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don't see any visitors out there but we'll welcome all the regulars back for the evening worship please turn with me in your Bibles to for a call to worship Psalm 37 Psalm chapter 37 psalm chapter 37 will read the first 17 verses a psalm of David do not fret because of evildoers nor be envious of the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb trust in the Lord and do good dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart commit your way to the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him do not fret because of him who prospered in his way because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass cease from anger and forsake wrath do not fret it only causes harm for evildoers shall be cut off but those who wait on the Lord they shall inherit the earth for yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more indeed you will look carefully for his place but it shall be no more but the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace the wicked plots against the just and nash's at him with his teeth the Lord laughs at him for he sees that his day is coming the wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy to slay those who are up upright conduct their sword shall enter their own heart and their bows shall be broken a little that a right that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked for the arms of the wicked shall be broken and the lord upholds but the lord upholds the righteous amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to to him number 487 for first worship song 487 and I'll ask you to stand please you Oh you be seated well guess let's go to God in prayer and pray for this evening service as well as other needs as they relate to to the world and the church at large let's pray our gracious in our loving Heavenly Father we thank you for the privilege is ours to call you our Father this night we praise You Father that you've sent your son the Lord Jesus Christ and that is what unites that's what unites us with you this evening it's that precious blood of your son the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this earth to die for sinners such as we and father we know that that that the Lord Jesus Christ came not to the well but to the sick those who were sick and their sin and we are certainly counted amongst that and how we praise You Father for stooping down so low in that in that incarnation to send your son the Lord Jesus Christ into this earth to to take on manhood even though he was equal with you father he is equal with you yet he he took upon himself mankind and how we praise You Father for the fact that he lived perfectly under the law of God so that when he died he was a perfect sacrifice that his righteousness would be imputed to us how we praise You Father for that thank you that he took all of our sins upon himself and that he cleanses us by his precious blood how we pray Lord you'd be pleased to bless us here in this place this evening because we are redeemed people we desire to gather together as the church here on earth and here in this particular location in chilliwack and how we praise You Father we have much to sing of this evening we have much praise on our lips as we consider the the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ Jesus we praise You Father for the physical blessings that we enjoy as well the fact that we are healthy that we are well here and that we are that we are here this evening to to enjoy worship and how we pray Lord that you would be pleased to bless us this evening bless the Word of God as it's opened up we pray that it would find its mark and in each one of our hearts and cause it to be for for your praise and for your honor and for your glory we do pray father we ask that you would be pleased to to come now and bless the word of god bless our pastor pastor Porter as he brings the word we pray that he would be strengthened from on high we pray that you would just give him Liberty given unction here in the pulpit to speak forth your truth and we pray Lord that you by your gracious Holy Spirit would take that truth and deliver it to each heart and mind here for those who are saved that will be on to their edification for the unsaved that we be for their salvation that they might hear that clarion call of the Lord Jesus Christ who to come and and find rest in the person of Christ the Lord Jesus Christ probably we do pray your blessing to be upon those who are who are sick and ill in our congregation there are many we pray Lord that you would be pleased this night to strengthen each one cause them Lord to know that that hand of help that hand of healing that comes from you we pray Lord that you would lift them up this night whether it be physically or even just spiritually or emotionally speaking that Lord they would feel that hand of God upon their lives and that they would feel strengthened by that hand and and we do pray Lord that you would just add to each the strength that they are needing that that they need we pray your blessing upon pastor Butler especially we pray Lord that you just strengthen him in the in the physical man we pray that week by week that he would be getting stronger and that Lord you had bless him and cause cause these days as he as he has he gets better at home we pray let these might be their days of filled with with glory and the things of Christ we pray law that you had just bless his spiritual life cause him to be glorying in you and and enjoying fellowship with you in these in these in these weeks of convalescing and we do pray Lord that you'd bless him physically as well and cause the cause the wound to to heal and to that he might be doing better from from day to day and that you would restore him to full health and full strength once again we do pray Lord we think of the church in ellemir Quebec this night we praise you follow that for the four pastor our pastor Andre pinard there in el Mar the fact that he has has been ordained this day we thank you Lord for that for the fact that you are adding to your church and in that place you've given to them the gift of an under shepherd and so lord how we praise you for that we pray that you would just bless this man cause him to be a blessing to his true to be a true Shepherd for that flock there in in that in that city we pray Lord that you would bless bless the Word of God as goes forward there that that you would that would be unto salvation that would be on to edification and that father you had that you would build up that church and cause them to be a set a church set upon a hill that there would be a beacon of light to the unsaved and to the save the Lord you would bless them add to their numbers as many as are to be saved and and I caused them to do much spiritual good in the community in which you replace them Lord we ask your blessing this night to also be upon the persecuted Church Lord we we we certainly are humbled when we consider the the great difficulties and and great great persecutions that the church has been called to even in this in this 21st century and Lord even though we cannot identify with them in many ways the ad father we are to remember them as though we were in chained with them and solar we would remember them is this night that you would be pleased to minister to them cause them to to know that that hand and that help supporting them that the spirit of the Living God would lift them up we give them all that they stand in need of to to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ and to not forsake Christ we pray Lord for those who have lost loved ones or who have loved ones in hospital or in prison wherever it may be Lord we pray that you would just give special grace where grace is needed we know that Lord you you do provide that which is required when we do go through difficult circumstance of situations like that and so learn how we pray that you just minister to your people to your children wherever they are whatever circumstances they find themselves in may they be delighting themselves in the Lord Jesus Christ may they may they find a great benefit in the knowledge that they have been considered worthy to suffer as Christ suffered for the for the sake of the cross and we pray that you would cause their testimony to speak volumes to those that to those are their persecutors who who they have opportunity to speak to and we pray Lord that would not always be this way but that you would rather cause cause those those haters of Christ those persecutors of Christ who to be frustrated in their plans and and to be confused in their plans and even to lay down their their arms and lay down their sins and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior we know these are not hard things for you Father and so we pray that you would be pleased to bless your churches in these persecuting countries Lord we ask your blessing to be upon our own nation we think father those who govern over us both federally provincially locally we pray Lord that you would be pleased to bless those who are who are in positions of power that they would rule as men who will give an account one day to to you the Almighty God and that they would they would rule righteously Lord when we consider that the sins of our nation we think of abortion that continues on a daily basis in this nation of ours how we pray that would that they would not always be so but rather father you would turn the hearts of individuals and cause the Church of Christ to be clear in its in its articulation of truth in all the pulpits across our nation that we would know of a truth that that innocent blood does cry out before a holy God who sees all and how we pray load that you would turn the hearts of those who desire to do such wickedness and may they see that these are images made in these are little ones made in the images of God Almighty and may they turn from their wickedness and and we know Lord that so we pray to a god who is able to turn the hearts of individual man you are able to turn the hearts of whole whole nations and so lord we pray to you that you would be pleased to do that even in our nation so Lord bless this church give us a unity of heart we do pray and and strength from from week to week we pray Lord your blessing upon past quarter we know he carries a heavy load throughout the weekend and then here on Sunday said during this time we pray load that you just strengthen him physically this night and cause him to to lay hold of you and bless this meeting time here this evening may you be lifted up may you be worshiped here in this place this night and we pray these things in Jesus precious name amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to him number 481 481 I'll ask you to stand please and turn with me in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 32 Ezekiel chapter 32 continuing in the Old Testament and certainly a reflection back to Genesis chapter 15 verse 14 Egypt Egypt's punishment was was prophesied way back in the when when God made a covenant with Abraham he promised that that they would be punished and certainly this as many generations later in Ezekiel chapter 32 but it's a reminder to all of us that God's timelines are not always our timelines we we have our timelines we think that God should act and move as we think he should act and move but just a reminder that he doesn't always he he is the he is the the the one who is sovereign he is the one who's working according to his timeline and not ours and it's just good that we would Bend our knee and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God acknowledging his sovereignty in all things so let's begin at verse verse 1 of Ezekiel chapter 32 will read the the whole chapter and it came to pass in the 12th year in the twelfth month on the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him you are like a young line among the nations and you are like a monster in the Seas bursting forth in your rivers troubling the waters with your feet and fouling their rivers thus says the Lord God I will therefore spread my net over you with a company of many people and they will draw you up in my net then I will leave you on the land I will cast you out on the open fields and caught and caused to settle on you all the birds of the heavens and with you I will fill the beasts of the whole earth I will slay your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your carcass i will also water the land with the flow of your blood even to the mountains and the riverbeds will be full of you when I put out your light I will cover the heavens and make it stars dart I will cover the Sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light all the bright lights of the heavens i will make dark over you and bring darkness upon your land says the Lord God I will also trouble the hearts of many people's when I bring your destruction among the nations into the countries which you have not known yes I will make many people's astonished at you and they're Kings shall be horribly afraid of you when I brandish my sword before them and they shall tremble every moment every man for his own life in the day of your fall for thus says the Lord God the sort of the king of Babylon shall come upon you by the swords of the mighty warriors all of them the most terrible of the nation's I will cause your multitude to fall they shall plunder the pomp of Egypt and all its multitude shall be destroyed also I will destroy all its animals from beside its Great Waters the foot of mint the foot of man shall muddy them no more nor shall the hooves of animals muddy them then it will make their waters clear and make their rivers run like oil says the Lord God when I make the land of Egypt desolate and the country is destitute of all that once filled it when I strike all who dwell in it then they shall know that I am the lord this is the lamentation with which they shall lament her the daughters of the nations shall a mentor they shall lament for her for Egypt and for all her multitude says the Lord God it came to pass also in the twelfth year the fifteenth day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man whale over the multitude of Egypt and cast them down to the depths of the earth her and the daughters of the famous nations with those who go down to the pit whom do you serve as whom to use surpass in beauty go down be placed with the uncircumcised they shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword she has delivered to the sword drawing her and all her multitudes the strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with those who help him they have gone down they lie with the uncircumcised slain by the sword Assyria is there and all her company with their graves all around her all them slain fall by the sword her graves are set on the recess of the pit and her company is all around her grave all of them slain fall by the sword who caused terror in the land of the living there is Elam at all her multitude all around her grave all of them slain fallen by the sword who have gone down uncircumcised through the lower parts of the earth who caused their terror in the land of the living now they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit they have set her in bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude with their graves all around it all of them uncircumcised slain by the sword though their terror was caused in the land of the living yet they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit it was put in the midst of the slain there are meschke and tubal and all their multitudes with all their graves around it all of them uncircumcised slain by the sword though they cause their terror in the land of the living they do not lie with the mighty who are falling up who are fallen of the uncircumcised who have gone down to hell with their weapons of war they have laid their swords under their heads but their iniquities will be on their bones because of the terror of the mighty in the land of the living yes you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised and lie with those slain by the sword there in Edom her kings and all her Prince's who despite their might are laid beside those slain by the sword they shall lie with the uncircumcised and with those who have gone down to the pit there are the princes of the north all of them and all the sidonians who have gone down with the slain in shame at the terror which they caused by their might they lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit Farrell will see them and be comforted overall his multitude Pharaoh and all his armies slain by the sword says the Lord God for I caused my terror in the land of the living and he shall be placed in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword Pharaoh and all his multitude says the Lord God while we see certainly fairly was a great potentate he was a he was a tyrannical and oppressive leader as there are many Tyranno feel and oppressive leaders and who ultimately are opposed to god they hate God so we have the great mighty who hatin oppose God but we also have individual sinners who hate God as well yet they should we all share the same fader or those who hate God share the same fate they will all go down into the pit I mean certainly the god of the Old Testament as described here as a god of horror god of terror yet is the god of the New Testament any different obviously we would say no as reformed baptist here in fruit here at free grace baptist and chill lock we would say no the god of the Old Testament is the very same as the god of new tests and we have Lazarus and the and the and the rich and the rich man what happened to the rich man he went down into the pit and he didn't fear God in this world yet he came to fear God in the world to come and so whether you're a great potentate like like feral here in the Old Testament or the rich man the New Testament ultimate it's the same end and the the that's a collie it's a warning to any who are outside of Christ that we would that we would fault that we would fall upon Christ certainly in the in the in Revelation chapter 6 towards the end of chapter 6 that those are outside of Christ ask even the rocks would fall upon them they would be covered from the terror of the Lord and that's the Lamb that is described in Revelation chapter 6 the Lord Jesus Christ and who says that Jesus is is always only love he is all he is love he he certainly is love he invites us as sinners to himself katie has a God of Terror the Lord Jesus Christ is a God of Terran that that would be a warning to any and all who are outside of price here in this place this night that we would call upon the lord jesus christ he is a he's a lovely Christ he's a Christ that that invites sinners there's no reason for us to suffer the consequences that Pharaoh was about to suffer here as prophesied in Ezekiel chapter 32 and as has been prophesied by the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament that is a holy terror but the Lord Jesus Christ desires that sinners would come to him and I trust that that you would hear that clarion call this evening from the very very frightening passage in Ezekiel well let's go to God in prayer and we'll just ask God's blessing to be upon the the preaching in the next in the next hour let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father how we praise you that that you did send your son your only begotten son the Lord Jesus Christ into this earth to call to call sinners to yourself and how we praise You Father for for the fact that that is an invitation to any at all who are outside of Christ and Lord we pray that we might fear you in this life because we know ultimately if we go into eternity that not having made peace with you through the Lord Jesus Christ we will fear you for all of eternity to come and how we praise You Father that you are a gracious God a kind got a merciful God and so how we pray that you would bless the preaching this night bless the word of God this night may be a beacon of hope and and a great invitation to any and all who are outside of Christ that they would come to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ that he would be not just a God spoken up of he would be each and everyone's personal Savior here in this place this night we do pray and we just ask your blessing upon past reporter again strengthen him Lord in body strengthen him in mind strengthen him in spirit as well to lay hold of you and to bring your word here this knife and this pulpit give him give him a ultimatum yurov you that he might declare the truth of the word of God and not shrink back from it we do pray in Jesus precious name Amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to the lost him to him number 296 296 will be stilled will be singing to a different tune so don't get mixed up on the if you follow music but he'll be 296 please stand Oh see Oh Oh good evening you can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Micah Micah chapter five we're continuing with an evening theme of Old Testament passages that promised the coming christ in the midst of low in the midst of judgment in the midst of a righteous God visiting the curses of the Covenant we have these blessed promises of the coming one last time we looked at Isaiah 9 and verse 6 this time we'll look at mica 5 2 through 5 2 through just five a in fact noting some of the same things that Isaiah touched upon but coming at these things from a different angle noticing some different themes as we work through Micah 5225 a well i'm going to read that section beginning in micah 51 and finishing at