Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1942-03-12

LESSON TEXT-Matthew 8:23-34
GOLDEN TEXT-What manner of man
is this. that even the winds and the sea
obey him Matthew 1927.
The mighty works Of Jesus de-
clared Him to be the Son Of Cod
yes. very God Himself Unbeliev-
ing men who would discredit the
Word of God and deny the Godhood
of the Son are at much labor and
trouble to explain away the mira
cles, but without any success.
In our lesson for today we have
Christ showing His divine power
over the forces of nature, and over
the demons Of the evil spirit world.
We find the disciples in the storm
I. Fearful-but Not in Danger wv.
2S-27).
The Son Of God-who had become
Son Of man-showed His true hui
mainly by that WEAKNESS. which
made Him sleep through a tempes-
tuous storm such as often came
upon Lake Galilee. Like a general
in time Of war Jesus slept when He
could" ~
AS He calmly slept. fear of de-
struction laid its deadly grip upon
the hearts of the disciples. For the
moment they saw only the angry
waves, the smallness of their craft
the hopelessness of their situation.
apparently forgetting that with
Christ in the boat they were in no
danger, in spite of the fearfulness
of their surroundings and circum-
stances.
Is this not clearly a lesson for
us in this day so full of alarms and
fears? If we think of circumstances
and conditions round about us we
shall be overcome with fear-and
well we may, if we do not have
Christ with US in the boat of life.
But if He is there-if we are His
in the kinship of regenerating grace
we are in no danger. Shall we
not accept the tender rebuke, why
are we fearful, o We of little faith?"
". 26).
The majestic scene of Christ still
ing the tempest, reminds US not
only that He can control any force
of nature, but also that there is no
storm Of heart or mind or life to
which He cannot authoritatively
say, Peace, be still" mark 4:39).
Will you trust Him with your prob
lem?
On the other side of the lake
Christ met another kind of need
and cared for it. He there deliv-
cred two men who were
ii. Demon-6ominated, but Not
Hopeless wv. 28-3N.
There is only one devil, but he
has many demons who do his bid
ding. The evidence is clear that
these demons were able to enter
into the personality of human be-
ing and take control Of the life
This was not insanity or a sickness
of the body. but devil domination.
These two men mark and Luke
speak only of one-perhaps the more
violent of the two) were so strong
and wicked because Of the demon
in them, that their relatives and
friends had given them up as hope
less and had sent them out to live in
the wilderness.
How horrible is the power of the
devil in the life of any man or wom-
an. But let us never forget that
while no man can control such a sit
uation MARK SD, God is able.
with God all things are possible"
(Matt. 1929. We have not done all
we can for our devil dominated
friends and relatives until we have
brought them to Jesus.
Notice that the demons recognized
Christ as the Son of God ". 29).
They knew that He had the power
to control them and that the day
was to come when He would Judge
them.
The men were completely cured
mark 5:15) as the demons were
permitted to enter the herd of
swine Those poor beasts, appar-
emily not content to harbor the evil
spirits, cast themselves into the sea.
When the people of the land heard
what had taken place they asked
Jesus to leave. They evidently
weighed the relative value Of two
men in their right mind over against
herd of swine and decided that
they could not afford to have men
delivered from the devil at such
expense.
Unfortunately the descendants"
of those people seem to be in some
of our churches today. They can
afford anything in the way of lux
ury for themselves, but they are
sure it costs too much to keep the
church open or to- provide a
preacher-or suitable equipment for
the Lords work. Row unspeakably
sadl