Ben Bolin, Lead Teaching Pastor at Travis Avenue Baptist Church, preached from Micah in SWBTS Chapel on October 16, 2025.
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Would you turn in your Bible to the book of Micah this morning, we’ll begin in chapter one. Thank you so much, Dr. Dockery, for the invitation to come. And it is an honor and a privilege, the pinnacle of my education, to be at Southwestern Thank you Southwestern family for the joy and the professors that have invested in my life in ministry, I am grateful. About two to three weeks before the semester begins, I begin to conjure up what I will call a holy discontent as the semester begins, or we see it on the horizon, and I will go on the portal to see whether the professor has uploaded a certain document for me to see that certain document that when it appears somewhat like Christmas. Now I open it and it is filled with beautiful words, outcomes and objectives and descriptions, none of which I read. Now I am confident that the first day of class, those things will be covered.
But I am interested in one thing primarily, and I scroll down until we get to requirements. What is it going to take to pass this class to be able to continue on my educational journey? That is what matters in the moment. Well, I like to know when and where, because there is a day of reckoning that is coming. And let this be your mid semester reminder. If you have not read your syllabus in a little while, you might want to pull that back out and check those dates once more. But how much more important that we would understand a living God who has created the world the heavens above us, and a God that desires us to have a relationship with him? How much more important should we understand what He requires? And Micah, comes with a warning that a day of reckoning is coming, because the people, God’s people, have lost sight of what He requires. Micah is written in the late eighth century. He is a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah, one one, if you’ll read with me, the word of the Lord that came to Micah, the more shite what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
That’s all the introduction that we get from him. But from that, we can deduce a few things, that between those three kings, he would have had a ministry of 30 to 50 years. And from his background and location, about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, he’s not a city guy. He’s a country preacher. And we see in this time period, Isaiah is with the king a lot, but he’s addressing Main Street more than the palace, and thus he sees the corruption of Main Street and addresses it strongly. He does not mix words. He speaks truth. He calls out the corruption, and he receives push back. Look at chapter two, verse six. I love the way this is phrased. Here’s what he says, quit your preaching. They preach. They should not preach these things. Shame will not overtake us as Micah is declaring the truth of God. They’re saying. They’re preaching back to him. Quit this. You’re not going to involve us in shame. We’re going to live the way we would desire, and you will not bring conviction upon us. But Micah is faithful. God uses him and other faithful prophets in this time, in the third King, Hezekiah, we do see a return to the worship of God. And even while he he prophesies over Assyria coming in the northern kingdom falling during his time period, he sees God stay judgment in the land of Judah for 115 years, a ministry that matters means something.
Within the book, we see three oracles in Micah, chapters one and two are a declaration in chapters three through five, and then six and seven being the third one, and each one begins with a command to hear, hear what I’m saying to Shema, to listen, because what I have to say is important, and we’re going to draw out four truths about God from the book of Micah that will help us understand and know and respond to what God requires. First thing that we need to understand is that God hates sin and judges. Those who committed now, that is probably not new information to you today, but in the reality of how Micah speaks of what is taking place in the land that he is ministering in, it is a heightened language. Growing up, my mother would call me when she needed to correct me, and then she would call me a different way when I was really in trouble. And I learned to know the difference, and I ran a little bit faster when the second call came. Micah is using the tone of a second call. There’s trouble on the horizon. And yes, God hates the sin of idolatry, the sin against Him, but Micah, and Micah is going to address that, and he does, but he spends more time addressing how the sin against other people affects our relationship with God.
It matters to God how we treat one another, it is sin against God when we fail in what God requires against one another. And so he prophesies that God will punish Samaria and that Jerusalem’s gate. They will come to Jerusalem’s gate. All of that took place, but he’s calling out a premeditated oppression that people are using for land and inheritance. Look at chapter two. Verse one, woe to those who dream up wickedness and prepare evil plans on their beds at morning light. They accomplish it because the power is in their hands. They covet fields and seize them. They also take houses. They deprive a man of his home, a person of his inheritance. He said, You guys are sitting up at night while you’re going to bed, thinking of ways that you can do something not right, or pull one over on someone else, so that you can receive more, so that you can get more in return, you’re How can I get their house? How can I get their inheritance? How can I con them out of what is theirs a corruption in the second Oracle, he directs it towards the leaders and the leadership, the failure of leadership in Israel and Judah at the time. And he says, aren’t you supposed to know what is just?
And then in chapter three, he says, You love evil and you hate what is good. He calls them out for more than action, but for the affections of their heart. When you should love what is good, you are instead loving what is evil, that’s what is exciting you. That’s what you’re enjoying in life, and you’re hating what is good. You’re hating what God says to do. So the problem here is not just the action, but it is the attitude and the motive of the heart. They’re not just doing this. They’re loving doing this in an illustration, Micah says it’s like you’re tearing skin, you’re eating it. You’re breaking bones and chopping them up like meat. In other words, you’re devouring one another, and as a leader, one who’s been placed by God for a responsibility to take care of others. Instead, you’re devouring people. How can I use How can I abuse someone else for my gain? Look in chapter three, verse 11, as he calls out three specific groups, he says, her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divinations for silver, yet they lean on the Lord, saying, is it the Lord among us, no disaster will overtake us.
There were corrupt judges looking the other way, failing in their task to administer the justice of God. There were corrupt priests teaching for a price elsewhere. He says, Man, when their bully, when their bellies are full, they’re preaching peace, but when the offering plate is empty, they’re making war. The goal and the purpose is, what can I get from the practice of caring for the people of God and their prophets have become corrupt, practicing divination, prophesying for the highest bidder. What is it you want me to tell you? God wants you to do for the right price, I can give you all the freedom to indulge in whatever you would desire. And the call of judgment is that Jerusalem will be destroyed in three verse 12, and that the Lord will judge them by silence. In the third Oracle, he calls the mountains to hear, creation to hear and he explains the depth of decay that has happened. And in chapter seven, verse five and six. He says you can’t even trust your family. I mean, the ones who are supposed to have your back, your father, your mother, the one you share your bed with.
It says they’re going to turn on you. There is such corruption and a desire for more and a desire for gain that I’ll even turn in my own spouse if it means I get more. God hates sin and judges those who commit it, and particularly in Micah, he hates what we do to others that is wrong. But thankfully, that’s not the end that God desires restoration, and in each one of these oracles. It is a message of hope. Is included. In the first Oracle, a remnant of Israel is preserved through the Messiah, who will break open the way. In the second Oracle, it is peace that will come the coming age, a peace of a king, by the way, that King is going to come from Bethlehem, and he’s going to be from ancient times. And one of the most beautiful prophecies of the coming Messiah, in the third Oracle, he will come and rebuild and expand the borders. The Lord will restore and expand what has been taken. You might say that Micah is a messiah centered preacher. He doesn’t let a message go by without seeking and showing the hope that would come. But there is still a broken covenant.
There is still corruption, in spite of the hope that he gives. Which brings us to chapter six. How is a man to respond? What does God require of him. If you’re people in this age, you might even say it like this, God, what do we have to do to get you off our back? So God brings them into with the language of courtroom to bring an indictment against his people. Look at verse one in chapter six. Now listen to what the Lord is saying. Rise, plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your complaint. He’s calling creation to come and to listen. They were there when the covenant was made, therefore they should witness this as well. Verse two, listen to the Lord’s lawsuits. You mountains and enduring foundations of the earth, because the Lord has a case against his people, and he will argue it against Israel, my people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you?
Testify against me. Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam ahead of you, My People. Remember what King Balak of Moab proposed, what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, and what happened from acacia Grove to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the Lord’s righteous acts, God brings his people into the courtroom to lay out the evidence, an indictment. What have I done? I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you out of slavery. I ransomed you. I sent leaders that helped and guess what? They followed me, unlike your leaders, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and don’t you remember what I did for you with Balak, the king of Moab. Remember Balak wants to curse Israel, and so he hires Balaam to do the job. And by God’s miracle and miraculous intervention through the talking donkey that is thwarted, God says, who did that? Would you bring a case against me?
Oh God, your rules are so overpowering. Look at what I have done for you. From Acacia Grove or Shittim down to Gilgal, the book of Joshua begins with the people there on the eastern side of the Jordan River. God has brought them there. He promised it, and now they’re here. But how are they going to get over? How are they going to get to Gilgal on the other side? Oh, God’s got that taken care of, too. And he causes the river to cease, and the people to walk over on dry land. And at Gilgal, the people come together, the new generation that has not seen the work of the Lord, and they are circumcised, and they renew the covenant. There, God is calling them back to remember what he has done in the past. And he says, so that you might know the righteous acts.
