All right, that put me right
about 11.30, so I'll have a place to remember here. I wanna invite
your attention back to the book of Hosea. In particular, Hosea chapter
five is where I'll begin reading. Hosea chapter five. You all remind me to give you
a couple announcements after this is over, I forgot. But on
that sidetrack there. Hosea chapter five, now before
I even read, I've been doing some of this chapter by chapter
to a degree, but I will read Hosea chapter five in the first
three verses of chapter six, because if I stop with just chapter
five, it leaves us at an impasse. And if you'll notice, if you
have a Bible that puts in where different paragraphs start, and
I can't tell you it's that way. These people, I suppose, knew
what they were doing when they knew a different paragraph of
what we would call in English. You notice chapter five, verse
15 starts a new paragraph. It goes down to chapter six,
verse three. But I think as we go through this, we will see
why this is so vital. So therefore, let's listen. Hosea
chapter five. Hear ye this, O priests, and
hearken, ye house of Israel, and give ye ear, O house of the
king, for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare
on Mizpah, and a net spread in Tabor. and the revolters are
profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them
all. I know, Ephraim, and Israel is
not hid from me. For now, O Ephraim, thou commitest
whoredom, and Israel is defiled. They will not frame their doings
to turn unto their God, for the spirit of whoredoms is in the
midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. and the pride
of Israel doth testify to his face. Therefore shall Israel
and Ephraim fall in their iniquity. Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go with their flocks
and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not
find him. I thought all seekers found the
Lord. Not all. Look, he hath withdrawn himself
from them. They have dealt treacherously
against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children. Now shall a moth devour them
with their portions. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah,
and the trumpet in Remah. Cry aloud in Bethhaven after
thee, O Benjamin. Ephraim shall be desolate in
the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel have
I made known that which shall surely be. The princes of Judah
were like them that removed the bound. Therefore I will pour
out my wrath upon them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken
in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandment.
Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of
Judah as rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness
and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian
and sent to King Jerob. Yet could he not heal you nor
cure you of your wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as
a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah, even I will
tear and go away. I will take away, and none shall
rescue him. I will go and return to my place
till," now you see the new paragraph now? "'Til they acknowledge their
offense "'and seek my face in their affliction, "'they will
seek me early. "'Come and let us return unto
the Lord, "'for he hath torn.'" Oh, what a word. "'For he hath
torn and he will heal us.'" He has smitten and He will bind
us up. After two days will He revive
us, in the third day He will raise us up. And when you think
of a three day event, what is the one three day event that
just resounds in scripture? You know what it is, the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. which is God's proof of his acceptance
of the sacrifice of Christ, and was the beginning of his exaltation
to the Father's right hand as the God-man. and we shall live in his sight. Do you see that? Then shall you
know, if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is
prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Folks, that
is a marvelous piece of scripture. And as I began to read the book
of Hosea, I thought, well, I'll try to preach on every chapter.
And I don't know that I'll do that. But as I began to think
about the book of Hosea, I thought, Mason, much of it is filled with
God's wrath and disgust for men, for their rebellion and hatred
of him, for their misuse of his ordinances and his ways. And
yet this book is shot full of God's mercy and God's grace and
God's compassion. even to people like that. Isn't that something else? Our
text, the text that I just read to you, deals with two great
tenets of scripture. And these are two great tenets
that if a man doesn't preach these things, and I'm not talking
about every message, but every message in some sense will be
bound up under these two tenets. Here's the two great tenets of
scripture. One, man's condition. Man's condition,
and I'm not putting this in a certain order, I'm only giving that because
that's what's dealt with in our text first. One of the great
tenets of scripture, man's condition, and if a man preaching to you,
if you hear a man preaching, he's not dealing with man's condition,
he's not preaching the truth. Here's the second great tenet
of scripture, God's great salvation. This whole book deals with those
two subjects. man's condition, my condition,
your condition, and God's great salvation. What I want to give
you is seven facts from our text. There are far more than that,
but I had to narrow this down for time. First of all, my first
fact is this, and hear it again. And I say hear it again because
I know there's some people that don't like to hear it again.
