Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20100328.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Micah: An Eloquent Presentation Of God's Salvation From Ungodly Leadership
Part VII: Cycle Four Of Doom And Hope: God's Word To His Own In A Nation Ripe For Judgment
B. Doom Segment Two: Individual Blessing Amid National Sin And Judgment
(Micah 6:9-7:10)
  1. Introduction
    1. We live in an age of great sin, great divisiveness between people groups and social restlessness, and it can be difficult as believers to know how to live uprightly in it all.
    2. In Micah 6:9-7:10, God's prophet Micah and the godly remnant in Judah faced the same challenge in their era, providing great direction and comfort for God's people today (as follows):
  2. Doom Segment Two: Individual Blessing Amid National Sin And Judgment, Micah 6:9-7:10.
    1. The Micah 6:1-7:20 segment of the chiasmus that forms Micah's prophetic book is the fourth and final "Cycle of Doom and Hope" segment of that book that so eloquently calls the people of Judah to repent.
    2. Micah 6:9-7:10, the last leg of the "Doom" part of that segment, reveals the great sins that were so great in Judah in Micah's era (Micah 6:9-16), sins Micah himself lamented in behalf of his nation (Micah 7:1-6) that show how God's upright people living in a sinful world grieve deeply at the wickedness around them:
      1. After His general indictment back in Micah 6:1-5, God provided a second indictment of Judah's sins in Micah 6:9-16, warning Judah to listen to God's call to heed the lesson of His discipline, Micah 6:9.
      2. Specific sins of the nation were then enumerated in Micah 6:10-12 (as follows):
        1. Judah's people were getting rich by using dishonest measures of the ephah and false weights "to give less merchandise than the buyers thought they were getting," Mic. 6:10-11; B. K. C., O. T., p. 1489.
        2. Thus, the rich were guilty of violence, "the breach of law and order in . . . society," and all thus lied, Mic. 6:12; Ibid.; L. C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah (NICOT), 1976, p. 378.
      3. God would punish Judah for such sin in fulfillment of the warning of the Law, starting with fittingly keeping their food gained by unjust means from filling them (Micah 6:13-14a; Leviticus 26:26; Ibid.).
      4. God would cause the food they stored to be seized by their foes, Micah 6:14b; Lev. 26:16-17; Ibid.
      5. When the people sowed, they would not reap, and they would tread olives but not have oil to anoint themselves, they would tread grapes but not have wine to drink, Mic. 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:30; Ibid.
      6. These judgments would come not only for deceit and greed, but for heeding Omri and Ahab, their most wicked kings, who promoted Baal worship for its supposed advantage of providing greater agricultural bounty with its resulting financial wealth, Micah 6:16 with 1 Kings 16:21-22:40; Ibid., p. 1490.
      7. Accordingly, God's prophet Micah lamented Judah's sin in Micah 7:1-6 (as follows):
        1. Speaking in behalf of his doomed sinful countrymen, Micah "bemoaned his position in the midst of a people who were totally godless," Micah 7:1; Ibid.
        2. He was like a man who went into his field to find a harvest only to be disappointed and hurt at the lack of finding any harvest, Ibid.: (1) Micah lamented the lack of good men as all sought to harm one another, Mic. 7:2. (2) Judah's leaders, be they civil, judicial or wealthy men, had perfected their greedy craft so the best of them were as briars and thorns that entrapped and hurt others, Mic. 7:3-4. (3) The influence of this corruption had filtered on down to the common folk who no longer trusted friends, guides and marital partners, and a man's were foes those of his own family, Micah 7:5-6.
    3. However, Micah 7:7-10 provides an exemplary reaction to all this sin and grief for the upright remnant:
      1. Micah exampled how the godly few who remained in Judah were to watch, wait and hope for God who would hear their call for help and be their Savior in this calamitous time for their nation, Micah 7:7.
      2. God's prophet thus expressed confidence that regardless of the coming days of judgment, for those in Judah who hoped in God, He would vindicate and deliver them, overthrowing their foes, Micah 7:8-10.
Lesson: In the midst of a grievously evil nation with its idolatry, financial corruption and amoral leaders who had led society to experience dysfunction at every level, Micah led the upright few to hope in God for deliverance and vindication, and that though God's judgment would fall on the nation.

Application: May we like Micah offset our grief at the great wickedness we see at all levels of society by personally hoping in God and His blessing, and may we ourselves heed the Lord and live uprightly.