Beyond my highest joy, I prize
her heavenly ways, her sweet communion, solemn vows, her hymns
of love and praise. Can you say that? I really can,
from the bottom of my heart, in all sincerity. Beyond my highest
joys, his lovingkindness is better than life. It doesn't get any better than
this, on this earth. It will, in glory. John chapter 3. John chapter
3. As you know, this is the Gospel. It's called the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The Gospel. The Gospel
of Isaiah. The Gospel. What is the Gospel?
It's about Jesus Christ. It's Him. The Hymn Book. Him
who loved us and washed us from our sins. His own blood. Everything
is written about him. It's him. This book is all about
him. Everything he said, everything
he did, what he came to do. It should fill us with wonder
and love and peace. We should have peace. This whole
book, every line, every page is good news. Good news. If you're a sinner, if you need
Christ, Begins in verse 22, After these things came Jesus, after
talking to Nicodemus, he came to the disciples into the land
of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized them.
After these things, the Lord Jesus Christ came, and he came
and he tarried with these disciples. He came into Judea. He came into
Capernaum. He came into Galilee. He came. God came down from heaven to
this earth. He came. He tarried. He stayed a while. Thirty-three years for him was
like an eternity in this place. But because of his love for his
people, he came. He tarried with them. Who were
they? Mary Magdalene. The likes of
her, you know. Matthew, a publican, a sinner.
That's who he came for. Christ came. He tarried with
them. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had
a great work to do and so little time to do it. And it says here,
he tarried with them. He stayed a while. Remember the
Lord was on the road to Emmaus and it said he made it as though
he was going to pass. Why? He's got work to do. And they
said, oh Lord, please stop. Tarry. Abide with us. He said, okay. He will. Isn't that amazing that
the Lord came to Rocky Mount, Virginia? Don't ever get over
that, because He's not in every city. He's just not. He's tarried here. He's tarried
here. The church has been here, the gospel has been here over
40 years, 45 years. Aren't you glad? He's still here. Aren't you glad? Where two or
three of His disciples Oh, you know, you and I, if we're busy
doing something and our children or somebody asks us to stop and
do something, we get upset. No, we go, I don't have time
for you. I was grieving with a brother.
We were at dinner the other night and he was talking about his
dad didn't spend any time with them. And his grandfather is
just like that. That's sad. Got no time for you. But our Heavenly Father, He made
time. He tarried. What do you need? Yeah, I'll sit down with you.
What a blessing. What a blessing. Amazing to me.
You know, it's amazing to me that the Lord came and it's amazing
He stays. Because we don't have time for
Him a lot of the time. We don't make time for Him. I'm busy. The Lord's going to
be here. I'm busy. I've got other things,
other people. Oh, do you now? Why would He
come back? Why would He stay here when His
bride treats Him like that? Because He's God and not a man. That's why. Oh, I'm so glad.
Well, it says he baptized there, and it keeps talking about baptism.
Verse 23, John was also baptized in another place, Enoch, near
Salem, because there was much water there. Baptism is by immersion,
it's not sprinkling. It's a picture of Christ crucified
and buried with him and risen, brought up out of the water,
raised with him, quickened together with him. Well, our Lord did
not baptize. Chapter 4, verse 2. says that
plainly. But there it says that he baptized.
Well, whatever his disciples do, he's the doer of it. You know that? It said that of
Joseph. Remember that when Joseph was in the prison, that the keeper
gave the charge of all the prisoners to Joseph? And it said, whatever
is done, Joseph was the doer of it. And our Lord said, Go out into
all the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. That's the confession of Christ.
There's no option. Why would anybody not want to?
Why would anybody not want to confess Christ? Are they ashamed
of it? No. Go out. And He said, Preach
the gospel and I'll be with you. I'll speak through you. I'll
speak whatever you do. I'm the doer of it. And anyone
that's baptized truly confesses Christ, Christ did it. Though
a man put him under that water, it's Christ. We're baptized by
him, into him, and become one with him. Crucified with Christ. Baptism. John baptized. The disciples
baptized. Baptism is for believers. Baptism is for believers. What
kind of believers? What do you believe? You believe
that you're a rotten, no good, worthless, hell-deserving sinner.
That's what you are. That you deserve to be crucified.
