Turn with me to Micah. Yes, it's going to be one of
those. Micah chapter 2. Right after Amos, which is right
by Joel, which is right by Hosea. Micah chapter 2. We're going
to look at the first 13 verses Look at two verses in specifically
for this morning's message. Micah chapter 2 and let's look at verse 1. Woe
to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds.
When the morning is light, they practice it because it is the
power of their hand. and they covet fields and take
them by violence, and houses and take them away. So they oppress
a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore,
thus saith the Lord, behold, against this family do I devise
an evil from which you shall not remove your necks, neither
shall you go haughtily, for this time is evil. And in that day
shall one take up a parable against you and lament, with a doleful
lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled. He hath changed a portion
of my people. How hath he removed it from me? Turning away, he hath divided
our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none
that shall cast a chord by a lot in the congregation of the Lord.
Prophesy, say not, say to them that prophesy. They shall not
prophesy to them. They shall not take shame. O thou that art named the house
of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straightened? Are these
his doings? Do not my words do good to him
that walketh uprightly? Even of late my people is risen
up as an enemy. You pull off the robe with the
garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. The women of my people have you
cast out from their pleasant houses. from their children have
you taken away My glory forever. Arise ye and depart, for this
is not your rest, because it is polluted. It shall destroy
you, even with a sore destruction. If a man walking in the Spirit
and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of
wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of
his people." So these first 11 verses is gloom and doom, It's
deception by false preachers. It's what we've got today, 2020.
But look at these last two verses. "'I,' says God, 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 Basra, as the flock in the midst of their fold, They
shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The
breaker is come up before them, that they have broken up and
passed through the gate and are gone out by it. And their king
shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." In
these verses, specifically these last two verses, we come upon
a delightful name and characteristic of our Lord and Savior." Verse
13, the breaker, the breaker. Now I must admit, I have never
seen this before. So you can imagine how exciting
and how completely joyful study was this week. I spoke this to
Norm, and Norm says, where is that? I've never seen it. So
I've been looking at it since a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Spurgeon says, he who has many
crowns has many titles. Each of them is fraught with
meaning and full of sweetness. Here in our text, and specifically
verse 13, the breaker is what I'm going to look at this morning.
A gentleman named C. Roll, I've never heard of this
hymn before, he says, What a vision! In the midst of woe, iniquity
and sin, a true glimpse of deliverance. In the midst of the first 11
verses, it's just nothing good. But in this midst, we have a
true glimpse of deliverance. Let me read to you a hymn one
of many out of Gatsby's hymnal. It's called, The Breaker. And
this is an outline, this could be an outline right here. The
Breaker, Christ, is gone forth in love, with power and skill
divine, descending from the realms above to quell his foes and mine. In love to Zion he has broke
the powers of death and hell, and her from Sinai's dreadful
yoke has broken off as well. Though death and law and sin
agree, this breaker to arrest, he breaks their bonds himself
sets free with Zion on his breast. He breaks his children's heart
in twain and brings proud nature down. The hearts he breaks he
heals again and on them puts a crown. He breaks through every
darksome cloud and shows His lovely face, which makes the
sinners sing aloud, salvation is of grace. He breaks the traps
and gins that lie to catch poor pilgrims' feet, and when they
stumble, makes them fly to Him, their safe retreat. He'll break
the strings of nature soon and bid the prisoners fly. beyond
the reach of sin and gloom, His glory to enjoy." The way this
term is used, this term breaker, it means one who opens the breach,
the breaker. You don't have to be a scholar
to just, if you're breaking something up, you're demolishing it, you're
destroying it. But it specifically means one who opens the breach
or to go before his people. To go before his people. Now,
historically, as one rabbi put it in context, in Bible lands,
and it specifically deals with shepherding. He says, this word
breaker, it is the shepherd in the morning, he would go and
the sheep would be inside the fold, and the fold would be surrounded
by, most of the time, stones. The shepherd would take the stones
by the fence, or what would be the fence, and remove them, and
the sheep would go out free. All these things. He would let
the sheep out and they would roam freely. My brethren, such
a clear picture of our blessed Lord's work on behalf of all
His dear lambs. Let's look at verse 12. First
and foremost, what is the context? The context is, I will surely
assemble Jacob, all of thee, I will surely gather the remnant
of Israel, I will put them together as the sheep of Basra, as a flock
in the midst of their fold, they shall make great noise by reason
of the multitude of men. So even this reference here would
be similar to what that rabbi is saying as far as the breaker.
The breaker has come up. He's come up before his people.
Verse 12, This is what it is saying, is our gracious Sovereign
will assemble His distraught and beguiled children, His church,
His sheep, unto Himself, unto Himself. Look at the words, how
it's used. He says, I will surely assemble. That word assemble means to gather
for a purpose. Okay? To gather in purpose or
for purpose. O Jacob, all of you, I will surely
gather the remnant of Israel. What does that word gather mean?
It simply means to collect. To collect. And listen to this
one. He says, I will put them together as the sheep of Basra. That word put together means
a unit. A unit alike. A-L-I-K-E. We are brethren of one sheep,
one fold, and as the New Testament in the book of Acts says, one
mind, one purpose, they sold everything and such as they had
in common, and they broke bread, that means unity, and where the
true church of God is, where the Lord Jesus Christ is preached
in power and truth and love, Those who gather under His banner,
those who believe the gospel of His grace, those who believe
Christ, are together. We have different personalities,
we have different quirks and different likenesses and dislikes,
but when we come in through those doors, we're united in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that necessitates love for
one another. So it all makes sense. This is
what God does. I will. This isn't Micah. This
is what God will do for His people. That's the context. Our gracious
Sovereign, He will assemble His children, His sheep together.
And verse 13, He tells us how is this to be accomplished. Verse
13, how is this to be accomplished? He's going to send in the mighty,
the great, the glorious Breaker. Okay? Let's look at this verse. The breaker has come up before
them. Well, I could ask the opposite question. How is this to be accomplished? One might as well ask, is there
anything too hard for our God? No. Will man thwart God's purpose? No. Can man detour God in His
sovereign decree? No. In the end, whose will shall
be clearly, easily, and perfectly accomplished? The Lord God Jehovah,
through His Son, enabled by His Spirit. This is how God, in the
person of Jesus Christ, shall reclaim and glorify all His people,
and in the process, get Himself the most glory." I've got eight
things how Christ is the breaker. Number one, Is it not said concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ that He has broken the power or canceled
the power of sin, of Satan, and of death? 1 Peter 2. Of sin. 1 Peter 2. 1
Peter 2. and verse 24, speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who His own self bare our sins in His own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Chapter 3 of
the same book and verse 18. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18,
for Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." Christ,
by Himself, as the breaker, has canceled the power, broken the
power of sin. Secondly, Satan, Hebrews chapter
2, Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2 verse 14, for as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also,
Christ Himself, likewise took part of the same, that through
death He might destroy him that had power of death, that is,
the devil. And 1 John chapter 3 and verse
8, 1 John chapter 3 verse 8, He that committed sin is of the
devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works
of the devil." And lastly, He has done this by breaking the
power of sin, Satan, and death, 2 Timothy chapter 1. and verse 10, but Christ is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel. So Christ has broken the power
of sin over us, shall not have dominion over us, He has thwarted
Satan though he is a mighty foe. He and he only has broke his
power over us and he has conquered death. That's the first thought. The second thought. Christ has
disarmed power and authorities and triumphed over them all. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 15. It says in verse 14, Christ blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way. Now isn't one of
the definitions of the breaker is that one has opened up the
breach? Has led his people out? He made show of, in verse 15,
has spoiled principalities and powers, and has made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He spoiled them. He broke them. He broke them
for us. Thirdly, Christ is said to be
the breaker. And He has broken down the middle
wall of partition between us. Let's look at Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 14. Verse 13, In Christ Jesus, you who are
sometimes far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. How is
that possible? For He is our peace, who hath made both one
and hath broken down the middle wall, a partition between us."
Another thing you can think of this breaker, is that he has
removed all obstacles. You remember in the Old Testament,
the six cities of refuge. Well, according to Josephus and
Jewish writers, there would be people who would be appointed
by the cities to come out and clear the area of any obstacles,
trees falling, logs, war shouts through water or whatever. They
would make, like John the Baptist, prepare you the way of the Lord,
make His path straight, and woe be to any preacher or any of
us who set obstacles in anyone's way. that they may not hear the
gospel, they may not hear the gospel clearly. But that's another,
you know, Christ is the breaker, He's opened up the breach, He's
led the way, He leads the way. Fourthly, Christ has torn off
the chains of our bondage in sin and set the captives free.
You don't need to turn there, but Isaiah 61.1, that's what
He does. I've set the captives free. How
did He do that? He broke the chains. He's the breaker. Fifthly, He has tilled up the
fallow ground of the heart of stone and gave us a heart of
flesh. We can see that in Ezekiel 36.
He's opened up the breach. Sixthly, Christ, look back in
the text in verse 13. The breaker has come up before
them. He's leading the way. Not only
has He opened up the breach, not only has He taken the stones
of stumbling out of the way, the rock of offense, not only
has He removed that, He Himself, you know, the shepherd would
probably just move outside and let the sheep just take off,
but Christ, He never is behind. He always leads, which we see
that in John chapter 10. He leads His sheep out, leads
them. Matt read a passage talking about
how He leads. He leads them gently. So, sixthly,
our text emphatically states that He has come up before them.
He goes before His people, conquering and to conquer. Thusly, the Great
Shepherd, He does lead us. He doesn't drive us. He leads
us to safety, to freedom, and liberty. And the shepherd is
always in front. He's never in back. This shepherd,
our great shepherd. Seventhly, Christ as the breaker,
He conquered and tears down as the breaker all obstacles in
the elect's path. And He sets before us a clear
view of salvation by grace through faith. Never, ever Anything that
we are or could do, those are obstacles. That's the one beauty
of salvation. You preach the gospel and you
just stand back. You don't prod people and say
we come up here and come down the aisle. You don't say that
there's any goodness in them. There's any worth in us. We don't
do that because that's not true. That's setting obstacles in people's
way. That's what so many of these
free will Armenian, these God dishonoring churches do. They
set all these obstacles. And then they have, you know,
when I was in the Methodist church, you had to do this, and then
you could take communion. And then you were a part of the
church. And it's the same thing in any religion of Cain, whether
it's Lutheranism, Catholicism, any of these. They set obstacles,
and that's what they're doing. Set obstacles in the way. No. We preach Christ as the breaker. He has done all the work. He's
sufficient. He's sovereign. He's supreme.
He governs and rules all things. He spoke and the worlds were.
And He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He's defeated Satan and
death. And He leads us. He opens up
the breach. And He leads us out. And we don't
set anything in anybody's way. Well, you're not going to see
anything. All my friends and neighbors, there are hundreds
of people who are saved. Well, if that's salvation, I don't
want any part of it. We preach the gospel, we pray for one another,
and we wait. And you don't think waiting's
hard? I got one thought. You go to a hospital when you're
not the one being operated on, and you sit. and you sit, and
you wait, it's not easy. We want to be
doing something. But let us go forth. We have
friends, we have neighbors, we have correspondents, we have
people. Let us go forth and speak about who we know, what we know, and leave it in the Lord's hands.
But we do need to go out. We do need to be speaking. As I said, our shepherd is always
in front. He's never behind. And eighthly, how is our Lord
said to be the breaker? Well, in His resurrection. He
rose first. He's opened up the breach. He's
opened up the way to heaven. He's Jacob's ladder descending
upon the Son of God. He's opened up the way from earth
to heaven by coming from heaven to earth and suffering the vicarious,
bloody, horrible, vicious death that Calvary's tree provided.
And yet he said, I have a baptism I'm going to be baptized with.
I'm ready to do it. I'm ready to do it. So in his
resurrection, he opened the way for all his people, and Gentiles
included, to be raised up with him. He was Himself broken for
us, bearing the shame and mockery in the place of His church. And so I say to myself, no wonder,
and you'll have to turn there, no wonder in Revelation 5, verses
2 and 5, no wonder it states the wonderful thought so beautifully
that only Christ was worthy to loose The seven seals of the
book. Now that word loose, look it
up, it means break open. Oh, that's amazing. No it isn't because this Bible
is harmonious. It's always centered around Christ. But it's no wonder. And I thought
about that when I was reading this. You know, just getting
ready. No wonder. He's worthy for Himself. Who He is. What He's done. Where
He's at. But He's worthy. No one else is worthy. Because
no one else has the keys of heaven and hell. No one else has the
keys of life. No one else is the giver of life.
But our worthy Lamb that was slain before the foundation.
He is worthy to grab that book and to loose the seals or break
open those seals. Thanks be to our God. Lord of
lords and King of kings. But when I thought about this
again, He will not break our hearts again. The heart has been
broken once. The stony heart, as He said,
if you start a heart of stone, I'm taking it out. Smashing it.
Give you a heart of flesh. But we're like that bruised reed
in a smoking flask. That reed's bruised, but He's
not going to break it. Because He already is broken.
That is, He's already shown us what we are in ourselves. He's
already shown us our sin. He's already shown us that in
no way we can please God. But He's not going to break it.
He will bind up, says Isaiah, the brokenhearted that's been
cut asunder by sin, whether we know sin or not know sin, whether
we realize sin or unrealized. Such is our tender and ever gracious
Redeemer. David and Goliath. Impossible. Impossible odds. Little David.
