I hope God will never allow me
to be content merely to come here and give you a lecture about
religion or about doctrine or about moralisms, but rather that he will graciously
compel me to seek his message for you every time I stand here
to speak to you. And I believe he's given me such
a message for you, for you, for you who are here right now. No
king, no counselor, and a helpless spirit, those words pretty well
described the professed church of this age with regard to most
religious people, though they have a God, their God is king
nowhere. Though they use the name of Jesus
like a good luck charm as their counselor, the Jesus they worship
is not a counselor they trust. And when they need a counselor,
they go to their preacher or to their priest or to their shrink
to get some counsel. Though they profess to live and
walk in the spirit, though they profess to be led by the spirit,
they talk about a powerless spirit, a helpless spirit, a useless
spirit. Sad as those facts are, here's
something far, far, far sadder. God's true church. God's true people, you and I
who do believe God, you and I who are taught of God, you and I
who are redeemed and called by God's grace, we often act as
if we had no king, no counselor, and a helpless spirit. God forgive us. God teach us
better. How we fret and worry as though
our God were not king. How we murmur and complain as
if Christ were no counselor. How full of care, how full of
fear we are as if the spirit of God were helpless and straightened. Now that's exactly the state
in which Micah found the church in his day. That's exactly the
state of God's Israel in the days of Micah the prophet, as
he spoke God's word to them. He found God's people in the
midst of difficulty, fretting and worrying, murmuring and complaining,
bowed down and laid low with a weight of care and fear as
Micah exposed and rebuked and reproved Israel for their great
sin. So I am here tonight to expose,
rebuke and reprove you and me for our great sin in unbelief. If we trust the God of glory,
the one true and living God, if we believe God, we should
be free of care. If we believe God, we should
be free of care. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Don't take
care for tomorrow. Don't take care for anything. God's your Father. He feeds the
sparrows. And He'll surely watch over you.
He's numbered the hairs of your head. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. The title
of my message no king, no counselor, and the helpless spirit. Our
text will be Micah chapter 2 and verse 7, Micah chapter 4 and
verse 9. Let's begin in chapter 4 and
verse 9. The Lord God had just promised
his people great grace. great salvation, a great time
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, a great time of
what we would call revival. He promised his people that in
this day he would assemble his people from all nations. He would
gather his people from the four corners of the earth. He would
assemble those who were haunt and lame, those who were driven
out, those who were cast off, He would bring forth his people
to Zion, and his law would go forth from Zion. He would cause
all war between chosen sinners to cease, making us to lie down
in peace and dwell together in peace. He says concerning his
people, I will make her that halted a remnant and her that
was cast off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over
them in Mount Zion henceforth and forever. Now God himself
spoke these words. God himself gave these promises
in verses 1 through 8 to his people by his prophet Micah.
Micah gave the word plainly and clearly. There's no mistaking
what Micah said, what God had promised. But the children of
Israel looked at their circumstances and heard the things that were
going on around them. They read the paper, they looked
at their daily lives, and they simply did not believe God. They were full of heaviness.
Micah had come and told them that the Babylonians are coming,
they're going to carry you into captivity, but understand this,
God is saving his people. Understand this, God is performing
good. while he punishes your sin, while
he punishes your iniquity, while he chastens you and makes you
to know his displeasure for all the evil you've done. Understand
this. God is doing good. God shall
gather his people. But they didn't believe him.
They were in heaviness. They couldn't rejoice because
they didn't believe God. They couldn't believe God because
they judged God's goodness. And they judge God's intentions
by their circumstances, not by God's word. If you get nothing else I say
tonight, please get this. Don't judge God's character,
God's promises, God's goodness. By your circumstances, judge
your circumstances by God's word. Judge your circumstances by God's
word. Oh, God, teach me to do so. What a mistake it is, how sad,
how dishonoring to God, and yet how horribly guilty of this evil
we are. How commonly we judge God's goodness
and judge God's intentions by the things we see and experience.
How often we judge God's designs by our circumstances. And that's
horribly evil. Now that's exactly what we find
when we come to Micah chapter four and verse nine. Now, in
the light of all that I promised, In the light of all that God
said, he's doing. In the light of all the goodness, he's declared.
