Sunday morning I tried to preach
to you on restoring the worship of our God. Anyone who sees how deplorable
the religious situation is in our day, any child of God or
servant of God who is convinced that God has in our day sent
a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord as Amos said he would do. Has a great burden in his heart,
a great concern. And the concern is just this,
what's next? Is there no hope? Will God not
yet be merciful? Is there any hope that God may
yet revive his church and build again his kingdom and cause her
to spread through the earth as he promised in the book of Isaiah?
Turn to Micah if you will, Micah chapter 7. Here in the book of
Micah you find the prophet of God A man who clearly understood
how dark the day was in which he lived. In Micah's day, in
his nation, and around the world, things were just exactly as they
are in our day, in our nation, and throughout the world. Just
exactly as they are now. Our day is a mirror of his day. And that day, God's judgment
fell. And as always, judgment must
begin at the house of God. So it is now. The Book of Micah
is a lamentation of divine judgment, judgment upon the professed church
of God and people of God, and judgment upon the nation as a
whole. judgment upon the nation, the
world, and judgment upon the church, the professed church
of God, those who claimed to worship God. Such were the circumstances
that in Micah's day, with rare exception, when men and women
went to the house of God to worship God, when they went up to the
temple to worship God, when they went up to keep the feast of
Jehovah, when they went up Sabbath day after Sabbath day, when they
went up week after week, month after month, observing their
holy days, when they went up for the Passover, Pentecost,
when they went up Feast of Unleavened Bread, all of those things being
ceremonies for the worship of the triune God. When they went
to the house of God to worship God, more often than not, they
worshiped the works of their own hands. They worshiped idols. They worshiped gods that they
had made and set up in the temple. With most people, the worship
of Jehovah and the worship of Baal were synonymous. With most people, the worship
of Jehovah and the worship of Baal were synonymous. They saw
no difference, no difference at all. They saw absolutely no
distinction between worshipping some imaginary deity and worshipping
the Lord God Almighty. The God of David was unknown
in the city of David. In the temple and house of God
only an elect remnant knew God and worshipped Him. The nation
then reflected the low estate and condition of the church.
And that's always the way it is. It is not the church that
reflects the low condition of the nation. It is the nation
that reflects the low condition of the church. In Micah's day,
the world had completely absorbed the church. And the church had
completely absorbed the world. And the world stood in judgment
and the church of God in judgment with it so that God sent darkness
and delusion and darkness and delusion and corruption of every
kind. The first six verses of the seventh
chapter show us how that the princes and the priest were all
corrupt. The leaders of the nation were
hirelings. Those who were supposed to be
examples of that which is upright were examples of that which is
evil. Micah's prophecy is a lamentation of divine judgment. But that's
not all Micah's prophecy is about. It's also a word of assured grace. Micah, like the prophets and
apostles throughout the book of God, declares that the triumph
of Christ and his church is a matter of absolute certainty. I get far more concerned about
things than I should. I get far more uneasy about things
than I should. You see, Bob, I've read the last
chapter of the book. I know how this ain't gonna turn
out. And Micah assures us that it shall turn out just exactly
as John does in the book of Revelation. We're assured over and over and
over again in the midst of these dark, dark days, all right, everything
gonna be all right. God has his way. God's still
on his throne. God still adds to his church
daily, such he should be saved. No sooner had Micah asserted
with boldness, with stern boldness, the low condition of the nation
and the church, than he turned to assert with joyful confidence
that there's a better day coming. And that's my subject this evening.
A better day is coming. In the first verses of this chapter,
Micah speaks of the corruption of the nation. And he says you
can't trust the priest and you can't trust the princes. He says,
in these dark, dark days, if you worship God and seek to follow
Christ, if you worship God and seek to follow his word, if you
worship God and seek to promote his cause, don't be surprised
if your dearest companion becomes your most hard-hearted enemy. Don't be surprised if your son
or your daughter, your husband or your wife turn against you
like one who is utterly, utterly hostile against you so that your
enemies become those of your own household. Because if your
house follows after Baal and you follow after God, your house
will oppose you. Now you can just bank on it.
