our scripture reading. May I
offer you a suggestion to mark your Bibles. This will be a text
for our service this morning as well. Our scripture reading for this
morning is taken from the book of Micah, chapter 7. This chapter is a lament where
the prophet Micah expresses deep sorrow over the moral and spiritual
decay of his nation Israel. He describes a society riddled
with corruption, absent of righteousness and faithfulness. And it's a
picture of social breakdown where people are treacherous, officials
are corrupt, and family relationships are troubled. Kind of sounds
like this day and age, doesn't it? Amen. But that's not so. Ecclesiastes 1.9 says there's
nothing new under the sun. So, as Michael mentions in mid-chapter,
turn to God, wait for his mercy, he goes on to explain that God
delights to show mercy. And it's forgiving to all who
come to him. And as we know, in Christ, the Bible says that
through and through. Micah chapter 7. Woe is me, for
I am as, when they have gathered the summer fruits as the great
gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My
soul desired the first ripe fruit. The good man is perished out
of the earth, and there is none upright among men. They all lie
and wait for blood. They hunt every man as brother
with a net. They that may do evil with both hands earnestly.
The prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward. And the
great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up. The
best of them is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than
a thorn hedge. The day of the watchman and thy
visitation cometh. Now shall be their perplexity.
Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide.
Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
For the son dishonored the father, the daughter rises up against
her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A
man's enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore, I will
look unto the Lord. I will wait for the Lord of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall. I shall arise. When
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear
the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against
him. Until he pleaded my cause and execute judgment for me,
he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall
see it, and shame shall cover her which saith unto me. Where
is thy Lord? Where is the Lord thy God? Mine
eyes shall behold her. Now shall she be trodden down
as the mire of the streets. In the day that thy walls are
to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In
that day also, he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and
from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the
river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. Notwithstanding,
the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein. for
the fruit of their doings. Feed thy people with thy rock,
the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the
wood and midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old. According to the days of thy
coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto them marvelous
things. The nations shall see and be
confounded at all their might They shall lay their hand upon
their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the
dust like the serpent. They shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord
our God and shall fear because of thee. Who is a God like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities,
and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Thou will perform truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which
thou has sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Amen. And may the Holy Spirit have
blessing and understanding to the scripture. Open your Bibles,
if you would, to the 20th chapter of Exodus. Exodus chapter 20. A picture is a stamp of time. A moment. A single picture never tells
the whole story, does it? An example of that would be,
you're familiar with the portrait that our brother Mike Loveless
made of the church buildings here at Rescue in the foyer. If you were in here for the first time,
or maybe you're here today, and you've never really thought much
about what was behind that picture, look at that other picture that's
on the back wall back here, it's a completely different picture.
But if you hold the two of them up together, you begin to see
a bit of a story, don't you? You see a little bit more than
just that stamp of time that our brother Mike Loveless so
graciously and wonderfully painted for us to hang on our foyer.
All of a sudden you see it the small little building that was
there before. You get the idea of what I'm
talking about here. There's more to the story than
just a picture. A portrait of Kathy and I when
we were on our cruise, whatever it was, a year or two, whatever
it was back when we went over to the Mediterranean, they include
in those cruises portrait time where you can dress up real nice
and get pictures of yourselves. If you were to look at one of
those pictures of Kathy and I, you would think, wow, look, they're
dressed up all nice, well-to-do, they're doing all right. They
wouldn't show you the picture of Kathy and I wearing our leathers,
riding Harleys. You wouldn't see the whole picture. All you'd see is that one little
part of our life. Kathy received a picture this
week that I want to share with you, and I want to share the
story with you behind it. One of our religious relatives
is so heartbroken, and I don't blame them. I'm heartbroken as
well. All these children were just
taken from the world just like that. It just breaks my heart.
Especially for the families of the living. I can't imagine. I can't imagine what that would
be like. I know some of you don't have
to imagine, don't you? There are some of you who have
gone through that. heart-wrenching story it is. So a picture was sent of man's
imagination of what the Lord Jesus looks like with a bunch
of children around him. And Kathy asked Don't send me
those kind of pictures anymore. And that was a little offensive
at first. And Kathy didn't mean to be offensive. She wasn't trying
to be offensive or anything. The picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ painted by man's imagination is an offense. It's an offense
to me as well. And we were driving down the
street, and well, please tell me why. And Kathy, she knew there
were some scriptures that told us about that. Now I want you
to read that scripture with me. Are you in Exodus chapter 20,
look at verse 4. Thou shalt not. Now there's a lot of things the
Lord tells us thou shalt not. There's a lot of things. And
there's a lot of things that even though he tells us not to
do, we do it anyway, don't we? In fact, Paul says, the good
that I do, and I'm not gonna quote it exactly how he says
it, but you know the scripture I'm talking about over there
in Hebrews, where he says, I do, or it might be Romans. The good that I do, there's evil
mixed in it. He goes, the good that I should
be doing, I don't do, and the evil that I should be doing,
I do. None of you have that problem, do you? Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above or that is in the earth beneath. And the reason it says
the earth beneath is it's talking about the animals in the earth.
You know, Egyptians used to make cats. They treated cats like
gods. Just like India today treats
cowards. And that's what that in the earth
is talking about. It's talking about the animals of the earth. And then it says
under the sea. Let's go ahead and read the rest of it. Or that
is in the water under the earth. That's the same thing, the animals
of the sea. They used to make gods out of
fishes. You'd see a graven image of a
fish, and they'd be worshiping that. The Lord is telling us
here very clearly, not to make anything, including pictures,
of things in heaven. Why? Well, number one, first
thing right off the bat is we're weak. We'll start worshipping
it. If they can find the ark, if
they can, I guarantee you somebody's going to be up there worshipping
it. Look what they've done to Mary.
Some of you have heard me share this with you before, but over
there in the Bay Area, by that park that they got over in Great
America. Right outside of the entrance, when you drive into
it, there's a 30-foot statue of Mary standing out there. And
we're down there on a Saturday morning, early, early to get
first in line, like 5 or 6 in the morning. Sun had barely come
up. And there's at least 30 people out there worshiping and praying
to that big statue. Don't think yourself not in the
same boat. Every time we think of ourselves,
Above God, we have made an idol out of this flesh. Those who
say, I made a decision for Christ have made an idol out of their
flesh, out of their will. Don't think that we couldn't
be in that same boat as those poor folks over there worshiping
that big idol. We could do it just as well as
anybody. And the Lord knows our weaknesses
better than we do. So he tells us, do not do this.
Don't make these pictures. Now, first reason why, because
we're weak and we'll fall into worshiping it. Second reason
why, how dare a man or a woman of
sinful flesh think that they can imagine the truth of who
God looks like, or what He looks like. What a foolish thing. thinking
that our imagination could capture the essence of who God is, even
for a moment in time. A stamp. Try to contain in a stamp of
time, he who is without time. You getting the point that I'm
trying to make? That's just two reasons. How
about a third one? How about a third one? You can't tell the whole story
in one stamp. To understand who, what, and
why the Lord Jesus is, you cannot contain it in one stamp. of a long-haired hippie with
a bunch of children around him. The story behind Christ is way
larger than that. That's what we get to talk about
today. You want to see a picture of Christ? It doesn't get any
better than what he's put in his Word. It doesn't get any
better than what we just read a moment ago in our text, in our scripture
reading. Nowhere in scripture does it give a better picture
than what we read there in Micah chapter 1 through 20. Verses
1 through 6 are a good description of man. A good description, as
our brother Mike brought out in his commentary there. And I thank you for that, brother.
I opened the door for him to speak. I encouraged him. I said, if the Lord lays something
on your heart when you're reading that, go ahead and speak. And
I'm so thankful. Thank you. And I know you glorify God for
it. So, a great picture of the destruction
of men. Let's go back to that. I asked
you to mark your Bibles there. I want you to keep that marked
for just a moment. And look here again at Micah chapter 7. Look how it starts off right
there at the beginning. Woe is me, for I am as when they gathered
the summer fruit. And the great leanings of the
veggies, there is no cluster to eat. Isn't that the way the
world is around us? I'm not saying we're the only
ones. I'm not saying that we're even... Well, I don't know what I'm going
to say to that. I know there's Marysville. I know there's...
A man who, at least used to, I haven't heard him preach in
a long time over in the Bay Area, speak the truths of God. I know
there's a man up in the Dalles, Oregon, but there could be somebody
right down the street. I don't know. But I do know this. We live in
a dry and thirsty land. Why? Because most of the religion
in this world is of man and man's works, and it has nothing to
do with the truths of God's word. It's not anywhere near a picture.
Especially of those who draw pictures from the Catholic religion. Don't mean to pick on them alone.
They're in the same boat as everybody else, but it seems like they're
the most popular ones there are in the world today. Verses one through six, a great
description of natural man. And at the last part of verse
six, look at the last part of verse six. We're not gonna read
it all the way through again, but I wanna show a couple points
throughout here. Look where it says at the last part, the men,
the enemy, I'm sorry, a man's enemies are the men of his own
house. Now if you look at the original
language, you can interpret that this way. A man's enemies, are
the men, and for those of you who can visually see me, I'm
pointing to this man who stands before you. The man's enemies
are the men of his own house. That's where my main enemy is.
Everybody else in the world really can't hurt me. My biggest enemy is the pride
and the flesh that I walk in. Great description of the world,
isn't it? Men of the world. There we go.
Are we starting to get a picture here now? You see, you can't
get a picture of who Christ is if you don't know why He was
sent. And the picture God gives us of why Christ came to this
earth is because men have fallen into sin and degradation. Died,
as it says in the book of Genesis. In the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Spiritually. Dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. To
see the true picture of Christ, we must see the truth about what
man is. David said this, he said, my
sin is ever before me. If you have no sin in front of
you, you don't need a Savior. If God hasn't revealed what you
are before Him, you don't need a Savior. You don't need Christ. That's the way we are when we
come into this world. We don't need God. We can do
it on our own. No, you're right, Polly. Uh-uh.
No, we can't. Verses 7 through 17 of our text
here brings hope to those who know the truth of what they are,
those who know where their true enemy is. It brings hope to lost sinners
who see their true enemy. And then we come to verse 18. The last part of verse 18. And
we are given the essence, the essence of the picture of Christ. He delighteth in mercy. Today's message, pictures of
Thee. At first I just said pictures
of the Christ and not thinking too much about it. There's only
one Christ, folks. There's only one. There's not
all these different kinds of Christ, one who loves the world
to a certain degree and then has left the world out there
to dangle on its own. No, there's only one Christ and
He is the sovereign, Creator of all that is. Pictures of THE
Christ. What a picture of the true and
living God. If I could paint, I surely would
not try to paint what my imagination could come up with for a picture
of the Christ. Why? Because God has given His
true picture in His own Word. He delighteth in mercy. Everything
about God is His mercy to whom He will have mercy. In John chapter
1, where it declares the Creator of all that is was made flesh,
it says. What a picture! A picture of
one who has all authority over all that is. One who spoke. and things were, one who thought
and things were made. What a picture. What a picture
of the majesty that lies in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 14 of that first
chapter of John that he was made flesh. That means he who was spirit,
he who could not die, was made flesh. Like you and I. He came into this world as we
did, only yet without sin. Without the seed of Adam. He came into this world of the
seed of the Spirit of God, perfect in every way. Hebrews 10 declares that a body
was prepared. Why? Because our greatest enemy
is ourselves. And we battle that enemy from
the day we come into this world till the day the Lord takes us
out of it. We were talking this morning about our time in this
world. Maybe this will offer you a little
comfort. That picture of man's imagination
of what Jesus looks like with a bunch of children around him,
that gave me no comfort. But let me give you this is some
comfort about those children. Everyone who walks this earth
must leave it. And everyone who walks this earth
today to leave this earth is marked in heaven. When you have
completed the last sin that our Savior has paid for, you cannot
remain here. Now you take that for whatever
you want. Does God save children? I believe so, but I don't know where it is clear
in scriptures to tell us about that. I do know this, that if
you belong to God, That last sin that he paid for is it. You can't commit anymore. It's
your time to go to be in heaven. I'd like to think that that's
where those children are. I'd like to think that that's what
God did is he took them home. that they would sin no more. That's a hopeful thought, isn't
it? That's the only place we can put any hope in anything,
is in Christ. Remember what we talked about
a couple of weeks back? That's the only place we can
put any hope in, is in Him. And if it's His purpose, there's
nothing going to get in the way of it. The blood of bulls and goats
could never deliver a man from sin. But in Philippians 2, verses
5-8 we read these words, Let this mind be in you, which is
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in the fashion
of the man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Are you getting a picture? How
can you wrap that up? How can you wrap up the glory
of God in sending His Son to be a servant for sinners? Sending
His Son to be a propitiation, a payment. Justification. sanctification
for a people undeserving of Him. How can you wrap that up in man's
imagination of what He might look like? You want a picture
of Christ? Here it is right here. He humbled
Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. That's our Lord. That's our Lord. There's a picture. And you can't put that in paint.
Look at another picture. Mark your place there in Micah.
We're going to come back to that. But I want you to turn a few
pages to the left over to Isaiah chapter 9. Here's a picture for you. Here's
a great picture. Just as good as the one we just
read. Can you tell me to turn the cooler off in here? It's still cold? I'm sorry, I'm
starting to sweat up here pretty good. Here's a picture of our
Lord and Savior. Right here, look at chapter 9
of Isaiah, verse 6. For unto us. That means there's
a particular people, doesn't it? This is addressing a certain
group of people, is it not? Am I looking at this wrong? Unto
us, that means not to everybody. That means not to the whole world. Why is that important to God's
people? Because we are saved by grace.
Isn't that what it says over in Ephesians chapter 2? We are
saved by grace, not of works, lest men should boast. Unto us. Unto those whose names were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the world was ever began, before
it was ever created. Unto you. Unto us. Unto us. A child is born. Well, why was
there a child born? Because somebody's going to have
to die. Somebody's blood is going to
have to cover for me and for the us. My blood can't do it. The blood of bulls and goats
can't do it. God had to be manifest in the
flesh. That's what we read in John chapter
1 verse 14. He had to be manifest in the
flesh. Why? Just exactly why, what we just
read there back in Philippians 2 verses 5 through 8. He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death. This is why a child had
to be born. A body had to be prepared. Are
you getting the picture? Can you put that kind of a picture
in paint? Oh, I know, made a try it. How
foolish. How foolish. You want a picture of the true
and living God? Here it is, right here before
us. A child was born, a son was given. God's only begotten Son was sent
to this earth to die for His people that we would live in
Him. There's your picture. A sacrifice. A substitute. One who would stand
in our stead. of God upon Himself where we
deserved. Let's go on. A son was given
and the government shall be upon His shoulders. Everything that
is. All the full rule of government
shall be upon His shoulders. That just means simply this.
He's sovereign over all it is. He works it out according to
His will, according to His purposes. Don't we read in Scriptures? His name shall be called Wonderful.
Let me tell you who calls the Lord Jesus Christ Wonderful.
His people who He has died for. That's who. You can't call Him
Lord without the Holy Spirit. Oh, I know a lot of people think
they call Him Lord, but He's not their Lord. If you've never been religious
like me, you ask anyone who has. They called Him Lord, but they
never meant it. No, their Lord was them. Their Lord was their
works. Their Lord was their decision.
