Micah

Micah is preaching just before the big “houston we have a problem moment in 722 BC, just before assyria comes and hauls the northern 10 tribes off into captivity.

Micah 1:1-9

1 GENERATIONAL SIN PROBLEM

Micah 1:1–9 NET 2nd ed.

This is the Lord’s message that came to Micah of Moresheth during the time of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Listen, all you nations! Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth! The Sovereign Lord will act as a witness against you; the Lord will accuse you from his majestic palace. Look, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling place! He will descend and march on the earth’s mountaintops! The mountains will crumble beneath him, and the valleys will split apart like wax before a fire, like water dumped down a steep slope. All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion and the sins of the nation of Israel. And just what is Jacob’s rebellion? Isn’t it Samaria’s doings? And what is Judah’s sin? Isn’t it Jerusalem’s doings? “I will turn Samaria into a heap of ruins in an open field, into a place for planting vineyards. I will dump the rubble of her walls down into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. I will make a waste heap of all her images. Since she gathered the metal as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” For this reason I will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot and without my outer garments. I will howl like a wild dog and screech like an owl. For Samaria’s disease is incurable. It has infected Judah; it has spread to the leadership of my people and even to Jerusalem!

Court room language. God is proclaiming Judgement on Israel and Judah.

Take your chart...

2 Kings 15:32-35

2 Kings 15:32–34 NET 2nd ed.

In the second year of the reign of Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah, Uzziah’s son Jotham became king over Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Uzziah had done.

2 Kings 15:35 NET 2nd ed.

But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate to the Lord’s temple.

So Jotham wasn’t a bad king. But he also wasn’t entirely commited to God either. He was kind of apathetic in his faith. As the leader of the kingdom he didn’t deem it necessary to get rid of the idolatry.

He himself was apparently some level of faithful. But kind of lukewarm.

2 Kings 16:1-20

2 Kings 16:1–2 NET 2nd ed.

In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah, Jotham’s son Ahaz became king over Judah. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David.

2 Kings 16:3 NET 2nd ed.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

2 Kings 16:4 NET 2nd ed.

He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

It took exactly one generation of lukewarm faith to go from “this king did what was right in the eyes of the lord, but he was kind of half-hearted about it”

“This king commited child sacrifice.

and it goes on from there. in verse 5,Jerusalem gets invaded, and who does Ahaz go to for help? it’s not God, it’s not one of their allies.

2 Kings 16:7 NET 2nd ed.

Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your dependent. March up and rescue me from the power of the king of Syria and the king of Israel, who have attacked me.”

Just in case you’re not aware. Assyria are not good people. They’re not only a pagan nation, but they’re a particularly cruel and vicious pagan nation.

Ahaz goes to meet with the king of Assyria

2 Kings 16:10 NET 2nd ed.

When King Ahaz went to meet with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria in Damascus, he saw the altar there. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a drawing of the altar and a blueprint for its design.

2 Kings 16:11 NET 2nd ed.

Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.

So he goes to assyria and sees an altar to Ashur, the assyrian god

And he sends a message back and says “hey I really like this pagan altar, let’s build one back home in jerusalem”

2 Kings 16:14 NET 2nd ed.

He moved the bronze altar that stood in the Lord’s presence from the front of the temple (between the altar and the Lord’s temple) and put it on the north side of the new altar.

So if you picture you’re going through the temple gates and one of the first things you see is the altar to the Lord. where the priests would make sacrifces going into the Lords pressence. Ahaz takes God’s altar and shoves it off to the side over in the corner, so that when you come in the altar to the Assyrian god is front and center.

It took one Generation of weak faith for the entire culture to plunge into evil and idolatry.

Here’s the thing. I’m not worried about Christ’s kingdom. That’s not what this is about. Christ’s kingdom is an eternal kingdom and nothing we can do can mess that up.

But if we want our children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews to have the opportunity to participate in Christ’s kingdom, we have a role to play.

I understand that’s a hard teaching. That’s an extremely hard teaching especially if we’re in a position where we feel like we’ve done our best and we’ve done everything there is to do, and our kids and grand kids still just aren’t getting it.

I can sympathize with that. But I think we all know there is a huge difference between saying:

I’ve done everything I can, I’ve put in an effort to raise the next generation up in the faith

and saying “I really don’t want to put in the work to pass on the faith” that’s someone elses job.

This is the generational sin problem.

2 THE PERSONAL SIN PROBLEM

Micah 1:10-16

Micah 1:10–16 NET 2nd ed.

