all right today we're going to be<\/p>\n
looking at micah 4 so if you have your<\/p>\n
bibles handy and you should if you're at<\/p>\n
home particularly open up to micah 4.<\/p>\n
and micah as we have seen in previous<\/p>\n
weeks is a book that is heavy<\/p>\n
with god's judgment and coming wrath<\/p>\n
but today we're going to see a different<\/p>\n
a very different side of micah maybe the<\/p>\n
softer side of micah<\/p>\n
hannah<\/p>\n
and so the passage that we're looking at<\/p>\n
today micah 4<\/p>\n
has some warning for god's people it is<\/p>\n
one of the most glorious and hope<\/p>\n
and although micah 4 is rich enough for<\/p>\n
us to study for weeks and weeks and<\/p>\n
weeks as energy says we only have about<\/p>\n
30 minutes<\/p>\n
so but it is simple enough that we can<\/p>\n
benefit from a quick survey of what god<\/p>\n
has done and what god has given us in<\/p>\n
this chapter<\/p>\n
and today as we look at mayaka we're<\/p>\n
going to look at it through these three<\/p>\n
lenses<\/p>\n
[Music]<\/p>\n
first is coming glory<\/p>\n
yeah<\/p>\n
and so before we before we look into<\/p>\n
this before we dive into this i want to<\/p>\n
have nombi read and thai<\/p>\n
and you can follow along in english in<\/p>\n
your own bible if you need to<\/p>\n
be<\/p>\n
foreign<\/p>\n
first of all let's look at coming glory<\/p>\n
coming glory<\/p>\n
in the last book of the lord of the<\/p>\n
rings the hobbit samwise gamji<\/p>\n
wakes up<\/p>\n
after nearly dying on this quest<\/p>\n
to<\/p>\n
destroy the evil ring of power<\/p>\n
the lord of the rings<\/p>\n
hamlet when jimmy fallon<\/p>\n
and he wakes up clean and safe<\/p>\n
and he's well cared for in the castle in<\/p>\n
the king's castle and after weeks of<\/p>\n
hopeless dreary<\/p>\n
dark travel with constant danger<\/p>\n
he finds that the ring has been<\/p>\n
destroyed his mission is completed<\/p>\n
and as he wakes up everyone around him<\/p>\n
starts telling him what has happened he<\/p>\n
finds out that the dark lord sauron has<\/p>\n
fallen<\/p>\n
he finds that his friends have all made<\/p>\n
it to the kingdom<\/p>\n
and even finds that their guide and<\/p>\n
their friend gandalf has come back from<\/p>\n
the dead<\/p>\n
and then he asked this beautiful<\/p>\n
question<\/p>\n
he says is everything sad coming untrue<\/p>\n
and i think this is where we find<\/p>\n
ourselves in micah 4 right now<\/p>\n
after three chapters of judgment and<\/p>\n
doom god tenderly meets his people where<\/p>\n
they need<\/p>\n
and as we meditate on these first seven<\/p>\n
verses particularly these first seven<\/p>\n
verses of micah 4 god shows us a picture<\/p>\n
of what our world will look like when<\/p>\n
everything sad comes untrue<\/p>\n
and in verse 1 he takes us out of this<\/p>\n
present reality of distress<\/p>\n
that his people face<\/p>\n
out of this present reality of injustice<\/p>\n
and wickedness<\/p>\n
and into a truly glorious future<\/p>\n
and he says<\/p>\n
this phrase it shall come to pass<\/p>\n
in the latter days<\/p>\n
well more on the what these latter days<\/p>\n
are and what they mean later but i want<\/p>\n
you to just know that you are in them<\/p>\n
right now<\/p>\n
the prophets like micah spoke of these<\/p>\n
days and days yet to come and they<\/p>\n
longed for these days<\/p>\n
so just hold that in the back of your<\/p>\n
mind we are in the latter days<\/p>\n
and first of all i want us to look at<\/p>\n
this<\/p>\n
passage particularly the first five<\/p>\n
verses one through five and chapter four<\/p>\n
are tied directly<\/p>\n
chapter three 3 9-12.<\/p>\n
