 So today here we are in Micah and So we're going to be looking at chapter one I'll give to you an introduction as I normally do so that you might have a context in which to Be able to spend your time in the word here and understand the basic things that we would have Communicated to us through this particular book the book of Micah and what I'll do is I'll read verses 1 and 2 then I'm going to give to you Somewhat prolonged introduction. It's not that long but Somewhat prolonged give you some basic things and all if you take notes You may want to note some of these things just to be of help in the future But we'll be looking at Micah chapter one today And and as I've been mentioning over the 35 years that I've passed through this church I have taught every book of the Bible some of them several times Micah is a book that I have never taught so this is the first time I'm going to be teaching this book and as I teach this book That'll complete my teaching through the entire Bible and so to me It's just it's a wonderful thing. It only took me 35 years to do that. So I don't expect to do this again Here we go beginning at verse 1 reading verses 1 and 2 Micah chapter 1 the word of the Lord that came to Micah of Morisheth in the days of Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem Here all you peoples listen. Oh earth and all that is in it Let the Lord God be witness be a witness against you the Lord from his holy Temple and so you can see already from the introduction. This is going to be a cherry book It is a book a prophetic book. It's the book of Micah Micah was written between the year 735 to 710 before Christ We note that as we looked at the first two verses in the introduction that Micah is from Morisheth gath if you were looking at a map Morisheth gath is located around 25 miles southwest of the city of Jerusalem and It was on the border of the land of the Philistines if you will and Micah was given a Strong message he was called to give a strong message to the rulers to the rulers of the northern kingdom as well as to those in Jerusalem the southern kingdom and What is happening here in the context of it is that God is seeing the poor treatment of the poor By the rich and what he does is he calls this prophet by the name of Micah to address that situation And so what Micah will do and we'll see this is that he's going to speak concerning a variety of their sins But he speaks strongly against using social or political power For personal gain now I wish that we had anything contemporary that we could actually say yeah that happens today Of course it doesn't we know that it doesn't But in fact we know that it does the Bible in James chapter 3 verse 16 says it like this It says where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there will be disorder in every vile practice And so what you see him speaking against is that selfish ambition? He's speaking against the use of social and political power for personal gain Now it's interesting how during the time of Micah that God had moved Micah to speak against that corruption The abusers of a position and the abusers of power Are being rebuked for their corruption for their cruelty as well as for their covetousness because they would use the poor to line their own pockets and They would take from the people you'll see that in chapter 2 when it says Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds at morning light They practice it because it is in the power of their hand They they covet fields and take them by violence also houses and seize them So they oppress a man and his house a man and his inheritance And so what you have is you have him preaching against the corruption of his day again We know that that continues to take place in our day Now this is kind of an easy illustration and I hope it's not offensive to you But I was I'll take the chance of offending you by giving you this illustration I I am somebody who's not politically bent. I'm bent, but not politically bent and Yet at the same time I try to remain aware of things that are going on around me I think that as an American citizen as a Christian I have responsibility to be aware of the various circumstances that pertain to the life of my nation and and The politics of my nation and so I I listen to news I listen to the news every day and I spend hours a day in the evening doing so and I try to remain current as I Assume that most of us in this room do too. I Will say this very brief briefly, but I will be developing it through this study. I I am not looking for I don't worship a president. I worship a king and I'm very aware of that and I keep my mind on that But at the same time I look around and I see what's taking place and I listen to things that are said and and I'm not one That you can say something to without me weighing it and looking for evidence to see whether or not these things are so That's what the Brians did when they would hear Paul preach and that's what I as a citizen do when I hear a politician make a promise I simply do that. I don't take them at face value I I would like to know if there's anything that that I can I can use to bolster what they're saying and to prove That it's true or whether or not there are certain aspects of what they're saying that are not true with that said I was reading something Today according to CNN politics now. This is in line with the fact that there are those who use People to line their own pockets. We just read it in chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 I'm saying that that's a