All we need, all we need, is
a little bit of heaven and love, a little bit of heaven and love. All we need, all we need, is
a little bit of heaven and love, a little bit of heaven and love. All right, let's go back to the
book of Hosea, Hosea chapter eleven. Hosea chapter eleven. Anyone who has taught young people
realizes the need to Don't be constantly illustrating
truth that you're trying to convey to them. A young person's attention
span is very short, their understanding is very limited, and so you must
illustrate to them constantly, tell them stories which make
the word live or breathe, which illustrate the truth that you're
trying to convey. And our Lord, in his infinite
wisdom, our Heavenly Father, does the same thing to his children.
He spoke often in parables, which were simple stories relating
heavenly truth and illustrations. And though we grow into men and
women, and we should be able to listen to Scripture says the
things of God we should be able, as men and women, to understand
and listen with interest and great joy into some of the deeper
things hard to be understood that Paul talks about. Yet, the
fact is, an illustration is still the
most effective way to teach. Now, the first 39 books of God's
Word, the whole Old Testament, is summed up by the Apostle Paul
in various places where he talks about types, shadows, pictures,
and so forth. The first 39 books of God's Word
are, in reality, illustrations. Illustrations who got the types
and shadows pictures of spiritual Israel and God's salvation of
spiritual beauty. Now, turn to the book of keep
Jose will come there in a minute. But during the book of Romans,
all right, Romans, Chapter 9, Romans, Chapter 9. We looked at this Sunday. I know,
but from the original. your memory and my own. Romans
chapter 9, who is Israel? Scripture speaks much of Israel,
very much about Israel. Romans chapter 9, now certainly
God chose a national people, Abraham being the first. and
the nation of Israel came from Abraham. Jew, the word Jew comes
from Judah, the tribe of Judah. At any rate, God did choose a
national people to represent His salvation, to show us, to
give them the tabernacle and the things that illustrate the
Lord Jesus Christ. But now, there's a remnant, though
all those people were called God's people, yet there was really
only a remnant, according to the election of grace. Look at
Romans 9, verse 8. It says, They which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children
of the promiser cannot see. Look at verses 27 through 29. Isaiah cried concerning Israel,
though the number of the children of Israel be as a sand in the
sea, but a rim shall be safe. Now he remembered that only two
persons over 20 years old entered into the promise of Joshua and
Petra. The rest of the adults perished. There's a remnant,
according to the election of the grace. Look at, well, read
on, verse 28 and 29. He will finish the work and cut
it short in righteousness, because short work will the Lord make
upon the earth. And Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, a chosen seed, that
he's talking about. We have been a Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at chapter 11, Romans 11,
and this is what so many fail to see, Israel, the spiritual
Israel, that this is primarily speaking of, verse 26 in Romans
11. So all Israel shall be saved. Is every Jew going to be saved? All right, now Romans 2, Romans
chapter 2. Well, who is Israel? All Israel
is going to be saved. Romans chapter 2, verses 28 and
29. And you know these verses well. Romans 2, 28 and 29. Now, he
is not a Jew, which is one outward look. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. In another
place, Paul talked about the circumcision not made with hands. Circumcision which Christ himself
performs on the hearts of his people, thereby making them his
spiritual children. And all this is true what we
say. All of his youth, all of those whom he met, just like
Abraham. Abraham is the father of the
faithful, and we are justified just like Abraham. He believed
God and was counted among the prophets before circumcision. And that's another story altogether
in Galatians 4. Well, back to Hosea now. And
I said all that to say this, but to show you this. Hosea chapter
11. Verse 1, Mosiah 11 verse 1, When
Israel was a child, then I loved him. You see that? Who does God love? Whoever He loves, He loves forever.
That's what Jeremiah 31 verse 3 said, I loved them with everlasting
love. Whoever He loves, He continues
to love. And He loved them before the world began. And he will
love them after the world ends. And he saves everyone he loves.
