Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Deuteronomy chapter 29, the children of Israel stand on the cusp of a new life in the promised land. and so near to the completion of this 40-year journey with so much ahead of them to look forward to God calls on them to look backward to see his faithful provision and protection he wanted them to see that they had not reached this place in their own strength but because of his loving purpose he is the point if they walked forward into their future without a heart for him they would only find emptiness and disaster on their doorstep. May the Lord challenge our hearts to remember in this message titled, The Things That Are Revealed Belong to Us. Our scripture reading this morning is found in Deuteronomy chapter 29, verses 10 through 19.
I'll give you time if you'd like to follow along in your copy of the scriptures. You can also follow along on the screen. Deuteronomy 29, 10 through 19. You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God, the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.
You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed, and you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the lord our god to go and serve the gods of those nations beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit one who when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike Would you pray with me? Oh, Lord, we thank you for this time of worship that we are in. We thank you for what we've already heard this morning, Lord. the beautiful words of the music that have been sung about our Savior.
Father, we just look forward now to the preaching of your word and what you have for us. Lord, open our eyes, open our ears. May your word be swift in its working. Lord may it sink down deep in us and may it change us and transform us Lord we want to know you better we are here to worship you this morning Father we thank you for your word we thank you that it is alive and it is active and we thank you for what you're going to do here this morning through our pastor as he preaches Lord we thank you for your presence in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Thank you, Daryl. You can have your copy of the scriptures open to Deuteronomy chapter 29 as we continue our study through this book of the second law. You say, Rich, this is Grace Bible Church. This is the 21st century. Why are we studying the law that was given 3,400 years ago.
I'm glad you asked. That's why we're here today. The title of today's message is the things that are revealed belong to us. Think about that. The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us.
That's taken from the last verse of this chapter.
Now, why is this important? Let's think about this in context now. This is about 1400 BC. Moses is speaking to the people of Israel. It's the second generation.
They have been wandering in the wilderness now 40 years, and they're about to pass over the Jordan into the land that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised them this land, and they're about to go in. Here, God is ratifying the covenant he has with his people. It is a conditional covenant. They will dwell in this land.
They will thrive. They will flourish. They will prosper if they keep the commands of God and walk with him. Why is this important? Because God has a purpose.
God has a plan. All of the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus Christ. It is in this land that the family of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Judah will be. It is where Messiah will be born. It is where he will live a perfect life It is where he will be betrayed and die a sacrificial death and then three days later rise again And from this land he will ascend back to the father and we expect him one day he will come again to this land.
That's God's purpose. That's why this is important for us. We see God's outworking plan of redemption. We see God's heart. We also see man's heart.
as we study this.
So we're in the portion of this second rendering of the law now that Moses is giving to the younger generation because their parents rebelled, wandered for 40 years. They died in the wilderness.
Now the younger generation is about to go into the land and Moses says, here's the law. Again, this is the ratification of this covenant. You're about to go in. And in this portion now, as we come towards the end of the book of Deuteronomy, he's giving them a choice. This is the choice of life or death.
It is the choice of life or death. Behold, I give you life and good or death and evil. He says, I'm laying it out in front of you. It's your choice. It's a pretty powerful statement, isn't it?
Hallelujah. That choice is ours yet today.
So we begin in chapter 29, where Moses is finished giving the law. He's finished the blessings and the cursings. And in chapter 29, verse 2, Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt. To Pharaoh and all his servants in all his land, the great trial that your eyes saw, the signs and those great wonders.
So it's the summons. In other words, this word is used because it's like he's drawing them close. This word has the nuance of an invitation. The summons does. He's like, come here, here.
Here's the last word I'm gonna leave with you, okay? Think of a coach talking to his team before they're ready to go out on the field or on the court, right? Come here, here it is. And what does he say? You have seen all that the Lord did.
You have seen with your eyes, you have experienced what the Lord has done. To them, it is an experience. They are eyewitnesses of who God is by virtue of what he has done. This is data for them to put in their banks in the sense that God is like what God has done. Let's never forget what God has done.
And they have seen and experienced that. Even including the great wonders he mentions in chapter, in verse 3. The great wonders that God has done. In other words, things that will make man stand in awe. Things that only a sovereign God could do because there is nothing that limits him and he is absolutely free to do his will Nothing limits him nothing inhibits him Only God can say that You and I can't say that.
We will fall into the rut of bondage the moment we think that. Problem is, we're all born thinking that. But God is the sovereign one, and he is the one who did the wonders in bringing his people out of Egypt through the wilderness into the promised land. There is no explanation for the existence of the nation of Israel apart from God. It doesn't exist.
So we come then to a next verse, the next verse, which is kind of enigmatic. The Lord says through Moses, but to this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. I've led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you. Your sandals have not worn off your feet.
You have not eaten bread. You have not drunk wine or strong drink that you may know that I am the Lord your God. It's like, what is he talking about? The Lord has not given you a heart.
So it looks something like this. As they've come out of Egypt through the wilderness, is now about ready to go into the land. For them, for the most part, you remember all the massive wonders that they experienced coming out of Egypt and then at Mount Sinai where they were trembling in their boots, sorry, their sandals because they're on sand, you know. And they say, Moses, you go talk to God. We can't handle this.
So Moses does. He goes up on the mountain. He comes down. His face is brilliant. and how quickly do they fall away?
They have forgotten about that because they get to Kadesh Barnea. Let's go and spy out the land, the land that God promised to our fathers and he's miraculously, wonderfully brought us to this place. Let's go in and spy out the land and they come back and they say, it's a beautiful land. We can't do it. The people are too big.
The walls are too high. We can't do it. Hello? Have you forgotten who got you here?
Now let's not be so hard on them. We do the same thing. Let's be honest with ourselves. We so easily forget who God is and what he has done. And we think we're in charge because there's everything about our culture today that tells us we are in charge and we deserve the best.
Right? 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.
