Micah 7

Resp. His kingdom is spiritual: he rules in the hearts of men. He sets up his throne where no other king does, he rules the will and affections, his power binds the conscience: he subdues men's lusts (Micah 7:19), He will subdue our iniquities. Quest. What does Christ rule by?

Secondly, when it has tamed their impatience. Before they were proud and impatient, like stubborn children, that would struggle with their parents, but when their obstinate hearts are tamed, and they say as (Micah 7:9): I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sin…

Every cross to a child of God is like Paul's crosswind, which though it broke the ship, it brought Paul to shore upon the broken pieces (Acts 27:44). 8. God shows mercy in pardoning us (Micah 7:18): Who is a God like you, that pardons iniquity? It is mercy to feed us, rich mercy…

2. Murmuring proceeds from pride; men think they have deserved better, and because they are crossed, therefore they utter discontented expressions against God. He who is humble bears anything from God; he knows his punishment is less than his sin; therefore says, "I will bear th…

This is our holiness, 1. When we do his will (Acts 13:22). 2. When we bear his will (Micah 7:9). What he inflicts wisely, we suffer willingly.

There are two things to be observed in the promises of God to comfort us: 1. The power of God, whereby he is able to fulfill the promise. God has promised to subdue our corruption, (Micah 7:19) He will subdue our iniquities. Oh, says a believer, my corruption is so strong, that…

How many birds of prey are there? (Micah 7:2) They all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net. These are not doves, but vultures; they travel with mischief, and are in pain till they bring forth.

But you are sanctified, but you are justified. Micah 7:18. Pardoning iniquity, there is Justification; verse 19. He will subdue our iniquities, there is Sanctification. Out of Christ's sides came water and blood (1 John 5:6).

Position 2. God is more inclined to mercy than wrath: Pronior est Deus ad parcendum quam ad puniendum. Mercy is his darling attribute which he most delights in (Micah 7:18). Mercy pleases him.

Have you not procured this to yourself? The cross though it be of God's laying, it is of our own making; say then as (Micah 7:9) I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him. 5. Consideration, to cause submission to God's will in affliction; God is n…

Put your mouth in the dust (Lamentations 3:29-30) — be still, not a word — but only such words as express your complaints and acknowledge your deserving of ten thousand times more. And say as Micah 7:9: 'I will bear your indignation patiently, for I have sinned against you.' Bea…

Secondly, afflictions serve to humble God's children, Leviticus 26:41. So the Church of God speaks, I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, Micah 7:9. Thirdly, they serve to wean the people of God, and to drive them from the love of this world: for,…

And the drowning of Pharaoh, with all his host in the red sea, signified the subduing of the power of all spiritual enemies, with the pardon and death of sin; which stands partly in the abolishing of sin, and partly in newness of life. And to this alludes the Prophet Micah, sayi…

(1) By committing our whole cause to God; as it did in Christ (1 Peter 2:23). (2) By patient waiting for the pleading of our cause under a sense of our own sin, and an acknowledgement of the righteousness of God (Micah 7:9, 10). (3) By supporting the soul with a testimony of its…

They had this promise still to plead, and rested therein, notwithstanding all the interveniencies which oft-times seemed to render the case of that people very desperate. See their faith expressed (Micah 7:18, 19, 20; Isaiah 7:13, 14, 15; chapter 53; Luke 1:70, 71, 72, 73). And…

It is therefore with respect to all Believers absolutely, that God confirmed his Promise with his Oath, though the natural seed of Abraham was respected in the first place, until they cut off themselves by their unbelief. See Luke 1:72; Micah 7:20. Believers are called heirs of…

Such was this church and people now they had broken and rejected the Covenant of God by their unbelief, earth that brought forth thorns and briars. The best of them was as a briar and the most upright of them as a thorn hedge, then was the day of their prophets nigh, the day of…

And Paul says, When we are chastised, we are nurtured of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:32). And the Jews are taught by the prophet Micah to say, I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him (Micah 7:9). The second fruit of his conversion is, that he condemns…

Argument 2. Argument 2. By this we resemble God, who is a God of mercy. He is said to delight in mercy, Micah 7. 18. His mercies are over all his works, Psalm 145. 9. He requites good for evil.

Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam. The lives of the wicked are unprofitable, therefore compared to chaff (Matthew 3:11) and hurtful, therefore compared to thorns (Micah 7:4). But a righteous man is like the bee or silkworm, working for the good of others: It comforts me (…

So by conversing in the world, there are stains and spots contracted, which must always be washed off by daily repentance, besides our general bathing at first conversion or regeneration. I have no more to say to this cleansing work, but only this, that it is not merely like the…

Indeed, if adversity and poverty could bar you from access to God, it were a sad condition; but you may go to God as freely as ever. 'My God,' said the church, 'will hear me' (Micah 7). Poor David, stripped of all earthly comforts, could yet encourage himself in the Lord his God…

He is rich in mercy, Ephes. 2. 4. He delighteth in mercy, Mic. 7. 18. Justice is Gods strange work, Isa, 28. 21.

