← Back to sermon library

Well, please turn in your Bibles 
to the prophet Micah, chapter 7. We will, God willing, return 
to our studies in 2 Timothy in the next two weeks. Micah, chapter 
7, just a brief introduction concerning the place and location 
and time that Micah prophesied. He hailed from the southern kingdom 
of Judah, and in his prophecy he speaks to both the northern 
and the southern tribes to Israel and Judah. Micah was a contemporary 
of Isaiah in the south and Hosea in the north. His prophecy helped 
shape the nation's policies. His prophecy also, on a temporal 
level, helped spare the life of the prophet Jeremiah. Basically, 
he prophesied about the years 737 to 690 BC. This means that he lived during 
the Assyrian siege on the Northern Kingdom, of which he prophesied. As well, he lived during the 
Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem in 701 BC, another instance or 
another thing of which he prophesied. So when Micah lived, it was in 
fact a very discouraging time And in fact, chapter 7 indicates 
that. It's how a godly man finds hope 
or finds confidence in a discouraging time. And while our situation 
may not uniquely parallel Micah's here, as he looks around, as 
he sees a nation wherein righteousness does not flourish, the godly 
are not flourishing, there's little fellowship in terms of 
relationship for a godly man like Micah. Nevertheless, all 
of us face discouragement. All of us go through trials and 
all of us have sorrows and difficulties and I think the strategy employed 
by Micah here does fit in every circumstance and in every situation. Whenever we are tried, and whenever 
we are sorrowful, and whenever we have difficulties and hardships 
in our life, where ought we to gaze? We ought to look to the 
God of heaven and earth. And that is precisely what Micah 
does in Micah 7. So I'll read the chapter and 
then we'll look in detail at this particular section of Scripture. 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. He will cast all our sins into 
the depths of the sea. He will give truth to Jacob and 
mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days 
of old. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for the prophets. We thank you for the writings. 
We thank you for the New Testament. All of scripture is God-breathed. 
It's all profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and for 
instruction in righteousness. We ask that you would thoroughly 
furnish us unto every good work. We ask, God, that again you would 
remind us that in times of difficulty, sorrow, trial, that we would 
look unto you, our great and our glorious God. There is no 
better medicine for the believer than a fresh look in faith at 
their God. We ask that you would help us 
to follow the pattern of the prophet Micah, as revealed to 
us in this chapter. And we ask through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Well, as I see it, we have 
three sections in this particular chapter. First, the prophet's 
lamentation, verses one to six, where he highlights or indicates 
what the specific issues are that he is facing in his time 
frame. Secondly, the prophet's attitude in the midst of discouragement 
in verses 7 to 10. And then thirdly, the prophet's 
assurance of God's victory. So again, we all face difficulties, 
we all face trials, we all face hardships and challenges to our 
faith. The Christian, the believer, 
the man of God, the woman of God, over the millennia has always 
found solace, has always found comfort, has always found refuge 
in the Lord God Most High. And Micah is a wonderful example 
of that particular principle. Thomas McCombsky says concerning 
this particular chapter. 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 of the Old Testament. Certainly 
the whole gamut, the whole range of emotion is dealt with in this 
particular chapter. He begins with, woe is me, and 
he ends by comforting himself in the reality of God's covenantal 
faithfulness. McCombsky says, 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 
affirmation 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. So yes, 
he is rehearsing and recounting his own private and personal 
experience, but he is speaking as well as the voice of the remnant. When he says, no one, I mentioned 
that he prophesied in the days of Hosea and of Isaiah. Certainly 
they were godly men. Certainly they were exceptions 
to the rule. There's always been a remnant. 
Remember when Elijah was sitting under the broom tree. And Elijah 
wanted to die because everything around him seemed so discouraging. And the Lord God comforted him 
and encouraged him and said, I have 7,000 that have not bowed 
the knee to Baal. When you look at the history 
of Israel, though there were many times of corporate declension, 
many times of great calamity and distress, Many seasons of 
sin and disobedience and rebellion against the Lord God Almighty. 
There was always a people. There was always a faithful remnant. 
