Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.
This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.
We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear
the latest message.
Thanks for listening.
I hope you had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.
I can tell you with great confidence that this past Thursday, the closest thing to a vegetable
that touched my plate was macaroni and cheese.
If you're saying macaroni and cheese isn't a vegetable, I know, right?
Like, that's as close as it got.
I did something this morning that I shouldn't have done, but I typically weigh myself every
Sunday to kind of see what I've done and either maintaining or losing a little bit of weight.
And this Sunday, I was five pounds bigger than last Sunday, so it was a good week for me,
right, with all those macaroni and cheese vegetables.
As we dive into our message this morning, a couple of things that I want to point you guys
to.
First off, if you were here with us on campus, I hope you got one of these little communion
cups as you walked in.
If you didn't, you're not going to hurt my feelings.
Get up right now.
Go ahead and head back to the back of the auditorium.
Grab one for you or for everyone in your family, because we will be taking the Lord's Supper
at the very end of the message.
Now, if you're at home and you're watching us online, hopefully you got Pastor Dave's email
this week.
If you didn't, that's okay.
Go and get something out of the kitchen.
And if you don't have any grape juice or whatever, it's fine.
It's all about what this means, not about exactly what it looks like.
Get some water.
Get a couple saltines.
We'll be good to go as we celebrate what God has done in our lives.
Also, I want to point everyone that's on campus here to something, as you walk out today, as
we look forward to 2021, and it will be here, I promise, right?
Like, we will get there.
One of the conversations that we're having is how do we continue on what God's doing through
our church and missions all over the world.
And there's one thing that you can begin to pray about.
There's some flyers on the table as you leave in the lobby about Greece.
There's some trips that are planned through the South Carolina Baptist Convention to go
and to work with refugees in Greece.
And so if that would interest you, grab one of those flyers.
It'd be a good opportunity for you to begin to pray through that.
And if you have any questions, maybe we can get those answered for you.
But on a day-to-day basis, what we would like to remind you and encourage you to do is
to pray for missions of what's going on.
Several weeks ago, we had a missionary from East Asia that was here.
East Asia represents the largest unreached region of our world.
And so we have some prayer calendars out there for East Asia.
I've got one on my desk here at the office.
And each day, it reminds me of a new people group that I can pray for.
It shares me their name, a picture of someone from that people group,
and then specifically how I can pray for them.
And so maybe that's a good thing for you to grab.
Maybe it's something that you want to give to someone as a part of their Christmas gift this year.
Be a wonderful opportunity.
But then also, right, if that's not enough, we've got these pamphlets for our 2020 week of prayer
for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering that are out there,
where it's an intentional time of praying from November 29th through December 6th
of all of our international missions work that are there, and those are out there as well.
So lots of stuff that you guys can be praying for and that you can be doing.
Well, if you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Judges chapter 19.
As you turn there, this will be our last week in Judges, our last message in Judges.
Judges goes through chapter 21.
We're not going to get 20 and 21 this morning.
We're going to finish up in 19.
Next week, we will start our Christmas series.
I'm really excited as we're going to do something a little bit different than I've done before
as we celebrate the birth of Christ, as you guys can tell with the decorations in here.
We are ready to go.
We added a new inflatable at the Bradbury house, right?
We got our minion inflatable in the yard.
And my wife looked at me yesterday and she said, you know, this has to stop at some point, right?
And I said, yeah.
So we worked out an agreement.
We compromised, even though we talked about that you shouldn't last week, right, with God.
But we compromised with each other and I know that I'm limited now to three additional inflatables.
So I'm going to make them count as we go forward with this.
But we're excited about being in the Christmas season.
Well, as we wrap up the series in Judges, the last week and this week is a little different
than the previous weeks.
So throughout the series, we looked basically at nine weeks of looking at different Judges.
Some Judges we looked at for multiple weeks.
Some Judges only got a week.
Some Judges just got mentioned just for a brief moment.
But what a commonality or common theme throughout the book of Judges is that the people did what
was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And we got glimpses of it, but we never got the specific details, right?
Like we never got like, what is it that they were doing?
Like what was someone doing that was so horrific?
We could hear where they practice idolatry and they had forgotten about who God is and what
God had done.
But what exactly were these specific stories?
And so that's what we started looking at last week.
And that's what we're going to continue to look at this week in chapter 19.
Now, I want to tell you this kind of parents at home, parents that are here.
Chapter 19 might be one of the hardest chapters in Scripture in the details of what it talks about.
And because I understand that we've got various age groups with this, I'm going to try to work
my way and be sensitive to that, to hopefully not create any unwanted questions after this
is over with.
But the heaviness of this in chapter 19 is one that as you read through it, as I read through
it this past week and studying it, it just, it hurt my heart.
But as we go through this, what I want us to continue to draw from this is to think of all
that God does as He redeems His people.
To think as all God does is as you see the horrific scenario that's about to unfold before
us, as you look at all of the horrific scenarios that are playing out all over the world, some
in our own community, some in our country, some all over this world, the evil and the depravity
that is there.
But that through it all, what God is continuing to do is God is continuing to redeem people.
And He's redeeming people who don't deserve it because no one deserves it.
And so let's, let's jump in right here, Judges 19, starting in, in verse one.
In those days when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote
parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
So let me just say this.
He owns her.
This is a slave for him.
Verse two.
And his concubine was unfaithful to him.
And she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there for some four months.
Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring him, and bring her back.
And he had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys.
And she brought him into her father's house.
And when the girl's fathers saw him, he came with joy to meet him.
All right, let's pause here for a moment also.
You're going to see words like husband and father-in-law.
And don't get it confused to what you and I know as a norm of 2020 husband and father-in-law.
This is still, this woman, is his property that he owns.
And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay and remained with him three days.
So they ate and drank and spent the night there.
And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go.
But the girl's father said to his son-in-law,
Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.
So the two of them sat and ate and drank together.
And the girl's father said to the man,
Be pleased to spend the night and let your heart be merry.
And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him till he spent the night there again.
And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart.
And the girl's father said, Strengthen your heart and wait until the day declines.
So they ate, both of them.
So here's the players that we meet in this story.
There's a man who owns a woman, culturally accepted.
She is his slave to please him and to do what he commands her to do.
Because he is a piece, she is a piece of property for him.
And then you meet her dad, who treats her the exact same way.
Now, there's some cultural things that are happening within this.
Now, the irony of the phrase is, but to help us understand what Scripture says,
was she was unfaithful to the man who owned her, right?
And we don't know that scenario, but she was unfaithful to him.
So she leaves to go find haven from her dad who allowed her to be sold.
And what does dad do when the man who bought her comes to his house?
Hey, come sit on the couch and let's eat some food and drink together.
Right?
This is the depth of the depravity of what we begin to see in this family.
We see that a woman who has been treated like a piece of property, like an object,
who in this tries to break away from this sense of little of value that she has in and of herself,
runs from a man who's going to identify as her husband, but is not her husband at all.
To go find safe haven from her dad to protect her.
And the dad says, no, no, no, no, just come in.
Like, let's get some chips out.
Let's get some Coke out.
Like, let's just watch TV and hang out here, boy.
Right?
Like, I've got a great relationship with my father-in-law.
I do.
I love him.
He loves me.
He sent me a text message of encouragement this morning before the 930 service.
And I value our relationship.
This isn't it.
All right?
This is so far beyond unhealthy, it's not funny.
It's disgusting in what we find.
And what I want us to see here is that this is just how the Levite lived.
This was normal.
There was cultural rules put in place to accept the normalcy of this situation.
And here's why we know that her running from him and being unfaithful to him meant that she, that he could have her killed.
Her running to her dad and her dad bringing her in meant that her dad could be killed.
And it would have been legal.
And this is what we find in and among God's people.
This is how the Levite lived.
This is how the father fought.
This is how not only this woman, but very much most of the women were treated as an object.
And it's just simply how they saw things.
It's simply what the culture looked like.
And if you're like me, you're like ladies in the room like watching this, you're like, no, no, no, no, uh-uh.
Right?
Like dads in the room are like, nope, no, no, you kill me before you do that to her.
Right?
And I'm taking some of y'all out with me, you know?
But this is the situation which we find because this is how they saw life.
And what I'm going to appeal to us this morning is that as we, as we walk through this, as you and I walk through life as Christians, right?
The Levite's culture saw this and said it was okay.
And as Christians, you and I, we should see things differently.
We should see things differently.
It's going to be the whole point of the message this morning is how we see God is going to determine how we see other life as a whole.
But we do.
We're called to see not just some things, but everything different.
All right?
So here's a few challenges for us this week.
The Bible, God's Word tells us that we're to see work differently, right?
That when we work, that you and I are to work as if we are directly working for God, right?
So that manager you don't get along with, that manager that you think treats you unfairly, that manager who constantly speaks down to you.
Like all of those things may be true.
But if your attitude is, well, then I'm not going to do as good of a job as a Christian because of how I'm treated.
I can tell you that God's Word says your attitude is sinful and it's wrong and that you're to work as if God is your boss because that's who you're representing in the workplace of where he's put you.
Now, we're supposed to look at money differently, right?
Jesus tells us, no, pay your taxes.
But he also says, give to God.
In fact, he says all of this, we really, all of this is God's anyways and that he's just entrusted it over to him.
So you and I should see our money differently than the way that the world sees money.
You know, like you and I, we talk a lot about self-image, about how we view ourselves and having a healthy self-image specifically of our physical bodies.
Do you know that?
That we should see our physical bodies differently, right?
Like, we should work to take care of our physical bodies, not so that we can wear skimpy clothes and show them off, but that we should work to take care of our physical bodies and use them to glorify God.
Because there should be nothing, right, that stops us from sharing the gospel and in going and being mobilized so that it is a benefit of us that we make sure, right, that we are physically speaking, taking care of ourselves.
But what we want to look at this morning, that you and I need to see life differently.
We see life differently.
And what I want to talk about, kind of the theme of this morning, I want to be on the sanctity of life, that you and I as Christians, that we acknowledge that there is a special nature that comes from all human life.
And that in that, that we value it, that we respect human life, and that you and I are working toward the understanding that there's a spiritual aspect that plays out in this.
In Scripture, it's referred to as the Imago Dei.
It's why this life is so important.
In Genesis chapter 1, verse 27, it says,
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
That from the very beginning in creation, and we can look at some gender equality stuff that's going on here,
in the value of male life, in the value of female life.
But the reason why life as a whole is so important, because human life, unlike anything else, is made specifically in the image of God.
All right?
God created the animals, and the sun, and the mountain, and the trees.
And we need to be respectful of all of creation.
But there is something sacred in human life, and it is because human life and human life alone is made in the image of God.
And so what we see in this, what you and I need to work through as we look at life as a whole,
is every race, every language group, every generation, every sex, all made in the image of God.
And this is going to, when we read chapter 19, in light of that, it should begin to do something to us.
That we'll see begin to happen, is the breakdown of the understanding of the Imago Dei.
The daughter, the woman in the story, is not being viewed in the Imago Dei.
Instead, she's viewed as a piece of property.
But we, as Christians, okay?
Not we as Americans.
Not we as moral people.
But we, as Christians, must see life differently than the rest of the world has seen as being made in the image of God.
And so in that, what we find at this base level is this sense of equality, of value amongst others.
In fact, what you and I, what I would challenge you to, is we will see people differently.
But we don't need to see people differently in the way that the world defines us.
We need to see people differently about how the gospel defines us.
And so, so Paul says in Galatians 3, 27,
For as many of you, as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
And so that in that, there is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither slave nor free.
There is no male and female.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
So that when you and I see each other, what we begin to understand is that you and I, there's neither slave nor free.
So we wipe out socioeconomic.
There's neither Jew nor Gentile.
So we can wipe out race and we can wipe out culture.
There's neither male nor female.
And I want to say this, so we can wipe out gender on this.
Now, that doesn't mean that these things don't matter to us, okay?
They beautifully matter to us.
And here's why it matters to us.
I heard a pastor say one time that race, we should not see people by their race or their nationality or by their gender.
And I disagree with that.
And here's why I disagree with that.
Because God perfectly made me how I am.
And so God is glorified in that, right?
So that when I go into the Indian restaurant down on St. Andrews that I love to go to,
and what's beautiful about going in there is you will, if you listen to the languages that people are speaking,
you'll hear from people from all over the world in there.
And I can celebrate God because of the diversity of which God brings, right?
I can look into the beautiful diversity as God has wired me and God has wired my wife.
And I can celebrate the beauty of diversity.
But that in the beauty of diversity, there's the equality of what God gives, right?
So I am not greater than my wife.
And she is not greater than me.
That I, as an American, am not greater than someone from India.
And they are not greater than me.
That this is what we see.
But what we do begin to see people differently is in the lost and the saved.
That we do understand that when we look through people through the lens of the gospel,
what we should be able to see and walk away from it is people who have the gospel and people who need it.
And people who we should be drawn to even though they are different than us.
I do want to pause for a moment and talk about this.
Most of the time when sanctity of life is mentioned, it's concerning the unborn and the argument for pro-life as Christians.
And what I want to be careful of, and I want to make sure that you hear me clearly, is this.
I'm pro-life, all right?
I believe in the value of life.
But in the argument for us as Christians, we cannot simply have the argument of sanctity of life with the unborn.
But it must be of all life, of the equality that's there.
But God does.
God does speak about the beauty of life.
Life that takes place at conception.
But even for us, we define life, you and I do, by time because that's all we know.
Right?
So we define life as conception, right?
Until death.
That's what we do.
But the Bible goes beyond that because God is not bound by time.
So God's word says this.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Right?
The beauty of the wholeness of how big God is.
God said, yeah, there's value of life in the womb.
But I, as God, see the value of life even before the womb so that I determine the days before then.
Right?
You see the great picture of what God is painting.
Right?
To sum it up in his heart, right, of God's love for the world.
It's the first verse that we learned in our Sunday school classes growing up or the VBS that we went to.
Or we'd see it on the sign at the baseball game, right?
John 3, 16.
For God so loved the what world.
That he gave his only son.
That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Right?
We see the value of God, of what God places on life as a whole.
And so for you and I, what we must do is embrace the sanctity of life and what's there.
But what's happened here in Judges, what's happened from the very beginning,
what has plagued creation since the fall is the devalue of life.
Brother takes the life of brother.
What we see here in Judges 19 is a separation that one life is greater than the other.
And we see what I like to refer to as a culture of them.
And when there's a culture of them that is prevalent, then I can remove myself because I'm not a part of those because those are them.
And now I'm separated from them.
And the hard thing is this, that in Christianity, what we should be is we should be drawn to the thems.
We should be drawn to those that have been outcasts, drawn to those who are broken, drawn to those who are different.
Why? Because we have the hope of the gospel and that we understand the Imago Dei.
So we celebrate the beauty of the diversity as we look to eliminate the culture of the them.
But we see this downfall that begins to happen.
We see the downfall that happens in the life of this man and in the life of the father.
And we see the victim that is this girl.
So they leave.
The dad releases his daughter back into slavery.
And so they set off on a journey.
And they head toward a city, but the man doesn't want to go into this city because it's a Canaanite city.
And he doesn't trust what will happen if they enter into a non-Israel city.
So instead, they go to another town and they decide to stay there because it's part of the Israel, of the Jewish people.
So this is where they're going to be.
But as they enter in into this town where they say, well, this is our people, so we'll be safe, we'll be good here.
They notice that things are different.
They notice that it's not like they were used to before.
And the scripture says what was different is this, that no one's speaking to them.
No one's talking to them.
No one's looking at them.
And finally, there's this older man, the Bible tells us, that comes out and he extends them the gift of hospitality.
And he says, no, no.
Well, you can come into my house.
And then he gives him a warning.
He says, but whatever you do, don't go into the town square.
