All right, we're finishing up our study on Hosea this week, and we're on the last two verses of Hosea, chapter 14. Let me refresh your memory a little bit about chapter 14. We started this whole study in chapter 11, and we've gone through chapter 14. And the study was to look at an area that we all are deeply interested in and desire to understand more, and that is the love of God towards us. And this particular set of chapters has an awful lot to say about the love of God towards us in the voice of God. Again, often you do not have that. This is somewhat unique. and that you hear God himself speaking to us. As the beginning of chapter 11 said, when he saved us and brought us out of Egypt, all of us out of our own iniquities, and brought us to something that we could not have without him, he says he loved us. And this love drove him to do this. And it says that he picked us up and he carried us and he taught us as a young child. And when you go through this series of verses, what you find is is your salvation, your personal salvation by God himself to him, bringing you into his family is an event in his mind that he keeps going back to, consistently and constantly going back to. When he talks about the people of Israel and he talks to them, he is always going back to Egypt. and when he saved him and took them through the land of wilderness and brought them into the promised land. And he is consistently rehearsing that event. And it is something that you and I take for granted. We take it as though it's just a fact of where we are. That's true. But at the same time, we don't look back and really are thankful to him because of that and all that he sees in that. It's just like you having a child. All of us have had children, more than likely, and when we pick that child up, and we carry that child, and we love that child, and take them through the process of walking, and have them stumble, and you let them go, because you know they're going to fall, and they have to stumble, then you come and you pick them up, and you hold them, and then you put them back down, and you let them take another walk, and sure enough, they begin to walk, eventually. And he talks about it in this kind of language. And it's something that is deep and dear to him. And so we've gone through different things that are like that. And in chapter 14, we find that the final real call of God to his people, and again, this is his people. We're not talking about people who are not saved. He is talking to the people of God, the children of God in this book. And in chapter 14 is the major plea, the final plea from his heart is to return. If there's anything between you, anything that steps in the way, that causes you not to be really in a deep association with him and a deep walk with him, he asks you to examine that and to remove it. And to remove it by bringing words to him having your heart touched by the fact that you are not with him, okay, and that your iniquity must be cleared. And that's exactly what he says in the first three verses. He basically says, return, O Israel, the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you, return to the Lord, say to him, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously that we may present the fruit of our lips. So the biggest issue that you find here is that all of us have to be consistently examining our lives to make sure that there is not a particular sin or attitude or an idol that we establish that causes us to focus on other things besides God himself. And we have mentioned different kinds of idols that you and I, particularly at our age, deal with. And one of the idols has to do with security. The other idol has to do with health. A lot of the idols that we have are plans that we have generated within our own minds as to how this is supposed to look. And this is true at any time in your life. but there are plans that we have generated in our mind, activities that we have generated in our mind. This is the path we like to take, and what we find is, is God often steps in and says, that's not the path, and you have made it into an idol. You've driven all your resources, all your ideas, all your thoughts, all your activity towards something that is not necessarily bad, but at the same time, you've turned it into something greater than myself. Okay? And so that's what we've seen during this particular process. And he says, what you have to do is return to me and acknowledge your sin and let me cleanse you. Take away your apostasy and I will heal you. And that's what you find in verses four. I will heal your apostasy. I will love you freely for my anger has been turned away from you. Okay? And then there's a long list from that point on, clear down to the end verses that we are studying, verses eight and nine, that had to do with the description of a person's life that is in the hands of God fully. And when your mind and your will is united with the mind and the will of God, and there is no idol standing between you, there is no iniquity standing between you, God describes you as something like a plant, okay, that is essentially growing deep roots and that is producing great fruit in their lives to the very end. And he tells you that your life will be a fragrance, it will be like a blossom, it will be something that will be loved, it will be something that will be respected, okay, And all of these things that he talks about in relationship, he says, I've come to you like the dew. I will refresh you on a consistent basis. We mentioned to you that we did a study on the dew. And in the Palestine area, dew falls around 256 days of the year. And that's a lot of dew. And what you find is, because of the seawater coming off the sea, It causes that moisture to drop and it's something that is precious and dear and refreshing to people. And that's what God calls him, says, so I will become like the dew to you. Okay, and so those are the things that God has said at the very end. He says, I will cause fruit to come from your life. Okay, and we studied what fruit was last week. We looked a little bit about that. And then in verse nine, which is the last verse that we kind of got into last week, it says, whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. Now, the question that we presented to this last week was, are we wise? Are we discerning? do we understand? And I teach Christian young people in a Christian school, seniors. And the attitude that they have at a lot of points is an attitude that I'm afraid that we have a tendency to assume, the young and the getting older. The attitude is, I know all this. I've heard it. Now, they're 17. They think they know it all. And because they've gone through a system for 12 years, they truly do believe they know it all. And so it's difficult as a teacher to grab them and to cause them to understand they don't know it all. And they don't have a hold of it. And that attitude of knowing it all caused you to become apathetic. You think you're wise, but you're not. You think you're discerning and understanding, but you are just barely listening to what God is saying to you. And that's where you and I have got to be very, very, very careful. Because we have a tendency to basically think, I've heard this before, and thus it doesn't really matter that much to me. You don't say it that way, but that's the way it is. Because you get up here and we all walk out, and does it really change our lives? Does it cause us to really truly be wise? Okay, now what you're gonna find in the word of a person who is wise and discerning, the last part of the verse explains if a person is wise and discerning, something happens. In other words, they hear the words, but then something happens, they do it. There's a change. There's an action. It isn't just left in the brain. It's not left in the soul. There is something that happens, and that is a person who is wise. Otherwise, you're not wise. What you are is a person who's listened. That's good. I mean, that's an important step. You have to listen. I've got students who sit in my class who I know for a fact are not listening. In other words, when I ask them to write an assignment, their arrogance and their passivity towards God is demonstrated. So they're not hearing at all. I would say everybody in this room is hearing. I'm very attuned to what God says. But what you have to say is, does that move you to actually turn that understanding and that discernment into an action that changes your life? And so that's the key that this book ends on. It says if you do not do that, you're still trapped in an iniquity that has caused you to stumble, which goes right back to the first two verses of the chapter. So that's the block, okay, that's the encompassing. Who are those who stumble? If they do not cause their lives to change and confess their sins and become fruitful, okay, there are people who are still stumbling. Okay, and that's how the book ends. Okay, so are you wise or are you a person who's stumbling? Okay, still stumbling. Because you've heard the words, will you be something in the hands of God that will unite you, like John 15, five, and be abiding in him in such a manner that truly good fruit is produced? Okay, and so that's essentially what you want to see. Okay, so let's take a look at that from your sheet as well. Let me read that. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them. Okay. Now, I've broken these little phrases down for you, and that's, in my opinion, that's the way you study the word of God, is to break down the phrases, okay? You see what the flow of the ideas are, okay, by breaking down the phrases. And you can begin, when you begin to do that, you'll see that they're all unusual connections, different things that are put together. So the first thing that you see here is course four, okay, the word for in this verse, for the ways of the Lord are right. So what he's saying is you must pay attention because these ways are right. Okay. If you don't pay attention, you'll essentially stumble. Okay. So if you're wise, you will pay attention because the ways of the Lord are right. Then you'll notice that it says that you will walk in them. So it doesn't just say that you'll understand them, but it says that you will do them. Okay, and so that is the person that is being spoken about in the last phrases. He is a person who's heard all this, he has responded to it, he has brought his iniquity before the Lord, the fruit of his lips has been given to the Lord in thanksgiving because he has been forgiven, but he will respond to what God has said to him. He will walk in him. Okay, now, I have this mentality of being with these seniors, okay? Yeah, I still have those different kinds of seniors. Yeah, the different kinds. Yeah, that's right. For the ways of the Lord are right. The first thing that would come out of a quasi-walking person with God, okay, a person who basically would hold their hand up and say, I believe in God and I do love him and I'm gonna walk with him. But the first thing that they would say is, let's say pre-marital sex. Why is that the right way or the wrong way? The ways of the Lord are right. Okay, for the ways of the Lord are right. Okay, thus you should walk in them. That really becomes the mantra there. They're right, thus you should walk in them. Why would you be a fool and not be a wise man and not walk in them? Okay, because they're right. And the first thing they would say is, prove to me that they're right. Okay? How do you know that they're right? All sorts of people are saying things are right, okay? We have just an enormous amount of things that are told to us as young people that are right. There's no proof here that they're right. You just say that they're right. My parents say they're right. Preachers say they're right. But I have had all sorts of friends who've had premarital sex and they say, that's a cool thing. And why shouldn't we do it? And so we go into that question and we have to answer that question, why is it right? Now, why would you say, what are the things that you would put forth if you had to talk to your grandkid or your daughter or whoever, a friend, okay? And when you say this is the right way to do it, this is the right way to go, this is what God has said and it's right, okay, how would you explain that that's true? How would you explain it? The sanctity of marriage is a relationship. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't want you to explain it in relationship to premarital sex. Well, I am. Let me finish. It's a relationship that God shows us. He gives us our husband to form a love bond. And if you're just out there just I agree totally with that and that would be something that I would say to them as well Okay, you're gonna have to say a lot more, but you at least start with that idea What I'm asking, though, is not to try to answer premarital sex. What I'm asking you is how would you come to the idea that what God has said is right? Now, you might actually take a particular question, like I would have to do, premarital sex, and they'll say, why is that wrong? tell me why it's right to go God's way. And so then you would have to go through the actual things that God has shown you in the word of God in your own marriage as to why it's right. So that would be a way of handling. Sometimes the smaller question, which is actually a big question, premarital sex, can be answered more directly than the larger God is right and why should you follow him? How would you prove that he is right? Yes, Jack. Okay, that's a very good concept. Actually, Deuteronomy 30, the one that's listed down there for you, that's exactly what God says. It says, choose today what is life or choose today what is death. Okay, so we'll look at that passage in just a minute. So that's a good way of approaching this issue, okay? What God has said that is right means that it's actually, when we use the word right, what do we mean by that? When I say that's the right way, what are we saying? There's going to be a good outcome. That's right. The consequences. I taught my children and my grandchildren, God is true. God never lies. Anything that's a negative or is wrong is from Satan. You have this niggling little thought in your mind, like, I have a granddaughter. that went to OU for a year and she said, I might as well have born as Scarlet V because she's a virgin and was made fun of and girls were asking her why she's still a virgin and she said, this is who I am and I'm not here for the purpose of pleasing any man. When the right man comes along, That's and I'll give him my gift. Okay. And I said, that's great. Where'd you learn that? She said, you. But it's amazing. I mean, it's so simple. But it's not as adults. We don't have to be more than that. But just always, I always tell my kids and grandchildren, God is right. God is good. God cannot lie. All the other is from Satan. Okay, very good. Sherry? In Proverbs 30, verse 5, it says that every word of God proves true. Or some versions say that every word is tested. But when you think of it scientifically, the proof or the test is that it turns out right. And that's what he says, that every word of God is true, so if you take every word of God and you list them and add them up, the addition to that, the sum of that is true. That's right. What is truth? That's very similar to what is right. What is truth? Now, we could be in a world where right and truth are not equal. But the problem is we are in a world that right and truth are equal. So you can study any area of life itself. And what you're going to do is run into the truth of a particular thing that's happening. For instance, a plant. How do you keep a plant alive? Well, you use the truth and the laws that keep a plant alive. How do you know that these truths? You examine them. But you didn't make them. but something did make them. And this is what causes them to be alive. And so it is a truth that you learn from that who has made the plant. Now, one of the biggest things that has to do with when you study the word of God is to really understand why it's right. Is that you find that you study the personality and the beauty and the meaning and the truth and the righteousness of God. What you do is study it, okay? You begin to understand it and know it and see it and experience it. And what Jeff was talking about, when God basically tells you that this is true and this is right and you don't follow it, what you find is a death. So you can sit here and say it's not right and it's not true, but if you don't follow it, you're gonna find the death, and you will experience the death. If you follow it, you will find a life. You will know how to grow the plant. Otherwise, if you don't know the truth about how to grow the plant and what the life is inside that plant, you really can't cause that plant to live, you'll only kill it. So how are you going to find the truth in the life? You have to find the one that made it all. You have to find the one who made it all. One of the biggest points of what we are is that we think. We know how it operates. And we consistently run our lives as though we understand and have chosen the best way to go. because we think we know and we created, but it's like we created life. In reality, we don't know, okay, and it's only God who does know. and he's the one who's created life. Now, you have to believe that. You have to come to that understanding, okay? But you can study the word of God, and what you'll do is find the character of God and all that God is, and you will find that nothing but truth, righteousness, and love, and grace are a part of what that is. And that is what generates the truth. And if you don't take that truth, you will die. Your marriage will die, your sex and your premarital sex will die. All the laws that he has attached to them are what causes the plant to live. And if you don't understand what the laws are and who is the life of the plant, the life of love, in other words, if you don't understand that he is the center, the creator, the life of love itself, And if you don't follow his principles, the plant won't grow and you will kill it. And so that is why it's right. Righteousness is really just the right way to go and the only right way to go. Well, when you look at the people who come into the presence of God in the Bible, the actual presence of God, what they find without exception is a sense of utter guilt, of utter sense of their own unworthiness to be in the presence of this God. You look at Isaiah. I am undone, and I live in the midst of the people who are of sin. I have seen the Holy One. You look at John in Revelation chapter one. Who knew Jesus? Who was in love with Jesus? Who had given his life to Jesus? And when he finally sees him in his glorified state, even better than the transfiguration which he saw, he falls down at Jesus' feet as a dead man. Everybody who comes into the presence of God literally comes into the presence of God. The one thing they sense is I'm not right. And he is. Holiness can be sanctified and set apart, but it also can be whole. Holiness means there is not one thing wrong with it. Not one thing. And that's right. Not one thing. And once you come to that fact within inside of yourself, then you say, he's right. He is righteous. He is true. And you go that way. And you'd be a fool not to. And that's what it says. A wise man discerns this. and he understands this, thus he walks in it. I really, for a kid, a young person, until they get to that state, the truth is is they're debating it all the time in their brains. The thing is is they have absolutely have to get to a point to where they understand that he is absolutely, totally, true righteousness and whole and holy. And all they have to do is align their will with his will, and they will be right. Otherwise, they're going to die in that particular thing they want. Love will not be hope. And the different things that they want. So that's the thing that we're That's what it's important to know. You've got to do that, be able, you can't go, for the ways of the Lord are right. You've got to get to that point. You have to get to that point. And when you get to that point, then you can do, and the righteous will walk in them. It is that that drives them to walk in it. It's where you come to this point and you understand. Let's look at these verses that I have listed here because they're cool on this subject. Most of you are aware of these verses. However, first Chronicles, you're probably not. Deuteronomy 30, this one you should be aware of. I use this a lot in my teaching. Deuteronomy 13, really beginning in verse 19. And I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by holding fast to him. For this is your life and the length of your days. This is a person who's been convinced, okay, that God is right. And so he chooses, he makes a choice to hold firm to God, because God is God. I had one student, okay, over all my years, okay, who's a really cool kid, and he's very, very brilliant, and yet he's an enormously humble young man. way, way beyond his years. And he's gone to OU about two years ago, and he's won every award that they could possibly get. He's too smart, okay? But at the same time, he is enormously humble. And when I brought up the area of premarital sex, I said, why is it that you don't do premarital sex if you don't? Why is that? And he said, because God's God, and I listen to what God says. because he knows what's right. Now this is exactly what this verse says. If you do not believe this, you're going to learn to believe it because you will choose death. But if you do believe it and you choose it, you will know you were right because it will produce life, okay, in terms of what's going on. So that's essentially what you're seeing. God is putting that choice before every man You either choose it or you will choose a death. And the death will maybe not convince you, but people will look at you and they'll realize and people will begin to understand that God was right. And of course, at the end judgment, that's what we all know. Everybody will know that he is God. And that's the essence of it. He is God. He is holy, truly, righteously true. And he is the right way. Thus, you walk in it. You really can't walk in it well unless you understand that. Let's look at 1 Chronicles 28.9. This is David speaking to Solomon at the very end of his days. He's turning over everything to Solomon, and it's really his last word to Solomon. 1 Chronicles 28. As it says in my Bible on chapter 28, David's last instructions to the people and to Saul. Okay, in verse nine. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your fathers and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches the hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. What you need to do is to break this thing down into four phrases. Two of the phrases have to do with how, I mean, have to do with the duty of man, the duty that Solomon is being charged with. And then two of the phrases have to do with how is he going to accomplish it. OK? So this is what it says. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your fathers. That's number one. You cannot do any of this, Solomon, unless you know God. Once you know him, you will do right. And as long as you keep in that line, you will do right. Solomon kept in it, and then he wavered. Okay? And that's the major issue. The major is know God. That is the duty of man. That is the duty of what we are supposed to do primarily and utterly. First two commandments, okay, everything that you see is know me. Consistently, continually grow to know me. Okay? And you have all sorts of examples in your past, Solomon, to help guide you to see what this looks like. You're not oblivious to this. I am a man who knows God, your father. I'm your father, and I spent my days learning and knowing him. You do the same. So that's the first phrase. The second phrase is to serve him. So that would be called the duty. The duty would be to know him, and once you know him, you're to serve him. Okay, you're to serve him. That is walk in his ways. Do what he wants you to do. Know him and walk in his ways. That's exactly what we find that is being talked about in Hosea. Knowing and walking its ways. How do you do this? It's the next two phrases. How do you do this? I mean, Solomon could look right at his dad and go, well, how'd you do that, dad? How did you get to knowing? And how do you serve him? How do you do this? And so the next two phrases explain that. As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your fathers and serve Him. How? With a whole heart and a willing mind. Those are the two elements that cause you to finally find God and serve Him. With a whole heart and a willing mind. Now, what is a whole heart? I gave you a scripture there, is Psalm 86 and also James 1.6. Psalm 86.11 is a very beautiful verse that I love, and James 1.6 changed my life in this area. So Psalm 86.11 basically says, teach me, teach me to have an undivided heart. A whole heart is an undivided heart. A whole heart is pure and centered on a goal. There is no diversion and there is no splitting of it. It's not a double heart. James 1 talks about a doubtful heart or a dual heart, one that goes this way and one goes this way. Can't ever make up its mind. Okay, one day it's this way, one day it's this way. Calls it like a wave tossed to and fro with the sea. One day he's walking with God and thinks it's cool, the next day he's questioning God right and left. And that was exactly what my problem was. Okay, you'd see that I was pursuing God, but then another day, all of a sudden, I would go, I didn't love, and I'm not sure if I can trust you anymore. And I don't wanna go this way. So that's not a whole heart. A whole heart is undivided and will always pursue its goal. What is its goal? To know Him. Then how do you serve Him? It basically says once you know Him and once you pursue Him, He will tell you what to do and you do it with a mind that is willing. Now what this means is, how do you walk with God? You find out what he says and of course you believe it because of who he is. So thus you have the motive to do it. It's life and you believe that. And now you choose with the mind to do it. It's a volitional act. It does not stay in understanding and discernment. It moves from discernment and understanding to the actual fact of it happening in your life. Very often, the people who study the Word of God wind up being people who study the Word of God. And it remains in their mind, but it never makes it out into their life. Do it with a willing mind. Choose volitionally to do this when God tells you to do it. Okay? So that's the difference in terms of what's going on. And so that's a very, very small phrases. Know him and serve him, the duty of men. How do you do that? You do this with a whole heart. You do not allow yourself to become double, dual, doubtful. In my opinion, doubtful is dual. 90% of doubt is sin. 10% is trying to figure it out, and you don't understand. But most of the time, it's not that at all. And it's an attack upon the character of God. Doubt is usually an attack upon the character of God. And thus, it's an egregious sin. And that makes you dual. So that attack you cannot present. So now you must be single-minded to know him and understand him and to love him and having to forgive you when you're not going the right direction. And then you will serve him by volitionally doing what he tells you to do. It's very difficult to do what God tells you to do when you don't believe in him, you're not sure if it's the right way, you doubt his love, you are not wholly given to him, you will not do what he tells you to do. When I look at teenagers, this is the issue. They know him to a degree. They've got all sorts of stuff in there. They actually have responded at times to love him. But they hold inside of themselves a huge part of their heart okay, to where they will not move to truly do what God tells them to do. Why? Because they're not circling with a whole harp. They reserve their own opinion, their own desire on any given issue. God's opinion's good, but mine's just as good. And if I like my opinion more, I'll do mine. And they wouldn't tell you that, but that's exactly how it acts. Okay? Until they get to this point, until we get to this point, the doing is very difficult to do. If I asked them how many had committed premarital sex in my class, I'd hate to see what it was. So I don't ask. I don't want to be disappointed. Why? Because they've grown up in a school and a family and a church that have told them point blank, this is death to your sexual life and your love and your family. It's a death. And yet they choose it. Why do they choose it? Well, the world around them chooses it and they believe that this is something that they have a right to make a decision on and God shouldn't tell them what to do. So it's not a whole heart. They don't really know God. And so they don't serve him and they do not choose to go his way. Now that's where it is. And like I said, all of us are right in the middle of this. I'm trying to make a decision right now, trying to find what God would want me to do. And if he chooses this way, I'm going to find it difficult to go that way. So at that particular point, okay, I will have to go, you know, God forgive me and help my heart be whole because I love you and I want to love you, but I don't like this decision you made. I don't see it as right. And God says, but it's right. See, it's something we all deal with. You just don't sit there and think about it too much. I mean, like taking care of our parents. It's very difficult to take care of your parents as they go through the death process and heading in. It's not simple. And you've never done it before. Yeah, and so it's something that you have to consistently bring before the war because you go, this does not feel right. And you're all confused and you're not sure what to do. I mean, we're doing these things all the time. You get some sickness, Bev is sick, she gets up, she feels good, and then she doesn't feel good. And I go, what is going on in terms of the mind of God here? But do I follow him with a whole heart or not? and do I follow what he has to say on this issue? How I'm supposed to respond and what I'm supposed to do and how I'm supposed to give, okay? See, we're all doing this. And it's just a part of what we deal with. And this is again what David turns to him and he says, no God, the father that you have is me and I knew him and I loved him and I disobeyed him. but I reaped the death. And he is right, and he is love. Know him. And then when you know him, you serve him. Dad, how do I do that? You do this with a whole heart, an undivided heart, a single mind, and you choose to do it when it hurts, even though it doesn't look right. So that's what it says. And that's exactly how this book ends. We've shown you the love of God. You know what it is. We're trying to let you get a hold of God and his love so that you will follow him. So you're walking his way. So that's essentially what you're finding. All right, that's it for now. I have the faintest idea what we're gonna do next, so don't ask me. You can suggest something. Don't ask me, I don't know. Yes? What? Usually the things that we see have to do with wealth and the sexual area and he absolutely disobeys God when God tells him not to do it. He did things that he knew exactly were against what God told him to do. For instance, he wasn't to use Calvary. He wasn't used to establish the different things to protect himself. The why? I would say the why has to do with his own genius and his own ability and his own self-sufficiency and his own pride and all the different things that were a part of it.