They don't even like to hear it the first time, let alone
to hear it again. And I know that because we had one that
was a part of disassembly here for a while. This person constantly
talked about a spouse who did not like to be told what I'm
about to tell you again. Therefore he, I'm gonna give
it away that it was he, wasn't it? Therefore he would not listen
to preachers anymore. I even asked him to come hear
me preach. Never showed up. The sad part is, that person
who spoke that about their husband, they left too. So evidently something
was being said here that did not suit them well either. But
hear it again. Here's the first point. All Humanity
is under indictment by God. We're all sinners in God's sight,
and that is illustrated here in verse one. With Israel of
old, because look at it, here ye O priests, you see it? What's that? That's the religious
leaders, right? Religious people, very, people,
Mason in charge, people who are in the forefront of this thing
of God and all, hear ye, O priest, and hearken, ye house of Israel. There's the populace in general,
is it not? There's the populace in general.
And give ye ear, O house of the king. There's civil government.
That covers everyone in this world. Religious, just a member
of the populace, or maybe even a member of civil government.
God Almighty says this, for judgment is toward you. Do you see it? Solomon put it this way, Ecclesiastes
7 verse 20, there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good,
and here's the thing, and sinneth not. So much so that Isaiah later,
a few years later, comes along and says, even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. My best efforts outside of Jesus
Christ and your best efforts outside of Jesus Christ are but
menstrual rags before God Almighty. That's the first point. That's
the first fact. Secondly, see the defiance of
our condition. The defiance of our condition.
It's not just there's an indictment against us because we're bad,
but look at the defiance of our condition. Rebellion against
good. Look at verse two. And the revolters
are profound. Do you see that? Here it's not,
sin is not just a fault. It's not a mistake. It's called
what? Revolt. Revolt. And the revolters are what? Profound
to make slaughter. Folks, we drink up iniquity like
I'm drinking up this water. And when we do, we say, that's good, don't we? But look
at the problem. And the revolters are profound
to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. You don't rebuke somebody you
don't care about, do you? You don't rebuke someone that
you don't want their good. Right? And God Almighty has rebuked
all of humanity in a multitude of ways, and yet our revolt is
profound to make slaughter. We head, headlong into our rebellion,
our eyes wide open, knowing that certain actions, certain conduct,
have negative consequences. But what do we do anyway? we
head long right into it, do we not? The drunkard laying under
that bridge, you know, the old proverbial drunkard laying under
that bridge. Mason, he knows that's not the
kind of life he wants to live. But some of them, Some of them,
they're stuck there and they can't do nothing about it. Don't
even have a penny, whatever penny they rub together, the craving
is so strong that they must go get the wine or the bottle and
go lay back under that bridge for the next two or three days.
And that's the way you are and that's the way I am and that's
the way people hear me on TV, that's the way we are by nature. We're defiant even against God's
good, he warns us. about sin and all, this word's
full of warnings about sin, is it not? Consequences are warnings
about sin, are they not, the consequences? But what do we
do? We just scoff at God's goodness and his rebuke, do we not? Boy,
this is a bleak picture, isn't it? But here's the thing, it
gets worse than this. Here's the third fact. See our
fundamental problem. Here's our fundamental problem,
verse four and five. Our fundamental problem is our
will, our spirit, and our pride. Do you see it? Look at it, verse
four. They will not, while man cries
up his own will as the answer to his spiritual problem, God
says your will is your problem. Think about that. Men are preaching
free will as though it's the answer to eternal glory. God
says your will is your problem. What does it say? Here, one of
the greatest indictments against our will as humanity is this.
And Pilate delivered Christ, what? Unto the will of the people. Oh God, help us. Do you see it? They will not
frame their doings. Do you see it? For the spirit,
and why is it we will not? Because there's something deep
down inside that drives us. Do you see it? For the spirit
of whoredoms is in the midst of them. And what, verse five,
and the pride of Israel does testify. These three things are
our fundamental problem by nature. Our will, our spirit. James says the spirit that's
in us lusteth to envy. Isn't that what he says about
it? Lust and pride, pride. Pride goeth before what? A fall. A fall! Every proud man has ultimately
been brought down in a fall, in a fall. That's our fundamental
problem. You see, our Lord kind of put
it this way. Humanity, we're worried about the outside, about
the outward, very overt things. And we think that if we can curb
those things, then it's okay, the drunkard under that bridge.
Mason, if he could just get out from under the bridge, get him
a little bit decent job, stop drinking the alcohol, then everything's
better. No, he's still evil down in here. If you give him a job on Wall
Street, oh wait a minute, that's probably a wrong illustration.
