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 Part #5 (Hearing God thru Traditions.)      Pg.#1

We’ll open with prayer and PRAISE using this YouTube LINK to the song ‘To God be the Glory.’

This Bible study was presented as an Easter Study… (2 pages)
(I have set this up to be printer-friendly: Set page Margins to 0.80 cm.)

— A yearly tradition or celebration such as Good Friday and Easter Sunday should give us an opportunity to focus on God’s message to us thru remembering His works.

We don’t have the exact dates of some celebrations, however, Easter can be dated very closely, as it happened during the Passover celebrated in Israel. Easter is about God’s loving plan for our salvation.

— For this session, we will look at some After-Easter thoughts.

Jesus spoke of His coming crucifixion in the Book of John…

(He was in effect planting truth-seed that would only reveal itself looking back in time.)

John 8:28-32 (CEV) Jesus went on to say, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know who I am. You will also know that I don’t do anything on my own. I say only what my Father taught me.  (29)  The one who sent me is with me. I always do what pleases him, and he will never leave me.”  (30)  After Jesus said this, many of the people put their faith in him.  (31)  Jesus told the people who had faith in him, “If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples.  (32)  You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

— Let’s discuss what grabs your attention from these verses… (I share my thoughts below.)

1/ John 8:28 “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know who I am. ”

• “When you have lifted up the Son of Man”… SEE John 12:32 (KJV) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (I wonder how many of us learned this KJV as children?)
  — This statement is DEEPLY PROFOUND as it points ahead to His coming sacrifice and back to the Old Testament when the people needed to be saved in the wilderness in Numbers 21:6-9.

• Numbers 21:6-9 (GNB) Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.  (7)  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Now pray to the LORD to take these snakes away.” So Moses prayed for the people.  (8)  Then the LORD told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed.  (9)  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.

— Isn’t it AMAZING to think how God had His sacrifice planned out even at the time of Moses?

• We can discuss any confusion as to why the comparison to a snake lifted on a pole.
  

2/ SEE how in John 8:31-32 Jesus speaks directly to YOU and I… So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; (32) you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

• If you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, this applies to you. (Fill in the blanks below:)

John 8:31 So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you _______ ___ _____________, you are really my disciples;”

— Q1/ What is required of us to be a TRUE AND VERIFIED BELIEVER in Jesus as our Saviour?

___________________________________________________________________________

— Q2/ Jesus said in John 8:32 “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
What do we need to be set free from?

___________________________________________________________________________

God has recorded the answer to this recorded in Romans 6:14-18…    Pg.#2

Romans 6:14-18 (CEV) Don’t let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God’s kindness and not by the Law. (15) What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God’s wonderful kindness and not by the Law? Certainly not! (16) Don’t you know that you are slaves of anyone you obey? You can be slaves of sin and die, or you can be obedient slaves of God and be acceptable to him. (17) You used to be slaves of sin. But I thank God that with all your heart you obeyed the teaching you received from me. (18) Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.

— There are some very important questions that arise from these verses…

(Vs.14) – “Don’t let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God’s kindness and not by the Law.”
— Q3/ Can a Christian still find their life being ruled by Sin? (How?)
— Q4/ If we let Sin claim part of our behavior or thinking, are we “slaves to that sin”? (Why)

(Vs.15) – “What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God’s wonderful kindness and not by the Law? Certainly not!”
— Q5/ Can you put into your own words what this verse is telling us?

(Vs.16) – “Don’t you know that you are slaves of anyone you obey? You can be slaves of sin and die, or you can be obedient slaves of God and be acceptable to him.”
— Q6/ What is the meaning of obedience here? (We obey the police, does that make us slaves?)
— Q7/ If we continue doing what God considers a SIN, can we be acceptable before God?
— Q8/ How can we remedy a problem such as the one in Q6? (Discuss: What is repentance?)
— Q9/ Is it important to be ACCEPTABLE to God?

(Vs.17) – You used to be slaves of sin. But I thank God that with all your heart you obeyed the teaching you received from me. (18) Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.
— Q10/ Must you be a slave of one or the other, God or SIN? Can’t you just be a FREE SPIRIT?

SEE the following verses in Romans 6:20-23 (CEV) When you were slaves of sin, you didn’t have to please God. (21) But what good did you receive from the things you did? All you have to show for them is your shame, and they lead to death. (22) Now you have been set free from sin, and you are God’s slaves. This will make you holy and will lead you to eternal life. (23) Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.

— From all these verses we’ve looked we see that we are servants (slaves) of either SIN or GOD.

— EASTER celebrates the remembrance of how Jesus paid the price of our sin, so we were basically bought out of slavery to sin, However, there is no neutral ground.

— If we accept the FREEDOM from SIN we must accordingly FOLLOW GOD and obey HIS WORD.

This is surely a message we clearly HEAR FROM GOD.

We’ll close with worship and prayer time.

YouTube Link: ‘There is a redeemer’ (Keith Green).