 We'll begin by looking at verses one and two Micah chapter six reading verses one and two and getting into our study Micah chapter six verse one here and now what the Lord says Arise plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice Here O you mountains the Lord's complaint and And you strong foundations of the earth For the Lord has a complaint against his people and he will contend with Israel Now as we've seen as we've been going through the book Micah has been prophesying concerning judgments that are to come and He has prophesied Judgment on the world in general as well as judgment that will come upon the nation and And so as we begin chapter six He once again is giving a message to the world as well as to the nation of Israel and Notice with me that Micah begins by calling on the people to plead their case Before in nature that's basically what he is saying when he says in verse one Arise plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice plead your case is what he's saying Mount a defense It's a way of saying let humanity as well as nature Hear this case that is about to be presented You see he's calling on nature to be a witness if you will it's just a picture, but he's calling on nature to be a witness Before whom he presents a case against the nation of Israel and so it's like God is saying here You know I have a contention with you I have a complaint we'll look at that in just a moment, and I want it to be public I want everyone and everything to be aware of this particular complaint And so he's dealing with the fact and we've seen this as we've gone through through this book He's dealing with the fact that the nation has not been faithful to him He's been speaking concerning how the nation actually has been actively in rebellion Against him, and he spoke concerning that in chapter 5 Let me remind you of that and develop a foundation so that we can look at the case that God is presenting Because in chapter 5 remember with me beginning at verse 11 How he had said I will cut off the the cities of your land throw down all your strongholds I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers your carved images I will also cut off your sacred pillars from your midst You shall have no more you shall no more worship the work of your hands, and so as we're looking at that last time together He was speaking concerning the fact that the nation has been in active rebellion against him They've been trusting in a variety of things and not trusting in him They trusted in their military strength. They trusted in their own fortifications. They had given themselves over to idolatry They were practicing the occult He speaks concerning their sorcery and their soothsayers Now I didn't even mention Soothsayers to you last time and I thought you know I'll give them something I didn't share with them last time because the word soothsayers is still used in our day and Yet many people don't know what a soothsayer is and so let me share with you a little bit what that is Because the soothsayers were those that are spoken of in the Old Testament, especially Who were were pretending to be able to predict future events? Soothsayers There are different ways to look at that and it one one way is this the word soothsayer the word sooth When you see the word sooth That actually is an old English word sooth then and this is an old English. It's an archaic word The word sooth speaks of Truth or reality that's how it used to be used many years ago So a soothsayer was actually in the biblical sense. The reason was translated soothsayer is because in the biblical sense these were people who were Presenting what was being called truth or reality what made them Objects of God's judgment is that they were individuals who were not speaking for him and So when God says that there are sorcerers who practice, you know magic and there are Soothsayers God has a contention with them because he's saying you are going to these people for truth and reality When in reality, they are not telling you the truth at all So they would go to these people that are called the soothsayers because they wanted to hear What was said to be true? What was said to be real? But in reality, they were not giving the truth in scripture. They are referred to as diviners deciders Determiners there are times when the word the Hebrew word is used to speak of those who studied the clouds So they were also pictured as or portrayed as or known as astrologers They were also referred to as fortune tellers Spiritists magicians Practicers of witchcraft Enchanters and God said they're not to be listened to Because if you listen to the soothsayer, you will turn away from God These are people who gave words that deceived these are people who gave words That didn't set people free These are people soothsayers who would give words that were supposedly true But the fruit was to bring people and keep people into bondage The soothsayers the occult practitioners were individuals who were attempting to To determine and give out the will of God While at the same time rejecting what God has to say in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy in chapter 29 verse 29 It says the secret things belong to the Lord our God But those things which are revealed Belong to us and to our children forever That we may do all the words of this law. There are some things that God says I choose not to reveal and There are other things that I choose to reveal and the things that I choose to reveal are for you and for your blessing Not only for you individually, but the things that I choose to reveal are things for you as well as your descendants These are things that God determines to reveal to us a Soothsayer was a person who's trying to find the hidden things They were the ones who were trying to go out and determine the will of God that had been kept secret from man and Thus God says I'm a I'm opposed to you Because if I choose to reveal it it will be revealed But if I choose not to then you attempting to discover those things that I've chosen not to reveal is Placing you in direct opposition to me You are in rebellion against me and thus because you're saying that you know what I am saying You're you're trying to reveal what you say you have sought out and found out with your enchantments and different forms of debonition God says I'm opposed to you And so God is setting up his Complaint against the nation of Israel You see God wants them to know that he has a case Against them and they need to see and that's what this complaint is about to do. They need to see that God is right and and what they have What they haven't and what they will soon endure what they've endured recently and will continue to endure is actually just on the part of the Lord You know instead of complaining against God for him dealing with them, which is very natural for us We you know when the Lord begins to chastise or deal with us in whatever way he chooses to do So very often people get so upset at God We can't love me because because look at how my life is turning out with Lord is simply saying to us But but you've been sowing to your flesh and from the flesh you will reap the consequences of making determinations that are not pleasing to me You are going to reap the consequences. Oh God doesn't love me. Oh, no if the Lord loves you then he's going to chastise you the whom the Lord loves He chastens the scripture says Vizalus therefore and repent So the Lord's word would be true and he's saying this is what's going on And I'm going to deal with you concerning this and you're going to discover that that I'm right about this When you look in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah in chapter 9 verse 33 it reads however You are just in all that has to be fallen us For you have dealt faithfully But we have done wickedly And see that's where we're supposed to be when the Lord is chasing in us We need to say Lord you've been faithful and we've been wicked you are right when you judge It's like what it says in Psalm 51 verse 4 Against you you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you Maybe found just when you speak and blameless when you judge And so that's the whole point of it and so God has a complaint so in verse 1 here now what the Lord says Arise plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice Here owe you mountains the Lord's complaint and you strong foundations of the earth For the Lord has a complaint against his people and he will contend with Israel And so he says here mountains the Lord's complaint that word complaint is an interesting word The word complaint that he's speaking about here is what you'd call a legal complaint. It's a dispute God is bringing charges like it says in Jeremiah 2 verse 9 when he said I will yet bring charges against you says the Lord and against your children's Children I will bring charges So he says what I have is not like a complaint where you say, oh, I'm so tired. It's so hot. I'm sweaty I don't want to go outside and work anymore. Why don't you you know? We're not that's not the complaint that God has he's saying I'm establishing a legal case and I'm presenting evidence that my judgments are Correct and that you deserve to be dealt with in the way that you've been dealt with I have a complaint It's like a legal case that he's establishing so that as he brings charges they will know that they're guilty and It's interesting because the world is to hear God's case against the nation of Israel When he speaks of the mountains and the strong foundations of the earth he's speaking of the nations and he's speaking of The great people and he's saying this is what I have to say In the book of Hosea chapter 4 verse 1 it says there Hear the word of the Lord you children of Israel for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land There's no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land And so he's dealing with this in a very powerful way and now he speaks in verse 3 and says Oh my people What have I done to you and how have I wearied you? Tessify against me For I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from the house of bondage And I sent before you Moses Aaron and Miriam Oh my people Remember now what Bala King of Moab council and what Bala the Senate Bay are answered him from Acacia Grove To Gilgal that you may know the righteousness of the Lord Oh my people, what have I done to you? Instead of outlining their sins and building a charge I want you to notice how God begins he begins by asking them a question What have I done? What am I guilty of why have you rejected me? Why have you rejected me? What have I done? How have I sent against you? How have I harmed you? you see When you read your Bible you discover some things about God's relationship with Israel there's so many things that we could point to but I'll just Just focus on one thing when you read your Bible. You see that God loved the nation and God From their creation had led them throughout their history There's a very powerful scripture found in the Old Testament book of Hosea. I'm gonna read it to you It's in Hosea chapter 11. Let me read this to you verses 1 through 4 and It says When Israel was a child I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son as They called them so they went from them They sacrificed to the veils burned incense to carved images I Taught Ephraim to walk Taken them by their arms But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords with bands of love and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped I fed them I Taught I taught the nation how to walk What you have here is a picture that is very tender Anybody who's a parent in this room? Mama dad can understand somewhat of the sentiment that God is giving to us in this verse Because one of the things that that I identify with very much is when he says I taught Ephraim to walk Ephraim is another name that is a picture of the nation I taught the nation to walk is what he's saying, but he describes how he did it He said taken them by their arms You know any parent in here knows the tenderness that's in that's associated with that. What is he saying? Well, you have a baby and the baby when the baby is first brought home. The baby does is lay around Kind of like dad and after a while The baby begins to develop should the natural process of development occur at a certain point Whatever it may be for that infant the baby begins to To roll over to begins to crawl Begins to crawl up to tables or crawl up to couches and Begins to crawl up on the couch and hold themselves up every parent has seen something like this and Then at a certain point they begin to be a little daring and they May hold on to the edge of the table or they may hold on to the edge of the couch Or maybe they'll crawl up to mama or daddy and they'll start Crawling up their legs and they hold on to them and they kind of stand there all wobbly like that All of us who have raised kids and graduate grand children have seen this and then at a certain point what happens is You begin to coax them to walk towards you it may be that you take out your car keys and kind of Make noise with it so that the child Gets fascinated desires to reach out then you keep pulling it a little bit further from the grasp and They begin to move as they begin to move you might reach out and hold their little arms as they're walking towards you You're not clamping on them and dragging them You're just holding lightly to them and you're holding them up and you're helping them to establish their balance and There's a tender activity as you help them and when they begin to fall. What do you do? You throw them on the ground. No, what what do you do? You catch them and you help them don't you you help them to learn To walk and he's saying I taught Israel to walk. I Taught them steps of faith. I taught them how to come to me I taught them that I would protect them that when they fell I would hold them I taught you this and Whatever you've done, you know every person who has a child has a mixture of joy and pain Joy in the senses. I gave us a child Pain because eventually that child does things that they ought not to have done joy and pain and You try to teach them to walk you try to teach them to depend on the right kinds of things to walk straight To have a moral life and God is saying these saying listen. He said when you were a child I loved you and out of Egypt. I I called you you were in bondage. I I brought you and I delivered you I have this this father's love for you this protective interest and and I've taught you how to live This is what I have done. I stooped down and I fed you But he goes on in Hosea 11 verses 7 and 8 and he says my people are bent on backsliding from me Though they call to the most high none at all exalt him There's a complaint and then he says something that I think is so passionate and you almost can hear the the tear in the voice of God Does God have a tear in his voice? You see it all the way in the book of Genesis the tear in the voice of God all the way in the time that Adam Chose to rebel against what he knew was right to do And the voice of the Lord was crying out in the garden Adam. Where are you and as I've shared with you before Sometimes we think that the voice of God there in that garden when he said Adam. Where are you was? like the voice of an arresting officer who was about to Put handcuffs on you and drag you away and put you in jail But that isn't the voice of God in the garden the voice of God in the garden was a broken-hearted father would lost a child and The question Adam. Where are you? Was coming out of the heart of a God was broken because his child had disobeyed and judgment was coming And he was given Adam that opportunity to say here. I am I have sinned against you Which Adam didn't do and we know the whole story as it relates to Adam Blaming Eve whom God gave To me he wouldn't give me the woman. I wouldn't have this problem Well anyway So you hear the voice of the Lord with a tear and in this there's the voice of the Lord with a tear My people are bent on backsliding For me though they call to the most high None at all exalt him and then you hear the tear. How can I give you up? Ephraim How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Adama? How can I set you like Zebo'im? Adama and Zebo'im