What God Values Most Part 2 Series

What God Values Most Part 2

What God Says About Our Identity In Him

Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Second Corinthians 5:20; Romans 8:35-37

This is part two of the message I delivered last week titled, “What God Values Most.” Last week I told you that what God values most out of all of His creation are you and me. At the end of that message I shared with you a few things that God has said about us in acknowledging how much He values us. This morning I want to close the message with a few additional statements that God has made about our identity in Him. As you think about what I shared last week, God wants us to know that we are not just some “poor human” existing here on earth waiting to die and go to heaven to get a reward. We are not just a "nobody" who exists in obscurity. He wants us to know that we are somebody and He has placed within us the ability and resources that we need to accomplish His will here on earth. As you listen to the message this morning, I want to remind you of what I told you last week. It is up to each of us to decide if we believe what the Word of God says about us. There are people when they read the Bible read it as if they are reading a novel. The things they read about are onetime events that applied only to those people in the Bible. When they read the New Testament they do not believe that God is speaking to them individually but that it is just a story of history. In the Old Testament, God says in Malachi 3:6, “For I, the LORD, do not change…..” In the New Testament, Hebrews 12:8 records that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If we believe that God does not change and that Jesus is alway the same, then what has been stated in His Word applies to each of us today just as it did for those during the time it was written.

With this belief in mind, I want to share with you what God has said about us, and all those who accepted His Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior. The first thing I want to share this morning comes from Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight. In this chapter Moses tells the Children of Israel, “(1) Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. (2) All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2) Moses reviews a list of blessings that will come upon them and overtake them if they keep the commandments of God. When you read verses three through twelve, you see that every aspect of their life will be blessed. Those blessing do not mean that they would not experience some hard times, but in the fullness of God’s timing, overall they would be blessed if they kept His commandments. But the verses I want you to focus on this morning are verses thirteen and fourteen. It says, “(13) The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, (14) and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (Deuteronomy 28:13-14)

As I said previously, these verses closed out a long list of blessings that God told the Children of Israel would be theirs if they kept His commandments. Now if you are wondering if these blessings also belong to us, listen to what is recorded in Galatians 3:29. It says, “And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.” Paul confirms that we, as believers in Christ, become eligible for all of the promises God gave to Abraham – if we are keeping God’s commandments. That requirement does not go away just because we accepted Christ as our personal Savior. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) There is no skating around keeping His commandments in order to walk in His blessings. But if we truly love Jesus and we are keeping His commandments, then the promise found in the 13th verse – that we are the head and not the tail – belongs to us.