Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Micah, the prophet, specifically chapter seven. The prophet Micah, chapter seven, I want to conclude a theme that has at least been embedded in the last couple of messages. We looked last Sunday night in Deuteronomy, chapter six, where God, through Moses, tells them not to test the Lord as they had done at Massa. And we saw the essence of testing there is calling into question God's veracity or his truthfulness or his faithfulness in the midst of trial and difficulty.
We also alluded to that theme a bit this morning with our look at Asaph in Psalm 73. Again, that danger of interpreting reality or interpreting things around us according to a man centeredness or according to what we perceive to be best. We want to always think in terms of God's word. We want to be theologically sound.
We want to interpret reality based on the truth as revealed in Holy Scripture. And I thought to conclude that theme or that sub theme, if you will, we would look at this example of the prophet Micah demonstrated in Micah chapter seven. Well, I'll just pick up reading in verse one. We'll read to the end of the chapter, make a few introductory comments, and then look at the chapter in more detail.
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 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. 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 and 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. Father, thank you for your holy word.
Thank you for its encouragement to us. Give us the grace, God, to take these things to heart. Give us grace to trust in you, even in the midst of trial. Especially in the midst of trial, God, help us to have that confidence, that faith in you as our rock.
We just pray now that you would forgive us for all of our sin and our unrighteousness. We pray that we'd have the mind of Christ and the spirit of God as we approach this your word. We pray, Father, that you would be exalted and glorified and worshiped and praised in this meeting together, that you would fit us for service in this world as we leave from this place. We thank you for these Sabbath days.
We thank you for the privilege to come in out of the world, to meet with you in a special way, to call upon you, to praise you, to worship you, and as well to know your presence in our midst. We just ask God in heaven that you would be well pleased to bless our time together. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction to Micah
Well, the prophet Micah hailed from the southern kingdom of Judah and ministered at the same time that the prophet Isaiah ministered. They were addressing many of the same things. In fact, a comparison of Micah 4 and Isaiah 2 will show you the similarities. They speak word for word about the same sorts of things.
As well, Micah was a contemporary of Hosea, the prophet in the north. His prophecies helped shape the nation's policies. In fact, about 100 years later, his prophecy helped Jeremiah. Remember that Jeremiah was giving a sermon at the temple, and he said that the city, the nation, was going to be destroyed.
And the people did not like that. They wanted to imprison him for speaking against that holy place, similar to what would happen later with Jesus Christ and with Stephen in the book of Acts. Nevertheless, the prophet Jeremiah was seen as a prophet of God, it was received, and they cited the prophet Micah, Micah of Moresheth, who in the days of Hezekiah prophesied that there would be a destruction, there would be exile, there would be this judgment of God upon the nation. As well, the prophet Micah, when he ministered, was from about 737 to 690 BC.
This means that he lived during the Assyrian siege on the northern kingdom. He saw what happened when the northern tribes had continued to reject God. 722, they were judged by God through Assyria. The northern tribes were no more. They were decimated.
A bulk of them were taken off into Assyria. Other peoples were placed in the northern kingdom, and the land was never the same as a result. but also he lived during the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem in 701 B.C. So Micah of Moresheth certainly saw his share of difficulty in his life as a prophet. And here, as the chapter begins, we see him lamenting.
We'll look at the prophet's lamentation in verses 1 to 6. Why is he lamenting? What is the struggle? What is the trial that he is currently undergoing?
Secondly, we'll notice the prophet's attitude in the midst of discouragement in verses 7 to 10. And then finally, the prophet's assurance of God's victory. in verses 11 to 20. But before we actually get into the lamentation, I just want to quote Thomas McCombsky. He says, like a day that begins with a dark, foreboding sky.
This is something we are familiar with here in Chilliwack, to be sure. If we were in Palm Springs, this might be a difficult kind of concept to wrap our minds around. But we all know what a dark and foreboding sky looks like. He says, 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 seven shown through the gloom, It is in the great affirmation of faith that concludes the book 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. We need to oftentimes remind ourselves that the things that we are discouraged about, the things that try us, the things that vex us, the things that give us cause for great concern are nothing new under the sun. We live in a world filled with sin. We live in a world under the curse.
We live in a world that is in rebellion against God. It ought not to surprise us that we are oftentimes confronted by and faced with difficulties. McCombsky says the answer is in this chapter, why he doesn't succumb to utter pessimism. 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. You remember that within Israel, within Judah, there was always a remnant. That means the church.
