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T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S bore testim ony: “Behold the Lamb of God.” Two of Jo h n ’s disciples followed Jesus. He knew it, and tu rn ed and en couraged them , “W hat seek ye? Why did He ask? Because He always meets the inqu irer half way. To th e question “W here dwellest th o u ?” H is reply was, “ Come and see.” They were face to face w ith a supreme opportunity. By faith they seized it. They spent the n igh t w ith Him,—Andrew and John. How do we know? Because John w rites as an eye-witness and w ithholds his own name. The next man was won by fam ily , influence. Andrew b rough t his b ro ther. P ete r was Andrew’s gift to th e church. The next disciple was won by Christ Himself. He found Philip and said “Follow Me.” Two little words which changed the course of P h ilip ’s life. The C hristian life consists in follow ing Christ. The fifth disciple was won by his neighbor; N athaniel was a neighbor of P h ilip ’s. See how many ways th e re are to Christ: Through a sermon, as th e first two; home influence, as P ete r; Christ finds some, as Philip and P au l; a provi dence speaks to some, as L u th er when a companion was stru ck by lightning a t his side; some are won by a tex t of Scripture, a death-bed scene, a prayer, a sermon, a m other’s life. I t is seldom th a t two are won in exactly th e same way. You can say to your class, and say to yourself, “ In which of these ways is He using you and m e?” PRACTICAL POINTS (1 ) John was a w ilderness w itness, bu t gave a clear-cut testimony. (2) John preached w ith power and stirred th e h ea rts of saints and sin ners. (3 ) John was a sign-post pointing to th e SimBearer. (4) John lacked scholarly finish, bu t he had sacred fire. (5) H ad John played politics he m ight
have become a bishop of th e P h a r isees. ( 6 ) The deeper your experience, the more dependable your testimony. (7) W ith lip and life leave a testimony for th e Lamb of God. ( 8 ) Most men are won by one, and all by some one. (9 ) You will find them in th e world field, and can win them if you will. “Follow Me.” Some of us know how difficult it is for us to walk across a field in a straig h t line. When children we used to try to cross a field covered w ith snow. We would LESSON Pick ou t a tree ILLUSTRATIONS on th e fa rth e r W. H. P ik e to th a t tree.” But several tim es we would look back to see how our path was being made. Every tim e we took our eyes off the tree we made a crooked path. So every tim e we tak e our eyes off Christ our way is crooked. An in teresting sigh t was once seen in the Liverpool harbo r during a very fierce gale. A pilot boat sailed up the riv er w ith a signal on her m asth ead . “ Follow Me.” Follow ing her were eight or nine vessels of all sorts and sizes. The channel was too rough to board the ships and tie to th e pilot, so each followed and were tak en safely into harbor. All we need is to obey these two commands of Jesus, “Come unto Me” and “ Follow Me.” The Lamb of God T ak eth Away Sin. The Rev. H. B. Gage tells of a photo g rapher who called his atten tion to the fact th a t red ligh t falling on scarlet cloth makes it appear white as snow. Says he, “We took a b rig h t scarlet table cloth into his d ark room, and drew down the red glass— su re enough, I could h ard ly believe my eyes; the cloth was white as snow.” The photo- s i d e a n d say “Now I will go
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