The Spirit of the Lord

 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and might, to declare his transgression unto Jacob and Israel his sin. ~ Micah 3:8

The word repentance is less spoken of in the Christian circle today, and whenever it is, it is with flippancy. You only have to change your thinking (this is not wrong as the Greek word for repentance means this), and you are good to go. The word repentance goes much further than this. If John the Baptist said just that, I do not believe he would have done well preparing the way for the Lord. Just like in the day of John the Baptist, until there is sincere preaching of repentance, I believe we will not have true revival. 

Sadly, the church expects people to repent when they do not know what they are to repent. A cliche sermon on repentance goes thus: “There are blessings from God that you can not access until you repent of your sin” This is not wrong, but it’s beginning to sound like repentance is just a means to get blessings from God. When are we going to have men of God that will tell the world that she is dead in sin and she can expect the wrath of God to be poured upon her shortly in great measure? I believe we don’t have such men because of what Micah states. There are few or no men to declare the transgressions and sins of the world the Spirit of the Lord. Most men of God are after their bellies, which have blinded them to proclaim the truth. They go on proclaiming peace when there is no peace.

It’s not difficult to understand why we don’t have such men. There is a high cost to treading this path (Matthew 16:24). John the Baptist preaching this message lasted six months, Jesus preaching this message lasted for three years, but oh, what mighty change took place in that short period (It is not in the length of the ministry, it is in complete obedience to God). The church recently wrapped up Christianity in love, and one will be taken aback at the thought that God displeases anything. We say God is love, so He is always ready to condone everything/anything we do as long as we put His name in it. It saddens me to see how far we have taken the grace of God for granted, and there is no one to cry out against this blasphemy. Oh Lord, how long will this continue? Be merciful to those that stand for your truth.

Now let us look at the text for this session, Micah 3:8. I hear you say this is the Old Testament, and we are not supposed to go back to this, but answer this question: Is the God of the Old Testament different from the New Testament in that He hates sin? Certainly not! I have always kept back from studying the Old Testament because of the so-called cruelty of God in punishing sin that the majority of us believers have come to believe. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit, my recent study of the Old Testament revealed that the love of God was proclaimed therein and manifested in the New Testament (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4-7). Yes, God severely punished His chosen people when they disobeyed his commandment, but there was always the promise to restore them once they returned to Him (He was the one that always made them eventually turn to Him).

There is a need for men filled with power by the spirit of the Lord. The sins and transgressions of the world need to be proclaimed by men such as these. They ought to declare the wrath of God that will be poured out in judgment upon those who refuse to repent, and the reward for those who do. These are men that will count their lives as lost for the sake of Christ, and I believe that God, in His divine providence, is raising such men. If you sense the stirring in your soul that you are one of these, I encourage you to respond to the call because the world needs you right now, and I can assure you that no one leaves all for the sake of Christ that ever regrets doing so. If not, cry out to the Lord to raise such men to the glory of His name.