You can turn with me in your Bibles to Micah the prophet, chapter 7. Micah chapter 7. So with our study in Habakkuk last Sunday night and the psalmist this morning, this completes our mini-series on how to focus on God so that we don't lose our minds. Micah 7 is somewhat similar to the prophet Habakkuk that we saw in Habakkuk 3.

The connection, I'll explain the differences, but I do want to read, first of all, Micah 7, beginning in verse 1. Woe is me, for I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes. There is no cluster to eat of the first ripe fruit which my soul desires. The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men.

They all lie and wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. that they may successfully do evil with both hands. The prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire, so they scheme together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchmen and your punishment comes, now shall be their perplexity. Do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.

For son dishonors father. Daughter rises against her mother. Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own household.

Therefore, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.

When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light.

I will see his righteousness. Then she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will see her. Now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.

In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the decree shall go far and wide. In that day they shall come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from the fortress to the river, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. Yet the land shall be desolate because of those who dwell in it and for the fruit of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell solitarily in a woodland in the midst of Carmel.

"'Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old. "'As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, "'I will show them wonders. "'The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. "'They shall put their hand over their mouth.

"'Their ears shall be deaf. "'They shall lick the dust like a serpent. "'They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. "'They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, "'and shall fear because of you.

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father, thank you for the written word of the living and true God. Thank you that you've given it to us by inspiration of the Spirit, that it's profitable to us for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. And in these unsettled times, these chaotic times in which we live, may you fortify our hearts and strengthen us and cause us to focus upon God most high. to take the cue from the prophets, from the apostles, and may we indeed focus on that one who is sovereign, who has absolute and unrivaled authority, and the one who is over all things for the good of his church. Forgive us now for our sins and fill us with your Holy Spirit, and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Introduction

Well, the prophet Micah hailed from the southern kingdom of Judah, and he prophesied to both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. He was a contemporary of Isaiah in the south and Hosea in the north. If you read Micah 4, right alongside of Isaiah 2, you will see the similarities. His prophecy ultimately helped shape the nation's policies and his prophecy spared Jeremiah's life about a hundred years later.

You can read about that in Jeremiah 26 verses 17 to 19. Most likely his career was from about 730 BC to 690 BC. That means that he lived during the Assyrian siege of the Northern Kingdom, of which he prophesied. As well, he lived during the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem that happened in 701 BC, which also he prophesied.

Now, chapters 6 and 7 are the third cycle of prophecy in Micah, and Micah is another man who is an example of the just who lives by faith. We saw that in Habakkuk. Habakkuk asks questions of God. He wonders about God's plan in terms of the nation.

God tells him, I'm going to send Babylon to decimate the nation. And so then, the prophet Habakkuk is told, the just shall live by faith. And in chapter 3, we see that psalm wherein he praises God and shows his dependence upon God. So Habakkuk is looking at the absolute devastation of the southern kingdom that will come as a result of God's judgment, and he's using Babylon.

Now, the psalmist this morning was focused on the nations outside of Israel. Remember Psalm 46 at verse 6, it says, the nations rage, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. So while Psalm 46, he's thinking about the external threat to the people of Israel, what we find in Micah 7, similar to Habakkuk, the problem is with his own nation, but even more focused in the effect that it would have upon the faithful remnant at the time that the prophet Micah lived. Habakkuk shares that as well, but Habakkuk's concern is a bit bigger in terms of the decimation of the southern kingdom.

Micah is more practical in nature. He starts off with his own lament. He starts off with his own, woe is me. Why does he do that?

Well, we'll look first at the prophet's lamentation for the church in verses 1 to 6. We'll notice secondly, the prophet's counsel to the church in verses 7 to 13. And then finally, the prophet's prayer to Almighty God in verses 14 to 20. So the correction always is, or the corrective always is, to look at God.

Verse 7, I think, is key to the chapter. He says, Therefore I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me.

The Prophet's Lamentation for the Church

Let's first look at what predicated this statement on his behalf. Notice in the first place the lack of godly fellowship that affected the prophet in the nation of Israel. He didn't see Leviticus 19 in play. He didn't see obedience to that second great commandment.

He didn't see the camaraderie and the love that is to be expressed among the people of God.

Lack of Godly Fellowship

Notice in verse 1, woe is me. And then he gives this illustration of a frustrated farmer. He says, I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes. There is no cluster to eat of the first ripe fruit which my soul desires.

By the time summer comes along, there's only a few things left. There's slim pickings. And so the frustrated farmer laments that particular condition. So Micah says that he is like that man.