Micah 5a once again the Word of God now gather yourself in troops o daughter of troops he has laid siege against us they will strike the judge of Israel with the rod on the cheek but you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they shall abide for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and this one shall be peace amen let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for this time once again in the preaching of your word we pray that you'd continue to be with us we pray that you our Lord Christ would be in the midst of this year lampstand we pray that you would help us to rejoice in your word to that be well fed by you through your word Lord God and we do pray that we would know more of it and no more of the Christ to whom at points that we might leave this place and shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation we do pray now that you would be with us and once again that this would be an exercise wearing you would be glorified in we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen well hopefully you can see with me here in Micah 522 58 at just these the small handful of verses something of an instant to an instance of the consent of the part in our confession of faith we acknowledge one of the attributes of Holy Scripture that testifies to its own self authentication one of the evidences of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is that the consent of all the parts and last Lord's Day evening we looked at Isaiah 96 the Sun that's born the child that's given that one who is God most high that is promised to come in the fullness of the times to be born of a woman we have here in Micah 5225 a affirmation of the legitimacy of Isaiah's prophecy we have agreement we don't only have this of course between Isaiah and Micah but we have it throughout the scriptures this attribute of God's Word to the sons of men that argues for its veracity it's God briefness and the reality that it is most certainly from God Most High here we have Micah prophesying micah is a contemporary to Isaiah he is prophesying crossing over at the same period of time at the at the end of the 8th century and the advent of the 7th century BC prior to and after the Assyrian captivity the assyrian conquest of the northern tribes and mike is doing exactly what Isaiah is doing he's prophesying concerning destruction that is coming destruction that is inevitable a destruction that's coming not from a god that is just not from a god that just arbitrarily visits judgment and arbitrarily visits you know whoa upon the inhabitants of the earth but he's prophesying concerning the righteous judgment of God that it is just for God to visit his people with vengeance when they transgress his holy Commandments notice at the outset of Micah just to set the stage that this is once again this promise of Christ is delivered in the midst of a coming judgment notice in Micah 1 beginning in verse 2 here all you peoples listen to earth and all that is in it let the Lord God be a witness against you the Lord from his holy temple for behold the Lord is coming out of his place he will come down and tread on the high places of the earth there's pause for a moment you'll remember I think pastor Butler read from this passage when he was talking about Matthew 24 and preaching through Matthew 24 to argue for the for the right interpretation that the comings of the Lord in the Bible don't necessarily mean that he's coming physically from a place to a place in order to bring physical judgment personally upon a nation but rather through historical events and through the enemies of his people he brings vengeance the Vengeance of the Covenant upon disobedient ones verse verse for the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will SAT the end the valleys will split like wax before the fire like waters pour down a steep place all this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel what is the transgression of Jacob is it not Samaria and what are the high places of Judah are they not Jerusalem therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field places for planting a vineyard I will pour down her stones into the valley and I will uncover her foundations all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces and all her pain as a harlot shall be burned with the fire all her idols I will a desolate for she gathered it from the pay of a harlot and they shall return to the pay of a harlot you see here the fact of judgment coming but the reality that it is just for God to visit this just as this judgment and this holy and wholesome severity upon his disobedient people the sins of the house of Jacob the sins of Judah we see in Micah three as well and we're moving toward a particular destination notice in Micah 3 and verse 8 but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord this is micah speaking in contrast to the false prophets that were around him during this time in contrast to those who were crying out peace when there was no peace notice but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel has sinned now hear this you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel who abhor justice who pervert all equity who build up Zion with bloodshed in Jerusalem with iniquity her heads judge for a bribe her priests teach for pay and her profits divine for money yet they lean on the Lord and say is not the Lord among us no harm can come upon us therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins and the mountain of the temple like the bare Hills of the forest you see this no doubt would bring fear upon the hearts of a people this should not bring any sort of anger on the up to the hearts of people raising up fists to this God as if he's doing this in a measure of arbitrary capricious pneus but rather they should have tasked their faces to the ground before this God who promised that he would do this if they were disobedient God's promises are sure and steadfast and he's bringing it to bear but remember just like in Isaiah here we have upon the he mules of announced doom the promise of restoration the promise of recovery the promise of salvation this is always our God to us this is always our God to the sons of men that yes righteous judgment for transgression and sin but a glorious salvation from this same God he promises doom and destruction righteously to those who disobey him but he promises gospel salvation to those who are his through Jesus Christ the Lord raid upon the heels of this announcement comes the promise of God's reign in Zion the restoration of the kingdom and it all comes to this point in my calf I've 225 a and following to be sure but central to this whole promise of coming hope central to this whole promise of recovery and restoration is this promise in Micah 5 the 225 a so we want to try to notice for things with our short time here this evening and those four things are these royalty from obscurity the eternality of the ruler the timing and circumstances of triumph and the character of the Kings rule so notice first royalty from obscurity verse 2 but you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel royalty from obscurity Bethlehem is little among the thousands of Judah we sing