Immanuel Sermon Audio
Micah (33:66)
All right, Book of Micah, if you have a Bible you can find it, if you don't know where to find it, look it up in the table of contents, we're in the Minor Prophets and we're just taking one Book of the Bible each week, the series is called 66, and so tonight we're on Micah, if you need an outline, here's the last one, oh, two more, one more, anybody else need one, got a few back there, here you go, pass that one backwards. Tonight we're on number 33, so we are, tonight we'll be halfway through when we finish the Book of Micah. You remember if you've been here, we've been in the Minor Prophets for a little while, they're not minor because they're less important than the Major Prophets, they're minor because their books are just shorter, when the Holy Spirit inspired them to write, he just did not inspire as many words and that was his decision, and so some time between the end of the Old Testament, last book of the Bible is Malachi, and then somewhere between the birth of Jesus and about that 400 year period, the Jewish people took these 12 prophets and they just compiled them all into one book and they call it the 12, and that's an interesting book because the 12, 12 different guys wrote these books, different audiences, different situations, and the timeline of those 12 books covers over 400 years itself, and so in our Bible they're split up, in the Jewish canon they're all combined, but tonight we come to Micah after Jonah and before Nahum. One of the things I've showed you each week when we look at the Minor Prophets is just sort of a breakdown of what some of these, how these prophets fall, so let's see that next slide. Here we go. Hosea and Amos and Micah and Jonah, these guys are all contemporaries, they're all preaching and writing about the same time, and that is before the fall of Samaria, okay? Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, and so before Assyria came and conquered Israel in the north, these guys are preaching, and we're going to talk about the fall of Samaria tonight, that's going to be an important part of Micah and his ministry. Then comes Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, these guys are after the northern kingdom falls, but before Jerusalem is conquered by Babylon, and then the next group is Joel and Obadiah after the fall of Jerusalem, and then the post-exilic prophets Hagai, Zechariah, Malachi, after the exile, as people are coming back and they're rebuilding the temple and rebuilding Jerusalem, things like that. So if you're looking at the story of the history of Israel, we try to do this every night as we're going through Old Testament books, there's a timeline, go to the next slide real quick and then we'll come back to that. Conquest, then the judges, then the monarchy, then the division, that's the division of the kingdom into the northern kingdom of Israel, southern kingdom of Judah, during the period of rebellion, that's when Micah falls and then the people get sent into exile and then God brings them back in return. Go back one and we'll look at that timeline just so you can sort of see where they fall there and just maybe make a mental note of that that we're looking at Micah and he's in the black way over there on the left and we're going to talk specifically about that first little red hash mark, Israel goes into exile and then we're going to talk a little bit later about Judah going into exile and then the return from exile so you can sort of see Micah as before all of those things before they happen. When Micah was preaching, he knew that the northern kingdom of Israel was about to fall but he also knew that Judah was next and in his mind he didn't know exactly when that was going to happen for Israel or for Judah but he knew that those two things were coming and that's a big part of his ministry. So what do we know about Micah, a couple of simple things. Micah means who is like the Lord and the obvious answer to that question or the biblical answer to that question is no one. No one is like the Lord. He's the only God. He's the one true God. He's the only Creator. He's the only Savior. So Micah's name means who is like the Lord. If you look at chapter one verse one, he prophesied under King Jotham, A has and Hezekiah and He spoke to Jerusalem and then in parentheses we'll add Samaria. And so you can fill that in and then just look with me at Micah chapter one verse one. The word of the Lord which came to Micah, a more chef in the days of Jotham, A has and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So he dates his ministry saying sort of identifying with these kings of Judah and that tells you he's mostly concerned with Judah in the south. And then he goes on to say which he saw, this is the word of the Lord, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. So mostly he's focusing on these kings of Judah and what he's preaching and sharing with the folks in the southern kingdom. But he's also talking to Samaria in Jerusalem. That means northern kingdom and southern kingdom. So both are in his mind but his focus is on Jerusalem and the southern kingdom. Thirdly, just something about Micah is that the setting of the book is that he's seeing all this societal breakdown, he's seeing family breakdown and then even in the midst of all this negativity, all these wicked things that he's observing, he still had hope. Still had hope. Just read this very quickly, Micah 7, beginning in verse 1, Micah 7 1, he says, "Woe is me, for I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned, there is no cluster to eat, no first ripe fig that my soul desires. The godly has perished from the earth. There is no one upright among mankind. They all lie and wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what is evil to do it well. The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul. Thus