I have often been asked as if ridiculing the fact of
the believer's eternal security, you don't believe once saved,
always saved, do you? And I respond generally to that
question by saying that depends on who does the saving. If salvation
is God's work, of course I do. Because what God does, God does
forever. Nothing can be put to it and
nothing can be taken from it. If salvation somehow, though,
depends on you, no, I wouldn't think about it once saved, always
saved. But bless God, salvation doesn't depend on you. Nothing
you do good and nothing you may do evil has anything to do with
God's salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. We
believe in the everlasting security of God's elect for numerous reasons. One, the Lord says, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. The Spirit of God tells us the
gifts and callings of God are without repentance. God's immutability
in his person, in his love, in his grace, in his purpose makes
it certain that there'll be no change in God and no change in
His work. We believe our God to be the
same yesterday, today, and forever because He never changes. You're
safe in His hands. Our Lord Jesus says, I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. It's not possible
because God's forgiveness is complete, it's free, and it's
full. It is not possible that God's
elect could ever perish, because the purchase price by which our
souls are ransomed is the precious blood of Christ, and it is of
infinite value, merit, and efficacy, having put away our sins and
obtained eternal redemption for us. And the seal of God's Spirit,
that is the seal of the covenant, by which all the blessings of
the covenant of God's grace are sealed to us is a seal that cannot
be broken. It is the earnest of our inheritance. The earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. The earnest God has
given until he brings about the final consummation of our salvation
in resurrection glory. But I think I have never read
a statement in scripture that more fully declares the absolute
certain security of God's elect in Jesus Christ than is found
in our text this evening. Malachi chapter 2, verse 16. Malachi chapter 2, verse 16. For the Lord God, the God of
Israel saith, that he hateth putting away. He says to Israel in her horrible
apostasy from him, where's the bill of your divorcement? You won't find it, no matter
what. Oh, what a word. For the Lord,
the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. And here's the reason. For one,
that is you cover violence, your horrible iniquity, with his garment. You cover up your evil with a
pretense of sincerity. covereth violence with his garment,
saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit,
that ye deal not treacherously. As we read the scathing words
of Malachi to Judah and Israel in this second chapter of this
prophecy, honesty compels us. what honesty there is in us.
It compels us to take our place in the dust before our God, for
the reproaches of Israel are our reproaches. The crimes of
Israel and Judah are our crimes. Their treachery is your treachery. Their profaneness is my profaneness. I ask you, I ask you with all
sincerity, is there anyone here who will stand to his feet here
tonight and publicly disavow having performed all the evil
that these people are said to perform? Is there anyone here who will
stand to his feet and say, no, I have not dealt treacherously
with my God? That doesn't describe me. Not a word. In this chapter, the Lord God
issues reprimand after reprimand to his chosen, to his covenant
people, reprimanding us for profaning his covenant, profaning his holiness,
profaning his name, profaning his altar, profaning his worship,
and profaning their wives and children with idolatry. The treachery spoken of, and
I urge you to go through the scriptures. Mark the places where
this treachery is described. Everywhere in this book, it's
dealing with more than the treachery of a man to his wife, though
that treachery is certainly involved. It's dealing with treachery with
regard to God Almighty and idolatry. And nothing more treacherous
can be done to your sons and daughters, to your husbands and
wives, than the leading of them in idolatrous worship. This treachery
is something that's found universally. Feigning devotion to the Lord,
the children of Israel took to themselves heathen idolatrous
wise. And they following the guidance
of Balaam, they mingled the worship of God, corrupting the worship
of Jehovah with the worship of the gods of the heathen. Marrying
the sons and daughters of strange gods, we're told in verse 11,
they profaned God's holiness. It is the very same thing that
the Apostle Paul describes in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 when
he says, there's no agreement between Christ and Belial. There's
no agreement between light and darkness. There's no agreement
between the temple of God and idols. Come out of these things,
and the Lord God says he will be a father to you. By this coming
out, by ceasing to deal treacherously, we perfect holiness in the fear
of God. And yet even as he denounces
the evil in the second chapter of Malachi, our ever-gracious
God speaks by his prophet and points us to our Savior as if
to say, fly away to Christ for refuge. He gives us relief from
the distressing contemplation of our deserved judgment by directing
our hearts and minds to our Redeemer, our covenant of peace, our all-sufficient
righteousness. Isaiah has declared a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, as a cover from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. Now hear what God says in this
second chapter about our Redeemer. In verse 4, he tells us that
the Lord Jesus is his covenant. Christ, represented here by Levi,
is God's covenant. not just the covenant surety,
the covenant itself. In verse 5, he tells us that
he has trusted his son. The triune Jehovah has trusted
Jesus Christ, our great Levi, our great priest, our covenant
surety, with all his people and with all the blessings of his
covenant, even of life and peace. These things are in his hands.
Then in verse 6, The Lord God himself declares that Christ,
our covenant head in surety, is holy and pure. The law of
truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lips. He
walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity. And with that last statement,
he tells us that our Lord Jesus, our great covenant surety, our
covenant head has been is now and always shall be successful
in all his undertakings. He did turn many away from iniquity. He did it before ever we see
it. He did it before ever the world
was of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He did
it in one day described by Zachariah in Zachariah chapter 3. One day
he took away all the iniquity of the land of Israel, all the
iniquity of God's elect when by the sacrifice of himself he
put away our sins. And then he came to us in mercy
and consciously speaking peace to our hearts took away our iniquity. and he's never ceased to do so
since. For the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, listen to this word, cleanseth us from all sin. That means, James, his blood
constantly takes away our iniquity. It's constantly efficacious. Constantly working for us. Constantly accepted of God for
us. Constantly cleansing us. So think
with holy rapture and joy upon these glorious credentials of
our Redeemer and Mediator. And then turn once more to Him
and behold Him as the prophet here describes Him. Our peace
is through the blood of His cross. His righteousness is our righteousness,
and we are made the righteousness of God in Him who was made sin
for us. He, our Lord Jesus Christ, truly
is all to our souls. He is the covenant, the sum and
substance of the covenant. He is the mediator of the covenant.
He is the messenger of the covenant, and he's the message of the covenant.
Jesus Christ is truly all in all in the matter of salvation
and life before God. Then in this text, Malachi chapter
2, the Lord God distinctly speaks about an evil thing men have
done, dealing treacherously with the wives of their youth. These
men of Israel and Judah being accustomed to the religion of
Babylon, being influenced by the evil of Babylon, though now
they have been brought back to Israel, brought back to Jerusalem,
and the temple of God is rebuilt, and the city of God is rebuilt,
yet they bring into their homes the sons and daughters of the
Babylonian idolaters. and they have taken into union
with themselves wives of the daughters of idol worshippers,
and dealing treacherously with their old wives have put them
away. The wives of a covenant, a covenant
to which God himself was witness, a covenant where they swear loyalty
all their lives to the wife of their youth, and God reprimands
them for dealing treacherously with them. I say that because
I recognize that just as sure as I had finished preaching this
message, some will hear it and say, well, Brother Don didn't
dare talk about divorce. Let me talk about it real plainly,
real plainly. Divorce is probably the most
destructive evil known in Western civilization in our day. It is
horrible. It is evil. It cannot be excused. It cannot be justified. There's
no question about that fact. It's contrary to the law of God.
It's destructive to men and women, destructive to families, destructive
to society. Divorce can't be justified. It can't be excused. It can't
be defended by anyone. Not by anyone. And I realize
I'm looking in the faces of some men and women who've experienced
it. And it can't be excused. It can't be justified. It won't
be here. It can't be in the Word of God
by no means. Having said that, hear me. The God of all grace forgives
sin, even divorce. and so do his people. The God
of all grace forgives sin, even divorce, and so do his people. So does his church. I stress
this because in preparing this message over the past several
months, I have read everything I could get my hands on on this
chapter, and I haven't read one thing on this chapter to indicate
anything of mercy, and the chapter is full of mercy, while it is
full of scathing reprimand for treachery. The God of all grace
forgives sin. All the sins of all his people
even divorce. But what does that mean, Brother
Don? That which God has forgiven, God won't charge to you. Well, you can't tell people that.
