TH E K IN G ’S B U S I N E S S
380
when he was testifying, ‘How do you know you were converted?’ “ ‘Well, I’ll tell you,’ he replied. ‘I ‘ went from here to my boat, and, lock ing the door, just made up my mind never to open it until converted. And I kept my word!’ “How could you tell when it was done?” asked the evangelist. “ ‘Well, I’ll have to explain that in my own way,’ the Boatman answered, ‘but it seems to me the Lord just took, as it were, something like a barnacle- scraper (a keen, sharp-edged, three- cornered piece of steel, used to scrape off deposits that gather on the bot tom of vessels) and scraped my heart all out clean, and I haven’t felt any thing wrong there since!” ’ The First Family M ark 10:2-12; G enesis 1:27; 2:18-24 MEMORY VERSE: “God setteth the solitary in families” (Psa. 68 : 6 ). AIM: To lead to Christ, who can make .our homes happy. (To the teacher: This is a generation of broken homes. In all probability there is in your class some child who feels confused and insecure. Ask God to help you to bring strength and comfort from the Word.) APPROACH: All of us came h e r e from our homes this morning.’ But once, long ago, there was -only one home in the whole earth. God wanted
inner meaning of the law. The Ten Commandments have not only to do with outward observance, but t h e y also deal with the condition of man’s heart- According to this passage, the man who intently gazes upon a woman to lust after her has already b r o k e n the seventh commandment. The .lustful gaze is the bud that finally flowers into the overt act. Those who say that they keep the Ten Commandments usually think only df the outward observance. They do not interpret their i n n e r meaning as Christ does. By His stand ard, which is the only infallible stand ard of interpretation, every man stands condemned. Only in Christ can he stand before God complete. 3. "For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept" (Mk. 10:5)#; It seems that the practice of divorcé was quite p r e v a l e n t among the Israelites in the time of Moses. They may have learned it from the Egyp tians. At any rate it was too deep- seated to be abolished at once. Di vorce is against the will of God. It is foreign to the ideal He had estab lished in the beginning (Gen. 2:24). Due to the hardness of human hearts, He regulated it at the time of Moses (Deut. 24). It is well to note that there is a distinct difference between the directive and the permissive will of God. In the beginning His directive
will was revealed in which there was no provision for divorce. The ideal in the marriage relation was established. Later on after sin had brought its evil results, God’s permissive will was expressed in His allowance of divorce under certain conditions. For today, Christ has made it clear that there is only one cause permit ting divorce, that of adultery (Matt. 19:9). All other grounds for divorce are man-made and minister to the breakdown of the home.
Golden Text Illustration M atthew 5:8
Describing some of the Remarkable conversions among the boatmen who had been induced to attend his Water Street Mission in New York, Jerry McAuley once said, “I asked one of them who was saved at that time,
After the war . . . WHAT THEN? A D A P T - A B I L I T Y will be demanded o f every one, of labor, of industry, and of resources. The entire Christian world will need to adjust its program to post-war conditions. Spiritual leaders, too, will have to adapt themselves to the circum,- stances of the hour, if they are to present the Word of Life effectively. Attention: Men in the armed forces, Chaplains, Pastors, Christian Leaders, Parents, Young People Look to Biota for Training The Bible Institute of Los Angeles is adapting its curriculum to receive men and women at any time after release from war duty. Proportionate credit is given. • * •
THREE-YEAR D IPLOMA COURSES — FOUR-YEAR SEM INARY COURSES
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs