The Winslow mail., 1923-03-23

Secration of those whom He sends
into the world, even as the Father
had sent Him into the world? Here,
then is the crux of the whole matter.
What a contrast is the life of Jesus
with the religious leaders of His
day; and, for that matter with the
lives OF many since His day. The
Scribes and pharisees were the peers
Of any others of their day the ack-
nowledged authorities and leaders,
who sat in Moses's seat. Yet, in
Matt. $40, in His sermon on the
mount Jesus says, Except your right
eousness shall exceed the righteous
ness of the scribes and Pharisee, ye.
shall in no case enter into the king
dom of heaven. What is wrong with
the righteousness of these men?
Wherein the warning to us? None
but he who has a high standard of
morals for himself and others can be
a Pharisee? He stands on high
plane of life, in contrast with the
immoral. The center of His endeav-
or in righteousness was himself. Yet,
indeed he sanctified himself, but it
was for his own dear selfs sake and
he despised others. This a charact
eristic of the Jews as nation. They
were so superior to others, as the
chosen of the Lord, that they had
contempt for all others. When Jesus
begun 10 preach He at once enlisted
the attention of these leaders. They
were anxious to know whether He
were the promised one or no. To
make sure they tested Him by their
standards and He did not measure up.
7 hey there fore sought 70 put Him to
death as an impostOr That standard
was the attitude of Jesus toward
others They said, He eateth with
sinners. AS guest at the home Of one
of them, woman Of the streets, who
had found hope in Him, came and
bathed His feet with her tears, and
wiped them with her hairA The
Pharisee looking on said to himself,
IF this were a good man He would
know that the woman is sinner,
and would send her away. The Mas
ter rebuked him, and gave the word
of forgiveness and blessing to the
woman Thus Jesus failed to pass
the test of the Pharisees, and behold
the judgement with which they judg-
ed, was their judgement on themsel-
YES Thus is it always TO all who
pass judgement on Him. THE thing
they could not stand was that He
eateth and drinketh with the Public
ans and sinners" The answer of Je-
sus," The Publicans and harlots come
into the kingdom ahead of you" He
spake a parable unto certain which
trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others: Two
men went up into the Temple to pray;
Al, D1,or Jn
Publican. The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, God,
thank thee, that | am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adul-
terers, or even as this publican.
fast twice a week, [ give titheS OF
all that | possess. And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me a sinner | tell
you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other; for
every one that exalteth himself shall
be abased; and he that humbeleth
himself shall be exalted Luke IL,
lola. righteousness for SelfS sake
will never find entrance into the king
dom of heaven, because it reserves
the right to despite others. | have
heard more expressions OF hatred OF
others in Winslow, among people of
high moral and religious standing,
than any place l have ever lived, and
| say, that We cannot expect the ap-
DroEal of the Master upon our lives
or our church while we thus set at
naught His life and death and pur-
pose in us and in the world. Besides
this, our religion and that of the
church will be held in contempt by
the world for whose sakes the Mas
ter has sent us into the world. For
their sakes He sanctified Himself,
even for His enemies. Here is the
key to the healing of the wounds of
society, dare we Sanctify ourselves
for His Sake, and purify ourselves,
that we may be vessels unto honor"
If a man will purge himself these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor, sane
tilted, and meet for the Masters use,
and prepared unto every work"
Tim 2, 21.
If we will, the promise is that we
shall be transformed into His image.
I'VE shall be like Him
TRUTH is the sanctifer. Thy
WORD is truth. The Bible the writ
ten word, has great discovering and
enlightening power. 1t is a mirror,
in which we see reflected our failures
and our sins; it is the searchlight Of
God: d lamp unto our feet, and a
light unto our path. 1t is sharper
than any two edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and the joints and marrow
and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
1t is cleansing and purifying. We
are influenced by what we read If
we read the literature of hate, of
class or race or nation we become
apostles of hatred. But if we read
the word of God in the spirit and
with the understanding, we are lead
to sanctify ourselves for all others
even those of other classes, races
and nations.
1t nourishes and strengthness the
life The Apostle tells us as new
born babes to desire the sincere milk
of the word, that We may live and
grow thereby" l commend you to