Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-07-15
THE FIRST CHURCH.
= GON -, LUMP QUARTER, INTER-
MA ONo- SERl--, JULY II.

MA ONo- SERl--, JULY II.
Text of the Lesson, Acts IL, 37-47.
Memory Verses, 3~S-30-Goiden Text,
Acts H., iS-Cummentary by the Rev.
ID. NJ. stearns.
81. Now when they heard this they
were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men
and brethren, what shall we do?" When
the people accused the Spirit-flled apostles
with being drunken, Peter arose, and from
Joel ii, 1882; Ps. xvi, sill; III Sam. vii, IL, 10,
and other Scriptures, preached unto them
Jesus and the resurrection in such power
hat the results were as described in this
lesson. Jesus had said that the Spirit would
reprove or convince of sin, righteousness
and judgment John xvi, SID, and al.
ready on the first day of His coming be.
hold how nightly He works (Gal. ii, 81.
But observe that He wrought conviction
by the word spoken by the prophets, and
as Jesus crucified and risen was therein
presented to the people.
IS. Then Peter said unto them, Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins, and We shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost" They had thought Jesus to
be a d~eceiver and impostor; Peter proved
that by the miracles and wonders which
God did by Him and by raising Him from
the lead God had testified that He was in
deed %Israel's Lord and Christ of whom all
the prophets had spoken. The one thing
therefore for the people now to do vas to
change their minds about Jesus of Naza
reth, accept Him as their Messiah, confess
the same by baptism and thus be forgiven
and receive the Spirit that they too might
become witnesses unto Him.
80. For the promise is unto o II and to
your children and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall
call" Peter again referred to the promise
in Joel ii, IS, which be had already quoted
Verse ~, and probably to such promises
as lisa. Xiv, 8, 81 will pour my Spirit upon
thy seed and my blessing upon thine off.
spring" See also Isa. | 81. That it is the
pleasure of God to bless and save whole
households is evident from the stories of
Noah, Abram, Lot and Rahab Gen. vii, 1;
xviii, 80; xix, 10; Joshua ii, lS), and also
from such instances as that in Acts xvi, "a.
40. "And with many other words did He
testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation." Not in
His own words, but in the words of the
Holy Spirit He must have continued to
speak unto them, for being filled with the
Spirit the Spirit would speak through Him
according to Math X, 90. We can easily
imagine him using such encouragements
as lisa. i, IS; xiii. %; ", 3, 4; Eek. xxxvi,
20, and many others.
Al. Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized, and the same day
there were added unto them about three
thousand souls" 1t is not enough to hear or
know about Jesus; we must lea and then
believe or receive his word ii. e., Himself.
John V, "a; vi, 63). Believing means re-
ceiving (John i, l2), and if we do not re
ceive Him we cannot he said to believe
Him. 1t is having or not having Him that
decides whether we nave life or not q John
v. 12). There is nothing saving either in
baptism or the communion, but being
saved by receiving Him then we confess
our death, burialS,nd resurrection with
Him by the rite of baptism, and rejoice in
the communion to show forth His dealt
till He come"
IL. And they continued steadfastly il
the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and
III Dfefhl1B Oh DItd9 anu Ill prayers.
These were the outward evidences of tn,
sincerity of their faith in Christ. Through
the apostles they were further instructed
and thus built up and established, anC
continuing in prayer, and commemorative
from time to time His death, they ~rejoiceC
in Jesus as their Saviour and King, AM
daily expected His return to restore t
Israel the kingdom iii, 21).
AZ HAnl fear camp uuOp every GpIl am
many wonders and signs were lone by thu
apostles" AS it is written in Mark xvi
20, "They went forth and preached every
where, the Lord working with them anC
confirming the word with signs following.
The signs are mentioned in Mark xvi, l5-lS
and | do not know why such signs shout,
not be seen to this day, for it is nowher,
said that these signs should continue unit
a certain time and then cease. We wan
more whole hearted loyalty to Christ anC
utter abandonment to Him, that SO He b,
His same Spirit may still work in us to Hi
glory.
"A. And all that believed were togethe
and had all things common" They wer
now children of one Father, brothers an,
sisters in one great household of faith
they had a whole heart for Him who ha,
given Himself for them, so having receive,
the Holy Spirit they counted nothing
their own any more, but rejoiced in minis
tering to all of their substance as each ha,
need. See chapter iv, 81, "a.
-. "And sold their possessions an,
goods and parted them toall men, AS ever,
man had need" Thus they set their al
f~ections on rhkngs above and laid up treas
ure in heaven, walking in the footsteps O
Him who though He was rich became poo