Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-08-30
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON FOR sept. 8
SECURED EXCLUSIVELY BY THE
BANNER FOR ITS MANY
READERS
ACCORDING TO THE
INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text of the Lesson, ii Cor. xi, 2l-33.
Memory Verses, 25, 26-Golden
Text III Cor. xii, documentary
Prepared by Rev. ID. M. Stearns.

hG b( AAAAAil6 VA Oah aI@oth NAaHANt
takes up the very topic of the last part
Of last weeks lesson. that Of the
church being espoused as chaste vir-
gin to Christ as her husband, or, as he
said In Rom. vii. 4, we are married to
Christ, raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. We
stin wait for the actual marriage of
the Lamb, which must take place be-
fore we can come with Him in His
glory. See the order of events in Rev.
xix. Paul speaks Of Eve being be-
guiled by the serpent, and the church
Is the body and bride Of Christ. the
last Adam, just as Eve was both the
body and bride of the first Adam.
When this Eve shall have been builded
she shall be brought to her Adam in
the air, and then shall be the marriage
Of the Lamb, in which approaching
event all the redeemed in glory must
b intensely interested. The same SER
pent who deceived Eve is still dceiving
oil his blinded ones, coming to them as
an angel OF light, preaching another
Jesus. another spirit, another gospel
Oversees 3, 4, 49,. All from whom the true
gespsl II hid are blinded by him as the
time Of Paul, muftitudes suffer gladly
to be taught by fools rather than lis
ten to the wisdom of God Verse 10,
~, 3, a.. 1t is sometimes said of
preachers and evangelists that they are
IN the work for what there is in II
financially. This may be true Of some,
but we prefer to judge nothing before
the time till the Lord come, for the
Judgment seat of Christ will make all
His own and their works manifest q
Cor. Nv, 5; ii Cor V, o, 19).
They could not accuse Paul of seek.
ing his own gain in any way, for while
at Corinth, as we saw in Acts xviii, 2.
8 he and Aquila and Priscilla worked
ut their occupation at tent makers
He would not be chargeable to any
man nor be a burden to any one
rather would he spend and be spent
for them, though the more he loved
them the less he was loved by them
chapters xi, 10; xii, 1913. Hs count
ed all things as nothing compared
with the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, his Lord. for whom
he suffered the loss of all things Phil
fiji. TO-. He did not tell us that it was
a special privilege to suffer with Christ
Phil. 1, 29) without having tasted of
the same In full measure himself.
In verse % he speaks of labors,
stripes, prisons, deaths, and then in
the verses following he tells of five
scourgings, three beatings with rods,
once stoned, three shipwrecks, besides
all other sufferings which he mentions,
making up list which perhaps was
never exceeded in the life Of any other
individual believer. Yet he says: Most
gladly will l glory in my infrmities,
that the power of Christ may rest
upon me. Therefore / take pleasure
In inirmities, in reproaches, in neces-
stiles, In prosecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake" (xii, o, 10).
Was there ever such another devot-
ed follower of the Lord Jesus or such
q record of suffering for His sake? He
certainly did cause others to suffer
when he was prosecutor and murder
er, but when his turn came he must
have far exceeded them ALL If the
record In chapter xii, Is, refers to his
experience at Lystra, when he was
stoned to death there on his first mis-
sionary tour, what he saw and heard
In paradise or the third heaven, while
Tor a little while dead, and dragged
out Of Lystra as such must have
greatly sustained him in all his suffer
iugs after that Peter tells us that
we should rejoice to be partakers of
Christ's sufferings, for when His glory
shall be revealed we shall be glad
with exceeding joy q Pet iv, -, 49,.
In III Cor. iv, II, Paul speaks Of afilic
tion as being light, and but for a mo-
ment, compared with the far more ex-
ceeding and eternal weight Of glory
which will be ours.
Abraham was sustained by the as
surance of the city for which, he looked
and was fully persuaded that God
would do as He had said. What Jacob
saw In vision at Bethel must have been
a great strength to him. unworthy
though he was. The assurances given
10 Joseph in his dreams must have
bssn q great comfort to him in the
years Of bis Imprisonment and slavery.
The good will of Him who dwelt in
the bush and the recompense Of the
reward were more to Moses than all
the pleasures and treasures and pros
poets In Egypt Isaiah was cheered in
dark days by vision of the King, the
Lord Of Hosts Qsa. vi. and our Lord
Himself was sustained by the joy set
before Him (Heb. xii, y. There is
nothing like visions of God and of
glory to lift US above the things seen
and temporal II we have some phys
teal innrmity, as Paul had, God may
b more glorified by our bearing it pa
tiently than by our being delivered
from 1t. Leave it to Him. The lilies
Ill do. and they grow. Nothing counts
unless God Is glorlfied I'm us Phil.