The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-11-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON VII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, NOV. ~.


DRY Verses. i2-I7-GoIden Text. Eph. vi.
10 Commentary by the Rev. ID. M.
stearns.
10. FINALLY, my brethren, DO strong
In the Lord and In the power of His
might" The first three chapters set forth
our salvation, or rather His salvation, In
all It's fullness. Then we are taught In
the following chapters what our walk In
the Lord, or our daily life, should be, and
now In the verses of our lesson we are
taught how to do it and to adorn the doc
trine of God our Saviour In all things
Titus II. 10). My readers and hearers must
be very familiar with Eph. Il, 10, but 10
only inst comes to me now to associate
with 1t Titus II, 10. Thank the Lord for
the association. May the words grip US
with power
IL. PUT on the whole armor of God,
that We may be able to stand against the
wiles OF the devil" There Is real per-
sonal devil, the enemy of God and man, at
present the prince Of the power of the air.
the prince of this world, whose prison will
soon be the bottomless pit and his final
abode the lake of fire and birthstone John
xiv, 30; Epb. IL, q; Rev. TX, Q, 3, 10)
IL. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood" The demons who do the devils
work are not all visible In the form of men
or women. The air Is often full of them.
They come at us when we are weak and
alone and fairly storm US with their evil
thoughts and lies. They come at us In
the house Of God, and when we read His
word, and even when on our knees In
prayer. How shall we know themP They
are the opposite OF all that Is of God.
Righteousness and peace and rest and
quietness are all Of God and His Spirit
through Christ. The opposite must be Of
the devil.
10. Wherefore take unto you the whole
arInor of God. that We may be able to
withstand In the evil day, and, having
done all, to stand" One of the first and
greatest things Is to understand that as
we are saved freely by His grace (Eph. II,
8; Rom. Ill, 24), so we stand continually
In the same grace (Rom. v, /, 81 or unde-
served favor Of God. Unless we see clearly
that all our salvation from first to last is
wholly undeserved on our part, and Is ours
only In and through Jesus Christ and His
finished work, satan will get many an ad-
vantage over us. We are not worthy, but
Thou art worthy, o Lord. On that let us
stand firmly and continually.
IA. "Stand, therefore, having your loins
grit about with truth and having on the
breastplate of righteousness. Our Lord
said, II am the Truth" and He IL also
made unto us righteousness (John xiv, 6;
Cor. 1, 30; III Cor. V, 21), so that when
we have learned to see no one but "Jesus
only" to run with patience looking
unto Jesus" and ever to consider Him
(Math. xvii, 8; Heb. xii, 2, 81, we have
Loo - or
ID. And your feet shod with the prep
aration of the gospel of peace" The feet
shod also takes us back to the Passover
verse (Ex. xii, 11), for we can do nothing
and are asked to do nothing till we are
safe under the blood. We are also remind
ed by lisa. Iii, z, "How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bring
eth good tidings, that publisheth peace.
The first thing is to be made nigh by the
blood Of Christ, "for He Is our peace"
(Eph. ii, 10, 14). Then have the mind
staid on Him in perfect peace lisa. XVI,
81. Then carry the tidings of peace through
the blood of His cross (Col. 1, 20) to every
creature.
Is. above all taking the shield Of
faith, wherewith We shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked one. A."
Many trials are very fiery, but none the
less precious as tokens of His approval
who gives us fellowship with Himself U
Pet. iv, ~, 13). He has not promised to
keep us out of the fire, but to be with us
In 1t, even as with Daniels friends lisa.
Kill, 2; Dan. ILL., 25), and II He can be
better seen in the fire with us shall we not
praise Him even for thatp But as to these
fiery darts of the devil which he hurls at
us, there is not one that need touch us to
harm us, for all may be quenched by q
quick and firm 81 believe God" (Acts
xvii, 25). Confidence in God and reli-
ance upon His word will do it every time.
II. "And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword Of the Spirit, which IL the
word of Cod" In Thess. v, 8, it Is writ
ten, For an helmet the hope of saliva
tion." This Is the completion of our sal
walton at His coming, which is every day
nearer than when we believed (Rom. Kill,
III. The blessed hope that purifies q John
Iii, 81, for then we shall be like Him, even
as TO our bodies, for we shall see Him as
He Is phil. liz, 81; Rom. viii, 23). From
first to last all the knowledge and comfort
Of this come to us through His word,
which Is forever settled In heaven and true
from the beginning FPS. cxix, 80, 1907.
Is. praying always with all prayer and
buppllCdClOn III INC CpITlU, anu WdUCnlUB
thereunto with all perseverance and sup
plication for all saints" Our Lord spent
whole nights In prayer. David and Daniel
prayed many times day (Ps. lv, IL Dan.
vi, 10Y. We should pray without ceasing U
Thess. v, ~. 1t Is possible to be ever In
an attitude of prayer, constantly commun-
ing with Him about everything. He who
prays honestly will expect answers and
watch for them as truly as the boy who
throws his ball into the air watches for It
to return to him.
10. "And for me that utterance may be
given unto me, that may open my mouth
boldly to make known the mystery of the
gospel" He said to the Corinthians, "In
everything We are enriched by Him, In all
utterance and in all knowledge" Q Cor. 1,
81. And yet, recognizing his own weakness
and the reality of the wiles of the devil, he
asks prayer for himself that he may have
utterance and boldness for Christ. Paul
was very conscious of his own weakness
and often spoke of It.
90. For which am an ambassador in
bonds; that therein (margin thereby 1
may speak boldly as l ought to speak.
The Lords messengers with the Lords
message are supposed to have no fear of
man, nor of the face of man, yet many are
very weak and NOT many seem tn declare