I love that song. Would you turn back to Micah?
While you're turning there, we're going to observe the Lord's table
tonight. And the Lord said this do in
remembrance of me. I don't think it's right if we
know the Lord's table is being observed and we choose to not
be there. I know there's times when you
can't be here, but if you can and you're not, the Lord said,
this do in remembrance of me. And I'm going to be speaking
upon this subject, and you were dead. What does that mean? And you
were dead. Now back to our text in Micah
chapter seven. Micah begins with this question
in verse 18, who is a God like unto thee? Now this is a rhetorical
question that tells us that there is not a God like him. Many times in the scripture,
he asks, who is like me? Who can be compared to me? And that's why idolatry is so
wrong. Idolatry is the attempt to make
a comparison. God is like this. This represents
God. Well, you've just brought him
down. You brought him down. He cannot be compared with anybody
or anything. In Exodus chapter 15, verse 11,
Moses said, who is likened to thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is likened to thee glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises? doing wonders. Hold your finger there and mic
and turn to Isaiah chapter 45. Verse five, I am the Lord and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I
go to thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know
from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none
beside me. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Look in Isaiah 46, verse nine. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed
it, I also will do it. I love this God that you cannot
compare anyone or anything to him. who is like unto thee. Now I realize that we've all
been guilty before of what the Lord accuses Israel of. In Psalm 50, thou thoughtest
I was altogether such a one as yourself. I'm this way. I think this way. Surely God
is this way. No, he's not. No, he's not. I like what Luther said to Erasmus,
your God is too human. Now, who is like unto thee? Let
me make some statements about this. God is utterly unique. He's other. He's separate. He's in a class
by himself. He has no peers. This is what
Mike is saying when he says, who is a God like unto thee? Something that looks like a $20
bill is what? Counterfeit. Counterfeit. How much purchasing
power does it have? Zero. What about those who try
to pass it? Put them in jail. They're criminals. Trying to come up with something
that is like God is passing a counterfeit. Now in this passage of scripture,
Micah describes the incomparable God. Now what is meant by the
incomparable God? The supreme, the matchless, the
ultimate, The unequallable, the unmatchable, the unrivaled, the
unparalleled, the unsurpassed, the final, the absolute, the
perfect sovereign. And he gives us a description
of the God that is. And if my God is not this God, I worship an idol. If my God is not this God, the
God who's described in Micah chapter seven, who is likened
to thee, I don't worship the living God. Now let's look at
where he begins. Who is a God, Micah 7, 18, who
is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity. Now here's the first thing he
has to say with regard to the living God. He pardons iniquity. Now pardon is forgiveness. This
is where salvation begins. A counterfeit God and a counterfeit
gospel ends with the forgiveness of sins. The true gospel, the
living God, begins with the forgiveness of sins. You hear a preacher say, if you're
sorry for your sins, and if you repent of your sins, and if you
turn from your sins, and you ask Christ into your heart and
accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you will achieve and
have and be given the forgiveness of sins. That's all counterfeit. There
isn't a drop of truth to that. That is a message of salvation
by works. If there's something you need
to do in order for you to have the forgiveness of sins, there's
no hope for you and there's no hope for me. That's a false message. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, the living God, begins
with the full, free, complete forgiveness of sins. Nothing
you do to get it. It begins with the forgiveness
of sins. I love Revelation 13, eight,
Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before the creation, we have the Lamb slain. And the Lamb
slain accomplished the forgiveness of sins before I was even born. And that's teaching of scripture.
The God who is, is the God who begins. with the complete full
forgiveness of sins. Now here's what that means. Listen
to me. There's nothing you need to do in order to get him to
forgive you. If you think there's something
that you need to do in order for God to be able to forgive
you, you've got a counterfeit God and a counterfeit gospel. 2 Timothy 1.9, he saved us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. And that includes the forgiveness
of sins. Who is a God likened to thee
that pardoneth iniquity? and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. The living God who is not a counterfeit
is a God who passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. Now, who is the remnant of his
heritage? Let's talk about the elect, the remnant according
to the election of grace. Now, any message that does not
extol the electing mercy of God is a counterfeit message. He
passes by who? The transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. The remnant is always used to
describe God's people. The remnant according to the
election of grace. Paul says in Romans chapter 11,
now understand this, salvation is of the Lord. And if your sins
are forgiven, it's because he chose you before time began to
be saved. And he passes by your transgressions
for Christ's sake. Well, is that good news to you?