You deserve to be punished for your sin. You deserve that. But
you believe, you hope, you need a substitute. You need someone
to take your place because you can't get to heaven That's all
you are. That's your confession. I'm just
a sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in
all. I believe that when Christ came,
He came for me. I believe when Christ died, He
died for me. I believe when Christ shed His blood, He shed it for
the remission of my sin. I believe that when Christ was
buried, I was buried with Him. I believe when Christ rose again
and went back to glory, I believe that's how I'm going to get to
heaven. By Him, in Him, through Him, because of Him. That's it.
You're not confessing yourself. You're not confessing feelings.
You don't wait on a feeling. You're confessing Christ. Do
you believe Christ? Then you must be baptized. Keeps talking about it. They
baptize, they baptize. Is it important? It's essential. It's confessing Him. It's like marriage. You know,
baptism is like a funeral and a marriage at the same time.
It's a funeral. I die. I should have died, but
no, I live through Christ. You know, you fall in love with
somebody, and salvation is to fall in love for God to put His
love in your heart for Christ, for the truth, for the gospel,
for His kingdom. I love thy kingdom, Lord. Perhaps
somebody in here was singing that hymn, and it meant nothing
to her. It meant everything to me. I love thy kingdom, God. Don't
you? Can you say that? Then God has
put His love in you, shed abroad it in your heart. Love for His
Son, love for His truth, love for His people, love for His
church, love to sing His praises, love to worship Him. There's
nothing you love better. And you just can't wait to leave
here to go do it perfectly, without interruption, without sin. You'll all be singing, We'll
all be singing at the top of our lungs. Glory all the way!
And glory, every one of us. Oh, son of David! Have mercy
on me! Baptism, like you fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to marry. I fell in
love with that woman. I couldn't travel far enough. I couldn't get there soon enough. And if I left, I didn't want
to leave. Spent hours there. I didn't sleep.
Didn't eat. She became my life. Were you
going to get married? Married. There's no question
about it. I want to spend the rest of my
life with her. I want her to be mine. I want
her to be mine and me to be hers. We'll be one and spend the rest
of our life together, right? Do you take this woman? Yes! Would you hurry up so we
can go on our honeymoon? That's a fact. That's what baptism
is. Do you take this man? Yes! I
want everyone to know it. You're not confessing yourself.
Put me down under that water. Bring me up and show everybody
what I really am. A wet rat. And all the makeup's
gone. All your hair, you know. I'm
nothing. He must increase. I must decrease. Yes, this is my Lord and my Savior. Look what He did for me. Least
I could do. Yes, confessing. It's nothing, is it? Nothing. Our Lord said, He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not, damned. Amen. Love not the Lord Jesus
Christ. In 1 Corinthians he said, Let
him be accursed when the Lord cometh. Well, so they baptized
him. They came to John, verse 25,
there arose a question between John's disciples and the Jews
about purifying. They came to John and it was
the Pharisees who it was. It was down in verse 1 of chapter
4, it says, Pharisees heard Jesus made more, made and baptized
more disciples than John. These fellas came and what they're
doing is trying to pit John. They're divisive. They're trying
to separate. They're sons of Satan. They're trying to separate the
disciples, cause strife and division. He's baptizing more than you
all are. Everybody's going to him, McCabe
said. What do you think about that,
John? He's got more people than you do down there. What do you
think about that, John? He said, that's great. That's what he said. He said,
verse 27, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above.
