August 1924
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
508
Now we have a story about a man who visited Jesus at night. There was a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin or Council, the chief governing body of the Jews. The high priest was the president of the group of men of about 70 members. Thé Jews did not believe Jesus was God’s Son, and so Nicodemus visited Jesus by night so no one would see him, because of his high position as a member of the Sanhedrin. Listen now and sèe what this great ruler of the Jews says to Jesus when he is alone with Him. He admits Jesus is a great teacher from God, because of the great miracles he had known Jesus to do. Now listen very carefully and see what Jesus said to Nicodemus, for they are the most import ant words in all the Bible. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again, that is, unless he had a new heart, he could not be one of God’s children. Although Nicodemus was a great ruler, he did not understand what it meant to be born again. Jesus, even though He was the Son of God, took the time to explain this to Nicodemus. ; He told him how He (Jesus) must be lifted up on the cross and die, and that all who believed on Him, would have their sins forgiven. Jesus took time to make it all very plain to Nicodemus, and do you know, boys and girls, if people would read this wonderful story we have today, and would do what Jesus told Nicodemus to do, they would be saved. Just see how simple it is. Now if one of you boys and girls in this class does not really believe in your heart on Jesus, you are not born again, and that means you are lost. After we know the truth and have heard the Gospel, we will have no excuse, and we will know we ourselves will be to blame. It is an awful thing to be lost forever. Wé have a memory verse that everybody can say, but I wonder if wé all understand just what it means. Let us think of the words as we repeat it slowly. This verse teaches us that God so loved us, that He sent His only Son into the world to die for us,, so that whoever looked up to Him in faith, should not be punished, but forgiven; and when their life was finished on earth, they would be taken to heaven to live with Jesus forever. O, what a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, our Lord. The whole gospel truth is in our memory verse, which is the greatest verse in the Bible. It is the Golden Text of the Bible.— Do you believe on JesUs with air your heart? If you do you are born again and are saved; but if you do not you are lost. We have all sinned (Rom. 3:23) and our lives need to be made over by the Saviour, the Lord Jesus. The boys and girls-need to know what the new birth means. Make this a time of decision with the boys and girls. Closing Prayer. : Golden Text: “ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth;’*’: John 4:24 Lesson Text: John 3:3-42, Devotional Heading: Psalm 25:1-7. S a t i s f i e s a l l d e s i r e s h o w s F a t h e r ’ s l o v e a v e s “W h o s o e v e r w i l l ” When Omri was king of Israel he bought a hill of Shemer on which he built a city, naming it Samaria after its former owner, 1 Kings 16:24. Afterward it became the capital AUGUST 31, 1924 Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
“ Ye must be born again.” How the words need to be sounded forth in this day! “ Ye must”-^for there is nothing that will take the place of the new birth. That there is no substitute is made clear as we consider the position and character of the man to whom Jesus spoke DEVOTIONAL these words. He was ‘ “ a ruler of the COMMENT Jews,” i . :e., a member of the Jewish Coun- J. A. Hubbard cil, or Sanhedrin, the highest governing body among the Jews. As such he was a man of education and culture. He was also a Pharisee, and therefore a moral and religious man. Moreover, unlike most of the Pharisees, he had a good opinion of Christ1^- he thought well of His teaching, saying, “ Thou art a teacher come from God;” he thought well of Christ’s mir acles,-—that they were really wrought of God; he thought well of His character, for God was manifestly with Him. An educated, cultured, moral, religious man, with thoughts of Christ good and correct( as far as they went). “What more could you expect?” Well, Jesus expected, and demanded more. Not one, nor all of these good things put together would do as a substitute for the new birth. Nico- demus “must be born again.” And if he must, we surely must. If we must, then we may. How? This was the question in the mind of Nicodemus when he asked, “How can these things be?” JesuS gave a clear answer in the words of verses 14 and 15. As the Israelites, through whose veins death was coursing because of the serpent’s bite, looked away in faith to the brass serpent and became partakers of a new life, even so now we who have been stung by the serpent of sin look away to Jesus Christ, lifted up on the cross for our sins,, and the look of faith results in our be coming partakers of the divine life and nature—-we are born again, born of God (Jno. 1 :1 2 ,1 3 ). “How many times have you been born?” We trust that each reader of this question, and especially those who are teachers, will go no further until the right answer can be given. And having answered in the right way for himself or herself, let the question be put to the members of the class. Nothing is of grater importance, for “ except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Memory Verse.^±i“ God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Approach.—-Do you boys and girls ever have people come to visit you in your home? Do you like to have visitors? Yes we like to have o'ur friends call to see us. Today we are to hear about a man who visited Jesus, and he did not want his friends to see him, so he went ELEMENTARY at night. Are you afraid to let your Mabel L. Merrill friends See you when you go over to a neighbor’s house to play with their boys and girls? Let us bow our heads and thank God for our homes and friends, and ask Him to help us to always be gentle and kind to all our visitors. Lesson Story.— Whose house are we in this morning? Yes, we are in God’s house, Leon, you tell us what hap pened in the court of God’s house in our story last week. That was fine; Leon, and I know you listened carefully to your teacher last week. It always pleases Jesus when we listen to God’s Word when it is being read, or told. All these wonderful stories are from God’s Word, the Bible. Nicodemus Visits Jesus, John 3:1-3, 8-16
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