It says in verse one, Micah,
verse one, chapter one, seven chapters here, the word of the
Lord that came to Micah the Morestite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and the word that came to him
which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Now, Micah, his
very name, means who is like God. God raised him up like he
has to do any of people that he's going to use, and he raised
him up to be a prophet during the reign of three different
kings. And he was contemporary with
Isaiah, and Isaiah primarily was to Judah. And Hosea spoke
to Israel, and Micah mostly spoke to Judah. And in Micah's time,
It's like much in our day when they had a lot, a lot of religion.
A lot of religion. Empty religion. Meaningless religion. Ritualistic religion. Formal
religion. And not only that, but the political
leaders were men who were, do everything they do to do evil
and oppress people. And the priest Well, like those
that our Lord Jesus Christ said, they're like the harling who,
when the wolf comes, they flee the flock. When they see the
wolf coming, they leave the flock. They flee. And they prophesy
because they love filthy lucre. So God sent him a preacher. God sent him a man who would
preach to them and tell them the truth. And of all the things
that God does for a people, And even when people are in rebellion,
that he would raise up somebody to prophesy to them, to preach
to them. That's one of the greatest blessings that God does to anybody.
It's not only to send a preacher, but also to send a preacher and
give you ears to hear that preacher. And to prophesy, because there's
a lot of people that don't hear. But he sent a preacher, and he
sent him, and he said over here in chapter 2 and verse 6, he
said, you prophesy. Say ye not, say they to them
that prophesy, they shall not prophesy to them that they shall
not take shame." He said, you tell the preachers that's trying
to take shame and trying to prophesy to quit prophesying, quit preaching.
And all beloved, the vast majority of people said, don't prophesy
to us. But he says, you just tell them other prophets to quit
prophesying. Now, I want you to see some things
here. I've got a little outline that I've made of my own to go
along with this. But there's three times that
Hosea says, here, look what he says in verse 2 here, chapter
1. And he said, Here all ye people,
hearken, O earth, and all that therein is, let the Lord God
be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. And all
the cities, for the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will
come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. So
the first thing he says is, Hear, O earth, hear ye cities. I want
you to hear God speaking. And God said, I'm going to be
the one that's going to be a witness against you. It's like calling
somebody before the judgment bar of God. And then God says,
Now, you know, if you come up here, this is what I'm going
to do. I'm going to be the witness against you. You come before
me, and I'm going to be a witness against you, Samaria. I'm going
to be a witness against the earth. I'm going to be against all them
people in Samaria and all the cities of Samaria. So here are
your people." And then look over here in chapter 3 and verse 1. Look what he says. Then he talks to the leaders.
He talks to the leaders. He talks to the political leaders,
the princes. And I said, here I pray ye, O
heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel, is it
not for you to know judgment? He's talking to the leaders here
who hate good and love the evil, who pluck off the flesh from
off the skin and the flesh from off their bones. He said, you
pluck, you take people and you so oppress them and so take from
them that you just make them like you're plucking the flesh
off of their bones. And you're the princes, you're the ones
that run this place, and you're the 70 that's supposed to have
the sense and know how to rule this people. And then in chapter
6, he tells to all the people, verse 1, all the people, he said, Hear
ye now what the Lord saith, Arise, Contend thou before the mountains,
let the hills hear thy voice. Hear, 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 I'll tell you something else he said to these leaders back
over here in chapter 5, in verse 7 and 8. Look at this here, what
he says to them. And the remnant, well, let me
back up and say this. When He says all these here,
He gives three here's. Here on earth, here are the leaders,
here are all the people. But then after He makes these
say here, and I'm going to be witness against you, He always
comes back when He goes through this and gives them a word of
hope. So let's look at the first word of hope after He does that.
Look with me in chapter 2 and verse 12. He gives them a hope.
And see, that's the thing. You need to read this yourself,
and all we can do is just go through it and give the general
outline of it. He says, now he gives them comfort.
He says, I hear it, but this is what I'm going to do. 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 Bazra, as the flock in the midst of their folk. They
shall make great noise by reason of a multitude of men." God said,
I'm going to be a witness again. And then He says, but I'm going
to gather you back. Pronounces this awful, you know, listen
to me, but I'm not going to leave you without hope. And then the
breaker has come up before them. And we'll find out who that breaker
is later. They have broken up and passed
through the gate and are going out before it. And their king shall pass before them and the
Lord lead them on. He said, You know, I've got this
controversy, but I'm going to save a remnant. And I'm going
to have a king. I'm going to gather them like
sheep be gathered. And I'm going to have a king, lead them. And then look what he says to
the leaders after he said, Here ye, O leader. Look in chapter
7, 5 and verse 7. Talking about the remnant again.
