with me, if you will, to the
fourth chapter of Micah's prophecy. Micah chapter four. The title of my message tonight
is In the Last Days. In the Last Days. And my text will be Micah chapter
four, verses one through chapter 5 and verse 2. The third chapter
of Micah is all darkness and gloom, judgment and sorrow, delusion
and desolation. The chapter ends with Zion as
a plowed field and Jerusalem laid in heaps, ruined and desolate. Sadly, there are many of God's
saints in this world who seem to be able to see nothing except
darkness and desolation. That ought not be the case with
you and I who believe God, but many of God's people seem to
have a morbid, sad outlook on life expecting nothing but sorrow
and misery, darkness and desolation. They seem incapable of seeing
light or anticipating good. That ought not be the case. Micah's
prophecy does not end in chapter 3. The prophecy there certainly
declares God's judgment upon a wicked rebel people for their
sin. And Micah faithfully declared
that which God gave him to declare concerning God's anger with Israel
and Judah's sin and those things that they had done in following
after Baal and other idolaters. God's prophet was inspired to
expose their sin. He was inspired to warn them
of judgment, tell them of the certainty of it. He was inspired
to tell them of the justice of it. Because of what they had
done, God would bring the nation at last into Babylon for 70 years
and utterly destroy that people and that nation in that generation. But he was also inspired to write
of another day. a better day. And he here tells
us as surely as God sent Israel and Judah into Babylon, so surely
he will bring them out of Babylon with a high hand in the glorious
triumph. In fact, he tells them, God's
reason for putting you in Babylon that he might bring you out of
Babylon. God's reason for sending you there is that he might ransom
you from that prison house and thereby show his goodness and
his glory as he could not otherwise show it. So the subject to this
fourth chapter is the last days. As Micah goes here in this chapter
to describe what God has done for Babylon or done for Israel
in the Babylonian captivity and in delivering them from that
captivity. Understand clearly that the prophecy is not just
about that historic event. Micah wrote by divine inspiration,
using that historic event to portray something far greater,
something far more important, something far more significant
that takes place in the last days. And that is the glorious
revelation of the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ our
Lord. Notice that chapter four begins
with a strange word. There's a strange way to begin
a paragraph, a strange way to begin a sentence, a strange way
to begin a chapter. Micah says, but, but. Now, just to let folks know that
I'm not totally illiterate, let me tell you what that word but
is. That word but is an adversative conjunction. Now that's a $10
word for a 50 cent preacher. Adversative conjunction. What
does that mean? What does that mean? The only
reason I'm using that word is because I want to get your attention.
Why does Michael use this word but to begin this? It is a word
that is used to connect two completely opposite things. So that everything
Micah has said in chapter 3, he's now giving us the exact
reverse of in chapter 4. Everything he said in chapter
3, chapter 4 gives us the direct opposite of it. All the darkness
and gloom and sorrow and sadness is here now set before us in
the light of the glory and the blessedness and the light and
the gladness that's sure to follow. Oh, bring on the darkness and
gloom. If we may by these things be
made to know and see God our Savior in his glory in the revelation
of himself in saving our souls. Notice chapter four begins with
this little word, but to express this great contrast. Chapter
three was all judgment. Chapter 4 is all mercy. Chapter
3 is all darkness. Chapter 4 is all light. Chapter 3 is all gloom. Chapter
4 is all glory. Chapter 3 is all about our sinfulness. Chapter 4 is all about God's
forgiveness. Chapter 3 is all about us. Chapter 4 is all about our Savior.
In the last days, the Lord God will gather all his elect out
of all the nations of the world into one body called his church,
his kingdom, Mount Zion, the city of God, Israel, Jerusalem,
And he will establish his church in the mountain of God, in the
top of the mountains of the earth. That is to say that in the last
days, Micah tells us that God will establish the mountain of
God, the house of God, in the tops of the mountains of the
earth. So that among all the alps of
the earth, sitting right at the top of everything is Mount Zion,
God's church and God's kingdom. Now that's difficult for us to
grasp, isn't it? That's difficult for us to have
any apprehension of. No, that can't be. That can't
be. The church of God's elect is
a poor, despised band of people meeting like we do here in the
corner of nowhere, worshiping God. A few in number here and
a few in number there. It can't possibly be that in
the last days, God will establish his church, the highest of all
spectacles of glory, and all the earth will see. that God's
church is glorious and his name glorified by it. Let's see if
that's what he says. Let's see if that's what he says.
I want to show you five things in this portion of scripture.
