Welcome to Delight in Grace. The teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God calls you to take care and keep your soul diligently. Why? Because we humans were made to worship, We were made to worship the Lord God who created the universe.
and holds all of life together. Why? because we so easily replace the Lord God For created things. You're listening to part three of the message, which was first preached on May 5th, 2024. If work is what you worship.
Then You relate to your family, you relate to your church. Everything about your life is relative to. how much work means to you. Your schedule. is devoted to work.
Work is not a bad thing, obviously. But it is not your God. The same could be said of money. The same could be said of any particular relationship. Oh, if this if this person just loved me.
And that becomes the reference point for everything else in your life. You center your schedule around this person. You center your work around this person. Your money, your fight. A sense of happiness could be your God.
You see, where is this going? They cannot be your God. Because they are not the living God. And this is why Paul said to Paul, Phew. Moses.
says Keep your soul. diligently. There are two cautions in this chapter. They're related to the title of it. Two cautions, which we could call two warnings, that he gives them.
Look with me at verse Nine. Let me find it here first. Only take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen. and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, make them known to your children and your children's children. The warning here is against distractions.
Because in the verses that follow, it references an occasion that was recorded in Numbers chapter 25. The men of Israel were distracted by Moabite women. And then the menu. adopted their behaviors of immorality. Through Baal worship.
Bale was a fertility god. And God's judgment came upon them, and 24,000 men died. in one day. Because God knew it was necessary to purge the immorality from the camp. Take care and keep your soul.
diligently. All of us, particularly. As people of a Western culture. a very prosperous Western culture. Do we have pleasures that marginalize or replace God.
Pleasure is not a bad thing. God designed it. But he did not intend it to be. You're a god. And your flesh.
will demand that pleasure become your God. Loved ones, that is what plagues this country today. Let's not participate. Pleasure is a good thing. It is a good thing.
within God's loving boundaries. But it is not a god. If you say, I need. This what is this? I need this.
Mm-hmm. Let me step on some toes this morning. I need chocolate. Just kidding. But how many of you have said that?
I'm not looking for hands. Do you need do you is there a pleasure that you Need.
Okay. Think about that. Or one could say and many do. I'm having fun who cares about God. It reminds me of an old country song.
And the words are And I quote. How can it be wrong when it feels so right? And some of you right now are thinking, Rich, don't you mess with my music?
Okay, then let's let God mess with it. That's an idol. And that is exactly the idol of our culture today. If it feels right, it is right. Keep your soul with all diligence.
That was the first warning. The second warning is a warning of syncretism. Look down at verse 15. Therefore, Watch yourselves very carefully. That Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb, out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly, by making a carved image for yourself, in the form of any figure in the likeness of male or female.
This is the warning against syncretism. Watch yourselves very carefully. We are prone to this. Syncretism is this: it is blending. Pagan practices.
Lies. with the worship of Jehovah God. It's happening today. rampantly. He says in verse 2, if you look back at verse 2, he says, You shall not add to the word.
that I have given you.
So, the pagan gods of that time, they were celestial gods, they were primary in most ancient religions. because they controlled the calendar. They controlled the times, they controlled the seasons. They controlled the weather. They were viewed as the most powerful gods.
They gave signs, and those signs were omens for what was going to happen. They looked down on everyone. That's why they worshipped celestial gods. Products of creation. There is a pagan idolatry today.
that we are facing readily. It is the religion of defining The self. You. define yourself. You didn't make yourself You had nothing to do with your origin.
And you can't even keep yourself alive, but you define yourself. Do you see how irrational that is? And that is played out today. very prominently in matters of sexuality, Gender, gender fluidity. and redefining marriage.
between a man and a woman. And erasing the difference between a man and a woman. And many today are blending Christianity through affirmation and blessing. There is a whole major denomination. that has now full on A couple of them in fact.
have full on blessed. same-sex unions. This is syncretism. And we are warned against it. Watch yourselves very carefully.
Because to do this is to worship God and defy his design. Can't do that. And easy. Organizations and people that do this are on the path. of judgment.
and self-destruction.
So let us heed the warning of the Word of God this morning against distraction. And against syncretism, where he says, take care and keep your soul diligently. That's the warning against distractions. And then, secondly, watch yourselves very carefully. That's the warning against syncretism.
So, as he is introducing, he's given the preamble. This is all the preamble to the Ten Commandments that are coming in chapter 5. I want to talk. For the remainder of this sermon. About six.
Keys to Covenant STEADFASTNESS Covenant steadfastness. Since he calls us to care and keep your to take care and keep your soul diligently, and he calls us to watch yourselves very carefully. How do we do that? I believe in this chapter he gives us six keys. to fulfilling those commands.
Number one. No. The living God know the living God. Look at verse thirty five. To you it was shown.
that you might know that the Lord is God. there is no other beside him. And look at verse 39. Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and in the earth. And on the earth beneath there is no other.
Years ago, we had an annual theme called Develop Your Theology. That just simply means get to know God better. Do you know the living God? Are you basing your walk of faith on ideas you have about him? Turn!
Or do you know him? Knowing him is not the same thing as knowing about him. Do you know him? If you do not know the living God, you are vulnerable to becoming an aimless, irrational tool. Verse three: God is just.
And righteous, verse 10. God is a communicating and an inviting God. 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.delightandgrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
