Welcome to Delight in Grace. the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You're probably familiar with the Ten Commandments found in Deuteronomy 5. You can learn a lot about God. by looking at what God commands.
Today, Pastor Ridge looks at how God's commandments reveal much about God's character. Let's listen in. Verses one through twenty-one. And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules. that I speak in your hearing today.
and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb, Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant. But with us. who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire.
while I stood between the Lord and you at that time. to declare to you the word of the Lord. for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God. who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image Or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath. or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. of those who hate me. but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless.
Who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath to the LORD your God.
On it you shall not do any work. you or your son or your daughter or you're a male servant. or your female servant. Or your ox, or or your donkey. or any of your livestock.
or the sojourner who is within your gates. that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. And the Lord your God brought you out from there. with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother. as the LORD your God commanded you. that your days may be long. and that it may go well with you.
in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. And you shall not commit adultery. And you shall not steal. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. and you shall not desire your neighbor's house. His field or his male servant, or his female servant. His ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. Let us bow our heads for prayer.
Heavenly Father. These are powerful words and it's an overwhelming thing. For me to be standing up here Reading these commandments That Moses spoke to the children of Israel over three thousand years ago. on the plains of Moab. Before they were to cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the promised land.
Not only are these words powerful, Father. but they are a great gift to us. And it impresses me. How many times in this discourse that Moses said to learn these words and to be careful to obey them. And then in the next chapter, he said the same thing, and he said, be diligent to obey them.
and be diligent to teach them to your children.
So, Father, with your great gift comes great responsibility. And we cannot Obey your word and carry out this responsibility. without the help of the Holy Spirit that indwells us.
So I pray that through the Holy Spirit, Father, That you will empower us. and enable us to be diligent. And learning your word in studying your word, to be diligent. in obeying your word. And to be diligent in teaching your word to our children and to others.
Because it is only by diligence To this, Father, that we can receive the full blessing of your word. And it goes against our natural inclination. We tend to drift. And as Rich has told us, we never drift in a positive direction.
So please, Father. Enable us through the power of your Holy Spirit to remain diligent. I ask that you be with Rich now as he brings your word to us today. Give him wisdom and discernment and boldness. And we ask all of these things in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. Thank you, Vic. Good morning, church. I do want to extend my gratitude to all you mothers. Happy Mother's Day to you.
Women, you are the most beautiful part of God's creation. and you who have children, have borne children. I believe every mother has just a touch of Wonder Woman in her. You have superpowers. They're unknown to us men.
birthing babies and nurturing them. You deserve special treatment today. I believe truly, if having babies were up to us men. this world would have a serious underpopulation problem. We'd find a way to fix it.
or something. But um You do treat mothers special today. After worship this morning, I'm going to stop by a store and buy a chicken. cheesecake. for the mother of my children.
It's about all she can eat right now.
So truly amazed at my wife. the mother of my children. And she's a particularly good grandmother. She's a baby whisperer is what she is. Every baby loves that woman.
And I am amazed in her presence at what she has done and can do.
So all right, we're in Deuteronomy 5. Deuteronomy 5, God made a covenant. This is the second section 2. This is section 2 of our exposition through Deuteronomy. And this section is entitled A Call to Faithfulness.
So in chapter five. God made a covenant with us.
Now, this is where Moses. goes over once again the Ten Commandments. That's a summation of the Mosaic law and the covenant that God made with his people. And so, this covenant that he made. That he made with the people of Israel.
He makes a covenant with the living. It's interesting what he says in here. He didn't, he says, This covenant is not with your fathers. They're off the scene now. This covenant is with you.
It's a covenant with the living. In other words, this isn't just something for past generations. God is a transcendent God, and so the covenant that He made is also for these people He's talking to. And He's talking to them how? He's talking to them face to face.
It's what he says in the text. Face to face. What does that mean?
Well, no one can actually be face to face with God. First of all, he doesn't have a face, right? He's not a physical being. But also he's Holy. You can't be face to face with God in that sense that you would be consumed.
Right? But when it says that he's speaking face to face, it means that they are in the presence of God. God speaks of his nearness, the nearness of God. Yes, he is infinite, he is holy, he is transcendent. But he comes near.
He comes near. And in that nearness, then we see God for who He is as He's made Himself known. And let me repeat this again, say it over and over again. We must know God in the way that He has made Himself known. Otherwise, you worship the God of your imagination, and that is idolatry.
And the God of your imagination will only be a super you.
Okay, you don't want to worship that God. Because that God is limited. We must know God in the way He's made himself known.
So God says, You be holy because why? I am holy. You be holy because I am holy.
So he says here in the text also to learn and be careful to do, learn and be careful to do them.
Next. Sunday, we will recite it at the beginning of the service. We're going to go through the Shema, and we will recite that at the beginning of the service, verses chapter 6, verses 4 through 9.
So I encourage you to commit that to memory. It's a very, very powerful passage of scripture. And it talks about the value, God, in that, God speaks of the value that we need to recognize in His Word. Take it with us wherever we go.
So, when he says to them to learn and be careful to do these commandments, this covenant that I give you, God is saying this: This is what I expect of you, my people, because of what you know about me. It's not just a random, arbitrary set of rules. This is a reflection of the character of God. God is good. Therefore, his rules are what?
good, and they're for our good. That is a grace of God, and that is something that sets this law apart from the other laws of other nations. It sets us apart from them. Their relationship with God, the people of Israel, their relationship with God is rooted in history. And that history is one of God's intervention.
for their benefit. And so the people are called to never forget what God has done, because God is like What God has done.
So remember that constantly. And then he says. I am the Lord your God. I'm the God who brought you out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Remember the mighty things that I have done. Here are the things that I'm expecting of you because of what you know about me.
So we must remember that every precept from God is anchored in His character. And as we studied last time, you become like. What you what? Worship. 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.delightingrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
