“Preamble to Deuteronomy” | Sabbath School Panel by 3ABN - Lesson 1 Q4 2021

hello i'm shelley quinn and we welcome you to 3abn sabbah school we are beginning a brand new adult bible study guide called present truth in deuteronomy and this was authored by clifford goldstein who is the editor for the adult study bible guide if you don't yet have yours you can go to absg.adventist.org and download one or run by any seventh-day adventist church i'm sure they'll be happy to welcome you into their fellowship give you a copy of the study and study with you this is a beautiful quarter the the lessons we're going to study deuteronomy topically covering such themes as the everlasting covenant of god's grace the law and grace we're going to look at what it means to love god and to love your neighbor and most particularly we will see how the book of deuteronomy reveals the love of god as demonstrated in christ's death on the cross and his resurrection so we hope you will join us today with a pen and your bible a piece of paper to take notes this study is the preamble to deuteronomy [Music] [Music] hello i'm shelley quinn and we welcome you once again to 3 abn sabbah school i want to introduce the rest of the family that's sitting around the table with me we have pastor ryan day i'm here and accounted for and excited to study the book of deuteronomy amen john lowe mccain pastor praise the lord we always learn something as we share amen and my precious sister jill moriconi thank you shelley always excited to study and this is a brand new quarter so looking forward to doing amen and then we have a new face on our panel but he's not new i should say a new member on our panel but he's not a new face to three abn and that's pastor james rafferty it's so good to be here this is my first time so go easy on me oh we're so excited we never go easy on first time or so okay james would you like to have our prayer before we begin absolutely father in heaven again we just want to thank you for your word we want to thank you for the promise of your spirit we claim the promise now that your spirit will come to teach us to guide us to instruct us to convict us to comfort us be with us be with the viewers we pray and ask these things in jesus name amen amen amen and amen i just want to begin by saying bible study should always be done through the perspective of a lens of god's love it's it's so important to understand god's love if you're going to understand the bible and context is critical because the bible doesn't make sense without context so what we're going to do today is i'm going to start off with just kind of kind of pulling back so that we get a wide view of the five books that moses wrote you know these books are called the law of moses moses law they're called the torah in the hebrew in the greek it's called the pentateuch and when moses was writing i find this amazing the bible covers 4 100 years of history but the first book of the bible the book of genesis covers like 2 300 of those 4 100 years in fact the first 11 chapters of genesis which is the book of new beginning or book of beginnings the book of origins the first 11 chapters 11 chapters cover over 2 000 years of history and we see five epic events in those first 11 chapters there's creation then the fall of mankind the announcement of the messiah then we see the flood and the dispersion of the nations all in those five chapters i find that amazing over 2000 years of history distilled into five chapters and you know what's interesting god's existence and god's law are assumed they're not explained but what happens then in verse 12 through our verse chapters 12 through 50 is now it's going to give us the patriarchal history god calls abraham and when god calls abraham he announces to him the everlasting covenant of salvation by grace hallelujah and he tells abraham this salvation is going to come through your seed and we know that god's commandments were in place because when god renews the covenant with isaac in genesis 26 verse 5 he says hey i'm renewing this covenant with you because your father abraham obeyed all of my commandments all of my statutes and so we see then in these latter chapters of genesis it goes from abraham isaac jacob then joseph goes down into egypt then the rest of the extended family follows him down now exodus is probably one of my favorite books in the bible because exodus of course most people think of it well it's the story of moses he grew up 40 years maturing in the pharaoh's court then 40 years on the backside of the desert and then 40 years leading god's people and when moses began to lead god's people what we see is that they've now been down there for 430 years in egypt many of those years as slaves and god saves them before he even reminds them of their obedience to him he saves them he parts the red sea they make the escape then god comes down on the mountain and speaks his ten commandments and then moses goes up and god speaks to him the words of the book of the covenant now let me explain something the ten commandments the way i see it the ten commandments are god's bill of rights the the first four commandments is the love for him the last six are the bill of rights the love for our covenant community but god gives moses civil laws and ceremonial laws and it's all based around the ten commandments moses comes down and then we find in verse exodus 24 verse 7 moses speaks all these words to the people writes it in a book builds an altar and he ratifies if the book is called the book of the covenant that's important because this was the first most scholars believe it was the first written portion of the bible but what happens moses goes back up the mountain for another 40 days god's giving him ten commandments written on stone and guess what the people had broken the covenant by the time he got down there with those ten commandments which moses throws down and he has to go back up and get another copy and so when we look at exodus we see a rebellious people they fail to follow god now both genesis and exodus they advance historically or chronologically we're covering some time you get to leviticus leviticus doesn't advance in time this is the instructions to the levitical priesthood how to lead the people in worship that's one portion of the book and it has a lot to do with ceremonial laws another portion of the book is that it's teaching people how to walk in obedience and live a holy life so numbers we get to the book of numbers another book that moses wrote and this chronicles the 39 years of history of god's chosen people they rebel at kadesh barnea and then it's their wanderings in the desert and that gets us to deuteronomy deuteronomy doesn't advance chronologically it happens in a period of a month the older generation of the people who rebelled have died off now the new generation's standing at the edge of promise and they're about to go in so moses gives them some sermons and what he is doing is he is leading them in a renewal of the covenant that was written in the book of the covenant and the emphasis is on covenant love deuteronomy is a covenant document that's it's all about god's redemption and how he's going to fulfill his promises to the patriarchs so deuteronomy is called the book of the law but we're also going to see it's called the book of the covenant so what moses was doing he's 120 years old these are his farewell speeches and moses is expanding the understanding of god's covenant and he says in deuteronomy 30 10 the lord will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your father's if if the biggest two-letter word in the world you obey the voice of the lord your god to keep his commandments and statutes which are written in this book of the law this book of the covenant and if you turn to the lord your god with all of your heart with all of your soul that's always been god's goal in deuteronomy 31 24-26 it says this when moses had completed writing the words of this law this covenant law in a book when they were finished moses commanded the levites saying take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant with the lord your god that it may be there as a witness against you why was it a witness against them because it not only contained the blessings but it contained the curses if they broke covenant with the lord it's on the side it's temporary inside the ark what have we got the ten commandments of god sunday's lesson and boy we gotta do this one fast but it's love to be loved first john 4 8 4 16 say god is love listen that's not just some emotional experience that god has that is the essence the nature of god this love is expressed by salvation by grace through faith it was demonstrated when christ died on the cross for us but god never changes he says i change not jesus christ is the same yesterday today and forever i'll bet if you've been in the church very long you know the words agape and grace and somebody told me once well grace isn't in the old testament oh the old testament's filled with grace but the word that was used is has said oh it's the most beautiful hebrew word in the whole vocabulary and it talks about god's has said it here's you cannot describe it in a single phrase in english what it means is loving-kindness steadfast love grace mercy faithfulness goodness devotion generous patient loyal love not a feeling it's expressed by doing everything that god does is an expression of his love and psalm 136 one says oh give thanks to the lord for he is good his mercy that's actually his has said his love his grace his mercy his patience endures forever now when we are looking you know first john says that we love him because he first loved us deuteronomy it's all god's covenant is all about entering into a love relationship with him deuteronomy 6 4-6 says this hear o israel the lord our god the lord is one now get this you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and these words which i command you today shall be in your heart jesus answered someone who asked him what's the most important commandment in mark 12 30. this is what jesus says is the most important commandment and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself i just want to point out one thing god's government operates by love the ten commandments are written in future tense in the form of promises the risk of love is free will and we see what happened in ezekiel 28 12-17 isaiah 14 12-15 we see a covering cherub who was created with perfection but iniquity entered his heart he got prideful and lifted up and he started a war in heaven and that's where the great controversy comes in amen thank you so much shelly for that i'm ryan day and i have monday's lesson entitled the fall and the flood and we're going to kind of continue off of what shelly just set up for us which is a beautiful introduction by the way but i had i normally try to find some little snippets throughout the lesson that the author wrote just to kind of hide in there or bring about uh something that the author actually in his own words and i love how he opened monday's lesson because it really sets us up for the content and i'm going to read through this it says almost every school child has heard the story about an apple falling on isaac newton's head and voila newton discovered gravity whether or not an apple really fell on his head isn't the crucial point instead the point is that newton's great insight was to understand that the same force that dropped the apple of course gravity also kept the moon in orbit around the earth the earth in orbit around the sun and so forth this was important because for millennia many people believe that the laws that govern the heavens were different from the laws that govern the earth newton showed that this belief was wrong and then i love this next point and though newton's contribution was in the area of natural law the same principle holds true with moral law the same freedom the freedom inherent in love that led to lucifer's fall in heaven led to humanity's fall on earth as well and that's what we're going to pick up we've all read these texts but we have to go back to the beginning to understand uh what is coming because pastor is going to take us to through to abraham in just a moment abram and uh in this case we're setting up for tuesday's lesson but let's go to genesis chapter 2 verses 16 and 17. let's start there these are verses that we have read many many times but this is where god basically he he lays out the groundwork he brings about the conditions of this relationship and adam and eve have been living in a perfect uninterrupted communion with god up to this point and uh god lays it out very clearly in genesis 2 verses 16 and 17 notice what the bible says it says in the lord god commanded that man saying of every tree of the garden that you may freely eat of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in it for in the excuse me for in the day you that you may eat of it you shall surely die so again of all the truth and i have to just highlight this because this highlights again this god of love aspect notice what god says of every tree you may freely eat i heard a minister one time say let's just put a numerical value to this if there was one let's just say there's a thousand trees in the garden of eden god gave 999 yeses to one no and that's not that does not tell the story of a restrictive god it's not like god was out there pointing out all these different other you can't go here and you can't go there and you can't do this and you can't do that oftentimes we see christianity in that way but yet we see a god of love a god of freedom because true love requires freedom and so in this case this is a god who loves us enough to give us choice and so true love as i said requires freedom but of course with freedom comes risk and therefore in the aftermath of this beautiful commandment that god has set out very clearly again of 999 yeses to one no we see the fall of man comes in genesis chapter 3 let's go there let's read verses one through seven i'm gonna read through this because there may be someone watching right now that has never heard these verses before so we're gonna read genesis chapter three verses one through seven and notice what the bible says it says now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said to the woman has god indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden so he's kind of throwing god under the bus already really god god's being restrictive in that way come on right verse 2 and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god has said you shall not eat of it nor shall you touch it lest you die then the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for god knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing good from evil okay so now she's kind of already sucked into this deceptive void and now here comes the aftermath of it so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and also it says she also gave to her husband with her and he ate then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings you know it's interesting because when i read through this could god have showed up at this very moment and said hey hey eve what are you doing what's happening here he could have showed up at that moment and stopped her right but did was she aware of the word of the lord and i think that's the point here god was giving eve and in this case also adam free will and free choice right because the point that this lesson is making is that true love requires freedom and i i was i have to mention this also because i've read quite a bit of c.s lewis over the years again may not agree with every little thing he's ever wrote but he's a great christian author and you know he makes this point that god and basically all of his his majesty and all of his grandeur and in the vastness and his eternality and and you know his omniscience and his and his omnipotence he condescends not only to make something only in his image but he invests the created with the will so authentic and genuine that the creation get this the creation could resist the creator and he says surely this is the greatest mystery of all right and and i just think of that because you can't quite wrap your mind around it i think sunday's lesson brings this out that can we fully wrap our minds around the fact that god is love what does that even mean right but yet we know that true love requires freedom and in this case god gives man the free will and the free choice to either choose him or to reject him and of course in this case man rejected him and of course it launches us into a forever it seems like forever problem at least now six thousand years into this but of course after the fall things go from bad to worse because now we get to genesis chapter six and and god is he he's got to hit the reset button at least it seems like it in this case genesis chapter 6 and i'm going to read verses 1 2 and 5. so genesis 6 1 2 and 5. notice what the bible says it says now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of god saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful and they took wives for themselves of whom they chose so we already see this this degradation of man to the point and now they're still defying god even from when adam and eve had defied god now it's even worse than the sons of god god's people his chosen people are now going outside the sanctity of the rules and regulations and the plan that god had for them and marrying within the ranks of faith within within the church now they're going outside that and they're bringing in the heathen they're basically unequally yoking themselves with the world and so because of this verse 5 comes it says then the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and we know the results of this god sends the flood and of course you know in a sense he gives men a chance to start over uh through the family of of uh of noah in this case but of course by the time we get to the tower of babel in genesis chapter 11 we see man is still intent on defying god and you so you're going through you know you see that you know you know noah and his family survive it but of course uh you know out of that shem him and japheth now they're beginning to multiply the men is multiplying by the time you get to the tower of babel in genesis chapter 11 things are out of control because you would think you know of course the word of mouth the stories that were passed down of how god had to you know again flood the earth because of the wickedness of man man things are still way getting out of control to the point that i have to read this quote from patriarchs and prophets page 119 to kind of sum up