King's Business - 1931-08

August 1931

T h e

K i n g ’ s

B u s i n e s s

368

d iIn terna tiona l LESSON COMMENTARY Lesson Outline and Exposition Blackboard Outlines Golden Text Illustrations Children’s Division By B. B. Sutcliffe By Bessie B. Burch By Alan S. Pearce By Helen Gailey

that debt is not discharged until the gos­ pel is preached to every creature. With full abandon, the Christian must give him­ self to his task. Paul said, “As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel” (v. 15). God never asks more than this. But dare we offer Him less? We owe to God our every faculty (Rom. 12:1), and we owe to our fellow men the gospel of His grace, which we ourselves have shared. If this twofold debt remains un­ paid, we cannot call ourselves honest men and women. And Christians, to be Chris­ tians, must be honest. The objection is sometimes raised that the giving of the gospel is too difficult a task. This is no excuse at all. In the ancient world, Rome was the most dif­ ficult of all places in which to preach the gospel. Because of this fact, there were some who doubted Paul’s readiness to go there. There was no hesitancy on his part, however. “As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at IjLome also” (v. 15). Not only was Rome a difficult place in which to preach, but it was the most un­ likely place for the gospel to find ac­ ceptance. Commercially, it was the might­ iest city of that time, called, indeed, “the mistress of the world.” It was also the most learned city of the world. Robert Murray McCheyne, in one of his ad­ dresses, says: “The most perfect compo­ sitions of that time come from this an­ cient and powerful city, Rome.” But it was at the same time the most wicked city of the world. Its pollutions exceeded those of Sodom and Gomorrah. A li­ centious monarch was upon the throne—a monster in human form, giving coun­ tenance to every form of unspeakable wickedness—and the people were sunken in abominations of every sort. This was the city to which Paul was ready to take the good news of salvation. The gospel was all that he had. There were no influential friends to make a way for him, and no great organizations to gather audiences for him. In fact, he had no “pull” of any kind. But in the gospel, as Paul very well knew, there was a power which was mightier than that of Rome. In the preaching of that gospel, there was a wisdom far beyond the learning of Rome. More than that, in the gospel, there was grace sufficient to cover the sins of every inhabitant of Rome and a thousand cities like it. To Paul, therefore, the difficulty of the work at Rome seemed as nothing in the light of the gospel. It was the gospel that the Gentiles at Rome were needing. It was not more education or more culture that they re­ quired. These had failed to transform Rome into anything but what it was— a cesspool of iniquity and wickedness. It was not more religion that was needed, for this city boasted more religion than any other city of that time. What Rome needed was what the world needs today

was finally withdrawn from them, and the preachers turned to the Gentiles with the message. Wherever the gospel is preached, some hear and accept, some hear and reject; and those who habitually reject, find that “God’s spirit will not always strive” with them. He is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Pet. 3:9), but “he, that being often, reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de­ stroyed, and that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1). The refusal and rebellion of the Jews was no surprise to God. He had foreseen their action, and in spite of it had foreor­ dained that Christ should be their Sav­ iour and that, through Him, salvation should be extended “unto the end of the earth” (Isa.,49:6). II. T he G entile A ttitude T oward the G ospel (A cts 13:48-52). When the Gentiles heard that God had provided salvation for them in Christ, “they were glad” (v. 48). Many of them believed and were saved; or, as the Holy Spirit writes, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Every one is responsible for believing, and when the responsibility is fairly met, he discovers that he is ordained to eternal life. Not only did salvation come to many in Antioch in Pisidia, but “the word of God was published throughout all the re­ gion.” This had the effect of again stir­ ring up the hatred of the Jews who “raised persecution against Paul and Bar­ nabas, and expelled them out of their coasts” (v. 50). Such opposition might have discouraged and silenced less zeal­ ous witnesses. But Paul and Barnabas, when their message was refused and they themselves were maltreated by the peo­ ple of Antioch, merely “shook off the dust of their 'feet against them, and came to Iconium” (v. 51). The closing of one door of service led to the opening of another, and “the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (v. 52). III. T he C hristian R elation to the G ospel (R om . 1:14-16). There are three phrases which, com­ bined, describe the Christian’s attitude to­ ward the gospel: first, his reception of it; second, his responsibility to preach i t ; and third, his readiness to proclaim it any­ where. Whoever receives the gospel becomes at once a debtor to the whole world, and A High Standard Your magazine comes to us each month with freshness and power. I know of no other magazine that reaches its high standard. —F rom E ngland .

SEPTEMBER 6, 1931 Turning to the Gentiles Lesson: Acts 13:13-52; Romans 1:14- 16; 11:1-24. Lesson Text: Acts 13:42-52; Romans 1:14-16. Golden Text: “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). I. T he J ew ish O pposition to the G ospel (A cts 13:42-47). The verses preceding the lesson text (Acts 13:13-41) should be carefully read in order to get the setting for today’s lesson. Paul had been preaching in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, in which there were a number of Gentiles, prose­ lytes of the Jewish religion. His sermon (16-41) was a masterful discourse on the subject of justification by faith (vs. 38, 39). With earnest entreaty, he “per­ suaded them to continue in the grace of God” (v. 43). When the Jews had left the synagogue, the Gentiles besought Paul to preach the same message the fol- fowing Sabbath. So great was the interest of the peo­ ple that, on the next Sabbath day, almost the whole city was gathered to hear Paul preach. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with envy (or jealousy, as the Revised Version puts it). They could not bear to see a multitude listening to the gospel and threatening to leave Judaism and to embrace Christianity. With blasphemy and contradiction, they began to protest vehemently against the things which Paul preached. Then Paul and Barnabas boldly de­ clared that they would turn to the Gen­ tiles. But before they went, they made it plain that the Jews had deliberately re­ jected the gospel. They said: “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you . . . lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (v. 46). Through the apos­ tle, God had offered to the Jews eternal life, forgiveness of sins, justification by faith in Christ, and all the blessings which the death of Christ made possible. But because of envy and jealousy, they re­ jected all this. There was another and a deeper reason for the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews judged themselves “unworthy of everlasting life” (v. 46). The same truth holds today: Whoever re­ jects the gospel is really judging himself to lie unworthy of everlasting life. In such a case, it is not God who judges, but the sinner himself. God is willing to bestow salvation upon all who will re­ ceive it, and because of His grace. He accounts every man worthy to obtain it. When the Jews deliberately rejected the Saviour, the opportunity to accept Him

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