Shabbat Shalom. We are going to continue in this ministry meeting to speak about the prophet Michah. And I would like you please to open your Bibles to the third chapter of the prophet Michah, Micah. And this is a very sad chapter that the Lord is really charging his beloved nation Israel in this third chapter. He develops in addition to what he already said in chapter one we had a case against the nation Israel the northern tribe Judah the southern tribes in the second chapter he continued to speak against the wealthy and powerful and he charged them in the way that they were treating his own people the people of Israel and Judah and in chapter 3 he continues and he's now speaking more or less to two additional groups that we find here in this chapter number one he's speaking to the heads to the princes to the political rulers and secondly he's speaking to the prophets and to the seers the one who's supposed to lead the nation spiritually and so follow me as i'm reading these 12 verses of the third chapter of the prophet micha and i said here i pray you all heads of Jacob and ye princess of the house of Israel is it not for you to know judgment 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 cauldron. Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them. He will even hide his face from them at the time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cries, Peace! And he that putteth not into their mouth, they even prepare war against him. Therefore, night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision, and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine.

And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded. Yet they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer of God. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 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 and 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. This is verse 12 of Micah chapter 3. I read the whole chapter, very sad chapter, beloved brothers and sisters, that the prophet Michal is speaking for the Lord against the northern tribes and the southern tribes. Not too long from that point of time the northern tribes of Israel will be taken captive by the assyrian and a bit later the southern tribe Judah and benjamin will be taken to Babylon by the Babylonian micha was preaching and speaking to the nation and we have already covered in the first two chapters how he spoke against the nations at large and then he became more specific in the second chapter how he spoke specifically against those who are well to do and powerful and they abuse their position because of their wealth and power but now he's zeroing in to additional two groups of people and they are the heads the princes the political leaders and then later on the prophets the nevi'im as we call them in Hebrew and so you can see now in these 12 verses very sad chapter really to deal with but we cannot avoid it because it is indeed the word of God and there are many applications that we can learn from this chapter about the present day church of our Lord.

Yeshua the Messiah the same warnings the apostles in the epistle give to the spiritual leaders of the body of Messiah the body of Christ and so there are three points here that we are going to speak about in this third chapter the first one is the charge that God has again the officials the political rulers the political leaders of that nation if you remember when God had called Israel our own nation to come out of Egypt and establish as a nation he set upon them Kings but he also set rulers such as spiritual leaders the king will run the political affairs but the prophets and the priests they are to lead the nation spiritually and among our people Israel the Kings were to be godly the political rulers are to be godly and submit to God just the same like we have the priests and the prophets of course in this day in which we live in in the church age we are called out of this world the church is a heavenly company and in a sense.

The church and the state do not mix because the state in general is a nation that do not accept God the Messiah and we have been chosen out of this world to be separated from this world but when it's come to our nation Israel of all to God's earthly people the state were connected with the spiritual element in other words you cannot be a godless king in Israel God will judge you he will discipline you and therefore there is always a link between the political heads the political rulers and the religious leaders of Israel so he began here beloved brothers and sisters he charging in this third chapter the officials those that are the heads and the princes of Israel you notice he says first of all in verse one he called you remember that we said that when we studied the book of Micah it's divide itself into three sections chapter one and two he's calling he said hear all ye people and then in chapter 3 again he used the word hear.

Shimo listen and he began by telling the political leaders of Israel to hear what he has to say and so he began in verse 1 and he said to them here i pray you o heads of Jacob and ye princess of the house of Israel you notice the word heads it means in Hebrew the word rosh means head the heads of Israel those who are the political leaders of Israel and secondly he said hear ye the princess of the house of Israel the word for prince come from the Hebrew word katsin ok tzinei beit yisrael and katzin is like a person in a military who has certain position in a military here we have those who had position in leadership among the nation of Israel and notice what he tell them is it not for you to know judgment he's telling the leaders don't you know how to justly judge and evaluate things?

Don't you, in a leadership responsibility, know how to judge justly? He says, you need to know that. And you know that. And apparently, they did not treat the rest of the nation in the right way. They used their elevated position to abuse that which they have had. And it is happening today in the political world today a person that has a political position if he's not careful he can use this position to abuse that which had been given unto him and so he says is it not for you to know judgment the word for judgment is in the Hebrew mishpat justice to judge rightly don't you know how to judge rightly and then he tells them in verse 2a he says look what you are doing look what's happening with you you hate good and you love evil in other words you hate that which is good that which is tov in Hebrew good and wholesome and instead of hating the evil you hate the good and then the opposite he says you love evil instead of loving good and hating evil they have ending up to hate the good and love the evil this is exactly the reverse of what God expected from leadership he expected from the leadership of Israel and the leadership of the church of the.

Assembly today to love that which is good and to hate that which is evil years ago to the prophet Isaiah God said in chapter 5 and verse 20 he gave a woe to the nation he says woe unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter you see they have arrived to a point of time in the history where they were twisting the truth and they were calling evil good and good evil in fact not only that they were calling that they actually hate the good and love the evil that was not a condition that God wanted the nation of Israel to be I want to read a verse through the prophets Amos chapter 5 and verse 14 we read these verses seek good and not evil that ye may live and so the Lord the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment.

In the gate it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph this is Amos chapter 5 and verse 14 and 15 you see God want not only his own people but the leadership of his people to seek good and not evil to hate the evil and love that which is good but apparently when Micha was ministering 730 or so BC when he was ministering the word apparently at that time the leadership of Israel hated the good and loved the evil when you have such a leadership like this political leaders who hate good and love evil you are in the road to destruction whether it is nationally among the people of Israel or the whole nations of the world today when a nation hates that which is good and love that which is evil this nation is heading in a direction of destruction and God appealed to the nation of Israel to love that which is good and to hate that which is evil but apparently the political rulers of that time were in such a condition.

That they hated the good and they loved that which was evil. You remember what Yeshua said in the Gospels? Even with his relationship, you remember to the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew that we are to seek good and if somebody does evil to us not to give them evil for evil but good for evil. That is the standard that God gives for the people of God and the leadership here, the political leaders, the officials, the heads, and the princes should have had this type of attitude, but apparently they didn't. And now notice in verse 2b and verse 3, God described before us, there is a description of their activity, how they have treated those they were over them.

And it says here, there are five things, you notice what it says here about them, It says in verse 2b and verse 3, who pluck of their skin from of them, and their flesh from of their bones. Verse 3, who also eat the flesh of my people. Then verse 3b, and they flay their skin from of them, and they break their bones, And they chopped them in pieces as for the pots and as flesh within the cauldron. Now notice that. Their activity was so negative and so bad that we have here a description of somebody preparing an animal for a meal. You notice that? They pluck off their skin.

They eat the flesh. They flay their skin, and then they break their bones, and then they chop the meat into pieces, and they put it into a pot, ready to be boiled and to be eaten. Now what we have here in this description here, the word is simply, obviously they were not literally doing this to the people, but their behavior was so terrible because the description here as if they were totally not recognizing the value of the rest of the nation their leadership the position was more important to them and this order these five words you have they're here they pluck they eat they flay they break they chop in Hebrew gazlu achlu in other words what they have done literally is like a person in the kitchen preparing a meal and taking an animal flaying the skin breaking the bone chopping the meat putting it in a pot and getting it ready to be burnt on the fire for a meal now of course this is only a physical description of the behavior that they behave towards the people that they were dear to the Lord you notice he said to them in verse 3 who also eat the flesh of my people God always called.

The nation of Israel his people are me they are my people and that's how you in this political position in the headship position that's how you treat my people like an animals in a wrong way this is by the way was a warning that was given throughout Scripture as well to the leadership of the people of God in the present day dispensation how they are to treat those whom God had placed us as responsible over we read first Peter chapter 5 and we can reread this again how the apostle petros Shimon petros gave their responsibility to the leaders and he tell them listen that is the way that you are to treat the people the heritage of God that which belong unto God.

