The Yale expositor., 1904-11-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON viz, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATtopsat SERIES, NOV. 20.

I
Our lesson As called "Isaiah's Message
to Judah" wrllah Is all right as TO the
last two wopdS for II Is indeed mes
sage to Judah md not to all Israel. and
it Is a message 10 judah and not to the
church. This In the primary truth, but
we must noe forget that there are les
kOns here for AL believers at all times.
But, then, we must notice that it is not
the Lord thyoo0h Ills servant Isaiah.
"Hear, o beS~ens, and give ear, o
earth, for the Lord hath spokenw Verse
p This is the truth to be emphasized.
1.-The mighty COO, even the Lord, hath
spoken" Cps. !. y. God hath spoken I'M
to us by His Sen (Heb. /, l, p. This is
the great fact OF the Bible, and surely
it becomes Hh creatures to hear, but
that Is the way thing they refuse to do,
as He says Il have nourished and
brought up children. and they have re-
belled agsinA mo- (verse y.
He says that the dump brutes such as
the OK and Szs ass have more regard
for their owcsasB than His people have
for Him In Jer. viii, 7, He says that
| the birds seem to have more intelligence
than His people. When on earth In the
days of Ills humiliation, as He wept
over Jerusalem He said. IF thou hadst
known the things which belong to thy
peace, but now they are hid from thine
eyes" duke xix, Al, 40. "They have
forsaken the Lord, they have provoked
the Holy One Of Israel unto anger, they
are gone away backward" Verse ~, was
true Of them in the days Of Isaiah and
jeremiah and also when our Lord was
on earth, for He had to call them hypO-
critics ana generation of vipcrs, and
finally to tell them that their house
would be deSolate till His return Matt.
XXiiD
| Our lesson says that individually and
nationally they were sick and unsound
! from head to foot their country desc
! late and overthrown by strangers, and
| that but for n very small remnant of
godly ones in their midst they would be
/ like Sodora and GOmorrah. Then He
calls them Sodom and Gomorrah and
.
Htices and their feasts; that they weary
Him with them oversees 11-1J). From
/ this and similar language elsewhere in
/ the prophets some have boldly affirmed
/ that the Lord never instituted sacrifice.
/ but such do not know what they say,
/ nor do they understand Gen. iii, y, the
| first OF all sacrifices and by the hands
/ Of the Lord Himself.
When lie was on earth in human
form tie feasts Of the Lord which lie
had ordained had become mere feasts
Of the jews al form ana ceremony To
+ be seen - men (Matt. vi, LIS; xiii,
/ 1-S). This sort of thing lie hates today
as much as He did then, for lie de-
sres worship only from such as wor-
ship Him in spirit and in truth. See
John iv, %. ~ 1t may not be for us to
| judge, but a very little consideration
will lead one to think it possible that
! there may be In the church today a
very similar state Of affairs to that de-
scribed by the Spirit through Isaiah.
All we need say is that whatever in the
form Of worship Is not from a redeemed
soul In the power of the Spirit and in
the name Of the lord Jesus cannot be
worship at all. The precious blood of
Christ, the great sacrifice, Is the only
foundation, the Holy Spirit the only
power and the word Of God the only
revelation by which we can know God
and worship Him.
He who would worship God must first
be clean; hence Wash you; make you
clean" tverse 16, and how tfis II to be
done is plainly BET forth both in Genesis
and Revelation and all the way through.
Nothing can cleanse from sin but the
blood. The life Of the flesh II In the
blood, and have given II to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for
your souls, for 1t Is the blood that max
eth an atonement for the soup Uev.
xvii, III. The doings OF verses 10 and
II follow the cleansing. There can be
no acceptable doing till we are cleansed,
for they that are In the flesh cannot
please Cod (Rom. Wilt, 81.
How, then, is the cleansing accom-
plished? God must do it. When will
3 He do II? Come, now; how thoroughly
will He DO It. The sins as scarlet shall
be white as snow and the crimson like
wool foT tks blood OF Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin, so that it is re-
membered no more. II, even l, am He
that blotteth out thy transgressions
for My own sake and will not remem-
Der thy sins Qsa. xiii, 25). The vani-
ty of all our efforts to cleanse ourselves
is set forth in Jer. ii, %, but God does
it instantly and thoroughly. Then fol-
lows the secret Of all acceptable service,
for where there is a redeemed soul who
Is willing and obedient God will work
In that one both to will and to do of
His good pleasure QPhil. ii, 49,, and
such an one can know the power and
comfort Of these words, Lord, Thou
wilt ordain peace for us, for Thou also
hast wrought all our works in u.s."
Striving according to His working,
which worketh In me nightly" Work
ing in you that which is well pleasing
In His sight Qsa. XVI. II; Col. /, %;
Heb Kill. 90, 21).