Jesus and Nicodemus — F. Crossley Morgan

Nicodemus’s Discussion, Defense, and Devotion to Jesus

Christ and Nicodemus. And I have very little doubt that all of us here who are students of these gospel narratives will agree at once that certainly this is one of the most fascinating, one of the most interesting, and indeed one of the most important stories to be found in these gospel narratives.

And as we approach the story let me begin by reminding you that this remarkable man Nicodemus, with whom we are going to watch our Lord deal, appears upon the page of New Testament history on three separate occasions.

First there is that occasion with which possibly we're all rather familiar, the occasion when Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. And they talked to one another through the dark hours. For the purpose of our memory and our thinking tonight we might refer to that as the picture of his discussion with Jesus.

Then there is that second picture of this man Nicodemus with which possibly we're not quite so familiar. The picture of Nicodemus in that hour when the chief priests and Pharisees, and I but remind you in passing that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, sent officers of the law to arrest Jesus.

But they returned not having arrested him. And from my reading this evening you may remember in that hour Nicodemus stood in the presence of the chief priests and his fellow Pharisees to challenge their procedure as he spoke a word in defense of Jesus.

Just for the purposes of our thinking we might refer to that second picture as the picture of his defense of Jesus in the presence of some of the leaders in the life of the nation Israel. Then there is that third singularly sad little picture.

The picture of this same man Nicodemus in that darkest hour in all human history. That hour when humanly speaking men had laid hold upon Jesus the Son of God and nailed him to a brutal Roman gibbet. And that great head is flung in death.

From the appallingly dark shadows of that hour you may remember that there came forth two men determined that at least his sacred body should have decent burial. And not be put, not be thrown on the fires forever burning in the valley of Gehenna.

Where garbage was thrown and where the bodies of malefactors were thrown. And one of the two men, this same man Nicodemus. Again just for the purposes of our thinking tonight we might refer to that third little picture as the picture of his devotion to Jesus in that dark hour.

So that we do have three pictures to examine. First his discussion with Jesus. Then his defense of Jesus. And thirdly his devotion to Jesus. Now my friends in order to relieve your minds at once of any entirely unnecessary anxiety.

Let me say that we shall spend nearly all our time with the first picture. I think I better say that at this point because when I've been speaking about an hour. And I say now we'll turn to the second picture.

I don't want you to imagine I'm only a third of the way through. We shall be almost at the end of our meditation. We will turn to the second picture and to the third. But only to gather up certain values and dismiss them.

But we do come back to this first picture and take some care with it. And at the very outset I must deal with a technical matter. Just supposing you, maybe as a Sunday school teacher, were going to prepare a message about Nicodemus.

Maybe you were going to prepare a character study of Nicodemus. I wonder where in the gospel according to John you would begin your reading and study in order to prepare that message. My friends I raise the question because I find nearly all Sunday school teachers and for that matter ministers of the world.

When they're going to talk about Nicodemus they begin at chapter 3 verse 1. In John's gospel. You may remember that's where I began reading this evening. And I admit at first that seems the proper place to begin.

Because in that verse Nicodemus is referred to for the first time in the Bible. But my friends if you begin there, you're liable to miss a fundamental revelation of truth concerning Nicodemus. And if you miss it, you'll be doing Nicodemus a grave injustice.

Well someone says if we're not to begin there, where should we begin? That is where we generally begin. You ought to go back into the second chapter of John. I think I said to some this morning in another connection.

You know whatever else is or is not inspired in your Bible, certainly your chapter and verse divisions are not. And if you're going to be a serious student of this literature, you must forget all about chapter and verse divisions.

They're the most misleading things. I think it's because chapter 3 begins there, but that's where most people begin if they're going to make a study of Nicodemus. You ought to go back into chapter 2. In chapter 2 there are 25 verses.

You ought at least to go back to the 23rd verse. Now be patient a moment as I begin to read at verse 23 of chapter 2, and just read straight into the first verse of chapter 3. As I do it, I want you to try and notice the relationship between that which John is telling you as chapter 2 draws to its close, and that which he says in effect as chapter 3 opens.

Now just listen a moment. Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the peace, many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men.

And because he needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, the same came unto him by night, and so forth and so on.

But do you detect the relationship between that which John is saying at the end of chapter 2, and that which he says in effect as chapter 3 opens. John is telling you that at this period in the ministry of Jesus, he was not trusting himself to men in general, because he knew what was in man.

