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Alright, so you're looking at there at Hosea chapter 11, just look at the last verse there in verse number 12, Hosea 11, 12 it says, Ephraim, come passeth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. The title for the sermon this evening is faithful with the saints. You know the Lord is asking for us to be faithful unto him, he wants his people to be faithful unto the Lord. Now the truth of the matter is we're not always faithful to the Lord, thank God that salvation is not a continual life of faithfulness, it is a one time act of faith upon the death bearer and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I thank God for that. I thank God that he's not saying okay in order for you to be saved you have to be faithful to the day you die, because there are some days that I'm not that faithful. There are some days you know that I go about life and I may not necessarily give much thought to the Lord, I'm sure you've all experienced this, you know we can't say that we've always been faithful to the Lord, in fact every time you sin there was a time that you were unfaithful toward the Lord. But the great promise of God's word is that he will always be faithful unto us. That one time we place our faith on Christ, we're saved, and we're going to be saved for all eternity because of God's faithfulness, God's promise to keep us saved, God's preservation of the saints. And so the title for the sermon this afternoon or this evening is faithful with the saints, so we're going to just take some basic truths from this chapter about how we can be faithful because you'll notice that God is referring to Israel here as a nation that was unfaithful toward him. So let's start there in verse number one, Hosea chapter 11 verse number one, which reads when Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Now of course when you look at verse number one, you know knowing the Old Testament, knowing the story of Israel, we know immediately what God is speaking about here in verse number one, don't we? We know that the Lord is referring to the time that Israel was in bondage to Egypt. And then the Lord stepped in, sent his prophet Moses to come and lead the people out of that land and Israel was a child in that sense where it was a young nation. They went into Egypt with only about 70 men and then they left with a million, maybe two million people and so this was the start of a brand new nation as Moses led these people. The Lord refers to this step of coming out through the exodus as Israel being a child. Now I want you to keep your finger there and let's go to Matthew chapter two, let's go to Matthew chapter two because we know just by looking at Hosea, it's definitely about the nation of Israel. But when we look at the birth of Jesus Christ, this same verse is taken to describe the events that surrounded Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter two and verse number 12, we're picking up the story of the wise men who journeyed to Jerusalem first and then they discovered no, this child will be born in Bethlehem and so they make further journey to Bethlehem and you know the story that Herod instructed the wise men to come back and tell him where they would find the king of the Jews. But look at verse number 12, it says, and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And so the Lord warns the wise men, you know, don't go back to Herod because we know that Herod's desire was to kill young Jesus Christ, just to kill this young child. Verse number 13, and when they were departed behold, the angel of the Lord appearth to Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. And he said, well, we know this is about Jesus. We know the Lord is warning them, hey, go into Egypt. We don't want you to suffer this fate that would come upon the people of Jerusalem and Australian cities and so they go to Egypt to protect the life of Jesus Christ as a young child. But look at verse number 15, and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, out of Egypt have I called my son. Say what? Okay, so when we read in the New Testament, we see there was a fulfillment of this saying which comes from the prophet Hosea. Hosea referring to the nation of Israel and God saying, well, hold on, yes, yes, yes, at that point, you know, that was about Israel, but there's a greater prophecy at hand, okay? In a sense, there is a double fulfillment of what took place, yes, Israel coming out of Egypt, but the greater fulfillment is about Jesus Christ coming out of Egypt himself and returning back and then they obviously travel into Nazareth, okay? And so what I want to show you there, brethren, is that as you're in Hosea, you won't even pick up, you won't even notice that it's about Jesus. The Almighty immediately goes to the exodus of Egypt with Moses, okay? But the New Testament gives us further light. It gives us further revelation of what God meant when you pen down Hosea 11 verse 1. So what I'm trying to say to you is this, brethren, that the Old Testament is best understood in light of the New Testament, okay? There was a truth about Egypt, but when you read the New Testament, God gives us the greater truth. He gives us the fulfillment of that prophecy. When you read that, you had no idea that it's about some future event. In fact, you look at it, you think, well, that's about a past event and yet God says, no, there's a greater truth at hand and that's revealed to us by the New Testament writers. You see, the Bible is a very deep book. It has multiple layers. No matter how much you try to take a layer off the Bible and you get further and further deeper, deeper into his word, God will always reveal further, deeper and greater truths to us. And the way he does this in many ways is by giving us the New Testament to shed light on the Old Testament. And so this is an important way for you to study and read your Bibles, okay? I always recommend maybe start with the New Testament if you've not read the Bible cover to cover because then you'll see all the pictures, you'll see all those little things that you probably would not have realized when you read the Old Testament, okay? The New Testament gives you that light. So the point is this, you notice that even the Old Testament points us to Christ. Even something like the Exodus, which in your mind, how does that tie in with Christ? Yes, it tied in with Jesus Christ. The Bible is a Christ-centric book, okay? It points us to Christ. Why? Because it's through Christ that we can be saved, it's through Christ that we have access to the Father. Hey, it's through Christ that we can have the Holy Ghost living in us, okay? And so Christ is the door, He is the way, He is the one that the Old Testament prophets would write about even though it seemingly looked like it was about some other topic but the greater truth was always about Christ. And so my recommendation, anytime you're reading the Bible, think about where do I find Christ in what I'm reading? Is Christ on these pages? Now back to Hosea 11 verse number 2 because another great tip for you as you read and study the Bible is while you do see Israel here as a type of Christ, right, that would be a type. Christ would be the anti-type. He would be the fulfillment of this picture of Israel coming out of Egypt. At the same time, you have to be very careful not to take a type or a parable or some illustration you know too far. You know, I've seen preaching where people take illustrations from the Bible and go too far with this. Because if you look at verse number 2, you know, it says and they called them. Now the they here is referring to, I believe anyway, it's about the prophets. The prophets have called the Israelites so they went from them. They sacrificed unto Balaam and burned incense to graven images. So when we look at verse number 1, you know, Israel coming out of Egypt and then you look at verse number 2, what do they do? Eventually they went and started to worship false gods. So you can't take this story and say, well, now I'm going to apply this to Christ because we know Christ and his family never worshiped Balaam. They never worshiped false gods. And so you've got to be careful, you know, when you take types and you take illustrations, you know, put your limits or put some boundaries where the Lord puts those boundaries. You can't look at verse number 2 and go, well, you know, we know this was a type of Christ, therefore maybe Christ's parents were worshiping Balaam in Egypt while they were there or something like that. Okay? So you can't take an illustration or a parable too far. Of course, verse number 2 is about the Israelites that had turned their backs against the Lord and then started worshiping, sacrificing unto false gods and to graven images. And so as the prophets called them, so they went from them. It seems like whenever a man of God is preaching, people are going to leave, okay? And you know, we've experienced that when we've had, you know, visitors come and a sermon gets preached, we've seen people leave. Why? The prophet of God was preaching the truth and some people can't handle the truth, okay? But the Word of God is the truth, okay? It's always the truth. But I'm just trying to warn you, be careful about the illustrations you read about and apply it. You know, are they always about Christ or is it just one part, one segment that is referring to Christ or some other spiritual truth? Now if you can please turn to Numbers 21 and keep your finger there again in Hosea 11. Let's go to Numbers 21 because I want to show you how an illustration can be taken too far. Numbers 21 verse number 6 and we're going to the famous story of the serpents that bit the Israelites, right? They had done wickedly to the Lord and then the Lord judges them by sending these serpents and they're biting the people. People are dying from the bites of these serpents. Verse number 6, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us and Moses prayed for the people and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when you look upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten a man, any man, when he behold the serpent of brass, he lived. So here we have another type of Christ, another illustration of Christ, that people are being bitten by these serpents, they're dying, you know, there's mass death taking place and so God instructs Moses after he had prayed, you know, create this bronze serpent, this brazen serpent, this fiery serpent on a pole and if people look upon it, then they're going to be healed from the venom. And we know that this is a picture, even Christ himself in the New Testament points to this as it being about him being lifted up, okay? And yes, you know, we have that great hymn that says, look and live, right? My brother live, yeah, if we look on Christ, we look upon Christ in faith, we're going to be healed, hey, not necessarily from snake venom, okay, but we're definitely going to be healed from our sins. And so when we look at that, we say, yeah, that's a type of Christ, the serpent being lifted up on the pole, hey, that's a picture of Christ being lifted up on the cross, you say, well, you know, it was serpents that had caused the damage, the pain, the venom, the death and a serpent was being lifted up there and so you can draw some further illustrations or further truths from that and say, well, you know, it's sin that kills us spiritually, it's sin that makes us deserving of hell and so we know that the Bible tells us that Christ became sin for us and so the same picture that causes us death is what was crucified on that cross with Christ becoming the curse for us, becoming the sin for us, so you can see those truths develop but then you can take an illustration too far and say like the Jehovah Witnesses, you know, the Jehovah Witnesses don't believe Jesus died on cross, they believe he died on a stake, okay, not this way but his hands up this way if you've seen the pictures of that and where do you think they get that idea from? Well, they're looking at a parable, sorry, an illustration like this, the serpent on a pole and say, well, look, there's a pole, it's not a serpent on a cross, now, look, it could have been a cross, we don't know, okay, we don't know but hey, what we see there, it was a pole, okay, they say, well, you know, that proves that Jesus did not die on a cross, he died on a pole, he died on a stake and then of course, we'll be taking an illustration, a parable, a type too far, okay, you're reading too much into the Word of God then than what there is so we also have to be careful about how far we go with the illustrations that we see in the Bible. Another one that we can think about, if you can please turn to Luke 15, turn to Luke 15 verse 11, Luke 15 verse 11, again, I want you to look for Christ every time you read your Bibles but don't take it too far, okay, where you're getting into heresy, where things are obviously not what you're referring to, you're taking something way too far than what God tells us. Luke 15 verse 11, we're looking at the parable of the prodigal son, okay, just very quickly, we're not going to read the whole thing but verse number 11, it says, and he said a certain man had two sons, in fact, I think we'll read the whole thing, a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that fall off to me and he divided unto them his living and not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with righteous living. And so we have the story of the son, this son, younger son, he takes the inheritance from his father and he wastes all his substance on righteous living, alright, so this is kind of parting up, maybe getting drunk, all these kinds of things. Now, look at verse number 14, and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want, now brethren, I've been a Sunday school teacher, so you know, you take stories of the Bible and as a Sunday school teacher, you're teaching the kids and sometimes he acts things out, I remember one Sunday, there was like a Sunday school church service, so all the kids were basically either singing songs or doing plays, these kinds of things and for my class, we took the prodigal son, okay, and so we're acting out the prodigal son, we had one person to be the prodigal son, we had someone else to be the brother, we had someone else to be the father, all these kinds of things, but then when we had the story where he goes into righteous living and wastes all his substance, you know what else we added to the story? A couple of mates, a couple of friends, right, and so the prodigal son gets around, he spends all this money, all these people want to hang around him and the reason we did this is because I've seen the same thing, I've seen the other plays of the prodigal son with the same idea, a whole bunch of mates around him, he's got all this money and they're just living it up, they're partying, a whole bunch of friends and then he loses all his money and then the friends are all gone and then the lesson is what kind of friends were they? But brethren, are there any friends in this parable? No, okay, now look, if you're just acting things out and playing, okay, you're going to spruce up the story, if you've ever seen a Hollywood movie of the Bible, hey, there's a lot of things there that is not biblical, I'm telling you, okay, don't think that's the Bible and then you go back to the Bible and you're like, you know, I could have sworn I read the Bible and had this stuff, no, it's not there, it's a Hollywood movie, okay, but that's taken something too far and look, a parable is not a true story about real people, okay, it's a made up story, okay, and so the fact that there are no friends means there are no friends, that's what it means, okay, and so this is where people take things too far and then they start teaching about, you know, and look, I'm all for teaching about being careful what kinds of friends you make, I'm all for teaching about, you know, wasting your substance and making sure, you know, people aren't just using you, I'm all for that kind of preaching but you don't want to take a parable which is not even about that topic and start teaching about that, okay, you're taking it too far, you're taking it beyond what Jesus Christ spoke about, remember, this is a fake story, it's make believe, it's an illustration to teach us some greater spiritual truth, let's keep going, verse number 15, verse 16, 15, and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine, so this is the first time we just have another character and he's the one that gets him to feed his swine, his pigs, verse number 16, and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him and when he came to him he said, how many hired servants of my fathers have bred enough and to spare and I perish with hunger, I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, so you see the father's now in the story, verse number 19, and am no more worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants and he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him and the son said unto the father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son. This is a great parable about a backslidden Christian who returns back to the father after wasting his life in a life of sin, of waste, he returns back and he wants to be back in fellowship with his father, the father sees him a way off, he runs, he kisses him, he welcomes him back, right? It's a great story about a backslidden Christian. But then you have other preachers that will take this and say well, and I've seen this, I've seen this preaching, I saw it online, well what about the mother? Where's the mother? Alright, I mean the dad's there, the son's there, his brother's there, where's the mother? And then a whole sermon about the mother. Okay and you know she must have been out there, you know painting her nails, she didn't care about raising her children, right? She was a bad wife and then you start preaching about women and women issues. Where is the mother? There is no mother. It's a story, it's make believe. The only characters in the story are the ones that are in it. You don't just start making up, what about the uncle? Alright, what about the cousin's you know youngest baby? Where's that child, where's his story? And then you start preaching about that baby. Okay, you got to be careful about how you read your Bible and you know I guess I'm speaking to those that meant the men that come behind the pulpit and preach, you know you don't want to take something too far and focus on what God wants us to focus on in His Word. Okay, so this is just a warning, there are people like that, there are preachers like that and I've got too much of a fear of God to go that way. Too much, alright, I mean let's just preach what the Bible says is enough in the Bible. We don't have to start making things up. There is no mother, there is no mother. Hey, this is a great story between a Christian and God the Father. I mean if there was a mother you're going to start confusing things a little bit. Right, I mean is God a man? Does He have a wife? You know, is there a spiritual mother? No. Okay, God is one, He's a father, He's a father, He's masculine, maybe that's why there's no mother. Just to keep the point that you know God is a man, God is masculine, He's not some gender neutral, gender bending God, no He's a man. Okay, and so we don't want to add things to illustrations because He can really mess up the word of God. And so if you have the right fear of God you're not going to make those mistakes. But back to Hosea chapter 11 verse number 3, Hosea chapter 11 verse number 3, God says I taught Ephraim also to go. Now every time we read Ephraim don't forget that's just Israel, that's the northern kingdom of Israel. Ephraim is one of the tribes, one of the greater tribes in that kingdom. So it says I taught Ephraim also to go. So it says God's saying look I also took this young child that came out of Egypt and I also taught him how to walk, that's the idea, taught him how to go, taking them by their arms. So it's like a little, you know, a mother teaching their little baby how to walk, right, you hold the arms, you let them take little steps, hey walk in this way, that's how God is ascribing His relationship with Israel. But then it says this, but they knew not that I healed them. Okay, point number 1 in order for us to be faithful believers, faithful toward the Lord is that we must remember God's healing. Remember God's healing. You see that they knew not, they forgot or just didn't realize that it was God that was leading them all the way. Now I assume the first generation of Israelites didn't obviously know, they've seen the miracles of God, they were there, okay, but as the subsequent generations came through they had forgotten all about God's healing to this nation and how He had delivered them out of Egypt and so they became unfaithful. Now we can become unfaithful if we also forget the healing of God. Now I try to notice that this is a major theme in the book of Hosea, so go back to Hosea 5 for me, Hosea 5 verse number 13, Hosea 5 and verse number 13, it says when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jarab, yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound. And so we see here that Israel, instead of going to the Lord for healing, they've gone to another nation, okay, knowing that God's judgment's going to fall, you know, through the Assyrians, they've gone to other people trying to get healing, they did not go to the Lord, right, they tried to appease the king, they tried to appease the king of Assyria that they would not be judged in such a harsh manner. And so you notice there that this nation needed healing, but they did not go to God, okay, go to Hosea 6 verse number 1, Hosea 6 verse number 1, it says come and let us return unto the Lord for He have torn and He will heal us, He have smitten and He will bind us up, okay, look at Hosea 7 verse number 1, Hosea 7 verse number 1, God says when I would have healed Israel, so God's desire to heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered in the weakness of Samaria, for they commit falsehood and the thief cometh in and the trip of robbers spoiled without. And so you see that God wants to heal this nation, but He's discovered further of their weakness, further of their sins, and so God holds back from His healing. So I just want you to notice, this is a major theme in the book of Hosea. Now, obviously we're looking at the healing of a nation, aren't we? We're looking at a nation that is far from God, we're looking at a nation that's not far from the judgment of God, we're looking at a nation that's worshipping false gods, but don't forget, you know, you might say, well, you know, I'll never worship a false god, and I believe that, I don't, you know, you know, I truly believe you will not worship a false god, knowing the God of the Bible, okay? But here's the thing, we also have been healed in a way that can be easily forgotten, and I'm just going to read to you from Isaiah 53 verse 4, Isaiah 53 verse 4 very quickly, it says, Surely He, speaking of Jesus, have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and then it says this, and with His stripes we are healed. With His stripes we are healed. The stripes, of course, is the whipping of Jesus Christ, leading up to His sacrifice, His, you know, full sacrifice, the blood that was shed, hey, that's what healed us. You say, well, what kind of healing is that? Well, that's salvation, okay? You know, we have this deadly virus in us, we have this sickness in us, which is sin, and if we were to die in this sinful state, we would end up in hellfire. Yet God has stepped in, He has healed us, He did it through the process of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, so what are we trying to learn from that? If we want to be faithful to the Lord, we need to remember God's healing. If God has healed you from sickness, God's given you good health, hey, don't forget that as well, remember that as well. But more importantly, what's going to give you joy, what's going to cause you to remain faithful to God if you just remember His salvation, the salvation of your soul, the fact that Christ has taken all your sins upon Himself, and they were crucified on the tree with Him. Okay, so number one, in order for us to remain faithful to the Lord, remember God's healing. Israel had forgotten that God had healed them, that God had delivered them out of Egypt. Back to Hosea 11, verse number four, Hosea 11, verse number four. God says, I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. Did God have great love? Absolutely, He had a great love for this nation. And it says, and I was to them as they that take off the yoke of their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. So God has reminded them, look, I've taken that burden, that yoke of burden that you had from the Egyptians. I was the one that delivered you from that, not only that, but I also laid meat unto you, I also provided for you. I made sure you had everything you needed. Verse number five, He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return. That's refused to return to the Lord. And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them because of their own counsels. We saw this in the previous chapter, that they did not seek the counsel of the Lord, they sought their own counsel, they sought their own advice. Now just very quickly, look back in the previous chapter, Hosea chapter 10 and verse number six, Hosea chapter 10 verse number six. It said here, it shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. So what is God saying here? God is saying the reason you're going to be judged, the reason you're going into this captivity, and things are going to be horrible for you, is because you took your own counsel. God is saying you're to blame, you sinned against God, you've turned to these false gods, you're the one that sinned. You're the one to blame. God is saying look, take ownership for what you've done. Because these people, they don't think they've done anything wrong. They honestly think they're just people of God, God's not going to judge them, they're right with God, right? But God's saying no, you've got to take accountability, you've got to take blame for the sins that you've done. And yes, it's going to result in the judgment of God. Now this is important for us to remember, because it is human nature to justify our sins. Honestly, I have people come up to me, I don't want to know people's sins. But they find themselves in a bad place, or family in a bad place, because of sin. And it's like, but surely God understands. Surely God, you know, this happened, this happened. We've just got to stop justifying our sins. When judgment falls, when we sin against the Lord, the only one to blame is ourselves. We sought our own counsel, we did not seek the counsel of God. We can't turn around and say, well God, you put me in this situation and I sinned. No, that's not an excuse. Take accountability. But you know what, this is just human nature. We say this from the very beginning. Let's go to Genesis chapter 3, verse 11. Genesis chapter 3, verse 11. We're just going back to the time when, of course, Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, and I'm sure you all know this, but just to remind ourselves, Genesis chapter 3, verse 11. Adam and Eve had taken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which the Lord asked them not to, of course. And in verse 11 it says, and he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Was Adam at a weak place right there? Absolutely. Did Adam want to take accountability, responsibility for his actions, for his sins? No. Listen, this is immediately the first sin of man, and God confronts him. What's it, shifts the blame. It was the woman, God, you gave me Eve. You know, if you gave me a better wife, God, maybe I would be a happier Christian. God, maybe if you gave me a better wife, I'd be doing more for you, Lord. No, that's not, you don't blame your wife. You know, you don't blame other people for your own sins. Adam should just take accountability for himself. That's not just Adam, because then look at verse number 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is it that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. It was the devil. It was the devil's fault. You know, I came across one of those people not long ago. Actually, not long ago. It was before we went down to Sydney, but not long before we went down to Sydney. And we're talking about sin, it's like, yeah, you know, now that I'm saved. He wasn't saved, by the way. Now that I'm saved, you know, I never sin. It's like, come on, you've never told a lie? You've never done this, you've never done that? Yeah, I have, but that was the devil! No! What are you, like Eve? Have you not read Genesis chapter 3 and learned from this already? I mean, it's just three chapters into your Bible. You can't just turn around and blame the devil. Now, did the devil have a part in the sin