This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Hope your bottles to Judges chapter 13 were going to be looking at a section chapters 13 through 15. Andy, if you go ahead and put up there our purpose here, I want to read this together as a good reminder. Together, let's read a theme of Judges. In those days there was no King in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Again, we can't get away from that because it is underneath every story in the book of Judges and no less true here this week. As we look at a special story here actually we'll do some this week and some next week with that. Let me show you some pictures of some different people that may be familiar to you and we'll see can you guess who these people are? First one. That was good. How come more adults responded to that one than kiddos? I'm not sure. Next one. Brad Pitt. Come on. What character? Achilles, thank you. Next character. Rambo. Thank you. Next one. Superman. Superman. Okay. Now yes, I could have put a picture of Joe White up here. I know his well too, but I did it. I'm just these four. But tell me what did these four all have in common? Heroes, what else? Okay. I have a weakness. Sure. What else? Strength. Other things. Courage. Not looking for anything in particular. I just want to hear. They're all men. That's true. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Anything else? Some what? Some of them aren't bad looking. Very keen observations. Let me tell you one more. None of them really lived. These are all mythical characters. Great, yes male, warriors who were powerful, who came and delivered hope and came and gave great promise, and not only could they make the promise, but never on it, and who we love to think about and to even fantasize about or wonder, gosh, we just had so and so here today, things would be different. Look at this next picture. There are no photographs of this guy, because this guy is named Samson. He lived thousands of years ago, but he was real. He was the strongest man human being that ever lived in recorded history, actual recorded history. As this picture depicts, you're one of the stories tells him about him coming across a lion and killing the lion. It actually doesn't say how in the Bible just says he ripped him apart as if it was a young goat. That's what kind of strength we're talking about with his bare hands. Another story we'll go on and talk about how he, you know, just a warrior kind of guy. He was a hunter kind of guy. Now some of you would appreciate that. He caught 300 foxes and paired them up and tied their tails together and lit a torch to it and let it send them out to these fields of the Philistines, the enemy, so it would burn down the entire crops. Catching 300 foxes at one time, that's a pretty good trick. But he did it and it really happened. Another story goes on about Samson and says that when the spirit of God came upon him, he came and when there were a thousand men Philistines that were coming to take him and attack him and to kill him, he found whatever was laying around which was an old dry bone jawbone of a donkey. And with that alone struck down 1,000 men in one day. That really happened. Nobody can touch Samson when it comes to being a man's man, demonstrating the kind of strength, the kind of power, the kind of warrior, the kind of deliverer that everybody wants. And everybody looks to that could really and truly did save the day. Well, this is who we're looking at. This is who we're going to read about. Even though there's a long section in there, I'm going to actually use just a kid's Bible story but to help summarize a little bit, at least part one of Samson's life. So you guys can listen to this here, but this kind of gives us a good picture of the story. It's much shorter than the actual text is, but it summarizes it well. Once again, the Israelites faced a powerful enemy. This time it was the Philistines, the Seaborn invaders, people of the coast of what is now Israel. In time, they pushed inland and began seizing the fertile plains of Canaan and the hills where most of the Israelites lived. The Bible says that the Philistines conquered the Israelites and ruled them for 40 years, but one day came hope of a great new Israelite champion. An angel promised an Israelite woman, you will soon have a son. He will be special to God and his hair must never be cut. He will be able to save you from the Philistines. When the son was born, his parents named him Samson. He grew up to be amazingly strong. Once a young lion attacked him, but he killed the beast with his bare hands. Samson slaughtered scores of Philistines single-handedly. Once he killed a thousand men using the jawbone of a donkey as a weapon. But one day, Samson fell in love with a Philistine woman, named Alilah. When the Philistine rulers found out they offered Alilah money if she would learn the secret of Samson's great strength, then they would know how to overcome it, and know how to seize him. When she saw Samson, Alilah said, do tell me the secret of your great strength. How could anyone overcome you and tie you up? Samson joked that people tied me with seven new bowstrings as should be as weak as anyone else. So the Philistine rulers secretly brought her the bowstrings and she tied him up while he slipped. Then she cried, the Philistines are here to get up. The Philistines are here to get you, Samson. Get up. But he snapped the bowstrings as if they were brittle strings. Alilah complained, you were just teasing. Go on, tell me truly how someone could tie you up. Samson teased her a second time, saying, I'd be helpless if you tied me with brand new ropes. So this time she bound him in the ropes while he slipped. But when she shouted as before, he snapped the ropes as if they were threads. Once more, he teased her like this. If you weed my hair into the cloth on your loom, he said, I shall become as weak as other men. But when Alilah tried, Samson dragged the loom away easily. But Alilah nagged him so often that last he told her the truth. If my hair is cut, I will be as weak as an ordinary man. So Alilah lulled him to sleep as he lay with his head on her lap. Then she called in a barber who cut off Samson's hair. For the last time, Alilah shrill, the Philistines are here to get you, Samson. Samson woke up. He thought, I'll just shake myself free again. Then came a nasty surprise. His muscles just would not work. And he could not easily move him. The Philistines rushed in. They cruelly gouged out his eyes and bound him with chains. Samson could do nothing to stop them. Then they dragged him off to grind grain in prison at the city of Gaza. Well, just a short summary of the life of Samson, at least part one of his life. And we're going to look at that here today. We're going to look at four primary characters that are involved in the story and the life of Samson. Not so much always brought out there in that particular reading. But they're there in the text. One is going to be Israel. One is going to be Samson. And I'll spend most of our time this morning looking at those two. The third is the Philistines. And the fourth one is this God that is all working behind the scenes of all that's going on in here. And in the presence of this, as somebody already clearly pointed out, all the great warriors had a weakness in it, right? We're going to see in the midst of great strength there's weakness. And we're going to try to identify what does that mean when there's weakness and strength here this morning. Well, if you're following along inside your bulletin in the outline there. Number one is this. Israel's acquiescence to the enemy. Israel's acquiescence to the enemy. Let's look at a couple different things. One, let's look at the strength first that Israel had. Because both all these characters in this have strength that we should point out. One strength that Israel had is that they are God's covenant people. Now when I just say that, you might sit there and say, okay, not sure what that means exactly, but good form. No, this is a big deal. Remember Abraham, Abraham, God had come in and said, look, I'm going to bless you. And not just you, I'm going to bless you with a child. And not just you and a child, I'm going to bless your people. And Abraham, look at the stars if you can count them all. And that's just a hint of what your descendants and blessings will be like. And I'm going to bless the nations through you. God made this incredible covenant promise that this people would come from Abraham. And that is the Israelites. That is, by the way, today, us, the church, the people of God, the ones who follow God. That is an amazing strength. It's always an amazing strength to be called something special by somebody significant. And they were, they were also inhabitants of the promised land. Now remember, at this point here, you know, remember Moses, the guy that had taken him across the Red Sea, taken him out of bondage of Egypt, they had actually arrived. They were in the promised land. They were in the land flowing with milk and honey. And why were there so many enemies around? Because everybody knew this land was the best. And as we've already talked about before, Israel had been faithful to do what God had told them and drive the enemies out when they were actually entering the land. None of these enemies would still be around, but they are because of disobedience. But nevertheless, they are in the promised land. So this is a good place, it's a good time for them as a country. Not only that, but there are even, just think about the recent history. Think about what we've talked about in the study and judges over the last few weeks. They've come out of this guy, Gideon, who came and was just 300 men wiped down an incredible army. They had been in a season of great prosperity and having victory over their enemies. There is much strength that Israel had that was going on recently and currently in their lives at this particular time. But as you know, there was weakness and strength as well. There was weakness. Because acquiesce means to accept something reluctantly but without protest. That's what it means to acquiesce, except something reluctantly but without protest, and they had done that. There was this acquiescence to the present reality for Israel. And what was the present reality we read about in the story for 40 years now currently, current events for Israel. For 40 years, they'd been under bondage from a rule from the Philistines. 40 years is a long time. There's a bunch in this room that haven't even lived 40 years. So imagine your entire life under the oppression here. So there was incredible weakness going on, but you know what was really the acquiescence here, a place where they had submitted themselves reluctantly but without protest. This is the first story in judges when the people after they've been oppressed do not cry out for God. All the other stories we've talked to, but all the other judges like Gideon and so on, are leading up to this. The people got to a point where they cried out and said, God, help us enough is enough. There is no cry in this story. They have acquiesce. They have said, alright, this is just the way life is. This is just where we're at. And the cry was gone. You see, the book of judges is showing you that things are not getting better without a king. Things are getting worse. And we all think, wow, Samson, a great warrior. What a great deliver. Things aren't getting better as we have better deliverers. Things are really getting worse as we're going to find out in the story of Samson. The story is climaxing as we go through this. So there was acquiescence to present reality, but there was also this acquiescence to future hope. Not only were they saying, alright, this is just where we're stuck under oppression. But when God does send a deliver in this story, listen to what they say. This is Judges 15, 11 through 12. If you want to follow along. This is after Samson had played some games with the Pharisees. Now, the Pharisees, the Philistines, and had wiped out the 300 foxes, wiped out their grain. They wanted to come and they wanted to take Samson and kill him or at least take him captive. So they had came to the Israelites. They told him, hey, deliver him up to us or else. So, verse 11, then 3,000 men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Edom and said to Samson, stop for a second, 3,000 men. Why did 3,000 men go to get Samson? Because they knew they probably needed 3,000 men, his own brothers to deliver him up. They said, don't you realize that the Philistines are ruler over us? There's that acquiescence again. That's just that giving up. What have you done to us? He answered to them. Samson said, I merely did to them what they had did to me. They said to him, we've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. Samson was the picture, a future hope for the people of Israel, a Israel. He was a deliverer and he was a much more clear deliverer than Gideon would have been. Here's this guy that kills lions with his bare hands. Here's this guy that has incredible strength and everyone knew it. But not only have they given up on there and said this is just where we are, this is just life for us, but they had given up on hope. And the very guy that could have offered that ready to turn them in to make things safe and okay for themselves here. Do you guys ever play card games where you're next slide, Andy? Do you ever play card games where you could play something like this Ace of Spades and you're feeling really good because you've got the highest card. And then somebody throws this little different color card like a three and they're excited about it. And what does it mean? Somebody helped me. Trump's, you have been trumped. You've got everything going your way, you've got the high card, but then somebody throws this little measly three hearts on there. And because for some reason the rules of this game, that card is trumped. It changes everything. And what has been your moment of greatest victory now becomes your moment of greatest defeat because you didn't play well and your card that was so valuable was lost. You know, I hate games like that unless I'm holding all the trump cards. But this, no less is true in this whole situation here. Weakness trumped strength when you acquiesce and assume that it is just as good as it's going to get. And you lose hope of a better life. Many African Americans had been thinking for a long time that this is just as good as it's going to get. They had lost hope in the American dream. And the reality of them moving above the reality of oppression, either from their history or even from their current circumstances. Those people of Americans understand in a way that we can't quite fathom what it means to feel helpless. And that life is not necessarily going to get better. I want to give you some real tangible examples for us as the church here today of how we can acquiesce to the enemy. Just like the Israelites were. When, listen to this, students, when the lonely student at school decides having bad friends is better than no friends, you acquiesce to the enemy. When a woman decides wrong attention from a man is better than no attention from a man, you acquiesce to the enemy. When a man decides that false intimacy on the internet is better than pursuing true intimacy, he acquiesces to the enemy. When a husband or a wife decides sharing a roof is fine, even if you don't share your heart, they acquiesce to the enemy. When fear dictates the choices of your life more than faith, you acquiesce to the enemy. You give it up, lost hope. You see at its core, to acquiesce is to deny hope. And to deny hope is to simply, ultimately, deny God. Because God, if God is all powerful and if God is loving like the Bible says, then anytime He is present, there is hope. If somebody has all the power in the universe and someone loves you with an eternal love and they're around and they exist, you have hope. I don't care what your life circumstances are. And we could spend the next day going around the room letting everybody share their life circumstances and we could say, man, life is hard, life is tough. But if God is real, there is hope, unless you back west to the enemy. I want you to think about that. Where is weakness trumping your strength today in your life? What has changed things for the African-American community and our country, by the way, recently? What has