But then John says in effect, now wait a minute, there was one man to whom he did trust himself. Trusted himself so perfectly, as to allow that man to come to him at night. And as I'm sure all of you are well aware, it was to that man that Jesus entrusted some of the profoundest teaching that ever fell from his lips.

In other words, whatever else we are going to discover about Nicodemus, will you please bear in mind, he was a man Jesus trusted, and he knew what was in man. And trusted him at a period when he was not trusting himself to men in general.

In other words, whatever else we're going to discover, will you please bear in mind, this man was a trustworthy man. He was an honorable, honest, upright, sincere man. Whatever else we're going to discover, please keep that in mind.

Now with that basic fact, thawed away in the back of our minds, I shall have occasion to refer to it again presently. But with that fact thawed away in the back of our minds, I ask, what else does John tell us about Nicodemus?

Now my friends, I shall never forget years ago now, when for the first time, I got down to a character study of Nicodemus. I shall never forget because at first, I was very disappointed because John tells us so little about him.

Of course I realized, John does recall the discussion between our Lord and Nicodemus rather fully. But as to the man himself, you've only got three facts. This is all that John says. He says, now there was a man of the parish named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and that's all you've got.

John plunges right into his record of the discussion as he says, the same came to him by night and said, and the conversation opened. And quite literally, I remember so well, sitting in my study at home, with those three fingers as they are now, suggesting those three facts.

And I said to myself, I don't see a great deal there, upon which I can build an interesting character study. A man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And as I sat in my study at home, contemplating those facts, there flashed into my mind that wonderful bit of writing, as I think, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I'm sure you've all read the story. If you haven't read the story, you may have seen the moving picture. You know, that's a lazy man's way of getting a book. But be that as it may, whether you've read the story or seen the movie, you know it's the story of a man with a sort of dual personality.

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. Same man. When that flashed into my mind, I said, now wait a minute, I wonder if John is introducing me to a man with a sort of triple personality. Complex in his makeup. Three entirely different sides to the same person, suggested by those three phrases.

Now I merely tell you of that experience in the study at home, because I want you to look with me tonight at this man, as a man with a sort of a triple personality. Let's take a minute or two with those expressions of John.

In the first place, John tells us he was a man of the Pharisee. Now I'm sure we remember that word Pharisee simply means separated. The Pharisees as a group were men who had separated themselves from all others, aiming at a more than ordinary sanctity, holiness, strictness of religious life and observance.

And my friends, that's always a good thing to do. To separate yourself from the general run of men and aim seriously at a more than ordinary sanctity and strictness of religious life. But, it always has its peculiar danger.

And the danger is, lest those thus separating themselves become spiritually proud, self-righteous, spiritually snobbish. And from your familiarity with all these stories, I'm sure all of us remember, at this particular period in the life of the nation Israel, the Pharisees as a group had become guilty of that very thing.

A little inner group prided themselves upon their piety, their holiness. And this man was one of them. He mixed and mingled with that little inner group in the life of the nation Israel as an evil. He was a man of the Pharisee.

Keep that in mind. Now for a moment I pass over the central thing and go to the third. John tells us he was a ruler of the Jews. And the phrase suggests an entirely different side to the same person. The Jews, the common people.

In all his dealings with them, he was the ruler. He never allowed them to forget his position. He never allowed any familiarity. He never permitted any liberties. In all his dealings with the common people, the Jews, he was the ruler.

I want you to detect the difference between those expressions. It would not be accurate at all for John to speak of him as a man of the Jews. The Jews, the common people, they never saw the man. In all his dealings with them, he was the ruler.

He never allowed them to forget his position. It would not be accurate to speak of him as a ruler of the Pharisees, no, no. He didn't attempt to rule the Pharisees, that little inner brute. Nay, verily, he mixed and mingled with them as an equal.

He was one of them. He was a man of the Pharisees. I have to confess to you, I never stopped thinking of those two sides to the same man, without being reminded of an experience I had years ago now, in the deep South.

And wild horses won't drag the name of the place out of me, so don't ask. It was a very small place. I was holding a series of services, but it was so small, there was no hotel, there was no motel, and I had to stay in a private home.

And I recall that that home was rather unusual in its general layout, because not only the dining room, which of course is usual, but also the sitting room opened up the kitchen. And I remember one evening, just before my evening service, I was there in the sitting room, gancing through my notes in preparation for the service.

Well, my friends, something had gone wrong in the kitchen. I didn't want to overhear, but I couldn't help it, the room opened up the kitchen. But the point is, I woke up to the fact there were two sides to my hostess.

Pick that up quickly. When she was with me, she was a charming woman, most attractive, delightful. When something went wrong in the kitchen, that poor coloured cook saw a side of my hostess I hadn't dressed existed.

You got it, that's exactly it. You see, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews. But wait a minute, there's something the Pharisees never saw, neither did the Jews. And it's the central, the deepest thing.

It's the central thing. He was a man named Nicodemus. When you were studying this story, did you ever look up the meaning of that name? It's almost startling when you look it up. Startling, because it comes from two Greek words.

Suggesting the Greek influence upon the life of the nation Israel at this period. It comes from the Greek word Nikos, and the Greek word Deimos. Nikos means triumph. Deimos means the people. The word from which we get our word, democracy.

Deimos, the people. Triumphant among the people. You know I can almost sit down and just dream dreams in the presence of that name alone. It seems to me I can see devout Hebrew parents, bending over the crib in which their little baby boy lies.

The hour is approaching when you have to be presented a name. But what should we call him? And like all true parents, they were sure their wee baby boy was going to be a great man someday. And maybe it was mother who said, well let's give him a great name.

Let's call him Nikos Deimos. Triumphant among the people. He will be someday, you wait and see. And so he came to bear that name. A man named Nicodemus. My friends, whenever I stop thinking a moment about those three sides to the same man, I'm reminded of an article I read in the Reader's Digest, oh it's years ago now.

It was entitled, Masked. And the writer argued that practically everybody with whom we come into contact in daily life is behind a mask. Should I say mask? You know what I mean, don't you? You ought to.

You ought to as we approach Halloween. But being a British, you see I say mask, but mask anyhow. But his argument was nearly everybody is behind a mask. You don't see the real person. When they're chatting with you, they put up a mask.

What they want you to think they are. Well all right, this person we are talking about, when he was with that little inner group, the pharisees, he was behind mask number one. They looked up and they saw one of their numbers, a man of the pharisees.

He never used that. When he was dealing with the common people, the Jews, he was behind mask number two. They looked up and they saw a ruler in the life of the nation. He never allowed them to forget it.

Of course when he was in his bedroom alone at night, there was no need for any mask. Then he was just what he really was, a man named Nicodemus. Now it is with that person complex in his makeup, we are watching our Lord deal tonight.

Jesus Removes Nicodemus’s Masks

Now my friends, if you will sit down and read and reread possibly a few times the records of this discussion. After a time, I'm reasonably sure you're bound to notice there's a sort of a 3 -4 movement to it.

Shall I say there were three cycles of discussion. To be quite technical, Nicodemus spoke one, two, three times. Jesus answered him one, two, three times. Let me just pick out the skeleton of the story.

Nicodemus sat unto him, Jesus answered and said unto him. There's the first movement verses 1 to 3. Then Nicodemus sat unto him, Jesus answered. There's the second movement, verses 4 down to 8. Then Nicodemus answered and said unto him, Jesus answered and said unto him.

There's the third movement, verses 9 down to 21. And if you read and reread and ponder, I'm sure presently you'll understand exactly what I mean when I say in the first movement, you're looking at Jesus confronted by the man of the Pharisees.

He's behind mask number one, it's courteous, it's conventional. And then there's a complete change of atmosphere. And in verses 4 down to 8, you're still looking at Jesus, but now he's confronted by the ruler of the Jews.

He's gotten behind mask number two as intellect clashed with intellect, in the darkness of the night. Oh but you're bound to notice the change in the third movement. In verses 9 down to 21, you're still looking at Jesus, but now he's confronted by a man named Nicodemus.

Just notice in passing, for there's a whole sermon in this. Before our Lord was through with him that night, all masks have been removed. You can put up a mask when you're talking to me, and I may not realize you're doing it.

You can't do it when you're with Jesus. Because as John said, he needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. He knows you. I may not, he does. And so gently, kindly, but definitely he'll remove all masks.

You've just got to be what you really are, when you're dealing with him. All right, all that by way of introduction. Now we look at the first movement. Nicodemus came to him by night and said, now just listen carefully, and see if you don't detect, it's the man of the Pharisees speaking.

As a matter of fact, he gives himself completely away in the second word that cropped his lips. For he came by night and he said, Rabbi, we know, we. Why did he use the plural? He was all alone. Why didn't he say, Rabbi, I know that thou art a teacher come from God.

Oh no, he didn't say that. He said we. He meant we Pharisees. He's speaking as a man of the Pharisees. He's behind mask number one. Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs that thou doest except God be with us.

The Pharisees’ Perplexity and the Need for Revelation

In the presence of those opening words, I just want you to sense one thing, namely this. The perfectity of the Pharisees as a group concerning Jesus. There's no doubt they were profoundly perplexed. Really to understand this, you need the background in your thinking of four centuries of history.

Do you remember Amos, that great Hebrew prophet? Foretold there was coming a period of famine for the word of God. Oh how God had brought his word to his people Israel, through one great prophet after another.

God raised up among them. But Amos told them there's coming a period of famine for the word of God. There will not be any prophet. There will not be any authoritative ghost. There will not be any authoritative word from God.

There's coming a period of famine for the word of God. And after Malachi, the last of the long line of the prophets, had uttered his message, that period set in. And for four centuries, no prophetic voice.

Famine for the word of God. And then suddenly, that voice crying out in the wilderness, John the Baptist. Go back and read the first chapter, and you discover that Pharisees were perplexed. Oh you know the Pharisees were the type, and we've all met the type, who don't like anybody to think that anything under God's blue heaven ever perplexes them.

They thought they knew it all. And so they were very careful. They didn't want people to think that they, the Pharisees, were perplexed. So what they did was to send some of their pupils, some of their students to John, to ask him, are thou the Christ?

John said no. Well are thou the prophet? No. Well who art thou that we may have an answer to give to those that sent us. And John tells you clearly, they had been sent of the Pharisees. They were perplexed about that thought.

And now, if I may be pardoned the expression, right under their noses, in metropolitan Jerusalem, this other person has appeared. He cleansed the outer court of the Gentiles. Well who can he be? They were perplexed.

Now where's that fact I asked you to keep way back of your mind? Among that little group, there was at least one honorable, trustworthy, sincere man. And he said within himself, if we are perplexed, there's only one honorable thing to do.

We should go and lay our perplexity before him. At least we are convinced of this, he's a teacher come from God. We've seen these signs. We can't argue against them. Well very well, if we are perplexed, we ought to go and get the latest thing from God.

Lay before him our perplexity. And in effect, that's what this great, sincere soul is doing. Telling our Lord, quite frankly, the conclusion, the truth that reached, we Pharisees. We know thou art a teacher come from God.

Explaining how they've reached that conclusion. These signs, there's no denying. Some of us at least are not satisfied with that conclusion, a teacher come from God. But we don't seem to be able to get any further.

Well very well, if I may put it thus. In the quietness of the night, the dark hours, to that great soul, that fell from the lips of Jesus, the most revolutionary bit of teaching to which the world has ever listened.

That crashed across all human philosophy, all human theologies. That amazing word, as Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now think through that. In effect, our Lord was saying, Nicodemus, the whole mystery of my life and me, is one of the things of the kingdom of God. And by your first birth, you do not have the wherewithal to see the things of the kingdom of God.

That conclusion you tell me that you've reached, a teacher come from God, oh it's entirely inadequate. But you've gone as far as you can. Along the line of human reasoning, you can't get any further. Our Lord was saying in effect, Nicodemus, by your first birth, you do have the faculties, you do have the wherewithal, if you will train and develop, to understand the things of four kingdoms.

The mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the hominal or human kingdom. But by your first birth, you haven't got the wherewithal to see the things of the kingdom of God. Or that cut clean of crops, all worldly wisdom like a knife.

Sit down sometime and think what that means. It means you can go to grammar school, you can go to high school, you can go to college, you can go to university. You can take postgraduate courses galore.

But they cannot enable you to even see the things of the kingdom of God. You've got to receive new light from above, if you're ever to see. Oh I remember some years ago, I was holding services in a college town.

And they were all held on the college campus. Because they had a larger auditorium then. It was the month of May. Final examinations were all over. The following week, students were all going home. So many of them attended the services.

