In the book of Deuteronomy, one theme appears and reappears: that of the Lord’s redeeming His people Israel from the land of Egypt. Over and over, they are reminded of what God has done for them: “So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders” (Deuteronomy 26:8; see also Deuteronomy 16:1-6).

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All through the Old Testament, in fact, the story of the Exodus has been referred to as an example of God’s mighty deliverance, by His grace, from the slavery and oppression of Egypt: “For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage” (Micah 6:4).

Even in the New Testament, this idea appears, with the Exodus of Egypt by God’s great power a symbol of salvation by faith in Christ: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned” (Hebrews 11:29; see also 1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

Read Deuteronomy 5:6-22, where Moses repeats the law, the Ten Commandments, the foundation stipulation of their covenant with Yahweh. Notice the fourth commandment and the reason given here for it. What is being said there that reveals the reality of law and grace?

Moses repeats the basic commandment to rest on the seventh-day Sabbath, but he gives it an added emphasis. That is, though it has been written in stone in Exodus, here Moses is expanding on what had already been given them. Keep the Sabbath, not only as a memorial of creation, but as a memorial of redemption from Egypt. God’s grace saved them from Egypt and offered them rest from their works (Hebrews 4:1-5). Now, in response to the grace God gave them, they needed to extend that grace to others.

In this case, then, the seventh-day Sabbath becomes not just a powerful symbol of creation but a powerful symbol of redemption and grace. Everyone in the household, not just the children, but the servants, the animals, and even the strangers among them, can rest. The Sabbath extends the grace given to the Jews to others, as well, even to those outside of the covenant people themselves. And it is found in the heart of God’s law. What God has graciously done for them, they need to do for others. It’s that simple.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Skeptics, those looking for reasons to reject the Bible, often point to some strong words of God that appear in the Old Testament. The idea is that the God of the Old Testament was harsh, vindictive, and mean-spirited, especially in contrast to Jesus. This isn’t a new argument, but it’s as flawed now as it was when first promoted many centuries ago.

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Over and over, the Old Testament presents the Lord as loving His ancient people Israel and wanting only what was best for them. And this love appears powerfully in the book of Deuteronomy.

Read Deuteronomy 10:1-15. What is the immediate context of these verses, and what do they teach us about how God felt toward His people, even after their sin? What do they teach us, indeed, about grace?

God’s grace and love for Israel exudes from these texts. Notice, particularly, verses 12 and 13. They are really one long sentence, a question, and the question is simple: What am I, the Lord, asking you to do but the following … walk in My ways, love Me, serve Me, and keep My statutes for your own good?

All through the Hebrew in this verse the words for “your” and “you” are in singular. Though God certainly is speaking to the nation as a whole, what good will His words do if the people, each one individually, don’t obey them? The whole is only as good as the sum of the parts. The Lord was speaking one-to-one, individually, to Israel as a nation.

We can’t forget, either, the end of verse 13: keep these things letov lak, that is, “for your good.” In other words, God is commanding the people to obey because it is in their best interest to do so. God made them, God sustains them, God knows what is best for them, and He wants what’s best for them. Obedience to His law, to His Ten Commandments, can work only to their benefit.

The law often has been compared to a hedge, a wall of protection, and by staying within that wall, His followers are protected from a raft of evils that otherwise would overtake and destroy them. In short, out of love for His people, God gave them His law, and obedience to His law would be “for your good.”

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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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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