Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

good"perfectness."people,"Iare ready, a burnt- offering must be madeto God in thanksgiving for the deliverance of Isaac. Abraham looked up andsaw a lamb caught by the horns in thethicket;so the lamb was offered in thestead of Isaac even as Christ was sacrificed in our stead. A new name, Jehovahjireh,was given to that place to honorGod and encourage all believers to trustin God and be obedient to His will.The Lord always rewards His peoplefor their faithfulness. God renews Hiscovenant with Abrahamthat his seed shall multiplyand promisesas the starsof the heaven and as the sand upon thesea-shore. The promises which God madeinclude the gift of the Holy Spirit, increase of the church, that believers bytheir faith might overcome the world,and last He promised to give His SonJesus Christ, as a sacrifice for the salvation of man.Juniors, pray that God will help youto be as faithful as Abraham. God says,"Be thou faithful unto death, and Iwill give thee a crown of life." Will youaccept that challenge?Questions for you to answer:1. Where did Abraham go after Sodomand Gomorrah were destroyed?2. What did Abraham do each placehe stopped, to witness his love for Jehovah?3. What wonderful thing happened atBeer-sheba?4. Why was Abraham told by God tooffer Isaac as a Sacrifice?5. Do you think it was hard for Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice? Why?6. What did Isaac do when he foundhe was to be slain for the burnt- offering?7. What did God do when he saw thatAbraham was obeying Him?8. How was the ram a type of Christ?I Thess. 5:9, 10.For your Notebook:Make two columns in your notebook.Label one column Isaac,and the otherChrist. Under Isaac list some of the waysin which he was a type of Christ (theverses under"Christ"will help you).Under Christ copy the following verses: 1.Acts 13:33; 2. John 3:16; 3. Matthew17:5; 4. I Corinthians 5:7; 5. John 19:17;6. Isaiah 53:7.SABBATH SCHOOL, LESSONBySeptember 19, 1954Rev. Joseph A. Hill(Lessons baaed on International Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons fotChristian Teaching, copyrighted by InternationalCouncil of Religious Education.)GROWING IN CHRISTIAN LOVELesson Material: Matthew 5:43-48; 18:21-35; Ephesians 4:25-5:2; I John 4:7-21.Printed Text: Matthew 5:43-48; I John4:11-19.Memory verse: Colossians 3:14 "Above138all these things put on love, which isthe bond ofThe love-idea is much thought of butlittle understood today. It is oftenmentioned but seldom practiced according to the Scriptural ideal. The conceptof love which is in vogue today is a correlative of the common brotherhoodidea.Neither love nor brotherhood, asthey are commonly advocated, doesjustice to the Biblical notion of sin.Neither makes a radical distinction between the children of God and thechildren of the devil, as the Bible does.We live in a world where there is amixture of good and evil; the good andthe evil appear to shade off into eachother in the same person. Yet the linewhich separates good from evil is sharpand absolute. Our love, if it is Christianlove, can never straddle this line: "Letlove be without hypocrisy. Abhor thatwhich is evil; cleave to that whichis (Romans 12:9). The Christianmust love only righteousness. He musthate all that he knows to be unrighteous.Matthew 5:43-48. These words of ourLord cannot be understood apart from arecognition of the absolute antithesisbetween good and evil. On the otherhand, they cannot be understood apartfrom an acknowledgment of God'sbeneficence toward all men in general,His lovingfavor toward evil men aswell as good men, toward the childrenof the devil as well as the children ofGod. This is common grace, a very difficult and complex doctrine, and onethat is being discussed extensively byReformed theologiansat the presenttime. We shall consider it very briefly,in the light of Christ's teaching in thispassage of Scripture.In nature, including life itself, sunshine and rain, and fruitful-seasons ofthe earth (cf. Acts 14:17), God gave tomankind in general abundant witness ofHimself. This favor upon all men iswhat C. Van Til calls "creation-grace"(Common Grace, Philadelphia, 1947, ThePresbyterian and Reformed PublishingCo., p. 83). In the heart of every manthere is a response to God's favor.Either he is thankful and begins to worship and serve the Creator, or else heis unthankful and begins to worshipand serve the creature (cf. Romans 1:20f). Thus, mankind is divided into twodistinct groups, namely, those who loveGod and those who hate God, in theirinmost heart. In the world, at anypoint in its history, there have beentwo kinds of people,the children ofGod and the children of the devil (see"Blue Banner Faith and Life",July-Sept., 1954, p. 128). There is amongmen, therefore, a mixture of good andevil. Good men and evil men live sideby side as neighbors. But neither ofthem is wholly good or wholly evil.There is a mixture of good and evil inboth of them. The good man (Christian is basically righteous, althoughbecause of sin he does much that isevil. The evil man(non-Christian) isbasically sinful, although because ofcommon grace he does much that isgood. In principle there is an absolutedifference between the Christian andthe non-Christian, although in practicethis difference is not always so readilyapparent. This differentiation is ofcourse apparent to God, who knoweththem that are His. And it is somewhatvisable to men in the fact that thepeople of God are "separated into aspecialthe visible church (VanTil, ibid.), The people of God in OldTestament times hated the heathenbecause it was apparent to them thatthese evil nations were enemies of God."Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hatethee? ...hate them with a perfecthatred: I count them mine enemies"(Psalm 139:21-22). The difference between the children of God and the children of the devil was verythat point in history.evident atIn the course of time, God gave mankind in general an additional blessing ofgrace in the hearingof the gospel. Before the end of the ages, all kinds ofmen, good and evil, in every nation ofearth will have heard the gospel. VanTil says that as the gospel is spreadthroughout the earth and the processofdifferentiation between those whobelieve it and those who reject it takesplace,common grace will diminish. Godwill increase "Hisattitude of wrathupon the reprobate as time goes on,time,"until at the end of they willactually be as evil as they have been inprinciple all the while. On the otherhand God increases His attitude of favorupon the elect, until at last, at the consummation of history" they will be perfect in holiness, even as the Fatherwhich is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48, Van Til, ibid.).At the end of history, when thetrue condition of man's hearts is manifest, it will be the Christian's duty tohate evil men. In the meanwhile, however, Jesus teaches us that it is ourduty to love our enemies. God givessunshine and rain to all men, that theymight love and serve Him. We are tolove even those who are apparentlythe enemies of God, if peradventure wemight bring them to a true knowledgeof God.On one occasion, when Jesus wastraveling toward Jerusalem, toward thefulfilment of His redemptive mission,THE COVENANTER WITNESS