(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Song number 65. Song number 65. Just over in the glory land. There to sing God's praise and his glory share. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host I'll stand. Just over in the glory land on the third. What a joyful thought that my Lord I'll see. Just over in the glory land. And with kindred saved there forever be. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host I'll stand. Just over in the glory land on the last. With the blood washed throng I will shout and sing. Just over in the glory land. Glad host and us to Christ the Lord and King. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. I'll join the happy angel band. Just over in the glory land. Just over in the glory land. There with the mighty host I'll stand. Just over in the glory land. Alright at this time we will have the announcements. Alright well welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. Weekly church service time Sunday mornings are at 1030. Sunday evenings at 6. Wednesdays at 7pm. Underneath that is a list of soul winning times. If you have any questions, 208-391-5323. Which reminds me, I forgot my phone so if anybody messaged me a prayer request or an update I did not get it. Let's see here next page. This Sunday evening will be in 2 Kings chapter number 9. Let's see here also, don't forget, Sunday February 26th. We'll have Pastor Shelley from Steadfast Baptist Church. She's going to be here preaching all services at her church. Look ahead, Brother Corbin will be here in March, March 26th. He's from Faithful Word Baptist Church. He's the deacon over there at Faithful Word Tucson. Let's see your birthdays and anniversaries for February. Next up is Elowen on the 22nd. Verse to the week is Psalm 119 verse 165. Which says, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. We are a family integrated church and so what that means is we don't separate children from God. We are a family integrated church and so what that means is we don't separate children from their parents for any reason. If you need privacy the mother baby room is right across the hallway and it's all set up. And dads you can use that room right over there to your left. Don't forget to turn your phone off or place it on silent so it's not a distraction. And the very bottom line of the bulletin says, traditions lead to perdition when the commandments of men are placed above the commandments of God. And that was from two Sundays ago. So with that being said we're going to have one more song and we're going to read the prayer list and then we'll have the Bible reading. Alright everyone please turn to song number 82. When he cometh, song number 82 on the first. When he cometh, when he cometh to make up his true wells, all his jewels, precious jewels, his love and his home. Like the stars of the morning his bright crown adorning they shall shine in their beauty bright gems for his crown. We will gather, he will gather the gems for his kingdom, all the pure ones all the bright ones, his love and his home. Like the stars of the morning his bright crown adorning they shall shine in their beauty bright gems for his crown. Little children, little children who love their redeemer are the jewels precious jewels, his love and his home. Like the stars of the morning his bright crown adorning they shall shine in their beauty bright gems for his crown. Alright well at this time we're going to go through our prayer and praise list. Again if you have any requests you can leave them in the box back there. Normally you can text me. Don't forget my phone. Or you can just hold up a sign and I'll read it for you. So with that being said let's go to the Lord in prayer for these things. Dear Lord thank you again for allowing us to be able to do this. Dear Lord thank you again for allowing us to be able to meet here freely on this Wednesday night. And we just want to continue to ask Lord for opportunities to preach to our unsaved family, friends and co-workers. We also like to ask you Lord to lead us to those in the community that are desirous to be discipled by you Lord and that have a desire to serve you. Please use our church to help them understand what that truly means and what that looks like. We want to pray for the safety and health of our young children and for those that are also not feeling well tonight. We want to pray for the like-minded churches that we fellowship with to continue to grow and to be protected from those that wish us all evil. We want to pray for our wicked leaders in our local state and federal governments to be exposed. And we have several online requests also Lord and we just want to ask you to bless Brother Joe Maples and his family for continued health and well-being. We want to pray for the Weiss family for their safe travels and for relocation mercies. We want to pray for Miss Theresa to be protected from toxic people and policies at her work. And we just pray that you would protect her as she finishes up her career. Also Lord we want to pray for Miss Michelle Arrowwood that you would give her healing and that you would provide her comfort and to help her as she's studying the Word to grow. And we also want to pray for safe travels for Pastor Shelley and those that are going to be visiting us here in the next couple of weeks. We ask all of these things in Jesus name. Amen. Alright so that's all I have. I don't have any new praises for the evening. So with that being said we are going to have the Bible reading. Good evening. Turn to Micah chapter 1. Micah chapter 1. Micah chapter 1. The word of the Lord came to Micah the in the days of Joseph. The valley shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this and for the sins of the house of Israel what is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field and as plantings of the vineyard and I will pour down the stones thereof in the valley and I will discover the foundation thereof and all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate. For she gathered it of the hire of a harlot and I shall return to the hire of a harlot. Therefore I will wail in hell. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable for it has come unto Judah. He has come unto the gate of my people even to Jerusalem. Declare ye it not at Gath? We be not at all. In the house of Ephra roll thyself in the dust. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Zephyr, having thy shame naked, the inhabitant of Zainan, came not forth in the morning of Bethezel, he shall receive of you his standing. For the inhabitant of Marath waited carefully for good, but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to swift beast. She is the beginning of the sin of the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Therefore shalt thou give presence to Morashith Gath. The house of Ashkab shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, an inhabitant of Maresha. He shall come unto Edulam, the glory of Israel. Make thee bold and pull thee for thy delicate children. Enlarge thy boldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. All right, Amen. Well, we are continuing right on with our series, Minor Prophets, Major Problems, and Micah definitely has some major problems to deal with this evening. Now, though this be a minor prophet, there's seven chapters, 105 verses, and well over 3,100 words, so obviously we're not going to be able to cover the book like I would like to. I do have plans later on in the future to go through these all verse by verse, but today, obviously like we've been doing, we're going to be doing an overview of the prophet Micah. Now, I titled this sermon from what we're going to read here in a moment in chapter number two about the elite, and that is, Your Might Doesn't Make It Right. Your Might Doesn't Make It Right. And really, when you read the whole book and you study it and you kind of sit back and you think, Micah, I often in my life I've heard him referred to as the people's prophet. Now, all the prophets obviously are for the people, but Micah specifically, you can hear it in his words when you read the book that he really feels for the people, and so the language in the book and some of the things that he brings up is it's almost