Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-01-23
NUMBER "a
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON Nv, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. 26.

Text of the lesson, Luke iv. I4-22-Mem-
Ory Verses, Is. I9-coIden Text, Luke
tv, 3s-Commentary By the Rev. d. N.
stearns.
It. And Jesus returned in the power Of
the Spirit into Galilee and there went out
q fame Of Him through ali the region
round about After His baptism He be-
ing full of the Holy spirit, was led BY the
Spirit into the wilderness TO be tempted OF
the devil Verse 1). He was tempted On
the same three points on which Eve was
tempted-the lust Of the flesh, the lust Of
the eyes and the pride of life She and
Adam, with every comfort Of life about
them, sinned and fell He with no earth
ly comfort, stood and conquered By the
sword Of the Spirit. So may we stand and
conquer. See Eph. vi, 1918. In the power
of the Same Spirit, who Is also given unto
as. He now goes back home to begin His
public work. Perhaps 1t would be well 70
read here the whole story Of John /, 10, to
iv, "a, and then we will understand better
how His fame spread abroad everywhere.
Let us ever remember two things-lt was
by the Spirit that He spake and wrought,
and it was the Father whom He always
glorlfied.
IS. 'And He taught in their syna-
gogues, being glorified OF all" In verse
32 we read that they were astonished at
His doctrine, for His word was with DOW
er- We would see more 0f the power of the
word if we used more Of the word in which
alone there il power, and IL our aim was
like His, that God in all things might be
glorified Il Pet iv, III. He spoke with au-
th0rity, because He said only what the
Father told Him John xii 49). He never
discounted in the least degree any portion
Of the Scriptures, but indorsed the story
of creation, Adam and Eve the deluge,
Abraham, Lot, SodoTn, Jonah, Daniel and
all the rest. Those who make Light OF any
portion Of Scripture are not walking in
His steps. Pray for them, but heed them
not.
Is. "And He came 10 Nazareth, where
He had been brought up. and, as His Gus
tom was He went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and stood up for to read Y
At the age Of ~ He returned to Nazareth
with His mother and Joseph from the pass
over at Jerusalem, and until the age Of 30
He was subject to them. A part of His
subjeetion Is seen In His being Ii the syna-
gogue every Sabbath. Many Of us would
think that 1t was poor place To be for
spiritual profit, and that we had better
stay at home and read our Bibles, but our
Lord never lived unto Himself, and the
main question with US should be, not how
can get the most for myself, bnt how can
L bring the greatest glory 20 God and man
ifest Him to others. See III Cor. v, 10.
IL. "And there was delivered unto Him
the book of the prophet Esaias. And
when He had opened the book He found
the place where it was written" III you
have ever watched people looking for a
text In the Bible, YOU might conclude that
not all are skillful in finding places. It is
a good thing to have people, young and
old. commit to memory the books OF the
Bible in order so that they may quickly
turn to any particular book, and then 1t II
well to have an idea Of the contents OF
each book, so that we may know where to
look for what we want. Compare lisa.
xxx. II, II, and see If you are like those
or like Jesus Christ. If y0u would read
the Scriptures aloud for the benefit Of 9th
ers, see Neh. viii g.
1S. 1.-THE Spirit OF the Lord Il upon Me,
because He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor He hath sent Ne
to heal the broken hearted, to preach de-
Hverance TO the captives and recovering Of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised" Not many preachers
would seek for their congregation the poor,
the broken hearted, the captive the blind,
the bruised, but unto such Christ specially
came, being thereto anointed BY the Spirit
10. ITO preach the acceptable year OF
the Lord. n The whole time of this present
dispensation until Jesus shall come again
Is here called year, as in John :, 25, it is
called an hour, the hour or year or period
Of time when the gospel OF the grace Of
God is being preached and all who will
may accept this grace, or, in other words,
accept Jesus Himself and be saved. In II
Cor vi, 2. we read, Behold now IL the nc
cepted time; behold now il the day OF sal
vation.n 1t is therefore our high privilege
in this time of grace to proclaim 1t TO the
ends Of the earth. not for the conversion
Of all, but to gather out the people for His
name who will be the rulers with Him In
the next age (Acts XIV, IA; Rev. " 8, 10)
The great motto for our age Is not FAN
the world for Christ, but Christ for all
the world. N that whOsoever will may come
and thus complete His body, the church.
90 "And He closed the book and gave
III again to the minister and sat down.
And the eyes Of all them that we're IN the
synagogue were fastened on Him" BY
turning to Isa- Xxi, /, 2, you win SEQ that
He closed the book, as we would say, In
the middle OF a sentence. The words He did
not read are, "And the day Of vengeance
Of our God. m That day had not come and
has not yet come. Ii Isa. xxxiv, 9; XIV,
4; xiii, 4, ETC., the day OF vengeance and
the year OF Israelis redemption are associ-
ated. 1t will be at the second coming OF
Christ, when He shall come back in power
and glory to take the kingdom and to
reign He knew that the nation would re-
feet Him even a. His own townsmen were
about to DO oversees 2S, 29), and that the
kingdom then at hand would be postponed
till His return He knew how TO divide
the word Of truth III Tim ii, 15)-
2I. "And He began to say unto them,
This day Is this Scripture fulfilled in your
ears Had He read the next sentence He
could not have said, This day l. this
Scripture fulfilled" He actually did say,
If not in so many words, ! am He of
whom Isaiah by the Spirit wrote, and arm
come to do the things which have read
90 YOU. Now, when we consider that those
who heard Him had known Him for 80
years a. the Son Of Mary and Joseph, and
for many years a. a carpenter IN their
town MARX vi, -, we may understand
somewhat their feelings upon this occa-
sion.
o. "And all bare Him witness and
wondered At the gracious words which
proceeded out of His mouth, and they
said. r. not this Joseph's Sonfi He was
full OF grace and truth, and the words He
uttered were those Of the Fnther speaking
through Him John l. ia; xii, 49). They
actually heard Sod speaking, as truly as
when He spake to their fathers from The
mount, out OF the midst of the fire, but
they knew it not How little we realize
that when we read the Bible the same God
Is actually talking to us. We ara apt 70
get no further than to wonder az that
which we read and hear, but there Is no
benefit unless we believe and receive. He
Is still the very same Jesus and has = low
Ing message for ell who will hear Rim.