I say the same to you today. You who are gods, if you seek
to worship God and serve God according to this book, if you
seek to worship Christ and serve Christ according to what's written
in this book, and your family seeks to follow after Baal, seeks
to follow the course of the world, seeks to pursue the God of this
world, then your family will turn against you in utter animosity. So Micah gives us a word of counsel
by his own example in verse 7. He says, therefore, will I look
unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. I'll look to the Lord. I'll look
away from my circumstances. I'll look away from myself. I'll
look away from my foes, and I'll look to the Lord." Mark, that's
what it is to walk by faith in this world. We are ever to be
looking to Christ. Looking to Christ, our Redeemer,
who sits on His throne and governs this world. Don't seek to judge
God and His work by what you see and experience in time. But rather judge what you see
and experience in time by our God and His work as it's revealed
in this book. I'll look away to the Lord. I'll
look to the Lord Jehovah. When I'm in darkness, I'll look
to Him for light. When I'm downcast, I'll look
to Him for encouragement and for comfort. I will wait for
the God of my salvation. I'll wait for him to appear.
I'll wait for him to bring deliverance. I won't try to work it up. I
won't try. I won't try to put on a show
and pretend that deliverance has come when it hasn't come.
I won't try to twist God's arm and get him to do something.
I will wait for God to bring deliverance. I'll wait for him
trusting him for my God will hear me. Now, let's look at our
text, verses 8, 9, and 10. Here, Micah assures us that a
better day indeed is coming. In these three verses, God's
prophet says, though things are all bad, though things are in
a mess now, though great darkness has fallen upon us, the walls
of Zion shall yet be built. We shall yet be triumphant over
our enemies. Though now it appears that Babylon
rules. Though now it appears that Babylon
controls. Though now it appears that Satan
and Antichrist has his way. We shall trample Babylon beneath
our feet very shortly. And the God of peace shall brew
Satan under your heels. As we read these verses, remember
that Micah, though speaking in the first person singular, speaks
here as the representative of God's church in every age. He
speaks here as the representative of God's elect in every age.
So read the passage, understanding that Micah is speaking for us.
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy. Can you imagine how the religious
world laughs at us? Once in a while, I hear it because
they'll speak to me. Usually, they're well secluded
and hidden, send something by email. But the religious world
laughs at us. They laugh at us. They pretend
we don't exist. They just laugh at us. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. God's church falls in such times
as this. We fall in such times as this
by divine hand, by divine purpose, because of the sins of our fathers
and our own sins. We fall in times of darkness
because our fathers didn't believe God and we don't believe God.
Read on. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I've sinned against him. I will bear his
indignation until he plead my cause and execute judgment for
me. He will bring me forth to the
light and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that
is mine enemy. If you want to write it in the
margin somewhere, write the word Babylon and you got it. She that
is mine enemy. Kind of unusual language, isn't
it? She that is mine enemy. Normally we think about he as
one who would be our enemy. He as one who strongly opposes
us. But if you read the book of God, there's a woman who is
our enemy. She's described as a great harlot. She's described as a woman with
a painted face who seduces men walking down the streets and
takes them to hell. Babylon is her name. She that
is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her. What's she going to see? She's
going to see God's people brought to light, beholding his righteousness
with joy, and when she does, shame shall cover her, which
said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold
her, now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. As God the Holy Spirit would
enable me, I want to show you four things tonight, and I'll
be done as quickly as possible. I started saying a few minutes,
but I might stretch it as quickly as I possibly can. First, I want
you to see and see clearly that Babylon is Zion's enemy. I want you to see and see clearly
that Babylon is Zion's enemy. Throughout the Word of God, she
is presented as such. Throughout the Word of God, she
is presented as being opposed to God, His gospel, and His people. Without question, I remind you
again, Micah is talking here about Babylon and the Babylonians
coming and taking Israel and Jerusalem and Judah into captivity
for 70 years. You understand that? You understand
that? And he's talking about God sending his servants, the
king of Babylon themselves. He alters the decree of one king
and makes the decree of another king to be for the release of
the Jews and by Babylon's expense to go back and build again the
walls of Jerusalem and the walls of the city of the house of God.