what's happening here in genesis 11 with this tower of babel situation patriarchs and prophets page 119 says when the tower had been partially completed a portion of it was occupied as a dwelling place for the builders other apartments splendidly furnished and adorned were devoted to their idols the people rejoiced in their success and praised the gods of gold and silver and set themselves against the ruler of heaven and earth and so we see this great defying just out outpouring of defiance of course in this case we know the bible goes on to say that god confused not only did he confuse the languages but of course he scattered the fallen race across the face of the earth and it's very interesting when you as shelley brought up very clearly you know you have these first 11 chapters of genesis but it almost seems like we're god is not rushing but he's swiftly moving through the first two thousand two two thousand five hundred years of of man's history of earth's history in this case because we're moving closer and closer to abram to abraham which pastor loma king is going to be covering but it's powerful to see how quick this sin issue just dominated mankind but yet the bible says god is love and we're going to be talking a whole lot more about how god is love and what that entails even though we can't fully comprehend it to the fullest extent the bible gives us glimpses and pictures and imagery beautifully so we can look into and peer into the mind the heart of god to understand just who he is oh amen we're going to be studying this for eternity we need to take a quick break please stay with us we'll be right back ever wish you could watch a 3abn sabbath school panel again or share it on facebook instagram or twitter well you can by visiting 3abnsabbaschoolpanel.com a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share a link save a life for eternity [Music] this is such an exciting study and pastor john lo mccain is going to continue with the call of abram that's right i have tuesday's lesson the call of abram now abram is the prior name of abraham one meaning the exalted father that's abram and abraham meaning the father of a multitude but you know i'm going to begin by talking about where he's from because this is very interesting because the bible in genesis 26 and verse 5 speaking about his changed name it says because abraham kept my commandments my statutes and my laws yes and it's commonly understood by many and even in christianity that well nobody kept the commandments until they were written on tables of stone well let's follow abraham isaac jacob jacob's twelve sons israel go into bondage come out go to mount sinai week before the sabbath test and then the stones contain the ten commandments long before they were written on stone abraham kept them that's right god's commandments god's statutes and god's laws and the other thing that people often think about is abraham was an israelite well that's also wrong that's right abraham was from a place called uruka's dim in the hebrew which is about 200 miles or 300 kilometers southeast of baghdad where it's located today in lower mesopotamia called ur of the chaldeans or chaldeans whichever way you say it i've heard both so god found a man in the most unlikely place to do the most uncommon thing it's good god often chooses the most unlikely to do the most unimaginable now when i read genesis chapter 12 verse one to three which we're going to turn to right now and jill i have six points yay i'm kind of beating you to the points today i want to talk about how this verse is really the synopsis of almost all christians lives when i read this my wife and i paused i called her and when i was putting my lesson together and i said look at this passage it reminds us so much of our lives because when we were praying to be involved in ministry we were praying in orlando florida and we wanted so badly to be in orlando florida to begin pastoral ministry the lord called us to northern california and and so many of these things reminds us of the parallel of how our lives unfolded but here's the verses genesis 12 1-3 now the lord said to abram get out of your country and i'm going to parallel get out of florida from your family and from your father's house to a land that i will show you we had no idea where we were going to live we started in the hotel at a truck stop no idea where we're going to live i will make you a great nation i will bless you and make your name great i wanted to say this in the context of this 3abn platform we're all on you know it's so humbling and i take no glory when we travel to places in the world that we don't even know exists that people say um oh that's ryan dave that's shelley quinn that's john loma king that's joe moriconi god has done something to throw our humble lives and this is why we have to handle what god has given to us with humility because god takes the unlikely amen did you ever think you'd be the vice president of the three april no but i looked back at jill when i called to julie because he didn't know what my name was but i look at where god brought her today i look at our time coming to 3ab and i look at my wife doing a program on 3abn her first solo program and i said she wouldn't think of ever doing that but god takes the most unlikely to accomplish the most unimaginable and he says in verse 3 i will bless those who bless you and i will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed and i tell you god does amazing things but god is the massive architect the great orchestrator he puts his plans before us and then he starts to arrange our destiny now abraham had no idea that in 2021 people will still be talking about him is that amazing only god can do that and so we have to keep in mind that all of the components of our lives can be in someone's conversation many decades from now or many millennia from now for good or bad now i'm hoping the world doesn't last that much longer but god is the master architect who sees the building occupied before the ground is even broken and he saw that in abraham's life and then we look at what kind of life abraham had and we looked at galatians 3 verse 79 the bible talks about the kind of man he was therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of abraham yes and the scripture foreseeing that god would justify the gentiles by faith preached the gospel to abraham beforehand did you ever think the gospel was preached to abraham well yes it was that's right because he communicated what the lord gave to him saying and you all the nations shall be blessed verse 9 so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing abraham first point we don't have to see god's plans to know god's capabilities that's good we don't have to see god's plans to know god's capabilities hebrews 11 and verse 1. and we're going to unfold all this in the context of abraham's life now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen god saw abraham's life unfold god saw jeremiah's life unfold he said before you were born before you were formed in your mother's womb oh i saw all your days before me and i can't hesitate but to think that god this is us sitting here is no shock to god how did shelley and ryan get there how did pastor james and jill and john get there how did they get there god saw this long before we even envisioned it the second point is when we believe god he never disappoints us james 2 verse and the scripture was fulfilled which says abraham believed god and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of god you know i love that he called abraham the friend of god and when jesus came he said to his disciples you're not just my disciples you're my friends amen amen and i know one of good my good friends uh pastor dwight nelson always talks about the friend of god but i want to say something about this passage abraham didn't believe in god abraham believed god that's right and in scripture there's quite a difference between believing in god a lot of people say i believe in god but do you believe god yes the apostle paul also in acts 27 and verse 25 when he was taken a journey to rome in his appeal to caesar he said the same thing therefore take heart for i believed god and he took it further that it will be just as it was told to me so believing god also means believing what he says amen believing god also means believing what he says which takes me to the third point in psalms 37 and verse 23 when we trust god's plans he guides our steps you know when abraham left he had no idea where he was going but the lord said i'll show you where to go i'll give you guidance god's providential system gps god's providential system gps psalm 37 verse 23 the steps of a good man are ordered by the lord and he delights in his way amen now we would think that we're delighting in god's way but the bible says he's delighting in our way that's a humbling thing can you get to the place in your life where you live in such harmony with god he starts delighting he says look look he's following the path i've laid out for god to delight in my way that's deep it's a humbling thought he delighted he delights in the path of all of the righteous when they do not lean on their own understanding and all their ways acknowledge him then he directs their paths that's right the fourth one abram's life was one of faith he followed god out of obedience not out of information look at genesis chapter 12 and verse 4. so abram departed as the lord had spoken to him and lot went with him and abram was 75 years old when he departed from haram or haran however he'd like to say that now why is this vitally important to me abram left not because god gave him all the information that he was going to need you know a lot of people don't experience god's blessings because they want god to tell them what he's going to do before he does it abraham didn't do that he said i believe you god i'm going to follow you god and god made of him a great nation so here's my point to you don't wait for the information because you won't experience the transformation god transformed him not informed him number five abram's life was one of testing abram's life was one of testing god tested abraham when he said offer up your son isaac do you know that the test will come to every one of us but the blessing is on the heel of the test so don't be fearful about the testing of god he tests us not to reveal himself but to reveal to us whether or not we really trust him the way that we should and finally those that believe by faith and follow god's plan know that his word is going to be fulfilled hebrews 11 verse 9 and 10 by faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with isaac and jacob the ears with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which had foundations whose builder and maker is god he trusted god and he looked forward to that eternal city amen thank you so much each one of you that's incredible i love that we've been spending a lot of time in the book of genesis now flip over one book we're gonna go to exodus i have wednesday's lesson which is the covenant at sinai we'll look at the connection between the cyanatic covenant and grace now i have four major points pastor john the covenant is based on number one redemption number two the covenant is based on relationship amen number three the covenant is based on god's promise and number four the covenant is based on obedience so let's unpack those four things the covenant is based on redemption turn to exodus chapter 19. now we think the covenant would be the ten commandments but it actually begins in exodus 19 and it carries of course the 10 commandments would be the heart of the covenant but let's start with exodus 19 verse 4. god is speaking you have seen what i did to the egyptians how i bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself now three months have passed since israel went out of egypt three months since god delivered them from bondage three months since god parted the red sea three months since they were redeemed and they are camped here at mount sinai and god says you have seen what i did to the egyptians god redeemed them he delivered them he bore them on eagle's wings it reminds me of the eagle you know the mother eagle sometimes they're tossed the baby out of the nest but yet the mother always swoops down and catches them so that they do not fall let's read the next verse first five now therefore now when you say now therefore that means something came before what came before the redemption god redeemed them therefore because they are redeemed you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine we see the covenant is based on redemption after he delivers them then he calls them into covenant relationship with himself we look at the ten commandments of course that's found in exodus 20 in the preamble to the ten commandments exodus 20 verse two how does it start it says i am the lord your god who brought you out of bondage there again we're reminded that god is our deliverer that god is our redeemer and if you look at deuteronomy this quarter we're studying deuteronomy deuteronomy chapter five the fourth commandment the center of the covenant in deuteronomy chapter five what do we see that the sabbath commandment the seventh day is holy is connected again with redemption let's look at point number two the covenant is not only based on redemption it's also based on relationship god desires to enter into relationship with his people from the beginning um ryan talks so clearly about the entrance of sin into this world adam and eve used to commune with god on a daily basis and then when sin entered there was a separation they could no longer commune with god face to face as they used to but god wanted to dwell with his people he always wanted relationship with his people we see this with a covenant we see this in exodus 25 8 let them make me a sanctuary that i may dwell among them we see this when jesus came the word became flesh john chapter 1 and dwelt among us we see this in the new testament god wants to dwell in us through the power of the holy spirit and we get all the way down to the book of revelation and again in that new heavens and the new earth god will dwell with his people so we're in exodus 19 the covenant is based on relationship sin broke our relationship with god but redemption restores our relationship with god that's right 19 verse 5 we already read it let's pick it up in verse 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation you see god delivered them from bondage he redeemed them he then established a special covenantal relationship with them they would be his people and he would be their god let's look at number three this is the covenant it's based on god's promise now of course we have the sacrificial system we could look at that and the promise of the coming savior we know in john 1 29 behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world and the sacrificial system established there in the old testament we see the the slain of the perfect lamb symbolic of jesus who would come thousands of years later who would redeem us from sin but not only do we see that promise of a coming savior we also see god's ten promises of love this is what we call the ten commandments now you might say wait a minute but they're commandments and it's do's and don'ts and they're very difficult and i don't think i can keep them you know the word commandments in hebrew literally means sayings like the ten words of god or the ten sayings of god and the promise is the shout and the shalt not you know thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal the shells and the shalt nots are written in the second person singular imperfect now the imperfect verb form notes that it's not all completed the action is being completed it's the same verb form used in judges 6 23 it says and the lord said unto me peace be unto thee fear not thou shalt not die now does that mean i have to sit here and try not to die no that's a promise god says you're not going to die it's the same verb tense so when we look at god's law god's covenant of love in the aspect of these are promises that he extends to you and to me saying yes i can do this in your life these are promises of who you would be in me now i've done this before but since we're talking about the covenant sinai i want to mention it again i've taken the liberty this is jill's version of the ten commandments rewritten as ten promises of love promise number one you will desire only me nobody else and nothing else promise number two you will need no other gods or support systems because i i fulfill everything you need promise number three you will reverence and respect me my name and my character and you will do everything you can to guard our relationship amen promise number four you will delight in spending time with me on our special day the seventh day sabbath no interruptions no distractions just god and us together promise number five you will love those who have given you life and respect the family that i have given to you promise number six you will respect other people's lives and hold them sacred as you would your own promise number seven you will delight in and love the spouse that i gave to you promise number eight you will have enough with what i've given to you and will have no need to take from anybody else promise number nine you will speak truthfully and well of neighbors and associates because i've placed them in your life for a purpose and finally promise number 10 you will be content with what i have given to you and will rejoice in the gifts i have given in your life so we look at the sciatic covenant a covenant based on redemption a covenant based on relationship a covenant based on the promises of god extended to you and to me number four the covenant is based on obedience exodus 19 5. we already read this if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant now the children of israel they clearly understood they were supposed to obey because they said twice in those several chapters all that the lord has said we will do but you know obedience is not gritting teeth oh greedy obedience is not trying harder obedience is based on love john 14 15. if you love me keep my commandments obedience is based on grace ephesians 2 8-10 verse 10 says we are god's workmanship created in christ jesus which god ordained before that we should walk in them meaning obedience itself is a gift from god obedience is based on christ working in the heart of the believer john chapter 15 i am the vine we are the branches it's based on us being connected to him now finally the scenaric covenant kind of winds up in exodus chapter 24 and we see