Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1909-03-24
Lesson xIlI.-First Quarter, For
March %, 1909.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text Of the Lesson, Prov. xiii, 1885.
Memory Verses, 20, 3o-Goldsn Text,
Prov. xiii, 32-commentary Pre-
pared by Rev. D. M. Stearns.

| TX, WI, Lev. X, Ill, NULL VI, 10
Judg. Kill, Jer. XIV, Hab. Ii, I Cor.
vi. 9-20; Eph. v, 1927, and others with
their contexts. Even these eight por-
lions would cover two years lessons
II the committee should ever have
their attention called to them and feel
led to adopt them. But am finding
no fault with repetition Of the same
passage, for / was taught at normal
school, over forty years ago, the ne
cessity Of iteration and reiteration"
to impress truth upon the mind. lisa.
xviii, 10, teaches us that it must ever
be "precept upon precept line upon
line" We have three times in the
Scriptures the story Of King Heze-
kiah and of the conversion Of Saul
and Of Tarsus and how tremendous
the Importance Of our Lords seven
fold "He that hath an ear let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches"
In connection with the woe" Of our
lesson, what about the sir woes OF lisa.
v, the eight woes Of Matt. xiii and
the three woes Of Rev. viii, ID; X, II?
All the woes Of earth are as nothing
compared with the woes Of eternal
torment, and as I read the woes OF
Rev. tx and note verses 20, q, I learn
therefrom that God is so unwilling
that men should perish that He will
In those two woes give men a taste
Of hell on earth, that they may per
chance repent and escape the tor
ment Of the lost In he'll. See Job xxxiii,
20, 80. The more often 1 read the
description of the drunkard In verses
20, 80, of our lesson the more clearly
I see there as the sinners substitute
Him in whom alone Is salvation, a
man Of SORROWS and acquainted with
grief, with whom the rulers contend
ed and against whom they babbled,
whose wounds were all without cause
on His part and whose eyes must have
been red with weeping after the strong
crying and tears Of Gethsemane. He
was made sin for us; In our stead He
suffered. be- ing our sins In His own
body, and apart from His atonement
there is no deliverance from the
wrath to come nor from the power Of
sin In this life for any sinner, wheth-
er he be drunkard, profane, gambler,
moral church member or any other
kind Of sinner.
The "look not of verse 81 sends us
to the Look unto Me and be ye saved"
Of lisa. xiv, %, and the Behold the
Lamb of Godr of John 1, 20. If we
are to be saved from looking In q
wrong direction it must be by looking
steadfastly in right direction, and
that is the thought In the looking
unto" Of Heb. xii, 2. 1t Is such a
steadfast beholding Of one person that
all else is lost sight of. AS the eye
effecteth the heart and the heart Is
prone to follow the eyes Qam. Ill, 81;
Job XXI, 2. 1t is easy to see how
necessary it Is to look in a right direc-
ton. Ps xvii, 4, is such a helpful
word In this connection. Zone thing
have l desired of the Lord; that will !
l seek after that / may dwell in the |
house Of the Lord all the days Of my |
life. to behold the beauty Of the Lord
and to inquire In His temple" See
also II Cor. Iii. 10, "Beholding as in a |
glass the glory Of the Lord, we are
changed into the same image from
glory to glory as by the Spirit Of the
Lord" Tell the! poor sinner OF the
love Of God, the love that came from |
heaven to Bethlehem, Nazareth. Geth- |
semane and Golgotha for us all that |
we might not perish, and II such love |
does not break the hardest heart moth |
ing else will. Such love known and be-
lieved leads one to say from the
heart. "Thy love is better than wine"
1--WE will remember thy love more
than wine" (Song I. 2, A.. Anything
but the love Of God presented to the
sinner will only illustrate the truths
Of the last two verses of our lesson
and show the utter Indifference Of the
dead soul to whatever may come and
the incorrigible nature Of the carnai
mind, which is enmity against God.
The case may look as hopeless as the
dead and corrupting body Of Lazarus
or the dry bones In the valley OF VI
sion or the hard heart Of blasphem-
ing Saul Of Tarsus, but see In each
Of these how easily God wrought.
AS workers with God we must cease
from our own wisdom prov. xiii, A.
and let Him who Is the wisdom Of
God do 1t all. We know nothing and
can do nothing except as the Spirit OF
God shall teach us and work In us.
Farther back In our lesson chapter
oversees 20, 2D we read Of the sure
poverty Of the drunkard and gluttOn
and are warned against winebibbers
and riotous eaters of flesh, and here
again by contrast we think Of the
durable riches and righteousness OF
Him who said. Except We eat the
flesh Of the Son Of Man and drink His
blood We have no life In you" prov.
viii. 10; John vi. SO. 54. When the
last hour or moment in these mortal
>odies comes to those who know and
are In the love Of God the next step Is
with Christ in paradise. but to the
unsaved sinner 1t will be as our Lord
taught in Luke xvi. %, %.