Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You're listening to part five of a message titled The Lord Your God Goes Before Us. It was first preached on april fourteenth, given 2024.
To hear the entire message, visit www.delightingrace.com. God's not in this. Either of these approaches, whether it's settling for the comfortable, being defined by it, or Moving on to manipulation and control, God is not in these approaches to the hard path, and we learn that from Israel. Don't we These are These are prescriptions for defeat. But here's another point.
Not only are they prescriptions for defeat, but in that defeat, you will pull others down with you. That's why the whole nation. had to wander. for 40 years. God doesn't simply want us trying harder to do what we're supposed to do.
See, that's what Israel tried.
Okay, let's just go. We're going to do it. All right. And God says, no, I'm not in this. He wants us, instead of trying harder to do what we're supposed to do, he listen, he wants us to walk with him in loving trust.
Now that sounds nice, doesn't it? But I want you to to gain a mental image and a biblically informed mental image of what that looks like. Because we're not talking about emotions here. We're talking about trust. Obedience.
So If you got this hard, this difficult, this impossible path in front of you, the natural approaches are to settle for the comfortable and a lack of trust or to engage in manipulation and control. I'm gonna get it done. God is not in either of those. Here's the third approach, and this is spirit-led. This is what Moses was encouraging his people to do.
Look at verse 30 with me again. Look at verse 30. The Lord your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. That's the third approach. Learn this.
Learn this. Like I said before, it's not about the journey. God is taking us to a place. Are you biblically informed about the place to which God is taking you? That's the only thing that Place in terms of character is what?
The image of Jesus Christ. That's where God's taking you. And secondly, that place literally is where, in his very presence. Forever. God's taking you there.
to know him and enjoy him. personally. Forever. God's taking you there. So, the third approach in that impossible path in front of you is: the Lord your God goes before you.
Four points under there. Where you will be. You're worried about the path. You're worried about what you're going to have to go through, right? Where you will be, God is already there.
God's already there. We read it this morning, Romans chapter eight. Whom he called, whom he predestined, he also called, he justified, he glorified. Do you know how God sees you? He sees you glorified, perfectly like Jesus Christ, seated with him in the heavenlies.
That's how he sees you. Why? Because God transcends time. He doesn't look down the timeline. He transcends time.
Everything there is to know, he sees it all right here, right now, perfectly, completely, absolutely. And he sees you. Exactly in the way that he designed you to be. in the state that you will be forever. That's awesome.
Amen. Do you know that? Do you trust that? Where you will be, God is already there. That hard path, all the things that are hard on the path, that road in front of you, God's already there.
God's already so. What does that mean? Walk with him. I can't stress this enough, folks. whatever the hard path is that you're on right now.
Priority number one. Walk with God. Walk with God. And when I say walk with God, I'm not talking about all the stuff you do for Him. I've said it before, right?
This is a rich ism. This is what some of you call it. Being busy for God is not what? The same as walking with God. That difficult path that's in front of you.
Walk with him. Because there he is. It's hard to walk with somebody if you don't trust them, isn't it? It's hard to walk with somebody if you don't think they care about you. Isn't it?
Where you will be, God is already there, so walk with Him. Third point, remember his promises. and what he has done. Again, Romans 8, Ephesians 1 to 3, John 14 to 16, just to name a few. Know those passages, be familiar with them.
Graduate from, I will never leave you or forsake you. That's kindergarten. I'm sorry if that's hard for you to hear that. Graduate from that. Know the scriptures.
You cannot stand on the promises if you don't know what they are. Remember his promises and what he has done. Meaning you need to preach the gospel to yourself. All the time. And then, as you realize where you'll be, God is already there, and you walk with Him and you remember His promises and what He's done.
Lastly, Follow. inobedient loving Trust. Follow in obedient, loving trust. This is what Israel was called to do, and this is what they failed to do, and this is why they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Folks, listen to me.
We should learn from this. We should learn from this. And it's not because There's just they were just awful people They're just like us. They're just like us.
So let's remember. God is good. The subtitle of this series in Deuteronomy is It is Because the Lord Loves You. It is because the Lord loves you.
So let's make sure that we are indeed walking with him, trusting him. We know his promises and we're trusting them. We're not busy making all of our promises to him. We're trusting his promises and walking with him in loving, obedient trust. Trust.
Got through it. That's chapter one. 33 more to go. Ha ha ha. May God work on our hearts this morning by His Holy Spirit.
And remember that he is good. And he loves us. Would you stand with me, please? Father, there is so much to learn from the Old Testament narrative. The account of history We learn about who you are.
We learn about what you have done. But also it's uh It's an MRI machine for our affections and our attitudes, Father. What are we thinking? What are we desiring? What are we pursuing?
Father, thank you for opening your word to us this morning, and I pray that by your Spirit you would open the eyes of our understanding. And cause us to realize, Father, how Even though this was written so long ago, these events happened so long ago, Father. It's. It's like it's for us today. We can so relate to this.
Find us, Father, preaching the gospel to ourselves. constantly every day. Remembering your promises to us, your goodness, your grace that you have lavished upon us, Father. Rescue us, Lord, from being preoccupied with the obstacles in front of us, Lord. Do not let them define us.
But find us, Father, trusting you and walking with you in loving, obedient trust. We will thank you, Lord, for what you have done and for what you will do. In Jesus' name. Amen. 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 delightangrace dot com. to discover how to live by grace Tune in with us on weekdays at ten AM.
