I named the message tonight,
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Isn't that wonderful? God's mercy is so great and so
wonderful towards his people. We are so undeserving. The only
difference between us and anybody else in the world is simply the
grace of God in Christ. That's it. That's it. Let's read
this whole chapter. We're going to read Hosea chapter
6, verses 1 to 11. Come and let us return unto the
Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us, and the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live
in his sight. Then shall we know if we follow,
notice that word if in verse three, it's italicized, it's
not in the Hebrew. So we can read this verse then.
Then shall we know, we follow on to know the Lord. Changes
the whole perspective of that verse, doesn't it? We're gonna
look at that tonight. His going forth is prepared as
the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
and the former rain unto the earth. Ephraim, O Ephraim, what
shall I do unto thee? Now that's another question for
information. The Lord's not throwing his hands
up going, what am I going to do with you, Ephraim? It's not that.
We're going to see that too tonight. Oh Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early
dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by
the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and
thy judgments are as light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy
and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they, like men, have transgressed
the covenant. They have dealt treacherously
against me. Gilead is the city of them that work iniquity, and
is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait
for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by
consent, for they commit lewdness. I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel. There is whoredom of Ephraim. Israel
is defiled. So this was the state of Ephraim
in Israel right now. In the text they were following
after false gods. Following after false gods. Also,
O Judah, He has set a harvest for thee when I return the captivity
of my people. Now last week, or not last week,
last time we met, we looked at verse one strictly in this chapter. And the name of the message was
return unto the Lord. And look at this wonderful verse.
It just has so much grace within it. Come and let us return unto
the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us. He hath smitten,
and he will bind us up. The Lord breaks us down, doesn't
he? Shows us our sinfulness, and
we're brought low, aren't we? And then we're bound up and healed
by the gospel, aren't we? We realize that we're just sinners.
We see our desperate need. Breaks us down. Tears us down.
And then builds us up in Christ. He heals us. By his stripes we're
healed. That's spiritually speaking.
That's not physically speaking. That's spiritual speaking. All
our sins are forgiven. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And then he'll bind us up. Remember
we read on the weekend, the reading was about the Samaritan fellow. Brother Tom was reading. It was
about the Samaritan fellow. who came along and helped the guy
that was on the side of the road. And that pictured Christ. That
pictured Christ. Religious guys, they just go
right around him. No care for his soul. But that Samaritan
who pictured Christ, he stopped. Bound him up. Put ointment on
his wounds. It was amazing. This is what
our God does for us. And marvel, beloved God, as God
has us return unto himself, Note that. Come and let us return
unto the Lord. Let us return unto Jehovah, that
is in the Hebrew. The self-existent one. We fell
in Adam, didn't we? We fell in Adam. But we see that
we're bought nigh by the blood of Christ. We know that from
Ephesians chapter two. And again, this is not when it
says, oh, come, let us return to the Lord. We know as God's
born again blood washed people that we're not coming back to
him because we fell on Adam by our own strength, are we? He
makes us willing in a day of his power. In the same power
that raised Christ from the grave, raised us from our dead natural
state. Isn't that wonderful? So we come
unto the Lord, because as Norm said in his first message on
Friday, we're made willing by the power of God. That's wonderful,
beloved. That's wonderful. My, oh my. And again. We don't return to
the Lord by our own power, but by the life-giving power of God,
the Holy Spirit. It's wonderful when we're born
again. And then he gives us faith, doesn't
he? We're born again by his power. Then he gives us faith. We wouldn't
believe on Christ if God didn't give us faith. Isn't that amazing? He gives it to us. It's a gift.
It's not of works. Blessed are any man should boast.
He gives us faith. Faith's not even our own, it's
given to us. It's wonderful. You see how we
return unto Him by His power, by His will. He binds us up,
giving faith to believe, born again in the Holy Spirit of God,
giving faith to believe. And then now we keep hearing
gospel messages about how our Savior has cleansed us from all
our sins. And each time we hear that, does
that not make our heart fill with joy? To know that we're
forgiven in Christ. It's amazing. It's amazing. So
He gives us the gift of faith. And it's all by His almighty
power. So marvel at the grace shown
to us in verse 1. Now let's read verse 2. And as we read verse
2, let us marvel at the grace that's shown to undeserving sinners
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. After two days, Will
he revive us? In the third day he will raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Now we know that the law
and the prophets they testify of Christ right? They testify
of Christ. Well we see here that the prophet
has his eye on Christ. He has his eye on Christ. He has his eye to his resurrection.
