Would you turn with me to Micah
chapter 6. Jonah, well Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nathan. Micah chapter 6. It's just delightful
to be with you. And I trust the Lord will bless
our time together. I have entitled this message,
What Does the Lord Require of Me? Now, this could be called the
entrance requirements into the Kingdom of Heaven. What does
the Lord actually require of me? What must I have to enter
the Kingdom of Heaven? Now, let's begin reading in verse
6 of Micah, chapter 6. 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? He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee? That's where I got the title
to this message. What doth the Lord require of thee. Now, this is not simply what
should I do? We know what we should do, don't
we? You know, I've heard people say
we need to be taught to live. We already know how to live.
God's law is written on the heart of every natural man. Everybody
knows we ought not steal and ought not kill and ought not
commit sexual sin and so on. Everybody knows that. He's not
asking What should we do? We already know that. What does
God actually require of thee? What must I possess to enter
into the kingdom of heaven? If I don't have these things,
I will not be saved. That's how important this is.
Let's go on reading. What does the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God. Micah asks this question in verse
6, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord in worship? and bow
myself before the High God, what do I bring? Now, I know in and
of myself, I can't come into God's presence on my own. I can't
do it. So what is it that I must bring? That's what he's asking. Wherewith
shall I come and bow myself before the Most High God? What can I
bring? Cain and Abel both knew they
had to bring something. You know what Cain brought? He
brought the best his hands could produce. And Abel brought a blood
sacrifice. But they both knew they had to
bring something. Now, Micah says, what shall I
bring when I come before the Lord and bow myself before the
Most High God? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings? With calves of a year old? Shall
I come with animal sacrifices? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams, if I brought thousands of animal sacrifices,
would that actually satisfy God? Would He be pleased with that?
And that word pleased has something to do with satisfaction for payment. I owe God. I owe God. I am His debtor for many reasons. Now, will He be satisfied with
animal sacrifices? Thousands even? Everybody knows
he won't. It's not going to satisfy him. And then he says in verse 7,
what if I give ten thousands of rivers of oil? Now that's
talking about riches. That's talking about wealth.
Let's forget about the animal sacrifices for a moment. What
if I brought God all these riches? Would that satisfy him? The Lord's
got plenty of money. And he doesn't need anything
that you and I could bring. He says the cattle on a thousand
hills is mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you about it. No, if you could bring riches
untold, that wouldn't satisfy him. And then he goes on to ask
in verse seven, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? What if I sacrificed
my children? What if I wanted to please the
Lord so much and make up for my sin so much that I was willing
to sacrifice? I've only got one daughter, Aubrey. What if I was willing to sacrifice
her for the sin of my soul? Surely God would be pleased with
the ultimate sacrifice on my part. Now, if I think something
like that, All I demonstrate by that is how blind I am to
the character of God. That's all I show. I have to
give up something. That'll really please God if
I give up the ultimate sacrifice. What we demonstrate by that attitude
is what horrible thoughts we have of the Lord, like he would
be pleased with something like that. You know, I thought of
that parable our Lord gave of that fellow who buried his talent
in a napkin. And you know what he said about
the Lord? He said, I knew thee that thou art an austere man,
taking up where you didn't sow. You know, that's what most people
think about the Lord. They think he's austere, harsh,
demanding. Now, do I believe that God in
his sovereignty would only be satisfied with the death of my
child? I demonstrate by that what foolish thoughts I have
of God. Let's go on reading verse 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what
is good. What is good? Who is good? You know the answer to that question.
The Lord is good. He's always good. He's good all
the time whether I understand it or whether I do not understand
it. He is good and I rest in that. Whatever he does is good. It's his goodness. That's his
capacity to say. You remember when Moses said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. How did God answer him? I'll
make all my goodness to pass before thee. His goodness is
his capacity to save somebody who's no good, because he's good. You know, he's always good. Whether I see it or not, whether
there's disasters and tornadoes and all that, he's always good. He has showed the old man what
is good. It's not me. It's not you. He only is good. Do you believe that God is good? And let's go on reading. He showed
thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of
thee? Now, he's not asking if you know
what you ought to do, but what is actually required of you?
What must you have? What must I have? What doth the Lord require of
me? Now he gives three things. First,
to do justly. Not to know you ought to do justly,
but to do justly. Not to do justly most of the
time, but to do justly periodically. That's what it says. To do justly. To love mercy. And to walk humbly with thy God. Now, what is this thing, first
of all, of doing justly? Well, it's practicing. Listen
to me. Practicing righteousness. It's the actual doing of righteousness. To do. Do what you do. To do
justly. Now, what's that mean, to do
justly? Well, about the best way to answer
that question is to look at the Ten Commandments. To do justly
is to keep the Ten Commandments. To have a personal righteousness
before God's holy law. Now, that's what the doing of
justice is. Now, let me show you that from
the scripture. Turn with me to Psalm 15. Stay with me. Psalm 15. What does God require
of me? He requires of me, Todd Nybert,
to practice righteousness, to do justly. And the only way I can do justly
is if I love God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself. The only way I can do justly
is if I honor my father and mother. The only way I can do justly
is if I don't kill, and that means to not be angry without
a cause, not even be jealous of somebody. The only way I can
do justly is if I never commit adultery and I don't steal and
I don't lie and I don't covet. I never practice idolatry. I
never take the Lord's name in vain. I remember the Sabbath
to keep it holy. I do justly like that. That's
what the doing of justly is. It's what you do. It's what you
practice. Now, look here in Psalm 15. Look what David says. Lord, who shall abide in thy
tabernacle? Or who shall dwell in thy holy
hill? He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a
vile person is contend, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
He that sweareth through his own hurt, even if it's going
to cost him, he's going to be truthful and changeth not. He
that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved.
What does God require of me to do justly? Turn to Psalm 24. Psalm 24, verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. Now what does
God require of me? Perfect righteousness. To do justly, he doesn't say
to do justly some of the time or most of the time or relatively
or partially, but to do justly, our Lord said, except your righteousness,
your righteousness. Hear me, except your righteousness
shall exceed, surpass, be greater than the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven." What does God require of this sinner? A perfect righteousness. The actual doing justly. A perfect personal righteousness. Cursed is he that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the laws to what?
Do them. Do them. Now, how am I to understand
that? How am I to understand that?
This can only be understood in light of the great doctrine of
justification. There were two men that went
into the temple to pray. One, a Pharisee. The scripture says he stood and
prayed thus with himself. He wasn't praying to the Lord.
He thought he was, but he wasn't. He's praying to himself. Lord,
I thank thee. He gave God the credit. I guess
the man was a Calvinist. I thank thee that I'm not as
other men are. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. I'm not an extortor. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an indulger. I'm not
like this rotten publican over here. The Scripture says he stood
back in the back. He wouldn't even lift up his
eyes to heaven. The Scripture says he beat on
his breast, crying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Not a sinner. The sinner. The worst man to ever live. That's what this man genuinely
believed about himself. And you know what our Lord said
about that man? He said, I say unto you that that man went down
to his house. Anybody know the next word? Justified. Not pardoned, although he was. Not forgiven, although he was.
He went down to his house justified. You know what justification means?
You know what it means if you're justified? It means you're not
guilty. You don't have anything to be
guilty about. You've never done wrong. You've
always done that which is right. That's what justification is.
It's not simply a legal standing. Well, I'm looked upon as just,
but underneath it, I'm not. No, no. If you're justified,
you're justified through and through. You're not guilty. You've never sinned. That's what
justification means. If you're justified, that means
you've never lifted up your soul to vanity. You've never sworn
deceitfully. You've never backbited with your
neighbor. You've been perfect before the
law of God. Now, how in the world can that
be? I mean, in my experience, when
I read Psalm 24 and Psalm 15, in my experience, I don't feel
like I know anything about that. How in the world can I actually
be somebody who practices righteousness, who does justly? And that's what's
required of me. I must do justly. The only way
that can be understood is from this verse of Scripture. To him
that worketh not, Romans chapter 4, verse 5. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth. the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. Now how can God justify somebody
who is ungodly? Is it not unjust to do that?
Proverbs 17, 15 says, He that justifieth the wicked and he
that condemneth the just, they both are an abomination to the
Lord. What would we do with a judge
who when somebody was guilty by their own admission they pleaded
guilty and he'd say they're justified. We'd get rid of that judge, wouldn't
we? If they were justifying the ungodly, how can God actually
be just and justify me and say I'm not guilty when I've been
guilty? How can that be understood? Well, the only answer to that
is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. had made Him to be sin, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,
because of union with the Lord Jesus Christ, because of His
substitutionary death on Calvary's tree, His righteousness, because
of union. Now, this glorious truth of union
with Christ If I'm united to Christ, that means I'm one with
him. Both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are
all of one. That doesn't mean real close
together. That doesn't mean simply joined together. It means the
same person, one with the Lord Jesus Christ. That means when
he kept the law, I actually kept the law. When he did justly,
I did justly. I have a perfect personal righteousness
before the holy law of God. I love that scripture in Revelation
chapter 19 verse 8 when it talks about to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For this
is the righteousness of what? Anybody know the rest of the
verse? Saints of the Saints. This is my righteousness before
God. Fine linen, clean and white. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. Verse 13. Then cometh Jesus. from Galilee
to Jordan and to John to be baptized of him. Now you put yourself
in John's place. What if the Lord Jesus Christ came up to
you and said, I want you to baptize me? You reckon you'd feel unqualified
for that? You reckon you'd feel a little
backward toward that? Well, sure you would. John did too. Look
what John said. But John forbade him saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee. and cometh thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now for thus
it becometh. What's that next word? What's
that next word? He didn't say thus it becometh
me to fulfill all righteousness. Thus it becometh us. to fulfill all righteousness. You see what the Lord did? I
did it too. Because I'm united to Him. Now
here's how truly and here's how really and here's how actually
I'm united to Him. How truly, how really, how actually
was He made to be sinned? Well, He died on it. He died. He suffered the wrath of God.
That's how truly He became what I am. And just as truly as He
became what I am, I am what He is. When He fulfilled all righteousness,
He didn't do it as a Him. He did it as an Us. Thus, I have perfect, personal
righteousness before God. You want to read my history?
You want to know about my history? You want to know all about me?
You want to know the deep, everything about me? Don't ask my mom and
dad. They're here. They could tell
you stuff, but don't pay any attention to them. Read Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. There's my life before God. That's
my life before God. I have done justly. I have righteousness. of perfect personal righteousness
before God. You see, justification is not,
well, you're counted righteous, but you're really not. Oh, no,
I really am. In the Lord Jesus Christ, I have
done justly. You know, I used to read that
scripture, it kind of made me nervous, because I think, well,
I need to do what's right. I do need to do what's right.
I'm not in any way, well, I don't always do what's right. But what
about when you don't? I don't have any unrighteousness.
As He is, how's He? How's He? Is He righteous before
God? As He is, so are we in this world. So yes, I have done justly. What's next? Back to our text
in Micah chapter 6. Verse 8. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly,
and second, to love mercy. To love mercy. Now, in order for me to love
mercy, I suppose I first need to know what is meant by mercy
or the mercy of God. What does the Bible mean by mercy? I can't love it if I don't know
what it means. Well, mercy is God not giving me what I and
my person deserve. Now, I love mercy. I really do. I love mercy. Let me show you what the Bible
means by mercy. The first time the word merciful is found is
in Genesis chapter 19. Would you turn with me there?
Genesis chapter 19. If you want to know, you know,
there's something called the law of first mention. If you
want to know what the Bible means by a word, look where it's used
first and follow that through. And that's what it means. Genesis
chapter 19. Verse 15. And when the morning arose, then
the angels, hastened, lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. And while he lingered. That's plum crazy, isn't it? God says, I'm going to destroy
this place. I'm going to bring fire and brimstone
down from heaven and wipe this place out. Escape for your life. And what does Lot do? He lingers. He acted like he
didn't want to leave. There were things about Sodom
that he found attractive. And he lingered. Let's go on
reading. While he lingered, the men laid
hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon
the hand of his two daughters, the Lord be what? Merciful unto him. Now there's the mercy of God.
These angels didn't say a lot. You ought to get out of here.
I'm leaving it up to you. I'm giving you this opportunity.
You know that? No. What'd they do? They grabbed
him by the hand and his family and they pulled him out. The
Lord being merciful to him. Do you love mercy? Let me tell you something about
mercy. The mercy of God. Grace is Him
giving you what you do not deserve, and His mercy is Him not giving
you what you do deserve. Now, for God to give you grace,
He doesn't have to find a reason for you to give it. He does it
because He's gracious. That's His nature. His mercy
is for the miserable. Now let me tell you two things
that are always true according to the scriptures about God's
mercy. First of all, His mercy is sovereign mercy. Now, there's
a lot of people in Sodom. God only took out Lot and his
family. He says, I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. You see, His mercy is sovereign
mercy. That means he doesn't give mercy
to everybody. He gives it to whom he will. Now, if I have a problem with
that, all I'm saying is, is I think I deserve mercy. And I've left
mercy when I start thinking that way. No, his mercy is sovereign
mercy. He says I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. And his mercy is always saving. mercy. It's always saving mercy,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. It's always saving. Now, I want
to ask you a question. Do you love mercy? When God looks
in your heart, Does he look and see someone who actually loves
mercy? You say, yes, I bet I just I
dare say everybody in here will say, yes, yes, I love mercy. But do you know the only way
that it can truly be expressed? The only way I can demonstrate
whether I truly love mercy is if I myself am a merciful person. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18. This is a
familiar parable, but it's certainly worthy of us to read. Verse 21. Then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, how shall my brother sin against me until I forgive him?
Until seven times? That seems pretty generous, doesn't
it? I mean, somebody does you wrong seven times. How does the
Lord answer that? Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. That means every time. Every
time. It doesn't mean 490, 491, it's
okay. No, that means perfection. Every time. Verse 23, Therefore is the kingdom
of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account
of his service. And when he'd begun to reckon, one was brought
unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. That's millions of dollars. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and
children and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me, and I'll pay thee all. Now, he didn't have any way of
paying this money back. I mean, the guy wasn't even telling
the truth. He couldn't come up with the goods. I mean, millions
of dollars. I read somewhere it was the equivalent
of $15 million. You got $15 million? Have patience
with me. I'll get it back to you. No,
you won't. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion
and loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence.
You know how much that is? Fifteen dollars. Fifteen dollars. Could you come up with fifteen
dollars? And he laid hands on him, and he took him by the throat,
saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me,
and I'll pay thee all. And he would not. but went and cast him into prison,
till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto
their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after he had called
him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the
debt, because thou desirest me, shouldst not thou also have had
compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And
his lord was wroth, and delivered him up to the tormentors, till
he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my
Heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts
forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses." Would you
turn with me to Luke chapter 6? The only way a love for mercy
can truly be expressed is by being a merciful person. Oh Lord, make me to be a merciful
person. Look here in Luke chapter 6,
verse 27. But I say unto you which hear,
you know not everybody does, some do though. I hope I'm one
of them. I say unto you which hear, love
your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that
curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And
unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the
other. And him that taketh away thy
cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man
that asks of thee, and of him that takes away thy goods, ask
him not again. As you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you? For sinners also love those
that love them, and if you do good to them, which do good to
you, what thank have you? For sinners also do the same,
and if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank
have you? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much
as again, but love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing again. and your reward shall be great,
and you shall be the children of the highest for he is kind
unto the unthankful, unto the evil. Be ye therefore merciful
as your heavenly Father is merciful." What does God require of me and
you? To love mercy. Do you love mercy? Finally, in our text in Micah
chapter 6, what does God require of thee? To do justly, to love
mercy, and I do love mercy. I'm so thankful salvation is
by the mercy of God. And thirdly, to walk humbly with
thy God. Now, we must walk with God, here
on earth, just like Enoch did. Enoch walked with God. The life of faith is a walk with
the Living God, where I know Him, and thank God, He knows
me. He knows my name, and I walk
with Him. It's a walk. And we are to walk humbly with
our God. Humility. Humility. Now, what is humility? Really? Somebody once asked John
Calvin, what are the three greatest Christian graces? He said, well,
first, humility. Second, humility. And third, humility. What is humility? Humility is
a just estimate of yourself. That's the best definition you'll
ever find of humility. It's a just estimate of yourself. It's not necessarily low self-esteem. You can have low self-esteem
and be as proud as a devil. It's not low self-esteem. That's
not humility. Humility is a just estimate of
yourself. I am what I am by the grace of
God. That's humility. What are you, Paul? Well, I'm
a sinner. And it's only by the grace of God that I even understand
that and know that. What are you, Paul? I'm a sinner
saved by grace, and that's by the grace of God. I know that
the faith I have, He gave it to me. See, this is a just estimate
of yourself. I know that I'm a lover of the Lord God, and
I know that the love I have, He gave it to me. I wouldn't
have it if He didn't give it to me. It's a just estimate of
yourself. You know that in and of yourself,
You really are nothing but sin. You know, it's one thing to believe
in the doctrine of total depravity, and it's a whole different thing
to believe that you personally are totally depraved. Now, you
know you're a sinner, and you know Christ is the Savior, and
if you know who God is, you'll walk humbly with God. Now, what
is it? How is walking humbly with God
expressed? Because it's easy to say, oh,
I'm just the chief of sinners, you know, and we've all said
that. We know how to act humble. We
know how to, time to be humble, better be, you know, that doesn't mean anything. How
is walking humbly with God truly expressed? That's what I want
to know. By walking in humility toward my brothers and sisters.
by walking in true humility before men. Now what is humility before
men? What is genuine humility before
men? I've tried to think about this.
Humility before men, more than anything else, is a non-judgmental
attitude toward others. And that's what humility is.
It's a non-judgmental attitude toward others. It's not looking
down my nose in moral superiority at anybody. You know, when I
judge you, now, you ever judge people? Sure you do. I mean, sure you do. Let me tell
you, do I judge people? Sure I do. It's not right. Let me tell you why it's wrong.
Let me tell you why it's always wrong to judge. Now, we make
judgments. We've got to judge between truth
and error and what's from God and what's not from God. We're
supposed to do that. We're supposed to do that. I'm
to try the spirits, whether they be of God. I'm supposed to judge
in that sense. But as far as judging you, judging
you. Now, here's three things I do
when I judge you. First, I try to do something
I'm altogether unequipped to do because I don't know the facts.
I, when I make a judgment regarding you, what you do, why you do
it, I don't know the facts behind it. And I'm completely unable
to make an accurate judgment. That's why, anytime I judge you,
I'm wrong for doing it. Because I don't know the facts.
You know, people have marriage problems and they'll come up
and they'll tell, tell everybody, you know, what their problems
are. They'll tell, this, my spouse does this, my spouse does that.
And you think all four are perfect. Well, you haven't heard the other
spouse's side either. I mean, you know, it's, it's, General,
always 50-50. In my case, 51-49, but everybody
else 50-50. But when we judge, we also play
the hypocrite. Paul said in Romans 2-1, Thou
art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges for what
you judge them in, you do the same thing. That's scripture. And anytime I judge you, all
I'm doing is being a hypocrite. James chapter 4. Thirdly, when
I judge, I'm arrogating to myself something that belongs to the
Lord only. Verse 11. Verse 10, let's start
there. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. Now, walk humbly with your God.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift
you up. Now, the thought's not over. Speak not evil, one of
another brethren. This is what people do when they
humble themselves in the sight of the Lord. Speak not evil of
one another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and
judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou
art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There's one lawgiver
who is able to save and destroy. Who are you to judge another? Only the Lord is to do that. Take the lowest seat. Remember that parable of the
Lord when you're bidding to a feast? Don't go up and sit beside the
person giving the feast and then he'll say you need to go down
there and somebody more honorable than you comes up and you begin
with shame to take the lowest seat. He said, no, start out
in the lowest seat. Start out there. Take the lowest
seat. Paul said in Philippians chapter
three, let each esteem the other as better. Not equal, but better
than themselves. You know, the ultimate act of
humility is simply believing the gospel. In my nothingness, trusting Him
as my all. That's humility. Simply believing
the gospel. You believe the gospel. You do,
in fact, walk humbly with your God. Now, what does God require
of me? What does God require of you?
What must I have to be saved? Well, first, I must do justly. I must love mercy. And I must
walk humbly with my God. Amen.