Don’t spread the news in Gath. Don’t shed even a single tear. In Beth Leaphrah roll about in mourning in the dust! Residents of Shaphir, pass by in nakedness and humiliation! The residents of Zaanan have not escaped. Beth Ezel mourns, “He takes from you what he desires.” Indeed, the residents of Maroth hope for something good to happen, though the Lord has sent disaster against the city of Jerusalem. Residents of Lachish, hitch the horses to the chariots! You influenced Daughter Zion to sin, for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back to you! Therefore you will have to say farewell to Moresheth Gath. The residents of Achzib will be as disappointing as a dried up well to the kings of Israel. Residents of Mareshah, a conqueror will attack you, the leaders of Israel shall flee to Adullam. Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; shave your foreheads as bald as an eagle, for they are taken from you into exile.

It’s not extremely important to know where these cities are on a map, They’re cities dispersed all throughout Judah.

What is important to understand is that these cities are spread all over, and that every one he mentions makes a pun or a rhyme in hebrew.

This whole section is just one big insult poem.

In English it would be like

All you residents of Pittsburg, you’re going down to the pit.

Denver, you’ve been going on a bender

Lincoln, it’s going to look like the civil war when God’s through with you

Alliance? You’re going to be sorry you formed an alliance with those pagan nations.

The whole thing is just one big playground taunt over all the cities of Judah, telling them their sins, and the judgement they can expect

It’s kind of a “from sea to shining sea” condemnation over the people of the land

What we’re seeing is that the sin wasn’t just isolated in one particular area. It’s a universal problem.

That’s what personal sin looks like.

Micah 2:1-5

Micah 2:1–5 NET 2nd ed.

Beware wicked schemers, those who devise calamity as they lie in bed. As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, because they have the power to do so. They confiscate the fields they desire and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited. Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of catastrophe. In that day people will sing this taunt song to you— they will mock you with this lament: ‘We are completely destroyed; they sell off the property of my people. How they remove it from me! They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ Therefore no one will assign you land in the Lord’s community.

Personal sin looks like getting what you want because you chase after what you desire. You don’t care who you have to step over to get it. I want it, he has it, I’m going to take it. End of story.

And the worst part of all of it is that they couldn’t stand the idea of anyone calling them out on their sin.

Micah 2:6 NET 2nd ed.

“Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,” they say excitedly. “These prophets should not preach of such things; we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’

Don’t tell me I’m sinning, it offends me.

Doesn’t that sound a lot like our culture today?

If we’re being honest with ourselves, there are times when that sound like us?

Don’t point out my sin, don’t correct me. That hurts my feelings.

Micah 2:7-10

Micah 2:7–10 NET 2nd ed.

Does the family of Jacob say, “The Lord’s patience can’t be exhausted— he would never do such things”? To be sure, my commands bring a reward for those who obey them, but you rise up as an enemy against my people. You steal a robe from a friend, from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. You wrongly evict widows among my people from their cherished homes. You defraud their children of their prized inheritance. But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! For this land is not secure! sin will thoroughly destroy it!

In other words, God says “I don’t really care how offended you are.” Sin is sin is sin.

Micah 2:11 NET 2nd ed.

If a lying windbag should come and say, ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ he would be just the right preacher for these people!

What we really want is someone to come along side us and just say “everything’s fine” God really doesn’t care about your behavior”

He just wants you to live your best life.

Why do you think a lot of the mega churches are so popular?

I’m going to make a broad sweeping generalization, so I understand that there are plenty of exceptions.

But in a lot of church communities personal sin is never dealt with, because the teaching and preaching is always designed not never offend anyone.

We can’t talk about the “s” word Sin. WE can’t talk about Judgement we can’t talk about hell. Because, well people don’t want to hear about those things and if we talk about those things people might not come back. We might lose money.

So lets make sure we have a sanitized version of what the bible says, only talk about the nice parts that make us feel good, and then people will keep coming and it’ll be great.

That’s not biblical.

I don’t like it when sin and judgement are the only thing we talk about. and we leave out grace and mercy. But the flip side of that coin is that we never talk about sin and we only talk about grace and mercy.

The bible has a lot to say about both. Jesus had a lot to say about both.

And that’s an institutional problem.

We have the generational sin which snowballs into the personal sin. And the personal sin ultimately snowballs and effects the teaching in the church if the church is trying to appease people.

Which leads us to our third sin problem .

3) Institutional sin.

Micah 3:1-5

Micah 3:1–5 NET 2nd ed.

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You ought to know what is just, yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones. You devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot— like meat in a kettle. Someday these sinful leaders will cry to the Lord for help, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done such wicked deeds.” This is what the Lord has said about the prophets who mislead my people, “If someone gives them enough to eat, they offer an oracle of peace. But if someone does not give them food, they are ready to declare war on him.

The leaders in Judah and Israel were so motivated by their own selfish desires, that their preaching was basically a death sentence.

If you feed me and take care of me, I’ll preach nice things. If you don’t then I’ll preach judgement, in the hopes that you’ll start paying me and feeding me again, so that I can preach nice things.

That’s what I mean by institutional sin.

Galatians 1:10 NET 2nd ed.

Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ!

