I'd like to add my welcome to
Winston. It's good to see everybody out today. I'm here to worship
our God, our just God and Savior. You can see the title of this
message is, What Does God Require? Now, I could go around the city
anywhere this morning and ask this question, what does God
require of you, of me? And wherever I went, I'd get
the different answer of whatever congregation I was in. Hundreds
of different answers. Thousands maybe of different
answers. Who knows? But all we're interested in is
exactly what our brother Bill said this morning. What does
God say about what he requires? What does his word say about
what he requires of you and of me? We're looking at Micah chapter
6 verses 5 through 8. Just four little verses but it's
going to be a pretty packed little message here. Look at Micah 6
and verse 5 here first. Micah the prophet is reminding
the people of Israel here. He says, O my people, remember
now what Balak king of Moab consulted and what Balaam the son of Beor
answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that you may know the
righteousness of the Lord. In other words, this is Micah,
years ahead, looking back on a situation that happened to
Israel hundreds of years before this. We're not going over all
that situation. Of course, we'll have to cover
a little bit of it because you'll need to know what he's talking
about, the king of Moab and Balaam. God has a goal in calling Israel
to remember here. You see it there in that last
line? My people, listen up. Remember now that you, you, the
people of Israel here, may know the righteousness of the Lord.
The king of Moab and Balaam, they didn't ever know the righteousness
of the Lord, but God's people know the righteousness of the
Lord. And so that's what the bottom line is. It's in order
that Israel, this nation, might know the righteousness of the
Lord. And you see that capital L-O-R-D there? When you see that
in the scriptures, it means Jehovah who saves or Jehovah, our Savior. So he's talking about the salvation
of God through the righteousness of God. Balak is the king of Moab here. a country on the border of the promised land, just outside
the promised land. Now Balak, this king, saw what
God did to Israel's enemies and he feared for his nation's safety
because Israel up to this point had just destroyed any nation
they got in a battle with. They just annihilated them. So
he saw that and he was fearful. But those fears were really unfounded
because God had already told Moses and Joshua, look, Moab,
they're the descendants of Lot. You're not to enter into battle
with them. You're not to do battle with
them. So they didn't have anything to fear, but yet they feared
anyway. Balaam, on the other hand, he
was one who pretended to know God. He pretended that God was
his ally. Now, some think that Balaam started
out as a prophet of God and then turned to soothsaying, turned
to divination, turned to a man for hire. In other words, he's
got this gift And he'll hire out to the highest bidder. I'll
intercede with God for you if you'll just give me such and
such. And that's what Balak, this king
of Moab, was trying to get him to do. He said, I'll give you
wealth. I'll give you power. I'll give
you whatever you want. All I want you to do is just
go curse this nation for me. But Balaam is not someone we're
to take an example from. Obviously, he's a man not to
be followed. So this Moabite king here was trying to get Balaam
to curse Israel. Now, this is a long story in
itself, as I said. And if you're interested in reading
about it, it's found in Numbers chapter 22 through 24. But listen
to what Balak asked God concerning what he had to do to gain the
favor of Israel's God. Look at Micah 6, verses 6 through
7. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before
him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands
of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
In other words, what he's asking is, What do I need to do to get
the favor of this God of yours, Balaam? This God of Israel. What
do I need to do? What do I need to bring? I want
to be in his favor. What do I need to do to get him
to bless me and curse Israel? That's what he's asking. Then
we have God's answer to Balak through Balaam here in verse
8. Micah 6 and verse 8. He hath
showed thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God? Now, God showed Balak and Balaam,
these heathen men, they didn't know God in truth. He showed
them what is good. Now, what did he show them? Well, I want you to look at God's
instructions to Balaam the first time Balak's messengers came
to him. You see, this king sent messengers
over to Balaam. And he said, look, I want you
to come over here to Moab and curse me, this people. Well,
here's what God answered him the very first time these messengers
came to Balaam. Here's what they said. Look at
Numbers 22 and verse 12. God said to Balaam, Thou shalt
not go with them, these messengers, Thou shalt not curse the people,
for these people are blessed. God's message is a clear message
here. There's no ambiguity here, no confusion. It's a clear message. What God has blessed cannot be
cursed. Although God's message was clear
though, both Balaam and Balak continued to ignore it. Three
different occasions, Balaam offered sacrifice on behalf of Balak,
trying to get God to curse Israel. And the answer was always the
same. What God has blessed cannot be cursed. God showed this pagan
king and Balaam time and time again that you can't be both
blessed of God and cursed of God. You can't be both. You've
got to be one or the other. And what God has blessed eternally
in Christ, it cannot be cursed. It cannot be plucked out of God's
hand. God can't turn His back on what
He's blessed. Look at John 10, verses 27 through
30. These are Christ's words. He
said, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them. They follow me and
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which
gave them me, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. You see, in eternity, God gave
a people to Christ. God entrusted the complete salvation
of this people into the hands of Christ. These are God's chosen
people. And He entrusted Christ with
their complete salvation. These people are eternally loved
by God. They're eternally blessed by
God. They're eternally justified by
God. They're eternally certain for
final glory. From the moment of their choosing,
they can never perish. No possibility. because their
final glory in eternity became the responsibility of Christ.
As their appointed surety, Christ became fully responsible for
their complete salvation. This is a certainty that nothing,
nothing, not even the greatest sin found in these people can
alter and take back. Nothing can alter this certainty.
They're blessed and they cannot be cursed. What has God shown
man concerning good? Now He showed Balaam and Balak,
these heathen king and prophet or whatever he was. He showed
them that what God has blessed can't be cursed. What has God
shown man concerning good? Well, whatever it is, it's never,
never by the hand of man. Concerning fallen man, the scripture
is just this clear. There's none righteous. There
is none that doeth good. No, not one. So if it's good,
it's got to be by God himself. A young man came to Christ and
he said, good master, what good thing must I do that I might
have eternal life? And Christ said, why do you call
me good? There's none good but God. And what he's telling that
young man is you don't believe I'm God. So why are you calling
me good? God alone is good. Salvation
is of the Lord exclusively by the hand of the Lord. Moses asked
God to show him his glory. Not His glory in creation or
His glory in providence. Moses asked God to show him His
greatest glory. He asked Him to show him His
glory in salvation. Listen to what God told Moses
when He asked that question. Look at Exodus 33, verses 18
and 19. This is Moses. Moses said, I
beseech thee, show me thy glory. And then verse 19. And God said,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee. You see that? He
said, I'll make my goodness. Moses said, I want to see your
glory. And he said, I'll make my goodness pass before thee.
And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And
we will be gracious to whom I would be gracious. And we show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. Now, this is the second time
Moses went up on the Mount to receive the Ten Commandments.
He hewed out two new tablets and went up to meet God. And
then look on in Exodus 34, verses five through seven. And the Lord
descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and proclaimed
the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children
and to the third and to the fourth generation. The Lord, that is
capital L-O-R-D there again, Jehovah who saves, is a merciful
God. He is a gracious God. He is a
long-suffering God. He's abundant in goodness and
truth. He keeps mercy for thousands,
a multitude out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation
of His choosing. He keeps mercy for them. He forgives
that multitude's sins, all different kinds of sins. All three words
that are used for sin, you see there, iniquity and transgression
and sin, that takes in everything. He forgives this multitude's
sins, all kinds of sins. But He does not forgive these
sins at the expense of His justice. He can't do that. That's one
thing God cannot do. See that phrase I underlined?
That will by no means clear the guilty. Another translation of
that is, although God forgives sin, although it, that sin He
forgives, will by no means go unpunished. You see, He keeps
mercy for thousands and He forgives their iniquity, but He will not
show them mercy. He does not forgive their sin
without justice being satisfied. God must and He shall punish
every sin. What is good is what God has
done in Christ that makes it right for him to pardon sin while
at the same time, not in any way impugning his justice, but
carrying out strict and flexible justice and showing mercy. He's the only one who can do
that. He can show mercy and he can exact strict justice at the
same time. Now, What is good is what God
has done to make it right for Him to be gracious and show mercy
to sinners who by nature, that is, by the best of our hands,
deserve nothing but His eternal wrath and judgment. He has shown
you. He's shown me. He has shown all
men what is good. His goodness was in full display
when Christ went to the cross. That was His goodness there.
But His goodness is only on display. See, it's only passing by those
that are taught to look to the cross by the testimony of God. Not by the traditions of men.
Not by the teaching of this world's religion. But what does God say
about the cross? Before we're taught the truth
about the cross, our understanding of the cross is evil. You see,
to think that Christ died for a sinner, that he punished that
sinner's sins in Christ, and yet that sinner might have any
possibility of winding up under God's eternal wrath anyway, that's
evil in God's eyes. That's blasphemous. If you read
the Bulletin article Jim Byrd wrote last week, he said the
very same thing I'm telling you right now. And it's exactly what
God's Word says. That's a thought that's really
unthinkable. That thinking is evil and blasphemous. And I know it's what most professing
Christians believe. It's what I used to believe.