That means the faithful, the believing ones. Remember, God told Elijah, I have seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to bail. That was a remnant. That was the people within the covenant community that were faithful, that were persevering, and that were looking to God with confidence and with trust.
So
The Prophet's Lamentation
let's just look first at his lamentation, verses one to six.
No Godly Fellowship
The first aspect is there was no godly fellowship for the prophet. There was no godly fellowship for him. You know, loneliness oftentimes can produce desperation. Loneliness at times can produce vexation.
When you feel like you're all alone, God has made us to be social beings, social creatures. We oftentimes thrive and do best in the midst of others who share our interests, who have a same sort of a goal, a same sort of orientation. This is why Christian fellowship is necessary. This is why we need to exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest we are hardened to the deceitfulness of sin.
We need godly companionship. We need that help. We need that benefit. But he says, 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. He's a frustrated farmer. He goes out there to gather, he goes out there to glean, and there's nothing for him. There's no fruit to enjoy.
There's no benefit for his body. There's no help for his condition. And then he tells us or explains this in verse two. He says the faithful man has perished from the earth.
There is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. I mean, this is a very desperate situation, isn't it?
He's all alone. Notice the language. The faithful man has perished from the earth. There is no one upright among men.
There's no one I can hang out with. Now while he prophesied at the time of Isaiah, obviously their paths didn't cross. Obviously he didn't have Isaiah as a bosom buddy. He didn't make frequent trips to go visit Hosea in the north.
He is lamenting over the fact that the current situation in Judah is such that there were no righteous people. There was no godly conversation. There was no edification. There was no encouragement for this man.
He highlights that there was corruption in the entirety of society, the whole of society. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. This doesn't mean necessarily they were all murderers, but in the prophet Micah, he condemns the sin of land grabbing.
He condemns the sin of oppressing the poor and taking the things that they have. It's a murderous and a treacherous activity when the haves exploit the have-nots. The prophet Micah is saying, this is what is going on. But it's not just society.
It's not just the rank and file, but it's also the leadership. And this should hit close to home. When we look at a godless leadership, when we look at ungodly men who are in high places, it can be discouraging. It can be depressing.
It can cause some concern in our hearts. This is the picture the prophet is painting, and this is why he is lamenting. You think that you're lonely? You think that you have challenges that no one has ever seen before?
You think that you live in a time that is unlike any other time in the history of man? It's simply not the case. I mean, you could sprinkle water in this room and possibly not hit anybody. But nevertheless, there are some warm breathing bodies in this church that confess faith in the living and true God through Jesus Christ.
We have email, we have texting, we have telephones. There is some connection to fellow pilgrims along the way. There is some connection among the godly within the 21st century in North America.
Corrupt Leadership in Judah
The leadership is corrupt, 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. That means they're not fit for anything but burning.
The best of the leadership in Judah during Micah's reign, or Micah's prophetic office, is fit for burning like a briar. He says the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your punishment comes now shall be there perplexed perplexity again back in chapter three verses one to seven nine to twelve. The leadership of Israel was guilty.
They were sinful. They were oppressive. They were wicked. They were ungodly.
The leadership and hence the people would bring God's judgment ultimately upon the community. Do you see the prophet has no godly friends. No godly companionship. He can't look to the governing authorities in the midst of Judah, the very covenant community of God, the nation that's supposed to act and function and rule and reign according to the law of God.
Well, certainly, if he doesn't have recourse to companions in society, he doesn't have recourse to a godless leadership,
Disintegration of the Family
certainly he'll find refuge in the family, won't he? He'll find comfort in those closest to him, in those nearest and dearest to him. No, the corruption in Judah was such that the family itself had disintegrated. This is verses five and six.
Notice, do not trust in a friend. This isn't a maxim. This isn't a command. This isn't something for us to keep in our mind.
We can never trust a friend. No, trust your friend. Cultivate godly friendships and trust that brother, trust that sister, trust your wife, trust your husband. You should be best friends.
You should have such a relationship that you can unbosom your soul to that particular person and entrust it to them. He's not saying here as a command for all successive generations that we are never to trust in a friend. He is saying in a godless society, in a corrupt society, in a society given more to idolatry than the worship of the true and living God, do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion.
These are godless people. These are unrighteous people. We can't seek fellowship in the midst of those closest to him. He says, guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.
This demonstrates the disintegration of the family in Israel. Every man is for himself. It's a horrible and a bleak picture of how bad life can really get. Now this is Judah, this is the covenant people, this is where righteousness should flourish and godliness should be extolled.
But what we find here is the prophet making this statement, 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. This is what Jesus cited in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 35. The sword of the gospel brings division.
The sword of the gospel cuts a clear swath. The godless hate the godly. The unrighteous despise the righteous. The wicked disdain those who, by God's grace, walk in holiness and in righteousness.
You see, it's a bleak situation, isn't it? There's no place for him to go, is there? We say, man, what's he going to do? Poor Micah.
This poor prophet. What does he have? And again, for all of us, we have somebody in our lives, don't we? If you can raise your hand and say, I have no one.
Call me more. I'll talk to you. Email me. I'll text with you.
I want to be your friend. I want to be there for you. You see, he's painting the picture as it stood in Judah, in the southern kingdom in the sixth century BC. It's a bleak picture.
It's dark. It's oppressive. It's bad. You see, we need to guard our hearts against this tendency and this temptation to say, nobody knows the trouble I see.
Nobody knows how hard I have it. Nobody understands. You just can't enter in. I understand that you have some sort of difficulties in your life, but it's nothing like mine.
Brethren, I don't think any of us have ever engaged in something that is this dismal in our lives. that is this bleak in our lives, that is this trying, that is this exasperating, that is this depressing. I mean, if the prophet ended at verse six, we'd have to hang our heads in shame and say, Amen. And off we go into another week hoping and praying that God sees fit not to give us Micah's lot in this world. But you see, it doesn't stop there.
Remember what McCombski says. The chapter depicts the triumph of faith in the absence of godly companions, in the absence of a godly leadership, in the absence of a godly wife or a godly husband or a godly son or a godly parent. You always have God himself. You see, it's faith that latches on most earnestly to that blessed object that is able to see it through the difficulties and perplexities of the current situation.
The profit changes focus.
The Prophet's Attitude in Discouragement
Notice in verses 7 to 10, his attitude in the midst of discouragement. Where does he go? He doesn't go to the therapist. He doesn't go to the psychiatrist.
He doesn't take psychotropic drugs. He doesn't seek solace in a bottle. He doesn't seek solace in sexual pleasure. He seeks solace, comfort, strength, benefit, and blessing from God the Lord.
Therefore, he says, I will look to Yahweh. While society has collapsed right before my eyes, while I can't find a friend much like the farmer who can't find grapes, while I can't find leaders that are worth their salt or worth their weight in any sort of righteousness or judgment of justice, while I can't trust the wife of my youth, the wife of my bosom, I can't trust those in my own family. I've always got God. I've always got the Lord.
Brethren, we need to be like Micah in this instance.
Looking and Waiting on God
Therefore, I will look to the Lord. This was the response of Job. Blessed be the name of the Lord. This is what fixed ASAP's problem until I went into the sanctuary, until I started to think in terms of God, until I started to remind myself of theology.
You young people and you children, you're going to hear a lot about theology. Don't ever say, oh, theology. It's just those big words, those dry concepts that go right over our head. Generally speaking, we try to define the big words.
We try to add life to the concept so that one day you will see that theology matters. Not just so you can debate Arminians, but so by God's grace you can persevere in the midst of this muck that you can come out confessing the glory of God. Theology matters. That's what he buoys his heart out with.
It is God in his character. It is God in his being. It is God in his attributes. It is God the Lord to whom he trusts.
Notice he waits for the God of his salvation. Therefore, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. I'm going to be patient.
I'm not going to throw up my hands. I'm not going to be a fair weather fair. I'm not going to root for God so long as he roots for me. I'm not going to serve God just so long as God serves me.
No, I'm going to be patient. I'm going to be long suffering. I'm going to enter into that place of humble submission because God is glorious. God is wondrous.
God is holy. God is sovereign. And I am none of the above. My position, my posture must be one of patient submission to God the Lord, not questioning him, not calling into account his veracity, not getting angry with him, not arguing with him, not trying to turn his arm up behind his back and say, you must bless me before I fully serve you.
No, the prophet has the way of happiness set forth there. I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. And then notice the confident expression in the final section in verse seven.
