Sunday, October 22nd, 2017


Subject — Probation After Death

Golden Text: Proverbs 28: 20


“A faithful man shall abound with blessings.”


PDF Downloads:


Click here to listen as you read:



Also available on YouTube

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████


Responsive Reading: Psalm 119: 97, 99-104

97.     O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

99.     I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

100.     I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

101.     I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

102.     I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

103.     How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104.     Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.


Lesson Sermon

The Bible


1.     Psalm 31: 23 (to 2nd ,)

23      O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful,


2.     John 2: 4 (to saith)

4     Jesus saith…


3.     John 10: 10 (I), 27-29

10     …I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

27     My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28     And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29     My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.


4.     John 11: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11 (Our)-15, 20-26 (to .), 39-44

1     Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

3     Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

4     When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

6     When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

7     Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again.

11     …Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

12     Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.

13     Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

14     Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

15     And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

20     Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

21     Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22     But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

23     Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

24     Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

25     Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

26     And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

39     Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

40     Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

41     Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42     And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

43     And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

44     And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.


5.     John 17: 1-3

1     These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2     As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3     And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.


6.     John 19: 1, 16 (to 1st .)

1     Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.

16     Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.


7.     John 20: 1, 15, 16, 19 (when)-22

1     The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

15     Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16     Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

19     …when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20     And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

21     Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22     And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:


8.     I Peter 1: 3-7

3     Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4     To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

5     Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6     Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7     That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:



Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures


1.     246: 27-28 (to 2nd .)

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal.


2.     76: 22-31

The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain , — constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence is scientific and intact, — a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears.


3.     75: 12-20

Jesus said of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it.


4.     555: 27-32

Our great example, Jesus, could restore the individualized manifestation of existence, which seemed to vanish in death. Knowing that God was the Life of man, Jesus was able to present himself unchanged after the crucifixion.


5.     49: 17-25

Forsaken by all whom he had blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest post of power, charged with the grandest trust of heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ is not subject to material conditions, but is above the reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and the grave.


6.     51: 6-18

Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; but he allowed men to attempt the destruction of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life.

Nothing could kill this Life of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his enemies' hands; but when his earth-mission was accomplished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, was found forever the same. He knew that matter had no life and that real Life is God; therefore he could no more be separated from his spiritual Life than God could be extinguished.


7.     46: 20-7

Jesus' unchanged physical condition after what seemed to be death was followed by his exaltation above all material conditions; and this exaltation explained his ascension, and revealed unmistakably a probationary and progressive state beyond the grave. Jesus was "the way;" that is, he marked the way for all men. In his final demonstration, called the ascension, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more.

His students then received the Holy Ghost. By this is meant, that by all they had witnessed and suffered, they were roused to an enlarged understanding of divine Science, even to the spiritual interpretation and discernment of Jesus' teachings and demonstrations, which gave them a faint conception of the Life which is God. They no longer measured man by material sense. After gaining the true idea of their glorified Master, they became better healers, leaning no longer on matter, but on the divine Principle of their work.


8.     305: 31-6

The Sadducees reasoned falsely about the resurrection, but not so blindly as the Pharisees, who believed error to be as immortal as Truth. The Pharisees thought that they could raise the spiritual from the material. They would first make life result in death, and then resort to death to reproduce spiritual life. Jesus taught them how death was to be overcome by spiritual Life, and demonstrated this beyond cavil.


9.     409: 27-3

We have no right to say that life depends on matter now, but will not depend on it after death. We cannot spend our days here in ignorance of the Science of Life, and expect to find beyond the grave a reward for this ignorance. Death will not make us harmonious and immortal as a recompense for ignorance. If here we give no heed to Christian Science, which is spiritual and eternal, we shall not be ready for spiritual Life hereafter.


10.     296: 4-13

Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal.


11.     339: 20 (As)-28, 32-3

As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite gives place to the infinite, sickness to health, sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in earth, as it is in heaven." The basis of all health, sinlessness, and immortality is the great fact that God is the only Mind; and this Mind must be not merely believed, but it must be understood. …Our various theories will never lose their imaginary power for good or evil, until we lose our faith in them and make life its own proof of harmony and God.


12.     324: 12 (acquaint)-18

…"acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace." Be watchful, sober, and vigilant. The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, — certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God.


If this lesson inspires you with a comment or question — or would like to see what others have to say about this lesson — click this text to visit the PlainfieldCS.com Forum.


████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████


Click here for the Daily Duties.


████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████