FBC Morning Light – November 30, 2022

The Need to Read the Minor Prophets

Well, a good Wednesday morning to you. I hope your week is going well. Here we are in the middle of the week, and also the end of the month, the end of the 11th month. We are 11 twelfths through this year, and it's amazing where we are already in the calendar.

Well, today we're reading in the book of Micah. These minor prophets are often overlooked in our everyday reading, unless we have a Bible reading plan. You know, not too many people gravitate to the minor prophets in their devotional reading.

They want to go someplace where they know they're going to hear something or read something encouraging and comforting and so on and so forth. That's why it's good to have a Bible reading plan. It forces you to get into passages of Scripture, areas of Scripture that you might otherwise neglect.

Judgment, Conviction, and the Message of Micah 2

Well, anyway, here we are in the book of Micah, and one of the things that I realize here in this chapter, chapter 2, is that not much has changed in the last 3 ,000 years, especially in relationship to convicting, preaching, or messages from God.

How many people today would respond positively or accept willingly a message that says God is sending his judgment upon this world? For example, I believe, and I've heard other preachers say the same thing today, that our nation right now is a nation under judgment.

God has given us over to things that we would not have thought of occurring in this nation. Well, we would have known that they occur, but we never would have expected them to be sanctioned and have the blessing of the federal government and being enacted into law.

We never would have expected some of the things, but they are. The thinking of people is completely upended and distorted. It's upside down. I could go into a lot of examples of that, and I'm not going to bother.

You hear of them too. How do you think such a message is received by the average person in our world today, that God is sending his judgment upon this world? God is placing this nation under judgment for our refusal to listen to him and for our snubbing our nose at him?

Not very well received. Let me ask you this. How many people respond well to a message of conviction to them personally that addresses their personal sins? The reason I bring that up is because of what we read in Micah chapter 2.

The Call to Preach Conviction and the Refusal to Listen

The chapter begins with the prophet speaking to those who devise iniquity. He says, Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds. At morning light they practice it because it's in the power of their hand and so forth.

Then, verse 3,. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time. In that day one shall take up a proverb against you and lament with a bitter lamentation, We are utterly destroyed.

He has changed the heritage of my people. How has he removed it from me? To a turncoat he has divided our fields. Therefore, he says, you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

In other words, the prophet Micah is declaring a message of conviction and confrontation and judgment against those who profess to be God's people. How should we respond to such preaching? Should we not respond with a hanging of the head and a beating of the breast that says, Woe is me, for I am undone, with a cry to the Lord that says, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

How do most people respond? It's described how most people respond here in Micah chapter 2 and verse 6. Do not preach, thus they preach. This is how the people respond. Don't preach. They preach at the preachers saying, don't preach.

Do not preach. One should not preach of such things. One should not say such things. Disgrace will not overtake us. Is not this the response of the average person in the culture, in the world, in our own nation, in our own community?

If there's a message of confrontation and conviction, yes, this is exactly how they respond. You shouldn't say such things. You shouldn't tell people that God's going to judge them, God's going to punish us.

You shouldn't preach such things. You need to preach things that are comforting, that are encouraging, that make us feel good. That's what people want, but is that what we need? If we are walking away from God, if we are walking contrary to the path of God, is it really appropriate to preach a coddling message that says, it's okay, you keep going the way you're going, it's okay, everything will be fine, everything will work out, God loves you anyway?

Is that really going to be helpful? Is that going to be helpful when the day of judgment does come and does fall? No, I don't think so. I think what is helpful is to declare the truth of God's Word, and if it's confrontational, it's confrontational.

If it's convicting, it's convicting. The key is the response on the part of those who are convicted. The only appropriate response to that conviction is humble submission and repentance before God, and not a response that says, don't preach such things.

It's a disgrace to preach such things. These things aren't going to happen to us. No, accept the Word of the Lord as it's delivered faithfully from his Word. So accept that challenge today. So our Father and our God, give us submissive hearts, give us hearts that are eager and ready and willing to respond to whatever the message is that you have for us, and this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Closing Encouragement and Sign-Off

All right, well listen, you have a good middle of the week day today. Wrap up your month well, and let's get December off to a good start. Have a good day. God bless.