FEBRUARY 1

" Nicodemus came to Jesus by night."   John 3:2.

He was either afraid or ashamed to be seen with Jesus, and therefore he came by night. When religion is out of fashion there are many Nicodemites, especially among the rulers. But though he came by night, Christ made him welcome, accepted his integrity and pardoned his infirmity. His temptation arose from his place and office, he was ' a ruler of the Jews.' But he did not come to Christ about politics, but about the concerns of his own soul. Christ hereby taught his ministers to encourage good beginnings in others although they are weak. Although he now came by night, yet afterwards, when the occasion arose, he owned Christ publicly ( 19:39). The grace which is at first but a grain of mustard seed may grow to be a great tree.   ( Matthew Henry )

FEBRUARY 2

" Except a man be born again he cannot see...cannot enter the Kingdom of God."     John 3:3,5.

A spiritual kingdom requires a spiritual entering. The Author of this blessed change and who works it is God. The change is done by the Spirit, and not by any wisdom or power of our own, but by the Spirit of grace ( 1 Peter 1:2. Titus 3:5 ). Those who are worked in, regenerated, are made spiritual. They are refined from the dross and dregs of sensuality [ living by our senses alone ]. The needs and desires of the immortal soul now have the dominion they ought to have over the flesh. The Pharisees placed their religion in external purity and performances, and it would need a mighty change, a new birth, to become spiritual. Christ says that this change is necessary because we are not fit to enter into the kingdom of God until we are born again ; otherwise we remain ' flesh' ( vs.6), a condition we were born into. The only remedy for the malady is the new birth.   ( Matthew Henry)

FEBRUARY 3

" Ye must be born again."    John 3:7.

There are no exceptions. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the same as having the nature of a Christian. To be born again is a matter so mysterious that human words cannot describe it ( like the wind). Nevertheless it is a change which can be known and felt ( like the wind); known by works of holiness, and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which man performs for himself ; a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul and affects the entire man. I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God and without hope !           ( C.H.Spurgeon)

FEBRUARY 4

" The wind blows where it wills...so is every one that is born of the Spirit."     John 3:8.

A comparison is here drawn between the wind and the Spirit, a double one. Both are sovereign in their activities, blowing where they please, and both are mysterious in their operations ; ' you cannot tell ', you cannot explain what is happening. The wind is altogether beyond man's control, does not consult man, and cannot be regulated by man. It blows where, when and as it pleases. So it is with the Spirit. It is irresistible, cannot be opposed or hindered, overcomes all opposition.it is invisible and defies all human explanation. Man cannot tell where it comes from and where it is going to. The wind is a fact, there is evidence for it, but there is mystery behind the fact. The one born again knows that he has a new life, and enjoys the evidences of it, but how the Holy Spirit operates upon the soul, subdues the Will, creates the new life within us, belongs to the deep things of God.  ( A.W.Pink)

FEBRUARY 5

" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..."  John 3:14,15.

The serpent was to be lifted up for conspicuousness, and Nicodemus must have understood that this Son of Man was to be presented not to a handful of people in an obscure corner, but to the whole world, as the Healer. But Christ's prescient eye and heart travelled to the cross on this subject. This is proved from the two other occasions when He used the words ' lifted up.' So, from the beginning, Christ's programme was death. Christ came to heal sin by His death. You will not get this deadly poison out of men by exhortations, moralities or social reforms. This poison cannot be treated by surface applications, but by the cross. There is a divine necessity about this. Christ often repeats the ' must ' about the cross. His life was an obedience to His father's Will. The dying Israelite had to look in faith to Christ, as we must. ( A.Maclaren )

FEBRUARY 6

" lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish."   John 3:15.

Man became a lost sinner by a look, for the first thing recorded of Eve in connection with the Fall is that, " The woman saw that the tree was good for food." ( Gen.3:6) In like manner, the lost sinner is saved by a look. The Christian life begins by looking, " Look unto Me and be ye saved." ( Isaiah 45:22 ). The Christian life continues by looking, " Let us run...looking unto Jesus." ( Heb. 12:2) And at the end of the Christian life here we are still to be looking for Christ, to return. ( And in heaven we go on looking at the Lamb enthroned.) From first to last, the one thing required is looking at God's Son. Faith is simply the eye of the soul that looks away ( from self ) to the Lord Jesus. But do not rest on your faith, rest on the Saviour Himself.   ( A.W.Pink)

FEBRUARY 7

" For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."  John 3:16.