If you give him a job as a police officer, and he does a great
job, helps out his community, stops his drinking. That's a
good thing amongst men, is it not? But it is no merit before
God. Because the man, even if he don't
ever touch another drop and devotes all of his life to community
service, he's still a sinner down in here in his spirit. In his spirit. And we'll take
even those good things and then try to offer them to God. a thrice
holy God, that even the holy angels who have never fallen,
those even right around his throne, and that's their only job, is
to fly around his throne, and they've got all these wings,
and with two of them, they do what? They cover their faces. And you think my reformation
from drinking or smoking or going to the movies is gonna present
me before this thrice holy God? Acceptable? Oh, God help us. Guess what? We're not done yet
with man's condition. Number four, even our worship
of God is perverted. Verses six and seven, they shall
go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord.
What are we talking about? Mason, going to do the sacrifices.
Paul, going to the temple. Going right up to do the things
God said to do. Yet, and I'm not going to deal
with all of it. Go back and look at the history
of Israel. They would bring the animals that were lamed and maimed
and halked, wasn't they? Or you'd have a couple supposed
to bring these coals and take it and light some incense with
these coals and burn this incense as a sweet savor to God. And
them coals are supposed to come off that brazen altar out front
and no other place. But they say, well, that really
don't matter as long as it's coals, what does it matter? And
they pick up some coals from somewhere else and it doesn't
matter where else. because everywhere else was wrong
unless the coals came from the brazen altar. And they took those
coals and they used it to light that incense and they walked
into that tabernacle and God killed those boys dead. Why? Because you do things God's way
or you're not doing them at all. The overt thing. All this, here
we go, let's go back to it now. We want to cleanse the outside
of the cup. The inside's full of foulness,
and deadness, and wickedness, and revolt, and rebellion. Christ
said cleanse first the inside, then the outside will take care
of itself. You know what my problem is? I can't even cleanse the
inside. Now religion says, well since
he said that, evidently you can. He said if you cut off your right
hand, if it offends you. Isn't that what he said to do?
That's what he said to do. But if you cut, your right hand
offends you and you cut it off, guess what? You still, I said
right hand, I'm using this one. Right hand, guess what? You still
got a left one. He says if your right eye offends
you, pluck it out. Is that not what he said? But
what's our problem? I still got a left one. You see
the point Christ is making? With us it is impossible. Because once I've got rid of
these two, and I've got rid of these two, and I've got rid of
those two, I still have this down in here. My own evil wicked
will and spirit and pride. And as one has said, pride of
place, pride of face, and pride of race, and we're all filled
to the brim with all of it. Even our worship of God. That is perverted. Oh, God help
us. But that's not all yet. I can
understand why that fellow didn't want to hear a preacher preach,
don't you? Unless God Almighty's done something for you. And you
know you need to hear over and over and over again what you
really are in yourself. Listen, even now today, that
part of me that's the old me, is still just like that today,
Ellen. That old man, that Adamic nature
is still just as corrupt as it ever was, and it runs headlong
into rebellion against God Almighty. Here's the fifth thing. Think
about it now. Verse three, jump back up a moment.
We are all exposed before God. You see verse three? I know Ephraim.
And Israel is not hid from me. We put on such a good show, we
hide it from one another. Now don't we? We're so deceptive,
we hide it from ourselves. Don't we? But it's not hid from
God. And he's the one we have to please. He's the one we have to be accepted
of. And there are people that actually
think I'm a pretty good guy. They don't know me! I'm telling you, they don't know
me! And sadly, I don't even know me like God knows me. And when
God tells me, you're this way, I, oh God, bow me down to say
it is truth, because you see everything. I don't see everything,
even in myself. Do you see what I'm saying this
morning? Do you hear what Hosea was preaching back then? And
it's the same old message yet today, ain't it? Same old message
yet today. We're all exposed before God.
It's how God sees things, not how you and I see things. And
that's frightening. That's frightening if God's opened
your eyes. But man's condition doesn't even stop there. I know,
I know, I said I had seven facts, I've done, went through five
and it's all pretty bleak. But I'll tell you, I got one
more and we're not done yet. Sixthly, we disdain even God's
gospel. We disdain even God's gospel. Look at verses eight through
12. Blow the cornet. Blow the trumpet. What does that
remind you of? In the scriptures, it's about
good news. Right? And now, here's an announcement. Come! Come! Something's going
on good, right? The only other time was what?
