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You can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Micah, Micah chapter 7. So in the 12, you've got Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. So if you find the great fish, the next book will be the prophet Micah. This is basically part two of this morning's sermon or particular application of it. Micah found himself in distressing times under trial and affliction and hardship, and I think he sets forth a good example for us in how to deal with that.

So Micah chapter seven, I'll read beginning in verse one. 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 in 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. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word of the living and true God. We thank you that you have given it to us. You've not left us as orphans. Lord Jesus, you've sent the Spirit to guide, to direct, to aid us. You've given us that written revelation of Almighty God, and we give all praise to you. Help us now to have receptive hearts, and again, may this encourage us, may it build us up, may it cause us to see the prophet's emphasis in this chapter. Forgive us now for all of our sins. Fill us with your spirit. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, just a couple of things about the prophet Micah. He hailed from the southern kingdom of Judah, and he prophesied to both the northern and the southern tribes. So in the north you had Israel, and in the south you had Judah. And his prophecy helped shape the nation's policy. And in fact, his prophecy helped save Jeremiah's life, according to Jeremiah chapter 26. He lived for, or rather his prophetic career was from about 737 to 690 BC. He was a contemporary of Micah in the south, I'm sorry, Isaiah in the south, and a contemporary of Hosea, who prophesied specifically in the northern kingdom. He lived at the time of the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem in 701 BC, of which he prophesied. And here, chapters six and seven is the third cycle of prophecy in the book itself. And I think that Micah functions here specifically in chapter seven, not just as an individual, but as a representative for the godly remnant in Old Covenant Israel.

When he bemoans the lack of godly fellowship, I don't think he means that's universal. I think he means that in the midst of the covenant people of God, the bulk of them, the majority of them had departed from the Lord. They had gone a-whoring from the Most High." And specifically, this chapter flows from chapter 6, verses 9 to 16, which is a declaration of coming judgment. So Micah lived at the time of the collapse of the northern kingdom. He's prophesying again with reference to the coming judgment in Judah, which would happen some years later.

So basically, as we look at chapter 7, I think the chapter breaks down into three sections. First, the prophet's lamentation in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, the prophet's exhortation in verses 7 to 13. What is exhorting? the remnant or what we'll call the church as we move forward, and then finally the prophet's prayer in verses 14 to 20. But note first with reference to his lamentation. He starts off in 7-1 with, woe is me. Again, he's bemoaning, he's lamenting, he's grieved, he's crying over the reality of what had become of Old Covenant Israel. If you compare Micah and Isaiah, you'll see a lot of similarities. You'll see a lot of the same emphases, again with Hosea up in the north. The times were bad in terms of national righteousness. The covenant people of God, the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not been faithful to their covenant obligations. They had departed. They had turned to idols. They had engaged in all manner of oppression within civil society, and so that evokes from the prophet this lament.

Lament, or lamentation, is a tactic in scripture where the godly cry out to the Lord. That is not a surprise to the Lord, that is not condemned by the Lord, that is not frowned upon by the Lord, but rather it is a method or a strategy for the people of God to come to God with specific requests. And then notice he uses a metaphor or rather an illustration concerning the situation in his own day. of the first ripe fruit which my soul desires." In other words, he's frustrated. The lack of godly men, the lack of faithful men, the lack of covenant men is a lamentable thing for the prophet in his generation. Notice, he goes on to explain the specifics according to verse 2a. The faithful man has perished from the earth. Again, I don't think that's universal. Isaiah was alive. Hosea was alive. They were faithful men, but pretty much with reference to the covenant nation. And again, you travel through the prophets and you see this emphasis over and over and over again.

I mean, when the prophets come, they come in the name of God to upbraid the children of Israel. They typically serve as prosecuting attorneys to tell the people of God what they are doing wrong, and then to call them to repentance, and to call them to faith in their God, and faithfulness to the covenant that they've made with their God. And so the prophet's not saying, everybody, I'm all alone. But in a sense, he's saying, everybody, I'm all alone. In other words, there's no connection, there's no righteousness, there's no godliness, there's no fidelity to first table of the law. There are idolaters amongst us, there are blasphemers amongst us, there are Sabbath breakers amongst us. There's no fidelity with reference to the second table of the law. Honor for parents, family disintegration, the breakdown in society, the reality of murder and adultery and theft and lies and covetousness. This evokes from the prophet this lamentation.

Again, I think this is good for us in our current generation, not only with reference to the civil state, but to much of what is going on in the church today. I don't want to church bash, but I'm going to church bash. The church needs to be faithful. The church needs to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Church is not entertainment hour. Church is not puppets, ponies, and programs hour. Church is for the people of God to worship their God, and the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, not only to equip the people of God, but to call sinners to repentance and faith. There was an absence of that in Micah's day, and he cries out, woe is me. I don't think that's wrong. I think that is right, and I think that's a good model with reference to people living in a time that's not this particular time frame, but a time that in many ways imitates this particular time frame.

Remember the prophet Isaiah, woe to those who call good evil and evil good. Certainly as we look around our society, that sort of thing is flourishing. That sort of thing is prospering. Abortion is a woman's absolute right. Maid is dignity and dying. Sexual perversion is somehow okay when it comes to the mutilation of little children. Brethren, if ever there was a time for the church to lament, if ever there was a time for the church to say, woe is me, again, it's not woe is me, nobody likes me, woe is me, everybody's mean to me, woe is me because my life is not as full and as good as it could be. No, he's crying out about the wretchedness and the pollution that is in civil society all around him.

So in verse 2a, the faithful man has perished from the earth and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. Now this does not demand an interpretation of the actual act of murder, but sinful oppression of one another within the covenant community. The prophet addresses such things specifically in chapter two, verses one and two, and then again in chapter two, verses eight to 11. What you had in civil society in old covenant Israel was that the haves were exploiting the have-nots. And Micah deals with that specifically. So he describes it this way. There is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net.

Notice he goes on. It's not just the general nature or the general condition of society at large, but it's also a leadership problem. And oftentimes, as leaders go, so goes the people. You see this in the history of Old Covenant Israel when there's a godly king on the throne. It's not that everybody then is godly, but society looks a whole lot better than when there's an ungodly man on the throne. When the throne co-opts idolatry, it makes it easier for the man on the street to engage in that self-same idolatry.

So the corruption of leadership, notice in verses 3 and 4, that they may successfully do evil with both hands. The prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bride, 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." So the leadership was guilty. Micah deals with this in chapter 3. I feel like I went too long this morning, so we're not going to turn to chapters 3 and 2. to confirm these things, but I'll just call out the specific text. In Micah 3, 1 to 7, then again in Micah 3, 9 to 12. The leadership is culpable. They're responsible. They're godless. They are leading in such a way as to communicate to the man on the street that this kind of conduct is appropriate. This kind of conduct is okay. This kind of conduct is sanctioned by the civil state.

But Micah doesn't stop there. It's not just man in general, it's not just the leadership specifically, but it's infected covenant households, the disintegration of family, the disintegration of marriage. Remember when Jesus is talking about bringing a sword into this world. He cites the prophet Micah. Notice in verse five, 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.

So as the prophet cries out, woe is me, he makes his case. He authenticates, he confirms, he validates what it is he's saying. He doesn't just say, woe is me, I wish things were much better. He gives concrete examples of the corruption of society around him. The covenant people have gone a whoring. The leadership has led them in this particular path. And it's of such an epidemic nature that it has affected the very family itself. Don't trust in her who lies in your bosom. In other words, there is bad things happening. The closest of relations were enemies to the godly. The closest of relationships were fractured and tainted by sin.

