We'll open your Bibles this morning
to Psalm 21. I want to make another effort
at trying to declare to you something of one of the sweetest,
most delightful subjects found in Holy Scripture. My subject
is prevenient grace. We don't often hear the term
prevenient grace these days, but there was a time when God's
servants preached about it often and God's people understood clearly
the teaching of scripture in this regard. Now, let me give
you a definition. Prevenient grace is that grace
of God that goes before the experience of God's saving grace and prepares
the way for that grace. The word prevenient means preceding
or coming before. The scriptures give us numerous
examples and much instruction concerning this matter of God's
prevenient grace. We'll begin here in Psalm 21.
Yes, Psalm 21. Psalm 20, is a prayer for our Savior's
success in the accomplishment of redemption. Psalm 21 is a
song of joyful praise assuring us of that success, assuring
us of the glory that would surely follow the accomplishments of
Christ. Psalm 21 speaks of the glory
that Christ now possesses as the reward of His obedience,
having fully accomplished everything committed to Him and trusted
to Him in covenant mercy before the world began. In Psalm 22,
we're allowed by God the Holy Spirit to enter into the very
closet of our Savior as He hung upon the curse tree suffering
in his body, in his soul, and in his heart, all the fury of
God's wrath as our substitute, and crying out to God, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 23 speaks about our
Lord Jesus Christ, our good shepherd, and his constant watchful care
over his people. And then the 24th Psalm declares
our Lord's ascension in glory as the king, the king of glory,
who's entered in and taken possession of all things, having power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the father has
given him because of his obedience as our substitute. Now let's
look at the opening verses of Psalm 21 for a few minutes. The king shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. The king here is Christ the Messiah,
our blessed Savior. This prophecy is about our Lord's
joy, the joy that is the result of the salvation which he would
accomplish as our substitute. When the Son of God assumed our
nature as agreed upon in the covenant of grace, he accomplished
all that the scriptures said Christ must accomplish. John
says he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
He says those who believe not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, they are not of God, but they're anti Christ. John
is telling us that those who believe the gospel, those meaning
women who truly trust the Lord Jesus, those who are saved by
God's grace, understand being taught of God that everything
written in the Old Testament concerning Christ was accomplished
by Jesus Christ, the man born at Nazareth 2,000 years ago,
who died as our substitute at Calvary upon the cursed tree. He fully brought in everlasting
righteousness. He fully put away our sins by
the sacrifice of himself. He magnified God's law and made
it honorable. He saved his people from their
sins. He's not some kind of a helpless
little Jesus boy, or helpless little Jesus man, or helpless
little Jesus God. He's not a helpless, frustrated,
idolatrous figment of man's imagination. Jesus Christ, the Christ, is
that one who's our Redeemer, having accomplished redemption
for us. And now he's sat down, and what joy. What joy. He, for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross. There was no joy in that which
he suffered. But, Don, there was joy in his
soul as he anticipated having you with him in glory. And now
he sat down with joy. Joy at the right hand of the
majesty on high. Verse 2. Thou hast given him
his heart's desire. and has not withholden the request
of his lips. The Lord God has given our Savior
his heart's desire. What was that? Father, glorify
thy name. Thy will be done. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
my God. His heart's desire. Mark, he
taught us to pray just like that. Our father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. Thy will be done. Lord God, glorify
yourself. Do your will. That's the heart's
desire of Christ, our mediator and our substitute. The God man
came here in this world in human flesh and everything he did on
this earth, everything he does now in glory, everything he performs
from his lofty throne is for the glory of God, for the accomplishment
of God's will. Oh, God, teach me so to seek
your glory and to seek your will. When God's glory is your heart's
desire. When God's will is what you earnestly
desire, like the Savior, the Lord God will give you your heart's
desire. What's the request of his lips?
He said, you've not withholding the request of his lips. What
is the request of his lips? Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." The request of His lips is the
salvation of His people. The request of His lips is our
everlasting blessedness with Him in His glory, beholding His
glory. And the Lord God has not withheld
that from Him. all for whom he prayed, all for
whom he prays, all for whom he made intercession, all for whom
he makes intercession, he shall have with him an everlasting
blessedness. Every one of them. Not one shall
be lost. And at the appointed time of
love, he brings them with him into heaven that they may behold
his glory. Many years ago, I read a sermon
by Mr. Spurgeon from that text in John
17. I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me,
that they may behold my glory. And Spurgeon's sermon was entitled,
Why Are They Taken From Us? Why? That they may behold my
glory. I'd written to Brother Mahan
a couple of weeks ago, last week, and told him about Larry's mom's
death. That's a poor choice of words,
isn't it? Larry's mom's life. I got a letter back from him.
I couldn't help but call Larry and read a paragraph from him. He said,
I'm so glad to know that Brother and Mrs. Brown are with the Savior
now. No reason for sorrow except that
vacancy left in our lives here. We sorrow not as others that
have no hope. Oh no, the Savior's desire, the
request of His lips is that we be with Him. Nothing is more
precious to the Son of God than the everlasting salvation of
His people. Nothing more delightful to the
Son of God than the everlasting salvation of His people. When I'm reading the Psalms,
I don't often read that word to you as I've said many times,
but don't ever overlook it. Don't ever overlook it. It's
a poetic pause. It's really to be understood
as a pause commanding us, teaching us, now don't stop and just forget
this. Don't just run on as if you hadn't
read this. Pause and roll this over in your
heart. Pause and meditate on this. Pause and ask God to give you
some understanding of this. Thou has given him his heart's
desire and has not withholding the request of his lips. Lord
willing, I'll come back to verse 3 in a minute. Verse 4, he asked
of thee and thou gavest him. He asked of thee and thou gavest
it him. even length of days forever and
ever. Because our Lord Jesus has brought in everlasting righteousness
as our representative obeying God's law in our stead. Because
he has put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. He entered
in once with his own blood into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And the Lord God, the triune
Jehovah, has given him length of days forever and ever. He's given him everlasting salvation. He's prolonged his life that
he should give eternal life to as many as the father has given
him and giving him Length of days forever and ever Giving
him prolonged life forever and ever He's given it to all who
are his He's given us this length of days He's given us this eternal
life that is with the father and with his son He's given it
to us never to be taken from us and then the psalmist says
his glory is great and in thy salvation. Honor and majesty
hast thou laid upon him. We're Trinitarians. We worship
the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We rejoice in
the electing love of God our Father. We delight to know the
Lord has chosen us. We rejoice in the effectual,
sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have
been redeemed. Jesus Christ died for us and
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. And we rejoice in
the great, effectual, almighty, omnipotent, irresistible grace
and power of God the Holy Spirit by which chosen, redeemed sinners
are effectually brought to Christ. But God, the triune God, reveals
himself in the person of Christ the mediator. It pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. All fullness. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in him bodily. That's what Paul says in Colossians
2. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. What does that mean? That means
that all that God is, is in Christ. All that you and I will ever
know of God. All that we can know of God,
all that we can experience of God, Jesus Christ is. In him resides all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Our Lord Jesus came here in the
flesh as God the Word, as the one who is the revelation and
the wisdom of God to make God known to men. And he does so
by taking on himself our nature and accomplishing redemption
in our nature and revealing himself to us in our nature. In him dwells
all the fullness of God's salvation. Salvation is not in the church.
Salvation is not in the law. Salvation is not in rituals.
Salvation is not in baptism. Salvation is not in the Lord's
table. Salvation is not in anything. except Christ. Of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And there's a reason for this,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. If salvation could be had by
something you do, be it ever so little, If there's some way
you could get your finger in the pie, some way you could get
your works involved in the work, some way you could get your experience
involved in the accomplishment of salvation. If salvation in
any way depended upon or hinged upon or was in any way helped
and assisted by you, you would glory in it. And that would be
right. That would be right. I ought
to have reason to glory in what I do. I have every reason to. I have every reason to take credit
for anything that I do. I have every reason to take credit
for anything that I accomplish. Or even if I just assist a little
bit, just a little bit, I can get credit for what little bit
I did. But salvation is altogether in Christ the Savior, so that
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. and indeed all the
fullness of the glory of the triune God is in the Son. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. How I love to meditate
upon, read about, hear about, sing about, and preach about
the glory of God in Christ Jesus. surely can't say too much about
Jesus Christ. I hear men talk about other things. We need to talk about other things
and learn other things and preach other things. I make you a promise. I make you a promise. When I
have exhausted this subject, I'll give you another one. When
I have come close to declaring Jesus Christ crucified in all
his fullness, in all the scriptures, I will go to something else.
Until then, this is the message of this pulpit. Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Tongues of men and angels combined,
tongues of all men and all angels combined can never tell out the
story or the worth or the honor and majesty that belongs to him. Look at verse 6. Thou hast made
him most blessed forever. Thou hast made him exceeding
glad with thy countenance. The Lord Jesus, most blessed forever, is exceeding
glad as he sits upon the throne of the majesty on high. There's
joy in the presence of God. over one sinner that repents.
Joy, that can be spoken of many things. The ransomed in glory,
joy and rejoice every time a sinner is converted. The angels of God,
joy and rejoice every time a sinner is converted. But oh, how it
joys the heart of Emmanuel to bring his ransomed home to God. How it joys the heart of the
great shepherd to bring his sheep into their fold. How it joys
him to see his redeemed converted by his omnipotent grace. Now go back to verse three. For
thou preventest. The word is goest before. You go before him. With the blessings
of goodness. thou settest a crown of pure
gold on his head. I remind you again, the word
prevent means to precede or to go before. So the meaning of
this verse is that the Lord God bestowed all the bountiful blessings
of goodness and grace upon us in Christ, even before Christ
came in our nature. Indeed, he blessed us with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ before the world
began Still there's more God's goodness toward us God's goodness
toward his elect goes before Christ ever comes to us His goodness
and mercy goes out toward us and comes to us in the secret
workings of his providence. The text has reference to this
great wondrous mystery of God's prevenient grace. Grace, which
goes before and prepares the way for Christ to come. Prevenient grace, the road upon
which the Son of God travels to the hearts of chosen sinners. Goodness and mercy precede Christ
coming to you. Goodness and mercy come with
Christ when he comes to you. And goodness and mercy follow
Christ who comes to you. Then exaltation and glory given
him. The triune Jehovah has set upon
his head a crown of pure gold, a pure everlasting precious indescribably
glorious crown. This I said is the reward of
his obedience given him and this crown is set upon his head in
the hearts of his people when grace comes. Saved sinners Delight to glorify the son of
God. To give all glory to him and
to live for his glory and seek his glory in all things. Let
me show you three things about this matter of God's prevenient
grace. First, it is preserving grace. Turn to Jude. Jude, verse one. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Sanctified, set apart by God
the Father in eternal election. Not only set apart by God the
Father in eternal election, but made holy by God the Father in
eternal grace. You see, we are, I keep repeating
this because folks seem to have such deaf ears to hearing it,
we are redeemed from eternity, justified from eternity, accepted
in the beloved from eternity because Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. First time I saw Brother Alan
Kibbe, I was preaching Rescue California, and he was walking
around, had a little booklet, and I knew we were going to get
along well. Somebody had reprinted John Gill's sermon on justification
from eternity, and Alan was passing those things out. Justified before we ever fail? Yeah. Redeemed before we ever
were lost? Yes. Saved before we ever went
astray? Yes. Sanctified before we ever
sin? Yes. Read the book of God. Just read it. It stayed as plain
as a nose on your face. How can that be? Because we were
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Brother Don, how can you talk
about God doing things from eternity? Let me turn that around. How
can you talk about God not doing things from eternity? God's eternal. He doesn't operate there and
in time. His operations are eternal. The book says his goings forth
are of old, even from everlasting. So that everything God does in
time is but the reflection of that which God has done in eternity. It is but the performing in time
of what God did in eternity. I said to folks the other day
when I was preaching, Mr. Shakespeare said the world is
a stage. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. God on this stage called Earth
works out in time what he did in eternity for his people in
Christ. sanctified, accepted, justified,
set apart, made holy by Christ, in Christ, and with Christ from
eternity, and preserved, preserved, watched over, guarded, kept from
injury in Jesus Christ. Now, you will hear folks talk
about eternal security. Most of the time, what they mean
by that is, since I sashayed down the aisle one time when
I was six, seven years old, made my profession of faith, and I
said I believe in Jesus and I want to serve the Lord, I'm saved
and eternally saved, whoopee. I can't ever be lost, no matter
what I do, whoopee. That's not what the book teaches.
That's not what the book teaches. You can make all the decisions
in the world, be baptized many times, every tadpole in the pond
knows you by your first name. And you'll not know God until
God sets his son in you, giving you life and grace in him. But
we are saved in eternal security. I mean, before ever the sun shined,
we were saved in eternal security. I mean, before ever God created
the heavens or the earth, we were preserved in Jesus Christ,
kept in Christ from all possibility of harm or injury by anything
or anybody anywhere. Oh, now that's security. That's preserved,
preserved. called preserved by Christ unto
the day of our calling preserved by Christ unto the appointed
time and place when God would save us by his grace you see God purposed everything concerning
us God purposed everything concerning
us, even all the circumstances involved in the time and place
of our calling, so that there's no possibility of any
sinner being saved except in the way, in the time, and in
the place God ordained from eternity. He's going to bring you to the
place where He's going to cross your path and bow your will and
create you new if you're His. Sanctified by God the Father. kept secure from all harm in
Jesus Christ so that no harm can possibly come to
God's chosen, not even by Adam's fall. No harm. Oh, felt harm, yes. Painful things, yes. Things that
break our hearts and bring tears to our eyes, yes. All for the
benefit of our souls forever. Everything. Everything. Everything. Preserved through the ages of
time, through the atom fall. preserved when we went forth
from our mother's womb, speaking lies with our fists shoved in
God's face, flirting with death, courting hell, preserved in Jesus
Christ. He would not let me die because
he loved me with an everlasting love. He chose me. He redeemed
me. I'm his and I must be called
by his grace and then called and still preserved. Not preserved
from sin, but preserved in the midst of our transgressions.
Not preserved from falls, but preserved in the midst of our
falls. Not preserved from temptation, but preserved in the midst of
trial and temptation. Preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved. People have the idea
that somehow God's grace might possibly be temporary. Merle Hart, the son of God loved
you, knowing full well everything you would be and do. He redeemed
you, knowing full well everything you would be and do. He called
you by his grace, knowing full well all the corruption that
would follow. And what he knew before didn't
prevent him from loving you, redeeming you, and calling you.
And it's not going to stop him now. God's grace, like God, is immutable,
free, unconditional, everlasting, preserved in Jesus Christ and
called. By God's sovereign grace united
to his son eternally, I can never be divided from my covenant surety. God's free love from everlasting
made me one with his dear son. Blessed union, strong unchanging. I am with my savior one. Once in Christ, in Christ forever,
thus his promise ever stands. Life and death and hell together. cannot tear me from his hands. Prevenient grace, preserved in
Jesus Christ. We believe in perseverance of
the saints now. We believe that God's elect persevere
in faith. But even now, our perseverance
in faith is not the cause of God preserving us, but rather
we persevere in faith because God perseveres in grace. We hold
him because he holds us. Those grandbabies. For you who haven't had any children
for your mom and dad to spoil yet, I'm going to tell you something
mom and dad are going to do, they're going to torment you to death.
When Audrey Grace was a little girl, Will, same thing, I used
to take them and swing them by their arms. Do you know doctors
say you're not supposed to do that? Oh, daddy, you might jerk
her arms out of socket. Scare them to death. Well, my
daughter was bigger than either one of them, and I swung her
by her arms. And I'd swing them and swing them and swing them.
And just kind of smile while she was sitting there. Please
don't. As if something hasn't gone happen
to those children. while they were holding on to me with all
their might. They were just clinging to me. But their security was
not in their grip on my hands. Their security was my grip on
them. And our security is not our feeble
grip of faith on the hands of omnipotence. Our security is
the grip of omnipotence upon our souls. We're in his grip,
secure forever. Second, prevenient grace is providential
grace. Providential grace. Providence is just the outworking
of God's eternal purpose. The outworking of God's purpose
that we should be conformed to the image of his son whom he
did foreknow and predestinate and justify and sanctify and
call and glorify in his son. Providence. Don't you know it's a difficult
task for God to govern the world absolutely all the time. Don't you know that's, oh, God
must be busy. Oh, what a task. I wonder if
God has time for the, what stupidity men expose when they talk about
God. Here's the picture. Revelation chapter 10. This mighty
angel of the covenant, Christ the Lord, is standing with the
book of God's decrees in his hands. Everything involved in
all creation, Oscar, in that book written out. And the Lord
Jesus is standing with one foot on the sea and one foot on the
earth. Oh, how's he going to perform
his will? Watch now. That day's done. Watch out, that day's done. He who created the world by his
will rules the universe by his will, and he never breaks a sweat. It's no chore to him. He only
doeth wondrously, and he does it with the ease of sovereign
infinite omnipotence and sovereign infinite wisdom and sovereign
infinite skill. Cowper understood something of
this. He said God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm deep In unfathomable minds of
never-failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works
his sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall
break in blessing on your hands. God's prevenient grace is providential
grace. so that for each of his elect,
he causes them to be born in exactly the place where they
shall be best influenced for their soul's good. I just mentioned Larry's mom
and dad. You had the privilege, Larry
Brown, of being raised by a man and a woman who feared God and
worshipped him. What a privilege. I was raised
in a hell hole. What a privilege for me. God formed your earliest character
exactly as was best for your soul to come to know him and
serve him as he would have you serve him to your dying breath.
And he formed my earliest character with all the influences that
any rational, reasonable man would look at and say, take that
child out of that house, he'd be better off to be raised by
government. I would have said so. I would have said so. Not God. That which I experienced in my
earliest days, I experienced by God's infinite wisdom and
goodness. Preving grace means surely Goodness
and mercy are chasing me all the way through this world. Goodness
and mercy are at my heels all the time, running me into the
house of God forever. Prevenient grace is that formative
grace that Paul described when he said, it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb. That formative grace Paul spoke
of when he said to Timothy, from a child thou hast known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.
That formative grace which God described to Jeremiah when he
said, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth
from the womb, I ordained thee to be a prophet. I have loved
thee with everlasting That's prevenient grace. Prevenient
grace is the grace of God that governs our lives when we think
we're governing them. The grace that governs our lives
in the midst of rebellion and ungodliness. God says, hitherto
shalt thou go and no further. to the ocean of iniquity bursting
forth from our hearts. There was a man by the name of
Abimelech who took Sarah, Abraham's wife,
and was about to take her to bed, as ungodly men do, as one
of his concubines. And God stopped him. And Mark of Bimelech was an idolater.
He didn't know God from before. But God said, I withheld you
from sinning against me with her. He still does that for men. He
lays the reins on the necks of the prodigal and says, run on
to hell. But you can't go so far. Gotta stop right here. That's
the stopping point. And he restrains the evil that's
in us. Prevenient grace is that grace
that overrules evil for good. Surely the wrath of Don Fortner
shall praise thee. and the remainder of wrath wilt
thou restrain. Prevenient grace. Nabal was about to be slaughtered
and Abigail came out and prevented David and kept him from evil
that day. David said, as soon as this old
boy's dead, I'm going to marry that gal. That which keeps us
from the evil that's in us, we ought to adore as David did Abigail. That's God's prevailing grace. I could give you example after
example. After example, of my own depravity,
which would have landed me in hell or in prison if God hadn't
stopped me. If God hadn't stopped me. That's
all. Why? Preserved in Jesus Christ. in Jesus Christ. Prevenient grace is not only
providential grace and preserving grace. Prevenient grace is preparatory
grace. It's grace that prepares the
heart to receive grace. Grace that prepares the heart
for Christ's coming. Read again the 107th Psalm that
we read earlier and understand that God brings men down. Oh, he must bring you down in
your hearts, but he often brings you down in your circumstances
to bring you down in your heart. He often does. The scriptures
talks about the gospel seed being sowed. We cast the seed, just
broadcast it everywhere, preach the gospel everywhere, and wait
for God to do his work. But the seed, it falls on stony
ground, falls by the wayside, it falls
among thorns, and all of that is just fruitless seed. No real good comes of it, but
then some of it falls on good ground. The good ground of a
man's heart. Well, what man's got any good
ground in his heart to receive the seed? None. None. But God makes the ground good,
prepares the ground to receive the seed before he sows the seed. Now, I will stand corrected by
anything that Brother Bailey wishes to correct in this regard.
I'm not a farmer, don't pretend to be. But I don't think Brother
Oscar would go out and sow his seed in a field full of grass
growing green and do nothing to prepare the ground. I don't
think he would. You put a plow in the ground
and you cut it deep. And then you horror the ground,
and you break it up, and you break it up, and you break it
up, and you break it up. And if the ground could, it would
scream, stop! Stop! I'll have no more of this. I've told you many times, my
friend, Brother Harry Graham, said to me, if you could see
what God does in a man's soul, when he's about to save him by
his grace. You'd think I wouldn't do that to a mad dog. Prevenient grace makes the soil
ready to receive the good seed. Let me see if I can give you a couple of illustrations
and I'll wrap this up. There was a man by the name of
Bartimaeus who was born blind. He was the blind son of a blind
man, had no way to make a living, spent his life sitting by the
highway side with a tin cup in his hand, begging. Would you
choose that for your son, Bob? If you could ask Bartimaeus today,
seated around the throne, Bartimaeus, How would you have spent your
life? Oh, thank God I was born blind. Never did see a man till
I saw the God man. For it was his blindness that
put him in the way where Christ came that day. There was a woman
with an issue of blood. 12 years she spent stooped and
bowed and unclean. 12 years she spent wasting all
her substance on physicians of no value. Who would do that to
a woman he loves? Who would do that? Not any man
on earth. Not any man on earth. But the
God-man did. Her God and Savior did. He did
it because he loved her with an everlasting love. And if you
could find that woman in heaven's multitudes today and ask her,
oh dear sister, how would you choose to spend
your life on the earth had you to live it again? She would respond,
I would delight to be bowed and crippled and poor and helpless
and dirty and unclean. for 12 miserable years that I
might be touched by him and touch him who made me whole. We make our plans. We make our
plans for our sons and daughters. We keep praying. Lindsay, I pray
every day for those grandbabies, mine and yours. God, don't set
the world in their hearts. And stupidly, it seems we do
everything we can to set the world in their hearts. Lord, you choose the path. You determine the way. Set a hedge about them so they
cannot escape. Prevenient grace is described
in Hosea chapter two. Hosea found Gomer and he went up to the room where Gomer
was Her husband did this now. He could have gone at any time
and taken her by law, by force, said, you're going to go home
with me. By law, he could have gone at
any time and had her stoned to death. She was his wife. But
Gomer is in bed with another man. And Hosea slips up to that
door every night and sets a bag full of groceries. corn and oil
and wine and bread and silver. And he slips off, goes home.
Gomer gets up in the morning, picks up her bag and goes, look
what my lovers gave me. Oh, how good they are to me.
And she'd go look for another lover. Next night, same thing.
Hosea took care of her all the time. She was in the arms of
another and she took everything he gave her and sacrificed it
to Baal. I'm guilty. That describes me to a T. And
then the Lord said, Hosea said, the Lord said, now read the chapter,
read it just like that. The Lord said, I will return.
I'll return to Gomer. I'll return to my people Israel,
and I'll take away their bread, their life, that on which they
live, their oil, that which causes them to think they have life
and light, and their wine, that which gives them joy, and their
gold and their silver, that which makes them think they're rich.
I'll take it all away. And I'll discover her lewdness. And then I'll bring her home.
Because he loves us with an everlasting love. That's God's prevailing
grace. Amen.