WHAT GOD REALLY WANTS

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

n Have you ever simply reflected on life and wondered, from God’s perspective, why he went to all the trouble.

n When we look at the scriptures we are faced with a daunting proposition to determine the core motivation of God.

n In essence, how do we determine exactly what it is that God is really after?

WHAT DOES GOD

REALLY WANT?

n Our text today gives some

unique insight.

n He hasn’t kept us in the dark.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

(12) And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

(13) and to observe the LORD‘S commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

(14 )To the LORD your God belong

the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.

(15 )Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

(16) Circumcise your hearts,

therefore, and do not be stiff-

necked any longer.

(17) For the LORD your God is God

of gods and Lord of lords, the great

God, mighty and awesome, who

shows no partiality and accepts no

bribes.

(18 ) He defends the cause of the

fatherless and the widow, and

loves the alien, giving him food

and clothing.

(19) And you are to love those who

are aliens, for you yourselves were

aliens in Egypt.

(20) Fear the LORD your God and

serve him. Hold fast to him and take

your oaths in his name.

(21) He is your praise; he is your

God, who performed for you

those great and awesome

wonders you saw with your own

eyes.

(22) Your forefathers who went

down into Egypt were seventy

in all, and now the LORD your

God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

n This passage describes the

relationship God wants with

the Israelites and likewise us

Vs 14

“To the LORD your God belong the

heavens, even the highest heavens,

the earth and everything in it”

He is THE GREAT REALITY!

n We too have been delivered,

but from a far worse enslavement.

Romans 6:17-18

(17) But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

(18)You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

n The person described here realizes that Yahweh has done everything for him, and therefore offers his whole person in return.

n It is NOT a half-hearted attempt at religious Ritual

Quote: To many Christians, Christ is little more than an ideal – He is not a fact. Millions of professed believers talk as if He were real and act as if He were not. Our actual position is to be discovered by the way we act, not by the way we talk.

n To ever be what God REALLY

wants, we are going to have

truly submit our EVERYTHING

Vs. 16

“Circumcise your hearts,

therefore, and do not be stiff-

necked any longer.”

n We must lay our lives before

Him completely.

Galatians 2:20

n Is that not the essence of

what “FAITH” is ???

Gregory (Early Syriac Writer)

“ We should remember God even more than

our breathing; and if one may say so, we

should not do anything apart from this…”

n At least four ways are mentioned whereby we give ourselves completely to Him:

Vs. 12-13

(12) “And now, O Israel, what does the

LORD your God ask of you but to fear

the LORD your God, to walk in all his

ways, to love him, to serve the LORD

your God with all your heart and with

all your soul,

(13) and to observe the LORD‘S

commands and decrees that I am giving

you today for your own good?”

(1.WE FEAR GOD)

n Not a trembling dread, but a steady reverence. “Love without fear relaxes, fear without love enslaves.”

n The fear of the ungodly makes them run away from God.

n But the fear of the Godly casts out other fear!

The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas when you do not fear God, you fear everything else.

(2. WE WALK IN HIS WAYS.)

n The Christian life itself is described as a walk.

1 John 1:7 Roman 8:1

n To walk in His ways is to heed His desires and direction.

n It is the road HE determines , NOT US!

n When we walk His path, His Word will light the way.

(3. WE LOVE HIM.)

n How simple yet how profound! Is it not the base reason we exist???

n Does this not sum up the deepest desire of God’s heart???

n In honesty, none of us are there. We can however, yearn to love Him more.

n HOW! Love things of God, people of God, the Church of God.

(4.TO SERVE AND OBEY HIM.)

n Obedience will be the dominant theme in Deuteronomy –

OBEDIENCE IS ESSENTIAL..

n This will be the evidence of our love for God…

Fear – Walk – Love - Obey

n These all describe one thing -

a person COMPELETLY

submitted to God.

n A person who has given Him

EVERYTHING.

Ignatius: “Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not heed the wounds; to toil and not seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do thy will.”

n What does God really want? YOU! Not a part, but ALL OF YOU!!!

“ Love the Lord your God with all your heart…”