And so in verse 1, 2, and 3, we can see the call of God to the heads and the princes of the people of Israel, Rashi Yaakov Ktsinei Beit Yisrael. And now he's telling them, look at the result of your behavior. In verse 4, there will be a judgment. And God is going to deal with the. Political rulers of the nation of Israel and look what he's saying to them in verse 4 he said then shall they cry unto the Lord this is the heads and the princes but he will not hear them he will even hide his face from them at the time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings what God is saying to the heads to the princess he says you watch it and you will see that your day also will come when you are going to come one day and you will need to cry to me for mercy and for help I tell you that when you're going to cry to me I'm not going to hear you when you're going to need help and assistance I will hide my face from you it is an incredible principle beloved brothers and sisters this is amazing because when we deal with people in a wrong way there'll be a time that we will need the Lord's help and we will need mercy to.

Be extended unto us and God says to them you know what you're going to cry to the Lord to Jehovah but he will not hear you oh yes he heard your cry but he will not respond to your cry he will turn his face he will hide his face from you and he will not help you in your need you know one of the things that we have the Aaronic blessing when we close a meeting together we say In other words, what God is saying, the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you. This is the Aaronic blessing. This is the blessing that God blessed Israel through the priest that may his face shine upon you but here the face of the Lord going to be hidden from those heads of Israel from those princes of Israel because the way they have treated the people of God the nation of Israel if you turn with me to a verse in the book of Proverbs chapter 1 verse 22 Solomon Shlomo the king of Israel gave a real appeal to people at large and he said in Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 22 he says how long ye simple one will ye love simplicity and scorners delight in their scorning fools hate knowledge turn you at my reproof behold i will pour out my spirit unto you i will make known my words unto you and then notice what he says but they didn't obey they didn't respond so Shlomo the king continue speaking for the Lord in the Proverbs and he says because I have called, and ye refused.

I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reprove, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. You see what that tells us? The responsibility that we have in our behavior towards others, Because sooner or later, there will be a time that we will need to cry to the Lord and ask for help.

And then, because of the discipline of God, it says, When they shall call upon me, I will not answer. When they shall seek me early, they shall not find me. There is a warning here that we need to heed it for ourselves. The importance of when the Lord give us a place of responsibility so we will take it from the hand of the Lord and we will use it in a way that is honoring to him and that we will treat others in a way that is pleasing to the Lord because when there is day coming if we have done it in the wrong way that when we're going to cry to the Lord he will simply not hear our cry and he will turn his face from these leaders of that time and it's applying for us today beloved brothers and sisters God is gracious God is loving but he's also holy and just and he will deal with his people as well the same way he has dealt with our nation Israel historically so verses one two three and for the charge of God against Israel officials the political leaders of Israel the heads and the princes verse 5 now to verse 7 here's a second charge but this time not to the political leaders.

But this time it is a charge against the false prophets a prophet in Hebrew navi his responsibility is to prophesy to speak forth the word of God in order to edify the nation of Israel to rebuke them to correct them to instruct them to help them to be corrected and instructed to give them the truth of the word of God sincerely as unto the Lord and to help them to get closer to the Lord and to be edified and built up but look what happened here in verses five to seven look what the prophets the false prophet we call them in Hebrew nevi a sheker false prophet we read here that they cause the people to err they actually cause the people to go astray verse 5 say thus says the Lord concerning the prophets the nevi'im that make my people air that bite with their teeth cries peace shalom and he that put us not into their mouth they even prepare a war against him now he's telling us here a few things about the false prophets nevi'e shekel the first thing he's.

Telling here in this verse 5 they are making my people to err to go astray the Hebrew word simply means to give them wrong information imagine if you will ask me to get to somewhere to a certain street and i will tell you to go the exactly opposite direction to give you a false information of how to get to a certain destination. Same thing with spiritual things. There is a responsibility to give a clear message from the Word of God and not to give a false information. And therefore, he's saying, look what the prophets are doing. They make my people to err. In other words, to receive a false information.

So when you get the false information, you cannot get in the right direction. False information. And then the second thing, they bite with their teeth. What does that mean, bite with their teeth? You know, when you don't speak rightly, when you try to mumble and to say something and you know that you are going to lead astray someone, you kind of bite with your teeth. You don't clearly and freely present the message. And he continues here with the next thing in verse 5 he says also and they cry peace they cry shalom in other words they say shalom oh everything is fine there is shalom there's nothing to worry everything is correct everything is fine they cry aloud hey shalom shalom peace peace while it is really not peaceful things are not right they don't give the right sound the right message to those they proclaim the message those are those prophets who are responsible to give a clear message and notice the last point that he mentioned here in verse five in total there are four points they cause the people to err they bite their teeth they cry shalom falsely and then the fourth one is they prepare war against the one who do not feed them now notice at the end of verse five it says and he that put us not into their mouth in other words somebody doesn't feed them and take care of them he says they even prepare a war against him in other words i'm the prophet.

And you need to take care of me they say and if somebody does not take care of the prophets of the leaders they actually prepare a war against that particular individual what a shame where is the spiritual standard required by the Lord it is totally activity of the flesh and brothers and sisters what we read here today about Israel our nation is applied very well to the present day church age in which you and I live in today and those kind of behavior and conduct is happen in our own midst in our own life and we ourselves oftentimes find ourselves guilty with this kind of activity leading the people into falsehood biting our teeth not speaking clearly cry everything is fine we just finished first Corinthians chapter 5 and chapter 6 in our Bible classes how the friction and the problems among the people of God in the church of Corinth and how the apostle Paul had to correct them and to challenge them and all these things are happening.

Even today in the church of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the prophets were challenged by micha by God through the prophet Micah now turn with me for a moment to second Peter in the brit second Peter chapter 2 we talked about Israel's prophets Israel's spiritual leaders let's see what we read about the spiritual leaders of the body of Messiah second Peter chapter 2 verse 1 and Peter is speaking and he said but there were false prophets also among the people even if there Here is false teaching, falsehood, even denying the law that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious way.

Notice that many shall follow their ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feign words here is what they are speaking make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not Peter warned the early believers in the body of Messiah of a coming time in which false teachers will rise just the same like false prophets were among our nation Israel false teachers will rise among the body of Messiah and the warning are the same the activities are the same they have followers like then they have followers today the same thing beloved brothers and sisters just go back to first Timothy in chapter 4 just for a moment just to connect this as well with it in verse 1 now the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter a time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and he gives us a list of what kind of teaching will prevail among the professing Christians the.

Body of Messiah in christendom like among our people historically our people Israel same today among the believers throughout the church history things having changed and we need to discern what is of the Lord and what is not of the Lord the apostle John I'm going to just read one more verse 1st John chapter 4 and verse 1 he also gave warning in 1st John chapter 4 and verse 1 he says beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God why John why should i test the spirits he said because many false prophets are gone out into the world John is speaking about it Peter is speaking about it Paul Shaul is speaking about it all Hebrew believers of first century spoke to believers in the church age just like Micah another Hebrew believer spoke to his own brethren and gave them this warning and he's speaking to the prophets and he says listen you make my people ill you bite with your teeth you cry.

Shalom shalom when there is no shalom and then the one that doesn't give you and feed you you prepare a war against him you fight him you demand your way and your will and that is not the right way to treat the people of God how different it is when Yeshua came who was the true shepherd of Israel who said in John chapter 10 I am the good shepherd the good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep he was the one who ministered to his own nation to the people of Israel to the Jewish people when he came at his first coming he was the good shepherd who led the people right who was willing to lay down his life and ultimately gave his life a ransom for many I'm going to read just one more verse in the prophet Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 14 those are the words that God said to Israel Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 14 and he said to them they have healed also the hurt of the daughters of my people slightly they said peace.

Peace when there is no peace they say shalom shalom everything is okay but actually there was no shalom there was no peace and that is not right the responsibility of the prophet is to give warning and to lead the people right not to err and to go in a wrong direction so he's now challenging the prophets in Micah chapter 3 verses 5, 6, and 7. So he spoke about the prophets who made the nation to err. And then notice now in verse 6 and 7 of Micah chapter 3, here's a judgment that's going to come upon the false prophets. Therefore, night shall come unto you, that ye shall not have a vision.

And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the divine is confounded, yet they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God but now he said okay just the same like with the heads of Jacob and the princes of Israel they will cry one day and they will not receive response from God now the prophets now because of their conduct and behavior towards my people God is saying therefore he says night will be upon you in other words when a person is a prophet he receives as if it were spiritually speaking a light from God in order to give a message to God's people but now you notice in verse 6 and 7 instead of light darkness will come upon the false prophets darkness and you notice how many times the word mentioned in night and darkness in this verse 6 he says therefore night shall come and then he says and it shall be dark thirdly the sun shall go down again dark and fourthly he said the day shall be.

Dark over them you know the prophet supposed to receive light from God and to give a message of light to the nation, a clear message, but they will not be able to receive any message anymore from the Lord. The sun will go down. The light will turn into darkness. They will have night over them. They shall have no vision to give. A person who teach falsehood, God will not give him a message. In other words, there is an element of responsibility for the prophets of the Lord to give a clear message for edification and you know brothers and sisters you can't pretend a message is a message that come from the Lord it's going to come straight from the word of God and if the Spirit of God is in the message the Spirit of God is guiding the speaker it is the Spirit of God who will convict the hearer it is the same Ruach HaKodesh, the same Holy Spirit who take the word of God and appropriate to the heart it is the same Holy Spirit who give a message to the messenger to speak to the people you can't pretend, you can't make it it's got to fit the word of God, it's got to be from the Lord you cannot take it out of your sleeves it's not hocus pocus it's not that which is like the false prophets or like the diviners who tell you certain things today people go to.

All these magicians and all this witchcraft and all these people who read your poems and tell you all kind of things and people instead of being wise to realize that is not what i need to hear i need to hear the word of God and they go and they try to find something about their future from those who read their palm. They have no message from God. They have nothing to give to build a person if it's not from God. And that's why God said they will have night upon them. They shall have no vision. It shall be dark unto you. When ye shall divine, the sun shall go down over the prophets and the day shall be dark over them.

That's why, you know, when you go to those places and you hear at least about those places and those people, everything seems to be so creepy and dark. I mean, I don't know why you would even want to go there, just to think about it. Everything looks to me kind of, you know, when you watch it on, let's say, on television or something, everything looks so creepy, why would you want to go there? I see something coming up and so on. It's so creepy, you know, that's why they're diviners, that's why God is not pleased with them. But the messenger of the Lord give a message of comfort sometime correction sometime instruction sometime tell us you're going in the wrong direction change it because you will be dealt with but it is a message for help a message to restore the people of God not only this look at this what it says in verse 7 they will be ashamed and they will be confounded and confused it says in verse 7 then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded the word for seers is chosim the one that look to the future jose he speaks about the coming future and the diviners it's interesting when God is speaking about false prophet he used the word diviners and it's like in Hebrew we call it kosmim kosem is magician it's not real he's having a trick that he does it's not genuine it's not real and he called them divinous kosmim in Hebrew and he says look at it they will be ashamed they will be confounded and look at the third expression here in verse 7.

Yet they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer of God. Now, that thought covering your lips, it reminds me of the lepers of Leviticus chapter 13 and chapter 14. When the lepers were recognized that they were lepers, they couldn't be among the people, and they had to stay away from the rest of the nation and they had to cover their lips and to say, unclean, unclean, don't come close to me. In a sense, God had pronounced them unclean, like lepers, unclean lips. Not only they will cover their lips, they will have nothing to say, but a thought also seemed to be from that passage, they will cover their lips as if it were to pronounce the fact that they are unclean by the way that they divine and they speak things that were not right God will put them to shame God will confound them and they will have to be acknowledged as unclean they will not be able to get a message from the Lord for the nation of Israel so the charge against the officials verses 1 2 3 and 4 and the charge against the false prophets verses 5 6 and 7 then beloved brothers and sisters the chapter conclude in verses 8 to 12 with the contrast now between the true prophet and the false prophets here God through micha hanavi micha the prophet showing to us the contrast between the true prophet and the false prophets the true prophet is none else but micha himself in verse 8 there are four.