The matchlessness of this love may appear if we consider,

1. The Person who loves, God. God, who was provoked by man and stands in need of no man, or of anything else to add to His infinite happiness.

2. The object of His love, ' the world '. We are not by this to understand all and every man ( many were already in hell when Christ said this and when Christ died). If we say ' all and every man ' this would be to disappoint God's Will and His intention, seeing that not all get good out of Christ, nor was He given for them for whom He did not sanctify Himself nor intercede ( John 17:2,9,19,24).He has His own in the world among lost mankind, who are not only gathered from among all nations, and conditions of men in the world, and are not Jews only (but are also of the Gentiles ) - as the ' the world ' is taken in 1John 2:2.John 11:51,52. and Rom.3:29).  (George Hutcheson ) For since God necessarily hates sin, how shall we be convinced that He loves us, until those sins, for which He is justly angry with us, have been atoned for and forgiven ? ' Whosever believeth in Him shall not perish.' ( John Calvin)

( Faith in Christ is therefore the mark of the loved and the living.)

FEBRUARY 8

" And men loved darkness rather than light.  "   John 3:19.

This preference of darkness, for evil deeds, brings a dreadful condemnation. God will send upon such people strong delusions that, left to themselves, they shall believe a lie. the light was there, but they hated it. This will be revealed on the Day of Judgement, They preferred sin, because they loved it and would not let it go. Those who have heard the Gospel have greater condemnation than the heathen ; greater privileges bring greater responsibility. Their condemnation will be revealed as final when they die ; with choices come consequences. Condemnation has come but not yet the execution. There is yet time to repent, to plead for pardon, to apply to the Saviour from sin and darkness. Light has come into the world in the Person of Christ, and the Holy Spirit will enlighten the path of those who love Him.  ( T.Evan )

FEBRUARY 9

" Neither comes he to the light, lest his deeds be reproved ( exposed  )."  John 3:20

In this matter of life and death, the fourth illustration that Jesus used was light and darkness. This is one of the major images used in this Gospel ( ch.1:4-13). Why will sinners not come into the ' light of life ' ? Because they love the darkness. They want to persist in their evil deeds, and this keeps them from coming to the light ; for the closer the sinner gets to the light, the more his sins are exposed. It is not ' intellectual problems ' that keep people from trusting Christ. It is the moral and spiritual blindness. This keeps them in a love for the darkness, and hatred of the light.

Nicodemus did finally come to the light. He came out of the ' midnight ' of confusion ' into the ' sunlight of confession ', and identified with Christ.

( W.Wiersbe )

FEBRUARY 10

" A man can receive nothing except it be given to him from above."   John 3:27.

John describes his position and qualifications to God's sovereignty. What he says is true of temporal things, and much more of spiritual things. God alone therefore could say when his work was done ; he was content to patiently wait. From this truth it follows that envy of others reflects upon God. Moses was envied and God intervened for him. John and Moses were Christ's messengers. John 's relationship to Christ was like that of the Bridegroom's friend ( vs.29), to direct the church to focus on the Bridegroom, Christ. John was happy to lose his little congregation, he sent them all to Christ. Ministers must beware of making too much of themselves. Any spiritual gifts come from Christ, and on the last day, as Augustine says, " Christ shall crown His own gifts." ( G.J.Brown) The joy of the bride (vs.29 ) is in her love for Christ, a love with an undivided heart. He endows her with all that He has. He is at her side at all times. He provides for her and pledges to defend her. He promises to take her home with Him to His father's house.

( Andrew Gray )

FEBRUARY 11

" A man can receive nothing except it be given to him from above..."   John 3:27

Heaven is the only source of spiritual gifts. John claimed only the subordinate place of preparing the way for Christ. He is not the Bridegroom, only the Bridegroom's friend. Unlike himself or any other man, Jesus, as to His Person, has a heavenly origin, and therefore takes the highest place among heaven's messengers on earth. And as the utterance of men betrays their earthly origin, the utterance of Jesus proves an immediate ( direct ) knowledge of God. And yet His testimony is not received, as one might expect. Those who do receive it are convinced of God's truthfulness. Jesus fulfils for them every hope and satisfies every desire. Therefore,men's everlasting destinies depend on their individual relation to Him.  ( George Reith )

FEBRUARY 12

" He must increase, but I must decrease."   John 3:30.

Although He cannot become greater in Himself, He must become greater in our esteem,and as this happens, it will have a corresponding effect on how small we see ourselves. Christ has a pre-existent Being, before ' God was manifest in the flesh.' He said, " I am ". He is God over all, exercising sovereign rule over all His ' property ', over all that He has made, and over all that it has become. Compared with the glory of Christ all human glory is insignificant. the pathway to renown is to efface oneself for the sake of Christ."  ( T.Whitelaw)" I am content to be anything,so that Christ may be all in all." ( James Durham)" He must increase " - this is the pursuit of His glory. " I must decrease " - this is the pursuit of our sanctification. We may diminish, but the work of Christ will not suffer ; as John found, as we shall find.

FEBRUARY 13 

" No man receiveth His testimony. "   John 3:32.

Why do so many refuse Christ's words ? Principally because they do not have a consciousness of sin, and therefore lack the motive to come to Him. Their thoughts cannot rise above what they sense, and they do not sense any danger from ' sin ' or any need of Christ. Others refuse to give up their pride and their self-righteousness. Others are enslaved to skepticism and cynicism ; they believe they can ' see through ' everything...except themselves ! The great mass stay away because their hearts are hardened in carelessness and self-indulgence, or rotting away under the pleasures of sin. They have grown increasingly content with a life apart from God. It is the only life they know, and to hear of another life, an eternal, heavenly life they treat as fantasy, wishful thinking. And yet, deep down, do they not have, and suppress, that wish themselves ?  ( A. Hare )

FEBRUARY 14

" He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God."   John 3:34.

The origin of our Lord's mission lay in the Trinity's marvellous purpose of man's redemption. In that plan our redemption was conceived and planned, and its purpose executed. " God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." ( 2 Corinth. 5:19) It is a mistake to describe the work of Jesus as if He stepped between God and sinners in order to prevent Him from destroying them. God actually sent Him to reconcile these chosen sinners to Himself, out of love to them ; a love shared by the Son and Holy Spirit also. It is however undeniable that the holy nature of God is set against those who reject His Son and his mission. ( F.B.Myer ) We must not forget that it is the Father who sent the Saviour, and the Holy Spirit who accompanied Him. It is evident from the Gospels that Christ's commission from His Father was always uppermost in His mind.

FEBRUARY 15

" The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand." John 3:35.

We are servants, but He is the Son. He is his beloved Son in a unique way. He is the sole Mediator appointed by His Father for us.It is because the Father loves Him that He loves us ; we are loved in Christ. We are so unworthy, this is our greatest blessing. The redeemed are not left to themselves but have been put into Christ's hand.This includes all the gifts and graces of the Spirit (vs.34), all of them needful for us. He has a dominion over all things, enabling Him to help or hinder His people's happiness, that He may order all things so as to be for their good. He will not lose them. All of His promises invite us to be content to be nothing, but to put ourselves and all that we have into His hand.   (George Hutcheson)

FEBRUARY 16

" He that believeth not...the wrath of God abideth on him."   John 3:36

John the Baptist was a preacher who knew how to discriminate ; he shows two classes and the line of demarcation. Many are still guilty, although some of them are quite orthodox, some highly respectable. Their offence is that they have not believed on the Son of God. Men rejected God's law, now they reject His gospel. To refuse such a blessing provided at such a cost, cannot be a small sin - it is the greatest ( John 16:9). The unbeliever must either seek mercy or expect condemnation. They will not escape the wrath of God by ceasing to exist, it abides forever. There is but one door of mercy and you close it by unbelief. God will never forgive continued unbelief, His word binds Him. but remember, there is a blessed alternative." He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."  ( C.H.Spurgeon )

FEBRUARY  17

" He that believeth not...the wrath of God abideth on him."   John 3:36.

