Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-01-27
for the Hua1e Circle.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
LESSON VI, FIRST QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, FEB. 7.

Text Of the the Lesson, Acts iv, Sc, to Y,
11-Memory Verses, 80, 33-Golden Text,
I Sam. xvi, documentary by the Rev.
d. NJ. stearns.
8a "And the multitude Of them. that
believed were Of onaheart ana Of onesouL "
It was q whole hearted surrender to Christ
of all they were and all they shad; q. full
recognition that they were not their own,
but bought with a price to be special
people unto the Lord u Cor. vi, 10, 90;
Titus Ii, 14). This was as truly the work
Of the Holy Spirit as was the boldness OF
Peter and John before the council, or their
boldness in verse 81 Imagine. the; hnsn-
cial condition of thschurches and ndsdon.
airy societies II all Christians would rag,
"Whatever the Lord wants Of me Or mine
he Is welcome to, for all I am and have Is
surely His"
S3. "And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection OF the
Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them
all" The grace was the grace OF God, and
the power was the Spirit of. God. "Not,b BY
mis- ght, nor by power, but By Ny Spirit,
saith the Lord Of Hosts" (ze6h. Nv, 6).x
"a, 85. "Neither was there any among
them that lacked Distribution was made
to every man accordlng'as he had need. "
It is the Lords plan that those who are
His and serve Him should lack no good
thing FPS. lxxxiv, II; Math. vi, 83; Phil
iv, 10; Luke xii, 85).
Make thou His service thy delight;
He'll make thy wants His care.
In this case the supply came from the
willing contributions of those who, having
property, sold it and brought the proceeds
TO the apostles When the tabernacle was
built, the superabundant supply came
from the willing offerings Of the people
(Ex. xxxvi, 5-7); but whether IN these
ways, or by ravens, or by increase OF oi! or
meal, God will supply His peoples need.
SO, 81. "And Joses, having land, sold
it and brought the money and laid 1t at
the apostles feet Here Is one example
of the many who did thus. His other
name, Barnabas (son of consolation), was
certainly true of him when he stood by
Saul at the time the other disciples were
afraid of him (Aots *, 26, 27).
Chapter Y, /, 3. "But certain man
named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife,
sold q possession and kept back part OF the
price," These were professedly followers
of Christ and perhaps really 80; but, like
30 many today, they were not whole heart
ed in service They saw others selling
property and giving the proceeds to the
apostles for the general good, and they
seemed to dn like the others, not thinking
that God saw their hearts and their dis.
honesty. They did not act upon the pre-
cept, "Whatsoevor ye do, do 1t heartily as to
the Lord, and not unto men," Nor did
they think of the eyes Of the Lord behold
ing the evil and the good (Col. Ill, %;
Prov. xv, 81.
8. "Bnt Peter said, Ananias, why hath
satan filed thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost2" When any one receives Christ,
the Holy Spirit is given to instruct, guide
and control in all things that life, and
when there Is complete submission to the
Spirit there will be a life greatly to the
glory of God, bnt when the old life-the
flesh, the carnal mind-which still remains
in the believer Is allowed to have its evil
way-for it is only evil-then the Spirit Is
grieved (Eph. iv, 20 32).
4. "Thou hast not lied unto men, but
unto God" Here is proof Of the oneness
of the Father and the Spirit; to lie to the
one is to lie to the other. The property
was Ananias' and the proceeds Of the prop
erty when sold were his also, and he was
at liberty to give to God all or part or none
without committing sin, but to profess to
give all and yet give only part was lie.
We are saved freely through Christ with
out money or price We are then to re-
member that we are bought with price,
the precious blood of Christ, and yield fully
to Him for His service Rom. xii, y, but
it must be honestly and oheerfully done to
be accepted.
8, 6. "And Ananias, hearing these
words, fell down and gave up the ghost. "
Instant death for lie. This seems very
severe, but it was evidently, in the sight
of God, a necessary discipline for the be-
levers I cannot conclude that this man
and his wife were out and out hypocrites
and lost souls without concluding that all
who today keep back part Of the price are
also lost souls, and II that be 30 what a
host Of professors are lostl II all such
should be cut off as these two were, there
would not be undertakers enough to BEE to
the burying.
z. "And it was about the space of three
hours after, when his wife, not knowing
what was done, came in" She did not
know that she was q widow, shei did not
know that her guilt had been found out;
she probably came looking for her hus-
band. She came knowing In Eerr heart
that she was acting a lie as to the price Of
the property, but not knowing Gods dis
pleasure with such conduct What con-
trast there is in this mot knowing" to the
"not knowing" Of Abraham in Heb. Il, 8.
8. "And Peter answered unto her, Tell
me whether ye sold the land fer 30 muohS
And she said Yea, for so much" An
other lie, the Spirit grieved, loss incurred.
The devil Is the father Of lies, and thus
early in the history of the church he got In
some of his devilish work. He did some
of the same kind-I mean lying-through
Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah,
Jacob and Rachel, and if he never accom-
plished any through you, my friend, you
have great reason to praise God for His
grace which has kept you.
8. "Then Peter said unto her, How Is
1t that ye have agreed together to tempt
the Spirit of the Lordp" What consterna-
ton must have seized her as she heard the
exposition of her guilt. and in Peters next
words the tidings that her husband was
dead and buried, and that she must die
too! What an awful illustration of the
words in Mum. 1xxii, 23-"Be sure your
sin will find you out" May we keep in
mind that God desires truth in the inward
parts, and let our hearts be saying, 20
Lord, thou hast searched me and known
me" (Ps Ii, 6; cxxxix, y.
10. "Then fell she down straightway at
his feet and yielded up the ghost" An