Micah: Cosmic Courtroom

Welcome to the Caribbean Grace Chapel Podcast, where we value the expository preaching and teaching of the Word of God for the purpose of life transformation.

If you have your Bible with you, I would encourage you to open it to the book of Micah.

So if you're a guest here, welcome to Grace Chapel.

And one of the things you should know about us, our primary uh preaching model is expository preaching and teaching.

That is, we go verse by verse through books of the Bible.

And uh so we just concluded 2 Timothy.

Today we start with Micah in the Old Testament.

If you're not familiar with where Micah is located, find the book of Jonah and go right.

Most people know where Jonah is.

That seems to be a popular book.

So find Jonah and go right, and you will end up at the book of Micah.

Americans love courtroom drama.

I'm gonna date myself here.

Perry Mason.

Matlock.

Law and Order.

Law and Order.

Okay, anyway.

Courtroom drama, right?

I mean, those were famous courtroom dramas that Americans tuned in by the millions every week to watch those shows.

Right?

And who can forget like some of the classics?

Think about Tequila Bachenberg and the lawyer Atticus, who defended Tom, right?

If you're not familiar with that story, a young white girl was um was physically attacked, sexually assaulted, and her and her dad blamed a black man for the attack.

And Atticus, the lawyer, defended the black man, his name was Tom.

And in in that particular courtroom drama, if you'll remember, Atticus brought in the sheriff, and the sheriff demonstrated that the young girl was beaten primarily on the right side of her body and her face and all that stuff, demonstrating that the perpetrator was left-handed.

And then so Atticus calls up the girl's dad, and through a series of events, shows everyone, the entire courtroom, that the dad was left-handed.

And the process brought up Tom, put him on the witness stand, the young man that was accused of the crime.

And through the courtroom drama, he had a rubber ball and he threw the rubber ball at him and he couldn't catch it.

And when he had Tom stand up, his left arm fell to the side, it was limp, it was paralyzed and several inches shorter than the other.

That was due to an accident, and like the courtroom went silent.

Like everybody figured out, oh, that dad did it.

I mean, that was courtroom drama.

If you don't remember it to kill a mocking bird, I know you're gonna remember this one.

But I have a caveat.

I'm gonna say this.

I do not recommend the movie because of the language.

But nonetheless, in 1992, a great film came out uh that won all kinds of awards, and that was A Few Good Men.

Do you remember that?

And the lawyer puts uh the Colonel on the stand, and it's in that heated moment.

You know, the two Marines are accused of killing a fellow Marine, but it was under a code red, right?

That it came from a top-down unofficial order.

And in that courtroom drama, the lawyer, Tom Cruise, gets Colonel Jessup, Jack Nicholson, to admit it.

And then Jack Nicholson says, Do you want answers?

And the lawyer goes, I want that truth.

And Jack Nicholson yells back, You can't handle that truth! Right?

It's classic.

Here's the thing, guys.

Here's the thing.

The book that we're about to study involves one large courtroom drama.

And if you understand that, the book of Micah makes perfect sense.

The courtroom drama that we're gonna study over the course of the next several months is more shocking than to kill a mocking bird.

Or if you didn't.

The book of Micah is written by Micah.

It is a series of oracles, prophetic statements, oracles, that have been collected and arranged logically, not chronologically.

And when you look at the book of Micah, it has a very distinct structure to it.

It is cyclical and it has three cycles.

The first cycle covers chapters one and two, the second cycle covers chapters three through five, and the third cycle covers chapters six and seven.

And each cycle begins with like this pronouncement of judgment, but it ends with a promise of restoration and hope.

This is a fascinating book.

Let's look at it.

Micah chapter 1, verses 1 through 7 from the English Standard Version reads.

Micah 1:1–7

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.

For 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?

Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste.

And from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

That is the reading of God's word.

Micah described the drama and the cosmic courtroom in the case against Samaria and Jerusalem.

Now, the passage that we read, there are four scenes in the drama of the cosmic courtroom.

The first scene and the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the summons of the counselor.

Now, look in Micah chapter 1 and verse number 1.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Morsaf in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

And so obviously Micah identified himself as the author of the book that bears his name.

He tells us that he is from Morsaf.

Morsaf is approximately 20 to 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

And it's a little small border town.

It borders the Philistine city of Gath and Jerusalem.

It's also a rural community.

And this plays into providence a little bit later in the book.

Because Micah was rural, was reared in a rural environment, he stood outside of the religious, political, and social economic superstructures of his day.

