Sunday, September 2nd, 2018



SubjectMan

Golden Text: Genesis 1 : 27



God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.




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Responsive Reading: Psalm 1 : 1-6


1.     Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2.     But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3.     And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4.     The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5.     Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6.     For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.



Lesson Sermon



The Bible


1. Job 33 : 4

4     The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

2. Psalm 37 : 29-31, 37

29     The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

30     The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

31     The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

37     Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

3. Isaiah 43 : 1 (thus), 5-7, 15, 21

1     …thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

5     Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

6     I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

7     Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

15     I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.

21     This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

4. Matthew 4 : 23

23     And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

5. John 5 : 1-9, 18, 19, 30

1     After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2     Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

3     In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

4     For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

5     And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

6     When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7     The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

8     Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9     And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

18     Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

19     Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

30     I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

6. Ephesians 4 : 4-6, 17, 18, 20-24

4     There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5     One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6     One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

17     This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18     Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

20     But ye have not so learned Christ;

21     If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22     That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23     And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

24     And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

7. Romans 8 : 1-4, 6-11, 14

1     There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3     For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4     That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

6     For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7     Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8     So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9     But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10     And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11     But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

8. Matthew 5 : 48

48     Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.



Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures


1. 527 : 4-5

Man is God's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.

2. 253 : 32-8

The divine demand, "Be ye therefore perfect," is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable. Individuals are consistent who, watching and praying, can "run, and not be weary; … walk, and not faint," who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement. God requires perfection, but not until the battle between Spirit and flesh is fought and the victory won.

3. 252 : 31 (Spirit) only, 31 (saith)-8

Spirit … saith:

I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being, imperishable glory, — all are Mine, for I am God. I give immortality to man, for I am Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love. I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am the substance of all, because I AM THAT I AM.

4. 353 : 16 (All)-24

All the real is eternal. Perfection underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly real. All things will continue to disappear, until perfection appears and reality is reached. We must give up the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error is not real, we shall be ready for progress, "forgetting those things which are behind."

5. 216 : 30-1

Give up your material belief of mind in matter, and have but one Mind, even God; for this Mind forms its own likeness.

6. 470 : 11-5

Divine Science explains the abstract statement that there is one Mind by the following self- evident proposition: If God, or good, is real, then evil, the unlikeness of God, is unreal. And evil can only seem to be real by giving reality to the unreal. The children of God have but one Mind. How can good lapse into evil, when God, the Mind of man, never sins? The standard of perfection was originally God and man. Has God taken down His own standard, and has man fallen?

God is the creator of man, and, the divine Principle of man remaining perfect, the divine idea or reflection, man, remains perfect. Man is the expression of God's being. If there ever was a moment when man did not express the divine perfection, then there was a moment when man did not express God, and consequently a time when Deity was unexpressed — that is, without entity. If man has lost perfection, then he has lost his perfect Principle, the divine Mind. If man ever existed without this perfect Principle or Mind, then man's existence was a myth.

The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.

7. 337 : 5-6, 16-19, 20 (The true)-28, 29 (Subject)-2

Material personality is not realism; it is not the reflection or likeness of Spirit, the perfect God.

In proportion to his purity is man perfect; and perfection is the order of celestial being which demonstrates Life in Christ, Life's spiritual ideal.

The true idea of man, as the reflection of the invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses as is man's infinite Principle. The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are God's thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal.

Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule of health and holiness in Christian Science, and you ascertain that this Science is demonstrably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no other system can. Christian Science, rightly understood, leads to eternal harmony.

8. 475 : 11-22

Man is spiritual and perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in Christian Science. Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God's image and likeness; the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and therefore is eternal; that which has no separate mind from God; that which has not a single quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.

9. 336 : 25 (God)-26, 30-31

God, the divine Principle of man, and man in God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal. … God is the parent Mind, and man is God's spiritual offspring.

10. 476 : 21-22, 28-5

Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.

When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.


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