1092. The Pharisee Confessed No Saviour

The Pharisee Confessed No Saviour

"Woe onto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain" (Jdg_1:11, f. c.).

The Pharisee had "fallen from grace." We mean that the Pharisee sought an entrance into the presence of God apart from any atoning sacrifice. The Word of God plainly says: "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission." Yet the Pharisee made no mention of the Blood.

Do we not know that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man cometh unto the Father except by Him? Yet is it not true that to-day there are thousands upon thousands who seek to approach God apart from Jesus Christ?

In the lodge room and in the church there is much of formal worship. Men go through a service somewhat like this Pharisee. With sanctified mien, they approach God and stand before Him seeking audience. They say or read their prayers. They claim fellowship with God; and yet they repudiate the Lord Jesus Christ. They make no confession of their sins, they seek for no cleansing through the Blood, they acknowledge no need of atonement.

The Bible proclaims there is one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus–but they know nothing of a mediator.

The Bible tells us that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, but they know nothing of His advocacy.

The Bible tells us of the high-priestly work of Christ, but they know nothing of Christ, the High Priest.

How do Pharisees (and the world is full of them) imagine that they can get to God? God is holy, and cannot receive into His presence the unclean; God is just, and can not have fellowship with the guilty.

Does the Bible anywhere picture a more startling and yet a more common scene–a man full of boasted pride, of self-reliance, and of human righteousness, seeking to have fellowship with God? Impossible!

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR