Episode Transcript
If you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hosea chapter 11, Hosea chapter 11, God willing,
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we'll be expounding verses 3 through 4. Hosea chapter 11 verses 3 through 4. And the title of
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the message is, "A Departure from Grace." A departure from grace. Give everyone time to turn there.
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Ever since the tower of Babel in the book of Genesis, nations have continued to rise and nations
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have continued to fall. And some nations have experienced an extraordinary rise to power,
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achieving world dominance and profound wealth. Our nation has been one of them.
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Only to have another nation come and take their place on the global stage. It's just what has
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happened since the beginning, ever since, again, the tower of Babel. And nations aren't the only
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entities that have experienced this climatic rise and dramatic fall. But businesses have,
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families have, individuals, they've also experienced this as well. Every family is just one
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generation away from ruining the family name. Good men have passed down their good names to
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their children, only to have their children squander their name, squander their wealth,
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and wisdom due to their foolishness. What keeps a nation great, a family great,
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and a business great, and a person great, largely depends on them understanding what
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made them great to begin with. It's very important. Being successful is far easier
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than becoming successful and remaining successful. Whether a nation, a business, or a person,
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if you're successful, it's good to know where you are, but it's better to remember where you
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come from. Better remember how you got there. And at the beginning of this chapter in Hosea 11,
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God reminded Israel and thus God reminded us how they got into the promised land.
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What got you here in the first place? What made you great as a nation in the first place?
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The current generation that Hosea is writing to, they inherited the land that flowed with milk and
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honey. They didn't get there. They didn't fight the battles to get there. They didn't cross the
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desert. They didn't come out of Egypt through the Exodus. They inherited every good thing that they
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had, just like people born in America have inherited what they have. They didn't do the
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blood, the sweat, and the tears, and the sacrifice to get us to be the nation that we are.
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So they inherited the land that flowed with milk and honey, but they had forgotten how they got
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there. They had forgotten what their forefathers did to achieve that by God's grace. And God
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reminded that unthankful generation that when they were a young nation, God loved them as His own son,
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and He called them out of Egypt. Remember, we learned that in verse 1 and 2, how He called them
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out of that land where they had been held in bondage. And after God brought them into the promised land,
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God blessed that nation, and God conquered their enemies, and God grew their fathers into a mighty
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nation. And then the next generations turned from God, the God that brought them out of Egypt,
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brought them into the promised land, and then began worshiping the false gods of the nations
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around them. So God sent prophets back to Israel to call them back to Him. But as we learned last
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week, the more those prophets called Israel to come back to God, the further Israel went away.
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And now this morning, as we move into verse 3, God enlarges upon Israel's history,
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telling us in verse 3, if you'll look there, "I taught Ephraim also how to go." Now remember, Ephraim
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is a description of the northern kingdom of Israel. "I taught Ephraim also how to go." Let's pray.
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Father, we thank You for Your precious Word. We thank You so much, Father, for the richness and
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depth of Scripture. And I pray this morning, every eye will be upon You, every ear will be
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attentive to Your Word. Ask it in Jesus' wonderful name. You'll feed Your precious sheep now. Amen.
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"I taught Ephraim also to go."
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Now long ago, when the Bible was translated into English,
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the word "taught" meant to lead or draw. Not draw like with a pen, but to lead and to draw someone
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along. Okay? A teacher, when you're thinking about the word "taught," well, how does "taught" mean to
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lead or draw? Well, a teacher can lead a person to an understanding of a subject. A teacher can
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help a person draw a certain conclusion, right? So there's a mental leading, there's a physical
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leading, there's a mental teaching and a physical kind of teaching. And God is not leading them in
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that sense when He says, "I taught Ephraim also to go," but He's leading or He's drawing them out
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of the land of Egypt. When He says, "I taught Israel also to go," He says, "I drew Ephraim to go."
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In the Hebrew, God is literally saying here, "I caused Israel to walk." I caused Israel to walk,
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that word "to go," when in the Hebrew it means to walk, which is how they went. For 400 years,
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Israel was stuck in the land of Egypt. 400 years, they were stuck there. Now, if you'll remember,
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in the Bible, the number 40 is the number of a complete test, a complete trial.
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So 400 is a multiple of 40. So when you're looking at them being in Egypt for 400 years,
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we're looking at a long drawn-out trial, a long drawn-out test. For 400 years,
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Israel was tested in the land of Egypt. You know what that test concluded? Do you know what the
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results of that complete trial concluded? It concluded that Israel had every chance they could
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get to escape the land of Egypt on their own, and they could not do it. That's what it concluded.
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400 years, they couldn't get out. You're following the spiritual truth to that, aren't you?
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It doesn't matter how strong you are, how powerful you are, how many descendants you have,
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how big and strong you grow. It doesn't matter what you have. You cannot get yourself out
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of bondage to sin, Satan, and death. It is absolutely impossible. For 400 years,
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God did not call Israel out of Egypt. For 400 years, God purposefully left that young nation
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of Israel in Egypt, giving them all the time they needed to plan to strategize and to execute
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their departure from that land. But for those 400 years, they remained in bondage to Egypt because
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they had no ability to leave. When God said he caused Israel to walk, that means Israel did not
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have the ability to walk unless God imparted that ability to them and made them able to walk.
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Israel was like a man lame on his feet who had no ability to leave the present situation he was in.
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That was Israel. So God caused him to stand up and walk. Man, this is rich, folks.
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God had to say to the lame man, "Israel, rise, take up thy bed, and walk." That's what happened.
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God had to draw the impotent man out of Egypt.
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You got someone lame on their feet.
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They're stuck here in the miry clay. That's one way God describes it. They're stuck here in the
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miry clay. They're down here in the quicksand. They have no ability to get themselves out.
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And then a strong man comes along, grabs that person by the arm in the hand,
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and pulls them with his strength, not their strength, with his strength, up out of that
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miry clay and sets them on a rock that they can stand on. They drew them out of the miry clay.
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God's reaching over and drawing them out of that bondage because they have no ability to get out
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on their own. Church, everything that God is speaking about here concerning his deliverance
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of Israel from their bondage is alluding to him delivering us out of our bondage.
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Hosea is speaking to them, yes, but that was just a brief little point of time in the world history.
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Primarily, by God speaking to Israel, he is speaking to us. The book of Hosea is written to us,
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his church, by prophesying of Israel, God is prophesying of us. When God says he calls
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Israel to walk out of Egypt, he is foreshadowing the Lord Jesus, who calls us to walk out of our
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bondage to sin, for we, like Egypt, were perfectly incapable of delivering ourselves.
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God said, "I caused Israel to walk," look back in your text, taking them by their arms. Isn't that
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good? He's not talking about teaching someone to walk in the sense of saying, "Okay, now just put
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one foot in front of the other." That's not what God's talking about. He's talking about teaching
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them how to walk in the sense of drawing them, of grabbing their arm and saying, "Here, I'll
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lead you, I'll draw you with my strength, I'll bring you out of that land." Oh, man, taking them
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by the arms is how he did it. For they had no ability even to stand on their feet. Their 400
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years in Egypt showed that they had no ability at all to deliver themselves, for they represented
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us who were dead in our trespasses and sins. The book of Romans chapter 5 verse 6, Romans chapter
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5 verse 6, you will write that down in your notes or your margin. The Bible says, "For when we were
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yet without strength," that means no ability at all. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
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Jesus' death for the ungodly was the arm that reached down and pulled us people who were
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without strength, lame and dead and trespasses and sins and taught us how to walk.
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Listen to me, no man has the capability, I mean, man has no capability whatsoever
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of making himself acceptable to God, none. He's lame on his feet, he is dead in trespasses and
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sins. We are all born in sin, we are all moral failures, we are without strength being dead in
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our trespasses and sins. We are born in bondage to sin and death and we are completely incapable
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of leaving that bondage unless God takes us by the arm and raises us from the dead and draws us out
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of that spiritual Egypt. In Mark chapter 5 verse 41, Mark 5, 41, a young woman had died. That young
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woman was dead, that young woman was on her bed, that young woman was without strength. She had no
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ability to rise, no ability to walk and people in the house had lost all hope, but Jesus came
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and the Bible says in Mark 5, 41, and he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her,
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"Tileth thy kumai," which is being interpreted damsel, "I center thee, arise." There's the strength,
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there's the power that we need. Again Romans 5, 6 says when we were yet without strength,
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like that damsel, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. In other words, Jesus' death on the cross
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took helpless sinners like me and you by our arms who had no ability to leave our bondage to sin and
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death and be reunited to our creator and the cross of Christ says, "I say unto thee, arise."
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God said, "That's what I did for Israel." Look back in your text. "But they knew not that I healed them."
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God healed that damsel that was without strength. Jesus healed the lame people and says, "Arise,
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take up your bed and walk." And God healed Israel by grabbing them by the arms and giving them the
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strength to get up and go. By drawing them out, He healed them from their inability to escape the
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bondage they were in. The cross heals us from our inability to escape the bondage that we're in
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because the bondage that holds us is sin. Sin is the mortal wound and the cross is the immortal cure.
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Sin is that which takes away our strength. The death and resurrection is that which gives us our
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strength. And in that strength we walk and we live and we're healed from the affliction of sin.
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The new generation of Israelites didn't believe what God did for their forefathers.
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They didn't give God the credit for bringing them into the Promised Land. They would not accept the
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fact that they were like lame men in Egypt. That's kind of a hard pill to swallow.
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They wouldn't accept the fact that God had healed them like lame men and caused them to walk out by
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His grace and His power. They thought they got there in the land of Egypt, in their own
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land of Israel, in their own strength. That they could retain their power in Israel in their own
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strength. But that's not what happened. Here's what happened. God said in verse 4, "I'll tell you how
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you got here, Israel." He says, "I drew them with cords of a man." That's how you got here. Remember,
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the word taught means to draw or lead. So he says, "I drew them with cords of a man." Oh my goodness,
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this is good folks. "God drew them out of Egypt." "God drew them across the desert."
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"God drew them into the Promised Land." And the only way they could stay there is if the God that
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drew them was the God that kept them. That's the only way. From start to finish, Israel was drawn
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by God. They were taught how to walk. Now, are you ready for an Old Testament blessing? If you
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hadn't already got enough. In verse 3, underline the word taught. In verse 4, underline the word
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drew. And now in the Gospel of John chapter 6, the Gospel of John chapter 6,
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we're going to read verses 44 through 45 together. Jesus said, "No man can." Now, what's the
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difference? We go back to our English grammar. What's the difference between can and may?
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Huh? Ability versus permission, says the home school teacher. That's right. May says, "You have
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permission to." And let me tell you all this morning, and I mean this with all my heart,
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I give all of y'all the permission to bring millions of dollars down here and lay at my feet.
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[laughter]
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You may do that. But having the permission to do that and having the ability to do that are two
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different things. Maybe someone like Brother Shepherd who's saved every sin he's ever earned,
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he may have the ability to do it. But see, that's the difference. May and can. Jesus says, "No man
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can." He didn't say, "No man may. Everyone may come." He said, "No man can come to me unless the
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Father which has sent me," there we go again. There's our word, draw him. He just doesn't have
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the capability. Why? Because we're like lame men on our feet. We're totally incapable of rising up
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on our own, following those 10 commandments perfectly, being that holy acceptable person,
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and just walking right up to Jesus and saying, "Here we go. I'll just walk right into the promised
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land with you. I'll just go right into heaven with you. I'll just go right over the cross with you."
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We don't even have the ability to come to the knowledge of Christ as our Savior, even as a
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sinner, because we are flesh. And in our fallen flesh, we are incapable of comprehending spiritual
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truth. Completely dark. We're born with a dead spirit, completely dark. "No man can come to me
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unless the Father which has sent me, draw him." So as Israel could not, could not, had no ability,
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they had the permission to leave Egypt. They didn't have the ability to leave Egypt. And as Israel
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could not leave Egypt unless God drew them out. So we cannot come to Christ and believe on him
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as our Savior unless God draws us out as well. You just can't do it, Brother Doug. You can't do it.
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Absolutely impossible. Jesus said, "No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me,
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draw him, take him by the arm, pick him up and draw him out just like he drew those people out
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of Egypt." And Jesus said, "The person the Father draws, he said, 'I will raise him up at the last
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day.'" Listen now, if you're in John 6 in your Bible, underscore the word draw, now we're going
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to get to verse 45. "And it is written in the prophets and they all shall be," what? "They shall
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all be taught of God." There we go again. Isn't that good? Man, I'm telling you, Hosea is not
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talking primarily to Israel. They're talking to me and you. They're talking to the church.
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Then we got God, people who are taught of God, people who are drawn of God. What we're learning
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about Israel, we're learning about us. Verse 45, "It is written in the prophets and they shall be
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all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto
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me." How does God pick us up by the arm and draw us out? How does God take weak, impotent people
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who are without strength, who are dead in their trespasses and sins and picks them up by the arm
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and draws them out? He does it by giving them the truth of the gospel. He does it by the Holy Spirit,
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taking that dark mind and enlightening their understanding so they can see.
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And by coming to the understanding that Jesus, when we were yet without strength in due time,
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died for the ungodly, then that lame, impotent person who has no strength to please God
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suddenly sees that Jesus pleased God on the cross on his behalf and suddenly he has the ability to
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please God. He has the ability to please God not by standing up and doing it, but by looking and
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believing on the one who did it on their behalf. That's how God draws us out with the truth of what
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Christ has done. Jesus said, "No man can come to me unless the Father draws him that way." Folks,
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and he says, "And everyone the Father draws that way," he says, "I'll raise up at the last day."
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If you have come to the knowledge of the truth of what Jesus did for you on the cross,
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if that enlightenment has come to your eyes, you've been taught of God. You've been drawn off on your
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feet and God never grabs anyone by the arm and pulls them up on their feet without raising them
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up from the dead of the last day. He doesn't draw you up out of the pit without taking you up to the
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throne with Christ. God taught them. God drew them. For no man can come to Jesus except the
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Father do so. Now notice that God said he drew them with cords of what? Cords of rope? Cords of
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hemp? Cords of a man? Are you getting this? God drew Israel out with the cords of a man.
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He took a rope. Man, y'all have seen this now. You got someone drowning out in the water,
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and you got someone to come. They got a life preserver on a rope, and they throw that life
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preserver to them, and they hang on to that, and they draw them out of that rope to the shore. Or
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they're down in a well like Joseph was, and they can't get out of that pit. They're stuck in,
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and so they lower a rope down. They lower a cord down. Remember, what was her name there?
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She lowered the people down by the cord from Jericho? Rahab. I got everybody's name. This
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was not in my notes. That was a cord. Okay? And so, same way here. They lowered this cord down in a pit,
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and then they pull these people up with this cord. God said, "I drew Israel out with a cord,
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but it was a cord of a man. I used a man like a rope to pull them out."
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Do you know what man God used like a rope to pull Israel out? He is Moses. He took Moses,
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and he said, "I want to commission you to go and bring my people out of their bondage."
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He sends Moses in, and Moses tells them how to take a lamb and shed that lamb's blood and
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put that lamb's blood on the door post of their house so God can pass over them, but he won't
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pass over Pharaoh's house. He won't pass over anybody else's house unless that house has the
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blood of the lamb shed for them on it, and Moses taught them how to do that. They put that on there,
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and through the power of the Passover lamb, God drew them out of Egypt, following Moses all the
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way who was following God all the way, and Moses got that staff of God in his hand,
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and God through Moses drew them out, and through Joshua drew them in.
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That's what God did for us. Moses was a picture of Jesus. The apostle John said, "The law came by
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Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He drew them with cords of a man." How does God
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draw us out? With the cords of a man, the same way as God drew Israel out of Egypt by the man Moses,
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so God drew the church out of sin and death by the man Christ Jesus. Listen to what the Bible says.
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Listen to what Jesus said in John chapter 12 verse 32. John chapter 12 verse 32. Jesus said, "And I,
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if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." There's Jesus. He says, "You just
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lift me up on that cross from the earth." Man, they nailed him on that cross. They didn't take
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that cross, and they raised him up for people to see, and there's Jesus lifted up. He says, "You
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lift me up like that? That's how I'm going to draw people to me." They don't have the ability to.
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Only God. God has to draw them. How does God draw them? Jesus already said, "No man can come to me
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unless the Father which has sent me draw them." The Father has to draw them. But then the Father
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says, "I drew them with the cords of a man." And so the Father draws them, but he uses the cord of
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Christ, the man, to draw them. So Jesus said, "Yeah, the Father's going to draw you, but here's how
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it's going to happen. I'll be lifted up from the earth on the cross, and through that I will draw
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all men unto me." He is the cord of God's grace that draws us by teaching us God's truth. God sent
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Jesus to be lifted up from the earth on the cross. That Jesus, through the preaching of the cross,
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might draw us from our bondage to sin and death. Jesus crucified for our sins is the cord that
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draws us from our bondage. The preaching of Christ crucified draws us. Look back in your text now.
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It draws us with bands of love. Isn't that wonderful? With bands of love. Remember what
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Jesus told Nicodemus? Speaking of that serpent on the pole that was lifted up, he said, "That's a
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picture of me." And then he told Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
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Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, should not
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perish in their bondage, should not perish in their spiritual Egypt. But He loved them so much He gave
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me so that you could have everlasting life." Oh, what an amazing picture God painted for us
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in the Old Testament. How can anybody read this and doubt the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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God said, "I drew them out," look back in your text, "and I was to them as they that take off
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the yoke on their jaws." So we've got a yoke here. We've got an ox out in the field. That ox has a
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yoke on its neck or a bridle or whatever that beast of whatever the beast of burden is going to have.
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And they've got it on their neck, around their jaws, and they're pulling that bird and that
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plow or they're pulling with the grind mill or whatever they're doing, and they're pulling that
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bird and behind them. And God says, "I drew Israel out, and when I drew them out," He says, "I was to
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them as the person that comes along to a beast of burden and takes that yoke." He starts untying
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those straps and that big old heavy yoke, tying it from their head, their jaws, their bridle,
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whatever they've got, and I pull it off of them. I take the bit out of their mouth, I take the
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the yoke off their neck, I take the bridle off their head, I release everything that binds them
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to the burden that they were pulling, and I just take it off, and I set them free,
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and I receive them from that burden. God's saying, "I was to Israel like someone who lovingly takes
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the yoke off a weary ox, who's been tied to the burden and sets him free." By dying for our sins,
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Jesus removes the yoke of sin. He removes the burden. By enduring the penalty of the law,
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Jesus removes the burden of the law that's been tied to our jaws ever since our birth,
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and He replaces the yoke of bondage with the yoke of mercy and grace in its place.
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Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11 verse 29, Matthew chapter 11 verse 29, Jesus tells sinners, "Take
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my yoke upon you. I'll remove that yoke off of your jaws. I'll pull it off of your neck and your
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back. You take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
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rest, not to your body but unto your souls." God said, "I took that yoke off of them,"
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look back in your text, "and I laid meat unto them." That is, I put food in front of them.
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I gave them food to eat after I took the burden off of them. I gave them food to eat after I
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drew them up and set them on their feet and drew them across that land and brought them out of
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bondage and brought them back to life. I then set food before them that they may be filled with
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strength and have the power to live the life that I called them to live. Man, God doesn't just take
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the yoke off of us. God doesn't just bring us out of Egypt to die. He sets food before us to continue
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our life and to be filled with His mercy and grace. God didn't simply bring them out of Egypt,
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but He empowered them to thrive and to conquer their enemies as well. When they leave Egypt, they
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get out of Egypt, and what does God do? They can't get across that desert without some kind of
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nourishment. God gives them manna. The manna was a picture of Jesus who came down from heaven to
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give life into the world. Jesus explained that in John chapter 6. They ate that manna all the way
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into the promised land. When they got into the promised land, the Bible says, "God, stop the
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manna and let them eat the old corn of the land." But all the way, men on Passover night, they ate
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the land that died for them. Across the desert, they ate the manna, which was a picture of the
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lamb who would come to die for them. They get into the promised land, they eat the old corn of the
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land, the solid, meaty doctrines of the gospel, another picture of Jesus who died for them.
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But God gave them food just as much as He gave them liberty. And I'm standing before you this
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morning telling I've been freed from my bonds to sin, but I am not some skinny, starving person
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who just escaped out of a prison camp. I am fat-fleshed. I am full. I am fed by the grace of God
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with His truth. And that's why Jesus said to those people after they preached the gospel to them,
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after Jesus raises them up through His cross and the preaching of the cross of Christ, He told His
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pastors, "Feed my sheep. Get them full so I can get them going." He took them by the hand, healed them
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and laid meat before them to eat. After Jesus took that young girl by the hand and raised her from the
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dead in the gospel of Mark chapter 5, the Bible says in Mark 5 43, "And He charged them straightly
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that no man should know it and commanded that something should be given her to eat."
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He always gives food after He gives life. He always gives food after He gives liberty. There's
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always food that comes with it. Here's the kingdom and truth for you this morning. The gospel doesn't
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just get us up. The gospel keeps us going. Boy, I tell you what, do you know what that means?
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The gospel doesn't just get us up. The gospel keeps us going. Nobody gets freed unless they get
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filled. You getting that? Give them food, give them freedom. Nobody gets freedom unless they get
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filled by the food to keep going. That means why God starts, He always finishes. He's not going to
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get you out halfway and you get tuckered out on the way to heaven and you run out of strength.
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You got out by God's grace, by God's tree and you get on there by God's food. He fills the belly.
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He gives the food and man, He's going to take us all the way. He's not only going to get us up,
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He's going to get us going. Jesus is not only the cord that draws us out, He is the bread that keeps
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us going. From start to finish, salvation is all the grace of God. Israel received God's grace
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and they were drawn from bondage. The problem was the new generation had rejected God's grace,
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thus they would return to bondage. See how that works? Grace brings freedom, grace brings fullness,
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but when you reject the grace of God, you reject the freedom of God and you become empty
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and you become dead in your trespasses and sins. There's only one way for a person to stand before
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God and enter into heaven and that is by the grace of Jesus Christ alone. His merit, His strength,
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His power, His truth. In the moment someone says, "No, it can't be by grace alone,"
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they reject that grace. They're loosening their hand from that which pulls us from the Mary Clay.
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They're cutting their throat from the food that God fills us and they're saying, "No, thank you,
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I'll rise and walk on my own." Well that won't work, folks, because we have 400 years of folks in
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the land of Egypt that prove it. It didn't work for the Israelites in Egypt, it won't work for
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a church member today. The only way that we can be saved is by the grace of Jesus Christ.
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His death, His burial, and His resurrection. I stake my hope for eternal life on that alone.
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It freed me and brother it fills me and I hope you're filled too. Father, we thank you so much
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for your precious Word. I thank you for the message that you gave the Israelites.
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I thank you for the prophet Hosea. Lord, it's almost like Hosea is a New Testament apostle
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preaching the doctrines of Jesus. How powerful your Word is when it's seen through the lens of
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the cross of Christ. We're so thankful for applying this truth to us and we pray, Lord,
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for the food that we're about to receive physically. You'll bless it to the nourishment
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of our bodies. And Lord, I pray that we'll have a wonderful time and fellowship. If there's anyone
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here today who does not know Christ as their Savior, they'll come up to us, Lord, and let us know
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so we can show them how they can be free from their sin too. In Jesus' wonderful name. Amen.
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