WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:30.420 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:31.260 the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:48.200 Well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.920 Glad that you are joining us again on this wonderful Sunday morning. 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:54.240 Thank you, Joel, for leading us in worship. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:58.380 If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to the book of Micah. 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:02.320 Over the next five weeks, we're going to be working through this book. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:07.780 And so as you turn there, I want to continue to remind everyone to pray for us. 00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:15.840 Right now, as we're still in this coronavirus epidemic, we are having conversations about 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.500 what does it look like when we come back together as a church. 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.880 And so right now, we are definitely not making decisions. 00:01:22.880 --> 00:01:24.300 We're seeking the Lord's will. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:24.880 We're praying. 00:01:25.300 --> 00:01:29.820 And so we just ask that you pray for us as we try to navigate through those waters, seek 00:01:29.820 --> 00:01:35.080 wise counsel for what our church looks like when we do come back from everything that's 00:01:35.080 --> 00:01:35.600 going on. 00:01:36.100 --> 00:01:39.840 As you turn there, a little bit about what we're going to do today. 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:45.660 So today is going to be, for lack of a better term, an introductory message into what this 00:01:45.660 --> 00:01:47.600 series is going to unfold for us. 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:53.880 And so as we go through this today, from the weeks after this, we're going to dig in a little 00:01:53.880 --> 00:02:00.100 bit more to the truths that God is revealing to us today as we largely look at the first two 00:02:00.100 --> 00:02:00.580 chapters. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.600 Now, Micah is considered a minor prophet. 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:03.980 All right. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.040 So there's major prophets, minor prophets in the Old Testament. 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:11.820 And it's important for us to know that there's, when talking about major prophet or minor prophet, 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:17.060 it's not dealing with the content of what's there in each one of these books. 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:23.240 But it's really just talking about that the minor prophets, they're shorter in nature than 00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:23.760 the others. 00:02:23.980 --> 00:02:26.360 And so Micah is a shorter book. 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:30.780 And so we'll be able to walk through this over the course of the next five weeks. 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:35.880 So what we're going to do today is we're going to read a verse or a section of verses in 00:02:35.880 --> 00:02:40.600 chapter one and chapter two, talk about them, and then continuing progressing through that 00:02:40.600 --> 00:02:40.860 way. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:48.060 So let's start off and read Micah one, verse one says this, the word of the Lord that came 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:57.480 to Micah of Moriseth in the days of Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which 00:02:57.480 --> 00:03:01.940 he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 00:03:01.940 --> 00:03:11.220 So Micah is the prophet and God gives a word to Micah as the prophet for Micah to share 00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:13.260 to God's people. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:20.820 Now, the setting in which this happens is this book or this prophecy is given around the same 00:03:20.820 --> 00:03:27.460 time of the ministry and the message of Isaiah and the dynamic of what's happening. 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:33.400 So as we read through this book is that you will see and that you will notice different 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:39.000 places that are mentioned or even different peoples that are mentioned, because right now 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:44.780 in the course of Israel's history, Israel is divided between two kingdoms. 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:51.380 The northern kingdom, which is referred to as Israel and the southern king, which is referred 00:03:51.380 --> 00:03:52.640 to as Judah. 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:57.060 Now, the northern kingdom has the capital city of Samaria, right? 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.960 That we're familiar with that city in our study of the New Testament. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:06.760 But in the southern kingdom has the city that we're all familiar with as well as the city 00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:07.520 of Jerusalem. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:14.620 And so this word that is going to come from God through the prophet Micah is going to address 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:16.280 both kingdoms. 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:22.260 It's going to address both peoples that are there as God's people are divided amongst the 00:04:22.260 --> 00:04:22.780 two kingdoms. 00:04:22.780 --> 00:04:29.940 And it is going to be geared toward these capital cities, largely of what's there. 00:04:29.940 --> 00:04:38.140 Now, kind of the culture that is going on is really consistent with a lot of what we have 00:04:38.140 --> 00:04:42.800 seen in God's people, the entire nation of Israel. 00:04:43.140 --> 00:04:50.480 And so where we find them in the book of Micah is in a broken relationship with the Lord, but 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.640 yet they're still in the covenant relationship with God, right? 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.060 God's covenant hasn't gone away from them. 00:04:56.400 --> 00:04:57.720 God hasn't failed them. 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:05.280 God hasn't left them or forsaken them, but God's people are breaking the covenant with 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:05.620 him. 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:07.780 They're disobeying him. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.440 They're violating the relationship. 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:16.440 And we could even say maybe in terms that you and I are more familiar with, that they 00:05:16.440 --> 00:05:22.900 are wandering away from the practice of their faith and obedience to God. 00:05:22.900 --> 00:05:30.840 So what God is using Micah and largely what God uses the prophets as a whole for is God wants 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:33.320 to warn them about their sin, all right? 00:05:33.380 --> 00:05:40.800 So God wants to point out their sin to them so that they know the issue that God has. 00:05:40.940 --> 00:05:44.160 They know the violation that has taken place. 00:05:44.380 --> 00:05:51.540 But then also God wants to let them know what will happen if they continue to live in that 00:05:51.540 --> 00:05:51.860 sin. 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:58.880 So God wants to make them aware like, hey, this is the consequence that will happen as a result 00:05:58.880 --> 00:06:00.280 of your sin. 00:06:00.280 --> 00:06:06.180 But then in everything that is filled in not only the message of the gospel that we find 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:12.560 in the New Testament, but the message that we see throughout scripture, which is God calling 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:19.800 his people in the midst of their rebellion, in the midst of oncoming consequences of God 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.640 calling them to repentance. 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:25.740 And so this is where we find the people. 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:27.600 This is where we find Micah. 00:06:27.880 --> 00:06:31.320 This is what we find happening as this book begins. 00:06:31.540 --> 00:06:32.620 So let's continue reading. 00:06:32.700 --> 00:06:35.400 We're going to read verses two through four. 00:06:36.400 --> 00:06:42.780 Micah writes and he says, here, you peoples, all of you pay attention, O earth and all that 00:06:42.780 --> 00:06:43.380 is in it. 00:06:43.760 --> 00:06:50.680 Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple for behold, the Lord 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:57.400 is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth 00:06:57.400 --> 00:07:05.280 and the mountains will under him and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire, like 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:08.520 waters poured down a steep place. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:15.940 And so as Micah begins to explain to them this message that is coming before he brings their 00:07:15.940 --> 00:07:22.720 sin before them, before he brings the punishment that will come before he even talks about the 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:29.800 aspect of repentance of what God is going to offer, Micah wants to establish to the people 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.460 the character and nature of God. 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:39.100 And this is very important that we understand in God's involvement in this situation in the 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:45.540 northern and southern kingdom and God's involvement of what we see of what God has done in scripture, 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:53.380 what God will do in scripture, and even what God does in our life today as Micah works them 00:07:53.380 --> 00:07:55.960 to understanding the character and nature of God. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.480 One of the things that we see in here is that God refuses. 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:03.620 God refuses to allow sin to go unpunished. 00:08:04.200 --> 00:08:08.100 God cannot look at sin and sweep it under the rug. 00:08:08.620 --> 00:08:12.200 God cannot look at sin and excuse it away. 00:08:12.540 --> 00:08:18.000 God has to acknowledge and punish sin. 00:08:18.320 --> 00:08:19.700 It's who he is. 00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:21.260 It's part of his holiness. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.040 It's part of his righteousness. 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:27.460 It's part of the very character and nature of God. 00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:29.400 God can't ignore it, right? 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:34.900 And we see the work of what God did on the cross as he sent his son to die. 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:41.280 But God can't look at sin and not respond. 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:49.140 And so this is what the tone is set of who God is and what God does. 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:58.120 But then Micah goes on and he continues and he describes how God works and who God is. 00:08:58.380 --> 00:09:02.980 And he explains in scripture that God is transcendent. 00:09:03.160 --> 00:09:10.240 That God is transcendent above the world is what we see in these first few verses of Micah 1. 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.120 So what does that mean that God is transcendent? 00:09:14.260 --> 00:09:20.120 Well, what we understand is that what it means that God is transcendent is that God almighty, 00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:28.640 that he created all things in the earth and he created all things beneath the earth and the heavens above, 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:30.540 which is what scripture tells us. 00:09:30.740 --> 00:09:36.300 And he exists above and independent for all of them. 00:09:36.500 --> 00:09:41.100 So you and I, we exist in them, not above them. 00:09:41.260 --> 00:09:45.900 We exist dependent on them, not independent of them. 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:50.300 And so that what we find is that in God being transcendent, 00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:55.620 that he exists above all of these things that he created 00:09:55.620 --> 00:10:02.780 and that everything that he's created in all of it is upheld by his power. 00:10:03.380 --> 00:10:05.420 It's all upheld by him. 00:10:06.140 --> 00:10:11.720 But yet nothing other than himself upholds God. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:18.660 And so what we begin to understand from that is the power and the nature of God 00:10:18.660 --> 00:10:23.200 and God's working in above the universe and all of creation. 00:10:23.780 --> 00:10:29.760 And what its purpose, universe's purpose is, is it is in him and it is for him 00:10:29.760 --> 00:10:33.360 so that he may receive glory and honor and praise. 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:34.580 And so God's transcendent. 00:10:34.640 --> 00:10:37.280 That's the first thing that Micah wants us to understand. 00:10:37.280 --> 00:10:41.160 God above, but also that God is eminent. 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:48.140 That God is transcendent above the world, but that God is also eminent in the world. 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:54.340 That what it means is God is eminent in the world is that God's eminence refers to his presence 00:10:54.340 --> 00:11:02.720 within his presence within his creation in the belief that God is present while remaining distinct from it. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:07.660 In other words, there is no place where God is not. 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:10.600 Now, this doesn't mean that you find God in a tree. 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:13.180 This doesn't mean that you find God in a rock. 00:11:13.300 --> 00:11:20.300 Nothing contains God, but that in everything within the world, this is where God is. 00:11:20.300 --> 00:11:28.320 And that with this, that his sovereign control and reign extends everywhere simultaneously. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:34.080 That means there is nowhere that you and I can go to the highest of the mountains, 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:38.320 to the lowest of the valleys where God is not present. 00:11:38.760 --> 00:11:46.360 Because God is eminent in the world, transcendent over it and eminent in it. 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:50.880 But also what we see in this is that God intervenes. 00:11:51.400 --> 00:11:56.460 And so it's not that God's just this presence overruling, holding everything in place. 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:02.140 It's not just that God is in it, listening and spying and hearing and seeing, 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:10.940 but that God intervenes in the details of the world in your life and in mine for a specific reason 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:20.700 and for a specific purpose that God in his sovereignty steps from heaven into the course of human history 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:23.780 and human events to see his will done. 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:27.740 So that what God purposes will be fulfilled. 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:32.660 It's what we see in Christ, stepping out of heaven and stepping into humanity. 00:12:33.260 --> 00:12:41.980 And that that wasn't just in the time of Christ, but it always was, it is, and always will be. 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:47.200 And so this is who God is and how God is working and how God is moving. 