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HopeLives365

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2025: God's Love and Justice

Mark Finley

01 God Loves Freely

Welcome again to another series of Sabbath School lessons with our Hope Lives 365 Sabbath School discussion.

The lessons this quarter are entitled, God's Love and Justice.

Peckham was the professor of theology and Christian philosophy at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary when he wrote the lessons, but now he is the editor of the Adventist Review, 1 of my colleagues there in the General Conference Office building.

The lessons this quarter focus on God's love and how that relates to God's justice.

The very core of Christian faith is God's love.

The great controversy between good and evil focuses around the section, the issue of whether God is worthy to be loved, worshipped, and praised.

There'll be many questions that we answer during this series of lessons on God's love, such as what is love?

If God is a God of love, why is there so much evil in the world?

Why does it appear that God is not just if he allows innocent people to suffer?

Those questions are answered profoundly in scripture and they'll be unfolded in this series of lessons.

But let's just dive right into lesson number 1, titled God's Love Freely.

The text comes from Hosea, I'll heal their backsliding, I will love them freely for my anger has turned away from him.

What is this free love of God that he gives us.

You recall, as it states in the introduction of the lesson, that Peter denied his Lord 3 times.

And the question that Jesus asked Peter was very interesting.

And Peter says, Lord, you know I love you.

Share with them the loving good news of the word of God.

Then Jesus asked Peter again, do you love me?

Peter says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus says, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.

In other words, Jesus is saying to him, my love for you is much stronger, much greater than your love for me.

Then my love for you forgives you when you fail.

My love for you gives you a second chance.

My love is a love that rebuilds human lives.

My love is not dependent upon your actions toward me." Our actions can affect God's emotions and it can affect God's blessings coming to us.

But our actions cannot affect God's love.

In fact, Sunday's lesson points that out in a section called Beyond Reasonable Expectations.

We find the story of Moses coming down off the mountain after the Israelites had been worshipping around the golden calf.

Moses smashes the 10 Commandment law and there in Exodus chapter 32 or 33 verses 15 to 22 we read these verses.

Then he said to them, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us." In other words, they've been worshiping, they've been at the mountain, Moses is up on the mountain, Israel rebels, they worship around the golden calf, and Moses is saying, don't forsake us, lead us on to the promised land.

We go on in the reading to verse 18 and 19.

Then God says to Moses, I'll make my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion." Here, God is saying to Moses, not, oh, I'm compassionate on some and not on others.

He's saying, look, Moses, my love leads me to be compassionate on those who have messed up.

My love leads me to be compassionate even on those that have rebelled.

I will be, Moses, You can't dictate to me who I will love and how I will love them.

These are your people, but most of all, these are my people.

And they have failed, yes, Moses, but I'm gonna love them freely.

Here in the lesson, the last 2 paragraphs in Sunday's lesson state this clearly.

Essentially, God is proclaiming that as the creator of all, he has the right and authority to grant grace and compassion freely to even the most undeserving people.

And he is doing so in this situation, even after the Golden Calf rebellion, by granting mercy to his people, Israel, even if they didn't deserve it.

He reaches out in compassion to us even when we don't deserve it.

That is revealed in Monday's lesson in the story of Hosea and Gomer.

God tells Hosea to go out and bring his wife back, bring this prostitute back, and 1 who has totally rebelled against all moral and ethical principles.

And here in Hosea chapter 14, we read the story, and Hosea 14, and really the story of Hosea and Gomer, and Hosea going out and reaching out to this 1 who betrayed him, this 1 who committed adultery.

Hosea going out and alluring her back, winning her back by love, bringing her back to his household is the story of God reaching out to Israel.

God reaching out to his chosen people, God redeeming his chosen people.

Hosea chapter 14, verse 1, "'O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you've stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take words with you and return to the Lord.

Say to him, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips." Then, verse 4, an amazing verse, 1 of the most outstanding verses on God's love in the Bible, I will heal her backsliding.

I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." Now, what does it mean that God will love us freely?

It means that unconditionally, flowing from his heart of love, there will be that waterfall, that cascade of love that flows upon us.

Here, there's an interesting word used for freely.

It's a Hebrew word that is also used to mean voluntarily, something that flows from the heart, something that is not coerced.

God's love flows to us because God is loving.

And this word also is used, this word ned aba is also used for the sacrifices that Israel was to bring.

They were voluntary, they weren't forced.

So God's loving us freely means that love flows from the heart of God.

It is a love that cannot be earned, a love that we have no merit for, but a love that loves because the very nature of love is loving.

It's a love that's freely given, Tuesday's lesson.

God not only continued to bestow his love freely on Israel, despite repeated rebellions, but God also continues to bestow love freely upon us, even when we were sinners.

We do not deserve God's love and we could never earn it.

Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 is really a powerful verse in Scripture.

It talks about why God is worthy of our worship, why God is worthy of our praise, why he's worthy of our honor.

Revelation 14, chapter 4, verse 11 says, "'For you are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things, and by your will, they exist and were created.

02 Covenantal Love

We're diving into our second lesson this quarter, God's Love and Justice.

This quarter leads us deeply into an understanding of God's love.

The title of lesson number 2 is Covenantial Love.

And let's pray before we actually study the lesson.

Father in heaven, we thank you for these lessons on God's love.

They have a profound influence in our lives.

And I pray that as we study this lesson, Covenantial Love, that you will move upon our hearts as we are navigating through this lesson together and going over each day.

We pray that the Spirit of God that prompted the author to write the lesson, that same spirit that prompted the Bible writers would prompt us just now, open our hearts and minds in Christ's name, amen.

The title of the lesson kind of intrigued me when it said, covenantial love.

A covenant is an arrangement between 2 parties.

We talk about the marriage covenant And at the marriage altar, the man makes certain vows, the wife makes certain vows.

It's an arrangement between the 2 of them.

A covenant, sometimes if you're in a homeowner's association, There's covenants that you have to assign, certain basic agreements in housing that have to be signed.

So a covenant is this arrangement, an agreement between 2 people, and it has terms of the covenant.

Now, the interesting thing about God's covenant is this.

God's covenant is based solely on the foundation of his love.

Now we have responsibility, as I will point out in the lesson and as our author points out, to respond to that.

But we don't determine the terms of the covenant.

We don't determine the specificity, the specifics of the covenant.

We can determine our response to the covenant and receive the blessings of the covenant.

I like it what our author says in the introduction to the lesson.

Peckham puts it this way, "'Scripture also teaches that God's love is not unilateral.'" In other words, his love flows from his heart, but deeply relational.

It makes a profound difference to God whether or not humans reflect his love back to him and to others.

So God establishes this covenant of love with us.

But God doesn't just establish this covenant and sit back unaffected by our response to it.

Our response to this covenant can bring joy or sorrow to God.

You remember in Luke 15, it says, "'There's joy in heaven over 1 sinner that repents.'" In the book of Lamentations, it says, "'Is there any sorrow like my sorrow, you that pass by?' So God is affected by our behavior, he's affected by the way we relate to others.

But that does not change the terms of the covenant.

Now in Sunday's lesson, we talk about the everlasting love of God.

Psalm 33, verse 5, sets the tone for the lesson.

It says, God loves righteousness and justice.

Our theme for this quarter is God's love and justice.

So verse 5, God loves righteousness and justice.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

So God's covenant is based upon his what?

We're studying that theme of God's love and God's goodness.

God's love to me is his goodness revealed to me.

Psalm 145 and verse 9, the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works.

The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.

The Lord is good to all, even to poverty-stricken people, even to people who are born with deformities, even to a divorced woman whose husband had beaten her and abused her.

When it says the Lord is good to all, in my understanding it means this, that in spite of what happens to me in life, if I look to God, His goodness will flow into my heart and heal my deepest hurt." What it means to me is the poverty-stricken child, the young man suffering with leukemia, the woman who's been abused, As they look to God in ways that are divinely mysterious, God's love will be poured into their hearts and they will ultimately have a certain sense of peace in their life because God will never break his covenant of love with us.

God's love leads him to desire that every human being be saved.

And at times in life, circumstances take place to lead people to depend totally, only, completely upon God.

In the lesson on Sunday, we look to 2 passages that actually the author lists 3, I'm going to look at 2 that have become 2 of my favorite passages in all the Bible.

You know, people say to me, Pastor Mark, what's your favorite passage in the Bible?

And I tease them often and say, the 1 that I'm reading.

But these, I would have to say, are 2 of my favorite passages of the Bible.

Second Peter chapter 3, verse 9 is really an incredible verse, profound.

"'The Lord's not slack concerning his promise, ' this is 2 Peter 3, verse 9, "'as some men count slackness, "'but his longsuffering toward us.'" This word longsuffering means he suffers long.

Not only is he patient, but he suffers long with the agony, the heartache, the sickness, the suffering in our world.

He suffers long, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Because he doesn't want anybody to perish.

Love wants the best, and the best is salvation.

The best is living in heaven with Jesus, and he doesn't want anybody to perish.

We look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4, a similar passage.

You see in the Bible the interrelationship between passages.

1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4, and I read, who desires.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved, all men and women to be saved, to come to a knowledge of the truth.

What's God's goal for every single 1 of us?

God's goal for every 1 of us is to be saved, to come to an amazing knowledge of the truth of his word.

That is why he's established this covenant of love.

We find it here in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6 to 9 in Monday's lesson.

Monday's lesson sets forth the fact that God's covenant of love is not dependent on our behavior.

We're looking there at Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 to 9.

Some people have the mistaken idea that God only loves them when they do right, that if they do wrong, God doesn't love them.

Our rebellion against God's will does not stop God from loving us.

It stops us from receiving the blessings of that love.

It shuts the door of heaven upon us because of the fact that we are incapable of living in a land of purity if we're impure, of honesty if we're dishonest, of peace and harmony if we're angry.

So the reason that our rejection of God's love shuts the door of heaven to us is not because he stops loving us, but because we become incapable of living in the land of eternity.

The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people.

But because the Lord loves you, because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh of Egypt.

Therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps the covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments.

So here, God's love reaches out to us in spite of our obedience, but God's love will never give us the abundance of his blessings without obedience.

And that's what the Bible means when it says, he keeps his covenant and mercy for a thousand generations, those who love him and keep his commandments.

His love for us never changes, but our love for him can change.

But if we love him and obey him, We receive the blessings of his love.

03 To Be Pleasing to God

Thank you for joining us again for our Sabbath School series, this summary of Sabbath School lessons.

I'm really enjoying these lessons, God's Love and Justice.

There's real depth to the lessons and each lesson as I review it I learn something new, something fresh, something vibrant about the character of God.

So let's pray as we jump right into the lesson today.

Father in heaven, thank you for this lesson to be pleasing to God.

And in the depths of our hearts, we long to please you.

The passion of our life is to please you.

So help us have divine insights in how we can more effectively please you from this lesson in Christ's name, amen.

The title of our lesson is To Be Pleasing to God.

I remember something an old preacher told me once.

He said, when we desire to please God and do what we can by his grace to please him, in spite of our being faulty, human, making mistakes, we do please him.

In other words, it's our desire to please him.

It's what's in the heart that really counts.

Our author of this week's lesson begins the lesson with a fascinating illustration.

He says, let's suppose there's a little boy.

This boy may be 5 years old, comes to his father on Father's Day with a handmade gift.

Now the gift is wrapped poorly, sloppily.

Let's suppose the father said, son, that's what a cheap gift.

You know, I could buy a gift much better than that myself.

In fact, I probably gave you the money to make the gift.

The material that you made comes from my own purse and I really don't need your gift.

You and I would say, what a heartless father.

We would say, what a cold, unfeeling father.

It's not the value of the gift, it's the heart of the gift giver.

He owns the world, but when we give our lives to him, in attempt by his grace and the frailty of our humanity to please him, we please him.

So let's jump right into the Sunday's lesson.

On Sunday's lesson it tells the story of the the prodigal son.

It's found in Luke chapter 15 and we start there with verse 11.

There's a couple things I want to point out in that story that you may have not seen.

Luke chapter 15 verse 11, a certain man had 2 sons.

The younger of them said to his father, father give me the portion of the goods that falls to me, so he divided them his livelihood.

Now notice that younger son said give me, give me, give me, the very essence of selfishness.

So this young boy was filled with selfishness.

He wanted to make his own decisions and wanted his father's money.

It says in the text, verse 13, Not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

It says he spent all, and when there was arose a certain famine, he began to be in want.

He joins himself, that is to say, he wants to preserve himself from self-destruction.

So he joins himself, he unites with a citizen of that country, and he sent him into the fields to feed swine.

Now think of it, here is a young Jewish boy who demands from his father's inheritance.

He goes and lives a profligate life of drinking and alcohol and prostitutes and finally he ends up feeding pigs.

It says that he's in there in verse 16, he would gladly have filled his stomach with pods that the swine ate and no 1 gave him anything.

When he came to himself, I love that, when he came to himself.

When we live a life separated from God, we are not in harmony with our true self.

It says, when he came to himself, in other words, when he came to his senses, when reason returned to him.

When we run from God and live a life of pleasure, we drift from our true identity.

And so he says, I will arise and go to my father.

The essence of the Christian life is responding to the grace of God by making a positive volitional choice of the will.

Now, I can imagine that his father was looking down that long, dusty road.

I can imagine that his father every day went down and he was praying that his son would come back.

And it says, I will go to my father and say to him, Father I've sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

So he rehearses the speech in his mind again and again and again.

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Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2025: God's Love and Justice

07 The Problem of Evil

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