Who Is A God Like You

If you would, take your Bibles and turn to the prophet Micah. Micah chapter 7. I want you to listen. Listen. Micah chapter 7. Let's pray.

Father, once more, we bow before you, asking that you would give us hope in the good news of the gospel. We are here to celebrate this table. Lord, you've not given us this table so that we just remember a death long ago, but that you would cause us to remember the great work that you did at Calvary with the Lord Jesus. And so now we pray that you would remind us by this prophet who looks forward to that great day, to remind us of the great work that you have done, that you would give us hope and give us peace as we consider the great God that you are.

We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Who is a God like our God, or who could we possibly compare him to? We stand in awe of his marvelous creation, marveling at the mountains and the forests and the plains, as well as the intricate beauty of a flower, or yes, even a spider. we marvel at his greatness free as the god who measures the oceans in the palms of his hands who sees the nations merely as dust on the scales who spreads out the heavens in the same way that you would spread out a tablecloth who merely gives a little puff a little and the princes and rulers of nations collapse we marvel at his power as he piles up the water of the red sea and so that it's two great walls between which the children of Israel walk.

And as Pharaoh armies go through how he collapses that and destroys an entire army of a great nation Who is a God like this Moses, as he stands on the bank of the Red Sea observing the debris of that shattered army, asks, who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? The prophet Isaiah, as he meditates on the greatness of God and how he formed the heavens, asks, to whom then will you compare God?

Then we hear the voice of another. He's the prophet Micah, asking the same question. Who is a God like you? This is the prophet who came from the countryside of Judah into the city of Jerusalem some 700 years before Jesus was born. He comes with a message from the God of his people. His message carries warnings of judgment for this nation in all its prosperity has neglected and oppressed the poor, taken advantage of them.

He carries a message against the lying prophets and the corrupt priests who have led the people of God astray, led them away from the truth of God. He also brings the promise of God who will yet work for his people in regathering them. And on the one hand, he warns, and on the other hand, he warns the sinful people that they cannot treat God and his commands with such disregard.

He says to them in chapter 6, with what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with 10,000 rivers of oil? shall I offer my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? And then in chapter 7, on the other hand, he looks to God in faith and says, but as for me, I watch and hope for the Lord.

I will wait for God my Savior. My God will hear me. But when Micah comes to the end of his message, like Moses and like Isaiah, he says, he asks that question, who is a God like you. Look, if you will, at Micah chapter 7. Here you find Micah's last words to the nation, the last words of his message to a sinful people. This is the climax to his whole message of warning and judgment, of promise and hope These last words are the ones we need to remember After telling them how they have failed after condemning them for their oppression and their priests for their corruption and their prophets for their falsehoods, after telling the people that they have disobeyed God, after saying to them, yet God will regather you, here's what he ends with.

Who is a God like you? Pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Micah asked the question, who is a God like you? But he does not ask as one awed by God's great power or his majesty or his greatness. He asked the question because he is awed by the very mercy of God. Did you hear the reading from the New Testament this morning from Acts chapter 13?

As the Apostle Paul finishes up his sermon to the people in that chapter. and he says what? God's going to show you things that you never dreamed of. He's just talked about the forgiveness of their sins. Micah stands back and says, who is a God like you? And stands in awe of his mercy and his forgiveness. Who is like this God?

Stand in wonder that he is a God who pardons you. Stand in wonder that he is a God who pardons you. Verse 18, Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity? Who is like this? Do you see the incomparable greatness of God in pardoning sin? Maybe you don't see the greatness of God in that.

Maybe God doesn't look that great. One person has said, I remember reading this a few months ago, one person said, well, God forgives, that's his job. Right? It's not at all awed by the great fact that God pardons iniquity. you see God has an unerring standard of judgment he lays you before him his commands and his demands for obedience but we have all gone astray we all do our own thing we don care what God says and if we want to do anything we want to do it in our terms not God's terms right all of us are guilty before him and yet this God pardons that sin the Hebrew word for pardon here means lift up that is to say God lifts the burden of sin from those from the shoulders of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

The burden of guilt, that huge load upon your shoulder, grows daily. As daily you transgress the very law of God, the very commandments of God, as you accumulate more sin and more guilt upon your back, and that eventually drags you down to judgment. God lifts that from your shoulders. he not only pardons but he forgives all our transgressions and it says who is a god like you pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance he not only pardons but he forgives all your transgressions he passes over that it's it's as if he pardoning is not good enough let me add this he forgives we've all transgressed the commands of God.