He too is frustrated. Notice the explanation that he gives in verse 2a. He says, The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. Now I think he's speaking hyperbolically.

Isaiah was a contemporary, as was Hosea. So those were two righteous men, godly men, but he didn't have contact with them. As far as he was concerned and as far as he could judge, the covenant community was bankrupt. In the prophet Isaiah, for instance, in chapter 5, the prophet condemns those who call evil good and good evil.

Well, that same sort of a mindset was operative at the time of the prophet Micah. And so Micah looks around and finds nothing in terms of horizontal relationship. The church lacks love. The church lacks fellowship.

The church lacks connection. The church is not being what it ought to be. And Micah doesn't just sort of write that off. He doesn't just sort of say like people did in Canada for two years, well, I don't need that.

No, we desperately need community. We desperately need the people of God. We desperately need those covenant blessings that the Lord has given to His people. So that evokes from him this cry, this, woe is me.

It does show him that the frustrated farmer is a good parallel for his particular condition. And the explanation again, the faithful man has perished from the earth and there is no one upright among men. And then notice,

Corruption in Society and Leadership

he goes on to highlight the corruption in society. So yeah, he's got to reckon with the reality that judgment is ultimately going to come, but it's not near his lifetime. The Southern Kingdom will be devastated, but it's not in his wheelhouse. He has to deal with the problems of living in a faithless age.

And he responds by exhibiting great faith. The just man, justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, lives by faith, steadfast trust in our blessed Yahweh. So notice his general statement concerning corruption in society at 2B. It says, they all lie in wait for blood.

Every man hunts his brother with a net. Now, the reference is not necessarily to physical acts of murder. Most likely, what is in view is exploitation. The sinful oppression of one another that the prophet has already condemned.

Look back at chapter 2 in verses 1 and 2. Micah chapter 2 at verse 1. Notice, woe to those who devise iniquity. and work out evil on their beds. At morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance." Same sort of emphasis in verses 8 to 11. Lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You pull off the robe with the garment from those who trust you as they pass by, like men returned from war.

The women of my people you cast out from their pleasant houses, from their children. You have taken away my glory forever. Arise and depart, for this is not your rest, because it is defiled, it shall destroy, yes, with utter destruction. If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and drink, even he would be the prattler of this people.

So there was a horrible condition at the time of the prophet. So back to chapter 7 at verse 2b, he gives this brief explanation. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net.

Then he moves on to the corruption of the leadership. He's not indicting the leadership in Nineveh. He is not indicting the leadership in, you know, among the Amorites, or the Jebusites, or the Hittites, or the Hivites, or Assyria. He is dealing with the leadership in the covenant people, among the covenant people.

Notice that they may successfully do evil with both hands. Verse 3. The prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire, so they scheme together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchmen and your punishment comes, now shall be their perplexity." You see what he's doing? Woe is me. I live in a messed up generation. I live in a generation that's been given the blessed law of Leviticus chapter 19, but they have repudiated it.

They have rejected it. There is no love in the hearts of my fellows. There is no companionship. There is no faithfulness.

There is no camaraderie one with another. It is the case that even the leadership is corrupt. But it's not just society in general, it's not just the leadership particularly, but

Breakdown of the Family

it also extends to the family in Israel at that particular time. Notice what he says in verses 5 and 6. He says, do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion.

Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. See, this is a desperate condition that the prophet finds himself in. This is a horrific situation, and it's obvious why he says in verse 1, woe is me. I am frustrated.

I am destitute. The corruption in the society, the corruption among the leadership, and then the lack of love and camaraderie in the home. It would be too much to take. I mean, as messed up as things may be, presently, we do have one another.

There is a sense where we can apply that well-worn term. We're all in this together. We still have the church. We still have family.

We still have camaraderie. We still have fellowship. Micah didn't have that. That's why he says, woe is me.

Notice he goes on in verse six, a passage cited by our Lord Jesus. For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the men of his own household. So as we look at the prophet's lamentation for the church, we see how comprehensive it is. We see how extensive it is.

We see just how bad the situation was at the time that he lived. So with Habakkuk, he knows that Babylon is coming to devastate the southern kingdom. So what does he do? He focuses on God.

With this particular prophet Micah, he knows that ultimately judgment is going to come because the nation has been unfaithful and God will visit them with covenant curses, but it's a ways off for him. But nevertheless, he looks around society, he looks around at his people, and he finds that they're enemies. He looks at his people and he finds that they're strangers. He looks at his government and he finds that they're corrupt.

He looks at the bench in Israel. Brethren, there is a lot of legislation in the Old Testament concerning the bench. We saw it there in Leviticus chapter 19. Don't show partiality to a poor man.

Don't rule based on emotion. Don't rule based on appearance. Don't rule based on your heartstrings being pulled. Rule based on the law of God most high.

That's why justice is blind. That's why Lady Justice has a blindfold over her eyes. It reflects the prophet Isaiah chapter 11. There were persons that had an expectation of Messiah that he would be blind and deaf from Isaiah chapter 11, but it was metaphorical.

It was an analogy. It was to demonstrate that his judgment will be accurate. It will be according to justice and it will be according to the law. And so the prophet Micah sees judges in Israel taking bribes.

He sees the princes asking for gifts. Most likely they were asking with teeth. Think princes today, do they just simply ask? No, they confiscate, they take, they steal, they breach the eighth commandment without any regard whatsoever to private property.

The thought that they could have confiscated or closed our accounts is horrifying, brethren. If anyone should have this evocation of woe is me, it ought to be us in the Western world at the thought that our private property can vanish like that at the behest of government because we spent it in a way that they don't approve of? Woe is us! We need to start taking notice of what is happening.

So the kinds of things that we see are the kinds of things that the prophets saw.

The Prophet's Counsel to the Church

Now that moves us to the prophet's counsel to the church in verses 7 to 13. Yes, he is speaking in the first person, but then he opens that up and he then includes the remnant. He includes the faithful. Again, he was speaking hyperbolically.

It's not the case that there was no one. God's always had his remnant. He is making a general observation about the condition of society. So notice the two pieces of counsel he gives to the church.

First,

The Believer Must Look to God

the believer must look to God, verse 7, and then secondly, the believer must trust God's promises in verses 8 to 13. So notice, verse 7, therefore. Therefore. It's an implication, right?

Whenever you see that, you've probably heard hokey Bible teachers tell you that. Whenever you see a therefore, ask what it's there for. That's not altogether bad advice or bad counsel. Why is the therefore there?

Well, because he's just lamented. He has just described the woeful conditions obtained in Judah. And now he says, therefore, I will look to the Lord. Because if I look to the society, if I look to the princes, if I look to the judges, if I look to the wife of my bosom, if I look to family members, I will be discouraged, I will be bankrupt, I will be left empty.

So where does he look? Of course he looks to God. God never leaves, God never forsakes. If there is no godly companions in a society, that doesn't mean that God has ceased.

God doesn't stop being that God to the person that's in that particular situation. So he says, therefore, I will look to the Lord. That's where my help comes from. Society, leadership, and family do not care one whit about him, so he goes to the one that does, and that is God most high.

Calvin says the prophet points out here the remedy to preserve the faithful from being led away by bad examples. And that is to fix their eyes on God and to believe that He will be their deliverer. That's the point in Micah 7. That's the point in Habakkuk 3.

That's the point in Psalm 46. That's the point from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Fix your eyes on God. The just shall live by faith.

That's what the prophet is commending to us. Notice, he not only looks to God, but he waits for God. I will wait for the God of my salvation. See, there's not this impetuousness on the part of the prophet.

There's no deals on his part. If you don't give me a friend, if you don't fix my wife, if you don't get these corrupt judges and princes out of the mix, then I'm not gonna follow you anymore. No, I will wait on the God of my salvation. What does Peter tell us?

He tells us, or James tells us, we need to humble ourselves in the sight of God, and in his time, he will lift us up. There is this idea that whenever we pray, whenever we say God, he is duty-bound and obligated to answer us right now. I'm sorry, but that's just not how it works. And I fear at times in the Christian church, we don't think no is a sufficient answer.

No is a most sufficient answer. You parents know that, right? You have told your children on many occasions, no. Now, if they said, well, that's not an answer, what would you say to that?

Oh, really? It's not an answer? It is most certainly an answer. But the point is that we wait for the God of our salvation.

This is what faith is about, brethren, justified freely by His grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. Now that we're justified, now that we're saved, now that we're living the Christian life, now that we're in this arena of sanctification, we have faith in God, we have faith in His promises, we have faith in His provision. And then notice he speaks to God. So he says, I will look to the Lord.

I will wait for God. And then the last part, my God will hear me. That's a confident expectation. He may not deliver me right now.

He may not fix my wife right now. He might not depose these wicked judges and princes right now, but I know my God will hear me. We have that surety. We have that blessed confidence.

We have that reality. Turn to Luke 18, where Jesus underscores this lesson in a most blessed way. Luke chapter 18, specifically at verse one. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

You see that close parallel and connection? Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. What happens if you don't pray? Yeah, you're right.

You're going to lose heart. You see, there is a close connection in this particular passage that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. And he said, there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary.

And he would not for a while. But afterward, he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her. Lest by her continual coming, she weary me. Those are not good motives, but hey, she gets her verdict.

That's not, you know, the cry of the noble judge. That is simply, I don't want her to keep hassling me and bugging me. But nevertheless, he gives her the response that she is after. Now notice in verse 6, then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said.

And shall God not avenge His own elect to cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? It's not always the case that you pray, and the next day you get the pony. Or you pray, and the next day you've got plane tickets to Rio. That's just not the way it happens.

There is a perseverance. Most of the commentators refer to her as the importunate widow. She would not stop till she got the verdict. She asked, she sought, and she knocked, and God avenges his elect who cries to him day and night.

Back to Micah 7. So the believer must look to God, but then

The Believer Must Trust God's Promises

the believer must trust the promises of God. Notice in verses 8 to 13. 8 tells us that the remnant will rise. Judah and Israel before her, the northern kingdom, had a lot of ups and downs, right? I mean, 722 was the final down for the northern kingdom when the Assyrians came and obliterated that. 586 would be the final down for Judah when Babylon would come to obliterate them.

Now there would be revival, there would be restoration. Judahites would return back to their land in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. So there's this pattern of rising and falling. But notice the confidence of the prophet with reference to the church.

Verse 8, he says, do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. John Gill makes this observation.

He says, into outward afflictions and distresses which come not by chance, but by divine appointment. or into the temptations of Satan. He's describing what does this fall and arising look like. Could be outward afflictions and distresses. Could be the temptations of Satan.

And by them, which sometimes is suffered for wise purposes, or into sin. There's times, obviously, we fall into sin, and by God's grace, we arise out of that sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. My little children, I write these things so that you do not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So he says, or into sin, which even a good man, a truly righteous man, is frequently left unto. But then he does not fall from real goodness, from true grace, nor from his justifying righteousness, which is everlasting and connected with eternal life. He may fall from a lively exercise of grace, from a steadfastness in the faith and a profession of it, but not from the principle of grace, nor a state of grace, or from the love and favor of God.

He may fall, but not totally or finally. Praise God for that. He may fall, but not totally or finally, or so as to perish everlastingly, nor is he utterly cast down. The Lord upholds him and raises him up again.

He rises, as the church here believes she could, out of his present state and condition into a more comfortable one. not in his own strength, but in the strength of the Lord, under a sense of sin, by the exercise of true repentance for it, and by faith in Christ, and in a view of pardoning grace and mercy." So this is a blessed reality for the people of God, that though we may fall, we don't fall in. God protects us, God rescues us, God keeps us, and God enables an arising out of that mess. Notice the second promise, the reality that they're not altogether innocent when they fall. They're not altogether perfect.

It's not the case that the remnant godly can say, I don't know why any of this is happening to me. I mean, I'm so upright, I'm so good, I'm so morally pure. No, that's leftism. That's not biblical Christianity.

This prophet knows the reality that sometimes we fall because of God's chastening hand. Look at verse 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him. Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me, He will bring me forth to the light.

I will see His righteousness. You see, the prophet is a realist. The prophet understands much of the problems that had obtained in Judah at this time wasn't just the external threat of foreign enemies. It was the internal reality of defection and apostasy from God Almighty.

And with reference to the remnant, they had to deal with that. They themselves would have sinned. They themselves would have been chastised. They themselves would have undergone a degree of suffering.

Matthew Henry says, when we complain to God of the badness of the times, we ought to complain against ourselves for the badness of our own hearts. Right? It's not just, wow, I can't believe how messed up everybody else is out there. I can't believe there's no godly companionship.

I can't believe these princes and these judges. I can't believe my beloved. I can't believe my sister or my brother. I can't believe myself.

I can't believe that blood-bought children of the living and true God are still prone to wander and still prone to leave the God that we love. I can't believe that so often and so frequently we have to make good on Jesus' teaching about seven times seventy in terms of forgiveness. Remember that? Peter says, if my brother comes to sin against me, seven times do I forgive him in the day?

Peter's probably thinking he's extremely large-hearted. I've got this sort of pain in the neck for a brother, and he's got this problem in terms of sin, and he keeps coming to me and wearying me. Do I forgive him up to seven times? What does Jesus say?

Seven times 70. The point that Jesus is making is not to count them. It's not to take out your phone app. Oh, there's, you know, 213.

That's not the point. The point is, forgive one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you. You see, brethren, as persons conquered by sovereign grace, as persons washed in the precious blood, we ought to be persons that recognize our own sinfulness, and we ought to have a large heart in terms of giving forgiveness to others in need. God has forgiven us and He does so up to 7 times 70 in a day.

Notice as well, another promise in verse 10, the remnant will be vindicated. The remnant will be vindicated. Look at verse 10. Then she who is my enemy will see and shame will cover her who said to me, where is the Lord your God?

He says, my eyes will see her. Now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets. Curious language for somebody emasculated and effeminate. He's not emasculated and effeminate.

The church militant speaks in that kind of language, not in a vindictive spirit, not in a pick-on-people sort of a mindset, but in light of the righteous judgment of God Most High. We've seen many texts recently. I'm not going to duplicate that effort now. Revelation 6, Revelation 19, 2 Thessalonians 1, Joshua 21, and the imprecatory Psalms of David and the anathemas of Paul.

This is a sin-cursed world. People do wicked, horrible things. We ought to be large-hearted and we ought to forgive. But there are those instances and occasions where persons are vicious, and when God judges them or takes them out, the righteous see it and they rejoice.

Solomon says as much in the Proverbs. That is to image God. We have a longing and a yearning for justice and righteousness. If that occurs, why wouldn't we praise God for it?

And so the prophet here understands that the righteous will be vindicated. But then notice, the fourth promise, in verses 8 to 13, is that the remnant will be increased. It's not just the case that she'll be vindicated, it's not just the case that her enemies will be trampled down like mud, but it is the case she's going to be built up. It is the case that there is a glorious future for the people of God.

Notice in verse 11. In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the decree shall go far and wide. In that day they shall come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from the fortress to the river, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. Go back to Micah chapter 4, it's the same sort of an emphasis.

Micah 4, prophesying of the time of Messiah. Verse 1, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his path. for out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree." You know what that means?

It's used in other places in the Old Testament. It means peace. It means tranquility. It means that God is so good that it's not just the spiritual.

It's not just heaven that he secures for his people. The psalmist blessed God for loading him daily with benefits. Do we do that? We have lots of benefits.

We have a lot of good things. So this idea of verse four, everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree. It was said at the time of the reign of Solomon, an effect of Solomon's reign. And no one shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all people walk each in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. So back to 7, 11, and 12. He prophesies that Zion is going to be built up. The church is going to grow.

People from outside of Israel will come to Israel for their God, for their Messiah. And then in verse 13, those who do not will be vanquished. Those who do not will be punished. Those who do not will be dealt with in strict justice.

Yet the land shall be desolate, because of those who dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds." So we've seen the lamentation, we've seen the counsel,

The Prophet's Prayer to God

now let's look finally at the prophet's prayer to Almighty God. He has two sections here. First, the petitions, verses 14 to 17, and then doxology, verses 18 to 20.

Petitions: Leadership and Intervention

Notice his petitions. In the first place, he wants God's leadership. He wants God's leadership. That's not a surprise, is it?

The princes want gifts and judges want bribes. So what does he want? He wants God to lead. Notice the language in verse 14, shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage who dwell solitarily in a woodland in the midst of Carmel.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old, as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. So God's leadership is spoken of here in terms of faithful shepherding, something that the prophets already done. Go back for just a moment to chapter 2 at verse 12. Chapter 2 at verse 12.

I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.

The one who breaks open will come up before them. They will break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. Their king will pass before them with the Lord at their head. He uses the same convention in chapter 4 beginning in verse 6.

So this image or idea of shepherding is what the prophet wants. And you can completely understand this urge on his part. He has seen defective leadership. He has seen apostasy.

He has seen sin and rebellion. He has seen them call good evil and evil good. So shepherd your people with your staff. He uses the language that evokes the Exodus.

Notice in verse 15, as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. That's a great parallel. God shepherded Israel right out of Egypt through the infliction of plagues upon their oppressors. And then the second petition is in verses 16 and 17.

It is for God's intervention. He wants leadership in Israel by Yahweh himself. But for those nations outside of Israel, he wants justice. He wants judgment.

He wants God to deal with that. Notice in verse 16, the nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall put their hand over their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of you. See, for the prophet here, he doesn't think this is untoward.

He doesn't think this is inconsistent. He doesn't think that this is somehow not Christian. No, it is absolutely positively Christian. The Christian engages in love to God and love to man.

And there's a sense wherein generally we love and have a benevolence for all men everywhere. But that does not mitigate the desire in the Christian heart for the eradication of wickedness and for the vindication of the Most High and His righteousness. Brethren, abortionists need to be stopped. And that is God's prerogative.

God is able to do that. I'm not advocating we go out and we see for them into the next world. But I am suggesting that it's not ungodly and it's not unrighteous to pray that the Lord stops this barbarism that is celebrated. Interesting, over the last two years, the countries of the earth were all caught up in the mitigation of a virus, and all the while the wholesale slaughter of babies kept on intact, unabated.

That is absolutely horrific, and if we cry out to God for His justice, that is a Christian disposition. That is legit, and that is okay, even if the gospel coalition tells you it's not. So the nations will be thwarted, the nations will suffer the fate of their leader. Don't miss the allusion in verse 17 to the garden.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of you. Genesis 3, 14.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. That prophecy in Genesis 3, 14 and 15 displays victory on the part of the man born or the seed born of the woman in verse 15, but it also underscores the decimation of the devil himself, verses 15 and 14. And that is evoked by the prophet as a good thing in terms of God's dealings with the nations.

And don't you love what he says at the end of verse 17? They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of you. Do you ever just kind of wish the church feared God more than they do? I mean, not even the pagans or the heathens.

I mean, certainly, I'd like them to be afraid. I'd like them to understand that our God is a consuming fire. But there is an absence and a lack of the fear of God in the churches of God today. We treat God as if he's a fellow.

We treat God as if he's a buddy. We treat God as if his only purpose in this world is to make sure everything goes great for us. We relegate him to the position of a Coca-Cola. We relegate him to the position of a fellow.

We have these chatty pastors with their hands in their pockets and their latte in the other hand. We have chatty people that are more consumed with just the very basic principles of how to get along with one another. versus the knowledge of God Most High and the fear that that inevitably promotes in the person who knows their God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of life, Solomon says. And those who are absent of or have no fear of God, they need to believe the gospel.

They need to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So Micah prophesies a time when the nations will be afraid of God. That's something we ought to pray for, for sure, but we certainly ought to pray that the churches of Christ today would show something of that fear. And this is a concept that you see in Deuteronomy, but you also see it in Hebrews chapter 12.

The same language in Deuteronomy 4, that our God is a consuming fire, is the same language in Hebrews 12, that our God is a consuming fire. In fact, the apostle in Hebrews 10 says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. When did we lose this concept of the fear of the Lord for the people of God? When did we get to this levity and this sort of surface level approach?

Those who know their God, fear their God. Now

Doxology: Who Is a God Like You

notice, finally, his doxology. That simply means praise, worship. And he brings this about by first asking a question. Notice in verse 18.

He makes a play on his own name because the name Micah means who is like the Lord. That's what Micah means, who is like the Lord. So he asks that question. Verse 18, who is a God like you?

He's consistent with the song of Moses in Exodus 15, 11. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? He's like the prophet Isaiah.

Have you not heard? Have you not seen? Have you not pondered the greatness of Yahweh, who has the stars named, who has the knowledge of every star that He has created? I read the facts about this one time.

I'm not a scientist. I am a fool when it comes to such things. So I had to write something in my Bible. here in the margin, my very generous margin in my Cambridge Bible here. But in Isaiah 40, verse 25, to whom then will you liken me or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one is missing. I read that there's a hundred billion galaxies that each contain about a hundred billion stars. That's staggering, brethren.

I mean, that just, wow, we are really nothing. We are really minuscule. We are really tiny. In fact, that's exactly what he says prior.

Notice in verse 15 in Isaiah 40. Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the small dust on the scales. You see, we see what's going on in the nations of the earth right now, and it's sort of scary. It's kind of terrifying, especially when we consider the type of leadership that's leading us through it.

But when we look at a passage like this, That's not a commentary that God doesn't care for his creation. It is the commentary that God is so sovereignly glorious over his creation. It is the infinite over the finite. It is the creator over the creature.

The emphasis in the prophet Isaiah, when he asks these questions, is to draw out the mind to this God, because that's what settles the soul. And that's what the prophet Micah does. Notice, who is a God like you? And now he fleshes it out particularly.

He rehearses what God has done. There is no other God like you because you're the only one that does things like this. Notice in the first place, he is the God who pardons iniquity. Verse 18, notice he doesn't say, who is a God like you who judges the nations, who holds them in contempt, who brings his enemies to frustration and dashes them down?

That's not a perplexing question. It's not a perplexing question at all. The C.S. Lewis wrote the problem of pain.

John Gerstner a few years later said, that's not a problem. Sinners deserve pain. There's actually a problem of pleasure. that sinners actually get to eat a steak, or get to drink water, or get to have conjugal relations with their spouses. That's what's surprising.

I think that that's the tact that Micah is taking here. Who is a God like you? Again, it's not a huge perplexing thing that a righteous God punishes sinful man. But it is perplexing that that righteous God provides forgiveness for that man.

And that's what the prophet is drawn out with. Notice, who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. We sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Think about what Newton calls grace there. He calls it amazing. Has the church lost sight of the amazingness of grace?

Micah didn't. Micah pondered that, Micah reflected upon that, Micah rehearsed that, and Micah utilized it as a means to praise God, because you pardon iniquity and you pass over the transgression of the remnant of your heritage. Notice, he shows compassion to his people. Verse 19, he will again have compassion on us.

That is a most blessed promise, a most blessed commitment on the part of our covenant God. He is the God who subdues iniquity. Look at that. And will subdue our iniquities.

If you have problem with remaining corruption, cry out to God. Don't try to hide it. Don't try to fake it. Don't try to deny it.

God actually is in the business of sanctifying His people. He not only justifies us freely by His grace, but Christ is our sanctification as well. And so the Lord God Most High is well able to subdue our iniquities. And then notice, He is the God who casts all our sins away.

And the language at the end of verse 19 is truly glorious. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Again, John Gill, I think his comment is very appropriate here. He says, never to be seen anymore.

Though they are seen with the eye of omniscience, it's not as if God actually does forget. When it speaks of Him forgetting, God doesn't have that capacity. God doesn't have memory one day and the absence of memory another day. That's accommodated language to show us or tell us something about God's great mercy.

It is as if He forgot our sin. He goes on to say, so though they are seen with the eye of omniscience and taken notice of by the eye of providence, yet not beheld with the eye of avenging justice, that being satisfied by Christ. Besides, all the sins of God's people have been removed from them to Christ and by him carried away into the land of oblivion. so that they are no more to be seen on them, who are through His blood and righteousness without fault, spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. And being out of sight, they are out of mind, never remembered anymore, and like things cast into the sea, destroyed and lost.

Perhaps there may be some allusion to the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea." I think there is. And what is cast into the sea, especially into the depths of it, is irrecoverable, not to be fetched up again, nor does it rise more. And so it is with the sins of God's people, forgiven for Christ's sake, even all of them. For they have all been born by Christ, and are covered, blotted out, and parted.

Not one remains unforgiven. That is enough to make the people of God do a holy jig until Jesus comes again. And then he ends with the covenant faithfulness of our God. Notice in verse 20, you will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Very often, Psalmists and prophets evoke the God of covenant. It is to show us the stability. It is to show us that this relationship is impenetrable, to show us that nothing can destroy those who are in Christ Jesus.

Application

Well, in conclusion, we see first the depravity of man. When you look at Micah chapter seven, you realize there's nothing new under the sun. I mean, the sorts of things that we see in our own generation, lo and behold, generations before us saw them as well. We are not the delicate snowflakes that we like to think that we are.

People who have gone before us have gone through very hard and very trying circumstances, but they have demonstrated the maxim that the just shall live by faith. Secondly, the confidence of the believer is in God. The therefore in verse seven underscores that reality very powerfully. You can ultimately only trust in God.

I know that sounds bleak, because we're all, or most of us are married, and we like to think we can trust our spouses, and we can't. But in a time of decay that was existent at this, or like Micah saw, it was a horrible situation. Mark Twain makes this observation. He says, if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, He will not bite you.

This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. Men don't always treat each other as they ought. That's the grim reality. So where is the confidence ultimately to be placed?

It's in God most high. The Psalmist says, do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. We sang that at the outset of our worship tonight, Psalm 146.

And then finally, the triumph of faith. The triumph of faith. Was Micah just an optimist? You know, you kind of meet those people, right?

I mentioned Asaph this morning. Asaph, to me, strikes me as a pessimist. He's the cup half-empty guy. And I've always found that pessimists want to defend themselves.

I'm not a pessimist. Why not? If you are, that's OK. I mean, it's not the case that everybody's happy, peppy, bubbly all the time.

