The 7th day Sabbath Rest

[Razare]

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. - Hebrews 4:9

Your works are dead works, this is the things you do, to do what God has already done.

Hebrews 6:1 - repentance from acts that lead to death

Everything you do to please God in your own effort is an act that leads to death (the law). God supplies us the provision to be pleasing to him (grace). Likewise, everything you do to rebel against God because of pains and hurts, or being evil (lost people), is a dead work.

The law is very good for lost people because if they esteem the law above their own value, they can be saved by Christ. They desire to do good, but fail and require a savior.

But for the Christian, the law that was good for us when we were lost, we die to it. "Having died to the law through Christ" Romans 7:4... but you can also phrase it as, "Having died to the law by the law," because the law is what condemned Christ on the cross. If God judged our sin on the cross, what basis did he use to judge sin? The law. God's law judged our sin on the cross. Christ is the personhood who bore the judgement by the law.

So on the cross, we died to the law by the law. This means our self-works end. That thing you do in your flesh? You don't need to do it. The law (trying to be good) is self-works. Sin is also self-works.

Faith is when God works.

I am on vacation the rest of my life. Just the other day, I was working 2 AM at work, meeting a deadline, and I let the stress go away and praised God. Then I slipped into a time miracle, and 1 hour lasted 2 hours and my work all got finished. I wasn't worried about sleeping or anything, was resting while I worked, it was great.

Don't confuse this rest with being lazy, it is not that!! Laziness is hard work compared to this rest!! This rest, you could work in the field all day, and not be weary, but be happier and more energetic when you leave the field than when you began.

 

[Travis93]

According to Deuteronomy 6:25, observing the law does make people righteous. According to Psalms 19:7 the law is perfect, converting the soul of those who follow it. According to Proverbs 3:1-4 observing the law will lengthen our days and allow us to find favor in the sight of God. According to Proverbs 4:2 the law is good doctrine. According to Ecclesiastes 12:13 keeping the law is the whole duty of man. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119 which is nothing but praise of the law.

 

[ClothedInGrace]

According to Deuteronomy 6:25, observing the law does make people righteous. According to Psalms 19:7 the law is perfect, converting the soul of those who follow it. According to Proverbs 3:1-4 observing the law will lengthen our days and allow us to find favor in the sight of God. According to Proverbs 4:2 the law is good doctrine. According to Ecclesiastes 12:13 keeping the law is the whole duty of man. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119 which is nothing but praise of the law.

Yes, the Law is good, but it was primarily there to show Israel their sin. We cannot be made righteous by the Law, because the one who wants to be righteous by the Law must keep it perfectly. Also, we are under the New Covenant era of grace, and that means we are not held under the OT Law anymore: instead, we are under the Law of freedom in Christ where we seek to love God and our neighbors in faith. Galatians 3 is a great chapter regarding how believers in Christ and the Law are related.

 

[Travis93]

Yes, the Law is good, but it was primarily there to show Israel their sin. We cannot be made righteous by the Law, because the one who wants to be righteous by the Law must keep it perfectly. Also, we are under the New Covenant era of grace, and that means we are not held under the OT Law anymore: instead, we are under the Law of freedom in Christ where we seek to love God and our neighbors in faith. Galatians 3 is a great chapter regarding how believers in Christ and the Law are related.

Is it a sin to have sex with an animal, or no?
Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
If we aren't under the old law anymore, it must not be a sin to do that anymore.

 

[ClothedInGrace]

Is it a sin to have sex with an animal, or no?
Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
If we aren't under the old law anymore, it must not be a sin to do that anymore.

Of course that is still a sin, but for more reasons than simply because the Mosaic Law says so. You missed my point, however, which is that the Law cannot make someone righteous.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

Of course that is still a sin,

Why is it still a sin? Jesus never repeated this command to the gentiles, why would it still be binding? Chapter and verse please...

 

[ClothedInGrace]

Why is it still a sin? Jesus never repeated this command to the gentiles, why would it still be binding? Chapter and verse please...

