Hosea 13, verse 9. I may have said verse 8. Hosea 13,
verse 9. Page 988. I have three texts
of Scripture this morning that I want to read, and I won't be
very long, hopefully. Hosea 13, verse 9. You have destroyed yourself,
but in Me is your help. Now, that's my reading. That's
not exactly what our version says. Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in Me is thy help. I think it's very clear what
this passage is teaching us if we just look at it carefully.
We don't have to go anywhere else in the Bible. This passage
here teaches us that the ruin of man is altogether of himself. Israel, you have destroyed yourself. And salvation is altogether of
God. In me is your help. And there's something else in
the context of this verse here that's very clear. In verse 2,
we're told how they destroyed themselves. And now they sin
more and more and have made them molten images of their silver
and idols according to their own understanding. All of it
the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, let the men
that sacrifice kiss the cash. And we're told here in verse
2 how they destroyed themselves. It was by their sinning against
God. That's the way they had destroyed
themselves by their idolatry, by their other sins against the
Lord. And now Israel could only be
saved by the unmerited favor and love of God the Savior. He tells them that in verse 4.
Look at this. Yet I am the Lord thy God from
the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but Me, for there
is no Savior besides Me." Destruction is of man. He destroys himself. Salvation is of the Lord. That's what this verse is teaching
us. And we come to the New Testament and we find the very same language
used. In Romans 6, 23, the wages of
sin is death. Men destroy themselves by their
sinning against God. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life by and through Christ Jesus the
Lord. It's a sad fact that when men
die in their sins, they are eternally destroyed. And they have nobody
to blame but themselves. O Israel, you have destroyed
yourselves. And they have nothing to blame
but their sins. The wages of sin is death. James said this about our sins. When our sins is finished, it
bringeth forth death. Finished sins, though they may
seem like pleasure for a time, sin when it's finished. When
a man begins to reap the fruit of it, then it's death. Not only
death, but eternal death, Larry. And not only that eternal death,
but a deserved and just death. A man destroys himself by his
sinning. But to the contrary, if God be
pleased to intervene and save us from our self-destruction,
nobody gets the praise for it and nobody gets the glory for
it and the honor for it but the Lord Himself. Your help is in
me. And it seems to me that God has
set these two things together to teach us some valuable lessons. When we begin to see that indeed
we have destroyed ourselves, then this should bring us to
think what horrible creatures are we. That we should murder
our own souls. How awful we must be by our sinning
against God to destroy ourselves. What awful creatures. Self-murder. We sometimes hear about people
taking their own life and we wonder, what happened? There's
got to be some awful depression. There's got to be some mental
anguish or misunderstanding. It's not natural to destroy ourselves,
is it? And when we see this word here,
you have destroyed yourself, then it should bring us to this
conclusion, what kind of a person am I? What kind of a creatures
are we? to murder our poor souls. And you notice here, God doesn't
say, you Jews, all of you have destroyed yourself. He doesn't
say, you Israelites, all of you have destroyed yourself. But
He speaks to them as one person. Oh Israel, you have destroyed
yourself. It's like He says, Larry, you
have destroyed yourself. Clarence, you have destroyed
yourself. Bruce, you have destroyed yourself. I tell you, it puts the blame
right upon each individual, doesn't it? You know, there are some
people in a society, they want to blame everybody else for their
trouble. They never accept the responsibility
for themselves. And it's the same in the religious
realm. People want to blame God for
the danger that they've put themselves in. Or they want to blame Satan,
want to blame God. They want to blame their upbringing. But God puts the fault right
where it belongs. All Israel, you have destroyed
yourself. And I tell you, that's the first
lesson we've learned. that if we're left to ourselves, we will
destroy ourselves. And what horrible creatures must
we be to destroy ourselves. And the second lesson we learn
from this text is this. Though God would have us to despair
of ourselves, that we have indeed destroyed ourselves. Within ourselves
there's no hope. Self-destruction. But He would
not have us to despair For He says, Your butt in Me is thy
help. God knows us better than we know
ourselves. And He knows that when we begin
to see that we have indeed destroyed ourselves, that we're apt to
despair. And we have Satan, we have a
live devil that when we're down and he discourages us, He drives
us further into darkness, doesn't He? Makes everything seem so
bleak. You have destroyed yourself.
