Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Our greatest freedom is found in our surrender to the benevolent sovereign. He is the one who made us, and he knows what helps us to thrive. God's laws in Deuteronomy 25 were given to Israel to promote human flourishing.
by removing the obstructions of cruelty and repression. And in Deuteronomy twenty six, God's graciousness and his generosity are demonstrated in our lives of worship. When we become aware of God's work for human flourishing, our hearts will be drawn to praise. Let's listen to this message titled, You have Declared the Lord is Your God. The text for exposition this morning is Deuteronomy 26.
Verses 16 through 19. Deuteronomy twenty-six, sixteen through nineteen Turn to your Bibles there or follow along on the screen. This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart. and with all your soul.
You have declared today that the Lord is your God. and that you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules. and will obey his voice. And the Lord has declared today. That you are a people.
for his treasured possession. as he has promised you. and that you are to keep all his commandments. and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made. and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God.
As he promised. Let's pray. Father, may the words today Pass through our ears and to our mind. and into our heart. That we may be changed.
to the image of your son. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.
So, today we're actually going to cover Deuteronomy 25 and 26. Deuteronomy 25 and 26, as we're going through the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means second law. The children of Israel had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and now Moses. Is preparing them to go into the promised land.
He is not going to go, he cannot go. God's not going to let him go. But Joshua will take them in, but he's preparing them, he's giving them the law a second time because this is a younger generation. The older generation had died off because of their lack of faith. But now they're getting ready to go in.
They say Rich, this is Grace Bible Church. Why are we studying the law? Because God has a purpose. God has purpose for his people, Israel. We see the Bible in its big picture.
And we read it this morning. In John chapter one, for the law came through. Moses, but what? Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God has called out his people.
He has set apart his people. He has a purpose for them. And the chief purpose is that through this people, Israel, Messiah would come. The Redeemer Of humanity would come through this people, Israel. Therefore, they were his chosen people, set apart.
With this purpose, protected. Under his And so we're going to look at today as we finish now this portion of Deuteronomy, where it's talking about very specific laws, some of them. to us seem pretty random. Why is that in there? Right?
If you've read Deuteronomy 25 and 26, you might have asked that question.
Now you're going to go home and read it, aren't you? The purpose of Jehovah was for his people to prosper and not perish. I've said it before. There's only one explanation for the existence of Israel even today. And that is God.
And the purpose of Jehovah was for his people Israel to prosper and not. Perish. Prosper as a family line. Remember Abraham, God's promise to Abraham: I will make of you a great nation, and in you will all nations of the earth be blessed. You see, that's God's big picture.
And so these are. the children of Abraham. And it is through this nation, specifically through Jacob, and then later specifically through Judah, that all nations of the earth. would be blessed and that Is true through Jesus, the Messiah.
Son of David, son of Judah.
Son of Abraham.
So, the Abrahamic covenant plays out here. This is why it is God's purpose for his people to prosper and not perish, because he has a plan. He has a mission, a purpose, the redemption of humanity.
Now, what he talks about in the laws of Deuteronomy chapter 25 is that there are obstructions to human thriving, and this is why he has these laws. They are for our good. God said to his people numerous times: My laws are for your good. It is because I love you. This is why he's given these.
But the obstructions to human thriving are two. Two of them he talks about in this chapter. Number one, cruelty, number two, repression. cruelty and repression. And he's going to talk about five ways that cruelty and repression can be an obstruction to the thriving of the human community and particularly to the flourishing of God's people.
So, as we go through this this morning, chapters 25 and 26, we're going to be continually seeing the theme, the motif of. The family continuing, the family expanding, the family growing through history, family. Want to see that theme. continually.
So he has a law against cruelty and justice and repression in the form of justice. Chapter 25, verses 1 to 3. And it's because remember the image of God. Remember the image of God. When a criminal A wrongdoer needs to be punished.
That punishment needs to be carried out. But, he says, be careful that you do not dehumanize them with vindictive cruelty.
Now we've seen a lot of that probably in history, haven't we? if you know anything of history. Those who are opponents or those who are wrongdoers. They are met with vindictive cruelty, and God says that has no part in the people of God. Number two, chapter twenty-five, verse four.
in labor. Very, very short verse: You shall not muzzle the ox when it's treading out the grain. We've talked about this already, and this is quoted twice in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul. No cruelty or repression, even in labor. In other words, he's calling for his people to have a disposition of care, even in the context of work.
Even with animals that labor. A wise man regards the life of his beast. And the application here is carried even to human laborers, which is what happens in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 9, 9 and 1 Timothy 5, 8. Five eighteen.
You shall not muzzle the ox while it's trading out the corn. In other words, there's no place for cruelty towards those who are working hard. It's a form of repression. Number three, progeny, verses five to ten. And this is the law that's protecting and providing for a widow without children.
A widow without children. Verse 6, he says, So that if this widow does not have children, then the deceased husband. It's so that his name is not blotted out.
Now that's a theme that we're going to see again here.
so that his name is not blotted out. of Israel. This is the law of leveret marriage. who seemed strange and foreign to us. Mm-hmm.
But the whole point of it is to keep this man's name from being blotted out of Israel. See again the motif of continuing a family name. And in God's view, in God's eyes, the most important thing is the continuation of his family name. And so, in this law of leveret marriage, if a woman's husband dies and the brother is not willing to raise up children in his brother's name, which is by the way what happens in the book of Ruth. then the law allows for the for the for the woman to shame the cruelty of the brother not willing to raise up children in his dead brother's name.
And this man will have to live with this shame for the rest of his life because he has now earned a title. She takes him before the elders and says, this man is not willing to raise up children in his brother's name. And so what does she get to do? She gets to take off his sandal and spit in his face. And for the rest of his days, he is known as the one whose sandal was taken off.
Now that seems strange to us.
Okay. But this is protecting a woman, a widow, from Not having children. Interesting reputation. Hey, he's the one that had his sandal pulled off. It was just.
I find that interesting. Number four, in conflict. Verses 11 and 12, in defense of her husband, a woman could cruelly injure his opponent in a manner that would hinder him from having children. It requires a punishment, and that punishment was meant as a deterrent. And then number five, in commerce, verses thirteen through sixteen.
In Commerce verses 13 to 16, you shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights.
Now, you remember, lady, it. Justice, where there's weights, the lady's blind, and there's weights, it's weighing, you know, evidence. And when it comes to commerce, if you're going to buy something, you, and I remember seeing this often when I was growing up in South America, they would have these old-fashioned weights, you know, and you have. A weight that is a set amount, that is a standard amount of the standard weight in one side, and then you fill the other side with product until it's evenly balanced out. And then you know that it weighs exactly that.
So a person, a dishonest. Merchant might have One block that is the standard weight, and he might have another block that is equally large, but it's less dense and it weighs less. It makes the people think that they're getting more than they actually are. That's dishonest. You know what that is?
That's a form of repression. It's dishonest. And so The Bible says here, all who act dishonestly are an abomination to God.
So defrauding a customer. is an abomination to God. 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.
