Proclaiming God's Message
We are to preach and teach
God's Word faithfully, trusting the
Holy Spirit to convict people of sin.
Here now is Dr. Gene Getz:
As we've seen, Micah refused to compromise.
He spoke out.
He proclaimed God's message.
And he trusted God with that message
to bring the results.
And so, I've called this next section
"Micah's prophecy against Zion,"
which refers basically to Judah
and Jerusalem. Chapter 3:9:
"Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice and pervert everything
that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with injustice.
Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe..."
Here's their motivation.
"Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,
her priests teach for payment,
and her prophets practice divination for money. ..."
Now let's understand. Jesus taught and
so did Paul that a laborer is worthy of his hire.
Those in the ministry, who are serving God faithfully, are worthy of their hire.
To be cared for. But that's not what Micah's talking about here.
He's talking about manipulation, control, materialism.
Building your own financial kingdom
by taking advantage of other people.
And using a spiritual message to achieve the goal. How sad.
And so, Micah does not compromise.
And then he says:
"...Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,"
"Isn't the Lord among us?"
"No disaster will overtake us. ..."
Micah's prophesying disaster.
And they come in behind that message, take advantage,
continue to practice all of this injustice,
and they say:
Don't worry, no disaster is going to take over.
It's not going to happen.
He's a false prophet. Don't listen to him.
Micah goes on to say:
"...Therefore, because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become ruins,
and the hill of the temple mount
will be a thicket."
Wow. Powerful words.
Now what happened as a result of Micah's prophecy?
What we need to do--
and this is fascinating.
We can project ahead a hundred years
to see what happened.
And we have an answer to Jeremiah's experience.
Now Jeremiah prophesied
about a hundred years later.
Because he was close to the time
when Nebuchadnezzar was going
to come in and take over.
You see God's grace even after Micah.
Another hundred years go by
before judgement on Judah fell.
In Jeremiah 26, here's what we read.
"Then the officials and all the people
told the priests and prophets,"
"This man doesn't deserve the death sentence..."
What man? Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been
taken in to custody because of his prophesies.
And because he is doing the will of God.
He is pronouncing judgment and
they're going to take his life.
They're going to kill him.
And so, he's standing before
the judgement seat, as it were, there.
"This man doesn't deserve the
death sentence, for he has spoken to us
in the name of Yahweh our God!"
In other words, there were people
who were listening and reading the Scriptures.
Even at this time.
"Some of the elders of the land stood up
and said to all the assembled people,"
[Now get this.]
"Micah the Moreshite prophesied
in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah
and said to all the people of Judah,
'This is what the Lord of Hosts says'..."
And here is a quote.
Now before we read the quote,
let me remind you that they're
at the beginning of his prophesy.
He prophesied during what kingdom
and what kings?
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
And if you read this story of Hezekiah,
he brought reform
back at this time when Micah was preaching.
Now, a hundred years later,
these elders are reflecting on what happened.
And this is what they say to
protect Jeremiah, to save his life.
"...Micah the Moreshite prophesied
in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah
and said to all the people of Judah,"
'This is what the Lord of Hosts says:"
"Zion will be plowed like a field..."
And here, he's quoting Micah. We just read it.
There's a little difference in the wording
but the same meaning.
"Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become ruins,
and the temple mount a forested hill.' ..."
In the Old Testament, Micah said a "thicket."
"...Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all the
people of Judah put him to death?"
Jeremiah? No.
"Did he not fear the Lord and plead for the Lord's favor?"
Hezekiah, actually as I said, brought reform to Judah.
He cleaned the temple of all those Baals--idols.
He reinstated worship.
And sacrificed to the Lord God,
the one true God.
And then, there in Jeremiah, this record, it says
"...and did not the Lord relent concerning
the disaster He had pronounced against them? ..."
That is, Micah pronounced against them.
"...We are about to bring great harm on ourselves!"
If we take the life of this prophet of God.
Namely, Jeremiah.
So a hundred years later, reading Jeremiah,
we saw some results from Micah's preaching.
It touched the king Hezekiah.
