The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-06-30
The
Sunday School
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
AiENTS FOR JULY 9.
Subject: Pictures of the Kingdom,
Matt. 13;31-33, H-52-Commit
TO Memory Verse fl.

GOLDEN TEXT.-"The kingdom
OF God is not meat and drink; but
righteousness and peace, and Joy in
the Holy Ghost" Rom. 14:17.
TNIE.--A. d. 2S.
CE.-By the Sea of Galilee,
near Capernaum.
EXPOSITION. ]. Outward
Growth and Inward Rot, 3f-33. Two
more parallels of growth and both
about 1.-The kingdom of heaven" The
parable OF the mustard seed shows
the marvellous outward growth of the
Kingdom from the smallest begin
rings. Christ began His work with a
few obscure men, and it spread until
the nations took shelter in its
branches. Some would take the birds
Of heaven here to he evil spirits, as in
verses 4 and 10, but 1t is not safe to
take the imagery of one parable over
into another. The reference seems
rather to be to Eek. 1923, "a, where
the birds represent the nations. But
another growth is taking place, "leav-
en- Cor yeast, the product of putre-
faction) within. Leaven is every
where in the Bible a type of corrup-
tion. We have an inspired interpre-
tation of this parable in 1 Cor. 5:6,
Z; Gal. SIS, .. The woman, the apos-
tate church, mixed "the leaven" of
false doctrine Matt. 1876, 12) into
the children's bread and the whole
doctrine and life of the church was
leavened. History fulfilled this pre-
diction.
IL. Finding Without Seeking. a..
In this parable the great value of the
kingdom is brought out, it is a treas
ure hidden from the eyes of men.
Jesus spoke the words III 4 land where
treasure was often hidden for security
end sometimes found by accident.
The man in this case stumbled on the
treasure without seeking for It, He
represents the man who stumbles on
the Gosnel truth entirely without his
own seeking. The fact that the field
represents the world in the parable of
the tare5 does not necessitate our in
terpreting it as the world in this par
able. In verse A the treasure repre-
serts one thing and in verse So some
thing entirely different. The man
had to sell all that he had to get the
field and the treasure it contained.
and we must give up all If we would
gain Christ and the treasure that is
in Him tia. 14:33). What the man
sold and gave up was little indeed
in comparison with what he got,
and what we sell or give up to
gain Christ is little indeed in
comparison with what we get (Phil.
3:7, 81. IL is not likely that this
man, after he got his treasure, talked
much of the sacrifice he had made in
order to acquire it. It is the constant
teaching OF the Bible that salvation is
q free gift (Eph. 2:S; Rom. 6:23),
but there Is sense in which grace is
bought" lisa. 55:1; Rev. 3:S; Prov.
23:23; Matt. 25:9, 1O), there are
sacrifices that must be made if we are
to obtain eternal life. Jesus sought
a treasure in us in this world and
gave mp that He had in order to gain
it (2 Cor $40; 1920.
III. Seeking and Finding, 45, 40.
There is similarity between this
parable and the preceding and also
difference. In the preceding parable
the treasure was found by one not
looking for 1t. In this parable the
one who finds the pearl of great price
Is seeking goodly pearls. So there are
those VINO are earnestly seeking the
truth when they fad the kingdom.
Such are represented by this parable
(cf. job 2S:12, 13, Is, 1S). The
pearls sought were wisdom or truth
in general; the One Pearl found is He
in whom all truth is incarnate Ono.
1850. Jesus is the one Pearl Of
Great Price. In verse "A the man
bonght the field, not for itself, but
for what was in it. In this case the
man bought the pearl for itself. Men
often seek to gain Christ for what
they can get in Him, but we ought to
seek Him for what He is Himself
The one seeking goodly pearls needed
to be on his guard against imposition.
and so DO we need to be on our guard
In this day when there are so many
false Christs and so many false sys-
tens. The man did wisely when he
sold all his other pearls to gain this
one pearl, and we do wisely when we
part with all other pearls to gain the
one Pearl of Great Price.
". Gathering of Every Kind. az.
90. In its outward manifestation the
Kingdom OF heaven at first gathers,
of every kind, good fish and bad fish,
The sea into which it is cast is the
sea of the nations. The time will
come when the net will be full and
then viii come the separation. The
'tfN hh|4+ w N|Shb hA0 NlNhtu NfO ;
Of. $50, The good fish the righteous.
The good FISH are gathered into a
place of safety. The bad are cast
away and burned. The separation
takes place 'at the end of the age"
The angels viii do the separating.
The furnace of fire represents the ul-
Innate destiny OF the wicked.
v. Giving Forth the Treasure
Fonnd, 81, 80. 1t is an important
question that our Lord puts as He
brings to close the seven parallels.
He is putting the same question to us
to-day, There Is only one way that
we can understand the teaching OF
Christ Himself, by the Holy Spirit Il
Jno. $50; Jno. 16:12-14; 2:20; /
Cor. 2:14; Jas. 1;5). The disciples
said they understood, but 1t is doubt
full II they did Matt. 1911; Nix. a:
is; 9:31, 32; S:15). Neither do we
always understand when we think we
do. The one who Is really instructed
in the kingdom will prove 1t by inn
parting the treasure to others also.
The truly instructed scribe does not
hesitate to bring forth old things as
well as new. Neither Is he afraid OF