Let's read that again. After two days will he revive
us, in the third day he will rise, raise us up. The scripture says we're already
seated in heavenly places in Christ, right? When he rose,
when he died on the cross, we died, right? When he rose, he rose for our
justification. So let us keep our eyes on Christ
with this marvelous verse. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
5. John chapter 5. And he's the first fruits of
them that sleep, right? So marvel as Hosea has an eye
to the spiritual resurrection also of every sinner. Not only
the resurrection of Christ, but the resurrection of every sinner
in Christ. Look at John chapter 5 here, verses 24 to 25. These verses are amazing. Look
at this. You know, every sinner is made
to hear the voice of God, who is God's sheep, and their names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. All those who are given
to Christ will be made to hear the voice of the shepherd. Isn't
that wonderful? Made willing to flee to Christ
by God-given faith. Look at this. I love this. This
is the master's own words. Verily, verily, right? So he's
giving us a twice there. It's like amen, amen, right?
Verily, verily. This is important. I say unto
you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent
me, have everlasting life. Look at that. Those who do not
believe in God, those who do not believe on Christ, do not
have everlasting life. If they perish in their sins,
they do not have everlasting life. But who are the ones that
believe on Him? Well, the ones who are given
faith to believe. The ones who are born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. The ones who return unto the Lord by God's almighty power.
It's beautiful, beloved. Look at this. Hath everlasting
life, and shall, look at that, there's a little hinge word again,
right? Shall not come into what? Columnation. Oh, just sit there. And let that
sink into our souls, beloved. Look, I'll read that again. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, right? And it's
a gift of God that we have faith, that we hear, our ears are opened,
right? and believeth on him, the only
way we believe is by God-given faith, to believe on Christ,
hath everlasting life. This is wonderful. And shall
not. Now this is God saying this,
isn't it? This is God in the flesh. This is not some mere
man saying this. This is God in the flesh saying
to his people, they shall not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life. Beloved, we're gonna die. Right? But our death is just
a doorway into glory. That's all it is. For us, death
is a homecoming. We're going home. We're going
home to be with the Lord. And one time we were dead, right?
And trespasses and sins. Now we're made alive. Oh, listen
to this. It goes on. Verily, verily, verse
25, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. We're going to be raised from
the dead, brother. We're going to be raised from
the dead. Now let's go back to Hosea. Let's go back to Hosea,
verse 2, and look at the latter part of verse 2. He will raise
us up, and we shall what? Live in His sight. See how that ties into John chapter
5? Isn't that wonderful? What a promise, beloved. See,
we see the prophet again has his eye on Christ. He has his
eye to the future resurrection of the body. My, and The resurrection of the body
is by the same power that raised us from our dead natural state.
In the same power that raised Christ from the grave. The power
of God. Listen to this in Revelation
chapter 20 verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath
no power. First resurrection. That's Christ. On such, the second death had
no power, but they shall be priests of God, and they shall reign
with him a thousand years. Now look at the latter part again.
And we shall live, of Hosea 6.2, and we shall live in his sight. What a promise. What a promise
to the undeserving, hell-deserving actually, right? Hell-deserving
sinners such as we. If I got what's just and right,
I'll go to hell. But the scripture says God has
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. Isn't that
wonderful? That's amazing. And the only difference between
myself and my family members who have perished in their sins
is the grace of God. That's it. That's it. And we see ourselves as more
notorious sinners than they ever were, don't we? That's by the
grace of God, too. The more we see ourselves as
sinners, the more we're growing in grace, beloved. Because the
natural man, I'm telling you this, the natural man does not
think they're a sinner. Don't even worry about it. And
here we are going, oh man, Lord, I did it again. What's going
on with me? I got angry with that fellow, and I should have
gone, did I pop my mouth off? Or I shouldn't have done this,
I shouldn't have done that. We're the only ones who mourn over
our sin. And another thing, you know what else? You know what
else? The only one who worries if they're saved or not, Spurgeon
said this, I love this. Spurgeon said, the only one who
worries if they're saved or not is a believer. And believers
don't care. They don't care. We look at ourselves
and go, me? Yeah. Look at those little words,
shall not come into condemnation. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, and
look at this. Look at this in verse 2. And
we shall live in his sight. Where are we going to be in his
sight? Right now we have faith, but we don't see him, do we?
