Micah: Peace with God

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Micah. If you're a guest with us, I've been preaching through each book of the Bible, one sermon at a time. And we started in January with Genesis. And so, we're 34 some books in and looking forward to finishing up the Old Testament over the next four or five weeks and then starting in the gospels around February. So, looking forward to that, and I trust it has been fruitful for you.

This time of year is a time when we want peace in our lives, do we not? We want peace with our friends. We want peace with our family members. And it seems that peace is hard to find at times. We add two or three more times the amount of things to our schedules, thinking that that is going to just refresh our souls, and if you're like me, it can tend to overload our souls. But I want to encourage you that the Bible has much to say about peace and even in the book of Micah.

But what is peace? What is peace? Charles Wesley said this, “I rest beneath the Almighty's shade. My griefs expire, and my troubles cease. Thou Lord, on whom my soul is stayed, will keep me still in perfect peace.” To rest beneath the Almighty’s shade, sounds good, doesn't it? And that is not referring to a long afternoon nap, though I like those as well. Peace is more than just the absence of hostility. Peace is more than just financial security.

The people of Israel thought that they had peace with God. But in truth, they merely had peace with their own lifestyles. They were satisfied. They were well fed. This is around 750 to 700 BC is the timeframe of Micah. The nation Assyria had not yet conquered them in 722, and Micah is sent to the people to proclaim God's will for them, to be a proclaimer of a divine message given by God and not men. Look in your Bibles, if you would, in Micah chapter one, verse one. It's on page 776 in the Bibles under the seats, there. “The word of the Lord…”, that tells you that this was not Micah's word, this was from God himself. “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.”

So, we know the timeframe that Micah spoke, that's not a mystery to us. But his words would seem kind of like a mystery to the people. The people were living in probably the greatest economic revolution they had experienced yet, as a people, since the time of their great kings. Since the time of David and Solomon. They were safe, so they thought. They had alliances with other nations. They were not scared of Assyria, though Assyria was the dominant world power. But this economic revolution, which is what we all dream for, right? We do not like the inflation rate of over 8% for next year. That's not what we're looking forward to. But for them, their economic revolution brought on materialism in abundance.

And it also ushered in a time of, I guess you could say, spiritual complacency. Right? Our bellies are full. Our houses are warm, and we're doing just fine. Except they were disregarding the poor, those who had trouble providing for themselves. In fact, they were even purposefully overlooked. And a look into the cultural milieu of the day would reveal that the bigger lots were getting bigger and inheritances by the powerful were taking over those of the smaller, and it was making it harder and harder on the poor. Even though they were told to leave the edges of their fields, we don't really have much in the way of knowledge that they were still doing that. They were beginning to disregard even God's specific messages to the poor and how to help them.

Well, as you probably realize, Micah is not as well-known as his greater contemporary prophet. Isaiah was alive at the time and wrote much. And we know a lot about Isaiah, and we have a lot of writings for him. But we don't have much from Micah. But Micah came with great courage, nonetheless. And his message is significant, even for this time of year. I didn't plan to preach on Micah during this Christmas season, but it certainly has a Christmas tone to it that I think you'll see, as we get into the book. If he were around today, he would certainly be railing against the cultural and social norms of the day, not just outside the church, but within the church.

But Micah gives us three messages. And he delivers these messages, so that everyone who hears them will understand, how do we have peace with God? That's the question they really needed to answer, and they thought they had it solved. But Micah brings a little bit different message to them. And in these three messages, you know when he's starting, because he uses the word “hear”. Here in chapter one, verse two begins with “hear”. Chapter three, verse one begins with “hear”, and chapter six, verse one begins with “hear”. And so, it's a call to listen.

So, we're just going to go through these three messages and see how does Micah talk about peace with God? The first message is this. It's a message of judgment. Chapter one, verse two, follow along, if you would, “Hear you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.”