Now he's talking about not only Christ, like the high priest
didn't take it upon himself in Hebrew, but he's called of God
and that Christ was sent by God as a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Well, John's talking about himself
too. A man can receive nothing. He said, I didn't volunteer for
this. I'm sent. The Lord sent me. Our
Lord said that. This is Elijah who'll come. Before
that great day of the Lord, he'll send Elijah. And our Lord said,
this is, John is him. Sent as the forerunner of Christ. Verse 28, he said, you bear me
witness that I said I am not the Christ. You heard me say that. I am not
the Christ. You see, every true preacher
that's sent by God, every true preacher that is sent by God
is sent to preach Christ. And he's not. He makes it very
clear. I am nothing. I am not. He kept
saying, I am not. Are you Elijah? I am not. Are
you the Christ? No. Who are you? Nothing. A voice. This is every
true preacher sent by God is sent to proclaim the Lord. A
preacher is like that pole that Moses held up the brass serpent
upon. That's the only use for that
pole. You don't worship the pole. You don't look to the pole. You
look to the one he holds up. You see? You bear me witness, I am not
the Christ, I'm sent before Him. And verse 29, he that hath the
bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom. He
said, I'm just his friend. And standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This
my joy therefore is fulfilled. He's come, he's come. And here's
what he says, and isn't this us? Isn't this everybody, preacher
and hearer alike? He must increase. I? Oh, I. Don't you want self to
decrease? Our Lord said that. Any man come
after me, let him, first thing, deny self. Deny self. Deny self. I, me and my, got
to die. Got to get less. Until I, me
and my gets lower and lower and Christ won't mean everything
to you. He must increase. I must decrease. In chapter 1 it came to him and
said, Are you this? Are you that? He said, No. He
said, He is. He is what? Everything. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption, the Redeemer, the Messiah, the covenant
head, the second Adam from above, the intercessor, the consolation,
the salvation, the Redeemer, the Lord our rock, our tower,
our fortress, our kinsman, Redeemer. What? Name something. He it is. We're nothing. We're all forlorn,
fallen women that He has come for. And that's what we're going
to look at and finish this out with in Hosea. He is all. This is every preacher
and hearer and every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ said,
He is all. I am nothing at all. I have done
nothing but sin against Him. Like Nehemiah prayed there, didn't
he? Like Daniel prayed. Like all
of them prayed. Confusion belongs to us. Salvation
belongs to the Lord. I am nothing. He's everything. You know, if He keeps getting
greater to His people, and the greater Christ becomes to you,
the smaller and the lower and the worse you will become to
yourself. The more you admire Jesus Christ, the more ashamed
of yourself you will be. You know that. That's a fact. You feel worse than ever, though
not really. God's people aren't getting worse,
but the more you see of Christ, the worse you feel about yourself. See, the Holy Spirit does that.
He convicts us of sin. He keeps convicting us. Why?
So we'll see Christ as all of us. We'll see ourselves as nothing
at all. We'll see Christ as our only
hope. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Good. Then the Holy Spirit says,
in him dwelleth everything that you need. Yea, he must increase. I must decrease. He went on to
say he's from above. He that is of the earth is earthly.
Remember Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians 15. First Adam. The soul, living soul, is like
animals and animated, but Christ is a living spirit, a quickening
spirit, different life, life of God. He that cometh from above
is above all, and he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh
of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all, verse 32. What he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth. He's the true and faithful witness
spoken of in Revelation 1. A true, you know, I was telling
Mindy this morning, if somebody really wants to know the truth,
they'll find it. If somebody's really seeking the truth, and
a place where the truth is, they'll find it. God will bring them
there. And they'll hear the truth. They'll hear the truth. What
is the truth? Christ. And they'll keep seeing more
and more. He's the whole truth. The truth, the whole truth, nothing
but the truth. There's nothing else. And He
increases to you. You want to see more of Him.
If you really see Him, you want to see more of Him, don't you?
If you really love Him, you want to see more of Him. That's just
the fact. He's above all. He's above all.
You quit admiring people and things and you become an admirer
of Jesus Christ only. You quit defending every cause
of man. You quit defending anything and
everything concerning man. You'll say like David, all men
are just a bunch of liars. What you say is let God be true
and every man a liar. I admire him. He's the only one
worth admiring. He's everything. That's a fact. I remember people I used to be
impressed with and, you know, in awe of. Flesh. Rotten flesh. Take their clothes off and they're
just a filthy flesh. Not this man. Not this woman. Altogether lovely. A blessed be God, a blessed promise. 33, it says, He that receives his
testimony is set to his seal that God is true. Brothers and
sisters, have you received the truth or loved the truth? Have
you? Some people haven't, and they're going to be damned. And
God sends strong delusions. He sends them religion, and they're
all caught up in it, and they believe it just as strongly as
you believe the truth. You know that? They believe they're
right. They believe their religion is right. Strong delusion. God said, I'll choose their delusions
for them. And they don't look to Christ,
and Christ alone, and really not rejoicing in Christ alone. Really don't see what they are,
and who Christ is, and their need of Him to crucify. And they're
not preaching Him. They don't know Him. But you
do, don't you? I've received the love for the
truth. There was a time I rejected it. A time I didn't need it.
But then there came a time in God's time, the fullness of time,
I received the truth. and set to his seal. This is
true. This is true. You know what he
did? He sealed you. When sealed, that's what Ephesians
1 says, doesn't it? Sealed. When he received, entrusted
him, he was sealed. Shut up. Pitched. He whom God has sent speaketh
the words of God, and God giveth not the Spirit by
measure unto Him. The Father loveth the Son. You
see who He's talking about? You see who He's holding up?
