To turn with me to the book of
Micah. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. While you're turning there, we
are going to observe the Lord's table together tonight. And also
next Sunday morning, Brother Mahan is going to be with us
and preach for us. He's going to be Moving soon
to Rocky Mount, Virginia, so I'm going to take advantage of
it as long as he's here close and he's going to be with us
next Sunday morning. Micah, chapter six. I'd like to read verses six through
eight. Of Micah, chapter six. 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 hath showed thee, O man, what
is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly? and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God. I've entitled this message, What
Does God Require of Me? I got that title from verse eight
of our text. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee? What is necessary for me to be
saved? What are the inference requirements
for me to enter heaven? And if I don't meet these requirements,
I'll go to hell. That's how serious this is. What
does God require of thee? Not what should I do? We already
know what we ought to do. Everybody already knows that
they ought not kill anybody. You ought not steal. Everybody
knows that sexual sin is wrong. Everybody knows that covetousness
is wrong. Go on and on. I'm not asking
what should we do. You really already know what
you ought to do, don't you? People say, well, we need to
be taught to live. You're born knowing what you ought to do.
We're born with the knowledge of the law of God in our hearts.
So I'm not asking what should we do. We already know that.
But what is required? What is it that I must have for
me to enter the kingdom of heaven? Now let's begin with verse 6
of our text in Micah chapter 6. Wherewith, with what shall I
come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? What can I bring that will make
me acceptable to him? Now understand this. I'm going
to have to bring something. Remember Cain and Abel? Both of these boys understood
there was something they had to bring before the living God. What did Cain bring? The fruit
of his hand, his works, the fruit of the ground, the best he could
produce. He thought, surely God will take
my best. What did Abel bring? He brought a blood sacrifice. That's what he brought before
God. You've got to bring something. Now, Micah says, wherewith? With what shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the Most High God in worship?
How am I going to go about that? Shall I come before Him with
burnt offerings? Animals slain with calves of
a year old? Shall I come with animal sacrifices?
Will the Lord, verse 7, will the Lord be pleased with thousands
of rams or with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Now that word
please means to satisfy a debt. That's what the word means. Will
the Lord be satisfied with this debt if I bring 10,000 slain
animals? Boy, there was a lot of slaying
going on in the Old Testament, wasn't there? animal after animal
after animal slain. I was thinking about that and
I thought, what would the animal rights activists do about this?
I mean, there was just animal after animal slain. Will that
please the Lord? Will that satisfy the dead? Everybody
in here knows deep down that the slaying of an animal will
never satisfy the dead. It pictures something. It illustrates
something. So he says, no, Slain animals
is not going to satisfy the debt. What if I gave ten thousands
of rivers of oil? That would be riches that the
richest man on earth could not come up with. What if I gave
him untold riches? If I gave him all that I had,
wealth beyond imagination, would that satisfy God? What a corrupt
and ignorant view of God we have if we think he can be satisfied
with our material gifts. Listen to me. God's got plenty
of money and He doesn't need yours. He said, if I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you about it. The cattle upon a thousand hills
is mine. He's not worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything. So you could bring ten thousands
of rivers of oil, you could have all the wealth this world has
to produce and offer that to God, and it would be meaningless. Meaningless. God's got plenty
of money. He doesn't need anything from
you in that respect. What he says next. Will the Lord,
verse seven, 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? What if I sacrifice my children?
I was so sorry over my sin that I was willing to give Aubrey
for it. Aubrey would like that, wouldn't she? But what if I gave
up? Here, take her. Take care. This is how sorry
I am for my sin. I'm not going to hold back anything.
I'd even give up my firstborn child. Surely God will be pleased
with the ultimate sacrifice on my part. Now, that's what I think. All I show by that is how blind
I am to the character of God. I think it's interesting the
way people think, well, God wants this from you, wants that from
you, wants you to give up this and give up that. And it's just
blindness to the character of the living God. I have to give
up something that will really please God. We demonstrate by
that attitude what horrible thoughts we have of God and how we really
view Him, thinking that that would satisfy the living God.
You know, God's not like men you are. He's just altogether
different. I love that scripture where the
Lord says, Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself.
