Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-03-11

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH 22.

LESSON XII, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH 22.
Text of the Lesson, Luke xii, 37-4S-Mem-
ory Verses, 81, ss-Golden Text, Eph.
v 1s-Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
stearns.
81. BLESSED are those servants whom
tho Lord, when He cometh, shall find
Watching" Faithful service is the topic
for today, and there is nothing more puri-
flying, or more conducive to faithfulness
than watching for the coming of the Lord.
I testify from personal experience Of 90
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 II we
live Ii and for our Fathers good pleasure
(verse 82) all fears banished by His perfect
love and all cares cast upon Him Il John
iv, 1S; Pet. v, y, then our treasure be-
ing in heaven we will be watching for the
Son from heaven. From the first assur-
ance of a Deliverer (Gen. Ill, 15) to the end
Of the book we are ever reading OF tho
Coming One to suffer and to reign Il
Pet. l, 1I). BE came once, at Gods ap-
pointed time, to suffer, and the Simeons
and Annas watched for Him. He Is CON-
ing again. Blessed are the watchers.
SO. "Blessed are those 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 prac-
tical and must be applied to the heart of
every believer glance at verse S6 will
show that the watchers here specially re-
ferred to are Israel, who when Jesus shall
come in His glory shall, In the words Of
lisa. XIV, 8, acknowledge Him as their
Messiah. I certainly do not wait and
watch for Him to return from the we'd
ding, for as part Of Himself, His body,
the church, I expect to be at the wedding.
89 eff the goodman Of the house had
known what hour the thief would come,
he would have watched" His coming as
q thief is mentioned in Thess. v, Q; II
Pet. Ill, 10; Rev. Ill, 8; xvi, 15. but only
in reference to His enemies and the day Of
the Lord. Listen to I Thess. v, 4, 8:
"But ye brethren are not In darkness,
that that day should overtake you as q
thief. Ye are all the children Of light and
the children Of the day. We are not Of the
night nor Of darkness"
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, II, 81, and shows the coming ruler
of Israel and Of the world, In which Off
oial capacity the head and body, Christ
and His church, shall be manifest as one
Il John iii, Q; Col. lii, 4; Thess. Ill, 13).
Neither death, which Is an enemy, nor the
Spirit at Pentecost, who came as another
Comforter, nor the destruction Of Jeru-
salem, which is contrary to Ps. eli, 16, can
in any Scriptural sense be said to be q
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 for
service or glory any moment.
Al, 40. "And the Lord said, Who, then,
is that faithful and wise stewardr" This
in answer to Peter question as to whether
the Lord had been speaking specially to
them or to oil. He seems to answer,
"Whosoever will may be faithful and wise
steward" In Cor. iv, 1-5, Paul speaks Of
himself and fellow laborers as stewards 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" Is also re-
ferred to in I Cor. iii, 3; Heb. v, 1914,
and the difficulty Of giving meat when one
can only take milk.
4s. "Blessed is that servant, whom his
Lord when He oometh, shall find so do
Ing" 1t will be sad indeed for the serv-
ants 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 equip
ment for every man Of God, sufficient to
furnish him thoroughly for every good
work Q1 Tim. iii, 16, ~, and the preach.
er who steps outside Of the word of God
for q topic for his people Is dishonoring 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 Lord 8 message
(Hag. i, 1s).
A. "Of truth I say unto you that he
will make him ruler over all that he hath"
It Is said of Abraham eldest servant that
"He ruled over all that he had" (Gen.
xiv, q, for "all the goods Of his master
were In his hand" (verse 10Y. 1t is said OF
Joseph that Potiphar "made him overseer
over all that he had" and that Pharaoh
"set him over all the land Of Egypt" (Gen.
xxx, 8; xii, 4I. Jesus said Of the
Spirit, she shall receive of mine and shall
show 1t unto you. All things that the Fa-
ther hath are mine" John xvi, IA, 15).
Consider we'll, o child of God, our present
privileges and future glories and be faith
full.
As, 46. ellis portion with the unbeliev-
ers." Therefore this servant was never a
true servant; but, like Judas, only num-
bered with them. There Is no Scripture
that oontradicts or really conflicts with
the statement Of our Lord that His sheep
can never perish (John <, 27-29). The
professed servant who lends his tongue to
the evil one to lash other servants and at
the same time gives himself up to the in
toxications Of this worlds attractions had
better consider ore it be too late these SOL
emn words Of Him who shall be our judge.
"Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, but
he that doeth the will Of my Father"
(Math. vii, 21). "Whosoever will be a
friend of the world Is the enemy Of God"
(Jas. iv, 4). "Ye cannot serve God and
mammon" Nuke xvi, 13). If one chooses
to be an unbeliever, he cannot expect other
than the unbelievors' portion.
AZ, 4S. If understand the teaching of
these two verses, 1t Is that while all unbe-
levers, whether professedly servants Of
God or not, shall 90 to the place Of tor
ment, there shall be degrees # torment In
proportion to their guilt. I am in the
habit in my preaching Of putting it this
way: Those who receive Jesus Christ are
saved freely by His grace and all are
equally saved (Rom. iii, s4), but each
saved soul will be rewarded or given his