The Reward for Repentance

 Forgiveness Is the Reward for Repentance

 Book of Hosea, Chapters 10 through 14

 

We see the word repentance throughout the Bible, but most people do not understand what this word means.

 In Christianity, true repentance begins with the consciousness of our sin.

 The evidence of repentance is faith, humility, prayer, and obedience.

 Repentance is a gift of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Act 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Just as with any other gift, we must reach for it to receive it.

 How do we accomplish repentance?

 Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 First, we acknowledge the lives of those who are living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We realize that those who are no longer with us encouraged us to live in faith of the Lord Jesus and the life they lived is also an encouragement.

We must accept the salvation that is provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must lay aside every burden from this world because they have no importance in Heaven.

We must walk away from the sin in our lives that has now been forgiven.

We must plant our feet into the plan of God for our lives.

Unless we get busy serving the Lord, we have not truly repented. This is the race that comes with being reconciled to God.

 Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 

 Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

 It is the goodness of God that will lead us to look to Him for repentance.

 Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 

 Pro 28:13  He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

 We can see that forgiveness is truly the reward for repentance, but we also see that repentance is necessary for forgiveness.

 God’s forgiveness here is clearly linked to a true return to God to find with Him compassion instead of judgment.

 We must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ has already paid for all the sins that have taken place in this world by anybody.

 1Jn_2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

 Our job is to tell others this truth and show them the goodness of God so they can believe and be reconciled to God.

 2Co_5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co_5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

 This is our race to enter or be left out of God's blessings

 *****Hos 10:12  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. 

 As long as we are alive, we can make a new start with God; once this flesh dies, our opportunity to do so vanishes.

 Once more, God calls for Israel to repent and escape the judgment of God.

 The horrendous sin that happened at Gibeah almost brought to an end one of the tribes of Israel, which was Benjamin.

 The city of Gibeah had become a place like Sodom, and the tribe of Benjamin had allowed it to take place and would fight anyone who tried to change them.

 What used to take place in the heathen Sodom now takes place in Israel, among the people of God, by people who bear God’s Name, and it is allowed.

 What did God say of His people?

 Jer 23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 

 We know that this Levite went to his own home, cut this woman up into pieces, and sent them to all the tribes of Israel. Israel decided to take vengeance on Benjamin, and all but six hundred men were slaughtered.

 Of Israel and Benjamin, sixty-five thousand men died in three battles because of sin.

 The people of Israel eventually brought four hundred virgins to those six hundred men, and this sin disappeared from the tribe of Benjamin. It grew rapidly, but sin remained, and the people continued to fall into the trap of false worship and idolatry, but the sin of sodomy disappeared

 Their hearts remained hardened against the truth of God.

 God likes to use farming principles to get His point across because most of these people were farmers.

 On a new piece of land, to grow crops, the land must be cultivated. They had to break up the fallow ground, or we would say till the soil.

 For a hardened heart to be usable, that heart needs to be plowed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of the Word of God, to cleanse that heart of sin.

 1) To sow righteousness and reap God's love, they had to turn toward God and away from their wicked ways.

 2) They had to begin a new life guided by God's Holy Word.

 3) They had to turn away from the world and look to God, and they would stand justified before God.

 Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

 I do not know how many times the Scriptures tell us to avoid an immoral lifestyle, and it is rejected by much of the Church today.

 We know God does not change, so how can the Church be so foolish?

 God also warns us against wickedness, perversion, and degenerate acts.

 In no uncertain terms, God condemns all acts of homosexuality just as He does fornication.

 He also condemns rape, abuse, assault, murder, and all depravity.

 Mar 7:20  And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 

Mar 7:21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 

Mar 7:22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 

Mar 7:23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

 Another farming principle that we need to keep up with is located in Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

 *****Hos 10:13  Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

 Instead of sowing righteousness the people had sown wickedness.

 When you sow wickedness, you will reap evil and eat the fruit of deception.

 In the end times, the Lord Jesus says we must watch out for deception.

 Luk_21:8  And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

 Our land today is full of hatred. Hatred brings injustice, which relies on wickedness instead of love, which brings justice.

 Anytime we go our own way instead of God's way, which is righteousness, doing things right according to the Word of God, we will fail as people, and we will fail as a nation.

 All the time, we hear that the USA is not in the Bible, but the people of God are in the Bible, and it takes people to make a nation.

 If we want to be around in the end times, then we must be the people of God and not so full of wickedness as we are today.

 We must break the cycle we are in today: Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

 We cannot rely on ourselves to get us there.

We cannot rely on our government to get us there.

We cannot rely on our military to get us there.

We can only rely on the Lord Jesus Christ to get us there.

 *****Hos 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. 

 We immediately see that it is because of God's love that He delivers His people.

 Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

 It is the call of God that enables us to be saved.

 We could say this is the unconditional election of God in which He acts.

 God chose to call us while we were yet sinners and had no value to Him.

 God calls us because He has a purpose for us.

 In compassionate terms, the LORD speaks about Israel.

 He speaks about how He loved the people as a child and son, liberated them, taught them to walk, cherished them in His arms, cared for them, nurtured them, and raised them.

 When we say no to God, we are saying no not only to His purpose for us, but we are saying no to His great love for us.

 1Jn_2:5  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

 When God says nothing can separate us from His love, He truly means it!

 Rom_8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 It was God's love that delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt.

 God's love will always deliver His people!

 Throughout the Old Testament, we see that the LORD's relationship with Israel was like that of a father and son, and this has not changed.

 This is the way our LORD thinks of all His children, especially the Church today.

 God has not abandoned Israel because we know that His great love He has remains.

 What did God say to Pharaoh? Exo 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 

Exo 4:23  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. 

 When God first called Abraham, God promised to establish a very special relationship with his descendants.

 The one thing they needed to do was obey.

 All true believers, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God.

 Now, we should not leave this verse until we see that it also relates to Jesus Christ.

 Mat 2:13  And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 

Mat 2:14  When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 

Mat 2:15  And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

 We should understand that we should remain where the Lord has placed us until He gives us the command to leave.

 We should only act when God says to act.

 When the Lord Jesus was just a few days old, He had to flee, and the angels who announced His birth did not form an escort around Him.

 One thing is very clear: the Lord Jesus started His history on earth where the people of Israel started theirs.

 Jesus Christ was a Jew, and He would look like a Jew of that day.

 Where Israel failed God, the Lord Jesus Christ would succeed!

 Though Israel is still failing in its calling, Jesus Christ is perfect in His calling.

 The Lord Jesus is the firstborn of the Church.

The Lord Jesus is the true Israel.

The Lord Jesus is the true Adam.

 1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 

 Where we puny humans fail, the Lord Jesus Christ always succeeds!

 *****Hos 11:2  As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. 

Hos 11:3  I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. 

Hos 11:4  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 I laid meat unto them.

 Once Israel was freed from Egypt and started their journey to the Promised Land, they forgot about God's love.

 The whole world, including the Atheists, sacrifice to Baalim. Baalim represents all false gods and the imaginations of their minds.

Israel, as God's son, has been delivered more times than we can count, and God is going to deliver them again, and this time they will serve Him.

 In many places in the Bible, during the divided kingdom, Ephraim can mean Israel.

 Israel is just like the world today, which refuses to repent.

 We know that in the not-too-distant future, Israel will repent, but the world will remain stubborn and refuse to repent.

 We live in a self-righteous world that still listens to the serpent of the Book of Genesis.

 Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 

Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

 The world still believes in the theory of evolution, and the ultimate fulfillment of evolution is that humans will one day evolve into gods.

 What a joke. Evolution is the biggest lie told to the world, and the world clings to it like it is gold, just because the alternative would be that they would have to acknowledge a Supernatural God.

 When Israel was a young nation, the LORD took her people by the arm and helped them along the way step by step.

 Substitute America for Israel, and the same thing could be said. God has helped the USA along the way, step by step.

 When Israel stumbled, they were not abandoned; the LORD was there to lift them. He has not changed!

 The key to the Bible and God's promises is to walk faithfully throughout our lives.

 We should never ignore the LORD's love and care for us.

 God has given us His love letter to us, the Bible, just for this purpose.

 Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

 The “cords of a man” represent God’s loving, personal influence, not forceful control.

 God promises to guide us.

God promises to care for us by providing our needs.

God promises never to lead us into temptation.

God promises us eternal life in the most wonderful place that has ever been conceived.

 God asks us to have faith in His promises.

 Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

 1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

 *****Hos 13:4  Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. 

 What is the truth of all man-made idols? Hos 13:2  And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. 

Hos 13:3  Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. 

 There is nothing that is carved by human hands, nothing made of the most valuable things on earth, nothing that is a figment of man's imagination, that could have led Israel out of Egypt.

 There is nothing in this world that can save us or redeem us but God, who is the LORD!

 He has a connection with us because He is also our Creator!

 Isa 45:20  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. 

Isa 45:21  Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 

Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 

 God loves us!

 If we are faithful and about to do something that will harm us, God will correct us.

 Why do we expect that correction not to have pain?

 God will do what He can to make sure we live and experience the fullness of this life if we are faithful to Him.

 God is not afraid to use His Heavenly hickory, as any good father would, to get us back on the right road of reconciliation if we veer to the left or to the right.

 If those few stripes could not get us back on track, then God will use a harsher method.

 *****Hos 13:7  Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: 

Hos 13:8  I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

 God will move from being the Good Shepherd to being like a wild animal.

 The lion, the bear, the lioness, and the wild beast may not abide in Israel today, but they did in the days of the prophets.

 These animals are known for the horrible way they kill their prey.

 Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

 That word "scourge" can mean severe bodily punishment.

 Scourging, in most cases, was just the lead-in to capital punishment.

 Will God take your life to keep you out of Hell? He could for those who are His children!

 *****Hos 13:9  O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

 After we become one of God's children, the first thing we learn is that we need His help.

 If we know we need His help and then reject Him, it will lead to our destruction!

 The only hope and help for a sinful people is the "GRACE" of God.

 Without God's "grace," we would certainly perish in that place called Hell, which is a real place, and Heaven is also a real place.

 God will never reject or destroy His people forever because He cannot void the promises He has already made.

 God is Holy, completely set apart from all other things, perfectly righteous and pure in all things, including His Word.

 God will never change from what He says He will do!

 God is love; God can never be other than love.

God is Holy; He can never be other than Holy.

God is perfect; He can never be other than perfect.

God is faithful; He can never be other than faithful.

 1Co 1:9  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 

 *****Hos 14:1  O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

 We know that Israel has been in that place of judgment since the time of the Assyrians.

 The Assyrian, Sargon the Tartan, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian Army, laid siege to Samaria and put an end to the Kingdom of Israel.

 2Ki 17:5  Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 

 2Ki 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

 Why did God allow this to happen?

 2Ki 17:7  For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 

2Ki 17:8  And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 

2Ki 17:9  And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 

2Ki 17:10  And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 

2Ki 17:11  And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 

2Ki 17:12  For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

 This is what the judgment of God looks like.

 *****Hos 14:2  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. 

Hos 14:3  Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. 

Hos 14:4  I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

 Up until the siege of the King of Assyria, all Israel had to do was repent and turn back to Jehovah God, yet they would not.

 What is it going to take for God's people to return to God and follow the Word He has given to us?

 Repentance is the first step!

 Next comes confession with words that must come from the heart.

 Rom_10:9  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.

 Rom_4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

 These things must be done in faith.

 Remember, Abraham had faith that if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from that death, and the plan of God would succeed.

 Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 

Gen 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 

 The plan of God will certainly succeed!

 The truth is that if we confess in faith, faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God will accept our confession as a sacrifice with the respect that goes along with it, if it comes from the heart.

 The truth is that the utterances of our lips, consisting of prayers and praise, or both, are to take the place of animal sacrifices.

 Animal sacrifices would only be good for one year.

 Only the sacrifice of the lord Jesus Christ is great enough to be able to forgive all sins, up to the greatest sin.

 Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 

Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 

 Mic 6:7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 

Mic 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? 

 After we confess our sin and are forgiven there must be a radical break with the past.

 We must do away with our former life!

 We must understand that God will not forgive sins if we intend to continue with them!

 Pro 28:13  He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 

 The modern church has forgotten this.

 The Catholic church has forgotten this.

 All those churches that allowed the laws of the world to overcome the Law of God have forgotten this.

 We cannot just conceal our sin; we must forsake all our sin to be reconciled to God.

 There is very little time to get these things behind us, or the rapture of the Church will not be such a great event for those who are just playing church or those who believe the preacher but do not believe the Word of God.

 The Word of God is the only map that will lead us to Heaven!

 Who are the wise ones?

 *****Hos 14:9  Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. 

 That word "prudent" means discernment, understanding, consideration, and being prudent.

 These are things that the Northern Kingdom lacked while it practiced pagan worship.

 The prophet Hosea was calling out to anyone who had not given in to those things.

Who are the wisest upon this earth? Those who showed wisdom in understanding that the ways of the Lord are the path that we should walk.

God promised that Israel would return to that land.

On May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation again, in one day, and they returned to the land that they had been carried away from.

God promised that they would prosper, and they have and will prosper even more during the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ.

It is during the Tribulation years that they will, for the first time, be totally sold out to Jehovah, the LORD God of Israel.

Israel's judgment was just as God had said on that day.

Why would we think that God will be any different from the Church that has left the pathway built by the Lord Jesus Christ?

Why can we not accept that all the Word of God is the truth?

Amen

God Will Restore His Chosen People

 Restoration

 Book of Hosea, Chapters 1 through 3

 Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Hosea was the only prophet who lived in the area of the Northern Tribes whose writings were preserved by the Holy Spirit and became part of the Bible we have today.

All the other prophets who prophesied against the Northern Tribes lived in the area of the Southern Tribes.

 The Book of Amos was also of the Northern Kingdom, but Amos lived in the Southern Kingdom, along with Isaiah and Micah, who also prophesied against the Northern Kingdom.

The Book of Hosea gives us a picture of just how far God will go in trying to save His chosen people.

 Our direct knowledge of Hosea comes entirely from the book which bears his name.

 He is mentioned nowhere else in the Old Testament.

It is believed that Hosea prophesied for about 70 years.

The words of Hosea were written mostly to the Northern Tribes, but the fact remains that he was writing to all God's people, including Judah, and to us who are alive today, because this is a work of the Holy Spirit.

 The clearest lesson we can get from the Book of Hosea is that God loves His people and His greatest request is for His people to repent and return to Him.

 God told Hosea to choose Gomer as his wife with the intention of showing us what it means to be unfaithful, as both Israel and Judah were in that day.

Once Hosea married Gomer, she would become involved in the sins of infidelity and unfaithfulness.

 Israel and Judah had betrayed God and been disloyal and adulterous in their relationship with God.

 They had committed act after act of Spiritual Adultery.

 Many of God's people are doing the same today. God must be first in our lives!

 Hosea gives us a clear picture of God's demanding call to us is for us to remain faithful.

 Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

 We sometimes forget that God requires us to be obedient to Him and the Lord Jesus is the greatest example of obedience to our Heavenly Father, but we can learn from Hosea also.

Hosea would write from the heart because he would understand how God felt about unfaithfulness because of Gomer's relationship with him.

Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit would still guide and approve what was written.

 1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 

 Following the Lord will require us to make some sacrifices, and we are never guaranteed a pain-free life, as many of us have already experienced.

 We must be clear as we serve the Lord: Jesus Christ is the only Savior of God's people and the only One who redeems His people from death!

 Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

 This message is clear and unchangeable!

 We should be able to picture our Savior through the relationship of Hosea to his wife, Gomer.

 The Book of Hosea stands as one of the most straightforward and passionate declarations of God's great love for us.

 We will also see that even as great as His love is for us, there is a coming judgment on those who refuse to repent and return to Him.

Spiritual Adultery is a serious matter, and much of the Church is involved in Spiritual Adultery today and needs  to repent.

 *****Hos 1:1  The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 

 The Book of Hosea is the first of the books that are called the Books of the Minor Prophets.

 We need to understand that the message of these books is just as important as all the other books of the Bible.

 They are minor in that they are short books as compared to the books of the other prophets, such as Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.

 They would not be part of the canon of the Bible if they were not important enough for us to study God's message that they have for us.

 Remember, it is the Holy Spirit who has chosen what we need to know of the message of God.

 2Pe 1:21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 

 2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 

 There are no unimportant words in the Bible, but many so-called modern versions leave out so many of them and change many others.

 The prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum prophesied in the time of the Assyrian world empire.

 The name Hosea means "savior", "deliverer".

 God wants to deliver His people from the power of sin, and this is still His will even now in the Church Age, which is soon coming to its end.

 Mat 1:21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 

 The prophets of God were not very popular among the people because they would usually appear when something was not right with God's people, and many of them were murdered to keep them forever quiet, but the Holy Spirit made sure we of today get to know their message, which came straight from the lips of our Heavenly Father.

 The first thing we notice is that the LORD Himself called out to Hosea. This would be Jehovah in the Old Testament, but the Lord Jesus in the New Testament.

 We will also notice that God's people as a whole are not open to hearing the voice of God, and not much has changed today, certainly not in the time of Jesus.

 Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 

Mat 23:38  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 

 People then and people of today just do not want anyone to point out their sin to them.

 To be real, everyone knows that they are sinners. People know they do not do everything righteously.

Everyone knows right from wrong except for the very young, but even they are not innocent of sin.

 Idolatry had become the national religion of the Northern tribes of Israel, and idolatry was making its way into the Southern Tribes, and idolatry has made its way into the America we love today.

 Their king, Jeroboam I, had established a new religion that he had created himself. His son Jeroboam II now ruled the Northern Tribes, and he was no different from his father.

 He did this to keep the Northern Tribes from going to the Temple on feast days to worship.

 Now, don't get me wrong, but these people knew the truth, and they should have rebelled against this false worship, but they just obeyed their new king because they hated the King of Judah. 

During the reign of King Solomon, many of the lower classes were not treated fairly.

 Some others just worshipped the false gods of the surrounding nations, but either way, they turned away from Jehovah and the truth of God.

 Rom_1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

 God used His Prophet Hosea to be an example of wicked Israel in a way we may not understand, but we should be able to see it clearly.

 We should understand that it is often the case that God calls a preacher or a missionary who is sent to specific places where they labor long hours, but do not see much fruit because God made a promise to all people.

 2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

 Mrk_13:10  And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

 God asked Hosea to do something that many of us would certainly not want to do.

 Hosea would experience a whole lot of what we call drama today in his marriage to a harlot.

 The Northern Tribes of Israel would never be at rest but would face one crisis after another.

The Northern Tribes of Israel did not have one decent king.

They all were after power and riches.

 It is getting the same in America today and in much of the world.

 When God's way of righteousness is rejected, and His Holy commandments are ignored, this world will suffer in turmoil that could have been avoided.

 *****Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. 

 The wife of Hosea would be an adulteress, and God told Hosea to marry her and be faithful to her.

No matter what we do in this life, God is always faithful to His Word!

In reality, Hosea did not know Gomer would be an adulteress when he married her until God told him, but God did not cause Gomer to sin.

God will never lead us into temptation.

These marriages happen often, and divorce is rampant in America today, even in the Church.

People struggle with faithfulness!

 Being faithful to God, Hosea obeyed and married a woman named Gomer.

 The message God was sending to the Northern Tribes was a message of unfaithfulness.

 Hosea would completely understand unfaithfulness to God by his own marriage to Gomer.

 Hosea did not get to know Gomer through normal ways, as we would think, but Hosea purchased his wife.

 Hos 3:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. 

Hos 3:2  So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: 

 We will understand as we go through this lesson that Gomer will be a picture of unfaithfulness representing Israel, and Hosea will be a picture of God's faithfulness and God's unlimited "Grace".

 Rom_5:20  Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

 For the Prophet Hosea to prophesy in the right manner, he needed to understand and feel how God feels about unfaithfulness.

Hosea would write with a greater understanding of how God feels about His spiritually adulterous children.

 Through the tragedy of his own marriage, Hosea will come to feel how unfaithfulness affects the heart of God.

 Unfaithfulness will destroy love in most people, but Jehovah God has a love that we do not really understand until we get to know Him as our Savior.

 Now, we do not really know if Gomer was immoral before her marriage to Hosea, but for her to be an example of Israel, then she would have to begin her marriage to Hosea with faithfulness, but with a faithfulness that did not last very long.

Israel began with the faithfulness of Abraham.

 Gomer's children had names given to them that had special meaning.

 It seems that the first son of Gomer would be Jezreel.

 Hos 1:4  And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. 

Hos 1:5  And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

You know if God broke the bow of Israel, then He allowed them to be defeated. The bow was their greatest weapon against the enemy.

 The first daughter was named Loruhamah.

 Hos 1:6  And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. 

Hos 1:7  But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 

 Then another son named Loammi.

 Hos 1:9  Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. 

 It appears that maybe these children may not have been fathered by Hosea because our verse says, "children of whoredoms".

 It could also mean that all of these children would follow in the ways of their mother and were fathered by Hosea, which would make more sense. 

 Hos 2:4  And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. 

 We should not doubt that Gomer was an adulterous woman!

 Adultery is also a picture of people turning away from God and giving themselves to false gods.

When the parents do not follow the Word of God, how can the children know what God expects?

We are to be godly examples to our children and train them in the way that they should go in life, God's way.

 If we look at the people of the entire world belonging to God because He is the Creator, then we see a world that is given over to the worship of false gods today

 *****Hos 1:10  Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. 

 We should understand that it was not just unfaithfulness in a few of these people; it was unfaithfulness, but that all the land of Israel had surrendered itself to adultery and unfaithfulness, ignoring the Word of God and the God who loved them.

 It is estimated that there are around 20 million Jews in the world today.

 Remember that Hitler slaughtered over 6 million.

 God promised His people would be very numerous, and the pure fact is that God will keep His promise to Abraham.

 Gen 22:17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 

Gen 22:18  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 

Some say this would include the Muslim, and it could, because the seed of Israel would be from the line of Sarah, which would be Isaac and not Hagar, who is the mother of Ishmael, which includes the Muslim.

Muslims are not part of the Church unless they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, and not just as some prophet.

They want to claim to be a descendant of Abraham, but they do not want to be known as a Hebrew or a Jew.

 To be a son of the Living God is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior!

 God promised there would be only one ruler, and that ruler would be the Son of David.

 On the Day of Jezreel, in all of Israel, there will be a reunion of all the tribes of Israel.

 Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 

God promised that they would be restored to the land given to Abraham. Now, this does not include the Muslims because this land was passed on to Isaac and from Isaac to Jacob, who is Israel.

 Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 

Gen 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 

 What do we know? God has never broken a promise, and He never will!

 The Valley of Jezreel is located in the eastern extension of the plain of Esdraelon. (Jos_17:16; Jdg_6:33; Hos_1:5)

Jdg 6:33  Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

 This place has been called the battlefield of Palestine. It has been a chosen place for encampment for every enemy of Israel and in every battle carried on in this country.

 This is the same place of another prophecy that has not taken place as of yet.

 Rev 14:20  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. 

This is the same place where most of the armies of the world will gather against Israel, and the Lord Jesus will slaughter them there.

 God will show us how He acts to get us back on the right path.

God will use chastisement to purify His people, but then God will love them back into the family.

In Hosea, we read that God denied His people, but through the work of Jesus Christ, God will redeem them.

They just do not realize it yet.

 *****Hos 2:6  Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

 We know that adultery runs rampant in our societies of today.

 Many couples do not even get married because marriage requires commitment, and these unions are full of fornication. 

Look how many babies could be saved if fornication were not the lifestyle of the USA and the world.

It is the same as it was in the Book of Judges: Jdg 21:25  In those days "every man did that which was right in his own eyes".

This includes the women of today.

 Many a marriage has ended because of adultery, and this is the message God gives to Israel and that God gives to the Church.

 Even if Gomer would not stay faithful to Hosea, she should have been faithful to her children, but we find that this is not the case.

This is another case of Israel not even training its children to follow God.

 God is teaching us that if you travel the road with painful barriers on the left and the right, you can only go one way or select a path with painful injuries.

We should ask ourselves, why do so many try to break through those painful barriers, just to go against a loving God?

Those painful barriers represent the Holy Spirit trying to keep us on the right path to victory.

 People today do not even think about their health when they get on that road to sin.

 Listen to Job: Job 19:8  He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. 

 God will not put anything in our path to stop us from reaching Him, but He will put obstacles in our path to try to get us to change directions and return to Him.

The message of God is still repentance.

 *****Hos 2:7  And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. 

Hos 2:8  For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. 

Hos 2:9  Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 

Hos 2:10  And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

Israel was chasing hard after false gods, but they could not find one that could help them.

 Gomer was guilty of lust and adultery, and it was the same for Israel.

 Gomer became enslaved by her desire for sexual pleasure, unable to break free from her passion.

 This is what being enslaved to the Devil means. The Devil chains us to our sins and does not allow us to break free.

 2Ti_2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

We talk about how we should not waste the things God gives to us, but Israel would melt down gold and silver and make idols to worship.

How smart is that, by the way? That made those idols valuable to a thief who is the Devil.

It is a sad day when we forget that it is our Creator who has provided our needs all our days, and we begin to worship some false god who cannot give us anything but death.

 It is even worse when we give credit to idols for the things we have.

 When we seek the world seeking some benefit that appears to be good and supposed riches and prosperity that the world hoards for itself, instead of God, who is in control, we will find that there is no advantage to be gained in the world.

 We find that in war or in bad times, the Church is filled with prayerful people, but as soon as these things are over, those same people return to doing what they were doing before.

They should ask themselves, would God answer their prayers, and why would He? No, God will not listen to them lest they repent and return to Him.

 Job 35:12  There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men. 

Job 35:13  Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. 

 Only because God had placed obstacles in her path to keep her from finding her lovers did Gomer decide to go back to her husband, Hosea.

 This will be the path of Israel!

 When Israel is face-to-face with the results of her rebellion and sees no way out, will she ever return to the Lord?

 We should be amazed at the "GRACE" of God and His "FORGIVENESS" of our sins.

 No false god in this world can provide for our needs because they are only figments of the imagination.

 We will never gain satisfaction from false gods or from this world!

 Israel will one day realize that they were much better when they followed the LORD than when they followed the world.

This will be a while because they will be going through the Seven-Year Tribulation Period.

 When we become spiritually blind to the truth of God, we become blind to the benefits of serving Him.

 Psa_68:19  Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

 This world and its politicians make promise after promise, and when they are elected and run again for the same office, they make the same old promises that they cannot fulfill.

Why do we tolerate such people and not vote them out?

 God keeps every promise He has ever made.

 God provided for Israel while they were in captivity, but they gave their offerings to idols of this world.

 What did Israel lose?

 They lost God's care and His provision.

They were publicly exposed and shamed before the eyes of the world.

They could not escape God's judgment.

 There is no place for the sinner to hide from God's judgment!

 God began by taking His provision away from them.

 These are the same lessons Gomer learned. Her bad reputation took her lovers away from her.

 We cannot pretend we love the LORD and then go against His Word.

 *****Hos 2:13  And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD. 

 The days of Baalim were the days consecrated to Baal, and on which the worship of Jehovah was transferred to that idol.

 In the days of Ahab, Baal worship was elevated to the status of a “state religion" while service to Jehovah was set aside.

 1Ki 16:31  And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 

1Ki 16:32  And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 

1Ki 16:33  And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. 

 2Ki 11:18  And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD. 

 The name Baalim, Baals in plural, means the various forms of Baal-idolatry or any modification of Baal-worship.

 Some say Baal is the god of the elites of society, and in many places, we find this to be true.

They worship what their riches have bought them.

 Baal is also mentioned in the Quran.

 To be clear, when you give anything that God has given to you to some idol, some Baal, you have committed a terrible sin.

 God provides our needs; they are intended for our use in life or in a ministry of the Church.

 Gomer celebrated her marriage with Hosea, but she was deceptive and insincere, a wife of whoredoms.

 She turned her love away from Hosea and gave that love to other men.

Israel and many others have turned their love away from the LORD and given that love to a god that does not exist, for they have rejected the Son of God, their one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Therefore, we meet the God of the second chance.

 *****Hos 2:14  Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 

Hos 2:15  And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 

Hos 2:16  And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. 

Hos 2:17  For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 

 People say Grace is a New Testament thing, but we can see God's Grace all through the Old Testament.

 Hosea decided to renew his romance with his adulterous wife.

 He would give her assurance that their marriage was safe, speak tenderly to her, and take her to places away from the temptation of her former worldly life.

 This was a place where they could be alone and focus on each other and rekindle their original love for one another.

 God would also do this for Israel.

 Isa 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all. 

Isa 65:9  And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. 

Isa 65:10  And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. 

 God says, "My servants will dwell there". This would be the land of Israel.

God says, "My chosen ones shall inherit it". This would be God's people after the Tribulation. Israel and the Church.

 The heir of Judah will be the Messiah, and that remnant will be unified with Him.

 This is the seed that grows into a great nation, and the world will be at peace.

 It is believed that the name "Ishi" should be "my husband" and no longer be referred to as Baali, which means "my lord".

 We could say that this passage is spoken by the Messiah Himself, our Lord Jesus.

