Major Points from the Minor Prophets

So if you'd like to open up the Bibles on your tables, to Micah chapter 6, which page numbers up there on the screen for you, 934, and versus, verse 6. With what shall I come before the lord and bow down before the exalted god? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams with 10000 rivers of oil, shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you o mortal what is good, and what does the lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god.

And I'll turn to chapter 7, verses 18 to 20. It's just the next page across. Check 7 verse 18, who is a god like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us, and you will thread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

You will be faithful to Jacob and show love to Abraham as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in the days long ago. Andy? Further prone to wander. Lord, we feel it. We are prone to wander just like those people have long ago, We're prone to stray away from you.

We're prone to stray into sin. And we ask lord that you will help us this evening or that you'll expose some of the, motivations of our hearts that you'll expose to us some of the things that we put our confidence in, and lord that you will lead us back to you, that you will lead us to you, the savior, and that you'll help to trust the right things. And so lord, we pray that you'll speak to us tonight through the words of of Micah in this little book. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Now last week, I was in conversation with my barber, as you might notice. I'm looking quite dapper now. And, it's a it's a barbershop I've been going to for years. I take my children there. They know them all.

They talk to me about my family. And so the conversation goes along sort of similar lines. Every time I visit, they ask how they're all getting on in school, and then we get to talk about other things when we run out of family conversation. And generally, it goes along the lines of something about the economy, and, and different things like that. It's like talking to PIM, isn't it?

And, so this particular this particular occasion, the lady I was talking to, she's, obviously, a low income worker in London. And life is pretty tough for her. And from her point of view, it's very easy to see the kind of the, you know, the evils. Really of an economy where people at the top just keep on getting wealthier and the gap between them and the poor just keeps on getting bigger. And it always seems to be at the expense of the poorer members of society too, doesn't it?

And we agreed the system's a mess Skyhigh ever rising rent that people can barely afford as they sort of fund and pay for the increasing property port folio of those up at the top. That's how it looks, doesn't it? And so I said to her, well, you know, you know, we'd not not get into an argument about that, but But why do you think that is? What do you think the problem is? I asked her.

And she just very quickly replied, will people agree to She said people are greedy, and they don't really think about the people that they're profiting from. She's kind of right, isn't she? And it's not just a problem with fat cats at the top. Greed and selfishness is a key ingredient in all of our hearts. So from the profiteering landlord, all the way down to the kind of benefit fraud person, it's all greed motivated by, isn't it, right across the spectrum?

I read this week. I don't know if you read this, that holiday operators are thinking about banning Brits. From certain holiday packages now. You heard this? And it's because of the number of fraudulent sickness claims that we as a nation make were famous for They're great to be famous for another thing, isn't it?

ABTA announced that the number of compensation claims of sickness on holiday has surged by 300 percent in the last year, 300 percent. The greed of 1 party, and we know this is true, don't we? The greed of 1 party always has a knock on effect for another innocent party. It's just it's just how the way it works, isn't it? We pay more tax, we pay more insurance, and now we pay more for our holidays because of the fraudulent actions of others because of greed.

Because of greed. What a mess. Now, Micah was faced with a not dissimilar culture in his day, and it's very interesting to see just how it mimics our own. Micah was, 1 other 1 of these fiery prophets who according to chapter 1 verse 1 as the book opens up, preached and prophesied to 2 cities. The cities of Samaria and of Jerusalem.

They're the 2 capitals of the divided nation of Israel, north and south. And he brought god's message to them during the last days of the northern kingdom. Northern kingdom sort of collapsing in his lifetime. And in 722 BC, they were overthrown by the Assyrians. And at that point, he continues to preach.

Micah continues to preach. But this time now to Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah, who's a pretty good bloke. We did his story, recently, didn't we? And the human heart, as you look at this book, hasn't changed. Just like us, what we see in this book, is that the nation of Israel was full of injustice, selfishness, and greed.

And so accordingly, the book opens with 2 whole chapters of declarations of judgment. Take a quick look at them. So look at chapter 1 verse 3, see how it starts Look, verse 3. The lord is coming from his dwelling place. He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.

