What a blessed thing it is to know that you are complete in Him. Complete, perfectly made whole because of Christ's righteousness. Amen? That's why we can long for the day where we have our graduation ceremony, where we move on, and the afterlife, where we know that we will be with the Lord. Amen? That's a sobering thing. It's not only sobering, but it's something that should just cause us to just joy in our hearts. The complete work of Christ. Amen? We've passed the halfway point in our journey through the book of Hosea. So we start with Hosea 8. And we'll read through all 14 verses of it. And Lord willing, cover the first 7 verses today. Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off. The calf of Samaria hath cast thee off. Mine anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also. The workman made it, therefore it is not God. But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces, for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no stock, the bud shall yield no meal. If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up. Now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. for they are gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone by himself. Ephraim hath hired lovers. Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. They sacrificed flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings and eat it, but the Lord accepteth them not. Now will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples, and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof." And Lord, we just pray that You would just bless Your Word this morning, and may You show us what Your meaning was for the people of Israel, Lord. And Lord, help us to also see the parallels of forgetting and forsaking who you are, Father. May we learn from the mistakes that Israel made and that people in the past have made as well. And we do pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, as we've seen through the halfway point of Hosea, it's building up like a like an adventure movie going on. There are problems everywhere. We have seen Israel's fornication, her adultery, her idolatry. And we see that God has been long-suffering through it all. We go back to chapter 5, we see the starting of chapter 5, to blow the trumpet, to blow the cornets, that judgment is on the way. Yet, God was indeed patient with them. I always like to use this term, patience, patience, patience. What an attribute of God that is, because if God were not patient and kind, God would have condemned and would condemn the entire world under sin. But yet, His loving kindness is greater than His wrath. I think that's the example we see through the entire book of Hosea. The example we see through all the prophets, all the Gospels, that in spite of people's sin, God loves them even more. And ultimately we know the end of the story that He sent Jesus Christ, and to any that believe upon Him and what He did, unto them they would be delivered from sin and death. So we pick it up here in Israel. Says, Send the trumpet to thy mouth. The trumpet was being lifted as a call to battle. A call that something is on the way. An attack is coming. Judgment is coming from God and He uses the nations around Israel for His judgment. Says, Send the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord. Think of that. The last chapter, one of the metaphors that was used of Israel was that of a silly dove. A dove that was just wandering kind of aimlessly, going where she wanted, being taken by every whim that she desired. But yet here, this He here is a Syrian. Assyria known for its brutality. It's being compared with an eagle. Now the word eagle here, it's always translated as eagle, but actually what it means is any large bird of prey. And the word itself Remember this one, when you see an eagle or a hawk out there, the word itself for eagle is a word that's used for lacerate, to cut, that's the attributes of an eagle and it's Has anybody ever seen how an eagle makes a decision to get something, to get some food, whether it be in the water, a stream, or whether it be a mouse or a squirrel in a field? He's lofty and high and he sets his target and just swoops right in and hits its target. That's a picture of Assyria, and they're being used as that eagle. Israel, you're wandering around, but look ahead here. God will use this nation in order to pursue you and He will capture you. Remember that silly dove? Compared to that eagle, it was no match in might. One of the things I like watching is some of those nature movies and watching the eagle swoop down But think of that with its talons, its claws just going in and grabbing. The Assyrians likewise, they were known for taking their people they invaded and they literally flayed them in two. They were vicious. That's what God was using to judge His people. The most vicious people that have been known at the time. There is an eagle. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord here is the house of Israel with Judah combined together. If we look at the very end, if we cheat a little bit and go to chapter 14, we see, I mean verse 14, for Israel has forgotten his maker and gone to temples, and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities. If you hint, that means that Israel was trusting in idols, Judah was trusting in their own strength, but yet God would send judgment on both in that form of the eagle. They would be taken away. Why? Verse number 1 still, because they have transgressed My covenant. and trespass against my law. Let's go over to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28, this is the blessings and curses chapter. Let's start with verse 45 because we'll touch on this a little bit later. It says, Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee. See, God says, the curses shall pursue thee, and God would use the nations around them to do it, to pursue the nation in the wilderness. Well, not in the wilderness, but in the countries around. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flyeth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand. And this is also found in Isaiah chapter 28. A people of stammering lips, a tongue, a foreign tongue that you don't know are going to come and judge you. They're going to take you over, pursue you, take you away. We notice that's what happened with Israel forever until Christ returns and redeems all the people, calls all the people of the lost tribes, in quote, the lost tribes of Israel, until they be brought back in the millennial kingdom. Let's continue here. A nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of old nor show favor to the young And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land until thou be destroyed, which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thine kind, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. and He shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high-end fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustest throughout all thy land, and He shall besiege thee in all thy gates through all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of the sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straightness wherein thou enemies shalt distress thee." Let's turn back to Hosea for a second. I want to get ahead of myself a little bit here. Look down at verse 7, we'll come back to it after. It says, But they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no stock. The bud shall yield no meal. If so be it yield, the stranger shall swallow it up. This is again talking about the Assyrians here in Deuteronomy 28, that they would come and they would take the corn, they would take the wine, they would take the crops, they would take the meat from the cattle as well. So they would take it all, and even though Israel were to prosper physically, they would still not benefit because the Assyrians would take it all from them in that judgment by God. back to verse number 1 in Hosea chapter 8. So, because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law, you only have to look at the first commandment, thou shalt love the Lord your God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Right there, their worship of idols made them null and void in God's sight. They had transgressed, yet He continued with an open, outstretched arm. He continued to show His mercy and kindness to them. Verse number 2, Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know Thee, typical of almost everyone. Lord, why do you judge us? Why do we stand in judgment before You? We know Thee. We love You. Look what we do. We have our sacred temples. Oh yeah, sure, it's not a big deal. So we've learned that there are many different ways to worship You. We love You. It doesn't matter whether we've combined our worship with idols, we still love You. Which is the biggest hypocrisy ever, because God is a jealous God. God does not accept worship of any other thing, any other God, any other idol, any other person. The only one that can be worshipped is the Lord Himself. Amen? Let's go over to the book of Matthew in a familiar spot here. Matthew chapter number 7, the words of Jesus. Matthew chapter 7, let's start with verse 15. It says, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." Now Jesus is ultimately talking about doctrine, and who devotion is to, whether it be towards tradition, or whether it be towards God Himself. Verse 18, now a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Verse number 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, or as in the case of Hosea, The people of Israel, Lord, we know you. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name hath cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. What a picture, looking back to the Old Testament. of all those who profess to know God, yet by their works, by their doctrine which created works, they did not trust God. They deny Him. Titus 1.16 says they profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. See, They could have the good works, but good works without the message of grace mean absolutely nothing. They had the semblance of being good. They looked the part, but inside Inside they had a disdain and a rejection of God. Not receiving the law, not receiving the prophets. So they created their own law and their own prophets. And that would follow right into the New Testament as well. Even after 400 years without any prophet until John. Would follow then, they would keep the written tradition of the elders. Notice, not of God, not of the Torah, not of the prophets, but they had another law that the elders wrote. That was the Pharisees would write a new law that people had to go to. By casting off God, they cast off all good as well. Because without God Himself, the good that you do, the good that they would do, they're nothing like, what does Isaiah 64 say? They're as dirty, filthy rags. They add up to nothing. Because our righteousness, or Israel's righteousness, detached from God was indeed sin. They cast off all of God's covenant requirements because they cast Him off. So, in essence, they would then, because they forsook God, they cast off morality and anything that even looked godly. Let's turn over to the book of Amos. Amos is a parallel with Hosea. Amos chapter number 5. I want to just look at verses 14 and 15, because their works were the same. as those that Hosea taught about, but here's what God desired them to do. Verse 