Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Unlock the wisdom of the Old Testament. This sermon series from Deuteronomy brings to light the importance of studying Old Testament law.
revealing the divine inspiration behind all Scripture as highlighted in Second Timothy three, sixteen through seventeen. Dive into the profound teachings that reflect God's character, His purpose. and his heart. offering instruction and formation for his people. From Deuteronomy, you'll understand how Scripture is essential for teaching and training in righteousness.
This series is an opportunity to delve deeper into the timeless truths that shape our faith. and guide our lives. You're listening to part two of a message that was first preached on April 7, 2024. He is a god of justice. He is a holy God.
And so the heart of God is demonstrated. Reason number five that we're studying Old Testament law: the heart of man is exposed. The heart of men and women too. I don't want to leave you guys out. The heart of humanity is exposed.
Dwight used to work for a company called Prova Images. They would take. Live Pictures of a functioning heart. And you can see it on the monitor. There it is, the heart, the valves, all of that.
in action, in operation. And from those live pictures they would be able to look at it and physicians would be able to determine what's not functioning right. That's what the law does. for us. God sees our hearts.
and through the law. our own personal brokenness. is revealed. Because the law is a reflection of God's character. And so the law helps us see and understand where we don't measure up.
Now, thank God. For the New Testament, we're going to get to that here in a moment, okay? How does this play into the grand plan of God's redemption? This is something that Deuteronomy bears out. It's one reason I really like this book.
But consider what Paul said in Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20. We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Aren't you glad for the grace of God? And just because we're studying the law doesn't mean that the grace of God was not present.
But remember, God is transcendent and He has One entire plan for the redemption of humanity. And this law played a part. This law was the MRI. And you could look at that MRI and the functioning heart and you could tell what was going wrong, but the MRI doesn't fix the heart. That's the grace of God.
It does that. And so we're going to see the necessity of that as we study this. We're also going to see the foretelling of that as we study this as well.
So The man, the heart of man is exposed. Understanding that we As fallen creatures are deserving of God's justice, And it also brings out very clearly the necessity of God's grace. For us. Reason number six. The grace of God is implied.
First of all, As we go through all of these laws, and there are many of them, His laws are. Why does God give us laws? Because He's the cosmic killjoy and He doesn't want us to have any fun in life. Is that why He gives laws? No.
These are loving boundaries. These are guardrails to keep us from falling off the cliff. If you will. His laws are loving boundaries. It says in chapter 10, verse 3, verse 13.
I'm sorry, these laws are for your good. For your good. Remember what I said before? Every precept reflects what? The character of God, the person of God.
God is what? good, therefore his laws are Good. They're for our good. And that's what he constantly reminded his people. Not only is the grace of God implied in the goodness of the laws, the goodness of God's character.
as loving boundaries. But We will see in Deuteronomy that this foreshadows Christ who fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. For us. We often talk about the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus and the ascension and his return, but how many times do we talk about the perfect life of Jesus? He did that for you and me.
And now that I am in Christ through faith, by grace and through faith, his history is mine, including his perfect life. That's powerful. And he measured up perfectly to everything we're going to read in this book. Perfectly. Do you remember what Paul said?
When he was still Saul, he says, concerning the law, I was what? Blameless. True or false? He was not blameless. That statement in itself.
He was not blameless. He was a fallen, sinful human being. He thought he kept the law perfectly. He did not. Because he was looking at the external, and God looks where?
Right here. That was the difference.
So What the law could not do In that it was weak through the flesh. This is Romans chapter 8, verses 3 and 4. God did. by sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Why?
So that the righteous requirement of the law. could be fulfilled in us. who walk not according to the flesh. but according to the Spirit. You see, that's a new covenant.
And Deuteronomy foreshadows that. Reason number seven. Number six, it implies the grace of God. Number seven, We see in here the history Of Redemption's plan. The History of Redemption's Plan, number seven.
In Deuteronomy chapter 18. Verses 15 through 19. Moses is speaking to the people, and he says, The Lord will give you a prophet like me. from among you. If you skip over to the New Testament in the book of Acts, both Peter and Stephen, in their long public speeches about how Christ is Messiah and He is the good news of God, for the salvation of mankind.
Both of them cited Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of this prophecy. Acts chapter 3 and Acts chapter 7. When Moses said to his people, The Lord will give you a prophet like me from among yourselves. That's Jesus Christ. Also, in Deuteronomy chapter thirty and verse six.
Moses speaking to the people, he says, the Lord will circumcise your hearts. Earlier on, he commands the people of Israel to circumcise their in other words, what does that mean? Set yourselves apart to be devoted to God at the level of your heart. And this was God's command to his people. And what the law shows is that humanity can't do that.
apart from the grace of God. And so what he says is that In Deuteronomy 30, Verse 6, the Lord will circumcise your hearts. And that. Is a foretelling of the new covenant that would come that we find in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 31. Do you remember the night that he was betrayed?
Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples, and he institutes the Lord's table. And he gives them reminders. Bread is what is it? My body which is broken for you. And then he takes the cup.
What does he say? This is what? The new covenant in my blood. I am bringing something new. That the law could not provide.
It foreshadowed this reality and it foretold this reality. But here it is. I'm here now. My blood is going to be shed and my shed blood will launch this new reality. And what is that?
A heart that is bent. Towards God. Listen to me, Christian. You are not just a forgiven sinner. You are a new creation.
And we will see the beauty of that as we study this law. Because Christ fulfilled it for us, and as by the grace of God I am in Christ. He has fulfilled this perfectly for me, and on top of that, he has given me a new heart with a bent towards God. That's powerful. So let's not forget, we come together at the last Sunday of this month.
Well, Jesus takes the cup. He says, this is the new covenant in my blood. No, I challenge you, know what that means. Because most Christians don't. I'm just saying that.
Most Christians do not know what that means. They just recite the words, but they don't know what it means. And to me, that's a tragedy. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out WWW dot delightandgrace dot com to discover how to live by grace Tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
