A Believer's Confidence - Corey Hill

Good evening, church. We are going to be continuing in the book of Micah as we were last

Sunday evening, the book of Micah in chapter seven. And as you're turning there, tonight we're going to be focusing in on Micah chapter seven, verses seven and eight.

Micah chapter seven, verses seven and eight. As we get set to look into this text for the next 45 minutes or so, by way of introduction,

I want to ask you a few questions. Where do you get your confidence from?

Where is it, that source of whatever it may be that bolsters you up to be confident?

Or maybe a better question to ask is, what is your confidence in?

Is the confidence that you have, is it in things? Is it in products?

Is it in things that produce consistency? Is it competency that helps you be confident about things?

As a Christian, is your confidence in doctrines? Is it in confessions?

Is it in creeds? Is it in your reformedness?

I know that's not a real word, but is it in your reformedness? Is that where your confidence lies?

Or is your confidence in what it should be in? Is your confidence in God and God alone?

I ask these questions tonight so that we might have some better self -awareness as we approach these scriptures, as we get into the meat of tonight's text.

Before we stand and read our passage of scripture together, tonight I would like us to bow our heads and pray just one more time with me, please.

Father, you are holy, holy, holy. Tonight as we dive into this text of scripture from Micah chapter seven,

Lord, I pray that you would make me, you would allow me to decrease in your

Holy Spirit increase. That these words proclaimed tonight from your scripture would edify saints that are here this evening.

Father, if any of us here this evening do not yet know you, help us, help them open their eyes to the reality of your loveliness, the realities of their sinfulness, the things that they must do so that they can be reconciled to you.

Father, I thank you for your word, but I thank you most for your son. It's in his name we pray, amen.

So for those of you that might not have been with us last Sunday night, I wanna provide just a little bit of context before we jump into Micah chapter seven, just a little bit of context.

So tonight, the first point of context I want us to look at and understand is who wrote the book of Micah?

What would be the prophet Micah? And one thing that is different about Micah than it is nearly every other prophet to my estimation is that we don't get the lineage of Micah.

Oftentimes with prophets and prophetic books, the author has said, so -and -so son of so -and -so.

With Micah, we just get from somewhere, this town called Moresheth. It's about 25, 22 miles southwest of the city of Jerusalem.

So that is who wrote this book. Now, he wrote this book around 650 or so BC.

His prophetic word was delivered during the reigns of three different Judean kings, Joth and Ahaz and Hezekiah.

And that kind of fails out that Micah's living, at least, was around 750 to 687

BC. So the time of writing was definitely during King Hezekiah's reign. As he's mentioned in Isaiah as King Hezekiah actually reforming some due to Micah's prophetic word.

The place of writing of this was in Micah's hometown and even the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel.

The audience here is the nation of Israel, the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, especially its kings and its important people.

There's many references throughout the book of Micah to people in charge, the leaders, the judges, the mighty men, if you will.

There's definitely a lot of references in this book of Micah that kind of tell us that he was really trying to address some of these men of honor or valor within the cultural system there.

The occasion of this was to call God's people to repentance as many of the prophetic books are. He specifically wants to call them to repentance for their idolatry, their theft of property, the failed civil leadership, the failed religious leadership, the failed prophetic leadership, the false belief and sacrifices, even the personal ones that people believe satisfied divine justice, their violence and corruption at large.

Now the point or maybe purpose you might ask, what's the point of the book of Micah? Is that in Micah's day, they were so corrupted by their own naval gazing that they refused to embrace

God's purpose and thus would suffer judgment. But there would yet be a remnant that would experience

God's forgiveness and be a part of God's eternal plan, his eternal plan of redemption in the person work of Christ Jesus.

Some doctrinal themes that we see in the book of Micah are judgment and forgiveness. Yahweh, the eternal judge, enacts judgment on the people and on the nation of Israel and Judah for their sins, their iniquities and their transgressions.

He also being the great shepherd gathers his scattered sheep in faithfulness and forgives them.

Some interesting things about the book of Micah that's done in a succession of oracles and it's largely poetic.

It has a view of Christ in chapter five that Brandon actually mentioned in a sermon this morning for those of you who were here.

It's this beautiful kind of, Micah prophesies that the ruler will come from and be born of Bethlehem.

And so there's these themes of Christ evident all throughout of all of scripture, but especially here in this book as well, especially in chapter five.

