Please turn in your Bibles to Micah 2, Micah 2, and we'll stand to give honor to God as we read his holy word from Micah 2. If you're able, we'll stand. We'll be reading seven to the end of the chapter of Micah 2. This is God's holy and infallible word. It is being said, O house of Jacob, In the Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of the Lord impatient. Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to the one walking uprightly? Recently my people have arisen as an enemy. You strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passersby, from those returned from war. The women of my people you evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take my splendor forever. Arise and go, for this is no place of rest because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, a painful destruction. If a man walking after wind and falsehood had told lies and said, I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor, he would be spokesman to this people. I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture. they will be noisy with men. The breaker goes up before them, they break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. So their king goes on before them and the Lord at their head. Let's pray together. Our glorious Lord, creator of heaven and earth, you who have inspired by your Holy Spirit, the prophet Micah, we ask that as we study this, your word, help us to receive it and to believe it and to grow in grace thereby from this, your holy word, for we ask it in the name of Jesus, our Lord, amen. Please be seated. Some folks might get weary of studying the prophets, and they may get weary from the matter of what's going on with, especially the gloom, what they would call the gloom and doom and destruction. And there is a lot of gloom, you could say, in some of the prophecies concerning God judging his people. I do wanna read to you, though, something that I could not write so well myself. I want to read this encouragement from Dr. Edward McCombski. I'm trying to say that name right, McCombski. He said, where is the edification for a modern Christian in a dirge celebrating the downfall of an ancient city? How can the gloomy forecasts of captivity for Israel and Judah lift the heart today? A careful study of these prophets reveals, however, that they have many themes they expound that transit the Testaments. In other words, the things that you study in the prophets such as Micah will also be found in the New Testament as well. They speak of the love of God, as well as the justice or his justice. Their prophecies are not all doom, but are often rich with hope. Micah foresaw the coming ruler whose birthplace would be the insignificant town of Bethlehem. Anyone who reads the minor prophets and hears only the words of recrimination and judgment have not read them fairly. Within the dismal events, these prophets described the lurking hand of God. And beyond these events is the bright prospect of a kingdom inaugurated by one whom Zechariah portrays as suffering betrayal, piercing, and eventual death. The minor prophets are not as time-bound as we may think. I think it's a beautiful encouragement of why we should study the Minor Prophets. It's beautiful forecasting or foretelling of what goes on in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His coming, the coming Messiah. As we look at today's text, this is a continuation of some of what we already studied before in chapters one and two, that there is a coming destruction, a coming destruction concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. God describes that coming destruction like he's gonna plow down a field because it's so fruitless, he needs to replant and start over. And that's what he's gonna do with the promised land. And that's what he actually did do. This was largely due to idol worship and idolatry. We'll look a little bit at some of those verses a little later, but chapter two points out it wasn't just idolatry and transgressing of, you could say, the first four commandments. It was the transgression and the sins they committed against their fellow mankind for which God was going to judge them. Micah foretold of God's salvation of a remnant out of the coming destruction, in today's text. That's the main focus. Micah foretold God's salvation of a remnant out of the coming destruction. We'll see this in two main points, destruction due for wickedness, and secondly, God's salvation for the remnant. Let's look at this first main point, destruction due for wickedness. Part of God's coming judgment involved the destruction of the idols that some of God's people held to so dearly. Look back at chapter one, verse seven. God foretold through Micah, all of their idols will be smashed. All of her images I will make desolate. Now, we can understand that. God is a jealous God. He's not going to have any other gods before him. Of course, God's little g, because only he is the true God of heaven. But God does not want us to worship idols, whether little bitty idols that we worship and say, this is our God, or idols as far as money or possessions. But besides their pagan worship, God was going to bring a great calamity because of how they treated their own brethren. Chapter two, verse two. says they covet fields, and they seize them, and houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance." They stole from the men their own homes and inheritance, but they also did the same and stole properties from women as well. Look at verse 9 in today's text. The women of my people you evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take my splendor forever. I'm not exactly sure what is in the mind of God in giving this, but there is a degree of splendor in covenant youth here. From her children you take my splendor forever. We believe that children of the covenant faith are precious in the sight of Lord, and therefore, you can see here that God does not take kindly to those who steal away from the covenant youth. Now, it's not enough that they took properties. They took properties from men. They took properties from the women. They took properties and stole from those children who were the splendor of God. But they even took garments from people, from those who passed by unaware. Look at verse eight. Now this is speaking of God's covenant people. Recently, my people, my covenant people, have arisen as an enemy. You strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passersby, from those who returned from war. One of the reasons why it's pretty vile to steal garments from someone is that if they have to manage in the cold, imagine the kind of weather we're having lately in Louisiana, if you have to manage in the cold and you don't have enough to keep warm, what a terrible thing to take people's garments. But what's even worse is that they even take garments from those who return from war. In our country, we seek to honor veterans. Those who return from war, they should be given thanks. They should be encouraged. They should be taken care of. Instead, these people are taken away from them. They're taking their garments. That's a vile behavior. Now, I was thinking to myself, well, why would somebody mess with a veteran of a war? Don't you think it'd be kind of dangerous? Wouldn't you try to steal from somebody else except a veteran from a war? But maybe the veterans were disabled and they weren't able to defend themselves. So imagine that, taken away from a disabled veteran even. That would make it all the worse. All of this is so vile and so terrible that God himself says, yes, they're my people, but they're more like enemies. Imagine that. Somebody who professes the holy faith, yet is considered an enemy of God. Now, there are people like that. So to say that there are people, and it's even recently got progressively worse, that there are churches who now have drag queens in the pulpit to preach. They would call themselves the people of God, but in some of their behaviors, so vile, they are more like the enemies of God. But all this selfish, vile wickedness was going to result in what we call here a painful destruction. Verse 10, arise and go for this is no place of rest because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, a painful destruction. You know, I was thinking if you're struggling with a particular sin that is vile and unclean, You could probably put this verse, put it on your mirror, put it in your bedroom. Uncleanness, that uncleanness brings destruction, a painful destruction. That's a good warning, isn't it? God, in his providence, even tells of this, that he was going to do this, and he used foreign nations, foreign powers, to discipline his people and to bring them into captivity. And even those who died under such sieges and died in unbelief and rebellion, they went from a destruction and siege and starvation and great trouble and woe to being cast into the pit of hell. Micah gave further accusation against the people because of their willingness to listen to false prophets. Look at verse 11. If a man walking after wind and falsehood had told lies and said, I will speak to you, or some translations talk about prophecy, or I will prophesy to you concerning wine and liquor, he would be spokesman to this people. In other words, people hearing something that they want to hear rather than what God has to speak for them. This was not something that just happened during the days of Micah. This is something that happened, and Paul told that would happen years later after his ministry. I want us to turn to a passage. We'll keep our place in Micah. We'll turn to 2 Timothy 4. thinking about those who want to choose spokesmen to be for them and teaching what they want to hear. 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 5, Paul is telling Timothy, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction, for the time will come when they will not endorse sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. So just in the days as in Micah, some people would wanna speak about, oh, God's gonna bless you with wine and liquor and all good things in abundance. And oh, I'm gonna listen to that guy. Now today we have people who wanna preach and they wanna preach a message of God is here to bless you. not to save you from your sin. They're not gonna talk about sin, because sin doesn't bring people in the door, I guess, in some circles. But they want to talk about health, wealth, and prosperity, rather than what the hope of the gospel is, the eternal salvation for sinners, to be spared the wrath of God on that great day of judgment. Well, they might be benefiting from a pep talk, and we all need encouragement, don't we? But if it's void of the gospel, It is not something that you should have as one to be your preacher. The second main focus of today's text, it's not, again, it's not all gloom and doom, not all destruction and chastisement. There's hope of salvation here. Let's look at God's salvation of the remnant. Verse 12, God's salvation of the remnant. I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture. They will be noisy with men. One of the most beautiful themes that we find over and over again throughout scripture is God as shepherd and the people of God as his sheep. According to Psalm 23, those of us who have received salvation, especially through Jesus Christ, can say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not lack any good thing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me behind those quiet, still, peaceful waters. When Jesus began his earthly ministry, he proclaimed in John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. This is rooted. in Psalm 23, but it's also rooted especially in Ezekiel 34. Let's, again, we'll try to keep our place in Micah, but also turn to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34, we'll start reading at verse seven. God is saying to the shepherds of Israel, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because my flock has become a prey. My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field, for lack of a shepherd. And my shepherds did not search for my flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver my flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them. For thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep. So I will care for my sheep. and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the streams and in the inhabited places. I will feed them in a good pasture and their grazing grounds will be on the mountain heights of Israel. They will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment. And Micah tells about that judgment. But notice this, in this telling of the good shepherd who would come, the Messiah who would come, he would be divine. Because God himself said, I will come as shepherd. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. Remember Ezekiel 34? That should remind us that Jesus Christ is the divine, holy shepherd of God. Now, when you hear that word remnant, getting back to Micah 2, when you hear this word remnant, you think of just a few. Oh, there's only a few left, a little remnant. How much do you have left? A remnant, a tiny bit. But notice that it says the flock here that's gathered would be noisy with men, verse 12, at the end of verse 12. You think of a flock, noisy with men, all packed together in one little area, one fold, or one little sheep pen, you could say. To me, the imagery makes me think of these crowds gathered together that could be dangerous. I always thought it was only in Spain and other places like that to have those bull runs, where the bulls run down the street. Well, it's not just bulls that trample people, it's the people, the crowds. They get all anxious and nervous, and some of them trample each other. And you can think of that, it was back in 2021, in November 2021, they even had a concert, an astroworld. Travis Scott, who was this rapper that performed, the people got so excited that eight people died, and two more died later on in the hospital, all from a concert, a rap concert. Too many people gathered, too many people excited, and people got trampled. God not only spares his sheep and gathers them together, but he helps them escape. Verse 13. The breaker goes up before them. They break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it. So their kings go on before them. So their king, singular, goes on before them, and the Lord at their head. So they're in this pasture, all gathered together and noisy, but then God breaks them out and gives them escape. What's even more beautiful there is that the Lord leads them out. The Lord leads them as their head. As you go your way, you do not have to fear because you have one who leads you. Even Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, again, Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. He leads us out. He's at the head to lead us through that path of darkness. Again, a remnant is mentioned here, but in this final salvation of God's elect, there's more than just a remnant. There's a multitude which no one can number, from every tribe, tongue, and nation. However, in our day and age, it seems like there's only a few who want to follow the way of the Lord Jesus Christ in a devout, faithful way. I know we have friends and family and other believers who love the Lord Jesus, not just us. But Jesus himself said this in Matthew 7, 13 and following, For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Jesus Christ presents you with a narrow way. Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life. He is the door through which we may enter the sheepfold. He is the door through which we may attain salvation. There is no other way that man may be saved except through Jesus Christ alone. Micah foretold of this coming destruction. But I believe this coming destruction points to the leader, the good shepherd who leads his way, who leads his people out to the pasture, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Micah then later on will talk about that coming Messiah to be born in Bethlehem. There's a destruction coming. And that destruction will come for all those who do not embrace Jesus Christ by faith. but the only way to be spared is through the blood of Jesus. Let us pray that we would receive it. Let's pray together. Our glorious God, our Holy Father, we thank you that you have given us your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. who leads at the very head of your people, who leads us to the way of eternal life. And we thank you that on this side of the cross that you have shown us the great wonders and beauties of the Holy Gospel. As we look back at these prophecies given to the people so long ago, help us to continue to see our glorious, blessed Lord Jesus, even in the coming gloom that is foretold of those who disobeyed you so long ago. Help us, we pray, to embrace Jesus Christ, to follow that narrow way, to live in a way that is pleasing in your sight. For we ask these things in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. For our closing hymn, let's turn to 557. Great King of Nations, hear our prayer. We'll sing together stanzas one through four. Let's stand and sing 557.