He spoke to them as an outsider, one who could identify with the people who were suffering and being oppressed.

He stated that it was the word of the Lord.

In other words, Micah did not assume the office of an apostle.

He was summoned to the office of an apostle.

The word of God came to him.

It was not a figment of his imagination.

He didn't make it up.

The Lord called him into this prophetic ministry.

And it's also interesting that he called it the word of the Lord.

However, when you read the book, you discover it's a series of oracles.

It's already stated.

It's been collected and organized in three different cycles.

And I tell you something else that's pretty interesting.

He dated his ministry.

He listed three Judean kings.

And when you do the math, you figure out that Micah prophesied for over 50 years.

And yet it was the word of the Lord.

In other words, even though it was separate messages, it was one unified message to the people.

Does that make sense?

So this is why he called it the word of the Lord.

He also stated that he saw the word of the Lord.

In other words, the Lord communicated to him through dreams and visions, which is the primary method of communication that God chose when communicating with his prophets.

In fact, if you if you the scripture should come on the screen, it is Numbers chapter 12 and verse number 6.

Numbers 12 · chapter mention

It reads, And he said, Hear my words.

If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision.

I speak to him in a dream.

And so that was the primary method.

This is why Micah said, I saw the word.

Because he literally saw the word.

And something else you should know about prophets in the Old Testament, and that is this.

Prophets functioned as covenant counselors, or what we would call prosecuting attorneys.

And so the Lord would summon his prophets, and they would see a vision or a dream.

And they would see the cosmic courtroom.

And they would see the Lord on his throne ruling as the righteous judge of the universe.

And they would see the sin of the people.

How they had broken the covenant.

And most prophets operated from the book of Deuteronomy.

If you know Latin, that means the second giving of the law.

So most of them operated their basis, their law book was Deuteronomy.

And so they saw how the sin of the people had broken the covenant and how the Lord was going to bring judgment upon them.

But also offered a promise of restoration if they repented.

And so that's how the prophets worked.

And so we see here in Micah chapter 1, the Lord summoned Micah, and he saw the cosmic courtroom, and he saw what was going to happen to Samaria and to Jerusalem.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

And it became the word of the Lord that burned within him that he preached for over 50 years.

Now, how does this apply to us today?

This first point.

Number one, the foundational, unique role of the prophets have ceased.

In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 through 21, we are told.

Ephesians 2:19–21

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

The apostles and the prophets laid the foundation of the New Testament church.

And so the unique foundational role of the apostles and prophets have ceased.

There would never be another prophet in the sense of Micah or Jeremiah or Daniel, who, when they stand and say the word of the Lord was infallible.

That has ceased.

Now, here's something else we know.

Jesus Christ is the last and great prophet.

The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1 through 3.

Hebrews 1:1–3

Long ago and at many times, in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he opposed the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So the last days, by the way, began when Jesus' first advent, when he first came, and his first advent, all the way to now, we are in the last days.

And in the last days, God spoke through his son.

He's the final and full prophet.

Now here's the third thing, and I want you to pay attention to this, because some of you may have written me off already when I'm talking about prophets have ceased, and Christ is the final prophet.

Listen to this.

Christians through Christ operate prophetically in the world.

Okay?

Acts chapter 2, verses 17 and 18.

Acts 2:17

And in the last days.

When are the last days?

Right?

No.

And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy.

And so we do operate prophetically in the world today.

That is one of the promises or one of the benefits of being in the New Testament church, is that we are filled and we are empowered with the Holy Spirit.

And one of the things that we do as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit is we prophesy.

That is, we proclaim the word of God.

We're not seeing new doctrine.

There's no new revelation.

This is our book.

We work from Genesis to Revelation.

This is the completed word of God.

There's no other scripture being added.

We take this book and we speak it and we do so prophetically, calling people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9 reads, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

That phrase, proclaim the excellencies, prophesy, proclaim the word of God, talk about the goodness of God, talk about salvation and healing and deliverance that is found only in Jesus Christ.

And obviously, Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20.

Matthew 28:18–20

I'm not going to read it because most of the church is very familiar with that.

We term it the Great Commission.

And we are told to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all that I've commended you.

Okay?

So uh I like to say this around here.

That means much more than John 3.16.

For whatever reason the American Church has bought in the Great Commission means go tell everybody John 3.16, get them to raise their hand, walk forward, bow their heads, say a prayer, sign a card, and we're good.

And that's not what the Great Commission is all about.

Great Commission is not about conversion, it's about discipleship.

