All right, we're here in Hosea chapter 14, and the name of this sermon is How to Get
Right with God.
How to Get Right with God, and that's the context for the nation of Israel at the beginning
of Hosea chapter 14.
You know, obviously when we're reading a book like this, this doesn't just apply to a nation
that ceased to exist a long time ago.
This also teaches us how to get right with God.
As a nation, but definitely as an individual or as a church, we can all make these applications,
okay?
So step number one is this, to get right with God, step number one is just realize your
backslid.
The first step is just realizing that you're not right with God.
You can't get right with God if you don't realize there's a problem, and that's what
he says here in verse one.
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Now let's say for example, you know, I was not here at the church building, and let's
say for example somebody called me up and said, hey, Brother Stuckey, church is about
to start.
Let's say I went down to 7-Eleven to get a cobra or something, like, hey, Brother Stuckey,
church is about to start.
You know, you've got to return on to the church building.
What if I didn't realize I wasn't in the church building?
Well, I'm not going to return.
Now obviously that's a silly example because it would be very obvious to know I'm not in
the church building, but people are like that when it comes to getting right with God.
They think they're right with God, but they're not.
And so if you were to tell them, hey, return unto God, it's like, return unto God?
What are you talking about?
I'm serving God.
I mean, I listen to Christian rock for four hours every day.
I mean, I'm right with God.
And see, that's the idea people have.
People in this world, they're not returning to God because they don't realize they've
gone from God.
Most people think they're serving God.
They don't realize that by not reading the Bible, not going soul winning, not praying,
they don't realize that they're not close to God.
They think they are close to God.
I mean, if you win soul winning, and obviously this is not what we do when we go soul winning
because our purpose is to find out what they believe about the Gospel.
But if you were to ask people, just take a survey, do you believe that you're right
with God?
You know what?
The vast majority of people would say yes.
90 plus percent of people would say yes, I believe I'm right with God.
First people need to realize that they're backslidden or they're not going to return
unless they realize that they're gone.
Okay?
Go to Jonah chapter two.
Jonah chapter two.
Jonah two.
Jonah chapter two.
I mean, and this should be common sense because this is what they say just in anything.
For example, if somebody's a drunk, you know, in the US it's alcoholics anonymous.
And you know, they'll say like the first step is just realizing you have a problem.
Because the first step for someone who's a drunk to get over being a drunk is just realizing,
hey, I've got a major problem.
And you know what?
I've talked to people that used to be drunks that are now Bible believing Christians and
soul winners, and they'll say for years their family try to tell them, you're a drunk, you've
got an addiction, you've got a problem.
And they're like, no, I don't think I really have a problem.
You know, I just drink from time to time.
And they just didn't want to admit they were lying to themselves.
They did not want to admit that they had a problem.
And quite honestly, many times people are just lying to themselves.
They know it deep down.
And the problem is words can only penetrate so far.
But the difference is the Word of God pierces the inside according to Hebrews 4 verse 12.
And you can cut through that stony heart, you can cut through that hard heart and get
right to the core.
And it forces people to make a decision what they're going to do.
That's something that the world can't really do without the Word of God.
The Word of God has more power to do these things.
Okay, Jonah chapter two, verse one, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord is God out of the fish's belly.
So Jonah got swallowed by a whale at the end of Jonah chapter one.
He's inside this whale's belly now, say, Brother Stuckey, why does it say fish and in other
parts of the Bible, it says whale, a whale is a big fish.
In our modern day, we think of a whale like a blue whale, we have this distinction between
sharks and all that.
You don't see those distinctions in the Bible.
And you have to realize God's classification system is not always the same as the Bible
and science, they can have different classification systems.
And see what a whale is in the Bible is just a big fish, okay?
And so we have all these different species now and everything like that, but you know,
that's what it is.
A whale is a big fish, okay?
So he's inside the whale's belly or the big fish's belly, and it says here in verse two,
and I said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and now heard is my voice.
So he cries unto God because he's going through problems.
And isn't it true that oftentimes people cry out to God when they have problems?
It's like if everything's going well in your life, man, everything's going great with my
relationships, my health, all the money in the world.
It's like you just don't often find time for God just to pray to him.
But then when things are going bad, God, please, get me through this situation.
I promise I will always pray to you every day from now on, I'll never depart.
That's the way we are as people.
And Jonah is the same way.
He's being rebellious and stubborn and hard hearted.
Once he's inside the whale's belly, it's like, okay, reality check.
Now he says out of the belly of hell.
What does he mean by that?
Well, I don't believe he was actually literally in hell.
I have heard people.
I've seen commentaries that actually say that, that he was literally in hell.
I believe he's being expressive because he's in a miserable place.
I do believe the Bible is trying to teach us a lot of stuff, though, because when we
cross reference, we know as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So I do believe that Jesus was literally in hell and it cross references to this.
This is a picture of hell in many ways.
You'd imagine, and from what I've heard, that if you're inside of a whale's belly, which
I've never been and I don't intend to, that you know what, it's a dark place.
And isn't that the depiction we have of the Bible of hell?
That is outer darkness.
So how can hell be dark?
Look, there's different colors of flames, right?
When you're in chemistry class, the hottest color you see is blue, but white flame is
hotter than a blue flame.
Now that's something from what I understand, man's not able to produce.
I don't believe, or maybe they are able to produce white flame, but white flames hotter
than a blue flame.
And then supposedly black flame is the hottest flame.
Whether that's true or not, the bottom line is hell is a dark place according to the Bible.
And you know what?
Inside of a whale's belly is probably a dark place.
Not only that, there's probably the stomach acids that are eating him up inside.
He's probably burning, he's probably itching, probably didn't get the best night of sleep.
And hell is a place of no rest day nor night.
I doubt he's taking a nap in there like, oh man, this is all right, this is relaxing.
I doubt there's a pillow inside of there.
Maybe he found another fish that he could sleep on or something.
I'm not really sure.
But look, it's a good depiction of hell.
I can't imagine being in a place that's much worse than this.
So he says, out of the belly of hell, cried I, and now heard was my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compass
me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compass me about, even to the soul, the depth closed me round about, the weeds
were wrapped about my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
Notice this, the earth with her bars was about me forever.
Now look, Jonah was only there for three days and three nights, but I do believe that he's
giving a picture of what Jesus Christ went through being in hell.
He's being expressive with his words, but he's actually prophesying because of the fact
Jesus in those three days and three nights suffered an eternity of hell.
Now how do our minds comprehend that?
You know what?
We don't fully comprehend that.
That is what the Bible teaches though.
He paid for our sins and we deserve an eternity in hell.
He paid for that for us.
Yet thou hast brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
Notice here in verse seven, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer
came in onto the end of thine holy temple.
Verse eight, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
And what Jonah says is, I am going to get mercy from you God, and I know I will.