God's always got a remnant. And He always will have a remnant.
When Elijah said, I'm the only one left, they dug down the altars
and, Lord, ain't nobody left but me. The Lord said, I've got
7,000, never about to need a bail yet. God's got some people left
on this earth. But He said here in verse 7,
giving them a word of hope, And the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many people as due from the Lord, as the showers
upon the grass that tarryeth not for man, nor waiteth for
the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall
be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, as a lion
among the meats of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks
of sheep, who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth
in pieces, and none can deliver." He pronounced that, and then
he turned around and said, I'm going to have a remnant, and
I'm going to put you among the Gentiles, and you're going to
just tread them down. You're going to tread them down. Tread
them down. And then where it said, Here
ye all the people. Chapter 6, verse 1 through 3,
look what he says here in chapter 7, verse 20. He gives these judgments,
and then he gives them a word of hope. Hear, O people, hear
the mountains, and thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and
the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from
the days of old. You know, that's one thing I
bless the Lord for. No matter how bad you feel, no
matter what you've done, no matter what you say, and no matter what
judgment he pronounced, he always has a remnant. He always has
a word of hope, always has a word of encouragement for his people,
always comes back. And no matter what he says, he
comes back with a word of hope, a word of encouragement. And
that's what he does here. And let me tell you something
he charges these people with. And this is why, you know, even
though he's going to do this, he charges them first. Look with
me in chapter one. He charges these people with
idolatry. Look what he says. And all the
graven images. This is the witness. I'm going
to be against you. All the graven images. Therefore shall be beaten
to pieces and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire.
Hire people to make these graven images. And all the idols thereof
will I lay desolate, for she hath gathered them of the higher
beholet, and they shall return to the higher beholet." He accused
them of idolatry. You are not idolatrous people. And I'll read you another one,
and you'll have to look at it with me. For the statues of Omri
are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you walk
in those councils, and you walk and keep all those statues, and
I should make a desolation of the habits. And here's the thing,
therefore you should bear the reproach of my people. He accused
them of, I brought it to you. You make these idols. And I'm
the living God. It wasn't an idol that brought
you out of Egypt. It wasn't an idol that took you
through the Red Sea. It wasn't an idol that gave you
Abraham. It wasn't an idol that gave you
Moses. It wasn't an idol that was in
that burning bush. So I don't understand, he says,
why do you have these idols? Why do you hire people to make
these items? It's no different than you go
out here and hire a harlot, and give her the hire of a harlot
to buy you a statue. He said, that's the same thing,
just go out and hire a harlot. That's the price of what this
is. You're just like paying a harlot, and that's what you're doing,
is the price of a harlot, usually because you have an adultery. And whether it's an angel on
your wall, A picture of Wild Bill Hickok, or a statue of Mary, or a crucifix
around a person's neck. Anything, anything that you can
put an image to in the place of God, in the place of Christ,
it's an idol. Ain't it? It's an idol. And not only did He charge them
with idolatry, but He charged them with covetousness. Look
here in chapter 2 and verse 2. And all will listen to that word,
verses 1 and 2. Woe to them that devise iniquity,
work evil upon their midst. They'll be in bed tonight thinking,
what in the world kind of meanness can I get into? And when the
morning is light, they practice it. Whatever meanness they can
think up to do the next day, they got up and practice it because
it's in the power of their hands. Now watch this. And they covet
feebles. And not only do they cover him, but they come and
take him. And they oppress a man, his house, even a man. So he
charges them with covetousness. You covet fields. You covet fields. And then not only that, but you
oppress. You take them away so they oppress
a man. You take it away by oppression.
