He Delights in Steadfast Love

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

Special welcome if you are new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here,

not because we are trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community,

and as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good

that they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which means that God has something to say to everyone in his word,

and that's why we come back week after week to open up the Bible

and to hear what God has to say to us.

We're in the last Sunday of Advent, and as I've been telling you this whole month,

Advent comes from a Latin word that means to come or arrive,

and so Advent is simply the time of year when we celebrate the fact that Jesus came.

He arrived as a man in a manger in this world on this earth.

And so we do two things.

We celebrate Jesus' first coming when he came,

and we also long for and look forward to his second coming,

the fact that he has not just come once, but he's going to come again.

He is, as some people say, the once and future king.

And now we're at the very end of our sampler pack of the book of Micah.

You remember the book of Micah is a book written in the 8th century B.C.,

and it's filled with the prophecies of a man named Micah who was a prophet to Israel,

the southern kingdom of Israel, Judah, in the 8th century, in between two times.

It was after the great kings of Israel, after the times of Saul and David and Solomon,

but before the exile.

And so things are not going well for Israel, but they haven't gone into exile quite yet.

And it's a book about two things.

It's a book about judgment and salvation.

We saw that at the beginning, and even in this last section,

we're at the very end of the book.

We're going to read the last verse of Micah.

It's still about both judgment and salvation.

Now, when I first came to this church,

I know I've told you before that I'm a podcast guy.

I listen to a lot of podcasts,

but there were some podcasts that I was not aware of until you all introduced me to them.

And soon after I came here,

a couple members of Cheyenne Mountain told me about the podcast called

The World and Everything in It,

which is a news podcast run by World Magazine.

And World Magazine, if you're familiar with it,

is a news magazine that comes out twice a month

that gives the news from a Christian worldview.

So give a Christian perspective on what's happening in the world.

I grew up reading the kids version of World Magazine.

And so it was fun to rediscover it in a podcast form.

And if you're familiar with this news blip,

it comes out on Monday through Friday.

And every Monday, they have a feature called Legal Docket.

And Legal Docket is a time where they look at

what are the cases that are coming before the Supreme Court.

And often, they'll look at a case before it's been decided.

So they'll say, here's the case that's coming up.

Here are the two sides.

Here's the issue at stake.

And then they might even play some clips

from different Supreme Court justices talking about it.

And they'll try to guess.

They might say, we're not sure how this one's going to go.

We might say, it's probably going to end in this way

based on the evidence they have.

But there will be a gap, right?

You may have to wait several months

between the time the case shows up

and the way that you find out how it's going to end.

This is familiar to me because growing up,

my dad was also a news junkie.

And he would read the Supreme Court cases when they came out.

And then he would discuss them with us at the dinner table.

He'd say, OK, this is the court case that was decided.

Here's how it ended up.

Here's why it ended up that way.

Anyway, we are finishing up Micah's legal docket.

If you remember all the way back three weeks ago

when we looked at Micah chapter 1,

Micah 1 · chapter mention

I began by telling you that God had a court case

that he was suing his people.

And he was suing his people for the sins

that were outlined in chapters 1 through 3.

Now, we skipped chapter 6.

But in chapter 6, it's brought up again

that God is suing his people.

And so there's a court case that God is bringing against Israel

because of the ways that they have failed to obey his law.

And now we get to find out the end of the case.

We get to see how it's decided.

And so our question of this passage is simply,

how does it end when God sues you?

What is the outcome of God's court case against you?

That's what Micah is going to tell us in this passage.

We're in Micah chapter 7, and we're going to start at verse 8.

Micah 7 · chapter mention

You can find this near the end of your worship guide.

You can find it at the end of Micah in your Bible.

You can certainly find it on your phone.

But whatever medium you're using to come to it,

remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold,

even the finest gold.

And it is sweeter than honey,

even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

That's why we read it now, starting at verse 8.

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy.

When I fall, I shall rise.

When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

I will bear the indignation of the Lord,

because I have sinned against him

until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light.

I shall look upon his vindication.

Verse 10.

Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

Where is the Lord your God?

My eyes will look upon her.

Now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets.

Verse 11.

A day for the building of your walls.

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

In that day they will come to you

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to the river,

from sea to sea,

and from mountain to mountain.

But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

Verse 14.

Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance

who dwell alone in a forest,

in the midst of a garden land.

Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

As in the days when you came out

of the land of Egypt.

I will show them marvelous things.

Verse 16.

The nations shall see

and be ashamed of all their might.

They shall lay their hands on their mouths.

Their ears shall be deaf.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth.

They shall come trembling

out of their strongholds.

They shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

Verse 18.

Who is a God like you,

pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression

for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever

because he delights in steadfast love.

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.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's word.

Father in heaven,

we thank you again

that you speak to us,

that you haven't left us

to figure out life on our own.

And we confess that we don't just need you

to speak to us,

but we need your help to understand your words.

And so we ask simply

that you would send your Holy Spirit now

and that you would give us that help,

that we would be able to see

and believe

and understand

and rejoice

over everything that you've written for us

in your word.

And we ask these things

not because we deserve them,

but because Jesus intercedes for us.

And so we ask them in his mighty name.

Amen.

Now you know that if someone sues you,

there's all kinds of different strategies

you can pursue, right?

You can try to settle out of court.

You can try to maybe have a plea bargain.

You confess to some of the things

you're accused of

and maybe other things you're accused of

get wiped away.

Maybe you get a lesser punishment.

Things get changed.

You can decide whether you want to

plead innocent or guilty.

There's actually an option

that not a lot of people know about

where you plead neither.

It's called a nolo contendere.

I don't contend.

So I'm not saying I didn't do it,

but I'm not saying I did do it.

Regardless,

there's a lot of different ways

that you can approach a court case

and maybe you receive advice

from your lawyer

about what it is that you need to do.

There's only one strategy, though,

that's going to work

when God sues you.

We're asking what happens

when God brings a case against you

and there's only one good option

if you want it to end well.

And that is this,

to plead guilty.

That's what we see here

almost immediately in verse 9.

Micah tells us,

I will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him.

He's not trying to do a plea bargain.

He's not saying,

well, I'm going to admit,

yes, we were oppressing the poor.

Let's just focus on that one.

Let's not focus on the sins of the leaders

because we have enough of a punishment here.

Instead, he just admits to all of it.

He pleads guilty on every charge.

We see that not just in verse 9,

but then later in verse 18,

we have a reference

to the remnant of his inheritance,

who is a God like you,

pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant.

Now, remnant's a rich word

in the Old Testament,

but it's essentially the people

who remain faithful to God.

So there are Israelites

who do not repent.

They are not part of the remnant.

They are not part of the portion

that will return from exile

and be able to worship God again

in Jerusalem.

Now, in the world that we're in,

we're used to maybe plea bargaining,

maybe settling out of court.

God doesn't do that.

God doesn't do plea bargaining.

God doesn't settle out of court.

And God doesn't give a lighter sentence.

Instead, he takes the sentence.

God doesn't give a lighter sentence.

Instead, he takes the sentence.

God doesn't change the punishment.

The punishment stays the same.

The one receiving the punishment changes.

The punishment doesn't change.

The one receiving the punishment changes.

We see this in verse 9,

a shocking answer to what happens

when God brings a case against us.

Because on the one hand,

Micah pleads guilty, right?

I have sinned against him.

And there's this next word, until.

I have sinned against him,

until he pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light.

I shall look upon his vindication.

In other words,

this is a court case

where the prosecutor

is going to switch sides

in the courtroom.

He's going to walk over

from the prosecution side

to the defending side.

And after he's argued

his case against you,

he's then going to walk

to the other side

and defend you.

That's what happens

when God brings a case

if you choose the option

of pleading guilty.

If you repent before God

in faith,

he will switch sides

in the courtroom.

He will plead your case for you

rather than arguing against you.

So what happens

when God brings a case against you?

Well, it really depends

on how you respond.

If you plead guilty,

if you confess your sins

in repentance

and agree with God

that without his help,

you deserve his punishment

and his wrath,

God will come to your defense.

If you do not agree with God

and you plead innocent,

he will not come to your defense.

And so we see

the other option in verse 10.

The enemy of God's people

will see

and shame will cover her

who said to me,

where is the Lord your God?

My eyes will look upon her.

Now she will be trampled down

like the mire of the streets.

In other words,

the nations that are coming up

against Israel

to take them into exile

because they are not repenting

before God

of their sins

will one day

experience the very judgment

that God is using them to bring.

There are two options.

Plead guilty

and God will plead for you.

Plead innocent

and God will punish you.

We see this in verse 13 as well.

The earth will be desolate

because of the inhabitants

for the fruit of their deeds.

God is bringing judgment

to the world.

But he offers to plead the case

of those who plead guilty

before him.

And so it all depends

on how you respond.

Do you agree with God

and plead guilty

or do you rebel against him

and plead innocent?

It's a very simple equation

that Micah gives us here.

And this passage

is a very simple summary

of the gospel.

The readers of this passage,

the original recipients,

people living in the 8th century

listening to Micah

would have known God's character.

