Amen. Hosea 14. Long time coming. It's a short little chapter. So I think we can get her all in. Pretty remarkable book. I've read Hosea but I've never studied it and taught Hosea and I have to say I was floored by it. It was interesting, Joel and I got to spend some time talking today. He's been going through Esther on Wednesday nights and he was like, it's just for now, it's for today. And I'm like, man, we just go through Hosea, same thing. And it's just neat how God's word applies. No matter where you are and where the book is, God's word applies. And how relevant it is to the time and how things awaken to it. And so this has been that. So Hosea 14, we gotta set the stage a little bit. We gotta travel into the future. And not that far, I don't think. It's not like we're plunging the lever down and we're going a thousand years. Probably only a few years, traveling to the future. In this future date, the abomination of desolation has happened. A man who claims himself to be deity, sets himself up as God, has gone into the most holy place in the Jewish mindset, the newly rebuilt temple. And he did the most unholy thing in that holy place. He blasphemed God, set himself up as God, desecrating the holy of holies by claiming to be in the position of God and seeking to be worshiped as God. That's the abomination of desolation, doing the most wicked thing in the most holy place in their mindset. The Jews had only just recently woken up to their religion again and to God as a whole, probably because of a battle that God had intervened on their behalf and saved and spared them. I wonder how those things are setting up as we deny military aid to them. And it becomes more and more apparent that there might be some event that happens where they're like, only God could have done that. Do we see the stage being set even now? But we're in the future, that's already happened. and turn their hearts towards God as God said he would in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This is to wake them up and the world up to who I am and what I do and these are my people. The temple is newly constructed. The temple service had only been revived recently to the point where they were using it as a temple. They had a high priest, sacrifice reinstituted. They started learning things about substitutionary death, about atonement, about how a life could be given in place of another as a sacrifice to cover their sins. An innocent life offered up on behalf of a guilty life to cover their sins only for a year, then they have to go back and perform that sacrifice again. Pictures being painted, things coming alive, rehearsing with them, who they are, their heritage being awakened in them afresh through the picture of a temple. a temple that they don't need, a temple that was satisfied in Christ, but a temple that God is using to awaken their heart to who they are, who he is, who his son is, and what he did. They offered up incense and prayers together, no longer going to a wall, a base of a remnant of something that used to be. but to an actual place erected for this purpose, that they could do it in a temple proper, with proper priesthood, who have been genetically proven that these are descendants of Levi, which they have done and is there, using the proper instruments. And they were able to use all this because after some 2,000 years, a miracle happened in that a red heifer was found without spot or blemish. No hairs in it that were a different color. I think less than five is what they qualify for. It had arrived again after 2,000 years. How recent was that? Oh, it was 2023, and around 2024, they were looking to sacrifice it. Do they, did they? I don't have a crystal ball, but we're in the future, and apparently they do. because they're using the temple. It was a place that the Antichrist could defile. So this red heifer was, after some 2,000 years, sacrificed, making it to where they could use the temple. Things that they already have in place. They have like a temporary type temple that they could go in and erect overnight. That's not what they're waiting for. They're waiting for it to be blessed to where it could be used and it takes the ashes of a red heifer. That's what makes this so important. Same way with the priesthood. They have a priesthood who was trained up They were not born in a hospital. They have never been under the roof of the dead person. They've never trampled over a grave. They've had all these qualifications that they've kept these young men set apart since birth so that they can perform these tasks there. But they can't be used until they had been sprinkled with the ashes of a red heifer. Now all those things have happened and it was possible and the temple was reset up and the sacrifice had resumed. But then the abomination of desolation happened. And then they ran and hid for their lives. They had to leave Jerusalem. Most of them, not all of them, but a lot of them left Jerusalem, had to leave Israel to go find a place to hide. Most of them were able to settle in a place in Jordan, the country of Jordan. And we suspect it was in a spot called Petra. And they've been hiding there for almost three and a half years. But though Satan has been looking and Satan has not been allowed to, but has come to the point where he is breathing down their neck and it looks like annihilation is on the docket. and in their desperation, and then through the things that they have seen, and through preachers who have come and proclaimed, and from stuff that's even hidden there by modern day church today, that they've been reading and watching these things plan out and come to fruition, all of a sudden things begin to fall into place and make sense unto them. They see it as a nation. They saw it as a nation. Maybe they have a leader who stands up and says, we have been blind. This is the thing that has been right in front of us. Maybe they read the book of Hosea and the pieces fall. They're like, this is what he's waiting for, right? That's what he's talking about. I've done this until. You repent, Hosea 5. And they understand that Jesus is Messiah. And they cry out, Yeshua HaVashia, that Jesus Christ, our Messiah. And they cry out to him and tears and prayers and sorrows of repentance fall for them all as a nation, as a whole, all at once. They have finally acknowledged their offenses. They finally sought Jesus's face. And they were no longer ashamed and no longer saw him as someone who was after them as a wrong person, as a blasphemer, but for who he truly was, God in the flesh. And once they understood this, that was what was holding them back. 14 in verse one, they are back together. O Israel, return to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Verse two, take with you words and turn to the Lord, saying to him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so we will render the calves of our lips. So here's what they offer back to him, words. What words? Words of confession. words of acknowledgement of their sin, words of their trespasses, their transgressions, words of acknowledging that Jesus is who he claimed to be, calling him rightly, Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Holy, the Anointed One, the Son of God, equal with God, the second person in the Trinity. It ends with, in the King James here, a weird phrase, that they will render the calves of their lips, the calves of their lips. You're like, my lips don't have calves. That would be weird. It's basically, that's the sacrifice, a calf. and they're gonna offer their lips as a sacrifice. They're gonna give vows. They're gonna give offerings. They're gonna give pleadings. They're gonna offer repentance, confessions, like a sacrifice. Our lips are gonna be like calves. This is what we're gonna offer unto you. Because you know what they just understood? You know what this verse tells me? We didn't need a temple. We didn't need cows, we didn't need lambs, we didn't need heifers, we didn't need all that. We had Jesus Christ, the lamb that was sacrificed for the foundation of the world. The one who died for us, who's satisfied being the high priest, the temple, the sacrifice, all those things were satisfied in him. We just need to offer a broken and contrite heart. The calves of their lips. the sacrifice of their lips, the thing that you and I did when we came to know Him as Savior, by offering up, God, I'm a sinner. I humbly repent and I turn unto you, forgive me. That's what they offer. No longer bulls, no longer heifers, no lambs, no doves, none of that. A broken and contrite heart. That's what He's been seeking all this time. It's been that close, that close. It's frustrating. Look at Hosea 6, verse 6. Hosea had a lot of key passages in it. And verse six, God had told them this through Hosea earlier, during the time of Ephraim. But we're all the way into the future, past the abomination of desolation, past almost the end of the tribulation, when they finally cry out for these things. In Hosea six and verse six, he says, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice. and the knowledge of God more than for burnt offerings. He goes, I want you to turn to me. I want you to understand me. I want obedience from you. I want you to complies to me. I don't want you just to cover your sin. I want you to understand and capitulate and come to me. That's what I'm having after all this time, a broken and a contrite heart. You know, even David talks about that. That's not what God wants. God wants us. He wants obedience rather than sacrifice. So the knowledge of who God is, Jesus as the Messiah, confessing him, acknowledging him, begging forgiveness and salvation, reconciliation, the calves of their lips. Hosea 14 verse three. Asher shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. This is the acknowledgement of how they went so wrong that they finally get it. Oh, because they knew that they needed help. They were in the position where God had put them to make them want to cry out for him, but they didn't cry out to him. Instead, they cried out to Asher, Assyria, they cried out to them. Oh, Assyria will save us, we'll make a treaty with them. And then they went around and then they turned their back on them and they went down to Egypt for a while to the point where even Assyria was like, you guys are jerks, you made a treaty with me. And then you go back down to the other enemy, the Egyptians. And so then he comes in and ends up taking them away captive. And there's quite a parallel here, and I know Levi's in the nursery down there, but I know he's saying, he goes, oh, you know another name for the Antichrist that they turned to for help? He's called the Assyrian. That's a title of the Antichrist, and so we kind of have a double layer that is on there. The Assyrian, Asher. that they turn unto Him instead of God. And the whole time God's saying, I'll rescue you. I'll be the one you can turn to. Just ask me and I'll come down and I'll show myself mightily and I'll redeem you and I'll purchase you and I'll take you back and I'll take away all your problems and all your enemies. I'll do that. But they never did. They were full of pride. They were full of selfishness. They created their own gods. They literally created their own gods in the sense that they created calves that they worshiped. They carved these two different cow idols or cast them however they did it. They made images and they called them gods and they knew they made them. And God's like, so you're trimming that piece of wood and you use that trim off to cook your dinner. You never thought that was weird that you're gonna worship the thing that just cooked your dinner for you? It's like, come on. He goes through all that reasoning in Isaiah and some other books. But you're thinking, well, modern day people wouldn't do that. How many people think that it's, well, I built myself, I'm a self-made man, and it's my intelligence and my education and my diligence to study, and I do all that, and I do me, me, me, and I, I, I, same thing, the work of my hands, I did this, I built my empire. Same, same. Or, since we've traveled to the future, it wasn't that long ago, but they erected an image in the place after the Antichrist established himself as saying, you will worship me as God. They put an image in there of him and said, you worship him as God as well. And so they created an idol and they put it in there and they said they gave the idol life as if it was alive. It seemed like it was alive. It had a lot of power. It had the power over life and death. It would decide whether they eat or not eat, whether they could buy or sell or do all those things. Probably some type of AI is my suspicion. that we finally crossed the line to the people think that that is a God. There's already churches that have tried to be started by some of them from the Apple founders where they wanna worship AI as a God. Well, they're having AI right now rewrite a Bible, a more correct Bible, a better, correct, and a non-offensive version of the Bible. That is an offensive version of the Bible to me and to God. And while I'm on that topic right now, We're gonna put a date out and we're all gonna go to church. If you can go, we're gonna go see the Disciples in the Moonlight. It's gonna be released in July. You can look and there's trailers that are available online now. We saw a CBN interview with Brett Farvel and stuff about this movie. I think it's timely. He talked about the frustrations of trying to get this done for over 10 years. He's been working on this, but I'm like, man, how timely is it now? as we see our backs against the wall on this, and it might be illegal to own Bibles, and it's set in Indiana, and how we're gonna have to ship and smuggle Bibles and do things around, and so, we'll get more about that later, but mark your calendar, I think it's the 25th or 28th, in that little window right there, we'll go, it's gonna be a Fathom event, we'll go as a church night, and invite as many of us as we can to go and pack the house for them, and so, because they said if it does well, you know, they'll keep it as a Fathom event even longer, you know, in the theaters, which it needs to be seen, that is for sure. So yeah, but we see that because you know, I think it's gonna be AI or something like that because well even in and what Terminator, Skynet, you know, the network, you know, something that seems like something's always watching you, spying you, listening. You ever had anything listen to you? You ever been talking about something? You open your phone, boom, there it is. It's like, how'd they know I was talking about a refrigerator with drawers? And it's like, boom, there it is. That's all of a sudden like, I've never even searched for that before. It pops up. Or your television ads do the same thing. Because we have smart TVs that listen as well. Because in the agreement to use your TV, you can't just buy a TV and plug it in. You have to agree to use that TV. And you give it a chance to listen to what you're saying. program and push things your way. That's why you gotta be discerning about every little thing all the time. We can't kick our brains out of gear. But they finally acknowledged that all that was wrong. We turned the wrong places. We went to the world to help. We went to the beast for help. We went to the Asher, the Assyrians for help. We turned and we created our own gods and we worshiped them, whether it be AI or our own selves or what we thought we were doing. We went to the wrong place. We should have turned to you, God. And God's like, that's right. Should have. That's what I've been trying to tell you all the time. That's why I said Hosea. Verse four, he says, but you've finally done all that. You've turned and you've said the right things. And I want to give you mercy. Verse four, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from him. It's that fast. That fast. Do you remember before you got saved? Do you remember how uncomfortable the weight of your sin that was on you, that hell was just and you deserved it? And when you cried out to him and you asked him to save you, how fast you felt that burden rolled away? And that acceptance into God's family that you are now his, and the all-seeing eye of God that was a plague that wouldn't let you go and you couldn't escape it, now became the source of comfort that I can't go anywhere, that he doesn't see me, my God is not there, that he doesn't bring something to my life, that he has not made a way of escape for me, and all those things turned on its head. Does it for them as a nation, boom, that fast, that fast. They could do it today if they would. They won't, they didn't then, but they will in the future. Takes a hard road, but it finally does. Finally does, that's all it took after 2,000 years of grief for them just to humble themselves and repent. That's all he'd been looking for. All this evil. all the rebellion that they have done against God, opposed to God, in the face of God, doing the things that he even calls them out on right now. This is idolatry. This is like adultery. Look at Hosea and Gomer. See how it is? That's how it is to me. You're unfaithful. They just did it anyway. And God says, they turned and they've asked, and he goes, and I forgive. And I forgive. There's no sin too great that God will not forgive. He's told us that right now. Except for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which I don't think we can do because Jesus Christ isn't here and you can't attribute his works to Satan right now. So I think that's what that is. And so he's gonna love them. He says, I'm gonna heal it. I'm gonna heal. I'm gonna make it right. Because you would think, well, I've gone too far. I've done too much. And God says, I can heal it. I heal. I do miracles. I can heal this. He's gonna heal Israel. He goes, I'm gonna love you freely. without restraint, that's what love forgives, without restraint or limitation. It's like, well, we'll try it on a temporary basis for a while. No, God's like, no, I love you. You're my child and I'm your father. You're coming to my house, this is it, come on in. I've been waiting. He's the father and the prodigal that goes running. That's when they're starting to turn, he's already got a full head of steam. I'm there, come on, son, come home. Verse five. I will be as the dew in Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. If I was gonna summarize that verse, which I did as I was meditating, thinking about it, I'm like, that's life. I'll be life unto you. Dew, that's what waters the plants. That's what gives you that food and the sustenance, you know, when you haven't had rain, you know, have that dew that comes on that keeps things maintained and going. He says, then I'm going to have you grow beautiful as a lily. A lily, it's not good for food. but it's pleasant to look at. It's pretty and has a sweet fragrance. And God says, I'll make you grow and flourish. And sometimes those flowers, like there's nothing. Mom was like, oh, peonies. And the peonies are there. And the next day, bloom. You got a big old bloom on there. A miracle of God performed. There it is, flowers just open. And they're overnight. And as they turn and they walk around. And then he says, you're gonna be rooted deep. Like the trees of Lebanon, that's what that is, rooted deep, strong, steadfast. These trees were renowned for their height and their size, kind of like our redwoods, probably make our redwoods seem small. The cedars of Lebanon were worldwide renowned. We still talk about them today. Do they have a big grove like that now? No, they cut a lot of them down because everybody in the world wanted them. And so that was a big export until they were all gone. But, These trees were so big. And so to be big, you have to have deep roots. And so it's a rooted deep is what he's saying. It's like, oh, you're steadfast. You're strong, you're immovable. That's why I wanted to use these in buildings. These are strong cedars that don't rot impervious to bugs and disease and things that way. Cedar unmovable, mighty cedar of Lebanon. I compare you to that. You know, the giants were compared to them just to kind of tell us how big these were compared to everything else. Verse six. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon. This I summarize as God's blessing will permeate everything. Israel back in the land, God back with them in the land. We're talking this is the beginning of the millennial reign is where we're at. We're at the end of the tribulation. The abomination of desolation happened earlier, drove them to this point. Armageddon has come. God, Jesus Christ, has fought this battle for them at Petra, at Edom, and then he flies back and he defeats the beast and the armies of the world at the battle of Armageddon. Then his foot comes down, touches the Mount of Olives, splits it in two, he marches into the city, establishes his kingdom, begins to terraform the world just by his presence on the earth. It begins to spring forth and fountains flood out and Ezekiel and Isaiah tell us all this and how it heals the land as the living waters go across the world and the fish and and wildlife all revive and green grows back up and becomes a wild garden again, that we have to go forth then and establish as a kingdom and build his kingdom and take it back like the original plan was when God created Eden, Adam was to go from that base to go forth and then subdue the world. We do that now with from the base of Jerusalem, we go forth and subdue and establish his kingdom for a thousand years. Israel lives in that land of him with Christ on the throne, and David, his son, ruling on the throne as well, and so this is God's blessing permeating, and he gives us pictures of this. He goes, the branches will cover. It's a shade and protection. On a hot day, to get underneath the branches of a shady tree, or to walk down a path in that way, cool, refreshing, pleasant. Parks do that, and people flood to it. It amazes me that the biggest attractions in our country, in our world, God's attractions, waterfalls, rivers, mountains, woods, forests, oceans, beaches, canyons, rocks. You know, we wanna go see God's handiwork. And you're walking down a wooded trail in one of the big parks that's been set there and kept aside for a while and pristine, but a trail rightly managed, and you're walking down, you're like, this is beautiful. Feels a little bit like Eden. This feels like home, I've never been here. That kind of stuff. He says, that's what it'll be. Greenery, branches, my branches will cover you. You'll be under the shade of my protection. He says the olive tree. Olive tree, I don't think we understand how important this was to Israel. It's more than corn than Indiana. No, it's the old commercial, right? But you know, Indiana corn, we think of the soybean, our crops. Olive tree was the tree to have if you had that. Because one, it was food, you could eat it. It was a plant that you could eat. It gave oil. What could you do with that oil? You could cook with it. You could dip your bread in it. You could pour it on as a dressing. You could just eat it as it was. You could clean with it. They would use it on their hair. They would be able to preserve themselves. It can refresh yourself. They'd wash it on their face. Really good, fresh oil. They would drink it. It was something that they could drink. Used that way. They can then put it into a vessel and you would light it and it'd give you light in your house in that way. So it was fuel for the light to be able to see. It was an industry. It was a whole industry in itself to eat, see, and sustain. And if you had all that, you would see an olive tree and your eyes would know all that, and you're like, oh, it's beautiful. And so this is kind of a picture of, you're not gonna have any want. You're gonna have food, you're gonna be clean, you're gonna have sustenance, you're gonna have oil, you're gonna have drink, you're gonna have refreshment, you're gonna have all, the God's like, I'm gonna give you all that. And he sums it all up, kind of an olive tree and what that meant to them. They're like, wow, that'd be great if I just had a house with a few olive trees around. Man, that's wonderful. And he says, not only that, I love how God goes with this detail, because he gives us all this, right? He says, not only is it going to look beautiful, not only is it going to be everything you're going to need to sustain you, it's going to smell good. It's going to smell good. It's going to smell like the Lebanon forest. He says, the smell of Lebanon. So Lebanon, like I said, is their cedar tree that they are known for, the cedars of Lebanon. If you saw a cedar board or a cedar branch, you know it. There's nothing that smells as good as a cedar, you know, when you're cutting a cedar wood. It'll, a wood shop, the whole shop smells it. You'll be that way. You will smell, if you break a branch, if you're walking, if you break that branch, cedar, smells good. You know, if you're walking through and you like, just push your hand around the leaves, and I looked up for a long time, I'm like, what is it called on a cedar tree? Are they called leaves? They are called leaves. They don't look like leaves, like a traditional tree, but they're called leaves. And they're either called needles or scales. So, I like leaves. It's made up of needles or scales, but if you pull your hand down a cedar tree in that way, and then you smell it, you smell like cedar for a good long time, just because you've touched the oils. It has an oil in it that kind of seeps from it. It has a smell. It has its own aroma that we are known for. We make cedar trunks out of it, right? You put your family's heirlooms in them, and you get the quilt out, and what's it smell like? Cedar, right? It's all, mmm, smells good. You want to smell that cedar chest. It's kept things safe because it's in a wood that doesn't rot and it repels bugs. And it's just this wonderful kind of a thing that is there. And in the last decade, these are just kind of a natural God's anti-rot treatment. It was a cedar tree. And so my dad loved cedar trees. If he would drive along these country roads and if there's a little cedar growing in a ditch, he's like, they're just gonna mow that ditch and cut it down. He'd get out and dig it up and plant it in the yard. And so he would do that a lot. And so it was not uncommon for us to collect cedar trees and put them out. And so we had all these cedar trees and they're slow going. They're slow growing. And we don't have a grove yet, but we've got several on the property, but I've never been in a grove. I don't know what that would be like. I've been in a pine grove. and I've walked down pine trees, and they smell good, and the wind sounds nice through the leaves, and you're walking on the needle pine bed path, and it's quiet, and it looks like you're in a fairy tale when you're doing it, so I can imagine a cedar tree with the extra smell, and how all that is, and let alone the strength of a cedar tree. I can't go by a cedar tree and not acknowledge it, and look at it, so it makes me sick when the road crew comes through, and they cut it out, and I had one right underneath my power line, and they were coming down, and they took everything down to the ground, made Elaine and I sick, And we fought with them all spring, trying to get them to save our trees that were there. But there's one cedar tree, I'm like, it's gonna take that thing a hundred years for it reaches your power line. You can't cut it down. And they gave me that one. And so I've got one cedar tree under the power line. They're like, okay, we'll let that go. And then it comes, you can cut the top. Leave that thing alone. And so cedar trees, I can't imagine being a grove of them. I would love to. I would feel like Frodo walking in the long, dark, mirkwood forest, and then this grove tree. I'd be just like, oh, it'd be like I'm on an epic quest doing that. God says, basically, I think God's trying to tell us it's a pleasant, pleasant, awesome-looking place. Yeah, think New Zealand. Think Lord of the Rings-y that way, how it's all an elven kind of a place. And that's gonna be our home for a thousand years. because not only is Israel restored and they go into land, we come down and we rule and reign with him. We're in the palace because we're the bride of Christ. We are with Jesus Christ and we will be his people and we'll help establish this out. The Jews have different promises than you and I. We always get mixed up and we try to blend them all and make us all the church. We're not. They have different promises. They have promises to that land. He'll give them their own place. You'll have your own vine and your own fig tree. They'll have their own well. He gives them their own place where they can live in their own place and they are self-sustained and they don't need anything. And God says, and I will watch you and protect you, but they will be mortal. And these that come through the tribulation, that repent and cry out unto him, don't die for a thousand years. Sadly, some of their children will. They'll mourn for them. God lets them live to 100. And if they haven't repented and trusted in Him by the time they're 100, He says, then they'll mourn for one as if he's a newborn. But for a thousand years, they'll live there. And we have our place, but they have their place, and it's there. And the kingdom of Israel, it is better, it's not the river to the sea that their Palestinians are all talking about. It goes all the way over to the Euphrates River. We're not talking about the Jordan, it's all that area, it's all desert now. God restores it and gives them plenty of room for all of them to live. And then we get to go over there and we... and that's our base of operation as well. As we go with him, and then some suspect maybe we are commuters, I don't know, I used to commute to work quite a bit, but we'll commute, we live down here, do our job with him, but then when we go home, because he has a mansion prepared for us in heaven, we'll go up to him until Revelation 21, when he brings the new Jerusalem down to the new earth, then our home's on earth again, so maybe we go home, I gotta go home, then we go up to our mansion in heaven, then come down and work for a while, and what do we do? I don't know, maybe we go forth and we establish a new city in his name, and we get to take it back, reclaim the weeds, and we plant gardens like he's made for a model for us in Jerusalem, and we establish it, and we make it be that, and then we'll go out to the next crew, and we'll be the next Daniel Boone that goes to the next town, and we'll plant a flag there for Christ, and we'll reunite the world, and we put the world, and it's all of its diversity and uniqueness to serve him, and they come together and worship him once a year. That's in Zechariah, but. It's a shady, abundant, pleasant-smelling wonder world. That's kind of how I summarize it with that verse. That's what he's telling us. Verse seven says, they that dwell under the shadow shall return. They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine. The sit thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. The King James makes it a little clunky, but it's better kind of like my people will again live under God's shadow like they did in the wilderness when God was ruling over them. We'll be under the protection of God. They won't have a king other than him. We'll live in that way. He gives the hints of the resurrection there. He talks about corn and Jesus uses a corn of wheat falling in the ground. It's this little bitty thing that we plant. When we die, we're gonna be this little bitty thing that goes to the ground, but when we come forth, we have a glorious body that is magnified and powerful and not susceptible to disease or death or sin. And so we're gonna have this glorified body, like a grain of seed of a corn is a little bit different. I'm gonna use wheat, that's what they mean. And then it comes up, it's a stalk and it has a head on top of it. And we've got fields of green right now you can look at. And God's like, it's gonna be magnificent and amazing and abundant. You're gonna be alive again. It's gonna be beautiful. And we even talk about how the wonder of a... Corn is revived, we're saying about the amber waves of grain. It's just something that we see, a bounty and beauty, and God's using it the same way. He says, well, grow as a vine. A vine, that means basically we flourish. If you've ever had a vine and you're cutting down a patch of wood, you're like, oh, here's a big vine, let me pull it out of the top of the tree. Good luck. You know what you find out? That vine's everywhere. It's in this tree, that tree, and the other tree, and you can't pull it down. It's gonna take a whole lot to get it down, or it's mixed in the ground, it's everywhere else. A vine flourishes, and that's what God's telling them. I'm gonna put you down here, you're gonna be like a vine. You're just gonna flourish. We're gonna cover it all. It's gonna be as I have designed it to be and you'll be a part of it. And he's talking to Israel and he's talking to us that we're part of it. So basically it's prosperity. It's gonna be easy. You're gonna flourish. It's gonna smell now, he says, it compares it to the wine of Lebanon. I don't know, I'm not a wine guy. I don't know what it smells like and I guess if God wants to make me a wine guy, he'll treat me then and there. I'm not gonna volunteer here and now. And so, but I'll get a, smell it and see what it is and it'll smell good. It'll be like, it'll be fragrant, it'll be wonderful and it'll be something that you can have and so we'll, He's just again telling us how wonderful it is. Verse eight, 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 my fruit found. Again, and once again, he's saying he's restored. His senses have returned. What does an idol have to offer compared to my God? Why was I ever tempted? Why did I ever go there? I think that's what you and I will do a lot. Why did I struggle? Why didn't I trust him? Why did I believe him? Even more so, that God is God. He's real, he's powerful. He's able to do whatever he wants. He's able to do whatever is best. In verse nine, this is gonna run out of time. 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 fall therein. This is pretty much the conclusion. And he's asking, you wanna be wise? Understand these things. That God is right. Obey God, listen to God, respond to God, listen to his call. If he's calling you to repent, if he's calling to warn you, and he's trying to warn you about destruction, listen to God, turn back to him, don't be stubborn, rebellious, and running away. You wanna be prudent? You wanna have discernment? Know these things, study my things, see this picture. He goes, I've given you the whole, I've let this whole nation go through this. Hosea has pinned it down, learn from them. Don't go that way, go my way, my way is right. Because they are wiped out, they never really return as a nation. Now there's some from Ephraim that when it became time and they separated, the ones who wanted to worship God went south. And so there's a remnant, but as a nation they don't totally return, but they come back as one nation, as the house of Israel and not the house of, well, as Israel, as Judah. and not as this northern kingdom. They don't ever revive as a separate thing. They are now absorbed back in the main whole, which is what God wanted in the first place, but there are some from Ephraim that are there. And so, but we need to be discerning and learn those lessons that God is the one who is right, and that God is right, and we want to be just. to just walk or live in God's ways. God directs our steps, God guides our path, God lights our way, God does whatever, however you want to put it. God tells you what's right and the way you ought to go. And so he says, seek my word, seek me early, listen to me, heed unto me, and if you've gone wrong, repent, come back, get back in line. That's Christianity, that's walking with him, staying, keeping close accounts. Because he says here, it's just wild, all this blessing that he's heaped upon us, and he says, here's what the wicked get. I guess I'm just kind of juxtaposing this with, what is the profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? You get the world, that's nothing. I'm offering you eternity with me. The world for what, 75 years, 100 years, maybe? How much of that do you get to enjoy and live in vitality? Not 100, not 75, maybe 50, 40. I don't know how long it takes you to get there. But he says this about them, the transgressors shall fall. They fall, and it's a hard fall, and it's a long fall. Some of it's bottomless pit, you know, they get into. They fall at everything, they fall every time. God always wins, no matter what the scenario. Look at Isaiah 55, I kinda wanna end with this. because there's two ways you can kind of look at Hosea and reflection. Isaiah 55 verse 11. It says, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, Isaiah 55, 11. So shall that word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. God says, that's what my word does. That's why you and I are to quote God's word. I don't have to win someone over with a well-reasoned argument. Should I have one? Yes. But what should I use in that well-reasoned argument? God's word. because it does not return void. It is the winning weapon to use. It is the sword that he's given us with. God sent Hosea in reflection with his word, and his word was repent and turn to him. Did they? No. As a nation, they did not. A remnant will in the future, in our future still, maybe the near future, so did Hosea fail. No, it's recorded. And then that last verse, I think he's warning us. He's saying, yeah, I gave this and they didn't listen and they fail. You might look at me as a prophet and say, you got a mission to give them God's word and for them to repent and turn to you, you failed. And Hosea says, but my word's not just to them. My word goes to you. It travels to 2024. Not just Ephraim as a nation, but to the world. And he says, will you be wise? Will you be discerning? Do you want that? Do you seek that? Do you want to be one of God's just who acknowledge Him and walk in His ways, who live by His dictates and not the dictates of this world? Do you want to be lured away or do you want to be right and be with God? Do you want to fall? Don't you want to be called the just? Don't you want to be one of His and walk with Him and walk within His way? Hosea's pleas are for us today, here and now, as they were for Ephraim there and then. So no, his word does not return void. His word is still bearing fruit to this day. And your word is to go forth and you're saying, well, they didn't believe, they didn't repent, I guess I'll never say anything again. It is never done until their eyes close in death. You keep preaching the word. You keep following God because the transgressors will fall. That's your only other option. Do you want to be with him and rule and reign with him or do you want to be a servant in hell in that way? To be one who is down and suffering in hell. There's no servants in hell, they're all suffering in hell. The transgressors shall fall. So heed Hosea's warnings. Repent and trust when you see you've gone the wrong way. And when God taps you on the shoulder and says, hey, hey, hey, you need to stop and you need to turn around, stop and turn around, listen. Because you know what we have? I had more here about God's not done with Israel, but I'm gonna end with this. Because we have, the danger of us is that we could be Judas. Well, I went to church. and I listened about Jesus, and I talked about Jesus, and I sang about Jesus, and I was with people who talked about Jesus, and I liked all my friends, and I liked all those things, but you know, I had all those friends, and I had all the fellowship, and I was with them, but you know, when it got heated, and things didn't go exactly how I thought it ought to go, and it wasn't coming my way, and things weren't going the way I wanted it to, and I didn't get to do the things that I wanted to do, and the time that I wanted to do it, and all these things, well, we betray Him. For what? 