The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-02-12
THE MINISTRY OF JOHN.
Int ernational Sunday school Lesson for
february 16, 1890.

Especially arranged from s. S. QUARTERLY !
GOLDEN TExr-Repent We; for the
kingdom of Heaven is at hand.-Matt.
S:2.
CENTRAL TRUTH-The duty Of ALTO /
repent and bring forth fruits meet for
repentance.
TrAE-John began his ministry in the
summer of A. ID. &c. more than seven
teen years after Jesus visit to the Tenn
pie. The baptism of Jesus was in jan
uary, A. d. 81; the imprisonment of John
in March, A. D. 2S.
PLAcE-The wilderness Of Judea.
PARALLEL ACCOMPLISHMENT. Sill: |
Mark l1-11.
LIGHT FROM OTHER SCRIPTUREs-John
los; 1884; lisa. 4O:S-5; Nal. 81; 4:5-6.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACES Genera
ton: brood. 0fcipers: a small poison
GUS snake, symbol of the deceitful,
venomous, malicious people, who poi
soned the minds and hearts of the ma
ton. Wrath to come: the punishment
that must come for sin. s. Fruits. the
natural result of true repentance, as
good fruit is of good tree. Abrdhana to
our father: do not think you will be
saved because you are the children OF
Abraham, to whom the promise was
given. These stones: pointing to the peb-
bles on the shore. 8. Are unto the root:
i. e., the time has come to destroy all
who are wicked, and means are ready
Dahl ,ho
taxes under the Romans; usually very
bad, dishonest men. Is. The Christ. the
expected Messiah. is. Latchet: thong,
or leather string, which fastened their
sandals. Shoes: sandals. This was the
work Of the lowest slaves. With fire:
the symbol of the Holy Spirit, cheering,
enlightening the good, but consuming
sinful dispositions. II. Fan: winnow
ing-fan, kind of broad shovel for
throwing up the grain into the wind,
that the chaff might be blown away.
Wheat: the good people. CHAT: the
wicked, of no use to the world, or to
Heaven. 20. Shut up John in prison: see
Matt. 1885; Mark 6:17-20. This was in
March, A. d. 2S, after John had been
preaching about two years. 81. Jesus
also being baptized: this was more than a
year before Johns imprisonment.
LESSON TRUTHs-The grand truth Of
the lesson is repentance" This seems
a very simple thing, and many man,
if asked whether he could define it,
would at once answer certainly Yet,
were he to attempt the task, he might
find that his ideas were by no means
clear on the subject. The general idea
Of repentance seems to be that 1t is
''sorrow for your sins" This is true as
far as it goes. But it does not go far
enough. Hence many mistakes on the
part of young converts. Let us then,
to-day, analyze this idea that we may
clearly grasp it. Repentance must be
preceded by consciousness of sin. Fol
no man will ever repent until he feels
that he has done wickedly. Yet many
a man feels that he is sinner, who
never repents. On the contrary, he
goes right along and piles up his evil
deeds.
CoMMENTs-Repentance must be pre-
coded by sorrow for sin. Yet not all sor
row for sin will lead man to repentance
and here we need to make broad dis
tinction between sorrow for sin as sir
and sorrow because of the consequence.
OF sin. Many man in jailis filled witt
sorrow. But it Is not his sin tina
causes him sorrow, but the fact that HI
&c, ,hnl Id L
fortunate and escaped detection, sorrow
would not have visited his heart Thi
is the sorrow of the world which
worketh death e Cor. 7:1O. Thu
prominent idea in such persons minC
is not sin, but punishment. If sorrow
,, were Cody sorrow, he would mourn
|, over his sin, even though it had brough
, him to palace instead of prison.
. There seems, also, to be another kline
,, of sorrow that is nearer akin to tn,
, Cody sorrow" and yet falls short o
+, it. This is illustrated by Judas sorrow
7 Hissin brought him gain, yet he seemed
to feel that he had done an unworth,
act. 81 have sinned in that | have be
trayed the innocent blood" Matt. 81: A.
But his sorrow did not take the upwar,
turn. 1t led him not to God. 1t wa
: not repentance towards God" (Acts 90
= 20; Acts 2O:2D. Thus we see that tru
- repentance must be preceded by sorrow
for sin with something more. Tha
= something is the one idea, God. (Rea,
y here carefully Col. 7:s-12.) That re
| of1 l,A 4
:. proceed from sorrow for sin because
: is sin against God. Hear David's CRY
= against Thee, Thee only, have
y sinned" FPS. 51:4. In all that inspire
: psalm given to us for our deep instrut
ton, there are two persons prominen
- and two ideas set forth. The two pei
y. sons are not Uriah or Bathsheba an
y David, but God and David. The idea
are, God holy, David guilty before Hin
= This is Cody sorrow (sorrow accordin
y to God, Marg.) e Col. {: 81 that leadet
- to repentance not to be repented of.
!. Repentance is turning away frol
" our sins. If it be genuine, we tur
:, away from sin because it is sin agains
=, God, and we are sorry for it and desir
- to do so no more. Repentance is ''turr
y ing about" We have been going in on
is direction; now we turn and 70 in the OF
Q posite direction. II we do this hearth
n we shall also confess our sins to Hi,
% against whom they have been COMM
d ted, for he that confesseth and forsaket
his sins shall have mercy prov 2s:lS
The kind of repentance preached by tn
Baptist was that which produced frni