There were always those people whom God the Lord had in His 
care and in His hand. And Micah's day was not different. Let's look first at his lamentation. In the first place, verses 1 
and 2, there was no godly fellowship. You see, I think here we are 
reminded that if we have a good church, if we have Christian 
brothers and sisters, that is a gift given to us by God the 
Lord. That is not something we should 
take for granted, and it's certainly not something we ought to assume 
is always the part and parcel of every one of God's people. 
Certainly there are Arabic Christians, there are brothers and sisters 
in the Middle East that know something of the isolation, that 
know something of a lack of godly fellowship. Look at what he says. 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 uses as an 
analogy these men who reap the fruit, these men who harvest. 
He says there's not much left, there isn't very much in terms 
of the taking. I am frustrated, like those men, 
they go out to work the field, they seek to find their nourishment 
and their nutrients, but what they end up with is frustration. This was the case of the prophet. 
He highlights that very specifically and conspicuously in verse 2a. 
He explains, the faithful man has perished from the earth and 
there is no one upright among men. Again, if you have brothers 
and sisters in your life, if you know Christians, if you have 
a church, this is something to be very thankful for because 
Micah didn't have this. He was a prophet in Israel, speaking 
to the covenant people, and yet he is able to say, the faithful 
man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among 
men. There is no one that I can have 
godly interaction with. There is no one I can pray with. 
There is no one I can sing hymns with. There is no one I can sing 
psalms with. There is no one I can join together 
with in the worship of our great and our glorious God. You see, 
this is why God sent the Assyrians. This is why God sent the Babylonians. These were the covenant people. 
These were to be God's special people. They were to be worshipers 
and praisers and adorers of the great God of heaven and earth. 
And yet, they had apostatized. They had engaged all manner of 
sin in the breach of the covenant. And such that Micah can say, 
the faithful man has perished from the earth and there is no 
one upright among men." Brethren, perhaps you ought to go home 
tonight and thank the Lord for the church, or thank the Lord 
for Christian brethren, or thank the Lord for Christian family 
members, because as we follow along in the argument, it's not 
only societal decay that goes on, but it's family decay that 
goes on. Notice, there was corruption 
in society. Verses 2B all the way to verse 
6, the general statement in 2B, they all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with 
a net. This does not necessarily refer 
to physical acts of murder, but the sinful oppression of one 
another that the prophet has already condemned. Look at chapter 
2, verses 1 and 2. The social oppression that the 
prophet has already condemned. Notice in 2, 1 and 2, woe to 
those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds. 
At morning light, they practice it because it is in the power 
of their hand. They covet fields and take them 
by violence, also houses and seize them. So they oppress a 
man and his house, a man and his inheritance. And then drop 
down to verses 8 to 11. Lately, my people have risen 
up as an enemy. You pull off the robe with the 
garment from those who trust you as they pass by. like men 
returned from war. The women of my people you cast 
out from their pleasant houses, from their children. You have 
taken away my glory forever. Arise and depart, for this is 
not your rest. Because it is defiled, it shall 
destroy. Yes, with utter destruction. 
For man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, saying, 
I will prophesy to you of wine and drink. Even he would be the 
prattler of this people. There was sinful oppression going 
on in Israel at the particular time of the prophet Micah. The 
rich were oppressing the poor. Notice as well, as he continues 
in chapter 7, that was a general statement. Notice the corruption 
of the leadership in verses 3 and 4. You see, this bears rotten 
fruit upon a people. Righteousness exalts a nation 
in the language of Solomon in the book of Proverbs, but sin 
is a reproach to any people. When you have godless, corrupt 
men in authority, it brings negative effect upon the people as a whole. 
Notice in 3 and 4, the way he describes it, 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 edge. The day of your 
watchmen and punishment comes, now shall be their perplexity." 
Look at chapter 3. Chapter 3, another place where 
he condemns the leadership in Israel, the people that were 
supposed to be governed according to righteousness. 3.1, Here now, 
O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel, is it 
not for you to know justice? Think about it. Is it not for 
the men in high places to know justice? The men in government 
don't know justice. What ought we to expect on the 
street? If the men in government are 
corrupt and sinful and godless, then how is that going to affect 
society as a whole? This is precisely the indictment 
of Micah upon the generation of his day. He goes on to say, 
You who hate good and love evil, who strip the skin from my people 
and the flesh from their bones, who also eat the flesh of my 
people, flay their skin from them, break their bones and chop 
them in pieces like meat for the pot, like flesh in the cauldron." 
I doubt he is describing them as legitimate serial killers. 
I don't know that we're to take this particularly literally. 
They're not actually cooking Israelites. They're not actually 
engaged in cannibalism. He is using this by way of metaphor 
to indicate that when an oppressive leader punishes or holds in contempt 
the people under his charge, he may as well cook them in a 
cauldron. He may as well flay the skin 
off their bodies, and he may as well ingest them. He may as 
well cannibalize them, literally, because he is cannibalizing them 
metaphorically. The prophet is not happy with 
the government in his day, and he is denouncing them. Notice 
in verse 4, then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not 
hear them. He will even hide his face from 
them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds. 
So that is a condemnation of the rulers, but it doesn't stop 
with civil government. Notice the ecclesiology. Thus says the Lord concerning 
the prophets, who make my people stray, who chant peace while 
they chew with their teeth, but who prepare a war against him, 
who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore you shall have night 
without vision, you shall have darkness without divination, 
The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be 
dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners 
abashed. Indeed, they shall all cover their lips, for there is 
no answer from God. You see, so we've got the civil 
rulers, civil authorities, we've got the prophet in Israel, but 
as well the priests. Look at what we find in verse 
9, now hear this. You heads of the house of Jacob 
and rulers of the house of Israel who abhor justice and pervert 
all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem 
with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe, 
her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. 
Yet they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? 
You see, they still do it under the guise of religion. They still 
do it under the guise of piety. Is not the Lord among us? Probably 
the temple is what they're looking at. Is not the Lord among us? The reality that the temple is 
standing, at least in the minds of these godless hypocrites, 
was a sign or an indicator that in fact Yahweh was present. Notice what he goes on to say. 
Verse 12, therefore, because of you Zion shall be plowed like 
a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain 
of the temple like the bare hills of the forest. You see, they 
had idly trusted in the presence of the temple as being the indicator 
that God is with them. So what does Micah say? The days 
are coming when the temple is going to be torn down. That's 
the prophecy that spared Jeremiah. You see, a hundred years later 
when Jeremiah was preaching concerning the destruction of the temple, 
and they wanted to execute Jeremiah the prophet, some men said, didn't 
Micah of Moresheth say the same thing? They didn't order his 
execution, they didn't demand that he be punished by death, 
and so that availed, at least temporarily, to spare the life 
of the prophet Jeremiah. Back to chapter seven. We've 
got the general statement, we've got the corruption of the leadership, 
we've got the corruption of marriage and family. Verses five and six. We're spending some time here 
Because I think this serves as the backdrop and the background 
for us to appreciate the hope, the confidence, and the blessing 
that the prophet enjoys in his God. Notice in verse 5, 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. This is your wife. It's not even 
godly fellowship in the home. not even godly fellowship among 
married persons. Son dishonors father, daughter 
rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, man's 
enemies are the men of his own household. This is precisely 
the text that Jesus quotes in Matthew chapter 10. And verse 
35, this is a bleak picture, this is a dismal situation, this 
is bad, this is hardship, this is trial. Can you right now say 
that your life is as bad as the prophet Micah? I don't want to 
undervalue, I don't want to diminish the real challenges and the difficulties 
that you face, but the very fact that you are sitting in this 
particular place tonight, indicates that there's at least some semblance 
of godly fellowship that you have in your life. You are not 
alone. You are not living in isolation. You are not out in Timbuktu. 
You are not out in Syria. You are not out in Iraq. You 
are not out fighting for your life somewhere. But nevertheless, 
the difficulties that we face, we have the same remedy, and 
that is in chapter 7, verses 7 to 10. the object of his hope 
and confidence. Notice what the prophet says 
in light of societal decay, in light of a leadership that has 
gone a-whoring from God, in light of the fact that there's no godly 
fellowship even in the home. What does he do? Does he throw 
up his arms? Does he say, forget it? Does 
he say, I no longer want to be a part of the covenant people? 
I have no blessing, I have no joy, I have no boon. I'm going 
to give up, I'm going to throw it all in. You see, brethren, 
that is the temptation that presents itself when we go through trial 
and difficulty. That is the temptation that presents 
itself when we go through trial and difficulty. We come to this 
place where there's hardship in our lives. And sometimes people 
who should know better, instead of plowing through it, looking 
up to the Lord God Most High, they buckle, they knuckle under, 
they fall, they fall apart. And you say, I don't want to 
do it anymore. I don't want to try to press on anymore. It isn't 
being blessed. I'm not engaged in any progress 
whatsoever. Nobody likes me. The Father's 
turned his face from me. I'm just going to throw in the 
towel as it were. That is not an option. Brethren, 
in Hebrews 12, we are told to run with endurance the race that 
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
of our faith. Who, for the joy that was set 
before him, despised or endured the cross, despised the shame, 
and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God on 
high. Micah 7, 7 is a Hebrews 12, 2 
passage. Looking unto Jesus, societal 
decay, godless and corrupt leadership, family that is not rewarding, 
family that is not blessed. What does he say? Therefore I 
will look to the Lord. That's where we always go. What 
does Jesus say to Peter when everybody is defecting from that? 
Not everybody to a man, but many are defecting from Jesus in John 
chapter 6. He looks at the disciples and 
he says, do you also want to go away? What does Peter testify? He says, Lord, to whom shall 
we go? You have the words of eternal 
life. Brethren, that's something we 
need to capture. We're not going to fall down. 
We're not going to knuckle under. We're going to fight onward. 
We're going to go forward. We're going to endure. We're 
going to persevere. We are going to run with endurance. We're going to say with the prophet 
Micah, therefore, I will look to the Lord. I can't look to 
society. I can't look to the leadership. 
I certainly can't even look at my own wife because all I find 
is dismay and rejection and disappointment. That doesn't mean I'm alone. 
That doesn't mean I have no recourse. It doesn't mean I don't have 
any help. It simply means I need to direct the gaze to heaven 
above. Therefore, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my 
salvation. That's another beautiful thing 
that I think at times we miss. We want everything right now, 
don't we? Maybe you don't, but I do. I 
quite like Amazon.com when it came along. I remember the days 
way back when, when we had to order books and it would take 
two weeks for them to get there. We had a little diddy in my house 
we called the UPS man, the book man, and I'd sing a little song 
when I'd see the brown truck driving down my street because 
I knew my gems were coming, right? After two long weeks, well when 
Amazon came along and, you know, this whole buy it now thing and 
two days later it's there. I mean two days is getting to 
be a long wait, isn't it? Those drones are going to start 
flying right to our porch within, you know, a few hours. We don't 
like to wait, do we? We want it right now, don't we? 
Part and parcel of the Christian life, brethren, is patience. 
Part of the Christian life is long-suffering. Part of the Christian 
life is realizing that just because we have trial, that does not 
mean that God will automatically deliver us when we want it. We need to wait on the Lord. We need to understand that He 
is sovereign. We need to understand, as Micah 
teases out in the chapter, we are suffering. We have been punished. We have faced the chastisement 
of our God. But we wait and we trust and 
we hope and we know. Though that mourning and that 
weeping is for a season, God nevertheless will come and comfort 
His people. Patience, brethren, is absolutely 
crucial. He looks to Yahweh. He waits 
for the God of His salvation. And then He says, My God will 
hear me. He knows that God will hear Him. 
Do you know that God will hear you? If you don't, you need to. You need to understand the realities 
of Hebrews 11. The Lord God hears. The Lord 
God answers. The Lord God vindicates, the 
Lord God blesses His people. Didn't we just read something 
about that in the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 33? If the sun stops 
rising and the moon stops setting in its place, If the created 
order itself stops functioning the way that God has purposed 
it to, then we might conclude that He will renege on His covenant. 
