Memory Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:”

Sunday, March 13 - Cheap Grace and the Cross

Romans 6:1-16 ESV “1 ¶ What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
1 Corinthians 6:11 KJ21 “And such were some of you. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
Galatians 5:16-25 MKJV “16 I say, then, Walk in [the] Spirit and you shall not fulfill [the] lusts of [the] flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do. 18 But if you are led by [the] Spirit, you are not under law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, 21 envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with [its] passions and lusts. 25 If we live in [the] Spirit, let us also walk in [the] Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES the only way to overcome the corrupt desires and propensities of our nature, is by submitting to the influences of the Holy Spirit. It is not by philosophy; it is not by mere resolutions to resist them; it is not by the force of education and laws; it is only by admitting into our souls the influence of religion, and yielding ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. If we live under the influences of that Spirit, we need not fear the power of the sensual and corrupt propensities of our nature.
Galatians 5:16 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY Believers are engaged in a conflict, in which they earnestly desire that grace may obtain full and speedy victory. And those who desire thus to give themselves up to be led by the Holy Spirit, are not under the law as a covenant of works, nor exposed to its awful curse. Their hatred of sin, and desires after holiness, show that they have a part in the salvation of the gospel. The works of the flesh are many and manifest. And these sins will shut men out of heaven. Yet what numbers, calling themselves Christians, live in these, and say they hope for heaven!
Galatians 5:16 COMMENTARY BY WILLIAM BURKITT That an inward principle of grace in the heart will give a check to sin in its first motions, and cause it oft-times to miscarry in the womb, like an untimely birth, before it comes to its full maturity; it shall never gain the full consent of a gracious person's will, as it doth of an unregenerate person.

Monday, March 14 Set Apart

Hebrews 10:10 NKJV “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].”
Hebrews 10:10 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY We are sanctified. The Greek emphasizes the thought that we were sanctified and now stand in a state of sanctification. Sanctification is here viewed, not from the aspect of a continual process, but in terms of the original change from sin to holiness, and as a continuation in that state. This meaning is found elsewhere.
Leviticus 19:2 NRSV “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
Leviticus 19:2 COMMENTARY GENEVA NOTES [holy] That is, void of all pollution, idolatry and superstition both of soul and body.
Leviticus 20:7, 26 NRSV 7 “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.” 26 “You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.”
1 Corinthians 1:2 20th Century NT “From Paul, who has been called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, And from Sosthenes, our Brother.”

Tuesday, March 15 The Sanctified State

1 Corinthians 1:2 KJ21 “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”
1 Corinthians 1:2 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY It is possible also that Paul was using a phrase common in salutations of the time. Two synagogue inscriptions have been discovered containing the greeting, “May there be peace in this place and in all the places of Israel”. Not only was the epistle for them, but it is full of instruction for all, and has been preserved in the sacred canon for our instruction and edification.
1 Corinthians 1:2 Robertson’s NT Word Pictures – notes on the city of Corinth This city, destroyed by Mummius B.C. 146, had been restored by Julius Caesar a hundred years later, B.C. 44, and now after another hundred years has become very rich and very corrupt. The very word "to Corinthianize" meant to practise vile immoralities in the worship of Aphrodite (Venus). It was located on the narrow Isthmus of the Peloponnesus with two harbours (Lechaeum and Cenchreae). It had schools of rhetoric and philosophy and made a flashy imitation of the real culture of Athens…All the problems of a modern city church come to the front in Corinth. They call for all the wisdom and statesmanship in Paul.

Wednesday, March 16 - Your Life Hid With God in Christ

Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV “1 ¶ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ [who is] our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Colossians 3:3 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Hid with Christ. The form of the Greek verb indicates that the act of hiding was complete and that its effect continues on to the present. The life is still hidden. The life here spoken of is that which the believer receives when he accepts Christ. Jesus said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). It is his now, and will be translated into glorious immortality at the second coming of Christ.

