The prophet Micah’s name means, “Who is like God”? Micah’s ministry was closely linked to answering that question. What does God love? What does He hate? What does He require? How does He evaluate culture? What is it that draws His wrath? How do you understand His mercy? What words are used to describe Him? In short, “Who is like God”? The answer is that no one is like God. He is holy and in every way different from us.

Let's pray. Lord, I praise you again for your holy word, for its beauty, for its power, for its applicability, for the way it rescues, the way it shines lights deep within our souls to help us to understand who we are where we're going to understand the world and all that we see in it Lord now I pray that you would give us a time of entering into the knowledge of your will. Amen. Well the book of Micah is before us now. I don't know if you've noticed in our studies of the Minor Prophets that a man's name means something.

Often a prophet's name really defines his whole life, and that's true in this case here. Names are significant in the Bible. You remember Methuselah, the oldest human being who ever lived on earth. His father Enoch gave him a name and his name meant when he dies it will come. So when Methuselah died 969 years after he was born, the flood came upon the earth that same year and his name pointed to the great judgment of God.

Now, the prophet Micah was also given a name by his parents. That was very significant. And his name means who is like God. So in this book, we encounter the whole thrust of his ministry exemplified by his name. And what we find is that he identifies his ministry and his message explicitly by His name, and we'll see that later on.

We see it at the end of the prophecy where it's really clear that Micah loved his name and he identified with it. In chapter 7 verse 18 we read, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. So his very name who is like God really is his own description of the center of his prophecy. So his name and his prophecy in His life are all interconnected.

What we'll find as we read the book of Micah is that he has a very profound sense of the holiness of God and this is why Micah wails over the pains from the sin that has overcome the people. He says in chapter 1 verse 8, therefore I will wail and howl. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches. Why?

Verse nine. For her wounds are incurable, for it has come to Judah. It has come to the gate of my people to Jerusalem. Why was Micah so broken? It was because he knew God.

He understood who God was and what He was like. This is the most important thing in life is to know God and to be known by God. It was said of Abraham by the Lord, I have known him in order that. Knowing God and knowing the purpose of your life is so important. And so this theme, who is like God, is the theme of Micah.

Or, you know, who is like Jehovah? You know, what does he love? What does he hate? What does he require? How does he evaluate world events?

How does he understand culture? What is it that draws his wrath? How do you understand his mercy? What words do you use to describe him? In short, who is like God?

You'll find that Micah answers all these questions, and the answer that Micah gives really is no one is like God. He's holy. He's unutterably different. And while we're not like God, we do know what He wants from us. And those are two things that you'll find as you read this amazing prophecy.

And I think it's important to ask this question of all of us. What is God like to us? How do we perceive Him? When we think of God, what are the images that come to mind? And this prophecy will help us to think rightly about God.

So to whom did he prophesy? Well, he spent most of his attention on Judah, but he spoke both to Samaria and Judah, and he in many ways treats the nations the same. He was personally familiar with the rulers of the nation. He lived in a little agrarian town called Morosheth, which was west of Jerusalem, between the city of Jerusalem, about halfway between there and the sea. And you'll find some of the same language of Isaiah when he was a contemporary of Isaiah.

Some people have called Micah Isaiah in miniature, and if you read it you'll see some of the same patterns and some of the same words that you find in the book of Isaiah. And the historical context for his prophecy is that Israel is in the midst of enormous travail. First of all, her leaders were just concerned about themselves. We learn a lot about that in Isaiah where we see this entire collapse of manhood in the society. And the second problem was that Assyria was rattling its sabers against these nations.

Tiglath-Pileser III, Shalomineser V, Sargon, Sennacherib, these were all Assyrian rulers that were always afflicting the people of God, and they were exacting tribute, they were sending threatening messengers to Judah, particularly in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Remember the Rab Shaka, you know, sent over to scare everybody to death. You remember Ahaz, the idolatrous king who would not listen to the prophet Isaiah. And then you remember Hezekiah, the king who did listen to the prophet Isaiah. So Micah is in that same historical zone that Isaiah is.

When did he prophesy? The time of writing is probably 740 BC to 695 BC, and of course he prophesied during the time of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel. Remember the kingdoms have been divided. You have the northern kingdom of Israel, or it's also called Samaria, and then you have the southern kingdom of Judah. And of course Micah lives in Judah, but he speaks to both.

One of the most remarkable things about this prophet is that it appears that he prophesied for 53 years, from 740 B.C. To 687 B.C. And we learn from Jeremiah 26 verses 18 through 19 that Micah's preaching had a profound effect on Hezekiah himself. So Isaiah was not the only prophet speaking to Hezekiah. He also had this man, Micah.

And the context of Jeremiah 26 where we learn about Micah speaking to Hezekiah is that Jeremiah is preaching the word of the Lord and guess what? The people want to kill him. And then some men stood up and they told the people to remember Micah who prophesied to Hezekiah and the good that came from it. So people remembered the prophecy of Micah to Hezekiah. Jeremiah lived just before and right during the captivity.

So Jeremiah would be over a hundred years past Micah, but the people still remembered Micah in Jeremiah's day, and they reminded the king and the people of what good things happened when Hezekiah actually listened to a prophet and changed his life and the blessing that came as a result of it. Things to look for. As you read through this prophecy, I just encourage you to try to track the contours of the thoughts for your own soul by looking for certain things. Look for what sins he denounced, because when a prophet denounces a particular sin, it should cause us to go inward. It shouldn't cause us to say, oh look at how terrible these people were.

It should cause us to ask, is there any way that this sin has taken root in my own life? So it might be helpful just to have a piece of paper next to you and write down the sins and the kinds of sins that are there and ask, Lord, do a scan on my heart. Search my mind. Help me to see if any of these things exist in me. And in doing so, the reading of the prophet will have a cleansing effect on your life.

It'll have a humbling effect, and it'll help you to see who you really are. It'll help you to see the righteousness of God and His holiness. And you'll see who is God. What is He like? And you can often discern what He's like by looking at the sins He denounces.

The second thing I'd encourage you to look for is the beauty of the Lord. All scattered through here are declarations of the matchless beauty of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Also notice Israel's failures. Ask questions like this, what does God demand of us? Or what is love?

You know, one way you can learn about love is by seeing what God commands, because all of his commands are love, and all the sins that he denounces destroy love. So you can learn a lot about love through the commands and through the sins that he denounces. Also ask this question, how does sin affect these people? What does it do to them? You're gonna read a lot about miseries of people.

All miseries can be traced to sin, and you'll see various categories of miseries that are there. You might, on that same sheet of paper, write down various kinds of miseries, and you can easily say, when my heart turns away from the Lord, I'm headed to one of these miseries, perhaps, So be careful. Some key verses, I've got them listed there for you in your outline in item number five. Chapter one, verse two, we see that God is the witness of everything. In chapter two, verses 12 through 13, we see Christ as the breaker.

We'll talk about that later. Fascinating thought there. In chapter 6 verse 8, we learn about the Lord who shows what He requires. He tells us what He loves to see in us. If you've ever wondered, you know, what kind of person ought I to be, there's a very short list here in Micah 6-8 that will help you see what's beautiful in the sight of the Lord and what He requires of His children.

And then in chapter 7 verses 2 through 6, you'll see the impact of sin on men. Men are affected in very profound ways by sin, and you'll see what happens to a man when sin takes hold of him. And then in chapter 7 verse 8 you'll read about the light that comes after the darkness. That's really important. This is a way that God works.

Light comes after the darkness. You might be in deep darkness or feel that maybe you're in the deepest darkness of any time in your life. You might feel like you may be slipping into darkness, but recognize this, that often the light shines in the darkness, and there is light after darkness. God will see to it that the sun will come out again, and if you understand that, you can have perseverance through the trials that you're in the midst of. And then finally, this critical passage of Scripture that really explains the thrust of the whole book in chapter 7 verses 18 and 19.

Who is like you, O God? Who is like you, O God? And then there's this beautiful description. Okay, let's get into the book now. I'd like to tell you about how the book is structured first, and then we'll just kind of walk through.

I'll stop by some of my favorite places in the book, and you can see some of the basic elements of the message. Now Micah can be divided into four parts, and the first part spans from chapters 1 to 3. And in these chapters, You'll have a picture of a nation, a people, and collapse. You'll see what failure looks like. And then the second section is in chapters 4 through 5.

And here the sun comes out and it's a picture of restoration, the future glory, and pictures of what God does to sinners. What is his effect on people? It's a very beautiful picture. And then the third division begins in chapter 6 verse 1 and continues through chapter 7, verse 6. And here are calls for repentance.

And there are two calls for repentance. The first is in chapter 6, verses 1 through 16. And there's a call to repentance and then Micah's reply. And then the second appeal, or call to repentance, is in chapter 7 verses 1 through 6. And then the fourth section is a promise of restoration, and that's in chapter 7 verses 7 through 20.

So let's begin here at the beginning of the prophecy in chapter 1 where we see the failure of the nation. Now let's look at the first verse because it sets up the whole prophecy. The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Morashath in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem." Here we see that God sees. God is a witness. And what does he see?

He sees absolutely everything. The Apostle Paul spoke of this in 1st Corinthians 3, 13, when he said that each man's work will be made manifest because God will reveal it. God will reveal everything. Nothing is ever really done in secret. There is this idea of secret sins, but they're not really all that secret to God.

They are secret to others. But God sees. And also notice here in this first verse, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom are mentioned. Samaria and Jerusalem. So right off the bat, we see who he's talking to.

Remember he's in the southern kingdom. He's halfway, you know, between Jerusalem and the sea in Judah and he's prophesying to both. In verse 2 we read, Hear all you peoples, listen, O earth, and all that is in it. Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple. And this just affirms the whole matter that's before us in these first two verses that God is watching, And he's actually speaking to people as if God is not holy and that He's not watching.

And he sets this straight right at the beginning. God is watching and God is holy. Now, if God was just watching, that should be enough to get our attention. But because God is holy, and He is watching, that should escalate our concern for everything that we do. And this should cause us to examine all the steps of our feet.

Are there any steps of our feet that we would rather God not see? We think that He doesn't see, We act like He doesn't see. We go and we do whatever we want and we say whatever comes to our mind. It's as if God doesn't see. But here, the prophet lays it out very clearly right at the beginning that God does see and He is holy.

And then in verse 3, he speaks about that God's active. He's not just sitting in heaven holy. He is coming out of his place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. In other words, he's going to come and he's going to tread down and destroy the idolatry.

High places are equivalent to idolatry. And then verse 4, the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. And then in verse 5, there's a definitive statement as to what is the heart of the problem with the people in Judah and in Samaria and it might surprise you what the heart of that problem is. Verse 5, all this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. And then there's this question that makes it very clear.

What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? And here we find what is the headwaters of every sin.

It's the matter of worship. What he's saying here is that the transgression of Jacob, the watershed transgression lies in his worship. And in the Northern Kingdom there was man-invented worship. In Jerusalem, it was the same thing. Man-centered, man-invented worship is a reflection of a heart that doesn't want God.

And so because a person doesn't want God, he worships any way he wants. He defines everything his own way. And because he's defined his worship according to his own way, then the door is open for him to define everything his own way. And now man becomes his own God. He's made up his own worship.

Now he can make up his own work life. He can make up his own way he's going to engage his marriage, his relationships, everything. It's a picture of autonomous man. How we worship shows our autonomy or our love for dependence upon God. But in this phrase, what is the transgression of Jacob?

This reveals the heart of the matter, and Micah, he goes right down to the very center of the heart problem of man, and you can always see it in his worship. And then after this in verse 6, you see the destruction of the northern kingdom at the hands of Assyria. Again, we find ourselves with a front-row seat of the problems that were going on in these two nations. Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, places for planting a vineyard. I will pour down her stones into the valley.

I will uncover her foundations." This is a picture of destruction. And then after Micah explains not only the heart of the problem, but also the consequences of destruction. Then he expresses his own feelings about it. And here we find Micah as a tender-hearted shepherd Who's broken for the brokenness of his people look at verse 8? It's a picture of Micah's grief Therefore I will wail and howl I will go stripped and naked I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches for her wounds are incurable for it has come to Judah it has come to the gate of my people to Jerusalem So Micah is grieved over the whole matter, and there's tremendous pressure from the outside by the Assyrians.

Look at verse 13. O inhabitant of Lachish! Now, what is Lachish? Lachish was a very prominent city in Judah, and Lachish was attacked by Assyria, viciously attacked, and there's actually quite a significant and detailed record of the battle for for Lachish. But look at verse 13, "'O, inhabitant of Lachish, harness the chariot to the swift steeds!' She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you." There are a number of things to notice in verse 13.

First of all, there's an appeal to mount up the chariots to do battle. But why did they have so many chariots? Because they didn't trust God. He says it right here, she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion. Lakish was a picture of the use of military might without trusting in the Lord.

And that was the sin. It says, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. What were those transgressions? Well, All transgressions can be traced to not trusting God, to not being content in God, to wanting something better than God, and that was the sin of Lakish. Now the Syria did come against Lakish.

The temple in Nineveh documented the battle at Lakish. Sennacherib built an elaborate temple to his gods there, and he adorned it with carvings and obelisks and all kinds of things that would describe the victories that he experienced and how just what a great and powerful ruler he was. The temple at Nineveh was really designed to praise Sennacherib And you can actually see a part of this temple in the British Museum today. A very long hallway is dedicated to the Battle of Laikesh, and these remarkable reliefs showing really detailed elements of the battle with soldiers with spears and the chariots themselves, and people dying, people bleeding. It's really graphic in this really long relief in the British Museum.

If you ever get to go to London, go to the British Museum and you can see it. Here's what the British Museum doesn't tell you about Lakish that we learn here. Lakish was a corrupting influence. Her lack of trust in God, her desire to make a name for herself, was a great sin that God confronted, and God finally destroyed Lakish at the hands of the Assyrians. Now, I think that this first chapter is designed to say a number of things, among which is get ready.

If you think that God is not holy and that God is not looking, then you need to think again. And you know in verse 16 you see all these terrible results. Make yourself bald and cut your hair because of your precious children. Enlarge the baldness, your baldness like an eagle, for they shall go from you into captivity." In other words, God is looking and God is holy. And when you see your travail, understand that God sees.

So that's chapter one. And then now chapter two is a picture of their wickedness, and you see the depths of their sin. And remember, as you read this, try to document in your own mind the things that God hates, because he's very detailed. He begins with The depths of sin and where you find it. How do you discern that your heart is straying from the Lord?

Verse 1, woe to those who devise iniquity, who work out evil on their beds. At morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. There's a really beautiful and graphic image here laying on your bed. You're laying on your bed. I picture it as, you know, coming to bed at night and what's going through your mind when you lay down?

You know, this is something that all of us do every day. We lay down to sleep. We put ourselves in the position to sleep. And, you know, what do you think about when you fall into bed? Do you cry out to God?

Do you fall into His arms when you fall into bed? Do you confess your sins? Do you seek your refuge in Christ? Do you close out the day with the songs of deliverance from the Word of God? That's such a wonderful thing to do.

I love crawling into bed at night. It really is a time of solace, and it is somewhat a time of reflection, although I have found that I often go to sleep before all that much reflection happens. But falling into bed at night is a wonderful opportunity. You know, to read something out of the Word of God, now I lay me down to sleep with these words. But that's not what he's talking about here.

He's talking about people, they work out evil in their beds. They're a cauldron of turmoil and dissatisfaction when they fall into bed. They're gnashing their teeth at what happened and maybe the people are their dissatisfaction and their lack of solace in God. They want more than they got, and they're not satisfied with what God has given to them. They want a world that God has not given them.

So they lay down in their beds, and they're gnashing their teeth, they're grinding. They want something, and what they want is they want evil. And verse 2 says that they covet feels and take them by violence. You know, if you lay in bed and you have covetous thoughts, just recognize. Recognize how sad that is to be that way.

Well, that's what was happening in Judah and in Samaria. The people were full of longings for things that weren't theirs. Interesting note in verse 9, there's the treatment of women. You can tell society by its treatment of women. Are women protected?

Are women exalted? In Christianity, women are exalted. In Christianity, the men die for the women. The groom dies for the bride. That's Christianity.

