Evening star., 1919-12-27
REVIEW-THE TRAINING OF
PETER AND JOHN.
l John. LIZ.
Golden text: "Ye shall be my
witnesses. Acts. Is
BY REV. HUGH T.. STEVENSON.

Teacher. the Lord Jesus During
these months we have been finding
out how the lives Of these two men
were transformed under the influence
with their being called to follow
Him and. with the exception of the
! temperance and Christmas lessons,
each week has showed us an ad
vancement in their knowledge OF
Jesus until they have developed so
far in His school that the risen Christ
is ready to send them forth as worthy
and efficient leaders in the advance
ment of the kingdom of God among
men.
John was attracted to Jesus by the
testimony of John the Baptist to Him
| as the Lamb of God, that taketn
away the sin of the world" In those
Significant words John the Baptist
outlined the program of the Mes
sah, whom he Was to introduce to
men. 1t included not only the sac
rificial substitution of the Lord as the
Savior OF men by His death. hut
the purpose OF Jesus to eradicate sin
from the hearts of men. lie and
Andrew were prepared by the teach
ines of the Baptist to find out
whether Christ had a progran that
, would work. 1t was in that spirit
of investigation that they followed
! Christ He met them on their own
ground by the invitation to come
and-See" He courted Investigation
because He planned to build His work
| through personal experience. Their
| stigation resulted in their con-
viction that He was the Messiah. so
| that each brought another to the
Master Andrew persuaded Peter 10
| test Christ's power ny his tribute to
| the Lord as the Messiah. The Master
| on the ciiangeabie fisherman by HIS
ability to read Peters weakness and
/ the assurance that under His direc-
, ton he would he able to master 1T
| md become what he desired to be in
| character and life.
| Personality is tn" greatest factor IN
| aching. When Jesus called the
| fsh ermen to Quit their OLD method OF
| living to become soul winners lie in
| ,'it"C them 10 become His followers.
! This call was more serious than the
onc 10 accept the salvation offered by
/ the Lamb of God. Jesus did not call
,hese men FOR their intellectual at
ainm"rts. but because He saw that
| He could train them 50 that, inspired
by love for Him and His cause, they
would not finch or fail in promoting
! His church for the developing of the
Kingdom OF God. ChriSts confidence
I IN their fitness TO carry on His work
after His death was demonstrated by
| ,neir readiness to comply with His
request. Their Willingness to obey
| Jesus at all costs proved their fitness
| to be entered as students in the
| 'tupOI u NlTlSt. mere ll'N ftdTnSu
who He was, what His mission was.
and why He came TO seek and to save
men. Any other than the Master
would have considered it impossible
to transit form Peter. who was as
! Changeable as a wave of the sea. into
man of rock. and make out of John.
who was the son of thunder. a man of
! love.
Christ's training school was one
| where precept was united with prac,
| tice. Peter and John learned through
many personal experiences that re-
! Eealed to them the Lords charact
! their relation to Him and TO others
md what manner OF men thev ought to
| be. He won their hearts by His philan-
| thropic work. He went about doing
good. They learned that He was
moved by love for the people. The
"bsence of selfishness in His ministry
His freedom from sin that was reveal
ed in His lessons. labor and life pre-
pared them gradually to realize the
| character of Jesus. His work as a
| physician in Peters home and His
labors on behalf of the sick in the
| community opened their vision as to
| His character. His words and works
! mads them marvel as to what manner
of man He was, for He commanded
| the winds and waves so that they
oheyed Him. IL tau"ht Peter to pls CO
! His trust in. Hin. 50 that He could
| Niih Oh ti' waves - iONC as ne LOOK
cd 20 the Lord. When by looking at
the waves he realized his danger he
| "ppealed to Christ. who saves all Who
turn to Hin for help. This led the
disciples in the boat to worship
Christ as the Son of God.
1t prepared the way for the rrea t
confession at Cesarea Phillipi. when
! Peter acknowledged Jesus as the
/ Christ. the Son of God. Without the
Master telling them who He was they
had learned through personal con-
tact and experience the character of
Jesus The Spirit of God had unfold
ed to them the reality of the Lord S
relationship to men as the Messiah
and to God as His only begotten Son
full of grace. When these two apos.
| Ties went up into the mountain with
Him to pray they became witnesses
of His glory when they saw His
{ countenance change as He prayed 70
, the Father They saw and heard
, Moses and Elijah. representatives OF
, the law and the prophets. speak with
the Master concerning His departure
The" We're thrilled by the Fathers
testimony to the Christ as His Son.
, Filled with the enthusiasm born O,
, unique spiritual experiences, these
two disciples were closely united in
the ties or friendship. They were very
dlHerent IN natures. most true
/, friends are. They were able to aid one
, another to large conception of the
| Christ and His program They We're
, hindered by the inheritance of ma
tionalistic conceptions of the Mes
siah's work. They proved their sin
cerity in their endeavors at times to
correct even the Master. This caused
,, Jesus to rebuke not only Peters mar
rowness. but also Johns. in His en-
deavor to teach them that pride and
prejudice have no place in the
, thought of any of His followers
Christ had to teach Peter by wash
ing his feet that service was true
, greatness. not position, place or
power. 1t is not easy to learn to sub
nit ones life to the summons of an
other. Jesus taught the two apostles
, that they must practice self-denia1
sacrifice and surrender their all to the
service of humanity if they were to
be followers of their Lord.
Their hopes concerning the King
dom of God. which were still clouded
!; by the nationalistic conceptions, were
revived by the popularity of Jesus
J with the multitudes, whose welcome
: proved His death knell. Although the
| Master tried to make them see that
such views were opposed to His teach :
ings. these men failed Him when He
: warned them of His approaching dan
ger. They slept in the garden while
Fe prayed; they proved their loyalty
by following Him afar off. Finally
John enters within to His trial and
, then Peter only to deny the Lord, as
the Master had predicted that He
would. The darkness of Calvary saw
sion to care for the Mother of the
crucif1ed Christ. The morning of the
: resurrection found them filled with
: sorrow over their lost. until the two
are brought by the message of the
, women to the empty tomb. where