Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-01-02
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Lesson First Quarter, January
I 6, 1918.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES
Text of the Lesson, Mark 1:fH--
Memory Verses, Lube 1o:1, 2--Goid
en- Text, John fs29--commensa's
prenared by Rev. Z. IN. stearns.

en- Text. John 1s25--comnentars
Prepared by Rev. -p.l.m. stearns-
The record of the life of jesus
Christ. which we no~t begin to study
sets Him before us as the perfect ser
want. rather than as the King OF MAT
thew's gospel, or the Son OF Man OF
Luke. or the Son of ICED i'll John. We
do well to keep in s1aasFgd tie WORDS
.gehold my servant SHhom | uphold,
mine elect In whom SHay soul delight
eth" and also. -BeAss.si i viii bring
forth my servant the Branch lisa
42;l; Zech., $50. five wouid say
truly Whose | ana, and whom serve
and faithfully serve ifhe living and
true God, beariag in daily life the
fruit he desires, we must consider
him who was the only }pegfect servant
and abide as branches, In him who IS
the True Vine, Eut this, we cannot do
till we have truly received the good
news of Jesus CHRIST, the>Sen OF Goa :
or as ii is written in Rom. :l-5, tne
good news of God concerning his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord. We cannot
serve the Lord till we have been re-
deemed by receiving Jesus Christ as
our own personal Savior, according TO
John -; S-16, Is; i John 5:l2. That
being settled, then our whole lie
should be one of loyal seervice, with
the perfect servant as our only pat
tern, according to Feb. R:1-3; Pet.
2 81.
AS John the Baptist. WIS his mes
senger, preparing the swayt before him
at his coming in humiliation. SO the
real Elijah will prepare the way before
him at his coming in glory Matt
It'll; Nal. 4:5, g.. Meantime all be-
Jievers should be preparing the way
for his coming again by preaching re-
pentance and remission of sins in his
name in all the world, according 10
Luke "a :46-4S; Acts IS. Johns cloth
ing was peculiar, and his food pecu-
liar, and he pointed ali people 10 the
coming One whose shoes' latcaet he
was not worthy to stoop down and I'M
loose. He claimed nothing for himself
except that he was a voice, something
to be heard but not seen, pointing TO
the one he came to honoS, concerning
whom he cried: Behold ane Lamb OF
God !" When told that Jesus had more
followers than he had. he said that he
was glad and added, He must iin-
crease, I must decrease" CGohn: 3 -,
30). AS to a Bore full account Of
Johns preaching see MatE. :3:Isioe;
Luxe 3:7-14: He told them of some
thing greater thar baptism with wa
ter, ,even baptism of the Holy Spirit
whhh Jesus would give them, ;ann he
pointed them onward to the enc of the
age ewhen the wheat would be gath
cred into the garner, but the echaff
burned up with 9nquenchabs fire
Matt III, 12). The future far all
will be the Kingdom or the lake ct fire,
and exen between deateh and resacrec-
ton II sis conscious happiness or tor
ment, sRev. 20:15; Luke 1929. II
this Was really believed by all The
preaciisss and teachers, they wOelid
surely te7t more earnest In proclainlh0g
the Gospel of God coneenEing his SGsl.
the only Savior of sinners iActs A I'D.
The ren aiming verses Of our lesson
tell of Tie baptism of jesus by John
at the JoEAan, and the event is more
fully reco,sled by Matthew and Luke.
In Luke 5 ssss3 1t is written that he was
about thirty . ears Of age, and we must
remember tAsse thirty years at Naz-
areth, the, humble home. the earpen-
tiers shop, the submission and obedi-
en- e and patient waiting Of all those
gears in that ,iaSvly life in which ne no
doubt glorified the Father as much as
~ his public HE, This Is greatly
needed lesson for. all of us: mot doing
sarne great thing but just filling the
place, he assigns aus, however iowly Ii
maybe.
We do not woades that at first John
refused to baptize han, saying that he
had greater need EG be baptized by
Jesus but Jesus himself baptized not
John 4:2). Note @Sr Lords reply.
his seesnd recorded atterance as the
Son Of Mary: Suffer II TO be so now,
for thus IL becometh ns to fulfill all
righteousness Matt. 3;rs). He alone
of all mes was always righteous, and
did righteslsly. He had no sins to
confess, but submitted to aal things for
our sakes. that he might be smade unto
its wisdom. righteousness, .sanetifica-
tion. redemption q Cor. j :3S; ii Cor.
A :2D. If We .age ever about hls busi-
ness, as he Was about his Fathers,
we will gladly suffer many thisgs for
MS sake which may seem TO US wholly
unnecessary. Luke 3 ;21 says tisst as
he was baptized he &as praying. Al
ways In conscious communion with
his Father and always pleasing his
FatheS iJoim 8:29). THIS is the sec.
Ond time that we find In Scripture the
words the heavens opened" and the
seven events In connection with which
we find these words form q truly glo-
rious study. each event concerning
him and his people on earth. In
Eek. 1 Il, 20, he lis seen as a man Oh