THE TEACHING OF JESUS

BY THE

REV. GEORGE JACKSON, B.A.

"Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son."--2 JOHN IX (R.V.).

1903

TO

MY CHILDREN

DORA, KENNETH, BASIL, ARNOLD

MY WISEST TEACHERS

IN THE THINGS OF GOD

PREFACE

The following chapters are the outcome of an attempt to set before a large Sunday evening congregation--composed for the most part of working men and women--the teaching of our Lord on certain great selected themes. The reader will know, therefore, what to look for in these pages. If he be a trained Biblical scholar he need go no further, for he will find nothing here with which he is not already thoroughly familiar. On the other hand, the book will not be wholly without value even to some of my brother-ministers if it serve to convince them that a man may preach freely on the greatest themes of the gospel, and yet be sure that the common people will hear him gladly, if only he will state his message at once seriously and simply, and with the glow that comes of personal conviction. Indeed, one may well doubt if there is any other kind of preaching that they really care for.

My indebtedness to other workers in the same field is manifold. As far as possible detailed acknowledgement is made in the footnotes. Wendt's Teaching of Jesus and Beyschlag's New Testament Theology have been always at my elbow, though not nearly in such continual use as Stevens' Theology of the New Testament, a work of which it is impossible to speak too highly. Brace's Kingdom of God, Stalker's Christology of Jesus, Harnack's What is Christianity? Horton's Teaching of Jesus, Watson's Mind of the Master, Selby's Ministry of the Lord Jesus, and Robertson's Our Lord's Teaching (a truly marvellous sixpenny worth), have all been laid under contribution, not the less freely because I have been compelled to dissent from some of their conclusions. Like many another busy minister, I am a daily debtor to Dr. Hastings and his great Dictionary of the Bible. And, finally, I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of expressing once more my unceasing obligations to the Rev. Professor James Denney, of Glasgow. Now that Dr. Dale has gone from us, there is no one to whom we may more confidently look for a reasonable evangelical theology which can be both verified and preached.

It only remains to add that in these pages critical questions are for the most part ignored, not because the pressure of the problems which they create is unfelt, but because as yet they have no place among the certainties which are the sole business of the preacher when he passes from his study to his pulpit.

GEORGE JACKSON.

EDINBURGH, 1903.

CONTENTS

I

INTRODUCTORY

Luke xxiv. 19. "A prophet mighty in word before God and all the people."

John iii. 2. "A teacher come from God."

II

CONCERNING GOD

John xvii. 11. "Holy Father."

III

CONCERNING HIMSELF

Matthew xvi. 15. "Who say ye that I am?"

IV

CONCERNING HIS OWN DEATH

Mark x. 45. "The Son of Man came ... to give His life a ransom for many."

V

CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT

John xiv. 16. "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."

John xvi. 7. "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away, I will send Him unto you."

VI

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Matthew vi. 10. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth."

VII

CONCERNING MAN

Luke xv. 10. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

VIII

CONCERNING SIN

Luke xi. 2, 4. "When ye pray, say,... Forgive us our sins."

IX

CONCERNING RIGHTEOUSNESS

Matthew vi. 33. "Seek ye first ... His righteousness."

X

CONCERNING PRAYER

Matthew vii. 9-11. "What man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"

XI

CONCERNING THE FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES

Matthew xviii. 21, 22. "Then came Peter, and said to Him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times seven."

XII

CONCERNING CARE

Matthew vi. 25, 31, 34. "Be not anxious for your life ... nor yet for your body. ... Be not anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? ... Be not anxious for the morrow."

XIII

CONCERNING MONEY

Luke xviii. 24, 25. "How hardly shall they that have riches