Episode 308: Expecting Rescue

Great to see you all.

Welcome again to Harbor West.

My name is Justin.

I'm one of the pastors here at our church.

And if you have a Bible, grab it now, and you can open it to the book of Micah.

We're going to be in Micah chapter 5 as we continue worshiping God this morning.

Micah 5 · chapter mention

If you need a Bible, there should be a Bible under the chairs in front of you, and Micah

5 is on page 826.

Have you ever gotten yourself in a situation where you needed to be rescued?

A situation where you knew like you could not rescue yourself, you were powerless and you

needed someone else to come and rescue.

You ever get yourself in that situation?

I feel like I get myself in that situation daily, but I got myself into it big time once.

I was in Africa with one of my best friends and we decided to go whitewater rafting on

the Nile River.

And so we were at the source of the Nile and we spent 16 hours on the river one day and

we went over 14 rapids that were class four or five. And those are the big ones. Those are the

ones that like are dangerous. And so it was this epic day, but our Ugandan guide in the back of the

raft, every time we'd come up to a rapid, he would tell us what the name of it was. And so we came up

to one and he said, oh, this one is called the Frenchman. And I would look back, I look back at

him and said, why is it called the Frenchman? And he said, because the first guy who died here was

French. And I was like the names of all of them was like people who had died. And he would kind of

say it, joking, smiling. So I didn't know if it was true or not. But then we got to the last rapid

of the whole experience. It was the toughest one, class five. And he pulls over the boat and he

stops joking. He was dead serious. He's like, this one's called the bad spot. And 17 people have died

here. And so we've got to do this the right way. And so he prepped us. He said, here's exactly what

we're going to do. He's like, you got to make sure that you do exactly what I tell you to do. Listen

to me. Here's what you do with your arms, your paddle. Here's how we brace for impact. Let's do

it all the right way. So we practiced, practiced a couple times, got back in the raft and headed for

it. And we did the exact opposite of everything that guy told us to do. We did it the absolute

wrong way. And it turned our raft where I was in front, staring at this rapid. We were going in

sideways the wrong way. And when we hit, I went in and the nine others were thrown over. All right.

So they were thrown to safety and I went right into the bad spot. And it was awesome. It was so

fun in there. It was so cool because I was 22. I didn't have a wife or kids. And so like, I was

just an adrenaline junkie. And I was like, man, this is the greatest thing. I was in this rapid,

just getting worked, just like a washing machine. Just, I had no control of my body. It was just

working me over. And I was like, this is so much fun. But then it hit me like, I got to breathe

again. I got to figure out how to get out of this thing. And so I thought that I had read somewhere

that when you're in a rapid, curl up in a ball. So I was like, okay, so I'll do that. I did it for

what I thought was like 20, 25, 30. It might've been only like four seconds, but I did it for a

while and it didn't work. I just felt myself in that washing machine even more intensely.

And so then I did the opposite. I freaked out. I flailed my body around, just flailed everything.

And I realized in that moment, I am powerless here. There is nothing I can do to save myself.

You ever been in that situation? I think that's actually the reason why we love superhero movies,

why the superhero movie and comic books and stuff,

there's this boom of it all

because we all have this desire for someone

to come in and rescue us from this mess we're in.

Someone that has powers that we don't have,

someone otherworldly,

someone that can do something that we can't do,

someone to come in and just rescue us.

I remember coming out of the first time I saw the Avengers.

I came out with a few of my friends that I saw it with

and one of them turned to me and was like,

man, it almost makes you wish

that those guys really existed, doesn't it?

Like, doesn't it make you wish

that those guys were real and really here. And man, I had one of them that day in Uganda. Like, so,

so what happened was my best friend was thrown to safety. He got to shore and all the rest of the

like hundred people rafting that day on the river stood on the bank and watched to see if I would

get kicked out or if I would die in that rapid. So they're all sitting there watching. My best

friend told me, and he said there were these six or eight Ugandan dudes just sitting in their kayaks,

floating just outside the rapid, waiting, waiting to see if they were, they could rescue me.

And I guess one of them saw just enough of my helmet to say, I'm going to risk it.

And he paddled into a class five rapid on a kayak, reached his incredible Hulk arms down into the rapid and lifted me to life out of that thing.

And he threw me onto the front of his kayak.

And I just remember I was seeing stars.

I was like, I could barely breathe, you know, but I just remember he kept going, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you.

And I was like, oh, the voice of my savior.

And so he gets me over to the bank and he's still going, I got you, I got you.

He throws me on the ground.

He goes, I got you, I got you.

Goes to give me CPR.

I got you, I got you.

And I start fighting him off.

I'm like, no, I don't want that.

And so I started coughing up water and I was fine.

And he left.

I never got his name.

Don't even remember what he looks like, really.

I remember he was very strong.

But my best friend comes over to me.

He's like, dude, you just almost died.

And I was like, it felt like it.

Yeah.

And he was like, here, hands me a bottle of water.

And I was like, I don't want that.

That's what almost killed me just now.

What are you doing?

But that day, man, I had a rescuer who stepped into my mess and reached down and pulled me

back up to life.

I had someone that came and did something that I couldn't do.

And as we get into the book of Micah, that's what's going on in Micah.

Micah is in a situation where he needs to be rescued.

He needs somebody to step in and do what he can't do on his own.

Look at chapter five, verse one.

Now, daughter who is under attack, you slash yourself in grief.

A siege is set against us.

They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.

As Micah wrote, God's people were under fierce attack from the Assyrians and the Assyrian army

who had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.

And now Micah is in Jerusalem in the southern kingdom, hunkered down with just a remnant,

a few who are left and the Assyrians are on their doorstep coming to surround them and ready to

invade and destroy them also. And I think that this is the like absolute perfect picture of the holiday

season. This is what the holidays feel like to me. Like I hope for you, the holidays are just joy and

candy canes every day. But for so many people, the holidays present unique life challenges.

During the holidays, we can feel surrounded by financial struggle.

During the holidays, we can feel the loneliness of not being around someone who we desperately

want to be around.

During the holidays, we can feel the futility of wanting everything to go perfectly just

for a day or two, only to get the unexpected bad news.

You've been laid off.

The whole house flooded.

We've got to take the kid to the ER.

The test came back positive.

the brokenness of this world seems to be uniquely present and felt during the holidays for years and

years the numbers show this crazy spike in people having strokes and heart attacks during the

holiday season between thanksgiving and christmas during the holidays it can feel like nothing's

going our way like everything's way more difficult than it should be like the world is out to get us

And then, then we've got our own mess to deal with, like our own guilt and shame and struggle with sin, the brokenness inside of us, the guilt and shame of ignoring God during a season that's supposed to be all about him.

And all that is before we turn on the news and see the brokenness in the world all around us or even far from us that we feel totally helpless to do anything about.

And so, Merry Christmas.

Like, man, we need some good news, don't we?

We need some good news of some joy.

We need some good news.

And church, God has good news for us.

God has a solution for our problem.

You see, God knew that Micah and the remnant of Judah

couldn't rescue themselves against the Assyrians.

He knows that we can't rescue ourselves

from the brokenness in this world or the brokenness within ourselves.

He knows we need someone to come and reach down into our mess

and lift us up and rescue us out of all this.

And so look at verse two.

Bethlehem Ephatha, you are small among the clans of Judah.

One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me.

Even as Micah's hunkered down, surrounded, seemingly hopeless,

God has told him that a rescuer will come.

One from Bethlehem who will rule over Israel,

will sit on the throne over God's people,

the kind of rule and reign that will make all things right.

And if you're sitting in a bunker surrounded by the enemy

and you hear that a rescuer is coming,

you're going to want to know some details, right?

Who is it?

When's he coming?

And here's what I want us to see this morning.

That dark as the night may get, tough as this season of life may be,

whatever you're going through, however much you are struggling,

God has sent someone to rescue you.

You have a rescuer this Christmas.

And Micah tells us some amazing things about him.

And so look at verse two again.

It says, Bethlehem, you are small among the clans of Judah.

one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient

times. Here's the first key thing that we need to know about our rescuer. Our rescuer is eternal,

good God. Our rescuer is eternal, good God. Let's look at each of those words. So first,

our rescuer is eternal. Did you see there at the end of the verse where it says,

his origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.

That's a poetic way in the Hebrew to say he has no beginning or end.

He existed in ancient times and he's going to come and rescue us now.

When the prophet Isaiah wrote about the rescuer,

he wrote about the exact same time as Micah.

When Isaiah wrote, he said this about the rescuer.

He said, he will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.

You see, God has made it clear through multiple prophets through his word.

The one coming to rescue us has no beginning.

He has no end.

He is eternally existent.

And that is such great news, right?

Why is that great news?

You know why it's great news.

Like think of the turmoil every four years during election season.

The turmoil of like, oh man, we're in this again.

Who's going to get elected?

Is it going to be someone good in office?

Is it going to be someone bad?

And then dealing with the fallout of whoever gets elected

and knowing that another election season is just right around the corner.

We're in this vicious, horrible cycle, right?

But when God's rescuer comes to rule, he can rule forever.

His kingdom can last forever because he himself is eternal.

In the history of the world, we've seen 21 great civilizations rise up with their rulers,

but all of them only for a time, and they've all faded away.

There is such instability in kingdoms and rulers of this earth.

But with God's rescuer, we have incredible stability.

We have complete security.

He will reign forever and ever.

And that is such good news.

but if and only if he's a good ruler.

Only if he's a good ruler.

This is actually the worst news possible

if he's not a good ruler, right?

That his kingdom will reign forever, but he's no good.

But look what Micah says down in verse four.

He will stand and shepherd them.

He will shepherd them.

In John 10, when God writes about

what it means for his ruler to shepherd,

it says this,

The good shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep.

You see, the eternal rescuer who God is going to send to rescue us and rule forever is so good

that God says he's literally going to give you his whole life.

He's going to lay down his life for you like a shepherd who fights off the wolves

and sacrifices his own life so that his sheep can be safe and protect them.

We have a good shepherd coming who's going to protect us with his entire life.

Our eternal rescuer is so good that he's going to give us all of himself.

But the last word here is the most glorious.

He's eternal, he's good, and he's God.

The rescuer, he is God himself.

In John 1, we read this, that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.

So that's the eternality of our rescuer.

He was in the beginning with God, but then it says this, and the word was God.

See, what the Bible teaches us is, yes, our rescuer is eternally existent, but he is actually

God himself.

He both is God and yet still has a unique identity.

And this is the one who in verse 14 becomes flesh and dwells among us in John 1.

Our eternal good rescuer who will come to rule is God himself.

God himself promises to come and rescue us from the mess we've gotten ourselves in.

And so church, this is the good news of Christmas.

Our lives could be spiraling in total disarray.

We could feel completely surrounded by all that's broken.

But God says, you have a rescuer who is eternal.

You have a rescuer who is good.

You have a rescuer who is God.

Our rescuer is eternal, good God.

And what's also amazing, look what Micah tells us about him in verse three.

Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth.

Micah says, Israel is going to be without this rescuer until she who is in labor has given birth.

Micah is saying the rescuer isn't going to be God teleported down to Bethlehem or just merely

appearing in Bethlehem. This eternal good God is going to be born in Bethlehem. He's eternal good

God who's going to come into this world the same way that you and I do. Here's what Micah is giving

us a glimpse of, our rescuer is totally human. Yes, he's eternal good God, but he's also totally

human. He's the word become flesh. And that is such good news that our rescuer is totally human,

just like us. Let's just think about two reasons why that's good news. First, it's good news that

our rescuer is just like us because it allows us to see God. If our rescuer is eternal, good God,

but we can't see him, we've got to figure out how to ascend to him, that's not good news for us.

But if he becomes like us so that we can see him and know him, man, that's good news for us.

In John 14, when the rescuer comes, he says this to his friends, the one who has seen me

has seen the father. You see, the rescuer arrives in the flesh to show us what God is like,

to be the full display of God's love and glory and care and wisdom, to use his words to teach us

as a man, which allows us to hear God himself. And so listen, if you're here this morning and

you want to know who God is and what God is like, you can look at God's rescuer to see.

If you want to hear what God has to say and receive God's wisdom, you can listen to God's

rescuer because the rescuer has come to be just like us, to meet us where we're at so

that we can have access to God himself.

One of the things that Pastor Mike frequently says in his sermons when he preaches, he consistently

says this reality of, you know, every other major, every other world religion says that

we have to ascend to God, that we've got to go up, that we've got to be moral enough, good enough,

that we've got to get to God through a certain path or way. But Christianity is the only religion

that says God is going to come down to us. That we don't have to figure out how to go up and figure

out who he is, but he's going to come and show us. He's going to meet us where we're at. And so the

fact that our rescuer is 100% human like us tells us this, God has come to us to show us who he is

and what he's like. But also a massive part of the good news is this. We have a new representative.

We have a new representative since our rescuer is a hundred percent human.

Because our first representative blew it, man. Our first representative, Adam, he absolutely

blew it. He sinned. He rebelled against God. He stood for all humanity and he failed.

He made a mess of everything, just like we all would have in his nakedness.

I would say in his shoes, but he didn't wear any back then.

He was naked.

But just as a man messed it all up, we need a man to come and make it right.

We need a man to come and fix it.