But he had that stone. That stone which is so... the stone of the Gospel. People
can't stand it. People say, you're nuts. You're
crazy. God... He loves everybody. God's going to save everybody.
God's trying to save everybody. No. Not our God. Your God is
up on a little shelf. A little picture, Henry would
say, Wild Bill Hickok, and a picture of Jesus. You got a little picture
of Him up there and you talk to Him occasionally and you'll
take Him off the mantle and you'll get your Bible and blow it off
and do this and do that. That's your God. The God of the
Bible rules and reigns supreme among men. He spoke and the worlds
were. But He will not break the heart
that is already broken. He'll mend Such is our tender and ever-gracious
Redeemer." David, humanly, he's not going to do anything. Before
he started running to him, he said, I'm going to take you out
because you defiled the God of Israel. In the name of the Lord
God, here I come. That's our breaker. That's the
one that has done all things for us. Now there are other texts
that express specifically Christ, our preeminent breaker. Let's
take a look at them. I could preach this out of any
one of these texts. Let's go to Psalms 72 and I'll
try to do them in order. We're not zipping all over the
place. Psalms 72. In Psalm 72, verse 4, He shall
judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of
the needy. He shall break in pieces the
oppressor. Isn't that what He does in salvation?
Who's oppressing us? Sin, Satan, And our own sin oppresses us. But so does Satan. He enjoys
oppressing the people of God. But the Lord will break in pieces
the oppressor. He's going to judge the poor,
judge in righteousness of His people. He shall save the children
of the needy. Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2 and then Jeremiah
chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 2 is the first
one. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse
20, For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands,
and now saidest, I will not transgress when upon every high hill and
under every green tree thou wander'st, playing the harlot. That's where
he finds us. That's where he finds us. But he's promised he
will break the yoke. The yoke of bondage, oppression,
religion without Christ, Oh, to be in religion so many years,
and what a mercy that God finally reveals His Gospel to you. Isn't
that the most wonderful thing? Isn't that the most wonderful
thing? Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah
chapter 23 and verse 29. Is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" That
stony heart, it just breaks it in pieces. That's the one thing
I kind of have a little disagreement about, the reformation or reformed
doctrine, and historically I understand that. But we don't want reformation. We want new creation. We want
to be born again. We don't want to reform the old
because God doesn't reform the old. There's nothing about the
flesh that is worth reformation. You know what I'm saying? Now
again, if I live by a reformed person, he doesn't cuss, he doesn't
break the law. I'd like to have somebody around
my house like that instead of somebody who is the opposite.
But reformation It's got to be a new creation. That's what the
breaker does. He breaks the rock in pieces. Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 and verse 27. Ezekiel 34 verse 27, And the
tree of the field shall yield a fruit, and the earth shall
yield her increase, And they shall be safe in their land,
and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the
bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those
that serve themselves of them." It's self-explanatory, isn't
it? I, the Lord, I have broken the bands of their yoke. It's
the way it's described. We're under a yoke of sin and
Satan and oppression and whatever it may be, believing that we've
got something to merit salvation, and He breaks that. He does it.
We can't do it. I've never seen an oxen unyoke
itself. No, He has to do it. And look
at this one. chapter 1. Nahum chapter 1 and verse 13. For now I will break
his yoke from off thee and will burst thy bonds in sunder. I'm going to break them asunder.
I'm going to break that yoke. And incidentally, some of us
have really got problems with bondage. Not only are we yoked,
we're chained. We're chained to old religion.
We're chained to Adam. In Adam we all fell. We're chained
to Adam. The law has chained us. God has
chained. We're like a pilgrim's progress.
Pilgrim, he's got that burden he couldn't get rid of. It was
chained, so to speak, on his shoulders. And the only way it
fell off, he went to Sinai and it got heavier. He went to Calvary. He looked up and it rolled away. It rolled away. So I have a couple
of concluding remarks. I pray that God would break us
today. Break us now. If we know Christ,
He would make us more like Christ. More desire to be like Christ.
More desire to tell friends and neighbors about the Lord Jesus
Christ. May He break us. Once we come to Christ, we don't
stop coming to Him. And He's a breaker. May He break
us now. Secondly, for there will come
a day when the vessels of clay who refuse to bow before our
Lord shall be broken in pieces under the mighty wrath of Jehovah
God. Flee the wrath to come because
as one person said, the wheel of God's justice grinds slowly
and grinds small. So he's the breaker. May he be
the breaker in mercy and not in judgment, in justice.