Let us turn again to God's word
and we turn to that portion that we read in the Old Testament
in the book of the prophet Micah. Micah chapter 7 and the last
three verses, the last three verses of the chapter, the last
three verses of the book of Micah. Remarkable words in which we
are reminded of the character of God, who is a God life unto
the earth, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for
ever, 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. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old." In Micah 7, verses 18, 19 and 20. Who is a God? Like unto the, as I said here,
we are reminded of the character of God And isn't that our confidence? The Hymn writer says, Pour not
on myself too long, lest it sink below. A look to Jesus, kind
as strong, mercy joined with power. There is a place of course
for self-examination and the Lord often brings us into situations
and circumstances wherein we are made to look to ourselves,
to consider ourselves, self-examination, and yet ultimately it is not
that subjective aspect of religion that is our comfort. It is that
objective, it is looking away from ourselves. It is that looking
to the Lord, considering something of His character. This is what
we are brought to here in the verses that I have announced
as our text this morning. Remember now that the names of
the prophets is often most significant. The names of these men many a
time tells us a great deal with regards to that ministry that
they were called to exercise. We certainly see that, as we
said many a time, in the name of the great prophet Elijah. who suddenly burst upon the scene
there in the 17th chapter of the first book of Kings. We're
told nothing concerning his birth, his background. He suddenly appears
in the days of that wicked king Ahab and his queen Jezebel. And the very name Elijah, of
course, tells us that God is the Lord or the Lord is God. His name then is a message against
all the idolatry that had been brought in by that wicked man
Ahab. How the people had turned from
the true God, how they were worshipping Baal. And yet this man comes
and in his very name declares to the nation that the Lord Jehovah,
He only is the true God. And then of course when we come
to the New Testament we see the significance of that human name
that was given to the Lord Christ. The angel says to Joseph, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins, the very name Jesus, or in its Hebrew form, Joshua.
tells us that salvation is of the Lord, that Christ himself
is indeed the salvation of his people. Names are very significant
and so too with regards to this name Micah or Micaiah. And the name means who is like
the Lord, who is like the Lord. who is a pardoning God like the
earth. It's here as we come to the very
end of the book that the writings of Micah, we might say, come
to their real climax. All is building up. in those
previous chapters to this that he acknowledges and confesses
at the end of his prophetic writings. Who is a God like unto the early,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for
ever, 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.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham,
which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Oh, where sin aboundeth, Christ
did much more abound. But what is this message of a
the sin-pardoning God, a God who passes by transgressions,
a God who delights in mercy. What is this message of such
a God to those who have no awareness of their real condition? Christ
himself has told us he came not to call the righteous, that is,
the self-righteous, but he came to call sinners, to repentance, And that sinner who is made aware
of his condition before God is, as Joseph Hart says, a sacred
thing. The sinner is a sacred thing.
The Holy Ghost has made him so, where we have that sense of our
sinnership, that realization of our need to know this God
who has so wondrously revealed himself here in the pages of
Holy Scripture. And so the first thing we have
to observe is how God himself is the one who does plead against
sin. This is the message of Micah,
is it not, that God will plead against the sins of his people,
plead against them because of their transgressions. Go back
to the beginning of the book, there in verse 2 of the first
chapter, Hear, 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 asleep place. For the transgression
of Jacob is obvious. And for the sins of the house
of Israel. This is why God is coming, you
see. As Michael says here, and the people are to hear that and
be aware, God is coming because of the transgressions and the
sins of the house of Israel. God comes in, first of all, in
that terrible way of judgment. He will visit his people because
of their transgressions. We have it again here in the
6th chapter, the 2nd verse, Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy,
and ye strong foundations of the earth, for the Lord hath
a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. And what is it that God pleads
with them against their sins? Verse 13, Therefore also will
I make thee sick in making thee desolate because of thy sins. God pleads them against the sins
of his people. This is how God begins with us,
is it not? There must be in us some awareness of what we are
before a holy God, some realisation of our sins. and consider the
language that he used here in the words of our text, the various
