The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-03-21
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson xil.-First Quarter, Fer
March "a, 1912.
THE international SERIES.


Mark ii, documentary Prepared
by Rev. D. m. Stearns.
The call of Matthew. the first part
of today's lesson, Is found in Matthew |
and Luke. as well as In Mark. But |
the rest of the lesson. Including |
entertainment. and the par
ables of the new and old cloth and |
the new and old wine are found only
In Mark and Luke. In al! the acts
and words of Jesus we must see God
the Father. remembering such words
as these: Il can of mine oWnself do
nothing" The Father who sent Me
gave me a commandment. what |
should say and what should speak"
."rhe Father who dwelleth in me, He
doeth the works John V. 30; xii,
40; xiv, 10Y. His compassion upon the
multitude and His readiness to teach
them. no matter how weary He was,
is our example that We may follow
His steps in this as well as in His
meekness and patience ii Pet. ii. 2n.
Matthew the publican Matt. Y. b,
or Levi, as he is called by Mark and
Luke, may have been turning to
Christ in his heart. as probably lac
cheus did. while continuing with
doubt in his unpopular calling and
longing to be done with it. We might
infer this from the readiness with
which he left all and rose up and fol
lowed Jesus. Many are still being
called, but few are ready to follow 50
promptly Something of Matthew'S
gratitude because Jesus called him is
seen in the great feast which he made
for Jesus in his own house, inviting
great company of publicans and sin
ners thereto To see Him eat with
publicans and sinners WAS to the self
righteous Pharisees n great stumbling
block, for it was their way to have no
fellowship with such nor any love for
their souls. rather to pass by on the
other side Of the street and to say.
God, thank Thee that l am not as
other men or even us this
publican duke xviii. ~. They never
said anything more beautiful or true
concerning Him than when they said,
''Phis man receiveth sinners and eat
eth with them" luke XIV. p. The
words of Jesus to them at this time
are both a parable and its explanation.
the parable being. They that are
whole have no need Of the physician,
but they that are SICK" and His ex-
PLANTATION of it, Il come not to call the
righteous. but sinners. to repentance"
These words and those concerning the
old and new cloth and wine are found
| ly In the same connection as here,
but according to the gospel harmony
the record in Matthew referred to a
| later incident. Be that as it may, His
words are more than time or place.
and we know that He did repeat some
| Of His words-as, for example, the
Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon
ON the Plain Matt. to vii and Luke
vi, 17-49).
The righteous whom He did not
come to call are spoken of in Luke
xviii, 9, as certain ones which trusted
in themselves that they were righteous
and despised Others" We know that
in the matter Of true Righteousness.
rs God sees 1t and desires it, there is
none rightcous-no not one But
there are those who, being ignorant
of Gods righteousness and going
| about to establish their own righteous
ness. do not submit themselves to the
righteousness of God" tRonl. iii, TO-
x, -.
To associate the disciples of John
and of the Pharisees seems like very
bad combine. but some of Johns dis
cip1es were no doubt from the Phari
sees and. like too many church folks
of today, had not dropped their mere
forralities. In Zech. vii we read
that when the people inquired Of the
Lord as to whether they should con
tinue certain fasts or not He asked
them, Did ye fast at all to Me, ever
to Me-" Then He told them what
true fasting in His sight was Czech
vii, 40; lisa. lviii. 6-1O,. Note how
He speaks Of Himself as the Bride
groom and His disciples as the chill
dren of the bride chamber. no doubt
looking onward to the marriage Of
} the Lamb Of Rev. xix We nigh,
well ask: Where Is now the fasting be
cause of the Rridegroom's absence
Where are those who long for His re
turn, who rejoice greatly because o.
J His voice. glad to decrease if only n,
may increase? Dohn ILL., 90 3n)
There is much patchwork in tn,
teaching Of our day which is direct,
contrary to the teaching of our Lore
concerning the necessity Of new
birth. The old garment of our un
| righteousness cannot be mendei.
must be new garment throughout
| even the garment Of Christ's right
eousness which He has provided a
| such infinite cost u1 Cor v. 81; Rom
x, A. However unpopular the doc
trine may be. it is most plainly writ
| ten that 1.-THE carnal mind is enmit,
against God. for it is not subject t,
the law Of God. neither indeed cal
| be" rom. viii, q Not a shred O
Adam and Ewes fig leaf aprons coul.
. be tolerated. The coats of skins wer
: all sufficient. We must sing from th
heart the words of lisa. Xxi. 10. Th
30 called new thought or new theolo
gy will not do. for 1t is not of Got
and must therefore he from the ad
versary. who fiatters man by teilin,
him that he is all right and only need
some Improvement, which he himsel
can easily accomplish.