Subject: Adam and Fallen Man
The scriptural selections are from II Timothy and Ephesians.
II Timothy 3:1-5 in,14-17 continue
in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Ephesians 4:17,18,20-24
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 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:
But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Solo: “Mark the Perfect Man”
Golden Text: Ps 37:37
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Responsive Readings: I Cor 15:45 The, 48
The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Eph 1:3-6; 4:1,2,7 unto, 8,13
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Lesson Sermon
Readings from The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. (Alternatively)
IGen. 1:3, 4, 27 God, 31 (to 1st .)
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
Gen. 2:6-8, 21, 22
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Gen. 3:1-4, 6, 13, 17, 18 (to 1st ;)
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
Lam. 5:15, 16, 21
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
282:28-31
Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of God or God's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the Father.
523:14-17
It may be worth while here to remark that, according to the best scholars, there are clear evidences of two distinct documents in the early part of the book of Genesis.
522:3-10, 18-21
The Science of the first record proves the falsity of the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are antagonistic. The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God's perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal,--as having broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own.
In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit. Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the earth. Spirit is represented as entering matter in order to create man.
528:9-10 (to :)
Genesis ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah] caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
306:32
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter. This pantheistic error, or so-called serpent, insists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, "Ye shall be as gods;" that is, I will make error as real and eternal as Truth.
521:12
The harmony and immortality of man are intact. We should look away from the opposite supposition that man is created materially, and turn our gaze to the spiritual record of creation, to that which should be engraved on the understanding and heart "with the point of a diamond" and the pen of an angel.
475:11-13
Man is spiritual and perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in Christian Science.
II
Gen. 4:6 Why,7 (to 1st .)
Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
II Sam. 22:2 The, 7, 17, 20
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
II Pet. 1:2-7, 10 brethren
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Matt. 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
258:21-30
The human capacities are enlarged and perfected in proportion as humanity gains the true conception of man and God.
Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him belongs eternal Life. Never born and never dying, it were impossible for man, under the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his high estate.
475:28-1 (to 2nd .)
Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not God's man. Mortals are the counterfeits of immortals.
476:4, 9-15
In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea.
God is the Principle of man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not mortal nor material. Mortals will disappear, and immortals, or the children of God, will appear as the only and eternal verities of man. Mortals are not fallen children of God. They never had a perfect state of being, which may subsequently be regained.
171:4
Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is.
III
Prov. 28:18, 26
Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Job 33:14, 23, 24
For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
Ps. 8:1, 4, 6
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Ps. 11:7
For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
Ps. 112:4 (to :)
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness:
200:9-19
Life is, always has been, and ever will be independent of matter; for Life is God, and man is the idea of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not subject to decay and dust. The Psalmist said: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet."
The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.
207:27-31
The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth. Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real.
258:1-3, 9-15
A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love.
Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God.
God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis.
IV
Ps. 24:3, 4 (to ;)
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Ps. 56:12, 13 wilt
Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
II Sam. 22:27 (to ;), 29
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;
For thou art my lamp, O Lord; and the Lord will lighten my darkness.
510:9
Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose "light shall we see light;" and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.
345:21
Anybody, who is able to perceive the incongruity between God's idea and poor humanity, ought to be able to discern the distinction (made by Christian Science) between God's man, made in His image, and the sinning race of Adam.
409:20-23
The real man is spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called "children of men" are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality.
272:3-5, 19-25
The spiritual sense of truth must be gained before Truth can be understood. This sense is assimilated only as we are honest, unselfish, loving, and meek.
It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce of material existence; it is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, which really attest the divine origin and operation of Christian Science.
337:14
XXVI. Christian Science demonstrates that none but the pure in heart can see God, as the gospel teaches. 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.
V
I Cor. 15:22
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
John 8:31, 32, 36
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Luke 13:10-17
And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Gal. 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
225:2
Whatever enslaves man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes man free.
259:6
In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow,--thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,--perfect God and perfect man,--as the basis of thought and demonstration.
138:14-18
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion of Love.
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for all Christianity, theology, and healing.
495:2-3, 6
Truth casts out error now as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago.
If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try. Then classify sickness and error as our Master did, when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life-giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and sets the captive free physically and morally.
227:14-15, 21-26
Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression.
Christian Science raises the standard of liberty and cries: "Follow me! Escape from the bondage of sickness, sin, and death!" Jesus marked out the way. Citizens of the world, accept the "glori-ous liberty of the children of God," and be free! This is your divine right.
VI
Rev. 2:1, 2 (to 1st :), 4, 5 (to ;)
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil:
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;
Ps. 119:12, 25
Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.
My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Eph. 2:4-6 God, 8
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
19:6
Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,--the law of divine Love.
242:1
Through repentance, spiritual baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material beliefs and false individuality. It is only a question of time when "they shall all know Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest." Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final triumph over the body.
214:9-14
Adam, represented in the Scriptures as formed from dust, is an object-lesson for the human mind. The material senses, like Adam, originate in matter and return to dust,--are proved non-intelligent. They go out as they came in, for they are still the error, not the truth of being.
300:9, 14-15
So far as the scientific statement as to man is understood, it can be proved and will bring to light the true reflection of God--the real man, or the new man (as St. Paul has it).
The mutable and imperfect never touch the immutable and perfect.
191:8
As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to "where the young child was," --even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light, chasing away the darkness of error.
Benediction
II Thessalonians 1:2,5 that (to 2nd ,)Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God,
Hymn 370
Nellie B. Mace
We are hid with Christ forever
In the Father's holy plan.
In this pure eternal union
We behold the perfect man;
And we know that sin can never
Overthrow the sacred rod
Of dominion over evil:
We are hid with Christ in God.
Hid with Christ in God, O gladness:
O the meekness and the might,
When the risen Christ has lifted
All our thoughts into the light,
Light of Truth wherein no sadness
Dims the radiant peace we find,
As we set our whole affection
On the beauteous things of Mind.
Hymn 15
Based on the Danish of Bernhard S. Ingemann
As gold by fire is tested,
Its purity shown forth,
So cleansing fires of Truth may prove
To man his native worth.
And as a mirror shows us
A likeness clear and bright,
So God forever sees His child
Revealed in radiant light.
'Twas thus the loving Master
Saw man's perfection shine,
Beheld God's child forever pure
In radiance all divine.
Hymn 176
Based on the Danish of Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig
Long hast thou stood, O church of God,
Long mid the tempest's assailing,
Founded secure on timeless rock
Rises thy light, never failing;
Shining that all may understand
What has been wrought by God's command,
O'er night and chaos prevailing.
Let there be light, and light was there,
Clear as the Word that declared it;
Healing and peace to all it gave,
Who in humility shared it.
Ah, they were faithful, they who heard,
Steadfast their trust in God's great Word,
Steadfast the Love that prepared it.
Let there be light, the Word shines forth,
Lo, where the new morning whitens;
O church of God, with Book unsealed,
How its page beacons and brightens.
Living stones we, each in his place,
May we be worthy such a grace,
While Truth the wide earth enlightens.
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