These words bring under our notice a most interesting subject - the great subject of the first fifteen verses of this chapter, viz. the coming of the Son of God, the manifestation of the Eternal Word in the flesh. We have here one of the peculiar aspects of his coming in order to carry out the great scheme of human redemption. We have Jesus here -

I. AS COME TO HIS OWN.

1. This is a special coming. He was in the world before and after his Incarnation. But here we have a special description of his manifestation. "He came." He had to do with the Jewish nation for ages, but no previous movement of his could be accurately described in this language. He came now physically, personally, and visibly.

2. This is a special coming to his own. His own land - the land of Palestine; his own people - the Jewish nation. He came to the world at large, but came through a particular locality. He came to humanity generally, but came through a particular nation. This was a necessity, and according to pre-arrangement. The Jewish nation were his own people:

(1) By a Divine and sovereign choice. They were chosen out of the nations of the earth to be the recipients of God's special revelations of his will, the objects of his special care and protection, and the special medium of his great redemptive thoughts and purposes. There was a mutual engagement.

(2) By a special covenant. God entered into a covenant with them by which they were his people, to obey and serve him; and he was their God, to bless and save them.

(3) By special promises. The central one of which was the promise of the Messiah and the blessings of his reign. This promise permeated every fibre of their constitution, and became the soul of their national and religious life.

(4) By a special training. They were divinely disciplined for ages for his advent. They were taught to expect him, and trained to receive him, and, under this training, their expectation grew into a passion. The Messianic idea was fostered among them by a long and careful training, by promises, by the occasional appearance of "the Angel of Jehovah," who was doubtless no other than the Eternal Word himself. They were trained by special privileges, revelations, and protection; by an economy of ceremonial rites and sacrifices, which all pointed to the Messiah as coming. In the light of these facts he was their own Messiah. and they were his own people; and it was necessary, as welt as natural, that he should come to his own. There was a special attraction and affinity felt on his part, and there ought to be on theirs. Had he appeared in any other land than that of Israel, or identified himself with any other nation than the Jewish, he would not have come according to the volume of the book written of him. But there were the most cogent reasons, the fittest propriety, and the most absolute necessity that he should come to his own, and he came.

3. This was a special coming to all his own. Not to some, but to all. Not to a favoured class, but to all classes - rich and poor, learned and unlearned. The unlearned and poor being the large majority of the nation as well as the world, he identified himself rather with them; for he could reach the higher classes better front below, than the lower classes from above. He taught all without distinction, offered the blessings of his coming to all without the least partiality, and invited all to his kingdom by the same road, viz. repentance and faith.

II. AS REJECTED BY THE MAJORITY. "And his own received him not." A few received him; but they were exceptions, and they received him individually, not nationally; as sinners and aliens, and not as his own. So complete was the rejection that it is a sad truth, "his own received him not." Their rejection of him:

1. Was a sad dereliction of duty. A duty they owed to their God and Defender; a duty most sacred, important, and obligatory. A duty for the performance of which they had been chiefly chosen, specially blessed, preserved, and prepared for ages; but when the time came, they sadly failed to perform it. "His own received him not."

2. Was most inexcusable. It is true that they knew him not to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah. This is stated by the apostle. But this is not a legitimate excuse; they ought to know him. They had the most ample advantages; they were familiar with his portraits as drawn by the prophets, and he exactly corresponded. His holy character, his mighty deeds, and his Divine kindness were well known, and even confessed by them. They had the mightiest proofs of his Messiahship and Divinity. So that they had no excuse for their ignorance, and consequently no excuse for their rejection.

3. Was cruelly ungrateful. Ingratitude is too mild a term to describe their conduct. It was cruel. Think who he was - the Son of God, the Prince of Life, their rightful King, their promised and long expected Messiah, come to them all the way from heaven, not on a message of vengeance as might be expected, but on a message of peace and universal good will, to fulfil his gracious engagement and carry out the Divine purposes of redeeming grace. Leaving out the graver charge of his crucifixion, his rejection was cruelly ungrateful and ungratefully cruel. "His own received him not."

4. Was most fatal to them. They rejected their best and only Friend and Deliverer, who had most benevolently come to warn and save them - come for the last time, and their reception of him was the only thing that could deliver them socially and spiritually; but "his own received him not." This proved fatal to them. There was nothing left but national dissolution and ruin, and that was soon the case; and they are the victims of their own conduct to this day. To reject Jesus is ultimately fatal to nations as well as to individuals.

5. Was most discouraging to him. To be rejected, and to be rejected by his own - by those who it might be expected would receive him with untold enthusiasm. Better be rejected by strangers and spurned by professed foes, - this would he expected; but to he rejected by his own is apparently more than he can bear. And not satisfied with leaving him an outcast in his own world, they banish him hence by a cruel death. What will he do? Will he be disheartened, leave with disgust, and hurl on the world the thunderbolts of vengeance? No; but stands his ground, and tries his fortune among strangers, according to ancient prophecy, "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged," etc.

III. AS RECEIVED BY SOME. "But as many as received him," etc. He was received by a minority - a small but noble minority. With regard to the few who received him we see:

1. The independency and courage of their conduct. They received him, though rejected by the majority, which included the most educated and influential. It is one thing to swim with the tide, but another to swim against it. It is easy to go with the popular current, but difficult to go against it. This requires a great independency of action and decision of character. Those who received Jesus at this time did this - they received "the Despised and Rejected of men." They accepted the Stone rejected, and rejected of the builders. This involved admirable independency of conduct and courage of conviction.

2. The reward of their conduct. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power," etc.

(1) The closest relationship to God. His children: children first, then sons; the seed first, then the ripe fruit.

(2) The highest honour that men can enjoy. Children of God.

(3) This is the gift of Christ. "To them gave he power," etc. This word means more than power; it means right as well - power first, then right. Men had neither to sonship, but Christ gave both. The fact is patent - he gave the power. The title is good - he gave the right.

(4) This is the gift of Christ consequent upon receiving him. "But as many as received him, to them," etc. And to none else. But to as many as received him he gave the power. There was not a single failure, not a single exception. They received the Son of God, and became themselves the children of God in consequence. They were not disappointed, but had reasons to be more than satisfied with their choice, and more than proud of their unexpected and Divine fortune. If Jesus were disappointed in his own, those who received him were not disappointed in Jesus - only on the best side; for "to them gave he power," etc.

3. The explanation of their conduct. How did. they receive him while the majority rejected him? How came they possessed of such a high honour - to become the children of God? The answer is, "They believed on his Name." It was by faith. We see:

(1) The discerning power of faith. Faith has a discerning power; it can see through the visible to the invisible, through the immediate present to the distant future. In this instance, faith saw through the outward the inward; through the physical it saw the Divine; through the outward humiliation and poverty it discovered a Divine presence. In "the Man of sorrows" faith saw the Son of God, and in "the Despised and Rejected of men" the Saviour of the world.

(2) The receptive power of faith. Jesus was received by faith. Faith saw, recognized, and consequently received, him as the Messiah. God speaks, faith listens; God offers, faith accepts.

(3) The regenerative and transforming power of faith. "They became the sons of God." How? By the given power of Jesus in connection with faith. Christ gave himself as a Divine Seed; faith received, appropriated, and nursed him so as to result in a Divine regeneration and birth. Faith transforms its object into its possessor; so that the believer in the Son of God becomes the son of God himself. This is a Divine process from beginning to end, in which faith - a Divine gift - plays a prominent part.

(4) Faith in Christ produced the same result in all. "As many as received him," etc. No matter as to position, education, or character.

CONCLUSIONS.

1. The minority are often right, and the majority wrong. It was so on the plain of Dura, in Babylon, and so here.

2. The minority, generally, are the first to accept great truths; the majority reject them. Think of scientific, reforming and redemptive truths. The Jewish nation rejected the Saviour; a few received him.

3. It is better to be with the minority when right, than with the majority when wrong. They have truth and right, and will ultimately win all to their way of thinking. The few that received Jesus are fast gaining ground. The Saviour of the minority win soon be the Saviour of all.

4. We should be very thankful to the minority for receiving the Saviour. Humanly speaking, they saved the world from eternal disgrace and ruin - from sharing the fate of those who rejected him.

5. We should be infinitely more thankful to the Saviour that he did not leave the world in disgust and vengeance when rejected by his own. But inspired by infinite love, he turned his face to the world at large, stood by the minority, and the minority stood by him. The river of God's eternal purposes cannot be ultimately checked. If checked in one direction, it will take another, and the result will be more glorious. Christ comes to us every day. Do we receive him? Our obligations are infinite. - B.T.

I. By the WORLD.

1. They were in a condition in which they might have known much of Him. He made the world and preserved it and was in it. Yet there was no proper recognition of Him.

2. This ignorance of Christ was the sin of the world, and it is its sin now, a sin for which there is no excuse. In addition to creation and providence we have revelation.

II. By His own.

1. Who are His own. In a sense(1) All mankind by the right of creation;(2) The converted by the right of redemption and adoption;(3) As distinguished from both these, the Visible Church. That its members are His own arises from their possession of advantages peculiarly distinctive — the oracles of God — the ordinances of the kingdom. They are in covenant. Christ is under engagement to grant to them eternal life: they are under engagement to seek that gift and accept it.(a) Virtually such was the covenant at Sinai. Christ engaged to bring His own to Canaan, through their obedience to the law by which they were to live. They engaged to go up and possess their inheritance in reliance on Him. The covenant was typical as well as temporal, and typified a spiritual salvation.(b) Israel violated this covenant, by the rebellion in the wilderness, and by slowness of heart to understand its moral meanings.(c) This covenant has passed away, the substance of its shadows having come, but thousands like Israel are false and perfidious to the new and better covenant: they have the profession without the power of godliness.

2. He came to His own.(1) This was unsolicited by them, the kindness and consideration were all His.(2) He came to them in the wilderness and at various periods of their history, but they rejected Him.

3. He came as the Incarnate Word, and they received Him not. Is this also true of the Visible Church to-day? The unconverted hearers of the gospel are more guilty than the Jews, and will therefore he visited with a heavier condemnation.

(A. Beith, D. D.)

I. GENERALLY AND PRIOR TO THE INCARNATION BY THE WORLD. The world knew Him not, which was —

1. Inexcusable (Romans 1:20).

2. Unnatural, since those who lived and moved and had their being in Him should have known Him who made them (Psalm 103:22).

3. Heinous. The non-recognition less intellectual than moral, arising not from failure to discern, but from want of inward affinity to the light (John 3:19; Ephesians 4:18; Job 24:13).

4. Prophetic, since it foreshadowed Christ's reception by Israel with the outlook towards which it is here introduced.

II. PARTICULARLY AND DURING THE PERIOD OF HIS INCARNATION BY HIS OWN, i.e, by the Jews, whose rejection of Him, besides sharing the criminality incurred by the world, displayed —

1. Monstrous ingratitude. He selected them for no peculiar excellence on their part, and vouchsafed centuries of gracious teaching and discipline to prepare them to recognize and embrace Him.

2. Shamefaced robbery. Christ presented Himself as the Heir claiming His inheritance (Matthew 21:38); as a Master (Matthew 25:14) only to find His possessions forcibly withheld from Him, and Himself cast forth and killed.

3. Incorrigible wickedness. They could not discern the signs of Messiahship in Him.

4. Dire infatuation, for in rejecting Him they thrust from themselves the kingdom of God, and missed the true vocation of their race.

(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

His own world rejected Him, as a rebel country might reject a lawful and beneficent king. The very work of His hands, that which was indebted to Him for its very being, refused to recognize Him.

(G. J. Brown, M. A.)

Corrupted mankind are called the world, because they love the world more than their Creator. Through love, we make something our dwelling-place; and therefore what we have made by our love to be our dwelling-place, from that we have deserved to be called.

( Augustine.)

When Ulysses returned with fond anticipations to his home at Ithaca, his family did not recognize him. Even the wife of his bosom denied her husband — so changed was he by an absence of twenty years, and the hardships of a protracted war. In this painful condition of affairs he called for a bow which he had left at home. With characteristic sagacity he saw how a bow so stout and tough that none but himself could draw it, might be made to bear witness on his behalf. He seized it. To their surprise and joy, like a green wand lopped from a willow tree, it yields to his arms, it bends till the string touches his ear. His wife, now sure that he is her long lost and lamented husband, throws herself into his fond embraces, and his household confess him to be the true Ulysses. If I may compare small things with great, our Lord gave such proof of His Divinity when He, too, stood a stranger in His own house, despised and rejected of men. He bent the stubborn laws of nature to His will. He proved Himself Creator by His mastery over creation.

(T. Guthrie, D. D.)

When Verdi the celebrated musician first made application for admission as a student at the Conservatoire Musicale at Milan, he was rejected by the director, Francesco Basily, on the ground that "he could make nothing of the new comer, who showed no disposition for music!" How this early verdict was reversed is a matter of notorious history.

(H. O. Mackey.)

Some literary reputations are like fairies, in that they cannot cross running water. Others, again, are like the mystic genii of the "Arabian Nights" which loom highest when seen afar. Poe, e.g., is more appreciated in England than at home; and Cooper is given a higher rank by French than by American critics.

(Matthews.)

Contemporary judgment is least of all judicial. The young forestall novelty itself. The old mistrust or look backward with a sense of loss. It is hard for either to apply tests that are above fashion; we adopt, as lightly as formerly we contemned, a fashion that at last we avow we rightly interpret.

(E. C. Stedman.)

"I have swept the heavens with my telescope and have found no God."

(E. C. Stedman.)

Sir Isaac Newton had among his acquaintances a philosopher who was an atheist. It is well known that the illustrious man, who takes the first rank as a mathematician, natural philosopher, and astronomer, was at the same time a Christian. He had in his study a celestial globe, on which was an excellent representation of the constellations and the stars which compose them. His atheist friend, having come to visit him one day, was struck with the beauty of tiffs globe. He approached it, examined it, and, admiring the work, he turned to Newton and said to him, "Who made it?" "No one!" replied the celebrated philosopher. The atheist understood, and was silent.

(Christian Age.)

Every faculty of the soul, if it would but open its door, might see Christ standing over against it, and silently asking by His smile, "Shall I come in unto thee?" But men open the door and look down, not up, and thus see Him not. So it is that men sigh on, not knowing what the soul wants, but only that it needs something. Our yearnings are home-sicknesses for heaven; our sighings are for God, just as children that cry themselves asleep away from home, and sob in their slumber, know not that they sob for their parents. The soul's inarticulate meanings are the affections yearning for the Infinite, and having no one to tell them what it is that ails them.

(H. W. Beecher.)

I. IN WHAT SENSE HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. He came as the long-expected Messiah (Haggai 2:7; John 4:26), answering all the characters given Him as such in the Old Testament.

1. He came as Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 40:9, 10). His testimony to this effect was confirmed by exercising the authority of God —

(1)by forgiving sins (Matthew 9:2);

(2)by healing the sick (Matthew 8:3);

(3)by raising the dead (Mark 5:41; John 11:43),

(4)by calming the storm (Mark 4:39).But so far were His own from receiving Him that they accounted Him a "sinner" (John 9:24), a "deceiver" (Matthew 27:63), "mad" and possessed of the "devil" (John 10:20).

2. He came as the Prophet like unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), whom He resembled in many things. But they rejected Him because His doctrine contradicted their prejudices, censured their vices, and laid a restraint on their dominant lusts.

3. He came as High Priest and Mediator between God and man, typified by Aaron; but they, depending on being Abraham's seed, on circumcision, the priesthood, and expiations of their law, received Him not.

4. He came as Redeemer and Saviour (Isaiah 59:20; Isaiah 42:6, 7), but not seeing their want of redemption (chap. John 8:33), and having no desire for spiritual blessings, they received Him not.

5. He came as King (Psalm 2:6; Jeremiah 23:5, 6; Zechariah 9:9), to rescue them from their enemies, and govern them with good laws. But as His kingdom was not of this world they rejected Him (John 19:13, 15; John 18:40, Luke 19:14).

II. IN WHAT SENSE IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE SHOULD RECEIVE HIM We receive His name, and therefore receive Him by profession; the Scriptures, as declaring His will; His ordinances: but do we receive Him in all the offices and characters He sustains?

1. Acknowledging Him as a Divine Teacher, do we learn and practise His precepts?

2. Acknowledging that He is Mediator, do we rely on His atonement and intercession?

3. Confessing Him to be all-sufficient Redeemer, do we glorify Him in our body and spirit, which are His?

4. Do we in reality as well as in profession receive Him as our King? It is implied in these questions that we received

(1)His doctrine as the rule of our faith, experience, and practice;

(2)His merits as the ground of our confidence;

(3)His Spirit, without which we are none of His;

(4)His example as our pattern;

(5)His exaltation as the ultimate object of our desire.

III. THE GREAT PRIVILEGE THEY ATTAIN WHO RECEIVE HIM

1. They are unspeakably near to Him as made sons of God by regeneration (John 5:1).

2. They are dear to Him above all others. They are favoured with access to Him, taken under His protection, and assured of a great reward.

(J. Benson.)

The Jewish nation was "His own," by choice (Deuteronomy 7:6); by purchase (Exodus 19:4, 5); by covenant (Deuteronomy 26:18); and by kindred (Hebrews 2:16).

(F. H. Dunwell, B. A.)

He came unto His own things, and His own people received Him not. He was as a householder coming to his own house and being kept out by his own servants. What is the earth but one great apartment in the house of God! Its furniture (its hills and valleys, and rivers, fruits and flowers, and harvest fields) is Jesus Christ's, for, apart from Him, was not anything made that was made: yet when He came to His own house His ownership was denied by the servants who had been put into temporary possession by His own power and grace.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

The coming of Christ had —

I. AN OBJECT.

1. Men had lost sight of God. Some had lost it. Others had never had it. All were destitute of it except a small class of Hebrew believers. Three kinds of sin had blinded, corrupted, usurped the human soul.

(1)Self-admiration,which makes a rebel of the intellect;

(2)Self-will of the conscience;

(3)Self-indulgence of the passions.Curiosity was all that was left as the highest aim in science; war, in enterprise; and a sensuous enthusiasm for the beautiful in art. Alexandria, Rome, and Athens represented these three ambitions.

2. In losing God, man had lost himself. Faith in God and the dignity of man went down together. With Divine worship fell human rights and liberties. Seneca stood for the world's idea of learning; Caesar, for its idea of politics; Corinth, for its idea of pleasure.

3. The object of the Advent, therefore, was to restore to man his God and Father, and himself.

II. A METHOD. Not by creating a religious capacity, but by quickening men with trust and love.

1. Not first by a book: that would have reached not one in ten thousand, nor him in his heart.

2. Not chiefly by oral instructions, which have to be certified to the understanding before they can inspire faith.

3. Not by a mere creature-image of Deity, for that would have been only adding another to the old Pantheon of idolatries.

4. This infinite goodness, this One Spirit of God, must come in a life. Christ must be the Son of the Father; must touch humanity and enter into it; must wear its flesh; must lift its load; must partake its experience; must be tempted with it; must be seen, nay, felt, suffering for it. This will complete the manifestation. This will be, not an education, not an inspiration, not a human self-elevation, which neither history nor logic hints at; but a coming of Heaven to earth; a theophany, or manifesting of God. This is perfect compassion, and effectual relief. This gets the sundered souls together. Even stolid and blinded eyes will behold their Lord. This will move, and melt, and convince of sin, and arouse to holiness.

III. A MOTIVE. There could be but one (John 3:16).

(Bp. Huntington.)

I. THE GREAT ADVENT; OR, THE ARRIVAL OF THE HEIR.

1. The illustrious personage described.(1) The Word of God; implying personality, intelligence, eternity, divinity.(2) The Creator of the universe.(3) The life and light of men; the source of whatever mental, moral, or spiritual truth ever entered into the soul of man.(4) The heir of Israel and humanity. He came into His own possessions.

(a)Into the world which by reason of His creatorship was His.

(b)Unto Israel, the special creation of His grace, and His peculiar treasure.

2. The manner of His coming pictured. He came(1) Voluntarily. The Baptist was sent; Christ came.(2) Opportunely. In the fulness of the times; the time pre-appointed by God; the time pre-eminently adapted for a new religion. The false faiths had been tried and found wanting. The Mosaic economy had served its purpose. The Roman power had provided a means of universal communication, and Greece a universal language.(3) Graciously. To communicate the life and the light without which neither Israel nor humanity could be saved. It would not have been surprising had He come to condemn rather than to save.(4) Unostentatiously. We might have anticipated an advent in great power and glory.: instead of that it was in the form of a servant.

II. THE MOURNFUL REJECTION; OR, THE REPUDIATION OF THE HEIR. Israel's conduct representative of the world's. This rejection was —

1. Symbolized at His birth. "No room for Him in the inn." Manger for His cradle.

2. Experienced throughout His life. "Despised and rejected of men." Calumniated as a wine-bibber, a blasphemer, an impostor, a confederate of Beelzebub, and persecuted and scorned.

