Okay, do sit down and turn to Micah chapter 3.
Micah chapter 3.
And I want to preach it in a slightly different way than I'd normally preach it.
! I think you read chapter 3, it's pretty depressing.
Pretty discouraging.
Very often it's preached, this is what the leaders were like in Micah's day,
this is what the leaders are like today, this is where the state we're in.
But I don't think you need that tonight, I certainly don't.
And so I'm going to start with a quote from the Westminster Confession of Faith.
You should have had this little sheet, which has the same thing on both sides.
Yeah, you'll see that, alright, just to help you.
Alright, here we go.
So, Westminster Confession of Faith, which is a summary of what we believe it's our doctrinal basis,
let me read it to you.
In his eternal purpose, it pleased God to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus Christ.
His only begotten Son, to be the mediator between God and man.
Jesus is the prophet, priest and king, the head and saviour of his church,
the heir of all things and the judge of the world.
Judge of the world.
From all eternity, God gave him, that's the Lord Jesus, a people to be his seed and to be in time redeemed,
called, justified, sanctified and glorified by him.
So, in eternity, God the Father appointed God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to this threefold office.
And then as we read the Old Testament, we'll see that that threefold office, prophet, priest and king,
unfolded and revealed.
So, Adam, do you remember him?
He was the first man, wasn't he?
He is prophet, priest and king.
He's the only person in history to hold all three offices.
But we know, don't we, Adam failed.
He failed in the garden.
And Adam lost his God-given role and lost his calling.
And so, after the fall, as you go through the Old Testament,
no one person held all three offices.
There was a number of faithful saints that held some of them.
So, Moses, he's a king of sorts, isn't he?
As you read the story of Exodus, which you know,
Moses did lots of kingly things.
Lots of things a king would perform.
But he functioned more as a prophet.
He spoke God's words to Pharaoh.
He was a mouthpiece for the people.
Aaron, Moses' brother-in-law, well, he was a priest, wasn't he?
He was a priest for the people of God.
He was the people's representative with God.
He spoke to God on behalf of the people.
And so he held the office of priests.
King David.
He was chiefly a king, wasn't he?
He ruled over Israel.
But we also know David was a bit of a prophet, wasn't he?
The Psalms.
He spoke God's word, proclaimed it.
But there was no one person that was prophet, priest, and king until the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Israel's history, you can see some faithful sketches of what this prophet and priest and king was to be like.
But in Micah chapter 3, as we read it, did you notice?
The leaders, the family, the leaders of the families, the rulers, the elders who exercised God's rule,
that kingly function,
instead of pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ,
these rulers, these kings,
were engrossed in the worst kind of selfishness.
The rulers in Micah chapter 3,
they engaged in
the kind of
abusing and feeding off
the people.
Instead of
sacrificially loving the people,
they abused them to serve their own wicked
ends and schemes.
And so, what I want us to look at
is really
the prophet, priest, and kingly
aspects of Micah chapter 3.
And so, I'm starting to think of an illustration.
And the only illustration I can come up with,
you can come up with a better one,
is a photo negative.
Do you remember photo negatives?
You young people and you kids,
you'll have to Google it.
Maybe they can explain it.
But it used to be,
you'd take a photo,
and
you'd have to wind it on,
and then you would take the film out,
and you would go to the chemist,
and you would hand it over to the chemist,
and about a week later,
you would go back to the chemist,
and they would hand you
a packet of photos.
And in the,
and that little packet,
there would be all your photographs,
but they'd also be negatives.
And the negatives were like the opposite,
weren't they?
So you'd hold them up to the light,
and you could see your photo,
but everything was the wrong way around.
It was like inverse.
And so,
if you had somebody with black hair,
in the negative,
it was white hair.
And all the time,
it's kind of the wrong way around.
And there was negatives.
You'd get your pictures,
but you'd get the inverse of the pictures.
Light was dark,
and dark was light.
Light.
And so when they developed those photographs
from that little bit of film,
you would get the positive of the negative.
Okay.
If you're under 30,
you don't understand that illustration,
that's all right, okay?
And if you're under 30,
you're probably bored by it.
Over 30.
But what Micah 3 is,
is it's the negative image
of the person and work of Christ.
I don't know whether you picked it up,
but when you read Micah 3,
everything is evil.