You see He, He, He, Him, Him, Him, Son, Son, Son. The Father
loveth the Son, giveth all things into His hands. It's in His hands.
Not in your hands, it's in His hands. Thank God. And He that
believeth on the Son, Boy, if you believe on the Son,
you ought to smile right now. Hath everlasting life. Not will have it. Hath right
now. Right now. I don't feel like
it. Doesn't matter how you feel. You believe on the Son, you'll have life. And he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, and the wrath
of God abideth on him. See that? It's serious. When I want to go back now, here's
the gospel. I've preached the gospel. But you know, the gospel is the
greatest love story ever told. Who doesn't love a good love
story? Men are fond of saying, I love love. Women do. All of God's women do. Greatest
love story ever told. How God so loved. people out
of every kindred, nation, tongue under heaven, sent His Son down
here, the Father, purpose to have a kingdom for His Son, for
His Son, a people for His glory, a people whom He called the Bride,
the Wife, the Lamb's Wife, she's called, the Church. God so loved,
God foreloved, whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate. Purposed,
betrothed. He betrothed her, betrothed,
betrothed. He gave her to his son before
the world began to marry. Verse 29, this is what John is
saying. He that hath the bride, he that
owns the bride, whom she belongs to is the bridegroom. You know, I thought about this.
We don't use that word anymore, the bridegroom. Do we? Bridegroom. We say the bride, we say the
groom, usually in that order because she usually has precedent
over him. Right? You know, marriages, modern
marriages are like false religion today, Armenian religion. Well,
here comes the bride. Everybody stand. Isn't she beautiful? I'm sure shook glad, and he's
standing, the groom, poor little groom, standing over here at
the side. Nobody's paying any attention to him. And he's sure
hoping she'll say, I do. Isn't that religion? In heaven, brother, in heaven.
You know who's coming walking down the aisle? The groom! The
bride's groom. Why is he called that? Because
they're so one. They're inseparable. These two
are one. This is marriage. The bride belongs
to him. And she to him. But she didn't
always, he didn't always belong to her. She didn't know it. Seemed
like they'd gone their separate way. You know, marriage today
is over 50% divorce. Approaching 60%. And what it is is two people,
they say they love each other. Most of the time they try it
out. You don't try out love. You either
have it or you don't. You don't seek it. It finds you. Like Christ. God is love. Well,
people, you know, they have their separate careers, husband and
wife, and they decide, well, we need to marry, you know, so
we legalize this thing. And they get married, okay, and
they still have their separate careers. That's not marriage. That's not Christ. That's not
the marriage of Christ and man. They become one. And everything
they do, everything he did, he did it for her. Everything she
does, he does it for him. They're inseparable. No man's
going to put this under. Can't do it. No. He's called
the bridegroom. The bridegroom. Christ and His
Church. Church and Christ. Bridegroom. They're one. They're united.
Inseparably. Oh, they have one. Both of them
have one purpose. One career. Christ is our career. Bridegroom. They're united. He
is called the Bridegroom and He had the bride. And when there
was a time He didn't seem like He had her. Go to Hosea with
me now. Hosea, right after Daniel. Look at Hosea. I said that for
my sake. Hosea, Christ hath the bride. He sent his heart, he sent his
mind, he sent his love, his will, all his purpose to come and get
his bride. To get the one that he loved.
He's going to have her. He that hath the bride. He always
had her. It didn't seem like it. It seemed
like the world had her. Sin had her down. No, she belongs
to Him. He's going to have her. She's
going to have Him. He desires her. He desires her. She doesn't desire Him. She sees no beauty in Him that
she should desire. And there is no beauty in her
that he should desire. Why does he desire her? Because
that's who he is. Because greater love hath no
man than him. She's forlorn. She's fallen. She's held captive
by everything, everyone. She doesn't know it. She thinks
she's free. She's totally captive. Sin, lust,
flesh, anybody and everything that comes along. It's got her
under it. Forlorn. God of this world has
her. Self has her. People has her.