words employed to speak of what sin is. We see the richness here
of the vocabulary in verse 8. Here is that God that pardon
us iniquity, that passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. He uses different words. We have
this word iniquity. And what is the basic meaning
of the word iniquity? We often use it. What is the
basic meaning of the word? It means to transgress. Or rather it means to bend. or
to twist. That's the basic meaning of the
word iniquity here. The idea is that of crookedness
and perverseness. And we see, do we not, in the
earlier part of the chapter, in verse 3 that they may do evil
with both hands earnestly the prince asketh and the judge asketh
for a reward and the great many are truth is mischievous desire
so they wrap it up how they behave in such a perverse fashion again
see what follows in verse in chapter 6 rather in verse 11 Shall I count them pure with
the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful ways? How
they are behaving in this in this crooked way. They are
not straight, they are not dealing in equity. There is this perversion
even amongst those in high places. This is the basic meaning I say
of this word iniquity, to be bent, to be twisted, to be crooked. And this is the condition, of
course, that we're in because of the sin of Adam. We're all born with iniquity
in our souls. Though this only have I found,
says the preacher in Ecclesiastes, that God made man upright. but
they have sought out many inventions. Instead of being upright and
straight, what is man now is perverted, is twisted. This is
the basic meaning, I say, of the word that we have here in
verse 18, and God pardons iniquities, we are taught. God pardons iniquities. See how the Hebrews, they don't
just consider sin then as some abstract thing. how they see
it in very concrete terms. It's something so real. This
iniquity, this twistedness, this crookedness. And then again we
have this word transgression. It's that word that means to
rebound. To rebound. And isn't there a sense in which
we see sin defined in that term? Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. To transgress is to rebel, to
rebel against God, to reject God, to refuse to submit to His
authority, to refuse His commandments. And this is man's condition by
nature, the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, the natural
mind that we're born with. It's enmity against God. says
Paul, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
the man is in that state then of rebellion against his God. He's a transgressor of God's
holy laws. We read of the Gentiles having
the understanding darkened, or the darkness of the mind, you
see, that in that state of rebellion against God, they reject his
authority, they refuse to submit to his holy laws. These are the
words then that are used, who is a god like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity, that passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. And then we ought also to consider
the word sin itself, although it's not found here, it's a word
that is most commonly used of course in the scriptures to describe
man's condition. What does sin itself mean? As
I said the Hebrews, instead of thinking in just abstract terms
with regards to sin, that's thinking in those concrete terms, how
do they understand sin? Well, the basic meaning of the
word that is rendered sin in the Old Testament, the Hebrew
word, the basic meaning is to miss the mark. Sin is missing
the mark. God himself has set the standard. And we have that before us, of
course, in the Holy Lord of God. But we fall short, we miss the
mark. All the sins, says Paul, come
short of the glory of God. This is man's condition then. He constantly falls short of
that that God requires of him. He never attains to that standard
that God sets before him in his holy law. He's a sinner. God will make his people feel
that. To feel their crookedness. To feel what it is to be guilty
of iniquity. He'll make them to know that
they are rebels, that they are transgressors. He'll cause them
to see something of what sin is and to feel it. Oh, to feel
it. This is what God must bring us
to so that we We dread sin. We want to turn from sin. And
the strange thing is that we are those so often who love sin
and yet we want to hate sin. To cease in smarts but slightly
to only live confession is easier still. But all to feel cuts deep
beyond expression. What we have here you see is
the personal nature of sin. It's a very personal thing. It's
a very personal thing, and Micah recognises that. Woe is me, he
says, at the beginning of the chapter. Woe is me, for I am
as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the great bleedings
of the vintage, there is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first
ripe fruit. Woe is me. I am the cause of
my own I am the cause of my own wrath. This is what we have to be brought
to, we have to see that we are those who are guilty. In chapter
1 again, in verse 8, Therefore I will wail and howl, I will
go stripped and naked, I will make a wailing like the dragons,
and mourning as the owls, for a wound is incurable. For it
is come unto Judah, He has come unto the gate of my people even
to Jerusalem. It's a personal thing. Remember the experience of the
prophet Isaiah. When he was favoured in the year
that the king died, when Isaiah died, he was there in the temple.