Everything you see is sinful.
But what wonderfully happens
is when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
you see the opposite.
You see their sin,
but you see his holiness.
You see their lack of judgment,
but you see his righteousness.
You see their pride,
but you see his humble submission.
So first of all, kings.
The kings.
Remember last week,
we saw the prophet's words of judgment.
He spoke judgment, didn't he, Micah,
so harshly to those who stole
the possession of the land from his people.
They were greedy.
They idolatrously pursued wealth at any cost.
And Micah continues,
but in verse 1 of chapter 3,
can you see it?
He speaks to the heads of Jacob,
to the rulers of the house of Israel.
And he's got them in his sights,
in his crosshairs.
He's dealing with Israel's leaders,
Israel's kingly figures.
And so what were Israel's leaders to be like?
Leaders in the people of God
were to judge with equity.
They were to be righteous and upright.
They were to be fair.
And so in Exodus 18,
you read about Moses' instruction to the people
about how rulers were to conduct themselves.
You are a chosen race,
one Peter tells us.
A royal priesthood.
Holy nation.
A people for his possession.
That's the fulfillment of what Israel's leaders were to be.
They were meant to be upright.
They were supposed to fear God
and hate corruption
and look negatively upon bribes.
But Micah condemned Israel's rulers
because, verse 2,
ultimately they abused their authority.
Look at verse 2.
You who hate the good
and love the evil.
Can you see it?
The rulers were acting, weren't they?
In exactly the opposite way
they were supposed to act.
And the prophet describes them.
I don't know whether he picked it up
in the most gruesome of terms.
He essentially likens them to cannibals.
Look at the second half of verse 2.
You tear the skin from off my people.
It's a horrible image, isn't it?
And their flesh from off their bones.
You eat the flesh of my people
and you flay the skin from them.
That's metaphoric language, I think.
But it's written in such a way
that you notice the brutality
and the wickedness of these rulers.
In other words,
what you have in chapter 2
is wicked developers
stealing the land of the inheritance.
Stealing their possessions.
And so in chapter 2
the people are being badly treated.
They're being ripped off.
And so I suspect what you have is
these people would go to their leaders.
They'd go to court.
And they would say,
this man has wickedly stolen
my inheritance in the land.
And rather than ruling
in accordance with justice
and fairness and truth,
the wicked rulers
would consume the people.
And they would find that
when they went to court,
they would find that the judges
were in cahoots
with the wicked land thieves.
And they would take bribes.
The kind of language,
you give me a cut of the land
and I will rule in your favor.
And so the leaders,
rather than showing love
and care for the people,
instead of presenting them
with a living reflection
of the upright God,
they became essentially
the incarnation of evil.
So think for example
about King Ahab and Jezebel.
Do you remember them?
And when Ahab wanted to buy
Amnaboth's vineyard,
Amnaboth wouldn't sell it.
Do you remember King Ahab?
He sulked.
He became depressed and mourned.
And Jezebel, his wife,
comes to him and says,
well, why is your face downcast?
He tells her.
She says, well,
just leave it to me.
She takes things
into her own hands.
She has two wicked men
accuse Naboth
of blaspheming God.
And because of this,
Naboth is stoned to death
because of these false allegations.
The narrative says
in 1 Kings 2,
verse 11,
No, that's not the right verse.
That tells you,
if you want to know
what that is,
that's about the death of David.
That's not right.
But what we find is that
Jezebel,
she contacted the leaders
and she says,
I want you to set up Naboth.
I want you to get the men to lie
so that he can be stoned to death
and can be executed.
I think that's exactly
what's happening
in Micah chapter 3.
It's the exact kind of conduct
that Micah is condemning.
They conspired together,
didn't they,
Jezebel and the leaders
to consume Naboth
so they could steal his land.
And so Israel's leaders
would face God's judgment
for their sin
as Micah prophesies
in verse 4.
God will carry them away
into exile.
He will not let them
get away with it.
He says,
I mean,
you will cry out to God
but God will not hear you.
But of course,
this judgment
against Israel's leaders
and Israel's kings
must ultimately
cause us to look forward
to the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the Lord of Lords
and the King of Kings.