No, but God can. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Now this is what that passage
in Romans 4 verse 8 means, taken from Psalm 32 verse 2. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That means there
are some people in this world against whom no sin can ever
be charged. Who are they? Every sinner for
whom Christ died. Our sins were charged once to
the sheriff, and he paid the debt he did not owe, and he paid
it for me. God will not charge us with sin,
any sin. And that which God will not charge
against you, I dare not charge against you. And you ought not charge against
yourself. Roman religion teaches folks
to do penance. You've heard the term, haven't
you? That's where you beat yourself to death because of evil, you
know, just beat yourself. In various monasteries, they
have various practices and over history it's changed, but men
used to strip off their backs and take a whip and beat themselves.
It's called mortifying the flesh. No, that's just practicing fleshly
religion. And from Rome, such heathen practices
had degenerated amongst Protestants and Baptists throughout history.
so that most religious people teach you to do penance and beat
yourself up because of your sin. Now hear me, children of God.
Weep over the evil you are and weep for the evil you've done.
Confess your guilt and your shame before God and leave your sin
where God's put it, gone by the blood of God's dear son. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now, the treachery that's spoken
of in this second chapter is the treachery of idolatry. It
reaches beyond the treachery of a man to a woman or of a woman
to a man. Throughout the book of God, marriage
is held before us as a picture, a picture of the blessing union
that exists between Christ and His church. The wedding of Christ
to our souls and the wedding of our souls to the Son of God. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5. The very first wedding to take
place was in the beginning when God took Adam's rib and made
one woman for him, and brought her to him, and they joined together. And Adam said, wow. Wow, look
at this. Look at this. Call her woman,
because she's taken from man. And he said, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife.
And he didn't even know what a father and mother was. For
this call shall a man leave his father and mother, and be joined
to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh." That was a picture
of Christ and His church. Picture of the wedding that takes
place between God's elect and God's darling son, taken from
the wounded side of the Son of God. We are one with Him, married
to Him, and God Almighty presented us to Him as His bride before
the world was. And He said, wow, look at that.
For this call. So a man leave his father and
mother, and they too shall be one flesh. Solomon and the Shulamite
are spoken of in the Song of Solomon and typical clearly. And the only way you can possibly
understand the Song of Solomon is to understand that it's a
picture of the wedding union of Christ and his church, his
bride. Hosea and Gomer will be looking
at just a little bit, blessed, beautiful illustrations of this
union. Look here in Ephesians chapter
5. Husbands, verse 25, love your wives even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it. Now that's how you ought
to love your wife. Love your wife just like Christ
loved his church. Well, I will if she's good. Thank God he doesn't condition
his love for us that way, does he? Love your wives just like
Christ loved his church and gave himself for it. Love your wives.
And He did this that He might sanctify and cleanse it, that
He might make it holy and clean with the washing of water by
the Word, by the regenerating power of His grace. He redeemed
her that He might regenerate her, that He might present it
to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, no spot of sin,
a wrinkle of infirmity, or any kind of trace of sin on her,
any such thing, but that he should be holy and without blemish. Now for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and they too shall be one flesh.
Paul is inspired to quote what Adam said back in the garden.
And he said, now don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about you
and your wife. I'm not talking about men and
women. I'm talking about Christ and His church. What goes on
with this couple and with this couple is only a picture of what
I'm talking about. They too shall be one flesh,
one body, one person, Christ and His church. Listen to this. thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. Thy maker is thine husband. The Lord of hosts is his name,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth shall he be called. The Lord God declares in Jeremiah
chapter three, I am married to you. I am married to you. Now let's look at this statement
back here in our text. He hateth putting away. Let me make four statements and
I won't be long. Here's the first one. With gladness
of heart, before the world was made, our Lord Jesus, our beloved
Solomon, espoused his elect to himself in eternal election,
in sovereign predestination. Look at the Song of Solomon,
chapter 3. Song of Solomon, chapter 3, verse 11. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion,
and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother
crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness
of his heart. Can you imagine that? There was
a day before days began, a time called in the beginning, before
ever the earth was, a day of great gladness for God the Son,
our covenant surety. a day when he espoused us to
himself. Now we don't use that term espouse
these days much. It was very familiar and well
known amongst the ancient Hebrews. Their espousals were promised
marriages. The espousal was considered as
sacred and as permanent as the marriage itself. You'll remember
that Joseph and Mary were espoused to be married. And the only way
that could be dissolved was by divorce. And Joseph thought about
putting her away privately when she was found to be with child
of the Holy Spirit, because he didn't know at the time what
was going on. But the only way the espousal could be broken
was by a divorce. And Joseph didn't want to make
a public spectacle, so he tried to find a way to do it privately.
