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for people to work close to Him, their Saviour. As He was walking one day by the sea of Galilee, the Lord Jesus saw two brothers, Simon (or Peter) and' Andrew, “casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers” (v. 18). Jesus could see that they were not lazy. They were working when He called them, and that is the kind of people He can use. He knew that they would not be proud of what they could do, for their work had been just the simple task of catching fish. And He wanted them both to follow Him, be cause He likes to have brothers and sisters—whole families—loving and trusting Him. Jesus |called to these two young men, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (v. 19). Simon and Andrew did not know what that meant at first, but they found out later. They had been used to seeing great numbers of fish drawn to'shore in a net when they went fishing. The Lord Jesus meant that when they followed Him, and spoke of Him to others, they would see great num bers of people turning to the Saviour. The Bible says that right away they “left their nets, and followed him”
Jesus Chooses Helpers M atthew 4:18-22 MEMORY VERSE; “He Saith unto them, Folow me” (Matt. 4:19). AIM: To show that we “follow” Jesus by receiving His salvation, and by telling others of Him. - APPROACH: When Mother is work ing in the kitchen, oi* Father is busy
being baptized at the hands of John? John’s baptism had to do with re pentance. It. was connected with sin. But Jesus had no sin of which to re pent. The main element in the sub mission of Jesus to baptism was His desire to completely identify Himself, the sinless One, with sinning men. That was why He had come into the world. This was just one of the many ways in which He was “numbered with the transgressors.” This identi fication reached its fullest expression at Calvary where He took the sinner’s place. ' ■' r 2.. "And Jesus, when He was bap tized, went up straightway out of the water" (y, 16). „This, was a time of crisis in the ’ life,' of. Jesus. He was about to begin His public ministry. All heaven was interested in the event. Three things are here presented as witnesses to the, tremendous im portance of these moments: (1) the opened "heavens, (2V the s tion of the Trinity, and (3) a heaven ly voice. So concerned was heaven with the beginning- of Christ’s redeem ing rriirtistgyi that it-’ flung wide its gates to send forth Its benediction. So satisfied with the person of the Re deemer was heaven, that a voice uttered words Of boundless signifi cance. ■ 3. "Tempted of the devil" (4:1). The word “tempt” as used here means to try, prove, or test. It does not mean to entice or.-to allure to sin. Our Lord had -no “oldsnature” to" which tempta tion in that sense could appeal. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa rate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). He could not- sin. As gold is tested by acid to prove that it is pure gold so the Son of God was tested by Satan to prove His purity. The Scripture tells us that He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15), Thus it is seen that we have a Saviour, who is able to save. Victory may be ours through His victory and by the power of His Word. A boy was going to college. His- mother’s parting words were,- “Re member, ,my. son, you are always third.” When he reached college, he wrote upon a placard, “I’m third,” and hung it in his room. It called forth many queries, but to all he turned a deaf ear until he had been in college about two months. Then he said to his chum, “ I have the courage now to tell you what my mother mcr.r.’: v/hen she said: ‘You are third.’ First, God; second, others; third, my self,”— Best Modern Illustrations. Golden Text Illustration M atthew 4:10
in the workshop, sometimes t h e y le t .their boys and girls t r y to help them in what they are d o i n g . What fun that is! If the p a r e n t s did not love their children a great deal, they would not want to
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be bothered having them in the way, fo r' they could do the work alone. Loye makes the ^difference. LESSON STORY: When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He wanted men to join Him in His work—be cause He loved them. He could have done everything without them, for He has all power in heaven and in earth, but He knew it would be good
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