Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-01-30
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON v, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, FEB. 2.

ory Verses. 22 to 24--Golden Text, Luke v.
24-commentary by the Rev. ID. M.
stearns.
IL. rAnd it came I'd pass Oh a certain
day as He was teaching that there were
Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting
by, which were come ont Of every town of
Galilee and Jndea and Jerusalem, and the
power uf the Lord was present to heal
them" The title Of this lesson is 1.-THE
Power Of jesus. and it is seen in this
chapter in the draft of fishes, the healing
Of the leper and Of the paraIytic, but spe-
cially in the forgiveness of sins. a. He wa
teaching on this particular occasion the
house was full Of leading and influential
religious people, but He, the humble car
penter Of nazareth in their estimation.
thought not Of their opinion and %, a. al
ways, pleasing the Father, He preached
the word unto them mark Ii, p. Al
though the power Of the Lord was present
10 heal, they had come not to be healed,
nor to be blessed, and they got neither.
lS. "And, behold, men brought I'D bed
a man which was taken with A palsy, and
they sought means to bring him in and to
lay him before Him" The Pharisees and
doctors needed no help, in their own esti-
nation, but here IL poor, afflicted, help
less man sadly needing help and very con
scious of it. There Is a saying that "God
helps those who help themselves" " but the
whole story and teaching Of Scripture are to
the effect that God helps those who can
not help themselves the utterly helpless
and hopeless, humanity speaking, as the
lepers, the blind, the dumb, the deaf and
the paraIyzed, and sneh as could give Him
no rnoore4r1nrtra Frrt
for His loving kindness
19. "They went upon the house top and
let him down through the tiling. with bis
couch, into the midst before Jesus" Their
sympathy was practical, they were very
persevering they manifested their faith
BY their works 1t may be that each III
the four had himself been healed Of some
infrmity and therefore they could truly
sympathize with their friend, and having
each for himself seen and known the pow
or Of Jesus they knew that could they only
get him to Jesus the thing would be done.
20. "And when He saw their faith, He
said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven
thee" We read in Math. viii, 8-13, of the
faith that said, "Speak the word only and
my servant shall be healed, " and without
even seeing the sick one Jesus healed him.
great as that Of the centurion, but it was
real faith in Jesus, though different in de-
gree, and it pleased the Lord without
faith 1T L. impossible To please Him CHeb.
XII, ID. The man was brought To be healed
Of his palsy, but Jesus, like a skillful ply
sician, sees the true source of his troubles
and begins the cure at the fountain head.
Not all sickness is the direct result of in
dividual sin, but sometimes it II %, az in
John ', IA.
81 "WhO can forgive sins but God
alOnes'' Thus reasoned the scribes and
Pharisees as they heard the words Of Jesus
to the sick man. We may imagine their
CONSERVATION and possibly scowls and an
ger as they saw the roof broken up over
their heads Contrast the perfect calm of
Jesus, unmoved by having His discourse
interrupted, or by the disturbance over
head, or by the hatred id their hearts, the
very essence Of peace and quietness, He
who said to winds and waves, Peace, be
stillri was Himself always peaceful and
still, for He lived in the presence Of God,
the God Of peace.
22. But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts He, answering, said unto them,
What reason We in your heartss' 1t is writ
ten of Him, Il know the things that come
into your mind every one of them" tEzek
XII. ID. He understandeth even the imag
inatiOn Of the thoughts OF the heart III
Chron. xviii, %. He understands our
thought afar of FPS. cxxxix, p. 1t is q
great comfort toa sincere heart that trusts
in Him that He can read the heart and
that He thoroughly understands us. 1t j.,
on the contrary, anguish to the unsaved
when they allow themselves TO think Of it
that their every thought is known to the
searcher Of hearts. See Jer. xvii. 10.
25. whether l. easier to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise UP and
walks" An ordinary physician may effect
q cure for the body, but only God can heal
the soul. One has said that the work of
creation was completed in six days, but
the work NJ redemption Kept the S0n ~
God on earth for over 33 years Concern
ing the first. He spake and it was done,
but to accomplish the second Sod became
man and suffered indescribable agony Of
BODY and soul f0r our sins. Tnforgive sins
Is surely the greatest work, for it cost Sod
the most.
"a. "The Son of Man hath power on
earth to forgive sins Therefore the Son
Of Man H. none other than the SON Of God
even Sod Himself Instead Of saying ~
their unbelief said, "Whu can forgive sins
but God aloneg' faith would have said
ssHe forgiyeth sins, therefore He must be
our God, m according to Isa. xiii. Is What
a joy that He still forgives sins have
been glad for 22 years that He has forgiven
my sins, and first saw 1t in / John ii, 19.
[ have had no dream or vision about it,
but | believe Sod. | rest in the finished
work or the Lord Jesus Christ and Just
take Him AZ His word. II believe also that
/ as truly as He redeems The soul lie will in
due time redeem the body.
25. And Immediately he rose up before
I them and took mp that whereOn he lay and
departed tx his own house, glorifvinE
I God. II VIZ read at least seven times in this
gospel Of Y clarifying God n The shepherds
I gloriied God when they had seen the babe
I in the manger, the people glorified God
when tbe- had seen the widow ! son raised
I to life tho woman who wa bowed down
! 1S years glorificd GOD when she was made
straight, one of thp ten lepers glorifec
I God, the blind man glorified God and the
Roman centurion gloriied God di, 20;
", 25 2R; viii. l6; Kill, l8; xvii. l5; xviii,
As; xiii, AID. We gl0rity God when We
believe i'll Jesus Christ when we make it
manifest to others that we have confidence
in Him, and do actually trust Him, when
we, by patience and meekEess bT love and
joy and long suffering and Kindness, make
( it very plain tO others that Christ Himself
/ is living III Us and that We belong to Him.
26 And they were ali amazed and
they gloritied God and were filled with
fear, saying, We have seen strange things
today" They had soen an impOssibility-
humanity speaking They had seen thr
supernatural. They saw sin sick soul
made clean and whole, a sick body made
well, and they saw preacher undistUrbed
by an interrupted discourse, Or by the an
ger of the influential people Id his an
dience. All these things were superna-
tural and gloriied Sod, and they glorified
God when they acknowledged His hand IN
the healing of the palsied man.
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