My text tonight is Micah chapter
4 and verse 10. Micah chapter 4 and verse 10. Subject, blessed bondage and
sure deliverance. Blessed bondage and sure deliverance. Micah chapter 4, verse 10. Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter
of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt thou go forth out
of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field And thou shalt go
even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered.
There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. This is God's promise of mercy,
love, and grace. God's promise of salvation to
his chosen covenant people. Now you might ask, Brother Don,
if that's a promise, how do God's threats sound? If this is a promise
of mercy, how does God speak when he speaks of judgment and
wrath? This looks more like a threat
from God than a promise from God. But God here promises to
send his people to Babylon. and promises there you shall
be delivered and redeemed. And you will never know anything
about it until you've been there. You'll never know anything about
it until you've been there. So much for making your decision
for Jesus. So much for saying something somebody tells you
to say and calling it a prayer. So much for a little religious
experience that has no effect on your life. So much for a little
religious experience that will let you sing, oh, to grace how
great a debtor, and feel nothing of your debt to God. So much
for that which will let you preach free grace and know nothing of
free grace. God Almighty brings his chosen
to Babylon. that he may there deliver them
and redeem them. Our text is a declaration of
this fact. In the experience of God's saving
grace, God makes us sinners before he declares us saints. He puts
us into bondage before he gives us liberty. You can't be delivered
from Babylon until God puts you in Babylon. Listen to the text
again. Be in pain. Labor to bring forth. Oh, daughter
of Zion, like a woman in travail, for now shalt thou go forth out
of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt
go even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered.
There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
Now I must preface what I have to say tonight with a few comments. I do not suggest and I do not
think that all God's people experience his grace the same way. I know
better. I know better. It is wrong for
you to try to make your experience of grace mold to mine or to someone
else's. Some experience God's saving
grace, like the Gadarene demoniac, out of whom the Lord cast the
powers of hell immediately. Others, like that pitiful soul
who was coming to the Savior, who was thrown violently of the
devil, experience God's grace just like that, with great violence.
Sometimes the Lord gives full sight to his blind ones all at
once. Sometimes he causes his blind
ones to see a little at a time, as he did that man who looked
up and said, I see me in his trees walking. God's grace is
not experienced in the same way by all God's people. But I promise
you, I promise you, God will never bring you into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God until he brings you into bondage and
bitterness and makes you deal with your sin. It won't happen. If God doesn't convince you of
your sin, he will never reveal Christ Jesus, your Savior, in
you. It won't happen. The old writers
used to speak of sensible sinners. or awakened sinners, or seeking
sinners. L.R. Shelton made a great deal
of talking about lost sinners. And I realize that we can make
too much of those things. But there is a difference between
sinners and sinners. There is a difference. There's
a difference between saying I'm a sinner and knowing you're a
sinner. There's a difference between
believing in total depravity and experiencing the bitterness
of your own heart's depravity. There is a difference between
accepting the doctrine of scripture and knowing by experience what
God says you are. There's a difference. There's a difference. Do all the sinners in God's sight
There are but few so in their own. To such as these the Lord
was sent, there are only sinners who repent. What comfort can
a Savior bring to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. To sinners, Jesus comes in grace. and gives life and liberty
and peace. Sinners are high in his esteem
and sinners highly value him. Let's read our text again and
I want to make four statements and I'm going to make the statements
as pointedly as I possibly can as they're given plainly in this
portion of scripture. I will be as brief as I can but
as pointed as I can. I want to shoot a barbed arrow
into your heart from God's Word. And these four arrows are barbed
arrows. I pray that you will know the
bitterness of them and that you will know the sweetness that
comes from the bitterness. Be in pain and labor to bring
forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail, For now shalt
thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field,
and thou shalt go even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered. There the Lord shall redeem thee
from the hand of thine enemies. All right, here's the first thing.
