today we're continuing our series in the<\/p>\n
book of micah which so far has been<\/p>\n
filled with judgment<\/p>\n
sinclair<\/p>\n
as you remember last week<\/p>\n
chapter 2 was also about judgment and<\/p>\n
presuming on god's grace<\/p>\n
well guess what<\/p>\n
chapter 3 is also on judgment and it<\/p>\n
might be at this point where we start<\/p>\n
feeling like the old testament is very<\/p>\n
hard to read<\/p>\n
which is true at points<\/p>\n
on<\/p>\n
but just like a physician knows what the<\/p>\n
patient needs to be healthy<\/p>\n
god knows what we need better than we<\/p>\n
ourselves do and so we want to go<\/p>\n
through the entire word of god because<\/p>\n
the bible is wiser than we are and we<\/p>\n
want to filter our life through the<\/p>\n
bible's wisdom and we also believe that<\/p>\n
the bible is god's primary way of<\/p>\n
talking to us today<\/p>\n
so that being said let's not turn to<\/p>\n
micah3<\/p>\n
that was going to read it in thai and<\/p>\n
both languages will be on the screen<\/p>\n
[Music]<\/p>\n
foreign<\/p>\n
so<\/p>\n
this chapter as we've just read<\/p>\n
it's not one that makes us feel good on<\/p>\n
the inside<\/p>\n
it's shocking and it would have been<\/p>\n
shocking to the hearers of that time<\/p>\n
judgment and condemnation are being<\/p>\n
proclaimed god is going to hide his face<\/p>\n
and turn away from israel and jerusalem<\/p>\n
is going to be destroyed<\/p>\n
god's great city is going to become a<\/p>\n
heap of rubble<\/p>\n
the question is what could have happened<\/p>\n
to bring such a strong response<\/p>\n
what would cause god to bring about such<\/p>\n
judgment and possible destruction over<\/p>\n
his own city<\/p>\n
over the past few weeks we've looked at<\/p>\n
the theme of justice and here is a<\/p>\n
perfect example about what god thinks<\/p>\n
about injustice<\/p>\n
this chapter shows us in great detail<\/p>\n
what god's standards are for justice<\/p>\n
as well as what god thinks about<\/p>\n
injustice<\/p>\n
it shows us the problem<\/p>\n
of injustice and exploitation it shows<\/p>\n
us the source of exploitation and then<\/p>\n
it shows us the solution as well<\/p>\n
so verse one verse one shows us that<\/p>\n
micah is addressing the leaders and<\/p>\n
rulers of israel for neglecting justice<\/p>\n
he says should you not embrace justice<\/p>\n
you who hate good and love evil<\/p>\n
the leaders of israel are exploiting and<\/p>\n
taking advantage of their own people<\/p>\n
they failed to maintain the standards of<\/p>\n
right and wrong<\/p>\n
israel<\/p>\n
for how<\/p>\n
in fact they've reversed it the very<\/p>\n
ones who are supposed to be upholding<\/p>\n
justice and protecting their people are<\/p>\n
the very ones who are committing robbery<\/p>\n
in the worst way possible<\/p>\n
verse 3 micah says you tear the skin<\/p>\n
from my people and eat my people's flesh<\/p>\n
strip off their skin break their bones<\/p>\n
into pieces chop them up like meat for<\/p>\n
the pan and flesh for the pot this is<\/p>\n
very strong language he's saying the<\/p>\n
leaders of israel are eating their own<\/p>\n
people<\/p>\n
in the bible the image of eating flesh<\/p>\n
is often used to describe oppression and<\/p>\n
that's the case here<\/p>\n
the courts of justice were run by<\/p>\n
officials who impoverish their own<\/p>\n
community and deprive the people of<\/p>\n
their legal rights<\/p>\n
like butchers who skin and bone<\/p>\n
carcasses the government leaders prey on<\/p>\n
their own people economically judicially<\/p>\n
socially morally<\/p>\n
but the leaders are not alone micah goes<\/p>\n
after the religious leaders too the<\/p>\n
prophets whose duty it is to connect the<\/p>\n
people to god to speak god's word to the<\/p>\n
they are the ones who are leading them<\/p>\n
astray verse 5.<\/p>\n
they proclaim good news to those who pay<\/p>\n
them but to those who don't they wage<\/p>\n
war against them in other words<\/p>\n
their behavior depends on what they can<\/p>\n
get out of it<\/p>\n
cause<\/p>\n
the officials who are responsible for<\/p>\n
upholding justice are the ones who judge<\/p>\n
for a bribe verse 11 the priests who are<\/p>\n
supposed to teach do so for a price and<\/p>\n
those who are supposed to speak god's<\/p>\n
word tell fortunes for money and the<\/p>\n
king has allowed all of this to happen<\/p>\n
under his rule<\/p>\n
i'm sure we don't have to look very far<\/p>\n
to see this is still the case today<\/p>\n
injustice and exploitation are rampant<\/p>\n
everywhere we see it in our own country<\/p>\n
and in our neighboring countries<\/p>\n
the problem that israel experienced then<\/p>\n
still exists today<\/p>\n
so israel's leaders have failed them<\/p>\n
and now we turn to the source of<\/p>\n
injustice and exploitation<\/p>\n
so verse 5 shows us that the motivations<\/p>\n
of the prophets are self-centered<\/p>\n
they proclaim peace if they have<\/p>\n
something to eat but wage war against<\/p>\n
anyone who refuses to feed them<\/p>\n
they're seeking their own personal gain<\/p>\n
their actions of injustice and<\/p>\n
exploitation come from their posture of<\/p>\n
selfishness and self-centeredness<\/p>\n
and what's more verse 11 tells us that<\/p>\n
they're looking for god's support they<\/p>\n
think that god is on their side while<\/p>\n
they break the very laws that he put<\/p>\n
into place<\/p>\n
like ajahnati said last week they're<\/p>\n
presuming god's grace presuming his<\/p>\n
approval<\/p>\n
is<\/p>\n
in other words they don't really care<\/p>\n
about what god thinks rather they're<\/p>\n
manipulating god for their own gain<\/p>\n
they're motivated by their own<\/p>\n
selfishness which is just another way of<\/p>\n
saying that they do not trust god<\/p>\n
they're using their own people and even<\/p>\n
using god for their own sake<\/p>\n
and martin luther a theologian during<\/p>\n
the 1500s in his lectures on romans he<\/p>\n
says<\/p>\n
human nature is so deeply curved in on<\/p>\n
itself that it wickedly curvedly and<\/p>\n
viciously seeks to use all things even<\/p>\n
god for its own sake<\/p>\n
martin luther<\/p>\n
we can easily see that being the case in<\/p>\n
our text for today micah tells us that<\/p>\n
it is these leaders are exceptionally<\/p>\n
cruel and they're motivated out of a<\/p>\n
concern for themselves<\/p>\n
and we may think that us normal people<\/p>\n
would never do anything like that we<\/p>\n
would never allow such injustice to<\/p>\n
happen we would never eat the flesh of<\/p>\n
those who it's<\/p>\n
we aren't self-centered in that way but<\/p>\n
the essence of self-centeredness<\/p>\n
is not just the leaders being cruel and<\/p>\n
bad<\/p>\n
martin luther says that it pervades<\/p>\n
everything because it makes you use<\/p>\n
everything<\/p>\n
throughout history we've seen tyrants<\/p>\n
you and we can call them self-centered<\/p>\n
because they're doing things bad things<\/p>\n
for their own gain<\/p>\n
neighborhoods<\/p>\n
we can conclude self-centeredness is the<\/p>\n
motivation for being bad for doing bad<\/p>\n
things<\/p>\n
but self-centeredness is also the<\/p>\n
motivation for being good<\/p>\n
for being moral for being nice for<\/p>\n
giving your money away there's no better<\/p>\n
way to get control of other people than<\/p>\n
by being nice and moral there's no<\/p>\n
better way to get everybody to do what<\/p>\n
you want than by being self sacrificing<\/p>\n
and loving<\/p>\n
deep down inside what we're doing when<\/p>\n
we're helping people when we're helping<\/p>\n
people we're actually using them<\/p>\n
we're not completely doing it for their<\/p>\n
