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Oh, my comrades, see the signal waving in the sky. Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will. See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on. Mighty men around us falling, courage almost gone. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will. See the glorious banner waving, hear the trumpet blow. In our leader's name we'll triumph over every foe. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will. Fierce and long the battle rages, but our hope is near. Onward comes our great commander, cheer, my comrades, cheer. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by thy grace we will. Let's start with a word of prayer. Thank you, Father, for giving us this evening to meet together, hear the word of God being preached. I pray that you would bless the aspects of our service, our singing, and our prayer, and our time hearing the word of God. I pray that you would help us as we go our ways, and that we would continue to be a bright and shining light for you. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Let's go to our second song for the evening, 206, in your hymnal, song 206. Oh say, but I'm glad, song 206. Oh say, but I'm glad, song 206. Sing it out nice and loud. There is a song in my heart today, something I never had. Jesus has taken my sins away, oh say, but I'm glad. Oh say, but I'm glad, I'm glad, oh say, but I'm glad. Jesus has come and my cup's overrun, oh say, but I'm glad. Wonderful, marvelous love He brings into a heart that's sad. Through darkest tunnels the soul just sings, oh say, but I'm glad. Oh say, but I'm glad, I'm glad, oh say, but I'm glad. Jesus has come and my cup's overrun, oh say, but I'm glad. We have a fellowship rich and sweet, tongues can never relate. Abiding in Him the souls retreat, oh say, but I'm glad. Oh say, but I'm glad, I'm glad, oh say, but I'm glad. Jesus has come and my cup's overrun, oh say, but I'm glad. Won't you come to Him with all your care, weary and worn and sad. You too will sing as His love you share, oh say, but I'm glad. Oh say, but I'm glad, I'm glad, oh say, but I'm glad. Jesus has come and my cup's overrun, oh say, but I'm glad. If you don't already have a bulletin, lift your hand nice and high and one of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, Psalm 146. We're on verse number six and any child that can quote the verse will get an ice cream treat. Honestly, we have some extra ice cream so we might just let all the kids have one. Don't neglect quoting it, but you might get a grace period. We'll let all the kids that quote it get it first. How about that? If you can quote this verse this week, you can get that. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times. We also have our church stats. On the right we have the list of expecting ladies. Continue to pray for them. We also have our prayer list and we're going to go over that real quick. We have the Negeras pray for health, pray for Miss Lucy's mother. We're praying for brother Cameron's leg, brother Pendleton's brain cancer, brother Jeff, his brother-in-law. We're praying for David. We're praying for the Garcia's, for their family and I know she told me that some of their children are sick and so if you pray for their son and pray for them. Also brother Suhail, we're praying for his travel safety. We're praying for brother Dylan. He got sick today. And also his daughters, brother Alex, we're praying for his job. We're praying for the Wallachs and we're praying for their son Lincoln. We're praying for their friend Juan. We're praying for also Elijah, his brother, who was in a car crash. We're just praying for his recovery. So that's pretty much all I have as far as the bulletin is concerned. If you have any other prayer requests throughout the week, still email those in so we can try to update and pray for you. We're going to go ahead and say a quick word of prayer as a congregation. Thank you Heavenly Father for this evening. Thank you for allowing our church to be here. I pray that you would bless all the expecting ladies. Please help them during their pregnancies. Please give them a healthy and a speedy delivery. That things would go in the right timing. I pray that you would also bless our church family that's struggling with health. We have a lot of people that are sick. We have friends that have long-term chronic issues and we have people that are temporarily sick. I pray that you would just be with them all. That you would please strengthen them. Please help them during this time of tribulation. Give them patience. Please give them a full recovery. Please give them a speedy recovery. Please help them. I pray that you would be with our church family that needs salvation for a friend or a family member. That you would help give us the right opportunity. That you would help us to open our mouths boldly. That you would help fill us with the Holy Spirit. That you would bring soul winners or someone into these people's lives. That you would help soften their hearts. That someone could continue to plant and water. And that we could have an increase. And I pray that you would also help our church family that's traveling. That needs a job. That needs favor. That you would please help them during these times. And I just thank you so much for all that you give us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I do want to make one quick announcement off the record. You You You Song psalm 147 psalm 147 The documentary that we've been working on, we are going to be releasing it in theaters January 30th. Okay? So that is the plan. That is the goal. And we're going to try and do that here in Houston and Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and there's some other areas. Also if there's people out there that want to watch this in theaters or something like that, they can always email us and reach out. And we can try to work something out with them. But we want to try and release this on January 30th in theaters. And then the 31st is going to be live online. So we'll have a live premiere online that people can watch that weren't able to be in person to one of these areas. And so a lot of hard work is going in. And Brother Ben and I are not going to sleep until then. But no, I'm just kidding. But no, I'm excited. I think that the film is going to be really educational. And that's kind of the goal is to help educate people on that subject. And hopefully it's got some good entertainment in there too. And I think it's going to be a really good production. We've got a lot of it already finished. And so we're going to try and finish up the last of it the next few weeks. But that is the goal. We're going to have The Baptist Bias come back in January as well on the 24th is going to be our first show. And we're going to have a guest speaker or guest person on the show, Pastor Steven Anderson. And we're going to talk about the film. And then we'll have another show that following Tuesday right before our live premiere just to kind of give a little bit of publicity. But we are trying to make a big deal about the film. We want a lot of people to share it and link to it. And hopefully we can get a lot of people to watch it. You know the goal of the film is to really inspire people that believe in the preservation of God's word to get the right Bible, get the preserved Bible. Because there's only one in the English language that fits that bill. And so that's of course the purpose of the documentary. And I think it's going to be a really compelling film for people that are interested in the truth. And so our goal is to try and get that into as many people's hands as we can. Of course people that are apathetic are never going to care anyways. But people that actually care about the Bible or care about the truth, I think that we can make a difference in their lives. And I'm hoping, you know, I don't know exactly how long it will take to get DVDs and things like that. But we are going to make mass production of DVDs and things that we can hand out as well. But that just, it takes time because you have to get the film ready, then you have to ship it off, then you have to get all the DVDs. So we might not have the DVDs by the release date online. But we will have them probably shortly after. And we can put those out there. Also we're going to be trying to share lots of snippets about just the doctrinal position we have of the preserved Bible. And we've done a lot of interviews so we're going to be doing full interviews and all kinds of things. And I just highly encourage you to approach people with this doctrine first. The number one thing you want to do is get people saved. But then after that it's more important to get them on the King James Bible than it is to teach them any other doctrine. Because until they kind of submit to the fact that this is the Bible, you never really need to change their mind on a lot of doctrine. They usually are pretty stubborn on other issues. And so it's important to get them to realize, hey this is the Bible, this is God's word. And then once you can submit to that, then it's a lot easier for people to realize what's right and what's wrong. And for people to be willing to change their mind on other doctrines. So I'm very excited about that project. Please pray for us. And if you have questions you can always email or call us or whatever. We are singing Psalm 147 which is in our Psalm handbooks. If you don't have one you could use a Bible but it's easier if you use the sheet music. Follow along and sing it out nice and loud if you know it. Psalm 147. Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God. For it is pleasant and praises comely, the Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel, healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them all, he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power, his understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek, he casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praise upon the harp unto our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass, grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry, He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, and those that hope in his mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O Zion, praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, for he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee, he maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat, he sendeth forth his commandment upon the earth, his word runneth very swiftly, he giveth snow like wool, he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes, scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes, he casteth forth his eyes like more, souls who can stand before his cold, he sendeth out his word and melteth them, he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow, he showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel, he hath not dealt so with any nation, and ask for his judgments, they have not known them, praise he the Lord. Boy, stand before his cold. I think Buffalo knows a little thing about that, doesn't it? All right, let's turn in our Bibles to Hosea chapter 2, and we'll pass the offering plate. Brother Ben's going to read for us. Hosea chapter number 2. Bibles to Hosea chapter 2. Hosea 2, the Bible reads, Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah, plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adultries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot, she that conceived them hath done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for bale. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will cover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me, and I will make them of forests, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Balaam, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Balaam. For I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say to them which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, I pray now for Pastor Shelley, Lord, that you would just give him the fullness of the Holy Spirit as he expounds the chapter to us. Help us to pay attention, look in our Bibles, and really make connections, Lord, as we hear the message. And I also pray for your protection over our church. We love you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. We're in the second chapter of Hosea, and it says in verse 1, Say ye unto your brethren Ammi, and your sisters Ruamah, plead with your mother. Plead! She is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adultries from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Now, in order to understand this chapter, you have to be reminded of a previous verse in chapter 1. It said in verse number 2, it said in the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea, The Lord said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord. So the Lord asked Hosea to marry a woman, that's a whore, to represent or to symbolize how the land of Israel, and that's really just the people, have departed from God. And notice in chapter 2, where we read here in verse number 3, it says, Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. So, the Bible is describing physical geography, and yet he's still talking about this wife kind of at the same time. The physical geography is really the meaning behind all of these illustrations that God is pouring out. And what God often does is he gives us earthly human examples as a metaphor for what's happening spiritually. And so God will take this terrible marriage between Hosea and his wife, and use that to show this is like my relationship with you, it's my relationship with Israel, and how you've been whoring against me, and how you're like an adulterous wife, one who will not submit to her husband, have anything to do with her husband, is going after other lovers. And he makes a statement here in verse 2, For she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. What does that mean? Well, of course, for Hosea, it's kind of a metaphor for Hosea, but it's a reality for God and the children of Israel. In what sense? In the sense that, since she's going off and just being with other men, and not fulfilling any of the role of being a wife, it's like she's not really his wife. It's not necessarily saying that they're unmarried, it's not saying that their marriage was void, but it's simply just alluding to the fact that she's not treating him like a wife, he's not really treating her like a husband, And often people, when they fight, or in a marital dispute, sometimes they'll even say things like this. They'll say, man, it doesn't even feel like I'm your wife, or it doesn't feel like I'm your husband, or it feels like we're not even married, or they'll make these type of statements because they're trying to express their feeling of how this person is behaving. And when he's saying that you're not my wife, it's kind of, for Hosea, it's kind of a metaphor. But for the children of Israel, it's real. Meaning what? That he is no longer their husband, and they are no longer his wife in any capacity. Now, what you have to understand about how God describes things is he makes them have a gender, even when they are kind of in a group. So, when we talk about a large group of people, they're often gendered in a female gender. And so when he looks at the nation of Israel as a whole, they're looked at as a female in the sense that it's a she, so they're pictured as a wife. And God is pictured as a husband in this metaphor. And so when God talks about his wife, he's talking about the entire nation as a whole. And he's saying this entire nation as a whole is not mine in that kind of a relationship where he's their leader, their overseer, he's like a husband unto them. And they're not a wife in the sense that they're not a treasured servant. They're not having anything to do with him. Now, this is found in a lot of places in the Bible where you kind of see this husband-wife relationship. Keep your finger on Isaiah 54. But God will describe himself as being the husband of God's people. So, God's people as a whole are a wife unto God. And sometimes you'll hear phrases like people talk about the bride of Christ, or they'll talk about the bride, and they'll talk about Christians being a bride. It's not in an individualistic sense, it's really as a collective, in the sense that, yes, we are like a bride, yes, we are a wife in a sense, but it's as a group, it's not from an individualistic perspective. It says in Isaiah 54, verse number 1, Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Now, what is the point of this? Now, you have to understand, Isaiah is the same timeline as Hosea. Isaiah, Hosea, they're both the first book of their collection. Isaiah is the first of the major prophets. Hosea is the first of the minor prophets. They're the same timeline of the kings. And what he's talking about is the children of the desolate is the children of Israel physically, and how they're not bringing forth any fruit, because they're unsaved, they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not God's children, and so they're bringing forth nothing. But he brings up how there's this desolate woman, or there's this one that did not travail with child, and she's going to end up having more children than what? The married wife. Okay, the married wife. So the children of Israel are, as a collective, considered a married wife. And I'm not going to prove all of this, but if you study the Bible, the Bible says that God divorced Israel. He divorces Israel in the scripture. Now, of course, it's not individualistic again. It's just simple things, right? God will use things that aren't good to symbol things in the Bible. Obviously, God's not for divorce in a human relationship. He doesn't want a husband to divorce his wife or any of those types of things. But he's just using that language to kind of illustrate how their relationship works. And, of course, in the Bible, since Israel rejected him, didn't follow his covenant, wasn't saved, didn't want anything to do with him, he ends up divorcing them, similar to how King Ahasuerus puts away his wife Vashti. And that's the same picture here. And they were the married wife, but she's going to end up having no children, and the one that didn't bring forth any is going to have a bunch of children. And that's symbolizing how the nations of the Gentiles, who were not married, who were kind of desolate, quote-unquote, they're going to end up bringing forth a lot of fruit, and a lot of people are going to get saved from the Gentiles. Okay? Verse 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. So he's just saying, like, how the whole world is going to have, you know, let's expand, because a lot of people are going to get saved. Verse 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the approach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker, notice this, is thine husband. So what you have to understand is that when the nations of the Gentiles end up getting saved, God's going to put away all of their shame, and then he's going to embrace them as a husband. Now, what would be a picture of this? Well, the children of God are those who believe in Christ. But before they believe in Christ, many of the Gentiles were worshipping false gods, they were worshipping rocks. And what could be more embarrassing than worshipping a rock thinking it's a god? I mean, you know, there are certain people in the world today, Hindus and those that practice Hinduism, they will take a rock statue and they'll feed it. Like, they'll get milk and they'll pour it on it, and then they'll try to feed it food and stuff like that. That's embarrassing. Like, that's shameful. So, once you get saved, though, he's got a picture of this fact that once they get saved, and then they've been a Christian for a while, it's like all of that shame of what they did in their youth will be forgotten, and they'll finally basically be married, and they won't have all these problems, they won't be looked down upon. But, notice that God is considered the husband of his people. So, when he's saying to the nation of Israel, I'm not your husband, and you're not my wife, what is he saying? I mean, he's saying that the children of Israel are not his people. That is what he's trying to illustrate and what he's trying to say. Go over to Revelation 21, go all the way to the front, or the end of your Bible, but go all the way to the end of your Bible. Revelation 21, and we're going to look at verse number 1. The Bible describes saved people as being a wife and God being a husband. Revelation 21, look at verse 1, the Bible says, So, notice how the Bible describes this new city, the new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And, of course, that's where we get the picture of the bride of Christ, and how we're kind of like a bride in a sense, and how we're going to rule and reign on the earth with Christ, and God's going to be a husband unto us. Now, of course, you say, what's the holy city? Well, a city is the people. So, of course, it's talking about us. And, of course, when we get saved, once we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll be raptured. Those who are not saved at the timing of the rapture that get saved later, they are going to, you know, eventually also get to rule with us. But, all of us that are saved and go in the rapture, we're going to all be in heaven. So, when Christ comes down from the millennial reign, you know, we're all following with Him. And, it's like a picture of us being this bride to be with Christ, and we're going to have our honeymoon, quote unquote, which is the millennial reign of Christ, where it's bliss, and it's a lot of fun, and we get to enjoy. And, of course, that's kind of the picture of marriage, right? A husband that gets married to his wife, he rejoices, it's a great day, they get to celebrate, they go out and have a lot of fun. Often, people will take some of the greatest vacations they've ever taken for their honeymoon. And, of course, that's kind of a picture. We have the marriage supper of the lamb, as people describe it. Where all the birds eat all the flesh of all the wicked reprobates that were destroyed in the battle of Armageddon. Okay? And, you know, that's going to be cool. We're coming down, we're getting to see all these people just getting, you know, pecked to death or whatever. And, then we get to clean it all up. So, you know. But, hey, we're going to have peace, and we're going to have a lot of fun. Now, go back, and we're going to actually cover that again when we get a little bit further in this chapter, but go back to Isaiah chapter number 2. The point that I want to make here is that God is a husband, and God's people are a wife. And, a broad, you know, general metaphor. That illustration, though, has to be understood that if the children of Israel are not a wife, then that means they're not saved. And, they're not the children of God. Okay? He says in verse number 4, And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they be the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot, she that conceived them hath done shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths. So, if you get the illustration, Hosea married a woman that's a whore. As soon as they get married, she ends up just going and sleeping with other men. Because she's with other men, she ends up conceiving children of whoredom. Meaning that the children are not his children, physically. And that's to illustrate the spiritual truth that the children of Israel went and whored with the other nations. They took wives of the other nations, of the heathen. And they end up producing children, and those children are like these children in the sense that they're not God's children. Right? Just like they're not Hosea's children, they're not God's children. So, we have bastards is the word that you would describe. Go to Hebrews chapter number 12, go to Hebrews chapter number 12. And, of course, you know, it's interesting to me that people could read the book of Hosea, and then they would say, oh, well, the children of Israel are the children of God. The people, the Jews in the Middle East, they're the children of God. And it's like, well, then who are these children that are not the children? Who are the kids that are from this adulterous relationship? And we all know who it is, it's the Jews. The Christ-rejecting, God-hating Jews are the children of the adulterous woman who are bastard children, and they're not His children. Look at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. So God illustrates that there are people out there that are bastards, they are not sons of God. Yet I hear out in mainstream Evangelicalism, everybody's a child of God. You know, they'll say, like, everyone's God's child. And, you know, how dare you ever talk down to anybody, did you not know that's a child of God? And it's like, wait a minute, who are the bastards then? If every single person's a child of God, who's the bastard? It's because not everybody's a child of God, you have to become a child of God. And those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and have been exposed to the Gospel over and over and over, and yet they're just not getting saved, they end up becoming reprobate and they're just a bastard forever. And the Bible kind of illustrates that a lot of times they don't even receive their chastisement in this life. Their chastisement is going to be received in Hell. It's kind of frustrating when you see some of those wicked people blaspheming God, blaspheming Christ, just, they're relentless in attacking Christianity and Christians. And it's like, where's their punishment? But they're a bastard. So of course they're not receiving punishment. But it's like, you and I, if we go and we start protesting churches and, like, screaming blasphemy or whatever, God might just kill us like that. Because we're not bastards, we're children of God and He doesn't like that. Of course He's going to let the wicked be wicked. Otherwise, I mean, if God just killed wicked people instantly for being wicked, we would never have any wicked people. I mean, think about it, right? You know, in order to even have the evil, in order to have bad things, you know, God had to let the devil go and do his thing. And in fact, when we notice in the millennial reign, when the devil's locked up, there is no problems. So some people would ask, like, oh, well, if God's really loving, then why does the devil exist? Or why does evil exist? And it's like, so that free will can be shown on the earth. So God can test His children, so there can be that battle and we can see the difference between these people. Of course, the devil has a purpose to try to entice mankind to sin with him and to do evil. And he has his children even, as the Bible describes it. And of course, they're not physical children, unless you're Gene Kim and you drink weird Kool-Aid. But if you believe the Bible, you'd understand that his children are spiritual children. It's not that they're not a physical person. They are a physical person. It's just that they're not a child of the devil by birth physically, they're a child of the devil by second death. Okay, they died that way and there's no reviving that dead soul. Go to Psalm 69, go to Psalm 69. Now of course, for these bastards, nothing good is going to happen. In this passage, he said that he's going to make up thorns so they cannot find their paths. It says, shall not find her paths. Meaning, she used to go to her lovers and go to all these wicked places and do wicked acts. But God's going to end up thorning that whole place up and kind of hedging that place up so that she can't find them anymore. She can't find all their secret hiding places. And what I thought of, kind of as a symbolism of this, is if God's closing these doorways where you can't find them, it sounds like being blinded or being darkened. Like, I can't find my way anymore. You've lost your way. You know, this is a common illustration in the Bible of darkness, of not being able to go where you want, not being able to find things. This is an illustration constantly in the Bible for reprobates or evil people. You have in Genesis 19, the Sodomites are blinded immediately and they can't find the door. And you kind of have this pattern throughout the scripture where the wicked people are often blinded. They can't see as an illustration of a punishment for being so wicked. And of course, the children of Israel became very blind in the sense that spiritually they didn't know what they were doing. They couldn't really see anymore. When you think about this nation, this is the nation of Israel that's going to be punished because Judah is actually spared. The nation of Israel is going to be punished, divorced. Samaritans are going to come in. They're going to become the Samaritans eventually. They're going to have all kinds of heathen Gentiles and mixed. And it's like, they're not fully Gentile. They're not fully of the nation of Israel. They're just kind of this weird hybrid called the Samaritans. And when Jesus Christ comes to the woman at the well and he's talking to her, he says to her, You know not what you worship. Kind of signifying again what? A blindness, a darkness that's a cloud that's over these people. Well, in Psalms the Bible talks about people being darkened and being blinded. Look at what it says in verse 8. I have become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. Now this is of course the Lord Jesus Christ talking about how he's like foreign to his own brethren. The Bible says he came into his own and his own received him not. And it almost seems like while that's of course about Christ, we could have a parallel of that today. Where it almost seems like I'm becoming a stranger to my fellow American neighbor. It's like they don't even know what America is or like being a normal person. And it's just like we're becoming strange even unto our Baptist brethren. Like there are Baptists and it's like you start talking to them and it's like you're not even really in fellowship anymore. You're like there's something weird. They're like thinking like oh you guys are crazy. You believe in the King James and you guys actually believe the Bible and your wife does what you say. It's like what is this? It's like you tell your wife what to do. Are you sure? It's like yeah I'm really sure. And they're like did she let you do that? No. I told her what was going to happen. They're like what do you mean by that? They're like they can't even figure it out. They're like yeah but does your wife work? It's like no. What? They're like well how many kids do you have? Five? Oh man. You know what causes that? Yeah. Well you're not going to have any more right? And I'm like God willing I'll have as many as I can have. They're like what? And it's just like everything you say is just foreign to them. They're like where's your triple mask? It's like sorry buddy. You know. Did you get your booster? No I didn't. I got my spiritual booster. Okay I've been reading the Bible a little bit more right? I've been singing praises to God a little bit more. But it's just like to our fellow citizens it's like we become stranger and stranger every day. And to our brethren it's like we get weirder and weirder to them. But here's the truth. We're not changing. We're just being the same person. You know when I was in high school everyone hated fags. And then it's like I still do and they don't. I didn't do anything. I just stayed the exact same. I hated them and I still hate them. And everybody else has changed. It's like what I thought that girls with short hair was gross. And I stayed the same on that. You know I'm still going to dress like a man. You know it's weird how men today are just dressing so effeminate and queer. And they wear the bright colors and the short shorts. And it's like if you wore short shorts when I was in high school we'd all make fun of you for being a queer. I mean it's just weird the world that we live in. I mean it wasn't like oh man you think that fags are gross? You must be a fundamental Baptist. It was like everyone. It was the atheist, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Catholic. Now of course they all still believe that in their heart. They're just afraid to say it out loud. It's like you say it and they laugh at first. And they're like oh well are you allowed to say that? It's like yes you are. Are you allowed to say that? Are you allowed to tell your wife what to do? Are you allowed to preach the Bible out loud? You know it's so funny when I preach and it goes viral. People say like you can't even say that that's illegal. And it's like what country do you live in? It's like they live in Facebook world. Where everything's censored and it's like that's illegal to say. But it's like we live in America we're of the First Amendment. But we're just becoming so strange and so foreign. It's like we're an alien to these people. We're walking around like. It's like we seem so bizarre to them. And it's like that's what Jesus Christ felt like. He's saying I'm walking around and everybody's triple masked. I'm walking around everybody's just a zombie to just the program. And they don't know anything. And everything's fake. I mean he had to educate people on everything the Bible said. Think about it. How many times did Jesus Christ say have you not read? Art thou a master in Israel? And knowest not these things? I mean he's just saying like you're the chief teacher here and you know nothing? It makes me think of America. You could go across the street. You could go to all these churches. You could ask them basic questions like how do you get saved? And they would just be like well you know you just follow. And lead and lay down your life and just do the right. You're like what does that mean? It's like art thou a master in Texas and knowest not how to be saved? I mean you don't even know the basics? Because you and I know that if someone came in here and the only doctor they knew was salvation. We wouldn't consider them a master of the Bible. Of course no one should even take that title. It's off limits number one. But I'm just saying that's really basic. There's a lot of people. There's children in this room that are five, six, seven that understand how to be saved. So that's not really an accomplishment. And if that was the level of Christianity, that's the top level. Think about how infuriating it would be to be the Lord Jesus Christ walking around trying to teach people other things. I mean trying to help other people. I mean imagine you have to lead a basketball team and people don't even know how to dribble. You're like you're going to have to shoot a three pointer. And they're like what's a three pointer? And you're like what do you mean what's a three pointer? It's like don't dribble out of bounds. What's out of bounds? What's a basketball? You pass it to them and they kick it. And you're like what is happening? It's like that is the type of society that we're living in where people are so ignorant of the scripture. They're so ignorant of the Bible that we're just dealing with people that think that you're weird. But it's really them that are the weird ones. Look what he says in verse number 9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the approaches of them that are approached thee are fallen upon me. That's obviously talking about when he goes and whips everybody out of church. Verse 10. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment, and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gates speak against me. So this is all the city council. This is all your governors. This is all your mayors. This is all the people that are the chief rulers in the city. They all speak against you. And I was the song of the drunkards. So all of the idiots online that just get drunk and watch TikTok videos, they're all singing about how stupid you are. Not realizing the irony. Verse 13. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time, O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, and the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. You know, it's interesting how every time we read about a great man in the Bible, they're always hated. They just have a lot of people that hate them. And man, sometimes you can feel the hate. Verse 15. Let not the water flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, for thy lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of mine enemies. You know, some people have this wrong idea that if you're doing everything right, no one will hate you, and no one will ever be your enemy. Yet Christ was full of enemies, and people hated him. Verse 19. Verse 19. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before thee. It's just saying, everybody just looks down upon him. He has a reproach, he has shame, dishonor. They're all laughing at him, mocking at him, thinking he's losing. Verse 20. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I look for some to take pity, but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none. You know, of course, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Going to the cross, being all alone, everyone's mocking him, everyone's scoffing at him. He looked for no one to comfort him, no one to help him. He had to bear all the shame, all of the reproach for us. You know, we're supposed to bear his reproach. So, you know, if we're a church that's going to be really Christ-like, we should expect to have a lot of reproach. And what does reproach mean? It's just people look down upon you. They think, oh, they have things that they say negatively about you. You have shameful things. You think it was really cool to walk through the city and everybody's mocking you, being stripped naked, carrying this cross. Everybody's just watching you be drug out of town. You know, being drug out of town's not cool, it's not fun. It could even be sad. But at the end of the day, if that's the plight that I have, then that's the plight that I have, right? Christ had to do this. It says in verse 21, They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. So he's saying, even when I want something to drink, they're just giving me poison and, I mean, no mercy, no help, no assistance, nothing good. Now, what would be Christ's response to this? Well, it wasn't like this is the first bad thing they ever did. Of course, the Bible teaches to turn the cheek and to love your enemies and things like that. But it could come to a point where there's certain enemies that are just reprobates, haters of God, that despise everything about his holiness and his mercy. And you could get to a point where you're not actually going to pray for their good anymore. Just like God is saying, hey, you're no longer my wife. And your children, they're not my children. I'm not going to have pity on them. I'm going to hide their past and I'm going to darken them. I'm going to make it where they can't see. Look what the Bible says here in verse number 23. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents. This is pretty nice. Oh, God is love. You know, it's like, yes, he is. But have you ever read this part of the Bible? You know, there is a point in time where you would pray for evil to happen upon others. And, of course, David has to pray this prayer on a regular basis. I heard a preacher recently say, oh, well, you should never curse anybody because you don't have the authority to. Jesus did and the apostles did, but you don't have the authority. And if you did curse someone correctly, it would always happen immediately. And I'm thinking, well, then why is David constantly praying for it? I mean, why didn't he just say it one time? Why do you even have to pray for it? Because the first time he brought it up, it just would have happened. You know, that's silly to think that your enemies are just always going to be destroyed instantly. That you wouldn't have to actually seek the Lord and have faith. I mean, Jericho wasn't destroyed in one day. Didn't they have to march around that seven days and then they had to shout? You know, it wasn't like, hey, just one time, just the first time I ever pray, just people are dropping dead. Because, again, there would be no wicked people. I mean, if you and I, the first time we just said, God strike them with lightning, and it was just like, boom! You know, want to mock us now? You know, it's like no one would ever mock us. And it wouldn't even take faith. No one would have to have any faith, okay? That's ridiculous if you think that God would act that way or have us have that kind of power. We probably wouldn't even have the right response with that. We would probably just be like saying that to everybody. Because here's the thing, we don't even know who's truly reprobate or not every single time. And someone cuts you off. I've seen people come, I've tried, they're probably reprobate. You know, it's like, you don't know that, okay? But if someone had that ability, they'd be like, smoke them, you know? And it's like, that's not really how God wants us to operate, right? God wants to walk by faith, he wants us to trust in him. He wants us to constantly seek him and pray. And eventually, he'll grant us our petitions and our requests. We have to have patience. But, you know, to pray an imprecatory prayer is very biblical. And I don't believe you have to have some authority to pray an imprecatory prayer. The only thing you have to do is have lips that open, okay? And even if you don't have those, you can pray in your heart. All you have to do is just pray. And God will hear that prayer. And saved, obviously you have to get saved first. But a saved person, you know, that's right with God, you know, let them pray imprecatory prayers to the enemies of God, to those that are going to destroy the work of God. You know, I mean, can you imagine going through the troops with David, and it's like, someone's like, I think we should pray an imprecatory prayer against Goliath. And it's like, oh, don't do that. It's like, David's like, I'm going to go over there and take the guy's head off, okay? Let alone pray an imprecatory prayer against him. I mean, what do you think was harsher? To hit him with a slingshot and then chop his head off or pray against him? You know, of course, David was cursing him and proclaiming that he was going to take his head off. And that's what he did. And David is writing a lot of these psalms. And of course, you have to understand, David's writing this psalm about himself in a metaphor that's foreshadowing the Lord Jesus Christ. So David can pray it, Jesus can pray it, and you know who else is going to pray it? Me. I'm going to pray for my enemies to be darkened, that they can't even see, that his wrathful anger will take hold of them, that their habitation would just be desolate. Look what it says in verse 27. Add iniquity unto their iniquity. Wow. And let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Do you think he wants them to get saved? Now, I would love for these scholars that disagree with us on these doctrines to explain this passage. Because isn't this about Jesus? And they'd be like, well, Jesus would never condemn anybody. Jesus would never wish for anybody not to be saved. What does this passage mean? Who's telling who that they're not allowed to be, that they should never be saved, they should be blotted out of the book of the living, and never be written with the righteous? Because it's a problematic doctrine for them no matter who they put in the equation. Because they believe it's just wrong. It's like you put David. It's like, oh man, uh-oh. And of course, David prayed this for who? The Philistines, for Goliath, for the wicked. Who did Jesus pray this for? The Jews. All the Jews that killed him and crucified him, the Caiaphas and the Pharisees, those that he saw blaspheming the Holy Ghost, he was praying for their destruction. And he's saying, hey, don't let these people be saved. And of course, we have to balance this, because obviously there's a lot of Jews that ignorantly crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You know, that prayer was not extended to Caiaphas or Judas. His prayer for Judas is this passage. His prayer for Caiaphas is this passage. Go back to Hosea. And of course, this is what God is doing to the children of Israel way before this even happened. God was reprobating them and rejecting them and divorcing them and saying they're not his wife and they're not his children before Christ has ever come on the scene. You know, some people will think like, oh, you're replacement theology. You believe God replaced the physical nation of Israel with the church. I do. But you know what? God replaced wicked people before the church. He replaced these wicked Israelites way before Christ even came. And replacement theology was taught in the beginning. I mean, God's always replacing people. He's constantly putting, you know, Jacob's a planet Esau. That's a replacement. King David replaced King Saul. That was replacement. You know, replacement theology is not limited to us replacing the nation of Israel as the spiritual nation. It's all over the Bible. And of course, God got rid of these wicked people. Now, of course, I'm not saying you should ever divorce your wife. You should never do that. These are just metaphors for what God's doing. The Bible says in verse number 7, And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. So now she figured it out. Oh man, it was a lot better serving God than it was serving these false gods. And it's kind of like Hosea's wife is realizing, man, that guy actually loves me and these other people are just using me. And to understand how God's, you know, against divorce, you know, when we get saved and we become the true bride of Christ and the true as a collective, he's never going to divorce us. Ever. Because God is never going to divorce his true wife. The children of Israel were kind of like a metaphor wife and so he could metaphorically replace them and divorce them. But those who are his true wife, he's never going to divorce. He's never going to forsake or leave or anything like that. Verse 8, For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. You know, isn't it sad that God is giving this woman in the metaphor, you know, God's giving the nation of Israel, all of their food, all of their money, and then they're taking all that food and money and giving it to someone else. You know, imagine you bought your wife just a really nice gift card, you know, some restaurant or whatever, and then she takes her boyfriend out with the gift card. You know, it's like that's what he's saying. He's like saying, what in the world? I like bought you all this nice stuff. You know, I let you get the manicure and the nice hairdo or whatever, and then you go and show it off to your boyfriend or to your lover. You know, that's wicked. And he's just saying, these people didn't even realize that they're taking all their goods and they're using them to worship a false god. And you know, that's like our nation. America taking all of its prosperity and all of its goodness and then they're just giving it to their lovers. You know, there's so many churches today that are just being financially blessed beyond measure. But you know what they're doing? They're taking all the money that God gave them and they're giving it to their false prophet lover. They're giving it to Kenneth Copeland. They're giving it to T.D. Jakes. They're giving it to all kinds of weirdos and psychopaths. I mean, this Todd White guy is a psychopath. The guy looks like Predator and Oprah had a bastard child or something. You know, it's like what is this thing? We can't even tell. I saw another false prophet last night, Jesse Duplantis. Who's ever heard of Jesse Duplantis? Anybody? He's like a televangelist. He's in Louisiana. And he was preaching for Christmas and he wore a bow. He just put a big giant bow on himself like he's a present. And the whole point of his recent sermon on Christmas was that he is a gift to God. And he said that Isaiah 9-6, and that's a really famous passage of scripture talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how he's a wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father? He said what that verse actually means is that we are a gift to God. And he said that Isaiah 9-6 is teaching that we are wonderful, we're the counselor, we're the mighty God, that we're the everlasting Father. And Jesse Duplantis on stage with tons of people in the audience is literally teaching that he is the everlasting Father and is a gift to God. Jesus Christ decided to come down from heaven and give the Father a gift, and that gift was Jesse Duplantis. That is the most blasphemous thing I've ever heard, I feel like. I mean, beyond Steven Furtick calling himself God Almighty, I mean, I don't know. I mean, how can people stand by in a pulpit and call themselves the everlasting Father and say that they're a gift to God wrapped with a bow, and people are still sitting there soaking that up? But how is that any different than when the children of Israel had the God of the Bible and then they go worship a rock? And they go worship a statue. I mean, to be that biblically ignorant, woe unto you. To be that darkened and blind. The people in his congregation are idiots. If you go to Jesse Duplantis' church, you are an idiot, you are a fool, and you're wicked. Because how could you sit there and let someone teach you such blasphemy, such wicked doctrine? It's just like, it's insane. But that's what this passage is like. It's where this woman is just so insane, she's just going after other gods, going after false gods. The children of Israel are not serving the Lord. And you know what? America is taking all of its wealth, all of its treasure, all of its goodness, and just giving it to the devil. Just giving it to false gods, giving it to the Jews, giving it to Hollywood, giving all of their resources to that bitch who's wicked. Not realizing who even gave it to them in the first place. You know, Christians are so afraid to tithe, but it's like, you realize that all you got was coming from God. It's like, why would you be afraid? I mean, if you realize where the source is coming from, you'd have no problem feeding that. Right? But of course, then people, they want to give their money to everything else. They want to give their time and their effort and their energy to that which is not having anything to do with God. Verse 9. Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. Just saying, hey, if you want to give all your goods to the devil, then I'll just take everything away from you. You know, and it seems like America, I mean, do you really think that America's not being punished? Have you ever heard of a thing called taxes? I mean, the taxes in our country are insane. Everything is taxed, and everything is taxed like so many times down the spigot. It's like someone buys lumber, and they get taxed on it. And then they go build, you know, a structure with the lumber, and then that's taxed. It's like you build a chair out of the lumber, and that's taxed. And then you go take it to the warehouse, and that gets taxed. And then they take it to the furniture store, and that gets taxed. And then you go and buy it, and then that gets taxed. And it's like they have to just tick up the price so much with just instant just tax and tax and tax and tax. It's like you look at gas. I just want to get gas. You don't even realize how much tax is just on gas. And tax is on just all kinds of goods and services. It's like God's just saying, hey, you want to give that money to the devil? You want to give that money to Todd White? Fine, we'll just give it to Joe Biden then. We'll just give it to Zelensky. We'll just give it to Ukraine. You know, and you think about inflation. $1.7 trillion passed recently by Congress. Welcome to inflation, buddy. If you're not protected against inflation, you're going to start getting screwed hard fast. Okay, if you think that we didn't get hit hard with inflation before, think about this. When they passed a lot of those COVID bills, they gave you money. They gave you like $10,000, $20,000, $30,000. And think about how hard you got hit with inflation still and how much prices went up. They just passed $1.7 trillion, and you know how much money they gave you? None. So you're going to still get hit just as hard with a giant price increase, and everything's going to keep going up. Plus, the Democrats always love to tax people, so all of your taxes can go up. They're going to lower tax child credits. They're going to just keep pummeling you, and it's just inflation, inflation. Look, it's going to get worse, folks. I'm just trying to be real with you. And you say, why? Because our whole nation hates God. Because our whole nation forgot where all of the wealth even came from for our nation. And we've become just a giant whore giving all of our money to our lovers. What, to Israel? To Ukraine? It's like, what if America was like, hey, let's take our money and give it to missionaries to go to like the Bahamas or Mexico and preach to the gospel. No, no, no. Let's give it to corrupt politicians in the Middle East or in Ukraine or China or wherever, and of course we're going to lose all of our wealth. China is going to steal all of our wealth. And Ukraine is going to steal. You know, individuals are going to steal all of our wealth. The Jews and the bankers and the Fed are constantly exacting all of the wealth out of our nation and out of our country. Why? Because people hate God. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. They forget where the source of income is really coming from. It's coming from God. And of course, you know, part of that, it's not like you just show up at church and God just gives you money. You actually pay attention. You read the Bible and you pay attention and you start implementing God's word, then you start getting money. Because he starts teaching to be wise, smart, work hard, and do the right thing. And you realize, like, wow, this works out pretty good. Because when you sin, it costs you more money. Sin costs you so much money. You know, it's funny to me when people ask me questions about, like, how do I afford things or how do you do things. It's like, well, you know what, I don't spend any money on cigarettes. I don't spend any money on alcohol. Alcohol is really expensive. You know, I'm not spending money on going out and partying at the bar and getting a giant bar tab. I'm not spending all this money on stupid things online. I'm not betting all my money away on sports gambling. I'm not giving all my money to a casino down the street. I'm not giving all my money to just stupid activities and things that you're doing out there. I'm not giving all my money to the Dallas Cowboys. I'm not giving all of my money to the Jews at the bank. I'm not giving all my money to just consumerism. And so it's like, hey, yeah, you can actually afford things when you're not an idiot. You can actually afford things when you're not just being run over with sin. You know, here's another thing. Not having to pay child support. I mean, divorce will wreck your finances. You are, like, literally screwed. I mean, it's just because you only had to pay for one house. Now you have to pay for two houses. And, you know, it's not just two houses. It's two water bills. It's two electric bills. It's two gas bills. It's two lawns that need to be mowed. It's just like a nightmare. It's like marriage is great financially when it's working and it's the worst thing when it's not. Just ask any guy that's ever been divorced. It's like the worst thing ever. But why? Well, of course, when you're not following God's commandments or you don't do everything that God said, there's consequences to those things. You know, there's consequences to not... It's not like, well, I walked in the building. God's just going to start raining money on me or something. You know, that's never going to happen. You know, how you get money is you read the Bible. And God gave you some really good ways to get money. It's called a right hand and it's called a left hand. And you work with them. You do things with them. You know, this is how you get money. You know, people always want to know how you get money. It's like, it's right here and it's right here. You know, it's not by laying down. It's not by being lazy. It's not by being entitled. Our country is just so entitled and so lazy and so slothful and so stupid. And then they wonder why they don't have any money. They wonder why they struggle. They wonder why they're just being destroyed. It's like, yeah, how can you maintain a gambling habit, an alcohol habit, a drug habit, a prostitution habit, and work at Jersey Mike's? And then, of course, you rent. And, of course, rent is