If our God is absolutely sovereign
in all things, and he is, how can you possibly explain
the dark, dark day in which we live? If God is light, and gives light
to men, and he is and he does, how do you explain all the heresy
that abounds on every side? If God is gracious, gracious
to his people, if God saves according to his will, how do you explain
the low condition of his church? If God is to you and to me merciful,
gracious, full of loving kindness and truth, faithful in all things,
how do you explain the low condition of our souls? Those are struggles, questions,
perplexities with which we all have to deal all the time. And I don't pretend to have the
answers, but I have some help for you. Let's begin tonight
in Acts chapter 27. Acts chapter 27. Here the Apostle Paul is a prisoner. He's on board a ship sailing
for Italy. He's being taken to Rome where
he must soon be executed, put to death for preaching the gospel
of Christ. As he sailed, there arose a great
tempestuous storm which caught the ship they were in. Oh, what
storms God's people sail through in this world. Luke tells us in verse 15, that
when they could not bear up into the wind, they let her drive. Everyone on the ship was scared
to death except Paul and Luke, everybody else. Paul assured
them in verse 34 that there shall not a hair fall from the head
of any of you. Now let's begin reading in verse
36. Then were they all of good cheer,
and they also took some meat. And we were in all the ship 200,
three score, and 16 souls. And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. And
when it was day, they knew not the land, but they discovered
a certain creek with a shore into the which they were minded,
if it were possible, to thrust the ship. And when they had taken
up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and
loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the main sail to the
wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the foremost part
stuck fast. and remained unmovable, but the
hind part was broken with the violence of the waves, and the
soldier's counsel was to kill the prisoners lest any of them
should swim out and escape. But the centurion, willing to
save Paul, kept them from their purpose and commanded that they
which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea
and get to the land, and the rest some on boards and some
on broken pieces of the ship and so it came to pass that they
escaped all safe to land. The rest, some on boards and
some on broken pieces of the ship and so it came to pass that
they escaped all safe to land. those who could not swim, floated
to the shore of a little place called Melita or Malta, as we
would call it today, just south of Italy. And others floated
on, some floated on boards and others on broken pieces of the
ship. The Lord God used broken pieces
of a ship, a ship busted up at sea. He used broken pieces of
a ship, just broken pieces of wood to bring the Apostle Paul
to a barbarian tribesman, a chief in a barbaric tribe in Little
Island of Malta because the appointed time of mercy had come for that
chief. to hear the gospel of God's grace. Broken pieces. That's what God
uses. Nothing else. Just broken pieces. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart. He saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. A broken and contrite heart.
A broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart.
Oh God, thou wilt not despise. Do you know when David wrote
that? When his heart was broken. Broken
over the matter of Uriah the Hittite. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. God won't have anything except
broken things. He won't use anything except
broken things. He won't have you and He won't
have me if He doesn't break us. He won't use you and He won't
use me except He break us. And the breaking involves many
things. Certainly, it involves Holy Spirit
conviction. The breaking involves our many
temptations and our many falls. The breaking involves our trials,
our afflictions, our heartaches, and our sorrows. And wants won't
do the job. We must be broken and broken
and broken and broken and broken. And the only way we will ever
walk with God is if God graciously forces us and keeps us broken
before him and in need of him. Nothing is more hopeful, nothing
is more blessing than a broken heart. You may think that sounds
strange, but a heart broken before God is a heart touched by the
finger of his grace for whom the sweet balm of salvation is
prepared. God specifically promises grace
and healing to the broken hearted. He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. Every sinner saved by the grace
of God is broken by his grace. Every person God uses as an instrument
of good for his glory and his people in his hands, he breaks
first in his own hands. And those he uses, he continually
breaks that they may be useful. That in some measure answers
the perplexity concerning the low condition of God's church
and the low condition of our souls. I can't think of a better
example of what I want to say than that which is portrayed
in our text tonight in Micah chapter 7 and verse 9. Micah chapter 7 and verse 9. Micah's heart is heavy. Heavy because of the horrid evil
of the society in which he lived. Corruption on every hand. Heavy
because of the low condition of God's church. The people who
professed faith in the Lord God, who professed to be the people
of God, had no regard for God and those who truly were God's
