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HE KING'S BUSIN1 ... S::;
for grace for ourselves and victory for the cause of our Lord and Saviour. • • THE JUNIORS JESUS' LOVE FOR OiLD AND YOUNG John 21:15-17 Review: Who can make a word picture of the fishing party we studied about last week? Where did they go to fish? (Sea of Gal!lee) Did they catch any– thing? Who stood on the shore watching them? Did He know they were disap– pointed because they had not caught any fish? Does He know everything? What did He ask them? (v. 5) What did He tell them to do? (v. 6) How many fish did they catch in their net when they obeyed Him? (153) wm we ever lose anything by obeying Jesus? What did they see on the shore of the lake when they landed? (v. 9) Who had prepared dinner for them~ Did He use some of their fish also? Would you have liked to have been one of that fishing party? Lesson: This is the last lesson from the Gos-· pel of John. We have studied (with this one) thirty-four lessons from this one book. Can you give any of the names of the lessons we have studied? What one Person has been In . every lesson? (Jesus) Have the lessons helped you? How many have read the GospP. through once? How many have read it more than once? How many· Gospels have you given away? Now, in this last lesson there are two things to remember. When the dinner was over Jesus began to talk to Peter. .What was the first question He asked Peter? (v. 15) What was Peter's answer? (v. 15) Then wllat did Jesus tell Peter to do? (v. 15)
A third thought suggested by this scripture has to do with the numb&r of times Jesus put this question before Peter. Three times Peter denied Him, three times Jesus said "Do you love me?" Did Peter put together these two facts in his own mind and heart? Did he think of the three-fold q uestlon &S suggesting the three-fold denial? I do .not know. We are only told that he was grieved at the third Inquiry. My Impression is that the Holy Spirit brought to his mind the three-fold de– nial, and that the thrice-repeated ques– Uon was Intended to call to his mind the thrice-repeated denial. God for– gives us freely, but He wishes our !a!lures to be helpful to us, and so He does what He can to warn us against repeating them. The most important matter that we have In this lesson has to do with the mode by which Peter was to honor God In dying. The Holy Spirit says that Jesus signified by what death Peter should glorify God, and when He had said what He did on that subject He said, "Follow me"-and this probably Included in the mind of our Lord the !act of the cross. Jesus seeks for no disciples under false pretences. He never. tells His possible disciples that they will have an easy, lovely time if they come to Him. In this respect He differs radically from certain religious teachers of our day. Some one says, "The prophets have generally a hard time unless they are false prophets." This is certainly true, and the ease– loving prophet of our day is an enemy Of the souls of men. What is the lesson intended to teach us as a whole? The gentleness of Jesus to an honest follower who has fallen into serious sin, the fairness of Jesus, and the warnings which He gives to His disciples as to the fact that we do not have to worry about other peo– ple but should patiently and stead– fastly move on, doing day after day duties which come to us, trusting God
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