He did not say, ' the wrath of God comes to him ' but that it abides on him. All that are born mortals have the wrath of God with them. What wrath of God ? That wrath which Adam first received. For when the first man sinned, and heard the sentence, ' Thou shalt surely die,' he became mortal and we began to be born mortal, and to be born with the wrath of God. " As in Adam all die." ( 1 Corinth. 15:22 ), but all in Christ shall be made alive. " We were by nature the children of wrath even as others." ( Ephes.2:3) Believe on Christ, mortals, so that you may receive Him, the Immortal. And when you have received His immortality, you shall no longer be mortal. He lived, you were dead. He died, that you should live. He has brought us the grace of God, and has taken away the wrath of God. God has conquered death, so that death should not conquer man.   ( Augustine )

FEBRUARY 18

" Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."  John 4:14

He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore. The heart is as insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to overflowing. The true saint is so completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more - except it be for deeper draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer, shall you thirst. It shall not be  thirst of pain but of loving desire. You shall find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller enjoyment of Jesus' love. Do you feel that all your desires are satisfied in Jesus, and that you have no lack now, except to know more of Him and to have closer fellowship with Him ? Then come to the water of the Fountain and take freely. Jesus will never think you take too much. He welcomes you, " Drink, yea drink abundantly, beloved."  ( C.H.Spurgeon )

FEBRUARY 19

" Go, call thy husband. "    John 4:16.

The woman's attempts to keep matters on a secular and outward level fail. With these words Jesus ploughs conviction of sin into the woman's heart.He now draws her to understand what really matters, and matters for ever. He sends a flash of light into the dark soul, an arrow into her conscience. She needs what He can give more than she thinks, and much more is implied in receiving it than she thinks. Christ does not extort a confession from her, but He starts a chain of memories and thinking within her, thoughts which will surprise her into seeing her need of Him, who was before a stranger to Her. " Go, call thy husband." He suggests by this the cause of her misery ; she had spent her life trying to find happiness in human relationships alone, and failed. He had more to offer. She responded, " Give me this water."  We see from this that a natural remark is at times the most embarrassing, where there is already conscious guilt. It was a startling interruption in the dialogue,entirely unexpected, but necessary. Christ knew this heart, and was determined to have it !     ( G.Reith )

FEBRUARY 20

" Sir, I perceive that Thou art a Prophet. "   John 4:19.

We should mark here the absolute necessity of conviction of sin before a soul can be converted to God. The Samaritan woman seems to have been comparatively unmoved until our Lord exposed her breach of the 7th commandment. From that moment , however ignorant, she speaks like an earnest, sincere inquirer after truth. She felt that her spiritual disease was discovered. For the first time in her life she saw herself. But she also saw Christ, the great Physician standing before her, and He did not repel her. To bring thoughtless people to this state of mind should be our aim also, and we need to copy the Master's method.This was a gentle discourse. Moreover, itis not the quantity of conviction that is important,but the quality ie. does it turn the sinner to trust in Christ ?   ( J.C.Ryle)

FEBRUARY 21

" We know what we worship."   John 4:22.

In contrast to the Samaritan religious system, our Lord declares that the Jews ( including himself) had Divine warrant and Scriptural authority for their worship. they knew the One they approached in worship. The where in worship was not important, it was the how that mattered and to Whom it was addressed. ( Ryle) They were separated from the rest of the nations on the condition that the pure knowledge of God should in the end flow out from them to the whole world. What it all comes to is that God is only worshipped properly in the certainty of faith, which is by necessity born of the word of God ; and hence it follows that all who abandon the word ( to regulate their worship ) fall into idolatry. An idol is an empty image put in God's place, out of ( deliberate ? ) ignorance of the true God. ( John Calvin )

FEBRUARY  22

" God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. "   John 4:24.

This is emphatic, MUST - there is no alternative , no choice in this matter. Spiritual worship is required. Worship is the action of the new nature seeking, as the sparks fly upward, to return to the Divine and heavenly source from Whom it came. " We are the ( true ) circumcision who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh ( worldly ceremonies)." Philippians 3:3. Worship is the activity of a redeemed people, it is the mark of grace. ( Exodus 15:1) It is the Scriptural song of those who came out of Egypt. And this worship comes from the heart, and not from the lips only ( Matt.15:8,9). The redeemed heart is occupied with God only, expressing itself with thanksgiving and adoration. The informed heart worships a known God. Everything which attracts the flesh and its senses detracts from real worship ! ( A.W.Pink )

FEBRUARY 23

" Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest."  John 4:36

This was plainly a rebuke. The disciples regarded Samaria as a most unlikely field to work in. At best, they thought much sowing would be required and then a lengthy wait before any ripened grain could be expected. They never dreamed of telling them that the messiah was right outside their gates ! Must they not have hung their heads in shame when they discovered how much more faithful and zealous had been this woman than they ? Christ was teaching His disciples a much needed lesson about mission. What is the principle contained in this verse ? Surely it is this, that we must not judge by appearances. We are tempted to think of some people as ' hopeless cases '. But often those who seem to us the most unlikely cases...are the most ready to hear of the Saviour. We cannot tell how many months there are to harvest !   ( A.W.Pink )

FEBRUARY 24

" Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know. "   John 4:42.

