5. Micah

And of course, you can always support without worrying about the tax deduction, unless there's something that ties that there.

I have one more thing. Sorry, I forgot to say. I'm going to be sending out prayer updates on e-mails, so if I can get your e-mail address, I can send you out prayer updates and get prayer requests from you and be praying for you also. So, thank you.

Would you like to circulate that, Sarah?

Oh, I can circulate that if you'd like.

Yeah. They probably won't magically get on there if you don't.

Oh.

Go ahead. So, circulate that, and you can put your e-mail address down if you want to have updates.

I think we have a few folks visiting in the class for the first time. Anybody want to bring it? Sandy, do you want to?

I have my sister here. Her name is Richard. She's from Minnesota. And then a friend, Darlene Tron, who, they're both farmer ladies.

So, anyway, we warmed their toes up here in California, so it's been like...

It's a little zero. They've hit the low back there for a few days, so...

And lots of snow.

Where in Minnesota?

Gaylord. Gaylord, Minnesota, west of Minneapolis, St. Paul, about an hour's drive.

And I was going to say, I might add that Darlene, to his mother of ten children, grandmother of 27,

on the way to the airport, she stopped at the hospital to see number 27, who's two hours old.

Oh, precious.

Oh, that's wonderful. Thanks so much for being here. Sorry we couldn't give you a little bit more warm weather here.

Why am I apologizing for the weather? I like it. But it's so great to have you.

Jack and Sandy are sort of my kickstart to the class every week, especially Jack, so it's great to have you.

Anybody else, first time? And Robin and Mun, good to see you this morning.

Anybody feeling anonymous? Just run it.

How about you go?

Okay. Next week, Bill's going to start us off in Ephesians, and Lambert today is wrapping up Prophet Micah.

John Aniker, however, is stepping in with a clipboard, and that ensures that we have sufficient carbohydrates for January.

Yes, it gives that team coffee something to do.

Boy, we have an abundance of goodies this morning. That was great. So thank you to all of you who provided that.

We'll circulate the clipboard. I'll start on the front end there, and we'll just pass it back through.

And then when it gets to the end, I'll bring it up front, and we'll pass it through this side.

So as long as it doesn't pass over the aisle, we'll be in good shape. Thanks.

Okay. Thanks. Lambert, thanks for being with us this morning.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

It's great to be here. I've been pleasantly surprised at learning Micah, it seems, what Micah has to say.

It's really quite an amazing little short prophet.

And today we're at the last chapter, which is also a very good chapter.

You may have wondered what the prophets were like as individuals in the Old Testament.

Were they detached, aloof?

Were they remote?

Were they professionally trained?

Did they have a big support base?

Did they have a retirement package so that they could say their message and then live happily ever after in comfort and luxury?

No.

They're generally, the prophets are generally very ordinary people.

And they are generally very tender-hearted and very sensitive.

To what's going on in the country.

You remember that Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because he lived through the destruction of Jerusalem and wept over Jerusalem.

Much as Jesus, 700 years later, would weep over Jerusalem when he entered on Palm Sunday.

The prophets in general felt the hurt and pain of their people keenly and took it personally.

And lived as if the sin of the nation was their personal sin and their personal responsibility.

And Micah is like that and he gives us a little personal glimpse into his life at the beginning of chapter 7.

Woe is me, for I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes.

There is no cluster to eat of the first fruit which my soul desires.

You remember that.

In Israel, the provision of the law of Moses was that when you harvested your fields or your crops,

you always left something behind for the poor, whether it was fruit or whether it was grain.

And the poor depended on that, the gleanings.

Remember Ruth, the story of Ruth?

And so Micah says, I feel like a man who's desperately hungry and I go into the orchard after the main harvest

and there's not a single bit of fruit left.

There is no.

No gleanings have been left for me.

I'm destitute.

Now, he's not talking about literal food.

He's really talking about fellowship with like-minded, righteous men.

He finds himself alone in a land of very ungodly behavior.

And he says that in verse 2.

The faithful or the loyal man has perished from the earth.

I can't find anybody around here who's reliant.

Who's reliable, who's dependable, who keeps his promises, who I can count on.

That's certainly partly true in our culture today.

You think about how solemn a marriage vow is and how serious it is before God and family and church

and how when the married couple gets up and takes those vows,

they should be solemn and binding and taken very, very seriously.

But today, some people do.

The word that they use there is hesed.

Hesed.

We are going to get the word hesed in here about three times.

That's that wonderful word that's sometimes translated loving kindness or loyal love.

And it's a beautiful word in the Old Testament.

The faithful man has perished from the earth and there is no one upright among men.

They all lie in wait for blood.

The faithful man has perished from the earth and there is no one upright among men.

He's talking to Israel.

He's not talking about the Gentile nations.

Israel is a nation with a covenant relationship with God.

So he's talking to God's people.

He finds the conditions in Israel very discouraging and very depressing for him.

He goes on to describe the situation.

He says every man hunts his brother with a net.

Every man seems to be out to trap his own friends, his own brothers.

to betray, to take advantage of,

that they may successfully do evil with both hands.

What do you suppose that means?

Successfully do evil with both hands?

Constantly, in every way you can.

Totally untrustworthy, betraying your own brother, your own friend.

And then he talks about the kind of conspiracies he sees going on in high places,

in the government and in the courts and among the rich people.

It's like they're all working together in a kind of a conspiracy.

He says, the prince asks for gifts.

The judge seeks a bribe and the great man, rich man,

utters his evil desire so they scheme together.

I think the rich guy wants something to happen

that would better his position

and he can easily go to the leader and have a new law passed

or have a special dispensation granted

or he can go to court and a little money under the table

will get the judge to rule favorably for him.

And so when you take these three classes of the rich

and the princes and the judges,

they're all corrupt and they're all working together self-serving

in self-serving ways.

And where does that leave us?

Where does that leave the ordinary citizen

and the rich?

The poor, the people that God generally cares the most about.

Well, they're kind of excluded, marginalized, are they not, in this?

Nothing like that exists in this Silicon Valley, of course.

Not a hint.

Well, I hate to really know because I expect there's plenty there.

Now he says about the leadership in Israel in his day,

the best of them is like a briar.

A big, sharp thorn.

That means that you go to one of these leaders

and you ask for help

or you ask something legitimate

and it's like sticking your thumb in a big thorn.

Are you going to get help out of this guy?

No, he's like a briar.

The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.

I don't know if you've ever seen big thorn hedges.

Briar rabbit kind of thing where you just,

this is total thorn bushes.

We don't have them.

I'm around here in California, but there is such a thing.

Now, is he talking about the days in which he lives?

Well, yes, he probably is to some extent.

He probably sees some of these things in his own time.

We're at the time when the Assyrians have taken the ten northern tribes off

into captivity in Assyria

and even the cities in Judah are being raided by the Assyrians

and meanwhile Babylon is on the ascendancy

and will soon come in and carry,

the southern tribes off into Babylon for 70 years.

It's God's judgment on his own people.

It's chastisement on his own people.

If you want to see something of the heavy heart of the prophet Habakkuk

wrote during this time period

and he was greatly distressed when he knew the land was about to be ruined

and that men more evil than the Jews by far,

more cruel and more violent,

were going to come in as God's chastening instrument against the people of Israel

and it broke his heart and left him for a time without hope.

Micah feels that sort of way.

Micah does say at the end of verse 4,

the day of your watchman and your punishment comes.

Now is the time of their confusion.

So he sees here that the evil in the world will eventually be judged by God

and it's not going to go on forever

and it's a little hard to wait.

For that to all happen, but it's inevitable.

God does deal with evil.

He's just a little slow about that, a little pokey.

Doesn't deal with things on our time scale often

and sometimes God's time scale is many centuries.

So there's a note here of sadness and sorrow in Micah

and he has a broken and tender heart for his people

and for the situation in which he lives

and does he have any other people that he can go talk to

and that will...

Well, they encourage him.

Well, he might have known Isaiah.

He doesn't have a fellowship group.

He doesn't have any friends that are like-minded.

He kind of feels all alone, like he's the only one.

Well, he's not the only one, but people are rare.

Now, he goes on to talk more about the times in which he lives.

He says, don't trust in a friend.

Don't put your confidence in a companion.

Don't even trust your best friend.

Don't even trust the people that you work with around you.

Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.

Don't even confide in your spouse.

Now, that's a terrible thing.

Your spouse is supposed to be the person

that you have the most intimate, personal, trusting relationship with

who you can talk to about everything

and get good advice and good wisdom from.

And what is it like when you can't trust your spouse?

That happens, for example, if one of the members of a family

is carrying on a relationship on the side, say, for example,

which is not uncommon in our day.

Well, that just totally destroys the fabric of a holy relationship

and it makes you distrust the person that you loved and married.

Well, that's going on.

The son dishonors the father.

None of that in our culture at all, ever.

Daughter rises against her mother.

Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Those words are vaguely familiar.

Anybody heard them before or seen them before?

Anywhere?

Yes.

Matthew chapter 10.

And Jesus describing the conditions in Israel

that are going to come to pass in the days ahead.

So that's...

That's where Jesus lifted that quote.

It's also in Luke.

Now, we've got all this bad news so far, okay?

It's gloom and doom.

A lot of Micah is like this.

And then it turns right around and, as usual,

what does Micah say about all this?

Is he discouraged and bummed out and depressed?

And does he run around dumping on all of his friends

and looking for some kind of comfort or hitting the bottle

or dropping out or getting bitter and cynical?

No, he doesn't.

He says,

But as for me, I will look to the Lord.

I will wait for the salvation of my...

for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

There's the place to put your faith and hope,

particularly when things are dark around on all sides.

And when you feel totally alone, what do you do?

Put your...

Renew your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Put your confidence in God,

in His...

His ability to take care of you

and to unravel all of the complicated problems in the world

and to vindicate you.

So that's exactly how Habakkuk ends.

Habakkuk says,

It's going to get worse around here,

but I'm going to hang in with the Lord.

I'm not going to stop depending on Him.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

Waiting for God is sometimes very difficult.

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.

Says Micah.

When I fall, I will arise.

When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

I may be disgraced and humiliated

and I may be very unpopular through the rest of my life

and I may have people laughing at me and ridiculing me.

Am I going to let that get me down?

No.

That's a pretty normal reaction to the prophets.

I will bear the indignation.

I will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against Him.

Does Micah, one of the most godly men in the whole country,

has Micah sinned against God?

Well, yes, everybody has.

Is he here identifying with the people?

Very strongly so.

Or he could say, we have sinned,

but he takes it as if it's I have sinned.

And I can only...

wait for God's grace and mercy.

Have you ever noticed that when you are close to God

is when you feel the most sinful?

You ever notice that?

That if you're all comfortable because God's saved me now

and all my sins are forgiven and everything's really going well,

that's probably not a good place to be for very long.

The closer we get to God, the more we see our own desperate need.

There's no good...

in me at all.

We are all an unclean thing

and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags

and it sinks in.

And what are the people that you...

what are your fellow believers,

are they really any better off at the core of their being?

Well, not really.

I mean, we're new and we're clean,

but motives and all kinds of stuff.

Are we waiting?

Are we waiting for some vindication and deliverance?

We haven't seen it much more clearly

than Micah did who lived before the cross.

And what is Micah waiting for?

He is waiting for God to plead his case,

plead Micah's case,

and execute justice for me.

He will bring me forth to the light

and I will see his righteousness.

Do you have that hope of personal salvation

and vindication and justification?

Yes, indeed.

That's where to look.

Even though the world is all dark and gloomy

and you're all too keenly aware of your own failures

and your own shortcomings,

can you put your hope that the God of love

who gave himself for you will vindicate you,

will solve the problem,

not only for you but for all of us?

That's where Micah is.

That's what he's telling us about.

Then she who is my enemy will see

and shame will cover her

who said to me,

where is the Lord your God?

My eyes will see her.

Now she will be trampled down

like mire in the streets.

Now who in the world is she?

Is that a literal lady?

No, probably not.

Got any thoughts on this?

Why it would be the personal pronoun

would be a she here?

The world.

I think so.

I think that's exactly right.

In Isaiah we had mystery Babylon

personified as the she,

seducing woman.

Is the world not like a seductress?

Does the world not constantly

make its appeals to us

to indulge, to have pleasure,

to look for power?

Isn't that kind of what temptation is like

for all of us?

Yeah.

When Stedman distinguishes between

sin, no S,

and then sins, S,

and he said the sins means

they are really observed

or something that you do

in the deeds.

And the original sin

is separation from God.

So do I, if I repent,

do I have to repent

my original sin as well as

all the sins?

Well, we're going to see a little

how much do you have to deal

with your old sins?

You certainly don't have to deal

with them over and over and over again.