They would have known

God's a God,

as we're going to see later,

a God of steadfast love.

He is going to come

and redeem us

and plead our case

after the exile.

They knew his character.

They did not know his solution.

They did not know

how God was going

to bring justice

and liberate

people who were guilty.

They did not know

how God was going

to free the guilty.

They just knew

that he would.

Now we,

27, 28,

hundred years later,

know not just God's character

but God's solution.

And what we celebrate

at Christmas,

at Advent,

is God's character

and his solution.

Christmas is good news.

Christmas is good news

only for Christians

and Christmas is only good news

for Christians

because Christmas

is the good news

of knowing

how it is

that God will plead

the case of the guilty.

He's going to plead

the case of the guilty

because he sent his son

to become a man.

Gospel is a simple message

and it's this.

God sent his son

to become a man.

He sent his son

to become a man

so that he could die.

And he died

so that he could suffer

the penalty

for our sins.

And he suffered

the penalty

for our sins

so that he could

restore us to God.

And as we've seen

the last couple weeks,

he could restore

this world.

He's coming

for his citizens

and those citizens

are also part

of his kingdom.

God,

as we saw last week,

is sending his king.

And he's sending

his king

both to come

and restore

and to come

and die.

And we cannot

separate those two.

And so God's solution

is to give

forgiveness

to those

who have explicit

faith in Jesus Christ

who have repented

of their sins

and have pled guilty

to the charge

against them.

God will plead

their case

because of Jesus.

I mentioned

three weeks ago

that Micah's name

is also a question.

Micah's name

means

who is like

Yahweh,

who is like God.

And that in some ways

is the question

of the book of Micah.

Who is like God?

That question

becomes explicit

in verse 18.

Who is a God

like you?

The answer is this.

Who's a God

like Yahweh?

No one.

No one

is a God

like Yahweh

and no one

is a God

like Yahweh

because God's

vindication

means not

that he will

bring punishment

on his people

but that he will

do away

with their sin.

God's vindication

is different

from anyone

else's vindication.

He is different

from any other

prosecutor.

No other prosecutor

would try to lose

his case.

But this prosecutor

comes to argue

the case

of his enemy.

Again,

verse 9,

he's going to take us

from darkness.

Verse 8,

we're told,

I sit in darkness.

Verse 9,

he will bring me

out to the light.

God is the one

who's going to bring

his people

from darkness

into light.

His vindication

means he's going

to do away

with sin.

Now,

I'm focusing

just on a few

specific parts

of this passage.

This is a very long

passage that we read

that I wanted to give

you the context for.

We're not going to go

through everything in it.

I'll just quickly

summarize here

in verses

11 through 12,

11 through 13,

God's going to

restore Jerusalem.

And when he restores it,

it's going to be better

than it ever was before.

It's what we've seen

before in chapters 4

and 5,

that God is restoring

not just his people

but his kingdom.

And then what we saw

in chapter 5,

he is coming to be

a good shepherd,

verses 14 through 17.

He's going to restore

his people to their kingdom,

their place,

and he's going to

restore them to him.

And he's going to do

that vindication.

He's going to bring it,

verses 18 and 19,

because he delights

in steadfast love.

What gets God excited

is forgiving his people.

What God delights in

is being faithful

to his people.

This is the same word,

the steadfast love word,

that we saw

when we looked

at the book of Ruth

in 2018.

This is God's

never stopping,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever love.

That is what God

delights in.

That is what makes

God come to his people.

And what does he do

when he delights

in steadfast love?

Well, verse 19,

he will again

have compassion on us.

He will tread

our iniquities underfoot.

He will cast

all our sins

into the depths

of the sea.

When I was growing up,

we had some friends

who taught us

that when you put a can

in the recycling bin,

if you want to save space,

you don't just put

the can in.

You need to smash it first.

And so we would practice

smashing cans,

and it's a little bit

of an art

because you want to stomp it,

and you need to stomp it

fast enough

that it just crushes down

and it's a circle.

If you do a good job,

you'll get a perfect circle.

If you do a bad job,

it'll just be kind of

this flat landing strip.

And so we would practice

crushing the cans

before we threw them

into the recycling bin.

Micah tells us

that God doesn't just

throw away our sins.

He crushes them first.

God delights so much

in steadfast love

that the language here

that's used

is of a war against sin.

God is on the move.

We saw in chapter one

that God was coming

and shaking the mountains

with his feet

in judgment.

And Micah's a great poet

and so is God.

And so as he begins

the book crushing

the mountains,

he's going to end the book

crushing our sins.

As his feet come in judgment

in chapter one,

God's feet are going to come

in redemption

in chapter seven.

The same God

who comes in anger

and wrath

is the God

who comes to have

compassion on us.

And the same God

who comes on the top

of the mountains

is going to take our sins

and put them in the bottom

of the sea.

And so there's a beautiful

bookend here

between chapter one

and chapter seven.

We heard the beginning

of God's case

and now we see the end.

It's not two different gods

but the same God.

The God who comes to punish

is also the God

who comes to redeem

and he comes to redeem

anyone

and everyone

who agrees with Micah

in verse nine.

I have sinned

against him.

That's what God offers

to everyone

who has faith

in Christ

turning away

from their sins

and to Jesus.

And so as we come

to Advent

we can know

that God

takes our sins

and he stomps them

and then he puts them

in the bottom of the sea

where no one can find them.

Maybe you have repeated

over and over

the way that other people

have sinned

in an attempt

to make yourself

feel better

in the midst

of insecurity.

God takes that sin

and he treads it

under his feet

and he casts it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you're in

a sexual relationship

with someone

that you're not married to

and you thought

if someone would just

accept me in that way

and want me in that way

then maybe I could prove

that I'm really worthwhile.

You want to be desired

and accepted

and instead

it left you feeling empty.

God has stomped

that sin

under his foot

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you realized

the best that you could do

in school

were bees

and you were afraid

of what your parents

would think

and so you began

bringing things

with you

into tests

that you weren't

supposed to

so that you would

know the answers

that weren't

in your head.

in Christ

God has taken

that sin

and stomped it

under his feet

and he's cast it

into the sea.

Maybe there's a season

where you couldn't

fall asleep

without an addiction.

Maybe it was a

sexual addiction

maybe it was

narcotics

but that was the only

way you were able

to find rest.

God has tread

that sin

under his feet

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you're over

at a friend's house

and they had that movie

that your parents

won't let you watch

and that you've

never seen before

and you told them

that it was your

favorite movie

and you'd seen it

many times

and you just wanted

to see it

one more time.

God has taken

that sin

and treaded

under his feet.

And he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe your kids

are grown now

and you still think

about the times

that you yelled

at them.

Desperate for them

to make you look good.

And now you wish

you could take it back.

God has taken

that sin

and he has treaded

under his feet

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

maybe there was

that night

that you had

too much to drink

and you said

something to someone

that you love

that you would

give anything

to take back.

But you can't

unsay it.

God has taken

that sin

and he has trampled

it under his feet

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

maybe you did

something wrong

and you covered

it up

rather than

fixing it

and you wish

you could go back.

God has taken

that sin

and he has smashed

it under his foot

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you felt

threatened

by someone else

and so you started

gossiping about them

and you can't

undo

the damage

that's been done.

God has taken

that sin

and he stomped

it under his feet

and he's cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you had it

in your power

to help someone

who was hurting

but you didn't

because it would

make you uncomfortable

and you always

wonder what if.

God has taken

that sin

and he's trampled

it under his feet

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

Maybe you take

credit for your

accomplishments

and your success

looking down

on other people

who couldn't

get it together

and now you realize

God is the one

who gave you

and there's a wake

of bodies behind you.

God has taken

that sin

and trampled it

under his feet

and he has cast it

into the bottom

of the sea.

God came

at the beginning

trampling

on the mountains

and now he comes

at the end

trampling

on our sins

and he does it

because of his son

who came

not as a conquering

warrior

but as a humble

king

or in a manger.

And so how does it

end when God

sues you

for those

who have faith

in Christ

it ends

in this way.

You who have

humbly confessed

your sins

and seek

the mercy

of God

hear the good

news

from Micah

Micah 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7

who is a God

like you

pardoning iniquity

and passing

over transgression

for the remnant

of his inheritance.

He does not

retain his anger

forever

because he delights

in steadfast love.

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.

In Jesus Christ

the Lord

forgives you

all of your sins

and we'll remember

them

no more.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven

we praise you

that you sent

your son

so that without

fear we could

confess our sin

to you

knowing that

you are a

prosecutor

who will come

and help us.

You're a prosecutor

like none other

and so we ask

that you would

help us

to see that

to know the

safety that we

have to come

and confess

our sins to you

and the forgiveness

that you offer

that you don't

just forgive

but you trample.

You trample

our sins

under your feet

because that

is how strong

and how powerful

your steadfast love

is.

We ask that you

would give us

the knowledge of that

that would give us

joy

that would fill

our hearts

this week

as we celebrate

your coming

and we ask

these things

praising you

that it's in the

name of Jesus.

Amen.