God's Faithfulness Old and New (Micah 7:14-20)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:09.390 Please remain standing. And let's turn to Mica, Chapter Seven. We will 2 00:00:09.470 --> 00:00:24.620 be hearing the last few verses of this book tonight. Mike a seven verses 3 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:33.259 fourteen through twenty. The last words of the Prophet here are first a word 4 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:39.130 of prayer and then of praise. Let's give our attention to God's word. 5 00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:48.049 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell 6 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:53.079 alone in a forest, in the midst of a garden land. Let them 7 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:58.479 grays and Bashan and in Gilead, as in the days of old, as 8 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:03.079 in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will 9 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:10.069 show them marvelous things. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their 10 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:15.829 might. They shall lay their hands on their mouths, their ears shall be 11 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:22.379 deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things 12 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:26.019 of the earth. They shall come trembling out of their strongholds. They shall 13 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:34.290 turn in dread to Yahweh our God. They shall be in fear of you, 14 00:01:34.730 --> 00:01:42.329 who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for 15 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:47.760 the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever. Because 16 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:53.400 he delights insteadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will 17 00:01:53.560 --> 00:02:00.959 tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of 18 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:06.670 the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, 19 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:14.229 as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. On Man, 20 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:39.810 my God, bless his word. Please be seated. So, as 21 00:02:39.849 --> 00:02:46.759 I mentioned, we can divide this last portion of the book of Mica into 22 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:52.639 a prayer, a section of prayer and then of praise, roughly, and 23 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:57.319 there's a lot of overlap with these two ideas, so we don't have to 24 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:01.150 be two fast to us about it. Nevertheless, we have a call to 25 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:09.310 the Lord in Verse Fourteen. Shepherd your people, Mica says, and continues 26 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:16.620 that through verse seventeen, and then the praise verses eighteen through twenty. Want 27 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:23.659 to look at these two portions of this passage this evening and consider what it 28 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:30.889 is God is saying about himself to us, what he's teaching us and reminding 29 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:40.370 us of. The word here begins, of course, with a call to 30 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:46.439 God to shepherd us. This is a reminder, as we've considered several times 31 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:52.000 throughout the book is that he is a king, he is like he is 32 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:58.310 a ruler who guards and protects, feeds his people, he guides us, 33 00:03:58.710 --> 00:04:01.870 and this is something that Israel has been very much lacking, something that they 34 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:06.710 have been needing because they are shepherds, have been evil, have been taking 35 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:12.620 them away from the things of the Lord, taking them into paths of unrighteousness. 36 00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:16.699 And so this final call of the book is to look to God as 37 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:23.100 our final resting place, to look to God as our hope, as our 38 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:27.889 leader, as our king, shepherd your people with your staff, the flock 39 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:34.329 of your inheritance, and then he gives to us this this very calming, 40 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:41.800 I think, image. Who Dwell alone in a forest, in the midst 41 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.680 of a garden? A lot of times we don't think about being alone. 42 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:47.759 Is Sort of a peaceful thing. Maybe who, especially in a forest, 43 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:55.189 but here the picture is that the people are that safe. Right. Perhaps 44 00:04:55.230 --> 00:05:00.589 you have had an experience, an opportunity to wander off into the woods or 45 00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:05.910 along a beach by yourself, feeling very much at peace, feeling safe and 46 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:13.860 protected. This is the image here, a little lamb wandering around in the 47 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:19.860 forest all by itself, not afraid because it's shepherd is there for it, 48 00:05:20.449 --> 00:05:25.250 caring for it, protecting for it. There's no reason for a lamb to 49 00:05:25.329 --> 00:05:30.649 be afraid, even I'm in this forest, because ultimately this lamb is in 50 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:35.399 the midst of a garden land, a wonderful, wonderful image. Let them 51 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:43.199 graze and Bashan and Gilead, as the days of old. There is this 52 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:49.269 picture that is recalled of God bringing his people out of Egypt, rescuing this 53 00:05:49.829 --> 00:05:56.149 flock, this beloved people, out of slavery and out of bondage, to 54 00:05:56.310 --> 00:06:00.949 be their king, that no longer pharaoh and the false gods that he would 55 