Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

pigs."
and Pharisees church leaders in
Jesus'
time wouldn't believe that Jesus is God.
But this wild man came and fell down at
Jesus'
feet. (You see, Satan and all his
devils are afraid of
Jesus.) Then Jesus
commanded the devil to come out of the
man. But the man yelled out, "What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of the most high God I adjure thee by
God, that thou torment me There
not."
were lots of Satan's devils in the man and
they begged Jesus not to send them far
away. Not too far away there was a herd
of pigs rooting around for food and the
devils said, "Let us go into those
And the devils went into those pigs so
that the pigs became wild and ran here
and there squealing loudly. They ran
just pell mell down a steep place and
right into the sea where
they were
drowned. The men who kept the pigs ran
into the city and country and, almost out
of breath, they told people what had hap
pened. The people came running out to
the place and what do you think they
saw There was that man who had been
wild, sitting down quietly and he had
clothes on and he wasn't wild any more
but was in his right mind. Well, it was
such a change that the people were afraid.
But they saw that it was true and they
began to tell every one else about it.
The man who was changed wanted to
stay right with Jesus as He went through
the land. But Jesus told him, "No, your
duty is to 'go home to thy friends, and
tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee, and hath had com
passion on thee.' "
If Jesus could change the heart of such
a wild man as this, He can change any
body's heart. Are you ever angry Do
you think naughty thoughts Do you
say unkind words Jesus is able to
change your heart so that you will not
get angry or say unkind words. He is able
to make you an obedient child, one who
loves to do what is right. Confess your
sins to Him and He will take away your
sin. Then tell your home folks and friends
what the Lord Jesus has done for you
not just that He has forgiven you, but
tell them about His great love for you in
leaving His Home in glory to come to
this earth to suffer and to die on the
cross for you. Tell them that Jesus is
risen and is at the right hand of His Fa
ther praying for you, praying that His
Father will wash away your sins in the
blood of Jesus Christ.
Ask each Junior to tell a lesson which
we can learn from this story. There are
several lessons if you'll look for them.
For Your Notebook.
Draw three hearts. Color one black
for sin, one red for the blood of Christ,
and one white for a heart cleansed by
the blood of Christ.
January 12, 1955
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
January 30, 1955
MAN'S NATURE AND NEED
Rev. W. J. McBurney
(Lessons based on International Sunday School
Lessons: the International Bible Lessons for
Christian Teaching, copyrighted by the Inter
national Council of Religious Education.)
Gen. 1:26:31; 6:5, 6; Matt. 6:9, 10
Mark 7:21-23; Luke 6:35, 36.
Printed text, Genesis 1:26-30; Rom. 3:23;
Heb. 2:6-9
Memory verse, Ps. 8:4, 5 "What is man,
that thou art mindful of him and the
son of man, that thou visitest him For
thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels, and hast crowned him with
glory and honor."
Gen. 1:26-30
Man's history for 2,000 years is told
in the first ten chapters of Genesis.
It is fair to assume that many things
are not narrated. We are not told in
what stage of physical development man
was created. Our interest is in the nature,
opportunity
and conduct of the mature
man. In the conversation of God with
Adam and Eve, after the fall, only one
sentence is recorded concerning the re
demptive work of Christ. Yet the sacri
fices offered by Cain and Able imply as
full knowledge of the way
of salvation
from sin through the atoning blood of
Jesus Christ as was revealed to Moses
and the Prophets. Among the animals
that were created before man, there was
not one that had the capacity to live
virtuously, or to sin.
In the story of the creation, the crea
tion of animals is reported by groups.
Man's creation is described separately.
Under special counsel of God, he was
created in God's image. This likeness was
not physical. God's messengers and Jesus
Christ appeared in the likeness of men,
that they might be seen. God never au
thorized man to impersonate Himself or
any of His messengers. Man was
equipped by creation to fee God's mes
senger. Man had qualities in his own
person whereby, under God's direction,
he could perform works for God. He had
the Truth, Righteousness, and Holiness.
This we call Original Righteousness.
LIBERTY AND LAW
Man's first necessity and pleasure is in
food. A wide variety of nourishing and
delicious food was provided for man's
use. One was forbidden. The first sin
had to do with eating. Any disobedience
is the denial of God's truth,
ity. Truth and authority
and author
are both in
volved in the command to eat and drink
to the glory of God.
We often discuss the second part of
this command. I have heard only one
sermon that dealt consistently with the
first part of the command. The preacher
was just recovering from a serious ill
ness. As we left the church, I overheard
a man say that the pastor did not com
mend his sermon by his physical ap
pearance. I thought the Pastor's weakness
was a striking emphasis to his message.
He died the next Saturday.
When we do not try to eat for the
glory of God, but eat rather to please
our appetites, we are denying both the
truth and the authority of God. Adam
and Eve were the first that lost their
lives by eating, but not the last.
Even with the loss of Original Right
eousness, man still had intelligence and
moral freedom. Man still retains that
much of the image of God. That may be
his blessing,
or his curse. As none of the
animals can do, he may choose blessing
through Jesus Christ, or remain in sin
to his eternal death.
Verse 28
"And God blessed them." First,
they
were to replenish, (populate), the earth.
In Eden, the family
was organized with
one man and one woman. That was the
regular order "from the
beginning."
Christ endorsed it as the proper family
order for His people who believed. We
need not expect more from those of "un
belief"
than Christ did. The family is
based on the need of man and society,
and where families are Christian, there
is no juvenile delinquency.
Second, Man is to subdue the earth.
The earth does not produce our food
without our labor. It does not yield our
houses, clothing and machinery without
work. Yet God left it largely to man to
produce the curse of briars and thistles
with which he has to contend. Pioneer
farmers know that virgin soil seldom con
tains noxious weeds. Man imports them.
The pronouncement of the curse was
more a statement of what man would
do to his own hurt, by sin, than a state
ment of what God would do. For every
acre that man has subdued in this coun
try, he has ruined an acre by careless and
greedy
methods of farming.
Third, man is to have dominion over
all animals. Except in unusual circum
stances, man has no fear of any animals
that can be seen with the natural eye.
The hardest task with our invisible en
emies is to discover them. With optical
and chemical aids, we are hopeful soon
to discover the causes for most diseases
and conquer them. Many immoral in
fluences are invisable until the Holy
Spirit reveals them. He is able.
Man is also responsible for the moral
evils
that plague the earth. Men are
either the agents of God for righteousness
under God,
or of sin for the devil. Choose
ye! We don't need to choose the devil,
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