Are you glad it's that way? I am. He passes by the remnant
of the transgression of his heritage. Now election is God's choice
of his people before time began for them to have forgiveness,
for them to have complete salvation. And that's the God Micah describes. He passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. Any message that does not exalt
and extol the electing mercy of God, counterfeit message. You cannot preach the gospel
and not preach God's electing grace. Absolutely necessary for
salvation. And what does he do with the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He passes it
by. Now what's that mean? Well, I
know what your mind is thinking. If you're familiar with the scriptures,
you think of that passage of scripture. When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now, any message that does not
extol the sufficient sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
said, when I see the blood, I will. Passover you. You remember the
Passover when the lamb was slain, blood put over the door, God
comes in judgment and he says, when I see the blood, what was
he looking for? He didn't say, when I see your faith, he didn't
say, when I see your sincerity, he didn't say, when I see your
repentance, he didn't say, when I see anything with regard to
what you do. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now, think about this. Was there anybody, let's say
somebody in one of those houses committed some horrible sin that
very day. If they were in the house with
the blood over the door, let me ask you a question. Were they
safe? Were they secure? You see, if Christ died for you,
you must be saved. And that's the God that is the
true God, the God who passes by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. And a message that does not clearly
set this forth is a counterfeit message. Now, back to our text
in Micah chapter seven, Verse 18, who is of God likened to
thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? Look what it says next. He retaineth
not his anger forever. Now what's that mean? He retaineth
not his anger forever. Hold your finger there and turn
to Isaiah 54. Verse seven, this is God speaking. He says, for a small moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee in
a little wrath. Now that word little, there's
no such thing as little wrath. That word is the outpouring of
my wrath. I'm not real sure why it was
translated a little wrath. It's in about every other translation,
the outpouring of my wrath. In the outpouring of my 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. Now on
the cross for a time, Christ was forsaken. He said, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And you know who else was
forsaken? I was. in him. I got what I deserved. He poured
his wrath out upon Christ. He poured his wrath out upon
me. But now because his wrath has been poured out, he's not
angry with me anymore. He's pleased with me. He's pleased
with every believer. He says, there's no fury in me.
Now this is the God who is He retaineth not his anger forever. And here's why. Because he delighteth
in mercy. The God that's not a counterfeit.
is the God that delights in, takes pleasure in, loves to show
mercy. Now this concept, mercy, is going
to be meaningless to me and meaningless to you unless I am personally
guilty before God. My sin is all my fault. I can't blame it on somebody
else. I can't blame it on my genetics. I can't blame it upon
my circumstances. I can't blame it upon my upbringing.
I can't blame it upon my environment. My sin is all my fault. And I stand guilty before God. Now, whenever I hear people raising
objections to the gospel, How could it be fair for God to elect
some and not to elect everybody? How could it be fair for Christ
to not die for everybody and only die for the elect? How could
that be fair? Now, what you mean by that is
God owes you salvation. that it's wrong if he passes
you by. That's what is meant by that.
And someone who takes that stance has really never stood guilty
before God. Guilty as charged. If God passes me by and sends
me to hell, just and holy is his name because he's right.
Whatever he does is right. Now, whenever you find a person
like that guilty before God, That's the person God chose mercy
to. Nobody else. Nobody else. But he delights
in mercy. That's his character. He delights
in mercy. If you're guilty, now listen
to me. If you're guilty, he's more willing to show you mercy
than you are to receive it. Now think how much you're willing
to receive mercy. I want mercy, don't you? He's
more willing to give. then you are to receive it because
he delights in mercy. That is the God that is. And
a God that is not like this is a false God. He's a man-made
God. He's a man-concocted God. This
is the God who is, he delighteth, he enjoys, he takes pleasure
in giving mercy. You find me a guilty sinner.
And I'll find you somebody God delights to show mercy to. As a matter of fact, there's
never been anybody in the history of the universe who asked God
for mercy that he said no. Somebody says, well, I've asked
him for mercy, he didn't do anything for me. You didn't ask him for
mercy. I don't know what you were doing, but it wasn't asking
for mercy. You were trying to strike some kind of deal with him, bargain
with him. God, if you do this, I'll do that. That's not asking
for mercy. You only ask for mercy when you're
guilty as charged. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Everyone who comes like that,
he gives mercy to. Now you'll have mercy if you
come as a sinner, guilty, self-condemned, guilty as charged. You will have
mercy because he delights in mercy. But it says in verse 19, he will turn again. Not he will if, he will turn
again. He'll not turn away from us to
do us good, He'll turn to us. I love what David said. Turn
now unto me and have mercy upon me for I'm desolate. My soul
is afflicted. Oh, turn unto us again. He will
turn now me and I'll return now me according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Hide not thy face from thy servant.
