God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

Micah 7:18-20 Apparently last Sunday’s sermon about loving others like Christ loves us--struck a chord with a number of folks who heard it!  One person, especially close to me, who shall remain nameless, said after worship was over:  “Well, that’s it, I’m not going to heaven”!

That’s exactly what the Law does when it is preached in its fullness!  It shows us that we do not have what it takes (this time in our love for others) to make our own way to heaven. 

Much of the Book of Micah is just like that.  It is full of hard-hitting preaching of the Law.  If you have your Bibles open and flip through the pages of Micah and read the headings you will get a quick sense of how hard-hitting his message was!  “The Coming Destruction!”  “Woe to the Oppressors!”  “The Indictment of the Lord!”  “The Destruction of the Wicked!”

Neither the politicians nor the preachers not the people were spared from the law.  Their lack of faith, their love of money, their immoral lives, their divided hearts were laid bare and shown to be rebellion against God that deserved his judgment in time and eternity.

That’s what we heard last Sunday:  that anger is murder and no murderer has eternal life.

But in defense of my sermon, despite how hard-hitting it was, I also talked about God’s love for us in Christ—that this is what true love is and how Jesus makes all the difference in our life.

So it is in today’s text:  there is woe and destruction and indictment and judgment to be sure!  But there is also the compassion and forgiveness of God who:  Reaches out to people who cannot make their way to him; who Rescues people who cannot help themselves; who Redeems people who deserve only his judgment. 

Then and now:  there is hope for us (not because we get it right) but because we have in the LORD a God like no other who forgives and restores sinners.  The Bible says: 

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? 

            Most Bible experts consider this a rhetorical question that is only asked so that it may be answered by the one who asked it—but I’m not so sure. 

I believe the Holy Spirit inspired Micah to write these words so that we really would consider just for a moment—just exactly what kind of God we have in the LORD who forgives sins so mercifully and completely—and then compare him to the false gods and dead idols of the unbelieving world.  And so I ask you…

Do the false gods of Hinduism or Islam forgive sins by sacrificing themselves for sinners?  No!  Do the countless gods of the pagans act with mercy towards the broken?  No!  Do all of the idols that struggle for a place in our hearts give us the comfort and peace of knowing that we are loved?  No!  And so then…

Who is a God like the LORD?  The answer is no one!  The Bible says that the LORD:  does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 

Before we go too much farther we ought to be very clear:  God is angry over the sins of mankind.  They are an affront to his eyes; they are a stench in his nostrils; they are an outrage to his ears!  He is absolutely serious when he says that we are to be holy as he is holy and he means it when he says that the wages of sin is death!

The Bible is perfectly clear that the LORD is a God of wrath and we ought to stand in awe of his holiness and fear his judgment.  But the Bible is just as clear that the LORD delights in steadfast love.  DELIGHTS in STEADFAST love!

Now, we learned about ourselves last week that our love for others is all over the place in its sincerity and truth and sometimes it is lacking altogether!  But the LORD’s love for us never changes; his mercies never cease; and he does not hold onto his anger over our sins forever!

But we also need to understand this:  the reason that the LORD does not retain his anger forever is not because his holiness and righteousness have changed-- and it is not because he has changed his mind about his expectations for us. 

Rather, the LORD does not hold onto his anger because he has poured it out upon his Son Jesus Christ!    

Micah had to trust that this was true as he prophesied about the Messiah to come-- but we know it is true because of the accomplished facts of salvation history.

The Savior born in Bethlehem of whom Micah prophesied died on the cross, in our place, with the wrath of his heavenly poured upon him, because of our sins-- and the Father abandoned his son, our substitute, to death and hell and the grave. 

He did this FOR US and Christ sacrificed himself FOR US because he saw our great need and was moved to come to our aid, knowing that we were helpless to make our own way to him.  The Bible says that:  He will again have compassion on us;

Throughout the Bible, compassion is not just a feeling of pity that God has from on high upon those down below-- but a heartfelt concern that moves him to help those in need. 

There were hard times ahead for the people of Judah but Micah knew, and he wanted God’s people to know, that the Lord could be counted on (no matter how dark the days, no matter how well-deserved the discipline) to have compassion on his people and come to their aid.

And that is exactly what he did for our greatest need of all—our need of forgiveness.

Micah uses two vibrant word pictures to show us just how completely the Lord has dealt with our sins.  First of all he says that the LORD will he will tread our iniquities underfoot. 

            There is only one person who has had the complete victory over temptation and sin and the devil and that is Jesus.  He rose victorious over death and he grave and he reigns as the King of kings and Lord of lords while all of heaven sings his eternal victory song.

            The experience of the rest of us when it comes to temptation and sin and the devil is very different indeed.  We know about ourselves how difficult it is to go even a short time without some sin of thought, word, or deed.  We know how often our love for others is not like Jesus’ love for us.

If you have every struggled against a besetting sin particular to you, you know how humiliating it is to fall victim to that sin again and again.  Oftentimes, in various ways, we are defeated by our spiritual enemies.

   That is why it is the best possible news for us that the LORD himself treads our iniquities underfoot!  The image comes from a battlefield in the ancient world where an enemy has been so utterly defeated and brought to ruin that their conqueror can walk upon them unafraid and unchallenged. 

That is God’s own truth about the sins in your life:  they lie defeated under the nail-pierced feet of your champion, Jesus Christ. 

And then Micah goes on to offer us another picture of how completely, how totally the LORD has dealt with our sin.  He says that the LORD will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 

In the ancient world, when ship and a crew and their cargo was lost at sea—it was lost—along with everything in it.  There was no recovery effort—not way to bring it back.  It was simply gone forever, never seen again.  Even today, if you take a cruise and throw something overboard, it’s gone for good!

That’s how completely the Lord has dealt with our sins.  They have been cast into the flood of Jesus’ blood that poured out from his sacred veins upon Calvary’s cross.  Covered by his blood, they cannot be found, they will not be recovered, they will never again see the light of day!

That is what the LORD says about your sins of the past and that is what the LORD says about you in the days to come.  The Bible says that the LORD will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

What about this new week that we have entered into today?  We know that there are going to be faith challenges.  We know that there are going to be temptations.  We know that there are going to be some spiritual defeats and some sin.  How do we face the future knowing this about ourselves without despair?

We face the future trusting in the promise that we hear today:  the LORD WILL show faithfulness to his people!  He has sworn on oath by himself (for there is nothing greater) that he will always be the God of steadfast love and compassion who will pass over our transgressions and pardon our iniquity and cast ALL our sins into the depths of the sea.

In this week to come, and in every day of Your life as his child, you can trust that this is who the LORD is and this is what he will do for you!  Amen!