and it's important we see this because<\/p>\n
god through micah is contrasting<\/p>\n
himself<\/p>\n
to those wicked<\/p>\n
leaders that niran preached about a few<\/p>\n
weeks ago<\/p>\n
so notice just a few of these contrasts<\/p>\n
in 310 zion is a city built with blood<\/p>\n
and iniquity by the unjust leaders<\/p>\n
of<\/p>\n
in chapter 4 verse 2 zion is the<\/p>\n
dwelling place of the lord that<\/p>\n
overflows with justice and righteousness<\/p>\n
but he sees<\/p>\n
in 312 the mountain of zion<\/p>\n
is a heap of rubble it's diminished it's<\/p>\n
brought low<\/p>\n
because of the wicked rulers<\/p>\n
in 4 1 the mountain of the lord is<\/p>\n
established as the highest of all the<\/p>\n
mountains<\/p>\n
in chapter 3 verse 11 these wicked<\/p>\n
rulers they preach for personal gain<\/p>\n
they bribe<\/p>\n
knowledge<\/p>\n
wisdom<\/p>\n
justice<\/p>\n
they're freely given lovingly given by<\/p>\n
the lord himself<\/p>\n
and god wants you to see what he's doing<\/p>\n
here<\/p>\n
he is saying i am the only one who is<\/p>\n
righteous and faithful and able to rule<\/p>\n
you<\/p>\n
practice<\/p>\n
and in chapter 3 micah is showing us the<\/p>\n
fruits of when a society forgets and<\/p>\n
forsakes the lord<\/p>\n
and the beautiful thing is he sets this<\/p>\n
picture the wicked rulers right next to<\/p>\n
this picture of what it looks like when<\/p>\n
yahweh<\/p>\n
rules his people so he takes this<\/p>\n
picture what it looks like when wicked<\/p>\n
rulers rule and then he sets it right<\/p>\n
next to the very same picture of the<\/p>\n
very same city of when yahweh rules his<\/p>\n
people and have<\/p>\n
and out of this darkness and doom<\/p>\n
what do the latter days look like<\/p>\n
really it's it's the picture it's a<\/p>\n
picture of the world that we all long<\/p>\n
for ben<\/p>\n
ben party<\/p>\n
i'm not going to read it but i'm just<\/p>\n
going to go through it as nations the<\/p>\n
nations of the world living in peace<\/p>\n
flowing into the presence of god himself<\/p>\n
it's all the peoples of the world all<\/p>\n
the nations of the world<\/p>\n
learning wisdom from god the god who<\/p>\n
loves them<\/p>\n
so<\/p>\n
it's each of us living in peace<\/p>\n
no fear<\/p>\n
completely unthreatened by anything<\/p>\n
happy joyful for the first time healthy<\/p>\n
and it's a world where war is made<\/p>\n
obsolete and there is no more injustice<\/p>\n
now imagine with me and i can't imagine<\/p>\n
this what it would have been like to<\/p>\n
live under these wicked rulers and to<\/p>\n
hear micah 4.<\/p>\n
when all you see around you is darkness<\/p>\n
and gloom and injustice and you're just<\/p>\n
waiting for yahweh to act<\/p>\n
what a sweet<\/p>\n
life-giving word this must have been to<\/p>\n
those<\/p>\n
the remnant those faithful who are still<\/p>\n
waiting for god to act<\/p>\n
because all they saw was injustice all<\/p>\n
they saw was evil and it seemed that<\/p>\n
evil was winning<\/p>\n
are you ever weary because of sin<\/p>\n
whether it's your sin or whether it's<\/p>\n
the sin around you it's sent against you<\/p>\n
you in the middle of a pandemic in a<\/p>\n
crazy city like bangkok do you ever long<\/p>\n
for uninterrupted peace<\/p>\n
what micah is saying is look ahead<\/p>\n
look forward<\/p>\n
mikha<\/p>\n
maybe you've noticed<\/p>\n
that the the similarities between micah<\/p>\n
4 and revelation 21 and 22.<\/p>\n
and micah saw all of this stuff from a<\/p>\n
much greater distance than we do<\/p>\n
and he longed for this day<\/p>\n
but brother and sister jesus himself has<\/p>\n
given you access to this<\/p>\n
mountain<\/p>\n
next let's look at divine mission<\/p>\n
so often when we think of the word<\/p>\n
mission or missionary we think of people<\/p>\n
maybe we think of good people holy<\/p>\n
people hard working people maybe we<\/p>\n
don't<\/p>\n
make it<\/p>\n
sometimes we hear preachers say<\/p>\n
everybody's a missionary<\/p>\n
we hear sermons telling us to be salt<\/p>\n
and light urging us to share the gospel<\/p>\n
with our neighbors and friends<\/p>\n
and we have church campaigns that that<\/p>\n
urge us to reach the nations for christ<\/p>\n
yes but the overwhelming focus of micah<\/p>\n
4 is this<\/p>\n
god<\/p>\n
is the one who is active god is the one<\/p>\n
who accomplishes this vision that we<\/p>\n
just saw<\/p>\n
in the first seven verses<\/p>\n
in uh verse one it's yahweh himself that<\/p>\n
establishes zion and lifts it up<\/p>\n
higher than the other mountains<\/p>\n
it's god that makes zion mount zion the<\/p>\n
center of justice of power of worship<\/p>\n
and it's god that draws the nations up<\/p>\n
to the mountain to the presence of<\/p>\n
and we even hear echoes of this in jesus<\/p>\n
words that and i when i'm lifted up from<\/p>\n
the earth will draw all people to myself<\/p>\n
it's also god that teaches the nations<\/p>\n
and he judges the nations in verses two<\/p>\n
and three causing his ways to be known<\/p>\n
bringing peace bringing true peace and<\/p>\n
justice to the nations<\/p>\n
and then in verse 4 he verifies it the<\/p>\n
mouth of the lord has spoken<\/p>\n
so this word that we're just reading<\/p>\n
that we just walk through tells us that<\/p>\n
this vision that we're reading about<\/p>\n
isn't just a vision it's not just a hope<\/p>\n
it is an<\/p>\n
unbreakable promise and that god himself<\/p>\n
will accomplish it and has already<\/p>\n
started to accomplish this<\/p>\n
and so when we think of this mission in<\/p>\n
this passage we think of god himself<\/p>\n
this is god's mission<\/p>\n
but i do want us to see<\/p>\n
he uses us who god uses and how he uses<\/p>\n
them is important<\/p>\n
notice he talks about the nations<\/p>\n
particularly in verses one two and four<\/p>\n
and five all the peoples of the earth<\/p>\n
strong nations far away<\/p>\n
it looks more like grace city where you<\/p>\n
have chinese and american and australian<\/p>\n
and thai<\/p>\n
city<\/p>\n
from australia<\/p>\n
i want you to look at how he does this<\/p>\n
he draws them up he teaches them his<\/p>\n
ways<\/p>\n
and then what does he do<\/p>\n
it says for out of zion shall go forth<\/p>\n
the law and the word of the lord from<\/p>\n
jerusalem<\/p>\n
in other words he draws them up he<\/p>\n
teaches them and then he sends them back<\/p>\n
down<\/p>\n
taught by god on mission<\/p>\n
two<\/p>\n
and even the flavor of this verse is is<\/p>\n
that the nations are calling the nations<\/p>\n
to come up to yahweh<\/p>\n
like<\/p>\n
thank you<\/p>\n
i'm riffing a little bit she's doing a<\/p>\n
great job<\/p>\n
the second<\/p>\n
thing or the second group that god uses<\/p>\n
in this passage is the remnant<\/p>\n
so out of israel itself he takes the<\/p>\n
lame<\/p>\n
he takes the weak he takes the ones who<\/p>\n
have been cast off<\/p>\n
on<\/p>\n
the lame the weak<\/p>\n
the cast off<\/p>\n
to build his kingdom on earth<\/p>\n
this mission is god's eternal plan this<\/p>\n
is his eternal plan to bring cosmic<\/p>\n
restoration<\/p>\n
to draw all of the nations of the earth<\/p>\n
to himself<\/p>\n
below<\/p>\n
he uses<\/p>\n
the unclean nations<\/p>\n
to me this sounds like the one who is<\/p>\n
gentle and lowly who calls the weary and<\/p>\n
heavy laden<\/p>\n
brothers and sisters you and i are<\/p>\n
called we're invited to join<\/p>\n
the mission of yahweh himself<\/p>\n
the god who took on flesh<\/p>\n
the one who became weak in order to<\/p>\n
accomplish this mission that you and i<\/p>\n
never could accomplish<\/p>\n
you and i are actually invited to join<\/p>\n
to share in the victory that we see in<\/p>\n
verses one through seven we are invited<\/p>\n
to go up the mountain<\/p>\n
higher<\/p>\n
so we're going to look at the last part<\/p>\n
of this passage and we'll look at<\/p>\n
present suffering<\/p>\n
and we're not going to read it again but<\/p>\n
in verses 9 through 13 micah brings us<\/p>\n
back to the present<\/p>\n
remember in verses one through seven<\/p>\n
he's and and even a little bit of eight<\/p>\n
he's pointing us forward and he's saying<\/p>\n
look ahead look at what's coming<\/p>\n
he says there's glory coming and he said<\/p>\n
and he shows us what god is doing to<\/p>\n
accomplish his mission<\/p>\n
how she hates<\/p>\n
and after he strengthens them<\/p>\n
strengthens their hearts with this<\/p>\n
picture and strengthens us with this<\/p>\n
picture<\/p>\n
he brings us<\/p>\n
back to the present distress and tells<\/p>\n
them about the fire that they're going<\/p>\n
to have to pass through<\/p>\n
5 years ago<\/p>\n
he tells them they're going to face<\/p>\n
exile<\/p>\n
exposure to their enemies and opposition<\/p>\n
they're going to be cast out of their<\/p>\n
cities they're going to be cast out of<\/p>\n
their homes<\/p>\n
they're going to be a wandering people<\/p>\n
again they're going to be strangers in a<\/p>\n
strange land they're going to be exiled<\/p>\n
and even this remnant the faithful ones<\/p>\n
are going to walk through this fire<\/p>\n
israel<\/p>\n
but even in god's call to suffering even<\/p>\n
in his<\/p>\n
promise that there will be suffering<\/p>\n
he brings hope<\/p>\n
if we look at this passage we see it's<\/p>\n
it's at the point of all this suffering<\/p>\n
in exile<\/p>\n
that's where his mercy comes<\/p>\n
from<\/p>\n
verse 10 there you shall be rescued in<\/p>\n
babylon there you shall be rescued and<\/p>\n
there the lord will redeem you the very<\/p>\n
point of their suffering that's where<\/p>\n
they'll be rescued<\/p>\n
and all throughout this passage micah<\/p>\n
uses this image of a pregnant woman<\/p>\n
groaning writhing in pain which is a<\/p>\n
fitting picture<\/p>\n
but i have been present<\/p>\n
for the birth of both of my children<\/p>\n
and my wife is currently<\/p>\n
pregnant<\/p>\n
and i've seen the pain that comes i've<\/p>\n
seen the pain that is a part of that<\/p>\n
and from what i can tell it is truly<\/p>\n
horrible pain debilitating but<\/p>\n
debilitating<\/p>\n
and really<\/p>\n
in many places in scripture it's this<\/p>\n
image of a pregnant woman agonizing in<\/p>\n
labor that's used to talk about<\/p>\n
suffering in the kingdom<\/p>\n
of god<\/p>\n
the reason why<\/p>\n
is uh sleeping on the couch outside<\/p>\n
my little boy<\/p>\n
or my little girl right there that's the<\/p>\n
reason there is hope and there is<\/p>\n
promise of joy that comes in this kind<\/p>\n
of suffering<\/p>\n
no wonder this imagery is used to talk<\/p>\n
about the suffering in the kingdom the<\/p>\n
suffering of a believer<\/p>\n
even micah's warning of suffering even<\/p>\n
his promise that you will suffer<\/p>\n
is<\/p>\n
full of hope<\/p>\n
but even so as i was reading this<\/p>\n
passage i kept thinking<\/p>\n
can we just go back to the mountain<\/p>\n
can we just get back to the mountain<\/p>\n
that's where i want to be<\/p>\n
done<\/p>\n
the answer is no<\/p>\n