Now, I don't know if there's any more terrifying words that I could hear than my wife saying,

hey, Justin, can you come here and fix this?

Those are terrifying words for me because I am not a handy fix it kind of guy.

I've fooled some of you.

I'm not a handy fix it kind of guy.

I rarely fix anything.

But lately, I feel like I've been killing it.

Lately, I feel like I've just been nailing it.

Like everything she's asked me to do, I'm just, man, I fix it.

It's worked.

I've even found some things around the house that she didn't ask for.

I've just been nailing it lately.

And so I knew I was going to talk about this, about, you know, a man fixing it, coming to fix it.

And so I asked my wife last night, late last night, I was like, hey, I got to tell the people some stuff.

done. And so what's something lately that you've asked me to come fix and that I nailed it, that I

fixed it and now it works well? And she was on her phone and I asked her that question. She looked up

and she started cracking up. She looked at me and just started laughing and then went right back to

her phone. And I was like, oh, maybe I haven't been killing it lately. I thought I'd been doing really

well. I thought I'd been fixing things left and right, you know, but apparently not. I am not a

handy fix it kind of guy. If our hopes are on some man figuring this out, it's never going to happen.

Resourceful as even the best of us are, Adam lived in paradise with every advantage possible,

and he still messed it up. The only way a human is going to be able to make this right

is if there's a human who is sinless,

a human who lives a sinless life,

a life Adam failed at,

a life Eve failed at,

a life that all of us have failed at.

We need a human to be our new representative to God.

We need a human to live a sinless life

to be our victorious representative.

And church, we have this good news this Christmas

that we have a rescuer who is totally like us

so that he can show us who God is

and so that he can be our new representative,

that he can succeed where Adam failed.

And so one last glorious truth about our rescuer.

Look at verse four, what Micah says.

He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord,

in the majestic name of the Lord, his God.

They will live securely,

for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

Here's the last amazing reality Micah teaches us here.

Our rescuer can rescue anyone.

Our rescuer can rescue anyone.

Look at the end of verse four again.

His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

See, the rescuer isn't coming just for a few people.

He's coming to, his rescue is extended to everyone

who needs to be rescued.

My favorite line from Joy to the World,

my favorite thing to sing in that song.

He comes to make his blessings known

far as the curse is found.

Far as the curse is found.

Far as,

far as

the curse is found.

There's two far as's there at the end, right?

And I love that.

As far as the curse is found,

there's no place where the curse exists

where our rescuer does not extend his greatness to rescue us.

And it seems like everywhere we look on this earth, there's just more brokenness, right?

We keep finding it in the global news.

It's so incredibly discouraging.

Maybe you felt that this year, just frustrated by the brokenness that's everywhere.

Maybe you even, I've heard from some people, you get a bit anxious checking the news each day

because it seems like every time you do, there's just more suffering somewhere.

He comes to make his blessing known far as the curse is found.

His blessing, his rescue is for everyone, everywhere.

But the ends of the earth also include every part of ourselves, every nook and cranny in our own lives.

Maybe you're experiencing brokenness in some corner of your life.

Maybe you're suffering because of the brokenness of this world.

Maybe you're losing the battle against sin and you just feel guilty and dirty all the time.

And maybe no one knows about it because you've tucked it away and it's in some corner, some nook, some cranny of your heart.

and you're like, man, if there is a rescuer,

I don't know if he wants me.

I don't know if he can save all of me

because I'm pretty dirty and broken on the inside.

But Micah's telling us this,

wherever the curse is found,

the rescuer extends his greatness to that place.

Church, we have a rescuer who has come for you,

for all of you.

Not one single person here today has run too far away

sinned too intensely or frequently or waited too long.

You, all of you, every part of you

is within the bounds of the ends of the earth.

God's rescuer is able to rescue you.

He's able to rescue your family.

He's able to rescue your friends.

He's able to rescue whatever person exists in your life

that you feel is least likely to ever allow God to rescue them.

We have a rescuer who has come for all who need rescuing.

And so church, as we enter into this Christmas week,

I hope it's a week of just joy and candy canes and goodness for you.

But for many of us, we may feel surrounded this week.

We may experience loss this week.

We may go through loneliness or discouragement or depression this week.

We may lose the battle against sin and fail this week,

but none of those things will have the final word in our lives.

None of them will ultimately be victorious.

We have a rescuer who is eternal, good God,

who became just like us so that we here at the ends of the earth on this island

can experience God's rescue.

God's people were surrounded.

just like we feel sometimes.

But look at verse seven.

It says, then the remnant of Jacob

will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord,

like showers on the grass.

This remnant who needed to be rescued,

this remaining group of God's people

who hadn't lost hope and faith

that the promised rescuer would save them.

Micah says this, after the rescuer arrives,

they're gonna be like dew from the Lord,

like showers on the grass.

I don't know about you, but before this week, my yard was dead.

It was just full on dead.

I didn't get to touch the yard at all from like Thanksgiving till now.

So it was just dead and hopeless.

And then the rains came, right?

And now my yard is just bursting with green life.

I love it, but I can't wait to mow it.

It's so overgrown and unwieldy right now.

I can't wait to get out there and mow my yard.

I love doing that.

I love those crisp lines in the yard after you mow it.

I love the grass on my legs, the smell of it.

I'll sit at my front door and just look out

and admire the glory of what I've done.

My wife walks by every time.

She's like, what are you doing?

I'm like, I'm admiring glory.

And she's like, whatever.

And she kind of moves on.

My daughter came up to me once.

She's like, ooh, dad, the yard looks really good.

And I was like, oh, thank you, baby.

Like made my day.

It's my favorite thing.

But how did it get life?

How did it get green life?

It was rains that came and gave it.

You see, God will rescue his people

and then they're gonna be like showers on the grass.

They will be a blessing to others who need to be rescued.

Rescued people go out and tell others how to be rescued.

God wants to rescue you and then empower you

to be a blessing in his dry, parched world.

He wants to empower you to be a source of life

to others who need it, others in your family,

others among your friend groups,

others that you are going to spend Christmas with this year. You get to be like the reign of God

who brings life because you can tell them about the one who has rescued you and the one who can rescue

them. And so church, let's not miss this incredible good news this Christmas. Micah looked forward to

a day when the rescuer would arrive. We celebrate Christmas because the rescuer has arrived. He was

born in Bethlehem. He is eternal God become human just like us. He does offer rescue to all who need

it. Church, don't miss your rescuer this Christmas and settle for all kinds of cheap substitutes.

This Christmas man, know this, our rescuer is Jesus Christ in whom we must have faith.

Our rescuer is Jesus Christ in whom we must have faith.

Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, miraculously conceived by God in a virgin named Mary,

fulfills all that is written about the rescuer here in Micah.

Jesus is the eternal word who is there with God in John 1.

He is the word become flesh who is born to be human like us so that we can know God

and have a new representative, a second Adam, a better Adam who succeeded where the first Adam

failed. He's the good shepherd who lays down his life for his friends. He came to seek and rescue

all who are lost to the ends of the earth. This is why Acts 4 says this, there is salvation,

there is rescue in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which

we must be saved. The good news this Christmas is this, Jesus Christ came to rescue you.

And so church, let's be discontent to give Jesus our low expectations this Christmas.

Let's have the highest expectations of what he has done and what he is doing. Let's expect rescue.

Let's expect new life. Let's expect victory over sin and growth in holiness. Let's expect

joy and peace. Let's expect Jesus to do exactly what Micah said he would do.

And look at the last thing he said he'd do. Flip over to chapter seven, the last thing that Micah

writes about the rescuer. Chapter seven, verse 18. Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing

over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because

He delights in faithful love.

He will again have compassion on us.

He will vanquish our sins.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Our brokenness, our sin, our rebellion,

this enemy that we can't vanquish on our own,

the way that we cannot save ourselves,

our greatest problem.

Micah said the rescuer is gonna come and deal with it.

and that's exactly what Jesus did.

Because of God's faithful love and compassion for you,

Jesus loved you to his own death

so that your sins can be forgiven.

He vanquishes our sins,

cast them into the depths of the sea

and you can experience that today.

You have a rescuer.

His name is Jesus.

He's eternal good God,

become human to save all of you.

You just have to believe it.

When the angel came to Mary in Matthew chapter one,

he said that she would give birth to a son

and you are to name him Jesus

because he will save his people from their sins.

What I love about the amazing faith of Mary

is this, she just believed it.

She believed that God would do this miraculous thing.

She had faith and she expected that God would do the impossible,

a thing that she couldn't do on her own.

And that faith, it looked like obedience.

She obeyed God.

She named him.

She named him Jesus, the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.

So family, let's name him this Christmas.

Let's name him.

Let's be a people who name him in our lives.

people who have the same faith as Mary and expect God to do the impossible.

Let's believe there's no other name under heaven by which we can be rescued.

Let's have faith today.

Let's experience rescue today.

Name him for yourself today.

Let's pray together.