And he said, teaching to observe all that I've commanded you.

Well, it takes a prophetic function to accomplish that.

In other words, we have to proclaim the word of God.

So if you're a child of God, if you're a saint, if you're born again, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you should be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and you are commissioned to speak the word of God into our culture, calling people to repentance in Jesus Christ.

And so we see that the first scene and the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the summons of the counselor.

The second scene and the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the summons of all creation.

Now, listen to this.

We're back in Micah chapter 1, verses 2 through 4.

Micah 1:2–4

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.

And so Micah summoned all of creation to come and to witness what was about to take place.

He called all the people of the earth.

Here are all you pupils.

Pay attention to what's about to happen.

And then he revealed something that is more shocking than Atticus proving that Tom's left hand is paralyzed.

Or Colonel Jessup shouting, You can't handle the truth.

He revealed that God, the judge of the universe, was also in the witness stand against the people.

And then he was stepping out of the witness stand and coming down to tread upon the high places of the earth.

In fact, when God stepped down to tread upon the high places of the earth, it was as if the mountains would melt before his presence and the valleys would split open like wax before a fire, or like somebody pouring water down a steep place, and it cuts ruts in the earth, you know, channels in the dirt.

This is prophetic language.

God was coming in holy, righteous, fiery anger against his people for their sin.

And the very cosmos, the very creation would respond to the judgment of God.

You know, again, in the language of the prophets, this this this will this will make sense to you.

When you read the Old Testament and you read the language of the prophets, you'll come across what I call decreation language.

It's as if the language just it's like the world is falling apart, the mountains are melting, the sun refuses to shine, the moon's not coming in its place anymore.

That is decreation language.

What it means is everything is spiraling out of order because God is bringing judgment.

And therefore, the reverse is true.

When God begins to bring restoration and repentance, all of a sudden things are beginning to be built back in order and it's being recreated.

So we see that this is what is happening here.

Now notice this.

He said it was coming down.

He saw in a vision, all of this take place, and he said it was coming down to tread upon the high places.

Well, what are the high places?

What does that mean in scripture?

The high places are literally that.

It was the highest place in a region or a city or a town, and it was the center of false worship, idolatrous worship to false gods.

And so Michael was saying he's coming down to bring judgment upon the high places.

Now, how does this apply to us today?

Well, here's what I want you to know.

I think this is really important for us to understand.

The Lord will judge the high places.

The centers of false Idolatrous worship will be judged by God.

And when He does bring judgment to the high places, it is a precursor to the fact, in reality, that one day Christ is going to return and He's going to judge the entire earth.

You see, it's sobering to realize that judgment begins in the house of God.

And the reason the judgment begins in the house of God is so that all the other nations can look in and see what is happening.

And that if God will judge his own house, then surely there's coming a day that he's going to judge all the wickedness and paganism in the world.

It's actually God's goodness and grace to the wicked and pagan people, giving them an opportunity to repent and to come to faith in Christ because they see that God is a righteous and a holy God.

He's a jealous God in the sense that a man does not want to share his wife with another man, so God doesn't want to share his people with another God.

1 Peter chapter 4, verse 17 and 18 is the text for what I just described to you.

1 Peter 4:17

It reads, For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel?

That's the point.

They're supposed to look and go, I have no hope.

I must come to Christ.

That's the point.

Maybe this will help you make sense of some of the things that are happening in the world lately.

Remember how I said when God brings judgment?

He uses decreation language.

Now, that primarily occurs in the Old Testament, in the language of the prophets.

But I want you to listen to this text found in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

The writer of Hebrews makes this statement.

Hebrews 12, verses 25 through 29.

Hebrews 12:25–29

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

At that time his voice shook the earth.

But now he has promised yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

You see, when we look at the world around us, and it seems like everything is in chaos and disorder, and everything is falling apart.

The reality is God is shaking the nations, He's shaking the kingdoms of the earth.

He's shaking the earth, He's shaking the heavens, He's shaking the political and religious structures of the earth, as well as the kingdom, the idea of shaking the heavens, the idea of the kingdom of God.

He shakes all of that so that the things that are not built on the foundation of the word of God crumble and fall.

And so, therefore, we should be grateful because we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

What is happening is everything that is built on humanism, um, humanistic philosophy, paganism, false religions, all of it will eventually be shaken and will crumble down upon itself because it's not on the foundation of the word of God.

And one day it will all come crumbling down, and the things that remain are the things that are built on the kingdom of God.

And so we should rejoice.

Is it painful?

Yes.

Does it hurt?

Yes, but it's still the goodness of God, bringing people to repentance and faith in Christ.

And so we have to have courage.

We must maintain faith in these days in which we live.

When nations rising against nations, when the economic structures of the world are at their breaking point.

The reason is because we're still using the ungodly money system found within Babylon, and we have not built our economic system upon the foundation of the word of God.

And so, as everything crumbles, have faith in God.

Everything is not falling apart, it's falling into place.

So we see that the second scene of the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the summons of all creation.

And the third scene of the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the statement of the charges.

Now we get down to what's really happening.

In Micah chapter 1 and verse number 5, it reads, All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel.

Micah 1 · chapter mention

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

And what is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

So the prophet Micah here, verse number five, finally gives the charges.

First he indicted Samaria.

And he said it this way you know, all of this is for the transgression of Jacob, all of this is for the house of Israel, the transgression of the house of Israel.

In this particular context, when he talks about the house of Jacob or the house of Israel, he's speaking of the northern kingdom whose capital was Samaria.

Now, if you're not familiar with this, I don't have time to go into it, but realize there were 12 tribes and 10, really 10 and a half, they go to the north, they're called the northern kingdom, they're called Ephraim, they're called Israel, and their capital was Samaria.

You had two and a half who stayed to the south, they were known as Judea, and their capital was Jerusalem.

Led by a man named Jeroboam.

One of the things that Jeroboam did is he built a rival religious system.

So he built temples and he introduced bell worship.

And he ordained priests who weren't qualified.

According to the Old Testament, they were not legal priests, but yet he ordained them and sanctioned them.

And they led the people in this idolatrous worship.

And the reason why he says Samaria is because it is true that what is in the urban centers, what is in the capital of the states, or in this case the nation, or what is in the urban centers, infiltrates to the rest of the nation or to the rest of the state.

And in the shocking move, Micah then goes, and not only is Samaria guilty, but so is Judah.

He said, What is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

No, that's like shocking.

That's like Koran Joseph going, You came out of the truth.

Jerusalem is a high place.

Jerusalem is the place where the temple stood.

That's where they went to worship.

That's when they took their sacrifices.

And God looked at it and said, It's a high place.

It's full of hypocrisy.

It's full of idolatry.

But the bad part of it is they covered it with a veneer of holiness.

And therefore, it was a high place.

Surely you can see the application.

The modern application of this text is manifestly self-evident.

America is both Samaria and Jerusalem.

At least modern America, at least our current situation.

We operate as though we are both Samaria and Jerusalem.

We are Samaria in the sense that in our land is false religious houses of worship all over the place.

We even have false ministers ordained to the pulpits of America.

They don't qualify.

They're not men of God.

And yet they're leading so-called churches.

It's nothing more than bell worship repackaged.

And worse than that, America is Jerusalem.

In the sense that we claim to be Christian.

But then you look around and you see all the babies that have been murdered that we call abortion.

You see how we've legalized sodomy.

You see all the filth that is in entertainment today.

And all we've done, it's covered with the veneer of Christianity, and we sprinkle a little holy water on it.

As if somehow it's now acceptable to God.

And just as God looked down upon Jerusalem, the holy city, to the holy temple, and said it's a high place, surely He has said the same thing about the United States of America.

What do we do?

What do we do?

Here's the answer.

Here's the answer.

Engage the high places and tear them down.

Listen to this.

2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 6.

2 Corinthians 10:4–6

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.

And we take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

That's what we're called to do.

In education, entertainment, politics, economics, the family, even the church.

We are told to destroy every high thing that has exalted itself against the knowledge of God.

It must come down.

The high places, the false centers of worship, the false political ideologies and false theological concepts, they have to be destroyed.

They must come down so that the kingdom of God advances.

In fact, not only are we told to do it, we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to do it.

And just to encourage you, it will be done.

Read 1 Corinthians 15.

Says of the Lord, Jesus must reign, meaning in heaven, until all his enemies become his footstool.

It will be done.

We must engage.

Now is not the time to be weak, sissified Christians.

Now is the time to be full of faith and power of the Holy Spirit.

Some of you may be thinking, I don't know, I'm not engaged in the culture like that.

Then engage in prayer.

Get on your knees and pray.

Bombard heaven!

You war in the heavenlies.

So we see the kingdom of God advance.

What's funny?

Because when I preach like this, some of you are looking at me like that's a little radical, preacher.

And the odd thing about it is according to the Bible, that's normal Christianity.

That's how far we have straight.