In paganism, women are used. And so we see a vestige of paganism here in verse 9 in chapter 2. The women of my people you cast out from their pleasant houses, from their children you have taken away my glory forever." This is a manifestation of a society that has departed from the beauty of the Lord. And so They treat their women poorly, and they cast them out, and they deprive them of their children. We live in a society where women are deprived of their children, either by abortion or by the great institutions that take all the children away, and they put the mother into a cubicle, and they put the children in an institution, and they separate them.

I'm here to say that that's really a violation of the love of God. But here you see this picture of this sin that's manifesting itself in its treatment of women. Then restoration is promised in chapter 2 verse 12. The sun comes out again in verse 12. I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob.

I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make a loud noise because of so many people." So here is a declaration that God is going to gather His people. It's the remnant He's gathering, His sheep. He's going to bring them together.

And then verse 13 says, the one who breaks open will come up before them. They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it. Their king will pass before them with the Lord at their head." Now check this image here. This is fantastic. There's one who breaks out.

He breaks out through the gate. He crashes the gate. Did you see that? And then The king will pass before the sheep with the Lord at their head. So there's one who breaks open.

He's the breaker, okay? This is the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, it says the one who breaks open. How many words is that? One, two, three, five words.

It's actually one Hebrew word, paratz, the one who breaks open. The word is almost always used in a dramatic military situation where something is being broken with a dramatic power. And you see this word in First Chronicles 1411. There are many references, that's one of them. But this is about the breaker, and commentators view this in two different ways.

Some see it as this ram, this breaker with big horns that crashes through the gate and sets the captives free. You know one time when I was a little boy, I was in my grandfather's sheep pen and I don't know if I was four or five years old but he had a huge Ram and it was actually a pretty mean Ram and I was standing in the middle of all the sheep and this Ram came across the pasture and came right at me and butted me down and sent me flying and I'll never forget my grandfather punishing that ram and he actually hit the ram on his head with a crowbar but it didn't do much. You don't stop giant rams with huge curling back horns with a crowbar that's three-quarters of an inch thick. You don't do that. And I picture that this is the breaker.

He breaks that. You can't stop him at all. This is the breaker, and he triumphantly leads his flock into the open pastures in order to graze. He's the breaker. Others think of the breaker as a shepherd who's...he still, he sets his sheep free, he walks among them and the sheep are milling around his legs and that type of thing, and then he moves aside the things that are the obstacles to keep them, you know, from the pastors.

I rather like the more aggressive breaker in the story, but whatever. It's a picture of Jesus Christ who breaks through the bondage and he sets you free, and you follow him. And where do you follow him? You follow him to green pastures and still waters There are many breakers breaker like personalities in the Bible Moses was a breaker. He led the children of Israel out of bondage.

Joshua was a breaker. In the book of Judges, Deborah and many of the judges were breakers. Hezekiah, Josiah, all the prophets were breakers. Elijah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and this prophet here Micah. He was like a breaker.

But there is one great breaker who breaks everything for good and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And the most important question after reading a verse like this is, is He the breaker for you? Is He broken through and has He taken you? Or are you still stuck as a captive in the sheepfold? Well, so the breaker.

You know, if you forget everything about Micah, don't forget the breaker. Now when we get to chapter 3, there are sins that are listed here, and there are sins of those in authority. And the Word of God is constantly revealing the sins of those who are in authority. And there are various authorities that God gives. And the truth is everybody has some kind of authority, but he mentions various authorities here and how they are sinning.

And again, as you're going through, consider the various sins and ask yourself, in the realm that I have authority, are any of these part of my life? Don't exempt yourself. You know, if you're not a father or if you're not a civil leader or a prophet, don't just dismiss this. Think about it in terms of your own life. Verse 2, you who hate good and love evil, who strip the skin of my people and the flesh from their bones." Now these are heads of Jacob in verse 1 and rulers of the house of Israel.

I think this is representative of a range of civil and social leaders that are in the culture, And I believe it might likely include fathers and mothers who are an authority over their households, but they are those who have a rulership role. And you notice sort of the brutality of these leaders. They eat the flesh of my people, verse 3. They flay their skin from them. This is a picture of rulers who do damage to the people of God.

You know, if it happens in our country that there is a devouring of the leaders of the church of Jesus Christ, go back and read this. You'll find that this has happened before, but you have a breaker, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of the brutality, these people are not heard in their prayers. Verse 4, "...but he will not hear them." This is one of the great tragedies of rebellion. Is that why you still cry out to God he doesn't hear you?

You know, some of the most wicked people pray the most, but God doesn't hear them. And then When it comes to the prophets, they get no answers from God. Verse 5, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets, who make My people astray, who chant peace while they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against Him who puts nothing into their mouths. These are people who are just serving themselves and they punish anyone who does not keep their prosperity going. Therefore you shall have night without vision.

You've heard of night vision? You know a friend of mine brought over a night vision camera the other night. It was really remarkable you could see at night with a night vision camera. But here is a picture of prophets who can't see in the night at all. They can't see anything, and that's what happens.

And then, they were appointed to declare the sin of the nations, but they did not do it. Verse 8 really speaks of one element of the ministry of a prophet or a minister of God, to declare to Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sin. This is one of the most difficult and often unseemly responsibilities of a pastor. He's been deployed by God to point out sin. He has to do it.

And when he does, he knows he's also a sinner, but he has to point out the sins of the flock. And I know that, you know, in our life together you hear different elders pointing out various sins, our sins. Don't be offended by that. These men are just doing their job, and they must do it, and if they don't, they find themselves like these false shepherds who are in Judah and Israel, and there's a great travail that comes on the people of God as a result of refusing to deal with the sin of the people. And he speaks here of the various sins of accepting bribes and how they're really just motivated by their own gain.

And because they're motivated by their own gain, they don't speak of sin. It says here, her priests teach for pay. You know what that means? They don't talk about sin because they want the pay to keep coming. Once you start talking about sin, people will cut off their support.

So you know, ministers need to be very careful that they don't quit talking about sin, because if they do, they might find themselves in this category. They're just doing what they're doing for pay. They're afraid to offend. They're afraid to talk about sin, because as it says in verse 11, her priests teach for pay and her prophets divine for money, and that is the reason they don't talk about sin. So then we get into chapters 4 through 6.

This is this picture of future glory after the darkness light, okay? And so there's this restoration of Zion, and it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills." Now these verses are reminiscent of what we've read in the prophet Isaiah. Many nations will come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for out of Zion the law shall go forth and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This is a beautiful picture of people from the nations streaming to the mountain of the Lord. They want teaching.

He will teach us his ways. They long to be taught." This is one mark of a Christian. They long to be taught the Word of God. And then verse 4, there's a picture of blessing. "...But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid." You know, remember in the prophet Nahum we read about the fig tree?

The person is standing under the fig tree and the fig drops into his mouth. Here's this picture again. A man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and he'll just pick the fruit. The blessings are right there at hand. And this is a picture of the blessings that come to the people who turn to the Lord.

And no one shall make them afraid, verse 4. There's nothing like the fearlessness that true faith brings. You have no fear because the Lord is God. He's Almighty. And then there's the restoration of Israel, verse 6.

I just don't want to pass by verse 6 and 7 because there's a word in here that should really warm our hearts and teach us about the love of God. It's the word lame. Lame. In that day says the Lord, I will assemble the lame. I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted.

I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation." This is such a beautiful picture of healing, of God taking the outcasts of this world, the ones who are lame. I believe that when this term is used, it's figurative of the great weaknesses of the human soul. And also how unworthy we are, how unprofitable we are. We're lame. We can't do anything.

We can't lift a hand. We can't lift a foot. We are lame. And God takes us, the lame and the outcast. And what does He do?

He makes us strong. He changes us. And then in chapter 5, there's a picture of the Messiah. Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops. He has laid a siege against us.

They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek." I think that might be figurative of the abuse that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced before his crucifixion. They strike the judge with a rod on his cheek. It's possible, but that's what he's speaking of. And the reason I think that is because the very next verse qualifies it. "'But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be the ruler of Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting." So this is a picture of Christ coming into Bethlehem, and He is from everlasting.

He is from old. Verse 4 says, And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord. It's such a beautiful picture. Verse 6 says, they shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. Now I read that because I want to remind us again of the British Museum.

The land of Nimrod at its entrances. Now, if you go to the British Museum, you'll see these huge statues that were at the entrances of the gates of the city. And they're beautiful, they're remarkable. Remember, it wasn't very long ago that some Islamic terrorists were destroying these artifacts. They were idolatrous artifacts, that's why they were destroying them.

But they were destroying these very kinds of icons that were at the entrances of the cities of Assyria. And in chapters 6 through 9 are pleadings to the nations. God brings threatenings to the nation in verse 6. It's a call to repentance. Verse 2 says, For the Lord has a complaint against his people, and He will contend with Israel.

You know, as you look for the various sins, recognize these are the complaints of God against His people. And then there's this anguish question in verse 3. Oh, my people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you?" You know, this is the Lord pleading, how have I wearied you? Has it really been me who has wearied you?" Because he's been making a case that no, their sins are what weary them.

It's their departures that cause their downfall. And so he says, have I wearied you? And then he reminds them, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and he continues to speak about various things that he's done. And then in verse 6, we find what is critical to the entire message in chapter 6 verses 6 through 8. This is one of the most famous verses in the Bible.

We sing a song to these words. He has shown thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you." That's here. But let's take it in context, because he's talking about what the Lord requires of you. And he says, "...with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves, a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" In other words, he's asking, is it just about religious duties? Is it just about being religious and doing and doing your duties? And he says, verse 8, he has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is what the people of God should do.

We know what God is like. He's absolutely wonderful. But what should we do? And that's the focus of Micah's prophecy here. Chapter 6, verse 8.

In verse 13, we learn that there is sickness and dietary problems that God brings about as punishment. We often dismiss why God has given us physical problems. And here's a verse just to consider. Therefore I will make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat but not be satisfied." This is verse 14.

Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away but not save them. And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. This is a picture of hunger, dietary problems, not being able to be satisfied with your food. It's a kind of judgment that God brings.

And I'm not saying that every time you have this, you can know exactly what the judgment is, but when you do, you should ask, oh Lord, search my heart. What are my sins? Help me to turn away from my sin. Chapter 7, this is the final chapter in the prophecy, and here is Micah's second appeal for repentance in verses 1 through 6, and here we get to the part where we learn about what happens to men when people don't know God. When men don't know God, Verse 2, the faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men.

They all lie and wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net that they may successfully do evil with both hands. The prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, the great man utters his evil desire, so they scheme together." Now it goes on and on about the son dishonoring his father, about the daughter rising up against her mother. This is in verse 6. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

These terrible conflicts between families where there's brokenness among families. The father-in-laws, the daughter-in-laws are at each other's throats. Why does that happen? One single reason. It's departing from God.

It's neglecting to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. And then in chapter 7 verse 7 through 20, these final verses is the promise of restoration. He speaks in verse 8 of the darkness becoming light. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me." When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and this is a prefigurement of Him.

And then His restoring mercy is spoken of. Verse 18, the whole book remember is what is God like? What is God like? In verse 18 there's a definitive answer. Who is like you, O God, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." There are so many critical doctrinal words here that explain salvation. Pardon. Passing over transgression in verse 18.

Not retaining anger. Anger diffused, propitiated, made peace with. Verse 19, compassion. Subduing our iniquities. And my favorite, casting all our sins into the depth of the sea." You know, there are many illustrations of what God does with the sins of the repentant.

He puts them as far as the east is from the west. He makes them from blood red to white as snow, and here it says that He puts them in the bottom of the ocean. That's how far He has placed your sins from you. Do you feel that? Do you know that?

Do you feel the relief of that? You know, your iniquities, your weaknesses, the things that you've done wrong, you've brought them to the Lord, you've repented. Do you really feel the impact that your sins have been put in the bottom of the ocean and you're free. The breaker has broken through. He crashed through the wall.

He made a way. He dealt with your sins on the cross and he leads you to green pastures and still waters. And while you're there grazing, he tells you that he's put your sins at the bottom of the ocean. What a beautiful gospel. What a wonderful God.

Who is like God? Who is like God? No one is like God. There is no other God like Him who puts away iniquities, who is full of compassion. Behold your God.

That's the message of Micah.