sake we're doing it for our sake and<\/p>\n
this is what luther is saying<\/p>\n
to go even further religion in general<\/p>\n
is fueled by self-centeredness<\/p>\n
so generally how it works is i obey<\/p>\n
scripture i go to church i pray to god i<\/p>\n
help the poor see i help the poor<\/p>\n
and i expect results i expect answers to<\/p>\n
prayer and blessings in my life<\/p>\n
and when our prayers aren't answered<\/p>\n
when life falls about apart we may find<\/p>\n
ourselves saying i'm praying i'm reading<\/p>\n
my bible<\/p>\n
but life is falling apart what use is it<\/p>\n
to be a christian<\/p>\n
what use is it to be a christian<\/p>\n
if god never answers my prayers<\/p>\n
you see what may look like love for god<\/p>\n
and god's people on the outside may just<\/p>\n
be self-centeredness on the inside<\/p>\n
if we say to god i'll obey you if you<\/p>\n
give me this or if you fix my marriage<\/p>\n
or my financial problems i'll obey you<\/p>\n
if you give me this or that<\/p>\n
what is on the other side of that if is<\/p>\n
our real god and the god that we're<\/p>\n
supposedly obeying we're actually using<\/p>\n
him to get what we want<\/p>\n
to<\/p>\n
but if you truly love someone why do you<\/p>\n
do the things they want you do it just<\/p>\n
to see the smile on their face that's a<\/p>\n
reward all by itself that's love but ha<\/p>\n
ha<\/p>\n
but paul in romans 3 says nobody loves<\/p>\n
god for who god is nobody obeys god out<\/p>\n
of love we all use god to get what we<\/p>\n
want because we believe that what we<\/p>\n
want will make us okay will make us<\/p>\n
whole will fix us<\/p>\n
and if we use god and other people to<\/p>\n
get what we want we're no different to<\/p>\n
these leaders that micah is talking to<\/p>\n
us<\/p>\n
the selfishness of the heart obstructs<\/p>\n
true justice<\/p>\n
because just like the leaders are<\/p>\n
exploiting and taking advantage of their<\/p>\n
people and god to get what they want<\/p>\n
we're doing the very same thing<\/p>\n
but it just looks different because on<\/p>\n
the outside we may look better than<\/p>\n
these leaders we're not killing anyone<\/p>\n
we're not we're not obstructing justice<\/p>\n
but on the inside our motives are the<\/p>\n
same<\/p>\n
thing<\/p>\n
that's right<\/p>\n
and that's contradictory to justice<\/p>\n
because it's contradictory to god's<\/p>\n
character who is the source of justice<\/p>\n
the only way we can truly seek justice<\/p>\n
and righteousness is if we do so out of<\/p>\n
a genuine concern for the others<\/p>\n
so we're left with israel who god<\/p>\n
intended to be a light to the rest of<\/p>\n
the world<\/p>\n
being the furthest thing away from it<\/p>\n
israel who was meant to be an example of<\/p>\n
god's righteousness and justice to the<\/p>\n
rest of the world<\/p>\n
is not a good example<\/p>\n
but the very worst example is<\/p>\n
and because of their exploitation<\/p>\n
because they've ignored god's justice<\/p>\n
and righteousness because they have not<\/p>\n
cared about god's word but have used god<\/p>\n
to get what they want as we see in<\/p>\n
verses 4 and 7<\/p>\n
god is going to cut himself off from<\/p>\n
from<\/p>\n
because of their self-centeredness<\/p>\n
because they've silenced god going as<\/p>\n
god is going to be silent to them<\/p>\n
they're going to cry out to god and he<\/p>\n
will not answer them<\/p>\n
because of the evil that they've done<\/p>\n
that's completely fair and just right if<\/p>\n
god if because they've refused to hear<\/p>\n
god god's going to refuse to hear them<\/p>\n
exploitation the entire city is going to<\/p>\n
become a heap of rubble the city is<\/p>\n
going to be crushed the end of micah's<\/p>\n
pronouncement is judgment and<\/p>\n
destruction and alienation from god<\/p>\n
and if we're in that same boat because<\/p>\n