But every day the sun rises, every night that the moon shines, 
every moment that this created order is in place and conducted 
according to the plan and purposes of God, that underscores and 
highlights His covenantal faithfulness. He told Israel right on the verge 
of their destruction by Babylon that there would be the Lord 
our righteousness who would come and he would execute judgment 
and justice and bring in blessing to the nation of Israel. My God 
will hear me. You need to believe this. You 
need to embrace this. You need to walk by faith. You say, but I've prayed and 
he didn't hear me. Yes, he did. For His purposes 
and according to His plan and according to His timetable, He 
is bringing you through a particular series of events. The prophet 
finds great hope and great blessing in the midst of his discouragement. Now notice finally in verses 
11 to 20, I'm sorry, back for just a moment, notice the vindication 
of the faithful in verses 8 to 10. Quickly, 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. Vindication. Certainly we understand what 
this means in the context. The Assyrians have come in, taken 
the northern tribes' exile into Assyria. Babylon is going to 
come and going to decimate Jerusalem. It's going to sack the city, 
destroy the temple. There will be a fall in Israel. They will fall because of God's 
judgment. But this is what the prophet 
says on behalf of the remnant. 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." You 
see, that's another very important aspect of this whole idea, is 
that Micah understands that God isn't capricious, God isn't arbitrary, 
God isn't just inflicting plagues and problems and difficulties 
upon an otherwise innocent people. They had sinned, they had transgressed, 
they had violated the terms of the covenant. All that was specified 
in Deuteronomy 28 is coming upon them. This is just. This is legit. The prophet expresses that. 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? You see what's going on. The 
nations around Israel are saying, where is Yahweh? Where is your 
God? Where is the one you have said 
will vindicate you? The prophet Micah on behalf of 
the remnant says, we know that this is coming. The Lord will 
restore us. The Lord will shut the mouths 
of the gainsayers. The Lord will stop those who 
in their rebellion essentially mocked the God. of Israel. Where is the Lord your God? My 
eyes will see her. Now she will be trampled down 
like mud in the streets." You see, it's going to be judgment 
upon the nations surrounding Israel when they are brought 
back in the restoration. Now thirdly and finally, notice 
the prophet's assurance of God's victory. Verses 11 to 20. You 
see, he's just now feeding himself. He waits in God He trusts in 
God, he hopes in God, he looks to God, and now he's fleshing 
that out, he's teasing it out, he's describing all of the things 
that he knows that is true of his God. In the first place, 
there will be a restoration of the covenant people, verses 11 
to 13. In that day, or sorry, 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." You see 
what he's saying at the restoration when Jerusalem or Judah is rebuilt 
and the temple is reinstituted. There will be people that will 
come to the nation at that particular time. I take verse 13 not as 
an application to Israel but to the nations surrounding her. 
Yet the land shall be desolate. because of those who dwell in 
it and for the fruit of their deeds." In other words, God's 
favor upon Israel means his judgment and disfavor upon the surrounding 
nations. Notice that God himself will 
lead Israel, verses 14 and 15. God's leadership is spoken in 
terms of shepherding. Not only in this instance, shepherd 
your people with your staff, but in the prophet Micah chapter 
2 at verse 12, chapter 4 at verse 6. The leadership of God, as 
it was in the days of the Exodus, will be true of Israel again. 
Notice in verse 15, as in the days when you came out of the 
land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. Verses 16 and 17. The 
victory of God over his enemies 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." Isn't that beautiful? 
Isn't that 2 Thessalonians 1? Isn't that Revelation chapter 
6? Isn't that the righteous longing for the God of justice to visit 
his enemies with punishment and judgment? You see, this is not 
a foreign concept in scripture. We're not to delight over the 
fall of our enemies because of us. We're to delight in the fall 
of our enemies because of God, His vindication, His judgment 
upon them. The righteous exalt in the judgment 
of God Most High. And then notice, finally, the 
reason for God's victory. That's why I want to spend our 
concluding moments before we pray and part ways. Notice, the 
reason for this victory, it is God's being. It is God's character. In other words, theology proper, 
ultimately, is what fuels the fire for the prophet Micah. Do 
you face discouragement? Do you have trials? Do you have 
sorrows? Do you have difficulties? Do 
you know what you ought to study in your Bible? You ought to study 
God. Not 15 tactics or tips on how 
to deal with the Mondays, but study God. Behold your God. Understand who God is. Know Him. That's what Micah uses to encourage 
his own heart in this instance. Note first his question in verse 
18a. Who is a God like you? Who is 
a God like you? I think there's two things behind 
the scenes here. First, the prophet's name. Micah 
means who is a God like you. It's a great name, isn't it? 
