El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-12-31


Verses. 9-1s-Golden Text. John l. 4.
Stearns.
copyright 1898, by D. NJ Stearns.]
1. Sin the beginning was the word, and
the word was with God, and the word was
God" The topic of the lesson is "Christ,
the True Light but the verses assigned
for the lesson are the introduction to the
gospel and tell us why John wrote it. In
chapter Xxx, 81, he says concerning his
gospel, "These are written that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and that believing ye might have
life through His name" While in Matthew
Jesus is the King of the Jews, in Mark
the servant of Jehovah, and in Luke the
Son of Man, in this gospel He is the Son
of God equal with the Father. The first
phrase takes us to Gen. 1, 1, Gin the be-
ginning Cod The name "The Word Of
God" takes us to Gen. XIV, 1, where God
appears to Abram as ttThe Word Of the
Lord"
g. "The same was in the beginning
with God.'' A helpful comment upon
this is found in Prov viii, 80, and the
context where we read of the Word of God
under the name Of wisdom as being with
God when He created all things, rejoicing
always before Him, and In verse 35 1t Is
written, "Whoso findeth me fndeth life,
another parallel with q later part of our
lesson. John xvii, 5, is also suggested by
this verse: Celebrity thou me with the
glory which I had with Thee before the
world was
8. "An things were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made that
was made This also places the Son with
the Father in Gen. j, 1, and is finely COM
mented upon and more fully stated in Col.
1, 16, "By Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth !;
all things were created by Him and for
Him, and He Is before all things and by
Him all things consist
f. "In Him was life, and the life was
the light of men," He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son Of
God hath not life q John v, 1s), so that
not only is there life In Him, but there is
no life apart from Him. He also IS the
light of the world as He said in chapter
viii IL; xii, 46, and all apart from Him
is darkness, so that while in Him is life
and light, apart from Him is only death
and darkness. The vast majority of the
people on earth are in darkness because
the light has never been brought to them,
but multitudes who have heard of the
light will not receive it.
and the darkness coInprehended it not. !"
In the creation story in Gen. i, 1-3, we
read that darkness was upon the face OF
the Deep and God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. In III Cor. iv, 6, we
read that God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge
Of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.
g. "There was a man sent from God
whose name was john Jesus was God,
but John was sent from God. Jesus Him
self said in this gospel over 80 times that
the Father sent Him, but He was sent tC
reveal the Father while John was sent to
herald and point out the Christ. John was
sent as truly as Jesus, but each for a diff
ferent purpose. 1t is still true that God
gives "to every man his work and the
ability for it.
z "The same came for witness to bear
witness of the light, that all men through
Him might believe His testimony was
that he was only a voice. He cried, "Be-
hold the Lamb Of GodP'' And when men
turned from him and followed Jesus he
said: ''This, my joy, is fulfilled He must
increase; must decrease He was great
in the sight of the Lord, and of him Jesus
said that no greater was born Of woman.
8. HE was not that light, but was sent
to bear witness of that light" When asked
If he was the Christ, he answered, "No. 4"
It was his JOY to bear witness Of the Christ
9. "That was the true light which light
eth every man that cometh into the
world" He who said LET there be
light Is Himself the light, the true light,
the only light, and beside Him there is no
other. There are many false lights which
only lead men to destruction. All reli-
gions which have not Christ and His atone
ment for their foundation are false and
can only lead astray.
10. HE was in the world, and the world
was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. Adam and Eve in Eden knew
Him not, for they turned away from Him.
Cain knew Him not, for he turned away
from Him. The antediluvians, as a
whole, with but few exceptions, turned
from Him. After the deluge the people
in the plain of Shinar turned against Him.
and when ADram was called to leave his
home and kindred he was called out from
idolaters (Josh. XIV.
IL. 'He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not He chose the
land which He gave to Abram, Isaac and
Jacob to be specially His own that He
might specially bless and care for it, and
He chose Israel to be special people unto
Himself above all people on the earth that
He might make Himself known to them
and through them to all nations.
IL, ID. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe On
His name" Hero is, to my mind, the best
definition of believing, and that Is to re-
ceive Him as we receive gift. The gift
of God is eternal life (Rom. vi, 23). How
simple that we should be required only to
accept Him. That the Creator should be-
come the Redeemer and by making Him
self one of us work out a salvation which
He offers to us freely without money or
price or desert on our part is surely a
wonder of wonders, but what shall we say