The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-06-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL
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r Perhaps there arc no people more
difficult to deal with or to live with
than those who, like the Phariseess
pride themselves upon their own right
which in the sight Of God In
only as filthy rags Qsa. Xiv, o. and can
in no case entitle one to enter b king
dom (Matt. v, 20). The righteousness
which Is required by God must be alb :
~solutely perfect, an unbroken law, for
"whosoever shall keep the whole law
and yet offend In one point he is guilty
Of all" GAS. II, 10Y. The law 10 30
holy and righteous that no sinful man
can keep 1t, and 1t was never intended
to give life, but to prove our guilt, shut
our mouths and lead US to Christ, who
is Gods perfect righteousness and the
end Of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth. !
There Is no Saviour or salvation for
a righteous man In the Bible-that is,
for such as think themselves righteous
but only for sinners.
In connection with the murmuring OF
the Pharisees when our Lord called
Matthew or Levi, the publican, and
Levi made Him a feast in his own
house, at which q great company OF
publicans and others were present, our
Lord said: They that are whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick.
/ came not to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance duke V. 81, 32).
On another occasion He said to the
chief priests and elders, Verify l say
unto you that the publicans and the
harlots go into the kingdom Of God be-
fore you (iatt. XXI, %, 81, To this
day there are churchgoers and church
members who, being ignorant OF
Gods righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness Of God" (Rom. X, 81.
1t is indeed q fearful thing to be sat
isfed with oneself and have no convic-
ton Of sin. In the first part of our les
son today the Pharisee did not pray to
God, did not ask God for anything, did
not seem to need anything, but prayed
with himself and told God what a good
man he was and how much good he
did and how thankful he was that he
was not a bad man S~9r even like that
publican. Truly lie was well satisfied
with his righteous salt The publican
had no goodness IN prove his right
~eousness, nothing aeod to say Of him.
self, but he did have q consciousness
of his own sinfulness, and from his
heart he said, God be merciful to me,
Il sinner" In the margin Of the re-
to me, the sinner" Weymouth has it,
90 God, be reconctled to me, sinner
that l am" The Lord Jesus Christ,
who reads all heartn, the only Saviour
of sinners, the only Judge Of ali men,
said that the pubHcan went to his
home justified.
! like the definition Of justification
which 1 learned in Sunday school when
| / was a boy, and, II l remember cor
rectly, it read thus: Classification is an
act Of Gods free grace, wherein He
pardoneth all our sins and accepteth
us as righteous In His sight only for
the righteousness Of Christ. imputed
unto US and received by faith alone"
In the second part of our lesson we
have a rich publican who had a desire
to see Jesus, and, though he did not
seem to have the same conviction Of
sin as the poor publican, he, too, was
welcomed and saved. He vas a prom
inent man, chief among the publicans.
He was not prominent as to his phys
ical appearance, for he was little of
stature. He was not what one might
call dignihed, for he ran and climbed
up into a tree. His thought evidently
was TO see without being seen. How
surprised beyond measure he must
have been to see Jesus look up and to
hear Him call him by name and to
hear Him say, Make haste and come
down., for today / must abide at thy
house" (verse 81.
Was this something exceeding abun-
dainty above all that Zaccheus had
ever thought to come his way, or was
it the Saviour's recognition of a desire
which He had actually seen in the
heart of this man? Eph. iii, 20; Ezek
XII, s; Ps. cxly, 49, I cannot tell, but
/ do know that the "handfuls Of pur
pose" which the Lord drops for those
who seek Him and for those who seel
to serve Him arc sEuly wonderful
Ruth ii, Is, 49,. 4
We do not wonder that ZaccheuE
made haste and came down and re
ceived Him joyfully (verse 81. AMI
one but a Pharisee would lie he only
understood what 1t meant. According
to John /, II, zaccheus thus became {
, child of God and according to~I Johr
IL, IL, had there and then the forgive
ness of his ~sins-freely justified, a
was the other publican. There is onl.
one salvation and one way Of salvation
}" for rich or poor. 1t was foreshadowet
in the atonement money of Israel, con
u corning which it was commanded
THE rich shall not give more and tn
c poor shall not give less than half
. shekel' eek. xxx, 11-15). That which
Il Zaccheus said he did Ia verse 8 wa
part of the evidence that he had be
come a child Of God, for, while Ii,
D. works Of ours can obtain or help to oh
sc tain salvation, the good works mus
ID follow as a result (Eph. H. 10; Tit. i'll
81. Weymouth translates: Here an,
j. now I give. . y l pledge myself t