I would like you to turn in the scriptures to Micah chapter 6, and we're going to look at verses 1 to 8, particularly this evening, and I hope to open up verses 6 to 8 in a little more detail next week, but to give you at least some background, something of the circumstance, something of these incredible words. Verse 8 is perhaps the key verse, well it's certainly the key verse of the chapter and it's possibly the key, in fact possibly perhaps I would say probably the key verse of the whole book of Micah, this little prophecy of Micah. It of course is not the only verse of significance, of course there are many verses of significance and of course there's the wonderful words in chapter 5 of the prophecy of Bethlehem, Bethlehem Ephrathah as the place where the Lord would be born and the incredible significance of what is being revealed actually not only about Bethlehem but about the whole purposes of God in Micah chapter 5. It's a very profound matter indeed and a very significant matter because there's a whole prophetic, as it were, collapsing down of a great passage of the history of God's purposes. It's not my time to go into that now. As it were, looking through a telescope, as it were, and seeing, but not only seeing Bethlehem, but seeing even further into the future as something of God's purposes will be accomplished, not only through the one who will be born as the ruler of Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting, but also the eternal purposes of his grace as he feeds his flock in the strength of the Lord, and so on, and other things that are revealed in a most wonderful way in that chapter. But in many ways this verse is so significant because verse 8 particularly, as we come to verse 8, because it summarizes the whole matter of what is true worship. And what we're doing, what we're doing as we come to worship the one who will be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, as we come to understand some of the things that Micah then goes on to reveal later on in his wonderful prophecy and coming, of course, finishing with those wonderful words, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. God casting our sins into the depths of the sea. God demonstrating his forgiving power. Well, we come to worship and we come to praise him. What is true worship? Well, worship has to do with the worship, the witness, and the walk of the Christian. Well, let's have a few words of background as we come to this. Who was Micah? Micah of Moresheth. Moresheth, where was Moresheth? What do we know? Well, his name means who is like Jehovah, who is like Jehovah, who is like Yahweh, who is like the living God, that special name for God which only referred to the God of the Jews, never used to the gods of the nations, never used in any other context. Never used as the word Adonai, Lord, which is the other word for Lord, is ever used. But this word, Yahweh, Jehovah, used uniquely for God. Where is Moresheth? Well, it is likely that it was on the foothills on the border between Israel and the Philistines. And it's possible, it's possible that Micah was not actually a Jew as such. Not an Israelite. He certainly wasn't a native of Jerusalem, although that's where much of his prophecy took place. He was, if you like, an import. He was a stranger in a foreign land. I suppose you could say in a very facetious way, you know, I'm not a Mancunian, so I'm an import in that sense. When we went down to Cornwall, I was not a Cornish person. I was paid the highest compliment I think a Cornishman can ever pay. A man, when I was there, I'd been there about 18 months and I went to preach in one of the local Methodist churches and I stood up, or before I stood up, the man introduced me and said, well, he said, I don't think we need to introduce Ian. He's become one of us. I thought, wow, in 18 months for the Cornish to say that is something. I know people who've lived in Cornwall for 30 years and they're not considered one of them. Well, I'm not boasting, friends, but you know, an import. If you come from Cornwall, if you come from St. Ives, you're known as a St. Ives hake. That's a type of fish. Well, if you're a hake, you're a genuine St. Ives person. The rest of us are emmits, and I was always an emmit, an import in that sense. I never, would never, couldn't become, couldn't become because I wasn't born there. Well, Micah is like that. He's an emmit. He's an import. in that sense, and it's possible that he wasn't actually even a Jew. We're not absolutely certain about that, but it's certainly possible. He certainly was not a native of Jerusalem. He was very much an outsider coming into the situation, but he comes to bring God's word to the nation, and that was the significance. That was the importance of what he did. He was a younger contemporary of Isaiah. Isaiah died before Micah and Micah prophesied after Isaiah died, but he was a contemporary of Isaiah and a contemporary of Amos and of Hosea as well. And he's prophesying from before the time of the conquest of the northern ten tribes, although that happens, that conquest happens during Micah's life. That's why we know that he lived longer than Isaiah, because it's highly likely that Isaiah died before even the first conquest. He prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, that's 750 to 735 BC. Remember that with BC we're counting down. The reigns of Ahaz, 735 to 715 BC, and Hezekiah, 715 to 686 BC. And chapter one begins with prophecies against Jerusalem and Samaria. Jerusalem in the south, Samaria the capital of the northern 10 tribes. But during Micah's lifetime, Samaria is taken into captivity. The northern 10 tribes are taken into captivity. So Samaria will fall to the Assyrians in 722 BC. And by the time of chapter six, Micah, knowing that that has happened, is appealing to the people of Jerusalem, to the Jews, the men of Judah and Benjamin who were left. And God has a controversy with his people. He had a controversy with the northern 10 tribes. They wouldn't listen, and so they were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. You understand the significance of that? Isaiah had prophesied that one day the Babylonians would come and take the southern tribes into captivity. That seemed to be laughable, that seemed to be ridiculous. What was Babylon? Babylon in those days was not much more than a little village, perhaps a small town. It wasn't very significant at all. It would be like somebody saying today, well, you know, in 100 years time, Droyleston will rule the world. Well, if anyone came to that, you'd laugh at them, wouldn't you? I'm not, please, I'm not trying to be dismissive of Droyleston. It's, you know, you're lovely folk and it's a lovely place to be. But you can't, you really can't imagine that in 100 years time, Dralston would have gained such influence that it was a world power. That was a little bit like what Isaiah was saying about Babylon in the days when he began prophesying about the rise of Babylonia. Babylon was a non-entity, Babylon was nothing. But it became a world power and Assyria, the great mighty power of the world, disappeared. Almost. And God's word came true. But people didn't believe Isaiah. That's why so much of Isaiah's, or certainly Isaiah's early prophecies, people despised him, and he has to fight against that. And now Samaria has fallen to the Assyrians. Well, you can understand that because Assyria was the power. But still, in Micah's time, Babylon was not a mighty power, not a world power as it became later by any means. Micah comes in chapter 6 to plead with God's people, to hear God's word, because God knows what is happening. You may not, and you may think that the things that Isaiah and Hosea and Amos have said are nonsense, but you do not know God. And you need to understand what God is doing. And God has a controversy with his people. And having dealt with the sins of his people in the earlier chapters, he now exposes their false worship. Micah's words and Isaiah's words have come true for Samaria and the northern kingdoms. Judgment has fallen. And Jerusalem is doomed for judgment as well. And yet Jerusalem the southern kingdom has no conception of its disastrous situation and all assume that everything was all right. So what does God do here in chapter 6 in these opening verses of chapter 6? Well he speaks in terms of a great judicial contest and I want us to consider that this evening and then we'll come to the defense and the judgment in more detail next week. So he calls the witnesses in chapter 6, verses 1 to 2, and then states the charge in verse 3, and then the case for the prosecution is declared in verses 4 to 5, and then the defense is given in verses 6 to 7, and then judgment is pronounced in verse 8. So let's look at that this evening. Firstly, call the witnesses, verses 1 to 2. God speaks. Now later the prophet will speak and then the people will speak. But firstly, God speaks in verses one to two. This is amazing. Hear now what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the Lord's complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth, for the Lord has a complaint against his people, and he will contend with Israel. God calls the mountains to hear his word, but the mountains are inanimate objects. It would be like me saying to you, please, I don't wish to insult you, if you were not listening to what I was saying, I would be like, well, there's no point talking to you, so I'll talk to the table. What do you think, I was mad, wouldn't you? The table can't hear and respond. that God calls the mountains to listen to his word. Now that actually is a characteristic of Hebrew writing. We need to understand that. We read in the Psalms of the mountain skipping of God being a fire. Now we don't think when we say God is a fire that he literally is burning fire like a fire. We see it as a metaphor, a picture, an illustration of the character of the nature of God and of his judgments. But Hebrew is very graphic, it is very materialistic in much of its expressions. You find that in the Old Testament a lot, far more than you do in the New Testament in one sense. Now we mustn't get hung up on that, we mustn't misunderstand that, we mustn't get into extreme typology of some have done. But there are symbols here, there are pictures here. What is happening? We are being reminded of the eternity of God. That's why in the Old Testament we sometimes read phrases like this, the everlasting hills. Now we know the hills are not going to last forever, but it's a metaphor, it's a picture to us of the everlasting nature of God. And the hills and the mountains are called as a witness to the glory and power of God and of his word. Now Micah has begun his prophecy with that very same kind of metaphor. Micah chapter 1 and verse 2. Verse 1 introduces Micah and tells us a bit about the kings that he prophesied in and then here comes his first message. Micah 1 verse 2, hear all you peoples, listen O earth and all that is in it. Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. So when Micah speaks to the peoples, he calls the earth, and that's the physical earth, and all that is in it, to bear witness to what he says. Now the people to whom he speaks would understand this very clearly. Nothing and no one can be found to judge the nation so impartially as the inanimate creation. Why? Because God's work in creation has always been good. That's what God was doing back in Genesis. He was preparing a creation, a world for mankind, male and female, made in the image of God. That was what God was doing. And at the end of it, God said it was very good. So God is saying, I'm calling to witness that which I know is good, to witness against your sin and your wickedness. Now actually, Job had more sense than the people of Micah's day. Remember, Job is from the patriarchal age. He is from the earliest time. He didn't have the scriptures that we have today, but he understood something of the character and nature of God. Job speaks when he's answering his his so-called comforters in Job 12 and verses 7 to 12. And he says this, he tells them, they having criticized Job, Job says, now ask the beasts and they will teach you. And the birds of the air and they will teach you, tell you. Or speak to the earth and it will teach you. And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? And Job is saying creation declares the work of God. It displays the hand of God, wonderfully. In whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food? Wisdom is with aged men and with length of days and understanding with him. our wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding and so on. Job has more sense than the people of Micah's day. But then you see they'd heard exactly the same word from Isaiah. The older prophet But they dismissed it. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children. They've rebelled against me. And then Isaiah, you might say, is almost rude. He's very blunt. He says this, the ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. What's he saying? He's saying God's people are more stupid than the donkey. That's what he's saying. God's creation has got more common sense than you who are supposed to be the people of God. It's a terrible word of judgment. Now, of course, that's not only in the Old Testament, isn't it? Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 19 and verse 40, as he says this. when the Pharisees try to stop the people from praising God and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And Jesus answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. And God is saying that creation speaks of the glory of God and if you prevent men from praising God, there are other ways in which God will be praised. What has happened here? Well, things have got so bad that God's people will not hear him. Now, this is not a complaint with the pagans, but with his own people. They refuse to recognize the dreadful state they were in. The everlasting hills have seen God work throughout his creation. They've seen God's dealings with his people over the years. And even though God's people have forgotten what God has done, the mountains are called as a witness. Micah is called upon to stand up and to declare the case before the people with the mountains as witness. That's called the witnesses, so here are the witnesses. God's creation. Secondly, state the charge, verse three. State the charge. Oh, my people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Testify against me. And God begins with two questions. One, why has the nation become so tired of him? How have I wearied you? And secondly, are God's commands too severe? In other words, has God failed to keep his promises? Do you know that's what man's charge is against God so often, isn't it? Israel thought it had a complaint against God. How many times do you hear people say this? Why has God allowed this to happen to me? If you believe in God, how can you believe in a God like that? They're the same kind of questions that the men of Micah's day were asking. The same principle, the same attitude. Charging God. Israel thought it had a complaint against God. But God, God has been wronged by his own people because they rejected his word. God has kept his word. They've broken it. God's demands are utterly reasonable. God appeals to them as he continued to do. Later in the life I know that chronologically in the Bible it comes earlier but Jeremiah being one of the major prophets Jeremiah came much later. He came right up to the exile, so he was later than Micah. But in Jeremiah 2, verse five, God says the same thing through Jeremiah. Thus says the Lord, what injustice have your fathers found in me that they've gone so far from me and have followed idols and become idolaters? And they didn't say, where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt? He actually uses, if we were to look at Jeremiah 2 in more detail, precisely the same reasons that Micah uses here. Now our Lord had the same appeal when he walked this earth, when he spoke to the men of his day. John chapter eight and verse 46, he says to them this, which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why don't you believe me? Why don't you believe me? John chapter 10 and verse 32. John 10 and verse 32. Jesus answered, the many good works I have shown you from my father, for which of these works do you stone me? Can't you see? I've only done good, says our Lord. Why do you have this problem? What's the matter? This is the charge. This is the charge. So having called the witnesses and stating the charge, now declare the case. And God declares the case in verses four to five. What does God do in verses four to five? I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balaam, king of Moab, counseled, and Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord. What does God do? He declares his covenant faithfulness. The righteousness of the Lord is his covenant faithfulness. He's watched over them and kept them because they are his people. What more could God do? What a kind God we have, that he doesn't abandon us, he doesn't forsake us. My friends, we know, don't we, that we sin against him and we don't live as we ought. I hope we're not as obtuse as the people of God here in this place, I'm sure we're not. But that's the complaint. What does God say to them in Isaiah 5, the beginning of Isaiah 5? Isaiah 5 is a profound chapter to speak of this. God comes and gives them a parable, as it were, an illustration. He speaks of a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. God had a vineyard, he dug it, cleared it out, and planted it with a choicest vine, and he expected it to bring forth grapes, but what did it do? It didn't bring forth good grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. And God says, and now inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done to it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, does it bring forth wild grapes or sour grapes? What can I do? Now, please don't misunderstand me. God is not sitting in heaven wringing his hands saying, what can I do? I can't do anything about it. What he's doing is he's challenging them to consider these things. And what kind of God is this? Well, this is the God of whom the Psalmist said in that wonderful Psalm 103, listen to what he says about God in Psalm 103 with regard to this, verses eight to 10. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. That's the God we're dealing with. What a wonderful God. Psalm 145 and verses eight to nine. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. God is saying to his people through Micah, this is the kind of God I am. Why do you have such a problem with it? God is showing his patience, his kindness, his mercy, and he uses a few choice reminders of his covenant faithfulness in these verses. Look at them. Firstly, he brought them up out of Egypt. Verse four, he rescued them from bondage and slavery. This is always the picture in the Old Testament of the great redemption of them, standing throughout scripture as a grand example of God saving ways with men. Secondly, he gave them good leaders, Moses and Aaron and Miriam. Their present leaders were not of the quality of Moses and Abraham, or caliber of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and that was a clear sign of God's displeasure with them. Thirdly, he defeated their enemies. And he points out one particular case when Balak, king of Moab, counseled Balaam. And God protects them against the designs of Balaam and Balak and the attempt by the Midianites to corrupt them morally in the wilderness. And God reminds them with such tender words, verse five, oh my people, remember now, remember now. And how they sinned so grievously at Acacia Grove and yet their sins were forgiven and their guilt rolled away. Fourthly, he fulfilled his promises. In spite of their shameful sin there, the Lord brought them into the promised land. He did what he promised. The goodness and grace of the Lord should have led them to repentance. They were brought into the promised land. They were brought to Gilgal, as verse five says, because God opened up the ways of Jordan and brought them into the promised land. And in this way and in many more, God showed his mercies to them. miraculous displays of God's righteousness, of God's covenant faithfulness. So call the witnesses, state the charge, declare the case. Fourthly, hear the evidence, verses six to seven. Now the people speak. God has been speaking through Micah up to verse five. Now the people speak in verses six to seven. 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? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? The people speak, but instead of responding with gratitude, the nation turns and objects. The people have no answer to God's gracious acts of kindness and mercy. Because they've so corrupted the true worship of God, they can't understand it. They can only think in terms of a contract, not a covenant, which is what God has made, but a contract. How can they meet the demands of God? How can we win the favor of God back again? What is the price that we have to pay? What can we do? What can we do? And friends, there are many people saying that today, aren't there? There are many churches saying that. What can we do to bring God's blessing down? What can we organize in order to bring God's blessing down? How can we whip up enthusiasm? How can we do these things? Many people are asking those kinds of questions today. I'm thankful to say I don't think we're asking those questions in that way here at Droylston. But there are many people asking that question. They're saying, why has God forsaken us? How can we induce God to hear our prayers again? We are Orthodox. Why has God forsaken us? It must be His fault. Let's up the stakes. Perhaps we can blackmail God to work for us again. More sacrifices, more costly offerings. They're not wanting to bring sin offerings, notice, which is what they're supposed to do. But yearling calves and rivers of oil, they didn't see their sin. There was no need for sin offerings. What can we do? Their argument is this. Rams, oil, sin, calves. Should we follow even the common practice of the nations around and offer our firstborn, our own children? Let's get like the world, let's get like the nations around, let's see what we can do. Do you think we ought to incorporate the, do you know people are arguing like that, aren't they? Well, they're not saying about sacrificing children, I don't mean that, but in the context. Let's change the form of our services and type of offering. Everyone else is different, we need to follow doing it, let's follow the crown. Let's go one better than everyone else. Let's incorporate these practices into our worship. That's a very common argument today, I meet it all over the place. Sadly, I meet it more and more in some of the churches in India. It's worried me this time in this last visit. Some of the things that have come in, which I think have come in without people really thinking through the issues and understanding what they're doing. Now, please, I'm not criticizing the churches in India. They are struggling with so little serious teaching and understanding. And these things can happen without really reasoning. What is the argument so often? Well, we will do anything to gain God's favour but we're not prepared to do what he has expressly commanded. That's too easy, that is too simple. Do you know people say that sometimes? How can it possibly be adequate? That's foolish, my friends, it's foolish. Here the defence. Fifthly, pronounce the judgment, verse 8, now the prophet speaks. So God has spoken, the people have spoken, now the prophet speaks. And please, in one sense, be aware that this is more negative this week. We shall see the glorious positive, I hope, in a much greater light next week. But we need to understand the background, so I hope that makes, that understands. The prophet speaks. What does the prophet do? Well, really, in verse eight, he's beginning by saying, how dare you try to argue that you are ignorant of what God requires? He has shown you, O man, what is good. He has shown you. God, through Moses, revealed his law. God, through his covenant mercy, has shown you what you ought to do. God has given you revelation. And with that revelation comes requirements, revelation. God has revealed clearly how you are to approach him. He has laid down in his word, you Jews of the Old Testament, you know the system, you know what is laid down. God has determined how you are to approach him. You are not to add to that, you are not to take away from that. Friends, we need to hold on to that. Dear friends here, we need to hold on to that. I trust we do. We need to hold on to what is true. I remember as a, I think I was probably a teenager, going to a young people's meeting, and this is, well you know how old I am, so we're talking many, many years ago now, and talking about, and being, I won't mention the name, he was a well-known so-called evangelical minister in those days, and he was speaking and he was, I think I'm right in saying he was a Keswick speaker in years gone by, this is Donkeys years ago, and he was there to speak to us as young people and he was saying various things and I was getting more and more concerned about some of the things he was saying and thinking, I don't think the Bible lays down that as a right way to come and a right way to worship and I think you're adding to scripture, I think you're misunderstanding scripture. So I had the temerity as a teenager to stand up and read to him. And I said to him, I said, please, sir, I hope you don't mind, but I want to read to you some words from the scriptures. And I said, Revelation 22, and it says, I testify that if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life and from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. I said, don't you think, sir, that that's what you're doing? And he just laughed, he laughed. I can remember feeling about that high. Now, please, I may have been a foolhardy teenager and shouldn't have done it. But I felt he was adding to the Scriptures. That was a problem all those years ago. My friends, it's the case today, isn't it? People want a change. They find the Scriptures too restrictive. And so we find that things that a pastor's worship are not what I would call true worship. They may give us a good time, but it's not true worship. It may satisfy us, but does it satisfy God? To worship God in the right way is good and brings great blessings. What God is saying is this, the principles of righteous conduct are far more important than you think. Now friends, I know in a sense this has been negative, but what an encouragement to righteousness. What an encouragement to be righteous. God has shown you what is good. The Lord has shown us what is good. What is good. God is the good God. and to worship God in the right way is good. And never mind what the world says. And never mind if the world says you're old-fashioned and antiquated. If we are seeking to do what God says, then that's good, that's good. It's very interesting, some of the people I've known over the years, over the years, and they've tried all sorts of things, and now they're coming back to the situation where they're saying, I wish we hadn't done some of these things in the past. I was sharing some of this with some of the folk in India this time. saying, look, be careful, be careful. Make sure that what you do comes to the word of God and stands by the word of God. Be careful, don't let, don't be persuaded by very persuasive people. There is a tremendous amount in India today, you turn on, you turn on the, well, I don't, I mean, I don't watch the television, but you turn on any television channel in India seems to be broadcasting charismatic claptrap. And churches are being taken up with it and they're swallowing it. Pray for our dear friends in India that they won't be led astray by these things. That they will be kept true to God's word. Many of them have a real desire to be godly. That's what they want to be. But they don't get the teaching, they don't get the understanding. And they get these big names coming in and making all these proclamations and things. They don't have the teaching, they don't have the foundation that we have in the same way to be protected of that. God has revealed in his word his truth and it's good, it's good. But along with revelation comes requirements because true worship is essentially spiritual. As God said to disobedient Saul in 1 Samuel 15, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Listen to these words in the Psalms. These words which are taken by the book of Hebrews and applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. But what wonderfully comforting words they are as we come to worship. Psalm 40 verses six to eight. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not require. Then I said behold I come in the scroll of the book that it is written of me. I delight to do your will oh my God. and your law is within my heart." And that's it, isn't it? And I know those words are applied to the Lord Jesus but they're applied to us. And as we come to worship our great God, May it be that we will say to one another, we delight to do your will. We delight to do your will. Your law is written in our hearts. We come to worship our great God. We come to adore him. Now some years earlier, again, Isaiah had given exactly the same message from the Lord. He had said that to them. He said, God is not pleased with your sacrifices and your offerings because your heart is not right. So much so that God says to them in, again in Isaiah 1 and verses 10 to 17, I won't read the whole section, but he says, hear the word of the Lord. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices? I've had enough of your burnt offerings. I don't delight in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats. When you have come to me, who has required this? You're trampling over my courts. This sacrifice and incense is an abomination to me. Why? Because their hearts were not right with God. And he calls them to repentance in those wonderful words later on. Come now and let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. You will be washed, you will be cleansed. That's what they needed to do. And of course the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, speaks similar words, doesn't he, when he speaks of the importance of a heart relationship, of a heart being right with God, and when he criticizes the Pharisees for their rules and regulations. He doesn't say they shouldn't have kept them, but he says in Matthew 23, Woe to them because they pay tithe of mint and anise and come in and so on, but they've neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. You need to do both. You need to have your heart right because external religion without heart obedience will not save anyone. It is worthless, it is useless, it is dangerous. So what is the moral dimension? Well, very briefly, we'll come back to this in more detail and more gloriously, God willing, next week. We have these three things, these three wonderful things in verse eight. What does the Lord require of you? One, to act justly, to do justly. Our actions are to be godly, to be Christ-like. Now, many bring dishonor upon God's name, not because of their form of worship, but because of their bad witness. their witness destroys their worship, their behaviour during the week denies the words in church. Please God, we will be those who will live during the week in the light of God's word and God's truth, living day by day to the glory of God. And as we do, then we can expect God's blessing and God's grace. I could stop, my time has gone, I could stop and give examples of people I've known whose witness has been bad, who've claimed to be the Lord's but have lived bad witnesses and the consequences of that. But maybe another time. To act justly. Are we those who demonstrate by our lives the wonder of the glory of the gospel of God? To love mercy. What is being said there to love, that's the disposition of our hearts, that's the motivating principle of our behaviour. We have received God's covenant mercy. Now let's demonstrate the spirit of that mercy in our dealings with others. Remember the unforgiving servant? Well, learn from that. And in the context of this passage, it's not so much the enjoyment of the mercy of God to us, although I hope we do, but the expression of that of godly mercy to others. That is, by loving mercy, we are demonstrating that mercy to others as we seek to bring the gospel to them. To act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God. And here Micah is reminding us that that is the day-by-day attitude of our lives as we walk humbly with our God, the continuous action of our lives, the progressive, active, continuous walk. Comes back to what we were saying at the end of the message this morning, growing in grace, stage by stage, step by step, becoming more holy, more godly, more Christ-like. That's a wonderful concept, isn't it? It's more than a concept, it's a wonderful principle. that we may grow in grace, that we may show something of the beauty of Christ. Walking humbly, that's not groveling, that's not arrogant, that's not running on a head, it's going step by step with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's walking humbly with our God. When I was a child, when I was younger, If somebody got to teenage and they started having a girlfriend or boyfriend, you talk about them, they would be walking out with one another. Do you still use that phrase? Do you understand that? Those of you who are older perhaps remember that phrase. Walking out with one another. Beginning to walk out. Oh, they're beginning to walk out with one another. It's a wonderful picture, isn't it? Two people falling in love. and in fellowship together and walking together in harmony and unity. That's the picture, walking humbly with our God. God coming alongside us, walking with us. God dwelling within us. What an incredible picture. What a wonderful picture of the love of God. A picture of harmony, of fellowship, of closeness, of holiness. Without these qualities, my friends, our worship is meaningless, isn't it? It's useless, it's spiritless. But when we're walking with God, what a testimony, to walk with God. The worship, witness, and walk of a true Christian, they're all intimately linked together. Walking humbly with our God. What a wonderful picture this is. He has shown you, O man, what is good. What is good. What does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Well, I leave that with you. Let's think about that. Let's meditate upon that. May these things bring us closer to God. And next week when we open up, I hopefully a little more of the glory of these words here in verse eight. I hope our love for God will be increased and our fellowship with him will become more precious. God bless you. We're going to sing a hymn about walking with the Lord in our closing hymn this evening. It speaks of these things. 481, O walk with Jesus, wouldst thou know how deep, how wide his love can flow. They only fail his love to prove who in the ways of sinners rove. 481.