Micah chapter two and verse 10. Arise ye and depart, for this
is not your rest. Because it is polluted, it shall
destroy you, even with a sore destruction. So once again, arise
ye and depart, for this is not your rest. because it is polluted
and it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction. I'm
sure that this verse has a place and a purpose in the context
of this chapter and of this prophecy from Micah. But I'm also sure
that it is suitable to be read on its own and to be received
with a gospel application for every believer. And today what
I'm going to do is look at this verse in isolation, take it,
as it were, pluck it from the heart of this chapter and look
at it in three ways and consider it in that way. We're going to
first of all think about it as the Holy Spirit's quickening
word to call dead sinners to life in Christ. Arise ye and
depart, this is not your rest. So first of all, the Holy Spirit's
quickening word to call the dead sinner to life. Secondly, we're
going to think about it as the Spirit's daily call to believers
to lift our eyes above the pollution of this world. and set our affections
on things above, not on things below. So once again, arise ye
and depart, for this is not your rest. The Holy Spirit telling
us to lift our eyes above the pollution and dangers of this
world. And then thirdly, just to think
of it as a call from the Lord Jesus Christ to his beloved people
when he calls us home, out of this world. to the joy and the
happiness that awaits us in everlasting rest that he has prepared for
his church and people. And someday the Lord will come
for us with these words, arise and depart. So here's our thoughts
then in these three points from this little verse in Micah chapter
two. First of all, the effectual call
of grace. Arise ye and depart, for this
is not your rest. Because it is polluted, it shall
destroy you, even with a sore destruction. And I'm going to
suggest to you that these words, or words very like them, are
whispered into the heart of every sinner that is effectually called
to newness of life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Quickening, or
regeneration as it is sometimes called, is a gracious covenant
work of God the Holy Spirit. And Paul refers to the Holy Spirit's
life-giving work and activity. When he writes to the Ephesians,
ye hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. The call of grace, the effectual
call, comes with power and enabling. And that is an effectual call
that says, Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because
it is polluted and it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction. So the Holy Spirit speaks to
the elect of God. The Holy Spirit conveys this
message to the elect of God with quickening grace and in regeneration. And I think that view of this
little verse from Micah is pictured in the Lord Jesus Christ's beautiful
Talitha Kumai when the Saviour speaks in Mark 5 to that little
girl on her deathbed. The Lord came into her room. He brought some of his disciples
with him. He put everyone else out, and
he took the little girl's hand, a little girl that was recently
deceased, and he said to her, Talitha Kumai, which is being
interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And Mark tells us,
Straightway, the damsel arose and walked. And that, that is
the call of grace. Spiritualised, we can take that
miracle, that incident from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the life of this little girl, and we can spiritualise
that, I think, quite beautifully. To see the Holy Spirit's life-giving
word, creative word, to the spiritually dead who are, by definition,
spiritually incapable of making themselves alive. And this call
to arise and depart from this polluted world is a call that
makes a new creation. It says, arise from the deathbed
of fallen nature. It says, depart from the prison
house of sin. Be released from the chains and
the custody of Satan and be free from the bondage of the law. It says, this world is not your
rest. This world is not your home.
And believers can have no true rest or peace in a graveyard
of corruption and amid the pollution where all who despise Christ
make their home. Like the demon-possessed man,
Legion, who lived among the tombs, we have no joy, we have no ease
in being in such a dead environment. So that when God the Holy Spirit
calls a sinner to new life in Christ, we look for better things. In the Gospel, we discover a
revelation of love and mercy and forgiveness and of grace. And the Word of God speaks to
us like it never spoke to us before. and when we are born
again, we discover new things. And that's what Paul is talking
to Timothy about when he says to the young man that Christ,
according to his mercy, has saved us and that by regeneration or
by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
we have been brought into newness of life. Peter says it slightly
differently, but to the same end, we are born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible and by the word of God. So there's a blessed people in
this world who have been saved from sin and delivered from the
strong man's house. They've been freed from the dominion
of a corrupt will. They've been given a new heart.
And once we were harnessed to a heavy yoke of guilt, now we
are called to arise and depart, to leave that behind, to rise
up and follow Christ. And this we could not do in our
own strength. But when the Master gives strength
and he gives ability and he gives will, when he shows us the pollution
of the old man and the everlasting destruction that comes with sin
and awaits the wicked in hell, God's redeemed people are only
too glad to arise and to obey the saving call and flee to Christ
for cleansing and righteousness. So that's my first thought on
this little verse in Micah chapter 2. Arise ye and depart, for this
is not your rest. It's the effectual call of grace
in the conversion of a sinner. But there's another aspect to
this as well. And we can think about this with
a slightly different application, may I suggest. Because the Christian
life is a journey. And yes, it has a beginning,
and yes, it has a regenerating origin when God the Holy Spirit
quickens us and brings us to the new birth. But afterwards,
there's a pilgrimage, there's a journey through life. And we discover increasingly
that we are strangers in a strange land, that we are making our
way through a world where we are no longer at home and we
are no longer at peace. Yet we're often caught up in
the affairs of this world. There are snares that entrap
us, there are temptations, there are distractions. And from these,
the Lord calls us daily to arise and depart, for this is not your
rest. There's a tiredness, there's
a weariness that overtakes us and drags us down in our souls. And the Lord says to us day by
day, arise ye and depart for this is not your rest. There's
a pollution that corrupts our mind, that starves our soul,
that tries to steal the joy of the Lord from us. And the Lord
says, arise ye and depart. You'll find no rest for your
soul in this place. And so we discover that the ties
that bind us to this earth, are stretched and strained as we
desire more and more of the Lord. In this life, we rightly take
care of our bodies. We try to eat well and we try
to exercise appropriately and we try to get good sleep because
our bodies respond well to such care. But what this is telling
us as well that our souls need to be cared for as well. We need
spiritual care. So the Lord calls us to arise
and to set our affection on things above, not the things that are
on earth. Paul tells the Lord's people,
Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there
be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. And true things and honest things
and virtuous things They centre on Christ and they centre on
our rest in Christ. His gospel, gospel truth is given
to us to feed our mind. Gospel blessings nourish our
heart. Covenant promises may be enjoyed
in this world by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ says, arise and depart. He says, come unto
me and I will give you rest. And not only is there an originating
effectual call, but there is a continuing daily experience
of the Lord calling us to himself, to take his yoke upon us, for
it is light and he will give us rest for our souls. Rest for a believer doesn't mean
rest from sin, because we all still sin. It doesn't mean rest
from trial. It doesn't mean rest from pain
or from sadness or from loneliness. In this world we'll experience
all of those things to a greater or lesser extent. And yet there
is a rest in this world. There is a continuing Sabbath
when we rest in the Lord and the finished work of Jesus Christ
for salvation. We can rest in His security,
we can rest in his embrace, we can enjoy his gentleness and
the comfort that he gives and his goodness to us even in the
midst of our trials. Resting in Christ means having
a solid scripture, grounded hope, a trust in his promises that
all things Even our tears, even our fears and our hardships are
working together for our good according to a loving God's wise
plan. And thus the psalmist can say
to us, return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee. And then the third point, and
then we're done. There shall come a time when
this flesh either grows old or grows sick or grows weary of
life and it will fail. And the old man will finally
be defeated. And many people, even believers,
find the prospect of death frightening and formidable. And I understand
that. But I want us to take this lovely
verse to heart in consideration of our mortality as well. The day is coming, and for some
of us it may be soon, when the Lord will say, Arise ye and depart,
for this is not your rest. He will say, I have something
far, far better in store for you. He will say, you know, in
my father's house are many mansions. And once I told you that I was
going to prepare a place for you, now I'm here to tell you
that it's ready. Arise ye and depart, for this
is not your rest. Your heavenly rest awaits. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. And on that day we shall place
our hand into the Lord's hand at His encouragement. And sweetly,
and softly, and blessedly, He will raise us up, and He will
receive us unto Himself. He will say, Arise ye and depart,
for this is not your rest. And despite any dread that we
might have felt before, we shall be delighted to go with Him. we shall realise that he is as
eager to be with us in glory as we are to be with him. For
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I think that this one single
verse says so much to those who trust in Christ. This world is
not our home. This world will break us if it
can. It would destroy us if it could,
even with a sore destruction. But it can't do that. We are
destined for better things and a better place. We will walk
in the courts of glory with our Saviour forever. Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.