that it was ratified with blood and the people said all that the lord has said we're going to do this covenant that god put in place based on redemption based on relationship based on god's promises in our hearts and in our lives and based in obedience was set up perfectly but did the people obey it perfectly did the people walk after god and seek him with all their heart did they seek to honor this god who had lavished them with such love i think we'll go to pastor james and find out what happened with the people who okay well that was uh such a blessing thursday's lesson is apostasy and punishment i'm pastor james rafferty and this is my first time on the set with these honorable people but it's a blessing to be here powerful really when we think about it our lesson starts with this bible verse in exodus chapter 19 verse 8. right where jill left off we're going to pick up exodus 19 verse 8 says and all the people answered together together there's something powerful in unity you know when you're all together you're all one voice all the people answered together and said all that the lord has spoken we will do yes it's amazing what you can do and what you can't do when you're united and it doesn't matter how many people you get together in football stadiums across the united states we are not promised keepers we're not promise keepers we just are not able to do what god has promised to do and we can't put ourselves in the place of god we have to allow god to fulfill the promises he's made to us and i think that's really the bottom line of what happened at sinai as jill as you were sharing there we got the commandments upside down we started thinking these are thou shalt not these are things we need to do and we forgot these are promises these are promises that god has promised to do in us and for us now the beautiful thing about israel's failure here in sinai is that it revealed to them their inability to do for god and over and over again i find this happening in my life i don't know if you've experienced it in your life but over and over again i find myself being reminded of my inability to do for god in my relationship with my wife my relationships with people in my reactions to things that i face in community in church in the world in the way i look at things and the way i judge people and the way i'm critical i find myself over and over again being reminded of my inability to do for god and that is precisely where god steps in you see sometimes we think that the failure of our inability to be obedient to god means we're done it's over it's ended we're finished there's no way we're going to be able to to do to be to do the christian life to be a christian but that's actually where the christian life begins that's where we transition from the world to christianity because of the world we say well pull yourself by your bootstraps and you can do it and and grit your teeth and then and try it again but in christianity we come to god as i did 37 years ago and i say you know lord i can't be a christian there's no way that i can do what i know i should be doing and if you want me to be a christian you're going to have to do it in me that that was my first prayer that was the way my life started as a true believer now i've been raised a christian home i said my prayers every night when i was drunk or sober but that transition from me trying to meet god's expectations failing over and over again and thinking i've got to do better i got to do better to trusting the lord trusting in jesus was a transition from the old covenant to the new covenant see the old covenant is not just this idea of keeping god's law the old covenant is this idea of keeping god's law in our own strength there's nothing wrong with keeping the law of god a lot of people say today well you know if you're keeping the law of god you're a legalist you know that's that's legalism trying to keep the law of god well no actually all you need to do is go to the new testament hebrews chapter 8 hebrews chapter 10 will tell you what the new covenant is all about and the the center of the new covenant is where god is going to put his law in our hearts and in our minds god's going to write them there in in our hearts and in our minds so the law is still a powerful a central part of the new covenant the what i would call the everlasting covenant i think we'd all agree it's the everlasting covenant because the first promise of the covenant that was given was given to abraham and abraham was promised something from god and abraham struggled with the promise you know i'm going to do this for you and says well you know how could this be and you know my wife there's no way that she can have a child i mean god is making a promise to us and it's typified in abraham because abraham is facing something that is overwhelming to him the fact that his wife can't have children and yet he's supposed to have a child and so he tries to figure out another way sarah helps him his wife helps him hey listen get together with hagar you and hagar get together and we'll help god right we'll help god fulfill his promise right we'll do our part right god does his part and they they do actually you know produce a child but god comes to them and he says you know this is not the child of promise this is not what i promised you i promised you something that surpasses your ability i promise you something that surpasses sarah's ability and so you know a year goes by two years goes by five years goes by ten years goes by right abraham was promised when he was 75 now he's 85. now wait a minute uh sarah was 75 85 he's 100 years old 25 years go by he's he's 99 moving to 100 years old and abraham himself finally says you know not only can sarah not have kids but i give up on myself i mean i'm done i'm just i just can't do this it's just not possible and god says yes the transition has just taken place you are qualified right now you're qualified to transition from the old testament to the new testament the old covenant to the new covenant in the context of experience in the context of understanding how god works and so abraham then has a son it's a miracle son it's not a son that that he can take credit for it's not a son that that his wife can take credit for god gets all the glory and that whole story is told to us in romans chapter four god gets all the glory all the time that's right this is the transition that god wanted his people to make at sinai sinai wasn't a mistake from which they could not recover sinai that disobedience after the 40 days was a beautiful opportunity for them to transition into new covenant experience for them to realize you know why did we say all the lord said we can do what were we thinking what were we thinking those were bad promises and of course paul brings us up in this beautiful book of hebrews that we focused on in our camp meeting this relational book paul brings out all of these truths all of these covenant truths and he says you know what those were bad promises you know that that that that the people made they were baptized wasn't bad promises that god made but it was bad promises that people made when they said all the lord has said we those were terrible promises so god has stepped in he's overruled those bad promises and he's told us you know what i'm going to put my law in your hearts and in your minds i'm going to be your god you're going to be my people i'm the one that's going to teach you i all the way through the new covenant in hebrews chapter 8 you have i i i i pointing to god he's the source this is the lesson that god was longing to teach the children of israel as he transitioned them from this apostasy and moved them forward he wanted them to understand if you love me you will keep my commandments it's going to be an outworking of keeping my if you love me so what is our focus to be our focus is to be loved the children of israel would have learned this lesson the jewish nation was to learn this lesson you know the jewish nation kept the law of god i mean to the t they kept the law of god but in luke chapter 11 verse 42 jesus says but you left out love you left out the love of god and without the love of god all that obedience is legalism and it doesn't matter if we're keeping god's law if we're keeping the right day or the wrong day if we're religious according to the bible or religious outside the bible or in a perversion of the bible whatever our religion is it's legalism without god it's legalism without the motivation of god's love because the love of god is the only thing that can actually cause us to have this new covenant experience the anointing of the holy spirit that's what's promised again in hebrews chapter eight the anointing of the holy spirit is the only thing that can transition us from that old covenant experience to the new covenant experience from that apostasy at sinai to the to the reality of having a new heart that has fallen in love with god so this week's lesson was powerful in this sense and just want to close it out with proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 7. proverbs chapter 3 verses 5-7 really powerful verses here that kind of lay out for us the outline of what it means to have this relationship with god proverbs 3 beginning with verse 5 and all the way through verse 7 let not mercy and truth forsake thee bind them about thy neck write them upon the tables of thine heart so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of god and man trust in the lord with all thine heart lean not on thy own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths be not wise thine own eyes fear the lord and depart from evil do you see the principles in there god is revealing these principles and he's showing us this is the way and the way is to have this relationship with god this constant dependence on god this continual communion with god this walk with god that causes us to rely upon his strength his power his love his mercy his grace and as we do that it works out in us this beautiful picture of commandment keeping that that jill brought to us and that that we've looked at as we've moved through this first part of our lesson amen oh wonderful we are so glad to have you join the team the family of three abn and what a wonderful addition you are to our sabbath school study we learned so much from each other want to give everyone just a few seconds to have a comment about your day amen yeah we've learned here today that the bible says god is love not that he's mere loving but yet he is love how do we fully comprehend that we're going to continue to learn that over this many many ceaseless ages to come but at the same time true love requires freedom and we learn that we serve a god of love and freedom amen and the other thing god calls us not because of who we are but because of who we can become he calls us not because of what he sees in us but because of what he wants to do in us philippians 2 13 for it is god who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure amen the covenant sinai this incredible covenant god made with his people redemption relationship god's promise and obedience i'm reminded of philippians 1 6 being confident of this very thing that he that's god who began a good work in us will carry it forward to completion you can rest with assurance in jesus and i love the fact that no matter what our failures are that those failures are doors they're gateways they're opportunities for us to see god as he really is to trust him as he really is and to have him recover us and renew us in the true new covenant experience that he wants us to have amen and you know the wonderful thing about god is love is that his government is a government of love he operates by the power of love and the unifying theme through scripture is that our god is a covenant keeping god his promises are sure and he says i will be your god and you will be my people i love the book of deuteronomy i am so excited about this study and i pray that you'll be able to join us next time in the second lesson is moses history lesson so join us then we want to thank each one of you for your wonderful input today and thank you at home for joining us [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

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Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, Deuteronomy, Old Testament, Book of the Covenant, Love of God, Law and Grace

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021