Micah chapter 6, and this morning we're going to be looking at verses 9 through 16. So Micah chapter 6, 9 through 16, but I'm actually going to begin reading, just kind of read the entire chapter beginning at verse 1 of Micah chapter 6. So now to the reading of God's Holy Word. Hear now what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord's complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a complaint against his people, and he will contend with Israel. O my people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam, the son of Baor, answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal. That you may know the righteousness of the Lord. With what shall I come before the Lord? and bow myself before the Most High. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousands rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. The Lord's voice cries to the city, Wisdom shall see your name, hear the rod, who has appointed it? Are there yet the wicked treasures of wickedness, and the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bags of deceitful weights? for her rich men are full of violence. Her inhabitants has spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore, I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them. And what you do rescue, I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap. You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil. And make sweet wine, but not drink wine. For the statutes of Omri are kept. All the works of Ahab's house are done. And you walk in their councils, that I may make you a desolation and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore, you shall bear the reproach of my people. I take the Lord's blessing on this, his word. Gracious God and heavenly Father, we rejoice and give thanks for your word. Your word is truth. Your word is life, the spiritual food that we need to nourish upon. And we pray, Father, that you would help us to feed upon your word through the power of your spirit. that you would grant us wisdom and understanding, to see the truth that is here, to see how we may apply it in our own lives. We pray, Father, for your blessing upon your word, that it truly might find within each of our hearts that rich, fertile soil that brings about great and abundant fruit for your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. When God first created man, he desired to have a special relationship with this creature that he uniquely created in his own image. And so God established this relationship with Adam, and of course, through Adam, the entire human race, through the covenant of works. And this covenant required that Adam obey God. Well, as we know, Adam rebelled. And he disobeyed, breaking the covenant and thus plunging the entire human race into an estate of sin and misery, a condition which we still bear as we are born in sin and we come forth from the womb speaking lies. But our God, who abounds with grace and mercy, was pleased to establish another covenant, a covenant of grace, one that he himself would secure and keep, raising up the seed of the woman, even Jesus, who'd crush the head of the serpent, and who'd bring freedom, mercy, and forgiveness to those shackled in sin. And ever since God gave that first gospel promise in Genesis 3.15, He has been working out His perfect plan to bring about what He promised, new and everlasting life in His glorious presence through His Son, Jesus Christ. And as God began to call people to himself, he affirmed this one covenant of grace by making other covenants at different times with his people to show them that he was desiring a relationship with them. He did this, for example, with Noah after the flood and the rainbow was the sign of that covenant. He did it with Abraham and he did it with the children of Israel after he delivered them from bondage and slavery in Egypt. And it's this latter covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai that continued to be the way in which God related to his people through the period of the kings and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, even up to the time of the prophet Micah. And so that the court hearing that takes place in the first part of chapter six here has as its focus the breaking and the violation of God's covenant. Now as we noted before, Mike has been laying out the various ways in which the people have broken this covenant, but in our passage this morning, he once again lays out the case against the city of Jerusalem here in particular, and how they've broken God's covenant. Because of their covenant breaking, Micah assures that judgment is surely coming to them. Indeed, it's already begun to happen. And so this then becomes a warning for us who are the church and the people of God today, because God still desires that his people serve him, love him and obey him in all things. This is our covenant duty and obligation. And if we don't, if we would turn our hearts away from Him and fail to keep His commands, well then we would endanger ourselves to His just and holy wrath. And we can be assured that He will purge His church, even the bride of Christ. He will purge her of her sin that we might be holy and blameless before Him. Not just now in this life, but of course perfectly. at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. For though we can become covenant breakers, our God is forever faithful to his covenant promises through Jesus, who is for us the only perfect covenant keeper. Micah begins here then in verse 9 by calling the people of Jerusalem to attention to warn them what the Lord is about to do. The Lord's voice cries to the city, Wisdom shall see your name. Hear the rod, who has appointed it." Now by this point, Jerusalem was really the last stronghold in all the land of Judah, as much of the nation had already been swept away by the Assyrian army in 701 BC. And at that time, of course, the Lord graciously spared Jerusalem due to that sincere and humble plea of King Hezekiah. But, remember, the Lord would only grant a temporary reprieve. And His rod of judgment was still coming. Indeed, it was certainly heavily upon them, but it would come upon them even more severely at the hands of the Babylonians, who would not only destroy Jerusalem and the temple, but they would then carry the people away into captivity. This is what the Lord has purposed and appointed for His people. And it's this truth of which the people should take note. You see, God wants them to understand that the suffering and the oppression that they're enduring, it hasn't been some random occurrence. It hasn't been the plot and plan of men, though obviously men, the Assyrians and the Babylonians are involved. You see, the Lord wants His people to understand that all these are just mere instruments in His sovereign hand to bring this rod of discipline upon His people. It's not bad luck, it's not ill fate, it's no accident, but it's by God's divine appointment that these things are happening. Indeed, He calls them to understand the times that they're in. Now the wise in their midst, that is those who truly fear the Lord, they will see, they will understand these things. They know why these troubles have come. They've heard the prophets of the Lord declare their warnings, and they've begun to make the connections. They know what God is doing. That God is displeased with His people, because they have violated His covenant. His people have failed, and they have sinned against Him. Because some would contest, as Micah already indicated back in chapter 2, some would contest and then shrug all this off and say, no, the Lord is with us. You see, we're his own special covenant people. He's not going to bring harm to us despite our repeated abuse of his grace and mercy. God would never harm his people. Surely the Lord isn't against us. But the reality they refuse to see is that He is. He is against them. And all their present misfortune and the disaster yet to come is His doing because of their sin. Even the great sin of pride, which is the very thing that is blinding them to this truth. But if they would just humble themselves, if they would humble themselves before the Lord and acknowledge this truth, acknowledge that the Lord is just and right to punish them for their sins, acknowledge that His perfect holiness and righteousness, if they would be wise in this way, well then He'd be most gracious and merciful to them. But they would not humble themselves. Micah exposes these reasons then for this coming rod of discipline and how they have broken God's covenant. And they've done this in two key ways. The first is by their injustice against their neighbors, even their own brethren. We noted this before in chapter two with the wealthy and powerful. They were seizing the land of the poor, taking away not only the means of sustaining themselves and their families, but they were also stealing their future because they seized their inheritance that was allotted to them in the promised land. And of course, aiding and abetting these wicked leaders were false prophets and corrupt judges who made it really impossible for the poor and oppressed to find any kind of relief. Well here, in chapter 6, Micah adds another form of injustice, in verse 10 and 11, this time at the hands of wealthy merchants in the marketplaces. You see, it was bad enough to have your land seized so you couldn't produce crops to support your family. But now, if you were to use what little money and resources you had to go to the marketplace to buy the food that you needed for your family, now there was this injustice of robbing the poor as the merchants used a variety of tactics to short-sell the consumer. Think about it, just about everything for sale in the market was going to be either measured or weighed. And these unscrupulous merchants used measuring cups and standards that were not full volume or were shortened. They used weights that weren't equal or standardized. And they used scales that weren't in balance. You see, all these were intended to charge the customer more, but then actually give them less than what they thought they were paying for it. It was a great evil in God's sight. Indeed, He calls it here an abomination. Now you wonder, did they think that the Lord wouldn't see these things? Did they think that the Lord was blind to these corruptions? That He didn't care for the poor? That He was somehow unconcerned with the fair and just market practices? Well, apparently they did. But friends, the Lord took notice. And He does care for the poor, and He was concerned about even something as mundane as fair trade and business practices. Because God is most just, and He calls His people to be most just in every area of their lives, even in their business practices. And God's justice is revealed Again, in the covenant duties and obligations where he not only charged his people to be mindful of the poor and to provide for them, but he even gave his people a standard of justice to use in the marketplace. And so, for example, in Leviticus 19, we read this, verse 35, you shall do no injustice in judgment in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hymn. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe all my statutes and all my judgments and perform them. I am the Lord. And so we see here that just weights and measures was their covenant obligation. Because the Lord is a just and holy God. there to be just and holy, there to reflect him in his character as his people. But added to this, not only this injustice in the marketplace, but there was lies and deception. Not only in the actual practices, how it's deceiving using these imbalanced scales and these faulty weights or improper weights, but as we saw with the land grabbing, There was no recourse for the people because the judges in the court system were corrupt. And so even if someone would bring a charge against these merchants, they all were connected. It was like a, you know, a buddy system. They're all looking out for one another, all these wealthy ones in power and of influence. And so if a poor person brought their complaint to the courts, well, their testimony and evidence wouldn't be heard in court. It'd be thrown out, maybe on some kind of technicality. Or even worse, it would be distorted and then turned against them. So that here you have the one who has been offended, the one who has been wronged, bringing the charge, and they would end up being charged. as false witnesses would be brought forth to testify, know that these were the ones, these were the ones who were stealing from and cheating the merchants, not the other way around. Indeed, this was most wicked. And so much so, the Lord here equates it with violence. It was violence against the poor and needy, violence and hatred against one's own countrymen, against their brothers. This of course was a clear violation of their covenant duty and obligation to love their neighbors as themselves. Their brothers were their closest neighbors and yet they hated and despised them and treated them violently in stealing from them in this way. In fact, we see here in these verses the great contrast to the summary of the covenant duty that Micah just mentioned, as we considered last time, in verse 8. He has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the law require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. You see, they were supposed to do justly. But they're taking advantage of their poor brothers for their own personal gain. They were supposed to love mercy, to love as God loved them. But no, they hated their brothers, they committed violence against them, and they sought to destroy them for their own personal gain. They certainly were not walking humbly with their God. Because if they failed to uphold the second table of the law, surely they would be negligent of the first table as well. And as we'll see, they were indeed. And so these were the violations of God's covenant. And for these reasons, God has appointed judgment. And this rod of judgment that come would be most severe. Again, they failed in their covenant duties. And so they've opened themselves to the covenant curses. In Leviticus chapter 26, the Lord through Moses lays out the various covenant blessings to be poured out upon his people if they would keep his covenant. If you obey my commands and keep my covenant, here's all these blessings that you will enjoy in the land that I will give to you. But then after that, he also informs them of the covenant curses for their disobedience. So if you do not seek after me, if you do not obey my commands, here's what you can expect. Here are the judgments and the curses that you can expect to fall upon you. And I want to read some of these from Leviticus 26. And I want you to listen carefully as you think about what we read in Micah 6. especially verses 13 to 15, listen for some of the similarities to what we read here in Leviticus 26, beginning at verse 14. But if you do not obey me and do not observe all these commandments, and if you break my covenant, verse 16, I will also do this to you. I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever, which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant when you are gathered together within your cities. I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied. And then in verse 32, I will bring the land to desolation and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you. Your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Indeed, these and other curses would fall upon them. And they knew this, right? Going in, they've known this for a long time. They knew that these were the curses that would come upon them if they disobeyed. The Lord had warned them of these disasters to come. And so what Micah now says to them ought not to come as a surprise, but as we know, they got lax and comforted and began to take the Lord for granted, thinking that he wouldn't do anything if they disobeyed, because they'd been disobeying him for such a long time. And so the Lord would strike them. He would strike them with that rod of discipline, even to the point where they would become sick, implying some kind of plague or bodily affliction. And this is strengthened in verse 14 here. You shall eat and not be satisfied. Hunger shall be in your midst. Now, some commentators indicate that this may be a kind of a euphemism for dysentery, for a severe stomach virus. And so you can't keep anything down. Whatever you consume, you can't keep down. Thus you receive no satisfaction to your hunger. It could also simply refer to hunger and famine, which could sweep across the land. At any rate, they're not pleasant conditions. He says, you may carry out some away, but shall not save them. And what you do rescue, I will give over to the sword. And so anything they seek to save or store up, right? So if there's plague in the land, if there's famine in the land, you think about what they did in Egypt and they stored up all the grain. Well, the Lord tells them, even if you try to store things up and save it. the enemies will come and plunder, leaving you with nothing, with no food, no sustenance, and the once bustling market and full storehouses will be empty and desolate. The result then is that all their toil, all their hard work of sowing seed, of planting trees and tending to them, of making food, of making oil, making wine, this would all be in vain. And they wouldn't enjoy any of it. Note the repetition throughout these verses where it's kind of implied in some places, but it's, you shall, right? You shall plant, but you're not going to get anything. You shall, but you shall not. And it's going over and over again, using these, this kind of language. You're going to be working hard, but you won't be gaining anything from your hard work. Everything you put your mind to, everything you put your hand to is going to be undone. It will come to nothing. Their work will be futile. Even as we sang earlier in Psalm 127, it'll be vain. And not only this, but consider the mention in verse 15 of the olive trees and the grapevines from which they'd normally make their oil and wine. And these were often similar. All the trees in the grapevines, along with fig trees, were symbols of peace and prosperity, of gladness and joy. But even here, the Lord warned, what would happen if they broke His covenant? Deuteronomy 28. Verse 39 and 40. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olives throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, but your olives shall drop off. See, the Micah, the Lord is pointing Micah back to these curses that have now come upon the people, will come upon the people because of their disobedience. Again, they've been warned about this. They've been warned of these curses right from the beginning, even before they entered into the land. They were warned. And Micah now declares that the time has come for these covenant curses to be applied. And he tells them that when the Lord brings it about, the people are going to be appalled. They're going to be shamed by the severity of God's wrath upon them because of their sin. Friends, what a great warning to us, to the church today. Our God is a most holy God, and He is just, and He is righteous, and He takes notice of sin, even the sin of His people, maybe especially the sin of His people. And these things that we're reading here, Paul tells us in Romans 15 that these things have been given to us for our instruction, for our learning, to learn from these examples. to even now warn us of God's just and holy wrath against sin, to show God hates sin and thus calls us to be holy even as He is holy. Sin, any sin, no matter how slight, even just a weight, you know, a lead weight that we use today, back then they probably used stones, even a weight. that is made just a little bit lighter, or scale that is not quite accurate. Even these small sins are an offense to God and are an assault against His holiness, because God is a God of justice. And we ought to then humble ourselves before the Lord and prayerfully seek His wisdom and guidance, praying for the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, to see if there are any of these offensive ways in us, to expose our sin so that we might then confess it and turn away from it as we seek the grace and the mercy of God for forgiveness, lest we then fall the way of Judah and Jerusalem, who broke God's covenant and who were made to endure the covenant curses that were long ago prescribed. This is shocking. It's shocking to us and certainly was shocking to God's people first hearing Micah proclaim these words. And we may wonder, well, how did it get this bad? What led to their breaking of the Lord's covenant in this way? Well, verse 16 gives us an answer that at first may be a bit surprising. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab's house are done, and you walk in their councils, that I make you a desolation and your inhabitants a hissing, therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people." Now what's surprising here is that Omri and Ahab were actually kings of Israel, not Judah. And not only this, but Israel by this point was long gone, right? So at least by some 20 years. They had already received the rod of God's judgment. They had already been dispersed among the nations, never to return. And so it's curious as to why they're mentioned here in this context when Micah is speaking to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Well, Omri had been a general in Israel's army. when Zimri, who was another general, killed the king at the time, the king of Israel, King Elah, and he took over the throne in a coup. But the people of Israel, though, rallied behind Omri, and Omri then brought Zimri's reign to an end. He'd only reigned for seven days. And then Omri was made king. Or he brought Zimri's reign to an end after seven days. And Omri became king. And Omri was one of the great kings of Israel. And the dynasty that he established was one of the longest in Israel's history. It lasted four generations. And by this point, I think this was probably the third or fourth dynasty that had existed in the northern nation of Israel. But Omri comes on the scene. He's got himself and then three generations after him of his descendants that reign. So he has the longest stretch. He has the most influence in Israel's history. Now, of course, by this time, We know that Israel had already been in rebellion against the Lord even from when the kingdom first divided and Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, turned the people away and kept them from going to Jerusalem to worship and set up these idols in these high places. But Omri made this rebellion Even worse, we read this 1st Kings 16, Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. So Omri is worse than Jeroboam. Then comes his son Ahab. Ahab was even worse than his father. And he and his wife Jezebel reigned in Israel by bloodshed. They killed many of the Lord's faithful prophets. They fully embraced the worship of the false idol gods, Baal and Asherah, and all the immorality, all the corruption, all the perversion that came along with it. Ahab and Jezebel embrace. And God's anger was greatly stirred during the reign of these men. And we think about the prophet Elijah was ministering during this time and rivaling Ahab and calling out his sin and wickedness. And so God's anger was greatly stirred, not only then through his, but then through the dynasty of his sons. leading God to ultimately destroy Samaria and send Israel into captivity. Okay, so that's the history of Omri and Ahab. Well, how does this affect Judah? Well, after years of war against Judah, after the kingdoms had first divided, Ahab established peace with Jehoshaphat, who was king of Judah at the time. And in order to secure this peace, Ahab gave his daughter Athaliah in marriage to Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram. And this unholy alliance infused Judah with the idolatry and sin of Israel. Not that Judah had been totally free from these, but this marriage brought a sudden surge of wickedness into the southern kingdom. And Athaliah was very much like her mother or stepmother Jezebel. And she was an evil and wicked woman. She actually ascended to the throne in Judah for a time because she had all of her grandsons murdered, save one. The little newborn, relatively newborn Josiah had been spared by, taken away and saved by the priests. And so this wickedness that reigned in Israel now had come to and was taking root in Judah. And so that infection grew and it festered until the time when Micah now is giving these warnings. And so Judah was truly following in the ways of the kings of Israel with their idolatry. because that was the root cause of God's judgment coming upon them, was their turning away from the one true living God, demonstrating the connection between idolatry and one's manner of living. The Lord had called His people to be holy, and He gave them a standard. But these idol gods that were fashioned by the hands of men They had no standards. At least they had no standards that exceeded the sinful standards of sinful man. And since Judah turned to these idols, they turned away from God's holy and righteous standard. They turned from truth to lies, from justice to injustice, from love and mercy to violence. Friends, we see the same today in our godless culture. Any righteous standard has been rejected and the only standard is the continual shifting standard of self-pleasure and public opinion. A truth becomes relative, meaning really there is no truth. Lies and deception are really then given as the only way that you can survive. At least that's what we're told. And violence and injustice, excuse me, violence and injustice, isn't it ironic that violence and injustice are railed against by the world? And yet, they're railed against with violence and injustice. It's a hypocrisy that screams. There's no love, there's no mercy. You see, because without God, who is love, There's no true lasting love. And so friends, don't be fooled. The Lord has surely taken notice. And when he brings down his rod of judgment, it will be most severe. Indeed, we're already experiencing it. But there's something else at play here because we know God is sovereign over all things. Nothing happens outside of his appointment. And according to His good pleasure, we know that God is working out His perfect plan and purpose. And because of this, we can be assured, as we've noted many times before, that nothing then, nothing is wasted in God's sight. Nothing is wasted before the sovereign God, who is able to work all things to achieve His eternal plan determined before the foundations of the world. Neither the rebellion of the nations nor even the sin of His beloved people can thwart His plan and purpose. And so even through this covenant breaking and the bringing of these covenant curses, we see that the Lord is working out His plan. The Scriptures remind us that just as a father disciplines the son whom he loves, God disciplines and chastises the people whom he loves, even Israel and Judah, who were his sons. Indeed, we see throughout this passage the emphatic use of the word, I. You see it throughout. I, the Lord, am the one who is appointing these judgments. I'm bringing the rod. I'm making you a desolation. It's all the Lord's doing. And we may ask, well, why? Because the Lord loves his people. that He's disciplining them, that He's bringing this rod of judgment to drive out the wickedness and the sin from them. He loves them, and He is true to His character, and He will be faithful to His covenant promises at all costs, even when His people are not. And this great love the Lord has for His people. has been revealed already, as Micah has repeatedly given hope of something greater to come. Remember, there's been these little glimmers of hope in the midst of all this judgment. There's been some large sections of hope. Though they're going to be judged for their sins, that they're going to be taken into captivity, the Lord is going to preserve a faithful remnant. And He's going to preserve this remnant until an appointed time when He's going to bring them back into the land, back to the land of promise, back to the land of their fathers. And He's going to renew their strength as they rebuild the temple, as they build up the walls of Jerusalem once again, and make her a city and a citadel that will draw people to it and draw all the nations from the earth to it. To seek the Lord, the one true living God. And the Lord will bestow His mercy. upon his holy city as he had done before. And the Lord even promised that he would raise up that ruler from the little town of Bethlehem, a perfect and righteous king who will rule with equity, justice, love, and mercy. And of his kingdom, there would be no end. But how do we see this plan revealed here? Well, look at the end of verse 16. Therefore, you shall bear the reproach of my people." Here Micah is declaring that the people of God are going to be scorned and mocked for the desolation to be brought against them. His people would bear this reproach that they themselves have brought by their sin. But is there any hope for relief? Indeed there is. Now Micah has already mentioned it, but his contemporary, the prophet Isaiah, speaks to it more directly. Because that ruler that Micah points to back in chapter 5 is the same as the servant of the Lord that Isaiah speaks of. And what would that servant of the Lord accomplish? In Isaiah 53 verse 5, the servant of the Lord He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Beloved of God, the glorious hope of the gospel offered here is that the reproach, the scorn and shame that we deserve because of our sin and rebellion against God fell upon another, even upon God's own Son, Jesus Christ, that servant of the Lord, that ruler born in the little town of Bethlehem. He's the one who'd come and bear the reproach of God's people for their sin. The Apostle Paul confirms this, quoting from Psalm 69. In Romans 15, Paul says, For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. They fell on Christ. The reproaches that were on the people fell on Christ. The reproaches that would fall upon us fell on Christ, our Lord. Brothers and sisters, once again we see that our God, the one true living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a God who abounds with grace and mercy beyond what we could ever possibly imagine. That he is a most faithful God who keeps his covenant with his people. He keeps his covenant with us even though we fail. Even though we sin, even though we fall short, our covenant God secure the promises for us through Jesus Christ, that in Christ alone, we might be saved because he made him who knew no sin to bear our approach and to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We are covenant breakers. But Christ alone is the covenant keeper who bore our reproach, who died on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead on the third day, so that those who believe on Him even now, if you would profess and confess faith in Christ even now at this moment, You'll receive the forgiveness of sin. You'll receive peace and reconciliation with God. And you will receive that sure and certain hope of eternal life in his glorious presence forever and ever. And it will all be to praise and glory of God alone. Let's pray. Oh gracious God in heaven, we rejoice and give thanks for your word and for this reminder and how humbling it is because we acknowledge our own sin, our own weaknesses, and how woefully we fall short of the covenant duties and obligations that you call us to live out. Again, it's a covenant of grace accomplished. by you, secured by your Son, Jesus Christ, who acted on our behalf, and who even endured the reproach, and the shame, and the humiliation, and the pain, and the curse of death for us, so that we might be reconciled, that we might have forgiveness for our sins, that we might have peace with you, that we might have that sure and certain hope of eternal life in your glorious presence. Father, we rejoice to give thanks because this truly is the good news. It is the gospel that you have so richly and abundantly blessed us with. And we pray, Father, that we would be so stirred in our hearts to not only embrace this gospel truth for ourselves by the work of your Spirit in us, but you would give us boldness and strength to go forth and to declare this gospel message to those in our world around us who are dying without hope. That you would lead us to those who are ready to have ears to hear and hearts to believe the gospel. That you would direct our paths to them. That many would come to know. of this glorious hope that we enjoy and the wonderful comfort that we have. Because we look around, Father, and we acknowledge your rod of discipline and judgment is coming, and it will be most severe. We look around and we see all the wickedness and the sin and the perversion in our nation, in our culture, and even in what calls itself the church. There's corruption. And we wonder how much more can you stand? But you are not like us. You're patient and long-suffering, not desiring that any of those whom you have appointed would perish until you have brought them all to yourself, which should give us that urgency to go forth and to declare the gospel in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we just praise you and thank you for this reminder. And again, we pray that you would first apply these truths to our own hearts, that you would draw each and every one of us closer to yourself. And that we would go forth from here, giving you all praise and glory and honor for what Christ has done for us. We pray these things in Jesus name.