Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God's provision is a gift. He delights in richly giving to his people.
But there is a danger that comes with abundance. How we can let ease draw us into drifting from our Lord our ultimate source of wholeness and help. Deuteronomy eight holds warnings for Israel as they prepare to enter the rich abundance of the promised land. God calls them to remember. to hold fast to what they have known to be true of him.
And to follow all that He has commanded them. This is part three of a message originally preached on June 16, 2024. What is What does it mean that Joshua lived by faith? I live, listen, here it is, I live by taking God at his word. I entrust myself to what God has said.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
So, what is this live he's talking about? Very interesting. Simply put, let me put it this way: God designed us to flourish as humans. Because we're created in his image.
So living is human flourishing. And the laws that he gives us, the word that he gives us, all of them are loving protections and patterns for life. Because God is loving. He is good. He is holy.
Let me give you an example. Told this with my kids, I've said this before, you know, but you know, when your kids are growing up, they need direction, they need counsel, they need understanding, they need the principles of God. Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
So I'm talking with my boys, and I said, listen, girls, you're. you can have a relationship with the girl. You need to respect her. Because it eventually You know, you're going to marry this girl, all right?
So before you marry her, and as you're entering into a relationship with her. you need to respect her. And listen, there are boundaries there. There are boundaries. The world today does not teach those boundaries, but God has established those boundaries.
Okay. I says, you're going to be tempted by sexual pleasure.
So in our in our old house that we used to have, we had a fireplace.
So let's say I tell my son, go in the living room and build a fire. Where does he go? He goes to the fireplace, but what if he went right into the middle of the living room, stacked up some wood, and lit it with a match? What's he going to do? Yeah.
He will burn the house down. You see, a fireplace is a beautiful and wonderful thing if it stays within its boundaries. Otherwise. It's destructive. Listen to me, folks.
That's what the law of God is. God has loving parameters for us. Why? Because He is loving and good. God's design works.
God's design is for human flourishing. That's what we need to remember. The Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2.6. Life in the Old Testament, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
What is this life he's talking about? He's not talking about merely existence. Surviving. Making it from one day to the next. What does he mean when he says life?
Life in the Old Testament is this: it is the ability to exercise all one's vital power to the fullest. To thrive. To flourish. This is why we use the. You know, success is a word that's thrown around for so many people today.
I used it yesterday in Ernie's celebration of life there. Functioning life success is functioning according to design. Why were you designed? What is the purpose of you? What is the point of you?
Some of you thinking about a movie right now, aren't you? What is the point of view? You were designed to know God and enjoy him. to delight in him. That's why you.
You do that, you're successful. Psalm one. We know Psalm 1 very well: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the godly, stands in the court of sinners, sits. sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is where?
In the law of the Lord, and in his law he does what? Meditates how often? And he shall be. like a tree planted by the rivers of water, I have planted a weeping willow tree in my backyard. I have to water that thing a lot because it wants water.
It is thirsty. But listen, I can almost watch that thing grow. And it's a delight. and that tree is flourishing. But so it is for you and me.
When we are drinking in The delights of God's Word, it is our nourishment. It is for our growth, it is for our flourishing. That's why God's made it known to us. What does the word of God do for us? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Psalm 19, verses 7 through 11. God's word restores the soul. Does your soul need restoration today? God's Word gives wisdom. Wisdom is living life well.
God's Word gives that. It comes from His Word. God's Word rejoices the heart. God's Word enlightens the eyes. God's Word grants us confidence because His Word is enduring.
God's word is true. true and righteous. In other words, God's word gets us in touch with what is real and what is good. God's Word does that. It meets our deepest desires.
And in keeping them there is great reward.
Some 1 and 19 give us a very clear understanding of the power, the relevance, the necessity of God's word in our lives. Look at the New Testament, Romans chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. It's up on the screen. For those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, there it is, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury, there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jews first and also the Greeks. You see, God has a design and He's revealed it to us, and that's His word, that's His law for us.
James 1 verse 25, we know this well, don't we? The one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and perseveres. Being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed. in his doing. In the New Testament.
The Word of God is the perfect law of liberty. I look in there and I discover who God is. I discover who I am in Christ. And I keep that and I go through my day remembering that I am redeemed, I am forgiven, I am loved, I am accepted, all of these things. And if I forget those things, if I forget that I am redeemed.
I will act as the unregenerate. And if I forget that I am loved, I will pursue love in all the wrong places. If I forget that I am accepted, I will be looking for acceptance from other people by the way I act. You see, It is to our detriment to forget what God has revealed to us. It is for our blessing.
to remember what he has revealed to us. John 14. Verses 21 and 23: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. Get this. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
I love this, verse 23. And if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him. And as Richard says, watch this. and he will come to me. And we will come to him and make our home.
home with him. Absorb that for a moment, will you? What is the word of God to you? Man does not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds.
From the mouth of God. God's Word. is Vital. to your human flourishing. And so that's why I say following the path of God leads to life.
So don't let that become cliché for you. Because it's true. Here's the second point. Walking with God rescues you from self-destructive pride. This is the second point of chapter 8, and it begins at verse 11.
Look at verse 11 with me. Take care. Lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes. which I command you to day. Lest When you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, in other words, when you're prospering materially.
Verse 14: Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You forget who you are. You forget. that God is the one who has delivered you. Walking with God rescues you from self-destructive pride.
We forget by not walking in His way. Adam and Eve forgot. They crossed over his loving boundaries. And here's how that works, okay? Let's just give this illustration with these.
This this Let's call this degeneration here, okay? First of all, we become disengaged from God.
Okay, we're not pursuing him, we're not walking with him. We've become disengaged from God. We're going through the day. I can get along just fine. And I start neglecting God's Word.
I'm not communing with him in prayer. I'm not thinking about him through the course of the day because there's just so much other stuff that needs to occupy my mind. When you get disengaged, then you're going to get distracted. You're going to become distracted with something that is. more pleasing or brings more pleasure, at least you think it does.
Or something that's going to bring you a greater sense of security. or something that's shiny and new. And when you get distracted, that's when you start to drift. You never drift in a positive direction. You do not drift in a positive direction.
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.
