Sabbath Afternoon - February 4, 2023

Reading for the Week

 Gen. 6:5-14, Heb. 11:8-13, 2 Cor. 4:18, Gen. 13:10-12, Gen. 32:22-31, Heb. 11:24-29. 


Prayer Thought

Christ entreats, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." This work of transferring your possessions to the world above, is worthy of all your best energies. It is of the highest importance, and involves your eternal interests. That which you bestow in the cause of God is not lost. All that is given for the salvation of souls and the glory of God, is invested in the most successful enterprise in this life and in the life to come. Your talents of gold and silver, if given to the exchangers, are gaining continually in value, which will be registered to your account in the kingdom of heaven. You are to be the recipients of the eternal wealth that has increased in the hands of the exchangers. In giving to the work of God, you are laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven. All that you lay up above is secure from disaster and loss, and is increasing to an eternal, an enduring substance.  {CS 342.1} 

 

Memory Text

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  {Mark 8:36, 37}

 

This week's SS Lesson will disclose relevant experiences of God's people in the past, how they view life with regards to treasure or wealth. This includes the 


Study Outline

Laying up Treasures in Heaven

Sunday - February 5, 2023

Noah Found Grace - Believing the Impossible

Gen. 6:5-14; Eccl. 1:9; 2 Pet. 3:3-7; Lk. 16:10


Monday - February 6, 2023

Abram, the Father of the Faithful - Obeying by Faith

Gen. 12:1-3; Heb. 11:8-13; Gal. 3:6, 7, 29; 2 Cor. 4:18 


Tuesday - February 7, 2023

Moses in Egypt - Rejecting this World

Acts 7:22; Heb. 11:24-29; Num. 20:12


Failing and Continuing:

Wednesday - February 8, 2023

Lot' Bad Decisions - Leaving this World Behind

Gen. 13:10-12; 14; 18:20-33; Mk. 8:36, 37


Thursday - February 9, 2023

From Deceiver to Prince - Jacob, Repenting and Moving On

Gen. 32:22-31; 49:2-33; Heb. 11:13


Friday - February 10, 2023

Further Study and Meditation

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Laying up Treasures in Heaven

Sunday - February 5, 2023

Noah Found Grace - Believing the Impossible

Gen. 6:5-14; Eccl. 1:9; 2 Pet. 3:3-7; Lk. 16:10

And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life, from under heaven; [and] everything that [is] in the earth shall die.  (Genesis 6:17)



Faith is Essential

Without faith it is impossible to receive the word. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6. 

This "is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it." The Pharisees of Christ's day closed their eyes lest they should see, and their ears lest they should hear; therefore the truth could not reach their hearts. They were to suffer retribution for their willful ignorance and self-imposed blindness. But Christ taught His disciples that they were to open their minds to instruction, and be ready to believe. He pronounced a blessing upon them because they saw and heard with eyes and ears that believed.  {COL 59.1}  

 

Impart His Wisdom and Righteousness

Another doctrine that will be presented is that all we have to do is to believe in Christ—to believe that He has forgiven our sins, and that after we are forgiven, it is impossible for us to sin. This is a snare of Satan. It is true that we must believe in Christ. He is our only hope of salvation. But it also is true that we must work out our individual salvation daily in faith, not boastingly, but with fear and trembling. We are to use every power of our being in His service, and after we have done our utmost, we are still to regard ourselves as unprofitable servants. Divine power will unite with our efforts, and as we cling to God with the hand of faith, Christ will impart to us His wisdom and His righteousness. Thus, by His grace we shall be enabled to build upon the sure foundation. {CTr 364.4} 

 

In His Strength We Gain Victory Over Sin

As we follow on step by step to know the Lord, we need not expect that the way will be free from hindrances. Just as surely as we strive to serve the Lord, so surely will Satan put forth every effort in his power to accomplish our ruin. But help has been laid upon One that is mighty, and to every struggling child of His who asks Him for grace, believing, He comes with the needed aid. We have an all-powerful Saviour who was victorious in His assumed humanity, and we are to press forward in the work of overcoming in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In His strength, which we claim by faith, we are gaining the victory over sin.—Manuscript 27, 1886. {CTr 364.6



Consider the Following

God decided to eradicate humankind because of their wickedness (Genesis 6:5-8), and He ordered Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6:13-19). Noah’s attitude proved where his treasure was:

(1) Believing the impossible: Rain didn’t exist in that time (Genesis 2:6). The experts claimed that it was impossible for water to come down from the sky.

