Micah 6: Cosmic Court

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Micah 6
Cosmic Court
Intro:
Good morning and welcome to this gathering of Hope Bible Fellowship.
If someone breaks the law and acts against you in some way to harm you or go against your rights as a citizen of this country, you have the option to press charges against the person and then, if convicted, there is a fine or jail time, a price to be paid by the offending party.
It’s a serious thing to be confronted by God about your sin.
In chapter 6, we step into a courtroom where God would bring His case against the people who should have been serving and worshiping Him but had broken the covenant. God is confronting the people about their sin and Micah will plead God’s case. He’s God’s representative standing before the people. God was going to prosecute the people based on their sin. God is pressing charges. I want you to see the gravity of this.
Let’s read this passage. Follow along in Micah chapter 6 as we begin in verse 1.
Read:
Micah 6 ESV
1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, 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. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with 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?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city— and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: “Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it! 10 Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? 11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword. 15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. 16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”
Pray

God’s case against the people. (v. 1-5)

He will prosecute
Called the mountains and hills as witnesses They were around and had witnessed His salvation of the people from Egypt and the other nations. He will do justice They should remember what God had done for them.
What does it mean to remember?
The Hebrew word zākar, means to actualize the past into the present by re-membering oneself to the past… this is not merely recalling as you would for a history exam… this is re-identification with salvation history entails a faith commitment. Luke 22:19 What should they remember?
God had rescued them.
He made them a nation and gave them Moses and Joshua as leaders that they could trust to lead them according to God’s ways.
Balak and Balaam Acacia Grove to Gilgal - Balak wanted Balaam to curse Israel but everytime he spoke he ended up blessing them.
(Egypt to Gilgal are extremes representing all of God’s saving acts during the formation of Israel as a nation.

The requirements of the covenant. (v. 6-8)

- using escalated absurdities to show sarcasm
- each question demands a firm negative answer
- “Without repentance and a new heart to identify with God’s salvation-history, one cannot satisfy the standard of a heartfelt obedience.”
Description of the covenant How they had broken the covenant:
- idolatry
- trusting in their military might
- trusting in the pagan nations
There is something God desires more than sacrifices.
He wanted their hearts. He wanted their obedience. He didn’t just want action but hearts that were wholly surrendered to Him. He is not disregarding sacrifices but relaying the fact that without obedience the sacrifices are worthless. When God has a man’s heart, his actions will follow. Redeemed actions come from a redeemed heart.
What does it mean to act justly? Why does it say this here
The Hebrew word here for “act justly” is the word mishpat. This word occurs more than 400 times in the OT. The concept is based on the character of God. God is always just and therefore, expects His people to reflect His character and be just. The people were rejecting this aspect of following God. They were unjust in their treatment of others. We live in an unjust world but we are supposed to be handing out justice to those around us. One book said “God commands us to be dispensers of justice to those around us.” Why? Because as followers of Christ we have been on the receiving end of God’s justice. You owed a penalty. There was a charge against you of sin and that was satisfied by the death of Jesus as atonement for your sin. As someone who has been on the receiving end, we must now be one the giving end of justice.
What does it mean to love faithfulness? Why does it say this here?
The Hebrew word is chesed. Sometimes it is translated mercy. It also appears many times in Scripture. It is used to describe God’s covenant with Israel in the OT. But the word is difficult to translate into English. William Curtis writes that the best definition is “loyal love that contains mercy.” Again, this is in the character of God. Therefore we should be reflecting this to the world around us.
What does it mean to walk humbly with your God? Why does it say this here?
The word translated here for “humbly” is tsana. This is another difficult word to translate into English. The best translation is “lowly.” This word isn’t talking about weakness though, it’s describing authentic humility. This is the opposite of the selfish pride we see in the lives of the people during Micah’s day. If you want to walk humbly with God, you’re going to have to have faith and obedience. If you’re not doing the previous two things of acting justly and loving faithfulness, it’s probably because you are not walking humbly with God. Our pride keeps us from this. It wants it to all be about me and my wants and my comfort. But humility is about submitting to the authority of God. It’s about seeking His will first before yours and holding out mercy and justice to those around you. Walking humbly with God says, “because I believe God, I will obey God.” It’s obeying out of faith. You must believe and obey God to do this. You’ve got to trust that His will is better than whatever you might choose. That means that even if you can’t see how it’s better yourself, you trust that what He wants is more important than anything that you want. And that means obeying what He has said in His word.
Philippians 2:5–11 ESV
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God’s message to the city. (v. 9-12)

God ordained the discipline.
God is just and is for true justice. Injustice is offensive to God. As one scholar puts it, “injustice is “the byproduct of our depravity.” How have been living unjustly?
Cheating others
Violent
Speaking Lies
Being deceitful

The results of sin/breaking the covenant.

Judgement is coming. In verse 16 - they did things after the pattern of their wicked leaders but were still held accountable for their personal sin/actions. The coming judgement was because of their actions of disobedience. God wanted their hearts and that would be show by submitting to Him in obedience.
Conclusion: (call for response)
Verse 8 really challenges us in our motives. When you do things for God, why are you doing them? Are you trying to impress God? Are you somehow trying to put God in your debt by doing lots of things and then expecting Him to do what you ask in response? Are you serving half-heartedly hoping that because of it, God will let you into heaven? Do you do lots of religious things but do them with pride or hate in your heart?
Modern day pharisees…Even the Jews had some vestiges of religious behavior amidst their idolatry. They put stock in that activity believing that it was enough to secure them as God’s people. They believed they could do anything and live anyway they wanted as long as they kept up their “religious” activity.
Here’s the problem: A lot of people today, maybe even some of you, find yourselves acting however you want and then coming to church on the weekend hoping that it’s enough to outbalance the stuff you did during the week. And it never will be. God’s not looking for your sacrifice only. He’s not only looking for some time. He’s after your heart. Even if you showed up every week it wouldn’t be enough because your heart must belong to Jesus.
Jesus knew that none of our good works and none of our sacrifices could ever pay the price our sin demanded. So He gave His life on the cross and died in our place, for our sin. He rose from the grave and is alive and offers us His righteousness, forgiveness, love, and eternal life if we will stop with our religious going through the motions and surrender to Him. Repent of your sin and believe the good news of this gospel. Trust in Him, not in religious activity. Surrender your heart to Him and out of that will flow a desire to obey His commands.
Pray
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