Teaching Points
1. What reveals that God gave man the power of choice?
ANSWER:
- Gen. 2:16, 17—God warned him about the tree and the result of disobedience.
2. What choice did Adam and Eve make?
ANSWER:
- Gen. 3:6—They both chose to disobey God.
3. What is the result of disobedience?
ANSWER:
- Rom. 6:23—The wages of sin is death.
- Rom. 3:32—fallen short of God’s character (glory).
- Rom. 5:24—the human race inherited death form Adam.
- Rom. 6:16—Yeilded the will to become slaves to sin.
4. How did God intervene to give them another chance and us a chance for salvation?
ANSWER:
- 1 Pet. 18-20—the plan of salvation was in place before the foundation of the world.
- Jn. 3:16—God gave Jesus.
- Heb. 2:14, 15—overcame the power of Satan and death.
- This plan allowed for a short probation time instead of instant death.
OBSERVATION:
- God reveals His great love for us in allowing freedom of choice. God values freedom.
- This freedom caused big risks.
- Man chose to disobey and submit to Satan’s power and rule. Now they were slaves to sin.
- All Adam’s descendants now faced death and were in bondage to sin.
- Jesus made it possible to set us free from sin by freeing our will and giving us the power to obey Christ’s will.
- Christ gained the victory for us over death and Satan’s bondage so that we can be free to surrender to Christ.
- This plan of salvation set in place at the very beginning provided us probationary time—a second chance.
5. How does our choice to sin or not to sin affect others?
ANSWER:
- The books of 1 and 2 Kings are full of examples of the results of good and bad choices
- 1 Kings 15:25, 26—Jeroboam’s son Nadab followed his bad example.
- Exodus. 20:5—God visits iniquity of Fathers. This is not so much an arbitrary law but it is the law of heredity. The sinful choices of the parents affect the children. The opposite is true also and God adds His blessing to the obedient (Exodus. 20:6).
- Job 4:8—So wickedness and you will reap wickedness.
- Hosea 10:12—Sow righteousness you will reap mercy.
- Deut. 30:19—God calls us to make good choices so that us and our children can live.
- Your bad choices not only affect you but also those around you.
- Children whose parents smoke are at higher risk for emphysema and for smoking later in life. The same is true for alcohol and other bad health habits.
- Children whose parents get divorced are more likely to divorce or have other relational issues.
6. Are Children held responsible for their parents sins?
ANSWER:
- Ezekiel 18:20—The son will not suffer for the sins of the Father.
- They have a choice to be righteous or wicked, to follow God or Satan.
7. Does God consider where one was born and the environmental and hereditary factors involved?
ANSWER:
- Psa. 87:4-6—God knows where we were born.
- The word used here is Strong’s H5608 meaning to score, inscribe, recount, enumerate, celebrate.
- Young’s Literal Translation reads: Jehovah doth recount in the describing of the peoples, `This one was born there.' Selah.
OBSERVATION:
- Our Creator knows every detail of our lives.
- Our choices for good or bad affect those around us—specifically our children.
- They can be affected by our influence or have actual physical hereditary weaknesses or strengths
- Those who have been affected by our choices do still have a choice for good or bad.
- God does consider the factors involved in our birthplace—though this is not an excuse—but it rather shows God’s amazing grace in helping those in bad situations to surmount those extra difficulties. Even with disabilities or terrible environment, we still have opportunity for salvation.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS:
- How do others’ choices influence you?
- What encouraging example can you live for others?
- If parents make poor lifestyle habits, how does it affect their children?
- Not considering children, what lifestyle habits could affect coworkers or other family members?
8. What are some Bible examples of someone making good choices in a bad environment?
ANSWER:
- Gen. 39-50—Joseph.
- Daniel 1—Daniel and his three friends purposed to honor God with their health.
- 2 Kings 21:21, 22, 24; 22:1, 2—Josiah did not follow his father’s bad example.
9. What choices concerning our health are we challenged to make?
ANSWER:
- 1 Cor. 10:31—to glorify God in what we eat or drink or whatever we do.