Their espousals were permanent. Their spouses were considered
marriage, though the marriage itself might not be consummated
for a long, long time. This espousal is used in the
Word of God as a figure to represent the spiritual union and the marriage
of Christ with his people, his church, before ever the world
was. The Lord Jesus wed himself to
our soul. when his delights were with the
sons of men before ever the world was. In the day of his gladness. What a word. In the day of his
gladness. Some of you men can appreciate
this. I hope all of you can. I recall when Shelby and I got
engaged. And I finally persuaded her that
she couldn't live without me. Man alive, what happiness. What joy. I've got her now. I've got her now. She's mine.
We were engaged. And it brought gladness to my
heart for that lady to be betrothed to me. But that betrothal could
easily have been broken at any time. And it was not a matter of absolute
certainty. It was just an engagement. But
the Lord Jesus espoused us to himself with a gladness I can never imagine. Before the world was, And he
said, this will stand because he hateth putting away. And Larry, he knew what he was
getting. He knew what he was getting and
he knew what he would do with us. He loved us and redeemed
us and espoused us to himself, not because we were good. not
because we might become good, not because we might do good,
but to make us holy and without blame, spotless, with no spot
of sin, wrinkle of infirmity, or trace of iniquity. He said,
thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the
Lord delighteth in thee. and thy land shall be married.
Turn to Hosea chapter 2. Here's a picture of it. As you read the book of Hosea,
every time you see Hosea speaking, just put Christ there. Every
time you see Gomer spoken of, put yourself there. Hosea chapter
2 verse 19, Hosea says concerning Gomer, she's not interested right
now, but he's talking to her. She's got no concern for him,
but he's talking to her. She's in the arms of her lover,
but he's talking to her. I will betroth thee unto me forever. I will betroth thee unto me in
righteousness. and in judgment, in righteousness
and in justice, in truth and in justice, and in lovingkindness
and in mercies. I will betroth you to me on the
basis of righteousness and justice satisfied because of my lovingkindness
and my tender mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness. Not yours. I've tried my best, Bob, to read
something about my faithfulness in there all my life, and I can't
find it. No, no. I'll betroth thee unto
me in my faithfulness. My faithfulness, who declares
he hateth away, and thou shalt know the Lord. The Lord Jesus
espoused us to himself in eternity, and he hateth putting away. That's
the first thing. Here's the second thing. Keep
your hands here in Hosea. In the fullness of time, the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great Hosea, came into this world,
into this land of whoredoms, and took us. bride for himself. Hosea chapter 1. The word of the Lord that came
unto Hosea the son of Berai in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah kings of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son
of Joash king of Israel. The beginning of the word of
the Lord by Hosea. The Lord said to Hosea, the Lord
God the triune Jehovah, said to the Lord Jesus, our covenant
surety, go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord treachery. So he went and
took Gomer The daughter of Diblim. God told Hosea to go love a woman. Not just any woman, but a harlot. Not just any harlot, but Gomer,
this poor, wretched daughter of Diblim. Why? Why would God make such a command?
