You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
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The year is 701 B.C.
The armies of mighty Assyria under the direction of their king Sennacherib are laying waste
to one city after another in the Middle East.
And 20 years earlier, they've wiped out the northern kingdom of Israel, taken survivors
into captivity.
And more recently, they've marched through one town after another in Judah, all the way
up now to the gates of Jerusalem.
They've been ruthlessly pillaging, destroying, just like the prophets said would happen as
God's judgment came on his prosperous and promiscuous people.
Nothing has slowed them down.
And here they are outside Jerusalem laying siege to the capital city of God's people.
King Hezekiah in Jerusalem has sought alliance with Egypt.
He's sought to buy off Assyria and pay them to go away.
Now he and the prophet Micah ministering there in Jerusalem and all the soldiers standing on
the wall afraid hear the taunts from Sennacherib as we read them in 2 Kings 18.
Do not let Hezekiah deceive you for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.
Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh by saying, Yahweh will surely deliver us and
this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me, come
out to me.
Each one of you will eat of his own vine and each one of his own fig tree and each one of
you drink the water of his own cistern.
And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, Yahweh will deliver us.
Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand that Yahweh should
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand.
Pretty hopeless situation it seems, right?
We've been way outmatched.
We've run out of allies.
We've exhausted all our resources.
Micah told us this would happen if we kept running after our idols and trusting in human
strength.
Boy, looking out there at that Assyrian army makes us feel small and helpless.
It seems we've reached the end of the road.
The end, in fact, of God's protection.
Have you felt like that before?
I felt that a little bit this week.
Just to be honest with you, a heavy weight.
Mostly from last week's passage.
Feeling the conviction of my sin and my weakness.
Failures in leading God's people as I should.
How can you be a senior pastor?
You don't have what it takes.
You deserve God's just judgment for not even living passionately for him.
You can hardly call yourself a Christian.
Maybe you've been struggling to pray recently.
And you've thought, what a pathetic Christian I am.
I'm the weakest Christian in the world.
I can't even find words to talk to God.
Maybe you're feeling outnumbered on campus or at work.
And you hear us say that God tells us to live for him all the time, everywhere.
And you think, that's a losing battle where I am.
What a joke.
How could I even begin to do that?
Maybe you hear me talk about revival.
Praying for God to do great things in us and in our community.
And what you really think is, seriously?
I don't talk like that.
That's way too big for little people like us.
Pastor, I'm just open for one good conversation about God with my family.
Like, just one night would be great.
One encouraging interaction with an unbeliever, revival.
Whether it's the reality of our sin, the strength of our enemies, the struggle in the battle of faith,
there are many real reasons to feel hopeless, aren't there?
If you need more help coming up with one, I can give you more later.
Reasons we feel small and weak.
And as a result, sometimes give up spiritually.
And focus on somewhere else I can feel more successful.
Feel better about myself, right?
And Micah comes to us this morning and says,
You know what?
Those things are true.
But they're not all that's true.
I've got a message of hope.
When you feel most hopeless,
I've just finished saying that Mount Zion will be flattened,
Jerusalem will be a heap of ruins.
That's the last verse of chapter 3.
But that's not all that's true.
He says, lift up your head.
Listen to a hope that will sound too good to be true.
It's Micah chapter 4.
I'll read the first five verses for now,
and then we'll pray and talk about the whole passage.
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 people shall flow to it.
And many nations shall come and say,
Come, 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.
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide for strong nations afar off.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations 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 shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
For all the peoples walk,
each in the name of its God,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God,
forever and ever.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for a message of hope.
We need it.
Holy Spirit,
help our hearts be not only desperate,
but able to hear it this morning.
In Jesus' name, amen.
This morning, I just want to walk through Micah's promise of hope together,
and then we'll talk about how God's people should respond to such a message.
What's he saying,
and what should we do in light of that?
So first, as this chapter begins,
this prophet who has been full of doom and gloom, right?
That's about all we've gotten so far,
as he addresses idolatrous people like us.
He's laid us low, right?
If we're honest, if we've been listening,
and now he wants to lift us up,
lift up our heads with an inspiring hope.
It shall come to pass in the latter days.
Before we go any further,
that's now, you know, right?
The latter days.
As you turn into the New Testament,
we see that the last days or the latter days
actually begin with the death and resurrection of Jesus
and continue on until he comes again.
So what we're talking about is what we're living in right now.
Peter pronounces that reality at Pentecost.
Paul reiterates it many places,
like 1 Corinthians 10,
where he says all these Old Testament stories
are written down as examples for us now.
Those upon whom the end of the ages has come.
That's now.
The inspiring hope Micah's talking about
is for future completion, for sure.
But in many ways, it's already begun today.
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 shall be lifted up above the hills.
Remarkable, right?
Micah, you just said it was going to be devastated.
And now it's growing taller?
