You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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That wonderful, difficult song we just heard is the heart of Micah chapter 7 set to music.
And you can hear and feel both the pain, some really hard things in there, especially when we look at ourselves.
And you can hear the joy too, can't you?
The hope that comes when we look to our God.
In fact, as you turn to Micah 7 this morning, in many ways this last chapter of Micah is a helpful summary of the whole book.
So the themes will sound familiar to you if you've been here the past few weeks.
So let's pray together this morning and ask for God's help as we look at His Word together.
Father, we need You.
And we ask for You to send Your Spirit in our midst today to teach our hearts to open them to hearing Your Word.
As we read it and as it is preached, we need You to use it not merely in our heads, but in our hearts.
Because we need You.
So would we know You more?
And this time we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
We're going to focus this morning on the end of this chapter.
It's glorious and hopeful.
It's where we're going to spend most of our time.
But before we get there, we need to ache with Micah first.
He picks up here, as you just heard, with a lament over what he sees in his heart and in the people around him.
God's people who have, by and large, turned away from God and decided they're going to run in other directions.
And he says he looks and he feels despairing and empty like a tree picked clean of fruit.
Verse 1.
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, and there is no one upright among mankind.
They all lie in 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 watchmen, 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 are the men of his own house.
Yikes.
It's as hard reading them as singing them, isn't it?
You can hear the echoes of Micah's words in earlier chapters, can't you?
From the people to their leaders who are supposed to be the ones who know how to turn them back to God,
but who are leading the charge away from him.
It's every man for himself.
No one to be trusted.
Violence, treachery, broken relationships, corrupt systems.
A lot of people playing church, right?
Going to the temple talking about God, but living however they please.
That's what Derek reminded us of during our confession from Micah chapter 6.
God makes it simple and straightforward.
Do justice, love, kindness, walk humbly with your God.
And we make our life's work, our heart's passion.
Not this wonderful relationship with God that he's called us into, but comfort for self.
And so Micah cries out in the face of this brokenness,
Woe is me!
It's the language of lament.
Lament.
The Bible's full of it.
From the Psalms, through the prophets and other places.
God's people crying out in honest pain and grief.
From the sin they see in their own heart, the brokenness around them.
Lament is honesty and desperation at the same time.
Seeing life clearly and acknowledging that it's not what it's supposed to be.
Maybe you've felt that.
God, help us.
We have so much to share but are so driven by selfish desires.
We live for this life and not for eternity.
Many of us lack zeal and the most passionate burnout.
We elevate one we respect and he falls morally or abandons the faith.
We even attack each other and kick those who have fallen while they're down.
Oh God, help!
For we're a mess!
Micah's been full of lament, hasn't he?
A lot of that in this prophecy.
Prophecy.
I'd ask us, where have we been convicted of our sin?
I don't know what God has put on your heart in the past few weeks as we've studied this prophecy together.
I don't know what heavy thing you may have brought in this morning on your heart.
But lament is a language we need to learn better.
Crying out.
It's just what ought to be done when we see these.
Crying out like Micah for the sin in our hearts.
For the corruption of God's people.
Oh, we're not what we ought to be, God.
For the brokenness of the culture around us.
All of that is right.
Right.
Often tears are appropriate in this life.
It's through them that we're actually seeing most clearly and most rightly.
We're seeing that on our own there is no hope.
Not a little bit.
Not maybe for the best of us.
No hope.
We've abandoned the one who made us.
Who's the only source of life.
And we can't make our way back to him.
And so we lament.
And then Micah's lament shifts.
He looks around and sees all of that and cries out.
Then he says, but as for me, I will never be faithless.
I would never betray a friend.
I will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
No.
No, that's actually not.
Where he starts.
Verse 7.
But as for me, I will look to the Lord.
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
As for me, I will look where?
To Yahweh.
The only thing that gives us hope in the face of the brokenness of our hearts and our world is a clear vision of God.
That's what Micah.
There's only one thing.
There's only one place to look.
The hope is not in us.
It's not in social progress.
Maybe all of us together will do better.
It's not in personal improvement.
Well, maybe the rest of them will fail, but I can pull through.
No.
It's in God himself.
And so Micah turns our eyes to God.
And that's where his prophecy will end.
With this glorious vision of who our God truly is.
And we so need it.
It might not be new information to you this morning.
But y'all, we have a lot of broken pictures of God.
That maybe even we don't realize we have.
But they distort our relationship with him so that we don't see him and know him as he wants us to.
And Micah wants us to see God.
And when we see him clearly, we see a God, yes, full of holiness and justice.
But a God of love.
Of steadfast love.
Forgiving love.
Unfailing love beyond our comprehension.
One of my favorite things in the world is scooping my girls up in my arms.
And talking with them about how much I love them.
It doesn't happen as often as it used to anymore.
But one morning this week, Lily woke up early and came downstairs.
And I got to scoop her up in my arms and talk with her for a little bit.
And I just sat there in the chair and held her and said,
Do you know Daddy loves you so much?
She said, Yes.
I said, Why does Daddy love you?
Because he does.
Yeah, yeah, because you're my girl.
Yeah, Daddy's sweet girl.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
I said, Does Daddy love you because you always do everything right?
She knows that answer.
She said, No.
I said, Does Daddy love you because you got A's on your report card?
No.
Does Daddy love you because you scored a goal in the soccer game?
Yes.
I have a cute, creative six-year-old.
I said, But what if tonight you kick the ball in the other goal?
Will Daddy still love you?
She said, Yes.
I said, What if you clipped down at school today?
She started getting tired of the questioning.
Yes, you will always love me because I am your girl.
I wasn't tired of it.
I said, Don't you ever forget that.
Don't ever, ever forget that.
I think that we, more than we admit, need to have that conversation with our Heavenly Father.
That's what Micah wants here.
He wants you to end in your father's arms, gazing in your lament into the eyes of your loving, forgiving, gracious God.
Listen to verses 18 through 20.
Who is 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 in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us.
He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
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.
Who is a God like you?
That's what Micah's name means.
Let's marvel together for just a few minutes.
Who is like Yahweh?
Well, what is he like?
What's at his very core?
What makes God's heart happy?
One of my distorted visions of God is that he is just like me and many parents that I know.
I call this the adoring fan.
You know, he stands on the sidelines cheering me on, hoping I make a great play.
And when I do, he's so proud.
He jumps up and runs onto the field and picks me up and says, that's my boy.
He did it.
Look at verse 18 again.
Who is a God like you?
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression?
He does not retain his anger forever.
He delights in steadfast love.
What makes God's heart happy is his steadfast love.
Love that enters what?
Our sin, iniquity and transgression and loves us right there.
It's not when I hit a home run that he cheers the loudest.
It's even when I strike out that he runs to embrace me and says, that's my boy.
I love you.
It's like the father of the prodigal son, right?
He sees him at his lowest point, covered in pig slop.
And he runs out to him and embraces him and says, my boy, welcome home.
No other fathers acted like that.
But he delighted to.
He rejoiced in it.
Who is like our God?
This heart of love is where God begins when he's introducing himself.
All the way back in Exodus 34, he's talking to Moses.
He says, the Lord, the Lord, it's his name, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
Steadfast love, steadfast love for thousands, forgiving.
This is who I am, God says.
So there's hope in your lowest, at your worst, because our relationship involves not joy in your successes,
but delight in forgiving your failures.
Can you believe that?
He doesn't just tolerate that.
He loves to do it.
That's why Micah says here in verse 8 that it's in his deep darkness that Yahweh will be a light to him.
That in the midst of exile and the destruction of Jerusalem,
God will actually come and rebuild the walls and extend the boundaries of the city.
Verse 11.
Verse 14.
