Lesson 12 | Covenant Faith (Qtr. 2, 2021)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god we've been looking at an amazing series the promise god's everlasting covenant and i'm excited today because one of our team stephanie is going to be leading us in a study of covenant faith faith that can change your life and through you bless the lives of those around you so welcome to hope sabbath school we're glad you're with us today and welcome to the team look at us again still the gideon's band just five instead of twelve because of the pandemic but god has been blessing in amazing ways in spite of the restrictions and we've been hearing from you we have more hope sabbasco viewers around the world than ever before as you're sharing with your family and friends that they can study the word of god with us on hope sabbath school well here's just a few emails that we've received from hope sabbath school members rose writes to us from canada she 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your prayers special greetings to jason jason give emmanuel a wave would you do that i like the way you put emphasis when you read the bible jason and i'm learning from you well emmanuel i want to thank you for your transparency and i just i want you to know that we'll be praying for you you're absolutely right that god wants you as you find a life partner to be someone who loves god and walks with god along your side so we'll be praying for you thank you maybe someone else watching today that was a word of counsel for you too here's one last note from oh these are wonderful names does anyone come from zimbabwe here today i don't think we have a zimbabwean kosi sukul when kosi his name means the day of the lord because he was born on the sabbath day amen what a name it is and his wife's name ready for this one sibu si siwe cebu si siwe it means we are blessed mama and papa when they saw this little girl they said sisu siwei we are blessed you know i got this email i want to just thank you folks for writing from zimbabwe i had to write and say please tell me what your names mean because in many cultures a name is very significant right so here's a note from the day of the lord and we are blessed wow holy hugs thank you for making the bible study so lively interactive simple and practical my wife and i are regular viewers and we regularly share the link with friends and family amen amen praise god yeah hope sabbah school complements our reading and makes us be and feel a part of a global family of god your testimonies encourage us and strengthen our faith in god may god bless hope sabbath school ministry and hope channel yours in christ jesus our savior and lord amen amen amen well i just want to thank you i wish i could say it perfectly but sukul wincose and cebu si siwe thank you for writing to us and we need your help right now as we sing our theme song it's a 3 000 year old scripture song psalm 105 oh give thanks to the lord call upon his name let's sing together oh give thanks to the lord call upon his name all give thanks to the call upon his name [Music] sing songs to him talk about his wondrous words let the hearts of those rejoice seek the lord and his strength seek his face ever more remember his marvelous works which he has done oh give thanks to the lord call upon his name [Music] and you know stephanie calling upon the name of the lord is always appropriate isn't it especially when we study god's word amen let's pray as we begin our study let's bow our heads dear heavenly father thank you so much for your word and for the lesson from your word today we pray that as we study it would not just be a head knowledge but it would be something that would change our lives for eternity amen in jesus name amen amen when you think of faith what comes to your mind it could be a bible verse bible passage or a bible character what's the first thing that comes to your mind jason i think of the phrase faith that works so faith producing some kind of action faith that works by love right produces an action travis i think of the word confidence when i think of faith having confidence in something having confidence that's right anyone else and james i like it when it says faith without works is dead so in the book faith without works is dead i think of a bible story just popped into my mind shadrach meshach and abednego also called hananiah michelle and azariah who were willing to walk into that furnace knowing our god is able yeah our god is that's to me is a living faith confidence confidence and interesting enough and i'm not a greek scholar but i in the strong's concordance in the greek that greek word for faith and often for uh belief or belief in the new testament it means that confidence it's a persuasion a conviction especially trusting god for our salvation amen that's powerful with that thought in mind i want us to begin our study in ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10 and amy if you would be willing to read that for us ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10. okay ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10 and i'm reading from new king james for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them all right so how are we saying like what is the bible saying by grace god yes through faith right faith acceptance and not of what of ourselves works okay lest any should boast but we were creative for what purpose good works for good works right it's the works um doing good by love right so if is that just for the new covenant or is that also for the what happened at mount sinai for israel it was for both for both what makes you say that travis because it's the same covenant it was just better promises it's the same covenant only god is with god is faithful in his promises where man was faithful in the old covenant but it's the same covenant promise there's always only one way to be saved it always has been the grace of god received through faith yes and then loving obedience like you said to respond exactly all right yes billy and also i think it's the same principle that you know uh just like back in the new uh the old covenant that the children of israel couldn't save themselves so god had to step in and save him