0385. "First, Cleanse the Inside of the Cup"

"First, Cleanse the Inside of the Cup"

"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also" (Mat_23:26).

The keynote before us is Regeneration versus Reformation.

1. Too many seem to be satisfied with mere outward appearance, they want only to "appear righteous to men."

Reformation deals with the outside; it never gets at the core of the trouble. Reformation spends itself in beautifying graves, and embellishing sepulchers, but always leaves the dead men’s bones on the inside.

And what good is this whitewashing? How much of money and how much of labor has been wasted in a work that will not last down here, and cannot live in eternity.

Suppose a man does sign the pledge and does turn over a new leaf, what advantage is there in that? Sin lies deep-rooted in the nature, and cannot be "signed" away. All those engaged in mere reform work, should remember that Christ called those who did such a work, and who left undone the deeper, inner work, "blind Pharisees."

2. The first work God demands is regeneration. Christ said: "Ye must be born again."

The hardest task any one ever attempted, is to live a Christian life, as exemplified in the life of Christ, without having a Christian’s heart. This is utterly impossible.

Illustration: A young woman once told me that she wanted to become a Christian, but she knew that she could never give up the world. Her whole life had, for years, been given to dancing and cards and worldly amusements; all of her associates were of that class; she simply felt she could not live apart from them.

We told her that, first of all, she should let Christ come in, and receive Him, by faith, as her Saviour. Christ would give her new hopes and new aspirations; He would change her very desires. As for her companions, when she received Christ and was truly saved, they would separate her from their company.

After some such conversation, she did positively accept Christ as her Saviour and Lord. A year later she bore testimony to the fact that the "former things," friends and all, had all passed away. She had not cared for them; they had not cared for her.

When we have Christ IN the heart, and He cleanses the fountain, the outflow takes care of itself. Alas, for those whose "religion" is put on and worn as a garment. A religion of forms and ceremonies is no more than a hollow mockery. It is "Christ in us, the hope of glory," and not Christ around us, that is vital Christianity.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR