"Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel."
Today's quote relates how Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the Jewish leadership as he schooled them in the temple.
Many of those Jews, knowing that Jesus was not a formally educated man, couldn't understand how He so eloquently spoke of the will of God as it had been written in the ancient scrolls of Hebrew law and tradition.
Jesus told those Jews that His doctrine was divinely sent through Him, by God the Father, and that even they, if they truly believed, could know the doctrine He was teaching without formally study.
Jesus went further and demonstrated that those Jews had disobeyed and disavowed God's laws given them by Moses and therefore He knew they would likewise ignore the message of grace that He brought.
Much of what we witness in our religious experience today reflects the same attitude that was demonstrated by those early Jews. Many seem to want to disavow the literal intent of the soul saving doctrine of Jesus Christ and readily accept the doctrine of convenience and self aggrandizement that has been substituted for it.
Some of today's finest and most scripturally articulate preachers, preach from the knowledge and wisdom imputed in them by the Holy Spirit and their own personal study of God's word while having little or no formal education.
The doctrine Jesus brought and taught is a simple one, as we learned in an previous lesson from John, "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:14-17 in part)~
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