My God will hear me. This much you must know, my dear brothers and sisters, God will hear you. Never mistake that reality. If you are a child of God, if you have been bought and paid for with blood, If you, by God's grace, have come to Him through the Son, you are heard.
Isn't that great? I mentioned you could call me or email me. I might delete your email. Not purposely, but these things happen.
I might miss the call. You might call someone, your wife, your husband, and they didn't text you back, or they didn't call you back, and you get all shattered. God cares His people. See, we have this idea that hearing means doing what I say.
Now, that isn't always the case. God hears us when we unburden our hearts. God hears us when we lay such things before him. The prophet Micah, in the midst of this dismal and bleak society, had this threefold strategy.
I will look to the Lord. I will wait upon the Lord. And I trust that the Lord will, in fact, Hear me, it's not always going to be like this. If not on this earth, I will one day, in Emmanuel's land, enjoy godly fellowship, world without end.
I will stand before the throne of the land. I will hold palm branches in my hand. I'll be clothed in a righteousness not my own, and it will be day and night, whole-souled service to God Almighty. When me and the rest of the church triumph and cry out, salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne. has the path with reference to happiness in the midst of trying situations.
We need to look to God, wait on God, and know that God will, in fact, hear us. Notice,
God Will Vindicate the Faithful
not only does he have open confidence in God, not only does he know that God will, in fact, hear him, he understands that God will vindicate the faithful. Verses 8 to 10. He says, Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, Look at this.
I will rise. Isn't that beautiful? When I fall, I will rise. Why?
Because I'm strong and I'm the baddest guy on the block? No, it's because of God. When I fall, I will rise. I think the falling and rising here is with reference to exile and restoration.
Though God sends us into Babylon, we will emerge. We will return. We will come back to Judah. Though we fall, we will rise.
The same thing can be true in the Christians' life. The falling isn't necessarily our sin. The falling may be distresses, may be difficulties, may be trials, may be perplexities. You see, the idea here is that Babylon and Edom and the surrounding nations are sort of poking fun at the people of God.
Where is your God? What kind of a God do you serve? You fell. You're in this position.
You're in this plight. You're in a difficult state. Where's your God to deliver you? And this is the prophet's response.
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will rise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me. I have to read John Gill on this verse.
He says, when I fall, I shall arise or though I fall or have fallen. He says into outward afflictions and distresses which come not by chance, but by divine appointment. You see, you can't miss that reality as well. It's not just an unlucky age in Judah that the prophet Micah lived in.
This was the plan of Almighty God. And this is what Gil highlights, which come not by chance, but by divine appointment. You realize that trials and difficulties and issues and challenges and hardships in your life come by divine appointment? And we like to think that good things and blessing and happiness and joy come by divine appointment.
Brethren, God, by definition, predestines all things according to the counsel of His will. Everything. Remember, we touched on that this morning. In order for God to conform us to the image of His Son, He has ordained difficulty.
See, we're not Amway. We're not some rah-rah club where everything's happy peppy and upbeat all the time. You just do these things and everything will be great. We talked about those Christians before.
How are you? Great, great. Everything's great. I'm sorry, not everything's great.
Sometimes we're depressed. Sometimes we're down. Sometimes there's melancholy. Sometimes there's that distress that presses upon the soul.
We need to realize these are divinely appointed. God is going to shape us into the image of Christ. He is going to conform us into the image of Christ. If the son of man must learn suffering or must learn obedience through suffering, then certainly the sons of men must learn obedience through suffering as well.
It is by divine appointment. He says, or into the temptations of Satan, and by them, this is what we fall into, and by them, which sometimes is suffered for wise purposes, or for wise purposes, or sometimes we do fall into sin. And he says, 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 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 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.
Though I fall, I will arise." This prophet understands theology. What's getting him through the trials? It's his understanding of who God is and what God does. This is why we take pains to try and instruct on these issues, who God is, And what God does, he knows the remnant will suffer.
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.
Remember, the prophets already specified there will be exile. There will be chastening. There will be a time when Judah leaves her land and goes into Babylon. But he knows that the remnant will be vindicated.
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? You see, there's the times. You see, there is the affliction from the enemies without you going through a particular tough time, you're going through a distressing time. Don't be surprised if the devil dispatches someone to say, where's your God?
I thought being a Christian was about joy, happiness and peace. You seem to have an absence of all three. That must mean your God's gone. See again, we think so carnally.
