Five Things God Ask of You

Scripture

Deuteronomy 10:12–22 KJV 1900

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Sovereignty - The word means principal, chief, supreme. It speaks first of position (God is the chief Being in the universe), then of power (God is supreme in power in the universe). How He exercises that power is revealed in the Scriptures. A sovereign could be a dictator (God is not), or a sovereign could abdicate the use of his powers (God has not). Ultimately God is in complete control of all things, though He may choose to let certain events happen according to natural laws that He has ordained.

God has a plan (Acts 15:18), which is all-inclusive (Eph. 1:11), which He controls (Ps. 135:6), which includes but does not involve Him in evil (Prov. 16:4), and which ultimately is for the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:14).

The sovereignty of God seems to contradict the freedom or actual responsibility of man. But even though it may seem to do so, the perfection of sovereignty is clearly taught in the Scriptures, so it must not be denied because of our inability to reconcile it with freedom or responsibility.

Also, if God is sovereign, how can the creation be so filled with evil? Man was created with genuine freedom, but the exercise of that freedom in rebellion against God introduced sin into the human race. Though God was the Designer of the plan, He was in no way involved in the commission of evil either on the part of Satan originally or of Adam subsequently. Even though God hates sin, for reasons not revealed to us, sin is present by His permission. Sin must be within God’s eternal plan (or God would not be sovereign) in some way in which He is not the author of it (or God could not be holy).

The sovereignty of God is strongly emphasized in Scripture. He is represented as the Creator, and His will as the cause of all things. In virtue of His creative work heaven and earth and all that they contain belong to Him. He is clothed with absolute authority over the hosts of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. He upholds all things with His almighty power, and determines the ends which they are destined to serve. He rules as King in the most absolute sense of the word, and all things are dependent on Him and subservient to Him. There is a wealth of Scripture evidence for the sovereignty of God, but we limit our references here to a few of the most significant passages:

Genesis 14:19 KJV 1900

And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

Exodus 18:11 KJV 1900

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

Deuteronomy 10:14 KJV 1900

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

The divine sovereignty of God is a central theme throughout the Bible. God delegates authority, establishes kings and kingdoms, and brings to ruin any king or kingdom that fail to submit to his authority. The Bible presents Yahweh as the Creator God, with a sovereign right to rule over all creation (Psa 104). Yahweh is the “great king (מֶלֶךְ, melek) over all the earth” (Psa 47:2) who “reigns (מָלַךְ, mālak) over nations” (Psa 47:8). In Genesis 1, as God creates all things, he also delegates authority, such as by making greater and lesser lights to rule (מֶמְשַָׁלָה, memšālâ) night and day and by giving man dominion (רָדָה, rādâ) over creation (Gen 1:16, 18, 26, 28).

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. This term expresses the biblical teaching concerning the absolute, irresistible, infinite, and unconditional exercise of God’s self-will over every area of His creation. God is the Disposer of all events throughout both time and eternity, as well as the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph 1:11

5 requirements of GOD from us:

1. Fear the LORD our GOD - have deep respect of him

2. Walk in all GOD's ways - live in a way that pleases him

3. Love the LORD

4. Serve the LORD will all heart and soul

5. Keep GOD's commandments for our own good

1-3 requirements is our relationship with GOD, 4-5 is service.

Are you frustrated and burned out from trying hard to please God? Concentrate on his real requirements and find peace. Respect, follow, love, serve, and obey him.

If you are familiar with Moses’ writings (the first five books of the Bible) you will remember how Moses, called and empowered by God, led the Children on Israel out of bondage in Egypt through a series of wonderful miracles. They passed through the Red Sea and stood on the border of the land promised to them by God, Himself. But they faltered. They feared. They failed. They lost faith. So they sent a spy from each of the twelve tribes to check out the land God was promising them and telling them to go and possess. And by the way, that pretty much establishes unequivocally the Jews title to Israel. But they didn’t do it. They did go possess it. They lacked faith. So they send the 12 spies out and 10 of them came back with a frightening, faithless report. Only Caleb and Joshua came back with an encouraging and faithful report. Guess whose advice the people followed? That’s right! The ten frightened ones.

For their faithless choice they had to wander around the desert for forty years until they all died off – except for the two faithful spies. Even Moses and Aaron would not be able to enter in. But now they were on the verge of crossing over the Jordon and taking possession of the land that flowed with milk and honey; the land God promised them.

But first God wanted Moses to make known to them very clearly the things He wanted them to do and the things He didn’t want them to do. So Moses went up on the mountain for forty days and communed with God without any food or water. Finally he came down with two tablets of stone in his arms that God had written His will for His people on. And what did Moses find the people doing? Worshipping a golden calf and engaging in revelry.

Moses was so angry he threw the tablets on the ground and broke them to pieces. Many died of a plague because of their sin. But God is a God of second chances and Moses went up on the mountain a second time and God wrote a second set of tablets for the people. Why did He do that? God was preparing them to enter the Promised Land. Moses was not going to be with them so from this point on in Deuteronomy Moses shares with them God’s will and God’s instructions. He shares God’s covenant with them. He says,

“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.” Deut 29:9

Deuteronomy 29:9 KJV 1900

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

I think that promise is for us today. If you want to prosper in this coming year – follow the terms of your covenant with God. Moses continued on,

I want to tell you what God asks of you. Do these five things and God will pour out His blessings on you.

First ‘fear’ Him

Duet 10:12

So understand that there is a difference between being afraid of God and “fearing the Lord”. One is inspired by sin. The other is inspired by love. Who can help but “respect” or be in “awe” of God when you see and think about His great and wonderful creation and the wonderful, loving things he has done?

Second, Walk in His ways

Today you hear a lot of people claiming you don’t have to obey the Lord – in fact, they say, it is impossible to obey the Lord. Peter wrote about a people like that. He said, in 2 Peter 2:17-20

2 Peter 2:17–20 KJV 1900

These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Thirdly, Love Him

Do you understand that love is a choice? Modern culture would have us believe that we are swept off our feet by love; that we don’t have any choice who or what we love. They would convince us that our passions control us. That is not so. god gave us freedom of choice. We have the power to choose. We can give in to our passions; we can let them control us and go along on a tidal wave of emotions - but we will be unstable in all our ways. God says that we are to control our hearts. Prov 4:23

Proverbs 4:23 KJV 1900

Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

We are to control our thoughts 2 Cor 10:5

2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV 1900

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

We are to choose to love Him. We are to love Him first and most. That’s a command. That’s the greatest commandment in the Bible. This year - choose to love God.

Fourth thing God asks of you and me is to Serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.

God has given us gifts and talents. He tells us why He has given them to us - to build up and equip our brothers and sisters. Eph 4:12

Ephesians 4:12 KJV 1900

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Lastly, God ask us to do what He says. He asks us to observe or keep all his commands and decrees.

God wants a loving relationship with us. He wants us to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees. That touches our thoughts and our intent. He has to do with motives. We are to walk in obedience – but more than that we are to observe his commands and decrees. Why? It is for our own good. God has your good in mind. That is why he tells us to do this or that. He loves us. He wants to protect us. He wants us to do those things that will bring blessing in our lives.

Closing

We, therefore, both know and confess that God is without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreated, unchangeable, invariable, simple, uncompound, incorporeal, invisible, impalpable, uncircumscribed, infinite, incognisable, indefinable, incomprehensible, good, just, maker of all things created, almighty, all-ruling, all-surveying, of all overseer, sovereign, judge; and that God is One, that is to say, one essence; and that He is known, and has His being in three subsistences, in Father, I say, and Son and Holy Spirit.

God is so powerful that He can direct any evil to a good end.

God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.