Things that micha speaks about himself and notice what he says in verse 8 but truly i this is Micah this is micha i am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Here Micah says this very clearly. The difference between the false prophets and the true prophet is the first thing, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Now you see, beloved brothers and sisters, this is important to understand because it doesn't matter what dispensation we find ourselves in, whether it is in the dispensation of the law where Micah was micha was Israel our nation before the Messiah came or whether it is in the dispensation of the grace of God in which you and i find ourselves today in the church age in every dispensation in every period of time in the history of mankind it is the holy Spirit of God who empower a man in preaching of the word in salvation it is the.

Holy Spirit that gives power enable men first of all to be saved to be forgiven secondly to speak for God thirdly to live for God it is only the Spirit of God that enable the child of God to do so whether it is under the law in the past history of our people Israel or whether it is in the present-day dispensation of the church age of the assembly of the ecclesia so you notice that he says first of all the true prophet i'm full of power by not by my own power but by the spirit of Jehovah by the holy Spirit of God and you know to be filled by the Spirit of God is coming for us today in addition to the fact that we are indwelt by the holy Spirit of God you see we live in the dispensation of the church age every true believer in Yeshua the Messiah have the Ruach akodesh the holy Spirit indwelling us but it's not the holy Spirit of God indwelling.

Us and we can carry on and live in the flesh no what he's saying that if we are going to do something for God if we are going to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord it is the same holy Spirit that have to empower us you remember Galatians 5 and verse 16 walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh you remember what we read in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 be filled with the spirit be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess but be filled with Ruach HaKodesh. And he's speaking to believers. Galatians speaking to believers.

Ephesians speaking to believers who already have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them. So really what we learn here that the true prophet who live in a submissive way to the God of Israel always have the help of the Holy Spirit of God to enable him to testify right before men walk in ways of the Lord to please him and it is the same way for you and I today and the word here to be filled with the spirit is not that we can just get a little bit funny and we can just say all kind of things no a person that is filled with the Spirit of God is a person who is under the control of the Spirit of God you see when it says in Ephesians 5 be not overtaken with wine be not controlled by wine where is there is excess in other words when a person is drinking alcohol and the alcohol control him he's saying in the opposite it don't be controlled with wine but be controlled be filled by the Ruach ha-kodesh by the holy Spirit.

Of God let the Spirit of God control your life and micha is saying to us here he's speaking to the nation he says as for i i am full by the Spirit of the Lord he does not say it in pride either not say it because he wanted to elevate himself above the rest of the people of Israel but he said in reality tell us truth Israel here it is the way a prophet that speak to you has to be controlled by the Ruach HaKodesh Israel Judah he must be the one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit of God you know we read of Yeshua when he went to the wilderness for those 40 days and forty night when Satan tempted him we read that he was full of the spirit the Spirit of God controlled him as a man he was subject he subjected himself to the leadership of the Ruach ha-kodesh what a man he was we read of him in Luke chapter 2 and verse 40.

That he grew and he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. What a beautiful example. And you know, historically, even among our people in the book of Exodus, we find out how when God gave one of our people, Israel, to have certain responsibility among the people of Israel, this person had to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. In chapter 31 and verse 3 of the book of Exodus, it says, and i have filled him this is betzalel i have filled him with the Spirit of God and in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship betzalel was one of those who actually built some of the articles of the tabernacle and he was filled with the Spirit of God this is so challenging to us and we have to ask ourselves the question am i allowing the Ruach hakodesh to control my life and if i don't allow the holy Spirit to control my life i am not acting.

On his behalf i am often acting in the flesh and this is a challenging statement for us now back to chapter 3 and verse 8 there are the other three things that we find out with micha because he was filled with the holy Spirit of God it says in verse 8 not only that i am full by the Spirit of God i am full of judgment this is the word mishpat in other words he was just he presented justly what he presented to the nation of Israel then the third one in might this is power spiritual power and fourthly listen to this he says fourthly to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin in other words here's a true prophet a true prophet present the truth to the nation to the people of God, he presents the truth, he doesn't teach falsely, he teaches the word of God in a sincere way, this is verse 8, so now he's concluding here with the last four verses, he's talking about the different, here is the false prophets, here's the different, those who.

Are the prophets and the leaders of Israel, God's calling them the second time to charge, and he said to them in verse 9 hear this i pray ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel that abhor judgment and pervert equity and then look what he's saying to them in verse 10 you are building look at this verse 10 they build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity what does that mean they build up the city tzion in Hebrew Yerushalayim is the city the capital city of Israel they build it up on the expense of the life of others we're speaking about with blood and with iniquity they have the religious system not in a sound way not in the right way and it's become like a mere religious system you have the temple you have the system carrying on you even have the sacrificial system continue on but there is no reality there so they build it with blood they build it with iniquity in verse 11 he's giving us additional things about the heads.

And the priests and the prophets notice three things we find out about those leaders at that time the heads thereof they judge for reward the priests thereof they teach for hire the prophets thereof they divine for money in other words they say to the people do you want me to judge you well you give me a reward and then the priest that you want me to teach you something well there got to be some payment in order for you to do so thirdly the prophets you want me to tell you something from God it's got to be for money you give me the money in other words what they are really doing they're doing it for gain and not as a ministry unto the Lord now let's be clear that God gave instruction to the nation of Israel to support the levites the priests there was the tithing that they will get the benefit in other words they would to be taking care of but that's not the reason why the heads the priests and the prophets should judge teach and prophesy.

Not merely for gain they are to do it as unto the Lord and God will take care of them through the people of God it is similar today in the body of Messiah the believers are to take care of the spiritual servants of the Lord but the servants are not to do it only for filthy lookers that's what we read today in 1 Peter chapter 5 to take care of the flock but not only for filthy looker, not only for this financial gain or for power but to do it as a service and God will take care of his people the servants of the Lord but apparently the heads were judging for rewards the priests were teaching for hire and the prophets were divining for money and you know what they say in verse 11 at the end yet they will lean upon the Lord and they will say is not the Lord among us no evil can come upon us see the Lord is here the temple is here the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple will happen later on.

It will happen in 586 BC a hundred years later but in the meanwhile the temple is here the religious system is there like today brothers and sisters there's a lot of religiosity in the professing church there's a lot of form there's a lot of religiosity but there's no power very little power much weakness that's the condition that prevailed among our own nation Israel it's not that we point to them there's a lesson to apply to us what happened in the history of nation Israel definitely can be seen throughout church history in a very same way and he concludes this chapter beloved brothers and sisters here it's still very very sad to see at the end ultimately the destruction of Jerusalem and the house of God will come to pass while micha was speaking prophesying there was a time of revival and Jerusalem haven't been taken like the northern kingdom have been taken by the assyrian but then later on about hundred or something years later in 586 bc Nebuchadnezzar came and took our Jewish.

People to Babylon, where they say, by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remember Zion. Then they said, those that took us captive said unto us, sing unto us one of Zion's song. And they said, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O let my right hand forget her cunning many years later after the temple mount had been destroyed the city had been burnt the captives had been taken away like it says here in the end of chapter 3 in verse 12 therefore shall Zion for your sake leaders political leaders spiritual leaders for your sake because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field and Yerushalayim shall become heaps and the mountain of the house this is what we call today har habait the mountain of the house of the Lord the mountain of the temple Mount Moriah and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

There is coming a day, God said through Micah, when Zion shall be plowed like. A field, Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Har Habayit, the mountain of the house, shall be as the forest. Just about 100 years later, Judah had been taken to Babylon, and there they spent for 70 years. I'm going to conclude with Psalm 79 and verse 1 and the psalmist said this, this is Asaph, one of the singers of Israel O God the heathen are coming to thine inheritance thy holy temple have they defiled they have laid Jerusalem on hips Asaph is crying to the Lord the heathen have come unto thine inheritance Psalm 79 and verse 1 what a conclusion what a sad condition prevailed at that time when Israel, Judah needed to be corrected by the Lord and the same thing is applying to us today we also need to take heed to these warnings and ask the Lord to help us to be governed by the Ruach HaKodesh by the Holy Spirit of God.