absolutely not no<\/p>\n
not yet<\/p>\n
not without going through the present<\/p>\n
distress not without going<\/p>\n
through the suffering<\/p>\n
at the end of this passage he uses a<\/p>\n
funny picture a kind of a strange way of<\/p>\n
saying it god intends to judge or thresh<\/p>\n
the nations<\/p>\n
and he intends us to be a part of that<\/p>\n
they don't know the plan of the lord<\/p>\n
they don't know the god of psalm 2 who<\/p>\n
laughs at opposition<\/p>\n
they don't see the vision of christ on<\/p>\n
the white horse coming to judge them<\/p>\n
and part of the means of that threshing<\/p>\n
part of the means of that judgment<\/p>\n
is you and i<\/p>\n
and that sounds strange it sounds a<\/p>\n
little harsh so how does that happen<\/p>\n
in our gospel<\/p>\n
speaking<\/p>\n
in our good deeds and our sharing of our<\/p>\n
stuff and our living justly and humbly<\/p>\n
in our living counter-cultural<\/p>\n
god-centered god-loving lives in the<\/p>\n
midst of<\/p>\n
hard times<\/p>\n
the world is confronted with something<\/p>\n
they don't understand<\/p>\n
how<\/p>\n
when he says rise up o daughter of zion<\/p>\n
and thresh<\/p>\n
that's what he means this threshing is<\/p>\n
living where we shine light into<\/p>\n
darkness<\/p>\n
and either the world responds<\/p>\n
with repentance<\/p>\n
or rejection<\/p>\n
they look at the topic<\/p>\n
and lastly suffering is the way to the<\/p>\n
if you think about it there was a<\/p>\n
mountain of the lord in the old<\/p>\n
testament<\/p>\n
the old testament saints the people of<\/p>\n
israel could not touch or approach the<\/p>\n
in fact even their beasts even their<\/p>\n
cows couldn't touch the mountain<\/p>\n
only moses himself had access to the<\/p>\n
mountain and even he couldn't even look<\/p>\n
into the face of god<\/p>\n
micah 4 1-7 would have been a dream come<\/p>\n
true<\/p>\n
it would have been a dream come true to<\/p>\n
the people who hear this because they<\/p>\n
see<\/p>\n
we can go up to the mountain of the lord<\/p>\n
we can touch the mountain<\/p>\n
how though how did they be how could<\/p>\n
they gain access to the mountain<\/p>\n
jesus<\/p>\n
suffered was abandoned was made lame and<\/p>\n
weak was cast off was afflicted and<\/p>\n
exposed to his enemies on our behalf<\/p>\n
and he did that so that we could gain<\/p>\n
access to the mountain of the lord<\/p>\n
because he suffered the nations can flow<\/p>\n
up the mountain of the lord prophet<\/p>\n
because he suffered injustice we are<\/p>\n
made just and holy before god himself<\/p>\n
and because he was defiled<\/p>\n
we can receive the coming glory that<\/p>\n
micah foretold that<\/p>\n
boon<\/p>\n
thank you that you have opened a way<\/p>\n
up the mountain<\/p>\n
thank you that as we read this as we<\/p>\n
look to to what micah only saw dimly<\/p>\n
thank you that as we look at revelation<\/p>\n
21 and 22 as we look at the scope of<\/p>\n
scripture we see that the way has been<\/p>\n
opened and all<\/p>\n
of the sad things<\/p>\n
are coming untrue<\/p>\n
it's not just a promise that might<\/p>\n
happen but it's a promise that has<\/p>\n
already started happening lord we praise<\/p>\n
you that we live in these latter days<\/p>\n
and we pray that you would build our<\/p>\n
faith and encourage our hearts to look<\/p>\n
to you<\/p>\n
to look to the mountain<\/p>\n
we ask all this in your name amen<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20211027","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UxfgwKVXGow","video_id":"UxfgwKVXGow","video_duration":"38:40","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}