God's Righteous Judgment (Micah 6:9-16)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:08.390 Let's turn to Micah Chapter six, in continue hearing God's word in this a 2 00:00:08.509 --> 00:00:34.740 portion of his holy scriptures. Mica Chapter Six, verses nine through sixteen, 3 00:00:37.609 --> 00:00:41.369 the voice of the Lord cries to the city, and it is sound wisdom 4 00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:45.329 to fear Your name here of the Rod and of Him who appointed it. 5 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:49.929 Can I forget any longer are the treasures of wickedness in the house of the 6 00:00:49.969 --> 00:00:55.759 wicked and the scant measure that is accursed? Shall I acquit the man with 7 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.640 wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? Your rich men are full 8 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:07.189 of violence, your inhabitants speak lies and their tongue is deceitful in their mouths. 9 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:12.269 Therefore, I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because 10 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:17.590 of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there 11 00:01:17.670 --> 00:01:21.900 shall be hunger within you. You shall put away, but not preserve, 12 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:27.099 and what you preserve you will give to the sword. You shall I will 13 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:30.859 give to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap. You shall 14 00:01:30.939 --> 00:01:34.769 tread alives, but not annoint yourselves with oil. You shall tread grapes, 15 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:41.489 but not drink wine, for you have kept the statutes of Omri and you 16 00:01:41.609 --> 00:01:46.170 have and all the works of the House of Ahab, you have walked in 17 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:51.400 their councils, that I may make you a desolation and your hat and your 18 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:57.480 inhabitants a hissing, so that you shall bear the scorn of my people. 19 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:21.340 May God's word be blessed. Unto us, you may be seated. David's 20 00:02:21.419 --> 00:02:27.819 prayer that we read a little bit ago in Psalm Twenty Eight, where he 21 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:35.330 asks that God would give to the wicked exactly what they deserve, if he 22 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:43.449 would give to them their due reward, is exactly what's happening in Micah chapter 23 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:49.800 six, or at least I should say it is. It is this court 24 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:54.159 room scene in which God is pronouncing this sentence, that he will do these 25 00:02:54.199 --> 00:03:00.430 things, that he will bring about justice and righteous and will act according to 26 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:08.110 righteousness. In Psalm Twenty eight verse for what David Says, they're sounds, 27 00:03:08.669 --> 00:03:13.780 I'm very positive, and indeed it is. Give to them according to their 28 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:16.939 work and a court except for this part, and according to their evil deeds. 29 00:03:16.979 --> 00:03:21.099 He says, give them according to the work of their hands, render 30 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:25.379 them their due reward. In most context, when you say give what's fair, 31 00:03:25.979 --> 00:03:31.289 render what's do whatever work has been done with their hands. Give them. 32 00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:36.250 What is the fair reward for that? Most of the time we hear 33 00:03:36.289 --> 00:03:39.370 that message and we hear it very positively, in a positive way. Right, 34 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:44.520 you sign a contract at work, you agree to work a number of 35 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:47.479 hours and you want to get paid. You want to get paid the wages 36 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:51.680 for your work. You want it to be fair. Give me what is 37 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.629 Oh, there's nothing odious or obnoxious about that demand. It's a good and 38 00:03:55.750 --> 00:04:00.830 a just thing. Bout, of course it cuts both ways. I'm justice 39 00:04:00.990 --> 00:04:04.750 is not just for those who do right, but it's also for those who 40 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:09.590 do wrong. If you don't work the hours that you are promised, of 41 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:15.620 promise to work, you don't get paid. But sometimes there is a payment 42 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:25.170 that is more than just the lack of getting a positive benefic fit. There 43 00:04:25.329 --> 00:04:29.610 is judgment for the things that we have done, and that is what David 44 00:04:29.730 --> 00:04:32.250 Asks for. He says, according to the evil of their deeds, pay 45 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:39.920 what is fair, and this is what we have in Mica six. God 46 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:45.000 is pronouncing that he is going to pay what is fair, he is going 47 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.040 to execute his justice in a fair, fair way. And so you might 48 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:54.949 say we are very much in the middle of a courtroom scene. If you 49 00:04:55.069 --> 00:05:00.310 remember last week when we looked at the beginning of MICA six, Mica has 50 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:08.899 been appointed by God to prosecute God's case against his people. Parts of the 51 00:05:09.339 --> 00:05:15.379 creation itself has been called forth against the people to serve as witnesses, witnesses 52 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:18.300 to the great evils that Israel has done, the ways in which he has 53 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:25.089 broken God's command. And in the earlier part of Mica six, Israel's excuses 54 00:05:25.209 --> 00:05:30.449 have been shut down. God has shut their mouths. They claim ignorance and 55 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:33.170 they try to bargain with him, but God says you know the command. 56 00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:39.519 It's clear. Do Justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. 57 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:45.240 You know these things. You can't say I didn't know. You knew and 58 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:49.069 you have not obeyed. And, as we have heard from other actors in 59 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:56.629 this book, both the leaders and those who are led have descended into idolatry, 60 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:02.790 in justice, oppression of the week, chasing after wealth and power instead 61 00:06:02.790 --> 00:06:11.620 of the care and protection of one's neighbors and the worship of God. Things 62 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:19.250 are so bad that at the summary Accusation and sentence pronouncement in Verse Sixteen, 63 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:25.689 God says that they have not kept you kept the statutes of Yahway, but 64 00:06:25.810 --> 00:06:29.490 they have kept the statutes of Omri, they have done all the works of 65 00:06:29.610 --> 00:06:35.879 the House of Ahab. What I'd like to do is, as we have 66 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.160 done in some other passages where God makes these references, to go back a 67 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.120 little bit and make sure we understand what he is referring to there as he 68 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:53.550 applies these descriptions to Israel. What does he mean? And I want to 69 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:58.829 help you to have an understanding of that by looking at two passages, from 70 00:06:58.829 --> 00:07:06.540 first kings. First First King Sixteen versus thirty through thirty three. What is 71 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:11.899 it the Israel is done? What is it that Ahab and Omri have done? 72 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:18.490 First Kings Sixteen, thirty two, thirty three. Describes these men in 73 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:24.730 this way. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the 74 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:30.480 side of the Lord more than all who were before him, and as if 75 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:32.879 it had been a life thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, 76 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:39.040 the son of Nibot. He took for his wife Jezebel the son of 77 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:45.029 F Baale, King of the Sidonians, and went and served bail and worshiped 78 00:07:45.029 --> 00:07:49.230 him. He erected an altar for bail in the house of bail which he 79 00:07:49.589 --> 00:07:56.110 built in Samaria, and Ahab made an Astrah. Ahab did more to provoke 80 00:07:56.189 --> 00:08:00.819 the Lord, the God of Israel, to to anger than all the kings 81 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:07.740 of Israel who were before him. You take the exact opposite of what God 82 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:13.730 had commanded worship me and worship me alone, and Omri and Ahab were doing 83 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.850 the other thing, erecting and building. Instead of like Solomon, who built 84 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.889 a house for the Lord, who dedicated this temple, who called Israel to 85 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:33.039 come and worship, they were building places for bail, for Pagan God's one 86 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.159 of the great acts of wickedness is recorded for us in First Kings Twenty one, 87 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:41.470 which I'd like to read to you now. This is a good story 88 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:46.629 to read because it helps us to understand in a detailed way the kinds of 89 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:52.789 things that Ahab and others in Israel were doing, the kinds of things God 90 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:56.940 has in his sight when he come, when he condemns them here in Mike 91 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:05.220 a six about false practices and theft and oppression and all the rest. Let's 92 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:09.899 give our attention to this now, in first kings twenty one. Now, 93 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:13.610 Nay, both the Jez Real I had a vineyard and Jez real beside the 94 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:18.889 palace of a had king of Samaria. And after Ahab said to nay both, 95 00:09:20.210 --> 00:09:22.370 give me your vineyard that I may have it for a vegetable garden, 96 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:26.200 because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard 97 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.679 for it, or, if it seems to you, I will give you 98 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:35.480 its value in money. But Nay both said to Ahab, the Lord Forbid, 99 