And brought reform at that moment
in the life of the Israelites.
And it saved a prophet's life.
Micah didn't see that it was an
act of faith on his part.
Somehow, I wish that he could have known that.
That someday God was going to bless that.
He did see the reforms that took place,
obviously, in the time of Hezekiah.
Who is that third king that is mentioned.
When all is said and done though, we're to trust God.
Trust His Word regardless of
how people respond.
That's the challenge that we have.
And I love Paul's final challenge
there in that dungeon in Rome,
shortly before his life was taken by evil Nero.
He's writing to his faithful missionary companion Timothy.
And in 2 Timothy, last book he ever wrote.
Last letter he ever wrote.
Verse 1 and 2. He said:
"I solemnly charge you before God
and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge
the living and the dead,
and because of His appearing and His kingdom:
Proclaim the message [Timothy]..."
You're going to face some real hostile situations.
But don't compromise.
Maybe he was thinking of Micah when
he penned these words.
Timothy: "Proclaim the message;
persist in it whether convenient or not;
rebuke, correct, and encourage
with great patience and teaching."
And of course, the apostle Paul went
to his death without ever compromising
the Word of God.
Here's a Reflection and Response question.
And it's simply this.
How has the power of God's Word
to change hearts and lives been
demonstrated throughout history?
Well, we see it in the lives of the apostles.
We see the way in which the
Word of God penetrated the hearts of people.
Didn't change the Roman Empire.
But it changed a lot of people in the Roman Empire.
Many, many people came to Christ--
both Jews and Greeks--
beginning there with the church in Jerusalem.
And spreading throughout the Roman world.
And from that it was a beginning point
to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ
to the ends of the earth.
And so we see the results of people
simply preaching the Word.
Think about Martin Luther.
When he began to preach justification
by faith from the book of Romans.
It changed the whole established religion
at that time. And introduced the Protestant Reformation.
And then there were men like John Calvin
and Zwingli and others who preached the Word of God.
And brought tremendous transformation.
Never changing the world culture.
But certainly changing people who lived
in that culture, who impacted that culture.
And that certainly is the will of God.
And there were many others that were inspired by these men.
The Wesleys, for example, in Britain.
And how that spread here to the United States.
And then I think of men like
Johnathon Edwards back in the 1700s. And Whitfield.
And the fact is that these men,
with the preaching of the Word of God
back then, actually affected the
Continental Congress of the United States.
And you can see it written into the
laws of our land and in the way in which
even our congress called prayer meetings
to acknowledge our sin.
That's a historical fact.
And it came because of preaching. Preaching of the
Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
Then of course, here comes D. L. Moody.
Tremendous evangelist. God used him in the States.
God used him in the city of Chicago,
in London, in Britain, other places--
in a way that has impacted my life.
Because I first really began to understand
grace through my Dad,
who was listening on Moody radio
and how it impacted my life. And many, many others.
And then of course, for many of us, Billy Graham.
And how God used him.
Not to change the nation.
But to change people in the nation who impacted the nation.
And it's interesting. It'll be interesting to see if
someone emerges at that level
ever again in the United States of America.
I should hope so.
But when all is said and done,
God has never promised that He would
use one individual to change a nation, per se,
like the United States of America.
But what He has done is introduced us
to a wonderful concept--
the church of Jesus Christ--
where we, under the leadership of
thousands of dedicated pastors.
Yes, there are some that are charlatans,
some that are abusing their position,
some that are taking advantage of people.
But the great majority of pastors
who believe the Bible are
teaching the Word of God.
And because they're teaching
the Word of God, lives are being changed.
I look back on my own ministry.
And I think about people that have sat
under my teaching, hopefully of God's truth.
Presented in a way that represents God's truth.
And I've seen lives changed.
Not because I'm preaching it.
But because of the power of the
Word of God, which is quick and
powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword [Heb 12:4].
So, Micah demonstrates this principle
way back in a very difficult time.
Here's the principle.
Proclaiming God's Message
We are to preach and teach
God's Word faithfully, trusting the
Holy Spirit to convict people of sin.