The Promise Keeping God

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The Promise Keeping God

Micah 5:1-5, 7:7-20; December 24, 2023; Noah Crane

December 24, 2023 • Noah Crane • Micah 5:1–5, Micah 7:7–20

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“On a starlit hillside, shepherds watched their sheep.

Slowly, David's city drifted off to sleep.

But to this little town of no great renown

The Lord had a promise to keep.

Prophets had foretold it, a mighty King would come,

Long awaited Ruler, God’s Anointed One.

But the Sovereign of all looked helpless and small

As God gave the world His own Son.

Wondrous gift of heaven: the Father sends the Son.

Planned from time eternal, moved by holy love.

He will carry our curse and death He’ll reverse,

So we can be daughters and sons.

And who would have dreamed or ever foreseen

That we could hold God in our hands?

The Giver of Life is born in the night

Revealing God’s glorious plan

To save the world.”

~“Who Would Have Dreamed,” Sovereign Grace Music

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

~“O Little Town of Bethlehem,” Phillips Brooks

“God promises to keep His people and He will keep His promises.”

~ Charles Spurgeon, 19th century Baptist preacher

“King of Kings yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth he stood,

Lord of lords in human vesture,

In the body and the blood,

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heavenly food.”

~“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” The Divine Liturgy of St. James

SERMON PASSAGE

Micah 5:1-5, 7:7-20 (ESV)

Micah 5

1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod they strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock

in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure,

for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

5 And he shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men;

Micah 7

7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until he pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

10 Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

like the mire of the streets.

11 A day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

12 In that day they will come to you,

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to the River,

from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

13 But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

14 Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest

in the midst of a garden land;

let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them marvelous things.

16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

they shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth;

they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

19 He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.

What Does the Lord Require of You?

December 31, 2023 • Ryan Bouton • Micah 6:1–8

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Gather ‘round, ye children, come Listen to the old, old story Of the pow’r of death undone By an infant born of glory Son of God, Son of Man. So sing out with joy for the brave little boy Who was God, but He made Himself nothing He gave up His pride and He came here to die like a man.” ~ Andrew Peterson, “Gather ‘Round, Ye Children, Come” “Now the same Spirit dwelling in Christ’s heart in heaven, that does in yours here, and always working in his heart first for you, and then in yours by commission from him; rest assured, therefore, that that Spirit stirs up in him bowels of mercy infinitely larger towards you than you can have unto yourselves.” ~ Thomas Goodwin, The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth “As Bunyan says, describing his first and illusory conversion, ‘I thought there was no man in England that pleased God better than I.’ Beaten out of this, we next offer our own humility to God’s admiration. Surely He’ll like that? Or if not that, our clear-sighted and humble recognition that we still lack humility. Thus, depth beneath depth and subtlety within subtlety, there remains some lingering idea of our own, our very own, attractiveness. It is easy to acknowledge, but almost impossible to realize for long, that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us. Surely we must have a little - however little - native luminosity?” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien SERMON PASSAGE Micah 6:1-8 (ESV) 1 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Go Tell It on the Mountain

December 17, 2023 • Drew Matter • Micah 4:1–7

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “For outlandish creatures like us, on our way to a heart, a brain, and courage, Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning - not home but the place through which we must pass if ever we are to reach home at last.” ~Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” ~The Gospel of Matthew 26:52-54 “The Trumpet Child will blow his horn Will blast the sky till it’s reborn With Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s grace He will surprise the human race; The trumpet he will use to blow Is being fashioned out of fire The mouthpiece is a glowing coal The bell a burst of wild desire. The Trumpet Child will riff on love Thelonious notes from up above He’ll improvise a kingdom come Accompanied by a different drum; The Trumpet Child will banquet here Until the lost are truly found A thousand days, a thousand years, Nobody knows for sure how long. The rich forget about their gold The meek and mild are strangely bold A lion lies beside a lamb And licks a murderer’s outstretched hand; The Trumpet Child will lift a glass His bride now leaning in at last His final aim to fill with joy The earth that man all but destroyed.” ~ “The Trumpet Child,” Over the Rhine SERMON PASSAGE Micah 4:1-7 (ESV) 1 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, 2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; 4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. 6 In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; 7 and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.

Advent Is Not for Flawed People, but for Hopeless People

December 10, 2023 • Lindsay Whaley • Micah 2:1–11, Micah 3

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Savior.” ~Charles Spurgeon, Reformed Baptist Minister (1834-1892) “People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch towards prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.” ~D.A. Carson, Author and New Testament Scholar “A significant majority of Americans were agreed that the following are sins: Adultery 81%, Racism 74%, Using ‘hard’ drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. 65%, Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back 63%, Having an abortion 56%… Not reporting some income on your tax returns 52%.” ~Ellison Research Poll 2008 “Sin is believing the lie that you are self-created, self-dependent and self-sustained.” ~Augustine, theologian and pastor in Africa (354-430) “Happiness won’t arrive, it has to be cultivated. Only behavior and its consequences will make you happy. Being happy requires you to work your ‘how’ muscles and to be aware; you need to consciously focus on the good things and not the bad. This is not to bury your head in the sand, some things need to be faced up to, but you need to focus on those things you can have agency over.” ~Psychology Today 2021 “It’s a sin, a sin the way I love you, because I know our love could never be. It’s a sin to say that I don’t miss you, When silence proves that you’ve forgotten me.” ~Marty Robbins, country singer (1925-1984). “The consciousness of sin was formerly the starting point of all preaching; but today it is gone. Characteristic of the modern age, above all else, is a supreme confidence in human goodness; the religious literature of the day is redolent of that confidence. Get beneath the rough exterior of men, we are told, and we shall discover enough self-sacrifice to found upon it the hope of society; the world’s evil, it is said, can be overcome with the world’s good; no help is needed from outside the world.” ~J. Gresham Machen, Author and Theologian (1881-1937) SERMON PASSAGE Micah 2:1-11, 3:1-12 (ESV) Micah 2 1 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster. 4 In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.” 5 Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord. 6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? 8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. 9 The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever. 10 Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. 11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people! Micah 3 1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?— 2 you who hate the good and love the evil, Micah 2 1 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster. 4 In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.” 5 Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord. 6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? 8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. 9 The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever. 10 Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. 11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people! Micah 3 1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?— 2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. 4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. 5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. 6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. 8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” 12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.