Father, we thank thee again for the joy of being together in this blessed capacity. What joy it is to gather around the Word of God with the consciousness that there is a blessed person that we mutually love. Thy dearly beloved Son, we bless thee for him. When we think of one another, by nature we may not be related to each other. But what joy to know, by grace divine, through the precious blood of our Savior and the new birth, we're in the family of God and fellow children in thy family forever. And we bless thee for the fellowship, how we thank thee for the measure of it that we enjoy on the way home to glory. And as we gather together today, we bless thee for the privilege as well as bringing us back again, not forgetting those that are absent. We pray particularly, Lord, for those who are sick. So many of thy dear people. Some we have named, others we may not know. But, Lord, many of them, not only the one of whom it was said long ago, he whom thou lovest is sick, but there are many. Will it come all to thee? Some in the hospital, some in their homes, or wherever they might be. We commend them to thy blessing and thy care and thy healing hand if it pleases thee. Show them thy grace and comfort in their trial. We ask thee, too, Father, for our loved ones, the members of the families that we represent. We would not be unmindful. We pray for those who may yet be out of Christ. Before the Lord Jesus comes again, which may be very imminent, we pray they will be saved. We ask for those who know thee as their Savior to be drawn closer to thee. We pray also for all the members of thy family worldwide. Comfort thy people. Remember the loss, and where the gospel of thy grace is preached, save precious souls even today. Now hear our prayer. and by the Holy Spirit open the Scriptures. Make the book live to each one of us in our hearts and lives. We ask in our Savior's precious name and for his glory. Amen. Chapter eleven of the book of Hosea today, your lesson page will be page number twelve if you have your book or your lesson sheet. But the eleven chapter will be our portion. I would like to read it through, not a very long chapter, and we can read it through as we go through this prophecy of Hosea. Chapter eleven, and you have the prophet writing to say, When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them. They sacrificed unto Balaam, and burned incense in graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and yet I laid meat unto them. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king. because they refuse to return, and the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches and devour them because of their own counsels. And my people are bent to backsliding from me, though they call them to the most high, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give thee up Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admon? How shall I set thee as he born? My heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together. 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. They shall walk after the Lord. He shall roar like a lion. When he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. 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. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with a saint. May God add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. And as we follow the outline on your sheet, page number twelve, chapter eleven, we have one particular title for the chapter, for it brings out not only in this chapter and it will to the end of the book, and especially the last chapter, God's faithful love for Israel. Some of you may recall, I think it is upon the opening page of your lesson on this prophecy of Isaiah, that we mentioned The three particular manifestations regarding God's character revealed in this book of Hosea. First of all, God is holy. Second, God is just. And last of all, God is love. You have those three attributes of God brought out very vividly in the book of Hosea. God is holy. We recognize that from his condemnation. the many accusations that he made, and had to, in accusation, bring against his people Israel. We also found he truly is just. The very visitation of judgments that he brought upon them, the judgments that he promised, they were bought according to his justice, and they're fully deserving it. But last of all, and this is precious, and you know it's a beautiful truth regarding you and me. as believers in the Lord Jesus. God is holy, and he must condemn us as sinners. Then God is just. He can only save us on a righteous basis, and that we know, thank God, is through the death of his dear son who bore the penalty for our sins. But he brings before us the greatest of all truth regarding the character of God, God is love. And what a joy to recognize. the manifestation of his character may i point out one of the best lessons the best the greatest lesson you and i can learn from the word of god is what god is to know him and it's the highest intelligent pursuit that we could have to know who and what god is in himself and so we have it in these prophecies now as we come to chapter twelve we have in the opening verse particularly let me read that opening verse I want to make a comment to introduce it when Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt those we follow our outline on the lesson sheet please let me introduce this statement to your heart and mind and don't forget this this is a divine principle in interpreting Old Testament prophecies. They're usually, invariably, there is a double interpretation for every Old Testament prophecy. First an interpretation relative to the time in which it was written, or the time in the past when it may have been partially fulfilled. Can I repeat that? You know this. We've got it right here. We'll see it. There was a time when it was in the past fulfilled. But there is a future time when it will be completely fulfilled in all of its truth. And you find that in the Old Testament prophecies. Please remember that. When we come particularly to the next prophecy, Joel, and most interesting, one of the most precious to me, most interesting and vitalizing regarding prophetic truth, You find even in Joel, there was a time when there was a plague of locusts that visited the land of Israel. And yet God uses it to illustrate the coming invasion of the last day at the end of the age, the Gentile age, when Israel will be surrounded by their enemies for the last time. So in every prophetic scripture of the Old Testament, please let me say this. And I say it humbly, but I say it faithfully, because I think of something that took place a little week or so ago in another place where a friend of mine informed me that the brother that was teaching the prophecy, he knew nothing about the future. He took that which was in the book and related it entirely to the past. Beloved Lord, when you think of the prophets, Isaiah through Malachi, why were they called prophets? God gave them not only that which pertained to the present and the day in which they lived and the immediate future in which they were, but also he pointed them to that which was before. Will you please go with me to First Peter? I want you to get a scripture in First Peter chapter one. Look at these words that the Apostle Peter writes in his first epistle in chapter one. Now I want you to note these things. May I begin reading in verse two. Ten. Chapter one, as he refers to the Christian salvation, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when they testified beforehand that sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Well, even those prophets, they had more sense than many preachers do today. They realized what they were teaching, what they were prophesying was not only for the present, but for the future. And even in regard to Christ, and He's coming into the world to save us, they saw the sufferings of Christ given to them in prophecy and the glory that was yet to follow. Now look at our first verse in chapter eleven of our book, Hosea. When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Now look at your lesson sheet. He refers, of course, first of all to something that had happened in the past, when God's sovereign love called Israel. And we have it in the first four verses. And where was the beginning of it? When Israel as a nation was a child? When was Israel as a nation and a child? We well know it was in the book of Exodus. When they were in the land of Egypt, for you've gotten your lesson sheet, the place of it. He called them out of Egypt. Look with me at Exodus chapter four. And the reference we have there where God spoke to Moses, as he sought to commission him, to thus take the people of Israel out of Egypt. And in chapter four, verses twenty-two and twenty-three, I'll bless the sea, God speaking. centuries before to his servant Moses regarding this ministry. Chapter four, verse twenty-two and verse twenty-three. God saying to Moses, Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. Do you get the thought? May I put it this way? You recognize that the nation of Israel was born of God. His firstborn, even as a nation. And he calls Israel, my son. And then we read on. And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And you know the consequences that follow. And thus you may recognize, if God is reminding the nation, I called you out of Egypt. You're my firstborn among all the nations. And I've called you my son. Now I want you to know the double application, the double interpretation of this verse. Go with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter two, as you've got the reference on your lesson sheet. Matthew's Gospel, chapter two, a most beautiful reference regarding the Lord Jesus and relatives of his prophecy, too. Here's where you find the double interpretation of that verse. Chapter two and verse fifteen. are blessed to realize. As you look at verse fifteen, and you have these words saying, may I begin at verse thirteen. And when they were departed, that is the wise men, going back to their country after visiting the child Jesus. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt. Be thou there until I bring thee word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod. Now note, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son? Can I give you this thought? Even the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, traces the journey of his people, Israel, as he goes down with Joseph and Mary into Egypt. Fulfilling. Now, may I point out something as you look at this fifteen verse? Hosea, eleven, one, was not altogether fulfilled back in the days of Exodus. God had someone else before him. May I give you this truth? If you want the blessing, the richest blessing you can get from studying the Bible, look for the person of Christ. And see even in this one verse, Christ was foreshadowed his journey down into Egypt in this childhood day and coming out of Egypt and fulfilling the prophet's words. Out of Egypt, God says, have I called my son. Isn't that a tremendous truth? And may I point out this, your earthly experiences and mine, let me give you the words from Hebrews four, where we read of the Lord Jesus as our great high priest, that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, For he was tested in all points like as we sin accepted. And may I put this fact before your heart. He not only feels for us in our circumstances, he feels with us. And even with Israel of old, the nation, the Blessed Lord Jesus personally went through the experience of being in Egypt and being brought out and God declaring, out of Egypt, have I called my Son. What a wonderful truth. And so I hope you understand. Look for the double interpretation. Look for that which is the glorious one which points to the future, and in this case to the coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth. And if you please note on your lesson sheet, let me read that sentence on the paragraph C. the blending of Israel and Christ. He was the true Israel. When did his way in faithfulness to Jehovah, unlike the faithless nation? Read the prophecy of Isaiah forty-nine with me. I'm sure the words will be a blessing. As we can see once again the blessed truth of this, chapter forty-nine, in the prophecy of Isaiah and verses three through six, where the prophet writes saying, and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I've labored in vain. I spend my strength for naught, and in vain. Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, my work with my God. Now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb, to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength and he said is it a like thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light of the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth another prophetic word relative to the coming of the Lord Jesus to revive Israel as well as save the Gentiles. Oh, beloved, what joy to see his blessed person. Now we go to verse two of our chapter eleven as we continue in Hosea, and we have the thought, the reference, and this is what you find. And may I say, one of the great difficulties reading and trying to understand these prophecies, they go from one subject to the other quickly, right in the opposite direction. That is why we really have to remember what Paul wrote to Timothy. Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You do not always have a straight chronological sequence. And even in our next verse, God goes back to their condition. Nobody says. as they called them so they went from them they sacrificed unto Balaam and burned incense to graven images now there's one expression at the opening of the verse is very difficult who does God mean by saying they call them first of all in verse one he said he called Israel now he says they call go to verse seven you've got an explanation my people are bent to backsliding though they called them to the most part, and the pronoun they means the prophet. My prophets called them. Try to call them back to me, but they wouldn't come. And as you have in verse two, the prophets called them after they came in the land, after they failed. They called them, and yet they went away from the prophet. Have you never noticed, no prophet was successful, permanently successful. in bringing the people of Israel back to Jehovah. There may and there has been some partial restorations in times past, but none of them were... Well, think of Elijah, one of the greatest of all prophets. And you have in the language we read in chapter forty-nine of Isaiah, what could have been his language? I pled with him in vain. And you've got the same truth about the Lord Jesus. They crucified him. The Lord Jesus acknowledged and accused the Pharisees. You've slain all the prophets. They called you back. And when you look at the pronoun, they, instead of coming back, they begin to sacrifice the veil and they idol God and burn incense to the grave and images. Their sad departure. And in verse three, yet you have the Lord saying, I taught them how to go. I gave them instructions. Beloved, look. What do you find here? You've got the whole Decalogue of Moses. You've got the whole Pentateuch, Genesis, all the way through Deuteronomy, written by Moses. All the divine instructions, carefully written, detailed written, how they should go. I taught them. Now you cannot say that Israel was not taught. Moses gave them the words of God, and they were inscribed, written. And when they came in, or on the threshold of coming into the land of Canaan, Joshua was commanded to meditate in that word of God, the law of the Lord. In his law shall thou meditate day and night. That was the instructions of God, to guide them. He promised them blessing, and he promised them cursing, if they fail. But he says, I taught them. I taught them. Can I point out something? What a responsibility when you and I are being taught. Are we going to obey? Like the old hymn says, trust and obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. God says, I don't. Beloved, let me say this. I say this in love. One of the things that troubles me as a servant of God and has through the years is to find what I teach is not always practice. Sometimes in counseling, my fellow believers in the past, in their difficulties and trying to encourage and instruct them from the word, and then later on I find out they didn't listen. Beloved, please. Look, personally, if not numerically as a whole, personally you and I are personally responsible to obey what God says no matter what others need when we are taught of God and God says I taught them how to go I even took them by my by their arms and they didn't even realize I healed them I gave them what they needed but instead they turned to idols But note verse four, as he tells what he did in the past. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. And I was in, let me just stop there at that first phrase. I drew them with cords of a man and with bands of love. Beloved, you and I have got to confess that. Let me just make it plain, practical to our own heart. When you were saved, when I was saved, You know, one of the greatest truths I'm sure that you found, when you found Christ as your Savior, was that he loved you. That he loved you. That he loved, as one old hymn writer wrote, that he loved a poor sinner like me. His love. I drew you with cords of love, and with the bands of a man. And God drew us with this. Let me quote John three sixteen. You know it well. For God so loved the world. It was his love that moved us and brought us to himself. And John well wrote in his epistle here in his love. Not that we love God. He loved us. And sent his son the propitiation for our sins. With cords of love. And yet as you read on at the end of this verse, please may I note the next expression with it. And here's where I say the carefulness. of understanding the change in the language. But instead of enjoying my love, no, no. I was to them as one that took off the yoke on their jaws. They resisted. They resisted. Even though he says, I laid meat unto them. I fed them. I loved them. I redeemed them. I guided them. I instructed them. And even by their arms I led them. And yet they thought I was putting a bridle in their mouth. Let me give you this thought. If you and I will enjoy the love of God, we will get along a lot better. But if we resist the guidance of God's word... We treat him as though he was putting a bridle in our mouth, and we cast it off. And yet, he's the one that feeds and keeps us. Now, his faithfulness, you can recognize here. Now, when you come to verses six and seven, please note, now you have, as you note on your letter, on your Bible, you've got the paragraph mark, an inspired paragraph. And as you come to verse six and seven, you have the Lord... Now speaking, if he has in the past chapter, the previous one, he's spoken of the Assyrian aggression that would come. And we read in verse six and seven these words. Let me read in verse five, rather, six and seven. He shall not return. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrians shall be his king, because they refuse to return. And the sword shall abide on his cities, shall consume his branches, and devour them because of their own counsels. And my people are bent to backsliding from me. Though they called them to the most high, none at all would exalt him. Note the paragraph on your left-hand sheet. Under paragraph two and under letter A, the Assyrian oppression was to be their judgment. Now you please note in the opening of verse five, a reference to returning to the land of Egypt. Some of you may have read the prophecy of Jeremiah, and even in the land of Judah, where Jeremiah prophesied and dwelt chiefly, even under the Babylonian invasion. Many of the people of Israel and Judah, who were still in the land, rebelled against the Babylonian authority, which they should have bowed to as God the prophet had told them. But they resisted it. And they told the prophet, and they asked Jeremiah, very frankly, they said to Jeremiah, Ask the Lord if we should go down to Egypt. And the prophet inquired of the Lord, and God told them, You shall not go down to Egypt. You just rest here. In quietness, in confidence, in quietness, and confidence shall be your rest. Submit yourself to Nebuchadnezzar, stay in the land, and you'll be blessed. And as Jeremiah wrote those words, as you find them in his prophecy, I think even Isaiah wrote in chapter thirty in verse fifteen, there are his words. At the end of that verse he says, but she would not. They wanted to go to Egypt. God says, don't go, you'll get in the trouble. And God also told them, you'll die there if you go, but they went. Now that was the desire even in Ephraim, in Israel here. They wanted to go down into Egypt. God says, you're not. He says, the Assyrian is going to be your ruler because you've refused to return to me. And the sword shall abide on them. Now let me read that paragraph on your lesson sheet. Some may have desired to return to Egypt, but God declares the Assyrian shall be their king because they refused to return to him. And the sword of judgment would do its complete work for they rebelliously followed. Now note these last words. their own counsel. May I give you this suggestion? Oh, how I need it. How again and again the words of the psalmist come to the heart. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Lead me in a plain path. His way. Let me give you this thought. Here's a verse that I'm quoting from Psalm one hundred and three, where the psalmist wrote, God showed his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the children of Israel. Let me quote it again. He showed his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the children of Israel. And there's a great deal of difference between ways and acts. God showed Moses and God... taught Moses his ways. Moses knew what the ways of God were to be. Moses taught what the ways of God were to be for Israel. But God had difficulty teaching the whole nation his way. Well, you know, we can be like that. In fact, I've met quite a few of my fellow believers in the past. I recognize them. They want me to pray what God would have them to do, and they'd already made up their mind. Don't do it. Let you and I be careful not to follow our own. Let me give you another thought regarding this same fact. You go back to the book of Joshua. You think of the great conquest of Jericho. They followed God's counsel. The next event in that conquest of Canaan was their great defeat at Ai, a small city. And though they sent for the detachment of only thirty thousand soldiers against the city, they were defeated. And the reason for it, they followed their own counsel. They didn't inquire of the Lord. And later on too, they got into trouble with the Gideonites who deceived them. because they did not seek counsel of the Lord. I love that name that is given to the Lord Jesus in Isaiah nine, verse six. Counselor. And let me say the Lord is the best psychiatrist you could ever go to. Counselor. And if you and I are children of God, we've got the best counselor and we've got the guidance of the Word of God. And so grand indeed will not follow, as Israel did, their own counsel. And then you have in verse seven, unfortunately. Let me read verses seven and eight together. You've got it on your lesson sheet. God's own lamentation of deepest sorrow over the nation. My people are bent to backsliding from me. Note the expression. It's sad. It's sorrowful. Their hearts are inclined to go astray. Oh, I think of it. Well, may I remind my heart and yours too, perhaps, of your early Christian days as a young believer in the Lord Jesus. And, you know, like a child, you have to stumble along until your strength picks up and the Lord strengthens your pathway and your feet to walk in his way. But we do stumble many a time. As a young believer, I found myself stumbling. The words of that old children, Tim, often comforted me, though I forget him and wander away. Still he does love me wherever I stray. Back to his dear loving arms. Do I flee when I remember that Jesus loves me? And the joy of knowing your safety is in keeping close to him. But he says the inclination of my people is to go astray. Philemon may say this. Look, as long as we are here in this body, we have inclinations to go astray. Don't forget it. As long as you're in the body, this flesh, there are in the human heart inclinations to go astray. Remember what the prophet wrote in Isaiah fifty-three? All we like sheep have gone astray. We've still got that sheep nature. And they tell me there's not an animal that is more desirous than inclined to go astray than the sheep. So it can be with God's people. It was with Israel. And as God had to say, my people are bent to backslide. And even though my servants are prophets, they call them back to me. Yet none would exalt me. None would exalt me as you've got it here. You have the stubborn backsliding. And you've got the sorrow of God's audience. You come to verse eight. Please note verse eight particularly. Note the language of God's awe. Please note the expression that shows his love. How shall I give thee up? How shall I give? How can I give thee up, O Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee a Zadna? How shall I send thee a Ziboran? My heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled altogether. My beloved, let me say this. May I say this is a very comforting and encouraging truth. One sure thing, the Lord Jesus has made the assurance. I'm going to say promise, but I think it's an assurance. And an assurance is better than a promise. When in John ten, verse twenty eight, through thirty he said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any cross them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me is greater than all. Neither shall any pluck them out of my Father's hand. I am my Father who won. How can he give us up? How can he give us up? Never. A good friend of mine was preaching up in the mountains of Virginia one time, and he had in the audience he knew a holiness preacher that did not believe in eternal security. My dear friend was speaking about from John ten from that scripture. and emphasizing the safety of the believer in the hands of the Lord. And he made the statement. He said, when can you ever get out of the hands of the Lord if he gets hold of you? The homeless preacher shouted out, never. He was right for once anyway. Never. He'll never give you up. It used to be a very precious old hymn. It was a quartet I remember way back in my early days. I cannot drift out of the circle of his love. Listen, Christian. No matter how far a Christian may drift, and they can, they can never drift outside the circle of his love. That's what God means here. Oh, he says, I've loved you. How can I give you up? And you have, as you look at your lesson sheet, He could not destroy them as he did Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, Zeboam. You've got a scripture in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-nine, twenty-three and twenty-four. But now let's look. There's a blessed contrast to see here, if you'll go with me. I want you to see the very picture of the Lord Jesus in Luke nineteen and Matthew twenty-three. Luke's Gospel chapter nineteen. And the Lord Jesus. Oh, you can get the very language of the Savior. as even God spoke it to Ozea and through Ozea chapter eleven long ago. But in Luke nineteen, note the Lord Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem. Go to verse forty-two. Forty-one, please. Chapter nineteen. When Jesus was come near, he beheld a city, and that was the city of Jerusalem, and he wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now are they hid from thine eyes. What Laman says? You go to Matthew chapter twenty-three. You have something very little bit different there, but very similar. Chapter twenty-three. Let me look with you, if I may, please, at verse thirty-seven and verse thirty-eight. And you have the Lord Jesus weeping over the city. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And please note these words. are appropriate in relation to the study of the prophecies. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, stonest them which ascend unto thee. How often would I have gathered thee? Gather thy children together, even as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you, desolate. Please note the expression. How often would I have gathered thee? It refers even to the days of Ozea, the days of the prophets of old, the heart of God wanting to gather his people under his wings. And oh, beloved, our precious to realize, even for you and for me, though many may go astray from the Lord they know and love, yet in spite of it he loves them, and yet for you and for me to realize, we want to keep under his wing. Remember the old hymn? those words of the psalmist in chapter ninety one he shall cover thee with his feather and under his wing shall thou trust stay under those wings for thank God we can and may God help us to stay under those wings and yet the Lord Jesus had to have to have to weep over the city and over the nation when he would have gathered them under his wings back to our chapter please in verse nine Please note in verse eight, verse nine, rather through eleven, your lesson sheet shows God will not forsake them. Please note these words, some lovely truth within them. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. Now may I give you this thought? Will you realize in these words God makes the promise he'll never destroy Israel. Please. There are many that believe Israel because of their failure, because of their forsaking God as a nation and turning from him as they have, can never be come back. And me, I give you the thought. They take these prophecies of the Old Testament and you know what they do? They interpret them as applying to the church. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Let me indeed caution you, don't apply these processes to the church. Many times in your Bible are the headline or the headings of your Bible, the heading of the page particularly, and some authorized versions that have been translated with the heading of chapters divided and the contents of the chapter told before you start reading at verse one. They make the application. What you're going to read pertains to the church. No, let me tell you something. The church can't be found in the Old Testament. There's no revelation of the church. The first revelation of the church was given by Jesus in Matthew chapter sixteen. When Peter made the confession, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said, Blessed art thou, thou, Simon, Bar-Jonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee. Thou art Peter. and upon this rock what Peter is confessing to be. I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And even when the Lord Jesus first spoke of it, it was the future thing. Don't misinterpret the Old Testament scriptures. They say they belong to the church. Look, I think of dear old William Penningill, and I heard in my boyhood days, make the same, and he says, He says, there may be many promises in the Old Testament that pertain, absolutely pertain to Israel. He says, I'm not going to let anybody take away their spiritual blessing that I can find there for myself. You may see the literal blessing for Israel, but you may find a spiritual message for your own heart. Surely we do. We've got it right here. They're written for our learning. But never remember, though, literally, they were given to Israel. Now please note why you'd look in verse nine right in the center of it. Lovely words. For I am God and not man. Aren't you glad he's God instead of man? I tell you, if we treated man like we treat God, we should get punished by human power. They find us what's happening in the world. Humanity rising against humanity. The have not nations, rising against those that have, in rebellion and hatred. And let me say again, let us humbly and gratefully thank God that he doesn't treat us like a man would. And I think even of my own heart. I've often said, Lord, if I had to say what to do with this world, I'd settle it right now. But I'm not a man. I'm not God. God is long suffering, not willing that any should perish. And here you have. You've got the heart of God revealed. All the heart of God. I'm not man. Thank God he treats us better than man can treat us, does he not? Faithful. And as you have on your lesson sheet, he is succumbing, keeping God. He will not be angry forever, though he has punished them. Our beloved, what an assurance. Now as you go on to read, please, as you go to verse, as you go into this verse, and the end of it, the Holy One in the midst of thee, I will not enter into the city. I will not destroy thee. Now God has a reason for not utterly destroying them. He's always had a godly remnant. There has always been a godly remnant, therefore he changes. Now, you've got the words I just quoted from Malachi three six. I am the Lord, even in Malachi's day. Please may I say this. Did you ever notice how Malachi begins his prophecy? What the first thing God says to Israel in Malachi. At the end of the Old Testament, when they were further away from God, And every chapter in Malachi, God accuses and condemns from the priest out of the people the condition that was moral and spiritual in its terrible decline. And yet in the midst of it, in chapter three and verse six, he says, I'm the Lord. I change now. And he began that prophecy by saying the first thing, I've loved thee. I have loved thee, set the Lord. I've loved thee. What a joy to realize. Let me please put it in its perspective. Here you come, possibly twenty-five hundred years, or fifteen hundred years, I should say, as a nation, the nation of Israel, as you come to the end of the Old Testament. And you've got Israel so far away from God. You see how far? Well, let me just give you the suggestion. When the Lord Jesus came to crucify the Messiah, one of the greatest proofs of their declension and decline from God. And yet God's saying, I've loved thee. I've loved thee. I've loved thee. Oh, what a God to realize the unchanging character of his heart. I've loved thee. Though I forget and wander away, still he does love me wherever I stray. And then will you please know verse ten? You've got the next question here that reminds us They, now this word they we should realize, will be a godly remnant. Note your lesson, she. As you notice, we like to read verse ten and eleven together. Here we have the restoration that God foretells. They shall walk after the Lord. Oh, please note. What a contrast from the beginning of the chapter. They went away from the Lord. Here is a foretelling of the future. When they shall walk. after the Lord. Now, let me please stay very carefully. As a nation, they've not walked after the Lord yet. And these words can only refer to the day when they will be restored and walk after the Lord. Remember what we saw in earlier chapter, in Isaiah chapter six? In that day, They shall not say follow the Lord, for all know the Lord, for all shall know the Lord. For when the godly remnant is restored in that coming day, they'll walk after the Lord. And I've got a reference here. Well, I know I don't have it here. But in Malachi, in chapter three, in verse sixteen, you've got a reference to a few that follow the Lord. They that fear the Lord speak often one to another. And the book of remembrance was written before him and so on. God always has a little remnant. But here we have in our chapter in verse ten here, the day's coming when they'll walk after the Lord. And what will happen? Look the next word. God's going to roar like a lion. What's he mean? Ah, he means this that someday he's going to come. Let me read the paragraph that you've got on your lesson sheet. Their promise restoration in these next two verses. They will yet seek and follow the Lord, as you have it in chapter three also, and verses four and five. For the apostasy in Israel was never universal. There is always a remnant. Yet God will roar like a lion. When? When he regathers them. Let me give you this thought. You remember the book of Revelation. Remember what you read in chapter five. When John looks into the hands of God. and sees a great scroll. And the angel challenges the universe, heaven and earth, and even the internal region. Who is worthy to open the book and lose the seals thereof? No one appears. John begins to weep. And as he weeps, an elder comes to him and says, Weep not. And why? For the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed and is worthy to open the book. Who's the lion of the tribe of Judah? Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah is not King Selassie of Ethiopia. He called himself that, you know. He undoubtedly believed he was the descendant of Solomon through the woman that came to visit him from Ethiopia long before. But anyway, he's not. But the Lord Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And when he's coming at his second appearing, he's going to roar. And please let me say, the world's going to hear him roar, and particularly in relation to the nation of Israel, as he roars against them. And the godly remnant will tremble in humility and in gladness. Notice in verse ten. The children shall tremble, meaning his own children. The godly remnant, they tremble from the west. Go with me to Zechariah chapter twelve. You've got that scripture there? We'll certainly be turning to Zechariah when we read something in Jonah too. And Joel, I mean. But in Zechariah, next to the last book in your Bible, in your Old Testament. And in Zechariah, chapter twelve, please. Let me read the words that you had in verse nine. Note these words. It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. One can recognize the Lord Jesus will roar. And as he thus destroys the enemies of Israel, he says, I will pour upon the house of David, upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. They shall look upon me whom they appear. They shall mourn for him, as one mourner for his only son, shall be in bitterness, for him as one that is in bitterness for his brethren. Please let me say, let me point out the fact. When they see him, they are going to weep. Remember Revelation one seven. Behold, he cometh with flowers. And every eye shall see him, even they that pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall weep and mourn because of him. The nation of Israel, the remnant of Israel, the godly remnant will mourn because of what they did to him. The others that are not saved will mourn because of what he's going to do to them. It's going to be a great time of mourning. And as the prophet speaks here, as God speaks through his servant, when the Lord comes in the power of his glory, to thus execute vengeance upon the enemies of Israel and roars as a lion. seeking his praying. His own dear people are going to tremble. His children will tremble as