That's where most people are, but He's not like you. He's not
like me. Verse 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. He showed you what is good. Who's
good? God is good. He's always good. He's good all
the time. God is good. The Lord Jesus Christ
is good. It's his goodness that saves. Now, if we think that he would
be pleased with the things mentioned in verses six and seven, animal
sacrifices and wealth untold, rivers of oil, or even if I gave
up my kids for my sin, if we think he'd be pleased with something
like that, all we've proved by that is we don't really believe
God is good. Not really. Somebody who believed God's good
wouldn't believe anything that foolish. Now, that represents the belief
of all men right there, and that we think we need to come up with
some kind of sacrifice that we think God will accept, and that'll
make Him accept us. And we just show that we don't
really have any understanding of the goodness of God. I love
that Scripture. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance, that gives you this change of mind.
You wouldn't even have this repentance unless God in His goodness gave
it to you. Repentance is the gift of God.
It's His goodness that saves us. I think of what Moses said,
Show me your glory. And he said, All right, I'll
show you my glory. I'll make all my goodness to pass before
you. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before you, and I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Verse 8, He has showed
thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord, get that
word, require of thee. Now these are the entrance requirements
to the Kingdom of Heaven. If I don't have these, I will
not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I will not be saved. Now once
again, remember, This is not just knowing what you ought to
do. This is talking about the requirements to get in. Now, look what he says first.
What does the Lord require of thee but to do? Justly. And this is a requirement. Not just knowing you ought to
do justly, everybody knows that. but to actually practice righteousness,
to do justly. And you will not be saved apart
from doing justly. Now, what is meant to do justly? Let me answer that question by
asking another. What is sin? Claire, you quoted it. Sin is
the transgression of the law. Any want of conformity, any want
of perfect conformity to the law of God is sin. And I'm not doing justly if I
don't keep. Do you hear me? If I don't keep
the commandments. I am to honor my father and mother. I am To not kill, to not commit
adultery, to not steal, and to not lie, to not covet the commandments
of God with regard to the second table and the first table. I
am to put no other God before Him. I am to not commit idolatry. I am to not take His name in
vain. I am to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. I am to do justly. is to have a perfect conformity
to that law. He doesn't say to do justly most
of the time or to intend to do justly or at least my heart's
in the right place and I have the right motive and so on. But
no, to enter into the kingdom of heaven, I'm going to have
to have, I'm going to have to do justly before that holy law
of God. Let me show you this in scripture.
Turn with me to Psalm 15. Psalm 15, verse 1. Lord, who shall abide in thy
tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Who's going to make it in? Well,
here's the answer. Verse 2. 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 to his own hurt, and changes not,
even if it's going to cost him to do what's right, he's going
to do it. He that putteth not his money to usury, nor taketh
reward against the innocent. He that doeth, doeth, not admires,
but does these things, shall never be moved. Turn to Psalm
24. The psalmist asked this question
in 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 into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully, he shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness
from the God of his salvation." Now that person who enters the
kingdom of heaven, he's not lifted up his soul to vanity not even
once. He's never sworn deceitfully.
He is perfect before the holy law of God. He doesn't do justly
some of the time or most of the time. or partially. That's not what the scripture
says. Now, a lot of times people look at this scripture and they'll
say, well, what is this thing of doing justly? Being honest
and paying your bills and treating people right and so on? Well,
that's included, no doubt. But it says to do justly. Take it for what it says. To
do justly. If I do not do justly, I will
not enter the kingdom of God. I just read that passage of scripture,
except your righteousness shall exceed, shall surpass, shall
be superior to the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
You shall what? In no case, under no circumstance
whatsoever shall you enter the kingdom of heaven. To do justly
is to continue in all things which are written in the book
of the law, to do them." To do them. Good Master, what good
things shall I do to inherit eternal life? You know the commandments. He
gives them. He says, this do. D-O, do. This do, and you shall live. And what do I need to do in order
to enter the kingdom of heaven? I've got to do justly. Now, there's a problem. There's a real problem. Have
you ever lifted up your soul to vanity? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever coveted? Have you ever committed sexual
sin, at least, if not literally, in your mind? Have you ever murdered anybody
so as to be angry at them without a cause? You're jealous of them.