00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:49.980 And so as Micah brings this message to his people, 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:55.180 it's important to understand who God is in this. 00:12:55.860 --> 00:12:58.600 So let's continue reading in verse five. 00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:00.200 He says, 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:05.880 all this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. 00:13:06.380 --> 00:13:08.120 What is the transgression of Jacob? 00:13:08.540 --> 00:13:09.900 Is it not Samaria? 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:12.440 And what is the high place of Judah? 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:13.960 Is it not Jerusalem? 00:13:14.780 --> 00:13:20.440 Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:25.340 I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:29.140 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces. 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:33.740 All her wages shall be burned with fire and her idols. 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:47.260 And so what has happened here of what God begins to bring out of what God begins to remind them of is their people have wandered away from the faith that God has established with them. 00:13:47.260 --> 00:13:56.180 And what they've allowed to happen is for the Canaanite religion to infiltrate the covenant relationship that the people have with God. 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:03.860 And so God's going to bring two charges in the scripture before his people of where they have fallen short of the standard that he set before them. 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:10.580 And in these verses, we see this first charge, and it's the charge of idolatry. 00:14:10.880 --> 00:14:18.580 It's what we've been seeing in scripture from the very beginning of the covenant of that God and God alone is the God. 00:14:18.760 --> 00:14:21.420 It's what we've seen in Mount Sinai. 00:14:21.560 --> 00:14:29.520 It's what we see in all of these interactions where God sends his standard, and it continues on into the time of Christ. 00:14:29.520 --> 00:14:38.460 It happens when the teacher of the law, the religious leader, comes up to Jesus and he asks him, what is the greatest commandment? 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:49.940 And Jesus within there deals with the sin of idolatry where Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:53.380 This is the first and greatest commandment. 00:14:53.380 --> 00:15:10.000 That Jesus in that very moment is attacking at the heart of what penetrates all of creation, all of mankind, where Jesus establishes that we are to love the living God, God alone and no other. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.520 It's the breakaway from idolatry, which God's people have always struggled with and continue to struggle with today. 00:15:18.900 --> 00:15:20.320 So what is idolatry? 00:15:20.760 --> 00:15:24.420 What does that look like in your life and in my life? 00:15:25.020 --> 00:15:33.360 You know, we don't create statues and put them in our houses and bow down before them, even though people all over this world still do it today. 00:15:33.760 --> 00:15:38.440 So how is idolatry prevalent in your life and in mine? 00:15:38.900 --> 00:15:56.420 And we'll talk about this more in future weeks, but idolatry as we approach it, it's elevating anything, any person, any object, any feeling, any pursuit, elevating anything above God. 00:15:56.980 --> 00:15:58.200 That's what your idol is. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.040 That's what you value. 00:16:00.680 --> 00:16:02.100 That's what you treasure most. 00:16:02.780 --> 00:16:05.000 And God says, none of that is acceptable. 00:16:05.380 --> 00:16:07.440 None of that is permissible. 00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:11.120 And so the first charge that we deal with is idolatry. 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:14.380 And so Micah continues on in verse eight and he says, 00:16:14.380 --> 00:16:39.860 And it's a very difficult couple of verses as what we see is Micah as he processes this. 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:44.000 And what we see in these is Micah begins to mourn. 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:51.960 He begins to mourn over sin, not just his individual sin, but the sin of his people. 00:16:52.520 --> 00:17:00.040 And as I read through this this week, it just continually struck me that Micah begins to mourn over sin as a whole, 00:17:00.040 --> 00:17:09.200 that his response to the accusations of a holy God before his people is to mourn, is to weep, is to wail, is to suffer, 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:16.480 because he knows the devastating action of what sin brings in its wake of devastation and destruction. 00:17:17.620 --> 00:17:19.100 And so Micah begins to mourn. 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:27.420 I want to ask you, church, when we view sin, when we see sin in our life, sin in others' lives, 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:29.060 what do we come to? 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:42.920 Can we model what Micah models here for us as he mourns and weeps because he knows the heart of God and he knows what God desires? 00:17:43.700 --> 00:17:49.280 Now, verses 10 through 16 begin to give some places in the destruction of what that's going to look like. 00:17:49.280 --> 00:17:51.680 But I want us to jump over to chapter two. 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:58.160 We read verses one through five and we'll find God's second charge against his people. 00:17:58.820 --> 00:17:59.540 It says this, it says, 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.400 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds. 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:09.620 When morning dawns, they perform it because it is the power of their hand. 00:18:09.620 --> 00:18:13.880 They covet fields and seize them and houses and take them away. 00:18:14.300 --> 00:18:18.040 They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:27.400 Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, against this family, I'm devising disaster from what you cannot remove from your necks. 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:32.340 And you shall not walk haughtily for it will be a time of disaster. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:42.040 In that day, they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly and say, we are utterly ruined. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.100 He changes the portion of my people, how he removes it from me. 00:18:47.800 --> 00:18:50.700 To an apostate, he allots our field. 00:18:51.180 --> 00:18:57.600 Therefore, you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord. 00:18:57.760 --> 00:19:02.960 And the next charge that God brings about is injustice. 00:19:03.840 --> 00:19:09.280 What is happening here is that they're wealthy and powerful people. 00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:16.200 And what they are doing for their betterment is they're taking advantage of the less powerful. 00:19:16.600 --> 00:19:19.180 They're taking advantage of the poor. 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:28.440 They're taking the advantage of the less influential people so that they selfishly can build up on themselves. 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:37.480 And it continues back to in that conversation that we see in Matthew with Jesus on the question of the greatest commandment. 00:19:37.580 --> 00:19:40.980 Because he doesn't just leave it with love the Lord your God. 00:19:41.180 --> 00:19:44.420 He continues on and he says the second is like it. 00:19:44.760 --> 00:19:46.580 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:19:46.820 --> 00:19:55.300 Bringing back to the heart of the Old Testament scripture, all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. 00:19:55.860 --> 00:20:02.800 We're not going to read all through this this week, but I want to challenge you at some point in time to go back and read Exodus chapter 22 and 23. 00:20:02.800 --> 00:20:19.880 And what we see is in God's law for his people, what he establishes is the importance of social justice, of standing for the truth, of taking care of those who can't take care of themselves, 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:38.780 of making sure that all of God's people are cared for, that within the family of God, that it is upon my heart and your heart to look around ourselves and not just take care of those like us, but take care of all of those. 00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:43.620 And it's what we find and it's what we see as the heart of God. 00:20:44.080 --> 00:20:46.500 Because God says, look, this isn't just against a nation. 00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:52.380 In verse 3, God says, because you're family, you're family. 00:20:53.160 --> 00:21:01.380 These aren't strangers on the street, but this is the family that I've called you to, the family that I've chosen you to. 00:21:02.100 --> 00:21:04.900 But verse 8, he describes what this looks like. 00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:08.960 He says, but lately, my people have risen up as an enemy. 00:21:09.320 --> 00:21:16.420 You strip the rich robe from those who pass by, trustingly, with no thought of war. 00:21:16.840 --> 00:21:23.500 You take what is not yours without thinking through the consequences of what this holds. 00:21:24.080 --> 00:21:29.420 And without thinking through how this hurts and affects the heart of God. 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:30.940 He says, you're not family. 00:21:31.740 --> 00:21:37.000 In Matthew 25, concerning the final judgment, Jesus is asked what that looks like. 00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:41.440 And Jesus paints a picture very similar of what we see in Micah. 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:45.860 He paints a picture of what it looks like to love him. 00:21:46.560 --> 00:21:48.880 He says, then the righteous will answer him. 00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:54.980 Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 00:21:55.520 --> 00:22:00.020 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 00:22:00.560 --> 00:22:03.980 When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you? 00:22:04.340 --> 00:22:13.100 And the king will reply, truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me. 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:17.320 It doesn't mean that Jesus was the hungry one. 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:21.140 It doesn't mean that Jesus was the thirsty one. 00:22:21.420 --> 00:22:24.320 It doesn't mean that Jesus was the stranger. 00:22:24.560 --> 00:22:27.680 It doesn't mean that Jesus was the one enclosed. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:37.320 What it means is that God has called from us to stand for justice, that God has called for us to protect those who can't protect themselves, 00:22:37.540 --> 00:22:45.240 that God has called us to fight for the victims and not to prey on them, but to lift them up. 