We will come back to look at various parts of it in more detail
later. But let's look at this chapter through chapter 5 and
verse 2 and I'll show you five things. First, The last days
are described by Micah as a time of great blessedness. Look at
verse one, Micah chapter four, verse one. But in the last days,
it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the
Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and
it shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow unto
it. What a word. It'll be established
in the top of the mountains. It'll be exalted above the hills.
And people shall flow unto it. Read on. And many nations shall
come and say, come, let us go up to that mountain of the Lord
and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us of
his ways. And we will walk in his paths. For the law shall go forth of
Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. What are these
last days? What are these last days? Well, if it weren't for the tomfoolery
of the religious age in which we live, if you just read your
Bible without consulting the Schofield reference notes in
the Bible, or without listening to what comes out of Dallas Seminary,
or without listening to the prophecy mania nonsense of our day. Now,
I don't pretend to know much about prophecy, but I'm going
to tell you, I know a heap sight more than those folks who do
pretend to. The last days are clearly identified in the Word
of God. They're clearly identified in
the Word of God. These last days are the days
in which we now live. These gospel days. These gospel
days. Look down in chapter 5 in verse
2. This whole prophecy is about a day that began with the first
advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember, Micah's talking
about these last days. In the last days, this is going
to happen. Micah chapter 5, verse 2. Thou
Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old
from everlasting. You mean the last days began
when Christ the Messiah was born at Bethlehem as Merle just read
about? That's what mike is telling us in these last days the last
days The last tick of the clock hold your hands here and turn
to first john chapter 2 first john chapter 2 I want you to
see this clearly Verse 18 John says little children
It is the last time It is the last time And as ye have heard
that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists,
whereby we know that it is the last time. This is the last tick
of the clock. This is the last day. God is
dealing with men today in this gospel age, in this last day,
according as that which was spoken in Micah chapter 4. He's dealing
with men today according to that which was spoken in Joel chapter
2. Peter tells us that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was that which
Joel prophesied. This is the last day. This day
of grace. This day in which God gathers
His elect out of the four corners of the earth, out of all the
nations of the earth, Jew and Gentile, black and white, from
every part of the world, He gathers them together as one people,
as one nation, under God, a holy nation. And that's not talking
about the United States of America. That's talking about his church.
That's talking about his church. One nation, under God, his holy
nation. His holy nation. Now, look at
the blessings of Christ and his gospel as they're described by
Micah hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus ever came into
this world. Look back in Micah chapter 4. God's church shall be built and
established by God himself, as his high mountain, exalted by
him above all the mountains of the earth. The Lord Jesus said,
upon this rock I will build my church, and all hell can't stand
before it. That's what the word means. The
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Gates are not weapons
of offense. Gates are weapons of defense.
God's church in the preaching of the gospel is on the march
against hell and hell will fall before us. I fully anticipate
it wherever I go. I preach the gospel with absolute
confidence God Almighty will save his people and hell will
fall before me and before you as we carry the gospel into this
world. You surely don't believe that. Why shouldn't I believe
God? Why don't you? Why don't we expect
God to do what God said he would do? Upon this rock, Christ crucified,
I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Men and women, God's elect remnant
from the nations shall come to God's church. Jew and Gentile,
they shall flow unto it. Isn't that amazing? They shall flow unto it. There's
not talking just about folks coming to this local assembly.
I hope God will be pleased to gather many in this place. But
in God's church and kingdom, all over the world today, men
and women are flowing from the nations into his church. Flowing
like a river. Flowing into Zion, exactly according
to God's purpose. We have a terrible tendency to
think that God's work on the earth is limited to what we see
and observe. No, that's a foolish mistake.
Because our vision is not very good. We can't see but so much. God is doing what he said in
his word he would do. Whether I can see it or don't.
Whether you can see it or don't. Nations shall flow into it God
we're told in Acts chapter 3 added to the church every day Who should
be saved? Daily as many as should be saved
Didn't have any folks gonna be saved today bill Exactly as many
as should be saved today All over the world according to God's
purpose And those who come to Zion, men and women who experience
God's grace, men and women who've tasted that the Lord is gracious,
they say to their neighbors, come go with us to the house
of God. Come go with us to the house of God. You see, believing
men and women are anxious for other folks to know God's grace.
They're anxious for other folks to know the blessedness of God's
salvation. People outside the kingdom of
God, They don't understand the inspiration, the motive, the
thing that drives us as a believing body of believers to preach the
gospel and seek the salvation of men's souls. It's not that
we're interested in building Grace Baptist Church. It's not
that we're interested in making the Baptist denomination larger.
Frankly, I don't give a flip about the Baptist denomination.
There's no concern about that. There's no concern about that.
I'm not here to build up Grace Baptist Church. We're here to
preach the gospel of God's grace to poor needy sinners. And needy
sinners who find that which needy sinners must have are anxious
for other wounded souls to find Christ the Redeemer. And so they
say, come, let's go to the house of God. Come, let's go to the
house of God. I can't think of a better way
for you to witness to family and friend than to bring them
to hear the gospel. Bring them to hear the word of
God's grace. Look at the text. All who are
born of God and taught of God know that God's church is the
house of Jacob. It's the house of the God of
Jacob. This is the place where saved
sinners are gathered. This is the place where chosen
men and women like Jacob are born in God's kingdom. And they
come here seeking to be taught of God, to be taught His ways,
that we may walk in His paths. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye
in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the
good way? And walk therein, and you shall
find rest for your souls. God's church is God's schoolhouse. This is
where God teaches his children. This is where God instructs his
sons and daughters. This is where men and women learn
the wonders of God's grace revealed in this book. This is where God
opens to you the treasury of Holy Scripture. This is where
God meets your needs and where God feeds his children. Come,
let's go to the house of the God of Jacob and be taught of
God. Hear God speak. that we may know
God's ways and walk in God's paths. All right, here's the
second thing. Look at verses three, four, and
five. The great blessedness of God's church and kingdom is the
peace that Christ gives us by his grace. And he shall judge
among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off And they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But
they shall set every man under his vine and under his fig tree. Now watch this. And none shall
make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of
hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk, every
one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the
Lord our God forever and ever. What's this peace talking about?
What's this peace talking about? Peace between political, civil
nations? No. It's not going to happen
as long as sinful men live on this earth. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. You can
make all the treaties you want to. Make all the concessions
you want to. get all the diplomats and negotiators
together you want to, and you can come up with all the brilliant
reasons for it you want to, you're not going to settle that issue
between Palestine and Israel. It's not going to be settled.
Not peaceably. Not peaceably. Not while you
breathe on this earth, and not while I breathe on this earth.
That's not the peace it's talking about. Oh, what about peace between
communist and democratic societies. Fair chance. Not going to happen. What about peace between third
world countries and wealthy countries? Not going to happen. It's not
going to happen. It's not going to happen. You
mean we shouldn't try? No. Politicians ought to try. They ought to try. They ought
to try to avoid war. Try to avoid bloodshed. But that's
not what this is talking about. That's not what... God's kingdom
is spiritual. And everything here is spiritual. And it's to be understood that
way. Peace is established in the earth as God's church is
established in the earth. Peace is established in the earth
as God's church is established in the earth. No other way. Peace is established in the earth
by the gospel, by the salvation of God's elect. Apart from God's
church, outside the kingdom of grace, there is no peace. But here in Zion, reigns. For here, Christ the Prince of
Peace reigns. What's this talking about? In
Christ, race and nationality are irrelevant. Irrelevant. In Christ, social
rank or lack of it is irrelevant. In Christ, learning or the lack
of it matters not. In Christ, being a man or being
a woman is totally irrelevant. In Christ, there's no advantage
to the Jew or to the Gentile. No advantage to the Greek or
to the barbarian. No advantage to the male or to
the female. No advantage to the person who's
been raised in high society or the person who's been raised
in the lowest forms of society. I get so sick of myself and you
too. exercising and behaving as though
somehow we've got some reason to be proud of ourselves. They're
not from our kind of people. Would to God you weren't from
our kind of people. Sad fact is we are all your kind of people,
just sinners. That's all. That's all. Some
are rich sinners, some poor. Some are learned sinners, some
unlearned. Some are black and some are white. Some male, some
female. Just sinners! And we recognize if God saves
us, we're saved by God's free grace. And that means nothing
else matters but Christ. Read Colossians chapter 3. Read
it and tell me I'm wrong. Nothing else matters but Christ.
In Christ God's people cease to be a warring people. They don't war with one another,
but they help each other. We beat our swords into plowshares
and our spears into pruning hooks. Swords are things by which you
injure people. Plowshares are things by which
you help folks. Spears are things by which you
injure people. Pruning hooks are things by which
you feed people. Trust in Christ and God's people
sit peacefully under their own vine and under their own fig. I believe Christ is divine. So what is that? We sit peaceably
under him. We feast upon him. And sitting
under his wings, sitting under his wings, we have
no cause for fear. Look at this. None can make them
afraid. Christ is mine and I'm his. None can make them afraid. I'm
redeemed by His blood. None can make them afraid. I'm
robed in His righteousness. None can make them afraid. Look
back up in chapter 2 of Micah. Micah speaks here of those who
take his people and they pull off their robe from them. And
they pull off their clothes, their garment from them. always
exposing their nakedness. That's what religion loves to
do. Religion loves to keep you in fear, keep you in fear. I told some men last night, I
was really tired late last night, too tired to read, too tired
to go to sleep. And so I spent flipping the channels between
watching Donnie Swaggart and that old man, the papa in Rome. He's heading
the, what was the mass? It was the mass for the Lady
of Guadalupe. December 12th was supposed to
be her birthday. And they have to roll him around
on a cart. The old man can't even walk.
And waves a cinch and kisses the altar and kisses the altar.
Go through that and then flip it back over to Donnie Swagger.
Listen to that nonsense. I spent almost 15 minutes listening
to that stuff last night. And that, for me, that was excessive.
Just excessive. Well, what's it all about? The superstition? and the ceremonies
and the creed and the works all designed to keep you constantly
afraid of God. Afraid! Have I done enough? Have I given enough? Have I sacrificed
enough? Am I humble enough? Do I believe
enough? Have I done good enough? Have
I got enough of the Spirit? If Christ is yours, Bob Duff,
nothing ought to make you afraid. Because all he is, is yours. You got that? None should make
him afraid. Christ is mine. What does God
require? Perfection. Christ is my perfection. What does God require? Righteousness.
Christ is my righteousness. What does God require? Satisfaction.
Christ is my satisfaction. What does God require? Complete
sinlessness. Christ is my sinlessness. What
does God require? Absolute holiness. Christ is
my holiness. You mean, Brother Don, if you've
got Christ, you've got all? I think that's what Paul meant
when he said Christ is all and then all. All who are his walk with God. For the people, all the people,
will walk everyone in the name of his God. And you're not going
to stop that. They'll walk everyone in the
name of his God. Every year when I go down to
Mexico this time of the year, they've got folks running. They
quit running and started riding bicycles, carrying candles, celebrating
that Virgin of Guadalupe, the Latin patron saint, she's supposed
to be. And they run, pledge themselves
to make pilgrimages. They follow after their God.
Follow after their God. Don't expect any more. Don't
expect any more. will walk in the name of the
Lord our God forever and ever. What's that talking about? We
live by faith in Christ. We trust Christ the Redeemer.
These are matters of such great importance that God the Holy
Spirit inspired Micah's fellow prophet Isaiah to give almost
exactly the same prophecy in exactly the same words in the
first four verses of Isaiah chapter 2. Read it when you go home.
Almost exactly the same words. These are things we need to understand.
God's church has great blessedness, great peace, great joy in the
midst of darkness and trouble. God's church walks with God in
peace and has fear of nothing. Here's the third thing. The great
blessedness of God's church is the constant, superabounding
grace of our God to our poor, needy souls in Christ Jesus. Look at verse six. In that day,
saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth. And I will gather her that is
driven out. and her that I have afflicted,
and 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 from henceforth even forever." What sweet promises. God speaks to the weak and the
fearful. halting and the trembling. He
speaks to you who halt and tremble and fear that you may yourself
be cast off, but he promises grace sufficient and strength
in weakness. For Christ is our strength and
Christ is our confidence. He will both plead our cause
and undertake our cause. And notice how often The Lord
God uses the word I here. I, the Lord, will assemble. I
will gather. I will make her that holdeth
a remnant. All is His work. And when God works, all hell
can't hinder. I, I, I will do it, God says. What a great, gracious God our
God is. He not only blesses obedience, he blesses his children in and
by means of their disobedience. Now I understand what wicked
men will do with that. I understand what they'll do
with that. But the Lord God speaks plainly
here. The halted and the fallen, he
lifts up and promises to bless and recovers and uses. What a word he spoke to Peter
as he told Peter what he must experience. And if you think that's a light
thing, you've never been where Peter was. And the Lord God spoke to Peter,
our Redeemer spoke to Peter and said, when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And Peter came to know God's
grace as he could not otherwise have known it. And came to be
an instrument of usefulness to others that it could not otherwise
have been. He promises to bless when we
fall, to bless by recovering us from our halting and falling.
And of all the tokens of grace, that's the most endearing, which
is manifest over our abounding sin. Where sin abounds, grace
does much more abound. You have a very similar passage.
