99
February 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
they received? No, indeed! T h e y preached Jesus everywhere they went. Just think, boys and girls, if these people had stayed in Jerusalem, the rest of the world would not have heard of Jesus. Sometimes we suffer persecution, but let us be faithful witnesses for Jesus,-and then our suffering will become a blessing. Another one of the deacons was named Philip, who was also a faithful preacher of, the gospel. Philip’s preaching began at home. (Acts 21:8, 9). Philip held re vival meetings in Samaria. When the people heard about Jesus dying to save them, and saw the mighty hand of God in their midst, there was great joy in their city. Great joy will come.to our hearts .when we believe on the Lord Jesus. While this great meet ing was going on, God sent an angel and told Philip to go down into the desert. He saw a colored man riding in a chariot and reading from the book of Isaiah. This man was the treasurer of the queen of his country. (Finish this interesting story, emphasizing the importance of im mediate obedience to God’s command.) Are you witnessing for Jesus in your home, at school and to your neighbors? In Psa. 68:31 is a prophecy, which ob tained fulfillment in the. conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, and the introduction of the gospel into Abyssinia, which still remains a Christian kingdom. Philip obeyed. Are you obedient? Prayer. ter’s call, and strive to place the way of life before men. This brings before us the whole ques tion of the heathen. Are they really lost?; If not, why do we go to them? Rom. 1 :19, 20 shows that God is know- able. He has written the fact of His exis tence as the divine Designer and Creator upon the face of the universe and in the most minute things of nature. Well knowing this in their hearts, men refuse to seek Him, become vain in their think ings (Rom. 1:21), glorify Him not; pro fessing themselves to be wise, they be come fools, and even change the glory of God into images. Not only are they answerable to God because of the light of nature, but God has given to them the light of conscience (Rom. 2:14-16). By virtuous acts which they sometimes do (v. 14), by natural operations of conscience (v. 15), and by reasonings with one another, whereby they excuse or accuse one another (v. 15), they give evidence that they have a law of right and wrong within them, even though they have never had the light of the Scriptures, The heathen perish (v. 12) through un faithfulness to a law which they possess, not alone because the Gospel of Christ has not yet reached them. They are moral beings, yet do not live up to their own sense of right and wrong. Darwin admitted that the moral sense in man, even in degradation, is an un bridgeable chasm separating him from the animal. He is a responsible creature. “The pagans in the heart of Africa,”
one of my trespasses to me, because He has already counted them to Jesus on the cross, this may well tranquilize my Spirit and emancipate my heart. If I believe that pod means what He says, perfect peace must be my portion. True, it is only by the Holy Ghost that I can enter into the power of this glorious truth; but what the Holy Ghost leads me to believe and rest in is, that God does not, and will not, impute a single sin to me, because He has already imputed all to Christ. This leads us to the third feature of the ministry of reconciliation. 3. If God will not impute my trespasses to me, then what will He impute? Right eousness—even the righteousness of God. God hath made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us who were' all sin, that we might become the righteousness of God IN HIM. Most glorious truth! Sin is made an end of, as regards the believer. Christ lives as our subsisting righteous ness, before God, and we live in Him, There is not so much as one single entry to our debit in the book of divine justice; but there is a risen and glorified Christ to our credit. Nor is this all. Not only are our sins gone, our guilt cancelled—our old self completely ignored—not only are we made the. righteousness of God in Jesus; but we are loved by God as Jesus is loved—accepted in Him—one with Him in all that He is and has, as a risen, vic torious, ascended, and glorified Man at God’s right hand. Higher than this it is impossible to go. Let us remind you that this glorious ministry will very soon close. The ac ceptable year, the day of salvation shall ere long come to an end. The ambassa dors shall soon be all called home and their embassy be closed forever. The door shall soon be shut, and the day of ven geance set in in terror and wrath upon a Christ-rej ecting world. Remember that the One who is now praying and beseech ing you to be reconciled has uttered the following words, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof ; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh” (Prov. 1:24-26). Telling Others About Jesus■ A cts 8 :4 -8 ; 26-39. B y M abel L. M errill Memory Verse: “Ye shall be my wit nesses.” Acts 1 : 8 . Approach: Show the children a kernel of wheat; tell them that if this kernel were planted, and all it produced saved and planted each year for sixteen years,
Lesson Story: Mow many- of you boys and girls like breakfast food with nice rich milk? Many of these foods are made from grains of different kinds grown on farms and ranches. God sends the sunshine and rain to make the grain grow, to make food for us to eat. Do you know of anything else made of grain, which injures the body and makes it weak and sick? (Review). Our story today is about some of the brave and noble Christians in the early church. These people were so full of joy and thankfulness to God, they could not keep it to themselves. Their dear ones in the home needed to know the Lord Jesus, and they began there. Their neigh bors needed it, their relatives and friends. The believers in Jesus at this time were bitterly persecuted and put to death. There was no safety or protection- for them as we have today. One of their faithful deacons named Stephen had been stoned to death because he preached unto them Jesus, and told them of their sin. Today our preachers, evangelists and teachers are permitted to tell the. glad story in many parts of the world. These early Christians did not- have an easy time, for they had to flee from their home city of Jerusalem. What do you think they did when they were driven away from their homes and scattered in differ ent parts of the country? Do you. think they grumbled and complained about the wicked people and the dreadful treatment
M arch 13, 1927 Making the World Christian L esson T ext — M att . 28:16:20; A cts 16:6-15.
T T will be clear to the Bible student that his commission is not to “Make the World Christian” in the sense of “social salvation,” an idea common today, but to
go into all the world making disciples for Christ and teaching believers the truths He imparted. We are not ex pected to bring the w h o le w o r l d to Christ, but Christ to
the whole world. We are witnesses (Luke 24:48) in an age when God’s di vine purpose is to “take out from the world a people for His name” (Acts IS: 14). Our work,'therefore, is evangeliz ing the unsaved and edifying believers. Our Lord’s parables in Matthew 13 show clearly that we are not warranted in expecting at any time in this age the en tire elimination of tares from the world field. The .drag net will enclose both good and bad when Christ comes with all His angels. We have never known of so much as one small hamlet where all have been converted. The average length of life for the world is said to be only about thirty- three years. This means that the entire population of earth passes off three times in each century. More than two-thirds of these never hear the Gospel even in this day of printing press, radio and rapid transit. It is not likely that this proces sion will be overtaken by the preaching of the Gospel. It is imperative that we obey our Mas-
there would be from the one seed sufficient wheat to feed the whole world. So if each will sow the seed of gospel truth the w o r l d w i l l s o o n be reached. If every Chris tian would win one person to Christ each year the whole world would hear of the love of Christ. We should each be a witness for Jesus by l i v i n g a
Christian life, by giving of what we have to send the gospel abroad and by praying that the world may be saved. Primary Teacher.
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