WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:17.425 Chapter 3, the book of Micah I'm going to read tonight. 00:00:17.425 --> 00:00:27.109 Well, consider this book, but I want to read to start with chapter 3, verse 9, down through chapter 4, verse 8. 00:00:27.109 --> 00:00:34.774 It's a little bit of an unusual reading, but again, remember there's no chapter divisions in the original book of Mike, it's just all one book. 00:00:34.774 --> 00:00:40.753 So in our Bibles, chapter 3, verse 9, through chapter 4, verse 8. 00:00:40.753 --> 00:00:49.905 And I should say, for those that might be visiting, we're going through a series on each book of the Bible, one book each week. 00:00:49.905 --> 00:00:54.920 So Hosea, joel, amos, obadiah, jonah, and then this week is Micah. 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:00.112 I didn't just randomly decide to preach on myself, so don't Micah. 00:01:00.112 --> 00:01:04.004 Chapter 3, verses 9, through chapter 4, verse 8. 00:01:05.186 --> 00:01:16.170 Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that's right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:24.769 Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment and her prophets practice divination for silver. 00:01:24.769 --> 00:01:28.626 Yet they lean on the Lord, saying isn't the Lord among us? 00:01:28.626 --> 00:01:30.049 No disaster will overtake us. 00:01:30.049 --> 00:01:40.846 Therefore, because of you, zion will be plowed like a field, jerusalem will become a heap of ruins and the temple's mountain will be a high thicket In the last days. 00:01:40.846 --> 00:01:47.227 The mountain of the Lord's house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. 00:01:47.227 --> 00:01:54.870 Peoples will stream to it and many nations will come and say let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. 00:01:54.870 --> 00:02:02.263 He will teach us about his ways so we may walk in his paths, for instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 00:02:02.263 --> 00:02:08.194 He will settle disputes among many peoples and provide arbitration for strong nations that are far away. 00:02:08.194 --> 00:02:13.186 They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. 00:02:13.186 --> 00:02:18.205 Nation will not take up the sword against nation and they will never again train for war. 00:02:18.205 --> 00:02:25.669 But each person will sit under his grapevine and under his fig tree, with no one to frighten him, for the mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken. 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:32.943 Though all the peoples walk in the name of their own gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, forever and ever. 00:02:32.943 --> 00:02:39.682 On that day this is the Lord's declaration I will assemble the lame and gather the scattered. 00:02:39.682 --> 00:02:43.487 Those I have injured, I will make the lame into a remnant. 00:02:43.487 --> 00:02:50.158 Those I have injured I will make the lame into a remnant, those far removed into a strong nation. 00:02:50.158 --> 00:02:53.805 That the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time on and forever. 00:02:53.805 --> 00:03:04.949 And you, watchtower for the flock, fortified hill of daughter Zion, the former rule will come to you. 00:03:04.949 --> 00:03:07.000 Sovereignty will come to daughter Jerusalem. 00:03:07.620 --> 00:03:08.040 Let's pray again, lord. 00:03:08.040 --> 00:03:12.931 We are praying for the Burgards tonight and we want to share in the grief of those who experienced such grief. 00:03:12.931 --> 00:03:42.288 As members one of another, we pray that you would give them a supernatural aid, that the spirit of comfort who dwells in them would be a spirit who is especially active in bringing scriptures to their mind and hearts and using the words of family and friends and others, and particularly your words, to give them a stillness and a restfulness, a trust, an acceptance of all that you do as the good and gracious God. 00:03:42.288 --> 00:03:51.770 Lord, we pray, as we consider this book now, that we'd remember that indeed there is no one like you In Jesus' name. 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:52.330 Amen. 00:03:54.054 --> 00:03:55.200 I want to start with a Hebrew lesson. 00:03:55.200 --> 00:03:56.222 Don't worry, it won't be long. 00:03:56.222 --> 00:04:02.229 The name Micah means who is like the Lord. 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:19.483 So the M-I, that's the Hebrew way of saying who, and the C in our English language is a Hebrew letter that's compared to like or as, and then the A-H. 00:04:19.483 --> 00:04:25.190 If you think about A-H, it's kind of a shortened form of J-A-H. 00:04:25.190 --> 00:04:30.985 Yah, which you might kind of remember and think about that name as Yahweh. 