Through the Bible - Micah

God, as we consider this book tonight, the man who wrote it, his name means "Who is like God?" Lord, who is like You? We think of the words of Isaiah the prophet as he spoke to the people of his day, right around the same time as the prophet Micah. He asked the people, "Why do you trust in these vain false gods, these idols that they had built, Lord?" These things could do nothing, just as the psalmist said: they had hands, but they couldn't touch anything; mouths, but they couldn't speak; ears, but they couldn't hear; eyes, but they couldn't see. These false gods that are out there are nothing; they are completely vain. But who is like You, Lord? The great and awesome God, this God who has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Lord, You shed Your love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and we praise and thank You tonight that You have brought us here to sit at Your feet. You are a God who desires that Your people would know You and have communion and fellowship with You. Lord, You've revealed Yourself to us in the pages of Your Word, and so we pray that tonight You would reveal Yourself to us in a special way, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

How many of you read the book of Micah over the last couple of weeks? Praise the Lord! This is a great book. If you haven't read through it, I encourage you to do so over the next several days. Just seven chapters, but seven very powerful chapters. As we read the very first verse of the book, it says, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah, the Morashathite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah."

Now, when we read that, it most certainly should bring to remembrance another prophet who prophesied at the very same time. In fact, the first of the prophetic books and the longest of the prophetic works in the Bible is the prophet Isaiah. That's right. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1 says, "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah."

Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. As he wrote, he focused his attention on what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Jerusalem, we know, is the capital of the nation of Judah.

The nation of Israel was divided into two after the reign of King Solomon. When Solomon's son Rehoboam took over, there was a split, and the nation became two nations: the northern ten tribes, led by Jeroboam I, and the southern two tribes, led by Rehoboam. This division is a sad thing to see in the Scriptures, especially since the northern ten tribes, immediately after departing from the southern two tribes, also departed from the Lord. It wasn't just a departure from the leadership of Rehoboam; it was a rebellion against the leadership of God.

The southern two tribes were not much better. They had some good kings intermixed with some pretty wicked ones, but the northern ten tribes were completely wicked, entirely given to idolatry, and in rebellion against the Lord. When Micah writes these things, he focuses his attention not only on the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, speaking to Jerusalem, but he also mentions Samaria, which was the capital city of the northern ten tribes.

Isaiah the prophet, who wrote those 66 chapters we studied when we first began going through these prophetic books, primarily focused on the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin. However, Micah, who was from that region in the south, had a word from God for all the tribes of Israel, for the whole people of God in that day. It is noted that this was what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

Many of the prophets of God saw visions. We read in Isaiah chapter 1 about the vision he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, but this is now a vision that Micah sees concerning all the people of God. He saw something that compelled him to write and to speak.

God spoke in various ways in the Old Testament. The writer to the Hebrews tells us this in Hebrews chapter 1, stating that God spoke in diverse manners. We can think of many different ways that God communicated in the Old Testament. We saw just a few weeks ago, as we were studying through Amos.

God spoke through a basket of fruit to Amos, a fig picker from Tekoa. He spoke through a vision to Isaiah and through a vision to Micah. He spoke through a burning bush to Moses and through a donkey to Balaam. God is able to speak however He chooses to do so.

Sometimes, there are people who think that God is silent and says nothing. However, if we look around us, we can see that God is speaking. One of the key things we need to understand as we study the Old Testament prophetic books is that God still speaks. Some may think that God only spoke in the Old Testament through miracles, powerful signs, donkeys, and burning bushes, but that is not the case. God is not silent; He is still speaking very clearly, and we would do well to recognize that He is speaking to us.

I mentioned last Sunday, as we were going through John chapter 12, that God is speaking to us through what is happening in our nation today. Just a week and a half ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a declaration stating that we are in a drought here in the state of California. If you read the Scriptures, you will find that every time there was a physical drought, it indicated a spiritual drought. Therefore, we are in the midst of a spiritual drought in our nation.

In other parts of our nation, we are experiencing unbelievable rainstorms that are causing huge floods throughout the Midwest. Every Wednesday morning at six o'clock, we have prayer here. During one of our prayer sessions, a dear sister named Mary Malthus, who is in her 80s, prayed on behalf of our nation. She said something that caught my attention: "Lord, we pray as these farmers are saying that they can't plant their crops." I wondered what she was talking about.

Immediately after prayer, I went to my office and searched Google News for information about farmers and crops. Sure enough, I found reports that farmers throughout the Midwest are saying they can't plant their corn crops this year because they have missed the planting window due to excessive rain. Approximately 20% of the soybean crops have been destroyed, and maybe 80% of the corn crops have been lost this year because of the rain.

When we consider this in light of what the Scriptures say, it becomes clear that God is speaking to us, and we need to listen. As we look at the book of Micah and the way God spoke to the people then, we must understand that He is also conveying similar messages to us in our day. The spiritual climate in the nation of Israel during the time Micah spoke, between 739 B.C. and 686 B.C., was significant.

Was on a very slippery slope downward. Can we see that in our nation today? We are coming up on something very historic in our nation, especially here in our state, on Monday. As you know, the referendum from the Supreme Court that was passed at the beginning of June goes into effect Monday night, or actually Tuesday morning at midnight. So, as of Tuesday the 17th, they can issue marriage licenses to homosexuals in our state.

We look at all these things that are going on, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Father's Day is tomorrow. Here, it's the last Father's Day in California before we move into this new time where our state is viewing marriage in a way that, in the eyes of God, is not acceptable. We had an elders meeting this morning, and one of the things I asked of our elders was to fast and pray from sunup to sundown on Monday, praying that God would do a work in our state. I am putting that before you as well. Fast with us as the leadership of the church on Monday.

I was really convicted this last week, thinking about some other religions that are out there, particularly false religions, and the way that people are devoted to them. Look at Islam and how they have prescribed times of fasting in their nation, and they hold to it very religiously. They look at us and wonder why our God seems to have no strength and power. Why are we not devoted to Him in that way? We need to seek our God in that manner—deny ourselves, fast, pray, and seek Him to do a work in our nation.

God speaks to His people in 2 Chronicles, saying, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and repent, then I will hear them as they pray. I will hear them from heaven and heal their land." God is speaking to His people. Sometimes we think that it's all the heathens and pagans who need to change. No, judgment begins at the house of the Lord. 1 Peter 4:17 says that judgment begins at the house of the Lord.

When you look at the prophet Micah, he focuses his attention on the house of the Lord. Were there not wicked people around them? Yes, there were the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the people in modern-day Lebanon. There were the Syrians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. These were wicked people. Yet, God focuses His attention on His own people and says, "Listen, you are the ones called by my name, and you are to repent and be an example to these people." Why would they turn from their paganism if they look at you and see that you are just as involved in paganism and idolatry?

God was speaking to His people that judgment was going to come. Look at what it says in Micah 1:2: "Hear, all you people, and hearken, O earth, and all that is therein, and let the Lord be witness."

Against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For behold, the Lord comes forth out of His place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. The mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. God is coming to judge in those verses. As we see, nothing is going to stand before Him when He comes to do so.

Notice what it says: the mountains shall be molten under Him, the valleys shall be turned into wax before the fire. Here comes the presence of the Lord from heaven, and everything is annihilated before Him as He comes. This is the power of this great God, and Micah sees this in a vision as God comes down. But why is God coming down? He gives us the answer in verse 5: for the transgression of Jacob.

Who's Jacob? Well, Jacob was the father of the people that we call Israel today. Remember, God changed his name in Genesis chapter 32 to Israel. However, every single time Jacob was in error, every single time Israel began to walk away from the Lord in rebellion, God would call them not Israel, which means "governed of God." He would call them Jacob, which means "deceiver" or "supplanter" or "heel catcher."

So God looks at His people and says, "The transgression of Jacob is all this." And for the sins of the house of Israel, what is the transgression of Jacob? Notice what He says. He answers the question: is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

This is powerful and heavy. The two central focuses of God's judgment here are upon Samaria, which is the capital of the northern ten tribes, and Jerusalem, which was the capital of the southern tribes. You can go to the northern ten tribe region today and visit, and you'll see all kinds of pagan worship centers, especially at one of their key cities, which was the city of Dan in the northern part of Israel.

It was there, right after the nation of Israel split in two and Jeroboam I was leading the people, that he erected a golden calf. Remember, the golden calf was that very sin and thing that Israel bowed down to in Exodus when they departed from the Lord just 40 days after the Lord had called them to be His own people. They had turned and begun to worship this golden calf.

As soon as the nation departed from the Lord and the ten tribes separated themselves, they established golden calf worship once again in the city of Dan and also in the city of Bethel in the north. God speaks to them and says, "What is the sin? What is the primary sin of these people?" Well, it's their own capital city, Samaria.

Places of Judah had established Jerusalem as a high place, a place to worship false gods. Therefore, God says, "I will make Samaria as a heap of the field and as the plantings of a vineyard. I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. All the graven images thereof shall be beaten into pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with fire. All the idols thereof will I lay desolate." Why? Because she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of the harlot.

Therefore, Micah says, "I will wail and howl. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning like the owls." Here, Micah, as he sees this vision of the destruction that God is going to bring on the northern ten tribes, understands that God will completely level Samaria and the northern ten tribes. This would literally be fulfilled in 722 BC. Obviously, this writing of Micah is prior to this, as God says, "I'm going to destroy these people because of their harlotry."

Now, their harlotry was not just physical; it was spiritual harlotry, which also became a physical sin and blight upon the nation. It started as a spiritual condition, and that spiritual condition overflowed into physical actions. That's always the way that sin starts in our lives. Jesus tells us in the Gospels that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and evil actions. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. That's right. So it's out of the wicked heart that comes forth evil thoughts and evil actions.

When you look at a nation and see the evil works that are going on, it's an indication of a spiritual condition, a heart condition that needs to be dealt with first and foremost. It's very interesting to consider what the church in the world is seeking to do today. It has a lot to do with trying to fix social problems. The church is very focused on social justice and social reform. They want to go to Africa and deal with AIDS there. They want to go to Africa and address hunger. They want to go around the world and tackle all these social problems.

The only way to really deal with those social problems is to address the heart behind them. That's why the Gospel is so important. If you want to see a nation changed, it's the Gospel that will change that nation. It's the Gospel that changed our nation during the times of the Great Awakenings. It's the Gospel.

That can change our nation again. Listen, we are living in dark days, but God's light is still in this earth today through the church. We are to let our light so shine that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. This is an opportunity here in this room, at this church, on Sunday nights, Saturday nights, Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights. It is an opportunity for us to be equipped and raised up so that we can go out and shine this light in dark places.

The Word says, and Peter tells us, that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and we are to go forth and proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. This is a world that abides under the judgment of God, and all mankind will stand before God for judgment. We want to make sure that on that day, there are many who are called righteous because of the work that Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.

However, we are looking at a nation today here in America that shows all the physical indications of spiritual problems. We need to recognize that God is speaking to us through these prophetic works, just as He spoke to the children of Israel in Samaria and Judah during the time of Micah. God says, "Listen, you need to look around and see I am speaking to you, and you need to repent."

In Micah chapter 1, verse 9, it says that their wound is incurable. Apart from God, it is. Only if we turn not to God is that wound incurable. Yet God says to His people through the prophet Isaiah, "Turn to me, and I will bind up your wounds. I will put eye salve upon you." It is God; He is the only one who can really heal and transform. We need Him to do so first and foremost in our own lives and ultimately in the lives of those we live with in this world.

God continues in verse 10 of Micah chapter 1, "Declare you it not at Gath. Weep not at all in the house of Ephra. Roll thyself in the dust." God begins to speak to these specific nations or cities, and He says some very interesting things to them in verses 10 through 15. It is interesting when you look at this in the original language because Micah is using puns to speak to these people. Although we do not really see it when we read it in the English translation, you would really see it when reading it in the original language. When he says, "Declare it at Gath. Weep not at all," it carries a deeper meaning.

Gath. The word for Gath in Hebrew is very close to the word for weeping. He says to declare it at weeping. Don't weep. Then, in the next city, he says to declare it there at the city of dust. Roll yourself in the dust. He continues to speak to these people. Sefir, in verse 11, speaks of beauty, yet he says, "Your shame and your nakedness is shown." God is speaking to these people and saying, "I'm going to bring judgment upon each and every one of you. I'm going to expose your nakedness, expose your sin for what it really truly is."

There are a lot of people in this world who are fearful about being exposed, and understandably so, because we live in a society where if someone is exposed, we shame them. We look at them and say, "Oh, how horrible." We embarrass them, don't we? When we tell people that they need to come to the light of God, they are fearful that they might be exposed. Isn't that what Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3? Man hates the light. Why? Because he is fearful that, because of his wicked deeds, he wants to stay in darkness. I believe that it is the enemy who continually speaks to man and says, "Oh, no, don't go there. Don't go near that light. You don't want to be exposed."

But the author of the Gospel of John tells us in his first letter, in 1 John chapter 1, to walk in the light as He is in the light. There we have fellowship with one another. What else does he say? "And the blood of Christ cleanses us from all our sins." The awesome thing about the light of God is that He does not shine His light upon us to make us a spectacle to everybody else and say, "Oh, look how sinful we are. Look how sinful that person is." No, it is in the light of God that He reveals our sin, but He also reveals His blood that is greater than our sin and able to cleanse it. God desires to cleanse us of all unrighteousness, and He is fully able to do that by the blood that He shed there on Calvary.

Micah continues here in chapter 2, verse 1, and he speaks specifically to the people in the nation of Israel who were involved in planning out their own sinful behavior. Notice what he says in verse 1: "Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds." Woe means certain destruction. Destruction is certain for those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. The picture here is of someone who, in the middle of the night, wakes up with a great idea and plan about how they can be more wicked. He says, "Woe to those people who plan out their wickedness." When morning comes, they practice it. A lot of times, when you read through the Scriptures, you find that it is in darkness that people do these wicked things.

Evil deeds abound, and man loves darkness. The people of Israel had become so depraved at this point in time that they didn't care where they sinned. Every man did what was right in his own eyes, just as in the days of the judges. There was no king in Israel during that time, and everyone acted according to their own judgment.

Three times in the book of Judges, it states that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is death. When man does what is right in his own eyes, it is oftentimes evil in the sight of the Lord. These people devised iniquity; they planned to do wickedness in the middle of the night. When they woke up in the morning, they would go and carry out their plans because it was in the power of their hands to do so. They had the ability to sin, and they did.

Consider the account of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5. After healing him, Jesus found the man in the temple and told him, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." This man had been lame for 38 years and had very little opportunity to commit physical acts of sin. Now, healed and with newfound liberty, he could do whatever he wanted. Jesus warned him to avoid sin, as he now had the power to act in ways he never could before.

This liberty in Christ is something that you and I also possess in the body of Christ. However, Paul instructs us not to use our liberty as a license to sin. Many people in the church today think, "Well, God is gracious. He loves me; He'll forgive me, so it doesn't matter if I do these things." Far be it from us to think so. Paul emphatically states, "God forbid! Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?"

Here was a group of people in the nation of Israel who were God's people. They had the law of God, the temple, the worship of God, and the priesthood. They believed everything was okay and that they had the liberty to do whatever they wanted. When you read the book of Ezekiel, you find that the priests had pagan worship centers in the temple and pornographic images within its walls. They thought everything was permissible for them.

God warns that woe will come to those who think this way; certain judgment awaits. The people Micah was speaking to, and ultimately God through Micah, coveted what was not theirs.

Fields were taken by violence, along with houses, and they were taken away. They oppressed a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Because of this, notice what the Lord says. They planned their sin in verse 1, and God plans their destruction in verse 3. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: "Behold, against this family do I devise an evil from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you go haughtily, for this time is evil."

God says, "I am planning the day of your destruction. I have devised a plan against you on how I am going to purge the sin from you. There is no way that you are going to remove your necks from it." Why? Because they were a haughty people. They were proud and arrogant, looking at God's judgment as if to say, "What are you going to do to us?"

We will see this attitude as we get into chapter 6, where they call out to God, saying, "What do you want from us, God? It seems like we're trying to do it, and you just want more and more and more." Doesn't that seem to be the way that oftentimes sinful man thinks about God when it comes to His law?

What is up with this God? He seems like the cosmic killjoy, wanting to take away everything that is fun. People sometimes think that way, but that's not what God says. Sin is not bad just because God says it is bad; it is bad because it will kill you. It's like Sinai. God is saying, "Listen, I don't want you to play with this because it will kill you."

Here are these people, with haughty looks, looking at the Lord and saying, "Hey, we'll just continue in our way." In that day, we read in verse 4, "Shall one take up a parable against you and lament with a doleful lamentation and say, 'We be utterly spoiled. He hath changed the portion of my people. How hath He removed it from me? Turning away, He hath divided our fields.'" This would be a song and a lamentation that the people would bring up for the children of Israel in the north, who had been completely removed from their land.

Yet the response of the people that Micah was speaking to, as given in Micah chapter 2, verse 6, was, "Prophesy not." They didn't want to hear it. They said, "We don't want to hear what you have to say anymore." When you think about what is going on in our nation, that is really what secular, pagan, hedonistic people are trying to do to the church. They are saying, "We don't want to hear from you anymore."

So God basically says to them, "All right, fine, I'm not going to prophesy to you that they shall not take shame." God says, "That's fine, I'm not going to speak to you."

But you're going to be destroyed. I'm going to pour out my judgment upon you. The people would not listen; they did not turn from their wicked ways. This is evidenced by the fact that the northern ten tribes were completely destroyed during the time that Micah prophesied these things.

God first speaks to His people because judgment begins at the house of the Lord, as we see in 1 Peter chapter 4. He speaks to the people in general in chapter 2, but then He focuses attention on the leaders in chapter 3. In verse 1, we read, "And I said, here I pray you, O heads of Jacob and you princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment, who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones, who also eat the flesh of My people and flay their skin from off them, and they break their bones and chop them into pieces, as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron."

God speaks to the leaders of the nation of Israel and says to them, "You wicked leaders, you are just seeking to take whatever you can from these people." It is as if they were eating the people like cannibals. They looked upon the people as if they were there just for their benefit. That is the leadership in the nation of Israel; they were there to make themselves happy, to make themselves wealthy, and to take care of their own interests.

As I look at the political scene in our nation today, it doesn't seem like public service anymore. It seems as if these people are there just for what they can get. This is an indication of a fallen group. In the time of Micah, that is how these leaders were—they were there only for the purpose of what they could gain. They hated good and loved evil.

It is similar to what Isaiah says: these people call darkness light and light darkness. They say that this is good when it is actually evil. They call evil good and good evil. We are living in those times. Those who are in leadership positions in our nation call evil good and good evil, and they put darkness for light and light for darkness. Yet, they think they are only there for what you can give to them and take care of them. They have forgotten that they are God's servants, the ministers of God.

Those in authority would do well to recognize that even if they are in what we would call public service, they are the ministers of God. Romans chapter 14 tells us this. Paul says they are God's ministers for justice. God has placed them.

There, and they will give an account one day. That's a very fearful thing because, at the time of Micah and at the time of Isaiah the prophet, during this period in the nation of Israel, these leaders caused the people to err. God says, "You're going to stand before me for judgment one day because you have caused the people to err."

When trouble comes, these people often cry out to the Lord. In verse 4, it states, "Then shall they cry unto the Lord," but notice, He will not hear them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in all their doings. God says to me, "In the day that you cry out to me, I'm not going to hear you, and I'm not going to listen to what you have to say."

This is very similar to what God spoke to the same group of people during the time of Jeremiah. A couple of hundred years after Micah, He says to them, "Listen, Judah, Jerusalem, as many as your streets are your false gods. Yet in the day of trouble, you turn to me and cry out, 'Help us.' Why don't you turn to these false gods and cry out to them? Because I'm not going to hear you."

God would speak through Isaiah and tell the same group of people, "It's not that my ear is hard that I cannot hear. It's not that my arm is short that I cannot reach out to you, but your sin has separated you from me." We need to recognize that as a result of our sin, God is not able to help because our sin has separated us from God.

When we look at the things that are going on in our nation today, I know insurance companies will call tornadoes and these big floods "acts of God." They are not acts of God. As God removes His hand of protection on a nation, the enemy is allowed to come in and destroy, just as we see in the life of Job.

In Job's story, Satan appeared before God and spoke about Job, saying, "You have set a hedge around him. You have protected him, so I can't touch him. Remove that hedge of protection, and I'll touch him. He'll curse you." God then said, "All right, I'm going to remove my hand of protection on him to prove that Job was a faithful and righteous man," and Satan was given the opportunity to come in and destroy everything that Job had.

As we look at our nation today and consider it in the light of Scripture, we see everything that's happening: a drought in California, floods in the Midwest, tornadoes throughout the Midwest of the nation. We see these things taking place, and it's just going to get worse and worse. As you consider these sorts of birth pangs, they get closer and more intense as the delivery comes. And so, the delivery of God's judgment is approaching.

Judgment will ultimately come, just as Billy Graham said many years ago: if God does not judge the United States, He is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. There is coming a day of judgment, and we need to recognize, as the church, that this is going to take place. May we be like Micah in that day, standing close to the Lord and crying out to the people, saying, "Listen, this is the way; walk ye in it."

As we see what is happening in our nation and all the things that are going on, we must understand that these are not actual acts of God. It is not God who causes a tornado to go right through the middle of a Boy Scout camp. It is very interesting that in the Book of Job, a whirlwind came and destroyed the house where Job's children were, killing all of his children. When we see what happened in our nation just this last week, we recognize that this is the hand of Satan. It has come upon our nation because our sin has separated us from our God, and He says, "I can't protect you. I can't protect you." We see that here today in America.

Thus says the Lord, not only to the leaders but also to the prophets. Look at what He says in verse 5 of chapter 3: "Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make My people stray." These are not the prophets of the one true God; these are false prophets. We need to recognize that there are people who espouse a doctrine and preach a gospel that is not true. There are many of them—lots of them. There are more who preach false doctrines than there are who preach the true.

Remember at the time of Elijah, as he went up to Mount Carmel and battled with the 400 prophets of Baal? There was one prophet of God against 400. I would say that this ratio is probably still true even in our day, and maybe even more so. There were those who were prophets in the nation. The people looked to them for spiritual counsel and direction, yet they caused the people to err. They bite with their teeth and cry, "Peace." This was the cry of the prophets in Micah's day, and it was also the cry of the prophets during the time of Jeremiah. They would say, "Peace, peace," but God would say, "There is no peace."

This is exactly what Jesus tells us would happen in the last days as well: many will be saying, "Peace, peace," but there is no peace. We are looking at our nation today, and people are crying out for peace. They are seeking peace, and there will be one who stands up to offer some sort of peace, but it will be a false peace. It is not going to be true peace.

The peace from the Prince of Peace is essential. We need to recognize that there will be no peace on this earth until the Prince of Peace is enthroned in the New Jerusalem. That's why we, as the church, say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." We are instructed by Jesus to pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." His will and His kingdom are already established in heaven, but there is coming a day when the kingdom of heaven will become the kingdom of this earth as well. He will rule and reign with righteousness. Oh, we look forward to that day!

However, there are prophets, spiritual advisors, and counselors who give false counsel and false spiritual insight in our day. There are many of them, just as there were during the time of Micah. Notice what the Lord says to these false prophets in verse 6: "Therefore, night shall be unto you, that you shall not have a vision, and it shall be dark unto you." God was not going to give true vision to these people; He wasn't going to show them what He was going to do. Yet, He would tell His prophet Amos in Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals it to His servants, the prophets."

May we be those who have vision from the Lord, because where there is no vision, people perish. We need to have vision from God and see what He is doing. God is on the move, and we need to recognize how He is moving and how we can be involved in that. The only place you will find vision is as you come before the Lord and seek Him for it. Those who seek will find, and to those who knock, it will be opened unto them. We need to be continually asking, seeking, and knocking, saying, "God, show me what it is You want me to do." He will direct our paths if we lean upon Him, as the Scriptures say.

But the question is, do we really trust what the Lord has said in His Word? Do we trust that He will show us how we are to move and walk? This morning, as the leadership of the church gathered, the elders discussed what the Lord might be doing over the next year, two years, or three years. One elder mentioned that we just need to continue working in the ministry, acknowledging that we may not know what the Lord is going to do. We need to seek Him for what He wants us to do, because He will show us.

God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 33, "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." So we need to call to God and ask Him. That's why I'm asking you, and I'm just putting...

It is out there before you. Listen, Monday, fast and pray from sunup to sundown. Ask the Lord, "Show me, what is it that you want me to do? How can I be involved in what you're doing in our day?" I guarantee God will begin to show us what He wants us to do.

But here was a people who had leaders that led them toward destruction. They had prophets that caused them to err, and as a result of this, God was going to pour out His judgment upon them. Yet, always in the midst of this, God has those who are prophets that speak truth. During the time of Elijah, Ahab, Jezebel, and all the prophets of Baal and Asherah, there was one prophet who stood before the Lord and cried out to the people. He was a prophet that the Lord had sent and put His Spirit upon.

We can trust that there will always be those speaking the truth because we read in verse 8 of Micah chapter 3, "But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord." This is Micah speaking about himself, "and of judgment and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgressions, and unto Israel his sin." The primary purpose of the Old Testament prophet was to expose error and sin.

Thankfully, God has given us His Holy Spirit in these last days. He has poured out His Spirit upon the church, just as Joel prophesied would one day come. We see the fulfillment of it at the day of Pentecost. Jesus said, "It's expedient that I go because if I don't go, I can't send the Spirit unto you." The Counselor, the Comforter, the one who will guide you in truth and teach you all things.

The prophet Ezekiel pointed to this in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26, where he said there is coming a day when God will give you a new heart and a spirit, and He will write His law upon your heart. No more will you say, "Know the Lord" to one another. No more will you have to have an Old Testament prophet come and say, "This is the way that you need to go," because God will speak to you by His Spirit.

We have the Holy Spirit in our day to expose error and show us where we are in sin. He is able to guide and direct us, so we no longer have any need for the Old Testament prophet. All the prophets of the Old Testament were until John the Baptist, but now we are in a different time where God has given us His Word, and He has written His law upon our hearts. We can be directed by the Spirit of God in what we should do and what we shouldn't do.

But here was a man who was sent to a people who were really blind. Just as we saw last week when we were going through the book of Jonah, God says to Jonah as he is up on that hilltop overlooking...

The city is waiting for destruction, and I just want it to be consumed. God says to him, "Do you not realize that there are thousands of people there who don't know their right hand from their left? There are loads of people who don't know the way that they are to walk in." God was gracious to send prophets to these people and say, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

God is able to reveal to us because He has given us His Holy Spirit, just as He had poured His Spirit out upon Micah. I am full of the power of the Spirit. As we will see when we get to Zechariah, God speaks through Zechariah to Zerubbabel, the builder, and He says, "It's not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord. The walk that we live as Christians is by the Spirit of the Lord directing us, telling us, "Yes, this is safe, and this is out." He is that umpire who tells us, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

If we listen to Him and heed His word, then we will hear Him more clearly. Some people say, "Well, I don't hear the Spirit of the Lord," and when I ask them, "Have you been obedient to what He has shown you in His word?" they often respond, "Well, no." I guarantee you, if you are obedient, there are blessings to obedience. As you obey the Lord and follow Him, His word and His voice will become clearer to you.

It is important that we hear and know the word of God because, without that direction and vision, God says, "My people perish." In verse 12 of chapter 3 of Micah, we read, "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." God said that He was going to completely consume and destroy the northern ten tribes in Samaria.

Now He speaks to the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, saying, "I am going to destroy you as well." Why? Because their leaders caused the people to walk in directions contrary to God. Their prophets prophesied falsely, and the people had turned away. In verse 11, we are given a kind of spiritual indictment in chapter 3: "The heads thereof judge for reward, the priests thereof teach for hire, the prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, 'Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us.'"

This was the mindset and the heart of the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem at that time. The judges were only in it for what they could get for their reward. The priests were just hirelings, and the prophets just wanted to receive money. All along, they said, "Listen, we are leaning upon the Lord. This is the word of the Lord," but it wasn't the word of the Lord. Therefore, God says...

Judgment will come. Yet, always in the midst of these spoken judgments comes God's prophecy of restoration. In chapters 4 and 5, we read of this great divine restoration that God is going to give to His people. This restoration, as described in Micah chapter 4, has largely not yet come to pass.

Notice what it says in chapter 4, verse 1: "But in the last days," underline that in your Bibles, "it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and the people shall flow unto it." Many nations, not just the nation of Israel, shall come and say, "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob." As they come up, they will do so because He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the law shall go forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore.

This was also quoted by the prophet Isaiah, and I believe it is found in Isaiah chapter 8. Interestingly, it is also written on the wall in the Security Council at the United Nations. This reflects the UN's focus: they want all nations to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Their ambition is to unite and have peace, to stop the war and fighting against each other. I believe they will be very involved in the Antichrist's schemes in the last days.

However, these things will not yet come to pass as you read through the book of Micah and the book of Isaiah. These passages speak of a yet future kingdom. Isaiah mentions that at this time, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, and a child will play with a cobra. This speaks of the millennial reign of Christ, a time when a great restoration will take place here on this earth, and the Prince of Peace will rule and reign from Jerusalem. Thus, this great restoration that is spoken of has a future focus. In that day, says the Lord, I will...

He says all the nations will be gathered together, and the Lord shall reign over them, as stated in verse 7, in Mount Zion from henceforth and forevermore. This will be a kingdom that has no end. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, that he speaks of the Messiah, saying, "Of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, he shall order and establish it from this time forth and forevermore."

It's speaking of this time. We know how the story ends. It's like when you were back in school and had those math problems that you didn't understand. How much we loved when the teacher would say, "Just do the odd numbers," because we all knew that the answers to the odd numbers were in the back of the book. The answer is in the back of this book as well. We know how it's going to end. He will order and establish his kingdom from this time forth and forevermore. The scriptures say we will rule and reign with him.

So why has he not yet come? Why has he not yet come and totally established his kingdom as the disciples in Jesus's day hoped he would immediately? We praise the Lord that he hasn't. Why? Because if he had come 10, 15, or 20 years ago, how many of you would not be a part of that kingdom? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. We praise the Lord that he has waited.

However, I believe that the wait is coming to an end. I believe we are most certainly in the last days, and everything seems to point to that and indicate it. There is a day of the Lord's wrath that is soon to come, but there is also a great restoration that these prophets looked forward to.

Who brings that restoration? Who is the one who establishes this restoration? Look at what Micah chapter 5 tells us. "Now gather thyself in troops." Verse 1 states, "O daughter of troops, he has laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek." This is a very important verse. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

Do you remember in the latter chapters of the Gospel when they put a bag over Jesus's head and smote him upon the cheek, saying, "Prophesy who hit you?" They shall smite the judge of Israel upon the cheek. Where will this judge come from? Verse 2 of Micah chapter 5 states, "But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you be little among thousands of Judah..."

Yet out of you shall he come forth unto me. That is to be the ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from old and from everlasting. Who is this speaking of? Well, we read of Jesus that he was born in Bethlehem. When we get to Matthew chapter 2, verse 6, we remember that there were magi, these men from the east who came and asked Herod, "Where is the one who's going to be the Christ? Where is this one to be born?" He asked the priests, and they read from Micah chapter 5, verse 2, and said, "Oh yeah, he's going to be born there in Bethlehem."

Born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the house of bread. Jesus, we're told in John chapter 6, verse 35, says, "I am the bread of life." Isn't it fitting that the bread of life was born in the house of bread? Ephratah means fruitful, and he is this fruitful one that comes forth from there in Bethlehem.

So, who is the one who will order and establish this kingdom, this great restoration? It's the great judge of Israel who is going to be smote upon the cheek. Notice that it speaks first of his first coming, that he would be smote upon the cheek. But we also know that he is going to be the ruler in Israel at the second coming, the one who is from old, from everlasting.

It is wrong to think that Jesus was created or just came on the scene 2,000 years ago. He is eternal. Colossians chapter 1 and John chapter 1 make it very clear that Jesus was there at the beginning. He is the one who was involved in creation. In fact, creation was made for him, as we read in Colossians chapter 1. He holds all things together and is also the one who is going to rule and reign for eternity.

We read in Revelation chapter 1 and also in chapter 22, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the one who was and is and is to come." He is the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. We look forward to his coming.

Micah speaks first of judgment to the people in general in chapter 2. Then he shows why they'll be judged in chapter 3, because of their leaders who were only out for what they could get, their prophets who prophesied falsely, and their priests who were just hirelings. He says judgment is going to come upon you, but in the midst of judgment, lest you become too discouraged, he says, "Don't worry, I will restore." There is coming a day of restoration that the Prince of Peace will bring, the one who came out of Bethlehem. Though you be little among thousands, a ruler shall come forth from you.

And so God calls to the people in chapter 6 of Micah. He says, "Hear you now, what the Lord says." It is a courtroom drama here, and our nation seems to love courtroom dramas. You remember the whole O.J. Simpson trial back when I was in high school, and all those people who wanted to watch everything that was going on. Then you have Judge Judy, and years ago it was Judge Wapner. There will be many more to come as time goes on until the Lord comes back. People love justice, don't they?

Why is that show, I don't even remember what it is, one of the TV shows, you know, "Law and Order," such a huge hit? Now they've got "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law and Order" this and that. Why? People in America love justice. Man loves justice. And so God says, "Okay, you love justice. I'll call you into the courtroom." That's exactly what He does here in Micah chapter 6.

The Lord says, "Arise and contend before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear you, O mountains, the Lord's controversy." God calls heaven and earth as witnesses; they are the ones sitting in the jury box, so to speak. God stands up as the prosecuting attorney and declares His case. He says, "Hear my controversy here, you strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel."

"Oh, my people, what have I done unto thee?" He asks. Israel is on the witness stand, with the world, the heavens, and the earth in the jury box. God stands up and says to these people, "Israel, what have I done unto you? I want you to consider for a moment how I've treated you. Wherein have I wearied you? What have I done to make you upset? Testify against me," God says.

"For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of servants. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Oh, my people, remember now Balak, the king of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord."

