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May, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
fold them that He would send them a “ Comforter/’ ' They were feeling the need of a Comforter just at that time. They were probably wondering whom Jesus would send to comfort them. How could any one comfort them, now that the Lord Jesus was gone? This Comforter was also called the “ Spirit of truth.” His work was to help the disciples to remember all o f the things which Jesus had told them, and to teach them new things about Jesus and His work. This was just the Person they were waiting for, wasn’t it? And while they waited, the promised One came. W e call Him “the Holy Spirit.” The disciples couldn’t see Him, although He is a real Person, just as God is. Because the Holy Spirit is part of God, He is invisible to our eyes. But the disciples knew that the Holy, Spirit was there by the works which He did. Suddenly they had a great desire to tell people about Jesus. They had had the desire before, but now the right words were put into their mouths. They were no longer silent and afraid. Truly Jesus had kept His promise; the Holy Spirit had come. Objects:: A pint jar, a half pint of gasoline colored with lampblack ground in oil, and a half pint of water colored lightly with laundry bluing or blue ink. (The lampblack can be secured at a paint store. Either paint the jar a light grey or cover it with paper. In the back, leave an open ing about three inches wide to allow the light to shine in. In the front, below the center, leave an opening the shape of a heart. Begin the lessoni with the black gasoline in the jar. A lighted flashlight back of the jar will give better visibility.) Lesson: This jar with its black heart reminds me o f unsaved people. No matter how you shake or tilt it, the heart is still black. Black suggests sin, Sin cannot be removed from the heart by shaking, If it could, God would not have needed to send His Son into the world to die. When a person accepts Christ, as Sa viour, the heart is changed, just as this' heart is changed by this light blue fluid. The fluid is blue to remind us of the Holy Spirit who came from heaven on the day o f Pentecost to abide—to live—in the' hearts of saved people. The top o f the heart is black, and the rest is blue. When a person accepts Christ, the Holy Spirit enters the heart, but He is not always allowed to fill the heart. The more o f this blue I put in, the less of the black is allowed to stay in the heart. This is what the Bible means when it tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The more room in the heart that is occupied by the Holy Spirit, the less space there is for sin. The Holy Spirit enters the life of the person who accepts Christ as Saviour. And the Holy Spirit fills the life as the Christian yields himself to God. I have put in enough blue to fill the heart entirely, and we cannot see any of the black; but let us be careful, for every time the heart is shaken or tilted, the black again shows. God’s Word describes a man whose “heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” And that is the kind of heart a Christian will have. So long as the Chris tian is in this world, he will have to contend with sin. But when the Holy Spirit is allowed to fill the life, sin will have no place in the heart. Object Lesson A F ull H eart
And the debt is paid, not by efforts of the flesh, but by following the Holy Spirit. The word “ led” in this passage has the thought o f both willing and intelligent following. The Spirit also brings assurance of son- ship and heirship (vs. 15-17). He bears witness with our spirit concerning both. The mistake concerning the “witness of the Spirit” is in looking for some inward experience, or feeling, or sensation, upon which to rest one’s faith. Our faith is to rest upon God’s Word alone. Concerning the suffering of the saints, Paul again uses the word “if” with the force of “since.” We should note that the suffering is with, not for, Christ, and it is here in the present tense. We suffer be cause of the state o f the world, the in difference o f thé church, the rising tide of apostasy, and similar distressing con ditions. III. To meet the requirements o f true prayer, we need the help o f the Spirit. First, there must be the desire for the right purpose, that is, to have God’s will accom plished, to have the mind o f Christ, and to say continually, “ Not my will, but thine, be done.” Second, there must be the\ recognition of the right Person, that is, the Holy Spirit, who alone knows what the will of God is (cf. 1 Cor. 2:11; Jude 20; 1 Cor. 2:12). Third, there must be the observance o f the right practice, that is, readiness to obey God’s will (cf. Acts 5:32; John 2:5 ), Absolute dependence upon the Spirit is necessary for the mani festations of the fruit o f the Spirit in all the Christian’s life and walk. Points and Problems 1. According to John 16:8-11, the work o f the Holy Spirit in the world deals with three of the most profound subjects in all o f human experience and divine revela tion: namely, Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment. O f itself, the world does not know what sin really is, nor what right eousness is, nor what judgment is. Every man’s conscience indeed sheds some light upon these three things, but for the most part it is faint, glimmering, and distorted. Man has some consciousness o f sin, some sense o f right, some premonition of judg ment ; but all his views are inadequate and come short of the truth. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is sent into the world to bring God’s estimate of sin, righteousness, and j udgment. 2. The work o f the Holy Spirit in the world deals not only with three things, but also with three persons: namely, man, Christ, and Satan. In John 16:8-11 these three persons are shown in their relation respectively to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Man is shown in the realm of sin. Christ is shown in the realm of right eousness. Satan is shown in the realm of judgment. Thus the message o f the Holy Spirit to the world is threefold: First, He speaks to the world of man’s sin. Second, He speaks to the world o f Christ’s right eousness. Third, He speaks to the world of Satan’s judgment. 3. The very order of these things in the text is meaningful. Obviously, the first matter to be dealt with is the sin o f man. Then, when convinced o f his sin, man is pointed to Christ, the righteous Saviour. If man rejects Christ, the judgment of Satan will'become his final doom. 4. The American Revision changes "reprove" to “ convict," which is better. T he S pirit ’ s W ork for the C hristian (Rom. 8 :26, 27).
BLACKBOARD LESSON
The Greek word is remarkable. Bishop Westcott finds in it four ideas: first, an authoritative examination o f the facts; second, unquestionable p r o o f; third, decis ive judgment; fourth, power to punish. Thus the Holy Spirit, in convicting the world o f sin, is Prosecutor, Witness, Jury, and Judge. He is the Convictor o f the world, but the Comforter of the church. Golden Text Illustration Sometimes quarrymen find a very hard kind o f rock. They pick little grooves for the iron wedges,, and then with great sledge hammers drive these wedges into the hard rock. But sometimes this method fails to split the rock. Then they go at it in another way. The iron wedges are removed from the grooves/ . Then little wooden ones o f a very hard fiber are selected. These sharp-edged, well-made wooden wedges are first soaked in water. Then they are put in the grooves tightly while wet, and water is kept in the grooves. The water and the wedges are left to do their work. The damp wood swells. The granite heart of rock cannot stand against this new pressure. It takes longer than iron wedges and sledge, but after a while the rock yields and lies split wide open. The water works on the wood, and that in turn on the stone. The iron wedges some times fail, but the wood and water never fail. It seems to be a part o f our make-up to make plans, and to count on the plans. And planning does much. W e don’t want to plan less, but to learn to depend more in our planning on the soft, noiseless, but resistless power of the Holy Spirit —Quiet Talks with World Winners, by S. D. Gordon. Jesus Keeps His Promise J oh n 16:7-11; A cts 2:1-21 Memory Verse:.,“ I am thy God . . . I will help thee” (Isa. 41:10). Approach: After the Lord Jesus left this world, His disciples felt very sad. They missed Him. He had been their Teacher. And He had told them that when He was gone back to heaven, they were to
do the w o r k of teaching and preach ing which He had done. The disciples didn’t know how to begin. But they re membered that it was a good thing for God’s people to meet together in one place to worship H im ; so they did, this. They gathered together in
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one place because they loved Him. Lesson Story: While they were in this place worshiping together and feeling sorry that Jesus had gone away, and while they were wondering what to do next, they remembered that Jesus had made them a promise before He left. He had
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