Now, why dost thou cry aloud? Why dost thou cry aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is
thy counselor perished? For pangs have taken thee as
a woman in travail. Why do you cry and howl as if
you had no king? Why do you cry and howl as if
you had no counselor? The pangs you're experiencing
are the pangs of a woman in travail. The pangs of one who is expecting
to bring forth life. No need to howl. No need to cry. No need to murmur. No need to
complain. that which you're experiencing
shall prove at last to be your good. Back up to chapter 2 at
verse 7, and you'll see that this evil was a matter of constant
concern to God's people and to God's prophet. It was something
that God's church struggled with incessantly, and so it is to
this day. O thou that art named the house
of Jacob? Is the spirit of the Lord straightened? Are these his doings? Do not
my words do good to him that walketh upright? And let's look at these two verses
line by line. And I pray that God, the Holy
Spirit, will inscribe the lessons he has for us in these two verses
upon our hearts. Here's the first thing. Be warned. Be warned. And Merle, I'm not
talking to folks who aren't here. I'm talking to you and Charlotte
and Don and Shelby. Be warned. There are many named
the children of God who are not. Let us be certain we're not among
them. Look at the first line of verse,
chapter two, verse seven. O thou that art named the house
of Jacob. Multitudes there are, who wear
the name of God's children, who are not God's children. Our Lord
speaks of those who have a name that they live, but they are
dead. The apostle speaks of those who
were Jews outwardly, but not inwardly. Those who have a profession
of faith, but no possession of grace. Multitudes who wear the
name of Christ, but do not know Christ. Many who have the sanctimonious
outward workings of religion, but have no inward principle
of grace. But multitudes there are who
have a form of godliness. Come to church, just like you
do, three times a week. Read your Bibles, pray, and Devote
yourselves in religious activity. Have a form of godliness, but
deny the power of it. Multitudes, multitudes who whose
lives have a sanctity about them, whose lives have been sanctified
outwardly by religion, whose lives have been straightened
up and cleaned up on the outside, but inwardly, inwardly those
graves that are quieted sepulchers are dead men's bones. There's
no life there. No life there. Now, it is not
for you and me, to judge who truly believes God and who does
not. It is not for you and me to do so, and we don't have the
ability to do so. You don't, and I don't. People
think they can determine who believes God and who doesn't.
I had a preacher's wife tell me one time, I can look at somebody
and tell whether or not they're a Christian. I said, would you
tell me what they look like? What foolishness? What arrogance? What stupidity? Our Lord tells
us plainly and repeatedly, let the tares and wheat grow together,
because you don't have enough sense to separate the two. Let
the sheep and the goats graze together in the same field. You
can't separate them. You can't do it, and I can't
do it, and no one else can do it, and we should not want to
try. What makes us so arrogant, so
proud, so presumptuous that we dare? Well, I don't know whether
Brother Larry believes God or not. How dare I do so? How dare I do so? How dare I
sit in judgment over another who professes faith in my Redeemer?
The Apostle says the weak brother, even the weakest, is to be received
without doubtful disputations. Receive them, embrace them, walk
with them. Well, we won't have a pure church. Well, you ought to stay home
then. Me too. But we want the church
to be an apostolic church. I'm not sure I'd want to pastor
the First Baptist Church at Corinth, would you? I'm not sure I'd want
to be there. No, we have no business attempting
to judge who knows God and who doesn't. We preach the gospel
and embrace those who profess faith in Christ by the gospel,
and those who do not, we continue to preach the gospel to them,
but we don't attempt to judge folks. Well, Brother Don, I wouldn't
judge anybody, but anybody can inspect fruit. No, not if you
don't know the difference between rotten fruit and good fruit.
And you don't know the difference between rotten fruit and good
fruit. Not in spiritual things. Not in spiritual things. I can
look at an apple and tell whether or not I want to bite it. But
I can't look at you and tell whether or not you're my brother.
Well, what about the way they live? You want to get into that? But God's people, they live different
from other people. I'll grant that. I'll grant that.
They do. But lots of folks live better
than anybody sitting here. Lots of folks do, who don't know
God from a billy goat. Lots of folks do. You mean, Brother
Dodd, unbelievers can live as good a life as believers do?
Outwardly, morally, uprightly? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I've known
many who did. You too. Well, how do you know
the difference then? You don't. That's my point. You
don't. We must not judge one another.
But if we are wise, we will judge ourselves. If we would judge ourselves,
Paul said, we'll not be condemned with the world. We'll not be
judged with the world. At what point are we to judge
ourselves? Paul says, examine yourselves, whether you be in
the faith. Prove you your own selves, how
that Christ Jesus is in you, except you be reprobate. The
point of examination, whether you be in the faith. Do you trust
the Son of God? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? People talk a lot of things that
contrary to the book, I do and you do as well. So I'm not being
harsh, I'm just stating facts. Folks talk about trusting the
blood of Christ and righteousness of Christ. Do you know this book,
Alan, never tells you to trust his blood? This book never says trust the
righteousness of Christ. The book says trust Christ. Trust
Christ. You see, multitudes are messed
up about what they think about his righteousness and blood.
Even those who believe messed up. Yes, sir. We recognize the
blood of Christ as our only atonement for sin, his righteousness, our
only righteousness before God. But I'm going to tell you something.