But in heaven we're going to see him for eternity. We will
see him as we see ourselves. Isn't that amazing? We will see
Christ. We will see the Son of God. Just as we see each other. In sinless bodies. with sinless
minds. Oh, it'll be glorious, won't
it? And see, natural man, they don't think they're a sinner,
so they can't imagine being somewhere where there's no sin, because
of course they're not sinners. And here we are, we've been taught
by God, we're just a bunch of dirty, rotten sinners, and praise
God, one day we're never gonna sin again, because of the mercy
of God. We look forward to that. That's
the grace of God, beloved. That's the grace of God at work.
And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
let us marvel at this blessed promise at the end of this verse.
We will, every true born-again, blood-washed believer, lover
of the Lord Jesus Christ, will find great comfort in the fact
that we will be forever in his sight. And notice the words,
we shall live in his sight. That's forever, beloved. And that's not based upon anything
in us. That's amazing grace, isn't it? Now let's read chapter
6, verse 3. Hosea 6, verse 3. Then shall
we know... I'm going to skip that if because
it's italicized. Actually, I'll read it for the
first time and then we'll read it again later. Then shall we 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. Now I found out that the latter
and former rain, that the Israelites would plant their crops at one
part of the season, which was the latter rain, and then in
the latter rain, Yeah, latter and former. The
latter rain would be, there'd be a lot more rain. It would
help the crops grow more. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. The former one, there was light
rain, so the seed would germinate and all that, but in the latter
rain, whoosh, it starts spreading. Look at our corn, right? For
the corn, as soon as it gets sunny, boom, it starts blowing
up, doesn't it? We've seen it just go from here,
and now they're full stalks now. It's just amazing. It's just
incredible. Take note in verse 3, the little
word, if, is in italics. Therefore, again, it's added
by the translators. Now, if it's left out, the doctrine's
playing. Because that little word, if,
puts doubt in there. Look at it. If we fall on to
know the Lord, well, without it, then shall
we know follow on to know the Lord. God's people who are His
sheep will know the Lord. There's no doubt, there's no
if about it. They will know the Lord. I was talking to Joshua
the other day. And I told him, I said, son,
if you're one of God's elect, He's gonna get you. And he kind
of, oh, I said, you mark it down. If you're one of His, if you're
one of His sheep, He's gonna get you. He will. Look what he did to us. We had no idea, did we? So there's
hope for our kids, isn't there? Just keep praying, because if
they are the Lord's, he's going to get them. I guarantee you.
There won't be one of the Lord's sheep missing. There won't be
one going out there going, oh man, I didn't want them. I ran
away. Nope. because they'd be made willing, like we were, in
the day of God's power, to come to Christ and praise his mighty
name for his goodness and his mercy and his grace. Gives us
hope for our friends and family members, beloved. Because we
don't know who God's elect are. We have no idea. So look at this. Look at this. Then shall we know,
we shall follow on to know the Lord. Let us always remember
this too, that the first knowledge of the Lord is all of grace.
Right? Because by nature, we don't know
the Lord, do we? By nature, we don't want nothing
to do with the Lord. So the first knowledge of the
Lord, and we're going to keep going, all the other knowledge
we gain is from the Lord. Everything I know about the Lord,
everything you know about the Lord is being revealed to us.
We can't boast in it. That's why I have to laugh at
these self-proclaimed theologians and stuff. Any knowledge they
have is from the Lord. Why should we boast in it? We
give Him the glory. We give Him the honor and the
praise. It all comes from our King. It all comes from Him. My! So all knowledge we know
about our great God comes from Him? Before grace is given, no
one can know the Lord. We did not know the Lord before
grace came into our lives. Paul didn't know the Lord until
the Damascus road, right? That was the day of love. It's amazing. So all knowledge too we know
about him, the more we grow in him, it all comes from him. And
think of this, we can't gain any spiritual knowledge except
by the grace of God in Christ. We can't even gain any. If God
says, that's it, you're not learning no more, we won't learn anything
else. But isn't that wonderful? Every time we hear the gospel,
we learn something and we rejoice. I had some, a sister come up
to me not long ago and she said, I'm seeing stuff in the, in Philippians
that I've never seen before. And I said, so am I, sister.
Isn't that wonderful? We're seeing stuff. We're like,
wow, I didn't even know that was there. Brian, we talked about
that. Stuff just flying off the pages.
Isn't it wonderful? We're learning together. We're
growing in grace together, beloved. Because God's giving, opening
our eyes and opening our hearts and teaching us. my turn if you
would to mark chapter 11 mark chapter 11 look what our lord proclaimed
here in these verses i love these verses too i always say that
about every scripture verse it's wonderful isn't it but look at
this in mark or matthew not mark matthew i'm sorry matthew chapter
11 matthew chapter 11 this is incredible Then shall we know, we shall
follow on to know the Lord. We're born again by God's almighty
power. Look at this, Matthew 11, 25 to 27. At that time, Jesus
answered and said, I thank the old father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and the
prudent and has revealed them unto babes. He calls his children
babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Look at that. Look at his total
submission to the Father. Even so, Father, that's good
in your sight? That's the way it is. Oh, that's
wonderful. Look at this. All things are
delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, look
at this, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save
the Son, and to whomsoever, what? Amen sister and to whomsoever
the son shall reveal him We have no idea who god is in our natural
state He has to reveal himself to us And so that ties in with
the first part of this verse then shall we know we shall follow
on to know the lord And it's you know, it's all according
to his will and purpose All that's according to his will and purpose
It's marvelous. Then shall we know, saith the
prophet, when? Well, when we're born again by
God's almighty power. We don't know anything until
we're born again. And then we're given faith to believe on Christ,
who we never believed on before, to the saving of our soul. We
were already purchased 2,000 years ago. Christ already saved us 2,000
years ago, didn't he? Now we find out. Well, the work's
complete. It's done. It's finished. Praise his mighty name. By God-given
faith, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Look at
that flipping jello. What shall I do? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Oh my, isn't that wonderful? How's he gonna believe? By God-given
faith. You must be born again. Oh, it's
wonderful, beloved. See? Whomsoever the Son will
reveal him. He's got to reveal himself to
us, doesn't he? And he does. And he's the fairest of 10,000
to our souls now, isn't he? He's a lover of our souls. Oh
my, he's so good. You know, there's a similar passage
over in Hebrews 3.14 that says, it says this, for we are made
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end. Turn actually there if you would,
because there's something really neat in this verse here. Hebrews
3, verse 14. Hebrews 3, verse 14. Oh my. So God, by his almighty power,
raises up the sinner from his dead natural state, makes him
alive, right? Then we know God, then we learn
and grow and learn more about God, all by his power, all by
his might. And then we get to live in his
sight forever, all because of his mercy and grace. Look at
this in Hebrews 3.14, look at this. For we are made partakers
of Christ. if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Now let us observe here
that the Holy Ghost is giving testimony of a present mercy. We have mercy right now in and
through Christ. We've experienced the mercy of
God through Christ. But no, not of one in the future,
because look what he tells his people in verse 14. For we are
made partakers of Christ. That's right now. That's not
in the future. That's not in the future, beloved. That's right now. And then look
at this. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Now, how were we made partakers
of Christ? How were we made partakers of
Christ? Well, by grace alone. Through Christ alone. In his
perfect work alone. We're partakers of Christ, not
by anything we do. And note the order. This is so
neat. Because people can take this
verse and they twist it, right? And they're saying, well, look
at that. We hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. What comes first? First comes we're made partakers
of Christ, right? Who does that? God. And then
we're told over in Peter that we're kept by the power of God.
We experience this though. I'm not negating what we experience. We experience this confidence
we have in Christ. We live daily, feasting and resting
in Christ as much as we can. Through the toils of this world,
we have succumbing at us, don't we, all the time. But our rest
is Christ. Our trust, our hope. We exercise
that hope, too, don't we? Our faith is real. We lay hold
on Christ, but only by the grace of God, right? See, I love this. The order's incredible. For we
are made partakers of Christ. It's a work of God. Salvation's
of the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. And
in the order in verse 14 of Hebrews 3, we see the beginning of our
confidence cannot be the cause or condition of being made partakers
of Christ. No, we're made partakers first.
You must be born again. And then, now, sister, we have
confidence in Christ now, don't we? We have trust in Christ,
brother, that we didn't have before. And we know that if it was left
up to us, we wouldn't make it to the end. But we're kept by
the power of God. Isn't that wonderful? That's
a confidence too, isn't it? A confidence in Christ. Not in
ourselves, but a confidence in our King. He who purchased us
with his precious blood, he who redeemed us out from under the
law, shall keep us. And we shall live in his sight
forever. My. Make you want to shout. Make you want to shout, beloved.