were two of the cities that were judged alongside of Sodom and Gomorrah How can I bring judgment on you the way I've brought judgment on these cities? How can I set you like Zebo'im? Then it says my heart churns within me My sympathy is stirred So God's desire God's desire is for them to remember what he has done and he's saying to them He's saying you were enslaved and I set you free. I set you free from the bondage of Egypt I'm the one who did that. He says it in verse 4. I brought you up from the land of Egypt I redeemed you from the house of bondage and so we speak in concerning his special care for them He said I set before you Moses Aaron and Miriam When you were set free from Egypt I gave to you leaders. I gave to you Moses when you when you look at Moses You know him as the law giver or you know him as The one who delivered was used by God to deliver and he's saying I gave you Moses He says I gave you Aaron Aaron was Moses's brother Aaron is the first high priest And then you have Miriam. Miriam was Moses's sister She is also regarded and and and revealed to us in scripture as being a worship leader And a prophetess He says I gave to you the essentials of faith. I gave you deliverance. I gave you the word I taught you to worship I gave you advantage All of these advantages. I didn't leave you in bondage He's bringing his complaint. What have I done to you? Look at the good that I've done to you is what God is saying here. What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Testify against me. Let me tell you what I have done when you were in Egyptian bondage I set you free when you were in need of a leader. I gave you Moses when you needed to know my ways I gave you Aaron When you needed to come to me through a priest Aaron was there when you needed to worship Would you wanted to learn to worship and know my ways? I gave you Miriam What have I kept from you? And then he goes on and says this in verse 5 he says oh my people Remember now what Baelic king of Moab counseled and what Baelum the son of Bioran answered him from acacia Grove to Gilgal that you may know the righteousness of the Lord interesting interesting It's interesting how come the Lord brought this up to them remember now what Baelic king of Moab counsel This is another story that relates to the Old Testament Wanderings of the nation of Israel and when the Israelites were on their way to the promised land They were wanting to enter in they were about to enter in but as they were about to enter in they had to go through a Particular portion of land the Moabites land and as they were going in that direction there was a king there and The king there didn't want them crossing through and he didn't like the idea of the nation of Israel Going into this area and all he wanted to hinder him. So what he did Baelic did is Baelic went out to hire a prophet by the name of Baelum We all know Baelum And he said to Baelum I want you to bring a curse against the nation of Israel And I'll make you a very rich man if you do what he had done is he sent messengers to Baelum but when Baelum Wanted to come and to to speak to him. He got on this donkey. We all know the story and As he was riding on this donkey The donkey hesitated Taking certain paths Because an angel of the Lord with a flaming sword was in front of him and so he wouldn't go one way and then that got The prophet angry and he started hitting him and so he went another way and there's the angel of the Lord again and And now he's hitting him with a staff and then he goes another way a third time as he's going He crushes his foot the donkey crushes Baelum's foot against the wall and now Baelum is really angry and we know how He he he so mad he begins to yell it and starts to talk to the donkey now There are people who will say all that that's why the Bible is so filled with mythology and stories I mean who would speak to a donkey and there's some reasonable nest to that of course Because none of us have ever gotten up in the morning and started our car and it won't start and not a single one of us Has ever hit the dashboard saying what's wrong with you? Why won't you start? We've never done that We don't understand at all. What what this mad prophet was doing. Do we? But that the thing that's amazing to me about it is the donkey speaks to him and he is so upset now We have our you know our nav systems that speak to us now But And our phones do too minds an Australian man That's the truth. Oh, why are you doing this to me? the donkey says Haven't I been a good donkey? and And the prophet is so caught up with the anger for the moment he starts yelling if I had a sword I'd kill you I mean imagine that talking to the donkey and not even noticing that it has a human voice and is speaking to you That's how angry he was Wanted to kill him Well, when you look at the New Testament in 2nd Peter 2 15 and 16 it says they forsaken the right way gone astray Following the way of Balaam the son of Beor who loved the wages of unrighteousness But he was rebuked for his iniquity a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet in that interesting Speaking with a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet You see Balaam knew that he was not to curse the children of Israel, but this man was promising him riches Numbers 23 verse 8 Records how he said how shall I curse whom God is not cursed and how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? I cannot bring a curse But he wanted that money He wanted the money because because Baelic the king had said I was going to make you a very rich man But it's required of you That you bring a curse to the children of Israel and he said I can't I Cannot bring a curse against him if God is not cursing them But listen here's something very practical and I always present this whenever I look at the story of Balaam He wanted that money more than he wanted anything else and you know what he did He gave counsel to Baelic and how To get God to move against the children of Israel do you remember what he did? I'll tell you if you don't what he did is he counseled them by saying the God of Israel is a very jealous God and He's given commands to his people that they are not to intermarry with pagans They are not to have a relationship with people who are not under his covenant if you bring some of the women from your people who were idolaters and You introduce them to the Jewish men The Jewish men will go after the women and when they go after the women God who is a righteous God Will judge the nation of Israel and will bring His anger against them. I can't curse them But I can give you ideas on how to get God to move against them And that's what he did and the Lord is reminding him concerning what had happened there All my people remember now what Baelic king of Moab counsel and what Baelum the son of Bior answered him I'll give you money. This is how you can do it. He's saying that is in your history I wanted to bless you But he was counseling ways for me to have to turn against you you see Baelum couldn't curse them But he did counsel Baelic to introduce the Jewish men to the women This is spoken of in Revelation chapter 2 verse 14 where it says I have a few things against you because you have You have there those who hold the doctrine of Baelum who taught Baelac to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrifice to idols and to commit sexual immorality and That's why God rose in opposition to them And he's reminded them that the judgments that have come upon you have come for good reason you violated your relationship with me He says Finally in verse 5 you know that you may know the righteousness of the Lord The reason that he had done all these things Interestingly is interestingly is that they might come to know how righteous he actually is It was Israel that actually determined to rebel against him He didn't have an intent to have to judge them But you know that I'm righteous and this is how I've demonstrated it as I've moved against you When you've rebelled now in verse 6 continuing With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn from my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? What an interesting thing Micah gives them the answer of how they can approach God who is righteous and let's look at this They're saying what kind of offering should I bring to this mighty king? How many valuable offerings can I bring to him in order that I might be accepted by him? Should I give him offerings of calves or rams or oil? Should I offer him my firstborn would that be enough to pay for the price of forgiveness? What will I do to satisfy him? We've gone through all the rituals and yet he remains unsatisfied Have we not done enough already and what kinds of things must I do to be accepted by him? Well, I want you to notice a couple of things and we're gonna look at this in a little detail in in in a moment But I want you to see how he said in verse 7 will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams 10,000 rivers of oil Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression how can how can my sins be dealt with? How can your sins be dealt with you know, there's an entire system Let me share with you for a few moments about this now There's an entire system of human belief religious systems that believe that somehow somehow We can do enough good things to outweigh the bad things that we've done There's this mentality. There are many people believe that all you have to be is not even you don't have to be perfect You just need to try hard You just need to be able to to point to some good things that perhaps you did once a day for all of your life And that should outweigh all the evil things that you've done and then ultimately God grades on a scale of some sort and And he looks at you and he says well, you know, you're worse. You were sincere. You tried hard You were religious you went to church on Easter and Christmas you went to to to weddings and baptisms I'll let you in But but what's interesting about this to me is they're not talking about light things here. They're talking about Expensive things should I give them all my luxury items? Should I go so far as he not even is not just the oils And it's not just the other things. It's not the calves. It's it's not the the various sacrifices What if I What if I gave my firstborn Would that be enough well the fact is No, the fact is if I gave my firstborn Which I wanted to do a number of times the shoes growing up, but if I That wouldn't have been enough God gave his firstborn. Well, you cannot out give God Who has first given to him and God says I owe you something Who has ever given God counsel where God says thank you. I didn't know what to do. I'm glad that you told me I'm Who has ever been able to do that? Give him rivers of oil Multitudes of offerings and not up none of it is sufficient These things are not enough in Psalm 49 verses 6 through 9 it says They trust in their wealth boast of great riches Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God Redemption does not come so easily For no one can ever pay enough to live forever never see the grave It's no matter what you do no matter what you give the cost of a soul is very high So how do you have a relationship with God? What's the answer? Well, he says it in 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 he has shown you? He's shown you these three things. He said do justly He's saying doing justly is a way of just simply demonstrating that your faith in God is real Be just in your dealings be just in your dealings with other people be honest have integrity Be true Like it says in Psalm 15 1 and 2 Lord who may abide in your tabernacle who may dwell in your holy hill? Then the answer is supplied he who walks uprightly works righteousness speaks the truth in his heart He's not saying that that their works are going to justify him before God But that their faith is going to produce a life that has works You're not saved by your works. We all know that the New Testament reveals that very clearly It is not by works of righteousness, which we have done It's God's work on our behalf But anybody who has been saved anybody who has faith as exercise that faith in Christ knows That we are not saved by works, but works are produced by genuine faith because a Faith that doesn't have any works is dead James said being alone so The real mark of somebody who has a relationship with God Is a different kind of life? It's a life that is obviously Different we're living in a day all of us know this Where there are many professing to know Jesus Christ who don't live as if he exists It's been called practical atheism in One way what it is is there say no, I believe in God and the other you're denying him by your behavior There are many people who say oh, I believe in God So he says he has shown the old man what is good and what does the Lord require of you? Do justly Let your life Shine with integrity. Let it be true. Let it be real Let it be righteous in Proverbs 21 verse 3 it says to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice So let your life Demonstrate it let your light shine Secondly, he says love mercy The word mercy is the the Hebrew word has said The word has said is some have said that it's a very close word that is similar to the Greek word agape That has said of God speaks of goodness the kindness of faithfulness and So he says love mercy In Psalm 18 verse 25 it says with the merciful you will show Yourself merciful with a blameless man. You will show yourself blameless with the merciful you show yourself merciful Jesus and Matthew 5 verse 7 said blessed are the merciful. They shall obtain mercy See one of the things about being a Christian is we have come to realize that by nature We don't normally have mercy by nature We have a desire for revenge or getting even But we don't naturally turn the other cheek. We don't have someone slap us on one side and say oh, I'm glad I've got another one take a shot We don't do that No, we have a tendency of responding without mercy and yet there is no mercy shown to the one who has never shown mercy and So blessed are the merciful they shall obtain mercy. He says he has shown you oh, man What to do? What is it that the Lord requires of you do justly love? Love mercy It's not that you kind of like mercy or think it's good especially when it's shown to you But it's a habit. It's a disposition. It's an understanding that Justice demands your heart to be merciful and Then he says and to walk humbly With your God in James 4 verse 10 humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. He will lift you up. I Knew a guy one time where I was talking to him and he was boasting about something and I I was a brand new Christian I wasn't more than a year or two old in the Lord and and he was at my house And he was boasting to me about a few things some of his spiritual exploits and all and I said, you know Humility is a good thing Because he was bragging I said, you know, God likes humility And he looks at me and says humility humility. I said yeah God likes it if we're humble He says humble. I am humble. He out. This is a quote I am the most humble man you're ever going to meet and I knew he was wrong Because I was the most humble man Isn't that kind of odd to argue about your humility to be proud of being humble? But to do humbly to have a humble spirit In Romans 12 16 be of the same mind toward one another do not set your mind on high things Associate with the humble do not be wise in your own opinion You see this is the fruit of salvation and this is not self-generated in order for us to be able to do this requires I have a relationship with God We want to do justly we want to love mercy. We want to walk humbly, but all of that comes through a connection with God So that we have humbled ourselves before him and he will lift us up in due time We learn to walk with justice and we show mercy to others Because these are all internal qualities that are expressed through behaviors And he says do you want to know well? He's shown you. This is what he requires of you No, he's not saying to them. This will make you righteous. He's saying this exhibits you as being righteous Then he goes on and says in verse 9 the Lord's voice cries to the city wisdom shall see your name here The rod who has appointed it? So judgment is coming And the wise one will recognize that the judgment is coming from God verse 10 are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and The short measure that is an abomination Shall I count pure those with the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful weights For her rich men are full of violence her inhabitants have spoken lies Their tongue is deceitful in their mouth So that speaks of those who have accumulated wealth through the robbing of other people They were using false weights and measures. They were overcharging people They were lying to them and profiting off of them. They were deceitful And so God has judgment against them therefore verse 13 I will also make you sick by striking you by making you desolate Because of your sins you shall eat but not be satisfied Hunger shall be in your midst You may carry some away but shall not save them and What you do rescue I will give over to the sword You're going to become sick because I'm going to take away the pure olive oil that you use Your trees that produce these olives will all be destroyed In other words, that's a picture of coming judgment. This is what's going to happen to you I'll give you over to the sword then he says verse 15 you shall sow but not reap You shall tread the olives But not anoint yourselves with oil Make sweet wine but not drink wine for the statutes of Omri are kept the works of Ahab's house are done and You walk in their councils that I may make you a desolation your inhabitants a hissing Therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people Okay Omri and Ahab Interesting names Omri was an evil king in the nation of Israel He's referred to in first Kings chapter 16 one of the most evil kings that Israel ever had Ahab was his son and Both of these kings were extremely evil in the sight of God When you look at first Kings you discover that through the king Ahab The worship of a God called Baal became the religion of Israel So instead of following the Lord statutes The people are now following the statutes of these evil men the statutes of Omri and the statutes of Ahab That's what he's saying here The result is going to be God's judgment on them Even though these people had been evil in the nation 200 years or so before But the effect of their influence is still being experienced by the nation They had a history of rebelling against God and God reminds them of these two extremely evil evil kings You may not remember the name Omri. That's not a name that you see come up in scripture a lot But you know Ahab Ahab had a wife named Jezebel. I meant a few And she was The one who when he married her she was the one who brought her evil worship of Baal into the nation of Israel and He began to turn the nation of Israel into a nation of idolaters it was through the influence of of Jezebel and the weakness of this man's moral character and lack of faith in the true God of Israel and God is saying you have a history of Idolatry a history of rebelling against me. I Can go back and remind you and that's what he did. This is my complaint I can remind you how that when you were a child. I delivered you from Egyptian bondage When you cried out and your voice came to my ears, I sent you a deliverer and his name was Moses and When Moses came he knew that he was to lead you into freedom And he took you out and I gave to Moses my commands This made you a nation that was unlike other nations throughout the world. You had my word That you could refer to I let you know what was pleasing to me. I Wanted to have a relationship with you and so I established a priesthood and I gave to you Aaron who was the first high priest and Aaron became that one who was an interceder was to have been the person that That would help you to come come to a relationship with me Moses delivered you Moses gave you the law Aaron was the priest And then you needed to learn how to worship and you needed to know my ways And I gave you a prophetess by the name of Miriam But what did you do with that? Instead of rejoicing to see yourself as being uniquely blessed amongst the face of the earth You were the one nation that was delivered by me out of bondage You listen to false prophets you listen to guys like Balaam who for for money's sake introduced idolatry in a deeper dimension by bringing a Fornicative relationship between you and those who did not worship me and I had to judge you because of that. Don't you remember? So you have a history of Rejecting me and he's saying oh mountains and hills listen to my complaint Am I right in judging this nation or am I not a? nation with a history of rebellion Out to be judged and he says and because of this my judgment is right and my judgment is pure One of the things that will close with and always remember is this you cannot argue your case with God You can't beat him in an argument You can't oh You may be able to beat me in an argument and many people can but you can't beat God He knows everything He knows the little details that we forget to oh You know we may have deleted those emails, but he knows where they're at He knows every word of them and you can't bleach them, but they can be washed by the blood Praise God for that You washed us clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and that's why we can have a relationship with him and that's why we can do justly and that's why we can love mercy and That's why we walk humbly with our God because he has saved us Amen