If ever God brings you into travail of soul, He will bring forth
life in you. There's no giving birth without
birth pains. There's no bringing forth life
without travail, neither physically nor spiritually. If ever God
brings you into travail of soul, He will bring forth life in you. But not until then. In the last
phrase of verse 9, Micah said, pangs have taken thee. Pangs, not pain, pangs have taken
thee. As a woman in travail, sharp,
cutting, hurtful pangs have taken thee. As a woman in travail. Then he writes in verse 10, be
in pangs. and labor to bring forth, O daughter
of Zion, like a woman in travail." The language is imperative. The prophet is not offering a
suggestion. The prophet is telling us that
which comes to pass with all the daughters of Zion. He says
to God's elect, to every chosen daughter of Zion, you must be
in pain. You must labor to bring forth. like a woman in travail. Now,
we recognize, we understand, according to God's word, salvation
is by God's sovereign purpose. The work of God alone, salvation
is of the Lord. I think you know how I rejoice
to read that, how I rejoice to proclaim it, and how I rejoice
to hear others proclaim it. We're saved by God's everlasting
covenant grace, by God's sovereign decree. We're saved by God's
eternal election, by God choosing us in Christ unconditionally. We're saved by divine predestination. We are saved by the irresistible
power and grace of God, the Holy Spirit, His omnipotent mercy,
bringing us life and faith in Christ. We're saved through the
merits and the efficacy of Christ's shed blood, dying in our stead
at Calvary, having obtained eternal redemption for us. You understand
that, I hope. I hope you all understand that.
We are what folks call sovereign gracers, predestinarians, Calvinist
or hyper-Calvinist, folks call us. And the mud that we'll worship
Arminians like to throw my way doesn't bother me a bit. I take
it as an adornment. I've been accurately described. I am a sovereign gracious. I
am a predestinarian. I am what folks call a Calvinist. Yes, I am. I make no apology
to anybody. No apology to anybody. Having
said that, I've said all that to say this. Now you listen to
me. You listen to me. If God ever saves you by his
grace, You will seek His grace. You'll seek it. You will choose
Him. You will choose to be saved by
His grace. You will seek His grace and His
salvation. You will call on Him for mercy.
You will pray to Him if God ever saves you by His grace. All who
are saved, Saved by God's sovereign will, are made willing in the
day of his power. No sinner has ever been saved
who was not willing to be saved. Nobody. God doesn't knock fellows
in the head and drag them to heaven. He gives them a new heart
and makes them willing in the day of his power. God doesn't
save sinners against their will. He gives them a new will. And
all who are saved by God's grace seek Him because they know they
need Him. And the reason folks don't seek
Him is because they don't need Him. Simple as that. If you're here
without Christ, without faith in Christ, if you don't trust
the Son of God, I know exactly why. Because you don't need Him.
You don't need Him. He ain't worth spit to you. You
don't need Him. He may be a nice thing to have
on the side just in case an emergency comes up and you got to pray,
but you don't need Him. So you don't trust Him. You don't
seek Him. You have no interest in the things of God because
you don't need Him. You don't need Him. Let's see if I can
make good on that. Turn to Jeremiah 29. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. and causest to approach unto
thee. Does God cause you to come to
Him? Does God sweetly, graciously,
cause you to approach to Him that you may dwell in His courts?
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, made willing
by grace. The King Jeremiah 29 verse 11.
The Lord God speaks. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
me and you shall go and pray unto me. And I will hearken unto
you, and ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. Isn't that something? When will you find Christ? When
you want Him. When you want it, when you've
got to have it, when you can't go on without it, when you can't
live without it, when you seek me with all your heart, you shall
find me. Look at Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel
chapter 36, God speaks in terms of covenant. He said, I will
and you shall, I will and you shall, I will and you shall.
Declares absolute, certain, sure covenant grace. Things that he
will absolutely do. He's gonna save everyone of his
own. He's gonna give them all a new heart and a new spirit.
Gonna give them all a new nature. Gonna make them all righteous.
Clean them, cleanse them, everyone of his elect from all their filthiness.