The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob's transgression. Because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob's transgression? Is it not Samaria?

What is Judah's high place? Is it not Jerusalem? Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her idols will be broken to pieces.

All her temple gifts will be burned with fire, destroy all her images, since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes as the wages of prostitutes they will be used again. It's powerful and vivid language, quite an opening, isn't it? You imagined, Micah preaching that on the street corners. The lord is coming in all of his might and power, and it's a dramatic image that he opens up with. Splitting and melting the earth.

Do you see that? And why is he coming? Why does he come like that? Well, it's because of the sin of Israel. Because of the sin of Israel.

God doesn't ignore sin. He doesn't ignore it. He may be patient, but he doesn't ignore sin. It evokes his wrath. And it starts here with Samaria That's the capital city of the northern kingdom.

They're further down that slippery slope than the southerners in Jerusalem, although the southerners are probably not all that far behind them. But for the northern kingdom, their doom is just round the corner. According to verse 6, look, the proud city will become a heap of rubble. Raised to the ground, flattened empty of people. It's gonna become a place of destruction that no 1 would want to live in because of the state of it.

Kind of like, student halls of residence, I guess. It's a kind of place described here that would actually what it's most suitable for is a vegetable patch. Yeah. You don't mind a few stones kicking around. Yeah.

I'm just gonna grow a few potatoes or something like that. It's gonna be turning into a vegetable patch. So much for the north. But what about Jerusalem down in the south? Have a look at verse 9.

He turns his attention that way. Sumeria's plague is incurable. That's the Northern city. Their plague is incurable. It has spread to Judah.

It's reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself. So Micah portrays the sin of Samaria that we've just sort of heard about up in the north as being like a contagious disease. It's a disease, an incurable plague. It's already, he says, crossed the borders into the southern kingdom. It's infecting Judah all the way down to the gates of Jerusalem.

Kind of behavior that goes in the north also goes in the south. They just watch them, they see what they're doing, and they copy. All right for them must be all right for that for us. We'll be like our brothers in the north. And so here's the first warning of the book, really, isn't it?

You see the warning? It is amazing how quick sin spreads. It spreads sin is like a contagion. Listen, every caretaker, I guess, knows this. Right?

If someone puts graffiti on a you get a freshly painted wall, beautiful smooth surface, right, in a public kind of area. You get that. It doesn't if if somebody puts a bit of graffiti on that wall, you need to get it cleaned up as soon as possible. Why? Because if not, even if that wall's been, you know, lovely and clean for years, before the piece of graffiti appears on it.

Within a short window of time, it's going to be absolutely covered with with a sort of attraction of of graffiti from everyone. So there's just that little tag in the middle and everyone says, great idea. And something inside the heart of the Asbo or whatever or the hoodie just sort of sees this little tag in the middle of the wall and thinks, I I must have a piece of that. I must do this, and there's this sort of contagion, isn't there? It brings Just seeing it brings to life in the heart of 1 vandal a desire to add more to it.

The sin is like that. So you take something immoral, something god would say is immoral, the Bible calls immoral, and then trivialize it. Make it look sort of a bit popular. Popularize it, so stick it on the TV, and then pretty soon you can reshape the thinking and the behavior of a culture. Have you noticed that?

You just have to sort of popularize things, play them down. Until you get to the point where it's, oh, how dare anyone tell me I'm wrong to be thinking or doing this? And now picture Micah, the prophet. He's a good man in a culture like that with the sin spreading like a disease around it. In fact, he's such a good man.

I mean, he describes himself as a good man in chapter 3 verse 8. He talks about how he's a just 1 in this nation. Well, how does this just man, this righteous man feel about delivering the bad news of judgment to this this sort of corrupt people that are getting worse every day. Would you think he felt self righteous? You know, at least I'm 1 of the few good peoples around people around here, you know, there's some hope because there's a few people like me.

