Living the Prophet's Creed
6/22/2021
Text:
Micah 6:1-8
(1)
Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and
let the hills hear thy voice.
(2)
Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the
earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with
Israel.
(3)
O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee?
testify against me.
(4)
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the
house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
(5)
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam
the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the
righteousness of the LORD.
(6)
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God?
shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
(7)
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of
rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul?
(8)
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Creed[1]
1. A brief authoritative formula of religious
belief
— the Nicene Creed
2.
A set of fundamental beliefs
— also : a guiding principle
— “Never settle for mediocrity is his creed.”
-Jill Lieber
There are principles in God’s
Word that when lived out, or violated, lead to a life blessing or cursing.
Tonight, we will take a look
at what the late Rev. James Lumpkin, Sr. called, “The Prophet’s Creed,” and I
take as a title this thought:
Living the Prophet’s Creed
A creed, a set of fundamental
beliefs, a collection of guiding principles, are only as effective as your
desire and determination to live them out.
It is a good practice for children
to have memorized all the books of the Bible by the time they leave Sunday
School and graduate to the Adult Bible Class.
Many children are taught to
memorize the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17):
I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy
God in vain
IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
V. Honour thy father and thy mother
VI. Thou shalt not kill
VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery
VIII. Thou shalt not steal
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness
X. Thou shalt not covet
And, there are two passage in
the Bible that every saint in an Apostolic Oneness Pentecostal should have
total recall on:
· Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “(4) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
· Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
These all serve to pass on to
the next generation a set of Basic Bible Principles, that when lived out
produce a godly and sanctified life.
Living the Prophet’s Creed
consists of three principles that we all need to apply to our lives:
1. To do justly
2. To love mercy
3. To walk humbly with thy God
In verse 2, of our text, the
LORD has a controversy, a complaint,
with Israel, and He is pleading with them:
“O my
people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify
against me. For I
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of
servants [slaves]; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
In an attempt to call them
back to a right relationship with Him, He reminded them of Egypt – the place
God delivered them, and redeemed them.
He sent servants, you might
even identify them as prophets:
·
Moses = Lawgiver, to deliver and instruct.
·
Aaron = The High Priest, to atone.
·
Miriam = Prophetess & Praiser, and to teach
the women.
The Lord is pleading with His
people to remember all that He did for them.
Reminding
them the He turned Baalam’s curse into a blessing proving His faithfulness to
Israel.
They
were perhaps sincere in their desire to keep the commandments of the Law, but
misguided seekers
The
laws were there not to be followed in some type of burdensone manner, but to
establish principles, which had been forgotten.
Sometimes
a law can be made that is still kept but nobody remembers the purpose. <ham,
Vevay>
When you live The Prophet’s
Creed you will automatically live by the principles that the Law was formed to
teach you.
The Prophet’s Creed:
To Do Justly
1.
Do right by God:
Mark
12:29-30, “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear,
O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
· Love
God
· Heart
= Are your affections solely on Jesus?
· Soul =
Would you give up your life for Jesus?
· Mind =
Will you lay aside what you think for what God’s Word tells you?
· Strength
= Will you give all the strength and effort of your life to His will?
2.
Do right by your neighbor:
Mark
12:31, “And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor…”
· Prefer
your fellow
· Never
work to harm another
· Treat
people right
· Love
people
3.
Do right by yourself:
“…as
thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
· Do you
like yourself?
· Don’t
deprive yourself of all that God has richly provided.
4.
We live by the justness and truth of the Word
of God and we are judged by it.
To Love Mercy
1.
It is necessary that we not only live by the
justice and judgment of the Law, but to also give to mercy what it requires –
LOVE MERCY.
· The
Law came by Moses buy grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
· 2 Corinthians
3:5-6, “…our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the
new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life.”
· Psalms
85:10, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other.”
· Psalms
25:10, “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his
covenant and his testimonies.”
· The
mercy you show is the mercy you’ll know.
· God is
not in the business of stopping people from receiving mercy: “The God of my
mercy shall prevent me…” (Ps. 59:10).
o
Prevent = “project oneself, precede, go
before.”
o
God’s mercy goes before us
To Walk Humbly with Thy God
1.
1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting
all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
· Acknowledge
God’s Sovereignty
o
There is One God and you are not Him!
· Beware, Humility Required:
o
Confess and forsake your sin
o
Submit to the ordinance of water baptism
o
Yield to the Holy Ghost.
· Accept
God’s Mercy
· Walk
in God’s Grace
· Is the
Lord Jesus Christ truly your God?
· Walk
humbly before others as well
o
God isn’t the only one who hates a proud,
haughty or arrogant attitude.
· Submission is the hallmark of humility.
· James
4:5-12, “(5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that
dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (6) But he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (7) Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and
purify your hearts, ye double minded. (9) Be afflicted, and mourn,
and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
(10) Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
(11) Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil
of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth
the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a
judge. (12) There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to
destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
· Galatians
6:1-3, “(1) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil
the law of Christ. (3) For if a man think himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
Each of the three people Micah
records as being sent to His people were at one point violators of The
Prophet’s Creed, but one they learned the necessity of Living the
Prophet’s Creed they became examples for us to follow:
Moses – The great lawgiver,
did justly as he operated in his role as both deliverer and the giver of the
Law
· A
murderer, disobeyed God in a moment of rage
Aaron – The High Priest,
loved mercy and as a priest stood as a bridge between God and Man making
atonement for sin.
· An
idolater, excused his sin
Miriam – The prophetess of
praise and instructor of women, learned humility.
· Jealousy,
envy, rebellion
It’s a question: “He hath
shewed thee, O man, what
is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).
I want everyone to come
forward tonight to the altar, and I’m going to give you some basic
instructions:
· Close
your eyes
· Lift
your head up. Look up.
· Raise
both hands. Pray. Surrender. Worship.
· Lift
voice.
· Commit
to Living The Prophet’s
Creed: to do
justly, to love
mercy, to walk
humbly with your God.
[1] “Creed.”
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary,
Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creed.
Accessed 22 Jun. 2021.