at every December o little town of Bethlehem this announced ruler is to come out of this little place Bethlehem and isn't this the way God works this is the way the way God works isn't it bringing mighty things out of weak and small things it's a ruler of a rule of God's wisdom that we'll look at in a few moments but this is how God operates he shows forth his glory by doing that which man would never choose to do showing forth his wisdom to to to show the folly of human wisdom let's just look at a few examples with this in the four of our minds that this one to be ruler in Israel this promised Christ comes out of Bethlehem this little town of Bethlehem the littlest among the thousands of Judah turned to First Samuel for a moment we're remarking after this fact that God works this way he brings greatness out of obscurity he brings royalty out of obscurity notice in First Samuel 16 you know this passage no doubt the anointing of David as king over Israel and we have the very same thing that's going on in this Micah prophecy at the point of royalty from obscurity notice the language that we find in inverse well let's go to verse 6 well we don't want to i mean we could lead up from verse 1 but basically what we have is the choosing of the king the choosing ultimately of David to be anointed as the king but notice what we have picking up in verse 6 so it was when they came that he looked at le AB and said surely the Lord's anointed is before him but the Lord said to Samuel do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature because I have refused him for the Lord does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart so Jesse called a been adapt and made him pass before Samuel and he said neither has the Lord chosen this one then Jesse made shema passed by and he said neither has the Lord chosen this one thus Jesse made seven of his sons passed before Samuel and Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has not chosen these and Samuel said to Jesse are all the young men here then he said there remains yet the youngest there he is keeping the sheep see how how God chooses royalty from obscurity he he raises up the lowly things he raises up the small things in the in complete contrast to the way that men would function in complete contrast to the way that men would choose their King in fact if we would backtrack to set to Saul's anointing as king if we backtrack to to First Samuel 9 and remark after the the narrative there regarding Samuel he is the the most handsome man in Israel to paraphrase the text he's head and shoulders above all of the men in Israel at the point of his shoulders I believe the text says he's taller than then all of the men in Israel this Saul this this man of renown yet here we have the noin ting of the one after God's own heart and he's the one keeping the Sheep all jesse passes all of his sons before Samuel and yet it is the one that tends to the sheep that is chosen and Samuel said to Jesse send and bring him for we will not sit down till he comes here so he sent and brought him in now he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is the one we fast forward 1 chapter 2 1st Samuel 17 and what do we find we find from obscurity a hero come forth to challenge that blasphemous giant of Gath you got it you got to just rejoice in the wisdom of God that rubs completely contrary to the so-called wisdom of man it's an instant these are instances of God showing forth his glory and these are instances prototypical or typical instances of the greater royalty from obscurity that God would bring forth in the person of Christ but notice what we have in First Samuel 17 you see the one that goes up against this giant blasphemer is not Saul the one who is taller than all of the men of Israel the one who goes up against this giant of gat will you know the story don't you the one who goes up against this giant Goliath is the the grain and cheese delivery boy that comes from tending sheep he sees this blasphemer blaspheming the god of the armies of Israel coming out in blaspheming by his own pagan deities that he comes with the fish man and tries to blaspheme the one who is infinite eternal and unchangeable this David goes out no armor the armor is too heavy as David goes out with five smooth stones and knocks down the giant blasphemer royalty from obscurity God using the lowly things and this is God's rule isn't it this is something of the way that he operates first Corinthians one turn there hopefully you know this passage as well as whole idea of royalty from obscurity is the reality that God runs contrary to man's so called wisdom truly the folly of man in making known his glory and in showing forth his glory notice in first Corinthians 126 this is talking about in in the context about the Corinthians calling from out of the deadness and and the horror of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus but it speaks to the reality of the way God operates for you see your calling brethren first Corinthians 126 that not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence do you love the the wisdom of God once again the instances time and again we have in our Bibles of God making much out of nothing bringing forth from a urity heroes bringing forth from obscurity ultimately the one to be ruler in Israel sir instances of the wisdom of God silencing the folly of man and showing the wisdom of man as being nothing compared to the infinite wisdom of the living and true God so getting back to Micah 52 then that's the way God does things he brings royalty out of obscurity and this this passage is prophetically significant when we read but you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel remember the prophetic significance here remember that this is well we'll just say three hundred years to round up this is 300 years after the the promise given to David that from his lineage God would raise up one to be ruler of a kingdom which Kingdom would never pass away and here we have the furtherance of that promise here we have the the continuation the upholding of the Davidic covenant that out of you Bethlehem Ephrathah the City of David will come forth the one to be that promised ruler in Israel we have the prophetic significance here's being quite clear and notice that in the context of Micah if you back up to Micah for this comes as a promise in light of the fact that there is no ruler in Jerusalem that there is no ruler in any of the two capital cities or that there won't be and that the true ruler will come forth not from Jerusalem in the first century to fast forward to its fulfillment but this one this ruler will come forth out of Bethlehem notice in Micah 49 now why do you cry aloud is there no king in your midst has your counselor perished for pangs have seized you like a woman in labor be in pain and labor to bring forth o daughter of Zion like a woman in birth pangs for now you shall go forth from from the city you shall dwell in the field to Babylon you shall go there you shall be delivered their the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies we fast forward to the fulfillment of Micah 52 and of course what is the redemption what is the recovery what is the restoration but not