The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-02-13
THE MINISTRY or JOHN.
International Sunday School Lesson Soa
february 40, 1890.


GOLDEN xr-Repent yei for the
kingdom Of Heaven is at hand. Matt.
3:2.
CENTRAL TRUTH--The duty Of ALTO.
repent and bring forth fruits meet for
repentance.
TIME-John began his ministry in the
summer of A. u. 20, more than seven
teen years after Jesus visit to the Tenn
pie. The baptism Of Jesus was in JAM
uary, A. d. ~; the Imprisonment Of John
in March, A. d. %.
PLAcE-The wilderness OF Judea.
PARALLEL AccouNTs-Matt. 8:1-17;
Mark 1:1-11.
LIGHT FROM OTHER ScRrPTuREs-John
1853; 1884; lisa. 4O:s-s; Nal. 81; 4:5-e.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs-G Genera
ton: brood. 0frtpsrs: small poison
GUS snake, q symbol Of the deceitful,
venomous, malicious people, who poi
soned the minds and hearts Of the ma
tion. Wrath to come: the punishment
that must como for sin. 8. Fruifs: the
natural result Of true repentance, as
good fruit is Of agood tree. abraham to
otsr father: do not think you will bo
saved because you are the children Of
Abraham, to whom the promise was
given. These stones: pointing to the peb-
,bles on tho shore. 0. Ace unto the root.
1. O., the time has come to destroy all
who are wicked, and means are ready.
10. Pu6hcdns: those who collected the
taxes under tho Romans; usually very
bad, dishonest men. Is. The Christ: the
expected Messiah. 16. 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, a kind Of broad shovel for
throwing up the grain into the wind,
that the chnff might be blown away.
Wheat: the good people. OhaS: the
wicked, Of no use to tho world, or to
Heaven. 20. Shut up John d, prison: see
Matt. 1885; Mark 8:17-2O. This was in
March, A. d. 90, after John had been
preaching about two years. 81. Jesus
also being baptized: this was moro than q
year before Johns Imprisonment.
LESSON TBUrHs-The grand truth of
the lesson is repentance. This seems
a very simple thing, and many q man,
II asked whether he could define IL,
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 it Is
"sorrow for your SINS" This is true as
far as 1t goes. But it does not go far
enough. Hence many mistakes on the
part Of young converts. Let us then,
to-day, analyzo this idea that we may
clearly grasp it. Repentance must be
preceded by consciousness of sin. For
no man will ever repent until he feels
that he has done wickedly. Yet many
q man feels that he is O sinner, who
never repents. On the contrary, he
goes right along and piles up his evil
deeds.
COMMENTs-Repentance must be pre-
ceded 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 sin
and sorrow because Of the consequences
OF sin. Many man in Jail Is filled with
sorrow. But it Is not his sin that
causes him sorrow, but the fact that he
Is punished for it. Had he been moro
fortunate and escaped detection, SORROW
would not have visited his heart. This
is the sorrow Of tho world which
worketh death e Cor. 7:10). The
prominent idea in such q persons mind
Is not sin, but punishment. II sorrow
were Cody sorrow, he would mourn
over his sin, even though 1t had brought
him to palace instead Of q prison.
There seems, also, to be another kind
of sorrow that is nearer akin to the
"Godly sorrow" and yet falls short Of
1t. This is illustrated by Judas sorrow.
His sin brought him gain, yet he seemed
to feel that he had done an unworthy
cot. II have sinned in that I have be-
trayed the innocent blood" Matt. 81: A..
But his sorrow did not take the upward
turn. 1t led him not to God. 1t was
not repentance towards God" (Acts 20:
20; Acts 20:2 21). Thus we see that true
repentance must be preceded by sorrow
for sin with something more. That
something is the one idea, God (Read
hero carefully Col. 7:s-12.) That re-
Ipentance is Of little worth that does not
proceed from sorrow for sin because 1t
is sin against God. Hear David's cry:
against Thee, Thee only, have I
sinned" (Ps. 51:4). In all that inspired
psalm given to US for our deep instruc-
tion, there are two persons prominent
and two ideas set forth. The two per-
sons are not Uriah or Bathsheba and
David, but God and David. The ideas
are, God holy, David guilty before Him.
This is Cody sorrow (sorrow according
to God, Marg.) u Col. Z: 9) that leadeth
to repentance not to be repented of.
Repentance is o turning away from
our sins. If it be genuine, We turn
away from sin because it Is sin against
God, and we are sorry for it and desire
to do so no more. Repentance is a "turn.
ing about" We have been going in one
direction; now we turn and 20 in the op-
lposite direction. II we do this heartily
we shall also confess our aims to Him