Join us in this enlightening episode of ‘Thru the Bible’ as we dive deep into the final chapters of the book of Micah. Dr. J. Vernon McGee masterfully draws attention to the incomparable nature of God, exploring how His mercy triumphs over judgment and His holiness surpasses all earthly standards. Embark on a journey of discovering the divine attributes of forgiveness, long-suffering, and the everlasting promises given to God’s people. Are you ready to experience the marvel of a God who pardons iniquities and delights in mercy? Let’s walk through the scripture and find out.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 03 :
Where is there a God like you, the prophet Micah asks? A God who forgives guilt and looks over the past sins of your people. Welcome to Thru the Bible. Do you want to know more about that kind of God? Well, you’ll find him in his word as Dr. J. Vernon McGee concludes our study of the Old Testament book of Micah. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’m glad that you’ve hopped aboard the Bible bus with us. Now, before we take off to chapter 7, verse 15, Dr. McGee recorded a special introduction to this section, so let’s listen.
SPEAKER 01 :
I do not know much about the heathen religions and idols, but out on the Navajo reservation where I used to go a great deal in summertime, I saw a Navajo at sunrise out in front of his hogan bowed to the rising sun. The Navajo preacher told me, he says, that’s not a beautiful picture of worship. He says he’s trying to keep God off his back for the rest of the day. And out under in those lovely Hawaiian islands, the ugliest idol that I’ve ever seen is that war god of the Hawaiians. Only our God, friends, forgives sins. We’re sinners, and he forgives us our sin. God extends mercy. What a wonderful God we have. I hope you avail yourself of all that he offers to you today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s pray. Wonderful and merciful Father, thank you for your amazing character and nature that’s revealed to us in your word. Open our eyes, Lord, so that we can see you more clearly today and open our hearts so that we can receive and obey all that you want to teach us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now here’s our final study in the book of Micah on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, we have here, beginning with verse 15 and going down through verse 17, actually God giving an answer to the prayer of the prophet. You’ll recall last time that we saw that he came to God in beautiful submission. And in confession of his sins and the sins of his people, the prophets always identified themselves with the people in the confession of sin. We do it a little differently. We like to confess the sin of the other fellow, but we try to leave ours out. And it’s always nice to include our own. Now, verses 15, 16, and 17 actually is God’s answer. And the question has always been just what does he have reference to here? And I think it’s the consensus of most expositors that it looks on to the future. It looks on to the day when the Lord Jesus will come to set up his kingdom. Verse 15, according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvelous things. That is, God led them out of Egypt by miracle. Now, he didn’t bring them out of Babylon by miracle. In fact, no miracles are mentioned in connection with that, although it was a wonderful thing. But nevertheless, It’s the deliverance out of Egypt that was miraculous. Now he begins with that. God said that that will be the pattern of the day that I again bring you into the land. And we haven’t had anything quite like that in the present return to the land. And therefore, God has not been the one that’s moved them back into that land. I think we ought to recognize that. nations shall see and be confounded at all their might they shall lay their hand upon their mouth their ears shall be deaf in other words when god begins again to move them back the world will stand in amazement as the peoples round about them did. You remember that that was the confession of the harlot Rahab. She said, we have heard how God brought you across the Red Sea, how God has taken care of you. That word had gotten around, you see. Now in verse 17, they shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of thee. In other words, these godless nations that have attempted to destroy them in that day, when he comes, he’ll come to deliver them. He waxes eloquent now and He asks a question, and the question is this, and I’m going to read verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee, who pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy, and because of who God is. Then he will turn again, verse 19. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities, and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou will perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. In other words, God will make good, and in spite of their sins, That puts them out of the land temporarily. But it does not cancel out God’s promises and God’s covenants with these people any more than when a child of God sins, that doesn’t mean he loses his salvation. It means he’s going to the woodshed for a good whipping if he doesn’t confess it and get straightened out. If he’ll come back to God, God will graciously pardon him. The prodigal son didn’t get a whipping when he came home. He got his whipping in the far country. And you can be sure of one thing. God’s child will never be able to get by with sin. We’ve seen that. Now, let’s come back to this marvelous statement that we have here. Who is a God like unto thee? Now, I want to make a very startling statement. that there is something that God has not seen, but you see it every day. Now, you didn’t know that you could see something that God cannot see. But that’s a true statement. And it may sound rather impertinent for me to make it. It may sound irrelevant or irreverent and inappropriate. It may even sound to you flippant or facetious. It may sound to you like I’m making a parody or a pun, a riddle or a rhyme, maybe a trick or a treat here. But I want to assure you With as serious and a sober statement as I can make that this is a very sensible question and it has a scriptural answer. And the prophet here asks the question, who is a God like unto thee? Now, the very nature of the question suggests the answer is a very enigmatic subject. It’s not the first time it’s been asked, by the way. It was asked when Moses gave that wonderful song to Israel after they crossed the Red Sea. In Exodus 15, 11, it says, “‘Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness?’ fearful in praises, doing wonders. May I say to you, they came out from Egypt, and there were many gods in Egypt. They were absolutely, if I may use the slang expression, they were lousy with idols down there. They had God’s many and Lord’s many. And the plagues of Egypt were leveled at the gods of Egypt. That was God’s strategy in all of it. And at the end of the wilderness march, after 40 years, Moses again in Deuteronomy 33, verse 26, There is none like unto thee, God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy it. Now may I say to you that it was asked again by Saul, Solomon, over in 1 Kings 8, 23, and he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all thy heart. And the psalmist asks the question in Psalm 113, verse 5, “‘Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on I, who humbled himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?’ Well, I won’t answer this question. It’s asked in Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Kings, and Psalms, and I haven’t given all the passages.” Let’s answer it, and it’s suggested by our first statement here. God has not seen something that you see every day. Let me rephrase it like that. God has not seen what you see every day. Well, what is it that God has not seen? Well, God has not seen his equal. Who is a God like unto thee? God has never seen his equal, and you and I see our equal every day. Now, there are many ways in which God is alone, and only one actually is suggested here. But because this is such a profound question, and one that is so basic to this book that we’ve been studying, I want to look at it. Who is a God like unto our God? And may I say that the God of the Bible is the Creator, and the gods of the heathen, they are creatures. You remember Paul said this in the first chapter of Romans. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, but they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, and they started down. And what happened? They worshiped the creature rather than the creator. And that was the thing that Isaiah said. And I’m not going to turn to that. We’ve already studied Isaiah, and he was a contemporary with Micah, Isaiah 4. 44, 16, and 17, if you want the scripture, and also verse 21. And you say, well, we don’t have idols today. Well, this book has been dealing with a form of idolatry that they were guilty of, and we are too. Covetousness is idolatry. Secularism, materialism, that which you give yourself to is your God. That which takes your time and your money, that’s your God. Now, it can be pleasure. It can be sex. It can be making money. Whatever you are giving yourself to, friends, that’s your God. And I don’t care what church you belong to. That’s your God, what you’re giving yourself to. So the God of the Bible, he is the creator. What a tremendous thing is. Now, the important thing, therefore, is what Isaiah said. And you will recall that he did it with biting irony. Remember that he asked the question of these people who made idols, Isaiah 46, verse 5. God says, to whom will you liken me? He’s the creator. You can’t make a picture of him. To whom will you liken me and make me equal? and compare me that we may be alike. They lavish gold out of the bag, waste silver in the balance, hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god, and they fall down. Yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder. They carry him. Now, the supreme question is this. Is your religion carrying you or are you carrying it? That’s the interesting thing. A great many people tell me, oh, I find Christian work is extremely boring. It’s hard. It’s difficult. It’s bad. Well, if you’re finding it that way, then I would suggest you give up your Sunday school class, quit singing in the choir, and don’t be an officer in the church. This is something that God doesn’t want you to do. He doesn’t want you carrying him around. He wants to carry you. He wants to carry you and he wants to carry me. Somebody said, why in the world don’t you retire? You’ve been in the pastorate about 40 years and giving your time to radio. You want to know something? I’d rather do this than eat ice cream any day. I’d rather do this than go to a chicken dinner. May I say to you, friends, God’s been carrying me a long time and I think I’ve been a heavy load for him. And so God is unique. He’s the creator. He carries us. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And it’s blasphemy to go beyond that. You can’t go beyond him. From the vanishing point to the vanishing point, thou art God. From everlasting to everlasting, he’s the creator. That’s the way it all got started. Now, there’s something else that God’s different in. And that’s important to this little book. And it’s important to the 66 books of the Bible. The God of the Bible is holy and righteous. Now the gods of the heathen, they’re little, they’re contemptible, they’re base, they’re ignoble, they’re shabby, they’re evil, they’re mean, and they’re ugly. Look at the images that you see today. Now the gods of the Greeks on top of Mount Olympus, they were just projected men, enlarged men up there. Blown up man, that’s all. And what did they do? Well, they acted like overgrown children with overgrown faults and sins. They were spiteful and vengeful. The gods of the heathen just are not pretty, friends. What a reflection and slur upon God. Have you ever noticed how many times that you hear in the scripture, the beauty of holiness? Oh, my friend, may I say to you, our God is beautiful. He’s the beautiful one. And you remember he said to his people, you thought that I was altogether such a one as you are. He said, I’m not. You are sinful. You stoop to do low, mean things. I’m holy. I’m righteous. He says, your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways, says the Lord. And God says he hates sin. He says he’s angry with it. My, he gets wrought up over it, my friend. God hates sin. God’s angry with it. And the wrath of God must be revealed against sin. That’s the reason judgment has to come, friends. There’s no escape from it. There’s no way out. It can’t be otherwise. It is something that is going to come to pass. The judgment of God. And again, I make application. This little book has real application to our own nation today. This country has been shapen. In