The reason why is I'm not observing lying vanities.
I'm not lying to myself because of the fact I'm puffed up.
Vanity is something linked with being prideful and puffed up.
He's saying, I'm not going to lie to myself to keep my pride.
I'm going to admit the fact, you know what?
I deserve to be in here.
I screwed up.
I paid for it, and now he's just begging for mercy.
Look, if you're going to get mercy from God, the first step is just humbling yourself.
I mean that's the first step.
And he says, I'm not going to observe lying vanities, but I'm just admitting the fact
I screwed up, I'm backslidden, I deserve this God, but you know what?
I'm going to get mercy because I'm being sincere and honest.
And look, I believe any one of us will get mercy from God if we humble ourselves and
just admit that we screwed up.
God will be merciful.
God's a very merciful God.
If we humble ourselves, however, if you want to be puffed up full of pride and you won't
admit that you screwed up, you're forsaking your mercy, the Bible is saying.
We have a lot of great examples in the Bible.
Probably the greatest example, and I try not to talk about it too much, but it's just such
a great example, is King David.
I mean isn't that just the greatest example in the Bible?
Here's a man who commits adultery, murders her husband.
I mean when you read that, it's hard to comprehend how somebody could be so bad, and yet he humbled
himself and he was forgiven.
Now he still had repercussions.
We understand that.
You reap what you sow, but you know what?
He was back in God's graces, and look, I believe that he was a soul winner and leading people
to the Lord again.
Why?
Because he honestly meant it.
He realized he screwed up when he was rebuked by Nathan, but you know that story also shows
us that unless somebody really drives home the point to us, we are hard hearted and won't
admit that we're not right with God.
It's like David, you murdered someone.
He doesn't seem to think there's a problem, right?
I mean he goes a whole year while this is taking place because the baby's born, so about
a year at least, right?
Nine plus months, and he doesn't even realize that he's under the wrath of God and God's
angry with him.
God was very long suffering with him until Nathan rebukes him, and then all of a sudden
it's like wow.
See, that's the power of the word of God when the preaching takes place.
It gets to the inside, whereas other words will go right over people's heads.
They'll ignore them, but the word of God just pierces on the inside.
The first step is just admitting you have a problem, which means you cannot observe
lying vanities, but you just have to be honest with yourself, okay?
Now turn in your Bible back to Hosea 14, Hosea 14, Hosea chapter 14.
This is how it is with every sermon you hear because when you listen to preaching, you
are going to hear things that step on your toes.
You're going to hear things that are basically telling you you're wrong, you need to get
right with God.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why do you preach like that?
Because in the Bible you really see the template of two-thirds negative and one-thirds positive.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort.
And the problem is with preaching today, it's exhort, exhort, exhort, peace, mercy, long
suffering, gentleness, and just over and over, the same sermons over and...
No, no.
Yes, there's exhortation, but there's also reproving and rebuking.
And look, I believe to the best of my ability, I should try to mix that in in the same sermon
where basically there's the reproving and rebuking, but then it's like, well, here's
the solution.
Here's the answer.
Here's the exhortation.
Here's how to...
You make the change, okay?
Because I don't want to just preach a sermon where I just rebuke you and I end the sermon.
Hey, you are just a wicked evil person.
Let's pray, right?
That doesn't necessarily help you that much, okay?
You need to be reproved when you mess up, but you also need to be exhorted and taught
here's how you fix the problem.
Even if you're preaching a sermon on like reasons why you should read the Bible.
You know, it's good to just spend a few minutes at the end giving a template.
Well, this is how you do it now.
Not just where you feel guilty because you're not doing it, but here's how you fix the problem,
okay?
Because otherwise, you know, we feel like we need to make a change, but we don't know
how to do it.
There's reproving and rebuking, and then there's the exhortation.
It's the same thing with anything in life.
When you're raising kids, isn't that what takes place at spanking, right?
I mean, you discipline your kid if they mess up, they act up, and then what do you do?
You hug them, you say you love them.
Here's why you got the spanking, and you show them that you care about them.
Not just that you spank them and then you just ignore them.
It's like, well, you're missing the concept the Bible tries to teach us in all areas of
life where there's the negative, but then you give the positive, the exhortation.
So you don't teach your child why I hate you, but you say, I've got to discipline you, but
here's your exhortation because I love you and I care about you.
That is the way it works, and God gives us that template, reprove, rebuke, exhort.
You say, Brother Stuckey, the first step is realizing I'm backslidden, so how do I know
if I'm backslidden?
Well, let's look at various signs in your life.
Some examples are going to church, going soul winning.
Here's the thing, though, about those examples.
I don't believe those are the best examples to find out whether you're backslidden or
not because I really think those are good examples if you're backslidden for a long
time.
If you're somebody who's a soul winner and then all of a sudden you quit going soul winning
completely down the road, that probably shows you've been backsiding for a long time.
If you're just completely out of church, you've probably been backsiding for a long time.
The thing about church and soul winning, those are visible things that people look
at.
So we as people, we tend to like to be seen of man.
So the last thing you're going to do when you get backslidden is quit soul winning and
quit going to church because then people know, oh, wow, I'm not right with God.
So if you're not right with God, you'll still go through the motions of coming to church
just so people don't realize you're not right with God.
Better things would be are you spending time reading the Bible and memorizing and praying?
And look, if you forsake those things, then you're going to eventually forsake the soul
winning in church.
But most likely you're going to quit the reading and the memorization and the prayer and the
stuff that nobody knows about first.
Then later on down the road, once you've been backslidden for a long time, then you quit
the soul winning.
Then you quit church.
Another example is this.
How about just your attitude?
Because we look at things like Bible reading, memorization, church, soul winning, the essentials
of living the Christian life.
But you know, also just what about your attitude?
Have you ever noticed that when you're right with God, you have a good attitude?
You're nice, you're kind, you're respectful.
But when you're backslidden, you're a bit bastos.
People don't like to be around you that much.
You're complaining, you're murmuring, you're bitter, you're losing your temper.
Isn't that true?
When you're right with God, you have a good attitude.
So here's the thing.
You say, Brother Psyche, how do I know if I'm backslidden?
Well, here's the thing.
Are you spending your personal time with God each day?
And are you in a good mood or are you in a bad mood?
Because the reality is that when you're right with God, you're usually in a good mood.
Unless you're going through a major trial in your life.
The Bible says if you know these things, happier ye if ye do them.
So if you're doing what God tells you to do, you're generally going to be in a good mood.
But if you're always complaining and bitter and mad and frustrated and yelling and losing
your temper, that probably means you're not reading the Bible.
You're not memorizing the Bible.
You're not spending time in prayer and look, everyone is going to be aware of it around
you.
Okay.
So how do you know if you're backslidden?