When his people are most alone,
they're neglected, feeling lost,
he will shepherd them and provide richly for them.
What amazing grace that enters into those places,
love that goes so far beyond what his people ever deserved
and pours out blessing on them
and loves every second of it.
That's who our God is
and what he delights to do.
He loves to love you.
Will, I've messed up again.
I don't deserve for anyone to love me, he said.
Substance addiction was wreaking havoc on this friend who was in my office a few months ago.
But we all have our addictions, don't we?
Those sins we keep going back to over and over.
The idols we consistently serve.
The failures we've begun to give up on.
And what he said to me in my office that day is true.
I don't deserve for anyone to love me.
I said, that's right.
The good news is that's not all that's true.
God loves people who don't deserve it, doesn't he?
But what if I've messed up again?
He will again have compassion on us,
tread our iniquities underfoot,
cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Don't you love that word, again?
You messed up again,
but Yahweh has compassion again.
See, sometimes I can get on board with God being patient and loving.
You know, the God of second chances, right?
Y'all, I've blown a lot of second and third chances.
Anyone else?
It's so much better than that.
I have this vision of God being like an umpire.
You know, one strike, okay.
Nobody's perfect.
Two strikes, hey, be careful.
You're pushing it a little bit.
Three strikes, you're out.
Don't come to me.
Don't keep messing up and come back here.
Learn your lesson.
Micah says, no way.
No way.
No matter how many times God's people have blown it,
over and over, idol after idol,
he will again have compassion and forgive their sins.
You know why?
God's love keeps no record of wrongs.
1 Corinthians 13.
Psalm 130 says,
if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
if you were counting and keeping track of all my mistakes,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
O Israel, hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is steadfast love.
With him is plentiful redemption.
He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Steadfast love again.
Plentiful redemption.
He will forgive again.
And he's shown it.
He doesn't just talk about it.
He's shown it with his people, hasn't he?
Just marvel for a minute.
But think with me that there's Adam in the garden
who disobeys God
when God was very clear about what he should or should not do.
And yet, God doesn't stop loving.
He promises to send a savior.
And then Noah,
the best guy left in his day,
after the flood and God saving him,
Noah gets drunk.
But God hangs a rainbow in the sky
because of his steadfast love.
Abraham lied and endangered his wife,
but God promised to keep loving him
and his descendants,
generation after generation.
And when he sends Moses to lead his people out of Egypt,
they complain
and want to go back.
But God still delivers them
through the Red Sea.
That wasn't enough.
God's people doubted his care
in the wilderness for 40 years
and God responds and feeds them every day
and leads them to the promised land.
David chose violent immorality.
But God promised to forgive
and put his descendant on the throne forever.
Jonah ran away from God,
wanted nothing to do with him
or his love.
But God sent a storm,
a whale,
a plant,
and a wind
all to chase Jonah down
and show him the beauty of his love.
And we get all the way here to Micah
and now God's sending his people
into exile
for their persistent idolatry.
But at the same time,
promising that those who turn back
and trust him
will yet again
for the millionth time,
what?
Be forgiven
and loved
and brought back to him.
And you think he's counted you out
for too many strikes?
No way!
You can't out-sin his grace
or out-run his love.
Will he not revive us again
in our day
with this kind of love?
Doesn't that do something to you?
There's no one like this God.
He keeps forgiving
again
and again.
But how will God look at me
then?
I mean, really?
I've had some people say
that they forgave me before,
but our relationship
got pretty distant.
A lot of hurt there.
A lot of coldness.
Certainly, I'm on probation
with God, right?
I mean, it's been a lot, Will.
Plus, I feel like he sees
and knows everything.
He's kind of like an Olympic judge
and I'm doing a gymnastics routine
and he doesn't miss anything.
Every little stumble,
tenth of a point.
Every misstep,
ooh, half a point.
You may still be on the beam,
but lose your balance
even a little bit
and it will be counted
against you, right?
