Micah chapter 7. It'd be all right to use your
table of contents, one of those minor prophets in the back of
the Old Testament. If you want to turn to Matthew
and go back from Matthew to Malachi, to Zechariah, to Haggai, to Zephaniah,
Habakkuk, Nahum, and then Micah. The minor prophets are a great,
great blessing If you quit trying to find in the minor prophets
answers to questions about things yet future and understand that
these prophets were given inspiration of God to write about things
future in their day, not in ours. They were given inspiration of
God specifically to write to us concerning the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ and none exceeds Micah in revealing
to us the great glory of the gospel of the grace of God in
Jesus Christ the Lord. Now prophecy, this prophecy of
Micah deals with two subjects. It is a great lamentation of
the woeful, sad condition of the children of Israel in Micah's
day. And at the same time, a celebration
of God's abundant mercy in Christ. much as we have already experienced
in our service here this evening. Brother Gary Redd in the office
and Ron out here have both made mention of the woeful condition
of the world around us, the religious world in which we live, and yet
celebrating God's goodness and His grace in making Himself known
to us, for we also deserve to be blinded and judged under His
wrath. The people of God in Micah's
time were passing through a very painful trial. The nation of
Israel was plagued with the incurable wound of empty, meaningless religious
ritualism. The judges, the prophets, the
priests were all men for hire. Everything they did, they did
to get money, to get gain, to get reputation, to get position,
to get power. Kind of reminds you of 20th century
America, doesn't it? the judges, the prophets, and
the priests, the politicians, the legal rulers, as well as
the religious rulers, all men of higher. And yet they acted,
all of them, in the name of God. God bless you. God bless you. The Lord's so good. The Lord's
with us. And they blasphemed every time
they opened their mouths. That's exactly what happened.
Look back here in chapter 3. Micah chapter 3, verse 11. This
is remarkable. This is just remarkable. The
heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach
for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. That's the
political leaders, the legal leaders, and the religious leaders.
All of them, whatever it takes, you grease my palms and everything
will be all right. Now look at this. Will they lean
upon the Lord? They're so religious. And say,
if not the Lord among us, no evil can come upon us. The Lord's
with us. We're God's people. God's blessing
us and God's using us. Oh, what a delusion. The word
of the Lord was precious in those days. There were few, very few
men who spoke truly as the prophets of God. And few, very few people
in the nation heard those who did speak for God. This caused
Micah great pain, great sorrow. But this man Micah was a man
who knew the Lord. He had a vision of God's majesty,
his greatness and his glory. Had an understanding of God's
purpose and God's grace. He had received the word of the
Lord, and with confident joy, he spoke of the latter-day glory
of this gospel age, when the majesty of God and the mercy
of God would be revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you go
through the prophecy of Micah, now we won't look at all these
texts today, but if you're taking notes, and I encourage you to,
jot these down and look at them sometime through the week. Micah
in chapter 5 and verse 2, spoke plainly of the incarnation of
our Lord Jesus Christ, gave us direct prophecy of Christ being
born in Bethlehem. In the first verse of that chapter,
he spoke of our Lord's humiliation and suffering as he would be
smitten, as the judges of Israel would smite him with a rod upon
the cheek. And then in chapter 4, he spoke of the gathering
of God's elect from among the Gentiles, just as plainly as
the Apostle Paul did later. He told how that God would gather
his elect not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. And
then in chapter 6, Micah describes the worship of God as spiritual
worship. He tells us plainly that it is
not enough just to go through the outward ceremonies. There
must be mercy. There must be inward spiritual
worship. Then in chapter 5 and verse 4
again, he tells us of the majesty of Christ's glorious exaltation.
Listen to what he says. Just listen to this. He shall
be great unto the ends of the earth. What a word from a man
who lived in these days. Micah spoke plainly. And finally,
look at chapter 7 and verse 9. Though the people were turned
aside to vanity, this man Micah, his heart was fixed upon God's
promised deliverer. He said in chapter 7, let me
see there, in chapter 7 and verse 7, Micah speaks concerning the
Lord God and His great mercy and grace. And he says, therefore
will I look unto the Lord. I will wait for the Lord, the
God of my salvation. My God will hear me. He spoke
with anticipation, with confidence, even while he acknowledged his
own sin. Look at verse 9 of the 7th chapter. He says, I will
bear the indignation of the Lord. I'm in the shape I'm in and in
the condition I'm in because of my sin. I will bear the indignation
of the Lord because I have sinned against him. I will bear his
indignation until he plead my cause. What faith? In the teeth
of my sin, I acknowledge with confidence he shall plead my
cause. and execute judgment, look at
this, execute judgment not against me but for me. I'll bear his
indignation, I'll bear his rod of chastisement until he pleads
my cause because I've sinned and I know that he will execute
judgment for me. He will bring me forth when he's
done to light and I shall behold his righteousness. What a confident word of faith.
Now, Micah, as he anticipates God's great mercy and grace,
the promise of God's grace in Jesus Christ the Lord, his heart
swells with joy, with gratitude, with praise, with exaltation
and expectation, and unable to contain himself, he speaks in
the last paragraph of this chapter more like an orator who just
got carried away with his message than one who is writing with
deliberate, calculated purpose. And listen to what he says. In
chapter 7 and verse 18, 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. Look at this now, because he
delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. I've tried many times to preach
this message to you contained in these words. Let me try one
more time. Our God delights in mercy. Oh, would to God I could convince
everyone who hears this feeble voice that God delights in mercy. As a matter of fact, I don't
recall anything else of which the scripture says God delights
in mercy. Did you hear me? Oh, clap your
hands and rejoice! God delights in mercy. There's none like Him. Great
and glorious, yes, but a God who delights in mercy. This good
news is pure gospel truth. It ought to raise a shout of
hallelujah across the universe. The God of heaven, the God whose
law we have broken, the God whose character we have offended, the
God in whose hands we are, is one who delights in mercy. No
wonder Micah said, who is a God likened to thee, O Lord? Our
text not only says God is merciful, it says he delights in mercy.
Now, I don't have any question that every attribute of God's
character causes him pleasure and gives him delight in its
exercise. But here, mercy is singled out,
singled out by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as that which
is God's favorite. All right to talk like that?
I believe it is. The Spirit of God does. This
is God's favorite. He delights. in mercy. This is
God's joy. He delights in mercy. We see
His attributes in many, many places. They are eternal attributes.
But mercy, while it is an eternal attribute of God, was the last
of His attributes to be revealed. Let me show you what I mean.
If you go back to the book of Genesis, in the beginning, you
see the wisdom and power of God in His creation. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. Now let folks argue what
they want to say about the time frame, all this stuff. I don't
care. God did it. God did it. And he
can make the earth he takes notion to, to look like it's 20 million
years old when he made it as fresh as this morning. Or he
can create the earth over a long span of time. It matters not.
God created the heavens and the earth. He did it. And we see
his wisdom and his power in the heavens and the earth. My soul,
step outside and feel the breeze and know the power of God. Lift
up your eyes to heaven and see the stars in their fixed place,
ordered by the wisdom of God who named them all. His wisdom
and power is seen in his creation. His wrath is seen in the damnation
of Satan and in the angels who are held in chains of darkness
until the judgment of the great day because of their great fall.
God's justice is seen when He expels Adam and Eve out of the
garden. Oh, but His mercy, His mercy
is seen when He spares their lives who have broken His law.
His mercy is seen when He promises a Redeemer to come who would
be the seed of woman. His mercy is seen as He provides
a sacrifice typifying the Lord Jesus Christ with which He makes
a ceremonial atonement and clothes them with the skins of an innocent
victim. Mr. Spurgeon, suggested you might
say that mercy is God's Benjamin and he delights most of all in
it. It is the son of his right hand.
But Spurgeon went on to say it might also be called the son
of his sorrow. For the mercy of God came to
be revealed in the sorrow and death of God's well-beloved son.
Indeed, he calls his son the mercy seat. He delights in mercy. Who is a God likened to Thee,
O Lord, gloriously sovereign, infinitely just, perfectly holy,
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, incomprehensible, eternal, and
one who delights in mercy. I just had a thought, and it's
a thought I wish weren't so, but it must be so. It is so. I don't know any human being,
not even a man, of whom it can be said he delights in mercy. Many show mercy here and there.
