We are doing a survey of the minor prophets and two weeks ago we looked at the first portion of the book of Micah. Today we will be looking at the closing section, chapters six and seven. We have seen that Mike is a prophet who is living just prior to the time of the fall of the northern kingdom. You remember that the kingdom had been split after King Solomon died and that there is the kingdom in the north with our capital in Samaria, the kingdom in the south, Judah, with the capital at Jerusalem. These are not good days. In some ways they've prospered, both in the north and the south, but things are on a decline in that way, but also morally. This is a very dark time in the history of Israel. God has sent his prophets to confront the sins of the people, calling them to repent, but also sounding warning of judgment, that judgment is going to come. And it was in 722 that Samaria would be overrun by the Assyrians and there would be the fall of the Northern Kingdom. And so Micah is prophesying in those days leading up to that. Again, very dark times. And what we find in this in his book, in his sermons, is that he is calling out the sins of the people of God, confronting them with their sins, and warning of the judgment that is to come at the hand of God. But also what we find is that there are words of hope, words of encouragement that even go beyond all of these things. And so the book is divided up into kind of three of his sermons, we might say, chapters one and two, and then chapters three through five, and then today, chapter six and seven. And what we find in each one of these sections is that there will be a calling out of the sins of the people, but then there is a word of hope. The judgment is not the last word from their God, that there will be a day of hope. There will be a day of restoration, a day of salvation. And today we will be looking at chapter six and seven, and we will be looking and dealing with really just two questions with regard to the people and what does God require of them? What is God looking for in the hearts of his people? And then a wonderful ending to the book where the question is asked, who is a God like our God? Who is like our God? And so we will be looking at those. But we have seen that Micah as well as the other prophets have been calling out the sins of the people of both Judah and Israel in the north. And Micah really was a prophet to both of these. So he addresses idolatry that has come into the land. There is the syncretistic worship. There is the worship, they think, of their god, but they have added many of the rituals and the pagan idols of their neighbors. There's even cult prostitution. There's the wealthy that are oppressing others and taking advantage of others. The poor are being oppressed. Family land that was to remain with the family was being taken from them by their oppressors. The ruling class was denounced. They were those who loved what was evil and they hated what was good. There were bribes that were being paid. Even the religious leaders, the false prophets, they were for hire. You pay me well and I'll give you a good message. And so there were these false prophets telling the people, as long as they paid them, what they wanted to hear. And then there are the false priests as well who were corrupt as well and were looking for a handout. And all of them rejecting the true prophet of God, Micah, and others as well. And so there's the call and the warning that the judgment is going to come. But that, again, is not the end of the story. As dark as it is, as bad as it is, and as these judgments will come upon both the North and the South, there's this hope This ray of hope that is given in each one of these sections about God's purpose to fulfill his promises to Father Abraham. And he made him some wonderful promises. And so these sections speak about this hope. We saw in chapters 1 and 2 There's the promise of a remnant. There's the promise that a shepherd, that their shepherd God will come and rescue and regather them and bring them back to good pastures and he will shepherd them and care for them. The second section we saw that even though Jerusalem was to become like a plowed field, the city will be leveled, that God in in the days that would come, in the latter days, that he would raise up the mountain of the house of the Lord, and the nations would stream to it. That in the days of the Messiah, there was going to be the raising up of this Messiah, who would come from Bethlehem, who would be a leader, who would be a king, but also a savior and a redeemer. And the nations will come. God is going to lift up his temple again. And we know that after Jerusalem fell, that later they came back, they rebuilt the temple, but it's even looking beyond that. There is a temple where God and men will meet, and it is in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Jesus said, if you destroy this temple, I'll raise it back up in three days. And he wasn't talking about the physical building. He was talking about his own body. This is where sinners and God meet. It is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Hebrew says that as believers we have come to this new Jerusalem. We have come to Christ. We have come to the place where God meets with men. and it is in Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life, and it is he who brings us to the Father. So we come this morning to this third section, and we find this same pattern, that he is gonna call out the sins of the people of here, particularly, I think, Judah, but it will be followed by a word of hope. So what we see in chapter six in verses one to five, it's kind of a courtroom setting. And God, who has entered into a covenant with his people at Mount Sinai, is coming in a court case. Here, he has a case against them. He is the plaintiff. And he says in verse two, here you mountains, the indictment of the Lord. and you enduring foundations of the earth. For the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. So imagine a court scene and God's bringing his charges against them. He's asking, as it were, the mountains and the hills to bear witness. All right. You have seen what has gone on. Figuratively speaking, you've seen what's gone on among this people in the land, and you are witnesses to how they have been unfaithful to their God. So God pleads his case. Is there any fault on his side? Well, verse three, Oh, my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me. Why have you gone away from me and been so rebellious? Have I done something wrong? What will you answer to me?" Well, of course, the answer is nothing. It's expecting a negative answer. God has done nothing to weary his people. He has done nothing wrong. And notice the history. He reviews their history. I brought you up, verse 4, from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from the house of slavery and I Sent before you moses aaron and miriam. I gave you leaders to direct you. I brought you through the red sea. I delivered you Oh my people remember what balak king of moab devised and what balaam the son of beor answered him and what happened from shatim to gilgal That you may know the righteous acts of the lord So here was bailam that was going to bring a curse upon them and god intervened god brought them across the Jordan River and he brought them into the promised land and there he blessed them. He gave them the land that was abundant with blessing for them. How have I wearied you? What have I done? Look at the history of what I have done for you. And the vital important question that we want to consider this morning is what we find in verse 8. is what does the Lord require of you? What does God require of his people? And is this true of them? And obviously as we look at the context and what the prophet has been saying is it is not true of them. And in verses six and seven we have a series of rhetorical questions. With what shall I come? And I think Micah places himself here kind of on the part of the people. What shall I come? With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the Lord on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Is this what the Lord is wanting from us? Is this what the people are? to be giving to the Lord. And in many respects, these are things that they were doing. They were continuing to offer up their sacrifices. And sadly, some of them, even their firstborn, two of the kings of Israel, had offered up their firstborn sons as sacrifices, which goes contrary to the word of God, the Mosaic law. But here they are thinking there are these rituals, these things that we must do, and God will be pleased with that while we continue to live our life for ourself. Go our own way. We offer up to God these things. We have sacrifices. But is this what God is looking for in the hearts of his people? God isn't wanting ritual. He isn't wanting just outward obedience. God wants the heart. God wants a personal relationship with his people. And so here they are, they're content with offering up these sacrifices, but they're going their own way. Their hearts are not at all inclined to the Lord. And God has redeemed them. As Micah is writing here, Micah is going to call them to have a heart that is sensitive to God, that wants to serve God and love God and walk humbly with God. But this is not the way in which they are living. We find Isaiah in the same time. He was a contemporary of Micah. He writes in Isaiah 1, he said, I'm tired of your offerings. I'm tired of them. They are an abomination to me. You offer up this and it's all perfunctory. It's just outward, empty, ritualistic practices while your hearts are far from me. And he will say in Isaiah 29, verse 13, the Lord, this people honors me with their lips. but they have removed their hearts far from me." Jesus will say the same thing, won't he, in his day. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Now, we need to understand this speaks to us today as well. We may think, you know, as we come to church that, well, I do my duty, and I'm at church, and I listen to the pastor, or at least I try to. I give, even give money, and I'll help with benevolent things. But really, we can do all of those things and have no heart for the Lord, no heart to serve Him, to love Him. And it really is just formality. It's just perfunctory. And God is not pleased with this. What does it mean to follow the Lord? To live in a vital relationship with God? What is He desiring? What does God require? Now, what we find in the Old Testament is that God is going to bring about a people with a new covenant in which their hearts will be changed, their hearts will be inclined to the Lord, the law will be written upon their hearts, there will be the fear of God in their hearts. And this will be a remnant that will come out of even captivity where God is going to continue this work and he will bring about this new covenant that will secure these things for God's people. But for those who are partakers of that new covenant, what is God looking for from us as well? And here we are given some insights to what God is looking for. Again, it's not outward, mechanical, ritualistic practices. It's not just going through those rituals. God said to Saul through his prophet, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord, a humble, submissive obedience to the Lord? This is what God wants. Spurgeon said that there are many saints who, as he says, there are many who are saints abroad, but they are devils at home. Oh, they have a good front and they put on a good front in public, but they're a devil at home. Well, that's kind of the way these people were in the days of Micah. And so here's a call. What is God looking for in the hearts of those who truly believe in him and follow him? He's not looking for lip service. He's addressing and wanting issues of the heart. Who has told you we see in verse eight? He has told you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? And here's three things that are mentioned, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. We find other places in the scripture, at the end of Ecclesiastes, where the end of all things is to fear God and keep his commandments. There's a summary of what God is looking for. Fear God and keep his commandments. Or also we have other places. What is God want of us? Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. It's kind of just summed up in a nutshell and that's what we have here. So there are three things that are stated. Do justice. This is not just in legal matters, and the leaders of that day were corrupt, and they were abusing their place of authority, and they were open to bribes. And so he's not just calling on the religious and the judicial leaders, but he's calling on all of the people. This is to be true of all of you. Later here in verse 10 he says, can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure that is a curse? Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? You go to the market and you want a pound of hamburger and the scales are, they are rigged. They have improper weights and you don't get what you think you're paying for. And so here's a call for justice, to do what is right, righteousness. to do what is right according to God's word in their relationships with one another. When Jesus sums up the whole of the law, he sums it up in two commandments. Here again is, here's the duty of man in a nutshell, his duty toward God, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and mind. And you shall love your neighbor, how? as yourself. We're pretty good at loving ourselves, aren't we? We look out for number one, but the law says we have a responsibility to our neighbor, to love our neighbor even as we love ourself. And therefore, we are to do right toward them. We are to live in righteous ways. We're to love God, yes, but on this level, we are to love others and we are to deal justly, righteously with them. Jesus also gave us the golden rule, didn't he? In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the Law and the Prophets. Here's the Law and the Prophets summed up. What you would have people to do to you will do that to them. We like to be treated well, don't we? When I was about 10 years old, we had the neighborhood bully. His name was Neil Helwig. And one day he was at my neighbor's house, and we were over there. I hope he's not watching online. Maybe he is, and if he is, good. But anyway, he was at my neighbor's house, my friend Milton, and I was with Milton. We were playing. He came in, and I didn't provoke him, didn't do anything, but I was standing there talking, and he spit. And when he spit, it went right in my mouth. Now, I want to ask you children, would you want someone to do that to you? Well, I don't have to ask just children. I can ask everyone here. No, we wouldn't want that to happen to us. And that's what Jesus said, do unto others what you would have them to do unto you. It's interesting that his last name was Helwig, anyway. But we don't like it, do we, when people slander us or when they gossip about us behind our back? when they speak demeaning words, when they revile us, when they make fun of us, when they bully us, when they oppress us, when they're rude, when they're inconsiderate, when they're unkind and ungracious and when they're unwilling to extend mercy and forgiveness, or when they take advantage of us, when they steal from us or they're malicious towards us, We don't like that. But we are called to do what is right, to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us, to do right according to God's holy word. And this is a way in which we can glorify God, who is righteous in all of his dealings. Some years ago, I went to the post office in Western Hills and I bought what I thought was $50 of stamps. $50 worth of stamps. I got back to my office, and I looked, and I thought, boy, that's a big roll. And it was actually $250 worth of stamps. And I thought to myself, doesn't God provide for his people in unusual ways? I didn't think that, no. I thought, I need to go back to the post office. And I went back, and the lady that was there was in training, and I said, I think you made a mistake. And she was like, thank you so much. That would have come out of my paycheck. You know, we are called to represent God who is righteous in his dealings with us. And we are called to do the same. We are to act justly. The second thing is to love kindness. This word is the word has said. It's a word that sometimes is translated mercy. We are to love mercy. It's a kind of a steadfast kind of love, a covenant kind of love, a faithfulness, a love that is kind, especially to the needy, to the down and out, to those who maybe are oppressed. Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the merciful, for what? they will receive mercy. Again, we are to be reflecting the character of our God. He is merciful. He is a God of steadfast love. And we are to reflect that in our lives as well. And I wanna say this, as we think of the memorial for our brother, Keith, I wanna commend all of you for your kindness to him. You know, Jesus talks about giving a cup of water to the least of these, my brethren. And you loved him well, and you honored him. I so much appreciate your kind love toward him through the many years that he was here with us. So there is this call to show mercy, a kind, kind of love. especially to those who are needy, James 1, 27, pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Jesus even says in Luke 6, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those who expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies. and do good, lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful to you." Brothers and sisters, have we received a mercy from God? Yes, we have. We have received much mercy. Day after day, we receive mercy. Out of the fullness of Christ, we receive grace upon grace. And therefore, this ought to describe us that we, notice he says, love mercy. We love kindness. It's not just that we do it, but that we find joy in doing it. We love to do it. Sometimes that's missing, isn't it? But we find love in showing mercy and helping those who are in need, coming alongside and showing love to someone. May God increase that in us and make that to be more and more true of us. Paul says to the Galatians, as you have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith. Do good to all, but especially those who are of the household of faith. And then thirdly, Walk humbly with your God. Walk humbly with your God. You remember Enoch? It says that Enoch walked with God. Adam and Eve in the garden, in the cool of the day, God would come and he would walk with them there in the garden. This is the essence of salvation. It's very personal. This is eternal life that we might know you, the only true and living God. to live in a vital living relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ and faith in him. And if we are to do that, one of the things that definitely will mark us if we are walking close to our God is that humility will describe our life. There's no way in which we can walk with our God in pride, is there? You are to love, you are to love mercy. and you are to walk humbly with your God. Isaiah 66, where's the house that you would build for me? Where I would come and I would meet with you. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool, but to this one I will look on him who is humble, who is humble and has a contrite spirit, who trembles at my word. This is the one that I come And I will draw near unto the one who is humble, who's contrite, he's broken about his own sin, and he's humbled in the presence of this august God who has graced him, and he is humble before him. So here's a call to be people who walk humbly with their God. This ought to be This ought to be a hallmark, a characteristic of saving grace in our life. That we are humbled before God. We fear Him. We want to obey him, we want to please him. There's no room for pride and arrogance, but we are humbled before him. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. I want to obey and follow you. Too often there is pride in us, yet isn't there remaining corruption of pride. God is opposed to the proud, the arrogant, but he gives grace to the humble. Walk humbly with your God. Now, that's horizontal, but it also goes out vertically, doesn't it? As we would walk humbly with God, we will walk in humility before one another. Heard a wonderful sermon by Greg Gilbert this week and Philippians 2 about the Lord Jesus Christ who humbled himself. and came from heaven, took upon our likeness, and gave his life for us. This one who came down, he said, how is it that this one who came down, that we would ever be ones that are seeking to go up? It goes contrary to the gospel. God make us to be like our Lord Jesus Christ in that way. What is it to walk rightly before God, before men? It's to show loving kindness to others, to walk in humility. It's to live Coram Deo before the face of God. Now, I wanna ask you this as we look at this verse today. This is an important verse, isn't it? Many of you got this on a t-shirt or you got it on a black at home. I don't wanna make it personal here today. What would people say of me? Would they say that he or she is a person who acts righteously? They're upright in their conduct. I really can trust them. They are righteous. They are just in all that they do. Would they be able to say of you or of me that they are kind, that they love to show mercy, they love other people well? Would that be true of you? Would it be true of me? Or would they say of us, They really are humble and they have a humility before God and others that is like unto Christ. I know we're not where we need to be, but may we make progress. May God be at work in our hearts that we may make much progress in this. Now real quickly in closing, we wanna just jump to the chapter seven, and here's the second question. Who is a God like you? What does God require of me? But here's how Micah ends this book. He gives hope here. He talks about things that are going to come, that there will be this, that God will come and he will gather his people again together. He will shepherd them. He will take them to himself and he will shepherd them and care for them and he will gather the nations to him. And here this book ends with another powerful note of encouragement as Micah writes, ends up this book. In the midst of great wickedness, in the midst of great chaos and ungodliness and very dark, bitter days in the history of Israel, God gives this hope of what he's going to do, that this suffering is going to be changed and he will bring in a day of hope. And we find that Micah is waiting and anticipating this in verse 7. But as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. Here's a good verse for us. As we live in a culture that is against God, We wait in hope, don't we? We wait in anticipation of his good promises to us. And with Micah, we say, I will look to the Lord. So brothers and sisters, as you live in a decaying society around you, lift up your eyes and continue to keep your eyes fixed upon Christ, who is our living hope and the promises that God has given to us. We might ask the question, as we think about the context here and how bad things are, why would God ever forgive and ever restore people like this? Why would God do that? How is it that God would do that? Well, as he concludes this book, he gives us two reasons. First of all, God's character. And here's the question that is asked. Micah is just, I think, overwhelmed. He's been able to pronounce these judgments because of the great sins, but he's also able to give hope and the restoration that is going to come and this great salvation that will come and this Messiah that's going to be born in Bethlehem who will be a great, great leader. And he says in verse 18, who is a God like you? This is a play on words of Micah's own name. If you remember two weeks ago, Micah's name, it's a longer form than the shortened form of Micah, but it is this. It means, who is like the Lord? That's what Micah means. And here, as he concludes his book, the question is asked, who is a God like you? When you look at the history of Israel and all the dark things, the sin and the wickedness that is going on here. Well, here is hope because it's resting in God's character. Who's God like you? First of all, pardoning iniquity. Pardoning iniquity. We have fallen short, haven't we? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have missed the mark. We have all sinned. But here's a God who pardons iniquity, sin. Then he says, and passes over transgression. He forgives transgressions where we have gone against the law of God. We have broken the law of God. He is a God who forgives. He is one who forgives, who passes over transgressions. That's an amazing, amazing thing. You remember there's the book of common prayers and it says, oh Father, forgive us for the things that we have done that we ought not to have done. And forgive us of the things that we have not done that we ought to have done. Did I get that right? Okay. We have sinned in many ways. We've fallen short of doing what we ought to do, and we've transgressed the law of God. We have also not done the things that we ought to do, like righteousness and justice and walking humbly with our God. But here is a God, Micah says, who pardons, a God who forgives. And notice he says he forgives for the remnant of his inheritance. has always had a people under the old covenant who are a remnant, who are his people, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And here's the promise. We belong to this God who is a pardoning God, who forgives iniquity to all who belong to him. He does not retain his anger forever. Why? Because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. What a beautiful picture is given here for us. We have several of them in the Old Testament. We have, you know, he is going to separate our sins from us as far as the East is from the West. He's gonna separate our sins from us. Here's another beautiful picture. Here is in view probably the Mediterranean Sea. You go out into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and our sins have been cast into the sea and they sink to the bottom. And one old preacher says, and God put a sign at the shore that says no fishing. Our sins have been separated as far as the east is from the west. They have been cast into the depths of the sea. It's an amazing thing. It is our sin that has separated us from a holy God. And here what we find is God separating our sin from us that would condemn us to an eternal hell. And of course, all of this is looking forward. Galatians 3 says that all of this, the law of Moses is a tutor to bring us to Christ. To bring us to Christ. Because this is where God's pardon, his forgiveness, is casting our sins into the depths of the sea. It is only through Christ. So here's God's character, but secondly, we see his promise, God's promises. Verse 20, he will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. He's looking back to the promises that he made to Abraham. Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make a great nation of you. I am going to bless all the families of the earth through you. I'm keeping my promises that I made to Abraham. I will be faithful to do that. And you know what, as we sit here today, we are the recipients of some of those blessings. We are the families of the earth that have been blessed by the Messiah who has come through the line of Abraham and David. We have received that grace and that mercy, sins that are pardoned. And we can say today, what a God we have. What a God we have. Who is a God like you? There is no other that is like him. May God in his grace, may he seal these things to our hearts. And if you're here without Christ, we point you to him. There's only one name given under heaven whereby you can be saved. It's not anything you do, but it's found in running to this Christ, this promised Messiah, where sins are pardoned, where sins are cast into the depths of the sea, and there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Flee to him. called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you today for your word. Thank you for Micah, written so long ago, but very important for us today as well. We thank you that your word is an abiding word. Lord, make us to be the people that you desire us to be, that you've called us to be, to be a holy people set apart unto you. to do what is right, to love justice and loving kindness, to walk humbly with our God. You have been so gracious, so kind to us. Who is a God like you? We bow with humble hearts today to thank you for such mercies that you've had upon us. Bless your word to hearts, may it bear much fruit. In Jesus' name, amen. I invite you to take the insert in your bulletin His mercy is more. This first line draws our thoughts from Micah 7 and verse 19. Well, love could remember no wrongs that we have done. Let's stand together as we sing.