Micah 7 "God Still Loves You...Really!"

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That wonderful, difficult song we just heard is the heart of Micah chapter 7 set to music.

Micah 7 · chapter mention

And you can hear and feel both the pain, some really hard things in there, especially when we look at ourselves.

And you can hear the joy too, can't you?

The hope that comes when we look to our God.

In fact, as you turn to Micah 7 this morning, in many ways this last chapter of Micah is a helpful summary of the whole book.

So the themes will sound familiar to you if you've been here the past few weeks.

So let's pray together this morning and ask for God's help as we look at His Word together.

Father, we need You.

And we ask for You to send Your Spirit in our midst today to teach our hearts to open them to hearing Your Word.

As we read it and as it is preached, we need You to use it not merely in our heads, but in our hearts.

Because we need You.

So would we know You more?

And this time we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We're going to focus this morning on the end of this chapter.

It's glorious and hopeful.

It's where we're going to spend most of our time.

But before we get there, we need to ache with Micah first.

He picks up here, as you just heard, with a lament over what he sees in his heart and in the people around him.

God's people who have, by and large, turned away from God and decided they're going to run in other directions.

And he says he looks and he feels despairing and empty like a tree picked clean of fruit.

Verse 1.

Woe is me!

For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned.

There is no cluster to eat, no first ripe fig that my soul desires.

The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind.

They all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.

Their hands are on what is evil to do it well.

The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul.

Thus they weave it together.

The best of them is like a briar, the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come.

Now their confusion is at hand.

Put no trust in a neighbor.

Have no confidence in a friend.

Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

For the son treats the father with contempt.

The daughter rises up against her mother.

The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Yikes.

It's as hard reading them as singing them, isn't it?

You can hear the echoes of Micah's words in earlier chapters, can't you?

From the people to their leaders who are supposed to be the ones who know how to turn them back to God,

but who are leading the charge away from him.

It's every man for himself.

No one to be trusted.

Violence, treachery, broken relationships, corrupt systems.

A lot of people playing church, right?

Going to the temple talking about God, but living however they please.

That's what Derek reminded us of during our confession from Micah chapter 6.

Micah 6 · chapter mention

God makes it simple and straightforward.

Do justice, love, kindness, walk humbly with your God.

And we make our life's work, our heart's passion.

Not this wonderful relationship with God that he's called us into, but comfort for self.

And so Micah cries out in the face of this brokenness,

Woe is me!

It's the language of lament.

Lament.

The Bible's full of it.

From the Psalms, through the prophets and other places.

God's people crying out in honest pain and grief.

From the sin they see in their own heart, the brokenness around them.

Lament is honesty and desperation at the same time.

Seeing life clearly and acknowledging that it's not what it's supposed to be.

Maybe you've felt that.

God, help us.

We have so much to share but are so driven by selfish desires.

We live for this life and not for eternity.

Many of us lack zeal and the most passionate burnout.

We elevate one we respect and he falls morally or abandons the faith.

We even attack each other and kick those who have fallen while they're down.

Oh God, help!

For we're a mess!

Micah's been full of lament, hasn't he?

A lot of that in this prophecy.

Prophecy.

I'd ask us, where have we been convicted of our sin?

I don't know what God has put on your heart in the past few weeks as we've studied this prophecy together.

I don't know what heavy thing you may have brought in this morning on your heart.

But lament is a language we need to learn better.

Crying out.

It's just what ought to be done when we see these.

Crying out like Micah for the sin in our hearts.

For the corruption of God's people.

Oh, we're not what we ought to be, God.

For the brokenness of the culture around us.

All of that is right.

Right.

Often tears are appropriate in this life.

It's through them that we're actually seeing most clearly and most rightly.

We're seeing that on our own there is no hope.

Not a little bit.

Not maybe for the best of us.

No hope.

We've abandoned the one who made us.

Who's the only source of life.

And we can't make our way back to him.

And so we lament.

And then Micah's lament shifts.

He looks around and sees all of that and cries out.

Then he says, but as for me, I will never be faithless.

I would never betray a friend.

I will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

No.

No, that's actually not.

Where he starts.

Verse 7.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

As for me, I will look where?

To Yahweh.

The only thing that gives us hope in the face of the brokenness of our hearts and our world is a clear vision of God.

That's what Micah.

There's only one thing.

There's only one place to look.

The hope is not in us.

It's not in social progress.

Maybe all of us together will do better.

It's not in personal improvement.

Well, maybe the rest of them will fail, but I can pull through.

No.

It's in God himself.

And so Micah turns our eyes to God.

And that's where his prophecy will end.

With this glorious vision of who our God truly is.

And we so need it.

It might not be new information to you this morning.

But y'all, we have a lot of broken pictures of God.

That maybe even we don't realize we have.

But they distort our relationship with him so that we don't see him and know him as he wants us to.

And Micah wants us to see God.

And when we see him clearly, we see a God, yes, full of holiness and justice.

But a God of love.

Of steadfast love.

Forgiving love.

Unfailing love beyond our comprehension.

One of my favorite things in the world is scooping my girls up in my arms.

And talking with them about how much I love them.

It doesn't happen as often as it used to anymore.

But one morning this week, Lily woke up early and came downstairs.

And I got to scoop her up in my arms and talk with her for a little bit.

And I just sat there in the chair and held her and said,

Do you know Daddy loves you so much?

She said, Yes.

I said, Why does Daddy love you?

Because he does.

Yeah, yeah, because you're my girl.

Yeah, Daddy's sweet girl.

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

I said, Does Daddy love you because you always do everything right?

She knows that answer.

She said, No.

I said, Does Daddy love you because you got A's on your report card?

No.

Does Daddy love you because you scored a goal in the soccer game?

Yes.

Yes.

I have a cute, creative six-year-old.

I said, But what if tonight you kick the ball in the other goal?

Will Daddy still love you?

She said, Yes.

I said, What if you clipped down at school today?

She started getting tired of the questioning.

Yes, you will always love me because I am your girl.

I wasn't tired of it.

I said, Don't you ever forget that.

Don't ever, ever forget that.

I think that we, more than we admit, need to have that conversation with our Heavenly Father.

That's what Micah wants here.

He wants you to end in your father's arms, gazing in your lament into the eyes of your loving, forgiving, gracious God.

Listen to verses 18 through 20.

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.

Who is a God like you?

That's what Micah's name means.

Let's marvel together for just a few minutes.

Who is like Yahweh?

Well, what is he like?

What's at his very core?

What makes God's heart happy?

One of my distorted visions of God is that he is just like me and many parents that I know.

I call this the adoring fan.

You know, he stands on the sidelines cheering me on, hoping I make a great play.

And when I do, he's so proud.

He jumps up and runs onto the field and picks me up and says, that's my boy.

He did it.

Look at verse 18 again.

Who is a God like you?

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression?

He does not retain his anger forever.

He delights in steadfast love.

What makes God's heart happy is his steadfast love.

Love that enters what?

Our sin, iniquity and transgression and loves us right there.

It's not when I hit a home run that he cheers the loudest.

It's even when I strike out that he runs to embrace me and says, that's my boy.

I love you.

It's like the father of the prodigal son, right?

He sees him at his lowest point, covered in pig slop.

And he runs out to him and embraces him and says, my boy, welcome home.

No other fathers acted like that.

But he delighted to.

He rejoiced in it.

Who is like our God?

This heart of love is where God begins when he's introducing himself.

All the way back in Exodus 34, he's talking to Moses.

He says, the Lord, the Lord, it's his name, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,

forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

Steadfast love, steadfast love for thousands, forgiving.

This is who I am, God says.

So there's hope in your lowest, at your worst, because our relationship involves not joy in your successes,

but delight in forgiving your failures.

Can you believe that?

He doesn't just tolerate that.

He loves to do it.

