This summer, our family, for the first time, got to go to Europe. And we really enjoyed heading to Germany for a family camp that we got to go to. And there were several people with our mission agency that were there. Some in preaching positions, teaching positions, others. Everybody that was there was actually from our mission organization. They're ministers in different countries, different European countries. We had people from Italy, France, Spain, Germany, here, Ireland, and so several places that gathered together. It was great. I really enjoyed it. A lot of them I'd met before. But there was a lady, Cindy Bunker, and Cindy Bunker is great. She is on staff at Baptist World Mission. financial secretary, so she communicates with us regarding finances. And so, it's a lady that we have correspondence with, and she loves to come to this. What she does, she comes and she works with the kids, and she is great with the kids. And Holly was here this past summer, my cousin working with us, and Holly got to work with her and get to know Cindy. But I'd never met Cindy, and you know in your mind, if you haven't met somebody, you kind of get an idea of what they look like. And then you meet the person and you go, you are nothing like what I imagined. And that's the way with Cindy. Cindy's great. I don't know if she'd say the same thing about me. She might have seen a picture of me before or something or had some idea of who I was. But I think she'd probably say something similar. That wasn't her preconceived idea of who Ben Shore is. If we try to form an opinion of somebody, Before knowing that person, inevitably, we're going to be wrong. There's basically no way that we're going to properly understand who that individual is. Our picture is going to be completely skewed, alright? Until we see them as they are. You know, what it is a lot of times, with regard to God, is that people have a completely wrong view of God. They have a preconceived idea of what they think God is like. And we did some evangelism this past week. Jack and I on Wednesday were down in front of his business, passing out gospel literature and just encouraging people to faith in God. And there were two men that were there, atheists. And they didn't want the flyer, but they were standing there smoking. And so they asked him, what's it about? This older lady came by. And I turned around and said, well, it's a tough audience or something. And these guys, all right, what's it about? So we started talking. And the one guy became interested a little bit and said some sincere questions. It was great. I hope you're enjoying that. But he did ask a question. He said this. He said, OK, if there is a God, why has God allowed babies to get cancer, children to get cancer and die? I explained to him the curse against man's sin, that sin is a direct result of our disobedience to God. And not just Adam and Eve's sin, the fact is we sin many times a day. But what it is, really, for that man, is that his view of God is that if there is a God, I hate him, because this is how God is, but he's got it wrong. Does that make sense? If he had a biblical understanding of who God is, It's totally different than that, when you really understand the character and the nature of God. I imagine that's the way it is for many people, that they just don't have that right view of God. You know, in our text, Micah is gonna ask a big question about who God is, and then he's gonna speak about who God is. And let me just give you a little bit of context for Micah. Micah is a prophet that is, at the same time period, I believe is Isaiah, okay? And it's an ungodly king at times, and it's an ungodly people that are in disobedience to God, as we'll see. And he has told them about their sin. Look, God is going to judge your sin. God is going to deal with your sin. Bless he in the book with no hope for Judah, Israel. that at the end he ends with taking them back to a correct view of God so that they understand who God is and gives them the hope in the character and the nature of God. And so he asks that question, you see it in verse 18. He said, who is a God like unto thee? And so my message again this morning is you need to picture God as He is. And do you picture God properly? If you were to think right now, what is my view of God? Even as we go through it, we look at these different ideas. We like to paint. Alcas taught us to paint. We've enjoyed doing that. But as you paint, you're bringing out different things, different parts of that picture. As you do that with me today and we look at a proper picture of who God is, just think about it in your heart. Did I have that wrong? Did I misunderstand that about who God is? Because it's so important for us to have the right picture of God this morning. So let's ask God to help us as we get into His Word and try to paint a correct picture of who God is. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would awaken our hearts. Father, everything in our life is impacted by the way in which we view God. And Father, I just pray that the Spirit of God help us to get it right. Lord, you are wonderful. Father, you're beautiful. You're glorious. Father, you are invaluable. Father, there's nobody that compares life unto the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And Father, I just pray as we open up the Word of God, Lord, it might be that some would understand this morning they got it wrong. They had a view of God that wasn't right. And if they had understood who God is, they would understand why he's so important to them, why he can make such a great change in their life, how he can affect that change. And so I ask, Father, please use the picture of who you are to allow us to do what the Bible says. But now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Father, may it be us being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, as we examine who God is, may it encourage us and embolden us to come to that God who is so approachable, so available. And Father, I pray that you help me as I speak. I can't speak without your help. Father, we can't listen without your help. Father, we need the Word of God to have free course in our hearts. God, it is our desire in this time to let God be God. And Father, that in this place to be a sanctified place of the presence of God. And Father, may you bless. May you guide. May you enable. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so as you picture God, first thing, picture a God of forgiveness. Picture a God of forgiveness. A God that, as it says in verse 18, it says, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? That means God forgives it. That means God has the ability to set somebody free from the judgment that is against their sin. And it doesn't mean this morning that God is okay with sin. It doesn't mean this morning that God accepts sin. It doesn't mean that God doesn't despise sin or that God is going to be lenient about punishing sin. It's just that there is the opportunity for anybody that desires it. God is willing to forgive that sin. He's a forgiving God. Psalm 130 verse 3 and 4 says, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? It's the same as in the story of a woman taking an adultery that's brought before the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus is told by these men, shouldn't she be stoned? Moses Law says this woman is a great sinner against God and she ought to be stoned. And Jesus just says, hey, he that is without sin and money, let him cast the first stone. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" And those men, beginning with the oldest down to the youngest, turned and walked out of that place because they realized that they were as guilty as that woman because they too were sinners. And see, that's the reality this morning. A God that identifies sin, identifies sin in our lives. There's not a person here this morning that is not a sinner. All have sinned and contributed to God. There's none righteous, no not one. There's not a single person here that isn't in need, as it were, as we look at this text, of God's forgiveness. because everybody stands before God guilty, and so did Israel. Remember I mentioned in Judah, this tribe of Israel had sinned greatly against God. They were far away from God. Let's consider it, you can look in your Bibles there. Turn to Micah chapter one, okay? If you want to flip back just a few pages to Micah chapter one in verse seven. Israel was in great sin against God. They were idolaters. They had committed spiritual adultery against God in turning from Him. says, and all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate. For she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot. And God's saying, I'm going to judge that. I'm going to deal with it. But the reality is, Israel is surrounded by idolatry. They had accepted that. They had adopted that. That's how far people that had been involved in the theocracy, where God was their king, God was their sole leader. God was their sole authority. They departed to a false God. That's how far their hearts had turned against God. They thought they're getting away with their sin. All right? Micah 2, verse 1, if you want to turn there, chapter 2, verse 1. It says, Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. When the morning is light, they practice it because it's in the power of their hand. And so at nighttime, God says, they lay their head on their pelt. They're thinking about the sin that they're going to commit. They get up the next day to go do it because they have the authority to do it. They have the power to do it. Specifically, they have the power to take from the poor, and rob the poor, and abuse the poor. And they're planning it, and mischievous, and then they go out and they do it. It's verse 2, they covet fields, they take them by violence, and houses, and take them away. So they oppress a man in his house, even a man in his heritage. May I ask you this morning, in your heart, are you practicing sin? Because you can see it upon your bed, you think about it, it's in the power of your hand to do it. And so you're doing that sin thinking that you're getting away with it. Just like Israel, they're far away from God as they're doing those things against God. Like our world, and so many in our world, they hated good and loved evil. Micah 3 verse 1 says, And I said, Here I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment? Verse 2, Who hate the good and love the evil. This is not very much what we find in our society currently as far as the majority of people. I'm not going to put everybody into that category because there might be some people that still side with God and say, you know, that's not right. But just think about it with regard to hating what is good. Generally speaking, a lot of people do not like people that are pro-life. Right? Somebody that would defend the lives of the unborn babies, that's not something that they're in favor of. Somebody that decides in their life they're going to be chased, that they're going to be cured, that they're going to be a virgin, that they're going to wait until marriage for the physical relationship that God has designed for marriage. Right? And people laugh at that. They mock that. They despise that. They hate the good. Sabbath keepers, you know, somebody that's going to honor God. By the way, I thought about this. This has been on my heart and mind lately. Think about the Lord's Day. Why do believers think it's okay to turn on the telly and watch hundreds of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, mocking and cursing the Lord's Day as they participate in sport? See, I mean, the idea that somebody would still think today, hey, we ought to close the shops on the Lord's Day. See, I mentioned, I'm reading these older books, and you see these preachers like William Burns going down to Edinburgh, preaching for months against the train ride that was going to open up between Edinburgh and Glasgow on the Lord's Day, and preaching against Sabbath breaking. So we're not going to go far from that, are we? So the idea that anybody would say, you know, I think we ought to honor God on the Lord's Day, that's hated. Some of that's God-fearing. Some of that is, you know, holy living. You know, we just enjoy marrying a young couple, two believers that just got saved the last year, last two years, Rebecca and Jeannie. You know they had difficulties, and we know this as a church with their family, because a lot of them don't understand what's taking place in their life. And rather than supporting them and saying, hey, that's great, you're not having alcohol at your wedding. Hey, that's great, you're not having dancing at your wedding. Rather than saying that, they despise that. They despise what's good. Bible preaching. You know how many people today stand up with this book and say, I believe this book, cover to cover, front to back, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I rejoice in that book. No, they hate it. Absolute truth, they despise it. Authoritative truth, they despise it. They hate the good. But they love the evil. You know, if somebody is sexually perverse, and they come out and say, I'm sexually perverse, everyone, it gets in the paper, it gets in the news, everyone's rejoicing, and nobody comes out and says, I'm a heterosexual and I'm painful to my spouse, and nobody gets patted on the back for that. Have you noticed? But they love the evil. There's somebody, you know, a false religion that is an idolatrous religion is lifted up in a Christian nation and Christianity is pushed down. So what is it? They love the good, they hate the evil. I'm just putting out that their day and our day is not that much different. Very similar, we see that as we go along. The religious leaders please men and not God. Micah 3.10, it says they build up Zion, Jerusalem with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Verse 11, the heads thereof judge for reward, the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. And it's this, that the priests, the judges, that everything was corrupt. It was all about money and side pocketing and getting that bribe in. And if you got the bribe in, then they would declare false judgment. And they'd say, but God is for us because we're the people of God. And I say this, Christians, and a lot of people today that think I can get away with it because I've got hell insurance. Because I'm not going to die, I'm not going to perish in a lake of fire, so I'm okay to commit that sin, because it's under the blood, because Christ died for me. It's sin. Then they were involved in occult practices. Micah 5.12, if you want to fast forward that chapter. It says, I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayer. We talked this morning in Sunday school about the works of the flesh and witchcraft being part of that. We talked about spiritism. I didn't mention Reiki, but Reiki healing is the same thing. Tarot cards, astrology, paganism, right? That's the society that they were in. You know, did God hate that? Yes. Did God, was God ready to judge that? Listen, we'll see it later in the text. God's judgment's coming. But here's the question. Character of God, picture of God, is He willing to forgive that? Yes. Isn't that awesome? Despite the fact that they're so against God. I mean that is, what we've listed right there, I mean that is against God, that is away from God, and yet God on this side says, hey I'm willing. God's a forgiving God. 1 John 1.7 says, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If you're picturing God this morning, picture a God of forgiveness. Picture a God that's willing, if you come to God and say, God, I'm sorry, I broke your law. My sin crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. God, will you forgive me? Know in your heart the answer is yes. Why? Because that's who He is. And if I don't understand that, I don't picture God as a forgiving God. I've got it wrong. Because God is a God that pardoneth iniquity. So picture a God of forgiveness. But then also picture a God of patience. It says in I think it's verse 9. It can't be, it's got to be like verse 18. Passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. We're back in chapter 7. He passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. What's that mean? Does that mean that God accepts it? That God winks at it? That God kind of turns his back on it? No. It's that God will judge that, but there's patience. It's not that God gets to that point, man's disobeyed. God doesn't go, that's it. Because again, Israel, in this tribe Judah, was so against God, so very far from God. Micah chapter 6, look back there again. Yet God hadn't destroyed them. It says in Micah 6, 9, the Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name. Hear ye the rod, okay, the judgment, and who hath appointed it. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? In the scant measure, that's abominable? Okay, they're cheating. We saw yesterday in a charity shop, a little scale. It's the tiniest scale I've ever seen. Like the kind that has the little bar. I don't know if it's for medicine or what it's for, but a little scale. Hope it wasn't for bath salt. This little scale. But God says, you've used abominable weights. The word of God in the law said use just weights. But they had figured it out, and they had wicked balances. They were ripping people off. God says, is that okay? Shall I count them pure, verse 11, with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? It's in their house, verse 10. It's the treasure of the wickedness. They got it there, okay? Verse 12 says, For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. You hear all the time, if you speak to anybody about lying, what do they say? Do you ever lie? Okay, I had someone say no yesterday, but generally people won't say no, they'll say what? Yes, and then they'll say, Little white lies. Have you heard it? But I just, I just lie to help people. Okay, well, the Word of God says it doesn't help people. Right? But they're liars. That's what's the case here. They're deceiving people. Verse 13. So therefore also will I make thee sick, and smiting thee, and making thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied. And the casting down shall be in the midst of thee, and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver. And that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Verse 15. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap. Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil and sweet wine, for thou shalt not drink wine. For the statutes of Amri Oket and all the works of the house of Ab, idolatry, okay? And you walk in their councils. Thou shalt make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof in hissing. Therefore, you shall bear the reproach of my people. And you might say, wait a second, Pastor, I thought you said God was patient. God is patient. Why? Because God would have destroyed them. God could have written off Israel. God could have said, that's it, Israel. You are so transgressed against me that it's over, right? Listen, God in His mercy is making things very tough in their lives. He is bringing chastisement upon them. They are His people. But he's not annihilating them. He's not destroying them. He's seeking to deal with the thing that has made their life miserable, and he's showing them it doesn't satisfy. He could have destroyed them. Genesis 6, 5, at Noah's day, it says, and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And I repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. For it repented me that I've made them." If in your heart you know there's sin in your life and you stand against God, know this, it's the patience of God that puts up with them. Does that make sense? It's not that God approves of that. It's not that God says that's okay. It's not that God isn't going to deal with that. It's that God is giving you time, all right? He's giving you time to look at that in your life and say, it doesn't satisfy, it's not pleasing to God, and I want to get right with God. If it wasn't for that patience thing, we'd be destroyed. Don't ever say to God, God, I want what I deserve. God, it's not fair. Listen, fair is me cast into hell for all eternity. Fair is not the Son of God crucified for my sin. Fair is not the fact that God stands pleading with me saying get saved. Fair is not Him being willing to forgive my sin and being very patient while He waits. Like the father of the prodigal who's on the porch, the prodigal son is away wasting his living, with riotous living. The father of the prodigal stands on the porch with eyes fixed on that road. He's just waiting. That's God. So your view of God is not right today if you think God is patient. God is very patient. If it wasn't for the patience of God, our condition would be hopeless without it. So if you're in sin this morning, just know it's the patience of God keeping you from God's judgment right now. Third, picture an ungrudging God. Okay, back to our text there in the end of Micah in verse 18. It says, he retaineth not his anger forever. You ever speak to somebody about forgiveness, and they're really struggling. Somebody's come to them and said, will you please forgive me? But I mean, they've gone through it. It's really been talked, and they really were wronged by that person. And you say to them something like this, you just gotta let it go, right? And we'll say to them, don't hold a grudge, right? Don't hold onto that and let it go. Look at what God says there. He retaineth not his anger forever. In other words, God isn't a grudging guy. God isn't somebody, and there's people like this, and don't be this person, because the Bible says, if you don't forgive, God won't forgive you. If you've got somebody in your heart right now, and you think, I will never forgive them, listen, God says you cannot be forgiven. But we're like that, aren't we? There's a lot of people who hold a grudge. They're bitter against somebody and they did me wrong. They don't deserve my forgiveness. Listen, nobody deserves forgiveness, right? But God isn't grudging. God isn't there today saying, you know what, I'm just going to hold a grudge. But I want to point this out. God is very much angry against sin. Notice what it says, he holdeth not his anger, what's the next two words, forever. There is anger, and it's righteous anger. It's righteous anger. Should not God despise somebody that killed his son? See, that's what our sin did. Should not God despise somebody that He loves so much, He gave life to, He gave breath to, they despise Him, they reject Him, they want nothing to do with Him. It is right for God to have anger against that sin. And so the Bible tells us in Micah 5 verse 15, I will execute vengeance and anger and fury upon the heathen such as they have not heard. Some of Micah is prophetic. It's looking ahead. It's looking ahead beyond even our day to a time the Bible calls the tribulation. And if you study the book of Revelation, what you find is that there is going to be a cataclysmic event that takes place upon the earth and it's used in modern terminology with terms like apocalypse, right? It's what Hollywood is preparing the world for, from a secular perspective, that when they look at it, they'll say it's aliens, they'll say it's zombies, they'll say it's anything but God, but it's going to be God, and it's going to be God's wrath against this earth. And God says that day is coming. where God says that hell is a fire, that it's eternal, that it's separation from God, that God is not there, that God will not be there, that anybody in hell has no hope of ever getting out of that awful place because that's the place of the judgment of God. Right? And so we know this morning, as we talk about it, we can talk about it and say God is fiercely angry, angry against sin. This past week, Hurricane Yutu, a typhoon, hit Saipan. It's the closest US territory to mainland China. There is a minister there by the name of Christian Wei. He sent us a prayer request the day before it hit, saying it's going to be bad, pray. 180 mile an hour winds. I mean, pictures of the property I've seen since then, roofs peeled back, playground equipment thrashed about. That was very fierce, right? That was an angry storm that came through there, but now that storm has passed, and there is sunshine, and I'm praying, and we ought to pray as a church for God's grace for them as they rebuild what? It got torn down. We're asking God, God help them to rebuild. You know what God wants to do in your life? God wants to use His anger to tear down your sin, to destroy your sin, and we'll see it more specifically coming up, to get rid of that sin so that by His grace you can rebuild. His anger, the Bible says it this way, Endureth but a moment, and his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. But you've got it wrong this morning. If all you picture of God is God is angry, listen, God is angry. He's justly angry, but this is the point. When you go to God for forgiveness, God takes his anger away. He's not a grudging God. He doesn't go, oh, you blew it. And listen, even when we blowed it before, and we blow it again. God doesn't hold on to that and say, well, you know, I'm just, I can't let go. God lets it go. Praise God, right? Praise God. His anger endureth but a moment. John 3.36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. See, what it's saying is, over here, unforgiving, God's wrath is like, oh, but I will say this, and I've got to go to it, the hurricane still rages right here. Until somebody gets right with God, yes, the wrath of God is here, that is correct, that is biblical, that is right, it ought to grieve you, it ought to burden you. Listen, it's going to take you to hell. God cares enough to make your life miserable about that sin until you deal with it, because God demands that you be dealt with before you can pass into everlasting life with God's forgiveness. But a correct view is that God is ungrudging, so that if I go to God, God's gonna let it go. He will. He retains not his anger forever. Picture, fourth of all, a God of mercy. And I love this verse. Think about this. He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighted in mercy. Listen, it's not just that he lets it go. He goes, I'd love to let it go. I want to let it go, right? I mean, I desire more than anything is to see that person go, hey, my sins is awful in the sight of a holy God. I want rid of that thing, right? And to go to God of mercy, and God says, hey, here's mercy. He delights to give that. If this morning you owe me a million pounds, I don't know anybody here that has the ability to pay me. All right, if you do, let me know. All right, you owe me a million pounds. And I can take you to court, and I can say, court, this person owes me a million pounds. They deserve judgment. Or I could, if I was merciful, I could say, listen, I forgive you your debt, which you owe to me, and I take away all justice against you. That's what God does. See, our sin is a great debt. We have, in our sin against God, we have made ourselves indebted to God incredibly. We can't afford to pay it. There's nothing this morning that you could do that could get yourself out of payment with God. You could go to church, you could be baptized, you could do all sorts of things that you think are religious things, and if I do enough good, surely God will accept me. God says your cash is no good. It's only the currency of heaven, which is grace found alone in Jesus Christ, right? And so in his mercy, he says, look, you can't pay your debt. It's too great. But I stand ready today to forgive your debt because of my mercy. You know the great thing about mercy is it always comes upon people that don't deserve it. That's mercy. Mercy is not earned. Mercy is not favored. Mercy is just given to somebody that cannot pay. Micah chapter 7 says the good man is perished out of the earth. And there's none upright among men. They all lie and wait for blood. They hunt every man and his brother with a net, that they may do evil with both hands earnestly." Listen, is that not a world? It's not just they want sin. It's like they want sin like this. I mean, they are grabbing hold of sin. The prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward, and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire. So they wrap it up. I'll take that. You know, they want their perversion. I'll wrap it up. Right? I'll wrap it up. Verse 4. The best of them is a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thornhenge. And you might look at that day and say, God cut him off. God destroyed him. They're so far gone. Just end it. And you're looking at a God of mercy, on the other hand. And you might think, there's no hope for that generation. But listen. We went to camp last, every year we go to men's camp in Ireland. It was on Hezekiah this past year. Hezekiah was used to God for revival for Judah. And he's the last king under which Micah served. God's gonna take them from spiritual deadness to spiritual life. Why? Because of His mercy. You might look around today, and we've emphasized it this morning, we live in a very ungodly world. You might think, what's the hope? You know, as a church, we're praying, God, give us a spiritual awakening. You know, our hope is that God's a merciful God. That in His mercy, though it's so far gone, that God's mercy is still there, and God's rejoicing. So don't picture a God that isn't willing to cancel indebtedness. Picture a God of mercy. And then, along the same lines, similar thought, picture a God of second chances. It says, and I will turn again. I will turn again. I've got second chances. Ezekiel 36.9 says, for behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown. It just means you'll be a fruitful field. You'll be a good field again. Picture the God of mercy saying, I want to turn to you, and I am for you. I am for you. Listen, that's it this morning again about God. He's a God of second chances. He's not looking at you saying, no, you had your chance. He's a God that still reaches out and turns unto his people. You know, David prayed about God turning and about people turning to God. In Psalm 60, verse 1, he said, O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased. O, turn thyself thus again. And rightly so, David realized, God, we've been against you, but oh God, turn to us again. But he also prayed in Psalm 80, and three times in that psalm, he prayed, turn us again, oh God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You know what I spoke this morning? It's this, God is against the ungodliness, and he needs to turn to us, but it's as we turn to him. It's what the Bible says when it says draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to thee. God is setting chances, but you've got to come to God to get that second chance or third chance or fourth chance. God's not going to accept anything that you want to bring. He's only going to accept you humbling your heart. Micah 6 verse 7 says, Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I gain my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? It's this, that over here it's like, what we're going to do? God is against me. God's not for me. Should I take a great sacrifice before God? And the prophet says no. Verse 8, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. You know what God desires? He's praying for somebody that wants to turn to Him. Just get right with Him. Just get right. Get honest about sin. Get honest about your life. Get honest about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for you and His resurrection from the dead. Get honest about your need for His grace. And God says, that's what it said. See, Turn, he's a God of second chances. You ever want a second chance in life? I mean, praise God, there's sometimes in life you get a do-over. It's called a mulligan, if you're a golfer. And you might be golfing with somebody, and they hit an errant tee shot, and it's either a slice or a hook. Either way, it's off in the trees. You're never going to find it. And if you're a gracious golfer, you'd say, hey, take a mulligan. It's kind of like this. I didn't really see that. Have another go. Right? Go at it again. You can do better than that. Get straight. And see, God in his mercy would say to us, look, I saw that, but he acts like, I didn't see that. I'll take that away, we'll put it behind, I'll give you another chance. It's a dreadful thing in life where you go, that was it. You had your shot. God doesn't say that this morning. You might think, well, I missed a lot of opportunities to serve God, and I should have done better than I've done, right? And Satan says, you can't serve God because you haven't served God. And God says, look, I'm willing to give you a second chance. Why? Because that's who He is. That's the proper picture of God. I said He stands willing. And you know what He tells us, you can do it right with my help. You can succeed with my help. And He's willing, are we? And then picture a God of compassion. It says, again in verse 19, He will have compassion upon us. That statue, if I stand before it and I plead with it, oh Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, please, you know, meet my needs, you know, I've got great needs, you know, please meet my needs, is that block of cement going to hear me? No. Does that block of cement care about me? No. Does it think about me? No. Why? Because it's not my God. See, God's personal. You know, one of the great proofs that there is a God is looking in the mirror because we're made in the image of God. We are people. We care. We love. We laugh. We enjoy. And we love relationships. And so does God. God's not an impersonal God. It says He will have compassion upon us. You know, Jesus pictured this to us as we read the scriptures. He cared about people's needs. Matthew 9, 36. said, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Matthew 14, 14, Jesus went forth, saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. Matthew 15, 32, and Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, have nothing to eat, and I'll not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. Matthew 20, 34 says, And Jesus had compassion on them, and he touched their eyes. Immediately their eyes received sight, and he followed them. If you have a physical need today, know this, God cares. You've got to be willing to let God help meet your need. He couldn't just help people without their allowing themselves to be helped, but he had a desire to meet those needs. He cared about that need. He wasn't impersonal about that. He didn't look at the multitude following him and say, that's really dumb, to follow me onto the wilderness. Where are you going to find food? I guess you've got to eat. Oh, well. He said to his disciples, when shall we be by bread that these may eat? Right? And he cared. But you know what he cared about more than anything? We know this from the Word of God. He cared about the spiritual needs. That's why he sat at a well with a woman of Samaria. That was an ungodly woman, and she was a Samaritan. Two things against her as far as a Jew sitting down and talking with her, but Jesus did. That's why Jesus touched the man on the fire. As he went by, he's dead. His widowed mom is weeping. He touches the young man and brings him back to life. That's why he looked spiritually at the young man that was rich and had everything but didn't have him. And the Bible says in Mark 10, 21, Jesus beholding him loved him. This morning it's God that looks at you, God loves you. God has a concern and a care about you, and God stands willing on his part to wrap his arms about you and say, Praise my name, I've got you now. Right? May God desire us to do that. It's what Jesus said to the Jews in Matthew 23, 37. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I gather thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and you would know. Alex's got chickens, but he don't have chicks, right? But a chicken has chicks, you know what I mean? That mother hen just, you know, takes those chicks under her wings and loves them. And Jesus said, I want to do that. And look, it's like this. God stands today and He's like, you know, just come on. And He wants to embrace us. He wants to take our cares and our concerns and meet our needs. Why? Because He's a compassionate God. And so, this morning, if your view of God was, God doesn't care, God is up in heaven, He's like way up there, He doesn't know where I'm at, He doesn't know anything about me, you got it wrong. He's very aware, this morning, of where you're at. He'll have compassion upon us. And then picture God of victory. He will subdue our iniquities, okay? He will subdue our iniquities. Do you know that sin is a great taskmaster? Again, as Jack and I were doing evangelism, everybody's coming out, and they're coming out for one thing. Where we're standing is outside the gates, and they're coming out to have a cigarette. And I said to somebody I was speaking to, I said, you know, Sid is a taskmaster. It says, do this and you got to do it. I got to have my cigarette. I got to have my alcohol. I got to have my rock music. I got to have my adultery. I got to have my fornication. I got to have my, you name it, whatever it is, I got to have it! And you feel like, I can never have victory. I can't do without that. So how could I come to God? You know, here I am. I've got this sin in my life. Listen, God is a God that sets free from sin. He's a God of victory. Micah 5.10, I'm going to tell you how he takes care of that sin. It's brutal, alright, but it's good. Micah 5.10, It shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I'll cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, I will destroy thy chariots. I'll cut off the cities of thy land and throw down all thy strongholds. I will cut off witchcraft out of thine hand. Thou shalt have no more soothsayers. Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee, that was idolatrous little gardens. So will I destroy thy cities, and I will execute vengeance and anger and fury upon the heathens such as they have not heard. You know what it is? It's this. God's gonna come in, and he's going to get it out. It was destroying Israel. It was hurting Israel. It was wrecking their lives. And God says, I'm going to come and I'm going to take care of it. But listen, it's for their good. If you're willing this morning to say to God, God, there's sin in my life. I can't deal with that sin. It's greater than I am. But God, I see that your son Jesus died on the cross for me, and I want you to deal with my sin. God, I come to you. You've got to take care of it. God will take care of it. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. The old, all things will become new. You don't have to, it's not this morning, but you have to say to God, okay God, I'm gonna get victory over all this stuff, I'm gonna win the battle against this flesh stuff, and then I'm gonna come to you and say, God, now accept me because I'm clean. That's not how it works. We go to God as a sinner, confessing the fact that it is sin that's against God, that we want God to get rid of it. God takes care of it, and God breaks it. And God delivers. It's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 57, But thanks be to God, which giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's what 2 Corinthians 10 4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Christian, if you think Christianity is walking around being a defeated person because of sin that is in your life that you can't have victory over, you've got a wrong picture of God. God is a God of victory. It says, there is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted. Above that you are able, but will with the temptation make way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. God's a God of victory. Picture a God of victory. Two more real quick, okay? Picture a God of cleansing. It says, now cast all their sin into the depths of the sea. God says, okay, root it out, take it, cast it away. We read in our devotions with the kids this past week, we read through Luke, we got to Luke 9 or something, and it's a story of the demonic of Gebera. He's a man possessed by legions of demons, many, many demons in this man. And he's naked, he's in the chambers, they couldn't bind him, because when they would bind him with chains, he would break them. Demons, again, are fallen angels. And so Jesus comes. And as Jesus comes, Sabina bows down to him and says, the demon says, we know who you are, Jesus, the Son of God. And then it says, don't cast us out into the deep, right? Cast this into the swine. I told the kids, I believe, Biblism tells us, but I believe that the swine herd was owned by a Jew. The reason I believe that is because this swine herd of thousands is going to go into the sea. It's going to be drowned. Somebody is going to suffer great loss. Jews weren't supposed to keep pigs. But anyway, they say, let us depart into the swine, and Jesus suffers them too. He allows it because he knows what's going to happen. They go down into the sea and drown. Listen, Satan doesn't want God to cast our sin into the deepest sea. And he pleads that it be otherwise, but it doesn't matter why, because God is going to have his way with our sin, because he's a God of cleansing. Psalm 103 verse 12 says, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Listen, if you'll humble your heart, today before God, if there's sin in your life, God is willing to take that sin away and He'll cast it where it's out of the way. As far as the East is from the West, so far He removed our transgressions from us. If you go North, you eventually go South. If you go East, you go East. If you go West, you go West. East and West never touch. North and South do. I'm glad the Bible doesn't say North and South. It says East and West. As far as the East is from the West, so far have they removed our transgressions from us. And then picture a God of faithfulness, verse 20. Last point, and you've done well, KS, but the most important point. It's that God is faithful. Here's why it's so important. It says, verse 20, It's saying this, God, you're the faithful God. You said it, you'll do it. You're gonna perform what you said. Okay, here's why it's important. I've spoken this morning, and from the word of God, about who God is, right? But if God is not faithful, And you say this morning, but Pastor, I don't really believe that about God. You said that about God, I don't believe it. Listen, it doesn't change God's faithfulness. It doesn't change the fact. But it does exactly what it would do if God was not faithful. It makes it ineffective. See this morning, if you don't trust God, if you don't believe God, I could share all this stuff with you. If you don't believe that, then you have no mercy. You have no forgiveness. You have no access to the compassion that God wants to give. Right? But if you believe God, in this last point, that God is faithful, He cannot lie. So what He has said in His Word is absolutely true. And you embrace that picture of God. God is absolutely true. He said it in His Word. I believe it. You can receive it. Right? That's why it's so important. And so this morning, You might have come into the service and you might have thought, I got a pretty good idea in my mind what God looks like. If your picture of God this morning is not based upon the truth of the word of God, then you have an incorrect picture of God. And so I remind us this morning as we conclude, He's a God of forgiveness, He's a God of patience, He's ungrudging, He's a God of mercy, He's a God of second chances, He's a God of compassion, He's a God of victory, He's a God of cleansing, He's a God of faithfulness. And if you view God that way, you know what? That's a God you can get right with. That's a God that you can trust. That's a God that can take care of it and deal with it. I'm gonna ask you to do this this morning, if you please just bow your heads, close your eyes, and nobody looking around. I'm the only one with my eyes open up here this morning. But I prayed before we came to the service this morning, I prayed, I asked God, help us in our hearts to say to God, God, you speak my heart about anything. If you show me from the word of God that that is true, God, I want to obey you, right? And if you meant that in your heart, and I hope you did, then I need to ask a couple questions, okay? And the first is this, are you born again? Are you saved? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And if in your heart today you know for sure, 100%, you know that you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, that He's taken your sin away, that He's forgiven you, that He's given you this gift of everlasting life, if that's you this morning, would you just raise your hand and acknowledge that? Just keep your eyes closed, but just raise your hand and acknowledge that you have at some point accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. And then praise God for that and put your hands down. By the way, all of us had to do that. Some of you, I know, it's been within the last year, right? Praise God. But if in your heart this morning, and I want to ask this very specifically, but if you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, but you want to today, okay, you want to do that today, after the service, you know, you could come up to me, speak with me, and if you're a woman, you could speak with my wife about how to do that. If you're a man, you could speak with me. But if you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior, but you realize that what He did, He did for you, that He'll forgive you, that He'll give you His gift of everlasting life, and it's your desire to receive Jesus as your Savior today. Would you please raise your hand? I'm not going to point you out, I'm not going to call you, and I won't even approach you after the service. You have to approach me. But I want to pray for you. If that's you today, and the Spirit of God is saying to you, you need to get saved, would you just raise your hand? Anybody like that this morning? Alright, the other question that I want to ask is this. Are you letting sin wreck your picture of God? Are you letting sin into your life and forgetting He's a God of mercy, He's a God of forgiveness? There's sin that you haven't trusted God for a second chance. You haven't trusted God for victory. And the Spirit of God is speaking to you about a very specific sin in your life that it's your desire to deal with. And you're gonna ask God to help you do that. If that's you at this point, would you raise your hand? Praise God. Praise God. That's great, praise God. Let's pray and commit those sins to the Lord. Father, I praise you for working in our hearts this morning. Father, for those that indicate there's a sin in their life that the Spirit of God is speaking to their heart about, I ask in Jesus' name that they would find victory through the blood of Jesus and what he did. And Father, that you set them free. And Father, if somebody heard this morning in their heart, they couldn't say that they're ready to make that decision to trust Jesus today. But they change their mind. Father, just encourage them to talk to me, talk to Katie, and ask about it. Or Father, to just pray when they get home, and ask Jesus for your forgiveness, and ask you to come into their heart and save them. But Lord, I pray they get saved soon. Don't let them delay, don't let them put it off. Lord, I pray that they'd make that decision quickly. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Hymn 383, let's stand please, we'll sing Hymn 383. Close to thee, alright? Close to thee. 383. Let's stand, please. 383. Thou my everlasting portion, more than friends or life to me. All along my pilgrim journey, Savior led me, walked with me. Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, all along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee. Not for ease or worldly pleasure, nor for fame my prayer shall be. Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to thee, close to me, Gladly will I toil and suffer, Only let me walk with thee. Lead me through the vale of shadows, Bear me o'er thy spitful sea, Through the gate of life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee. Through the gate of life eternal, may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Amen, thank you for coming this morning, especially good to have Timmy, and Karen, and Benjamin with us today, and Shirley as well, good to have you back, and everybody else, welcome, and thank you for being here. This afternoon, please pray for me, I'm preaching this afternoon at three o'clock in Livingston, and then tonight, we'll have our 515 minutes prayer time, and 515 Young People's Choir, okay, please be on time for those so we can get those started on time, and then at six o'clock, it's our study of Where are we? I want to say Psalm 119. I know that's not right. Proverbs, all right? Proverbs chapter 2. And I've got a lot of notes today if you saw them, all right? And just pray that God bless that study tonight as well over here this spring. Father, bless us now as we go our way. May the truth not depart from our hearts as we depart from this place. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for coming. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's awesome. You have the same name as me. You're a homeboy. Hi! Hi! It's mine, it's mine, it's mine!