Well, I mean, basically, are you spending personal time with God?
And if you're spending personal time with God, honestly, that's the magic medicine that
fixes a lot of our problems in life.
It fixes 90% of our problems in life.
That's the magic formula.
You spend personal time with God.
And look, I understand how it is like, you know, sometimes we have days where we're really
busy and we wake up and we say, man, I got to spend time with God, but I got to get this
done.
And then you're like, man, I got to get this done and I'll spend time later with God.
And you know what always ends up happening?
The project you're working on takes longer than it would have.
It's sort of like a mini curse from God.
And then all of a sudden you get to the end of the day, you don't really get good personal
time with God.
And you're like, man, I'm never going to do that again.
It's like, what a terrible decision.
I should have just spent 30 minutes with God in the morning and you know what?
It would have just helped me out so much.
And look, we through trial and error, we're all learning that lesson.
We should just spend our early time with God and it's going to fix a lot, most of our problems.
But point number one is this, realize your backslid.
That's how you get right with God.
First step is realize your backslid.
And step number two is this, request from God.
What are you requesting?
You're requesting mercy from God.
You're requesting forgiveness.
Hosea 14 verse two, take with you words and turn to the Lord, say unto him.
Do you see how the Bible is saying this?
It's giving you the template, getting right with God.
That's what it says to Israel in verse one.
Then he says, take words with you and turn to God and say unto him.
It's saying, pray to God, talk to God.
Okay.
When you get backslid and you need to pray and ask for forgiveness, you say, well, Brother
Stuckey, doesn't God know if I'm sorry or not?
Why do I have to say it?
Well, the same reason when my son disobeys me, I expect him to answer me when I say,
hey, do you understand?
Are you sorry?
Actions speak louder than anything, but it's just like just having it inside that doesn't
really mean anything.
It's like you need to actually hear the words and you need to see the actions and God expects
us to actually say the words as well.
And you know what?
Saying the words, I'm sorry.
Saying the words, you know, God, forgive me.
That is actually proof of being humble because it is hard to just admit you've done wrong
and say, God, forgive me.
You know, I don't know why it is, but that's just reality.
You say, well, God already knows.
Well, I mean, maybe you're not really sorry then if you're not actually asking for forgiveness
because the proof is really in your words if you're willing to humble yourself.
So take with you words and turn to the Lord and say, turn to the Lord, say unto him.
Go to Psalm 51, Psalm 51, Psalm 51, and in Psalm 51, we're going to look at the template
from David.
This is when he's been rebuked by Nathan.
He's getting right with God, and we're going to see the template that he gives us to get
right with God after he is really messed up.
And you know what?
There's this great comparison in the Bible.
One day I'll preach a sermon series through maybe King David versus King Saul because
you got King Saul who just refuses to admit he's wrong.
And what he does is not as bad as King David.
Then at the end, he's trying to kill Dave, which is obviously pretty bad.
But what he does is not as bad as King David.
But you know what?
He gets rejected very early just because he won't admit that he's wrong.
He wants to justify himself, whereas King David just admits that he's wrong and he gets
mercy.
Psalm 51 verse one.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Watch me thoroughly for mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.
Notice here in verse three, David says, I acknowledge my transgressions.
Sin is the transgression of the law.
So it's referring to sin here.
He says, I'm admitting that I messed up.
I'm admitting that I have sinned.
And that's the first step to getting right with God.
Just realizing you're backslidden and then you're actually bringing words to God.
Okay.
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against thee.
The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
Now I want you to notice here he never brings up Bathsheba.
He never says, you know, we have sinned.
It's her fault, too, or anything.
He just takes the blame himself.
And you have to realize in life when you mess up, it could be other factors and other people
contributed to your downfall.
But if you want to get right with God, you've got to just say, hey, I messed up.
I'm sorry, God.
Forgive me for what I did, regardless of what other people do.
You've got to get right with God.
And he says, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judge'st.
Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinned and my mother conceived me.
Behold thou desire'st truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why does he have to pray to basically be forgiven and get cleansed
if he has eternal life?
Well, here's the thing.
When you get saved, you enter into a relationship of father and son with God or father daughter
with God.
Now, I don't like this using this word relationship because people say, well, salvation is like
a relationship, but they're not really wrong in that.
It's just they're wrong in what they mean by that, because salvation is a relationship.
Father and son.
When they say it's about a relationship, they're thinking it's about fellowship.
They've got the words mixed up because when they say a relationship, they mean like a
close relationship.
But here's the thing about this.
Getting saved means you enter into the father son, father daughter relationship.
So salvation is a relationship.
And does that relationship ever change?
When my son is four and I'm 37, is there going to be any change in the father son relationship?
No.
20 years from now, I'm still father.
He's still son.
The relationship doesn't change.
They're technically right when they say salvation is a relationship, but that's not what they
mean when they say salvation is a relationship.
They are talking about fellowship, and they're saying, if you're not reading the Bible, then
you don't have a relationship with God.
Well, that's having fellowship.
And here's the thing.
If your fellowship is broken, then you do need to say you're sorry, but not for salvation
because the relationship doesn't change.
The father son, father daughter relationship is forever once you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and receive eternal life.
However, the fellowship is going to depend on how you live your life.
The blessings or cursings from God in this life depend on what you do.
Going to heaven or hell depend on what you believe.
There's the distinction.
It makes perfect sense though.
My son, three plus years ago, January 28, 2018, he was born.
Obviously, they're alive.
We know from conception, but I'm just saying that's when he was born into this world.
He's always going to be my son.
That relationship is never going to change.
But let's say, for example, tomorrow, he's just really whiny and in a bad mood and acting
bad.
Am I going to give him like chips or ice cream if he's acting up?
No, because he's being disrespectful, and I don't want to teach him.
I don't want to reward him for bad behavior.
Now, if he's acting good, though, he's saying, I love you, Dad and everything, and he's just
being a good son tomorrow, you know, it's like, hey, let's get you some chips and let
me take half those myself, right?
It's just like, you know, it's the same way with God, though.
If you're just being, you know, breaking all of God's rules, don't expect God to bless
you in this life.
If you're being obedient, he's going to bless you.
So here's the thing.
Once you mess up, once your son messes up, what do you expect him to do?
Say I'm sorry, right?
Same thing with God.
So he says, Perch me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Verse eight, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou is broken may rejoice.
And, you know, David kind of talks about on the inside, you know, on the inside is bones.
They're just basically broken.
And you know, when you sin, you sometimes feel it on the inside.
You just feel terrible.
You feel like, man, I'm just miserable, and you need to be cleansed.
And sometimes, you know, it really hits you on the inside.
That's kind of what David's speaking about, because he's obviously committed major sins.
And he's just like, he feels like such a terrible, miserable person at this point.
And he's like, I want to rejoice again.
I want to be cleansed from this.
Okay, now I will say this, David, as bad as he was, he messed up.
He got right with God.
And he took the principle that Paul talked about, about forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before.
When you mess up, you need to get right with God.
But you also need to not just dwell on it your whole life and just say, man, I'm just
I could never serve God.
It's like, you know, get right with God and move on with your life.
Okay, verse nine, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from my presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
They say, Brother Sucky, I'm confused on verse 11.
It says, cast me not away from my presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Well, here's the thing.
In the Old Testament, were people indwelled with the Holy Ghost when they got saved?
No, they weren't, because Jesus says, unless I depart the comforter, you know, the comforter
has come, the Holy Ghost is not going to come unless I depart.
And the Holy Ghost now indwells us that are saved.
When you get saved, you get indwelled with the Holy Ghost.
Right?
Well, here's the thing.
In the Old Testament, they were never indwelled with the Holy Ghost.
They had eternal life, and we'll see that here in the next verse.
They could not lose their salvation.
However, they were not indwelled with the Holy Ghost.
So what would take place is when you got on fire for God and you got right with God, the
Holy Spirit would come upon you to help you do great works for God.
Throughout the Bible, it talks about with King Saul and Samson, how the Spirit came
upon them, and then they won a great battle, or they, you know, and, you know, modern day
would be like some of the Spirit comes upon you.
You preach a great sermon, or you do this big soul-winning campaign or something like
that.
Now, here's the thing.
We're indwelled with the Holy Ghost, but the Spirit coming upon us to do mighty works for
Him, that hasn't changed.
When you're right with God, the Spirit will come upon you, and it's going to give you
boldness to do something you would never do in your natural flesh.
See, the Holy Spirit gives you boldness to do what's right.
Okay, that's what the Bible teaches.
And so when you think of your life, if you're not right with God, you're not motivated to
go soul-winning, right?
When you are right with God, you're like, let's go out there, let's get Him, and you're
stopping everybody that's walking by.
But when you're not really right with God, it's just, you know, you're just not as bold.
Because the Holy Spirit still comes upon us in today's world when we're right with
God.
And the truth is, we are all indwelled with the Holy Ghost, if you're saved, but I can't
say that the Holy Spirit is always upon my life, because I'm not always right with God.
But when you're right with God, the Holy Spirit is upon you to do mighty works, okay?
So here's the thing.
When He says, cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me, what
He's saying is, I still want the Spirit upon my life, so I can do great works for God.
So I can do mighty works, because if He doesn't get filled with the Spirit, He's not gonna
be able to do mighty works.
But He's still saved because of the fact He was already born again.
And Jesus talked about in John 3 about Nicodemus, he should have known the concept of being
born again, because it's all throughout the Old Testament.
And even John 3 is before Jesus died, so that's technically Old Testament as well, just not
what we call Old Testament, right?
It's before the death of Jesus Christ.
Verse 12, restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.
Notice that statement.
Does He say, restore unto me my salvation?
Does He say, I want the salvation back, or does He say, restore unto me the joy of Thy
salvation?
What He's saying is this, I've lost my joy, but I haven't lost my salvation.
See there's a difference there.
When you're not right with God, you do not have joy.
Because the Bible says, if ye know these things, happier ye if ye do them.
And so look, when you're just depressed and miserable, I understand we go through trials
in life, and there can be time periods of tragedies we're getting over.
But if you're just like a miserable person all the time, you always hate your life, it's
you're not right with God.
You should be living your life having joy in the Christian life.
You say, why?
The Christian life's very exciting.
It's fun.
Going soul winning's fun.
Going to the soul winning marathon on Friday, it's going to be fun.
Reading the Bible and learning new things, it's awesome.
I love it when I'm reading the Bible and I'm just like, man, and I learn something new.
I've learned a lot of great things from men of God that have preached sermons, but you
know what?
It's so much more exciting when you just learn it by reading it yourself, and you learn it
by memorizing it yourself.
It just hits you so hard.
The reality is, if you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, you can learn deep truths from
the Bible that you've never heard preached before.
It's just clearly what the Bible says.
Many things that you should be learning should not just be because of a sermon, but because
you're reading your Bible, you're like, oh wow, God's saying this, and you're understanding
things.
Look, the Holy Spirit's going to teach you, and the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth,
the Bible says.
So your life should be a life of joy, but here's the thing, David didn't lose his salvation,
but he definitely lost his joy because of the fact, you know what, he was in sin.
Then he says, and uphold me with thy free spirit.
What's the result of getting the joy back in your life?
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted onto thee.
What is he saying in verse 13?
I mean, look at this verse, and what does this seem like he's talking about here in
verse 13?
If I get my joy back, I'm going to teach transgressors thy ways, the ways of God, and sinners shall
be converted.
It sounds like soul winning to me.
Sinners shall be converted onto thee, and look, I understand the word conversion in
the Bible is not always referring to getting saved, and look, it could be a dual link where
basically I can get people saved, but I can also teach them the ways of God.
Thy ways is kind of comprehensive.
There is I am the way, the truth, and the life, the way to heaven, but all of the ways
of God.
Yeah, you can get people saved, and then teach them the word of God, and David's saying if
I get my joy back, I can teach people how to live for God.
I can teach people how to get saved, and how to live for God, but that's never going to
happen if you don't have joy.
You only do things if you find them interesting.
You enjoy them for the most part, right?
Think about the hobbies you have in your life in your free time.
Why do you do those hobbies?
Because you enjoy them, right?
The things you like to do in your free time, when you have free time, the reason why you
do those things by and large is because you enjoy them, and if you don't enjoy them, you're
not going to do them, and look, you can try to go through the Christian life and just
force yourself, you know, man, I don't enjoy it.
I'm hating every step, but you know what?
I got to do this the rest of my life.
You know what?
You might be able to get away with that for a little while.
It's not going to last though, and you're going to have to make a decision.
I'm either going to get the sin out of my life so I can start serving God, or you know
what?
You're just going to end up fading out of actually serving God.
That's just the way it works.
Restoring to me the joy of Thy salvation, and upholding me with Thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing
aloud of Thy righteousness.
One sign of being filled with the Spirit, one sign of being right with God is that you're
singing a lot, and you know, a large part of that is, you know, I'm singing the hymns,
not just at church, but I mean in your free time at home.
Right?
I often am just singing and just, you know, and when you're in a good mood, you just kind
of naturally sing.
And so the thing is, one way to know whether you're right with God is, you know, are you
singing the hymns of God?
Are you singing the songs of God?
And you know what?
When you're in a good mood, you tend to do that.
That's just the way it works.
Okay?
Now turn in your Bible back to Hosea 14, Hosea 14, Hosea 14.
Hosea chapter 14.
It's also why you should sing with, you know, authority when you're at church, just praising
God that you're excited about it.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't have the greatest voice in the world.
Well, I mean, join the club.
I mean, it's just like, I'd imagine if you were to like look at all of our church, half
people are good at singing, half are bad at singing, right?
Or you know, most of us are probably, you know, somewhere in between where it's like
there's some notes that you can hit.
This is the advantage of not being the song leader.
Sing the parts with authority that you can hit.
And on those high notes, you're just kind of like, ah, right?
That's what I do, right?
That's why I don't really like doing the song leading because there's notes I can't hit.
Okay.
But you know, sing with authority.
And what you find is that when you're singing, it actually puts you in a good mood.
In fact, the book of James, I'm misquoting it off the top of my head, but in the book
of James, it talks about happiness when you're actually singing.
Right?
And so point number one is this, just realize your backslid, right?
Not super complicated.
Point two, request from God.
You're requesting forgiveness from God.
Point three though is this, repent of your sin.
Repent of your sin.
You say, brother Stuckey, I thought I didn't have to repent of my sins to be saved.
We're talking to people that are already saved.
We're not talking about to get saved.
We're talking about getting right with God.
I'm talking about a Christian getting right with God.
If you're not saved, then to get right with God, the first step is just to hear the gospel.
But we're talking about somebody who's saved, getting right with God, and you know what?
Repentance of sins, that is a biblical term.
It's just, it needs to be put in its proper place, okay?
Repent of your sin, meaning as a Christian, you should be repenting of your sins and trying
to get right with God on a daily basis.
Every morning and every night is a good template.
Right when you wake up, forgive me for what I did wrong yesterday.
Help me start off good today, God.
Help me to do well.
And at the end of the day, you ask for forgiveness for the sins that you committed.
If you can't think of any, then you're probably prideful.
Or you know, if you're really doing well spiritually, there's hidden sins that you're not aware
of because the thought of foolishness is sin.
Brother Stuckey, 24-7, my thoughts are just pure as the snow, just as white and clean
as can be.
Yeah, right.
I don't believe that.
Okay.
And so step three is this.
Step one, realize your backslid.
Step two, request from God.
Step three, repent of your sin.
Isaiah 14, verse two, take with you words and turn to the Lord.
Say unto him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously.
And he says, take away all iniquity.
He wants the iniquity taken away.
Get me out of this situation.
Forgive me.
Get the sin out of my life.
I need to get right with God.
Okay, so will we render the calves of our lips.
Now, this is a weird phrase.
Render the calves of our lips.
And I look this up, and I think it's just like an expression that he's using because
remember I talked about calves a lot.
And so I think it's kind of a play on words like saying, because remember, you know, as
much as I'm going on an individual level and applying this to us as individuals, this is
to the nation of Israel in Hosea 14 of getting right with God, and they kept worshiping calves.
So I think he's kind of using a play on words there, the calves of our lips, and basically
saying if we get right with God, instead of actually worshiping a calf, you know, we're
going to be talking to God and getting right with God.
Okay, then it says this.
Asher shall not save us.
Now, Asher is referring to Assyria, okay?
All the way back.
You don't have to turn there.
But in Genesis Chapter 10, it gives us the template for where all these empires started
getting off the ark.
And it mentions Asher, which was actually a person built in Nineveh and the city Rehaboth.
And you know, but it refers to Asher and then Nineveh because obviously Nineveh and Assyria
are linked.
Now, Asher here is referring to Assyria, okay, and Asher was actually the name of their main
God as well in Assyria.
But it says here, Asher shall not save us.
What does that mean?
Assyria is not going to save you.
And I don't necessarily think that he's being literal here with Assyria.
I think what he's trying to say is this, Assyria was the number one most powerful empire in
the world.
And I think he's saying you could link up with the most powerful empire in the world,
and they're not going to save you.
They're not going to protect you.
Because I don't really think Israel was really trying to link up with Assyria.
They're more trying to link up with Egypt to go against Assyria.
So I think he's just kind of saying you could you could link up with the most powerful empire
in the world.
They're not going to save you.
They're not going to protect you.
Okay.
Asher shall not save us.
We will not ride upon horses.
Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands.
Ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
That's a good idea to not basically what you create with your hands, call it a god.
You're no longer going to say to the work of our hands, referring to idolatry, ye are
our gods.
I mean, it's just it's just mind blowing when I think about idolatry all the time.
It's just like you create something and then you worship it.
It's like, well, how is that God if you're the one that created?
Because when I think of God, I think of God being the creator.
If you created God, then it just doesn't make any sense.
Right.
But that's the world we live in.
Look at Jonah chapter three, where that's the country we live in, I should say, because
obviously the Philippines is very attached to idolatry.
Jonah chapter three.
Let me turn there myself, and I don't know if this is always necessary, but whenever
you talk about repentance of sin, it's always good to just kind of explain, you know, the
difference because it's something we should be reminded about.
You know, we'll always have new people come in our church.
We need to understand the heresy and the dangers of repentance of sins, because, look,
you know, there's a lot of people out there that would call themselves Baptists that are
not really Baptists.
And they say they're Baptists, and then they're going around telling people we got to repent
of your sins to be saved.
And then when you ask them, Well, what do you mean by that?
And then they don't even know how to answer that question.
And it's like there's different things people mean, right.
But what does the Bible say here?
Okay.
Jonah chapter three, verse nine.
So here's an example.
This is a crazy story because you got to realize that Nineveh was very wicked, and God wants
to destroy them.
He's going to destroy them.
And the king of Nineveh, he actually turns to God when he hears the word of God being
preached.
I mean, it's mind blowing because can you really think of leaders of countries?
Can you imagine what's his name, the leader of North Korea?
What's that guy's name?
Can you imagine him turning to God?
Can you imagine like him hearing the word of God and turn?
No.
I can't imagine that.
Right.
It's like I presume he's a reprobate.
Right.
I would assume.
But it's just like, can you imagine, though, the leader of a wicked country turning to
God?
He's crazy.
And so the king turns to God.
And what he does is this.
He requires that the word of God be preached everywhere.
I mean, every saved person is going to have the boldness to stand up and say, Man, the
government just told me we need to spread this message.
It's like, All right, I'll do it.
Okay.
And people I mean, I have tried to find out who this king was.
And I've gone on Wikipedia before and looked at the list of ancient kings and tried to
read descriptions.
Which one of these guys could it be and everything?
And I do that sometimes with other kings like the kings of Egypt, like who was this specific
pharaoh and everything.
And of course, it's really impossible to tell because you can't really trust history and
you never know with the dates and stuff like that.
But this guy gets right with God.
And then all of a sudden it says this in verse nine, who can tell if God will turn and repent
and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?
Now, first off, we always quote Jonah 3 10, which is an awesome verse, and we'll talk
about that in a second.