There's not joy, happiness and peace. God must be gone. You know, there's something more lasting and more deep and more involved in this whole idea of Christianity. It's God himself that is the prize.
It's not the peace, the happiness and the joy. It's God. God doesn't stop loving us. God doesn't give us over.
God doesn't give us up. In the absence of those things, God is always there in the midst of the trials. 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. God will vindicate Zion. God will punish the enemies. God will be all in all and glorified in that day.
And
The Prophet's Assurance of Victory
that brings us, thirdly, to consider the prophet's assurance of God's victory, verses 11 to 20. Verses 11 to 13 are a statement to the church. A statement to the remnant, a statement to the people of God. It's not a statement to the enemies.
In the day when your walls are to be built, in that day the decrees 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. Again, McCombsky says, the clouds of gloom have completely gone.
You see, there's been movement in the life and ministry of the Prophet here. He goes from this lament, this confident assertion of his dependence upon God, and now he's Now he's soaring, considering the victory of God and what he's going to do. The clouds of gloom is completely gone, and the remainder of the chapter is an exultant description of the eventual triumph of the remnant. The future nation cleansed of her sin and ruled by the king born in Bethlehem.
Remember, this is Micah the prophet. Back in chapter five is that prophecy that the one to be a ruler would come from Bethlehem, Africa. This one whose goings forth are from of old, even from everlasting. There's a prophecy of a divine Messiah to come and to vindicate and to rescue his people.
And so when we get to chapter seven, the prophet sees the dismal conditions of his day, but he hopes in God. He waits upon the Lord. He realizes that Almighty Jehovah will vindicate his people. He says, the future nation, cleansed of her sin and ruled by the king born in Bethlehem, would be greatly increased in population by an influx of people from Gentile nations, symbolized by Assyria and Egypt.
This complements the message of 1 to 4, and that it gives to the revived nation of Israel a prominent role in the era of universal peace.
Hope in God's Promises
Turn back there for just a moment. See, I want you to see this, Micah chapter four. How does he buoy his soul? How does he stabilize his heart?
How does he find comfort and encouragement? How does he how does he find that that that peace and that rock solid confidence in God? It's because he knows God. Because he understands God.
Because he believes the promises of God. Notice in Micah four one. Now 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 and let us go up to see the mountain or 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 paths 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 pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
But everyone shall sit under his vine, under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. You see why I need to read your Bible? You see why you need to know scripture. So when the conditions of chapter 7 verses 1 to 6 are upon you, you can trust God.
This ain't all there is. Right. This is not all there is. There is an unseen world.
There is eternity. There is a God Almighty ruling and reigning with his son, Jesus Christ, stationed at his right hand. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is for his people.
Jesus loves his people. Jesus died for his bride. Jesus rose again for his bride. Jesus is not going to leave his bride in a situation of compromise forever.
There may be trial. There may be difficulty. There may be seasons of grief, to be sure. But this thing you must know.
God Almighty will, in fact, vindicate his people, and he will, in fact, have victory. The extension of the kingdom.
God's Shepherding Leadership
Notice in verses 14 and 15, the leadership of God. 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.
He's saying. The same manner that God fetched his firstborn out of Egypt, the way that God carried Israel out of Egypt is the same sort of language that the prophet is encouraging his heart with. God will not always leave us in this state. He will grab us by the hand.
He will put us in his arms and he will lead us out of this mess. This is confident faith. God's victory over his enemies, verses 16 and 17. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all 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. Sounds just like Paul in Second Thessalonians one. It is right with God to pay with tribulation those who afflict you. It's right with God to send his son in his glory with all of his holy angels, taking vengeance on those who know not God and on those who do not obey the gospel.
The Lord will smash his enemies one day. It's one of the blessing encouragements in Revelation 21 and 22 as well. You ever wondered why in this description of a heavenly city, this new Jerusalem, which comes as comes out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Why?
There's a couple places where it tells us who's not going to be there. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the liars, and all thieves will have their part in the lake of fire that burns. This is the second death. Yeah, there's probably warning there for any would-be professor.
You need to realize that if you profess faith in Christ, but your life, your conduct is patterned after these vices, you'll not be in the New Jerusalem. You'll be in the lake of fire. It's certainly probably there for that purpose, but I think as well, it's there to encourage the people of God. It's there to strengthen us.
It's there to be a balm of Gilead. It's there to be a comfort. Don't you want to go to a place where there is no more sin? Don't you want to go to a place where in righteousness dwells?