 Isa 52:6  Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. 

Isa 52:7  How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 

 We know this is the Lord speaking because we know that after the Great Tribulation, our Lord will remake this world as it was in the Garden of Eden when He said His creation was "very good".

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This is the same earth that our Lord Jesus will make again, a New Earth.

 *****Hos 2:18  And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. 

Hos 2:19  And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 

Hos 2:20  I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

 All those who want to know about the animals that God created on day five and day six, they were all at peace with mankind.

Adam and Eve and all the animals ate from the grassland and the fruit trees. No animal ate another animal. No insect caused harm to another insect. No fish ate another fish. No dinosaur ate meat.

 What is the truth of God?

 All those who have committed Spiritual adultery and rejected the Lord can still have a wonderful future if they return to the Lord.

It is still called repentance today!

 No one could say these things if they did not know the future!

 God seeks a personal relationship, and He will have it with those who repent and join Him in sincerity and truth.

 There would be no divorce, only an eternal union that could never be broken.

 This relationship would be built on love and mercy, and no one has as much love and mercy as the LORD.

This relationship would be built on faithfulness, and no one is as faithful as the LORD.

This relationship would be built upon knowing and acknowledging the LORD.

 *****Hos 2:22  And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. 

Hos 2:23  And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. 

 Jezreel (‘whom God soweth’) is a title symbolically applied to Israel.

 Once Israel returns to the LORD, many things will happen.

 We should remember this is also the time that the Earth will be destroyed by fire.

 The LORD will restore the earth:

 1) The LORD will meet the needs of the heavens.

2) The heavens will meet the needs of the earth.

3) The earth will meet the needs of the harvest, including grains, vineyards, and olive oil.

4) This great harvest will meet the needs of Jezreel as it is applied to Israel at this time and all those who are alive during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.

 *****Hos 3:4  For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 

Hos 3:5  Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

There should not be even one Israelite who can deny the truth of verse four.

God has a purpose for this time period.

Certainly, God has sent missionaries to Israel to tell them the truth of Jesus Christ, but in reality, God has not sent them a prophet since the time of John the Baptist and then His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What did Jesus tell them? Mat_17:11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

We know even at this time David the King had been dead and buried for many years, so God is not talking about David, and not a resurrected David.

God is speaking of the Messiah, the Son of God, the One called the Son of David.

Mat_1:1  The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

This will be the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The example given to us from the Book of Hosea should teach us about the enduring love God has for His people.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Amen

Pride Will Bring Our Downfall

 Uzziah's Sin and Punishment

 Book of 2 Chronicles Chapter 26

 (Related Scripture 2 Kings 14:21 through 15:38 and 2 Chronicles 27 through verse 9)

 

 What is Pride? Pride is inordinate and unreasonable self-esteem, attended with insolence and rude treatment of others.

 Pride is the high opinion that a poor, little, contracted soul entertains itself.

 Pride makes itself known when we praise ourselves, adoring ourselves, attempting to appear before others in a superior light to what we are; contempt and slander of others; envy at the excellence others possess; anxiety to gain applause; distress and rage when slighted; impatience of contradiction, and opposition to God himself.

 What is the truth of God?

 Pro 29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

 Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

 Most people see pride as positive and certainly not as sin.

 We do need to have strong self-esteem to be successful in this life here on earth.

 We must recognize our strengths and skills to be productive in this life.

 We should be proud of the abilities God has given us.

 This is acceptable pride. This is humble pride.

 I am proud that I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.

 I am embarrassed when I fail Him so often because I do not intend to.

 Pride becomes sinful when we exalt ourselves above others and think we are better than other people.

 As Christians, we may be better off than those who are lost, but we are not better than any other human being, no matter who they are.

 Our lesson today is about King Uzziah, King of the Southern Tribe of Judah.

 We know that the tribe of Benjamin also remained with Judah.

 *****2Ch 26:3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

 After the murder of Amaziah, his son Uzziah was chosen by the people to occupy the vacant throne at the age of sixteen; and for the greater part of his reign of fifty-two years, he lived in the fear of God and showed himself a wise, active, and pious ruler.

 His father, Amaziah, had been assassinated just as his father, Joash, had been assassinated.

 We should also notice that his mother Jecoliah was a Jew, and the wife of King Amaziah.

 We will see, as we go through the Books of Kings and Chronicles, that most of the good kings of Judah had Jewish mothers who had raised them with an understanding of the Word of God.

 We did not read verse 1, but Uzziah was made king in a special way.

 Judah was in turmoil with the assassination of his father and his grandfather, so the people of Judah took a firm stand and made Uzziah king, even though he was only 16.

 2Ch 26:1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.

 We should understand that Amaziah and Joash were kings in the line of David, and any change would have affected the kingly line to Jesus.

 God uses the will of the people to make Uzziah King of Judah.

 In the Book of Kings, King Uzziah is called King Azariah, but they are the same person.

2Ki 14:21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.

 Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years, but God did not give us much information about his good years; he quickly went from his good years to his bad years.

 No matter what we did in our best years, people will remember that time when we were not living right, especially if it happened in our later years.

 *****2Ch 26:4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

2Ch 26:5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

 King Uzziah followed in the footsteps of his father, King Amaziah, yet like his father, he did not stop the idol worship in the high places.

 Remember, it was his father who had regained control of the Edomites, but he had also hired a mercenary army out of Israel that a prophet of God had told him not to use, and Amaziah sent them back, and this caused problems for the king.

 He was, and he was later taken captive and held in Samaria. Uzziah was probably made a co-regent at this time. Amaziah was assassinated shortly after he returned to Judah, and his son Uzziah was crowned king.

 We do not know for sure who this Zechariah is, but he was certainly a prophet of God and the king's counselor.

 It is written that he had understanding in the visions of God, such as did Daniel.

 Dan 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

 Zechariah was a popular name in Judah.

Not much is known about this Zechariah, but it is obvious that God used this man as a prophet and delivered visions to him, which he relayed to King Uzziah.

We must know that our relationship with God will be based upon our obedience to His Word!

 As long as King Uzziah was doing right in the sight of God, he prospered.

 Another thing we should notice is that God will use young people in His plans if they follow in His will for them.

 Following in the first part of his father Amaziah's life was a good thing, but it seems that he also followed in the last part of his father Amaziah's life, which was a bad thing, as he turned away from the Lord.

 Zechariah had a special relationship with God, and the right teaching comes from having the right fellowship with God.

 One of the things we must learn and then teach our children is to seek God in His Word and then seek God in prayer.

 We must trust the written Word of God to be real and to be true, and this we must teach to our children.

I am a firm believer that the very first verse in the Bible is the most important verse in the Bible.

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

We will never have the right relationship with God unless we understand that He is our Creator and the Genesis story of our creation is one hundred percent true.

 Much of the Church is turning away from different parts of the Scriptures, but we must accept all the Word of God as the truth, or we can trust none of it.

 We need God's help in this wicked and evil world.

 *****2Ch 26:7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims.

2Ch 26:8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.

 Does anyone want to guess why Israel wins so many wars and why they lost a few?

 They win when God helps them, and they lose when God does not want them to win.

 Who is our greatest threat to safety?

 Our enemies who are closest to us!

 The Philistines shared a border with Judah, and they were a constant threat to those areas closest to that border.

 Those Arabs were probably the descendants of the Ishmaelites and also an enemy of Judah.

 Mohammed claims to be a descendant of the Ishmaelite, which would make him a descendant of Abraham. There is no way to connect his bloodline through the intermingling of the Arabic races.

 I'm so glad the Bible does not use the word race, and we are all truly born as the descendants of the same man, Adam, who was married to Eve.

 God only sees one people. The color of their skin is irrelevant! God looks into the heart!

 In typology, the greatest threat to Christianity comes from within the Church, from those whose hearts are far from the truth.

 So-called Christians who are not sincere, learn from erroneous teachings and wrong practices, but they can be found out by the truth of the Word of God.

 Why would anyone think God would give us an incomplete book or a book full of lies or misunderstanding?

Every false religion who claim Christianity uses the excuse that God has given them some special revelation, but God does not work like that.

Each one of them refuses to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as the third part of the Holy Trinity and the God of the Bible.

Those who do not recognize the Holy Trinity, best said, the Triune God, who is One God, are not part of Christianity and not part of the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Jesus is much more than just some good man.

Jesus is much more than some prophet.

Jesus is the God of the Bible!

 God says what He means and God means what He says!

 Uzziah found success at war because God helped him.

 The Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah so he would not bother them, and Uzziah was a strong king while he was obedient to God.

 King Uzziah became so confident in his strength that it began to interfere with his relationship with God because his own pride had come between him and God.

 *****2Ch 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

2Ch 26:17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:

2Ch 26:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.

 One of our biggest human mistakes is that we think we are far more important than we really are.

 We reach a point where we believe we can accomplish anything if we work hard enough, and that we do not need any help from others.

 Uzziah began to believe that he did not need God, the Word of God, His priests, nor God's prophets.

 We must understand that today the New Testament priesthood exists.

 1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

 In the Old Testament, it was impossible to combine both offices, for there was a priestly line, the Levites, and a kingly line, the line of David.

 There would forever be only one King-Priest, and He would be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

 Today, the entire church functions as a priesthood!

 In Israel, only the Levitical line had that privilege.

 As the Church Age believers, we can go into the throne room of God at any time of the day through Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who will soon be our King.

 In Israel, individual believers could only approach God through a Levitical priest; this included the King.

 Jesus Christ is our permanent High Priest and permanent King because He can never die!

 Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 

Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

 Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

 Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

 Our Lord Jesus is Holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted into Heaven!

 Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Heb 7:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

 Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

 Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

 King Uzziah was not the right king to take over the duties of the High Priest, much less any true priest of the Levitical line.

King Uzziah was of the tribe of Judah.

 The golden altar of incense represents Jesus Christ as our Mediator!

 1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

 Aaron and the Brazen Altar was a type of Christ in His sacrificial role on Mount Calvary.

 This Golden Altar of Incense stood squarely in front of the Mercy Seat just outside the Holy of Holies, depicting Jesus Christ interceding at God's right hand, where He is today interceding on our behalf, on behalf of the true Church.

 Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

 There was no way God was going to allow King Uzziah to become a part of the priesthood.

 This Golden Altar symbolizes the power of prayer, and it must be through Jesus’s name to get an answer from God the Father.

Those who refuse to claim their prayers in Jesus's name will not get their prayers answered.

 Jhn_14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 This Golden Altar declares the Victim of Mount Calvary to now be Victor over Satan, over sin, and over sorrow to become King of Kings and Lord of lords.

 Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

 Again, God could not allow Uzziah or any other King of Judah to come between the High Priest and His duties.

 Azariah the High Priest went in after him and took with him eighty valiant priests of the Lord, and they withstood the king.

 King Uzziah was supposed to memorize the Word of God, so he knew he was not supposed to be where he was and certainly not to burn incense on this altar.

 This is a major sin, and God's sentence would be harsh.

When we place ourselves on equal standing with the Lord Jesus, we are committing blasphemy.

 *****2Ch 26:19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.

 King Uzziah becomes furious at the priests who stopped him.

 He had the censer in his hand and thought he was fixing to do something beautiful because God had blessed him so much.

 He feels good about it, but it goes against the Word of God.

Christianity is not about feeling good; it is about obedience!

 His thoughts were "how could they have the audacity to stop an man who was so blessed by God".

 I believe this passage is in the Bible to teach us that we cannot twist the Word of God to make it okay to go against what God has said.

 It teaches us that we had better take the Word of God literally.

 We are to have great faith, but this faith cannot lead us to go our own way; we must go God's way.

 We must be saved by the way God has described to us, and it is by faith in the work the Lord Jesus has done for us to be saved.

 The Lord Jesus is the Door to Heaven, and we must go through Him.

 Jhn_10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Jhn_10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

Jhn_10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

 Up to this point, Uzziah had been a good king and had not committed any major sin against God, but God had to teach King Uzziah a valuable lesson.

 We have already talked about leprosy, and it was the dreaded disease in those days.

 Leprosy was a foul cutaneous disease, appearing in dry, white, thin, scurfy scabs, attended with violent itching. It sometimes covers the whole body, rarely the face.

 God allowed leprosy to be on the forehead of King Uzziah so it could be seen by everyone. He could not hide it.

 He had then become unclean, and he would no longer be allowed into the House of God.

 It was in King Uzziah's best interest for him to leave the House of God quickly.

 *****2Ch 26:20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

2Ch 26:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

 When we resist the Word of God, we stand on shaky ground.

 If we go against our own High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, we may face the wrath of God.

 When it is in our mind that we are on equal ground with the Lord Jesus Christ, we are committing a terrible sin.

 When our pride tells us that we are God's greatest servant, we are walking toward the entrance of Hell, and God may never redirect our steps.

 We should be very clear: God does not need any of us!

 Luk_19:40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

 It would be a sad thing to be replaced by a rock!

 King Uzziah was thrown out of the Temple, and he could never enter again because he was considered unclean.

 Lev 22:3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD. 

 King Uzziah knew not to retaliate against the priests because he knew it was God who allowed this to happen to him.

 Uzziah was afflicted with leprosy because of his sin, and we never read where he ever repented of his sin.

 Uzziah was afflicted with leprosy until the day he died, and because of this, he had to live in isolation from the people of Israel and step aside from public ruling.

 Lev 13:46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

 He could no longer worship in the Temple and had to put his son in charge of the government.

 2Ki 15:7 So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

 Uzziah had been a good king up until he let pride into his life and thought he could do as he pleased and ignore the Word of God.

 Because he was a leper, he could not be buried with kings such as David and was buried in a field that was purchased to bury the bad kings of Judah.

 *****2Ch 26:22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.

2Ch 26:23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

 What did the Holy Spirit allow Isaiah to write?

 Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

 On the day that King Uzziah died, one of the greatest prophets of Israel, Isaiah, volunteered to serve the Lord.

 Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isa 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

 The Lord Jesus used many of these same words when He informed Israel that He was the fulfillment of the words of Isaiah.

 Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 

Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

 Pride and self-righteousness are serious sins in the life of any person, but we must learn that these things go against the Word of God.

 We are no better than anyone else, no matter what our walk of life in this world.

 We should praise God for any skills or any talents He has chosen to give us, but He expects us to use those things in His service.

 Being attractive, or talented, or skillful are blessings from God, but we must never demean, degrade, or put down others.

 Pro 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

 Oba 1:4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

 The God we serve is serious about the things He has written down for us.

 Every single Word!

 Amen    

God Will Restore This World

 God's Restoration

 Book of Amos Chapters 5-9

 

 One thing we all must remember is that once our bond with God is broken, death has entered into our lives.

