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original significance and beauty. To them Christ’s teaching was new in
almost every respect, and it was unrecognized and unacknowledged.
Jesus pointed out the power of false teaching to destroy the appre-
ciation and desire for truth. “No man,” He said, “having drunk old
wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” All the
truth that has been given to the world through patriarchs and prophets
shone out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and
Pharisees had no desire for the precious new wine. Until emptied of
the old traditions, customs, and practices, they had no place in mind
or heart for the teachings of Christ. They clung to the dead forms, and
turned away from the living truth and the power of God.
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It was this that proved the ruin of the Jews, and it will prove the
ruin of many souls in our own day. Thousands are making the same
mistake as did the Pharisees whom Christ reproved at Matthew’s feast.
Rather than give up some cherished idea, or discard some idol of
opinion, many refuse the truth which comes down from the Father of
light. They trust in self, and depend upon their own wisdom, and do
not realize their spiritual poverty. They insist on being saved in some
way by which they may perform some important work. When they
see that there is no way of weaving self into the work, they reject the
salvation provided.
A legal religion can never lead souls to Christ; for it is a love-
less, Christless religion. Fasting or prayer that is actuated by a self-
justifying spirit is an abomination in the sight of God. The solemn
assembly for worship, the round of religious ceremonies, the external
humiliation, the imposing sacrifice, proclaim that the doer of these
things regards himself as righteous, and as entitled to heaven; but it is
all a deception. Our own works can never purchase salvation.
As it was in the days of Christ, so it is now; the Pharisees do not
know their spiritual destitution. To them comes the message, “Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.”
Revelation 3:17, 18
. Faith and love are the gold tried in the fire. But
with many the gold has become dim, and the rich treasure has been lost.
The righteousness of Christ is to them as a robe unworn, a fountain