If you've asked God for forgiveness,

you've got it.

But we'll get a little bit more

as this letter,

closes here.

All our lives,

long as Christians,

we are assaulted by the

lures of the world

that attract us

and get us to compromise

and compromise with God

and go looking for money,

power, love, pleasure,

happiness, whatever.

Does the world not assault us

like that all the time?

Yes, it does.

Okay, that's what he's saying.

And he's saying there's coming a time

when this seducing woman

of the world is going,

to not be there.

It's going to be destroyed.

Trampled down like mire in the street.

The world is also saying

there is no God.

And the world today says

there is no God

and you get all kinds of books

and movies out

that will try to convince you

in a logical way

that there is no God at all.

And if there is a God,

he's uninvolved.

God might have started

the universe going,

but he certainly doesn't bother himself

to get into the affairs of men now.

And if there is a God,

well, it's probably

some kind of amalgamation.

It's that God's a little bit like Allah

and something like Buddha

and maybe Jesus a little bit,

but it's kind of an all-purpose God.

Not so.

God is very specifically holy

and just and righteous

and that's the message of the prophets.

Now,

we've got now

a marvelous little episode

epitaph epilogue on here

in which Micah says

in the day when your walls

are to be built

in the day the decree shall

in that day

the decree shall go far and wide

in that day

they shall come to you

from Assyria

and the fortified cities

from the fortress to the river

from sea to sea

and mountain to mountain.

Yet the land shall be desolate

because of those who dwell in it,

and for fruit,

for the fruit of their deeds.

Now,

he's talking about a day

in which Jerusalem will be

rebuilt and inhabited,

but then he goes on

to talk about invading

armies here represented

by Assyria

and the land being laid waste

and desolated by foreign armies.

Now, has that happened to Israel?

Yeah.

Assyrians, Babylonians,

Romans,

Greeks, Persians.

Is there more to come?

Yeah, there's more to come.

There's going to be a great world war

in the Middle East

and the armies of the king of the north

will come swooping down on Israel

and plunder and destroy the city.

Zechariah says the city will be taken

and the women ravished

and the city plundered and set afire

and the enemy will be taken.

And the enemy will be taken.

And the Egyptians will come swarming in

and the Arabs will come swarming in

and a terrible war

will wage up and down the land of Israel

with millions dying

in that great war.

Terrible war.

And it's right in the very middle

of Israel, a little tiny Israel,

and laying

the land desolate.

Is that the end?

It's not the end.

Because immediately in verse 14,

Micah calls on Israel

out in prayer to God

as the shepherd.

Now, three times in this little short book

of Micah, Micah has talked about

the great shepherd of the sheep

and how God is a loving, caring shepherd.

Fits very well

the agricultural

economy

of that area

where sheep and goats and farming

is the sustenance of the way of life.

Shepherd your people

with your staff,

the flock of your heritage,

so it's a call here

for the great shepherd to come

to restore his flock,

Israel, and to make

the whole land green and lush again

so that sheep can graze.

We've got the grazing and green pastures

in the next verse.

The flock of your heritage who dwell

solitarily in a woodland in the midst

of Carmel, let them feed in

Bashan and Gilead.

Carmel is up in the north

and rich and green, Mount Carmel,

and Bashan is the goal

and Gilead is over in Jordan.

Rich, wonderful land

for sheep to graze

safely and peacefully

in a land that had previously

been desolated.

And would the shepherd come back

and bring that about?

Well, yes, he will.

As in the days of old.

As in the days when you came out

of the land of Egypt,

I will show them marvelous things.

So what is Micah asking God

to do for beleaguered Israel?

To act on their behalf

as he acted when he brought them

out of Egypt.

To act strategically, powerfully,

irreversibly

on behalf of his people

against all odds.

So then the final

restoration of Israel

will be very much like

the people coming into the promised land

the first time.

When Jesus returns to Jerusalem

and comes to the Mount of Olives

with Jesus,

blood spattered on his garments,

where will he have just come from?

Basra.

He'll just have come with the godly remnant

from Petra in southern Jordan

like a great shepherd.

Remember we had earlier in this book

the one who breaks out,

the one who breaks the sheep

out of their enclosure and leads them.

That beautiful picture in there.

And the shepherd then brings his people

back into the land of Israel

and restores it.

And that's the second coming of Christ.

And then he gathers all the nations together

and judges all of them.