Mount Zion, Jerusalem,
that's representative for God's people as a whole.
They're not just alive and present,
but prominent and impactful.
And although it does sometimes seem to be happening,
the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, right?
In fact, it's not merely for ethnic Israel to be flourishing,
but nations turning to God.
The glorious vision here of a global worship service.
Every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Peoples shall flow to it.
And many nations shall come and say,
come 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.
And we've seen that happen, haven't we,
over the last 2,000 years.
As Christianity begins with this small band of followers
in one small town in the Middle East,
and all of the sudden it begins to explode
and spread all over the globe.
And maybe you don't feel that as much
because we've got this Western mindset, right?
It can be very limited.
But the Pew Research Center tells us
not only has the number of those professing faith in Christ
quadrupled in the last 100 years,
you know where a quarter of those people live?
One quarter of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
You may not be seeing all of it.
Millions of them living as a minority in China.
Millions more in India.
Nations are flowing to Mount Zion, right?
And that's not merely a geographical statement.
It's not getting on a plane to get there.
It's primarily a spiritual statement.
Right?
How do they get there?
End of verse 2.
Out of Zion shall go forth the law
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The good news about Yahweh and who he is
is spread by his people.
They, the nations, come in as we go out
with the word of God.
What an awesome global movement of God
showing himself to be the one true king overall.
What an exciting thing to be a part of a movement like that.
And then what does Yahweh's kingdom look like?
Verse 3.
He shall judge between many peoples
and shall decide for strong nations afar off.
Perfect justice, right?
This king who knows how it should be,
he makes it right.
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation.
Neither shall they learn more anymore.
Y'all, world peace!
And we're not even at a beauty pageant.
Like, it's coming!
It's not all the way here yet, right?
But world peace globally.
How?
Yahweh is the one ruling.
That's how we know it's coming.
Yahweh will bring it.
Rest of verse 4.
They shall sit every man under his vine
and under his fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.
You remember Sennacherib promised that to God's people,
the words I read earlier?
This abundant security,
this great provision.
And Micah says,
you know where it's actually gonna come from?
Yahweh.
He is the one who will.
The great king of hosts,
the king of heaven promises,
the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
For all the peoples walk each in the name of its God.
But we will walk in the name of Yahweh,
our God,
forever and ever.
A colorful gathering of the people enjoying the fruits of this kind king
with no one to make us afraid
because our God is greater and stronger
and brings peace and justice and eternal security.
That's not at all what we feel at our lower points, is it?
And yet Micah says it's coming.
In fact, in many ways, it's already started.
And don't you want to be a part of something like that?
Fearful, small soldier on the wall
thinking the end has come.
And he says, no, there's hope.
We want to be a part of that, right?
Well, not me, right?
I mean, the high priest, maybe, yeah.
Billy Graham, sure.
Mother Teresa, maybe.
But little, weak, struggling, insignificant, me?
No way.
You've got to listen to what Micah says next.
This is so great.
It's not just hope out there somewhere
for somebody who's really good.
This hope is for an astounding people.
Verse 6.
In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the strong
and reward those who have been successful.
Nope, nope, sorry.
That's not it.
That's not what he says, is it?
Let me try one more time.
In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
and those whom I have afflicted
and the lame I will make the remnant.
And those who are cast off,
a strong nation,
and the Lord will reign over them.
Really?
The lame?
Isn't this glorious?
I mean, we hardly know what to do
with a statement like that
because in every area of our life,
we get what we earn, don't we?
We reward strength and competence.
We honor achievement.
And God's heart is for the outcast
and the undeserving.
Just because he's building a strong nation
doesn't mean he's looking for all the strong people.
That's how I do it.
But no, incredibly,
he's so strong
that he will choose the weak
and the foolish
and the insignificant
and make them a strong nation.
Kids, that's not how you pick a team
on the playground, is it?
You're gonna lose.
Nobody wants to lose.
You pick the strong people,
the big guys.
But it is how God builds his church.
To the astonishment of all the nations
who value and depend on human strength,
he gathers the lame and the castoffs.
And then, y'all,
those are actually the ones
who go out with the message
of Yahweh's greatness and goodness
that brings world peace.
That's how it comes.
It brings the nations flowing
to this gracious, condescending God
of the Bible
who has welcomed them in.
It actually gets even crazier
and even better than this.
Not just the lame being the remnant,
but those that God himself cast off,
brought back.
The exiles away from his land.
They were hopeless, right?
They're actually made secure.
Listen at verse 9.
He's going to make
a significant time shift.
You may not notice it as well in English,
but I'll point it out to you.
He says,
no longer in those future latter days,
but now.
700 B.C.
What are God's people facing now?
Verse 9.
Now, why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished
that pain seized you
like a woman in labor?
Writhe and groan,
O daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor.