and that's the same thing for us that you know through faith we cannot save ourselves so the same principle is applied to the new covenant covenant as in the old covenant beautiful let's continue yes travis so i wanted i was just thinking about the sanctuary because a few studies ago we had the sanctuary but when the sinner would bring the lamb to the sanctuary and he would be sacrificed he walked away and by faith he had to believe that that he was cleansed from his sin so it still took faith even to walk away from that sanctuary so i believe pastor derek is right i mean it was it's the same we're saved the same way from the beginning to the end and we'll find that it's that faith they were looking forward right to the ultimate sacrifice of jesus we look in faith back to what he's done am i right that's right all right let's turn with this concept or discussion of salvation in mind let's turn to galatians chapter 2 galatians chapter 2 verses 20 and 21. and sabina would you read that for us sure so galatians chapter 2 verses 20 and 21 and i'll be reading from the new kings james version and it says i have been crucified with christ it is no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me and verse 21 oh yeah do not set aside the grace of god for if righteousness comes through the law then christ died in vain all right so how can you be dead and alive isn't that what it's saying someone help me with that how can you be dead and alive travis that's being dead to an old life you know when we're baptized we're buried to the old life and we're raised into a new life in jesus and this verse means a lot to me i even now have tears in my eyes thinking the life i now live i live by faith in the son of god who had that that he saved me and that is that's the one thing that keeps me going day after day after day and i can wake up with confidence every morning and know that jesus loves me it's confidence in jesus it's confidence and his love for me and it's definitely i think it's really important to remember who's writing this it's someone who really did think righteousness came through the law you know saul of tarsus you know he killed people who believed in jesus he believed that the righteousness came through the rigid adherence not only to the law that was in scripture but to all the other laws that were out there but he's he's just saying no christ died in vain if that's the way salvation comes through faith in jesus so that's a real miracle isn't it transformation it is amazing transformation seeing saul going from saul to paul and that's what god wants for everyone right billy go ahead yeah i think the context was that back then people thought that um christ was not enough so you needed some supplement and that supplement was well you know i can still keep you know the law because they didn't believe that god could actually save you and with no help from from from yourself so paul was saying that there is no supplement and there is nothing that you can do at all from the faith um that you have in in in god so so the context i think he was writing was the that that idea that god needs help and he was telling them that you cannot have faith in the law or even part of the law you need to have full faith in christ who can save you so it's interesting that we would say that because many of us may have believed at some point that in order to get to heaven we needed to supplement god's plan when when did you learn and realize that god's plan was salvation by grace through faith it was a free gift for you when did that happen in your life travis i well i've told the story on hope sabbath school many times that's okay that it happened in a tree you know because i had raped being a young boy growing up in church that i was always afraid of god i figured if i didn't keep the commandments he was going to get me and and through my failures i thought i i just gave up well then someone gives me this book desire of ages i'm reading and i i thought what this isn't the god that i had been taught about and i gave him gained a whole new picture reading the story of zacchaeus and it changed everything for me amen changed everything billy yeah mine was in a crazy experience um in terms of i was in school and i was you know doing all the homework everything and i was dependent on myself in order to get through but at that time i think that's when i started taking you know um church more seriously in you know my belief in god and god was using that school experience to teach me something that's very important is that if he has a plan for me like i cannot depend on myself or i cannot depend on my intellectual knowledge in order to get through so what he did he actually even though i studied the more i studied i found out the the worst i did uh in my class and i could not understand that and it wasn't until after i've um finished the classes in in the semester then i found out that god was teaching me to be humble that it was an aspect of salvation that you know we cannot take pride in our own works that he will provide certain things but we need to get ourselves out of the way so that he can have his full work in us beautiful thank you amy you know i don't have a specific moment um it's kind of always been a tension that i've that i've struggled with um and i think i understand it a little bit being a parent and that is that we do a little bit of what we call behavior modification or behavior training with our kids it's something that you do with a dog you know dance and you get a treat you know or shake and you get a treat well we do the same thing with our kids you know if you're good then we can go out and play if you're good then we can have another cookie or and i think we very easily translate this even though we're not taught we kind of assume that that's the way that it is with god i'm a very task oriented person i make checklists i live by checklists and so it's very easy to do that with my relationship with god too and feel like you know if i have my devotions and i do my prayers and i do my outreach and you know all these things that god's going to love me more but actually it's when i take time every day in god's word to pray and to read that i feel that love that god has for me and that it's not about what i do it's just that i am praise god you know god loves me because i am and i and that inspires my faith you know hallelujah amen thank you very much amy sabrini i was thinking here um you know i think there was a time in my life that i had no idea that i actually needed a savior even so for some time even for some friends that asked me i think i would say that jesus is the savior that i didn't knew i needed in a certain way so i don't think that i have struggled much time for the lack of understanding when i understood that there is salvation available and it comes through to faith and by his grace but i think i took some time to realize that i was imperfect and i was a sinner and that i needed a savior even to myself which i think it's another side of this coin of uh legalism let's say this way because in the human mind we don't need salvation like we we are lacking nothing but the moment that you have a true encounter with god and he exposes you to your need that's when you realize that there's nothing that you can ever do to you know make up for this imperfections that it's only his grace that can make it for you so that's my experience i think that i would like amen when we truly recognize who we are then we can truly appreciate who he is and for our lives the the concept of not of works lest any man should boast but yet we are to boast in something right let's turn to galatians chapter 6 verse 14. while we don't boast in ourselves there is something that we are called to boast in and jason would you read that for us galatians chapter 6 verse 14. i have the new king james version here galatians chapter 6 verse 14 but god forbid that i should boast except in the cross of our lord jesus christ by whom the world has been crucified to me and i to the world so boast or glory different versions say glory others say boast what what is meant by that expression to glory or to boast in the cross of our lord jesus christ what is meant by that travis so it's interesting if you look at the last part of the verse it says that by whom the cross the world has been crucified to me and i to the world so the cross of christ it was christ's death on the cross that made it possible you know and god empowering us to say no to the world and say yes to jesus and live that new life and so the life we now live isn't of ourselves we can say thank you jesus because it's jesus now that lives in us that produces these good works sabina and i can also think of the context in which he is saying those things because we know that the galatians they were struggling because some of them were trying to make the gent some jews that were coming into the faith were trying to make the gentiles coming to the faith to do certain things that were not necessarily required for salvation and they were boasting themselves in the fact that they had circumcision or some other things that were of their practice however how i understand what paul is teaching them here as well you know you were boasting on your own works and the only thing we should be boasting on is in god's work and his sacrifice for us and how we actually need that and we have received it so yeah i think not in my righteousness yes but in his yes and that we should not also be putting putting any sort of weight on other people as well because look at what they were doing right they were trying to make others do things to achieve salvation or to be better when god was just willing them to share grace and partake the new message they had accepted as well in jesus amen well said billy and also um it it it's very similar to i think jeremiah 9 24 when god was telling jeremiah that you know if anyone wants to boast let them boast the fact that they know me and it's very similar to this the same fact that god understand the human condition that you know we like boasting so he's not suppressing that but it says that if you have to boast boss in the cross both in the fact that you know me i'm giving you permission to to boast but here's a directive um so i like the fact that even god is adapting to our sinful flesh and he's providing a way for us not to sin but you know boasting what needs to be boast which is you know the the the power of god yes the power of god and at the cross boasting in the cross at the cross what happened jesus well there that that could be a wide range of answers on that but jesus shed his precious blood he shed his precious blood for each one of us let's turn to first peter chapter 1 verse 18 and 19 and i'd like us to hear what these two verses say first peter 1 verses 18 and 19. and sabina would you be willing to read that for us of course so i have first peter chapter 1 verses 18 19 and i'll be reading from the new kings james version and it says knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptable things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot all right my version says redeemed that's what you're said ransomed is also another word for that when you're thinking about ransom what comes to your mind go ahead jason it makes me think of a person that's in prison or that they're a hostage they're in a situation where they aren't free and they're they're in bondage to something what would the readers of peter's epistle be thinking about at that time when they were reading that well when i think when i think of bondage i actually and especially if in the in the mind of uh the jews i would go back to moses and their being in egypt and being in bondage to uh pharaoh and then also you have the whole history of the jewish people and they were constantly in in and out of bondage to various tribes and groups and even at this point kind of in their history they're almost in bondage to some of the ideologies within their religion if you will you have the sadducees and pharisees and all the different groups so there's a lot of bondage that these people have been in mentally and physically so the from what i understand ancient practice they would a slave would be set free and usually by paying some some form of payment to set that slave free and it was the relative who would uh pay and that's what jesus has done is he has pain he has redeemed us not with corruptible