Sabbath School lesson is one of the world-wide lessons studied by Seventh-day Adventist Church members for quarter two of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this second quarter was written by Pastor Mark Finley. The topic for this quarter is “Three Cosmic Messages,” and the Sabbath School lesson for this week May 13-19, “The Sabbath and the End” Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.

<p>Sabbath School lesson is one of the world-wide lessons studied by Seventh-day Adventist Church members for quarter two of 2023. The adult Bible study lesson for this second quarter was written by Pastor Mark Finley. The topic for this quarter is “Three Cosmic Messages,” and the Sabbath School lesson for this week May 13-19, “The Sabbath and the End” Join Pastor Mark Finely as he gives a short preview of this week’s lesson.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

02 A Moment of Destiny

03 The Everlasting Gospel

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

05 The Good News of the Judgment

06 The Hour of His Judgment

07 Worshiping the Creator

08 The Sabbath and the End

09 A City Called Confusion

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

Well, welcome back. We are looking at summaries in our Sabbath school lesson on the three cosmic messages. We're already looking at lesson number eight. Don't these lessons speed by? I hope you've been blessed as you've studied them or as you have been teaching them. The lesson for this week, number eight, is called the Sabbath and the end. What role does the Sabbath play in end time events? We've looked at the fact that there's a great controversy between good and evil, a great controversy in the universe between Christ and Satan. And the thing that Satan hates more than anything else is that Christ was the creator of the human race. That Jesus himself participated with the Father as the active agent in creation. As it says in Ephesians 3 verse 9, that God created all things by Jesus Christ. Colossians tells us the same thing. John chapter 1 also indicates that Christ is the creator. It's throughout scripture. Christ's worthiness for worship is based on the fact that he created us. It says in Revelation 4.11, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you have created all things. Now, in today's lesson, I write, I point out in the opening paragraph, and I want to say something about that opening paragraph so nobody misunderstands it. The opening paragraph, the essence of humanity's dignity is a common creation. The fact that we are uniquely created by God places value on every human being. The unborn in the mother's womb, the quadriplegic teenager, the young adult with Down syndrome, the Alzheimer's afflicted grandmother, all have immense value to God. God is their father. They're his sons and daughters. So we have value. Every life has value because God is our creator. Do we then mean to imply that God created birth deformity? Not at all. Do we mean to imply that God is responsible for the abnormalities that are in this world? No, we live in a broken, sinful world. So there are sickness, suffering, death, birth deformities. God is not responsible for those. But that does not mean that that individual with Down syndrome or that person that's way on the end of the autistic spectrum or that person born with a birth deformity is less valuable to God. We live in a broken world, a sinful world, where these things happen. But God is our creator and every human life is valuable to God. Now, looking here at Sunday's lesson, we talk about the judgment, creation, and accountability. The world we live in that has accepted the evolutionary hypothesis says we are products of our heredity. We're products of our environment and we do what we do largely because of heredity and environment. In other words, we're locked in. We don't have choice. That's contrary to the gospel. Understanding that we're created by God. Understanding that God fashioned us, that God made us. We have responsibility. We are moral creatures. We are beings that can make rational, moral decisions. Therefore, as the Apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5, every one of us will stand before the judgment bar of God. That is the record of our lives. As Paul says in Romans, every one of us will give account of himself to God. So because we are created and because we have moral beings, we are accountable to God in the judgment. Now, what relationship does this have to the Sabbath? The Sabbath constantly points us back to that creation. It constantly points us back to the fact that we did not evolve, that we are human beings, that we have this accountability to God. The Sabbath is a symbol of our worth, of our dignity. It reveals how much God values us. The Sabbath talks about our accountability to God, that we are creatures. The Sabbath talks about grace, that we rest every Sabbath from our labors and we rest in his love, we rest in his care. And the Sabbath talks about the new heaven and the new earth. So when you look at all of those aspects of the Sabbath, creation, judgment, gospel, the future heaven and earth, you see how significant the Sabbath is and why Satan wanted to attack the Sabbath so viciously. And the devil sometimes tries to subtly come into the church. He says, well, the days of creation might be long periods of time. In Tuesday's lesson, we point out this not-so-subtle deception. Some people say, well, how do you know the days of creation were literally 24-hour periods? Well, the Bible says evening and morning were the first day, evening and morning with the second day, evening and morning with the third day. The structure of Genesis chapter 1 does not allow for long periods of time. There's a Hebrew word, too, that's interesting that defines day that is used for day. It's called yom is the Hebrew word. First day, first yom, second day, second yom, third day. Yom can be more than a 24-hour period, but every time a adjective as a numeral defines yom, it can only by language and structure in Hebrew be 24 hours. So when the Bible says first day, second day, third day, it has to be a 24-hour period. That's it. So you now some people say, well, Moses thought it was 24-hour period, but it really, you know, it could have been longer than that. That means that you're putting private interpretation on the Bible and that, my friend, is very, very, very dangerous. So the Bible teaches that this world was created in six literal 24-hour days, one following the other, and that on the seventh day, the Sabbath, the 24th, the seventh 24-hour period, evening and morning, God rested and he sanctified the Sabbath. He blessed it. He hallowed it. Emphasize to your class that what significance would the Sabbath have as a 24-hour period if the first six days of creation were long periods of time? The Sabbath would have no significance. And what significance would it have for Jesus to say, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy through Moses as the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai? Why give a commandment, remember the Sabbath? Six days shalt thou labor into all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy manservant, nor the maidservant, nor the cattle within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. See, what significance would that Sabbath would that Sabbath commandment have if, indeed, the days of creation were long periods of time? Wouldn't have them at all. How does all this relate to end time? At end time, Satan's going to attack the Sabbath. Now, let's go back to Revelation chapter 14 and let me point out a couple very significant things there. We noticed in Revelation 14, 6, the gospel. We notice in Revelation 14, 7, a call to take God seriously, to fear God, to make him first in our life, to give glory to him in our lifestyle. We noticed, as well, in the light of the judgment hour, that we are called to worship the Creator, the one that made us. Because if Christ did not make us, fashion us, then there would be no accountability in judgment and judgment would be irrelevant. If Christ didn't fashion us and make us and he didn't create us, there'd be no relevance to the gospel, because why would Jesus have to die if we simply evolved? Now, notice verse 7 of Revelation 14. The last phrase says, worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. In verse 9, it says, then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anybody worships the beast in his image, receives his mark, and has for it in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Revelation 14, 7, worship the Creator. Revelation 14, 9, don't worship the beast. Revelation 14, verse 12, here is the patience of the saints. That's the endurance of the believers. Here are those that keep the commandments of God in the faith of Jesus. So, Revelation 14, 7, worship the Creator. Revelation 14, 9, don't worship the beast. Revelation 14, 12, here's where it all comes to a climax. The saints of God, the people of God, in the light of a universal decree that condemns men and women to death if they don't worship on the counterfeit Sabbath, the first day of the week. Here, in Revelation 14, 12, it says, here's the endurance of the believers, the saints, who keep the commandments of God and of the faith of Jesus. So, keeping the commandments of God is in contrast to receiving the mark of the beast and in harmony with worshiping the Creator. And which of the commandments has to do with worshiping the Creator? The Sabbath. So, here you have, in the Bible, a clear description of an end-time conflict. By God's grace, through God's power, you and I can stand in that final conflict. Because we know that the Sabbath also is a symbol of eternal rest. It's eternal rest in Christ. We rest on the Sabbath today, knowing that our Creator will care for us. We rest on the Sabbath today, knowing that our Redeemer died for us. We rest on the Sabbath today, knowing that Jesus, our high priest, is soon going to end his work in the sanctuary above, stream down the corridor of time to redeem us. Whatever comes in the future, we can rest in Jesus. And the Sabbath is a symbol of that rest. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for Jesus, our Creator, Jesus, our Redeemer, Jesus, our high priest, Jesus, our coming King. In the final conflict between good and evil, keep us faithful to you always. In Jesus' name, amen. This media was brought to you by Audioverse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse, or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org

Back to Menu

Series

2nd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Three Cosmic Messages

08 The Sabbath and the End

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Jesus Wins- Satan Loses

02 A Moment of Destiny

03 The Everlasting Gospel

04 Fear God and Give Glory to Him

05 The Good News of the Judgment

06 The Hour of His Judgment

07 Worshiping the Creator

08 The Sabbath and the End

09 A City Called Confusion

10 Satan’s Final Deceptions

11 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 1

12 The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2

Sound Doctrine