Then we have different references in chapter two, there's some more in chapter five and then some as well at the end of chapter seven that we'll get to in a few weeks.

Some theological implications of this book, of this text tonight is we must consider that sin must be dealt with and demands judgment.

Also God's judgment for the nations that Micah's prophesying to, their form of oppression is some of the judgment they have.

And this confusion that we saw in verses one through six, this large confusion, this different mess of the mind, if you will, and of everything that it mucks up after that, that we find in verses one through six.

So tonight I would like for you to stand for the reading and honoring of God's holy word. We'll be reading Micah chapter seven, verse one, all the way through verse eight, just so we have a proper context of what we're doing here.

Micah seven, one through eight. Woe is me, for I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.

There is not a cluster of grapes to eat or a first right fig which my soul desires. The holy one has perished from the land and there is no upright person among men.

All of them lie in wait for bloodshed. Each of them hunts the other with a net. Concerning evil, both hands do it well.

The prince asks also the judge for a payment and a great man speaks the cravings of his soul.

So they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge.

The day when you post your watchman, your punishment will come. At that time, their panic will happen.

Do not believe in a neighbor. Do not have confidence in a close companion. From her who lies in your bosom, guard the openings of your mouth.

For a son treats father as a wicked fool. Daughter rises up against her mother. Daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.

A man's enemies are the men of his own household. But as for me, I will watch expectantly for Yahweh.

I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

Do not be glad over me, O my enemy. Though I will fall, I will rise.

Though I inhabit the darkness, Yahweh is a light for me. This is God's word.

You may be seated. Tonight I have but one point and four sub points.

Tonight I have but one point and that point is saints shall have confidence in God.

Saints shall have confidence in God. We look at our verse tonight and we see, but as for me,

I will watch expectantly for Yahweh. My first sub point this evening is we look at Micah and we look at all of what's happening around him and as he oracles throughout this time he has for the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem and Judea and these kings, he sees all of this lawlessness, this terribleness, this iniquitous heinous sin all around him and he starts off chapter seven, woe is me.

Then we come to verse seven, he says, but as for me, see the contrast here, I will watch expectantly for Yahweh.

So he is confidently expecting. He is confidently expecting all of what's going on around him, all of this craziness, all of this heinousness, all of this sin and confusion and panic going on around him.

He knows, I'm confident. I'm gonna expect God. I'm gonna expect

Yahweh to show up. This phrase we see, we'll watch expectantly in verse seven.

But as for me, this phrase, we'll watch expectantly is a verb in the Hebrew that is in the

PL stem and that means it's intensive or resultive in nature. So this verb shows intention.

He's intending on what he's doing. He's telling us, I'm going to do this intently, right? He says, I will watch for God expectantly.

It's also here in the imperfect tense. So it tells us that it's an ongoing process.

It's not a future goal hoped for or it's not a past goal accomplished, but it's something that's continually being worked towards as a prophet's coming out of his lips.

We think it'd come to mind with Habakkuk 2 .1. I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the fortification.

And I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me and how I may respond when

I am reproved. This standing and expecting is a sense of being on guard, ready for whatever may come.

Ready for whatever may come, ready for whatever may happen. Whatever God deems so, whatever

God decrees next, I will wait and watch expectantly. I'm going to expect something to happen. Children, I want you to find my eyes for just a moment.

Do your parents order things in the mail often? Does your father or mother, maybe they check the mail multiple times a day when their

Amazon package is out for delivery? Or maybe they're peeking through the blinds.

That's just another car that stopped in front of my house. Oh no, that's the garbage man. They're looking, they're expecting something to show up, right?

They're intently eyeing the door. They're intently looking at the mailbox expecting delivery at any moment.

The expectant attitude that Micah's trying to put forth for us to understand here is that same attitude.

He's expectantly, he's looking, he's, okay, it's going to happen when, I just have to look here.

He knows, he is confident in his looking. He's expecting to look for what God will do.

Now, I want you to consider the writer and the audience that we talked about just a few moments ago at the outset of the sermon.

Micah here is writing to the nation of Israel. And what we find in verses seven and eight are direct context for Micah as he is oratating to this sinful nation.

Micah is a mouthpiece for Israel. But since the downstream context lies here with us too.

When this calamity that we saw last Sunday evening in verses one through six, this sorrowful state that Micah is in, this woe is me expression that we see at the outset of chapter seven.

We find in verses seven and eight is his response. His response to all of this calamity is this.

And it must be the church's response as well. We must as the church, the bride of Christ watch expectantly for God.

So maybe this evening you're sitting here, okay, what does that look like? What does the skin on it look like to watch expectantly for God?

Well, it looks like living a life expecting your master to return. I know that most of you probably can recall the parable from Luke 12, where the master is gone and the servants are kind of talking like, well, who's staying up?

Are you staying up? I'm going to bed. What are we doing here? We'll read verses 35 through 38 for you now.

Gird up your loins and keep your lamps lit and be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast.

So they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find awake when he comes.

Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and will wait on them.

Whether he comes in the second watch or even in the third and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

Saying this evening, what does it look like to live a life expecting God to work?

It's being ready. It's being ready. It's looking for things. It's understanding that God is working still.

It's understanding that the master will be returning soon. It's living a life as that reality is real.

It's not a passive life lived. It's not a life that we can go, okay, it's enough that I'll read my Bible and I come to church and I do these things and this, that and the other.

And some of those commands are for those more on fire Christians over there. No, that's not the point here.

The way that this looks in your and I's life today with boots on the ground application is living a life expecting

God to work, expecting God to return, expecting things to happen. It's also living a life expecting for things to work out for your good.

Micah didn't necessarily expect all of what may be happened in verses one through six.

He might not have thought, well, this is just where the rubber meets the road and I'll take it on down the path here.

The Romans 8, 28 tells you and I that, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose. Now, there's a great misconception,

I think, maybe not in our, a body like ours, body in the reformed circles. There's a great misconception that runs rampant here in the city of Tulsa that for your good means for your profit, for your bank account, for your health, for your children, for your car, for your house, that's just not true.

For your good means for your sanctification. For your good means for working into and for the bride of Christ.

Your good means for you to see God as more holy and Christ as more beautiful.

And sometimes that comes getting kicked in the face. Sometimes that comes with afflictions at your door that you'll never shake the rest of your life.

Saying it's just about not what feels good to you, but what's actually good for your soul. It also looks living a life expecting to be more like Christ.

We've been walking through the book of Ephesians and Ephesians chapter two, verse 10 says, for we are his workmanship, not our own.

We're created in Christ Jesus for good works. Which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them.

We are his workmanship. We can live this life confident and expect confidently to become more holy.

Become more of a workmanship because what? What does the verse say? We are created in Christ Jesus, not in yourselves.

We're created in Christ Jesus so we can expect these things, amen. My second sub point tonight is confidently waiting.

Micah is confidently waiting. If you look in your scriptures again, find it in your own eyes in your own Bible. I will wait for the

God of my salvation. I will wait for the God of my salvation. What Micah says next here is also another verb, but it's in a different type of Hebrew stem.

And I know I'm getting a little nerdy with this, but it's important. And I don't really know how to pronounce this, but it's the high field stem.

I think I said that correctly. It's causative in nature. And this verb is also in the cohoritative type, which indicates command language.

So it's expressing a strong desire to do something. Micah is standing here and saying,

I will watch expectantly and I'm not moving. I will watch expectantly for Yahweh and I will wait as long as it takes because I desire to wait for God.

Psalm 135 through eight tells us this. I hope for Yahweh. My soul does hope and for his word do

I wait. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. The watchman for the morning.

Oh, Israel, wait for Yahweh. For with Yahweh there is loving kindness and with him is abundant redemption.

It is he who will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. He will wait.

I will do, I will wait. I will wait, I will wait, I will wait. It's such a strong desire to do something.

This Hebrew verb here. It's used multiple times in Psalm 130 verses five through eight.

It helps us understand better the attitude and the frame in which he was looking at and thinking through and proclaiming through.

He can watch expectantly and he can wait because he knows who

God is, that he's immutable and he's never gonna change.

He can be confident in his desire to sustain and deliver his people like he has done all throughout redemptive history.

Just like Micah detailed in the first six verses of this chapter, the desolation was rampant for the nation of Israel.

His response to all of that was waiting confidently in God for his judgment to come or his saving arm to come or both.

There was no wavering. He knew either God is going to judge this nation into obliteration and then call them back just as we've seen replete through all of the scriptures or saving arms going to come down.

He's going to deliver them and then that deliverance they will come and they will see, behold our God. Consider the occasion and the purpose of Micah's prophetic word to the nation of Israel.