And transgress means exactly what it says. It means stepping over. It's as if God draws a line in the sand and he says, do not step over that line. I've told you not to do that. Right? And what do we do?

Day after day, we step over the line. Right? God draws the line and he says, these are my commandments. Don't get angry at other people because when you get angry at someone, God will charge you with murder that's what Jesus says do not look lustfully at a woman because if you do God will charge you with adultery do not speak disrespectfully to your parents or I'll charge you with dishonoring them do not love anything more than me I must be everything to you and if I'm not I'll charge you with idolatry but time and again we step over that line, heaping up charge after charge after charge.

We step over the line, clearly seeing that well-marked line, but transgressing over and over and over again. Listen to me. I want you to listen to me carefully. All of you. This is serious business with God. It is serious to transgress the commandments of God.

He is holy. If you read the whole book that leads up to this in Micah, you see that God is holy. And he is angry because his people have transgressed because they have time after time after time stepped over the line. Willfully, defiantly. But here is the greatness of God. What does it say?

He passes over transgressions. He forgives every one of those charges. The Hebrew word that's translated passing over, that's exactly what it means. He passes over every transgression. Clearly, God cannot merely pass over transgressions and the penalty they incur. But the word suggests that he passes over when a sacrifice has been offered.

You remember the first Passover, right? when God is bringing the plagues upon Egypt and he says finally to Pharaoh, let my people go and he won't. And he says, I'm going to bring one final plague on you. And he says to all his people, you sacrifice an unblemished lamb and you put the blood on the doorpost and the top of it. And if you do that, what will the bringer of death do?

Pass over that house. You won't have the judgment visit your house. That's the picture he wants you to see. That with the sacrifice, then, God passes over that transgression. Now listen to me. God cannot pass over any transgression and remain holy.

So how does he do it? For God to draw it in the line, put the line in the sand, and say, don't step over that. And you step over it, and he says, sorry I'm okay how about this one and you step over that one he goes look I know you're having a hard day just don't go over this one God cannot do that for God to overlook listen I want you all to pay attention here because this is so important God cannot and God will not overlook any one of your sins Every single sin you committed God will hold you accountable He can just pass over it Something has to happen for Him to pass over it What is it?

Let's look at a wonderful passage in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. If God cannot, listen to me, God cannot overlook even the smallest sin here. God has made it clear that his holiness is so great. I'm looking out at this congregation.

I see some little children. Some of those children have stolen cookies from the cookie jar. You know what God says? I'm so holy that deserves hell. I can't overlook that. Does that surprise you?

Now you're sitting here thinking, well, I've done a whole lot worse than steal cookies from a cookie jar. You're right. You are right. And God can't overlook it. Something has to happen. Colossians chapter 2, verse 13.

And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with Christ, having, now notice, having forgiven us all our trespasses. How? Watch. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. What is it?

What is that record of death that has these legal demands? It says you sinned, you deserve to die. You sinned, you die. That's the record of debt. You sinned, you deserve judgment. But he's canceled it.

How? Watch. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. That record that said, you deserve to die. because you've consistently, constantly, lifelongingly stepped across that line, how is it that God will not punish you for that Because he took the record of debt that said you disobey you die and He nailed it to the cross He nailed it to the cross That means Jesus died the death that you deserve And God now has not overlooked your sin.

He's put it on Jesus, and He's punished your sin. Listen, He will not overlook your sin. But He can pass over your transgression. Why? Because Jesus paid the penalty for your sin. He did take account of your sin.

He remains just by punishing your sin, but punishing it in another. The record that stood against you, that record that stands and condemns you, has been nailed to that cross. That is why, as Micah says to his people, God is a wonderful, marvelous, incredible God, because he pardons iniquity and he passes over transgression. but that's only possible because of what Jesus has done.

