Sabbath: The Road to Faith
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read for This Week’s Study: Gal. 3:21-25; Lev. 18:5; Rom. 3:9-19; 1 Cor. 9:20; Rom. 3:1-2; Rom. 8:1-4.
Memory Text: “Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Galatians 3:22, NKJV).
Homing pigeons long have been known for their ability to fly hundreds of miles a day and arrive at their destination with amazing accuracy. Yet, even the best homing pigeons at times have become disoriented, never returning to their starting point. The worst incident happened in England, when about fifty-five thousand birds never came back to their lofts.
As most of us have experienced in one way or another, being disoriented, or lost, is not enjoyable. It fills us with fear and anxiety; it can lead us to moments of panic, as well.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. Even after we accept Christ, we can get lost, or disoriented, even to the point of never returning to the Lord.
The good news is, however, that God has not left us to ourselves. He has mapped out the road to faith, as revealed in the gospel, and that path includes the law. Many people try to separate the law from the gospel; some even see them as contradictory. Not only is this view wrong, it can have tragic consequences. Without the law, we would have no gospel. It’s hard, really, to understand the gospel without the law.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 12.
(41)
Getting lost can be life threatening.
People die each year trying to find their way home.
Money and resources are lost in search.
We have been lost no way to return home.
In Luke 15 in the Parable of the lost sheep.
It is God who initiated the search for the lost.
It is God who began calling us by name (in the garden Adam where are you)
When Jesus began his ministry
Those who were living in the darkness saw a great light.
The darkness could not quench that light.
Are you walking in that light?
How have you been the beacon of light for someone in your life?
The gospel was preached to Abraham. Gal 3:8.
The law came 430 years after the gospel was preached to Abraham. Gal 3:17.
Abraham understood the gospel, and was declared righteous. Gal 3:6
Therefore, Abraham understood to gospel WITHOUT the law. Consequently, we have the gospel WITHOUT the law.
"Many people" are not trying to separate the law from the gospel, scripture did.
Note, there was always "law." By one man sin came into the world. Rom 5:12.
Sin is the transgression of law. 1 John 3:4 In the original language of the text, there is no definite article "the."
So sin is not the transgression of the Ten Commandments, Sin is the transgression of law, period.
"Without the law, we would have no gospel." There are two key words in that statement, Firstly, law and secondly gospel. How we understand God's law and how we interpret the gospel are key to possible misunderstanding of one or both of these key words.
Mrs White wrote in [Thoughts from the mount of blessing page 109] that in heaven "the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy."
So wrongly understood, that God's laws are imposed laws, where they are simply arbitrary or a simple test of our obedience, and that the gospel is simply a human based gospel where what Christ achieved (according to the penal substitutionary theory) a theory of the atonement within Christian theology, argues that Christ, by his own sacrificial choice, was punished (penalised) in the place of sinners (substitution), thus legally satisfying the demands of justice so God can justly forgive the sins.
However, correctly understood in a larger view, some call the "Great Controversy view", where God's laws are natural laws, where they are simply how God created the world by design, and we understand the Gospel to be that God is not the kind of person His enemies have made Him out to be -- arbitrary, unforgiving, vengeful and severe. Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." God is just as loving and trustworthy as His Son, just as willing to forgive and heal. Though infinite in majesty and power, our Creator is an equally gracious Person who values nothing higher than the freedom, dignity, and individuality of His intelligent creatures -- that their love, their faith, their willingness to listen and obey may be freely given. He even prefers to regard us not as servants but as friends. (As Mrs White wrote in Thoughts from the mount of blessing page 109)
This is the truth revealed through all the books of Scripture. This is the everlasting Good News that wins the trust and admiration of God's loyal children throughout the universe.
So correctly understood, we always need to tie in this good news when we talk about the gospel and the law.
The law only justifies or it only condemns. While it is holy, just, and good, it cannot forgive or give life. Only the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is able to forgive, justify, and revive with life. Let us stay focused on this law of Jesus. And this it is not the 10 commandment law even though this law is included there but this is only a mirror. The mirror only shows the flaws but it cannot do away with them. Jesus is the soap and water to remove the flaws in our lives and also to give us eternal life.