The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-05-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON WI. SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY ~.
Text Of the Lesson, John xviii, 1926.
Memory Verses, 20, 21-GOlden Text,
John xvii, documentary Prepared
by Rev. ID. M. Stearns.

| John xvii, O-COmme tary Prepared
by Rev. ID. NJ. stearns.
Copyright. 1908. by American Press Association
The topic of this lesson. Jesus pray
ing for His followers" suggests the
blessed assurance that He who is now
In the presence of God for us ever
maketh intercession for us (Heb. tx.
in being prayed for by friends on
earth, how much greater the comfort
of being ever cared for and prayed for
by one who can and does truly SYM
pathize and has all power In heaven
| and on earth! Let us appropriate the
fact and the joy will surely be ours.
His joy will abide In us, and our Joy
will be full XIV. III. A careful peru
sal Of this discourse and prayer can
not but impress us with the use Of the
name Father" at least fifty times in
| the four chapters. l have counted
| fifty-one times, and, emitting the once
| by Philip and once by the disciples
| xiv, 8; xvi, 10, we find our Lord us
| ing the endearing name forty-nine
times 7xO, the perfect use Of the
name.
In the sermon on the mount Matt.
V, viD He said your Father or Thy Fa-
ther fifteen times and once said "our
Father" and my Father" In the 9th
er chapters Of Johns gospel our Lord
uses the name siXty-four times. AS
His comfort was ever in His Father
who sent Him and whom He lived TO
please, He would have us enjoy the
same comfort, saying 10 us as to Mary,
"My Father and your Father" and
again, "As the Living Father hath
sent me- and live by the Father. SO
he that eateth Me even he shall live
by Ne" Xxx, II; vi 90.
II seems to me that some of our
Lords most weighty words TO His Fa-
ther in this prayer are, Il have glori-
fed Thee on the EARTH" 81 have mani
tested Thy name" Il have declared
Thy name" (verses 4. 6, 26). and this
He desires to do through us also, for
In verse Is He says, .As Thou hast
sent Me into the world, even SO have
also sent them into the world" See
also chapter Xxx, 81. He empha-
sizes the great truth that His disciples
are given to Him by the Father oversees
2, 6, o, IL. -, pa, repeating it seven
times in these six verses; also that all
things are given to Him by the Father
power, glory, the words He spoke
oversees ., 30, "a, 81 and all else.
He had said to them in His dis
course that the world would hate them
for His sake (xv. IS, 2D, and now in
His prayer He reminds His Father OF
this and asks that He would there
fore keep them from the evil or the
evil one by His great power Oversees IL,
a. 15). In connection with this keep
ing see Isa. xvii, 3; verse cxXi. That
as His redeemed ones we are mot OF
the world" reminds us Of Ps. iv, 3;
Tit. ii, II, II. v; Rom. xii, l, 2;
Phil. iii, 20. And yet it is sadly true
that very many of those who bear
the name of Christ neither appear nor
act much like strangers and pilgrims
here but seem very much at home in
this present evil world which lieth in
the wicked one (Gal. /. A. John V, 10,
Il. W.
The separation from the world can
be wrought only by the truth, His
word, which enlightens us concerning
our relationship to Christ and to the
world, and the real character Of the
world and Of it's ruler, the God Of this
world Oh Cor. ", ~. People insist up
on using their eyes instead of the
word Of God to learn the condition of
things, and they say, Seeing is be-
lieving," but the Christians motto
should be, believing is seeing" re-
Numbering our Lords words, BLESS
ed are they that have not seen, yet
have believed Xxx, 29). AS the Lord
Jesus revealed the Father, so we are
to reveal Christ making manifest the
life of Christ Jesus in these mortal
bodies Oh Cor. iv, III. He therefore
prays that as He and the Father are
one, so we, His redeemed, may be one
with them that the world may believe
and know that Jesus was truly sent by
the Father to be the Saviour Of sin
ners, Israers Messiah and the great
head OF the church. Since the world
can believe and know oversees 81, 23)
how essential it is that the redeemed
should be wholly separated unto God
ops. ~, - that He may live His life
and work His works in us to His
glory!
To this end our Lord would have us
know and rejoice in the glory which
the Father has given Him oversees %,
pa that SO we may be sustained in
trial and be overcomers in the conflict
with the world the flesh and the devil,
even as He Himself was sustained by
the joy set before Him, Abraham by
looking for the city, and Moses by con-
sidering the recompense of the reward
(Heb. xii, .; ii, 8, 10. %, 20. Hence
such admonitions as | Thess. Ii, i,
walk worthy of God who hath call
ed you into His kingdom and glory"
Let such precious words as the fol-
lowing take hold Of our hearts and we
shall be greatly helped thereby: 1--WE
shall be like Him." '"The body of our
humiliation fashioned like unto His
glorious body" 1--WE shall reign with
4