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 three of a message first preached on January 26, 2025. 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. kicking him, scoffing at him.
What is the consequence?
Well, it uses words like disaster. Wasted. Devour, terror, all of this. And you know why? It's simply because God says He steps with.
His chosen people, what does that mean? They are under his protection and his privilege and his presence. And God said, you don't want that? I'm going to step back. Tell me how that works for you.
And in comes all the oppressors that surround them. And that ends in disaster. They're becoming wasted. They're devoured. It ends in terror.
And yet God says, very interestingly, you look at verse 27, God says that he's not going to allow them to obliterate his people, lest those surrounding oppressors take all the credit themselves for what has happened to Israel. You see, the Lord didn't protect them. We overcame them. Our gods are greater. God says, I'm not going to let them do that.
I hope you'll approve them. But here is his assessment of them in this particular paragraph, verse 23-38. They are void of counsel, they have no understanding. They have no understanding. Look at me at verse 29.
If they were wise, they would understand this. They would discern their end. In other words. Do you know where your choices are taking you? That is a key element of wisdom.
Choices have consequences. Do you know where your choices are taking you? Children don't. Wise people ought to. God's people ought to.
And it says They have no understanding, they're void of counsel, they have no understanding. And then it says something remarkable: they are of the vine of Sodom. And Gamora. Ouch.
Now, when we think of, when we hear those two words, we think of one particular heinous sin, don't we? That really wasn't the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. That was only. A side effect. What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
It says so in Ezekiel 16, verse 49. Listen to this. Put your seatbelts on. Are you ready? Mm-hmm.
Ezekiel 16:49, Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride. Excess food. Prosperous ease. but did not aid the poor and the needy.
What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? They were morbidly self-centered. Morbidly self-centered. And that is very unhealthy. Very unhealthy.
So these are the consequences. Of forgetting God. of being distracted by abundance. And it is the, this leads us to understanding the disaster, the disaster of misplaced. Trust.
Who is mute? Verse 37, verse 37, then he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge? When you have arrived at the disaster which is the logical consequences of the choices that you have made. Then I'm going to ask where are those things? that you put your trust in.
Where are those other gods? That stuff that you looked to for your security and your satisfaction. It's left you high and dry. Not only are you unsatisfied You're destitute. Because those things were not intended.
To satisfy you. Hear God speaking to us this morning. The blessings that he gives us, they were not in the, and the blessings in the form of stuff, and that stuff can created things, and that can include people. It can include Pardon me, I'm not calling you stuff, okay? But.
You are a created entity. And you are A blessing from God. Family, loved ones, church family, a blessing from God. But understand this. No one or nothing.
was given to you by God to be your satisfaction. That is something only God can be. But God is a God of justice. He's a God of just judgment. And we see then in verses 39 through 39 to 43.
God's just judgment. We see his incomparable sovereignty. Look at verse 39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Know that. There's none that can deliver out of my hand. His just judgment is on those who hate him. And in this case, those who hate him is described as those who hate his people. And we see that theme commonly through the scriptures and even in the New Testament and in the book of Revelation: those who hate God are those who hate his people.
And what does God do? Remember what I said before? His people got comfortable, they had abundance, they got comfortable, they said, We don't need God, we know better, we're gonna go our way. And so, what does God do? He stands back and he allows the oppressors to come in.
because he has stood back from them because they didn't want him.
So he stood back, the oppressors came in. And now, what is God doing here? He says, okay, now that they've had the chastisement, he looks at those oppressing nations and he says, what? You messed with my people. And he's a God of just judgment.
So much of the prophecy in the Old Testament is God's indictment of the people who messed with his people. Even though they deserved it. You messed with my people. And so, what does God say? Vengeance is mine.
Vengeance is mine. And he says, I will. Vindicate. my people. I will have compassion.
He will have compassion on his servants. When he sees that their power is gone and there is nothing remaining bond or free. He will have compassion. He will vindicate his people. And so the song ends.
It's a long song, and Moses said this in the hearing of the people of Israel. And then we have two paragraphs at the end of chapter 32. And they're encapsulated. in this statement, take to heart the holiness of God. What do we mean by take to heart?
These are not empty words. In other words, these are words you live by. These words are crucial to life. Take to heart the holiness of God. As he said before, choose life.
He says, I now put before you life and death. Choose life. Life and death, good and evil, choose good that you may live. is what he's saying, Moses saying to the people of Israel. But we find even an example in Moses himself here.
Moses has to give that example, right? Moses himself is accountable to God. God says to Moses, You did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people. He says, You broke faith with me in the midst of the people. He said that verse 51, and did not treat me as holy.
So it's back at the rock. The people were grumbling. The people were impatient, they were grumbling, they were making demands. And that's just beautiful, isn't it, when people are grumbling and making demands? It's just the joy of every leader.
And what did Moses do? The greatness, he did not ascribe the greatness of God. He assumed greatness himself. That was a mistake. We might sit here in our flesh, boy, I can identify, man, Moses.
They deserved it. Man, you had every, you were justified in every way. of acting that way in front of those people. No, he wasn't. Because he did not treat God as holy.
There's never a justification for that ever. And so here we come to a pivot now. This is the Old Testament. And now we come to a pivot. to the New Testament.
And here's the good news.
Okay. How could the people of Israel do this?
Well, they're people just like us.
So here's the good news. Enter Jesus Christ. He will save his people. from their sins. It's good news, isn't it?
Not only will he save his people from their sins, he will take out the heart of stone. Stone is unsensing, unfeeling, unresponsive. He will take out the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. A heart that senses, a heart that relates. Heart that beats.
And he will give us a heart of flesh. That's the new covenant. That's for us. As Jesus said, this blood, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. That's why he gave his life.
So we wouldn't have to end up the same way Israel did. 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.
