Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

awhile."
you."
about,"
a "prayerbook." Have a place for the
date you began to pray for something
definite, a column to write what you are
praying for, and a place to put the date
your prayer is answered. Remember that
God does not always answer,
Sometimes He says,
times "Wait
"Yes."
"No,"
and some
Don't forget to
thank our Father in heaven for an
swered prayers.
For Your Notebook: Start a page as
.suggested
above.
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
February 27, 1955
Rev. W. J. McBurney
(Lessons based on International Sunday School
Lessons ; the International Bible Lessons for
Christian Teaching, copyrighted by International
Council of Religious Education.)
THE CHURCH PROCLAIMS THE
GOSPEL
15; I Cor. 1:18-25; Col. 1:24-29
PRINTED TEXT, Acts 2:14, 22-24,
41; Rom. 10:8-15; I Cor. 2:1-5
Mark 16:15; Acts 2:14-41; Rom. 10:8-
37-
Memory, Rom. 1:16 "For I am not
ashamed of the gospel: for it is the pow
er of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth; to the Jew first, and also
to the Greek."
Acts 2 :14 "Be this known to
Seven weeks had passed since Peter had
denied his own knowledge of Christ be
fore the Jews. His denial was the truth.
Peter did not at that time know Christ.
He had formed his own picture of Christ,
but it was not the picture of the Man
who stood before Pilate. Christ's sub
mission to the soldiers and to Pilate, be
wildered him. This was not the Christ
he had seen on the mountain side and
in the mountain top, and in the storm
at sea. Peter has seen a Christ to whom
great crowds gathered and were fed.
"Walk;"
Who said to the lame, to the
clean;"
leper, "Be to the dead, "Come
forth."
What a disappointment to all Peter's
hopes, when he saw Christ walk meekly
with the soldiers, and stand dumb before
blasphemous judges in a mock trial.
Peter did not know that Christ. Why do
we condemn him so bitterly for his de
nial when he was telling the truth
Did the other disciples denounce him
Did Christ rebuke Peter, even in that
look turned on him as he went out to
weep bitterly
"That look of Christ's might seem to
say,
'Thou, Peter, art thou but a common
stone
Which I at last, must break My heart
upon
For all God's charge to his high angels
To guard me better
February 9, 1955
Do thy kisses like the rest betray
Go, manifest a right contrition, but no
beetless fear;
For when thy last needs dreariest, thou
shalt not be bereft,
As I am here,
My
voice to God and angels shall de
clare,
Because I know this man, let him be
clear.' "
Peter had never known The Christ that
he saw standing before Pilate. Did not
all the others forsake Him and flee
Seven wonderful weeks of preparation
and waiting, and again Peter stands at
the trial of Jesus before men. Peter
was not now a weeping
spectator. He
was the chief advocate, and instead of
pleading with men for Christ, he boldly
puts the Children of Promise on trial be
fore the throne of Christ, and convicted
them of cruel murder,
even the murder
of their own King and Saviour. The one
thing that the Jews feared after they
had crucified Jesus was that He would
rise from the dead. They tried to pre
vent it. They bribed the soldiers to deny
it. And they murdered those who told
the truth about it.
Peter reconstructed the story of their
crime, showing that rebellion against
Christ had been over-ruled in advance
by the determinate counsel and fore
knowledge of God. Call the effect of
Peter's address on the listeners, mass
psychology or what you like, 3,000 souls
were moved. The phrase, "In that day,"
may refer to a series of days in which
Peter and the others continued to speak
to the multitudes that kept coming as
the fame of the gospel spread abroad.
Those convicted of sin asked the great
question, and received the great answer.
Rom. 10:8-15
In this passage Paul shows some of
the difficulties,
and some of the methods
of Mission work, as he found it in Rome.
Among the obstacles, he mentions,
Ignorance (Rom. 10:3). "Being ignor
ant of God's
righteousness."
Sin does
not appear in its true color, until it is
seen in the light of God's Righteousness.
Legalism. "Going
their own
about to establish
righteousness." "Establish,"
find some place on which it would stand.
"Going
suggests a continual, be
wildered and unsuccessful search.
Stubbornness.
"Have not submitted
themselves."
Nearly all traffic accidents
are caused by violation of traffic laws.
This is typical of man's sin. Violation of
traffic laws is sin, and like all other sins,
the result is serious, even if there were
no judgment. Civil judgment is becom
ing
more and more severe. Judges are
saying, "These things must
says,
"Woe."
Every
stop."
God
animal with horse
sense knows what that means, and stops.
This is really one of Paul's missionary
addresses. But his theme is the building
of the missionary spirit at home, rather
than rebuking sin abroad. "Those awful
communists!"
certainly. But if we blind
ourselves to all abuses at home, the
'commies'
will get us, sure.
Paul's most prominent word in this
letter is,
"believe."
Without Faith, we
can do nothing. We cannot even confess,
if we do not believe. We confess our
sins, after we profess our faith. Or can
we always separate the two They are
closely related. Confession of sin would
have no value, if there was not faith.
And faith would be in vain, if it did not
lead us to acknowledge our sins. Paul
preaches the Gospel of the Equal Chance
for all. I do not know if any other
country has as crucial a test as we have
here, in the North, as well as in the
South. The test is much deeper than the
Supreme Court's decision.
There are three Greek words trans
lated "To
preach."
Literally, they are,
to pronounce, to announce, and to evan
gelize, that is, to tell good tidings. The
world must have preachers, and preach
ers must be sent. Sent by whom Christ
said, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest,
that He will send forth laborers." This
prayer is a pledge that we will do our
part in supporting the work for which
we pray.
1 Cor. 2:1
Paul had earned as many scholastic
titles as any man of modern times,
but he did not use his great learning to
impress, dazzle, or bewilder folks. He
had but one message, "Jesus Christ, and
Him
crucified."
He wanted us to stand,
not in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God.
A Methodist pastor told me that he
had been sent to a congregation where
the former pastor had by his eloquence
and pleasing manner won many to pro
fess their faith and unite with the
church. Then this pastor had proven
morally false, and many of his converts
had been offended and left the church,
perhaps left their faith. My
friend was
calling on one of his most faithful mem
bers, a woman well advanced in years.
She told him of her late conversion, and
it was under the preaching of the false
pastor. My friend said, "And how does it
come that you remained when his other
converts
left"
She replied, "I did not
join the pastor, I joined Jesus Christ."
Paul did not want converts to join
Paul, or Apollos. They might be for
gotten if they led to a vision of Jesus
Christ.
We were hanging to the straps in a
crowded street car, returning from a
entertainment
Rogers-Grilley in the Old
91