Not to be disrespectful.

Some of the old timers understand the language, and I say, do war in heavenly, it's my bar in heaven.

You know exactly what that means.

I'm calling you to pray.

You get that.

Intercede.

So, young people, that's what I'm calling you to do.

Intercede.

Pray.

Seek God, and He will empower you by His Spirit for you to make a difference right where you are.

Your school, your work, your family, your home, your friends, extracurricular activities, the Holy Spirit of God will empower you to advance the kingdom of God on this earth.

Every sphere should come under the dominion of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

So the third scene of the drama of the cosmic courtroom is the statement of the charges, and the fourth, final scene of the drama of the cosmic courtroom is sovereign judgment.

Micah chapter 1, verses 6 and 7.

Micah 1:6

It reads, Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and to cover her foundations.

All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all the wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will lay waste.

And for the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

And so in those verses, Micah informed Samaria and the northern kingdom that they were going to be destroyed.

And not only were they going to be destroyed, they were going to be devastated.

That's what that language meant.

Again, prophetic language.

The enemy was going to come in and tear down all the buildings, tear down their stones.

I mean, it was going to level everything down to the foundation.

And their land was going to be used as crops.

They're going to be used for fields to plant vineyards and produce crops.

In other words, complete and total devastation of everything that they had built.

And all of the wealth, all of the gold, all of the money that they had accumulated as a nation through religious and political prostitution was going to be taken from them.

All of the idols they had built with all of that wealth was going to be burned and destroyed, and the wealth was going to be given to another harlot nation.

And we know this took place, by the way, if you know history, not only the Bible, but this is attested in world history.

The Assyrians came in and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel approximately 722 BC.

They were done.

Now, what do we do with that?

How does that apply to us today?

The whole point that Micah is getting at is he was prophesying to Jerusalem, the southern kingdom.

And he said, Look, the northern kingdom is wicked and they're going to be destroyed.

But you can't be prideful because you're just as wicked.

And if you don't repent, the same thing is going to happen to you.

So he was using the northern kingdom as a sermon illustration of what was going to happen to the southern kingdom if they did not repent.

Now we know from biblical history and again from world history that they somewhat, the southern kingdom somewhat repented.

But not fully.

Over time they reverted back and then Babylon came in and destroyed them.

The Assyrians didn't.

They took a lot of the towns, but they never conquered Jerusalem.

It was Babylon who came in much later.

Now here's how this applies to us today.

The prophets are still speaking to us today.

Through the word of God.

I don't mean the so-called people who call themselves prophets.

I meant the true prophets.

The prophets, the word of God, are still speaking to us today.

And we can look back and we can look at the history of Israel and Judah.

And we can say, man, they were wicked.

You know, they were destroyed.

Hey, but we can't be prideful.

It's not like America is any better.

It's not like the state of Tennessee is any better.

Or the state of Mississippi is any better.

We got anybody in Arkansas?

You're not any better either.

Okay?

So what do we do with this information?

Some of you may be thinking about preacher.

I haven't engaged in these sins.

But our nation has.

Listen to this truth.

Just as judgment begins in the house of God, so does repentance.

Second Chronicles 7:14.

2 Chronicles 7:14

If all of the congressmen would repent, no, that's not what it says, is it?

If the White House would repent, if the American consulates around the world repent, no.

If my people who are called by my name will repent.

Right?

My people who are called by my name.

This is folks, of course it's 2 Chronicles, so it's Old Testament, but it was speaking to the covenant people of God back then with Israel.

Today the church is a covenant people of God.

We are the new Israel of God, Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

We are the ones in covenant with God.

And if his people were called by his name, Christians would repent.

Right?

Turn from their wicked ways, seek the face of God.

Then, then you will hear, you will forgive, and you will heal the land.

Listen, everything that we're facing is not going to be fixed in one or two political election cycles.

Everything that we're facing as a nation is not going to be fixed if we put a Republican in the office or we put a Democrat in office.

The only thing that is going to fix our nation is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the church must lead the way.

We have to repent of the sins of our nation.

And we have to repent for being an idolatrous church who has created a God in our image, one that we like, one who gives into our flesh, the one who lets us live simple lifestyles and come to church on Sunday just to make sure everything's still okay with God.

We live in his creation.

This is his universe.

He has created us life.

He has called us by the Holy Spirit into his church, and he has powered us with his spirit to go and to make a difference and to bring all the enemies of Jesus Christ underneath his feet.

And we don't do so by machine guns, by bombs, and by bazookas.

We do so by the word of the living God.

We proclaim, we prophesy, we preach, we pray, we witness, and we see pagans come to Jesus Christ.

That is what we are called to do.

We need mighty move of God in our land.

I sure hope you stay for the remainder of the series.

Because even though there's going to be some hard sermons, there's also some very hopeful lessons in the book of Mike of what it could look like if we do what we're supposed to do.

And that's the preaching.

God's word.

If you're not a Christian, if you're not a child of God, you've never repented of your sin and place your faith in Jesus Christ, man.

I get today maybe kind of like drinking out of a fire hydrant.

I understand.

But you may not understand everything that I was communicating or saying.

If you're not a child of God, I understand that.

But it's still the word of God.

And the Holy Spirit will take that and convict you and draw you to faith in Christ.

Because that's the power of the Word of God.

So if you're sitting or standing now this morning and you can't explain it, but you are convicted.

Like you just realized, you know what?

I need Jesus.

I need to be saved.

I don't understand it all, but I know I need Jesus.

I have to know it all to come to faith in Christ.

All you need to do is repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus.

Romans 10, 9 and 10 is a pretty good summary of how that takes place.

It says, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, and that God the Father raised him from the dead, and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.

Now, confession is much more than just going, oh yeah, Jesus is Lord.

It means something like this: I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I live like it too.

You know what I mean?

Not perfect.

No one's perfect.

But your whole life gets rearranged to following the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if the Holy Spirit is dealing with you to repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus, you should do so like right now.

Right now.

I don't know what to do, preacher.

You say, Lord, save me.

I confess that you are Lord.

Come to faith in Christ.

Like right now.

You're not promised tomorrow.

In fact, you're not even promised to be allowed to even walk into the parking lot.

You never know when your last breath is, and this isn't a fair tactic, it's reality.

So I call upon you.

Come to faith in Christ.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

And to the rest of the church, Christians, let me talk to you for a minute.

The rest of the church.

I ended the drama in the cosmic courtroom with the idea that we need to intercede and we need to pray.

Just as judgment begins in the house of the Lord, so does repentance.

So I come upon you right now.

I come upon you right now to take some time and to pray and to begin to come up to God on behalf of our nation.

On behalf of the church in America, and to begin to repent for the sins of our nation.

For your children and grandchildren to come to faith in Christ.

For your children and grandchildren to return to the house of the Lord.

The prodigals would return home.

So I come upon you now.

Take time to repent.

Intercede on behalf of America and intercede on behalf of the church in America.

We are going to end this covenant message by observing a covenant meal we call communion.

You do not have to be a member of this church to take communion with us.

We do ask that you are saved and water baptized.

If you are saved and water baptized, you're more than welcome to take communion with us.

I would encourage you to go to the table, get your elements, and bring them back and remain standing.

And also remain in this atmosphere of prayer and intercession because it's important to what we're doing at this moment.

I realize it's communion, it's the Lord's Supper, we call it.

But it's what it symbolizes.

It's interesting.

In our marching orders in Matthew chapter 28, to go make disciples of all the nations, to conquer the nations with the gospel.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

You know what we're told to do it with?

Scripture.

Bread.

Why?

Water.

In other words, we make disciples.

Teach and observe all that's been commanded us.

What's been commanded?

Observe the Lord's Supper every Sunday.

You come together.

As well as the scripture, and we water baptize people into the faith.

Well, as a recognition that they've been born again into the faith.

What we're observing right now is not a time filler.

It's not tradition.

This was commanded by our Lord and Savior.

Reminder that he conquered the world.

This death, burial, and resurrection.

Then he told us to do the same.

By the word of the Lord, Revelation 12, 11.

By the word of the Lord.

Testimony.

And love not your lives even to death.

In Matthew chapter 26, verse 26 and following, it says, They were eating, and Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take eat, this is my body.

Matthew 26:26

Father, we thank you for the plan of salvation.

We thank you for sending your son Jesus to this earth to give his body to be beaten and to be whipped and to be nailed to the cross.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were obedient.

According to Philippians 2, you were obedient even to the point of death, death from a cross, so that we could be healed and restored to our relationship with the Father.

Let us partake together, please.

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for shedding your blood on the cross of Calvary.

And we believe that there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ to save, to heal, to deliver.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you died on the cross to save your people.

Let us partake together.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for listening to the Carival Grace Chapel Podcast.

Make sure that you like, share, follow us on socials.

I'm Dr.

Jason Murphy, proclaiming grace, transforming culture.