Or do you think he touched disapprovingly under his breath as he went away to go and meet with the safe company of prophets like him in a little sort of profit home group. Where he could drink a cup of tea and talk about what's going on outside. Do you think he took any pleasure in pointing out the failures and the failings of his audience in front of him. Well, he doesn't, not a bit of it. Have a look at chapter 1 verse 8, and you'll see his response to the sin.

Because of this, because of this news of the judgement, I will weep and wail. I will go about barefoot and naked I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl. Clearly, Michael was upset about the state of those around him, isn't he? He's very upset. But more than that, he seems to be resolved to do all that he possibly can do to get them to pay attention and to change their ways.

He wants them to hear his message. And how can he get them to take notice? Well, it seems that the prophet even resorts, I think it's literal. I think he resorts to walking around the city naked down to his underpants. He's he just wants to get people's attention.

He'll walk around in his underpants, and he'll hoot like an owl, and he'll and he'll, and he'll moan like a jackal, he'll howl and hoot, and Can you picture him walking around trying to get people? I mean, you probably would. Maybe not the right attention, but you get attention. Has he lost his mind? No.

He hasn't. I think it just shows the stent of the deafness of his audience that that's what he feels he must do to get them to listen. Even with all his antics, he couldn't really get them to hear. And I think most gospel preachers know that kind of feeling. They know that frustration.

It's so hard to get the attention of your listeners in this world. No 1 wants to hear the message. No wants to hear the message of the Bible. No 1 who wants to hear Christians, and yet as the preacher or as the 1 trying to share your faith with them, you know how critically important it is. It's such a frustration, isn't it?

Life and death important they need to hear. But instead, Micah's audience would rather listen to entertaining lies and lullabies just like people do today. The sort of message of false preachers, liars, liars, Look at chapter 2 verse 6 and see what's going on here. Chapter 2 verse 6, Micah says, he's quoting their prophets do not prophecy their prophets say. Do not prophecy about these things.

Disgrace will not overtake us. It's like, no, no, no, Micah, say the the forced prophets. They they confront Micah. They say, No. Don't give the people that message.

It's too negative. All that sin and judgment talk that you've got going on there heaps of rubble and and stuff like that. No 1 wants to hear that. It's as if they think Micah could pick and choose the message he's going to preach, as a faithful prophet. But the people here have itching ears and the prophet that they like are the ones that will come and give their ears a nice scratch.

People haven't changed. After all, would you write do you think people would rather hear a message of god will make you healthy and successful and rich? Or a message of you are a sinner. But turn today, stop your sin, trusting god for salvation, And though life might well be full of pain, well, there's a hope for you now. There's a hope for you in the future.

Poverty now, but a wondrous A wonderful inheritance to come. Do which message do you think people really want? Well, 1 message has much more appeal to itching ears than the other. And Micah confronts them, and you need to hear the dripping irony in what he says. It's quite stark in verse 11 there of chapter 2.

He says to the people, listen, if a liar and a deceiver comes and says, I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer. Well, that would be just the profit for this people. That's what they want. Someone to tell them, you know, we're gonna have a lovely party. There's gonna be lots of wine and beer, and you know, everything will be lovely.

So what is it that they're doing? What is this dreadful sin of the nation? Let's have a look at it. God speaks through Micah to highlight where the nation's real deep Miry murky sin is. And firstly, obviously, they've got a problem with hearing the word of the lord.

They're ignoring the prophet. Mike is just a postman, and so they're actually ignoring god That's 1 problem. But on top of that, let's have a look a little bit at the big sins of the nation. And the big sins of the nation do seem to be to do with injustice and a lack of compassion for your fellow man. We need to hear these words, I think.

The first half of chapter 2 tells about those in the nation who according to the first verse of chapter 2 plan iniquity and plot evil on their beds. Can you picture them there lounging on their little couch? Plotting evil? And they are the powerful and the wealthy in the land who want to amass all of the wealth for themselves. They wanna have all the money, all the wealth of the nation.

Look at verse 2. They covered fields and they seize them in houses and they take them. They defraud people of their homes. They rob them of their inheritance. The way that god had set up the land in Israel when the nation first arrived in the land was to allot parcels of land to each family.

So everybody had their land and the land provided their livelihood, you could live off your land. Even if you had little else, you had your land, you could grow something, you could get a sheep on it or something like that. And sometimes things might go really bad for a particular family, and they'd have to sell their land. Or perhaps sell themselves into slavery or their family into slavery. But listen, every 7 years, the way that god had set it up, every 7 years, all debts canceled.

If you're if you're an Israelite. All debts canceled. All slaves released. And not only that, but every fiftieth year, you know what happened? They had the year of Jubilee.

And the land went back to its family. It's like, you know, the board game, you know, when you get that horrible risk game where there's someone's dominating the board. What it's like is if every 50 years, god just sweeps the board, says, right, put the counters back on now. Let's just shuffle the cards again. Interesting.

So I wonder how well how that would go down in our culture. But that was a far cry from the way things are panned out in Micah's day. Those laws were there to look after people, but that's not the way things went. The nation was now full of fat cat landlords. Who did nothing but dream.

They're lying on their beds dreaming, and what are they dreaming about? They're dreaming about ways they can increase their property portfolio. And they're dreaming about what ruthless, what sort of, fraudulent act they can do to do so. And you'd you'd think, okay, well, that's fair enough, but surely you've got the courts. You've got the law system.

Surely, the poor can appeal. They can fight their case in court. Well, they could try, but according to chapter 3 verse 9, have a look, they would meet with very little success. Micah continues in chapter 3 verse 9. Here, this you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel who despise justice and distort all that's right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with wickedness wickedness.

Her leaders judge for a bribe. Her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Does that sound like you're gonna get a fair hearing in the courts? And so the fate of Jerusalem, as this all rounds up, this is the this is the portrait of the nation. The fate of Jerusalem will be the same as that of Samaria eventually.

Micah declares in verse 12 of chapter 3. Look at it. Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the Temple Hill, a mound overgrown with thickets. It's the same thing really, isn't it?

As happens in the north? Right. So that's the flavor of the book. You got the flavor of the book? You see what the people are like?

Do you wanna live with them? They're not a very nice bunch of people, are they? That's a thumbnail sketch. There are people who won't listen to the voice of god. And they've got their heads and their hearts full of dreams about gaining wealth.

They're a nation that's led by violent, merciless unjust leaders. Who don't care about the poor and the vulnerable. That's the nation. It's not pretty, but Micah is also a book full of hope. I wanna show you the hope of the book of Micah.

If these people, you see, what what is their hope? If they were to listen to the prophet, If they were to listen to this naked prophet who's hooting and howling for their attention, what would they have to do? How would they get right with god? How would they store what they once had. How could they return to god?

Is there a way they could know his favor and actually not go through this judgment. Well, there are 2 answers. And for the first, we must Look at chapter 6. Have a look at chapter 6 with me. It was our it was our first reading that we had.

Micah chapter 6. And here, Micah is answering the million dollar question, isn't he? With what he says in verse 6, shall I come before the lord and bow down before the exalted god? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with coughs a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with 10000 rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. He has shown you o mortal what is good. And what does the lord require of you to act justly. And to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god.

It's wonderful, isn't it? Firstly, then, god is not interested in religious sacrifices. Couldn't make it any clearer, could he? That's what verses 6 and 7 are saying. God will not be appeased nor will he be impressed no matter how many animals you take to the altar.

No matter how many baths of olive oil you bring with you, does it say 10000 rivers of olive oil? All the olive oil in the in the world bring it. God will not be impressed. Even if you were to bring the ultimate offering, do you see? Your own precious first born child and give them to god.

Makes no difference. That is not what god is looking for. God is not looking for a gift from you. Appease him for an offering from you. The longest short of it is that there is nothing you can bring to god that can put right what has gone wrong between you and him.

And that's as true for us now as it was for Israel then. The new testament tells us, in actual fact, Ben read it, didn't he earlier on this evening? Day after day, The New Testament reminds us. The priest offers the same sacrifices sacrificed after sacrifice back then. That can never take away sins because offerings can't.

