The Heart of the Lesson By T. C. HORTON
Lesson X II, March 22 Golden Text^—Matthew 7:21 "N ot everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, hut he that doeth the .will of my Father which is in heaven.” Here we are ushered into a judgment scene and our Lord is painting a picture of the awful consequence of using His name and denying,Himself. A vivid illustration is found in Genesis seven. Noah had preached one hundred and twenty years, giving invitations and warnings and then the day came when the Lord shut the door of the Ark and those without were without hope, So Will it be in the end of this age. The Master o f the house will rise and shut the door and useless will it be for any to seek and knock, for the day of grace will have ended and the day of awful judgment will have Còme. The words of this text have a peculiar significance in otir day. All sorts of peo ple, with all sorts of fancies, are exploiting the name of Jesus. The Unitarians, the Jews, the Eddyites, the Theosophists, and the Spiritualists all claim Him as leader and profess great, achievements in His name, but the time is coming when He will say, “ depart from Me, I never knew you.1 They tell us they are casting out demons and curing all manner of diseases in His name, but so d id ; they of old.—Matthew 12:27; Mark 9:30; Acts 19 :13. The Antichrist himself, will use the name and will manifest mighty power, but if will be Satanic and into outer darkness must all of these false professors go who deny the blood o f the crucified' Christ, which alone is sufficient to atone for sin and bring nigh, those who are afar off. . Fa miliarity with His name does not imply fellowship with His person. Many men call Secretary Bryan, “Bill,” who would never he invited into his home. It is one thing to speak the name of our Lord, but quite another to confess Him before men as Lord
and Master. Multitudes thronged our Lord, but one woman touched, jlim , so that virtue flowed from Him. Review Lesson Omitted Lesson I, April 5th Golden Text—Luke 14:11 "Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Two things seem significant in the home scene of our lesson. One is the picture of the selfish world so vividly portrayed and the other is the presence of the Son of God who left all the glory of .the Father to come to a world of sin and who was' compelled to be in daily touch with the things which were so distasteful to His un selfish, holy nature. The atmosphere of this house into which He had come as a guest was characterized by “the lust of the flesh, ,the lust of the eye and the pride of life.” It was all manifestly subtle and shameless. The host had invited those who would return the compliment. The guests were selfishly seeking the best, seats and one pious fraud voiced a sentiment foreign to the scene and meaningless in its connec tion. Selfishness is the root of sin. The Lord saw the push for place and founded a parable upon it. Trifles reveal,character and it is possible that the Lord Himself had been slighted as He was on another occasion when no water was given for His feet. Self-seeking belongs to the natural man, but it has no place in God’s service. There is an eternal fitness in things per taining to God. When we are in fellow ship with the Lord, pride, self-assertiveness, and self-seeking are repugnant to us. No follower o f the Lord should ever seek place. If a child of God is in harmony with the Master he .will never think of place or position, but will think o f the pierced feet of his Lord. If we have the mind of the Master we will commit our ways unto the Lord He who hath chosen
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