Because as you think about it,
rather than inflicting
suffering on others,
it was the Lord Jesus
who was afflicted
and suffered.
so that we don't have to
face God's judgment.
Think of this,
it's a world of irony,
isn't it,
that Christ,
the Lord of Lords
and King of Kings
suffered for us
so that we
do not have to suffer
the curses of the law.
When God has got
every right to judge us
alongside Israel's leaders,
instead,
he sends his only begotten son,
Jesus,
to suffer for us.
And here,
these wicked leaders,
do you see what it says?
They were flaying
the skin
of the people of Israel.
Perhaps,
in some cases,
literally so.
People were unjustly
suffering under the rule
of these wicked leaders.
But we know,
don't we,
it was the Lord Jesus
who was flayed
when the Roman authorities
whipped him.
He was brutally beaten.
A crown of thorns
was thrust upon his head
and they mocked him.
Compare him
with these wicked leaders.
One 19th century preacher
said,
Christ took your cup
of grief.
Christ took your cup
of grief,
your cup of curse,
and pressed it
to his lips
and drank it
to its drags.
And then he filled it
with his sweet
pardoning.
Sympathizing love.
And he gives it
back to you
so that you might
drink it forever.
Christ drank
the cup
of the curse
of God's wrath
to its very dregs.
That even though
he was the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
What a world
of difference.
And I think what's important
to know here
is that Micah's judgment
against the rulers,
against the kings,
if you will,
ends with Christ.
And we could stop that.
And if we did stop there,
we would see
a beautiful scene
of Christ's suffering
on your behalf.
And yet one of the
great truths
of the Bible
that has been recovered
is this priesthood
of all believers.
So stick with me here.
The fact that
we are united
to Christ,
we share
in everything
that Christ has.
And so,
thus,
as Christ is
prophet,
priest,
and king,
so we who have been
united to Christ
by faith
and have his
indwelling presence
within us,
we too,
as his people,
we share
in that
threefold office.
That threefold office
of prophet,
priest,
and king.
And so that means
all of us have,
as Christians,
have that responsibility
to exercise
that role,
that office.
And so in the light
of this wicked
use of authority
and Christ's
wonderful use
and loving use
of his kingly authority,
we have been
united with Christ.
We're joined to him.
We share
in his kingly office.
We are kings
in Christ.
We're the royal family
tonight.
And so do you see
the authority
that God has
given us
in our lives?
In our positions
of authority
at work
or the home
or in church
or within school?
And so do we
take advantage
of others?
Do we turn
a blind eye
to sin?
Or do we
seek
to show
the curse-bearing
love of Christ
to others?
when the Lord
Jesus tells us
that when we're
struck on the
cheek,
we're not to
retaliate,
but we're to
turn the other
cheek.
And that is
ultimately,
isn't it,
embodying the
loving
but also the
suffering
of Christ.
The love
that Christ
gives to others.
And rather than
seeking justice
and wanting
to strike
that person
and exact
justice
or maybe
even vengeance,
Christ's point
is that we are
willing to turn
the other
cheek
and bear the
penalty
as he bore
the penalty.
I'm not saying
we bear the
penalty in exactly
the same way
Christ did.
Christ bears
the penalty of
a broken law
on our behalf
as an atonement
for sin.
But in our
case,
we turn the
other cheek.
And when we
bear the
penalty,
it's an
expression of
love as
Christ our
King has
condescended
to love us.
And so we
absorb that
pain.
We absorb
the penalty
when we
rightly bring
it to bear
against someone
else when we
turn the
other cheek.
When we
show love
to those who
deserve to be
punished.
When we
show others
the forgiveness
that we
ourselves have
received from
Christ.
That is the
loving nature
of our
King.
That is the
nature of our
King's love
for us.
And so
should we not
extend the
same love
to others
that we've
received from
Christ?
Or will we
look like
Israel's leaders
who flayed
the people,
chopped them
into bits,
threw them
into the pot
so that they
could take
advantage of
them?
That brings
us to our
second point.
prophets.
In Israel,
part of the
duty of the
prophets was
to hold the
kings in
check.
As I think,
for example,
of the
prophet Elijah,
the prophet
Elijah again
and again,
he goes to
Ahab and
Jezebel,
he holds
them accountable
for their
sin.
