Hosea chapter 14, we are concluding our study
in the book of Hosea, and Hosea has been
a pretty negative book all the way up to this chapter.
It's made it very clear that God is going to punish Israel.
It's an inevitable punishment where they're going
to be displaced.
He's gonna remove them as a nation.
And yet, he tells them here in verse 1,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God,
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
So he still gives them a glimmer of hope
in this pending doom, in this destruction
that's going to happen.
And, you know, we don't wanna lose the context of Hosea.
He's told us very clearly throughout this passage
that he's not gonna love Israel anymore
and that they're gonna be destroyed
and that, you know, there's a pending,
just destruction that's coming in.
So you have to kind of understand
that he's not contradicting himself here,
but rather he's kind of describing
two different groups of people.
You kinda have just the nation as a whole,
which is Israel, and they are gonna be destroyed.
There's no hope.
They're already done.
But there's always a remnant.
There's always a few people that are actually saved,
that actually believe in Jesus,
that he's going to be talking to.
And, of course, Israel is going to eventually return
and is gonna be saved.
Not only that, Israel can be a physical determination.
It could be a spiritual determination.
And any time there's any picture here of hope
or these different prophecies,
it's always a spiritual perspective
that God's trying to give us
and trying to instruct us and help us understand.
But what God really desires for Israel
is to simply return unto the Lord.
Notice what is the problem,
what is the cause of their destruction.
It's they've fallen by thine iniquity.
And don't let that phrase just go by the wayside.
Because I was listening to some stupid podcast
of some popular people,
and they were talking about America,
and they were talking about all the issues,
and they were trying to suggest
how we could fix the problems that we have.
And they're kind of talking about
all these different political strategies
or ideas of how to fix voting
or how to fix our government
or how it should be structured
or how to essentially just create a system
by which America would not fall.
But the problem is they're not really
addressing the real issue.
The real reason why America has fallen
is not because of its political makeup.
It's not because the Constitution has issues.
It's not because of a particular amendment.
It's not because of a particular branch of government.
No, it's because of iniquity.
That's the real problem in America.
And that's the problem with any system is sin.
Sin is the problem for any nation.
Sin is the reason why anyone is going to fall.
And the reason why America is declining so much
in its power and its greatness and its blessing
is because of iniquity.
You could even almost argue that America
already has fallen in many ways.
And you would say, why has it fallen?
It's fallen because of iniquity.
Why did Israel fail?
It wasn't because they didn't have a strong enough military.
It wasn't because they had economic downfall
or short-sightedness.
It was simply because of iniquity
and God takes away your prosperity.
God takes away your might.
God takes away your knowledge and your wisdom.
And so we have to realize that sin is always the problem.
Sin is always the issue.
That's what causes you to fall is iniquity.
The reason why people have problems is because of iniquity.
So God wants them to return.
So what's kind of interesting about this whole chapter,
though, is it's almost like giving us a gospel message
if you think about it.
And think about it, when you go out and you preach
the gospel to somebody, what is it that you're trying
to first establish for all sinners?
You've fallen, you know, and what was the problem?
Sin, right, iniquity.
And he wants you to return to the Lord.
Now, some people would say, and of course this is
a big movement, is that you have to repent of your sins
in order to return back to the Lord.
Now, of course, should you stop sinning?
Yes.
Do you need to stop sinning in order to have
a right standing with God?
In a lot of ways, yes.
But when it comes to spiritual salvation,
it is not about turning from sin.
And what's interesting is how this passage is worded.
Think about the next verse.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
Say unto him, take away all iniquity,
and receive us graciously, so will we render
the calves of our lips.
This is a powerful verse.
And notice what it says.
Turn to the Lord, okay?
Look what it said in verse one.
O Israel, return unto the Lord.
So we're actually talking about the same thing here.
He's like, hey, I want you to return to me.
How?
What is the most important thing to God
in returning to the Lord?
Well, this verse two is gonna explain to us
what that is, how they turn to him.
Did they turn to him by give up all your sins?
Well, it didn't say anything about that in verse number two.
Well, turn to the Lord by doing all the sacrifices.
He didn't say that.
What did he say?
Take with you words.
First of all, he said words, okay?
Secondly, he's saying that we're turning to the Lord.
Third, say unto him, take away all iniquity.
I really like this, all iniquity.
Number four, receive us graciously.
And number five, so that we will render
the calves of our lips.
So let's break this down for a moment.
Number one, he's basically saying pray to me.
Number two, turn, what is that, it's repentance.
When we think about salvation, what is the repentance?
It's turning from your own works,
turning from whatever you're trusting in
to get you to heaven or to be saved,
and turning to the Lord and looking to him to be your Savior
looking to him to be the one to save you.
Number three, you're looking for Jesus
to take away all iniquity, past, present, and future.
Not just past iniquity, all iniquity.
Not just small sins, big sins.
All, take away all iniquity.
And notice this, receive us, I love this word, graciously.
You know what gracious means?
You don't deserve it.
Because salvation is nothing that we've ever deserved.
So this person's turning to the Lord, asking for what?
Grace.
Asking for salvation by grace.
And notice this, so we render the calves of our lips.
What is a calf?
It's a baby cow.
And what is it that's often sacrificed
in the Old Testament law is cows, you know?
The bullock is an offering.
And when we think about different sacrifices
that there are in the scripture,
you know, you have Cain and Abel's sacrifice.
Cain's sacrifice represents that of offering his works.
Offering a physical product.
Whereas Abel's sacrifice, you know,
the lamb offering represents Jesus Christ.
And so here when he's saying render the calves of our lips,
he's saying take this particular sacrifice.
Think of the word calves as being a sacrifice.
What is the sacrifice that they're offering?
It's what they're saying.
They're not offering a literal calf,
they're offering a verbal sacrifice.
What is their verbal sacrifice?
A humility of the heart, which is the only sacrifice,
quote unquote, that God requires for salvation
is you just simply humble yourself
and just receive his free gift.
Because he can't believe in Jesus Christ
and take pride in it.
You can't say, well, it's also what I did, it's my works,
it's, you know, well, I'm gonna turn over a new leaf.
Or I offered this on the altar.
Or I gave him all of my life.
I hear this often.
Oh, to be saved you have to give your life.
Well, that would be work salvation.
Well, you know what, I gave,
I'm willing to lay it on the line.
You know, it's funny, me and Ben
and another one of our church members,
we decided to call some of these Christian hotlines
to help us get saved.
And when we called one of these Christian hotlines,
it wasn't me or Ben, it was the other guy,
he asked the ladies, like, I wanna be saved,
what do I have to do?
And she says, sell all of your goods
and give the money to the poor.
That was the first thing that came out of her mouth,
was like, sell all that you have and give it to the poor.
That's a sacrifice.
But you know what, that's not the sacrifice of your lips.
That's like a literal calf sacrifice.
That's like taking your money and sacrificing.
