New Hope Bible Chapel
March 16
  • Who Am I
  • Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross (Near The Cross)
  • Breathe
  • Micah 1:1–7 NKJV
    1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple. 3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place; He will come down And tread on the high places of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt under Him, And the valleys will split Like wax before the fire, Like waters poured down a steep place. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? 6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, Places for planting a vineyard; I will pour down her stones into the valley, And I will uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; All her idols I will lay desolate, For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”
    Introduction:
    Amos, Micah, and Hosea, prophecy at the time when the Great Assyrian Empire was dominating the scene in the ancient near east.
    All three prophets concern themselves with the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel (Samaria and Jerusalem).
    All three foretell the captivity of Israel because of their disobedience to God.
    Micah foretells the destruction of Samaria and the outer towns of the region by Sennacherib V only Jerusalem was spared by divine intervention in 701 BC.
    But then turns the prophecy to the Babylonian captivity which took place in both kingdoms some one hundred years later.
    Micah, preaches three main messages to Israel during the time of Isaiah (735 BC).
    Each prophetic message is heralded by the word “Hear”, which marks the beginning of these three distinct sections in the book:
    Micah 1:2 NKJV
    2 Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.
    Micah 3:1 NKJV
    1 And I said: “Hear now, O heads of Jacob, And you rulers of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know justice?
    Micah 6:1 NKJV
    1 Hear now what the Lord says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice.
    We shall look at each of these messages, taking each separately in its own context.

    I. The graphic description of their captivity. (1:8-16)

    Micah 1:8–16 NKJV
    8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals And a mourning like the ostriches, 9 For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people— To Jerusalem. 10 Tell it not in Gath, Weep not at all; In Beth Aphrah Roll yourself in the dust. 11 Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of Shaphir; The inhabitant of Zaanan does not go out. Beth Ezel mourns; Its place to stand is taken away from you. 12 For the inhabitant of Maroth pined for good, But disaster came down from the Lord To the gate of Jerusalem. 13 O inhabitant of Lachish, Harness the chariot to the swift steeds (She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion), For the transgressions of Israel were found in you. 14 Therefore you shall give presents to Moresheth Gath; The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. 15 I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah; The glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. 16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, Because of your precious children; Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, For they shall go from you into captivity.
    Micah speaks here as to how he will conduct himself as a witness to what the inhabitants of the surrounding towns and places will experience.
    He will walk around barefoot and naked.
    Definitely an unforgettable visual.
    But this is God’s point, He needs them all to know the gravity of their indictment and what they will most assuredly face.
    There is also sarcasm as Warren Wiesbe says:
    Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament Micah

    relating each message to the name of the particular city to which it is sent. Aphrah means “dust,” and they shall roll in the dust. Saphir means “beautiful,” but the people shall go naked. Zaanan means “to go forth,” but the citizens will be too afraid to go forth.

    And so we see that everyone is going into captivity and no one will be spared.
    I believe this is probably an idea that polarizes most Christians today.
    The first thing we ask ourselves, “does God bring an entire people group, whether it be a country, city, region, etc., into some adverse scenario if there are Christians there?
    This is a place where many of us part in our thinking.
    Yet, I do believe the scriptures point out many times that Christians do suffer in the physical sense because of the actions of that particular community.
    In the circumstances of the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation, we see clearly each group of Christians experiencing different circumstances because of the places they live.
    For the church at Smyrna, the Lord says:
    Revelation 2:10 NKJV
    10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
    I believe we have fallen into the wishful thinking trap, that we will never face problems if we just dedicate ourselves to the Lord.
    In the case of Micah’s prophecy, some of you may believe that if you just do good, God will spare you.
    The problem?
    That simply isn’t a biblical perspective.

    II. The destruction of the wicked (2:1-5).

    Micah 2:1–5 NKJV
    1 Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields and take them by violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, From which you cannot remove your necks; Nor shall you walk haughtily, For this is an evil time. 4 In that day one shall take up a proverb against you, And lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ” 5 Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot In the assembly of the Lord.
    These are those that devise evil and exact it upon others.
    They lie upon their beds early in the morning, devising schemes of acquiring property that belongs to another.
    They indulge their own covetousness, through evil methods.
    And we know that covetousness is idolatry according to Col. 3:5.
    We live in a technological time of ever increasing ways of expediting work and innovative ways of “making our lives better”.
    We don’t need to cash our check to have cash on hand to purchase things, because we have debit cards.
    We don’t need to write out checks to pay bills because we have online bill pay.
    But, those conveniences come at a price.
    Cyber crimes where criminals hack into your accounts and steel money from you has risen exponentially.
    We have digitized everything including legal documents, and now criminals have figured out ways to steal your property deed and sell your house right out from under you.
    Yes sir, “making our lives better”!
    Nothing has changed since Micah spoke these words almost twenty eight hundred years ago.
    Then the prophet addresses another group.

    III. The indictment upon false prophets (3:5-7)

    Micah 3:5–7 NKJV
    5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets Who make my people stray; Who chant “Peace” While they chew with their teeth, But who prepare war against him Who puts nothing into their mouths: 6 “Therefore you shall have night without vision, And you shall have darkness without divination; The sun shall go down on the prophets, And the day shall be dark for them. 7 So the seers shall be ashamed, And the diviners abashed; Indeed they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer from God.”
    Another pertinent warning for our day.
    So many false prophets, so many false predictions, so many false theologies.
    Those that take the word of God and use it for their own glory and advance.
    Those that twist it and take it out of context for the manipulation of God’s people.
    Those that show no remorse for their misleading, will only know the wrath of the King when they stand before Him.
    They are wolves in sheep’s clothing and their damnation will be just and swift.
    The apostle Paul dealt with this problem in his day.
    He said concerning those that teach another doctrine -
    Romans 16:17–18 NKJV
    17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
    Philippians 3:17–19 NKJV
    17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
    And this is the point.
    No one who works evil will escape the judgment that is coming.
    No one will get a pass.
    Their non-belief in an afterlife will not deny the condemnation that is coming.
    Their denial of the existence of God will not annul the destruction of their person.
    Their unbelief in a literal hell, will not prevent them from burning in it.
    And that brings up the last point Micah makes.

    IV. The restoration of the people of God (2:12-13).

    Micah 2:12–13 NKJV
    12 “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people. 13 The one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, Pass through the gate, And go out by it; Their king will pass before them, With the Lord at their head.”
    What a beautiful picture here of what Jesus said in
    John 10:7–10 NKJV
    7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
    Micah gives the people hope!
    Despite their going into captivity, he shows them that God will not forsake them utterly!
    You and I know much about this don’t we?
    We have seen many storms and trials.
    Such that at the time we probably never thought we would have gotten through, but God brought us to better days.
    That’s because He promised to never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5).
    He also said He would be with us always even unto the end of the ages (Matt 28:20).
    Yes, I know that it is not easy to trust when everything is going wrong!
    I know it shakes our confidence in His word and promises, when He seems to be silent to our plight!
    But I remind you that no one cares for you as much as God does.
    No one loves you as much as God does.
    No one!
    Romans 8:18 NKJV
    18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
    Whatever you are facing right now or in the months or years ahead, none of that compares to the glory which will be reveled in you when you are ushered into His presence.
  • Glorious Day
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