I mean, if not just for the bad people out there, so no longer do they affect me. At least when I get there, my sin will be gone. Who doesn't want that? How does that not comfort us?
How does that not buoy up our hearts and strengthen our souls and cause us to do holy jigs? The reality is, when we enter into the New Jerusalem, what we leave behind is sin, depravity, remaining corruption, the flesh that lusts against the Spirit. In heaven, we will be spiritually energized. It will be all righteousness. all the time.
And so what the prophet is musing on or reflecting upon here is the utter demolishment of God's enemies, because they are our enemies as well. And then finally,
Victory Rooted in God's Attributes
notice the victory is due to who God is. The victory is due to what we call the attributes of God or the perfections of God or those things we speak concerning God. God is spirit. infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. It is being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Those are attributes we attribute to God, or they're His perfections, or they're virtues, or however you want to explain it. God reveals Himself this way, and this is what the prophet finally and ultimately derives his comfort in.
Who Is a God Like You
Verse 18, who is a God like you? This is what the name Micah actually means. The question as well harkens back to the song of Moses after the Exodus in Exodus 15, 11. What did they say after they were led out of the house of bondage, after they came victoriously out of Egypt, after they had went through that Red Sea, after they had seen the sea collapse on Pharaoh and his armies, and he saw the seashore littered with dead Egyptians.
That's what the text says. Their bodies covered the seashore. What was their response? They said, who is a god like you?
Who is a God like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? This is what the prophet Micah says. Who is a God like you?
And now he fills in the blanks. He attributes. He predicates. He starts to state what God is like.
He says, Who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity. If you have the conditions of verses 1 to 6, you have no godly friends, you have no godly leadership, and you have no godly family members. But you have God and the forgiveness of sins.
You're the wealthiest man alive. This is where, again, if I was a black preacher, I'd say, can I get an amen? Having God and the forgiveness of sins trumps everything else. Amen.
There's nothing better. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, passing over the transgression of the remnants of his heritage? He passes over our transgression. Not by closing his eyes.
Not by pretending it didn't happen. You know, sometimes I guarantee some of the younger parents here, all of the younger parents, you're going to let some things slide. Consistency is probably one of the most difficult things as a married couple. Jeremy's got a big smile.
Oh no, we're going to be perfect. Yeah, sure. Talk to me in 15 years. There's going to be times, now maybe I'm just unfortunately highlighting, autobiographically, my own sin.
But there's times you just don't feel like dealing with it. Is that what he means? He passes over transgression. He just doesn't want to deal with it.
He just pretends it didn't happen. And this happens with the toddlers. They do something and it's so cute. But it's wrong.
But you just kind of, oh, it was cute, you know? The old church fathers would say, you're instilling rebellion in that child. We just kind of pass over it. We can't be bothered.
It's cute. When I was their age, I did that. That's not what he means. See,
Propitiation and Divine Mercy
Micah is telling us here something that Paul will expound on in Romans 3. God doesn't just pass over. God set forth His Son. as a propitiation by his blood to take the wrath and fury, anger, judgment and hell of God himself. You see, that's how God passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He spends his fury upon the son of his love. You see, I think when we understand that, we would identify more with Micah's question, who is a God like you? Who does this? Who, as a triune God, the Father covenants with the Son, hands him a people, gives him the elect, sends him into this world.
The Son willingly undertakes. He's the surety. He's the mediator. He takes to the uttermost, the very wrath of God.
That's what the prophet is basking in. He does not retain his anger forever because, notice, he delights in mercy. Is that your view of God? You know, sometimes I think, unfortunately, we are painted as reformed Christians that we don't see this aspect of God.
I hope it's just the opposite. I hope as reformed Christians, that is that attribute or one of those attributes we most rejoice at knowing our sin, knowing our depravity, knowing our waywardness, knowing our wickedness. What attribute should we most certainly, joyfully delight in? His mercy.
He delights in it. He doesn't give it begrudgingly. He doesn't miserly apportion it out. He just doesn't hand us a little bit stingily.
God is delighting in mercy. Now notice, verse 19, He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. Beautiful language. He will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. He gets rid of them. He throws them away. They don't haunt us again.
Spurgeon says he goes deep sea fishing with those sins. If he just threw them into a shallow pond, they'd keep bobbing up to the surface. They'd always be there. They'd always be a reminder.
They'd always be an indictment. Not so with our God. He cast them into the depths of the sea. They're gone.
What's analogous to that? She's already talked about God the shepherd leading Israel out of Egypt into the land of the land of promise. Notice in verse 20, the same concept is here. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.
That covenant faithfulness, that fidelity, that promise that God is engaged in was because God promised Abraham that he went and fetched Israel out of Egypt and brought them into this land of promise. It's because of what he has stated. It's because of what he has said. You see, scripture, the Bible, theology, study, knowledge, understanding is that means by which the issues of verses one to six can be effectually and successfully engaged in.
I hope we learn the lesson of the prophet here. I hope we learn what he has in his heart with reference to his attitude.
Application: Theology Matters
In summary, his hope is in God, not man. Mark Twain said something very interesting. He actually said a lot of things very interesting, but he said this, if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. 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. What's Twain's point? I don't think he would have sort of explained it this way, but the doctrine of total depravity is a reality. You pick up a starving man, restore him, do good things for him, and have him turn around and bite you, steal from you.
Our hope and our confidence, now that's not to say don't trust your wives, you know, guard your wallet. Well, maybe a lot of husbands you might want to do that sometimes or other. The idea is simple. We are going to face difficulties with men in this world.
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. The triumph of faith is on display in this chapter. Was Micah just an optimist?
Was he the glass is always half full sort of guy? You meet those people sometimes as well. I mean, it's pouring rain. Oh, what a beautiful day.
This is great. OK. Most everybody else is like, really? Is he just an optimist?
He's just a happy guy by nature. In another section of Scripture, 1 Samuel 14, 6, Davis comments, the circumstances in that particular instance did not stimulate optimism. He says, this is not optimism. It is faith.
He says, some people are naturally optimistic. They don't know any better. But faith can arise even when no reason for optimism exists. When everything falls down around you, faith triumphs when it's fixated upon God the Lord.
And finally, we've already hit this nail. I want to hit it one more time. Theology does, in fact, matter. There's one thing.
I was going to drop dead tonight. If I could pass on one thing, and I don't think I'm going to, maybe I will. If I do, that would be really weird. But if I had one thing to impress upon the young people, get this down.
The Bible matters. Geology is important. Don't say, oh, it's a big word. Listen for the definition.
I guarantee you in your 8th grade science class or in your 10th grade science class, you hear big words. Do you give up science? Do you say, I'm not going back to that class? No, you listen for the teacher to define the term.
Or, I mean, just imagine this. You look it up. You know what's more important than scientific terminology, propitiation, reconciliation, redemption, justification, sanctification, glorification, mercy, grace, gospel, Jesus Christ. As far as we're able, whoever stands behind this pulpit will make an attempt to describe and define these words.
These words carry weight. They carry freight. They carry hope and help for your soul. When you face the difficulties of this age, you want to face them clothed in the Word of the living God, don't you?
Take it in. Enjoy it. Look it up. I would love to get an email sometime from a young person that says, you use this word.
What does it mean? My response might be, check with your father, because that's your first line of defense, or your mother. And then there's these things called books. You can look.
No, I won't do that. If you email me, I'll try as best as I can to answer you. Imagine that. You email.
Go look in a book. But never ever neglect this reality that theology matters to the uttermost. The only way Micah could say what he's saying here is because he had experienced God's mercy. The only way Micah could stand fast in the midst of such trial is that he, by God's grace, had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you leave from this room tonight and you are not in Christ, when you face the difficulties, when you face the trials, when you face the challenges, you are unarmed. You have no recourse. You have no strength. You have no one fighting for you.
It is much better by the grace of God to look unto Jesus and to be saved and to go from this place putting on the whole armor of God. And then you are able to withstand in the evil day.
Closing Prayer
Well let us pray. Our father we thank you for your word. We thank you for the prophet Micah. We thank you for the encouragement in this chapter. the way that this brother took promises and the way this brother took theology.
He took the scripture and he used it to gird himself up to withstand these challenges. God, I pray that we would go thou and do likewise, that we would not be ignorant, that we would not be foolish, that we would not resist those things that you've ordained for our good. We just ask that you would bless us, I pray, in a special way for the young people, that they would take these things to heart. that they would pray these things in, that first and foremost, they would believe the gospel and then search the scriptures to know these things for themselves. And we pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.