Micah 7: God Gives Mercy Again and Again

Micah 7:18-19 "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. 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."

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with guilt and shame? Do you ever feel overcome by the burden of your own sin? Do you ever feel hopeless because you feel like you cannot stop sinning? Child of God, fear no more! He will have mercy on you AGAIN.

As we conclude our study in the book of Micah, we come to the last chapter of the book which serves as the conclusion for the entire text. In this chapter, we first and foremost see a summary of the great sin of the Israelites that caused their destruction (1-7) followed by a prophesy of future blessing upon Israel because of the Lord's mercy (8-17) followed by Micah's conclusion (18-20). Amidst it all, we see how God is a great God who has mercy on his children AGAIN and AGAIN.

The first part of this chapter speaks of the Israelite's sin, which is certainly comparable to our own. Israel was so messed up in their sin that their hands were only on what is evil (verse 3). That is to say that all that their hands did was full of evil intent. They did not pursue God, and they did not obey him. Now, before we go making fun of them, let us realize two things. Firstly, this is exactly where we would be without God's salvation. We would be longing to chart our own path just like the Israelites were if God had not reached into our lives and given us grace. Secondly, we must remember that we do exactly what the Israelites did every single day. Although we are certainly being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we are still greatly sinful beyond what we can even know. Our hearts are still daily filled with selfish, lustful, greedy intent. Our hands are surely full of evil day after day after day. The Israelites were great sinners in Micah 7:1-7, and so are we.

Nevertheless, Micah does not end with Micah 7:7. It continues with a proclamation of hope: "When I fall, I shall rise. . . .He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication" (verse 8a, 9b). In other words, God will save sinners. When sinners fall, they will rise again by the power of God. When sinners be condemned, God shall vindicate them (that is, consider them righteous by the blood of Chirst). This was the hope for the Israelites: that even though they were deep sinners deserving of full destruction, God would [eventually] deliver them. Perhaps this would not be for generations to come, but God would deliver his people and be faithful to his covenant. And the beauty of it all is this: the same is true for us. No matter how deep in sin God finds us, if we are truly his children, he will save us from the pit. He will vindicate us through his Son, and by his Spirit he will sanctify us from our sin.

So, where does that leave us? Micah 7:1-7 tells us of how great sinners the Israelites (and we) are, and Micah 7:8-17 tells us of how great deliverance the Israelites (and we) will receive. Now what? Seems like a great place to end the book if you ask me. But it surely is not. In realization of this, Micah concludes with a song of praise (see verses quoted above). "Who is a God like you?" Micah explains. Implied answer: "NO ONE!" There is no God like our God. Why? Because there is no other God who pardons iniquity and passes over transgression. There is no other God who promises us to cast all of his children's sins into the depths of the sea and show faithfulness to them forevermore. There is no God like our God--this is the concluding statement of the book of Micah (a book that, remember, started out as foretelling about the hopeless coming destruction of Israel).

So what's the application this morning? As I was reading over this chapter over the past half hour, something stood out to me: the word AGAIN. God will AGAIN have compassion on us the scriptures tells us in Micah 7:19. No matter how many times we sin, for those of us who have repented of our sin, God will AGAIN have compassion on us. He will AGAIN forgive us of our sin. He will AGAIN cause us to be sanctified. He will AGAIN spread his love to us. He will AGAIN be our father. He will AGAIN be our hope. He will AGAIN be our God. Does this warrant us to sin all the more? By no means! We have died to sin, why would we desire to live in it any longer (see Romans 6)? But this does warrant us to have hope amidst hopelessness, mercy in condemnation, and joy in conviction. Here's the application this morning: stop dwelling in your sin, and realize the mercy of the Lord. So often, we dwell in our sin and don't embrace God's mercy. Why? So that we can consider ourselves helpless and therefore have an excuse to either keep on sinning or not be healed from our past sins. How do I know this? Because I've been there. Child of God! Stop hiding your sin, but rather bring it to the light (see Ephesians 5) that you may be forgiven and healed! For you are saved by grace, not by works, and it is not of your own doing, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8). Do you think that this principle changes one you are in salvation? By no means! You are saved by grace, and once you are in salvation you are continued to be saved by grace. Stop hiding sin and trying to overcome it by your own. Embrace God's grace and forgiveness, and feel the overwhelming weight of God's mercy upon you AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. Amen.

"What love could remember no wrongs we have done?

Omniscient, All-knowing, He counts not their sum.

Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore

Our sins they are many; his mercy is more."

- "His Mercy is More" by Matt Boswell, Matt Papa