The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1910-05-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Lesson VII.-Second Quarter,
For May Is, 1910.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.


THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text Of the Lesson, Matt. xii, 22.32, 49,
42-Memory Verse, 41-Golden Text,
Matt. xii, 30-commentary Prepared
by Rev. D. M. Stearns.
We have today the option OF the
regular lesson or special lesson on
the Holy Spirit, but as the lesson for
the day gives opportunity for a study
of the Holy Spirit we will continue
regularly. First we see Him healing
a demon possessed man who was both
blind and dumb, and the. man both
spake and saw The people were
amazed and said. rs not this the son
of David?' perhaps recalling the
words of lisa. xxxv, 5, 6, "Ihen the
| eyes of the blind shall be opened and
| the ears of the deaf shall be unstop-
| ped: then shall the lame man leap as
an hart and the tongue "a the dumb
sing" Recently we saw Him heal
| demon possessed dumb man Gx. 30,
33,, but in this case the afflicted man
was blind as we'll as dumb. But moth
| in. is too hard for the Lord. Can we
| imagine a kingdom without sickness
or infirmity or suffering Of any kind?
Yet that is what we expect and shall
surely see in His time Qsa. xxxiii, "a:
/ Rev xxi, IA.
The blind Pharisees madly accuse
Him of casting out demons 10y the
power of the devil himself. as if Satan
would cast out Satan and work
against himself How foolishly the
devil does cause people to talk. They
talk much more foolishly today when
they say and teach that there is no
devil at all and no hell. 1t would seem
| from verse q that unbelievers were
permitted by their ruler to do some
| wonderful things, even as the magi-
clans of Egypt counterfeitcd the mir
ac!es of Moses up to certain point
We know from II Thess. ii, 8; Rev.
xiii, Ills, that at the end Of this age
the devil will specially deceive many
by his miracles and signs and lying
wonders. Our Lord Jesus said tina,
If it We're possible they would deceive
the very elect (Matt. xiv. "a. so we
must not be deceived by the wonders
wrought by the adversary in the name
Of spiritualism. Christian Science and
other false teaching Of our times.
| These things will continue and in
crease until the devil, the strong man
Of verse %. shall have been bound
and shut up in the bottomless pit for
1,GOO years (Rev. Xxx. 1-3). The truth
of God Just as it stands in His word.
is the only power that will set us free
from all decisions John viii, 30. 3G).
We are either with Christ or against
Him, either taught by the spirit Of
God or the devil oversees %. 3M. II
people resist the Holy Spirit and listen
to the teaching of demons it is. as
Jesus said, impossible to escape the
daInnation of hell Matt. xiii. 33'. A
I understand it the objectionable sin
Of verses 81, 80. and | John V, lG. is
the persistent turning from the Holy
Spirit to the devil and attributing to
the latter the works OF the Spirit. Let
it comfort and encourage any whu
fear they have committed the unpar
donable sin to remember that the very
fact that they have Il fear Of such
guilt is evidence that the Holy Spirit
has not left them. and. however far
they may have wandered. If they will
only turn to the Lord the word stands,
Him that cometh unto me ] will il,
nowise cast out" John vi, 80
That words are an evidence Of the
condition of the heart (verse 34) should
make us cOvet to have the word OF
God dwelling in us richly in order
that our words may SAVIOR of Christ
1t would be well to be like Elihu in
Job xxxii. 1920, and that would he
the case if our experience was that oi
Job xiii, -; Jcr. XIV. lG Ii we Kept
verse 80 Of our lesson III mind il
would make us more careful in view
of Rom. xiv. 10, -
In verse So see these blind and fool
isb Pharisees asking for a sie:i after
He had already wrought in their pres
I ence all the signs which the prophets
had said would be done by the Mes
Siah No wonder hat He called then
J an evil and adulterous idol worship
ing. world conformedI generation
verse 30,. generation of vipers (verss
"a; xiii, 33), of their father the devi
John viii. 4I, for He knew them wei
and knew what was in them.
See in verses 49, Al. His Endorsement
of the story of Jonah and the grea
! fish and Nineveh and her repentance
! and no doubt He looked onward to thu
time when Israel, cast up on theiI
! shores by the nations, would become
truly penitent at His appearance il
glory and carry His message not Il
one city, but to all nations for theil
good See in verse ~ His indorse
: ment of the story Of the queen o
Sheba and the wisdom of Solomon. ant
doubtless He looked onward to til,
!. fulfillment of lisa. TX Is he to us {
greater than Jonah or Solomon Of
Moses or Aaron? Do we say. Will
great gratitude and gladness. 1--WE
have such an High Priest (Heb. viii
l; vii, &c; iv. 15). and have we as be
levers entered into rest? 1Ieb ", g.
Those who profess to be His friend.
and yet talk down the things that H.