He Has Shown You

Jul 12, 2026

Linked Podcast: After The Amen - Ep. 37

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Well, I refuse to be a fair weather fan. There are a number of experiences I had that contributed over the years to my love for Michigan State. I realize many of you out there do not share that same love. Many of you, I heard the little boo there. Hey, listen, I wasn't gonna go there, people. You can love Michigan, that's fine. We, you know, we can, I know there's an in-state rivalry. You make those choices, you be loyal to whoever you want. I, however, I am committed to Michigan State and I'm not jumping ship. Um, and there are reasons. I have good reasons for it, good reasons for uh my decision to commit myself to Michigan State. Uh I love Michigan State, and there are reasons that develop that. So growing up, my mom got her master's from Michigan State, and so what happened was on the weekends, sometimes we would visit the campuses. That was my first experience, beginning to walk around campus, getting to experience things. That kind of started it for me. Then my grandfather, who was a really big Michigan State fan, when we got to the certain age, he and my uncle would take us to games, football games, basketball games. And then my grandfather passed away. So those are like core memories for me from my childhood. I'm gonna cherish those memories forever. So that really helped foster that love. Then I grew up with somebody who uh was a very good basketball player, a really close friend of my brother's, and he ended up playing for Michigan State, very successful. And so that was kind of it. Like after that really happened, like I was cemented, I was fully invested in Michigan State. And so through all those experiences, I came to love MSU. And because of that love, I remain loyal to my team, despite the fact that if I'm honest, sometimes it would be easy to jump ship. I'm gonna keep it real with you. I'm a Spartan fan through and through, but it's been tough these days to be a Spartan. All right, we've had some rough years lately. It's been tough, uh, especially with our in-state rivals. There might be reasons where people might expect that I would abandon my team and pursue somebody else when times have been tough, but that's not gonna happen. I'm committed. And that got me thinking this week. Why exactly is that? Why have I remained loyal to my team through the ups and downs? It's not an obligation. Nobody tells me I have to like Michigan State. Nobody's forcing me to cheer for that team. No, my faithfulness flows from my devotion. I'm faithful, I'm faithful to that team because I simply love this team. Our hearts have a way of determining our loyalties. We remain faithful to the things or individuals that we truly treasure. And this morning, as we open up the pages of Scripture, this becomes a central part of what we need to consider because 3,000 years ago, there was a group of people who were living unfaithfully to the relationship that they had. Now keep in mind, these were people, the people of Israel, who had a covenant relationship with the Lord, the God of Israel. They had experienced his grace, they had witnessed his power, they were the recipients of his blessings. However, somewhere along the way, their lives no longer reflected hearts that were devoted to the Lord. Their love for God had grown cold. And so God raised up a prophet, a guy named Micah, who came at a very good time to give a warning to these people to confront these covenant people. And the message that Micah gave to these people, I believe, is a message that's worthy of our reflection today. So if you want to see what God's word has to say about faithfulness, go ahead and open your Bibles with me to the book of Micah this morning. We're in Micah chapter six. Micah chapter six. If you came here and uh it's one of your first times and you brought a Bible, great. We open our Bible every Sunday. If you didn't, we got you covered. There's a Bible in front of you. You're welcome to use that. If you don't own a Bible, take that Bible home. And if you're like, I have no idea where Micah is, it's a tricky one to find. So just a heads up and your seatback Bibles, maybe three-quarters of the way in is where Micah's at. Um you get to the end of the Old Testament. There's a bunch of little books. It's found in that section. So some of the bigger prophets, the major prophets, are Ezekiel, Daniel, then you get to the minor prophets, the small ones. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. If you hit Nahum or Habakkuk, Habakkuk, whatever you want to say, you went too far. So Micah 6 is where we're at today. And as you're turning there, we are continuing a series that we began at the beginning of the summer called Digging Deep, where we take some of your favorite Bible verses and we try to unpack these and understand these. And the reason we've chosen to do this series is because we really believe that sometimes the things that you need to, or the verses that you you know the most are the verses that you really need to hear again. Because uh one of the reasons why is sometimes when we know a verse really well, it becomes familiar. That's good to us when things become familiar in the Bible, but when it becomes so familiar, it becomes common. And when things become common, we tend not to think about them, we overlook them. And so the goal is to revisit these popular verses and to dig deeply so we understand them in a far better way. Today we are looking at a famous verse, Micah 6.8. Some of you may have uh memorized this verse. Uh, it's the one he has shown you, oh man, what is good? What does the Lord require of you? It's a good verse. Um, I learned this through a song when I was in middle school. Um, some of you, anybody know the song Micah 6.8? Anybody? Nobody? Um, one, okay. And I guess there's different versions. So this is like I've done this in both services. This is super cringe, just so you know. I'm gonna teach you the song. Can we do that? Okay. Oh, thanks, Jordan. I'm gonna steal Jordan's microphone because he's got a buttery, smooth voice. I want to try to sound as much like him as I can. And the guitar. Is that all right, Jordan? Alright. So because you don't know the song, I'll just try to quickly walk through it. I don't know why I didn't tip it from this. The first two, it was not great. But okay. So this is a song that I think was written um in the 80s, 70s, maybe even. Maranatha Music put it out. Uh I learned it like with like my youth group or something in middle school. There are different versions of this. Um, it's one of those where the guys sing the beginning and then the girls echo the line, and then um, so it's one of those. So I'll just kind of walk through it for a second. So oh, hold on. That was my problem last service. There you go. All right. So it kind of goes like this. It'll go, um, yeah, shown the and you go, yeah, show on the ladies. Oh man, and the ladies go, oh man, and then you all sing it together, the next part, and then we repeat that. You'll get it. All right, we'll try it. All right, fellas with me. Ready? The beginning part.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Oh man. What is good in what the Lord requires of me? Alright, do it again. Ready? But to do just the mercy.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Can we do one more time? Thanks, Jordan. You're just you're like my cheerleader, man. You should come up here and do this. One more time.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Yes, but it's gonna do the request of me. But to do just the mercy, and to the job, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

All right. It wasn't that good. You don't need to clap that much. Hey, one of the reasons I did that was because I wanted to illustrate something else. I've been talking about the fact that some of these verses are good to teach your kids. It's a reminder because I learned the song and I never forgot the verse. So just a little heads up for parents as you're teaching your kids verses and things like that. If there are songs that have scripture, just the value of implanting these in kids, it can last, you know, their whole lifetime. So for me, that's how I learned the verse. We're gonna do this in a slightly different version, the ESV, but as we've done every week, I want to begin by unpacking this verse by helping us understand some context. So the book of Micah is not a very popular book, so many of us maybe don't know much about it. Uh Micah was a prophet of the Lord who was from a town called Moresheth. This was 20 miles south of Jerusalem, and Micah would have served in the 8th century BC, and he would have been a contemporary of Isaiah. So that was a prophet who was also ministering during that time. And he would have ministered during the reign of these Judean kings, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Now you're kind of like, what does it have to do with anything? Well, let me explain real quick. This was a time in Israel's history where there were lots of problems. In fact, God's people had divided into two nations. So the kingdom of Israel was in the north, the kingdom of Judah was in the south, and these were two distinct kingdoms. And while Micah lived in the south, he actually ministered to both the northern Israelites and the southern people in the kingdom of Judah, because by this point in the story, Israel's people had grown corrupt. They were corrupt in ways that they were living before the Lord and before others, and so as a result of their corruption, God raised up Micah to deliver to them a message of judgment that pretty soon the Assyrians were going to rise to power. And in 722 BC, they ended up invading the northern kingdom. And then 586 BC is when the kingdom of Babylon was raised up, and they took the people in the south into exile. And so the Lord raised up Micah to warn people that judgment was imminent, judgment was coming. And part of this warning included telling the people of Israel some of the problems that were taking place that needed to be addressed. Namely, the people who were living in Israel during the time of Micah, they were beginning to walk away from the Lord. They were unfaithful to him. In fact, they started worshiping other gods. Not only were they unfaithful to the Lord, their God, but they were also unfaithful to each other. They had neglected each other by being greedy, by being violent, and by oppressing the poor. Even the leaders were doing that. And so the truth is, these people were not living out the covenant relationship that God intended for them to live. They weren't reflecting the same faithfulness that the Lord had given to them. And so they were rebellious. They weren't living out the covenant. And so, because of this, right, the Lord begins to address the problem. The true problem is their heart had grown cold, their affections had faded. And so, in light of that, Micah was raised up and he gave them this message of judgment. Judgment is imminent. But included in that was not that God was just going to judge his people, because God loved Israel. It's also a message of hope. You see, God is faithful to his people despite their rebelliousness. And so what happens is judgment is presented in the book, but then there are moments where God gives just a glimmer of hope. And what that hope is at various times is that when the people go into exile, God is going to bring a remnant back into the land. And through that remnant, he's going to raise up a leader, a ruler from the little town of Bethlehem. And from that ruler and from that remnant, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. And so that's really the book of Micah. It's all about judgment and hope. The judgment is because Israel is unfaithful. The hope is that God is always faithful. And so far in the book, what's happened is we went through two cycles of that. It's been judgment and then a glimmer of hope, judgment, then a glimmer of hope. And now we're back in the third section, the final section. And our section, chapter six, is all about the judgment that God is going to bring. And he's going to drill down on Israel's unfaithfulness. But here's the thing I like about our chapter. Our chapter unfolds like a courtroom drama. Anybody here a fan of courtroom dramas? I love courtroom dramas. I love, you know, all those documentaries or whatever about those stories. That's the way this chapter unfolds. So let me kind of set the table for chapter six. Israel is on trial here. The plaintiff is the Lord Yahweh himself, and the witnesses and the jury are the mountains, the hills, and the earth. And so God calls the mountains and the hills and the earth to come, and hear as he brings these charges against his elect people against the people of Israel. So notice what it says in verse one and two, setting the context. Hear what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. So now we kind of see how the chapter opens up. There's a courtroom scene, court is in session. God has called the mountains and the hills and the earth to hear these arguments. And the first person who's going to go up to the stand and make his case and begin an opening statement, really, is the Lord Himself. It's Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now you would expect if God is indicting his people because they've been unfaithful, you would think that God's tactic would begin by reminding people, the people of Israel, of all the bad things they've done. You'd kind of assume that he'd put them on blast. He doesn't do that. No, what God actually begins to do is he pleads his case. Number one is he gives a reminder. So we're going to see God's reminder. So notice how it begins now in verse 3. He says this O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me. Now the key to this opening section is to look at these first three words. O my people. I want to remind you that God had established a covenant relationship with these people, the people of Israel. This is not some courtroom dispute between strangers. These are people who are in a relationship, a formal relationship with one another. These are people who belong to the Lord. Now, can I remind you that God did not choose Israel based on their inherent loveliness? That's not why God entered into a covenant with them. It's not as if God saw the people of Israel and said, Man, you're so much better than everybody else. Oh, look at how great you are, look at all the wonderful things you've done. Because of that, I will choose to be your God and you can be my people and will enter into this covenant. That's not how it happened. In fact, God reminds his people of that over and over and over again. God did not choose Israel because they were inherently lovely or better than anybody else. He chose Israel out of the abundance of his grace and mercy. He chose them out of all the nations to be his treasured possession. He was to be their God, they were to be his people. And so God begins by reminding these people that they've entered into this covenant. This whole time, God has been faithful to Israel. All along, God has been faithful, but Israel has been unfaithful. Why is that? Well, as I said earlier, their hearts had grown cold. The truth is, they began to drift away from the Lord. And so God begins by saying, Hey, what have I done to you? Notice how he says, How have I wearied you? Now, what's interesting here is it's kind of heartbreaking if you think about what God is saying. In fact, uh Micah was a prophet. I mentioned that Isaiah was a contemporary. There's another prophet, a minor prophet, that was ministering at the very same time Micah was. It was the prophet Hosea. If you've ever read the story of Hosea, it's heartbreaking. He kind of rehearses this whole experience with his wife as an illustration of God's relationship with Israel. And Hosea's wife is repeatedly unfaithful. And throughout that story, what you learn is that God loves his people so very much, he loves them, but over and over and over again, his covenant people keep pursuing other lovers. They're unfaithful, they pursue false gods, and God is heartbroken by it. And so here in chapter six, we begin to feel the heartbreak. God's like, Wait, what have I done to you, Israel? How have I wearied you for you to treat me in this way? Here in chapter six, he's reminding them of the relationship that they established. And what's interesting here is after that, he then begins to unpack all the ways that his faithfulness toward his people has been made manifest over the years. And so notice, as we pick up in the next verses, he says, For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent you before uh sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, O my people. Remember what Balak, king of Moab, devised, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, uh answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. You see, all these things that God is describing are examples of grace. But I want to remind you of something very, very important. Before this covenant was even established, remember, God brought the people into the wilderness, and there at Mount Sinai, they entered into a covenant together. Before all that happened, before he brought them to Mount Sinai, what did God do for these people? Well, the text tells us, I brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. God rescued his people from Egypt, from slavery. He brought him them out, and then he entered into the covenant relationship with him. God did not tell Israel, hey, Israel, if you obey me, then I'll save you. What do they do? He saved them and said, Okay, now obey me. That's important to understand. Grace is not the reward for obedience. Obedience is the response to grace. Let me say that again. Grace is not the reward of obedience. Obedience is the response to grace. God rescued them and then he established the covenant with them. He showed them grace and then he established the relationship. And from that point forward, God continued to provide for them. God continued to be faithful, time and time again. So when they needed leaders, God sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. When their enemies, Balak of Moab, tried to curse them, God raised up Balaam, who spoke and turned all those curses into blessings. When Israel was unfaithful in the wilderness and pursued other gods, God still brought them all the way into the promised land. And at Gilgal, God renewed his vows to his people, and he once again continued to express his enduring faithfulness to them, even though they had turned away from him. And so as this trial begins, God simply starts by reminding his people of how faithful he's been to them despite their unfaithfulness. And so that's where it starts. Number one, it's God's reminder. But as the trial continues, notice the next person to stand up and speak is going to be the nation of Israel. And they're going to begin to respond to what God says. And so, number two, let's look at Israel's response. Notice what they say in verse 6. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Notice here how Israel responds with a question. And the question is centered on how best to approach God. They understand that they've screwed up. They know they've been unfaithful. They're well aware of that. They're familiar with the fact that they've messed up. Deep down they understand that. And so the question is, okay, we've screwed up. How do we come back toward you, God? How do we approach you? But notice specifically the way that they're framing this question. They say this with what shall I come before the Lord? Translation, God, what do we have to bring you to make this all better? That's really what they're asking. Just tell us what we owe you, God, and we'll pay it. We'll call it even. We'll, you know, how much is this going to take? All right, God. Like we'll we'll we'll we'll pay up. We we've screwed up. But what do we got to bring? That's the nature of the question. In fact, they even start throwing out numbers and figures about how much they can bring. They they say this. They say, Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Now, look, can I remind you, what's interesting about the people of Israel is that when God established his covenant with them at Mount Sinai, that covenant was for the people of Israel, and that's a covenant that doesn't apply to us today. That covenant has now, it's ended. And so that's for good reason, right? That's why you and I don't have to come to church and bring like animals to sacrifice. We don't have to do that. That's part of the old covenant that God established with Israel. And part of that system included the sacrificial system that people needed to bring offerings, and part of that was atonement and stuff like that. And so that was how they worshiped and interacted with God in the old covenant. So it's not as if bringing burnt offerings is crazy. Like that's logical. That makes sense. In fact, uh a calf, a year old, that was like a the choicest of sacrifices. That was a very good sacrifice. And so what they're saying is not coming out of left field, right? It's not the problem. The underlying issue here is Israel is looking to make atonement for their sin, but they aren't looking to stop sinning. They have no interest in changing. There's no contrition. They're not feeling burdened in their heart, like, oh man, we have sinned against the Lord. That's so wrong. We've been so unfaithful. We really need to change our ways. That's not what they're doing at all. The relationship from their vantage point is transactional. That's all this is. They're kind of like, all right, God, we've messed up. Just name your price. As if God can be bought. That's how they're operating. As if that's what God is looking for, as if that's what He wanted. In fact, notice how extreme they get with what they're willing to offer the Lord. They go on to say this: Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. Notice how over the top they get. Is God going to be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand of rivers of oil? That's not even possible. Like they're going so extreme and over the top, it's not even feasible. But beyond that, then they start going to a level that's just crazy. They go on to say, Well, can I give my firstborn, my child, for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? They begin suggesting that perhaps they need to offer their children as a sacrifice before the Lord. Maybe that will appease him. Now, can I remind you that part of Israel's law was very explicit that they were not to sacrifice their own children to any God. Now, that might sound really weird. Like, boy, why would you have to command that? Just so you know, at that time in history, those cultures and the Canaanite cultures, the pagan gods that they worshiped, part of a common feature in their worship was that many of the people worshiped their gods by sacrificing their children. So the god Molech, which is one of the Canaanite gods, people would throw their children in the fire as an offering to the god Molech. Many people did the same thing to the god Baal. But to Yahweh, no. God never desired that. God would never want that. That's cruel. That's evil. Our God is not cruel or evil. He is loving, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. God would never ask for the people to do that. That's not what he requires. But at this point, these people's hearts were so detached in their relationship that they began to just assume that maybe that's what God would want. And if that's what God wants, that's what they'll give him. They've grown so cold to the Lord that they don't even know who he is anymore. They're presuming things about him that just aren't true. Like he's just like every other God. No. Can I remind you that sin has a way of distorting our view of God? And that's what was happening here. The truth is, the problem is that Israel was living in total rebellion. And when they were confronted by it by the prophet Micah, instead of repenting, instead of being contrite and saying, Oh, we sinned against you, Lord, we're sorry. We need to change our ways. We need to begin living faithful to you because you've been faithful to us for all these years. You redeemed us, and you faithfully cared for us generation after generation. We want to respond the same way. That's not what they do at all. Instead, they turn to empty religion. Pastor Mark talked a lot about this in his message last week. Israel, which he talked about in the Old Testament, before exile, they were rebellious. They were a stiff-necked people. And after they returned to the land, what were they? Well, they were hyper-religious. They went from one extreme to the other. They went from living in unrighteousness totally to living in a self-righteous way. And both of these approaches, as we heard last week, both of these mindsets, they're wrong. You see, the clear problem that begins to surface here in this chapter is that Israel was completely detached from this relationship. Instead of saying, God, what do we have to do to come back to you? They essentially say, Well, God, what do we owe you? What's the cost? Just tell us what we need to do, God, we'll do it. Just tell us what we need to bring, and we'll bring it. You see, I think that Israel was willing to offer everything they had. That is, everything except the one thing that God actually wanted, and that was their heart, because they were totally unwilling to give them their heart. That's the problem. See, God's not just interested in getting something from us. God wants us. God wants you. God wants your heart. Are you willing to give it to him? That's what God is pursuing. And that really leads us to our final section. And now that we've seen in this courtroom trial, God's reminder of the fact that He redeemed these people, He's been faithful to them, even though they've been unfaithful to Him. Now that we've seen Israel's response, God, what do I have to do? What do I have to bring you? What sacrifices do I need to make? The third and final section we see is now God's requirement. God's requirement. You see, the trial, it's going to draw to a close. Micah is going to stand up and he's going to reveal something that shouldn't come as a surprise to any of us. He's going to communicate what God wants. It's the same thing he's always wanted. Notice what Micah says. He says, He has told you, O man, by the way, this word in Hebrew is Adam, right? It means human one. Some translations say mortal. He has told you, O human, O man, O mortal one, what is good? And what does the Lord require of you? What does God truly want from his people? What is God seeking? What's God after? Well, Micah says these words, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Now, as we can see here, we have three sections to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. I want to break this down into three sections and just look at it real quickly and really dig deeply. The first section here is do justice. The word justice here is this Hebrew word mishpat. It speaks of treating people fairly and rightly. It means that we don't show favoritism to only certain people. We don't exploit other people for our own selfish gain. We don't twist or bend the truth or the rules depending on who's going to benefit. No, instead, we uphold what is right and fair and just for those around us because that reflects the heart of God toward us. We're meant to love our neighbor in a way that's fair and right because our God loves us. And he is a just God. And so in this passage, his people are called to reflect that same posture in their community around them. And notice how it doesn't just say that he wants people to, you know, understand justice. He wants them to do it. This is a thing that's not just theoretical, it's something that should be practiced. Israel is called to do justice. And remember, the leaders at this point were neglecting the poor and they were corrupt and oppressive. And so the Lord confronts these things. They're to live in ways that are just. That's where it begins. Secondly, though, I want to look at this word to love kindness. Now, if I'm honest, the ESV uses kindness here. It's probably pretty thin of a word. It's maybe not the best way to represent it. But to be fair, there really isn't a word in English that represents the Hebrew word that's used here. The Hebrew word is the word chesed. Now it's a really fun word to say because it has the ch in the beginning of Hebrew, right? Chesed, that's the word. This word chesed uh and NIV translates it as mercy. If you have the NASB version, for example, that um is the word faithfulness. Again, that's probably insufficient. The word chesed is a covenant-keeping kind of loyalty, it's a committed kind of faithfulness towards someone that never runs dry. This idea of chesed, it's a fervent, loving devotion. It's basically this resolve that no matter what happens, you're gonna stick with that person through thick and thin. That's what chesed means. Over 17 years ago, I stood before God and my family at the altar, and I was speaking to the woman who is now my wife, and I was making promises to her, vows. Those promises I made were that I would take her as my wife, for better or worse, for richer or for poor, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. That's chesed. That's the best way I can describe what that word means. God tells his people that they should love that. Now, notice something interesting here. God doesn't tell his people that they should show chesed or demonstrate chesed. He says, no, you should love it. Now, what's interesting about that? Think about that for a moment. Why would God command his people to love that? That faithful, loyal, covenant-keeping kind of love. Why should they love that? Well, I think it's because God's not interested in mere external behavior here. Again, he's after something much deeper. He's after people's hearts. When my older kids were really little, there would be times where they would bicker like all kids, right? They would argue, fight over toys or something like that. And so we would begin to try to correct that behavior, and then it might kind of escalate a little more, and they weren't being very kind. And so we would tell them that they needed to love each other. And then we would have certain things that, you know, consequences or whatever, discipline things that would try to reinforce that, right? So we would say, you know, you have to say you're sorry, or you have to say you love each other. One of my favorites was there's a couple times where when they're really little, I'd have them sit down and I would say, you have to hold hands until you love each other. I'm sure they'll tell their therapist about that someday. That's fine. The point is, I learned something. You can make kids hold hands, you can tell them they have to apologize, you can tell them they have to say, I love you to each other. You can absolutely make someone comply with things like that, but you can't make them love. You can't force devotion. Why? Because love is something that flows from your heart. It's the overflow of the feelings, the emotions that you have in your heart. And that's what Micah is exposing here in chapter six. He's not giving, if you're missing sight of this, if you're like reading this, what does the Lord require of me? And you're writing down, okay, do justice, love chesed, walk humble. If you're taking boxes and trying to tick these off, you're misunderstanding what Micah is saying. This is not another list of to-dos. He's not saying, do these three things and I'll be happy. That's the problem, actually. Israel was looking at this relationship in a transactional way. God, what do I got to bring? What do I need to do here? What's the sacrifice? But God is after their heart. He's after their heart, and this is why he says things like love, said, because that's part of what flows out of the heart. This is why he ends by saying, and to walk humbly with your God. He's focusing on the relationship as they walk with the Lord. And don't miss the last two words. Your God. Remember how the court case began, and the Lord started by saying, Oh my people, and now he ends by saying, Your God. The whole thing here, this whole scene is a relationship. It's not about rituals, it's not about sacrifices, it's not even about the rules. It's about a covenant relationship between God and his people. He wants them out of the relationship to do what's just and care for their neighbor because that's part of the way that they love God is by loving their neighbor. He wants them to love the same kind of covenant-keeping faithfulness that he demonstrated to them. He wants them to love that and have that flow out of their hearts. He wants them to walk humbly with him. He's not simply looking for outward obedience. He's looking for hearts that are devoted to him, and all these three things are what flow out of a heart that loves God. I started this message by sharing that I have a team, Michigan State. I'm faithful to my team. Why? Because I love that team. Nobody told me that I have to root for Michigan State. Nobody told me I have to wear green and white. No, I'm faithful because I love my team. It's not about duty, it's about devotion. And in a far greater way, that's exactly what Micah is calling God's people back to. You see, the big idea that we see in our text very simply today is this: God desires faithfulness that flows from a heart that's devoted to him. God desires faithfulness that flows from a heart devoted to him. This is what Israel was lacking. They weren't devoted to the Lord. Their hearts had grown cold. It was hard. And as a result, unfaithfulness began to manifest itself in two different ways. At first, it came through rebellion. The people said, you know what? I'm going to go live however I want. I'm going to do as I please. And so they began to go their own way and worship whatever they wanted to worship and live however they wanted to live. And so when Micah called them to the carpet, guess what the other response was? It oscillated from one down to the extreme to the absolute other. Not through rebellion. Now they began to do the same things, but through religion. Instead of having hearts that love God and want to do what's right, they began to try to appease him through their own self-righteous deeds. And no matter