thousand in my blessed lord i see every need is hand supplying every good in him i see
on his strength divine relying he is all in all to me
all that thrills my soul is jesus he is more than life to me
and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed lord i see
by the crystal flowing river with the ransomed i will sing
and praise and glorify the king all that thrills my soul is jesus he is more than life to me
and the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed lord i see
good singing let's open up in a word of prayer heavenly father thank you for this beautiful
evening and thank you for setfast baptist church and all the people that uh gathered here this
evening pray that you'd please bless the service that you'd fill our pastor with the holy spirit
help us to sing out with understanding from our hearts this evening we love you in jesus name
we pray amen all right for our second song we're gonna go to 113 wonderful peace 113 wonderful
peace song 113 wonderful peace
far away in the depths of my spirit tonight rolls a melody sweeter than song
in celestials it unceasingly falls for my soul like an infinite calm
peace peace wonderful peace coming down from the father above
love sweep over my spirit forever i pray in fathomless billows of love
what a treasure i have in this wonderful peace buried deep in the heart of my soul
so secure that no power can bind it away while the years of eternity roll
peace peace wonderful peace coming down from the father above
love sweep over my spirit forever i pray in fathomless billows of love
i am resting tonight in this wonderful peace resting sweetly in jesus control
for i'm kept from all danger by night and by day and his glory is flooding my soul
peace peace wonderful peace coming down from the father above
love sweep over my spirit forever i pray in fathomless billows of love
and me thinks when i rise to that city of peace where the author of peace i shall see
that one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing and that heavenly kingdom shall be
peace peace wonderful peace coming down from the father above
love sweep over my spirit forever i pray in fathomless billows of love
a soul are you here without comfort or rest marching down the rough pathway of time
time may jesus your friend the shadows grow dark oh except this sweet peace so sublime
peace peace wonderful peace coming down from the father above
love sweep over my spirit forever i pray in fathomless billows of love
thank you for coming to steadfast baptist church if you need a bulletin lift up your
hand nice and high whatever ushers come by get you guys a bulletin on the front we have
our bible memory passage any child that's able to quote the verse of the week can get a treat
immediately following the service on the inside we have our service soul winning times our church
stats and please continue to send that in to your soul winning captains and lieutenants we
have our expecting ladies list please be in prayer for them please please also be in
prayer for our entire prayer list we like to usually go over this for our midweek service
as just a quick breakdown we have the niguera's we've been praying for health we've been
praying for miss lucy's mother we've been praying for brother cameron's leg we've been praying for
the pendleton's and for the brain cancer also we've been praying for miss garcia's family
we've been praying for brother wallach's friend wan's cancer treatment also praying for miss
cooley's stepdad's cancer treatment been praying for the scott family for health and
we've been playing for shield of faith baptist church some of the persecution i guess it didn't
help that i preached for them and uh no i'm just kidding and then uh also we're praying for brother
uh caputo i guess he had his identity stolen that sucks i i'll tell you what that's not fun
um also pray for the gales father's um kidneys health and um i know obviously there's also
sometimes other people that are sick and stuff that we can pray for as well let's go ahead and
just say a quick uh word of prayer for those that are on our list thank you heavenly father
for this evening thank you for giving us this uh church evening to be gathered i pray that you
would please be with all of our expecting ladies please help them during their pregnancy
please give them a timely birth i pray that you would also please be with our prayer list
please be with uh our chronic health issues please give them health give them recovery
please give them peace during their affliction um please be with uh even just our our friends
and our other family members that are not here uh please give them health and peace i pray they
would also please allow us to reach the loved ones that we care for to have salvation that
you would give us the opportunity to open our mouths boldly to preach to them and i pray
that you continue to give our church favor and please help us to keep reaching the loss of
the gospel in jesus name we pray amen also upcoming events uh the old west wednesday
you should have rsvp to this already and if you have you're going to be getting a follow-up
email this week so if by sunday you don't see a return email or something giving instructions
please just see me uh after the during the service or you can email me again
and just say hey i didn't get uh any instructions but you should get the instructions
also there is a sign-up sheet that brother dylan has for this evening and it's in relation
to our event and essentially um just to give you kind of a rundown dinner is going to start
at 6 pm and it's apparently they're going to close up dinner at 7 pm so you're going to have
to because they can't have the food out forever so if you hopefully god willing you're going to
plan on making dinner with us and it's going to be from six to seven when it's served
i'm probably just going to go ahead and kind of preach a shorter sermon from about 6 30 to 7
so while people are still even eating and then from about seven to eight and to eight to
nine the sign-up sheet is divided into categories we're going to have a few booths where we have
some events and just to kind of help with everybody but especially the children we're just
going to ask for anybody that would be willing to volunteer kind of just need maybe like five
volunteers for the first hour and then another five volunteers for the second hour and you'll
just be there to kind of help monitor the event and just you can pass out candy and things like
that so we'll have some different activities that people can participate in a lot of them will
be geared towards children just fun activities and things that they can do but it'll just be
smoother if we just have some volunteers so if you'd like to do that that would be appreciated
um you don't have to also there's going to be a lot of just other activities as well and
again we'll put that in the email as the description so you can prepare for it but um it's
going to be a lot of fun and so um a lot of planning and stuff's gone into it so i hope that
you guys can make it and uh that we'll have a fun night and of course you can dress up
lots in lots of cool ways now i'm gonna have some extra sheriff badges with me too
and i'll have to deputize some some kiddos all right so you got to be on your best behavior
but uh we need more sheriffs in this town that's what i know um april 1st dallas texas
slowly marathon april 24th to the 29th is the bahamas missions trip and um you have to rsvp
or you have to send your itinerary by this sunday if you want to participate in the church
uh housing so we almost have 50 people signed up for this if not 50 people that are are there
and i think there's even some people that are going that i don't necessarily have on the list
yet so it's a it's a big event and and it's hard it's hard to manage you know all of that
so that's why we need a little bit of time that's why you got to go ahead and get in now
to organize all the housing and transportation and all the other different things and so but
i mean it's looking like it's going to be a great trip um i believe several hundred people
are going to be safe from this this missions trip if not even more than that and it's a big deal
of course you know when you try to do big work for the lord um persecution and attacks
usually come too so you know you gotta that's why it's important to pray and just and pray
to the lord we'll continue to allow this door to be open so that we can do this great work
because i do believe the lord wants us to do that and so i'm really looking forward to it
and uh if you're planning on coming it's going to be uh really great so i'm looking forward to
this event on the back just a thing for notes that's pretty much all i have as far as announcements
are concerned we can just go ahead and go to our third song we're gonna do psalm 148 again
it's our psalm of the week psalm 148 in your special handout
psalm 148
praise ye the lord praise ye the lord from the heavens praise him in the heights praise him
all his angels praise him all his hosts praise him sun and moon praise him all ye stars of light
praise him ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens praise the name of the
lord for he commanded and they were created he hath also established them forever and ever
he hath made a decree
praise the lord from the earth
dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains
and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars beast and all cattle creeping things and flying fowl
kings of the earth and all people princes and all judges of the earth both young men and
men maidens old men and children let them praise the name of the lord for his name alone is
excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven he also exalted the horn of his people
the praise of all his saints he of the children of israel all people near unto him
as the offering plates are being passed around please turn to hosea chapter 11 hosea chapter 11
so
hosea 11 the bible reads when israel was a child then i loved him and called my son out
of egypt as they called them so they went from them they sacrificed unto balaam and burned
incense to graven images i taught ephraim also to go taking them by their arms but they knew
not that i healed them i drew them with cords of a man with bands of love and i was to them
as they that take off the yoke in their jaws and i laid meat unto them he shall not return
into the land of egypt but the asyrian shall be his king because they refused to return
and the sword shall abide on his cities and shall consume his branches and devour them
because of their own councils and my people are bent to backsliding from me
though they called them to the most high none at all would exalt him how shall i give thee up
ephraim how shall i deliver thee israel how shall i make thee as adma how shall i set
thee as a bohem mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together i will not
execute the fierceness of mine anger i will not return to destroy ephraim for i am god and
not man the holy one in the midst of thee and i will not enter into the city they shall
walk after the lord he shall roar like a lion when he shall roar then the children shall
tremble from the west they shall tremble as a bird out of egypt and as a dove out of the
land of isyria and i will place them in their houses sayeth the lord ephraim compasseth me about
with lies and the house of israel with deceit but judah yet ruleth with god it is faithful with
the saints let's buy our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven we thank you for hosea
chapter 11 and i pray that you would help pastor shelley to explain this chapter to us to the best
of his ability and lord help us to listen and pay attention give us ears to hear so that we
may glean valuable lessons from your word this evening we love you we thank you for everything
you've bestowed on us and for all of your blessings and in jesus name i pray amen amen
we're in hosea chapter 11 and the bible says in verse 1 when israel was a child
then i loved him and called my son out of egypt now it's a pretty interesting verse here
in verse 1 and and one thought that i had that's not necessarily
part of the chapter itself but it is kind of an interesting uh clumping of phrases here is how
the bible describes israel as a child and it says then i loved him and you know my first
thought when i was reading this verse was just how you know the bible i believe teaches that god
loves every child and you know we we believe that red yellow black and white they're all
precious in his sight and i think that's why you know it's also kind of in reference to the
fact that he's talking about israel as a child um if you notice in this chapter he or in sorry
in this verse he says that he called his son out of egypt if you think about israel's timeline
if you think about its length of existence egypt is kind of its infancy more of its
childhood as far as just where it is on a timeline scale you know israel was a person
israel had 12 you know sons those are the patriarchs they went into egypt and in egypt is where
they grew they multiplied and if you think about it that's kind of similar to a person's life
where you have your growing and multiplying years as a child that's when you grow up that's
when you learn that's when you kind of grow and then you become an adult you're mature
and then there's kind of some of that stability there and so it's like god's looking at the
children of israel from a timeline perspective and saying when you were in egypt y'all were
like a child in essence that was kind of your formation years you're just kind of getting started
and the bible often uses things like this to illustrate all kinds of different truths
if you think about the law the law is kind of similar in the sense that children don't
necessarily understand rules and all these different concepts it takes them a period of
time to get to that point where they finally understand rules and commandments and all these
different things that are going on in the world understanding the world better and maturing and
the children of israel are kind of likened unto a singular child how he's growing up and then he
ends up getting the law and he's kind of maturing and going through the different phases
of life that exists but you know the bible is really clear in in verses like in john 3 16
for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and you know a lot of
people will point to that verse and show how god loves everyone now here's what you have to
understand is that that verse didn't say that god loves everyone it says that god loved
everyone notice there's a past tense notice that this verse when israel was a child then
i loved him so it sounds like something changed it sounds like something happened
in this particular situation otherwise wouldn't god just simply say i love israel carte blanche
or or why wouldn't say in john 3 16 god just loves the world god loves everyone you know it
just doesn't say that you have to pay a little bit closer attention to notice here in this verse
that there was a period of time when the bible describes god loving israel and how it's
changed which if you had read the previous chapters uh chapter number nine it says in
verse number 15 for there i hated them and even says this i will love them no more so that sounds
like there was a change in god's affection towards israel as a whole and he's talking
about this specific northern kingdom of israel and it's just the same way when it comes to
individuals that i believe god loved every single person there is not a person that has ever existed
that god did not love at some point in time and he demonstrated and showed his love through
the sacrifice of his son the lord jesus christ and here's how you know that god loved everyone
like here is just your your proof beyond any doubt is the fact that according to the scripture
jesus christ paid for all sin because since jesus christ paid for all sin that means he
literally paid for the sin of every single person that has ever existed and that is the
love that he showed towards every single individual now of course we believe and the
the bible does clearly teach that when someone rejects the free gift of salvation they reject
what the bible teaches about believing on jesus christ for salvation that they will ultimately go
to hell if they stay in that state you know that is a state which will send someone to hell
and jesus christ told the jews if they did not believe that he is you know the lord i mean
if you do not believe that i am he as he words it verbatim for you ruckmanites out there
then uh what he what he meant by that he says ye shall die in your sin and and what
does he mean by that they're gonna go to hell they're gonna you know face the fierceness and
the wrath of almighty god which is hell and the bible makes it clear though that god is not
calvinistic he didn't just always hate those who are going to hell he doesn't just hate
people for arbitrary reasons he doesn't um decide to just hate anyone from the start according to
scripture he loved everyone and according to scripture he's not willing that any should perish
but that all should come under repentance so this is actually you know it seems simple
but what i'm saying right now is actually a rebuttal to so many different false doctrines
i mean it's a rebuttal to calvinism it's it's a rebuttal to people who reject the
reprobate doctrine because they they don't understand a lot of these concepts it's a
rebuttal to a lot of different religions and people also it's really it's a rebuke to
those who are of the liberal you know evangelicals who think that god loves everybody
regardless of their actions and that god could never hate anybody for any reason
there's also a growing trend in christianity for people to reject the doctrine of hell you
have popular preachers and speakers like rob bell rob bell is somebody that was pretty popular
when i was in the youth programs at churches and i remember going to a specific youth program
and watching a rob bell video that's what they did they didn't have a sermon we just watched
a rob bell video and rob bell explained how hell doesn't exist and so i'm like sitting in
a youth program learning about how god it doesn't make sense since god is so loving
and he just loves so much that no one would ever go to hell this doesn't really make any sense
we must you know misunderstand what hell really is and it's just so much false doctrine exists
and abounds in this world that we don't want to underestimate the simple truths that we find here
in the bible and simple verses like john 3 16 simple wordings like loved you know there's a
really important understanding that comes from the fact that god loved them not that he loves them
he loved them and the love was shown through jesus christ and therefore you know people
will cringe if you said a statement like god hates people if you said that god hates people
at a lot of a lot of christians would just cringe at that like what do you
oh what do you mean by that it's like have you ever heard of hell have you ever heard of
sin have you ever i mean have you ever read any of the bible and they they'll quote john 3 16
they'll quote some of these verses at you but you have to realize that that verse is a past
tense verse and we have to realize that god while he wants everyone to be saved
and he's demonstrated his love towards every single person he is angry with the wicked
every single day according to the bible and those who have not believed in the lord
jesus christ the bible says his wrath is upon them it doesn't say anything else is upon them
the only way to get that love on onto them is to then believe on the lord jesus christ
now once you've believed now you have the love of god on you okay now you
nothing can separate you from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord
as the bible so eloquently words but at the same time you have to realize you have to
accept that love in order to be loved you cannot just continue to be an unrepentant
unbeliever and living however you want and then claim god loves you or claim that god
loves those who reject the lord hate the lord hoshea is very clear in so many different chapters
that god's love is conditional and and people get mad about that they're like
look god's love is conditional you have to believe on the lord jesus christ in order to
get his love and even beyond that we realize that god will treat us differently based on our
actions now he once you believe in the lord jesus christ you're locked in the love stage
you know you're locked in the love category with god but also when you reject the lord jesus
christ and you either die in that state you know physically or you die spiritually the second
time you're locked into the hate stage too and when you believe that the lord jesus christ
you are loved period there's there's no way to change that there's no way to get rid of the
love but what god can be is displeased with you at that point now of course when you're
in the hate phase it's only displeased you know he's never pleased with you at that
stage so if you want god to be pleased with you you have to do two things you have to get
saved and follow his commandments okay if you're saved but you're not following the commandments
he's still upset with you if you're just a reprobate a god hater unsaved he's upset with you
okay the only way for god to be even somewhat pleased with you is for you to be saved and
trying to walk in holiness following his commandments doing that which is right that's
going to bring a pleasure just like your children your children that have been born
unto you are in the love category but let me say this when they're breaking your rules
they're in the you're displeased with them stage and the only way to be pleased with
them it's not like i know you broke all my rules but i'm just so pleased with you anyways
no that doesn't happen every normal parent is upset disappointed in their child when
they're disobeying them and so we we understand these categories that seem very simple
but it's important to kind of just talk it out and think about it when we look at
these portions of scripture and when it came to israel they were a child and god is going
to show a little bit more grace a little bit more long suffering with those in their initial
state those in the youth those that haven't really had the opportunity to kind of make
that decision and and so it's kind of illustrated here with israel and its infancy
and its childhood and its youth as a nation god was just only pretty much showing them love
showing them grace showing them mercy allowing them to kind of figure it out and of course
we often give more grace to the youngest of our children those who are a little bit older
get less grace you know the ones that are younger you know let's say a toddler if a toddler
just you know is in church or a baby and they're just like oh you know usually the mom's just
like oh hush honey you know but it's like you know the the seven-year-old it's like shut
up you know it's like it's like don't do that again you know it's like you treat them a
little bit differently based on you know how they how old they are how much understanding
and so in the same way it kind of seems like god was treating israel with more grace more
long suffering and kind of their infancy and their youth as a nation but as they continue
to go forward they have more opportunity to write and they're just not getting it
the punishments is going to become stricter the punishments are going to become more severe
and the same i believe with us and god as we are christians the longer you've been saved
the more bible you know the more that you do the more responsibility god's going to put on you
and the more likely god is to punish us when we disobey when we're not willing to follow
his rules and his commandments so it's a two-edged sword to responsibility
it's like i want to do more for god okay great but you know what when jonah disobeyed the
lord guess where he got thrown into a whale's belly and and of course that's a result of
his disobedience that's a result of being given the great opportunity to go preach in minniva
to save a great town but you know with great responsibility comes also a severe punishment
when rebellion is there similarly to jobs you know sometimes jobs that pay really well it's
really easy to get fired from those jobs because they demand a lot and it's important that you
succeed and when you don't succeed you're out of there i think of like nfl coaches i mean
nfl coaches is a stressful job and it's pretty much win or get fired i mean in most cases if
you're not winning consent you know very quickly unless you're in a rebuilding stage or something
they don't have much grace sometimes coaches are fired just after a few games or just you know
they had some high expectations they do poorly and they're just out of there very quickly and
the same could be with us in the sense that if we having driven so much knowledge and
information are quick to rebel against the lord and not doing his will it's it's likely that
it's more likely that god will punish us much more severely and much more quicker
whereas these newer people younger people in the lord may get a little bit more grace and
we want to also do the same thing we want to extend more grace to people that are new
christians you know we don't have this attitude that let's say someone just comes in here all
of a sudden they've never been to church in their life they didn't grow up baptist they
haven't been listening to ten thousand sermons like you and and then you think like oh who's
this guy coming in here he's worldly or something it's like give that guy a little more grace
okay now if brother aus comes in here with his pants sagging down and brother aus is like
what's up homies you know it's like slap him silly you know be like what are you doing
you know you're crazy you know what we would expect dylan to not act like a hoodlum because
he knows better right we would expect more of people that have learned and know the doctrine
you know so so we want to make sure that we approach people the same way god approaches
them where he kind of evaluates the situation he uses a little bit of discernment some discretion
and i just you know it's not necessarily part of this chapter but i just thought there was some
good truths that we could just kind of unravel there now another aspect of this verse though
is kind of the prophecy that's here he says that he called my son out of egypt and
this is a clear prophecy of the lord jesus christ if you'd go to matthew chapter two in your
bible matthew chapter number two we'll see that this is about the lord jesus christ and
it's quoted in the new testament look at verse number fourteen matthew two verse fourteen the
bible says when he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed in
egypt this is talking about joseph taking mary and jesus into egypt at the threat of harrod
killing the lord jesus christ it says in verse 15 and was there until the death of harrod that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the lord by the prophet saying out of egypt have
i called my son so according to the bible the lord jesus christ it was prophesied in the book
of israel that the lord jesus christ would come out of egypt now you have to think about
some of these prophecies are very incredible in the sense that all of the events that have to
transpire are pretty significant you have a prophecy of the lord jesus christ being born
in bethlehem so that's a very specific place that he would have to be born but then he has
to be coming out of egypt as a young child that's a pretty incredible transition of events
for someone to be born in bethlehem coming out of egypt and you know i saw a recent discussion
it was with william lane craig and ben shapiro now a lot of you probably know who ben shapiro
is he's a he's a jew uh his wife's a doctor if you didn't know and uh he he's on the daily
wire it's a pretty popular conservative um news outlet who's never heard of ben shapiro
okay no how about william lane craig who knows who william lane craig is okay we've got like
four hands william lane craig is a pretty popular apologetic uh evangelical he goes around
and debates a lot of atheists and all kinds of different people maybe muslims even just anybody
that'll probably debate him on god just existing typically but he also did a discussion with ben
shapiro on why the lord jesus christ is essentially the messiah he's god in the flesh
and and everything like that and in their discussion you know william lane craig's basically
trying to argue the lord jesus christ through historical facts and it's it starts to get to
a point where you know i like a lot of things that he says but it starts getting to a point
where it's like if you're not going to appeal to scripture you're never going to get anywhere
with anyone anyways and and you know they're kind of talking you know william lane craig brings
up the fact that you know from a historical record it's pretty much undisputed that
jesus christ's body wasn't found it's not in the tomb that we have early witnesses that all
testify that they saw him and then the third point is he's saying and he's saying not
believers he's just saying this is just all historians agree on these facts jesus body not
found and then the fact that early witnesses claimed that he had risen from the dead
and then the last is that many people were willing to die and be martyred and killed and slain
for that particular testimony so he's saying that seems really compelling we should just believe
that and ben shapiro just says well there's other religious groups and other people that
have been devoted to their faith to their particular person other people claim to be
a messiah and people follow it after them so that doesn't that doesn't determine truth and
you know again if you're going to use logic someone can always use some kind of stupid
anti-logic to try and disprove that and i don't put my faith in the lord jesus christ based on
what most historians generally believe you know i put my faith in the bible in the word of god
and one thing that's undisputed also is how many prophecies the lord jesus christ fulfilled
like the fact that he came out of egypt but was born in bethlehem that's not something that
could just happen and of course ben shapiro says well you know i can't believe in jesus
because he's not the messiah that we were anticipating in the messiah that we're
anticipating is a great political figure who is going to restore the nation of israel
and he's going to bring a lot of people into israel and it's like we know what kind of
messiah you're looking for and and he will claim to be a christ he's just the anti-christ
that's who you really are talking about and you know again i don't think that ben
shapiro's very good at articulating what the gospel even is so i don't think that he's
ignorant it probably very unlikely he would ever be saved i wouldn't it's not that i wouldn't try
but it's it's at this point like the only thing that would get through to this guy though
would be scripture it's not it's not just arguing historical facts it's not just bringing up
just arbitrary things it would be pointing to old testament verses pointing out the word
jesus christ fulfilled them pointing to the gospel of jesus christ preaching the romans road
preaching the word of god and you know the apostle paul was driven insane almost through the
book of acts constantly just showing over and over how jesus fulfilled every prophecy of
the old testament and the jews still didn't believe in him he's just like how do you not
believe i mean he's just he's founded and he's just like well spake isaias and you know
he's just talking about you guys just are so stiff necked and stubborn you just won't believe
the scriptures you guys are blinded i mean he just he just could see how the prophecies
of the jews rejecting the lord jesus christ coming true in his own capacity and it must
have been extremely frustrating i mean the bible says he was so willing to even curse himself that
he wanted them to get saved probably because he was just so frustrated arguing with them and
trying to explain two plus two equals four and they just couldn't see it you know that it's
got to be very difficult to to love people and to show them the truth and they just they
just can't see it you know but unfortunately that is what the case is for many jews
they you know i'm talking about ethnicity wise many jews ethnically are not going to believe in
the lord jesus christ and it doesn't matter how many times you show them and of course those
who are the practicers of judaism they're your least likely candidates probably never
go if you would back to isaiah i want to let's read a few more verses here but
it's incredible also how the bible kind of authenticates itself when you think about how
many times the new testament will pull out verses from almost virtually every single
book old testament book of the bible and just kind of show how the scripture just
fits together like a perfect glove and and ultimately because they're so interwoven
you can't really accept one part and reject the others you have to you have to just it's
either all or nothing because if you actually understand the text it's one cohesive narrative
that's interwoven all throughout you have books of the old of the new testament
they're almost just only old testament quotes and it's so funny to me why
people would even claim well i believe in the old testament not the new testament it's like
the new testament is basically just a commentary on the old testament it's not it's not saying
anything different it's just explaining the old testament in a little bit clearer terms
but it's saying all the exact same things romans 10 is one of the most incredible chapters
of the bible in my opinion where it's just it's literally almost every verse is just an old
testament quote but it's crazy because when you read it it seems like it's all brand new
information it seems like it's a brand new text that just fits together perfectly you would
never think that it was like spliced together or something like that yet when you really look
it up almost every verse is just coming from an old testament quote and and of course the
bible does this constantly and and showing the divine fingerprint throughout the text
it's amazing also how the king james bible preserves that in english for us
where we read it in english and it seems like the very fingerprint of god
is on the text as if it was originally written in english but sorry requanites it wasn't okay
now verse number two the bible says as they called them so they went from them they
sacrificed unto balaam and burned incense to graven images now the the primary interpretation
of these particular verses is god's talking about the nation of israel israel went into egypt they
came out of egypt they're called out of egypt but what did they end up doing they didn't end
up serving the lord they end up sacrificing unto balaam and burning incense to graven images
it says in verse three i taught ephraim also to go taking them by their arms but they knew
not that i healed them i drew them with cords of a man with bands of love and i was to them
as they that take off the yoke on their jaws and i laid meat under them so
he he's talking about how he he how much he loved them i just he's like i loved you so
much you were like a little child that i just i led out of egypt and i i was trying to guide
you and i was trying to help you and i wasn't i wasn't doing anything bad to you i did good
things unto you now it's interesting in verse three he's kind of saying he's i'm taking them
by their arms so you know you kind of think about like a child that you take across the
street or you're going to shopping or going anywhere you kind of grab them by the hand you
kind of grab and you're kind of leading them you're kind of guiding them with you you're
you're maintaining control on them every parent that loves their children is gonna grab a hold of
them when they're walking through a dangerous situation through the parking lot or through areas
that are you know near a busy road or anything like that because little children could just
run off or run in the street or run from the track so you guide them because you love them
and of course it's a level of restraint it's a level of you know restriction but it's a
loving restriction no one would really argue that when you're grabbing your little child by
the hand you're leading them to the car in the parking lot that oh look at that slave or
something you know it's not looked at as a really negative thing it's a positive thing
you would say that parent obviously loves their child whereas when i see parents
just letting little tiny babies just run everywhere outside in dangerous areas near
highways near traffic and it's like the parents couldn't even care less i think that parent
doesn't love them you know you you go to some of these apartment complexes and and kids are
running around you're thinking like what i would never let my kids do this or go there or be
in this situation you know a loving parent would be guiding them leading them grabbing by the hand
leading you know these are the type of things that would happen with a loving parent and this
is kind of imagery god's using he says in verse four i drew them with cords of a man
and he says specifically bands of love now cords and bands here it's always interpreted by the
context in the scripture what we're talking about here but specifically cords and bands is is a
type of restriction similarly to what you think of as like a leash okay and then leash is maybe
not the best word here i'm just kind of trying to give you a word to kind of give some
idea and you know even some parents will put their children on a leash and look i'm not really
for that per se if if you're in a safe area like if you can't really control or maintain
your children in a safe area it probably shows you have a discipline problem if you're having
use a leash but you know there's times where let's say you're going on a hike up a mountain
or you're going somewhere that's actually pretty dangerous and so the opportunity like
you're never going to allow your child to die so you would put them on a leash just as
an extra abundance of caution because you just really want to make sure that they wouldn't fall
off a cliff or something really bad happens that makes sense though you know in that
particular situation if you have them on a leash at home you know if you have a leash at church
that's that's weird okay folks you know and i've heard about this those people are weird okay
but you know i'm not going to judge someone for if they have them on a leash and in a really
dangerous public place on a mountain or whatever you know i would rather you keep your kid alive
than you know whatever it's not like the ducklings where you know they just fall down the gate
the hole in the gutter and the one's just like whatever and just keep going you know it's
not the ostrich that just lays their eggs in the in the dust of the earth and doesn't care
that the horse and his rider may crush them or the foot you know we want parents to love
their children okay folks and kangaroos put them in the pouch you know you've got all
kinds of different options right a lot of mamas here put them their babies in a pouch right
so all this image this imagery and symbolism is kind of making sense and notice that he
says chords of a man i believe why he's saying this is he's he's trying to make a delineation
between an instrument that would be used on a person and an instrument that we use on an
animal now an instrument used on an animal would be much more harsh much more severe
not nearly as friendly and it's saying here in the in part of this i was to them as
they that take off the yoke on their jaws so like animals a lot of animals like oxen horses
whatever different animals would be used for carriages plowing these different type of devices
throughout ancient history they would have a device harnessed on their head like a yoke
but then they would even have bridles going through their mouths and and so if they tried
to even turn it would like jerk their mouth and it would cause severe pain and anguish
so the animal would just learn like i don't do anything like that i don't turn to the side to
side i don't go you know it was a very harsh leash i've yet to see a parent put this kind of
a leash on their child you know that would be extreme if a parent's putting a leash on their
kid's head and like going through their mouth and like you know that's that's over that's
over the top that would just be bizarre okay and so when he's talking about the chords of a man
and the bands here of love he's talking about restriction in a loving manner
discipline in a loving manner rules and boundaries in a loving manner whereas a yoke
that's going through your mouth that's not necessarily loving that's just like you're just
going to do whatever i say you know you obey me and of course that's how you know mankind
has treated animals that's what god expects of animals you know animals are here to serve us
the horse is here to serve us the oxen is here to serve us and we put bridles on them
and we have them plow i mean what do you think the whole purpose of these horses and these
oxen are i mean they're here for me i mean i i get to eat the cow i get to drink its milk
we get to put bridles on it and have it plow the ground i mean the oxen is here to be a slave
as it were a servant unto mankind and of course the bible says that the righteous
you know care for the life of his beasts i get that but you know what he is here as
a servant and he is here to serve man and to serve humans and if if an animal were to even
attempt to hurt a human or anything like that the bible says kill it you know and you know
there's tons of verses like in the new testament apostle paul brings up does god care for oxen
and you know it's kind of a rhetorical question like when the bible is giving
instructions about how to treat oxen he was saying like that wasn't really about oxen god
doesn't care about oxen he cares about humans he's like this is actually about preachers this
is actually about pastors and evangelists and and deacons and people that are actually serving
in the ministry this is why god really wrote those verses and wrote those scriptures
of course there's an element of truth that is applied to animals but at the same time you
know the animals are here for us and we would treat an animal differently than we would treat
a human some people pretend like treating a dog like a dog is inhumane and it's like no it's
a dog we don't treat dogs like humans we you know if you do that you're having an
an unnatural affection an inordinate affection towards animals that's wrong and you need to have
a higher esteem a higher affection towards humans and some people they call their their
little animals they're furry babies that's gross it's not a baby you know and and of course
the dehumanizing element is helpful for a lot of liberals and leftists so as to try and
make abortion not seem that big a deal to try and and basically make it seem like animals
are really special or they should be protected and it really just causes a danger and hindrance
in society people have like a weird affection towards a pit bull and and they they'll defend
their pit bull even though their pit bull according the bible might deserve death
and they'll allow it to still hurt maim harm children all kinds of crazy things animal
activists will get mad when a child falls into the zoo and they have to kill the animal in the
cage just to make sure that the child doesn't get injured and they'll like want to sue the
parents i mean it's just it's a crazy how people just go over the top to worship and serve
the creature more than the creator who's blessed forever amen and of course mankind is worth every
animal one person i mean god the lord jesus christ manifests in the flesh i mean when he
was here on the earth he spared a demon possessed guy for two thousand pigs i mean
that's a lot of animals and the bible doesn't even say this it doesn't even say like they
just died it says that they went and ran violently into the deep i mean they're choking it's just
like it was a gruesome death and people will be like how dare you treat animals like that
you wouldn't have liked jesus you know jesus wasn't kind and you know when he talked negatively
about how he would treat humans he compared it to treating it like a dog
he's like it's not me to give the children's bread to dogs and and why is that significant
well because he treats dogs differently than humans and he was acting like as if the gentiles
were likened to how a dog would be treated where it's like hey i wouldn't even give food
that's for my children to my dog yet some people they'll give organic like meat to their
dog and i'm thinking like some parents aren't feeding their children this nice food you know
it's like dogs don't they're not a human you know they shouldn't be treated like humans
quit treating your pets like this you know it's okay to put a yoke of jaws you know a yoke on
their jaws and make them serve they're an animal but god is saying i didn't do that to y'all you
know who's doing that to y'all egypt egypt was was like treating them like animals and egypt
was the one putting a yoke on them on their job he god's the one that's taking it off
and then giving them food giving them meat and is giving them you know this the chords and the
bands of love now let's prove this a little bit more what this means go to psalms chapter
two for a moment go to psalms chapter number two and we'll look at a few verses now the word
chords and bands and stuff this is used in your bible a lot it says in psalm 2 verse 1 why
did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us break
their bands asunder and cast away their chords from us he that sit in the heavens shall laugh
the lord shall have them in derision what is the context of psalms chapter number two
it's you know specifically a prophecy about the lord jesus christ and now king harid and the
other rulers pilot and the chief priest they're going to essentially slay the lord jesus christ
but if you really think about it the chords and the bands here is in essence the rules and the
restrictions that are coming from god's word that's what they're really kind of an essence
alluding to and if you think about it the rules and the commandments of god are they
restrictive yes there's no there's no question that god's commandments are restrictive there's
no question that they're boundaries there's no question that they're telling you thou shalt not
right it's not just saying do whatever you want that's satanism do as thou wilt the lord
jesus christ has commandments we are to follow them but what you have to understand about god's
chords and god's bands is that they're loving whereas the chords and the bands of this world
are like something that's fitted on your face and going through the jaw of your mouth and it
hurts okay god's commandments don't hurt you know the bible makes it clear that god's commandments
are not grievous go if you would to matthew chapter 11 go to matthew chapter number 11
and again some people there's there's so much weird doctrine out there
it just seems like preaching anything the bible probably rebukes so much false doctrine but
one thing out there is this this silly idea of like this hyper grace ultra freedom christianity
where oh i've been set free like as if there's no boundaries there's no rules there's no chords
or bands now that you're in new testament christianity that is not true that's never been
true it never will be true that is again satanism that is again just not what the the
scripture teaches the scripture teaches that new testament christianity is still a yoke
look it says in matthew chapter 11 verse 28 come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden
and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart
and you shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light so
according to the bible is christianity just this free for all do whatever you want no work
no no it's a yoke and it's a burden it's chords and it's bands but what it is is it's chords
and bands of love what it is is a yoke and burden that's easy and light whereas when you
reject god's chords when you reject god's bands when you reject god's yoke when you reject
god's burden what ends up being replaced with it is a new taskmaster a new lord over you and
that lord is sin and that lord doesn't have chords of love he doesn't have bands of love
he has chords of affliction he has bands that are grievous he's gonna put a yoke on you
that's gonna rip through your mouth and through your jaw his yoke is not easy it's hard the way
of transgressors is hard his burden is not light it's heavy so let me tell you something you do not
get to choose there is no door that you can open that says no burden there is no door you
can open says no yoke there is no door that you can open says no chords you have one of
two options a chord and band of love or a chord and band of affliction but there is no other
option here and that's why god's laughing at them when they say let's cast his chords off of us
it would just be like a loving parent holding their child by the hand walking near a dangerous
road and the little toddler breaks free and says haha i'm so free but you know what's coming
a semi-truck you know what's coming immediate death and danger and destruction and evil upon
them no loving parent holding their child's hand was going to lead them into danger folks
just like god is not going to lead us into oncoming traffic when we're following this book
you know we we think that our world is scary folks you know i would love to think that we
you know the it's like oh i wish we could go the 1950s you know the 1950s is like a 20
square mile park with nothing sharp and you could just let your kids just run free
no pedophiles are there i mean it's just sunny everything's foam it's just like
that's what people think and it wasn't that way but i'm just saying this is what people
ideal is you know 2023 is like walking on the median in the middle of the highway
in houston yeah oh man it's like driving in jamaica okay it's crazy and the last thing
you want to do is say mom i got it dad i got it no no no you want to be like please hold me
please tell me where to take the next step please tell me where to go and let me tell
you something this is your safest journey on that dangerous road this is your safest path
you say like i don't know i don't want to go to church well it's way safer in here than it is
out there oh but people don't like you i don't care i'm just being honest with you inside of
his cords and his bands and his yoke and his burden is always the easiest path now is it easy
no not necessarily it's still going to have its hardships it's still going to have its difficulties
but it's easy in comparison so like you have to make sure you understand these concepts here
yeah his yoke is easy in comparison but i'm not going to say that it's easy path always
because there is hardships in christianity there is difficulties there is struggle there's problems
and of course when you've only walked down one path everything's hard to you because you
have no comparison you have nothing to really know what the difference is none of us really
know what it's like to be addicted to lsd for 25 years and to have our veins poking out
and for us to just be like itching all over and think that we have coke bugs all over our
body and to have every single std and to have every single person in our life reject us
and to have no money and be sitting in the street corner and be rejected of everybody we don't
know what that's like so so it's hard for us to compare like oh well you know god's commandments
isn't that hard it's like you don't know what that's like now we've all had probably difficulties
and problems and we might know people that have gone through horrible things but at the
same time we don't really know you don't really know what it's like to have lived the most
sinful life you could have but let me tell you something it was harder let me tell you
something it was worse let me tell you something more affliction you will never ever ever have an
easier path by sinning that doesn't make your life easier go if you would to john
2 for a second go to john 2 here's another reference of chords in the bible
let me also say this sometimes god's courts can hurt okay but it's still going to be out
of love you know it's loving discipline just like a parent a parent will apply discipline to the
child and it's not like that discipline is going to feel good it's always going to hurt
you know no chastisement for the present seem it to be joyous but grievous is what the bible says
and and here's some chastisement that jesus christ delivered look at john 2 verse 15
and when he had made a scourge of small what chords he drove them all out of the temple and
the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money and overthrew the tables and
said unto them that sold doves take these things hence make not my father's house and house
of merchandise i thought jesus was really nice what happened that's the wrong jesus you have okay
wouldn't have been epic like of all the stories in the bible there's a lot of cool
ones but this one just been pretty cool to just see jesus running i mean he's whipping people
and throwing tables out in church you know people have this weird idea who jesus was
jesus wasn't this soft soap just weak effeminate guy walking around in a dress that tv wants to
tell you that the chosen wants to tell you that's the mormon jesus okay look it up the chosen's
like basically funded by mormons it was filmed on a special mormon set and it's like a mormon
jesus folks they're even he's even quoting from the book of mormon in some places not even in
the bible it's not the jesus of the bible folks okay it's the jesus of mitt romney all right
and you know what that's not the same jesus as the bible the jesus of the bible was you know
in all real reality a tough dude i mean everybody was afraid of him everyone was scared
and terrified they were so terrified they wouldn't even want to ask him a question they were so
terrified and people were so nervous around him they weren't just it wasn't just this like
cuddle bear or something that everybody wants to you know think that he is some teddy bear he
wasn't you know barney the lovable dinosaur walking around and it's just like oh you know
no this guy was was was harsh i mean he's constantly rebuking people and you know really
the only people he seems to have mercy on are the poor those who are very humble asking
for forgiveness but even them i mean even the woman caught in adultery he's telling her go and
send no more he's making it abundantly clear on unto her you know people are asking and
saying they're dedicated to him devoted to him you know i'll follow you wherever you go
and he's like he's basically rebuking the guy telling him no you won't you know he's
like hey i want to follow you but let me bury my my dad first let the dead bury their dead
whoa it's my dad like look i'll follow you i just want to bury dad that's it
that's the only thing he's like let the dead bury their dead
that's that's extreme how many people have been like he's rude
he's he's like a jerk i mean this guy's saying he's gonna serve him he's saying he's
gonna love on him i mean how many people would say that about me what if someone came up to me
and said pastor shelley i want to serve at steadfast baptist church i want to help so much
i'm going to come to every church service but i can't make the first one i got to go my
father's funeral let the dead bury their dad he'd be like whoa pastor shelley this guy like
loves the church he just wants to go to his dad funeral you know i mean people would think
that he's rude insensitive i mean he talks he's constantly uh ripping on people they're like hey
what you said kind of like reproach us he's like oh really what would you lawyers i mean
he's just ripping into everyone look they killed him they killed him why do you think how
do you get a huge mob of people screaming crucify him it wasn't because they just loved
him so much it wasn't because they liked him so much it was because they were afraid of him
and they didn't believe in him they were envious of him and you know what he punished
them he punished them with courts i mean he literally like got a small thing of courts and
was whipping them out of the temple and you know what that was a light light burden to hell
that was a light affliction that was a cord of love in comparison to what's going to happen to
them for rejecting the lord jesus christ and sometimes we look at god's punishments and
chastise and we think how horrible he whipped people you know what it doesn't even compare to
hell everybody in hell would say i wish you'd whip me every day of my life all day non-stop
for me to not have gone to hell and by comparison and you know what people look at the bible and
they say how grievous oh that sounds so horrible and it's like you don't really know what
horrible is how horrible to be married to the same woman your entire life how horrible to be
a whoremonger how horrible to suffer from stds and gonorrhea and aids and all the different
sds that exist out there how embarrassing would it be to be a guy who's straight but get aids
because you're a whoremonger because you know everybody wouldn't believe you
you'd be like i have aids and be like whoa i don't know that it's like dude i'm straight
they're like okay i wouldn't believe them either probably i mean you think that oh that's so
horrible to be married to one woman you know it's horrible aids you know it's horrible
to have a bunch of children with a woman that doesn't even love you or your children
and to watch a woman just be so disgusted with children that you had with her you know
what i love about my wife how much she loves her children that's not a horrible affliction and
you know what there's so many people they're so dissatisfied with their life but they just
don't even understand that god is leading them by the hand you know isn't it frustrating when
you have that toddler and you're leading to the car and they're kicking and screaming the whole
way there and it's like you don't even understand that what i'm doing is for your own
benefit for your own good and you know god's saying that he did this to the children of
israel and it's just like they didn't get it go back if you went to hosea there's been
a lot of time on these first two verses but i think that they have a lot of applications
that we could make out of them
it says in verse number five he shall not return in the land of egypt but the asyrian
shall be his king because they refuse to return so instead of returning him to god
he's going to punish them by bringing the asyrians in and they're going to take over
it's going to become samaria the northern kingdom of israel is going to basically dissolve
no longer going to have a king as we learned in the previous chapter it says in verse
and the sword shall abide on the cities and shall consume his branches and devour them because of
their own councils because they're such idiots and fools and they were given over to just
you know woke culture guess what they get a different king in there and of course the
sword comes and it's going to kill tons of people tons of people are going to die from this
i mean it's just going to be a slaughter verse 7 and my people are bent to backsliding
from me though they called them to the most high none at all would exalt them it's like they are so
much of a backslider they've been backsliding so long that that's just their posture now
they're just they're just kind of like just permanently bent because they're just so used
to backsliding and it's like you know people have you know pretty soon maybe in like 40 50 years
most people are going to kind of look like this this is going to be their posture
you know why because that's all they do they just sit and just do this all day
and guess what you'll look like that people start to look like
you know you think that i'm i'm saying this i'm trying to give you a cord here
of love but you know what's a cord of affliction this and you'll be like that for
the rest of your life you know if you have a desk i have a desk job and you know i was
warned by lots of older people like be careful you know how you use the keyboard be careful
you sit you know a good rule of thumb is also if you have monitors to have them like exactly
your eye level so like if you're sitting or standing or whatever it is don't you don't want
to have it where you're always looking down or looking up because it'll cause neck problems
it'll cause disk problems in your neck because your posture over time is going to have a big
impact on you in your older years and your older life well he's using that physical truth to
illustrate the spiritual truth that when you spiritually are just bit like this for a decade
you know what it's hard to stop being like that it's like well i've been a southern baptist
my whole life we can tell well i've been methodist my whole life you know i mean it's
like you exactly we can see you look weird you know and of course when they've been bent for that
long you know like the you know like the old adages it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks
people that have been accustomed to some weird perversion they could get to a point
where they're bent like that and they're never going to change they're never going to acclimate
you know the bible warns about hardening your heart
because when you don't correct something right away what happens is you harden and then when
you hear it again you just harden and you just harden and you get to a point where it's just
it's just white noise to you that's a that's a fear of this church that i had and i was
thinking about it today even is you know i get up and i i preach pretty hard in my opinion
like on certain topics and certain subjects not everything but you know there's certain things
that i'll bring up and if you're one of those people that you hear the message but you decide
not to just make the change or not to go with it what could happen is you get to a place where
you're just so accustomed to not caring that you'll you'll just never fix anything you just
keep hardening your heart and then you're not tender or soft to rebuke or to correction
and because you're not sensitive to that you're end up going to destroy yourself
because you just refuse and reject it and you just get harder and harder that's why it's
important to make changes the first time you hear them to make correction right away to get
on board because if you just keep hearing the same thing over and over if you just keep
hearing like you're prideful you're you're wrong on this and you just keep hardening
and hardening and hardening you could get to a point where you just basically have a seared
conscience as an essence and so it's very dangerous to play with the truth of god's word
we should always just immediately humble ourselves immediately repent immediately get
right with god the bible warns about hardening your heart look at the children of israel they
just start hardening their heart right away in the wilderness and then by by the end of it
they won't believe anything they won't follow anything anymore and you know go into a church
where you're constantly hearing strong rebuke when you just reject it over and over
it's just like good luck i mean you you kind of just show that your heart is not
right with god and it could cause a lot of serious issues down the road now he says in
verse number seven and my people are bent to backsliding from me though they called them
to the most high none at all would exalt him you know exalting in the dictionary is
similar to glorify praise honor but another another definition is the primary definition
the word exalt in the dictionary is to raise the rank character or status is is to raise
the rank character or status and what i was thinking about is how a lot of people refuse
to exalt the lord in comparison to some other thing so like they're they're not going to raise
the rank of god above money they're not going to exalt god above their family they're not
going to exalt god above their work they're not going to exalt god above their hobbies they're
not going to exalt god above their interests they're not going to exalt the lord above
themselves and you say well what does that look like well every every day of your life
is a decision every day of your life is really probably thousands of decisions what you're
going to put on where you're going to go what time you wake up where you're going to drive
where you're going to do what you're going to think i mean if you if you go down to the
base level of what you think, it's thousands and thousands of times.
And the Bible even has commandments on, you know, taking captive certain imaginations
and every high thing that exulted itself above what?
Above the Lord.
And yet, we, as God's people, should be the ones who are exalting God above all
the different things in our lives.
And let me tell you something, it's hard for me to believe anybody is exalting the
Lord when they don't go to church.
I mean, when you just don't even show up at church, how can you be honest with me and
tell me, like, I'm exalting the Lord?
Like that's just, and of course, even in this particular situation, a lot of them
were showing up at church, but you know what, their heart wasn't in it.
You know, if you're not honoring them with your money, if you're chasing money
and you're not chasing the Lord, you don't want to tie them to the Lord, you're
not going to serve the Lord, you're not going to go soul winning, you're not going
to read your Bible, you're not going to pray, you want, you'd rather do anything
and everything else.
Well, frankly speaking, that's a group of people that are not exalting the Lord.
Because we need to exalt the Lord and say, you know what, the Lord is the most
important thing in my life.
There's not even a close second.
My spouse is not even a close second.
I should be exalting the Lord above everything in my life.
And that's what God wants.
But ask yourself this question, how many people are really exalting the Lord above
everything else in their life?
And you know what, God is saying, I looked at this group, I looked at this entire nation
and what does it say?
