Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1912-07-18
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson lll.-Third Quarter, For
July ri, 1912.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

/ e$I OF tHc ISSSVHr mdTN W. GO-oES
Matt. xiii, 33-Memory Verses, 1928
Golden Text, Matt. vi, 10--comnnen-
tary Prepared by Rev. D. M. Stearns.
The portion selected from Mark for
/ today's lesson gives us two parallels,
one of which, the mustard seed, is the
! third in the regular order in Matt. xiii,
| while the gradual growth of the seed
! is recorded by Mark only. The verse
from Matthew concerning the heaven Is
! the fourth in the series, according to
Matthew, and next weeks lesson on
the wheat and tares is the second. We
/ will be better able to summarize these
first four or Eve parallels after next
week. Concerning them it is said, "Ali
these things spake Jesus unto the null
titude In parallels, and without a par
able spake He not unto them. thus
fulfilling Ps xviii. 2. 3 he spake
the word unto them as they were able
to hear it, and when they were alone
He expounded all things to His dis
ciples Matt. Kill. "a. 50; Mark iv, 33,
34) His repeatedly saying, IF any
man have ears to hear let him hear"
| verses and 23), or in the Revelation
epistles, "He that hath an ear let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches reminds us that many are
dull of hearing and makes US long
for such an anointed ear as Samuel
had, to whom the Lord could whisper
things and give him messages for 9th
ers also The admonitions, Take heed
what We hear" and Take heed how
We hear" verse "a; Luke viii. 1S), were
never more needed than now. for false
teachers and teaching abound every
where. Our lesson title, The Growth
of the Kingdom Is very misleading,
no doubt unintentionaly but bad all
| the same. 1t arises from the idea held
by so many that the Kingdom began
when the Spirit came, IN a special way
and for a special purpose, at Pente-
cost and has been growing ever SINCE
whereas the truth is that the kingdom
then at hand did not come and has
not yet come, and when 1t does come
it viii not be gradual. but by a great
catastrophe. d judgment. au overthrow
of all enemies. according to lisa. xi. Al;
xiii OIL; xxxiv, |, 2; XVI. Is, 10; Rev.
xix, 10 90; Xxx. 10 What then is the
growth now going on. as set forth in
these parallels and elsewhere? We
must remember in connection with all
these kingdom parahles His saying
when they asked Him about the first
one, unto you it is given to know the
mystery Of the kingdom Of God" tverse
III The kingdom is not growing, but
the mystery more fully described In
Eph. ill and elsewhere is growing,
The church, which is His body, the elect
from all nations who are to share the
Kingdom with Him, groweth unto an
holy temple in the Lord (Eph. ii, 1922.
The seed of the first parable, the word
of God, being faithfully sown, quietly
works according to this first parable of
today's lesson, the blade, the ear, the
full corn In the ear. until the harvest,
which, we shall see in next lesson, Is
the end Of the age The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou canst not
tell whence it cometh or whittier it
goeth. is a truth on the same line
The growth Of the mustard seed into
a great tree, shelterlng the birds of
the air in its branches or under it's
shadow. sets forth another phase of
present things That an herb should
become great tree is Something out
of the regular course of things, and
these birds in the branches cause US
to remember that III the parable of the
sower the birds or fowls represented
the devil verses A, 15 II in dis
course the speaker uses figure and
explains it, then little later uses the
same figure, his former explanation
stands. The so called church has grown
to be vast something very different
from what the Lord intended 1t to be,
and if in the first twelve disciples there
was one of whom our Lord said, -"One
of you is a deyil' John vi, 70), we can
not doubt but that IN the great COM
pany of those who today are called
Christians there may be many who for
some reason other than the right one
have taken refuge in the church.
AS to the woman taking three meas
ures of meal and leavening 1t till the
whole was leavened is ii not very
clear that the woman, the church, is
doing that very thing and in our day
rs never before: From the passover
story of Elk. xii, where they were to
search for and put away ali leaven.
there is no place in the Bible where
Ieaven means anything good 1t is al
ways something corrupting. and Israel
was forbidden to offer it with their
sacrifice (Lev ii, IL Vi, III. In Lev
kill 1918, where the church is typi
fed by the first fruits. leaven was
commanded because of the evil that
the Spirit foresaw would be in those
first fruits. but it was met by the sacri-
fee of the next verse In Amos fv, 5,
they We're told that offering with
leasen was just ike them and their
sinful ways. When Sarah baked cakes
quickly for her visitors she took three
measures of meal. hut we are sure that