Is that what you were thinking? As he's coming to the people, this is another prophet from God. He’s proudly bringing this great and wonderful message of peace. But see, the people needed to be stirred. They were standing in quicksand, and they thought they were on the rock. So, it's quite a grand introduction. And notice Micah is not now just talking to the people of Israel in the north, the northern 10 tribes and the people of Judah, right, Judah and Benjamin in the south, around the city of Jerusalem where King Hezekiah is.

Notice it says, “Pay attention, O earth.” You see, God is the God of the entire world, not just a small group of people. And that was always the case, even in the Old Testament. Micah's message is that God is on the way, and the mountains themselves are going to melt like wax before him. You can't trust in your great walls around the city. You can't trust in fortified places, like we learned a couple of weeks ago, right, about the city of Petra, built into the rocks where the people of Esau probably lived and may have even built some of those. You can't trust in those things because the mountains themselves, things we can't move and things we can't change, they themselves are going to tremble.

What could move the God of love and compassion to bring such devastation upon his own people and to get the attention of those on the whole earth. You know, when the earth, when the plates of the earth move just a few inches against each other, right? Scientists tell us that when these plates collide just a little bit, that giant earthquakes can happen. And the ripple effect can go on for days, even. And here, an entire valley is going to split open. We're not going to wonder if God has power. So, what is so grievous that he's going to do these things? Look in chapter one, verse five. “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 is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?”

And you're probably thinking, “Did I miss it? Was it in there?” Yeah, what he does is he names the capital of the tribes of Israel and the tribes of Judah. See, Samaria was the capital of Israel. That's where their identity came in. And Jerusalem is the capital of the southern portion at this point. That's where their identity came in. And he says, what gives you your identity is where we find the greatest problem. You yourselves and your cities are the problem of sin. He's not letting any of them escape. You know, we do that sometimes, “That's a good sermon for them.” But remember, “Hear, O earth”, right. So, he's including all of them, and he's narrowing down even, “Yes, you and your capital cities.”

Then he goes on, to name their specific sins. Chapter one, verse seven: their idols. We can take anything that is good and make it an idol, right, the things that we like and the things that we enjoy. But here, they actually had physical carved idols. They were still worshipping other pagan gods. Right, some hundreds and hundreds of years after God has been after them. And they still carry these things around with them. Chapter two, verse one, in their hearts, we see, that they were just devising wickedness. It's not like they were trying to do their best, and then they would fall. But here, they are planning for wickedness.

Chapter two, verse two, they steal land, they oppress the weak, and they loot their inheritance. See, in those days, land was your security. They didn't have social security. Hopefully we will when we're that age, right. Those of you who are waiting on it, hopefully it'll still be there. But for these people, their land was their social security. From it they farmed, from it they could trade and buy and sell if they weren't craftsmen and made things. And the powerful, who probably came from Samaria and Jerusalem, they were related to the powerful. They are stealing people's land and taking their inheritance. So, imagine, now all you have is just this house with no way to make money, because somebody just took it from you. And their leaders were okay with this. That's why we find that they were oppressing the weak, not just the poor, but the weak.

Now, chapter two, verse 11. This is very interesting to me. It's a sin that even permeates our day and age. It's very pervasive. Look in chapter two, verse 11. This is another sin that was prevalent among them. It says this, “If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,’ he would be the preacher for this people!”. It's a little bit of a complicated idea. But let me simplify it. There were rival preachers in the land, preaching, “Hey, we should all just party; we should all just get a lot of wine and strong drink.” Now, here's a separation between the two, you sometimes see that in Scripture, that wine is the normal drink, and then there's the really strong drink.

But the idea is that there are preachers who are preaching things that the people want to hear. And to me, this is like, this is the health and wealth thing. “Oh, you want this? God told me you should have it, and you should have it in abundance.” Right? If it's gonna make your problems go away, then you should have it, the wine, you should have it in abundance, the strong drink. And I'm just gonna preach that, and God says it's great. Now, the idea is that if they're taking land from people, who's getting the wine and the strong drink -- the wealthy, the strong, the powerful. These preachers are preaching to the wealthy and the strong and the powerful. They're disregarding the ones who had true needs, physical needs. These are false teachers. The church is rampant today, even in our town, with false teachers who just preach what the people want to hear. That is not new friends. We think our church society is kind of overrun by these types of things as if it's something new, but it was going on here, around probably 730 to 740 BC.

So, throughout Micah's messages, he goes into their sins, and tells them what God is going to do, that they are going to be overrun, that Jerusalem will just become a pile of rubble, and Samaria will be destroyed. The hearers, one commentator says, we're eager to swallow all of these lies, like it was gospel truth, that we should just get what we want. But friends, there is something better than that. There is something better than just the pleasures of this world that are fleeting. It's not that they're not good things. And it's not that God didn't provide these things for our enjoyment, but those cannot be the idols of our lives, that if those things are taken away that our, our countenance just falls.

No, Jesus is what we need to be focusing on. And Micah knew that they needed a greater vision; they needed a greater understanding of life itself. As they're wallowing in their sin, they needed rescued. And that's the second message that he brings to them, is just a message of rescue. And this is chapters three through five. Look in chapter three, verse one, and you will see why they need rescued. “And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?” And let me just describe this for you. Because this is some of the most vivid language in all of the Bible about the sins the people were committing in this chapter.

They were savage people. The people of God had turned so far away from him, that they weren't just following little carved idols of wood and stone and metal. They were worse than their enemies, or at least as worse as their enemies are. They were bad prophets. It wasn't just the people who are doing savage things; the prophets themselves were going around preaching peace. “Don't listen to the ones who say you're in sin. Listen to us. God is pleased with you. God understands life is hard.” It shows here that the prophets were preaching peace when they should have been preaching warning.

And we need to cultivate within ourselves the reality that the truth is far better than simply preaching platitudes, simply giving warm phrases, simply saying, “All is well,” when all is not well. And Micah, he's going to continue to narrow in so that there's no escape. As he mentions their specific sins, he keeps narrowing in. And let me just give you a small mini section of his sermon. Look in chapter three, verse eight. Micah sets himself apart here, and then mentions their sins. Micah chapter three, verse eight, “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. Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel.” [So, see, he's saying to the leadership, Listen up.] You heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, [verse 10], who builds Zion [with what?] with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. 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, ‘Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.’ [Verse 12] Therefore because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.”

They were so fully saturated with sin, so fully accustomed to sin, that they built their society on it. They built Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. They built their cities with sin. Sin is profitable. It will make you money until you get caught. Sin is profitable, and the people were just saturated with it. They didn't need just a little saving or a little turning. They needed a complete and permanent change. I wonder, what change do we need? Maybe some of you here don't even know Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior. You're familiar with the stories about Jesus, and you're willing to hear it, and you're willing to come to church, but your life just doesn't match. There's no full change. There's some area of your life that you're protecting that, “Lord, I'll serve you in this way, but no further.” And we saw last week how that worked out for Jonah, right? As I was mentioning to a dear brother this morning, his only prayer was in the belly of a fish.

You see, these people needed something more than just a denunciation of their sin. They needed a way for peace with God. And that's exactly what Micah was going to give them. They needed to be made new. They needed a heart transplant. They needed what only Jesus can provide. And Micah is going to point them to look forward to the Messiah who could change them forever. Look in Micah chapter five, verse two. And we're going to camp a little bit on explaining this verse this morning, because this is indeed one of the greatest hopes ever told of in the Old Testament. Micah chapter five, verse two, “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 coming forth is from old, from ancient days.”

Like, where was the word “Jesus”? It's not there. Where was the Messiah? Let me show that to you. This is indeed a prophecy about the Messiah who would come. Notice even here in this verse, where does he come from? Whose coming forth is from what? From of old. When you're born, are you born young or old? You're born young, right? Not a trick question. But if you are already old when you're born young, where have you come from? This is a look beyond, it says, “from ancient days.” Does that sound familiar? Jesus Christ has always existed. Jesus Christ is eternal. But he came to take on flesh. So, there was a time when he was born, that when he took on flesh to become the Savior of the world, but he was from Ancient of Days.

Verse three says this, this all is going to be yet future. Look in Micah chapter five, verse three, “Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who was in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.” So, there's going to be a time when the people of Israel are taken away. And then there's going to be a time when they return. And that's going to happen through Assyria at first and then later through Babylon. Look at verse four, “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.” Notice, it's his flock. He is not watching someone else's flock; he is going to watch his flock to the glory of God. And his name shall be what? To the ends of the earth, not just some local hero. Notice, Micah started with “Hear, O Earth”, and now there's going to be a shepherd whose name and glory will be renowned over all the earth.

Chapter five, verse five, “And he shall be their peace.” Who's going to be their peace? This one from Ancient of Days is going to be their peace? Are we just interpreting this wrong, you might say, is this just something that we come up with? It's just a good story. Like the Jewish people think we just take all these verses out of context, and we're just trying to, you know, conjure up some way to lead a path to the Messiah. No, in fact, the Jewish people of their day thought Micah five was indeed a prophecy of the coming Messiah.

John chapter seven, verse 40, records a story where the people are talking and they're listening to Jesus teach. You know, this is fast forward 750 years or so. And they're still thinking about what was written in the book of Micah. And John, chapter seven, verse 40, says this, this is after Jesus had just spoken, “When they heard these words [from Jesus], some of the people said, ‘This really is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes [from where?] from Bethlehem, the village where David was?’”

So, they were right. Jesus did grow up in Galilee, and he did most of his ministry there. He didn't do most of his ministry in Jerusalem. He did it around there, but he was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with the Scriptures and notice, that was a key for them to understand, “Who was Jesus?” Does he fit the prophecy that was foretold, even the one in Micah that we just read?

In Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter two, turn there with me, if you would. So, John believed this. That was John, the Beloved, the closest disciple of Jesus. Matthew, the tax collector, radically followed Jesus, also thought this. Matthew chapter two verse one, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wiseman from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”

This is not just a baby to celebrate. This is a baby to worship. Verse three, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; [Has the Messiah arrived, and we missed it? The entire city was aware of what was going on. Verse four,] and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. [Notice, they think in the Old Testament that you can pinpoint where the Christ, “Christ” means Messiah, the Anointed One, where the Christ is going to be born. They told him, verse five,] ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: [that's Micah,] ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

The wicked King Herod asked for the best advice in all the land. And all Jerusalem had heard about it. And they said, “You need to understand from Micah, the prophet, he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. This child who was born that the wisemen seek, to not just give gifts to, but to worship, is probably in Bethlehem, oh, Herod the king, who could chop our heads off.” Right, so they had to get it right.

And as you know, Herod was furious. The wisemen went, and they found him, right where Scripture said he would be; they found him still in Bethlehem at that time. Herod wanted to kill the children, because he thought he could kill this one who would be worshipped. You see, we have some countries who worship their ruler. Some countries worship their ruler, right, North Korea and others. Here, Herod wanted to be venerated as divine. So, if there's a new ruler on the scene, and there's already people from other countries coming to worship him, this little baby is a threat to Herod. So, what does Herod do? He kills the children in Bethlehem to wipe out the ruler. So, we know Jesus did, in fact, from Herod's own testimony, come from Bethlehem.

There were no disputes about where Jesus was born. But that leads to another fact. Would he bring peace with God? Turn back to Micah chapter five, verse five. Would this bring peace? We want peace. Micah five, five “And He shall be their peace.” Not to bring peace, but the person would be their peace. Isn't that what the angels announced that Jesus' birth? Luke chapter two, verse 14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth [what?] peace among those with whom he is pleased!” So, the idea is, is God pleased with you? If God is pleased with you, then you have peace with God through Jesus Christ, through faith in Christ? But if God is not pleased with you, if you do not have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you have not given yourself to God, then you have no peace at all with God.

Isaiah prophesied this as well, did he not? A contemporary of Micah, again another message of peace through the One who would come. Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, turn there, if you would, with me. Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, very famous passage. Again, Isaiah was alive and prophesying at the same time as Micah. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

Now think about this, the zeal of God himself is going to bring about this baby who comes to bring peace, who is going to be a wonderful Counselor, the God who in Micah is going to fillet open the land. The valleys are going to split. There's nothing we can do about God's plan, except reject it or accept it; you cannot alter it. Friend, a day is coming when Jesus is going to usher in everlasting peace. It is going to be a comfort that you and I, it's just beyond what you and I can experience right now. You see, we think about peace, maybe who we're arguing with or disagreeing with, or, you know, our boss, or neighbor or whoever, and maybe extended family. There's going to be a day when all that is set right. A day when we can have peace with God who is holy, with God who brings perfect justice.

You see, we all need rescued, not just the people of Israel and Judah. Not just them, but we all need rescued, and we all need to be willing to lay down at the feet of Jesus any area and all areas of our lives. You cannot just lay down part of it, you have to lay down all of it. Was this the understanding of the New Testament apostles as well, that this Jesus was all about peace? Yes, Ephesians chapter two, verse 13 and 14, I'll read part of that for you. This is from Paul to the church at Ephesus, which he established. Ephesians chapter two, verse 13, “But now in Christ Jesus you who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.”

Friends, what are you looking to in this life to give you peace, besides Jesus? What is greater in your mind than Jesus? What is more joyful in your life than Jesus? What is more precious in your life than Jesus? Think about your schedules and your time, what's more precious in your schedule than Jesus Christ? I just want to encourage you, that if you want to have peace with God, if you want to understand how to live in this turbulent world with a mind that is not overly burdened by everything that could happen, that mostly doesn't happen, but your mind is not overly burdened. If you want that kind of life, then you need Jesus Christ, you need to live for Him fully.

Verse 16 in Ephesians chapter two, explains this, and it says, “and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” The hostility there is between different people groups who are arguing over who who is God and how should we worship Him? Jesus brings peace between people groups, between all the different cultures of the one race, the human race. No matter who you are, or where you from, Jesus Christ is the way of peace. It comes through the cross. Jesus is the only way. And in this we are justified. You're not justified by your wonderful prayer. You're not justified by church attendance. You're not justified by agreeing with the Bible. You're only justified by your full submission to Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When you see that phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ”, remember every word’s inspired. He must be your Lord; if he's not your Lord, he is not your Jesus. If Jesus is not your Lord, he's not your Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is the Christ. He is the Messiah, the One who came and died and paid for every sin you have ever committed, your prideful thoughts, your selfish thoughts. All of it. It's not just for Americans. It's for Mexicans. It's for people from Africa. It’s for Russians, for Koreans, for Europeans, for the Chinese; it's for Indians.

Hear, O earth! Peace with God comes through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) It's only through Jesus. It's not Jesus- name-something-else from this people and religious group over here. No, that is a false religion, a false god. If it's not salvation in Jesus, it's not salvation. Micah wants the world to hear that salvation comes through the Messiah, and he himself is our peace. The world needs rescued.

Let me ask you, are you walking in for fellowship with God? Do you have this peace with God? Say, the world is just, it's troublesome. It gets to me, just when I think things are going right. I’m standing in this giant pothole in the middle of the road. I'm like, “How did I get here? I thought I was doing fine, but my tires are deflated. I thought my zeal for God was going good. But I don't even know what end’s up right now. I can't think of a single verse to encourage my soul. I'm down. I'm feeling bad about all that is going on in life.” Well, let me tell you, the disciples know how you feel. And Jesus encouraged them in that very state.

The night when Jesus was betrayed, that was their deepest, darkest moment, aside from watching Christ get crucified. John 16:33, Jesus tells them all of these things in those chapters for this very purpose. He says this, Jesus says this to his disciples when the world is crashing them: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” You can't fix the world, and even if you could, it doesn't bring peace with God. The Israelites, the people of Jerusalem, the people of Samaria, the religious leaders, they thought they had peace with God because everything was going well. They had lots of fruit; they had lots of money. They had lots of land. They were one of the very small nations who could repel a foreign invading army. And yet that didn't fix their relationship with God. So, they needed rescued, and Micah pointed them to the Messiah.

And the third message he gives them begins in chapter six. And this is a message of God's love, a message of God's love. Look in chapter seven, verse seven. Could you say these words like Micah says them? You see, Micah was rejected by all the people, but he was fully confident in God. And he says this, “But as for me, [no matter what you all do, but as for me] I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

Whatever you seek in life to make you happy and satisfied, I guarantee you, it pales in comparison to Jesus Christ. Micah had a direct communication line with God Himself. And what does he say? Does he say, “Lord, fix all these people.” No, he's preaching judgment to them. Does he say, “Lord, can you just, like? I'd really like a time where, you know, there were no potholes. It was just smooth. And maybe they appreciated me.” Do you ever feel like that? “No one appreciates me. No one understands. No one's walked in my shoes.” Right? No, what does Micah say, “I will look to the Lord.” He doesn't even ask for anything. He's saying, “I'm going to do this. I'm going to look to the Lord, and I'm going to wait on him.” Why? Because he's fully confident. Whatever God brings, it's better than anything he could ask for. Could you say that?

He knows that God's love is not just distant. It actually does something. Look in Micah chapter seven, verse 18. And we’ll conclude with this little section here. Micah says this, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance?” Lord God, there's a there's a few people left who are following you, and who is like you that you forgive our sin. He doesn't say that we're better than anyone else, because the good Lord knows we're not better than anyone else. He just says, “You forgive us. You have pardoned our iniquity and passed over our transgression.” God is a God who delights in love. Look, as he continues there in the middle of verse 18, “He does not retain his anger forever [Why?] because he delights in steadfast love. [Verse 19] 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.”

The greatest thing Micah could imagine is complete forgiveness from God. And that's the one thing he is confident of. Let me ask you, can you imagine anything better than that? Complete forgiveness with God. We can't fix the world, but we can delight in the love of Jesus Christ. And I pray that you submit your life fully to him today and walk after him and embrace the love that he provides.

Let’s pray. Lord God, we are frail sometimes. We are at a loss sometimes. We are embarrassed by our sin, Lord, at times. I pray, Father, that you pour out your compassion on us. That if someone here doesn't know you, that they would give their lives to you right now, to just cry out for your forgiveness, and to receive the salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ. Lord God, I pray for those who know you, that we would live in full submission to you, that we would not hold back anything from you, that we would confess our sins honestly and receive that sweet mercy and forgiveness that you provide.

Lord God, we pray for our loved ones. We pray for family and friends who don't know you. We pray that you would bring them to their knees, Lord, this Christmas season, that they may cry out to you and confess their sin to you. That you would give us compassion, Lord God, on all those who don't know you, from the people in the grocery stores, Lord, to the people that we see on a daily basis, to the people that we have in our homes. Lord, you have been so compassionate on us and shall we not be compassionate on others? Father, we thank you for this grand message from Messiah. And friends, let's just take a moment and ask God to help us to live for Him, that we may enjoy His peace. Father God, we want to be at peace with You. And Lord, we thank you that you have overcome the world. We give our lives and we give all things, Lord God, to you for your glory, in your precious Holy Name. Amen.