Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-12-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON K, FOURTH QUARTER. IN
TERNATIoNAL SERIES. DEC. 9.

! TERNATioNAl SERIES. DEC 9.
Text of the Lesson, Luke viii. 4-15-sIena-
DRY Verses, 11-I5-Goldcn Text Luke
viii. I1-Commcntary by the Rev. d. NJ.
stearns.
4. And when much people were gath
cred together and were come to Him out
81 every city lie spakc By Il parable. = In
Math- xiii, :, and Mark iv, /, it is written
that lilo sal in ship, and the multitude
stood on tho shore while He taught them.
In Math- xiii, !, it is said that He went
cut OF tho house and sat by the seaside.
This going out eff the house may be sug
tcstivc CT His turning from the house Of
Israel because Of their turning against
| Him, for we read in Math. xii, IA, that
they held . council to destroy Him, and
il was not till after this That they were
taught by parallels. The light is never
taken from those who are willing to re-
ceiyo it
5. "A sower went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowesi some fell by the waysidc,
and it was trolden down, and the fowls
CT the cir devoured it. In verses / and
IL we have His own explanation of
4
and so ON through the lesson The seed Il
The wortl of God IN Pet. i, 90, it is called
| incorruptiblo seed which llveth and ahid-
eth forever In Math. xiii, 81, He that
soweth the good seed is the Son of man,
but in the mex verso the good seed is the
children of the 'lingdom.
6. And som fell upoI rock, and as
soon as it was strung up IL withered away
because is lacsed mo sture. Matthew
and Mark say it lad not much earth and
withcrcd when the sun was up because it
had 10 root.
l3 Here is the cxpli nation of tho seed
on the rocky soil Compare Math. xiii,
20, 81, and Mar : il. 16, IL. These church,
gocrs receive the word with joy, possibly
talk it ever on the way home and ut the
dinner table, hut some ,mc say something
against the prriehcr, Il lander old or new,
or perhaps on. says thu higher criticism
has disposed OF the whole passage which
the preacher spoke from, and the foun6a-
tion of his remarks is thus swept away
Or perhap; next day in the store or office
tho hcarc TALKS of tho 6 ood sermon of yes
tarday ans, is laughed at by his fellows.
" no want 10 know when ito turned his
lack on them and how $, on hc intends to
depart for he foreign field Tins he Is
offended, an satan conQucrs
|. Z. And some fell umonl. thorns, and
tic thorns 6. rang up with it and chokcd
it" Mark iv, z. says 1t yielded no fruit.
IA This Verse, with Math xiii, %, and
lark IL, IS, 10, gives light OH the thorny
K round heai ers. These seemed to be really
saved peeps. The failure with them is
i.uit not sa.vation. The cares and riches
md pleasures of this life, with the lusts
ii ether things, choke the word, and they
bring no fruit to perfec ion. There arc
Ilany who think that if they can only
make sure Oh ht aven that is everything,
and having lecei ed Jesus as their Saviour
they are burdoneN. With business or house
hold cares CT ca Tied way with pleasures
or other things. us studies or pursuits of
various kinds. They accept Jesus as Saw
Jour, but not as Lord They expect to
crown Him Lore OF all when they get to
heaven, but know nothing Of it here. They
ere described in Cor. iii, 10, as losing
their works aad saved as by fire. They
are not abiding in Him for fruit bearing
and would be MS ,amed il He should come
Il John ii, 20, John XVI.
s. And othcr fell on good ground and
spr;ing up and bare fruit an hundrcdfold
And when Iio had said these things he
cried, He that hath cars TO hear let him
hear" Matthew and Mark say that this
seed brought forth some thirty, some sixty
and some a hundredfold.
IS. This, with Math. xiii, %, and Marx
iy, 20, leaves us i'll no doubo us to who arc
meant by the good ground The honest
and good heart must indicate the new
heart born from above, which was proba-
bly, also in tic last class OF hearers. These
hear the word and receive it and keep it
and with patience bring forth fruit to the
praise Of His name who redt emeth them
While all true believers are equally sancti-
fled in Christ by His one offering (Heb.
X, 10, III, it is equally true that we are
daily being s;lnctified as to our daily life
by His word of truth (John xvii, IL. All
God IS dealings with His people ara in or
der that they may bear more fruit, for He
is glorificd when VIC bear much fruit (Tohn
XIV, 5, 81 To this end we must remember
that Jesus said in this connection, with
out Mo or apart from Nc yc can do moth.
ing or, us i'll Hos xiv, s, From Me is
thy fruit found. " If We as believers
ever find ourselves trying to abide or try
ing to bear fruit, we may be sure that We
arc not right, for quietly as the branch
sbdos in the vine and as quietly us the
vine bears fruit, through its branches SO
quietly will God by His Spirit bear fruit
through us in Jesus name when We are
fully yielded to Him. We need not plan
anything for God, for we arc His work
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before PIE
pared, that we should walk in them (Eph
al, l0). If we simply and whole hcartodly
yield to Him, He will work in US both 20
will and to do of His coed pleasure those
things which are well pleasing in His
sight (phii. ii, 10; Heb. xiii 2l) Some
have not ears to hear these things. They
are wise and prudent in their own cstima.
tion and want to know why God gave us
brains and common sense if He did not
want us to Ike self reliant and plan and
work out things for His glory.
g. And His disciples asked Him, say
ing, What might this parable bei" In
Mark iy, 10, it is written that when He
was alone they that were about Him with
the twelve asked of Him the parable" So
in Mark xiii, 3, we find that Peter, James,
John and Andrew asked Him privately
about certain matters He still has an
inner circle of disciples to whom He tells
many things which He cannot tell to ALL
He is not partial. He Is no rcspccfcr OF
persons, but all do not como equally close
to Him in whole hearted surrender All
limitations and hindrances are on our
side, not on His
TO- And lie said, Unto you it is given
to know the mysteries Of the Kingdom Of
God, bLs to others i'll parallels, that sec
ing they might not see and hearing they
might not understand. This is not us
some think, who suppose that He taught
in parallels in order 10 make His teaching
more plain. Observe, He says that they
might not see and not understand He
lad taught them plainly and without par
abics until they refused Him and sought
TO kill Him, but now that the kingdom is
to lie postroHed till His return He tells in
parallels the characteristics Of this present
age, known as the period of the mystery
Of the kingdom. A parable is like the
sheli of Int, rs one has said. 1t keeps
the kernel frcm the incident and for the
diligeEt