14 says, Seek good and not evil that ye may live. And so the Lord the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken. hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate, it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Let's go on. Therefore the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, wailing shall be in all the streets, and they shall say in all the highways, alas, alas, and they shall call the husbandmen to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing. and in all vineyards shall be wailing, and I will pass through thee, saith the Lord." I'll end there. So we see those requirements, but God, knowing that He wouldn't follow them, still brings His judgment. Can we follow those requirements today? Can we seek good and not evil? We may try, but the Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. All have gone out of the way. Everyone, by nature, is evil. But yet, ancient Israel merely only had to trust God. Only have to trust in Him and He would turn them to seeking Him. That's how it works today as well. We cannot try to be good. We cannot try to follow the Ten Commandments. That's futile in its own. We can only trust in the finished work of Christ. That's why we can benefit so much more because we look back at what Christ has done. They had to look forward through the prophets that Christ was coming. And yes, they in turn rejected the first coming of Christ. But yet, God in His loving kindness and patience is sending Jesus again. Amen? That's reassuring for us. Yea, the Lord is coming. For us, that's exciting. But for those who do not know Christ, it's unsettling. Because He's coming with justice. He's come with healing in His wings. He's come with the Gospel. But His second time coming, everything will be fulfilled about His judgment. Let's go to one more place, the book of Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6. Go right after Jonah. Micah chapter 6. Let's just read verses 1-8. Hear ye now what the Lord saith. Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy works. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me. In other words, he's saying, what have I done to you? Why do you hate me so much? Because I've loved you, and desire that mercy, and desire that you be rescued. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of thy servants, and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him. from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Can I give up my own life for my sin? Can I give from sacrifices? Can I give oil, all the oil that I could muster up from the rivers? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, is God's requirement of Israel. But to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. That was the requirements of Israel. No more sacrifices. They were vain. No more mighty works, but simply just to trust Him and walk with Him. Now we can't walk with Him without trusting Him first. This was their purpose. Talk about a good purpose to have. Just walk humbly before your God. Remember, they cast off, by casting Him off, they cast off all those works. They cast off the ability to walk humbly before Him. They cast off the ability to serve Him. In the same manner, today, we're seeking after self-improvement. We're casting off the righteousness of God. We're casting off the Gospel in order to improve ourselves. What can we do to improve our lives? I know one thing that we can do, we can simply look to God and not worry so much about ourselves. That's a good start right there. Let's go back to Hosea, because you know what the end of self-improvement is? Futility. We meet an end no matter what. I always use the example of a heart doctor I once knew who pushed It's great to be healthy, but then he died of a heart attack. It was tragic. Being out and looking, jogging every day at an older age, jogging and that same jogging while trying to improve himself brought an end to his life. I'm not saying don't exercise or anything, but when we look at just the here and now, there is futility. See, Israel failed to look at eternity. They failed to look back at their history of goodness from God and His deliverance, and instead trusted in men instead of God. Let's go back to Hosea 8, verse 4. Israel has cast off the thing that is good. They cast off God, they cast off all moral restraint. The enemy shall pursue Him. It's open game. You want to trust in the things around you. Instead of God, the enemy world pursue. Just like in Deuteronomy chapter 28. They'll pursue and take everything. They have set up kings. So here's the second thing. They have set up kings, but not by me. We just have to look back at the first king of Israel was Saul. God did not choose Saul. The people chose Saul. Remember why they chose him? The next tallest person around him was only up to his shoulders. He was strapping. He was strong. He could deliver the goods. Meanwhile, David was chosen of God. Just a weak, ruddy young man was chosen because his heart was towards God. Israel's history was one that they would follow man's choice of people to lead them and not God's choice. Oh, imagine all the rulers that have promised great things to the people, but yet were against God. Think of Adolf Hitler. I mention him because he was just before my time. He delivered the goods, did he not? He delivered what was promised. He delivered a robust economy. He brought the nation of Germany back to greatness from the Weimar Republic of World War I. He delivered the goods, but we all know the fruit of those goods. The fruit of Aryan domination was one of the most sinister regimes ever. But then again, we look back to the Bible, think of the book of Esther and Haman wanting to massacre the Jews because of their birthright. Same thing throughout the years. People love ungodly leaders who can deliver or promise and deliver the goods as any nation would do. They selected their leaders on physical strength and their supplies. We think to ourselves, why? Why are ungodly leaders embraced in spite of their hatred of God? That was the history of Israel. Unfortunately, it's been the history of all of the earth. Ever since, people love unrighteousness. Was it FDR that promised a chicken in every pot? I think we've had a president that has promised free health care for all. The list goes on and on and on. If you will vote for me, I'll promise you the moon, but yet forsaken God and His provision for us. Back to verse number four. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not." In other words, they set up these other leaders, and not that God didn't know it, He just turned their back on them. You want these princes? You want these kings? You can have them. But it's not for me. So much for not having free will. The people did. And they chose against the Lord. They have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off." See, they took the prosperity that they received that really came from God, and they took and made idols. Tragedy right here. That they may be cut off. We see the idols in all of the Old Testament. We see what's happened to them. When Israel, or when Moses was in the mount, The people were playing below, and Aaron made an idol. What did Moses do with it from God? He pulverized them, ground them down to powder, and then cast them in the water. They were nothing. The Ark of the Covenant, with the Philistines in the camp of the Philistines, and with the gods of Dagon, when the Ark of the Covenant was there, those gods fell over. Boom! Their heads came off and finally the Philistines said, we need to get rid of this ark. We see the history throughout. Those idols that are talked about here were the idols set up by Jeroboam and Dan and Bethel. They created these idols of calves. And they even added Baal riding those calves. See, Baal was the symbol of fertility and blessings. The god of the harvest, but he was also So we look at verse 7, Baal was also the God of the storms. He was a God positively for blessing and negatively of the storms. See, guess what? If you weren't offering the right thing to Baal, He would bring the storms upon you and bring judgment. Yet all flying in the face of God. Verse number 5 says, O thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. Which is weird because the Hebrew says that God is the one that casts off the gods of Samaria. That's the way it reads. God has cast off the gods of Samaria. In other words, he hath rejected your calf. See, God did not take to this idol worship one bit. He's rejected it. He's cast it off. Why? My anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocence, ere to innocency? See, God is saying, how long are they going to claim that they're innocent before me? bit guilty as a child with his hand in a cookie jar. It wasn't me. How long are they going to claim that they were innocent before God? Oh, yes, God. We know that you hate our idols. We've set them up. We're not doing anything bad. How can you bring your judgment upon us? We are good in our own sight. Verse number six. For from Israel was it also, the workman made it, therefore it is not God." Go read through Isaiah, the book of Isaiah in the 40's, all through the 40's, chapter 40 through like 48, and that's what it talks about. It's all those that a craftsman has gone and taken wood, stone, gold, and he's crafted it. Then we say to that God, or that image, we say, move! Love to sometimes have an image, yeah. Be like telling it, alright image, go ahead, do your thing. Alright image, go ahead. It has no power. Because it's not created by God, it's created by man. The works of man's hands. Yes, they thought that those had power. Yet, nothing that's created by man has power in comparison with God whatsoever. Verse 7, For they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no start, the bud shall yield no meal. If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. Israel was at the point of no return. Her rebellion was so bad that even if they were to prosper physically, the enemies, the foreign nations would reap that fruit. We saw that in Deuteronomy 28 just a little while ago. Even if they had done physically well, the nations would take it. They have sown the wind. What do you usually sow if you're in an agricultural community? Usually sow seeds. in order to grow crops. But Israel, they have sown the wind. The wind. It's a symbol of vanity. I'm going to sow a little wind right here. Prosper anything? But that's what they were doing. They were taking the vanities of their hearts and of their minds and they were putting the emphasis on that. Trusting in the idols, trusting in their own goodness, That's what it's like sowing the wind. And they shall reap the whirlwind. So not only is this sowing of vain things, it would also reap a storm of destruction. The whirlwind, you don't see it, but you see the effects of it. It hath no suck. The bud shall yield no meal. There's nothing gained from sowing the wind. Look at this big if here. If so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up." In other words, their own prosperity would still be against them because God would be against them. Now, how do we wrap this up today? I was driving in this morning and seeing the boarded up house next door. Actually, last night when I saw it, I was thinking, what a difference. Here we have the church next to a boarded up building. Think of some of our cities, that reality even more. Shining lighthouses in