You wish ill upon them. You wish that what they had,
you had instead of them. That's the murder. You see, the commandments are
exceeding broad. How in the world can I do justly? How can I enter in to the Kingdom
of Heaven doing justly? Now, there's only one way that
this can be understood. And this is dealing with the
Scripture honestly. I don't know how many times I've heard people
preach from this passage of Scripture and they said, well, you need
to do justly, you need to do right. You do need to do right.
Don't think I'm saying it's ever okay to do wrong. We're to not
sin. That's God's commandment, that's
to sin. These things are written into you that you sin not. But
in this thing of doing justly, have you stood before the Ten
Commandments? Now listen to me real carefully. I want you to
hear this. I'm talking about myself. I'm talking about you.
You have not, I have not, kept one commandment one time. You believe that? What if you
believe that? What's true, whether you believe
it or not, not according to God's standards. No, sir. No, sir. Never told the truth once. Even
if you quoted scripture, you quoted it in such a way as to
put a slant to make yourself look better and make somebody
else look worse. Everything ever thought ever
motive. The only way this can be understood,
this thing of doing justly is in light of the great biblical
doctrine of justification. I want to talk about that for
a few moments. Justification. Remember the publican, the Pharisee in the
temple. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God
never heard a word he said. He thought he did. Lord, I thank
Thee that I'm not as other men are. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an unjust. I'm not like
this Pathetic publican over here who's got the audacity to come
in here and pray when he's such a wicked person? No, I'm not
like him. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And then you had that pathetic publican crying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. The sinner. And what did our
Lord say about that fella? I tell you that man went down
to his house. Anybody know the next word? Justified,
not simply forgiven, not simply pardoned, but justified. If you're justified, that means
you're not guilty. Not guilty with a covering. Not
legally guilty, but in reality, you're not. No, the only way
the Bible recognizes justification is if you're justified, you are
not guilty. You have a perfect standing before
the holy law of God. That's what the whole Bible is
about. Turn with me to Romans chapter 4, if you would please. Verse 1, what shall we say that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, had found? For
if Abraham were justified, By works, by what he did, by his
acts of obedience, he hath whereof to glory. He could say, I did
this, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and he was counted to him for righteousness.
Now, to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace,
but of dead. In other words, God had owed
it to you. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted. for righteousness,
even as David also described the blessedness of the man under
whom God imputed righteousness without work, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, how can God justify somebody
who's ungodly? What would we do with a judge
in our courts? What if down there on Limestone
Street there was a judge and these people who committed these
awful crimes, he just said, you're justified. We'd have a hard time
with that. He'd lose his office, wouldn't
he? How is it that, you know, Proverbs 17, 15 says, He that
justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just, even they
both are an abomination to the Lord. Now, how is it that God
justifies the ungodly? There's only one way to answer
that. The Gospel. The substitutionary death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the way He justifies the
ungodly. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, For He, God, hath made
Him. To be seen for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the very righteousness of God in him because of union with
him, because of substitution. His righteousness is my personal
righteousness. It's not just a. A legal thing,
this is my righteousness. Now, let me show you this from
the scriptures. Matthew, chapter three. Matthew, chapter three. Verse 13, Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee. And cometh thou to me? What if the Lord came to you
and said, I want you to baptize me? You'd have a hard time with
that, wouldn't you? Me baptize you? Let's get this
turned around. I don't understand that. He didn't
want to do it. I don't blame him. I wouldn't
want to do it either. Me baptize the Lord? Good grief. Let's go
on reading. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Thus it becometh us. Us. When Jesus Christ kept the law,
so did I. When Jesus Christ obeyed God,
so did I. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, did Christ do justly? Then I did. Let me show you this
again in Revelation chapter 19. Verse 8, and to her, all of God's
bride, God's sheep, to her was granted, was graciously bestowed
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. I've heard people say, well,
that's the righteous deeds of the saints. Well, I reckon it is. I don't
have any problem with that because the righteous deeds of the Lord
Jesus Christ, his righteousness before the law, is the righteousness
of the saints. This is the doing of doing justly. And anything else is a dishonest
view of this. The only way you can do justly
is if you're justified by the grace of God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love that scripture. In Isaiah
chapter 54, verse 17, where God says their righteousness, their
personal righteousness is of me. So in order for me to enter
the kingdom of heaven, first of all, I'm going to have to
do justly. Now, let's go back to our text in the book of Micah. Verse 8, He hath showed thee, O man, what
is good, and what doth the Lord require thee but to do justly,
and seconds, to love mercy. Did you hear that? To love mercy,
not just simply to be able to give a proper definition of mercy,
or even to go to the Bible and say, here's what mercy means,
where if you need to do that, no doubt. But it says to love,
to love mercy. Well, first, what's meant by
mercy? I can't love if I don't know what it means. Mercy, according
to Scripture, is God not giving me what I deserve. That's a very simple definition
of mercy. It's God not giving me what I
deserve. Now, the only way you can enter
into this is if you really believe you're guilty. If you really
believe your sin is all your fault. Guilty as charged, you
take full responsibility for it. You don't blame God's sovereignty.