 We know this flesh we wear will certainly die, but the death that is real is the death of no longer having God involved in our lives.

 If we reject Him long enough, we will then be rejected by our Heavenly Father.

 Israel in this Scripture relates to the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom and not the Israel we know of today.

 The message, though, is the same for everyone who lives upon this earth.

 We are all given a choice.

 *****Amo 5:4  For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

 The verse is a call to repentance. God will contrast His requirements with our actual conduct.

 We cannot just say we are Christian there must be some proof.

 Jas 2:14  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 

 Now we have no work to do for salvation; the Lord Jesus Christ did all that work, but there should be signs of a changed life after our salvation. There should be some signs of our faith.

There should be some fruit of the Holy Spirit since He immediately comes into our lives.

 This is what James is saying in this Scripture.

 God will contact every individual during their lifetime, and each of us will be offered this choice.

 We must seek the Lord or else face God's judgment!

 God promises us that if we seek Him, we will find Him.

 Deu_4:29  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

 Act_17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

 It is easy to see that this seeking is not about religion; it is about a personal relationship.

 This is the difference between religion and Christianity. In Christianity, we get up close and personal with God, as a family should be.

 As Israel, the ten Northern Tribes found out, God's invitations will stop at some time.

 And the greatest truth of this seeking is that we cannot seek the Lord God of this Universe if we are also seeking false gods.

 *****Amo 5:5  But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. 

Amo 5:6  Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

 Bethel had once been a place to seek God, but when the ten tribes split from Judah, Bethel became one of the places where there was false worship of man-made golden calves.

 1Ki 12:28  Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

1Ki 12:29  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.

 Gilgal too had been a place where the people could seek God, but it too had become a place of false worship.

 Hos 9:15  All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. 

 God used to speak to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at Beersheba, but traveling to Beersheba in the day of Amos was like going on a pilgrimage.

 God would be south at the Temple and not some pilgrimage.

 Amo 8:14  They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

 Amos was preaching to the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom, and his message was, "There is no need for you to seek God in these places where He could have been found at one time because He was no longer there.

 It's like passing a church that was once full on Sunday but is now empty every day; you could say that God is no longer there, and there would be no need to seek God there.

It has become no more than a building because it was the people who came who were the church.

 Many of us used to attend other places of worship than we do today. Most of us would not have left those places if we were being fed the truth of the Lord.

 The fact that the Lord used to be there is no guarantee that He is there today.

 In fact, if we start preaching or teaching some new gospel in the place where we are today, we can be very sure that God will leave this place of worship.

 We have an obligation to attend church!

 Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

 We cannot just attend any place of worship; we must worship in a place where we can find the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the cornerstone of the Church.

 Many places of worship today do not even acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, or they do not have the true Word of God.

 What is a true Church? Eph_2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

 The Apostles taught what Jesus taught them,

The prophets tell us what lies in our future.

Jesus Christ is the God of the true Bible, and He is also our Creator.

If Jesus Christ is not your God, then you are serving the wrong God.

This makes a lot of people mad to say this, but we have to tell them the truth.

It is Satan who has lied to them!

 *****Amo 5:7  Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 

Amo 5:8  Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: 

Amo 5:9  That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

 The truth is that those who are not seeking the LORD are seeking themselves, and they have no care for others.

 There is very little natural affection for other human beings today.

Hatred dominates the minds of most people!

 As Christians, we cannot say we have the Lord Jesus Christ and to Hell with everyone else.

 Our job is to show all others the way to seek our Savior.

We cannot do this if we do not first show them love!

 Wormwood is a shrub or bush with an unpleasant smell and is very bitter to taste.

 It is a type of unpleasantness and grief that leads to the thought of death and destruction.

 Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 

Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. 

 The justice I have received from God has been sweet. He is so full of mercy and grace; His justice can be nothing else but sweet.

 I did not deserve it, but the grace of God is shown to those who seek the Lord with all their heart in truthfulness.

 If we teach a distorted message on the mercy and grace of God, that message will become bitter to those who have never known the truth of the Lord.

 If we do not seek our Creator, what chance do we have that we will find Him?

We must seek the right God, and there is only One true God and only one true Way to Heaven.

 Our Creator and our Savior are the same God!

 His name in the Scriptures is YAHWEH or Jehovah.

 Our world exists because Yahweh caused and causes it to exist.

 God spoke our world into existence and made from nothing all the things we see.

 If we cannot see Him in His Almighty Incorruptible Majesty, who only needs to speak one word and we become no more, then we will never understand His love for us, and we will deserve His judgment, which is far different from His justice.

 It is this God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Jesus, who wants us all to be saved!

 2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 We should clearly understand that no man, no matter how strong or how strong the works of that man, no matter how powerful, can withstand the Divine Majesty of our Savior, who is also our Creator.

 There is no military that God has not already overthrown. Read your Bible and your history book.

 It is this same God who allows changes in nature to succeed or fail at His choosing.

It is this same God who allows the politics of this world to succeed or fail at His choosing.

It is this same God who allows the cycles of time to go and come as He wishes.

This world is moving right along just as God said it would; the plan of God never has to change.

 It is not God who has allowed this world to be so close to destroying itself on any given day; it is the sinful people who live in it, but He still gets the blame, though He wants to save the people who live in it.

 *****Amo 5:10  They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 

Amo 5:11  Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

 God is saying that those who do not acknowledge Him as the Creator will never enjoy life.

 It was at the city gates where man's justice took place on the day of Amos.

 If there were a judge who could not be bought or bribed, the people would hate them.

 If that judge bends the law, then he is okay, but those who spoke with integrity or used reliable witnesses were hated.

 We live in the time of bought and sold-out judges, if not for money, then for a political stand and hatred.

 If not for money, it is for fame, or political stance, when it is supposed to be about the laws of the land, and judges have no right to make laws.

 We do not even get a chance to vote for these people, so who gave them such power?

 Today, if we stand up for the rights of the unborn, those who are disabled, or those who are elderly, and those who are vulnerable in our society, then we are hated, as the other side stands up for illegals, murderers, and lawbreakers to buy a vote; the hatred just continues to spread.

 There is no justice beyond God's justice!

 God will judge this world one day; He never forgets the works of those who refuse to repent!

 We might ask ourselves; can anyone sin so much that they will never be forgiven?

 *****Amo 8:4  Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 

Amo 8:5  Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 

Amo 8:6  That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 

Amo 8:7  The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 

 Though we do not know much about Amos, he is spending this time being an advocate for these sinful people.

 As we read these words, it seems that God is leaving these people no way to escape, but we see the accusations and God's verdict.

 It is not about the amount of our sin; it is about how many times we deny God’s remedy and payment for our sin.

 What is social injustice?

 It is a violation of another's rights. It is withholding what is due, or fraud.

 If all people are created equal, then why is there an unequal distribution of rights or privileges among people who have equal claims?

I am not talking about equality in riches, I am talking about equality in rights and justice.

 Israel was guilty of many things, but the main thing was superficial worship.

 By law, they had to honor the Sabbath and all the other religious holy days and national celebrations.

 This law became a thorn in the flesh of the politicians, the merchants, and the business leaders of that nation.

 You tell me we are not experiencing this today. God's laws are a thorn in the flesh of commerce and wickedness.

 Sunday, our day of worship, means nothing to most businesses today.

 Even our schools will try to practice sports on Sunday.

 All sorts of professional sports use Sunday rather than a weekday.

 Even Wednesdays are taken up with secular events.

 Alcohol can now be purchased seven days a week.

Politicians are pushing to legalize popular drugs using the excuse to raise taxes when they should be making ways to spend less.

It is our tax system that drives businesses to run twenty-four-seven.

 This world is trying to take away any time set aside to worship God.

 The alternatives to God that this world offers are nothing more than idol worship!

 The guilt of Israel was that while they were supposed to worship, their minds were on how to make more money, or how to rob the poor even more, or how they could take away the land of some poor person.

We see these same things in our politicians today>.

 I cannot imagine sitting in God's house trying to figure out a way to falsify the balances or more ways to deceive more people.

 They knew the Law, and they knew this was an abomination to the Lord:

 Deu 25:13  Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. 

Deu 25:14  Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. 

Deu 25:15  But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 

Deu 25:16  For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God. 

 Amos's job was to announce these judgments to the people of the Northern Kingdom, and Amos knew it would not sit well with the people, but God offered Amos no other answer.

 We cannot soften the truth of God and say we are God's followers!

 Only those who feared the Lord would be afraid.

 There would be no joy on the Sabbath.

God's judgment would bring death to many people.

If there were survivors, they would be traumatized, wondering what God would do next.

 We do not have to wonder what God will do next!

 He either tells us, or He shows us in His Word, examples of what He has already done because He never changes.

 If there is one truth in this world, it is that God's judgment on unbelievers is a sure thing!

 God's "judgment" on sin is a sure thing!

 Amos got a chance to witness these things in a vision that God sent to him.

 God has every right to judge this world because He created it!

 We all will stand face to face with our Almighty God, our Creator!

Some, at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The rest, at the White Throne Judgment.

 The even clearer message is that until that day of judgment, we need to repent and seek the face of God.

 We will all give an account for the things we have done unless we repent.

 Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 

Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

 Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. 

 If we do not want to hear what God has to say, then one day God will take away His Word, and we will know nothing and be like the evolutionists who come up with unbelievable theories and fantasies.

 *****Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 

Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 

Amo 8:13  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 

Amo 8:14  They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. 

 We may be in that time when the Word of God is hated, and the world does not want to hear what God has to say!

 Remember what the Lord Jesus said as He spoke unto the seven churches of the Church Age, the Age we are in now.

 To the church at Ephesus: Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 

 To the church at Smyrna: Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

 To the Church at Pergamum: Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. 

 To the Church at Thyatira: Rev 2:29  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

 To the Church at Sardis: Rev 3:6  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

 To the Church at Philadelphia: Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

 To the Church at Laodicea: Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

 The Prophet Jeremiah wrote down these words given by the Holy Spirit:

  Jer 23:30  Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 

Jer 23:31  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 

Jer 23:32  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. 

 The most tragic thing that can happen to this world is for God to abandon it to its own ways.

 It is easy to see that wicked men of this world would destroy it.

It is this same wickedness that says we have too many people to feed in this world and do everything they can to stop population growth.

 The ways of God are perfect!

 Psa 18:30  As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

 The ways of the world are sinful:

 1Jn_2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

 The world is tired of God telling them they are full of sin and need to repent.

 No one in the world has any desire to repent!

 The world does not want to hear the Word of God.

 When we look at what the Lord Jesus was saying to the Church, He was saying that much of the Church does not want to hear what He has to say.

 When this point is reached, God has said He will send a famine of hearing the Word of God.

 We must understand that if we reject what God has to say, He will quit speaking to us.

 He will put false prophets and preachers in places of worship, and they will do nothing more than tickle the ears of the congregation.

 Act_28:27  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

 2Ti_4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

2Ti_4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

 I believe we are in this age or this time now.

 Even here in America, the Ten Commandments cannot be posted anywhere without somebody bringing a lawsuit, but why?

 People just do not want to hear what God has to say about the way they live their lives.

To repent is just a word in most churches and means nothing.

 There is coming a day when this world will become so lawless that the people will once again want to hear what God has to say, and they will not be able to hear it or even find it.

 They will go to some church, but that one in the pulpit will teach them about some dream they had that did not come from God.

 If they find an old version of a Bible, the Holy Spirit will not open their eyes to what it says.

 The young people will see a world falling apart, left by their elders, and seek guidance from God, but they will not find it because the Word of God has been altered to become the word of the world, with just enough of the truth to cause confusion

 They will be told they can find the Word of God at the Luciferian Church, but it will not be found there because it never was there.

 It was at Beersheba that the enemies of Isaac caused all the wells to go dry, and Isaac had to dig new wells that were also filled.

 God is saying that the well of knowledge in the Word of God is dry, and there is no one to clean out the dirt and sludge of the world from it, where there still remains the Water of Life.

Jhn_7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Jhn_4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

We should understand that every person worships something. Whatever they hold first in their lives is their god!

It may be an image of their goal, it may be some idol, it may be something from some religion other than Christianity.

Even the so-called Christians must place God first in their lives, and many refuse.

If we fail to worship anything other than Jehovah in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ in the New Testament, or Yahweh, we are sinning Blasphemy.

All false religions will fall, never to rise again.

No one can escape the Judgment of God!

Amo 9:1  I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 

Amo 9:2  Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 

Once all false religions have been removed, God will do certain things to reclaim Israel.

*****Amo 9:11  In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 

Amo 9:12  That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 

God will make Israel the honcho nation of this world.

God will restore His people, Israel, to the national pride they had when King David ruled Israel.

"In that day", the day of the return of Jesus Christ, when He will publicly appear to save that remnant of the Jews that is mentioned throughout the Old Testament.

The Northern and the Southern tribes will be reunited as it was in the time of King David, but this will be the time of the Second Coming of the Messiah.

All those who were against Jehovah will be removed: Amo 9:10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

We should also understand that at this time, all the land that was promised to Abraham will be restored to Israel.

This is the same land that came to Israel in the days of King David and King Solomon.

This would be the land of Israel, but King Jesus will rule from Jerusalem, and He will rule this entire world.

Psa 72:6  He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. 

Psa 72:7  In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 

Psa 72:8  He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Psa 72:11  Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. 

The government of the Messiah will be universal. There will be no one who can hide from the rule of the Messiah.

It is the fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham: Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 

Gen 15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 

The world will look a whole lot different, even from what it looks like today.

There will be major climate change!

*****Amo 9:13  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 

Amo 9:14  And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 

Amo 9:15  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. 

When we know God up close and personal, we will always have a bright and wonderful future. It is His promise!

The judgment of Israel is over after all these years; they now accept all the Word of God, even the New Covenant(Testament). 

They have realized that all the Old Testament prophecies were true all along.

They now know the Son of God whom they had rejected and worship Him.

God had broken them because of their sin, and they had now repented and returned to Him.

True prosperity had finally come to Israel, and Jerusalem was now truly the City of Peace.

For the ploughmen to overtake the reaper means that it would take the reaper all Summer to gather in the harvest.

Even the vineyards would produce much more than was needed.

God would also cause cities that had lain in ruin for so many years to be rebuilt.

For the people in the day of Amos, this last part was a message of hope for the people of Israel.

All they needed to do was to believe the God who had delivered them so many times!

They would not have to depend upon foreigners or anyone else around them. God would make their land sufficient, just like their God is sufficient to meet all our needs.

I know this is true because He meets all my needs.

The prophecy of Amos could only be fulfilled by Jehovah, the Living God.

They would never have to leave their land again.

God would make sure these things happened just as Amos had delivered to them.

God means what He says, and God says what He means.

Amen.