more expensive than owning. So they have to pay more money for their rent. They have to pay more. It's like, they're like, well, how do you afford anything? It's like you can't with your stupid lifestyle. Well, it's like, well, how do you pay for all the childcare? You get a wife. Well, how do you pay for eating out all the time? You get a wife. You know, eating out is way more expensive than making food at home. Way more expensive. And it's way better at home. I mean, the food that my wife makes is so much better. I hate eating out. You know, and she ruins eating out for me. You know, it's like a lot of things. It's just like, you know, this isn't even that good. You know, of course, there's still some good restaurants out there, but most of it's junk. It's like, why is there a McDonald's and a Burger King and a Brahms on every corner and a Whataburger? Why does Whataburger even exist? There's certain restaurants I look at, I'm like, how do you even exist? It doesn't even jack in the box? Like, how does this thing even exist? You know, Whataburger wouldn't even exist if people didn't get drunk and go eat at 2 a.m. Because, you know, I never see Whataburger busy during the day. It's like, if you just happen to be out late and it's like 1 a.m., it's like a line all the way out the parking lot because it's the only thing open. It's not because it's good. And all the people that were there got drunk. They already have no judgment. Their taste buds are out the window because they just drank poison five minutes ago. They might still be drinking. They might be high even. They're probably high too. So it's like, Whataburger exists because of sin. And it's like, what do you think Whataburger wants more in our country? More weed and more alcohol. I mean, they don't want any more rice. But it's like, if we had more people getting married and having wives, fast food restaurants would be shut down all over the place. There wouldn't be the need for all. I'm not saying they would be gone. Obviously, there's a need every once in a while. You have to go there. I go there. We all have to go there. But, you know, if I have to go there in a pinch every once in a while, we can't have 35 on every corner. We'll have one and it'll be good. Because they'll know that they're competing. Right? Right now, they know they're not competing against anyone. People don't even know how to cook. It's like, there's all these women out there and they know how to make ramen noodles. And it's like, are you a college guy? Like, what happened to our world? You know, as a woman, you should learn how to cook. And not just how to cook. You should learn how to cook, okay? You should learn how to make some really good dishes and get that expertise going. That'll save you some money. Instead of being this horsewoman giving all of her money to her lovers. Giving all of her money to McDonald's. And giving all of her money to every single restaurant and every single business out there that's not interested in their, in them. And what's best for them. Let's, we're here in Hosea. Let's go to the next verse. I could spend all night on this, but, sorry. It says in verse number 8, For she did not know that I gave her a corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Belle. Therefore will I return and take away my corn and the time thereof, and my wine and the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers and none shall deliver out of mine hand, and I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. So they're not going to have fun anymore. Mirth is just joy. And of course our nation has a lot less joy in the last few years because, you know what, we're suffering from not serving God. Verse 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. Look what it says in verse 12. I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me. This makes me think of the televangelist preachers. Because so many people, they'll give like $500 to one of these televangelists, and then something good will happen to them, and they'll be like, Oh, it's because I gave money to that false prophet. Just like she wrongly attributes the good in her life to false gods, a lot of Christians today falsely relate good things that happen to them to their bad church, to their bad preacher, to their bad pastor, to the weird things that they're doing. You know, we cannot evaluate everything based on circumstance. We have to evaluate in the lens of scripture. And it's like giving money to Jesse to plant us is not going to give you the vine and the fig tree. Verse 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Balaam, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers and forgot me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will lure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence in the valley of Acre for a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Bali, for I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their names. So, he's talking about he's going to punish them, punish them, punish them, but then in verse 14 he changes gears and says, Therefore, behold, I will lure her and bring her into the wilderness. This is talking about how the children of Israel are going to be dispersed into all the nations. They're going to be scattered. And at that point, once they've been scattered, the Bible is describing how the Lord is going to try to lure them and draw them back, and try to bring them back. And of course, there's multiple fulfillments of this. We see this happen after the Babylonian captivity. The children of Israel are gathered back, and the Lord gives them peace again. And he says here in verse number 16, they're going to call him Ishi and not call him Bali anymore. Ishi is really kind of limited to this section of scripture. Just this chapter is the only time we really have this Ishi name. If you kind of look it up, it's saying, it's an endearing term, saying my husband. So, he's saying, you're going to call me, like, you're going to say to me that you're my husband, and you're not going to say Bali. Bali is really just synonymous with Lord. So, you can just think of the word Lord. Now, Baal is a false god, but just the root word simply means, like, Lord. So, it's their word for a false god. And of course, the devil is often kind of symbolized through Baal. He's like their Baal. He's their Lord. He's their God. And if you think about it, he is their God. The devil is the God of the children of Israel at this time, and of course, he takes that title of God. You have in the Bible the God of this world. So, what does that mean? Well, again, God is kind of synonymous. In my vernacular, in English vernacular, I believe God is synonymous with the word ruler. So, you just think of the word ruler. So, the Bible sometimes alludes to someone being a god. It's just talking about them being a ruler. Of course, it's also who we think of as deity being God Almighty. But that makes sense. Why does God have the title God? Because he's the ruler. Now, people that live in an area full of false gods, and they have a false religion, they may try to worship the God of the Bible, but they're going to have the wrong terminology. Think about it this way. What if a Muslim got saved, and he started coming to our church, and he was like, Allah the Father. You know, you'd be like, well, it's God the Father. Technically, Allah means God in Arabic, if you were to look at that. But you're going to get the right kind of terminology, the endearing kind of terminology. So, they would refer to their god as Baal. But even though that means God and it means the Lord, it's like God doesn't want that name associated with him. He wants it to be called God. He doesn't want this weird name that you kind of came up with. And it makes me think of this Yeshua movement, where people are like, it's not Jesus, it's Yeshua. And it's like, dude, it's Jesus. If we're going to go to the Greek, it's Jesus, but it's Jesus Christ. And I'm fine if you're only speaking Hebrew, you only know Hebrew, and you're going to call Jesus Yeshua. Okay, go for it. But you know what? For us English-speaking people, his name is Jesus. And a lot of these people that worship Yeshua are worshiping a different Jesus, a different god. And I don't believe that Jesus in heaven wants any of us to call him Yeshua. I mean, who in here speaks Hebrew? Yeah, so for us, we should be calling him Jesus. We should have the right name. And he likes names. I mean, the Bible is really clear about how God thinks about names. Now, of course, there's also symbolism here, in the sense that they weren't a wife, and now they're going to be a wife. Why would they finally call God Ishi? Because he's going to be their husband. So it's saying, hey, these people coming back and returning are going to be the wife unto God. He's going to be a husband unto them. And they're not going to be just, you know, calling him God and basically worshipping a false god at the same time. And, of course, the children of Israel, if you think about it, from the Babylonian captivity to the time of Christ, they never really worshipped false gods ever again. Like, they're not worshipping the idols and all the other stuff. They just have perverted the god of the Bible. They've perverted the scriptures and they've become different. But they really don't have that same problem. God kind of gets rid of the idols for the children of Israel at the Babylonian captivity. So when it says here in verse 17, I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembered by their name. It's basically saying, hey, when they come back, their false religion is going to be different. They're not going to constantly go to the gods of the Philistines and the gods of the Canaanites and all these different false gods. They're going to actually have the right god. And they're going to have the right name. And they're going to even forget these other false gods' names. Nobody even remembers them anymore. Verse 18. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained mercy. And I will say to them which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my god. So of course the foreshadowing here is talking about Gentiles getting saved, us entering into the millennial reign, and specifically the new heaven and the new earth. I'll go to one more place. Go to Isaiah 65. And we have an interesting verse here. Of course, Isaiah's same timeline of preaching, and they're kind of giving some similar messages. Isaiah 65, look at verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mine. So that's kind of symbolic of what he's talking about. Skip all the way down to verse 25. So what we have to understand is that even though God has forsaken this group of people, they have to go in the wilderness, they have to return. Eventually, they have the victory. They get to be the wife, and they get to enjoy, and they get to have the honeymoon. For us, it can be said that we're kind of in a wilderness phase. We've been kind of driven out. And it's not even necessarily for our issue, it's for the issue of the nation that we live in. We can't affect that. But one day, we're going to be coming back with the Lord, we're going to be his wife, and he's not going to have an adulterous wife anymore. We're going to be that faithful wife. So God right now has an adulterous wife, and that's kind of pictured in the unsaved, and of course, in the Old Testament, it was specifically the children of Israel. But eventually, he's going to have a faithful wife, and we're going to be those that are ruling and reigning with Christ. Now, it's interesting in the millennial reign because we're kind of saved, and then we still have just unsaved people living amongst us. And I have no idea how that's going to work, but we're going to show that group of people what it's like to be the real wife as a collective. Go over to 1 Timothy 6, the last place I'm going to return, 1 Timothy 6. That is really the enjoyment phase of our lives and of all eternity. And if you think about it, our investment is kind of an incredible ROI. If you know anything about investing, there's this thing called ROI. It's called return on investment. That's what everybody wants to know. What's the ROI? 5% or 10% or 50%. They're basically saying if I give $5, let's use an easy number. If I give $100, if I have a 5% ROI, that means I'm going to get $5 back. And so they're kind of showing this illustration. Well, think about our lives. You have 70 years, 80 years, and then guess what your ROI is? Eternity. It's like you can't even express this by mathematical formula because it doesn't even compute. And it's like we're going to literally enjoy, for all of eternity, for just the little bit of time that we're here. For the little bit of wilderness that we're here. And when I think about this chapter as a whole, you know what really sticks out to me is that everything that we do, God is paying attention. Because notice how it's like, oh, I noticed that you went to this lover. Oh, I noticed that you gave that corn that I gave you, you gave that corn to your lover. Hey, I noticed that you even said in your heart that, oh, I got this reward today because I went after my lover or my lover gave this to me. So it's like even though you get away with a lot of things in the moment, God's always paying attention. Every single thing you do in this life matters. It's not like you're not going to reap what you sow. God is not mocked is what the Bible says. And I think because there's not an instant gratification to working hard or serving God, people forget why it's so important. But God's always paying attention. And you know, in this life it may not be that comfortable or that fun right now, but you have to realize we're in a fight. And God wants us to fight now because if we don't fight now, we're never going to have a chance. We will be victorious in one day, but it's not right now. Look at verse 12. ...fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." Now think about what he's saying. You need to fight now and lay hold on eternal life. That's what our ROI is. And we're going to profess a good profession, and we're being charged in the sight of God. And he wants us, in verse 14, to keep this commandment without spot. That's every day. That's every moment. Unrebukeable. When? Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to hang on to our righteousness from now until Christ comes. We have to fight the good fight every single day. And let me tell you something. It is a real fight. It is a real spiritual battle. As a pastor, you see a lot more than other people. But I've had so many people that I've had to deal with in the last several months, and over the whole course of my ministry, but especially in the last few months, where it is just the most obvious spiritual attack I've seen on people. There is a raging battle for the souls of men. There is a raging battle for people to go to church, to read the Bible, to rule their family, to do the things that are right for the Lord, go soul-winning. And it's not going to stop until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't want to be this wife that just goes after her lovers, and just forsakes the Lord, and just lives in pleasure, and just does whatever we want, and forget why we even have the things that we have today. A lot of us are very blessed today, and it's because we've been serving God. And the moment we decide to go after our false lovers, you know, those who claim to love us but really don't, God could take all of that away in an instant. We need to just keep fighting, and keep being steadfast, and keep doing right, and, you know, eventually, eventually we will enjoy. Eventually we'll have that return, and we'll be with Him, and we can pick up snakes and nothing bad. I don't want to pick them up anyway, but you can pick them up, right? You know, the wolf and the lamb are going to lay down together. Go in your hymnal to song 411. I want to look at this. We're going to sing this verse, but I want to read it real quick, and we're going to finish. Go to 409 in your hymnal, 409. As Jack Hyles said, most of your hymnals are more inspired than NIV, so... Song 409, the fight is on. Look what it says in just the last chorus. It says, if God before us, His banner over us, will sing the victor's song at last. We're going to sing that victor's song at last. We may not now, but we've got to keep fighting, and we just keep fighting, but, you know, eventually we're going to sing that victor's song at last, and we can believe that through faith. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us this chapter of Hosea. I thank you that our lives matter and that every single moment of our lives matter. I pray that we would realize that you're always watching, that you're always looking down from heaven, that you want us to be without spot. You want us to be unrebutable. You want us to keep serving you and be faithful and profess a good profession from now until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you that you're going to give us the victory, even though we don't deserve it, even though we're too weak. We get to enjoy through your Son's might the victory over death, the victory over hell, the victory over the devil, the victory over all of the devil's minions. And I pray that we would not lose sight of that, but we would lay hold on eternal life, and we'd always continue to fight the good fight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, we're there in 409. We're going to sing The Fight Is On as our last song. And if God's children can sing really loud outside and scream and yell, you can sing pretty loud, okay? I want you guys here one time to sing back, all right? The Fight Is On, song 409. Round the first. The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out, the pride to arms is heard afar and near. The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory, the triumph of. The Christ will soon appear. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face and stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but need not weary. He's strong and it is vital fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is on, a rousing soldier brave and true, to hold the lead and victory will assure. Go but the one, the armored God has given you, and in his strength, forever we'll endure. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face and stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but need not weary. He's strong and it is vital fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is leading on to certain victory. The bow of prom, mismatch the eastern sky. His glorious name, in every land so honored be the morn will break. The dawn of peace is nigh. The fight is on, oh Christian soldier, and face to face and stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engage today. The fight is on, but need not weary. He's strong and it is vital fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last.