My. So nothing we do or say can be
the cause or condition of us being made partakers of Christ.
If we're partakers of Christ, it's because the power of God
has been exercised in our life. And the same power that regenerated
Paul on the road to Damascus is the same power that regenerates
us. Isn't that wonderful? And we're made partakers of Christ
all because of the grace and mercy of Christ, period. That's
it. We're just receivers. Remember
how I keep saying we're just receivers of the mercy and grace
of God. That's all we are. And we're marveling at that,
aren't we? We're just, doesn't it make you marvel, Brother Brian?
Just, oh my goodness. This is amazing, Sister Olivia.
We're just, we're partakers of Christ, yeah. He died for us. My, it's wonderful. And because we've been made partakers
of God, of Christ, by our great God and His almighty power, now
again, I'm gonna say it again, now we have confidence in Christ.
We didn't have confidence in Christ before. We just thought,
I don't need that, I don't need religion, I don't need... And
I remember saying, I don't need religion, but I found out Christ
isn't religion. Christ is God in the flesh. Oh
my, who came to save sinners. So now we have confidence that
Christ is the only Savior of sinners. All because of God's
regenerating power. That's all. See, again, it all
goes back to our King, doesn't it? It all focuses on Christ
and Him alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. This is wonderful. So the reason
we have confidence in Christ is because we've been made partakers
of Christ by the power of God. And again, I'm gonna say it again,
keep saying it, you must be born again. And that's by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. Now let's read verse three of
Hosea chapter six. Then shall we know, again we'll
read it again, 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 down to earth. Now look at this, beloved of
God. Look at this wonderful statement. His going forth is prepared as
the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
and former rain upon the earth. Christ is the Lamb slain from
before the foundation of the world. Isn't that amazing? Before there
was ever heaven and earth, Christ was a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. He was prepared. My oh my. His redemption of his
people was purposed for maternity, prepared in the everlasting councils
of peace for the redemption of God's people between God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God. The word of God, the son of God,
being the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth, came
forth as the sum and substance, as the sum and substance of every
type, every shadow of the law. He is the substance. He is the
sum and substance. There are shadows, remember?
There are shadows. He's the substance. We've talked
about that before. When someone's walking up and
they're behind a building and we can see their shadow, And
boom, there they are. That's their substance. That's
them. The shadow's just a shadow of
them. Those types, all those offerings
were just types and shadows of Christ. He's the sum and the
substance of every type, shadow of the law and every promise
in the gospel. All the promises of God were
told by Paul in Corinthians. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So what
a blessing. What a blessing. This is still
true today. All through the ages. All through
the ages of his church. And that's from Adam all the
way to the last sheep. Because remember, his church
is all the elect of God. All the elect of God. all believers,
to all those believers who are born again of his Holy Spirit,
he's the fairest of 10,000 to our souls. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. What a blessing to be taken from
the dark night of our sinful, fallen, ruined state, which without God's grace, must
have ended in everlasting blackness or despair had not Jesus, who
is the Son of Righteousness, risen in our lives. My, oh, my. Every grace of Jesus is as the
rain and dew of heaven. You ever think of that? The graces
and the blessings, all the spiritual blessings, are like rain from
heaven for our dry, parched desert that we were. Now we're his garden. What do people do with their
garden? They water it. They take care of it. You know,
the church is like a fenced off garden. Nothing can come in and
destroy them. They're cared for. The gardener
goes through and prunes them. And every believer, I remember
Spurgeon say, every believer is like a unique plant in the
garden of the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? And he
cares for us and takes care of us. And then he comes to the
garden and he says, I'm going to take this one home. My. That's beautiful. Oh, my. And what's he do? Takes us home to glory, doesn't
he? Oh, but the whole time we're here on Earth, he's caring for
us. The rain's falling upon us. We're being watered by his word.
We're growing in grace, all by his almighty power. Right? The
rain falls, but who gives the increase? God gives the increase,
right? We're told that. Neil plants his corn. And God
gives the increase. Isn't that amazing? He just puts
that seed in the ground. God causes the rain to fall upon
it. He causes it to rise up, and Neil gets the blessing of
going and harvesting it. Talk to him. Here, give all the
glory to God. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. My. So we've been taken out of
the darkness and brought into the marvelous light of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every grace of God is, again,
is the rain and dew of heaven. It's free. You ever think of
that? The rain's free, isn't it? No one's got a, they haven't
taxed it yet. Right? In Oregon, they actually, you're
not allowed to collect rain in barrels and stuff, because they
can't tax it. I read an article about some
guy getting charged with that, collecting rain in barrels. It's
just crazy. It's just crazy. But the rain
is free, isn't it? We don't deserve it either, do
we? But it falls upon our plants. It falls upon the crops in the
world. We get food on our table. All comes from the bounty of
the Lord. It's free. Doesn't cost us anything. The
rain doesn't. It's unlooked for. We don't look
for it. We have weathermen now who tell
us, oh, the rain's coming. And sometimes they'll tell us,
oh, the rain's coming. And the Lord says, no, it's not. Right? Because he's in control, isn't
he? I always laugh at that because it just shows the foolishness
of man trying to predict things. You know. Our weather is based
upon God's sovereignty. That's it. That's it. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. My. And we don't look for it. We
don't seek it. But it's needed, isn't it? That
rain's needed. It's life-giving. The water we
drink comes from the rain that falls from the heads. Right? Isn't that amazing? The vegetables and fruit we eat
have to be watered or they'll die. The fish can't live out
of water. Oh my, it's very needed, isn't
it? And it just flows by the grace
of God. Isn't it amazing? I was putting this message together
today, because I do it on the day I preach it, and I was getting
so excited. This is amazing. I never looked at the rain like
that before. Have you? I haven't. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. You know, sometimes
I look at, ah, it's raining again. I ain't gonna do that anymore. And think of this, them little
birds, you ever seen them little birds when that water falls in
the ground and they're in there, they're around those little pools
drinking, aren't they? All provided by the Lord for them to sustain
all life on this world. It's absolutely amazing. Oh,
and think of this. In our natural state, we don't
seek the Lord. We don't look for the Lord. He
comes to us. Just like the rain from heaven,
beloved. And the rain from heaven comes at the command of God,
doesn't it? Christ was sent by God the Father. My, it's amazing. And if Christ would wait for
men to come to Him, no one would be saved. Because we will not come to Him
in our natural state. We must be made willing in the
day of God's power. And praise be to God, He makes
us willing. It's wonderful. This grace is
overflowing, beloved. The grace of God comes down to
us as the rain upon the earth, refreshing the earth. It's weary
and scorched and dry. That's how we are in our natural
state. Isn't that amazing? You must
be born again. Now look at verse 4. Hosea chapter
6 verse 4. Oh Ephraim, what shall I do unto
thee? Oh Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? For your goodness is a morning
cloud, and as they early do it, goeth away. So this verse is
speaking of man's goodness, which there is no good in man. There is none. There's none righteous,
no, not one. And he compares it to the dew,
which shows for a little bit, and then it's gone. There's nothing. Isn't that wild? He's giving
us pictures of nature here. It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. And let us pause over this sweet
and gracious expression of the Lord. I ask you, was God at a loss
what to do when he says, well, what shall I do unto thee, O
Ephraim? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? Is he at a loss? No, he's not at a loss. He's
sovereign. He's sovereign. My, oh my. Now let us look at these words
with an eye to the compassion of our great God. When he says this, what shall
I do unto thee? He's showing compassion. They
deserve to be destroyed. Right? If we get what we deserve,
which we don't as believers. But if we did, we'd go to hell.
Look at this. This is amazing. He's expressing
his compassion over the sinful state of his people. Listen to
this in Jeremiah. Actually, let's turn there. Jeremiah
chapter 31, verse 20. I'm sorry, I've got us turning
quite a bit, but look at this in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 20, or
Jeremiah 31. I am all over the board tonight.
Jeremiah 31, verse 20. I'm sorry. Look at this. Look at how he speaks of Ephraim.
So somebody might look at this verse and go, oh, look at that.
He doesn't know what to do. No, God knows what to do. He's
showing us His compassion for them. He's showing us His compassion
for Judah. Who's going to spring out of
Judah? Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Oh my. Look at this in Jeremiah 31 20.
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still, his eyes
still upon him. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him. And I will surely, look at this, oh, look at this. I
will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. We're like a
bunch of people from Ephraim, aren't we? God's had mercy on
us. He didn't forget us. We're his
people. Now let's read verse five. Let's
go back to Hosea chapter six, read verse five. This is an incredible
verse. I had never seen this today,
and Hawker brought this forth, and then I started looking at
some cross-references. So we're gonna hit a couple cross-references
here. Look at this. Hosea chapter six, verse five.
Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets. He's speaking of
those in the verse preceding, right? Ephraim and Judah. I have
slain them by the words of my mouth, and thy judgments are
as the light that goeth forth. Robert Hawker brings this out.
I thought this was magnificent. He says that the hewing by the
words of the prophet, it brings forth a reference to the powerful
effects of preaching the gospel. My saying these words doesn't
make it powerful, does it? It's God who uses it. He uses
the preaching of his word. He makes it powerful. He makes
it effectual. When I was studying for this,
I was getting so excited. He's making it effectual to my heart.
So I can preach it to you. But only, but now, now, if I
could preach to you how I feel about this, oh my, it'd be amazing. But I can't, I know I can't,
but I'm still really excited about it, right? but from my
mouth to your hearts, he makes it effectual by his power. So this is amazing. So look at
that. He's going to make his words
powerful to Judah and Ephraim. Now turn if you would, turn if
you would to Acts chapter seven, and then put your finger in Hebrews
chapter four, and I'm gonna read to you Jeremiah 23, as you're
turning there. Jeremiah 23 says this, is not
my word like, Jeremiah 23, 29, is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
See, our old stony heart's like a stony old rock. And we don't
need a heart bypass, we need a new heart. We need a transplant,
sister. Amen. Thank you. I was trying
to think of that word. We need a transplant. And he
gives us a new heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
right? But how does he do that? Well, by the whole power of God,
the Holy Spirit regenerating us by the preaching of the word.
Isn't that amazing? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Look at this in Acts chapter
6. Here we're going to see an effect of the gospel preaching
upon these folks here. And this happens even in the
believer's life. When we first hear the gospel, we recoil. Until our time of love. And then
we're like, then we come willingly. Look at this. Acts chapter 7,
verses 51 to 54. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart. That's every person born on this
earth. And ears, ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do we, so do ye. Which
of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they
have slain them, which showed before of the coming of the just
one, the coming of Christ, of whom ye have been now the betrayers
and murderers, who have received the law by the dispensation of
angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. They hated that preaching. That's how I was before the Lord
saved me. I hated people come talk to me
about Christ. Just leave me alone. My oh my. And now go over to Hebrews chapter
four. And remember, Hawker said that
the hewing there, when he says, therefore have I hewed them by
the prophets, it's the preaching of the gospel. by the prophets. And then we who are preachers,
we know prophets at all. There's only prophets in that
time, but we're preachers of the gospel. And God uses the
preaching of the gospel to break and crush the stony rocks, hearts
of natural man. Look at this. I love this. Hebrews
4.12, great verse to memorize. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. A two-edged
sword would cut going in and would cut coming out. Most knives just cut going in.
These cut both ways. So that if you're in a battle,
you could just go across someone's stomach or something like that.
They're brutal. Two-edged sword. Oh my. Look at this, the word of God
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Now
those soldiers, they used to sharpen their swords razor sharp.
Pierced even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. See, only God can make the preaching
of his word a factual. Only He can have this happen,
where the Word of God goes in sharper than a two-edged sword.
And now, I believe, like I think it was Henry Mahan, I was reading
him about this, that sword could either be the Word of God or
Christ, either way, because Christ is the Word of God. Preaching
to Christ pierces your heart. It's the sword, that sword of
the spirit, right? The word of God. Oh my, it just
cuts. But it's a good cut, isn't it? It's a good cut. Only God can make his preaching
of his word effectual. And praise God, he does. He's
made it effectual in our lives, hasn't he? He's made it effectual.
We who are the born-again, blood-washed people of God, he made it effectual.
Praise his mighty name. Now let's read verse 6 of Hosea
chapter 6. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Now, our
Lord quotes this text twice. Twice he quotes this text. The
first one, if you want to turn there, is in Matthew chapter
9, and it's verse 13. And the second one is in Matthew
chapter 12, verse 7. So I'll read first Matthew 9,
13. Twice he mentioned this verse. Matthew 9, 13, he says, but go
ye and learn what this meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Okay. And then he says in Matthew
12, verse 7, but if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have
mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned
the guiltless. They would not have condemned
Christ if they had known what that verse was talking about.