they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright of them, a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman of your punishment has come, now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a neighbor, have no confidence in a friend, guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. For the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies or the men of his own house. So if you just back up to verse 1, he's talked about there's no more godly people. He talks about princes and judges are corrupt. He talks about the great men, the important people are evil in their heart. The best of them are not even very good, verse 4. Verse 5, your neighbor's a jerk, verse 6, your parents are terrible, your kids are terrible, your friends are terrible, verse 5. Everybody's corrupt, because everything is just sort of broken down. Verse 7, but as for me, I will look to the Lord and I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me. That's a good verse to remember, verse 7, because sometimes if you're like me, you like to watch the news and there's not a lot of good on the news and you just start watching and it's one sort of depressing story after the other and eventually you just think, "Ah, the great men, the judge and the rich guy in the neighbor and the parents and the kids and everything's just fallen apart." And Micah says, "Yeah, I was like that when I was around thousands and thousands of years ago. There's nothing new under the sun. Don't be discouraged in that." He says, "I will look to the Lord and I will wait for the God of my salvation, my God will hear me." So even in the midst of all that nonsense he had hope. Here's something important about Micah. He was different than all of the other minor prophets and he's different in the sense that the people listened to his warning of judgment and they repented and God held off destruction for a hundred years. Now, if you were here last week you could say, "Well, they listened to Jonah." You may argue that, but if you were here last week you also know that Jonah didn't tell anybody to repent, did he? He just went to town and said, "God's going to blow you up." And they repented on their own, hoping with their fingers crossed that maybe God would spare them. Micah is unique in that he goes and he tells the people to repent and the people actually listened to his warning. They turn from their wicked ways and God graciously, who had disaster and judgment right on their doorstep as we're about to see, he relented from that and he pulled back from it and he waited a hundred years and it's easy on a Wednesday night when you're filling in little blanks on the sheet to fill in a blank on a line that says, "God held off destruction for a hundred years." That's a long time, a hundred years and what we're about to talk about, destruction came all the way up to their doorstep. I mean it was right there, God was ready to execute it. They repented and with this one act of repentance God gives them another century and what do they do with that century? Mostly they sin. Then it was not like a hundred year long revival of just every day with Jesus was better than the last in Judah. It was this repentance and the people turned and God held off the judgment and then pretty quick they went right back into rebellion. So hold your spot in Micah and I just want you to see this in the book of 2 Kings and I want you to go to 2 Kings 17. I'm about to show you something that I think is pretty cool about Micah. I hope that you think it's cool but I'm going to warn you, you're kind of going to have to think. You're going to have to put your thinking cap on and I'm going to try my best to make it clear about the point I'm trying to make but you're going to kind of have to follow along and use your brain a little bit to get to the point that I want you to see. In the King 17 we're thinking about Micah. Look at 2 Kings 17.6 it says in the ninth year of Hosea the king of Assyria captured Samaria and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and he placed them in halah and on the Haber the river of Gosan and in the cities of the Medes. So this is describing and you can read before it and after it the nation of Assyria comes marching against the northern kingdom of Israel and conquers them. Takes Samaria the capital city overruns the city and sends those people into exile. This is the northern kingdom of Israel. Now look at 2 Kings 18 in verse 13 because what happened is that same army that takes the northern kingdom of Israel just marches right down south to Judah. They're on a roll. They just took the Jews up in the north and the king is thinking well why not take the Jews down in the south. We took the bigger kingdom the northern kingdom Samaria why not just go and finish them off down in the south. And so he marches down there to Jerusalem and look at 2 Kings 18 verse 13. In the 14th year of King Hezekiah and you just file that name away 14th year of King Hezekiah, snacker of king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and he took them. So he's marching and he's taking these cities. He's not to Jerusalem yet but he's just sort of chopping away one city at a time marching towards the gates. Look at 2 Kings 19 verse 19 Hezekiah for the most part is a good king and so he does what a good king does in this situation and he prays and he asked God to help him. So look at 2 Kings 19-19. This is the end of his prayer. He says so now O Lord our God save us please from his hand and all excuse me that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you O Lord our God alone. In other words that king they just took our cousins up north and now they're marching on us and this is massive army. People are terrified there's no way they can defend themselves and Hezekiah just basically says God we need you to save us. Not because we're really great people but we want you to save us so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you are God. Listen to that prayer look at verse 20 the very next verse Isaiah the son of Amaz that's Isaiah the prophet the major prophet Isaiah the son of Amaz sent to Hezekiah saying thus says the Lord the God of Israel your prayer to me about sinecker king of Assyria I have heard I'm going to do it you prayed and asked me to save you and God says to Isaiah go to Hezekiah the prophet goes to the king and he says God has heard you and look at this verse 2nd Kings 19 verse 35 that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians you'd love to know some more details right you don't get any just 185,000 dead overnight and the king puts his tail between his legs and marches right back off okay and it's because Isaiah in this moment of crisis turns and he prays and he asks God to help him and he saves him and so you read this nice story in 2nd Kings and you say this is just wonderful right the people turn to God and he saves them he delivers them fantastic we read about Hezekiah leading the people in this prayer we read about Isaiah being sent to the king also in this same mix is Micah but he's never mentioned in 2nd Kings never mentioned he's around he's speaking he's preaching he's warning people he's calling them to repent on and on and on he's never mentioned in this story okay now flip to the book of Jeremiah this is where it gets interesting Jeremiah chapter 26 and we're going to read a little stretch here Jeremiah 26 we're going to begin in verse 1 you realize with Jeremiah we have fast forwarded that's a word fast forwarded fast forwarded I don't know we've moved ahead several centuries okay Israel is already gone taken into exile we read about that in Kings and we just read in Kings how God saved Jerusalem Judah but when you get to Jeremiah that day is passed in Jerusalem is just about ready to topple and go so this patience that God showed them has now run out and Jeremiah is preaching to people in Jerusalem he's warning them so look at Jeremiah 26-1 in the beginning of the reign of Jehoi came the son of Josiah king of Judah this word came from the Lord thus says the Lord talking to Jeremiah stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them do not hold back a word it may be that they will listen and everyone turn from his evil way that I may relent to the disaster I intend to do them because of their evil deeds you shall say to them thus says the Lord if you will not listen to me to walk in my law that I've said before you and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I sent to you urgently though you have not listened and I'm going to make this house like Shiloh and I'll make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth translation Jeremiah goes to the people and says if you don't knock it off and repent God's going to just wipe you off you're gone verse 7 the priests the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord and when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people then the priest the prophets and all the people laid hold of him saying you shall die interesting why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house shall be like Shiloh this city shall be desolate without inhabitant and all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord that's an interesting scene right in the temple area he's preaching you better repent or God's going to kill you and they say you know what we don't like what you're preaching we're going to kill you and this mob gathers around him verse 10 the officials of Judah heard these things they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord they took their seat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord the priests the prophets the officials and all the people this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears so basically they're accusing him of treason right you're turning against your people in your nation why would you say something like that Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and the people saying the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house in the city and all the words you've heard now therefore men your ways in your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will relent to the disaster that he has pronounced against you but as for me behold I'm in your hands do with me as seems good and right to you only know for certain that if you put me to death you'll bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets this man does not deserve the sentence of death something changed does not deserve the sentence of death for he's spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God and certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people saying this is what's interesting this is hundreds of years after what we read in kings okay mica is long dead Isaiah is long dead Hezekiah is long dead verse 18 some of the elders spoke mica of more chef prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and he said to all the people of Judah thus says the Lord of hosts Zion shall be plowed as a field Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins in the mountain of the house a wooded height did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that was pronounced against them we just read about that he relented he went out and killed 185,000 Assyrians who were about to wipe him out and according to Jeremiah he did that because they listened not to Isaiah not to Hezekiah because they listened to mica mica was the one preaching they listened they didn't put him to death they feared the Lord and treated his favor and the Lord relented but we're about to bring great disaster on ourselves and Jeremiah basically lives to see another day