We must make a great difference between God's Word and the word of man.A man's word is a little sound that flies into the air and soon vanishes ; but the Word of God is greater than heaven and earth, yea greater than death and hell, for it forms part of the power of God and endures forever.  ( Martin Luther )The Samaritan woman's testimony was true, but words from a creature are not enough to convince. Hearsay is no substitute for personal experience, as the Lord also pointed out to Pilate ( John 18:34 ). Many live today on a second hand knowledge of Christ, and such can easily discuss various theological views. But it is personal experience that counts. Their faith had this assurance, ' we know.' Faith comes by hearing the word of God ( Rom.10:17 ), not the words of men or women. We cannot live except by the words that come from the mouth of God ( Matt. 4: 4), nor can we die in peace with anything less.Thus was the seed of the Gospel sown in Samaria. A church began and when Philp returned there 4 or  5 years later, the people gave heed to those things which Philip spoke ( Acts 8:5,6,8).  ( M.Henry )

FEBRUARY 25

" Except you see signs and wonders you will not believe. "    John 4:48.

A craving for marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of men's minds in our Lord's day ; they refused solid nourishment and pined after mere wonder. The gospel which they so greatly needed, they would not have ; and the miracles which Jesus did not always choose to give, they eagerly demanded ! Many nowadays must see signs, have dreams, feel horrors or, they say, ' I will never believe in Jesus.' And what if you never have this, feel this ? Will you go to hell out of spite against God ? Do you undeserving mortals dream that my Lord will be dictated to by you ? You are beggars at His gate asking for mercy, and shall you draw up rules and regulations as to how He shall give that mercy ? 

Is not the Gospel its own sign and wonder ? A truthful Saviour ought to be believed. Why will you ask for proof of the veracity of One who cannot lie ? The devils themselves declared Him to be the Son of God, and shall you distrust him ?   ( C.H.Spurgeon )

FEBRUARY 26

" The nobleman says to Him, Sir, come down before my child dies. " John 4:49.

There is here a salutary lesson for the young. Sickness and death come to the young as well as to the old. But the young are slow to learn this lesson. Parents and children are apt to shut their eyes to plain facts, and act as if the young never die young. The gravestones in our cemeteries show how many there are who never reached manhood at all. The first grave ever dug on earth was for a young man ! The first one who ever dies was not a father, but a son. He then, who is wise, will never reckon confidently on long life. It is part of wisdom to be prepared.  ( J.C.Ryle )

This father who came to Christ is an example to us, to be concerned about the soul's welfare of our children. It is our duty to teach them the word of God, and pray that the Holy Spirit will give them the faith that they need to die, at whatever age.

FEBRUARY 27

" Jesus said to him, Go thy way, thy son liveth."  John 4:50.

Because of the man's faith in His power, despite his limitations, Jesus does not refuse the request. The father's distress touched His heart, but He would put his weak faith to a severe test in order to strengthen it, and to make the man feel that true faith would rest on His word without external signs to confirm it. He would also show him that all power sprang out of His own will, and that His word therefore would go into action independently of any limits of space, time or condition. This same word has authority to heal the soul ( Ps.107:20). Jeus willed that the boy should live, and that the crisis was past. The man believed the word - such simple faith in Christ, or in Christ's promise, brings eternal life, removes mountains and is the secret of spiritual strength and peace. Too many today have an unhealthy appetite for outward show and success that overlooks the real hidden power of the gospel  ( John 20:29 ) ( G. Reith )

FEBRUARY 28

" And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went his way."   John 4:50

This shows us the power of the spoken word not only on the boy that was healed, but on his father too ! The nobleman had heard the word of God from the lips of the Son of God, and real faith, saving faith, was now begotten within him. He raises no objections, asks no questions.But with implicit confidence in what he heard, he went his way. No signs were needed, no feelings required to impart assurance. This is how salvation comes to the sinner. It is simply a matter of taking God at His word, setting our seal to the fact that He is true. The fact that it is God's word guarantees its truthfulness. This, we believe, is the only instance recorded in the New Testament where a ' nobleman ' believed in Christ - " not many noble are called."  ( 1 Corinth.1:26)     ( A.W.Pink )