He says, "Listen, even consider what this pagan king Balak did when he asked Balaam, this false prophet, to come and curse you back there in the book of Numbers. Remember what this false prophet said: 'I can't curse them because God's blessing is upon them.' God says, 'Look at that. I have blessed you abundantly.'"

For a moment, consider how well I've taken care of you. I saved you; I redeemed you out of Egypt. I bought you out of this servant's house. You were slaves there. I put good leaders over you. I blessed you while you were in the wilderness, even when you were headstrong and disobedient to me.

And so, wherewith shall I come? The people say. Notice what the people say to God: "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams and with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

It's as if God is speaking to them, saying, "I want you to consider for a moment how I've taken care of you, what I've done for you." The people seem to yell back at God, asking, "What do you want from us? We've given you everything. We've got this temple. We've got these priests. We offer these offerings. Will you be satisfied with ten thousand rivers of oil? Will you be satisfied with the firstborn? What do you want us to give to you, God? We've given you everything we have."

And the Lord, almost with a call of pain and tears, says, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

The people say, "What do you want from us? We've given you all this stuff." God responds, "I've shown you what I want. I do not desire sacrifice and burnt offering. This is what I've shown you: Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." He had called out to the people, saying, "You're proud, you're haughty, and headstrong," in the earlier chapters. Now He says to these people, "I want you to walk humbly with me."

I mentioned just a moment ago that we love justice. In fact, it was very interesting. I was teaching Romans over in Germany back in March, and I asked someone, "What does that passage there in Micah chapter six say?" This girl responded, "We're to do justly." Or she said, "We're to do mercifully and love justice." I said, "No, the scripture doesn't say that."

Oftentimes, we love justice. That's why, when we're driving down the freeway and someone cuts us off, we think, "Gosh, I wish I had sirens on the top of my car and I could take them." Oh, that there was a police officer here! Look at that. Then we're driving down the freeway at ninety miles an hour, and we see in our rearview mirror...

Something that looks like a black and white car can really make your heart start jumping. Oh, my goodness! Oh, Lord, mercy, mercy. When a cop pulls us over, we might think, "Oh, please, it's my birthday." We love justice and want mercy done to us, but that's not the way that God works. He says, "I want you to do justly. Walk justly."

When God the Father looked at the nation of Israel during the time of Isaiah and Micah, He told the children of Israel through Isaiah, "I looked for justice and I found none." They continued doing all their sacrifices and had all their feast days and fasting days, but they didn't live with justice. God says, "I've shown you what I want. I don't want all your sacrifices. It's not burnt offerings, calves, rams, or thousands of rivers of oil, or even your firstborn. That's not what I want. I want you to do justly and love mercy."

They looked upon all their enemies around them and just wanted God to stamp out their enemies. Isn't that the way that we are? We are called to do justly, love mercy, and walk in humility with God. Why? Because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

What is it that God is looking for us to do? The answer is in Micah chapter 7, verse 1, where Micah cries out, "Woe is me!" God always brings the prophet who cries "woe" to the people to the place where he says, "Woe is me." Five times in the first five chapters, actually eight times in the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah says, "Woe to all the people of Israel." Then, in Isaiah chapter 6, he says, "Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips."

Anytime that you stand in the position of looking upon other people, it's not a wrong thing, because God called these prophets to do so and say, "Woe to you, woe to you." But He also wants us to recognize who we are. Paul tells the church at Galatia in Galatians chapter 6, "If any man is overtaken in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in an attitude of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted."

If we're going to point the finger at anybody else and say, "Woe is you," we need to recognize that there are fingers pointed back at us. God says, "Woe to you," and we need to come to that place in repentance. "Woe is me," and ask the Lord for forgiveness.

Stand righteously before the Lord. The name Micah means "Who is like our God?" In Micah chapter 7, verse 8, we read, "Who is a God like unto thee that pardons iniquity?" How awesome it is that God is ready to forgive and to pardon iniquity. He passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage. He retains not His anger forever because He delights in mercy. Do justly and love mercy; our God delights in mercy.

We will finish with this in Exodus chapter 34. Moses said, "Lord, I want to see your glory." God replied, "You can't see my glory and live." However, God made a deal with Moses. He said, "I'm going to place you in the cleft of the rock, and I'm going to pass by and show you my afterglow." God declares His name, saying, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful." God defines His name first and foremost with mercy, and praise God that He does. When we come before Him and say, "Woe is me," He is ready to pardon and give mercy. He has done so for us and desires to do so for this world. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance and say, "Woe is me," and receive His mercy. Thank God that He has waited.

Let's stand and pray. God, we do thank You for this book. I pray, Lord, that as we go from here tonight, You would challenge us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk in humility with You, Lord, because You do draw near to those who are humble. Draw near to this group, Lord, and shine brightly through us to this dark world, that we would see many come to know You in these last days. God, You prophesied through the prophet Joel that in the last days You would pour out Your Spirit upon all flesh. I pray that You pour out Your Spirit upon this group and equip us to be witnesses unto You here in Escondido, in San Diego County, in California, and in the uttermost parts. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.