Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: I love the things that the Bible says about your and my sins. It says he'll take your sins and put them as far as the east is from the west. And that the sins that you and I commit, God says, "I'm going to throw them into the depths of the sea."

Guest (Male): On Today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador reflecting the depth and permanence of God's forgiveness.

Brett Meador: Job talks about how he'll take your sins and put them in a bag. But Micah tells us he takes that bag and throws it into the depths of the sea. And I might add, the Lord puts a sign there that says, "No fishing." It's meant to be left at the depths of the sea.

Guest (Male): Did you know that the Lord delights in mercy? And as Pastor Brett Meador says, it's comforting to know God's mercy can't be exhausted. And as we begin a brand new study series of the Old Testament book of Micah in today's word, we learn how the sinful condition of man has been dealt with once and for all by Jesus, who knew no sin at all and paid the price for our forgiveness.

And we're so glad you've joined us on Today's Word as we continue our look at the minor prophets in the Old Testament. This next prophet and book is called Micah. Pastor Brett, Micah features some pretty incredible prophetic details about the birth of Christ all the way to the restoration of Israel in the millennial kingdom. That's pretty amazing since this book was written over 700 years before Jesus was even born, right?

Brett Meador: It really is amazing, Kurt. I think my favorite is Micah 5:2, where it declares that "thou, Bethlehem, out of thee shall come to me one that's going to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, all the way to everlasting." What a stunning prophecy. Not only naming the very town where Jesus would be born, but also declaring his eternal nature, an everlasting reign.

This is the verse that the Jews would refer to when the wise men came and said, "Hey, where's this Messiah supposed to be born?" And the Jews knew this passage, but they didn't go look for the Messiah. The guys from Babylon were looking for the Messiah, which is such an amazing thing. It reminds me that that's why we should care about Bible prophecy.

Because as they weren't aware of the gravity of the day back when Jesus was born, I'm pretty sure the Bible affirms that we're not going to be, unless you're a student of prophecy in the Bible, you're not going to be aware of the gravity of the second coming of Christ. And when we don't know the day or the hour, we do know the times and the seasons.

Micah spans the whole scope of God's redemptive plan, from the cradle in Bethlehem all the way to the millennial kingdom. So it's just a reminder of the sure quality of the word of God. His promises are true. History is unfolding exactly as the word said it would, and Micah is a testament to that.

Guest (Male): Well, thank you, Brett. And why don't we get things rolling in the book of Micah now? Here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: No one could really say for sure why he ran away, or perhaps he didn't. Maybe he was kicked out of his home by his father, or something that was foolish that he said or did. But either way, Paco found himself wandering the streets of Madrid, Spain, aimlessly, trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, bummed out, almost wanting to take his own life. So he decided, "I'm going to be a bullfighter."

Bullfighting is not a great way to go. Those who train under a mentor have somewhat of a chance of surviving the profession. But Paco's memory of his mistakes and his guilt over what happened blindly drove him to almost what was a suicidal attitude. But that's the last thing his father wanted of Paco. It's why he tried something desperate to find his son. He couldn't really just run around Madrid looking for his son. That would be hopeless.

But what he did try was interesting. There was the local paper of Madrid, *El Liberal*, and he took out a full-page ad in the newspaper. And the advertisement read this: "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven. Love, Papa." Now, one thing that you may not know is Paco is such a common name in Spain.

That's when the father went to the Hotel Montana the next day at noon, there were 800 young men named Paco waiting to see their fathers and waiting and wanting the forgiveness that they never thought was possible. "Paco, all is forgiven." What an amazing thing. The need that we have for forgiveness. You and I need that.

The world needs to be forgiven of its sins. And God's mercy, that's the word mercy, where God does not give us what we deserve. We deserve death and hell, but when he forgives us, he then says, "I'm going to be merciful to you." Now, the problem today still happens even in Christianity, where we think that forgiveness from God or forgiveness in general comes from trying to earn forgiveness somehow.

Being good enough, living your best and the most Christ-like way you possibly can live your life, serving the poor, loving your neighbor, keeping the Ten Commandments, etc. But as it turns out, the result of all the efforts that have been tried and years, some people spend years trying to sort of earn God's forgiveness, they end up worn out and frustrated.

Because we know in our hearts that it will never really be good enough. We never measure up. Even though you might try and you might even be better than most, there's still this understanding in your mind and in your heart that says, "Man, you're a sinner." And trying in vain to save themselves sort of through a legalistic mindset. "Oh, if I can just do enough or be enough, then God will forgive me."

But if that's not the case, then where can a person sincerely look for real forgiveness? This is where our most wonderful text comes in today. And by the way, I'm going to have you turn toward the end of the book. We're going to sort of read the last chapter of the book first. Have you ever done that in reading a book? Micah is full of really cool scriptures.

Most of my favorite scriptures from Micah are at the last part of it. Turn with me to Micah chapter seven. And there is where we will read this most glorious, I find it comforting and powerful verse right here, Micah 7:18. And there we read, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?

He retaineth not his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion on us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Man, I love that. What a great and glorious section of scripture right here. Some of the phrases here that catch my attention, right there, the Lord in verse 18, the end, "He delights in mercy."

The Lord just loves to be merciful. That's why when you read in the Psalms, it says, "The Lord's mercy endures forever." Of all the things you could exhaust, one of those things is you cannot exhaust the mercy of God. There's few topics on the earth that we could talk about that are as important as forgiveness. God's forgiveness and his mercy.

Outside of Sydney, New York, there's a tombstone with only the inscription "Forgiven." No name, no dates, just the word "Forgiven." And really, that's insightful because that's the only thing that matters in life really, if you're talking about eternal life. Because the truth is the only way to eternal life rather than eternal death and hell is to be forgiven of your sins.

I like another phrase, the last phrase we read in verse 19, "And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." I love the depths of the sea concept. We talked about Mariana's Trench when we were talking about Jonah. Remember the seven-mile deep trench? It's the deepest part of the ocean. It's almost as deep as Mount Everest is high from the sea level and what have you. It's deep.

When you go down to that trench, one of the things it doesn't take long, you get to the depth where it's completely absent of light. It's completely dark down in there. But the reason I love that the sins that you and I commit, God says, "I'm going to throw them into the depths of the sea," is that there's no looking down there. It's pitch black. There's no light on your sin. It's put in darkness.

I love the things that the Bible says about your and my sins. It says he'll take your sins and put them as far as the east is from the west. And Job talks about how he'll take your sins and put them in a bag. But Micah tells us he takes that bag and throws it into the depths of the sea. And I might add, the Lord puts a sign there that says, "No fishing." It's meant to be left at the depths of the sea.

That's the idea. That God not only forgives our sins, but completely tosses them into the one place in the world where they become totally invisible, the depths of the sea. I love that. And then another phrase, the rhetorical beginning right here in verse 18 where it says, "Who is like the Lord? Who is like God?" It's a rhetorical question that demands the answer, "No one."

Nobody but God can actually forgive sins. Interestingly enough, did you know Socrates wrestled with this, the idea of the forgiveness of sins? And this was his conclusion. Socrates said, "It may be that the deity can forgive sins, but I do not see how." As it turns out, it's not a how, it's a who. The forgiveness of sins would come through God himself as God would become a man, live on this earth.

Some of you might say, "Man, if Socrates couldn't figure it out, how am I supposed to figure it out?" Well, that's where we come from an advantage, where we have the word of God. And God's word tells us how God deals with the sinful condition of humanity. From the Garden of Eden, man sinned and messed up everything.

The rest of the Bible is about God reconciling us to himself. And how does he do that? He says, "The wages of sin or the cost of sin is death, eternal, in hell." But I love how Micah, our text, tells us that God is the one who can forgive sins. "Who is like unto God that can forgive sin?" Do you remember when Jesus was there in the Gospel of Mark?

We read there as he was teaching, these friends brought their crippled friend on a stretcher. But they couldn't get him in the house, so they tore the roof off the house and lowered him in right before Jesus. And wanting their buddy to get healed. But what's important to note in that story, the big deal is not just that the guy was about to get healed, but more importantly, Jesus looked at that guy and said, "Your sins are forgiven."

The Pharisees stand back. "Only God can forgive sin. What does this guy think he is?" As it turns out, God was standing there before them. But just to show that these guys that he who spoke, "Your sins are forgiven," had the power to forgive sins, he also said, "Take up your bed and walk." And the guy got up and walked out of that house.

Amazing story. But what was the big deal that day? It was a miracle, yes. But I would say the bigger deal, and Jesus even said, "Which one's harder? To say your sins are forgiven or take up your bed and walk?" He asked the Pharisees that question. And the implication is it's a bigger deal that Jesus could say to that man, "Your sins are forgiven."

Some people might even say, "How can a just God, a righteous God, be the forgiver of sins?" Well, that's just it. Jesus, our righteousness, the Bible calls him. Jesus, who was perfect, who knew no sin, came to this world, God became a man, Emmanuel, God himself, comes and born in Bethlehem a babe, lived as a humble servant.

In fact, the Bible says in Philippians 2, he made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And then it says, and he became obedient as a servant, but he also was obedient even to the death of the cross. God is the forgiver of sin. He doesn't just wink at sin, he doesn't just blow off sin, he actually dealt with sin and became the propitiation for our sin.

What's that word? That's a doctrinal word from the New Testament. I love the word propitiation. I'll tell you why. Because it explains sort of almost like a business transaction, like redemption, but even more. The word propitiation means the satisfaction of what was required for you and I to get off the hook. There was a payment that needed to be made for you to go to heaven, for me to go to heaven.

And guess what? Jesus was our propitiation, the satisfaction of what was required to have our sins forgiven. That's where it's at. Now, do you value forgiveness as much as you once did? I remember when I was saved at the ripe old age of five, sitting there with my mom eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

And she told me I was a sinner. I'm like, "Yeah, of course. I knew that." By five, I knew I was a sinner. And I accepted Christ. But you know what? One of the things that some of us old-timer Christians, we almost forget the glory and the wonder of God's mercy. We can sing about it, "Oh yeah, God's mercy, it's great. Yeah, I'm forgiven of my sins."

We get all, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." But we forget that burden of sin that maybe some of you once carried, and you almost forget what a glorious thing that forgiveness really is, the forgiveness of sin. God being merciful. These two verses we've just read, how glorious that is. And I just want to maybe remind us of some of the reasons forgiveness is so important.

It might just be the most important thing we talk about in our lives. Forgiveness, the most important? Well, let's consider. The first thing that forgiveness does is it gives us peace of mind. You might even say a clear conscience. When you were in sin as a sinner before you were saved, man, there was guilt. And that's something God has built into humanity.

We know that we're sinners. You might even be an atheist here, but in some ways, whether you want to admit it or not, when you do stuff you know is wrong and evil, your heart tells you that, that you're a sinner. And as an atheist or agnostic, you might say, "Well, I'm just going to push that away because if there is no God, then it really doesn't matter and everybody does some bad things once in a while," or whatever.

You try to rationalize away intellectually or whatever. But what is it that's innately built into you? God built that into humanity to know that we're sinners. We've sinned. And there's something about that that's more than just, "Oh, I made a mistake." There's a gravity and a weight that we call guilt. And many people live with guilt.

And you know what? We were not designed by God to be a people that live with heavy burdens of guilt. It messes you up. In fact, this is a true story. Karl Menninger was a famous psychiatrist who once said if he could convince the patients in his psychiatric hospital—Menninger, he said of all the patients in his psychiatric hospitals, that if he could convince them that their sins were forgiven, he said 75 percent of them could walk out the next day perfectly whole.

He was recognizing that the guilt that goes along with all the sin that a person has done can really drive you to literally mental illness. But what's so great is God says, "I didn't design you to carry that guilt, so guess what? I provided the way, the truth, and the life for you to get away from that weight, the burden that you were not designed to carry."

But some people just live with that and they just keep living with that. Some people have attempted to live with just a guilty conscience all the time. Maybe some of you Christians have had a little taste of that when you're doing something you know is technically wrong and you just kind of keep doing it but you're kind of like, "Oh, but yeah, it's not that big a deal."

But you kind of feel guilty. Have you ever driven your car with a taillight out and you knew your taillight was out? Sinner! Don't you know that's illegal? You're breaking the law driving your car with that taillight out. Oh, come on, Brett. Or like have you ever forgot to get your tags for your license plate and you're driving around and you're like, "Oh, my tags are expired. Oh, I probably should do that."

Yeah, you're like an illegal sinner driving around with your expired tags and you know what I mean. You're driving around Tualatin and it's all good, and then all of a sudden you see a police car and you're like, "Oh, man." And you kind of have this pit in your stomach. "I could get pulled over, I could get in trouble for not having..." And you know, that's just that kind of living with guilt and sin that's sort of plaguing you.

Now, I've never done any of those things, so I'm not even sure how I knew all that stuff. No, I've done that before. My old '69 Land Cruiser, half the stuff didn't work on it. But I'm sure I would have got pulled over had he known I was driving with my throttle pedal being a set of vice grips through the firewall pulling the throttle.

That probably was illegal. I knew that. But as it turns out, this conscience that we have, it's a guilty conscience. The Lord says, "I want to fix that." One of the things that forgiveness does is it gives you that sprinkling of a guilty conscience to be redeemed and saved. Hebrews chapter nine. I love this verse, verse 13 and 14.

It says, "For if the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

The author, writing to the Jews, the Hebrews, he says, "You guys gave sacrifices in the Old Testament, and you guys felt better. Like on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would make sacrifice, high priest would go in with his fancy clothes and then he'd strip himself of the robes and then go into the Holy of Holies, and then he'd come out of the Holy of Holies at the end of the day and then he'd declare to all the people of Israel, 'Your sins are forgiven.'"

And there'd be a huge celebration and the people knew that their sins were atoned for through that sacrificial process. The author of Hebrews is saying, "When you guys felt all happy that your sins were forgiven for that year on the Day of Atonement, how much more will the blood of Jesus Christ, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God? He was sinless."

