All right, I'll make sure that it's on here. Yeah, it's got a green light. All right. Before I begin the message, we'll go to God in prayer. I want to ask you to pray for me. I looked at this message for a while, and I pray that the Lord would bless it. It's just me, it's not the message. So I pray the Lord would bless the message to our hearts tonight and that God would be gracious to use it.

Except he use it, except the Lord hath met with us, we meet in vain. except the Lord give us His Spirit, His grace, regardless of how much we understand in our head or know. We'll never feel it in our hearts, we'll never know it in our souls, except God Himself reveal it. And this is to us who know it, to us who have heard it so many years, I don't know about you, but often I'll read something that I read a thousand times before.

And it's just like words on a page. I've read it a thousand times and there are many times where it's come up and it's overwhelmed my heart and I wanted to do it again. And I read it and it doesn't. I'm more dependent upon Him now than ever before. Just constantly pleading for mercies. But you know what I find? I find mercies. I find mercies. In spite of my murmuring, I still find mercies.

And God is gracious and I know He will be gracious because this is His Word. And He will magnify His Word. He will honor His name. And He will fulfill all the promises that He has given us in Christ. Scripture says they're yay and amen in Christ. They're done. Works were done before the foundation of the world in the eyes of God.

And so we should be confident in Christ. And not in providence, not in circumstance. Don't be confident in that. But in Christ you can be confident. I do ask God to bless us tonight. Remember those churches that need pastors. Pray for them. Pray for our families that are lost and outside of Christ, who are blind, who are dead, who have no love for the things of God. It's very sad, isn't it? We understand the importance, and yet To them, there is no importance. There is no life.

But I know God can give life. He can. If He will. Now what the leper said, I know you can, if you will. So pray for our families. Let's go to hymn of prayer. Gracious Father, We bow ourselves again recognizing our inability to come and our inability to worship in ourselves. We come having no strength, no confidence in the flesh, but simply trusting that you would send your spirit into this place and into our hearts. We plead this night that you would be glorified. that you would be magnified. The praise of the glory of your grace might be seen in the person and the offering of Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that we might be comforted in the midst of our afflictions and trials and difficulties.

Father, there are many. We are surrounded. We are cast down. We are emptied. Tonight we lay ourselves at the feet of Jesus, pleading to be taught, pleading to understand, to find rest and peace and comfort and assurance in Christ. Pray, Father, that you would do this for your own glory and for those outside of Christ tonight that are listening, those who do not know Christ, if there be any, who are hearing without Christ, that you by the same power of the Spirit that called us, that you had called in, as you've convicted us, as you have revealed our sin to us and our need, please reveal it to them. And then give them the gospel so they might flee to Christ and find mercy. Forgiveness. Peace. Heaven. Pray for your churches wherever they are. These things that we ask for ourselves. We also ask for them. And the men you have called to preach. We ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.

All right, take your Bibles, turn with me to Hosea chapter 14. Hosea chapter 14, tell this message, a great call and a great fall. A great call and a great fall. The scripture begins here in verse 1, O Israel, there we have who he is speaking to in this text, Israel, and we're going to see this is the spiritual Israel, not just physical, but this is spiritual Israel. This is the call of God, return unto the Lord thy God. And here's the reason, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." We have a great call and there's a great fall.

And then he instructs us as to how we are to come, how we are to return. Look what he says, take with you words and turn unto the Lord and say unto him, take away all iniquity. and receive us graciously." These are the words you take when you are convicted of sin. First of all you take this, take away my iniquity. Isn't that the thing that caused you to turn? Is the iniquity the fault?

And then say this, I need to be received graciously. I can't be received any other way. I need grace. And look what happens, the effect, he says, And so will we render the calves of our lips, the praise unto God for His grace. And then we will say, Asher, shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, you are our gods, for in thee the fatherless find mercy. We're not going to trust in our religion anymore, ourselves. And look what God promises, He says, I will heal their backsliding.

I will love them, how? Freely. Why? My anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew of Israel and he shall grow as the lily and cast forth roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and the smell of Lebanon." I'll give you the outline real fast. There's a lot in here. There's a lot in here. So first of all, let's take this text as we find it. To whom is he speaking?

Israel. And I've got several pages of notes on this, but I know this, that we understand that physical Israel was first intended in this text. They had gone away from God. You remember God told Hosea, He said, Go marry Gomer, that prostitute. Why? For Israel hath committed great whoredoms. He was showing them a picture. They were Gomer. We were Gomer. And they had gone away from God. But how much more is this meant and intended, not just for national Israel, but for spiritual Israel? Remember, the national Israel was only a shadow, was only a type of the truth.

We see that clearly in Romans chapter 9 when the Apostle Paul says, Not all that are of Israel are Israel. Not everybody that's a seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are counted as the seed. but he's talking about a spiritual Israel. Tonight, if you and I are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, when he says this, O Israel, we know this, he's talking to the elect.

He's talking to everyone that God has chosen. Spiritual Israel. He calls Israel to return. This is the call of God. Now we know according to the Word of God that God has an elect people who are Israel. We know this that Jesus Christ came into the world to save Israel. spiritual Israel, His people.

And we have a sure foundation that the Spirit of God will not neglect to call everyone that Christ died for. Jesus said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, without doubt. So when God says, All Israel, return, this call will go out in power and demonstration of God's Spirit and every elect sinner will return to God without exception. All of them will return. We know this. We that have returned, we understand this.

Yet as a preacher of the gospel, I know God has an elect, I just don't know who they are. God has a specific call. And we're going to see His call comes with power. But in order for them to hear His call, this is the means He's chosen. The preaching of the Gospel. He tells His men, go you and to all the world and preach the Gospel to the elect.

Is that what He says? No, He says to every creature. Because I don't know who they are. So we preach to everyone. Preach the gospel. He commands us to do this. Now listen, I'm to preach to everyone, but I am confined as to what I'm to preach. The gospel. I have no other thing to preach. Go you into all the world and preach THE Gospel.

There are not many Gospels. There are many opinions. There are many thoughts as to what the Gospel is. But in truth there is only one Gospel. We are not to deviate from this Gospel. Look at Galatians. Look at Galatians chapter 1. Look what Paul says about deviating from this message. Galatians chapter 1, and he says in verse 6 concerning the church there, he said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel.

You see what he did there? He linked him with the gospel. If you are moved from him, you are moved from the gospel. If you are moved from the gospel, you are moved from him. Why? He's the gospel. He's the gospel. And if you move from the gospel to another gospel, you move from him. Look what he says, which is not another. There ain't no other. There is no other gospel.

He said, but there are some who would trouble you, who would pervert the gospel of Christ. Listen to this, but though we, or an angel from heaven, he thinks of the highest thing possible. He says, if we, one of these apostles, if one of us comes back to you and preaches another gospel, or an angel comes down from heaven and preaches another gospel, listen to what he said, let him be accursed, anathema, let him be accursed from Christ, let him go to hell if he preaches another gospel than that which we have preached. As I said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which you receive, listen, let him go to hell, let him be accursed.

This is strong, isn't it? So when we make our call, it is only one way we make this call, by preaching the gospel. There's one gospel. And here's a simple litmus test for the gospel. Is salvation all of God, or is it a cooperative effort? The gospel is salvations of the Lord. Anyone who preaches a cooperative effort, salvation, is preaching another gospel. Let them be accursed. Let them be accursed. Is salvation by grace or is it by works?

Because Paul said it can't be mixed. It's either of grace or it is of works. It cannot be of both. Otherwise, grace don't mean grace. And that's exactly what's taking place today. Everyone says, well, we believe in grace. When actually they believe in works, what does that mean? Grace is no longer grace. And work really is not work.

Scripture says, for by grace you are saved. Through faith and that faith not, I had a man tell me he hated every time a preacher of the gospel, what he called Calvinist, every time a Calvinist said that, he just hated it. Doesn't make any less true. For by grace you are saved through faith, and that, the antecedent of that is faith.

That faith is not of yourself. It, faith, is a gift of God and not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast. So God's saints are here to preach the gospel of grace. A salvation without merit of the sinner. A salvation free from the law of salvation that is accomplished by Jesus Christ alone. This is what we preach. This is our commission to preach the gospel of grace. And we preach this, that all who believe on Christ are saved without exception. Scripture says, whosoever shall call on the Lord shall be saved. But how are you going to call on him that you've not believed? And how are you going to believe on somebody you ain't ever heard of? And how are you going to hear without a preacher? Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing what?

By the word of God. This call comes by the preaching of the gospel. I'm preaching to you. Jesus, the Son of God, I tell you that He has come in the flesh. This is our message, that the Son of God came in human flesh. God, very God, became man, very man. This is our message. Anything outside of that is not the gospel. See, Christ came as a man, but not just any man. He came as a representative man.