And I don't think it's a quest for knowledge in the sense of, 
well, please tell me and reveal to me the specifics of Westminster 
Shorter Catechism No. 4. No, it's the idea that there 
is no comparison. The incomparable glory of God. 
Who is a God like you? This was seen or uttered first 
in the song of Moses in Exodus 15, 11. Who is like you, O Lord, 
among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You see, that 
is the song of Moses in Exodus 15. That is precisely what the 
children of Israel had witnessed. They had been in Egypt. They 
had witnessed the nine plagues. And over and over and over again 
throughout those nine plagues, Pharaoh continued to harden his 
neck. He continued to resist Yahweh. 
Pharaoh embarked upon that tenth plague when there was not a place 
in Egypt that night where someone didn't die. God the Lord had 
executed judgment upon the nation of Egypt and upon the gods of 
Egypt. What happens then? Israel departs. They leave. They go out of Egypt. They go through the Red Sea. 
God then destroys Pharaoh and his army. What happens when you 
get to the other side of the Red Sea in that instance? You 
praise. You sing. You glorify. You worship. That is the song 
of Moses in Exodus 15. It is the sense that we have 
just witnessed the mighty right arm of our God. We have just 
seen Pharaoh and his armies utterly destroyed. We have just seen 
hundreds and hundreds of years of severe bondage. And we have 
seen the Egyptians throwing gold at us and telling us to leave 
their land. We have marched boldly out of 
Egypt while the Egyptians were busy burying their firstborn, 
whom the Lord God of Israel had killed among them. What do we 
do at this particular point? Moses says, let's sing, let's 
praise, let's worship, let's adore, let's glorify God. And in 1511, who is like you, 
O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. That is a fitting 
expression to the acts and the majesty of God displayed among 
the people. It's one of the reasons we sing 
in church. What's with these Reformed Baptists? 
Hymn, pray, hymn, read, hymns, preach. Is there like a rule 
book somewhere? Is a Reformed Baptist document, 
you know, 1518 and that's what we got to do? What are we doing 
in worship? We're rehearsing the greatness 
of our God. We're singing hymns of praise 
and psalms of praise to Him. It's not some sort of a form 
that we have to follow, and if we don't, we're going to get 
our Reformed Baptist cards revoked and thrown out of the clock. 
This is the structure of worship. We come before Him. We hear from 
His Word. We respond to Him in praise. 
We pray to Him. We respond to Him in praise. 
We preach His Word. We respond to Him in praise. 
This is the way the Christian ought to behave. When God does 
great things, we praise Him. We worship Him. We glorify Him. So Micah 718a, who is a God like 
you? Now to make his case concerning 
the incomparable excellencies of our God Most High, he sets 
out four particulars. First, God is the God of sovereign 
grace and mercy. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that 
a reason to praise? Isn't that a reason not to despair? Isn't that a reason not to throw 
in the towel? Isn't that a reason to run with 
endurance the race that is set before us? You may not have a 
lot to consider in your life, you may not have a good wife, 
you may not have a good husband, you may not have a good society, 
you may not have good close friends, but this much you do have if 
you are a Christian. You have the God who is the God 
of sovereign grace and mercy. I mean, is that enough to make 
us praise, to worship, to adore? Is that enough to get us out 
of bed in the morning? Yes. He is the God of sovereign 
grace and mercy to his people. Secondly, he is the God who shows 
compassion to his people. Micah says, with reference to 
grace and mercy, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression 
of his heritage, he does not retain his anger forever because 
he delights in mercy. With reference to his compassion, 
he will again have compassion on us. I know this to be the 
case. Though I fall, I will arise. Though I suffer, I know that 
He will vindicate me. Though I collapse, He will pick 
me up. Though I weep, He will wipe away 
those tears. Though I'm in distress, He will 
bring me into blessing. Though I suffer, God Most High 
will vindicate His people because He always shows compassion. He will again have compassion 
on us. As Dale Ralph might say, Yahweh 
has a track record of showing compassion. Yahweh has a track 
record of showing compassion to His people. In the third place, 
to highlight the incomparable excellencies of God, the one 
He says, who is a God like you? Thirdly, He is the God who forgives 
His people of their sins. Isn't that beautiful? That doesn't 
get you out of bed. In the morning, stay there. I'm 
just kidding. Don't stay there. Get up. Go 
to work. I mean, when you wake up in the morning, your eyes 
pop open and you got things and issues and problems and difficulties. 