Micah was sent by God to prophesy to this unrepentant nation so they might turn from their sin and follow

God once more like their forefathers had. In this prophesying, Micah's oracle was

God's intent to judge the sinful nation for their navel gazing. So we can use that information to see what

Micah is hearkening to when he's saying, waiting for God, he's waiting for God. He's confident that the judgment of God is coming or that the nation of Israel's repentance is coming.

He's content in both being the reality. Micah has done this job that God gave him to do and he came and he shared the word of God to the people of God and he knows that whatever may come, whatever's gonna happen, whatever

God decides to do, he's confident in waiting and knowing that it'll happen.

Now, what does waiting on the God of your salvation look like? What does that look like for you and I?

What is the boots on the ground context here? I implore you and I exert you to wait in such a way that honors

God. Wait in such a way that honors God.

James chapter five, verses seven and eight. Therefore be patient brothers until the coming of the

Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains.

You too be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

James attains this patience, this being patient for God is like a farmer watching crops grow.

I don't know how many of you in this room tonight have ever planted anything, but it's a whole lot less instant than the fast food drive -thru lane, am

I right? Takes time, it takes patience, it takes care, it takes waiting.

Secondly, wait in a way, wait in such a way that you might be strengthened.

Isaiah 40, 31 says, yet those who hope in Yahweh will gain new power. They will mount up like wings, with wings like eagles.

They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary.

This word here, hope in Isaiah 40, 31 is almost the exact same as this word, wait, that we see here.

When we wait in God and we continue to look to God and understand that God is working and we wait on Him, it brings us strength, it brings us patience, it grows fruit in our lives.

And thirdly, wait in such a way that you might be exalted.

Wait in such a way that you might be exalted. Isaiah, I'm sorry, excuse me, Psalm 37, 34 says this.

Hope for Yahweh and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

Text of Scripture in the New Testament tells us that this life is a battle, it's a race. It's a race worth running to the other most.

In this life that we live and we continue to work in and we continue to wait in and understand in and grow in, we continue to wait, and then

God says here in His word, He will exalt you to inherit the land. I will exalt you to inherit the land.

So wait in such a way that you might be exalted. The third thing, third sub -point

I have for this evening is confidently praying. We come through Him watching expectantly.

We come to waiting for the God of my salvation. Now we come to my

God will hear me, this third part, this third piece of verse seven. My God will hear me.

See how He exudes His confidence. He doesn't say might. He doesn't say maybe.

He doesn't say if I pray the right way. He doesn't qualify any way, shape, or form.

Micah says, my God will hear me.

This praying, this pleading that Micah is confidently putting forth. And my

God will hear me is much like we find in 1 John chapter five verses 14 and 15. And this is the confidence which we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will,

He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him.

Micah in the end of this verse seven is effectively saying there will be nothing that comes between God and I.

I am confident He will hear me. Hear the scriptures testify to this truth. We have

Psalm 34, 17, the righteous cry. And Yahweh hears and delivers them out of all of their troubles.

Psalm 18, six, in my distress, I called upon Yahweh and cried to my

God for help. He heard my voice out of His temple and my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Micah is confident that God will hear him because Micah knows God. Saint tonight, be confident knowing that God hears you.

He hears your prayers. Be confident going to the throne of grace with your supplications.

Think for just a moment what Micah must have been praying for, a whole nation unruly and ungodly, sick with sin.

So much so that in verse two of this same chapter, he says that the Holy One has perished.

We can imagine that Micah's prayers were vehement with asking of repentance and judgment both.

Saying, God, I know you will hear me. Father, make them repent or judge them, one of the two or both.

Saint, how can you be confident as Micah is that your prayers are heard? How can you be confident that your prayers will be heard?

Well, first we must pray in a way that honors God. We must pray in such a way that honors

God. We have Psalm 66, 17 through 20. It says,

I call out to Him with my mouth. And He was exalted with my tongue. If I see wickedness in my heart, the

Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard. He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His loving kindness for me.

We must pray in a way that honors God. We must honor Him with our supplications. We must pray in such a way that we might be strengthened as well.

Hebrews 4, 16 says, therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Micah in this verse seven has put forth his confidence that he will watch expectantly for God.

He will wait for God and he will confidently pray to God and know that he is being heard.

Saint, this is yours to have as well. All of this reality for you, Saint, can be absolutely the exact same.

