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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
June, 1935
or have any abiding civilization. And the Bible is the source of the Christian’s faith. To ignore the Bible is therefore to become the inheritors of a decaying civilization. The Palladium, indeed! Not of a worth less, superstitious charm like Minerva’s statue, but o f a mighty quickening power that gives to a people the elements of real worth and to a nation the source of real ability to preserve and prosper! Let this Book be taken from us, and our boasted civilization will be doomed.— Illustrations from Mythology, by W . E. B iederwolf . Moses Brings a Message from God E xodus 24:3-8, 12-18 Memory Verse: “The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey” (Josh. 24:24): ' , Approach: During the next few weeks we are going to study about some of the men and women whom we read about in
BLACKBOARD LESSON MOSES - GOD’S CHESSMAN ¡¡j§ 9
blood” (Heb. 13:12). And this sanctifica tion by blood is something finished and done. “ By which will we have been sanc tified through, the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once fo r all’’ (Heb. 10:10, R .V .). His precious blood set us apart from the world forever as God’s own pos session, and established for us a perfect holiness before God (Heb. 10:14). ^ 2. In verse 7, Moses “ took the book, and “read” it. In like manner our Lord sanctifies us continually by the Word of God. Remember His saying to the disci ples, “ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15: 3). This cleansing by the Word is what He prayed for in His great high-priestly prayer: “ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul re fers to this work in Ephesians 5:25, 26: “ Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it ; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing o f water by the word.” . 3. In verses 9 and 10, we read: “ Then •went up Moses, and Aaron . . . And they saw the Gcrd o f Israel." This is a beautiful type o f our final and complete sanctifica tion when we too shall “be caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him. as he is” (1 John 3 :2). Paul speaks of the same thing: “ And the God o f peace himself sanctify you wholly . . . at the coming o f out, Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23, R .V .). After this threefold sanctification, we read in Exodus 24:11 that they “ did eat and drink” in God’s presence. So we shall eat and drink at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9). Golden Text Illustration How often we have heard it said that the Bible is the Palladium of our Ameri can civilization 1 The word comes to us in connection with the fall o f Troy. Helen, the fairest o f her sex, was living happily in Greece with her husband Mene- laus, when Paris o f Troy, coming to Greece, became their guest, and, falling in love with Helen, persuaded her to elope with him to Troy. It was for this cause that the Greeks beseiged the famous Tro jan city. The Trojans were the proud possessors o f a celebrated s t a t u e of Minerva called the Palladium. In this statue the Trojans rested their security, claiming that it fell from heaven, and be lieving that the city could not be taken so long as the statue remained in it. Among the Greeks were tw o: Ulysses, famous for sagacity, and Diomedes, second only to Achilles as a hero. These two entered the city o f Troy in disguise and carried the Palladium away to the Grecian camp. Soon after this the city fell. Yes, it is true that, the Bible is our Palladium. It is no idle aphorism that the spiritual and moral strength o f this nation, corresponds to the Christian faith o f her citizens, and without that kind of strength no nation can become really great
Objects: Two milk bottles (a quart and a pint), two candles, two shallow pans, a small piece of rubber tire tube large enough to cover the mouth o f the quart bottle, and about a pint o f water colored with ink. (Remove the bottom from the pint bottle by tying near the bottom a string which has been saturated with kero sene, gasoline, or alcohol. Light the string, and after the flame has burned around the bottle, submerge the bottle in cold water. The glass will crack where the string has burned. Stick one candle in the center of one pan by melting the base. Stick the other candle in the center of the piece of rubber, and place it in the other pan.) Lesson: Bill and Bob are to be our teachers this morning. They have a very important lesson. Their last name is Bot tle. Bill’s middle name in Quart, and Bob’s is Pint. Like Christian people, these brothers both have lights. (Light each candle and pour the pans nearly full of the inked water.) This black water re minds us of the sinful world in which the Christian’s light is supposed to shine. I am sorry to say that many Christians are like Bill. (Put the quart bottle upside down over the candle which is fastened to the rubber. Press the bottle firmly against the rubber.) Bill’s light soon goes out. When a Christian does not let his light shine, the sin of the world soon enters his life. See! The black rushes in. (With the finger, break the seal, and the vacuum caused by the burning candle will suck the water into the bottle.) Bob’s light burns brightly. Here is the secret. (Put your fingers through the open bottom.) He keeps the door open to ward heaven. He is like the person who reads his Bible and prays. Bob reminds me of Moses, who kept his life open to ward heaven and let his light shine in a sinful world. Notice what happens when I close Bob s door toward heaven. (Put the bottom back on the bottle.) The light grows dim. When the door is opened, the light again burns brightly. Keep the door open to ward heaven, and let your light shine up on earth. his people in giving them bread” in her own land (cf. 1:6). “Faith cometh by hearing” (Rom. 10:17), and when Naomi heard o f blessing being enjoyed in Beth lehem, her faith sprang up afresh. When she purposed to return to the Lord’s place for her, her two daughters-in-law pro posed to accompany her (v. 7). Naomi’s faith was still feeble, how ever, for when Orpah turned back to her own country and her gods, Naomi had no word to hinder her; she even advised Ruth to turn back also (vs. 14, 15). The child o f God who is in a backslidden state never
the Bible. I know that most of you have heard o f the t h e m a n a b o u t whom we are going to talk today. His1 name was Moses. Tell me some of the things that you know a b o u t him. Yes, he was hidden away in a basket by his mother when he
was a baby. Can you tell me why? Yes, and he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter, and for many years he lived in her palace as her son. Yes, he decided that instead of living in a palace, he would go back to his own people and help to save them from the cruel Pharaoh. He went away into the country, and God prepared him for this work. Then he came back to Egypt, and you know the'gtory o f how Pharaoh finally let the people g5>. At last the peo ple had crossed the Red Sea, and Moses was their leader. Lesson Story; Many, times Moses is called in the Bible the “servant of God.” It was because he served God that he was made the leader of the people. Moses had learned to “ wait on the Lord”|feto quietly look to the Lord to see what He wanted him to do. When he was a young man, Moses was sure that he knew how to do things by himself. He had many plans of his own. He tried his own plan for freeing the peo ple from Pharaoh. It didn’t work. Even after he was the leader of the children of Israel, he sometimes forgot and tried his own way. Then he failed, but when he remembered to “wait on the Lord” to find out His way, he never failed. And that is why God used Moses to take His messages to His people. Lesson T ext: Ruth 1:14-22; 4:14-17. Golden T ext: “A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” (Prov. 31: 30). Outline and Exposition I. T he B eginning of N aom i ’ s F aith (1:14-18). N aom i was in the position of a back slider who had departed from the Lord’s ways and had found trouble in the far country. But there she heard of the Lord’s providence in having “visited
JULY 14, 1935 NAOMI (A Woman of Faith and Courage) T he B ook of R u th
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