And as Micah says that, it finds fulfillment in what Jesus did on the cross. Listen to me, folks. This is how great God is. We need to stand in wonder of God for the God who is just, who cannot overlook one of your sins from that cookie jar to that lustful look to the murder that someone's committed. the whole spectrum God cannot overlook any one of those infractions and yet in grace in this marvelous pardoning he lays it on Christ so that when you embrace him your sins are paid for this is how he is so great this is why we ought to stand in wonder at the greatness of God in that pardoning grace.

Notice what else he says. Glory in the greatness of God's mercy. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. That word steadfast love is the idea of covenant love. I've covenanted to love you. I'm going to be merciful to you.

I've covenanted to be merciful to you. Glory in the greatness of God's mercy. Our God does not stay angry forever. He does not delight in holding a grudge. He does not delight in bottling up his anger. He does not delight in being angry.

Have you ever met a person who likes to be angry? Have you ever met people like that Some people use anger to frighten and intimidate It a useful thing So they frighten and intimidate with their anger Some of the powerful wear it almost like a badge The more powerful they become, the angrier their tone gets. Some people just love to fight. They just love to be angry.

I can think of some people in my life who it just seemed like if they go to the doctor, next time I talk to them, they're mad at that doctor. Right? And then next time I see them, they've gone to the grocery store and they're mad at the grocery store because they've raised their prices. And they're always mad. Pretty soon they're mad at me. Right?

They're always mad. It seems like they just love to fight. They just love to be angry. But our God, who has every right to be angry. Right? What would you think of someone who's spitting in your eye every day?

What would you think? I'm angry. Oh, no, don't be angry at that person. He's spit in my eye for the last 30 years every day. Do you think you'd have a right to be angry? Yeah.

That's nothing compared to what people do to God. They're constantly disobeying. God, I don't want to do it your way. My way is better. Don't be such a killjoy, God. Oh, God, please.

In fact, we were talking at Sunday school today when Lon was talking about a friend of his who said, yeah, this religious guy says, yeah, I got to do this blankety blank fast. Right? God I'm mad at you because you want me to do this fast. Got to go through Lent. Why? Because you say so.

Or they think so. Right? Does God have a right to be angry? Yeah. He has every right to be angry against corrupt transgressing rebels. But he chooses not to frighten.

He chooses not to intimidate. He chooses not to pick a fight with you. he delights instead to show mercy our god would rather show sinners mercy than punish them and express his rightful anger he would rather show mercy now never forget this god will be glorified someday in his wrath on the day of judgment when god's wrath is unleashed in all its fury right now God's holding it back he's some wrath he certainly is showing the Bible makes that clear but the full fury of his wrath is held back right now but on that day the full fury of his wrath Wrath will be unleashed and everyone will be awed by the glory and the justice and the rightness of that fury. He will be glorified in his wrath.

But he delights to show his glory in mercy. You see? Do you find hope in that? Do you find yourself saying, my sins just continue to stack up? Every day I desperately want forgiveness, but God, how can you forgive? You see, God delights in showing mercy to those who come in faith to him and ask for it.

You know what, we confessed it earlier. How do we look at God? We look at God as if he's stingy with his mercy. Don't we? Didn't we confess that earlier? God, we look at you as a harsh God.

We look at you as one who's stingy in His mercy and His grace. You come to God with a contrite heart. He absolutely delights to show you mercy. Isn't that great? Doesn't that give you hope? Isn't it good to know that when you say, Oh God, I've sinned, but Jesus died for that.

That's all I have. And He just delights to say, I love you. I love you. I want to help you. I'll forgive you. He loves to do that.

He loves to do that. That's the wonder and the awe of God's mercy. Can you see the greatness of God in His compassion? He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea look at the greatness of god and his compassion how does the greatness of god compare to the overwhelming power of your sin you compare yourself to the very character and the greatness of god and it seems at times that your sins will overwhelm you.

If you're honest and you look at God in His holiness and His righteousness, it will seem that those sins overwhelm you. But then God comes and He treads them underfoot He treads on them right Right When I you know when you live in the country you always got to deal with coons and possums and stuff. You know, I think I've killed enough coons that there's no more burial spaces left in my yard.