It's what you used to believe before God brought you to the
gospel. But it's still evil. And it's
still blasphemy. Just like Randy taught us about
the fall in the Garden of Eden a couple of weeks ago, one of
the results of that fall, all of us are born with hearts that
are deceived and that are deceitful, desperately wicked in this matter
of salvation. We know the difference between
right and wrong, but when it comes to salvation, we have to
be taught what God's Word says is good in salvation and what
he says is evil. Look at Jeremiah 17 verse 9.
I'm just going to prove to you the statement I just made that
our hearts are deceitful. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That desperately
wicked there means there's no way natural man can figure out
how God saves sinners on his own. without being taught by
God. It's desperately wicked. He can't
figure it out no matter how much he studies, no matter how much
he prays, no matter what he does, he can't figure it out. God has
to send him a preacher that he has taught the difference between
good and evil. Verse 10 says, I, the Lord, search
the hearts. I try the range, even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doing. The Lord must search the heart.
He must try the range. He must give us a new heart.
In other words, God must teach us to discern between good and
evil. We don't know this by nature.
Not in the matter of salvation. This is a necessity because until
we have been taught We've been taught to do evil.
Our parents taught us in ignorance. Our preachers, former preachers,
taught us in ignorance. Our friends and loved ones taught
us in ignorance. We've been taught to do evil.
Look at Jeremiah 13, 23. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin or the leopard his spots? The answer, obvious answer to
that is absolutely not. No possibility. Then may you
also do good that are accustomed to do evil. That word accustomed
means taught. Can you then do good that have
been taught to do evil? Not on your own, you can't. God
will have to teach you. We must be taught God's goodness
displayed in the cross. We don't see that by nature,
we have to be taught. And we don't see it until we
see Christ's death bearing sin away to a land uninhabited. We don't see God's goodness in
the cross until we see Christ's death putting away every sin
of every sinner he died on that cross for. Bearing it away so
completely. that it will never be brought
up again in the court of God's justice. We don't see God's goodness
in the cross until we see Christ being punished so completely
for the sinners he died for that those sinners cannot be punished
or ever face any wrath or judgment from God. The scripture is clear. Christ appeared in his first
advent to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews
9 verse 26. It's clear. Christ's death obtained
eternal redemption for every sinner he died for. Look at Hebrews
9 verses 11 through 12. He's comparing priesthoods here
now. He's comparing the priesthood
of the Old Covenant and Christ's priesthood. But Christ being
come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say
not of this building, Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, Christ entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The reason
Christ could enter in is because his blood obtained redemption.
His blood put away sin. His blood brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's why he could enter. That
holy place he's talking about is heaven itself, right there
where the holy God resides. And that's how he could enter,
because his blood obtained redemption. Christ's death didn't make redemption
a possibility. His death actually redeemed the
people of God's choosing. We don't see God's goodness in
Christ until we see the sins that Christ went to the cross
for. The sins he bore there, until we see them punished and
put away in full, so completely, that they'll never be brought
up again. We don't see the goodness of God in Christ. And then we
don't see the goodness of God in the cross until we see Christ
bringing in that everlasting righteousness which alone enables
God to justify, to declare righteous those that Christ died for. As
long as I think my right standing with God As long as I think my
righteousness before God has anything, anything whatsoever
to do with anything found in me, my doing, my hands, my coming,
my prayer, my giving, anything found in me, I'm not looking
to the God of redemption. I'm not looking to the Christ
who saves. Look at Galatians 2.21. Paul
says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If it comes
by the law, that means by any rule or regulation, any condition
I meet. If it comes that way, Christ
is dead in vain. That word frustrate means to
disregard. It means to make void or to nullify. He said, I don't do that. I don't
frustrate the word of God. To see my right standing with
God coming any other way but by Christ doing and dying is
to disregard, it's to frustrate, it's to seek to nullify the grace
of God. It's to make Christ's death vain,
empty, and worthless. Nobody in his right mind wants
to do that. The goodness of God is summed up in this statement
right here. The goodness of God is summed
up in Christ putting away the sin of every sinner he died for
and bringing in the righteousness by which God is just to declare
those sinners forever, unchangeably righteous in his sight. That's
the goodness of God. God has shown me in what is good. in light of what God has declared
to be good, we're going to look at these three commands that
He gives to sinners here. In other words, these commands
are to those who have seen the goodness of God. Have you seen
it? Have you embraced it? Do you
see what God has done in Christ? These commands are for you then.
