Sermon Tone Analysis

Why Our Civilization Is Collapsing

Micah 3:1-12

          I have to say that Micah and the rest of these minor prophets are some of my favorite portions of the Scripture...I love to preach from them, because the minor prophets were not only prophets but they were patriots.

They were concerned about the direction of their country and their society.

And they were also revivalists.

They were continually calling for the people to come back to God.  Anyone who says that the Bible is not relevant to our day just hasn't spent much time in the Word of God.

Micah's message is just as relevant as the newspaper today and he is, as I said, not only a prophet, but he is a patriot and he is a revivalist and in Micah 3 he is dealing with a very important section of that society, but I want us to read just the 12th verse...

 

          "Therefore, because of you Zion will be plowed like a field,

          Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill

          a mound overgrown with thickets."

Now, notice the first words of that verse... "Therefore, because of you, Zion will plowed like a field," and the rest of that verse is a word of judgment.

Now ever since college days, I have been a student of history and civilization...I majored in history and discovered a great love for it and even to this day I am always reading some book about history or the history of some nation or civilization.

It's very, very fascinating and enlightening.

One thing, one fact that I have noticed in all of my studies is this...that no nation in history, no civilization in history, however pure its conception has ever remained pure.

Eventually it has gone sour and become corrupt.

No civilization, no nation in history, no matter how pure its conception has ever remained pure.

Israel, of course, is I think the great illustration of that.

Israel had a miraculous origin.

There could have been no purer conception than that of Israel, because it was originated by God Himself.

It was of miraculous origin.

And no other nation, no other society has ever given us a religion and a code of ethics and a code of morality as high and as lofty as that of the Hebrew religion.

Of all the religions of the world...the ancient religions...the Hebrews had the highest moral and ethical code of any other nation, and yet, in spite of that, it fell farther than any other nation.

You think about!

Miraculous in its origin...chosen by God...created by God Himself...produced a religion that had the highest moral and ethical code in history and yet fell farther than any other nation and was scattered abroad until it existed no more.

There's another thing that I have discovered in my study of history and it's this...there is an alarming similarity of the characteristics of every nation that disintegrates.

First of all, as I've said, regardless of how pure its origins, every nation always goes corrupt.

That's one characteristic, every nation, every civilization, ever society has always gone corrupt.

The second characteristic is that the majority of the people have either been unaware of it going corrupt or they have been indifferent or complacent to it.

Now, Micah is addressing his society, his nation, and it was the nation Israel of course.

As I said, Israel was miraculous in its origin, pure in its morality and yet deep in its fall.

And Micah is bringing in this little prophecy a message of divine judgment upon the people.

While this God that you and I worship and serve is a God of grace and a God of mercy, He is also a God of holiness.

There is a wrath of the Lamb...how contradictory those two terms are.

You would never put together those two words...Lamb and wrath.

But, there is something about man and his sinfulness that can even make a Lamb get angry...and become wrathful.

So, now having discussed that possibility of judgment, Micah in chapter 3 is telling why this judgment is coming upon the people.

In chapter 3 he's discussing all of this and he says, "Therefore, because of you this judgment is going to fall upon the nation..." so our task tonight is to find out who is that "you" he's talking about.

Who is that "you"?

The judgment of God is coming because of "you", he says, because of certain groups of people.

See, we have to understand that the moral disintegration that's going on in our society is not by accident.

It is the result of influences that are constantly poisoning and perverting our society.

Now, Micah is saying, "here is who they are...here's what they are..." and there are three groups of people that Micah mentions in this third chapter and I hope that as we go through it you'll see tonight how relevant it is and how contemporary it is.

"Therefore, because of you"...who is the "you?"

First, of all Micah is saying God's judgment comes upon a nation or a society because of corrupt leaders...

*BECAUSE OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS*.

Look at Micah 3:1...

"And I said, 'Hear now, heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to know justice?"

Now, the phrase "heads of Jacob" refers to civil leaders, not necessarily elected leaders, but civil leaders...those leaders in the community...those who are the head of the Chamber of Commerce or the Kiwanis or those people in the community that because of their position they are looked up to and they are looked at for advice and leadership.

