The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1897-12-16
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.


.
THE sECTIoN.-The First Epistle Of
John.
| TIME.-This Epistle was written prob
| ably about A. D. 81 (Farrar possibly
I earlier but not before a. d. TO-
/ PLACE.-Either Ephesus or Patmos.
LESSON COMMENT.
/ Subject: The Nature of God, and
Some Practical Consequences Which
! Flow from 1t.
| |. God Is Lightly. 5. Gods nature is
expressed to us by the three mightiest
and most glorious things that exist:
God is Life. God is Light. God is Love.
5. "The message which we have
| heard from Him." from Jesus Christ.
! BY word when on earth (John la, 0;
s:12), and by His own person. for He
was the brightness of the Fathers
glory. "That God is light" absolutely
in His very nature. Light is mysteri-
| Gus in nature. ineffably bright and
| glorious, everywhere present. swift
winged, undefiled. and undefilable.
Light is the source of life, of beauty. of
manifested reality. of warmth, OF COM
| fort. and joy, of health and of power.
II. The Light Is Opposed to Darkness.
". 5. "ln Him is no darkness at all:
The schoolmen we'll said that there is a
! fourfold darkness--of nature, of ignor-
ance, of misery, of sin. All these forms
of darkness God, as light. destroys.
III. Walking in the Light the Condi-
| ton of Fellowship.--Ns 6, 7. 6. "If we
say" If we should profess. That we
have fellowship:" Belong to Him. are
His children and heirs. and are like
Him. And walk" Walk" signifies
the ordinary course of life. "In dark
ness" The exact opposite of the light
in which God is. I'VE lie:" We say
what is entirely false. for it is-not pos
sible to have fellowship with God and
yet continue to do the deeds of dark
ness. "And do not the TRUTH" Our life
is as false as our words.
I. "But if we walk" live habitually,
sin the light" in Gods light. in SYM
pathy with Him. according to His
Word, in His conscious presence, in the
light of truth, in the light of holiness.
"As He is in the light" In the same
kind of light as He is. made in His
image, possessing His nature. "We
have fellowship one with another"
Since we all partake of Gods nature
| and feeling. live for the same ends, en-
joy the same joys, love the same things,
we must have fellowship with one an
other. being one in sympathy, love,
character. purposes.
". In the Light Is Cleansing from
Sin.-Vs. 7-1o. "And the blood of
= ba Of
death on the cross, expresses the love of
God and of His Son for man. For the
manifest measure of love is what it is
willing to do and to suffer. "Cleanseth:"
Not only forgives. but removes. From
all SIM" All kinds of sin, all degrees of
sin. -"''-7
s. eff we say that we have no sin:" II
we think we are altogether free from
sin and sinful nature. 1--WE deceive our
sclves:" Literally, we lead ourselves
astray We do not know our own hearts
in their depths. "And the truth is not
in u.s." The truth about Gods holiness;
the truth about righteousness in it's pur-
ity and perfection; the truth about
our own characters.
9. five confess our sins:" To God al
ways, and to men for the offenses COM
mitted against them. HE is faithful"
to His own nature and to His promises.
"And JUST" Righteous. Righteous
ness loves to forgive whenever forgive
ness tends to increase Righteousness.
"And to cleanse u.s." Gods righteous
ness led Him to devise, way to save
men from their sins, in accordance with
His own righteousness. "Sins:" Here
word meaning missing the mark"
"Unrighteousness:" Another aspect of
sin, as transgression. Stepping over
forbidden boundary is another.
10. 1--WE make Him liar" Gods
scheme for forgiving sin. and His call
not sinned. His Word is not in u.s."
His Gospel, His revelation of the needs
of men, the light which shines from
His pure character.
V. The Way Out of Sin.-Vs. l.. 2. /.
write l . :. that We sin not:" This
was his great desire for those he called
his children, for he was now very old
man, between 80 and 100 years old.
IF any man sim" There is ever
danger of falling into unexpected and
unintended sin. I'VE have an Advo-
cate:" The same word as Comforter
in John 14-16. One who stands by us
to defend, strengthen, comfort us.
2. "And He is the Precipitation for our
sins:" The Scriptural conception is not
that of an appeasing one who is angry,
with personal feeling against the Of
fender, but of altering the character
of that which, from without, occasions
necessary alienation, and interposes
an inevitable obstacle to fellowship.
VI.-The Test Whether We Are Walk
ing in the Light.-Vs. SO. 8. Hereby
we do know that we know HIM"
With the experimental knowledge of
love and fellowship. the knowledge that