like as if we were the ones to say it. You can relate to it very, very easily, whether you were reading it during the days that he was preaching or you're reading it today. You're going to see a lot of striking similarities between what Micah brings up and what we are going through in today's day and age. So again, don't think just because these are these obscure books in the Bible tucked away that there's no application, that there's no relevance, because nothing could be further from the truth. And in fact, I mean, kind of like we talked about last week with Joel, Micah really covers it all. Covers the southern kingdom, he covers the northern kingdom, and literally all the way through the end of the millennium. And so let's get started here with that. We're going to look at chapter number one first, and really what I want you to understand as we go through a few of these verses is that chapter one focuses and it sets the stage for the transition from physical Israel to the Israel of God, which we are a part of today. It doesn't take long, it doesn't take much searching to just go and find how many Zionists will refer back to this book. I have a Peter Ruckman commentary Bible. I just have it just to know what the other side says. And I read maybe two or three statements and I threw it off to the side. I just never picked it back up. I was hoping to give you some great stories, but I got so mad I had to put it down. So we're just going to forsake that and just move on with the study tonight. So let's start this off here right away, verse number one, chapter number one. It says, So you can think of him as the M&M prophet. You like M&M's? Well this is the M&M prophet. The original M&M. So those three kings of Judah right there will give you a decent span of Micah's prophetic ministry. If you remember a few weeks ago we did the prophet Amos, who was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. He would be a contemporary. He was alive during the same time that Micah was alive. And so was the major prophet Isaiah. All three of these guys prophesied literally around the same time. And what I believe is going on here when you study the end of Hezekiah's kingship, his life, you'll understand that Micah prophesied while Samaria was still standing and he was also around obviously after it fell. And he saw he was a witness to the Assyrian invasion. So just some interesting facts there. And actually as we go through just a couple more of these verses, you're going to see the thread. And hopefully you've been paying attention and you kind of start to see that these minor prophets will have similar wording, similar phrases, and similar concepts woven throughout the pages. And God does that for a reason. He's doing that to teach us that these all belong in the word of God. That He is the one that gave these prophets the word of God. It's a certification. It's a stamp of approval. That's the way that I see it. So again, we don't know a whole lot really about Micah other than he was a Moresite and his ministry was during these days and he calls everybody out, just kind of like Amos did. You know, Amos starts off just blasting all these different nations. Well, Micah doesn't get that specific with it. He mainly focuses on Samaria and Jerusalem. He has a couple other honorable mentions in here. But really, if you look at verse 2, his message is for all people. It's for the entire earth. Look at verse 2. He says, Hear all ye people, hearken O earth, and all that therein is, and let the Lord God be witness against you. Okay? Very important here because more often than not in a lot of churches, like I always bring up, people are taught well, you know, God just kind of let the heathen do whatever back then, didn't really care about him, didn't really, you know, he was too busy dealing with Israel. Like, he doesn't have the strength to deal with the whole earth. And of course, that's false doctrine. That's not true. We need to make sure that we do not have that picture as we read through the Bible and as we study scripture. Micah says, Hear all ye people, that is everyone of every age, hearken O earth, and all that therein is, and let the Lord God be witness against you. Not the logic of man, not the university, not the denomination, but the Lord. It says, Let God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. That is not a reference to the temple that was in Jerusalem. It says, but his holy temple, so where God physically dwells in eternity, that is where the source of truth is. That is where it comes from. It comes from God, and you're going to see that later on here in a couple more chapters. Verse 3 says, For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. Now keep your place right here, Micah. Now go backwards in your Bible to Amos. Go back to Amos chapter number 4, and I just want to show you, we're just going to look at two. I just want to show you a couple of verses that are very similar between Micah and Amos, which again, just highlight the fact that they were contemporaries and obviously that they had prophesied during the same time frame. So look at verse 13 of Amos chapter 4. Remember what we just read in Micah chapter number 1 about God treading upon the high places of the earth? Well look what Amos says in chapter 4 verse 13. He says, For lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man, what is his thought? So again, very important, it is God who tells man what his thoughts are, what his words are, what truth are. When you have a man stand up before a group of people and say, no, we are the source, or scholars are the source, or archaeologists are the source, that is wrong, you are dealing with a liar, a person of falsehood. So he says after that, That maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. Now keep something there because we're going to go to Amos chapter 8 in just a minute, but flip back to Micah real quick, Micah chapter number 1, and hopefully you saw that similar phrase there, verse 3 of Micah 1, For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. So again, you'll see these things confirmed throughout not only the Minor Prophets, but even throughout the rest of the Bible. Look at verse 4, it says, In the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. Now go back to Amos, but this time go to chapter number 9, go to chapter number 9, and keep in mind what we just read about the mountains melting because of the Lord. We'll look at what Amos says in Amos chapter 9 in verse 5. It says, And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and here it is, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn, and it shall rise up holy like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt. So go back if you would to Micah and we'll keep going forward. But again, be able to find your place, I think I've got one more verse in Amos that we're going to look at here in just a little while. So again you see those similarities there. They were contemporaries, obviously they serve the same God. This is scripture, this is the word of God. Okay, all these people running around and I dealt with somebody not too long ago, just a couple days ago talking about, oh you know these lost books of the Bible, I was on a job and somebody just started randomly talking about that. You know often times I wonder if the devil just sometimes will pick a day and maybe send someone to follow me and you know just pick a subject that we've been talking about here at church and then just stir somebody up to see what I'm going to do. But this is a real thing that's being pushed out there by Hollywood, by false teachers. They're bringing up these so-called lost books of the Bible. When you read those things, you're not going to find this language, you're not going to find these great marvelous things woven together throughout those. When you read it you can tell. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you. You know that it is a copy, it's a fraud, it is just not true. But when you read Micah, you read Amos, you read these prophets you can just tell by the way it's written that definitely it is a truth of God. Look at verse 5. He says, So he's going to ask this question here. What is the transgression of Jacob? What is Jacob's sin? Why is God going to send destruction on Jerusalem and Samaria? Well look at the answer here. So verse 5, what is the transgression of Jacob? Samaria. Well think about what we've been doing on Sunday nights, how we've been studying the kings and how many of the kings from Jehoshaphat's time forward yoked up with the kings of Israel. In fact even by marriage at the point where we're at now, what's the result of that? Well the result of that is corrupt manners. When you hang out with people that don't love the Lord, that don't serve the Lord, and you do you may have it in your mind that you're going to change that person but typically what happens is it's the other way around. Now obviously there's exceptions like especially in marriage when a spouse is having her conversation or his conversation with the Lord, that speaks volumes. God blesses that and often times that will get the other person interested and on board but just in general life when you go to work and you want to try to fit in with the people you know and you have that desire, guess what? You're going to be the one turning your back on the word of God. You're going to be the one that's being spoken against and that's what you see here. So he says what is the transgression of Jacob? Well it's Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel and obviously what does that signify? Well it signifies the new religion that Jeroboam started to counter, to copy to make more relevant if you will for the people there as opposed to the true religion which was supposed to be reigning over land which stemmed from the temple, stemmed from Jerusalem and so on and so forth. Look at the rest of the verses and what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? So you read that and you think what in the world is he talking about? Jerusalem is supposed to be their capital. I get it, yeah Samaria was the capital of Israel but these people have grown to trust in the strength of their capital city. You see that a lot today, right? Often times when articles write stories, you know they'll often cite the capital like Pyongyang in North Korea or they'll say well Beijing says this and China, DC says this. They'll often attribute the capital to represent an entire nation. That's the state in what we're dealing with here in this chapter and God's saying instead of trusting in me, instead of trusting in my statutes, you are trusting in your own strength in which you have and which you've been focused on building up which are your capitals. It ought not to be so. Verse 6, he says, Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field and as the plantings of a vineyard and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley and will discover the foundations thereof. So what he's going on to say here is that basically you have all of these hidden things. You have a religious front but behind that is wickedness, it's idolatry it is false worship and God's saying I'm going to expose all of this and there's no turning back, no one can counter that, no one will be able to hide when I decide to do this thing. So jump down for sake of time, look at verse number 9. So he's talking about Samaria specifically here. He says, For her wound is incurable. Her wound is incurable for it is come unto Judah. See, God is not happy about the false religion of the northern kingdom which is why he sent Elijah, which is why he sent Amos and all the other prophets, Jonah, Hosea, all these guys to try to turn the nation back to him. But they rejected him every single time and so at this stage in Israel, the northern kingdom's history, God's like it's incurable at this point. I can already see that none of you are going to turn and worship me as God and he says another problem here he says, For it is come unto Judah. So that attitude had rolled down into the southern kingdom of Judah, which is ultimately why they would go on to become taken captive by the Babylonians. Look what he says next. Verse 9, it says, He has come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. Verse 10, he says, Declare ye it not at Gath. Weep ye not at all in the house of Arph, roll thyself in the dust. So Micah here through God is telling the Philistines because that's where Gath is and he's telling these other nations, Don't rejoice when you see Israel go down. You see that's another thing that just about every single prophet we've studied brings up. God hates it when people rejoice at his brother's falling. So when someone makes a mistake and you say in your heart, I got you, I'm going to save that for a later date or I'm going to come at you, I'm going to kick you while you're down, God absolutely hates it and he will repay the Bible. You see that over and over again. In fact, the whole point of Obadiah was the fact that the Edomites liked to kick people while they were down. When Judah was being besieged and the Babylonians were coming in and people were escaping, what were the Edomites doing? They were trying to cut people off and saying, Oh, we're not going to let you escape, we're going to take you out. God is warning the Philistines saying, Hey, I know your history with Israel, do not rejoice when this happens to them or a worse thing will happen unto you. So we're going to leave that there. So again, chapter number one, you study that, Samaria goes down, you finish reading the chapter, okay, you're going to come to the conclusion that it's a once and for all deal, okay? When God took the Assyrians and said, you are going to go in, I'm going to allow you to go in and to conquer the northern kingdom of Israel, that was a forever deal, okay? What we have today, again, going on in the Middle East concerning Israel is a fraud, but even though it's a fraud, they are going to get judged in the end times. So look at chapter number two, what chapter number two deals with really is the oppression of people by two groups of people, okay? And one are the ruling elites, and you're going to see that here, okay? And the other group that oppresses are false preachers, false prophets, a falsehood, if you will. And something you're going to see here as you read through some of these verses is the fact when the fundamentals, when the fundamentalist is labeled an extremist, when the fundamentalist is told, you are not welcome here, just like Amos was told that he wasn't welcome in Israel, okay? When that happens, liberty is lost, because the Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is no freedom outside of Christ. The reason why this nation has enjoyed the freedoms that it has for so long is because there were so many born-again, Bible-believing Christians serving God, and as you see that dwindle, what are you starting to see now in our nation? Liberties dwindle with it. You're going to see the same thing in this chapter. So let's take a look at it. Look at verse number one. So Micah says this, woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds. So he starts this chapter off here by talking about a group of people that sit around a big table, take naps, whatever it is, lay on their beds, and they just think about ways to oppress people. Look at verse two. This is how they do it. And they covet fields. Sound like Ahab, how he covered, coveted Naboth's vineyard? So it says, verse two, and they covet fields and take them by violence, okay? So they violate people. They want their property and they just take it. It says in houses and take them away. So they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage, okay? That's why I titled this sermon Your Might Doesn't Make It Right. It sounds easy, but you know what? A lot of people today in the world, honestly, they look up to people like Klaus Schwab. They look up to people like Elon Musk. They look up to people like Bill Gates and these rich families of the earth, you know, the not so great Andrew Tate. You know, why do people look up to these people in their quest to be rich? Because the Bible, James even told you, he said, do not rich men even oppress you? That is what they do, okay? More often than not, that is what the rich person does. It was going on during this time and it's going on in today's day and age. And again, I can't help but bring up the fact that the fundamentals