Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-01-14
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Lesson III.-First Quarter, For
Ian. II, 1909.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Tsxt Of the Lesson, Acts u. 22-47.
Memory Verses 80, 33-GoIden Text.
Acts ii, 42-commentary Prepared by
Rev. o. M. Stearns.

Rev. o. M. Stearns.
copyright, 1908, by American Press Assooiation.l
| | find continual comfort In the assur-
ance that I'm matters concerning ma
lions and individuals dob xxxiv 90
God is working all things after the
counsel of His own will and according
10 the eternal purpose which lie pur
posed In Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph
IL; iii, IL. Whatever wicked men
may plan under the counsel OF their
leader the devil. and be permitted by
God to carry out, their counsel shall in
due time come to naught, while the
counsel Of the Lord shall stand for
ever and the thoughts of His heart to
all generations Ops. xxxiii, 10. III. In
the opening chapters of this book we
find It repeatedly stated that the cruel
treatment received by our Lord Jesus
Mt the hands of wicked men was all
foreseen by God and foretold by Him
through the prophets az, %; III. 10; ~,
2S). Gods foreknowledge does not,
however, in the least degree excuse or
palliate the guilt of the wicked. The
DEGREES of God and the free viii of
man stand as two heaven high pillars.
and puny mortals may moi attempt to
reconcile them.
The one thing that all may do who
have heard the good news Of the grace
Of God is that which 5000 did under
the preaching Of Peter on the day Of
which our lesson tells, and that was
to believe on or receive the Lord Jesus
Christ as having suffered for sins the
Just for the unjust and risen from the
dead and assembled to the right hand Of
God. there to wait till His body Is
gathered from all nations, that He may
come again to restore all things OF
which the prophets have spoken Qii,
2D.
All such redeemed ones are expected
to become Spirit filed people and bear
such testimony TO the risen Christ
throughout the world that He may
gather to Himself the company whose
song we hear In Rev. V, 9. 10. who shall
reign with Him on the earth when the
kingdom comes. That kingdom will
have redeemed Israel for its earthly
center with Jesus Christ as Son of
David on David's throne at Jerusalem,
according to verses 80, 81 and Luke
I, 80, 80. Jerusalem shall then be the
throne OF the Lord and all nations
gathered unto 1t to the name of the
Lord of Jerusalem Ger ILL., 10. While
that kingdom Is postponed because of
Israel's rejection Of her Messiah a new
thing In the unfolding of the eternal
purpose of God is taking place, which
was specially revealed for the first
time TO the Apostle Paul. as may be
seen by careful perusal Of Eph. iii,
Ill We will not reach the record Of
the first gathering of the gentiles into
this one body, the church. till we come
70 chapter X, but we have in this and
the following lesson the Jewish begin
ming Of the church, for the 5000 OF
verse Al and the 5000 OF chapter ~, 4,
were all Jews.
Our Lords word to the woman OF
Samaria In John iv, %, Salvation is
of the Jews" does not seem to mean
much TO the majority of Christians to-
day, but 1t is the heart Of the eternal
purpose OF God. Spirit filed people
Will use the Spirits own book. the BIZ
BILE which is forever settled In heaven
Ops. cxix, so, even though they may
seem by so doing TO be a drunken
crowd In the eyes Of many verse 49,,
for the wisdom Of God is foolishness
in the eyes OF the wisdom Of the world.
The prophets were the Lords messen-
gers with the Lords message, going
where He sent them and saying what
He told them alag. 1, ID; Jer. 4, y.
Even our Lord Jesus Christ said only
what the Father told Him TO say, and
His words and works were all those
Of the Father I'm and through Him
Gohn xii, 40. so; xiv, 10). Spirit filed
Peter. on this occasion, just rehearses
from the Scriptures that which the
Spirit had written concerning the Lord
Jesus, whom He is sent to glorify and
take OF His things and show them unto
us John xvi. 10. IA. In last weeks
study we saw him quoting from the
prophecy OF Joel: In this lesson we see
him in verses %, %, summarizing Ps.
xii and lisa. iii concerning the suffer
ines OF Christ. and he probably had In
! InfuO sucu WOFOS DIS Ib. xAAlll, ~, II,
concerning the counsel Of God. In
verses "a to % he quotes from Pa. XVI
concerning the resurrection Of Jesus
In verse 30 he refers to Gods promise
to David to give him an immortal Son,
Risen from the dead, to sit on His
throne forever III Sam. VII, IL, 49, ]
ChroK. XVII. lilo. In verses "a, 39,
he quotes from Ps cx. the Great Mel
chisedek psalm, and assures them that
Jesus, whom they had crucifed, whom
God raised from the dead. IL the one Of
whom all these Scriptures tell and
who, being now gloriied by the Fa-
ther. had sent down the Holy Spirit to
convince them Of their sin that they
might be forgiven and receive the gift
OF the Holy Spirit He entreated them
TO save themselves from crooked
generation. assuring them that the
Lord was calling them and ready to
receive them notwithstanding all that
they had done. They received the
message as the word Of God to them
(verse Al, and see Thess. II, 49,, and
soon there were 5000 redeemed people.
who continued I'm praise and prayer
and Bible study and fellowship. and
the lord added daily TO their number
Thus the Spirit honored His word.
and tho ord vrrou0bf