Micah 2

Jerome gives his friend this counsel to be ever well employed, that when the tempter came he might find him working in the vineyard. If the hands be not working, the head will be plotting sin (Micah 2:1). 7. Subtlety of Satan is to give some little respite, and seem to leave off…

We see this in the false prophets the apostle speaks of when he says, 'Believe not every spirit, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.' Those false prophets became confident in their prophecies — 'they walk in the spirit,' says the prophet Micah 2:11, but the…

Hebrews 13:14. And they thought, they ever heard that voice sounding in their ears, (Micah 2:10) Arise and depart, for this is not your rest. Contrariwise, the wicked of the world, because they set up their rest in this world, and cared for no other; they began presently to buil…

True grace like colors laid in oil, cannot be washed off. 4. A righteous man's thoughts are more excellent: thoughts are the first-born of the soul; sinful thoughts arise out of a bad heart, like sparks out of a furnace; an unsanctified fancy is Satan's work-house (Micah 2:1). B…

3. Let us comfort ourselves with the hopes of this blessed and joyful condition. 1. Against all the miseries and afflictions of this present life, these are necessary, we would sleep too quietly in the world, if we did not sometimes meet with thorns in our beds, we should be so…

From where it follows, that worldly men cavil foolishly and childishly when they say, we could be content to be God's disciples with all our hearts, if he would not deal too severely with us. Which is all one, as if for their sakes they would cause him to alter his nature, and t…

Whither shall I flee from your Spirit. Omnipotency, Micah 2. 8. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitned; compared with Isa. 40. 28.

We have most peace from God, when we expect most, and may look for more rest and quiet, when we rest quietly in him, and say, in God I have enough, indeed as Jacob (Genesis 33:11) I have all. But if you would have rest in the world, say as the prophet Micah directs (Micah 2:10)…

FIrst, that our rest is not here in this world; let us not promise to ourselves any such matter, let us not seek it here: the promise will not bear it, the promise will bear no further, then that we should have only so much of the things of this world, as shall be sutable to our…

Nos quoque cum aliquid inde proferimus usitato magis quam vero nomine utimur, exemplo videlicet Hieronymi, quem suspicamur, licet crederet Interpretationem eam a Viris illis elaboratam minime fuisse, ne offenderet Graecos voluisse tamen recepto nomine semper appellare. Certe qui…

The answer it receives is much like that Elisha gave Naaman, Go in peace (2 Kings 5:19); it quieted his mind, but it gave little of that sweetness to his heart which God speaks with his peace. Do not my words do good, says the Lord (Micah 2:7). When God speaks, there is not only…

No man knows the contentment of walking closely with God, but he that has tried. So (Micah 2:7), Do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly? Not only speak good, but do good.

Wicked men sit brooding (Isaiah 59:5). They hatch the cockatrice egg, and weave the spider's web: they devise mischief upon the bed (Micah 2:1). Woe to them that devise mischief on their beds.

All the time we spend here, it is but a night, but a moment in comparison of eternity. We live longest in the other world, and therefore there's our home (Micah 2:10). Arise, depart from here, this is not your rest: God speaks it of the land of Canaan, when they had polluted it…

Let that once get into the heart and reign there, and then a man will stick at no sin, he becomes (as Chrysostome speaks) a ready prey to the Devil, such a man does but stand watching for a temptation that Satan may draw him to one sin or other. (Micah 2:2) They covet fields and…

When they see that divine truth is like to bear out itself, and man that does confess it, in such cases, they feel the excellency of God's truth, and the power of God sustaining them that confess it; therefore embrace heartily the Lord's commands, and take pleasure in his ways.…

God's word against sin and sinners will at last take effect, and end in sad chastisements; and they that would not believe their danger, are made to feel it. Now his promises will have their effect as well as his threats (Micah 2:7). Do not my words do good to him that walks upr…

We are mortal, and all things about us are liable to their mortality, and therefore here we must be still passing to another place. 2. Here we have no rest; (Micah 2:10) Arise and depart hence, for this is not your rest, that is hereafter. (Hebrews 4:9) There remains therefore a…

So on the contrary, it does engage us to strict walking, to see how God owns it; so does God appeal to us by experience, Have I been a land of darkness to you, or a barren wilderness (Jeremiah 2:31)? And (Micah 2:7), Do not my words do good to them that walk uprightly? Look abou…

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Therefore it is said (Micah 2:7): Do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly? The word saying good is a doing good, when it is said it may be accounted done, because o…

He looks up and down in the world to find out such persons to do them good, that he may employ all his power and grace for them: so God shows it in his word; God's work is to assure them of a blessing. Micah 2:7: Do not my words do good to them that walk uprightly? There he comf…

3. God's Word should be as good as deed: for his Word, and the beck of his will, does all things. Do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly? (Micah 2:7) Not say good, but do good; when it is said, it may be accounted done, the performance is so certain.

First, it is not obedience to God's precepts, or godliness, that is the cause of our sufferings and chastenings, but our sin and folly. Are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly? (Micah 2:7). God delights not in dealing harshly with his people.

1. Then the sinfulness of sin not only appears by, but consists in this, that it is contrary to God, yes, contrariety and enmity itself in the very abstract: Carnal men, or sinners, are called by the name of enemies to God (Romans 5:8, 10; Colossians 1:21), but the carnal mind o…

If we look outward, if we cast our eyes abroad, the world is but our sojourning-house — it is a stage whereon vanity and vexation act their part, and the scene seldom alters. Depart, this is not your rest (Micah 2:10). All which considered may make us look for that blessed hope…

5. It necessarily must follow, if it be sin to eat, because the non-converted have no spiritual right in Christ, to bread, the converted may spoil by their grounds, all the non-converted, of their goods, houses, gold, gardens, vineyards, lands, and upon the same ground, for the…

If we cannot afford to God our spare time, it is evident that indeed we can afford nothing at all. Micah 2:1. They devise iniquity upon their beds.

For when Temptations do multiply Thoughts about Sin, proceeding from some or all of these causes, and the mind has wonted it self to give them Entertainment, those in whom they are, do want nothing but opportunities and Occasions taking off the power of outward restraints for th…

They left their possessions, and went up to Jerusalem, for Jeroboam had cast them off; but might they not then have lived on their possessions? You will say, it may be the king had cast them out of their possessions also: but the text says not so; and I do not find, to my rememb…