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:41.789 that I should give you the inheritance of my father's and a have rent 100 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:46.710 went into his house vexed and Sullen because of what nay both the Jes realite 101 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:50.190 had said to him. For he said, for he had said, I 102 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.299 will not give you the inheritance of my father's and he lay down on his 103 00:09:54.460 --> 00:10:00.899 bed and he turned away his face and would eat no food. But JEZEBEL's 104 00:10:00.940 --> 00:10:03.620 wife came to him and said to him, why is your spirit so vexed 105 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:09.610 that you eat no food? He said to her because I spoke to Naboth, 106 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:11.929 the just realite, and said to him give me you're vineyard for money, 107 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:15.610 or else, if it pleases you, I'll give you another vineyard for 108 00:10:15.769 --> 00:10:18.889 it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard, and 109 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.320 Jezebel, his wife, said to him, do you now govern Israel? 110 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.480 Rise and he bread and let your heart beat cheerful. I will give you 111 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.909 the vineyard of Nay, both the JEZREELITE. So she wrote letters in Ahab's 112 00:10:37.909 --> 00:10:41.669 name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the 113 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:46.350 elders and the leaders who lived with nay both in his city, and she 114 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:50.019 wrote in the letters proclaim a feast and set nay, both at the head 115 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:56.779 of the people and set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring 116 00:10:56.980 --> 00:11:01.980 a charge against him, saying you have cursed God and the king. Then 117 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:07.009 take him out and stone him to death. And the men of his city, 118 00:11:07.490 --> 00:11:13.210 the elders and leaders who lived in the city, did as Jezebel had 119 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:16.690 sent word to them, as it was written in the letters that she had 120 00:11:16.809 --> 00:11:20.200 sent to them. They proclaimed the fast and set nay, both the head 121 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.240 of the people and the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him, 122 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.000 and the worthless men brought a charge against Nay, both in the presence of 123 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.950 the people, saying nay both cursed the God, cursed God and the king. 124 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:37.909 So they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones. Then 125 00:11:37.950 --> 00:11:43.429 they sent to Jezebel saying nay both has been stoned, he is dead. 126 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:48.299 As soon as Jez bell heard that nay both had been stoned and was dead, 127 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:52.820 Jezebel said to Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of nay 128 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:56.220 both, the Jezreal light, which he refused to give you for money, 129 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:03.250 for nay both is not alive but dead. And as soon as Abe have 130 00:12:03.529 --> 00:12:07.009 heard that naboth was dead, a Hab a rose to go down to the 131 00:12:07.090 --> 00:12:11.330 vineyard of Nay both, the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. Then 132 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:16.159 the word of the Lord came to Elijah, the tissue by saying, arise, 133 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.159 go down to me, Ahab, the King of Israel, who is 134 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.000 in some area. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Nay both, 135 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.480 where he is gone to take possession, and you shall say to him thus, 136 00:12:26.600 --> 00:12:31.669 as the Lord. Have you killed and also taken possession, and you 137 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:33.549 shall say to him, thus, says the Lord, in the place where 138 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:39.190 the dogs licked up the blood of Nayboff, shall the dogs lick your own 139 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:43.190 blood. They have said to Elijah, have you found me, Oh my 140 00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:48.500 enemy, he answered, I have found you because you have sold yourself to 141 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:52.179 do what is evil in the side of the Lord. Behold, I will 142 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:56.659 bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up. I will cut 143 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:09.649 off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel. Stop there. This 144 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:18.399 story, true story, it's account of Ahab and they both and Jezebel and 145 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:26.000 these leaders, is just full of darkness, full of Sin. Every turn 146 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:31.429 we find another act of disobedience, of to the Lord, another way in 147 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:39.190 which the people of God are selling themselves to sin, into evil, and 148 00:13:39.389 --> 00:13:45.980 the one person who's doing things right, nay both, gets stoned to death. 