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, for your people whom you have redeemed.
You're listening to part four of a message first preached on September 15th, 2024. It's from a series on Deuteronomy titled, It is Because the Lord Loves You. to hear the whole message or others from the series. You can visit www.delightingrace.com so that I could have his righteousness. Number five.
Number five, God's people are a community. represent a community of mutual trust and care. This is the church. If we look into the New Testaments, this would be the church. God's people Are a community of mutual trust and care.
It is a community of grace. What does a community of grace look like? As I said before, it is one's involvement in a brother's plight.
Something's not going right. in your brother's life or your sister's life, something's not going right. A community of grace. looks at that brother or sister and says, How can I help?
Now, this is in stark contrast. to what the world does. What does the world do? The world We'll see the plate. What's not going right in a brother or sister's life And they will label that person They will disdain them and label them and then act towards them according to that label.
That's natural human behavior. That's not what happens in a community of grace. Yeah. I have a challenge for you this morning. I want you to envision one person you don't like.
I'm not joking. One person that when you think of this person You tense up or you reel back. How have you labeled that person, and how do you act towards them? And now I want you to remember. how Christ has treated You.
Because when you were still his enemy. He died for you. There is no place. for labeling and disdain and mistreatment in the family of God. We all have a propensity to do that.
But I want you to ask yourself this question: that person whose face you might have in mind. Ask yourself this question: How can I show grace? to this person. How can I invest myself in their? Plight.
How can I help them? How can I help them be? What God desires and designed them to be, instead of just simply disdaining them and labeling them. and treating them accordingly. Let's be a community of grace.
We want to be a beautiful church. We are a beautiful church. But we're not perfect. If we're going to be a beautiful church, let's make sure that we are a community of grace. Colossians Three verses twelve and thirteen.
Put on then. as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts. Kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. Why?
Because that's what Christians do. No. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Remember what I said before: every precept in Scripture that we follow, every precept is anchored in. The person.
The character of God. Every command is anchored in the character of God. Number six. Christ's compassion. We see Christ's compassion in this: that he came to seek and to save.
The lost. Remember the illustration of the sheep. The shepherd. There's 100 sheep. There's one missing.
He leaves the 99 and he goes and seeks out the one. Look at me. You are the one. Number seven. Christ is our robe of righteousness.
The tassels on the robe remind us of God's presence and his precepts. But this is the doctrine of imputation. And we must never forget and allow yourselves in your lives to remember the doctrine of imputation, that the righteousness of Christ has been credited to you. And you are justified before God, not because of how good you are, but because Christ's righteousness has been accounted to you life, to your life. That's imputation.
Remember that. proactively pursue remembering that Truth. It will rescue you. from all kinds of guilt and shame and trying harder to be better. to try to appease God.
Second Corinthians five twenty one He became sin for us who knew no sin. Why, that we might be made what? the righteousness of God in him. It's profound. This is prophesied in Isaiah 61:10.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for my soul shall exult in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me With the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest, with a beautiful head dress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Do you see the picture of marriage in there?
Christ is our righteousness. Number eight. We are the bride of Christ. We are the bride of Christ. Think about this now, even with the filth of our promiscuous sin.
We are the bride of Christ. Christ redeemed us. To himself. He didn't just redeem us to set us free to do whatever we want, he redeemed us. to himself.
Therein we find our greatest freedom. Ephesians 5. Verses 25 and 27. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor.
without spot or wrinkle. or any such thing that she might be holy. and without blemish. We are the bride of Christ. Let's be.
That's B. The beautiful Bride of Christ. Thanks be to God for his word, the foreshadowing. Through the law of Moses. to the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Father, we can but stand in awe of you. As the Apostle points out so clearly, in Romans chapter 11 that Your way of doing things is It was beyond our comprehension.
Something like this could never be made up. by mankind. Because we're far too selfish. But thank you, Father, for your grace that you have lavished upon us. and your steadfast love that is so deep and wide.
Thank you, Father, for The pictures in the Old Testament. That point us to the cross of Christ and the grace. that you have lavished on us. Father, I pray for anyone in this room this morning that does not know you. Father, may your spirit be tugging at their hearts.
They would recognize their need for you to surrender themselves in faith to you. trusting you for your righteousness. not make an attempt to redeem themselves. If you are here this morning. And this describes you.
I want you to know you are free. Please come talk to me afterwards, or Pastor Adam. or twite. Speak to us. We want to introduce you to the one who made you and loves you.
It died for you.
so that he can give you his righteousness.
so that you can stand before Holy God. with adoration. and confidence. Father, do a work in our hearts and our minds this morning. Find us to be.
The beautiful church, the community of grace. that reflect your character. in all that we desire, in all that we think. in all that we do. We pray these in Jesus' name.
Amen. 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.
