LESSON 10. Golden Text, Matt. 10:40
LESSON 9. Golden Text, Rev. 2:10.
We have today a Missionary lesson. Our Lord is looking not only upon the multitudes in the more than two hun- dred cities and villages of Galilee, but those multitudes in the regions beyond. He has a spiritual vision of the world's need. What He says. Sheep without a shepherd. The leaders had neglected the people, the teachers had ignored them. He saw sin sick souls and suffering bodies. The people were untaught, unsheperded, unsaved. What He felt. The conditions moved Him to compassion. Heb. 4:15. This word compassion is one of the strongest in the Greek language and suggests the stirring of His inmost soul with tender yearning compassion, as there used has reference to the human element in the Lord Jesus. Compassion is an eternal principle in God; His own body and soul responded to the cry from the body and soul of the people. The Church needs to view humanity through the eye of her Master—needs to look, out upon a lost world and see the havoc sin has wrought", and the soul of the Church needs to be stirred with divine compas- sion. Men are lost, Rom. 3:23. Like scattered sheep they are. driven about by winds of doctrine Eph. 4:12 and tra- dition of men, Col. 2:8. They need the Christ who is the power of God, I Cor. 1:24, and there must be men and wo- men who will be as Paul was to a lost world, I Cor. 9:19-22. Wh at He Said: (2) Solemn Admonition. " P r ay ye therefore." With that picture of distressing need before Him He said, "The harvest is great," there are so few to labor. Why did He not follow it with "Go ^e?" Because it is not His order. Before He called the twelve He prayed all night (Luke 6:12-12), now He bids them pray. He did in like manner be- fore sending them forth (Luke 10:2). The door to wisdom and work is prayer. All problems of the believer are solved by prayer. If the church would pray, Christ" would perform. Schools and col- leges, gifts of money, getting men and women pledged to go, are essential, but the most important of all is prayer, for all the other things are compassed the moment prayer begins.
Turning to the first verse of the les- son for today we look into the soul of a godless murderer and see the force of a guilty conscience. Herodias had John the Baptist's head on her hands, but Herod had John's death on his soul. He had power over J ohn 's head,- but none over his own •conscience. Verily sin doth make cow- ards of us all. There is a worm that dieth not and a fire which is not quenched." Hearing of the miracles of Jesus, Herod at once concludes that John has risen from the dead, and his soul quaked with fear. Herod was a Sadducee. The leaven of Herod (Mark ¿8:15) is supposed to be the doctrine of the Sadducees (Matt. 16:6), who denied angels, spirit and the resurrec- tion (Acts 23:8). Poor Herod, his be- lief was shattered by his conscience, just as the belief of multitudes will be when confronted by the presence of death and the judgment. Thinking J e s u s is John, he seeks to get him out of Galilee. Jesus calls him that fox (Luke 13:32). Herod was a weak man, he feared Herodias, the multitude, the courtiers, and John the Baptist. •Had he feared God, he would not have feared man. Herod could not stifle the voice of conscience. David said, "My sin is ever before me." Herod said, "John is risen." Conscience is God's witness in man's bosom. It is not a safe guide. It cannot save us, but it is ever accusing, or excusing us (Rom. 2:15). Herod was unfaithful to God and to his own conscience. He violated the in- stincts of his nature, rejected the tes- timony of God's servants, and crowned sin by the crime of murder.. Herodias sought to be a queen; her soul was stained with the crime of adultery and murder. The names of both Herod and Herodias will be forever linked with the names of Ahab and Jezebel. The Finale In the judgment, John will face them, glory crowned. Then they will be judged for the deeds done in the body and it were better for them both if they had never been born. The les- son closes with a tender message. The disciples "went and told Jesus." We can do nothing better in seasons of deep- est sorrow and trial. Go and tell Jesus.
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