But you know what I do? I dig that hole as deep as I can and I throw the coon in after I've killed it and I put the dirt on there and I just stand there and I stomp on it. Get that down there. I don't want any other animal coming up and dragging that thing out. Right? And you stomp on it.

So it just, it's going to stay there. Nothing will get it out. Well, here's what he's saying. He's saying that God treads our sins under his feet. You see, God not only forgives, but he promises that to keep the sin from overpowering you. The sin with all its power, he's not going to let it overpower you.

It's going to stomp on it. It's going to keep it from overpowering you and controlling you. Furthermore, God covenants with us to throw all our sins into the depths of the sea. Into the depths of the sea. When I was, I don't know, late 30s or something, my kids bought me a hat that said Captain Dad on it. I'm on my third one now. but the first one I remember we were on a ferry in Lake Erie I think it was when Beck and I were headed to Pelee Island out on the eastern western side of Lake Erie we're on this ferry and we're chopping through the water and all of a sudden the wind blows and blows my hat off into Lake Erie right? guess what? never going to see that hat again I could have said stop the boat I got to get my hat.

You think we'd find it? No chance. And that's not even an ocean. That's just one of the great lakes. Right? The Titanic is found eventually.

But there are whole ships lost, sunk in that sea. No one will ever find them. No one will ever see them. They're lost forever. That's how God deals with your iniquities. He's going to put them in a place where they'll never show up again.

You'll never find them. He will never find them. Do you think they're going to show up on Judgment Day? Do you think any of your sins are going to show up on Judgment Day? And the answer is no, they're in the depths of the sea. Do you think God will ever use your sins against you No They in the depths of the sea And note He casts them into the depths of the sea Not the shallow part.

So that they kind of come peeking through every once in a while. They're in the depths of the sea. They're never going to show up again. That's the promise of God. but you say doesn't micah say that he will have compassion he will tread our iniquities you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea yeah he says will isn't he looking to the future yeah indeed he does he looks to a day in the last days when this will happen and you see the last days have started with Jesus.

Jesus came and inaugurated those last days. They have arrived and with him came the promise of forgiveness. They'll be fulfilled in him. They are fulfilled in him. Because of Jesus, they're underfoot. They're in the depths of the sea, never to be used against us.

He reveals his compassion in Christ who came to fulfill these very words. lastly you see the greatness of god's promise to forgive you will show faithfulness to jacob and steadfast love to abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old how can you be sure that god will not harbor his anger that he'll trample your sins underfoot that he will throw your sins into the depths of the sea never to be remembered again how can you be sure of that because he swore an oath. Right? Look over at Hebrews 6.

Hebrews 6. Beginning in verse 13. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath.

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek what is he saying he's saying there are two things God cannot lie there are two things what are they himself his character he can never go back and then he actually swears an oath he doesn't have to but he does so that you will have confidence that what he says will he will do and he will have compassion he has sworn an oath he will not go by and by the way you know what the sign of that oath is it's right here that's why we do this to remind us of the oath that God has made never to use our sins against us. If we are in Christ, there is no condemnation.

We have peace with God. And these here are the very elements that tell us of that oath. You see. You see then that the prophecies and the promises of God's marvelous mercy come to full flower in Jesus. And so we come to this table because it shows us clearly the character of Jesus' work. To reconcile us to God by giving his life as a sacrifice so that although our sins will never be overlooked, they will be punished in him.

That he can pass over. That his compassion is such that he will forgive and pardon. This is the greatness of our God. This table says to you in Jesus, God pardons and forgives all your transgressions. It is through Christ that God delights to show mercy. It is because of Jesus that your sins can never overwhelm you, nor will they ever be mentioned again.

You see, this table points to Christ, through whom God shows his greatness. So as we come to this table, come with joy in your heart. that this is the great God that we worship. Come knowing, knowing that what He says is true and He will do it. Thank You, Father, for wonderful words of grace to us. How we love to hear Your greatness in showing mercy and forgiving our transgressions and burying our sins. oh God we must believe you when you tell us these things that you have forgiven that you will not hold us accountable in Christ you have punished all our sins so that we have freedom in your presence thank you for the greatness of your pardon, your forgiveness, your mercy thank you Father in Jesus name Amen