Look at verse 19
one more time.
He will tread
our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast
all our sins
into the depths
of the sea.
How's our relationship
with God?
After all the agains
he has to forgive?
I will forgive
their iniquity
and I will remember
their sin
no more.
Jeremiah 31, 34.
Psalm 103.
He does not deal with us
according to our sins
nor repay us
according to our iniquities.
As high as the heavens
are above the earth
so great
is his steadfast love
toward those
who fear him.
As far as the east
is from the west
so far
does he remove
our transgressions
from us.
Do you hear what
this is saying?
It's not that God
can't think of sins
anymore
like he just can't
come up with it.
It's that they're not
connected
to us.
When he thinks
of his children
it's in love
not connected
to our sin.
Remember
he delights
in steadfast love.
He's not looking
to count something
against you.
That's not
the way his heart is.
He has trampled
our sins
underfoot.
He has cast
our sins
into the depths
of the sea
no longer on us
as far away
as you can imagine.
Imagine that.
washed away
from us.
Every year
Orthodox Jews
on Rosh Hashanah
will go to a river
and empty their sins
out of their pockets
into the water
and watch them
symbolically
wash away.
Never able
to find them again
right?
Couldn't possibly
track them down
and link them back
to me.
That's actually
the picture here
casting them
into the depths
of the sea.
And in verse 18
pardoning iniquity
not merely
my specific sins
but my sinful nature
who I am
God actually
lifts that burden
from me
and takes it
on himself.
John Bunyan
pictures it
famously
in Pilgrim's
Progress
as Christian
has journeyed
long
with the
burden
of sin
on his back
until
as he nears
the celestial city
this great picture
up this way
therefore
did burdened
Christian run
but not without
great difficulty
because of the load
on his back.
He ran thus
till he came
at a place
somewhat ascending
and upon that
place stood a cross
and a little below
in the bottom
a sepulcher
kids that's a
fancy word
for tomb
okay
sepulcher
so I saw
in my dream
that just as
Christian came
up to the cross
his burden
loosed from
off his shoulders
and fell
from off his back
and began
to tumble
and so continued
to do
till it came
to the mouth
of the sepulcher
where it fell
in and I saw
it no more
at the cross
and the empty
tomb of Jesus
our sin
rolls away
and is
no more
amen
and so God
loves you
he can't
he loves you
even as he
hates sin
he loves you
because he
looks at you
and sees
not your failure
but his son's
success
in your
place
it's amazing
love
isn't it
close your eyes
for a minute
this morning
I want you to
think of your
worst
sin
what is it
that sticks
to you
and you feel
you can never
get away from it
can't get the
shame of it
off of you
imagine that
sin being
placed on
Jesus
at the cross
being buried
forever
in his
empty tomb
washing away
with the
rushing river
into the
depths of the
sea
can you
see that
happening
friend if you
trust God
this is what
he does
for you
that's what
his love
is like
he takes
it away
forever
and loves
and delights
in you
if you've
never known
love like
that
you can
experience it
today
right now
maybe you've
been at church
many times
or for many
years and
thought that
God was
someone to
keep your
distance from
lest he
catch you
he would
catch you
doing something
wrong and
get you for
it
Micah says
you'll end up
broken and
hopeless
hiding from
him
but the God
of the Bible
is actually
looking to
catch you
he is
he's coming
to catch you
so that he
can scoop you
up in his
arms and
embrace you
and hold you
forgive you
and love you
forever with a
love that will
never let you
go
that's why he's
looking for you
he sent his
son Jesus
to take
earth's
worst
for you
so that you
could have
heaven's
best
now
and forever
who
is a
God
like
you
pardoning
iniquity
passing
over
transgression
delighting
in steadfast
love
he's the
one we
all
need
to see
this
morning
I don't
know what
you've done
each of you
I don't know
how long
you've been
cold
to God
but I know
that it is
no match
for his
grace
your sins
not bigger
than his
grace
your hearts
not so cold
that his
love
can't
warm it
and he
loves
to do
that
do you
see him
clearly
for the
first time
maybe
do you
see him
clearly
ready to
forgive you
again
this morning
do you
see him
longing to
have you
run back
into his
arms
to trust
him
afresh
rather than
what you're
doing right
now
hiding from
him
in your
struggle
and pain
do you
hear
and see
your
father
wanting
to welcome
you home
and hold
you and tell
you how much
he loves
you
y'all
why would
we run
anywhere else
but to him
he's a God
of steadfast
love
cry out to
him
even now
come talk
with us
more about
his love
after the
service
kids
I want to
read you
one more
picture
of God's
love
this morning
will y'all
come up
here
and sit
on the
steps
as we
finish
the
sermon
so you
can hear
it really
well
let's
sit over
here
this is a
book I
get to
read with
my kids
sometimes
written
by a
guy named
Brian
Chappell
it's a
book that
helps us
learn about
how much
God loves
us
okay
the title
is I'll
love you
anyway
and always
okay
see the
little girl
in that
picture
that little
girl's name
is Katie
okay
Katie poured
water from
her watering
can onto
the flower
bed
her mother
was planting
petunias near
the house
Katie you can
water all
the flowers
mother told
her except
for daddy's
favorite it's a
very special
flower called
an orchid
and only
daddy knows
how much
water it
needs
so Katie
watered all
the flowers
in the garden
she knew the
water would
make the
flowers grow
more beautiful
then she
thought daddy
wants his
orchid to be
beautiful I'll
water it for
him too
she put a
deep pool of
water around
the purple
flower Katie
did not know
that the orchid
could only drink
a little water
at a time
and as the
afternoon wore
on the orchid
began to
wilt and
its beautiful
blossoms fell
to the ground
it's a sad
flower isn't
it that evening
after dinner the
family went out
into the yard to
enjoy the cool
air Katie's
daddy happened
to glance over
at his orchid
and a look of
shock and sorrow
crossed his
face when he
saw the
withered flower
what happened
to my orchid
he said
Katie hung her
head in shame
why hadn't
she obeyed
finally she
whispered
I watered it
I'm so sorry
tears came to
her eyes
daddy you're
sad because I
hurt your flower
will you still
love me
Katie's father
took his little
girl into his
arms
because you
disobeyed he
said you and
I are both
sad but
but nothing
you do
will ever make
me stop loving
you
I'll love you
anyway
and always
and her daddy
started to tell
her stories
about how God
loves us
Adam and Eve
and Noah
and Abraham
and Moses
and David
and then
God sent
who do you think
that is
Jesus
baby Jesus
God's own son
to save his
people from
their sins
God made
Jesus a
perfect sacrifice
for our sins
Jesus loved us
so much he took
all the punishment
for our sins
when he suffered
on the cross
and so when we
trust him God
takes our guilt
away
when we ask God
to forgive our sin
he says
guess what
I'll love you
anyway
and always
and her daddy
said to her
Katie
now you know
why nothing you do
will ever make me
stop loving you
I will love you
anyway
and always
let's pray
Father we need
that kind of love
it's not just
little kids
who disobey
their parents
disobey you
we do what we
think is best
we love to
live for ourselves
and honestly
there are many
days where we
wonder if you
could still love
us
thank you
thank you for
Jesus
thank you for
being a God
who will never
ever let us
go
and will never
quit loving us
thank you for
sending your son
so that we can
believe that if you
would send him
for us
you will never
quit loving us
nothing could
ever separate us
from your love
that you've given
us in Jesus
pray these kids
would remember
that
pray their
pastor would
remember it
and their
parents
and all of us
and we would
know how much
you love us
and that would
bring great joy
to our hearts
today and
every day
in Jesus name
amen
for more
information
visit us online
at
southwood.org
and
to
know
and
he
Cs
in