Who can separate us, Paul said, from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus? Who does God love? Israel. Who's
Israel? Spiritual Israel, the chosen
seed, his chosen people. And you remember Paul said, now
the seed is Christ. They'll be chosen in Christ,
given to Christ by the Father to save them. All right? So this is talking about God's
love for His spiritual Israel. When Israel was a child, I loved
Him. Now, do you remember Romans 9, where God said, Jacob, have
I loved you? And Esau, have I hated you? When
a child I loved him, whom he did foreknow, that is love before
him, whom he did predestinate, whom he did call, whom he called
he justified, whom he justified he glorified. That's all the
Lord's Word to a pastor's people, chosen people. All right, now,
he says, when Israel was a child, did I love him? Malachi wrote this. Now, this is where
that scripture in Romans 9 is found. Malachi 1. Jacob hath
I loved, and Esau hath I hated. Well, Malachi asks this question.
When God said, I love thee, he said, wherein hast thou loved
me? Look here at verse 1 in Hosea 11. How have you loved me? When
Israel was a child, then I loved him. How do we know? I called
my son out of Egypt. When Israel was a child, then
I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Now, do you have
your spiritual eyes on him? Who is this talking about? Is
he talking about the nation of Israel? Is he talking about calling
them out of Egypt from bombing? Who is he talking about? Look
over at Matthew with me, the book of Matthew chapter 2. I
called my son out of Egypt. I love Israel and therefore I
called my son out of Egypt. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. How do we know that God loves
us? Because He spared not His own Son. He sent His Son into
this world to save the likes of the sons of Jacob. I am the Lord, I have changed
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consented." And he came
to this earth. Look at Matthew 2, and this is
a prophecy. Hosea 11-1 is a prophecy of the
Lord Jesus Christ coming, just as everything in God's Word is
a type of Christ, if we have the eyes to see. Everything. Christ says they are they, which
is the kind of thing. He said to the Pharisees, you search
the scriptures and in them you think you have life. You think
they're a way of life. He said, I am the life. They are they which testify of
me. Moses wrote of me. Abraham rejoiced to see my day,
he saw what was right. They are they which testify of
Christ. In Matthew 2, look at this now, verses 13 through 15.
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young
child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until
I bring thee work, where Herod will seek the young child to
destroy him. When he arose, he took the young
child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and
was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled
what was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, Hosea, saying, Out
of Egypt. I called my son. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's talking about his Israel, his spiritual people
whom he loved, whom he poured out. And he showed his love for
them by calling his son out of Egypt. It's an obscure little
passage over there in the middle of nowhere in this little book
of Hosea. But Isaiah said in chapter 29,
the blind are going to see out of purity. I'm going to do the
work that he said. I'm going to open the eyes of
the blind. They're going to see out of obscurity. Little obscure
passages that other people don't see because they're blind. My
people are going to see me. Lights. Not just a nation called
Israel, but you're going to see Saudi Arabia itself in me. You
see? Well, look at the, now back to
the text. Hosea 11, verse 1. When Israel
was a child, then I loved him. And call my son out of Egypt.
And certainly all of this, you know, has an application to the
nation of Israel. They were taken from Egypt. But
God is spirit. God's Word is spirit. He said,
My Word is spirit and life. This would profit us nothing
if it didn't have an application to salvation and to Christ. Right? If we just learned about
a nation called Israel, it would profit us nothing. Endless genealogies and so forth.
Chocolate? Nothing. Except as we see Christ
in our hearts. Do you understand that? Blessed
are your eyes, that they see it. All right, verse 2. And as they called them, so they
went from them. They sacrificed them to Balaam,
and burned incense to graven images. All right? It says, as
they called them, Now, who's he talking about here? He's talking
about the prophets of God, verse 7. Yeah, verse 7. My people are bent to backsliding
from me, though they call them to the Most High. They. He's
talking about prophets that God sent. Preachers, listen to Jeremiah
7. Listen to this. He says in Jeremiah
7 verse 25, Since the day that your fathers came forth out of
the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto you all my servants,
the prophets, daily rising up early and sending me. Yet they
hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their
neck. They did worse with their fathers. All right, and how does this
apply to us? How long did you hear God's word? How long did
you hear the truth and reject it? How long did you hear and
go your own way? And he said they sacrificed a
baby, an Irish. I thought about that. You know,
I thought how could How could Israel, which saw so much of
God's power and God's glory and God's goodness clearly, God did
wondrous things right before their eyes. How could they have
turned to an idol? Don't you think that incredible
that they could have turned to a false god? Well, how can any
man or woman or young person not believe the God of the Bible
when he's so clearly revealed in this scripture, as he is throughout
the Old Testament? God declares himself as he is.
And again in Malachi, he said, I'm the Lord, I change not. The
same God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New. He
changes not. Where do people come up with
all of their notions of God? That he tries and fails, that
he wants to and can't, he's done all he can do, and now some people...
Where do they get that nonsense? He's not from God's Word. Nowhere
in God's Word do you ever hear God try to do something that
He couldn't do. It was the end of the day. These are
idols. These are figments of man's imagination. Where do they
get this picture of Jesus? And some may think I'm too hard,
but there's no description of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
Bible. And everyone you see, he's got an all-powerful. Where
do they get that? Paul said it's a shame for a
man to have long hair. The Lord didn't have long hair.
They say he was a Nazirite. No, he wasn't. No, he was. He
was a Nazirite. He wasn't from the tribe of the
Levites. Nazirites were from the tribe of the Levites. He
let his hair, his beard grow, didn't drink wine or drink wine.
He wasn't a Levite. Where did they get all this stuff? And they put a picture up of
some Caucasian blue-eyed fella with long hair and they called
him Jesus. That's an idol to me. That's an idol. How can people
do that? I've used this illustration before,
and it's a good one. You would no more take a picture
of those of you whose mother is getting up in New York. My mother is 70. See, 37 years
old, a little bit, and you know, she had white hair. Suppose I
just got me a picture of some older woman with white hair who
resembled my mother, and put it on the wall and said, here's
my mother. Isn't that ridiculous? Well, I would no more do that.
Neither did I do that about my mother. And you heard me say this before,
if you could paint a picture of His description in Revelation
1, that His countenance as a son, and the eyes of knowledge shrink,
His fingers that burn in a furnace of breath, if you can paint that
picture, don't live on your own. But it can't be, you see. No
picture is adequate. to declare his glory. Plus, our
Lord said, do not make any graven image. That means anything. Have no symbols whatsoever. Don't
wear them around your neck. Don't put them in your house.
Don't put a picture on the wall. Don't have a statue. No graven
image of anything in heaven or anything on earth. That's not
how it works. That's not too hard. That's God's
Word is what that is. How could Israel go to war with
the Bible? How could men and women do the same thing? They
turned from the truth. Paul said, they turned their
ears from the truth unto temples. I heard somewhere where it says
here. Well, you know what the Bible says? No, where does it
say that? Well, it says they went from
him, though they had all of these Prophets comes in, back to Hosea. All of these prophets, Moses,
Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, and on and on it goes, Isaiah, Jeremiah. All these prophets called them
to worship the true and living God. And Paul said, it's not
as though the word of God had no effect. Remember him saying
that wrong? It's not as though the word of
God had no effect. There's a promised seed. There's
a chosen people who Christ said, My sheep are going to hear my
voice. My sheep will hear my voice. I know them. The reason
He knows them is because He chose them. Because the Father chose
them and gave them to Christ. And they will hear His voice.
Now the preachers don't know. That's the reason we preach the
gospel in all the world. Every preacher. We don't want
to lose the sheep. Nevertheless, he declared that God has chosen
and elected you. And he knows it. He has a people
which no man can number, but he has numbered. He has numbered. And they're going to hear, but
not at first, necessarily. Henry, how long were you in religion
before you heard the gospel? You worshiped the Bible, didn't
you? And everyone else in here who was in religion, it wasn't
just in the gutter like me. But you were in religion, you
worshipped as God, and you worshipped God the way you thought God was.