There is no hope for you. You might as well end it all.
And here is where the Lord comes in and gives us this hope. Yes,
you have destroyed yourself, but in Me is your help. And I don't know of anything
that better serves to turn sinners from their way of sinning against
God and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, then these
two things working in his heart. You've destroyed yourself. You're
ready to perish. But there's hope. Don't despair. There's hope. In me is your salvation. That's my first text. And if
the Holy Spirit will drive these two truths home to our hearts
this morning, I think it will be effectual to us. I think it
will do us good. You have destroyed yourself,
but in the Lord there is hope. Now that's my first text. I want
you to turn to my second text over in the book of Psalms, chapter
89 and verse 19. Psalms chapter 89 and verse 19
and verse 20. Look at this. Psalms chapter 89 and verse 19.
It's on page 685. Psalms 89 and verse 19. Then
thou speakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saith, I have laid
help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. I have found Christ. Now, he's
not talking about David. He's using David's name here,
but he's speaking of his son, Jesus Christ. I have found Christ
my servant with my holy oil I have anointed him. This is speaking
of the Son of God with whom God has entered into a covenant before
time ever was to save sinners. Jesus Christ. And what does he
say about Christ? I've laid help upon one that
is mighty. You've destroyed yourself, but
I've put help upon one who is mighty. That can only be one. Jesus Christ the Lord and Jesus
Christ the Savior. You know as we study Jesus Christ
in the Scripture, so much is said concerning Him and His power
and His might. You know the Bible tells us that
Jesus Christ created everything. Lately I just can't get off of
thinking about that. I've just been going outside
and I saw the other day the sun going down and it was just a
big old round red ball. It was just hanging out there
on nothing. And you know what I thought?
My Savior made that. He created that. And then another
thought comes to me. He upholds that. Jesus of Nazareth
made everything And He upholds everything and He does it by
the Word of His power. There's nobody like Him, is there?
You ever know anybody to walk on water? Coming in the dark,
walking on water? Is that what you just read to
us? They were afraid. Well, I would be too. That would
scare me to death. That's just like our Savior.
He's not subject to nature as you and I are. He's the Mighty
One, isn't He? Boy, when He was here, He not
only walked on the water, He spoke to the water. The storm, and He spoke and said,
Peace, be still. And He spoke to the wind and
said, Hush, be still, be quiet. And it obeyed Him. And these
disciples said, What manner of man is this? Oh, He's the Mighty
One, is He not? He's the Mighty One. But listen,
brothers and sisters, if we just talk about Him being mighty in
creation, If we just talk about Him being mighty in providence
and ruling the storms of life, that won't help us much. But
He's mighty to save us. We've destroyed ourselves, but
God has sent His Son and said, listen, I've put help upon one
that's mighty to save you from your destruction. Ain't that
a wonderful thing? He can save you from your sins.
His name is called Jesus. He's mighty to save. He can save
you from Satan. He can save you from destruction,
the wrath of God, and death, and eternal damnation. He can
save us. He's mighty to save. I want you
to look at another passage before I go on. I want you to look over
to your right in Isaiah chapter 63. I just quoted that scripture. He's mighty to save, and you'll
find that here in Isaiah chapter 63. Look at this, speaking again
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says here in Isaiah
chapter 63, and look here in verse 1. This is so wonderful. Who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the winepress? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garments. And I will stain all my raiment,
for the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redeemed
is come." Now this is a beautiful lesson right here, but you just
have to know a little bit about what he is saying. What he is
saying is, I am going to destroy Edom. I'm going to, you're going
to see their blood sprinkled upon my garments. And Basra, that was the capital
of this place called Edom. Now you remember who Edom was.