But verse nine is a good thing to remember as well, because we see God repenting.
So if repenting means to turn from your sins, then God was a sinner.
Because in Jonah 3 nine, God is repenting.
Now what does that mean then?
Well, here's what it means.
God said, I am going to destroy Nineveh.
They've got, you know, Jonah is like their last option.
He's going to preach to them, and they've got this window to turn to God.
He says, I'm going to destroy them.
And the exception is, well, unless they get right with God.
What happens?
Jonah preaches the sermon.
It touches the king's heart.
He hasn't preached everywhere.
And guess what?
They get rid of the wickedness and the word of God and the gospel is going out everywhere
and the whole mess.
Now I don't know how many people got saved.
They were spreading the message to get rid of the sin.
But I'm sure the gospel is being preached as well.
It's hard.
The city of Nineveh turned back to God.
I mean, they were never with God to begin with.
So they turned to God for the first time, right?
So here's the thing, though.
In verse nine, it talks about God repenting, okay?
And so, look, God is not a sinner.
So repenting does not mean to turn from your sins.
It just means to turn.
That's why it says, you know, turn right there as well.
It's giving you a definition there.
Verse 10.
And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.
God saw their works that they did what?
Well, they turned from their evil way.
Now here's the thing about this.
Verse nine links turning and repenting
because those are identical.
It's re-emphasizing the word
in a different way to add emphasis.
Turn and repent.
Those things are pretty much interchangeable.
It's like saying straight and narrow, right?
Or broad and wide, right?
So he's saying, you know, turn and repent
because, you know, what repentance is is a change or a turn.
So then in verse 10, God saw their works
that they turned from their evil way.
So what he's saying is turning from your evil way,
which is the same as repenting from your evil way,
guess what?
That is works.
So look, if you have to turn from your sins,
repent of your sins, that is a work salvation.
So here's the thing.
If somebody gets up and says, well, you know what?
You need to, you know, turn from your sins
in order to be saved, that is just a work salvation.
Now, of course, we hope the person saying that is confused.
Of course, we hope that they've heard
a wrong definition of repent
and they've never thought it through in their mind.
And I can understand how that happens
because of the fact in the first few years I was saved,
I had never heard really preaching on repent.
And you know what?
I probably said the word and explained it wrong.
Like I gave the gospel to people,
explained for 20 minutes it's a free gift,
and I think I probably tacked on repent at the very end,
which doesn't even make sense, right?
You explain it's a free gift,
well, now you gotta repent every, that doesn't make sense.
Because it's works, right?
Just plain as day, that's a work salvation.
The most extreme are when you hear people say,
and this is usually the Calvinists that do this,
they'll say, you know,
somebody will come down to the altar to get saved.
Of course, we don't have an altar,
but they come down to the altar,
the old fashioned altar to get saved.
And then all of a sudden they'll ask them,
well, you know what?
What are your sins?
It's like, oh man, you know, I drink alcohol,
I live with my,
are you willing to quit living with your girlfriend
to get saved?
And I literally know someone who went to a church
and this is what his pastor said.
His pastor said this in a sermon, like it was a good thing.
He's like, somebody came down to the altar the other day,
they came down to get saved,
and I asked them whether they would quit living
with their girlfriend,
and you know, they said they weren't sure if they were able,
and I told them, you're not ready to get saved.
And it's like, well, you know what, pastor, you're not saved.
When you're telling people a hardcore,
you've gotta repent of your sins
and quit that sin in order to get saved,
that's a work salvation.
And you know what, we literally,
because people say, well, this is a non-issue,
why do you guys always bring it up?
We literally teach the opposite soul winning.
I mean, we literally are teaching the exact opposite.
We're going soul winning and people think
they've gotta repent of their sins to be saved already.
That's what they believe, we're teaching them the opposite.
And look, when somebody's living with their girlfriend,
I try to just throw that aside and say,
hey, you don't have to quit living with your girlfriend.
God is willing to accept you as you are if you just believe.
We are literally teaching the opposite of that.
And we're really fighting against that doctrine
when we go soul winning.
And you know, sometimes the hard cases
where it takes 30 minutes are because of the fact
people don't feel worthy to get saved.
And we're trying to convince them that they are worthy.
And you know what's interesting about this,
and I'm not trying to go on too big of a rabbit trail,
but the Bible talks about being worthy
in Matthew chapter 10, which is the soul winning chapter,
because the end of Matthew 9,
the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few,
sends them out two by two in Matthew chapter 10.
And it constantly talks about being worthy.
And what it says is worthy
is when somebody is willing to receive the words.
They hear the words,
they're willing to listen to them and believe them.
That's what makes you worthy to get saved.
Are you willing to just accept the message of the Bible?
You don't have to be worthy in terms of living a godly life.
And it says if they're not worthy,
you go on to the next door.
What does that mean?
Somebody doesn't wanna listen, you go on to the next door.
Or somebody argues with you,
well, no, you gotta turn, yeah, they're not worthy.
The person who's arguing, you gotta turn from,
they're not worthy,
because they're not willing to just humble themselves.
And all that is is pride.
Now we understand unsaved people are confused
if they've never heard this, but when people hear it,
because when people get saved,
doesn't it usually just click with them
when you explain it?
They're like, ah, that makes perfect sense.
When they refuse to believe it,
and they're just being stubborn,
not when they're confused, but when they're refusing,
they're just prideful.
They're just arrogant.
They are just like the Pharisee in Luke chapter 18.
Man, thank you, God, for not making me
like this guy over here, right?
I'm such a good person.
It's like, no, you're just arrogant.
It's like we're all sinners,
and there's no need to compare yourself to somebody else.
It's just like you're guilty
just like every single other person, right?
And so in Jonah chapter three when it says
God saw their works that they turned from their evil way,
turning from your evil way,
turning from your sins, that is works.
Here's the thing, you don't have to do works to be saved,
but I will say this.
If you are saved, you should turn from your sins
because salvation is not works,
and being saved does not guarantee you're gonna do works,
but you know what?
You should do works.
You should try to get right with God.
The Bible says right after Ephesians 2, 8, and 9,
for we are his workmanship,
creating Christ Jesus onto good works,
and one of those good works is repenting of your sins
when you mess up and saying I'm sorry, God,
and getting right with God.
That has nothing to do with salvation, though,
but it is something you should do
if you wanna get right with God,
and that's what it talks about in Hosea chapter 14.
That's what we're talking about with Jonah
in the whale's belly.
That's what we're talking about with David,
and it doesn't necessarily use the word repent
in all those examples, but that's what's taking place.
They realize they messed up, and they repent of that sin.
I messed up.
I'm sorry, and you know what?
They try to get right with God, okay?
Now, go to Hosea 14.
I gotta hurry.