Don't go in there.
Bad stuff happens there.
Let's look down at verse 22 of chapter 19.
So as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door.
And they said to the old man, the master of the house, bring out the man who came into your house that we may know him.
All right.
In the sensitivity of the room, they're not asking to learn what his name is, okay?
They want to victimize him.
Bring him out so that we may know him.
Verse 23.
And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, no, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
Since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing.
So we think here, all right, maybe there's somebody that gets it.
Maybe there's a hero.
Maybe there's someone who stands for righteousness.
Maybe there's someone that can point toward this.
But no.
Verse 24.
Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine.
Let me bring them out.
Violate them and do with them what seems good to you.
But against this man, do not do this outrageous thing.
And in my mind, I can't fathom what's taking place.
A dad who is so surrounded by a culture of evil.
He says, no.
You're not going to do this to him.
But you can do this to them.
And part of them is his baby girl.
And what we see taking place in Judges, what we see taking place throughout society since sin entered is the evolution of sin.
We see sin that begins and starts and then it grows and changes into something that it never was before.
But at the heart of it, it's the exact same thing.
And so what we see in the evolution of sin where we fall into that still today is we believe the lie, number one, that sin is controllable.
That I can control my sin.
That I've got struggles.
Like we call it pretty stuff, right?
I've got my weaknesses.
I've got my struggles.
I've got the battles that I face.
But you know, they're just that.
They're struggles.
No, you don't have struggles.
You have what's killing you.
And it's sin.
And it's not controllable.
It's uncontrollable.
And you can't maintain it.
But we also, but a little sin's okay.
So not only is it uncontrollable, but we begin to believe the lie that a little sin is okay.
Like culturally speaking, it's okay.
Culturally speaking, it's okay to cheat on your wife, right?
Which is what's happening at the very beginning of this.
It's okay culturally to have this until we end up in this scenario where you and I say,
no, we could never do anything like this.
But you and I are playing this same battle in the evolution of sin where we think I can control this
or just a little bit of this is okay and begins and presses forward and continues to move forward
until this is what we see in our society.
So back to the conversation of the sanctity of life.
You see a moment and a situation in here where another dad says one life is more valuable than another.
You see a man that chooses one life is more valuable than another.
I want to ask you this.
Is there ever a life?
Do you know of any one that you think is less valuable than you?
Now, not what we say, but really at the heart of hearts, those who deserve less than what you deserve.
Is there life that you and I that we view as property?
And here's what I mean by that.
This past January, I had a truck.
It was a 2007 Ford F-150.
I loved that truck.
I'd had that truck for about 10 years.
Truck had 250,000 miles on it.
I'd driven it out to hunting trips in Arkansas and in Mississippi.
And I loved this truck.
My kids loved the truck.
Their stories and family vacations were all tied into this truck.
I loved it.
And one day I got in this past January and I cranked it up and I started riding down the road.
And it started, I'd get about 35 miles an hour and it'd start shaking.
Right?
Well, if I got up to over 40 and you handed me a glass of milk,
like it would have made you a milkshake.
Like it was that bad.
And so I took the truck to a friend of mine that I know.
I took it to his shop and I said,
Hey man, help me figure out what's wrong with my truck and please try to get it fixed.
I love this truck.
He said, okay.
So the next day he calls me and he says,
Boy, I kind of need to give you the update on your truck.
He said, you know, your truck is valued at about $1,500.
But it's going to take about $4,000 to get your truck fixed.
What do you want me to do?
Now I'm going to tell you, I love that truck.
I got memories tied into that truck.
But what I told him is, don't do anything to that truck.
I'm getting rid of that and getting me a new one, right?
And I went and I picked it up and I drove it all the way to another guy that I know in Aiken.
And it took me two hours to get there going 35 miles an hour, shaking the whole way there.
But I walked away from that truck and I walked right to my new truck, right?
And here's what I know will happen.
In several years, I'll do the same thing with the other.
Why?
Because the old truck stopped giving me what I needed.
The old truck stopped doing what I needed it to do.
The old truck brought more complications into my life.