Thursday, March 17 The Law and the Gospel

John 8:11, 34 NIV 11 “"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."” 34
“Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
Galatians 2:17 MKJV “But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we also were found [to be] sinners, [is] Christ therefore a minister of sin? Let it not be [said]!”
John 8:34 God’s Word “Jesus answered them, "I can guarantee this truth: Whoever lives a sinful life is a slave to sin.”
Romans 6:13 Weymouth “and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons to maintain the right.”
1 John 2:1 Weymouth “Dear children, I write thus to you in order that you may not sin. If any one sins, we have an Advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous;”
1 John 3:8 God’s Word “He who lives sinfully belongs to the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the first. It was for this that the Son of God appeared, that he might undo the Devil’s work.”
1 John 3:8 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES He [John] speaks of sinning habitually, continuously, wilfully; and any one who does this shows that he is under the influence of him whose characteristic it has been and is to sin. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested.
Hebrews 3:13 William Tyndale “but exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you wax hard hearted, and be deceived with sin.”
Hebrews 12:4 NRSV “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Friday, March 18 Further Study

Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 312 - Envy, malice, evil thinking, evilspeaking, covetousness--these are weights that the Christian must lay aside if he would run successfully the race for immortality. Every habit or practice that leads into sin and brings dishonor upon Christ must be put away, whatever the sacrifice. The blessing of heaven cannot attend any man in violating the eternal principles of right. One sin cherished is sufficient to work degradation of character and to mislead others.
Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 314 - Paul feared lest, having preached to others, he himself should be a castaway. He realized that if he did not carry out in his life the principles he believed and preached, his labors in behalf of others would avail him nothing. His conversation, his influence, his refusal to yield to self-gratification, must show that his religion was not a profession merely, but a daily, living connection with God.

Sanctification is a work of a lifetime.....

yeah...well how much lifetime do you have left???

At least as much as the thief on the cross, and he will be saved!

Sanctification is a work of a lifetime.

That simply means there is never a time when we can say we have arrived, we are perfect, we no longer need Christ's merits.

Everyday we must "claim Christ's" merits as our own, then move forward walking with Him in truth and obedience, responding to the Holy Spirit to "put to death" the carnality of natures.

What does it mean to "claim Christ's merits".

I asked that question last Sabbath in our class and was surprised that people did not know the answer.
Some answered -- we claim Christ's power, or we claim Christ's grace.

But what are merits?

Being a former school teacher, I understand "merits" like this:

In school teachers often have systems of merit points.
If a child comes to school on time they get points.
If the child completes all their work they get points.
If the work is correct they get additional points.
ETC.

Once the child reaches a certain number of points they receive a prize.


Now, in theology, SALVATION is the prize!
And yes, we need a perfect score of merit points to receive that prize!

But we have a big problem. There is no way we can earn even ONE merit point, let alone a perfect score. No, not even one, because everything, not matter how good we think it is, is contaminated by sin and just does not count.
How, then can we ever get enough merit points to earn salvation?

There is only one way.
We are to CLAIM CHRIST'S MERITS.
His perfect obedience is CREDITED to our account!
It's a gift.

Once we CLAIM CHRIST'S MERITS, only then do our own works become acceptable to God, not to earn merits, but because we want to be more like Him, and get rid of sin and selfishness.

Already clothed in the garment of Christ's righteousness, we KNOW we belong to Christ, and in grateful thanks for having been forgiven and cleansed WE DO NOT GO BACK and play in the dirt.

When old satan comes and says, why are you trying to be good, look at all your failures.
We can turn and say, I have claimed Christ's merits, my failures are not credited against me, and I know that the Holy Spirit is working to reconstruct my life into a new creature, and I will co-operate!

Quote:

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Signs Times .1902-12-17.003
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Justification means pardon. It means that the heart, purged from dead works, is prepared to receive the blessing of sanctification. God has told us what we must do to receive this blessing. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."


NBL.065
Co-operation with God
Man is to co-operate with God, employing every power according to his God-given ability. He is not to be ignorant as to what are right practices in eating and drinking, and in all the habits of life. The Lord designs that His human agents shall act as rational, accountable beings in every respect. . . .
The human agent is to co-operate with God, and keep under those passions which should be in subjection. To do this he must be unwearied in his prayers to God, ever obtaining grace to control his spirit, temper, and actions. Through the imparted grace of Christ, he may be enabled to overcome. To be an overcomer means more than many suppose it means....
From First to Last, A Laborer Together With God.
Let no man present the idea that man has little or nothing to do in the great work of overcoming; for God does nothing for man without his co-operation. Neither say that after you have done all you can on your part, Jesus will help you. Christ has said, "Without Me ye can do nothing." From first to last man is to be a laborer together with God. Unless the Holy Spirit works upon the human heart, at every step we shall stumble and fall.
But though Christ is everything...For the power and grace with which we can do this comes from God, and all the while we are to trust in Him, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. Never leave the impression on the mind that there is little or nothing to do on the part of man; but rather teach man to co-operate with God, that he may be successful in overcoming.

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SABBATH AFTERNOON March 12

Read for This Week's Study: Rom. 6:1-16, 1 Cor. 6:11, Gal. 5:16-25, Col. 3:1-4.


Memory Text: "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

A few years ago, a young man read these famous words by Ellen White, "Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His."—The Desire of Ages, p. 25. Imagine if gratitude and happiness for the wonderful news of this glorious and costly provision prompted one man to say, "Because I am accepted through His righteousness alone, now I can go out and do whatever I want. Wow! the good news is better than I thought!"

Instead, this is what the young man really said: "Wow! Because of what Jesus did for me, because I am accepted through His righteousness alone, I so hate the sin that is in me. O, Lord, I love You so much; please change me, purify me, make me more like You!"

This week we'll take a look at another aspect of the Cross: what it does to the life of the one who accepts it as his or her own.

The Week at a Glance: What is cheap grace? What does sanctification mean in the Bible? In what ways is sanctification complete at conversion? In what ways is it an ongoing process? How are we sanctified? What role does the law play in the Christian life?


*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 19.


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SUNDAY March 13

Cheap Grace and the Cross

Last week we studied justification by faith, the good news that the perfect life of Jesus, His perfect righteousness, is credited to us as though it were our own, as though we ourselves have lived His sinless life even though we haven't even come close. We saw, too, that this declaration of righteousness in our behalf is by faith, not by works. We believe—and Christ's righteousness becomes our own in the sight of God. Aware of our own utter need, we come to the foot of the Cross and claim something that's not ours; and we get it, not because we're worthy but because God is a God of grace and, through Christ's death, gives us what we never could earn ourselves, no matter how faithfully and diligently we sought to obey the law, or even the spirit of the law.

Yet, the good news of salvation doesn't end with the declaration of righteousness. God doesn't just declare a sinner righteous and then is done with that person. On the contrary, this declaration of righteousness is only the beginning. Something else happens to a person who has been justified. It's what's known as sanctification, and it's an inseparable part of the gospel.

Read the following texts and then summarize the essence of what they are saying: Romans 6:1-16, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Galatians 5:16-25.


There's no question that those who are justified by faith will have a new life in Christ, a life of obedience and sanctification. Justification by faith, without sanctification (which is by faith, as well), is a false justification, a false gospel. It's cheap grace, which is not God justifying the sinner but the sinner justifying sin. It's a gospel that, in the end, saves no one.

Imagine two people. The first person believes that she has to strive with all her God-given might to achieve the righteousness she needs to be saved, because she's not quite sure she has that salvation to begin with. Thus, she strives for a life of obedience. The second works from the premise that she is already saved in Christ, that His righteousness covers her, and now out of love and gratitude she strives with all her God-given might for a life of obedience. Who's more likely to succeed in the Christian life, and why?

Sanctification is...
a work of a lifetime...so why does it take so long..if it is God's work?
Why does he WORK faster in some than others..or is it more complicated than that??

What are some of the definitions of sanctification?