Yes, God has acted justly. God is saying, I’m guilty. I’m guilty of covenant faithfulness. So what are we to do? How are we to respond? God continues, and Micah shares in verse six, what should I bring before the Lord? So if this is true, I’m in trouble. How about this? How about burnt offerings? That’s always a winner, right? As an Israelite, we we sin, we give offerings. And this is a thing that has happened for many, many years. You even wonder if Micah may have been giving this message and Passover at a time when people would be doing these things, yeah, just go ahead, keep offering your sheep. Oh, wait a minute, that’s not sufficient. How about this? How about a year old calf now that that’s saying, God, you’re special, a choice sacrifice.
Not that would the Lord be pleased with 1000s of rams? Now you’re talking about a Solomon size sacrifice, no 10,000 streams of oil, oil coming over as sacrifice to the Lord. Will that satisfy you? You get the idea here that what’s happening rhetorically, is that game we would play as kids, where it’s like, well, I could do it 100 times. I could do it 200 300 1000 infinity, and the all time winner, infinity times infinity. Would that be sufficient? Or in a particularly poignant situation, should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin? Is that what you’re requiring, what makes that so heartbreaking is that Scripture tells us that Ahaz, the king during this time period, offered his children to the fire in pagan an act of pagan worship. The king of Judah takes his children, sacrifices them on the altar, just for that purpose, to appease him. Will that be sufficient?
Verse eight, mankind. O, man, you, who are not God, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you to act justly, to love faithfulness and to walk humbly with your God. He’s already told you, this isn’t new information. This should be already written on your hearts and established, and yet you continually go the other way. What does the Lord require? A faithfulness to him in action, but not just in action, not just sacrifice, but in motivation and in posture before Him. The Lord requires that you practice justice, justice that is outlined in the Mosaic Covenant, outlined, how should we treat one another, protect one another against injustice? The beauty of God’s laws is they are not just between him and us, but they affect other covenant community members.
In verse 11, he’ll say, here’s what, here’s a start. Stop putting your finger on the weight of the scale. Stop cheating one another for your own benefit. The 10 Commandments, four of them are directed at God, six of them toward one another. Why? In light of who God is, it matters how we treat one another. It matters. God hates it when we cheat one another, when we treat others wrongly. It isn’t a sin and an affront against him. So practice justice. But that’s not where it ends. Love, faithfulness, love, mercy, hesed, love, this covenantal love that I have given you. Covenant exclusivity, a covenant fidelity. Don’t go worship other gods. You are, my people be faithful to me, but it’s more than that, because hesed includes kindness and mercy. God chose them, not because they were worthy, but out of his loving kindness. He has chosen them, and in response to that, we realize when we grasp God’s covenant faithfulness, then it motivates to then be faithful to others, to love them. Well, it isn’t a list of things we have to do to the people that bug us or annoy us. It is out of a worship and an understanding, a loving, act.
The faithfulness of God, then, how can we not respond to other image bearers in the same way? And in this context, how can we not respond to other covenant members the same way? I will oftentimes talk with couples that are struggling in marriage, and I thought, What? What if someone were to walk up to me and or what if a husband were to come in one day to his wife in their house and say, Honey, I did not sleep around on you today. So I hope you’re happy I did what was right. Often, when I will talk with couples who are struggling, I call it descending into covenant checklists. I will do this, this, this and this, if you respond, this, this, this, this and this, one of my goals, and one of our goals as brothers and sisters in Christ, should be to come around them and say, Hey, brother, it’s really good that you’re you’re trying to do right. But there’s more to that covenant. You spoke because you also covenanted to love, honor and cherish. It’s not just in the doing of justice. It is in the heart that we bring a loving of faithfulness because of a faithful God, and then a humility before Him, to walk humbly, to seek wisdom from God.
It’s the idea that I don’t come in with arrogance knowing exactly what to do, but I am regularly living my life continuously in humility toward the Lord, saying, Lord, how do I respond to one another? I do have a brother or sister who I’m at odds with, or I’m struggling with, or they just get on my nerve. How do I respond humbly in light of your loving faithfulness to them? Then help me do it and accomplish it, a submission to God’s sovereignty. Of course, we fail. This is what God requires, and this is what we have not done. This is what they have not done, and what we have not done. And so in this requirement, we see the incredible truth that Jesus has met this requirement, Jesus has, in humility, come taken the form of a servant, served us when we did not deserve it because of his relationship with the Father. He has come laying down a faithful love through the shedding of His blood so that any might come and join the covenant who would receive and he has a perfect record of justice. He knew no sin. He is the one who has accomplished what God requires.
And why, why would we even, why would even Micah put this in there, if there is no hope, and this is where we get the third theme that God requires repentance. He hates sin. He desires restoration, but he desires and he requires repentance. The reason this is here is so that the people might hear and understand what God requires and repent from their sin. Repentance is not just a stopping of sin, but a turning and pursuing what God requires, a life that desires to live justly, in loving faithfulness, in mercy and in humility to God Himself. God requires covenant faithfulness in our actions, yes, but also in our motivation and our posture. And it is important to remember that sacrifice is not a substitute for loving faithfulness. I think this is a particular danger for us who seek to serve others, and who seek to prepare in seminary, to begin to think somewhere along the line, well, I’m the exception. Look at what I’ve sacrificed. Every one of you sitting here have sacrificed something to be in this room seeking to serve the Lord, but it is a reminder that it is not sacrifice that He desires us to do the right thing, to do justly, to love his faithfulness with our heart and in humility come before him, I. Offer three encouragements this morning from this text. The first is this, that we would live like God requires that we would purpose in our heart, a posture, a motivation and an action that would serve as a litmus test for us. How many decisions do we make during the day?
How many people in our lives do those affect? Are we making these decisions primarily out of selfishness? Are we making them out of a humility that leads to an overwhelming appreciation of His faithfulness that then, in turn, helps me treat others justly? I have found in the study of this over the last few weeks, a litmus test for my own life. When I’m responding to my spouse or my kids or my neighbor, God really cares how I treat them, and he really cares about the motive that I have in treating them certainly we live like God requires. The second I would encourage you with is this We lead like God requires. The reason that corruption is overwhelming is the leadership that is supposed to lead them to God has become corrupt themselves. And if we as those who would lead, as those who would lead the church, the people of God to encourage them, if we are to care more about our own gain, then God’s faithful love to them, then we have failed in every level of society and friends in ministry, we are not exempt from it. We have the opportunity to play politics, and it can be a fun game and a challenging game, but I pray for each one of us that we would have such a commitment to the loving faithfulness of God that we would choose to do the right thing as we care for others.
There will come a time in your ministry where you’ll be sitting across from someone in the pastor’s office who makes a lot of money, who could provide something that your church needs, or, let’s just face it, could help meet budget so that you could feed your kids, but they want you to do something or to not do something that you’re currently doing, that you believe the Lord has called you to do, and in that moment, I pray that we do what God requires, to act justly, To love faithfulness, to walk humbly with our God. To those who are preparing for the mission field, there will come an opportunity to take a shortcut. It might even save years of your time. Opportunity last January to spend some time with Dr Naylor in India and to see the work there. And they are waiting years for certain things to take place, but they are committed not to offer bribes, but to act justly loving faithfulness. And in humility with their God. We live like God, we lead like God, and when we fail, we repent like God requires. Repent like he requires. Why? Why do we repent?
Repentance and belief, the very air of the gospel, what we have come to know and love and continually practice. Go to the end of Micah, verse seven, or sorry. Chapter seven, verse 18. This is the hope that Micah ends with, who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of His inheritance. He does not hold on to His anger forever, because He delights in faithful love. The reason we come in repentance saying, God, I have not done what you have required is because God delights in faithful love. He delights to show His mercy to his faithful remnant. So we respond by coming, by repenting and by pursuing what God requires, not out of a check. List, but out of a joy of a life who has experienced His faithful love to us, now I can go and in faithful love to him, treat others with faithful love as well. In a few weeks, I don’t know if you’re going to receive mercy from your professors. I have no guarantee for you on that, and as a professor at a different institution once said, if you’re looking for mercy, don’t look to me.
Look to Jesus. And he is right, if we’re looking for mercy, if we’re looking for someone who is loving faithfulness toward us, we look to Jesus, and because of his faithful love, we pursue faithfulness in humility, in mercy and justice. Would you sing this with me? Great is thy faithfulness? Great is thy faithfulness? Morning by morning, new mercies, I see all I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness. Lord unto me.