were not being followed. The word of God was not being followed. You had New Evangelical Christianity reigning in Israel. Not really, but kind of, okay? And of course, at the same time, liberty, freedom, famine, all of that stuff is just out of control. So verse 3 says, therefore, thus saith the Lord. Behold, now this is interesting. Against this family do I devise an evil from which ye shall not remove your necks neither shall ye go haughtily for this time as evil. Okay? That word there, haughty, that's like being prideful. Haughtily, okay? Did you see that phrase there, against this family? Now, obviously, that's a reference to the family of evildoers, okay? But I believe it was probably specifically there was a wealthy ruling class in the northern kingdom of Israel and they were oppressing the people. I mean, look at the language. Therefore, thus saith the Lord. Behold, against, and he gets specific here, this family. So this family, what do they do? Well, they do what verse 1 says. They devise iniquity. They work evil upon their beds. They covet fields in verse 2. They take them by violence. They take your house. They take your inheritance. They want everything that they can take from you. They oppress man, completely contrary to what the law states. Why are they there? Why are they flourishing? Why are they successful at this time? Well, I'm telling you, it's the same reason they're successful today. Because there are not enough good men of God willing to stand up in the face of adversity and say, Thus saith the Lord. This is what the Bible says. We don't have enough churches today in the world that are willing to preach instantly in season and out of season. In fact, people are so scared today, they're afraid of preaching things that are in season. And so what do they do? They go shallow. They stick to just super, super basic things. And what's the result? The oppression of man. The word of God is a repellent to the evil of this world. That is why Jesus, before the cross, so still Old Testament time, Sermon on the Mount, told people ye are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its savor, then what is it good for? Well, he tells you it's good for absolutely nothing. So look at verse four. He says, In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation and say, We be utterly spoiled. He hath changed the portion of my people. How hath he removed it from me? Turning away, he hath divided our fields. And so God is telling people here, hey, you want to take from the poor? You want to oppress people? Well, guess what? I'm going to bring that same type of thing upon you, and I'm going to take what you have, and you will be the one crying. You will be the one howling. You will be the one in absolute misery. And then look what he says in verse five. Therefore, thou shall have none that cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord. Okay, now verse six is going to start this second group of people. So up until now, we've been reading about the ruling elite, the rich people. This family is what the Bible says. You know, it's kind of, you know, I read that and I think of, you know, the wealthy wealthy families of the earth, you know, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers. Do not these people sit around and devise how to take things from us? Isn't it this Klaus Schwab clown who said that by 2035 you'll own nothing, but you'll be happy or something like that? I might be misquoting it. It doesn't matter. It's communism. It's exactly what was going on here. It's a rich person from the influence of these rich, elite families doing the same thing. The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun. Here you've got a group of Hebrew people, okay, and Jews were doing this as well, sitting around, figuring out how they can take. And that's exactly what you have today. But what happens when you say that? People come at you, oh, that's conspiracy talk. Is this not a conspiracy? Does the Bible not say there's nothing new under the sun? Okay, there's a lot of truth to that stuff that you read and hear about on the internet about these ruling families in our societies. And there are many of them. It's not just one. But let's move on here. So second group, obviously, false prophets. Look at verse 6. So really the way Micah's writing this is he's basically saying what they're saying. Okay, the people of the land were saying exactly what was said to Amos. Prophesy not in the king's court. The land is not able to bear it. Is that not what Amos was told? That's exactly what he was told. And that's the attitude of the people today. You see, the people today on one hand, they're crying out because of the oppression and a second amendment and all the stuff's being trampled on and taken away. But the solution is very simple. You go back to the fundamentals. You go back to the word of God. You go back to that which is not in season and you stand strong upon that and you don't waver, you don't move and that becomes a pillar. That becomes a repellent. And that has the real effect. Back in Micah's day these people were just like, hey, we don't want to be ashamed. Don't be prophesying that stuff. That's too hard. It's offensive. It hurts people's feelings and we're going to have to just cancel you. We're going to get you off of YouTube or HebrewTube whatever they had back then and you're not going to be able to say anything anymore. Jump down to verse number 8. Look at some more attitude here. Look at this. Verse number 8. So again it's every man for himself. They see something they want and they take it. Look at verse 9. So what are you reading about here? You're reading about the separation from mom and the children. The same thing that is going on today. The culture of the United States of America, the western world forcing mom to go to work and kids to go to the government day camp. Now some people are in that situation and there's nothing they can do about it. That's okay. There's still provision and you can still survive that. I'm a product of public school. Many people in here probably went to public school. I understand that but from a governmental perspective, okay, the government today wants to be your god. That is what they want. The government at this time wanted to be the god of the people. That's the whole point of this book. And what's the result? What's one thing that they do? Well not only do they oppress but they attack mom. They want to separate mom from the children. Look at verse 9. The woman of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses. Okay, our society today and I brought this up last week. You know people say, oh how old are your kids and what school did you go to? Oh I can't believe they're home schooled. Do you want to stay at home? She doesn't work. She must not be very smart. You know they don't say that but that's what they mean. She must not have graduated high school. She must not have a doctrine of divinity or doctrine of divinity or whatever it is. It's like, shut up. At least she is at home where it's pleasant and not away from the children. I mean that's a blessing. That's the way that it ought to be. That's where you should strive to be. Verse 10, he says, Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest. Because it is polluted it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction. That mentality, separate mom from the children is destructive. Why do you think there are so many programs available today for single moms? And look single moms need help. I understand that. I'm not against that. But I am against the other end of those programs which say you don't need a man. You know the Dr. Phil, the Oprah Winfrey's, the music industry, the media, the universities, the public schools. The thought that is pushed in society today all over social media is women you can do things yourself. You need equal pay to a man. You don't let a man tell you what to do. Blah, blah, blah. All of that is destruction. There's nothing new with any of that stuff today. People think they're so cool because they know something that no one else does. Oh I'm not like my mom. I'm out doing this. I'm going to be a CEO. I'm going to do this. I'm going to take over the whole world. But she has no idea that that behavior is destroying this nation because it's not just you. It's all your friends. It's all of these other people that are buying into the lie. That's why Israel fell. It's one of the reasons why they fell. Look at verse 10. Arise ye and depart. So God is telling these people through the prophet get away from that. Get away from that ideology. Depart for this is not your rest. Your rest is where God placed you. With your children. Verse 11. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie saying I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the prophet of this people. So the condition of these people is so bad that if a guy comes around and says hey brother. Hey sister. I've got a great message. I just want to encourage you. You know and they're just talking like this. Like God's not mad at you. Oh you don't believe the gospel? You don't know the gospel? You've got nothing to worry about. I can make you prosperous. Your best days are ahead of you. It's like you don't even know me and you're saying stuff like this. How do you know that's even possible? But that's how the people were here. If someone came by and said something like that they'd be like make him a preacher. Because he already told you the people they don't want to be ashamed. They don't want the hard preacher. They don't want the guy that's going to tell them what's up. Verse 12. I will surely assemble oh Jacob all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah. As the flock in the midst of their fold. They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. Now how can that be when he said that Israel or Samaria was just going to be taken captive and gone forever? Well now in the New Testament we know and understand that because in Christ the body of Christ, the believers, the assembly, the church is the Israel of God. That is what this is talking about. But I could understand if you were in Micah's day reading this you might be scratching your head like how's this going to look? Oh of course. Yeah God's going to bring everybody back. All 12 tribes and we're going to rule the earth. But that's not what it means. Verse 13. The breaker has come up before them. They have broken up and have passed through the gate and are gone out by it. Now look at this. And their king shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them. So again if somebody comes at you with Micah 2 12 and says see this is a prophecy of Israel today in the Middle East coming together and some day all 12 tribes are going to be united. And you're going to be able to serve them in the millennium and it will be all about them. You say did you read the verse after that? Did you read the verse after that? What's the last part of that say? Their king shall pass before them and the Lord on the head of them. There is no verse in the Bible saying that physical Israel of today will accept the Lord. Jesus told you. Jesus told us. If one come in his own name him you will receive. We've already gone down that road. Jesus came and did miracle after miracle. So many miracles. So many marvelous things that the earth wouldn't even be able to contain the books if they were all written down. You think they're going to accept him after that? It's not going to happen. You're crazy. You don't know the Bible. You have zero respect for the word of God if you believe that. So chapter 2. The oppression of the people. Who are the two groups of people that oppress by and large? It's the rich. I'm talking the really rich. The people that use their might to do whatever they feel is right. And then you have the false preacher. What's the solution to that? The solution to that is people like us who stand united in the fundamentals. Who say no thus sayeth the Lord. I don't care if this is out of season. I'm going to preach this and stand up against your lies. That is the solution. So chapter number 3 basically is just more condemnation. More judgment. And now Micah is going to go after the heads of Israel. The people that are supposed to be doing the repelling. That are supposed to be teaching this truth. And look what he says. Verse 1 of chapter 3. And I said here I pray you O heads of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel is not or is it not for you to know judgment? Again what's the prevailing thought today regarding judgment? The planet fitness motto. No judgment. That is what is being preached today. But what does God say? The rulers in Israel were supposed to have judgment. The rulers in Israel today the Israel of God should have judgment. The Bible says the spiritual judgeth all things. Verse 2. Who hate the good and love the evil. Who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones. So now what Micah is going to do is he's basically comparing those who should be standing in the gap. Preaching the word of God. Teaching truth. He compares them to butchers. You know how butchers are. You ever go to Costco and just watch them cutting up meat. Or you ever go watch how meat's processed. How they're just slicing that stuff up. It's a job to them. It's just what they do. They're not thinking about it. They're like I wonder what his name was. I wonder if this was a him or a she. I wonder if this beef chuck. I wonder what kind of feelings he had. I wonder what his favorite. They're not thinking about any of that stuff. That's how the priests and the heads of Israel were thinking about the people of God. Just like cattle. Just nothing but profit. They learned to hate good and love evil. So look at verse 3. Who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron. Now this did literally happen in the northern kingdom of Israel. We dealt with that a couple weeks ago. I don't want to go back there. Verse 4. Then shall they cry unto the Lord but he will not hear them. He will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. So obviously God gives mercy. He's abundant in mercy the Bible says. But he's saying for these people who ignored who should, who knew the truth, knew what the right thing to do was but they turned their backs and they stayed silent. God is saying I have something for you and you're definitely not going to like it. Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets and here it is. That make my people error. You say why are you so angry when it comes to false prophets? Is it really that big of a deal if someone teaches to repent of sins? Yes it is. Because you're causing people to error. You're making someone do something wrong. And that's why we get so upset when we hear about a preacher who's running his mouth and saying that a person has to turn from their sins to be saved. You're causing people to error. And it really hits home when you knock doors and people give you that answer. Well my pastor said that I'm, you know, I may not be saved because I still struggle with this. And now you're left trying to un-sow that web that his or that their false prophet sowed and it's a nightmare. It's unfortunate. That's what's going on here. Verse 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people error, that bite with their teeth and cry, Peace he that putteth not into their mouths. They even prepare war against him. So these guys are totally fine as long as they're being fed. As long as you give them that gourmet lobster and that steak dinner when they want it, they will tell you anything you want to hear. And you know what? The people want it that way. That's what makes it so bad. The people want it that way. That's the attitude of the everyday ordinary person in the northern kingdom of Israel and that attitude spreading south to the southern kingdom. And God hates it. And you know what? That's the attitude by and large in this community. Oh, I can't believe you said that. Well, go knock some doors. Verse 6. Therefore night shall be unto you that you shall not have a vision. And it shall be dark unto you that you shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over the prophets and the day shall be dark over them. So this is going to be what they reap for what they have sown. Verse 7. Micah 3. Look at verse 7. Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their lips. For there is no answer of God. Keep your place there but just very quickly go back to Amos. Last time I'm going to have you go here. Amos and go to chapter 8. Go to chapter number 8 and look at verse number 11. Amos chapter 8. Look at verse number 11. So God talking. Micah is explaining how God is going to silence these false prophets. Look at what Amos said in chapter 8 verse 11. He says, Behold, the day has come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And go back to Micah chapter number 3. Okay, so that ties together with Micah chapter 3 in verse number 7 which says, Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their lips. There is no answer of God. So God would confound these people to the point to where they would even be able to prophesy falsely. Look at verse 7 I'm sorry verse 8. So these are Micah's words here. This is Micah basically pouring his heart out here and telling you how he feels about all of this. He says, But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. That's how you use might. The might that comes from the Lord. The might that comes from the Jerusalem which is in heaven. That is the might that we are called to use. That's the might that Micah used. That's the might that all the prophets used. And notice what he says here. I am full of judgment. And he says it proud. Not proud in a negative way, but he is displaying the fact that it is okay to be judgmental. Look at verse 9. Hear this, I pray you, Ye heads of the house of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. Anytime you hear somebody down playing judgment, you have a problem. You are dealing with someone or something that is trying to off-put, to pervert equity, real equity. Look at verse 10. He says, They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. So these people are going around literally causing blood shed and saying it's all for the kingdom of God. Verse 11, The heads thereof judge for reward. You see, look at these next three things. It says the heads thereof judge for reward, the priests teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for what? Money. So again, these prophets, they are not going to preach anything unless there is money and good food involved. Kind of like a lot of people that are out here today. And the priests, remember the priests are supposed to be serving in the temple, but what are they doing? Well, they are teaching alright, but they are only going to teach if you give them money. And part of this is obviously a result of the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Because do you remember what he did? He hired the lowest of the people and said, hey, anybody who wants to be a priest can be a priest. You don't have to just be born in a certain family and blah, blah, blah. He overturned all of that and obviously you can see the result. The destruction of the nation. Look at verse 12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps in the mountains of the house as the high places of the forest. So both, Samaria, there you have it, that's the conclusion. Samaria, Jerusalem physically, both of them will be conquered, will be taken captive. So now let's move on here real quickly to chapter number four. Chapter number four, you are going to now see a contrast. So we've seen everything that a government shouldn't be. A government should not have the ruling class bribing people and making it possible for them to steal your house, take your property, tell mom she needs to go do this, make men weak, all the stuff you see going on today. God is going to show you how government should be and how government will be. Minor prophets, major problems. Look at verse one of chapter four. But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and look at this, people shall flow unto it. If you want your anti-Zionist hammer, it's chapter number four. There's other places as well but chapter number four is it because look at what this doesn't say. Okay, look at verse one. But in the last days it shall come to pass that Israel shall be established at the top of the mountains and all twelve tribes will be exalted above the hills and people shall flow unto them. Okay, it doesn't say that, does it? Pay attention, what does it say? But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow unto it. Well what does that mean? Well he's talking about establishing government and this government will not tolerate separation of church and state. You don't believe me, look at verse two. And many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. That Jerusalem there is a reference to New Jerusalem. This is talking about the millennium period where all nations on this planet will go to the Lord to learn everything. Look at verse three. And he shall judge among many. Well who is this he? This is Jesus Christ. And he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations of far off. So just because you live in the United States of America, let's just say, in the millennium period, doesn't mean you're going to get away with anything because God's word will, like it does today, reach all the way around the globe and he will rebuke nations of far off. You have to understand there will be human behavior in the millennium. A lot of things are going to be different and we'll spend some time talking about that later on, but there will still be a need for rebuke. People will still need to learn how to follow the Lord and what that looks like and what that means. And that's what this is explaining. This is how government should be. This is what it's going to be. Look what he says next. Rebuke strong nations of far off and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up a sword against nations. Neither shall they learn war anymore. You won't have to worry about getting drafted. There isn't going to be these spy balloons floating around and all this confusion. Oh, what's going on? There won't be any of that. You won't have to worry about, you know, learning martial arts or anything like that. It's going to be a time of peace until the thousand years is up. But that's the sermon for another day. Look at verse 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine. You see that? Every man shall sit under his vine. So this rich man, you know, Captain Illuminati, you know, Mr. Klaus Schwab or whatever his name is, Bill Gates, all these rich people, I keep picking on the same guys just because, whatever, my brain's not that big. It doesn't matter. They're all the same. It doesn't matter what their names are. But these people will not be allowed to operate. This rich man will no longer oppress. Your vine will be your vine. And under his fig tree, it says in verse 4, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. So just like Micah went around and preaching to the northern kingdom of Israel, in his day it fell and the people said, wow, that's from the Lord. Wow, that means that the word of the Lord is true. Guess what? This is true. This is coming. This will happen. Verse 5, for all people. It doesn't say all people except Israel. No, it says for all people will walk, everyone, in the name of his God. And we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, forever and ever. What is the millennium period like? You have God, you have the Lord Jesus Christ issuing forth his statutes and his commandments. And then you have all the people of the earth. And obviously people who were saved that went in to that. But that's what you're dealing with. It's not the people worshipping the Jew. You don't see that anywhere in the Bible. Look at verse 6. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted. You say, what does that mean? Well, obviously, if you read the battle of Armageddon and even up until that point, God is dealing with nations even today. And God is saying, though I'm doing that, there will be healing. People will still have opportunity to be saved and to serve me. It's not about where you were born. It's about who you serve. So anyways, all of chapter 4 is basically about that. It's a contrast to chapters 2 and 3 how government should run. That is what, and also it's an encouragement. Because we're reading this today like, wow, it'd be nice to be in this time frame, wouldn't it? It'd be nice to know that I can go home and not see two or three different pizza orders at my front door. You know, that would be pretty nice. It'd be pretty nice to get my phone one day and pick it up and not have 15 death threats on there. It'd be nice to come to church and not have a freak show out in the parking lot, wouldn't it? But don't worry, because that day is coming. I guarantee it. So go over to chapter number 5. Chapter number 5 is all about the one who's going to rule this government that we just read about in chapter number 4. Look at this here, verse number 1, chapter number 5. It says, Now gather thyself in shroops, O daughter of troops. He hath laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. Verse 2. Pay attention to verse 2 here. We're going to go to Matthew chapter 2 in a second. We're going to do a little comparison here. And I'm going to show you why it's so important to have the whole counsel of God. Verse 2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. Now go to Matthew chapter number 2, and I want to show you something here. So when King Herod heard that the Messiah was born, and the wise men came through, he didn't like that very much. He started to get paranoid. He was like, what do you mean there's going to be a king? What do you mean? I want to worship this king. Tell me more about this king. Look at verse 4. Matthew chapter 2, look at verse 4. It says, When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. So here you have a so-called ruler in the nation of Judah at this time under Roman control. He doesn't know the Bible, so what does he do? He calls the chief priests, who should know, and the scribes, and he asks them. Now they don't necessarily lie to him, but they don't quote the exact truth. Look at what they say. So he's paranoid. He wants to know, like, wait a second, am I going to get tossed out? Is there going to be a coup against me? So he wants to know where this Messiah is born because he has an agenda. Verse 5. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judah, for thus it is written by the prophet. Now they spit this right out. Okay, so you've got to give them some credit for that. But here's what you don't need to give them credit for. Look at what they say. Look at how they quote the verse. Verse 6. And thou, Bethlehem, and the land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. And then of course verse 7, then Herod comes up with his plan, which is horrible to kill the children, but go back really quickly to Micah chapter 5 and look at verse 2 again. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, they said that, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel. Okay, you know what they didn't quote? Look after the semicolon. Look after that word Israel there. Whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. Why didn't they quote that? Did they not understand it? Were they ashamed? If they would have quoted that, would Herod have gotten upset and be like, what are you trying to say? He's God? And there's nothing I can do? Interesting. Just something for you to think about because they don't, they omit that. They don't say that. And again, don't let somebody say, well, you know, because of the original language, shut your mouth with that crap. The Bible is recording what they said to Herod. And the fact is, they chose to leave out the most important part of that verse. That God would be manifest in the flesh. That's on them, not the King James translators. So don't get me started on that. Back to Micah chapter 5. So hopefully you see that connection there. That's why this book is very important. That's why you need to have the whole counsel of God. That's why all of this is important. None of it should be downplayed. Because that is an integral part of the message. What would have happened if those scribes and the chief priests would have said the full verse? It would have been a different conversation. I'm not sure how it would have played out, but all I know is they omitted the fact that this verse proves that he's from old from everlasting. He is eternal. Look at verse 3. You want to talk about Bible preservation? Here you go. And he shall stand. Who is that he? It's the Messiah. It's Christ. You see, the chief priests and the scribes of today, you know what they leave out? Bible preservation. Because my Bible says he's from old. He's from everlasting. The religion of the chief priests and the scribes, they only give you part of the truth. Because we know that the Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the word of God. And what does the word of God do? Why did he come to earth? Verse 4. He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord. He feeds his people truth, judgment, and statutes, all the stuff that you need to counteract everything you read in chapter 2 and chapter 3, which is what's going on in this sick, twisted, disgusting world that we live in today. I did not drink any coffee today either. Okay? Verse 4. Just as God preserves his truth and his word, he preserves his people as well that call on his name. Look after the colon there. That is what this says. To the ends of the earth. What did Jesus say? He said, hey, this gospel shall be preached unto the ends of the earth, to the whole world, and then shall the end come. Verse 5. And this man shall be the peace. This man, this Messiah, Jesus Christ, this man shall be the peace when the Assyrians shall come into our land. Interesting, because Micah is from the southern kingdom of Judah. But the Assyrians came into the northern kingdom. And reading this on the heels of the birth of the Messiah and how he would give us truth and feed us in the strength of the Lord. He says the Assyrians shall come into our land. Who is going to be the peace in the end times is what this means. The Assyrians is the anti-Christ. The Assyrians is the final ruler of the world. And during that time, who is going to be the peace? Jesus Christ. Our savior. He says, and this man shall be the peace when the Assyrians shall come into our land. And when he shall tread in our palaces and shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men. I do not have time to break that down, but I promise I will for you someday. Hopefully soon. Okay? So we've got to move on here. Jump down to verse number 8. He says, and the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people. That's today. That is you. That is me. We are of Jacob. We are the Israel of God. And we are among the Gentiles. The Gentiles are those who are unsaved. Uncircumcised in heart. That hate us. That we have to live amongst. And look what it says about us though. This is how we need to act. Verse 8 and the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people. As a lion among the beasts of the forest. As a young lion among the flocks of sheep. Who if he go through both treadeth down and tereth in pieces and none can deliver. You know this freak out there a couple weeks ago. He's like yeah we took your buddy down from steadfast and you're next. You didn't take them down. They still have church you idiot. You stupid slob. You satanic piece of trash. You're not taking us down. You can't. I'm going to keep saying all the things that I've always been saying and I'm never going to stop. That is the attitude that you get when you're fed by the strength of the Lord. When you go to soy boy church you know what you get? A bunch of soy boy people. That's the only outcome that you can get. And the Bible says here in verse 8 and the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest. That's how God expects us to be with the truth amongst these people. We are the ones that are the lions. Why you say well why prove it? Is Jesus not called the lion of the tribe of Judah? Are not we in him and his spirit in us? That is what this is in reference to. And so we need to stop looking at life though. Oh we're outnumbered. Oh everyone's against us. It's kind of true but it doesn't matter. Because when the lion's surrounded he doesn't back down. He attacks and fights and stands his ground anyways. And we have that right. We have that opportunity. They can do nothing to us. Nothing. Oh but what if they kill you? You can only kill the body. You can only change my location. You can't take anything from me. It's impossible. That is what the word of God says. So he says as a young lion among the flocks of sheep who if he go through both treadeth down and tereth in pieces and none can deliver. And that's what I see today. No one can deliver these freaks who are so offended. You know it's funny they paint the telephone poles out here. You know like a couple times a week and maybe not a week. They've done it a few times though. And somebody keeps coming by and spray painting over it. And then they come by and they do it again. And I think it's the city. But it's just something small. But it's a testament to the fact that no one is going to deliver them from the truth. Because we come from the truth. We come from the Israel of God. Verse 9. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And so we don't have time to take apart the rest of the chapter. But just a couple of quick other mentions. Let's go to chapter number 6. Chapter number 6 is basically God through the prophet reminding Israel of all the past things that they've gone through. And basically asking the question. Why have you failed to remember Egypt? What is wrong with you? Look at verse 1. Hear ye now what the Lord saith. Arise contend thou before the mountains and let the hills hear thy voice. So again kind of like how we talked about last week. How God challenges He challenges the heathen. He challenges the people. You sense that in these passages. Look at verse 2. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy and ye strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord hath a controversy with His people and He will plead with Israel. And then He just goes on to basically like I said. To remind them of the things that He's done for them. And He's asking the question. Why have you guys failed to notice this? Why have you failed to see this? So that's basically what chapter 6 is about. And then chapter 7 is all about the end time but it does parallel the last days of the Northern Kingdom. Just real quickly we're almost done. Look at verse 1. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the great gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first ripe fruit. So the attitude here before the destruction of the Northern Kingdom was exactly this. Woe is me. What have I done? And look at what happens next. Verse 2. The good man is perished out of the earth. There is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother with the net. Sounds a lot like the end times during the last was it right after the rapture when God unleashes His wrath upon this earth. That's what you're going to be left with primarily. This type of attitude here. Where peace is taken from the earth and people will just go and kill each other and they wore and gnashed their teeth at God. Look at verse 3. It says that they may do evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward. And the great man he uttereth his mischievous desire. So they wrap it up. Look at this here in verse 4. The best of them is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh. And thou shalt be their perplexity. And he just goes on in verse 5 to say don't trust in a friend. Don't trust in your government. The only thing that could save you is trusting in the Lord and in His statutes. And the solution He gives you in verse 14. He says, feed thy people with thy rod. The flock of thine heritage which dwell solitarily in the wood. In the midst of Carmel let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. And so again we don't have time to go through this whole chapter or even dig into it as much as we've done others. But again it's the destruction, the coming captivity of Israel and it parallels literally the last days of earth. Same thing here. Look at verse 16 just for some more end times prophecy here. Look at verse 16. He says, the nations shall see and be confounded in all their might. They shall lay their hand upon their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. So again the title of the sermon, you know, just because you have might doesn't make it right. That's not okay. But that's the attitude of people today. They feel well because I have this strength, whether it be physical, whether it be economical, whether it be monetary. They feel, you know what, I can get more and I'm going to capitalize. I'm going to rob people. God is saying, you know, you nations that allow that, you're going down. You're going to pay the price for that. Look at verse 17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of thee. And again we brought this up last week how the rich people are spending millions and millions and millions of dollars in these underground silos and all of this stuff. God saying, I'm going to cause you to come up out of those holes like worms. And according of course to Revelation, what are the people going to do? Well they're going to look up to heaven and they're going to see Jesus and they're going to scream and cry that the rocks would fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Verse 18, Who is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He that retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. So that's why humanity gets another start, gets the millennium period. Because if you really read this and you just think about it and you read Revelation and you'll see that the armies of the world are going to literally try to fight God. They're actually going to wage war and of course God is going to smash him. But he's not going to wipe away humanity forever. People will be in the millennium. They will grow. They will learn. They will get saved just like today. Verse 19, He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Again, people love this. And in that Ruckman commentary I was reading today, he was saying these fundamentalists that preach that Israel got saved the same way that people get saved today, that's wrong doctrine. That's the whole point here. People got saved in the Old Testament just like they do today by calling upon the name of the Lord. So he says he will turn again. Verse 19, He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Verse 20, Thou will perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. And you know that last verse there's another slam dunk against the Zionists. You know when someone comes at you with, oh twelve tribes, Israel, Israel, Israel. You just ask them, what tribe was Abraham of? And see what they say. Think about it. What tribe was he from? And of course that's going to cause a bunch of other questions, but it'll get people thinking. It'll give you the opportunity to teach the truth. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much Lord for these great, deep, insightful truths that you've preserved for us. I just pray you help us to remember them, teach them to others. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. ... ... ... Alright everyone, if you would please turn to song number 75. Song number 75, On Jordan's Stormy Banks. On the first, On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful line to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possession's mine. I am bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land. Oh who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. All o'er those wide extended plains shines one eternal day. There God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away. I am bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land. Oh who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. On the third, No chilling winds nor poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness and sorrow, pain and death are felt and feared no more. I am bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land. Oh who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. On last, when shall I reach that happy place and be forever blessed? I see my Father's face and in His bosom rest. I am bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land. Oh who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land. Alright, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this time we had. To hear your word be preached I ask that you please help us to remember these things and that everyone would have a safe travel home. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen.