THE K I N G ’S BU S I NE S S
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association with ignorant, filthy, brut ish people. But is a man to do noth ing for Christ except what he likes? God pity him if he is not! Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to go, and we go. Love constrains us.” Herein lies the impell ing power that puts forth the fairest and the best men and women to do the work of human rescue. —Nashville Christian Advocate. God's Friendly Rules E xodus 23:1-9 MEMORY VERSE: “He that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Prov. 29:18). APPROACH: Two boys were talking together. “I don’t like rules!” Jim said crossly. “I do,” John answered, “since I’ve learned how many good ones there are.” (Mention several that are for na tional safety and happiness, etc.) LESSON STORY: God gave His peo-. pie, the children of Israel, some rules to help them live happily together. The Lord said to them something like this: “I want you always to tell the God’s commands, and they have been very happy. One of these was Paul. (Take any Bible character who illus trates the point, and visualize scenes from his life.) Paul told the truth, even when a king said he would punish him (Acts 26§. He stood for the right, even when no friend was with him (Acts 22). He was kind to others in many ways (Acts 16:40; 27; 28; Philem.). Do you know why Paul was able to keep God’s rules? He had received the Lord Jesus into his heart, and he had said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” No one ever can keep God’s rules until he has received God’s Son as Saviour. That is the first thing to do. OBJECT: A piece of paper 8%xll inches. (Fold each end to within V* inch of the middle, making the size 8%x5% inches. Slant the top and bot tom toward the middle to represent a book. Linife the edges to look like leayes. There will be a gap down the middle of % inch, in which print “GOD’S WORD,” writing down. Open the folds, and on the inside, using the above words, complete the following: GATES, SOUL, HANDS, HEARTS, WALKING, WORKING, RESTING, and CHILDREN.”) IK ______ 5 - D i v i s i o n Object Lesson B in d in g t h e B ible truth. I want you to do w h a t is r i g h t , even if many, many peo ple are d o i n g what is wrong.' I w a n t you to be kind to others.” T h e r e always have been people w ho have k e p t
ing of Christ, and is not for the pur pose of salvation (Gal. 3:24). 2. "Wherefore the la w w a s our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (v. 24). In Paul’s day the schoolmas ter or pedagogue was usually a slave selected for his fidelity,, to whom was entrusted the complete supervision of the children of a family from their sixth or seventh year until they ar rived at the age of puberty. He was therefore obliged to maintain the rigid discipline which was commonly asso- .dated with the name. The law was in the place of the pedagogue to the Jews—“hard, severe, unbending in its guardianship of them when they were in their minority, it being implied in the illustration, however; that all the while t h e y were children” (Eadie). The pedagogic function of the law was to produce such convictions of guilt and helplessness as prepared for faith in Christ. 3. "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (y. 27). As soon as a person identifies himself with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, he comes into a new relationship. Con nections with the law are severed. If he attempts to be united to both Christ and the law after this experience, it is like a woman having two husbands. It is spiritual adultery. The old hus band, the law, is deâd by the body of Christ. The believer is espoused to an other, even Christ, and he ought al ways to be subject to His will (Rom. 7:3, 4). Golden Text Illustration L u k e 10:27
law of Moses; he is free to maintain it, to vindicate it, to exalt it. But it is no longer either a medium for justifi cation or a rule of life and conduct; Christ Himself has become both the medium and the rule. ___ III. T h e L aw C o n c e r n in g L ove ( G a l . 5:13, 14) The law of faith brings Christ to dwell in each believer. And as He dwells within, He so controls the life that love naturally flows out from him. Being at liberty from the law of Moses, the believer does not have the freedom that is license, but the freedom that is love. He has a will other than his own, even that of Christ within. The believer, under the law of love, keeps and fulfills the law, not because he must as a slave, but because he will as a son. He is not driven by the law as a taskmaster would drive him, but he delights as a son to please his new master, Christ. His1 love for his master constrains him to do his mas ter’s will. Hence the commandment, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self,” is fulfilled by the believer who is under the law of love. Points and Problems 1. "But before faith came, we were kept under the law" (Gal. 3:23). Faith here denotes the Christian gospel, because faith is its distinguish ing characteristic. Before the system of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed, men were kept under the condemning sentence of the law. In this connection, several pur poses of the law may be suggested: (1) It is a revelation of the righteous ness of God (Rom. 7:12). (2) It is a revelation by contrast of man and His need of a Saviour (Rom. 7:7). (3) It is a revelation of the nature of sin (Gal. 3:19). (4) It is a schoolmaster serving an instructor’s purpose until the com
A missionary was asked whether he liked his work in Africa. His reply was: “Do I like this work? No! My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined'sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat-stands. We .do not like “ WE W O N ’T BE D IVERTED ” ^ ] THUS SPEAKS WEIZMANN, head of World Zionist Movement, who seeks wide open doors of Jewish Homeland at close of war. What does prophecy say? Be sure to read : . JULY "PROPHECY MONTHLY” OTHER BURNING TOPICS—“Wilderness Journey of American Japs,” Howard Van Loon’s story of marvelous workings of God that has raised up large group of gifted Japanese Christians to carry Gospel back to Japan. ALSO READ answer to Christians who want no “Jewish God.” Scientific vindication of Acts 17:26—latest pronouncement against blood myths. Every issue of PROPHECY is VITAL these days. Costs you but a dollar bill for a year. Current issue 10c. Send this adv. with your dollar and get FREE COPY of- “Spirit of Truth Chart”—showing up leading religious cults. A m e r ic a n P r o p h e t ic L eagu e , In c . Box BB, Sia. Eagle Rock Los Angeles, Calif. Keith L. Brooks, D. D„ Pres. Rev. F. H. W iylii, Exec. Sec'y.
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