Welcome to Delight in Grace. The Teaching Ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Deuteronomy 32 describes not only the story of Israel. but of mankind throughout all time.
a loving God, seeking to pour out life and love on man. A people who become enamored with God's gifts, over God himself. The disaster and emptiness man opens himself up to Again and again. Do we want God's stuff? Without him?
Do we allow his good gifts to become idols. Thankfully, God doesn't leave mankind in this vicious cycle. But provides Christ. Whose spirit can give us a heart of flesh, and In the place of the heart of stone. May God's great work through His Word and Christ's Spirit grow us to love him above all else.
This is part two of a message first preached on January 26, 2025. Not only are they foolish, but they're senseless. Senseless meaning unreasonable. Unreasoning. They follow impulse.
They would rather live like an animal, simply following their impulses. than be governed by principle and reason. They're governed by their felt needs. What do I feel I need right now? I'm just going to pursue that.
Did you know that's not God's design? That is not a fruit of the Spirit. But this is what his people were doing. In contrast to that, God now recounts his tender care Of his people, his tender care of his people, beginning at verse 7. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.
And he speaks here of the Creator's purpose among the nations because God is the Creator of all people, right? And so he has a purpose among them, and through all the peoples of the earth, he has established families and boundaries. That's God's doing. But among those families and in those boundaries. There is one particular family.
That is his people. Why? Because through this people, Messiah would come. His plan of redemption for humanity. And this is what he says in Deuteronomy chapter 4, the last part of verse 6 and verse 7.
Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding. And this is what he's saying: the people will say about Israel. The surrounding nations, when they see the people of Israel and the privilege, the protection, the presence of God, the sense of purpose that they have, they will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people, for what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us? whenever we call upon him. What a beautiful thought.
What a beautiful thought. We worship and serve the true and living God, and all these other false gods are, in fact, non-gods. They don't even exist except in your imagination. or whatever you create. But he said, among all these nations, Jacob...
is his allotted heritage. These are my people. I have a specific purpose for them. My presence goes with them. They have my protection and they live in my privilege.
Because they're my people. My chosen ones. Because through them Messiah will come. And look at his tender care. Look with me beginning at verse 10.
And he recounts the history of his tender care for his people. He found him in a desert land and in the howling waste of the wilderness. He encircled him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. The Lord alone guided him. No foreign God was with him. He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with the honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of bashin, and goats, with the very finest of the wheat. You drank foaming wine and made from the blood of the grapes.
That's a beautiful picture, isn't it? That's God's loving care and providence for his people. Wouldn't you think they would gladly and joyfully? Serve. Such a God?
But look at the human heart. Look at the human heart. Because in contrast to we to God's tender care of his people. we find instead Drift. and derision.
Drift in derision. After everything I just read. What's the first word of verse 15? But Jeshurun, that's the upright one. A name for Israel, Jeshurin grew fat and kicked.
He grew fat, stout, and sleek. Then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the rock. of his salvation. The people, God's people, even. We're distracted.
and what were they distracted by? They were distracted by abundance They arrived at the point where they didn't Feel. Like they needed God. And, folks, if there is anything that describes our American culture. It is that.
We don't have a sense of a need. for God. Because we have so much security around us.
So many things to bring us satisfaction. And God warned Israel earlier. You will go into the land, you will plant vineyards, you will reap from vineyards that you didn't plant, you will live in houses that you didn't build. Beware lest you forget the Lord your God. Distracted.
by abundance. About thirteen years ago, a young man by the name of Ethan Couch. had more money and freedom. than he knew what to do with. More money and freedom than he knew how to handle.
And one night 16 years old. Behind the wheel of a car, he was driving drunk. and killed four people. His lawyer chimes in. And he claimed that Ethan was suffering from Affluenza.
Defined this way, he was so pampered that he couldn't even comprehend the consequences of his actions.
So pempered that he couldn't even comprehend the consequences of his actions. God's people and people in general. Enjoy. God's blessings. We do.
That car you drove this morning, the sunshine out this morning, the rain, the snow, it's a blessing. It waters the ground. The food you ate last night, this morning. The bed you rested in, sleep. All of that.
All of that is a blessing from God. People enjoy God's blessings. And God's people, he said, enjoy God's blessings abundantly. And they forgot him. They forgot him.
Not only did they forget him, but it went so far that they actually kicked. Him. and scoffed at him. It doesn't make any sense at all, does it? The title of the message today is Ascribe Greatness to Our God.
And that word greatness means much in degree, majesty. But in a negative way, it's translated as. Pride. Pride. And you and I both know it.
When we have a lot of stuff, when we feel comfortable. when we feel self-sufficient, when things are going our way. You can be guilty of pride. We make much of ourselves. And this turns to arrogance.
And instead of ascribing greatness to God, we can be guilty of arrogance, where we won't actually say the words to God, but we can say it in our actions: God, I know better than you. I know better than you. And so, what that looks like in one's life is: I will disregard your design, I will disregard your loving boundaries, and go after what I want. Forget you. You and I can do that.
It's tragic, isn't it? It sounds awful. The way I'm describing it, but you and I can do that. We can be like the branch. That wishes not to be a part of the tree.
And here's an amazing thing that we find in the text here, and we see it throughout Israel's history. Israel's history in particular. Because God graciously calls them guides them, protects them. cares for them. And then Israel Gets comfortable, they forget God, they kick, they scoff.
And what does God do? He steps back. He steps back. Verse 19: The Lord saw it and spurned them because of the provocation. of his sons and his daughters.
And he said, Here it is, I will hide my face from them. I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be. You know what that is? You're like the tree, the scoff, the one sky.
You become so comfortable, you forget God, and you say, God, I'm going to pursue what I want, forget you. And what God does. He steps back. Any seconds the motion? And then he says.
Tell me how that works for you. Because he knows it's not gonna work. It will end in disaster. And so, beginning at verse 23 all the way to verse 38, we see the consequence of. God's people.
Forgetting him, forsaking him, abandoning God. 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, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m. Mm.