current situation. It isn't something that just happened back then it happens now And so according to CNN politics Hillary Clinton and her husband former president Bill Clinton combined to earn more than 153 million dollars In paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary launched her presidential campaign last spring. Now, this is from CNN In total the two gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May receiving an average payday of 210,795 dollars for each address The two also reported at least 7.7 million dollars for at least 39 speeches to big banks including Goldman Sachs and UBS With Hillary collecting at least 1.8 million dollars for at least eight speeches to big banks Now that is amazing when you realize that she told diane soyer that she and bill left the white house dead broke but This fact is probably what former vp al gore Could call an inconvenient truth Because what they have done And this happens on both sides of the aisle But what they have done is they have lined their pockets That's what many not all That's what many do When they have positions of power That's what they do. It's not new This is something that we're reading about in the time of aim is seven centuries before christ 2700 years ago God was already saying that you cannot do this He is already speaking against the The using of political power and position to Just to further personal gain You know gain I I believe very strongly that changed nations result from changed hearts I believe that if you want to change a nation You have to deal with the individuals like that old illustration I've given to this church more than once where where a little boy was very busy and His mama was trying to do some things But he was a busy little guy and she had to keep stopping Her task in order to try and keep him interested in something else and keep him Out of her way as she was doing what she wanted to do And so finally what she did is she opened up a magazine and she found a picture of the world and it was a globe And what she did is she just took it and cut it into pieces and made a little puzzle out of it And she thought surely it'll take this little guy some time to be able to put the you know the pieces together and solve this puzzle So she hands the little boy all these uh torn up pieces and she says here baby put the world back together And so about 10 minutes later He comes in and he's bothering her again And she's what are you doing? I told you to go put the world together again You should have had it done by now And he says to her well mama no I I got it put together He said see the thing is is on the other side of the picture of the world was a picture of a man And I knew that when I put the man together that I put the world back together And that's kind of how the lord works isn't it If if he wants to put the world together, isn't he going to put people together? And he puts people together through the gospel of jesus christ Through the message of the gospel of jesus christ Which is a promise by god to transform my life To make me a better man and make me ultimately like his son And so no politician can ever give to me a promise that will transform my life But my god does and that's why god is very careful to say when you're in political power Use your persuasion for the good of man not to line your own pockets But unfortunately what was taken place during the day of of mica is the politicians those in political power and persuasion Were using it to line their own pockets so that they might benefit off of the poor The bottom line is transformed people will always produce a transform nation See mica was sent to preach a message of punishment A punishment that's about to fall on juda and samaria And he begins he begins by speaking of their sins He'll he'll move on to impending punishment and then he's going to end and we'll see this in the book with restoration Approximately one third of this book deals with the exposing of the sins of juda and israel We're going to see that he speaks of oppression of bribery and the legal and religious system Of exploitation of the weak he's going to speak of covetousness of violence and he's going to speak of pride And because of these sins god is going to bring judgment But he doesn't leave the people hopeless because the last portion of this book concludes with the promise that god is going to restore them when they repent What we're going to see in mica Is the relationship between real spirituality and social ethics God desires his people to have a heart of justice and fairness that is tempered by humility and faith The answer to this problem during mica's day is the same answer that we have today You'll see this in chapter 6 verse 8 Where god says where it says in mica chapter 6 verse 8. He has shown you Oh man, what is good and what does the lord require of you? But to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your god What is it that god requires of you love mercy to do justly and to walk humbly you want your nation changed? That's what god's people ought to be You see justice mercy and humility are going to reveal something about that nation and it reveals something about those people Because justice mercy and humility reveal a true faith in god And it doesn't spring from man's imagination This is something that happens by man by god's revelation. We're going to see that Now as we look at this mica, who is he? Well, the name mica Micah means who is like jojoba? Micah is a similar name to michael He ministered during the time of other