they come back to him. Note verse eleven. They will tremble as you note the expression. They will tremble as a bird out of Egypt as a dove out of the land of Assyria. Note the expression lovely pertaining to the truth of the prophecies. They either go down to Egypt or they go to Assyria. Those that went down to Egypt suffered and were destroyed. Those that went into Assyria were taken into bondage and captivity, never brought back again. And what the Spirit of God does, He declares, very frankly, they're coming out of Egypt. They're coming out of their captivity, wherever they might be. They're coming out from Egypt. Please let me know what a contrast between this verse and verse one. Notice in verse one, when Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son where? Out of Egypt. It's almost like another call. Let me give you this statement that I remember reading. It was a dear servant of God. I forget his name now. But he was the head of what was called the Belgian Gospel Mission. Many, many years ago, I'd say maybe sixty or seventy. And he had an interview with a dear Jewish rabbi in Vienna, questioning the dear Rabbi, concerning the things of God, and particularly the nation of Israel, he questioned him and asked, do you believe that your people, this was long before the return back to the land in nineteen forty-eight, he said, do you believe that your people as the nation will be back in their land, that you'll ever get it back? And the man looked at him, he said, yes, I do. But I do not believe we shall ever get it back. from Great Britain, who I think was at that time mandating the nation, or even from the League of Nations, or from any nation, or from any human ruler, I believe will be called back just as God gave it to us when he called Moses out of the land of Egypt. And that dear Rabbi was right as far as the principle. God alone can bring them back, and will. Now be careful. They are back in a national entity, but God didn't bring them back. They got back their own way. He permitted them. It's part of his counsel and plan. But they're back in unbelief. For when God brings them back, they're coming back in belief. In faith, confession, repentance and confession, and returning to him. But he's going to bring them back. and they will be brought. Please note the end of verse eleven. Lovely truth. I will place them in their houses. Set the law. Let me ask you something. If God himself puts you in a house, who's going to take you out of it? I will place them in their house. Let me say very frankly, God hasn't placed them in their houses in the present situation. I'm going to place them there. I'm going to place them. And yet... What a contrast when you go to the closing verse. He still has to remind them how false they are. And even though Judah has a part in that they were still faithful. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah yet ruleth with God and is faithful with the saints. Please let me know your paragraph in the closing note on verse page twelve. And the last paragraph. In the Hebrew scriptures, this last verse of chapter eleven is really the first verse of chapter twelve in our Bible. We'll follow that next week. Yet Hosea shows that at his time, Ephraim or Israel was not in the condition previously described. Falsehood and idolatry prevailed. With Judah at the time, it was otherwise. Then their decline was slower than Israel. But again, God refers to the fact how they had declined from him, compassing him about with lies and with deceit, though Judah at the time was yet faithful to him. So what a prophecy, and what a precious truth and realize, a double application and interpretation of this wonderful chapter. And may I again remind you, as we saw in verse one, how beautifully as well as through it, we have references that we could have referred to the Lord Jesus himself. God, dear son, and oh, what lessons you can find as you study the life and the history of God's earthly people, Israel. You can see oftentimes your own. Let me give you the thoughts. The life of Jacob is one of the most interesting, perhaps, of all the patriarchs to follow in relation to Israel. And you've got three particular phases in the life of Jacob. The first part of his life, he was in the land with his father. Isaac and his mother rebelled it. The next part of his life he was outside of the land and exile for twenty years until God brought him back to the land. Then you got his real history in a nutshell. In the land, exile from the land, centuries upon centuries, someday coming back. And surely we can see that in the study of this prophecy today. Shall we give the Lord a word of thanks in prayer and thanksgiving? Father, oh how we pray thee, right upon our hearts and in our lives the moral and the spiritual lessons that thou hast brought before us in this chapter today. Please keep us from being like thy people of old, by sliding, inclining to depart from the one who loves us so much, even our beloved and blessed Savior, and Lord, we are invoke to make a prayer. We often pray for some that may be away from the Lord. Lord bring them back, back to thyself in happy fellowship and love, that they may be restored. And then we say for ourselves, Keep us, Lord, O keep us cleaving to thyself, still believing, till the hour of our receiving those promised joys with thee, then we shall be where we would be. then we shall be what we should be, things that are now nor could be, soon shall be our own. We ask it in our Saviour's name for his glory, giving thee our thanks. Amen. Thank you for coming. Yes, Margaret.