Title Page

Preface

Discourse 1

Matthew 1-7. Purpose to point out the great distinguishing features, as well as the chief contents, of each Gospel, 1 Manifest design of God to give expression to the glory of the Son according to a special point of view in each Gospel, 2. The Lord Jesus, Son of David, Son of Abraham—Messiah—God with us, 2. Royalty and the depositary of promise, 4. The four notorious women in the genealogy—Thamar, 3, Rachab, Ruth, 5, her that had been the wife of Uriah, 6. The two conditions absolutely requisite to the recognition of Messiah, 6. God’s purpose in the two distinct lines of truth visible in Matthew and Luke, 7. Joseph’s son, and yet not the son of Joseph, 8. The peculiarity of this genealogy is its confirmation, 9. Why did God drop, e.g., three links of the genealogical chain? 10. Because they were associated with the wicked Athaliah of the house of Ahab, 11. Jewish unbelief overlooked the divine and eternal glory while looking for the Messianic, 12. How was Messiah received when He came to His land and people? 13. Israel’s unbelief put to shame by Gentile inquiry, 13. Self-complacent Christendom in contrast with the simple-hearted worship of the Magi, 15. Simeon does not bless the Babe, 15. The Lord Jesus, even as a Babe, tastes the hate of the world, 16. The announcement of John the Baptist, 17. No ground for believing that he knew the form the kingdom would assume, 18. Emmanuel as Messiah coming to John’s baptism, 19. Its object, 20. The temptation in the wilderness, 21 “Get thee hence, Satan,” 21. Why the consecutive order of events is sometimes abandoned, 22. The lesson taught in Matthew as to this, 23. The last temptation occupies the second place in Luke, 24. “Get thee behind me,” and “Get thee hence,” 25. The error of the harmonists in endeavoring to make one gospel out of four, 26. Why Jesus begins His ministry at Capernaum in Matthew instead of at Nazareth, as in Luke, 27. The dawnings of a new dispensation consequent upon Israel’s rejection, 28. The grouping of facts irrespective of chronological order peculiar to this Gospel, 30. The presentation of Christ as the One like unto Moses, 30. The twofold character of Christ’s mission according to Isaiah, 31. The signification of “justify” in Isaiah 53:11, 31. Classification of the beatitudes, 32. The difference between suffering for righteousness’ sake and suffering for Christ, 34. Between duty and grace, 34. The active principle of light against darkness, 35. Alms, prayer, and fasting, 36. Self-judgment precedes all genuine exercise of grace, 37. The deep profit of searching the Word after the heart has been attracted by the grace of Christ, 38.  

Discourse 2

Matthew 8-20:28. Neither Matthew nor Luke necessarily preserve chronological order, 39. The leper an early incident in the manifestation of the healing power of our Lord, 40. People have not seized the aim of each gospel, hence one may appear to contradict the other, 40. What Luke means by “set forth in order” 42. Mark the chronological Gospel, 43. The moral object in the cases of the leper and centurion, 43. The twofold character of Messiah a fitting frontispiece to Matthew, 45. The Jew’s insensibility to his leprosy, the less narrow Gentile’s apprehension of God in the healer, 45. The simplicity that looks for nothing but the word of His mouth, 46. Peter’s wife’s mother, 47. The point of time at which she was healed, 49; and the principle set forth thereby, 49. In what sense did Jesus take infirmities and bear sicknesses? 50. Man’s selfishness of heart in contrast with the grace of God, 51. The storm and two demoniacs, 51. Why two? 52. The worthlessness of the flesh’s offer to follow Jesus, 53. What place should natural duty have in one following Jesus? 54. Jesus measured by our impotence, 54. The delivered demoniacs represent the Lord’s grace in the latter days, 55. Israel’s guides tested, 56. Sin as typified by paralysis in contrast with leprosy, 56. The growing rejection of Jesus by the religious guides, 57. A deep inroad upon Jewish prejudice—a publican called, 58. A religionist hates the display of grace, 58. Law and grace cannot be yoked together, 59. What the raising of Jairus’ daughter teaches, 60. Faith can arrest Jesus on an errand on which He is intent, 61. The two blind men a sample of Israel when the vail is taken away, 62. Then, too, the devil will be cast out, and the dumb speak. 62. The Lord of the harvest in prospect of His rejection, 63. The mission of the apostles strictly Jewish, 63. John the Baptist’s inquiry, 65. Was it on his own account, or on behalf of others? 65. Jesus vindicates Himself and John, 66. Man’s capricious unbelief, 67. Rejection of Jesus in His lower glory does but vindicate His higher, 68. Rejection morally complete in His life, outwardly fulfilled in His death, 69. Lowly, noiseless grace in presence of blasphemous contempt, 70. “This fellow” (Matt. 2:24), 70. Seven devils and new relationships, 71. The kingdom of heaven during the interval of Christ’s rejection, 72. Outside, or the rise of what was little in its greatness till it becomes great in its littleness, 73. The kingdom, viewed according to divine thoughts, inside, 73. A type of the kingdom during the Lord’s intercession in heaven, 74. Another twofold picture, 75. Tradition rejected, and extradition admitted, 75. The dawn of the “Church” (Matt. 16:18) consequent on Israel’s hopeless unbelief in Messiah, 77. The Father’s revelation of the Son in Peter’s confession, and the Lord’s “also” as a consequence, 77. Peter’s mistake, Christ’s glory, the disciples’ defeat, 78. Peter’s zeal for his Master’s dignity compromising it, 79. The kingdom and the Church, 80. Christ maintains the proprieties of nature in their rights and integrity, 81. Nothing too great for us, nothing too little for God—in and by Jesus, 82. When man does his best, how far has he got beyond himself , 82. God’s right and title to act according to His goodness shown in the parable of the householder, 83. The crisis, or the final presentation of the Lord to Jerusalem, 84.  

Discourse 3

Matthew 20:29 – Matthew 28. Jericho, the city of the curse, and two blind men, 85. The Rabbis held that only Messiah could open blind eyes, 85. Moral signification of this transaction, 86. God left nothing undone to exalt the glory of Christ, even on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, 87. The transient wave of recognition, that the word of the prophet might be fulfilled, 88. Matthew’s object in narrating the incident of the barren fig tree, 89; contrasted with Mark’s account, 89; and thus bringing out Matthew’s grand object, namely, change of dispensation consequent on rejection, 91. Seeming discrepancies in the word of God always turn out to be, when understood, the fullest proof of the guiding Holy Spirit, 91. Divine design stamped on each Gospel, irrespective of the instrument who wrote it, 92. Eye-witness never allowed to govern in the composition of the Gospels, 93. The “hated of David’s soul” (2 Sam. 5:8), 94. Contrasts, 94. What is the mountain removed and cast into the sea?, 96. Its contrast with the fig tree, 96. The religious rulers question the Lord’s authority, 97; and involve themselves in defeat through their own craftiness, 98. Natural conscience, present and absent, exemplified in the two sons, 99. The entire nation of Israel looked at from the commencement of their relations with God. 100. The householder and his vineyard—the judgment of natural conscience, 100. The stone and the builders, or exaltation and judgment, 101. The call of grace to the Jew, 101. Judgment in suspense, 103. The call of grace to the Gentile, 103. Ecclesiastics and courtiers, 104. Both confounded by a piece of money, 105. The Sadducee made to prove the resurrection by his own mouth, 106. God must raise the fathers in order to fulfill His promises to them, 106. How is David’s Son David’s Lord? 108. The Lord’s sentence upon Israel, 109. A mingled address, reaching on to the latter day, 109. Woes on scribes and Pharisees for shutting out the new light of God, 110. Worldly religion and its heads, 111. To honor those who have passed away the cheapest means for acquiring credit, 112. Not, “I leave” your house; but, your house “is left” unto you desolate, 113. The last grand prophetic discourse in view of the future, 114. The Lord announces the judgment at hand, 115; and then a general history, 116. Not a word about the Church, 117. The three pictures of Christendom, 118. Criticism on Matthew 25:13, 118. The first picture, 119. The second picture, 119. Who are the foolish virgins? 120. Differences between the virgins and the remnant, 122. The third picture, 122. All the nations, 123. Formal teaching closed, 124. Jesus prepares to suffer, 124. Man powerless even when Jesus is a victim, 125. Matthew’s characteristic mention of the alabaster box, 126. Luke’s mention of an alabaster box, 127. Care for doctrine, like care for the poor, may even cloak Satan, 128. Sufferings in spirit, alone with the Father, before taken from the hand of man, 129. How the world regards death, 129. How God overruled the acts of the rulers, 130. The death of Jesus the true center and pivot of all God’s counsels, whether in righteousness or grace, 132. The recovery of the precious truth of resurrection exposes some to weaken the value of His death, 133. Resurrection the joy of the believer only, 133. The rising on the third day, 134; and resumed relations with Galilee, 135. The homage of the women, 136. Why there is no ascension scene in Matthew, 137. The true formula of Christian baptism, 138. The characteristic conclusion, 138.  

Discourse 4

Mark 1-8. The injurious effect of tradition in respect to this Gospel, 140. The order of facts in Mark, 140. A History of Christ in His ministry, 142. Matthew presents the great King, 142. Luke the one who brought to light the moral springs in the heart of man, 143. Mark the maintainer of the historical order, 144. John a supplement to all the evangelists, 145. Remarkable instance of twofold testimony, 145. Mark’s character in relation to his Gospel, 146. Paul’s estimation of him at two periods, 146. No one so fitted to portray the perfect servant as he who had been faulty, 148. Absence of pomp and circumstance in Mark’s narration, 149. No genealogy, 150. The ministerial call of the apostles, 151. Nothing trivial in God’s word, 151. It is unbelief to say, “I think,” if I am sure, 152. The man with an unclean spirit, 153. The Lord’s refusal of a testimony that was not of God, 155. No courting applause of man, 155. The perfect servant forming servants after His own heart, 156. The leper and paralytic, as depicted in Mark, 156. The Son of man forgiving sins, 158. The disciples of Jesus in contrast with those of John, 159. Two sabbaths, 160. Were not the followers of Jesus quite as precious as those of Jesse’s son? 160. No rules can bind God not to do good, 162. Mark hardly ever quotes Scripture in its application to the Lord, 162. The murderous designs of Pharisees and Herodians bring out a new step in the Lord’s course, 163. Preaching rather than miracles characteristic of Mark, 164. No such phrase as sin against the Holy Spirit, 165. What blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists in, 166. Reference to Hebrews 6-10, 167. The only ground of relationship the supernatural tie in new creation, 168. Ministry in two aspects. God’s glory, and the effect on the heart of man, 169. The beginning and the end of God’s work in the earth, 170. Material magnitude instead of primitive simplicity, 171. Shown in the parable of the mustard seed, 172. The tempest-tossed vessel portrays anxiety for individual preservation in ministry rather than the Lord’s glory, 172. Why one instead of two demoniacal 173. A picture of man in his dreary wretchedness, desolation, degradation, and death, 174. Man’s preference for Satan, or swine rather than Jesus, 175. They who are delivered are themselves to be deliverers, 176. Why are we cowards before our relatives? 177. “The Lord” and “Jesus,” 178. The captive made captor, 179. More than healed, 180. Service not a thing to be trumpeted, 181. “The carpenter,” 181. When man only, and not God, is seen, no mighty work can be done, 182. The twelve sent forth with no other provision than a staff—something to lean on, 183. Repentance needs to be preached still, 184. Personal regard for a servant of God, even when sincerely felt by the world, will never serve him when time of trial comes, 185. By fear of man, and notions about honor, Satan entraps the most prudent, 186. The apostles speak of their sayings and doings on their mission, and then are proved powerless in the presence of the Lord, 186. Tradition, as being man’s supplement, is always, and necessarily, evil, 188. Jesus in relieving man exhibits not bare power, but sympathy in spirit, 189. He hath done all things well, 190. The moral bearing of anything always of more importance than its physical aspect, 190. Peter’s confession in Mark, 192. Injunction no more to proclaim Him the Christ, because about to suffer, 192. To limit our Lord’s sufferings to atonement a mistake, 193. Glory in connection with rejection and sufferings, 194.  

Discourse 5

Mark 9-16. Ministry, like everything in Scripture, presented to human responsibility before its result is manifested on God’s part, 195. The transfiguration a kind of bridge between the present and the future, 196. “This is my beloved Son,” 197. The one sole grand object of all Scripture is to glorify Christ, 198. The transfiguration a secret till resurrection, 199. Man cannot take up the service or the testimony of Christ as he will, 199. There is no straitness in Christ, no stint; but unbelief will not draw on Him, 200. The full evidence of Satan’s power before the kingdom of God finally comes in power, 201. The lack of the sense and confession of dependence on God, 202. The desire to be something, falsifies the judgment, 203. The true secret of powerlessness; either as against Satan or for Jesus, 204. The spirit of jealousy, 204. The power of God in ministry does not depend upon position, 206. “He that is not against us is on our part,” contrasted with “He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad,” 207. Wherever it is a question of the Spirit’s power put forth in Christ’s name, we ought to rejoice, 207. The Lord honors, in any quarter or measure, the faith that knows how to make use of His name, 209; and rewards it, 209. Ministry may be a door of great evil if the Lord be not before the soul in constant self-judgment, 211. A reprobate, 211. Salting with fire, and salting with salt, 212. Judicial dealing with saint and sinner, 213. Marriage, its value under law and under the gospel, 214. The restoration to its primitive institution taught by the Lord Jesus, 216. The little children, 216. The young man whom Jesus, beholding, loved, 217. Why does it seem strange 219. “One thing thou lackest,” 219. The natural heart tested, 220; at its source, 221. The disciples, too, on the same principle, 222. What a man gets who gives up all for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s, 223. What so honorable in Christ’s service as persecution for His sake? 223. The ugliness of the flesh, 225. How manifested in ten who condemned it in two, 226. The true greatness of a disciple consists in being a servant of Christ, 227. The readiness to own what is according to truth, 228. The widow’s two mites appreciated according to God, 228. In what sense the Son does not know the day (ch. 13: 32), 229. The last pledges of the Lord’s love, 230. The Lord’s gracious action with Peter, 232. Insertions and omissions peculiar to the incidents of the crucifixion and resurrection, as narrated by Mark, 232. Man’s tampering with verses 9-20 of chapter 16, 233. External and internal evidence immensely in favor of concluding verses, 234. The ministry of Mary of Magdala, 235. Resistance to truth indicates not merely the unbelief natural to man, but often indicates the importance of the truth resisted, 236. Belief and baptism, 237. The signs that were to follow them that believed, 237. The conclusion in Mark would suit no other gospel, 239. For the Lord is shown all through as the Divine Workman, and at the end, though in heaven, is still seen as the Workman working with His workmen, 239. And thus man’s temerity is brought to naught, as usual, by the intrinsic wisdom contained in the Word itself, 240.  