That's why Micah says here in verse 8 that it's in his deep darkness that Yahweh will be a light to him.

That in the midst of exile and the destruction of Jerusalem,

God will actually come and rebuild the walls and extend the boundaries of the city.

Verse 11.

Verse 14.

When his people are most alone,

they're neglected, feeling lost,

he will shepherd them and provide richly for them.

What amazing grace that enters into those places,

love that goes so far beyond what his people ever deserved

and pours out blessing on them

and loves every second of it.

That's who our God is

and what he delights to do.

He loves to love you.

Will, I've messed up again.

I don't deserve for anyone to love me, he said.

Substance addiction was wreaking havoc on this friend who was in my office a few months ago.

But we all have our addictions, don't we?

Those sins we keep going back to over and over.

The idols we consistently serve.

The failures we've begun to give up on.

And what he said to me in my office that day is true.

I don't deserve for anyone to love me.

I said, that's right.

The good news is that's not all that's true.

God loves people who don't deserve it, doesn't he?

But what if I've messed up again?

He will again have compassion on us,

tread our iniquities underfoot,

cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Don't you love that word, again?

You messed up again,

but Yahweh has compassion again.

See, sometimes I can get on board with God being patient and loving.

You know, the God of second chances, right?

Y'all, I've blown a lot of second and third chances.

Anyone else?

It's so much better than that.

I have this vision of God being like an umpire.

You know, one strike, okay.

Nobody's perfect.

Two strikes, hey, be careful.

You're pushing it a little bit.

Three strikes, you're out.

Don't come to me.

Don't keep messing up and come back here.

Learn your lesson.

Micah says, no way.

No way.

No matter how many times God's people have blown it,

over and over, idol after idol,

he will again have compassion and forgive their sins.

You know why?

God's love keeps no record of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13.

Psalm 130 says,

if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

if you were counting and keeping track of all my mistakes,

Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.

O Israel, hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is steadfast love.

With him is plentiful redemption.

He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Steadfast love again.

Plentiful redemption.

He will forgive again.

And he's shown it.

He doesn't just talk about it.

He's shown it with his people, hasn't he?

Just marvel for a minute.

But think with me that there's Adam in the garden

who disobeys God

when God was very clear about what he should or should not do.

And yet, God doesn't stop loving.

He promises to send a savior.

And then Noah,

the best guy left in his day,

after the flood and God saving him,

Noah gets drunk.

But God hangs a rainbow in the sky

because of his steadfast love.

Abraham lied and endangered his wife,

but God promised to keep loving him

and his descendants,

generation after generation.

And when he sends Moses to lead his people out of Egypt,

they complain

and want to go back.

But God still delivers them

through the Red Sea.

That wasn't enough.

God's people doubted his care

in the wilderness for 40 years

and God responds and feeds them every day

and leads them to the promised land.

David chose violent immorality.

But God promised to forgive

and put his descendant on the throne forever.

Jonah ran away from God,

wanted nothing to do with him

or his love.

But God sent a storm,

a whale,

a plant,

and a wind

all to chase Jonah down

and show him the beauty of his love.

And we get all the way here to Micah

and now God's sending his people

into exile

for their persistent idolatry.

But at the same time,

promising that those who turn back

and trust him

will yet again

for the millionth time,

what?

Be forgiven

and loved

and brought back to him.

And you think he's counted you out

for too many strikes?

No way!

You can't out-sin his grace

or out-run his love.

Will he not revive us again

in our day

with this kind of love?

Doesn't that do something to you?

There's no one like this God.

He keeps forgiving

again

and again.

But how will God look at me

then?

I mean, really?

I've had some people say

that they forgave me before,

but our relationship

got pretty distant.

A lot of hurt there.

A lot of coldness.

Certainly, I'm on probation

with God, right?

I mean, it's been a lot, Will.

Plus, I feel like he sees

and knows everything.

He's kind of like an Olympic judge

and I'm doing a gymnastics routine

and he doesn't miss anything.

