Crawford avalanche., 1896-02-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Hechoiarsy Exposition of thcLess0n
Thoughts Worthy ofcafm Redec-
tion-HaIf an Hour's stud % the
scriptures-Time Well Spent.
Lessou for March n.

ri
Jesds'thc Messiah is the subject Of this
esson. which Is found in Luke o: 1927.
and what an evangelistic opportunity the
lesson affords! Embrace IL, teacher, pas
tor, superintendent. Throw out the net
and enclose, by Christ's help, some. fish.
Take this for the practical thought, How
to become Christian. Take this If you
like for the special text, helped out by
the whole lesson, "If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily and follow me-" 1t Is a
plain, open course: No mystery about it.
'The wayfaring man, though fool, need
not err therein Just three steps: ID
Get rid of self This means, put self
aside, get the eye off from it, count it as If
it were not. (2) Take up the first thing
that comes as duty or a test of obedi-
ence, something that crosses your own
will for Gods will. (3) Go right along
after Jesus. Do what he would have you
do, say what he would nave you say, Do
it and say it by his grace. This is what
it means to follow Jesus. Who will start
out to-day? H.
He was ''alonc praying" Expect great
things now. Those times of Christ's
aloneness with the Father always ushered
in seasons of especial blessing for man
kind. BE ready.
Alone and yet not alone. The Father
was there, ministering ~ngels were there.
The times when the Christian goes apart
for prayer are times of largest and strong
est encompassment. Heaven is about
the closet of prayer.
His disciples were with him" But
~ y,at IL 4 Al.
The praying soul, as has been said, may
make closet of his cloak, yea, with his
yelled eyes. Cultivate the habit of prayer.
BE able in days of throng and press, just
to shut the door Of the soul a moment and
be alone with God.
Looking up from this communion with
God, in which he counted it not robbery
TO be equal with God, Christ's first query
"Whom (better who, see Revision) say
the people that / am?' 1t was natural
that he should ask it. He had seen him
self in Gods sight, and in the glory that
he had with the holy angels before the
world was. Now what were men think
ing of him? }
The question was not for his sake, but
for theirs. He knew what was in man.
Then surely it is well for these lips of ours
to express our thought of Deity. 1t clari-
lies our own perceptions, it expresses to
our own sense the feelings of the heart,
it declares the souls deepest afiirmations.
Sometimes we know not what we are or
where we are till we undertake to utter
it. There is power and progress in ex-
pressions. For with the heart man be-
lieveth unto righteousness; and with the
/. O., felt salvation.
Is the fact that Jesus said Of Peters
strong confession, "tell this to no man." a
difficulty? Let us remember the words
that follow, Saying the Son of man
must suffer many things, and be rejected
of the elders and chief priests and scribes.
md be killed. and the third day be raised
up" There was a dispensational reason
for this comparative silence. That rea-
son passed with the occasion. After
Christ's death and resurrection, along
with the baptism of the Spirit, the doors
IF worldwide proclamation were thrown
open. Christ has finished his atoning
work. The way is open. Tell the good
news abroad
Then follows the "little Bible" Of the
pan of salvation, as concerns the human.
IF any man would come after me-" etc.
The reference is not merely to imitation
of Christ, but to Identification with Christ.
i. e., it is not the cultivation of Christly
graces only, but the personal realization
of Christs salvation, the life rather than
the example. Now, if any man wishes
to know this-the word is, willeth to know
here is the way; and Christ succnctly
states il.
1t is, in word, to ignore self and see
Jesus only. 'Let him deny himself is
literally to say no to self. When the eye
is gotten off from self and fixed upon
Jesus as the Christ of God, anointed to
do for us what we cannot do for ourselves,
then we are in a way to secure the bene-
fits of Gods grace in Christ Jesus. In
this sense we save life by losing it, count
ing it out. In this sense, too, we forfeit
one world in sense and gain two. To
hold on to self and the world is to lose
both the world and self; to give up and
take Christ is to win the world-two
worlds-and save the soul.