WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:31.260 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear the latest message. 00:00:31.580 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:49.240 Good morning, everyone. Again, so glad that you're joining us today. 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:54.180 If you've got your Bibles with you, and hopefully you do, go ahead and open up to Micah chapter 4. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.660 As you turn there, I hope you're able to see our video that we posted on Facebook this last week. 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:07.900 If you weren't able to see that, I just want to let you know a lot of questions are being asked about the when and the how are we working to gather back together as a church. 00:01:08.260 --> 00:01:11.980 And I just want to share with you that we are definitely in the middle of those conversations. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:17.700 And I am excited to say we're going to be able to post another video this coming week updating everyone about that. 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:29.780 And so we'll post that through social media, but also make everyone aware through email what is going on in the life of our church as we're working to gather back together as soon and as safe as possible. 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:32.740 So thank you guys so much for being with us. 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:38.240 So we're going to continue on over the next three weeks and finish up the book of Micah. 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:46.160 It's a prophetic book, a book where God speaks to a prophet and gives him a message to delay to his people, where the prophet speaks on the behalf of God. 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:53.460 And then what we're trying to do is we work our way through this book is understand what God is saying to the direct audience that is getting the message. 00:01:53.860 --> 00:02:00.600 And since God isn't speaking that to us, how we can take the lesson that we can learn from this and apply that to our life. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:02.700 And so that's the main focus of this. 00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:10.060 And today is a reminder of one of those passages of scripture that we've got to be careful that this isn't being spoken directly to us. 00:02:10.160 --> 00:02:21.320 But there's so much that we can draw from that, that we can learn and that we can apply it to our life, especially as it concerns the nature, the character and the work of Christ. 00:02:21.320 --> 00:02:25.160 So let's keep reading Micah chapter four, starting in verse nine. 00:02:26.100 --> 00:02:27.640 Now, why do you cry aloud? 00:02:28.100 --> 00:02:29.960 Is there no king in you? 00:02:30.380 --> 00:02:32.460 Has your counselor perished? 00:02:32.700 --> 00:02:36.000 That pain seized you like a woman in labor. 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:40.560 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:45.200 For now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:47.060 You shall go to Babylon. 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.600 There you shall be rescued. 00:02:49.940 --> 00:02:53.420 There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:57.460 Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:01.280 Let her be defiled and let her eyes gaze upon Zion. 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:05.780 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand his plan. 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:09.460 That he has gathered them as she's to the threshing floor. 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:17.220 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze. 00:03:17.660 --> 00:03:25.980 You shall beat in pieces many peoples, and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.820 So here's the reality of the crisis that is facing Jerusalem. 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:33.400 They're about to enter into captivity. 00:03:33.760 --> 00:03:38.040 They're about to be obtained by an outside people. 00:03:38.320 --> 00:03:41.760 And when this happens, there will be no more king for them. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:46.000 When this happens, there will be no more government for them. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:54.320 And because they're in a theocratic structure, what is going to come from there is the religious structure of who they are is going to fall apart. 00:03:54.480 --> 00:04:01.580 And they're going to enter into a season, they're going to enter into a pattern of life of great difficulty. 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:07.780 As everything that they know is normal is going to be pulled from them, and they're going to be ruled by another nation. 00:04:08.540 --> 00:04:14.840 God's people, God's chosen people, are now going to be ruled over and dominated by outside forces. 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:16.760 So why is this happening? 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:19.100 Why is God doing this? 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:25.060 God is pouring out his wrath on them, but in hopes of something. 00:04:25.340 --> 00:04:38.440 God is pouring out this punishment on his people, whom he loves, whom he's chosen, whom he's called for a very specific and important reason so that he can call them back. 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:43.260 See, this is the process of what we're seeing in the very nature and the heart of God. 00:04:43.340 --> 00:04:53.940 But even in God's punishment to them, even in God's wrath of them, even as God puts them through suffering, there's a reason for it as he calls them back to him. 00:04:53.940 --> 00:05:06.740 And so in this opening part of this passage that we're looking at, Micah speaks of the impending doom that Israel will face, but in doing so, he also speaks to the deliverance as well. 00:05:06.940 --> 00:05:09.420 He speaks to the hope as well. 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:23.280 And so where Israel finds itself is their present disobedience of Israel will lead to their captivity, but the eternal promises of God will lead to their salvation. 00:05:23.280 --> 00:05:24.900 Do we see what's happening there? 00:05:24.900 --> 00:05:27.200 Their sin brings them into captivity. 00:05:27.780 --> 00:05:32.020 God's faithfulness will deliver them, just like your life and in mine, right? 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:36.740 Our sinfulness is what calls us to be captivated by the sins and the desires of this world. 00:05:36.840 --> 00:05:40.180 But the faithfulness of God is what sets us free. 00:05:40.460 --> 00:05:43.180 The faithfulness of God is what brings us salvation. 00:05:43.640 --> 00:05:51.140 So even in the disobedience, even in the punishment of Israel, God's working to bring good from it in their lives. 00:05:51.140 --> 00:05:58.880 And while there is punishment that awaits them for their sins, in that still is the redemption of God. 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:02.180 So what is Israel to do during this time? 00:06:02.520 --> 00:06:05.500 What is Israel to do during this captivity? 00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:08.580 There's a word that they're going to have to embrace. 00:06:09.020 --> 00:06:11.180 It's a word that you and I don't like. 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:14.760 It's a word that very few of us are good at. 00:06:14.820 --> 00:06:18.440 And Israel must wait. 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:23.040 Their suffering will be real, but they must wait. 00:06:23.820 --> 00:06:29.260 And in that waiting, their hope of the Lord will be there with him. 00:06:29.840 --> 00:06:33.280 And so Israel is called to wait. 00:06:33.940 --> 00:06:35.700 But here's the interesting piece. 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:38.740 Here's what we see from this and we begin to understand. 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:42.360 While Israel waits, God isn't waiting. 00:06:42.960 --> 00:06:44.320 God is working. 00:06:44.900 --> 00:06:47.820 And God is working in them to break them. 00:06:48.280 --> 00:06:51.960 God is doing a work in them to bring them to repentance. 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.900 And God is doing a work to grow them. 00:06:54.900 --> 00:07:02.980 And even in this, what we see, to separate from them who are truly his people of faith and who are not. 00:07:03.520 --> 00:07:05.380 And we see what God's doing. 00:07:05.640 --> 00:07:10.200 And we see that in this, that in your life and mine, when we go through seasons of suffering, 00:07:10.520 --> 00:07:18.140 when we go through seasons of waiting, what we can gain from this is the spiritual importance of what's taking place. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.380 Because oftentimes we're impatient with God as we go through the difficulty. 00:07:22.520 --> 00:07:26.780 And in doing so, we miss the work that God wants to do. 00:07:27.280 --> 00:07:33.320 And so church, there's a very valuable thing for us, not only the people of Israel before the reign of Christ, 00:07:33.320 --> 00:07:42.300 but for us, the church of Christ, waiting for him today, that we understand what it means and what it looks like to wait for God. 00:07:42.380 --> 00:07:44.080 And I want to tell you, I don't like to wait. 00:07:44.320 --> 00:07:46.200 I've never liked to wait. 00:07:46.320 --> 00:07:50.720 And the older I get, the harder I find it to wait for things in my life. 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:57.540 I'm about, let's see, about four months ago, I had to make the dreaded trip to the DMV, right? 00:07:57.640 --> 00:08:02.420 And so I go in there and I get my number and there's just people are filled in the DMV. 00:08:02.820 --> 00:08:08.240 And so I know that I'm going to be sitting here for at least 45 minutes to an hour as I have to wait. 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:10.840 And so I do what most all of us do in those moments. 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:13.720 I sit down and I pull out my cell phone. 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:17.240 And the dreaded thing begins to happen that I notice on my phone. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:22.060 That top notification at the top right screen of my phone is red. 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:25.780 And I notice that I've got 5% battery on my phone. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:32.660 And I can feel the anxiety begin to well up in me as I know that my phone is going to die. 00:08:32.800 --> 00:08:36.340 And then all I can do is sit there and wait. 00:08:36.660 --> 00:08:37.840 We hate to wait. 00:08:38.160 --> 00:08:41.900 We hate to wait for things that are the immediate when we know they're going to happen. 00:08:41.900 --> 00:08:49.160 But even more so, it's so hard of us to wait on God. 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:51.800 But God does so much in that. 00:08:52.420 --> 00:08:59.460 I thought about this story from my childhood that I think is very important when it helps us understand what it means to wait for God. 00:09:00.140 --> 00:09:06.220 And the story that I'm thinking about is a story of what it was like to wait for dinner growing up. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:07.440 You know, my mom was a school teacher. 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:11.200 And so every day my mom would pick us up and we would ride home with her. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.180 And she'd get into the kitchen and she would begin to cook. 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:18.060 Now the rule was we couldn't eat anything before dinner because we might spoil our dinner. 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:19.920 So we would hear my mom. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.720 We could smell what she was cooking. 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:23.600 We knew that dinner was coming. 00:09:24.060 --> 00:09:28.360 We knew that the pain that was in our stomach from the hunger could be satisfied. 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:35.580 We knew the goodness of the smells that were there that we could actually begin to taste them as soon as they came out of the kitchen. 00:09:35.800 --> 00:09:38.500 But the rule was that we had to wait. 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:44.160 And specifically, we had to wait not for my mom to get done cooking even though that was important. 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:46.580 But oftentimes my mom would finish the meal. 00:09:46.580 --> 00:09:51.500 And what we had to wait on was we would have to wait on my dad to get home. 00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:56.380 Because mom wanted us to eat as a family. 00:09:56.760 --> 00:09:58.400 And so we had to wait for him. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:02.300 Now we weren't waiting for my dad to finish talking to his friends outside. 00:10:02.540 --> 00:10:07.100 We weren't waiting for my dad to finish running errands of things that he wanted to do on his time. 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:13.220 But we had to wait on my dad to finish working so that he could provide for our family. 00:10:13.860 --> 00:10:24.080 So we had to wait for the father in order for us to experience the goodness that was waiting for us. 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:29.200 And I think that's so much what the picture looks like for us waiting for God. 00:10:29.640 --> 00:10:33.920 Right now we're waiting for God, but God's still working. 00:10:34.660 --> 00:10:37.040 Right now we're waiting through the suffering. 00:10:37.660 --> 00:10:40.160 Right now we're waiting through the uncertainty. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.960 Right now we are waiting through the brokenness. 00:10:44.400 --> 00:10:47.040 But while we wait, God is at work. 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:53.440 When God sends his people into captivity for them to wait on him to redeem them, 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:58.900 it's not that God sent them into captivity and God stopped, but God continued. 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:04.580 And for you and I, as we are on this journey of our life in the time frame, 00:11:04.640 --> 00:11:08.800 which God and his sovereignty appointed for us to be here on this planet, 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.520 we go through these battles and these trials and these circumstances. 00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:15.720 And in doing that, we wait. 00:11:15.900 --> 00:11:18.540 And while we wait, God works. 00:11:19.380 --> 00:11:20.540 And here's what God's doing. 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:23.400 God's saving in the waiting. 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:26.540 God's calling people into salvation. 00:11:27.160 --> 00:11:34.460 God is growing us in the waiting, making you and I more like Christ in the process. 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:38.000 But God is also separating in the waiting. 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:44.120 God's drawing from his creation who the true church is, 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:50.960 separating the sheep from the wolves as he works, as we wait. 00:11:51.180 --> 00:11:54.760 Church, we can't forget the beauty in the waiting. 00:11:54.940 --> 00:11:57.440 Let's keep reading in chapter 5. 00:11:57.700 --> 00:11:58.820 It says this, 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:02.680 Now muster your troops, O daughters of troops. 00:12:03.160 --> 00:12:05.320 Siege is laid against us. 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:09.340 With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 00:12:09.800 --> 00:12:16.900 But you, O Bethlehem, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:22.180 from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, 00:12:22.400 --> 00:12:25.900 whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days. 00:12:26.060 --> 00:12:31.740 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth. 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:35.520 Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:42.340 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, 00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:46.340 in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. 00:12:46.520 --> 00:12:53.200 And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:59.240 And so what God begins to paint the picture for Israel of what they are waiting for, 00:12:59.420 --> 00:13:01.200 of what they will experience. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.180 And from this, kind of continuing on from where we were last week, 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:11.060 we begin to see the messianic pieces have come together of what you and I wait for. 00:13:11.060 --> 00:13:16.400 And the very first thing that God reminds them of the hope of what God is going to do 00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:18.480 is who God's going to do it through. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.340 And he doesn't point to a nation. 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:24.180 He doesn't point to a group of warriors. 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:26.300 He doesn't point to an army. 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:32.100 But instead he points to a future king, our king, Jesus. 00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:38.620 And so the hope will be based and rooted in Jesus and everything else that comes from this. 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:44.140 Every future thing that God points to will come from him and him alone. 00:13:44.140 --> 00:13:51.140 Because this king will redeem Israel and this king will redeem God's church today. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.700 All of this comes from Jesus. 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:58.920 And so Jesus does a miraculous work of moving God's people, 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:04.780 of moving Israel, of moving the church, of you and I from one status to another. 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:11.620 The first thing that is seen here that we can apply in our lives is moving from estranged to redeemed. 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:16.380 You see, because of sin, because of what you and I have brought into our lives, 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.980 because of who you and I are, we've come estranged from God. 00:14:21.300 --> 00:14:25.220 The talk is about the great divide that has separated us from the Lord, 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:29.820 the great divide that we have put in between us and him. 00:14:30.180 --> 00:14:35.220 We created the divide, but God says of what we created, it is temporary. 00:14:35.540 --> 00:14:43.520 As we made ourselves estranged from him, God redeems us and the divide becomes temporary. 00:14:44.060 --> 00:14:46.480 For Israel, it's a season of captivity. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.500 For you and I, we enter into our own spiritual captivity for a season. 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:58.040 And we do not redeem ourselves, but through the work of Christ, he redeems us. 00:14:58.040 --> 00:15:04.020 And as he redeems us, verse 3, we become brothers, we become family. 00:15:04.540 --> 00:15:12.440 And he moves us from the outcast who we chose to be, to the family he called us to be, 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:15.400 to the family he chose us to be. 00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:18.420 And so we move from estranged to redeemed. 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:25.900 We move from outcast to family, all made possible through Christ and Christ alone, 00:15:25.900 --> 00:15:29.760 the future king of what we have to look to. 00:15:30.300 --> 00:15:32.040 We continue to read in verse 5, 00:15:32.780 --> 00:16:02.740 So not only do we see our future king, but the future king brings a future peace. 00:16:03.300 --> 00:16:05.020 Continuing on what we talked about. 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:08.600 But I love the words that God gives Micah. 00:16:09.140 --> 00:16:10.200 He noticed what peace is. 00:16:10.300 --> 00:16:10.980 Peace is Jesus. 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.820 At the very beginning, and he shall be their peace. 00:16:15.060 --> 00:16:16.880 Notice, it's not their circumstances. 00:16:17.140 --> 00:16:18.440 It's not their situation. 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:19.900 It's not their state of mind. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.040 It's not anything around them that is their peace. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.580 But their peace is rooted in Christ. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.120 He shall be their peace. 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:30.040 He is our peace. 00:16:30.040 --> 00:16:34.140 So we see that in the current tense, right there in the present tense. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:35.760 He is our peace. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.560 But God also gives the words to Micah in a future tense. 00:16:39.880 --> 00:16:44.780 That not only is he your peace now, but he shall deliver us. 00:16:45.040 --> 00:16:48.760 So in the midst of the circumstances of everything that's chaos, 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.160 he is our peace. 00:16:50.280 --> 00:16:54.880 And we put our hope in a future deliverance that will come with him. 00:16:54.880 --> 00:17:01.260 We place our trust in a person who did a work that we currently stand in the reality 00:17:01.260 --> 00:17:03.680 and position ourselves in that work. 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:09.540 But then we place our hope in the future fulfillment of what will be done. 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:14.340 Do you see the past, the present, the future work of Christ all coming into one? 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:19.320 And that's the peace that we find in him and in him alone. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:21.320 Church, that's where we have to be. 00:17:22.080 --> 00:17:26.120 Yes, in spite of your circumstances, he is your peace. 00:17:26.620 --> 00:17:29.780 And he shall deliver you. 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:36.760 So many times what we see, what we feel, what we experience determines our peace. 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:40.020 But Jesus is our peace. 00:17:40.820 --> 00:17:42.240 Continue on in verse 7. 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:48.000 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:52.360 like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, 00:17:52.620 --> 00:17:56.600 which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 00:17:56.980 --> 00:18:02.020 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples, 00:18:02.360 --> 00:18:05.400 like a lion among the beast of the forest, 00:18:05.520 --> 00:18:08.080 like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:12.260 which when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:13.740 and there is none to deliver. 00:18:14.120 --> 00:18:17.540 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, 00:18:17.800 --> 00:18:20.660 and your enemies shall be cut off. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.080 And what we begin to see even more as we look to the future 00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:27.340 is the future vindication that comes with Christ. 00:18:27.820 --> 00:18:29.580 What comes from this is important. 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:31.780 Kind of recapping from last week. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:32.960 It's not the masses. 00:18:33.580 --> 00:18:35.300 What comes from this is not the many. 00:18:35.300 --> 00:18:39.300 What comes from this is the few, is the remnant. 00:18:39.620 --> 00:18:40.740 Talked about it last week. 00:18:40.820 --> 00:18:43.060 Just the little bit that is left over, 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:44.720 the little bit that has remained, 00:18:44.860 --> 00:18:46.040 it's the remnant. 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:48.140 And in this passage of Scripture, 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:50.920 the remnant is described in two different ways. 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:54.500 The first way is like the dew or the morning showers, 00:18:54.800 --> 00:18:56.840 and the next is like a lion. 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:58.280 Now we think about that. 00:18:58.600 --> 00:19:00.480 The dew and the lion. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.220 Two completely different pictures of power. 00:19:04.560 --> 00:19:07.060 Two completely different pictures of nature. 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:09.660 One is weak, one is powerful, 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:13.440 but it describes what God is doing through his people. 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:15.360 The remnant is the dew, 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:17.560 because the dew does not wait for man. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:19.440 The remnant is the dew, 00:19:19.660 --> 00:19:21.780 because the dew does not come from man, 00:19:21.780 --> 00:19:27.480 but it comes solely from the power and the sovereignty of God. 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.360 You see, it isn't dependent on man to bring it, 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:35.100 but it is solely dependent on God and God alone. 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:38.780 But it's also the remnant is the lion. 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:42.220 It is the lion that brings victory. 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:45.860 And so that we as God's people can stand in victory, 00:19:45.860 --> 00:19:48.820 because there is victory in Jesus 00:19:48.820 --> 00:19:53.880 over the godless forces that oppose God's people. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:57.460 That we're not weak, but we have power. 00:19:58.060 --> 00:19:59.640 And in God's sovereignty, 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:02.600 as God does what he's going to do in his people, 00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:06.140 what God also does is he creates in us 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:10.820 a position of victory that cannot be defeated. 00:20:11.540 --> 00:20:14.260 Church, Satan wants nothing more in your life 00:20:14.260 --> 00:20:15.560 than for you to fail. 00:20:15.860 --> 00:20:18.140 When he lost you in salvation, 00:20:18.360 --> 00:20:21.700 what he tried to gain in your life right now 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:23.880 is the defeat from the day to day. 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:28.280 And so many of us fall into a pattern of that, 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.380 where we fall into the patterns of the stresses 00:20:31.380 --> 00:20:33.460 and the circumstances of the world, 00:20:33.560 --> 00:20:36.020 where we fall prey to what he wants us to, 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:38.160 so he can't have our future, 00:20:38.360 --> 00:20:42.020 but what he does try to cling hold to is our right now. 00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:44.400 And God says, no, that's not how this works. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.680 These people are going to work. 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:50.520 These people are going to do in the manner of which I've called them 00:20:50.520 --> 00:20:52.780 from my power of who I am. 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:55.320 But there's also a victory in them 00:20:55.320 --> 00:20:58.680 that cannot be taken away from them. 00:20:59.340 --> 00:21:02.740 We'll continue and finish up verses 10 through 14. 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:04.900 And in that day declares the Lord, 00:21:04.900 --> 00:21:08.100 I will cut off your horses from among you 00:21:08.100 --> 00:21:09.860 and will destroy your chariots. 00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:12.000 And I will cut off the cities of your land 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.860 and throw down all your strongholds. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.680 And I will cut off sorceries from your hand 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:19.680 and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes. 00:21:19.900 --> 00:21:21.620 And I will cut off your carved images 00:21:21.620 --> 00:21:23.420 and your pillars from among you 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:26.700 and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands. 00:21:26.900 --> 00:21:30.760 And I will root out from your images from among you 00:21:30.760 --> 00:21:32.060 and destroy your cities. 00:21:32.280 --> 00:21:33.620 And in anger and wrath, 00:21:33.820 --> 00:21:37.980 I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.920 And what God points to here is a future purification. 00:21:42.500 --> 00:21:45.160 Now this process looks painful. 00:21:45.820 --> 00:21:48.920 There's a lot of talk in here about destruction. 00:21:49.580 --> 00:21:50.960 But if you're not careful, 00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:53.740 what you will simply see is destruction. 00:21:53.740 --> 00:21:57.440 But when we read this passage through the lens of the gospel, 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:01.440 what we notice is not destruction, but redemption. 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:05.700 Because God is going to destroy all 00:22:05.700 --> 00:22:12.020 that will stop the complete and total trust in him. 00:22:12.600 --> 00:22:13.900 You see, in the end, 00:22:14.520 --> 00:22:17.500 God's not simply looking to set us free from something. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:22.120 God's looking to destroy it 00:22:22.120 --> 00:22:26.080 so that it can no longer lend claim to who you are. 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:29.480 And what that involves is a process 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:32.720 as he draws it out and destroys it. 00:22:33.500 --> 00:22:34.700 A couple of years ago, 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:37.040 my kids for Christmas wanted to make 00:22:37.040 --> 00:22:40.000 my dad and my father-in-law one of those river tables. 00:22:40.120 --> 00:22:42.500 I don't know if you've seen them on social media, 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:43.680 the river tables. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.840 And so we use an epoxy in order to make those. 00:22:46.840 --> 00:22:48.880 And so we got the pieces of wood 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.300 and we cut them to where we'd had the river 00:22:51.300 --> 00:22:52.400 that would flow through that. 00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:54.340 And we framed them, did all the things that we need to do. 00:22:54.380 --> 00:22:55.480 And then we poured the epoxy. 00:22:56.020 --> 00:22:58.480 And what began to happen is we began to notice 00:22:58.480 --> 00:22:59.960 that from the epoxy, 00:23:00.260 --> 00:23:02.340 there were impurities that were there. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.840 And the impurities make themselves known 00:23:04.840 --> 00:23:06.680 through bubbles or through air pockets. 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:10.140 And so we had to get rid of the bubbles. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:12.340 And in order to get rid of the bubbles, 00:23:12.460 --> 00:23:15.660 what we had to bring was a painful process into it. 00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:17.940 We had to bring fire into it. 00:23:18.080 --> 00:23:19.960 And so what we would do is we would light a torch 00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:21.840 and we'd get as close as we can 00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:23.920 to the surface of that epoxy. 00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:26.060 And we would just lightly burn 00:23:26.060 --> 00:23:29.040 in a very difficult, a very hot process. 00:23:29.040 --> 00:23:33.400 And so that as the fire more and more touched the epoxy, 00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:37.060 what would come from is the hidden even imperfections 00:23:37.060 --> 00:23:39.300 and the hidden bubbles that we couldn't see. 00:23:39.460 --> 00:23:41.300 And they would work their way to the top 00:23:41.300 --> 00:23:42.500 until they disappeared. 00:23:43.060 --> 00:23:44.560 And that's what God does. 00:23:45.380 --> 00:23:50.600 That God in this, God for Israel, God for the church, 00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:56.140 what he promises is a process of what he's going to do 00:23:56.140 --> 00:23:59.900 to eliminate all the things that we've brought in, 00:24:00.280 --> 00:24:04.000 of all of the things that we've allowed to control us 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.400 so that he can purify for himself 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:13.240 a bride that will be with him for all of eternity. 00:24:14.300 --> 00:24:16.800 The church, this message was written, 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:21.680 was given by God to Micah for Israel. 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:27.260 But in this, what we see is the beautiful faithfulness 00:24:27.260 --> 00:24:29.780 of the future work of our king. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.700 We have to faithfully wait on him. 00:24:35.540 --> 00:24:36.260 Would you pray with me? 00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:40.580 God, I thank you for our time together this morning. 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:43.140 God, may we wait for you. 00:24:44.180 --> 00:24:47.820 God, in our faithfulness, may we wait for you. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.340 Lord, in our love, may we wait for you. 00:24:52.320 --> 00:24:54.340 Lord, and I pray that during this time, 00:24:55.320 --> 00:24:57.160 Lord, that you would continue to work, 00:24:57.900 --> 00:25:00.780 that you would save, that you would break, 00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:02.980 that you would call us back. 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:05.500 Bring us to repentance. 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:13.640 Lord, grow us so that we could grow more like Christ. 00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:17.580 Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross 00:25:17.580 --> 00:25:19.480 and for your love for us. 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:21.380 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:22.340 Amen. 00:25:22.340 --> 00:25:37.800 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:25:38.320 --> 00:25:40.620 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:43.000 If you'd like to learn more about who we are 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:44.620 or explore additional resources, 00:25:44.620 --> 00:25:49.660 visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:53.220 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on 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