Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. PT Forsyth said that it is the duty of every man to find not his freedom But his master. We all serve. The question is who will we choose to serve?
In Deuteronomy twenty eight, God presents the people with two choices to follow and serve the Lord their God, and find life and peace, or to find their master in something else. in which death and misery would find them. Let's listen as Pastor Ridge unpacks the Mosaic Covenant in this message titled, I have set before you to-day life and good. death and evil. This is Part 4 of a message first preached on october 20, 2024.
It's part of a series from Deuteronomy titled, It is Because the Lord Loves You. To hear the whole message or others in this series, just visit www.delightingrace.com. Moses said to the people of Israel, I'm sitting before you today two choices: life and good or death. And the evil. Those are your choices.
So here's the overarching principle that I want to leave you with today that we glean from Deuteronomy chapter 28, 27 and 28. Apart from God. Apart from God. you will sense and experience. emptiness.
If you surrender to God, you will sense an experience. Life and joy.
Now, let me stop there for just a minute because some of you may be objecting. You may be objecting right now saying, you know, I feel enough life and joy right now. Or I know some people that Don't walk with God, and they're experiencing plenty of life and joy right now. Let's go back to the illustration from that wall to that wall. There's a line.
And that represents all of time, all of eternity. Eternity past, eternity future. God knew you from eternity past. He knew you personally, perfectly, absolutely. What is your life on that line?
One little tiny little infinite infinitesimal dot. And we become so preoccupied, and we think, oh, life, this is life. He who dies with the most stuff wins. And Jesus said, What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world in what? This is on soul.
Why are we so prone to trust? Stuff. Why are we so prone to be like the prodigal son who wanted God's who wanted his father's things but didn't want his father? What does it say about our hearts? But God in his love, God in his love sent his son to us to redeem us, to reconcile us back to himself.
And here's the good news. Here's the good news. We can be reconciled back to God, and He reconciles us back to Himself through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, so that we. can know him and walk with him. and delight in him.
and love him. And therein find our security and our satisfaction. This is Jehovah the God of Israel. Who sent his son Jesus so all this can be possible for us. And so I present to you again your life because we're talking about this.
I'm not talking about that dot, that tiny, tiny, insignificant little speck on this line of eternity. I'm talking about the whole line. Because you are an embodied spirit. I have news for you, everyone in this room. You will live forever.
Hallelujah. The question is: Will you live in a state of life or will you live in a state of death? Apart from God, you will sense and experience. emptiness. And that's putting it mildly.
Surrendered to God, you will experience life and joy. Life and joy, joy being a settled satisfaction in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Jesus said these very words: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17, 3. That's eternal life.
So here are the words of Moses again. I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Last thought, I'll leave you with this. Everyone worships. There are no exceptions.
If you say, well, I'm not a person of faith. Are you telling me you don't believe anything? You believe something? Amen.
Well, I believe science. Yep, well there you go. That's your faith. And it's not like science and religion and faith are opposed. They're not.
Oh, I believe the experts.
Well, there you go, there's your faith. Good luck with that. Everyone, listen, everyone worships. Everyone has this circle, which is their life. And the spokes that are all the compartments of their life and the hub at the middle of the wheel.
Everyone has a hub. That which they devote themselves to, that which they perceive the rest of their reality. that which motivates them, that which captivates them. Everyone worships. There are no exceptions.
And so you worship either the benevolent sovereign creator, Redeemer. You worship a created object. that in the end will consume you. That's Deuteronomy 28. Yeah.
Everyone worships. Either you worship the benevolent, sovereign, creator, redeemer, or you will worship a created object that in the end will consume. You. Peter T. Forsyth.
It is the first duty of every man to find not his freedom. But his master. Who's your master? Quote. Who or what is your object of worship today?
I present to you today life and good, death and evil. If you do not know Jesus Christ today, you need to know that He is God. He has come. to die in your place for your sins. Because of your unrighteousness and your sin against God.
And he took that upon himself.
so that you, by trusting him, can have his righteousness.
So that you can then be acceptable before God, having His righteousness. And you can be reconciled to God so that you can know Him and enjoy Him. Forever. That's the gospel of grace, folks. Pure and simple.
And I invite you to consider that today. If you are here this morning and you have not surrendered yourself in faith to Jesus, see me afterwards. I'll be glad to talk with you. We can go to a corner office, sit around a table, a round table.
Okay. And I'd love to answer your questions. Would you stand with me, please? Father, this has been a difficult. Text to read this morning.
to consider. There's hard things in there. But, Father, we recognize that you make the point very, very clear that to forsake you is disaster. Yeah. Thank you, Father, that you have given us your Son, the Lord Jesus.
So that we don't have to be abandoned by you. In our rebellion that holds us captive, Father, we don't have to be abandoned by you. But you've made it possible for us to be reconciled to you. to rescue us from disaster. from your holy and necessary wrath.
Father, work in our hearts this morning. May this be weighty upon our hearts and our minds. That indeed Christ will be preeminent in all that we do. If there's anyone here this morning, Father, that does not know you, I pray that it is your kindness that will lead them to repentance. That they will trust the gospel of grace.
Because you are good. And so, Father, as we leave here this morning. We ask that you would captivate our hearts with your goodness. Your steadfast love Your faithfulness, your righteousness, your holiness. And may we be a people who love you.
May it be the song of our hearts, Father. as the church, the body of Christ, the family of God. May the message of our lives be: I love you, Lord. Mm-hmm. Let's sing this together.
I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice. Yeah. Two words share O my soul. Regional One sky.
Take joy. My key. In one But you hear maybe. It'd be a sweet. Sweet, sweet.
Yeah. In your For the benediction today, let's quote. The verse that says it all. John 3.16. We probably all memorized it in the same translation, didn't we?
For God so loved the world. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. God bless you this morning. Let's be dismissed.
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.