Why would God have his prophet to do that which seems to be
a violation of his law? Why would God tell Hosea to go
and do that which in the sight of the law was evil? Why would
he tell Hosea to deal treacherously against himself? Is that what
he did? He took for a wife a woman he
knew to be a whore. He dealt treacherously against
himself, at God's command. Why? Look at chapter 3, verse
1. According to the love of the
Lord toward me. According to the love of the
Lord toward the children of Israel, according to the love of the
Lord toward you. The Son of God married our nature
when he took our nature into union with himself. He became
what we are, flesh and blood. You behold Jesus Christ, the
man who is God, and you behold the wedding, the union of divinity
and humanity, two becoming one flesh, God and man in one person,
forever undivided, cannot be separated. He took part of what
we were. And the Lord willing, in a few
weeks, maybe next Sunday, I'll come to that, he took part of
what we were. But here, because we were takers
of flesh and blood, he took part of the same. How come? Because that's the only way he
could save us. It must be done in righteousness
and in justice. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness
must be brought in. And it can be done only by a
man who is himself God. And by his taking part of what
we are, taking into union with himself what we are, he delivered
us who were all our lifetime subject to bondage from the fear
of death by ransoming our souls. Look at Hosea chapter 2. The
Son of God brought us, or bought us with his own blood. He loved
the church and gave himself for it. Yes, God in human flesh purchased
his church with his own blood. Isaac Watts wrote that great
hymn. And the hymn books have all changed
it. Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in
when Christ the mighty maker died for man the creature's sin.
Watts wrote it right. He said, well might the sun in
darkness hide and shut his glories in when God, the mighty maker,
died for man, the creature said. Well, God can't die. I know that.
But the God man did. And that man who died to redeem
us is God who purchased the church with his own blood. We're told
in Acts 20 verse 28. Here's the third thing. Christ chose us. He espoused
us as his bride in eternity. He married us and redeemed us
with his precious blood. But we were and have been an
adulterous bride. We played the harlot and loved
it. We played the harlot loved it. Still, he hateth putting away. He never changed his mind. He never thought about putting
us away. He never considered the possibility
of putting us away. Hosea 2, Let's pick up in verse six. Gomer has gone after her lovers. And look how our Lord Jesus reasons. Therefore, he makes our sin a reason for
his grace. Hosea makes Gomer's adultery
an argument for mercy. Therefore, behold, I will hedge
up thy way with thorns. I'll make a wall that she shall
not find her paths. I've been praying for my granddaughter
My grandson, as I prayed for their mother when we found out
she was coming into this world, Lord God, hedge them about. Put a hedge around them. Don't
let them find their paths. Put a hedge about them sweetly.
Force them to you. He said, I'll hedge her up. She
shall follow after her lover. She'll pursue him. But she shall not overtake them.
She shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she
say, I will go and return to my first husband. When I can't
find one I'm looking for, I'll go to him. For then was it better
with me than now. Verse eight. For she didn't know. She did not know. I didn't either,
did you? All the time. of our rebellion,
all the days that we played the harlot, all the days we read
from him, he provided everything we needed. He gave us our clothing,
the air we breathed, the food we eat, the money we took and
sacrificed to bail, the wine we used for merriment and revelry. She didn't know. She didn't know. I gave her corn and wine and
oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared
for Baal. Why is he talking about this?
Because he's talking about the idolatry of the people, the treachery,
Baal worshiping other gods. Therefore, since she didn't know,
therefore will I return and I'll take away my corn in the time
thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and I'll recover my
wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. I'll take away
all those things she presumed her lovers gave her. And now
will I discover her lewdness. I'll show what she really is. And I'm going to do it so everybody
watching you is going to know you've lost your mind in the
sight of your lovers. I'll discover your lewdness.
Oh, God, come discover your lewdness to you. Oh, God, make you know what you
are. God, make you know what you are. You'll never know his
mercy until he discovers your lewdness to you. and none shall deliver her out
of my hand. Nobody gonna rob me of my bride.
I will call also, cause all her birth to cease. Everything that's made her happy,
all her hope, all her joy, all her religion. Is that what he's
talking about? Read it and see. Her feast days,
her new moons and her Sabbaths and her solemn feast. And I will
destroy her vines and her figs, whereof she hath said, these
are the rewards of my lovers, that my lovers have given me.
And I will make them a forest, God says, and the beast of the
field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the
days of Balaam. I'll visit upon her the days
of that wickedness. wherein she burned incense to
them. And she decked herself with her
earrings and her jewels. And she went after her lovers
in the days when she went to the house of the ungodly idols
that feigned to be God. And she feigned the worship of
God. And forget me. Verse 14, therefore,
behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness. I'll stick my finger in her heart
and I'll pull her out here in the wilderness. I'll get her
away from everybody. And we'll speak comfortably unto
her. I'll speak to her heart. And
I will give her vineyards from thence and the valley of Acre,
the place of judgment for a door of hope, and she shall sing there. In this magazine here, Peter
put a brief article in there about Bunyan, an excerpt from
one of his sermons, and Bunyan's talking about his conversion.