And what does that do? It purges you of your guilty conscience of dead works to serve the living God. Man, this is such an encouraging word. That's what the Lord Jesus does. He, you and I can walk away knowing that our sins are forgiven and we don't have to walk around with that guilt and shame of our sin.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts," the word heart there is the psyche, your mind and your emotions, "sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Man, the guilty, dirty sins that we've committed, the Lord says, "Man, as we draw near to the Lord, our conscience are sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed."

I love that. First Peter chapter three, verse 21, talking about baptism, "like figure whereunto even baptism doth now also save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." What is baptism? Man, it's we're told in the Bible, "repent and be baptized."

It's part of our Christian faith. I don't believe baptism makes you a Christian. That's what it says, baptism does also save us, not the putting away the filth of flesh. Jesus did that for us. What baptism is, is it's a public declaration of what God has actually done in your life.

So when you get baptized, you're saying in front of all those people watching and before the Lord saying, "I recognize that when I get dunked under this water, I'm being washed from my sins. I'm acknowledging that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the grave. And because he rose, I get to raise up from my death of sin and my sins are forgiven as well."

And you walk away knowing when you got baptized, if Satan ever in your life whispers in your ear, "You're a sinner," you can say, "Yes, I am, but I buried all my sins in the river that day I was baptized." It's a thing a believer gets to do that's such a privilege. But the baptism, part of the benefit is you have that answer of a good conscience toward God. You know that God has washed your sins away.

You know, Marghanita Laski, not long before she died way back in 1988, she was sort of famous as one of the best-known secular humanists that was out there pushing all that stuff. When I was in high school, she was a big name that people were quoting and what have you. But not long before she died, she said something.

According to John Stott in his book, *The Contemporary Christian*, she said this: "What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness." She said, "I have no one to forgive me." That's what she said. Because, you know, if you're an atheist, secular humanist, you really don't have anybody to forgive you.

You don't believe there's anybody out there. But she said, "That's what I envy most." Man's greatest need is God's greatest deed. We need forgiveness of sin, and Jesus did that on the cross dying for our sins. So number one, peace. We have a pure conscience and it gives us peace of mind. Number one.

Number two, what does forgiveness do? It gives us a relationship with God. Do you remember Jonah and when he was in rebellion? We talked about how sin separates us from God. But you have to understand that's what sin does. But when you have your sins forgiven, the word is reconciliation. You were separated from God, but when God forgets you of your sins, you are then reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

It's such a great thing. Peter had to learn this. Remember when Jesus was talking to Peter and the disciples? They're all sitting around a table. And Jesus goes and strips himself of his clothes, wraps a towel around himself like a servant would or a slave, and then he starts washing the disciples' feet.

And what's amazing is all the disciples are like, "Yeah, whatever. Thanks, Jesus. Can you get a little more between that big toe? Yes, thank you." Like, they didn't care until Peter. Peter's there and Peter says, "Lord, I should be washing your feet, not you washing my feet." And do you remember what Jesus said?

"Peter, unless you let me wash your feet, you can have no part with me." Now, poor Peter, always putting his foot in his mouth, he says, "Well, then not just my feet, my head and my hands also, Lord, just give me a whole bath right now." And Jesus said, "No, it's not your head and your hands. You're clean. It's your feet that are dirty that need to be cleaned."

And there's a truth there, by the way. Even if you're saved and washed and forgiven, you and I, we daily touch dirty things, don't we? There's sinful stuff all around us. And that's why, first John chapter one, verse nine, why do we need to confess our sins? If Christ died once for all sin on the cross, why do we need to keep confessing?

The answer, it's the same thing that Jesus was talking about. When we touch this dirty world, you and I need to reconcile back to God through repentance and just say, "Lord, forgive me for my sins." And the Lord says, "I'm quick to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness." It's almost like in God's economy at the bank, your balance is zero because Jesus died on the cross.

Your debt is zero. But when you've got to check your own checking account and you see your sins you've done, you need to kind of get that all cleaned up by confession and say, "Lord, I've sinned against you so that your balance matches his." That's kind of the best way to look at it. So Peter realized unless his feet were washed by Jesus, John chapter 13, he could have no relationship with him. So that's an important part of what forgiveness brings, is you can have a relationship with God because your sins are forgiven.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador beautifully illustrating how it was the Lord who paid a debt he didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. A wonderful beginning of a brand new study series of the book of Micah on Today's Word.

For those of you who don't know Brett Meador, he's the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon. Our vision on Today's Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com.

Well, next time, Pastor Brett Meador will continue our look at the prophet Micah and we'll find out a great summation of what it means for us in our relationship with God as we discover how to be forgiven and to forgive others. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.