Now, what you don't necessarily always understand
is that in times past,
they didn't have as much monopoly money as we do.
Okay, they didn't have all this fake fiat currency.
A lot of times their wealth
was actually intangible physical goods.
And of course, what is probably one of the most
expensive goods that you can have is an animal,
especially a cow.
Cows are considered one of the most expensive items
that you can possibly have.
Even today, still, bulls and cows are very expensive.
If you have an actual bull that is a breeding bull,
they're worth thousands and thousands of dollars.
I don't even know because of inflation,
but in times past when our money
wasn't inflating every second,
a cow would typically be around two or $3,000,
but a bull would be $14,000, $15,000
for a bull that's gonna breed with several different cows.
I don't even know today, it could be more than that.
My numbers could be off.
It could be 20,000, 25,000, I don't know.
But it was a very, very expensive animal.
So to offer a bull to the altar,
to take that to the altar would be like
selling all that you have, selling all of your goods
and giving all your money unto the Lord.
It's a similar type transaction.
But notice, that's not what God's asking them.
That's not how God's wanting them to turn to the Lord.
He's not saying, hey, you need to offer
more animals on the altar.
Because if you understood, in this time in Israel,
they were still doing animal sacrifices.
They were still doing a lot of the motions
and going through the actions.
The problem was they didn't believe in Jesus.
The problem was that they weren't saved by grace.
The problem was is they didn't actually trust in the Lord.
They were trusting in their animal sacrifices
and their works to be saved, and they're not saved.
Just like the Catholic church for centuries
was trusting in their works to get them to heaven,
yet many of them, if not almost all, are not even saved.
And when God looks at the Catholic,
he doesn't say, well, you need to sacrifice more.
No, he doesn't tell the Catholic that they need
to give more money to the church, more penance,
more Hail Marys, more of a physical sacrifice.
He says, you know what I want?
I want you to turn to the Lord and ask for grace.
You know what I want you to do?
I want you to ask for me to take away all your iniquity,
not this priest.
You know what I want you to do?
Is stop praying to Mary and pray to me.
You know what I want you to do
is render me the caviar lips by confessing the Lord Jesus
and putting your faith in him and being saved.
And you know what?
Salvation is not animal sacrifices.
It's not of works, lest any man should boast.
It's by grace.
But you know what I also love about this?
Verse two, the first phrase, take with you words.
Notice how he wants you to accept that grace
is by asking him for it.
And boy, does that just trigger the online crowd,
doesn't it?
Not any real Baptists, not people that actually go
to church or go out soloing.
But man, this online crowd just hates the fact
that you should need to call upon the name
of the Lord to be saved.
Go over to Romans chapter 10 for a moment.
And I just think it's so fitting with this chapter
that God's asking them to turn to him and saying,
hey, take with you words, ask for it.
Because of course, God wants us to ask for salvation, folks.
It's not a radical concept.
And yet, people online will say
that by asking for salvation, it's work salvation.
I'm just thinking like, what in the world?
You know, what kind of a weirdo are you?
And Romans 10's the clearest,
probably the clearest passage on this issue.
But in order to get away from this passage
saying clearly what it's saying,
they try to say that, well, Romans 10's salvation
is a physical salvation.
Which, wait a minute.
Let's think about Hosea 14 for a moment, okay?
We already know some facts.
Fact, Israel will be destroyed physically.
If they do what they're supposed to do in chapter 14,
it's not changing what God has already decreed.
The salvation and the turning of the Lord
that he's really wanting to do is a spiritual salvation
on an individual level.
And it's the same in Romans chapter number 10
that the destruction of the Jewish nation is gonna happen.
It's coming down the pike.
When Jesus said that the stones
were not gonna be left upon another, he meant it.
It's gonna happen.
So when the Apostle Paul is really vexed
for his brethren, for his kinsmen,
he's not just hoping that just Jerusalem
just stays intact physically.
He doesn't care about that.
He cares about the souls of these men
and that they would die and go to hell.
He wants them to be saved and go to heaven.
Now, you know, when you, it is so obvious to me
that I think I skip over a lot of this chapter,
not even just taking it all for granted.
But when you slow down, it becomes so clear, okay?
Let's read the famous portion of this
and then we'll dig into this passage a little bit
because I think it fits with Hosea 14 for a moment.
But look at what it says in verse nine.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
So according to this verse,
it's asking you to do two items, two things,
and notice it says thou shalt be saved.
So we have to then ask this question,
well, what are we being saved from, okay?
Those who believe that you don't have to actually confess
or ask the Lord to save you in any capacity
have to then turn this salvation into a physical salvation.
They have to say, well, what it's saying
is once you're a saved person,
then you could simply pray and ask God
for physical salvation and he'll give it to you.
But notice what this said.
It didn't say that you might be saved.
It says that thou shalt be saved.
So let me ask you this question.
Every single saved person that ever asks
for physical salvation always gets it every single time.
What person believes that?
That's stupid, that's foolish, that's never happened.
Also, am I supposed to believe
that no matter what problem, no matter what situation,
by just simply confessing the death, burial, and resurrection
I'm gonna be saved from that particular situation?
I mean, like, let's say I'm driving down the road
and I'm in danger.
It's just like, well, I believe Jesus rose from the dead.
It's just instantly saved from that physical situation.
Daniel in the lion's den just, well,
as long as I just confess the resurrection saved.
Let's say you do believe in Jesus Christ for salvation
and you go and you rob a bank and then the cops come
and they're gonna have a shootout with you.
As long as you confess Jesus Christ,
then you're gonna be saved from that situation?
I mean, what if you go and you just go to the zoo
and you just get in the cage with the lions
and you're just like, well, I just believe Jesus
rose from the dead, are you gonna be saved from that?
I mean, this is absurdity, folks.
It's not about physical salvation
because this verse isn't even saying maybe,
it's just saying for sure.
You know why?
Because it's talking about spiritual salvation
and here's a fact, every single person
that has believed in their heart
and confessed with their mouth the Lord Jesus
is saved, done deal, and is gonna go to heaven,
it's locked in, we know that's a fact.
Why, because that's what it's talking about, folks, okay?
What's more evidence from this chapter?
Okay, how about verse 11?
For the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed,
for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all
that call upon him.
Now, this is what I hear.
They say, well, you have to understand
the context of Romans chapter 10.
It's about physical salvation for the Romans.
Okay, well, let's read this verse again.
For there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
What does that have to do with Roman physical salvation?
He's talking about everyone.
It couldn't even be more clear.
And then he's saying, he's rich unto all that call upon him.
Why is a Greek person getting saved
have anything to do with Roman physical salvation?
I mean, it's just such absurdity
because it's not talking about
Romans' physical nation's salvation.
It's talking about any person
that would simply trust in Jesus, they would be saved.
That's exactly what it says.
Not only that, look at verse one.
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved.
So does he want the Jew to be saved?
Yes, but it's the same Lord for the Jew and the Gentile.
And what is it that anybody who calls on his name
is going to be saved.
So then how could I limit this to just the Romans?
He clearly said, hey, it's the same access for both of us.
So does that also mean any Gentile nation,
at any point, if they just claimed
the death, the resurrection,
they're gonna get physical salvation too?
I mean, you're compassed about with Chinese troops
and you just believe in the death, the resurrection,
they're just gonna disappear or something?
I mean, it doesn't make any sense.
But wait a minute, he tells us clearly,
his heart is that they'd be saved, okay?
What does he mean by being saved?
What kind of salvation does he want for them?
Well, in verse two, for I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge
for them being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves
under the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it.
So what is he wanting them to get?
He's wanting them to get God's righteousness.
And what does that do?
It's the end of the law of righteousness.
By what?
Following the commandments.
He wants to end that.
Stop trusting in the law to get you saved.
Put your faith in what God did, get his righteousness.
How does that have anything to do with physical salvation?
He doesn't bring up physical salvation.
He doesn't want physical salvation for them.
He wants them to stop trusting in the law
to get them into heaven.
That's what he's wanting them to do.
Now, this is where it gets even clearer.
Look at verse eight.
But what's eight?
That the word is nigh even in thy mouth and in thy heart.
That is the word of faith which we preach.
So according to the Bible,
he's about to tell them what they preach.
So some people say like,
well, what did Paul tell people to do to get saved?
This?
He said, now you say, well,
but you're teaching work salvation
by saying praying and calling.
Well, then Paul was.
But you know what?
Paul didn't believe his work salvation
because notice what he said.
The word of faith which we preach.
So what Paul is about to explain is faith.
What did he say?
What's the next phrase?
That if thou shall confess.
Now, why would Paul say,
hey, I'm about to tell you something about faith,
it's works.
Because confessing's not works, folks.
I mean, how lazy of a person are you
that you think asking for something's work?
I mean, do you need a paycheck for that over there?
I mean, please can you give me salvation?
Wow, that was hard work.
You must not do any work then.
I mean, you must be the laziest person on the planet
if you think asking for salvation is work.
I mean, that is insane.
And you would be calling the apostle Paul a liar
because he says the word of faith that he's preaching
and he's preaching it to everybody.
Well, let's keep going.
Look at verse number 18.
But I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth
and their words under the ends of the world.
I thought this was about the physical nation of the Jews.
What does this have to do
with the physical nation of the Jews?
Nothing.
It has nothing to do with physical Jews being saved.
It has nothing to do with their nation being saved.
It has everything to do with those
who have trusted in Christ.
And again, if this was about physical salvation,
it wouldn't be limited to just the Jews.
It would be every nation.
But no one believes that.
No one believes that every nation
is just gonna magically get physical salvation
through just acknowledging the gospel message.
This is clearly an individual thing
that has gone to every single person,
it's gone to all the ends of the world,
and it's for every single person
that we believe in Jesus Christ.
You know, to say that this context
is just about Jewish salvation,
I think a couple times I misspoke
and said Roman or something weird,
but Jewish physical salvation
is what they'll say is the context of this passage.
And it's so clearly just a message for every person
that anybody would believe in Jesus Christ.
Think about verse 19.
But I say, did not Israel know?
First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people.
Now, how is it that we're talking
about Jewish nations being saved,
he's making them jealous by doing what?
When was there a Gentile nation
that was about to be destroyed
and the Apostle Paul rescued them?
Now, I can think of that in the book of Jonah.
You know, in the book of Jonah,
Nineveh was spared of God's wrath,
but it wasn't even necessarily a judgment
that's very observable in a physical perspective
because it's just God saying that he's gonna do it.
In fact, most of these Gentile cities,
as described, the Apostle Paul turned them upside down.
He didn't make them safer.
They got all upside down and tumultuous
and there's all this fighting and it's danger.
You know, how did that cause the physical nation of Jews
to get jealous of that happening to their city?
Oh man, I heard that this city has a bunch of rioters.
We missed out on having a bunch of rioters.
No, you know what makes them jealous
is the fact that they're saved and they're God's people
and the power of their word is reaching people.
That's what would make them jealous.
What would make them jealous
is that the Bible keeps talking about them.
That's what would make them jealous.
The fact that the apostles are talking to them,
the apostles are doing miracles and signs and wonders
because they're saved, that would provoke them unto jealousy.
He says in verse 20, but as Isaiah is very bold and sayeth,
I was found of them that sought me not.
How does that have anything to do
with the Jewish nation being physically saved?
It doesn't, it has nothing to do with it
because someone that tells you that Romans chapter 10
is only about the physical nation of Jews being saved
is just lying to you.
You know what the main context is?
Jews being saved spiritually.
That is the main context is those who are of the religion
of that time of Jews not believing in Jesus,
changing their mind, calling upon the name of the Lord
and receiving faith in Jesus Christ
and that being the end of the law of righteousness for them.
They're no longer gonna do this.
You know, the book of Hebrews makes this clear.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 10.
One thing's crystal clear though,
Romans chapter number 10 is about spiritual salvation
for Jews and how they are supposed to be revoked to jealousy
because Gentiles are getting saved.
Not nations.
What Gentile nation got saved?
None.
It's not about nations.
It was about Jews who haven't trusted in Jesus,
changing their mind, getting saved,
not trusting in themselves,
calling upon the name of the Lord.
Just like Hosea chapter 14,
it wasn't about the nation being saved
because the nation's doomed.
The nation, you can't read Hosea
and then tell me the nation's not doomed.
It says it in every chapter leading up to that.
What is the point of chapter 14 then?
It's talking about a spiritual salvation
that he wants for individuals to still get.
Just like the nation of the Jews was doomed
in the book of Romans when the apostle Paul
was writing that epistle, hey, they're still doomed.
We're not gonna change that fact.
But what will happen is we can get people spiritually saved.
Here's another thing.
Even if they were saved,
just because you're saved doesn't mean
that God won't destroy your nation
or won't be mad at you.
Have you ever heard of Lot?
Lot was saved.
Did God spare Sodom because of Lot?
No.
He took Lot out of it and then he still destroyed it.
And it's the same with this situation.
Those who are saved in the nation of Israel,
God will drive out, take out, preserve some way,
but he's still gonna destroy Israel.
He's still gonna destroy that land.
It still has to go through that kind of a suffering.
And we have to realize is that those who got saved
need to have an end to the law.
They need to stop trusting in their calf sacrifices,
their bullock sacrifice, their ox sacrifices,
and offer the real calf sacrifice, which is of the mouth,
which is of the lips.
Look what it says in Romans chapter number 10.
I think this is the verse.
No, yeah, verse four.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins.
Hyper-dispensationalists are just liars
because they'll claim that in the Old Testament
you had to do the animal sacrifices to also be saved.
Liar.
No animal sacrifice took away any sin.
Now sometimes the Bible will talk about,
in the Old Testament, sins being remitted
or taken away through sacrifices,
but that's kind of in the context of the situation of God
not giving them some kind of a physical punishment
for their trespass or their grievance.