You and I must watch expectantly. We must wait for God of our salvation and we must expect

God to hear us because the scriptures tell us to. And then finally we come to verse eight.

Verse eight says, do not be glad over me, O my enemy. Though I fall,

I will rise. Though I inhabit the darkness, Yahweh is a light for me.

Micah almost starts this verse off as now, hold on a minute, don't think this is over.

He's confident in his assertion. Now this enemy and its direct confidence could be

Satan or it could be Babylon or it could be Edom. For you and I, it's most definitely the strong man.

The prince of the power of the air. Saint, see this response in its confidence saying, do not be glad over me.

This isn't over yet. This book, the Bible, keeps on going.

Micah has just as confident as he was saying that he would watch expectantly and wait on God and that God would hear him.

That the same confidence here is that he exudes in telling the enemy that, don't be glad over me.

I will not fall. Though I fall, I will rise. Though I inhabit the darkness,

Yahweh is a light. There's no difference in tone here, Saint. There's no difference in tone.

You have this same truth before you. He's speaking here in verse eight.

As a prophet to the nation of Israel, he's speaking for them. Though Israel shall fall, they shall rise.

Though they inhabit the darkness, Yahweh is a light for them. This falling and then rising, those of you that are students of the word, you're students of your scripture, you know this to be true.

This has been the nearly everlasting pattern of the nation of Israel since its inception of God's covenant people.

Time and time again, God draws his people near. They sin, they wander away from him.

Through judges or kings or prophets or calamity or foreign conquerors, he brings them back to himself over and over and over again.

Saints sitting here tonight, is this not true of you as well? Though you fall, you will rise.

Though you inhabit the darkness, Yahweh is a light for you. You here this evening might be dealing with some sin.

Might be really wrestling with this sin and trying to cut the head off of this sin and might really be trying,

Lord, please strengthen me to do so. Probably have maybe a season of confusion or calamity that might be intertwined with inside of you.

The very least, spiritually speaking, it's turmoil.

But remember, as Bernadette said, the only commandment in Ephesians chapter two is remember

God. He has saved you from the depths before.

He has saved you from the depths before. Though you have fallen, you will what? You shall rise.

Though you inhabit the darkness for a momentary time, Yahweh is a light for you. You know that all you must do is repent again.

This process has been laid out before you. You're not unfamiliar with it. You know exactly where the throne of grace lies.

You're confident in God's ability to save you from this because he's already done it, Saint.

He's already done it. Death is defeated.

Saint, you just must remember his promises. Saints, tonight you hear that you're really girded up.

You're really sure. You really know that my God's gonna hear me.

You really know and wait for God. You really look expectantly for these things.

You hold this confidence and you wield it like the sword that it is. I asked some questions at the outset of our sermon tonight that where does this confidence lie in?

I want you to make for certain. Make for certain it doesn't lie with man's ability to rise up, man's ability to climb out of the darkness.

Make for certain that your confidence only lies in the only one who could raise us up, the one that can pull us from the darkness.

That is Christ Jesus and him alone. We may only rise because he's already risen.

We may only rise because he is already risen. We may be pulled up from the darkness only because he is pulling us closer and closer to his shimmering, brilliant Saint.

The end of this verse here, though I inhabit the darkness, Yahweh is a light for me. It reminded me immediately of Isaiah chapter nine, verse two.

The people who walk in the darkness will see a great light. Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them.

They will see a great light. The light will shine on those who live in the shadow of death.

This verse precedes probably the most well -known proclamation of Christ's coming in the

Old Testament. It's a text that is visited heavily during the

Advent season and rightfully so. This light is Christ. Tonight, I've really only spent time talking to the saints.

And that's for a particular reason because this text is written for the people of God. But of all of you that are here tonight that are unregenerate, that you've yet to be reconciled to your

Savior, I now want to directly address you. In verse eight,

Micah says, though I fall, he goes on to say, though I inhabit the darkness, that's your reality.

You don't get the second half of either one of those. You're not gonna rise.

Yahweh is not a light for you. You can't rise because he hasn't yet risen for you.

He can't be a light for you because you've yet to love and run to the light. I don't hear what

I'm not saying in this man -centered salvation. Merely just putting words into focus so we can understand truly what it means.

Apart from Christ, there is no rising. We can listen again to Isaiah 9 too, and I want you to listen intently.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them.

Those of you today, right now, walking in darkness, you can see this great light.

