WHAT DOES THE
LORD REQUIRE?
Good morning everyone, and welcome to all of you.
Brethren, today’s message is going to be about the question that the prophet Micah poses in Micah 6:8. The question is actually made as a statement and goes like this, “what does God require of us.” I want to ask that question of us today. What does God require of us or what does God require of you as an individual? What does God require of His people to be a true Christian, to be a saint? What does God require of us to inherit eternal life? What does GOD require of us?
That’s what this message is going to be about this morning. And we’re going to turn to the book of Micah in just a few minutes. But first, I’d like to start out in a little bit of a different direction, just to kind of set the stage to lead up to that subject, to lead up to what I think is the spiritual fulfillment and meaning of what Micah gets across and what his point is in that particular passage. So if you would, begin turning with me to the book of Luke18. And while you’re turning there, I’d like to ask you another question, the question that was actually posed here to Christ. And before you read the answer as to what He gave, I’d like to ask you what your answer would be if someone were to ask you, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” What would you say? What is that thing you feel is most important in your relationship between you and God and you and Christ? What would you convey? What would be the message that you would try to convey back to an individual that would ask you, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Now without going to the answer, I’ll have to tell you the first thing that came into my mind, and I’m just thinking about as far as what it would be like to try to teach the rest of the world, the first thing that came into my mind is that I would try to teach people or a person about the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath. Because once you start on the Sabbath, you can follow up with the other laws. Right? Whether they be the Holy Days, the rituals, the clean and unclean meats, and all sorts of things like that. So I initially thought that if we start with the Sabbath then we could expand to the rest of GOD’S way of life following that. This question of, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life,” was actually posed to Christ, let’s read it together and notice what His answer was.
Luke
18:18-23 Now a certain ruler asked Him, [that is, asked Christ] saying,
"Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 19) So Jesus said to him, "Why do you
call Me good? No one is good but One,
that is, God. [And then He goes on to answer the question] 20) "You know the commandments: 'Do not
commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,'
'Honor your father and your mother.'" [So He begins to list numerous of
the ten commandments.] 21) And he said,
"All these I have kept from my youth." 22) So when Jesus heard these things, He said
to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow
Me." 23) But when he heard this,
[when the rich young man heard this] he became very sorrowful, for he was very
rich.
Think about that just for a second, the question was posed by this young man, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" First Christ addresses the Ten Commandments. Obviously He didn’t mention the Sabbath, here because I think it’s a given that this young Jew was keeping the Sabbath. So I think that’s probably one of the reasons He didn’t mention the Sabbath. Where today, we might allude to that. But notice if you would, when the young man came back justifying himself with his response, his reply was I’ve kept all those things from my youth, as far back as I can remember. But notice what Christ did then, what He alluded to. He said, “You still lack one thing.” And He said, “Sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me.” Of course, this young man couldn’t do that. He went off very sorrowful. No doubt, Christ may have been very sorrowful as well because the man couldn’t make that kind of sacrifice.
But this is the point that I gathered from this; it is like the Ten Commandments all of a sudden became minimal requirements. The Ten Commandments are important and that’s what he said. He says “Keep all of the commandments” and the young man said, “I have kept them from day one. But when He added the spiritual application to the ten commandments, “sell what you have and give it to the poor,” this young man couldn’t do it. To me, again, it is like the Ten Commandments, the Holy Days, and all the other laws of clean and unclean meats could fall in the same category. They are important. In other words, you can’t receive eternal life without keeping the Sabbath, but just because you keep the Sabbath and keep the Ten Commandments, doesn’t mean that you’re going to receive eternal life. There’s more to it than that. That’s what Christ was getting at here. That’s why he was using the spiritual application of God’s Word, of God’s Laws, a principle way of living that we are to have and be applying in our lives to fulfill what God truly requires of us to inherit Eternal Life. And remember that is the question we are using as a step toward the question of Micah, “what does GOD require of you.”