the past 10 years, one of the popular magazines today, national magazines, came out with 10 world-shaking events that have taken place in 10 years. Well, let’s take the whole century. And think of the things that have actually shaken this world that you and I live in. And actually, it’s not the world I was born in. I never dreamed I would live to see what’s taken place in my own day. And what is back of all of this? Well, our God is a holy God, and he reveals his anger against sin. He’ll judge it. Now, I know a judgment day is coming in the future for sinners who won’t accept Christ, but God is moving today. And I’m not sure, and I’m not going into any detail, but I’m not sure. But what we are experiencing, the anger of God, God makes it very clear. You see, a godless nation, a nation that rejects God, must bear the consequences. And we must recognize as individuals that you and I are sinners, and we must come to God. That’s what it means to walk humbly with thy God. You don’t come to him boasting of what you’ve done. You come to him confessing, I’m a sinner and I need your salvation. And you accept that salvation. And you know you couldn’t go to heaven in your own righteousness. This is the thing that Anselm, one of the great thinkers of along about the 12th century, he said, I would rather go to hell without sin than go to heaven with sin. That’s a great statement. That will shake you, my friend, in this day of weak-teed theology that we’re having today. We need something strong like this. Now, let me mention the third thing, and that’s in this passage here, verse 18. “‘Who is a God like unto thee who pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy.'” Now, here is where God is wonderfully and amazingly different. He has no equal here. There’s no one even in his neighborhood. Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? And what are some of the wonders that God does? Well, will you listen? In Exodus, the 33rd chapter, verse 18, And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. God says, Moses, I’m going to do this for you, not because you are Moses and the leader of my people, but I’m doing this for you because I’m gracious. I do this to you because I show mercy and I do it for everybody. Oh, all you have to do is to come and claim it from God, friends. He’s just that good today. And there’s none like him. Listen to him again in Exodus 34, 5. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions. My friend, how wonderful he is. God does not clear the guilty. Sin is sin from the moment it happens until the crack of doom. That is said by the hero in the play called The Great Divide years ago. And all the angels in heaven working overtime can’t change it by a hair. But God forgives the sinner, and he’s cleared him of all charges. God forgives because his holiness has been satisfied. His forgiveness is set forth by many figures of speech. It’s like a debt that’s been paid. You remember Isaiah said in Isaiah 43, 25, I even I am he who blotteth out thy transgressions. And Peter said, repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. On his ledger, I’m in debt. The wages of sin is death. It’s written there in Adam all die. And may I say to you, his forgiveness is set forth in disease. He heals all your backsliding, and he binds up the brokenhearted. And sin is like a pollution, a contamination, and there is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s Son cleanses us. from all sin. How wonderful our God is. Now, how does God forgive? And will you hear me now very carefully and very closely? You know, God is different. There’s none like him in forgiving because his forgiveness is different than yours and mine. Now, when you step on my toe, You turn to me in a crowd and you say, pardon me, will you forgive me? And I say, sure. Of course, you ought to give me 50 cents to get me a shoeshine because you ruined my shoeshine. But I forgive you, you see. And how many times we say that to one another. I had a letter from… A man who said he’s been talking about me and he found out he’s wrong and he asked me to forgive him. I wrote him, told him. I said, don’t ask me. You just get straight with the people you told it to in the Lord. That’s all. I didn’t know about it before. Human forgiveness is pretty easy to come by. But you know, God never forgives until the debt is paid. Never forgives until the debt is paid. And that’s what Christ did on the cross. He redeemed us. He redeemed us. We are sold under sin. We have offended the holiness of God. We’re in debt to him. We have a disease that God’s not going to take into heaven. And that’s the disease of sin. But Christ paid the debt. And Christ is the one that will forgive us. He healeth all our iniquities. And today he cleanses us and he makes us acceptable that we might go to heaven someday. Oh, my friend. May I say to you again, who is a God like unto thee? Who is a God like unto our God who pardoneth iniquity and he passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. Isn’t he a wonderful God? And because of that, Why, he is going to restore Israel someday to the land, not because they’re wonderful, but because he’s wonderful. And friends, I’m going to heaven someday. And you say to me, well, you must think you’re mighty good. No, I’m not. If you knew me like I know myself, you’d just turn the radio off. But please don’t do it, because if I knew you like you know yourself, I wouldn’t speak to you. I’m going to heaven because Jesus died for me. That’s the reason I’m going. I’m going because the debt has been paid and there’s no God like my God today. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Dr. McGee is right. There’s no God like our God. He has no equal. To find out how you can know God and have a personal and meaningful relationship with Him, click on How Can I Know God in our app or over at ttb.org. Now, of course, if you’d like us to mail you a few free resources on this important topic, you can do that by simply calling us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. That’s 1-800-652-4253. Next time, Dr. McGee begins a new and important study in the New Testament book of 2 John. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll meet you here as we continue to make our way through the Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left the prince unsaved. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thru the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
