Micah 6-8. We are looking at a message entitled, What God Desires. What God Desires. Now, Micah 6-8 is one of the most well-known verses found in the Old Testament and for good reason. It is this verse that you find inscribed on the walls of the main meeting

room in the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C. It's a verse that has been long quoted by politicians

during their campaigns, but scarcely lived out once they're in office.

It's been said that this verse, Micah 6.8, is the finest summary of the content of

practical religion to be found in the Old Testament.

Another commentator noted that the rabbis who commented on this verse in the early

centuries of the Christian era called it a one-line summary of the whole law.

I think that's a good way to think about it, a one-line summary of the whole law.

And yet what's interesting about Micah 6.8 is that John Newton, the old hymn writer, said of this passage that there was hardly

any one passage that was more generally misunderstood than this one. And why would Newton say such a thing?

Well, because this verse can very easily be taken as that which contributes to our salvation

rather than the response from it.

What we find here in verse 8, if you're taking notes, is not the root of salvation, but the fruit of it.

You know, the scriptures tell us that God desires that all men would be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,

that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance.

And that the only way to come to the Father is by Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus said of himself that he is the door of the sheep, and anyone that enters by him, they will be saved.

You see, what God desires above all is that we come

to him by faith, Hebrews 116 says, believing that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek him. That's what pleases God. You know, when the masses were fixated on what they could do,

Jesus summarized the work of God in this way. You can note down John 629 as a helpful verse for our

introduction. It says, here, Jesus answered and said to them. They said what what works can we do to work the works of

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