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Wednesday
The First
Lesson
Nahum 3
1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery;
the prey departeth not;
2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels,
and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering
spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number
of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble
upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured
harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through
her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will
discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations
thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile,
and will set thee as a gazingstock.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee
shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will
bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the
rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was
the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite;
Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young
children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets:
and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great
men were bound in chains.
11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt
seek strength because of the enemy.
12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe
figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth
of the eater.
13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates
of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire
shall devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds:
go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.
15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee
off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many
as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven:
the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great
grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when
the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known
where they are.
18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall
dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains,
and no man gathereth them.
19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous:
all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee:
for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
1st Lesson Questions -
How does my home town stack up against the Nineveh of this passage? RESOLVE.
The
Second Lesson
Romans 9:1-5, 14-24, 30-33
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing
me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?
God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and
that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For
who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles?
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore?
Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works
of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and
rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
2nd Lesson Questions -
Where do I think I get my justification from -"works of the law" or "faith"? (V. 32) RESOLVE.