is not that I did you. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I want to speak to you on this
subject. What does God require of me? I'm reading from Micah chapter
six. I'd like to read verses six through
eight. The prophet says, wherewith shall
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? 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? But to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Now, when the prophet
asks, what does the Lord require of me? The word require means
what is necessary for me to do in order for the Lord to accept
me. And he gives three things to
do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God. Now that's what the Lord requires. Do I have these requirements?
How have I done? I hope that I will ask myself
and I hope you'll ask yourself that question. And I hope that
God gives us the grace to deal with this honestly. and to hear
this in light of the gospel. Now in verse 6, the prophet raises
a question that everyone, you have and I have, have asked at
one time or another. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? How can I come before God? How
can I come into his presence and him accept me? How can I
be received of him? What am I to bring? Wherewith
shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the Most
High God, and worship Him? Shall I come with a burnt offering?
Now, everybody knows that they can't come into God's presence
without some sort of sacrifice. Cain understood this, and Abel
understood this, the first two representative men. Abel came
with the blood of a lamb. Looking to that coming lamb,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he knew he could not be accepted by God
apart from the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
holy, and the only way he can accept me is through Christ.
Cain understood his need of a sacrifice, but he brought the wrong sacrifice.
He brought of the fruit of the ground, which represents his
works, his best deeds, his sincerity. The Scripture says God had no
respect to Cain or his offering, but He had respect to Abel and
his offering because He had respect for the blood of His blessed
Son, for the work of His Son. Now, as I said, all men understand
that they need a sacrifice to come into God's presence. And
men bring so many different sacrifices. Some think, well, if I bring
this, God will accept me. Or if I do this, or if I stop
doing that, God will accept me. Or if I turn over a new leaf.
And we think of a sacrifice as something that costs us something
that God will be pleased with. What will I bring into God's
presence? What will I offer him that he
can accept? You see, men do not understand
what the Lord meant when he said, I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. You see, the sacrifices you and
I bring that come from us are no good. But God said, I'll have
mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Now let's go on reading with
what the prophet says. He says, shall I come with offerings,
with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams or with 10,000s of rivers of oil? Costly sacrifices
that show my sincerity. Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression? Shall I offer up my children?
That would be the ultimate sacrifice, if I would give my child for
the transgression of my soul and the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul. Now, you know, people have done
that. offered up their children for
sacrifice to appease God. And when someone does that or
even thinks something like that, if I would do this, surely then
God would be pleased. What warped views we demonstrate
we have of God. Would God be pleased with me
if I had my child sacrificed for Him? Why, what kind of God
is that? All I would prove by that is I have warped views of
God. Now the prophet says in verse
8, He has showed thee, O man, what is good. Now, thank God. He has revealed to us what is
good, what is well-pleasing, what is acceptable in His sight. And the only way we can know
what is good is by Him making it known, Him showing us. We'll
never know God from a goat unless He reveals Himself unto us. We're
completely dependent upon revelation. But thank God, he has revealed
to us what is good. And let me give you a hint. It's
not in me. It's not in you. Paul said in
Romans 7, 18, I know that in me, that is in my flesh. dwelleth no good thing." I couldn't
help but think of the rich young ruler coming up to the Lord and
saying, good master, what good thing can I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord rebuked him. He
said, why callest thou me good? Now, the reason the Lord said
that is not because he was not good. He's God. He's the God-man. But the rich, young ruler was
coming to him as another man, not as the God-man, but as simply
another man. And so the Lord corrects him.
Why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. This
rich, young ruler was saying, I'm a good man, you're a better
man. What can I do to reach your level of goodness? And the Lord's
letting him know only God is good. Listen to this scripture.
In Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 12, we read, as it is
written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understands. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now, this goodness which the
Lord has shown us, it's not found in me. It's not found in you.
It's not found in the flesh. Now, in Exodus chapter 33, verse
18, Moses made this request to God. He said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. There's not a greater request
we could make. Show me thy glory. And here's how our Lord answered.