For battle. For battle. And that's a good
call, too. Because when your brothers and sisters over yonder
need help, they need to hear the hoo, and you come running.
Right? But it's still all what? The
gospel. The gospel. And look at how Israel
did the gospel. Blow the trumpet. And where,
look, look, look. Ramah? And not, not Bethel. He didn't
call it Bethel. Now remember what we preached
a few weeks ago. Beth-haven. You see, the gospel's not just
for a couple few select places. The gospel's for wherever God
Almighty has set the feet of his people. Whether it's at your
work or whether it's me standing here behind the podium. Oh, let
us blow the trumpet. Blow the trumpet. But you know
what we do by nature? We scoff at it. The very message
that sounds forth the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
toward the very sinners like we are and we'll malk and scoff
at that gospel. Go back and read it there for
yourself some of it. Our Lord Jesus Christ told some
fellas this. He said, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. And what are the
scriptures? And they are they which testify
of me. There are many people out here
that probably know a lot more about the Bible when it comes
to verses and quoting than I do. And I've been doing this for
a pretty good while now. But let me tell you, if they or I
miss Jesus Christ, no matter how much I know about this scripture,
it means nothing to me. It will only add to my condemnation. And these people are busy learning
about the Bible and they're not learning of Jesus Christ. Christ said, they say, these
scriptures, the ones you think you have eternal life in, they
testify of me, and ye will not come to me. Oh, they'll fled
to the scripture, but they won't run to Christ. And ye will not
come to me that you might have life. And he goes on and says,
how can you believe when you seek honor of men and not of
God? Not that honor that comes from
God. And let me tell you, the only way you wanna seek that
honor that comes from God is when God puts your face in the
dirt and makes you to realize all honor goes to Him. Not just
as a default, but because all honor is due Him. That's number six, we disdain
God's gospel. John put it this way. Actually,
I believe our Lord Jesus Christ put it this way. John was just
recording the words. John 30, verses 19 and 20, you know it.
And this is the condemnation. And this is about you and I all
by nature, folks. Yes, sir. This is you and I all
by nature. Anybody hears my voice, you hear
this message, it's you. That's it. This is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world. And who is that light? Look at
the context. It's Jesus Christ. Amen. The
truth of his person and his work. That's what he's talking about
the Nicodemus, is he not? Yes, sir. This is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness, not more
than, that's not our problem, rather than light. And we hate
the light and we won't come to the light because when you do,
what's gonna happen? Your deeds will be exposed. And
we don't, by nature, we hate having our deeds exposed. So here's the question, is there
any hope? That's pretty bleak, is it not?
Because my brothers and sisters, I love each and every one of
you. That's the way we are by nature. That's the way we are
by nature. But here's the seventh fact.
God is not frustrated in his great salvation, is he? Look
at it, he is not frustrated in his great salvation. That's the
title of my message, Paul, if you wanna have that. Man's condition,
God's great salvation. Look at it, look at it. Verses
13, when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, what
did he do? He run for help to man, did he not? Now, that's
one of those two-edged swords, I think the scripture sometimes
talked about. That's a bad thing. but God Almighty ordained for
his people even the bad things to be to our eternal good. You
know why? Look, Ephraim went to the Assyrian,
sent to King Jerob. Here's the glorious thing. Yet
could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound. Jogalusik,
it's a good thing when God Almighty shows you that human effort will
not work. your own effort and the efforts
of others will not work. I'm saying God Almighty uses
the very thing that is defiance against him to bring us to our
wit's end. to bring us to the end of ourself,
to bring us to the end of the flesh, to bring us to the end
of our will, our spirit, and our pride, and to crush these
things in the dust before our eyes, because God already sees
it. I need to see it. You see that? God's knew this
from eternity. He purposed it that way. And
I'll just leave that laying right there. He purposed it that way.
But you know what? He purposed in time to bring
me to see the corruption of my will, my spirit, and my pride. Think about it. Even our rebellion
is under God's wise, sovereign purpose. He will prove to those
He's ordained to save, He will prove the futility of human effort. He'll let you run to your Assyrians
and your Jerabs, and you will find out they cannot cure me. Right? That's right. He'll let
you go to false religion. You may go to your, whatever
it is, your job, whatever it is, He'll let you run to them.