It's sexual immorality. Any form of sex outside of a marriage relationship between one man and one woman is sin.

We can go to the OT to see what God thinks about certain things, but that doesn't mean that we are under an obligation to keep the entirety of the Mosaic Law. Read Galatians 3, please.

 

[Razare]

If we aren't under the old law anymore, it must not be a sin to do that anymore.

Jesus put us under a new law that is greater, and the new law includes not sleeping with animals.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. - John 13:34

A person who loves others as Christ loved them will not sleep with animals because they have esteem and value in who they are in Jesus Christ. This no-confidence we place in the flesh, plus confidence placed in Christ where his love shines through us transforms our life.

The command of the law "do not sleep with an animal" does not reveal God's love through us. You can avoid sleeping with animals but sin continually in many other areas.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. - James 2:10

And so, every man has slept with animals in the court room of God. If you slandered a person, lied, spoke with malice, anything... in God's court you're guilty of violation of the whole law that you did not keep, and failed at every point of it.

So when you live in Christ, you are in the Ark, or the cleft of the rock. Outside is the judgement, the judgement of the flood crashes against the Ark. The storms and fire batter the rock. But we live inside Christ. The judgement for the law is outside, and we are in Christ where we operate in his glory and love.

"Do not" is useful if you are outside Christ disobeying God. It will reveal you are disobedient. God's will is we live in Christ, and "Yes, you surely can do this! Let it be so!" Let it be so = Amen. Amen is a yes, and "Do not" will kill you dead.

 

[Soyeong]

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. - Hebrews 4:9

Your works are dead works, this is the things you do, to do what God has already done.

Hebrews 6:1 - repentance from acts that lead to death

Everything you do to please God in your own effort is an act that leads to death (the law). God supplies us the provision to be pleasing to him (grace). Likewise, everything you do to rebel against God because of pains and hurts, or being evil (lost people), is a dead work.

The law is very good for lost people because if they esteem the law above their own value, they can be saved by Christ. They desire to do good, but fail and require a savior.

But for the Christian, the law that was good for us when we were lost, we die to it. "Having died to the law through Christ" Romans 7:4... but you can also phrase it as, "Having died to the law by the law," because the law is what condemned Christ on the cross. If God judged our sin on the cross, what basis did he use to judge sin? The law. God's law judged our sin on the cross. Christ is the personhood who bore the judgement by the law.

So on the cross, we died to the law by the law. This means our self-works end. That thing you do in your flesh? You don't need to do it. The law (trying to be good) is self-works. Sin is also self-works.

Faith is when God works.

I am on vacation the rest of my life. Just the other day, I was working 2 AM at work, meeting a deadline, and I let the stress go away and praised God. Then I slipped into a time miracle, and 1 hour lasted 2 hours and my work all got finished. I wasn't worried about sleeping or anything, was resting while I worked, it was great.

Don't confuse this rest with being lazy, it is not that!! Laziness is hard work compared to this rest!! This rest, you could work in the field all day, and not be weary, but be happier and more energetic when you leave the field than when you began.

Deuteronomy 30:15 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

It is obedience to the law that brings life and a blessing, and disobedience to the law that brings death and a curse, so choose life. Sin is defined as lawlessness (1 John 3:4) and it is the wages of sin that lead to death (Romans 6:23), not obedience to the law. You have equated sin with lawfulness, but Paul directly said that the law was not sin, but rather that it reveals to us what sin is (Romans 7:7). We are to repent from our sins so we are to repent from doing the things that God has said in His law are sin and to turn back to obedience to the law. The law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), so you are calling good evil and evil good.

Living by faith does not refer to someone who rejects God's instructions, but rather it refers to someone who depends on God's instructions for how they should live, for the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). In other words, when God said that the law was given for our own good (Deuteronomy 10:13) and someone believes Him and trusts Him about how to live rightly, then they will demonstrate their faith by living in obedience to His law, but if they don't believe God, they don't trust Him about how to live, they consider His law to be a trap that sets people up for failure and death, and they think that they know better than God how to live rightly, then they will demonstrate their lack of faith by disregarding His law.