That one encompassing thing I
thought was very amazing is the “one thing,” that he said, “you still lack”. It was a HUGE one thing, wasn’t it? Now we may not be rich first of all so we may
be thankful and say to God, thank you that I’m poor because I don’t have
anything to sell and give to the poor. I
would be in the poor category more than I would be in the rich man’s category. And we all may feel that way, but you know,
brethren, when you get out of this country like when we observed the Feast of
Tabernacles one time in Mexico, it was made very clear to me that we are
rich. And even the poor in this country
are very rich in comparison to other countries in the world. As a matter of
fact, the cab driver told me in
If you would, turn to Luke 10:25. We’re going to read where this very same question was asked on another occasion. And we’re gong to see the answer was similar, very similar, but not quite the same. Of course the caption above this verse says “The Parable of the Good Samaritan”, but notice how it starts out. With the same question as this young rich man had been asked.
Luke
Now here is the same question that the young rich man had asked, it just leaves out the word “good.” These were two different occasions [one was a rich young man and this time it is a lawyer]. That’s why I used the book of Luke in this illustration to show that Luke is referring to two different occasions or events but yet the question is the same. The author would not refer to the same event twice; this is a second time that this question was posed to Christ. Again, it leaves out the word “good” and Christ doesn’t say “Why do you call me good, there’s only one that’s good and that’s the Father”, but he poses the exact same question “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now notice how Christ answers this time.
Luke 10:26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"
In other words Christ turns the question around and poses it to the lawyer. Well, what does the Law say? How do you understand it? How do you interpret it? You’re a lawyer, you’re a teacher of the Law. So what’s written therein? How do you apply it? Christ answered the lawyer with a question and notice the guy’s answer.
Luke
I thought that was put very well. The guy got it. He understood the spiritual application, didn’t he? He’s actually quoting Deuteronomy 10:12.
Luke 10:28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
So Christ agreed with the answer. How may I obtain eternal life, inherit eternal life? The guy gives his own answer. He knows and Christ agreed with him. But now notice what happened.
Luke
He quoted that he must love his neighbor as himself. Christ just agreed with him. If he had just been quiet and walked away from that point on that may have been the end of the story. Of course, not much of a lesson could be gained that you couldn’t already go to the Old Testament and glean the same teachings. But he went on to say, “and who is my neighbor?” And now let’s read through this. This is the account of the good Samaritan. And we are going to see the same principle, Christ gets back to the same principle, the same type of answer and principle that he gave to the rich young man. And it is going to be, as you can see, to have outgoing care and outgoing concern for other people.
Luke 10:30-31 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31) "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
So this Samaritan, a human being, needed help. A person that was supposed to be a good person, a good example, a good light, that you would think would help another individual in need passed by on the other side. For one reason or another he did not want to help the man in need.
Luke 10:32 "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side [as well].
Again two that you would have thought would be the ideal candidates, the upstanding citizens, that they would offer help and aid to this person here that fell among thieves.
Luke
Luke
Do you see what was lacking in the first two individual’s life and in their mind and in their attitude and in their conduct? No compassion was mentioned. No compassion was displayed whatsoever. The two that were the upstanding citizens and teachers of the law did not come close to fulfilling the law of Love. They taught it but they didn’t practice it.
But lets continue and we will read that the Samaritan did have care and concern and compassion.
Luke 10:33–35 And when he saw him, he had compassion. [on him] 34) "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35) On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denari, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'
Look at the attitude and the example that’s given by the Samaritan compared to that of the Pharisee and the Levite who were the teachers of the Law. Christ made it very clear which one is of love and compassion and which is the proper one for us to follow. Of course, we know that the Jews knew and understood the law physically and by the letter, but they did not get it. They did not comprehend the spiritual application of the Law of God which is “love toward man and love toward God.” Christ now asks the question back to the rich man, “Who was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?” Obviously, the Samaritan was.
Luke 10:36-37 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? 37) And he said, He who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise.
You can see that Christ finally got to the point, the same teaching as what he said to the rich young man. Sell all your goods and help the poor, feed the poor, give it to the poor. Here, He finally gets down to the point when he asks the question, “Who had mercy?” “Who had the outgoing care and concern for the well-being of this other individual?” He had to answer, “the one who helped him.” The Samaritan.