So much so
that Ahab
and Jezebel,
they hated
him because
he was
continually
calling them
to account
for their
wickedness.
And the
prophets
should have
held the
kings to
account.
They should
have held
the kings
in check.
But can you
see what the
prophets of
Micah's day,
instead of
holding them
in check,
instead of
bringing them
to account,
instead of
bringing the
law of God
to bear on
their ruling,
do you see
what they did?
They joined
in the
feeding frenzy.
The prophets
preach a false
message and
they say,
there's peace
so long as
their mouths
were filled.
Do you see
that in verse
five?
But if their
mouths weren't
filled,
they would
complain.
they would
use their
office against
those who
they were
supposed to
protect and
love.
And so for
this, God
will judge
them.
Look at
verse six.
Therefore
it should be
night to
you without
vision and
darkness to
you without
divination.
The sun
shall go down
on the
prophets and
the day
shall be
black over
them.
The seers
shall be
disgraced and
the diviners
put to
shame.
And they
shall all
cover their
lips.
The tool
of their
trades for
there is
no answer
from God.
God
essentially
says,
you want
lies?
You want
to claim
to speak
in my
name?
Well, I've
not given
you this
message, the
message of
falsehood.
And so I'll
cover you in
darkness.
I won't give
you any
revelations.
I'm not
going to give
you any
messages.
You'll cry
out to me, but
I will not
respond.
And I will
put you into
darkness.
And once
again, I
think we can
see, can't
we, that the
negative in
the false
prophets, in
the Lord
Jesus, we
see the
positive.
The exact
opposite.
What was the
Lord Jesus
Christ?
He was the
truth incarnate.
He always
spoke the
truth, no
matter what
the cost.
Christ.
And I
think we
can see a
positive
picture of
the Lord
Jesus
Christ.
Look at
verse 8.
I love
verse 8.
But as
for me, I
am filled
with power,
with the
Spirit of
the Lord,
and with
justice and
might, to
declare to
Jacob his
transgression,
and to
Israel his
sin.
God's
sin.
I cannot
imagine the
courage that
it would have
taken for
Micah to
speak against
the status
quo.
To level his
words of God's
truth against
the power.
To speak truth to
power is very,
very, to speak
truth to your
friend is not
enough, but to
speak truth to
power like
this.
To level his
words of God's
truth against the
power that they
held.
They held all of
this power, and
yet he speaks
boldly to them.
And I think we
see, don't we,
here, just a
faint positive
picture of the
Lord Jesus
Christ, who was
himself willing
to stand up to
authority of his
day, to speak the
truth to them
regardless of the
consequences, even
when it led him to
death, to the
crucifixion.
Do you see, the
Father poured out
his Spirit on
Christ, for him
to be able to
carry out his
prophetic ministry?
And so, join
with me in
question 31.
Can you see the
Heidelberg Catechism?
It's another one of
the summaries of
our faith.
And let me ask
you the question,
verse 31, you'll
respond with the
answer, why is he
called Christ that
is anointed?
So why is he
called Christ that
is anointed?
Let's say it
together.
because he has
been ordained by
God the Father
and anointed with
the Holy Spirit
to be our chief
prophet and
teacher, who has
fully revealed to
us the secret
counsel and will
of God concerning
our redemption,
our only high
priest, who by the
one sacrifice of
his body has
redeemed us and
who continually
intercedes for us
before the Father
and our eternal
King, who governs
us by his word
and spirit and
who defends and
preserves us in
the redemption
obtained for us.
And so far from
kind of aiding and
abetting the
cannibalistic
frenzy of
Israel's rulers,
Jesus speaks and
he continues to
speak to us,
truth as he
feeds us from
heaven.
In fact, the
Bible says Jesus
is the manna from
heaven.
The Bible tells us
that he feeds
us.
That's what Jesus
meant in the
Sermon on the
Mount.
Blessed are those
who hunger and
thirst for
righteousness, for
they shall be
satisfied.
And so here, in
Micah's day, the
prophets are aiding
and abetting the
feeding upon the
people.
And in the Lord
Jesus, he says,
I will not feed
upon you, I
will feed you.
My word will be
food to you and
you will be
satisfied.
But remember,
that is fulfilled
in Christ.
But as we
looked at with
the kingly
office of
Christ, how
does this
apply to us?
Given our
union with
Christ, how do
we exercise our
part in this
prophetic office?
Well, do we
speak truth to
those around us
in love?
If you're
anything like
me, you
often cower
from speaking
the truth.
Whether that's
being too
afraid of
speaking the
truth of the
gospel to an
unbeliever.
Perhaps when we
hear things being
said that ought
not to be said,
it's really easy,
isn't it, to
speak with a
child and say,
don't say that.
But when it's a
friend, when it's
a peer,
we can often
be terrified of
speaking the
truth.
It's one of the
things we need to
drum into our
children, isn't
it?
So children,
teenagers, just
listen for a
minute.
Do not, do
not, do not be a
people pleaser.
That's one of the
things the Bible
drums into you.
All of us want to
be liked, don't we?
Desperate to be
liked.
None of us wants
to be a pariah to
stick out.
And yet, for
every one of us,
for your parents,
for each one of
us, it requires
us to speak the
truth.
To earn some of
the disrespect of
the people around
us.
Even if it means
we lose a friend,
to be willing to
speak the truth.
It's my great
prayer for you as
children, I mean
young people, that
you'll be willing to
speak the truth.
To earn that
disrespect.
Because that is
part of the
prophetic office
we've been given.
That we're willing
to speak the
truth to power.
Willing to
suffer for the
sake of the
truth, for the
sake of the
gospel.
You might say
to me, those
adults who are
here, well I
wouldn't want to
risk losing my
job, losing my
income.
So we're quiet.
And we're
silent.
Or we shade and
darken the truth
just like the
devil in the
garden of Eden.
He shaded the
truth to me.
And Satan did
that in tempting
Christ.
Shaded the
truth.
And this
office of being
a prophet, do
we speak words of
truth and life to
our spouses, to
our friends?
When I get to
heaven, I want to
ask the apostle
Paul about when
he speaks in
Galatians, about
the church in
Galatia biting
one another so
that they devour
one another.
I think he's
got Micah 3 in
his mind.
I think he's
pulling that
language from
Micah 3.
And so it's
terribly sad,
isn't it?
In church life,
we can devour
one another.
And it
shouldn't be so.
We speak the
truth, but we
do so in
love and
kindness and
humility.
And as we
do that, we
share in
Christ's prophetic
office.
Lastly, the
priests.
Micah returns
and he brings
more words of
judgment against
Israel's leader.
Look at
verse 11.
He rebukes
them for their
willingness to
have bloodshed
and to take
bribes.
Verse 11.
Its heads
give judgment
for a bribe.
Its priests
teach for a
price.
Its prophets
practice divination
for money.
Yet they
lean on the
Lord and
say, it's
not the
Lord in
the midst
of us.
No disaster
shall come
upon us.
They're hired
guns.
They're
mercenaries.
Conference
speakers.
What do you
need me to
prophesy to you
about?
And I'll do
so for a
price.
What do you
need me to
preach on?
And I'll
preach on it.
You want to
hear a comforting
message of
salvation even
though you're
wicked, even
though you're
crooked?
Well, for
the right
place, I
can do
it.
I'll
preach to
you the
message that
you want
me to
hear.
And rather
than relying on
the sacrifices
for their
income in
accordance with
the God's
law, they
were essentially
saying, I'm
going to take
everything from
you.
Think of
Eli's sons
regularly ripping
off the people,
so much so that
they become obese.
Instead of
serving as the
representatives of
the people to
bring sacrifice to
God for their
sins,
they milk the
people for
profit.
And what is
terribly sad is
I think ultimately
these people
thought that their
actions, it would
only affect
themselves.
I'm just
getting some
money for
myself, I'm
just looking out
for me, but
what happened in
Old Testament
Israel is when
the priests
stop serving
their God-given
function, it
means that the
sacrifices aren't
offered, which
means that the
sins of the
people pile up,
which means that
God will
eventually have
to kick
them out of
the land
into exile.
Their
wickedness would
boil over into
the land and
essentially be one
of the chief
reasons for their
exile from the
land.
And once again,
we see again,
don't we, Jesus is
the exact opposite.
Look at that
question 31 that
you read out for
me, just look how
brilliant it is.
Look what it says.