1. Habitual communion with God
2. Decreasing frequency of sin
3. Set apart for...??
4. ??

If someone claims that they can claim Christ's merits....
can't they just slime around and get a D- and claim the merits to get them to an A+?
What about the A- who claims His merits?

Are we going to have D- people like Manassah...all the way through A- people like Enoch and Elijah in heaven and still have harmony??

Thanks chilco..I will use this quote in sabbath school

THIEF ON THE CROSS

To Jesus in His agony on the cross there came one gleam of comfort. It was the prayer of the penitent thief. Both the men who were crucified with Jesus had at first railed upon Him; and one under his suffering only became more desperate and defiant. But not so with his companion. This man was not a hardened criminal; he had been led astray by evil associations, but he was less guilty than many of those who stood beside the cross reviling the Saviour. He had seen and heard Jesus, and had been convicted by His teaching, but he had been turned away from Him by the priests and rulers. Seeking to stifle conviction, he had plunged deeper and deeper into sin, until he was arrested, tried as a criminal, and condemned to die on the cross. In the judgment hall and on the way to Calvary he had been in company with Jesus. He had heard Pilate declare, "I find no fault in Him." John 19:4. He had marked His

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godlike bearing, and His pitying forgiveness of His tormentors. On the cross he sees the many great religionists shoot out the tongue with scorn, and ridicule the Lord Jesus. He sees the wagging heads. He hears the upbraiding speeches taken up by his companion in guilt: "If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us." Among the passers-by he hears many defending Jesus. He hears them repeat His words, and tell of His works. The conviction comes back to him that this is the Christ. Turning to his fellow criminal he says, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" The dying thieves have no longer anything to fear from man. But upon one of them presses the conviction that there is a God to fear, a future to cause him to tremble. And now, all sin-polluted as it is, his life history is about to close. "And we indeed justly," he moans; "for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done nothing amiss."
There is no question now. There are no doubts, no reproaches. When condemned for his crime, the thief had become hopeless and despairing; but strange, tender thoughts now spring up. He calls to mind all he has heard of Jesus, how He has healed the sick and pardoned sin. He has heard the words of those who believed in Jesus and followed Him weeping. He has seen and read the title above the Saviour's head. He has heard the passers-by repeat it, some with grieved, quivering lips, others with jesting and mockery. The Holy Spirit illuminates his mind, and little by little the chain of evidence is joined together. In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and hanging upon the cross, he sees the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Hope is mingled with anguish in his voice as the helpless, dying soul casts himself upon a dying Saviour. "Lord, remember me," he cries, "when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."

Quickly the answer came. Soft and melodious the tone, full of love, compassion, and power the words: Verily I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise.

For long hours of agony, reviling and mockery have fallen upon the ears of Jesus. As He hangs upon the cross, there floats up to Him still the sound of jeers and curses. With longing heart He has listened for some expression of faith from His disciples. He has heard only the mournful words, "We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel." How grateful then to the Saviour was the utterance of faith and love from the dying thief! While the leading Jews deny Him, and even the disciples doubt His divinity, the poor thief, upon the

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brink of eternity, calls Jesus Lord.


CRIME AND CLERGY CONNECTION
TRICKLE DOWN IMMORALITY

Set Apart

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10).

In the Hebrew language, the word often translated "sanctify" (kadosh, or hakodesh) appears in various forms more than eight hundred times in the Old Testament. In the Greek, hagaizo or hagios, often translated as "to sanctify" and "holy" and "saint" appears about two hundred-forty times in the New Testament. In both cases, the words are translated not only as "sanctify" but also as "holiness," "to make holy," or "holy." Thus, through the original meanings alone, we are given a powerful indicator that sanctification is tied to the idea of holiness.

But what is holiness? In Hebrew, the basic meaning is "to set apart for holy use," or even "to be set apart from sin unto God." Thus, those who are sanctified belong to God and to His service.

With this understanding of the word in mind, read Leviticus 19:2; 20:7, 26. How do these texts help us understand the meaning of holiness?

It's interesting that in the Bible, not just people are sanctified, or made holy. The place where God manifests His presence is on "holy ground" (Exod. 3:5); the Sabbath is holy because it was a day set apart by God (Exod. 20:8-11); the sanctuary is called the "holy place" because it, too, was set apart by God for His use (Exod. 26:33).

It's important to note, however, that none of these things has holiness, or is sanctified, by anything internal to them. The seventh day, were it not deemed holy by the Lord, would be just any other day. Holiness, or sanctification, is something bestowed by a holy God; it's something that God Himself does, either to a person or to a thing. In the case of ancient Israel, for instance, He set them apart, called them away from slavery and even from the influence of the pagan nations around them in order that they could be a people that He could use in His service, that of teaching the world about the true God (Exod. 19:6).

In what sense is the church today sanctified (see 1 Cor. 12)? Also, look at your own experience with the Lord In what ways have you been set apart for holy use by God? How do you understand this idea in practical, everyday terms and experiences?




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TUESDAY March 15

The Sanctified State

Read 1 Corinthians 1:2. Notice that Paul calls the church "sanctified in Christ Jesus." The Greek word for "sanctified" appears in a tense that means a completed action in the past that has continuing results in the present. Yet, if you read about the Corinthian church, you discover that it struggled with many serious ethical and theological problems (see 1 Corinthians 5, 6). How, then, are we to understand that this church has been "sanctified"? How does the definition of sanctification we learned yesterday help answer this question?



In the Bible, there is no such thing as partial sanctification. We belong to Christ entirely from the moment we are born again, and we remain that way as long as we stay connected to Him by faith. Sanctification always signals a total experience of God's ownership. This ownership is complete at conversion and should continue this way throughout the Christian life.

How, then, do we understand the idea that "sanctification is the work of a lifetime"?—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 560.


There are different facets to the idea of sanctification. In the relational sense, that of our being set apart by God, the work is complete. We belong to God. We have been sanctified by Him. Because of what Christ has done on the cross, the Lord has the right to claim us as His own.

But in a moral sense, in the sense of growing in grace, we are still in the process of being sanctified. In these two verses-"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17) and "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (1 Thess. 5:23)—the verb for "sanctify" appears in the present tense, as in a continuous process by which we partake of Christ's holiness in a distinct moral and practical sense. Through faith, and in total dependence upon God, we are changed by the power of God working in us, to cleanse us, to purge us of sin, so that the character of Christ is formed within us.

In the context of today's study, read Galatians 4:19. What is that text saying to you? [/]

Eph 3
"16": That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

There is nothing that says you can't peek ahead and read THURSDAY's section early..(IN YOUR OWN QUARTERLY)..

THURSDAY
THURSDAY
THURSDAY

Rom 7
"22": For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

2 Cor 4
"16": For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

WEDNESDAY March 16

"Your Life Is Hid With God in Christ"

Read Colossians 3:1-4 and summarize in your own words what is being said about the Christian life.

These are such beautiful verses, and they so clearly capture the relational aspect of our new life in Christ. We are risen with Jesus, because we first died with Him. That is, at the moment of conversion, we died to our old self and now live a new life in Jesus, a life in which we, by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, manifest, in our own flesh, our own heart, our own words and deeds, the character of Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor 1:30).

Where do you see in these verses the hope of the Second Coming? How is that hope tied in with the basic theme of these verses? Why would it be mentioned there in this specific context?



Last week we looked at the concept of imputed righteousness, that is, a righteousness that is credited to us. But these texts are talking more about the experience of imparted righteousness; when the righteousness of Jesus is revealed in us. We're not talking here about a slavish obedience to rules or laws but the experience of having died to the old man in order that God can impart to us His own character. It's crucial to remember that we are fallen beings, and our fall included more than condemnation by God because of sin. Our fall included the degeneration of the race-morally, physically, and spiritually. Christ died and rose and is ministering in heaven in order to restore us to what we were before the Fall. Sanctification, which begins the moral restoration of the image of God in humans, is part of the process.