prophets. He ministered during the time that isiah prophesied During the time that has hosea did as well as amos And and though he begins his book with denunciations of sins He isn't going to leave them hopeless He's going to leave them with hope You see in mica chapter 7 verses 18 and 19 He says who is a god like you? Pardoning iniquity passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea Think about that one for a moment and he puts a sign no fishing He casts all of our sins in the depths of the sea and puts a sign no fishing He takes care of it under the blood of jesus christ in the new testament covenant We understand that as christ has come into our life He has washed us and cleansed us and he does so because God loves us now he hates sin but he loves sinners And he desires to save us Though he brings judgment It's his desire to save those who come to him in faith We all know john 3 16 is the most famous new testament verse in the bible God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish But have everlasting life But we ought to memorize verse 17 too because in john 3 17 He said god didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world But that the world through him might be saved Jesus didn't come to bring condemnation. He came to bring salvation And god wants us to remember that and even as we go through the book of mica where he has some very strong denunciations He doesn't leave us with those judgments He reminds us that he's merciful and he reminds us that when we come to him and we and we say god be merciful to me A sinner that he takes my sin and he casts it into what we used to call the sea of forgetfulness There is no remembering. There's no bringing them back He's not a god who is going to remind you over and over and over again of your sin He forgave you When you said god be merciful to me, he said it's done I am merciful to you. I do forgive you now your heart condemns you But god is greater than your heart. He knows all things And when you come to him in faith and you see god forgive me, I am so sorry And you have a sincere repentance God forgives you and if you came to him 70 times in a row with a sincere forgiveness 70 times in a row he'd forgive you because god loves you that is something We need to understand especially as we go through the book of mica because like I said the first few chapters Are going to be chapters that deal with judgment But I don't want you walking out of this place at any study feeling condemned because our god doesn't condemn our god saves He will judge those who refuse him But when you come to him in faith, he forgives you We'll see that as we go through the book of mica now The word of the lord that came to mica of morshet in the days of jothin ahaz and hezekiah So that gives us the date of the book by mentioning the names of these three kings We know that jothin being mentioned here ruled in 739 to 731 We know that a has ruled from 731 to 715 bc and hasekiah from 715 to 686 These are all kings of juda And so he's dealing with the southern kingdom, but does include the northern kingdom We do see that as a matter of fact when we enter into verse 6 So his ministry largely took place Before what is called the assyrian captivity the assyrian captivity will take place in 722 bc You see under king hezekiah reforms took place that began to deal with juda's idolatry So that that causes bible scholars to conclude that much of of mica's ministry took place before the reforms And that's why the date of the book is around 735 to 710 Now verse 1 indicates that his message is to the northern and southern kingdom Again, it says the word of the lord that came to mica of morshet in the days of jothin may hasn't hezekiah kings of juda Which he saw a concerning notice samaria and jerusalem When you look at your bible maps, you'll notice that there is a region called samaria You also know that when you look at the map of israel You can divide it into three sections and because it's on it has a western coast like california It's easy for us to look at the north as being like northern california The the center could be Central california and the south would be southern california when you look at the map of israel The north is the galilee or northern kingdom. The center is samaria and the south is the southern kingdom or the kingdom of juda And so what he's dealing with here is not just the sections like samaria the section He's dealing with the city the chief city of the the area called samaria So what you have in verse 1 here is says that he saw concerning samaria and jerusalem The word samaria there is not speaking of a region is speaking of the chief city of samaria And so that's why it says of samaria and jerusalem jerusalem being the chief city of the southern kingdom So he's speaking to them and verse 2 he says here are all you people Listen oh earth and all that is in it Let the lord god be witness against you the lord from his holy temple So he starts very quickly by bringing a word of judgment Let the lord god be a witness against you Again the city samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom. It is a center of idolatry It had a temple there that was dedicated to bail And god is bringing judgment on them. He's also bringing judgment on the southern kingdom juda So it says here all you peoples So that reveals that the message is intended not only for them, but it also is intended for us So there are things that we can see here in mica and i'm going to get some practical things in a moment But there are things here that we see in the book of mica that apply to us And you'll see this in just a moment But he's saying that the lord god from his holy temple is a witness against the people So he's saying god be witness to the things that i'm about to proclaim And this is what i have to say verse 3 Behold the lord is coming out of his of his place He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth the mountains will melt under him Valleys will split like wax before the fire like waters poured down a steep place All 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? What are the high places of juda? Are they not jerusalem? And so he begins with a word to them about god's judgment It says god is about to tread on the high places when you see the term high places You'll see in the old testament that high places refer to centers of idolatry or activity places where idolatry Takes place that's called the high places. That's the centers of idolatry. And so god is about to act in judgment He's saying i'm coming down and i'm going to bring judgment I'm going to bring judgment on the centers of idolatry including the cities of samaria as well as jerusalem So those cities samaria and jerusalem are associated with religion Think with me for just a moment. Is that is that something that we can say to this day? Are there cities in this in our world to this day that are associated with religion and the answer is yes There are many cities that are associated with religion if I say to you salt lake city What do you think of? If you if I say rome What do you think of the catholics you you can do that there are some cities that you may not associate like that, but how about mecca islam If I say to you bethlehem christianity Because that's where jesus was born So there are cities to this day that are associated with religion And so that's what's taking place here So he's bringing judgment on the center of idolatry and so in this in this passage here when he speaks Concerning samaria and he speaks concerning Jerusalem he's speaking of centers of religious activity And he's saying god is going to bring judgment because you're associated with religion and you brought compromise or paganism idolatry into it And what's going to happen verse 4 the mountains will melt under him And the valleys will split like wax before the fire like waters poured down a steep place That when it speaks like that the mountains will melt under him. That's a picture of volcanic activity It speaks of of valleys that are splitting. That's earthquakes And that reveals to us that god is the god of nature In psalm 18 verse 7 it says the earth shook and trembled The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken because he was angry So he's saying god is the god of nature And god is bringing judgment. He says all this verse 5 for the transgression of jacob And for the sins of the house of israel What is the transgression of jacob? Is it not samaria? What are the high places of juda? Are they not jerusalem? So he's speaking of the northern and southern kingdoms and speaks of their capital cities These are cities that have mixed The worship god of god with idolatry We've been to israel About 24 24 times And We always we go to different places obviously that are sites for tourists But we have been in this one particular place called the burnt house many times And you will find that they unearth these idols that were there around the temple And so they have these idols that had been used as objects of worship during the time When when judgment from god came and and israel in the north as well as in the southern kingdom Had yielded themselves over to compromise and idolatry Now it's interesting when you when you read your bible and you read concerning man named solemn What is it that the bible says concerning solemn that he was the wisest man solemn was the wisest man and so When you look at solemn it's interesting because on one occasion the lord is speaking to solemn And he says ask of me anything and i'll give it to you. What is it that you want? Ask it as high as the heavens Make your request known to me. What would you ask if god spoke to you and said, what do you want anything? You just ask me. You just ask me. It's yours. What do you want? Well I was doing devotions with my kids and my daughter on at that time was about four years old She's now 33. So it was a while back I think she may still answer the same way she did then though now they think about it because I looked at my kids and I said god is saying to you here and because I would give them devotions to scripture And we were looking at at the life of king solemn And I said to them. I said god is saying that anything you ask him for he will give you Korean what is it that god if you ask god that you would want? From him and she spoke and said something spiritual to me because she knew I wanted to hear something spiritual And david erin did the same And joseph did the same But when I turned to my four-year-old and I said nano what would you want if you could ask god for anything She said gum and you know she's I think a lot of people are that way to this day To this day I would ask for gum. You know god said To solemn Anything you want As high as the heavens What is it just ask me and I'll give it to you. You all remember his answer. What was it wisdom? Is that I'm just a child and to govern such a great people as this Requires more wisdom than I possess. I need your wisdom. What a wonderful wonderful request of lord He said god says because you didn't ask for victory over your enemies or great wealth And all of that i'm going to give you everything you didn't ask for because you asked for the right thing We know the life of solemn We know that he's a man who was used by the lord to write Various books, you know, we know that he that he was a great king He's a great uh a great poet and songwriter the man was amazing But at the same time it's one of the sad statements that you read concerning the life of solemn In that it simply says that solemn loved many women And indeed he did he had a thousand wives in concubines He's not that smart. No, is he? It's hard to have one man nine hundred and ninety nine more. I don't know that's not smart But what happened? Well in first kings chapter 11 It says in verses six following to verse eight solemn did evil in the side of the lord He did not fully follow the lord as did his father david Solomon built a high place for kimash the abomination of moab On the hill that is east of jerusalem and for molech the abomination of the people of amin He did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods A man who was given all the wisdom to govern god's people in his end There or a certain portion of his life Actually opened up israel to idolatry and didn't follow the lord at that time the way that his father david had with all of his heart Later on in second kings we read in verse 17 following i mean chapter 17 12 Through 18 that they served idols of which the lord had said to them you shall not do this thing Yet the lord testified against israel and against juda by all of his prophets every seer saying Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes According to all the law which i commanded your fathers And which i sent to you by my servants the prophets nevertheless They would not hear but stiffened their next like the next of their fathers who did not believe in the lord their god And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers And his testimonies which he had testified against them They followed idols became idolaters and went after the nations who were all around them Concerning whom the lord had charged them that they should not do like them So they left all the commandments of the lord their god made for themselves a molded image and two calves Made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven served by all And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire practice witchcraft and soothsaying Sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the lord to provoke him to anger Therefore the lord was very angry with israel removed them from his sight There was none left but the tribe of juda alone idolatry Ultimately he judged juda through nebuchadnezzar. And so what are they doing? They were transgressing The transgression of jacob is it not like samaria And what are the high places of juda? Are they not Jerusalem? They have compromised and they've introduced idolatry therefore verse six I will make samaria A heap of ruins in the field Places for planting a vineyard I will pour down her stones into the valley and I will uncover her foundations All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces All her and all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire all her idols I will lay desolate for she gathered it from the pay From the pay of a harlot and they shall return To the pay of a harlot So god is saying samaria is going to be totally destroyed Samaria is going to be leveled and completely ruined when he says in verse seven all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces Well, the idols were destroyed And they were judged for their practice of idolatry It's interesting how mica mentions pay of a harlot three times. Did you notice that? In giving into idolatry israel became a harlot In the eyes of god We need to remember in the old testament that israel is declared to be the wife of god And what he's saying is you have become a prostitute now god had said that The nation is going to be prospered by him When you read your old testament, especially the book of deuteronomy god lists a lot of promises that he made to the nation And god was saying i am going to prosper you i am going to be the one That blesses you it's going to come from me But he also warns them in deuteronomy 8 verses 17 through 19 And he says to israel do not say in your heart my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth You shall remember the lord your god for it is he who gives you power to get wealth That he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day Then it shall be if any of you if any If you by any means forget the lord your god and follow other gods and serve them and worship them I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish So god was saying you are thinking that this is so practical today. I have to slow down Okay, i'm slow As i was reading this he hit me he's saying You think you're being blessed By your pagan practices You think that i'm blessing you Well, actually you're being blessed because you have mixed your idolatry with true worship And you have become a harlot You are my wife But what you've done Is you've turned into a prostitute And you're thinking that because you worship molak and because you worship all and and astarte and all of that That they are the ones who are are giving you blessings And that's what makes you a prostitute Because you're forgetting that i told you god is saying this out of deuteronomy That i was the one who would prosper you That you should not forget me Because i gave you the strength to be able to obtain this prosperity But what you've done is you have compromised And you have introduced into the nation idolatry and are thanking these idols for the blessings that come from me And because you're doing that i will bring judgment You are unfaithful You think your prosperity comes from false gods But this is the wages of harlotry In isael 1 21 It reads how the faithful city speaking of jerusalem how the faithful city has become a harlot It was full of justice righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers In ezekiel 23 verse 30 I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the gentiles Because you have become defiled by their idols And so the lord is bringing a word of judgment you think you're being blessed because you're pursuing this idolatry I will have to judge you because of it Now in verse eight therefore I will wail and howl I will go stripped and naked I will make a wailing like the jackals and a morning Like the ostriches all of this is foreign to me. I've never heard an ostrich. Have you I haven't But what is he speaking about This is a symbolic picture. Micah is saying that he's going to be a symbolic picture of what the people are going to experience What he appears like is going to be what they're experiencing He will visibly represent they're being punished as well as their morning And that's what he's speaking about when he says wailing and howling Wailing like the jackals morning. He's saying I will become a visible picture to you Why well notice verse nine for her wounds are incurable For it has come to Judah It has come to the gate of my people Even to jews her wounds are incurable Nothing will prevent their complete ruin Because they're ready for judgment Listen to what jesus said in matthew 23 verses 29 through 33. Listen to what he said What do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say If we had lived in the days of our fathers We would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets Now he said fill up then the measure of your father's guilt Serpents brutal vipers. How can you escape this con the condemnation of hell? Fill up fill it up. That's what's being said right here Her wounds are incurable It has come to the gate of my people Even to jerusalem her wounds are incurable. There's nothing that can be done. She has crossed the line She will be judged God's patience Has an end. Isn't that interesting when you think about that? There is a time when he gives you up And that's what he did here. He gave them up He said you have crossed the line your wounds are incurable you have crossed the line Somebody says pastor. Do you think he still has the line? I would say yeah, do you know where that line is? No, but I don't want to find out I wouldn't move close to it. Let's stay as far away from that line as we can Because I don't want to I don't want to test the patience of God in any way like that But yes, he is telling them. This is it You've hired yourself to the degree that you are going to be judged. This is what's going to take place And so he continues by saying this Tell it not in gath Weep not at all in beth afra Roll yourself in the dust pass Pass by in naked shame you inhabitant of shafir And the inhabitant of zanan does not go out Beth is al morn's its place to stand is taken away from you For all the inhabitants of chino. Oh, excuse me for all the inhabitants of moroc Pined for good But disaster came down from the lord to the gate of jerusalem. Oh inhabitant of lakish Harness the chariot to the swift steeds She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of zion for the transgressions of israel were found in you and so He begins to list certain cities known for certain sins And it's interesting when you begin to look at the meaning of the names of the cities For example, when he speaks in verse 10 and says tell it not in gath the word gath Literally has been translated weep W e e p weep town crying town So he's saying weep not in weep town Gath was a city of the flistines And he's saying don't tell them of the judgment coming upon you, but he continues and speaks of beth afra The name beth afra is house of dust It's a town that is lost in history But he's saying you are going to mourn in misery Shafir means literally beauty town Unknown location, but instead of being admired for beauty you will be shamed zanan means march town This is a town that was known to march, but he's saying you're not going to march in victory beth azal means house of root or firmly rooted He's saying beth azal you will be unrooted. You will be uprooted. You will be destroyed. This is what's going to take place now in verse 12 When it says the inhabitants of marothe pine for good, but disaster came down Came down from the lord to the gate of jerusalem This is a city the word marothe by the way means bitterness This is a city that was waiting anxiously for good, but a bitter report comes and the report will be a serious on the march The assyrian king is going to come to the walls of jerusalem But didn't invade that uh the city at that time. You see that in second kings 19 When he says in verse 13. Oh inhabitant lockish A lockish literally means horse town because there are many stables there It's located southwest of jerusalem near the border of felicia It's a place where idolatry was introduced and again God is simply saying these are places that i'm bringing judgment and therefore verse 14. You shall give Presence to morosheth god The houses of oxen Shall be a lie to the kings of israel. I will yet bring an heir