Edom was Esau's descendants. Remember when Jacob and Esau
was born and they struggled in the womb? And boy, they struggled,
their descendants struggled with each other all their existence.
Edom was always against Israel. They were enemies. Remember when
Israel came out of Egypt going into Canaan? They had to go right
through Edom, right through the land of Edom. And they sent a
message to the king of Edom and said, we want to pass through.
We'll stay on the king's side. We will not bother you. And the
king of Edom sent back and said, don't you step a foot on my land.
And he sent his army out against them and ran them back the other
way. They had to go a long way around just to try to get to
the land of Canaan. They hated the Jews. And you
remember when Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar sent his army against Judah and
Jerusalem? And the men of Edom was there. And they were up on the hills
overlooking Jerusalem. And when Nebuchadnezzar came
in with his army, you know what the Edomites said? Raise it!
Raise it to the foundation! Tear it down! Kill them! We hate
them! Boy, there was enmity between
these. Well, here the Lord gives them
a picture in verse 1. He says, Who is this that comes
from Edom with his garments dyed red with blood? And that was
the Lord. He had taken vengeance on the
Edomites. He had killed them. He had slew
them. And this is a beautiful picture of what the Lord Jesus
Christ did with our enemies. You know what He did to our enemies?
He trampled them under His feet. I love the way One passage of Scripture talks
about, in Obadiah, listen to Obadiah
118. He's talking about the house
of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Edom for stubble. And they shall kennel in them,
and devour them, and there shall not remain any of the house of
Edom. I was reading one commentary
on this story, And he said, you can't find an Edomite. After the Lord died, he said,
you can't find an Edomite. They ceased to exist. He destroyed
every one of them. I thought, what a beautiful picture
this is. Because it's not talking about just natural Edom. It's talking about our enemies.
Who's our enemies? Sin is our greatest enemy. Is
it not? Is it not? Is the wrath of God
not our great enemy? Is Satan not our great enemy?
Is death not our great enemy? When the Lord Jesus came, they
wanted to be delivered from the Roman government so bad. That
wasn't their greatest enemy. Their greatest enemy was that
which was destroying their souls, sin. In the first chapter of
Luke, when Zechariah was prophesying, he says he's come to deliver
us from our enemies. Who is it? Sin. Did He deliver
us from our sin? Oh, He did, didn't He? He did.
He said, The sin of Judah shall be sought for, and there shall
be none. The sins of Israel, and they
shall not be found. Why? Because He took those sins,
made them His own, and put them away by the sacrifice of Himself. Now there is no sin. You can't
find one. You can't find an Edomite, and
you can't find sin. You say, Bruce, I feel sin. I
see it working in me. Yeah, but look at it from God's
perspective. Look at it from the perspective of Jesus Christ.
What did He do? He put it away by the sacrifice
of Himself. You have destroyed yourself by
your sinning. Your help I've laid upon One
who is mighty. And what did He do? He came and
put your sin away. The mighty Savior. And he says
of death, O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your
victory? I will be your plagues, O grave.
I will be your destruction, O death. And repentance shall be hid from
my eyes. Where is death? It's gone. Look at the Savior. Do you see any death there? He's
mighty to save. He vanquished it. He abolished
death and brought life and immortality to life. What about Satan? He's
your enemy. I tell you, on the cross, Jesus
Christ yielded a blow to his head. He'll never recover from
it. And it's not going to be long. God is going to finish
the work and bruise him under the feet of his poor children. Who is our enemy? They're like
those Edomites. Our Savior has devoured them.
He's destroyed them. The blood is sprinkled upon His
blessed, holy remnant. Oh, it's a wonderful thing when
we think about sin. There's not remaining any anymore. Just like the Edomites. None
remaining. Oh, death. Oh, wrath of God. It's gone. Oh, if you feel yourself
this morning standing on the brink of eternity, and you say,
Bruce, your text has sought me out. I have indeed destroyed
myself by my sinning. Then let me say this, there is
merit enough, and power enough, and grace enough, and love enough
in the heart of the dear Savior, more merit to save you than there
is sin in you to damn you. Do you believe it? I don't think God would have
said, I've laid help upon one that is mighty, and then he'll
not be mighty enough to save. the mightiest sinner that He
could find. The Father knows Jesus Christ
better than anybody else, and He says He's mighty to save. He's mighty. We have destroyed
ourselves by our sinning, but Jesus has saved us from our self-destruction. In Me is your help. Oh, He's mighty. I said last
Sunday, if I had a hundred souls, I think I could trust Him with
every one of them. I do. I really do. Because He's
mighty to save. My last text is this. Look in
Matthew chapter 15. Matthew's Gospel chapter 15. Look in verse 21. Look at this little story, Matthew
chapter 15 and verse 21. Let me read it to you. It's on
page 1056, New Testament, Matthew 15. And look at this. Then Jesus went thence, and departed
to the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And there, and behold, a woman
of Canaan. She was a Gentile woman. She
came out of the same coast and cried unto Him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil.' And he answered her not a word. And
his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. But he said unto her, I am not
sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me, help me. I've laid help upon one that's
mighty. Then help me. But he answered and said, It
is not fit to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. And
she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from the master's table. Then Jesus said unto her, O woman,
great is your faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. I love what this dear woman said
here. Her daughter was grievously vexed with the devil. And she
was as vexed as her daughter about it. She was so burdened,
it's as though she was in trouble. So what does she do? She cries,
Lord, have mercy upon me. Lord, help me. Do you reckon somebody must have
told her that God has laid help upon someone that's mighty? And
here he is. You found him? Because she does
it. Lord, help me. Help me. If God has laid help upon Jesus,
then let us cry unto Him for His help. When we realize we've
destroyed ourselves and Satan tempts us to despair, let us
believe God and not the devil. I've laid help upon one that
is mighty, then cry unto Him just like this woman did. Notice the things that was against
this poor woman and she believed in spite of everything that was
against her. She believed that Jesus Christ
was mighty to help her. You know why she believed? She
had great faith. You know what great faith is?
Great faith is not moving mountains. Great faith is not drying up
big pools of water. Great faith is not healing someone
of sickness. Great faith is believing the
Lord Jesus Christ is able. That's great faith. Look at the
things here that was against her. In verse 23, Jesus answered
her not a word. Man, wouldn't that be awful?
Silence. Lord, help me. Silence. Lord, have mercy. Silence. I tell you, it's tough when the
Lord hides His face. You have to pray on, call on,
cry on. Her faith was great. She believed
that God had laid help upon Him. So she cried on. Verse 23, the
Lord's own disciples that He loved was pleading against her. Lord, send her away. We're tired
of her crying after us. In verse 24, the Lord's own words
seemed against her. Boy, this had to be awful. Lady,
I'm not sent. I'm not sent for you. I'm not
sent to you. You're a Gentile dog. I'm not
sent to you. I'm just sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Wouldn't that be terrible? The
Word of God against you? And then in verse 26, her own
nature, her own nationality pleaded against her. He said, Woman,
it's not fit to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. Woman, you're a dog and you're
asking for the children's bread. And one more thing that was against
her. She was beyond all human help. Her daughter had a devil.
And she said, I can't cast him out and no other human can. Everything's
against me. And this is why this woman's
faith was great. When everything was against her,
everything was opposed to her, she never let go of Christ Himself. Well, when everything's against
you, I mean everything's against you. You can't find anything
that's not opposed to you. Here's one hope, and it's enough.
In Christ is my help. Everything's against me. In Christ
is my help. The facts were against her. His
disciples told the truth about her. She was crying after Him.
