Introduction: What is the goal of the Christian life? Isn’t it to
bring glory to God? How do we bring glory to God in the midst of the
controversy raging between good and evil? We learned two weeks ago
that part of the end time message is that Babylon is fallen.
Revelation 14:8. It is defeated, but not dead. That means we need to
be alert to the issues in the controversy and do what we can to
promote God and His kingdom. Let’s dive into our study this week to
find out more about a central issue in the push to bring glory to
God!
- The Good Law
- Read Romans 7:14-16. What is the problem here? (That we
struggle with sin. We find ourselves doing things that we
do not want to do.) - Wait a minute! How can you say you “don’t want to do
it,” when you voluntarily do it anyway? (I think this
means intellectually we know we should not do it.
Intellectually, we want to obey God.) - What is the agreed-upon standard, the one that we
fail? (The law. This is no attack on the law. It
shows that the problem is with us.) - Read Romans 7:17-20. Why is it we fail to meet the
standard God sets before us? (Our sinful human nature.
“Sin living in me.”) - Two weeks ago we learned that the Holy Spirit lives
in us. John 14:16-17, 23. How can sin also live in
us? (This reflects the struggle in our Christian
walk.) - Read Romans 7:21-25. Who rescues us from this struggle?
(Read Romans 8:1. Jesus! This is what we studied two weeks
ago, belief in Jesus is the key to salvation. The path to
heaven goes through Him alone.) - Step back a moment, and contemplate how the law is treated
in the verses we just studied. Is the law condemned? (No.
Romans 7:22 “In my inner being I delight in God’s law.”
The problem is not the law, the problem is us. The problem
is our sinful nature. The great good news is that Jesus
obeyed the law on our behalf. Through Him, we paid the
penalty for our law breaking.) - The Battle For God
- Read Revelation 14:6-7. We also looked at this text two
weeks ago, but for a different reason. What two things do
these verses tell us about our God? (That He is the
Creator and that He is bringing judgment.) - Have you ever said, “You have no right to judge me?”
If you have not said it, do you agree that a person
who renders judgment over you should have authority
to judge? (Of course.) - What is the basis for God’s authority to make
this judgment? (It is the fact that He is the
Creator. Many years ago, I did a Bible study to
see what God said was the basis for His claim
to our allegiance. I don’t recall the precise
number, but it was at least 100 times I found
God using His Creation as the basis for His
claim to authority.) - Hugh Ross has a written a series of books about
the science of Creation. Ross’s understanding
of science is far beyond mine, but his point is
that God’s scientific work is astonishing and
precise. It boggles my mind that a God of such
enormous intellect and ability should have a
daily concern about me!) - Let’s bring logic to Revelation 14:6-7. What
would you anticipate is at issue among humans
during the years leading up to the end time?
(God’s authority as Creator!) - Read Genesis 2:1-3. Why did God bless the seventh day and
make it holy? (Because He had finished the Creation. The
Sabbath is specifically linked to the Creation.) - Read Exodus 20:8-11. We were earlier discussing Paul’s
view of the law as being delightful. At the heart of the
law is the Ten Commandments, and at the heart of the Ten
Commandments is this command. What is the reason for this
commandment? (To celebrate, to memorialize God as our
Creator!) - Do you find holidays and vacation days delightful?
Recall that Paul calls the law a delight. Does this
weekly vacation day delight you? - Read Revelation 14:8. If you were Satan, and you were
encouraging human unfaithfulness in regard to God, what
would you target first? (Creation. I would try to destroy
the belief that God is the Creator. That attacks God’s
authority over us. Evolution is the most insidious attack
because it claims chance could do God’s astonishing and
precise work. I would also attack the memorial to God’s
act of creation, the seventh day Sabbath.) - How is Satan doing with his obvious battle plan?
- The Bible and the Sabbath
- The reason to keep the Sabbath is compelling, given the
battle between good and evil. Let’s look at some other
texts to see if God directed any change in His Creation
memorial. Read Luke 4:14-16. What was Jesus’ custom with
regard to weekly worship? (To worship on the Sabbath.) - Read Luke 23:55-56. What is the custom of Jesus’
followers? (They rested on the Sabbath.) - Read Luke 23:50-54. On what day was Jesus crucified? (The
“Preparation Day.” This tells us Jesus died on Friday.) - Read Luke 24:1-7. When was Jesus raised from the dead?
(Sunday. Both the reference to the “first day of the week”
and the “third day” tell us that Jesus was in the grave on
Sabbath.) - Why did Jesus rest in the grave on Saturday? If your
Son had just won the “Super Bowl” of the universe, if
your Son had just been brutalized and killed, would
you not want to immediately bring Him home and put
your arms around Him? (Of course! Jesus is doing the
same thing that He and His followers had been doing –
resting on the Sabbath.) - How does resting on the Sabbath make any sense here?
(When you recall that the Sabbath rest memorializes
Jesus’ power as our Creator, then it makes perfect
sense that after Jesus won the battle over evil, when
He won us back, He would rest again on the Sabbath to
memorialize His fantastic victory.) - Read Acts 16:13-14. What does this show us about Paul’s
activities after the death and resurrection of Jesus? (The
Bible refers to this day as the Sabbath (and not by a
secular title such as Saturday or the seventh day of the
week) and it tells us that Paul and some women were
gathered to pray.) - What is significant about the fact that this is not a
meeting in the synagogue? (Texts that show the
disciples speaking in a synagogue on Sabbath might
simply reflect they were motivated by a listening
crowd, and not making a statement about a day of
worship.) - Read John 20:17-19. Does this show that the disciples are
worshiping on Sunday? (No. Recall that Jesus was
resurrected on Sunday, so Jesus shows Himself to His
disciples that same day.) - Read Acts 20:6-7. What day did the people come together
to eat and have a meeting? (Recall the Jewish reckoning of
days was from sundown to sundown. See Luke 23:54. The
reference to Paul speaking after dark might mean the
people were together on Sabbath, and they started eating
and having Paul speak after dark – thus, the reference to
the first day of the week.) - The timing in this story is not clear. Certainly, a
note that a meeting took place on Sunday says nothing
about a change in the law. If God intended to change
the day of rest do you think He would be clear about
the change? - Read 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. What does this say about
worshiping on the first day of the week? (It says nothing
about worship, but rather about putting together your
contributions. Paul tells them to do this so they won’t
be doing it when he comes. That suggests an activity
inconsistent with the Sabbath, rather than proof of Sunday
worship.) - Read Isaiah 66:22-23. At what point in time are we
worshiping on Sabbath here? (In the earth made new! This
points to on-going Sabbath worship.) - Friend, if you understand the point of conflict between
God and Satan, if you understand that Satan’s goal is to
erase our understanding of God as our Creator, then you
realize the importance of Sabbath keeping. If you are not
already worshiping on Sabbath as a special day of rest,
will you make that decision right now? - Next week: Matthew 24 and 25.
