Well, it's good to be back here tonight. I appreciate the good singing and all that's been done so far. Let's turn back to Hosea in chapter number 14 and pick back up where we left off this morning and continue on with this thought of returning to the Lord. And we'll switch gears as we get on down these verses and we'll kind of be down more from returning to the Lord to receiving from the Lord. So, that's what's going to be a great blessing. I look forward to it. I've been through these kind of periods many times in my Christian life. The Lord's always wanting us to grow, the Bible says, but we all, with open face, beholding this in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into that same image from glory to glory. So, we have a standing in a state in which we're down here walking and living. We stand complete in Him. As far as God's concerned, we've been declared righteous in Heaven, and there's nothing wrong with me, nor has there ever been anything wrong with me. We're complete in Him, accepted in the Beloved. But it's quite a different thing with this dead, rotten corpse that we're dragging around, this flesh, and we're in this world. We're in a fallen world. And so, there's a state in which we can get in, a condition in which we can get in, all Christians can get here. And some people refer to it as backsliding, whatever you want to call it. But I know this, you'll know it when you're there. Especially if the Lord just, you get under good preaching, and somebody preach against your sin, you get somewhere where the Lord's working and moving, God will make sure and point it out to you. And so, I thank God for His faithfulness for that, because He doesn't have to do that. He could let all of us just walk on and say, see you in heaven, but He didn't do that. He's faithful to watch over us, faithful to walk with us every day, and faithful to recover us even though He saved us. And we didn't deserve to be saved, make a mess of our life sometimes, make bad decisions, get in conditions we shouldn't be in. He didn't cause that, we did. And we looked at a little bit of that this morning, but we'll start back in chapter number 14 of the book of Hosea, and we'll just start back in verse number 1 just so I can kind of recap a little and get us caught back up to where we'll be. We started off talking about how we all are commanded to return to the Lord. Know that, that God's not pleased with any of us to continue on. I've heard people say things like that. Well, only thing it's going to cost me is rewards one day in heaven. It doesn't really matter how I live. As long as I'm saved and, you know, repeat that prayer and I've got my get out of hell free card and I'm going, then it doesn't really matter how I live. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let no man deceive you. But because of false preachers and men that will deceive people, the truth is evil spoken of. ANYHOW, WE GO ON DOWN THROUGH HERE AND WE SEE THE FIRST COMMAND IN VERSE NUMBER ONE, OH, ISRAEL, RETURN. NOT I WISH YOU WOULD RETURN, OR IT WOULD BE AWFUL GOOD IF YOU DID, OR BOY, I WISH I HAD GOOD FELLOWSHIP WITH YOU AND YOU OUGHT TO RETURN. HE JUST FLAT OUT SAYS, RETURN. Get with it. Time's short. You need to get busy because all of us are dying people and at any minute we could take our last breath and be out of this world. Brother Gary's here tonight. My good friend and his wife, Miss Kim, they just experienced that. Brother had a heart attack. Had some 80% blockage, I believe it was. And you know, not caught in time. Brother may not be with us tonight. So we always need to be ready to meet the Lord. And I don't want to die in a condition to be found in a condition where I'm unfaithful. I want to be found in a sinful condition. The Lord could come at any moment in time and I want to be found faithful doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And so the Bible has commanded us to return. We know that the Bible commands all men everywhere to repent. Repentance is not an Old Testament. It's not a work, nor is it an Old Testament doctrine. It's just as applicable to you and me today in 2019 as it's ever been any other time. As many as I love, and chasten, and rebuke, be zealous therefore, and repent." And that's in the New Testament. Now, the next thing we want to see is realize and see our need. A lot of people that you witness to and talk to don't think anything's wrong with them. They compare themselves among themselves, right? This is unwise, so don't do that. We've got to realize that we have a problem and see the need that we have. And then we need to take responsibility for those actions. I dealt with that and probably beat that about to death this morning, so we won't go back down that road. But it's our responsibility as Christians. We're the ones that God has commanded to do the things that He's asked us to do. I heard one man say one time, said to a preacher, he said, I'm waiting for God to quit these cigarettes. And the preacher said to him, he said, God doesn't smoke. He told you to quit them. Amen. A lot of us are sitting around waiting. Well, I'm waiting on God to help me to do something. Well, I'm going to tell you something, friend. God's done everything He's going to do for you in the person of the Spirit of God when He implanted Him inside of you when you were born again. He's told you to do it. Put off the old things, turn away, lay it aside, go away from that, and walk and turn. Here's what the psalmist said, I considered my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. THAT'S WHAT ME AND YOU'VE GOT TO DO. WE'VE GOT TO EXAMINE OUR LIVES AND SEE OUR WAYS THAT ARE NOT PLEASING TO THE LORD AND TURN OUR FEET UNTO THE LORD'S TESTIMONY. THAT'S WHAT WE'VE GOT TO DO. AND IT'S A GREAT GRACE. THE ACT OF ACTUAL CHANGE IS A WORK OF THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD THAT'S IN US. THAT'S HOW HE WORKS US, CONFORMING US TO THE IMAGE. BUT IT BEGINS IN OUR HEART AND IT BEGINS BEING RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF OUR MIND. THAT'S WHY THE WORD OF GOD IS SO VALUABLE TO US, TO BE RENEWED IN OUR MIND. A LOT OF OUR THINKING GETS WRONG SOMETIMES. We need the Word of God to get us back to reality, get the thinking right again. These people nowadays, we get to compromising and thinking and talking. I mean, hey, these people watching things now, they'd have never watched 10 years ago. These people wearing things they wouldn't have never wore ten years ago. Come on now, don't die off on me. It's okay. Nobody's going to get hurt. It's all right. It's good for us. That's right. Be challenged to be holy. I don't think you can take holiness too far. That's right. If you're done in the right spirit and the right intention of the heart, I don't think you can take it too far. Well, I don't believe you've got to do all that well. You can believe what you want to. I think a man just ought to be as holy as God is. What the Bible said, be as holy as I'm holy. That's the expectation that we all want to be at, right? Of course, we got a long way to go. I don't know about you, but I got a long way to go. That's not what even Paul said. If Paul had it, I don't know where I'd be. I don't know where I'd stack up. But he said these words. He said, even to us, it's already perfect. Well, now ain't nobody in here perfect. What's he talking about? Standing. As far as God's concerned, I'm perfect. But then he goes on in the same chapter, just a few verses, and talks about how I'm not already perfect. What's he talking about? Because he's alive in this world, living in a fallen world and a fallen body. That's exactly right. But he's perfect in heaven, but he's not perfect yet. So what do we want to do? We're striving unto perfection. We want to be as holy. We want to. And so we're striving in that direction. And one day we'll die, God will take us out of here. We'll have a new body fashioned like the Lord Jesus. We won't have thoughts and temptations because nothing that's sinful, only righteous things will enter over there. Nothing that's going to defile. Isn't that wonderful? That'll happen one day, but in the meantime, you and me is here, and we gotta put up with a whole lot, and we gotta walk right, walk straight, consider our ways, and turn our feet unto the testimonies of the Lord. Take responsibility for our own actions, realize that we have a problem, and return unto the Lord Jesus. So what's not enough to stop there, though, in verse number two? Let's see, let me read this, O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen, nobody else caused you to fall, you fell yourself, and you fell by your own iniquities, right? You fell by thine iniquity. Take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. that is what is more acceptable unto the Lord. We learn that in the book of Hebrews and other places. The sheep died for the shepherd in the Old Testament and the shepherd has now died for the sheep in the New. Once and for all, He appeared once at the end of the world and put away sin forever by the sacrifice of Himself. Is that not what the Bible teaches? Once and for all, He's perfected forever them that are saved by Him. It's done. It's good. It's over with as far as it's standing. But in our state and how we live, that's a progressive thing. Every day, we all got to work towards every single day. Say, well, I feel bad about myself. That's okay. You feel about like every other Christian in this building that's gotten wrong. We've all been there. Don't let that bother you. It would bother me if you didn't get it right. Time's short, get it right. Isn't that what the Bible teaches? So, what do we see here? Well, we get to see the result in verse number 3. And the result will be repentance. When you analyze yourself and you see your ways displeasing unto the Lord and you get to that place just like when you were lost and you were condemned and under conviction, what you did is turn from your idols to serve the Living God. And the same thing now as you're saved and you go on, you've let things in your life you shouldn't. and you want to go on to that next level with the Lord, and you want to move on closer, move up higher, or whatever the case is or situation that you're in, you turn from those things in your heart, you begin in your heart, it's the work begins in your heart, and then you consider your ways and turn unto the testimonies of the Lord. And what happens is repentance is granted. The Lord Jesus has now granted repentance in verse number three, excuse me, and the Bible says, Asher shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our God." You see the intentions of their heart? The intention of their heart is, well, when I get back up off this altar, I know for a fact I'm going to go right back home and do the same thing I've been doing every other day. The intention of their heart is, by the grace of God, we're not going to do this anymore. And that's what it's going to take. It's an old magic formula to get rid of. You better quit just waiting on God to cast some magic spell on you. That's ridiculous. He's done enough. The work's been done once in the end of the world. He's done put it away forever. He's done all he needs to do. The reconciling work is done to reconcile sinners unto their God. That part's done. What's the responsibilities on your shoulders now? Responsibility's on my shoulders. We're the ones told now and commanded. We're the ones that gotta take responsibility. That's why I fall out with the Calvinists. Because they're waiting for God to infuse them with some special grace. That's not gonna happen. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And God's given to every man the measure of faith. It's your responsibility to repent and exercise it in Jesus. If not, you'll die and split hell wide open. Right. Responsibility's on you. And too many Christians sit around waiting, well, if I can just get in the service and it's the spirit of God, if that preacher will preach in such a fashion or such a manner, it ain't on the preacher, it's on you to get right with God. Right? Woo, that'll help you. It's a liberating thing to realize that I don't have to wait on everybody else to get right with God. I can just get down on my face and pray and get right with God. Hallelujah. I don't have nobody do it for me. I don't have to go to a priest, get in a port-a-potty with a man and tell him everything I ever did. I can just go right to God. Well, I've killed it now. Look at verse number three. Because there's a lot of our brethren that don't believe that true Bible repentance ever results in anything. I promise you, your repentance will result in a change. Does that mean it's a perfect? No, because you've got to do it every single day of your life. You'll start repenting when you get saved, and you'll get up every day, and at the end of the day, and in the middle of the day, repenting unto God. Just about every day of my life, Brother Mark, I'm thinking something like, oh God, please help me. I'm a mess. Please help me, Lord. Forgive me. I probably said too much. I probably shouldn't have said that. Anybody ever done that? I thank God for some of you who don't do that. But I have a tendency to do that every now and then, get caught up in a conversation, maybe say a little more than you should. Right? So if I ever just walk off from you, it's not because I'm mad at you, it's because I got a tendency to say something I might not say, should say. It's best for me to just go on down the road. Amen. But I think about that all the time, all the day long. What are we doing? We're just repenting. God, please help me. Forgive me, Lord. Help me to be a better daddy. I've snapped at my kids before and thought, Lord, you never treat me that way. You've been so long suffering in general with me. God, help me." And I mean that's just the way God works every day in our life. But if we don't respond to that, we're going to be in trouble before long. We're going to get in the condition, this is what their condition. They were sent prophets that God sent the messengers of God and preached the message to them, and He would warn them, and they would cry aloud and spare not, and the people would do absolutely nothing with the preaching of the Word of God. They despised His prophets, misused them is what the Bible talks about. Well, to their point, there was no remedy. They wouldn't listen to God and receive the message that it was in truth the Word of God. They looked at it as it was in men, and they wouldn't receive it, and they never responded to it. And that's where we get in a condition where these people are in. You want to call it backslidden, you want to call it cold, whatever you want to call it, lukewarm, whatever it is. But anyway, it's not good. It's not where we're supposed to be. So here's what happens, and you can look, I wanted to turn and look at this a little bit more, and I don't think we'll have the time to do that, but in verse number three, we see the result, and we see the repentance that's happened and the change of heart that results in the change. Here's the intention that they have. We are not gonna ride on them horses anymore. We're not gonna say to the work of our hands, ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. So we're no longer gonna worship these idols. We're no longer gonna, the things in our life that exhaust, I believe an idol in the heart is just as dangerous as an idol in the hand. And so you and me, we don't worship little figurines anymore, but we do worship something in our life. There's something that we give our time to. And we have entertained ourselves to death. Some of us have the God and we worship entertainment. We'll spend 75% of our day entertaining ourselves and spend no time with God. I know that's got to be true somewhere. You owe me somewhere. Because that's the age we live in. That's the devil's devices that he's devised against us. They could be used for good, but what it's really an occupying thing to occupy your time, to keep people from thinking on their ways. Because when you're engaged in all of this entertainment, the devil's keeping you from thinking too much. Because you get alone and some of these kids, they don't know what it's like when you turn all the TVs off and turn everything off and get quiet. They go crazy. It's good for you to just sit and be quiet and think. God may have something. Hey, God may put His finger on so you start thinking about your ways and pondering your ways. That's the way you're going to gain some ground. Get in the Word of God. God speaks to you from the Word of God. That's how you're going to gain some ground. in your Christian life. Well, Brother Clinton, I'm just tired of it's the same old thing all the time. I intend to do better and I can never make another grant. Well, I want to tell you what, it's not God's fault, it's not the church's fault, it's nobody else's fault but yours. And you're just going to have to one step at a time keep repenting and believing, repenting and believing, turn the TVs off, put the Facebook down, and get in the Word of God. It's simple. I'll throw Instagram in too. I've not learned how to use that Instagram. I'd like to, but I can't figure it out. I try to get these kids to show me. I don't know. I feel like I got Facebook down pretty good, but that Instagram's beyond me. I don't know how to fool with it. But anyway, we got to put set some time aside. Hey, listen, I'm not against all that stuff. You'll see me on there trying to do the right thing, but I'm telling you something. If we spend more time occupying our time, it's no wonder we're lacking in chapter 14. No wonder we're cold in our heart. We're spending too much time in the world. We're too grounded in the world. We're not supposed to set roots down in this world. If I was just coming out from the womb, there'd be a separate, say, of the Lord. That's not the unquenchable. I'll receive it unto myself. It's us that is responsible to live separated, holy, consecrated lives. God's not gonna do that for you. You gotta put off some things and put on some things. And it's just some good old-fashioned grit. You're gonna have to just wake up in the morning and say, by the grace of God, I'm gonna get in the Bible. You say, well, Brother Clint, I'd try that, and then what I'd do by Tuesday, I'd sleep in because I stayed up too late Monday night, and I failed God, so I just don't know what to do. Well, I'm going to tell you what you better not do. You better not quit. Just get up Wednesday morning and say, God, I'm sorry for yesterday, and get in the Word of God Wednesday morning. And if you fail Thursday morning, I'd just tell God I was sorry, and I'd get up Friday morning, and I'd get back in the Word of God. I'm not going to quit. I'm not just going to say, well, I just couldn't do it. So you know what? Devil, I'll let you win. That is not going to happen. We're just going to keep getting up. We're going to keep falling. We're going to get up again. We're going to fall. We're going to get up again. And we're going to keep on getting up until God takes us home. Hallelujah. I got to start exercising. I can't even preach anymore. You got to get me somewhere around exercise, son. So we gotta respond, we gotta render, take words. You'll see repentance, you'll see that change take place. In Revelation chapter number nine, let me read this to you quickly. I don't believe I need to do that here, but I believe it's just good to go over some of these things. In chapter number nine, in verse number 20, you'll see a good example of repentance here. Verse number 19, for their powers in their mouth and in their tails, their tails were like unto serpents and had heads, and with them they do hurt. Verse number 20, and the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils. See there's action involved in the repentance. Not that they didn't say they were going to, that they would quit doing what they was doing. Yeah, that's wonderful. And it can happen. There can be, oh, what's that song? What a wonderful change has been wrought in my life when Jesus came into my heart. But let me warn you of a big danger we have in our day now. We think that's a one-fix-all. We've took our salvation pill, and there's been no discipleship, there's been no growth, there's been nothing, and then you just end up stagnant, going nowhere else, and end up dying off. There has to be. You can't just stop at salvation. That's just the beginning. You gotta keep growing. You gotta add unto your faith. You gotta add to that patience. You gotta keep adding to things and growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. I'm telling you something. I just want to know more about my Jesus. And when you get in the Word of God and that's really true, you'll start learning more and more about the Lord Jesus and begin to grow in grace. And I'm telling you, you can't do it sitting at home. I'm telling you, everywhere I've let my guard down, Tyler, every place in my life that I have ever compromised a conviction, it has cost me dearly. Every time. You know what I want to do? I want to keep shoring those things up. Hey, we've let this little area right here drop. You know what? I'm not going to make excuses for it, and I'm not going to say it's okay, because it's not okay. But you know what we can do? We can just shore it right back up. and just walk like we used to walk, live like we used to live, talk like we used to talk, listen to what we used to listen to. Isn't that right? Amen. That's wonderful. Isn't it great to have that opportunity? God doesn't just say, well, you know what, you messed up, you're done. Boy, He could, Brother A. How many times did He deal with these Jews? Now, I know it's a nation. I understand that. I understand the different dispensation. But how many times could God have said, you know what, I'm done with this. He did one time, said, get out of the way, I'm gonna kill them all. Hey, how many times in a Christian's life does he fail God? Every single day, somewhere, somehow, we fail God. And he's still faithful. You know what, I believe Revelation chapter number three, I don't believe that's salvation. Now, I won't fall out with you if you wanna preach that salvation, I'm gonna fall out with you. But I believe that's fellowship verse. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. He's talking to a church. And he said in that church, if anybody in that church wants to come open the door, I'll come in and supple him. You want to start a revival? Just one person get on fire for God. You get one person filled with the spirit to do right and live right, talk right, think right, and have good fellowship with God, get filled with the Holy Ghost, it'll affect everybody else around him. It can't not. Why don't you be the one? What was that prayer meeting that got started? It lasted over 100 years. There wasn't one hour of the day they didn't pray. It was started by a teenage girl. I wish I could remember the name of that. I'll think of it by the time I'm done preaching and going home. Hey, young people, God will use you young people to start something. I've seen Him do it. There's no telling. Hey, listen, God doesn't need me. He can use a donkey to do what I'm doing. Don't laugh at that, Tyler, I'll smack you. Hey, he's chosen the foolishness of preaching, but he certainly don't need me. I've seen him, hey, God can use just the most simplest thing, the most, and some of our eyes, maybe the weakest part of the body. the less comely part of the body that we don't give a lot of honor to. God would use that to stir up the church for revival. Isn't that something? Now, I've got to get to this, because we can't keep on with this all night. Now, Asher will not save us. Back to Hosea chapter number 14, verse number 3. You see the result of repentance is Asher shall not save us. We are not going to ride upon a horse, and neither will we say any more than the word of our elders. Hey, you better be careful what you promise God. God, if you'll do this, if you'll get me out of this mess, I'll do X, Y, and Z. I'm going to tell you what you better do. You better pay up X, Y, and Z. You better forgot, you might have forgot about it. God didn't forget it. And He'll get it out of you one way or the other. Be careful what we promise God. But they've made a decision here, we're going to stop riding on Him horses. We're going to stop worshiping the benign idols. And we're going to turn to the only God that can give mercy to the fatherless, and that's the God of heaven. And we're going to serve Him. Hey, that's what all of us have come to that point in our life when we got saved. But there's been many a times where I've had to say to myself, you know what? I'm done with all this stuff. Believe it or not, it took years. It took time for me to grow in the Lord. I had some problems, brother. You're talking about baggage. You don't live 25 years in this world and not bring some baggage up out of it. You'll bring a mess along with you. And I appreciate the time that the Lord allowed me to grow. But at no point in time did he say, well, Brother Clint, I realize where you come from, how your daddy was, so it ain't no big deal. Listen, I don't care what your mom and daddy said. Mom and daddy's wrong. They crossed this Bible. People hide behind their raising and excuse their failures spiritually. You can't do that. I say, well, I just don't share the gospel. That's not how I am. Well, I'm going to tell you something. You're wrong. Right? You can't hide behind a personality deficiency. Well, I don't praise the Lord. I just don't do it. Not my personality. Well, your personality is wrong because everything that has breath should be praising the Lord. Well, I just praise Him silently. Well, that's like baptism with no water in it. How do you do that? Come on now. Now, some of you just look plain mad. You ain't mad, are you? We haven't got to the hard part yet. No, I'm kidding you. Look what happened. They said, now we're not gonna do this anymore, Lord. Thank you for showing us. You've corrected it. We're gonna get right. Here's what we're gonna do. And here's what God said in verse number four. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him. You think God still gets angry with us? Sure he does. You know what he told that one church? I have someone against thee. I wonder if God's got something against some of us in here tonight. You ever think about that? I wonder if I've done something to offend God. God got something against you? Boy, I hope not. If he does, he'll let you know. God ain't sure, but he'll be able to let you know. But here's what he said he'd do, Tyler. Look here, I gotta quit preaching to you. Who else wants me to preach to them? I can call their name out. Brother Ben, can I preach to you? How about that boy out? Repent. Amen. What's his name? I'm gonna get on him. No? Okay. Amen. Change your heart this evening and we'll repent and look at the verse number four. Now here's what we got to do. I'm going to move quickly. I'm going to move as fast as I can. This is going to be a great blessing here. Look what we've got to do now in verse number four. I'm going to heal their backside. So here's where we turn now, and now we've got to receive what God's going to do for us. You know what I see people do many times? I see them get in a meeting, and the man of God will preach, the Holy Ghost will stir up their heart, they'll come down on an altar, they'll get right with God, and then they'll get up doubting. and they'll go home and they'll just continue to destroy their self, well I wonder if it was really genuine, I wonder if I said the right thing, well I wonder if I, but God wouldn't forgive me, look at what I did, and they'll just on and on and on and on, listen, when God has said he is going to heal what you did wrong, it's good and done and over with, it's under the blood, why don't you quit picking the scab off of it? Leave it alone. God's forgiven it. He's forgiven all of us. Freely has He forgiven us. Don't go digging that stuff back up. God's forgiven that. Leave it under the blood and move on for Jesus. He said, I will heal their backsliding. You know what He said? You know what that means to heal something? Boy, I wish I had time to go. You know what He's basically doing? Tyler, you must be backslid. Brother Ben, you know what he's done now? He said, I'm going to heal all that. So you look back on all that mess. Well, look how I shamed my family. Look how I brought shame to the church. I reproached the name of the Lord. And you just beat yourself down when you've repented and gotten that thing right. God said, I will heal that backsliding. That stuff is over and done. Quit going back to that. Leave it alone. God has healed that thing. Just let it go. Woo! You know why I'm not hanging my head in shame? You know why I can drive through my county where I went to high school? You know why I can go through there with my head held fairly decently high and not have to walk through there in shame? Because Jesus Christ bore my shame on Calvary when he hung and died and bled for me and became sin for me who knew no sin. And he bore every bit of that shame as the evil transgressor and I went free. And it's forgiven and it never did happen. Hallelujah. We got to receive that. Let the Lord heal the backslidden condition. Let Him heal all of that. He's forgiven it. It's under the blood. Let it go. I bet, Brother Curry, I bet I probably went at least seven or eight years in constant worry and regret about things I did when I was lost. That stuff's over with. God has forgiven that stuff. Now look, after we get saved, that's one thing, after you get saved and maybe you made some mistakes and you mess up, and anybody tells you that you don't have that capability, you're alive through your teeth. And you may make a decision, you may do something wrong, you may do something like that, but I'm here to tell you this one thing, and I'm not trying to make nobody feel no better about anything they've done wrong, other than the Bible does. And the Bible said, if you'll confess it and forsake it, you shall obtain mercy. And I'm not gonna argue with the Bible. He's able to forgive that and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and superfluity, and naughtiness, all that stuff filled with the flesh. All of it can be gone. If you'll get it right, you'll really repent of it. So quit digging it back up. Ain't that right, brother? Quit going back to it. Well, I wonder if God really did. Did God tell you He'd forgive it if you'd confess it and forsake it? Did you confess it and forsake it? Okay, then let it go. Let it go. Amen. And I'm going to heal their backslide. I'm going to love them freely. Thank God for that. For mine anger is turned away from him. Here's what we got to receive, quickly. Number one, we got to save Restoral. Our sins had separated us from the God of our fellowship. That's what I believe in Revelation chapter number three. I believe that's a fellowship. I'll come in here and I'll stop, that's fellowship. Sitting down over a meal, that's fellowship verse there. And we can't never, I'm telling you, I don't care what you do, that boy right there and that boy right there and the rest of these girls right here, there's nothing that, they may do something. I may have to break fellowship with them one day. I don't know. There's things in the Bible. I mean, when they get older, things like that can happen. I don't understand all of those things and I hope it, by the grace of God, will never happen. But