I'm in trouble. He will. He'll turn. He'll turn
to you. Have you ever felt like God has
turned away from you? Sure you have. Sure you have. Well, here's the promise. He
will turn toward you. He will turn again. And you know what he's going
to do? He's going to cause you to say, turn to me. Turn to me. Oh Lord, turn to me. Turn us
again. Turn me to yourself. Everybody
that he turns toward, here's what they're gonna start crying,
Lord, turn to me. Turn me to you. But here we have
this promise. He's the Lord who turns. He turns
to me again and again and again. And he turns me to himself, to
where I look to Christ only. Now this is the God who is, the
God that no one can be compared to. The one who turns, he will
turn again. He will, verse 19, he will. Notice the absence of the word
if. It doesn't say he will have compassion on us if we fill in
the blank. No, he will have compassion upon
us. He will show us his favor. Everybody
who's guilty, everybody who needs mercy, everybody who is one of
the elect. Everybody who there only is hope
is that he passes by transgression and forgive sin at the beginning,
if that's you. If you have to have the forgiveness
of sin simply because he declared it rather than something you
do in order to get him to respond to you. If you know your only
hope is for him to completely forgive you of your sins for
Christ's sake, then he will have compassion on you. He already
has. He already has. He said, I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And I'll show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. And oh, how great are his compassions,
his grace, his favor. He will have compassion, tender
mercy. grace for the guilty. And this
is, he will, I love the I wills of God. He will have compassion
upon us. And look at this next promise.
He will subdue our iniquities. Now, how much power do you have
to subdue one sin? Be honest. How much power do
you have to subdue one sin? And let me answer that for you.
Zero. Zero. You can't subdue your iniquities. Can the leopard change his spots?
No. Can you do good or accustomed
to doing evil? you and I do not have any power
to subdue our sins. That's just the truth. I'm telling
you the truth. In Matthew 1 21, we have this
promise that I shall call his name, Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. Is that what you need to to be
saved from your sins. I can't subdue. I can't do anything
about them. I can't put them away. Somebody
said stop sinning. I can't. I can't. Or are you making an excuse for
sin? No, I'm not. But I'm just talking about the
facts right now. I can't subdue any sin. But we
have this promise, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins, from the penalty of their sin.
I'm never gonna have to pay for it, from the power of their sin.
You know, there was a time when I had no love for God. I do now. Why? I've been saved from the power
of sin. There was a time when I didn't even know what faith
in Christ was. Didn't know what repentance was. I'd hear the
terms, but I had no understanding of them. Had no ability to believe. Had no ability to repent before
God. I do now, because I've been saved
from the power of my sin. There was a time when I had no
love for God. And as He is my witness, I love
Him now. And I'm not just talking about a love that's in word only. I want to know him. I want to
honor him. I want to rely on him. I want to love him more. I want to love him in a in a
real way, not just talking, but in a real way that proves itself
by generosity towards His cause, by love to Him. I want to love
Him. I want to love Him more. I love
that song we sing, more love to thee, O Christ, more love
to thee. Hear thou the prayer I make on
bended knee. I want to love Him. Why? He subdued
my iniquities in that sense. I've been saved by His grace. I now do what I once could not
do. I love Him. I see His glory. I see His honor. I love Him. He shall subdue our iniquities. And that's what Christ did. He
saved all of His people from their sins. He took my sin upon
Himself, put it away, And I've been, listen to this scripture,
Philippians chapter three, verse 21. He shall change our vile
body that it may be made like unto his glorious body according
to the working wherewith he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself. And you know what? When I read
something like this, Lord, subdue my sin. I can't, but you can. Subdue my sin. Look what it says
next. He will turn us again. He will
have compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities
and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Now, this speaks of the removal
of sin. Very important word, the removal
of sin. And when he speaks of the depths
of the sea, thou will cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea. What's the remotest place upon
this earth? I guess the Mariana Trench, the
depths of the sea. Now what this is speaking of
is the removal of sin. He'll cast their sins into the
very depths of the sea. Now I love thinking about this
because my sin is ever before me. It's ever before me. I'm always aware of it. Sometimes
more acutely than others. When we were reading that to
Psalm 19, David said, cleanse me from secret faults, faults
I don't even know about. I realized that a lot of my sins
I don't even know about, but I'm still to some extent aware
of my sin. But this speaks of the removal
of sin that will cast them off to them into the very depths
of the sea, separated from us as far as the east is from the
west. Now think about this. If I am
a believer, God has taken my sin and removed it from me, and
I don't bear it. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, has been
nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord,
praise the Lord, oh my. soul. My soul has been, my sin's
been removed from me. Christ took it upon himself. He was made to be sin and he
made complete satisfaction for it and it is gone and right now
every believer stands before God holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in his sight. How? Because their sin has been
removed. gone, separated from us as far
as the East is from the West. Now this separation from sin
is full, it's free, it's unconditional, and it's irreversible. That is
the privilege of every child of God. Sin is separated. It's what the Bible calls justification. Now, I understand this. I reckon
I ought to say this every time I preach, but if you're justified,
that means you never sinned. That's exactly what that means. If you're justified, that means
you've never sinned. It means you don't have anything
to feel guilty about. means you stand before God perfect,
holy, and blameless. Now that's what the Lord does,
the God who is. He casts our sins into the depths
of the sea. Now look what verse 20 says. Thou wilt perform Now that word
perform is in most other translations and it's what the word means.
