Clean Transcript

Capital Sins

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• Well, let's open our Bibles today to the book of Micah. Little minor prophet Micah. Micah, chapter one. Micah, chapter one, and we're going to read the first nine verses. The message today is entitled "Capital Sins," and I will explain that title just a little bit later, but look in the book of Micah chapter 1 and verse 1. "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all ye people, hearken, O earth, and all that therein is, and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth."

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• "And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate."

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• "For she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked, I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem."

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• Now, the book of Micah is indeed a very important book. It is a book that deals with imminent judgment and ultimate blessings. The book is also designed to be a call to repentance on the one hand, but it is also a book that is designed to give comfort and instruction to the people of God. The same God who judges sin and iniquity is also the same God who gives repentance and forgiveness. Now the name Micah literally means "who is like unto Jehovah" or "who is like Jehovah." There is in all probability a play on his name in this book. If, for instance, you turn to the book of Micah chapter 7 and look at verse 18, Micah 7 and verse 18, where Micah asked this question, "Who is a God like unto thee?" Remember, his name means "who is like unto Jehovah." So in the Hebrew, then, there is a play on the name of Micah. Now, there's very little known about the prophet Micah except from the fact that he was from Moresheth. Now, Moresheth was near Judah, but it was also close to the Philistine line.

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• And if you look in Micah chapter 1 and verse 14, and because it was close to the Philistine territory, you will find sometimes it is called Moresheth Gath. Micah 1 and verse 14, "Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth Gath." And so here, Moresheth was in Judah, but it was close to the Philistine line. Now, the book of Micah is important for a number of reasons. Let me give you some of those reasons. First, this book does teach us the absolute sovereignty of God over all nations and especially His sovereignty in providential dealings in judgment over those nations. Second, the book is important because in this book you have an unmasking of the false rulers and the wicked rulers and an unveiling of the true ruler, which I shall point out before we close. And then thirdly, Micah is the one who summarizes true religion for us. If you look in Micah 6 and verse 8, Micah 6 and verse 8, here's a summary of true Christianity.

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• He says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" If I had time today to expound that passage, you would see that that is indeed the essence of true Christianity. So he tells us He has showed us what is good. We're to do justly—that is, we're to do righteously—and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

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• Fourthly, let me point out the book of Micah is important because it is this book that teaches us and prophesies of the birthplace of Jesus Christ. So if you look in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, Micah 5 and verse 2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Interestingly enough, this verse is quoted in Matthew 2 verses 4 through 6 in direct relation to the birth of Jesus Christ. So here is a book then that tells us specifically where the Messiah was to be born. Fifthly, this book is important because this book helped to save the life of Jeremiah the prophet. You say, how in the world did this book help to save the life of Jeremiah the prophet? Well, look in Micah chapter 3 and verse 12. Micah 3 and verse 12. Now, Micah is prophesying and he's prophesying concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.

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• So in Micah 3 and verse 12, Micah says, "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." So he is now prophesying that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. Now, Micah was also prophesying during the time of King Hezekiah. And King Hezekiah was indeed a good king. And when Micah prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem, guess what? Hezekiah the king did nothing to him.

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• He just simply received the prophecy. Now, I want you to hold the book of Micah, but turn back in your Bibles to Jeremiah 26. Let me show you how the book of Micah helped to save Jeremiah the prophet's life. In Jeremiah 26, let's begin reading there with verse 8, because Jeremiah is now prophesying of the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 26 verse 8: "Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house."

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• "Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you."

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• "As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem"

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• "shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls." So I want you to note, they came up and said, look, Micah prophesied the same thing Jeremiah's prophesied. Did Hezekiah put him to death? No.

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• And so what they're doing now is they're following biblical precedent. Therefore, Jeremiah is not being put to death either. So Jeremiah is allowed to escape because they chose to act according to biblical precedent.

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• Now, our text today is Micah 1, verses one through nine. As we examine the text today, I hope and pray that you will be utterly amazed. And when I say that, I simply mean this: as I read this passage, I was flabbergasted, I was amazed. And the thing that amazed me was this: how applicable and timely Scripture is to our modern day situation and circumstances. If you simply changed a couple of names and places, it would read like a modern day newspaper or a modern day journal. You see, Micah's time was not much different from our time.

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• Corruption, humanism, idolatry, and wickedness abounded. Further, I might add, it also abounded from the same places or the same geographical locations as it does in our time.

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• Now, when I began this message, I told you that I call the message "Capital Sins." And capital is spelled C-A-P-I-T-O-L. Let me tell you, first of all, when I speak of capital sins, I'm not speaking of C-A-P-I-T-A-L or capitalism or making money. Secondly, I'm not speaking about the fact that sins merit capital punishment, although certainly that will be included in this message to a certain degree and will form an integral thought in connection with this message. But primarily, the message is not about the death penalty. Thirdly, as I pointed out, the correct spelling for the title of this message is C-A-P-I-T-O-L, capital sins.

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• And when you hear the word capital, I'm referring then to the head of a state or the seat of a government or supposedly the origin of law and justice. Look back in your Bibles to Micah chapter 1 and verse 1, and Micah begins immediately telling us what his vision entails. "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."

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• Now in case you don't remember this, let me point out that there were 12 tribes. They had separated. The ten northern tribes had a capital, Samaria. The two southern tribes had a capital, Jerusalem. And so he tells you at the very beginning, this prophecy is dealing with Samaria and with Jerusalem. Now, Samaria is mentioned first because it was the head of the greatest body of people and also it was the first in transgression. Therefore, it is also going to be the first in punishment. So he tells you at the very beginning he's dealing with the capitals.

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• Of Israel and of Judah. Now look in verse 2 if you would, because in verse 2 Micah now calls the people and the earth to witness against these capitals. He says, "Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple." Now, what Micah is saying is this: Look, here the people can testify, the earth can testify, but there is even a greater witness against these capitals, and that is God Himself. And God will testify from His holy temple. He is the sovereign. He is the lawgiver. He is the judge, and He is the epitome of holiness, and He will declare the sins of these capitals and of the people, and He will judge them accordingly.

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• Now, watch, if you would, how this works out so far. In verse 1, he just tells you what his prophecy is about. In verse 2, he tells you that God is the supreme judge and that God will work His judgment. And then look how he explains it in verses 3 and 4: "For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place." Now, all of us know how wax melts before the fire. You just simply hold a wax to the fire and it just disintegrates. It runs everywhere. Likewise, we know how water runs down a steep place. It just simply goes freely and openly and easily and readily. Well, he says this is what God is going to do. God is going to arise and God is going to come out of His place and God is going to judge these capitals, these nations, and He's basically going to destroy them.

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• Now, look at verse 5 because this is where I really want to take the text from today and enlarge upon it. He says this: "For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?" Now, what Micah does in verse 5 is this.

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• He pinpoints the transgressions for which God will judge. He asks in verse 5, "What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?" And then he asks, "And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?"

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• Now, let me just point out the fact that usually in Bible times, as well as modern times, when people are confronted with their sins, the very first thing they do is deny them. "What? We didn't do that. We wouldn't do that. Surely that's not descriptive of us." Hold Micah chapter 1 and turn over your Bibles very quickly to the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 1. And let me show you how God deals with the people and how they readily and quickly deny their sins. Malachi 1 verse 6. And this is all throughout the book of Malachi.

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• "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?" And if you read through the book of Malachi, every time God confronts them, they ask the stupid question, "How did we do that?"

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• "Well, we could never do that. We wouldn't do that." Let me just read to you as you look back in your Bibles to the book of Micah chapter 1 in verse 5. Let me read to you just a short paragraph, a quote from John Calvin on verse 5. I thought this was interesting. Let's read verse 5 again: "For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?"

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• "And what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?"

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• Now listen to Calvin's comment: "Oh, what sort of thing is this sin? Why? Thou assumest here a false principle, that we are wicked men, ungodly and perfidious. Thou dost do us a grievous wrong. It is much then," he says, "as hypocrites thought themselves pure, having wiped as it were their mouths, whenever they eluded reproofs by their sophistries. The prophet borrows a question, as it were, from their own lips."

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• "Of what kind is this wickedness? Of what sort is this transgression? As though he said, I know what you are wont to do. When any one of the prophets severely reproves you, you instantly contend with him and are ready with your objections. But what do you gain? If you wish to know what your wickedness is, it is Samaria. And if you wish to know where your high places are, they're at Jerusalem."

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• So when you read verse five, God anticipates the objections of the people and says, look, this is what it's really, truly like. Now, let me point out that capital sins, C-A-P-I-T-O-L, do indeed deserve capital punishment. For instance, look in verse 6. What does God say He's going to do because of these capital sins? "Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot." And so God is just describing how He is going to destroy these capitals for their multitudinous transgressions.

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• Now, if you have not anticipated the point of this message today, allow me to clarify it. Here it is. God is saying, in Micah chapter 1, that the epitome of sin and transgression was found in the royal cities, or more plainly, in the capital cities.

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• Now, it is true that the people of the land were wicked. But here God has designated the leadership of the people as the main culprits in leading the nations astray. So, when God asks, "What is the transgression of Jacob?" He answers, "Is it not Samaria?" And when He asks, "What are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?" He is designating and singling out and pointing out their capitals.

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• Now, we could also rightly ask: What is the transgression of America? Is it not Washington D.C.? What is the transgression of the various states? Is it not each state's capital? Now, allow me to point out, if you have not noticed it, that our nation's capital, Washington D.C., is the hotbed of corruption, humanism, idolatry, wickedness and murder. Did you know that the District of Columbia has the highest murder rate of any state in the union?

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• And by the way, that does not include the so-called wars, police actions and political feuds that originate there. Have you noticed also that each state's capital is equally a leader in humanism, idolatry, and wickedness? If I wanted to know the most corrupt city in Georgia, the one with the highest crime rate, where would I go if I wanted to go to that city? I'd go to Atlanta. What about Florida? I'd probably go to Tallahassee.

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• Now, Miami may be a close second. And there would be a particular reason for that. But just stop and ask, why is it that each state's capital is usually the hotbed of corruption and crime? Well, what I want to do today is this. I want us to look through the book of Micah in particular, and the Scriptures in general, and see if we can discover what are capital sins.

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• And when I say that, I mean this: those sins for which God will destroy a people and a nation. Well, we don't have to look far, because our very first sin is revealed in Micah chapter 1, verse 5 and verse 7. Here we go. What are the capital sins? What are the sins that God will destroy a nation for? The first and most obvious sin of capitals is the sin of idolatry. Look in verse five: "For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria?"

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• "And what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?" Now the high places refer to idolatry. God was to be worshipped in His temple. But now they've made altars under every green tree and under every oak tree, the Bible says, because the shade thereof is good. That is, they wanted to be comfortable in their idolatry. And then if you look down in verse 7, when God is judging them, He says, "And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate." So He's dealing then with idolatry in particular.

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• Now, let's hold the book of Micah, but turn back in our Bibles to 1 Kings 12. Remember, if you would please, that Samaria is the capital of Israel. 1 Kings 12. And let me just show you and remind you that the main idolatry of Samaria began under Jeroboam I. 1 Kings 12, beginning there with verse 25. "Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

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• "And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense." This is the beginning of the calf worship in Israel.

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• Here was a new religion that was being introduced under Jeroboam I, and he did it purposely and deliberately in order that he might control the people and prosper his kingdom and his position and his authority. Look at verse 27. Look what he said: "If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah."

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• So what was his purpose then in introducing idolatry? To save his own kingdom. To advance his own family. He didn't care anything about the true worship of God or the honor of God. He knew that the temple of the Lord was in Jerusalem. And he said, if I go up and if I allow these people to go up, then they're going to turn back to Rehoboam.

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• Now, look what he said in verse 28. "Whereupon the king took counsel." This was not an accident, it was planned, it was premeditated. "The king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel."

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• Now listen to me carefully. Jeroboam knew what every tyrant has discovered. You cannot enslave a knowledgeable, obedient people. If you want to enslave a people, you must first turn them away from the Word of God and obedience to that God. And in doing so, you turn them away from God himself. Once the people are turned from God, then you may use your power, your money, your prestige, your authority as the ruler and turn them whithersoever you desire. In other words, to enslave the people, you must first get the people to lose their knowledge and be disobedient to the Word of God. You cannot enslave a knowledgeable, obedient people.

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• I hope you will remember about a year or so ago, I brought two messages on civil rulers and idolatry. And I'm certainly not going to re-preach those messages today, but I took you through the Bible and I showed you how that most idolatry, in fact all of it in the Bible, was introduced always by a civil ruler. And they always did it to further their own position and their own power. You've got to remember this, folks, that rulers are the ones who have the influence and the power and the money to attack Christianity and impose upon us a false, idolatrous religion.

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• And the reason they have the money is because they take it from the people and then ride roughshod over the people and demand submission of the people upon pain of confiscation of property, imprisonment, or death. Now, I'm also not going to re-preach my messages on Romans 13. But let me point out the fact that God ordained government for one reason. You'll find that in Romans 13.

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• And that is to be a minister of justice. And being God's minister of justice, government then has been ordained of God to be His deacon, His servant, His exacter of righteousness and His public worship.

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• Now, what we fail to remember is that government may become idolatrous just like anything else. Now, I want you to hold Micah 1, but please look in your Bibles to Psalm 94 and verse 20. Psalm 94, verse 20. And I want you to think of this verse, especially in light of Micah 1 and verse 5. Look at Psalm 94. Now, as you turn to Psalm 94, remember, if you would please, the question that God asked.

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• "What is the sin of Israel? Is it not Samaria? Where are the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?" The capitals, where law supposedly originated.

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• Now look in your Bibles to Psalm 94 and verse 20 at this question: "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" A throne speaks of royal power or government. God calls it a throne and then he calls it secondly, a throne of iniquity. So it's a wicked civil government. Now look at the question, shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with thee, that is with God? And we already know the answer to that, but then he even goes further, "which frameth mischief by a law," and the word mischief is a word for sin, which literally means which makes sin legal. So here's the question. Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with God when that wicked civil government makes sin legal? What's the answer? The answer is absolutely not. Why? Because it is doing that which is contrary to God and contrary to His word.

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• Let me remind you something about idolatry. Idolatry consists in turning men away from the true God and from the Word and from the law of the true God. Are you listening? Men may be turned away theologically. That is, they may be turned to another religion. Men may be turned away economically. Men may be turned away legally or judicially. We may be turned away morally. We may be turned away practically. In any way and in any area that we are turned from God and His Word, to that extent, we are guilty of idolatry. Now, here's the question.

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• Since he's asking in Psalm 94 in verse 20, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" Let's ask this question. How do governments then become idolatrous? Here's the answer. By disestablishing God's law and establishing humanistic or man's law. In other words, we turn men legally from the Law of God and turn them humanistically to the Law of Man. Isn't that simple? You say, come on.

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• Well, let me just show you. Look in your Bibles to 2 Kings, Chapter 17. 2 Kings 17. I know that you probably know this. Most of you do. But let me just try to make this clear for you. Look in 2 Kings, Chapter 17, and verses 7 and 8. 2 Kings 17, look in verse 7. Here God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. Look what it said. 2 Kings 17, verse 7: "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now let's just stop right there. God said, here's your sin. You have feared other gods. You haven't feared me. You feared other gods. How do we know they feared other gods? What was the evidence that they feared other gods? How do you fear other gods? Well, here's the answer. Look at the latter part of verse 7 again: "and had feared other gods."

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• Now here's the explanation. Verse 8: "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." That is the statutes of the kings of Israel, which they had made. If I told you that I was a Christian, and yet I began to obey Muslim law, would you not say, "He's not really a Christian. He's a Muslim." Because he's obeying Sharia, he's not obeying biblical law.

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• Now, how did these people fear other gods? Because they obeyed the laws of the heathen. And then he said, "and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." So the kings of Israel then were absorbing the heathenistic law and making that law and turning people from God's law. And that is idolatry. Now, look in chapter 17, 2 Kings 17 and verse 19. If that's not clear to you, 2 Kings 17, skip down to verse 19.

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• Here's why God had it against Jerusalem as well: "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made." So Samaria, King Ahab, Omri, Jeroboam, all those wicked kings, passed all of these humanistic laws, made them the law of the land. And what did Judah do? Judah said, we don't want God's law. We'll take the law of Samaria up there. We'll make it our law. And they turned away from God.

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• Now, since we're in the book of Micah, go to Micah chapter 6 and look at verse 16. Here it is again. This should be exceedingly plain by this time, but Micah 6 and verse 16. God says, "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people."

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• Now, why was God destroying Judah and Israel? Because they obeyed the law of man rather than the law of God, which is idolatry. And God said, I'll make you a hissing. I'll just make you desolate. What is the essence of idolatry? It is a denial of God and His word. Now, how do rulers, civil rulers, how do capitals deny God and His word? The answer is very simple: by disregarding, despising, deposing and denying God's law and establishing their own law in its place. What was the original sin of capitals that merited capital punishment? It is and was the sin of humanism, the sin of establishing man's law over God's law. The abounding political correctness, humanism, tolerance for crime, sin, false religion, support of sodomy, socialism, statism is nothing less than bald-faced idolatry. And it originates from our capital in Washington, D.C., and our state capitals as well. It's a capital sin. That's what God is crying out against in Micah 1. Secondly, if you look in Micah chapter 2, let me show you the second sin for which God will destroy a nation.

  #56 | 39:09 to 40:52 | cleaned

• Let's read chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. God says, "Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil."

  #57 | 40:54 to 41:27 | cleaned

• Now, as I pointed out before, it should be obvious to everyone that there is more corruption in Washington, D.C. than anywhere else in the country, and the state capitals will run a very close second. The curse of God, according to Micah 2, verses 1 through 3, is upon all of those who oppress people because of their greed and their corruption.

  #58 | 41:27 to 41:50 | cleaned

• Now look what he says in verse 1: "Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds!" What are they doing? They're lying awake at night planning, scheming, thinking of any way they can oppress and defraud and steal. And then he says, in verse 1, "when the morning is light, they practise it." That is, they put it into practice. Why? Look at what the Bible says, "because it is in the power of their hand to do it."

  #59 | 41:50 to 42:21 | cleaned

• I hope everyone in this room knows the difference between authority and power. When you have authority to do something, that means you have the right. But just because you have the power does not mean that you have the authority. I could go up to Brother Ernie and say, "Give me all your money." And he would look at me and say, "I'm not going to do it. You don't have the authority to take my money."

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• I said, "I may not have." And I reached behind me, pulled out a .357 Magnum, stick between his eyes, "but I've got the power."

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• "Now hand it to me or else." Big difference between authority and power. These didn't have the authority to do wrong, but they have the power to do wrong. And look, if you would, how it is specified in verse two: "And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage." Do you realize that homes and heritage mean nothing to idolatrous rulers? Nothing.

  #62 | 43:12 to 43:52 | cleaned

• Let me ask you, do you know who the biggest landowner in America is? Federal government. Did you know that the state of Nevada, over 90% of it is owned by the federal government? I don't know how much they own of Colorado and some of the other states. And the interesting thing is this. They're even now, I just read recently, where they're planning on taking more homes, more ranches, even more protected properties. Properties and homes and ranches that have been in existence for hundreds of years.

  #63 | 43:53 to 44:39 | cleaned

• Homes mean nothing to them. Heritage means nothing to them. Did you also know that it is unbiblical for civil rulers to confiscate land like that? You say, "What?" Well, turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel 46. Turn back to Ezekiel, Ezekiel 46, and let's look at verses 16 through 18. All I'm pointing out is this, the Bible has just never stopped picking on idolatrous civil rulers, but it is still a principle of biblical law. Look at Ezekiel 46, beginning there, verse 16. Ezekiel 46, verse 16.

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• "Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance." Well, that's common sense. The father, even if he's a prince, he gives his son something of his. It's theirs. Verse 17: "But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession." Now, God said if the government wants to give something, let it give what it has. If it doesn't have it, it can't give it.

  #65 | 45:30 to 46:27 | cleaned

• It can't take it from someone else and give it away. By the way, you may not realize this, but the Bible, God also forbids oppressive taxation. Look in Ezekiel 45, since you're right there. I hope you know that property tax is one of the most unbiblical, ungodly taxes of them all. Ezekiel 45, verse 8. Here it is, Ezekiel 45, verse 8: "In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God."

  #66 | 46:27 to 47:26 | cleaned

• "Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath." So, let me ask you this question. Why did I say that property tax is the most onerous and the most unbiblical of all taxes? Let me tell you why. Because when the state taxes property, it assumes ownership over all the property that it taxes. It claims to be the sovereign. Scripture states otherwise. The Bible says in Psalm 24 and verse 1, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." And 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 26, "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." And when you have a tax on property, you are saying that we, the state, own all the land. And therefore, we have the right to tax it.

  #67 | 47:27 to 48:28 | cleaned

• No, not biblically, but let me show you another illustration of humanistic idolatry. Here is Senate Resolution number 43 that was passed in April 1933. And I'm just reading Senate Resolution number 43: "The ultimate ownership of all property is in the state. Individual so-called ownership is only by virtue of government, in other words, law, amounting to mere user, and that use must be in accordance with law and subordinate to the necessities of the state." So our federal government says all property is owned by the state and that that you say that you own, no, no, no, no, you are a mere user and your using that property must be in accordance with the law and always subordinate to the necessities of the state. So if the state wants to come along and by eminent domain confiscate your property, it can do it according to humanism.

  #68 | 48:30 to 49:46 | cleaned

• Property tax, I might add, is offensive, oppressive, and it's a means of stealing, and it is an assumption of usurped authority and ownership over God's creation. God declares in verse 3, look at it, Micah 2 verse 3, all of those that plan and scheme to steal a man's property, his home, his heritage, "Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks." God said I will nail you for this, mark it down.

  #69 | 49:48 to 50:24 | cleaned

• Here is capital punishment for a capital sin. Thirdly, and very quickly, the third most obvious sin of capitals is economic dishonesty in trade, money and toil. Look in chapter three, if you would. Verse one: "And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?" May I remind you that the word judgment or justice and the word righteousness are synonymous. They're one and the same. "Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron."

  #70 | 50:26 to 51:25 | cleaned

• Now, by the way, this is what God is saying that the civil rulers are doing to the people. God states it is for the heads, or the civil rulers, to know judgment or to know justice. That is, they're supposed to know right and wrong. Yet, according to verse 2, they hate the good, and they love the evil. And then look how God describes them, this oppression. He says they pluck off the skin from His people.

  #71 | 51:25 to 51:54 | cleaned

• They take the flesh from their bones. They eat the flesh of the people. They flay their skin. They break their bones. They chop them in pieces for the pot as flesh within the caldron. Huh. I wonder if this is where we get our saying, "I'll skin you and eat you alive." Because that's exactly what God is condemning these civil rulers for. He says they are so wicked they will literally skin a man alive, chop him into pieces, and boil him and eat him.

  #72 | 51:55 to 52:28 | cleaned

• Now, I want you to look closely at this. Look in Micah chapter 3 beginning with verse 9. Micah 3 verse 9: "Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward."

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• My, does that sound familiar? "The priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." Now why was God destroying Jerusalem?

  #74 | 52:57 to 53:23 | cleaned

• Because of the perversion and wickedness of the civil rulers. They were indeed destroying the people. God hates false balances. He hates fraud. He hates deceit and dishonesty. And over and over throughout the Bible, God testifies against this. For instance, in Leviticus 19, verse 36, God says, "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt." In Ezekiel 45 and verse 10, which we just read earlier, "Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath." By the way, these commands were given directly to civil rulers.

  #75 | 53:24 to 54:16 | cleaned

• And the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," equally applies to government as it does individuals as well. And yet, what do we have in this country? We have no money. We have a fraudulent federal reserve system which is neither federal nor reserve, in spite of the fact that the Constitution of the United States demands silver and gold as money and that each state can only make silver and gold a tender for payment of debts. And what we have done is this, in our government we have developed a system to rob the people thereof by use of paper money. You see, paper money is easy to steal when you have paper money.

  #76 | 54:18 to 55:05 | cleaned

• Inflation is nothing more than a hidden tax. And you can steal without the people realizing it. Let me just read to you in case you might think I'm talking off the top of my head, but here it is. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States: "Congress shall have the power to coin money, and regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." What does Congress have the power to do? To coin money, and to fix the standard of weights and measures, that is, all this money. Article 1, Section 10: "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." That's our Constitution. Why then do we not have gold and silver? Because of fraudulent, oppressive government, which is nothing more than a means of stealing.

  #77 | 55:05 to 56:22 | cleaned

• I do this constantly, and it's really fun, but to look at the people's faces when I do it. I go to pay for some gasoline, and I hand the lady a $20 bill. And, of course, the first thing she does is take that little pen out and mark it and see if it's right. And I say, "All of it is counterfeit. No reason to mark it." I said, "I don't care if the government does print it. It's not money." So I hand her a $20 bill. It's not really a dollar, that's another thing, but I hand her a 20 Federal Reserve note bill, okay?

  #78 | 56:24 to 57:02 | cleaned

• And she hands me back four ones. And I say, "You know, something is wrong." She says, "What is it?" I say, "You know, I now have four times as much money as I had before I paid for my gas." Come on, if paper's money, I got four pieces now when I originally only gave her one. I have four times as much as I had before. "Oh, but the one you gave me had a 20 on it."

  #79 | 57:03 to 57:31 | cleaned

• I said, "Oh, it's the ink pen that makes it valuable, not the paper. Is that it?" You know as well as I do. It's not money. The Constitution demands gold and silver. Unhappily, most civil governments, including our own, have become that which is spoken of in Hosea chapter 12 and verse 7. Let me just quote it. God says, "He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress." We've been stripped of our silver and our gold. We've been stripped of our homes and our property. And we're being quickly stripped of what little freedom we have left. Now, look in your Bibles to Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6.

  #80 | 57:31 to 58:40 | cleaned

• And let's begin reading with verse 10, and I hope this becomes exceedingly obvious to you when we get to the last verse. Micah 6, verse 10: "Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?" See, God's condemning these false measures now. "For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth."

  #81 | 58:40 to 59:13 | cleaned

• "Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine." Why?

  #82 | 59:14 to 59:43 | cleaned

• Why is God's judgment falling? Why? All this wickedness, verse 16: "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people." Because of wicked, vile, humanistic laws. Wicked, ungodly laws are designed for theft. It is the sin for which God will visit a nation. It is the sin for which God will destroy nations. God told Jerusalem that she shall be plowed as a field and mark her down. The same judgment will be to all those who despise God and His laws.

  #83 | 59:44 to 1:00:49 | cleaned

• Now, let me make another one application today. Here's my application to all I've said. I have good news. And I have even better news. There is no bad news today. I only have good news. The first good news I have that you should be able to rejoice in, is that the wicked shall be destroyed. God will overthrow them. God will destroy them. Listen to what God said in Job 24 and verse 24.

  #84 | 1:00:51 to 1:01:31 | cleaned

• "They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn." God said, I'll take care of them. Just like the psalmist said in Psalm 37 in verse 10, "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." God will not at all acquit the wicked. God will deal with them. God will judge them. God will destroy them. So that's good news. But there's even better news. The better news is this.

  #85 | 1:01:31 to 1:02:12 | cleaned

• We shall have a righteous, holy, godly, pure, and gracious sovereign ruler shortly. One who will rectify all wrongs. One who will correct all errors. One who will make everything right. And one who will rule with a scepter of holiness. The Bible says in Hebrews 10 in verse 37, "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry."

  #86 | 1:02:15 to 1:02:55 | cleaned

• Now let me show you. Look in Micah chapter 5, verse 2. Micah 5, verse 2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth." Now skip over to Micah chapter 4 and verse 1. Here is our new sovereign ruler. "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains."

  #87 | 1:02:56 to 1:03:58 | cleaned

• That is our Lord's kingdom. "And it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks."

  #88 | 1:03:58 to 1:04:30 | cleaned

• "Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." Jesus Christ, the sovereign ruler, shall return and complete His kingdom and eradicate from it everything that offends and establish His law and His righteousness and His people. And then we shall sit, as the Bible says, every man under his own vine and every man under his own fig tree, glorying and worshipping the one true and righteous ruler, Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. Let's pray. Father, we bow to Thee this day and we're so thankful that the book of Micah not only exposes wicked rulers, it reveals the one righteous ruler. And we pray with the Apostle John, even so, come Lord Jesus. We pray as Thou hast taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

  #89 | 1:04:30 to 1:05:55 | cleaned

• And Lord, we pray that You would give us grace and mercy to serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Help us, Lord, to live for Thee and to be holy and godly and bring our lives in conformity to Your Word. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:41:15Z