Read again Colossians 3:1-4. What does it mean that we should seek those things that are "above"? In what practical ways can we do this? How do what we read, watch, dwell upon, and talk about influence how well we will succeed in following this biblical admonition?




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THURSDAY March 17

The Law and the Gospel

We love God because of the salvation that is ours through the Cross. And, as a result, we want to follow the Lord in faith and obedience. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do this, resulting in a new life in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

Yet, the questions remain: How do we know if we really are obeying God? How do we know if the Spirit is leading us in a particular way or if we are being prompted by some other power? If we love God because we have been justified by faith and we want to obey Him (Matt. 7:24, Rom. 1:5, 16:26, Gal. 3:1, Heb. 5:9, 1 Pet. 4:17), we should know what God expects from us.

Read the following texts. What's the one clear message they have for us as Christians? John 8:11, 34; Gal. 2:17; John 8:34; Rom. 6:13; 1 John 2:1; 3:8; Heb. 3:13; 12:4.


How could there be all these admonitions against sin for the Christian, unless there was a law to define sin (Rom. 7:7, 1 John 3:4)? The existence of sin automatically means the existence of the law. You can't have sin without law, any more than you can have a crime without law. For the New Testament to demand that we refrain from sin, and yet to weaken or nullify the law, makes about as much sense as a nation demanding that citizens not steal cars while, at the same time, annulling or weakening laws against auto theft.

God's law is spiritual (Rom. 7:14), and it is made for spiritual beings, beings who are moved by the Holy Spirit to obey the Lord. The law was made not to save anyone but to frame, as it were, safe borders for us, to help us understand how we are to reveal in our lives the love for God that we profess. Anyone can profess that he or she loves God, and people through the years, claiming to be "led by the Spirit," have sought to express this "love" in some very strange and even hurtful ways. The Bible, however, without ambiguity, tells us how we are to reveal that love: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3). The Spirit is going to lead us, not contrary to the law but in a way that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4).

Why do you think, based on your own walk with the Lord, that God wants us to keep His law? How is God's love revealed to us through His law?





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FRIDAY March 18

Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 309-322; Faith and Works, pp. 29-32.
"In order to receive help from Christ, we must realize our need. We must have a true knowledge of ourselves. It is only he who knows himself to be a sinner that Christ can save. Only as we see our utter helplessness and renounce all self-trust, shall we lay hold on divine power.

"It is not only at the beginning of the Christian life that this renunciation of self is to be made. At every advance step heavenward it is to be renewed. All our good works are dependent on a power outside of ourselves; therefore there needs to be a continual reaching out of the heart after God, a constant, earnest confession of sin and humbling of the soul before Him. Perils surround us; and we are safe only as we feel our weakness and cling with the grasp of faith to our mighty Deliverer."—Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, pp. 455, 456.

"With many, sanctification is only self-righteousness. And yet these persons boldly claim Jesus as their Saviour and Sanctifier. What a delusion! Will the Son of God sanctify the transgressor of the Father's law—that law which Christ came to exalt and make honorable?"—Faith and Works, p. 29.



Discussion Questions: A man (let's call him Stanley) said that a leader of a small religious group kept on trying to win him over to Jesus, but he refused to listen. Then the leader of the community gave Stanley his wife for the night. Stanley later gave his testimony, saying, "That night changed my life, for that was when I learned about God's love for me." Stanley and his pastor may have been sincere in their faith, but sincerity alone is no safeguard against error and presumption. The pastor's so-called generosity in sharing his wife undermines the very principle it claims to uphold: the sacrificial love of Christ. A true understanding of the gospel leaves no room for condoning or engaging in such a practice. In particular, what would the law of God say here to Stanley? How could the law have helped him form a better judgment about his experience? What does this story tell us about the importance of the law for all Christians?
Most Christians understand that justification is by faith. Why must sanctification be by faith, as well? See Acts 26:18.

Ellen White wrote that all our good works are dependent upon a power "outside of ourselves" (see above). What is the key we need in order to have this outside power work in our lives?

LAW


Want to find out the spiritual maturity of the class members?

Just bring up the law and see what the comments are.