Again Brethren, the Ten Commandments are very important. The Holy Days are very important. We can’t in a sense, inherit the Kingdom of God without keeping and observing those things, but when you compare them to the spiritual application of God’s law of love, God’s word, you will see that they are minimal requirements. It gets much deeper than that. There’s much more to it than that. What God requires of us goes beyond the letter of the law. The first two individuals were keeping the letter of the law, yet they didn’t stop and help this individual because it was a spiritual application. And notice the spiritual application was fulfilled by physical action and work. What about us and our daily conduct? How do we treat one another? How do we treat perfect strangers? How do we conduct ourselves on a daily basis? Because we can ask the question, What must WE do to inherit Eternal Life? And we know its beyond just the Ten Commandments and observing the letter of the Law. It is showing love and concern, mercy if you would, toward other individuals. Now this leads up to my question, or actually to a scripture I would like to cover.
Turn if you would to Micah 6:8.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and
what does the LORD require of you. [This
is the prophet Micah posing the question for
We know this is the Living Word of God. We know that it is as alive and just as pertinent and applicable to us today as it was then. So the question “what does the LORD require of you” should hit home, it should really make us think. And we have to ask ourselves are we fulfilling what GOD requires of us? Are we the good Samaritan or are we the rich young man or one of two Jews that passed by on the other side not willing to help someone in need? Which are we, and what does GOD require of us?
Micah 6:8 and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
To me, I think these three principles are summed up in our
love toward God and our love toward our neighbor as we just read. It is summed up very succinctly in just a few
words. Because when we display these
acts of kindness, acts of love and concern and care for other individuals, that
is the only way we can show love toward God.
When Micah says that he has shown you what is good he is implying that
this is not something new but something old, something that we should have
already known and should be applying in our lives as a true Christian. Verse 8,
again says, He has shown you, O man, what is good, the meaning here is not that
it is something new, but something old.
You have already known this. What
he is doing is quoting Deuteronomy 10:12. Turn to Deuteronomy 10:12 (you might
want to leave a marker in Micah 6).
Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you,
We could ask the question, what does he require of me? It becomes a personal issue then and a personal point in our relationship with God. You want to know what He requires of you? We just read it in Micah. And Micah is actually saying this is not a new commandment. This is not a new teaching. It’s not something you didn’t know. It’s not something that I just revealed to you. It’s something that God has taught us from day one. Let’s continue.
Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, (same question) but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
So again here, it is in reference
of the Commandments. But it is also
talking about the spiritual application of them. It gets beyond just the physical letter of
the law. Turn back to Micah 6. We could all think about the story of
Let me get back here to Micah 6. This time I’d like to back up to Micah 6:6. This time Micah sets the stage as to why he even makes the quote and answer that he does in chapter 8.
Micah 6:6. With what shall I come before the LORD,
Now we know we’re not to appear before the Lord empty on the Holy Days and with offerings. But, anytime that we come before the Lord we’re not to come before him empty. So lets have that thought in our minds as we continue.
Micah 6:6. With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Notice the reference Micah is making is to the burnt offerings with calves a year old. And actually we could go to the book of Hebrews and see that these offerings, the blood of goats, the blood of lambs, calves, any of the sacrificial offerings were not worthy of being presented to God. And we know that these sacrifices could not remove sin. Micah is alluding to that very point.
Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
You know there had to be literally thousands, probably millions over that period of time that the rituals were enforced, of animals that were sacrificed to God as an offering and as a payment for sin as a sacrifice.
Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?
Something physical? That’s the point Micah is bringing out. What can you bring to God physically that would be worthy of giving to Him? What of anything you possess, any of your possessions, can you give to God? Physical possessions, that’s the key word. We have absolutely nothing worthy of giving to God. Just as these rams and goats and calves and their blood could not make the proper atoning and the proper sacrifice to make the payment of sins—that took Christ’s blood. If we gave our own blood, it would not be worthy of the sacrifice to pay the death penalty in our stead. It took Christ’s blood and His only. Even our own physical blood is not worthy of sacrifice for our sins.
Micah 6:7 Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
The first thought that comes to my mind on that is how absurd. First of all, I wouldn’t even think of giving my first born, my second born,or any of them for my sins, and for the transgressions of my soul. But what Micah is bringing out is that even your most prized possessions, everything that you own and everything that you have, still falls short. Even if you gave of your own blood. Even if you gave of your own Son, he’s saying this falls short. You’re falling way short. Because,
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Again, the spiritual application of God’s word. Brethren, think about it. What do we have that we can offer unto God, physically? Absolutely nothing. We can’t even make an offering to God that’s worthy of His acceptance. But again, we know the plan of Salvation, we know that Christ has already fulfilled that for us. Did you know that when we come before God, the offering that we present is Christ? That offering has already been shed for us. That sacrifice is the offering we have that is worth to present to GOD. Else we could never appear before God the Father. So what does HE, GOD, require of us? US! Your heart, your mind, your soul, all of your inward being and every fiber that you’re made of, that’s what He requires of you. It’s not a physical possession. It’s not even the keeping of physical laws. It’s not keeping the Law to the letter in a physical application. This scripture gets way beyond that. What he’s saying here is that you must apply what I’ve given you in love. You must apply GOD’S way of life in our lives today to be a true Christian and this is what is required to inherit eternal life, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Those are the requirements. Those are the requirements. That’s what the question poses and that’s what the scripture brings out for us.
I think we can go through here quickly and see what this passage of scripture is teaching us. What does the Lord require of you but to do justly. Really that just means to have love toward your fellow man. And that means then in all of our conduct, in all of our transactions, in all of our dealings, in whatever, even in our conversations wee are to have love and honor and respect toward others. And to be fair, to be fair. And obviously we want to treat others how we want to be treated. That’s the bottom line. If you would, turn to John 7:24. Because when you are talking about doing justly, it is in a sense making a judgment.
John
We have a tendency to look upon people for the outward appearance. And when we do that, of course, we’re not looking at things the way GOD does. Hence we are not just in our actions. We can only see the surface value of something. But if we use God’s word to make a judgment to act justly toward another individual, it becomes altogether different. Because, you see, we know God’s law. We know ourselves through our calling using the Word of GOD as a mirror. Even with having God’s spirit we sometimes slip and we sin, don’t we? How do we look at ourselves? The carnality in us wants to look at others but how do we look at ourselves? Do we judge ourselves like we would judge someone else? How does God look at us? What I try to do is this, if there is any kind of righteousness or if there is any kind of good behavior or if there is anything good that comes out of any example or anything that I have done in my life, I give God full credit. I give HIM the thanks, honor, and glory for it. But when I slip and sin, and transgress GOD’S way of life, when I make a mistake and I say and do the wrong thing, I take full responsibility for it. I know it’s the carnal man that’s still within me. And I know it’s my fault that I’m not submitting unto Christ and unto God when I do such things. So if I judge myself that way, then I don’t have to fear being judged by anyone else. But again, to do justice here, to do justly, just means to have love toward your fellow man. Isn’t that exactly what Christ said to the rich young man? Isn’t that what He said to the other lawyer? Which one showed mercy? That’s what we’re to behave like. We are to be the good Samaritan.
Next we are to love mercy.
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
And then in
Luke
Brethren do we want other people to be merciful and forgiving unto us? Do we want God the Father to be merciful and forgiving to us? Then we are told that we must be merciful unto others, be forgiving, be loving in all of your conduct. This is a spiritual application of GOD’S laws. Scripture says God is Love. When we put God’s Law into practice, it is the Law of Love in action. When we do these things that are right, it is putting those laws into a spiritual application and it gets beyond a physical letter of the Law.
And last it says to walk humbly with your God. We all know that God called Abraham and He walked with him. We know that Enoch walked with God. Brethren, they walked with God through their calling. We’re called to walk with God as well. Don’t forget the example of Adam. Adam walked with God, and as long as he was walking with Him in the garden, everything was fine. When he sinned and took of the forbidden fruit and hid from God, he no longer walked with Him and at that point in time their relationship was dissolved and Adam did not have the same spiritual relationship with GOD. He no longer walked with GOD. In fact, Adam was expelled from the garden.
So again, to walk humbly with our God is pointing to and alluding to our calling, from the time that we are called until the time that we are changed. Of course, we just went through the period of fifty days leading up to Pentecost that pictures that.
We’re supposed to be drawing nearer to God. And if we draw nearer to God as we know in the book of James, he says GOD will draw nearer to us. To me that is truly amazing. Isn’t that what it’s all about? In Philippians, we’ve read it so many times this year it seems, it says, “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” Is it? We have to ask ourselves the question and answer truthfully. What must I do to inherit eternal life? What does God require of me? What does God require of you? What must you do to inherit eternal life? Are we applying the spiritual principles that Micah is addressing? Are we applying these three principles, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Are we really the good Samaritan?
Transcribed by JMF, June 2004