your Bibles to Micah 7, Micah 7. And to give honor to the word of the Lord, we'll stand as we read some verses here from Micah 7, 7 through 8. If you're able, please stand. Micah 7, 7 through 8. But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. Let's pray together. Father, we ask that you would bless this your word. Help us to put our hope, not in men, not in circumstances, but in you, O Father, that we would trust in you, that we would wait upon you, that we would watch expectantly for your salvation. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Please be seated. Some of the greatest movies of all time tell stories of heroes that are defeated, sometimes beaten down and almost left for dead, but yet still persevere and become victorious in the end. And that's somewhat of a theme, I would say, in scripture found from time to time, but it's especially a theme in today's text. gave words of great judgment in this letter, in this book. Micah 7 talks a lot about what God is doing and preparing to do. Especially here, it's giving the hope of Micah's personal salvation. But before we go there, I want us to give a little review of some of the words of judgment that the prophet was announcing. Look back at chapter 6, starting at verse 9. The voice of the Lord will call to the city, and it is sound wisdom to fear your name. Hear, O tribe, who has appointed its time. Is there yet a man in the wicked house along with treasures of wickedness and a short measure that is cursed? Can I justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights? For the rich men of the city are full of violence. Her residents speak lies and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. So also I will make you sick. striking you down, desolating you because of your sins. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, and your vileness will be in your midst, and you will try to remove for safekeeping, but you will not preserve anything. what you will do preserve, I will give to the sword. You will sow, but you will not reap. You will tread the olive, but will not anoint yourself with oil, and the grapes, but you will not drink wines." In other words, you will tread the grapes as well, but not drink the wine. The statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab are observed and in their devices you walk. Therefore I will give you up for destruction and your inhabitants for derision and you will bear the reproach of my people. mentioned here of Omri and Ahab. Omri was the father of Ahab, two of the most notorious wicked kings in the history of Israel, the northern kingdom. And of course you know Ahab married Jezebel. Ahab promoted the work of Jezebel in exalting the worship of Baal or even seeking to take the life of Elijah the prophet. But we know a little bit more of that story and how that went. Ahab was killed and his work was no more. But here we have the people of Israel, the covenant people, living in the same fashion like King Ahab. and God promised them destruction. He uses the word derision. In light of that, let's imagine Micah preaching about this coming judgment. And then someone asks Micah, Micah, what do you think is going to happen to you in the midst of all of this judgment and trial if God is going to besiege our city? Do you think you're gonna live through this? Do you think you're gonna make it, Micah? The verses that follow in today's text, verses seven through eight, I believe would be Micah's answer if someone asked him about how he would fare in the midst of trial and trouble and this even being besieged. And as we look at today's text, There's two main points. We want to see how to wait expectantly for the Lord. But secondly, to trust God will deliver you through trouble. So let's look at this first main point. Wait expectantly for God. Look at verse seven. But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. What does it mean to wait for the Lord? You might say, life is full of waiting, isn't it? Think of the situations you might have to wait for. Let's consider a single woman waiting for a spouse. Sometimes a person might have to wait 10, 15 years when they want to get married. And they might continue to wait and wait. A pregnant woman who has a child with complications. Will the child live or will the child die? Will the child be born with a major deformity? Will the child be disabled? The answer comes by waiting. A parent who hears that their company is having layoffs and they're not sure whether they're gonna have a job or not next year or even next month, they wait upon the Lord to see whether they are still able to have a job and provide for their household. A new health trouble arises. You get prescribed new medicine. You get prescribed maybe a new diet. You change some things and you wait on the Lord. You might not get another visit till next year to see if things improve. So the Hebrew here tells us that we have to wait upon God. Now the word in Hebrew for wait in some cases has been translated as hope. So you could translate it as hope. So you could translate this verse 7 as this. But as for me, I watch expectantly for the Lord. I will hope in the God of my salvation. That would be a good translation as well. Again, as you look at verse 7, notice this. This is what we would call a Hebrew parallelism. Now, I know that sounds kind of complex, but what it really means is that Hebrew, the Old Testament, likes to say something one way, and then it repeats the exact statement, yet in different words. So let me read it back to you again. I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. They're parallel. They both mean the same thing, really. But here's, we can let the first half define the second half. To wait for God is to watch with expectation. To hope with expectation. A person who's faithfully waiting upon God is waiting, expecting God to do something great. God to do some great act of salvation or deliverance. even in the midst of trouble and tribe. There's a difference between just waiting and sitting or laying in your bed, waiting and waiting and waiting, but not having any hope, not having any expectation. Maybe just waiting to die. That's not waiting for the Lord. Waiting for the Lord involves a hope or expectation in God. I want us to look at a beautiful passage. You can keep your place in Micah, but turn to Psalm 33. Psalm 33, starting at verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope. for his loving kindness to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, for our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your loving kindness, oh Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in you. So the attitude of the psalmist here is one of waiting and hoping. Now, look there at verse 22. According as we have hoped in you. You could translate that, again, same word, as waited in you. So to wait again is to hope. It's to have an expectation from God that God will care for you, God will deliver you, God will save you, even in the midst of trouble. Now, getting back to Micah, in the case of the divided kingdom, You had Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Judah, the Southern Kingdom, and both were going to get judged. Both Samaria and Jerusalem were going to be destroyed, and God was going to burn much of the city with fire, both cities with fire. He's going to take the people captive, and even Micah foretells that some of them would go to Babylon. Now, Let's again have the case of Micah. Or maybe not just Micah, but maybe other Israelites at this time. Am I going to survive the siege? Am I going to live through the famine? Because you know when you get sieged, People get surrounded, the armies surround you and they starve you out and famine happens within the gates. And then after you run out of food and water and all that stuff, then basically sickness and illness comes in and a lot of people die just even before the walls get breached. And then when the walls get breached and the enemy comes in, am I going to survive the sword of the enemy? Am I going to go to captivity? If I go to captivity, will I one day be able to return to my homeland in Israel. These were all questions that a lot of the people were wondering about. They were waiting upon the Lord. Would God spare them? Then he says, and he gives them some answers in verse eight. He says that you must trust God to deliver you through trouble in verse eight. Look at verse eight again. It's as if Micah here is speaking to someone over him, gloating over him. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. Here we have Micah foretelling him being under the oppression of an enemy. Maybe the enemy's standing over him and gloating over him and mocking him. But he has a reply for such an enemy. His reply is this. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. This beautiful verse speaks of what we call the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. God's saints fall, but those who are his, even though they fall, they might fall due to calamity, they might fall due to sin, they might fall in losing hope, and maybe fall even into despair. Yet God's saints fall, yet they will rise again. they rise up again in faith, that is. Let's turn and look at a couple of Psalms. Psalm 42. This is a passage about hoping in God, even in the midst of falling and losing hope. Psalm 42, we look at toward the end. Psalm 42, starting at verse nine. I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me. Like they stand over me, they gloat, just like with Micah. While they say to me all day long, where is your God? Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 43. Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and upon the lyre. I shall praise you, O God, my God. Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 43 especially begins with being oppressed by an ungodly nation, being overtaken by deceitful and unjust men. And then the resolution is that despite them being oppressed, them being struck down, they hope in God. So here's the thing. Someone who places their hope in God to deliver them through trouble, they can say like the psalmist, I shall yet praise him. Yeah, I'm in despair now, I'm down, I'm depressed, I'm discouraged, yet I shall yet praise him. The language in verse eight, getting back to Micah seven, the language in verse eight says it's kind of reminiscent of Psalm 23. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light unto me. I can say even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, a dark, dreary valley where people even fear for their own life, I know that you are with me. I fear no evil. Your rod and your staff, they will comfort me. So when you go through dark times in this life, you have to realize God promises that his light will be with you. You could say like Micah, I know that even though I dwell in darkness, God's light is with me. Now, one last thing. If you look at today's text, it says, though I fall, I will rise. The New Testament word for resurrection is a, we call it a compound Greek word. It means to stand up. And to stand up is a picture of the resurrection. Even though some who are Hebrews, who were going to bear the worst punishment of all, maybe even fall by the sword, yes, even though they would fall by the sword, By faith, they can be assured, yes, I will rise again. Though I fall, I will rise again at the resurrection. Job said, as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, he will take his stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold. and whom my eyes will see and not another, my heart faints within me." Job 19, 25 and following. Job could say, by faith, though I fall, yet I shall stand. Job's enemy was the evil one, the devil, and he sought to gloat over Job. He sought to exalt himself over Job. Yet, Job could say, even though my enemy is over me and seeks to delight over me, I know that my God shall deliver me Even though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light unto me. I will tell my enemy who seeks to gloat over me, though I fall, I will yet rise. Psalm 118.6 says, The Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do to me? What can man do to us if we rest in our salvation in Jesus Christ? Yes, they may hurt us, they may insult us, and in some cases, in the worst possible trials, some even destroy the body. But don't fear him who could destroy the body, but fear him who can destroy body and soul and health. But fearing God and receiving the salvation offered through His Son, Jesus Christ, we can know that God is for us. And because God is for us, who can be against us? Because God did not only give us His only begotten Son, He gave us His Holy Word, His assurance that He will guide and lead us down the path of salvation. He has delivered us, and Him who has delivered us through His beloved Son, how much more will He not also give us all things necessary for our salvation, for our life here and now, and for our salvation? So next time you read in Scripture, where it says, or wait upon the Lord. To wait upon the Lord is to place your hope expectantly upon God, but also to trust that he will deliver you through trials and troubles, because God will be with you and he will never forsake you. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have promised us that even though enemies may seek to rejoice over us, that though we fall, yet we shall rise. Though we dwell in darkness, we know that you are our light. Help us, we pray, to imitate the faith of this saint of old, even Micah, this godly man. And even when trials and troubles and judgments come, help us to trust that we will yet stand, even though we may fall. Help us to hope Entirely and fully in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation that in that great trouble and trial that he will deliver us from our sins and To grant us that heavenly home which comes only through him and his perfect work For we ask all these things in the name of Jesus our Lord Amen For our closing hymn, let's turn to 397, Breathe On Me.