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave? Will we betray him for our comforts, for our service and somewhere else or doing some other thing? Will we betray him as one that I traveled with you, I said I knew you, but I really didn't. Because we're not fooling him, we're only fooling ourselves. Judas went to his own place because who else has a responsibility like him? Who was with Christ, walked with Christ, ate with Christ, knew who Christ was and then betrayed him? He goes to hell, but he says his own place. Who else is in that spot besides with him? Hell's hottest for those who said they knew Christ and then didn't, who came to church every week, who listened to the verse of somebody who never hears, never thinks, and never considers, that we have it offered to us all the time, but yet we don't comply and we don't do it. We could be a Judas just as much. We could found not to be one of his after all. I don't know, you can fool me all you want. I could fool you. What's the Holy Spirit say to you? Don't be like Ephraim. Listen to the call. Humble yourself here and now. Better to have a red-faced embarrassment. I thought I knew, I wasn't sure. I was just kind of tricking along the way. I want to make sure things are right. I want to make sure that I have it. That is heeding the words of Hosea. That is learning to be wise by dying to yourself, humbling from your sins, turning and trusting him and saying, God, I don't know. Teach me. Lord, I believe in you, help me believe in you. That's what we're doing as a group here together, right? Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Teaching and walking and growing. But as a pastor, I don't want anybody to be like, oh, I was uncomfortable, or I was afraid, or I was embarrassed. I'd really have you embarrassed for a few minutes right now. And we'll rejoice from a heart that turns its heart around and comes to acknowledge Christ, then spend eternity of hell away, because the transgressors will fall. and that fall be hard and the tears of our eyes aren't wiped away in heaven until the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth. I think there'll be a time of mourning that we will have for those that should have been, that we thought would have been, that weren't. And so heed the words of Hosea. Heed the warning. It is a plea from God. It's that simple. Turn and trust in me and it can be yours. It can all be yours. Forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, me on your side. Just turn and ask. Turn and ask, humble yourself. Acknowledge my son as your savior. It could be yours, he could be yours. He'll be your king and you'll rule and reign with me. What an offer, what an offer, what a word. Thank you for going through it with me. What an exciting book that touched on many things that we see today. God is alive and well and God knows the future, right? He gives us the pattern for it. Next week we'll start on a new book. It won't be a short one. It'll be a long one. We're gonna start, we're gonna go through the book of Acts. So we'll go through it, we'll see the church as it started out. I think it'd be a good thing to be refreshed with our origins as we are faced with maybe our ending. How should we be? How were they, or what were they fighting? And that addresses many issues on how it is, and so it'll help give us a good grounding on who we are and where we are for here and now. And so we'll start through that. I look forward to going on that journey with you as well. And so we'll take it where it leads us. I appreciate you being here. It looks like mom's got tons of sweets tonight. So if you like the sweets, you better get back there fast. We'll close with a word of prayer and we'll be back here on Sunday. Lord, we just thank you so much for who you are. We thank you for your word. We thank you for Hosea and his faithfulness, Lord, that even when they didn't heed the word, Lord, that you recorded it, you put it down on paper and it's here for us here and now. Lord, so that we could see the types and the shadows and the patterns of our own country. And Lord, we pray that we would go out and we would try to turn them. I pray that you would send revival to America, that we would humble ourselves and we would return and we'd come back to your origins. But Lord, if they don't, I don't have to be party to that. I don't have to comply to who they are and how they are. I can resist by following you and by trusting you and by being obedient to your word and your command. Lord, I want to be that. I want to be that servant in your hand. Help me. Help us to be that way. Lord, if there's any here today, Lord, that don't know you as Savior, I pray this would be the day that they would humble themselves and they'd return and trust in you. And Lord, that they would get things right. Lord, if it's here in this room, or Lord, listening to my voice, Lord, that they would do that. Lord, I thank you for this message. I thank you for your plea. It's that easy. Repent and trust. That's all you're waiting for, for us to acknowledge you for who you are and what you've done. You've died for my sins. You rose again the third day. Confessing that, that you are the Savior, that I need you for that, and that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. That's all I have to do, repent and trust, to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ to save me, and I shall be saved. Not by the works that I have done, but because Jesus Christ has purchased me. And I want to kiss the Son lest He be angry with me. And I want to undo it now, while it's called the present. and not wait until the future. Lord, thank you so much for salvation. I thank you for these that celebrate and that study and are growing with you with me here in this church. Watch and protect us, guard and keep us. Bring us back here appointed time on Sunday. That's in your son, Jesus, precious and holy name.