of Eve and Adam? Absolutely, right? He's the tempter. He came tempting them. But listen, they also had the word of God, so they made a decision. Do I listen to God or do I listen to the devil? All right, Adam blames his wife, wife blames the devil. Okay, they're both in the wrong. But you see, we have this in the Bible to show us our human nature. Okay, when we sin, you're going to try to justify yourself. You know, or when things fall apart around you in life as consequences of your sin. You're going to say, well, you know, I had no other choice. You know, this is how it's got to be. You know, God understands my situation. You know, I had to get divorced and remarried five times. God understands. No, it's wrong. Okay, just take accountability. Just own up to it. Just be a man, be a woman. Okay, stop blaming the devil about everything and just take responsibility. Look, if Israel had just done this, you know, and said, look, yeah, we listened to our own counsel, God. Yeah, Hosea, you're right. We messed up. Okay, we're at fault. What do we do now? I'm sure God would have been merciful. We know he's a merciful, long-suffering God. He does it over and over and over again in this nation. But they're a stiff-necked people. Okay, and they sought to blame others or blame God or blame the devil. You know, no, when you sin, it comes from your own heart, your own heart, the lust of your own heart. Okay, but this is why we have a savior. This is why we have Jesus. This is why we have God. That we can turn to him every time we have sinned against him. Okay, because as I said, we want to be faithful Christians. You know, if we don't admit our error, if we don't, you know, go to the Lord and confess our mistakes, you're going to suffer in your faithfulness toward the Lord. Can we go back to Hosea, chapter 11, verse number 7. Hosea, chapter 11, verse number 7. It says, and my people are bent to backsliding from me. So I could have said point number 2 is don't backslide. But I think there's a greater point to this, because if you keep reading it says, though they called them, so the day here I believe again is the prophets, the prophets are calling them to the Most High, none at all would exalt him. So the prophets come on the scene, hey Israel, let's go back to the Lord. Let's exalt the Most High. Okay, but none at all would exalt him. Point number 2, in order for us to remain faithful unto the Lord, we need to learn how to exalt the Most High. Exalt the Most High. Okay, so when we come to church and we sing our songs of praises, we're doing it to exalt the Lord, to lift up his name, to praise him. Hey, if we get into that habit, brethren, and we sing with our hearts and we sing with our mouths, we're going to be faithful unto the Lord. Okay, we're not going to backslide as long as we keep exalting the Lord. Every time you're blessed, every time you get a paycheck, every time something good happens to you, you ought to say praise God. You get a soul saved, praise God, you exalt the Lord. You get into that habit, you make that part of your life, you exalt the Lord. Hey, even when things are bad, you know what you do? You exalt the Lord. Even when you're facing God's chastisement, you know what you do? Thank you, Lord, for your chastisement. You thank the Lord, you praise the Lord, you exalt the Lord. You know, let's not be timid of the Pentecostals, you know, who have their arms up high. And look, I know a lot of that is vain. In fact, I'd probably say all of it's vain. Okay, I know, okay. But you know, we should not be believers, Christians, that look at corrupt Christianity, look at some fake spirituality, okay, some vain ways of worship and go, well, you know, we're the Baptists. Okay, I've got to make sure my hands are like this and I praise God like this. No, no, let's exalt the Lord, okay? He's our Saviour, He's the Most High. There's nothing higher than the Lord, okay? And so we're commanded to praise Him. You get into that habit, brethren, not just at church, at home. Wake up in the morning, praise the Lord, open His Word. Thank Him for a new day. You know, that's going to go a long way till you remain faithful unto the Lord. Verse number eight, please. Verse number eight. God says to Israel or to Ephraim here, how shall I give thee up, Ephraim? So is God going to give them up? Yep. God's saying, should I really do this, Ephraim? Should you be the one that I give up on? How shall I deliver thee? You want me to deliver you from the Assyrians? Israel, how shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboam? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. My repentings are kindled together. What is God speaking about here? Does anyone know what Admah or Zeboam is, those two cities? Anyone know? You probably do know, but you probably can't remember right now. That's all right. I thought it was quite interesting that God will use the language about giving them up. Because when we talk about giving people up, what are we talking about? Reprobates, yeah? And I'm just going to read to you, if you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29. We do know that those that are being given up by God are reprobates. And as you'll turn into Deuteronomy chapter 29, I'm going to read to you from Romans 1 verse 24, which says, Wherefore God also gave them up to unclean us through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. So when we look at these that God has given up on, these are reprobate people, and God has given them up, hey, if you want to pursue those vile affections, you go ahead and do that. What's vile? Homosexuality. Okay? The gays, the lesbians, the sodomites, they're vile. They've been given up by God. And God is using the same language about Israel. He says, How shall I give them? You shouldn't be the people that I give up on. Okay? And