Key Scriptures: Micah 7:8-9
Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.
Lesson one: It doesn’t matter how far you’ve fallen; you’re not excluded from the promise of God.
• All of humanity has fallen
• The redemption story of God is available to everyone
Micah 7:8, Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
Genesis 3:8-11, 21, Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
v 21, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
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Lesson Two: Rising is possible when you understand that you sinned against God.
• The greatest fallout from our sin is that it offends a holy God
• Repentance requires that we acknowledge the offense of our sin
Micah 7:9a, Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath…
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Lesson Three: Rising is possible when you understand that you are accountable for your sin.
• Because our sin offends a holy, righteous God—we are deserving of wrath
• Repentance requires that we acknowledge that our sin deserves punishment and requires forgiveness
Micah 7:9b, Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath…
Romans 3:5-6, But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
Romans 6:23, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Lesson Four: Rising is possible when you embrace that Jesus has already pleaded your cause.
• We live in the victory that God has already made the decision to raise us up
• Repentance embraces the truth that Jesus is the only means by which we can be saved
Micah 7:9c, Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.
Ephesians 2:1-10, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.