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Now, if you like drama, then you will love
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Micah chapter 6 because what we have here very simply is
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a courtroom drama.
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And in any courtroom of course, the natural place you would
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expect to find God would be the position of the judge,
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but actually that’s not the scene here because in this
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court case God is the prosecuting attorney.
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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.
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I’m David Pick, and Colin, today we have God trying
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to convict people.
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That is exactly what we’ve got in Micah in chapter 6.
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It is an extraordinary courtroom drama in which God
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appears as the prosecutor, and He’s actually bringing
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a case against His own people.
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And when He brings the case, they’ve got
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absolutely no defense.
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And that is our position.
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If God were to come and to make His case against us,
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we have absolutely no defense whatsoever.
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What about all the good things I’ve done?
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Doesn’t matter how many good things a person has done.
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When you come to court of law, it’s not the good things
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that are being judged, it’s the particular offenses
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that are being brought as the case.
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And so when God brings our offenses
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which have to be dealt with in some way, shape or form,
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when He brings them out, we are left without defense.
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So thank God that later in the book of Micah,
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in the book of Micah, we have this marvelous statement
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that God has buried our sins in the depth of the sea.
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That’s what he’s done.
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When I stand defenseless before God,
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my hope is in Jesus Christ.
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But being in Jesus Christ, He does call us
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to a different life and that’s what we’re gonna see here
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in the book of Micah today.
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So join us in chapter six of Micah
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as we begin the message, the God, who sends out subpoena.
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Here’s Colin.
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But as we come to Micah in chapter six this morning,
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we come to what is probably one of the best known verses
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in all of the Old Testament
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and certainly one of the most important,
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Micah chapter six and verse eight.
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It’s perhaps the best known verse
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in the whole of the book of Micah
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and it really is the clearest statement
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of what God requires from His people.
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If you want to know the kind of life
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that God is calling you to lead,
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you won’t get a better summary than this, Micah 6, 8.
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What does God require of you?
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The answer is to act justly, to love mercy
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and to walk humbly with your God.
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Now that’s where we’re heading this morning.
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The best way to understand the significance
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of this very, very well-known verse
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is for us to look at the whole chapter
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and for us to see the message
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that the Lord is giving to His people here.
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Now I do hope that you’ll have the Bible open
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in front of you because you’ll be able to see
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as we move through this chapter what it’s all about.
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It’s a very dramatic picture.
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You’ll see from verse 3, if you have it open there,
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that God is responding here to certain things
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that His people have been saying about Him.
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Notice verse 3, My people, what have I done to you?
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How have I burdened you?
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Answer me.
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So evidently these people had come to a place
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where they felt that God had placed
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unreasonable burdens on their lives.
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And I guess we all have times in our lives like this,
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something goes wrong for you or for your family
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and you say, well, what is God doing?
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He’s allowing an intolerable burden in my life.
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And sometimes we feel that God has let us down.
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Well, that’s how it was in Micah’s day.
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These believers, they weren’t happy with God.
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They were complaining.
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God has led us down.
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God has given us these great burdens.
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God has made our lives difficult.
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God’s not coming through for us.
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Now God’s people have been making all these charges
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and accusations against him.
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And what happens in Micah in chapter 6,
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very simply is that God counters
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by bringing a case against his own people.
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Now, if you like drama, then you will love Micah chapter 6
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because what we have here very simply is a courtroom drama.
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And in any courtroom, of course,
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the natural place you would expect to find God
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would be the position of the judge,
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but actually that’s not the scene here
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because in this court case,
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God is the prosecuting attorney.
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God is the plaintiff, if you like.
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God is the one bringing the case against his own people.
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You see it there in verse 2.
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The Lord has a case against his people.
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He is lodging a charge against Israel.
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So now let’s think through this court case
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that runs through the chapter together.
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First of all, the witnesses.
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Now if you’re gonna bring a case,
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you have to have witnesses,
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and in this case that God is prosecuting
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against his people,
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he brings some very remarkable witnesses indeed.
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Look at verse 2.
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Hear, O Mountains,
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the Lord’s accusation.
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Listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
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Now the point here is quite simple.
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God had, hundreds of years before,
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made a covenant with his people,
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and when that happened,
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God spoke about the heavens and the earth
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being witnesses to that covenant.
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You find this in many places in the Old Testament.
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One example is Deuteronomy 30 19.
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If you want to follow through,
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where God lays out two ways to live for his people.
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There’s a way that will lead to blessing,
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a way that will lead to cursing,
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a way that will lead to life,
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and a way that will lead to death.
