Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God places his law on the hearts of his people. and to an extent in the heart of every man. His way gives life It protects and it grows all that is good in mankind.
Sin, on the other hand, is self destructive. It destroys, separates, and distorts. In Deuteronomy 27, God reinforces the importance of the material. of following his way. commanding the priests to call out those things which bring curse on his people.
Through the lens of Christ's action on our behalf, we see the great power we can have to overcome sin. and we see the grace and blessing that Jesus gives us through His substitutionary work. Let's listen to this message titled, The Choice of Life or Death. You have become the people of the Lord. This is part two of a message first preached on october thirteenth, twenty twenty four.
So we come to the point now, and the rest of the chapter now is dealing with 12 curses. Twelve curses. And when we use the word curse. He's dealing now with the behavior of God's people. You are my people.
Now, this is how I, this is what I expect of you. The identity that they have as the people of Jehovah, there are implications on the life and behavior of the people. And so they proceed then with the rest of chapter 27. With Twelve curses.
Some of them I've whittled it down to eight categories. Eight categories of these curses. When it says cursed, Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image. The word curse means destined for disastrous judgment. In other words, the person who does this.
is destined disastrous Judgment. You are inviting disaster in your life.
Now, this has practical implications for us today, doesn't it? Because I was just listening to a podcast from somebody dealing with a particular egregious sin that has been committed by a high-profile Christian leader. We're going to talk about that in a minute. without naming any names. It's not important.
But this person said sin makes you stupid It's true. It's true. Sin is irrational. It makes you stupid. Because sin will lead you to disaster.
And the Bible warns us of this over and over and over again.
Now, that doesn't mean that we don't get gratification out of it. You do, that's why you do it. But it makes you stupid. and it will lead you to disaster. Learn this.
Sin is inherently Self-destructive. All of it every time. Sin is inherently self-destructive.
So Let's talk about the curses. We're going to talk about eight of them in eight categories today. The first one we already read at verse 15: Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by hands, the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret, and all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Why would somebody engage in idolatry? When you serve the living God who created all things, who redeemed you and rescued you from Egypt?
Brought you through the wilderness, taking you over the Jordan, cast out all the nations in the promise. Why would you serve a different God? Because there are matters of fear and discontentment that could lead us to idolatry. You're looking for something, or someone, or something other than God to bring you the satisfaction and the security that you think you can't find in God. And that will lead one to idolatry.
You'll set up another person. Or you'll set up a thing that you think brings you comfort and security, and you will devote yourself to that person or that thing. And marginalize God. It's idolatry. And then the second one is in verse sixteen.
It's dishonoring parents. Where does that come from? The idea of dishonoring parents, where does that come from? It flows from ingratitude. In gratitude.
Those that dishonor their parents. And then the third one is in verse 17. It's a disregard for a neighbor's boundaries, moving the boundary markers. And that comes as a result of greed. You want what your neighbor has.
And that leads to destruction. Greed, greed. leads to destruction. Greed will make you stupid. Number four, verse eighteen.
Exploiting a neighbor's disability. That's just sheer cruelty. It speaks of a person with a disorder. And you're exploiting a neighbor's disability. You do so out of cruelty.
And greed could definitely be involved in that too, couldn't it? But cruelty is something that is abominable to God. We talked about that last Sunday. Again, curse, cruelty can make you stupid. Number five, perverting justice.
which betrays a condescending partiality. Perverting justice, which betrays a condescending partiality. Any group of people, do you see that group of people and do you have a condescending partiality towards them? That is an abomination to God. when it leads you to pervert justice.
And it makes you stupid. I hope you're not troubled by that word.
Some of you parents teach your kids not to say that word. But it's true. This is an accurate use of that word. Yes. Amen.
Category number six is sexual sexual perversion, and it lists four of them. In verses 20 to 23. Sexual perversions. And all these are is just simply uncontrolled urges. Uncontrolled urges.
It is not an exhaustive list of sexual perversion. But these are uncontrolled urges, and following uncontrolled urges can make you stupid. It will make you stupid. Number seven. Indifference for another's life.
which is murder. Indifference for another's life and its hatred. Hatred would make you stupid. It will lead you to destruction. Verses 24 and 25 list two different kinds.
One is done in secret and if a fight breaks out and kill your neighbor, and another one is mercenary. You're for hire.
Somebody pays you to kill somebody else. We would never do that. Except maybe by words. I'm going to see that. You look at it in the New Testament and Jesus.
Jesus raises the bar on what hatred is. What murder is. If you hate your brother, you might as well have murdered him, right? And then number eight is in verse 26, and we call it moral indifference. Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.
And all the people shall say, Amen. That's just. moral indifference. I don't have to. God's not going to care.
Moral indifference. That can also make you stupid and lead you to destruction. Yeah. Rich, give us an encouraging word today. The chapter's over.
I only do it a chapter at a time. Twenty.
Now, these verses, all the way from 15 to 26, all of these verses. Cursed be the man. Cursed be the man. So, I do want to take you because we don't have just. The Old Covenant, the Old Testament.
We have the new covenant also. We have the whole counsel of God. We have this complete revelation that was given to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
So let's consider what he has done.
So we see here in the Old this is part of the ratification of the covenant.
Now what I want to point you to is the fulfillment. of the cover. The fulfillment of the covenant. Verse 15, cursed be the man. Verse 16, cursed be anyone.
Verse 17, cursed be anyone. 18, cursed be anyone. Verse 26, cursed be anyone. Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. How's that?
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Consider The profound statement that Paul made in Second Corinthians 5:21, God He made him Christ who knew no sin to become what? sin for us, so that we might what? become the righteousness of God in him. Yeah.
That's mind-blowing folks. There is the gospel of grace. And we must understand the Old Testament that was given. It's the righteous requirement of the law. But we have the New Testament, which tells us that Christ has fulfilled that for us.
All of it perfectly. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. I want you to think of something now because as Israel was going over into the Red, we sang about the promised land, right? Because God has a place promised for us, doesn't he? A place of rest.
Where we cease from striving, we cease from working to try to. Be redeemed, to redeem ourselves, to please Him. We cease from all that. We enter into that rest that He has promised us.
So what is the altar that I invite you to build in your life? Because he called his people here to build an altar and write the law on that altar and keep visiting it. to remember and to teach the next generation. Here's the altar that I invite you to visit often. Jeremiah 31-33.
the promise of the new covenant. The Lord says, I will write my law. Not on a monument of plastered stone. I'll write my law where. When your hearts One your hearts.
He also says it in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 16. In the fulfillment of that, the writer of Hebrews bears that out: Hebrews chapter 10:16. 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.
