Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1908-06-24
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Lesson XIII. Second Quarter,
For June %, 1903.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

cry verses TO, 1o-SoIoen ieNt' GPH'
v, 1s-Commentary Prepared by Rev.
D. M. Stearns.
copyright. 1908, by American Press Association
Self is a great master and monster
with which we have to deal and which
In many is never fully subdued. 1t
may be drunken or sober, moral or i'm
moral, religious or irreligious, righteous
or unrighteous, but If it is self it is not
only not of God, but it is against God.
It is incorrigibly corrupt and must be
delivered to death. 1t is darkness and
therefore opposed to light, and who
ever says otherwise is talking vain
words which tend toward the wrath of
God (verse 81. This self life or old
man or carnal mind or natural man
must be put Off. kept under, denied,
reckoned dead that the new man,
Christ In us, may have full control
There is a glory which wins us, a
love which constraineth US and so &C.
cupies the heart and the affections
that If we rightly see Jesus In His life
and death and resurrection and ascen-
sion and coming kingdom we are made
! gladly Willingness. earnestly DESTROYS
| to have done with the unfruitful works
Of darkness and walk as children Of
light oversees 8-12). The Lord does not
seek to drive US to this, but to draw
US by His great love, wherewith he
loved US, even when we were dead in
sins" Eph. ii, 4, 81. In the opening
chapters of this epistle He tells US of
the riches, the unsearchable riches of
His grace and glory, the redemption
which Is ours through His blood, the
eternal purpose into which we have
come In Christ to be consummated
only in the ages to come, and then He
beseeches us because Of all this to
walk worthy of this calling to walk In
love and In the light circumspectly,
kind to and forgiving one another,
looking onward to the time when the
church shall be a glorious church with |
out spot or wrinkle or any such thing |
Therefore He would have US arise |
from the sleep of death which seems |
to have overcome so many and redeem |
the time or buy up the opportunities |
which are slipping by so fast (verses |
1910.
That word in verse IA takes us back |
to lisa. *, 1-3, and on to the time when
Israel as q nation shall welcome her |
Messiah and then so shine that the ma
tons shall come to her light and kings
to the brightness Of her rising. If be-
levers now would let the beauty Of the
Lord be seen upon them and let His
spirit I'll them, the whole being yield
ed to the Lord, then those who know
not the Lord might be drawn to Him
and the church FASTENED to completion.
The complaint of Paul by the Spirit in
Phil. II. 81. "All seek their own, not the
things which are Jesus Christ's." is
sadly true today Of the processing
church as a whole, but He Is not dis
couraged Qsa. Kill, ~, and there is no
reason for His followers to be. In spite
of all the power Of the great adver-
sary He will complete His church and
bring His kingdom.
Where does the lesson on so called
intemperance come in In this study?
In verses II and 19 we read, Have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness" and BE not drunk with
wine. wherein is excess" The woes
and denominations of the drunkard are
more fully set forth in some other les.
sons we have had, such as Isa and
xviii. but we must not forget that
drunkenness is only one phase Of the
self life and there Is q drunkenness
wholly apart from wine or strong
drink Elsa. xxx, o.. A man might be a
ruler In the church or preacher tenn |
perate in all things. an upright. honor
able man In the eyes of his fellows,
and yet on his way to the same hell as
the drunkard. for even such as Nicode
mus must be bern from above II he
would see the kingdom of God. The ,
greatest question is not one of temper
ance or intemperance, but what have ,
done with Jesus Christ? God has at ,
Infinite cost, even the sacrifice Of His
own Son to bear the sins Of the world, | ,
provided eternal redemption for all .
and the great and only i'm ,
portant question for every sinner 0or
all have sinnedD Is, Have accepted the
Son Of God as my Saviour-am | M :
der that precious blood which alone .
can save me from eternal death? Then =
to all such come the exhortations OF
this epistle. for these epistles were
written to the saints chapter 1. ~
that Is. to saved sinners.
Sinners are saved not merely to de-
liver them from hell and get them to y
heaven. but that others may be saved =
through them, and therefore. among =
other exhortations, this one. not to be q
illed with wine. but to be filed with :
he Spirit. Wine tends to self exalta
ion, but If filed with the Spirit we :
oathe and abhor self and exalt the
Lord alone, whose love Is better than
vine (Song. |, 2. ~. Instead Of the song =
If the drunkard 1t will then be spirit =
lal songs and melody In the heart to =
he Lord verse 19). 1t will be the new
'ong Of the new creature in Christ, full 3
# thanksgiving for the great redemp- y
ion and for the all things included =
n 1t Verse 20 and Rom. will, 32). We
will then see In all things pleasant or
unpleasant something to be thankful
or, the good and acceptable and per- :
ect will Of God, the perfect submis- :,