The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1903-04-17
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ~, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 10.
Text of the Lesson, Rom. Xiii, TIA.
Memory Verses, %, 10-GOlden Text,
Rom. xiii, 1O-COmmentary Pre-
pared by Rev. ID. M. stearns.

| W WiOHi hShoA'
After assuring us Of our high and
holy place in the love of God through
the gift of His dear Son and that moth
ing can possibly separate us therefrom
and telling us in chapters tx to Xi or
Gods unchanging purpose concerning
Israel, he then entreats us from chap
ter xii onward to let God have our
whole being that by a righteous life
which He will live in those who are
yielded to Him He may make Himself
known to others. Subsection TO the
powers that be, cheerfully paying trib-
ute and taxes rendering respect as for
eigners would in country where they
are temporarily abiding-these things
Christians should gladly do because
they are citizens of heaven and thus
command the country to which they
belong.
s. owe no man anything but to love one
another, for he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law.
Some one has said that love is the
law itself in manifold action. an obli-
CATION never fully discharged. Love is
seen IcIltCllN OlllN III 1hllNAs bNNNi III
sinful mortals. If any think that they
have seen it perfectly in some redeem
ed one. let them consider such in the
light of | Cor xiii, Al, and also con-
slider one of Mr.. Surgeons definitions
Of sin as anything that the Lord Jesus
would not think or say or do or bless.
If one should ask, Where, then, is the
II, toll 4
John iv, 49, one answer would be,
There can be no fear while abiding in
His perfect love.
O. 10. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
myself. Love worketh no i'll to his neigh
Dor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law.
These commands deal with our treat
ment Of our neighbor, for we can prove
our love to God (the sum of the first
four commandments, Matt xxi, SO,
81 only by our love to our neighbor.
He that lOveth not his brother whom
he hath seen, how can he love God,
whom he hath not SEEM u John iv,
20) Love is always kind, studies to
please, cannot injure, seeks not its own
welfare first, but rather the welfare of
others, therefore cannot engage in any
pursuit or business which would i'm
poverish others while enriching itself.
II. And that, knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep:
for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed
The epistles are written to believers,
those who by faith in Christ are saved,
have passed from death to life and yet
seem to be asleep and talk in their
sleep QSa. xxx, 10; wi, 10, margin).
The tendency of believers TO sleep, both
under the most glorious and the most
awful circumstances. is seen in Peter,
James and John on the Mount of Trans
fguratiOn and in Gethscmane luke tx,
81; xxi, 10, 4G, showing how utterly
foreign, even 10 redeemed people, heav-
cnly things are and how unable we are
TO grasp them. Samson asleep in the
lap Of Delilah shows how the strongest
are apt to be overcome by the things
Of this world, and Jonah asleep in the
storm while the heather captain and
sailors called upon their gods is "A won
derful picture of the church, asleep TO
such commands as Mark xvi, ID, while
the blind zeal of the heather should
put us to shame.
r. The night is far spent. the day is at
hand. Let US therefore cast Oft the works
Of darkness and let us put on the armOr
of light.
1t seems strange to those who boast
of the progress of the century TO speak
of this being still the worlds night, but
it is even SO, and the day will not dawn
till the morning star appears and then
the sun (Rev. xxi, 1G; Nal. iv, y. When
He said, "Ye are the light Of the world
Matt. V, IA, He certainly meant that
the world needed sight and was there
fore in darkness. The progress is like
that Of Cain and is not progress in or
toward righteousness, for the whole
world still lieth in the wicked one q
John y, 19). Believers are children of
the light and of the day Il Thess. V, -
and waiting for the day TO dawn, for
only then will our full salvation come,
TO which we are drawing nearer every
day, as stated in the last verse.
10, Il. Put we on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lusts thereof.
The believer is said to receive Christ
John l. ID and also to put on Christ
gal. iii, % and to be i'm Christ q Cor.
j, 3d. but in whatever way our rela-
ton TO Christ is spoken of the fact is
recognized that the old man, the self
life. is still in us and is to be persist
emily reckoned dead or put off Rom.
vi, Il; Eph. iv, 90. 81; Col. iii, o, 10; II
Cor. iv, 10, ID. We are to have no con-
fidence in the flesh, to worship God in
the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus
Phil. iii, -. We are to have the mind
of Christ Jesus, and, as He never pleas
ed HIMSELF so we, if filled with His
Spirit, will not live unto ourselves in
any selfish way Phil. ii. .; Rom. XIV, 81.
There is no salvation for any sinner or
any kind of n sinner except by the
blood of Christ apart from any works
Of ours Qtom. iv, 3; Tit. iii, o. so the
life that is expected from us cannot be
lived by us. but must be lived by Christ
I'm us without our help. We yield our
telves TO Him, and He lives the life and