The old truck just wasn't worth it anymore.
And so in that, I discarded it as a piece of property to obtain a new one.
And the sad truth is, that while you and I have never owned a slave,
while you and I can't fathom the depth of depravity that is here in Judges 19,
that you and I have viewed life in the exact same way.
As long as you can give me what I want and what I need and what I feel like I deserve,
then there's value for you in my life.
But the moment that you break that is the moment that I can discard you to the side
and move on to the next piece of property.
It's the same heart.
It's the same sin.
Just manifest in different ways.
So the men, they take the concubine.
They take the daughter.
And they keep them for the entire night.
Can you imagine what took place?
What happened?
Can you imagine the scars that will never go away?
Can you imagine the hurt and the pain that was there?
The next morning, after a night of terror, the concubine is released.
You know where she goes?
Right back to the man who released her.
But she doesn't even go into the building.
Instead, like a dog that's been left outside,
she curled up on the porch and that's where she lay.
A victim, taken advantage of,
told and treated that she's worthless,
finds herself here.
Where was the man who wants to claim that he's her husband?
Where's the man who this is his beloved property?
Where was he during all this?
Was he going to the authorities saying,
this isn't right?
Was he walking through the streets looking for where she was
so that he could bring her back?
Mm-mm.
He got a good night's rest
and woke up that morning
and began to prepare for the journey
that they would have to get home.
The depth of brokenness
when sin continues to evolve.
So he gets her home,
kills her,
cuts her up,
and sends her body
all over different parts of Israel.
And culturally, he was saying something.
And here's what he was saying.
I'm owed for what was taken from me.
And so as I scatter these out,
I promise that revenge would be mine.
And I'll be honest with you.
This is a hard passage of Scripture
to kind of wrap up judges.
It's a hard passage of Scripture
to come into the week of Thanksgiving
and kind of go through
and wrap my mind around it.
So I started reading this past week
and navigating through
and getting to the end of this.
You're like,
God, help me understand the reason.
Help me understand the purpose.
And like I said,
you can go through and read chapter 20
and chapter 21,
but what God kept reminding me of was this.
Like, Bo, these are the snapshots
of what I'm dealing with
in the heart of my people
throughout Judges.
And this is what I'm dealing with
in the heart of people today,
that they're missing out
on the Imago Dei
created in the image of God,
that they're looking out
and they're doing what is right
in their own eyes.
And then it struck me, right?
The message,
the theme of Judges
is not that people did
what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.
That's not the theme.
That's a part of it.
But that's not the theme.
Here's the theme then.
Here's the theme today.
In spite of all of that evil,
God continues to save.
And so the society did
what was evil
in the sight of the Lord.
And God sent a judge
and he saved.
And he sent a judge
and he saved.
Time and time again.
And so that today
you and I can look
at our own lives.
You and I can look
at culture.
You and I can look
at society.
You and I can look
at all of these things.
And the truth
of all of this
is
God
continues
to save.
No one then
deserved it.
No one now
deserves it either.
But God continues to.
Scripture tells us
in Romans 3.23
For all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
What I love
about this verse
it's the great equalizer
of what sin brings.
It doesn't say
for men like these
have sinned
but it says
for all
that all of us
as repulsive
as you think this is
you and I
are linked
into the same category
as all of these people
and everyone
who's ever
been created
who's ever
walked this earth
other than Jesus
all falls into
Romans 3.23
We've all sinned.
We've all fallen short.
There's this sin
problem that's there.
And so
because of that
this sin problem
creates a verdict.
It creates
a destination.
Not for just
evil men like this
but for us
for Romans 6.23
says
for the wages
of sin
is death
but the free gift
of God
is eternal life
in Christ Jesus.
So whether
if you think
your sins
are rated G
compared to what
this looks like
right?
When there's one
when there's one
there's a determination
of your outcome
and it is death.
So what does
God do?
What does God
give?
What does God
offer?
He brings
us
Christ.
Romans 5.8
God shows
His love
for us
in that
while we were
still
sinners
Christ
died
for us.
We talk about
the fact
that God
doesn't change.
Here's what
this means.
God
can't
forget
Romans 6.23
because
there is sin
there must
be death.
Because
there is sin
there must
be a punishment.
And so
God provides
not only
the punishment
but God
provides
Him
who will
absorb it
for us.
So that
while we were
sinners
Christ
died
for us.
and then
Romans 10
verse 9
if you
confess
with your
mouth
that
Jesus
is
Lord
and
believe
in your
heart
that
God
raised
Him
from
the
dead
you
will
be
saved
for
with
the
heart
one
believes
and
is
justified
and
with
the
mouth
one
confesses
and
is
saved.
So
that
it's
you
and
I
that
we
know
this
that
we
know
that
Christ
died
for
us
there's
a
response
the
response
is
a
confession
the
response
is
belief
it's
to
in
those
that
I
not
only
believe
who
Jesus
is
but
that
I
confess
it
and
it's
not
just
words
that
come
out
of
our
mouth
but
it's
the
positioning
of
our
hearts
and
the
positioning
of
our
lives
that
say
I
surrender
to
you
it's
not
just
enough
to
have
the
head
it's
the
connection
of
the
head
and
the
heart
that
leads
to
the
life
and
then
the
hope
that
we
have
what
we
can
cling
to
every
single
moment
is
that
when
we
fall
into
the
trap
of
believing
I
can
control
my
sin
when
we
fall
into
the
trap
of
saying
but
it's
just
a
little
bit
we
can
be
reminded
of
Romans
10
13
for
everyone
who
calls
on
the
name
of
the
Lord
will
be
saved
not
maybe
not
hope
to
not
stands
a
chance
for
but
will
be
saved
yesterday
at our
house
it was
decoration
day
you know
and so
we
put up
our
tree
and
we
put up
ornaments
we
hung up
our
stockings
we
decorated
the
yard
I
decorated
the
yard
Aaron
took
care
of
the
tree
but
one
of
the
special
things
that
I
get
to
do
every
single
year
is
I
get
to
put
out
the
nativity
scene
and so
we're
putting
out
the
nativity
scene
and the
very
last
piece
is the
one
that
reminds
us
a little
baby
that's
placed
into a
manger
and so
this
Christmas
we'll
sing
songs
about
Jesus
we'll
talk
about
his
miraculous
birth
we'll
see all
that is
there
but may
we not
forget
that
this
boy
who
stepped
out
of
heaven
and
stepped
into
a
manger
would
take
a
journey
to
the
cross
and so
we
always
take
Lord's
Supper
together
on
Christmas
Eve
as a
reminder
and we
will
do
that
again
this
year
but
this
year
we
want
to
start
off
the
Christmas
season
a little
bit
differently
by
taking
the
Lord's
Supper
together
as we
enter
in
so
hopefully
you've
got
your
cup
and
you'll
notice
there's
two
layers
if you
can
just
peel
off
that
top
layer
there's
a little
wafer
that's
there
and this
wafer
will represent
the bread
for us
that'll
represent
the body
of Jesus
the body
of Jesus
that would
be nailed
to a
cross
and
scripture
tells us
that on
the night
that
Jesus
was
betrayed
that he
gathered
with his
closest
followers
and he
took
some
bread
and he
broke
it
and he
passed
it out
to all
that was
there
and he
said to
them
this is
my body
which was
broken
for you
do this
in remembrance
of me
and then
scripture tells
us
that in the
same way
he took
the cup
that he
took the
wine
and he
said
that this
represents
not the
old
but the
new
covenant
that is
found in
him
that is
you and
I as
we
believe
and as
we
confess
that the
blood of
Jesus
covers
us
washing
away
of our
sins
and sealing
us
for
eternity
with
him
and he
says
this
blood
represents
the
new
covenant
do
this
in
remembrance
of me
thanks again
for listening
to the
Willow Ridge
Church
weekly
podcast
we hope
that you
enjoyed
listening
to this
week's
message
if you'd
like to
learn more
about who
we are
or explore
additional
resources
visit us
online at
www.willowridgechurch.com
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