of our own self-centeredness we deserve<\/p>\n
the very same treatment if we've turned<\/p>\n
away from god then what we deserve is<\/p>\n
forgot to turn away from us<\/p>\n
i'm sure that's happened to us in our<\/p>\n
relationships if someone ignores you<\/p>\n
what do you do<\/p>\n
okay you ignore me fine i'll ignore you<\/p>\n
too<\/p>\n
see<\/p>\n
someone ignores us so we choose to<\/p>\n
ignore them because it feels very just<\/p>\n
right<\/p>\n
as we come to the end of this chapter<\/p>\n
the question is<\/p>\n
has god failed<\/p>\n
how is god going to keep his promises of<\/p>\n
establishing righteousness and justice<\/p>\n
when the leaders of his own people<\/p>\n
the prophets the priests<\/p>\n
the judges the king when all of them<\/p>\n
have failed<\/p>\n
so jeremiah 26 18 and 19 tell us that<\/p>\n
when micah preached this and said the<\/p>\n
words in verse 12<\/p>\n
there was repentance and there was a<\/p>\n
revival<\/p>\n
of<\/p>\n
jeremiah is quoting micah 3 12 in the<\/p>\n
highlighted verses that's what it says<\/p>\n
in micah and what happened is<\/p>\n
king hezekiah repented after micah<\/p>\n
brought this judgment he sought god<\/p>\n
again<\/p>\n
and god did not bring<\/p>\n
the disaster that he promised he delayed<\/p>\n
it<\/p>\n
preaching of judgment worked israel<\/p>\n
repented micah coming to the leaders and<\/p>\n
preaching judgment was actually a sign<\/p>\n
of god's mercy<\/p>\n
god did not have to tell israel their<\/p>\n
sin god could have just destroyed them<\/p>\n
and that shows us that through micah god<\/p>\n
was trying to get israel to see her sin<\/p>\n
and wickedness so that israel could wake<\/p>\n
up repent and become liberated through<\/p>\n
micah god was trying to wake israel up<\/p>\n
here<\/p>\n
if judgment was the end of the story<\/p>\n
there would be no hope only death and<\/p>\n
destruction<\/p>\n
as this chapter shows us<\/p>\n
but the whole bible shows us the lengths<\/p>\n
that god would go<\/p>\n
to seek us in love and to come near and<\/p>\n
we know that he does so in jesus christ<\/p>\n
jesus christ reverses all the failures<\/p>\n
of israel's leaders the leaders<\/p>\n
exploited and oppressed their people but<\/p>\n
jesus has come to save and liberate his<\/p>\n
the leaders hated good and loved evil<\/p>\n
they didn't care about justice or<\/p>\n
righteousness but hebrews 1 tells us<\/p>\n
that jesus christ will rule his kingdom<\/p>\n
with a skepter of justice that in<\/p>\n
contrast to the leaders who loved evil<\/p>\n
and hated righteousness jesus loves<\/p>\n
righteousness and hates wickedness<\/p>\n
the leaders in the prophets who were<\/p>\n
supposed to declare god's word ended up<\/p>\n
telling fortunes for money out of<\/p>\n
self-centeredness but jesus the true<\/p>\n
prophet the true priest the true king<\/p>\n
was completely selfless and obedient to<\/p>\n
god<\/p>\n
who named<\/p>\n
jesus christ is the leader that we're<\/p>\n
all searching for he is the answer to<\/p>\n
our self-centeredness he is the only<\/p>\n
king who will never fail his people<\/p>\n
how do we know that jesus will never<\/p>\n
fail his people<\/p>\n
because unlike the leaders who exploited<\/p>\n
and took advantage of their own people<\/p>\n
for their personal gain jesus lays down<\/p>\n
his own life foreign<\/p>\n
and he did so not out of<\/p>\n
self-centeredness but selflessness<\/p>\n
because when jesus was in the garden the<\/p>\n
night before his crucifixion he was<\/p>\n
sweating blood and agony and knowing<\/p>\n
that he was on his way to die he prayed<\/p>\n
not my will but yours be done<\/p>\n
he was not looking to himself he was<\/p>\n
looking to god and they both knew that<\/p>\n
this was the only way to save us<\/p>\n
the judgment micah spoke of of god<\/p>\n
turning his face away from israel<\/p>\n
because of the evil they'd done<\/p>\n
well that actually happened<\/p>\n
come<\/p>\n
it happened in 586 bc<\/p>\n
when the babylonians<\/p>\n
exiled israel and jerusalem was crushed<\/p>\n
but that wasn't the only time jerusalem<\/p>\n
was crushed it was crushed again in 1870<\/p>\n
but that wasn't the only time that it<\/p>\n
would be crushed<\/p>\n
the real forsaking and the real rescue<\/p>\n
happened on the cross<\/p>\n
when jesus was on the cross matthew<\/p>\n
tells us that he cried out my god my god<\/p>\n
why have you forsaken me and there was<\/p>\n
nothing<\/p>\n
wrong<\/p>\n
with<\/p>\n
jesus the true israel cried out to god<\/p>\n
god did not hear him<\/p>\n
on the cross and god hid his face from<\/p>\n
jesus jesus experienced god's silence<\/p>\n
prayer is our lt<\/p>\n
on the cross what happened the father<\/p>\n
turned his face away we're going to sing<\/p>\n
that later<\/p>\n
not only that jesus the true israel was<\/p>\n
also crushed the consequences that were<\/p>\n
rightly meant for us because of our<\/p>\n
self-centeredness because we use god and<\/p>\n
we use people to get what we want he<\/p>\n
took that punishment for us<\/p>\n
for you and he did it out of love<\/p>\n
on the cross treated jesus as we<\/p>\n
deserved but that means that god can now<\/p>\n
treat us as jesus deserves<\/p>\n
power<\/p>\n
god gives us his righteousness and now<\/p>\n
we are god's precious possession<\/p>\n
it says in first peter 2 we are god's<\/p>\n
treasured possession which means that<\/p>\n
god looks at us and says in jesus christ<\/p>\n
you are more precious than all the<\/p>\n
jewels on the earth<\/p>\n
this fills the hole in our hearts that<\/p>\n
we're trying to fill with our<\/p>\n
self-centeredness<\/p>\n
do you believe that do you believe that<\/p>\n
in your head do you believe that in your<\/p>\n
heart<\/p>\n
not only that three days later jesus<\/p>\n
rose from the grave<\/p>\n
hebrews 1 tells us that after providing<\/p>\n
purification for sins jesus sits down at<\/p>\n
the right hand of god<\/p>\n
jesus the true leader is alive and he's<\/p>\n
ruling with justice<\/p>\n
when we trust god's love when we behold<\/p>\n
the glory of jesus christ the better<\/p>\n
leader and the true king dying on the<\/p>\n
cross for us<\/p>\n
it will free us from our<\/p>\n
self-centeredness it fills the hole in<\/p>\n
our hearts that we're seeking to fill<\/p>\n
with other things<\/p>\n
in jesus christ we find true contentment<\/p>\n
and peace<\/p>\n
and it's only then that we truly will be<\/p>\n
able to have genuine concern for our<\/p>\n
neighbors and truly seek righteousness<\/p>\n
and justice<\/p>\n
our father we thank you for your word<\/p>\n
today we pray lord god that you would<\/p>\n
help us<\/p>\n
through your spirit<\/p>\n
to see our emptiness and our<\/p>\n
would you help us god to see our need<\/p>\n
for you and then help us to experience<\/p>\n
and to believe and to hold in our hearts<\/p>\n
this truth<\/p>\n
father we pray that you would help us to<\/p>\n
look at jesus the one who is righteous<\/p>\n
and just<\/p>\n
would you give us the same mindset that<\/p>\n
jesus christ has<\/p>\n
help us to rejoice in what your son has<\/p>\n
done for us and allow us<\/p>\n
through the power of your holy spirit<\/p>\n
to live as citizens of your kingdom in<\/p>\n
jesus name amen<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20211026","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fhcJmh4aQrU","video_id":"fhcJmh4aQrU","video_duration":"37:07","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937","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=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":938,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions\/938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}