Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The famous pastor John Wesley once asked his mother how she would define sin. Her response was powerful.
Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things. Whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself. Wow. We must be ruthless with the things that draw our hearts away from God. loving him is our highest function.
Let's listen to this message from Deuteronomy thirteen titled Purge the evil from your midst. This is part two of a message first preached on July 21st, 2024 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Did not Jesus say many of you will come to me in that day and say, Lord, didn't we do all these things in your name? And he will say, What? Go away from me, I never knew you.
Listen, are you listening? Please, please listen carefully. Just because someone or some entity claims to be Christian. Doesn't mean it is. They could be very much luring you away from God.
serving their own purposes and agendas. An example of this is, you know, I've been down to Haiti, had some extended stays down there. It's a good vacation spot. But down there, did you know the national religion of Haiti was voodoo? Up until 2006, you know, you Punch the doll and somebody gets a pain, right?
Something like that. And there are many there who still believe that voodoo is, and even Christians.
Some of them struggle with it, right? They're afraid of the witch doctors. The Voodoo Priests. Because they are afraid the voodoo priest will claim to cast a spell on someone. And if you counter them, if you go against what they've said you ought to do, and you go.
they're gonna cast a spell on you. And you know what happens sometimes?
Sometimes it comes true. A voodoo priest will say, Because you did that, you're going to have a pain in your stomach the next three days. And you know what?
Sometimes somebody ends up having a pain in their stomach. It's true. It's real. We need to make sure we do what he says. And so the people live in fear of these.
Udo priests. And we go down there and we shed the light of the Word of God on that, and we say, listen, it's not real. It's not true. And there is an adversary who loves to exact counterfeits on people. It is the Word of God that has authority over our lives, and we are to be filled with the Spirit because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.
So, a lot can be done in the name of spirituality. Two main points I want to point out here. From this portion that God decided, first of all, God does not contradict himself. What did he say? The Lord is one.
The Lord is one. You shall worship the Lord your God with all your heart, soul. In all your might. The Lord is one. So for God to say, I am one, have no other gods before me, and then someone else claiming to speak for God says, let's go after these other gods, God does not contradict himself.
There is only one living creator. All others are created by man. 1 John chapter 4 in verse 1, the Apostle John tells us to test the spirits. Test the spirits. Even if, listen, even if a teacher is dynamic.
Persuasive. Attractive, of course.
Okay. With claims of attesting signs. What did Paul say? Galatians chapter 1 verse 8, look at this. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Here's what he's saying. I could say the same thing. If I stand behind this pulpit, And I start teaching things that will lead you away from what God says in His Word. and say, folks, I think we need to start doing this. What do you need to do?
Press the eject button. Not really, there's really not one here, but you know, assuming there would be, you'd need to get rid of me. I don't have authority. The Word of God has authority. And anytime someone may come, even in the name of Christianity or religion or faith, whatever, and they are drawing you away from God.
That evil needs to be purged. Get it out of your life. This is pretty serious business, what he says here.
So, God does not contradict himself. Secondly, he shares his glory with no one. He is unique. He is uniquely worthy of our devotion, and there is none like him. Him.
He shares his glory with no one.
So I leave this part with you with this question. All three parts here, all three points, I want to have a personal assessment question for you. Here's the question I want you to ask yourself: Do I anchor my discernment? in what I want to hear. or what God has made known.
Because that's what That's what those that lure you away from God, you know what they do? They feed on your Passions and desires. That's what tickling ears is all about. Right? They want you to feel like you need what they are offering.
Is my, do I anchor my discernment in what I want to hear or what God has made known? You need to ask yourself that constantly. Because God has spoken. And we need to anchor our attitudes and our affections. in that revealed truth.
Now the second part, this is a tough one. If your brother or son Or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your friend. Who, as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
Some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far from you. from one end. Of the earth to another. You shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him. Nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.
That's tough to read. Let's remember the four points I began with. This is a specific covenant with a specific people for a specific time. God was the authority over their lives. They were his people.
He had called them out, he had redeemed them. And he says, This is your charter. I am your authority, and worship of any other is insurrection against God's authority. All the time in the Bible, false worship. Mixing faith syncretism, all of that, God likens that with idolatry, He likens it with adultery.
So I'm going to use an illustration right now.
Some of you are going to find it very distasteful. But I hope it makes the point. Your wife comes home. holding the hand of another man. And she says, we got married last night.
He's now my husband too. I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay living in the same house with us.
Now some of you are feeling pretty upset right now. Listen. This is what we do with God. This is exactly the point that God's making here. A marriage is a binding covenant.
We say that when we exchange our vows to each other. Keep myself for you only. faithful. Until death separates us. It's a covenant.
And do you see how seriously, see how we need to take that seriously? But so it is with God. And he sees so much more with God. God is the very poor. point to our existence.
Why would you be flirting? with another lover. That's serious business. God takes it very seriously. There should be no tolerance for that.
And clearly, that illustration that I just gave, men, if that was you, you're like, He knows. It's either me or this guy, but... One of us has gotta go. All right. In this case.
He says, this is not a public luring. This is not public abuse. This is a person coming to you individually, intimately, and saying, hey, let's do this. Let me make a bold claim. Clear, very concise statement here.
You ready for this? Love never affirms sin. Ever. There's a lot of things we face today with family members. And there's a lot of things that are done contrary to God's word and God's principles, and it's done in the name of love.
Listen to me. Love never affirms sin. If you affirm someone's sin, You are not loving them. you are contributing to their destruction. There's, for example, a very popular author teacher, podcaster.
Conference speaker. Had a child. who decided she wanted to live an alternate lifestyle. And the pastor of their church studied the scriptures deeply. He knew this was a struggle for some people in his congregation, and he knew where the trends of culture, and he studied, and he said before the church, he communicated his commitment to teaching biblical sexuality and marriage.
And listening to that sermon, this 15-year-old daughter was, watch this. hurt by that. And then the mother decides, well, I can't let my daughter be her. hurt. By other Christians.
You see what's going on there? And now she affirms this alternate lifestyle and says, I think God can bless these kinds of relationships. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission Is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good.
and your deepest satisfaction in Him. the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