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:57.340 And that if we don't do that, then we're not a part of his family, even as we claim to be. 00:22:58.540 --> 00:23:04.480 And so God lays that out before him, and he talks about the consequences that will come. 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:06.780 And look at me with verse 9 and 10. 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:33.600 What Mike is talking about here is something very difficult as comes from the warning of God. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.480 And it's the generational consequences of sin. 00:23:37.300 --> 00:23:41.100 I recognize that right now we're gathering in our living rooms as families. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:46.680 And so, but I want to speak to how we've seen this largely in the culture in which we live today. 00:23:47.300 --> 00:23:57.300 When we think back just decades ago, we see where sin began to enter in in a different way into homes through the form of magazines. 00:23:58.100 --> 00:24:04.600 What was portrayed in these magazines, then became prominent in different types of dance clubs, 00:24:04.820 --> 00:24:14.660 which then became a part of movies, which then became a foundation for a lot of internet websites, 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:19.240 and which is culminating today in human trafficking, 00:24:19.780 --> 00:24:26.300 where slavery is more prevalent in 2020 than it has been at any point in time in human history. 00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:32.020 And what we see in this is what once started off in the form of a magazine, 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:36.000 which was once started off in a misconception of what beauty is, 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.220 has continued to build and build and build. 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:43.900 And what we see is the generational consequences of sin. 00:24:44.800 --> 00:24:46.720 And it's what God warns against. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:50.000 But God doesn't end with the warning. 00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:52.580 God will end with the reminder of hope. 00:24:53.360 --> 00:24:55.880 Verses 12 through 13, he says this, 00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:59.760 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob. 00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:02.540 I will gather the remnant of Israel. 00:25:03.060 --> 00:25:06.360 I will set them together like sheep in a fold, 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:08.640 like a flock in its pasture, 00:25:09.300 --> 00:25:11.200 a noisy multitude of men. 00:25:11.820 --> 00:25:15.600 He who opens the breach goes up before them. 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:19.540 They break through and pass the gate, going out by it. 00:25:19.660 --> 00:25:24.020 Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head. 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:28.840 What we see in here is a beautiful picture of Christ. 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:31.840 He reminds them of the hope, 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:37.660 of the hope and faith of the living God that will come and die on a cross. 00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:42.980 He paints a picture that he will be like a shepherd caring for his sheep. 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:50.100 He reminds them that he will come from the people and that he will do his work from them. 00:25:50.800 --> 00:25:54.620 And maybe more importantly, is even the middle of all the destruction, 00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:59.880 he will lead them out and he will go with them. 00:26:00.280 --> 00:26:02.200 He will go before them. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.440 And it's just the reminder of even in the consequences of sin, 00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:08.800 of even in what we're capable of, 00:26:09.320 --> 00:26:13.520 the holiness, the protection, and the love of God. 00:26:14.100 --> 00:26:14.820 Would you pray with me? 00:26:16.620 --> 00:26:18.240 God, we thank you so much for your word. 00:26:19.180 --> 00:26:24.000 Lord, we thank you that you love us enough to bring our sin before us. 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:28.600 Lord, this week, Lord, reveal to us our idols. 00:26:29.820 --> 00:26:34.220 Lord, break us where we stand in support of injustice. 00:26:35.340 --> 00:26:40.040 Lord, and remind us what it means to love you and to love others. 00:26:40.460 --> 00:26:42.220 Jesus, we thank you that you're our shepherd. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:44.820 We thank you that you came to us. 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:48.460 Lord, and you're leading us as we go. 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:50.480 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:51.520 Amen. 00:26:59.360 --> 00:27:07.140 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:09.780 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:13.760 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:18.820 visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:27:18.820 --> 00:27:22.400 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.