He's been anointed
with the Holy Spirit
to be our chief
prophet and
teacher who has
fully revealed to
us the secret
counsel and will
of God concerning
our redemption and
our only high
priest who by the
one sacrifice of
his body has
redeemed us and
continually intercedes
for us before the
Father.
He who was rich
became poor for
our sake.
He stepped away
from his throne and
entered into this
veil of tears and
was obedient even
to the point of
death.
And so far from
trying to milk you
for financial gain,
he laid aside
everything that was
rightly his so that
you might rightly
have everything that
was his.
And so who
delivered up Judas
to die, Spurgeon
asks.
Not Judas for money,
not Pilate for fear,
not Jews for envy,
but the triune God
for love.
And Christ laid
down his life as
priest out of love
for you.
What manner of love
is this, that we
should be called
children of God?
When we were by
nature children of
wrath, Christ
loved us.
When we were his
enemies, Christ
died for us.
So how do we,
as those who are
united to Christ
in him, how do we
exercise our
priestly duties?
Do we rest in the
power of the
gospel which enables
us to pray and
intercede for others
as Christ intercedes
for us?
I think all too
often if I look at
myself, I'm so
concerned with my
own needs, instead
of looking to the
needs of others.
And we need to
recognize, don't we,
our priestly office
gives us the
privilege of
interceding for
others, and it's
not a part-time
job, it's not
something that we're
called to do from
time to time.
No, Christ's
priestly office is
meant to characterize
all our lives.
It's not a part-time
job to be a
priest, it's a
full-time calling.
So Romans 12
verse 1,
I appeal to you
brothers by the
mercies of God,
here's the priestly
language, to present
your bodies as a
living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable
to God, which is
your spiritual
worship.
Our priestly
identity in
Christ, our
union with him
should mark the
entirety of our
lives.
Jesus describes
your life as
what?
Take up your
cross and follow
me.
And our lives
throughout every
element should be
marked by a
sacrificial love for
others.
Christ.
And so as I
understand how the
priests in
Micah failed and
how Christ
wonderfully is the
perfect priest and
how I am a
priest in Christ,
I need to pray that
the triune God
would break the
fortress of my
heart.
And that I would
lay down my
selfishness.
and I'd be willing
to even lay down
those things which I
have a legitimate
right.
And that I and
we as a church
family would be
enabled to pour out
our lives as a
drink offering,
all for his glory
and the benefit and
love of our
neighbours and our
families.
For the benefit and
blessing of our
church members.
I hope that as you
read Micah chapter
three, maybe before
you go to bed or
maybe as you get up
tomorrow morning,
and as you reflect on
Micah's harsh words of
judgment, I hope that
you will be able to
see against the
wicked backdrop of
sin and darkness how
brilliant and how
beautifully the
person and work of
Christ shine.
And that this week
you would meditate on
Christ's faithful work as
your true prophet and
your true priest and
your true king and
you would give thanks
for his work on your
behalf.
That you'd give thanks
for him as a faithful
prophet who has always
spoken the truth to us.
That truth which has
brought us salvation and
you'd give thanks to him
as a loving priest that he
has laid down his life as
a sacrifice so that you
would not have to suffer
the curse of God's law.
And that you would give
thanks to him as a king
who laid down his rule
to rule in humility.
To give us a rule that
we don't deserve.
But I also hope that you
will pray this week that
Christ's threefold work
would sink deep down into
the depths of your heart.
That God would rain his
spirit down upon this
truth and it would produce
great fruit in your lives.
And so I want to close
with the words of
Heidelberg Catechism
chapter 30, question 32.
It's a beautiful question
on, that follows Christ's
threefold work.
And it asks this question,
it asks the question,
why are you called a
Christian?
And you need to understand
that the word Christian
doesn't just mean a
follower of Christ.
That's how we often say,
isn't it?
What is a Christian?
It's somebody who
follows Christ.
But what does Christ mean?
It means anointed one.
And so would you respond
with the answer,
why are you called a
Christian?
Because I am a member
of Christ by faith
and thus share in his
anointing so that I may
as a prophet confess his
name, as a priest present
myself, a living sacrifice
of thankfulness to him
and as king fight with a
free and good conscience
against sin and the devil
in this life.
And hereafter reign with him
eternally of all creatures.
Let's pray.
Amen.