"A Heart for God" by Hiram Kemp

Maybe you think back to a wedding you've attended before, or maybe your own wedding and how

it feels and what's going on in that moment is two individuals stand before a preacher

or some law enforcement individual in the court system and they offer up those vows.

On that day, those vows that are offered up bring those two lives together and one in

union, but it won't be enough to sustain them throughout their married life.

The vows say that these individuals bring their lives together and ultimately they're

one in form, but the vows in and of themselves can't make these two individuals entering

into this union one in essence.

If they're going to be one in essence, it'll have to go beyond the vows.

The vows made on that day bring them into a legally binding relationship with each other.

The Bible word for this is you enter into a covenant, but it's only after that day as

life is lived out that you see whether or not individuals are really keeping what they

ultimately said in the initial phases of I do and I profess my love and loyalty to this

person.

When you read the book of Genesis and then you get to the book of Exodus, God has chosen

Abraham's descendants and in the book of Exodus, he delivers them out of Egyptian bondage

with a mighty arm and an outstretched hand.

He performs these signs and these wonders and these miracles.

Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, he receives the law from God, the people are at the foot

of the mountain, and it's in that moment that they become a nation, that they enter

into a covenant relationship with God.

You could say it's like unto a marriage, Exodus 19, five and six says that there has chosen

people for a special purpose and they enter into this union, but becoming God's people

through the signs and through the giving of the law and through God's outstretched hand

is like unto two individuals making their vows to one another on their wedding day.

It would take far more than simply receiving the law and God professing to be their God

and claiming them as his own and their profession back to God, that they're going to be faithful

to him to ultimately make that relationship work.

The giving of the law, the ultimate signs that Moses sent on Mount Sinai made them God's

people by law, but only through their loyalness, their faithfulness and ultimately giving their

heart to God could they become his by love.

And that's really what the whole book of Deuteronomy is ultimately about.

The book of Deuteronomy is written to a group of people whose parents died in the wilderness

because of their disobedience and their unfaithfulness.

God tells this new generation who's going into the land, I brought your people out with

the mighty arm and outstretched hand through the signs and wonders and the plagues that

you saw in Egypt, but you will die like your parents did in the wilderness unless you remain

faithful to me.

Deuteronomy four 34 through 40 he says, I'm giving you all of these blessings and all

of these great privileges, but the only way that they will ultimately be yours is if you

reciprocate the love toward me that I've given toward you and love me with the totality of

your being.

Deuteronomy four one through 14 God was saying to these people, I want you to give me your

heart because I've already given you mine.

There's a common misunderstanding about the old Testament.

People sort of have in their mind that in the old Testament, God was simply concerned

with ritual, with form, with ceremonialism and simply going through the motions.

But when you actually read the old Testament, what becomes apparent is God was after the

same thing then that he is now.

And that is the human heart passages like Psalm 119 and verse 10, Jeremiah 29 and verse

13, Joel two and verse 12.

Make this point emphatically.

God is always and is always interested in the human heart and throughout the book of

Deuteronomy, these 34 chapters, that is the main point.

God has loved Israel and that's professed on just about every page in every chapter.

Deuteronomy 11 in verse seven, Deuteronomy 23 in verse five, and the people are to reciprocate

God's love toward him by loving him back.

Deuteronomy six, four and five, Deuteronomy 30 in verse 20.

And the question we're left with as readers is, will they do it?

And you and I are in a very similar situation to the ancient people of Israel.

We're in a sense in our own way, journeying toward our own promised land, our own Canaan.

And maybe we've obeyed the gospel and in baptism, we've offered to God that initial obedience

that makes us God's people by law.

And as we've entered into that covenant arrangement, but only through faithful loyalty that we

live out throughout the entirety of our lives, will we become his by love.

And maybe if you think about your spiritual life from the standpoint of maybe things feel

dry or they feel stale to you, the thing that's often lacking in that moment is your love.

If you say to yourself, I'm going through the motions, but deep down inside, nothing

spiritual, nothing related to Christianity actually excites me and makes me want to serve

The thing that may be left behind is your love and your heart for God.

If you know deep down inside, the most important thing in the world is Christianity.

But if you're being honest, there are other things in your life that just seem to be more

pressing and worthy of more attention and worthy of more adoration.

It's because at the heart of it, you have a heart problem.

And the only way to get this fixed is to give God your heart because that's what he's ultimately

been after the whole time.

So Moses in the book of Deuteronomy and really the whole Bible is driving at this point.

God wants people that have a heart after him.

And the only way to assess our relationship with him and see if we're in good standing

with him and if we're loving God like he loves us is to assess whether or not God ultimately

has our heart and whether we have a heart for him.

And so turn your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy and we'll start in chapter four.

And let's just notice some of the things that Moses says are typical of a person that has

a healthy relationship with God or another way to say it.

What's typical of a person who ultimately has a heart for God?

Because in the end, it's only those people that will be pleasing to God and only those

people that can live for his purpose and to his glory.

What does a heart for God look like?

Number one, a heart for God is a heart that receives God's love.

This is where it starts.

God says, I'm going to bless Israel with the promised land.

I'm going to give you the law.

You'll inherit this land that you don't deserve.

But first appreciate it's coming to you because of my steadfast love.

God says that he placed his love on their fathers and on their descendants, and he's

leading them into this land that they don't deserve with these inhabitants that are mightier

than they are and stronger than them in Deuteronomy 4, 37 through 38.

It's not because of Israel's worthiness, but because of God's goodness that they're ultimately

going to receive and inhabit the land.

Later on in Deuteronomy 7, 7 through 8, he says, it's not because you're the most numerous

people or because you're the most prosperous nation that I've set my love on you.

It's because of promises that I've made to your forefathers long before you and I intend

to carry out my word and to keep it.

God says, it's because I love you.

Deuteronomy 23 and verse 5, God professes there, it's my love for you that allows me

to turn curses into blessing.

And at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 33 and verse 3, Moses just simply

says it.

God has set his love on his people.

He set his love on their fathers, the patriarchs, Deuteronomy 10 and verse 15.

People that have a heart after God are those individuals that welcome and receive his love.

You might think this is pretty easy, but it appears from scripture and just from plain

human experience that the human heart, the tendency is to sort of try to earn God's love,

to behave ourselves into a way that we accept it or that we should be deserving of it.

But God will have none of it.

God says, ultimately, if you and I are going to enter into a relationship and if you're

going to have a heart after me, the first thing you've got to do is you've got to let

me love you and fully receive it, even though you're undeserving of it.

And so 1 John 4 and verse 19, John says, we love him because he's first loved us.

First John 4 and verse 10, here is love.

Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice

for our sins.

God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5 and verse 8, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, his great love with

which he loved us.

Ephesians 2 and verse 4, you and I will have a heart after God if first and foremost, we

learn to receive God's love.

And this is humbling because it says everything good that's flown into your life is because

God through his love has empowered you to receive the blessings that you receive.

He'll tell these people later in Deuteronomy 8, verse 17 and 18, be careful, lest you say

Deuteronomy 8:17

in your heart, my power and my might has allowed me to acquire this wealth.

What's given it to Israel?

It's been the love of God.

What's given us everything we receive?

God's love.

But it's also this idea that it's healthy for us to see ourselves this way.

Because maybe we think of ourselves as unlovable, unworthy of all that God's going to bestow

on us and do in us.

And the love of God, the ability to receive it reminds us that if God loves us, then we

should have knowledge of that reality and it should cause us to love ourselves in turn.

Isaiah 43 and verse 4, God says, it's because I've honored you and chosen you and love you

that I've given people in exchange for you and in return for you.

And the book of Deuteronomy starts out by saying, you know that you have a heart after

God or a heart for God when you can first and foremost receive God's love.

Not reject it, not refuse it, not fight against it.

Israel, first, you've got to allow yourself to be loved by God.

The 20th century as highways became more prominent, and you see this in the United States and

in countries around the world, many of the highway signs, they're in green with this

white lettering.

And the reason for that is it's easy to see.

They're high above where the cars are driving and it's easy to see.

Green is a color that just sort of signals in our minds after so much time of seeing

it direction.

Yellow signals a warning and red signals stop.

This is done by design to say to travelers that are driving on highways, here's the way

in which you should be going.

The signs point you to where you need to be going and it's clear and obvious so that nobody

can miss it.

And the love of God throughout scripture and the book of Deuteronomy, it's not in fine

print.

It's not whispered, it's shouted and it's held up as a highway sign for all of Israel

to see so that they don't miss it.

He delivered you out of Egypt because of his steadfast love and you're going to tumble

and plummet these nations, Deuteronomy 26, 8 and 9 because of his great power and his

great love.

And for Christians, the same reality is true.

God's love is a highway sign that points us and says right this way through the incarnation

and the fleshly appearance of Jesus, 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16, through the presence of the

Holy Spirit in our lives, Acts chapter 5 and verse 32, through the scriptures that he's

Acts 5 · chapter mention

given to us and preserved us, 2 John verse 2, and he's saying, I love you and I want

you to receive it.

The question is not whether or not God's love is hiding.

The question is whether or not we're going to be the kind of people that receive it,

that don't reject it, that don't fight against it.

And so if you're not a Christian, the question is, have you received God's love?

This is where it starts.

You've got to obey the gospel and become a Christian.

John says to as many as received him, to him, he gave power to become children of God.

Those that are born, not of the will of man, nor of the flesh, but by the will of God receiving

God's love says I want to latch onto it and I do that by submitting and realizing I can't

save myself.

That's the person that has a heart after God, but also people that have already done that.

Do I live as if the fact that God loves me is my chiefest joy and where I find my ultimate

rest.

Paul says, I want you to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

Ephesians 3 and verse 19, you can mark this down.

Every spiritual problem that Israel would ever have is because they forgot this reality.

And I believe every spiritual problem that you and I will ever face is because we forget

this reality, how deeply and richly we're loved by God and all of our sin and all of

our rebellion.

Is it merely that the devil is so enticing or that we're so fleshly it's we reject the

fact that God deeply loves us and we refuse to receive it.

But a heart for God says, God loves me and I'm going to receive it.

Here's number two, a heart for God is one that loves God with its all.

These verses a moment ago, probably the most famous in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

six, four and five.

This is called the Shema of Israel because of what's said in verse four hero Israel.

This word means to listen in Hebrew hero Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one and you'll

love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength

throughout Jesus's earthly ministry.

When people say what's the greatest command in the law, there are about 613 commands in

the old Testament.

When people ask Jesus, what's the greatest one?

He always quoted this passage.

He quotes it in Matthew 22, 37 through 38.

He quotes it in Mark 10, 29 through 30.

Jesus says, this is what it's all about.

Love God with your all.

He never hesitated.

And if you're going to have a heart for God, a heart that's for God is one that loves God

in its totality with his all.

If you look closely at verse four, it makes sense with what Moses is trying to teach us

and what God's doing in verse five.

He starts by saying hero Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.

That oneness of God is then compared and contrasted to us in verse five, the God who is one in

verse four wants our whole being to love him in response in verse five, God is one and

whole and complete.

And the only way to respond to him is to love him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and

strength.

Notice the three alls in verse five, Moses won't let up or turn away from it.

All your heart, all your soul, all your mind, because partial allegiance, it just won't

do.

God says, you'll find me when you seek me with your whole heart, Deuteronomy four in

verse 29, Jesus says, if you love father or mother more than me, son or daughter, you're

unworthy of me.

Matthew 10 in verse 37, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross and deny

himself.

Matthew 16 in verse 24, likewise, whosoever there be of you that doesn't abandon everything

that he has.

He can't be my disciple.

Luke 14 33.

How do you know that you have a heart for God?

It boils down to this.

With your heart.

Do you love God with literally everything you have?

Does God have your all?

Here's one thing, you know, for sure.

Nobody has any question about whether or not Spike Lee loves the New York Knicks.

It's really not up for debate.

He's almost become like their mascot.

He's been a season ticket holder since 1985.

Throughout his lifetime, he spent $10 million on season tickets to the Knicks.

He's been going to games since he was a child with his father in the 1970s at a recent auction

for New York Knicks memorabilia in 2019.

He spent over $300,000 and even acquired the net that was used in the game in 1970 in the

game seven of the NBA finals when he was rehearsing why he bought the net and paid this much money.

He says, I remember being at the game with my dad just like it was yesterday.

It was 50 years ago and he still remembers it like it was yesterday.

He's such a focal point in New York Knicks basketball lore that when ESPN did their 30

special, they gave a special segment to Spike Lee and the role that he's played in their

constant drama and back and forth in their rivalry with the Indiana Pacers.

Nobody has to question whether or not Spike Lee loves the New York Knicks.

He practically bleeds orange and blue.

It's not a question.

The question is, who do you love like that?

What do you love like that?

Listen, I'm not telling you that we should love God like our favorite sports teams.

I'm saying something far deeper and higher and greater than that because he's worth so

much more.

I'm saying what God wants us to see in Deuteronomy 6, 4, and 5 is you and I have a heart for

God when we love him with our all and it's not up for question.

What people like Spike Lee show us is this.

It's not impossible for people to do this.

Human beings do it all the time.

It's not a question of whether or not you can love someone or something with all of

your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The question is, will God be the object of that love?

And so he says to Peter as they're walking on the beach in John 21 and verse 15, a question

that really echoes down the hallways of time to every one of us, Simon Peter, do you love

me more than these?

See, he's saying to the people of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy, if you're going

to have a heart after me, I want all of your heart.

What does that mean?

That means all of your passion, all of your zeal, all of your emotion.

Zeal for your house will consume me, Psalm 69 and verse 9.

All of your soul.

That means all of your person.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless his holy name, Psalm 103 and verse 1.

All your strength.

That's what's said about Josiah in 2 Kings 23 and verse 25.

There was never another king like him who loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind,

and strength, and served God.

And then Jesus would later add, with all of your mind.

That's with all of your intellect.

That means meditating in his law day and night, Psalm 1 and verse 2.

People that have a heart for God, it's just that.

It's God's heart.

He possesses ownership.

And people that can be described that way, it's because everything they do,

everything they're engaged in, every breath they breathe screams out,

this is not my life.

It ultimately belongs to God.

I've been bought with a price, and he deserves everything that I have,

1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20.

And Moses is standing on Mount Nebo, not going into the promised land,

and he's saying to ancient Israel what God's saying to every one of us.

I've given you my whole heart, my whole being.

I want you to give me yours back in return.

How do you know you have a heart for God?

Do you love God with your all?

It's interesting.

Deuteronomy 30 and verse 16, he says,

I'm going to circumcise your heart so that you can love me

with all of your heart and with all of your soul.

If you go back to Genesis 17 in the Old Testament,

God tells Abraham, from this point forward,

you and your descendants, every male descendant in your house

is to be circumcised on the eighth day.

But throughout the Old Testament,

God harkens back to this ceremonial idea of circumcision.

And he says, it's really not about the fleshly cutting.

He says, I want to circumcise your heart,

Jeremiah 4 and verse 4, Deuteronomy 30 and verse 16.

It's the cutting away of every distraction,

of everything that would obstruct your view

of the thing or the being that matters most, and that's God.

And he says, if you're going to have a heart after me,

I've got to have all of it.

Here's number three.

Heart after God obeys God's commands.

Maybe when you think about having a heart for God,

you think of a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Maybe you think about something emotional.

But throughout the book of Deuteronomy,

love for God is equated with obedience.

It starts this way in Deuteronomy 10, 12 and 13.

He says, I've given you these commands this day,

to love the Lord your God, to walk in all of his ways,

to keep his charge, his statutes and his commandments,

which he commands you this day for your good.

In Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 1, he doubles down.

Deuteronomy 11 · chapter mention

He says, you love God if you keep all of his statutes,

his commandments, his rules and his ordinances.

In Deuteronomy 19 and verse 9,

love for God is equated with walking in God's way.

And when you get to the end of the book,

in Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse 16 and in verse 20,

Deuteronomy 30 · chapter mention

Moses tells these people,

you're going to live a long time in the land of Canaan

and have a prosperous existence if you love God.

But that has to be tied to

whether or not you ultimately obey him.

People that have a heart for God

are those that want to obey his commands.

People that their very being, everything they do,

they want to diligently, carefully, scrupulously

do exactly what God says.

People like that, God absolutely loves and adores them.

He looks throughout the whole world.

And when he finds people like that,

people that take him seriously,

God says the way he describes his relationship with them is,

I love them.

Isaiah 66 and verse 2, the prophet says,

speaking on behalf of God,

this is the one to whom I will look,

to those that are of a humble and contrite spirit

and who tremble at my word.

Jesus says you are my friends

if you do whatever I command you, John 15 and verse 14.

If you love me, keep my commandments, John 14 and verse 15.

A heart after God is one that is willing

and ready to obey his commands.

As you start reading through the Old Testament

and you get to the historical section,

especially in the book of Judges,

one of the things you find is

God's people just start doing whatever they want.

In fact, the summary statement

that's found twice in the book of Judges,

in Judges 17, six, and in Judges 21, 25 is,

in those days, there was no king in Israel.

Every man did what was right in his own eyes.

People just did whatever they wanted.

And that's why the wickedness and sinfulness

of that time period is at Israel's zenith.

It's at the height of their rebellion

and at their debauchery.

They did whatever they wanted,

but a heart for God says,

God, I'll do whatever you want.

Think about your own life,

specific events in your own life.

How many times does love for God

literally stop you in your tracks?

How many times do you say to yourself,

you know what, I wanna say that,

but I'm not gonna say that because I love God.

I wanna go there, but nope, can't go, love God.

I wanna do this, can't do it because I love God.

Does obedience to God ever stop you in your tracks

where if it was all up to you,

you just do something else,

but because of your submission to God,

you're willing to change.

Jesus says, not everyone that says to me,

Lord, Lord, we're into the kingdom of heaven,

but those that do the will of my father who is in heaven,

Matthew 7 and verse 21,

it's really gonna boil down to,

do I love God enough to do his will?

And when you start finding yourself

in your Christian walk,

questioning his worthiness to be obeyed

and saying maybe the Bible's untrustworthy

or maybe I don't need to fully submit,

it's in that moment that you know your heart's slipping.

Israel had gone through the process.

They've done the ceremonial walkthrough.

They're God's people by law,

but the only thing that would make them God's people by love

is a full commitment to obedience.

If you're a Christian,

do you remember when you were baptized?

Maybe on the ground or before you got in the baptistery

or maybe while standing in the baptistery,

somebody asked you this question.

Do you believe Jesus is the son of God?

You wouldn't have been immersed if you confessed otherwise.

And you said, yes, I believe Romans 10, 9 and 10.

You were lowered in water and raised up.

What that confession was saying is

Jesus was raised from the dead, he's Lord,

but more than that, he's my Lord

and I'm gonna fully submit to everything he says.

And the question is,

the vows we made on our spiritual wedding day,

have we held fast and have we kept them?

John says, hereby we know we know him

if we keep his commandments.

He that says I know him and keeps not his commands is a liar.

Whoever keeps his commands in him,

truly the love of God has met its completion.

1 John 2, 3 through 5.

You have a heart for God if you obey his commands.

Here's number four.

A heart for God is somebody who loves what God loves.

Israel had a responsibility in the Old Testament

and their responsibility was

you be a light to all of the surrounding nations.

Isaiah 49 and verse six,

be a light to the nation so everybody could see

what God's people were ultimately all about.

We're told the same thing.

Matthew 5, 16.

Let your light so shine before men,

they'll see your good works

and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Israel was supposed to show the rest of the world,

here's what it looks like when God starts running your life.

Think about a place that you frequent

and maybe you think the service isn't that great.

If all of a sudden you saw a sign out front that said,

under new management, what would that signify to you?

Somebody else is in charge.

And if you patronized and went there again and visited,

you would first and foremost be looking for

one thing and one thing only.

You would be wondering this one question, what's different?

They say they're under new management, what's different?

They've got this sign out front,

maybe they sell the same products,

maybe the store hours are the same,

but under new management says,

everything about this place is completely different.

And when you give your life to Jesus Christ,

there's essentially a sign hung outside your heart

that says under new management.

Jesus says, you've received a new birth,

John three and verse five.

And everybody in the world has the right

to look in on our hearts and lives

and ask the same question, what's different?

See a heart for God has changed,

it's under new management and you love what God loves.

If you look at Deuteronomy 10, turn your Bible there,

Deuteronomy 10, 18 and 19,

it's not just about warm and fuzzy feelings toward God,

it's about starting to care about the things God cares about

and the people that God care about.

And so Deuteronomy 10, 18 through 19, he says,

I want you to execute justice for the fatherless

and the widows, to love the sojourner,

to clothe him and to feed him.

And then in verse 19, he says,

love the sojourner because you were a stranger in Egypt.

Listen, this isn't a political statement,

it's a biblical one,

it's what God expects Christians to do.

And when you get to the New Testament,

God is not walking this back, he actually doubles down.

He says, pure and undefiled religion

is to visit the fatherless and the widows,

James one and verse 27.

Do good to all people,

especially those that are the household of faith,

Galatians six and verse 10.

I want you to love people like God has loved you,

the downtrodden, the people that are struggling.

A heart for God says, you know what?

I love what God loves, I love who God loves,

and I'm gonna evidence this in the world.

The Canaanites and the surrounding nations

in the Old Testament had this privilege.

Israel's moving in,

they're getting rid of all the wicked people,

but everybody that stayed in the land

was supposed to have this idea

when it was all said and done.

These Israelites and our neighbors,

they're governed by a different law,

they live a different way.

Ah, this is what it's like

when God's your next door neighbor.

And people that live around us

should be saying the same thing,

whether they ever read the Bible or not.

This is what it's like

if God's your next door neighbor.

This is what it's like

if God's your employee or works alongside you.

We're supposed to love what God loves,

and it's gonna be evidenced

by the way that we live and the way we behave.

Sometimes social media will offer up

what's called suggested friends.

They'll just do this for you.

They'll say, listen,

you all have this many mutual friends in common.

It seems like your lives should overlap.

You might wanna friend this person

because I think you all might run in the same circles.

Here's the question.

Would God be a suggested friend for us?

Would heaven look down and say,

hey, you kinda love some of the same people God does,

and God loves this group of people,

and I think for some reason

you all should definitely be connected.

Your lives should be overlapping

because you're swimming in the same ponds,

fishing in the same pools.

You individuals should be together

because you're on the same page.

The book of Deuteronomy,

God says when you get into the land of Canaan,

you'll have a heart for me if you love what I love,

if you're after the same things I'm after,

and if that's evidenced by treating people

in the same way that I've taught you to treat them.

This is the heart of the parable of the Good Samaritan

in Luke 10, 25 through 37.

Loving God with everything we have

involves loving the people God loves.

Here's number five.

It means you remain loyal when you're tested.

You got a heart for God?

What about when you're tested?

Deuteronomy 13, God says,

one day if there comes into your company

a prophet or a dreamer of dreams,

and he performs a sign and the sign comes to pass,

but then he tells you up, let's follow other gods,

don't follow that prophet.

In verse three, he says,

no, this is actually a test to see whether or not

you love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul.

A heart for God remains loyal to God

even when it's tested.

It's interesting.

When Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4, 1 through 11,

the book he quoted from extensively and only, exclusively,

was the book of Deuteronomy.

Because a love that can't be tested can't be trusted.

Jesus is a person that says,

here's what it looks like to be loyal and faithful

even under dire circumstances and dire straits,

and you'll know that you have a heart for God

if you can be tested.

And when God tests you,

you come out of the other side unscathed.

Hosea 13 in verse six,

near the end of the Old Testament,

God says to his people,

oh, you grazed and you were filled,

and when you were lifted up, you forgot me.

But this passage, if you're honest with yourself,

this kind of thing, this idea of my love for God,

it's one thing to be loyal in what we say,

it's an entirely different thing to be loyal to God

in what we display,

especially when our love for God

and our allegiance to him, when it's tested.

Some people, they have a heart for God

right up until travel ball season.

Oh, they love God, everything's great,

but all of a sudden, once travel ball comes,

Matthew 6, 33, seek first the kingdom,

we've got no time for that.

Why don't we just reverse it?

We sometimes say to ourselves, you know what?

God's just gonna have to understand.

What if we reversed it?

What if we just say, you know what?

I've gotta do this God stuff over here,

and these folks over here,

they're just gonna have to understand.

Some people have a heart for God

right up until they start

making a little bit more money.

Listen, wealth in and of itself

is not sinful, it's not evil,

but every one of us should be asking ourselves,

can God trust me with it?

If God blesses me with more,

will I allow it to turn me against him

and make it my God in its place,

even though 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 10 says,

you've come into this world with nothing,

you'll leave out of it with nothing.

Those that love money

fall into many temptations and a snare,

and we all know people that were faithful to God

just up until the point

that they moved into a different tax bracket

and got a raise,

and all of a sudden,

this heart for God is sort of vanished.

Some people have a heart for God

until they marry him or marry her,

and I mean, they were faithful,

they were going full speed,

but all of a sudden now,

I don't know about God.

Well, they don't wanna go to church,

I don't know if I wanna go.

A heart for God is faithful

above every other human relationship.

For some people,

it's right until they go to college,

and some professor convinces them

that he's smarter than God.

Colossians 2, 8 says,

don't be deceived through philosophy,

through vain deceit.

After the traditions of man

and after the rudiments of this world

and not after Christ.

See, some people's faithfulness is regional.

When they lived in this area,

they were faithful,

but they moved out there

and the church isn't quite like home,

and as a result of that,

they're really not up on God's

everywhere throughout the world,

but not for them.

Some people have a heart for God

right up until difficulty.

They've got a fair weather God,

and in the sunshine,

their God's great,

but if it ever starts raining

or if a thunderstorm comes into their life,

all of a sudden,

but the book of Deuteronomy is saying,

you know,

you know you've got a heart for God

if you can remain loyal,

even when tested.

You might say,

especially when tested,

and it's coming into every one of our lives,

and we've got to be saying to ourselves,

I've got a heart for God,

come what may,

no matter what happens,

I'm going to be faithful to him.

Moses says,

these false prophets might actually

be a test of your loyalty.

You've seen these performance-based shows before

where the judges are sitting up front

and a person comes in and sings

or does some sort of a performance,

and sometimes they have to vote on a person

to continue to the next round.

Sometimes they have to,

for lack of better words,

purchase a person's talent

and they ascribe their allegiance to them

and you're going to be on my team

and they say,

hey, you're my person,

you're special,

until the next special performer comes out

and then all of a sudden,

they'll switch their allegiance.

And I want you to see us

and our hearts as sitting in the sea

and God comes out

and he comes out first

and our hearts are smitten

in full devotion to him

and we profess and we say,

God, you've got my everything.

I'm giving you my best.

Nobody else is taking your spot

and just about the time he exits the stage,

the world starts to land blast us

with various options,

various temptations,

and they stay there,

they sing longer,

they dance louder,

and we might be tempted to say when tested,

I know what I said

to the first candidate that came through.

I know what I profess to God.

Look at how bright and how shiny,

look at how attractive this is

and we might be tempted to succumb.

And Moses says,

you know you have a heart for God

if even when tested,

you hold fast and you remain faithful.

Here's the last one,

number six,

a heart for God,

clings to him until the end.

Throughout the book of Deuteronomy,

there's this idea to love God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

but then Deuteronomy 30 in verse 20,

he says,

I want you to cling to the Lord.

The new King James has this,

cling to the Lord.

ESV says,

hold fast to the Lord.

The NLT,

fully commit yourself to God,

be fully,

and it's this idea of

literally being glued to God,

sticking to him no matter what.

And the way Moses ends this in verse 20,

he says,

because in him is life

and length of days.

And if you hold fast

and if you cling to God

till the very end,

that's evidence

that you've got a heart for God.

This same word for clinging

and holding fast,

it's interesting.

The first time we find it in the Bible,

it's in a marriage context,

which brings us full circle.

In Genesis 2 in verse 24,

it says,

a man will hold fast

or cleave to his wife

and the two will be one flesh

and God saying,

that's what I want you to do with me.

If you have a heart for me,

I don't want us just to begin together,

I want us to go all the way.

And if you do,

there's this duration of life.

And for us,

it's everlasting life.

Jesus says in John 6, 37,

those that come to God,

he'll never cast out.

The father is greater than all

and nobody can take you

out of the father's hand.

John 10 in verse 29.

If you put your faith in him,

you've passed from death to life.

John 5 in verse 24.

The question is not

whether God will hold us fast.

The question scripture

is repeatedly asking us is,

will we hold him fast?

And a heart for God says,

I'm going to cling to God

no matter what else happens,

no matter what the gods

of the land do,

no matter what else happens,

I'm going to hold fast to God

because God has been

holding fast to me.

Deuteronomy 34 has Moses

walking up on Mount Nebo

and then Moses dies

and he's buried in a place

that only God knows.

And he's left with us,

the book of Deuteronomy,

these four sermons

squeezed into one book

and history tells us

what Israel did

and whether they kept their vows

and whether they lived

into the fullness

of that love for God.

But our story isn't through

being written yet.

And the question for us is,

can we receive God's love?

Will we let him love us

or will we claim

that we're too sinful,

we're too bad

and we've got to behave ourselves

into earning it?

Will we just allow him to do it?

Will we love him

with all of our heart,

soul, mind and strength?

Are we the kind of people

that say, yes,

that's true about me

and as a result,

I'm going to obey him.

And even if I'm tested,

I promise to cling to him

and I won't let him go

because I'm assured

through what he's done

on the cross through Jesus

that he won't let me go.

It's amazing and great

to know how much God loves you,

but it ultimately means nothing.

They're empty vows

if you don't receive it

and if you don't embrace it

and enjoy it.

And maybe you need

to obey the gospel

and embrace and receive God's love.

We'd be happy to assist you

in doing that.

If you believe Jesus

is the son of God,

if you're ready to repent

of your sins

and confess him as Lord,

we'd love to immerse you in water

for the forgiveness of your sins.

Your sins will be forgiven.

You'll rise to walk

in newness of life.

And that's where it really begins

to live out the vows,

to be faithful

and to have a heart for God.

If you've done that in the past,

but you've wavered

on your commitments

and your vows in such a way

that you stand in need

of the public prayers

of the church,

we'd be happy to assist you.

Kaysen's going to lead us

in a song to encourage us.

If you need to respond,

come now as together,

we stand in sync.