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. This is part two of a message first preached on October 6th, 2024.
if you make them think they're getting more than they are. and you're doing so dishonestly. It's an abomination to God. Let's stop you here and think a minute. Does my work matter to God?
Yes, it does. Your work is a form of worship. Think about that. That's how you worship God. Are you a worshiper of God?
That is not a question that has anything to do with what we do in these four walls. Are you a worshipper of God is a question that asks Are you following God with your life? Do you practice the presence and the preeminence of God? Not only in this room, but at home. And in the marketplace.
At your work. at your leisure. All of that matters to God. Luke chapter 6, the opposite of this we find in Luke chapter 6, where he says the version of Luke 6:38, I love this verse, given it will be given to you, good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
That, by the way, is the same principle as Matthew 7:1: judge not that you be not judged.
Okay.
So it speaks of the generosity of God. and the integrity of Our commerce and Um Corrections and all of that.
So now, what he does here, after going through these five laws, at the end of chapter 25. He gives the example. Because he wants his people to prosper. He doesn't want his people to perish. And in God's economy, God is a good God, and because he is good, he opposes evil.
Keep that in mind. And he's going to give an example here of a cruel and repressive nation that was blotted out. There's that term blotted out, okay? The law of Leverett married, Leveret married, so that a man who has died without children, his name will not be blotted out of Israel. God loves the continuation of a family name.
And now this cruel and repressive nation will be blotted out because of God's justice and his goodness. And this nation is the Amalekites.
Now the Amalekites were a nomadic Marauding desert tribe. actually descendants of Esau. And they were cruel to Israel. Even so, those that were lagging behind, that were tired and thirsty, and this marauding tribe would attack them. with great cruelty.
And we see this in Exodus chapter 27. You may remember the story. Where Joshua goes to war against the Amalekites, and Moses is up on a hill. And he holds up his hands, and as long as he's holding up his hands, Joshua prevails. They get tired, and he's got to put them down.
And then the Israelites start getting pushed back. And so he's got two men come and hold up his hands. As long as Moses holds up his hands, Joshua prevails over the Amalekites. That's in Exodus chapter 27. And at the end of that, at the.
Victory of that battle. God makes a pronouncement, and the pronouncement is this: I will utterly blot out the memory. of Amalek. I will utterly block out Blot out. The memory of Amalek.
Why? because they were a cruel people. A cruel and repressive people.
Now, move ahead. three and a half centuries and you've got Samuel on the scene. Samuel. And he has anointed Saul as the first king over Israel. Yeah.
And Saul goes to war against the Amalekites. And the instruction was to blot them out. God's command, because God is good, he opposes evil. Remember that.
Now, Saul had a different idea. He knew what the command of God was, but Saul had a different idea.
So, as king, he thinks he's sovereign, so he's free to do whatever he wants to do. Wrong. You're never free from God's commands. I don't care who you are. And so he comes back with a bunch of sheep and cattle.
And he comes, he's approaching Samuel. He says, I have done what I have been commanded to do. And Samuel says famously, What means the bleeding of the sheep? How come I'm hearing sheep? And who is this guy?
Well, that's Agag the king. He's. He's being really generous. He says, you know, let's just put all our differences behind us. And Samuel says Uh-uh.
God has made a pronouncement. And because of that, because of that, Saul lost the kingdom. If you remember that.
Now move ahead. Another five, six hundred years. And you're in the kingdom of Persia. And there is a young queen. And she's beautiful.
What's her name? Esther. And there is a man. Who does not like Jews? And his name is?
Amen thee. agagite. The enemy of the Jews. mentions that several times in the book of Esther. And you see how that book plays out.
So, the pronouncement of God is once again carried out. All of this the psalmist recognizes in Psalm 37, verse 28. This is a theme that I'm finding here in Deuteronomy 25 and 26. Psalm 37: For the Lord loves justice, he will not forsake his saints. Saints means holy ones.
Those who are set apart. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. There it is again. Blotted out. The children of the wicked shall be cut off.
God will not let the family line of that wickedness continue, but he wants his people to prosper, to flourish. because they are his. We see then as we come to chapter 26. And this gives us instruction when it comes to worship. The people of Israel, as they worship, as they get into the land and they settle down.
And now they're growing their crops and their herds. And God has this specific prescription for worship for them when they're in the land. And part of Deuteronomy, we're going to see this in the next chapters of Head. Ahead, God gives them all kinds of warnings. You're going to go into the land and you're going to glean from vineyards that you didn't plant, you're going to live in houses that you didn't build.
Beware lest you what? Forget God. And so he's calling them to worship here in a way that causes them to remember God's promise. God's providence. God's purposes.
All of that. Remember that.
Because God's graciousness and generosity for human liberty and flourishing is demonstrated in our lives of worship. Stop there and think about that. Contemplate that for a minute. And this is for us today, this isn't just for Israel. This is for us today.
God's graciousness and generosity for human liberty and flourishing is demonstrated in our lives of worship.
Now that helps us and instructs us in terms of how we engage the socio-political climate of our day. that wants to define the very institutions that God has established for mankind for our flourishing and our liberty. And so, church, how do we engage that? God's graciousness and generosity for human liberty and flourishing is demonstrated in our lives of worship.
Not just in this room. But as we are worshipers outside of this room. And so he's going to give them instruction in chapter 26 here on their tithes. their offerings, tithes. Their offerings that they bring to God is a portion of it.
This is not an exhaustive treatment of the topic. It is a portion of it. And when they bring their tithes, a tenth of their produce, to the degree that God has blessed them, when they bring that, Them bringing these offerings to worship God demonstrates God's ownership and reflects his character. And it manifests itself in his people's obedience and get this compassion. You want to know the difference the church has made in church history?
It comes in these categories: compassion. There's three things that it demonstrates here. Number one, God's faithfulness. Look at this in verse 5. And you shall make a response before the LORD your God.
A wandering Aramean, speaking of Abraham or Jacob, either one or the other, or maybe both. was my father Jacob and he went down to Egypt. and sojourned there, few in number, And there he became a great nation great mighty and populous. Family line, family expansion. Right?
The faithfulness of God. God Fulfilled his promise according to his purpose. And when we bring our offerings in, when the people of Israel bring the tithe, of their produce into worship God to offer it as a sacrifice. It was a reminder of this reality. We're here because God brought us here.
We are his people. We went down to Egypt as a small family. and we left Egypt 400 years later as a nation. of almost three million 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.
