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Christ’s Object Lessons
service which He claimed. It was they who turned the nation away
from Christ.
The law of God unmixed with human tradition was presented by
Christ as the great standard of obedience. This aroused the enmity of
the rabbis. They had set human teaching above God’s word, and had
turned the people away from His precepts. They would not give up
their man-made commandments in order to obey the requirements of
the word of God. They would not, for the truth’s sake, sacrifice the
pride of reason and the praise of men. When Christ came, presenting
to the nation the claims of God, the priests and elders denied His right
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to interpose between them and the people. They would not accept
His rebukes and warnings, and they set themselves to turn the people
against Him and to compass His destruction.
For the rejection of Christ, with the results that followed, they were
responsible. A nation’s sin and a nation’s ruin were due to the religious
leaders.
In our day are not the same influences at work? Of the husbandmen
of the Lord’s vineyard are not many following in the steps of the
Jewish leaders? Are not religious teachers turning men away from the
plain requirements of the word of God? Instead of educating them in
obedience to God’s law, are they not educating them in transgression?
From many of the pulpits of the churches the people are taught that the
law of God is not binding upon them. Human traditions, ordinances,
and customs are exalted. Pride and self-satisfaction because of the
gifts of God are fostered, while the claims of God are ignored.
In setting aside the law of God, men know not what they are doing.
God’s law is the transcript of His character. It embodies the principles
of His kingdom. He who refuses to accept these principles is placing
himself outside the channel where God’s blessings flow.
The glorious possibilities set before Israel could be realized only
through obedience to God’s commandments. The same elevation of
character, the same fulness of blessing—blessing on mind and soul
and body, blessing on house and field, blessing for this life and for the
life to come—is possible for us only through obedience.
In the spiritual as in the natural world, obedience to the laws of
God is the condition of fruit bearing. And when men teach the people
to disregard God’s commandments, they are preventing them from
bearing fruit to His glory. They are guilty of withholding from the
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