We got, you know, I don't know,
20 minutes or something like that, right?
Point number one, realize you're backslidden.
Point two, request from God.
Request for forgiveness.
Point three, repent of your sin.
See, it does no good.
It does no good to come down to the altar.
People come down to the altar.
Man, I realize I'm backslidden.
I go down to this old-fashioned altar,
and I request from God, but you don't make any changes.
How does that do any good, right?
I mean, you know, you've gotta actually repent of that sin.
You gotta make that change,
and the problem with the altar is
that it's not gonna be a sin.
The problem with the altar call is just logically,
it's just not gonna work
because it actually does the opposite
of what it's intending to do
because people leave the service feeling right with God
when they should really leave feeling
that they're not right with God, but there's a solution.
But the altar call causes people to emotionally feel
like they're right with God before they leave,
and it's funny.
It's just, it's mind-boggling
because I'm spending an hour or 40 minutes of a sermon,
at least, trying to rebuke and, you know,
reprove and rebuke you
so you realize you're not right with God.
Then here's the solution,
and what they do is reprove and rebuke,
and instead of giving them an opportunity to fix it,
they just make them feel like they're right with God.
It's like, what are you doing?
It's just like, logically, the altar call just is terrible.
I mean, it just doesn't make sense.
It does the exact opposite of its intention
because people do not get right with God
just down here at the altar.
It just doesn't work that way, okay?
Step four, what is the result?
So step one, realize your backslidden.
Step two, request from God.
Step three, repent of your sin.
Step four, result.
What is the result of doing this?
Hosea 14, verse four,
I will heal their backsliding.
I will love them freely,
for mine anger is turned away from him.
It's not a complicated sermon here tonight.
It's pretty simple.
Realize you've messed up, request from God,
and repent of your sin,
and the result is God's anger is turned away from you.
But this is the template you need to take
every time you hear a sermon, okay?
Because people would hear this and say,
man, I agree with that.
That makes sense.
But then when there's that sermon
where they don't wanna make the change,
that's when they get hard-hearted, right?
You need to just take this template
that whenever you hear the word of God preached,
that you're willing to just say,
hey, I'm sorry, God.
And you let me make that change.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Verse five, I will be as the dew unto Israel.
He shall grow as the lily.
Now, the dew represents, you know,
it comes in the morning,
and I believe when he's saying,
I'll be as the dew unto Israel,
I think he's saying, I'm gonna give you a fresh start
because the dew starts in the morning time.
He's saying, you get right with me.
I will forgive you.
My anger is turned away.
And you know what?
There's the dew in the morning
because it's a fresh start, okay?
He shall grow as the lily.
You say, how do lilies grow?
Well, I had to look this up.
So this is off some website, but it says,
though lilies look like they'd be fussy plants,
they're actually very easy to grow.
They're not particular about soil type or pH,
and they grow well in full sun, part sun, dappled shade.
I don't even know what dappled shade means,
and even light shade.
So I don't even understand all of that.
But it seems to me from reading that,
that it's like, you know what?
They grow pretty easily.
And I think what God's saying is if you get right with me,
I'm gonna give you a brand new start,
and you know what?
You're gonna just kind of flourish in your life, you know?
And I do believe this is the case that, you know,
when we're serving God, you know what?
Our lives are just gonna work out for us.
It doesn't mean they're gonna be perfect.
We have our ups and our downs,
but you know what?
What was the lily?
Which is indicating it's gonna be just very easy,
whether it's in the dappled shade or the light shade,
you know, whatever that means.
Whether it's sun or no sun,
you're just gonna be able to make it.
And what that indicates, and look, I understand.
This is symbolic, so I don't wanna be dogmatic
on this is what it's saying.
But it just seems to indicate to me that no matter
what circumstance in life you are,
you're gonna be successful, right?
Whether or not you're in an ungodly country
or whether or not you're in a godly country,
if that exists, right?
Whether or not you have a great church or not,
no matter what your family situation, no matter your job,
you're just gonna be able to flourish
because getting right with God and being right with God
is the number one most important thing by far.
Anyway, there are people that are right with God
all over this world,
even if they're not in the same situation.
Obviously, we prefer to be here than in North Korea,
but you know, there's people in North Korea
that are right with God, that fear God,
that are saved and trying to live for God as well.
Anyway, they can flourish in that environment
and serve God and look,
I believe they can even get people saved
even though obviously you have to be careful
in situations like that.
And cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread
and his beauty shall be as the olive tree
and his smell as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return.
They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine.
The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, what have I to do anymore with idols?
I've heard him and observed him.
I'm like a green fir tree.
For me is thy fruit found.
Who is wise and he shall understand these things?
Prudent and he shall know them,
for the ways of the Lord are right
and the just shall walk in them,
but the transgressors shall fall therein.
So verse nine is something that's mentioned
a lot of times in the Bible
that the person who is wise
is gonna understand these things.
Say, well, what makes you wise?
Well, there's different things.
Part of it is he that win its souls is wise.
And you know what?
I do believe that's not just with spiritual wisdom
as either though,
because people that are serving God are intelligent people.
If we were to take a poll of just the average saved person,
maybe not, it's probably somewhere in the middle,
but if you were to actually look at people
that are actually serving God, they're intelligent people.
And I don't believe it's just naturally they're intelligent,
but I believe believing in the Bible
will make you intelligent.
Reading the Bible makes you intelligent.
And you know what it certainly does?
It certainly makes you understand things.
I mean, isn't that something
we've learned over this last year?
It's like some of the smartest people in the world
and you listen to them on TV or whatever,
and you're just like, I mean, it just sounds stupid.
They don't understand anything.
And I'm just like, what in the world?
And it's just like, is everybody crazy?
It's like, is everybody stupid?
Is everybody crazy or am I crazy, right?
Because either everybody's crazy or you know what?
And everybody's crazy.
That's reality, okay?
And it's just like, there's a lot of people
that are smart people and their level of common sense
is like so low.
It's like, they don't understand anything.
Someone, a bunch of people get injected
and then all of a sudden they get the virus
a couple of days later.
It's like, oh, I wonder how that happens.
I mean, it's like, what don't you get?
It's like, I don't understand the confusion here.
You get injected with a virus and then you get the virus.
What a shock.
It's like, I'm shocked.
I never saw that coming.
It's like, but people don't get this, right?
And people would be very offended at what I just said.
Like, how dare you say that?
You're stupid.
You don't know what you're talking about.
The world will always consider us dumb
no matter how smart we are
because we're saying the opposite of what the world says.
And it's like, the world will think we're stupid.
I mean, if you ever hear evolutionists talk,
they talk down to us and they're so condescending
and they say how stupid we are.
It's like, oh, you're just not educated about the topic,
right?
That's the exact way, they think that we're dumb.
And any wisdom from the world, they think we're stupid.
And it's just like, you know, the smartest people,
the, you know, Richard Dawkins, the most famous atheist,
he's the same guy that says Hinduism
is the most logical and best religion.
I'm the one who's dumb.
It's like, are you kidding me?
And it's just like, if I was religious, I'd be a Hindu.
It's like, really?
I mean, it's just like, yeah, you really sound smart, okay?
But they think, they're always gonna think we're dumb.
And it doesn't matter.
You could speak 20 languages.
You could have a doctorate in electrical engineering
and they're still gonna say you're dumb
just because you don't agree with them.
But you know what?
The world is the one that's foolish
and God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
And it's like this, the foolish things of the world
that confound the wise, the Bible says.
And just, you know, they just don't understand basic things.
They get an A plus on, you know, an advanced calculus exam
and common sense in F minus.
In fact, you know what?
They get a negative grade
because they forgot to put their name on the paper.
That's reality, right?
Go to Romans 11, we'll close up.
I knew somebody in high school who got a negative on a test
because you lost five points if you don't put your name
and he missed every question and forgot to put his name.
He would have been better off
just not showing up to class that day.
That takes skill, right?
To get his, I mean, I've had low grades on tests.
I've never gotten a zero before though, right?
I mean, that takes a lot of skill
to get a negative on a test.
Man, that's impressive.
Romans 11, that's your atheist right there, negative.
Romans 11, verse 24.
I just want to go back to Romans 11
because Romans highlights the book of Hosea quite a bit
and Israel has been rejected.
We've talked about that for 14 weeks.
I didn't make it the focal point of every single sermon
because I don't want to be overly, you know, anti-Zionistic.
I mean, it's like we preached on it plenty, I believe.
Want to make some good application,
but I want to close up with a book of Hosea
because here's the thing, Israel never got right with God.
And if they got right with God,
I want to know at what time you think they got right with God
because they killed the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only did Jesus prophesy of that taking place
and they got so mad they tried to kill him
because they just couldn't figure things out, right?
But it's like they literally are blamed
for killing the Lord Jesus Christ, not even the Romans.
And they said, let his blood be upon us
and upon our children.
So they obviously weren't right with God
when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ.
So at what point did they turn to God?
Now, were there some that did get saved?
Of course.
In fact, you look at the book of Acts, Acts chapter two,
a lot got saved.
It was that time period where people were really
kind of forced into making a decision.
Some of them got saved, but you know what?
It's not like the religion always says like,
wow, here's our savior, let's just all convert.
Now, most of them became just rejected Jesus Christ
and the religion of Judaism today,
is it a godly religion or is it an ungodly religion?
Well, the fact that they don't believe in Jesus Christ
already makes them not godly,
but they are the most ungodly religion, the most ungodly.
I mean, it's the only religion that I'm aware of
outside of maybe some atheists
that would just openly blaspheme Jesus Christ.
The only bona fide religion that says,
well, we believe in a God and stuff
that blasphemes Jesus Christ.
They say Jesus Christ is the product of Mary
whoring around on her husband
with a man by the name of Pantera.
Yes, some people know, right?
There's that rock band Pantera, right?
And it's like, I didn't know this girl,
but that's actually, you know,
obviously they just hate God as well,
which a lot of rock stars do.
But anyways, they believe that Jesus Christ was a sorcerer.
I mean, sorcery is wicked in the Bible.
So they openly blaspheme Jesus Christ
and they say he's gonna be boiling in hot excrement
or poop or tie for all eternity.
That's what they teach in the Talmud about Jesus Christ.
And you know what?
People, if they wanna, if they say,
well, you know, how do you know they really believe that?
All you have to do is go to YouTube
and watch interviews of Jewish people
talk about Jesus Christ.
And they mock him, they laugh at him,
they scoff at him, they hate Jesus.
Now I'm not saying every single Jew,
but that is the product of their religion.
So at what point did they turn to God?
Because they certainly weren't 2,000 years ago
when they killed Jesus.
And certainly they're not now.
And I'm pretty sure the Bible says,
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Say, Brother Saki, you're gonna have some rabbi
come in here and teach us some lesson on something?
It's like, why would I have somebody
who's probably a reprobate come in here and teach something?
And yet Baptist churches will bring in Jews
and they pull up the red carpet for him.
It's like, man, we gotta do with us today.
It's just like, why is, right?
I mean, it's crazy.
It's mind blowing with these Baptist churches.
I remember we were in,
just not to get on too many rabbit trails,
but it was in Sacramento,
we were going to our new building
and we had to make a lot of changes.
So I was trying to find somebody to do,
can't remember if it was the carpet or the doors.
And the one guy said,
well, you know you can trust me because I'm a Jew.
And I'm just thinking, oh man,
we might try to find somebody else, right?
But Christians, they love it.
Like, oh man, why have a Baptist or so on?
We got a Jew who's willing to do it for us.
It's like, he's got those magic hands.
It's like, what in the world?
It's weird.
But Romans 11, let me just close it with this.
Verse 24, for if that were cut out of the olive tree,
which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature
into a good olive tree,
how much more shall these which be the natural branches
be grafted into their own olive tree?
He's talking about grafting the children of Israel
back in, okay?
For I would not rather than that you should be ignorant
of this mystery,
lest you should be wise in your own conceits.
The blindness in part has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written,
there shall come out of Zion and deliver
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
So the Bible says ungodliness
is gonna be turned away from Jacob.
And so basically once all the wicked people are kicked out,
once they're destroyed and once there's gone,
the product that's gonna be left are the spiritual Jews.
And you know what?
I do believe there are gonna be some physical Jews.
I talked about it in another sermon
that are actually gonna end up getting saved.
But you know what?
The land is not gonna be filled with these people
that are phonies, that are imposters.
They say they are Jews, but are not and do lie,
but are the synagogue of Satan.
And guess what?
The only religion I'm aware of that would say
we meet at a synagogue are the Jews.
And the Bible says, well, how do you know that they're
the synagogue of Satan?
It's referring to the Jews there, why?
Because they are the most wicked religion.
And they're really gonna be that religion
that's gonna be bringing in the antichrist, okay?
I mean, these events are gonna be happening
over in the parts of Israel, Jerusalem, and those areas.
And guess what?
They're gonna think the antichrist is on their side
and then the antichrist is gonna turn on them.
That's what the Bible teaches.
But in regards to Israel,
Israel is clearly rejected throughout
the entire book of Hosea.
It says that, they're gone, they're done.
And if you think that the Jews are God's chosen people
here today, question you have to ask yourself is
at what point then did they turn back to God?
Because they're rejected according to the book of Hosea.
And then if they still had a chance,
which I do believe they did,
it was permanently done according to the parable
when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when did they turn back to God in the last 2000 years?
Never happened, let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today.