Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 39

10. Wherein did His teaching differ from that of the scribes?

"And it came to pa.s.s, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine: _for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes_." Matt. 7:28, 29.

11. How did the common people receive Christ?

"And the common people heard Him _gladly_." Mark 12:37.

12. In His ministry, what work was closely a.s.sociated with His preaching?

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and _healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people_." Matt. 4:23.

NOTE.-In His ministry, Christ combined plain, practical teaching with practical, helpful relief work.

13. How extensive was His fame, and how many were attracted to Him?

"And His fame went _throughout all Syria_: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him _great mult.i.tudes_ of people from _Galilee_, and from _Decapolis_, and from _Jerusalem_, and from _Judea_, and from _beyond Jordan_." Verses 24, 25.

14. What expression used frequently in narrating His ministry shows Christ's deep sympathy with mankind?

"But when He saw the mult.i.tude, _He was moved with compa.s.sion_ on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great mult.i.tude, and was _moved with compa.s.sion_ toward them, and He healed their sick." Matt.

9:36; 14:14.

15. In what few words did Christ sum up the object of His ministry?

"For the Son of man is come _to seek and to save that which was lost_."

Luke 19:10.

16. How did Christ feel over the impenitence of Jerusalem?

"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and _wept over it_." Luke 19:41.

NOTE.-In no other place did Christ appear so much a reformer as in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Jewish religion, which religion, though having come from Christ Himself, had degenerated into mere formalism and a round of ceremony. Both the beginning and the close of His ministry here was marked by a cleansing of the temple. See John 2:13-18 and Matt. 21:12-16.

O blessed Christ! my Strength, my King, He is my comfort and my stay; In Him I hope, of Him I sing, While toiling o'er life's rugged way.

Chiefest among ten thousand He, For Christ, my King, is all to me.

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.

Christ The Great Teacher

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Christ Teaching The Mult.i.tude. "Never man spake like this man." John 7:46.

1. What report did the officers bring who were sent out by the chief priests and Pharisees to take Jesus?

"Never man spake like this man." John 7:46.

2. How did Christ teach the people?

"He taught them _as one having authority_, and not as the scribes." Matt.

7:29.

NOTE.-"The teaching of the scribes and elders was cold and formal, like a lesson learned by rote. To them the Word of G.o.d possessed no vital power. Their own ideas and traditions were subst.i.tuted for its teaching. In the accustomed round of service they professed to explain the law, but no inspiration from G.o.d stirred their own hearts or the hearts of their hearers."

3. Why was Christ's preaching so impressive?

"For _His word was with power_." Luke 4:32.

4. With what was He filled?

"And Jesus being _full of the Holy Ghost_ returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." Verse 1.

5. How freely was the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Him?

"For He whom G.o.d hath sent speaketh the words of G.o.d: _for G.o.d giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him_." John 3:34.

6. How had Christ's teaching by parables been foretold?

"I will open My mouth _in a parable_: I will utter dark sayings of old."

Ps. 78:2.

7. How was this fulfilled?

"Without a parable spake He not unto them." Matt. 13:34.

8. What question did Christ's wonderful teaching call forth?

"And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, _Whence hath this man this wisdom_, and these mighty works?" Verse 54.

9. What did Isaiah say Christ would do with the law?

"He will _magnify_ the law, and make it _honorable_." Isa. 42:21.