For now you shall go out
from the city
and dwell in the open country.
You shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
He's speaking to them
of real suffering, isn't he?
Because real suffering is coming.
They really will be taken into exile.
There's reason for great grief over that.
But even there,
he's at work to redeem them, isn't he?
Right in the midst of Babylon,
when they've lost all hope
and they can't see anything good,
there he works to redeem.
Verse 11.
Now, many nations are assembled against you
saying,
let her be defiled
and let our eyes gaze upon Zion,
Assyria,
and others looking around,
taunting and saying,
aha,
we have the upper hand.
They're stronger.
But,
they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord.
They do not understand his plan
that he has gathered them
as sheaves to the threshing floor.
Arise and thresh,
O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
your hoofs bronze.
You shall beat in pieces
many peoples
and shall devote their gain
to the Lord,
their wealth,
to the Lord
of the whole earth.
The promise of God's discipline
right alongside the promise
of his restoration.
Nothing can happen to you
so bad
that he can't redeem it.
There is no pit so deep
that he is not deeper still,
Corrie ten Boom.
If you will trust this great king,
even those of you who feel so far,
so distant from him
that he sent you away,
if you will yet return
and trust him,
you will find an eternal security
against all the evidence
of your circumstances.
Despite everything you look around
and see,
despite what your heart
tells you to feel,
you'll find an eternal security
that will never,
ever let you down.
See, that's really the reason
that this astounding people
people who really don't have
much reason for hope
can have this inspiring hope,
isn't it?
It's all through this amazing king.
Already, as we've been reading,
we've seen,
I hope you've noticed,
every time,
this is what Yahweh will do.
He keeps saying,
I'll do this,
he will assemble,
he will gather,
he'll make the remnant,
he'll reign over them forever.
And chapter 5 opens
with one more,
now,
but.
Verse 1,
now muster your troops,
O daughter of troops,
siege is laid against us.
With a rod they strike
the judge of Israel
on the cheek.
It's not looking good,
is it?
I know what you're facing,
I know how you're feeling,
but,
you, O 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 origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
There's a verse you recognize,
isn't it, kids?
You hear that one at Christmas time,
don't you?
You know what that's about, right?
The Messiah,
the promised one,
the king,
he's gonna be born
in the little town of Bethlehem.
See, it's not just the people
who find power in weakness,
but that's actually the model
of power for the true king.
His great strength
will come from apparent weakness.
How do you know
that weak, failing, insignificant you
can really be a part of this kingdom?
The king comes from
too small Bethlehem.
But his rule will be magnificent.
Verse 3.
Therefore he shall give them up
until the time 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 his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name
of the Lord his God,
and they shall dwell secure.
For now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,
and he shall be their peace.
In the power of the one true God,
Yahweh, the one true king,
the promised one,
will shepherd his flock
of lame outcasts
who have become beloved children.
And the fact that he is great
is what brings world peace.
The fact that he is great
to the ends of the earth
is what makes them secure.
The fact that this unparalleled king
reigns with justice and grace
makes this inspiring hope
that Micah promises even possible.
It's his reign.
Their hope is not in their own strength,
their own greatness.
They are weak,
but he is strong.
To be clear,
no matter what current powerful leaders may say,
there is one great king for Israel
and for all nations.
There is one chosen one
in whom they and we all find hope.
He doesn't live in the White House
and he doesn't find strength
in human power.
To suggest otherwise
is dangerously distracting
from the true king.
See, we are to look for our hope
to no one else
and nowhere else
but the king
born in Bethlehem
whose greatness
no one can fathom,
no one can equal.
He is our hope.
Amen?
It's what God's people learned then.
It was
looking pretty bleak
for God's people
in Micah's day.
Stuck
before Sennacherib's
powerful army.
Human weakness
has led them to face
judgment.
Human power
has failed to deliver them.
Most of them
are utterly hopeless.
And finally,
King Hezekiah surrenders.
But not to the
might of Assyria.
Instead,
he surrenders
to the unparalleled
power of Yahweh.
He looks to God,
repents,
and cries
for God's help.
He prays this way,
O Lord,
the God of Israel
who is enthroned
above the cherubim,
You are the God,
You alone
of all the kingdoms
of the earth.
You have made
heaven and earth.
Incline Your ear,
O Lord,
and hear.
Open Your eyes,
O Lord,
and see.
And hear the words
of Sennacherib
which he has sent
to mock
the living God.
Now,
O Lord,
our God,
save us,
please,
from His hand
that all the kingdoms
of the earth
may know that You,
Yahweh,
are God alone.
And the angel
of the Lord
that night
with no help
from the army
of Judah
strikes down
185,000
mocking Assyrians.
and mighty Sennacherib
flees
and soon
dies himself.
God protects
His people.
Repentance
and revival
spreads through
Jerusalem
and it will be
over a hundred years,
multiple generations
before Babylon
comes to take
Judah into exile
for their idolatry.
History is altered.
altered.
Listen,
Micah has been clear
about the just judgment
coming upon those
who don't repent
even among
God's people.
But now,
he's reminding us,
y'all,
that there's not just
merely a way
to escape
by the skin
of your teeth
and maybe you'll survive,
but there is grace
and hope
beyond your wildest dreams
for those who turn back
to the true King.
So what?
What are we supposed
to do?
How should we now
as God's people
respond?
Just repent again?
That's what you say
every week.
But yes,
that is the call again.
Repent.
Return to God.
Repentance
and revival
come to God's people
as they lift their heads
and hope
in Yahweh,
their King,
in nothing
and in no one else
do they find strength.
Just as last week
the awfulness of sin
drives us
to repent,
so does the kindness
of God
lead us to repent.
Both of those things
take us to the same place.
We realize
we're face down
in the pigsty,
unworthy
and desperate
desperate
and we remember
the love of the Father
eager to welcome us
home and so
because we remember
both of those things
we run back to Him,
right?
That's repentance.
In these terms
this morning,
briefly,
surrender.
Quit trying
to be the strong one.
Micah's message
clearly
calls for us
to give up hope
in ourselves
trying to manage
our struggles.
True repentance
means that we quit
doing penance.
I'm so prone
to this.
I see my weakness
and my sin,
I call that bad will
and I resolve
to actually
instead of being bad will,
I'm going to be good will,
right?
It's actually
just another idol.
I'll try harder.
I'll preach better
next week.
I'll lead stronger
next time.
Then maybe
I'll be good enough.
No.
Repentance,
that's penance.
Repentance
turns
from my weakness
to God's
strength.
From my sin
and idolatry
to His forgiveness
and His righteousness.
It means
I pray more
and more desperately.
Not just
add 10 hours
of study
next week
to perfect the sermon.
It means
I read about
God's grace
being sufficient
for my weakness.
Not just try
to convince myself
I'm strong enough
not to need Him.
It means
you plead with Him
to forgive your failings
and then in the
joy of His grace
you plead with Him
to strengthen you,
to live for His glory
and quit chasing
your own idols
for your own pleasure.
That's repentance.
And our repentance
looks like something
doesn't it?
It has fruit.
We actually surrender
and then strangely enough
having surrendered
we then fight.
Strange.
But the same passage here
that tells us
to embrace our weakness
and find strength
only in God
also says
now we walk
in the name
of the Lord our God.
Living out
day by day
the life
of a well cared for
child
who now has
the freedom
and the resources
to be an instrument
of hope
and justice
and peace
in the lives
of others.
That's not just
for pastors
that's for all of us
right?
That's what we get
to do.
This passage
tells us
arise and muster
the troops
and fight together
against the darkness
and sin.
All idols
that would set
themselves up
against Yahweh.
We're to be fighting.
By the way
that's why you need
gospel community.
What Mark and Anna
were talking about
in the video earlier.
That's why we need
each other
to fight together
in each other's lives
for King Jesus
right?
You need that
I need that.
See repentance
means I give up
hope in myself.
It means when I run
back desperately
to God
I find a restored
relationship with Him
worth shaping
my life around
no matter what
it costs.
And then it means
I hope
this may be
the most encouraging
part.
Give me 30 more
seconds.
I hope because
I'm on His team
I'm in His
family now
and the promises
of my Father
are incredible.
Did you hear them?
I look out
from the wall
and all of a sudden
the Assyrians
are routed.
I go home
and my neighborhood
and my family
they're turning to God
they're praising Him.
My kids
and their friends
and my grandkids
worship Him
faithfully
because they see
how great He is.
Friends
the future vision
that God paints
for us
is glorious.
That's what He's doing.
I may be lame
afflicted
cast off
undeserving
outnumbered
inconsistent
too weak
too young
too old
too sinful
too ashamed
too damaged
and that may be true
but it's not all
that's true.
Jesus has come
and He is so strong
and so glorious
and so gracious
that He will use
me
and us
to bring revival
to see nations
come to worship Him
to see people
with no interest
in Him today
tomorrow
run back
to Him
to see neighbors
who are running away
from God
and don't want to talk
to you
seated at His table
with you
at peace
forever.
He says that's what
He's going to do
and we'll be there
with them
and have all we ever need
why?
Because He
is there
and what a day
that will be.
That day's coming.
Hopeless
brothers
and sisters
that day
is coming
see it
it's coming
because we are weak
but He is strong.
Let's pray.
God our hope
is in You.
Turn our hearts
back towards You
even in this moment
as we reflect
on our weakness
as we reflect
on Your greatness
and grace.
as we look ahead
to a day
we can hardly
imagine
will be
anywhere near
as glorious
as You promise
us it will be.
Give us hope
in that
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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