1. powerpoint presentation designed by claro ruiz vicente http://clarovicente.weebly.com Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012 Adult Bible Study Guide Jan Feb Mar 2012

2. Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide An Appeal Dear User…. This PowerPoint Show is freely shared to all who may find it beneficial. While intended primarily for personal use, some find it useful for teaching the lesson in church. There are those, however, who add illustrations, change background, adjust font size, etc. While their intention may be good, this is not right. Slide #1 says “designed by claro ruiz vicente.” For honest Christians, it is not necessary for another’s creation to be copyrighted in order to be respected. P LEASE U SE A S I S.

3. Contributor Jo Ann Davidson Principal Contributor

4. Glimpses of Our God Contents 1 The Triune God 2 In the Beginning 3 God as Redeemer 4 The God of Grace and Judgment 5 The Holiness of God 6 God the Lawgiver 7 Lord of the Sabbath 8 Creation Care 9 The Bible and History 10 The Promise of Prayer 11 God as Artist 12 Love Stories 13 The Promise of His Return

5. Glimpses of Our God Our Goal {5} How grateful we should be for every bit of light He casts our way. We’ll look at some of that light. How faithfully we walk in it, is up to each of us individually.

6. Glimpses of Our God Lesson 6, February 11 Glimpses of Our God Lesson 6, February 11 God the Lawgiver

7. Key Text Isaiah 33:22 NKJV “For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.”

8. God the Lawgiver Initial Words {67} What does God’s law reveal about God? When we understand God’s law as a hedge, a protection, something created for us, for our own good, then we come to understand more about what God is like.

9. God the Lawgiver Quick Look 1. The Law Before Sinai (Genesis 26:4, 5) 2. The Law at Sinai (Exodus 20:1-3) 3. The Law in the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8, 10)

10. God the Lawgiver 1. The Law Before Sinai Genesis 26:4, 5 NKJV “‘And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven…because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.’”

11. 1. The Law Before Sinai Evidences of Existence {69} Genesis 1 and 2 describe God’s perfect Creation. Genesis 3 records the fall of Adam and Eve. Genesis 4, we have the first murder. How did Cain know he was guilty for murdering his brother if there were no law to define murder as sin?

12. 1. The Law Before Sinai Evidences of Existence {69} God denounced murder in the covenant He established with Noah after the Flood. God commends Job’s righteousness. A standard of right and wrong is operating. God rebuked Abraham for his falsehood. King Abimelech, not Israelite, God held him to the same standard of marital purity found in the Decalogue.

13. 1. The Law Before Sinai The Sabbath {70} Pharaoh’s response: “You make them rest from their labor” (Exo 5:5 NKJV). The verb Pharaoh uses is built on the word for “Sabbath.” The striking language of Pharaoh reads like this, “You make them sabbath from their labor!”

14. 1. The Law Before Sinai The Sabbath {70} God miraculously provides manna for Israel in the wilderness. “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?” (Exo 16:28 NKJV), clearly indicates that God’s laws existed before the revelation at Sinai, and that among those was the seventh-day Sabbath.

15. God the Lawgiver 2. The Law at Sinai Exodus 20:18 NKJV “Now all the people witnesses the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.”

16. 2. The Law at Sinai Why So Terrifying? {68} Right from the beginning of Israel’s covenantal relationship with God, we can see a revelation of the gospel in the law. The law was never meant to be a means of salvation, even at Sinai; rather, it was to show the people their need of salvation.

17. 2. The Law at Sinai Why So Terrifying? {68} It was right after the giving of the law that they were given instructions to build the sanctuary, which revealed to them the plan of salvation. The law was to point people to the Cross, to their need of atonement and Redemption.

18. 2. The Law at Sinai The Law and the Prophets {71} Although Israel loved the law, those who understood the law’s function never saw it as a means of salvation. The Hebrew religion had always been a religion of grace, even though the people went from one extreme to the other: from trampling the law openly and blatantly, to extreme legalism.

19. 2. The Law at Sinai The Law and the Prophets {71} They loved the “truth” as it was revealed to them and as they best grasped it. A love of a set of guidelines and principles that, if kept, would have opened the way for many blessings and promises, because all that God had given them was for their own good and well-being.

20. God the Lawgiver 3. The Law in the New Covenant Hebrews 8:8, 10 NKJV “‘Behold, … I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”

21. 3. The Law in the New Covenant Linked to Love {72} From the start, the principles of the Ten Commandments were given to humanity out of the Lord’s love for people. The law has always been intended to be a blessing. You obey the law, and you are protected from sin; you disobey, and you face the consequences of transgression.

22. 3. The Law in the New Covenant Linked to Love {72} love negates the law? Love transcends the law, in the sense that one who truly loves God and others reveals the ultimate principles of the law. But this is no excuse for negating the law. On the contrary, love fulfills the law; love is the law expressed in its purest form.

23. The Desire of Ages 466 Final Words {73} “The only condition upon which the freedom of man is possible is that of becoming one with Christ. ‘The truth shall make you free;’ and Christ is the truth…. Subjection to God is restoration to one’s self,—to the true glory and dignity of man. The divine law, to which we are brought into subjection, is ‘the law of liberty.’”