Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-08-04
9nternational 9essol1s.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VII, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. IS.

LESSON VII, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. is.
Text of the Lesson, Cor. viii, 1-13-Mem-
ory Verses, IL, 13-Golden Text, Rom.
xiv, documentary by the Rev. D. NJ.
Stearns.
l. "Now as touching things offered unto
idols, We know that wo all have knowl-
edge. knowledge puffcth up, but charity
edifleth." The R. V. has for the last
clause, "Loye cdifeth. or buildeth up"
Tho words "Now as touching" introduce
US to new section of the epistle. Com
pare chapters vii, /; xii, 1; xvi, l. This
section seems to reach to the end of chapter
Il, and might be summed up in the words
of chapter Z, 81, "Whether therefore ye eat
or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God" The great incentive to
this Is Remembrance Of Him till He
come" (chapter xi, 24-2e).
3. "And If any man think that he know
eth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as
he ought to know" It Is said that ito
know our ignorance Is the first step to
knowledge" The great men Of the Bible
story knew nothing except as they were
told by God. Noah knew nothing concern
ing the ark, nor even when to enter 1t or
leave it, except as God told him. Moses
knew nothing concerning the tabernacle,
nor the journeyings Of Israel, except as
God told him. The prophets, and even our
Lord Jesus Christ, were told by God what
to say (Ex. iv, 12; Dcut. xviii, 1S; Jer. 1, y.
8. "But If any man love God, the same
is known of him." The Lord knoweth
them that are His, and those who know
His name will put their trust In Him.
We love Him because He first loved us.
He so loved as to give His only begotten
Son, anS the Son of God loved me and
gave Himself for me. Unless His great
love so takes hold of me and constrains
mo that I give myself wholly to Him to
servo and please Him only I do not know
His love as I should. Love seeks not Its
own, and is not provoked; but suffereth
long, and is kind and beareth all things
(chapter xiii, 40. God is love, and will
manifest 1t In us.
4. "We know that an idol is nothing In
the world, and that there Is none other
God but one." This Is fully set forth In
lisa. XII, "a; xiv, 9-20: eye are worse
than nothing, and your work worse than
of viper. An abomination chooseth you. "
"They that make craven image are oil
Of them vanity, and their delectable things
shall not profit, and they are their own
witnesses They see not nor know; that
they may be ashamed" But the people Of
God arc witnesses that He Is the living and
true God, and that there is none beside
Him Elsa. xiv, g..
s, 6. "For though there be that are
called gods, to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things and
we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by Him. "
All things were created by Him and for
Him, and He Is before oil things, and by
Him all things consist (Col. !, 16, ~.
From Rev. iv, II, and 1 Pet iv, II, we
may learn to say, "Thou art worthy, o
Lord, and am for Thy pleasure, that God
in all things may be glorifed through
Jesus Christ"
2. "Howbeit there is not in every man
that knowledge" There are those today,
as there were those at Corinth, who bear
the name of Christ and yet offer their time
and strength and money to the idols OF
fashion and pleasure and the vain things
Of this world, and think 1t all right so to
do. If you ask, Are they truly Christ's
peopleS we can only answer that If they
are they arc not truly serving Him. AS
to their being His, chapters Ill, IA, 10, and
v, 5, seem to suggest that possibly they
may be, and thoy may be saved as by fire,
just barely saved.
s. "But meat commendeth us not to
God" What we eat or do not eat Is q
small question except as regards the body g
health. The kingdom Of God Is not meet
and drink, but righteousness and pence
and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. xiv, ~.
Our Lord Himself said, Whatsoever thing
from without entereth into the man, 1t
cannot defile him; that which cometh out
of the man, that deflleth the man" Mark
vii, 1S, 20). The salvation Of the soul &c,
pends wholly upon the finished work OF
the Lord Jesus, and wo are accepted by
God as His children entirely upon the
merits of Christ. We deserve nothing but
punishment for our sins. Yet, coming as
sinners, we are justified freely by His
grace (Rom. iii, 24). The same grace, and
tlat alone, makes acceptable what we do
unto Him.
8. "But take heed lest by any means
this liberty Of yours become O stumbling
block to them that are weak" Liberty is
always out or place when 1t hurts others.
Love seekcth not her own. Many things
may be lawful for us that are not expedi-
ent. The question is not, How will this
or that affect me, but how will 1t affect
Him and His cause for whom am living
herep We are on the witness stand all the
day long, and we are either true or false
witnesses unto Him by the books we read,
the company we keep and the places we
frequent. We are either pointing people to
Christ and drawing them to Him or we
are like Naomi, sending some Orpah back
to Moab and idolatry.
10, II. Through thy knowledge shall
the weak brother perish, for whom Christ
died" AS Christ died for all, then all
who will may come to Him and be saved.
But if /, Christian, am seen In the Idol s
temple, the theater, the ballroom, the card
party, and there Is present some poor soul
enjoying these things because he knows
of nothing better, yet hungcring for some
thing he has not and cannot fine, al
though possibly having heard that Christ
can satisfy, and he sees me In such a
place, then he may well say or think
that there Is nothing In it, for, see, these
Christians are just as hungry as I am for
the measures of this world
10. but when ye sin so against the
brethren and wound their weak conscience
20 sin against Christ" All that Is done
for or against child Of God Is done for or
against God und His Christ. The "inas-
much" of Mnth. XIV, 40, 45, is always ap'
plicablc. A Christian may be stumbling
block over whom some unsavcd soul may
stumble into eternal torment, or may by
inconsistent conduct not only lose his own