Please get this in your head, but my sins are forgiven. My 
sins are forgiven. A friend of mine used to say 
to a friend of his, to this brother, he was probably in his forties, 
and he hadn't been married, didn't look like there was a wife on 
the horizon, and they kind of chided him a little bit. Maybe 
it was kind of malicious, I don't know. But they'd say stuff like, 
you know, you're forty and you don't have a wife yet. You're 
forty and you don't have a good job. I mean, just kind of heaping 
it on the guy. But they'd say, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. And the 
brother received it in that spirit. It was a joke. But that was the 
emphasis. Your sins are forgiven. You wake 
up in the morning and you know you've got issues and trials 
and you know there's wicked men who are in government. You know 
that the wife of your bosom or the husband of your bosom, just 
working off the context here, and Micah 7 happens to be wicked. 
You know that there is no godly fellowship this much you can 
thank the Lord for. He forgives me of my sins. We ought to sing when we awake, 
or we ought to sing when we go through trials, my sin, oh the 
bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part but the whole, 
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Listen to John 
Gill on this statement that God will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into 
the depths of the sea. He'll says, 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 
or that being satisfied by Christ, besides all the sins of God's 
people have been removed from them to Christ and by him carried 
away into the land of oblivion. Read Leviticus 16 sometime. He's 
got two sacrifices. One that is bloodied and the 
blood is poured out onto the seed or into the Holy of Holies. And then that other goat is prayed 
over and the sins of Israel is confessed and then it is sent 
out into the wilderness. What a blessed picture of what 
Christ does with our sins. He removes them from us. And that's what Gil is saying 
here. Carried by Him 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." Think about that with reference 
to your sin. Not to be fetched up again. When we throw something 
into the depths of the sea, I don't think we do this typically. You 
always think of the guy who kills somebody and wants to dump the 
body. Maybe you don't always think of that. He dumps it into 
the sea. Why? Because he thinks he finds a 
hiding place. He has a hope that the body's 
not going to emerge and preaches guilt. God takes our iniquities 
and He casts them into the depths of the sea, 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? The prophet 
asks. And in the fourth place, he indicates 
that God is covenantally faithful. Though the word covenant is absent 
from verse 20, the word covenant is prevalent in verse 20. You 
will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have 
sworn to our fathers from days of old. The Lord God Almighty 
has entered into covenant with His people. What He swore to 
Abraham, He ratifies with Isaac and Jacob. What He confirms ultimately 
in the New Testament with our Lord Jesus Christ will come to 
pass. He forgives His people from their 
sins. He gives us life and blessing 
and help and hope. and all manner of good things. 
So there will be discouragement, there will be trials, there will 
be difficulties, there will be sorrows. But take the strategy 
from Micah. Micah 7.10, therefore I will 
look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my 
salvation. My God will hear me. Take the 
strategy of Micah in chapter 7 verses 18 to 20. Who is a God 
like you? and rehearse those blessings, 
consider those blessings, consider those things as a means by which 
you will indeed persevere and endure till the very end. Let 
us pray. Our Father, we thank you for 
the Word of God and we thank you for the common experience 
of all of your people through all of the ages. We thank you 
as well that men have gone before us and paved the way so that 
we can look at them. We can look at a Micah to see 
how he dealt with his trials and with his issues and his difficulties. And we have the same resource 
available to us today. It is God Most High. We ask that 
you would go with us now. We pray that you'd bless this 
church, bless all of the people of God here. Cause your face 
to shine upon us. May we know your peace. May we 
know your help. May we know hope built firmly 
upon you. And we ask these things through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.