WHAT GOD WANTS IS
WHAT YOU WANT

1. From the moment that God's relationship with people began, God wanted to be loved.
   1. He wanted the love that comes from the desire, the choice, and the preference of the person.
      1. God wanted a people who loved Him because they choose to love Him.
      2. God wanted a people who would choose to love Him above every other option or opportunity.
   2. That is one of the identifiable reasons that God created us with free wills.
      1. He did not want people who did His will because:
         1. God was the creator and they had to.
         2. God has the power and they did not dare cross Him.
         3. God is in control and has the authority.
         4. God would destroy any person who did not do his will.
         5. People were physical robots who had no choice.
      2. God wanted a people who would do His will because they loved Him.
      3. God wanted a people who loved Him by their own choice and desire.
   3. So from the beginning, people possessed independent wills.
      1. They could choose, and they did choose.
      2. People always have possessed independent wills that could and did choose.
      3. We can choose to love God or refuse to love God--but it is our choice.
      4. If we love God, it is because we choose to love God.

2. God always wanted a people who loved Him unconditionally; people who loved Him because they wanted to love God and be loved by God.
   1. God brought Israel out of the slavery of Egypt.
      1. God led them through the desert to Mount Sinai to speak to them, to give them His will for Israel.
      2. Before God spoke the ten commandments to Israel, God gave Moses a special message for the Israelites (Exodus 19:3-6).
         1. "You saw what I did to the Egyptians."
         2. "You saw how I brought you to safety."
         3. Listen carefully to verse 5 and 6:
            "If you will indeed obey my voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine, and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         4. We emphasize the importance of obeying God and keeping God's covenant.
         5. Focus on what would happen if they obeyed God and kept the covenant: "You shall be My own possession among all the people."
         6. God wanted Israel to become a people for His own possession.
         7. God wanted them to be His people because they chose to be His people.
   2. About 40 years later Moses reminded them of God's works and teachings.
      1. In Deuteronomy 4:20 Moses said, "But the Lord has taken you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for his own possession, as today."
      2. In Deuteronomy 7:6 Moses told the Israelites, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has choosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
      3. In Deuteronomy 14:2 Moses said again to Israel, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; and the Lord has choosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
      4. God wanted a people who belonged to Him and to Him alone.
      5. He wanted a people who chose to be His people and only His people.
      6. But Israel did not understand God's desire; and Israel missed the point of following God; and Israel failed to be a people for God's own possession.

3. Listen carefully to Paul and Peter as they wrote Christians.
   1. Paul's statement is found in Titus 2:11-14. Listen and see if it sounds familiar.
      For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. The age of grace is here.
      2. Salvation is available to all people.
      3. And this is God's specific desire for people who choose to be His people:
         1. It is our choice to refuse to live for ungodliness.
         2. It is our choice to refuse desires that are unconcerned about spiritual realities.
         3. It is our choice to live righteously and godly right now.
         4. It is our choice to live for the glory of God and for the return of Jesus Christ.
      4. Why? Because we understand.
         1. We understand that God gave us Jesus to redeem us from lawless deeds.
         2. We understand that God gave us Jesus to purify for Himself a people.
      5. What kind of people? A people for His own possession, a people who actually exist to do good.
   2. The words of Peter are found in 1 Peter 2:9. Again listen and see if they sound familiar.
      But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. Christians, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
      2. Christians, you are a people for God's own possession.
      3. You are that people for this reason:
         1. You are the people who proclaim the excellencies of God.
         2. You declare how excellent the God is who called you out of the darkness of evil into the marvelous light of His righteousness.

4. I want you to understand some very important things.
   1. God wanted the people of Israel to be a people who belonged to Him and to Him only even though God knew who these people were and what they had done.
      1. He knew how godless they were in Egypt.
      2. He knew about the golden calf they worshipped in the wilderness.
      3. He knew about all the idolatry and immorality.
      4. He knew every failure and every evil thing they had done, but God still wanted them to be a people who belonged only to Him.
      5. And they could be that people if they chose Him and loved Him.
   2. God wants Christians to be a people who belong to God and to God only, and God knows who we are and what we have done.
      1. He knows our ungodlessness.
      2. He knows all the false things that we have loved and worshipped by giving our lives to them.
      3. He knows all the evil and failure that has occurred in our lives.
      4. God knows everything about us, but he still wants us to be a people that belong to Him and Him alone, and we can be if we chose Him and love Him.
   3. Israel failed to become the people who belonged only to God.
      1. They never understood what God wanted them to be.
      2. They never became what God wanted them to be.
   4. We as the church have failed to become the people who belong only to God.
      1. We have not understood what God wants us to be.
      2. We are not becoming who God wants us to be.
      3. We have emphasized authority, and all authority does belong to God and Christ, but it will take more than authority to make us God's people.
      4. We have emphasized the fear of God, and we should hold God in awe and reverence, but fearing God's power will never make us God's people.
      5. We have emphasized obedience, and we must obey God, but it will take more than obedience to make us God's people.
   5. Let me illustrate it in this way.
      1. A strong, powerful man marries a woman and controls her through abuse and intimidation.
      2. Everyday he threatens her and says, "I am the head of this house. I am in control. The power belongs to me. I tell you what to do and you do it. I have the authority. You are to obey me without question. You are to do what I say whether you understand it or not. If you do not, you will suffer. I will see that you suffer. If you cross me, you will pay the consequences."
      3. And she is battered, bruised, terrified, ashamed, and filled with a terrible fear.
      4. And she will never love him; and she will never choose to give herself to him; and she will never be a wife who loves him unconditionally.
   6. God loves you unconditionally: He knows who you are; He knows all your failures; He knows every weakness you have; He knows every evil that you commit; He knows every flaw in you; and he knows that you will never be perfect.
      1. And He still loves you. He wants you to be His and only His.
      2. He wants you by your own choice to love Him unconditionally.
      3. He wants you to choose to be a person for His own possession.