Middletown transcript., 1916-02-05
INTERNATIONAL
SUNlYSQIOOL
LESSON
tBy e. o. SELLERS. Acting Director OF
Sunday School Course. Moody Bible
Institute.)
tCopy right. 1915. Western Newspaper UniOn.D
LESSOR FOR FEBRUARY 6
soLDNEss OF PETER AND JOHN.


Jerusalem period. Chapter l deals
with the ascension of our Lord: chap
ter 2. the baptism OF the Holy Spirit
chapters 81, the early conflicts in
Jerusalem. In our lesson of last Sun
day we had the story of Peter and
on their way to the temple. Follow
ing this experience they were i'm
prisoned, the first Imprisonment men
toned for any OF those who accepted
the Gospel. AS the disciples were
dealing with the multitude the rulers
Of the temple came upon them and
were much put out ". q that the dis
ciples should preach the resurrection
of Jesus from the dead. The signiti-
canoe of this is better understood
when we remember that the Jewish
Sanhedrin was the great court of Jew
ish law composed of seventy-one lead
ing men of the nation. Caiaphas. the
noble high priest by Roman appoint
ment. and Annas, the real high priest
according to Jewish law, we're both
|
up of the Sadducees. the sect which
did not believe in the resurrection
from the dead.
!. The Imprisonment, w. IA. Pc
ter and John being brought before this
tribunal were fulfilling literally the
prediction of Jesus Matt. 1O:10. The
attempt on the part of the rulers to
prevent the preaching of the Gospel
| by this method really augmented its
being heard throughout the nation.
Peter had seen this body Of men on
! the night when our Lord was con.
demned. Then he had made miser.
able failure. but now the situation is
quite different, for Peter is anointed
of the Holy Spirit and is entirely lack
| ing in the fear which controlled him
on the previous occasion. That he
had given effective testimony is evi.
dent from the way the men had pre-
cipitated matters and cast him into
prison for the night.
II. The Trial, w. 5-22. ID Peters
words Wv. 5-12. Jewish wonder-work-
vels by the use of some name, so the
council very naturally asked Peter
and John IN what name" they had
healed this man. The real object of
their question was their attempt to en-
trap the disciples and find basis of
accusation and condemnation. But at
that moment the Holy Spirit came
again upon Peter and filled him Matt.
1919, 20; also Luke 1911, IL; Acts
1873, 81. The coming of the Holy
Spirit is for every emergency of the
Christian. Peter had been filed with
that Spirit at Pentecost and was again
filed little later on tchapter 2:3D.
Thus we see that the coming of the
Spirit is not once for all. though Pen
tecost was once for all. but that the
filling is repeated as each new emer-
gency may arise. (a) Peter acknowl-
edged the authority of those who were
dealing with him ". 81, but (b) he
gave Jesus credit ". 10) 1t was Je-
sus who had died, he was also risen,
and the risen Christ had effected this
miracle. tc.) Turning upon his ac-
accusers Peter charged them with the
death of Jesus. He ". III is the
foundation of their miracle and their
faith. Peter claimed that in Jesus
alone ". 12) could salvation be found,
and implied (see last clause of this
verse; that his accusers were lost
men. Peters department in all of
this is wonderfully skillful. gentle and
courteous, yet bold, fearless, frank |
and outspoken. We need to remem-
Der this when we recall how blunder.
ingly Peter had conducted his CONVEX |
sation before his enduement by the |
Holy Spirit. There was no compro- |
missing of the truth and no gossing
over their guilt. (2) The effect upon |
the rulers wv. 1879. (a) The Coun. |
Gil had spoken evasively about what |
had been done. but Peters thrust in /
his reply. If you refer to the good
deeds done to the strengthless tim.
potent man," confirmed his testimony
by having living witness ". IA, and |
therefore the leaders were speeches.
If Christian workers could have more
of living results to present to the
world tsee v. l4) they would silence
the mouth of criticism and the fire.
quent objections of Christianity. 1t
is small wonder ". l6) that these
men were at a loss what to do. Their
pet doctrine of nc resurrection from
the dead was refuted and contradicted
before their very eyes. and they there
fore ". III resorted to the usual
method of people, who when defeated,
seek to browbeat and intimidate 9th.
ers to prevent their continuing to
give their testimony.
III. The Result Upon the Disciples,
w. 1922. The book of Acts is plain.
ly the record Of the deft utterances of
spiritual men. Peter had closed his
appeal ". 12) with the statement
that the only way we could be saved
must be through this means. The
council were in a dilemma; they
wanted to punish Peter and John, but
could not, for the people were gIori.
flying God for what had been DONE
Peter and John declared thus fear.
lessIy that the teachings of the
schools was not in accordance with
that, for had not Jesus risen and had
not this miracle been performed? The
Holy Ghosts boldness in these untu.
tored men has always been a perplex.
ity to the scholastics of the world.
Their boldness was due to a sense Of
Gods nearness and carried with it a !
like sense of their responsibility to
him (see w. 19. 2Ol.
The onlv solution. on the part of the