Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Micah. Micah. Right after the book of
Jonah. The book of Micah. Before we look at this precious
book, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, this evening, for
Christ's sake, would You bless, Lord, the preaching and the hearing.
Lord, we ask You to have mercy. Thank You for this time that
we have. Thank You for the privilege to hear. Lord, in wrath, remember mercy. We
pray that You would anoint our hearing by the Spirit of God
for Christ's sake. Amen. In every generation of people, from the creation of man, this world has been possessed
by unbelievers. In the time of Adam, Eve and
the Falls, their kids, one of them knew
God and one of them hated Him. Murderer. But within that group of people,
in that group of reprobates, And if you want to know what
a reprobate, you've heard that word, reprobate. Let me tell
you what reprobation is. Reprobation is the very opposite
of election. It's the very opposite. Almighty
God has set forth that He has been pleased to elect a people
unto salvation. Reprobation is God's choice to
leave a man or a woman to themselves. And God does them no wrong in
leaving one to himself. He does them no wrong. Leaving
one to do what he wants to do is God's right. So in the midst
of this world of reprobation, God leaving a man to himself. There is always a remnant according
to the election of grace. Even at this present time, the
Apostle Paul said, there is a remnant according to grace. God always
has a witness according to His good pleasure, according to His
mercy, His kindness. Now during the time of the prophet
Micah, which was about 150 years before the prophet Ezekiel, these
prophets are not placed in the scriptures according to chronological
order. Some of these what we would call
minor prophets. They're not minor in what they're
saying. It's basically the volume of what they wrote. But these
minor prophets, smaller in volume prophets, some of these prophets
wrote hundreds of years before. Jeremiah or Isaiah. Micah was
one of them. And the nation of Israel, by
and large, had fallen into empty religious ritual. They had gone in and it was just business as usual. Well, we've
got to go to church. They'd left their first love. There was that time when they
came out of the nation of Egypt and the people, not all of them,
some of them, sensitive. I thought on that again how the
Lord wrote to the churches. And that church that He wrote
to, you've left your first love. Can that be possible? Absolutely. I would say, by and large, it
is not something that happens overnight. Very probably something that
most of them never even detected, but the Lord did. And He in mercy
and grace exposed it. Well, these people during the
time of Micah, because they had the law given to because they
had had the prophets, they prided themselves in being sons of Abraham,
and therefore they arrogantly boasted under the direction of
their false prophets. In Micah chapter 3, I'll look
at this again in a moment, but Micah chapter 3 and verse Here
was one of the sayings, right at the end of that 11th chapter,
is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Boy,
I tell you, you know, pride cometh before a fall. Be careful. The vast majority of the prophets
during that time, prophets from, you know, this nation, this country,
they were false prophets, and the Scripture reveals them to
be nothing more than businessmen, money-hungry businessmen. Look at the first part of the
eleventh verse of the third chapter, Micah 3.11. The heads thereof
judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire. the prophets
will divine for money, yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? I looked up to find out what
exactly was the Lord saying about them when it says, Yet. They judge for reward. They teach
for hire. The prophets divine for money.
Yet will they lean upon the Lord, yet they say, is what it's saying. They say, we're believing God. We're trusting the Lord. We're
seeking God's will. That's the natural speech of
all false religion. God's people say it and do trust
it because they have faith. God's given them faith to believe.
But all false religion will say, we'll believe in God. And then
when the Lord did send a true and faithful prophet, because
of the hardness of the people's heart, it's what they say, Micah
chapter 2 in verse 6, it's what they say, prophesy ye not. Say they to them that prophesy.
They shall not prophesy to them that they shall not take shame.
Don't preach to us. Don't tell me what God has to
say. If it fits my fantasy, that's
fine. But don't tell me something that
doesn't fit my sales. But God sent a prophet named
Micah. and with boldness and confidence
in the Lord." Not in himself, but in confidence in God. He
joyfully, faithfully spoke of the coming Messiah that soon
would come for the redemption and salvation of His people.