149 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:50.019 We could go through the story. I won't now for the sake of 150 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:54.500 time, but I hope you notice some of these details. The way that 151 00:13:54.850 --> 00:14:01.610 nay both is so sullen about not wanting or not getting what he he wanted, 152 00:14:01.570 --> 00:14:07.330 the way Jezebel writes and they both's name, the way she orchestrates this 153 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:09.720 whole thing, the way the elders, than the leaders of the other town, 154 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:16.240 just say yeah, sure, no questioning. No, I don't think 155 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.080 this is a good idea. Or we can't seem to find two earthless men. 156 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:24.149 Not even an excuse. They just put the whole thing together, these 157 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:30.470 two worthless men seem to come up with no problem. Nay, both. 158 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:37.700 is falsely accused of doing exactly the opposite of what he had done, which 159 00:14:37.820 --> 00:14:50.379 was honor God and I'm the king, and he dies violence for want of 160 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:58.409 a vegetable garden. It was convenient for a hub to have something close by. 161 00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:03.450 Why should he not have it? After all, as his wife said, 162 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:07.519 was he not the ruler of Israel? He was powerful, he deserved 163 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:16.320 it. Hundred Years later, or so MICA says, to the people, 164 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.710 you have kept the statutes of Omri and all the works of the House of 165 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:30.190 a. This infestation of sin, this wickedness of Jezebel and a habit did 166 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:37.539 not stop. Continued to grow, to spread in such a way that the 167 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:41.779 punishment that was clear for Ahab, for Jezebel, which everybody knew about, 168 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:48.259 would now be also visited upon all the people, upon all the city. 169 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:56.889 Blood would be spilt for this violence. God would not let the neigh boss 170 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:08.679 suffer anymore. And so it's in this with this understanding, with this kind 171 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:14.440 of justice, that God speaks and says in verse ten. Can I forget 172 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:22.990 any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked. Wake up, 173 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:30.110 he says. I am not going to let this go any longer and 174 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:38.460 he calls them to account. The first part of his accusation does deal with 175 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:44.860 business practices, does deal with money, in particular, with wicked scales, 176 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:52.250 he says, with a bag of full of deceits, theft, defrauding people 177 00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:56.690 of what was owed to them. This was done through what is called false 178 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:02.279 scales here on the defrauding in this way was a way that was hidden, 179 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:07.680 a way that wasn't perhaps always known. Let's help those of you who are 180 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:15.109 perhaps younger or don't understand this particular language. Imagine that you go to a 181 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:22.589 friend who happened to get a lot of chocolate. You say to your friend, 182 00:17:22.789 --> 00:17:26.990 Hey, I'll give you five dollars for a pound of chocolate. All 183 00:17:26.029 --> 00:17:30.980 right, you work out the deal. Then your friend puts his chocolate on 184 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:34.180 the scale and it goes up to a pound, and then he hands you 185 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:37.859 the chocolate and your hand in the five dollars. Well, it's good right 186 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:42.740 until your friend's sister comes up and he says, you know, he messed 187 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:48.609 with the scale. He actually only gave you four pounds, even though it 188 00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:55.369 read five or I said they're wrong. He didn't give you the full pound. 189 00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:59.079 Four, fifth. There we go. He gave you a partial pound 190 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.880 when he should have given you the whole pound. You'll gave him the full 191 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:11.039 five dollars, but he didn't give you the full pound. The thing about 192 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.109 false scales is it's it can be very tricky, can be very it's a 193 00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:19.630 secret kind of defrauding. Right at least it can be. You adjust the 194 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:26.950 scales in in God's word he condemns this Leviticus nineteen thirty five. The thirty 195 00:18:26.029 --> 00:18:33.900 six says you shall do no wrong judgment in measures of length or weight or 196 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:38.779 quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just effect and 197 00:18:40.059 --> 00:18:44.690 adjust hint. I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of 198 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:49.930 the land of Egypt. Deuter on me. Thirteen through sixteen, you shall 199 00:18:51.089 --> 00:18:55.009 not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large one and a 200 00:18:55.049 --> 00:19:00.759 small one. When that you use at certain times to your advantage and when 201 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.279 that you use it other times to your advantage. That's me at my commentary. 202 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.599 There the word says you shall not have in your bad two kinds of 203 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.309 way. It's a large and a small. You shall not have in your 204 00:19:11.390 --> 00:19:15.190 house two kinds of measures, a large and a small, a full and 205 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:19.309 a fair way you shall have, and a full and a fair measure you 206 00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:23.859 shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord 207 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:30.619 your God is giving you, for all who do such things all act dishonestly 208 00:19:30.019 --> 00:19:37.809 and are an abomination to the Lord your God. This is a huge deal. 209 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:44.970 He grounds these commands on his act of salvation, of bringing them out 210 00:19:44.970 --> 00:19:51.609 of Egypt. He grounds these commands on the promise of long life in the 211 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:56.680 land. Of course, the thief says, what's a big deal? You 212 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:02.039 know, if I just adjust, I'm just adjusting the scale slightly. I'm 213 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.319 not taking a whole half a pound. Let's say it's just a tiny sixteenth 214 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:10.750 of a pound. They'll never notice. Of course, the thief notice is 215 00:20:10.829 --> 00:20:18.750 though, because after sixteen of those transaction he's got a free pound, a 216 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:22.299 pound stolen from his customers, and this is, of course, still a 217 00:20:22.380 --> 00:20:29.940 very much a concern in today I was out at the dairy one of our 218 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:33.420 members works out and you can see the scale or the trucks driving onto big 219 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:41.089 scales and on the side of the trucks are big digital counters which measure exactly 220 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:45.490 how much weight is being put into the trucks. Or if you go to 221 00:20:45.569 --> 00:20:49.359 the gas station right there's a little seal on the side of the the gas 222 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:53.759 pump that says that this has been checked and certified so that you're getting an 223 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:59.119 accurate amount of grass. Imagine how upset you'd be if you found out your 224 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:03.470 regular gas station was giving you a less than what you were paying for every 225 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:08.910 time. Some people, of course, are willing to steal a lot and 226 00:21:10.029 --> 00:21:12.589 even do so publicly, and that's what we have in the way of nay 227 00:21:12.670 --> 00:21:22.619 down or and Nayboff and the king and Queen. And when people steal in 228 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:26.420 this way, they often say to themselves, it's just a little bit here 229 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:30.619 and there, no big deal, no one will notice. But of course 230 00:21:30.660 --> 00:21:37.289 God notices. It's God who measured out the span of the earth. It's 231 00:21:37.329 --> 00:21:40.170 God who set the sun and its course in the skies, who put the 232 00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:47.680 stars and all their exact places. He knows. God knows the exact number 233 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:52.680 and weight of hairs on your head. He knows when there are a few 234 00:21:52.920 --> 00:22:00.559 cookies missing from the cookie jar or a few extra thousand from that account, 235 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:04.869 or when the hours that you should have put in that where profitable have been 236 00:22:04.990 --> 00:22:15.109 squandered or when the change wasn't quite exact. God knows, and God is 237 00:22:15.230 --> 00:22:22.819 just. Those who oppress, those who act unjustly, will find their due 238 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:30.170 reward. God will call them to account. As we go on in Mica, 239 00:22:30.289 --> 00:22:34.089 what we find is that this sin of theft and defraudings often, and 240 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:38.809 is here accompanied by other things as well. You know this right. Sins 241 00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:44.880 tend to link themselves together, and so we see, beyond defrauding through perhaps 242 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:48.440 hidden lies, there is even outright violence and lies, again, just like 243 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:56.240 we saw with Ahab. What begins as I'm simply taking something that didn't belong 244 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:02.750 to him, ends in murder, and God says as much. Your rich 245 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:07.230 men are full of invaught, a full of violence, and inhabitants speak lies 246 00:23:07.349 --> 00:23:12.980 in their tongue, is deceitful in their mouth. And then comes the sentence 247 00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:17.220 in mic a six. There's no more ignoring the Lord of the law. 248 00:23:18.339 --> 00:23:21.940 Sometimes times we can pretend and we can get away with we pretend that we 249 00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:26.579 are getting away with something for a while, but not when God declares his 250 00:23:26.940 --> 00:23:34.210 sentence. That's why verse thirteen begins with therefore, God's judgment is fair. 251 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:41.369 It's based on something. God is not arbitrarily doing mean things to people. 252 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:45.680 He is giving them what is do, what is fair, what is just. 253 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:55.319 God's righteousness in judgment is fair. It's because of our sins. Now, 254 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:59.789 the translation of the sentence is somewhat difficult here, and it means probably 255 00:23:59.910 --> 00:24:06.950 one of two things. Either the work that they do to produce their food 256 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:15.779 will result in failure, or the their hope in fertility will also result in 257 00:24:15.019 --> 00:24:22.700 failure, either through the Labor and the ground or the Labor in childbirth. 258 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:29.009 One or the other, it will not produce of the intended results. And 259 00:24:29.170 --> 00:24:32.650 whether it's the crops or the people that are in view, we remember that 260 00:24:32.769 --> 00:24:37.849 these are specific curses that God promised for breaking the Covenant. He said, 261 00:24:37.849 --> 00:24:41.359 if you failed to do what I call you to do, your life will 262 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:45.480 not be long in the land. Famine, infertility, these things as will 263 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:52.680 come upon you. Indeed, just as you carried out judgment on the people 264 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:57.670 who were here, others will come and carry out judgment upon you. But 265 00:24:57.829 --> 00:25:02.069 we see here is, in judgment of God, a breaking down of the 266 00:25:02.150 --> 00:25:06.509 people of the community instead of fertility in the womb and in the field. 267 00:25:07.109 --> 00:25:11.819 Like Adam who first broke the law and the Covenant. They would experience the 268 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:18.700 death of children and suffering trying to survive. and to anyone who thinks again 269 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:23.130 that this might be fair, remember how can it be? First of all, 270 00:25:23.250 --> 00:25:27.009 the Lord himself is never unfair. He is always just. He is 271 00:25:27.170 --> 00:25:33.609 not like us, who cheat and steal and manipulate and overlook and take bribes. 272 00:25:33.650 --> 00:25:37.799 He sees all, he knows all, and he acts perfectly. Second, 273 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:44.519 remember that they people of Israel, promised to keep the covenant. Third, 274 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:48.440 remember that they had been given every opportunity to keep the covenant. God 275 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.789 had been long, suffering and patient with them, warning them again and again 276 00:25:53.190 --> 00:25:59.109 and again. Fourth, remember that it was they who turned away from God 277 00:25:59.269 --> 00:26:03.309 and the joys and the blessings that are found only in him. It was 278 00:26:03.430 --> 00:26:07.660 they who are receiving only what they asked for. If you worship a bail, 279 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:11.299 if you worship a false god, if you worship those things that are 280 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:19.529 demonic and distractive, you will find yourself enjoying and quotes things that are demonic 281 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:27.490 and destructive, death and things which harm us. God is giving them what 282 00:26:27.730 --> 00:26:34.960 they had worked for, what they had prospered for. He is standing up 283 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:40.319 for the Nay, boths for the oppressed, for the downtrunning for the meek. 284 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:44.839 He is fulfilling his promise to be just and righteous and fair. He 285 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:48.589 is fulfilling all that he had said to do and showing to us and all 286 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:53.390 the world what it means to be good in the face of so much evil, 287 00:26:55.549 --> 00:27:00.670 to not back down and to be afraid. That's quote unquote, powerful 288 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:04.619 men at the AHABS and the Omras and those that feel like they can do 289 00:27:04.940 --> 00:27:11.819 whatever they want. God Says No, you can't praise him for it, 290 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:18.329 and this is why we rightly rejoice in God's justice, just as much as 291 00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:22.289 we rejoice in his love and in His mercy. What good would his love 292 00:27:22.450 --> 00:27:26.730 be if he were not also just? What good would his mercy be if 293 00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:30.480 you were not also righteous? If God were not these things, he would 294 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:37.680 just be another corrupt official. Of course, and impossibility, because God only 295 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:42.160 and always acts according to True Holiness, the holiness that is found only in 296 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:48.750 him, and this is why we are right to celebrate God's justice, even 297 00:27:48.829 --> 00:28:00.220 when we are condemned by it. So what comfort is there in all of 298 00:28:00.980 --> 00:28:07.460 in all of this? One Comfort is to know that the world is not 299 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:15.609 random. It is not all arbitrary in confusing, that there is an answer 300 00:28:15.769 --> 00:28:21.410 to oppression, that there is answers to unfairness, that God is just and 301 00:28:21.529 --> 00:28:26.089 that he rules from his throne and that he is good. But you might 302 00:28:26.130 --> 00:28:33.559 ask, but what about me? God may be good, but I am 303 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:41.240 not. I find myself condemned by him, righteously, but still condemned. 304 00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:47.630 I can recognize that God, in pronouncing his judgment for sin, is simple 305 00:28:47.750 --> 00:28:52.390 and direct and fair and unflinching, but I also know that I fall under 306 00:28:52.430 --> 00:29:00.500 his wrath. In the justice and the justice alone of God, there is 307 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:11.289 no comfort. Our Hope, though, the hope of the world, is 308 00:29:11.609 --> 00:29:18.450 to not fall under his wrath by trusting in the one who has paid for 309 00:29:18.609 --> 00:29:22.769 our sins, by trusting in the one who has taken what was due for 310 00:29:22.809 --> 00:29:30.640 us on his own shoulders and in his own body in other places. In 311 00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:34.799 Mica, as we've previously read, God promises to provide a shepherd for his 312 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:44.109 sheep so they might dwell, fat and happy and secure, not through theft 313 00:29:45.150 --> 00:29:52.140 and violence but because of his tender care and perfect and and protection. God 314 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:57.460 promises to take those who are who recognize their sins and turned from them and 315 00:29:57.500 --> 00:30:03.980 are repentant and wait on him and seek not his justice on them, but 316 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:11.809 his mercy given to them freely as a gift, and to trust in those 317 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:18.769 promises, to know that they will be the ones collected out of the remnant 318 00:30:18.450 --> 00:30:22.640 and even be made, as he says, a strong nation. And this 319 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:29.559 is exactly what God does. He provides this shepherd, he provides a strong 320 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:34.640 king who is not working in line with Ahab and just real does not worship 321 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:41.230 a false god, but in fact is God and serves him perfectly, in 322 00:30:41.430 --> 00:30:47.589 such a way that God gives his own son to be a sacrifice for our 323 00:30:47.710 --> 00:30:56.619 sins, to take our due reward, which is death, upon himself. 324 00:31:00.859 --> 00:31:07.650 When we look to the cross, which is full of all the terror and 325 00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:15.329 wrath and judgment of God, we also find their mercy and grace and victory 326 00:31:15.490 --> 00:31:22.079 and peace, as God pours that out on himself, as he bears our 327 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:29.519 sins, as he takes our suffering, as he dies our death. In 328 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:34.950 this way, God provides salvation for us in a way that the law can 329 00:31:36.230 --> 00:31:40.549 never fulfill for us. The laws, in case, is powerless to do, 330 00:31:41.269 --> 00:31:47.339 because we always come up before the law condemned. God meets the requirements 331 00:31:47.380 --> 00:31:53.660 of the law and gives to us his own righteousness. God does this, 332 00:31:53.940 --> 00:32:00.849 as you see, not by ignoring justice but by fulfilling it in himself. 333 00:32:02.210 --> 00:32:07.369 And so when you hear of the Justice of God in a passage like this, 334 00:32:08.490 --> 00:32:12.450 on the one hand, or I shouldn't say on the one hand, 335 00:32:12.490 --> 00:32:17.319 I should say for one, we've been praise him for it and thank him 336 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:22.119 for it and look forward to the final day of judgment when God will set 337 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:29.279 all things right once and finally and completely. We can hope for that day, 338 00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:32.069 we can look for that day when every at when everything will be made 339 00:32:32.109 --> 00:32:37.390 right, but we also ought to look to the cross, where that work 340 00:32:37.509 --> 00:32:44.539 of judgment has already begun, because when we look to the Cross and we 341 00:32:44.660 --> 00:32:51.700 find we can find salvation there, because they are God promises to us peace 342 00:32:51.859 --> 00:32:58.650 and rest by taking on our sins for us, so that when we think 343 00:32:58.690 --> 00:33:01.049 of the judgment of the Lord in the days to come, we know that 344 00:33:01.130 --> 00:33:07.849 judgment has already passed for us and there is no condemnation of for those who 345 00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:14.000 are in a Christ Jesus. That's what David anticipated in Psalm Twenty eight, 346 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:16.680 and that's why, on the one hand, he could look forward to judgment 347 00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:22.119 but he also pled for mercy and knew that God was his rock and his 348 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:27.430 refuge. My prayers that that would be true for me and for you as 349 00:33:27.509 --> 00:33:29.990 well. Let's pray