Trust not in Princes (Micah 3)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:10.070 Well, please reign standing and let's turn to Micah, chapter three. MICAS 2 00:00:10.109 --> 00:00:15.550 a small book in the Old Testament. I'm small, not in importance, 3 00:00:16.670 --> 00:00:25.260 just in size. Comes after Jonah some of the other minor prophets, and 4 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:34.340 tonight we are listening to God's word from Mica Three. Like a three, 5 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:42.130 the focus of the sermon will be on the first part and the last part 6 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:47.170 of Mica three in the next time will focus on the middle. So let's 7 00:00:47.170 --> 00:00:54.280 give our attention to God's word. And I said here, you heads of 8 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.799 Jacob and rulers of the House of Israel, is it not for you to 9 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:04.349 know justice? You who hate the good and love the evil, who tear 10 00:01:04.549 --> 00:01:10.989 the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who 11 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:15.629 eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and break 12 00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:19.060 their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like 13 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:25.620 flesh and a cauldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, but he 14 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:30.180 will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time 15 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:37.010 because they have made their deeds evil. Thus says the Lord concerning the Prophets 16 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:42.409 who lead my people astray, who cry peace when they have something to eat 17 00:01:42.329 --> 00:01:48.280 but declare war against him who who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore, 18 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.280 it shall be night to you without vision and darkness to you without divination. 19 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.680 The Sun shall go down on the prophets and the day shall be black over 20 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:02.189 them. The seers shall be disgraced and the diviners put to shame. They 21 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:07.750 shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. But 22 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:12.069 as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the 23 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:15.900 Lord, and with justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to 24 00:02:16.139 --> 00:02:21.460 Israel his sin. Hear this, you, heads of the House of Jacob 25 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:25.659 and rulers of the House of Israel, who detest Judge Justice and make cook 26 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:31.409 it all that is straight, who build Zion with blood in Jerusalem with iniquity? 27 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:37.729 It's heads give judgment for a bribe, it's priests teach for a price, 28 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:42.930 it's prophets practiced divination for money. Yet they lean on the Lord and 29 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:46.039 say, is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall 30 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:52.120 come upon us. Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as 31 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:58.280 a field, Jerusale, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins and the mountain 32 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:05.069 of the House a wooded height. This is God's word. He may be 33 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:30.610 seated. These are very strong and vivid words that come from Mica and he 34 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:35.490 doesn't hold back. He speaks, as he says, with power and with 35 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:39.569 the spirit of the Lord. He speaks on this word of God. We 36 00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:44.680 considered some of the context for this last time. We don't have to, 37 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:49.360 I think, do that again, partly because Mike is very clear about the 38 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:54.199 context, why he's saying phase things, why these particular judgments are going to 39 00:03:54.280 --> 00:04:01.590 come upon the people of God. The passage is clear in a lot of 40 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:09.629 ways. He condemns of the rulers and the prophets in particular, for their 41 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:14.860 sins against God and his people, and he tells them what is going to 42 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:18.500 happen to them, that they will be destroyed, that in the day of 43 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:23.300 their distress, they will call upon the Lord and he is not going to 44 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:29.490 answer. They will cry out for help, he will not hear them and 45 00:04:29.649 --> 00:04:36.529 Zion will be plowed, taken down to rubble, a heap of ruins. 46 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:44.199 How do we understand, or what are we to make of a passage like 47 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.600 this? What are we to take from it? What are we do understand 48 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:55.269 and of God and of what he wants for us. Right this was spoken 49 00:04:55.310 --> 00:05:00.149 at a particular time, in a particular context and place. Nevertheless, it 50 00:05:00.269 --> 00:05:04.430 is God's word for us and there are many important things that he has to 51 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:09.579 teach us. One of the things to start out with is just to keep 52 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:13.459 in the back of our minds that the judgments of the Lord that is given 53 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:16.579 at any point in history or even in our lives, be it really small 54 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:23.850 or in this great in a great way like this, and even a way 55 00:05:24.009 --> 00:05:30.730 that is purposely intended to foreshadow things to come, we are to remember that 56 00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:34.689 one day judgment will come, as we saying at the end of our last 57 00:05:34.689 --> 00:05:39.360 hymn, my hope is built on nothing less. The scriptures promised that one 58 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.959 day the judgment, that God, Jesus, is coming again to judge the 59 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:50.110 world, and so these pictures of judgment in time and in these particular moments 60 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:57.829 in history help us to begin to understand that end time judgment, that last 61 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:00.870 and final judgment of the Lord, which is still in front of us. 62 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:08.060 With that in the back of our minds, I want to begin by saying 63 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:14.579 something about the nature of God's kingdom. What is a passage like micathree? 64 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:18.649 What is Mica three teach us about the nature of God's kingdom. Want to 65 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:25.250 point out two things. First, the law is good and second, God 66 00:06:25.329 --> 00:06:30.850 puts, establishes leaders who are supposed to judge well. They are supposed to 67 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:38.720 be good leaders according to that law. Turn some Psalm nineteen, if you 68 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.040 would, or at least prepare yourselves to hear it. Psalm Nineteen, seven 69 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:54.509 through eleven, good passage, be good to memorize concerning the law of the 70 00:06:54.670 --> 00:07:02.259 Lord. Psalm nineteen, verse seven, versus seven through eleven. The law 71 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:08.100 of the Lord is Perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord 72 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:12.579 is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, 73 00:07:12.819 --> 00:07:15.810 rejoicing the heart. The Commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the 74 00:07:15.930 --> 00:07:20.810 eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules 75 00:07:20.850 --> 00:07:26.329 of the Lord are true and I just all together. More to be desired 76 00:07:26.370 --> 00:07:30.240 are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and 77 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.720 the drippings of the Honeycombe. Moreover, by them, your servant is warned. 78 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:41.839 In keeping them, there is great reward. So this is what the 79 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.310 law of God is, and he has established his kingdom on I'm with certain 80 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.389 laws requirements that are to be fulfilled. A lot of times when we hear 81 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:59.459 the word law or requirement, we have this reaction, this unfortunate immediate reaction, 82 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:05.139 and words like oppression, entrapment and slavery and things like that come to 83 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:09.060 mind. But some nineteen speaks against that when it comes to God's law, 84 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:16.089 Anyway, God's law is to be more desired than the drippings of a Honeycombe. 85 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:18.610 If you're like me, you might have a little bit of a sweet 86 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:22.850 tooth around bedtime and you know, you look in the fridge and you go 87 00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:30.279 have on something to eat and the celery just doesn't look appealing. You know 88 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.840 it's be good and you must think of this spite Phil but what you want 89 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.399 is a little bit of honey drizzled on some bread. That would be really 90 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:46.710 good. Sweet things are so desirable wonderful. We celebrate that over them. 91 00:08:46.830 --> 00:08:54.350 We we, you know, take our our spouses out to eat and we 92 00:08:54.509 --> 00:09:00.340 celebrate by getting desert right. This is this is good, and the scriptures 93 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:07.539 compare the law of the Lord to that, the drippings of a honeycomb, 94 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:11.929 that kind of sweetness. And so when we think about God's kingdom and the 95 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:16.370 kind of the kingdom that he's established and we say that it's a lawful one. 96 00:09:18.490 --> 00:09:24.519 We're talking about that, we're talking about pleasure, safety, joy, 97 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:33.200 on holiness, righteousness, a place that is good and works and accord with 98 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:41.789 God's will and and nature itself and all of these things. There are moments 99 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:46.830 in our lives to where I'm not just God's law in the abstract. I 100 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:50.629 mean to say that this principle and that principle and that principle are sweet to 101 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:54.340 us, but the way that they hold together, I'm perhaps you've seen somebody 102 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:58.659 make a very difficult decision that you were unsure how to make, and you 103 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:03.980 see them make it and that wisdom and you say, yes, that is 104 00:10:03.299 --> 00:10:07.649 right, that is a wise thing, and it through brings you a little 105 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:11.250 joy, right, maybe a lot of joy. You remember, for example, 106 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:15.529 on the story of Solomon and these two women who come before him and 107 00:10:15.889 --> 00:10:20.049 they want to divide or they they they are both arguing about whose child it 108 00:10:20.210 --> 00:10:22.279 belongs to, and he says, well, let's split the baby in half 109 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.039 and we'll give each of you half, and the real mother, of course, 110 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.759 says no, let the other lady, the false mother, the lying 111 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:35.120 mother, have the child. And in this the child was saved. In 112 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:39.669 this Solomon knew who the true mother was and all was made well, and 113 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:45.470 we all kind of go right. That wisdom, that righteousness, that law, 114 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:50.419 that's justice was upheld, is a sweet and pleasurable thing, and that's 115 00:10:50.460 --> 00:11:01.259 what the God's kingdom is supposed to be about. And those that are particularly 116 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:07.129 called, like Solomon, to lead injustice or, as he says in verse 117 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:15.769 one, to Know Justice. They're supposed to heed this and understand that, 118 00:11:15.889 --> 00:11:18.720 as I said, this is verse one. Here, you heads of Jacob 119 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.240 and rulers of the House of Israel, is it not for you to know 120 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.039 justice? And this is not just intellectually, but know it deeply, practice 121 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:30.200 it. This is your job, if you are a king, if you 122 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.789 are a judge, if you are a priest, a levite who is making 123 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:37.830 decisions, that is what you are supposed to do. God's kingdom is supposed 124 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:41.750 to be a safe place, a protected place, a righteous place, a 125 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:48.220 place where people are not oppressed, but where the oppressed are protected, where 126 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:54.860 those who have no power are are made powerful and cared for through the upholding 127 00:11:54.899 --> 00:12:01.409 of the law, where the leaders who are in charge of of making these 128 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:07.450 judgments, of upholding justice are to uphold the good and put down evil, 129 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.129 but what we see in Mike a three is exactly the opposite of that. 130 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:22.399 Is Happening. God's not just a little angry because who knows, he's angry 131 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.679 because his kingdom is being underminded by the very people that are supposed to protect 132 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.429 it. And not just kingdom, as in you know four square, you 133 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:37.110 know boarders, but the people. The leaders are to protect and care for 134 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:43.940 the people, according to justice. Is it not for you to know justice, 135 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:52.659 you who hate the good and love the evil? The description of this 136 00:12:52.700 --> 00:13:01.850 is awful. God describes how bad things have gotten in terms of murder, 137 00:13:01.809 --> 00:13:09.850 even cannibalism. You who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh 138 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:13.159 from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people, flay their 139 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:18.399 skin from off of them, break their bones and pieces and chop them up 140 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:24.080 like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. The people that 141 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.590 are supposed to be the leaders, the heads, the rulers that are supposed 142 00:13:28.629 --> 00:13:33.070 to be in charge of protecting and caring for the people according to the law, 143 00:13:33.110 --> 00:13:43.659 are devouring the people. To contrast this with something else in scripture, 144 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:48.179 to feel more of the weight of this, consider what King Jehosha fat says 145 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:54.340 in Second Chronicles Nineteen. King Jehosha fat brings the people back to the Lord. 146 00:13:54.419 --> 00:13:58.210 He establishes some reforms in one of the things he does, the scriptures 147 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:03.009 say, to establish people back under the Lord, is this. He appoints 148 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:09.559 judges in all the land, and then he says to those judges, consider 149 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:15.080 what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord. 150 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:18.759 He is with you and giving judgment. Now, then, let the fear 151 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.679 of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there 152 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:28.509 is no injustice with the Lord, our God, or partiality or taking bribes. 