His Desire

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We recently started a series called Living in His Presence where Pastor Robert has been discussing how we can tune into and live in God's presence every day, specifically through worship. Well, today's message is about God's greatest desire. So let's join Pastor Robert now. We're going to continue our series called Living in His Presence.

So if you can turn to one scripture this week, Genesis chapter one, and we'll actually hit a verse in chapter two also, but Genesis chapter one. And so this week we're going to talk about His desire. So we've talked about His presence, His instruments, now we're going to talk about His desire. Does God, who is completely self-sufficient, self-existent, self-sustaining, does God have a desire?

And if He does, what is His desire? I am a bottom-line person. There are two types of people in the world, in my opinion, bottom-line people and beat-around-the-bush people.

And it's funny. And if you don't know if you're a bottom-line person or not, you aren't. You are a beat-around-the-bush person. We know who we are. And you're either a bottom-line person or if you're married, you're married to a bottom-line person, one or the other. So the reason I say that is I like to think this way. What's God's bottom line? What's the bottom line of the Bible? And so we want to talk about that.

And I think the best way to figure out His desire or His bottom line is go back to Genesis one. So I have three points for us again today. Here's number one. God made me from Him, or another way to say it would be out of Him. So I'm going to make another statement about this. And I try to be a grammarian. And there is a way to say this grammatically correct, but it doesn't make any sense. So it's not grammatically correct, but it's theologically correct. When God wanted something in the beginning, when He was creating and making things, when God wanted something, He spoke to what He wanted it, whatever it was He was creating, to be made out of or made from.

Let me say that one more time. When God wanted something, if He wanted plants or trees or animals, He spoke to what He wanted it, the plant or the animal or whatever, to come from. To take this a little bit further, also He spoke to what He wanted it not only to come out of, but to be sustained by and then to return to. Now I said when God was creating and making, let me explain that because many, many people never understood that God created some things and He made some things. The things He created theologically, when you create something, you form something out of nothing. When you make something, you form something out of something else. This might disappoint you a little bit, but you actually don't create anything. You make things. Now we have some creative tendencies and abilities because we were made by a creative God, but we really can't create something like God created things.

In other words, we can't make something out of nothing. Like if I came over to your house and, you know, you do pottery and you said, come here, let me show you something. Look at this vase. I created this vase.

No, you didn't. You made the vase. You started with clay and you molded it into a vase.

You made it. You didn't create it. You did not say, let there be a vase. And there was a vase. Okay, you didn't do that, but God did it. God said, let there be light. And there was light.

You see what I'm saying? So God created some things and He made some things. So when He made things, it's very, very important for you to catch this principle. When God made things, He spoke to what He wanted it, whatever He was making, to come from, to be sustained by that which it came out of, and then to return to that.

So let me give you some examples. Genesis 1, verse 11. Then God said, let the earth bring forth.

We'll come back to those words. Earth bring forth. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, goes on. So here's what God's saying. Let the earth bring forth.

Let me say it another way. He says, let and all these things. Let there be light. In essence, He was saying, light come forth.

And it came forth. In this sentence, He's saying, earth bring forth. Let the earth bring forth. God is saying, earth bring forth plants and trees and grass. The reason is, God did not say, let there be trees. He said, earth bring forth trees.

Why? Because He wanted trees to come from dirt, to be sustained by dirt, and to return to dirt. Now, you're going to find out in just a moment why this is extremely important, extremely important. Verse 20. Then God said, let the waters abound with the abundance of living creatures.

Just showing you that to show you that fish are sustained by water. Genesis 1 24. God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures. So earth bring forth living creatures.

Animals come from dirt, sustained by dirt, and go back to dirt. So why am I making such a big deal of this? Let me say it one more time. When God wanted something, He spoke to what He wanted it to come from, to be sustained by, and to return to.

So why is that such a big deal? Listen carefully. Because when God wanted us, He spoke to Himself. Remember, whatever He spoke to is what He wanted, what He was making to come from, to be sustained by. Are you all following me?

Because it's better than your acting. To be sustained by, and to return to. To come out of, to be sustained by, and to return to. Verse 26. Then God said, let us make man. Make, not create.

Make man. So we came from something. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. So we came from God, we're sustained by God, and we go back to God.

Now, what you might say is, okay, wait, I got a little problem. Because it says that God formed man out of the dust of the ground. So didn't we come from dirt, and we go back to dirt, we're sustained by dirt, and we go back.

No, no, no, no. Listen, God made my body out of dirt. My body came from dirt, is sustained by dirt, and goes back to dirt. But my spirit came from God, is sustained by God, and goes back to God. See, my body is sustained by dirt. My body is sustained by fruits, and vegetables, and ice cream, and things that come from dirt. So plants come from dirt, they're sustained by dirt, and they go back to dirt.

Everyone got that? Okay. What would happen if a plant said to the dirt, I'm pulling out. I'm gonna make it on my own.

What would happen? It died. Man said to God, I'm pulling out.

I'm gonna make it on my own. God said, the day you do you'll die. Their bodies didn't die, because their bodies came from dirt, are sustained by dirt, and go back to dirt. Now, death entered, and man began to die.

And our life at times has gotten shorter and shorter, physically. But it was our spirits that died. I've been asked that by seminary students. They say, why didn't Adam even die? God said, you'll die. They did die.

They died spiritually. Let me just a couple of scriptures. Ephesians 2, 1, and you, he made alive, made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. John 10, we focus on the second part of the verse. I've come that they may have life, they may have it more abundantly. But watch the first part of the verse. I've come that they may have life. We weren't even alive until Jesus redeemed us. We were dead. So God made me from him.

Here's number two. God made me like him in his image, in his likeness. So God made me like him.

So I'm the bottom line person. I'm trying to figure out if God has a desire, what is his desire? So I want you to think about this, that God made someone just like he is, Adam. And you have to remember that what we're about to read is before the sin, before the fall. So Adam has no impure thought.

He has no impure desire. But God makes a replica of himself and the one that he makes, that God makes, that's exactly like he is, has a desire. Ever thought about that? So we're trying to figure out what God's desire is and yet he made a mirror image of himself and the one that he made had a desire. Look at this, Genesis 2 verse 10. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field.

Now watch carefully your Bibles. But, but, why is it saying that? But for Adam, there was not found, there was not found a helper comparable, this is the root word of companion, that's why we say a companion, comparable, a companion for him or comparable to him. Okay, why would the Bible say that? It says Adam named the animals but, but, while he was named the animals, he didn't find one that could be a companion.

Why did he say that? Because it's possible that something like this happens, possible that Adam, who's made just like God, he has not sinned, no sin in the world, he has no impure desire, he has a desire that's completely pure. He goes to God in essence and says something like this, you know, I love the garden, I love all, everything, but I have a desire but I don't know how to express it, I don't know what it is, but I want something, I'm kind of lonely, I enjoy walking and talking to you but I want something but I don't know what I want. So God says, well, I did everything in six days, didn't have a lot of time and I didn't have time to name all the animals, so why don't you name the animals and while you're doing that, see if you like any of them.

And while he's naming the animals, he goes to sleep, right? And you remember what happened when he was asleep, God takes a rib about forms, Eve, so when Adam wakes up, now he's been naming animals, looking for a companion, when he wakes up, there's this new animal there and he says, whoa man, that's how she got her name, in case you don't know. Whoa man, you know, okay, whoa man actually means from man, out of man. Adam came out of God, Eve came out of man, so out of God as well.

See, out of, that's what the word means, whoa man, out of man. So why didn't God make him a remote control man? How did God know? Are you all following me?

This is really, really good. How did God know that the only thing that would satisfy the desire of Adam's heart was a bride? How did God know that? Because God has the same desire. And remember, sin has not, it's not entered the world yet, they've not eaten fruit, so Adam's desire was pure.

He wanted a bride. And God knew that because he has the same desire. See, God created you in his image, which means he created you with a will because God has a will, and love is a choice.

And when you talk about a companion, you want someone to choose to love you, not to have to love you, right? I mean, God, he could have created robots. And then we'd have walked around and said, we love God. But it wouldn't have been love, right? He knew, they've got to choose to love me. So he created a bride. It's not love if you, you know, duct tape your wife to the chair and say, no, you've got to love me.

She'd probably say, yeah, let me go and I'll show you how much I love you, buddy, and go to the garage and get the hammer so I can show you. See, love is a choice. So God made me from him, so I would come from him, be sustained by him and go back to him. And then he made me in his image, so I have the same desire that he has. So I know what his desire is, his desire as a bride.

Now here's the third thing we're talking about. Love is a choice. God made me to love him.

Now it's my choice, but God made me to love him. And we're talking about living in his presence and I'm telling you that the best way to live in his presence is to live a lifestyle of worship. Maybe you've never connected the dots this way, but worship is expressing love.

That's what it is. When you praise him, you're expressing your love to him. When you say, thank you for sending your son for me. I love you, God. You're expressing love. See, it's like a man saying to his wife, I love you. There's no one I'd rather be with than you.

I would die that you could live. You know, he's expressing love. Maybe you've never seen worship and praise that way, but that's what it is. And what you have to understand about God is that anytime you give to God, you'll receive back.

That's just his nature. I mean, if you say to God, I love you, he'll say, I love you too. There's no one I'd rather be with than you. There's no one I'd rather be with than you. I'd die so that you could live. I did. I did die so that you could live. Are y'all following me? But God's greatest desire is you.

That's his desire, you, that you would choose to love him. And there's a verse that I think is the most repeated phrase in the Bible. Now, there may be a more repeated phrase.

I don't know of one. But you start seeing it as you're going through the Bible three times in a year, just constantly, and sometimes in 12 or 24 days. So I want to show you this thing, and I want to see if you get it, okay, what God's desire is. Exodus 6, 7. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God.

Leviticus 26, 12. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. Jeremiah 7, 23. But this is what I command them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Jeremiah 11, 4. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 24, 7.

Then I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Jeremiah 30, 22. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 31, 33.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 11, 20. That they may walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 14, 11. That the house of Israel may no longer stray from me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people, and I may be their God. Ezekiel 36, 28.

Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 37, 23. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 37, 27. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Hosea 2, 23. Speaking specifically to Gentiles. Then I will say to those who are not my people, you are my people, and they shall say, you are my God. Zechariah 8, 8.

Speaking specifically to Jews. I will bring them back, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Zechariah 13, 9. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, this is my people, and each one will say, the Lord is my God. 2 Corinthians 6, 16.

I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Hebrews 8, 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Revelation 21, verses 1-3. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. Did you get it?

Did you get it? God wants you to be his people, and he wants to be your God. Okay, let me take you back to the beginning. Let's pretend for a moment, pretend, that Adam had not been with Eve when she ate the fruit. Now we know Adam was with her, right there with her, didn't stop it, didn't do anything, and ate the fruit too.

They both did. But let's think about for a moment that Adam might have been on the other side of the garden, and Eve ate the fruit. If that had happened, then a conversation like this would have taken place. God would have had to go to Adam and say, son, I am so sorry to tell you this, but your bride has sinned, and she's going to die. Now we know that didn't take place with Adam, but it took place with Jesus. Because you see, when we talk about his desire, what do you get someone who has everything? What could God the Father give God the Son except a bride?

And this conversation had to have taken place. God the Father had to go to his son, put his hand on his shoulder, and say, son, I am so sorry to tell you this, but your bride has sinned, and she's going to die. And you can see Jesus just put his head down, heart broken, and say, but dad, I don't want her to die. And then I think the Father said something like this, someone has to die. And I think Jesus raised his head back up, wiped away his tears, and said, then let it be me.

I'll die so that my bride can live. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We are so glad that you joined us today. Next time Pastor Robert shares that wisdom and fear of the Lord come from spending time in His presence. Well, until then, we pray God's peace over you and your family.