Why? To prove to you. He already knows
they ain't gonna work. but to prove to you this ain't
going to cut it. This ain't going to cut it. Secondly,
God always brings you low before he'll lift you up. For I will
be unto Ephraim as a lion. You know what that is, don't
you? You wanna run up on a lion? Well, look at that. And as a
young lion, that means even fierce. Maybe even battling for head
of the pride. These young guys, you've seen
the TV shows and you've got two or three young lions, they'll
fight everything coming and going. Why? To be top dog. Or top lion,
I guess you should say. I will be unto Ephraim as a lion
and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I even, now notice,
I will tear. Oh, when finally you realize
this is the work of God. I will tear, and what? I'll go
away. You see, we talk about God leaving
us to ourselves, and I know there's a sense in which God never leaves
any of his lech to ourselves. But sometimes God lets you see
what yourself is really like. Here it is, big boy, I'm gonna
tear you up like a lion. I'm gonna attack you, tear you
all to pieces, and then leave you right there. And you know
what you're gonna find out? You're gonna find out like that
guy that, remember, was taken of thieves? and you were over
there in the ditch, and even Christ, put it this way, he was
half-dead. What you think about it? That's
what Christ said, he was half-dead. And two or three others passed
right on by him. Until what? The good Samaritan came along.
Now let me tell you, half-dead is dead when you're like that
man. They beat that man all to pieces. Cut him up! Couldn't
do anything for himself! For him, the ditch was a good
place to be. Do you hear what I say? Because
a good Samaritan was coming along who had both the will and the
ability to heal his wounds and to take care of him, put him
on his own beast, take him all the way to an end, and take care
of him, wrap him up, bandage him, give him ointment, and then
say to the innkeeper, here, here's some money, whatever else he
needs, I'm taking care of it. but God's gonna put you in the
ditch first, robbed of all your ability, robbed of all your effort,
before God will ever send his good Samaritan, because that's
what they called him. They all are the Samaritan, didn't
they not? So here Christ, here's a good Samaritan, and he passes
by your way, and he heals you, and he heals you. Oh, golly. He always brings low before he
ever lifts up. This thing of people just hear
a message preached and they decide, well, I don't wanna go to hell
so I'm gonna come forward and pray the prayer and oh yeah, I'm a
sinner and I believe in Jesus. And those things are true of
them. I don't doubt their sincerity. But that's not the way God saves
us all. He gonna jump on you, he gonna pounce on you like a
lion and tear you all to pieces and leave you laying there half
dead. Half dead. Look, even I will tear and go
away, I will take away And here's the good thing, and none, and
none shall rescue him. Why? Because God's planning on
the rescue himself. Do you see it? I will go and
return to my place. Teal. Aren't you glad for that,
Teal? He didn't say, I will go and
return to my place, and if they do, no, all right, I've done
my work. It's going to have its way. You
see that? That one little word, isn't that
glorious? Till, till I will go and return
to my place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face
in their affliction, they will seek me out right away. Right
away. See, once God puts you in that
place, you've got nowhere else to turn. You see it? He's done
showed y'all, everything else is futile. My will. My spirit, my pride, that means
everybody else's will, spirit, and pride too is of no help to
me. We defile religion, don't we? We pervert worship, we defy
even God's goodness. Look back at Romans chapter one
and two, don't we? It's the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance, but what do they do? Shake their
fist in God's face. Teal, teal, God said, through
the prophet Isaiah chapter 46. Remember Joe talking about sitting
down and shut up? Well, that's what he said through
Isaiah, to sit down and shut up. Show yourselves men. You
wanna be a real man, sit down and shut up to listen to God.
And God says, whatever I want to do, go back and read it. Isaiah
46 verses eight through 13. Whatever I want to do, that's
what I do. God said, I purpose to end even way back yonder in
the beginning. And everything that's in the
middle, I'm bringing it to pass to fulfill my foreordained end.
And he said, I will bring, I will bring salvation to Zion in my
glory. Now that's the God I have hope
in. To a revolter like me, like me. Oh, let us never dismay at
God's great wisdom. Come and let us return unto the
Lord. But it's only gonna be here.
