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April, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
second. One could not have one without the other. Does God love man ? The answer, unmistakably, is, “Yes.” Then every one that is born of God loves man, for the same reason that one loves God— because o f the new nature within. Dr. David Brown has pointed out that, in this terse summary of the whole law, our Lord gave the heart o f all true religion and the substance of all right living : “ It is simple in the extreme—a child can under stand it;.it is brief, so it may be easily re membered ; it is comprehensive, so that it embraces all that can be said; and it is un changeable, because of the nature of God Himself.” There should be an attempt made with this lesson to press home upon all hearts the fact that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I f no one can measure up to the standard o f tne very first commandment, then no one is without condemnation. The greatest criminal is the one who breaks the greatest law. The greatest sinner is the one who breaks the first command of God. And the law knows nothing o f mercy or compassion. It can not take into consideration any extenuating circumstances. It cannot overlook crime because o f the ignorance of the criminal. God’s law, unlike man’s, has no elasticity. It cannot condone wickedness in any de gree. It can do nothing but condemn and sentence and execute the guilty person. The law is given to convict us of our lost estate and to drive us to seek salvation elsewhere than in the law. There should be not only an attempt to apply the law to the conscience, but this should be followed also by an attempt to present the gospel of the grace of God. Souls are saved by grace alone (Eph. 2 :8). When the law condemns, then “the grace o f God that bringeth salvation” appears (Tit. 2 :11). In the very nature o f the case, there can be no mixture o f law and grace. They are mutually exclusive. The majesty o f the law cannot be maintained if any thing o f grace appears in it, and the glory o f grace cannot be maintained if anything of the law appears in it. Miss Fanny Crosby, when thirty-six years of age, wrote a hymn which has had wide usefulness. She had lived an exceptionally beautiful and religious life during many of those thirty- six years, but, referring to the Lord Jesus, she wrote : “Trusting only in Thy merit Would I seek thy face, Heal my wounded, broken spirit, Save me by Thy grace." When she came to die, at the age of ninety-two, she asked that this verse be repeated to her, and at its close, she said, “That is still my testimony and my only hope.” Points and Problems Teachers of this lesson should certainly include all the material from verse IS to the end o f the chapter. In verses IS to 40, our Lord answers questions put to Him by three great Jewish parties or sects: Herodians, Sadducees, and Pharisees. In verses 41 to 46, Christ takes the role of questioner, and His first question leaves them all speechless: “No one was able to answer him a word” (v. 46, R .V .). 1. The Herodians. There, have been many guesses as to the identity of these men, but from the brief testimony of the Word, it is probable that they were a party o f Jews who had given up the ancient hope o f the prophetic kingdom and were en gaged in trying to bring in the kingdom by political methods—hence their support o f Herod. (See Mark 12:13; 3 :6 ; and .8:15).
2. The Sadducees. This party, not so numerous as the Pharisees, was a priestly oligarchy which was mainly interested in maintaining its control of the high priestly offices which, after the fall of the historical kingdom, virtually absorbed the functions of both religious and civil authority. The Sadducees were the rationalists, holding to a religion which was “religion within the limits of mere sensation.” They denied, of •course, personal immortality in a future life. 3. The Pharisees. These men had much that was fine. They believed the Scriptures and were looking for the Messiah. But they had three fatal defects: First, they added their traditions to the Word. Sec ond, they were legalists. Third, they were unalterably opposed to the picture drawn by Isaiah 53 o f the suffering Messiah. “ If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matt. 27:42). Now these three parties have their coun terparts today. There are Herodians who are trying to bring in the kingdom by political devices; Sadducees who believe nothing supernatural, yet occupy the con spicuous places in the ecclesiastical firma ment; and Pharisees who believe that sal vation must be had by law-keeping and good works. And one strange thing can be observed among these three groups in the day of our L ord: While differing fiercely among themselves on many points, they were .united in their opposition to our Lord in the character in which He appeared at His first coming. Even Saul, the strict Phari see, undertakes his persecution of the first Christians under commission from a Sad- ducean high priest! Can we find a parallel in today’s situa tion? It would seem so. The modern Herodians, Sadducees, and Pharisees are united in one thing at least: They are op posed to the Lord Jesus in the character in which H e will appear at His second coming. Golden Text Illustration In an engine room, it is impossible to look into the great boiler and see how much water it contains. But running up beside it is a tiny glass tube, which serves as a gauge. As the water stands in the little tube, so it stands in the great boiler. When the tube is half full, the boiler is half fu ll; when the tube is empty, the boiler is empty. Do you ask, “How do I know I love God? I believe I love Him, but I want to know.” Look at the gauge. Your love for your brother is the measure of your love for God — The Sunday School Chronicle. The Great Commandment M atthew 22:34-40 Memory V erse: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is BLACKBOARD LESSON
like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:37-39). Approach : When Jesus reached Jeru salem and began to preach to the people,
He was soon sur rounded by enemies. They tried to make Him say things that would be against the J ew ish law which they had all studied in the Old Testa ment. I f He said something a g a in st this law, then the enemies could say to the people, “You see,
He isn’t a teacher sent from God. He doesn’t know the law which God gave to Moses.” Lesson Story : One day, a Pharisee came to Jesus and said: “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Now, you remember that God gave Moses ten commandments, and of these ten commandments God did not tell Moses that any one was greater than another. So if Jesus should say that one was more important than another, He would be say ing, or so the Pharisee thought, some thing that was not written in the law. But Jesus told the Pharisee that there were two commandments. This answer must have surprised the people who stood by, for they usually thought of “the law” as having ten commandments. Then Jesus went on to say what the two command ments were. The most important, He said, was to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and the second was to “ love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus knew that if the people kept these two commandments, they should have to keep all the ten commandments of the Old Testament, too. If they loved God with all o f their might, they wouldn’t worship other gods, and they wouldn’t take God’s name in vain. They would remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. I f they loved others as they loved themselves, they wouldn’t steal or kill or say wrong things about others, and they would honor their parents. So Jesus was telling the people the ten commandments over again in a new way. Object Lesson T he G ift G od W ants M ost Objects-. A cardboard heart, and a penny. Lesson: We do not give God the best gift when we put a piece of money, such as this penny, in the offering at church. In the Sunday-school lesson this morning, we learned that Christ said: “ Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s ; and unto God the things that are God’s.” This heart that I hold in my hand repre sents the best gift we can give to God. O f course, we must first accept Christ as Saviour before we can give Him our heart, the gift which pleases Him most. The Apostle Paul realized that the heart was the gift God wanted most, and so he said, in writing to one o f the churches: “ I seek not yours, but you,” that is, not the things these people had, but the people themselves. These Christians thought Paul wanted their money, but instead he wanted their hearts for God. Some people act as though they thought that all God wanted was a part of their money. When Christ called Matthew, the business man, He did not say: “Give me your money.” ' He said: “ Follow me.” This was one way o f telling Matthew that He wanted men rather than money. O f course,
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