So

Micah is looking for a time

when God will act as he acted

in the Exodus

in a dramatic way

to rescue the people of Israel

and restore them.

As in the days when you

came out of the land of Egypt

I will show them

marvelous things.

And the reaction of the nations,

all the power,

all the powerful nations

who oppose Israel

now and more so

at the end of the age,

the nations will see

and be ashamed of all their might.

They will put their hand over their mouth.

Their ears shall be deaf.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent.

They shall crawl from their holes

like snakes of the earth.

They shall be afraid of the Lord our God

and shall fear because of you.

Israel.

How's that for a total turnoff?

Turning the whole wide world upside down.

That little tiny beleaguered Israel.

Insignificant nation over there

should end up

the chief among the nations

and all of the other nations of the world.

These wild unruly Gentiles

should be radically humbled

and come to serve the Jews in Jerusalem.

It's totally upside down.

And they look at the humiliation

of the nations here.

And what about this allusion to it?

Serpent in the dust.

What's behind all the unrest in the world

and all the violence

and all the hatred and murder in the world?

Well, that old serpent from the garden.

That's what's behind

all of the raging of the nations.

And for people to respect the Jews

as never before

instead of being opposed to them,

that's really new.

That's new.

Now, we get Micah's

conclusion here.

Who is like,

who is a God like you?

Pardoning iniquity

and passing over the transgression

of the remnant of his heritage.

He does not retain his anger forever

because he delights in mercy.

Chesed,

he will again have compassion on us

and will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast,

all our sins into the depths of the sea.

You will give truth to Jacob

and mercy, Chesed,

to Abraham,

which you have sworn to our fathers

from days of old.

Now, we started this study

a long time ago

in Micah

by looking at the name,

what the name Micah means.

Who is like God.

So this is Micah speaking

and he says,

who is like God?

So this book

is the sort of secret of godliness

as Ray Steadman likes to say.

It's kind of the secret

of what it's like to be godly.

And Micah has proven himself godly

or godlike

in what he's written here.

And then he goes on to tell us

a little bit about what God is like.

The God that he knows and serves

is a God who

pardons iniquity

and forgives the sins of sin.

He forgives the transgression

of the remnant of his heritage.

How lavish is God's mercy?

How much mercy do you need?

How much grace do you need?

How much help do you need?

It's there.

That's the whole idea.

As much as you need.

And he does not retain his anger forever.

Does God get angry with his people?

Yes.

Does he get angry

real easily

like your dad did?

Your grandfather or great uncle

who drank too much anyway?

Temper tantrums?

Does God get angry like that?

Flare up and suddenly get irritated?

No.

It takes a long time to provoke God to anger

because he knows what's going on

and he's loving and he's patient

and he waits.

In fact, God waits so long

before he gets angry

that a lot of people think

that he's not just at all.

Because if God was just God

he would have come in and fixed this

a long time ago or solved that

a long time ago.

Or punished so and so

or vindicated me

and I'm still waiting.

But that's what God's like.

He does not retain his anger.

He delights in mercy.

Now that's also the theme of the book of Lamentations

that God much prefers mercy.

He does very reluctant to judge.

He's very reluctant to chasten.

He only chastens people

when everything else fails.

How long is it?

How long has God's patience lasted with Israel?

Well,

it's 700 B.C.

when Micah is writing this.

That's about 800 years

after the Exodus or so.

And Abraham lived about 2,200.

So it's quite a bit later than Abraham.

So there's a long, long time spell there.

We tend to operate on time scales

of a day or a week

or a few years

or something when everything fixed right away.

How long is it taking God

to fix Israel?

Thinking a long time.

But it's not a long time in God's scale.

And he delights in mercy.

He prefers mercy.

He prefers mercy to judgment.

He will again have compassion on us

and he will subdue our iniquities.

He's talking about the remnant here.

Micah is saying we,

the small little remnant,

and I'm part of the remnant,

will receive mercy.

And then there's this wonderful memory verse.

God promises that he will cast

all of our sins

into the depths of the sea.

Now that means

gets rid of your sins forever

and erases the memory

and throws away the hard drive

and the disks and everything.

And it's also what,

is that Isaiah,

as far as the east is from the west,

so thus far has he removed

our transgressions from us.

So that's the God who,

when he deals with our sin,

deals with it,

100%, forgives it,

forgets it,

doesn't bring it up again.