Everyone of them. Those are the things promised
here in Ezekiel chapter 36. Then the Lord speaks he speaks
Concerning this great work of his grace and this is what he
says Look here Ezekiel 36 verse verse 36 The last line of the
verse he says I the Lord has spoken it and I will do it Thus
saith the Lord God I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for thee. Now, the whole chapter is full
of promises. The whole chapter is full of divine declarations,
matters of absolute certainty. God says this, I will do it. But you're going to have to seek
it. You're going to have to call on me. You're going to have to
pray unto God if you will be saved by God. If ever God the Holy Spirit convicts
you of your sin, you'll find it the most bitter thing in the
world. And that conviction that sweetly
forces you into the arms of Christ will prove to be the sweetest
thing in the world to your soul. If ever God brings you into travail
of soul, He will bring forth life in you. Blessed are they
who are commanded by God, the Holy Spirit, be in pain and labor
to bring forth. Oh, daughter of Zion, like a
woman in travail. We read in Lamentations chapter
three a little bit ago, the prophet said, it's good for a man to
bear the yoke of his youth. It's good for man to bear the
indignation of God. That puts his face in the dust
before God Almighty, who just may have mercy. And that's the
best place for you to be, in the dust before God. Second,
if ever the Lord God, the God of all grace, causes you to be
isolated from him, alone, helpless, and hopeless. He will bring you
into a life of indescribably sweet communion with him. If ever God isolates you, cast
you out, shut you out, lays you out and feel naked in the dust
before Him. If ever He does that, He will
bring you into a life of sweet communion with Him. Read the
text again. Be in pain and labor to bring
forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt
thou go forth out of the city and thou shalt dwell in the field. Blessed are they who find themselves
cast out by God. Shut out from the promises of
the covenant. Strangers and aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel. without any claim on God, without
any hope before God, without any prospect before Him. As long as you have anything
of your own, you won't have Christ. You won't
have Him. As long as you've got something
you can cling to. As long as you got something you can cling
to. I don't care what it is. It doesn't matter how insignificant
it is. As long as you got something. I can't give this up. I can't
give this up. I was baptized as a baby. My
mom and daddy brought me up in church. I've been in church all
my life. That don't matter. That don't
matter. You think God's impressed with
the church? You think God's impressed with a little water on your face?
That don't matter. That's worth nothing. Oh, but
I had an experience when I was a boy. Man, I went to a scary
movie and had an experience when I was a boy, too. That don't
matter. That don't matter. Oh, but I had an experience that
changed my life. I've had lots of experiences
that changed my life. That don't matter. But I've been
going to church and reading my Bible. I've been tithing. Oh, I'm not perfect, but I'm
not like I used to be. That don't matter. That don't
matter. As long as you've got something
you can hold on to. Anything. You'll hold on to it. I talked
to Brother Rupert Reichenbach today. I frequently call and
ask him how the day went. On that Sunday, he said, I think
we had a pretty good day. He baptized a 93-year-old man, felt
I've been in church all his life. I know him well. Baptized an
84-year-old woman, been in that church there all her life. Baptized
a 19 year old young lady. I've known her all her life.
I said, you won't have many days better than that. He said, I
don't think so. No, don't think so. But as long as you got something
you can cling to, you'll hold on to it. You'll hold on to it
till you go to hell. Unless God strips it from you.
Oh, blessed are they. whom God brings out into the
field alone. Turn to Hosea chapter 2. Hosea 2. Verse 6. Therefore behold, I
will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall
not find her path. You know why I pray for my grandchildren
every day? Every day. That not a day goes by I don't
pray just like this. God, hedge up their way. Hedge up their way. Don't let
them find their paths. Don't let them find their way.
Hedge up their way. I can't do it. He can. Hedge up their way. Don't let
them find their paths. Verse seven. She shall follow after
her lovers. but she shall not overtake them.
She shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she
say, when she can't find her lovers, when she's chased them
all she could, I will go and return to my first husband. For
then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that
I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver
and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return
and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in
the season thereof, and will remove my wool and my flax given
to cover her nakedness. Verse 10, and now will I discover
her lewdness in the sight of her lover. and none shall deliver her out
of my hand. I will also cause all her birth
to cease, her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbath days,
all her solemn feasts. I will destroy her vines and
her fig trees, whereof she hath said, these are my rewards that
my lovers have given me, and I will make them forest and the
beast of the field shall eat them and I will visit upon her
the days of Balaam wherein she burned incense to
them and she decked herself with earrings and her jewels and she
went after her lovers and forgot me saith the Lord therefore behold
I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and And when
I get her alone with me, when there's nobody but me and her,
I will speak to her heart. I'll speak comfortably to her.
That's when God speaks, when he shuts you out and shuts you
up to himself. That's when God speaks. Number
three, if the Lord Jesus Christ ever
puts you in Babylon, there he will deliver you. Be in pain
and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt thou go forth out
of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt
go even to Babylon." Babylon. Babylon throughout the scriptures
is used to represent false religion, a false hope, a false refuge
before God. And all anti-christ religion
all free will works religion. It doesn't matter whether it's
islam judaism papacy badness presbyterian pentecostal Methodist
it doesn't matter all free will works religion all religion that
says you Do something and god will save you doesn't matter
what it is you do something Pray, or choose, or exercise, or go
to church, or read your Bible, or give, or go to the missionary
field, or quit drinking, quit smoking, quit church. Do something!
Anything. To make yourself acceptable before
God. That's what I'm talking about. Babylon. Babylon. Babylon
as the religions has come. Let's build a tower up to heaven! Let's make our way to God. Let's
make our way to God. That's the religion of Babylon.
God says, I'm going to bring you there. I'm going to make
you see that all your religious hope is idolatry. All your righteousness, all your
vain thoughts by which you think, now I have distinguished myself.
By which you think now I have made myself acceptable to God. Now I have done this by which
I can die in peace now. I'm all right. I've made a refuge
for myself. Brother Bruce Crabtree told me
right before his dad died, he went up and talked to him. Talked to him about God's grace
and tried to persuade him to trust the Savior. And he asked
his son, what are you telling me? He said, Dad, let go of all
your righteousness and trust Christ. His daddy used to be a Church
of God preacher, Pentecostal preacher, something of the kind.
He said, son, I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that. Have nothing? have nothing with which to appear
before God. Nothing. Nothing. Not one good work. Nothing. Until God makes you to see that
your refuge is nothing but Babylon, a refuge of lies. You'll never
trust Christ. till God brings you to Babylon
and makes you recognize that all your religious notions have
been a lie by which your souls deceive. You'll never trust Christ. Therefore, he says, I'll destroy
your refuge of lies. Oh, if ever he does, you will
thank God he did. You'll thank God he did. Flee
out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul. All
right, here's the fourth thing. Back in our text one more time. If God the Holy Spirit ever puts
you into the hand of your soul's enemies, from their hands he
will redeem you. Be in pain and labor to bring
forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt
thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field,
and thou shalt go even to Babylon there." There. Why did God send Israel into
Egypt? So he could bring them out. Why did God send her into
Babylon? So he could bring them out. Why
did he send you to hell? So he could bring you out. There,
there. There the Lord shall redeem thee from
the hand of thine enemies. There thou shalt be delivered.
There the Lord shall deliver thee or redeem thee from the
hand of thine enemies. This word delivered. It means snatched away, rescued,
recovered, saved. I made a profession of faith
when I was seven years old. I can remember it like it was
yesterday. I can't remember yesterday like it was yesterday, but I
can remember this like it was yesterday. A long gone out emotional service
like I had A lot of pressure to come make a profession of
faith, come down in front of the church, repeat after me, go down to Romans
Road, say the sinner's prayer, now you're saved, everything's
all right. And proceeded to live like hell. Oh, it straightened
things up for a year or so. By the time I was eight years
old, Bill, I was going out to what they called the colored
mission on the north side of town, preaching on Sunday afternoons.
Oh, eight years old, preaching. I didn't know God from a billy
goat. But a preacher. And then, by the time I was nine
years old, had no interest in anything. Went to church when
I was made to go, and only when I was made to go. Or when I wanted
to run around with somebody who happened to go. And lived like
hell. And every time I'd get in trouble,
have a little plunge of conscience, go back to that profession. Hang
on to that profession. You can't give that up. You can't
give that up. Until one day, God snatched me from Babylon's
pit and recovered me by His grace. The word redeemed, the word that's
used for redeemed here in our text, marvelous word. It refers specifically to the
kinsman redeemer. It means ransomed and brought
back by a kinsman's purchase. When He puts you in the hands
of your enemies, the Redeemer, by the power of His blood, will
snatch you from their hands and bring you back to Himself, speaking
peace to your conscience, giving you the blessed joy of salvation
by His grace. And that's something nobody else can do. You can't do it for your wife
or your husband. And you can't do it for your mom or your dad.
And you can't do it for your son or your daughter. And you
can't do it for your brother or your sister. But Christ can
do it for you. And so we pray, God, hedge them
about. Don't let them find their way.
And give deliverance as only you can. Amen.