Streams abound, make it keep
me here within. Thou art like the fountain on,
freely let me take of Thee. spring Thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity. We chose that hymn, but well,
the whole hymn is good. Ephraim could have sung that.
Ephraim does sing that. You're eat from it, you're saved. But we chose it for that line,
primarily for the line, leave, I'll leave, me not alone. Hosea 11, Hosea 11, I hope some
of you read. It's a short book. If you haven't
read it, go back and read the whole thing. Maybe someday soon
we'll go through it. Hosea 11, verse 8 is the title
and the subject. Hosea 11, 8, the Lord says, How
shall I give thee up, Abram? He says, How shall I deliver
thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admon,
Zebulun? That's the cities of the plain
that he destroyed. If my heart is turned within
me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute
the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy
Ephraim, for I am God and not man. How shall I give thee up? This is another gospel story
of God's infinite mercy and love and grace and compassion, long-suffering
and unworthy sinner, a son. named Ephraim. Ephraim is another
name for God's people. The Lord says, how shall I give
thee up, Ephraim? He didn't. He didn't give him
up to himself. He didn't give him up to the
God of this world. He didn't give him over. He won't. God won't do that to His sons.
If you're His son, He won't He won't give you up. He won't. Now, this is not a disclaimer, but
I got to say this. We say a lot of against free
will. Because if you read the article
by Maurice Montgomery, did you read it? He quoted Martin Luther. who said, if I'm not professing
with the loudest voice that point at which the world is attacking,
I'm not professing Christ. And this is the clarion cry,
the fundamental belief, the universal belief, conspiracy. Free will. Salvation is not of the Lord.
It's an act of the human will, a choice. It's man's choice that
God has done all He can do. Jesus died for everybody. God
wants to save everybody. It's up to people. This is not only a lie on God,
a lie to men and women, it dishonors God, it brings Him down, it abases
the work of God and the work of Christ, completely does away
with the work of the Holy Spirit, and exalts man's will and man's
works and all that. It's blasphemy. The fact of the matter is, our
wills are depraved. Our wills are corrupt. Our Lord
said that. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can a black man just decide to be white? No. Can a leopard
be spot? Can a leopard decide to be a
lion? No, he can't do it. He said, how then can you do
good, which you're accustomed to doing evil? You can't. Our will is depraved, our minds,
our choices that we make are only evil. That's what God said
in Genesis 16, 8, after the flood. He looked down and said, their
mind, their will is only evil continually. If left to ourselves, if God
leaves us alone, if God does not violate, they say, God won't
violate your free will. If God doesn't violate our free
will, we're lost. If He leaves us alone. If He
leaves us to ourselves. I'm not talking about before
you were saved. I'm talking about after. If He
leaves you alone, you're a goner. If He leaves us alone and gives
us up to do what we will, we will die in our sins. Salvation
is of the Lord from beginning to end. And the purpose of it? in the application of it, the
doing of it, and the preservation of it, the finality of it, the
end of it, the result of it. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation,
here salvation is for God not to give up, give us up. That's what he said to this,
here salvation is for God to say to you, how shall I give
thee up? If you can hear this message
without any feeling whatsoever, you're either asleep or your
heart is a stone, or you're not a sinner. Salvation is for the Lord Jesus
Christ to say, I will never leave thee, no forsaken thee. I will
never give up on you. Though you leave me, I will never
leave you. Though you deny me, I will never
deny you. Though you leave, I will come
get you." Here's salvation. It's of the Lord. And it gives Him all the glory. All of it. All right, three points,
three questions. Who is Ephraim? Who is this man
named Ephraim? What did he do? What did the Lord do with him?
Three questions. Who is Ephraim? Jeremiah 31. I'll tell you who he is, and
we'll be turning back and forth a little bit. I'll tell you who
he is. He's one of Joseph's sons. Remember,
Joseph was in captivity in Egypt, and Joseph had two sons named
Manasseh was the firstborn, not Ephraim. Manasseh was the firstborn,
and then he had Ephraim, the youngest son. Manasseh. He called him Manasseh. It means
forgetful. The Lord hath made me forget
my bondage. Remember, he had that son. Then he had Ephraim.
He said, the Lord hath made me fruitful in Egypt. Even in bondage,
I have this. His name means fruitful. Ephraim's
anything but fruitful. He doesn't have any fruit. He's
a wretched sinner until the Lord does something for him. Who is
Ephraim? He's a son of Jacob, grandson. He's a son of Jacob. That's who
he is. Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. That's God's
choice. He's God's elect, just like Jacob. Yes, he is. You won't hear Manasseh,
you won't hear God speak of Manasseh like this. Nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere. Ephraim's mentioned
over 200 times. Vanessa, you'll never hear God
say, I love you, Vanessa. You're my son. I won't give you
up. You'll never hear Him say that.
He's chosen of God. He's loved of God, just like
Jacob was chosen over his older brother. Esau was born first.
But Jacob, God said, I chose Jacob, my sovereign will, my
sovereign purpose. That's who I chose. And Ephraim,
you remember the story when Jacob came to bless both the sons of
Joseph? Joseph brought the two sons between
his knees. He put Ephraim on Joseph's right
hand, and he put Manasseh on Joseph's right hand, the oldest
son. And he put Ephraim, the youngest son, on his left hand.
Well, Jacob wittingly, knowing what he was doing, knowing what
was done to him, crossed his hands and put his right hand
on Ephraim's head as the firstborn and his left
hand on Manasseh. And Joseph said, Don't do that.
He said, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. This was
done to me. That's what God told me to do.
Jeremiah 31, look at verse 9. It says, They will come He's
been talking about Israel, his people, sons of Jacob, his people,
Israel. And he mentions Ephraim, and
he keeps mentioning Ephraim. Verse 9, they will come with
weeping, with supplication. When I lead them, I will cause
them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way, where
they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn. Huh? Manasseh was born, but no,
God said, no, no, he's not my son, Ephraim. But, but, but,
but what? Neither one of them deserve.
We're going to see this fellow Ephraim. He didn't deserve to
be saved. He's just like his granddad, Jacob. He's just like
him. He doesn't deserve to be saved.
All he's done is provoke the Lord. But God. I may say that about ten times
this business. Brethren, this is me. Is this
you? Ephraim is every sinner saved
by sovereign love, by sovereign choice, by grace. Every sinner
chosen of God. Ephraim doesn't know God, doesn't
know the Lord. Ephraim is me. Ephraim is you.
Ephraim is a sinner saved by grace. Ephraim was born in captivity. Ephraim was born in captivity.
He was born in Egypt. I believe, I haven't heard anybody
else say this, but probably somebody has, I don't know. I believe
Ephraim represents Gentiles. I believe he represents us. His
mother was an Egyptian woman, a Joseph Mary. I forget her name,
Asenath or something. But both these boys were in captivity,
born in Egypt. They were born in captivity.
And they didn't know it. They liked it. They were born
in Egypt. They liked Egypt. Some of you
know where I'm going with this. Boy or girl, born in this world,
raised up in a fine family. Joseph was his dad. Joseph was
his father. Do you not think Joseph taught
him the true God? Huh? You have no idea. His mother,
I don't know. But Joseph taught both these
boys. What they, boy, grew up. This could be a girl growing
up in this world. This is Egypt. Had it all. Joseph's
wealthy. They had it all, but they were
taught right. And raised up. Get a taste of this world. As
soon as they're old enough, they're gone. They love this world. Love
the things of this world. Going out and make their way
in the world. If God doesn't save them, it doesn't matter
how they make their way in the world if they don't know Christ's
way. They're lost. They're born in captivity. They
didn't know it. They thought they were living
a good life. Ephraim. That was Ephraim. What
did Ephraim do? Go back to Hosea. Keep Jeremiah. What did Ephraim do? There was
an old preacher years ago. Somebody asked him what he did to be saved. He said, I did the sinning and
the Lord did the saving. That's it. What did Ephraim do? I'll tell you what Ephraim did.
He sinned against the Lord. That's all he did until the Lord
came to him and turned to him. Then he slowed on his thigh.
Then he repented. Then he turned. But the Lord
turned him. The goodness of God led him to repentance. The whole
story of Hosea, if you don't know it, Hosea chapter 1. Look at chapter 1. If I'm not
careful, I'll get down here a little bit. But the whole story of Hosea
is the story of God's purpose to save a sinful people Israel,
they're not Israel, they're of Israel, but God's true people
are Israel, chosen, iremne. Not the national people, but
a spiritual people called princes of God. This is a story of God's
purpose to save a sinful people, Israel. And he used this story
of Hosea and Gomer. as a type, as a picture of Jesus
Christ who comes to marry this forlorn, this lost, this woman
named Gomer who sold herself. She's a harlot. Look at it. Verse 1 and 2. Hosea 1, verse 2. The beginning
of the word of the Lord by Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, Go take
unto thee a wife of whoredoms. And her children are just like
her. See that? And children of whoredom. So
he went, verse 3, and took Gomer. Gomer. This is the story of the
Lord Jesus Christ who came to marry a sinful people. To take
a wife of whoredoms. Whoredom is one who has sold
their body for pleasure. A whore, a harlot, is one who
has sold their body for money. who will do anything for money.
Would you tell me one human being that's not consumed with money
by nature? We're all dead in the sin. We're all born this way. In captivity
and have sold ourselves by nature to the accumulation of things
and for pleasure, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh.
Our only hope is in Jesus Christ that He come to deliver us from
Egypt. And here's her salvation on Gomer. Gomer's salvation is God told
Hosea, you go marry this woman. Don't ask her, don't plead with
her, don't do anything. You go marry her, you go redeem
her, you go buy her, you go bring her home to me. She won't come
unless you go get her. Nowhere in this story will you
find Hosea asking, Gomer, please won't you come home with me?
No, he does it all. She doesn't even know who he
is and she says her lovers are giving her this, her lovers are
giving her that. She goes after this one and that
one and this one and that one. But Hosea loves her. And Hosea
is going to have her. She doesn't even know who he
is. She doesn't care. He keeps feeding
her and protecting her and taking care of her until finally one
day he said, I bought her. I bought her. I paid the price
for her. She was on the auction block
of sin. And I paid the price and I redeemed her and I brought
her home to me. And I said, you're going to be
mine. I just summed up the whole story of Hosea. He said, you're
going to be mine. You're not going to be anybody
else's from here on out. She said, okay. Thank you for
coming to get me. That's salvation. That's the story. She had a boy,
her offspring, her children are the same way. Ephraim. Chapter
2 of Hosea. Chapter 2, verse 5 says, "...their
mother had played the harp, and she conceived them..." That is,
these children. See, we're born in sin. Come
forth from the womb, speaking lies. "...in sin did my mother
conceive me." Look at verse 8. She didn't know. I gave her corn and wine and
oil and multiplied her silver and her gold. I, the Lord, did
all this for her. Our children don't either. Our
children grow up thinking they did this and they did that.
Verse 10, I will discover her lewdness in the sight of her
lover. I'll bring her down. Verse 14, I will lure her. I'll
bring her into the wilderness. I'm going to speak comfortably
to her. And verse 16, and that day you'll call me husband. You
will call me your husband. Now the first mention of Ephraim
here is in chapter 4. Look at this, chapter 4. And
then the rest of the book is about Ephraim, her offspring. First mention of Ephraim is chapter
4, verse 17. Look at it. Ephraim is joined
to idols. Let him alone. He from chapter 12, look at this,
chapter 12 verse 8, Ephraim said this, chapter 12 verse 8, Ephraim
said, I am become rich. I found me out substance in all
my labors. And I'm a moral man, I'm a good
man. Oh my. He was rich and increased with
goods. in need of nothing, he sure didn't need Satan. He was
prosperous. If you would ask him, he would
say, I love my wife, I love my children, I love my home, I love
my job, I love my truck, I love my dog. Life is good. What's wrong with that saying,
life is good? LG, what's wrong with that? Doesn't
give God any credit, any glory, does it? It ought to be, the
Lord is good, shouldn't it? That's the conversation of God's
people. That's the testimony of God's people. The Lord is
good. Even those the Lord has taken
everything away from us. Like Job, the Lord gave. The
Lord gave. There it is. You ask, oh Ephraim,
at this time? Yeah, I've arrived. I've done
all this. I've made my way in the world.
What about God, Ephraim? What about Christ? Oh, yeah,
yeah, I love Him, too. Yeah, I go to church. No, you don't. He's an afterthought. Think about it every now and
then. Look at chapter 7. Here's Ephraim. Chapter 7, verse
8 and 9. Ephraim's mixed himself among
the people. He's a cake not turned. He's burned. On one side, he's
undone. He's mixed himself. Verse 9,
strangers has devoured his strength. He's mixed in with the world.
You can't tell him apart from the world. Why? Because he is
of the world. That's his love. They're his people. That's his
love. All those things. He said, I love this. I love
that. I love this person. There's no mention of God. He
doesn't know God. He loves life. He loves sports.