I want you to look at Micah chapter 7 and verse 7 to 9. Micah 7,
7. This is what Micah said to Him. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will
hear me. Rejoice not against me, O my
enemies. When I fall, and a believer knows
that he does, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me." This is what God's preachers say.
This is what God's people say. I may not know the way that He
is leading me, but I know who is leading. Verse 9, I will bear
the indignation, the chastisement of the Lord because I have sinned
against Him until He plead my cause and execute judgment for
me. He will bring me forth to the
light and I shall behold His righteousness. God sent a true
prophet. to Israel. They didn't want to
hear what He had to say. But that preacher, in the boldness
and confidence of Almighty God, said, I'm going to trust the
Lord. Well, let's just look through. And obviously, like every one
of the prophets, I can't deal with every one of the verses. But let's just see what the spirit
of this prophet is setting forth. The Lord sets forth His witness
against Israel. Micah, chapter 1, verses 2 to
5. Here, all ye people, hearken,
O earth, and all that therein is, and let the Lord God be witness
against you. The Lord from His holy temple,
for behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place and will come
down and tread upon the high places of the earth, and the
mountains shall be molten unto him, and the valleys shall be
cleft as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured
down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob
is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel." What
is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What are the
high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? In that
last part that I just read, What's the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria? What are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? Samaria
and Jerusalem were the two major cities. That was the places where
the priests were to be, where the tabernacles were supposed
to be. That was the two major cities. And those were the cities that
were leading the rest of the country. in rebellion against
God. So God just named the two major
cities in there. What's really going on here? The very places that God had
raised up. They were the leaders in rebellion. Well, here's a man born to himself,
I mean born in sin, left to himself, and this is what he's going to
do. The Scripture sits forth in verse 9 of Micah 1. This is his problem. Here's man's
problem right here. Verse 9, For her wound is incurable,
for it has come unto Judah. He has come unto the gate of
my people, even to Jerusalem. What is the problem with man? an incurable wound. It can't be cured. What do you have to do with it?
You judge it. You kill it. It's got to die. It's got to be placed under the
wrath and judgment of Almighty God. This old man is not cured. This old man is a rebel. That
which is flesh is flesh. That which is spirit is spirit.
And they're contrary one to another. And there's a continual battle
that goes on in the believer for the rest of his life. And
the only thing that's going to happen is this body of death
is going to have to be put off This wound is incurable. This
is what Isaiah says, Isaiah 1, 6. The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint from
the sole of the foot even to the head. There's no soundness.
There's nothing stable in it. That wound has no one. that is not touched. Micah said in Micah 1.9, He,
that wound, sin, has come into the gate of my people, even Jerusalem. God's elect. Are they born in
sin just like everybody else? Yes, sir. They are all, Romans
3.12, gone out of the way. They are together becoming proper.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. God's people are
born just like everybody else. They are lost. But in the midst
of the bondage of sin, the Lord sets forth Him who is referred
to as the Breaker. I want you to look at Micah 2,
verses 12 and 13. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant
of Israel. I will put them together as the
sheep of Bozrah, a place that I found out was known for its
magnificent flocks. Wonderful, wonderful flocks of
sheep as the flock. I will put them together as the
sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold. They
shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of the men.
There is a number that no man can number. How many are the
Lords? A number that no man can number.
The Lord knows them, but it is a multitude of men. Verse 13,
"...the breaker is come up before them. They have broken up, have
passed through the gate, and are gone out of it. And their
king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them."
The breaker. Now this breaker is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. In all of the rebellion, in the
midst of this nation, Israel. Now, in the midst of this country
right now, in this world right now, there is absolute rebellion
against God. But Almighty God is going to
do something for His people that they cannot do for themselves. He's going to rescue them. He's
redeemed them by blood, and He's going to regenerate them by the
Spirit of God, the Breaker. Here is the One The breakers
come up before them. The One that came up from everlasting. The One that was ever before
the Father. I was always before Him. I was always His delight, He
said. The One that was ever before
Almighty God and stood as the surety of the sheep. He was the
One chosen of God to break down that middle wall of partition
between us and our Lord, our God. He is our peace. He is the one, the breaker, that
John saw in the Isle of Patmos who was worthy to take the book
of the revelation of God's eternal counsel of mercy and to loose
the seals therewith." You remember when there was one found who
sat on the throne and had in his hand a book. John said, I heard one cry, who's
worthy to take the book? And no man in heaven and earth
was found worthy. And John said, I wept bitterly.
And he said, and one came to me and said, weep not. The lion
of the tribe of Judah, he hath prevailed. The breaker, the deliverer,
the deliverer, the breaker, the mighty warrior, he hath prevailed
to take the book. He came and he took the book
out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne. And the four
twenty elders fell down before him, casting their crowns and
said, You're worthy. to receive honor and glory and
praise, for Thou hast redeemed us out of all of the earth, every
tribe and tongue and nation and people." Those seals, that book
was written on the back side, inside and outside, completely
written. No other writing could take place
on it. And He was worthy. What was the book? It was the
revelation of God's eternal purpose to redeem His people. It was
the revelation of God's eternal mercy and grace to a people. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Breaker, He was the one that
came forth. The Breaker has come up before
them. He has absolutely broken down
the strongholds of sin which Satan held His people by. And he's broken down that natural
hatred and enmity that his people had toward God. How? By giving
them a new heart. This old heart right here. I
do not possess an old heart that loves God. Before regeneration,
there is no love for God. There is no caring for His gospel. There is no appreciation of His
mercy. Oh, the mighty breaker. Lord,
keep me that sin would not have dominion over me. The breaker. The deliverer. In the midst of
rebellion, in the midst of animosity and wrathful thinking toward
God, Almighty God is God of people. And He is going to redeem them.
How is He going to redeem them? By the breaker? Well, in chapter
3 of Micah, the Lord continues to warn against all false prophets
who oppose God and His people. Look at Micah 3, verses 9 to
12. Hear this, I pray you. ye heads of the house of Jacob
and princes of the judge of Israel that abhor judgment and pervert
all equity, all fairness, all justice, all right. They build
up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof
judge for reward. The priests thereof teach for
hire. The prophets thereof divine for
money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your
sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps,
and the mountains of the house as the high places of the forest."
Micah 3.12 reveals the root. of this world's judgment. Micah 3.12 reveals the root of
man's demise. Here is what it is. False preachers. False preachers. Evil. Evil. Because verse 11 reveals these
hirelings, they are businessmen that deal in the merchandise
of men's souls. I am telling you based on the
Word of God, men that are standing in pulpits, even tonight, that
are lying to people. merchandisers of their souls,
false prophets, false preachers, giving men false hope because
of these hirelings in verse 11. Verse 12 says, Therefore shall
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become as heaps and the mountains of the house as the high places
of the forest." I want you to turn, just mark your place right
there in Micah. Turn with me to Jude, just before
the book of Revelation. Jude, just one chapter in Jude. So it's Jude, verse 3 and 4 is
what I want to read. I was looking at this passage
today. Jude, verse 3 and 4. Beloved,
Jude says, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and to exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints. Why, Jude? Verse 4, For there
are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Jude is saying, Beware! Beware! Of these men, these preachers,
who creep in unaware. It's not that they're preaching
false free will, man-centered doctrine at first. They come under the guise of
being preachers of the gospel of free grace. They come in and
creep in unawares, leading, trying to lead, to believe. that they're
truly gospel preachers. But in time, if they do not openly
deny it with their mouth, they openly deny it with their actions. By living lives of, where the
Scripture says, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,
into loose living. Let me tell you something. I
know that in every man, every woman, there is that old man
that wars against God. I know that. But Almighty God
is going to keep His people. And for someone to say, well,
now wait a minute, if I'm saved by the grace of God, it does
not matter how I live, how I act, whether I act in a respectful
way before God and before others, I'm saved by the grace of God.
So therefore, it doesn't matter how my life is. My friend, you're
deceived. They're turning the grace of
God into loose living, vulgar living. Though they may
not outwardly say it, they do it. and denying the only Lord
God and our Lord Jesus Christ, denying that salvation is all
of grace, either in word or in action. Now, back in Micah chapter
3, these false preachers, back in 3, verse 12, because of these hirelings, because
of these ones that judge for reward and teach for hire and
divine for money and say, God is with us. We are the Lord's
preachers. Therefore, verse 12, shall Zion
for your sake be plowed as a field. There is nothing more damning
to men's souls than false preachers. I have absolutely, absolutely
no tolerance for him. None. I cannot associate with
him. I cannot. I know that there's
times you have to talk to him, but I do not have and will not,
by the grace of God, give them the impression that you and I
are the same. I'm saved wantonly. I'll get
invitations to go. Can you meet? We're going to
have a prayer breakfast or something down at the square. You know,
we're going to be down here all meeting together and praying
together. I want to know if we can count
on you. Damning to men's souls. Men are
born with sin in their hearts and have itching ears. to hear
lies until God gives them a new heart. But in the midst of deserved
judgment, Almighty God remembers mercy. Chapter 4, verses 6 and
7. In that day, saith the Lord,
will I assemble her that halteth. And I will gather her that is
driven out, and her that I have afflicted. And I will make her
that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong
nation. And the Lord shall reign over
them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever." You know the story
of Jacob. Jacob, he was wrestling, the
Scripture says, with a man, a God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ. And in
the wrestling, in the struggles, the Lord said, who would not
let Jacob go? That's the only reason Jacob
could hold on. The Lord said to Jacob, let me go. And Jacob
said, I can't. Not until you bless me. Jacob
knew. Jacob knew who he was. He'd have
never asked that, Mitch, unless you bless me. He said, what's
your name? I said, my name's Jacob, supplanter,
trickster, liar, huckster. Right. Right. But no more. Your name is Israel,
oppressed with God. You prevailed by the grace of
God. And the Scripture said, and the
Lord touched him, there was sinew that shrunk And he halted for
the rest of his life. He limped as a reminder that
in his weakness he was strong in the Lord. And the Lord says,
I'm going to make her that halted a remnant, her that was cast
off, cast off in Adam's fall, cast off in sin, I'm going to
make her a strong nation. And the Lord shall reign over
them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever." Oh, those that halt. What a blessing
to be able to realize something of my frailty. The Lord, for
the sake of His blessed name and covenant, shall surely recover
His people that halt spiritually, that have no ability to walk
or write, He's going to show mercy to those that He's everlastingly
loved. Undeserving in themselves. And
they know it. They admit it. Those that admit, they don't
have any ability whatsoever. I talk so much about prayer. trying to pray. The older a person
gets, I'm convinced of this, the more they realize their inability. Those of us that have a few extra
years over some of you, you realize you just feel the frailty of
this flesh. Thankful. Thankful. I think about that Scripture
in Hebrews. We don't know what to pray for. The Spirit helpeth
our infirmities. It takes those things that we
would desire to say, and the Spirit of God says them, by the
blood of Christ put away our guilt. It takes those things
that we don't say and puts them in there. Things that we say
that we ought not to have said. not counted, iniquity not imputed
to the silliness that we see so much in ourselves. That's
what He's saying right there. Those that halt, I'm going to
assemble, gather her, verse 6, that's driven out. Those that
I've afflicted, taught her what she is. Oh, the mercy of God
that overrules our failings, fallings, our haltings. It makes
our times of falling to be rising times of His mercy. Well, in
chapter 5, the prophet sets forth the coming of the Messiah, reminds
the people of their hope, tells them first of all in verse 2
of chapter 5, even the very place of His birth. This is the one.
This is who you're looking for. This is where He's going to be
born. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto
me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting..." That's what the Lord said to
those Jews before Abraham was I Am. This is the eternal God. made flesh, setting forth God's
sovereignty and mercy to tell a people where He's going to
be born, that He's coming. They look forward to the coming
of the Messiah the first time. We're looking for His second
coming. We're looking for Him who is coming the second time.