Discourse 6

Luke 1-8. In Luke’s gospel we have stronger prominence given to human thought and feeling, 241. Circumstances which surrounded the writing of this gospel, 242. Luke’s qualification, 243. Inspiration does not interfere in the least with the individuality of a man, 234. This Gospel addressed to a man, and lets us into its character—the Lord Jesus as man, 244. Its Gentile aspect—addressed by a Gentile to a Gentile, 245. Thoughts of early Christian writers about Luke’s Gospel, 245. The presentation of the Lord Jesus to Israel, 246. God displaying His faithfulness according to (not the law, but) His promises, 248. The decree from Caesar, and the gracious purpose in God, 248. Heaven not far off, 249. God’s good will and complacency in men, 251. “God’s salvation” and “God’s righteousness,” 251. A light for the revelation of the Gentiles, 252. Christ’s shame acts as a moral probe, “that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed,” 253. Jesus at the age of twelve years, 254; hearing and asking questions: what sweet and comely lowliness! 255. His intrinsic consciousness that He was the Son of the Father, independent of revelation from another, 255. Political confusion and religious Babel, 256. Dealing with men as they are—taking them up in the circumstances of every day life, 258. The history of John finished out of hand, 258. Jesus at thirty years of age, 259. No necessity of sin, but the pure fruit of divine grace in Him, brought Jesus to John’s baptism, 260. One who was not only tried as Adam was tried, but as Adam never was tried, 261. The first temptation was to leave the position of man, 262; the second, to prove His Messiahship; the third, as Son of man to take His kingdom forthwith, 262. Faith vindicates God—remains dependent on Him, 262. The temptations—personal, worldly, spiritual, 264. “Get thee behind me, Satan: for” an interpolation, 265. Satan only went off till another season, 266. The Lord Jesus in the synagogue, 266. His discourse there, 267. The true Gentiles who were marked objects of God’s mercy in the days of Israel’s apostacy, 268. The word of God, and the power of Satan, 269. No tendency on the part of Jesus to court what we call “ influence,” 270. The call of Peter, and its place in this Gospel, 271. The power of Christ’s word, and its effect on Peter, 272. The seeming, but not real, inconsistency, of Peter’s word, “Depart from me,” 273. Man’s partiality for old things rather than new, without weighing their value, 274. The Son of man Lord of the sabbath, 275. In the sermon on the mount Luke couples blessing and woes, Matthew reserves the latter, 275. Luke, direct and personal; Matthew, general, 276. Luke presents practical grace, rather than contrasts with law, 277. The Centurion’s action in this Gospel, 278. And the principle demonstrated in his sending the rulers of the Jews to Jesus, 278. By which not only his faith, but his deference to the people of God’s choice, was manifest, 280; bringing out the Lord’s avowal, that He had not seen like faith in Israel, 281. Shock to the expectations that had been formed of Messiah, 282. It is grace reaching to the most depraved, 283. What it was that attracted the woman who was a sinner, 284. How came she in Simon’s house? and what were Simon’s thoughts at what he saw? 285 Her sins forgiven after she came, not before, 286. The answer of peace, 287. In spiration does not necessarily involve the reproduction of the exact words the Lord uttered, but rather their moral bearing, 287. Difficulties in holding the mechanical scheme of inspiration, 288. Light, and the responsibility of him who possesses it, 289. Natural relationships, 290. Jaime’ daughter a type of Israel, not dead, but sleeping, 291.  