And what a blessing was granted to Isaiah when he received that
call and that commission from God. But what does he say? Woe is
mine. As he sees something of the glories
of the Lord, woe is mine. For I am untarned, and a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord, of hosts. How that man Isaiah then, like
Micah, is made to recognise he is the cause of his own woe,
he's a sinner. It is a personal thing, I say. And David knows it. Or David
is made to feel it, is he not, when he is doubted so faithfully
by the prophet? when Nathan comes to him and
speaks to him so plainly thou art the man he was the man who was guilty guilty
of adultery but not only guilty of adultery with Bathsheba he
was the murderer of her husband Uriah the Hittite although he
didn't raise his hand against him I acknowledge my transgression
says David my sin is ever before thee against thee They are only
of thy sin, and done this evil in thy sight. Friends, we have
to begin here, we have to understand something of what sin is, the
awfulness of it, and the fact that it is so personal to us,
that we are those who are the transgressors, we are those who
are the sinners. before a holy God. God, I say,
pleads against sin, but God doesn't just plead against sin. What
do we see here in our text this morning? God is the one who passes
by sin. God is the one who passes by
sin. 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 for ever, 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. Here is a God who pardons sins. He is a sin-pardoning God. And yet, we have to recognise
the fact that it tells us elsewhere that God is angry with the wicked
every day. That God will by no means clear
the guilty. These statements are made with
regards to the character of God. He doesn't wink at sin. He doesn't
wink at sin. Sin must be dealt with. when he passes by, when he pardons,
he does that because he has made provision for the sinner. We are told here in verse 18,
he retaineth not his anger forever. Oh yes, sin is that that God
is angry with, but he doesn't retain his anger. he is pleased
to make a provision for the sinner. It's interesting in contrast
to God's mercy and that gracious provision that he is pleased
to make for the sinner. In contrast, God's justice is
spoken of in scripture as his strange work. There's that verse
in the book of Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 21 that speaks of
his justice as his strange work. The Lord shall rise up as in
Mount Perazim, he shall be wrought as in the valley of Gibeon, that
he may do his work, his strange work and bring to pass his act,
his strange act. In contrast His mercy is the
act that He delights in. As He makes provision for the
sinner, He is a God who is merciful. He is a God who is pleased to
act in the ways of grace. And we see it, of course, in
the gift of His only begotten Son. God does not withhold his
son. Even his only begotten somebody
is pleased to deliver his son up for sinners. And so it is that in the fullness
of the time God sends forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, that they might
receive the adoption of sons. He gives the unspeakable gift.
He sends the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish that that had been
agreed in the eternal covenant, to execute all that great work
of the redemption of sinners. And we see it of course ultimately
in that work of Christ upon the cross, where the Holy, Righteous
and Just One is pleased to die as the substitute pleased to
stand in the very law place of his people and to bear that punishment
that was their justice. They were the transgressors.
They were those who were guilty of sin and iniquity. And he was
the sinless one, the harmless Lamb of God, and yet he dies.
And he dies so willingly, the just for the unjust, to bring
the sinner to God. And what do we see? Oh, in that
work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, do we not see
something more of the very character of God? There He reveals Himself,
there He reveals to us His holy attributes. We see Him as a merciful
God and yet we see Him also as a righteous God. As He punishes
sin in the person of the Saviour, mercy and truth are met together. righteousness and peace have
kissed each other, says the Psalmist. And where is it that these attributes
of God so gloriously harmonise? It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's in that work upon the cross. There we see that God
is just. He's a just God. And a saviour
God. He's a just God and a justifier. of him that believeth in Jesus. God pardons sins. God pardons
sins, and we see it, of course, in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there's that great verse,
I've referred to it several times, I know, but what a verse that
we have there in Jeremiah chapter 15 in verse 20 in those days and
in that time those days, that time, that's the gospel day that's
being spoken of in those days and in that time said the Lord
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for
I will pardon them whom I reserve." Or those whom God has reserved,
those whom God has set His sovereign love upon and appointed to salvation
in that eternal covenant. How He pardons their sins. But not only is there the pardon
of sins, And that pardon bound up, of course, with the great
doctrine of the justification of the sinner. Because of the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His obedience in life, His obedience
unto death. There's not only the pardon of
sins, there's also the purging of sins. In verse 19, He will
turn us again, He will have compassion upon us, He will subdue our iniquity. and they will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sewer. He will subdue their iniquities. It's not that He pardons iniquity
and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage, but He also subdues their iniquities. He purges them of all their sins. The psalmist says iniquities
prevail against them. As for our transgressions, Thou
wilt purge them away. But what is this work of the
purging of sins? Is it not the sanctifying of
His people? Is it not their sanctification?
The very God of peace, says Paul to the Thessalonians, sanctifies
you. whole. And that sanctification, as I've
said, is in Christ. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. It's in Christ. It's all in the
Lord Jesus Christ and yet we have to recognise that all the persons of the Godhead
are involved? The Father and the Holy Ghost
are also involved, are they not? And does the Father sanctify
a people? Does he not sanctify them in
their eternal election? Henry Cole says, sanctification
in its primary and highest meaning is seen in election. In other words, election is sanctification
in its primary and its highest meaning. What does sanctify mean? To set apart. To set apart. And this is what God has done
for his people from eternity. in the decree of election. When
Jude writes in the opening verse of his short epistle, he reminds
us of that. Sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Jesus Christ and called. There we have the three persons
of the Godhead again, they are sanctified, they are set apart,
by the Father and they are preserved as they are set aside and put
in Christ from eternity. They are preserved even in the
days of their unregeneracy. God watches over them and ultimately
God will save them, He will call them to himself. They are preserved
in Christ Jesus before they are called. And of course they are
called by the Holy Ghost in that great work of regeneration. sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Jesus Christ and called. There is a sanctification
by the Father. There is, of course, that sanctification
that comes in Christ and that great work that Christ himself
has accomplished. By one offering He hath perfected
forever. them that are sanctified. Or when He died upon the cross,
that was the perfection of that work of sanctification. The Father
had given Him that people. They'd been separated, given
over to Christ, and now Christ came and He did all that was
necessary for their sanctification. when he died upon the cross.
