759
THE KING’ S BUSINESS
injured innocence o f these men: “If this man were not an evil doer, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee.” HoW they stand upon their moral dignity! How preposterous to- suspect such good men as they o f demanding a man’s death without just cause! What was the use o f asking charges or proof if they demanded a man’s blood? It is this way that men who are Conscious that they have a weak cause always talk. A man who knows he is right never fears investigation, but the man who knows in his inmost soul he is wrong always stands upon his dignity and resents the implication against his honor that there is in sifting matters. When a man talks this way it is safe every time to set him down as a tonscious rascal. Tuesday, August 27. John 18 :31, 32. Pilate was very desirous of getting Jesus off his hands. He knew He was innocent, and therefore did not wish to give Him over to be crucified. On, the other hand, he knew that there was political peril for himself in offending the Jewish authorities. He made many ineffectual attempts to rid himself o f Jesus. W e find one o f these attempts in this passage. There are many today who like Pilate have Jesus on their hands and would get Him off their hands and relieve themselves o f the necessity o f a decision. They are not willing to accept Him because o f what that would cost, neither do they wish to reject Him because o f the awful guilt there is in doing that. They are not willing to confess Him, neither do they wish to deny Him, so like Pilate they try to get Jesus off their hands without a decision. But no man can suc ceed in doing this any more than Pilate could. Every man has Jesus on his hands, and every man must decide for himself what he will do with Him. What have you done with Him? What will you do with Him? Pilate bade them to take Jesus and judge Him according to their own law. But the Jews wished to put Him to death, and it was not lawful for them at that 'time to put any man to death. I f they had put
and a kinsman o f the man whose ear Peter cut off, put to him the direct ques tion, “Did I not see thee in the garden with Him?” This aroused Peter’s fear that he was to be called to account for what he had done there. But after all this grievous denial o f his Lord, the crowing of the cock brought Peter to his senses this time, or rather, that which accompanied the crowing o f the cock, the look o f Jesus as He passed through the court where Peter was standing in going from the house of Annas to that o f Caiaphas (Luke 22:61, 62). Monday, August ¿6. John 18:28-30. The Jewish rulers did not fear at all the defilement that came from taking an innocent man’s life; nay, more, they feared not even the defilement that came from murdering the Son o f G od: but they did shrink from contact with heathen things. What a picture o f the formalist. W e see the same thing today, men horrified at a violation o f ecclesiastical punctilios, but indulging in gross immoralities. The human heart is indeed “ deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). These Jewish rulers would have done well to have laid to heart their own Scriptures - (Isa. 1:10-15; Jer. 8:7-11). Jesus Himself had well described the religion they represented, and exposed its hollowness arid folly (Matt. 23:23-28). W e see a similar scrupulousness about minor things on the part o f these appar ently conscienceless murderers in Matt 27:6. There are people today who could not be induced to eat meat on Friday, who would not hesitate to- rob men seven days in the week. There are others who would not neglect family prayers for anything, Who would not scruple to rob others in a real estate deal. The generation o f vipers here pictured has continued to our own day. The reason why these Jewish lead ers shunned defilement is worthy o f note, “that they might eat the Passover:” while willing to murder the real Lamb o f God, they are anxious to feast tipon the lamb that foreshadowed Him. Just listen to the
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