things but with his precious blood and that is up and beyond what we can even imagine we can't even understand i don't think fully the love of god for that so let's talk a little bit about his precious blood the precious blood of jesus and it sets us free and jason you you mention that that it sets us free from bondage bondage from what bondage from what from the power of sin from the power of sin well from sin that's already been committed you know that and also i was speaking with a young man back home and we were talking about this very thing and if you if we cannot be freed from currently from the sin we're in we really have no message the good thing news about the gospel is that we can go to somebody who's caught in sin like the woman caught in adultery and jesus can give them the power to be free from that and not do that anymore the power of the gospel doesn't free us just from the sins we've committed but give us the power to not commit those sins again which is really that if you read and study grace grace is power power to take care of our past lives and power to give us strength to walk but that's a connection with jesus we have to be connected with him right jason and amy and savina and it can free us not even just from the sins but from the guilt that we might have from those sins we may be like yes i know that's wrong i want to be free from that but a person may still have in their mind they may be almost you could say a psychological prisoner to their past and so the blood of jesus gives us the freedom where we don't have to be a prisoner to that where where our our whole mindset can even change praise god amy you know i think a lot of times it's easy to think of sin as being something outside you know something that happens to us or you know like its own being in a way but jesus clearly said that sin begins in the heart and there are deep things in my heart that i don't like people to know about you know i i'm really good at wearing masks not letting people see my anger my frustration my impatience you know whatever it may be and yet jesus jesus is freeing from freeing us from that as well he's giving us power you know he's promising to change our heart to change that source of sin in me um and i think that's just to me that's even more powerful than giving me power over outside temptation it's giving me power over the temptation that comes from within myself amen yeah sabine yes so what i'm thinking also and again looking at the context um as you were considering what is it that they are how could they relate to this text right and i think that for many of them they could also relate to the fact that even the jews him themselves who were coming into the faith and the gentiles who were exposed to their customs that they were born in bondage with their own habits of how they believed they could achieve god's favor you know they were doing so many things attempting to achieve that favor from god that was not working you know so i think that in some way also they were being released or freed from wrong religion from um this burdenson understanding that if you do something you're going to trade that for salvation when you know that's not the truth and this also creates bondage i know of people who unfortunately don't have this precise understanding of god's grace and unfortunately they leave self-punishing they leave you know attempting to do things to achieve god's favor and that's a heavy burden for them as well and many times they burden other people with this type of mentality so i can see how can they be freed from these types of things as well by god's grace amen and that's exactly what it is he is the one that has to free us we have to move on i know this is a great discussion but let's move over to romans 6 verse 23 romans chapter 6 verse 23 and billy if you would read that for us romans 6 23 there is good news right and i'll be reading from the new international version romans 6 23 says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord the wages of sin is what death so really his blood ransomed us redeemed us from sin and death and but the gift of god is what eternal life so where does where does the eternal life come from i i'm thinking of a verse in first john actually uh first john 5 11-13 that gives us a little and some additional information related to that first john 5 11 through 13 and who who could read that for me sabina yes so i have here first john 5 from verses 11 to 13 and i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says and this is the testimony that god has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he who has the son has life he who does not have the son of god does not have life these things i have written to you who believe in the name of the son of god that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the son of god all right so having eternal life that's a good thing right and it is god it says god hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his son yeah if you have if you have the son you have life what does it mean to have the son someone help me out with that what does it mean to have this son billy um i'm going to look for the verse but basically it's like you believe in the son of uh in jesus christ i think it's uh john 8 that talks about that that if you believe in me then you have you have life um so it's basically believing in christ jesus and having faith in him maybe we would add a couple of words there without distorting the text and that is to have a saving relationship with jesus christ because it's not like we possess him right that's right actually if anything he possesses us we surrender to him exactly but um it comes back to that uh that text that billy quoted earlier from jeremiah they might know yeah understand and know me so to me john's saying when you have a relationship with jesus as your savior and lord you have life and it's not just later that you have eternal life yeah you have it now experience that right now yes yes travis well just think of john 17 3 right it says and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true god in jesus christ who you sent just kneeling on what derek is saying yes and jesus even said he is the way the truth