And so if you finally heard things like this from Psalm 50, Thou
comest, I was altogether such one as yourself. I will prove
to you. I will set things in order for
you. You've got the cart before the horse, you've got man's will,
and God's following. I'm going to set things in order
for you, he said. I'm going to show you that I
work things according to my will, and man doeth according to my
will. And it's God that's working in
us both the will and the business of man. How long, John, did you believe
that God wasn't willing that anybody should perish? But some
did anyway. Until you found out that he meant
his people. I will save them, and will bless
them, and will forbid them. I will understand eternal life,
and they shall never perish, whoever they are." Well, they
went from him, and went to Balaam, and sacrificed unto idols, and
so forth, and so did we, in spite of the clearest scriptures concerning
God, but thanks God, who is rich in mercy. And for his great love,
wherewith he loved his chosen people, just like it is spoken
here. Quickened me by his grace. Quickened me. What's quickening
the power of God? Thy word is quick. Thy word quickened
me, David said over and over in a song. He brought you to
himself by the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, In whom you
trusted, after you heard the word of truth. Truth. Peter said, this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. The gospel is the power
of God and salvation to everyone who believes, and who believes
according to the working of his mighty power. Because God's going
to get all the glory. And that's in salvation, and
he brings you to himself. This is salvation. Our Lord said
it in John 17 through. He said this is eternal life,
that they might not be the only true God. There are many gods, many ideas,
conceptions of God, but there's one true God as he revealed himself.
This is eternal life. This is life. This is spiritual
life. To know the true God, to worship
Him in spirit and truth, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent,
to know His Son, why He came, what He did, where He is now,
and what that means to you. This is life, you know. Our Lord
said that. And he brings you to himself. This is why Paul said he revealed
his son in me, not just to me, but in me. Christ in you, the
hope of God. And that just doesn't mean that
you walk and talk and live like him. That means He's in your
heart by faith and love and adoration and worship. He abides there. You live on Him. You feed on
Him. You have your life. The life
I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me. You're brought to a person, and
this is salvation, being brought to a person, not a doctrine,
not a church, not a denomination, not the baptismal approval, but
to a person. It's coming to a person. Peter
said, to whom coming? Not to what? Not to where on
an altar? We have an altar, Paul said in
Hebrews, but it's not here. It's in heaven. Christ is our
altar, before whom we bow. It's coming to a person. It's
coming to meet a person. It's coming to know him. It's
coming to fear him. It's coming to reverence him.
It's coming to worship him, love him. To whom? Coming as a living
stone. Not a dead doctrine, not a dry
denomination, but a living person. being acquainted with the person.
Salvation is a real God revealing Himself as a real Savior. And this is what Hosea is now
going to talk about and illustrate. Remember, I told you I heard
this whole thing. I said, maybe illustrate it, but I'm going
to. This is what Hosea is going to illustrate here, how that
we're brought to Christ. How did all his people are brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is how he's going to illustrate
it. All right? Look at verse three. I taught Ephraim. That's another word for Israel.
I taught Ephraim also to go. I taught him how to go, where
to go, to whom to go. Taking them by their arms. Taking
them by their arms. Joseph, Aaron, come on. I'm going
to use you. Okay? I'm not going to embarrass
you. I'm not going to let you do anything
you don't have to do. Oh my God. He's going the wrong way. He's
going the opposite way. He took me by the arm. You see
that? I didn't even crack my arm. I
didn't drag on the ground like that. He took me by the arm. Happened to me. I go over here
and grab him by the arm. Happened to me. You were just
there, Joseph. You're not that young. You're
a tall man. You're older. But this was an illustration.
I'm sitting down there. You're going on a peddler all
day. That's the way it seems right
out of the man at the end of the description. All the way
like she was going astray from him. Heading for the precipice
of oblivion. But God took me by the arm, laid
hold on me. Taught me to go. Taught me where
to go. Taught me where to go. They were all going down that
broad road leading to destruction, a way that seemed right. Everyone
else, whether it be religion or the governor like me, he was
still a way of destruction. But God, in His kindness, in
His love, in His mercy toward you, He doesn't lay hold on everybody.
Listen, people, if God's not willing that somebody perish,
they won't perish. What about you? Do you love your
children? They're walking across the street,
going to get hit by a car. Will you stop them? If it's in
your pocket, you will. What kind of mother would it
be if you didn't? If you just stood back and said, please don't,
please don't go. Out of the way, it's not among
women that you care. Here's what the Lord of God did.
He laid hold on us, took us out of the way, and he got, he got
you. Our kind, loving, heavenly Father
lays hold on all of His children. He takes them by the arms. Yeah,
He takes them in His arms with loving kindness. He draws them. And He tells us where to go.
Go to hear the gospel. Don't go down there. That's a house of Babel. Don't
go down there. Go to where the gospel is. There's a truth being
preached. Go to God. Don't go to such and
such a place. Don't go to this man. Don't read
a book. Read my book. Go to the Word. Go to the throne
of grace. Don't go to the Pope's throne
and kiss his toe. Kiss the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Run home to Christ. He takes us by the arm. Verse
2 or verse 3 says, They knew not that I healed them, You know,
at first, when God begins to deal with His people, they don't
know what's going on. You know, they don't know what's
going on. They come, God in His sovereign providence brings them
to where THE gospel is free. And there are very many places
where THE gospel is free. But God brings His people in
His sovereign providence It was only one little brown tent in
the wilderness where the Shekinah glory of God was. Right? And I know all the Jebusites
and the Hivites and the Hittites and the Faradites and all the
other ites were passing by on their camel, and they looked
down at that little brown tent and said, what do they see in
that? And somebody said, that's where God meets. Nowhere else. I know, we got a beautiful temple
up the road here. We know God's in it because I
just feel good when I get there. You know, God is where the heart
is. person and his work. That's where
the Shekinah glory is and that's where the salvation is in it.
There's only one place. There's one way. There's one
truth. There's one life. There's one Lord. There's one
faith. There's one baptism. There's not a second baptism.
There's one. It's being immersed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Being
found in him. And we don't know what's going
on at first. We go and It might not be this
place, but there are other places where the gospel is preached,
but few and far between. The Scriptures call it like a
scattering of corn on a mountain top. But where the gospel is, that's
where the sheep will be found. If they don't know it at first,
they're going to need one. They're standing under the bough
of Gilead and don't know it. They're going to sin. They don't even know they're
wounded and bruised and have putrefying sores. They don't
know that. They think they're rich and increased with goods
and have need of nothing. Then they get under the sound
of the gospel, which is a two-edged sword, and the first thing he
does is break their heart, overseen it, tear down their eyes, crush
their false hope, kill their own righteousness. until they're
a beggar, until they've looked up, and they'll see nobody but
the Lord Jesus Christ. There'll be no evil. I don't
know. I healed them. No, they didn't
know it. Verse 4, look at this. I drew
them with the cords of a man. Don't worry, Joseph, I don't
want to broke you now. I drew them with cords of man,
with bandage of love." Turn to Mark 11 with me. Mark chapter
11. Our Lord, this actually happens. And this illustrates exactly
what Hosea is saying here. Mark chapter 11. Now, man, listen
to what Job says in Job 11. Job 11. Now, he said this, man is born
like a wild, ashen colt. That's Job 11. I never read that. I read it, but I still passed
over it. Man is born like a wild, ashen
colt. Look at Mark 11. Now, a young
colt is wild at birth. He hasn't even been around horses. Polly, you have it. They've got
to be sanctified. They're wives. They've got to
be reined in as soon as possible. They sure do. As soon as possible.
Listen to Lamentations 3. It's good for a man that he bared
the yoke in his youth. It's good for a man that he bared
the yoke in his youth. Look at Mark 11, verses 1 and
2. When they came out of Jerusalem, among the best of Jews, And Bethany,
at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and
saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against
you. And as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a coat
tied, whereon never man sat." He makes sure to tell them that
nobody has ever sat on this coat. You're going to find me tied,
wearing on every man's back, leave him, and bring him. Bring him to me." Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ sent these two men to get a coat. Two men to get a coat. And he
would say so much about them. Prophets and Apostles. The Law
and the Testimony. So we discover there's two men.