Again there in Hebrews 13 verse 12, Wherefore Jesus also
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without
the gains. Now sanctified in eternity by election from the Father. They are sanctified in time by
the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they are sanctified
in their own individual experience by the work of God the Holy Ghost. We read of the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. When that great salvation that
Christ wrought is made a reality in their souls. This is how God
sanctifies his people then. He doesn't simply pardon and
pass by their transgressions. There is this purging. He subdues
all their iniquities. He does it by the Holy Spirit.
ultimately when it comes into the soul's experience and so
it is that the spirit is the one who must work in their souls
in the way of purging all their dyes he must work in their souls in that great work of subduing
all their iniquities that work of mortification put into death.
If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, Paul says,
ye shall live. How God has to deal with his
people and how does he deal with his people? In order that he
might subdue all their iniquities, he deals with them sometimes
in the way of chastening. There is that chastening work
of the Lord and we have it Spoken of here, do we not, in verse
9, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, says Micah, because
I have sinned against Him. He bears God's indignation, He
bears God's chastenings, God's correctings, until He plead my
cause and execute judgment for me. He will bring me forth to
the light and I shall behold His righteousness. The Gaelcio, he speaks later
in the chapter, in verse 14, feed thy people
with the rod, or feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine
heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood in the midst of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. How does
God feed his people with his rod when he comes and when he
chastens them? Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. That chastening
is a mark of their sonship, their adoption into the family of God.
It's not pleasant, no, chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous but grievous, says Paul. nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who exercise thereby.
How God has to deal with us then as sinners. Yes, he comes to
plead against us as sinners, he comes in that way of conviction,
but then he is pleased to pass by, to pardon, to purge. But
how these things have to come into our soul. 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 for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he
will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities,
and they will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. And then ultimately we come to
this, verse 20, God is the one who performs His promise. Oh,
He is a compassionate God, that is a faithful God. Thou wilt
perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou
hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Thou wilt perform
the truth and the mercy. Now the word that we have here,
mercy, it's that great word that we've referred to before, the
word keseth, and it means loving kindness, it means covenant faithfulness,
we can think in terms of the sovereign grace of God, we can
think very much in terms of the covenant, that's apparent here.
There's reference to Abraham and to Jacob, is there not? God
says he will perform the truth, he will accomplish his great
promise to perform his to give the thing, to grant the thing
that he has promised. Turn back to the 105th psalm
and there in the psalm in verses 8, 9 and 10 he has remembered his
covenant forever the world which he commanded to a thousand generations
which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac and confirmed
the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting
covenant. The truth to Jacob, the mercy
to Abraham which he hath sworn Has he not sworn by himself?
That's what we're told in Hebrews chapter 6 when he gave promise
to Abraham. He swore by himself. In other words, he magnified
his word above all his name. For if his word fails, his name
fails, he fails. God is not a man that he should
lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Has he spoken it, shall he not
do it? He does the thing that he has
said, you see. That's the God that we deal with, and this God
is the one who has revealed himself ultimately, of course, in Christ,
and it's in Christ that all these promises sent and all these promises
are yea and they're all amen in Christ and they're all sealed
in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His covenant
stands because the testator has died. And so we can rest assured
of the truth that's declared here at the end of this little
book of Micah. The great truth concerning the
very character of the God that we come together to worship. Who is a pardoning God like that?
For who has grace so rich and free? That's our comfort, friends,
that God pardons iniquity, passes by transgression, retires not
his anger forever, delights in mercy, turns again, has compassion,
upon us subdues all our iniquities, casts them into the depths of
the sea. O thou very in forgetfulness, thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. O might this God be our God for
ever and ever. Amen. In closing what you're saying
is number 212, and the tune is Lynton 175. Why does your face, ye humble
souls, those mortal colours wear? What doubts are these that try
your faith, and nourish your disfavour? Number 212. Why does
your faith, ye humble souls, presume to call What else are these that dry
your face and nourish you this way? For though your numerous
sins exceed the stars that fill the sky, and aiming at the eternal throne,
like pointed pelted rocks. But though your mighty guilt
be known, the white creation swears Earth's foundations lay low as
the peaks of heaven See here an endless ocean flows
of never-failing grace E'er the dying Saviour's reigns, The sacred
troth increase. He trices on and round the hills,
Hath neither shorn nor bound, Now if we search to find our
sins Our sins can never be found I'll make our hearts adore the
grace That bears all our faults and pardoning blood that swells
above our foes and our foes. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen.