"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does God require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8 NKJV Spirit Filled Bible
As we saw yesterday, there are some that think they are ok with God and have nothing to fear. They believe and that's all that matters. This is not the case however. Take a look at James 2:19:
'You believe that there is a God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble.'
Intellectual assent to a creed is not saving faith. One has to ask Jesus into their heart, submitting their whole life to Him. This as we know is salvation. It is the only way to Heaven. People may say, 'Yes, but I live a good life; I never hurt anyone'. 'I give to charity and I go to church every Sunday'. The thing is, it is not enough. It is all or nothing. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.'
God offers grace to the person who will accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. Grace is God's unmerited favour and undeserved blessing. It is His mercy offered to us - His people, who go to Him to be saved. Mercy means God's unfailing love, His kindness and tenderness, in fact, as we have discussed before, Hesed. Hesed is a Hebrew word, sometimes referred to as Chesed, a silent 'C'. It means God's faithfulness towards us. The full meaning can be found in the Strongs Concordance 2617.
We need to adopt the phrase, 'I do not earn God's favour and grace, Jesus earned this for me by dying on the cross, in my place. He paid the price for my sin' When we accept this, and ask Jesus into our lives, we will be saved and have no fear of falling. He holds us steady as a rock.
Our text today, is almost a blue print of three commands that the ancient rabbis found after careful study: (1) To do (Act) justly, (2) To love mercy and (3) To walk humbly with your God. This can all be explained as:
(1) REMAIN HONEST IN ALL YOU DO
(2) CHERISH COMPASSIONATE FAITHFULNESS
(3) COMMIT YOURSELF TO LIVE IN SUBMISSION TO GOD
If we can honour these commands, we are certain of living safe with Jesus and of sharing eternal life with Him, one day when we are promoted to be with Him, as He has promised.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard.
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
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