So many types of pictures here. But the Lord Jesus Christ sends
His Word, His Old Testament and New Testament, to find His wild asses, folks. And they will be found. The Lord
knows exactly where they are. Now, the first thing he has to
do is tie him up. Like I said, every one of God's
elect are born like Joseph. Every one of God's elect are
born wild as a toad. Our Lord said this in John 6.
He said, No man can come unto me except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. Nobody can, nobody will. You
will not come under this crisis that you might have got. You
will not. A coat, a young, wild coat doesn't have the will to
come to a human being. They don't want anything to do
with a human being. They're afraid of it. They won't come with their
own choice or will. They don't have the will to do
anything. Their will is to run. And no man can and no man will
come to God, come to Christ, except the Father which has sent
him draws them. But the first thing he does is
tie them down, hem them up. He sits us back. Our Lord said
this to his people, be still and know that I am God. You can't hear God's Word, you
can't study God's Word, you can't understand God's Word when you're
in a frenzy, hollering and screaming and shouting. See, this and this
won't work at the same time. If this one's open, this one's
shut. This one's shut, this one's open. And the Lord says to His
people, be still and know that I'm God. God said, Heaven, thou
art on the earth, therefore let thy words be you, he said. And what God does to his people
is like that demoniac fellow whom he found. He found that fellow jumping
and shouting and screaming and wallowing and doing all this. Sounded like a good charismatic
fellow. And what did the Lord do? Shut
him up. And when they found him, he was
sinning. Scripture says he was sinning. What was he doing? Listening to Christ talk, which
he should have been doing all the time. Clothed and in his
right mind. He wasn't talking like a bloomin'
idiot. He was listening to Christ talk. Worshipping Him. Hearing His
Word. All this so-called spirit stuff
in religion is the opposite of what the Holy Spirit does. He doesn't turn a calm person
wild. If he turns wild, that's just
cold stuff. And so you're getting excited,
preacher. Well, I do it for you. He takes a wild ass of coal and
makes him crawl. You can't ride a kicky bucky
in coal. You can't do it. Ask those old
cowboys if you can bear the water. Listen to this. Genesis 49. I've
never seen this in relation to what we're talking about. If you want to turn, you can.
But Genesis 49, this prophecy of Judah. The prophecy of Judah, who is
Christ, says in verse 11 of Judah, "'Binding his foal under the
vine, and his aspen soles under the joys of man.' He washed his garments
in wine and his clothes in the blood of the Lamb.'" If that
isn't a picture of Christ laying hold of His people, Lassoing
them cords of love, cords of the gospel. Look back at the
text real quick, Hosea. I've got to hurry. I want to
get to this. Hosea 11, verse 4. Verses 2 and
3, it says that now, back there in Mark, he said, now you'll
find him, you'll find that coat tied by the door. Would you turn back here quickly?
I had to turn too fast. Mark, you with me? You don't
want to miss this. I don't want you to miss this. I had to turn too quickly. You
don't have to worry about it. Okay. Look at this. You've got to see this. This
was a blessing in the making. He said, Go your way into the
village. Verse 2, You shall find a colt tied whereon never man
was sat. Loose him, and bring him. And many men say unto you, Why
are you doing this? Say ye that the Lord hath need
of him. And he straightway will send
you. It will come. Is there any doubt about the
person whom the Lord has need of, whom the Lord sets His will
and desire upon, is there any doubt about them coming? Oh,
the thought of Him giving Himself. Will He come the next time? Oh,
no one's changing. And they went their way, look at this, and
they found the pope tied by the door, just like the Lord said. Now look at this, he was tied
by the door. And if you are where the gospel is
preached, You're by the door. You're right
by the door. Now we're not far from the gate. You gotta walk through the door. It's tight
out here. You're not here by accident.
You're right by the door. Bring him over. And it says you
went out in a place where two ways met. He was relaxed. If you are yet without Christ,
you're yet in your sin, you're without God, you're without hope.