I know none who delight in mercy. But here the scripture says that
God Almighty delights in mercy. He delights in it. It is the
glory of God and the pleasure of God to show mercy to sinners
for Christ's sake. The Lord our God is not some
cruel tyrant. He is not some relentless sadist. He is holy, yes. He is just,
yes. He is true, yes. And He is a
God who delights in mercy. And let me show you what I can
in the next few minutes concerning God's mercy. First, let's look
for a little bit at mercy's revelation. What does the Word of God teach
us about mercy? I know that God's tender mercy
is over all His creatures. I know that He feeds the sparrow
and He clothes the lily. I know that He sends the sunshine
and the rain upon the just and the unjust. And in that sense,
His benevolent mercy is over all His creation. But our text
is speaking of God's specific saving mercy, that mercy of God
which causes dead sinners to have eternal life and to be forgiven
of all their sins. What does the Bible say about
this specific mercy of God. Well, it tells us first that
God delights in it. Micah's hope for himself and
for Israel, our hope as well, is simply the fact that God Almighty
delights in mercy, delights to give mercy to sinful men. No
man deserves it, no man can earn it, no man can merit it, but
Bobby Estes, God delights to give it. He delights in mercy. We who, we do not need to search
very far to find abundant proof of it. We who have sinned against
our God see his mercy everywhere. I know that God delights in mercy
because fallen men still live on this earth. Some of you that live with your
fists still shoved square in God's face. with your dagger
aimed square at God's heart. And the reason you still draw
your breath is because God delights in mercy. And I'm telling you,
anything outside of hell is mercy. Anything. Anything. Most common word people say,
somebody dies, they've been suffering for a while, so well, he's better
off now. A young lady in Katie Baptist
Church up at Fairmont years ago, her father died in rebellion
against God. He'd suffered a long time, died
a rebel just like he lived. And she stood at the head of
the casket, you know, greeted folks like you do at a funeral. And
folks kept coming by and said, he's better off now, he's better
off now, he's better off now. And she just had it till she
couldn't stand it no more. And finally somebody said, he's
better off now. And she said loud enough, everybody in the building
could hear her, said, he's in hell, you call that better off?
Anything outside of hell is mercy, anything. Often, though his anger
has been hot against men, he spares them in his mercy. In
Israel, as they provoke God in the wilderness, the psalmist
says he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth
away and cometh not again, and so he is merciful. Nineveh was
spared because God is merciful. Hezekiah turned his back against
the wall and called out for God to have mercy on him. And God
spared him for 15 years. The apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus
says, I obtained mercy. The fact that you and I are alive
today, I mean alive in Christ, accepted in the beloved, sons
of God, chosen, redeemed, saved, sanctified, is abundant proof
that God delights in mercy. Turn to a real familiar text
in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. In abundant, long-suffering mercy,
the Lord God preserved us in life throughout the days of our
rebellion, provided for us and cared for us. And because He
is rich in mercy, He saved us by His almighty grace. Look at
this. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4. But God, What a word. But God, aren't you glad God
stepped in as you made your man rush to hell? But God, who is
rich in mercy. Why on earth did he snatch me
as a firebrand from the burning? Why did he snatch you from the
very jaws of death? Because he's rich in mercy for
his great love. You see that? He's rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. even when we were
dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
are you saved God Almighty chose the vile refuse of this world
as the objects of his grace because he delights in mercy Paul says
you see your calling brethren look around you not many wise
men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of
the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea,
and things which are not to bring to naught the things that are,
that no flesh should glory in his presence. Why would God Almighty take worthless things such as
we are, a ragtag group of nobodies and nothings, and use us as instruments
in his hands as his mouthpieces to proclaim the gospel in this
dark, dark age so that no flesh glory in his presence. He delights
in mercy. Though we are now saved by his
grace, our constant conduct, God forgive me, Our constant
unbelief, our constant hardness of heart, our constant bending
to this world and bowing to this world, our constant grasping
after this world, our constant lust, our constant coldness is
proof positive that He delights in mercy. He delights in mercy. Blessed be God, He hath not dealt
with us after our transgressions, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. His mercies The prophet said
anew every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The greatest
possible proof that God delights in mercy is to be seen in the
sacrifice of his darling son in our stead. Do you have any
question whether or not God indeed delights in mercy? Go one more
time yonder to Mount Calvary, and behold the crucified Son
of God slain by the good pleasure of God himself. And understand
this, mercy there was great, and grace was free. Pardon there
was multiplied to me. Mercy is one of God's glorious
attributes. But the mercy of God is found
only in Christ. Several years ago I was giving
a guest lecture with UK in a class on comparative religions
and some folks from the Orient asked after I finished the lecture
said, but what if people worship God another way besides through
your Christ? And I said they don't worship
God another way besides through Christ and they don't know God
another way besides through Christ and without Christ they're going
to hell. The mercy of God is found only in Jesus Christ the
Lord. When Micah says he delighteth
in mercy, he's talking about God as he is revealed and known
and makes himself known in Jesus Christ. It is a vain delusion
of proud sinful men to trust God's mercy while they refuse
to trust God's Son. God outside of Christ is a consuming
fire. And if you dare imagine that
you will stand before God Almighty on your own merit, I'm telling
you, God is a consuming fire. All divine saving mercy is in
Christ and comes to sin for men only through the merits of Christ's
righteousness and his shed blood. In Christ, the mercy of God is
great, plenteous, abundant, and free. But out of Christ, no mercy
is to be had. God shows mercy only for Christ's
sake. That's what Paul says in Ephesians
chapter 4. God shows his mercy to sinners
for Christ's sake. Now, God for Christ's sake is
both willing to be merciful and able to show that mercy to needy
perishing sinners. Let me show you mercy's results.
Look in our text back here in Micah chapter 7. And look at these things that
are declared in this text. In Christ, for Christ's sake,
God delights in mercy. It is the glory and pleasure
of God to be merciful. And God's mercy is always active,
operative, effectual, gloriously effectual. Micah says this is
what God will do for sinners because he delights in mercy.
First, he will pardon iniquity. because he delighteth in mercy.
Do you see that? This word pardoneth means that
he lifts up sin and takes it away. David said, blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the
man whose sin is pardoned and in whose spirit is no guile.
Blessed is that man whose sin has been lifted up and taken
away. That's what pardon is. It's not
pardon like we think of pardon in common terms. The pardon here
spoken of is a pardon that expunges the record of guilt. A pardon
declaring that justice has no claim upon the criminal. It is
lifted up. Our guilt, our sin, has been
lifted up and laid upon Christ the true scapegoat. And He, bearing
our sin, took it away forever. He pardons iniquity. The Lord
God then passes by the transgression of his remnant because he delights
in mercy. What does that mean? Passeth
by iniquity. Passeth by transgression. He
goes down and walks by and doesn't notice it. That's what it means. You sometimes are busy and you're
a man and you walk by something and your wife says, didn't you
see that? No, I didn't see it. Sorry, I didn't say I wasn't
thinking about that. God isn't thinking about it. Because as
far as he's concerned, Merle is not there. He's not passed
by it. I'll take no notice of it. I'll
give no regard to it. I will not behold iniquity in
Jacob. He will not impute sin to his
people or call them to account for it. Through the blood of
Christ, it's covered, atoned, and it's washed away. Again,
to quote Spurgeon, he said, our sins are so effectually removed
that we shall not ultimately suffer any loss or damage through
having sinned. Isn't that amazing? You want
to hear that again? Our sins are so effectually removed
that we shall not ultimately suffer any loss or damage through
having sinned. He delights in mercy. Because
He delights in mercy, He will not retain His just anger against
His people. Turn to Isaiah 12 for a moment.
Isaiah 12. And if this doesn't thrill your
soul, I don't know what will. Isaiah chapter 12. In that day thou shalt say, O
Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away. Turned away? Ladies, it turned
away forever. Turned away? Look at this. And
thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. All that he is, In all his glorious
character, God is my salvation. He's my salvation. I will trust
and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song. He also has become my salvation. God's anger, wrath, and justice,
being fully satisfied in the sufferings and death of Christ,
are turned away from his people forever. Now then, look at verses
19 and 20 in our text. God Almighty, because he delighteth
in mercy, will turn toward his people because he has great compassion
upon them. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. Thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea. thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto their fathers
from the days of old. Now let me give you that in a
capsule. The Lord says here by his prophet that God's going
to do for Bob Potts and for all his Jacobs, all his elect, he's
going to do for them everything I swore I'd do for them in the
covenant of grace before the world began. How come? because
he delights in mercy. He delights in mercy. Now then,
the text here says he delights in it. Mercy then rejoices the
heart of God. I can't imagine anything that
I could say more honoring to God in his greatness than this. He delights in mercy. Why will you die? God says, I
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that he
turn and repent of his sin. Why will you die? God delights
in mercy. Judgment is strange work. He
delights in mercy. We're told that there's joy in
the presence of the angels over one sinner that repents. The
angels rejoice, but the scripture says there's joy in the presence
of the angels. Well, in whose presence are they? They're in the presence of the
triune God. There is a party in glory every
time a sinner repents. He delights in mercy. Read the
story of the prodigal son. Brother Scott Richardson said
here one night when he was preaching on the prodigal son years ago,
he said, the only time in the Bible God ever got in a hurry
to do anything is when he got up to run to meet a sinner coming
to him for mercy. He delights in mercy. He says,
come on, slaughter the fatty calf. My son who was lost, he's
come home. Let's throw a party. He delights
in mercy. In the book of Zephaniah, the
Lord God says, I will rejoice over thee with singing. I'll
rejoice over thee with singing. How come? Because he delights
in mercy. And let me tell you something.
The more I know Him and the more I know of my sin, the more I
delight in His mercy that delights Him. Oh God, teach you and me
He delights in mercy for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, Lindsey,
you lead us in a hymn and the deacons will come serve the Lord's
table.