Then sets forth Him who is the peace of His people, a people
that's found among the goats of this world. Look at chapter
5, verses 8 and 9. The Scripture says, And the remnant
of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people,
as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and a young lion
among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through, both treadeth
down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver thine hand,
shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries. and all thine enemies
shall be cut off." What a man is this! What a man! The man, Christ Jesus. Here is the man of glory, God's
man, God's servant, God's chosen, God's elect, the mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Peace, everlasting peace
is established by His shed blood. And how I thank God for that. By faith, I believe it. I look
at myself, and I would look at myself, and looking only at myself,
I would think, what peace can there be for one like Right here. How? How? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? The stars are not pure in his
sight. He counts his angels, you know,
just nothing. What is man? Man, God Almighty. has set forth that
the Lord Jesus Christ has honored God's law. Almighty God has set
forth that His wrath has been put away for His elect and that
justice has been served and there is no condemnation to them that
be in Christ Jesus. If I did not have that word of
peace Where would I be? What would
I do? By His obedience, the Scripture
says, many are made righteous. And do you know what I've got
concerning that? I've got His Word, Freddie. That's
all I've got. I've got His Word. That Almighty God would give
a man a heart to believe that and to trust Him. Like I said,
you're not going to find any peace looking at yourself. All
you're going to find is disobedience, disrespect, the God-man. In our nature, absolutely atoned. What does that mean? He covered
us by His blood, paid our debt. In our nature, He lived and died,
buried, rose again. for or because of our justification. Almighty God had eternally justified
His people, His elect, based upon seeing the blood shed from
before the foundation of the world. Justified them freely
by His grace. And Christ Himself died, buried,
and raised because of our justification. And He who is our peace is going
to have all of His scattered people throughout this world,
a world that they are in, but they are not all. Look at Micah
5, verse 7, "...the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of
many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the
grass that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men."
Where are they? They're just all in the midst.
They're all throughout this world, scattered. Where are they? The Lord knows. Is He going to
have them? Absolutely. How is He going to
call them? Through the preaching of the
gospel. How are they going to hear? God
is going to send them a preacher. And the Spirit of God is going
to bless that message to their heart. And He is going to give
them a new spirit, a new heart. Then the Lord, in chapter 6,
instructs His people to remember His goodness and His wondrous
works of grace and mercy. Look at chapter 6, verses 4 and
5. out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed thee out of the house of servants. I sent before thee
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what
Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor
answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the
righteousness of the Lord." You remember the story. Balak tried
to hire Balaam. Balaam was a false prophet. They
were going to hire Balaam to curse God's people. You curse
them. And God Almighty would not let
Balaam curse them. Words couldn't come out
of his mouth. The Lord says, you remember what I did for you.
I would not even allow a curse to even be placed upon you from
the mouth of a false prophet. You remember what I did from
Shittim unto Gilgal. Shittim was a place where they
committed great whoredoms, the Scripture says, against the Lord
until I brought you out of that place of your rebellion. And
I brought you to Gilgal. I brought you to Canaan. Do you
remember? Oh, my people. Verse 5. Remember. Remember what I've
done for you. And then, in closing, the glorious
benediction of this prophet. Micah 7, 18 and 19. Who is it, God, like unto Thee,
that pardoneth There is that word, eth, 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 wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
Into the depths of the sea of His Son's blood. O Lord, that I might be found
in this number, right here, in the number of Your remnant. Have mercy. I know you're going
to have mercy on your people. And when I read of the blessed
mercy and grace of God to His people, those that He's everlastingly
loved, those that He's chosen His blessed Son, those that the
Lord Jesus Christ redeemed by His blood, put away the debt
owed to the broken law of God. And Almighty God would give them
a new heart, give them a new mind, give them a new spirit.
He said, I'm going to reveal to you that I'm your God and
you're my people. And I'm not going to impute,
I'm not going to charge your iniquity to you. We're just as
chargeable in ourselves as anybody else, Mark. There's no difference.
Me or you or anybody else. but that the Lord would not impute
their sin to them. Oh, what grace! Lord, have mercy
on me. Lord, that I might be found in
this number, in that great number of mercy and kindness for Christ's
sake. Lord, bless these words to our
heart.