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00:00This fall, Dr. David Jeremiah brings you his thrilling account of the prophetic event called the Rapture in The Great Disappearance, 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready.
00:1031 short, easy-to-read chapters will give you a glimpse at what will happen before, during, and after the Rapture.
00:16Pre-order yours for a gift of any amount, and you'll receive as a pre-order bonus the Preparing for the Moment Action Guide digital download.
00:23For more information or to pre-order, contact Turning Point today.
00:26God could never love you more than He loves you at this very moment, and He could never love you less, because God's love is not based upon what you do.
00:39God's love is based upon who He is.
00:42One of the misunderstandings about the love of God is that it works the way human love works.
00:57Actually, human love shouldn't even work this way, but that's the way they look at it.
01:01That if I do something wrong, I fall out of your favor.
01:04If I do something wrong, if I violate you in some way, you stop loving me.
01:08In genuine love between two human beings, that isn't true, and it's never true with God.
01:14The Bible actually says God is love.
01:42When you know that, you know, when you know somebody loves you, when you know God loves you, it makes all the difference.
01:53Coming up on this episode of Turning Point, Dr. Jeremiah will reveal something you may be missing about God's love in his series, God Loves You.
02:02God does not love us because of what we do or don't do.
02:10God loves us because He is love, and it is His nature to love us.
02:15That's just ahead on Turning Point.
02:19Discover what you could be missing about God's love in Dr. David Jeremiah's book, God Loves You.
02:25Inside, Dr. Jeremiah explains how the profound truth of God's love can transform the way you live.
02:32As you read, you'll uncover 10 features of God's love that you may have never fully understood before.
02:37He answers questions like, if God loves us, how can He allow pain and suffering in the world?
02:43Can we ever lose God's love?
02:45And how can a loving God give seemingly prohibitive rules and send people to hell?
02:51God Loves You is yours as a thank you when you give a gift of any amount in support of this program.
02:56And if you support Turning Point with a gift of $60 or more, Dr. Jeremiah will send you the God Loves You set,
03:03which includes the God Loves You book and the DVD album containing Dr. Jeremiah's complete teaching series.
03:09You'll also be able to follow along with Dr. Jeremiah's teaching using the God Loves You study guide,
03:14which includes personal and group questions, plus a leader's guide.
03:18Also included in this set is the Love Changes Everything bookmark
03:22to remind you each day to be owned by God's love and to be known for your love as a believer.
03:29Experience how God's love changes everything.
03:32Order these resources when you support the ministry of Turning Point.
03:35Contact us today.
03:46During this series, I have received emails from some of our congregants,
03:50people who have written to me of their struggles to believe in their heart of hearts that God really does love them.
03:59You'd be surprised at some of these people.
04:02But you see, we've all discovered that it's a lot easier to get love right theologically
04:07than it is to get it right experientially and emotionally.
04:11As I watch this, it seems to me there are two times when, as believers,
04:15we are most prone to doubt God's love.
04:17First, when evil things happen to us that we weren't expecting,
04:22and secondly, when we do evil things ourselves.
04:26Both of those occasions are because of our inaccurate perception of who God is.
04:33First of all, if we feel we are not loved because evil things happen to us,
04:38we often say, why me, why now, why this?
04:41We are not understanding that the Bible never does,
04:43nor does God ever guarantee us that we will not be touched by evil.
04:47We live in an evil world.
04:49People used to ask me all the time, how did you get cancer?
04:51You're a pastor.
04:52And I said, cancer's a human condition.
04:54It just happens to everybody.
04:55It's not, it's not, and nobody gets a pass on it.
04:58So when evil things happen to us, we shouldn't respond by saying,
05:02well, God doesn't love me anymore.
05:03It has nothing to do with that.
05:05We live in a world that is filled with evil,
05:08and it touches us all in some way or the other.
05:11God doesn't say that we will not be touched by evil.
05:13He says that he will be there to help us overcome it
05:16and be victorious in the midst of it.
05:19And when people say, I don't feel like God loves me anymore
05:22because I've done so many evil things,
05:25they forget that God does not love us because of what is in us.
05:29He doesn't love us because of what we do or don't do.
05:33God loves us because he is love, and it is his nature to love us.
05:38As you can see, the message of the Bible
05:40is the message of God's never-ending love.
05:43Let me say it again.
05:44God loves you.
05:45He always has, and he always will.
05:49One of the greatest stories about that
05:51is found in that little book of Hosea.
05:54It's an unlikely place to find a love story,
05:56but it may be the greatest love story of the Old Testament.
06:00Let me tell you about this book.
06:01Hosea was a prophet.
06:03That means to all of us in this culture, he was a preacher.
06:07He was a preacher who was called to preach
06:09to the ten northern tribes of Israel,
06:13sometimes referred to as Ephraim in the Bible.
06:16And he was called to preach to this group of people
06:19at a very special and unique time.
06:22It was just before they were carried away captive
06:25by the Assyrians,
06:26and it was a time of incredible prosperity in Israel
06:30and also a time of incredible wickedness.
06:34It's hard to imagine how a people like Israel
06:38that had been so loved by God
06:40could have descended to the depths of degradation
06:43that was true of them during this particular time.
06:47Every commandment of God was being broken every day
06:50by the people of Israel.
06:52This was a terribly sinful, degraded time in Israel.
07:00And God called Hosea to go
07:03and preach to this generation.
07:07In his prophecy against them,
07:12he says that the nation of Israel
07:14has become like an adulterous wife.
07:18The spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
07:22and they have played the harlot against their God.
07:25The Bible says that Israel had become like an unfaithful wife,
07:29like an adulterous woman.
07:31God had loved them faithfully
07:33and made a covenant with them,
07:34and they had walked away from that covenant
07:36and violated it by their evil behavior.
07:40Now, we know what that's like in our world today,
07:43and we must talk about this
07:45because in this passage, in this story,
07:47there's an interplay between God's love for Israel
07:51and a man's love for his wife.
07:55In marriage, is there anything more hurtful
07:57to a spouse than this loyalty?
08:01When couples marry, they stand before God
08:05and before witnesses,
08:07and they vow to be faithful and loyal to one another.
08:10And when someone says,
08:12I do, and then they violate that promise,
08:16the result for the violated partner
08:19is one of the deepest hurts that a human being can feel.
08:23And I know that from talking to so many people
08:25who have been hurt this way.
08:27You see, men and women,
08:29loyalty is the cornerstone of all relationships.
08:33And God made a covenant with Israel.
08:36That's what this book is about.
08:37His covenant was like a marriage.
08:40God married Israel.
08:43And on three different occasions,
08:45they exchanged vows at Mount Sinai
08:48when they went into the Promised Land,
08:50and later when they were settling the Promised Land,
08:53they said to each other,
08:54I do.
08:54Read those comments in the Bible,
08:57and it's really amazing
08:59because Moses reads all the law,
09:00and the people said,
09:01all that you have said, we will do.
09:05But now, all of that has fallen apart.
09:09600 years have gone by
09:10since Israel was married to God.
09:15And over the years,
09:16the disloyalty continued to grow
09:18until finally during Hosea's preaching,
09:21it hit the tipping point.
09:22And here in the book of Hosea,
09:25God commissions his prophet
09:27to show Israel
09:29that she had been consistently disloyal to him
09:32even though he had been faithful to them.
09:35But here's the point that you must not miss.
09:38God primarily wanted Hosea to say to Israel,
09:42no matter what you've done,
09:44no matter how far you've fallen from grace,
09:47no matter what you've done to be disloyal to me,
09:49I want you to know something very important.
09:52I will never quit loving you.
09:57So God decided to bring this message to Israel
10:00in a very unique and strange way.
10:03What I'm about to tell you is almost like,
10:06oh, I can't believe this is in the Bible.
10:09Because in the very first chapter of Hosea,
10:12in the second verse, we read these words.
10:15Look at your Bible.
10:16When the Lord began to speak by Hosea,
10:20the Lord said to Hosea,
10:22go take yourself a wife of harlotry
10:25and children of harlotry,
10:28for the land has committed great harlotry
10:30by departing from the Lord.
10:34God told his prophet to go marry a woman
10:37who would become disloyal and immoral
10:40and who would become literally a prostitute.
10:43God told him to go marry this woman.
10:47By the way, her name was Gomer.
10:49I can hardly get past that name
10:52because all I can think about is Gomer Pyle, you know?
10:56I guess in the Old Testament that would have been a—
10:59I don't know anybody.
11:01I don't know any women named Gomer.
11:02I sure don't.
11:04But that was the name of his wife.
11:06So, the Bible says Hosea went and he married Gomer.
11:12God said to Hosea,
11:14I want you to love her.
11:16With extraordinary emphasis, he repeats it.
11:19Love her even though she's an adulteress.
11:21Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites,
11:24even though they commit adultery, too,
11:26by their devotion to idols.
11:27So, the heartbreak and the trauma
11:30of this torturous marriage
11:32becomes the kind of dramatized prophecy from Hosea.
11:37So, through this book,
11:38you have all that's going on between God and Israel
11:41and at the same time,
11:42what's going on between Hosea and his unfaithful wife.
11:46And the unfaithful wife story
11:48is a picture of what it's like for God
11:51when his people are unfaithful to him.
11:53And even though Israel didn't respond to Hosea's message
11:57and God had allowed the covenant curses
12:00to run their course,
12:02God wanted Hosea to say to his people,
12:04hard as this is to believe,
12:06I haven't given up on you.
12:07I'm not finished with you.
12:09In fact, he said there's going to be a day in the future
12:12after you experience some of the things that come
12:14as the result of your sin,
12:16there's going to be a day in the future
12:17when we'll get back together.
12:19Listen to these words from Hosea 2.
12:21And it shall be in that day,
12:22says the Lord, that you will call me my husband.
12:26In that day, I will betroth you to me forever.
12:29I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice,
12:32in loving kindness and mercy.
12:34I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,
12:36and you shall know the Lord.
12:39Look up here for a moment, folks.
12:41What kind of love
12:42endures the unfaithfulness of a covenant partner
12:45and yet remains loyal forever?
12:49It's God love.
12:50It's what it is.
12:52It's the kind of loyal love that God extended to Israel
12:55in spite of her disloyalty.
12:58The story of that love is told by Hosea
13:01in the 11th chapter of his prophecy.
13:03So, turn over there.
13:04This is, in my estimation,
13:07one of the great chapters of the Old Testament,
13:09Hosea chapter 11.
13:11And if you have your Bible,
13:12I'd really like for you to see this in the Scripture.
13:14I want you to see how this all is laid out
13:16in this chapter.
13:19The story of love that is told by Hosea
13:21is an interesting story
13:23that comes in several sections.
13:26The first part of Hosea 11
13:28tells us about the commitment
13:30of God's love for his people.
13:32Just look down at the text.
13:34It says, first of all,
13:35that he loved Israel like a father loves a son.
13:38Notice verse 1.
13:40When Israel was a child,
13:42when the nation of Israel was a child,
13:44I loved him.
13:46And out of Egypt I called my son
13:48and I taught Ephraim to walk,
13:50taking them by their arms.
13:53Now, what this is referenced to
13:54is when Israel was in slavery in Egypt.
13:58Remember, they were slaves to the Egyptians
14:00for over 400 years
14:02and then the Exodus came.
14:03God raised up Moses
14:05and Moses came and said,
14:06let my people go.
14:08And God, after a period of time,
14:10led the children of Israel out of Egypt.
14:13And the Bible says it was like
14:14they were a little child
14:15and like he was leading them
14:17like a little son
14:18away from the danger of the Egyptians.
14:21That he watched over them
14:22like a father watches over a son.
14:24It actually says
14:26that he taught them to walk as a nation
14:28and he carried them in his arms
14:30like a father would carry a child.
14:33If you go back and study that period in history,
14:35you'll see that's exactly what happened.
14:38God loved Israel like a father loved a son.
14:42And secondly, he loved them as a husband,
14:45loves his wife.
14:46Notice verse 4.
14:48I drew them with gentle cords
14:50and with bands of love.
14:52Hosea knew what this was all about
14:53because that's exactly what he had done for Gomer.
14:56When she would fail
14:57and be disloyal and adulterous,
14:59he would still go get her
15:00and coax her back
15:01and bring her back
15:03into the arms of his love.