Their Lord was their will. Jesus Christ was never their
Lord until He made them. Until He made Himself. There
you go, I said it right that time. Until He made Himself their
Lord to them. Let's go on. Counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting
Father. What? I thought we were talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God. And then it
finishes off this, the Prince of Peace. Man's best imagination
could never portray the truth about this One called the Christ. How could it? Look over at 1
Corinthians with me. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. Look at verse 18. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 verse 18 through 25. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto who? Who does that say? us, a tribe unto us, which are
saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe." That picture that they have floating around,
hanging in people's homes, hanging up behind the podiums of some
churches here and there, that picture never saved anybody.
And neither did the guy in it. For the Jews require a sign,
verse 22, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block unto the Greeks, but unto
them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
of God, and the wisdom of God. God would love some to hate. God would love some and hate
the rest. How could that be? How could
a God of love hate any of His creation? I'll tell you how.
Man fell into sin and degradation in the garden. Yet the Lord says
in Jeremiah 31 verse 3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me,
saying, Yea, I have loved thee with everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness have I drawn thee. In the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Daniel, just those three books alone. My people the Lord uses 104 times.
God has a people. This is the true picture of Christ.
He delighteth in mercy. Romans chapter 9, verse 11 through
16, we read, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it were written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Isn't that what He says in His
Word? For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,
so that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. You want a picture? You want
a picture of Christ? You want a true picture? Listen
to these words from Romans 3 and also in Romans 5. All have sinned
and come short of His glory. In Romans 3, verse 11, we read,
there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God. Yet in Romans 5, verse 6, we read this, for when we were
yet without strength. In due time. That just means
in His time. when it was time for His purpose
to be fulfilled, when the will of God came into effect, and
it was done exactly how He had desired it. In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. There's a picture for you. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses
4-9, we read these words, but God, who is rich. Folks, our God does not come
up short. He gives us all the mercy and
grace we need. I know there are times when we
don't understand what it is we need. I know there are times
when we may bang our heads against the wall and say the Lord's not
hearing us. But he never stops hearing us.
You want to talk about a dear lady? A dear lady who's been
through so much. Her best friend passed away this
week. Tom. Am I right that he's kind of
the last of your generation, isn't he? You got your kids,
grandkids, but all your family's gone now.
All your best friends are gone. None of us have been through
as much as she's gone through, yet God is still with her. That's what he's telling us,
Polly. Even when we don't see it. He's God. Couldn't be any other
way. Here's a picture for you. He
rules over it all. Pastor Gene and Judy. Judy is now in a home. She's not going back. It's 40
miles away. Jean's going to be up every day,
you know it. She was taken there, I believe,
on Friday. This morning was the first time
he could find her. He went looking for her, trying
to find the place that they had taken her, and got lost. I can't imagine when my pastor,
a man of men, tells me that he cried when he couldn't find his
wife. Yet just like you, Polly, he
says, my Lord has determined this for me. I will not murmur. I want faith. I want to see a picture like
that in my mind every day that I get up. What other peace could we have
in this world if we don't have that? Our God is rich in mercy and
grace. Look at Philippians chapter 2,
and I'll bring this to a close. We've seen the picture of his
birth. We've seen the picture of his walk in this world. I want you to see a picture of
where he is right now. This very moment. A picture that can be grasped
in a painting of man's imagination. But God gives us a great detail
of it right here in His Word. Look at Philippians 2, verse
9. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven,
and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Look back again now at our text
in Micah chapter 7. Micah writes, In verse 7, therefore I will
look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation. There's a picture. Not one that we can see hanging
on a wall, but one that is painted on our hearts. One that is given to our hearts.
A new heart. a loving heart, a heart that
loves Him because He first loved us. Therefore I will look unto
the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will
hear me. Verse 18, Who is a God like unto
thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because He will turn again. He will have
compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities,
and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham,
which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. He hideth my soul. Here's the picture. Here's the
picture we looked to. The one we just read. He hideth
my soul in the cleft of the rock. Remember when Moses asked the
Lord to show him his glory? What did he do? He said, I'll
put you in the cleft of the rock. So you won't die. We're not going to die. Physically,
yes. Spiritually, somebody has already
died for us. The very one who is that cleft
of the rock, he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that
shadows a dry and thirsty land. Amen.