153 00:14:30.789 --> 00:14:33.190 The passage goes on and describe that he not only establishes these judges, 154 00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:39.379 but also levites and priests, the heads of family. The scriptures say he 155 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.820 did this to supports so that they could give judgment for the Lord and to 156 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.659 decide disputed cases. They had their seat in Jerusalem, and he charged them. 157 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:54.730 Here's what the king charges these rulers, said rulers with he says, 158 00:14:56.049 --> 00:15:00.649 thus, you shall do in the fear of Yahweh and the fear of the 159 00:15:00.730 --> 00:15:05.889 Lord, in faithfulness and with your whole heart. Whenever a case comes before 160 00:15:05.009 --> 00:15:11.840 you from your brothers who live in their cities concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, 161 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:16.519 statutes or rules, then you shall warn them that they might not incur 162 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.960 guilt before the Lord and Wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. 163 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:26.710 Thus you shall do and you will not incur the guilt. Deal courageously and 164 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:31.830 may the Lord be with the upright. All right. So this is the 165 00:15:31.190 --> 00:15:35.220 this is the command of God's good king to people in the land, to 166 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:39.259 these judges and rulers and leavites and priests and heads of families. They are 167 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:46.419 to make decisions, hard decisions, sometimes based on their confidence in the Lord, 168 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:52.970 their fear of the Lord, their knowledge of God's word, trusting that 169 00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:58.129 he will equip them to do that work. And when they do that work, 170 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:03.809 God's people will be protected and cared for. But if they do not 171 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:10.120 do that work, then guilt will be upon them. Reminds you of Jesus's 172 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.639 words of not let do not let many of you be teachers. There is 173 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:18.870 a strict standard and and rule, because he says that if you fail at 174 00:16:18.950 --> 00:16:22.789 this, Israel, oh heads of Israel, all the people, will come 175 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:30.110 under a condemnation. Well, how does this command that Jehosha fact gives. 176 00:16:30.470 --> 00:16:36.179 Compare with what we have in micathree. I couldn't be further from the opposite. 177 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.179 or You could compare psalm one and Psalm to blessed is the man who 178 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:42.740 walks. Let's just go ahead and read it. Blessed is the man. 179 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:48.529 Okay, I said, will read it. Psalm one and two have a 180 00:16:48.570 --> 00:16:57.169 great contrast. Blessed is the man Psalm one who walks, not in the 181 00:16:57.289 --> 00:17:00.879 council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits 182 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.079 in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the 183 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.759 Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a 184 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.440 tree planted by streams of water. Yields its fruit and its sees in and 185 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:15.789 it's leaf does not whither, and all that he does, he prospers. 186 00:17:17.789 --> 00:17:21.750 Here's one contrast. The wicked are not so they are like chaff that the 187 00:17:21.869 --> 00:17:26.470 wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 188 00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:30.740 nor sinners in the congregation of the Righteous, for the Lord knows the way 189 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:33.619 of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm, 190 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:38.220 too has a similar continues that theme then and says why do the nation's rage 191 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:42.180 and the People's Plot in vain? The kings of the Earth set themselves and 192 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:48.970 the rulers take also together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying let 193 00:17:48.009 --> 00:17:55.650 us burst their bonds apart, let's cast away their chords from us. How 194 00:17:55.769 --> 00:18:00.000 does the Lord React? Well, you heard it in Mike Athree. Here 195 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.759 it in Psalm too. You heard in Psalm one, the wicked are not 196 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:11.519 so like chaff. Blows them away, Psalm to verse, for He who 197 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.670 sits in heaven laughs. He holds them in derision. He will speak to 198 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:18.829 them in his wrath and terrify them in his fear of saying. As for 199 00:18:18.910 --> 00:18:25.630 me, I have set my King on Zion, my Holy Hill. I 200 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:27.660 will tell you are, will tell of the decree. The Lord said to 201 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:32.900 me, you are my son. Today, I Have Begotten You. Ask 202 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:36.420 of me and I will make that nation's your heritage, the ends of Earth 203 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:40.059 your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them 204 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:45.609 to pieces like a Potter's vessel. The Lord is very compete. The clear 205 00:18:45.730 --> 00:18:52.329 and very plain which makes the sins of rulers, I'm who are called to 206 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:56.039 rule in the name of the Lord and yet devour the people of the Lord 207 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.359 that much more egregious, where the leaders are called to be protectors, not 208 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.920 only have they been negligent, they have become themselves destroyers of the worst kind. 209 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:15.390 So that's the first thing that we see about, I think, week. 210 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:18.150 One of the things I want to draw your attention to that we learn 211 00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:22.990 from this passage about the nature of God's kingdom. It is to be ruled 212 00:19:23.029 --> 00:19:27.740 by his law, and those who are called to serve in accordance with that 213 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:37.220 law are to do so in kind of goodness and in truth. Now this 214 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:41.410 of course, reveals to us the rotten truth, about the depths of our 215 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:48.250 sin, even in supposedly religious people. It is also revealing to us of 216 00:19:48.369 --> 00:19:55.680 the great character of our God, because this law that is here, this 217 00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:59.400 good law, this sweet law, this wonderful law on which the kingdom is 218 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:06.160 to be established, is comes from a law giver. The law is good 219 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:10.349 and pleasurable and sweet and righteous and pure and holy, because the law giver 220 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:17.069 is all of those things. And so as we see God condemning this evil, 221 00:20:17.109 --> 00:20:23.380 it reminds us how good he is, and this is, I think, 222 00:20:23.420 --> 00:20:26.420 a great encouragement to us. Whenever you are in a dark place, 223 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:33.660 whenever evil surrounds you, whether that's in your own soul and you feel the 224 00:20:33.740 --> 00:20:37.569 weight of your sins and the torments of temptation and be or whether it's external 225 00:20:37.690 --> 00:20:45.410 and the attacks of the evil one, like these princes and Psalm to muttering 226 00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:51.960 and murmuring in secret places and trying to devise plans against the Lord. Whenever 227 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.440 we find ourselves in dark and evil situations, we must remember that the Lord 228 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:03.950 is good, that he knows, that he sees Mike Athree doesn't beete around 229 00:21:03.990 --> 00:21:08.470 the Bush. It cuts right to the heart. God looks these men in 230 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:15.910 the eyes and says, I know what you're doing. That can be hard 231 00:21:15.990 --> 00:21:19.619 for us who are suffering under such people. Why is God not acting? 232 00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:26.500 Why to this keep going on? I'm being devoured. Where is the Lord, 233 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:30.619 who is supposedly good, who is supposedly as this great law in this 234 00:21:30.740 --> 00:21:38.730 kingdom? I am being boiled alive. It can be frustrating, it can 235 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:44.009 be terrifying to be in a situation like that, but we must remember that 236 00:21:44.130 --> 00:21:49.920 the Lord is good and that his restraint is not negligence. God is not 237 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:55.440 being partial, God is not taking a bribe. What is God doing then? 238 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:02.069 He is being patient, he is being long suffering, he is training 239 00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:08.630 us, he is strengthening us. When you are working out in your muscles 240 00:22:08.750 --> 00:22:12.390 cry out to you, why are you hurting us? What do you do? 241 00:22:12.670 --> 00:22:17.380 You say, stop complaining, you'll rest in a little bit, and 242 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:22.579 you make them stronger. The Lord is like this with us. He tests 243 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:30.410 us, he proves us, and in doing so he's ultimately proving his own 244 00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:33.529 work, his own character. So we need not be afraid that he will 245 00:22:34.089 --> 00:22:38.930 fail. We make mistakes when we work out. Sometimes we know go too 246 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:44.359 hard, push too strong, don't go enough. God doesn't make these mistakes 247 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.400 when he trains us for righteousness, when he trains is for perseverance and godliness, 248 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:55.200 he knows exactly how much and he's watching over us. These are just 249 00:22:55.359 --> 00:23:00.230 some of the things that God is doing. But though God is patient and 250 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:07.910 long suffering and restrained, we often accuse him of being something else because him, 251 00:23:07.910 --> 00:23:12.259 of being like us, of being someone who's too afraid of strife to 252 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:18.059 do the right thing, of someone who bows to the demands of men who 253 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:26.410 think they're powerful. But Mica three, remember Mica three. God is long 254 00:23:26.569 --> 00:23:34.009 suffering, but he's no dormat, and there comes a time when judgment comes 255 00:23:34.450 --> 00:23:37.970 and the time of patience and the time of long suffering and the time of 256 00:23:38.250 --> 00:23:42.240 calling come to me, come to me. This is a time of salvation 257 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:48.759 and repentance. Kiss The Sun lest you die in his wrath. There's a 258 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:55.680 time when those calls come to an end. God even says that when they 259 00:23:55.829 --> 00:24:03.150 cry out for help under his wrath, his answer will be no. I 260 00:24:03.269 --> 00:24:06.910 believe that this is a much stronger image than many of us are used to 261 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:12.059 hearing or even believing, that there will come a time when God will no 262 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:22.059 longer take I'm sorry. There will come a time when judgment is at hand. 263 00:24:22.859 --> 00:24:26.410 It is the time for a judgment now, is that not not that 264 00:24:26.609 --> 00:24:30.490 time? Praise God, turn away from your sin. But there is coming 265 00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:34.170 a time, and it's promised over and over again in scripture that that time 266 00:24:34.410 --> 00:24:41.359 will end. We cannot, as Paul says in Romans, presume on the 267 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:48.599 kindness and the patience of God. Long suffering, yes, a doormat no. 268 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:52.269 And this, of course, is only fair, especially in the case 269 00:24:52.349 --> 00:24:59.150 of these rulers who have turned a hard ear against the please of people asking 270 00:24:59.269 --> 00:25:03.230 for help, asking for justice, asking. Will you hear me? Will 271 00:25:03.230 --> 00:25:07.259 you hear me? Take my case, don't take a bribe, do what 272 00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:12.339 is Jost No, I'd rather have my pockets lined, I'd rather have this 273 00:25:12.460 --> 00:25:18.420 fancy house, I'd rather have my fancy friends. I will not hear you. 274 00:25:21.690 --> 00:25:25.289 What's fair as fair. And when they cry out to the Lord and 275 00:25:25.329 --> 00:25:27.130 they beg and they plead, on the Day of judgment, he will say 276 00:25:27.930 --> 00:25:33.769 no, not out of wrath and malice or or well, out of Wrath, 277 00:25:34.089 --> 00:25:37.880 but not out of any kind of evil hatred, not because he's lining 278 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:45.519 his pockets or doing some other awful thing, but because of justice. And 279 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:49.150 this is not an isolated verse. Hebrews One thousand and thirty one tells us 280 00:25:49.190 --> 00:25:52.990 that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. 281 00:25:55.630 --> 00:25:59.950 Psalm, too, tells us that he will crush those who fight against 282 00:25:59.990 --> 00:26:07.420 him, like with a rod of iron breaking a piece of pottery. Or 283 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:11.619 here this parable of Jesus's from Psalm to or, I'm sorry, Matthew, 284 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:17.859 twenty five, it's a parable of the ten virgins. Then the Kingdom of 285 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:21.849 Heaven will be like the ten, like ten virgins who took their lamps and 286 00:26:22.009 --> 00:26:26.049 went to the meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, five of 287 00:26:26.130 --> 00:26:30.130 them were wise, for when the foolish took their lamps, they took no 288 00:26:30.369 --> 00:26:33.400 oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 289 00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:37.599 As the bridegroom was delay, they all became drowsy and slept. But at 290 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:41.640 midnight there was a cry here is the bridegroom, come out and meet him. 291 00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:45.880 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, and the fool is 292 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.670 said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps 293 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:53.430 are going out. But the wise answered saying, since there will not be 294 00:26:53.549 --> 00:26:57.069 enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for 295 00:26:57.150 --> 00:27:03.299 yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those 296 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:07.019 who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door 297 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:12.019 was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying Lord, Lord, 298 00:27:12.059 --> 00:27:17.289 open up to us, but he answered and said, truly, I say 299 00:27:17.410 --> 00:27:22.849 to you, I do not know you. Then Jesus says, Watch, 300 00:27:22.970 --> 00:27:29.930 therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Don't be foolish. 301 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:36.640 The time is at hand. This is the day of salvation. So 302 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:41.480 these things remind us that of the character of God, God's Great Justice and 303 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:48.390 his awesome power in executing and prosecuting that judgment is a relief and a and 304 00:27:48.549 --> 00:27:53.990 a reminder to all the upright who suffer under injustice, who suffer unfairly, 305 00:27:55.109 --> 00:28:00.539 who are persecuted by evil, by by evil and even the evil one, 306 00:28:02.140 --> 00:28:07.220 and to those who are the persecutors and the oppressed, sirs who rule against 307 00:28:07.339 --> 00:28:11.980 God and against his law. It is a warning, it is a reminder, 308 00:28:11.259 --> 00:28:15.849 a call to come to him. Judgment did come from it, from 309 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:22.289 it from for Israel, but that was just a moment at time. Life 310 00:28:22.450 --> 00:28:27.720 continued on, this world continued on. This is recorded for us as a 311 00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:33.000 as a call to us to heed the judgment of the Lord and to turn 312 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:40.839 to him and for forgiveness and for repentance, while judgment is not yet here. 313 00:28:41.950 --> 00:28:45.750 So, knowing our God, who is good and powerful, knowing our 314 00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:52.910 God who establishes a kingdom that is full of wisdom and and the law and 315 00:28:52.150 --> 00:28:59.180 joy, how do we respond? First we hear a passage like this, 316 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:03.619 and we ought to take into account our own sins and our own wickedness. 317 00:29:03.259 --> 00:29:08.460 How foolish would be to be to hear a condemnation, condemnation like this against 318 00:29:08.500 --> 00:29:12.650 these people, and to walk away self satisfied and feel protected in our own 319 00:29:12.690 --> 00:29:19.890 sins. Let's not do that. We too have our own measures of hiding, 320 00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:26.200 cruelty, anger, lying, being hurtful to others. If you're not 321 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:30.119 sure what you've done, then it's time to consider God's law. Look at 322 00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:38.150 the Ten Commandments, see the ways that you have broken them. Confess all 323 00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:44.029 your sins. We also ought to look at the ways in which we have 324 00:29:44.150 --> 00:29:48.630 presumed upon the kindness of the Lord, patience and long suffering that is meant 325 00:29:48.630 --> 00:29:52.579 to lead us to repentance. We ought to ask for forgiveness for the ways 326 00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:57.779 in which we have instead used it as an excuse for more sin. We 327 00:30:00.779 --> 00:30:04.380 also ought to look at the ways that we have accused God for ignoring us, 328 00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:07.890 for not helping us, for not caring, for not being good and 329 00:30:10.849 --> 00:30:15.690 for all these sins and more. We ought to respond with Second Corinthians six 330 00:30:15.849 --> 00:30:18.329 two in our minds, for he says, in a favorable time, I 331 00:30:18.569 --> 00:30:22.720 listened to you and a day of salvation, I helped you behold. Now 332 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:29.559 is the favorable time. Now is the day of your salvation, and how 333 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:34.400 do we find salvation? We turn away from ourselves to the king, who 334 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:44.910 has revealed these things to God, the father and his son, whom he 335 00:30:45.069 --> 00:30:51.259 has established and whom no one can break apart. Those bonds, as Jesus 336 00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:59.380 says, I and the father are one, and indeed they are. To 337 00:30:59.539 --> 00:31:03.500 break apart the bonds between the father and the son is to break apart God 338 00:31:03.740 --> 00:31:11.650 himself, impossible. We turn to him and we turn to the king, 339 00:31:11.809 --> 00:31:18.450 who is way better than King Joseph at way better than the kings and rulers 340 00:31:18.490 --> 00:31:22.319 that are mentioned here. When Jesus comes to establish in a final form the 341 00:31:22.359 --> 00:31:33.309 Kingdom of God, he does so imperfection. Moreover, he does so based 342 00:31:33.430 --> 00:31:38.869 on his obedience to the laws and not our own, as we sang earlier. 343 00:31:38.950 --> 00:31:45.109 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus, blood and righteousness. 344 00:31:45.910 --> 00:31:49.339 And because the Kingdom of God is built on the righteousness of Christ, we 345 00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:55.940 need not fear that our king will somehow slip and we will all fall in 346 00:31:56.099 --> 00:32:01.009 his path. As the king goes, so goes the people. This is 347 00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:06.650 the story of the Old Testament. It's the story of the New Testament to 348 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:12.130 as the king goes, so goes the people. And where has the King 349 00:32:12.289 --> 00:32:19.640 God to his father, to exaltation, to rule, to authority? As 350 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:23.880 for me, I have set my King on Zion, my Holy Hill. 351 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:31.630 The Kingdom of God is established, and that means we turn to Christ in 352 00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:37.109 our repentance and for forgiveness, we can know that we are perfectly safe in 353 00:32:37.230 --> 00:32:45.779 him forever and for all time, because his righteousness perfectly fulfills the law so 354 00:32:45.980 --> 00:32:52.539 that the Kingdom is forever established. Moreover, God is doing the work to 355 00:32:53.099 --> 00:32:59.609 create or to make that kingdom so that it works as it's supposed to work. 356 00:33:00.170 --> 00:33:04.769 God promises in the prophets that he, in the new covenant, will 357 00:33:04.849 --> 00:33:08.369 put his law in the hearts of his people, and he's doing that. 358 00:33:09.890 --> 00:33:14.519 And one day, when the Lord comes and on that Great Day of Judgment 359 00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:17.839 and we rise in glory when him and in his name and we all rejoice 360 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:24.279 and praise at the glorious victory of our King, we will live and dwell 361 00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:31.309 forever in a kingdom that is as perfect as you can imagine, where there 362 00:33:31.390 --> 00:33:37.150 is no disobedience, no fear of judgment, no fear of persecution, where 363 00:33:37.190 --> 00:33:44.819 the law is always perfectly fulfilled, where wisdom just flows in the streets and 364 00:33:45.140 --> 00:33:52.500 from our hearts and between each other. This is our God and that's what 365 00:33:52.660 --> 00:33:57.490 we have to look forward to on the Day of judgment, if we are 366 00:33:57.529 --> 00:33:58.049 in Christ