Discourse 7

Luke 9-16. The circuit of the twelve to preach the kingdom of God, 292. God always gives a testimony before He brings in the thing testified of, 293. To preach love alone is defective, 294. A miracle which is found in all the Gospels, and why, 295. For God ever feeds His poor with bread, 295. The jewel is the same, but the setting differs in each Gospel, 297. Closer affinities—The person of Christ—The Christ of God, 298. Difference of Peter’s confession of Christ in Matthew and Luke, and why; 298. The Messiah of God not finding a response to Him as such, prohibits further proclamation of Him in that character, 300. Henceforth the Son of man in connection with suffering and death, 300. The death of Christ embraces many and most worthy ends besides atonement, which man narrows it to, because it bears most upon his sense of his need, 301. Thus forgetting righteousness, God’s glory, and many other things Godward, 301. The cross not only for man, but in man, 301. Luke brings in the rejection of Christ by Israel earlier than any other gospel, so as to leave more room for man at large, which is his special object, 302; except John, whose gospel supposes Christ rejected at the outset, 303. In John it is the glory of His person, rather than the glory of the kingdom, 303. The system of glory postponed, not given up, 304. The exclusive and inclusive character of “six” days and “eight,” 305. The all-importance of the death of Christ is inwardly felt just as the value of the resurrection rises, 306. The resurrection, blessed as it is, could in no way meet the claims of that holiness of God which death has satisfied, 307. They who went to sleep in presence of the agony, are they who went to sleep in presence of the glory, 307. How traditional thoughts and human feelings, in the presence of the cross or the glory, dishonor the Lord by their very reality, 308. But the Father out of the cloud honors the Son, earthly dignitaries vanishing before Him who is heavenly, 309. They could testify of Him, but He could declare God, 309. No Old Testament Scripture led man to suppose that he could be found in the same glory with God, 310. But Peter, James, and John saw men in the same glory with the Son quite beyond Messianic glory, 311. It grieves the Lord to find faith dormant before difficulties, where, if He were duly appreciated, it would shine brightest, 312. What a seemingly mental and moral contradiction, that the strong should be delivered up to the weak—the Creator into the hand of His creature! 313. And in presence of this, man contending with his fellow who should be the greater! 314. Flesh discovered in its various aspects, 315. Natural relationships and human affections must all give way in him who would work in the kingdom of God, 316. The mission of the seventy, and its results—No joy of Satan turned out, equal to the joy of God brought in, 317. The development of the heavenly on the failure of the earthly, brought out in this Gospel, 318. One instructed in the law weighed, and found wanting, 319. Man fails to discover who is his neighbor, because his heart does not rise to the requirements of such a relationship, 319. Flesh, after all, does not, but spirit does, fulfill the righteousness of the law, 321. Two aspects of faith: which pleased Jesus most, and why? 321. The place and value of prayer along with the Word, 322. Prayer—its importunity—the need of the Holy Spirit, 323. Those born of the Spirit waiting for the gift of the Spirit, 324. The blasphemy of attributing God’s power to the evil one, 325. A man is the worse for the actings of grace, if it is not the Holy Spirit’s revelation to, and the life of Christ in, him, 326. Jonah a sign—Christ in His preaching—The light in the right place—Outward cleanness, 327. Satan working by deceit and violence, God by light and love, 327. A rejected Christ will not be a judge and a divider, 329. The folly of man in his desire after present things, 329. He who feeds the uncareful ravens will not fail His children, 329. Christ’s affection of heart for those who wait for Him, because their hearts are filled with Himself, 330. Working here is secondary to watching, 330. Inside and outside Christendom—The danger run by a baptized person, 331. The utter failure of man to form a right judgment, 332. The goodness of God in a day when judgment was in at the doors, and the heart that finds fault with that goodness, 333. What does striving and seeking to enter in at the strait gate mean? 334. The answer—together with Israel cast aside and the Gentiles brought in, 335. Man prefers the old covenant to the new, and while seeking to do good in what belongs to himself, judges God in thus acting in what belongs to Himself, 336. Self-abasement in contrast with self-exaltation, 337. The difference between eating bread in the kingdom of God, and responding to the call of grace when that kingdom is rejected, 337. Moral difficulties pressed upon those who would follow Christ, 338. The goodness of God brought out to sinners in three forms—first, the lost sheep; second, the piece of money, 339. In the former, the sinner in the activities of life departing from God; in the latter, the sinner dead in trespasses and sins, 340. Third, the moral history of man away from the presence of God, but coming to Him again, 341. Deprecation of the application of the third parable to a backslider, 341. The outward means used to bring a sinner into a true position, 343. The Father’s reception, followed by His joy in the received, and the intolerance of the self-righteous to this mode of action, 344. The unjust steward used as the vehicle of divine teaching to us, how to make the future our aim, 345. Slighting present treasure, because we look on to the unseen eternal and heavenly things, 346. That which is another’s and that which is my own, 347. The anguish of a man who saw in the light of eternity how he had sacrificed future things for present, 348.  