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Then God says, Deuteronomy 30 verse 19,
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on this day, I call heaven and earth
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as witnesses against you,
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that I have set before you life and death,
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blessing and cursing.
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The idea here, you see, is that as God speaks,
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and as the people make their vows in response back to him,
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that the heavens and the earth are the witnesses.
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They heard these words, as it were,
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God’s promises to his people
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and his people’s promise to God.
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And so, now that there is this case that comes up
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with regards to God and his people,
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the heavens and the earth,
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standing as witness to this covenant,
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God sends out the subpoenas and he calls the witnesses,
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as it were, into his court.
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He’s bringing a case against his people.
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Now, it’s worth pausing here for a moment to say
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that being witness to a covenant is a serious business.
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Perhaps the most obvious situation
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in which we see that happen,
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it happens regularly right here on this platform.
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In a wedding, you have a bride, you have a groom,
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you have the groomsmen and you have the bridesmaids.
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Now, why do we have the groomsmen and the bridesmaids?
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We know why we have the bride and groom,
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but why do we have the rest standing up here?
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Well, is it simply to make
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the front of the church look more colorful?
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Is it so that the bride has someone
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to hand the flowers to while she makes her vows?
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Is it so this guy who stands here
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can fumble in his pocket at the time,
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not already having the rings in his hand?
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No, there’s much more.
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The groomsmen and the bridesmaids
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are witnesses to the covenant.
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Now, think about what happened
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when you were a groomsman,
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or perhaps if you were a bridesmaid,
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if you have had that opportunity some time in your life,
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even if it was 30 or 40 years ago.
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Think about what happened.
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Your friend the groom made some vows,
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and you were standing right there beside him
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when he did it, close enough to see him sweating.
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Your friend, or perhaps it was your sister,
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the bride, made vows.
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And you were standing right there beside her,
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close enough to feel her trembling.
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Now that gives you a big responsibility.
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Because there may come a time, you see,
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when things aren’t going so well in their marriage,
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five, 10, 25 years later,
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and the bride or the groom may get the idea
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that somehow they could do better.
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And that’s where the witnesses come in.
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If you were at the wedding,
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you are in a position to hold your friend,
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the bride or the groom,
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accountable to their promise.
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That’s, by the way, why it’s good
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to have someone of your own age group
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standing with you in a wedding
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because you need someone
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who can hold you accountable to your promise,
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perhaps long after your mother and your father have died.
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He said he would love her,
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cherish her, honor her, keep her.
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Is he doing that?
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Your friend.
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She said she would love him,
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cherish him, honor him, keep him.
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Is she doing that?
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You friend?
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Now you see the whole idea of witnesses
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and the very reason why we would have
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a wedding in public indeed
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as we’re talking here this morning
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about what a covenant means.
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The idea is that there should be accountability
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for following through on serious vows
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of commitment that are made
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long after the tuxedos have been returned
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to the clothing company.
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If you think your job is over
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when you send back the tuxedo,
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you have not understood what it means
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to be a groom’s man, or a bridesmaid.
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So if you’re planning a wedding,
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think carefully about who you choose
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as your witnesses.
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Your groom’s man and your bridesmaids.
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Talk to them.
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Sit down with them and say something like this.
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Tell them what it means to be
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a best man and a bridesmaid
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and say to them, now look,
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I am going to make a vow.
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It’s the vow of my life
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and I’m deadly serious about it
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and I want you to hold me accountable
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for the rest of our lives.
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And if you ever see me wandering away from it,
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here’s what I want you to do.
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I want you to give it to me straight.
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I’m asking you to commit yourself to that right now.
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And if you are a witness to a covenant,
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you have a responsibility to do what you can
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to see that that covenant is fulfilled.
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You have a special role in supporting this marriage
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as, indeed, every member of the wedding party does.
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You see, God’s plan is that
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there should be a community around every marriage
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to support the fulfillment of vows that are made.
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It’s not a private thing, you see.
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It’s a marriage.
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And there may come a time when you have to say
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to your friend, you know,
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I heard you say, till death us do part
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I was standing right there with you when you said it.
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That courage and that true friendship
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might just save a marriage.
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Now, God’s covenant with His people,
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this ultimate covenant, of course,
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was made to continue from generation to generation.
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And because it continued from generation to generation,
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I mean, who could remain then as the witnesses?
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Well, the angels in heaven are witnesses,
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but God calls the mountains, the heavens,
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and the earth as witness to the covenant promise
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that he made to his people
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and that his people had made to him.
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Remember, of course, the covenant
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was cut at Mount Sinai, the mountain, you see.
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God came down to the mountain.
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And the point here seems to be
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that if God’s sacred promises to his people
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or their sacred promises to him were everything to be broken,
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the very mountains, the heavens,
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and the earth itself would be shaken.
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So that’s The Witnesses.
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And that’s where we’ll have to pause for just a moment.
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You’re listening to Open the Bible
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with Pastor Colin Smith
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and a message called The God Who Sends Out Subpoenas.
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It’s part of our series,
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Close Encounters with the Living God.
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00:12:16,580 –> 00:12:18,340
And if you ever miss one of the series
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or you want to go back and listen again,
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do that by coming online to our website,
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openthebible.org.uk
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And there you can listen
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to any of the messages which have already gone out on air.
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You can also find us as a podcast,
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follow the link from our website
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00:12:33,719 –> 00:12:36,260
by searching all the major podcasting sites
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for Open The Bible UK.
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Back to the message now,
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we’re in Micah in chapter six.
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Here’s Colin.
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Now the evidence in this trial comes in two parts.
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First, that the Lord has kept his promises to his people.
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The Lord has kept covenant.
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Look at verse four and five,
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I brought you out of the land of Egypt
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and redeemed you from the land of slavery,
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I sent Moses to lead you
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and also Aaron and Miriam and so on.
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God is reminding the people that going back generations
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their fathers and mothers were slaves.
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If it had not been for the Lord,
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that would have been their lives too.
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But God stepped in and brought their parents
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out of slavery in Egypt
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and brought them into entirely new position
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of blessing and of prosperity.
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The Exodus, of course was the definitive act of God
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in the Old Testament that changed everything for his people.
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And again and again, it points forward
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to the death and resurrection of Jesus,
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which is the definitive act in the New Testament
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that changes everything for those who come to him,
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releasing us from slavery to sin and death
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and hell and bringing us to an entirely new position
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in Christ.
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Now God says, I’ve kept my promise.
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I’ve kept you, I have provided for you,
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I have kept covenant with you,
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whatever the difficulties of your life,
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those who are in Christ know that this is true.
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And it’s good to remember that God’s covenant
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is established by grace.
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It wasn’t that the slaves in Egypt
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sort of negotiated their release through God.
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How could they have done that?
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No, it was God that reached down from heaven
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and just saved them.
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This is the kind of God he is.
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So the first thing that’s established in the evidence
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is look, I’ve kept my covenant promise.
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Here’s the second thing.
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God’s people have broken their covenant promise to him.
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Now you find this in verses nine to 16
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where God speaks specifically about the sins of the city.
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And in this he is referring especially to sins
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that are rooted in the business world,
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the sins of the city.
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Listen verse nine.
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The Lord is calling to the city.
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Am I still to forget,
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oh wicked house, your ill gotten treasures?
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You see he’s talking as he brings evidence in this case
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about the way in which folks in the business community
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have made their money.
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Some folks have become pretty wealthy.
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But God has questions about how they made all this money.
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Now this comes pretty close to home.
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Some of us have done pretty well in business,
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but there are situations in which you may feel uncomfortable
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about how you made that money.
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You look back at some of the things
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that you did over the years, decisions you made
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and your conscience isn’t entirely clear.
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Things weren’t as straight
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as you would have liked them to be.
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It was complicated.
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The very thesis that took Brody’s life
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to the most complicated extent does not equate.
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Now that’s what God is speaking about here
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and he gets pretty specific, verse 11,
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shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales
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with a bag of false weights?
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You know of course in those days that trading was done,
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in the other side until they balance
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and the way in which the weights were done
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was simply with stones that would be marked up
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according to their weight and you’d have a one pound stone,
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a two pound stone, a five pound stone
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and you’d carry them around in a bag.
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Now the bag of false weight that is referred to here
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would be a bag of stones that was wrongly marked
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so in other words you would take a stone
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that really weighs a pound and a half
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and you would mark it two pounds,
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then you put it in the scale and someone comes to buy barley
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or whatever it is and you pour the barley into the scale,
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the scales balance at a pound and a half,
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you charge the person for two pounds,
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they go away thinking that they’ve got two pounds of barley
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actually they’re only carrying a pound and a half
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in their sack.
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Now this was the sort of thing that was rife
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in the world of business then
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which in different ways it is rife
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in the world of business today.
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There are hundreds of us here
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who go out every day of our lives
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into the world of business to make our living
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and you know that it’s a jungle out there.
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You experience this pressure every day of your life
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and it is intense,
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competition over contracts
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and therefore the pressure to cut corners
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and shade truth.
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Trying to match bids with unscrupulous competitors.
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Large companies building a position
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that will force others out
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and get rid of the competition.
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Look at verse 12.
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Speaking about the city,
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God says her rich men are liars
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and their tongues speak deceitfully.
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Does that sound like business in Chicago today?
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It does, doesn’t it?
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00:18:26,380 –> 00:18:29,459
See, why is it that the days of trusting a man’s word
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or a woman’s word in business are so long gone?
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00:18:34,500 –> 00:18:37,079
Why do we need these endless contracts
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with every detail?
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00:18:39,819 –> 00:18:42,520
Because we got to cover every possible way
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in which someone else might creatively imagine
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they can do you over.
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00:18:47,260 –> 00:18:49,680
We can’t trust, because there isn’t integrity.
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Now, let’s summarize then what we’ve learned here.
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God’s people have been grumbling and complaining
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about the burdens of their lives.
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God’s failed us, they say.
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And God’s listened to this long enough,
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and He says, now wait, the time has come for Me
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to bring My own case against the people.
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And He calls the mountains, the earth and the heavens
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as witness.
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He lays out the evidence.
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Now look, I made covenant promises to you,
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and I’ve been faithful to them.
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You made covenant promises to Me, and you’ve broken them.
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00:19:27,359 –> 00:19:29,520
So while the people have been going around
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moaning and complaining, saying the Lord’s failed us,
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the reality is actually completely the reverse.
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The truth of the situation is, we have failed the Lord.
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So the prosecution rests its case.
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Now, what about the defense?
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Well, you can read Micah chapter six a few dozen times,
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you won’t find any.
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00:19:54,979 –> 00:19:56,280
There is no defense.
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00:19:58,260 –> 00:20:02,660
I mean, let’s face it, what is the case for the defense?
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There is none.
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00:20:05,680 –> 00:20:07,280
What defense could we possibly bring?
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00:20:07,280 –> 00:20:10,939
I mean, is there anyone here who wants to make the case
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that the business world in Chicago
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is a shining model of integrity for the world?
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Well, you see, no one was ready
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to make that case in Jerusalem either.
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There is no defense.
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00:20:29,260 –> 00:20:31,660
So what do you do if you’re facing a court case
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and there is no defense that you can offer?
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00:20:35,439 –> 00:20:38,579
Plea bargain, right?
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00:20:38,579 –> 00:20:40,219
Plea bargain.
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00:20:40,219 –> 00:20:42,920
Now that’s exactly what happens in verses six and seven.
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It’s all about plea bargaining
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because, and notice this is very significant.
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There is an awareness of guilt here.
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Folks are coming to the point of saying,
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okay, you know, I know that everything
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in my life isn’t that it should be.
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I’m going to concede that.
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Well now, let me find,
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how can I get my way out of this situation?
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Let’s negotiate, let’s plea bargain.
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Notice that here we’re talking about offerings
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and sacrifices for my transgression for the sin of my soul.
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There is an admission of guilt here,
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an acceptance of responsibility,
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so these words in verses six and seven
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are really the words of someone
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who kind of holds up their hand before God
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00:21:19,180 –> 00:21:22,199
and says, okay, you’ve got me, you got me, I’m guilty.
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00:21:22,199 –> 00:21:23,719
Okay, I’ve not been straight.
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00:21:23,719 –> 00:21:26,219
I’ve dodged, I’ve weaved as I’ve made my money.
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00:21:26,219 –> 00:21:27,520
Sometimes it’s on my conscience,
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okay, you got me, you got me, I’m guilty.
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00:21:29,579 –> 00:21:31,040
Now what do you want me to do?
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00:21:32,520 –> 00:21:34,420
With what shall I come before the Lord?
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Shall I come before him with burnt offerings
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and calves a year old?
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Isn’t it interesting that when we feel guilty
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00:21:46,160 –> 00:21:49,859
there is an impulse within us to become religious?
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00:21:51,280 –> 00:21:52,239
You notice that?
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00:21:53,920 –> 00:21:58,239
A bad conscience will make a man religious very often.
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Burnt offering sacrifices.
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00:22:01,319 –> 00:22:02,420
I made a lot of money,
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00:22:02,420 –> 00:22:05,439
I don’t really feel at peace about all of it,
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00:22:05,439 –> 00:22:07,739
so maybe I could give something to the church.
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00:22:08,719 –> 00:22:09,900
Or maybe I should do some work in the church.
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00:22:09,900 –> 00:22:12,400
Or maybe I should do some work in the community,
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maybe some voluntary service in the community.
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00:22:14,260 –> 00:22:15,640
I can give something back that way.
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00:22:15,640 –> 00:22:18,560
I’d feel better about what I’ve taken out.
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That’s human nature, isn’t it?
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00:22:19,920 –> 00:22:21,880
When we don’t have a defense,
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00:22:21,880 –> 00:22:24,079
we want to plea bargain, to negotiate,
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00:22:24,079 –> 00:22:26,520
or work out our own solution.
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00:22:26,520 –> 00:22:27,880
You’re listening to Open the Bible
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00:22:27,880 –> 00:22:29,260
with pastor Colin Smith,
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00:22:29,260 –> 00:22:32,839
and today’s message The God who Sends out Subpoenas.
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00:22:32,839 –> 00:22:33,979
It’s part of our series,
497
00:22:33,979 –> 00:22:36,160
Close Encounters with the Living God,
498
00:22:36,160 –> 00:22:37,880
and if you’ve missed any of the series,
499
00:22:37,880 –> 00:22:39,719
or you want to go back and listen again,
500
00:22:39,719 –> 00:22:42,479
you can do that by coming online to our website,
501
00:22:42,479 –> 00:22:45,040
openthebible.org.uk
502
00:22:45,040 –> 00:22:47,099
or by finding us as a podcast.
503
00:22:47,099 –> 00:22:50,119
And those are available on all the major podcasting sites
504
00:22:50,119 –> 00:22:52,479
by searching for open the Bible UK.
505
00:22:54,079 –> 00:22:55,160
Also on our website,
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00:22:55,160 –> 00:22:57,119
you’ll find Open the Bible Daily.
507
00:22:57,119 –> 00:22:59,760
And that’s a series of short, daily reflections,
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00:22:59,760 –> 00:23:01,739
two to three minutes in length,
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based on pastor Colin’s teaching
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00:23:03,540 –> 00:23:06,520
and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish.
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Open the Bible is supported entirely
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00:23:08,479 –> 00:23:10,760
by the generosity of our listeners.
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And we want to thank you
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00:23:12,140 –> 00:23:14,800
for supporting our ministry in that way.
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00:23:14,800 –> 00:23:17,280
If you haven’t previously supported Open the Bible,
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00:23:17,280 –> 00:23:19,199
but you’d like to begin doing so,
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00:23:19,199 –> 00:23:21,819
we’d like to thank you by sending you a copy
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00:23:21,819 –> 00:23:25,439
of Kevin de young’s book, Impossible Christianity.
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00:23:25,439 –> 00:23:28,160
It has a very long subtitle.
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00:23:28,160 –> 00:23:29,959
The subtitle is,
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00:23:29,959 –> 00:23:32,439
why following Jesus does not mean
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00:23:32,439 –> 00:23:34,180
you have to change the world,
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00:23:34,180 –> 00:23:37,780
be an expert in everything except spiritual failure
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00:23:37,780 –> 00:23:41,359
and feel miserable pretty much all the time.
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00:23:41,359 –> 00:23:43,859
Colin, how did the book help you?
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00:23:43,859 –> 00:23:47,260
Well, it brought a fresh sense of peace to my soul.
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00:23:47,260 –> 00:23:51,260
The problem is that sometimes we put burdens on ourselves
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00:23:51,260 –> 00:23:53,560
that God never intended us to carry.
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00:23:53,560 –> 00:23:56,520
We all know that we never do anything perfectly
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and that none of us is perfect.
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But what we can lose sight of
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is that it is actually possible to live a life
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00:24:03,459 –> 00:24:05,380
that is pleasing to God
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00:24:05,380 –> 00:24:07,459
and that acts of faith and hope and love
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00:24:07,459 –> 00:24:09,579
really are pleasing to Him.
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00:24:09,579 –> 00:24:13,199
And Kevin Deyoung brings this out in a beautiful way
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that I think will bring a sense of relief
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00:24:16,319 –> 00:24:19,020
to the souls of many people who read this book.
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And that’s why I’m really excited
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that we’re able to share it this month.
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It was immensely helpful to me
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00:24:24,579 –> 00:24:26,579
and I think that it will be immensely helpful
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00:24:26,579 –> 00:24:27,979
to everyone who reads it,
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00:24:27,979 –> 00:24:30,939
especially people who have a tendency
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00:24:30,939 –> 00:24:34,300
to put too great burdens on themselves.
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