The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-01-29
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
MENTS FOR FEBRUARY 2.

Subject: Jesus the Saviour of the
World, John 3:1-21 - Golden
Text, John 3:16-Commit Verses
14-16-Commcnta
TIME.-A. D. 27. PLACE.-Jeru-
salem.
EXPOSITION.-I. Look and Live,
II, Is. Nicodemus was the teacher Of
Israel ". 10, R. W and yet he did
not know the fundamental truth
taught in the Old Testament as well
as the New, namely, the doctrine Of
tie new birth. But do all the teach
ers in the church know it even now?
There was no speculation or guess
work about Jesus own teaching. He
could say, 1--WE speak that we do
know and bear witness of what we
have seen" ". IL, R. w.. Nicodemus
had asked Jesus, How can these
things be?" ". 81. In the 14th and
18th verses Jesus answers Nicodemus'
question how. He pointed him to
how Moses lifted up the brazen SER
pent, made in the likeness of the fiery
serpent that had bitten the people, on
the pole (Num. 21:6-9). Just so,
God has lifted Jesus, made sin for us,
on the cross (Rom. S:3; Cor. 5:21;
Gal. 3:13; John 1871, 32). All the
Israelite bitten by the fiery serpent
had to do to find life was simply to
believe in the power of the serpent
on the pole to heal and to show his
faith by just looking. So all we have
to do is simply to believe in the power
O. Jesus, made in the likeness Of sin
full flesh and lifted on the cross, to
heal, and to show our faith by just
looking. AS soon as the Israelite
looked he had life in his veins instead
of death. So we have death in US
until we look, but the moment we
really look to Jesus, believe on Him.
then we have life coursing in our
veins; life-spiritual life takes the
place of death, we are born again. u
CT. John 1:12, 13. The whole secret
of the new birth lies in these. three
words, Look and live" The moment
we look, we are in Christ Jesus, "Old
things are passed away. Behold all
things are become new" q Cor,
SID. There are two alternatives
open to every man: Believe and have
eternal life; doubt and perish. Any
one who believes will obtain eternal
life. Any one who doubts will perish
(cf. Mark 1916; John $3.50.
II. Why Jesus came, 1921. Verse
Is has probably been used to the sal
vation of more persons than any
other verse in the Bible. 1t contains
the Gospel in a nutshell. Cd The
need OF salvation-"shall not perish"
CD The origin of salvation-God's
love. CD The ground of salvation
the death Of Christ (God gave His
only begotten SOM. (4) The condi.
tion Of salvation-"believeth on
Him" 50 The-recipients of saliva
-"Whosoever believeth." co
The results of salvation. (a) Shall
not perish. (b) Shall have eternal
life. The verse also contains mar
velous revelation of Gods love. (1)
The objects of Gods love-"the
world" (2) The character Of Gods
love: (a) Great-holding nothing
back. OBJ Self-sacrifcing-giv giving
His very best. (c) Holy-not for
giving sin without an adequate ex-
preston of His hatred of it. 90
The manifestation of Gods love, in
the Gift of His only begotten Son.
(4) The purpose of Gods love-to
save. 50 The result of Gods love
believes gets everlasting
life. Verses II and Is were spoken
by Jesus Himself. He speaks of
Himself, as He usually did, as the
"Son of Man" Verse 16 is spoken
by John, and he speaks of Jesus as
the "only begotten Son." 1t is COM
mon teaching nowadays that Jesus
was the Son of God only in the sense
that all men are sons of God, but the
Bible clearly teaches that He was the
Son of God in a sense that no other
is the son of God. Jesus claims this
for Himself mark 1875, R. "; John
5:22, 23; 14:9). God sent His Son
into the world to save it-not to con.
denim it ". ~, but whoever will not
receive Jesus is condemned. and con-
demned already. If we fall in with
Gods purposes, then we are saved.
If we reject Gods purposes OF love.
then He who came to save but brings
the greater condemnation (cf. Heb.
1923, 29). The one who rejects
Jesus is condemned ALREADY. 1t
is not so much that the wrath OF God
is coming upon those who reject Jesus
Christ at some future time, the wrath
Of God, the intense displeasure OF
God, already hangs over every one
who rejects Jesus. If we continue tc
reject, the wrath Of God will abide
on us ". 36). The moment we &C.
cept Jesus, we step out from under.
meath the dark thunder cloud or
Gods wrath into the bright sunllght
of Gods favor. God aimed to save
the world. He made provision for
the salvation of the world, but only
those that accept the salvation are
actually saved. Jesus Is in sense
the Saviour of all men Il Tim. 4:1O).
BY His death He made Precipitation
for the whole world Il John 2:2, II.
W. He provided the ground upon
which God could deal in mercy and
does deal in mercy with every mem
Ter of the human race, but He is es'
Decially the Saviour Of those VINO De'
lieve. They alone appropriate 20
themselves and therefore ENJOY III
full the salvation which Jesus pur-
chased by His blood (Rom. 1928, 26).
The condemnation that comes on the
one who does not believe is just and
He has chosen darkness
rather than light. The only begotten
Son came, the incarnation of all the
perfect attributes of God, and he
would not have Him. What a man
does with Jesus shows what the man
i: at heart. What a man chooses al
ways shows what a man is. If we
choose truth, then we are true. II we
choose falsehood, then we are false.