Catechism 39, what is the duty which God requireth of man? The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. What is the duty which God requireth of man? The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. Now there are some catechisms which are harder to remember. But some are very simple and straightforward when it comes to repeating, and this is one of them. This one is a simple catechism to remember, and yet there's a tremendous profundity to it, as there is with them all. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. I think you'd agree that for a child, the hardest possible instruction that you might give is to behave or to be good. I remember as a child, my mother at certain times saying to me, now, just be good. Just behave yourself. And that was always one of the most hard instructions to receive because it was such a massive obligation. It was an impossible obligation. You were being set up for some inevitable fall because you weren't being told specifically what to do. You were just to do everything right. It's far easier when you're told, do this and don't do that. Then you know where you stand. There's clear expectation. There's clear limits. But when you're simply told to be good, to behave, you have to try to work it out for yourself. And that leads to some inevitable confusion and fall. Imagine what it was like living under one of the tyrants of history. Those unpredictable, capricious rulers who would simply decree upon a whim. You would never be secure, would you? Because what was their mind one day might not be their mind the next day. And you might find yourself on the wrong side of their opinion, and you've had it. Friends, our Lord is no tyrant. But our Lord is gracious and faithful. And what he requires of us is not shrouded in mystery. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. He doesn't leave us to imagine what that might be, but rather he reveals it. Now you can remember, as we began our study through the catechism, that there was a structure. There were two introductory questions. What is man's chief end? And what is man's chief end? And what rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? But then in question three, there was a, structure given to the rest of the catechism. Question three says, what do scriptures principally teach? And the answer is the scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. And then question four, up into question 38, which we considered last week, is concerns with what we are to believe. It deals with the first part of that third question. what man is to believe concerning God. And now at question 39, we go into the second part of the catechism, what duty God requires of man. And so the question 39 takes us back there and says, well, what is the duty which God requireth of man? What is the duty which God requireth of man? The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. God's requirements are your duty. Whatever God requires, you are obliged to fulfill. They are owed to him as a debt. They are not an optional extra. And the basis for the demand is very simply the sovereignty and the majesty of God. It's emphasised for us in Colossians chapter 1, where the apostle says, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him. And it's particularly that final clause, all things were created for him. And therefore, it is his right to require you to fulfill your duty. Your life has purpose. You might be conscious of many demands placed upon you. And you may be like, it may be as many are, which is that you cherry pick those tasks which you prefer. And you leave the ones that you find difficult or displeasing. And sometimes you never get round to the difficult or the displeasing task, because you do everything else first. So if you don't like doing music lessons, then you'll do all your other responsibilities first, and you do all your other homework, and you do everything else, and then you run out of time. Friends, you must prioritise according to the significance of the task. And it's God who commands. God who commands. You may measure and you may prioritise all your other duties according to various criteria, the apparent urgency, the complexity, the convenience, the cost-benefit ratio, your personal preference, and maybe that is okay sometimes. But when God gives you a duty, that must be your first priority. the duty which God requireth of man. Now you understand, of course, that of man means mankind, humanity. Every person, male and female, young and old, every generation, every nation, every class, every capacity. But most significantly, we might say tonight, you. the duty which God requireth of man. Every rebel must still pay taxes. Every rebel must obey the law. There's no opt-out scheme, otherwise the law comes after them. As individuals, we have the capacity to disobey God, but not the right. And if we choose to disobey, to fail in the duty that God has required of us, it speaks of enmity and hatred, but it also speaks of ignorance. Because if we fail to give the duty to God which He requires of us to fulfil that duty, we're hastening to a lost eternity. who will stand in contradiction and defiance of it. The atheist denies God, but God does not annul his claim over them, his legitimate claim. This applies to the atheist, that God requires a duty of them just as much as to anyone else. Very often today, duty is disdained because people want to be free. I don't want to think about duties placed upon me, I just want to be free and to do my own thing. And sometimes it might be argued that a spontaneous act of love is better than dull performance. Better to do something spontaneously because you want to than just simply plodding along and unthinkingly do what's required of you. But that's a false dilemma. Presenting these two options as though they are the only two options. At the end of the day, what God requires Isn't spontaneous acts on your own initiative without reference to Him? And nor is it a dull, plodding performance. But what God requires is obedience to His revealed will. And obedience does not mean dull, grudging performance. That was the complaint that the Lord made against his people through the prophet Malachi. Yee said also, Behold, what a weariness it is, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. Ye had contempt for my worship. Ye grudgingly did it. Should I accept this off your hand, saith the Lord? Ye know the answer. or the word spoken through, Isaiah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons, new Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. What's being said there in Isaiah chapter one? Well, the Lord is saying to his people, you're fulfilling the ritual, but you're fulfilling the ritual in a dull, grudging manner, with no love, with no joy, with no zeal. As our Lord said to the women of Samaria, they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. And anything short of joyful performance is defiance against God. You sometimes see that, children. Sometimes you know that. You might do as you're told, but you do it in such a grudging way. But it's not really a doing as you're told, is it? You're perhaps trying to avoid being caught out or being punished because you've done it. But you haven't really done it, have you? It's been done so grudgingly that the doing of it become is no offence. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. Obedience. You're to conform. But this doesn't deny your individuality. This doesn't deny the spontaneity of life. Friends, it's not bondage, but it's liberty. Obedience to the revealed will of God is the context which is given for each unique individual to flourish before God. You're not to blindly copy everyone else, just to imitate, to replicate what they do. Faithfulness before God does not mean a dull, unimaginative, conformist, grey drab, like some sort of communist concrete structure. But rather, your obedience to the revealed will of God is a call for you to individually respond to God's instruction in the distinct place that He has put you in the creative order. It's like an orchestra playing in symphony, each one in its particular place, each one with its particular instrument, each one capable of making its own particular sound, and yet playing in harmony. There's nothing dull about the obedience of an orchestra to the instruction of the conductor. Obedience brings liberty because this is your purpose. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. Obedience to his revealed will. You're not called to be innovative. You're not called to variety. There's no ambiguity as to what God requires of you. It's not like that difficult command given to the child, be good. But rather, he has told you what he requires from you. God has spoken. Yes, you must listen and you must learn so you might discover what he has said. But he has not left you to imagine. Look at all the false religions and look at the different things that people have imagined that a god may require of them. In some extreme circumstances you find human sacrifice. You find violence, warfare, aggression, cold ritual, elaborate ritual, elaborate sacrifice, superficial service, obedience to his revealed will. And sometimes people get tied in knots trying to second guess the secret councils of eternity. People try to anticipate what God is doing in providence and get tied in knots maybe over whether to do this or whether to do that. whether you should have chocolate ice cream or whether you should have vanilla ice cream. But friends, if the ice cream is not stolen, and if eating it's not gluttony, and if you're not choosing to spite someone else, and if there's no relevant medical condition that prohibits you, then you have absolute freedom to choose chocolate or vanilla, or maybe even both. You see, you're not called to enter into the councils of eternity and to work out what we might describe as the hidden or the secret will of God. But rather, you are to obey his revealed will. And where there is no specific instruction, there is liberty and there's freedom. There is freedom for you to choose the flavour that you like, the colour that you like. It says in Deuteronomy 29, in verse 29, Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. You're not to order your life according to speculative guesswork, but the revealed will of God. You know, there's a danger of trying to read between the lines and failing to read the lines themselves. You're not responsible for the unimaginable turns of providence. Rather, you're to show your confidence in the Lord of Providence by being faithful to what He requires of you. And He has revealed what He requires of you. You're to be faithful in your own corner of life. knowing that he is Lord over all, just as a member of the orchestra. It's not to be looking at the other members of the orchestra, but with their eyes fixed upon the conductor, is to be obedient to the revealed will. That doesn't call for dull robotic conformity. You know God and his word, his revealed will, It doesn't give all the pernickety detail of life, but rather we're provided with principles. God does not micromanage your life. You're free to choose. You're free to use your gifts. You're free to enjoy variety. God in his mercy does not micromanage but rather sends you out on the greatest adventure to live for his glory through obedience to his revealed will. What scope there is for rich variety. Everyone different. Each one of us different. No one the same as you. And no one placed in the same place, in the same position that you are placed. And each one called to honor God. James chapter one, verse 22. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For then he be a hearer of the word, and not a doer. He's likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what man or man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This man shall be blessed in his deed. Who will be blessed? The person who does. revealed will of God. What is the duty which God requireth of man? The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. Now let's just go back a moment. The Catechism is structured in a particular way. There's two introductory questions and and then we have this division. First of all, what we are to believe, and then how we are to behave. We have doctrine, and then we have duty. It's interesting that the order of the Westminster Catechism here is the same order as you find in the Heidelberg Catechism. Doctrine, then duty. What to believe, then how to behave. Why do you think it's structured that way? I think the answer is this, is to show that the law, the keeping of the law, the keeping of the revealed will of God, is not ultimately the way to be saved. It's the same orders we find in the Bible itself. Think of the introduction to the Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20, verse 1. God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And so on. What's happening? The Lord is saying, I have saved you. Now, therefore, obey me. So we have doctrine first, who God is, what God has done. And then we have duty. You see, the law has two purposes. You might say the first purpose of the law is to bring you to Christ in order to be saved. You cannot keep the law, the law condemns you as a sinner and therefore you come to Christ to be saved. That's the first purpose of the law. And the second purpose of the law is that Christ brings you to the law as a way to serve. First purpose, the law brings you to Christ to be saved. Second purpose, Christ brings you back to the law as a way to serve. You can say that the law demonstrates the requirement for Christ's atonement upon the cross. And the law then demonstrates how you are to respond to that atonement. For Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The law demonstrates the requirement for the atonement. And then the law demonstrates how you are to respond to the atonement. What is the duty which God requireth of man? The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. Amen.