You can cease to live in the shadow of death. You must only repent and believe.

The light of the sun is brilliant, and there is no shadow that exists inside his radiance.

Those of you that don't yet know God, when I asked those questions this morning, at the outset of our sermon, excuse me, where does your confidence lie?

You probably didn't have an answer for that. When I got to the point of asking, does it lie in God?

And those of you that might be doing this church thing because it's cool, because you're nice and straight edge, or whatever the case may be, you're just doing this because you like the effects of it, you like the fruit that comes from it, but you don't really have anything in here that's alive.

When I asked, is your confidence in God, you probably didn't know how to respond.

You probably weren't sure, where is my confidence? I guess

I'm just confidence in myself. I want you to go back and read verses one through six, and all of those people that Micah talks about, they're confident in their self.

They're not confident in the one, holy triune God of the Bible. They're confident in their selves.

My last sub point for this evening is, how can saints be confident in their preservation? How can saints be confident in their preservation?

We see in verses, or verse eight here, excuse me, that though I fall, I will rise. Micah is confident that he will rise.

He's not saying I might, or maybe, or if God wants me to, or this, or that, or the other. He's saying, I will, I will rise.

Says, though I inhabit the darkness, you're always a light for me. He's confident in both of these statements. So how can we live in such a way to be confident in our preservation?

We must live in such a way that demonstrates God's power to preserve you. First Peter 1 .5

says, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Who are protected by the power of God. We must live in such a way that demonstrates

God's loving kindness to preserve you. John 10 .28 says, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, ever.

And no one will snatch them out of my hand. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

Saint, those of you that are here tonight, and you're thinking through this, and you're looking at these verses in verse eight, though I fall,

I will rise. Though I inhabit the darkness, you're always a light for me. Micah can proclaim these things and being confident in these things, because he knows there's no way in the world that he could ever be snatched out of God's hand.

There's nothing that he can do. There's nothing that he can, there's no way in which he can sin.

There's no way in which that he could ever be snatched out of God's hand. Saint, you have that same confidence today.

You have that same promise to you today. You must just grab a hold of it and hold it near and dear and know that there's nothing.

If you're truly found, reconciled to Christ, there is nothing that can pull you away. If there was, we'd all be in a large world of hurt.

There would be a very little God, one not worthy to praise, not worthy to follow, not worthy, but he is worthy.

He is worthy to save and we can't be pulled from his hand. I just have one use for tonight's sermon.

I have one use for tonight's sermon. And that use is be confident in God.

Be confident in God. Saint, you're regeneration. Now, not all of you in this room might be go to the very moment that you were saved, that you were reconciled.

You may not be able to go to that very single moment, but your regeneration and the process of your sanctification and your learning the commandments and putting

Scripture on your hearts and knowing how to follow and love God more and being holier as he is holy, this should give you the most confidence in the world because you know who you were before that was.

You know who you were before that was. I've spoken to many of you and asked about your testimony and how your life was manifested and how your life was working, the things that you were doing and the life paths that you were on.

And many of you have told me, I was a wreck. I was utterly helpless. I didn't know what

I was doing. I was bouncing from place to place to place, using this to this to this and I had no business.

I was just toiling and spinning my wheels and kicking against the goads and I was just worthless.

All of you know who you were before. As Brandon has preached two sermons ago, remember, remember how far you were.

That remembrance should bring in you and breed confidence because if those things can happen to your unregenerate heart that wants nothing to do with God, where else is your confidence gonna lie?

What else can you be confident in? Tonight as we end our time together,

I just want to leave you all with this. As Micah came and can see all of this utter panic and confusion that was happening in front of him, the nation of Israel, all of the sin that was happening, all of the things that he's beating his breast, he's in sackcloth and ashes, all of the phrases that you want to bring to your mind, woe is me, he's broken over all of what's going on around him and all of this terribleness, all of this sinfulness, all of this iniquity, his response is what?

His response is I have confidence in the

God of the Bible. I will wait expectantly for him. I will look to him.

I know he's gonna hear me and although I've fallen, I will rise and although I inhabit the darkness,

I have light in Yahweh, saint. Today, leave from here, go from here knowing that all of the confidence that you have, all of the confidence that Micah has comes from the promises that we find in the scriptures and namely

Christ's work on the cross and his resurrection. So know that that's where the root of all of your confidence is, is in Christ Jesus, amen.