15:06And thirdly,
15:07he loved as a father and as a husband.
15:09And then it says he loved as a shepherd.
15:11Verse 4 says,
15:12I was to them as those
15:13who take the yoke from their neck.
15:16I stooped down and I fed them.
15:19And I believe this is in reference
15:20to what God did for the people of Israel
15:22when they were in the wilderness.
15:23Remember?
15:24Do you know why they were in the wilderness?
15:26Because if they'd gone straight out of Egypt,
15:27they'd have been right in the military zone
15:29of all of the toughest people in Canaan
15:32and they wouldn't have lasted
15:33because they were not prepared militarily.
15:36So God took them around these nations,
15:40but it involved them being in the wilderness
15:42for many years.
15:43And how many of you know
15:44no food grows in the wilderness?
15:47So God had this convenient little thing.
15:49He worked out for them.
15:50Every day they'd walk out
15:51and outside of their tent
15:53would be the food for the day.
15:56Manna and quail.
15:58And I've often laughed
15:59because the word manna means,
16:01what is it?
16:03So every morning they'd walk outside of their tent
16:06and God would drop down the food from heaven
16:08and they would walk out and say,
16:10oh, what is it?
16:12Have you ever said that to your wife
16:13when she puts it on the table?
16:14Well, I wouldn't suggest it.
16:18The Bible says that God so loved his people, Israel,
16:21that he brought them out like a father with a child.
16:25He embraced them as a husband with his wife.
16:29And then like a shepherd,
16:30he just led them through
16:31and cared for all of their needs.
16:34These are endearing words.
16:37And these words are basically a soliloquy from God.
16:41Do you know what I mean by that?
16:42And this is God speaking to no one in person
16:47but to all of us together.
16:48This is, the 11th chapter is God's soliloquy
16:52on his love for Israel and for us.
16:55He's laying the foundation.
16:57He's saying, I want you to know, first of all,
16:58how much I loved Israel.
17:01The commitment of God's love.
17:03Now notice the contempt for God's love.
17:07It says in verse 2,
17:08and they called them and they went from them
17:10and they sacrificed to Baals
17:13and they burned incense to carved images.
17:17Verse 3, and they did not even know
17:19that I was the one who had healed them.
17:21They didn't even know what I had done for them.
17:24And verse 7 says,
17:25my people are bent on backsliding from me,
17:28though they call to the Most High.
17:30None at all exalt him.
17:32God said, my people that I have loved
17:35as a father, as a husband, as a shepherd,
17:38my people are bent on backsliding from me
17:43and they don't even have any clue
17:45what it is that I have done for them.
17:48How many of you know, as God's people,
17:50it's real easy for us to get what God has done for us
17:53out of whack?
17:55We are so blessed.
17:56Sometimes we complain and I feel like when we do that,
17:59we really shouldn't because our worst day
18:04is better than the best day most people have
18:06around the world.
18:08The people of Israel did not know what God had done
18:11or at least they had pushed it into the background
18:13and they kept violating everything they knew
18:17that was dear to God's heart.
18:20Verses 5 and 6, he says,
18:22but the Assyrians shall be their king
18:24because they refuse to repent
18:27and the swords shall slash in their cities,
18:30devour the districts and consume them
18:32because of their own counsels.
18:36Actually, the Assyrians did become their king.
18:39But what is going on here is that God is responding
18:42in a way that we understand.
18:43God is saying, for what they have done,
18:45here's what they deserve.
18:48And one writer has put it this way,
18:49what is to be done with these people?
18:52There's only one thing to do
18:53by all the laws of human conduct
18:55and all the laws of righteousness and equity and justice.
18:59Give them up.
19:01Abandon them.
19:03When I see the lover teaching to walk
19:05and nursing with tender care and healing,
19:07and then I watch these people persistently,
19:09positively rebelling,
19:11I say there's only one thing you need to do with them.
19:14Give them up.
19:17And that would be our response, wouldn't it,
19:19if we were God?
19:21In fact, on many occasions, it is our response.
19:25I mean, let someone violate our love
19:27and we shut them down in a hurry.
19:30We leave them.
19:31We divorce them.
19:32We refuse ever to speak to them again.
19:34We say they are dead as far as we are concerned.
19:38That's the human way.
19:39But that's not God's way.
19:44God had every right to do that.
19:47They had violated his love and his holiness.
19:50But it's apparent as you read the soliloquy
19:53in the 11th chapter that God cannot endure the thought
19:56of the final judgment of his people.
19:59And so we see his compassion in verses 8 and 9.
20:02And I have to tell you this,
20:04I don't usually get this vulnerable in the pulpit.
20:07I have found myself in tears
20:10on more than one occasion this week
20:12just reading these verses,
20:16reading them with understanding
20:17of what they meant in that moment
20:19and what they mean to us today.
20:22Here is God so violated by the disloyalty of his people
20:26and in every right to obliterate them
20:31from the face of the earth.
20:33And we read these words.
20:36How shall I give you up, Ephraim?
20:39How shall I cast you off, Israel?
20:43How shall I make thee, Ezadma?
20:45How shall I make thee, Ezeboim?
20:47My heart churns within me.
20:50My sympathy is stirred.
20:52Lord, I will not execute the fierceness of my anger.
20:57I will not again destroy Ephraim,
20:59for I am God and not man,
21:02the Holy One in your midst,
21:04and I will not come with terror.
21:08How can you love someone
21:10who throws your love back in your face?
21:13And yet this is what God is doing.
21:14He just will not quit loving his people.
21:18And this is the amazing thing
21:19because of what God is.
21:20He sees us.
21:22He sees our possibilities.
21:23And in spite of all of our backsliding,
21:25in spite of all of our disobedience,
21:27in spite of the fact that we have contempt sometimes
21:29for his love,
21:30we hear him saying,
21:32I cannot give you up.
21:34I will not, I will not, I will not.
21:38The commitment of God's love
21:40and the contempt of it
21:41and the compassion of it
21:42and finally the consummation of it.
21:46Verse 9, this is God's decision.
21:49I will not execute the fierceness of my anger.
21:54I will not again destroy Ephraim.
21:57I am God and not man,
21:59the Holy One in your midst,
22:00and I will not come with terror.
22:04You say, Pastor Jeremiah,
22:06how can God do this?
22:07How can God just not respond
22:09to the disobedience of his people?
22:11Here we have God's justice being defied.
22:18And here we have God's love being expressed.
22:22And remember the passage from 2 Timothy
22:25that says God cannot deny himself.
22:27That means God, in the midst of all of this,
22:29he has to be God first and foremost.
22:31He has to be holy and he has to be loving.
22:34But when we look at that through our human eyes,
22:36we say, there's no way to,
22:38how do you make that work?
22:39I mean, if they've sinned
22:41and they violated your justice,
22:42they must be punished.
22:45And if you love them,
22:47you have to just turn your eyes away
22:48from what they've done,
22:49like a doting old grandfather
22:51who pats his children on the head
22:53and says, just go play, go play.
22:57And neither one of those are options for God.
23:01In order for him to be just,
23:06all of the sin of the world had to be atoned for.
23:11The Bible says,
23:12the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
23:14And the sin of the world
23:16could only be atoned for through death.
23:20And so he sent his son, listen to me,
23:22the infinite son of God
23:24to go to the cross and suffer the infinite death
23:29that was necessary
23:30so that all of our sins could be atoned for
23:33and God's justice could be poured out on his son.
23:37And there at the cross,
23:43with his arms outstretched,
23:44he says,
23:45if you will come to me
23:47and receive what I have done
23:51through my son Jesus,
23:52I will forgive you of all your sin.
23:55I will wash you clean.
23:57And now I can show my love to you
23:59because the justice issue's been resolved.
24:01Every time you think that maybe God's love
24:04is just a simple, easy love,
24:07just look at the cross
24:09because the cross standing there
24:11in the center of all humanity
24:13is a reminder to us
24:14of the justice of God
24:16poured out upon his son
24:17so that God could say to you and to me
24:20and to his people, Israel,
24:22I love you.
24:25I always have and I always will.
24:30Dr. Jeremiah will return
24:32to close today's program right after this.
24:34Discover what you could be missing
24:38about God's love
24:39in Dr. David Jeremiah's book,
24:41God Loves You.
24:42Inside, Dr. Jeremiah explains
24:44how the profound truth of God's love
24:46can transform the way you live.
24:49As you read,
24:50you'll uncover 10 features of God's love
24:52that you may have never fully understood before.
24:54He answers questions like,
24:56if God loves us,
24:57how can he allow pain and suffering in the world?
25:00Can we ever lose God's love?
25:01And how can a loving God
25:04give seemingly prohibitive rules
25:06and send people to hell?
25:08God Loves You is yours as a thank you
25:10when you give a gift of any amount
25:12in support of this program.
25:13And if you support Turning Point
25:15with a gift of $60 or more,
25:17Dr. Jeremiah will send you
25:18the God Loves You set,
25:20which includes the God Loves You book
25:21and the DVD album
25:22containing Dr. Jeremiah's
25:24complete teaching series.
25:25You'll also be able to follow along
25:27with Dr. Jeremiah's teaching
25:28using the God Loves You study guide,
25:30which includes personal
25:32and group questions,
25:33plus a leader's guide.
25:35Also included in this set
25:37is the Love Changes Everything bookmark
25:39to remind you each day
25:41to be owned by God's love
25:42and to be known for your love
25:44as a believer.
25:46Experience how God's love
25:47changes everything.
25:48Order these resources
25:49when you support
25:50the ministry of Turning Point.
25:52Contact us today.
25:55And now,
25:56with one last word
25:57for today's program,
25:58here is Dr. Jeremiah.
26:00It's hard to imagine
26:02being in Hosea's shoes,
26:04being asked by God
26:05to love someone
26:06who didn't really know
26:07how to receive true love.
26:09But if you think about it,
26:11that's what God does with us.
26:14We are certainly undeserving
26:16of God's love,
26:17and yet He pursues us relentlessly
26:19with His loyal
26:20and unconditional love.
26:22I don't know what your experience
26:24with love has been,
26:25but I hope you'll decide
26:27to receive God's love
26:29by saying yes
26:30to Jesus Christ.
26:33He is the ultimate expression
26:35of God's love to mankind.
26:37I'd like to send you
26:39two free resources
26:40that will help you grow
26:41in your relationship
26:42with Christ,
26:43our booklet called
26:44Your Greatest Turning Point,
26:46and our monthly devotional magazine
26:48called Turning Points.
26:50We'll gladly send them both to you
26:52free of charge
26:53if you will contact us
26:55here at Turning Point today.
26:59David Jeremiah and Turning Point
27:01are making a global impact
27:02for the kingdom of God,
27:03but we can't do it alone.
27:05That's where Bible Strong Partners
27:07come in.
27:08Bible Strong Partners
27:09form the foundation
27:10of Turning Point,
27:11allowing Dr. Jeremiah
27:12to reach the world
27:13with the gospel
27:14and enabling you
27:15to share in the eternal impact
27:16of the ministry.
27:18In return,
27:18we want to support your faith
27:20with special and exclusive resources
27:21to become a Bible Strong Partner.
27:24Go to davidjeremiah.org
27:25slash Bible Strong today.
27:29Next time on Turning Point.
27:31Whoever you are,
27:33wherever you are,
27:34whatever you've done,
27:35whatever your background,
27:36whatever situation you're in,
27:37with authority
27:38on the basis
27:39of the Word of God,
27:40I am telling you today,
27:41God loves you.
27:43He always has loved you.
27:44He always will love you.
27:46What you do with that love
27:48is up to you.
27:49Join us next time
27:50for Dr. Jeremiah's message,
27:52God Wrote His Love in Red.
27:55Here on Turning Point.
28:00David Jeremiah is coming live
28:02to Charleston, South Carolina
28:03for a two-day prophecy event,
28:06Friday night, October 6th,
28:07and Saturday morning, October 7th.
28:09Two incredible programs
28:11of inspirational Bible prophecy teaching
28:13that will motivate you
28:14to live for Jesus as never before.
28:16Plus, special guest,
28:17Sheila Walsh,
28:18and music by Selah.
28:20For more information
28:21or to reserve your tickets
28:22for one or both days,
28:24go to davidjeremiah.org
28:26slash live.
Recommended
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