Restoration and Salvation

God has given us a lot to think about today, a lot to consider. Recently, on my trip to Alaska, I was struck by the landscape, being so pristine, so clean, so vibrant, and frankly, so very refreshing. I left Oklahoma with its dryness, its drabness, and frankly, with a drought in full tilt or full speed here. And I went to Alaska, and it was such a contrast. And I'm not dissing Alaska or Oklahoma because I call it my home and I have now for a number of years. But the facts are the facts. And it was very, very refreshing in Alaska. It was just a stark contrast to what we're dealing with now. But in the wintertime, it'll be a different matter. Over there, there'll be six feet of snow. In many places, it'll be 50 degrees below zero. And it's going to be nice here. So every place has its beauty, every place has its strength, and every place has a reason why people want to live there. So it's good to be in Oklahoma, but it was also good to be in Alaska. Now, in Homer, Alaska, the water, the mountains, and the glaciers are so close, you can't help but be drawn to them. I mean, it's like a magnet. It's pulling you toward the water, toward the glaciers, toward the mountains. The grass is so green there, and it's so tall. And the wildflowers are so beautiful this time of year. The growing season is short, but anything that grows grows big, and it grows in a hurry. They have a wildflower there called fireweed, and it's absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Our daughter lives in clear view of the Kachamak Bay, the Homer Spit, the Kenai Mountain Range, and several of the seven glaciers. She can see three or four glaciers from her living room window. They've got large windows that face the ocean, that face the bay there, and also face the mountains. And they're absolutely gorgeous. They're beautiful. So every morning, we stayed somewhere else because their house isn't that big, and it was better for us to stay with one of her husband's members of the family. So we drove from Homer every morning about 10 or 12 miles, but it was absolutely gorgeous. The drive was along the water the whole way. So it was very, very inspiring, very refreshing every morning. And when we were sitting in our daughter's living room, we could look at the mountains, and we could look at the water. We could see the greenery outside, and it was just very, very positive in that respect. Now, just a short distance from my daughter's house is a three- or four-bedroom house that was recently sold for $43,000.

It was sold at auction. The house has been in clear view of the bay, the mountains, and the glaciers. $43,000 for a three- or four-bedroom home in full view of one of the most gorgeous spots on Earth.

Now, upon closer inspection, the house was in pretty bad shape, and I expected that to be the case, because I could not even imagine anyone selling a house in such a beautiful part of the country at such a price. It was in very bad shape. The outside didn't look too bad, but it clearly needed painting. But as Jamie and I looked through the window, we could easily see that the inside was far worse. In fact, there was basically no floor coverings.

What little floor covering there was, there was some linoleum there at one time, but it was chewed up. Most of it was completely gone. And it was a pretty good-sized room. We couldn't see much further as we looked in that first day when I came to look at the place. I was curious to see what this place would sell for, or what it looked like. So it was in bad shape. The house was in desperate need of restoration.

It needed to be restored, and it needed it very badly. Now God's Word, the Bible that you have in your hands that I have here in mine, God's Word is a book of restoration. It really is, from front to back, from Genesis to Revelation. It is a book about restoration. God is a God of restoring. God is a God of restoration. God is in the process of restoring what has been broken.

Frankly, it's been broken. It was broken in defiance, in rebellion, and in disobedience to Him and to His laws. That's why the world's in such rough shape, and why the Bible talks about so many times of restoration that had to take place, and that will take place in the future.

People have defied God, they have rebelled against Him, they have disobeyed Him, they have disobeyed His laws, and there are consequences for sin. The Bible speaks, again, of many types of restoration. The Bible speaks of the temple being restored. In fact, there were a couple temples that were restored to some degree that the Bible speaks about. It also talks about true worship being restored at certain times, as God's people got further away from God. It talks about how the crippled and the lame were healed and could walk.

The Bible talks about the demon possessed, and how the demons were cleansed and people were able to walk free from demonic and evil influence. The Bible speaks about the blind seeing. It speaks about the deaf hearing. It speaks about the dead living. It speaks about the house of Israel and the house of Judah being restored.

It speaks about Naaman, who was a leper, who was cleansed. It speaks about the Shunammite son who was raised to life. It speaks about Lazarus, who Christ raised from the dead. It speaks about the ruler's daughter, whom Christ raised, and the centurion's servant whom Christ healed. And on and on it goes. It speaks of Job and how he was tested, and yet he was restored. Double what he had at the beginning. God is a God of restoration. And most of all, God is restoring his children to salvation. He is restoring his children to a life with him and his son in God's kingdom forever.

Brethren, we may have faith in God who will truly restore us, and he will save us from our sins. Now that is a guarantee. If you will simply yield yourself to God, and if you will respond to him, then he will save you.

But you do have a part in all of this. You have to respond to God. You have to seek him with your heart and your soul and your might. You have to seek him with all of your heart and body, with your mind. You have to want to become like him. Mr. Smith talked of someone or some people in his sermonette who have turned from God, who have even blasphemed God.

What a horrible state to be in. I can't imagine how miserable they must be in so many ways. Brethren, let us be thankful that because of the grace of God, we are not there, and because we have not chosen to go there. If people choose to go there, it is their choice. But let us not go there, ever. In Genesis 2, let's go in the very beginning and see that God created things beautiful. God created things glorious, beautiful, stupendous in every way. We're not going to read all of chapter 1 and 2, but we know that over and over God says it was very good.

After He created something, it was very good. The first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, it was all very, very good. And on the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all of His work, which He had done in verse 2 of chapter 2. And He blessed the seventh day, and He sanctified it. He made it holy. He set it apart. Nearly 6,000 years ago, He set...well, actually, yes, He set this apart for the use of mankind nearly 6,000 years ago.

And we are continuing to observe God's holy Sabbath day because we are His people, and this is a sign between God and His people. And we can thank God for this, that He's given us this understanding and this knowledge and this truth. Because clearly, God is the one who sanctified this day. God is the one who set it apart and made it holy. No man can change it to Sunday.

God is the God who has the right and the privilege to make it on the seventh day as He did. Saturday is the seventh day. This is the day that God sanctified and set apart. And it was all very, very good. In verse 8, well, let's look at verse 7 of chapter 2.

Now, a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four river heads. Now, you can imagine how beautiful—maybe you can imagine, I don't know if any of us can fully imagine how beautiful— the Garden of Eden must have been in its pristine state in the very beginning. And there were four rivers that watered this wonderful garden. Verse 11, the name of the first is the Pishean. It is the one which skirts the whole land of Havelah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good.

Bdillium and the Onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one which goes around the whole land of Kush. And the name of the third river is Heidekel. The one which goes toward the east of Assyria in the fourth river is the river Euphrates. Then the eternal God took the man, and He put him in the garden of Eden, to tend and to keep it. So Adam had a purpose in the garden. He was to tend and to keep the garden. He was to make it even more beautiful by tending it and keeping it and maintaining it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "...of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat of it you shall surely die." And the Lord God said, "...it is not good that a man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." And it goes on to discuss how Eve was created out of Adam. A family was created. Part of the God family was created because God said in verse 26, "...let us make man..." In chapter 1, He says in verse 26, "...let us make man in our image according to our likeness." Man was not made after the animals, but man was made after the Godkind.

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. There were two beings in the beginning. The one we know as God the Father and the one who became known as the Christ, the Savior of the world, the one who created all things. That is the truth of your Bible. And God created everything and it was glorious. It was beautiful. Nothing needed to be restored because it had been restored already. After Satan's rebellion, the earth had been restored. It had been recreated and made. And now it was beautiful again.

This garden, at least, was beautiful. But of course, we know that man did sin. It wasn't long before they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin entered. Human sin entered. Satan had already sinned. But human sin entered at that point. And there are curses for disobedience. And so the world has been cursed because of mankind's sin. In Matthew 4, we find something altogether different in certain ways because now we see the Messiah on the scene. Now, the world has been polluted for roughly 4,000 years at this point by mankind, by the sin of mankind. And the Bible talks about it.

We skipped a lot of pages here. But the Bible talks about it. And then in Matthew, let's go to Matthew 4, where it talks about Christ's ministry. Matthew 4. And again, we're skipping a lot of this.

I assume you know much of it. If not, read your Bible and you'll know more. Matthew 4, verse 23, and this was after Christ called His disciples to Him. And Jesus went about all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Now, this is a statement of fact. This is what happened. Christ healed all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all of Syria. Anyone that can heal everybody that comes to them, frankly, they are going to be very, very popular.

Nobody on earth can do this. No one's been able to do this since Christ. Not in the fullest sense. Now, there have been some who have been able to heal for a time. Christ's disciples, but no one like Christ. Fame went throughout all of Syria, and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and He healed them. He healed all of them. He restored every one of them. Christ is all-powerful, and He restored everyone who was brought to Him. Now, that's a powerful message. If you will go to Christ, you will be restored. Period! You will be healed. Period! Now, you may not be healed exactly the way you want to be in this life, but spiritually, you will be healed. You will be restored because Christ is the Messiah. He is the Savior of this world, and you must have faith in Him. You've got to believe in Him. You've got to trust in Him. You're going to need this faith in the days ahead. No matter what happens, no matter when Christ returns, no matter when the plagues of the book of Revelation are poured out, it doesn't matter. You're still going to need your Savior. And you're going to need Him close at hand at all times. Think about that. Do you have faith in Jesus the Christ, in the Messiah? He can heal all things, and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. That's the kind of faith that we need to be developing as God's people. So Christ's ministry was a ministry of restoration. It was a ministry of salvation for mankind, and it was certainly a physical type in that He healed physically those who came to Him. But the most important thing is He is healing us spiritually. He is restoring us spiritually. It says, great multitudes followed Him everywhere, from Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judea, and beyond the Jordan. His fame was spreading throughout the world. Christ was becoming known. Something had to be done. And the religious leaders decided He had to die. Persecution will come if you follow the true Christ. So we can bank on that in the days ahead. But we can also know that Christ is there for us to deliver us, to protect us, and to see us through every trial. Now in Matthew 5-7, we're not going to take the time to read it or go through it. It's the Sermon on the Mount. You've read it many times. Here Christ upholds the law of God and shows that it is even more binding upon His true followers.

Not only are we to live by the letter of God's law, but brethren, we are to go further, and we are to live by the Spirit of God's law. That is your calling. It is my calling that we learn to live by the Spirit of the law. Not just the letter, but the Spirit of the law. We must learn to do as Christ said. Christ said to learn to love your enemies, to pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Christ did this. He set that perfect example as He said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing as they were crucifying Him. So that's the kind of love that Christ has for us, for all sinners. And it's the kind of love that, frankly, we need to develop for mankind.

Love is the fulfilling of the law. Yes, we are to keep God's commandments. All of them. All of the Ten Commandments, not just in the letter, but in the Spirit. Christ proved His love for His enemies by laying His life down for them. Christ loved us while we were yet sinners. Christ continues to love us, even though we are not yet perfect, are we?

Is there anyone here perfect? I think not. I know I'm not perfect. I know I fall far short of the glory of my Savior. There's no illusions about that in my mind. Now, I seek to be righteous. I want to be righteous. I seek to serve God with all of my heart, soul, and might, and yet I fall short of that. Don't we all? We all do, and we all need a Messiah. We need a Savior. Christ continues to love us, even though we are not yet perfect. We are to continue to strive against sin, and we're not to make excuses for it. We are to admit it. We are to confess it to Christ, to the Father. And we are to continue to put sin out of our lives. We are to be overcomers for only those who overcome will Christ grant to sit with Him on His throne. The Scriptures are clear. They're not ambiguous. They're clear. In Matthew 8, Jesus restores or cleanses a leper to vibrant health. Let's read it. When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Christ. It was after the Sermon on the Mount. They listened to His teaching. They followed Him, and behold, a leper came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. If You're willing, You can do it. I know You can. And Jesus put out His hand, and He touched Him, and He said, I am willing, be cleansed.

Immediately, His leprosy was cleansed. He healed Him physically. He was willing. Frankly, Christ is not healing everyone physically today. This was a unique time in history. He's not healing everyone physically that come to Him. The facts are clear. It's not happening.

Not immediately. He heals in many cases, but not in all cases. We have to wait for healing, oftentimes. But He is healing everyone spiritually, and He is willing to heal everyone who will seek Him with all of His heart, soul, and might. Because those are the people God is calling. God is calling people to worship Him.

And if we are willing to worship Him with our whole being, then He has salvation for you.

It goes on in Matthew 8, showing that Christ healed a Centurion's sick servant. You know, that Centurion had great faith. He said, God, you don't even have to Christ. You don't even have to come with me.

Just say the word and it'll be done. I know it. And it was.

And He restored and healed Peter's mother-in-law in that chapter. And He went on and healed demon... Look at verses 16 and 17 of chapter 8. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. Now, this is of the most difficult to heal. This kind of a situation.

Christ said, except by prayer and fasting, does this happen? Remember the apostles, the disciples were not able to cast out a demon. He said it only comes through prayer and fasting. Obviously, more prayer and fasting than they were doing. They hadn't been doing much fasting. Christ was still with them. You know what He said about that. But He said, we are to fast afterwards, and certainly we should be fasting.

So they came to Him and they brought those demon-possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and He healed all who were sick. All of them. Christ healed all of them who came to Him. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying He Himself took our infirmities, and He bore our weaknesses.

So Christ is there to heal the sick. Physically, in some cases today, spiritually, in all cases, if we have repented of our sins, we've accepted Christ as our Savior, and we are coming here in faith. You can have faith in your Savior.

It doesn't mean you can go on and do nothing when you leave this room, but it does mean you can go on in faith. You can leave here in faith, and you can do your very best to serve Him, to obey Him, and to become like Him. In the book of Matthew alone, Jesus healed many others. For instance, He healed two demon-possessed men and cast the evil spirits into a nearby herd of swine. You probably remember that account. He healed a paralytic who was flat on his bed.

The man stood up and walked. He raised a ruler's daughter from the dead. He healed two blind men and one deaf man in the book of Matthew. In Matthew 9, he has compassion and heals every manner of sickness and disease. Let's read that in verses 35-38.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And that is the same gospel that we preach today. In the United Church of God, we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. And we're having seminars to that very effect. We'll have the fourth one here in a few weeks.

And healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. And then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

God is continuing to harvest people. God is continuing to call people. I get phone calls every now and then from people who are interested in learning. And now and then we have a new person who attends. I wish it happened a lot more than it does. But on occasion, God restores people.

God brings people back here that once were a part of us and then were no longer a part of us and yet now they are a part of us. God restores people. God continues to call people. That is what's happening if we open our eyes and see what's happening. We are to continue to preach the gospel and whoever God calls will then have an opportunity to respond. But we have a commission to preach the gospel and we ought to be clear on this.

This is not confusing. Some people muddy the waters out there saying that it's all been done. That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. The Scriptures are very clear that we are to continue until the very end of the age. The end of the age isn't here yet. Christ hasn't returned. We have a job to do. So Christ had compassion and He healed every manner of sickness and every manner of disease.

Nothing was too hard. Nothing was too difficult. You cannot limit God unless you do it in your own mind and in your own heart and in your own life. Then you can limit God, but God is limitless. It's what we do. How do you come before God? How do you worship Him? Do you have faith in Him? Do you trust Him? With all of your heart. In Matthew 10, verse 1, And when He had called His disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

All kinds of sickness, all kinds of disease. His disciples had the power. In some cases, they didn't have always the faith and they weren't always praying and fasting with the kind of spiritual power that they needed. And Christ showed that. But they did have power and people were healed. And we could go on in the book of Matthew, but we don't have time to do it. We could talk about a man with a withered hand that he healed on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath day, He showed it was a good thing to do good on the Sabbath.

So this man was healed, and yet the religious leaders of the day took him to task for healing someone on God's Sabbath. The one who had created the Sabbath. The one who had made it for mankind. It's ridiculous what people will do. What they will think. It's ridiculous. Ludicrous. It's wonderful to do good on the Sabbath. If we have power to heal on the Sabbath, let us do it.

Let us do it every day. As God gives us that power. In Acts 5, we'll skip ahead a lot. You can go back and go through the Gospels and you can read more accounts of Christ's healing and restoration. We're talking about restoring. We're talking about salvation today. God is restoring a family. He's restoring His family, and that family will live forever in the Kingdom of God.

In Acts 5, it shows very clearly that this power was given to the early church. I've talked about this in past sermons on the day of Pentecost. I talked about this when we talked about being signs. Signs to this world. To a sick and a dying world. A sign of Christ Himself. Christ living in us.

In Acts 5, verse 12, And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And I skipped over other miraculous healings that John and Peter and others accomplished in the book of Acts. But there were many signs and wonders that were done among the people by the apostles, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

Yet none of the rest dare join them. Some were afraid, but the people esteemed them highly. Some of the religious leaders were afraid, but the people esteemed them highly. They could see what was happening. But it was the religious leaders who wanted to hold on to their power that were threatened by Christ. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women. Multitudes of both men and women were increasingly added to the Lord. Not only were physical healings being given, but also spiritual healings, cleansings, repentance was taking place, and people were being converted.

And believers were increasingly added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women. So that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on the beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. And a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Now, personally, I believe we're going to see this power within God's church again.

We're certainly going to see it with the two witnesses that God pours out. He's going to pour out these miraculous healings and events and signs and wonders in the very last days through the two witnesses. He may perhaps pour this out within his church and among his church at times. I know he does at times even today. And I've talked of some miraculous healings I've seen. And some of you have seen miraculous healing, so it isn't that it never happens.

But now is not yet the proper time for whatever reason God has, and he knows best.

There is a time coming, though, when God's Spirit will be poured out in great measure. The two witnesses will have the power of God. They will have the Spirit of God, and there will be signs and wonders as you have never seen before and as the world has never seen before.

Now, let's go back into the Old Testament for a while.

Let's look at Jeremiah 16, because I wanted to go to the New Testament first.

I wanted us to see clearly that Christ is the Messiah. He has all power. We can count on Him, and He is a God who delivers.

And God the Father and Christ are one. They deliver. In Jeremiah 16, Jeremiah was known as a doomsday prophet, because Jeremiah prophesied what was going to happen to the house of Judah, because they had become decadent.

Their lifestyle was decadent. It was permissive. It was promiscuous. It was idolatrous. They were breaking the Sabbath. There were so many sins that were being committed in the house of Judah. The house of Israel had already been taken into captivity in Assyria because of their sins.

And now the house of Judah, with Jerusalem at its capital, they were being taken into captivity.

And Jeremiah is prophesying of these times.

And that prophecy was not well received in the land, especially by the king and by the other leaders, who were not God's leaders, but were man's leaders.

They did not accept it. The prophets were God's leaders, and they were taking the truth to the people.

Now in Jeremiah 16, verse 1, The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For Thoth says the Lord, concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land, they shall die gruesome deaths.

They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. Now we're talking about children here. We're talking about parents' children.

I love my children. I love my daughter. I love my son. I love my grandson.

You love your children. You love your family.

These were people's families.

Gruesome deaths were coming to them because of their sins.

This is the truth of the Bible. History is going to be repeated again. These are dual prophecies. They happened in the past. They're going to happen again.

They shall die gruesome deaths. They shall not be lamented. They shall be buried. They shall not be buried.

They shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword, by famine, by corpses.

They shall be meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

Thus says the Lord, Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people.

I have taken away my loving-kindness, and I have taken away my mercies. For a time. Remember that. This is only for a time.

It's because mankind has to learn lessons.

Lessons of sin. Sin that brings heartache.

It brings disease. It brings death.

But righteousness brings blessings.

And God wants us to learn these lessons.

And so, some very hard lessons are given here.

Verse 6, Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. These were pagan customs that were constantly being applied.

Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead. Nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. Also, you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink. For Thoth says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will cause to cease from this place before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

In other words, it's going to be such a cataclysmic time that's going to befall them. No one's going to be thinking about getting married during this time. It's going to get so bad that they're going to be fleeing for their lives. All of them. And it shall be when you show this people all these words and they say to you, the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us, or what is our iniquity or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God, then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, they have walked after other gods, and they have served them, and they've worshipped them, and they have forsaken me, and they've not kept my law.

That's why it's plain. And it's simple. It's not complicated. This is why. And these are facts of history. This is exactly what happened. You can go back and read it in the annals of Jewish history. This is what happened. It was horrible. The siege that took place at Masada, for example, it was horrible. And in other places, during this time of captivity, when the house of Assyria and the house of Judah were taken captive, these were the things that happened.

These were a cruel people that took them captive. Verse 12, And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to me. You see, God, when God looks down on the earth, he sees the same type of thing going on today.

He sees idolatrous people. He sees adulterous people. All around the earth, billions of people behaving in ways that are contrary to his laws. He sees the same thing he saw back then. He sees Sodom and Gomorrah. He sees that destruction must come upon the earth, once again. That's what he sees, because God is a holy God, and God cannot put up with his sin forever. It's a part of his plan. It's revealed in the Bible.

It's the truth of God. Do you believe the truth of God? Or do you not like what I'm telling you? It's the truth. Believe it. Live by it. Know it's the truth. It's right out of the Word of God. It's inspired by God himself, the one who created you and fashioned you in his image. Now, these are tough words. They're hard. It's going to get bad on the earth again. I don't know if it's going to happen in my life.

I frankly don't. I don't know if it will. I may live and die. Up here preaching the same thing. I say I die. I don't know. But it won't change anything. Because eventually it's going to happen. All of these words will be fulfilled. All of these words written in the Word of God will be fulfilled. You can count on them. So these are the words in the truth of God's Word. It's the Bible.

It's the living Word of God. Christ was the God of the Old Testament. He was right there when all this was happening. The one who laid his life down. He laid it down for these people, too. He laid his life down for all of us. We've continued to sin against him as a nation, as a people, as a world. We haven't yet learned our lesson, so history has to repeat itself. But we, you and I, can learn the lessons of history.

Because this is our history book. It's right here. It tells us what's going to happen again in the future. Now, we could go to Ezekiel 20, but I don't think I'm going to take the time to do it. I would recommend you read it soon. Because it talks about the rebellion of God's people. The chosen ones of Israel. They rebelled against God. In Ezekiel 20, it talks about it.

It talks about the idolatry. It talks about the Sabbath breaking. It talks about various types of sins. And it also shows clearly that God is going to restore Judah and Israel. He is going to restore his people. I mean, this is a message of hope. That's one reason why I started in the New Testament. Because I want you to know, it does turn out very well in the end for those who yield themselves to God. And even those who don't, the vast majority of them will come to repentance. The vast majority of them will repent in due time. After the thousand-year period is over. When they come up in the Great White Throne Judgment period, when they see a wonderful world that has been changed because of God's government and God's kingdom on the earth, many of them will return to God.

They will repent of their sins. They will become members of God's family. But even then, some, even then, at the very end of the millennium, I'm talking about the end of the millennium now, some of them will even turn against God because of the hard-heartedness of mankind. We are free moral agents. We have to make our own choices. So it's unbelievable to me that someone who lived during the time of the Millennial reign of Christ would allow themselves to be deceived by Satan the Devil.

But the Bible says that will happen to quite a few. Now is your day of salvation. Now is your day to stand up and to be counted. And not to allow false teachers and false prophets and Satan himself to deceive you, but to remain faithful to the end.