3. Confirmed by His death. " Away with Him"! "Crucify Him"! Learn(1) The amazing condescencion of Christ.(2) The supreme claim of Christ.(3) The wickedness and danger of the unbelief which rejects Christ.

(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

No Scripture has so directly and immoveably stood in the way of opposers of Christ's divinity, from Socinius backwards, than this chapter. In the text we have —

I. CHRIST'S COMING INTO THE WORLD.

1. The person who came. The Second Person in the Trinity, whose infinity makes the act of His coming miraculous. But Christ, who delighted to mingle mercy with miracle, took a finite nature, so that what was impossible to a Divine nature was done by a Divine Person, and being made man could do all that a man could do except sin. The endeavour to account for this mystery has been the source of all heresy, both of hypothesis and denial.

2. The state and condition from which Christ came. From the bosom of the Father, a state of eternal glory, joy, and Divine communion. How great the humiliation from this to that of a crucified malefactor! And yet it was perfectly voluntary.

3. To whom He came. Everything was "His own" by creation, possession, and absolute dominion; but the Jews were His by(1) The fraternal right of consanguinity; and(2) Churchship, as selected by Him. That it was Palestine and not Rome He came to was of His sovereign mercy.

4. The time at which He came. When they were at their worst.(1) Nationally. Only a remnant left, and that under a foreign yoke; when to be a Jew was a mark of infamy.(2) Ecclesiastically. When most corrupt, hypocritical, sceptical. In this we may see

(a)the invariable strength of Christ's love;

(b)the immoveable veracity of God's promise.

II. CHRIST'S ENTERTAINMENT BEING COME. May we not expect for Him a magnificent reception, a welcome as extraordinary as His kindness, especially when we consider His purpose? But His own received Him not. This is not strange. The Jews only followed the common practice of men, whose.emulation usually preys on those superior to them.

1. The grounds of His rejection.(1) Christ came not as a temporal prince, which frustrated their carnal hopes. They therefore derided "the carpenter's son."(2) They supposed that He set Himself against the law of Moses by His spiritual interpretations, human exceptions, and exposures of rabbinical glosses.

2. The unreasonableness of these grounds.(1) He came to be not a temporal prince, but

(a)a blessing to all nations, which is inconsistent with the idea of a warrior Messiah. This is the burden of prophecy —

(b)of a low, despised estate (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53:1.)(2) He came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it. The ceremonial law was fulfilled and passed away, therefore, of itself.

3. The reasons which should have induced them to receive Him.(1) All the marks of the Messiah appeared in Him.(2) His whole behaviour was a continued act of mercy and charity. Conclusion: The Jews are not the only persons concerned in this guilt, but also all vicious Christians.

(R. South, D. D.)

I. THE PEOPLE AMONGST WHOM OUR LORD DWELT WERE GUILTY OF INGRATITUDE TOWARDS HIM.

1. It was an act of distinguished favour our that He should be born among them; yet they rejected Him, which was a high-handed act of national ingratitude.

2. Special cases occurred involving still greater ingratitude.(1) Among them were many whom our Lord healed. Strange ingratitude that a man should owe his eyes to Him and yet refuse to see in Him the Saviour; should owe to Christ his tongue and be silent in the great Physician's praise.(2) He fed thousands of hungry persons: yet they followed Him, not for Himself, but for what they could get out of Him.(3) When He acted as a teacher they tried to murder Him.

3. The further our Lord went on in life the more ungratefully was He treated. He forgot Himself and gave Himself away that He might seek and save the lost; and yet men strove to take away His life which was more valuable to them than to Him.

4. At last that evil generation had its way with Him and crucified Him.

5. When He rose and tarried for forty days to minister blessing, they first doubted and then invented an idle tale to account for it.

6. In this ingratitude those who were nearest to Him had a share. One denied Him, and all forsook Him and fled.

II. WE ALSO HAVE BEEN UNGRATEFUL TO OUR LORD.

1. Those who are most indebted to Christ's love and grace — believers.(1) Every sin is ingratitude since Christ suffered for it and came to destroy it.(2) The setting up of any rival on His throne in the heart, when Christ is dethroned in favour of wife, child, friend, ambition, pleasure, wealth, is base ingratitude.(3) The same is true when we lose large measures of grace; when the Holy Spirit admits us into peculiar nearness to God and we act inconsistently.(4) And so the little service we render and our lukewarm love. Christ's love is like the ancient furnace which was heated seven times hotter; ours like the solitary spark which wonders within itself that it is yet alive.(5) The rare consecration of our substance is another case in point. Our gifts to His poor, His Church, missions, are an insult to Him.(6) How base is our ingratitude when we neglect His commands and have to be driven to obedience.

