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words to 'them; to have done so would have been to cast pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6). But our Lord felt it necessary to warn even disciples against Pharisaic sins and the warning is needed even by the dis ciples of Christ today. No other class of offenders were ever so rebuked so sternly by Christ as the Pharisees, but even in the Pharisees, our Lord distinguished between their conduct and their teaching; their teaching His disciples should observe- and do, but they should not imitate their con duct. There are many Pharisees today who bind heavy burdens and lay them on the shoulders of other men but who will not themselves move them with one of their fingers. One of the chief characteristics of Pharisaism is to do good works in order to be seen of men. Another marked char acteristic was to “love the chief places at feasts and the chief seats in the syna gogues.” Alas! we have plenty of Phari sees in our churches today and there is a good deal of the Pharisee in most of us. Closely allied with this was their desire for recognition in the market places and: to be called by titles of dignity, “Rabbi” (which is equivalent to Doctor of Divinity). There is but one person whom the disciple of Christ has as authoritative teacher, and that is Christ, and all disciples, from the most learned to the most illiterate, are brethren and no one has a right to claim doctrinal authority over another. We must recog nize no one upon earth as the father of our faith or as having doctrinal authority over us in the faith. There is but one such Father, the One .who is in heaven—God. We ought not to swallow any human teacher whole, no matter how much of truth they may have taught us; we should submit all their teachings to the test of God’s Word and, if it does not conform with that, reject it. The great lesson of the passage is for each of us to take the lowly place, the place of service. Wednesday, -April 7. Matt. 23:13-24. After warning His disciples against the
true (Ch. 1:1; 21:9; Is. 11:1-4), but only part of the truth and the least important part at that (Rom. 1:3, 4; Matt. 16:16, 17; John 6:69; 1:49; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8). Jesus showed them the utter inadequacy of their answer by a second question (vs. 43; 44). This silenced them utterly. The Old Testament, as well as the New, teaches thé Deity of Christ (see for example Ps. 45: 1-6). Jesus’ quotation was from Ps. 110. He pronounced this Psalm to be of Davidic authorship, and Messianic in its interpreta tion. Many of the -Higher Critics deny this.. If these critics are right, then Jesus built an argument for His Deity either on a mistake or on a deliberate fraud. Any one who deserves the name of Christian can easily decide between the Higher Critics and Christ. This same Psalm was applied to Christ, or ascribed to David in many other places in the New Testament (Acts 2:34, 35; 1 Cor. 15:25; Heb. 1:3-13; 10:12, 13; 12:2). Our Lord says that David spoke these words “In the Spirit’’ (R. V.) : they are then really the Spirit’s words, not David’s. David called Christ “Lord” and thereby ascribed Deity to Him (cf. John 20:28; Phil. 3:8; Acts 10:36; 1 Cor. 2:8; Phil. 2:11). He is in the place of power at God’s right hand (v. 44 cf. Heb. 8:1; Rom. 8:34). The time is com ing when all His enemies shall be under neath His feet. Our Lord’s question, “If David then called Him Lord, how can He be his Son?” was indeed a puzzler for the Pharisees; for us the answer is easy, namely, Jesus is the Son of David and Son of God. This thé Pharisees were unwilling to admit, so they said nothing. The Pharisees were, not converted but they were silenced. Tuesday, April 6. Matt. 23;1-12. It is to be noted that these words, though they concerned the Pharisees were not spoken to the Pharisees themselves, but “to the multitude and to His disciples.” The Pharisees were too set in their own way for it to do any good to say these
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