00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:05.740 serve would rule over them, but God would be their king and he would 56 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:13.019 take them into good pastures, that promised land, as in the days of 57 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:16.620 old, Verse Fifteen says, when you came out of the land of Egypt, 58 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:23.730 I will show them marvelous things. The Christian faith is one that very 59 00:06:23.769 --> 00:06:29.209 much looks backwards in order to look forwards over and over again, or at 60 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:35.240 least twice. Here there are calls explicitly to think about the days of old, 61 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:41.600 and in other ways it points to this, like in Verse Twenty, 62 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:47.430 You Will Show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have 63 00:06:47.589 --> 00:06:50.629 sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Do you catch that? 64 00:06:51.029 --> 00:06:59.069 You will show future, you will show faithfulness to Jacob, you will show 65 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:05.660 steadfast love to Abraham? Why? Because he has sworn to do so in 66 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:13.939 the days of old. One of the most important things that the scripture emphasizes 67 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:20.610 over and over again about God's love is that it is steadfast. It's steadfast 68 00:07:21.889 --> 00:07:29.889 he and because of that we can lean on him when we are afraid, 69 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:38.360 when we are terrified, we can go to him and find comfort. The 70 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:46.350 same is true when we consider our internal states. When we are ashamed of 71 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:49.709 who we are, when we are terrified of who we are, when we 72 00:07:49.790 --> 00:07:59.699 are afraid and abhorring who we are, we can look to God who, 73 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:07.860 as in verse eighteen it says, pardons iniquity, he passes over transgression, 74 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:13.889 he does not retain his anger forever. Why? Because he's really, really 75 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:24.370 happy in his steadfast love. It's what makes him excited, as he puts 76 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:28.920 it, in the human way. For us to understand him, there is 77 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:37.200 something in God. The nature of his love is such that it continually pours 78 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:45.590 out. It never is overwhelmed by darkness, it's never overwhelmed by sin or 79 00:08:45.789 --> 00:08:50.710 death, and the way that we can feel, or that we often feel, 80 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:56.740 his love is steadfast. And so the prayer is, of course, 81 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:03.139 in these times of judgment that the people are about to face, a Micah 82 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:09.779 calls to God and Praise Shepherd your people. Of course God does do this. 83 00:09:09.769 --> 00:09:13.009 He watches over them, in part through the Prophet Mica, by giving 84 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.690 them these words, by continuing to keep in them a remnant of people that 85 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:24.200 speak and teach the word of God, all the way up until we have 86 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:31.080 a john the Baptist proclaiming that the day of the Lord is at hand, 87 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.399 that the shepherd of his people, this Messiah that has been promised and hope 88 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:39.990 for, is about to come. And indeed he does come. John, 89 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:43.029 the Gospel of John, tells us that Jesus is our good shepherd, he 90 00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:48.549 is the one, he is the fulfillment of these prayers in their final way, 91 00:09:48.629 --> 00:09:54.940 in which God comes to his people by even becoming one of them, 92 00:09:56.059 --> 00:10:05.940 by becoming men. These are marvelous things, as Mica says in First Fifteen. 93 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:11.090 Now, for those who trust in the Lord, who wait on the 94 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:13.529 Lord, this is, of course, our great joy, this is our 95 00:10:13.610 --> 00:10:18.610 great hope. We are looking past at God's promises in the days of old 96 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:26.039 and having confidence in his character for the future times and for the present as 97 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:30.879 well. But, as we have seen over and over again in Mica, 98 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:37.470 to those who would rebel against this love, those who would turn away from 99 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:43.429 God's Love, those who have opportunity to receive it and then fight instead, 100 00:10:45.870 --> 00:10:54.500 they will be destroyed. Verse Sixteen says the Nations shall see and be ashamed 101 00:10:56.019 --> 00:11:01.899 of all their might. This is an amazing to me, anyway, in 102 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:09.529 an amazing way of phrasing this. When I read this, I always expected 103 00:11:09.649 --> 00:11:16.049 to be ashamed of their weakness. Right here they are so pitiful before the 104 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:20.759 Lord right that, having lost the battle and these sorts of things in front 105 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:26.480 of him. But it goes even farther than that. They're not only ashamed 106 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.679 of their weakness, but they're even ashamed of their might, because their might 107 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:35.950 is their weakness. They look at their strongholds and they say, I got 108 00:11:35.110 --> 00:11:41.149 to get out of this thing. They come trembling verse seventeens out of their 109 00:11:41.269 --> 00:11:48.659 strongholds like a bad kid, you know, throwing rocks at an anthill is 110 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:52.740 thends comes scurring out of it. God, of course, verses not bad, 111 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:58.580 but good when he comes in judgment on the people of the Earth. 112 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.649 He comes because of their wickedness and their unrighteousness and all the things that we've 113 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:05.610 been reading about in Mica, the taking of vibes, the oppression of the 114 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:13.409 poor, the storing up of treasures through by taking advantage of people that are 115 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:20.559 supposed to be protected. These people that feel so strong and so secure in 116 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:26.320 themselves will lay their hands on their mouths, they shall lick the dust like 117 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.509 a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. Are Strong reminder, 118 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:37.549 of course, of the curse on the God places on Satan himself, and 119 00:12:37.710 --> 00:12:43.110 a reminder to us that are are battles that we face when people come against 120 00:12:43.149 --> 00:12:48.659 us, as Herod did against Mary and Joseph and Jesus, or as the 121 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:56.259 Jewish leadership did when they came to a crucify Christ, and as the Romans 122 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:03.769 and others did when they went to a persecute and murderer the apostles, that 123 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:09.730 ultimately these things, this battle against Christ and his people is a spiritual battle. 124 00:13:11.210 --> 00:13:16.399 It is one against the forces of darkness. Those who rage war against 125 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:24.879 the Lord and his anointed and his saints are like the serpent of old and 126 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:28.870 they will be like the serpent of old, judged, licking the dust and 127 00:13:30.029 --> 00:13:39.549 ground, crawling on the earth and condemned forever. As the mighty power of 128 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:46.100 the Lord comes on that Great Day, they shall turn in dread, like 129 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:52.860 a says in verse seventeen, to the Lord, our God. You remember 130 00:13:54.019 --> 00:14:01.210 the battle of Elijah on Mount Carmel. These this supposed battle, I guess, 131 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:07.289 between bail and Yahway, who will win? Of course Yahway wins, 132 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:13.440 as he pours down fire on the altar and all the prophets of bail licking 133 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:22.639 their self inflicted wounds, embarrassed and ashamed. That Lord who comes in that 134 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:30.710 judgment on wickedness and on evil. He is our God, he is our 135 00:14:31.110 --> 00:14:37.470 shepherd, he is for us. What do we have to fear? Why 136 00:14:37.549 --> 00:14:41.740 should we tremble for them? Why should we pay bribes? Why should we 137 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:46.019 bow the knee to the enemies of God, whether they come in the form 138 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:54.610 of a government or a person or an institution, a teaching why? What 139 00:14:54.850 --> 00:14:58.690 purpose is there in that? What what possible gain is there in that, 140 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:03.610 when this God is our God, when the victory has been one for us, 141 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:09.039 and he will come in judgment and they shall turn in dread and we 142 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:16.240 shall have great victory. This is, of course, not a moment my 143 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:24.509 could concludes in his praise, not for self confidence, but for confidence in 144 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:31.230 God, because, if it were not for his pardoning our iniquity and passing 145 00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:35.940 over transgression, we would be just like them, we would be just like 146 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:43.340 our enemies, because we were the enemies of God. We deserved his punishment, 147 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:50.250 we would deserved his wrath, just like every other person who's born in 148 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:56.809 Adam. Our hope is in God, who is gracious. Our hope is 149 00:15:56.850 --> 00:16:03.289 in God, who is merciful, who sent his son to be this great 150 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:11.320 shepherd king, who would rise on this kingly cross in order to defeat his 151 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:21.350 and our enemies. And so when we are weak, when we are scared 152 00:16:21.389 --> 00:16:26.830 and when we feel the weight of our own sins and we struggle against the 153 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:32.710 things of this world, we must, we must, we must turn to 154 00:16:33.139 --> 00:16:40.700 our shepherd in prayer and in praise, asking him to do the things that 155 00:16:40.820 --> 00:16:45.100 he has promised to do according to his will, which is recorded for us 156 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:52.649 right here, and praising him for who he is, having confident voices and 157 00:16:52.809 --> 00:17:00.210 confident lips, saying who is like you, who is a God like you, 158 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.319 and we do so not in pride that we got it all right or, 159 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:11.920 I'm with confidence that somehow we in our self, abundance and the cruel 160 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:18.670 of things, are stand before God, but because we are sinners saved by 161 00:17:18.750 --> 00:17:26.710 His grace. We come to him knowing that he has steadfast love, here's 162 00:17:26.750 --> 00:17:33.140 our friend, that he has compassion on us. We come to him relying 163 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:41.819 on those promises of old, to Abraham, to Jacob, promises which has 164 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:47.210 been which have been fulfilled in Christ. Let us pray