(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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