Turn with me, if you will, to
the seventh chapter of the book of Micah, Micah chapter seven. After preparing this message,
I wrote the hymn that's in the bulletin today. If you still
have it in your Bible, you might want to read it with me again. When Satan raises Moses up, and
would my rest in Christ disrupt, while I confess the sin I hate,
I look to Christ my advocate. No sinner's heart is worse than
mine, but Christ my advocate divine appears before the throne
of God and pleads the merit of his blood. The plea that justice can't refuse,
the only plea that he will use. And all the praise to him I'll
give, for while he pleads, my soul shall live. When Satan roars,
I look away to Christ my advocate and say, my sin, my savior, I
confess. and trust the riches of your
grace. I think we are not adequately
thankful or even aware of the fact, much of the time, that
God our Savior graciously hedges us about with strong restraints
of providence and omnipotent grace keeping his people from
those grave outward acts of sin that give Zion's enemies occasion
to blaspheme our God and to mock the gospel of his grace. In Saved
Sinners, God plants a deep fear in our hearts. He causes a well
of living water to flow through the soul, and for the most part,
keeps us from great outward acts of iniquity. How we ought to
thank him for that mercy every day, every hour, every moment. It is true, sometimes a man who
has found grace in the eyes of the Lord, like our brother Noah,
will be found in a drunken stupor with his sinful nakedness exposed
for the reprobate to see and mock God and mock him. Sometimes a man of great faith
and righteousness, like righteous lot, will for reasons never explained
to us pitch his tent towards Sodom, move to Sodom, and choose
to live all his days in Sodom. Sometimes a mighty deliverer
of God's people, like Samson, lays his head in Delilah's lap. It has happened that a man after
God's own heart like David, has committed adultery and even murder. Sometimes the wisest man on earth,
like Solomon, a godly man, a godly man. Remember, he wrote the Song
of Solomon. He wrote the book of Proverbs.
He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. A wise man, the wisest of his
day in all the world. Sometimes even such a man being
led astray by the wife he loves will worship at the altar of
an idol. Once in a while, a great preacher. People talk a great deal about
Peter. Let me tell you something, I'd
like to be half the man Peter was. I'd like to be half the servant
of God he was. I'd like to be half the believer
he was. But sometimes even a great preacher
like Peter will deny his Lord and deny him again and cuss and
deny him again. Sometimes the most soundly orthodox
and the most useful and the most used preacher. None more useful,
none more used in any generation than the Apostle Paul. But sometimes
even Paul just gets weary of the battle
and will take a Jewish vow contrary to everything he's taught all
his life as a believer. contrary to everything he's taught
all his life as a believer, and shave his head to satisfy a bunch
of legalists. Such sad falls do occur. They're
plainly recorded in Holy Scripture, and they're plainly recorded
in Holy Scripture for our learning and admonition. But thank God
they're not common occurrences. For the most part, by the restraints
of God's grace and the restraints of his providence, the Lord God
keeps his saints from outward displays of iniquity and sin. But having said that, let's not
pop our suspenders just yet. Though we are usually kept from
grave horrible outward acts of wickedness, the righteous do
fall. And all the righteous know it.
Sometimes it takes us a while, growing in grace, to deal squarely
and honestly with it. But there's no such thing as
a righteous man who doesn't know his own unrighteousness. There's
no such thing as a righteous woman who doesn't know her own
unrighteousness. There's no such thing as one
who is born of God who doesn't know the corruptions of his own
heart by nature. The wise man Solomon says the
just man falleth seven times. Sometime back I read that. And
just sat astonished that I had never grasped what Solomon was
saying. Why didn't he say 70 times or
700 times or 7,000 times? Why did he say a just man falleth
seven times? Because seven is the number of
completion used throughout scripture. And this is what Solomon is saying.
A just man is a fallen creature. A just man falls all the time. He's a failure in everything
about him. A just man, his whole life is
a constant fall. All that he is, And all that
he does, he continually falls. With that said, let's look at
Micah chapter 7 and verse 8. Rejoice not against me, O my
enemy, when I fall. Now there's my subject. When
I fall. When I fall. Not if. When? When I fall. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be light unto me. Now this chapter begins with
a sorrowful note of lamentation. Look back at verse 1. Woe is me. For I am as when they
have gathered the summer fruits. If you have a marginal reference,
I think the better reading is in the margin. I am as the gathering
of the summer fruits. Where is me? For I am as the
gathering of the summer fruits, as the great greenings of the
vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first
ripe fruit. Now, the passage deals with natural,
carnal, physical things. But Micah tells us at the very
outset, he's talking about something spiritual. He says, my soul desired
the first ripe fruit. And this is what he says. Woe
is me. I am as the gathering of the
summer fruits, and nothing is gathered. I go out to gather in the harvest,
and there's nothing to gather. I go out to gather in the grapes,
and the vines are empty. I go out to gather in the corn,
there's not an ear on any of the corn, nothing. I'm as the gathering of summer
fruits and there's nothing. There's nothing there. Woe is
me. Now, this mournful cry is often
heard from the lips of faithful men in the book of God. Unlike
the happy, clappy religious hypocrites of our day who pretend that salvation
is all sugar and smiles, faithful people are honest people and
we know better. When Isaiah saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne high and lifted up when his train filled the
temple, the prophet cried, Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. Jeremiah expressed the same sentiment. He said, What
sadness is mine? Oh, that I had died at birth. When Ezekiel's role was written
within and without, There was written therein lamentations
and mournings and woe. And so it is with the life of
every believer. Lamentations and mournings and
woe. But what's the cause of the lamentation? Why does Micah cry, woe is me? Without question, there are many
things that greatly disturbed him. This man knew that the professed
Church of God was in a terrible condition. Babylon was about
to swallow up Zion. This faithful man greatly lamented
the moral corruption and debauchery of the world in which he lived.
He says, the best of the men, the princes and the judges are
like briars. They're like thorns, the best
of them, the best of them. But the thing that crushed him,
the thing that broke his heart, the thing that brought him to
his knees before God was the fact of his own barren, unfruitful,
empty soul. I desired some fruit. I desired
the first ripe fruit, but there's nothing there. My soul desired
something, but there's nothing in me. Woe is me. The fact is there is no greater
source of continual sorrow for God's saints than the sense of
our own barrenness, emptiness, and fruitlessness. We would be Oh, God, make me honest. We would be fruitful in every
good word and work. We would be filled with the fruits
of righteousness which are in Christ Jesus unto the glory and
praise of God. But when I contrast my own miserable,
unprofitable condition my coldness and deadness of heart, my poneness
and propensity to every evil, my backwardness and disinclination
to everything which is good, my daily wanderings and departings
from the living God, my depraved affections, sensual desires,
carnal lust, and overmuch love of this world. When I contrast
those glaring realities, I don't have to search for them. They
are glaring realities of life. When I contrast those things
which I can't deny with what I see and know should be the
fruit of grace growing in me as a fruitful branch in Christ,
the only true vine, I'm compelled to cry with Micah, woe is me. Woe is me. I have to say like
Isaiah from the uttermost part of the earth, we have heard songs,
even glory to the righteous. But I said, my leanness, my leanness,
woe is unto me. Job said, my lameness rising
up in me, beareth witness to my face. Paul said, oh, wretched
man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not, oh, wretched man I used
to be. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Turn back to the book of Lamentations.
Lamentations chapter three. Jeremiah is known as the weeping
prophet and he wept much over Israel and Judah Wept much over
the people among whom he lived wept much over the captivity
They must face in Babylon because of their sin but here Jeremiah
weeps for Jeremiah Lamentations 3 verse 1 I am the man that hath seen affliction
by the rod of God's wrath. This is a man separated from
his mother's womb to be a prophet of God. A remarkable man he was. He said,
I am the man as if there were no other like him that hath seen
affliction by the rod of God's wrath. God hath led me and brought
me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he
turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
builded against me and compassed me with gall and travail. He
hath set me in dark places. as they that be dead of old.
He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made
my chain heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, what
a way to speak a prayer. When I cry and shout, when I
cry to God and shout to him, when I cry and shout, he shutteth
out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked.
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret
places. He hath turned aside my ways
and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate, empty,
like the gathering of the summer fruit, and there was nothing
there. He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people
and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness.
He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken
my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
and thou hast removed my soul far off from peace, I forget
prosperity. I said my strength and my hope
is perished from the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, the bitterness, my soul
hath them still in remembrance and is humbled within me. Back
in Genesis 25, you'll remember Rebecca had the twins in her
womb and she found two nations struggling in a womb and asked
the Lord God a question, a question every believer often asked. Why am I thus? Why am I thus? Why am I in this condition? Why do I live like this? I am
a child of God. God chose me as he is from eternity. God redeemed me with the blood
of his darling son. God saved me by his grace, giving
me the blessed privilege of preaching the gospel of his grace literally
around the world. And yet here I am. in just this
woeful condition. Why? I know this, Oscar. I know this. God calls us to
live in this world in perfect holiness with no sin in the midst
of the most perverse people, just as he does the angels of
glory. He could change it if he would.
