The book of Deuteronomy is the printed version of Moses’ farewell messages to the second generation of Israelites following the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. These messages were given on the plains of Moab just east of Jericho. Deuteronomy has been appropriately called “The Book of Remembrance.”

In this book, Moses reviews God’s faithful dealings with Israel. He recounts the travels from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the edge of the Promised Land, as well as the rebellion and the 40 years of wilderness wandering.

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

He restated the Ten Commandments, the requirements of the tithe and the central storehouse. But the primary focus of Deuteronomy is the counsel to obey God and receive His blessings. Moses portrays God as One who has the ability, and the desire, to care for His people.

Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14. What great blessings are promised the people? But what must they do to receive them?

Moses was very eager for the people to understand that God had wonderful, even miraculous, blessings in mind for them. His words, “If thou shalt hearken diligently,” let them know that their eternal destiny was at stake here. What a powerful manifestation of the reality of free choice. They were His chosen nation, recipients of great blessings and great promises, but those blessings and promises were not unconditional. They needed to be accepted, received, and acted upon.

And nothing God had asked them was too hard for them to do, either. “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14, NKJV).

Of course, besides the blessings, there were the warnings of the curses, what would come upon them if they were to disobey (Deuteronomy 28:15-68), that is, what consequences their sin and rebellion would bring.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Monday: To Hearken Diligently appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/monday-to-hearken-diligently/

The death of Christ on Calvary made salvation possible for every person who has ever lived or who will ever live. Unlike the promise of the seasons, salvation is not unilateral — it is not given to everyone, regardless of what they do. The belief that everyone will be saved is called “universalism.”

Instead, Jesus clearly taught that, though He died for all humanity, many people travel the broad way to destruction and eternal death (Matthew 7:13-14).

What do the following texts have to say about how people receive the gift of salvation in Jesus?

1 John 5:13

Matthew 10:22

John 6:29

2 Peter 1:10-11, 

Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com

Paul understood the bilateral nature of the salvation covenant. Knowing that he was soon to be executed, and in spite of the fact that many of his companions had forsaken him, Paul confidently told his dear friend Timothy that he had upheld his end of the bargain. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Paul says, “I am ready [because] I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Paul, though, was always very clear that salvation is by faith alone, not the deeds of the law, and so here he is not somehow looking at his works or achievements as earning him merit with God. The “crown of righteousness” awaiting him is the righteousness of Jesus, which Paul, by faith, has claimed for himself and has held on to until the end of his life.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Sunday: The Salvation Covenant appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/sunday-salvation-covenant/