He loves things. He loves entertainment. He loves
people. He loves things. No mention of God. Look at verse 11. Ephraim was
like a silly dove without heart. He didn't have a heart. He didn't
have the heart of the issues of life. He was prosperous in
the world. He was rich in the world, but
wasn't rich toward God. He didn't know God. You know,
you can have I have a preacher brother who has two children,
both of them lost, and they're opposite extremes. The son is
most prosperous. He has made his way in the world
and he's very, very wealthy. He's brilliant, handsome, has
a nice wife and a young son and just has it all. Nice house in
the finest place in town and prosperous. He has it all. He
has it all, but he doesn't know Jesus Christ. And then their other child, a
daughter, sold herself, didn't she? Drugs and everything. And she didn't
know God either. You can be equally lost in the
world and be prosperous in the world, not know God as you can
in the gutter, in drugs and all this. Lost is lost. And one's
not better than the other. One's not better than the other.
Silly dove without heart. Look at chapter 8, verse 11. Ephraim's made many altars to
sin, that is, made idols. Another place says they bow down
to their stocks and bonds. Altars shall be unto him sin.
Verse 12, I've written to him the great things of my law. He
was raised on the Word, but they're strange to him now. He didn't
know them. Chapter 12, go over there. Chapter
12, look at verse 1. Ephraim feeds on the wind. He thinks he's got it all. He
has nothing. He has a soap bubble. His whole
life is in things that are temporal. They're not going to last. And
one of these days, it's going to vanish before his eyes, like
the wind. It's going to take it away. God's going to sweep
it away, this refuge of lies, this deceitfulness of riches. It's all going to be gone. Then
what? Have nothing. The Depression hit this country. Nobody thought it could. People jumping out of buildings
left and right. Could that happen again? I don't know how this country is
still standing. I really don't know. It's living
on paper. I do know how it's still standing.
God is holding it up, fattening it for the slaughter. Verse 8
of chapter 12, look at this. Verse 8, I read this. I've become
rich. I've found me out substance.
There's no substance in things. There's no substance. But now
faith is a substance. Idols. He's joined to his idols. You know what I mean? Joined
to. That's harlotry. You join where two become one.
Joined to. United to. You love, you make
love. You think about. You long for. You think about. That's all you
think about. Day in and day out. That's who
you long for. That's who you go after. That's
who you spend your money for. He's joined to his idols. Salvation
is to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to think on Him. It's to love Him. It's to want
to be with Him. It's to talk to Him. It's to
walk with Him. Have a union with Him. Relationship with Him. Ephraim
doesn't know Him. Some in this room don't know
Him. And God says, let Him alone. That's ominous isn't it? We better hope and pray that
the Lord doesn't leave that boy alone. That the Lord doesn't
let that boy walk out of this door someday and never come back. That the Lord will take this
same gospel that He worked on your heart and set him down and
make him fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. We better
hope, the Lord. We better weep for ourselves
and our children and ask the Lord, don't leave us alone. Leave,
I leave me not alone. Lord, my daughter is caught up
in this world. My son is caught up in this world.
She doesn't know you. He doesn't know you. Please don't
leave them alone. Might be the best thing that
could possibly happen for a child is to bring them as low as low
can get. That's what's going to happen
to you But first, God says, leave him
alone. Leave him alone. Who is he from? He's a son of
God. He's a son of Jacob. He's a son
of God. What did he do? He deeply corrupted
himself. He sold himself. He sinned against
God. God says, he provoked me over
and over again. That's what he did. What's God
going to do with him? He's going to leave him alone
for a while. But God. Look back at Jeremiah 31. Did this touch your heart? Jeremiah
31. Look at verse 20. Jeremiah 31. Is he from my dear son? Is he
a pleasant child? Imagine Joseph and his wife. having this Ephraim-born son. Everyone, a child, they look
at it and they have hopes and they dream for it. Joseph, the
righteous man, Joseph's an upright man. Joseph knows God. You know
what Joseph's hope for Ephraim was? And Manasseh. You know what
Joseph's heartfelt desire, one thing needful? Joseph knew the Lord. And his
whole heart's desire was for Manasseh and Ephraim to know
the Lord, not become something in this world. Ephraim did, but
he didn't know the Lord. What's God going to do with it?
He's going to leave him alone, but he's going to prosper in
the world for all these poor. If God leaves him alone forever,
he's gone. Joined his idols. God like he told Hosea, God's
gonna join himself to him. God's gonna join himself to him.
Christ's gonna come to him. I gotta quit. Go back to, look
at verse 20. Is he from my dear son? Is he
a pleasant child? since I spake against him." God
speaks to him. God deals with him. God convicts
him, convinces him of his sins. I remember him. My bowels are
troubled. Verse 18, I heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself. God came through the preaching
of the gospel like He does all His children, His elect, those
He loves, through the preaching of the gospel and convinces them
of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. convinces them that
they're a hell-deserving, unworthy, wretched, vile, miserable, poor
son of Jacob, son of Adam, dead and trespassed in sin. And Ephraim
heard this and he was a wild man. He's going to have the yoke
put upon him, unaccustomed to it. He doesn't want to be owned
by anybody. He does now. He wants God to
own him. He doesn't want to be left to
himself. He wants to be owned. He wants the Lord to master him. And he says in verse 18, Turn
me, O Lord. This is an Ephraim calling. Turn thou me and I'll be turned.
Thou art the Lord my God. Oh, wouldn't somebody in here
that hadn't yet called on Him, call on the Lord. Is He my dear Son? Is He a pleasant
child? Is He a fruitful child? No. Not
yet. He hasn't done anything for the
Lord. The Lord's got to do everything for him. Is He my child? Oh, my, my, my. How shall I give Thee up, Ephraim? How shall I give Thee up? It was my hope. It is my hope.
Go lastly to chapter 11 and then chapter 14. Chapter 11, verse
9, the Lord says, I will not execute the fierceness of my
anger. I won't destroy Ephraim. I left him alone, but no, I'm
going to turn him. I'm not going to destroy him.
I'm going to save him because I'm God, not man. I'm God, not man. And down in chapter 14, this
is where it ends. It says in chapter 14, verse One, O Israel, return unto the
Lord thy God. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words. And I can
weep from sin. Turn me. Turn to the Lord and
say unto Him, Take away all iniquity. See what He's asking for? Forgive
my sin. Receive us graciously. Have mercy
upon me. Show grace to me. So will we
render the calves of our... Asher shall not save us. That's
the world, the people of the world. We will not ride upon
horses. Can't be saved by them. Neither will we say any more
to the works of our hands. You are our gods. Know in thee,
O Lord, that fatherless findeth mercy. And God says, I will heal
their backsliding. I will love them freely. My anger
is turned away from Him. How? Where? How? Wait a minute. He sinned against the Lord. God's
angry with him. He's provoked him to anger. What's
he going to do? Christ died. Read on. This is going to talk about Christ
right here. This is Christ speaking. I will
be as the dew unto Israel, the water of life. He'll grow up
as a lily and cast forth His roots as Lebanon. The root of
the matter is going to be in Him. I am the vine, they're the
branches. His branches shall spread. This is Christ. This
is His people, His church. Christ the branch, His beauty. Christ is an olive tree and so
are His people that grow up beside the water. And His smell is Lebanon,
evergreen, everfruit. They that dwell under His shadow
shall return. They shall revive as the corn
and grow up, grow as the vine, up into Him in all things. As
He is, so are they. Oh, Ephraim, here's the gospel
of Christ and Him crucified. A new creature's created in Him,
a fruitful vine. He's become a fruitful creature
with love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
long-suffering, fruits. He's the wine of Lebanon. Look
at Ephraim now. Listen to what he says. before
he's talking about his prosperity, before he's talking about his
idols, before he was in love with the world, the people of
the world, the things of the world. Now he says, what have I to do anymore with
idols? I have heard Him. I have heard Christ. Christ is
all. That's not a creed. This is life. New life has been
created. He was joined to His idols. None
anymore. And He said, I have observed
Him. I have seen Him. And I am like
a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found, Christ
said. Now who is wise? Anybody wise
in here? Do you understand these things?
I'm reading in the last verse. Who's prudent? He'll know them. The Lord has come and given us
an understanding. The ways of the Lord are right.
The just shall walk in them, walk by faith. The transgressors,
they'll hear it and they won't hear it. And what God has done with like
Manasseh, Let them alone. Let them alone. Look, he's got it all. Let them alone. How shall I give
thee a paper? Lord, don't give us that. Okay. Let's sing number 474. Only a
sinner. 474. So...