the middle of a stormy sea. That's what the church was supposed to be. That's what the nation of Israel was supposed to be. They were supposed to be that light that all men would come to, and it will in the millennium. Jerusalem will be a place where all men will see, all men who are there will be mandatory to go up and worship there at the Feast of Tabernacles. Yet the church today We know that ultimately, we know the Scriptures for all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God. We know that the outward thing, the ramifications of outwardly rejecting God are sin and death. That's a reality. And even for the believer, we will still face the death of our bodies, but yet be risen unto new life. The Christian, as Israel was supposed to be, and it's found in the Old Testament in Leviticus, Do you ever hear the fact that the Christian is supposed to be salt to the world? Supposed to be light unto the world? Let's go to a couple places in closing. Leviticus chapter 2, verse number 12. As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the Lord, but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt. Anybody see the picture of Christ in here? Shalt thou season with salt, neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. Salt was an important part of every meat offering. Hold that there. Let's go over to 2 Kings chapter 2. We're going to look at Elisha for a second. 2 Kings chapter 2 is a great story and if you don't look at it as being pointing to Christ, you miss out on the reality of it. 2 Kings chapter 2. Go to verse 19. And the men of the city said unto Elisha, this was at the beginning of Elisha's ministry here, Behold I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant. Talking about Jericho here. As my Lord seeth, but the water is not, and the ground is barren. In other words, the water was poisoned. There was something going on in the water. Maybe it was like Flint, Michigan or someplace. Because what was happening, women were having miscarriages and stillborns and actually not conceiving and people were being poisoned by the water here around Jericho. And he said, bring me a new cruz or a new jar. Bring me a new cruz and think of a new cruz or the new jar and think of a new wine skin in the New Testament. So you know where we're going here. And put salt therein and they brought it to him. So he had a jar and he told them to go get some salt and put it in the jar. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters and cast the salt in there. Even the spring of the waters is amazing. Imagine the fountain where the waters came from under the earth. He put it there, took that salt, cast the salt in, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. There shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha, which he spake. So this is a type of Christ, and that's salt and healing the waters. That's what we get in Christ. Now, we'll go to the New Testament, go to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, again in the Beatitudes, verse 13. Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. One more place here, go over to Mark chapter 9. Parallel passage, verse number 38. And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, he followeth not us, and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter, halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Look at verse number 49. For everyone shall be salted with fire, And every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another." See, Jesus is going back to the Levitical sacrifice about the salt being an offering. In other words, He was bringing condemnation to those who trusted in the Law. He was bringing the focus back to Himself, to trusting Him. That's in the upcoming chapters. So Christ is the only focus that salt, in this case, was an indictment on the people and the Law. But yet, we are to have saltiness in our conversation, that salt is the Gospel, the healing waters of the Gospel, the water that we have in Christ, and we see that in Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4 verse number 2 says, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. So we see this salt used for the law and the sacrificial law being involved with the sacrifice that would point to Christ. Christ points it back to the law which condemns, but which He is the only one able to save. Us being the church or the people that trust Christ being the salt of the earth. This is what Israel was supposed to have. Israel was supposed to be salt and light And that salt and light would only be directed at and from Jehovah, from Yahweh, that would be their focus. But today that salt and light points right to Christ Jesus. Just as the church is salt and light in the community, with the backdrop of boarded up buildings, boarded up lives, thrown together sinful lives, That is the focus of the church. That's the answer. That we trust Christ. I say it over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Our main thing is to trust Christ and Him alone. And let Him drive us so that we can be that salt and light in the world around us. Israel had every opportunity to do so. And praise the Lord, she will have opportunity as well as the Lord comes back. But right now, we have this, I was going to say duty, we have this ability to be reflections of the light of Christ and to be salt in the world. Just think of that in Colossians, if you try to just dump everything on them, it overdoes it. But we are to be salt. with a sweet savor of Christ to those around us. Imagine if Israel had done that. We wouldn't have that ability today. But they didn't. So we get to. We get to trust Christ. We get to lean on Him. We get to follow Him. We don't got to. Amen?