2. There are those whose ingratitude is even greater.(1) Those who refuse to trust Him, in spite of gospel announcements, loving invitations, the evident manifestation of Christ.(2) Those who oppose Him, jest at His gospel, and treat His people with indignity. What evil has He ever done you? When has He given you an ill word or look? It is to His silence that you owe your life. There is no chivalry in such conduct as this.

3. Those from whom, above all others, such conduct ought not to have proceeded.(1) Children of pious and sainted parents.(2) The restored from sickness.

III. WHAT THEN? What comes out of all this?

1. Let us appreciate our Saviour's sufferings.

2. Admire our Saviour's love.

3. Apply the cleansing blood which can take away the scarlet sin of ingratitude.

4. Learn how to forgive. Christ loved men none the less for their ingratitude.

5. Judge how we ought to live in the light of this subject: devote ourselves entirely to Him. In conclusion, what will become of the finally ungrateful?

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

There are two ways of belonging to another: unwilling and inevitable, or willing and hearty. You may belong to a nation by birth, and dislike it; to a family, from dependence or self-interest, and care for no welfare in it; to a university, and be out of harmony and out of temper with its administration. But so you cannot belong to the brotherhood that is of the body of Christ. You must be in sympathy both with the brotherhood and its head. The legal ownership you cannot help; it brings no animation and no comfort. By your creation you are the Lord's; His to be disposed of, to live or die, to be judged. The business of your new heart, "receiving Christ," is to change this reluctant belonging for the closer and grateful loyalty of affection; the legal bond for the gracious one of faith.

(Bp. Huntington, D. D.)

The light came into men's hearts as into its proper native dwelling-place. The Word from whom that light issued asserted His right over all the feelings, instincts, impulses, and determinations of these hearts, as over His own rightful domestics and subjects. But the light was repelled; the rightful Ruler was treated as an intruder by these domestics and subjects. There was anarchy and rebellion where there should have been subordination and harmony. A usurper had reduced those into slavery who would not have the service which is freedom.

(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

His own were those who believed with Him in the Scriptures; the teachers of Israel, those who had been trained for His reception. The peasants of Galilee knew Him and received Him when He fed them; for the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. He was rejected by those who were the most rigorously orthodox; by the men who believed that their whole life should expend itself in maintaining the temple and its worship. The last days of Christ, the illustrious days of His controversy, were spent with the best, the highest, the most moral of all the people then upon the globe; and they knew Him not. The poor knew Him, and followed Him; the blind know Him, and cried out to Him; the dead knew Him, and came to life; but the armour-bearers of the then regnant faith — the priests, the teachers — looked upon Him with blank faces, and treated Him as a pretender, a traitor, and slew Him. Is the Christian spirit any more acceptable to-day? Is the policy of Christian nations saturated with blood, and bearing every insignia of the cross imbued with that spirit? Are all pompous churches, with all forms of superstition connected with their worship, and full of symbols of Him who came not to destroy but to save — are they truly Christian? Listen to the Te Deum when men knee deep in blood come back with victory on their banners. See the government of most Christian nations; how degraded have been the empires over which they have ruled. See how the Christian nations of Europe lie over against each other, like hungry lions waiting only for an opportunity to spring! What Christian nation, looking at its past history and present policy, can be said to have received Christ?

(H. W. Beecher.)

As John writes, there was an advent and a rejection: a bodily advent, a bodily crucifixion: the image and outer form of the Word that was from the beginning, the ever-living Emmanuel, the Christ that comes to-day. If He is rejected to-day, it is by the pride and fashion and self-indulgence of to-day. It is our compromising consciences, it is our well-dressed sensuality, it is our commercial cunning, it is more literary conceit, it is our making merchandise of men and of men's virtue, our covering up cruelty, and calling it patriotism; dishonesty, and calling it regular trade; hollowness and mutual flattery, and calling it good society; prayerless self-idolatry, and calling it a rational religion — it is these things that prepare and build His cross, and crucify Him afresh.