Christ told her the truth. You're a dog. Here's the facts. I'm not sent to even do anything
for you. I'm sent to the Jew. And yet,
In spite of everything, you're my help. You're my help. And you is my help. And the Bible says here, she
cried. She cried. Help me! Help me. Don't we sing that old
song sometimes, something that goes something like, I was sinking
deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, buried deeply, stained
within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard
my despairing cry, and from the waters lifted me. Now safe am
I." Is He that mighty? Is He mighty enough to lift someone
from the sea of sin and destruction? Yes, He is. I know He is because
God said He was. Would my theology be wrong this
morning if I said this? The Lord Jesus had to help this
woman. He had to help this woman. Do
you say anyway out of His dilemma? He said, I'm not sent. But Lord,
how are you going to get out of this? God has already said
that He laid help upon you and here's a woman that needs help
and she's pleading for mercy for you to help her. How are
you going to get out of this but help her? I think my theology would be
right this morning if I told you that every poor broken sinner
that called upon the Savior, there is no way the Savior can
turn him away. He cannot, can he? All the Father
gives to me shall come to me. And then what happens? Him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise, for any reason, I cannot turn
him away. Oh, he not only is mighty to
save, He's willing to save. He loves the Father's will, doesn't
He? And here's what the Father told
Him. He said, Son, I'm sending you from the house. I'm sending
you from heaven. I'm sending you down there to
a bunch of sinners who have destroyed themselves. And if you find any
broken-hearted sinners in the way that needs help, it don't
matter who they are, when they call upon you, you have them. You have them. And that's what
he does. That's what he did. Oh Lord,
help me. Oh woman, great is your faith.
Great is your faith. Because you see in me one that
can help you when nobody else can and everything else is against
you. Great is your faith. It's not
easy to believe when we find out that we've destroyed ourselves.
What plea can we have? when we realize we've murdered
ourselves. If someone else had destroyed
us, we would have a plea, wouldn't we? Lord, that one fellow, he's
stronger than I am. He did it to me. Avenge me and
help me. We can't even plead that, can
we? We've destroyed ourselves. Well, that poor Abner, when Job
stabbed him, and David was ready to bury him, and he said, Oh,
Abner, as a fool, die. You knew what kind of man Job
was. Your hands weren't bound. Your feet weren't tied with fetters.
You've murdered yourself. You've died as a fool. That can
be said of every one of us. You've destroyed yourself. And
it takes grace to believe that when we've destroyed ourselves,
there is still one mighty enough and willing enough to save us
from our self-destruction. William Tyndale said something
like this. He said, Here's the good news
that will cause those who believe it to rejoice from the low bottom
of their hearts. Though we have destroyed ourselves,
God has not left us without hope, but He has in great pity laid
help upon one who is mighty. God bless His Word this morning. Gracious Father in heaven, oh,
thank you for such hope. Without it, our hearts would
break, but we have indeed destroyed ourselves. We've sinned and sinned
and sinned. Can't remember when we first
began to sin, surely, when we come out of our mother's womb.
And now we have no help in ourselves. Oh, thank you for this word.
Thank you for this great Savior who has come to save us. Thank
You for the grace You've put in His heart, the love and the
mercy. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being willing to save such
as we are. We've taken the blame for our
own damnation. We don't blame You. We don't
blame anybody else. We blame ourselves. But, oh,
thank You for being a mighty Savior, for being a willing Savior. We've cried unto You for years.
Many here have cried unto You, and they've cried after You.
They can bear witness with me. They found you to be one who
is willing to save, one who is mighty to save. And I pray for
any of you this morning, Lord, that has come to understand the
danger that they put themselves in, that you'll not let Satan
drive them to despair, but that they'll look immediately out
of themselves to see the dear Lord Jesus, ready and willing
and able to save. Find themselves complete in Him.
Thank you for this, dear people. Thank you for the food we're
about to receive today. And Lord, as we enter into the
bread and wine to remember your body, your death, bless it to
our hearts, bless it to our minds. In Christ we pray, amen. Clarence, would you come and,
Shannon, would you come and help your dad