people seemed at best to be languid and indifferent. And Micah's
heart was broken because of his own sin. His own falls, his own
corruption, his own sin. The title of my message tonight
is Blessed Brokenness. I want to talk to you about bearing
the indignation of our God. Micah chapter 7, verse 9. Here's
the confession of a broken man. 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. Keep your
Bibles open on your laps and let me show you five things And
as I do, I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will inscribe the
message of this short, short portion of Holy Scripture upon
our hearts. Here's the first thing. Now,
without question, without question, that which we read in Micah 7,
verse 9, are words that we might expect to hear falling from the
lips of anyone who's saved by God's grace. Any sinner who experiences
the grace of God in salvation certainly would speak as Micah
speaks here. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord. I'll bear God's wrath because
I have sinned against him. I'll bear it until he plead my
cause and execute judgment for me. I'll bear God's indignation
and he will at last bring me forth to life and I shall behold
his righteousness. But it's clear in this passage
in the context that these words are recorded and they're recorded
concerning a saved sinner, a faithful prophet of God, a man who served
God, a man who worshiped God, a man who trusted God, a man
who loved God, but a man under a sense of divine chastisement
whose soul was heavy. Here's a man being broken by
God, a faithful man. but a sinful man, a prophet of
God, but a man under the sense of God's indignation. Now, here's
the first thing. Micah, God's son, God's servant,
this broken sinner speaks before God as a broken sinner. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord. the present circumstances of
God's church and of his own soul, had the appearance of God's wrath,
had the appearance of God's indignation. I had a call yesterday from a
young friend, heart's heavy, going through
some difficulties, and he asked me, he said, do you suppose God's punishing
me for my past sins. Understand this. Please understand
this. God's elect are never under His
wrath. God will never punish your sins
in you. Not if He punished your sins
in His Son. We are the objects of God's everlasting
love. We've never been the objects
of His wrath. We are accepted in the beloved from eternity,
blessed of God with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ from eternity. And those blessings God gave
us in Christ in eternity, he will never take from us in time.
That acceptance that was ours in Christ from eternity can never
be turned into rejection in time. God Almighty Punished our sins
in the person of his son when he made his son to be sin for
us punished our sins to the full satisfaction of divine justice
So that all the fury of God's wrath was swallowed up at once
in the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ Understand that God Almighty
Never punishes his elect for sin But God does chasten his
children not with the rod of an angry judge, not in a penal
way, but with the rod of a loving father. And when he does, his
indignation is felt. If it weren't felt, the rod wouldn't
do any good. I know that it is very unpopular. politically incorrect, socially
unacceptable, and in some places, illegal. But if a father loves
his children, he will make his children mind him. And when it's
necessary, he will use a rod on their behind to make them
mind him. Not because he's angry with them,
not because he's mad at them, because he loves them. Because
he loves them. He's gonna see to it that they
mind him. I can't imagine whipping a child,
corporeal punishment, if you love the child. If you don't
love the child, but rather love yourself and prefer that you
suit yourself, you'll let your child run wild. But the believer,
the man who seeks the honor of God in his household, demands
obedience from his children. He demands it. Our Heavenly Father
does the same. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Verse
5. ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we've had fathers
of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they, verily, for
a few days, chastened us after their own pleasure. You've seen
that. Most of us have experienced it.
You see a mother or a father get embarrassed by something
a child does and they turn around and slap the child. That's not
correcting the child. That's satisfying your own anger
and wrath. See a father and mother get upset
and beat a child? That's not correcting a child.
No, no, no, no. That's satisfying their own wrath. That's beating
the child for your own pleasure. Read on now what it says. But he for our profit, that's
the difference. That's the difference. He for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now
no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. That is, if you didn't feel the
rod, it wouldn't do any good. If you didn't feel the rod, it
wouldn't do any good. Some of you grandmas have paddles,
and I've seen these little flyswatters with a nice cushion on them,
grandmas flyswat, grandmas cushion, paddle, whatever you call it,
and that it's a little humorous because that's grandmas, and
she's touches behind and the child might just squall and jump
up and down just as if you had actually hurt it. But there's
nothing going to happen because the child hadn't felt anything.