(Bp. Huntington, D. D.)

Andrew, Cephas, Elias, Elijah, Esaias, Isaiah, Jesus, John, Jona, Jonah, Jonas, Joseph, Levites, Nathanael, Peter, Philip, SimonBethany Beyond Jordan, Bethsaida, Galilee, Jordan River, NazarethDidn't, Hearts, Home, Receive, Received, Welcome1. The divinity, humanity, office, and incarnation of Jesus Christ.
15. The testimony of John.
39. The calling of Simon and Andrew, Philip and Nathanael

John 1:11

     2206   Jesus, the Christ
     5764   attitudes, negative to God
     6231   rejection of God
     6233   rejection, experience
     7950   mission, of Christ
     8712   denial of Christ
     8836   unbelief, response

John 1:1-18

     8474   seeing God

John 1:9-18

     1444   revelation, NT

John 1:10-11

     2369   Christ, responses to
     4027   world, fallen
     5564   suffering, of Christ

John 1:10-12

     8023   faith, necessity

John 1:11-12

     6604   acceptance, human

John 1:11-13

     8330   receptiveness

Grace
Eversley. 1856. St. John i. 16, 17. "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." I wish you to mind particularly this word GRACE. You meet it very often in the Bible. You hear often said, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Now, what does this word grace mean? It is really worth your while to know; for if a man or a woman has not grace, they will be very unhappy people, and very disagreeable …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

June 25 Morning
When he shall appear, we shall be like him; we shall see him as he is.--I JOHN 3:2. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.--Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 20 Morning
His name shall be called Wonderful.--ISA. 9:6. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.--Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.--JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.--God . . . hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 24 Evening
Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.--II COR. 8:9. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.--Thou are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips.--All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.--He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.--We speak that we do know, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 21 Morning
Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.--JOHN 1:16. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.--Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things.--If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. I and my Father are one. The Father is in me, and I in him.--My Father, and your …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 12 Morning
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.--NUM. 6:25,26. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.--The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.--The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 21 Evening
His dear Son.--COL. 1:13. Lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.--Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.--The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 23 Morning
The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.--HEB. 12:24. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.--The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.--It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 28 Morning
Behold the Lamb of God.--JOHN 1:29. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.--He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 29 Morning
The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.--LEV. 17:11. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.--The blood of the Lamb.--The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.--Without shedding of blood is no remission.--The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. By his own blood he entered in once into …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 16 Evening
Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.--REV. 1:19. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.--That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 19 Evening
Fellowship in the gospel.--PHI. 1:5. As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.--That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 15 Morning
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.--I COR. 1:9. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised.--God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.--Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.--Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 8 Morning
Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.--ISA. 38:17. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 20 Morning
The entrance of thy words giveth light.--PSA. 119:130. This . . . is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.--God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.--The Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.--If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

October 11 Evening
Hallowed be thy name.--MATT. 6:9. Thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?--Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.--I saw . . . the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 26 Morning
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.--LAM. 3:40. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.--Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.--I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.--Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 24 Evening
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face.--HOS. 5:15. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, your sins have hid his face from you.--My beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: . . . I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.--I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on forwardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him.--Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 12 Morning
Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented of.--II COR. 7:10. Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.--If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.--The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 23 Morning
Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me.--ISA. 27:5. I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.--There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. In Christ Jesus ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell: and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.--Christ Jesus: …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 24 Evening
Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see.--JOHN 1:38,39. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.--To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 15 Morning
Who can say, I have made my heart clean?--PROV. 20:9. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.--They that are in the flesh cannot please God. To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.--We are all as an …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Son of Thunder
ST. JOHN i. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We read this morning the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. Some of you, I am sure, must have felt, as you heard it, how grand was the very sound of the words. Some one once compared the sound of St. John's Gospel to a great church bell: simple, slow, and awful; and awful just because it is so simple and slow. The words are very short,--most of them of one syllable,--so that even a child …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

'Three Tabernacles'
'The Word ... dwelt among us.'--JOHN i. 14. '... He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them.'--REV. vii. 15. '... Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them.'--REV. xxi. 3. The word rendered 'dwelt' in these three passages, is a peculiar one. It is only found in the New Testament--in this Gospel and in the Book of Revelation. That fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of connection between these two books, which at first sight seem so extremely unlike …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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