The Yale expositor., 1904-12-30
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON |, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. I.


Rev. ID. NJ. Stearns.
copyright, 1904. by American Press Association.l
Beginning the study of this, in some
respects, most marvellous Of all the
gospels, and on this first day of n
new year, let me quote some word:
from DR.. Andrew Murray applicable
to the whole Bible, and, of course, to
this portion Of it: The central thought
Of this book is God; its one object is
to reveal God, His glory, His will, His
love. In reading it our chief desire
should be to know God. May our life
and heart be as full of God as this
book is" 1t is only in Christ that we
can see and know God Verse 49,, for
He also said, HE that hath seen Me
hath seen the Father" Chapter xiv, %,
and this gospel was written that we
might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and believing have
life through His Name Xxx, 81. One
has said that here John reveals Him
as mot of this world" xvii, 16) for the
contemplation Of those who, like Him,
-
In the first three verses we are
carried back to Gen. /, /, and we see
Him as God, the Creator of all things.
Compare Col. /, 1G, Il, and consider
Him as the all wise and all powerful
Creator until your heart can gladly
say Jer. xxi, II, and find the comfort
and the result that the apostles did
-, A,fe. t.. ,.te nd
lives ever proclaim that to us Jesus is
God, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace Qsa. tx,
6, y.
In Him are life and light, and nowhere
else, for all else is darkness, and dark
ness cannot comprehend light. "He
that hath the Son hath life, and he
that hath not the Son hath not life"
q John V, 12). His first recorded ut
terance in Scripture is, Let there be
light Gen. 1, -, and it is recorded
of Him, God is light, and in Him is
no darkness at alr' Il John i, o.. He
said Of Himself. Il am the light of the
world" and again, II am the way
and the truth and the life" Chapters
viii, -; xiv, @.
In verses to John the Baptist is
spoken of as n witness sent from God
to bear witness of the light, and this
also is in q sense the calling of every
believer, for He said, "Ye shall receive
the power Of the Holy Ghost coming
upon you, and We shall be witnesses un-
to me" (Acts |, s, margin). We are to
walk as He walked Il John ii. O., and as
with Him so with us the life is the
light, and our lives are either telling
for Him or against Him always. When
once the light has shined in our hearts
we are to die continually to self that
the life of Jesus may be manifest in
us Oh Cor. iv, 10, III.
Unknown in the world which He
had made, despised and rejected by
the nation to whom He specially came,
esteemed as n root out Of dry ground,
as one having neither form nor come
illness; oppressed and afflicted and per-
secuted, and finally crucified as an evil
doer, such was His treatment from
those whom He came to bless. He
said to them, GLOW often would
have gathered you, and We would not"
Verse II is to me one of the best in
the book; it is to my mind the simplest
possible definition of believing and
must be borne in mind wherever after
ward we find the word ''believe" in
this gospel. 1t tells me how to become
q child of God, begotten Of God. 1t is
not hereditary, nor can it be accom-
plished by any will or power of man,
but every sinner who having heard Of
Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners
can truly say, 81 do receive Him as my
personal Saviour" is hereby assured
that thus receiving Him he is entitled
to all the privileges of child of God.
Compare Rom. iii, "a; iv, 5; vi, %; X,
4; Tit iii, 8. We are also taught
here that not all people are children Of
God, as some would have us believe,
but only such as truly receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as their life and light, be-
lieving Him to be God manifest I'm the
flesh, the only revealer of the Father,
the one who as God appeared to man
in oil the Old Testament story from
Gen. II onward, who In due time be-
came man, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that
were under the law-Christ, who re-
deems us from the curse of the law,
being made q curse for us (Gal. iv, A.;
Iii, 49,. John the Baptist says, "He
was before me" Verse 49,; our Lord
Himself said, Before Abraham was,
1 am" and again In His prayer to His
Father He said, 80 Father, glorify
thou me with Thine own self, with the
glory which 1 lad with Thee before
the world was" John wifi, So; xvii, 81.
The law, holy and just and good,
setting forth the only righteousness
which could satisfy God, could not
give life, for If there had been q law
given which could have given life,
verify, righteousness should have been
by the law gal. i'll, 2D, but the law
can only prove men guilty that they
may be justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus. who is the end Of the
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