The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-03-25
SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR
MARCH ~.
Lesson Text: "Faithful and Unfatth~
1ul Servants" Luke Kill, 81 -4S-.
Golden Text: Eph. VIZ
commentary.

Commentary.
81. blessed are those servants whom the
| Lord, when He cometh, shall find watch
Ing" Faithful service is the TOPIC for to-
| day, and there Is nothing more purifying. or
more conducive to faithfulness than watch
| ing for the coming of the Lord. l testify
/, from q personal experience OF twenty years.
| II the heart is full OF fears or cares, both OF
which are fully dealt with in the preceding
part of this chapter. we shall neither be
| watchful nor faithful, but il We live in and
! for our Fathers good pleasure (verse S2)
] cares cast upon Him q John w.. 49, Peter
! ", y, then our treasure being In heaven we
will be watching for the Son from heaven.
| From the first assurance OF Deliverer
] (Gen. lii, 15) tethe end OF the book We are
ever reading of the coming One to suffer and
to roign q Peteri., 1D. he came once, at
Gods appointed time, to suffer- and the
Simeons and Annas watched for Him. He Is
| coming again. Blessed are the watchers.
SO. "Blessed are these servants" Those
! who will not be taken by surprise should He
! come at any moment Of the night or day.
| While these lessons are very practical and
| must be applied to the heart OF every be-
lever q glance at verse 36 will show that the
watchers here specially referred to are Israel,
who when Jesus shall come IN His glory
shall, in the words OF Isa. XIV, 3, acknoWi-
edge Him as their Messiah. / certainly do
not wait and watch for Him to roturn from
the wedding, for as a part OF Himself, HIS
body, the church, expect to be at the we'd
ding. L-
&c. 'sIf the good man OF the house had
! known what hour the thief would come. he
would have watched" His coming as n
, thief is mentioned In Thess. ", 2; Ii Peter
, ill.,, 10; Rev. ill.,. 3; xvi, 15, but only in
reference to His enemies and the day OF the
Lord. Listen to Thess. ", 4, S: "But ye
brethren are not in darkness. that that day
should oyertake you rs 4 thief. Ye are all
the children OF light and the children OF the
day. We are not Of the night nor OF dark
! ness"
40. "Be ye therefore ready also. for the
Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think
not" The title, "Son of Man, takes ,us
back to Ps. viii, 4-6, and to Dan. vii, 18, "A,
| 81, and shows the coming ruler OF Israel and
! OF the world. in which official capacity the
head and body, Christ and His church, shall
be manifest as one (I John ill.,, 2; Col. ILL.,, 4;
Thess. ILL.,, 19). Neither death, which Is an
enemy, nor the Spirit at Pentocost, who
came as another Comforter, nor the destruc-
tion Of Jerusalem, which is contrary to Ps.
cii., 16, can In any Scrlp:urai sense be said to
be a coming OF the Son of Man. Let us not
omit the lesson that is in this and similar
verses for our own souls. Be ready Tor ser
vice or glory any moment
Il, 40. '.And the Lord said. Who, then, IS
that faithful and wise stewardT' This In
answer to Peters question as to whether the
Lord had been speaking specially to them or
to all. He seems to answer. "Whosoever
will may be a faithful and wise steward" mi
Cor. w., is, Paul speaks Of himself and fel-
low laborers as ste yards OF the mysteries Of
God and says that the one thing required OF
q steward is to be found faithful, and that
In view of the coming OF the Lord. Meat
in due season. ts also referred to In Cor.
ILL, 2; Heb. v, 1914 and the difficulty OF
giving meat when one can only take milk.
43. 'tBlsssed Is that servant, whom his
Lord when He cometh, shall find 80 doing"
1t win be sad indeed for the servants who
are giving stones for bread and the poison OF
unbelief instead of the milk and meat and
honey of the word Of the Master. The Bible
is a complete equipment for every man OF
God, sufficient to furnish MIN thoroughly for
every good work (II Tim. ILL.,. 16, 17). and
the preacher who steps outside OF the WORD
Of God for topic for his people Is dishonor-
ing the Word OF God and grieving the
Spirit of God. The one business OF every
teacher and preacher is to be. like Haggai,
the Lords messenger with the Lords mes
sage (Hag. l., 49,. -,
A. "Of truth say unto yol that he will
make him ruler over all that he hath" It's
said of Abraham's eldest servant that "He
ru. ed over all that he had (Gen. xiv, p,
for ''all the goods Of his master were In his
hand" Cyerse 10). It Is said OF Joseph that
Potiphsr "made hin overseer over all that
he had" and that Pharaoh "set him over all
the land of Egypt (Gen. xxx, s, XII, ~.
Jesus said Of the Spirit, she shall receiye;of
mine and shall show 1t unto you. All things
that the Father hath are Mine (John xvi,
IA, 15). Consider we'll. o child Of God. our
present privileges and future glories and De
faithful
As, As. "His portion with the unbeliev.
ers." Therefore this servant was never y
true servant; but like Judas, only numbered
with them. There Is no Scripture that con-
tradicts or really conflicts with the state
pasnt of our Lord that His sheep can never
perish (John x, 27-29). The professed SER
want who lends his tongue to the evi. one to
lash her servants and at the same time
gives himself up to the into1icarions OF this
worlds attractions had better consider ere IL
be too late these solemn words of Him who
shall be our judge, mot every one that
saith Lord, Lord. but he that doeth the Will
Of Ny Father" (Math. vii, 21). "Whosoever
God" (Jas. w.. A.. 'Ye cannot serve Goo
and mammon" (Luke xvi. 1S). Ii one
chooses to be an unheliever, he cannot ex'
pect other than the unblievers' portion.
Al, 49, If I understand the reaching OF
these two verses. it is that while all unbe.
levers, whether professedly servants OF God
or not, shall 90 to the pl zee of torment, there
shall be degrees OF torment In proportion 20
their guilt. am in the habit In my preach
ing Of putting it this woy: Those VINO re-
ceiye Jesus Christ are saved freely by HIS
grace. and all are equally saved (Rom. ILL.,,
24). but each saved soul will be rewarded or
given his wages according to his works
lRsv xii, 70; Luke xiv. IA; l Cor. ILL.,, IL
i5). so that while there are no degrees IN
salvation there are in glory Il Cor. xv., 40
42). Those who reject Christ will be lost be-
cause of their rejection OF Him. whether
professedly His or not, but their torment
will be In proportion to their gull. The
servants OF these two verses cannot be true
servants OF God, for such are not beaten or
punished, because the chastisement OF our
peace was upon Him who was made sin for
us lisa. ill.,, S; II Cor. ", 2D. Wherever
weeping or wailIng and gnashlng OF teeth Is
mentioned 1t Is always with reference to
those who profess what they are not (hath.
viii, II; Kilt, 40. so; xii, Is; XIV, 81;
Luke xiii, % etc.).-Lesson Helper
SLEW THE FREAK.