Well that means that if God has forgiven you

and you've given something to God,

then you don't need to bring it up again.

You don't need to go review

those old sins

and air them all over again.

In fact, that's kind of offensive to God.

You ask for his forgiveness,

he forgave you, forget it.

Now that doesn't mean you don't have to review things

occasionally in the past

and look over relationships,

and review them before the Lord.

That's true.

And what is he going to do for Israel's

long record, long track record

of failure?

He's going to write it all up.

Because

all of that sin has been paid for

in full.

All of your sins

have been paid for

in full.

And so God's really, really not interested in sin

because that's already dealt with.

He's got that all solved.

What's he want is restored relationships.

He wants to be merciful.

He wants intimacy.

He wants to know you.

He hates hypocrisy.

He hates phoniness.

He hates people who are just merely religious.

This is a God who's a great lover

and a great intimate.

And that's what he's after.

And can you imagine what happens

to an unbeliever who dies

and faces Jesus face to face

for his interview

and Jesus talks to

this particular sinner.

And what do you suppose the first question will be?

How come you wouldn't let me forgive you?

I went to a great trouble

to die for your sins

and apparently that meant nothing to you.

Apparently you don't realize

what I made possible for you.

I made possible

the forgiveness of all your sins

and a whole brand new life

and freedom and liberty

and you said no to that.

What in the world would a sinner say to that?

And then with great reluctance

Jesus has to say to that person

well I'm really sorry

if you don't want my solution

to your problems

you're just going to have to go away

and handle the problem

of God's justice

and your sinfulness

and pay for it yourself.

That'd take a long time.

And it's not going to be fun

but that you've made your choice.

So I like to think about

think about that

that you're going to have to go away from that.

The sin issue is really dealt with

and the issue is here

is all about relationships

and in a future day

all this will be realized

Israel will be brought up

to the chief among all the nations

and put into

the place of prominence in the world.

In regard to

we've also had

here yet in Micah

some clear predictions

about Bible prophecy.

This is a book on prophecy.

We've had four or five

announcements of the Messiah

and what he's going to be like

and when he comes

and we've seen again

the patterns of chastisement

and how prophecy centers around Israel

and I have some notes

in my old Bible here from Ray

that are just really helpful.

What determines the future

is what God has done in the past

and what he has promised

to do in the future.

So don't look horizontally

at current events.

Isn't that good advice?

You get to look horizontally

at the Middle East

at the world situation

and you look and you try to figure it out

how Lindsay Stile

or somebody like that

you try to figure it out

and analyze it

and package it up

in a best seller

and it usually is

gets totally wrong.

So what do we do?

We look to see

what has God done in the past?

What has he promised

that he will do?

Will he do what he said he will do?

Will he do it in exacting detail?

Yes, he most certainly will.

Now the other thing

that Ray Stedman

in his little summary of Micah

says this about this whole book

because the name Micah

who is like God.

What is the way to God likeness?

Putting away our wickedness

confessing our guilt before God

looking to him to pardon our iniquities

and cast all our sins

into the depth of the sea.

Isn't that just?

What the New Testament says

if we confess our sins

he is faithful and just

and will forgive our sins

and cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

First John one night.

Now, how do you walk humbly with God?

John answers that we should walk in the light

as he is in the light.

That is to walk openly

and in honesty.

Do not try to hide anything from God.

Do not pretend to be something

you are not.

To him, walk in the light

as he is in the light

and the blood of Jesus Christ

his son cleanses us from all sin.

First John one seven.

Now, Micah's question rings in our ears.

Who is like God?

Well, the only one who is like God

is the man who walks with the Lord Jesus Christ

who is God himself

the God like one.

That sort of sums up this whole book, isn't it?

The secret of godliness is to live in an intimate relationship

with the man who is God

who alone is God like

who alone is righteousness.

You can see what the message that Micah leaves us with here.

Neat little book, isn't it?

Any thoughts, comments, questions?

I didn't write it.

It's a great little book.

Okay.

I very much appreciate this awesome group

and it forces me to read the Bible

and study it a little bit.

God willing, we can do something more.

Should the Lord carry?

I think one point you make which is excellent is

you start walking with the Lord

and then invariably all of us have

a sinner too.

Which is just hard to get rid of.

It seems like an art.

So you just constantly feel like a failure.

