The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1905-03-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON xl, FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH IL.

copyright, 1905. by American Press AEsoGiation.1
What searching and helpful word Is
this with which our lesson opens: IF
We continue in My word, then are ye
My disciples indeedp The previous
verse said that many believed on
Him, but only such as continue to be-
lieve are believers indeed. In ii, %;
iv, 80, Al; vii, 81, we read that many
believed but in vi, GO, we also read
that many of His disciples went back
and walked no more with Him. 1t
might be said of them, "They went out
from us, but they were not of us, for
If they had been of us they would have
continued with us, but they went out
that they might be made manifest that
they were not all of us" Il John ii, 19).
Faith and patience, patient continu
ance, are the characteristics of Il true
believer. 1t Is on the same principle
as "faith without works is dead" mot
every one that saith, but he that doeth'
JAS. it, 20; Matt. vii, 21).
We must remember that before God
neither works nor patience nor co. tinu-
ance is necessary to salvation. God
reads the heart, and wherever He sees
the honest acceptance of Jesus Christ
and His finished work He sees one who
is truly saved and in whom He will
perfect what He has begun Ph.l. l. q.
But before men who cannot read the
heart the works and faith ana patient
continuance are the evidence that there
has really been the new birth. BY the
precious blood Of Christ every true be-
lever is washed sanctihed, justified,
perfected forever q Cor. vi, Il; Heb.
Y, 10, IA, but by the word of God and
the Spirit of God there is a work of
sanctifcation and perfection ever be-
ing carried on John xvii, Il; Phil. iii,
Is, IL.
But these self righteous Pharisees,
not knowing the righteousness of God
and therefore going about to establish
their own righteousness Rom. y, 81,
assert that they have no need to be
made free. rs they were never in bond
age to any man. 1t is often convenient
to some people to forget or profess to
forget some things. They must have
left the evil and some other psalms out
of their psalter. They prided them
selves on being Abraham's children,
but they did not act like Abraham.
What they were and who they were are
fully shown forth in the opening incl
- al,
them bringing poor sinful woman
to Christ that He may condemn her,
but He, not seeming to hear them,
stopped down and wrote with His fin
ger on the ground, thus saying, as loud
as such an act could say, that their
names were not written in heaven, but
in the earth. because they had forsaken
the Lord, the fountain Of living waters
Ger xvii, 49,.
When He gave opportunity for any
man. without sin TO cast the first stone
at her and again stopped down and
wrote on the ground, they all went out
one by one. each man convicted by his
own conscience. Thus was made man
ifest what they were and where their
names were written. The woman be-
ing left alone, He said, Neither do
condemn thee; go and sin no more
(verse IL, thus illustrating John iii, II,
where it is written that He came not
to condemn, but save. He came as
the Light of the World Verse ~, but
those who love the darkness could not
abide Him. His comfort was that the
Father sent Him; that the Father new
err left Him alone; that He said only
what the Father told Him and taught
Him, and that He did always those
things that pleased the Father oversees
16, Is, 26, 2S, 29. When accused by
His enemies Of saying what was not
true and of having a devil oversees 10,
49, He could be calm and unmoved, be-
cause the Father was with Him and
approved.
AS His disciples 1t is our privilege to
be made free from sin and as servants
of righteousness, servants of God, have
fruit unto holiness (Rom. vi, Is, 22),
and find our comfort where He found
His We must be content to receive
the treatment which He received and
not be surprised to find, as He found,
that many very religious people are
children of the devil and not children
of God Verse Az.
There is q suggestion in verse 50 of
our lesson of Ishmael and Isaac, the
latter prefiguring the true Isaac, who
was not spared Qiom. viii, 32), but
who. having offered Himself n sacrifice
for our sins, obedient unto death, will
live in us His life over again of pleas
ing the Father, not seeking His own
will nor His own glory Verse so, but,
freeing us from all self and all error
and nll darkness, will make 1t mani
fest TO those who know us best that we
are His disciples indeed. Coming back
to the first thought of our lesson, that
of continuing or abiding in Ills word,
my mind runs to John xiv, %, ''If q
man love Me he will keep My words,
and My Father will love him, and we
will come unto him and make our
abode [mansionl with him."
Think of these bodies being mansions