changed things? And so, huh? President-elect Obama. I don't care who you voted for and I don't care what you feel about politics right now. But there ought to be every person who is a citizen of this country that ought to embrace and also celebrate with the reality that that was a huge victory in many aspects for this country, with this country's history. And honestly, I don't care who you voted for. If you can't acknowledge that right now, there is a deep underlying issue and a problem. And let's talk after the worship service if we need to. I mean, I can't tell you how happy I have been to think, man, this has meant something on a whole different level that I can't fully understand to my brothers and sisters in my country has given me joy. And I'm excited to see what this, I mean, I didn't realize that it would mean so much. And there should be, for all of us as Americans, we should be feeling a renewed hope, a just simple reality. I've seen a deliverance happen on a totally different level other than politics. It's important for us to realize that as the church here. I honestly believe that here. But as soon as you acknowledge God's presence, let's go back to the reality of the kingdom of God. There is more hope than a present elect when you allow God's presence to enter into your life. Because there is a deeper level of oppression that God is about ultimately studying His people free from than anything that we can see in our physical realm here on Earth. That is the hope that Jesus Christ offers. Well, there's another key character in the story. It's not just the Israelites. Number two, it's this guy named Samson. And number two, Samson's neglect of the calling becomes evident in this story as well, too. Well, first, let's talk about Samson's strength, though. Because there is. Part of it is this prophetic birth announcement. Now, we didn't have time to read the whole story, but his mother is childless. She's not able to have babies. And what happens, this angel comes, and he says, very similar to other stories of the Bible, one that happened in the New Testament says, you're going to have a son, and he's going to deliver his people. Here comes this announcement to this woman, who, by the way, God has set her up to realize the only thing that could possibly allow her to have a child as God. She's been bearing all her life, and God says, not only are you going to have a child, but he's kind of created the drama that this child is going to be special. Another strength they had, he had this Nazarite vow, according to the text. Now, the text doesn't tell us all the things about that, but if you go back to Numbers 6 and the Old Testament, you can read about what it was. The Nazarite vow was a special person that would go for a period of time and set themselves apart to the Lord to serve him in the temple. And there would be several things about that, one, he wasn't supposed to have any involvement with alcohol, no firm in a drink at all. Number two, he was going to not have his hair cut. Number three, he would not be able to touch in any way anything that had depth associated with it. A person, an animal, whatever else, he had to stay clean from that for a period of time. And we're told that Samson, his entire life, is going to be set apart for God. That's the type of vow that's been referred to. That's an incredible strength. Before you're born for God to say, look, you're going to be set apart for me, because I've got plans. Not only that, he had this incredible physical strength that we read about, right? Killing a lion with his bare hands, catching 300 foxes on his own, defeating a thousand Philistines in one battle and one day with one donkey jawbone to name his biggest feats. Samson had incredible strengths, but as you know, there was weakness in his strength. There was weakness. Several things, neglect for the law of God. And again, we don't have time to read all the details of the story, but one of the things for that is that he goes often. He decides he wants to marry a Philistine woman. And God had specifically told the Israelites that you should not intermarry with other nations. It wasn't a racial thing. It was because my people worshiped me. And as soon as you start intermarrying with people that worship other gods, it's going to affect your worship of me. But Samson walks right in and does that. His parents even allow him to do it. They kind of resist, but then they just let him go ahead and do what he wants to do anyway. And they would have known that. There was neglect for the law of God in Samson's life. There was also neglect for his Nazarite vows. Remember the story about him killing the lion? You read all the details of it. He comes back later. And there's been a beehive that's formed in the lion's carcass, full of honey. And he's like, I'm hungry. And knowing the Nazarite vows, he should not even come anything close to something dead. He reaches in and grabs some honey for the road for the trip. And he specifically doesn't tell his parents the text says, why? Because they would have told him, hey, you just violated your vow. You have to recommit yourself. If you have to restart all over the whole vow, he had a disregard for that. He also had an neglect of character. There's very few people that were as clearly self-centered as Samson. Everything in his life, if you read his story or if you read it this coming week, everything about his life either acted out of lust or revenge. His entire story. He was either motivated by lust or he was motivated by revenge or some combination of the two. His entire life. There was an absence of weakness of character in his life, amazingly. Well, as we've already talked about weakness, Trump's strength. And when and how, when you neglect God's calling on your life? Now, let me make this real easy for us. How do we do that here today? When you think that justice has more to do with getting what you're entitled to in life than defending the weak and the oppressed in your community, you neglect the calling of God. When you walk away from God's covenant promises to you, meaning like when you were baptized as a baby, if you walk away from that and turn your back on God, you neglect the calling of God. Not to make anybody uncomfortable, but raise your hand if you know that you were baptized as a child. Just raise your hand if you know that you're baptized as a child. Now, different churches have different understandings of what baptism means, but you understand that many, including ours, believe that you would receive covenant promises of God in your life. But God said, look, you're special because your parents have a faith in me. And that's why they brought you here to be baptized. And if you will walk with me, I'm going to be faithful to you just like I have been to your parents. Hey, if you've walked away from that and maybe some of you here don't know how you got here on Sunday morning on a church, maybe you have walked away from those promises of God. You're neglecting his calling your life because he has initiated a covenant engagement with you. He says, if you will believe in me, I will be faithful to you just like I have been to your mom or dad or both. When you knowingly disregard or rationalize away God's commands, you neglect the calling of God. Some real good examples in our culture today, premarital six. So many people think that's really done. It's just a Bible-so-old fashion on that. So is God old fashion? He says he's the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He's already written the book of Revelation. How culturally relevant is God? Well, he was relevant two thousand years ago. He's already written the book of Revelation that talks about what's going to happen down the road. We can marginalize God. We can neglect that and put God apart. What about the responsibility to the poor and the needy that God says that we have? His word says, you don't want pure and undefiled religion. Take care of widows and orphans. Let's modernize that a little bit for us. Take care of single moms, single dads in your community. Take care of kids that don't have a dad that's present. Connor helped coach his team. We got one of the kids on our football team there. Last game was last night. I had to take him home sometimes and I've taken him to his door. I think I've shared the story. He's knocked on the door.
Because either dad can't wake up inside or dad's not home. Well, his dad was that last night's game. And I got to hear him yelling at his son from the sideline. And then I had a chance it was the last game afterwards. Come and say, hey, he had his camera. I said, can I take a picture of you and your son? And to pull out the viewfinder up and to look at this son's face next to his dad, who you could tell his son was like this with his dad. He just felt no bond whatsoever. I'm sure last night I had their picture made together there. You could tell there was a burden and there was a hurt there that runs deep between that father and son. God says, you know, if I can't neglect my call to reach out and to try that sort of. I mean, it was for me to go up and just tell this dad. I said, look, I can't tell you how much a pleasure it's been to coach your son this year. And to kind of talk the dad through it. That was being faithful to my call as a citizen of this community and an assistant coach on the team. We've got those kinds of calls and we neglect it when we miss out on opportunities to reach out and to not pray for a family like that. When you pay more attention, by the way, to your outward appearance of holiness than your inward character and true holiness, you neglect the calling of God. When you see yourself more as an owner of your money, time and talents, than a steward who says it's God's money, time and talents, and he's given me the deniglet you're calling of God. When you as a mom and dad want to be buddies with your children rather than a trusted parent, you neglect the call of God in your life. I hopefully have offended everybody at some point with that list. But we've got to understand what God is calling us to do. And if we ignore that and pretend it's not there and we walk away with it, we don't embrace it. We're following the same weakness that Samson did at disregard for it. Even though we've got a high calling in our life, even though God's given us incredible promises. Where's weakness trumping your life today? Where are you not seeing the potential that you could have had? Look at a few pictures of people that you probably know. Think about the potential of this guy that was never experienced. Because of a neglect of a call. And get in character problems. Think about what this guy, next slide. I know some of the older folks that know, Kurt Cobain, a life that had plenty of potential that was wasted and lost away because Samson had neglected their call. Think about this person who knows what their truth is on this story. Well, we all know there was a neglect of a call. It has ruined a life and many others around it. It doesn't matter who it is. If you neglect the call of God on your life, more important than sports and music. And even more important than specifically parenting, the ultimate call of God on your life. You're missing out on what he has for you. Embrace God's calling in your life. Real quickly, let me talk about the last two characters next slide. The Philistines persistence of attack. We've got to talk about the enemy in these stories. We can't just talk about people on the good side. Real quick strength, powerful group of people, powerful nation, used by God to bring judgment on the people of God for their sins. That's why God raises up enemies, by the way, much of the time. It's to help discipline his people. Great perseverance. These folks kept coming after Samson. They knew God. If we take down Samson, there's nobody that has, you know, they've all acquiesced in Israel. They just got to take down Samson. They were persistent. And they had a temporary victory in that. Obviously they had weaknesses, right? The weakness associated with that. They didn't worship God as the enemies of God. They were oppressing God's people, which is something you don't want to do. Okay, you don't mess with a mom's child and you do not oppress God's people. History will show that. You're going to slay God's deliverer, Samson, in this story. And again, weakness, Trump's strength, when anyone persists to be an enemy of God. Now let's just be honest. There's probably some in this room here today that are on the fence. And you're still trying to figure out, are you going to really follow God with your life? And there's some here that may not admit it outwardly. Or some that may be quite comfortable doing that, saying, yeah, I'm not buying all this Jesus stuff. I'm not buying all this Christianity stuff. Then you're an enemy of God currently in that position. And by the way, it's better to acknowledge that than to pretend you're not in you know, in B. Don't be self deceived. It's better to at least acknowledge that. But if some of you are in that position there, I have a duty and responsibility. And if I love you to tell you that you are an enemy of God. But before we go too far on that, let me say first off, we all began as enemies of God. Romans 5, 10. We were once all enemies of God, all of us. And here's the difference. The difference is when you encounter Jesus Christ as the Scriptures call a stumbling stone, that was the metaphor used at that time. Jesus said in Luke 20, then what is he says this? The stone which the builders rejected has become the capstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. But he on whom it falls will be crushed. What is Jesus saying? Why, he's saying I am the cornerstone. But he's saying there's one of two things that happen with that stone. Either fall on Jesus and you are broken or Jesus falls on you and you are crushed. And I know that's not politically correct. I know that's not comfortable, but that's truth. According to the Bible, enemies that fall on Jesus that are humbled and broken in true repentance are made whole. They're rebuilt in the likeness of Christ. Enemies that have Jesus fall on them in judgment are crushed. It's what the Bible is saying. It's what God is saying. And the question is even though we all begin as enemies of God, are you falling on Jesus or is Jesus going to fall on you? That's the ultimate issue here. We've got to take that from this story and realize that. We're real quick, the last character, most important character. Next slide, God's sovereign orchestration of deliverance. God's not mentioned a whole lot in this story, but he is interweaved throughout the entire one. His presence is there. It's easy to talk about God's strength because it's here everywhere. God is merciful and gracious in this story. God is the one that sends the angel. God's the one that's got the plan going. And by the way, the people aren't crying out to God. Isn't that cool? Have you thought about that? The people are not crying out to God, but God is still working. God is still moving. That's how sovereignly his love is to come after his people. He is pursuing his people. Not only is God merciful and gracious, he's powerful and he's sovereign. He is working for his people to cry out. He's working before Samson is even born and saying, hey, you're going to have a son. He's going to be a deliverer of my people. He is working through faulty leaders like Samson. He's working through a people of God who acquiesce to the enemy. He is working through the enemies that he's raised up. If you ever look in the world here today, I read the newspaper and go, gosh, why is God letting these people prosper? God has a plan. He's using it for his glory. And don't thank God's losing the battle because God hasn't lost one yet. He is working through all these circumstances. And let me tell you right now, he's working through the circumstances of your life here today. No matter whether they're economic of nature, whether or not they're relationship of nature, whether or not they're just emotional. And what they are ultimately is they're definitely spiritual. God is working through those circumstances. Don't doubt it for a second. And let me clarify here, there is no weakness in God. God's strength trumps weakness. God holds the trump cards. His strength trumps weakness. And it is so clear in the story because weakness is everywhere. But who comes in and trumps it? God does. God's strength trumps your inclination to acquiesce. God trumps it. That means when you feel like, hey, this is just as good as it's going to get. Make the best of it. I don't have any real hope. God can trump that. So embrace hope. God strength trumps your failures as a follower. Look how it did in Stamson. So embrace his calling on your life. Because he trumps your weakness. God strength trumps your enemies and circumstances. Whatever those are. So embrace his sovereign power and love in your life. You are weak even in your strength. But his strength will trump every weakness. Food for thought. And as we come to the Lord's table here this morning, let me challenge you to not make this a ritual. Let me challenge you that when you come and you look at the bread, and you come and you look at the wine, let me challenge you to be honest and say, you know, I'm so tempted to act. And so often do acquiesce. I just give in to what life is telling me. Give in to the living the American dream, even though I know it's not God's dream for my life. I just, I don't know what else to do. It's so tired of my failed relationships and my gosh, now to add the list. I got economic issues. This is proof that there's the trump card that comes. Hopefully you're honest that enough to say this morning. You're not neglecting my call. Being made in the image of God. For those who are followers of Christ, I neglected being obedient to His word. I've rationalized the way things that God said I should do and said, that's not a big deal. I said, that's a cultural thing. And in the midst of that weakness, there's one who has come and trumped it.
And when you think about your life circumstances and your problems and all the issues with that, there's one that left perfect circumstances. The constant praise and worship of heaven to enter into your circumstances to come be a man, to live a life and understanding your struggles, your problems. And if you really think your life was worse than Jesus, please read His life, but He came with the trump card. And the Scriptures tell us as many as received Him. And this is just an evidence, the picture of us receiving Him. And as many as received Him, the one whose life was broken apart for you. The Scriptures say to them, He gives the right to become children of God. And the Scriptures tell us that all those that believe in Him, in His power, in His sacrifice, He forgives sins. He takes your guilt upon Him. And as guilty as you are for all the things that maybe the Spirit has pointed out to you this morning, Jesus said, I'll bear that consequence. And all the righteousness that I was deserving that God the Father has for me, I'll give to you. But on me, my blood will have to be shed in your place instead of your blood. This is what we're representing here as we come to Lord's table here this morning. This is why it's so important while we do it every week, so you're reminded of this. So please don't come in ritual format this morning, come saying, when I take a bite of this, I'm dying to my own ability to do it myself. When I take a sip of that, I'm saying that I need real forgiveness. And I need the power of God working in my life. That's what it means to come to Lord's table. And by the way, that's why we say if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, please don't come and protect. It's not because you're not part of the club. It's because this is what this means. And if that is not the desire of your heart this morning, then don't take on the symbol of that, right? Don't put a wedding band on unless you're married, right? Don't take on the symbol of the spiritual reality that's not true for you this morning. But if you want it to be, Jesus says today is a day of salvation. Call on me and I will answer. Invite him into your life. The backside of your bullet in the last paragraph explains how you can place your trust in Jesus Christ. And then Jesus will say, hey, come and eat for the first time. And experience my power in your life. Then come. If you're here this morning and you're a follower of Jesus Christ, but you have walked away from him, you have marginalized the reality of God's commands in a specific area of your life and you're willfully choosing to live in rebellion from him. Again, it's not some secret area, it's an area that you would know that God says, it'd be better for you not to partake. And not to pretend this is what you're embracing that is really not right now. We still love to pray for you, still come forward. You don't have to tell us your story to say, hey, I'm not partaking this morning. We'd love to pray for you. But even better, repent of it this morning. Turn around and say, God, just like Dr. Phil says, how's that working for me? It's not, I want to experience your forgiveness. I want to see your power come, set me free and then come and eat and come and drink. And hopefully, most of you are hungry followers this morning who are looking for that renewed hope. Jesus says, hey, come, feast on me and let this be your reminder to you of your daily feast for me and your need for me. So come whatever camp you're in and let us least pray for you but come and partake if you can. But let me encourage you to continue to use this time as a part of our worship service and we'll form lines on the outside as we typically do and invite you to come and come with friends or with family. But come as the Lord leads you and continue to respond and worship this morning.