an earthly King not a not a political rally or a military conquest mark by riches strengths and strength and wisdom humanly speaking but this Messiah born of a woman which of course we'll get to in a moment so royalty from obscurity and what can we gain from this let's just start from with the lesser for a moment but we ought to have a contentedness and this is not the point of the text but if you want to take home application it I'm not the best with applications this morning I didn't really have any because I ran out of time but here's an application for you we ought to be content with the way God works things with the way God operates and what I mean by that is we ought to be content with the ordinary we ought to be content with obscurity we ought to be content with with mediocrity I don't mean don't try for things but we are not all called as pastor Butler often says to be Spurgeon's to be missionaries to China there is divine wisdom and there is divine blessing in the calling that God has placed you in if everyone sought to be a missionary in china there'd be nobody in canada if everyone thought to be a Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle there'd be no you know there'd be no shaven-headed preachers in chilliwack you see we are we are to be content with what God has called us to if you have a wholesome endeavor that you are undertaking in this lower world know that whether it's in obscurity or whether it's in wholesome prominence you are to flourish where God has placed you this royalty from obscurity brings to fourth this brings forth a certain truth that God functions after a manner that is contrary to the my of men and we are to glory in that and be content with that and to move up then from the lower to the higher what's an application here but where to marvel at the wisdom of God come to your Bibles and marvel after the wisdom of our God come to your Bibles and see that like we said at the outset the consent of all the parts and the way that God operates is not the way that man does and it's absolutely glorious bringing forth the one to be ruler in Israel not from any capital city with might and with prominence and with charioteers and with trumpets but as a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger this one who is born of this woman who is in labor and will give birth let's move on then to the eternality of the ruler the eternality of the ruler notice what we have here the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old from everlasting now we've spent a lot of time on the deity of Christ as I've been preaching the last the last two Lords days here so we won't spend a whole lot of time on this but we need to remark that it is here the deity of Christ is here whose goings forth are from old from everlasting the ruler who is to be ruler in Israel according to Micah's promise is God Most High he is eternal his goings forth are from old from everlasting now this isn't though many have gone here throughout the ages of the church perhaps conditioned by their environment those who denied the eternal generation of the Sun this isn't necessarily a proof text for the eternal generation of the Sun that his goings forth his eternal generation is from everlasting though it is he is eternally begotten of the Father this speaks to the reality that this one who is to be ruler in Israel is not simply an earthly ruler he's not simply a human King he's not he's not solely of this world but rather he is from of old from everlasting and only God is those things he is this promised son this Christ is from everlasting and notice that Christ is so glorious the the reality of God is so glorious we've noted this at this at the Sri bible study and in a previous confession studies but christ is so glorious in his eternality that the language being used here is the days of eternity whose goings forth are from old from the days of eternity you know the God himself in revealing himself and his glory when he speaks of eternity has to use language of days and time in order to communicate the reality that he is timeless that's how glorious our God is the only way that he can communicate his eternal glory is by saying the days of eternity there are no days in the Eternity of God he is attempt oral he is eternal he doesn't endure a succession of days because he's infinite eternal and unchangeable and all of his glorious perfections this Christ is God in the language of Daniel we have the language of the Ancient of Days it's a text that's arguing for the Eternity of God the eternality of God his autumn Perl pneus and yet he has to write Ancient of Days twice in that text he uses ancient & days to described eternity God is so glorious that in his condescension he has to use language sometimes in a sense contrary to a contrary to what he's trying to describe ancient of days to described eternity we see this language when he says that you know with an outstretched arm I reached forth and redeemed Israel for motive Egypt God has no arm yet to describe his omnipotence he says with an outstretched arm I reached down from heaven and redeemed you out of bondage in Egypt another example is we use this on Tuesday night the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil the good and the evil God doesn't have eyes God doesn't have a multitude of eyes and yet how does he describe his omniscience by saying he has eyes and in every place here we have the glory that Christ is eternal whose goings forth are from old from everlasting and yet of course christ in his deity being the timeless one has no days the eternal the eternality of the ruler so not only do we have here though the deity of Christ but we have something that speaks to the eternal purpose of God in the redemption of sinners what is this promise what is this promise but that one will come forth from out of you Bethlehem Ephrathah who will be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old from everlasting this plan of redemption was not contrived and was not concocted by a god who's moving about in time in history reacting to events and then inaugurating or coming up with this plan of redemption but rather in eternity past again another another one of those raises but in eternity past it was the purpose of father son and spirit to in the fullness of the time send forth the second of the Blessed triune the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old God has an eternal purpose it's the language of Ephesians 3 11 where where the Church of Christ is to serve as a proclaiming agent shining forth the riches and the excellencies of gospel truth to angels and principalities and powers in heavenly places and it is all according to what the eternal purpose that God had in Christ before the foundation of the world is goings forth are from older from everlasting what what is this what can we what is an application at this point but to have confidence in the Christ of eternity we don't worship a God who rolls about who rumbles about bouncing bouncing about from happening to happening learning as he goes and trying to come up with new ways of being ingenious to to answer to the problems in the ills of men but we serve a triune God infinite eternal and unchangeable who has an eternal and unchangeable purpose to bring many sons to glory through the perfect doing dying and rising again of the Son of God this ruler who was to be the one in Israel coming forth from Bethlehem whose goings forth are from old have confidence in our God when we when we're faced with we're faced with trial after trial were faced with you know we're faced with again a world around us that just seems to want to burn itself down that wants to lift up everything not God and cast down everything godly we need to understand that the nations of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ and that nothing that befall 'he's the sons of men befall 'he's us outside of the reality that God governs up holds all things he has planned all things he has purposed all things for his own glory for the good of his people and for the reality that his most righteous justice will be made known upon the sons of disobedience have great confidence in the Christ of eternity thirdly then the timing in the circumstances of the triumph notice what we have here therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel we want to notice first that the timing is not immediate therefore he shall give them up until as Steve made note of this in in his speaking on Ezekiel chapter 32 you know our timing is our timing but God's timing is really the only timing that counts and very often it is the case that God's timing is not our timing you see there is an until here the the timing of the coming of this glorious one this one to be ruler in Israel it's not immediate but rather therefore he shall give them up until there is this language of the of the fact that there is timing to endure there are things to endure there is a execution of God's providential plan for his people to wait for the language that we have in the New Testament is this in the fullness of the times God sent forth his son at Galatians 44 in the same language in Ephesians 1 10 according to the dispensation of the fullness of the times we have in this passage the reality that it is according to God's timing a number of things needed to take place before this one to be ruler in Israel would come forth from out of Bethlehem Ephrathah a number of prophecies needed to take place and a number of things that God had purpose to put in place needed to be put in place before this one could come forth to be ruler in Israel if we fast-forward to daniel's prophecy in Daniel 7 right now we're only at the time of the lion the lion kingdom if you will a Syria and then Babylon we still have to wait for the lion to do God's to do gods bidding then to give way to the bear of persia then to give way to the leopard of the greeks we noted this morning if you're here this morning philip the second of Macedon the King in the fourth century BC is father of Alexander the Great Alexander the Great can greet a hella tender the great he is Greek Alexander the Great and his Greeks are the leopard of Daniel 7 so he has to come on to the scenes as well and then the final and fourth beast the Roman beast with the the iron teeth needs to come and all along the way with that and alongside that God is building his providential an so that when Christ comes on the scene there is the perfection of providential completion where the time is right for this one to come upon the scenes who is to be ruler in Israel a brother and I Roger on their way back from Bible study we were talking about this speak about the wisdom of God at the time of the coming of Christ what's in place but the Roman Empire's Pax Romana there is a there is a measure of peace throughout the Roman Empire so that when Christ comes and he does the perfection of his doing his dying and rising again and he Commission's his disciples to go preaching they can go they can go throughout the breadth of the Roman Empire with all of the implements of highways and infrastructure in place in order to proclaim the riches in the excellencies of Jesus Christ the wisdom of god is absolutely glorious therefore he shall give them up they are they are they are not given their Savior immediately hit the Savior is always available make no mistake that the every saint from Adam up until micah and then from Micah until the coming of Christ every saint is saved by faith in that coming redeemer the lord jesus christ his doing his dying his rising again but they had to wait for the historical coming of this one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old they had to sing like we sing though from their vantage point come thou long expected jesus that is what they do there is timing here it is not immediate but this one will come and he will come with great glory as well it is when the woman is with child noticed the language here in in verse 3 therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth many have seen and this is this is okay to see it this way that this is speaking of the congregation of Israel and this reality is used elsewhere in the book of Revelation for example and other places where this isn't a literal woman this is not Mary who is in labor and has given birth but again rather it's the congregation of Israel from out of the congregation is ray of Israel comes forth this one and that is true but I I would lean to the understanding that what we have in view here is Mary the human mother of Christ who is in labor and gives birth to that Christ this you know this continues like we said earlier with regards to the den the Davidic covenant this perpetuates the promise given by God in the Garden in Genesis 3 15 not that the other view casts that asunder it doesn't at all but this has in view or it brings forth this expectation of that Genesis promise that there is this hero who will be born of woman who will crush the serpent with his heel that this coming christ that this that the one born of a woman promised to Adam and Eve is the one who is being spoken of here in Micah 53 until the time that she who is in labor has given birth lastly then well actually before we move on what's something that we can take from this what's an application that we can draw from this besides the evident and the obvious at every point hopefully that a preacher makes is that we are to glory in God and rejoice in his Christ but you see as Christians we are to have patience going back going back to this whole idea of timing you see these were to exercise patience when they're given this promise therefore he shall give them up until we're to have patience as Christians we are again confronted by many a bad thing many yet many perhaps a heavy labor and affliction whatever it maybe we're not to we're not to be those who are anxious and rushing towards a resolution all the time but those who yes being diligent to do what we're called to do nevertheless abandon ourselves to God iming in all things these were not to demand give us this Savior now as much as the remnant would want this blessed Jesus to come come thou long expected jesus come now it's the call at the end of Revelation even so come Lord Jesus amen but nevertheless we are to abandon ourselves to the timing of God because God's timing is always right lastly then let's notice this the character of the Kings rule notice the language