Cambridge Church of Seventh-day Adventists, Medford MA

The Laws of God

"I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" Ps 40:10

The great principles of God's law are embodied in the Ten Commandments and exemplified in the life of Christ. They express God's love, will, and purposes concerning human conduct and relationships and are binding upon all people in every age. The precepts are the basis of God's covenant with His people and the standard in God's judgment. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit they point out sin and awaken a sense of works, but its fruitage is obedience to the Commandments. This obedience develops Christian character and results in a sense of well-being. It is an evidence of our love for the Lord and our concern for our fellow men. The obedience develops Christian character our love for the Lord and concern for our fellow men. The obedience of faith demonstrates the power of Christ to transform lives, and therefore strengthens Christian witness.

SDA Beliefs # 18

The Ten Commandments are the Law of Love-- a transcript of God's character. Remember, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. See Matthew 22:37-40. The first four Commandments define how we can develop an intimate love relationship with God-- loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The final six Commandments define how we can love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love said Jesus in John 14:15, 15:10. See Romans 13:10. In the en-time book of the Bible, Revelation 12:17, identifies the saints of God as those who keeping the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus while Satan angry at them. "and the dragon (Satan) was enraged with the woman (church), and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (gift of prophecy).

Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it, is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin.  Christ has a church in every age. Obedience to the commandments of God gives us a right to the privileges of His church.

" 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.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.  I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.  And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." Romans 7:7-12

The Ten Commandments And God spoke all these words, saying: I You shall have no other gods before Me II You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. III You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. IV Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. V Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you. VI You shall not murder. VII You shall not commit adultery. VIII You shall not steal. IX You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. X You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Exodus 20: 2 - 17 These are the Moral Laws of God

The seventh day (Saturday) is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Just as Jesus Christ created man, He created the Sabbath for man's benefit. See Mark 2:28. Hebrews 4:1-10. Genesis 2:1-3; --Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Exodus 20:1-17; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; Isaiah 58:13, 14;

The Sabbath Law The fourth commandment of the Ten Commandment of God's moral law requires the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. It is a sacred day of rest, a memorial of creation and a sign of re-creation and redemption as well as sanctification. It is a spiritual institution dedicated to religious worship and study. True Sabbath observance requires cessation of all secular work at sunset Friday until sunset Saturday. Preparation for the Sabbath is to be completed on Friday before the Sabbath begins. Leviticus 23:32; Exodus 16:22, 23; Luke 23:54; Mark 16:1. Since Christ and the apostles always, both before and after the crucifixion and resurrection, observed the 7th-day Sabbath, it is and remains the true day of rest. God instituted the Sabbath at Creation-- He blessed and sanctified the seventh day. This is the only reason for the weekly time cycle. Genesis 2:2-3 God made the Sabbath for the benefit of mankind. Mark 2:27 Abraham and his descendants keep the Sabbath and all of God's commandments. Genesis 26:4-5 Before God handed down the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, it was require of Moses and the children of Israel to keep God's Sabbath law. Exodus 16:4, 26-30 God reinforced His Ten Commandments-- in stone, with His own finger. He placed special emphasis on remembering His seventh-day Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-11 Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords-- made it his custom to keep each Sabbath by attending worship services. Luke 4:16 Jesus prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem forty years after His death (AD 70), in it He underscored the fact that His followers would still be observing his sacred weekly Sabbath day. Matthew 24:20 Jesus said He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it spiritual meaning. He emphatically declared that not one 'jot or tittle' would be changed until heaven and earth pass away. Matthew 5:17-18 Christ's disciples kept the Sabbath after the Crucifixion. And they have no mention of any changing of eliminating the seventh-day Sabbath after Christ's death. Luke 23:56, Acts 13:14; 42-44; 16:13; 18:4 The Old Covenant contained the Ten Commandments. Exodus 24:4; 7-8; Deuteronomy 31:24-26 The New Covenant contains the Ten commandments. Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:8, 10 All of God's redeemed people (all flesh) will celebrate the Sabbath in the new heavens and new earth for all of eternity. Isaiah 66:22-23 This law is from creation of the Earth and will be forever

"Every person should have a knowledge of nature's remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge." The Cambridge SDA Church Health Ministries department can provide more information on these laws as shown below. The Physical Laws The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God. They are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself. Pure air Sunlight Abstemiousness Rest Exercise Proper Diet The Use of Water Trust in Divine Power Ministry of Healing: p127 These are the true remedies from God

The Ceremonial Laws The ceremonial law of the Old Testament requested work upon the Jewish people pointed forward to Christ, the Messiah. It symbolized or exemplified the work of Christ and its requirements that ceased at the cross. The ceremonial law, which includes the ceremonial Sabbaths and Jewish holidays, should NOT be confused with the Moral Ten commandments law and the fourth commandment 7th-day Sabbath day. Hebrews 10:1, 9, 10 --The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. It is called "the law of Moses" in Luke 2:22 and I-Corinthians 9:9 It is written by Moses in a book because of sin. Deuteronomy 31:24 & 2-Chronicles 35:12; Galatians 3:19 It was placed and kept in the side of the Ark. Deuteronomy 31:26 Moses' law was contrary to us. Colossians 2:14 Moses' ceremonial law was Carnal. Hebrews 7:16 Moses' law contained curses. Deuteronomy 29:20-21; Galatians 3:10 Moses' law made nothing perfect. Hebrews 7:19 Moses' ceremonial law was temporary. Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 8:13 In Deuteronomy 4:13, the book that repeat the laws, shows that the 10-commandments Laws given to the people and the Ceremonial laws given by Moses are two distinct set: Deut. 4:11-14 reads -- “Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. 12 And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. 13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. Also see 2 Kings 21:8 Galatians 4:10, 11 --You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. Example: Leviticus 25:8-22 - The Seventh Year Land Sabbath: All labor was to cease in the seventh year, as much as daily labor on the seventh day Sabbath. This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ. We are to exercise willing dependence on God's providence for our support; to consider ourselves the Lord's tenants or stewards, and to use our possessions accordingly. These laws were nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ Copyright © 2008 Cambridge Church of Seventh-day Adventists, USA. All rights reserved. www.cambridgesda.org