_There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus_ NICODEMUS I. NICODEMUS THE INQUIRER. He was a Pharisee, and therefore all manner of religious obstacles, formalism, etc., stood in his way. He was a ruler, and therefore all manner of social impediments beset him. But his conscience had been awaken... [ Continue Reading ]
_Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God_ THE BIRTH OF THE NEW MAN Man is confronted with two facts. 1. The existence of evil. 2. The hope of deliverance. Christ here shows how this hope may be realized, viz., by a new birth, and by that alone. I. WHY MUST THIS BE? Simply bec... [ Continue Reading ]
_How can a man be born when he is old?_ THE INCREDULOUS LISTENER I. THE AMAZED INTERROGATION (John 3:4). 1. Its origination: astonishment and perplexity. 2. Its intention: investigation and inquiry. 3. Its explanation: the new birth an impossibility. II. THE SUBLIME ELUCIDATION. 1. The exposi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again _ EVERY MAN’S NECESSITY When men are perishing it would be cruel to interest their minds or amuse their fancies. We must give earnest heed to their necessities. Is it famine that slays them? We must give them food. Is it disease? Let us giv... [ Continue Reading ]
_How can these things be?_ RELIGIOUS REVIVALS This question is often asked concerning revivals of religion, and in dealing with it I would show I. THAT THERE ARE SOLID GROUNDS ON WHICH TO BUILD A HOPE OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT TO PRODUCE REVIVALS OF RELIGION IN OUR CHURCHES. 1. We should... [ Continue Reading ]
_Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?_ --The truths which Christ came to declare, He did but recall in great measure to minds which had lost the memory of what was from the first. I. THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION, CLEANSING OR RENEWAL OF THE HEART, WAS NO NEW DOCTRINE OF... [ Continue Reading ]
_We speak that we do know_ DIVINE CERTAINTIES I. Consider THE PLACE THE BIBLE HOLDS as an evidence of Christianity. 1. The Bible is the history of the Jewish people, and their existence to-day is a guarantee that the basis of the book is firm and undeniable. 2. Every contemporaneous and collater... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?_ --The question in its bare form is easily grappled with, but in its application to the subjects before us we encounter a great obstacle. Earthly things are the deep things of the new... [ Continue Reading ]
_No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven_ CHRIST COMFORTING NICODEMUS Christ having reproved Nicodemus for his ignorance, now shows the remedy thereof in Himself. 1. Christ’s sharp word is not His last. Having inflicted a wound He offers Himself, the only remedy, to c... [ Continue Reading ]
_As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness_ THE BRAZEN SERPENT Nicodemus’s confession of faith was substantially that of many amongst us, only he went a bit further. Because he was honest he deserved, and because he was half blind he needed, Christ’s instruction for the expanding of his cr... [ Continue Reading ]
_God so loved the world, that He gave His-only begotten Son_ THE GOSPEL IN BRIEF Pliny declares that Cicero once saw the Iliad of Homer written in so small a character that it could be contained in a nutshell. Peter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, wrote the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
_For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world_ SALVATION I. WHAT IT IS THAT GOD HAS ACTUALLY DONE FOR US AS FALLEN SINNERS. 1. What is done? He hath redeemed us. Fallen by sin we are all by nature children of wrath, and according to the rules of justice uniter condemnation. Instea... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that believeth on Him is not condemned_ A REAL ACQUITTAL In the reign of George III. the son of a member of this Church lay under sentence of death for forgery. Dr. Rippon, after incredible exertions, obtained a promise that this sentence should be remitted. By a singular occurrence the presen... [ Continue Reading ]
_For every one that doeth evil hateth the light … but he that doeth truth cometh to the light_ THE REPELLING AND ATTRACTIVE INFLUENCE OF LIGHT These words may have taken their form from the fact that Nicodemus came by night, and may have been a gentle rebuke, and a test for self examination. One... [ Continue Reading ]
_After these things came Jesus and His disciples unto the land of Judaea (see also on _John 3:30_ for the whole paragraph)_ JESUS AND JOHN AND THEIR DISCIPLES I. A HUMBLING EXAMPLE OF THE PETTY JEALOUSIES AND PARTY SPIRIT WHICH MAY EXIST AMONG PROFESSORS OF RELIGION (verse 26). 1. This spirit is... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom … standeth and heareth_ THE BRIDEGROOM AND HIS FRIEND I. THE PECULIAR TOUCHES IN THE BAPTIST’S PORTRAIT HERE EXHIBITED. I. Elsewhere he appears like Elijah flashing in terrific flames of anger and rebuke in the sins of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_He must increase, but I must decrease._ I. JOHN’S MAGNANIMITY. His character was here put to the proof 1. For it is natural to envy the growing reputation of others, and to be jealous when it seems likely to trench upon our own. We speak, and justly, of this as littleness of mind; but it belongs... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that cometh from above is above all._ CHRIST “ABOVE ALL” AS A TEACHER I. IN THE SUBLIMITY OF HIS ORIGIN (John 3:1). All others, from Enoch to Malachi were “of the earth.” II. IN THE CHARACTER OF HIS DOCTRINES. What does He teach? 1. The realities of which He Himself was conscious (verse 2) a... [ Continue Reading ]
_He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God_ THE MEDIATOR I. CHRIST’S EXCELLENCY IN HIS PROPHETICAL OFFICE (John 3:34). 1. He is the sent of God. His mission is the measure of Divine love to the world. God sent other messengers, the prophets, John, ministers; but as there is but one sun in t... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life_ FAITH AND UNBELIEF; WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE CONSEQUENCES There are three kinds of death. 1. Temporal: the separation of soul from body, the approach of which is usually marked by failure of mental energy and increasing bodily debility. 2. Spirit... [ Continue Reading ]