Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. What does God mean in Deuteronomy 30 when he says the Lord will circumcise the hearts of his people? What's the difference between a circumcised and an uncircumcised heart? Today, Pastor Ridge investigates the text with us to answer these questions.
and to challenge us to choose life. What is it to choose life? John seventeen three tells us that knowing God is life. Let's listen to this message titled, The Lord Your God Will Circumcise Your Hearts. Our scripture reading today will be from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses.
15 to 20. I invite you to turn your copy of Scripture if you have it. And the words will also be on screen. As well. See, I have set before you today.
Life and good. Death and evil. If you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I command you today, By loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments, and His statutes, and His rules. Then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But If your heart turns away, And you will not hear.
But they are drawn to worship other gods and to serve them. I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth witness against you today that I have set before you life. And death.
Blessing and curse. Therefore Choose life. that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him for He is your life and the length of days. That you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham. to Isaac and to Jacob.
to give them. Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you that you are the same God yesterday, now, and forever. Thank you for showing us your heart that even then was for love of your people.
Practically begging them to love you because you know that is the best thing for us. But God, as your word says, there is none righteous, no, not one. And none of us in our own power have any. Ability to obey you on our own. Thank you for.
Jesus, thank you that you Did the work for us, and that by calling on the name of the Lord, anyone can be saved. I pray now that you would allow our hearts to be able to hear and understand your word preached. We love you and pray in your name. Amen. Thank you, Ben.
Deuteronomy 30. This is the last time we will be. looking at the book of Deuteronomy this year. It's November now already, and next Sunday we will have a guest speaker with us, Spencer Bazil. He's Haitian.
He is a student, translator, and professor. at the Haiti Bible Institute. He was one of my students and now he is a professor. That is a wonderful thing. He will be with us next Sunday.
He will bring the exposition of scriptures next Sunday morning, and then he will present next Sunday night with an update on Haiti and the situation there and its impact on both Haiti Bible Institute and the Haitian church. And then after that, for two Sundays, we'll be going through Psalm 107. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And then Comes December. When you can start listening to Christmas music.
That could that's those are fighting words here, aren't they? Morning. In December, we will be unpacking Hebrews chapter 1. The supremacy of the Son of God. Because that's what it's all about.
So, heap Deuteronomy chapter 30. This is The last chapter in section number five: the choice of life or death. Moses has the children of Israel in the plains of Moab just east. of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. They're about ready to go in to possess the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
and their descendants. Moses is not going to go. He is preparing them now to not only go in and take the land, but to live long in the land. and living long in the land will require their faithfulness. This is a conditional covenant.
And yet we see God's grace in it. we see the human heart in it. That's why the title for today's message is taken from this chapter, verse 6: The Lord Your God. Will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. that you may live.
We see in Verse one, the infinite. Transcendent perspective of God. Verse 1 And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, that's what we've studied in 27, 28, and 29 and 30. Today. Which I have set before you, and call them to mind.
Among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you. What's he saying? Israel will fail. And the Lord knows that. This is his infinite, transcendent perspective.
So it's kind of like here he has them. In the plains of Moab, about to go cross over the Jordan into the promised land with great promise, potential, faithfulness of people, faithful leaders, you're going into the land that God promised you. Life couldn't be better than this, right? You're going to fail and God's saying, you know, here's this choice. You t choose this, you have life.
If you choose this, you have death. But he knows what's going to happen. It kind of reminds a foregone conclusion, right? It kind of reminds me of a story that I heard of Sven and Olga. They could not.
get along. They've been married a while. They could not get along. They did not believe, you know, they did not want to divorce. I mean, that would be terrible for their children, but they just couldn't get along.
And so they deemed themselves a very spiritual couple. And Olga one day comes to her husband and she says, Zven, she says, I've been thinking. I've been praying about this, and I think maybe we together should pray that the Lord would take one of us home to be with Him. and then I can go live with my mother. You'll never read this the same again.
I know, just. Here's the point of t of this chapter today. Chapter 30. God's heart. is for our hearts.
We're studying the law. And the law is a list of do's and don'ts. But God's heart. is for our hearts. We would see that.
Verses 1 to 10. It is a The Lord says You're going to call to mind The truth. You're going to repent, you're going to return, you're going to be restored. And I see in verses 1 to 10 a parallel to the parable of the prodigal son. Where the sun goes off and lives lavishly.
And he will realize what a Bad decision he made. And what he misses with his father. And he comes back to his father willing to be a servant. And his father lavishes his love and forgiveness and restoration on him. That's God's heart.
We see that right here in Deuteronomy chapter 30. But the chapter focuses on Us, the prodigals, the waywards, the wandering ones. What keeps us from that? He says in verse. Verse one.
When you're scattered among all the nations that I have set before you, and you call them to mind. Among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, you call them to mind. In other words, you're returning to truth, the truth that you know. You're returning to that. It's like the prodigal, Luke 15:17.
He came to his senses. He was at the bottom of the bottom. He couldn't have gotten any lower in his society. And it says, he came to his senses. You know what that means?
Sin is irrational. And it'll do things to you that you never thought imaginable. But he came to his sense, so he says, When you call to mind all of these things The return, the mercy, the restoration, the delight. that takes place in that. We have in Deuteronomy 30 a portrait of God's heart of forgiveness and restoration.
He says, it's waiting for you. It will be waiting for you. When you return, And we'll once again Verse 9, delight in prospering you. Delight in prospering you. Here's the point.
God's heart is for our heart. Let me make another point here. His God's satisfaction. is ours.
Now, stay with me here a minute. Lest you think I'm moving into prosperity theology. that is heresy. That's leading a lot of people to hell. Just put that out there right now, okay?
But God's satisfaction. is my semi-scription. What do I mean by that? as the branch that has wished the demise of tree. I was one who was dying of thirst.
And the only way I can live again. is to be grafted back into Okay.
so that I will not be thirsty. Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. 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.