because somebody remembers hey remember when there was that guy mica telling everybody to repent or God was going to destroy him well that's the same guy that's the same thing Jeremiah is saying and we didn't kill mica we listened to him and we repented and we got mercy God killed 185,000 of them maybe we shouldn't kill this Jeremiah guy they didn't repent but they at least spared his life and he lived another day okay here's my point you go back to mica and he's around with Isaiah and he's around with Hezekiah and you look at it in the immediate setting second Kings and you read this story and you read a lot about Isaiah and you read a lot about Hezekiah and their role in sort of leading the people to turn no one at that time is talking about mica and what he did he's preaching but he doesn't get any of the quote unquote credit now hundreds of years later they look back and somebody remembers hey don't forget about mica yes Isaiah yes hezekiah but don't forget about mica here's my point in sharing this story with you okay as a believer as a follower of Jesus one of the worst things you can do is compare yourself to other Christians in what the Lord has called them to do and maybe what He has called you to do and as Americans we're really bad about that we compare everything we compare jobs we compare salaries we compare whose team wins the most we compare who lives in what neighborhood who has nicer we compare all sorts of stuff and it's tempting to look and to say man I wish I had that role I wish I had sort of God would use me in that way maybe mica is saying man I wish I could be a major prophet I'm here preaching telling everybody to repent and Isaiah and hezekiah get all the credit I don't even get mentioned in the story nobody even remembers me somebody remembered him hundreds and hundreds of years later but he wasn't around to get the pat on the back okay what matters for you is being faithful to do what God has called you to do if God has not called you to be Isaiah don't worry about being Isaiah just be you if God hasn't called you to be a famous evangelist or a musician or a Sunday school teacher don't worry about that do what God has called you to do and when you serve the Lord and you serve him faithfully you're not worried about the pat on the back right we sort of joke about mica I make light of him sort of saying nobody gives him a pat on the bat nobody gives him any credit there's no indication that he ever felt sorry for himself that he ever felt slighted that he ever wished that he would have got some of the credit for this he understood my job is to be faithful to do what God has called me to do it may get a lot of attention it may not somebody may remember at hundreds of years later maybe they don't none of that really matters my job is to be faithful to do what God has called me to do and mica did that and even though we call him a minor prophet we got to remember he was faithful to do the task that God had for him okay what does God want from us mica's job is to go and to tell these people to repent and in that he's not only telling them what to turn from but what to turn to and so what are the things that God wants from his people number one he wants wrongs to be rebuked he wants wrongs to be rebuked when I say something like that most of us begin to think yes we need to speak out about these great evils that are going on out there those people we need to call sin sin out there and there's nothing wrong with saying that as long as you're also willing to look in here in rebuke wrongs in here also because that was the prophets job and when you read a lot of these minor prophets they did not pull any punches and they didn't just walk around saying a serious so wicked Babylon is so wicked those people are so wicked they walked around their own people and said we are very very wicked and God's not happy about it so maybe we should look out there and stand for truth but we also look in here okay and we are willing to to address wrongs wherever we see him in the book it's it's three sections you can just jot these verses down if you want to look at them chapter one verse one is sort of the first section chapter three verse one is the next section and chapter six verse one is the third section three separate prophecies and each one begins with the same words talking about listen or hear so you can look at mica one verse one and two it says here all peoples hear all of you you look at chapter three verse one it says I said here you heads of Jacob and then you look over to verse six verse chapter six verse one it says here what the lord has said so there's these three prophecies and all the way through it in each section God is just addressing the people and confronting them in their sit and so look at chapter one we'll just read one example of this mica one and we're going to read one to seven two to seven because we already read verse one here you peoples all of you pay attention to earth and all that is in it let the lord God be a witness against you the lord from his holy temple for behold the lord is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire like waters poured down a steep place all this is for the transgression of Jacob for the sins of the house of israel what is the transgression of Jacob is it not samaria and what is the high place of Judah is it not Jerusalem therefore I will make samaria a heap in the open country a place for planting vineyards and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces in her wages shall be burned with fire and all her idols I will lay waste for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them into the fee of the prostitute they shall return okay that's God saying I'm going to go down to this city and I'm going to flatten it all the way to the ground not even I'm going to leave the foundation I'm