731
November 1927
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTLINE
ice to their use in connection with licen tious revelry. Furthermore, these aban doned characters no longer recognized God and His overruling providence. Men may disregard God now, but eventually each shall stand before God and give an account for the deeds done in the' body. From Vs. 13 to 30 appear four other woes which' God would send upon the profligate, rich aristocracy of the land who were disregarding God and who were living for fleshly gratification only. — -o — D ecember 4, 1927. How to Please God Isa, 5:1-7 Memory Verse: “A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord.” Prov. 12:2. Approach: How many of you boys and girls ever had a garden? James, what beautiful flowers. Then you had to work to ’keep the weeds from growing and choking out the flowers. Even though you had to work in the garden you were pleased with the beautiful blossoms which you could pick and take to people who did not have any flowers, or to sick folk, and to enjoy in your own home and gar den. The same piece of ground if not given any care would grow up in weeds and look very ugly. Our hearts are like the ground; they need the love of Jesus to make them pure, and then our lives will; shine forth like the flowers and bring blessings to ourselves and all who know us.': . (Prayer.) Lesson Study: (Review, showing that all true worship comes from a pure heart, and only those who belong to the Lord can have pure hearts.) The Lord loves u s.more than anybody else in the world, and he has died so that all who will be lieve on Him as their Savior, receive ever lasting life. In our story for today God is telling us a wonderful truth about His did you plant in your garden?* Be fore you planted the seed what did you do with the ground? You worked it until it was soft and then put in the seed and c o v e r e d it over. After a time the seeds grew i n t o
V. 7. With this verse the prophet sud denly, in a dramatic way, interprets the parable, applying it to " the house of Is rael, and the men of Judah." The Psalm ist (Psa. 80: 8-19) used this same figure in depicting to Israel the great things which God had done for her. The “fruit ful hill" of Verse 1 is Palestine. The Hebrew people constitute the “choicest vine” which God, by his mighty power, lovingly planted therein after He had cast out the Canaanites (Psa. 44:1-3). The “wild grapes” which they bore were “oppression" and a “cry," whereas the good grapes which they, who had re ceived such unparalleled advantages, should have borne are “justice" and "righteousness." With increased advan tages and opportunities comes increased responsibility. Where little is given, lit tle is required, and where much is given, much is required. This parable seemed to be clearly in the Savior’s mind when He gave the parable of the vineyard found in Matt. 21:33-46, which He spoke to His enemies and which they perceived He spoke against them. Beginning with Verse 8 , the prophet begins a series of six woes against the landed aristocracy of his day who were taking advantage of an acute situation by seizing the property of the peasantry, reducing them to abject poverty, and by living sinful, corrupt lives. V. 8 . The aristocrats here, in violation of the Mosaic laws concerning the Sab batic and jubilee years, seized and held the small inheritances of the peasantry and added them to their estates. The laws, just referred to seem not to have been enforced during the .monarchical age, or such a condition would never have arisen. V. 9. “In mine ears, saith Jehovah of host¡5." This is a .very unique expression, which signifies, not that the prophet bare ly heard the message of God which he states in the same verse, but that the mes sage on the other hand was clear and dis tinct (cf. Gen. 23:10-16; Job. 33:8). It was God’s message arid the prophet rec ognized it as such. This rriessage was that in retribution for the sins of the aris tocracy, the land would be reduced to des olation and waste. V. 10. This verse shows what the re sult of the curse which would come upon the land because of their sins, would be— the land would yield about one-tenth of the natural yield “For ten acres of vine yard shall yield one bath, and a honCer o f seed shall yield but an ephah." The ex pression “ten acres ” literally means “ten yoke” or ten times as much as a pair or yoke of oxen can plow in a day. A “bath” is a liquid rneasure of about eight gallons, and a “homer," the largest dry measure among the Hebrews, contained about ten or twelve bushels. V. 11 . Here appears the second woe, which is pronounced upon those who arose early to drink wine and remained late in the evening to become inflamed with the same. Among the Romans and the Hebrews, drinking wine in the early part of the day was frowned upon. Only in degenerate times and when one had lost all control over himself would he drink from early morn to late at night. These people had reached a stage in which they had become slaves to habits of sin. V. 12. The prophet here denounces the prostitution of the instruments of music which had been used in the sacred serv
t i n e rQ U IPM EN T— Isa. 3:1. f RUIT f XPECTED—Isa. 3:4, 7. 1 OLLY L v iD ENC ED— Isa. 3Q 12. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.—Gal. 6 :7. people Israel. Now let us. listen very' carefully, so we will learn the lesson God wants to teach us and all the people in the world. God had done great and mighty things for Israel, but they did not obey Him, and in spite of all His loving care and kindness,' they thought more of their own pleasures and wanted to have their own way. God has given us a word picture of Israel. He said they were like a man who had worked very hard in get ting ready the ground and planted a lovely vineyard. Then he cared for the vines in the best way possible. When it was time for the grapes to be ripe, the man came to get the fruit, and what did he find? Only wild grapes. God said they were no good, only to be dug up. God was trying to make it plain that H e had done everything He could for Israel, but they had utterly failed. He said taking away the fence from the vineyard and not caring any more, would destroy the vineyard. If Israel would not serve Him, they were just taking themselves out of His love and care, and the enemies around about would come upon them, and there would be no one to save or help them. God always stands by ready to help those who belong to Him, but if we disobey His Word, we take ourselves out of His care. Israel is scattered all over the world, and are suffering and being bit terly persecuted today because they will not receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior. There is only one way to please God, and that is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Then we are in the place of safety and God’s loving care is round about us. Our memory verse tells us a good man obtaineth favor of the Lord. The only good people in the world are those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you pleasing God? (Prayer.) Hezekiah, who, no doubt, was learning to depend too much upon his own resources. He was brought fresh appreciation of the fact that God alone is the true defense of a nation. Be it remembered that vic tory did not come in the great war until our nation went down upon its knees be fore God. Hezekiah considered himself on good terms with the King of Assyria, for he had but lately made peace with him (2 Kgs. 18:14). Suddenly the perfidious prince poured an army into the country and began laying it waste. In a world steeped in sin, we may never be sure of the continuance of our peace. It is well that we should expect wicked ness to have its seasons of prosperity. Waves of crime and infidelity are bound
D ecember 11, 1927 Isa iah Counsels Rulers Text: Isa. 37:1-20
IT' ING HEZEKIAH, at the time of the incident recorded in this chapter, was apparently trying to serve God and was leading the people in the way of reform.
Yet at that very time God permitted th e country to be invaded and a great part of it laid waste. It is difficult some times for us to under stand why God lets a people meet with
difficulty and distress at a time when they seem to be in the path of duty. Often as we look back we may discover that these permittances quickened us to a closer walk with God when otherwise we might have cooled off. So it was with
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