How do we know that? Because Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5 that as Adam was a representative man, from Adam came what? Sin. Well, how does righteousness come? By the same way. By a representative man, Jesus Christ. Even so, he says, by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. We preach that Christ has come in the flesh.

Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in this place. This is without controversy. You know, if anybody would want to argue concerning Christ's deity and humanity, don't argue with them. It's without controversy. There's no argument there.

And when he came into the world, he came to do two things. He came to provide a righteousness by his obedience and redemption by His blood. He came to save His people from their sins. Is that not the declaration of the angel when He came into this world? Thou shalt call His name Jehovah Saves. For He shall save His people from their sins. And that's exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ did. He came into the world and actually obtain righteousness for His people. Everyone the Father gave Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, as He walked, as He talked, as He taught, as He did miracles, He did always please the Father as a representative for His people. He was meriting our righteousness.

I know this, you're a believer in Christ, you don't feel righteous. You look in the mirror, you don't see a righteous person. That's because you didn't do anything to merit that righteousness. That righteousness was already merited for you and then given to you. It's then given to you. It's imputed and imparted to those that believe. Why? Because Christ made it. And wonderful thing about that is that I can't contaminate it. Isn't it wonderful that you can't touch that, that nothing can touch that? He made a righteousness for us.

The scripture says, even the righteousness of God. That's Romans chapter 3, I think in verse 22. He says this, that even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Well, how'd you get your righteousness? You that are righteous. How did you get that? Well, mine was made by Him. He made it. This is our gospel. This is good news, isn't it? For somebody who can't have any righteousness, who can't make any righteousness, guess what? This is my good news. He's already made it.

He has honored the law of God to perfection. And not only this, Jesus Christ came into this world as a sacrifice for sin. He came as a sacrifice for sin. See, he came to suffer the justice of God for the sins of his people. That's why he came. This is our message. Not only a righteousness, but a redemption. He paid. We're just saying it. Jesus paid what? How much did he pay? How much did Christ pay on the cross? Was it a portion? Scripture says that He paid for all our sins.

All our sins. Now how many sins have you not yet committed? You leave here, if God give you breath, you and I leave here, how many sins will we commit before we get out the door? And yet, in mercy. He counted all of them, and God made Him to be sin for us, and the justice of God fell on Him without mercy, and He died. You that think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly. May sin you estimate. He offered himself without spot to God and died.

He didn't feign death. He died. This is our gospel. He lay in the tomb for three days and God raised him from the dead because of this. There was nothing left to pay. This is our hope, isn't it? That he's risen. There would be no hope of his success or victory had he not risen. But he's risen and he's now ascended to the throne of God where he sits now ruling over all things for this purpose to save His people that they all should experience the salvation that He bought, that He paid for. None of them is going to miss it. None of them will miss it because He will send His Holy Spirit. Now you listen to save Israel. This is our gospel. I will not deviate from that. He came to save Israel, and He will save Israel.

He said that in the high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. He said, Father, glorify the Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh. Now listen, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. Now who is He going to give eternal life to?

I don't know how many. That's why I'm preaching to everybody. I don't know how many as many as is, but I know this as many as. As the Father gave Him, He will give eternal life to them. He will call them and He will save them. Remember that He said that in that same passage, I pray not for the world. I pray for them that thou hast given me. And this is what he swears. He says, Neither pray I for them alone.

Now listen, he was thinking of you, if you believe. If you're a believer tonight, listen. Can you imagine that? How he literally, at that moment, he says this text, this scripture. He was thinking of us. He said, I pray not for them only. but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. He was thinking of all of us who now believe. And so we see this, that this call is to Israel. Now, like I said, I call everyone. I don't know who Israel is, but I know this. When God calls Israel, Israel's coming. When God says, Oh, Israel, return unto the Lord, you know what they'll do?

When it comes in power and demonstration of the Spirit, there's nothing to stop them from coming. They will return. No matter how far they've gone, no matter where they are, no matter how deep in sin they are, listen, when He speaks, they come. How do you know? Because that's what happened to us. That's what happened to everyone in Scripture when God speaks. Jesus said 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 without exception. What a great call. What a great call.

I like what he says in Timothy. Let's see. I keep mixing up his first or second. I don't know why I keep messing that up. I think it's 2 Timothy chapter 1. He said, Who hath saved us? Verse 9, 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. Who hath saved us and called us? Which was first? He saved us. Then he did what? Then he called us.

What kind of calling does God call His people with? Now, I call them with a general call. I say, whosoever will, come, drink of the water of life freely. Why? Because I don't know who the effectual call is going to. But I know this, when He calls, they all come. Look what He says, He saved us with and called us with a holy calling. You know what a holy calling is? It is a perfect calling.

My calling's not very perfect. It has no power with it. I can't make anyone come. But when God calls, it's a holy calling, and it's not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, listen, which was given us in Christ before the world began. That's why.

What a great calling. You that have been called, don't you know it's a great calling? It's a powerful calling. It's an effectual calling. I keep saying the word effectual. I hope everybody understands. It means it gets the job done. That's what the word means. When he calls you, it gets the job done.

Now, secondly, I want you to see a great fall. This is why God calls his people. Go back to over there, he says, O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. Now why should we return? What's the reason? For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Here truly is the condition of every man by nature, fallen. Fallen. When God created man, he was upright, he was perfect.

I don't know if you've considered that. When I say he was perfect, do you understand anything about that? We have no experience of what Adam went through, being perfect. We don't know how long he was perfect. Could have been days, could have been years, could have been centuries, we don't have a clue. But he was perfect however long it was. In other words, he had fellowship with God, walked with the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ hand in hand in fellowship. Perfect.

But the day that our father sinned, immediately he died. That which was created in perfection became perfectly perfect. ruined by one sin. Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world. Do you see how much Adam represented here? Satan was the father of sin. Satan was actually on the earth, but Satan could not transfer sin into this world. He had no authority. He represented no one. Adam did.

And the day our father, your father, and my father, the day he sinned, we all died in him. Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. How great was the fall of Adam. The only thing Adam did perfectly is he fell. He fell perfectly. It was an absolute, complete and utter ruin of the entire race of man.

Now false religion boasts that the fall was nothing more than a bruise. Now, this is so. 90 so percent of the churches, I mean, as far as I know, I wish there were more that preached the truth concerning this. But a mass majority of this religious age believed that Adam's fall was nothing but a bruise. that Adam failed but maintained his dignity, maintained his integrity, maintained his ability to understand and be able to do good and evil, which was the lie of Satan from the beginning. In the day thou eatest thereof, God knows this, that thou shalt be as God's. knowing good and evil, being able to discern, being able to choose between good and evil.

What a lie, because the moment he fell he could do nothing good. He could discern nothing good. Adam did not bruise himself. And any such thought of man having a free will is a lie and against the book. It's not in here. It's not in here. Man does not have a free will. Man has a will. Who denies that? Man's will is just as corrupt as his nature.

God by divine command demands that everyone everywhere repent. That's true. God demands it. God commands it. Everyone should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone should bow to Jesus Christ and believe on Him. They should. Why won't they? Why will men not come to Christ? It's not will. The reason they will not come to Christ is because they're dead. Now you understand that. You that believe, you understand that because when God called you, He called you from death to life. You were dead. You understand what that is. We were dead in trespasses and sins so that men cannot come to God.

Go to John chapter 6. Go to John chapter 6. I thought about preaching this passage, and I may, if the Lord is willing, sometime. Our Lord proved His deity. He proved His, by feeding those 5,000, He proved His deity, didn't He? That's just, nobody but God could do something like that.

And these people, he left them there and he goes across the sea. And you remember, these people were so enthralled, they took passage and followed him over there. And the scripture says they would make him to be their king. They'd make him to be their king. They believed that he, the scripture says they believed he was the Christ.

But in the end, they all went away. Now why? When he preached the gospel to them, they didn't like it. They didn't like it. You know what? At the very beginning of this, Jesus knew who they were. They were not his. They were not his people. He knew that. Scripture says he knew from the beginning who would believe and who would not. And you know, at the beginning of this message, he says this.

They said, What must we do to do the works of God? And they're all thinking carnal. They're all thinking, How can I earn it? How can I merit it? And Jesus said, No, this is the work of God. Verse 29 of that John 6. He said, This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sinned. So he told you from the beginning, you can't believe by work. This is the work of God. If you believe.

And look what he says about this great call. He says in John 6, verse 35, Jesus said to him, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, and you also have seen me, and believe not. You saw these miracles. You heard my speech. Academically, you understand what I'm saying, but you still don't believe.

But Jesus was not concerned about this. It did not bother him at all. Listen what he said. He said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Was he disappointed that these men didn't come? Does he sound disappointed? Well, man, I thought you guys really believed on me. He wasn't duped. He said, No, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And when they do, I will in no wise cast them out like I'm casting you out. I don't want you. When they come, I'm not going to cast them out.

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me. You want to know what God's will is? Everybody wants to say, I want to know what God's will for my life is. This is God's will right here. That of all he has given me, I should lose nothing. That's the will of God. But raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up to the last day. Then they began to complain. They murmured. Look what Jesus said to their murmuring. He said, verse 43, He said, Why do you murmur among yourselves?

Why do you waste your energy? Why are you banging your head against the wall on this? Listen, no man can come to me except. No man has the ability to come to me. Did I lose anybody? Did his speech lose anybody? No man can come to me. Except the Father which hath sent me, draw thee in."

How fallen is man? Man is so fallen that he cannot come to Christ. He cannot believe on Christ. Not a matter of volition, not a matter of will. This is how far man has fallen. that he is dead in trespasses and sins. He is blind to the gospel. He is deaf to the gospel. He is dumb to the language of grace. He doesn't understand and he cannot understand and he will not understand except God give him life.

That's how fallen we are. But when God calls a man, this is the first thing he reveals. When God calls a man to life, this is the first thing we know. That we are fallen because of our own iniquity. And when one is fallen and dead and cannot rise, we then begin to see our need.

We need what? We need to return. We need to come. We need to believe. And yet finding ourselves no ability. We're powerless. So how then can the dead come except God draw them? And when God reveals this to a sinner, he cannot go on without knowing. I've known this before. Somebody would get into trouble or they would get into a sickness or an illness and then death is imminent and they start crying out.

Oh, God saved me. God saved me. I believe on you. I believe on you. And then when the sickness goes and everything's well again, where do they go? It's not God's call. When God reveals to a man a sinner, he will not stop until he finds relief. And look what God says. Go back to your text. Now that you see what God is calling, he calls sinners.

Now notice what he says. I love this. This is so gentle. This is so... Watch what he says in verse 2. He gives us then instructions. I love it. He says this. Take with you words and turn to the Lord. And listen. Say unto Him. You don't have to guess. I think that's wonderful about the Word of God. He doesn't leave us to guess. If you just read it, he's not leaving you to guess.

He said, no, you that are sinners, you that have fallen by your own iniquity, you that know your need to return, listen, turn to God and take with you his word. You want to know what to say to God? Take what God says back to God. Is there anything God would rather hear than his own word? Take his word. Look what he says, take his word. And say unto him, look at the first thing that a sinner wants. When you realize your sin, what's the first thing you know you need? You need it gone. Remove all iniquity.

Isn't this what you asked you to believe? Did we not come as the public? I know before we were saying, you know, man, I wish the Lord do something with old so and so. I wish the, oh boy, this person over here really needs it. When God convicted me, the only person I knew that needed it was me. Lord, be merciful to me, thee, I don't know about anybody else. That Pharisee stood and he said, I'm thankful I'm not like all these other people. That publican, he beat on his own chest. He says, Lord, be merciful to me. I'm the only one. Lord, take away all my iniquity. I can't stand before God. in my iniquity. I need it all removed. How then could sin be removed? God reveals. He said without the shedding of blood is no remission. Here's how sin is removed.

God sent Christ into the world to die in the stead of sinners. To shed his blood for our sins. So when we return to the Lord, where do we return to? We return to the blood of Jesus Christ. We come by the blood of Christ. That's the only way sin can be removed. By the blood of Jesus Christ. Have you seen your need of Christ? I know that you that have seen your need, you know more tonight your need of Christ than you did before. I still need His blood to cleanse me of all my sins. So a sinner flees to Christ to remove our iniquity. And notice this secondly, when a sinner comes to Christ, he is only received by grace.

Look at this, and receive us graciously. Is this how you need to be received? Do you need to be received by merit? Is there anything you want to come? Do you bring anything but your sin? Religion brings things. They bring their works. They bring their deeds. They bring their ceremonies. They bring their rituals. But when a sinner is faced with the fall, he understands this. I can only bring my sin and I need it removed by the blood and received graciously. When God saves a sinner, He saves him graciously.

Isn't that what the Lord says? I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then, this is a conclusion. It is not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that shows what? Mercy. If there's any sinner that needs mercy, come to Christ for mercy. Come to Christ for mercy. It's the only place mercy is found.

Now look at this, and we will render the calves of our lips. Isn't this always the result of salvation by grace? That we give praise unto God. We don't offer sacrifices of blood or money or anything like that. We render only what we can. Thanksgiving. Praise. unto our God.

Now look at what he says. He says in verse 3, in other words, now then everyone that comes to God by Christ denounces our old religion. He said, Asher shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more the work to work of our hands, you are our gods.

For in thee the fatherless find mercy. The orphans, the bastards, that's what we are, the bastards. What do we find? We find mercy. We abandon all our righteousness and all our religion. Isn't that just right? What in the world would you want to carry any of your old religion? No, not for us. We will say no more.

We will say with Paul, I count it, Doug, that I may win Christ. And look what God promises to those who come, to those who are called, to those who understand the fall of their nature, to those who sue God for mercy and righteousness and redemption by Christ. Listen to what God said. He said this, I will heal their backsliding. Does that sound iffy? Does that sound like maybe? What does God say? He said, I will. I will. I will heal their backsliding, I will. Based on what? Grace. Sovereign grace. I will. The only reason God heals me is this.

He said, I will. That leper, when he came to him, Lord, if you will, you can. And he said, I will. Isn't that how you found him? When you found him, you knew you didn't deserve any of it. And he said, I will. He healed your soul. He gave you a new nature, a new heart, a righteousness. And notice what he says here. And I will love them, how?

Freely. I don't know about you, but I don't often feel God's love for me. Do you? I love to feel it. Don't get me wrong. I desire it. I desire. As we were talking about, we were singing that hymn, Sweet Hour of Prayer, and he said to behold his face. And I go, oh man, I wish my prayer was like that all the time. That I could sense his presence and know his love is wrapped around me.

I don't often feel that. But what in the world does my feelings have to do with the love of God? He said, I will love them freely. Not based on how they feel, or what they think, or even what they do. God's love is as immutable as His nature. It doesn't vary, it doesn't change, and He only loves one way, freely. That's it. I will love them freely. Why? How in the world could he heal me and love me for mine anger is turned away from him? How'd that happen? When God in justice poured his anger out on his son, And the blood of Christ extinguished all the anger of God against my son. Forever. Forever.

Don't you understand that it doesn't matter what happens here? It's not important. It doesn't enter in. It doesn't change this. It's something God purposed in eternity. It's something Christ already accomplished. And now He has given you an understanding. He's given you faith. And He will keep you until all of this is burned up.

I drove by the cemetery today and I was looking out there and I saw some graves that these men have been dead a hundred years or more. They've been dead. And I thought, that scripture, you know, the dead know nothing. What is all that trouble that they had during their life? It's gone. What's the only thing that's important? Whether they were in Christ or not. Whether God healed them. Whether God loved them freely because of Jesus Christ.

Notice what he says. I'm moving on. Let's go. And I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall grow as a lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. I thought of a lily in the desert. This is a very barren place where they lived here. Imagine a lily growing up out of the desert, surrounded by all the harsh environment. Everything in the world is trying to kill that lily.

But you know what saves it? Dew. Where does it come from? Where does it go? It just appears. When you're surrounded by your enemies and everything is all black and dark, providence is bad. Listen. God healed you. God called you. God gave you life. And listen to what He promises to do. He promises to send refreshments. Won't you need refreshment? And how many times have you needed it and asked and begged and it doesn't seem to come, then all of a sudden out of nowhere, there it is. That's like dew, isn't it? It's not there before the night, but after the night it's there.

God says, I'll do that. See, my whole soul depends on it. My whole life depends upon Him. Calling me. Saving me. Keeping me. Sustaining me. And the only hope I have is His promise. Take with you words. Take this back to Him. Isn't that what you still do? We take His word and we lean on it.

It's the only thing that's going to stand. What else is going to be left here? In a hundred years, what else is going to be left here? We're not going to be here. Some other man will come along and get this book, and God will send him, and he'll say those exact words that I just said to you. How many years has those words been here? It's been here long before we ever got here, and they'll be here long after we're gone, unless the Lord comes. Why, they're sure. They're sure.

I'm so thankful God is gracious and merciful to call us. Even though our fall was great, his call is greater. I'm so thankful. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Glenn, dismiss in prayer, please, brother. All in heaven, all in earth, thank you, dear God. Thank you, Lord, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Lord, Mr. Lord, Mr. Lord, Mr. Lord, Mr. Lord, Mr. Lord, Thank you for the words of life that you've chosen now. Lord, help us to meditate on one person today. Forgive us for sinning. May we live in a life of pride. But it's easier to handle if I'm on it.