It's not the case that everybody walks around with smiles on their faces. It's not the case that everybody is a cup half full sort of a guy. It is the case that there are some among us that are half cup empty sorts of guys. And ASAPH certainly seems to be that kind of a fellow.

I, of course, am right in the middle. I'm a medium. I'm not optimist or pessimist. I'm kidding.

I probably am the half-empty sort of a guy, as my wife is probably going, yeah, yeah, for sure. But was Micah just an optimist? Did he just have that grit and determination? I doubt it.

The just shall live by faith, not by optimism. Dale Ralph Davis, in a comment, not on Micah 7, but somewhere else, makes this observation. He says, with reference to the situation, it was in 1 Samuel 14, he says, the circumstances did not stimulate optimism, but this is not optimism, it is faith. Some people are naturally optimistic, they don't know any better, but faith can arise even when no reason for optimism exists.

See, he doesn't live by optimism. He doesn't live by pessimism. He doesn't live by realism. He lives by faith in the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us.

Thomas McCombsky says, to close one's eyes to the working of God, no matter how small the evidence may be, is to open the door to despair. In other words, Micah had that proper perspective in the midst of societal collapse. Where shall I go? It's like Jesus says to Peter, do you want to leave as well?

Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life in John 6, 68. I think it was Luther who said, if he bears a sword at me, I'm still going to come to him. That's what faith does.

And in the prophet, chapter 7 of Micah, we see that faith looks to the God of our salvation. Verse 7. Faith understands that though that man may fall, he will by grace arise. Verse 8.

Faith recognizes one's own sin and lays hold on God's forgiveness, according to verse 9. Faith knows there is vindication coming for the people of God. Verses 10 to 13. And that keeps a bounce in his step.

He knows that everything he sees presently isn't the end of the story. He knows that the enemies of God will ultimately meet their just end. Faith submits to the rule of God, verses 14 to 15. He doesn't cry out, shepherd us, but for the fact that he wants to submit to God most high.

And faith particularly focuses on the being and perfections of God most high in verses 18 to 20. Again, McCombsky says, like a day that begins with a dark foreboding sky, but ends in golden sunlight. Look at the passage. Woe is me.

And then he ends how he does. Woe is me, and then he ends on that rehearsal of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of infinite mercy and grace, the God whose compassions are new each day, the God who has the power and the love for his people that he will subdue their iniquity. So like a day that begins with a dark foreboding sky, but ends in golden sunlight, this chapter begins in an atmosphere of gloom and ends in one of the greatest statements of hope in all of the Old Testament. Clouds of gloom have rolled in on the horizon of the prophet's life because of disobedience of the people and the somber fate that awaited his nation.

But rays of hope, such as the affirmations in verse 7, shone through the gloom. It is in the great affirmation of faith that concludes the book, verses 18 to 20, that the darkness is completely dissipated. One may wonder why the prophet did not succumb to utter pessimism in view of the conditions of his day. The answer is in this chapter.

It was because of the triumph of faith. The prophet speaks here as a representative of the godly remnant. While most of the chapter is written in the first person, a corporate concept begins in verse 8 that cannot be limited to that prophet alone. He starts with woe, he ends up in joy, and that because the just shall live by faith.

That is what the prophets commend to us, that's what the psalmist commends to us, that's what the New Testament commends to us. So in the midst of chaos, trial, and despair, we walk by faith in the Son of God who loved us and who gave himself for us. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you so very much for what the prophet teaches us concerning who God is. And Lord, I pray that all of us would focus upon you, that all of us in our individual lives, and as families, and as a church, and workers, and as citizens in society, just give us that proper perspective to realize that what we see happening now isn't the end of the story, and that if it is, and Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead, we will be most blessed. We thank you for the glory of the gospel of our salvation. We thank you for our blessed savior and champion.

And God, help us to extol him, help us to praise and glorify you, and help us to be faithful in this world. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.

Scripture References

• Exodus 15:11
• Leviticus 19
• Deuteronomy 4
• Joshua 21
• Psalms 46; 46:6; 146
• Isaiah 5; 11; 40:15; 40:25
• Jeremiah 26:17-19
• Micah 2:1-2; 2:8-11; 2:12; 4; 4:1; 4:6; 7; 7:7; 7:8; 7:9; 7:10; 7:11; 7:14-15; 7:18; 7:18-20; 7:19; 7:20
• Habakkuk 3
• Luke 18; 18:1; 18:6
• John 6:68
• 2 Thessalonians 1
• Hebrews 10:31; 12
• 1 John 1:9
• Revelation 6; 19
• Genesis 3:14-15