But from a spiritual perspective,
which is the context here,
no animal sacrifice did anything.
It did nothing to help.
Of course, what does the animal sacrifice
also picture in the Old Testament?
It pictures the same with us.
When we believe in Jesus Christ and we're saved,
it's not like when I then later lie, steal,
do something wicked, I can just say, well, I was saved.
So God's not mad at me.
No, I should still get on my knees and pray
and tell the Lord I'm sorry.
I did wrong.
Please forgive me.
And I'm offering him a calf of the lips at that moment.
Now of course, you know,
some people say you have to do that to stay saved.
You don't have to do that to stay saved.
But you need to do that to be right with God.
You need to do that to be pleasing with him
or to be spared whatever punishment would be doled out.
And it's important that the author of Hebrews
is trying to communicate to these Hebrews,
look, these animal sacrifices are done, folks.
He was the once and all sacrifice for that.
There's no more.
He says in verse five,
wherefore, when he cometh in the world,
he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me,
and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
Thou hast had no pleasure, none.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book,
it is written of me to do thy will, O God, above.
When he had said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin, thou wouldest not,
neither had his pleasure therein,
which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first,
that he may establish the second.
By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.
So what Jesus did is he's the one for all sacrifice,
lamb of God, slain for us,
and that's the only thing that gives forgiveness of sin.
The only way to get all of our iniquities paid for
and taken care of.
And so, of course, the whole point of this chapter,
if you understand it, is he first establishes these facts
that, look, blood of bull and goats
aren't gonna take away sin.
Jesus Christ is the one for all sacrifice.
And that's why it's so important that we observe,
or we think about the cross
and we think about what Jesus did for us.
He was that one-time animal sacrifice picture,
that symbol of that calf for us.
And we don't have to offer,
I mean, if we were in the Old Testament,
we would still have to offer animals
in kind of a foreshadowing
of what Jesus is gonna do for us.
But praise God, we live in the New Testament
and we don't even have to do that.
We simply have the just trust in Christ
and then even beyond that,
we still don't offer animal sacrifices.
We would simply just pray to God
and the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for us.
He's seated at the right hand of God the Father
and makes intercession for us for transgressions.
And that's why in chapter four,
he said that we can boldly come under the throne of grace
and that he's there constantly making
an intercession for us.
That's why it also says,
if you get a little bit further in the chapter,
look what it says in verse number 25.
Not forsaking and assembling ourselves together
as the man of some is, but exhorting one another
and so much the more as we see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully,
after that we receive the knowledge of the truth,
there may no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment of fire and indignation
which should devour the adversaries.
So according to the Bible,
there's no more sacrifice options.
It's not like, well, I believe that I got saved,
then I sin.
Well, there's not another sacrifice that's gonna happen.
That's already been done.
If you have to do another sacrifice,
that's what Hebrews six refers to
as sacrificing Christ afresh
and you put him to an open chain,
meaning that his sacrifice didn't work.
And that's what all the animal sacrifices were, right?
When you offered that bull and then you sin in the future,
that previous bull did nothing.
You had to offer another one.
And then it's like, well, I sinned again,
offer another one and offer another one
and offer another one.
And then you would just basically
have to do it forever and ever.
The Bible even tells us about Jesus Christ,
that if that was the same case,
then Christ would have to be sacrificed
just forever and ever and ever.
But there's a difference here.
Jesus Christ's sacrifice is a once for all sacrifice.
So even though you may sin in the future,
which is inevitable,
but especially in this verse 26 where we sin willfully.
So it's like, it's going beyond just sinning.
It's saying like, you're just, you don't even care.
I'm just gonna do whatever I want.
I don't care what God has to say.
There's no more sacrifice.
You can just look forward to judgment and fiery indignation.
And the guy in verse 28 says,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses
of how much sore punishment suppose ye
shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden
under the foot of the Son of God
and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
for whether ye have sanctified an unholy thing
and done despite in the spirit of grace.
Now notice you're sanctified.
Notice the blood of the covenant is upon you.
But you know what?
God may give you a sore punishment
for having just decided to just sin even though,
even though you can't go to hell,
he's still gonna be mad at you.
You know, I talked to somebody tonight,
and she's just like, well, you can't just believe in Jesus
and just then decide to just sin and do whatever you want
and think you're gonna get away with it.
And it's like, that's true, but here's the thing,
you're not gonna go to hell.
Right, right.
And it might still be a fiery indignation,
but you know what?
You're gonna get burned on earth.
You're not gonna get burned in hell.
Right.
And so, you know, and it clarifies even in this chapter.
Go to verse 38.
Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
So when you don't follow God's commandments,
he's displeased with you, absolutely.
But he makes a caveat here,
and this is what I call, verse 39, this is my word,
clarification.
He says, but we are not of them who draw back
in a perdition, but of them that believe
in the saving of the soul.
So when he says draw back in verse 38,
he's wanting to make it clear in your mind,
he wasn't talking about people who didn't get saved.
He's saying the people that got saved and then fell away.
The people that got saved and then drew back
from following the commandments, continuing in faith,
and God was still displeased with them,
and he's gonna punish them.
It's gonna be a severe punishment,
yet we're still gonna be saved.
Okay, none of us are the people that, you know,
didn't even get saved.
Okay, those people are going to perdition.
Those people are going to hell.
So he makes that clarification in verse 39.
Some people look at this verse and say,
oh, you can lose your salvation,
because if you draw back, you're going to perdition.
And then they'll say, but you have to keep believing.
You know, and keep believing means do the works.
Wait a minute, that's not faith anymore then.
That just works.
Okay, so he just makes the clarification,
because of course, he put in verse 39
for all those work salvationists to get tripped up on
and to help us understand what he means.
Go back to Hosea chapter 14.
But you know, the reason why I paused here
is just because I love how Hosea 14
is telling them to turn to the Lord,
but they take words with them.
They didn't take works, they took words.
They didn't take animal sacrifices,
they took the calves of their lips.
And of course, every time we see people
getting right with God in the Bible,
what do we see?
The calves of their lips.
Lord, be merciful, me a sinner.
What is that?
That was the calf of his lips.
What was the other guy's lips?
Lord, I thank thee that I'm not like other men,
and I give tithes of all that I possess.
What is he saying?
Look at all the sacrifices I give you.
But you know what?
God says, hey, that guy didn't go home justified.
The other guy went home justified
because he offered the calves of his lips.
He's saying, Lord, be merciful, me a sinner.
Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.
Son of David, have mercy on me!
This is what they scream and they yell.
And then Jesus gives them that salvation.
When do you see people in the Bible
just sitting there doing nothing,
and then Jesus is just like, you're healed!
And they're like, what happened?
He's like, oh, you believed.
No, no, no, they scream out, don't they?
They say, Son of David, have mercy on me!
The woman comes and touched the hem of his garment.
We see constantly all these pictures
of people doing something,
and then the Lord will say, hey, thy faith has saved thee.
He's like, why'd you say my name?
You know, that's work salvation, buddy.
Why are you asking for something here?
You know, that's stupid, that's foolish.
And of course, a lot of their cases,
it was a physical salvation,
but it's to illustrate the spiritual picture
of salvation by faith, and of course,
that faith is exercised by calling on the name of the Lord
in your faith.
Calling on the name of the Lord is just prayer,
and we can pray for a lot of things,
but of course, God wants us to pray for salvation as well.
Look at verse three, the Bible says this.
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 Father was fine to mercy.
So notice, Asher, man's not gonna save you.
And of course, you know,
even if you wanna still look at this as like,
as a nation, as a whole,
they weren't gonna be saved by man.
God's gonna destroy them,
and they're not gonna end up riding on horses.
You know, horses aren't gonna save them.
Their idols aren't gonna save them,
and a lot of this is foreshadowing the fact
that when they come back to the land,
idolatry is gonna be eliminated,
and it's kind of amazing,
because idolatry has been just rampant
for the children of Israel,
all the way up to the first captivity of Babylon,
but when they return,
we don't see the same level of idolatry.
We don't see the same false gods.
There's a difference.
There's like a change in their issues.
They kind of go into work salvation.
They were Catholic.
Now they're just Catholic light, okay?
They were, you know, they got rid of the Mary statue,
but they still believe in work salvation
when Jesus comes around, right?
And so a lot of them aren't saved,
but they for sure get rid of the idols,
and they get rid of these other false gods consistently,
and they're not really worshiping the same as they had.
It's definitely, there's a dynamic change,
and so he's kind of talking about this.
Notice again, the fatherless findeth mercy.
People have to understand that what we get from God
is grace and mercy, not rewards, not what we deserve.
We never want what we deserve.
We want God's mercy.
We want God's grace.
You know, only the prideful person
wants what they deserve from God,
and that's a fool's errand
because we don't deserve anything good.
Verse four, I will heal their backslidings.
I will love them freely,
for mine anger has turned away from him.
Now notice, of course, I'm not against turning from sin.
We should turn from sin,
and they point out the fact
that they're gonna get rid of idols and stuff,
but ultimately, the thing that's changing here
is they're trusting in the Lord.
They're asking for grace, right?
And notice what the Lord says
he's gonna do to them in verse four.
I will love them freely.
Boy, do I love that word, freely.
You know what that insinuates?
That insinuates that it's not conditional.
You know what that insinuates?
It's not something that you can lose
because once you believe in Jesus Christ,
once you're saved, God loves you freely,
meaning that there's nothing that can separate you
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He's not gonna hold anything back.
You can't lose it.
It's just free, just free love.
He's gonna freely love them.
Where this is highly contrasted
with what he said in the previous chapters,
like chapter nine, he's saying I will love them no more.
And now he's saying I'm gonna love them freely.
This is a big difference
because he's talking about a different situation.
He's talking about spiritual salvation and the return.
Verse five, I will be as the dew unto Israel.
He shall grow as the lily
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
Says in verse six, his branches shall spread
and his beauty shall be as the olive tree
and his smell is Lebanon.
So another thing you have to understand though
is when you get saved, of course,
God wants to do more with you
than just save you spiritually.
And what God has likened unto is like water
and dew, what is dew gonna do?
It's gonna help for the vegetation to grow.
And of course, what God will do in your life,
when you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saved.
But then when you abide with Christ,
when you allow Christ to dwell in you richly,
you are going to grow.
You are gonna have fruit in your life.
And that's what he's kind of illustrating here.
The dew is gonna cause what?
Growth.
And it's gonna cast forth roots.
So you see this growth process of roots stretching out.
You're gonna see it growing.
You're gonna see the branches spread.
You're gonna see the beauty.
You're gonna see the smell.
And really this pictures, if you think about it,
like Luke chapter eight, the parable of the sower.
And of course, we have four different situations.
The first one doesn't even get saved.
It's the seed on the wayside.
But then you kind of have the other three there.
One, it just kind of barely grows a little bit,
but then it eventually just, you know,
gets just destroyed or whatever.
The second one is kind of among the thorns, I'm sorry.
The stony ground, it doesn't have any root.
So it just basically withers away.
So it didn't have time, it didn't really soak in the water
and it didn't grow the roots, so it just is easily offended.
The second one grows up with thorns
and they end up choking the word.
But the one that is in good soil,
it produces fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100.
And of course, that's what God wants for us.
God wants us to be that good soil
that not only gets saved, not only believes in Jesus Christ,
but then abides in Christ and bears much fruit
and allows that dew to come upon us
and to see that beauty and our branches spreading.
Verse seven, 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 have heard him and observed him.
I am like a green fir tree.
From me is thy fruit found.
So again, we have this picture of fruit,
corn, the vine, we see the wine,
and these are all just constant parables in the Bible.
And what I was thinking of is this,
that fruit is the evidence of what you are.
Fruit is the evidence of what you are, right?
Oranges on an orange tree prove it's an orange tree.
Apples on an apple tree prove that it's an apple tree.
And here's where some people get mixed up,
and of course, I think there's a lot of nefarious people
using this illustration, but they'll say
that if you're saved, you're gonna have fruit.
That's not true.
You could be saved and be like the plant
that's there with the stones,
and you just don't have any root,
and you just kind of do nothing.
But here's something that is true.
If you have fruit, you're saved, right?
So if someone has good fruit,
it's proof that they're a good tree.
And I wanna show you some things.
Here's some things that are true.
If you're producing fruit in the Christian life,
here's some facts about you as a person.
Go to John chapter 15 for a moment.
If you're producing fruit in the Christian life,
then here's some things we know about you.
Number one, you're saved.
If you're producing fruit for God, you're saved.
You can know that you're saved
because without Christ, you can't do anything, okay?
Look at John 15, verse one.
I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit,
he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you,
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine.
No more can ye accept ye abide in me.
So Judas didn't get anybody saved, folks.
It's not that hard to figure out, okay?
And again, you can't produce fruit of itself, okay?
The branch needs the root,
and it needs that nutrient coming up
for it to end up producing that kind of a fruit.
And it's saying the same with us in the sense that
if you're not saved, and you're not attached to Christ,
you can't get anybody saved.
You have to first be attached.
So if you are producing fruit for God,
you're abiding in the vine.
You are abiding in the vine.
Now of course, if you're abiding in the vine
and you're producing fruit,
God may end up purging you
because he wants you to get even more fruit.
So there might be areas of your life
he's wanting to clean up.
He's wanting to trim out of your life, you know,
certain sins, or distractions, or hobbies,
or carnality, or flesh issues, or whatever it is.
He's gonna try and work on you.
And over time, if you allow the Lord to,
he's gonna cause you to grow and produce
more and more fruit because he's a good husbandman.
God is a good husband.
So if you're producing fruit, you're abiding in the vine.
Go to Matthew 7, go to Matthew 7.
Here's some other things that you are for sure
if you're producing fruit.
Now the question is, somebody will say,
well, I have no fruit, what does that mean?
Well, let's check what you believe about salvation,
make sure you're saved.
Because you can't do any,
you can't have any fruit if you're not saved.
And of course, what is the fruit?
You know, if you think about it,
the fruit is clearly a saved Christian.
So if the fruit's a saved Christian,
if you're producing saved Christians in your life,
you're multiplying yourself,
then of course, you're a saved Christian, right?
If I'm getting someone else saved, that's my fruit,
then you know what, I must be a saved Christian too.
Okay, so you wanna know if someone is saved,
you know, obviously you wanna test what they believe.
That's the only thing that we really base it on.
When I go out sowning, I don't say,
how many people did you get saved this week?
But here's the thing, if I go out and I meet someone
and they're preaching the gospel to someone
and they get someone saved,
I'm gonna be like, that person's saved.
Or what if I run into 10 people and they all say,
hey, brother Rich got me saved.
You know what I'm gonna think about brother Rich?
Brother Rich must be saved.
You know, because all these 10 people are saved
and they're saying that brother Rich got him saved,
then brother Rich must be saved.
You know, there's not a lot of people running around
be like, Judas got me saved.
You know, and there's a lot of other people like this.
You know how many people I've run into
and I've been like, hey, how'd you get saved?
And they're like, oh, Billy Graham got me saved.
You know how many time that's happened in my life?
Zero.
It's never happened.
You know how many times I've asked somebody,
hey, how'd you get saved?
Kent Hovind got me saved.
It's never happened.
Now, again, does that mean that they're not saved
just based on that fact alone?
No.
But let me tell you something.
When you also run into people that say
they do know Billy Graham or they've talked to Billy Graham
and they give you work salvation,
that tells you another thing.
What does it say in Matthew chapter seven verse 17?
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
What happens if we ran into a bunch
of Billy Graham's disciples?
What if we call Billy Graham's hotline
and we ask them how to be saved
and every single one of them tells me works?
Every single one of them tells me I can lose my salvation.
Sounds like it's a corrupt tree then.
I mean, what if someone came to visit our church
and just, they talked to everybody in the room
and they're just like, hey, what do you have to be saved?
Be a good person.
Jesus is the archangel, you know, Michael.
And like, they're saying all this weird stuff.
It's like, I must not be a very, there's a problem.
It could be that I'm just not a good tree, right?
You know, so you kind of see the evidence
of a tree by its fruit.
And of course, if you're producing good fruit,
you're a good tree.
Look at Matthew chapter four, go backwards.
So those that are producing fruit,
they're abiding in the vine.
Number two, they're a good tree.
Here's another one.
Matthew chapter four, look at verse number 19.
And he saith unto them, follow me
and I will make you fishers of men.
Hey, someone that's producing fruit is following Jesus.
Is following Jesus.
You know, I love people, they always,
this is what people will tell you.
Oh, I have all this fruit in my life
and I'm a follower of Jesus.
And it's like, oh, okay, how many people are getting saved?
None.
Hmm.
Well, let me tell you something.
You're not following Jesus.
You're not really a good tree.
You're not really abiding in the vine.
Because guess what?
Those who are abiding in the vine,
those who are a good tree,
and those who are following Jesus,
they are gonna be producing fruit.
People that say they are a follower of Jesus
and they're producing no fruit,
there's something wrong there.
Because Jesus said, hey, if you follow me,
I will make you fishers of men.
So the people that are not producing any fruit
are not followers of Jesus.
Don't be confused on this.
Go to Luke chapter eight, go to Luke chapter eight.
Don't be confused on who's really of God.
Let me tell you something.
Those who are of God are producing fruit.
They have fruit that they are producing on a regular basis.
Otherwise, they are not of God.
That's why God told us to look at the fruit
and to see what people are doing.
You know, and of course, I believe in a lot of contexts,
the fruit's also what they say.
What they're preaching.
Someone that is filled with the Spirit of God
is gonna be preaching amazing sermons.
You know why?
Because the Spirit of God is amazing.
Someone that's filled with the Spirit of God
is gonna be preaching amazing sermons
because the King James Bible is amazing.
Someone that is preaching lame, dried, tired sermons,
there's some issue.
And you say, well, maybe they're not smart enough.
It's not about being smart.
Well, maybe they haven't studied enough.
Well, honestly, it doesn't even necessarily
have to be that much study because at some times,
God just gives people the word of knowledge.
I mean, you really think when the apostle Paul
went out to first preach, it wasn't amazing?
It was amazing because he's filled with the Spirit of God.
Look, someone that's filled with the Spirit of God,
the things that they do are amazing because God is amazing.
God is all powerful.
Look, why would I wanna look for a Christianity
that's weak, lame, and producing nothing?
The Spirit of God is working in this world.
It is still existent in this world.
And let me tell you something, it's powerful.
And those who are actually seeking the Lord,
when they hear a true man of God preaching the Bible,
they look at it in awe and they say, wow,
look at the Word of God, look at the power of God
in that person's life.
There are plenty of men that I look up to
and you can see the obvious Spirit of God in their life
and they're producing fruit.
And you say, what kind of fruit?
They're getting people saved
and the sermons that they're preaching, wow.
Look at what they're saying about the Bible.
And these are the two ways that we test real Christianity.
We test where the real Spirit of God exists
because you can't just water the ground
and not expect anything to happen.
Look, if you just start watering a portion of ground,
something's gonna grow.
It could be weeds, it could be grass, but be it known,
something will grow.
Things are gonna start happening
when you're pouring a bunch of water on it.
So when you're pouring God's Spirit on stuff,
stuff's gonna happen, things are gonna happen, okay?
Look what it says in Luke chapter eight, verse 15.
But that on the good ground are they,
which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it,
and bring forth fruit with patience.
Here's another thing, when you are producing fruit,
when you're getting people saved,
when you're bringing forth 60, 30, 60, 100,
you have a good heart.
You have a good, you have an honest heart.
You're a truthful person.
But you know what, someone can't say,
hey, I don't get anybody saved,
but I have an honest and good heart.
No, you don't.
No, because the person who has an honest and good heart,
the person who is a follower of Jesus,
the person who is abiding in the vine,
the person who's a good tree
is the person who's winning souls to Christ.
And this is what God wants for us.
God wants us to get saved.
But you know what, that's an easy check mark.
You know what God wants us to do
with the rest of our lives?
Get people saved.
That is the heartbeat of Jesus Christ.
That is the heartbeat of the Bible.
This is the most important thing.
God's saying, hey, I'm gonna give you the water,
I'm gonna give you the nutrients,
I'm gonna give you everything you need to do,
but I want you to grow, I want you to get roots,
I want you to spread your forth your branches,
I want you to go out there and preach the gospel
and to produce fruit.
