Chapter 16—The All-Important Lesson
If the young who are strong will put to the stretch their powers in
searching the Bible, they will have minds stored with valuable knowl-
edge that will shine as a light upon those with whom they associate.
The Sabbath-school should be a place where those who have made ad-
vancement in divine knowledge should be able to inculcate fresh ideas
in regard to the faith of God’s people. When all those who profess to be
Christians are Christians in deed and in truth, the Sabbath-school will
be no longer a dry round of service. The teachers will then understand
the lesson that Christ gave to Nicodemus, and will teach it in all its
momentous bearing on human destiny. Jesus said to the ruler in Israel,
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can
not see the kingdom of God.” Except a man be born again, he can
not understand the character of the heavenly kingdom, or discern its
spiritual nature. Christ was saying to Nicodemus in these words: “It is
not learning you need so much as it is inward renovation. You need
not to have your curiosity satisfied so much as to have a new heart,
and until that change takes place, making all things new, it will result
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in no saving good to you for Me to discuss with you My authority, My
work, My mission as One who bears the credentials of Heaven.”
The lesson which Christ gave to Nicodemus is important to every
teacher, to every Sabbath-school worker, to every youth and child. It
is certainly important that we become acquainted with the reasons
of our faith, but the most important knowledge to be gained is the
experimental knowledge of what it means to be born again. The great
want in our Sabbath-school work is the want of the light of life. All
through our ranks are needed men and women who have learned at the
feet of Jesus what is truth, and how to present it to others. It requires
holy men, men who have humility, who are abiding in Christ, to be
educators of our youth in the Sabbath-school.
Nicodemus came to the Lord, thinking to enter into a long dis-
cussion with Him concerning points of minor importance, but Jesus
laid bare the first principles of truth, and showed Nicodemus that his
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