And they're only for those who've seen the goodness of God in Christ. You can't do these commands until
God did with Moses until He causes His goodness to pass before you.
Until you see it as more than just doctrine, you embrace it,
it's your hope, that righteousness, it's all your salvation. You
can't do these commands until you see the glory of God. in
the face of Jesus Christ until you've seen how God is just to
justify sinners on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed
alone. Any attempt at doing before that comes to you, before God
shows you this goodness and causes you to embrace it, any good,
any doing you do before that, it's legal, it's mercenary, it's
wicked, it's evil in God's sight. What does God require of those
who have seen the goodness of God in Christ? Look back at Micah
6 in verse 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what
is good. Now I told you what good. It's
what Christ has done to redeem His people from their sin. And
what doth the Lord require of thee? But we're going to look
at three commands here. First one is do justly. That's
the first command. Do justly. What does He require
of you and me who have seen the goodness of God? Do justly. Do
what's right. Well, what is that? In light
of the goodness of God, what is doing right? Well, doing justly
is looking to Christ alone. It's resting in that one who's
accomplished the full salvation of all his people. It's resting
your whole salvation, the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the same thing as doing righteousness, doing justly and
doing righteousness or one in the same thing. And it's the
opposite of committing sin. Look at 1 John 2 and verse 28. John writes, And now, little
children, abide in Christ, that when He shall appear, we may
have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. God's
command to His church. Little children, that's the command
of the church. Abide in Christ. Abide in the
one God has sent. Abide in the God-man who by his
obedience unto death has put away the sin of every sinner
he was given and established the righteousness by which sinners
are declared righteous in God's sight. Now why? Why should I
abide in him? Look at 1 John 2.29. If you know
that He is righteous, if you know that Christ is righteous,
that's what He's saying, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him. Why should sinners do justly?
Why should we do righteousness? Why should we abide in Christ?
Because righteousness is God's requirement for sinners to stand
before Him and for Him to count you righteous in His sight. You
can't be saved or accepted or eternally blessed based on anything
but the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
it. Christ is the one in all the universe who is righteous
in himself. See what I underlined? If you
know that Christ is righteous, and you can add a word there.
We don't add to the scriptures or take away, but it's understood
right there. If you know that Christ alone
in all the universe is in himself righteous. I'm not righteous
in myself. I have the righteousness of my
Savior charged to me, imputed to me. That's why God declares
me righteous in His sight. So if you know that He is righteous,
sinners are righteous only as God has charged or imputed Christ's
righteousness to them. Abide in Christ. That's the command. Anything else Any other notion
that you're accepted by God other than by Christ's righteousness
accounted to you is committing sin. And those who are born born
of God do not commit sin. They instead prove they give
evidence that they are righteous by doing righteous, doing righteousness,
by abiding in Christ. Look at first John three and
verse seven. Again he writes, little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as Christ is righteous. The Apostle John here
is commanding the church to be delivered from our natural way
of thinking. be delivered from our natural
deception, our naturally, desperately wicked heart in the matter of
how God saves sinners. He that doeth righteousness,
he that abides in Christ, he that finds all of his salvation
in Christ and Christ alone, he's the one born of God. Look at 1 John 3 and verse 8.
Now here's a contrast. between doing righteousness and
committing sin. He says, he that committed sin
is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For
this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might
destroy the works of the devil. Committing sin is the opposite.
It's the contrast of doing righteousness. It's the opposite of abiding
in Christ alone for all of salvation. Committing sin is imagining that
you The rebel sinner has done something that has caused God
to accept you or to bless you or to save you. It's imagining
that you have a part, even any part, even the slightest little
part in determining your right standing with God. You see, God
determines the standing of sinners before him, either in Christ,
justified, saved, Unchangeably righteous based on Christ's righteousness
and beauty are condemned based on our own sin charged to our
account. Committing sin is making yourself
as God, just like Adam and Eve did there in the garden when
they took sides with Satan. It's determining, seeking to
determine for yourself what is good and what is evil, rather
than bowing to God's standard of righteousness. Committing
sin, as you can see, is the works of the devil. Now, Satan holds
all without exception in bondage to a sin that deceives every
one of us. Nobody can say, well, I wasn't
deceived by that sin like you were. Oh, no. Satan has deceived
everyone on this sin. Whoever committed sin, Christ
said in John 8 and verse 34, whoever committed sin is the
servant of sin. But Christ delivers his sheep
from this servitude and bondage. He delivers his people from this
sin that deceives us all. Look at Romans 6 and verse 17.
Says, but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin,
but you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered to you or it should be to which you were delivered. Being then made free from sin. Liberated, you became the servants
of righteousness. Servants of righteousness are
those who are righteous. They're those who do righteousness. They're those who do not. In
other words, no longer do they commit sin. They did. We were the servants of sin.
That's what he says right there. God be thanked. You were the
servants of sin. But God's delivered you to something.
He's delivered you to the gospel and to the Savior revealed in
the gospel and to the righteousness by which he justifies sinners.
And being delivered to that gospel and to the Christ declared into
the gospel. and that righteousness imputed
for all salvation. That's what liberates sinners
from this sin that deceives us all. That's how we become servants
of righteousness. And that's how we stop committing
sin. Look at 1 John 3 and verse 9.
Because this is a pretty emphatic statement right here. If you
don't understand it, you could... I could get dismayed because
if committing sin is just lying or cheating or stealing, things
like that that I do all the time, I've got a problem right here.
He says, whoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed
remains in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. So committing sin is not just
lying or cheating or ordinary sin. It's thinking that something
you've done somehow has caused God to bless you or to save you
or to keep you. That's what committing sin is.
And the one born of God, he doesn't do that. Why not? Because he's
abiding in Christ. He knows his only hope is in
Christ. It's in the righteousness he
worked out, charged to his account. Let what Christ has done to save
his people from their sins, let the satisfaction he rendered
to God's law and justice, the righteousness he established
by his obedience unto death, let that deliver you from committing
this sin that holds us all in bondage. Let that deliver you
from the bondage of trying to save yourself. Believe the gospel. Abide in Christ. In the light
of God's goodness, that's what it is to do justly. That's what
it is to obey that command we looked at. Look back at Micah
chapter 6 and verse 8. That first command was do justly. Now we're going to look at the
second one. He has showed the old man what is good and what does
the Lord require but to love mercy. Command number two. Love
mercy. Mercy is God not giving sinners
what we deserve. It's God giving sinners what
we can never deserve. and what we could never obtain
based on anything found in us, not even the best of our obedience. It's given us what we couldn't
obtain. To love mercy is to love what
God has given sinners, that multitude of His choosing in Christ. In
other words, it's what God has given sinners based on Christ
doing and dying alone. He's given these sinners eternal
blessedness, all grace, all glory. He's given these sinners complete
salvation, conditioned on and accomplished by Christ alone.
He's given these sinners what they do not deserve and what
they could not obtain. Now, it's amazing. This is an
amazing thing I'm fixing to say right here. This is God's salvation
I'm talking about. It's the salvation the Word of
God testifies of from Genesis to Revelation. And yet, it's
a salvation that sinners have to be made willing to accept. We won't do it unless God makes
us willing. Look at Psalm 110 verses 1 and
3a. It says, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy
foes. The Father, speaking to the Son here. The Lord, David's
calling Him, My Lord, The Lord. God Himself said to My Lord,
Christ, the Son, sit at My right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. And then verse 3a says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Under the Gospel,
and that's the light that reveals the goodness of God. Under the
gospel, God makes His people willing to rest their whole salvation
in Christ and Christ alone. He makes His people willing to
love the mercy that they find in the doing and dying of Christ
alone. Until this, until He does this,
we think that mercy is God enabling us to meet some condition and
then God saving us based on our meeting that condition. That's
not mercy. That's works religion. God brings His people to see
that in Christ He's given us what we don't deserve and what
we could not obtain. He brings us to love His mercy
in Christ. Look back at Micah 6 and verse
8. He showed the old man what is good, and what does the Lord
require of thee? Last command, walk humbly with
thy God. To walk humbly is to walk totally
dependent upon God. to save you, to keep you, to
bless you. Totally dependent upon his mercy,
his grace in Christ. He used to walk his children.
Look at Luke 18, verse 15 through 17. They brought unto Christ
also infants that he would touch them. But when his disciples
saw it, they rebuked him. But Jesus called him unto him,
his disciples, and said, Suffer or allow little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of
God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall
in no wise enter therein. Now they brought infants. You
know what an infant is? It's a helpless little critter.