00:04:30.985 --> 00:04:35.175 So who is like the Lord? 00:04:35.175 --> 00:04:39.425 That's what the name means, and it's right there when you break apart the name. 00:04:39.425 --> 00:04:42.432 So I didn't obviously choose my own name. 00:04:42.432 --> 00:04:48.810 My parents chose my name, and often today, when we give people names, it's really about how it sounds. 00:04:48.810 --> 00:04:57.807 It sounds kind of beautiful or pleasant, and I think that was true for them, that they liked the sound of it, but they were believers and they also liked that meaning. 00:04:58.208 --> 00:04:59.190 Who is like the Lord? 00:04:59.190 --> 00:05:11.314 Now, in the Bible, often when someone gets a name, it says something about what's going to happen later in life, sometimes for good, sometimes not for good. 00:05:11.314 --> 00:05:14.468 We can't claim that in every case today. 00:05:14.468 --> 00:05:26.293 We might have hopes and prayers, but I always have hoped that that would be in God's kindness and evidence of my life, that people would look at me and say who is like the Lord. 00:05:26.293 --> 00:05:29.737 So personal testimony over. 00:05:32.141 --> 00:05:48.245 Let me ask a question, though, and this is the question I want us to really get our hands on tonight who is like the Lord If we're Bible readers, the Lord. 00:05:48.245 --> 00:05:57.880 If we're Bible readers, if we're in any way God-fearers, we know the answer is well, no one's like the Lord. 00:05:57.880 --> 00:05:58.403 The Lord's unique. 00:05:58.403 --> 00:05:59.685 Why is no one like the Lord? 00:05:59.685 --> 00:06:01.129 How is it that no one is like the Lord? 00:06:01.129 --> 00:06:03.333 If I said to you well, tell me why no one's like the Lord. 00:06:03.333 --> 00:06:09.079 If I said to you, well, tell me why no one's like the Lord, what would you say? 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:12.120 Our minds okay. 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:12.862 So someone said sin. 00:06:12.862 --> 00:06:15.307 So there's definitely a clear that was from even this morning's message. 00:06:15.307 --> 00:06:17.834 Right In Isaiah there's an element of this exalted God, human sinfulness. 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:27.723 I think we often, when we think of that question of what's God's uniqueness or greatness, we think of that question of what's God's uniqueness or greatness. 00:06:27.723 --> 00:06:29.750 We think about he's powerful in a way that no one else is. 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:32.115 He knows everything in a way no one else knows. 00:06:32.115 --> 00:06:36.165 He's present in time and space in a way that no one else is. 00:06:36.165 --> 00:06:37.870 And all those things are true. 00:06:37.870 --> 00:06:43.942 And in the book of Isaiah there'll be some times, actually in Isaiah where the prophet will ask a similar question who's like the Lord? 00:06:43.942 --> 00:06:48.326 And he'll give sometimes answers like that Look at the created world. 00:06:48.326 --> 00:06:49.786 Who could create anything like that? 00:06:49.786 --> 00:06:52.005 But we're in the book of Micah. 00:06:52.005 --> 00:06:54.047 What's Micah's focus? 00:06:54.047 --> 00:07:00.673 How does Micah answer that question of why is it that no one else is like the Lord? 00:07:00.673 --> 00:07:10.485 What I read tonight that we listened to from these two chapters we won't read the whole book, we'll hit some different verses. 00:07:10.485 --> 00:07:18.867 It's kind of a snapshot of the book of Micah in that there's judgment and there's hope. 00:07:18.867 --> 00:07:24.975 That's often in the prophets, judgment and hope echoing back and forth. 00:07:26.461 --> 00:07:28.670 And you think about the book of Micah. 00:07:28.670 --> 00:07:31.360 You can almost divide it up into three sections. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.947 And I want to try to show you this. 00:07:32.947 --> 00:07:36.906 Look at chapter one of Micah, so flip back a couple of pages. 00:07:36.906 --> 00:07:46.127 It introduces him, micah the Moreshite. 00:07:46.127 --> 00:07:48.273 And then look at verse number two. 00:07:48.273 --> 00:07:51.946 Listen all you peoples. 00:07:51.946 --> 00:07:56.197 Micah is going to be prophesying to the people of God. 00:07:56.197 --> 00:07:57.822 But listen all you peoples. 00:07:57.822 --> 00:07:59.103 Micah 1, 2. 00:07:59.103 --> 00:08:03.874 Now if you go over to chapter three, verse one. 00:08:03.874 --> 00:08:06.201 Now if you go over to chapter 3, verse 1. 00:08:06.201 --> 00:08:11.728 Then I said now listen, you leaders of Jacob. 00:08:11.728 --> 00:08:15.372 So listen, chapter 1, chapter 2. 00:08:15.372 --> 00:08:17.213 Now chapter 3, listen. 00:08:17.213 --> 00:08:19.156 And then it goes on. 00:08:19.156 --> 00:08:23.928 Go over to chapter 6. 00:08:23.928 --> 00:08:24.620 , chapter 6. 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:27.607 Go over to chapter six, chapter six. 00:08:27.607 --> 00:08:30.673 Now listen to what the Lord is saying. 00:08:30.673 --> 00:08:38.688 And then it goes on In each of these three panels in the book of Micah listen, listen, listen. 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:43.154 There's judgment and hope, judgment and hope, judgment and hope. 00:08:43.154 --> 00:08:51.856 So you see that working out right here in the book. 00:08:51.856 --> 00:08:59.087 There's also this is getting a little more narrow now there's also in the hope, some element of shepherding. 00:08:59.087 --> 00:09:06.407 So look at chapter 2, verse number 12. 00:09:06.407 --> 00:09:12.570 I will collect the remnant of Israel. 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:15.570 I will bring them together like sheep in a pen. 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:22.653 Now go over to chapter 4, verse 8. 00:09:22.653 --> 00:09:36.263 4, verse 8, and you watch, tower for the flock, fortified hill. 00:09:36.263 --> 00:09:39.788 Then chapter 5, verse 4, he will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, his God. 00:09:39.788 --> 00:09:44.133 And then go all the way over to chapter 7, verse 14. 00:09:44.133 --> 00:09:55.070 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that is your possession, verse 14. 00:09:56.273 --> 00:09:58.998 Judgment, hope, judgment, hope, judgment, hope. 00:09:58.998 --> 00:10:06.022 Now there's I'm simplifying it a little bit but and then in each of the hope sections, he's a shepherd, he's a shepherd, he's a shepherd. 00:10:06.022 --> 00:10:08.274 So who is like the Lord? 00:10:08.274 --> 00:10:14.336 If we're seeing that structure, we might initially start to think okay, who is like the Lord in his judgment? 00:10:14.336 --> 00:10:16.461 Nobody can judge like the Lord, true. 00:10:16.461 --> 00:10:18.794 Who is like the Lord in the way that he gives hope? 00:10:18.794 --> 00:10:24.124 Nobody can give hope like the Lord can give hope and he gives hope, especially as a shepherd. 00:10:24.124 --> 00:10:27.214 So true, those things are true, but we're going to. 00:10:27.214 --> 00:10:29.701 So I want to hit those two themes, judgment and hope. 00:10:29.701 --> 00:10:37.475 But then we're going to try to push forward into an even more specific way to think about how the Lord is unique, according to Micah. 00:10:37.475 --> 00:10:39.943 So, first judgment, then hope. 00:10:39.943 --> 00:10:45.817 There are different aspects of God's judgment, and one aspect is that God's judgment is certain. 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:56.339 Go to chapter one again, verse number one the word of the Lord that came to Micah. 00:10:56.339 --> 00:11:03.397 We're accustomed to hearing that phrase as we've been going through the prophets and we let it just kind of trip off our tongue sometimes. 00:11:03.397 --> 00:11:05.730 But this is the word of the Lord. 00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:08.158 This wasn't Micah's idea, this wasn't something he made up. 00:11:08.158 --> 00:11:09.461 This is what God gave him. 00:11:09.461 --> 00:11:17.524 One commentator writes our shoes should be off our feet as we hear his word. 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:27.272 As we hear his word, it's certain. 00:11:27.272 --> 00:11:31.142 And it's so certain that he can use even foreign nations who don't want to follow him to do his judging. 00:11:31.142 --> 00:11:38.576 So chapter 1, verse 6 and 7, I will make Samaria, that's the northern kingdom of Israel, a heap of ruins in the countryside. 00:11:38.576 --> 00:11:45.033 Verse 7, all her carved images will be smashed to pieces. 00:11:45.033 --> 00:11:48.480 Who's going to do the smashing. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:54.875 Well, it's going to be Syria in the near term, babylon in the more distant future. 00:11:54.875 --> 00:11:58.663 So God's certain judgment incorporates other nations. 00:11:58.663 --> 00:12:03.009 So God's certain judgment incorporates other nations. 00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:11.429 We also see its certainty in chapter one in the way Micah walks through different cities and locations and pronounces judgment on each one. 00:12:11.429 --> 00:12:25.318 You can see that if you look at verses eight down through verse 16, roughly I won't read all those verses but if you look through them you'll see a place mentioned and then some form of judgment conveyed. 00:12:25.318 --> 00:12:27.082 But it's actually interesting. 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:39.822 This is one of those times when it is a little more challenging in our English to hear through what's coming in the original, because this whole series it's kind of a series of pun judgments. 00:12:39.822 --> 00:12:42.345 I said what do you mean? 00:12:42.345 --> 00:12:54.979 Micah tells the name of the city and then the way that he expresses the judgment is some kind of play off of the name of that city in the original language. 00:12:54.979 --> 00:12:57.464 Like well, that sounds silly. 00:12:57.464 --> 00:12:59.113 This is supposed to be a serious thing. 00:12:59.113 --> 00:13:03.182 Well, the way we think about puns is kind of a silliness. 00:13:03.182 --> 00:13:07.370 But in this time period it could be used in very serious circumstances. 00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:09.298 So let me give you a couple examples. 00:13:09.298 --> 00:13:16.081 Verse number 10, tell it not in gath. 00:13:16.081 --> 00:13:18.375 Okay, what's the big deal? 00:13:18.375 --> 00:13:24.562 In Hebrew, the word for tell sounds like the word for gath. 00:13:24.562 --> 00:13:25.666 Okay, what's the big deal? 00:13:25.666 --> 00:13:27.149 In Hebrew, the word for tell sounds like the word for gath. 00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:31.796 Let's give you another example, verse number 11,. 00:13:32.076 --> 00:13:37.644 The inhabitants of Zanon do not come out. 00:13:37.644 --> 00:13:45.131 Do not come out, zonin and come out sound similar in Hebrew. 00:13:45.131 --> 00:13:46.373 And I won't go through all of these. 00:13:46.373 --> 00:13:48.895 Some of them are puns, some of them are sound devices. 00:13:48.895 --> 00:14:01.669 But it'd be kind of like this If I said listen all you residents of Queens, that crown is going to topple right off your head. 00:14:01.669 --> 00:14:06.642 Listen, all you inhabitants of Levittown, you're going to be levitating in fear when the Lord comes to judge you. 00:14:06.642 --> 00:14:14.851 Listen, all you folks of Suffolk, you're going to suffer for all that you've done and like that's so silly. 00:14:14.851 --> 00:14:15.994 Why would you do that? 00:14:15.994 --> 00:14:18.977 Because it's memorable. 00:14:18.977 --> 00:14:21.240 It's certain. 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:24.044 The Lord's not making a joke. 00:14:24.044 --> 00:14:25.533 He is reminding them. 00:14:25.533 --> 00:14:26.817 You're not going to forget this. 00:14:26.817 --> 00:14:28.260 Judgment is coming. 00:14:31.510 --> 00:14:34.759 Judgment is also impartial in this sense. 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:48.164 It happens to all kinds of people, great and small, and particularly the book of Micah highlights even important people like rulers and prophets and priests as those that don't escape God's judgment. 00:14:48.164 --> 00:14:52.419 So if you look over at chapter three, you can turn over to chapter three. 00:14:52.419 --> 00:15:13.879 Just an example of this Verse number one of chapter three, I said now listen, leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel so it'd be especially kings, but other political leaders, aren't you supposed to know what is just? 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:18.139 You hate good and love evil. 00:15:18.139 --> 00:15:24.302 You tear off people's skin and strip their flesh from their bones. 00:15:24.302 --> 00:15:27.775 You eat the flesh of my people. 00:15:27.775 --> 00:15:36.019 After you strip their skin from them and break their bones, you chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron. 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:44.011 Very graphic language in a cauldron. 00:15:44.011 --> 00:15:44.453 Very graphic language. 00:15:44.453 --> 00:15:46.804 Not that every king was a cannibal, but the way they devoured the people and took advantage of them. 00:15:46.825 --> 00:15:49.652 Micah is going to speak of taking bribes, taking property. 00:15:49.652 --> 00:15:52.238 Think of someone like Ahab in the Old Testament. 00:15:52.238 --> 00:15:59.745 He sees a vineyard and he wants it and they don't want to sell it to him and his wife says you're the king, you know you can manipulate the situation and he gets people. 00:15:59.745 --> 00:16:04.899 You're the king, you can manipulate the situation and he gets people to lie about the owner of the vineyard. 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:06.123 So he stoned the desk. 00:16:06.123 --> 00:16:10.817 He can then take the property. 00:16:10.817 --> 00:16:14.803 We're not talking about here, about this ravenous kings. 00:16:14.803 --> 00:16:18.956 We're not talking about whether the minimum wage was $11 an hour or $10 an hour. 00:16:18.956 --> 00:16:24.465 There's something a lot more graphic going on here with the attacks these leaders made on the people. 