Then he speaks of  "rulers of the house of Israel."

And these refer to governmental leaders.

These are those who have been placed by the people in position of authority.

He says, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob and you rulers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice?

You who hate good and love evil, who tear off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, and who eat the flesh of my people, strip off their skin from them, break their bones, and chop them up as for the pot and as meat in a kettle.

Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them.

Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have practiced evil deeds."

Now, Micah is one preacher that was never invited to the White House, I'm certain of that.

He says, "because of you...you leaders of Jacob and you rulers of the house of Israel...those of you who are in positions of authority and leadership...it is because of you..."  Now he starts off and he acts like he pays them a compliment...he says, "those of you who know justice"...now the NIV says "should you not know justice?"

And it means, "those of you above all else who know what is right from wrong..."  Now, as he began his message, and most scholars believe that this was a public sermon preached before a gathering of prominent people...and Micah starts off and he addresses them, and he says, "you are the ones above everybody else who know what justice, who know what is right and wrong," and I imagine they sort of lifted their chins at that, and maybe their chests kind of puffed out just a little bit... "sure, that's right, above everybody else we know what's right, we know what's good for the people...yessir."

But, then he came back with this word, "those of you who hate good and love evil..." and then like a novelist, he goes into great detail of how they treat the people... "you tear off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, and eat the flesh of my people, and strip off their skin from them, and break their bones and chop them up as for the pot and as meat in a kettle."

That is his description of the corrupt leaders of the nation.

Now, last night we looked in chapter 1 and let's go back there for just a moment.

Here again he's talking about the promise of judgment that God is sending upon both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom...and remember we learned that Jerusalem was the capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

And he deals with both Jerusalem and Samaria.

But look at Micah 1:5...

 

          "All of this is for the rebellion of Jacob and for the sins

          of the house of Israel.

What is the rebellion of Jacob?

          is it not Samaria?

What is the high place of Judah?

Is

          it not Jerusalem?"

Remember we talked about how that God seemed to center in on the capitals of those nations, so that you could say, "What is the sin of America?

Is it not Washington?"

Basically, that's what he's saying...that God's judgment comes upon a society, number one because of corrupt politicians...because of corrupt leaders, and you don't have to go very far and studying your history to find out that what always precedes the decline and fall of a great nation or empire is the corruption of its leaders.

If you read RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, this becomes very, very obvious.

And it's true in every civilization.

Now, there are three things the leaders do that Micah points out.

1) They sin against knowledge...they sin against what is supposedly superior light and knowledge on their part.

He says, "Those of you who should know justice...I mean of anybody else in the country...of all people in this country, you ought to know what is right and what is wrong."

Usually when we elect our leaders, we elect them because we feel like they know what is best for the country, or they know what is best for the state or they know what is best for the city and I'll tell you this, when they campaign, what do they campaign on?

The foundation of their campaign is "I know what's best...I have the answer to the problems...if you'll put me in office, I will solve all these problems because I know better than my opponent and I'm a better person, he's corrupt and I'm not."

And so, when a man or woman runs for public office, the basis of their campaign is superior knowledge...superior light.

"You should vote for me, instead of my opponent because I know what's best for the country."

But, the way Micah says this when he says "is it not for you to know justice...sure you do...but instead you hate the good and you love evil..."  What an indictment!

They sin against knowledge!

They sin against light!

And oh, it's true both in secular ways and in spiritual ways.

Leaders always have a greater judgment than followers.

You know, I used to think God was very unfair in the way He treated Moses.

You know, Moses, bless his heart, after spending 40 years in the backside of a desert with a bunch of dumb sheep, he then spent 40 years leading a bunch of dumb Israelites.

And there were 80 years he'd given to doing all that, and yet at the last minute God said, "You're not going to enter in" and took him up on the mountain and he looked across and he saw the Promised Land, but Moses never entered into the Promised Land, and why was that?

Because on one occasion, he lost his temper.

That's all he did!

He lost his temper!

And I used to read that and I'd say, "That's not right...that's not fair."

But, do you know why God judged him that way?

Because Moses, above everybody else in that nation knew better!

He knew better!

Why?