"Many of the people...said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him" John 7:40-43
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These people could quote prophecy while they rejected Christ! How vain is an intellectual knowledge of spiritual things when unaccompanied by grace in the heart! These men knew where Christ was to be born. They referred to the Scriptures as though familiar with their contents. And yet the eyes of their understanding were not enlightened. The Christ Himself stood before them, but they knew Him not.
What a solemn warning is there here for us! A knowledge of the letter of Scripture is not to be despised, far from it: would that all the Lord’s people today were as familiar with the Word as probably these Jews were. It is not sufficient that we are versed in the historical facts of the Bible, nor that we have a clear grasp, intellectually, of the doctrines of Christianity. Unless our hearts are affected and our lives moulded by God’s Word, we are no better off than a starving man with a cook book in his hand. A.W. Pink 1886-1952
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Standing in front of them, they knew him not. The knee must be bowed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ before a man can know him, for he is "KING OF KINGS AND LORD of LORDS" (Rev. 19:16). This the Pharasaic Jews of that time refused to do. They would not 'receive' him. Laodicean-Judaized Christendom today is in the exact same condition (Rev. 3:17). As for speaking the language of 'Christianese', they know it well, but with unbowed knee, they know not him of whom they speak.
And thou? Rev. 18:4
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John 1:11 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not'
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These people could quote prophecy while they rejected Christ! How vain is an intellectual knowledge of spiritual things when unaccompanied by grace in the heart! These men knew where Christ was to be born. They referred to the Scriptures as though familiar with their contents. And yet the eyes of their understanding were not enlightened. The Christ Himself stood before them, but they knew Him not.
What a solemn warning is there here for us! A knowledge of the letter of Scripture is not to be despised, far from it: would that all the Lord’s people today were as familiar with the Word as probably these Jews were. It is not sufficient that we are versed in the historical facts of the Bible, nor that we have a clear grasp, intellectually, of the doctrines of Christianity. Unless our hearts are affected and our lives moulded by God’s Word, we are no better off than a starving man with a cook book in his hand. A.W. Pink 1886-1952
***
Standing in front of them, they knew him not. The knee must be bowed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ before a man can know him, for he is "KING OF KINGS AND LORD of LORDS" (Rev. 19:16). This the Pharasaic Jews of that time refused to do. They would not 'receive' him. Laodicean-Judaized Christendom today is in the exact same condition (Rev. 3:17). As for speaking the language of 'Christianese', they know it well, but with unbowed knee, they know not him of whom they speak.
And thou? Rev. 18:4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John 1:11 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not'
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