So that's the prophet's trial. That's his lamentation. That's his heartache and his hardship. That's what perplexes him. And I think we need to understand the gravity of this situation. Sometimes we can feel all alone. Sometimes we can feel like we're just a bit of a remnant in a country that seems to have gone far astray, far wide from the mark. But, you know, when we stop and think about it, we step a few steps back and we come to a prayer meeting and we hear what's going on all over the world, it's quite encouraging. It's quite encouraging to see the saints of Christ in China, to see the saints of Christ in Kenya, to see the saints of Christ in Myanmar, to see the saints of Christ persevering. to know from the promises of God Most High through the book of Revelation that from every tribe, every tongue, every people and every nation, there will be a great multitude assembled at the throne of God.

But at the same time, brethren, there is this in our hearts. When we see things that have gone so awry, this lamentation comes out, and that brings us then to the prophet's exhortation in verses 7 to 13. What do we do when we cry out? What do we do when we lament? What do we do when we say, woe is me? What do we do when we rehearse just how bad everything is? The man on the street, the man on the throne, man and woman in their home. What do we do when we come to that point? 

Well, a godless response is to just throw up our hands and say, forget it. A godless response is not to pray for wisdom. A godless response is not to persevere and endure. A godless response is not patience. But with reference to the godly, the godly exhorts his fellow godly people, which he does here in verses 7 to 13, but as well, the godly prays to the Lord. See, the godless, they are hopeless. The godly are hopeful even in distressing situations and in conditions. 

And so when we look at the prophet here, we notice first his exhortation that the believer must look to God. Notice in verse 7, after highlighting how bad things are, he says in verse 7, therefore, Not, therefore, I'm going to go down, get me some ammunition and lots of semi-automatic weapons and start gunning down the man on the street. I'm going to go after the throne and then I'm going to go door to door and just shoot godless wives and godless husbands. He doesn't do that. That's not the Christian response. Notice what he says, therefore, I will look to the Lord. 

In the midst of distress, in the midst of affliction, in the midst of hardship, in the midst of the loneliness, and by loneliness I don't mean what I think it often means today. I just don't have anybody to play with. No, no, loneliness when it feels like you're a stranger in a strange land. when you're the odd man out because of your faithful testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what loneliness in this context means. So what does he do? He knows his hope isn't ultimately in man. He knows that man is the problem. I can't look to man. I can't expect from man. I can't hope in man. Rather, I must look to God. I must expect from God. I must hope in God. And that is precisely what he says. 

Notice, he says, therefore, I will look to the Lord. The therefore is an implication. As bad as the man on the street, the man on the throne, and the man in the home are, nevertheless, God is on His throne. Nevertheless, God Most High is in control. Nevertheless, God Most High governs all His creatures and all their actions. I will look to the Lord. 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 beautiful. That's precisely what the prophet is doing here. Therefore, I will look to the Lord. Notice he waits for God. I will wait for the God of my salvation. I don't demand God to fix things right now, and if He doesn't, I'm done. That's different. Waiting for God, understanding that in His time He will lift you up. That's crucial with reference to the Christian faith. It's not wrong to say, woe is me. It's not wrong to lament. It's not wrong to survey the society around you and say, man, it's messed up. But we don't come through the front door of heaven and say, God, if you don't fix this right now, I'm done. I'm off the team. No, I will wait on my God. I will be content in my God. I will be patient as I look for his favor.

But then notice he has confidence in God. My God will hear me. Therefore, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Patience does not mean that God hasn't heard. We're not patient in the hopes that sometime He might possibly hear. We trust and know assuredly that God hears us. But in terms of His response, in terms of His action, in terms of His fixing things, we're going to have to wait. But we're confident that my God will hear me. When we pray according to the will of God, when we come to the Father through the Son and by the Spirit, we have that confidence. God hears us.

When Jesus talks about private prayer and He says you go into your closet and there you shut the door and you pray to your Father, your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Notice He does not say, you know, if you think or feel that He is there. I think sometimes we do that in prayer. Was it a good time of prayer? Yeah. How do we quantify that? Because I feel good. We go another time, maybe to prayer meeting or our private prayers and it wasn't really a good time of prayer because I don't really feel that satisfied. Jesus just assumes that God sees and hears when we pray. The prophet Micah assumes and presupposes that God will hear. And based on the reality that God hears, that fortifies Him for that patience. That fortifies Him for that waiting.

God is not on our time frame. He is under no constraint to fix things the moment that we cry out to Him. And we need to get that lesson. We need to get the lesson of the children of Israel when they got promised that they were going to inherit a blessed land, and then they go into bondage for several hundred years. Brethren, God is not on our timetable. We're on His. Not that He has time, but you'll indulge me for a moment.

Notice then, He moves on. He then says, with reference to the believer, you must trust the promises of God. That's verses 8 to 13.

The first thing that the believer needs to trust is that though he falls, he will rise. Notice in verse 8, 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.

Listen to Gil. When I fall, I shall arise, or though I fall, or have fallen into outward afflictions and distresses, which come not by chance, but by divine appointment. or into the temptations of Satan, and by them, which sometimes is suffered for wise purposes, 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 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, 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 should, 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.

One in the history of the church has well said, believers fall, but they don't fall in. We have those times. We have those challenges. The great King David engaged in adultery and conspiracy to murder to cover it up. The great Apostle Peter denied his Lord three times. They fall, but by God's grace they rise. We fall, but by God's grace we rise.

Never ever think that to be a Christian means that you must be perfect. I mean, Matthew says, Matthew 5.48, or Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. That's certainly the goal. That's certainly what we pursue, but the rest of the scriptures teach us and tell us, and there it could be complete. The rest of the scriptures tell us, Romans 7, Galatians 5, we're not going to have that entire sanctification or that perfection on this side of heaven. There will be times when the people of God fall, but God's grace will raise them up.

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. And stepping back into the historical context with the fall of the Northern Kingdom, never to be raised up again, and on the precipice again several years later of the fall of the Southern Kingdom, what would the nations all conclude? That Yahweh was unable to preserve his people, that God couldn't maintain the covenant people, that God couldn't keep it intact. Remember, that's how Moses pleads with God in Numbers 14, please intercede lest the Egyptians and the pagans and the Canaanites around us conclude that God was not able to sustain his people in the wilderness.

Well, what's Micah ultimately prophesying concerning? He's prophesying concerning the messianic reign. He's prophesying concerning that time that though the nation had fallen, the nation functions instrumentally as God had ordained to bring forth Messiah, the true Israel of God, the champion of the covenant, and the one who would affect all of the promises of God and bring them to that yea and amen as the Apostle Paul tells us.

Notice, then, the people of God will bear the indignation because of sin. 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. Micah knew Micah 6, 9 to 16. Why did Micah know Micah 6, 9 to 16? Because Micah had just written Micah 6, 9 to 16. Micah understood all too well with the fall of the northern kingdom and the coming fall of the southern kingdom that God would execute the vengeance of the covenant. That Deuteronomy 28 wasn't just sort of a kind of an idea that was out there for perhaps an application at some point. No, Micah knew the curses of the covenant. Micah knew the indignation of God. Micah knew the consequences and the judgments for a people that swear fidelity to Yahweh and then go a whoring for other gods. And so he says that I will bear the indignation of the Lord. Again, he's speaking for himself, but representatively for the remnant, for the church, for the true believers.

And then notice, the indignation is because of sin. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him. Brethren, that's proper confession. Remember when David's called out by the prophet Nathan? He doesn't say, well Bathsheba was the problem. Bathsheba, you know, she's a pretty attractive woman and she was up there bathing and she was there for everybody to see. It was all her fault. That's why I did what I did. No, he doesn't do that. He doesn't do that for a moment. He says, I have sinned against the Lord.

Same with the prophet Micah. What is a reflex tendency when dealing with our own sin? Defensiveness, right? A great guy like me would never do something like that. It goes all the way back to the garden. Adam first tries to blame God, the woman whom you gave me. What's the supposition behind that? If you hadn't have given me her, we wouldn't be in this mess. And then of course her, he's all too willing to throw Eve under the bus to try to evade the clear responsibility that he bears and the liability of having rebelled against God's law.

You see, defensiveness is not good in the Christian life. I'm not saying lie down and plead to a robbery charge when you are at home in bed at 3 a.m. in the morning. I'm not suggesting that. But this hyper-defensive attitude where we always have to vindicate our name is absent from the prophet's exhortation.

The prophet exhorts The prophet imbibes this mindset, 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. 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. That's good.

We're not wholly harmless and undefiled living in this society. We're not absolutely pure. We're not without guile. Yeah, we see the sexual perversion. We see the abortion. We see the maid. We see those obvious displays of utter rebellion against God. But if we're honest with ourselves, we see those displays of rebellion against God in our day-to-day activity, in the way that we deal with things, in our defensiveness, in our evasion. in our failure to own when we have sinned against the Lord and confessed it and dealt with it the way God says to.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1.9. Not if we, you know, give a good defense for why we did what we did and we barter with God, then perhaps we can come to agreement. No, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As well, the remnant will be vindicated. He's exhorting them to consider and ponder this. 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? My eyes will see her. Now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.

Have you ever talked to people about what Scripture promises concerning God's salvation? I don't mean at the individual level. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But you tell them stuff like Matthew 28, 18 to 20. Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. And then perhaps you turn to the book of Revelation and you see. The nations, you see tribes, tongues, peoples, nations, a great multitude that no man can number. And people scratch their heads and they say, wait a minute, it doesn't look like that now. It doesn't look like it could ever be that way.

Yeah, I get that. It doesn't look like it could ever be that way. I'm sure Micah would have said the same thing in his prophetic career. Doesn't ever look like what Micah describes in Micah 4, which is parallel in Isaiah 2, when the nations come to Zion to be taught the law of the Lord. The gospel works that way, doesn't it? It doesn't come with a splash and save everybody at the first round. It's the mustard seed that's tiny, insignificant, smaller than every other seed that you throw into the ground. And what happens? This great big tree blooms from it. That's God's way. At times, imperceptible. At times, it appears it's going backwards. At times, it seems that everything is lost. At times, it seems that we're never gonna make any advancements. We're never gonna go forward. We're never gonna see these covenant promises of God realized.

Brethren, that's what faith is all about. It's holding on to the promises of God. Back to the sermon this morning. You know, intuitively we might think that if you're a child of God, and God has all power and authority and all sovereignty and omnipotence, then you'd think that he would just only ever provide good things for his children. Yeah, you'd think that, unless you were a parent. Because you know that if you only ever provide good things for your children, they grow up to be terrible human beings. Horrible. I'm not picking on kids here, but actually I'm picking on adults that didn't have parents that kept good things from them. Right? You indulge a child? You only ever tell him he's the most wonderful thing in the world? He's the center of the universe? It doesn't humble them. It doesn't help them. The same with God, he chastens us, he disciplines us, he sends trials our way for our benefit and for our good. He causes all things to work for good. In the context, it must mean all bad things.

Notice then, he says the remnant will be increased according to verses 11 to 13. 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. I think verses 11 and 12 prophesy concerning covenant inclusion of Gentiles in the promises of God. 13 highlights in prophetic language from this particular milieu or theological landscape, 8th century, 7th century, that what he's talking about is those who continue to resist, those who continue to reject, those who continue to refuse to come to God through Christ are going to perish.

So we've got the prophet's lamentation in verses 1 to 6. We've got his exhortation in verses 7 to 13. Notice then finally his prayer in verses 14 to 20. He starts with petitions, particular requests in verses 14 to 17, and then he goes off into doxology in verses 18 to 20. So note first the petitions. He wants good leadership. 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.

Now, Gill suggests this is God to Christ, or this is the prophet to Christ. I think it's the prophet speaking to God through Christ, saying, Lord, shepherd your people. How are you going to shepherd them? Yeah, ultimately, in the New Covenant, by the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ. But immediately, in terms of this particular context, shepherd your people with faithful men. Shepherd your people with godly men. Shepherd your people with men who aren't corrupt. Princes who aren't seeking out bribes. Princes who aren't corrupt through and through.

God's leadership in this prophetic book is spoken in terms of faithful shepherding in each of the three cycles of prophecy. You see it in 2.12, 4.6, and then here. The leadership of God through these instrumental means will be similar to what he provided to the children of Israel in the exodus. Notice. Verse 15, as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders.

So when the prophet comes to specifically petition God with reference to the current situation, he prays, God Almighty, please shepherd your people. In other words, raise up men that will be faithful men to navigate the contours of kingdom life, covenantal life, men who will be faithful to the law of the Lord. Again, I think it looks even beyond this prophetic setting to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The shepherd, your people, is going to ultimately come through the Christ of God, sent in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law, to be that shepherd king that leads his people in the paths of righteousness.

So the prophet's woe is followed up by the prophet's confidence in God and then the prophet's specific petition to God. So not only for God's leadership, verses 14 and 15, but for God's victorious intervention in verses 16 and 17. Notice.

"'The nation 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.'"

Maybe the church needs to pray like Micah. Maybe the church needs to pray that those who continue in penitent, those who continue unbelieving, those who continue in rebellion against Yahweh would be cut off by Yahweh, would be judged by Yahweh. The prophet Habakkuk prays, in wrath remember mercy. That's legit. That's consistent. That's what we ought to pray. That God takes his enemies and by grace makes them his friends. Just like he did with us. We were enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and God made us friends by his grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. He can do that for multitudes out there.

But there is a time coming when it's perfectly legitimate, and probably already is now, for us to acknowledge and realize that God will thwart, God will judge, God will condemn. And note the echoes of Eden in verse 17. 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. I believe that allusion is specific, it is direct, it is connected to what God's promise in 3.15 is all about. It is about the son or the seed of the woman who crushes the serpent himself.

So again, there is a contemporary application in the life of the prophet Micah, but there is a messianic application in the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the new covenant realities promised by God beginning in Genesis 3.15.

And then notice, he moves to doxology by asking a question and then answering it. Notice in verse 18, who is a God like you? This is how the song of Moses goes 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? That's a good way to start a prayer. Who is like you? And then fill it out with the perfections of God.

But before we proceed, and I'm going to just give you a bit of a foreshadow, notice, pardoning iniquity, passing over the transgression, the remnant of his heritage. He doesn't retain his anger forever. He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities. He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

The name Micah means who is like the Lord. Some names, you do etymology of names, or you look, baby name books, right? I'm sure there's a little bit of familiarity with baby name books in this church. Stacks and volumes. I've got volume 18. Anybody seen that one yet? Look at how they spell it this time. We kind of like that. And we see biblically, or in the Bible, names signify certain things. They represent certain things. Jesus. Yahweh is salvation. That's a name packed with meaning.

Who is like God? Notice what evokes the question. It's not His justice. It's not His wrath. It's not His anger. It's not the punishment of the wicked. It's not the judgment of the ungodly. We expect that from God, don't we? We expect that from God. I'm not trying to sound cheeky here. We expect it. In a moral universe governed by a God whose throne has as its foundation righteousness and justice, no one of us, no one outside of us should ever be surprised that a transgressor against God's holy law ends up punished. We demand such in our civil courts. Somebody's guilty of a crime. Somebody goes out and hurts a child. It's inherent in us. It is in our DNA. It is in our nature. It's in the warp and the woof. We want justice for that person. We expect justice.

That's not why he says, who is a God like you? What blows the prophet's mind is not God's judgment, it's God's grace. What blows the prophet's mind is not damnation because of sinfulness, but salvation in spite of sinfulness. It's not the lake of fire that surprises the prophet, but it's rather Emmanuel's land. Brethren, when he asks the question and then he fills out the answer, that's the obvious implication. Who is a God like you? We wouldn't have to say who punishes nasty sinners, who sends pedophiles into the lake. Well, of course, we expect that. Part of his job, what he does, he maintains justice. Righteousness is a perfection of our God such that when somebody transgresses the law, they are executed, they are put away. But it's grace, it's kindness, it's mercy, it's forgiveness. The answer is clear. Who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. That's what's perplexing. That's what's puzzling. Not perplexing and puzzling as if he doesn't believe it, but as he rehearses this, as he ends in doxology, as he ends in praise, it's that which evokes it. God's goodness, God's mercy, God's kindness, God's graciousness. He pardons our iniquity.