That’s how we get an institutional sin problem.

Where now it’s not just the individuals who are ignoring sin, but the church.

And in the time that micah was preaching we have the trifecta of sin problems.

We had the generational apathy which allowed an entire generation to fall into sin

which caused a huge spike in individual sin

which in turn helped to corrupt the insitution, the leaders the priests the prophets.

and now this little tiny seed that started with the apathy of one king who wasn’t commited to the faith has blown up into a nation wide problem a world wide problem.

How is god going to fix this?

I want us to back up just a little bit to two little verses that we skipped over. In the middle of all the judgement and oracles against judah and israel we get this back in chapter 2

Micah 2:12–13 NET 2nd ed.

“I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob, I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in the middle of a pasture; they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. The one who can break through barriers will lead them out; they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave. Their king will advance before them; The Lord himself will lead them.

in the midst of all the punishment that’s coming we get this beacon of hope

The shepherd is coming, the Lord is coming and he will shepherd his people.

Likewise as we jump ahead to micah 4 we read

Micah 4:1-5

Micah 4:1–5 NET 2nd ed.

And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it. Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.” For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war. Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it. Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.

A time is coming when all nations will gather and hear the word of God in Jerusalem.

Micah 4:6-8

Micah 4:6–8 NET 2nd ed.

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore.” As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion— your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”

There’s going to be a time when the lame and outcasts, the ones who were mistreated by the people, not only are they going to be restored they’re going to make up the core of the kingdom.

But it’s not going to happen over nignt. There will be justice, there will be exile but after that you will see deliverence.

Micah 4:10 NET 2nd ed.

Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies.

There is hope, but you’re going to suffer first.

Micah 5:2-9

Micah 5:2–4 NET 2nd ed.

As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, seemingly insignificant among the clans of Judah— from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, one whose origins are in the distant past. So the Lord will hand the people of Israel over to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth. Then the rest of the king’s countrymen will return to be reunited with the people of Israel. He will assume his post and shepherd the people by the Lord’s strength, by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for at that time he will be honored even in the distant regions of the earth.

Out of Bethlehem a woman is going to give birth to a king is going to emerge who is going to lead the people into salvation.

Israel needed a savior. We need a savior. A shepherd king who is going to come and fix our sin problem because here’s the deal.

I want you to jump ahead to micah 6: 6

Micah 6:6-7

Micah 6:6–7 NET 2nd ed.

With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Will the Lord accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring—my own flesh and blood—for my sin?

These are all ritual solutions to a sin problem. Whether it’s generational or personal or institutional these are all ritual solutions. Do a sacrifice. Pay a tithe. What can I give you, God to fix my sin problem.

And the answer is none of it. No bull, no goat, not even your own offspring, not even your own life, is enough to pay off the debt.

First of all that’s not even what God desires.

In our modern context we don’t deal in bulls or goats, but the same concept applies

Maybe I should give more money to the church. maybe I should show up and pray more. Maybe I should read my bible more, that’ll cover my sin problem.

Those are all good things, but they don’t fix the sin problem.

Micah 6:8 NET 2nd ed.

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God.

In the hebrew it literally says “live justly, love LOVE, the word is HESED, it’s more than just love as in “i love ice cream” it’s the kind of love jesus talks about where he says no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends.

It’s the kind of love Moses talks about and Jesus talks about when it says you shall love the lord your god with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And the last part it literally says “walk humbly with God.”

That’s what god wants.

And I love…I wish we had time to read the entire thing, but it’s so hard to fit it all in, but I love at the very end of micah in Micah 7 he prays

Micah 7:18–20 NET 2nd ed.

Who is a God like you? Who forgives sin and pardon the rebellion of those who remain among his people? Who does not stay angry forever, but delights in showing loyal love? Who will once again have mercy on us? Who will conquer our evil deeds? Who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea? You will be loyal to Jacob and extend your loyal love to Abraham, which you promised on oath to our ancestors in ancient times.

if we walk humbly with the lord.

Out of Bethlehem the woman who God promised would give birth to a king, she already came and her name was mary.

That shepherd king God promised to lead the people into salvation, he already came. And his name is Jesus.

That time that God promised all nations came to hear the word of God in jerusalem, it already came in Acts chapter 2 on the day of pentecost when the church began and peter proclaimed

Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

That time that god promised that the lame and the outcasts would form the core of the new kingdom, Jesus proclaimed it when he said

Matthew 5:3–10 NET 2nd ed.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

The sin problem that God promised he would deal with.

Micah 7:19 NET 2nd ed.

Who will once again have mercy on us? Who will conquer our evil deeds? Who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea?

It already came. When our King Jesus Christ was crucified at the hands of pontius pilate, buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea, discovered by mary and the other women, witnessed by over 500 people.

It already came. It already happened.

And now the only decision we need to make is whether or not we want to participate in it.

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