Turn back to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. God's ways are not our ways.
Aren't you thankful? His ways are not our ways. Look
here at what he says in Isaiah 43, verse 22. But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast
not bought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither
hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused
thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast
thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities." I'd cut him off. I'd cut him off. Man, if I had
my sons and daughters, I'd throw them out. Wouldn't you now? You probably would. not God our
Savior. Watch this. Look at his next
word. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not
remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us
plead together Declare thou that thou mayest be justified. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Read on, Micah chapter
4 verse 8. And thou tower of the flock,
the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come. Even the first dominion, the
kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now, why does thou
cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is
thy counselor perished? For pains have taken hold, taken
thee as a woman in travail. 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. The word tower here in verse
eight really means Bethlehem. the very place where the Jewish
shepherds were keeping their flocks by night when the angel
announced to them the birth of the Lord Jesus. God's church
is Christ's flock, and he who was born at Bethlehem is our
high tower in whom we find refuge. These last days and Christ's
kingdom began when our Lord Jesus was born at Bethlehem the king
of the Jews, and we, living in him, have a constant supply of
grace who is our high tower. I want you to see clearly what
God asserts here about his wise and gracious purpose. He says,
concerning his people, thou shalt go even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered.
Reckon why? Reckon why? Could he not have
corrected them in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel? Could
he not have chastised them there? Could he not have broken down
their idolatrous altars and their idols and smashed them before
them and made those things bitter to them in Israel and in Jerusalem? Of course he could. But the best
means by which God should show his goodness and his distinguishing
favor in the saving of his people is that they experience the bitterness
of Babylon and be brought out by the power
of his right hand. So it is with you and I in all
things. The Lord God Almighty ordained
our fall in our father Adam that we might know his grace in the
last Adam, Christ Jesus the Lord. The Lord God Almighty ordained
all that we experience in time of bitterness because of our
sin, that we might know all that we experience in time of sweetness
because of his grace. And so he rules the universe. Fourth, in the last days, the
church and kingdom of our God shall be triumphant over the
nations of the earth. Now also, verse 11, many nations
are gathered against thee that say, let her be defiled. And
let our eye look upon Zion, but they know not the thoughts of
the Lord. Neither understand they his counsel,
for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise
and thresh, O daughter of Zion. for I will make thine horn iron,
and I will make thy hooves brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces
many people, and I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their
substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. God's church is the envy of the
world. Now that's the problem. That's
the problem. I've traveled a good bit in various
countries, and the politicians think that, you know, this, that,
or the other thing is the cause of the world's difficulty with
the United States. No other place in the world,
Merle, no other place in the world would a man who spent his
life as you spent yours building houses, Be able to live in a
house anywhere close to what you live in. Nowhere else in
the world. Nowhere else in the world would a man and his wife,
just ordinary people, be able to live like Shelby and I live
over in this part. Nowhere else in the world. And that envy creates hostility. Now that's a very slight comparison
of what I want you to understand. In God's church, in Christ, we
are blessed with every kind of richness the world wants. Peace, joy, forgiveness, blessed
anticipation of everlasting glory. And James, nobody else got that.
Nobody else got that. And that makes them mad. And
so you suffer constant abuse and opposition from the world
for it. constantly trying to destroy
God's church because folks want to destroy what they don't have
and think they can't have. They seek to destroy it. That's
what's going on with the Wall Street protesters. Well, that's
a little far-fetched. I meant to get it in. When Babylon's king took the
vessels of the sanctuary and profaned them in his drunken
orgy, and blaspheme God. That night God killed him and
God brought Israel out of Babylon and Israel spoiled Babylon. So it shall be with God's church
when he has at last set his church as his mountain upon the tops
of the hills. And all the substance of the
nations shall be brought to his church for her glory and his
glory, for her blessedness and his honor. And fifth, all of
this is certain because Jesus Christ, God's darling son, became
one of us. The ruler of Zion was born at
Bethlehem exactly according to God's purpose. Now gather thyself
in troops, O daughter of troops. He hath laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of
Israel with the rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me. The Lord Jesus comes through
the virgin's womb into this world, out of Bethlehem, up to God on
his throne, having finished the work of redemption, that is to
be ruler in Israel. Now watch this. Whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. How long has he been doing this?
From everlasting. Accomplishing his purpose. Saving
his people. Building his church. Conquering
his enemies. And so he shall continue until
God's purpose is finished in him. And all Israel has been
saved by his grace. Amen.