July-August, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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feeding on pleasure, forgetting to satisfy your hunger with the Bread o f Heaven.” “Mother, why do I receive two things on my plate?” “William, you are given a bottle (repre senting whiskey) and rags, to remind you that the Word of God says: ‘The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty.’ You will find that drink is a hard taskmas ter, and that it will bring you to rags. Not only will your life bring you poverty, but it will also starve your soul o f the Bread o f Heaven.” “Thank you, Mother, for the beautiful scarf.” “Yes, Ethel, the scarf is beautiful, but it is poor food. Your heart has told you that it would be satisfied with beautiful things, but remember that the Bible has said: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and des perately wicked: who can know it ?’ The heart can never be satisfied until it is satis fied with Christ. “And now, my dear ones, my plate has bread on it, and my heart has been satisfied with Christ, the Bread of Heaven. As I pass my plate to you, will each one take a piece of bread? I wish you would take the Bread of Heaven as quickly as you have taken this physical bread. Let us remem ber the words o f the Bible: ‘Be ye not stiff necked, . . . but yield yourselves unto.the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, . . . and serve the Lord your God.’ ” They continued the forms o f worship and engaged in the outward observance of ceremonies, but their sacrifices and offer ings were worthless (vs. 11, 12). They continued to observe special times and seasons, new moons, sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, etc. (vs. 13, 14). But these feasts and fasts were all vain; supposed worship became iniquity because it was a form only. The Lord could not find de light in all these ceremonies, as long as the hearts o f His people were turned against Him. This passage contains a sol emn message for the day in which we live, when there is so much talk of religion, and so little heart for God and His Word. 3. Their prayers were rejected (v. 15). Because they hid their faces from the Lord, He would hide His face from them; and because they would not hear His words, He would not hearken to theirs. It is a tetrrible thing when people presume to come before the Lord with prayer while at the same time they refuse to obey His Word. Those who strive to follow the Word bear witness to the fact that God does hear and answer prayer, but those who have turned from God’s Word have found that God will not hear them. It is the latter class that insists that prayer is valueless, except as a soothing exercise for tired nerves. II. T he C all to the P eople (16,17). 1. They were called to acknowledge their evil ways (v. 16). The people were to wash and be made clean, in the sense that they were to put away from them that which defiled. De filement results from one’s associations. To be made clean necessitated separation, and the same kind o f separation is needed today. It is useless for any people, or any individual, to expect that God will grant the privilege of fellowship with Him, as 2. Their worship was rejected (vs. 11-14).
from him. I have it in my desk. It read: ‘Dear Friend, I will never doubt Him again—the sins o f my youth. I was near the gates o f hell, but that word of God comforted me, and I will never doubt Him again. I will never despair again. I f the devil casts my sin in my teeth, I will say, “Yes, it is all true, and you cannot tell the half o f it, but I have to do with One who delighteth in mercy.” ’ “ I can show you the paper,” says Dr. Whyte; “ it sanctifies my desk. It may touch the tongue o f some o f my sons years hence to preach the same gospel the old father has tried to preach to you today.” —From the Sunday School Times, in Cy clopedia o f Religious Anecdotes, by Law- son. A King’s Call to God’s House 2 C hronicles 30:1-9, 13-22 Memory Verse: “ O come, let us wor ship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker” (Psa. 95:6). Approach: During the time that Micah lived, there reigned a good king in Judah. His name was Hezekiah. He must have kingdom, even to the farthest parts, who said to the people, “ Come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.” He knew that the first thing that the people should do was to go to church. He said: “ Be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God_of their fathers . . . Now be ye not stiff necked, . . . but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary . . . and serve the Lord your God, . . . for if ye turn again unto the Lord, . . . the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” Then the Levites, those who had charge o f the services of God’s house, prepared to lead the people in their worship. Surely they were remembering what Micah had said. So the people met in Jerusalm and they worshiped together for seven days. What a happy time they had, and how happy God was to have His people back again! And when the service was over, they de cided to worship for seven more days, and they did, with great gladness. “ So there was great joy in Jerusalem.” Object Lesson A S trange D inner Objects: Six dinner plates, a golf ball (or symbol of some other sport more prominent in the locality), an imitation gambling card, an imitation theater ticket, a small bottle of vinegar, some rags, a scarf, and a loaf o f bread. Set the plates on a small table, placing one o f the objects on each plate. The vinegar and rags should be on the same plate. Put the golf ball at one end of the table and the loaf of bread at the other. Lesson: If a Christian mother should serve this kind o f a meal to her unsaved family, I am sure it would be remem bered longer than any other meal. I can hear them saying, “Mother, what does such a strange meal mean?” listened to what these different p r o p h e t s had said, for the first thing that he wanted to do when he began to rule was to urge the people to turn from their wicked ways and to worship God. L esson S t o r y : Hezekiah sent a mes senger all around his
She would say, “Father, you have a golf ball to remind you o f the words o f the prophet Isaiah: ‘Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not?’ Golf takes you away from the house o f God on Sunday, keeping you from hearing about the Bread o f Heaven, Christ Jesus. He alone can satisfy. “And you, John, are served with a gamb ling card. You spend your spare time with cards. They have caused you to be lieve that you have no time for the house o f God. They are keeping you from re ceiving Christ, the Bread of Heaven. “ Mary, your plate is served with a the ater ticket. You spend your time and money at the theaters. Remember what God says: ‘She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.’ You have been Lesson Text: Isa. 1 :10-20. Golden Text: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psa. 24:3, 4). Outline and Exposition T he times of Isaiah are indicated in verse 1. Isaiah was- contemporary with Jonah, Amos, and Hosea, in Is rael, and with Micah in Judah. He saw four kings come to the throne, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. His book may be divided into three parts : Prophecy, chiefly concerned with the Assyrian period (chapters 1-35) ; History (chapters 36- 39) ; Prophecy, chiefly concerned with the Babylonian period (chapters 40-66). I. T he R ejection of the P eople (10-15). 1. Their profession was rejected (v. 10). They could be likened to Sodom and Gomorrah. This condition is described in Ezekiel 16:49, 50. It was a condition of pride, prosperity, idleness, leading to haughtiness and indulgence in abomina tions. The people were exhorted by Isaiah to “give ear unto the law of our God.” Evidently they had been turning their backs upon the law, the foundation of the whole nation. While such a condition ex isted, rejection from God was to be ex pected. BLACKBOARD LESSON
SEPTEMBER 16, 1934 ISA IAH CONTRASTS FALSE AN D TRUE WORSH IP I saiah 1 :1-31
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