For he hath torn. You see it? And it's not until
you're brought to that place to realize this was the work
of God. You see what I was there saying? Come and let us return
unto the Lord. For he hath torn and he will
heal us. That's the whole reason for the
tarrying. He has smitten and that hurts. It's difficult. When God shows you what you really
are, it hurts, makes you angry. But when you're like that old
fella laying there in a ditch, cut all the pieces, oh God, send
me a Samaritan. A Samaritan. Look, he will bind
us up. After two days will he revive
us. In the third day he will raise us up. And we shall live
where? Here's the glory, here's where
we're gonna live, in his sight. Isn't that glorious? In his sight,
you see, folks, there's a people, when Jesus Christ put on that
cross, he went on that cross in their place. When he suffered
the wrath of God's judgment against sin, he did that in their place. When they put him in that tomb,
and when he came out on that third day, and when he finally
raised back up into glory and sat down at the right hand of
God the Father, he did that for them. I wanna be one of them. I got to be one of them. Because if you ain't one of them,
if I ain't one of them, there is no hope. There is no hope. Look, then, then shall we know,
then shall we know what? If God has done this to us. Do
you see? Now notice where the comma is.
This is a good one. Then shall we know if we follow
on to know the Lord. You see, does God love me? Here's the only way you're gonna
know. If God tears you and leaves you laying there half dead. And
that he himself comes along and heals you and picks you up. Shows
you Jesus Christ. Brings you to his feet. Brings
you to bow to him. Then you'll know. Then shall
we know. If we follow on to know the Lord.
And let me tell you, God's people won't ever get over this. Can
you imagine that man? Remember that man was born blind?
And they questioned him about Christ. And then they turned
on him as well. Did they not? But I love what
he said. They asked him a question about
Christ, whether he'd be a sinner or not. He said, I don't know.
I don't know much about this man. But one thing I know, I
once was blind. Now I see. And he didn't see
real clearly at first, and none of us do. He's seen men walk
in his trees. But thank God he was seeing.
But I tell you what, God didn't leave him there either, did he?
Eventually, who came by? Come back by, I should say, the
good Samaritan. Come back by, said, do you believe
on the Lord? Do you believe the Messiah? Do you believe the Christ? Do
you believe the Redeemer? He said, Lord, who is he? He
said, it's the one that you see. It's the one that you're talking
to and that you're looking at. You know why? He couldn't help
believe. He can see now. And he knew the one that gave
him the sin, didn't he? Oh, what a glory. Here's the question,
look at chapter six, verse one again. Do I want my will or God's
will? See it? Come and let us return
unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal. He hath smitten
and he will bind us up. Do you want your will or God's
will? I need God's will. I need God. My will just gets
me in trouble all the time. All the time. Where is my life? My life, according to verse two,
chapter six, my life is in the exalted Christ. When he was raised
out of that grave, I was raised out of that grave. When he sat
down at God's right hand, I sat down there with him. And so do
you if you believe him. If he's torn you and healed you,
that's how you know. And you're gonna go on, you know
why? Because he's like the former and the latter reign. Does that
not remind you of what Paul said? He that hath begun a good work
in you, will perform it under the day of Christ. What's the
former, the latter, right? It's the reign that's necessary to
get things going, and the reign that's necessary to keep things
going. And who's gonna be that to you? God will, in the person
of his Son. Go back and look at it. Then
shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth
is prepared as the morning. This ain't no accident with God. And he shall come unto us as
the rain. And he can just lift it there,
Mason, but he says, as the latter and former rain on the earth.
He starts this thing, he gonna finish it. He gonna finish it.
Thank God. Thank God he stopped my wild
career. He was long-suffering toward
me even when I was in the midst of my wild career. And He was
to you too. Whatever your wild career was,
that doesn't matter. We've already seen it could be
anything and everything. Matter of fact, outside of Christ,
it is everything. He was long-suffering toward
me in my wild career that He might shut me up unto Him alone. Thank God, he, as the psalmist
said, brought me to my wit's end. Beloved, he forced me. Do you hear what I said? He forced
me. People say, well, God don't force
people to do anything. Ask Jonah. Ask Nebuchadnezzar. Ask Job. Ask Saul of Tarsus. God don't
force men to do anything. That is such a lie. Such a lie. He forced me to knowingly, lovingly,
willingly flee to Christ. He did. And I like it now. I like it now. He willed it.
He did it. And he's gonna continue to do
it. Because I'm still just like this by nature. I'm still just
like this by nature. I need that same kind of great
salvation every day of my life. every day until that last breath
when God finally takes that last one from me or Christ returns
in the air. If he don't do it, it won't be
done. But I tell you what, if he purposed
to do it for you, he will do it for you. Oh Father, help us
in these things. Teach us over and over and over
what we are and who you are. Thank you in Christ's name. Amen.