Read Ezekiel 20. It talks about the rebellions of Israel, and it talks about God's restoration of Judah and Israel. It is very encouraging, but it does capitalize what is happening. It's a chapter in history, and it is repeating itself. That chapter is repeating itself. Let's go to Zephaniah, chapter 3, for a moment. We don't turn to Zephaniah very often. Zephaniah, chapter 3, it's right before the book of Hagia and Malachi. Zephaniah, chapter 3, verse 9. Let's read verse 8 as well. Therefore, wait for me, says the Lord, until the day I rise up for plunder.

My determination is to gather the nations to my assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation. Yes, God is going to pour out His wrath, as the book of Revelation foretells. And as this book foretells, the book of Zephaniah, All my fierce anger, all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

God is a jealous God. He wants our allegiance. He wants our faithfulness, and He deserves it. For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they may call on the name of the Lord to serve Him with one accord.

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my worshippers, the daughters of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering. In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against me. For then I will take away from your midst those who rejoiced in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty. God is going to bring people low. He's going to humble them in my holy mountain. I will leave in your midst a meek and a humble people. That's what God's doing. That's all God wants, is a meek and a humble people, who are repentant, who want to change, who want to grow, who want to overcome, and who want to truly serve God.

That's what God is looking for.

So back to verse 12, And they shall trust in the name of the Lord. They will trust in God. That's what we're talking about today, having faith in the Holy One of Israel. They will trust in God. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness, and speak no lies, for they shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid. Now, we are working toward that end today. We are striving to put sin out of our lives. When Christ returns, when He returns, we will be changed to spirit. We will be perfect. We will be changed. We will be born into the glorious family of God, and we will live with God forever, for all eternity. In the meantime, we fight a fight, and it is a difficult fight. We must fight the good fight. We must continue to scratch and claw and work out our own salvation, with fear and with trembling, for God is a holy God. And He seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Today, you have heard the truth spoken. Will you remain faithful to this word? Will you be here when Christ returns? Will you be sealed by death? Or will you be sealed also by His Spirit after death? Or will you be sealed with His Spirit at His return? One way or the other, you have to be sealed by the Spirit of God. Whether you're dead or whether you're alive, you need to be sealed by God's Spirit. So, brethren, now is our day of salvation. Let's go to Isaiah 40 as we begin to wrap this up. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, verses 30 and 31. Isaiah 40, verse 30. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. Even young people get tired, don't they? Even teenagers get tired. Young men and women get tired. They shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk, and they shall not faint. Because God is our strength. When we look to God for strength, we need not fear. We have all that we need. David talks about being restored to the joy of God's salvation, the prayer of repentance in Psalm 51. I'm not going to take the time to go there and read it. You've heard about it. You've read it a number of times. David was a man after God's own heart because he sought repentance. He sought forgiveness. He was a sinner. He had sinned after conversion. He needed to be forgiven. He said, don't take your spirit from me, God. He knew he was in jeopardy because he had sinned grievously. He had sinned with Bathsheba. He was an adulterer. He needed forgiveness. And he sought it. Sought it with all of his heart, soul, and might. And God did restore him. God forgave him. God cleansed him. God lifted him up. And David went on. Not in perfection, but in repentance. Brethren, we have to go forward in repentance. And let's strive never to sin again. Let's strive against sin. But when we sin, let's have faith. And know that God will forgive us. And that God will restore us. We can have faith in God's restoration process. God is restoring us. He is the God of our salvation. David says it over and over again in the Psalms. He is the God of my salvation.

In Isaiah 51, let's go there as we conclude today's sermon. Isaiah 51, verse 1. Listen to me, God says. Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness. He's talking about you and me. Because we follow after righteousness. This is what we want. We seek God with all of our heart and soul. And we seek God first.

So we are the ones He's talking to. You who follow after righteousness. You who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn. And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, the father of the faithful.

And to Sarah, who bore you, your mother. In a sense. For I called him alone. In Abraham, I called him alone. And I blessed him. And I increased him. For the Lord will comfort Zion. And He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden. Like the garden of Eden. What we see in Oklahoma today is almost a desert.

With this drought that we're in. It's an extreme drought. The whole earth is going to be restored like Eden. And her desert, like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in it. Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Listen to me, my people.

And give ear to me, oh my nation, my holy nation. My chosen generation. Listen to me, my church, my people. For the law will proceed from me. Give ear to me, oh nation. The law will proceed from me. The law still comes from God's church and within God's people. Christ is the head of the church. The law goes forth. And I will make my justice rest as a light of the peoples. My righteousness is near.

My salvation has gone forth. And my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait upon me. And on my arm they will trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens. And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke.

The earth will grow old like a garment. And those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever. And my righteousness will not be abolished. God's righteousness will go on and on for eternity. And only those who become righteous will be there. Let us be friends forever God's way. That was the theme at Camp Colorado.

Friends forever God's way. If you want to be a friend forever, a friend of God forever, you have to do it God's way. There is no other way. So listen to me, you who know righteousness. Listen, you people in whose heart is my law. God has written his laws in our hearts and in our minds. The law will always go forth from those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them.

Do not fear the reproach of men. Do not be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment. We have nothing to fear. We should not fear men. We should not fear the persecutors. It's only a human body that's at stake. That's the only thing they can kill. Really, let us not put so much emphasis on this human flesh. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool.

But my righteousness will be forever. And my salvation from generation to generation. Awake, awake, and put on strength, O arm of the Lord. We are to be the arm of the Lord. We are to be His right hand. Following Christ, allowing Christ to live in us. We are to be there. When God calls, we are to listen. We are to hear His voice, for He is the Great Shepherd.

He is the Shepherd that we look to. Awake as in the ancient days and the generations of old. Are you not the arm that cut Rahab apart and wounded the serpent? Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over? So the ransom to the Lord shall return, and will come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Right now we sigh, and we are in sorrow because life is hard. Life is tough. You know, life isn't easy. Life is tough for every one of us. Let's face it, that is the truth. It's hard for everyone. Some it may be harder than others, and we should cry when others cry. We should mourn when others mourn. But we should also rejoice knowing that Christ is returning. And He's going to set things straight. He's going to restore everything. He's going to make all things new. Christ is coming back. He is going to establish His kingdom. So listen to me, my people.

Listen to me, and I will make this land as the Garden of Eden. You know, Alaska is quite beautiful. The scenery is frankly spectacular. That old dilapidated, rundown house that I looked at and saw will perhaps be restored. Maybe somebody who bought it is going to restore it.

Maybe they're going to bulldoze it down and start all over again. I don't really know. But I look forward to returning to Alaska. Returning to see my daughter and my grandson and my son-in-law and their family. Also fishing, which I did happen to do a little bit of. By the way, I forgot to tell that. I caught some halibut, caught some salmon, caught some trout. I had a little bit of a vacation as well, but I also spent a lot of time with my family and with friends, others that were there fishing.

It was spectacular. But I'm looking forward to going back and seeing the progress of this house, this old house, dilapidated and rundown and worn out. Will it be restored? Will someone take the time and the patience and the money to restore it? I don't know. Will they build something new on it or will it once again be neglected?

You know, that house was neglected. Someone abandoned it. Someone walked away from it. Someone didn't pay their taxes. Something happened. I don't know. Something happened. It fell into disrepair. It needs to be restored, or perhaps it needs to be bulldozed and started all over again. You know, God does make new creatures out of us, new creations. So either way you look at it, God restores us, God makes us new.

We can be grateful to God. Perhaps someday that old dilapidated house will become a source of pride and joy for some family to live in it again. I think that would be great. I would love to see that happen. I would love to see that happen more than anything. To see that old place restored to its former glory. In fact, greater glory than perhaps it ever had.

Rather, and more importantly, what will you and I do with the life that God has graciously given us? Are we not God's house? Are you not God's house? Are you in disrepair? Do you need restored? If you do, God will restore you if you seek Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your might. If you return to Him with greater vigilance and greater diligence, if you'll stop neglecting your prayer, stop neglecting your Bible study, stop neglecting fasting, and return to God with greater power, God will lift you up.

God will restore you to greater heights than you've ever seen. You can trust God, for God tells the truth.