Things have her. She's prostituted. She sold herself
for nothing. Sold herself. And if somebody
doesn't do something, she's going to be destroyed. But she was his. And he's coming for her. You know, the gospel is still
being preached from this place. Our Lord said in chapter 3, said,
The Lord said unto me, Go love a woman, beloved her friend,
yet she is an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel, who love gods and flagons of wine. I don't
love him. Chapter 1, verse 9, it says,
this is her name, not mine. Would you name your child not
mine? You have a child that's not mine. Chapter 1, verse 9. Leoma. It means not my people. Oh yeah, she is. She just doesn't
know it. Verse 10 says, Yet a number shall
be saved that cannot be measured. It'll be said of the people,
You're not my people. It says, You're mine. You're
sons. You're my son. Like old Ephraim. Leave him alone. Chapter 2, look at this. The
Lord has to do something to somebody to bring her or him to himself. He has to bring that person down.
He has to open their blind eyes to see what they are. She has to see herself as she
really is, not like the world lets her know, like she thinks
she is. She's got to see herself as she really is. In verses 6 and 7, verse chapter
2, it says, I'll hedge up the way with thorns and troubles,
and she'll follow after her lovers, but she won't find them. She'll
look for lovers, somebody to love her, but she's not going
to find anybody to love her. She's not lovely. She's going to have to see herself,
what she really is, what she's done to herself, and what she's
done to her Lord. And then she's going to greatly
appreciate what He does for her. Brother Barnard came into a town
one time, and there was a young lady that was, parents were just
distraught over her. She was just held captive by
everything that this world does to young people, you know. And
they came to Brother Barnard and said, Brother Barnard, would
you please speak to our daughter? She's vexed by this unclean spirit,
and we talked to her. We can't do anything. Would you
speak to her? He said, yeah, I will. And he got that young lady off
to the side and he said, young lady, I want you to go home tonight
and I want you to ask the Lord to show you yourself. And he
left. He left town. Well, he came back. Sometime later, several, it may
have been a year or so, he was asked back there to preach, and
he came back, and the parents came to him again and said, Brother
Barnard, after you were here the last time, it's a true story.
He said, after you were here the last time, our daughter hadn't
been the same, but she's torn up. She's just torn up. She's
torn up. She can't get any happiness or
any peace or anything. She's not out in the world like
she was. She's just, we can't comfort her at all. He said,
would you talk to her? He said, I will. So he took her
off the side. He said, young lady, I want you
to go home tonight and ask the Lord to show you Himself. And she did. The Lord saved her. I'm going to send thorns. I'm
going to send troubles. Verse 8, she didn't know what
all I'd been doing for her all this time. She took it for granted.
She thought it was her lover. She didn't know. She didn't know.
That's the scripture that broke this rebel's heart. Father, forgive
them. They know not what they're doing. To themselves, to God, to everyone
that loves them, that just don't know, would you open their eyes
and show them what they are and what they're doing and their
desperate need of me, of Christ? They know not. He did it. There's a thief right beside
him. The Lord brought him. Thief,
no good, wretched. His eyes, born again right there. She didn't know. Verse 9, He
said, I'll return. I'll take away your corn, your
wine. I'll take away all your covering. Verse 9, I'll discover
your lewdness. I'll expose you for what you
really are. I'll let other people see what
you've done to yourself and others and to God. I'll take away her
comforts. I'll expose her sins. Verse 11,
I'll cause her mirth to cease. I'll stop her laughter. She's
been smiling and laughing and cutting up and joking like it's
a big joke. I'm going to stop that. I'm just going to start
crying. I'm going to destroy her vines.