John 1:16-17 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.[d] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

God's grace is not opposed to God's law - a house divided against itself cannot stand. Rather, these verses say that grace was added upon grace, so the grace of Christ was was added upon the grace of the law. Strong's defines "grace" as "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" and God's law is instructions for how to to do His will, so when God influences us to do His will and it is reflected in our lives, that takes the form of obedience to His law. In Romans 1:5, it says that we have received grace to bring about the obedience of faith, and the obedience of faith is depending on God for instructions for how we should live in a way that is pleasing to Him. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), so our salvation is from lawlessness for the purpose of obedience to the law. God's law is part of Scripture, which equips us to do every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and we are saved by grace through faith not by doing good works, but rather we are made new creations in Christ for the purpose of doing good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). So to unpack what it means to be saved by grace through faith, we are saved from lawlessness by God training us to obey His law through living in a manner that depends on Him for instructions for how to do His will. We are also saved by grace through faith from the penalty of lawlessness by being redeemed from lawlessness. Everything grace brings in these verses is what our salvation looks like:

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

The difference between self-righteousness and God's righteousness is not in a particular good work, but in who gets the glory. Two people can do the same righteous work, such as helping the poor, with the work of one being like filthy rags because they gave glory to themselves (Isaiah 64:6), while the work of the other is like fine white linen because they gave glory to God (Revelation 19:8). The law is not of the flesh, but rather the law is spiritual (Romans 7:14), and it is those whose mind is set on the flesh who refuse to submit to God's law (Romans 8:7).

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Why is it still a sin? Jesus never repeated this command to the gentiles, why would it still be binding? Chapter and verse please...

You are joking, right ? Like sarcasm? (it's hard to tell)

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Is it a sin to have sex with an animal, or no?
Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
If we aren't under the old law anymore, it must not be a sin to do that anymore.

Again, you are joking, right? Some kind of sarcasm?
It's hard to tell because in other threads I thought you had some good and right posts...
this one seems so bizarre....

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

This rest, you could work in the field all day, and not be weary, but be happier and more energetic when you leave the field than when you began.

Amein ! This is so true !

 

[Soyeong]

According to Deuteronomy 6:25, observing the law does make people righteous. According to Psalms 19:7 the law is perfect, converting the soul of those who follow it. According to Proverbs 3:1-4 observing the law will lengthen our days and allow us to find favor in the sight of God. According to Proverbs 4:2 the law is good doctrine. According to Ecclesiastes 12:13 keeping the law is the whole duty of man. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119 which is nothing but praise of the law.

I agree with your points except for what you said about Deuteronomy 6:25. The context of verses 20-24 is about Israel having faith in God to bring them out of Egypt, about having faith in God to give them victory of Pharaoh, having faith in God to give them the land He swore to their fathers, having faith in God that His commands were for their good, and having faith in God to preserve them, so in verse 25 being careful to obey all of God's laws and the righteousness that is for them is stemming from their faith, not their obedience to the law.

 

[bugkiller]

According to Deuteronomy 6:25, observing the law does make people righteous. According to Psalms 19:7 the law is perfect, converting the soul of those who follow it. According to Proverbs 3:1-4 observing the law will lengthen our days and allow us to find favor in the sight of God. According to Proverbs 4:2 the law is good doctrine. According to Ecclesiastes 12:13 keeping the law is the whole duty of man. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalms 119 which is nothing but praise of the law.

Problem is there are none that do as you say/suggest according to PS 14:3.

bugkiller

 

[Soyeong]

It's sexual immorality. Any form of sex outside of a marriage relationship between one man and one woman is sin.

We can go to the OT to see what God thinks about certain things, but that doesn't mean that we are under an obligation to keep the entirety of the Mosaic Law. Read Galatians 3, please.

Galatians 3 says that we are not required to obey the law in order to become justified, but that is not at all the same as saying that we are not required to obey the law. It does not follow that because we shouldn't keep the law for a purpose for which is was never intended that therefore we shouldn't keep the law for any of the many purposes for which it was given. For instance, if you agree that one of the purposes of the law was to reveal sin, and you are not permitted to sin, then it should be straightforward that you are not permitted to do what the law has revealed to be sin.

 

[bugkiller]

Yes, the Law is good, but it was primarily there to show Israel their sin. We cannot be made righteous by the Law, because the one who wants to be righteous by the Law must keep it perfectly. Also, we are under the New Covenant era of grace, and that means we are not held under the OT Law anymore: instead, we are under the Law of freedom in Christ where we seek to love God and our neighbors in faith. Galatians 3 is a great chapter regarding how believers in Christ and the Law are related.

17 O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Isa 63

The above backs up your statement.

bugkiller

 

[bugkiller]

Is it a sin to have sex with an animal, or no?
Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
If we aren't under the old law anymore, it must not be a sin to do that anymore.

Sin was before the law - Rom 5:13 while you have the law creating sin.

bugkiller

 

[bugkiller]

Of course that is still a sin, but for more reasons than simply because the Mosaic Law says so. You missed my point, however, which is that the Law cannot make someone righteous.

Amen!!

bugkiller

 

[bugkiller]

Why is it still a sin? Jesus never repeated this command to the gentiles, why would it still be binding? Chapter and verse please...

Because sin isn't only a violation of the law.

bugkiller

 

[bugkiller]

Deuteronomy 30:15 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

It is obedience to the law that brings life and a blessing, and disobedience to the law that brings death and a curse. Sin is defined as lawlessness (1 John 3:4) and it is the wages of sin that lead to death (Romans 6:23), not obedience to the law. You have equated sin with lawfulness, but Paul directly said that the law was not sin, but rather that it reveals to us what sin is (Romans 7:7) We are to repent from our sins so we are to repent from doing the things that God has said in His law are sin and to turn back to obedience to the law. The law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), so you are calling good evil and evil good.

Living by faith does not refer to someone who rejects God's instructions, but rather it refers to someone who depends on God's instructions for how they should live, for the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). In other words, when God said that the law was given for our own good (Deuteronomy 10:13) and someone believes Him and trusts Him about how to live rightly, then they will demonstrate their faith by living in obedience to His law, but if they don't believe God, and consider His law to be a trap to bring about our deaths, then they will demonstrate their lack of faith by disregarding His law.

John 1:16-17 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.[d] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

God's grace is not opposed to God's law - a house divided against itself cannot stand. Rather, this verse says that grace was added upon grace, so the grace of Christ was was added upon the grace of the law. Strong's defines "grace" as "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" and God's law is instructions for how to to do His will, so when God influences us to do His will and it is reflected in our lives, that takes the form of obedience to His law. In Romans 1:5, it says that we have received grace to bring about the obedience of faith, and the obedience of faith is depending on God for instructions for how we should live in a way that is pleasing to Him. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), so our salvation is from lawlessness for the purpose of obedience to the law. God's law is part of Scripture, which equips us to do every good work (2 Timothy 3:16) and and we are saved by grace through faith not by doing good works, but rather we are made new creations in Christ for the purpose of doing good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). So to unpack what it means to be saved by grace through faith, we are saved from lawlessness by God training us to obey His law through living in a manner that depends on Him for instructions for how to do His will. We are also saved by grace through faith from the penalty of lawlessness by being redeemed from lawlessness. Everything grace brings in these verses is what our salvation looks like:

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

The difference between self-righteousness and God's righteousness is not in a particular good work, but in who gets the glory. Two people can do the same righteous work, such as helping the poor, with the work of one being like filthy rags because they gave glory to themselves (Isaiah 64:6), while the work of the other is like fine white linen because they gave glory to God (Revelation 19:8).

Righteousness doesn't come from the law. See Rom 3 and 4. Abraham was before the law and therefore righteous without the law even though he sinned.

bugkiller