It was a lovely month of May. And I remember night after night that week, I sat out under the trees of that campus as students came and talked to me. I remember one young lady especially, she came and said, Now I represent quite a group here at this college.

I don't know how to explain the thing, but we're terribly perplexed about the things of our faith. She said, I'd better explain my own position. She went on to tell me about herself. She came from a very small town.

Her father was a Methodist minister. Now she said, I grew up in the atmosphere of that home and of that church. I never had any difficulty with the things of our faith. But I've come away to this college campus and to my amazement, I'm discovering many things I've always believed.

They're not beliefs here. She said, I never had any difficulty in believing in the story as Mark and Luke tells us of the virgin birth of our Lord. But it's not believed here. Not even in our Bible facts.

I always believed in the wonderful things Jesus did, what we speak of as his miracles. They're all explained away here. I always thought of Jesus as God incarnate. I believed in his deity. They don't hear.

Oh, they believe he was divine in a sense as we are, but not in his deity. She said, I always believed and almost got excited about the resurrection stories. They're not believed here. Oh yes, they believe he rose in some sort of a spiritual manner, but not actually in bodily.

Now she said, that's what we're up against. What are we to do? We don't want to give up our faith, but we don't want to make our judgment blind. She said, I've told you about my dad and mother. I'm not speaking disrespectfully of them.

But I've got to face facts. I just happen to know for no, for no fault of their own, neither dad or mother had the benefit of a college education. Well, all right. Now I come away to these halls of higher learning, these professors.

She said, you can't question their scholarship, their academic ability. Well, all right. They surely ought to know better than my dad or mother. Oughtn't we to listen to them? And my friend said, there are thousands of young people up against that sort of thing.

Of course I took the girl right here. Except a man be born from above, he can't see these things, much less is he in a position to speak with authority about them. My friends, if I had some problem in the realms of things of the kingdom of God, I would much rather go and sit down and talk to any Salvation Army lackey that's been born from above than I would if he were still living to Thomas Edison.

I'm not speaking disrespectfully of that amazing man, for such he most surely was. Oh, it is indeed. But in so far as his public utterances and writings reveal, he was never in a position to speak concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

Oh, if I wanted to know something concerning the mystery of how this thing works, or those lights, that's different. That's in the realm of another kingdom. I wouldn't think of going to any Salvation Army lackey if I could have had the high privilege of sitting at the feet of Thomas Edison.

But that's another kingdom. If I had some problem in the realm of the things of the kingdom of God, I'd much rather go and talk to any minister of the gospel of any denomination that has been born from above than I would if he were still living to Luther Burdick.

And I'm not speaking disrespectfully of the amazing man as he was. But in so far as public utterances and writings reveal, he was never in a position to speak concerning the things of the kingdom of God.

Oh, if I wanted to know something about growing flowers, but that's different. We must clarify our thinking at this point. It'll save us a lot of intellectual perplexity and confusion. You could pick up a book.

I grant you it's by a very eminent man. Maybe a professor in one of the greatest universities in the world. You sit down and read it. And after a page or two you find he's saying things diametrically opposed to the biblical revelation.

Don't let it disturb you in your faith. It does not mean he's right and you're wrong. When I read a thing like that I say what a pity. Apparently the man hasn't received fullness of life from above. He can't see these things.

So of course he can't speak with us about it. Nicodemus sat under him. Notice the change of atmosphere. It isn't the courteous conventional manner of the Pharisees. It's the ruler now. As intellect clashed with intellect.

Nicodemus sat under him. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter at second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus said in effect, Rabbi, that which thou hast just said implies that our conclusion that teacher comes from God is inadequate.

Well, some of us feel that way about it. But there's more to it than that. From what you've said it means we've got to receive new life in order to understand. How can a man do that? In effect Nicodemus was saying, let me tell you our philosophy of life and correct me if I be wrong.

Life, the growth, isn't it? What I am as I stand in front of thee tonight, Rabbi, I am first, as the result of what I was in my mother's womb. Secondly, as the result of all the processes of the years, the processes of growth, the forces playing upon my life.

I am what I am as the result of hereditary and environment. Now, Rabbi, I can't go back through all those processes and begin all over again, receive this new life you're talking about. And in effect Nicodemus said, let me illustrate my difficulty in the realm of the physical.

Because surely that which is true physically is true spiritually. Physically I am what I am. First, as the result of what I was in my mother's womb. Secondly, as the result of all the processes of growth.

Now, I can't go back through those processes. I can't re-enter my mother's womb there to receive this new life. It's utterly impossible. Physically, surely then it's impossible spiritually. Because that which is true physically is true spiritually.

Spiritually I am what I am, as the result of what I was at the beginning, and as the result of all the experiences of the years. I can't go back through those experiences, can I? And he wasn't joking, he was never more serious.

And apart from the infinite grace of God he was accurate. At that point his philosophy is the same as that of Omar Khayyam. The moving finger right, from having grip moves up, no, all right, quiet it, back, Jesus answers, verily, verily, I say unto thee, He cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Did you notice the addition? First time, that is of the Spirit. Now, of the Spirit. Born of water. What does that mean? Well you won't ask if you go back and read the first and second chapters of John, there you've got the record of the baptism of John, which was a baptism of water, symbolic of repentance, looking unto remission of sin.

Repentance, the Greek word we translate metanoia, simply means to think again, and think differently. Using figurative language, our Lord came back at Nicodemus, and said in effect, Nicodemus, if you're ever to enter the kingdom of God, not merely must you receive this new life from above, that still holds true.

But you have to think again, and think differently, you're not reasoning accurately. And then our Lord proceeded to show him wherein he was reasoning inaccurately. As he said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. You mustn't compare the flesh and the Spirit as you're doing. Nicodemus, I'll be the first to admit, in the realm of the flesh, the natural, the physical, you're perfectly right.

You cannot re-enter your mother's womb and be born. Because the flesh will obey the laws of the flesh. In that realm it's impossible. But the Spirit will obey the laws of the Spirit. And in that realm, not merely is it possible, but necessary.

The Wind of the Spirit and New Birth

And then my friends, because, as I think probably we all sense, the whole conversation does, becoming intricate and involved, as intellect clashed with intellect in the darkness of the night, the master-teacher partnered upon a figure.

I'm sure you who try to do any teaching know sometimes you can get tremendous truth across if you use a parable, or a picture, or a figure. I wonder where they were, we're not told. But let's suppose they were sitting on a housetop in Jerusalem, which is quite possible.

Then I suggest, as they were speaking, maybe from the Mount of Olives, there came down over the city a wind, and the master-teacher partnered upon it. The wind blows where it will, so here is the voice thereof, but knows not whence it cometh or whither it goeth.

So is everyone born of the Spirit. Don't tumble over this thing, Nicodemus, because there are things beyond your finite mind. You don't know that with regard to the wind. There are things about the wind you don't know.

You don't know the ultimate whence, nor the ultimate whither, but because there are things you don't know, you don't say, oh well then, there's no such thing as the wind. You don't reason like that. You hear the voice.

That which you hear, demonstrates the fact, concerning which there's a great deal you don't understand. Now it's going to be like that. So, is everyone born of the Spirit. My friends, whenever I get to that eighth verse, the wind bloweth where it will, I am reminded of that classic story of a prince among preachers about a generation ago, Dr. John Henry Jarrett.

It's a story of him when he was quite a young man, just playing Mr. Jarrett, in his third partridge, which was at Newcastle on Tyne in England. He was making a sermon on that eighth verse. The wind bloweth where it will.

And he didn't seem to make any headway. And it was a lovely day, so finally he just closed his testament and went out for a stroll. And he happened to walk down to Tyne Farm, and was strolling along the beach, the seashore, when he noticed an old fishing boat, drawn up on the beach, and leaning up against the prow, putting an old clay pipe, a regular old fisherman, weather-beaten old fellow, what we'd call in England, the typical old fellow.

But seeing that weather-beaten old face, Jarrett said, now there's a man who ought to be able to help me with my sermon. He ought to be able to tell me something helpful about the wind. And so he got into conversation with the old fisherman.

And after a while, he said to him, tell me, what do you know about the phenomenon of the wind? And the old boy looked up. He'd never heard that big word. Well, Dr. Jarrett used to tell the story on himself years later.

But he changed his language, and in all simplicity, he said, well, I mean, what do you know about the wind? The old chap hesitated a moment. Then he looked up, and he said, well, sir, I don't know that I know much about the wind.

All he said, I know it's like a host of sails. Jarrett said, I've got my sermon straight from that old fellow. He didn't wait till he knew everything about the wind. If he did, he'd never have gone fishing.