None at all would exalt him.
What a shame.
What an embarrassment to be the people of God and not even a single person would
choose to exalt God above everything else in their life.
You know, some people, they kind of like, I think that they would only in their mind
exalt the Lord if they were given a lofty position.
Like they think like, well, if I was the pastor, then I would exalt the Lord.
If I was an evangelist, then I would exalt the Lord.
If you know, I was given this title or if I was a different person or if I had a
different life or I had a different family, but here's the thing, you can always exalt
the Lord no matter who you are, where you're at, period.
You can just choose, you know what, I'm going to decide that God is the most important
thing in my life.
But it's so much easier to think of, put anything else, your children, your spouse,
your job, your money, and ultimately yourself.
Well, but you know, I don't feel like serving God today or I don't feel like
honoring the Lord or I don't feel like doing something for him.
Well, you know what, get over yourself.
You know, the truly humble person says, you know what, the only thing that matters
in my life is just exalting God somehow.
Singing praises to him.
I mean, how many psalms are in the Bible?
And you that can sing in this room, you should be singing unto the Lord on a regular
basis because it's a commandment and it exalts God.
But let me ask you this question.
How many people on this planet sing more songs to God than secular songs?
How many Christians in this world, they sing every kind of secular song.
I mean, they will sing 10 hours of secular songs a week, but they'll mumble a couple
songs at church.
It's like, how are you exalting God when you'll sing ACDC for 10 hours straight but
you won't even sing a hymn unto the Lord?
How is that exalting God?
You know, you'll read anything and everything, but you won't read the Bible.
You'll travel across town to eat at a restaurant, but you can't travel to church.
I mean, this is not a people that are exalting the Lord when you look at America today.
We need people that are going to separate themselves and exalt God lest we become
like the children of Israel where God looks down and says, no one will exalt me.
No one will lift me up in rank.
No one will lift me up in character.
No one will lift me up in status.
What an embarrassment for the people of God.
You know, what an embarrassment if the New Testament church became that, where it's a
selfish show, where it's about us, where we don't actually exalt God in our lives.
We should be the people that exalt the Lord.
And you know what?
It's only our fault.
It's only your fault if you don't exalt the Lord.
No one can stop you from exalting him, and no one can stop you from being selfish.
It's your choice.
What does it say in verse 8?
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?
How shall I deliver thee, Israel?
How shall I make thee his Admah?
How shall I set thee as Zeboam?
Mine heart is turned within me.
My repentings are kindled together.
If you look it up, Admah and Zeboam are in the cities that were destroyed with Sodom
and Gomorrah.
And so he's basically saying, like, how am I going to destroy you guys like Sodom
and Gomorrah and the other cities that were about them?
Because that was a permanent destruction.
He says he's kind of like struggling with how he's angry, but he's also kind of repenting
at the same time.
Verse 9, I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger.
I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the holy one in the
midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city.
They shall walk after the Lord.
He shall roar like a lion.
When he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt and as a dove out of the land of Assyria,
and I will place them in their houses, say the Lord.
If you look this up in Isaiah chapter 11, it's also referencing the fact that he's
not going to permanently destroy Israel.
He's going to allow them to go into captivity.
And eventually he's going to bring out all the children of Israel from the different
areas that they were dispersed in, and he's going to put them back into their houses.
Also another future prophecy of us, you know, ruling and reigning with Christ in
the millennium, you know.
And so there's kind of that dual fulfillment picture that we have here.
Also it says in verse 12, Ephraim encompassed me about with lies and the house of
Israel with deceit, but Judah yet ruled with God and is faithful to the saints.
Now interestingly enough, verse 12 is different in a lot of modern version Bibles.
And here it kind of shows that the two, Ephraim and Israel, are kind of just rejected
of God.
They're rebellious.
But then he gives this caveat of Judah, yet ruling with God.
And of course, I believe this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's kind of a picture of how Judah is that one faithful tribe and out of
its coming, the Messiah.
And of course, that's where the Messiah comes from.
That's where Jesus is of.
He's of the tribe of Judah.
And we also see, you know, even the carnal applications here in the sense that the initial
destruction of the children of Israel is not Judah.
He just only destroys just the northern kingdom for a long period of time.
And then he brings the destruction unto Judah.
And Judah had the better kings.
Judah had the more faithful leaders.
Judah is the one that's kind of the apple of God's eye.
That's where the Lord Jesus Christ is coming out of.
And of course, the Bible says there wasn't going to be a king departing out of Judah.
Whereas the modern versions, if you look at this in an NIV, Amplified, or NASB, it'll
say Judah is unruly against God.
So it's the exact opposite.
And just basically just ruins the whole point of this.
I mean, it kind of makes the verse meaningless if you just make all three just like,
and everybody sucked.
You know, end of the chapter.
You know, it's like, oh, okay.
But you know, kind of here, we see a little bit of a hope, the foreshadowing of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
We see Judah's a little bit different.
We kind of see this little delineation.
We get some more prophecy that comes from the Bible.
That's why it's important to have a King James Bible.
And you know, what's weird about this one is some modern versions will say the same
thing as the King James here.
Some of them don't.
I don't know.
It's bizarre.
But of course, you know, we believe the King James Bible is the preserved Word of
God and we believe that it's faithful to this translation.
And that's why it's important to have a King James Bible, because you're going to get
truths out of it that you won't find in these other versions.
There's going to be inconsistency.
And imagine if you're going to a modern church where you've got some people with
an NIV, some people with an ESV, and they're saying the exact opposite thing.
Wouldn't that be bizarre?
That would be weird.
And of course, it is weird.
That's why most preachers don't even preach the whole Bible, because they would just be
showing all these contradictions and all these weird things would be happening and
people would be confused.
They don't understand the Bible.
That's another problem.
So, you know, it's important to have a King James Bible.
And of course, the lesson from this chapter is we need to be those who exalt the Lord.
Not like the children of Israel who had the great opportunity, were given a lot of
grace as a child, but when they matured, what did they do?
They were selfish.
They served their own gods.
They basically want to get away from the bands and the cords of God.
We want to be those who love the bands and the cords that God's given us and continuing
to be faithful, not hardening our heart like they did in the wilderness, but choosing
to exalt the Lord in every area of our life and so that God could look down and
still find a remnant of people that want to serve him, like Judah.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this great chapter, for this opportunity for us to
serve you in our lives.
I pray that we would humble ourselves and decide to exalt you and to realize that you
are worthy of praise, you're worthy of honor, that we should set you above all of
the affections that we have in this world, in our lives, that we should set you above
even our own selfishness.
I pray that you would help us to soften our hearts and make our hearts tender, that
when we read the scripture, when we hear the word of God, that we would not just
let it gloss over, but we would be tender to your commandments, we would be tender
to your instructions, that we would actually fear the Lord.
I pray that you would just continue to guide us and lead us to this dark valley, this
shadow of death that we live in, the world.
I pray that you would allow us to continue to be a bright and shining light and to
be used by you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.