Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Deuteronomy 21 through 22, God establishes laws for the people of Israel. Laws for handling murder?
laws about marriage and family. Safety and stewardship. and laws about following God single heartedly. Pastor Rich unpacks each of these laws within their historical and biblical context. showing the heart behind them.
These are national laws for Israel, but could it be that they also point toward the gospel? Pastor Rich shows eight ways these laws pave the way for Jesus in this message titled, Accept Atonement, O Lord. your people whom you have redeemed. This is part two of a message first preached on September 15th, 2024. And I might add the woman is, in fact, the most beautiful part of God's creation.
And We are not to mess that up. And she is to be honored and cherished and protected. And these gender distinctions are crucial. They cannot be blurred. Let's be very, very clear on that.
The next section is chapter 22, verses 6 and 7, and it's the principle of creation stewardship. Creation stewardship. You come across an eggs. You come across a nest and there's a motherbird. There could be eggs.
There could be baby birds. You can take the eggs or the baby birds. Leave the mom. That stewardship. For future generations of birds.
At stewardship is all it is.
Okay. Uh leave the mother. for nature conservation. Chapter 22, verse 8, safety guardrails. I kind of chuckled at this.
I'm like, you know, it's kind of common sense, but I guess sometimes they need to be laws, right? You know, people have houses, and the roofs on those houses are flat, and they spend a lot of time on their roofs. You know, they have parties.
Sometimes people sleep on their roofs. And this section says you need to have guardrails up there. Safety concern for others. Loving boundaries. It's loving your neighbor as yourself, right?
So safety guardrails. And then we come, the next section is chapter 22, verses 9 through 11. And this is this is frankly, it's I mean the laws are clear, right? But Why they are laws is not exactly clear. We have to be honest about that.
Nobody really knows why these are part of the Mosaic law. There is some conjecture as to why, but we don't know for sure. It did. The principle is being set apart, okay, being set apart. Do not mix crops, animals, or materials.
specifically listed in these laws, chapter 22 verses 9 through 11. The historical justification for this is unknown, in all honesty. It's possible that these laws were given for the purposes of distinction from pagan neighbors. It might be through their practices or they might have religious implications to them. But That's the best we can do with those laws at this point.
All right, the next one is chapter 22, verse 12. Just one verse, chapter 22, verse 12. And it is this. Pursue righteousness. The underlying principle is to pursue righteousness.
The law itself says, you shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment. with which you cover yourself.
Now you might encounter a Jewish person who is a practicing Jew. Or a Messianic Jew, something like that, and they will have a garment, a shawl, or something like that, and it will have four tassels on it. Tassels. On your garments.
Now, these are garments. It's not just something you wear, it's something that you wear during the day, it's also something that covers you at night to keep you warm. With which you cover yourself, it says. The whole point of these tassels, and there's other parts of scripture that give us clarity on this. The whole point of these tassels is to remember God's presence.
and his precepts. To remember God's presence and His precepts. For example, let me read to you Numbers chapter 15. Verses thirty-nine to forty. And it shall be A tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them.
Did you get that? That's what the talent. They move, right? And the movement reminds you that you belong to God. The commandments of the Lord to do them.
Listen to this. Listen to this carefully, because now these next words that I'm going to read are diametrically opposed to everything you hear in our culture today. You ready for this? Do not follow after your own heart and your eyes. Every TV show you watch, without exception.
But you just need to follow your heart. Your heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked. You just need to follow your heart.
Now they don't say that, do they, right? Do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which are inclined. Too whore. which you are inclined to whore after. Tough language, isn't it?
You know what he's doing in Numbers chapter 15? This is a raw exposure. of the human heart. Which is why we're not called to simply follow after our own hearts. What are we called to do?
So you shall remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God. In other words, what he's saying is this: your heart, your affections, and your attitudes must be informed. By God's self-disclosure. Because if you're following your own heart, and your attitudes and your affections are not informed and transformed by God's self-disclosure, you will lead yourself to your own self-destruction. It's pretty strong, isn't it?
This is why the gospel is so necessary for us.
So, pursue righteousness, all that just in one verse, you know, from tassels on your garment, right? All right, here's the next one, here's the last one. Chapter 22. Verses 13 to 30, along our section, and the underlying principle of this law is the sanctity of the marriage union. The sanctity of the marriage union.
Family lineage was important, is important. in God's economy. as was the sanctity, that is the set-apartness. It's not Kai, it's set apart. It is a special thing.
the sanctity of the marriage union and all that's involved in that. Because the marriage union is a picture of God's relationship with his people. It is how God has designed humanity. humans and the human community to flourish. Again, going back to human flourishing through the interaction of male and female.
God has designed it this way.
So, four occasions, four instances that he gives here by example in this law. And again, it's a protection, mostly a protection for women.
So, a man has a new wife, and he accuses her of promiscuity before their marriage. A man takes a wife and he accuses her of promiscuity before their marriage. That was a cause for divorce. He had the right to divorce her in that case if he could somehow prove that she was unfaithful to him before they came together in their marriage. Fast forward to the New Testament, and you've got Mary and Joseph, right?
And Mary became pregnant. By the power of the Holy Spirit.
Okay, and Joseph. Being did not want to make a public example of her, but wanted to put her away privately, Joseph was getting ready to divorce Mary. until he received more revelation from God.
Okay, it's based on this law right here, okay?
Now, if the new wife, there are measures to guard against this behavior of promiscuity before marriage, right, she would be held responsible for that. But then there's also the case where there could be false accusation or some form of defamation. Against this woman who is falsely accused. Then there would be the man would have to be responsible for that as well. He has to take if if he has falsely accused her, he must take her and keep her as his wife.
He cannot divorce her. Another instance is that instance of adultery, just plain and simple. Adultery. is an affront to the character and purpose of God. Yeah.
And then in the following verses, it's the occasions of rape. where it says he the man seizes her. The man will be held accountable. These are occasions of uncontrolled passion. And then it comes to an ins an incident of The possibility of incest, where it says a man has his stepmother.
Um We find that also in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1, and it's being somehow they're sweep the church of Corinth is sweeping it under the rug under the guise of grace. Not okay, not okay. In other words, what he's saying here in the sanctity of the marriage union Anything like that outside of God's loving boundaries, the loving boundaries of God's good and gracious design. God has, remember those guardrails on top of the roof? God has guardrails, and they're there for a loving reason and purpose.
For our human flourishing in anything outside of God's loving boundaries is nothing less than abuse. That's what we need to remember. Christians take heed. And, as the law of Moses makes it very clear, it is an evil to purge. An evil to purge.
As goes the family, so goes society. It's very, very true. And we live in one that is fast-headed towards a society falling apart because there's no value for the family. We need to be champions and protectors of the family. and the marriage union.
the sanctity of it.
Now, in conclusion today, I want to look at eight images of the gospel in this.
Something Things from these laws that point us to the cross. or by contrast champion the grace of God. Let me talk about the first one here. In verse 8, we read verse 8 before. It says, Please accept atonement for your people, O Lord.
What did Jesus say on the cross? Three words in English, one word in... Greek. Tetalestae, it is finished. You know what Jesus was saying in that?
He was saying Please accept atonement for your people. 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.