You don't say, well God allowed me to do it, therefore I can't
help it. No, what you did, your sin, is all your fault. Responsibility. Now that person
who really believes that they're completely responsible for their
sin, they're mighty thankful if God doesn't give them what
they deserve. Let me show you mercy in the scriptures. Turn
with me to Genesis chapter 19. Matter of fact, this is the first
time the word merciful is used in the scripture. Genesis chapter
19. And God's going to destroy Sodom
and Gomorrah. Verse 15. And when the morning arose that
the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of this city. And while he lingered, he lingered,
God said, Get out of here. Wrath is going to come down on
this place. Lot lingered. There's so much here, I don't
want to leave. He lingered. And while he lingered,
the men, what did they do, these angels? They laid hold upon his
hand, and upon the hands of his wife, and upon the hands of his
two daughters, and the Lord being what? Merciful unto him. Didn't say, the angels didn't
say, now what? God's given you this opportunity.
You can leave now. I mean, it's up to you as to
whether you're going to stay or leave. Here's your choice. Go ahead and make it. But you
need to get out. No. They grabbed him by the hand
and yanked him out. The Lord be merciful to him. Now let me tell you two things
that are always true about God's mercy. First, God's mercy is always
Sovereign mercy. That means he gives his mercy
to whoever he is pleased to give it to. He said, I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Turn to Romans chapter nine for
a moment. Sovereign mercy, that means it's
at his disposal to give it or withhold it. Look in Romans chapter
9, verse 11, for the children, talking
about two twins, Jacob and Esau, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved. But Esau, have I hated? That's
God speaking. Well, what shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in loving
Jacob and hating Esau? Is He showing favoritism? Is
that unfair on God's part? God forbid, for He saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. That's the mercy of God. For
the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy. And whom he will, he hardens. Do you love it? I'm not even
asking if you agree with it. Do you love the fact that His
mercy is sovereign mercy? The only way you'll love it is
if you believe that's the only hope you have. If you believe
the only hope you have is for Him to just sovereignly decide
to do something for you, because there's nothing you can do for
Him, you'll love it. Second thing I'd like to say
about God's mercy, it's always sovereign and it's always saving. Paul said in Titus 3, 5, not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy. He saved us. And here's the mercy of God.
Turn to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. And you, hath he quickened, who
were dead, graveyard dead, unable to save yourself in trespasses
and sins, when in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
the mind. We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,
but God. who is rich in mercy, for his
great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved."
Do you love that? I'm not asking you even if you
agree with it. Perhaps you do. Perhaps you don't. But do you
love this? I do. I love that God controls
mercy. I'm glad he's got all control.
I've got no control. I'm glad. And I'm glad he dispenses
his mercy to sinners. Now, the only way this is actually
expressed is by being if I say I believe in the mercy of God
and you listen to me real carefully, all doctrine is practical. If
it's not practical, you don't really believe it. If it doesn't
enter into your life, into your conduct, into your attitude,
in what you do, it's not real. It's just theory. If I really
believe in the mercy of God, you know what it's going to do?
It's going to make me a merciful person. And if I'm not a merciful
person, truly a merciful person, I don't know anything about the
mercy of God. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
18. You know, the Lord said, blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. Matthew chapter 18. You know, somebody that talks about
believing. In sovereign mercy. And they're not a merciful person,
you know, it's offensive. It's offensive. It's worse than meaningless to
talk about, I believe in the mercy of God. I believe salvation
by the mercy of God. And you're not a merciful person.
You don't know the first thing about God's mercy. Now look here
in Matthew chapter 18, verse 23. Therefore, the kingdom of
heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take account
of his servants. And when he began to reckon,
one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. That's way up in the millions
of dollars. Way up in the millions of dollars. But for as much as
he had not to pay, the Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife
and his 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. I'll pay thee all. He had no
way of paying him all, but yet he's saying this right up to
the end. I'll pay it. Give me a chance.
I'll pay it. Yeah, you're really going to come up with the money.
Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion. He
loosed him. He forgave him at the death.
You don't owe me anymore. But the same servant went out and
found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence,
fifteen bucks. Now you think of this. He'd just been forgiven
millions of dollars. One fellow's in fifteen dollars
and he laid his hands on him. 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,
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 servant
saw what was done, they were very sorry, and they came and
told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after
that he called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I
forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldst not
thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as
I had pity on thee? And as the Lord was wroth and
delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was
due to him, so likewise shall my heavenly Father do to you,
if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their
trespasses. Turn to Luke chapter 6. Luke, Chapter six, beginning
in verse twenty seven. I love this passage of Scripture,
this is what this is, what it is to be merciful. But I say to you, which here.
Love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them. That curse you, do
we really got to do this if you're going to anything manual? Pray
for them which despitefully use you, and unto him that smites
thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that
takes away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give
to every man that asks of thee. And unto him that takes away
thy goods, ask them not again. And 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 love those that
love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners do also even
the same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive,
what thank ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as
much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping
for nothing in the end. And your reward shall be great,
and you shall be children of the highest. For he is kind unto
the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore, what? Merciful. As your Father also
is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be
judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive,
and you will be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure pressed down and shaken together and running
over shall be given to your bosom. For with the same measure you
meet, with the basket you bring, it will be measured to you again. Now the only thing that expresses
me really believing in the sovereign mercy of God for which I'm so
thankful, I love the mercy of God. It's seen in me being merciful
toward men. Now let's go back to our text. And Micah, there's one other
thing he mentions. Verse 8. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. And what doth the Lord require
of thee? To do justly, And that's all to do justly. That's what he requires. Perfect
justice. And to love mercy. To love it. And it's expressed. And to walk humbly with thy God. And there's the third requirement.
To walk. Oh, listen to me. If you're a believer, You walk
with God through this world. In it, walk with God. You walk
with God. That's your conversation. That's
your life. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of my
life. I walk with God. This isn't just
me giving assent to a few doctrines. I walk with the living God. The life of faith is a walk through
this world with the living God. Whatever you're doing, you're
walking with God. Now, notice he says it is to
walk, and this is the only way you walk with God, is to walk
humbly with thy God. To walk humbly with thy God.
Now, what is humility? Somebody once asked John Calvin,
what is the What are the three greatest Christian graces? And
I like his answer. He said, well, first, humility.
And second, humility. And third, humility. What is
it to walk humbly with thy God? Well, first, I've got to understand
what humility is. What is humility? It's a just
estimate of yourself. It's not necessarily low self-esteem. You know, you can have low self-esteem
and be as proud as a devil. Generally, low self-esteem has
something to do with pride. I mean, you know, it's not low
self-esteem. I mean, I want everybody to have
a healthy self-image. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Humility is not low self-esteem, but it's a just estimate of yourself. Now, what's a just estimate of
myself? And this is just, I'm telling you the truth right now.
I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. That's a just estimate
of yourself. Paul said, I am what I am. How? By the grace of God. Now I am,
and I'm going to say this because I'm proud of it. I am a sinner,
but it's only by the grace of God that I even know that I'm
a sinner. That's the only way I know it. Oh, I might take the
title, but I don't really believe it unless God shows it to me.
But I'm also somebody who walks with the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that's by the grace of God. I'm a believer, and the faith
I have is by the grace of God. I love Jesus Christ. I adore
Him. That's by the grace of God. I
am what I am by the grace of God. Now, turn with me to Philippians,
chapter four. How is humility, a walk with
God in humility expressed? Well, same way as mercy, it's
only expressed by how I treat others. Look in Philippians,
chapter four. I wrote a little article on this
in the bulletin, it's something that I certainly thought a lot
about. Verse five, Philippians, chapter
four, it says, let your moderation. Be known unto all men. Now, what
does that word moderation mean? It means a gentleness, a merciful
attitude, a gracious attitude. It's not holding people's feet
to the fire. The way I express humility before
God is by my humility before men, the way I treat them. And
you know how that is seen Most powerfully, a true humble attitude
is seen most powerfully in a non-judgmental attitude toward men. Non-judgmental attitude toward
men. Let me make good on this. I judge people all the time. And every time I do it, I'm wrong. You see, in this attitude of
a nonjudgmental attitude, what's that mean? It means to not feel
morally superior to somebody. You see, when I judge you, when
I judge you, when I judge where you're coming from, examine your
motives and so on, here's what I do. First of all, when I judge
you, I play the hypocrite. very, very much. Romans chapter
2, 1 says, Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that
judgest another. For what you judge a man, you
do the same things. Whatever you criticize somebody
for, if your heart was opened up, don't you know that you do
the same and worse? Do you believe that about yourself? When I judge somebody also, I'm
incapable of making a proper judgment because I don't know
the facts. I don't know what was going on behind that. I don't
know what they've gone through. And anytime I judge somebody,
I'm arrogating to myself a position that belongs to God only. Look in James chapter 4. You know, every time I judge
somebody, and it's a lot, it's a lot, I just feel this twinge
of guilt, this little voice that says hypocrite. Hypocrite. And that's proper, isn't it?
That's proper. Look in James chapter 4, verse
11. Speak not evil one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil
of his brother and judges his brother, speaketh evil of the
law, and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're
not a doer of the law, but a judge. You've taken the place of God
Himself. There's one lawgiver who's able to save and destroy.
Who are you to judge somebody else? And the original says you. You. Who are you to judge anybody
of anything? Does that speak to you? What is it to walk in humility
before God? It's to take the lowest seat
in the house. I love that parable of our Lord.
He said, when you're bidding to go into peace, don't take
the high seat where you'll be honored. And then somebody comes
and says, get down in that lower seat. Somebody more honorable
than you is here. No, you take the lowest seat in the house. Take the menial task with no
recognition. Take the lowest seat of the house.
Esteem. Paul said, let each esteem the
other as better than himself. Better. Not just the same, but
better. If I am humble, if I have the
attitude I'm supposed to have before God, I'm going to esteem
you as better than me. And it won't be an act of, you
know, the scripture speaks of voluntary humility. Well, I'm
going to be humble here. That's the most proud thing.
To volunteer? Okay, I'm going to take the humble
part here. Man, you ought to be in the lowest
place. You believe that? You ought to have the lowest
seat. You ought to esteem everybody as better than yourself because
they are. I don't mean, well, I need to esteem others as better.
No, really believe they are better. That's what humility is. To walk
humbly with my God is only expressed in walking in humility before
my brethren, actually esteeming them as better than me. Let me tell you what the ultimate
act of humility is. Believing the gospel. Simply knowing you're nothing
and Christ is everything and believing the gospel. believing
what God has said. You know, it takes humility,
a just estimate of yourself, to believe the gospel, doesn't
it? You see, if you have a just estimate of yourself, you know
that in and of yourself, you're nothing but sin. You believe
that about yourself? In and of yourself, you are nothing
but sin. Only when I believe that regarding
myself, it's easy to trust Christ as my righteousness before God. He's my justification. What does
God require? To do justly. To love mercy. And to walk humbly. with thy God. Let's pray.