You oppress a man. You put such an oppression on
him, such taxes on him, He cannot even have his own property. You
oppress his house. And then, look what it says,
not all of that, but you take them by violence. If you can't
get them any other way, you'll just have somebody come in there
and take it away from them. You'll come and have somebody
just take it away from them. And they'll all take them by
violence. And all beloved, I'll tell you, look what he said in
chapter 3 and verse 10 about these people. Like this. Oh my, here's the head of these
people. These are the kind of people they were. And he says
here, the heads thereof judge for reward. Excuse me, verse
10. They build up Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity. My goodness. Build up the church
with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity? Huh? Look what he says
in chapter 6 and verse 12 about it. All these folks, and I'll tell
you, this is, he said, for the rich men thereof are full of
violence. And the inhabitants thereof have
spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. They'll take what they want,
they'll lie about it, connive about it, deceive about it, and
if they can't do anything else to get it, they'll just take
it. They'll just take it. And look what he said in 7.2
about it. Chapter 7, verse 2. The good man is perished out
of the earth. And boy, that's happening quick,
ain't it? That's happening quick. The good man is perished out
of the earth. And there's none upright among the ends. They
all lie in wait for blood. They lie in wait to deceive,
to hurt, to manipulate with malice and malevolence. And Dahan ever
met his brother with an ant. Oh my, that's what God charges
a man. And then He charges the leaders, the prophets and the
priests with hating good and loving evil. Look what He says
here in chapter 3, 1 and 2. Look how He charges the leaders,
the prophets, the priests, the princes. Oh, this is awful. And I tell you, beloved, this
is true. This is true. Men today, they
hate the good and love the evil. Look what I say in verse 2. You,
heads of Jacob, princes of Israel, don't you know that you ought
to know judgment? You hate the good and love the
evil? You've got people under your
charge. You're supposed to be taking care of them. You're supposed
to be meeting their needs. But what do you do? You put the
skin off of them and the flesh from their bones. All they are
is merchandise to you. Who also eat the flesh of my
people, play their skin from off them, and they break their
bones and chop them as pieces as the pot and as flesh within
the cauldron. He said, you're treating people
like they're nothing but to be used, they're nothing but to
make money off of, nothing to just work them to death and take
everything that you can from them and then just leave them
in the condition they're in. And they have oppressed and abused
the poor. And look what he says down in
verse 11 again about them. He said, the heads are up, judge
for reward. Do you remember that parable
of our Lord Jesus Christ? He says men ought always to pray
and not to faint. And he spoke the parable about
the unjust judge. And that woman came to him and
just kept hammering at him and hammering at him. Avenge me and
my adversary. Avenge me and my adversary. And he wouldn't hear her. And
finally she just kept coming, kept coming. Until she said,
OK, I'll avenge you and your adversary. Get him up here. And that's what these fellas
are. You avenge me on my adversary. Here. Here's a hundred dollars.
Here's a thousand dollars. Here's a sack of silver. Here's
a sack of gold. I'll judge you. If you've got enough money, things
will go your way. The priests teach thereof for
hire. And wherever you can get the
most money, that's where you're going to go. The priests teach thereof for
hire. What's your price? Well, I've got an awful good
education. You know, I've got one doctor's
degree, I'm working on another, and every time I get another
doctor's degree, that ought to be worth another forty, fifty
thousand on it. And that's what they're doing.
Teach for hire. And the prophets there, they're buying for money.
You want to hear a word from the Lord? And yet will they lean upon the
Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? Oh, the Lord's among
us. And there ain't no evil going
to come upon us. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied? And that's what they say. No
matter what's going on, the Lord's among us. And there ain't nothing
evil going to happen. Have you ever seen such presumption?
Such presumption about Him? And oh, beloved, let me give
you now some of the prophecies of Christ. That's what God charges
these people with. Let's look at some of the prophecies
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of all the Old Testament prophets,
of the minor prophets, Micah spoke so much about our
blessed Savior, our Redeemer, and you can't fail to see that
the Lord Jesus Christ is in this book. Look on the first place
he's mentioned is in verse 13 of chapter 2. We talked about
that breaker, where God said He'd gather the remnant of Israel,
put them together as a sheep, abondoned as a flock in the midst
of the cold. He said the breaker has come
up before them. And a breaker is somebody who
goes before them that opens the way. Gets everything out of the
way. Moves the walls out of the way.
Moves the brush out of the way. Moves the rocks out of the way.
Everything that's in the way. The breaker, he opens the way.
And then look what it says. And the breakers come up before
them. They have broken up and have passed through the gate. And are going out by it. And
listen here. Their king shall pass before
him. The Lord on the head of them. He breaks the way through
and brings them out again, and brings them on through there.
And oh, I'll tell you something else. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in chapter 4, look what it says here about our Savior. And oh,
this is a description, this description of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And oh my, and no matter what
happens in this world, He's got His kingdom. But in the last
days, and the last days started, When our Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, according to Scripture, He was the last days.
In the last days, Christ is the one coming into this world. Now,
our Lord talked about the last time, but in the last days started. And in the last days it shall
come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established in the top of the mountain. And the top of
the mountain means a kingdom, setting up the very top. And
it shall be exalted above the hills, and watch this, and people
shall flow unto them. Many nations shall come up and
say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to
the house of the God of Jacob. Listen to it now. Now this is
talking about us, all of these nations, and all of us Gentiles,
and all these people when Christ comes. We'll go up to the house
of the Lord and He'll teach us of His ways. And listen, we'll
walk in his path, for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Oh my, bless his holy name. That's
what he's talking about. He's talking about Christ. God
has not cast away the people that he foreknew. And oh, beloved,
let me show you something about our Lord. He's called the Lord our God
here in verse 3-5. And he shall judge among his
people. and rebuke strong nations afar off. And, oh, my, they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruninghooks. Nations shall not lift up a sword
against nations, neither shall they learn war any more." Boy,
that's going to be a blessed day, isn't it? Huh? And then look what else that's
going to happen. But every man will sit under his own vine,
under his own fig tree. Oh, my. That means, boy, you're
going to have plenty. You're going to sit under your
fig tree, sit under your own vine, have your own. And none
shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath
spoken it. For all the people will walk, every one, in the
name of his God. And we will walk, everybody walk
in the name of their God, but we will walk in the name of the
Lord our God forever and ever." Oh! How long are you going to
walk in it? Forever and ever. Forever and
ever. And then look what happens. This
is the kind of people that our Lord Jesus Christ came to save.
In verse 6, And 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 halted a remnant,
and her that was cast far off a strong nation, and the Lord
shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth forever.
He's going to get all Moses got something wrong with. And he
said, I'm going to make them to be something. I'm going to
make them to be something. And then let me show you this
quickly, and I'll move on. Down to verse 11 here of chapter
4. Everybody that appears to be against Christ and our Lord
Jesus and His church, they'll see one of these days.
Now also many nations are gathered against thee. Let's say, let
her be the vial, and let our eye look upon Zion. Oh my, that church they don't
have. I was talking to Wayne Boyd the
other night, talking about God choosing the weak to confound
the mighty and the foolish to confound the wise. Here he meets
his wife, his son, and one other man. Thankfully, every week. Every two or three weeks, another
couple comes down. But he meets there. And do you
know what people say about that? What's the matter with
that boy? He ain't got nobody to preach to. What in the world is he doing,
John, if he ain't got nobody? He's wasting his time. Was our Lord wasting His time
when He preached to that Woman at the well? Was our Lord wasting His time
when He told Bartimaeus, bring him over here? Was He wasting His time when
He said, Lazarus, come forth? Was He wasting His time when
He stopped under that tree and He didn't even look up at Zacchaeus?
He said, just Zacchaeus, come down. See, people think that
God, you know, That's why, we'll get to that in another book,
but he says, despise not the day of small things. Everybody starts, but that's
the, you know, and that's what they'll do. They'll look at that
poor little old fella, and they'll still look at Wayne and say,
I never, I just haven't seen anything I ever seen. That fella
goes up there every week, and there's just two or three people. And they got these great big
churches, and they got the best doctors, and they got the best
preachers, And they got all the money, and they got all the pews, but have they got the message? Are they these prophets that
prophesy for hire? The priests that preach for hire? Look what he said here now, but
he says, let her be the cloud, let her eye look upon the sky.
There ain't nothing to her. Nothing to her at all. But they
know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they
his counsel." They don't know nothing about God. They don't know what he thinks, what he's
going to do. "'For he shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall
gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'"
He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them
as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall
gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'"
He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them
as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall
gather them as sheaves into his floor.'" He said, "'He shall gather For I will make thine iron a horned
iron, and I will make thy hooves brass, and thou shalt beat in
pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the
Lord, and their substance unto the whole Lord of the earth.
So those that are my enemies, he said, I'll just take everything
they've got and take it away from them. And then let me show
you chapter 5. I'm taking too long, I think.
No, not even been 26 minutes. It'll be all right. See, our Lord Jesus came here
to die, and died at the hands of His enemies. And look what
He says in verse 1. Now gather thyself into troops,
O daughter of troops. He hath laid siege against us.
They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. Smite him. And they smote our
Lord Jesus Christ. Smote him. He was smitten in
our place. He's the judge of Israel. They
smote him with the rod upon the cheek. And then you're talking
about our Savior. This talks about where He would
be born in His incarnation in verse 2. But thou, Bethlehem
Ephratah, thou, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judah, just a little bitty tiny place, just, I mean, Just a,
just a, Bethlehem's tiny compared to the other places. Yet out
of thee shall come forth unto me, that is, to be the ruler
in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. Where was our Savior born? Bethlehem. And then it says he shall come
forth. Where'd he come forth from? He had to exist before
he come forth. He's preexistent. He did say
he lived before he ever come in the womb of that virgin. He
said he shall come. He'll come to Bethlehem. But
how is he going to come to Bethlehem? He'll have to leave glory and
enshrine himself in the womb of a virgin. And then look what
he says. And then he says who's going
forth. And verse 2 again, who's going forth hath been from old
and from everlasting. How long has our Lord been going
forth? Doing the will of God? Saving his people? Preaching
his gospel? Saving his elect? Who do you
think was walking with Adam in the cool of the day? Oh, he went forth. And oh, beloved,
listen. In verse 4, look what he says.
And he shall stand. And he shall stand. and feed
in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of
the Lord his God, and they shall abide. For now shall he be great
unto the ends of the earth." The very glory of God and the
majesty of God is what they're going to see in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Then I want you to see God's
blessed greatness over here in chapter 7. All these people were
turned aside under vanity, idolatry, oppression, violence, covetousness. And look what happens. Look what
Micah said in verse 7. But look what I said in verse
6. For the son dishonors the father,
the daughter rise up against the mother, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the men of his own
house. And that's what our Lord Himself said. And so what has
Michael said, I'm going to do when all this is going to happen?
Therefore I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God
of my salvation. My God will hear me. What are
you going to do when all hell is breaking loose around you?
I'm going to look to the Lord my God. So Barnard says, you
know, fella told me the other day, you might get this. I was
looking at it the other day on the internet and I didn't have
time to download it. But Rupert Reidenbach's got a message called
When God Butts In. When God Butts In. B-U-T-T-S. He's going to butt in. And I
was going to download it today, but I didn't get a chance. But
that's what has to happen. And that's what he said. He said,
let all these folks turn against one another. He said, you know
what I'm going to do? I'm going to wait on God. The
God of my salvation. And guess not only that, but
He'll hear me when I do it. He'll hear me. And then look
what he says down here in verse 18. Oh, this is the gospel. He closes this book with a great
declaration of God's greatness, God's goodness, and what makes
God different from every other God on the face of the earth.
God delights in mercy. He said, Who is it godlike unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity, passes by the transgression of
the remnant of his heritage? For he retaineth not his anger
forever, he delighteth in mercy. Oh, that's the gospel. This is
God whom we've offended. This is the God whose hands we're
in. And he turns around and says,
Oh, my God, not only is merciful, but it enlightens to show mercy. It enlightens to do it. Oh, who
is the God like unto thee? Sovereign God. Just God, holy
God, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, incomprehensible
and eternal. And this is the God who delights
in mercy. And I tell you, it's the glory
and the pleasure and goodness and greatness of God to show
mercies to sinners for Christ's sake. Micah says God will do
something for sinners because He delights in mercy. And because
He delights in mercy, you know what He does? It says there in
verse 18, it pardons iniquity. Pardon's iniquity. My goodness,
how in the world can he pardon iniquity? That means he takes
it away. He takes sin away. He lifts it
up off the sinner, and he lays it on the Lord Jesus Christ,
who's that scapegoat who carries it away for us. And then look
what else it says. And he passes by the transgressions
of the remnant of his heritage. Oh, my. You know we have transgressions. Sin is a transgression of the
law. And he said he just passes by them. Why? Because he delights in mercy. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice of his blessed son. So God can pass by him. He can
take no notice of him because he doesn't sin. The blood of
Christ has washed it all away. And then look what he says. And he retaineth not his anger
for ever, because he delighteth in mercy." And I'm certainly
thankful for that, that he's not angry with me. I used to
think, you know, he was mad at me all the time. I was all the
time trying to get on the good side of God. I'd go up on the
hillside and pray. Oh, God, please have mercy. Oh,
don't be mad at me over this. Don't be angry at me over that.
I'm sorry that I've done this. Sorry I've done that. Oh, I was
trying to make peace with God. And now, because the blood of
Christ reconciled us, God ain't angry anymore. They were fully satisfied in
his blessed son's death and his suffering, and he's turned away
from his people. And then look what it says that
He'll do because He delights in mercy. In verse 19, He will
turn again. He was turned away from us. Now
He's turned again. He'll have compassion on us. Oh my, have compassion on us.
And He not only do that, but He'll soon do iniquities. You
think sin's going to get the control of you, and you think
it's going to destroy you, and you think it's going to break
out all over your flesh? He said He'll subdue it. And
listen to this, He'll cast all their sins into the depths of
the seas. And you know what? When you get in Revelations,
it says in that new heaven, new earth, there was no sea. God delights in mercy. Let's
proclaim it. Let's delight in it. Let's rejoice
in it. Let's find great comfort and
encouragement in it. And though we've been covetous,
though we've been idolatrous, though we've had violence, though
we've done multitude of transgressions and iniquities, He delights to
show mercy. He does.