Like that. Like that. Why is there evil
present with me all the time? Why is sin not righteousness? That which is most prominent
in my soul to me. I chose my words deliberately.
Why is sin, not righteousness, that which is most prominent
in my soul to me? Why is there constant warfare
in my soul? I'm asked these questions by
people everywhere I go who know God and struggle with these things. The word of God alone supplies
the answer to them. Let me give it to you, it's very
brief. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the spirit is spirit. The reason is just that simple
and just that profound. All true believers, every heaven-born
soul, every child of God in this world is a person with two natures. flesh and spirit. And these two natures are direct
opposites, always in opposition to one another, always at war
with one another, never at peace, and there's never a possibility
of a truce. We do not live after the flesh or walk in the flesh. Read the eighth chapter of Romans.
Paul said, you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. We
live after the spirit and walk in the spirit. And those who
walk in the spirit do not fulfill the lust of their flesh. They
don't live out what they struggle with within. And yet, while we
live here in this world, we never escape those lusts. And we never
will. until this physical body is laid
in the dust of the earth. I'll give you some reasons, three
that are very plain. Painful as this condition is,
it's best for us for now that we live in just this way. Painful as this condition is,
It is best for us for now that we live just this way for these
three reasons. We must never forget for a moment. We must never forget for a moment
that the only thing that distinguishes you and me from the most vile
wretch walking on God's earth are suffering God's wrath in
hell right now. The only thing that distinguishes
us is the distinguishing grace of our God. I'm astonished that I could be
such a proud man and know what I've just told you. Who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? Second, it's
best for us for now that we live just as we do in this constant
warfare between flesh and spirit, because we must never forget
that our only acceptance with God is the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ, his son. Not our words. Not our feelings. Not our progress in grace. Not
some imaginary progress in righteousness and holiness. Only the blood
and righteousness of God's darling son. And thirdly, it is best
for us for now to live in this state because we must never become
content with our existence in this world.
I started to say, David, our life in this world. But Paul
calls that death. He said, I die daily. This life
is just a process of dying. Soon we're going to live. And
we must never become content with the best of things here,
longing to stay here rather than leave this world to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. Now, I realize that often
we say, well, I just I just like to die. How would you like to
die? Because we have troubles or heartaches
or pains and we want to escape the difficulty. That's not what
Paul meant when he said, I'm in a strait between the two.
I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better, but it's needful that I stay here. That's a different
thing than trying to escape trouble. Our Lord would have us to live
here constantly in hope Expectation and desire of that change that
will come when we put off this body of flesh and enter into
his glory Turn to the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon Song of
Solomon chapter 6 The Lord Jesus speaks to his
bride Return, return, O Shulamite. Return, O Solomon. Return, return,
that we may look upon thee. That we, the triune God, may
look upon you. How willing Christ is to have
us in his fellowship and communion all the time. He says, return
to me. Return to your first simple faith. Return to your first simple love. Return to the place where first
we met. Abide constantly around the cross,
the sacrifice of your Savior. Now catch the next loving words. Our Lord says to his beloved,
to you and me, return, return. Oh, Shulamite, return, return,
that we may look upon thee, look upon
you in love and forgiveness and kindness with constant pleasantness
and satisfaction. The Savior says, come on close. Come to me. Let me hold you close
so that I can look on you with delight. with satisfaction, with
pleasure. Return to me, I'll look on you
with tenderness and affection and kindness, with love and delight. But then in the second part of
verse 13, the bride, the church, God's people speak. Being convinced
of her own sin, of her shame, she confesses her frustration
with herself. She thinks there's nothing of
beauty in me, nothing in me that he could want to see. What will
you see in Solomon? As it were the company of two
armies. There's nothing in me but struggle,
conflict, warfare. flesh lusting against the spirit,
spirit against the flesh. So I can never do what I want
to. I can never behave as I would desire. I can never be what I
want to be. This is a true, accurate description
of God's people. God's elect in this world live
in the constant, constant experience of conflict in here. Now, let me make five statements
and I'll be brief. Number one, these conflicts are
facts of every believer's life. Brother Don, can you prove that?
Well, read the scriptures. In the 73rd Psalm, David looked
out over the fields. I can picture him standing on
his porch overlooking the fields. Late evening, old man now, he
walked with God for years. And he has in his mind's eye
his neighbor in the distance, a pagan. reprobate ungodly man,
a greedy man, a man who serves his lust all the time. And he
sees that man sitting down at Thanksgiving table and all of
his children and his children's children, his son's wives and
his daughter's husbands, all of them gathered at the house
in one great big happy family, all of them rich and healthy
and strong and brilliant folks, well-educated, everything well
for them. And the man's eyes bug out with
fatness. He has everything his soul could
desire. And David looks at David. And he says, there's not anything
in my house but hell. I've got a house full of rebels. I've washed my hands in innocency.
He said, Bob, it's profited me nothing to serve and worship
God. Read the psalm. He said, I would have said that,
but if I said that, then I would offend against the generation
of our children. I dare not speak what I'm thinking now. And then
I went into the house of God. and understood their end. Oh God, I was as a beast before
you to think like that. You set them in slippery places. You've shut them up like a stalled
ox you're getting ready to slaughter. Who went into that? whom have
I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon the earth that I
desire beside thee." What a struggle. What a conflict. And there's no need for any proof
beyond this fact. You ask it for yourself. Do not your thoughts prove it
to you. Your inmost thoughts, those secret
things known only to you and God. Read his word. This blessed book of light and
life in which God communicates to us the knowledge of himself
and his son. And most of the time, read it
unmoved and unaffected. Most of the time, read it almost
as a chore. Most of the time, with your mind
wandering in a thousand directions, and you keep trying to focus
on what you're reading and your mind wanders in a thousand directions. You try to pray, and your prayers make you blush.
You come here, want to worship God, try to worship God, and
yet your mind runs everywhere in the world. Your mind's occupied
with a thousand things. You want to love the Redeemer
and his people, and you realize that you love yourself horribly. You want your heart set upon
heaven and you find your heart set upon the earth. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here is my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Second, I repeat what I said earlier.
God could remove all this evil from us if he chose to do so. But he chooses not to do so because
These conflicts do have some good effect upon us, without
question, when we look back upon these days of great evil in eternity. James, it's almost hard for me
to, if I didn't read it in this book, I couldn't believe it.
We'll look back on all this. And so thank God for his wisdom,
goodness, and grace. Oh, how gracious, how good, how
wise he has been in ordering our steps exactly as he's ordered
them. You see, our struggles with sin
do somewhat humble us and curb our pride. Our struggles with sin sweetly
force us to lean on Christ. Who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? The picture is not just of a
young woman who's just married this Wonderful man, and she's
just wrapped up in his love and she's holding him tight. It's
that but it's more She's leaning everything on him because through
this wilderness she can't walk without him He's he's carrying
her through this wilderness We're made In every moment in every day
every hour of every day, constantly aware, with me, with me, salvation
is of the Lord. Our struggles with sin do cause
us to prize the faithfulness of our God. Jeremiah, when he
got done expressing those horrible lamentations, he said, the Lord
is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. And these struggles here will
make the glorious conquest of life eternal in heaven sweeter
than it could otherwise be. Oh, how good how blessed, how
sweet, how alluring, how charming that life awaiting us is, where
there is no more sin. No more sin. Here's another thing. These inward
conflicts have some comforts. Rejoice not against me when I
fall, I shall arise. Turn back to Psalm 37 for a second. Psalm 37. I turned over here just a little
while ago and read this. Oh, what wondrous grace. Verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and the Lord delighteth in his way, though he fall. he shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. When I fall, I shall arise, and
when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be light unto me. Yes, when I fall, not if, But blessed be His name, I can't
fall from His grace, I can't fall from His arms, I can't fall
from Him, I can't fall from His embrace, and I can't fall into
hell. He's given me life eternal, and
I shall never perish. When I fall, I shall arise. And one last thing. When I arise,
these inward conflicts will have a blessed end. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Soon,
children of God, we shall be free from sin. Perfect. triumphant Now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and
forever Amen So long as we live in this world
We will be as the company of two armies. So I give you this
word of admonition. Keep yourselves in the love of
Christ, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life. Look away from yourself to the
Redeemer and rest your soul in him. And know this, there hath
no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. The fact is, Larry Brown, everything
that goes on inside you, goes on in me. It's just common. Everything that goes on inside
me, goes on inside you who are born of God. There's no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able,
but will with the temptation make also a way of escape that
you may be able to bear it. And that way of escape is Christ
the Redeemer. All right, let's look back at
our text. Back up to verse 7, Micah chapter
7. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I've sinned against him. Until he plead my
cause and execute judgment for me, he will bring me forth to
the light and I shall behold his righteousness. Look down
at verse 18. Hear Micah's praise. Oh, who
is a God like unto thee? that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.
He will turn again. He will have compassion on us.
He will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, the truth of his covenant, the
mercy of his covenant, which thou has sworn unto our fathers
from the days of old. Amen.