He Has Told You
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
There was a TV special called “Heaven: Does it exist & how do we get there?”
Why is it so many people know their way around the world using a map but cannot use the only perfect map to find heaven or even know if it exists?
In the book of Micah we find the prophet mentioning a series of questions the Jews were posing about how God might be approached in order to have their sins forgiven.
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 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?”
Like with so many things with God the answer is succinct and to the point.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
This answer is the same answer God gives to all questions regarding godly or righteous living.
So today we are going to break down this answer.
He Has Told You, Oh Man
He Has Told You, Oh Man
We Have Been Informed.
We Have Been Informed.
God has already told us all we need to know.
Yet, time and time again, because people don’t like the answer they strive for “new ones.”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
God had informed the Israelites over and over about this.
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?
11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
The bible has been completed for over 2000 years and yet people are still seeking answers even though the answers are right in front of them.
Too often we seek to figure things out on our own, even when the answer to our questions is right there.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Summary
Summary
Solomon simply stated what God said here when Solomon wrote, “there is nothing new under the sun.”
“He has told us, oh man.”
Even though the Jews had already been told, God being the merciful God he is, went ahead and declared…
What Is Good
What Is Good
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
True Goodness Isn’t Found In Man.
True Goodness Isn’t Found In Man.
That isn’t to say we can’t be good, but we can only be good when we listen and obey the “true goodness” that is of God.
23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
The reality is good, and evil are absolute. God is absolutely good while sin is absolutely evil.
If that isn’t the case than anything goes, and anything is permitted.
Therefore…
God Defines What Is Good & Evil.
God Defines What Is Good & Evil.
We have all things that pertain to life and godliness because God is absolutely good and he is the definer of good.
Of God the psalmist stated…
68 You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.
Summary
Summary
God has already given us the road map to living lives of uprightness in spite of this sinful world we live in.
The God whom we are worshiping and serving tonight is good and has given us that which is good.
So that should lead us, like the Israelites, to the answer we must ask the question of…
What Does The Lord Require?
What Does The Lord Require?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
To Do Justice.
To Do Justice.
Again Solomon stated in Proverbs 21:3…
3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
What does that mean, however?
To do justice means to judge righteously.
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
To do justice also means to judge fairly.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
We are also…
To Love Mercy.
To Love Mercy.
To love mercy means to love our neighbor as our self.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
To love mercy also means to forgive others.
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Lastly God declares we are also…
To Walk Humbly.
To Walk Humbly.
There are too many who would rather run with the world.
This includes the "Pharisaical" Christians who have an outward appearance of religion but have neglected the "weightier matter."
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
These children of God might drop a big check or talk about what everyone else should be doing, yet all the while not participating in any of the works of God.
Those that run with the world cannot walk humbly before God.
Yet that is exactly what we must to do please God.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Summary
Summary
The LORD our God requires of us to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Our walk with God is not just one hour or one day a week, but a life of faithful service.
God has told us what is good. He has told us how we ought to conduct ourselves in this life in order to get to the next (II Pet. 1:3). If one pays attention to what He has revealed then he will know that heaven exists, and exactly what it takes to get there (Jn. 14:1-6).
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