When I first believed Christ, I didn't know much about him
being the incarnate God in the flesh, one with the Father, part
of the Holy Trinity. I'll just be honest with you,
I didn't know much about those things. Now, and if you had talked
to me about him, I'd have kind of nodded and yeah, but I didn't
know much about those things. I knew he's God my savior and
I trust him. Now, it doesn't matter whether
I know I trusted him 44 years ago or not. That's irrelevant. What happened 44 years ago is
totally irrelevant. If I wanted to show you, Mark,
that I'm alive and I went and got my birth certificate and
brought it out and said, now look here, that proves I'm alive.
You might want to take me and put me somewhere where they lock
folks up in padded cells. A man got to pull out a birth
certificate to show he's alive. But people do that all the time
with religion. I know I'm safe because back when I was a boy,
when I was a young man, when I was a young woman, at that
revival meeting, that church meeting, I walked down the altar,
I did this, I felt, ah! What's the proof of life? Dost
thou believe on the Son of God? I do. I do. I trust Him who's God my Savior,
a living person. I'm wed to Him. I know Him. I'm joined to Him. Make your
calling and election sure, Peter says. Be sure that Christ is
yours. Trust Him. Oh, God help you to
trust Him. Second, God the Holy Spirit is
not helpless. Let us behave as though we knew
that. Is the Spirit of the Lord straightened? Are these His doings? Do not
my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? This word
straightened, it means shortened, discouraged, vexed, constrained,
held in, limited. How often we act like the heathen
around us, As if God the Holy Spirit is helpless. As if He's helpless. How often
we act as if we didn't believe God is actually calling out His
elect. That His Word actually is not
bound. That He actually does save every
day such as should be saved. We act as though he has no power
to save, as though he's incapable actually of accomplishing his
will, as though he's not really able to do all that he pleases.
You do know better, don't you? You do know better, don't you?
We're talking about God, omnipotent, God the Spirit. We're not talking
about this Weepy, namby-pamby, insipid, Pentecostal influence,
men call the Spirit of God. Talk about God. He's not straightened. He straightens. He's not constrained. He does the constraining. He's
not helpless but omnipotent. The fulfillment of His Word is
His doing. The accomplishment of God's purpose
is His work. His Word will accomplish good. He will perform everlasting good
for his people, to those who walk uprightly, to those who
trust Christ, who walk uprightly, believing the Son of God. Hold
your hands here in Micah and turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8. You see, believers are men and
women who live in the Spirit. James, we're born of God, we've
been born of the Spirit. We're in the Spirit of God, and
the Spirit of God's in us. Look what Paul says, Romans 8,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Some folks
walk after the flesh. God's people walk after the Spirit.
Look at verse 7. The carnal mind, or verse 6 rather,
to be carnally minded is death. To be spiritually minded is life
in peace. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. Now watch this. But you're not
in the flesh. What? You're not in the flesh. Brother Don, here we are in this
body of flesh. Yeah, but you're not in the flesh.
But we we struggle with this flesh. Yeah, but you're not in
the flesh. But but we carry about this body of sin and death all
the time. Yeah, but you're not in the flesh.
Not if you're born of God, you're in the spirit. This is our new
life. It's life in the Spirit. You're
in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.
Verse 15. You have not received the spirit
of bondage you gained to fear, but the spirit of adoption. Verse
16. The spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. Now look at
verse 18. And I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Is God's spirit straightened?
Oh, no. Oh, no. He will perform what
he said. He will do what he promised.
He will accomplish that for which he was sent. Third, our God is
king. And we ought to act like people
who trust him. Look at verse 9 of chapter 4,
Micah chapter 4 verse 9. Now why dost thou cry aloud,
is there no king in thee? Why do you howl and cry as if
there were no king in Israel? As if God your king were not
king indeed. I read again today an incident
in the life of Martin Luther. He had been sick for some time. Luther was a strong man but had
a lot of sickness and had to deal with sickness a good bit.
And he was a man fiery emotions, and such men often have to deal
with depression. After Luther got better, he sat
morbidly depressed for weeks, for weeks, did nothing. He sat
and stared into space, looking at nothing. And finally, one
day, his wife, Katie, came in. She is a good, smart woman, good
wife. She came in dressed from head
to toe in black, had on a black hat, a black veil over her face.
And Luther looked up at her and said, Katie, why are you dressed
like that? Did someone die? And she shook
her head. She said, oh, it's terrible.
It's terrible. It's terrible. He said, what's
terrible? She said, oh, it's just terrible.
What's terrible? She said, God must have died. What's wrong with you, Katie?
She said, are you Dr. Luther? Are you my husband, my
pastor?" He said, of course I am. She said, then believe God, you
act as though God were dead. He said, take off the clothes,
put something else on. She said, believe God, you act
as though God's dead. God forgive me. How often I act
as though God were dead. Is there no king in Israel? Yes, there is. My God is king. My God is king. Let me read some
scripture to you. You can look at it later. My
God is king. We ought to believe His word,
trust His providence. We ought to expect Him to fulfill
His promises, live in anticipation of God doing what He said. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee
will I pray. Thou art my King, O God. Command deliverance for Jacob.