going to rip the foundation up so that you can go out in the middle of the city and plant crops every bit of it is going to get ripped up and flattened and destroyed and you read this language about God coming down and he's treading on the mountains and the pills are splitting and they're melting like wax when you read that sometimes you read it in Psalms you read it here in mica sometimes you read it in Revelation what it's saying is God is coming down and he's really ticked off he is really really mad and he's about to flatten all of you and when you read that you may say what a great example of God being cranky in the Old Testament this Old Testament God he's just mad he's just cripping at everybody and pointing out sin and he just keeps saying he's going to destroy them and he's going to do this and he's going to do that and there is some of that in the Old Testament and if you think that the God of the Old Testament takes sin really seriously you should read the New Testament because in the New Testament he takes it serious enough to send his only son to die for sin I'm thinking if there was any other way he would have chosen another way but that's how serious an issue sin is don't make the mistake of looking at mica or any of these other minor prophets major prophets and saying oh it's just Old Testament God he's cranky Old Testament God is mad New Testament God is love same God same God old and new okay he wants wrongs to be rebuked number two what does he want from his people he wants his people to be restored he wants them to be restored you can look at chapter 2 verse 12 it's a promise that he's going to restore Israel meaning the northern kingdom chapter 4 verse 8 and 10 in verse 10 is the real kicker here he says the daughter of Zion which is Jerusalem writhe and groan oh Jerusalem like a woman in labor you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country you shall go to Babylon that's God through mica saying to the people in Jerusalem you're leaving this place Jerusalem God's kicking you out of here because of your sin and you're going to Babylon look there when you're in Babylon you will be rescued and there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies in other words God's going to kick you out of here and then when you're there he's going to save you and he's going to bring you back you may think that's a crazy plan but that's what he's going to do and that's exactly what he did right remember I told you they listened to mica they repented God delayed a hundred years but when that century ran up Babylon came knocking on the door Babylon carried him out into exile and then about 70 years later God went and he redeemed him and he brought him right back just like he says he's going to in mica so yes he wants wrongs to be rebuked yes he's going to punish sin but he wants his people to be restored okay lastly and this is the most important in mica God wants his character to be known if you can get this truth way deep down in your bones you'll have a lot less trouble understanding things in the Bible okay when you read about instances of God saving people who don't seem like they're worthy of being saved or where you read instances of God punishing people and maybe it seems at first glance like he just sort of lost his temper a little bit if you can get this truth down God wants his character to be known things will start to fall into fall into place and what you see here is this is a fundamental truth he wants his character to be known sometimes he shows his character by punishing people okay in judgment he reveals who he is and sometimes he reveals his character in saving people and he's the one that gets to decide which method he's going to use and sometimes we make the mistake again we look at the Old Testament we say oh he's just punishing everybody he's just punishing everybody well that's not the main thing he's doing what he's doing is he's trying to make sure that people know who he is and we make the mistake of coming to the New Testament saying oh it's just New Testament's just lovey-dovey happy everybody get this big hug together in Jesus yes there's salvation in Jesus that's a great thing but that's not the most important thing what God is doing even in saving people is making his character known okay look at Micah 4 verse 1 says it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and it shall be lifted up above the hills and peoples shall flow to it and many nations shall come this is what God wants he wants the peoples and the nations to come to him where he's lifted up above everyone and everything else and they see him and they're saying let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths that's what he wants in the end I want these people coming to me learning from me learning my ways listening to me I want them to know me for out of Zion shall go forth the law in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem he'll judge between many peoples and decide for strong nations far away and they shall beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree and no one will make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of host has spoken for all the peoples walk each in the name of its God but we will walk in the name or the character or the reputation we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever and we read those verses you understand what God wants is for his people all nations all peoples to come to him and that they would know the truth about him and until that final day comes he's making his character known sometimes in judging people sometimes in saving people you see this exact same thing in the Exodus right where God in the Exodus is saving Israel and he's punishing Pharaoh and he just says it over and over again I want Pharaoh in the Egyptians to know who I am I'm doing this so that they'll know who I am I'm saving my people so that they can come worship me I want them to know me I'm punishing Pharaoh because I want them to know who I am okay God's chief concern is not punishment or salvation his chief concern is making his own glory known and he has the prerogative to choose do I want to do that through judgment or do I want to do it through salvation look at chapter 7 last three verses who was a God like you pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance he does not retain his anger forever because he delights instead fast love he will again have compassion on us he will tread our iniquities under foot you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea you will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old okay verse 20 is a big verse because at the end of this book he's saying you're going to save your people you're going to bring them back you're going to redeem them you're going to restore them you want them to know who you are but the reason you're forgiving these sins and throwing them into the sea and not remembering all these things the reason is that you made a promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob it's not because we're just lovable sweet folks it's because you made a promise and you want to keep your promise and you want your people to know that you are the God who keeps your promises you want them to know what you're like that you're faithful that you're true that you never go back on your word so he wants his character to be known okay here's a summary of the book chapter 6 we're going to read these verses chapter 6 six to eight is a summary of what God wants from his people and mica five one to five is hope for those who fall short mica six eight summary of what God wants from you and five one to five is hope for those who fall short so let's read six eight first he has told you oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God that's pretty good summary of what God wanted from the people then and from what he wants today okay he wants you to do justice to love kindness and to walk humbly with God problem is we don't do that perfectly so look in chapter five verse one to five and here's some hope muster your troops so daughter of troops siege is laid against us with a rod they strike the judge of israel on the cheek but you oh Bethlehem Ephrathah who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in israel whose coming forth is from of old from ancient days therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of israel and he shall stand and shepherd the flock in the strength of the lord in the majesty of the name of the lord is god and they will dwell secure for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth verse five he will be their peace when you read those verses who do you think about pretty clear right verse one the one that they strike with the cheek sounds familiar verse two the one who's born in Bethlehem verse two the one who is to be a ruler in israel verse two the one who's coming forth is from of old from ancient days someone's going to be born in Bethlehem whose coming is from the ancient of days from eternity past that's an interesting prophecy to fulfill verse four he's going to stand and be the shepherd john 10 i'm the good shepherd he'll shepherd his flock in the strength of the lord in the majesty of the name of the lord is god and they will dwell secure john 10 i hold my people in the palm of my hand and nobody takes them from me they're secure they're safe he will be their peace okay in the end mica is a call to repentance in the end mica is sort of saying to you this is what god wants from you to love justice to love righteousness to walk humbly with god but at the end it's saying look you're not going to be saved because you do certain things you're going to be saved we looked at the last few verses of the book because god's going to take your sins and chunk them into the sea and that's only going to be possible because somebody's going to come from bethel ham a ruler one who's coming is from of old and he's going to be your shepherd when you read that about a shepherd coming from bethel ham we'll just end with john chapter 10 and then we'll pray john 10 10 the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy i came that they may have life and have it abundantly i am the good shepherd right he just promised us a shepherd i'm the good shepherd and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep that's the reason your sins get thrown into the bottom of the ocean you understand god's a good judge and a good judge doesn't just take wrong doing and forget about it and jesus says here's how you figure all this out this good judge takes your sins and he puts them on me i'm laying my life down for you no sin is getting swept under the rug when it gets thrown into the bottom of the sea it's getting thrown in the bottom of the sea because i just died for it and dealt with it and finished it and paid the price i'm the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep verse 14 i'm the good shepherd i know my own in my own know me the father knows me and i know the father and i laid down my life for the sheep verse 17 this for this reason the father loves me because i laid down my life then i may take it up again no one takes it from me but i lay it down on my own accord i have authority to lay it down in authority to take it up this charge i have received from my father skipping down verse 27 my sheep hear my voice i know them and they follow me i give them eternal life and they will never perish mica said they'll be secure they never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand i and the father are one okay you read mica mica is pointing you straight to jesus straight to the fulfillment okay let's pray father we're grateful for