Turn with me back to the book of Micah. Micah chapter seven. Title of the message this evening is, Who is like unto our God? who is like unto our God. Look again with me at verse 16. It says the nations shall see and be confounded. That word confounded, it means confused. It means astonished. Isn't that the ultimate case with all the enemies of God, they're left confused and astonished when they see the mighty acts of Almighty God.

Consider the Egyptians. Remember when the Lord delivered the children of Israel there at the Red Sea, when God was pleased to bring them out of Israel with a mighty hand, the children of Israel walked through on dry ground. And when the Egyptians pursued after them, the waters returned. It returned to its full strength. Every last one of them. Can you imagine the confusion, the astonishment when those waters rolled back over on top of them?

What about back during the times of Noah? You know, Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he, for all those years, he built that ark and he, no doubt, he told people, judgment is coming. There's one place, one place of safety. And I'm sure they, after a few, just a few weeks, maybe a few years, they just began to laugh and mock Noah.

And then one day, one day, the water started falling from the heavens. And the water gushed up. from the ground. The great fountain below broke through the ground. And as that water came up and as Noah and his family floated away on that ark, can you imagine the confusion and the astonishment of those people as they saw that? In these stories, these accounts are throughout God's word.

What about the Philistines? Goliath would go out there and mock the armies of God every day and just dare them to send someone over, someone over to fight him. And they had to think no one, No one can defeat this great champion of ours. And then one day the Lord sent David out there with a sling and a few stones. They must have thought that was a joke until that stone sank right between Goliath's eyes and their great champion fell to the ground, defeated.

How often does the enemy appear so great and so powerful? A sure victory, right? But not so fast. God's going to cut off every enemy. The enemies of God, every enemy is going to fall at His feet. Probably the greatest illustration of that, the greatest example of all was at Calvary.

Don't you know the enemies of the Lord had thought, victory is ours, we killed him. As our Lord hung on the tree, as he suffered and died, they must have thought they had won. They must have thought they had put the Lord Jesus Christ Out of business, right? They convicted him, they scourged him, they crucified him, and they placed him in the grave. The chief priest and the scribes, as Christ hung on the cross, they mocked him.

They said, he saved others. Can he save himself? They said, let him come down from the cross that we may see and believe. Those soldiers mocked him. They bowed down. They said, hail, king of the Jews. The male factors, those that hung on each side of him, they mocked him, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself and save us. They took him down from that cross and they placed him in the grave, but in three days, Almighty God raised him from the grave.

In 1 Corinthians 15, 25, it says, for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Not one left, for he hath put, he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it's manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. Every enemy, not only confused and astonished, but every enemy conquered. Our Lord's a victorious Savior.

Confounded at all their might, they shall lay their hand upon their mouth and their ears shall be deaf. To lay their hands upon their mouth and be silent. To no longer boast of self. To no longer blaspheme God's name or take it in vain. To no longer insult his people. To no longer oppose his gospel. or open their mouths against him, or his truth, or his ordinances.

Romans 3.19 declares every mouth stopped, and the whole world guilty before God. Let's read on, verse 17.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. part of that curse spoken to Satan by our Lord back there in Genesis. The Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust, dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Our text says they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth.

They'll be afraid. of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. Afraid, afraid. Take into consideration the glory of his majesty, the greatness of his power, the fear of his judgments. They shall fear because of thee. Verse 18, who is a God? Who is a God like unto thee. Isaiah 45 verse 5 says, I'm the Lord. I am the Lord, there is none else. There is no God beside me. 1 Samuel 2 verse 2, there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God.

First Chronicles 17.20, O Lord, there is none like Thee, neither is there any God beside Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. There is no God beside Him. There's none so great. There's none so mighty. None like Him for the perfections of His nature. None like him for the works of his hands."

We ever just stop and consider the works of our Lord's hands, the things that he has made? The other night, I don't know, there was something going on. There were several planets that you could see at one time. You just walk outside and just behold the greatness, the greatness of God. This time of year, we see that Easter lilies just kind of pop up out of the ground. The beauty of God's creation.

There's none like Him for the blessings of His goodness, for His providence, for His grace to sinners in Christ, for His pardoning grace and mercy. Who is a God like unto thee? Our Lord spoke this there in Isaiah 45 verse 22. He said, look unto me. That's just one place. That's just one person to look to. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, from God. And there is none else. Well still, here in our text, verse 18, who's a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity?

That word pardon, it means to lift up and to take it away. That's what the Lord's done for His people. He's taken the sins of His people, taken them off them and laid them on His Son, laid them on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ bore those sins and He carries them away. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, what did He do? He carried my sins. Where did He take them?

Far away. He pardons our iniquity. And then we read this here, it says, he passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. The remnant of his heritage. His people. His portion. His inheritance. The remnant according to the election of grace.

Those chosen of God God has a people. Aren't we thankful for that? Men, for some reason, argue that. But God has a people, a covenant people, a people redeemed by His Son, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ and called by His grace and brought to repent and believe on Him. God forgives all their transgressions, all their sins, all of our iniquities.

He said this. He said, their sins and iniquities shall I remember no more. He passeth by the transgression, passing them by. passing over them. Remember what he told the children of Israel there in Egypt, what he said? He told them, he said, I'm going to pass over.

I'm going to pass over you. I'm going to pass over your houses. I'm coming in wrath and judgment. The firstborn of every house is gonna be slain, but when I see the blood, it's a different story there, wasn't it? When I see the blood, I'll pass over you.

Well, still in verse 18. He that retaineth not his anger forever. Turn to, hold your place there. in Micah, but turn to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. He says, he said, Lord, verse one, Psalm 85, Lord, thou has been favorable unto thy land. Thou has brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou has forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou has covered all their sin. Thou has taken away all thy wrath. Thou has turned thyself from the fierceness of thy anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. David said, though thou wast angry with me, thine anger's turned away, and thou comfortest me. Well, back to Micah 7. Still in verse 18. Look at those last few words there in verse 18. Because he delighteth. He delighteth in mercy. He's the God of all mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. And we read here in our text, he delights. He delights in showing mercy. Now he shows mercy to whom he will.

Exodus chapter 33, we read not only of God's sovereignty and salvation, but it It teaches us something else. It said Moses had beheld God's might. He had beheld his power. He'd seen that demonstration of God's majesty over and over and over again. And he asked this question. He said, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. And Moses said this. He said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I'll make my goodness to pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.

I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. That sounds good, doesn't it? He has grace for the guilty. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. And then he says this, I'll show mercy. I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy." It gives us great hope, doesn't it? It gives the believer great hope. Not only does he show mercy, that would be one thing, but he delights. He delights to show mercy. And it's of His mercies. It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed.

In fact, they're new every morning. Well, let's read on again here in our text. Verse 19. He'll turn again. He'll turn from His anger. He'll have compassion. His compassion. I don't know about you all, but sometimes my compassion goes to a limit and then it stops. Aren't we thankful God doesn't treat his people that way? His compassions, they fail not. They fail not. He loves us.

God is love, and that's what the Word of God says. God is love. There's no love apart from God. But that love is for Christ, it's for His Son, and it's for His people in Christ. He said this, and that love is an everlasting love. He said, I've drawn you with an Everlasting love. I've loved you with an everlasting love. And his people have never been a time when he did not love his people. His love is everlasting.

It's unchanging. He said, I'm the Lord. I change not. The same yesterday. He's the same today, he's the same forever. His love never changes. Ours does, doesn't it? But not his. It is always the same. He said, I change not. His love is, it's infinite. John 17 says, Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved me.

Is there any way we can measure the love of God for His Son? That's the same love He has for His people. How much does God love His children? As much as He loves His only begotten Son. Thou hast loved them even as you have loved me." His love is free. Herein is love. Not that we love God. You know, often our love is in response. Someone loves us, we love them. If someone does something for us, we might do something for them. If someone forgives us, then we We might forgive them. Listen to this. Herein is love.

Not that we loved God. Not that we loved Him at all. But He loved us. We love Him because He first loved us. God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, While we were yet, this talk of cleaning yourself up and getting right. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And he said this, he said, I didn't come to call the righteous. Who'd he come to call? Sinners. Sinners.

That love is in Christ. That's where it is. We need not look anywhere else. That love is only in Christ. And nothing, this is the scripture, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He will subdue our iniquities. And this thing of sin, we can't put it away.

It's far too strong. It reigns over the natural man. We're under the power of it. We're under the influence of it. We can't get rid of it. We can't get rid of the guilt of it. We can't get rid of the punishment of it. But Christ has conquered it. He made an end of it. He's taken it away. How else could Paul write, sin shall no longer have dominion over you? Our text here again in Micah 7, he will subdue our iniquity. He'll conquer it. He has conquered it. And thou will cast all their sin into the depths of the sea. Our sin cast into the depths of the sea. Never. Never to be seen again. God's justice. Satisfied. Satisfied by Christ. All the sins of all God's people have been removed from them and put on Christ.

And he carried them away. never to be seen or remembered again. Hebrews 8 verse 12, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember. I'm so thankful for these two last words, no more. all through the blood and righteousness of Christ. He's put away our sin. For the believer, we're without fault, without spot, without wrinkle, without any such thing. Those sins have been put out of sight, out of mind, never to be remembered again. Cast into the depths of the sea. Destroyed, lost, put away. The sins of God's people forgiven for Christ's sake. All of them. All of them. Even those ones we remember. Why do we dwell on them?

God has put them away in his son. All of them bore by the Lord Jesus Christ, all of them covered, all of them blotted out. Pardon, not one sin remains. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood. they lose all, all their guilty stains. Well, quickly, look at verse 20.

Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our fathers from days of old. Here's our comfort. Almighty God, is a covenant keeping God. He's going to perform every promise that he's ever made. He made an everlasting covenant with Abraham's referred to. Did he keep that covenant? He made an everlasting covenant with Jacob. He's going to perform all that he promised to do.

And we can't, we can't even mess that up. Scripture says this, if we believe not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Blessed is his holy name. If He says our sins are cast into the depths of the sea, we can take stock in that, can't we? They've been cast into the depths of the sea. They're gone. If He says our sins have been put away, then rest assured of this, they've been put away. Who? Who is a God? like and to...