(2) Obeying God: Noah devoted his life and resources to building the ark and to begging his fellow citizens to abandon sin.


Monday - February 6, 2023

Abram, the Father of the Faithful - Obeying by Faith

Gen. 12:1-3; Heb. 11:8-13; Gal. 3:6, 7, 29; 2 Cor. 4:18 

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)


After the separation from Lot, Abraham again received from the Lord a promise of the whole country. Soon after this he removed to Hebron, pitching his tent under the oaks of Mamre and erecting beside it an altar to the Lord. In the free air of those upland plains, with their olive groves and vineyards, their fields of waving grain, and the wide pasture grounds of the encircling hills, he dwelt, well content with his simple, patriarchal life, and leaving to Lot the perilous luxury of the vale of Sodom.  {PP 133.2}  

Word of Promise from the Lord

After the separation from Lot, Abraham again received from the Lord a promise of the whole country. Soon after this he removed to Hebron, pitching his tent under the oaks of Mamre and erecting beside it an altar to the Lord. In the free air of those upland plains, with their olive groves and vineyards, their fields of waving grain, and the wide pasture grounds of the encircling hills, he dwelt, well content with his simple, patriarchal life, and leaving to Lot the perilous luxury of the vale of Sodom.  {PP 133.2}  

Abraham was honored by the surrounding nations as a mighty prince and a wise and able chief. He did not shut away his influence from his neighbors. His life and character, in their marked contrast with those of the worshipers of idols, exerted a telling influence in favor of the true faith. His allegiance to God was unswerving, while his affability and benevolence inspired confidence and friendship and his unaffected greatness commanded respect and honor.  {PP 133.3} 

 

Living by Faith in Jesus Help Provided

In their fallen nature people can do the very things God expects them to do through the help provided for them. They can walk and work and live by faith in the Son of God. God is not pleased with those who are satisfied with a mere animal life. He has formed human beings after the divine similitude. He designs that they shall possess the character of God by obeying His law, the expression of His divine character. The Lord has given them mind, intellect, and affections. These gifts are entrusted to them to be exercised and improved. God has given them a conscience that must be carefully cherished and appreciated. He has given them knowledge and virtue. These entrusted capabilities are to hold the supremacy that God has assigned to them. {CTr 53.4}


Consider the Following

— Abraham’s first act of faith was to leave everything he had behind (his “treasures on earth”) to receive what God was promising (“treasures in heaven”).

— He had been promised a land, but he only got a small piece of land in Machpelah (Genesis 23:17-20). However, he never stopped obeying God, waiting for a much better inheritance from Him (Hebrews 11:8-10).

— The greatest treasure Abraham had on earth was a character similar to Jesus’. That is why his contemporaries considered him a “prince of God” (Genesis 23:6).



Tuesday - February 7, 2023

Moses in Egypt - Rejecting this World

Acts 7:22; Heb. 11:24-29; Num. 20:12

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; {Heb. 11:24-25}


A Wonderful Deliverance from the Lord

The Lord here gave his people unmistakable proof that he who had wrought such a wonderful deliverance for them in bringing them from Egyptian bondage, was the mighty Angel, and not Moses, who was going before them in all their travels, and of whom he had said, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him." Moses took glory to himself which belonged to God, and made it necessary for God to do that in his case which should forever satisfy rebellious Israel that it was not Moses who has led them from Egypt, but God himself. The Lord had committed to Moses the burden of leading his people, while the mighty Angel went before them in all their journeyings, and directed all their travels. Because they were so ready to forget that God was leading them by his Angel, and to ascribe to man that which God's power alone could perform, he had proved them, and tested them, to see whether they would obey him. At every trial they failed. Instead of believing in, and acknowledging, God, who had strown their path with evidences of his power, and signal tokens of his care and love, they distrusted him, and ascribed their leaving Egypt to Moses, charging him as the cause of all their disasters. Moses had borne with their stubbornness with remarkable forbearance. At one time they threatened to stone him.  {1SP 311.1}


Consider the Following

— What did Moses renounce? What did he get in exchange? (Hebrews 11:24-25).

— Moses was the son of Hatshepsut and the heir of Thutmose II. He could’ve become the next Pharaoh of Egypt.

— Egypt was the most important empire on earth in that time. Moses renounced the highest position anyone could have back then.

— He rejected all worldly glory and pleasure and chose to fulfill God’s call to free Israel from slavery.

— He considered God’s promises “as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:26)


Failing and Continuing:

Wednesday - February 8, 2023

Lot's Bad Decisions - Leaving this World Behind

Gen. 13:10-12; 14; 18:20-33; Mk. 8:36, 37

“[…] Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.” (Genesis 13:12)



Leaving the Cities, A Blessing

If the poor now crowded into the cities could find homes upon the land, they might not only earn a livelihood, but find health and happiness now unknown to them. Hard work, simple fare, close economy, often hardship and privation, would be their lot. But what a blessing would be theirs in leaving the city, with its enticements to evil, its turmoil and crime, misery and foulness, for the country's quiet and peace and purity.  {CL 19.1}  

To many of those living in the cities who have not a spot of green grass to set their feet upon, who year after year have looked out upon filthy courts and narrow alleys, brick walls and pavements, and skies clouded with dust and smoke,--if these could be taken to some farming district, surrounded with the green fields, the woods and hills and brooks, the clear skies and the fresh, pure air of the country, it would seem almost like heaven.  {CL 19.2}  

 

Escape from Destruction, and En-samples for Us

"There were false prophets also among the people," says the apostle Peter concerning the church anciently, "even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them ensamples unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds): the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to remove the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."  {KC 6.2}


Consider the Following

— When Abraham suggested Lot that they should take different paths, Lot wanted “treasures on earth” and coveted the plain of the Jordan River. He was gradually pulled by the call of the city (Genesis 13:8-13).

— Although he never left God (Peter called him “righteous Lot” in 2 Peter 2:7), his spirituality and his family’s was seriously affected by the life in Sodom.

— After Abraham’s intercession, God delivered Lot, his wife, and his daughters from the destruction of Sodom. God told him that he had to renounce this world and flee to the mountains (Genesis 18:22-33; 19:15-17).

— Lot doubted but finally left this world behind and decided to live according to God’s instructions (Genesis 19:30).


Thursday - February 9, 2023

From Deceiver to Prince - Jacob, Repenting and Moving On

Gen. 32:22-31; 49:2-33; Heb. 11:13

“And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’” (Genesis 32:26)



The angel inquired of Jacob, "What is thy name?" and on being informed he said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, [the supplanter] but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob had received the blessing for which his soul had longed; his sin as a supplanter and deceiver was pardoned. The crisis in his life had passed. God shows, in his dealing with Jacob, that he will not sanction the least wrong in any of his children; neither will he cast off and leave to despair and destruction those who are deceived and tempted and betrayed into sin. Doubt, perplexity, and remorse had embittered Jacob's life; but now all was changed, and how sweet was the rest and peace in God, in the assurance of his restored favor.  {ST, November 20, 1879 par. 9}  


It is the privilege of every one of us, like Jacob, to prevail with God. But the query arises, How can we believe that we shall receive the things we ask for, when we have no evidence that we shall? God's word is pledged. Is not that sufficient evidence? If we grasp the promises by living faith, trusting entirely in Jesus, the blessing will come in due time. It may not come in the way we expect; but it will come in the way that God directs, and by the means that he chooses to employ. Satan may tempt you to think that the Lord has forgotten you; but tell him that the word of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, “The Lord knoweth them that are his;” and keep on praying.  {HS 132.2} 


Consider the Following

— Jacob longed for the blessing his whole life. His mind was set on the “treasures in heaven.” However, he tried to get them on his own terms (Genesis 27:33-35).

— After 20 years of work and tricks, Jacob was still suffering the remorse of his foolish action. When he met God, he fought Him to be forgiven and receive the blessing (Genesis 32:22-30).

— His life was different after that experience. He no longer trusted himself. Like Abraham and Isaac, his only earthly possession was the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 49:29-31). They understood they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth (Hebrews 11:13).


Friday - February 10, 2023

Further Study and Meditation

Until his latest hour the life of Paul testified to the truth of his words to the Corinthians: "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:6-10. His sufficiency was not in himself, but in the presence and agency of the divine Spirit that filled his soul and brought every thought into subjection to the will of Christ. The prophet declares, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3. The heaven-born peace expressed on Paul's countenance won many a soul to the gospel. {AA 510.1}  


Questions to Ponder


From the Pen of Inspiration

“Laying up treasure in heaven will give nobility to the character; it will strengthen benevolence, encourage mercy; cultivate sympathy, brotherly kindness, and charity. It will unite the soul of man with Christ, by links that can never be broken. You may lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven by being rich in good works—rich in imperishable and spiritual things.” E. G. W. (Our High Calling, July 8)

“No man or woman can lay up treasure in heaven without finding life on earth thereby enriched and ennobled.” E. G. W. (To Be Like Jesus, June 28)


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