00:16:24.465 --> 00:16:30.035 But it wasn't just the kings, it was the prophets also Chapter 2, verse 11. 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:37.903 If a man comes and utters empty lies, often the prophets are the ones speaking. 00:16:37.903 --> 00:16:41.621 I will preach to you again. 00:16:41.621 --> 00:16:44.312 This is kind of prophet activity here. 00:16:44.312 --> 00:16:47.278 I will preach to you about wine and beer. 00:16:47.278 --> 00:16:49.711 He would be just the preacher for these people. 00:16:49.711 --> 00:16:56.591 In other words, you're looking for someone who's going to give you all the good things that you want to hear. 00:16:56.591 --> 00:17:08.416 You're looking for someone that can I don't know if entertain is not the right word but a prophet who can come and just make it all a party, because the prophets from God often talk about judgment. 00:17:08.416 --> 00:17:09.840 Right, we just saw that in chapter one. 00:17:10.309 --> 00:17:13.200 The prophets that aren't from God often say don't worry, everything's going to be okay. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:30.557 If you look down a little bit verses five and six this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who proclaim peace when they have food to sink their teeth into, but declare war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths. 00:17:30.557 --> 00:17:36.479 Therefore, it will be night for you without visions, it will be dark for you without divination. 00:17:36.479 --> 00:17:37.982 And then he goes on and goes on. 00:17:37.982 --> 00:17:40.155 Look down at verse number 11. 00:17:40.155 --> 00:17:50.958 The summary here her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment and her prophets practice divination for silver. 00:17:50.958 --> 00:17:56.895 Yet they lean on the Lord, saying isn't the Lord among us, no disaster will overtake us. 00:17:56.895 --> 00:17:59.440 And it's wrong. 00:18:00.381 --> 00:18:02.003 And there's a common ground of greed. 00:18:02.003 --> 00:18:02.545 That's here. 00:18:02.545 --> 00:18:04.053 You see that there in the passage. 00:18:04.053 --> 00:18:22.242 There's in the book of Judges a story about another person named Mike, a different person, but he's an idolater, and he hires a Levite to be his own personal priest, and it's not even for that much money. 00:18:22.242 --> 00:18:37.001 But the Levite is happy to get a comfortable living and just go get paid, not to really serve the Lord but just to kind of live in comfort, so that the greed here is not always accumulating more and more and more. 00:18:37.001 --> 00:18:42.934 It can be, as Kevin Cooney loves, that t-shirt that says comfort wants you dead. 00:18:42.934 --> 00:18:50.259 There's an element of that here, with people that are not concerned for giving a message from God but just for making their life a lot easier. 00:18:52.226 --> 00:18:53.650 Judgment's very personal. 00:18:53.650 --> 00:19:08.982 Turn over to chapter six, verse number three my people, what have I done to you or how have I wearied you? 00:19:08.982 --> 00:19:14.155 Testify against me. 00:19:14.155 --> 00:19:18.844 Verse number six what should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? 00:19:18.844 --> 00:19:45.018 Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year old calves and then probably the most well of you to act justly, to love faithfulness and to walk humbly with your God? 00:19:45.018 --> 00:19:48.743 Very hard for me to get that out in the CSB. 00:19:48.743 --> 00:19:56.460 My parents kind of put that verse on me when I was young and I've got the King James just drilled in my mind of that verse and so it's hard to get on the CSB for that. 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:59.592 But it's hard to get on the CSB for that. 00:19:59.592 --> 00:19:59.951 But it's personal. 00:19:59.971 --> 00:20:05.721 The Lord who reigns is not just looking for righteous deeds in the abstract. 00:20:05.721 --> 00:20:08.044 My people, what have I done to you? 00:20:08.044 --> 00:20:13.535 I'm not looking for thousands of sacrifices. 00:20:13.535 --> 00:20:14.919 I want you to walk humbly with me. 00:20:14.919 --> 00:20:21.501 So that means that the humble relationship that's breached by the people. 00:20:21.501 --> 00:20:22.430 There's a corresponding judgment that comes. 00:20:22.430 --> 00:20:29.622 It's a very personal judgment and yet there is so much hope in this book of Micah also. 00:20:29.622 --> 00:20:31.755 So there's some aspects of judgment. 00:20:31.755 --> 00:20:33.400 But what about these aspects of hope? 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.298 Chapter 3, verse 8, go back there. 