No question, Micah's, you understand, Micah's talking about that. That's exactly what he's talking
about. But if that's all you understand about what Micah says,
you haven't read the book of Micah. You haven't begun to understand
the book of Micah. Those physical things are all
pictures of spiritual things. Those physical events happened
by God's arrangement in providence to portray something spiritual. And the Babylon of the Old Testament
that opposed God's physical nation, that physical Babylon that opposed
physical Israel, represents in all points mystical Babylon set
in opposition to the Israel of God, to the Church of God, and
the people of God. And God, the Holy Spirit, intends
that we understand Micah's prophecy as it applies to you and me today.
Throughout the Word of God, Babylon is described in language that
just doesn't seem appropriate to people. Just doesn't seem
appropriate. I listened to a fellow preach
one time, and when he came to the word jackass in Scripture,
he'd say donkey. And then he explained it. He
said, I just, I just, I can't say that people sitting there
would understand. In other words, you're more holy
than God is in his word. I had a lady say to me one time,
she said, I can't read the Song of Solomon. It's just, oh, I
just can't read that book. It speaks things I just can't
think about. I looked at her like I was shocked,
because I was. What's, what can't you read in
there? You mean God's book isn't suitable for you? Now understand
what God says in his word. Revelation 17 verse 1. This is
how God describes the whole religious world that doesn't know him.
The great whore Babylon. The great whore Babylon. Why? Because she's a whore. She sells herself. And men and
women, when they go to church on Sunday morning and Sunday
night and Wednesday night or Saturday morning and Thursday
night, when they go to church, they go to church simply to buy
pleasures that will gratify and satisfy their own lust. And that's what the church gives
them. pleasures that will gratify and satisfy their own lust. The
church of this age is described in Revelation 17 1 as the great
whore Babylon. And the practice of those engaged
with this great harlot is called fornication, adultery, and sodomy. Now Babylon is clearly identified
in the scriptures. Babylon is set before us. First,
back there in Genesis 11, where those men sought to build a tower
to heaven where God came down and confused the language of
men. They thought they could, by the
works of their hands, build a tower that would reach up into heaven.
They didn't really think that, did they? Well, either they did
or the book of God is wrong. That's exactly what they thought.
They thought they could put bricks together enough that they could
stack them up and climb up to heaven on the works of their
own hands. That's exactly what the religion of this age is.
It doesn't matter what name you call it. It doesn't matter whether
you call it Baptist or Nazarene or Pentecostal or Buddhist or
Hindu or Presbyterian or Catholic. It doesn't matter what name you
call it. Any religion that makes salvation to be dependent in
any way on you is Babylon. It's Babylon. It's the religion
of the great whore by which many women are carried away into hell. Now throughout the Word of God,
Babylon representing false religion, we're given specific instruction
concerning her. What do you do? with regard to
Babylon. Well, I know this is, down here
they don't preach the gospel. I can't tell you how many times
I've heard this. I know where I go to, the preacher doesn't
believe anything, but he's coming along, and they let me teach Sunday
school down there, and I have some good influence. I wonder who you're trying to
fool, me or you. I wonder who you're trying to,
you're not going to have any good influence. They wouldn't
let you teach Sunday school down there if you talked the truth.
It wouldn't happen. It wouldn't happen. Well, we
need to stay here and reform the church. The Lord says, come
out of her. Come out of her. Come out of
her. Well, I don't have anywhere else
to go to church. Well, what makes you think sorry to go down there?
The only place I can go to church is where we got a woman preacher.
Well, I wouldn't go then. I wouldn't go. Only place I got
to go to church is down there where they preach free will religion.
I wouldn't go then. I wouldn't go. Come out of her.
Well, don't we need to stay and not forsake the assembling of
ourselves together? Don't forsake assembling together with God's
people, not in the synagogue of Satan. Oh, no, you're better
off never to go to church than to stay in Babylon. Come out
of her. That's the language of Scripture no less than six times. Isaiah chapter 51, chapter 48,
Jeremiah chapter 50, Isaiah chapter 52, Jeremiah 52, 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, Revelation 18. God says, come out of her my
people. He calls his people out of Babylon.
Six times he does so. Now, Babylon, Zion's foe, the
enemy of our souls, was raised up by Satan, for the purpose
of destroying God's church, God's gospel, God's kingdom in this
world. I've told you several times back
when we first moved in the building here, I had my office here. I
don't think we've even finished downstairs. And I had a visit
from a local preacher. The insurance real estate man,
but he did some preaching on the side. He came by to see if
he could sell me some insurance. And he'd been listening to me
on the radio. He says, I want to know what's the difference
between your church and our church. He passes the local church here. I want to know what's the difference
between what you preach and what I preach. And I said, do you really? Well,
yes, I do. I said, you got a little while?
And we spent about four hours, him just mostly listening. And
I said, I'll tell you the difference. People all the time ask you,
well, what's the difference? You tell them, go to church out
of grace, Baptist church. Well, it's Baptist church. Well,
yeah, but not like in it. Well, what's the difference?
What's the difference between your church and another one?
I said to him, I said, you correct me where I make a mistake. If I misunderstand in any way
what you believe and preach, you correct me if I make a mistake.
If I understand you correctly, You really believe that when
Adam fell in the garden, when sin entered into the world, Adam,
though he died spiritually, yet has ability in himself to choose
God. Is that correct? Or to reject
his grace? He said, well, yes. I said, that's
heresy. That's the difference. That's
heresy. Adam, according to the book of
God, died. And we died in Adam. There's
a big difference between being dead and being as though you
were dead. A dead man can do nothing. A
dead man feels nothing. A dead man senses nothing. A
dead man's aware of nothing. Hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and in sins? And if you're not dead, you don't
need God for anything. If you're not dead. Fallen man
is dead in trespasses and in sins. I said to him, unless I'm
mistaken, unless I'm mistaken, we'll get right to the crux of
this issue. You believe that when Christ
died, he made redemption and justification and salvation possible
for all men, but did not actually redeem or justify or save anyone,
but rather that man by his faith gives merit and efficacy to the
blood of Christ, making his blood effectual for his redemption,
his salvation, for his justification." He said, yes. I said, that's
damning heresy. That's damning heresy. I was
talking to Brother Todd Niber today, and we were talking about
this very subject. I said, this is now, it has been,
and it will be tomorrow, the crucial issue of the gospel.
The death of Christ at Calvary, according to this book, is the
accomplishment of redemption. It is the accomplishment of redemption.
And it is damning heresy. It is damning heresy. to declare
to men that there are some folks in hell for whom Christ died.
