Page 9 - Humble Hero (2009)

Contents v
Why He Had to Be Different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Voice in the Wilderness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Zacharias Doubted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
John’s Unusual Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Isaiah’s Portrayals Studied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
On the Edge of Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
John’s Sharp Rebuke to Hypocrites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
The Baptism of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Sinless Christ Baptized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Endorsed by Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Wilderness Temptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Satan Determined to Win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
He Took All Humanity’s Liabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The Temptation to Doubt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Intemperance Corrupts Morals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
The Victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Venturing on Satan’s Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Christ Could Not Be Bought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Satan Remains a Defeated Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
“We Have Found the Messiah” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Many Today Fail to “See” Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Christ’s Appearance Was Ordinary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
John Directs His Followers to Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Nathanael’s Secret Prayers Are Heard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The Strongest Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Jesus Attends a Wedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Mary’s Faith Is Rewarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Christ Broke Down Class Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Christ Confronts Corruption in the Temple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Financial Corruption at the Heart of God’s Work . . . . . . . . . . 91
The Temple Cleansed by the Presence of the Lord . . . . . . . . . 92
A Preview of the Final Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
The Beginning of the Final Rejection of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Nicodemus Comes to Jesus at Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Mystery of the New Birth Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Nicodemus Begins to See the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
“He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Christ’s Example of Avoiding Misunderstanding . . . . . . . . . 107