and the life right so far we've talked about salvation by grace through faith and that we have been ransomed from both sin and death by the precious blood of jesus now let's take a look at an example of this faith in abraham and we'll start out in genesis chapter 15 verse 6 genesis 15 verse 6 and travis would you read that for us and i'll be reading from the new king james version and he believed in the lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness all right so what does it what does that expression accounted to him or credited to him for righteousness mean what does that mean sabina and then travis well i can think of you know when you want something to someone and then like if i give you a coin like or money back everything this is accounting to me is for paying back for something so here in this context i see god saying well for righteousness you are trading righteousness for your faith like you believed in me so i can give you righteousness that's how i see it and just to explain the verse too it says and he that's abraham believed in the lord and he god accounted it to him for righteousness because we could get confused he and he who the hees are but it was abraham that believed in the lord and then it was god who counted it to him his belief for to him for righteousness so could we say that christ's righteousness overshadowed human righteousness which by the way is what what is human righteousness filthy right guilty rags that's what the bible says um so go ahead so it says if god is saying well you have you don't have righteousness but you have faith so i'm going to trade your faith by my righteousness that's how i see it and going back to that trust and confidence in christ for our salvation right he had faith trust confidence in christ for his salvation yeah and that is what he was given yes travis and often we're tempted to think that it's our faith but actually it's not even our faith because if we all get to heaven and say how did you get here oh because i had faith well then it's actually drawing you know we're drawing attention to ourselves but actually it's we believe in god's faithfulness so abraham was trusting in god's believing in his faithfulness so it's actually god's faith you know that saves us so so god gets the credit either way yes so it sounds like abraham was an amazing man of faith right can you think of times in abram prior to the birth of his son and abraham in his life where you could see living faith taking place in his own experience can you think of some examples yes sabina so the first one that comes to mind is in genesis 12 when god gives a promise to abraham and call him out of where he were to go to this land that he didn't knew and then genesis 12 4 says so abraham departed as the lord had spoken to him and lot with uh went with him and abraham was 75 years old when he departed from haran so for me that's a great example you know he with 75 years old a person is already settled he already probably have you know belongings riches family members that he enjoyed around him and yet he just responds to god promptly and for me this is an example of faith amen anywhere else in his life go ahead travis so you know the most amazing experience for me well there's many in abraham's life but when he when lot is captured in the sodom and gomorrah and they're taken away he puts this little band of people of you know guys you know shepherds and servants together and he goes and attacks multiple kings in their army and i thought who would do that because it seems like that that would be a mat like you would just get massacred but god but he trusted god and he moved forward and i thought well you know what he really trusted in god's faithfulness because i would never do something like that did abraham always have this living faith reveal a living faith okay you're shaking your head no billy i mean tell me because he's 75 the prior to that i don't think he he had that faith so he spent most at that time he's living you know till 75 years old and he did not have that so um i forgot where in the bible i think in in joshua talks about that you know abraham and terror they used to worship idols so god had to preach the gospel to to abraham to build that faith and he basically you know he humbled himself and accepted that faith to him so that means that anybody can have faith it's it's i think the fight is that you know we have so much pride we don't want to accept certain things and because of that that's holding us back but abraham despite the fact that he was old he could have been like believing himself as mature that he doesn't need god and he doesn't need god that he has gone through life experiences but even as an old man he's like i need to be born again i need to listen to god and start start fresh amy yeah i mean just thinking about his story telling a lie about sarah when they went to egypt yes you know and the trouble that that got him in and you would think he learned his lesson but then he did it again you know he did it twice and you know i to me that again where's where's your faith but i can relate to that there are times in my life where i don't learn my lesson you know and and so yeah i mean he was a very real very real person and how about the how about um the choice of going ahead and taking sarah's hand mate is that right was that faith was that a living thing no no no yeah no derek was that what you're going to say yeah and of course generation after generation has had the consequence of that decision yes but uh you know i think he was a great man he followed god when he was 75 out of his homeland but he was he was what we call a work in progress he was still growing in his faith and the one high point which we didn't mention that really showed how he'd grown was when he's willing to take his only son up onto mount moriah and he did not i have no doubt he did not understand why he was being asked to do that but the book of hebrews says he believed that god that god would raise him from his son from the dead so there's this incredible faith because of that relationship that he's developed with god yes that will cause him to go beyond what he would even imagine in spite of the fact as you pointed out that he'd had many failures too yeah yeah but that gives us hope doesn't amen let's turn billy if you would take us to romans chapter four and we'll look at verses one through five romans chapter four verses one through 5 and let's see what the bible says again about abraham okay i'll be reading from the new international version what then shall we say that abraham our forefather according to the flesh discovered in this manner if in fact abraham was justified by works he had something to boast about but not before god what does scripture say abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness but now to the one who works wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation however to the one who does not work but trust god who justifies the ungodly their faith is credited as righteousness so what is what is paul trying to convey in these words we've somewhat touched on it because we've looked at the life of of abraham a living faith versus a faith that we might consider dead right what is he trying to draw what what is the lesson for us travis so i think in the context is he's writing to the romans about law keeping for salvation right because we could get the idea from reading this that well we just don't have to you know um do any good works in our life or keep the law but that's not what he's saying it's just not it's not for our salvation that we kee that um that we do we're saved by grace again it's reiterated over and over in this lesson we are saved by our belief in god's faithfulness to you to the human race and there always does seem to be somewhat of a tension um as amy was saying between faith and works let's go to james james chapter 2 and we'll look at verse 17 18 21 and 22 and jason if you'd be willing to read that for us james chapter 2 17 18 21 and 22 have the new king james version here james chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 and 21-22 thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and i have works show me your faith without your works and i will show you my faith by my works then 21 was not abraham our father justified by works when he offered isaac his son on the altar do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect so here we see living faith versus dead faith right so what's the difference what's the difference between a living faith and a faith that is dead go ahead don't don't be shy jason well living faith is alive you can see it there's evidence for it and the evidence is the good works you know martin luther didn't like the book of james because he really wanted to emphasize it's all by the grace of god but james is not saying it's not all by the grace of god he's just saying if you want to know if you have a living faith it's going to be evidenced by what's happening in your life yes and and we know jesus said that too you know about people who say lord lord but they don't do the things that i say or when he talks about a good tree will bring forth good fruit yes and i think james is just emphasizing you can do a a quick check to see if your faith is alive or dead and that is it will be manifested in what's happening in your life travis well i'm just thinking about this so then as i'm looking at this in james what he's basically saying is if there's not if your faith doesn't purdue produce works it's actually not even faith at all yeah really you know you could say it's dead faith but it's not faith i mean we couldn't even give it that name because it's not producing it's not real faith in god you don't believe in his promises you don't believe in his redemption because that does produce works in the human heart yeah that makes me think of the entire book chapter in hebrews hebrews 11 and we won't go there you can you can do that study on your own but hebrews it talks about by faith this person did this by faith this person did this by faith this person did this faith acts yeah but it acts by love and that's what the bible says right and so when we have that loving relationship with jesus our faith will cause us to act amen yes amen you know up to this point we've talked about i would say the head knowledge right we know that salvation is by grace through faith right not of ourselves it's a gift of god it's we've been redeemed by the precious blood of jesus and he separated us from sin and death and we've seen that abraham and if we look through the rest of the bible there are many others who have had a living faith and they've demonstrated that and that's all good to know but my friends if we stop there we've missed the point because what jesus wants us to do what god wants us to do is to make it mine yes to make grace mine do you understand yeah john chapter 3 16-17 one of um one of the promises of god that we are to believe and accept by faith and amy if you would read that for us john chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. john chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 and this is new king james version for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved yes for god so loved therefore he gave god so loved he did something yes and not to condemn not to condemn but the world through him might be saved yes some some people may have the view that that that god is a celestial policeman or you know he's looking up there to see what you're doing wrong what do you learn from this verse he's not here to condemn what else that he's actually working towards our salvation that he not only doesn't want to condemn us but he's doing the part of the work that one would expect to be done you know by a person but no he knows our limits and he loves us so much that he's doing the work really yeah basically i'm getting that you know god is not selfish that he wants to share his love he wants to give so um and he has a lot to give and he's giving everything even his precious son so it just shows that you know god is willing to do any um anything and even um i guess you know also the context is that you know back then you know religion or belief in god people believe um that you know god's word you know things that you need to fear that you cannot please him so there is no love from that higher power and then here's a a god who actually wants to have a