to you. Oh inhabitants of marasha The glory of israel shall come to adulam Make yourself bald and cut off your hair Because of your precious children enlarge your baldness like an eagle where they shall go from you into captivity This is a fun book. Um Lockish you're gonna come under siege You're gonna try to get help From morosheth god, but it's not gonna work When it speaks of the houses of oxen They're gonna be it says shall be a lie to the kings of israel oxen literally means lie town They're known to be a town Filled with lies now as i was preparing this i thought for a moment. It's interesting lie town Lying town It's known for lies. You know that cities have reputations Every Many major cities if I say to the name of a city They have reputations, you know, and I don't want to play geography games with you today. I already started that but um If you think about it for a moment, there are cities that have reputations if I say hollywood It has a reputation right If I say new york new york Broadway You know if I say paris france eiffel tower Uh, you can name it. It's just very easy. There are reputations. There are reputations Cities have reputations they even to this day have reputations So I can say to you chino and you'll say fly. I mean there are reputations that every city has It's the truth. Well in titus for example In verse uh 12 and 13 of chapter 1 paul said this he said one of them a prophet of their own said this listen cretins People from the isle of crete cretins are always liars evil beasts lazy glutton And it goes on this testimony is true Therefore rebuked them sharply That they may be sound in the faith some places have reputations So he's talking about lie town because they are Promising help to the northern kingdom, but they cannot provide it for them. So lie town. Don't trust them And finally When he says I will bring an heir to you o inhabitants of marasha Help is going to come to israel But not at this time Help is going to come to israel But not soon Because soon and we'll be seeing this as we go through mica as syria Will come to the northern kingdom And as syria will come in 722 and will uproot the inhabitants replace them with other inhabitants And then later on in their history around 605 uh nebuchadnezzar from babelans military will come to the south And they too will be dealt with but he's saying help is going to come but not soon When he speaks of the glory of israel commentators are suggesting that the glory of israel is the messiah who is ultimately to deliver And so it could be a promise of messiah to come who will be their final deliverer When it says in verse 16 make yourself bald and cut off your hair because of your precious children It's interesting to note that the cutting off of the hair was symbolic of mourning over sin They would actually shave the head shave their facial Hair and and and offer it as a burnt offering to the lord as a symbol of of of repentance and so when he speaks of Making yourself bald and cut off your hair It's a it's a symbol of repentance. It's also a picture of mourning And he's saying what's going to happen is you are going to be mourning Because you're going to mourn the loss of your children your children who are going to be taken captive One of the things as i was preparing this and i'm rolling to a conclusion, but it's an application children often reap the consequences Of the decisions and choices of their parents It's not that it's not that the children Provoked mom and dad to fight and to not want to remain together It's not that the child Wanted mama to have a baby without being married It's not that the that the children forced the parents to go out and party on friday and saturday night and I mean when you think of a lot of the behavior of Some parents not all parents, of course. There's some wonderful parents, of course. I'm generalizing and yet at the same time try to illustrate But I have been in the ministry too long and I can tell you There have been too many too many children That have been harmed by the decisions of a parent. I was standing right here I can point to where I was standing over 20 years ago now At the end of a sunday morning service before we built the larger sanctuary And I gave a bible study in sunday morning and I stood right down there and I was praying with and talking to people and I will never forget this How a young mama walked up to me with her little boy her little boy was Probably about 10 or 11. He was right here. I still remember how tall he was. He was to my chest How do I know that I'll tell you how She walks up with this little boy and he's a very very sweet little boy very handsome little boy little blonde And she said pastor can you pray for my son? This is a sunday morning. She said can you pray for my son? And I said of course What can I pray for? And little boy was standing with his shoulders straight. I'll never forget this And she said Yesterday his father told him he doesn't love him And when she said yesterday his father said He doesn't love him. I saw that little boy's shoulder slump And I saw his little body go forward And I took him in my arms and I pulled him to my chest. That's how I know how tall he is And I held him And I prayed for that little baby Some of you know exactly what I just said because that happened to you You know what I'm saying it happened to you Daddy didn't love you Mama didn't love you All your life you went through life knowing that the most significant people in your life could care less about you You heard them say and they didn't