UNBELIEVING Israel, not having the righteousness which is of faith, and so not appreciating the great sacrifice that the Heavenly Father has made, sought righteousness by virtue of the offering itself, and because of the merit of his offering of it.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.1

Thus was perverted every form of service, and everything which God had appointed to be the means of expression to a living faith, and which could not have any real meaning except by the living presence and power of Christ Himself in the life. But not having Him by living faith, His place was sought to be supplied with these things which were meaningless and lifeless without Him. And that which His presence alone could accomplish—their separation from self and from the world—was sought to be wrought by themselves in a rigid conformity to these, in their hands, meaningless and lifeless forms. And even this was not enough. For, not finding the peace and satisfaction of an accomplished righteousness in any of this, nor in all of it together, they heaped upon these things which the Lord had appointed for another purpose but which they had perverted to purpose of their own invention,—they heaped upon these things, ten thousand traditions, exactions, and hair-splitting distinctions of their own invention; and all, all, in a vain hope of attaining to righteousness. For the rabbis taught what was practically a confession of despair, that, “If but one person could only for one day keep the whole law and not offend in one point—nay, if but one person could but keep that one point of the law which affected the due observance of the Sabbath—then the troubles of Israel would be ended, and the Messiah at last would come.”—Farrar Id., p. 37. See also pp. 36, 83. What could possibly more fittingly describe a dead formalism than does this? And yet for all this conscious dearth in their own lives, there was still enough supposed merit to cause them to count themselves so much better than other people that all others were but as dogs in comparison.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.2

It is not so with those who are accounted righteous by the Lord upon a living faith freely exercised. For when the Lord counts a man righteous, he is actually righteous before God. And in this he is really better than other people; and by this very fact is separated from all the people of the world. But this is not because of any excellence of his own, nor of the “merit” of anything that he has done. It is altogether because of the excellence of the Lord and of what He has done. And the man for whom this has been done, knows that in himself he is no better than anybody else; but rather in the light of the righteousness of God that is freely imparted to him, he in the humility of true faith willingly counts others better than himself. Philippians 2:3.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.3

This giving themselves great credit for what the themselves had done, and counting themselves better than all other people upon the merit of what they had done—this was at once to land them fully in the complete self-righteousness of Phariseeism. They counted themselves so much better than all other people that there could not possibly be any basis of comparison. It seemed to them a perfectly ruinous revolution to preach as the truth of God that “there is no respect of persons with God.”BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.4

And what of the actual life of such people, all this time?—O, it was only a life of injustice and oppression, malice and envy, variance and emulation, backbiting and talebearing, hypocrisy and meanness; boasting of their great honour of the law, and through breaking the law dishonoring God; their hearts filled with murder, and their tongues crying loudly for the blood of One of their brethren, yet they could not cross the threshold of a Roman tribunal “lest they should be defiled!” Intense sticklers for the Sabbath, yet spending the holy day in spying treachery and conspiracy to murder.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.5

What God thought and still thinks of all such ways as this, is shown plainly enough for our present purpose, in just two short passages of scripture. Here is his word to Israel—the ten tribes—while yet their day lingered:—BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.6

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer Me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Amos 5:21-24.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.7

And to Judah near the same time He said the same thing, in these words:—BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.8

“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.9

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:10-18.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.10

The Lord Himself had appointed these feast days, and solemn assemblies, these burnt offerings, meat offerings, and peace offerings; but now He says He hates them and will not accept them. Their fine songs, sung by their trained choirs, and accompanied with instruments of music, making a grand display,—all this that they got off for wonderfully fine music, He called “noise,” and wanted it taken away.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.11

He had never appointed any feast days, nor solemn assemblies, nor sacrifices, nor offerings, nor songs, for any such purpose as that for which these were being used. He had appointed all these as the means of worshipful expression of a living faith by which the Lord Himself should abide in the heart and work righteousness in the life, so that in righteousness they could judge the fatherless and plead for the widow; and so that judgment could run as waters down, and righteousness like a mighty stream.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.12

Songs sung in the pomp and stylish intonation of a vain show, is but “noise;” while the simple words, “Our Father” flowing from a heart touched by the power of a true and living faith and “spoken in sincerity by human lips, is music” which enters into the inclining ear (Psalm 116:2) of the Heavenly Father and brings divine blessing in power to the soul.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.13

This and this alone is what He had appointed these things for; and never, never to be used in the hollow pretense of a dead formalism to answer in righteousness for the iniquity of a carnal heart. Nothing but the washing away of the sins by the blood of the Lamb of God, and the purifying of the heart by living faith—nothing but this could ever make these things acceptable to Him who appointed them.BEST January 28, 1895, page 28.14

January 21, 1895

February 4, 1895