Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. This is part two of a message first preached on November 3rd, 2024. And so it is with us.
Every one of us, every human being you've ever seen, know of. Rubbed elbows with, they have within them a space that only God can fill and satisfy. And C.S. Lewis said it well. Human history is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
We're surrounded by a lot of empty people and they're looking, they're looking for something to fill that emptiness. It could be a job, it could be a relationship or a combination of those. It could be a sufficient bank account, it could be notoriety, it could be a particular position, it could be busyness. And we're grasping after these things to fill us. with a sense of satisfaction.
And they will not satisfy. Mark my word on that. Don't waste your life. looking for those things to be your satisfaction. Because they will not satisfy.
That's why I say God's satisfaction is ours. Based on Colossians 1, all things were created by him and for him meaning I was created for God meaning that He is my highest good and my deepest satisfaction. And when that becomes a reality in my life, that brings Him. Satisfaction. God is most glorified.
When I am most Satisfied. in him. John Piper. True statement. This is what God is, how God is appealing to his people, Israel.
before they're about to cross into the promised land. I want your hearts, he says. And so he points to the sign of belonging. To know that you are mine. Be mine, he says.
And what is the sign of belonging? For Israel, it was the sign of circumcision. It was involved a cutting away and it involved That part of the anatomy that had to do with the flourishing, the multiplication of his people. More and more people. The flourishing of his people.
That was God's desire. And what he does here is he illustrates. He illustrates that, put yourself in the shoes of the prodigal son now, okay? And by the way, Prabhava is lavish.
So the father in that story is also a prodigal. He's lavish with his forgiveness. And love. And the prodigal lived lavishly. Very selfishly, and we tend to do the same thing.
We think life is about us. But imagine the prodigal son. Since that's what he's called. in so many of our understandings. What did he think of the father before he left?
It's a drudgery. Day after day, working for DAG, same routine. Nothing new. I'm sucking fiddle anyway. You know what?
I'm missing out on something. I want all this mine and I'm going to go and live it up. And then look where he ended up. He lived for himself. And he ended up At the bottom.
And then he realized I miss home where dad is. Even all the servants, look what they have that I don't have. Because of my choice. I thought I was going to find something better and more satisfying than what my father has for me. And so he says, I'm going to go home and I'm going to confess to dad, I made a mistake, I was wrong.
Let me come home. Let me come home. I'll be your servant. I will serve you. What does Dad do?
He lavishes his love. and celebration and restoration. On his son.
Okay. You are mine now. The prodigal son, what do you think he thought of dad after that? You see, we often wonder why all this stuff in the world, why all this bad stuff, why would God allow all that to happen? Do you realize that the father of the prodigal let his son walk away?
Because he knew that his son would not be able to appreciate him before he left as much as he did when he came back. How much do you think he appreciated his father? after he came back. Think about that. This is what God is telling the people Israel.
Restoration and forgiveness will be waiting for you. When you come back to me. That's the God we worship. That's the God we serve. But he will not coerce us.
So he talks about the circumcised heart.
So let's talk about what an uncircumcised heart is, because Israel demonstrated that well.
Now he speaks of circumcision metaphorically here, okay? But he's talking about the circumcision. And the New Testament mentions it a lot. The uncircumcised heart is stubborn. It is a stubborn heart.
One who hears when he hears the word. Of this sworn covenant blesses himself in his heart, and I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart. The uncircumcised heart is stubborn. And it's stubborn to the degree that it resists God's purpose. Deuteronomy 10, 16.
Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. We see this theme also in Acts chapter 7, New Testament, Acts chapter 7, verse 51. You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. It's resisting God's purpose, thinking we think we know better.
That's what the uncircumcised heart does. We think we know better than God. The uncircumcised heart is also blind or servile obedience. God never calls us to just serve Him blindly. or in servile drudgery.
He wants our hearts. Philippians chapter 3. And verse three. We can be guilty of self-redemption. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and the glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
Confidence in the flesh means I can do it myself. An uncircumcised heart will say that. The continual sense that I can redeem myself. And that translates into a Christian. Maybe you think you're a Christian, you think, I just need to make sure I'm doing the right thing to make sure God is happy with me.
May God rescue you from that. He is a God of grace. And may he draw you to his grace and his goodness, so that you delight in him. And walk in the power of the Spirit and not in the confidence of the flesh. An uncircumcised heart is also one that walks in selfish passion.
Colossians 2, 11, In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. It doesn't mean we leave the body. The body of flesh is speaking of the passions of the flesh. That which weighs us down from moving Godward. That which binds us, that which holds us in bondage.
An uncircumcised heart is also one of mere outward conformity. That is not the gospel of grace. Following a list of rules is not the gospel of grace. Mere outward conform. I'm just doing what a Christian is supposed to do.
But there's no heart for God. It was the Lord who said, These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And I've seen testimony after testimony, and today it shows itself in people who ostensibly deconstruct their faith. All that means is that for all those years, ostensibly in the faith, they were simply keeping up appearances. They constructed their own faith.
Therefore, they can deconstruct it. That's an uncircumcised heart. And the Lord said clearly, Jeremiah 9, 25, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh. You follow the ritual, but you have no heart for God. Romans 2.
Yeah. A Jew is one Inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit, not by the latter. His praise is not from man but from God. Outward conformity.
So being half-hearted, being a half-hearted, a grudging, utilitarian worshiper of God. is an uncircumcised heart. What is a circumcised heart then? of which the Lord speaks and we find throughout the New Testament.
Well, the Lord has said it numerous times in the book of Deuteronomy, hasn't he? And in the Shema. God's people are called to what? To love. the Lord your God with All your heart, with all your soul, and all your might.
You're all in. God is not a part of your life. You don't give him a slice of the pie. You don't give him a little bit of your free time. Get three dollars worth of God so He's happy with you.
He is the very point to your existence. He created you, He redeemed you, He sustains you. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightandgrace.com. to discover how to live by grace.
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