Untitled Sermon (45)

I want to begin our time with a preview for what is coming next. As you may be aware, next week begins the season of Advent. Every year we do a series as we lead up to Christmas Eve. This year our series is called, “Immanuel: God With Us.” As followers of Jesus, one of the core beliefs is that Jesus is God Himself, the second person of the Trinity, who came to earth and incarnated, or became a man, and dwelled among us. We will be looking at passages that discuss God dwelling with His people in the past, in Christ, and the future. I am excited for the series and I hope that you join us. As we have in the past, we will have invite cards. The switch up this year compared to years past is the invite card is specifically about Christmas Eve. I hope you invite people. And, if we run out of cards, we will print more. But before we get to advent, this morning we finish up Judgement and Mercy, our series through the book of Micah. This book has been extremely challenging for me as we come face to face with God’s wrath and judgement and His mercy and grace. We have wrestled with those two components and today we finish up by seeing that when the darkness seems impossible to overcome, the light of God’s grace breaks through bringing restoration and forgiveness. Let’s pray and dive in, one more time, to the book of Micah. 

As we reach the conclusion of this book, we first see the turning point in the hope that cannot be stopped. Let’s read verses 8-10… do you see the change? It starts right in verse 8. As we have seen throughout this book, the judgment of God is upon His people. The way God’s people are receiving judgment is through their defeat at the hands of other nations. Now these nations look at God’s people and they are gloating, they are pointing at them and laughing, saying where is your God now? Clearly He is weak because you all have lost. Yet Micah says that they should not rejoice for the judgment is actually not the end of the story. Because though the people will fall, they will rise. While God does bring discipline, while there is very real judgment, God does not abandon His people. Even when we are in the darkest moments, more on that in a moment, the Lord is a light to His people. This verse sets us up for what we are seeing this morning, that the judgment of God actually is meant for restoration of His people, not simply destructive. 

With that in mind, we see that Micah says he will bear the indignation of the Lord. Notice why Micah says he will do this: because he has sinned against the Lord. Micah is acknowledging something here, that God’s anger, His justice, is not random and petty but rather righteous and just. Micah is demonstrating the right heart about sin. There is no finger pointing, there is no “whataboutism” to be found, simply that Micah says, “I have sinned and I own that.” This section is titled “hope that cannot be stopped.” In order to get to hope we must start with true repentance. If we do not truly repent then we cannot truly experience the hope that comes from honest and humble repentance. 

But as I mentioned already, this is not the end of the story. It is right here in verse 9. Until He, the Lord, pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. This is an astounding turn of events. We just moved from God being our Judge to now being an advocate for us. So here is where the Gospel comes into play. Romans 8:34, “34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Now Jesus is our defendant, He has brought forgiveness to us and paid for it with His blood and secured it with His resurrection. 

Micah says that the Lord brings him out to the Light, and now what we see is that judgment is on behalf of God’s people. In verse 10 those who oppose the Lord and His people, they will plainly see what the Lord has done. Their mocking will turn to stunned silence, where they mocked and said, “where is your God now” they will end up receiving justice. Those who exalt themselves and are against the Lord will stand under the judgment of God. The only hope is that they humble themselves, repenting of their sin and turning to Christ. This is why we continually pray for our enemies, as Jesus taught, because we want our enemies to turn into brothers and sisters in Christ, experiencing the same forgiveness and change of status before God, enemy to friend, as we have. 

But this does not take away a reality, the reality that there is darkness that cannot be overcome, by us, anyway. Let’s read verses 11-13… So before we talk about precisely what I mean by that line, the optimism continues. Micah says that there will be a day of restoration, that the walls will be rebuilt. Walls are a symbol of security and stability. This is important to keep in the context of Micah because earlier in Micah we read how the city will be destroyed, so walls being built back shows that the city has been rebuilt. In that day, pointing us to some time in the future when this will be done, says that not only will God bring stability but the boundary will be extended. Somehow, someway, the city that is about to be in exile and shrinking will be extending? How does that work? Well thinking back to Micah 4 that many nations will come to the mountain of the Lord, when Jesus comes and establishes His Kingdom, who gets invited? All of us! The Kingdom is extending and growing. 

And we continue in the “in that day” when God is gathering people to Himself. Micah says “they” will come to you. Who is they? Well we are told from Assyria to Egypt, to the river, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. Assyria and Egypt are enemies, they are seen as corrupt nations and yet even enemies of God will be drawn to the Lord. The grace of the Lord will draw people who hate each other together into one people group, united around the Lord. But it not just the enemies of Israel that are known but the Kingdom of God is universal. I cannot help but think about Matthew 28, that we are called to take the Gospel into all the world. We are on a mission that is all over the globe, from sea to sea, from mountain to mountain. The whole earth is the Lord’s and He will have His due. Absolutely incredible. And we get to be a part of that. 

The tension lies in that we hear and know that, but that feels so far away, borderline impossible. Why? Because we look around. Verse 13 shows the tension. There is a reality of sin and the justice of God that has been described in this book. The earth will be desolate. What sad and horrific language. Desolate is a severe word. And this is not simply random or arbitrary, but it is the direct result of sin and God’s righteous judgment. It comes from the fruit of their deeds. 

Here is the harsh truth, there is nothing you, or I, or anyone can do to overcome the reality, consequences, and destruction of sin. We hear the amazing promises of restoration and get excited but we look around and see that the world is broken, that sin has brought destruction, that death has brought grief. And there is nothing we can do. The darkness cannot be overcome. It is impossible. And we cannot deny it. It is obvious. Turn on the news. Look at how sin has impacted our own lives. We are not called to ignore that, but having the right view of the current situation, looking ahead and knowing that restoration is coming and part of our mission as the people of God is to speak that restoration in the spreading of the Gospel and the loving and serving of our neighbor. Because here is the good news, while we cannot overcome the darkness, we serve the God who can. 

Which leads us to shepherding that cannot be defeated. Let’s read verses 14-17… The reality of the darkness, the reality of judgment, that is heavy. We discussed the wrath of God a couple weeks ago and when thinking about the reality of God’s judgment, or thinking about suffering, thinking about the consequences of sin and the direction of our world, it can be overwhelming. The overwhelming nature of this is part of why you see people numb themselves with a variety of things, and I do not simply mean illegal substances, pornography, or things we automatically think of as dangerous or inherently sinful, but even Netflix, streaming, social media. But what we ultimately need is not to be numbed to what is going on, we need a good shepherd to lead us through it. So Micah begins this prayer with this request in verse 14. Lord, we need you to lead us. We need you to protect us. We need you to point us in the right direction. The Lord being a shepherd for His people is a common image throughout Scripture and points to Jesus who says in John 10:11, “11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 

So Micah prays, you say you are our shepherd, be our shepherd. We are your people, that is the language of “flock of your inheritance” meaning that God’s people belong to God, they are His. So do not leave your people. Right now we are dwelling alone in the forest, we are weak and susceptible to danger and we need you to protect us. This language gets at something I think is important for us to realize, especially as we think about the validity of believing in God. Part of why we naturally think something is wrong is because the world, and we, were not created to live like this. We were created to be at peace with our Creator and with the gift He gave us of creation. But sin brought death, decay, destruction, and chaos. Joining Micah in this prayer still applies to us today. 

We can echo that part about grazing in Bashan and Gilead. This was Micah pointing to places known for their abundance and pastures, Micah is saying restore us to that. Lord, your covenant made with us was to be our God and for us to be your people, restore us to our purpose and to be faithful to the covenant. As we discussed, we cannot restore it, we need the shepherd to do it. Then God responds, as we see the pronouns change. God says, “just like when I saved out of Egypt, I will again show you marvelous things.” God will rescue from slavery and display His awesome power. This ultimately points to Christ, who showed the awesome power of God and released us from slavery to sin and death. 

And when God shows those mighty works, it is not just to show His people but to show everybody He is God. Exodus 7:3-5 says this about the exodus, “3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”” So we see in Micah that the nations will see that God is truly God, and then their strength, their power, it will be shattered in front of the ferociously holy God of the universe. In the famous passage in Philippians about Jesus emptying Himself, it ends by saying at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. We see that here, they are stunned into silence, those opposed to God, no matter how strong they think they are, will be defeated and will bow to the ground in trembling fear. Our shepherd will win and evil and darkness and sin and death and satan will be utterly defeated. 

How does Micah respond? With praise that cannot be contained. We read these verses earlier during the assurance of grace but hear them again, verses 18-20… These are some of my favorite verses in Scripture. Micah, as we said all the way at the beginning of this series, translates to, “Who is like YHWH?” It is a rhetorical question whose answer is, “no one!” And the book ends with that question, who is a God like you? Nobody is. There is only one YHWH, only one Creator, redeemer, sustainer, and savior. Only one true shepherd. And Micah’s astonishment is that this God, the holy righteous judge of the world, He pardons iniquity. He forgives, He shows grace and mercy to those who repent. When we come to Him in repentance, He does not hold our sin against us anymore. This is the promise for the remnant, God’s people who remain faithful. 

God does not hold onto His anger, but His mercy triumphs over it for us. Because God delights in His hesed, remaining faithful and loyal to His people. God is not showing mercy while rolling His eyes but with joy in His heart out of His abundant love for you. This ultimately is displayed in the cross. This verse is the very heart of the book, that even in lament and through the judgment Micah sees, He knows the character of God, that this holy God actually forgives sinful, guilty people. His compassion will continue for us, again and again and again. God will crush our sin, not just remove them, not just say do not worry about it, not just well try better next time, but utterly crush and defeat the things that hold us captive. Then after it says He treads them under His feet He casts them into the depths of the sea. 

Think about human forgiveness. There is a saying, “forgive but do not forget.” The idea is the person can be forgiven but you still keep certain things about them at arms length for any number of reasons. But God does not forgive like that. God takes our sin, once we repent, and just chucks them into the ocean after He stomps on them. Which leads us to verse 20. Here we see Micah specifically show who this is for and why God does this. He says it is God showing His faithfulness to Jacob, His steadfast love to Abraham. This refers back to the covenants He made with them. (Discuss). 

So you may be asking, how does this apply to us since we are not Israelites. Well this is how. In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul writes, “20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” But there is a longer passage I want to conclude with, Galatians 3:16, 26-29 “16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ… 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

God’s promises do not change, they are secure and final, sealed by the work of Christ on the cross, in the resurrection, and as He sits at the right hand of God the Father ruling and reigning for eternity. Let’s pray. 

How does Micah demonstrate the relationship between God's judgment and restoration?

In what ways can we acknowledge and own our sin as Micah does?

What does it mean that our passage has God being depicted as a judge to being an advocate for His people?

What does Micah say about the future restoration of God’s people?

Why is it important to understand the concept of God as both judge and shepherd?

How can we show unwavering hope in God’s promises, even in dark times?

What actions can you take this week to share the message of restoration with someone who feels lost?