and our Savior, our King, our great
husband and our Redeemer. Lord, you're holy and perfect
and wise. We're worms, and yet because
of your will and your love in Christ, because of his work,
you've lifted us up from the dunghill. Melt the hearts of your people,
Lord, and knit them to Christ's heart. Make us one with Him until
we're made like Him and see Him face to face. Thank you for your
promises. Forgive us for what we are. It's
because of Christ we ask it. Amen. All right, we'll meet back
at 1030.