Thus the prophet ultimately has no, I wanna say problem, but he has no problem with his sin. Verse nine, 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.

This full free forgiveness of sin was there in the old covenant as well, not because of the old covenant, but because of the new covenant retrospectively apply. That's why David could say, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. That's why David could say, but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. That's why David could say, pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for your name's sake, for it is great. Why? Because he looked forward to the promise of Jesus Christ.

So the prophet Micah, when he asks the question, who is a God like you, the thing that perplexes him Is this pardoning iniquity, passing over the transgression, the remnant of his heritage? Notice, he does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

You ever met that person when you're doing evangelism and they say, well, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, it's all filled with wrath and blood and fury and guts. Really? Is it? I mean, I'm not gonna lie, there is some wrath and fury and blood and guts to be sure, There's a lot of grace and a lot of mercy and not a retaining of anger and a delight in mercy. So again, who is a God like you? I get a delight in justice, I get a delight in righteousness, a delight in mercy to the likes of us, to a people who have basically destroyed your covenant, to a people who have scoffed at you, to a people who have gone away from you, a people that have turned from you, This is why he says, who is a God like you?

Notice he continues, he will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. That's good language. He will subdue our iniquities. Again, new covenant application. He justifies us freely by his grace. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. We enter into the life of sanctification. What's one of the functions of the spirit of truth? He subdues our iniquity. Galatians 5, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you don't do the things that you want. What is that but the spirit subduing our iniquity? What is that but the spirit furthering us down the road? What is that but the spirit preserving us and guiding us and helping us and persevering us to that final end of glorification?

And then notice, you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. This is full admission here. This is why my son Micah is named Micah. It was when Rebecca was going to have him, I happened to be reading the prophet Micah. I happened to be reading in God's providence and I thought, what a cool guy. No, I didn't say it quite like that. I thought, what a glorious truth concerning God. Micah is a great name. Micah is a beautiful name. It's a testament and a testimony to what we have in our God. So you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. I'm sure I've said before, Spurgeon on this says that God goes deep sea fishing with our sins. I mentioned a few weeks ago, my beloved is now an avid fisherman. An avid fisherman, we're not ready for the high seas yet and rock cod and all that's involved with that. I'm sure that'll be in our future at some point. Gotta get bigger poles and rods and boats and the whole spiel. 

But you know the difference between shallow and deep. The prophet could have said he will cast all our sins into the sea. Some of us might be a bit suspicious and say, what part of the sea? Is it the shoreline? Are we going to be haunted by them again? Are they going to come bobbing up again? No. He casts them into the depths of the sea. 

I'm going to quote Gil, and one of the things that he mentions at the end of the quote is that there might be an allusion to the Egyptians. I think that's what's happening. So Gil says, with reference to this text, casting our sins into the depths of the sea. never to be seen anymore, 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." 

Listen to this, as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, this is what we're proclaiming, the Lord's death. And the blessed impact of the Lord's death is to deal with our sin, past, present, and future. The godly don't say, well, if in justification my future sins are forgiven, it really doesn't matter how I live. The godly say otherwise. The godly say, well, since the Lord, by His grace and for His glory, has atoned for my sins, past, present, and future, out of gratitude, out of adoration, out of worship, and out of praise, God conform me unto the image of your beloved Son, whether it take trial or affliction or hardship. God conform me to the image of your beloved Son through my own faithfulness by your Spirit, through my Bible reading, through my praying, through my suppering, through my fellowship with the saints. 

Brethren, we have full, free forgiveness as a result of what Christ has done. 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, 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 pardoned, not one remains unforgiven. 

Who is a God like you? And then he lists these benefits of covenant mercy. He lists these blessings that Paul rehearses in Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Brethren, that's what we have, that's what we possess, that's what the prophet was conscientious of and prophesying concerning. And then he ends on the high note of God's covenant faithfulness, though the people haven't been faithful. Though the man on the street, the man on the throne, and the man in the home haven't been faithful, God remains faithful. Notice, verse 20, you will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old. He grounds this in the covenant faithfulness of God Most High, who has always been and will always be faithful to everything He has promised to His people. Thus ends the chapter, just a few thoughts, and then we'll move to the supper.

First, the confidence of the believer. The confidence of the believer isn't the man on the street, the man on the throne, or the man in the home. The confidence of the believer is God. That's verse 7, very, very clearly. Therefore, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me. Psalm 146, 3 and 5, 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. That's crucial. That's what we need to get from the prophet Micah here in chapter 7.

I would suggest, secondly, the triumph of faith, the prophet's faith. Was he just an optimist guy? No. If anything, I'd kind of put him in the pessimist category, at least in his lamentation in verses 1 to 6. Some people just have a generally optimistic spirit. That's not faith necessarily. Dare I say you can be a pessimist and have great faith in God? I guess I just said it. He's got confidence in God. He lives as a man who's tried and proven his God. He wasn't just an optimist.

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. And he refuses to do that. Again, 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. It's in the prophet Zechariah. Do not despise the day of small things. It's a tendency for us. Well, I don't see revival. I don't see awakening. I'm not seeing people flock to our church. Brethren, God has promised from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, God has promised that the gospel is to go forth. to all nations. God has promised that he is building his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. We're not to despise the day of small things.

And then in terms of the object of his faith, it's God. It's the perfections of God. It's the promises of God. Faith looks to the God of our salvation, verse 7. Faith looks to the God who causes us to rise when we fall, verse 9. I'm sorry, verse 8. Faith recognizes one's own sin and lays hold of God's forgiveness, verse 9. Faith knows there's vindication coming for the people of God. We may not see it. I mean, I'd love to live in the latter-day glory. I'd love to live in those days foretold in Micah 4 when the nation streamed to Zion to hear the law of the Lord. I don't have a certain expectation of that, that I will live to see it or witness it, but I have a certain expectation that God has promised it and that the gospel is going forth, conquering and to conquer. Pray that the word would run swiftly and be glorified, Paul tells the Thessalonians.

As well, faith submits to the rule of God, verses 14 to 15, shepherd your people with your staff. And faith particularly focuses on the being and perfections of God. I think we see that clearly there in verses 18 to 20. When he engages in doxology, it's the being and the perfections of God that he rehearses in terms of praise to that God. Again, Thomas McCombsky says this, 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 the Old Testament.

Clouds of gloom have rolled in on the horizon of the prophet's life because of the 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 the prophet alone.

I like that. It starts off in foreboding gloom. It starts off in utter darkness, verses 1 to 6. The world's a mess. A man on the street, on the throne, in the home, they're a mess. Wretchedness, lawlessness, covenant unfaithfulness. But it ends in this triumph. It ends on this crescendo. It ends on this high note of celebration of the mercy and the kindness and the forgiveness of our God.

Well, brethren, I hope that the supper functions in a similar way for us. It's not just an empty rite. It's not just a ritual. It's not just something we tick off on the first of the month so that we can call ourselves a Christian church. This is a time of renewal, a time of refreshment, a time when God, the householder, serves the people of God to encourage them on their pilgrim way.

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are this God described by the prophet Micah. We bless you that you have chosen us unto salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. And we thank you for his redemptive work on our behalf. As we eat this bread tonight, as we drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death and all of its attendant benefits for all those whom the Father had given him. We thank you for every spiritual blessing that you have given us. And we pray that you would cause us to reflect upon these things constantly, and may it refresh, may it encourage, and may it indeed produce from us that gratitude and that praise and that worship that is all deserving, all fittingly deserving by a great and glorious God. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.