And you notice throughout Jesus' ministry,
he gets so mad when he comes up to the fig tree, why?
Because it has no fruit on it.
He gets so mad at Israel, why?
Because there's no fruit there.
Because people aren't doing anything.
Why do you think God brings just such severe persecution
on the apostles in Jerusalem?
Because they stopped producing fruit.
I mean, initially, it's not like that.
Initially, they're getting 3,000 saved in one day.
But you know, eventually they filled the city
with their doctrine.
And then they're not really doing anything anymore.
It's like, get out there, go out there
and produce some more fruit.
And you know what?
I believe that God is gonna get mad
when we stop producing fruit.
Look at the church at Ephesus in Revelation.
What does he get mad at them?
They've left their first love.
Preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
Because it's all about producing fruit,
getting people saved, bringing more people into Christ.
Go back, if you went to Hosea 14,
we'll finish this last verse here.
Look at what it says in verse nine.
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 follow their end.
So he contrasts, hey, those that didn't get this message,
they're just gonna destroy themselves.
And of course, to the unsaved mind,
they could read Romans 10 all day long
and they still won't get it.
They still think it works.
But those that are wise are gonna get saved.
And think about who's really wise.
Go to Proverbs chapter 11.
Who's gonna really understand this passage of scripture?
I'll tell you who's gonna really understand
this passage of scripture, soul winners.
Look at Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30,
a real famous verse here.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he that win his souls is wise.
Hey, who's wise?
The guy who's producing fruit, isn't it?
Just like he's saying in this passage,
hey, all this dew and all this growth,
you know who's gonna get it?
It's the wise guy.
The one who's the wise man.
He's gonna understand.
Wisdom, when you understand the different words
in the Bible, wisdom is not just having knowledge.
It's not just having the information.
It's not just understanding the information.
It's doing the information.
Knowledge is facts.
Understanding is getting the facts.
Wisdom is applying the facts in your life, okay?
And so when you realize, wow,
the only thing that matters in this life
is me getting people saved,
the only way to then be classified as wise is doing that.
Just like if someone were gonna say,
hey, this person's really wise financially.
Oh, really?
How much money do they have?
Well, they're actually in bankruptcy right now.
He doesn't sound very wise financially.
The person that you would say is wise financially
has a lot of money.
Well, this person's really wise
when it comes to the Greek language.
Oh, can he speak it fluently?
No, he doesn't speak a lick of Greek.
Well, then he's not very wise
when it comes to Greek, is he?
Because someone that's wise in Greek
would be able to speak it fluently, okay?
So the same applies here in this context
when we talk about just life in general.
Who is the wise person in life?
It's the person who's winning people to Christ.
And of course is saved,
but even amongst the saved,
the wise saved person is the one
that was winning souls to Christ.
Because you don't wanna stand up before God,
and he's like, all right, put all your fruits on the table,
and you're like, oh, I don't know how you...
You got a soccer trophy.
You got a baseball mitt.
He's like, he doesn't care about baseball.
He doesn't care about soccer.
He doesn't care about your chess trophy,
your ping pong trophy, okay?
He doesn't care about any of that.
It's like, okay, where are the souls
that you wanted to cry?
Where are the people that you ministered to?
I mean, where are your works?
Where's your fruit?
But the wise man will say, here's 30.
Here's 60.
Here's 100.
And he's gonna be like, here's 30 cities.
Here's 60 cities.
Here's 100 cities, right?
And all the other people are gonna be like,
man, I was so stupid.
I just wasted all my life just chasing things
that don't even matter, and they're all gone,
and nobody cares about them anymore.
But you know what you won't be mad about
is all the people in heaven that you look at their face
and say, I'm so glad I talked to you
and helped you get saved.
And you're gonna rejoice together.
And not only that, you and your soul winning partner
are gonna rejoice together at the people you got saved.
Not only you and your soul winning partner,
just, you know what, there's people that you went out
and you knocked on their door,
and you gave them a little bit of the gospel,
but they didn't get saved that day.
But somewhere later in their life,
someone else got them saved.
And you and that soul winner are gonna rejoice together.
That person got saved.
Because some plant, and others water,
and God gives the increase, but you know what?
We're gonna have a great harvest of souls.
And you know, I know there's a lot of people
take Galatians five and they kind of twist this
into this is the only fruit that exists.
You know, when God talks about a great harvest at the end,
he's not harvesting joy.
He's not harvesting peace.
You know he's harvesting souls.
Amen.
Because you know what?
You could be the happiest little Christian over there
producing no fruit, but God's not that excited about that.
God's excited about you getting people saved.
In fact, you could be a miserable Christian
your whole life, but getting people saved,
and God's more pleased with you,
than just like, but I have so much joy, woo hoo.
You know, woo hoo.
It's like, that's meaningless.
Okay?
We wanna get people saved.
Look what it says in verse 31.
Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth,
much more the wicked and the sinner.
Also look, you're not only gonna get rewards in heaven
for what you do, God's gonna recompense you here.
Meaning what?
When you're a saved Christian
and you're not producing fruit, God gets mad at you.
If you keep reading John chapter 15,
you could be tossed into the fire.
Okay?
Not hell, but you could be tossed
into physical destruction now.
Because he's like, what's the point of keeping you around?
What's the point of giving you water
and giving you nutrients when you're doing nothing with it?
And he'll just take that which he's already given you
and give it to someone else.
He'll take the talent from you
and give it to the guy producing talents
and say, you know, what's wrong with you?
Now, that's, you know, this chapter.
You know, this is the main essence.
You know, the main essence is that,
you know, we need to produce fruit for God
and when they return, that's what they have to do.
Think about this way.
He destroyed Israel once.
They're not turned to the Lord, they didn't produce fruit.
What happens when he comes back again
and they didn't produce fruit?
Wiped out again, okay?
So it's the same kind of message.
But, you know, one other thing that you have to think about
is this, just as a whole,
when we think about this whole book,
Hosea for a moment, what's a fact?
Israel's gonna die.
I mean, the nation as a whole, it's gonna be destroyed.
And in a sense, it's gonna die.
The nation of Israel will die
and there'll no longer be this northern kingdom
of Israel anymore.
But I think it's the picture of a broader thing
because he then talks about how Israel's gonna return.
So it's like, it's gonna die,
but in a sense, it's gonna do what?
It's gonna resurrect.
Think about this, Jesus is gonna die.
And you know what?
That's what we celebrate on Thursday
is the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
that he was the lamb slaughtered for us.
But you know what?
He's gonna resurrect.
And here's another thing, we're gonna die.
Let me just give you a sad reality.
You will die unless you make it through the rapture,
but that's an exception.
Eventually, we're gonna die.
And here's another thing, we're gonna resurrect.
Amen.
Here's another thing, America will die.
It's an impending doom.
It's impending, and here's the thing,
put yourself in Israel.
You just got this message from Isaiah.
Israel's doomed.
What do you do?