here beginning in verse 4 we're closing with this this is our last point the character of the Kings rule notice and he shall stand verse 4 and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they shall abide for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and this one shall be peace the three things here with regards to the character of the Kings rule the first is a loving and governing Shepherd this language beautiful you know this is this again rubs contrary to to earthly Kings doesn't it the this King is a king shepherd and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord his God our King Jesus is a shepherd King you know unlike David at his worst at Christ is never at his worst but unlike david Etta's at his worst our King Christ will never send us to the forefront of the hottest battle to be murdered on a battlefield our Christ is the King Shepherd who only ever and always does right by his flock feeding his flock something this isn't this blessed when you read Psalm 23 I hope that you think of Christ when you read Psalm 23 we are to think of Christ ever thought of this language at the point of the shepherd Psalm the the shot the psalm of the crook at the language that we have in verse 4 yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you some have taken that to mean you know the the staff that's used to you know to collect the sheep and pull them in the loving act of the shepherd and then the the rod is sort of the disciplinarian aspect of the shepherd where chastisement comes to the you know to the to the wayward sheet but you see both of these things are used for naught or the the staff we have the reality of the loving shepherd and with the rod we don't have the beating of the sheet that's not our King Shepherd though we are to be chastised to be sure because chastisement comes from a loving father to his sons that he loves but the rod in the sense of Psalm 23 is the rod that's used to beat off the enemies of the Sheep you see remember what David says when he was taught before before Saul when he's about to face the giant of Gath and you know Dave you know Saul saying you're you know you're you're you just can't do it don't even try I'm paraphrasing of course but David don't do it you have no you know you have no track record you're a young you're just a young man who has no business on the battlefield going up against this giant from Gath david says I've killed both lion and bear you see that's the rod of our shepherd Christ he kills both lion and bear the Lions and the Bears metaphorically that opposed his Saints that oppose his flock Jesus Christ comes with opposition he feeds his flock he stands and he feeds us in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God notices well he's a universal King for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth he's a universal King and he shall be great to the ends of the earth every tribe and tongue and people and nation our Christ is not a Christ who only saves a you know out of one ghetto in the in the Middle East or in one location in first century Palestine he is great and he is to the ends of the earth he is at to the ends of the earth savior that glorious we don't have an ethnic religion we don't have a religion confined to and marked by ethnic and cultural peculiarities but rather we have a universal religion that covers the scope of the earth every tribe and tongue and people and nation come to worship this king that's the that's the reality of Revelation 5 this Jesus sheds his blood and it's not for the white man alone it's not for the black man alone it's not for insert ethnic minority or majority here it's for every tribe and tongue and people and nation what a glorious Christ this is the confidence we have as Christians too we have a world that we live in now that yes again it looks bleak it looks horrible but Christianity has in one sense covered the face of the earth it's not this back in Jerusalem with 12 disciples going around preaching this Christ but rather here we are thousands of miles away in chilliwack British Columbia 2,000 years later and we're serving this ruler in from Israel whose goings forth are from old from everlasting earlier today multitudes around the world worship this same Christ to the ends of the earth we have a to the ends of the earth Savior and lastly he is the bringer of peace and this one shall be peace you know there were those false prophets in in micah's time who were crying out peace peace when there was no peace because the peace that they were preaching was not the peace of God that come comes to the sons of men through Jesus Christ the Lord know that any other p proclaimed other than the peace that comes through this one who is himself peace is no peace at all we have true peace through Jesus Christ the Lord if you're here tonight and you're outside of Christ year not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you need to understand that you have no peace might have a measure of superficial peace with family and friends and you know the those who govern over you might have a measure of superficial and earthly peace but know that it is no peace at all in comparison to the only piece that comes through Jesus Christ in fact God is at war with you you are at enmity with God God is at enmity with you righteously and rightfully and the only way to be brought to piece the only way to know peace is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ the one who is peace himself the one who is the Prince of Peace the one who brings peace by his doing and his dying in his rising again know that you have sinned and you have fallen short of the glory of God but knowing this one who came forth from Bethlehem Ephrathah knowing that one is peace that surpasses all understanding let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for the truth of your word we rejoice in your revelation to men we thank you for the prophecies of Micah we thank you for what they disclose to us concerning your righteous judgment but as well the glorious promise of our King Christ and we do pray that you would help us to own him daily as our King the king of kings and the Lord of lords that one who came forth to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from old from everlasting we do pray that we go into this week that you would help us to rejoice in him that you would help us to live after a manner worthy of our calling by grace that we might bring you glory and return us back again to this place in one week's time that we might do this all again rejoicing in Christ and singing the praises of Father Son and Holy Spirit we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well let's stand and sing as a doxology stands a one of him 87 that's him 87 stands a one you for your patience as I mex missed up stanzas there thankfully in heaven will sing with the perfection of not being a distracted or going off the rails while singing a doxology praise be to Father Son and Holy Ghost here we have a benediction for us all as we go into our upcoming week Hebrews 13 20 now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen well please be seated we'll have a time of prayer and when the pianos finished you're dismissed you