Offings can't. It is impossible for the blood of bulls or goats to take away sins. And it's not that god is not pleased with sacrifices and offerings and good works. It's not that he's not pleased with him. It's just that they make absolutely no contribution towards dealing with our sin and our guilt before him.

They make no contribution to that. If those offerings, however grand, however costly, are brought in the belief that they are somehow going to pay god off and make him happy with us. Your your, as an offer, you are completely mistaken. They will do you no good at all. And so Micah continues, and we must read carefully.

He continues. Okay? We've blown that hope out of the water. But look at verse 8. He has shown you immortal what is good.

And what does the lord require of you? Not those offerings, but listen. To act justly love mercy and walk humbly with your god. And interestingly, this is not just an Israel thing. That's why it's so applicable to us, and it is worded very carefully.

It doesn't say, god has shown you Israel. You silly nation, he's shown you what is what is good. No. It's he is it's what does it say there? He has shown you o mortal, what is good.

Word their mortal or man is the word Adam. He has shown you sons and daughters of Adam. He has shown you what is good, and what does the lord require of every 1 of us? 3 things. This text says 3 things.

First of all, act justly. Act justly. That means that instead of living by your own standard of what is acceptable, what is an acceptable way to treat each other, we must live by god's standard of what is acceptable. That's a very big statement. Mike is telling these people that they need to live by the laws that god has given them.

They need to live the way god's told them to live. In which there is no room for any unjust dealing with others. There's certainly no room for extortion or fraud or taking things by force or coveting what other people have. But more than that, they're actually to reflect god's divine character in every single 1 of their dealings. That is to act justly properly, isn't it?

So they are to ask themselves, in every situation, what would be writing god's eyes to do right here and now? That's huge. And we need to do the same. We should be legally blameless as Christians, as god's people. Legally blameless.

The book of Romans chapter 13 tells us that we are to be subject to our government. Why because governments have been put there by god? Governments are there for our well-being. They're there to stop lawlessness. And that means we must be completely law abiding.

Good citizens, whether we like the law or not we're to abide by it. We should pay our taxes We should license our TVs, we should stick to speed limits, whether you like it or not. The only exceptions when the law of the land insists that you break the law of god, then you've got a case. Okay. Granted.

But otherwise well, to do otherwise, as a preacher, Stuart Olliott, Once said is this, to do otherwise is to resist god, because he is the 1 who put the government in place, you're resisting him, if you resist the law of the land. But this command goes further. It goes further than just asking us to be law abiding citizens that's the very least. On most occasions, think about it. There are no laws against breaking a promise telling a lie, gossiping, turning a blind eye to injustice.

No laws against those. You can get away with those in our country. But the Christian says author, John Blanchard, is called not only to do what is legally required, but also what is morally right. Whatever is right we're to do. In short, the standard by which we are to live, for us really is nothing other than the standard of the lord Jesus prized himself, were to be like him.

None of us are perfect, but we should strive to justly in all that we do. And more than that, secondly, look to love mercy. See what it's saying there. We're not just to be merciful, not just to do a bit of mercy, but we're to love it. To love mercy.

And this this goes further than just rules, doesn't it? It goes right down to the heart. What does it mean? It means that we should be glad of any opportunity that we're confronted with where we can show mercy or act kindly to someone. Mercy goes way beyond justice, doesn't it?

And it can only really come out of a heart of love. That's what Witter be like. There's no law here to love mercy means to be moved in our hearts by the plight of people around us. And that too is to imitate the character of god. Do you notice actually really what's being said here?

Isn't isn't what's being said here really? Love your neighbors yourself. Funny that, isn't it? Love your neighbors yourself. Love them as yourself.

You know, as 1 author puts it about this loving mercy, were it not for god's extravagant and indescribable mercy nobody in all of history would ever have so much as a single sin forgiven. Where the leaders of Israel should have seen the plight of these displaced poor lost their land, in poverty and shown them some kindness. Likewise, we should strive to show kindness, shouldn't we in compassion to all that god puts before us? That is the requirement that god puts on us. Now I can imagine there might be some people who look at those first 2 sort of instructions there, those 2 commands.

Do justice love mercy, and they're thinking, great, love it. Those are brilliant. Those are brilliant instructions. They're good commands. I do pretty well there.

Okay. I'm not perfect. But I'm not greedy like that. I don't trample on people. I don't hurt people.

I do a bit of donating to charity, you know. Maybe I need to up my game a little bit, perhaps, strive to do a bit better, but I'm on the right track, can't I? I'm on the right track. I agree with those. I agree with love your neighbors yourself.

It's it's alright. And for them, and if that's you. It's the third point that's gonna be the sticking point for you, I'm guessing. The third point is the real deal breaker. See, we can all agree that Keeping those first 2 would make the world a better place.

Can we? NICE a place. But the third point here is the 1 that divides people. Number 3, walk humbly with your god. Walk humbly with your god.

And without that third requirement, you could almost conclude that god just wants you to reform your character to try a bit harder to be nice. But you'll be mistaken. First of all, this command implies, look at it, making god your god. Walk humbly with who, with your god. Your god.

That means trusting and following and worshiping him It's intensely personal, your god. It implies relationship. It implies knowing the god who made you. Knowing him personally, saying, hi, am his, and he is mine. That's personal, isn't it?

Secondly, it calls for humility to walk humbly with your god, to recognize that is god's bigness and your smallness, I guess. To recognize that god is the savior and the rescuer, and that you are the 1 who needs rescuing. You're the damsel in distress. To recognize that you cannot help yourself, you need to be helped. That's what you need.

To say in your heart, lord save me, have mercy on me, to be humble enough to see the real truth about yourself. What is that? That I cannot act justly as I ought to, that I do not love mercy as I should, and I cannot bring a worthy sacrifice I need god's mercy. You'd save me. Save me.

And not everybody has the humility to do that. But that, according to Micah, is what the lord requires. Now the sad fact for Micah is that he saw the northern kingdom of Israel go off into captivity taken by the Assyrians. It was brutal. And he saw a Syria actually sweep down into the south dealing brutally, and I mean really brutally, you can see the little carved freezes of what they did, flaying people alive to the cities of around Jerusalem.

He saw the destruction, he saw the judgment coming, but listen, he also saw the deliverance of god. He saw it up close and personal. As King Hezekiah, you remember that story? King Hezekiah led the whole of Jerusalem to seek the lord for help against their enemies. He led them to walk humbly with their god.

And without them lifting a finger to help, you know, the story goes, god slew a hundred and 85000 Desirians and sent their king Sennakarib back home with his tail between his legs to die shortly afterwards. A massive deliverance. And though there were many who would not turn back to god and who perished, Micah was confident that there would be those who did. There will be people saved. His prophecy ends with the verses that we read also at the beginning.

They're wonderful verses. I don't know if you missed how wonderful they are. But their verses packed with bright hope for sinners turned to the end of the book. They're words that show that Micah knew his god He knew his god to be a god of mercy and compassion, and promise keeping love. Have a look.

Chapter 7 verse 18. Who is a god like you? First of all, he appeals to the character of god. Who is a god like you? Who pardons sin, forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance.

You do not stay angry forever. But delight to show mercy. Does that sound familiar? Loves mercy. You will again have compassion on us.

You will thread our sins underfoot and uh-huh all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be faithful to Jacob. He's a promise keeping god, and show love to Abraham as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago. The wonderful portrait of the merciful, loving, forgiving god. What does the lord require of you?

What does god require of you? Agjustly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your god. Michael wants to ask you, will you do that?

Will you do that? Will you listen? Let's pray. Father, we pray that you will help us to see our sin for what it is, to turn from help us to walk humbly with you. Help us to trust in nothing else.

No sacrifice that we can bring. Nothing that we can contribute, but only in the salvation and the forgiveness that you have provided in the crucified and risen lord Jesus Christ. And we pray lord that people this week will see how we act justy and love mercy. And that they will praise you, our father in heaven. Amen.