Days of visitation heretofore were wont to be called days of vexation, but the day of God's visitation will be a day of vexation indeed to ungodly men. Micah 7:4. The best of them is a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thorn, the day of the Watchmen and your Visitation c…

Oh! what delight should we have in God who takes such delight in his Servants? And this expression of God we think may very well hint to us a meditation concerning the delight that God has in young ones that do begin to give up themselves to him, the Lord loves the first fruits,…

You have set your hearts altogether upon this work, for the furthering of wickedness, in thinking of it, in plodding about it, in stirring of one another, and doing all you can in your endeavors for the furtherance of wickedness. Yes, you have been willing to go through all diff…

(Habakkuk 2:3-4) For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but in the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Micah 7:7) I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation: My God will hear…

It is complained of by Isaiah here, and in several other places named before. It is complained of by Micah (Micah 7:1): "Woe is me, for I am as they who have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat, the good man is perished o…

Observation 2. The second observation is, That it is most sad to a tender minister, and will much affect him to see and observe unbelief and unfruitfulness among the people that he has preached the Gospel to; This must be a certain and clear truth, if we consider what it was tha…

Third, in urging this doctrine more hardly upon the people, to cause them not to rest on the letter of the law, but seek to the promised Messiah, in whom only was their righteousness — as young heirs and minors are kept under tutors while their minority expires. But, first, who…

The Arminian taking away of sins is of all and every one of Adam's seed, of such as never heard of a covenant, of a word, of a Spirit, of a seed, a holy seed, of a new heart. Finally, the taking away of the sins of the world is the removing of them as far from us as the east is…

He has learned to bear God's yoke, he is yoked to the will of God; to his commandments, to his providence, and he puts his mouth in the dust if there may be any hope, he is content to lie down under the hand of God, grudges not at it, but in quietness and silence of heart bears…

A lust to confess, or mercy to beg or bless you for, that I would not have others to know of: It is not fit any should be privy to that which a gracious soul tells God of: In this case it may be said, Discover not your secret to another (Proverbs 25:9). Two may keep counsel, but…

6. He is affected with God's faithfulness in the performance of his promises; acknowledging the truth of God showed to his servant. There is mercy in God's making a promise to Abraham (Micah 7:20), truth in making it good to Jacob. Well then, with Jacob, thus plead: Lord, it is…

Hence we learn that God will not be angry with his Church for ever, but will cause his wrath to cease at the last, even as we see it to fall out in storms and tempests: and this is the cause why the faithful bear their crosses with the greater courage. For thus the Church says (…

When he says, Jacob shall not be confounded; we often see that the faithful are constrained to hang down their heads with shame, as Jeremiah witnesses; I will put my mouth in the dust (Lamentations 3:29). Also Micah says; The time is come, in which the wise shall put their hands…

We are also to observe this phrase of speech which the Prophet uses, to wit, You have cast all my sins behind your back: for his meaning therein is, that God had wholly abolished the remembrance of them. As in Micah 7:9, You have cast all their sins into the bottom of the sea. A…

and shows that, in the accomplishment of them, God has been true and faithful. In this sense, Scripture makes frequent mention of God’s mercy and truth, (Micah 7:20;) because we shall never be convinced of his fatherly kindness toward us, unless his word, by which he has bound h…

It's true, if God have a purpose to destroy a man, he may for a time suffer him to succeed and prosper in his sin, for his greater hardening, Job 12:6 But it is not so with those whom the Lord loves; their sinful shits shall never thrive with them. The world prohibits your trust…

Mercy you see is his work, his proper work, as he calls judgment his strange act (Isaiah 28:21). He retains not his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). This is his proper work; though it seem to sleep, he will awake it, though it seem to die, he will reviv…

Shall wicked men (in the phrase of Habakkuk) weary themselves in vanities, tire out themselves to damn their own souls; and will you do nothing to save your soul? It is said of wicked men (Micah 7:3), they do evil with both hands greedily. A man may sin with one hand enough to d…

This is the high praise of God. (Micah 7:18) Who is a God like to you, that pardons iniquity? It is the highest commendation of God to say, there is none like him, to set him above all creatures.

How is the true God distinguished from these Gods by Reputation? He is so by this name, He is the God of Pardons, Micah 7:18. Who is a God like unto you, that pardons iniquity?

Hence the word, both in the Hebrew and Greek, in the Old and New Testament, which is made use of to set forth the Lord's tender compassion, flows from a root that signifies bowels. Second, the scope will confirm this: for, is there any thing that makes Christ more lovely and adm…

3. It will keep the heart full of kindness towards God, from where love and gracious hope will spring. It is impossible but that a soul overwhelmed with a sense of sin, and thereon [illegible] with self-condemnation, but if it has a view of the consistency of the glory of God wi…

We go to God for pardon of sin, and no work more pleasing to him than to seal pardons. Mercy is his delight (Micah 7:18). We pray to God for a holy heart, and this prayer is according to his will (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Yes, yes, there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, and the root thereof wax old in the earth, yet by the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs, like a plant (Job 14:8-9). This poor declined soul, as sad as it sits at the gates of hell, may rouse up itself at last,…

As to others, hardly see we what condition they are in; and because the smell of dead bones comes not through marble-stones in the Tomb, therefore the paintry of a profession satisfies us. Yet it was not want of charity that made (Micah 7:2) say, The good man is perished out of…

As to the Third; Its a great deceit that we more penally smart at the absence of the Paradise of comforting presence, then at the want of real communion with God; this should calm the heart notwithstanding the pain of the absence of God as a comforter, that we believe his unfelt…

Then the more we glorify God and Jesus Christ his Son we testify we partake the more of the flowings of the spirit. The Church has so much the more of the spirit that she is willing to bear the Lord's indignation, because she has sinned (Micah 7:9), and bear public sufferings to…