God's King. Bill, He commands things. He
commands that. He commands deliverance for Jacob.
Cast all your care on him. He cares for you. Sing praises
to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto
our king. Sing praises for God is king
of all the earth. Sing your praises with understanding.
Turn to Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44. Let me show you what
God says about his being king. Verse 1. Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. Verse 6. Thus saith the
Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.
Am the first and I am the last and beside me there is no God
verse 8 Fear ye not need to be afraid Have not I told thee from
that time and have declared it ye are even are my witnesses
Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know
not any the verse 21 Isaiah 44 21 Remember these, O Jacob, and
Israel, for thou art my servant, I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. Oh, David, how we forget God.
But you'll not be forgotten of God. Did you hear Him? Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins returning
to me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing oh you heavens for the Lord
have done it Shout you lower parts of the earth break forth
into singing you mountains all forest and every tree therein
for the Lord have redeemed Jacob and Glorified himself in Israel
and look at verse 25 God is king God is king. What does that mean? He frustrateth the tokens of
the liars and maketh diviners mad. He drives
witch doctors insane. He drives soothsayers insane. He frustrates those who would
lie and bring you into trouble. He turns wise men backward. and makes their knowledge foolish.
Verse 26, he confirms the word of his servant and performeth
the counsel of his messengers. That's what God says. He's King.
He's King. Now, here's the fourth thing. Christ our Savior is our great
counselor. Let us follow him. Is thy counselor
perished? No, no, a thousand times no,
he's not perished. He who loved us and died in our
stead at Calvary lives forever at God's right hand, the God-man,
our Savior, and he cannot perish. And as long as he lives at God's
right hand, Rex, we who trust him and are one with him cannot
perish. He's the counselor. He stood
as our counselor in old eternity before ever the world was in
the covenant of grace. He is our counselor at the throne
of God now, our advocate with the father, therefore pleading
his merits, his righteousness and his blood. Our souls can
never be charged with sin, our advocate with the father. And
he's our counselor to guide us in all our ways, all the time. all our days to do us good. And he does so marvelously. Mysteriously, but marvelously. Secretly, but marvelously. Behind the scenes, as it were,
but marvelously. Often, often, most of the time,
Hiding from us, Joe, what he's doing for us. Why would he do that? Lindsay
does that so we walk with him by faith. Do what you know he would have
you do. Walk with him by faith, no matter
what the consequence. and he honors those who honor
him. I have a friend I've never seen
who's going through some real difficulties. I wrote to her
just recently what I've written to other friends in days gone
by about our Lord Jesus and the sixth chapter of Mark, he comes
to his disciples and there we find them on a storm-tossed sea,
scared to death. And the Lord Jesus comes walking
to them across the stormy sea and he says, be not afraid, it
is I. And he stepped up into their
little ship and the storm was calm and they were at ease. But it was him, Bill, who sent
them into the storm. It was him who sent them away
from himself into the very eye of the storm. Why? Why? I don't know all the answers.
I don't know all the, I don't pretend to know all the answers,
but I know this much. Had they not gone into the storm
and seen that terrible tempest that scared them to death, they
could never have known Him as they knew Him when He stepped
in that boat and the storm was calm. He is our Counselor. Let us live as men and women
who trusts him as our counselor. Wise and good in all that he
is and in all that he does. Now, one more thing. Our soul's pains and longings
in this world are the pains of birth. And the fruit will cause the
pain to be forgotten. Micah is inspired by God the
Holy Spirit to give this explanation for our heartaches and troubles
in this world. Pains have taken hold on thee
as a woman in travail. A woman in travail is a woman
in great pain. When our daughter was coming
into this world, back in those days, they didn't give me the
option of going into the room with my wife. But believe me,
I wouldn't have gone. If I thought I could be of some
help, I'd go. But just to go watch her go through the pain,
I just would not do that. I just would not do that. Great
pain, great pain. That's the condition of God's
church in this world. She's often described as a woman
in travail, in travail. A woman goes into travail that
she may bring forth new life. And God sends the pains of travail
upon us. that we may bring forth in our
experience here and everlastingly that which we could not have
otherwise. The pains of a woman in travail don't last very long. And our light affliction here
is but for a moment, just for a moment. whatever it is, just
for a moment. And the sorrows of a woman in
travail, as soon as she gives birth, are forgotten. Gone. How come? Well, look at this
baby. Look at this life. Oh, what a
delight! Joy is born in her heart from
travail. And I reckon, I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
to the glory that shall be revealed in us. God do what you will, for what
you will is best. Give me grace to understand it
and walk with you in faith. Amen.