The Hebrew nation on the borders of Canaan, God’s chosen people, are finally about to inherit the land that God had promised them. And, as we have seen, Deuteronomy is Moses’ final instructions to the Hebrews before they take the land. And among those instructions were the commands to obey.

Read the following texts. What point is expressed over and over and over again, and why is this point so important for the people? (Deuteronomy 4:44, Deuteronomy 17:19, Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 30:10, Deuteronomy 31:12, Deuteronomy 32:46, Deuteronomy 33:2).

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Even the most cursory reading of the book of Deuteronomy shows how crucial obedience to the law was for the nation of Israel. In a real sense, it was the people’s covenant obligation. God had done so much for them and would continue to do so much for them — things that they couldn’t do for themselves and that they did not deserve to begin with (which is what grace is, God giving us what we don’t deserve). And what He asked in response was, well, obedience to His law.

It’s no different now. God’s grace saves us, apart from the works of the law — “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28) — and our response is obedience to the law. We obey the law, though, not in a vain attempt to be saved by it — “therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20) — but as the result of the salvation that we so graciously have been given. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Deuteronomy could be seen as one big object lesson in grace and law. By grace God redeems us, doing for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves (any more than Israel could have escaped from Egypt by themselves), and in response we live, by faith, a life of obedience to Him and to His law. From the fall of Adam onward, up to those who live through the time of trouble and the mark of the beast, a people depicted as those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12) — God’s relationship with His covenant people is one of law and grace. God’s grace forgives us for having violated His law, and God’s grace enables us to obey His law as well, an obedience that arises from our covenant relationship with Him.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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Key Thought: The law is God’s standard of holiness and righteousness. Violation of the law is sin. It is only by grace that we can be saved. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
November 13, 2021

1. Have a volunteer read Ezekiel 25:15,16..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Since Lucifer had iniquity in him and sinned, what does that tell us about God’s moral law in heaven?
3. Personal Application: How do we define morality today? Does that definition change with the times or with man-made laws and culture? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Do you believe that the angels in heaven live within the boundaries of God’s moral law or are they free from the law? Is the law in heaven the same as the Ten Commandments were here on the earth?” How would you respond to your friend?

2. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 10:12-15.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What do these verses teach us about God’s mercy and His grace?
3. Personal Application: In what ways has obeying God’s law been for your own good? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Can you give me any examples of people you know who violated one or some of the Ten Commandments and got terrible consequences from doing so?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 5:6-22.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What was the reason given for the fourth commandment here?
3. Personal Application: How is keeping the Sabbath an example of God freeing us from the slavery of sin? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “When freed me from sin, He surely didn’t want me to become a legalist and try and earn my way to heaven. Isn’t keeping the Sabbath a form of works oriented religion and trying to earn salvation?“ How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 9:1-6.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What is the relationship between grace and the law? How does that affect us as Christians?
3. Personal Application: Describe what your definition for righteousness by faith is. What is the end result? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Flipping through the new quarterly, there are a number of titles that have the word ‘love’ in them – Love, to Be Loved; To Love God; He First Loved Us; To Love the Lord Your God; to name just a few. Hence, I believe a wonderful hymn to devote to as a theme will be 
Hymn 349 – God Is Love. Our first Memory Text says “for God is Love”, 1 John 4:8. As the book of Deuteronomy is the book of the covenant, it would also be good to add 
Hymn 347 – Built On the Rock as verse four tells us of God ‘Making with us His covenant”.

Oh the joy of being able to have the Everlasting Covenant which we find in 
Hymn 469 – Leaning On The Everlasting Arms of our Lord Jesus.

Just looking at the title of this week’s lesson gives us our first hymns – 
Amazing Grace – Hymn 108 and 
Hymn 109 – Marvelous Grace. Following these wonderful hymns, there are some hymns that give us a hint of the laws of God, such as 
Hymn 26 – Praise the Lord! You Heavens Adore Him (verse 1) “laws which never shall be broken”, 
Hymn 273 – Lord, I Have Made Thy Word My Choice, and 
Hymn 277 – For Your Holy Book We Thank You.

Sunday opens with “God is a God of love…” as does 
Hymn 349 – God Is Love. This is spoken of again on Tuesday.

We find on Monday, that obeying God’s law was crucial for the nation of Israel, just as it is for us today: 
Hymn 590 – Trust and Obey. Following this, it is wonderful to know that 
Jesus (and God) Saves – Hymn 340.

The Lord God redeems His people from the land of Egypt (Wednesday), just as we are reminded that Jesus died to redeem us: 
337/338 – Redeemed, 
Hymn 402 – By Christ Redeemed and 
Hymn 179 – The Wonders of Redeeming Love. The study then extends to keeping the Sabbath: 
Hymn 388 – Don’t Forget the Sabbath.

Thursday gives us a fresh understanding of the act of grace that happened at the cross, “with Christ, the innocent One, dying for the sins of the guilty”: 
Hymn 159 – The Old Rugged Cross.

God’s abundant blessings for a wonderful week.
We are bound for The Promised Land! Hallelujah!! Come, Lord Jesus come – very soon.

To learn unknown hymns, you will find the accompaniment music for each one at: https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/

Another great resource is for when there is a hymn you wish to sing, but can’t find it in your hymnal. Go to https://www.sdahymnal.org and in the search bar type a special word in that is in the hymn. I am sure you will be amazed at the help you will be given.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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God is a God of love, and love is the overarching principle of His character and the foundation of His government. And because God wants us to love Him in return, He has created us as moral creatures with moral freedom, the freedom inherent in love.

And central to the idea of moral freedom is moral law. Subatomic particles, ocean waves, kangaroos, though following to some degree natural law, don’t follow or need moral law. Only moral beings do, which is why even in heaven God has a moral law for the angels.

Read  Ezekiel 28.15-16, which talks about the fall of Lucifer in heaven. “Iniquity” was found in him, and he also “sinned.” What does the use of these words here, in the context of heaven, reveal about the existence of moral law in heaven?

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Both “iniquity” and “sinned” are words used here among us humans. But Scripture used the same terms for what happened in heaven, in another part of the creation itself. This should tell us something about what exists in heaven, as well as on earth.

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7). How might the same idea, at least in principle, exist in heaven, where moral beings — angels — exist, as well?

As Ellen G. White explains: “The will of God is expressed in the precepts of His holy law, and the principles of this law are the principles of heaven. The angels of heaven attain unto no higher knowledge than to know the will of God, and to do His will is the highest service that can engage their powers.” — Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 109.

Heaven, earth — it doesn’t matter: if God has moral beings, He will have a moral law to govern them, and violation of that law, in heaven or on earth, is sin.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study:  Ezekiel 28.15-16; Deuteronomy 4:44; Romans 3:20; Deuteronomy 10:1-15; Deuteronomy 5:6-22; Deuteronomy 9:1-6.

Memory Text: “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:21).

Christians of most denominations talk about law and grace and understand the relationship between the two. The law is God’s standard of holiness and righteousness, and violation of that law is sin. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). And because we all have violated that law — “But the Scripture has confined all under sin” (Galatians 3:22) — it’s only God’s grace that can save us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

(Of course, there is the “slight detail” of the seventh-day Sabbath as part of the law. Yet, for various reasons, many Christians are determined, at least for now, to reject the seventh-day Sabbath, coming up with all sorts of weak excuses to justify their rejection. But that’s all another topic.)

Even if expressed in different ways and in various scenarios, the theme of law and grace certainly is found all through the Bible, including the book of Deuteronomy. Yes, Deuteronomy, too, presents the relationship between law and grace but in a unique context.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 13.

Sunday–>

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