then he compares them to Admah and Zeboam. Cause look at Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse number 21, Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse 21, it reads, And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law, so that the generation to come of your children, that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of the land, and the sicknesses which the LORD have laid upon it, look at verse number 23, that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning. So we know this is going to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at this. That is not sown nor bareth, nor any grass growth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, there it is, look now, Admah and Zeboam, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. So when we read the book of Genesis, we often talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. Those are the two main cities that God destroyed. But they weren't the only cities that God destroyed because of this wickedness. Also, Admah and Zeboam. At the same time that God's anger and his wrath, the fire and the brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, so also Admah and Zeboam, because they were also participating in those sins. There were other cities in the local area that were doing the same wicked sinful things, God destroys all those cities. And now God is saying to Israel, you're just like them. You're just like them. Why are you just like them? Why do I have to give up on you the same way I had to give up on them? Well, we've looked at previous chapters that they were acting on the same sins. They were reprobate. A lot of those people were reprobate. They were doing sinful things, they were committing homosexuality, and God is saying, look, I'm going to have to give up on this entire nation. Okay, back to Hosea chapter 11, verse number 9. Chapter 11, verse number 9. It says, I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city. Now before I cover the beginning of verse number 9, I just want you to notice there that God says he's the holy one in the midst of thee. And I was thinking about how do we apply this, you know, in the New Testament, we want to be faithful to the Lord, and the first thing that came to my mind, of course, is the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 18, verse 30. Again, in the context of church, where it says, for where two are free are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. You know, in order for us to be faithful, we need to be in a place where God says I'm going to be in the midst of thee. I'm going to be in the midst of them. What is that place? That's your local church. And I thank God that you're here tonight at church, not because I traveled from Sydney. I don't care, okay? I'm nothing, all right? I'm just a forgiven sinner, just like you, okay? But we come to church because we want to be in the midst of God's presence, okay? And so the third point that I have for you, brethren, in order for you to remain faithful to the Lord is to continue in church. Continue in church, brethren, okay? Stay in church, not for me, not for my sake, okay? Please, you know, I don't want you to, I better turn up Wednesday night because Pastor Kevin's traveled all the way. Well, yeah, if that makes you feel guilty, come to church, okay? But that's not why we come to be in God's presence. We come to be in the house of the Lord. This is how we remain faithful. When you start missing church, it's going to be easy one week till next, okay? Hey, when we started this church, you guys wanted to be here every service, right? Every Sunday, every midweek service, you're going to be here. And as the time goes on, it's like, well, church is always going to be around. Let's just miss the service here and there, okay? But look, you're going to be missing the presence of God. You're going to be missing your time to be in the midst of Him where His Holy Spirit does a great work in your life, and you can learn great truths from God's Word, okay? Make it your priority to continue in church, okay? Continue in church. Back to verse number nine there, He says, look, I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. God says, look, when I judge you, I'm going to hold back a measure of my anger, okay? He's going to judge them. He's going to be very angry, but He's not giving them the full brunt at this point in time. He goes, I will not return to destroy Ephraim. The best way I understand this is He's saying, I'm not going to make like a full end of Ephraim. There's still going to be a plan ahead for them. There is hope for this nation to some extent. Now we know that Ephraim is a little bit different, or Israel is a little bit different, because we know when Judah was taken into captivity, they returned back to the land seven years later, whereas the northern kingdom is gone, okay? They were dispersed, intermingled with all kinds of people. They became known as the Samaritans in the times of the New Testament, okay? So what is God speaking about here, okay, that is not going to make a full destruction of Ephraim, okay? And so when God says, for I am God and not a man, and not man, He's basically saying, look, I actually have more mercy. I have a greater long suffering with a rebellious people than what man does. Generally speaking, if man does something wrong to you, you give up on them pretty quickly. I'm done. God says, I'm not a man like that. And so God has this greater quality of long suffering, mercifulness, okay, His faithfulness toward us. And so what is this referring to exactly? And I believe the answer to that, well let's keep reading to that verse number 10. Because then it says in verse number 10, they shall walk after the Lord. So God said, look, there is coming a time when Ephraim will walk after the Lord. He shall roar like a lion, when he shall roar, and then the children shall tremble from the west. I'm not sure what that means. Verse number 11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria, and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord. So we know this about the fear of the Lord. The Lord's going to roar like a lion. Now we often think about the Lord coming back as that lion, that lion of Judah. And people once again, this Israel, this Ephraim, will be walking after the Lord. Now this is where your dispensationalists, your Zionists will say, well see, that's why we need to get the Jews back on their land. We need to get them back walking with the Lord. And you know my position on that, I'm not going to go through that now. But let's not forget, when we started to look at Hosea, we looked at the first three chapters, remember? And I told you the first three chapters is the introduction, it's the foundation to the rest of the book. So if we go back to Hosea chapter 1, verse number 9, let's remind ourselves what God is teaching. Hosea chapter 1, verse number 9. Hosea chapter 1, verse number 9 reads, Then said God, call his name Loami. That was one of the sons of Hosea. For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. We read that, we covered that. God is saying look, I'm done with you being my people. God has rejected that physical nation, it's finished. They're not the people of God. Those people in the land of Israel today, they're not the people of God. And God is not their God. But look at verse number 10. Yet, there's a hope, Yet, the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered, and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. And so what I taught back then was that God is talking about a physical nation which has been rejected, but there's a great hope for believers that if you're part of the spiritual nation, that you're going to enter into that millennium. You're going to rule in the kingdom of God. So that's what it's teaching us. There is a hope for Ephraim. I'm sure there weren't all reprobates. There were some people in those lands that were saved. And their hope is that they're going to be restored back as a nation, but not that physical nation which God is over with, but dealing with a spiritual people, Jews and Gentiles together in Christ Jesus. So this promise, this hope is for us. It's for us. And any Jew that is saved, that is truly saved, believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, look at Hosea chapter 2 verse number 23. Hosea chapter 2 and verse number 23, and it says, And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. These are again the Gentiles. And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God. Hey, that's us, once again. This is the hope that God is speaking about in the book of Hosea. Let's go to Hosea chapter 3 verse number 5. Hosea chapter 3 verse number 5. It says, Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days. Hey, what are they going to do? They're going to fear the Lord. What did Hosea 11 say? When God roars like a lion, they're going to tremble. They're going to have a fear of God. Okay? And so as we see this, you know, we see that, hey, this physical nation, this reprobate nation, rejected by God, God is done with a physical nation, and that's just fine. Okay? Because it's not the nation that matters, it's the people that matter. And if the people were saved, if they were, you know, saved whether Jew or Gentile in the Old Testament, New Testament, we are the people of God. We're going to be the ones that inherit this great kingdom of Christ that He's going to rule from for a thousand years. I'm looking forward to that time. And so don't let people show you Hosea 11 and say, well, God didn't really mean that He's done with them. Okay? Because, look, He's going to bring them back. Yeah, but it's a spiritual nation. And again, we get that light from where? From the New Testament. The New Testament sheds light on what the Old Testament covers. So go in full circle with what I started with. Let's go to verse number 12 now, Hosea 11 verse 12. So again, there's two ideas here. Judah of that time, okay, Israel will be taken into captivity. Judah would last for about another hundred or so years, 120 years roughly. Okay? And so yeah, God is saying, look, even though Judah is not perfect, they have been faithful, much more faithful than what Israel is. Okay? But again, let's take this truth for ourselves. What's the truth here? Think about yourself. Okay? But Judah yet ruleth with God. We know that Christ is coming back in that millennium. I'm going to rule with Christ. I want you to rule with Christ. Okay? And look, there's going to be a hierarchy. There's going to be different people with different rewards. Those that were most faithful to the Lord are going to receive more than others. You know, thou good and faithful servant when we see the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the words we want to hear, don't we? Thou good and faithful servant. And it said there, right? But Judah yet ruleth with God and is faithful with the saints. You know, I want the Lord to find New Life Baptist Church faithful when he returns. Faithful with all the saints. Okay? All the saints of this church, I want you to seek to remain faithful to the Lord. I want you to be rewarded handsomely You know? I want those beautiful words to come out of the mouth of Jesus. Thou good and faithful servant. And so in conclusion, brethren, let me just give you those three main points that I looked at in this chapter. Number one, in order for you to remain faithful, remember God's healing. Remember his salvation. Number two, exalt the most high. And number three, continue in church. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for your word.