And you're in a place where two ways meet. You're in a place where two ways
meet. Way of the world, Christ's way. All the way over there. Which way will we go? We'll look
at this flower as it's called. Our Lord said, you go here. And they loosed Him. They loosed
Him and brought Him to Christ. And when they brought Him to
Christ, our Lord drove Him all the way up to Jerusalem. Drove
Him up to Jerusalem. And that's what he does with
every one of his wives, takes them all the way to heaven. And
they exalt him, and they lift him up and say, it's Christ David.
And that colt didn't have a beard or anything like that. No man
had ever really ridden him. Christ sat on him, and that colt
just went right where he was going. So it is with all of His
people. They're made willing, Psalm 110,
verse 3, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.
He rides every wildness as told to Jesus. And they don't love once. The cords of a man. Back to Hosea
11, that man of His own. Hosea 11. The cords of a man
are just that, people. The cords of a man are the cords
of Christ. the cords of his character. These are the things which draw
people to Christ. Christ himself is what draws
people to him. Not $10 bills on a goon. Not
tricks and gimmicks and schemes and tactics by some winner. It's
the beauty of Christ to see their need of him. Christ himself is
what draws people to Christ. It's not the church, it's not
the music, it's not the preacher, it's not the choir, it's not
the program, it's not what you do for you, it's Christ Himself. See that? The cords of a man
are drawn by Him, the cords of His mercy. There's sinners, they
need mercy. When they go and get it, they
find out Christ has it. They come to Christ. They need grace. They're helpless,
hopeless, damned, doomed, they need grace. By grace you say,
who's got it? Christ has grace. They come to
Christ. They need forgiveness. They need
pardon. Who can forgive sins but God? A priest can't do it.
A preacher can't do it. Who can? Christ does. They go
to Christ. Lord, forgive me. Lord, save
me right there. Christ's love, Christ's peace.
He says, My peace I give unto you, not what the world gives.
The world can't give it. Christ says, I give it. It's
taken from Christ. Joy? No man will take it from
you. Your joy will be full. Why? Because
in Him, love of the Lord exists. Taken from Christ. You see, the joy and power of
the gospel is Christ's love. That's the reason you can take
a pitiful preacher like myself and just stand up and preach
Christ, and people will come to Him. We don't sing, we don't
dance, we don't cry, we just preach Christ. And those who
need Christ, God's people, they'll follow Him. We're up here in Hosea 11. Now,
when our Lord lays hold on his people, cuts them up to hear
the gospel, brings them, draws them to himself. He loosens them,
yet they still bear a yoke. Our Lord did say this to me.
My yoke is loosened. My burden is lightened. He said
those Pharisees, religion finds heavy burdens on you that they're
not willing to lift one, take one thing at a time. They like
you being under their rules and regulations. They like that.
You tell your line what they want you to do, how they want
you to dress and stuff. They like that. And they're not
going to do one thing to help you. But Christ set you free. The Son set you free. You're
free indeed. Free from bondage, free from the law of natural
conditions, free from traffic. Ignorance. Ignorance is what
binds people to religion. Ignorance is truth. Christ sets you free from religion. Jesus Christ is all over religion. He said, My yoke is easy, not
hard. He said, but it is a joke and
it's a necessary restraint for cults. They've still got a little
cult to them. They've still got a little cult
to them. You know, I've raised a few cults. By that I mean pulled them out
of their mother. And I've learned this, I've learned
it quickly. As soon as that colt can be up
and standing and start nursing, that's the first thing that's
kept everybody. And getting that picture. Sincere
milk of the word, that's what they need. Don't bind anything
on them, yes. But I've learned that you've
got to put a hawker on them pretty quick. You've got to put a hawker
on them pretty quick. Or if you don't, you're in trouble.