00:20:36.298 --> 00:20:37.675 We're going back and forth a bit. 00:20:37.675 --> 00:20:43.674 If there's going to be real hope, there has to be a truthful foundation for it. 00:20:43.674 --> 00:20:46.682 This is verse number 8 of chapter 3. 00:20:46.682 --> 00:20:57.636 As for me, micah, speaking, I am filled with power, by the Spirit of the Lord, with justice and courage to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion, to Israel his sin. 00:20:57.636 --> 00:21:04.423 So the starting point of hope is to get real about what's going on, not to offer a false hope like the prophets who were there. 00:21:04.442 --> 00:21:16.013 I have a friend back in Louisville who is significantly autistic and that's not crucial to the story, but it makes his commentaries much more endearing. 00:21:16.013 --> 00:21:20.604 And one thing he does not like is false teaching. 00:21:20.604 --> 00:21:33.499 And we'll have these conversations when I live in Louisville more often, but regularly, where he'll say now Micah, now Micah, tell me about this. 00:21:33.499 --> 00:21:42.864 What would you do, micah, if you were in a church and the preacher said oh, dear children, god loves all of you. 00:21:42.864 --> 00:21:49.159 You don't have to worry, no matter what you do, everything's going to be okay. 00:21:49.159 --> 00:21:50.162 What would you do, mike? 00:21:50.162 --> 00:21:50.603 What would you do? 00:21:50.603 --> 00:21:53.791 He said well, brad, that doesn't sound like it's very he goes. 00:21:53.791 --> 00:21:55.471 That would be false Teach. 00:21:55.471 --> 00:21:56.556 You should get out of there. 00:21:56.556 --> 00:22:00.737 So this guy was there, but he was right. 00:22:00.737 --> 00:22:01.951 That is. 00:22:01.951 --> 00:22:05.079 They don't use that tone of voice, otherwise it'd be easier to get rid of. 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:06.613 But he's right. 00:22:06.613 --> 00:22:14.378 They tend to say everything's going to be okay, no matter what, no matter what repentance, no matter what, and there's no real frank discussion of sin. 00:22:14.700 --> 00:22:21.531 The prophetic hope here begins with there's real rebellion, but that's going to lead to make the hope all the more sweet and precious. 00:22:21.531 --> 00:22:29.595 And the hope that Micah gives is not centered on their ability to correct themselves or make up the difference. 00:22:29.595 --> 00:22:31.580 It's centered on God and what he accomplishes. 00:22:31.580 --> 00:22:41.071 So let's go back to chapter two, verse number 12. 00:22:41.071 --> 00:22:54.740 I will indeed gather all of you, jacob, I will collect the remnant of Israel, I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like flock in a pasture. 00:22:54.740 --> 00:22:55.742 Verse 13,. 00:22:55.742 --> 00:23:00.298 One who breaks open the way will advance before them. 00:23:00.298 --> 00:23:03.344 I, I, I the one breaking open the way. 00:23:03.344 --> 00:23:15.107 This is God doing this work, the way this is God doing this work. 00:23:15.127 --> 00:23:16.714 Turn over to chapter six, another fascinating example of this. 00:23:16.714 --> 00:23:21.102 Often the prophets go through history of what happened in Israel's life. 00:23:21.102 --> 00:23:26.138 They'll do that to remind them of sin, but they'll also do that to remind them of how God has brought them hope in the past with his sovereign power. 00:23:26.138 --> 00:23:40.898 Chapter six, verse number five, after the prophets talked about he rescued from Egypt, micah says my people remember what King Balak of Moab proposed. 00:23:40.898 --> 00:23:42.922 This was a hundred years before another king outside of Israel. 00:23:42.922 --> 00:23:57.119 This was a hundred years before another king outside of Israel tried to hire a prophet, balaam, to come and pronounce a curse on Israel. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:57.884 He's trying to manipulate the spirits. 00:23:57.884 --> 00:23:59.432 So he gets a hold of Balaam and says, like I'm going to pay you, I got it. 00:23:59.432 --> 00:24:02.881 These Israelite people, they need to get some kind of voodoo curse. 00:24:02.881 --> 00:24:04.443 So come give them a curse. 00:24:04.443 --> 00:24:06.228 And Balaam goes. 00:24:06.836 --> 00:24:15.115 Now, if you know the story of Balaam, it's not completely clear from the Old Testament but he seems to be kind of prophesying against his will. 00:24:15.115 --> 00:24:21.969 And then the New Testament and other places makes it clear Balaam was a bad guy. 00:24:21.969 --> 00:24:23.758 He led the people into sin. 00:24:23.758 --> 00:24:26.904 He wasn't a true prophet of God in the wholesome sense. 00:24:26.904 --> 00:24:28.769 So Balaam's not a good guy. 00:24:28.769 --> 00:24:32.701 But Micah says not here. 00:24:32.701 --> 00:24:36.186 Remember, balaam was a bad guy, don't be like Balaam. 00:24:36.186 --> 00:24:40.300 He says remember what King Balak of Moab proposed. 00:24:40.300 --> 00:24:53.226 Remember what Balaam, son of Beor, answered him and what happened from the Acacia Grove to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the Lord's righteous acts. 00:24:53.226 --> 00:25:00.325 Well, okay, so what did happen and what made it a righteous act of the Lord with all this sin. 00:25:00.325 --> 00:25:04.063 Listen to one of the things that Balaam says. 00:25:05.796 --> 00:25:12.823 Balaam opens his mouth after he's been hired to prophesy against Israel, and he says this from Numbers 23, 20 and 21. 00:25:12.823 --> 00:25:18.279 I have indeed received a command to bless, since he has blessed. 00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:20.483 Speaking of God, I cannot change it. 00:25:20.483 --> 00:25:24.961 He considers no disaster for Jacob, he sees no trouble for Israel. 00:25:24.961 --> 00:25:32.444 The Lord, their God, is with them and there is rejoicing over the king among them and the king that hired. 00:25:32.444 --> 00:25:34.737 Balaam gets ticked off and he said what are you doing? 00:25:34.737 --> 00:25:38.278 You're supposed to be cursing these people and Balaam's like I, I, I, I. 00:25:38.278 --> 00:25:48.281 And now Micah says remember even that wicked king and the prophet that was maybe kind of a prophet for hire and at least later turned a wrong course. 00:25:48.281 --> 00:25:53.089 Even he couldn't go against God's people when it was God's purpose to bless them. 00:25:53.089 --> 00:26:00.817 So the hope is that God's going to do amazing things, despite what attacks and assaults that people face. 00:26:00.817 --> 00:26:06.626 I'll leave that aside. 00:26:06.626 --> 00:26:08.130 Another comment, but leave it for now. 00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:13.527 God's hope is not just for that people, israel. 00:26:13.527 --> 00:26:17.563 It's an expanding hope, it's a universal hope. 00:26:18.175 --> 00:26:19.361 Go over to chapter four. 00:26:19.361 --> 00:26:29.287 So we saw some of this already and Micah overlaps with Isaiah, don't know that they were best friends. 00:26:29.287 --> 00:26:36.432 We're not aware of that, but they have a similar timeframe and a similar message and even similar words, which also shows this is the spirit of God behind this. 00:26:36.432 --> 00:26:48.423 It's not their imagination, but verse number one of chapter four in the last days, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established at the top of the mountains and be raised above the hills. 00:26:48.423 --> 00:26:57.827 Now listen, peoples will stream to it and many nations will come and say let us go to the mountain of the Lord, the house of Jacob. 00:26:57.827 --> 00:27:02.066 He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths. 00:27:02.066 --> 00:27:04.460 Many nations. 00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:22.617 So lest we think God's work in the Old Testament is merely limited to Israel, no, even there there's this plan and purpose of God to bless the nations that it's not just one place or one nation or one small temple. 00:27:22.617 --> 00:27:27.623 It's going to expand to be a kingdom that encompasses heaven and earth. 00:27:27.623 --> 00:27:34.609 Great judgment, great hope. 00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:39.218 So let's come back to that question who is like the Lord? 00:27:39.218 --> 00:27:41.384 No one is like the Lord in his judgment. 00:27:41.384 --> 00:27:51.125 Yes, no one's like the Lord in the way that he provides hope and a tenderness to the hope that he'll gather his own like a shepherd. 00:27:51.125 --> 00:27:55.236 But let's turn to chapter seven, because Micah answers his own question. 00:27:55.236 --> 00:28:00.307 If you read the book this week, you already knew how it ended, but maybe you don't. 00:28:00.307 --> 00:28:04.959 Micah, chapter seven, verse 18. 00:28:04.959 --> 00:28:08.123 Who is a God like you? 00:28:08.123 --> 00:28:11.508 So Micah asks about his own name. 00:28:11.508 --> 00:28:17.982 He doesn't say his own name right here, but he's asking the question the book reveals. 00:28:18.163 --> 00:28:19.445 The prophecy came to Micah. 00:28:19.445 --> 00:28:24.659 Now, at the end, micah asks the question who is a God like you? 00:28:24.659 --> 00:28:27.883 And then what's Micah's focus? 00:28:27.883 --> 00:28:35.417 Forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance. 00:28:35.417 --> 00:28:41.057 He does not hold onto his anger forever because he delights in faithful love. 00:28:41.057 --> 00:28:43.521 He will again have compassion on us. 00:28:43.521 --> 00:28:45.125 He will vanquish our iniquities. 00:28:45.125 --> 00:28:48.497 You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 00:28:48.497 --> 00:28:52.881 You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham. 00:28:52.901 --> 00:28:54.221 No one forgives like God forgives. 00:28:54.221 --> 00:29:06.538 That's Micah's answer. 00:29:06.538 --> 00:29:07.980 Like God forgives that's Micah's answer. 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:22.877 It's not a story of raw power or intellect or knowledge true as those things are. 00:29:22.877 --> 00:29:27.465 It's that God has this quality of forgiveness that's backed up by his loyal love. 00:29:27.465 --> 00:29:28.106 That is unmatched. 00:29:28.106 --> 00:29:29.730 But you need the judgment and the hope. 00:29:29.730 --> 00:29:34.584 And it still raises the question that Micah doesn't give great detailed answer to. 00:29:34.624 --> 00:29:35.386 But wait a minute. 00:29:35.386 --> 00:29:43.808 If God is bringing judgment rightly and all kinds of people deserve judgment where's the forgiveness come from? 00:29:43.808 --> 00:29:48.669 It comes from Jesus Christ, who tabernacled among us. 00:29:48.669 --> 00:30:04.423 It comes from Jesus Christ who lived perfectly and walked the righteous mountain of Zion and was crucified on a cross and took God's judgment so that we might receive real and lasting hope. 00:30:04.423 --> 00:30:11.398 So if you're tonight thinking well, that's kind of a letdown answer like no one forgives, like God. 00:30:11.439 --> 00:30:13.002 I mean, yeah, god's supposed to forgive. 00:30:13.002 --> 00:30:15.516 No, it's amazing that God forgives. 00:30:15.516 --> 00:30:23.596 If you think well, yeah, someone once, you know, swerved in front of me, but I forgave him in my heart. 00:30:23.596 --> 00:30:26.943 No, no, god forgives in a much greater way than that. 00:30:26.943 --> 00:30:32.763 There's eternal debt here, there's personal sin and grief, but God forgives. 00:30:32.763 --> 00:30:38.895 I've loved loyally before From eternity to eternity. 00:30:38.895 --> 00:30:40.018 God has his own. 00:30:40.018 --> 00:30:43.122 That's a faithful love that's incomparable. 00:30:43.122 --> 00:30:50.915 It's the same thing when Moses says show me your glory, and do you remember God's answer? 00:30:50.915 --> 00:31:04.288 He does tell Moses, I bring consequences to the third and fourth generation, but he begins by saying I'm compassionate and gracious and maintaining love to a thousand generations. 00:31:04.288 --> 00:31:10.278 It's the same thing we saw in Jonah, where we get to the end of the book and Jonah says I knew this was going to happen. 00:31:10.278 --> 00:31:19.326 I knew you were gracious and forgiving, and Jonah doesn't have very good attitude about it, but he knows what's true about God that God forgives. 00:31:25.095 --> 00:31:44.895 There's a word that's used here and it's a Hebrew word and we don't do a lot of Hebrew, but this is a word that's important and we're going to actually come to it next Sunday morning, so I'll give you a little cliffhanger here, but it's this word that's translated sometimes love, or faithful love, or loyal love. 00:31:44.895 --> 00:31:58.301 That helps to reveal the quality of God which generates such intense loyalty and such intense sovereign achievement of salvation that brings full forgiveness. 00:31:58.301 --> 00:32:11.718 So we celebrate the fact and we can hear more about it next Sunday morning from the Psalms, where that repeats over and over again as a refrain His faithful love endures forever. 00:32:11.718 --> 00:32:14.002 Who is like the Lord? 00:32:14.002 --> 00:32:17.469 No one, because no one forgives like our God. 00:32:18.394 --> 00:32:21.159 Let's pray, lord. 00:32:21.159 --> 00:32:55.380 We are astounded that you would extend forgiveness, not because we deserve it or there's some obligation, but because this mysterious and marvelous fountain of grace that you are to make a way for forgiveness to happen, to make a way for reconciliation, to bring us into the fold of Jesus Christ, that our shepherd loves us to the end, loves us, even with iniquity and sin. 00:32:55.380 --> 00:33:01.910 Lord hear our cries of hallelujah and our amazement. 00:33:01.910 --> 00:33:14.721 That would not be ever something we want to take lightly or think little of, but to have as the theme of our hearts and the magnitude of our prayers. 00:33:14.721 --> 00:33:20.442 No matter what happens in life, our God forgives us, no matter what disappointments we have from others. 00:33:20.442 --> 00:33:25.402 We're forgiven and loved by the Lord, no matter what sin we might contribute. 00:33:25.402 --> 00:33:32.844 We come to you, we turn, we confess, and there is forgiveness with you that you we confess, and there is forgiveness with you that you might be feared, but there is forgiveness. 00:33:32.844 --> 00:33:39.585 How we praise you, oh Lord, god, that there is no one like you In Jesus' name, amen.