If you feel no pain, if you feel no hurt, if you don't feel the
rod, the rod is useless. What it says here, He, for our
profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, but grievous. Oh, how heavy, how heavy, how
heavy the rod. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness, unto them which are exercised
thereby. Come back to Isaiah 54. Isaiah
54. We're never under the indignation,
wrath of God. But Bob, sometimes it sure seems
that way. Sometimes it sure seems that
way. Isaiah 54 verse 7. This is what God says. For a
small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I
gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." William Cowper. lived in the
days of John Newton. He and Newton were good friends. And Cowper wrote many, many of
the great hymns that we sing to this day. Cowper suffered
all of his adult life with fits of depression that kept him almost
all the time bound to his house. Do you know he seldom ever was
able to come into a congregation like this, Merle? Just go to
pieces with this many people around him. Rarely ever attended
church. Rarely ever. He just, he couldn't
go out. He was just mentally not able
to do it. From the depths of his soul's
experience, this is what Cowper wrote. "'Tis my happiness below,
not to live without the cross, but the Savior's power to know,
sanctifying every loss. Trials must and will befall,
but with humble faith to see love inscribed upon them all,
this is happiness to me. God in Israel sows the seeds
of affliction, pain, and toil. These spring up and choke the
weeds that would else or spread the soil. Trials make the promise
sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Bring me to his feet, lay me
low, and keep me there. Did I meet no trials here? No
chastisements by the way? Might I not with reason fear
I should prove a castaway? Bastards may escape the rod,
sunk in earthly vain delight, but the true born child of God
may not, must not, if he might. Our heavenly father chastens
us in love that he might break us in mercy. Brokenness, humility, contrition
of heart are essential to usefulness in the kingdom of God. Roland
Hill wrote, if you want to see the height of God's love, you
must go down into the valley of humility. But you won't do
that. And I won't do that. We will
never choose the low place. We will never choose to bow.
We will never choose to bend. We will never choose to stoop.
But that's the place of blessedness. Oh, God, give me grace that I
may bow before you like Mary sat at your feet to hear your
word. Like David, as he cried a broken
and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Lord, bend
this proud and stiff necked eye, help me to bow my heart and die,
beholding him on Calvary who bowed his head and died for me. Let us seek grace to bow to our
father's chastening rod to kiss the rod. I wish I had learned this when
I was a boy rather than as I got to be a full grown man. My mother
could administer pain and she could administer it all over
you and she'd take a belt and wrap it around both hands and
swing both ways. And the belt was split on the
ends. I mean, she could flat lay into you. Do you know the
best thing I could possibly have done to avoid that? The closer
you get, the softer the blow. I tried to get away from her.
And the further away I got, the worse it hurt. The closer you
get, the softer the blow. And what we ought to do under
the father's rod is jump into his arms and the blows will be
soft. Kiss the rod. Kiss the rod. Bow to the father's will in all
things. Second, back in Michael chapter
7, verse 9. Here's a believing confession
of sin. Micah said, as he felt the rod, I will bear the indignation
of the Lord because I have sinned against him. And I looked up
the word that is here translated, I have sinned. I learned something I didn't
know before. The word has the idea of sacrifice and propitiation. It has the idea of a confession
that involves bringing a sin offering. A confession that involves
bringing a sacrifice for the atonement of sin. And that's
exactly what a true confession of sin involves. Many confess
their sin, their sins, who bring no sacrifice. And many suppose
they believe in the Lord Jesus who never confess their sin what
they are. But any real confession of sin
is a confession of sin that arises from the revelation and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus. You remember that publican in
the temple? He said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That word
merciful means propitious. God, look on the mercy seat and
pardon me. God, look on the sacrifice of
your son and forgive my sin. God, look on the blood of the
Redeemer and forgive me, accept me. So the publican says, Lord,
look on Christ and pardon me. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And therefore John says, if we
confess our sins, looking to Christ, Looking to Christ the
Redeemer bringing to God that which God provides and God requires
The blood and righteousness of his own son if we confess our
sin he's faithful Faithful to his word and just because sin
has been propitiated sin has been put away He's just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Turn
to Romans chapter 10 Romans the 10th chapter We're told in verse 5 Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law and I'll paraphrase it
Almost everybody says who's going to come down from heaven and
who's going to obey God and go back to heaven again Moses says
it's done It's done. It's done read on now. Look at
verse verse 9 The word is nigh thee if thou shall confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall believe in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved
for with the heart man believeth under righteousness That is,
God's man believes with reference to righteousness brought in by
Christ who's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Paul is not saying with the heart
man believes and now attains righteousness, but rather with
the heart man believes with reference to righteousness. Read on. And
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The confession
is made with reference to this salvation Christ has accomplished.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. All right, back in our text.
Here's the third thing. A divine advocate. Micah was broken. He was confessing
his sin, and yet he was fully confident that Christ was his
advocate still. Did you get that? He was broken. He was confessing his sin as
I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned.
He understood that all sorrow is the result of sin. All pain
is the result of provocation. All that which we experience
adversely in this world is the result of iniquity. Micah understood
that. He's confessing his sin. He's
bearing the indignation of the Lord and yet In the teeth of
all his sin, in the teeth of his low condition, he's fully
confident that Christ is his advocate still. I will bear the
indignation of the Lord because I've sinned against him. I'll
bear the indignation of the Lord until he plead my cause and execute
judgment for me. What a blessed example he is.
Micah says, I've fallen. I've sinned. I'm bearing the
indignation of the Lord because I fully deserve it. But Christ
is still my advocate. He will still plead my cause.
He will still execute judgment for me. My little children, John
said these things right on to you that you sin not. And if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and he's the propitiation for our sins. This mighty advocate
will undertake our calls in heaven and plead our calls before our
father's throne. And he will execute judgment
for us in the earth. He will do that which is right
for us all the time. He will execute his providence
for the benefit of our souls. All these things are true. of
every child of God. And yet Micah is speaking here,
not just as an individual. Certainly he speaks of that,
but he speaks as God's prophet. He's speaking with regard to
the whole church of God. So the sense is that Christ will
openly espouse the calls of his church. He will give his church
honor and glory publicly before men. He'll bring forth her righteousness
and set her before wandering worlds in the wonders of his
grace for his glory. Now, look at the fourth thing. Micah's soul was sustained with
a sweet hope of mercy. Mercy that the Lord himself would
bring him forth to the light. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I have sinned against him. until he plead my
calls and execute judgment for me, he will bring me forth to
the light. Turn to Psalm 42 for a minute.
John Trapp commenting on this statement by Micah said he will
uncloud these gloomy days and in his light shall I see light. Many of our friends right now,
some of you, have a heavy cloud, thick, thick
cloud, just constantly hangs over them, just constantly over
them. Soon, our great Savior will uncloud
the day. and bring all things to the light,
and cause you to see the light. Look here in Psalm 42. Psalm
42. David says in verse 5, Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him, the help of his countenance. shall yet praise
him the help of his countenance David is saying there's no reason
for me to be cast down I'll look to God and looking to him I'll
find help from his countenance beholding the face of Jesus Christ
and the glory of God in his face I'll find help now look at verse
11 I had Can't have it have any idea how many times I've read
this 42nd Psalm and until last Saturday I'd never seen what
David says here, but the Lance Heller was commenting on this
passage. Watch this Psalm 42 verse 11 Why art thou cast down? Oh my soul Why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God For I shall
yet praise him Watch this now who is the health of of my countenance
and my God. His countenance, ever looking
away from myself to Him, Larry, looking away from my difficulties
to Him, looking away from my darkness to Him. His countenance
is the health of my countenance, so that the health of my soul
is to ever look to Him. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the help
of my countenance and my God. And then fifthly, Micah's soul
was sustained in his brokenness with an assuring revelation.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have 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. He'll bring me forth to the light
of His Word and His grace and His glory, and I'll behold His
righteousness, the righteousness He brought in for me by His obedience.
The righteousness of his works with me in all that I experience. The righteousness of his judgments
in the earth. The righteousness of casting
off and lifting up. The righteousness of breaking
and of healing. The righteousness of all that
he does. I shall behold his righteousness
when he brings me forth to the light. Truly. in all the affairs of this world,
in all the affairs of providence, we may say as those spoken of
in Mark chapter 7, he hath done all things well. And that which
he has done, he is doing and shall forever continue to do
until he's finished doing all that is purpose to do from eternity. He will cause us to behold His
righteousness. And we'll look back over all
these things. Look back over all the mountains
of time and experience. These things that We just couldn't
understand. We just couldn't explain them. Couldn't hardly help each other
along the way. Look back over there and say,
oh, that was so good. That was so good. Thank you,
God, for what you've done. He's done all things well. All things. Said to Brother Bill many times, he and Vicki got the privilege
none of us have had. What a privilege. And I remember
what a heartache it was in the beginning, and I know what a
heartache it's been all these years. They've been allowed to raise
one boy, the one of God's elect, and it's pain. all the way through
it. But oh, how well God has done. I don't know many folks who've
got any children they can say absolutely certainly this is
one of God's. He does. He hath done all things well
and soon He will cause us to see His righteousness when He
brings us forth to the light. Amen.