He said, when first the love of God dawned on his soul and
he found out that Christ was his, he said, As I walked along,
I could have sung to the crows in the plowed field. Oh, she
shall sing. She shall sing in the wilderness,
as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up
out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Isha, my husband. In that day, I will
sweetly force her to marry me. I will sweetly force her to be
mine. She'll call me Isha, my husband,
and call me no more, my master, Balaam. And I'll take away the names
of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered
by their name. I'll make a covenant for them with the beast of the
field, with the fowls of heaven, with the creeping things of the
ground. I'll break the bow and the sword and the battle out
of the earth and will make them to lie down safely. Romans 8,
28 is the commentary. And I will betroth thee unto
me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness,
in judgment, in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth
thee unto me in faithfulness, saith the Lord. Here's the fourth
thing. At last, in the fullness of time,
the Son of God comes to each of his chosen and accomplishes
this marriage, graciously forces the chosen redeemed sinner espoused
to him from eternity, redeemed by his blood, sought out by him
while he was upon this earth. He comes in the time of love
and marries his own, and causes his own to marry him. And he
says, he hateth putting away. Turn to Ezekiel 16. He comes and allures us, speaks
to our hearts and reveals himself to us and causes us to love him
who first loved us. The Lord Jesus pledges the token
of his love and gives us his spirit. He said, I bought her
to me for 15 pieces of silver for an omer of barley and a half
omer of barley. And I said to her, thou shalt
abide for me for many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot.
Thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee. We read the earlier portion of
this chapter this morning in Ezekiel 16. He passed by us,
spread his skirt over us, and said, live, decked us with jewels,
and put his beauty on us, made us beautiful with his comeliness
that he put upon us. For 43 years, David, he's proved himself faithful
to the sinful man for 43 years. And every day for 43 years, I've
proved myself unfaithful to him. Every day. There's not been a waking day
when I haven't been treacherous to him. Not a waking day. Not a day when I haven't pursued
other lovers. Not a day. And here I am, as secure in his hands as I was
before I drew my first breath. As loved of him as I was before
I ever fell in my father Adam. As fully accepted of him because
of his faithfulness. because he hateth putting away. And soon he's going to correct
that too. Look at Ezekiel 16. I encourage you to read the whole
chapter at your leisure. Let's pick it up in verse 58. Between verses 14 and 58, it
describes how we have behaved lewdly. They've gone after other
lovers. Verse 58, he says, Thou hast
borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord. For thus saith the Lord God,
I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, I'll correct
you, I'll chasten you, which has despised the oath in breaking
the covenant. You've been unfaithful. Nevertheless,
that's one of the best words in this whole book, nevertheless.
Nevertheless, no matter what you've been, in spite of what
you've done, nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee.
You broke the covenant, but not me. I'll remember my covenant
with thee in the days of thy youth. I will establish unto
thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy
ways and be ashamed. when thou shalt receive thy sisters,
thine elder and thy younger. These sisters you despise in
the day of your pride, Sodom and Gomorrah. Thine elder and thy younger,
and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy
covenant. And I will establish my covenant
with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, that thou
mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any
more. Boasting excluded, pride I abase,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Never open your mouth again because
of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee. For all that thou hast done,
saith the Lord God. This marriage union is sure,
because he hateth putting away. So gracious, so certain is his
grace, that when this is over and the marriage supper of the
lamb has been set in heaven and his bride has arrayed herself
and made herself ready in the white linen garments of perfect
righteousness, righteousness imputed to her and righteousness
imparted to her, she will stand before him. Who are these? Who is that woman? I think I
know her. Who is that woman? These are virgins married by God to His Son. And the marriage supper shall
forever be celebrated. And the saints of God will sing
hallelujah And all hell will behold God's goodness to such
things as we are. So, children of God, be no more
treacherous. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body and
in your spirits, which are God's. Amen.