That's what it is. It can't feed itself. It can't
move about. It can't do anything for itself. It's totally dependent upon someone
else to care for it, to clothe it, to give it what it needs
to be healthy, well fed and happy. The survival of an infant rests
entirely in the hands of others, and that's what it is to walk
humbly. It's to walk totally dependent upon God's mercy. is
to walk as Christ walked in his incarnation. Look at Philippians
2 verses 5 through 8. Paul writes, let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death. So to walk humbly then is to
walk as Christ himself walked in his incarnation here. Christ
became obedient unto death. He became even obedient to the
death of the cross. You know what that is in the
scripture? That's the death of the accursed because it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. Christ became obedient
unto the death that his people deserved. His people are the
accursed. He died the death of the accursed
and he died totally dependent. Now listen to how he depended
upon his father. He died totally dependent upon
his father's justice to accept his sacrifice. He offered an
unblemished sacrifice to God and he did. He totally depended
upon his father to accept that sacrifice. He totally depended
upon his father's justice to declare justice satisfied when
he offered that sacrifice. He totally depended upon his
father's justice to declare those he died for righteous in his
sight. And he totally depended upon
his father to raise him and to raise those he represented from
the dead based on his work alone. To walk humbly is to walk as
Christ walked. Totally depended upon God to
do what is right. Now, we're not creatures who
want to be dependent. See, it's just the opposite with
us. We want to be totally independent, don't we? From our earliest beginnings,
we're striving to be independent. You take that little toddler,
as soon as they can walk, they don't want you to hold their
hand. Oh no, they're ready to go on their own. Independence. You take that young teenager,
she wants to ride her bike across the neighborhood to play with
her friend. They want to be independent.
And then that 16 year old, they can't wait till mama and daddy
are no longer in the back seat looking over their shoulder,
they can get out on their own in that automobile and drive.
Independence is what we want. And then Independence is what
we hold on to as long as we can. When senility and dementia set
in, we don't want to give up those things we've enjoyed all
our life. We want to keep on going to the
grocery store and to the bank. We want to keep on driving that
automobile, although our faculties won't allow it any longer. We
want to hold on to it because, see, we're independent creatures. So this is not like us by nature.
This is something God has to do in us. We want to be independent in
salvation as well. See, by nature, we want to make
our contribution. We want to do our part. So how
do we overcome our independence in this matter? How do we do
that? Well, I'll tell you how. We don't do it. God does it in
us. This is one of the ways God makes
his people willing in the day of his power. Look at Hebrews
12, verses one and two. I'm almost done here. We're foreseeing
we're also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Now, he just finished chapter 11, and that's what I call the
hall of fame of faith there, where you see by faith, Abraham,
by faith, Abel, by faith, all that hall of fame of faith. So
see, that's the great cloud of witnesses we're compassed about
with. And in light of that, let us lay aside every weight, anything
that would hinder us for being right here under the preaching
of the gospel. and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, doubt and uncertainty that comes when we take our eyes
off Christ, when we look away, and let us run with patience
the race that's set before us. And how do we do it? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. God
makes his people willing to look to Christ alone. Christ is the
author of our faith. He's the beginner. He's the initiator
of true faith. We don't have true faith, though
God brings us to the gospel and we see what Christ has done and
we embrace him in that gospel. Until he delivers us from that
counterfeit we looked at before we came to the gospel. Looking
to the Christ of the Gospel is the beginning of true faith. See, Christ is the author of
that faith. We don't have it until then.
And being the author and beginner, He's also the finisher. He's
the completer. In other words, Christ will complete
the work He starts in His people. Look at Philippians 1 and verse
6. Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun
a good work See that? A good work in you. Now, he that's
begun a good work, what's that good work? It's abiding in Christ. It's looking to him alone. And
he that's begun that good work will perform it until the day
of Christ Jesus. That's the day of his second
coming. That's the day he's coming back for his church. The word
perform means to accomplish, to perfect, to complete. The
life of a believing sinner is one in which the Spirit of God
continually does one thing, one thing. You see, he's not about
a lot of things, one thing. He takes the things of Christ
and he shows them unto us. In other words, the spirit's
work in the believing center is to continually show us our
total dependence upon Christ, his blood and righteousness alone,
to save us, to keep us, and to bring us to final glory. He causes
us to walk dependent and therefore to walk humbly before our God. What does God require? Well,
the first thing is to see the goodness of God. Embrace what
Christ has done to enable God to be just in showing mercy to
sinners like you and me. Then, do justly. Abide in Christ. Rest in Him for all of salvation.
love mercy, love that God has given sinners what we don't deserve
and could never obtain by anything in us, and then walk humbly under
the gospel, grow more and more dependent upon Christ to save
you and to keep you unto final glory. That, my friend, is what
God requires. May he enable us to see it.