The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-04-20
. 8 O 9 o o o o o O o o, o o &
. SUNDAY IN THE CHURCHES
Sunday School Lesson-April %.


Subject: THE Beatitudes', Matt. 5 a.
~. Golden Text, Matt. .5:S..% ::
1. The Sermon on the Mount. We
hear chapters S, and of Matthew
usually spoken of as the sermon ON
the mount, but !. a little thoughtful
reading will convince us that this
portion of the Word is worthy of a
title. more weighty. We have here
something more than sermon, we
have the manifesto of the king.
Matthew's Gospel is that of the king
dom, and these three chapters con-
tain the proclamation Of the king.
We find published herein, the prin-
ciples and laws of the kingdom, and
the character of the subjects: The
authority of the king and the suprem-
acy of the lawgiver are evident
throughout. Read the fifth chapter
and note that eight times II say unto
you" occurs-in verses 20, %, 26, %,
80, "a, 80, A. Certainly here is the
place to determine your estimate Of
Jesus.
One of two things must be true of the
speaker here-He is neither auth or
ity to be recognized and obeyed, or
imposture to be despised and in
Weighed What think you of Him?
Truly, he speaks as one having au-
thority.
2. The Message. We have here,
not a message to the lost, but to the
saved. Jesus is here setting before
the disciples, in word-picture, the
ideal son of the kingdom, and such
all shall be. Henry G. Weston has
we'll said, AT the beginning of his
career, Christ draws the picture of
the person who is to be the result Of
His work. This is the ideal man
whom the Saviour is to make actual
by saving him from SIM" What a
mistake then to present, as some do,
this as the way of salvation.
but the salvation we have in the way,
that is in Him who said, 'I am the
way, the truth and the life" This
condition is to be reached only in
Jesus Christ as saviour and sanctifier,
and nothing but Jesus Christ through
living such life as is here described.
The eighth verse of itself is suffi-
Gent to shut out all unregenerate
ones. Only the pure in heart can
see God, and the old, natural heart is
ever unchanged and Interchangeable,
deceitful and desperately wicked to
the end. Our hope then is not in ex-
periencing a change of heart, but in
the creation of a clean, pure heart,
which responds to God, and the eyes
of which can look upon God. This is
that Of which Paul wrote in Eph.
1918. The eyes of the natural heart
could never be thus enlightened.# 1
3. The Location Of these three
chapters. This is necessary to a clear
understanding and full appreciation
Of this portion. Note the ending Of
the fourth chapter, and then the be-
ginning of the eighth chapter, and
you will see we have continuation.
We have Jesus giving a foregleam
of the condition in the kingdom, the
millennial kingdom, all sickness and
oppression banished. Now right in
the midst of this, as the very heart of
il, He places the three chapters con-
tanning the principles of the king
dom, and the character of the SUBJ
jects. So we learn that the condi-
tons can never Prevail until the
principles inhere. This ought to set
us right on that much abused sub
ject-Divine Healing.
i 4. The Beatitudes. We have not
here number of different characters,
each dominated by some particular
virtue, but we have composite char
acter composed Of all these virtues in
due proportion. These seven blesseds
give us a full, complete: we'll round
ed out character, even. the ideal son
Of the kingdom. But while we have
the finished man before us here, we
have his life marked off in differ
ent degrees of development. No sin
ner can get into Christ through
growth, for there must be life before