Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-01-26
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ". FIRST QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES JAN. ~.

mi fOtNF-L oEniEof Sfsf. 81.
Text of the Lesson, Mafh. xvi, 13-es-Mena-
DRY Verses, I3-I6-Golden Text Nath.
xvi. Commentary by ahe Rev. d. N.
Stearns.
ID. ..Wkon Jesus camo unto the coasts
Of Cesarva PhiIippi, He asked His disci-
pies, saying, Whom do men say that ], tho
Sen Of Man, ams'' After feeding the
5000, walking on the sea and discussing
about the bread of life Jesus went toward
Tyre and Sidon and healed tie daughter
CT 4 Syrophenician woman, fed 1900 and
cautioned His disciples against the leayen
of the Pharisces and SaddIcees. or the
false teaching Ct hyp,critcs and rational
lists. Then, having passed to another sec
ton, He asks the question Of this verse.
II. And they said, Some say thou art
John the Baptist, some Elias, and Others
Jeremias, or ore Of the prophets just
as varied are the opinions of men now
concerning Him, for while many hate Him
and turn their backs upon Him many
who profess to be His friends will not be-
lieve that He is Gcd, and many moro who
confess with the mouth that He il God rs
httl as tfistAl fiOt S4BM 70 ssSsN tAttil Al
some things, as man, He was mistaken
or spoke according to the mistaken 70
lions of His times, while others who would
not dare to say any of these things will
lot believe that He is the coming one 10
sit on David's throne.
10. she saith unto them, But whom say
yc that l amp As far rs we are individ
ually concerned, the great question is not
t,l- nf hot
we think of Him, for every one Of lis
shall give account of Himself to Cod
from. xiv. 12). He will deal with each
one separately and personally, ard the
great question for me is: What do | think
of Christi What is He TO lnes' What is
my relation TO Him? Is He my friend and
Saviour, or do ACT as if it was nothing TO
me whether He ever lived or nots
1G. And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. - By comparing verses and
of Math. ii we see that ~ the Christ is
Synonymous with the King of the Jews. "
By comparing verses 33 and 36 Of John
We see that in their eyes the Son of God
meant equal with God, SO that Peters
confession meant at least thus much:
Thou art tho King of the Jews, the Di
vine Man to sit on David's throne'
Il. And jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar iona.
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but My Father which is in
heaven" Flesh and blood, or the natural
man, cannot reveal unto us heavenly
things, even as it is written in l Cor ii, IL,
13. God only can teach us OF Himself by
His holy Spirit, but He is ready to teach
piI who nra ready m he taught
Is. And | say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock / will
build my church, and the gates of he'll
shall not prevail against it," The Greek
words translated Peter and rock are
not quite the same, for the word translat-
cd Peter means a bit of rock, rolling
stone, but the word translated 'rook'
means a cliff or ledge, % solid rock. The
church was not to be built upon Peter, "A
rolling stoEe but upon the solid rock,
Christ, whom Peter confessed to be the
Christ, the Son of God. Notice that the
church vas not, then, built nor being
buildod, for He said, Il will build my
church.
10. And | viii give unto thee the keys
Of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever
thou shalt bind ON earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed i'll heaven We
know from Acts ii and that Peter was
the first of all the apostles to preach the
gospel both to jews and genriles, and thus
He opened the door to all, and this is the
power of keys. As to the binding and
loosing, we know that the Same power was
given to the church as u whole in chapter
xviii, Is. Every believer is authorized to
proclaim the gospel Rev. xxi, ~ and TO
point the repentant sinner to the passages
which declare him loosad from his sins
and the impenitent TO the passages which
declare him still bound by his sins.
20. ''Then charged He His disciples that
they should tell no man that He was
Jesus, the Christi He had confessed to
the woman of Samaria that He was the
Messiah John iy, %, 26); He had to the
Jews given many proofs that He was their
Messiah, and they only turned their backs
upon Him. so that He will declare it no
more. See chapter xii, 49, If the truth
is not received when simply presented,
there is the danger of the truth being with
drawn and delusion received in its stead
I'll Thess. ii, 10, ID. Jesus Himself is
the TRUTH and there is none other, for God
can be known only in and through Christ
81. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto His disciples how that He
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many
things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again
the third day. F" See the same facts repeated
by Him in chapters xvii, %, 90, and Xxx, Is
10, and notice in verses "a, 20, of our lesson
chapter that there is no way TO the kingdom
but by the cross and entire self renuncia-
ton. While the kingdom Is delayed post
poned because of Israels rejection of her
king, the heirs of the kingdom, the members
of His body, the church, must Bic content to
be treated as their Master was and live as
He lived, not unto Himself, but unto God
90 Then Peter took Him and began
to Tebuke Him, saying, Be it far from
Thee, Lord, this shall not be unto Thee. "
The margin says, Pity Thysclf 1t is
the nature of the natural man to pity
ones self rather than deny self. 1t is too
much the case with Christians also that
they live unto themselves indulge them
selves, please themselves rather than
please Him who hath called them so that
God alone can tell whether they are Chris
lians at all or not. Christians should bear
in mind that I'VE who live are Away de
livercd unto-death for Jesus sake that
the life also cf Jesus might be made mani
fest in our mortal flesh that we should
not Eeneeforth live unto ourselves, but I'M
to Him who died for US and rose again"
III Cor. iv, IL; Y, 151.
%. But He turned and said unto Pc
ter: Get thee behind me, satan. Thou art
an offensc unto lne, for thou sayorost not
the things that be Of God, hut those that
be of men. See what the Lord thinks of
plying oneself. 1t is not from Cod but
from satan, the adversary Of God and
man. He hates the Christ life, and If he
cannot destroy will do all he can to him
der it. Not /, but Christ, who livcth in
me, is the true Christian motto and only
those who thus live can be glory to God
and blcssing.to their fellows. 1t is like
man to get and enjoy and crafty him
self; t is Ike God to give and minister
unto ard make others glad. For the Son
of Man came not to be ministered unto,
but 10 ministce and TO give Ills lie ran
som for many" tMath. Xxx, 2S).