there's a lot they can do that'll break fellowship between me and them, but there's never a time they couldn't go down here to the doctor and get blood drawn, and you know whose DNA they'd come up matching with? This ugly man right here. There's no denying it. I can't live with one of them for one day without knowing for a fact he's mine. You are God's child, and that ain't never gonna change. But I'll tell you what will change. And the way you can live in displeasure and living in righteous living and going back to all those different things that we can do in our life. I'll never tell you one thing you can do. You can deeply affect the fellowship that you have with your father. There's some things these kids right here could do to break my heart. And you know what? You're my son and I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna still do the things that a father has to do. But don't come up here talking to me like me and you's okay, because we're not okay. You're not gonna live that way and expect me and you to be pals, right? That's the way God is. God has no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and neither should we. So we start living that way, God has no fellowship with that. You may be his child, but you're gonna break that fellowship. So what we've got to do is receive. So what does he do when he receives his name himself and he restores it? The first thing he does is he restores in that sense of fellowship. There's a restoral there that he's going to do for them. Look what he does. I'll heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. My anger is turned away from him. Isn't that wonderful? And all you had to do was take your words from your heart and confess it and forsake it. That's all you had to do. And God did all the healing. That's a good trade friend. All the mess you made and all God's asking you to do is get down and confess it and forsake it and God will help you. He'll ever bid of it. That's a good trade. Boy, what a good God we serve. That's a pretty fair deal I think. Verse number 5, I'll be as the dew unto Israel. Boy, we're not going to get much into this, but let me just make a, the first thing He does that we need to receive, receive is restoral. Don't go back. The next thing we need to receive in verse number five, we need to receive is refreshing. Now this do, I want to say a couple of things because I don't want to keep everybody all night, it's already almost seven. But this do, that he says he's gonna be, let's read that verse again, verse number five. I will be as the dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. Now this dew we know that the dew of the night that comes early in the morning and we see it out there on the, there's so much to this stuff. Let me first say the first greatest hindrance to the dew is clouds. On a cloudy night, you're not going to get as much dew, if any, as you would on a clear night. And it's got a lot to do with the heat that the various scientific things involve. But one of the greatest hindrances, other than the wind, is clouds in the sky. And so God's going to be as a dew unto us. We've got to get everything that's separating between us and the sun. S-O-N. If we want God to refresh us, if we want God to nourish us as we all want Him to do for us, we're going to have to get everything out of the way in order for Him to do that. It's our sins, remember, that separated me and Him, not Him. He promised never to leave me or forsake me. What broke the fellowship was me getting out of place. And so it's my responsibility to get all that junk out of the way. And so what happened, a good example of this, if you look at, if you take a glass of ice water, and you had glass inside that, and this was a glass of ice water, and you had ice down in that glass, The ice that's inside that glass is cooling, not just the glass and the liquid inside, but the immediate air around the glass is being cooled to a temperature below the dew point. Now, don't ask me how to configure the dew point. I tried to study that. I don't know, okay? But I do know this, the more heat in the air, the more water vapor it can hold. So the colder that it is, the less water vapor that the air can hold. So what happens is, as it cools, the temperature cools in the immediate surface around that glass, it cools it to where the air around it can't hold the water vapor inside, and it falls, the water condenses on the outside of that glass because the water temperature is colder immediately outside the glass. And what you get is you get the, and that's the same thing at night when there's no clouds and the surface temperature of the leaves and the grass and all of that cools really rapidly when the clouds are not there. And so you get that condensation the same way. The air temperature around the leaves and the grass is cooling and is able to cool to a degree that the water temperature, the vapor in the air can't hold onto it any longer. Now here's what I said, I said that to say this, number one, It's our responsibility to get everything out of the way so that God is able to do the work He wants to do. We've got to get the sin and the things in our lives that's got to be removed so that He can do this for us. And He said, I will be as the dew unto Israel. And you know one thing about dew, how many of you got a garden in here? We're going on this thing all night, brother Ray. It's a wonderful study. If you go out there to them tomato plants and you put you a stick it on the end of that water hose, one of them guns, and you go out there and you spray that high-velocity water and just spray that tomato plant down, good luck with that tomato plant in the morning. Well, you're going to rip the leaves off of it. You've got to be gentle with that thing. Water it down in its roots. And some people even take a spray bottle and they'll spray the leaves around the tomato plant, various plants, and dissimulate and kind of like the dew. And what the Bible teaches here as the dew is, I will be as the dew unto Israel, is the gentleness of our God. When He comes to refresh you and to restore you, He's not gonna come and hurt you. He's already healed the backsliding. He's healed all that mess you made of your life. God's took care of all of that because you were willing to walk away from it. And God healed all of that, thank God. And now He comes in His gentleness, and just as that dew was able to lay on the surface of those plants, and they're able to nourish and draw in that water and get refreshed, that's the same way me and you do when the Spirit of God comes down and dwells in the place to refresh us. Now, He already lives inside. But there is a sense of His presence that comes down, brother, when you get right with God, that refreshes you like nothing else in this world. There's nothing else that can refresh you quite like the presence of Almighty God. And He said, I will be as the dew unto Israel. And man, we can't go on with that. Wasting all my time. Well, we receive Restoro, we receive this refreshing. Boy, you know, know what the prophet said in Lamentations? He said, God has covered Himself with a cloud. I've got it wrote down here. Let's see Lamentations chapter number 3 verse 44, Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud that our prayers should not pass through. That's the same thing that can happen to me and you. We get out of the will of God and we get things in our lives that's not very pleasing to the Lord. didn't do the same thing. God can come to a place where the fellowship is broken and God will in a sense hide Him. Anybody ever felt like they couldn't find God? God, where are you at? Well, God's not going anywhere. God doesn't have to travel anywhere to get anywhere. God's closer to you than the skin on your body. He doesn't travel distances, He's everywhere at all times. God doesn't have to come down, He's here, He's everywhere. But you wonder where is He? Well, what happened is me and you let stuff into our life that caused a displeasing, God put a break in the fellowship there. And so God can hide Himself as in a cloud and just like you can't see it, even your prayers seem like they're not getting through. But man, what we need to do is receive, this last part, we need to receive the restoral and the refreshing and the renewal that He wants to do for us in our life. So you've confessed it, you've gotten through it, now just receive what God's done for you and move on for the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? And it didn't cost you. How much did it cost you? It cost you some scars now for getting out there in the world. But all God asks that you do is start in your heart, get down, confess it, forsake it, and God will heal the rest of it. Wonderful. Hey, we serve a good God tonight. I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to get right with God. I can't understand for the life of me why anybody would want to leave and get back up and go out of this building tonight and continue on living as miserable as they are when there's no need to. There's no sense in it. God stands ready. I don't go knocking on people's doors where I don't want in. Isn't that right? He's knocking on the door because He wants in there. Anyway, we've got to stop. Thank you for the Word of God. Take what little was given, Lord, and make much of it in the lives of your people. Multiply it. Help your people, Lord. Please help our men and ladies that go out and fix the workforce this week. Many of them sick, Lord. Many of them still recovering from being sick. Thank you for the miracle you worked in Gary's life and his heart. Thank you, Lord, for helping them. Thank you for all the other things. Thank you for what you've done for me and helping me. I pray for these others, Lord, that are out tonight from the church that are sick. Please help them, those that are listening, not able to be here. Lord, please continue to help them, be present with them by the Spirit of God. Lord, if there's any here tonight that still need to get right with God, maybe they didn't want to come this morning, maybe tonight they'd like to come. Please work in their heart, help them to come, forsake their ways and come to the altar and get right. If there's any especially, Lord, for that soul that's near as hell, please, oh God, work in the heart of that one that's unsaved tonight. Help them to see. how wonderful it is to be a child of God. Help them to see the Lord Jesus and to see themselves for what they really are. Thank you for loving us.