As long as they go without that, that halter on them, and you
start leading them, they need to learn to lead. Like I said,
it's not their nature to follow you. A man called me one day
that I sold a mare to, and she had a little filly. He called me, and it was about
six weeks after the feather was born. And this man knew nothing
about horses, by the way. Nothing. Never owned a horse
before. And about six weeks after that coat was born, he called
me and said, we've got a little feather now. I said, oh, wonderful. Great. I said, when was it born? He said, six weeks ago. I said,
well, what are you doing with it? He said, nothing. I can't
get near it. I was hoping you'd come over and help me. He said,
I can't even close to the cops to kick me, bite me. I said,
well, I didn't want to tell him. He should have started long before
now. And I went over there, and sure
enough, he tried to kick me, too, and reared up, trying to
follow me. But anyway, God's people, they
have a yoke upon them, and it's an easy yoke. It's a light yoke. It's not a difficult yoke. It's not a hard yoke. He's not
a hard taskmaster. And now look at this, and I'm
out with it, first of all. He says, I drew them reports
of a man The demands of love. They're bound by love. It's not
love that demands these people. The law. Now listen to me. The law is not what? Social media? It's love. It's love. It's not the law. Love is the rule of the laity. That's what rules say, the love
of God is shared with all in their hearts. Well, but he said
this in verse four, and I was the damnedest day to take off
the yoke of their job. And I laid me unto them. I took
off the yoke, the yoke of the law, the yoke of guilt. And like I said, his yoke is
very easy. That's like the last young coat,
there's another illustration, the last young coat that we read,
that I read. Like I said, I ordered it out
of his mother. I was handling it immediately,
and that coat fell in love with me. I was the first woman he
saw before his mother, and he tried to nurse on these. That young pope now is two years
old, and he weighs about 1,400 pounds. He's huge. He is huge. Now, I've been treating
him differently. I've been treating him kindly.
I put that yoke on him very early. I taught him to lead and various
things. You're all here with cords of
love. Well, the other day, it was kind of, I had a little round
pen out in the field there, and he was in it. This is grass in
there. He was out there. I thought,
well, it's now or never. And I went out there,
and I shut the gate, and he was gone. And I remember I sat on
the fence there. and he came moseying over and
uh, what you doing? Want to play? You know, we got
some of these. That's really what we want. Empty.
And he kind of sided up to me there and I, uh, swung my leg
over on his back and sat down. And you know what he did? Nothing. Phew. Nothing. He didn't move. He didn't up. He didn't kick. He just kind
of looked at me and said, huh, never done that before. When you said that, oh
where is she? I'm going to teach her to ride.
I'm going to let you come and ride. And plow. Put her hands in the plow and
break the plows. And you know that colt, that
1,400 pound colt, it will follow thee anywhere. I did have a,
when I got it, it was not a bride, a bed, a saddle. And he knew that I meant him
no harm. He trusted me. That's where it comes from, doesn't
it, Pop? That's the way you treat horses, and that's the way the
Lord treats you. He knew I made him only good.
And now, you know, he really needs no rope or halter to come
to me. I said, if I call him, he'll
come. He still wants something to eat. That's what it said here.
I'll make him eat. Anytime he comes to eat, I'll
feed him. For all I think, I'll treat him 24-7. His mother will
let him eat. They're both about 300 pounds
over weight. But that's all right. As long as they keep coming,
I'm going to feed them. Good stuff, too. Apples, carrots,
sweet peas, you name it, you got it. It should be good as
is. And our Lord's people, they've done the unwilling in the day
of this power of God. He leads them, they follow Him,
and He cures them. All right, Samuel. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your
Word. It is a man under our feet and
a man under our path. It's the truth that sets us free.
It is Your Word. It is your hammer, your fire,
your sword, and we thank you for it. Thank you for Christ,
your Son, who is all our salvation, all our hope. We trust Him, Him
alone, for our salvation. Make it so with every person
from the sound of this word tonight. It's not hard to use. It can be a nod to you, Lord.
We will give you all the glory. And Christ's name will be on
your tongue. We're going to go ahead and get
started. Okay. What's that? Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. All right. And that's it for this presentation.
I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me. I'll be happy to answer any questions
you may have. Thank you. We're going to do the same thing
on the other side. We're going to do the same thing
on the other side. Okay. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and do that. So we're going
to go ahead and do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and
do that. So we're going to go ahead and do that. So we're going
to go ahead and do that. Thank you.