I said to Brother Todd, I said, just as soon hear a man deny
that Jesus Christ is the virgin-born Son of God as deny that Jesus
Christ accomplished redemption on the cursed tree. Back in the
40s, early 40s, late 30s, we used to have a professor, a theologian,
would come down to the Louisville Seminary, nails FS foray. And his notions concerning the
Lord Jesus was that he was a good man, but he wasn't really virgin
born. Mary was just a young, young lady. And, and he was hardly
could call her a lady because for a said more than likely Jesus
of Nazareth was the bastard son of a German soldier stationed
in Palestine at the time. That's shocking. That's shocking. If you understood this book,
It'd be just as shocking to hear a man say, Christ died for Judas. It'd be just as shocking to hear
a man say, Christ shed his blood in vain. It'd be just as shocking
to hear a man say Christ died to redeem somebody who's not
redeemed, to justify somebody who's not justified, to save
somebody who's not saved. For you see, to declare that
Christ failed in his atonement is to declare that Jesus is not
God, but a helpless, frustrated failure. I said to this preacher,
if I'm not mistaken, You believe that God, the Holy Spirit, tries
to save all men, calling all men to the Redeemer, giving all
men an opportunity to believe, but He does not actually cause
anyone to believe, but rather that man by his faith is born
again. He said, well, yes. I said, that's
damning heresy. That's damning heresy. For you
have declared that it is man who gives himself life, not God
who gives life. And the book of God says it's
the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. This generation doesn't have
any idea who God is, who the Lord Jesus Christ is, who the
Spirit of God is, doesn't have any idea how God saves sinners,
and yet they stand everywhere and proclaim what they call salvation. To this generation, there is
absolutely no difference between the worship of Baal and the worship
of God. No difference between worshiping
Jehovah and worshiping the work of your own hands. This generation
hasn't a clue about the things of God. All right, back to Micah
chapter 7. Here's the second thing. Though we're surrounded by darkness,
Christ is our light steel. Rejoice not against me, O my
enemy. We read in verse 8. When I fall,
I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be light unto me. Again, referring to our conversation
earlier this morning, the Todd called, we chatted a little bit.
I said to him, we mustn't, we mustn't, we mustn't hesitate
every time we have opportunity to declare this distinction because
we and the folks to whom we preach the gospel are constantly surrounded
by people who sit in darkness and whose lives are governed
by the darkness in which they walk. And we are inclined to
bow to them. We're inclined to find some way
to get along with them. We're inclined to find somewhere
where we can find a meeting point. You know, our politicians, I
guess, I'll bend a little bit. I guess
maybe they have to compromise some to get along, get something
done. Maybe they have to do that. I don't think so. Maybe they
have to. But I'm going to tell you what compromise does in the
things of God. Bobby Estes, any compromise of
God's truth is a denial of the truth. Any compromise. While we sit in darkness in this
age, and the whole world bombards us with the darkness of idolatry. Christ still is our light and
we must seek his light to walk in it as he reveals it in his
word. You want to know how to worship God? Follow what he says
in the book. You want to know how to teach
folks the things of God? Follow what he says in the book.
We walk in his light in these dark, dark days. Don't pay any
attention to the religious world around you. Turn back to Deuteronomy
chapter 12. Hold your hands here in Micah.
Turn back to Deuteronomy 12. I'll show you something. Give no regard to darkness. Don't
let it influence you. And don't be curious about it.
I've got probably a dozen books sitting on my shelf back there
about cults. We had a class when I was in
school. One of our classes was about cults. We had to study
cults. And a good many folks spend their religion or spend
their time in religious exercises trying to figure out what folks
believe. Well, what does this fellow believe? What does that
fellow believe? What does this group believe? What do they believe? Look what God
says. Look at the instruction. What wise, wise instruction the
Lord God gives us. Deuteronomy 12, 29. When the
Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee. whether
thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest
in their land. Now watch this. Take heed to
thyself, that thou be not snared by following them, after that
they are destroyed from before thee, and that thou inquire not
after their gods. Now watch what it says here,
Don. How did these nations serve their gods? What do these folks
believe? What's wrong with their religion?
How do they serve their gods? How do they worship? What's wrong
with what they do? What's wrong with the Mormons?
What's wrong with the Catholics? What's wrong with the Pentecostals?
Don't pay any attention to that stuff. Don't start pursuing that
stuff. He says, by these things you'll
be snared. Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so
unto the Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord which
he hateth have they done unto their gods. For even their sons
and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What things whoever I command
you, observe to do it. Thou shalt not add thereto, nor
diminish from it. All right, third, back here in
Micah chapter 7. Verse 9, Micah assures us, he assures
us that God our Savior shall make his church triumphant. William Hendrickson wrote a little
interpretive book on the book of Revelation I read many many
years ago called More Than Conquerors and in his book Hendrickson made
a statement that just, oh, it helped me tremendously in studying
the book of Revelation. He said, the whole book of Revelation
is a series of seven visions God gave John from heaven. Each
vision begins with the first advent of Christ and goes to
the second advent of Christ. And each vision has the same
message, the sure triumph of Christ and his church by the
gospel. That's what it's all about. That's
what it's all about. The sure triumph of Christ and
his church by the gospel. Look what it says here in Micah
chapter 7 verse 9. Micah says, I, we will bear the
indignation of the Lord because I, we have sinned against him
until he plead my cause, until he plead our cause. not only
in heaven, but undertake the cause on earth and execute judgment
for me. He will bring me forth to the
light and I shall behold his righteousness. Our savior will
in the midst of these great evils that he has brought upon us. He will in the midst of these
things cause his church to triumph. He will cause his gospel to be
triumphant. He will execute judgment for
us and Babylon shall fall. We see it happening every day. We see it happening every day. He will bring us forth to light. and calls all the universe to
look upon his holy bride, his church, with astonishment. He'll say, uh, those folks that you despised,
they're the objects of my love. Esau, look here at Jacob now. See how I've loved him. Ishmael,
look here at Isaac now. See how I've loved him. Look
at my people and see how I've worked for them. And he will
cause me, he will cause us to behold his righteousness. He'll cause us to look to Christ
the Lord, our righteousness, and to behold his righteousness
given to us, the righteousness of God, which we are made to
be in Christ Jesus, the Lord with joy. And he will cause us
behold his rightness in everything he's done in his judgments and
in his deliverances in his works of grace and in his works of
judgment and Babylon shall fall Babylon shall fall look at this
last thing verse 10 then she that is mine enemy this great
whore, Babylon. She shall see it and
shame shall cover her, which said unto me, you brag about
God and his sovereignty. Where is the Lord your God? Mine eyes shall behold her. Now shall she be trodden down
as the mire of the streets. Soon this world, political and
religious, shall see the two witnesses of God that she has
slain arise from the dead and find them accepted of God and
used of him. And Babylon shall be trodden
as mire in the streets. Look at verse 15. Yes, blessed be his name. Our
God will bring us to a better day soon. According to the days
of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him,
who? Antichrist, the king of Babylon. I will show unto him marvelous
things. The nation shall see and be confounded
at all their might. They shall lay their hand upon
their mouth. their ears shall be deaf they
shall lick the dust like a serpent and they shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord
our God and shall fear because of thee. A better day is coming and even
this I'll close with this. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
11. I want you to see this. Even this, these days of great
darkness, the times of great trial for God's church and God's
people, even this is the work by which God separates the wheat
from the chaff. Even this. I saw Of course, it's
only news you've seen it last couple of days. All those men
dressed up in drag, that old man in Rome and all his cardinals. And you see all the religious
tomfoolery and the world just stands in awe. Oh, what wonder,
what wonder. First Corinthians 11, 19. There
must be also heresies among you. must be. Why all these religions? Why all the mixture of works
and grace? Why all the heresy? Why is all
this? There must be heresies among
you that they which are approved, approved of God, may be made
manifest among you. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. I give to them eternal
life. They follow me. And they will
not hear the voice of a stranger. They won't go after the way of
that whore in Proverbs 7. They won't follow after her.
They hear the shepherd's voice and they come out of Babylon
and follow him. By these things he makes those
who are approved of God in everlasting election manifest in time when
they hear his voice and follow him. Oh may God then speak by
his word and bring sinners out of Babylon to the Savior for
Christ's sake. Amen.