relationship with you and loves you and that's something that people did not they weren't familiar with so it's a new concept and it's a beautiful concept and it's actually the truth too yeah which makes it all the better right yeah something that we can claim yeah exactly and accept yes stephanie um the precious gift of eternal life is not just living forever it's living forever with a god who loves us that much yes and i didn't understand that growing up i just thought it meant we wouldn't have to die but you know to be forever with a monster would not be a blessing but to be forever with a god who loves us so much yes why that is how does it be on comprehensive favorite hebrew word hallelujah travis i can't help but listen to derek and think of the prayer that jesus prays in john 17 it's almost like he's pleading with the father pleading that they will be with me where i am yeah he wants us to be with him it's not it's not just to live forever he can't wait till we get there he's excited he's preparing a place that's right billy yeah i just also want to add i think paul also made the same prayer in ephesians i think in the last verses in ephesians that you know the ultimate goal is so that you know we can know the breadth the height and the length depth depth of the love of god because ultimately if we know who god is then we'll understand him better we'll understand his love but he also is telling us that you know be ready because there is a lot we can learn from god in that you know his love is so amazing and it just humbles us and makes us want to do better i'd like us to look at another promise that we can believe and accept through faith and that is matthew chapter 11 verse 28 through 30. and jason would you read that for us matthew chapter 11 28 through 30. why is this promise of jesus so precious for our lives today i have the new king james version here matthew 11 28-30 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light do you have a heavy burden i think if we were honest with ourselves we have something sitting on our hearts today that we need god to intervene for right am i right whether it's a family member that we're praying for or it's a personal struggle that we have in our own lives we need jesus he's saying come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden i will give you rest amen take my yoke come up beside me yeah for my what does it say my yoke is easy and my burden is light and i think stephanie the greatest burden that many people carry is trying to save themselves and we don't have to save ourselves jesus saves us amen and if if someone watching hope sabbath school today grasps that amazing truth yes that that jesus loves them and wants to spend eternity with them i think that's the biggest burden that could ever be lifted from the human soul amen the peace can you think of some bible promises bible promises that you have claimed in your experience you've claimed by faith billy did you want to share yeah i apologize i don't know that verse but it's related relating to to the verses that we read uh saying that you know jesus says you know peace i'll give you but not just any peace it's my peace so there is a difference between the world peace which is more like you know you're resting or but god jesus promised a special peace and i think because he understood the condition of the human heart and also the context that you know people are living in that back then you know people were oppressed you know they were under a belligerent government foreign power that's basically oppressing them and they wake up day and night not knowing if they're going to be alive or if they're their siblings or their relatives or are are alive or being persecuted so they are under that constant pressure and stress and jesus comes in saying that i'm going to give you peace but not just any peace my peace so i think that's something we can apply here today that you know i think right now with the coronavirus with the pandemic with so many people dying and you are craving for peace and jesus says i will give you peace peace in the midst of external struggles and i i really appreciate what you said pastor derek it made me think of romans chapter 6 and or i'm sorry romans chapter 5 it's and if we can go there romans chapter 5 verse 1 it says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with god amen praise god amen and so many other bible promises are do any of them come to your mind you don't have to we don't have to go to it but if you want to recite it or tell us where it's found travis one of my favorites is lamentations 3 20 and 21. his mercies are fresh every morning every morning when i wake up there's a fresh set of mercies god is waiting with open arms he's gentle we just read and lonely of hearts amen sabina i can also think of john 10 10 when god promises that we would have life and life abundantly jesus so just this promise that we can enjoy life abundant for me is amazing also it's been an amazing study and one thing i want to leave with us is that faith is believing that god loves us and he has our best interest in mind that's amazing amen thank you so much i'm sure while you were watching today engaging maybe raising your hand stephanie i have a favorite bible promise write to us at sshopehopetv.org we'd love to hear because the word of god is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path and his promises my friend are for you let's pray father in heaven thank you for this beautiful study on covenant faith we thank you for the gift of faith and for the promises that you invite us to claim we bless your name in the name of jesus amen amen amen well thanks for joining us for hope sabbath school don't forget if you've got a favorite promise don't just know about it claim it and rejoice in the love of our great and awesome god and then don't keep the blessing to yourself go out and be a blessing to those around [Music] [Applause] you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

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Keywords: Hope Sabbath sschool, HSS, Hope, Bible, Bible study, Hope Channel, Sabbath school, Derek Morris

Id: x0Es6_ZimIQ

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021