What Does God Want? Quotes

“That which cannot be achieved by performance cannot be lost by performance. Salvation has nothing to do with our own worth or merit. It has everything to do with what someone—Jesus—did for us. “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“God wants “the obedience of faith.” You obey the gospel by believing it.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“And the things he cares about most are those he made to be like him, “in his own image” as the Bible says (Gen 1:26). That would be you and me.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“They needed new hearts. They needed his presence to guide them. What was needed was a descendant of Abraham, and of David who could be the ultimate king and perfect imager of God.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Rom 6:1-2, 12-16) Notice that the Bible doesn’t say “God forbid, don’t sin or God won’t love you anymore!” Rather, the concern is returning to the bondage of self-destruction. So,”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Love is not irritable”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 22:36-40)”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Many believers unconsciously begin to add their own works or performance to the gospel because of guilt for their sin. The result is spiritual bondage, not the abundant life Jesus wants us to have (John 10:10; 2 Cor 1:5;”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“That’s why his solution was Jesus, not you.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Guilt distorts thinking in even more subtle ways. It can paralyze our ability to see the gospel as the unconditional gift it is. Guilt is what drives some people to justify a gift by concluding it’s deserved because of something they did for the gift-giver at some point. And if they can’t convince themselves of that, they determine to do something after the fact to make themselves feel deserving of the gift. Guilt blinds us to the love of God shown in the gospel. Ultimately, we must come to grips with how self-centered this thinking is.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Those are all worthwhile things, but No. God wants “the obedience of faith.” You obey the gospel by believing it.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“You don’t see anything about your amazing track record or having a clean rap sheet in those passages.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years” (Gen 15:13,”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Loyalty to that belief—to that God—is something we’ll talk about later. Today we call it discipleship. Belief and loyalty are two distinct things.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“abuse God’s wonderful gift of freedom and use it for self-gratification, revenge, and the”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“The apostle Paul summed it up well: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“God had made the same decision earlier with the heavenly family he had created. They have abilities like intelligence and freedom, too. They got those gifts from their Creator.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“God’s business would be family business. Eden was not merely God’s home; it was God’s home office. We were created to be God’s co-workers. God made sure the people he made could do the job of imaging him on earth.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Perhaps your own suffering, or the suffering you see all around you, might even make you wish God had just destroyed everything.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“abuse God’s wonderful gift of freedom and use it for self-gratification, revenge, and the mirage of autonomy. This abuse began in Eden. But God was not taken by surprise. He had anticipated evil. He foresaw what would happen and planned accordingly. God did not destroy his human children for their rebellion. Instead, he would forgive and redeem them. The Bible makes it clear that God saw what was coming and had a plan of forgiveness and salvation in place before the rebellion even happened—from “the foundation of the world” to be precise (Eph”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Those who overcome,” enduring in their faith in Jesus, will receive “authority over the nations” (Rev 2:26). Jesus will have them “to sit with me on my throne” (Rev 3:21). We will one day “judge angels” (1 Cor 6:3). What do these phrases mean? We can start by asking who rules the nations now? The”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that our “spiritual worship” of God is intrinsically tied to the way we live (Rom 12:1-2). It’s not about a thirty-minute experience at home or in a church. It’s about a life oriented by, and directed to, God.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Salvation doesn’t cost us anything; it’s free for all who believe the gospel. Discipleship, however, does cost us something. Following Jesus is often not easy.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“God's laws were designed to help his children avoid other gods and live happy, peaceful lives with one another, not to improve God’s disposition toward them.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“The laws weren’t about earning a place in God’s family. Israelites were already God’s family.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“God can only eliminate evil in our world if he eliminates all the ones who do evil. In other words, God can only end evil if he wipes out all of us. Everyone sins (Rom 3:10-12) and, like the Bible says, “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). So sure, God could do that. But he doesn’t. He loves humanity too much for that to be an option.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Without the genuine freedom to make real decisions we simply would not be like God. God is no robot, and we were made to be like him. Without genuine free will, we cannot authentically love God or obey God. If decisions are pre-programmed, they aren’t really decisions. For decisions like love and obedience to be authentic, they must be made against a truly possible alternative.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Imaging God is an important concept for several reasons. It gives each of us a secure, profound identity.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?

“Imaging God also gives us purpose. We have a mission. Every person, no matter how small or weak or short-lived has some role to play in someone else’s life. Every task we set our mind to that honors God and our fellow imagers becomes a spiritual calling.”
― Michael S. Heiser, What Does God Want?