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THE KING’S BUSINESS
(3 ) ' The call to Christ was to the neediest case. (4) Many sinners want to be helped, but- not to be made whole. (5) No man can say “I have no man” who has come in touch with the Son of Man. ( 6
) We have not an High Priest who can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (7) Christ is the friendless man’s friend. ( 8 ) There is mercy at the pool of grace for all mankind.
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DA I LY D E V O T I O N A L | S T UD I E S IN THE NEW TE S TAMEN T FOR INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION AND FAMILY WORSHIP | | § 1 1 1 ....... 1............... IIII1IIIII11I1HÌIIIIIII1II..I.... ................................................................... M i..... Thursday, February i. Acts 15 : 27 - 29 . I By R. A. TORREY
Gentile believers, viz., abstinence from meats offered to idols; abstinence from blood, because the blood was the life and was to be offered to God; abstinence from things strangled, because the blood would still be in them, not having been poured out ; and abstinence from personal impurity. Friday, February 2 -. Acts i5:30-35- There, was great joy in Antioch when this troublesome question was settled for ever. There were two reasons for this joy: first, painful division had given way to pleasant harmony, and moreover, the irksome bondage of the law had given way to the glorious liberty of the Gospel. There is always great joy when one comes out of the bondage of legalism into the glorious liberty of a son (cf. Gal. 4:1-7; 5:1). Judas and Silas were much used by God in other ways than merely settling the question about circumcision and keeping the Jewish law. They were Spirit-filled men and gave much profitable exhortation and instruction, confirming the believers in Antioch in faith and life. They are here called “prophets,” and from this fact we see, as in other places, the true significance of the word “prophet.” The prophet in Biblical usage was the one who spoke for God, the one by whom “the Spirit of the
It was- not their own decision on this great question that was before them, that the apostles, and the elders and the whole church in Jerusalem were sending to the brethren in Antioch, it was the Holy Spirit’s decision. Of this they were perfectly sure. It is our privilege also to know that our decisions are His when we put ourselves in a position where He will give us His decision, as He is ever ready to*do (John 16:13; 14:26; 1 John 2:27). It was because they sought and obtained the mind of the Spirit of God that they were able to “come to one accord” (v. 25). On the other hand, it is because we oftentimes seek the wisdom of man rather than the mind of the Holy Spirit that we are so often at variance with one another. There is great need Of unity today among pro fessed believers, indeed, that is one of the greatest needs of the day, but the unity needed is the unity that we find here, “the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3). It is evi dent from what the Apostles say here that the one, who' insists upon the binding authority of the Mosaic law upon Christians is opposing the Holy Ghost. Let the mod ern Judaizers lay this fact to heart. Four points of the Mosaic law and no others were adjudged necessary to be observed by
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