Discourse 8

Luke 17-24. Stumblingblocks, 349. The power that comes out from God is but a small thing in comparison with the knowledge of God Himself, 350. Faith is always right, whatever appearances may say, 351. Faith invariably finds the way to give glory to God, 351. The kingdom of God and the mode of its display, 352. “Lo, here! Or, lo there!”, 353. A false heart, which, spite of outward deliverance, gave its affections still to a scene devoted to destruction, 354. Prayer in the midst of circumstances of desolation and deep trial, 355. A broken spirit, with little light, but a real sense of sin; and another soul in an opposite condition, 356. The publican, judging himself, was in a moral condition to see other things aright, as God should bring them before him, 357. Humility, founded on a sense of our own littleness, 358. Man does not know really how much he clings to the world till he comes to be tested, 359. Lack of intelligence in Scripture does not depend upon the obscurity of the language, but because the will does not like the truth that is taught, 360. “Nigh unto Jericho,” 361. The narrative of Zaccheus, and the parable of the kingdom brought into juxtaposition, for the purpose of illustrating the first and second advents, 361. Zaccheus’ intense desire to see Jesus, and his desire gratified—Murmurings, 363. Vindication of himself as to his general rectitude, and the Lord’s reply, 363. Various striking points of interest in the parable of the nobleman, Unbelief finds a response in the Lord, as surely as faith does, “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest,” 366; contrasted with the song of the angels—“Peace on earth,” 367. Death does not feel death as life does, 368. Luke alone, of all the evangelists, characterizes men in the activities of this life as “the children of this world,” or “age,” 369. The problem of the heathen mind, 370. Blessedness and misery not absolutely dependent on resurrection, 370. On the person and position of Christ depends the whole of Christianity, 372. Luke sets forth “the days of vengeance” in contradistinction to the last days, 373. The times of the Gentiles, 374. The last days—the fig tree, and all the trees, not only Jewish, but universal judgment, 375. The Lord preparing for sacrifice in the presence of the hatred of man, the weakness of disciples, the falsehood of Peter, the treachery of Judas, and the subtlety and terrors of the enemy, 376. The kingdom of God established morally in the Christian system, 376. The word “Testament,” 377. The personal apprehension of justification by faith, 377. The sufferings of Christ apart from atonement, 378. The grace of the Lord in saying, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations,” 379. Luke alone records Christ’s gracious prayer for, and purpose in, Peter’s restoration, 380. Personal faith in lieu of miraculous supply, 381. Christ ever went through things, first in spirit, then in fact, 382. Temptation to test the heart, and entering into it, are two very different things, 383. In early times, verses 44-45 of chapter 22 were omitted, 383. God the Father’s hand, owned by the Lord in all the horrors that He endured at the hand of man, 384. It was an early error to suppose an impassible Christ, 386. It does not become those who say they do not understand this or that, to take the place of being judges, 386. “Henceforth,” not “hereafter,” 387. Men, hating each other, reconciled over the rejection of Jesus, 387. The work for, and in, the soul of the sinner, 389. A crucified robber vindicating the honor of the Lord Jesus, thus correcting the judgment of priests or governors, 389; not “Lord, remember my sin,” but, “Lord, remember me,” 390. The Man, Christ Jesus, in His death, commending His spirit into His Father’s hands, 391. The human side of Christ’s death more vividly portrayed here than in any of the other Gospels, 392. His unlimited confidence in His Father, and perfect dependence on Him, 393. And so in perfect keeping, the centurion owns Him to be a righteous man, 394. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea have heart and tongue unlocked by the death of our Lord, 394. The emphatic value of the words of Jesus, 396. The word of God the sole adequate safeguard for the perilous times of the last days, 397. There is only one way in which Jesus can be known, which is in His death; till then He is utterly unknown, 397. He vanishes from sight—that is, He is known only to faith now, 398. Luke says nothing about Galilee here, 399. The identity of Jesus risen, with the man that they had known as their master before His death, 400. The suffering, but now risen, Son of man sending His disciples into the universal field of the world, to make disciples and baptize into the name of the Trinity, 401. Repentance and remission of sins, 402. The Christian system on its own proper basis, 403. The power of the Holy Spirit an essential thing for Christianity—its distinction from the doctrine of the indwelling Person, 403. The resurrection body, and its affections and interests in that which has existed before, 404. The word is not a field of darkness requiring light upon it, but a light itself, 405. The person of Christ now, as ever, a stumbling-stone for unbelief, but for the simple and spiritual a sure foundation, and most precious, 406.  