know you were listening. They didn't know you were standing there You heard your mom say should have aborted them You heard that You've heard painful things happen to you and children very often pay for the sins of the parents They reap the consequences is what I'm what I'm saying And he's saying to these people you cut your hair and you mourn you shave your beards and you mourn for your children Who are going to be taken captive As a believer in christ My greatest responsibility And I've said this to you before and you know this some of you've heard me say this Has not to be the best pastor to this church that I could be My responsibility has been to be the best husband and father that I could be This church is my ministry but only after my wife and children Because should I go through the whole world and win many converts but lose my own family I don't know that my ministry would be successful He says mourn for them Because you're idolatry And the way that you have compromised faith is bringing judgment to this nation Your children are going to go into captivity Because you were not faithful to god Can't something like that happen today? Can our children be taken captive in sin? Can they read the consequences of my poor choices? My lack of commitment to christ My lack of zeal for the things of the lord My failure to lead my family My failure to pray for my children My failure to care for them To give them devotions Bring them to church Have them share and serve with me You know I have pictures of my son david and my son joseph And I have a picture somewhere in my house Where I was witnessing to jahovah's witnesses at a winchels donuts in in in ontario And my boys are standing there as I'm Discussing jesus christ with with two Mormons Rather two jahovah's witnesses And my my children From the very beginning Were part of my ministry in one form or another I served the lord before them Because I knew and so do you I knew That what matters is I can win the world and lose my kids And I wasn't willing to do that Some of you know what I'm saying You hold on You pray You seek god And you live for jesus Because they will reap the consequences of my poor choices And oh I might be able to tell my friends well the mother and I just didn't get along You know just didn't get along Tell that to your son Tell that to your daughter Tell them it's just simple we didn't get along You know I really believe That there are times that divorce does happen and no I'm not condemning those of you who have gone through it the pain and the struggle No, of course, I'm not But you know as well as I and even better the most The pain that something like that causes in a family you know that You know that You take The two And you make them one in marriage right You take plywood you take plywood you put some glue Press it together The two become one But what happens when you open that up And peel it apart It splinters from the inside It destroys It doesn't just destroy that adult It destroys that baby And that child Goes through the pain Of loss So yeah I'm very serious about these kinds of things and when the lord is speaking here he's speaking about the repercussions That the children are going to be taken captive I don't want in a spiritual sense I don't want my children nor did I want my grandchildren to be taken captive by this world by this age I want their minds to be taken captive by jesus christ and that comes through the word of god and prayer That comes through living for christ Because it is very possible That even a believer Can fall into the pit of compromise And even a form of idolatry Now how do I know that? Well first john 521 New testament Little children Keep yourself from idols Keep yourself from anything Anything That takes you away from jesus Anything I'm We're reading a very powerful book here. It's not an easy book to go through But it does have contemporary warnings for us It does don't compromise your faith Don't compromise your faith Look I'm a man who's been teaching the bible for a long time now But I was once a young man who was just learning the bible I was 23 years old 24 years old going to secular college I was there with the professors Who were totally antagonistic to the things of christ Who mocked us in class Who told us things about How they pitied us or Would say things like You know how much they hated and disregarded christianity I had more than one atheist professor I had more than one agnostic and I had more than one belligerent And I didn't know anything except one thing Once I was lost and now I'm found Once I was blind and now I see Once I was dead but now I'm alive And that came through the gospel of jesus christ Once I was an alcoholic and once I was a doper And now I'm set free So I don't care what studies you give to me Jesus sets you free And I knew that I couldn't explain my faith I couldn't explain a lot of things to them But once I was lost and now I'm found That I know That I know And now I'm no bible scholar And now 40 some years of teaching the bible I can still say it I'm no bible scholar but I do know this My god loves me My god sent his son jesus to die on the cross for me My god gives him power by the holy spirit to transform me And my god gives me the word of god that educates me And all I need to do is hold fast to him And he will take me Take me through the valley of the shadow of death And anywhere else I have to go And so I will keep myself from idols And I will have one true god And as for me and my house We will serve the Lord That's the way it works