I'm going to destroy everything, her lovers and everything. I'm
going to visit her, verse 13. I'm going to visit her. Take
away her jewels, all her beauty and all that. That's what the Lord's got to
do to someone. You've got to bring them down. I hear about people
getting down low, low, low, and I think, well, maybe, maybe it's
a good thing. Hopefully it's of the Lord. He's
bringing them so far down, there's no place to look but up. Then he says, in verse 14, I'm
going to allure her. I'm going to bring her into the
wilderness. apart from everybody and everything, you know, the
churches in the wilderness. That's what it's called, the
church in the wilderness. And he brings this forlorn woman
into where his people are. And he says, I'm going to speak
comfortably to her. I'm going to speak comfortably
to her. I'm going to allure her. I'm going to give her, verse
15, her vineyards. That's the wine, the grape, the
blood. I'm going to show her how the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses. She's confessed
her sin. I'm going to show her. I'm going
to give her a valley of acre, a door of hope. There's no hope
in this world. Young people, there's no hope
in this world. For happiness, for contentment, nothing. There's
no hope in this world. But there's hope in Christ. Only
in Christ. I'm going to speak comfortably
to her. I'm going to give her a door
of hope. She's going to cry, she's going to call, and she's
going to sing. I remember so many things when
the Lord was dealing with me. I remember thinking, You know, the prodigal came back,
and the Lord brought him back, and I heard the gospel, and I
thought, this is too good. It can't be. I believe this, but
it can't mean me. It can't mean me. And, you know, people were taking
the Lord's table, and oh, I wanted to do that. But I hadn't confessed
him yet. I don't know why. I just hadn't. I thought, well, I look forward
to the day I can do that, and he impressed upon me. Confess
him. So I did. And it's like He confessed
me to me. I'm yours. I'm yours. I remember first being able to
partake of the Lord's table. I'm thinking, hurry up with that
dish. Yes, me. Me. I'm part of this. The blood, the wine, me? Yes, you. Sing? I remember, you know, I was forced
to sing these hymns growing up. Sing! I don't feel like singing. Sing! As I said, I hope one day
these young people will sing from the heart. Nobody will have
to tell them to sing, but they'll want to sing from the heart.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on the Lord Jesus' name. Oh, don't you
love that? It was a time I didn't love that.
I couldn't sing that. I couldn't wait to get out and
sing the song of the drunkard, right? Now, Kelly, sing this song. Sing! Sing. I'd like her to sing. She's going
to sing. Then I'm going to call her, verse 16, she's going to
call me Ishiah, my husband. My husband. In verse 19, He said, I betrothed
her. I betrothed her to me forever. Betrothed in righteousness, judgment,
loving kindness and mercy. Yes, I'll betroth thee unto me,
you're mine. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price. In faithfulness thou shalt know the Lord. Come
to pass, I will hear. I will hear. I'm going to call
for every goodness to become your way. I took it all away,
and I'm going to give it all back. A hundredfold. My beloved, you're going to be
a joint heir with me, Christ said. Everything I have is yours. You just wait and see. Verse
23, I will sow her unto me. I will have mercy upon her that
had not obtained mercy. I'll say to them that were not
my people, you're my people. And they're going to say, you're
my God. This is my Christ. Would you go back to, yeah, go back to Isaiah again. You want to read this again for
the first time? Isaiah 54. Maybe it will mean
more to you now. Okay? Isaiah 54. He says, talks
about the barren woman, nobody and nothing. He said, enlarge
your tents. You're going to have a family
like you didn't know you had. Those that didn't have children,
you're going to have children all right. You're going to be among
them, with them, forever, all of you. Why? Because, he says,
you're not going to be put to shame. Though you're ashamed
of yourself, you're not going to be put to shame. You're going
to forget the shame of your youth. Because I have, Christ God said,
I have forgotten their sins and their iniquities, I remember
no more. No more. Nope. You won't remember that.
Your Maker is your husband. Verse 5. The Lord hath hosted
his name, the Redeemer, the God of the whole earth. That's Him.
The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, grieved in
spirit, a wife of youth. You know what the next chapter
in John is, don't you? After John 3? He goes and sits
on a well. He's waiting on a woman. The bridegroom goes. He's got
a forlorn woman in Samaria. I must at least go through Samaria.
Why, Lord? Well, am I forlorn? Why? That's
who it came for. That's why he came to earth.
This is Gomer. Come for his Hoseas, and they're everywhere. They're
everywhere. Our Maker is our husband. Call,
verse 6. The Lord has called thee as a
forsaken woman. A wife refused like that woman. Five husbands. Well, I've got
another one. He's the right one. Yeah, right. For a small moment, this trouble,
this trial is just for a moment. All the grief, the approach,
everything in this life lasts but for a moment. But with great
mercies, everlasting kindness. And he said, this is like the
waters of Noah. It will not cover you. When the overflowing scourge
of his wrath comes now, it won't come now to you. Verse 10, I've
made a covenant, covenant of peace concerning thee. I have
faith. I am going to have mercy on you. You're mine. And you know, this is not a fairy
tale. Simon Peter said, this is no
cunningly devised fable. He'd come for his bride, and
they are someday going to live happily ever after. And that's a fact. No more tears, no more sorrow,
no more sin, because Christ is faithful. He's the bride's groom. The bridegroom. And he's going
to have her. Oh, that's my prayer. That's
my prayer for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, for me
and mine. Lord, please, come get them. They may not be yours,
but come make them yours. Okay, Brother John, you come.