But they didn't. And we still have the same problem
today, don't we? Nothing new under the sun, right? It appears
that in Hosea's time, they didn't understand it. And it appears like in the time
of Christ, they didn't understand it. And by our Lord's expression
on both occasions, the meaning of this verse was not well understood. And again, it's not changed over
time. Some, some have supposed that
the sense of the verse is that the Lord prefers the mercy and
goodness of our hearts to the sacrifices of his own appointing. That's so wrong. We have no goodness in our heart. We have none. Now when we're born again, we're
ordained to good works that God's ordained for us to do. And we do kind things, don't
we? But we're still full of sin. And as a matter of fact, in Jeremiah
7, 9, the fact that we have nothing good in our heart is brought
forth when it says the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We can't even
know our own hearts. We don't understand how wicked
our heart really is. That's why we had to have a new
heart. We had a transplant. Right? God has given us a new
heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. It's amazing.
So when man says that God prefers the mercy and goodness of their
hearts to the sacrifices of his own appointing in their interpretation
of this verse, that's nothing but man-centered thinking, which
is religion in general. It's all about what you gotta
do and not about what Christ is. I preach Christ, it's finished
work. It's done. My oh my. And then the knowledge,
the knowledge and the mercy here desired by Jehovah is Christ
himself. Christ is the epitome of mercy.
He's truth incarnate. He's mercy incarnate. He's full of grace and truth.
He's grace incarnate. Isn't that amazing? So the mercy here desired by
Jehovah is Christ himself. And the knowledge of God, the
knowledge of God in Christ as a substance of the whole burnt
offerings, all the fact that we now have a knowledge, knowing
that Christ is the substance of all those sacrifices, and
that comes from God, right? We now have, we now know who
the mercy of God is, it's Christ. And what the mercy of God is,
he saves sinners such as we in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. My, it's amazing. It's just amazing. Christ is mercy promised. Christ
is mercy incarnate. He's the one all-sufficient sacrifice. for our sins. And for the sins,
not just ours, but the sins of all the elect of all the ages.
That's what's incredible. It's absolutely amazing. Now
let's close with verses 7 to 11. And also in the fact that
Christ is the all-sufficient sacrifice, He's the only one
who God's well pleased in. So if we're in Him, He's well
pleased with us. Oh my, it just gets better and
better, doesn't it? Now, verses 7 to 11, we're going
to get a glimpse of our sinfulness in our natural state. And what
was going on with Israel at this time. Look at this. And remember,
the only one who made us to differ in us believing on Christ is
God himself. He had mercy on us, right? We're
all from the same state. Never forget the rock you were
hewn from. I like what one of the old timers said, don't forget
we were all hewn from the same rock of humanity. Or the same,
no, he called it the quarry. Back in the days you had stone
quarries, right? We're all hewn from the same quarry of humanity.
Saved and lost. God just chooses to have mercy
on some and not others. Because it pleases him to do
so. My, oh my. Look at this, Hosea
7 to 11. And we're seeing here, we do
not deserve any mercy. Look at this. But they, like
man, have turned grass to the covenant. There have they dwelt treacherously
against me. We broke God's law. Gilead is a city of them that
work iniquity and is polluted with blood. That was our natural
state. And as troops of robbers wait
for men, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent,
for they commit lewdness. I have seen an horrible thing
in the house of Israel. There is the whoredom of Ephraim.
Israel is defiled, defiled by sin. That's our natural state. Also, O Judah, he has set in
harvest for thee when I returned the captivity of my people. Now
we see here, and in other parts of this book of Hosea, the Lord
bringing forth the sinfulness of his people in their natural
state. That's a picture of us in our natural state. But praise
God, he didn't leave us there. He purposed to save us, and he
planned to save us, and he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to save
us by the shedding of his precious blood and the giving of his precious,
precious life. It's amazing. And we see here that the state
that Gilead and the house of Israel, Ephraim and Judah are,
they're all transgressors alike. That's where we came from. Let
us never forget that. That when God found us, he found
us right amongst all of them. He knew where we were the whole
time. And we didn't know we were lost. We didn't know we needed
to be saved, did we? But by his grace and mercy, he
saved us. Oh my. So marvelous of God is only Christ
Jesus our Lord and his precious blood can take away all the all
the sins Take away all our sins all and nothing but the blood
of Christ Nothing, but the blood of Christ can take away the sins
and the offenses of the Lord's people And we say amen don't
we brother? Amen brother Brian. Can you close
us in prayer? I?