I invite you to turn with me this morning to the prophecy of Micah. Prophecy of Micah, turning our attention to the last, the seventh chapter of Micah. We'll read that chapter together, focusing especially on verse 7 of that chapter. Micah, we know, prophesies in chapter 5 about the place of our Lord's birth, the ruler to come from Bethlehem. Micah, along with a number of the prophets, was a prophet of doom and judgment on the one hand, but at the same time, one who prophesied of hope. And he gives a series of pronouncements to that extent throughout the short seven-chapter book of his prophecy. And in this book, then, he also points out God's covenant faithfulness in two ways. He points out God's covenant faithfulness, both with regard to God's promise of judgment for breaking the covenant, But as well, then, God's promise of mercy to deliver and to forgive His people. Micah 7, beginning at verse 1, as we give our attention now to God's most holy, inerrant word. What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard. There is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. The godly have been swept from the land. Not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood. Each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled in doing evil. The ruler demands gifts. The judge accepts bribes. The powerful dictate what they desire. They all conspire together. The best of them is like a briar. The most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman has come. The day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. Do not trust a neighbor. Put no confidence in a friend, even with her who lies in your embrace. Be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father. A daughter rises up against her mother. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the members of his own household. But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord. I wait for God, my Savior. My God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord's wrath until He pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light. I will see His righteousness. Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame. She who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will see her downfall. Even now, she will be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets. The day for building your walls will come. The day for extending your boundaries. In that day, people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants as the result of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance which lives by itself in a forest in fertile pasture lands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago, as in the days when you came out of Egypt. I will show them my wonders. Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens. They will turn in fear to the Lord our God and will be afraid of You, who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance. You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob and show mercy to Abraham as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago. May God add His blessing to the reading, preaching, and consideration of His Word this morning. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, watching intently, waiting patiently, trusting completely. If you have looked at the outline on the back of the order of worship, you know that's what I have called the sermon points this morning. If you think about it, those things describe this time of year for so many. Those things describe Christmas time, as so many look forward to family gatherings, family celebrations, and gift exchanges. The question is often asked, no doubt, even among us here this morning, what would you like for Christmas? Lists are made, given, received. shopping takes place according to those lists as a child i must confess that i would watch intently as the weeks prior to christmas the gifts would make their way under our tree and i waited patiently for that special time when the family would gather together to open those treasures under the tree and i trusted completely i hoped beyond hope that i would get at least something from my list. Watching intently. Waiting patiently. Trusting completely. Isn't it true that those things really characterize Christmas for so many people? But if you think about it, those very same things, in a way, characterize the hope of God's faithful remnant in the Old Testament as they look forward to that event from which our society gets its Christmas. They looked forward to the coming of the Messiah even as Micah prophesied in chapter 5 as I said that He would come. The ruler would come from Bethlehem. As they looked forward to His work that we are called to celebrate even as we prepare to come to the Lord's table. Yet, the believers of the Old Testament were not longing for those gifts that would break or would lose their appeal for you and me in a very short time. The believers of the Old Testament were not hoping in mom and dad to fulfill their gift desires. But their confidence was in God alone. A confidence that we see here in our passage was led by Micah in verse 18, who is a God like you? And it's interesting that really that's the meaning of Micah's name. Micah, the name, asks the question, who is like the Lord? And as we notice what Micah says, the very, very short answer that he gives is no one. There is none like the Lord. As Micah declares confidence in the Lord, first of all, watching intently. But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, he says. Watching intently in desperate times. Again, Micah, like many of the Lord's prophets, prophesied. He preached to a rebellious covenant people. And the span of his ministry included the time when Assyria was overthrown by Samaria, who took the northern kingdom, Israel, captive. And then also the time in which the southern kingdom, Judah, began to follow the ways, began to follow in the footsteps of her older sister. And therefore, Micah prophesies of the coming fall and the coming captivity of Jerusalem, of the kingdom of Judah. And he outlines her wickedness throughout this short prophecy, her rebellion. For example, in chapter 5, he speaks of the idolatry and the witchcraft that was present in the nation. In chapter 6, he points out the deceitfulness and the fraudulent activities that they were carrying out among each other. In chapter 3, the political and the religious leaders were condemned for oppressing people and for disregarding truth and justice, the very things that they were set in place to uphold. And especially in chapter 2, he condemns those who oppressed the poor by taking the land that God had intended for them as their inheritance. An inheritance that was not to be given away, it was not to be sold, and certainly it was not to be stolen. The nation, Micah points out, looked religious outwardly, dressed in their Sabbath best as they made their way to the temple. They looked the part. And they deceived themselves figuring that they were safe. They could live like they wanted. They were safe simply because they were God's covenant people. But then in chapter 7, maybe you noticed even further that Micah highlights the breakdown of society. For example, through the breakdown of morality. Verse 2, The godly have been swept from the land. Not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood. Each hunts his brother with a net. The immorality that is seen there, evidenced there by murdering one another. And as well, he points out the breakdown of the nation's leadership. Verse 3, Both hands are skilled in doing evil. The ruler demands gifts. The judge accepts bribes. The powerful dictate what they desire. They all conspire together. The leaders were in it for themselves, looking out only for their own interests. And along with all of that, then the breakdown of the family, verses 5 and 6. Do not trust a neighbor. Put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace, be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the members of his own household. Micah is saying you can't even trust those who were closest to you. And incidentally, Jesus points out in Matthew 10 that that's the effect that He too would have. Not only did wickedness back in the Old Testament time tear apart the families, but Christ Himself would bring division in the families between those who received Him by faith and those who rejected Him. The breakdown of morality and the breakdown of the nation's leadership and the breakdown of the family. Does it sound familiar? And he prefaces all of that in verse 1 by saying, What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard. There is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. After the harvest has been completed, There should be some gleanings left for the poor. There's nothing, he says. Not one to be found who is righteous. And Micah's response on behalf of the remnant of the faithful few, we can be sure there was a remnant of faithful few, even though the nation as a whole is being described here in all of its wickedness. In chapter 2, he clearly talks about the remnant. And to Elijah, God said he preserves a remnant. And Micah's response in this difficult, terrible, wicked time on behalf of the remnant of the faithful few in the midst of visible hopelessness, his response of all things is hope. His response is hope in the only one who is able to give hope. The Lord. As he is watching intently with expectation. That's the kind of watching that we are to understand. An active watching. An active looking. You see, sometimes we go through our day with our focus only on our own little world, our own duties, our own life, paying absolutely no attention to anything or anyone around us, not even really knowing what's going on with the person at the desk beside us. Not paying attention. But this watching here is the idea of a watchman, a lookout, whose duty it is to watch, Waiting for the first glimpse of something. Maybe the morning light. Maybe the enemy so he can sound the alarm. For us, maybe a long-awaited relative. You know that the relative that you love so much and haven't seen for a while is coming. You know about the time they're going to come. And you look down the street to see if the car is coming. You look out the window. Are they coming in the driveway? When I was young, my grandparents lived about 45 minutes away. And when we would go there, the closer we got to their farm, the four of us kids would look out the window to be the first one to get a glimpse of their farm so that we could be the ones to proudly say, I see Grandpa and Grandma's house. Then my poor parents for the last several miles would have to listen to four voices shouting out, trying to be the loudest. I see Grandpa and Grandma's house. We weren't just focused on that little space around us in the car. We were looking out the windows. We had our eyes focused on something specific. And that's what Micah is talking about. Here with the eye of faith, focused on God, with love and devotion for God, expecting God to act. Because He is a covenant God. But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord. Yahweh. The One who had chosen Israel to be His own special people. the one who had said to them, I will be your God. You will be My people. This God who I mentioned at the beginning is faithful. Faithful to His covenant promise. Sadly, as Micah brings forth throughout this book again, sadly, He is faithful to His promise to punish. The time is coming. They deserve the curse for breaking covenant with God. But along with that, they can be sure that God is also faithful to His promise to deliver, to restore. His promise of mercy, His promise to preserve a remnant. As verse 20 says, You will be true to Jacob and show mercy to Abraham as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago. You see, beloved, Micah looks past the impending punishment which he knows is coming. He looks past that and as a faithful watchman, he warns them of that impending punishment. But he also looks past that to that future restoration, that future blessing promised by God for which Micah, in the second place, was waiting patiently, watching intently and at the same time waiting patiently. I wait for God, my Savior, or the God of my salvation, as some translate it. The focus being in one place on God. God alone who saves. God alone who delivers. He was waiting patiently, even though there would be suffering for a time. Notice verses 8 and 9. Do not gloat over me, my enemy. Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord's wrath until He pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light. I will see His righteousness. Micah there speaking on behalf of a repentant people. We know that those that faithful remnant, they too would suffer along with the nation as a whole. They too must go through that suffering. And those righteous by God's grace, by the working of the Holy Spirit, They understand their sin and misery and their offense to God. They understand what they deserve. And in the strength of the Holy Spirit, they bear patiently whatever chastisement or discipline the Lord may send upon them in this life, trusting in the mercy of God. As a people of God, we know too that we too are prone to the effects of sin in this life. We too suffer. And by the grace of God, we suffer in such a way trusting in the mercy of God. Micah is talking about a confident waiting with a trust in the Lord that is not broken by troubles or difficulties or distress or suffering. A trust in the Lord that is not broken by the Lord's seeming delay. A trust that is not broken. sometimes God's people want to give up or people in general who claim to believe in God, they want to give up in times of difficulty and distress when the suffering, when the going gets too tough for them. And they begin to doubt whether God is real because He's certainly not hearing me. If He were real, certainly He would have come to my aid by now. And they want to give up. By the grace of God, His people trust confidently with a trust that is not broken by the troubles and difficulties of life, that is not broken by the Lord's delay. Waiting patiently, knowing that the Lord will bring a resolution to the troubles surrounding the waiting one. Again, an active waiting with prayer and hope. One commentator describes this waiting this way. He says it is the most powerful form of action by the helpless. Those who can do nothing else. The most powerful form of action by the helpless who express in their waiting that God comes to them in a form of salvation. Their waiting gives evidence of their confidence in God. Just like Job who said, Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him. And that, beloved, is the confidence that God's people can have today. The confidence that we are able to have in the midst of trouble and disease and the wickedness of the world that so often presses in upon us. Confidence that none of it can, none of it will loosen God's tender hold on you and me. We can trust confidently. Wait patiently. Even though they would suffer for a time, Micah speaks of waiting patiently for salvation. For deliverance. From the enemies. from captivity. Again, he's looking forward. That captivity is going to come. And he is preaching, but we can wait patiently in the midst of that captivity. In verse 15, he reminds them of Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt. He reminds them of the wonders that God performed when He delivered His people. He reminds them there, if you read it closely, not only did God restore His captive people, not only did He release them, but He then exalted them above the nations. Micah looks back. He looks to the past, then to point to the future. Indeed, that captivity would come, but so would deliverance. God would deliver from captivity. But ultimately, Micah is talking about waiting patiently for salvation from sin. As we look to those verses again that we used for our assurance of pardon this morning, verses 18 and 19, Who is a God like you? who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance. You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of a sea. Who is a God like you? And the word for God there is pointing out to the God of might. The God of power. Who is a mighty God like you? But notice, in his answer, he doesn't then point to some mighty work of God. He doesn't point to God's mighty work of creation and the fact that He directs the stars and their courses and that God is the One who holds the ocean back in its boundary. He doesn't point to God's mighty omniscience, the fact that He knows the number of all of our days, the fact that He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we say them. He doesn't point to some awesome deed that God has performed. Who is a mighty God like you? And then he goes right to God's pardon. He goes to God's forgiveness. That greatest work, that greatest blessing of God that we all need, beloved, that not one of us can live without. Many gods were worshipped at that time. Today, too, of course, many false gods, gods who were nothing, they had no power, they could do nothing, but the people didn't understand that. In fact, the people credited those gods with all kinds of power, all kinds of might, the power of fertility, the might of production, power of the mountains, of the seas, you name it. All kinds of power, even though they had none. And those who worshipped these false gods spent their time trying to keep their gods from becoming angry. And if they thought their gods had become angry with them, they spent their time trying to appease their gods. But of course, we know that these gods were nothing. And Micah points not to some mighty, powerful act of God, but to something else that these gods could never provide. None of them was able to do that greatest work of reconciling totally, helplessly, hopelessly lost sinners to God. Micah knew that God was angry with the sin of His people. He was angry with them for that. And Micah knew that there was nothing that man can do to appease God, nothing that man can do to make himself right with God. Micah therefore points to Jesus Christ, the compassion of God, the mercy of God, the ruler to come from Bethlehem, the fact that God would not remain angry forever, but He would appease His own anger through His Son who completely removed all of our sin from us. God's wrath was poured out on Him so that His mercy might be showered upon those who believe in Him. And notice too that with regard to God's forgiveness, Micah gives an allusion to Pharaoh's army. When Pharaoh's army marched down into that dry red sea after Israel, following Israel, and once Israel was clear and those waves came crashing down upon Pharaoh's army, the Bible tells us not one survived. And beloved, that's our sin in Christ Jesus. Every last bit of it is hurled into the depth of the sea. It is drowned. It disappears. Never to be seen again. Never to be considered against us again. Waiting patiently for salvation from sin and therefore also with that deliverance from danger. Verse 14, Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest in fertile pasture lands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. that comforting image of God's people being His sheep. As Micah points to, I believe it's also in chapter 2. In Psalm 95, verse 7, we read, For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. And we cannot hear this without thinking about Psalm 23, where David points out the complete care of the good shepherd over his sheep. His sheep do not lack rest. They do not lack guidance. They do not lack provision. They do not lack safety. They do not lack a heavenly home. All things that sheep cannot provide for themselves, God's people as sheep find in Him. Micah had confidence as he watched intently, as he waited patiently for God, who cares for His people with a complete and comprehensive care, both in this life and in the life to come. And therefore, his confidence included, in the third place, trusting completely. My God will hear me. What a powerful statement. What an awesome, powerful confession. My God will hear me. When hope could be found in nothing or no one on earth in these troubled times, Micah was unable to watch and wait because of his confidence that God hears him. He had proven it over and over again. What a testimony of faith. Trusting completely in the one true God, the one who is living and true, not like the false gods who have ears but cannot hear. This God alone pays attention. This true God alone who is the Maker and Creator, the Preserver of all that He has made, who is the Redeemer of His people, the Almighty God. Trusting completely in this God with whom He enjoyed a relationship by faith. My God! Can you say that? My God? You see, only those who believe in Him by faith who have been brought into a saving relationship with Him by Jesus Christ, those who trust in Him alone and put their trust in nothing in this world, only they can claim Him as Mine. Even as He claims His people in Isaiah 43, I have redeemed you. You are mine. Only those whom God has claimed as His own can claim Him as mine. He is the one who loves me. He is the one who cares for me. How do I know? Because He has proven it in Christ Jesus. Only God's people can say, Oh God, You are my God. Those who enjoy a relationship with Him, having fellowship with Him through His Word and worship and prayer. It's possible to claim Him as God but not have anything to do with His Word. That's meaningless. When you claim to have fellowship with one, when you claim to know someone, you get to know them even better. And those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith enjoy fellowship, getting to know God better, more and more through His Word and worship and by prayer. And trusting completely in Him includes having a relationship with Him through obedience to Him. understanding my hopeless condition apart from His salvation, and therefore transformed by the Holy Spirit with transformed thoughts and words and actions, God's people, His sheep, delight in living for Him. The delight in pleasing Him. Trusting completely that this God hears me, even as He says. In Psalm 50, verse 15, the Lord says, Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor Me. Trusting completely that He will give what is needed for our good. Jesus says in Matthew 7, How much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask? And beloved, He does not always give what we want. Praise Him for that. He does not always give us what we have on our list. Praise Him for that. Because often, our wants, beloved, would destroy us. Instead, he gives us what we need for our good, for our preservation, and for our faith. Micah's confidence was in God's salvation, not just from physical captivity, but from sin. His confidence was in the mighty work of God, that mighty work of forgiveness and pardon for those who had offended God and who needed God alone to rescue them from the judgment that they so well deserved. That we deserved. Micah's confidence was in God's Savior, that coming ruler from Bethlehem, for whom God's faithful remnant called. For whom they looked, watched. For whom they waited. We celebrate Christmas. We celebrate, beloved, because God has heard the cries of His people. And He has remained faithful to His promises. Jesus Christ has come. Jesus Christ has died and paid for sin. Jesus Christ lives and reigns today. He has accomplished that greatest gift that those who believe enjoy the forgiveness of all of our sins, restoration with God. We are the sheep of His pasture. And that's what Micah talks about. All those from the nations. would come, who would believe, come into the restored walls of Jerusalem while those outside, for them who reject Him, there is no hope. Still today, we watch intently. We wait patiently. And we trust completely with confidence as we prepare to come to the Lord's table. That table that answers that very question, who is a God like you? It answers it with a question, He is a God who pardons. He is a God who forgives. He is a God of mercy and compassion. He is our God. We are His people through Jesus Christ our Lord. He has given us a hope that encourages us throughout this life that we belong to Him forever. Still today, we watch and wait and trust now for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to take His children to our heavenly home forever. That's what we pray for, isn't it? Lord Jesus, come quickly. Watching intently, with expectation, preparing for that day. Waiting patiently, not losing hope, not caving in to the world's temptation to conform or give up. And instead, trusting completely that Jesus Christ is coming again, even as He said, to take His saved people home, to deliver us from the wickedness of this world. Beloved, this world may attack and torment us in many different ways, but God, for Jesus' sake, will keep us forever. And therefore, beloved, this Christmas season, may our focus not be on what we hope for under the tree, but may our focus be on the hope that is already ours in Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we do praise Your most holy name for You are worthy of all praise and honor and glory for You are a God of promise. You are the one and only Almighty God who has promised and has kept Your promises to Your people in Christ Jesus. And therefore, we have the confidence to know that You will keep all of Your promises, that this life is not it for us. that this life is only a pathway to the life to come that we look forward to with great anticipation and expectation. And we thank You too for this life, even as You continue to gather together Your church, even as You continue to extend the power of Your gospel in Jesus Christ to build Your church, to make the bride ready for the bridegroom. O Lord, make us ready for that day. We thank you for that powerful work which will not fail. We thank you for your love for us and your truth that we will be with you forever. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.