10. Can I choose to destroy my body temple and still be saved?
ANSWER:
- 1 Cor. 3:17—whoever destroys God’s temple (body temple), God will destroy.
11. What promise is given to us if we will choose to listen and follow God’s ways?
ANSWER:
- Exo. 15:26—If we will diligently listen to and do God’s commands He will not put on us the diseases of the Egyptians.
- Deut 7:12, 15—If we will do God’s commands He will take sickness away and bless us.
OBSERVATION:
- God is the source of true, vibrant health.
- The stories of Daniel, Joseph, Josiah and others give us hope and encouragement that we can make positive choices with God’s strength.
- God calls us to glorify Him with our health as well as other areas of our lives.
- God cannot save us if we refuse to take care of our bodies which He has entrusted to us.
- If we will obey God’s health laws and moral laws he will take sickness from us.
SOP
- How have we shown our love for Christ? How many have allowed their attention to be diverted from him to their own pleasure, their own enjoyment? We are all taking sides, and by the choice we make we are either honoring or insulting the One who for our sake became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. Those who refuse to receive and obey the Lord's instruction show contempt for the sacrifice made for them, and will be called upon to answer for the choice they have made. {PH004 26.1}
- If women of past generations had always moved from high considerations, realizing that future generations would be ennobled or debased by their course of action, they would have taken their stand, that they could not unite their life interest with men who were cherishing unnatural appetites for alcoholic drinks, and tobacco which is a slow, but sure and deadly poison, weakening the nervous system, and debasing the noble faculties of the mind. If men would remain wedded to these vile habits, women should have left them to their life of single blessedness, to enjoy these companions of their choice. Women should not have considered themselves of so little value as to unite their destiny with men who had no control over their appetites, but whose principal happiness consisted in eating and drinking, and gratifying their animal passions. Women have not always followed the dictates of reason instead of impulse. They have not felt in a high degree the responsibilities resting upon them, to form such life connections as would not enstamp upon their offspring a low degree of morals, and a passion to gratify debased appetites, at the expense of health, and even life. God will hold them accountable in a large degree for the physical health and moral characters thus transmitted to future generations. {2SM 422.1}
- Men and women who have corrupted their own bodies by dissolute habits, have also debased their intellects, and destroyed the fine sensibilities of the soul. Very many of this class have married, and left for an inheritance to their offspring, the taints of their own physical debility and depraved morals. The gratification of animal passions, and gross sensuality, have been the marked characters of their posterity, which have descended from generation to generation, increasing human misery to a fearful degree, and hastening the depreciation of the race. {2SM 422.2}
- God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the gift of Christ. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles that will restore in us the divine image. In His written Word and in the great book of nature He has revealed the principles of life. It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul. {AG 103.5}
- Those foods should be chosen that best supply the elements needed for building up the body. In this choice, appetite is not a safe guide. Through wrong habits of eating, the appetite has become perverted. Often it demands food that impairs health and causes weakness instead of strength. We can not safely be guided by the customs of society. The disease and suffering that everywhere prevail are largely due to popular errors in regard to diet. {TSDF 178.4}
CONCLUSION:
- God created us with freedom of choice. Before sin God had a plan set in place for our salvation if Adam and Eve failed to choose right because of his great love.
- Adam and Eve’s bad choices entitled us all to death and enslaved us to sin.
- Sin brings consequences and affects not just those who choose wrong but also those in their sphere of influence.
- It is possible through God’s amazing grace to gain victory even in extremely difficult situations.
- God our creator is calling us to glorify Him in our heath and gives us encouraging promises if we choose His way.
APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
- Are you thankful for the power of choice God gave you?
- Are you willing to surrender to do God’s will and experience victory in your health?
- Do you trust Jesus to have full control of your life by faith?
- Are you seeking to align your life with the principles of health in God’s word through Christ?
- Are you pleading for the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of God’s word and reveal to you ways you can better take care of your body?
- Are you thankful for God’s promises to give you better health if you obey His counsel?
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