And before I give his answer, I want to let you know about
the context of Moses asking this question. God had delivered the
children of Israel from Egypt. He came into Egypt with the 10
plagues. He opened the Red Sea and he
delivered them. They knew it was the Lord who
brought them out of Egypt. Now Moses goes up on Mount Sinai
to receive the law from God, and while he's gone, Israel forgets
God. They make golden calves. They
bow down themselves to them and say, these be thy gods, O Israel,
who delivered thee from Egypt. They became idolaters. And Moses is asking the Lord
to forgive them. And during the course of this
prayer, he says, I beseech thee, show me your glory. And God said, I'll make all my
goodness to pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious. and I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy." Now, God's goodness is His capacity to save
people as evil as the Israelites or me or you. That's His goodness. His capacity to save that's seen
in His name. Now, the name of the Lord is
His attributes. That's who He is. It's not just
verbally saying His name so you hear it audibly. No, the name
of the Lord is who He is. His holiness, His sovereignty,
His justice, His power, His immutability, all of that is on display in
the salvation of the sinner. And He says, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And I'll show mercy on whom I
will show mercy. He will be gracious, he will
show mercy, but it's to whom he will. You see, his grace is
sovereign grace. That's the only kind of grace
there is. He has showed thee what is good,
old man. It's his capacity to save. And what does he require of you? In verse eight, he has showed
thee what is good. He himself is good, his capacity
to save sinners. And what does the Lord require
of thee? What do I have to do or be for
God to accept me? What does God demand? What do I need and I cannot be
lacking in? What is necessary? to the extent
that if I don't have it, I will be denied entrance into heaven. What does God require of me? And he gives these three entrance
requirements to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God. Now, in reading those three requirements,
if there were no gospel, I would have no hope of meeting those
three requirements of doing justly, of loving mercy, and of walking
humbly with my God. I have already failed in all
three. Now he said to do justly, not
to intend to do justly, not to do your best, but to do justly. Where my actions would be that
which the Holy God could be pleased with and say they're just. The doing of justice is always
doing that which is right and never doing that which is wrong. And I have done unjustly. I have broken every commandment,
and I do so repeatedly. So I failed there. I can't say
I have done justly. I can't say that honestly. As
far as loving mercy, how many times have I turned my head away
from that one who needed mercy and pretended not to see? How many times when I've shown
mercy to someone, it was not with cheerfulness, as the scripture
says we're to do. He that showeth mercy, let him
do it with cheerfulness. I have failed in this thing of
loving mercy. And as far as walking humbly
with God, how often have I walked in pride? and haughtiness, or
in murmuring and complaining at His providence, the things
He brings my way. I repeat, if there were no gospel These three requirements would
drive me to despair and make me believe that there was utterly
no hope of me ever being saved. But thank God there is something
called the gospel. And this passage of scripture
can only be understood in light of the gospel. Now the first requirement, let's
consider them one at a time. The first requirement is to do
justly. Now we ought always to do the
right thing in all circumstances. You know that as well as I do.
But the fact of the matter is, we haven't. We've sinned. And we're certainly not doing
justly. If we do not confess this before God, we're doing
unjustly. If we don't confess that we have
not done justly before God, but this is still God's requirement
to do justly and God will not lower or compromise this requirement. He requires absolute doing justly. He will not compromise. He will
not negotiate. This is God's requirement. You
see, God's holy. He can require nothing less.
He can accept nothing less. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. And this is all he can or will
accept. But hear the gospel. In Romans
chapter four, verse five, Paul says to him that worketh not. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David
describeth the blessedness of the man into whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed is he whose iniquity
is forgiven, whose transgression is covered, blesses the man whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Now, because of God's justified
work, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth. because God has justified me,
that means I have done justly. I've never done anything wrong.
I've always done that which is right. I'm not treated as if
I had done justly. I have done justly. I'm justified before God. I have
never sinned. And this is God's testimony of
me, not my testimony of myself. This is God's testimony of me.
He who seeth not as man seeth. He who looks on the heart. He
says regarding everyone that he's justified, They have done
justly. What they have done is perfect. This is a holy God's testimony
concerning all of his people. I'd like to read a few verses
from the 24th Psalm, where David in this Ascension Psalm asks
this question in verse three, 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, who could
that describe but the Lord Jesus Christ? correct, and everybody
in him. This is the reality of justification. If God has justified me, that
means I have done justly. I've never done anything wrong,
and I've always done that which is right. I have the first requirement. This is much more than me knowing
that I should do the right thing or even trying to do the right
thing. I have done justly in Christ. I have no sin. And listen to me real carefully.
The most just thing you or I could ever do is believe the gospel. Do we make void the law through
faith? Paul said, God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Every believer is a law keeper
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the next requirement he
mentions is to love mercy, to do justly and to love mercy. Now, what is mercy? God's grace Is God giving us
gratuitously what we do not deserve? I believe an illustration that
could make known what that means is if you went into a restaurant
to have a meal and the waiter or the waitress, the attendant
or server treated you rudely and spoke harshly to you. And
then when they brought you out your food late, it was very cold
and it didn't taste good. And then you said something about
it and they said, that's your problem, not mine. Now, if you
tipped that person, the reason would be not found in that person. The reason would be found wholly
in yourself. Now, when God gives his grace,
he doesn't have to find a reason you or me to give it. He finds
that reason holy in himself because he's gracious. Grace is God giving
you what you do not deserve. And mercy is God not giving you
what you do deserve. Now, what do I deserve? I deserve
to be cut off. I deserve to be sent to hell.
And I'm not talking about for sins before conversion. I'm talking
about the sins of today. We have such a low view of sin
if we don't understand that we deserve to go to hell. Mercy
is God not giving me what I actually deserve. Now let me tell you
two things about God's mercy that are always true. God's mercy
is always sovereign. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. If it's not sovereign, that means
it's not mercy in the first place. Because if it's not sovereign,
that means you think there's something you can do that makes God obligated
to give you mercy. I did this, he has to have mercy
on me. No, God has mercy on whom he will. He said, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. God's mercy is always sovereign. and it's always saving. If he
gives you his mercy, he has saved you. But God, who is rich in
mercy, Paul said in Ephesians 2, 4, and 5, in his great love
wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you love mercy? That second requirement is loving
mercy. Now, let me tell you, when someone
will love mercy, you will love mercy. When you're seeing is
all your fault. You're not a victim, but a criminal. You'll love mercy when you have
absolutely no merit. When you're guilty before God,
when you have no claims on God whatsoever, if He saved everybody
you knew, but He didn't save you, but pass you by and let
you drop into hell, you would still say, God is just. I'm getting
what I deserve. And to that person, when you're
totally depraved, oh, how you need and how you love mercy. Let me tell you something. If
you've experienced mercy. If you've ever experienced the
mercy of God, it will make you a merciful person. You'll love
God's mercy and you will love being merciful. This is the rule
of the kingdom of heaven. Mercy. I'll have mercy and not
sacrifice. That's what God said. And he
said to one group, if you would have known what this meaneth,
I'll have mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn't have condemned the
guiltless because they'd condemned the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, do
you love mercy? Now, I can say I love mercy. I love being saved by the mercy,
the sheer free mercy of God. And by his grace, I love being
merciful, having experienced the mercy of God. I have this
requirement. And here's his third requirement,
to walk humbly with thy God. Now the life of faith is walking
with God. We live before him. He is our
father, he's our God, he's our Lord. His son is our savior,
our Lord, our husband. The life of faith is one of walking
with God, and if you know who God is, the only way you can
walk is in humility before him. He's God. You're what you are. You're a frail creature of the
dust, and you can't walk with God and not do so in humility.
You know who He is, it'll humble you, because if you know who
He is, you'll know something about yourself. Sin humbles a man when you see
your own sinfulness. Grace humbles a man when you
see that salvation is all of grace. Oh, the only way someone
can walk with God is in humility. Well, we're humble before Him.
We're humble before His providence. Whatever he sends our way is
right, and it's right because he sent it. We really believe
that. That's what it is to walk in
humility before God. He's God. Paul the Apostle made
this statement in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. He said, by the
grace of God, I am what I am. Now that's humility. Paul was
a man that God greatly used. Paul wasn't someone who had real
problems with self-esteem and so on. He was a man God greatly
used, but he didn't glory in it. He said, by the grace of
God, I am what I am. I'm a sinner. And it's only by
the grace of God that I know that. I would never know that.
I would still be blinded in self-righteousness if God hadn't shown me I was
a sinner and my need of Christ. I'm a saved sinner, and that's
by the grace of God. I'm a justified sinner, that's
by the grace of God. I'm an elect sinner, that's by
the grace of God. I'm a redeemed sinner, and that
is by the grace of God. I'm a sinner who endures, and
that is by the grace of God. I am what I am by the grace of
God." Now, this is what humility is. It's a just estimate of yourself. If you walk with God by faith
in Christ, you do so with humility. It's impossible to walk with
God in pride and haughtiness and arrogance. If I walk with
my God, I do so in humility. Now, I can't do anything but
that. And the only thing that'll demonstrate
my humility before God. I can tell you I'm humble before
God and it would mean nothing, but it's how I treat you. Do
I walk before you in humility? If I do that, I walk before God
in humility. Now, what does God require thee?
To do justly. We have that requirement if we're
believers in Christ. To love mercy. If we've been
saved by mercy, we have that requirement. and to walk humbly
with thy God. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.