Thou wilt give the truth to Jacob. Thou wilt give the truth to Jacob. Now this is so important. God only uses the truth. and he will give the truth to
Jacob. God does not use error. God does not use that which is
false. Why should he? He's a God of
truth. Well, he can't find anybody to
preach the truth. Yeah, I can. He can give them the truth and
cause them to preach it. God always uses the truth of the
gospel. Always. He never uses a false
gospel. He always only uses the truth. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. They that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The truth of God's true character,
the truth of man's true character, the truth of the true character
of salvation. Christ is everything in salvation. He always only uses the truth. and thou will give the mercy
to Abraham. Not only will he give the truth,
he'll give the mercy to Abraham. Now, Abraham is the father of
the faithful. He represents every believer. I was thinking about Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob being changed to Israel. God, the covenant
God is thinking of Israel. And when I think of Israel, I
don't think of the nation of Israel. You know, that piece
of real estate, the middle of East, somebody says, you want
to go, would you like to go to Israel? Well, you know, really,
to be honest, there's a lot of other places I'd rather go. Um,
I mean, if, if you give me a free trip there, I'll probably go,
but I mean, it's, there's, there's other places I'd rather go because
Israel is not that piece of real estate. Israel is all of God's
elect. Israel is every prince with God. And he will give the mercy to
Israel. That's the God who is. And it's
what he has sworn unto our fathers from days of old. It's according
to the mercy that was promised in eternity. Now, here's something
we don't understand, but we believe. God's eternal. He never began to be. He never
had a beginning point. He's eternal. Do you understand
that? No. Do you believe it? Absolutely. Somebody made all this and nobody
made him and he's eternal. He's eternal. And everything
that we have, we have eternally. The forgiveness of sins is the
eternal forgiveness of sins. Justification is eternal justification. Redemption is eternal redemption.
Everything I have, I have always had in Christ Jesus before the
foundation of the world. That's who God is. He is eternal. I love what he said in Jeremiah
31, three, behold, I've loved you. with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Now everything he promised, and
here's what is so glorious about this, that means anything you
have, there's nothing you can do to mess it up. There's nothing
you can do to mess it up. You have it in Christ Jesus from
the foundation of the world. And if you had it before time
began, you have it now and you'll always have it. Now who's a God
like this? Who can be compared to this God?
Who is a God like unto thee that pardons iniquity, that passes
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retains not
his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will turn
again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou has sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old, from eternity is what that means. Who is a God like thee? Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. How we thank you for the pardon
of our iniquities, for passing by transgression,
for retaining not your anger forever because of the cross
of thy son, that you'll subdue our iniquities
and have compassion on us. Lord, who is a God likened to
thee? Lord, I ask in Christ's name,
I ask that you would unite our hearts in prayer to ask that
you would reveal yourself to each person here according
to your will. Truly, who is a God likened to
thee? Lord, we, in our hearts, by your
grace, bow down and worship. Thou art God, and beside thee
is none else. Lord, we ask for grace to preach
your gospel in this generation. And we ask for grace to walk
with thy dear son, and to walk with one another in sweet fellowship. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
his name we pray, amen.