how you slice it, both rebellion and religion, they're both sin. They're both sin. They may look very different on the outside, but deep down they both reveal the same underlying problem. Both flow from hearts that are not devoted to the Lord. And listen, beloved, if I can be candid this morning, I think these two extremes are what we tend to jump to back and forth all the time. If I can be candid with you today, maybe there's some of you in the room who are the rebellious one. You know what God has said. You just don't give a rip. You'd rather live your own life, your own way, blaze your own trail. You are your own God. You seek to carry out your own will, to maximize your own pleasure. And so you're making choices and decisions because for you, you're living for yourself. And through that, through that rebellion, you're blazing a trail for yourself for what exactly you want your life to be. If that's you today and you're going your own way, I want to call you to repent, to turn from your sin, to run to Jesus, to trust in him, to confess your sin to him, to fall before him, to believe the gospel, repent, and trust in Jesus Christ. Because your own way will end in destruction. You will destroy yourself. You are not your own God. There is a God in heaven who loves you. Repent and run to Jesus. For the other person in the room, there may be some of you where your temptation is not rebellion, maybe it's religion. Maybe you grew up in a Christian home, and so you know all the rules, you know all the things you're supposed to do. You got all those check boxes, and one by one you're checking them off through life. And you're trying to earn something that God only gives by grace. You're trying to be your own functional savior through the good works that you do. And maybe your questions sound a lot like Israel. You know, God, what do I owe you? What's it gonna take? What's the number, God? I'll pay, I'll do it, I'll sacrifice, I'll make an offering. Will you be happy with thousands of rams? Will you be happy with thousands of rivers of oil? Or maybe it's so extreme that you say, you know, God, do I need to give my firstborn for the payment for my sin? That's what Israel said. Can I remind you that you don't need to do that? You want to know why? Because God gave his son for your sin. God gave his one-of-a-kind, unique son as an offering for your sin. God has already performed the sacrifice for you. Out of his immense love for you, God sent his son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth and he died to pay the penalty for your sin. He was raised for your salvation. You don't need to turn to religion to check off the boxes, to try to find your way to climb up to God. God came down to you in the person and work of Jesus, and the sacrifice was already made. The work has already been accomplished. Jesus has already done it all. You don't need to climb up to God, He's come to you in the person of Jesus. And so if you're living self-righteously, if you're the legalist in the room who's checking off boxes to earn your way to God, I'm calling you to repent. Turn from that sin. You need a savior, and guess what? It's not yourself. God has provided for you, He's provided the Savior for you. You are a sinner. You need to repent of your self-righteousness and turn to Jesus. Run to Jesus, trust in Jesus and receive him as your savior and receive the salvation that only he can offer. God wants you. He doesn't just want your self-righteousness. He wants you. He's not looking for something from you to receive you. He simply wants you and he's made a way for you to come to him through the work that he's done. God wants you to have a relationship with him, regardless of whether you're the rebel or you're the religious person. God has made a way for you by grace and through faith in Jesus. He wants you into a relationship with him. That relationship was established, it was ratified by the blood of Jesus. So repent and run to Jesus. Give him your heart. That's what he wants. That's what he's always wanted. He has shown you, O man, what is good. He's shown you. God desires faithfulness that flows from a heart devoted to him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity we have to be confronted. Israel is such an example to us through their rebelliousness. They demonstrated hearts that were hardened toward you. And then through their religiosity, they demonstrated the same callousness of their hearts because they vainly thought that they could earn their way into your good graces, and they neglected to see the sin in their own lives. Their hearts were hardened. And Lord, I thank you that the gospel is this message of salvation for all who believe. I thank you that you're the God who softens hearts. You're the God who gives us a new heart. Those of us who belong to you by faith were given a new heart. And so obedience can be something that flows from that heart that's been transformed through the power of your spirit. You've given us a new way of life. So, Lord, I pray that we wouldn't fall back into old patterns. I pray that we wouldn't turn back toward a life that you saved us from, a life of rebelliousness. And Lord, I pray that we wouldn't seek to be our own functional savior by trying to do the right things. But Lord, I pray that we would look to the gospel and believe and receive that salvation and live lives of total devotion to you because, Lord, not that we have to do anything, but because we want to, because we love you, because we treasure you. True faithfulness flows from a heart that's devoted to you. May we be people who are fully devoted to you, our God, our King, our Savior, our rescuer, our redeemer. May we love you the way that you love us faithfully. In Jesus' name we pray.