Good
for the Sewer
Micah 3:1 “And I said, Hear, I pray you,
O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of
Israel; is it not for you to know judgment?
2 Who hate the good, and love the
evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and
their flesh from off their bones;
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 caldron.
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.”
1. The Rotten
2. The Skinners
3.
The Ill Doers
1. The Rotten
Verse one: “And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; is it not for you to know judgment?”
When someone is ready for judgment then it is time “to know judgment”.
Judah is ready for judgment because there is nothing left that is good in them.
They are beyond saving.
They are beyond saving because they have time after time refused to get things right with the God of Israel.
SIN had done the job. SIN kills. SIN makes all things rotten. SIN brings forth DEATH. “For the wages of sin is death;” [Romans 6:23a].
All the things that are rotten are ready for the junk pile for all eternity. The junk pile for all eternity [the place where the fire will burn forever] is the place of the “outer darkness”.
Do not believe me! Believe Jesus Christ! Look at what the Son of God said in Matthew chapter eight, in verse twelve: “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [Matthew 8:12]
Sin brings forth death, and death will bring you to a HELL that will be located in the “outer darkness”. Judgment is coming to Israel, and judgment is coming for us. Israel was rotten. We are rotten and ready for the judgment!
2. The Skinners
Verse two and three: “Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 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 caldron.”
The effect of sin … in any nation … in any people … has had always produced the same result. Are you ready for this? Are you able to stomach this?
Here is the result of sin. Sin produces a twisted mind … which produces twisted thoughts. You might say the twisted mind comes from a rotten heart. The heart itself is described by the Spirit of God in no uncertain terms in Jeremiah chapter seventeen, verse nine: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” [Jeremiah 17:9]
It is a heart problem.
Unchecked … sin causes men to become twisted [or perverted] in their ability to discern between good and evil. In fact, when sin has run its full course, men will begin to call “evil good” and call “good evil”.
This what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter five, verse twenty: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” [Isaiah 5:20]
To recap the situation: the Jewish people in Micah’s day had degenerated to the point where they hated the things that were true, they hated the things that were honest, and they hated the things that were just. This was a sad situation.
The elitist religionists, lawyers and leaders of Judah were busy skinning the people of the land of their possessions and their homes.
They were as lions devouring their prey. They were, as it says here, plucking “off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 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 caldron.”
This whole downward … dog eat dog … death spiral in a nation is always fatal, and has occurred many times throughout history. When will we learn from history?
3. Ill Doers
Verse four: “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.”
Now, I have something that is very sad to tell you. Every time a people, or a nation, is guilty of these “ill” “doings” [and is not willing to return to God], then God will turn from THEM.
HE will even “hide his face” from THEM. Even if they “shall cry unto the Lord”, He will not hear THEM.
Now, let’s make this thing real personal. This thing can also happen to you and me … if we likewise become guilty of these very “ill doings”, and if we likewise refuse to return to God, then God will turn from US.
HE will even “hide his face” from US. And even if we “shall cry unto the Lord”, He will not hear US. Did you hear all this?
In verse four, the sum is this. God is against Judah!
Now, this is very scarry stuff, mind you. I just cannot imagine being in this condition, now that I am saved, [but … for the grace of God in my life].
Also, God was shown to be against Judah in the book of Ezekiel. See it with me in chapter eight, verse eighteen: “Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.” [Ezekiel 8:18]
Again, God was also shown to be against Judah in the book of Jeremiah. See chapter eleven, in verse fourteen: “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.” [Jeremiah 11:14]
Whenever people [people like you and I] go too far from God [because of sin] we will reach a point where there will be no “remedy”. There will be no turning back. There is a warning needed here. We need to learn from what happened to Judah in Micah’s day … for our good.
When we mock God, and the messengers of God, and despise the Bible, the tipping point comes, and then, we are good for only one thing, and that one thing … is the judgment of God.
This is what the BOOK says concerning Judah in Second Chronicles chapter thirty-six: “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” [2 Chronicles 36:16]
Here is the summary of the matter:
ILL DOERS are rotten fruit … who are without REMEDY and who are … marked for JUDGMENT … and good for the sewer.
We need to learn from this!
We need to repent … while we are able to repent.
We need to hearken to God’s Book, and to God’s preachers for the only remedy possible [which is known as justification by faith] to cover [which is the atonement] for all our sins by the personal application of the blood of the Lamb of God … Who is Jesus Christ … God come in the flesh.
Now, read with me in Romans five, verse nine through eleven: “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” [Romans 5:9-11]
The remedy for our ill doings is to receive the
atonement of the blood provided by Son of God …
Jesus Christ. Amen!