Discourse 9

John 1-7. The most glorious subject which God Himself ever gave in employing the pen of man, 408. As well as the deepest conceivable truths, which God alone knowing, alone could communicate to man, 409. Christ our Lord, not from, but in the beginning, when nothing was yet created, 410. Distinction between “He was, or existed,” (ἦν) and “He was made” (ἐγένετο), 410. “All things were made by Him,” 411. John sets forth what the Lord Jesus was and is, as God, 412. Hence no genealogy, except as the only begotten of the Father, 412. No such thing as derived subordinate Godhead, 413. The Word, Godward (πρὸς τὸν Θεόν), 413. Creative power, and that which is still more momentous—life in Him, 414. The light of men, not angels, 414. Darkness does not comprehend light, though suited to man, 414. There is no parallel light to the light, though John Baptist might be a burning and a shining one, 415. The universality of the action of the light in contrast with the law, which dealt with the Jewish people only, 416. Members of God’s family are His children, and the name of Jesus Christ the test, 417. God the Father forms a new family in, by, and for Christ, 417. It is characteristic of John, that all is decided—the whole question terminated—who is, and who is not, 418. Why and how, 418. Grace and truth, 419. Of His fullness have all we received, in contrast with the governmental system of times past, and grace upon grace, 420. “The only begotten Son, which is [not which was] in the bosom of the Father,” 421. Has declared not God only, but the Father, 422. John the Baptist’s peculiar place in this Gospel, 422. The Lamb of God—the Eternal One—yet on account of His manifestation to Israel, John’s baptism obtains, 424. The One who takes away the world’s sin is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, 424. The “sin,” not the “sins,” of the world, as is erroneously said or sung, 425. The case of those who refuse the Son of God much worse for having heard the gospel, 426. The attractive power of Jesus, 426. The first four chapters of John precede, in point of time, the notices of His ministry in the other Gospels, 427. One on earth who knew all secrets, 428. The disappearance of the sign of moral purifying, for the joy of the new covenant when Messiah’s time comes to bless the earth, 429. Christ the true sanctuary—not that on which man had labored so long in Jerusalem, 430. God cannot trust man—The real question is, Whether man can trust God? 431. The Spirit in the Word, the only way in which the new nature is made good in a soul, 431. Not baptism that was in question with Nicodemus, 432. The manhood of Christ brings no attainder on His rights as God, 433. The necessity of the lifting up of the Son of man, as well as the grace in the gift of the only begotten Son of God, 434. The new birth and eternal life—What is the distinction? 435. A new responsibility created by the infinite display of divine goodness in Christ, 436. The Spirit not given by measure, 437. The Father’s care to maintain the personal glory of the Son, no matter what the subject may be, 438. Recapitulation of the above as the introduction to John’s Gospel, 439. The Lord outside Jerusalem—outside the people of promise—among Samaritans, 440. The gift of God, 441. The woman that found the Christ, 441. The Father in grace seeking worshippers to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, 442 Revelations made to the Samaritan woman rather than to the teachers of Israel, 444. The striking contrast between the presentation of the Saviour of the world in Samaria and His presentation in Israel, 445. The healing of the courtier’s son, 445. The contrast of the person of Christ with the law, 446. Man under law incapable of using the application of grace, 447 Sentence of death pronounced on the Jewish system by the healing of the man on the Sabbath-day, 448. The reply of Jesus to the charge of self-exaltation, 449. God’s purpose that there should not be the smallest uncertainty in him who possessed life in Christ, 450. God’s vindication of the outraged rights of the Son of man is, that He has committed all judgment to Him in that very character, 452. Two resurrections—one for faith, one for rejection, 452. The fourfold testimony to Jesus, 453. Man’s will, the real cause of his rejecting testimony, however clear, 453. The Son of man the object of faith—first as incarnate, to be eaten; then dying and giving His flesh to be eaten, and His blood to be drunk, 455. He who stumbles at redemption has not taken in the truth of incarnation according to God’s mind, 456. The shocking worldliness of turning the glory of Christ to a present account, 457. Spiritual understanding, and the utter uncertainty of those who reason, 457. The bestowal of the Holy Spirit on him who believes during the interval before the final feast of gladness for the Jews and the world, 458. It is not a question of rest now, but of the Spirit’s power, 459, in contrast with Messianic power in the world, 460.  

Discourse 10

John 8-14. Suspicion which has been thrown on John 7:53-8: 11, 461. Motives which probably led to its omission in some manuscripts—Augustine’s testimony, 462. Proof offered that the subjects that precede, and those that follow, demand that this link be not severed from the others, 463. The effort of the Pharisees to bring the claims of Jesus into conflict either with law or grace, 463. There is not in all Scripture so suitable a preface to the presentation of Christ as the light of the world, as is presented in chapter 8:1-11, 465; for their evil hearts are brought to light, 466. The light of God shining full on their sinful condition, as well as the law, 466. “ Go, and sin no more”—not pardon, nor mercy, but light, 467. The utter incapacity of man to produce anything like this Scripture, evidenced by the instances where he has tried his hand and failed, 467. Criticism of objections, 468. The Pharisees in the dark both as to where Christ came from, and whither He was going, 469. All through this gospel He speaks as the one consciously rejected, 470. Who art thou? 471. Absolutely (τὴν ἀρχὴν) what I speak, 471. His word (not the law) is the sole means of knowing the truth and its liberty, 473. The truth works to the soul’s gradual perception of the glory of Christ, 474. The law not in any way lowered, but the bright contrast of Christ set over against it, 475. Testimony of an opponent to the commencing section, to its genuineness, 475. The truth meant is the vehicle to the outer meaning of it—just the reverse of man’s knowledge, 476. Chapter 8 shows us the Lord rejected in His word, chapter 9 in His work, 477. In the former as God—in the latter as man, 477. In John no blind man cries to the Son of David, 478. That which/was wholly outside the resources of man is just the occasion for Jesus to work the works of God, 479. In chapter 9 it is not the presentation of light, but the power to see the light, 480. Clay and the pool of Siloam, 481. Hearts tried, 482. God’s working on the Sabbath proved Israel to be dead before Him, 483. The hypocritical effort to honor God at the expense of Jesus, 484. Jesus worshipped outside the synagogue as Son of God, 485. A new history, 486. Leading sheep out by His voice, 486. For they know not the stranger’s voice, 487. The door of the sheep, not of the sheepfold, by which Christ Himself had entered, 488. Life more abundantly, 489. The mutuality of knowledge between the Father and the Son is the pattern of the knowledge between the Shepherd and the sheep, 491. He laid down His life, not only for the sheep, but also proving His perfect confidence in the Father, 491. Absolute devotedness in perfect freeness of will, in union with obedience, 492. The eternal security of the sheep, 493. Total rejection in every point of view as God and man, 494. The resurrection of Lazarus, 495, the most conspicuous in the Gospels, except His own, proves Him to be the Son of God with power, 496. Human affection in perfect subservience to the glory of God, 497. And no stumbling, because walking in the sunshine of God, 497. Whatever burden the Lord Jesus removed from others, He always bare the full weight of it in spirit with His Father in the first place, 498. So even in respect to the cross, 499. Jesus did perfectly, what saints do with the admixture of human infirmity, 500. The actual expiation of sin under divine wrath, endured entirely and exclusively on the cross, and the previous anguish in spirit, in no way detracts from, but enhances, that unparalleled work, 501. Resurrection, displayed openly at Jerusalem, was an affront to Satan and his earthly instruments, such as it could not be at Nain, or elsewhere, 502. The two women that anointed the Lord’s feet, 503. The dealings of treachery alongside the offering of grace, 504. The twofold glorification of the Father’s name, 505. The two closing warnings, 506. Christ quitting association with man for a place intrinsic, relational, and conferred, in order to give His own a place with Him therein, 507. Preparation of His own for this new place, 508, in the service of love, fitting them for communion with Him, 508. Washing with water needed by those who have been washed in His blood, 509. God was glorified in the Son where it was hardest, and even more than if sin had never existed, 510. A new phase—the unseen One, 511. The contrast of every hope, even of the brightest Jewish expectations, 512. The division of the fourteenth chapter, 513. The Holy Spirit not a mere passing visitor as the Son had been, 514. A common idiomatical expression in Greek, 615. What is a commandment of the Lord? 516. What is His word? 517. With what confidence the Lord looks for affections superior to self, 518.  

Discourse 11

John 15-21. The Lord’s renunciation of Israel, and substitution of Himself as the vine, 519. An abandonment of all connection with nature or the world, even in their religion, 519. The law of Moses negative, Christ’s word positive, 521. The word “abiding” in John’s Gospel, 522. Man’s responsibility and God’s grace, 522. Christ not only everlasting life to the soul that believes in Him, but the only source of fruit-bearing, 523. No preservative power in knowledge, be it ever so full, 525. Jude’s word as to men twice dead, 525. Old truth, even though equally of God with the new, ceases to be a test when new truth is given and refused or slighted, 526. Prayer—“Ye shall ask what ye will,” and so forth., 527. The object of John’s Gospel not to point out Christ in heaven, but God manifesting Himself in Christ on the earth, 528. The Father’s government and the disciples’ responsibility, 529. The error of supposing chapter 15 to treat of union with Christ in life, 530; apply it not to grace, but to government, and all is plain, and sure, and consistent, 531. The consequence of a temporary departure from Christ, 532. There is nothing more calamitous than for a soul to be going on badly, and withal keeping up a vain exaggerated semblance of feeling, 532. How so much of Scripture is passed over without distinct exercise of faith, 534. The Father looking upon the Son as a man walking here below, never found the slightest deflection, 535. The love of one’s neighbor, and Christian love, 535. The love looked for now is such as Christ manifested, 536. And this brings out the world’s hatred, 537. Christ gives us His own portion, whether from the world or from the Father, 538. Judging sin by right and wrong, by law or by conscience, all falls short of sin, judged by the love and light revealed in the person of Christ, 539. Chapter 15 sets forth fruit-bearing; chapter 16 testimony, 540. A twofold testimony—Christ seen and His words heard, 541. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father, and sent by the Son; not the same thing, though both quite consistent, 542. The testimony of Christ on earth contrasted with the testimony of Christ in heaven, 543. How Jewish hatred of a full testimony to Christ peeps out, spite of the professed liberalism of the day, 544. The reason is, they know not the Father nor the Son, 544. The Holy Spirit’s office to convict the world of sin, 545. All that is outside the sphere of His operation during this present period, 546. The twofold conviction of righteousness, 547. The world has lost Christ, 547. Of judgment—the world’s fate sealed already, 548. The spirit of the world, when sanctioned, invariably tends to destroy the knowledge of the Father, and proper relationship with Him even among His real children, because it necessarily slips more or less into Judaism, 549. “He shall not speak of Himself” explained, 550. What we mean when we say, “God,” 551. Martha’s use of the word αἰτήσμ, 552. The Lord’s prayer, 553. The Christian state, 553. How traditional views slight unwittingly the infinite efficacy and value of what Christ has wrought, 554. The disciples’ mistake when they thought they understood clearly, 555. λόγος and ῤήματα, 556. ἐρωτῶ and θέλω, 557. The Father’s love as the Son knew it, the secret source of all blessing and glory, 558. The Lord a willing prisoner and a willing victim, 559. His personal dignity and His conscious relationship both preserved in the presence of the cup given Him to drink, 560. The glory of the Son too bright for Jewish eyes, 561. He who made the worlds says, “It is finished,” 562. Belief in the word of God has moral value, because it gives God credit for truth, irrespective of a judgment formed on a matter of fact, 563. “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father,” 564. The assembly’s power to remit or retain sins, 564. Christian faith is essentially a belief in Him whom we have not seen, 565. The age to come contrasted with this age. 567. Conclusion, 567.