Let's open our Bibles to Micah, chapter... Well, we're going to be in chapter 3 and 4, but we'll begin in chapter 4. Micah, Micah, chapter 4. When the Lord is pleased to fulfill that promise that we just read about in Ezekiel, take out that lifeless, hardened, hold a heart of stone and give us a beating heart of mercy and grace and love for the gospel and for Christ.

When that happens, the truth of the gospel seems so clear and so simple that we are prone sometimes to wonder why other people can't. can't see it. Why they have such a such a hard time believing what seems so so obvious and so simple to us. And yet, if we if we reflect on our nature and what we were, and what sin has done to all men, brought us into this world spiritually dead. We think right about things. We will not be amazed that the unbeliever doesn't believe the gospel. we will be amazed that we ever did. That will be the thing that we were ever brought out of darkness into his marvelous light that we that we were ever changed that we had.

Well, Paul asked the church at Corinth this question. Who maketh thee to differ. What dost thou have that thou did not receive? And then John the Baptist made this statement in John chapter three. He said, a man, they were calling to John's attention that all of his disciples were now following the Lord. And John made this statement. He said, a man can receive nothing. except it be given to him from heaven.

What amazes us is that the Lord would choose us out, that he would make the call of his gospel irresistible to our hearts, that he would open the eyes of our understanding, that he would make us willing in the day of his power Not willing just to concede to some doctrinal truths, but willing for the Lord to give us a new heart. David prayed in Psalm 51, he said, Lord, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

You know, men can and men often do. change their doctrine. Men can and often do change their behavior, turn over a new leaf, stop doing some things that were self-destructive anyway, and do things differently. One thing that a man can never do is change his heart. Change his heart.

That's a work of grace. And the very desire for the Lord to give me a heart that's after Christ is a work of grace. It's an irresistible work of grace that we hear in the news today a lot about unconditional surrender. and that our administration is calling upon the Iranians to surrender unconditionally. And that's what the Lord does when he makes us willing. We surrender unconditionally. We say, Lord, what would you have me? Lord, thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Lord, I want to know. I want to know Christ and Lord, I need you.

That's an amazing thing, that we would be brought to that place. Why? Why is it? Why don't I continue to just do what I always did and do what everyone else does? according to his good pleasure and his will, he elected a particular people. And he irresistibly draws them.

And they come willing, willing. What an amazing work of grace it is that God would do that for us. This is what we ought to be amazed at. Not that other people don't believe, but that we do believe, that we do believe. This is a fulfillment of God's purpose and of His promise.

Micah chapter 4, verses 1 and 2 are repeated almost verbatim by the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, Now, Isaiah and Micah were contemporaries. They were prophesying at the same time in different parts of Judah and Israel, but nevertheless, God had raised them up at the same time. And the scripture says, by the witness of two or three, every word shall be established.

And the fact that God gave to Isaiah the same exact words that he gave to Micah, I don't believe that Micah is just repeating what he heard Isaiah say. God gave them both of these men the same words, which establishes this word as a word that is, well, it's amazing.

It is amazing. Let's read them together. but 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 mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow unto it. This is Mount Zion. This is not Jerusalem. This is the heavenly Jerusalem. This is none other than the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's where we are right now. It's the fulfillment of this promise. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be exalted above the hills, above all.

How many mountains we read of in the scriptures? We have Elijah going up on Mount Carmel and calling down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. And ultimately, the sacrifice ends up consuming the fire. A picture of the Lord Jesus at Calvary's cross. What a high point in the history of God's people that was, and how Elijah had, what was it?

Was it 600 prophets of Baal or 800 put to death in that place? We have so many other mountains. When the Lord Jesus in the Song of Solomon speaks of his bride and describes her beauty He talks about her as beautiful as Mount Gilead and the flocks of sheep that were on that mountain. There's a graphic description of a beautiful woman in the Song of Solomon. The Lord Jesus is talking about his bride. He's talking about the church. He's talking about us. He's talking about us. And he likens his church to Mount Gilead.

Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai, the mountain of the law that shook at the very sound of the voice of God, the mountain that was on fire, the mountain that no man could touch lest he be consumed, the mountain that only Moses could go up on and receive from the hand of God, the very law of God. What a glorious glorious mountain that was now the Lord's telling us in the last day Mount Zion is going to be exalted above all those mountains above all those hills when when Moses came to the Jordan on the The children of Israel were still on the east side of the Jordan River.

Joshua had to bring them across. Moses is a picture of the law. Could not bring the children of Israel into the promised land. Joshua had to do that. Joshua's name meaning the same as Jesus. Jehovah has to save. The law can't save us. All the law can do is condemn us. Moses had to be left on the east side of the Jordan.

Yet at Mount Nebo, Moses climbed on Mount Nebo, and he looked over and saw the vast promised land. And he describes it as a picture of heaven, where the land will be flowing with milk and honey, and God's people will have a home. And Moses describes that from Mount Nebo.

The Mount of Olivet, the Mount of Olives, that the Lord Jesus resorted to often with his disciples, but especially, especially the night before his crucifixion, when he prayed to his father, Father, if there be any way this cup can pass from me, let it be.

Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. There was no other way for us to be saved than for the Lord Jesus to drink the cup of God's wrath, the bitter dregs of God's wrath, and the cup of our sin. He had to be made sin in order for us to be made the righteousness of God in Him.

And yet the Lord is telling us that Mount Zion is above that mountain. We think of Mount Calvary as being the highest mountain of all, where the Lord Jesus went and laid down his life. No man took it from me. He laid down his life for his sheep. And yet it is Mount Zion where Mount Calvary is preached.

And what our Lord is telling us here in the last day, that That entire period of time between the first and second coming of Christ, you and I are living in the last day. This is the fulfillment of that prophecy. That of all those glorious mountains and all the things that God did and revealed to his people from those mountaintops, Mount Zion is his, well, David said this in the Psalms, glorious things are spoken of thee. Oh, city of God, city of God. This is the city of David. This is Mount Zion. Let's read this verse again.

But 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 all the mountains. This is the highest mountain of all. in the last day. Those other mountains serve their purpose and their time, but now in the last day, in the last day, all the accomplishments of God will be exalted, will be preached and will be believed, will be believed by God's people in Mount Zion. And they will flow into that mountain.

We have fled to Mount Zion tonight that we might experience the fulfillment of this promise. Why? Some of you drove a long way to be here. Have you worked long hours today? Had to rush home and get the kids. Why? Who make thee to differ? Why would you have a desire? Why would you have an interest? Why would you have a heart? Only because he did it. He took out the heart of stone and he put in a heart of flesh.

The amazing thing of the gospel is not that other men don't believe it. The amazing thing of the gospel is that we do, is that we do. Verse two, and many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up into the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob.

And here's why we want to go. Here's why we're here. He will teach us in his ways. We are willing servants, and willing students. We need to be taught. Lord, I need to hear from you. I need to know what you have to say. That's why we're not interested in giving anything other than the clear teaching of Scripture. What sayeth the scriptures? What does God say? That's what God's people want to hear. They don't want to hear my opinion. They don't want to hear an entertaining story or some sort of entertainment like a lot of religious organizations do. I just want to hear what God has to say. That's why I'm here. I've come here to hear. Isn't that what the The Cornelius said, when Peter came, we're all here, H-E-R-E, to hear, H-E-A-R. Whatever it is, the Lord has commanded you to tell us. That's why we're here. We are experiencing, brethren, right now, the fulfillment of what Micah said 2,700 years ago. Yeah, this is 700 BC. Micah's prophesying. Tell us what's going to happen in the last days. And it's happening right now to us and in us.

He will teach us of his ways. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He will teach us who He is and what He's done. He will reveal to us His grace and His glory. He's the one that we need to know. I love that passage in Matthew chapter 11 that we often quote, where the Lord Jesus said, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, only God's people.

All men labor with their sin, but only God's people are heavy laden. Only God's people are so burdened by their sin that they have to have deliverance. They have to have a savior. Everyone else will try to fix it themselves. They'll try to figure it out and try to work it out. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, what did the Lord say?

Come unto me. And then he said this, learn of me. Learn of me, for my burden is light. My yoke is easy. Take my yoke upon you. I'm going to give you rest for your soul. I'm going to do a work of grace in your heart. I'm going to, I'm going to remind you again who I am and what I've done and how successful I was in putting away all of your sin. And I'm going to renew the desire of your heart. I will teach you of me and we will walk in his paths. We will follow after Christ.

For the law shall go forth of Zion. Now, law, testimony, precepts, scriptures, these are all words used interchangeably to define the gospel. It's the gospel. The Lord's not telling us he's gonna put us under the law. He's gonna teach us his law. He's gonna teach us the gospel.

For the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The Lord hath founded Zion and the poor, the poor shall trust in it. Oh, what a, What a glorious place the Lord has prepared for us. I think about that passage over there in Revelation, where the Lord tells us that he's going to drive us into the wilderness.

And we are, we live in this. He's talking about the church, that believers are gonna be driven into the wilderness, but he's going to send a great two-winged eagle to provide for them. And that's the word of God and the spirit of God. Those are the two witnesses. When God takes his word and blesses it by his spirit and makes it effectual to that new living heart that he's given to his children, then and only then are we able to rest. We're able to believe, we're able to say, truth, Lord, truth, Lord.

Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16, the Lord says, behold, I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone, a tridestone. Now, Peter is going to take that passage in Isaiah 28 and apply it to the New Testament church. So let's go to 1 Peter. chapter two and look at how peter applies this this promise to the church first peter chapter two and we'll begin reading in verse at verse five you also as lively stones this is a this is a play on that passage in Ezekiel where the Lord said he's gonna take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. And now he's saying that believers are part of the building of the body of Christ or the church.

But they're not lifeless, hard, cold stones. They're living stones, a living stone. And you also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. What is the spiritual sacrifice that we offer up? Well, in another place, the scripture refers to it as the fruit of our lips, offering praise unto our God.

Why would we be so anxious and so willing and so delighted to be able to praise him? To know that, Lord, what you've done for me, what you've done for me, there was no way I could be worthy of that. There was no way I could accomplish that. Lord, for you to single me out, and to save me, and to reveal yourself to me, and to give me a beating heart after Christ, the desire to go to Zion, and to learn of thee, and to follow after thee. Lord, you deserve all honor, and all praise, and all glory for that.

I was reading a brief article that Henry Mahan wrote recently, and I read it recently. Obviously, he didn't write it recently. And a very simple point he made. He said, if you want to know if the message that you're hearing is the truth of God or if it's a lie from man, just ask yourself one simple question. Who gets all the glory? Who gets all the glory? All the glory. Only the gospel gives to Christ all the glory. The truth of what? The Lord told Ezekiel is true in every believer's heart. You shall loathe yourselves in your own sight. In your own sight.

Lord, I didn't do anything to merit this. I didn't do anything to deserve this. I could never have achieved it. Lord, you get all the praise and all the glory and all the honor. You did all the work. And I just wanna follow you. I just wanna know more about you. I just wanna apprehend that which has apprehended me. Know what Paul said?

Pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Verse six, wherefore also it is contained in the scriptures And this is the Isaiah 28 passage that Peter is referring to. Behold, don't miss that word behold. Look, give your undivided attention to this glorious truth. It's amazing. It's amazing, it deserves our full attention. Behold. I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. He that believeth on him shall not be confounded or not be confused. What? There's a lot of confusing things in this life. No question about that. And our circumstances can get very confusing. and very complicated, and very distressing, and very even dark.

But what a blessing it is when, once again, we flow to that mountain that is above all other mountains, and we hear about the one who has successfully put away our sins and accomplished our salvation. One who has ascended back into glory and is seated at the right hand of God as our substitute, as our righteousness before God. What a blessing it is. What a blessing it is to be reminded that as He is, so are we in this world, and that that is our boldness in the day of judgment, that we will stand before God Almighty in the person of our substitute and be loved by the Father, even as the Father loves the Son.

No difference. Not only that hope that we have for that future event, but we have the hope of knowing that though our circumstances are beyond our understanding right now, they're not beyond his, neither are they beyond his control. That our God is working all things together for good, for those that love him and those that are called according to his purpose. that though distressed, we are not confounded. We know the truth. We know that our God has worked and purposed everything from its beginning to its end.

Look what he says. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is the great pearl or the pearl of great price. That's what this word precious means. Precious means priceless. It means that you would not exchange everything you've got or ever hoped to be for him. You would not take the world for him. That he is worth more to you than your own life, your own life. He's precious. To you that believe, He is precious.

But unto them that be, and this word disobedient means unbelieving. They've not obeyed the truth. They've not bowed to Christ and they bear the full responsibility for that. And this is a great mystery that the unbeliever can't comprehend. We give to Christ all the honor and all the glory for having saved us. He gets all the credit. We were passive. He was the one who made Christ irresistible to us. He was the one who came in the power of the Holy Spirit. and regenerated us and made us willing in the day of his power and he gets all the credit for that new birth. That having been said, the unbeliever, the scripture says, is without excuse and bears the full responsibility for their unbelief before God, just as we would have had the Lord not intervened. Had the Lord not made us to differ, we would bear the full responsibility for our unbelief, which makes our salvation even more glorious. Lord, I was hell bound.

Nothing I could do to change that. Look at the rest of verse seven. The stone which the builders disallowed, they ignored it. The same has become the head of the corner. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

But you, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. And that word peculiar is the word purchased. You've been bought with a price. You are a purchased people that you should show forth the praise of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

Now, go back with me to Micah. We saw the promise of God in these first two verses of chapter four as to what the Lord would do in the last day. Chapter three, Micah, is describing the condition of Israel. And I wanted to read these verses because they accurately describe what we would be had the Lord not made us to differ. Now, some might read these first verses, particularly the first ones, and say, Is this what it really looks like to be an unbeliever?

This is God's description. This is God's description. Some might think, well, this is hyperbole. This is an exaggeration. God doesn't use hyperbole. God does not exaggerate. This is how God sees the unbelieving world. Those who reject the gospel, those who reject Christ, And I say that not in order to stand in a position of condemnation, God will judge the world, but in order to be reminded that it is the Lord that made us to differ. Had he not called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, had he not chosen us, this is what we would look like. in our spiritual condition before God.

And I said here, I pray you, O heads of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment? You ought to know the difference between that which is holy and that which is profane, that which is truth and that which is error. You ought to know the difference, but you don't. Instead, you hate the good, you love the evil, you pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones, who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them, and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as for the flesh what's in the cauldron, you take the very bodies of the children of Israel and you flay them of their skin, you cut them up and you put them in a pot.

This is what the false gospel does. This is what those who are refusing to agree with God's judgment. Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them. He will even hide their face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

Lord, this would be me. This would be me. Now, listen to what the Lord says about the false prophets. And we would be, we would be prey, P-R-E-Y, to the lies of false prophets if the Lord didn't give us a discerning spirit. We would make bad judgments about what the truth is. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth and cry peace, and he that putteth not into their mouth that they even prepare war against him. I didn't give them this word. They are engaged in conflict against God, the one that they are professing to be speaking for. But their words are contrary to sound judgment.

Therefore, night shall be unto you that you shall not have a vision And it shall be dark unto you, that you shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer of God." Have no word from God and no answer to give to God.

They've believed lies, they've told lies, as obvious as the truth is in their unregenerate state, they perverted the truth and convinced themselves that good is evil and evil is good and right is wrong and wrong is right. And we're not just talking about moral things, we're talking about the gospel. We're talking about the things concerning the nature of God and the work of Christ. We would not have learned these things had the Lord not taught us. Oh, brethren, whom maketh thee to differ? Whom maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you have not received? Nothing, nothing. Everything I have, God gave it to me. God fulfilled this prophecy of Micah chapter four and Isaiah chapter two for me. He made me to come to Zion, the city of God, the new Jerusalem, the mountain that is above all other mountains, that I might learn of his ways.

Now Micah is speaking in verse eight and he's gonna tell these false prophets what God has given him. But truly, I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression unto Israel, his sin. Micah as a prophet of God. is saying, I'm speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the truth of God's grace and God's revelation. And the first thing I want to say to Israel is that you're a sinner.

This is what Isaiah said, exactly what Isaiah said. In Isaiah chapter six, when the Lord called on Isaiah to go into the city and to tell them, till the cities be, Isaiah said, Lord, what do I tell them? Where do I start this message? The gospel. Till the cities be wasted without inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate. Isaiah, you go and you prophesy unto these people. Lord, what do I tell them? Tell them they're grass. Tell them they're grass.

Begin by telling them that they are sinners. As sinners, they have nothing to offer God for the atonement of their sin. As sinners, they have no power to change their heart. They will have no desire to change their heart. As sinners, they are completely dependent upon me and I will get all the glory and my glory will be their greatest good. Our God's not, our God doesn't need our praise. He's not, he's not dependent upon our offering to him the glory that he's deserving of.

He's eternal. Our God was self-sufficient and self-contained and self-satisfied, self-existent for all eternity before just a little while ago he decided to create man. He didn't need us then, he doesn't need us now. He calls on us to offer to Him praise and worship, because we need the revelation of His glory. We need the revelation of His grace. He is our life. We're the beneficiaries.

We're the ones who profit. from worship and praise and salvation. Our salvation doesn't add anything to God. God can't be added to. He cannot be added to. But oh, what, what, what profit and what, what added to us when, when by his grace we're we're brought to believe the gospel.

Verse nine, hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. I would abhor judgment. I would not believe the judgments of God. The judgment of God is that I'm a sinner. I didn't believe that. The judgment of God is that He is sovereign, that He is omnipotent, that He is immutable, that He was successful in the work of His redemption of His people. We don't believe that. We don't believe the judgments of God. Verse 10, they build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. This is the false gospel. They're building a church, but they're building it on the blood of my people. They're establishing it on the iniquity of their own self-righteousness.

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. will they lean upon the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. In other words, they're so confident. They're so confident that God's on their side and yet they're perverting all the judgments of God and doing it for their own benefits.

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. But, but 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 mountains. And my people will flow to it. And they will come to learn His ways. And they will abhor themselves. And they will believe everything that I've said.

Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we don't appreciate as we ought. We don't rejoice as we ought. We don't worship as we ought for the fulfillment of these precious promises in our hearts. Lord, had you left us to ourselves, all the horrors of Micah chapter three would have been true of us. Lord, you've snatched us as a fire from the brand, and you have set us in heavenly places in Christ. Lord, cause us now to look to him. Cause us to rejoice in him. For we ask it in Christ's name, amen. 236, let's stand together.