WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.210 And I'm going to invite you to turn to the book of Micah, one of those regular books you read out of the Scripture. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:11.260 If you have any trouble finding it, just go to the book of Matthew, first book of the New Testament. 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:18.120 Go back about eight little books, and then you'll find the book of Micah tucked away there in the minor prophets. 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:25.400 While you find that, I'm going to give you just a few thoughts of thanks to you as a church family. 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:28.000 I want you to know that I'm a little bit under the weather today. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.060 I actually wasn't even supposed to preach today. 00:00:30.540 --> 00:00:36.140 I'm actually the substitute today for someone else who was ill, and then, lo and behold, here I am now. 00:00:36.360 --> 00:00:38.300 If I fall over, or whatever, just give me a second. 00:00:38.300 --> 00:00:38.900 I'll get back up. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:53.560 Just as being gracious, let's 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:59.880 say to all of you this morning, I'm thankful you're here, and I'm gonna show my love by not getting near you, okay? 00:00:59.880 --> 00:00:59.880 If there's something you feel urgent to share with me, I will be up here after the service is over. 00:00:59.880 --> 00:00:59.880 But thankful to share God's Word with you this morning. 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:01.420 And I want to say thank you to those of you that have taken time to love on our family the last couple weeks. 00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:08.640 My wife recently gave birth to our third son, and some of you just offered words of encouragement, 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:10.940 stopped by just to show your support in different ways. 00:01:11.020 --> 00:01:12.130 Really want to thank you for the food. 00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:19.740 If I knew there was a possibility that I could eat like I ate this past week, if I could do that for the rest of my life, the Walls would turn into rabbits and we would have 00:01:19.740 --> 00:01:21.260 children all the time. 00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:28.600 So don't tell my wife I said that, but we ate like kings and queens at our house, and it was just wonderful to 00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:31.560 feel love and appreciation from you as a church family. 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:39.160 And I want to say thank you too, this is a little late in coming as thanks, but recently we took an offering for our building project, thinking about the future of Alpine 00:01:39.160 --> 00:01:39.960 Bible Church. 00:01:40.220 --> 00:01:45.720 We have over $2700 come in for that, so thank you for everyone that just gave and care about... 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:50.320 that you care about the future of our church and what God desires to do in us and through us. 00:01:51.730 --> 00:01:57.910 Last thing I want to tell you before we jump into this book is next week we're going to start a new series in the book of Hebrews. 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:00.140 Hebrews is... 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:05.660 if you were in those scenarios where you're stuck on a desert island, someone said to you, "You can only take one book of the Bible. 00:02:05.660 --> 00:02:08.120 What would it be?" For me, hands down, book of Hebrews. 00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:15.240 It's that book that takes all the pieces of Scripture and really shows you how the Bible ties together and the elevation of 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:18.600 beauty of Christ in this world and what he means for us. 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:25.840 And so we're going to use this summer going through the book of Hebrews, understanding how God ties everything together in Scripture through that book, 00:02:25.940 --> 00:02:30.200 in Jesus, and really just use this summer to connect in our relationship with God. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.780 So next week, we will start that. 00:02:31.780 --> 00:02:38.900 I will tell you, if you've got friends that are just questioning Scripture, want to know what the Bible is about, trying to figure things 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:43.400 out, the book of Hebrews is a beautiful place to jump in and learn about those things. 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:52.170 When it comes to the book of Micah, I'm going to give you a little bit of backdrop from a personal story as to why I think this book is important for us. 00:02:53.500 --> 00:03:00.860 This past week I had one of those great father moments that just melts your heart, makes you feel loved and thankful 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:08.020 that you have an opportunity to love on your kids, as my youngest got injured, and he came to me and he was crying and I was holding him and 00:03:08.540 --> 00:03:09.560 just trying to comfort him. 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:16.940 And he looks at me and says, "Dad, can grown-ups hold grown-ups?" I'm like, why 00:03:16.940 --> 00:03:19.820 do you ask me can grown-ups hold grown-ups. 00:03:19.820 --> 00:03:27.300 And he looks at me and he said, "Dad, 'cause I never want you to stop picking me up." He 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:30.820 doesn't know this, but my life as a father... 00:03:30.820 --> 00:03:32.980 at least I've never just stated this to him. 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:38.960 I'm sure he knows it by my life and living before him, but my life as a father is about picking him up. 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:43.060 And to be the kind of man that God calls him to be. 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:51.300 And that happens by allowing God to pick me up and to be the kind of man that God calls me to be. 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:55.220 And you think when it comes to parenting, you really... 00:03:55.500 --> 00:04:01.940 It's fun to enjoy the moment with your kid, but the big thing that God's called you to is to keep in mind the end goal, right? 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.820 What is it that you know that God has called them to, that place of maturity. 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:13.010 What kind of person do you desire for God to make them and mold them into? 00:04:13.140 --> 00:04:19.700 And God makes you the instrument to be the greatest voice to speak into those lives to see change. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:21.000 And it's not just with children. 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:22.310 It's in this world. 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:30.500 And by walking with the Lord, God's got you in a place to speak into this world and to see changes God works in your life. 00:04:31.780 --> 00:04:34.450 And the book of Micah is a lot like that story. 00:04:35.940 --> 00:04:40.120 God wants to keep holding his people really despite them falling. 00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:44.560 God is constantly there with them. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.500 And when you read the story, you're starting to see a picture of these southern tribes of Israel. 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:56.300 There's already been a civil war break loose, and the ten tribes of the north have already broken off, and the two tribes of 00:04:56.300 --> 00:04:58.600 the south are now on their own. 00:04:58.760 --> 00:05:04.140 They're just these two together, and Micah and Isaiah are prophesying during this time. 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:08.180 And you see the godly starting to become the minority. 00:05:09.760 --> 00:05:16.840 And their back is against the wall, and the people are walking away from God, and God's using Micah to warn Israel that the 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:18.920 Assyrians are going to come and ravage the nor... 00:05:19.440 --> 00:05:22.600 to take the north captive and ravage the south and Jerusalem. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.870 And then Micah warns them that Babylon's also going to come and take the southern tribes. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:34.060 And this book explores accusations and warnings to Israel through Micah. 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:35.480 God is speaking to them. 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:38.460 And then he offers them restoration and hope. 00:05:38.520 --> 00:05:39.330 Now I want you to know this. 00:05:39.380 --> 00:05:46.960 I don't have time to go through all the book, through the book of Micah, but if we go through this today and you're interested, if you pick up the bulletin 00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:52.280 today, there are some connection group notes, questions related to this passage that we're going to go through. 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:55.220 This is the last week for connections groups, by the way, our mid-week studies. 00:05:55.580 --> 00:05:58.400 And on the back of it you'll find an outline for the book of Micah. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.860 And it helps you think through the way that this book is broken out. 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:05.250 But Micah's no different than most prophets when you read them. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:08.880 They come with warning, and then they offer restoration, hope. 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:10.500 Judgment, warning, restoration and hope. 00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:17.860 And so when you open the book of Micah, first two chapters there's judgment and warning, and then the last two verses of chapter two, 00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:25.260 there's this hope, where God pictures Himself as a shepherd leading His people towards restoration in a pasture that 00:06:25.260 --> 00:06:26.980 provides for them. 00:06:27.140 --> 00:06:34.260 And then in chapter three there's warning again, and the warning is led by Israel's leaders, spiritually and politically, 00:06:34.280 --> 00:06:34.840 they're corrupt. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:37.880 They're leaning on the side of those that have wealth. 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:45.440 If you've got money, you've been their ear, their bribed, they take advantage of the poor, and the poor are neglected and they're helpless and 00:06:45.440 --> 00:06:46.190 hopeless. 00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:48.080 And God's bringing judgment on them. 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:50.260 He describes it in chapter one and two like Mt. 00:06:50.280 --> 00:06:50.730 Sinai. 00:06:51.460 --> 00:06:55.020 And God's saying to them, in this judgment Babylon, Assyria's coming. 00:06:55.020 --> 00:06:56.550 The temple will be destroyed. 00:06:57.500 --> 00:07:04.740 And then in chapter four this hope comes again, where God will rebuild this temple, and God will bring the people 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:06.430 back to this New Jerusalem. 00:07:07.080 --> 00:07:14.260 And then in chapter five it starts talking about this messianic king who will come and he would be born in Bethlehem, and he will restore his 00:07:14.260 --> 00:07:15.020 people. 00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:20.280 At the end of chapter five, the final justice will take place and the removal of evil. 00:07:23.020 --> 00:07:27.160 And behind every warning, there is hope and joy. 00:07:28.880 --> 00:07:30.000 And then in chapter 6... 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:38.180 and once again between chapters six and seven, offers these warnings and this hope. 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:47.480 In chapter six, he starts to talk about the leaders of Israel again and how they're taking advantage of people, both 00:07:48.020 --> 00:07:50.120 spiritual leaders and political leaders. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:57.970 And then God, in Micah, sort of gives this theme verse of what His desire is for His people. 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:05.880 Kind of the statement of, if God's people would live this way in the midst of adversity, they could see real change in the hearts 00:08:05.960 --> 00:08:07.600 of the environment around them. 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:10.880 I mean, you ever get to that place where you might feel like you're the only one? 00:08:12.350 --> 00:08:19.630 You kind of put your feet in the ground and you want to stay where you're at and you want to fight, but you look around and you might feel like you're the only person in that battle. 00:08:21.460 --> 00:08:24.120 Sort of your back's against the wall and you get that pessimistic attitude. 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:31.480 "Well why don't I just join the rest of the crowd because at least I'll be with the crowd." And God really makes this statement in 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:36.299 Micah 6:8, in the midst of this judgment statement of what He desires for them to be. 00:08:38.280 --> 00:08:43.140 How they can be difference-makers in the world around them, and he says this. 00:08:43.140 --> 00:08:46.590 "He has told you, O man, what is good. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:53.780 And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness"... 00:08:54.520 --> 00:08:56.020 some translations say mercy. 00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:04.340 "And to walk humbly with your God.” To see the Lord work in 00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:10.720 your life and through your life, I think this passage nails it beautifully for us. 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.060 And that's really what I want to talk about today. 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.110 I want to talk about thinking about being a father. 00:09:16.800 --> 00:09:21.660 And not only being a father to lead my kids, but how God leads me in my life. 00:09:21.660 --> 00:09:28.860 I think this section of Scripture really puts the target for us in where God desired us to strive and live, 00:09:29.020 --> 00:09:31.780 to watch Him make a difference in the world around us. 00:09:31.780 --> 00:09:37.140 So God comes back to this passage of Scripture and he highlights this for Israel. 00:09:37.180 --> 00:09:42.300 Now let me just be devil's advocate for just a minute because I want us to see how this is relevant for our lives. 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:44.790 We could ask the question, I think it's fair to ask. 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:47.310 This is Old Testament, we're Christian. 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:48.800 I read New Testament. 00:09:48.800 --> 00:09:52.060 So how does this Old Testament passage become applicable to my life? 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.440 Because this is talking to the Jews and I'm not a Jew. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:56.360 I wasn't born a Jew. 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:03.560 And so here I am, New Testament, so this passage doesn't really apply to my life because it's talking about the 00:10:03.560 --> 00:10:06.430 way that God desires for them to live in the Old Testament. 00:10:07.400 --> 00:10:08.140 Let me just... 00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:09.510 It's a fair question. 00:10:09.620 --> 00:10:12.800 I don't think everything God told Israel to do in the Old Testament we should be doing today. 00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:14.070 Let me give you an example why. 00:10:15.160 --> 00:10:21.000 Old Testament, God tells us in the very beginning, first three chapters of the Bible, a messiah is going to come. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:24.500 He's going to rescue us in our sin, right? 00:10:25.020 --> 00:10:26.640 And so we were looking for that messiah. 00:10:27.380 --> 00:10:33.040 And along the course of Scripture, very early on book of Genesis, chapter 12, it tells us that the promise is coming through Abraham, right? 00:10:34.260 --> 00:10:38.900 And the minute God marks an individual person, he's marking this people group. 00:10:39.400 --> 00:10:42.320 He's identifying exactly where the messiah would come from. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:46.500 And if you want to stop the coming of that messiah, what are you going to go against? 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.080 I'm going to kill Abraham, right? 00:10:49.880 --> 00:10:51.180 I'm going to kill God's chosen people. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:52.090 I'm going to attack them. 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:59.780 And what you see in the Old Testament is God creates this theocracy through these individuals that become therein the nation of Israel. 00:10:59.780 --> 00:11:02.580 And God works in them and through them to bring this messiah. 00:11:02.860 --> 00:11:06.240 And so you see a theocracy where God rules a people group. 00:11:07.380 --> 00:11:14.660 New Testament, different, because the blessing that came through God's chosen people, Abraham, it was told in Genesis 12, Genesis 00:11:14.660 --> 00:11:19.040 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 18, that through him all nations would be blessed. 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:27.220 That God's desire, while pointing to us where the messiah would come from, is to bless all nations, all people groups. 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:34.320 And so no longer is God just stuck to the nation of which the messiah would come, but God has infiltrated all nations. 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:42.560 And so now, rather than take up arms to defend and protect the line of the messiah, God calls his people to put down their arms and proclaim the goodness of 00:11:42.560 --> 00:11:42.660 Christ. 00:11:43.460 --> 00:11:44.600 Now I think there's a place for military. 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:45.640 I don't want to get into all that. 00:11:45.760 --> 00:11:46.960 I've got to leave that right there for now. 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:54.520 But I just want you to see that in the Old Testament there was a way of thinking that's not quite the same way into New Testament because 00:11:54.520 --> 00:11:57.620 God's revelation has progressed in how the messiah has worked. 00:11:58.100 --> 00:11:59.100 He's come through this people. 00:11:59.400 --> 00:12:00.770 Now he's blessed all nations. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.010 And that's where we find ourselves. 00:12:02.140 --> 00:12:03.440 So how is this passage relevant? 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:13.220 I tell you, when you look at the statement of Micah 6:8, you'll find that what God is speaking to in this verse, it's 00:12:13.220 --> 00:12:16.060 talking about our actions, but the actions are derived by the heart. 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:23.200 So if you think about this in this terms, it's saying, this is what God requires of you to do justice, to love kindness, and 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:24.340 to walk humbly with our God. 00:12:24.400 --> 00:12:25.200 So I'm going to look at it like this. 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.620 The first two things is more what God desires for us to do. 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:30.760 Justice, love kindness. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:32.920 And then He gets to speak more to why. 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:35.420 Humbly with our God. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.640 The God is speaking to the nature of our heart. 00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:48.320 We look at the Old Testament and New Testament, the character of God is made known throughout both sections of Scripture, that 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.060 God does not change. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.330 The same God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament. 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:54.250 God hated sin in the Old Testament. 00:12:54.340 --> 00:12:55.720 God hates sin in the New Testament. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.530 And the New Testament picture is just over a few decades. 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:02.940 In the Old Testament, you've got hundreds of years spanning out and a lot more narrative told. 00:13:02.940 --> 00:13:05.740 In the New Testament, you have that same God that hates sin. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:12.420 I mean, you look at Revelation, for crying out loud, Jesus comes back with a robe dipped in blood and a sword that comes out of his mouth, right? 00:13:12.620 --> 00:13:14.680 I mean, that is a powerful god. 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:18.690 And when Ananias and Sapphira lie in the book of Acts, God strikes them dead immediately. 00:13:19.040 --> 00:13:21.400 It's the same God, old and New Testament. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:27.340 But what you see in this passage is the character of God communicated to us, and what He desires to live out in our lives. 00:13:27.380 --> 00:13:29.940 So that's where the application is still made in our lives. 00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:37.420 If you want to dab a little deeper in this in Scripture this week, I would tell you Romans chapter 2 to chapter 4, really. 00:13:37.420 --> 00:13:38.720 Romans 11. 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:39.920 Galatians 3. 00:13:39.920 --> 00:13:41.200 Good passage to look at. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:42.460 But just consider this. 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:43.840 Romans chapter 2, verse 29. 00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:51.780 "But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, but the spirit, not by 00:13:51.780 --> 00:13:58.820 the letter, and his praise is not from men but from God." So if you're catching what it's saying here is Jews thought 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:01.920 they were Jews because of what they did outwardly, ritualistically. 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:10.340 But what God is saying in this passage is no, true Israelites are the ones that are turning their hearts to God. 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:11.800 It's not the circumcision on the outside. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:15.620 It's they laying down your life on the inside, the circumcision of the heart, the giving yourself to the Lord. 00:14:15.880 --> 00:14:18.820 Galatians 3, Paul says the same thing in verse 6. 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:21.520 "Even so, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 00:14:22.340 --> 00:14:29.760 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham." God said to Abraham, "Through you, I will bless all nations 00:14:29.760 --> 00:14:36.880 belonging to the seed of Abraham." And then verse 3, "The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached 00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:44.100 the Gospel beforehand to Abraham saying the nations will be blessed in you." So when it comes to passages like 00:14:44.100 --> 00:14:51.260 Micah 6:8, it's the reflection of the character of God and, therefore, I think the application still makes its usefulness in 00:14:51.260 --> 00:14:52.700 our lives. 00:14:55.780 --> 00:14:57.650 What's this passage saying to us? 00:14:59.020 --> 00:14:59.510 To live justly. 00:15:00.040 --> 00:15:03.800 New Testament, James 1:27 talks about justice. 00:15:05.520 --> 00:15:08.760 To love mercy or kindness, Titus chapter 3, verses 1 to 5. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.160 To walk humbly with God, James chapter 4, verse 10. 00:15:15.020 --> 00:15:20.760 Same character of God in the Old Testament re-spoken into the New Testament to call God's people. 00:15:22.540 --> 00:15:29.600 What God is saying to His people in the Old Testament, today, in the midst of the perversion of life, when it 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:33.880 comes to the way you steward your life, God cares. 00:15:36.020 --> 00:15:36.560 God cares. 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:41.560 And not only does He care, but God can use you to make a tremendous impact in this world. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:50.080 I was crunching numbers this week, and I just tried to think, in the scope of our lives, what God allows to pass 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:56.300 through our lives that we can all relate to, what we all typically have as people living day to day. 00:15:56.300 --> 00:16:01.840 God gives on average, most of us, 27,000 days on earth. 00:16:03.700 --> 00:16:09.050 Most of us will make somewhere in the range, there's different estimates on this, but somewhere in the range between two to four million. 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:17.480 And all those things that God gives us in this world, whether it be days, whether it money, or whether it be talent, whatever 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:24.780 it is, I think that the proper focus to have as we come to a passage like this is to understand that none of it really belongs 00:16:24.780 --> 00:16:25.380 to us. 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:28.700 And all of it was created by God's hand. 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:33.160 But rather, what God allows us to do is to be stewards of it. 00:16:33.380 --> 00:16:38.500 And so what Micah's reminding us of is when it comes to the way you steward your life, that God cares. 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:42.140 And so he tells us these two things he desires for us to do. 00:16:42.180 --> 00:16:44.230 And I want to get to the last part of why, and that's humility. 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:51.540 But He says this, "That we would do justice." What the Lord requires of you, to do 00:16:51.540 --> 00:16:51.890 justice. 00:16:52.420 --> 00:16:54.840 What does it mean in our lives to live justly? 00:16:56.580 --> 00:16:57.420 And to do justice? 00:16:57.420 --> 00:17:04.540 When it comes to understanding justice, I think most of us in our typical mentality, we think about talking about being 00:17:04.540 --> 00:17:05.140 fair. 00:17:06.020 --> 00:17:09.170 Someone's not fair to you then, by God, you're going to quote this verse. 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:13.619 You better be just, 'cause this verse means I get to do justice. 00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:15.240 Now give me what's fair. 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:15.339 Right? 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:22.700 But when it comes to Biblical picture of justice, it's much broader than just you getting your justice. 00:17:24.760 --> 00:17:30.760 In fact, this word for justice, Old Testament talking about God, really even today it's more of a... 00:17:30.820 --> 00:17:32.340 it's a scandalous way to think about God. 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:40.680 Especially Old Testament times, because picture of God in the Old Testament is that God loved those that seemed favored in life. 00:17:42.100 --> 00:17:44.220 If you have, it's because God loves you. 00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:45.980 If you don't, it's because God's against you. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:47.520 And in both cases, you are receiving justice. 00:17:50.840 --> 00:17:56.940 And so there was this, God blessed me because I'm something great, or God hates me because I'm something just cursed in this world. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:05.440 And when you read about the Biblical picture of God, God in His justice is one that defends 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:07.860 the poor, the orphan and the widow. 00:18:09.080 --> 00:18:12.860 This was a different concept in the way people thought about God. 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:19.220 In fact, I think it's one of the reasons in the New Testament the church took off in such a wildfire fashion. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:22.990 In Rome, a lot of Rome was slaves. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.110 Women were degraded. 00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:30.160 They weren't allowed to carry a testimony in the court of law if somebody violated them. 00:18:31.340 --> 00:18:37.140 And yet when you read into the New Testament, you see God giving worth, value and meaning to all people. 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:45.220 In fact, the book of Genesis is written to slaves who were freed from Egypt, finding identify now, being made 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:46.060 in the image of God. 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:55.520 And so when God talks about justice, He's not just saying, "Okay, you go get your justice." But 00:18:55.520 --> 00:19:03.000 when God talks about justice, He's picturing Himself as a father who's picking up a child in the midst of the desperation and brokenness 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:03.520 of life. 00:19:04.860 --> 00:19:10.040 The widow and the orphan and the fatherless, those that are in suffering. 00:19:11.800 --> 00:19:13.760 In Psalms 68, verse 5, it says this. 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:18.530 "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. 00:19:18.860 --> 00:19:20.340 God makes a home for the lonely. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.550 He leads out the prisoners into prosperity. 00:19:22.820 --> 00:19:30.380 Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land." That's why James says in James chapter 1, verse 27, 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:37.650 "Pure and undefiled religion is this, to care for the widow and the orphan." That's why Jesus said in Matthew 25, 00:19:38.300 --> 00:19:42.050 in verse 35, "When I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. 00:19:44.260 --> 00:19:45.450 When I was hungry, you fed me. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:53.960 When I was naked, you clothed me." And as Jesus is speaking there, the rest of the people go on and they say, "God, when were you 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:55.240 thirsty and we gave you a drink? 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.340 And when were you hungry that we fed you? 00:19:57.360 --> 00:20:05.600 And when were you naked that we clothed you?" And Jesus says, "What you've done unto the least of these, you've done unto me." God's 00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:09.760 justice is much deeper than your justice. 00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:11.080 You see that. 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:18.680 True justice has a lot to do with the shalom, the peace, of God. 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:23.040 It doesn't just mean you find it, though God desires for justice against sin. 00:20:24.780 --> 00:20:31.130 It also means that you carry the characteristic of God by fighting for those who are too weak to find the justice themselves. 00:20:33.540 --> 00:20:36.200 So you can compare this idea of justice in Scripture... 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:40.640 Look, in Isaiah chapter 58, verse 6 and 7, it says it like this. 00:20:41.660 --> 00:20:42.890 This is in the NIV translation. 00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:50.800 "Is not this the kind of fasting I've chosen: to loosen the chains of injustice and untie 00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:54.360 the chords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke? 00:20:54.740 --> 00:21:00.180 Is not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:07.980 When you see the naked to clothe them and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood." What the 00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:12.740 Lord is saying here in this passage in Isaiah, He's talking, when you see the wanderer, you help them. 00:21:13.320 --> 00:21:14.100 This is talking about a foreigner. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:16.410 When you see a foreigner. 00:21:16.560 --> 00:21:20.120 And then he goes on and describes that foreigner as being of the same flesh and blood. 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:27.020 Saying that there isn't multiple species or multiple races in Scripture. 00:21:27.060 --> 00:21:30.040 When the Bible talks about people, there is only one race. 00:21:30.040 --> 00:21:30.900 It's the human race. 00:21:33.320 --> 00:21:40.480 And God is saying to his people here that true justice is to look at the foreigner in his need and for all of us to 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:41.620 care for that. 00:21:41.740 --> 00:21:44.750 That is the emulation of the character of what God is. 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:49.180 It's not just about your justice, but about equal treatment for all. 00:21:50.760 --> 00:21:53.400 It's about a special concern for the vulnerable. 00:21:53.420 --> 00:22:01.320 And look in Zechariah chapter 7 verse 9, "Thus has the Lord of hosts said, dispense true justice and 00:22:01.320 --> 00:22:03.840 practice kindness and compassion each to his brother. 00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:12.160 And do not oppress the widow, or the orphan, the stranger or the poor." This is quite contrary to the day of 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:13.780 Micah and the understanding of God. 00:22:15.300 --> 00:22:23.880 In Micah's day, the leaders are oppressing those that are without to benefit 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:24.540 themselves. 00:22:27.190 --> 00:22:33.700 They take bribes and lean to the wealthy, neglecting the widow and the orphan and foreigner. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.180 God is saying, "That is not me. 00:22:39.800 --> 00:22:47.120 That's not true justice." So the mark of his character, mark of his people, what we find within God's 00:22:47.120 --> 00:22:49.940 people, is equal treatment, special concern for the vulnerable. 00:22:51.120 --> 00:22:54.560 And if I took it one step further, it's in fighting for those who are weak. 00:22:54.580 --> 00:22:56.000 It's this idea of generosity. 00:22:58.580 --> 00:23:04.040 It's to understand that many of us, in our lives, the reason that we are where we are is only by the grace of God. 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.000 God determined when you would be born, where you would be born. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:18.080 And the things that pass through your life, they could have very easily been in someone else's hands. 00:23:21.840 --> 00:23:23.670 But you've become stewards, right? 00:23:25.620 --> 00:23:26.320 And to what end? 00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:36.760 In the book of Micah, I can see, even people with a godly heart, they look at the environment around them and they say to themselves, "Well, they're pursuing theirs and their 00:23:36.760 --> 00:23:36.980 own. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:38.040 What's the use for me? 00:23:38.100 --> 00:23:45.340 I'll just do it for myself." And God shares the characteristics of Himself 00:23:45.340 --> 00:23:48.620 in fighting for the weak and the vulnerable, even to the point of generosity, right? 00:23:49.840 --> 00:23:57.060 I already read Micah, or Isaiah 58 verse 6 and 7, how you look out for people, but in Leviticus 24 verse 22, "There shall be one standard 00:23:57.060 --> 00:23:57.520 for you. 00:23:57.520 --> 00:24:04.640 It shall be for the stranger as well as the native for I am the Lord your God." This idea of justice, not 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:11.940 just for self, but in the blessing of what God does for you in your life, to understand 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:19.260 that God has put you in positions and given you certain things to exercise in this world to demonstrate the just character of a God who defends the fatherless 00:24:19.260 --> 00:24:20.160 and cares for the widow. 00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:29.400 Then he goes a little further and says to love mercy and kindness, right? 00:24:29.520 --> 00:24:38.020 Micah 6:8, to love mercy or to love kindness. 00:24:38.020 --> 00:24:45.220 You understand what this word mercy maybe directly relates to in the book of Micah and Micah's 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:50.640 people, at this time, would have been completely justified for God to judge them. 00:24:54.130 --> 00:24:55.400 But God's merciful. 00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:06.500 You know, I think about this in the scope of being a parent with a child that just says, "Pick 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:13.580 me up." When it comes to the idea of parenting in this world, I think there's a vast different to 00:25:13.580 --> 00:25:21.440 understand what God is doing in this section of Scripture, when it comes to understanding punishment or discipline, right? 00:25:21.540 --> 00:25:23.740 We talk about punishment, it's all about wrath. 00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:29.680 We're going to look at this phrase, for God bringing out anger in a minute and distinguish this, but it's all about wrath and punishment. 00:25:29.900 --> 00:25:34.480 But when you talk about discipline, it's about love. 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:42.210 It's about understanding who God has called you to be, right? 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:47.580 When I discipline my children, it's not because I want to bring the anger of wrath against them. 00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:48.790 It's not because I hate them. 00:25:48.820 --> 00:25:53.180 It's not because I just want them to feel the pain because they've done something that I despise. 00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:57.700 I understand, my kids are going to stray from God. 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.270 But God has called them to so much more, and I love them. 00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:07.660 And because I love them, I think about the end goal of what God wants to produce in them. 00:26:09.780 --> 00:26:13.100 And so I discipline them towards that cause, right? 00:26:13.660 --> 00:26:15.000 That's what the book of Micah is saying here. 00:26:16.520 --> 00:26:17.400 This idea of mercy. 00:26:19.060 --> 00:26:26.220 It's not this pouring out of wrath, the destruction of everyone, but to understand, there is a place for God's mercy to be made known because God is 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:33.660 calling us to something in this world, and when it comes to the Micah in this story, it's this way of God's judgment coming. 00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:38.680 But there's also this restoration and hope that this continual promise because God is a merciful God. 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:40.430 And this is what he says in this passage. 00:26:40.540 --> 00:26:47.580 He says, "Love mercy." I like "do justice" and I wish it said, 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:54.740 "do mercy." But "Love mercy." Do I love 00:26:54.740 --> 00:26:55.640 mercy? 00:26:57.220 --> 00:27:04.400 When everyone else around me is going the opposite direction, it's easy just to make the excuse and join 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:05.040 in with the crowd. 00:27:09.780 --> 00:27:11.000 But do I love mercy? 00:27:15.100 --> 00:27:20.740 Do I love kindness? 00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:27.760 Now, for those of you who've watched the news this week, you know the greatest news story that could have possibly happened probably in the last 00:27:27.760 --> 00:27:28.040 decade. 00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:29.660 The royal wedding, right? 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:31.320 Took place. 00:27:31.320 --> 00:27:33.190 And I did not watch that. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:35.790 I want to be a part of that club that would like to continue to proclaim that. 00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:38.300 But my mom did. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:42.880 And I was sharing with her this passage this morning, and she said to me... 00:27:44.260 --> 00:27:51.500 When she watched the ceremony, she said you know one of the most beautiful things that she enjoyed in that ceremony, of which I didn't want to listen, but I've got to maintain my 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:53.380 status in this club of not watching it. 00:27:53.380 --> 00:28:00.460 But she said that the way that the minister spoke, whoever it was, I don't know, but about the power of love. 00:28:04.780 --> 00:28:08.000 What changes people, right? 00:28:08.320 --> 00:28:09.740 Guilt, nagging. 00:28:13.430 --> 00:28:15.310 The grace of God and love, right? 00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:24.260 Think about what Jesus has done in your life, what changed you in coming to Christ, to see such a savior that loved you so deeply that you embrace 00:28:24.260 --> 00:28:24.360 him. 00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:32.710 You think about Micah's people in this day, what God requires of them, to do justice, to love mercy. 00:28:32.780 --> 00:28:35.480 Love's the greatest force to change in the heart. 00:28:37.800 --> 00:28:44.900 And then he says, "To walk humbly with our God." I think this verse, while God 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:47.960 tells us what we are to do, justice and mercy. 00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:55.280 When we talk about walking humbly with our God, this verse tells us really why we're able to do 00:28:55.280 --> 00:28:56.400 justice and love mercy. 00:28:57.980 --> 00:29:05.140 This word for being humble, this is really the only time in the Old Testament this Hebrew word for humbleness appears. 00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:09.460 There's one other time where it appears as an adjective, but this word means modest. 00:29:12.300 --> 00:29:19.320 But when you consider humility in Scripture, there's different words that are used for humility, but this idea for humility in 00:29:19.320 --> 00:29:20.170 Scripture... 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:23.280 Humility is the language of God. 00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:30.360 If you want to get near God in your life, humility is the language. 00:29:30.570 --> 00:29:37.760 You're going to see, I'm going to show you in just a moment, we're going to back up and look at two verses where they ask the question, "Okay, God, we know your judgment is coming against us in the book of Micah. 00:29:38.080 --> 00:29:39.100 Now what can we do? 00:29:39.940 --> 00:29:45.690 How can we do this list of things, what we can make it about, in order to get you to do what we want again?" Right? 00:29:46.820 --> 00:29:53.300 And so it's all about just making this God against sin happy so they can make life all about them again. 00:29:56.200 --> 00:29:58.480 But God's language is humility. 00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:03.460 Let's just say this maybe from another way. 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:12.020 God will never speak into my life without humility. 00:30:12.500 --> 00:30:13.900 The laying down of myself. 00:30:16.760 --> 00:30:20.940 Humility's the place where God finally comes to me and frees me. 00:30:22.860 --> 00:30:28.410 Martin Luther, when he led the Protestant Reformation, and he tacked the 95 theses on the door. 00:30:28.840 --> 00:30:32.840 The very first statement that he led with in tacking those theses, he said this one. 00:30:33.520 --> 00:30:40.560 "When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said repent, he willed the entire life of the believer to be 00:30:40.560 --> 00:30:47.680 one of repentance." I know when we say the word repentance in our culture today, we don't necessarily 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.790 have healthy views of what that means, but this is really what it means. 00:30:52.040 --> 00:30:52.300 Surrender. 00:30:55.460 --> 00:31:02.620 It's really about laying yourself down and not asking God what He can do based on what you want, but rather 00:31:02.620 --> 00:31:05.540 why He created you and what he desires for your life. 00:31:07.360 --> 00:31:11.500 In humility, I no longer seek God because of what I want, but because of who He is. 00:31:13.560 --> 00:31:20.620 I think our society, we get ethics and morality and purpose and meaning, I mean everything in life, 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:25.480 messed up on this phrase because we don't understand humility before God. 00:31:25.540 --> 00:31:27.460 We see ourselves as God. 00:31:29.260 --> 00:31:34.480 And we define life as what I want and see God as the obstacle for me to achieve it. 00:31:34.540 --> 00:31:35.980 And so we divorce ourselves from Him. 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:42.960 And if we remain religious at all, it's simply to come before God to make Him give me what I want, but life is about me. 00:31:46.380 --> 00:31:49.600 And humility becomes the place where we recognize that, no, life is about Him. 00:31:52.620 --> 00:31:54.040 I didn't create me for my purpose. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.820 But rather, He created me for His purpose. 00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:07.320 Now when you say all that, there's this war I think that happens with inside of us that just wants to buck against that naturally. 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:10.810 But here's where that war stops. 00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:14.940 When you recognize He is good. 00:32:17.600 --> 00:32:24.860 And no matter how great of dreams you can dream while you make yourself your own god, God far out exceeds 00:32:24.860 --> 00:32:25.420 them all. 00:32:28.600 --> 00:32:31.880 There is this place of asking the question, what will you trust. 00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:34.980 Yourself? 00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:37.340 Or Him? 00:32:39.280 --> 00:32:43.700 You look at the story of Micah and see how that plays out for the people, right? 00:32:43.820 --> 00:32:48.800 I'm after me and mine to the destruction of yourself and your people. 00:32:50.940 --> 00:32:59.500 Versus what God says in Micah 6:8, "Pursue the Lord in humility to the benefit of all people." Not 00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:05.370 only is this passage saying that God cares about the way you live, but he also cares about why you live that way. 00:33:07.280 --> 00:33:08.490 Why do you do what you do? 00:33:11.100 --> 00:33:13.120 Why do you want mercy and justice? 00:33:15.120 --> 00:33:15.860 To feel good about you? 00:33:19.280 --> 00:33:21.070 Because of the goodness of your God, right? 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:25.060 In humility, we come to Him. 00:33:25.060 --> 00:33:32.290 In Micah 6:8, you see this contrasting of thought between religious mentality and 00:33:34.020 --> 00:33:36.540 living really in relationship with God. 00:33:37.800 --> 00:33:41.000 And so these people know, they see in verse 6:8 what God has said to His people. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:45.760 But just previous to this, they see God's judgment and they say, "Okay, God, what can we do? 00:33:46.700 --> 00:33:53.720 What can we do to get back to where we just want to do what we want to do to make you happy?" And so Micah 6:7, it says, "With what shall I come to the 00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:56.480 Lord and bow myself before the God on high? 00:33:56.580 --> 00:33:59.720 Shall I come to him with burnt offerings with yearly calves? 00:33:59.980 --> 00:34:03.580 Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams and in thousands of rivers of oil? 00:34:03.840 --> 00:34:15.639 Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Religion. 00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:18.699 What do I do? 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:22.780 And based on what I do, what can I get? 00:34:23.580 --> 00:34:24.260 It's all about what? 00:34:26.219 --> 00:34:33.719 But what God points to here in this idea of humility is quieting the harp before this king who desires to rule all things, including me, 00:34:34.080 --> 00:34:40.580 and the question isn't really what can I do because when I do all of these things, I can do all of these things and never really give my heart to God. 00:34:41.580 --> 00:34:43.840 "Okay, God, get off my back." Right? 00:34:44.080 --> 00:34:44.820 "Here's your oil. 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:51.020 Take your goats and get lost." But never connected. 00:34:54.320 --> 00:35:00.580 What God is saying in these passages, it's about not what, but who. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:06.000 Who I know and who I can bless. 00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:15.880 So who I know is Lord determines the scope and picture that I have of me and therefore my life and the 00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:23.020 things I possess and what God has given to me, and in turn, in knowing that God, how I can bring justice and 00:35:23.020 --> 00:35:31.080 mercy in this world because he has brought justice and mercy to me in being one who defends the fatherless and the weak, that 00:35:31.080 --> 00:35:34.640 I might know Him and share Him. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:39.820 When it comes to the way you steward your life, God cares. 00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:45.520 Because it's a greater reflection of where you are in your relationship with him. 00:35:46.920 --> 00:35:49.480 Is God really your ultimate prize? 00:35:51.520 --> 00:35:53.800 The mark of humility is the demonstration. 00:35:54.040 --> 00:35:58.240 And when humility is lived out in our lives, we see this attitude of justice defending the weak. 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:03.300 And this loving mercy, loving kindness. 00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:07.960 We can't wait to bless the life of others because of the way God has blessed me. 00:36:07.960 --> 00:36:09.560 It's not about me and mine and what I get. 00:36:09.720 --> 00:36:16.740 It's about His glory lived out in my life as I've connected to Him in humility with the relationship before my God, that His glory be made 00:36:16.740 --> 00:36:19.000 known in the one that He has created in His image. 00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:29.320 And so when I examine my life, I can no doubt see I fail, right? 00:36:31.500 --> 00:36:38.500 I mean, if I just said to you, "What if in the quietness of your 00:36:38.520 --> 00:36:45.500 room when you're left to just your thoughts, what kind of things do you think about? 00:36:48.520 --> 00:36:49.340 Where does your heart go? 00:36:51.360 --> 00:36:52.190 And what do you dwell on? 00:36:55.400 --> 00:36:57.740 What if those thoughts were just exposed to the world? 00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:01.480 What if everyone in here knew them? 00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:10.580 What would people think of you?" It's pretty incredible to see a 00:37:10.580 --> 00:37:16.500 God whose loving kindness never ends, right? 00:37:17.340 --> 00:37:24.560 When I think about the kind of person that might rest in my heart, I examine Micah 6:8 and 00:37:24.560 --> 00:37:27.200 I just think about this passage of what God calls us to do. 00:37:27.200 --> 00:37:27.520 It says this. 00:37:28.840 --> 00:37:34.800 "Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God." I don't always do justice. 00:37:38.820 --> 00:37:40.020 I don't always love kindness. 00:37:43.460 --> 00:37:45.040 And I don't always walk humbly with my God. 00:37:47.520 --> 00:37:48.020 I fall. 00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:51.560 But you know what I need. 00:37:54.240 --> 00:37:55.480 I need a father to pick me up. 00:37:58.380 --> 00:38:00.520 To think about what he's called me to into this world. 00:38:02.640 --> 00:38:03.300 Forgive me. 00:38:04.660 --> 00:38:08.200 Dust me off and let me live for that glory. 00:38:10.410 --> 00:38:12.070 To see what I can't see in myself. 00:38:14.620 --> 00:38:21.740 And when your back feels like it's against the wall and everyone else might not stand with you, to understand that greater is He who is in 00:38:21.740 --> 00:38:22.990 you than he who is in the world. 00:38:25.020 --> 00:38:26.900 And this is exactly where Micah ends. 00:38:29.180 --> 00:38:35.550 The character of a father to a father, thinking about a son who's going to be a father. 00:38:37.340 --> 00:38:38.100 And this is what is says. 00:38:39.500 --> 00:38:46.760 "Who is a God like you who pardons sins and forgives the transgressions of the remnant 00:38:46.760 --> 00:38:47.650 of His inheritance. 00:38:49.560 --> 00:38:53.630 You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy." Let me just say this about anger. 00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:59.310 Sometimes when we think about anger, we picture God as this one that just kind of blows his lid. 00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:03.180 But when the Bible talks about anger, God is not one that just blows his lid. 00:39:03.180 --> 00:39:06.520 We painted another picture last time, we're saying about this reckless love. 00:39:07.340 --> 00:39:13.180 From our perspective, God's love of total abandonment and sacrificing his life for us, it looks completely reckless. 00:39:13.220 --> 00:39:14.480 Like why would you do that. 00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:15.300 I can't fathom it. 00:39:16.200 --> 00:39:16.360 Right? 00:39:17.020 --> 00:39:19.280 But to God, his love wasn't reckless. 00:39:19.500 --> 00:39:25.540 His love was completely stated in Scripture from the beginning, that God knew that he would give his entire life for you. 00:39:27.240 --> 00:39:28.090 And the same thing with anger. 00:39:28.300 --> 00:39:31.700 God doesn't just reach this boiling plot and just blow his lid and tell everyone to hide. 00:39:31.820 --> 00:39:33.620 God knows the beginning from the end. 00:39:33.700 --> 00:39:36.040 God's not ever disappointed with you. 00:39:37.060 --> 00:39:42.380 There's nothing you're ever going to do that's going to disappoint God because He already knows everything you're going to do before you do it. 00:39:43.640 --> 00:39:51.380 What anger is saying when it talks about God is there's this level of sin that he will tolerate, and then God will bring this discipline. 00:39:51.540 --> 00:39:51.640 Why? 00:39:53.300 --> 00:39:57.360 Because He loves you and He understands who He's called you to be. 00:39:58.560 --> 00:40:02.360 And that's what the book of Micah is communicating to the remnant, to God's chosen people. 00:40:02.500 --> 00:40:05.340 "You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 00:40:05.560 --> 00:40:07.720 You will again have compassion on us. 00:40:07.960 --> 00:40:12.800 You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:22.440 You will be faithful to Jacob and show love to Abraham as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in the days long ago." God's 00:40:22.540 --> 00:40:24.400 already showed you in the beginning, you belong to Abraham. 00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:27.240 In Christ, you are the seed of Abraham. 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:31.290 So what's the passage say to you? 00:40:32.260 --> 00:40:39.640 That God has called you to such beautiful things in this world and that God is a God that picks you up for this battle that you may 00:40:39.640 --> 00:40:40.740 strive in him. 00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:41.140 How? 00:40:43.040 --> 00:40:43.770 Well it starts in humility. 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:47.040 "God, I've failed. 00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:49.780 God, I've sinned. 00:40:51.900 --> 00:40:52.900 But God you are good. 00:40:53.140 --> 00:41:00.340 You are a good, good father, and you love me now, and you'll 00:41:00.340 --> 00:41:01.370 love me in the future. 00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:05.460 And you will keep picking me up."