Well, you just keep getting people saved, though.
Because it doesn't matter.
And here's the thing, America's gonna be destroyed.
It's not even a question if they're gonna be destroyed.
It's just a matter of when and how.
But every nation's gonna be destroyed.
They're all gonna die, and then eventually,
nations will be resurrected in the millennial reign
and in the new heaven and the new earth.
But let me say this, the America that is today
is going to die and perish and be gone,
and we won't have to, we'll never worry about it anymore.
It won't even matter anymore.
It's meaningless.
And if you go back to Isaiah,
I wanna look at verse seven again.
Isaiah chapter 14, look at verse seven again.
Notice who's gonna return, though.
Verse seven, they that dwell under his shadow
shall return.
So notice, those who trusted in the Lord
are the ones who are gonna return.
Jesus trusted in God that he would not leave his soul
in hell, and he returned.
We trusted in Jesus Christ,
and we are not going to go to hell.
We are going to be physically resurrected.
Not only that, Israel, as a nation,
those that were the remnant that had trusted in the Lord
and stayed in his shadow, they end up returning eventually,
and they had a new nation again,
and they were the nation of Israel again
for Jesus to come to.
Also, America, Americans that are trusting
in the shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they're gonna be the ones that return.
But America is going to die.
It's on a crash course.
And I think you have to realize this.
Everything's on a crash course physically.
Israel's nation is on a crash course.
Jesus's physical life was on a crash course.
What do you mean by a crash course, Pastor Shelley?
Well, it was inevitable he was gonna be killed
because they couldn't tolerate his truth.
They couldn't tolerate the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eventually, they got to know him.
Eventually, they wanted to kill him.
Here's the thing, we're on a crash course
because I don't know if you know this,
but you get older every year.
You're not getting younger.
Your body is on a crash course.
There's no reverse aging.
AI isn't gonna save you, okay, folks?
America is on a crash course.
It started day one, okay?
And we're all on this crash course.
So what do we do?
We hold on and we wait for the return,
but you know, more importantly,
we just do what we can while we're still on the ride.
Go to Psalm 57.
We're gonna finish there.
Go to Psalm 57.
The devil is on a crash course to hell.
We're on a crash course to heaven.
But you know what?
Sometimes you look at the devil and he's smarter than us
because you know what the devil wants to do?
He wants to take as many souls with him as he can.
But that's what Christians should do.
Christians should say, hey, I'm on a crash course to heaven,
but I want to take as many souls with me where I'm going.
Because I'm gonna die.
It's inevitable.
But I might as well just do my best to hang on
and trust in the Lord, hide in the shadow,
realize it's all gonna be destroyed eventually.
I mean, look, so many Christians,
they're so worried about America dying.
It's gonna die, folks.
It's like you can only put so many IVs in it.
You can only put a fork and it's done.
What we really should be concerned with
is how many people are gonna take to heaven with us.
Not like how much longer can America last.
I mean, it's on life support, folks.
I don't even know if it really exists anymore.
It's like we're in a communism state.
But think about this in verse one, Psalm 57.
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me,
for my soul trusteth in thee.
Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge
until these calamities be overpassed.
Boy, isn't that a powerful verse?
And you know, you look at America, it's like calamities.
It's like how am I gonna go,
what am I supposed to do, Pastor Judge?
Well, just trust, just hide in his shadow
and get people saved until the calamities overpass,
until it's done.
And you know what Jesus had to do?
Jesus had to exercise discretion at times.
Jesus had to hide himself.
Jesus had to kind of wait until his timing.
And we have to wait for our timing.
But I don't want to go wait and hide in a bunker.
That's not what the scripture teaches.
I need to still spread out my branches
and get people saved and spread out my roots
and bear fruit because I want to have
an honest and good heart.
I want to be abiding in the vine.
I want to be a good tree.
I want to be someone that's not drawing back,
but God's having pleasure in me.
But at the same time, I'm just trusting in him
to keep me there.
I'm staying in his shadow.
I'm not staying in the shadow of Ammon.
The Ammonites, the Asherites, the Egyptians,
the Assyrians, the horses, the whatever.
No, Trump isn't gonna save me.
The Republicans aren't gonna save me.
The Democrats will take me to hell sooner.
You know, there's nothing physical
that's gonna get you there.
Trust in his shadow.
Say, church, the King James Bible,
following God's commandments, doing that which is right.
Stay in his shadow and you know,
you're gonna last the longest.
You're gonna last the longest under his wing.
And of course, the final calamity is being overpassed
when we die and we'll all be resurrected
and we'll get to inherit.
But look, you're gonna be spending all of eternity
with Jesus with no problems.
You want the problems to be over,
but pretty soon they will be forever.
Pretty soon they'll all be over forever and ever and ever
and ever and ever for all of eternity.
It's like, I gotta get all my money in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin's gonna die.
I gotta get all my money in gold.
Gold's gonna die.
In fact, we'll just all have, we'll be walking on it.
It won't even matter anymore.
We'll be walking on streets of gold.
You don't need to store up any gold.
Now look, I'm not against you having these items temporarily
but don't put your trust in them.
Don't think like, well, you know what,
the American economy's gonna crash, but I'm gonna have gold.
It's gonna save me.
No, Jesus will save you.
Get under his wing.
Now look, if you, obviously I'm not saying
just be homeless and hang out under a tree or something
and just hope that's gonna work out.
Obviously we gotta take all
of his commandments in connection.
You know, if you seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these things
shall be added unto you.
I'm more worried about being right with God
than I am if my portfolio looks good,
if I have enough ammunition, if I have enough food.
You know, maybe ravens will just feed me if I have to.
I'll just eat the ravens, you know, whatever I have to do.
Okay?
But at the end of the day, we live in a dark world.
We live in a world.
You know, I picked this book for a reason
because it reminds me of America.
Impending doom, a nation that's turned away from God,
that hates God.
But wait, isn't there hope for us?
There was no hope for them, but isn't there hope for us
that if we turn to the Lord and if we get right with God
and we can have the dew in our lives
and we can produce fruit and guess what, we'll return.
We'll build the new Israel, the new kingdom
and it'll just be great.
But let us not lose heart, let us not be discouraged
by the dark times that we live in,
but let us put more faith in Jesus.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us
this great book of the Bible,
just to give us the reality of the world that we live in.
And thank you so much for your mercy and your grace
to give us spiritual salvation,
something that we don't deserve.
I pray that we would not just squander
the life that we have beyond salvation
and waste it on vain, meaningless things,
but rather we'd see the important job we have
to produce fruit, to win souls to Christ,
that we wouldn't have hatred in our heart
towards the lost, but rather we would love them
by confronting them about the gospel
that we preach with boldness and clarity of mind.
I pray that our church would have the faith
to trust in you and not in man
and that you would continue to deliver us,
you would keep us under your shadow, under your wing,
that we would see all kinds of great revival
and see many people turn to the Lord
and that you would be along there with us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.