But we can't be that way.

We confess it and move on

because we know that God knows who we are.

And we keep praying for him to take that from us.

But I think a lot of us go around

just defeated all the time

because how can God love me?

I keep making the same mistake over and over and over again.

And it really kind of gets you down

when we shouldn't be in that place.

Look at these.

The incredible promises that God says

that he's going to totally wipe out all of the sins

and all of the charges against us

and all of the charges our enemies have made

and every item that's come up against us

is going to be eradicated.

The New Testament makes the fact that it's already happened.

I find that incredibly amazing.

We have an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God

who says, I will forget your sins.

In fact, his mind blows and he's sending that powerful sign.

And it's by sheer faith, I believe,

just because he says it.

I believe it.

He says he's going to do it.

He's going to do it.

But how is a oxymoron in my brain

so how that he can forget all that?

He's willing to do that.

This is incredible.

I've just been thinking this week

about how awesome and amazing and wonderful God is

as a person, as a personal God.

This amazing God that we know and worship and love

and just sort of sends chills up.

I was reading in John's Gospel last night

one of the discussions that Jesus was having

with the crowd and I thought,

I know that same Jesus.

That's absolutely incredible.

If I walked up to Jesus in Jerusalem on the street,

he'd know me and we'd know each other

and I know that guy and I'm on a part of his team.

What does God want out of you in the meantime?

He wants faith.

That's what Habakkuk came to the conclusion.

He wants your trust.

He wants you to obey him,

to act on his promises,

whether you feel like it or not,

in spite of your circumstances,

in spite of these besetting sins.

You don't have to get your act together

and then think about serving God.

You can serve God right now.

And in the end, we're all going to get to heaven

and be whole and complete and God-like.

I think our biggest problem is that we just don't believe that.

Well, unbelief is, of course,

at the heart of the human problem is

here's God's given us this book

all full of these marvelous promises

of God.

He's given us this book,

a lot of which we don't believe,

a lot of which we don't take very seriously.

Oh, that's all very well and good

and that gives me a little encouragement,

but do we really believe it?

Well, unbelief runs deep in us.

Well, if we all become complete in heaven,

then why do we still need to grow here on earth?

If we're going to be complete in heaven

when we get there,

then why do we need to grow now?

Well, heaven's a pretty radically different place

than earth.

This is, in our,

present state,

we can't handle all that intensity very well.

I think that the answer that we,

that's a huge change.

Bright light,

unselfish,

loving,

caring people,

and holiness is everywhere.

And C.S. Lewis points out that

it's no wonder that unbelievers don't want to go there

because they can't go on being selfish anymore.

Really, in answer to your question,

though,

that,

you know,

it's common for us to ask that question

because we don't understand who God is.

You make it sound like it's a bad thing to grow.

It can be painful at times,

but it's really the best thing for us to grow

and to learn who God really is.

And, you know,

the more we find out who God is,

the more wonderful we see that he is,

and the more we want more and more of that.

What does God want out of you?

He wants you to be a whole man,

a whole woman,

Leviticus.

Remember,

he'd like to unfold all of your potentials,

all of your talents and abilities,

to stretch you out

until you are the person that he created you to be,

unlock all the areas of your life

that are inaccessible and closed,

and develop them

so that you become the person that he intended.

In answer to Mr. Cormac's question,

the Lord chooses to use people like us

to talk to others.

We are God's Israel right now in this world.

That's all God's got to represent him is us.

Yeah.

In answer to your question,

it's like the old story.

Michelangelo saw a block of marble,

and he saw David in there,

and that's what God sees us as a block.

He's chiseling away.

He's making,

he's folding.

It's that same analogy.

He's molding.

So if we have a lot of corners on us,

we haven't got very far in there.

What do you do with a crack?

If the big slab of marble's got a crack running through it.

Anyway, let's quit, shall we?

Father, thanks for this study

and for everybody that's gathered here.

Who is like you, Lord?

Would we really try to understand that?

We can't ever fully,

but would that be what our lives are about

and that we'd understand how you pardon our sins,

you pass them over,

and that you don't stay angry, Lord?

Would we really understand what that means?

And give us your same unchanging love, Father.

Thank you so much for the love that you've shown to us.

And as always, we pray that that would flow from our lives

to those around us,

that we would be a fragrance of life to many.

In Jesus' name, amen.