Introduction
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.
Scripture Reading: Micah 7
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.
Opening Prayer
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.
Sermon Introduction
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.
The Prophet's Lamentation
Let's look first at his lamentation.
No Godly Fellowship
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.
Corruption in Society and Leadership
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
The Prophet's Attitude in Discouragement
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?
Looking to the Lord
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.
Waiting for God's Salvation
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.
Vindication of the Faithful
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.
The Prophet's Assurance of God's Victory
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.
Restoration of the Covenant People
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.
God's Leadership of His People
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.
God's Victory over His Enemies
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.
The Reason for God's Victory
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.
The Incomparable God
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.
Sovereign Grace and Mercy
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.
God's Compassion
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.
God Who Forgives Sin
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.
God's Covenantal Faithfulness
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.
Closing Prayer
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.