Every little stumble,

tenth of a point.

Every misstep,

ooh, half a point.

You may still be on the beam,

but lose your balance

even a little bit

and it will be counted

against you, right?

Look at verse 19

one more time.

He will tread

our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast

all our sins

into the depths

of the sea.

How's our relationship

with God?

After all the agains

he has to forgive?

I will forgive

their iniquity

and I will remember

their sin

no more.

Jeremiah 31, 34.

Psalm 103.

He does not deal with us

according to our sins

nor repay us

according to our iniquities.

As high as the heavens

are above the earth

so great

is his steadfast love

toward those

who fear him.

As far as the east

is from the west

so far

does he remove

our transgressions

from us.

Do you hear what

this is saying?

It's not that God

can't think of sins

anymore

like he just can't

come up with it.

It's that they're not

connected

to us.

When he thinks

of his children

it's in love

not connected

to our sin.

Remember

he delights

in steadfast love.

He's not looking

to count something

against you.

That's not

the way his heart is.

He has trampled

our sins

underfoot.

He has cast

our sins

into the depths

of the sea

no longer on us

as far away

as you can imagine.

Imagine that.

washed away

from us.

Every year

Orthodox Jews

on Rosh Hashanah

will go to a river

and empty their sins

out of their pockets

into the water

and watch them

symbolically

wash away.

Never able

to find them again

right?

Couldn't possibly

track them down

and link them back

to me.

That's actually

the picture here

casting them

into the depths

of the sea.

And in verse 18

pardoning iniquity

not merely

my specific sins

but my sinful nature

who I am

God actually

lifts that burden

from me

and takes it

on himself.

John Bunyan

pictures it

famously

in Pilgrim's

Progress

as Christian

has journeyed

long

with the

burden

of sin

on his back

until

as he nears

the celestial city

this great picture

up this way

therefore

did burdened

Christian run

but not without

great difficulty

because of the load

on his back.

He ran thus

till he came

at a place

somewhat ascending

and upon that

place stood a cross

and a little below

in the bottom

a sepulcher

kids that's a

fancy word

for tomb

okay

sepulcher

so I saw

in my dream

that just as

Christian came

up to the cross

his burden

loosed from

off his shoulders

and fell

from off his back

and began

to tumble

and so continued

to do

till it came

to the mouth

of the sepulcher

where it fell

in and I saw

it no more

at the cross

and the empty

tomb of Jesus

our sin

rolls away

and is

no more

amen

and so God

loves you

he can't

he loves you

even as he

hates sin

he loves you

because he

looks at you

and sees

not your failure

but his son's

success

in your

place

it's amazing

love

isn't it

close your eyes

for a minute

this morning

I want you to

think of your

worst

sin

what is it

that sticks

to you

and you feel

you can never

get away from it

can't get the

shame of it

off of you

imagine that

sin being

placed on

Jesus

at the cross

being buried

forever

in his

empty tomb

washing away

with the

rushing river

into the

depths of the

sea

can you

see that

happening

friend if you

trust God

this is what

he does

for you

that's what

his love

is like

he takes

it away

forever

and loves

and delights

in you

if you've

never known

love like

that

you can

experience it

today

right now

maybe you've

been at church

many times

or for many

years and

thought that

God was

someone to

keep your

distance from

lest he

catch you

he would

catch you

doing something

wrong and

get you for

it

Micah says

you'll end up

broken and

hopeless

hiding from

him

but the God

of the Bible

is actually

looking to

catch you

he is

he's coming

to catch you

so that he

can scoop you

up in his

arms and

embrace you

and hold you

forgive you

and love you

forever with a

love that will

never let you

go

that's why he's

looking for you

he sent his

son Jesus

to take

earth's

worst

for you

so that you

could have

heaven's

best

now

and forever

who

is a

God

like

you

pardoning

iniquity

passing

over

transgression

delighting

in steadfast

love

he's the

one we

all

need

to see

this

morning

I don't

know what

you've done

each of you

I don't know

how long

you've been

cold

to God

but I know

that it is

no match

for his

grace

your sins

not bigger

than his

grace

your hearts

not so cold

that his

love

can't

warm it

and he

loves

to do

that

do you

see him

clearly

for the

first time

maybe

do you

see him

clearly

ready to

forgive you

again

this morning

do you

see him

longing to

have you

run back

into his

arms

to trust

him

afresh

rather than

what you're

doing right

now

hiding from

him

in your

struggle

and pain

do you

do you

hear

and see

your

father

wanting

to welcome

you home

and hold

you and tell

you how much

he loves

you

y'all

why would

we run

anywhere else

but to him

he's a God

of steadfast

love

cry out to

him

even now

come talk

with us

more about

his love

after the

service

kids

I want to

read you

one more

picture

of God's

love

this morning

will y'all

come up

here

and sit

on the

steps

as we

finish

the

sermon

so you

can hear

it really

well

let's

sit over

here

this is a

book I

get to

read with

my kids

sometimes

written

by a

guy named

Brian

Chappell

it's a

book that

helps us

learn about

how much

God loves

us

okay

the title

is I'll

love you

anyway

and always

okay

see the

little girl

in that

picture

that little

girl's name

is Katie

okay

Katie poured

water from

her watering

can onto

the flower

bed

her mother

was planting

petunias near

the house

Katie you can

water all

the flowers

mother told

her except

for daddy's

favorite it's a

very special

flower called

an orchid

and only

daddy knows

how much

water it

needs

so Katie

watered all

the flowers

in the garden

she knew the

water would

make the

flowers grow

more beautiful

then she

thought daddy

wants his

orchid to be

beautiful I'll

water it for

him too

she put a

deep pool of

water around

the purple

flower Katie

did not know

that the orchid

could only drink

a little water

at a time

and as the

afternoon wore

on the orchid

began to

wilt and

its beautiful

blossoms fell

to the ground

it's a sad

flower isn't

it that evening

after dinner the

family went out

into the yard to

enjoy the cool

air Katie's

daddy happened

to glance over

at his orchid

and a look of

shock and sorrow

crossed his

face when he

saw the

withered flower

what happened

to my orchid

he said

Katie hung her

head in shame

why hadn't

she obeyed

finally she

whispered

I watered it

I'm so sorry

tears came to

her eyes

daddy you're

sad because I

hurt your flower

will you still

love me

Katie's father

took his little

girl into his

arms

because you

disobeyed he

said you and

I are both

sad but

but nothing

you do

will ever make

me stop loving

you

I'll love you

anyway

and always

and her daddy

started to tell

her stories

about how God

loves us

Adam and Eve

and Noah

and Abraham

and Moses

and David

and then

God sent

who do you think

that is

Jesus

baby Jesus

God's own son

to save his

people from

their sins

God made

Jesus a

perfect sacrifice

for our sins

Jesus loved us

so much he took

all the punishment

for our sins

when he suffered

on the cross

and so when we

trust him God

takes our guilt

away

when we ask God

to forgive our sin

he says

guess what

I'll love you

anyway

and always

and her daddy

said to her

Katie

now you know

why nothing you do

will ever make me

stop loving you

I will love you

anyway

and always

let's pray

Father we need

that kind of love

it's not just

little kids

who disobey

their parents

their parents

disobey you

we do what we

think is best

we love to

live for ourselves

and honestly

there are many

days where we

wonder if you

could still love

us

thank you

thank you for

Jesus

thank you for

being a God

who will never

ever let us

go

and will never

quit loving us

thank you for

sending your son

so that we can

believe that if you

would send him

for us

you will never

quit loving us

nothing could

ever separate us

from your love

that you've given

us in Jesus

pray these kids

would remember

that

pray their

pastor would

remember it

and their

parents

and all of us

and we would

know how much

you love us

and that would

bring great joy

to our hearts

today and

every day

in Jesus name

amen

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