27 OCTOBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S EVENING 1785)
The supreme desire of our souls
‘And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.’ Jeremiah 24:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hosea 14:1–9
When we know the Lord we therefore come to him for pardon and for liberty. Both are in Christ—they who believe are accepted and made free. He becomes their God. They return to their allegiance and rest. They own and feel their dependence. They devote and yield themselves to him, and thus are restored to their proper rank and state as his intelligent creatures, under additional obligation of being bought with blood. Now they say—What have I to do any more with idols? He is their refuge; we are weak, defenceless, exposed, but Psalm 146:5 [Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God]; Deuteronomy 33. There is our sap. The Lord is their tower and their shield. He is their portion, their happiness. The supreme desire of their souls is to him; they have fellowship with him—and for ever. They are his people, interested in all his attributes, perfections, promises and providences.
FOR MEDITATION: I doubt not many of thy children think highly of me, but what I really am thou only knowest, and well it is for me. Thou canst bear with me, but could my fellow creatures see me as I appear in thy sight, surely they would flee from me. Thou, Lord, knewest what I would be. Thou knowest that I desire to love thee, yea, that I do love thee, above all. Thou art the foundation of my hope and chief object of my soul’s desire. I trust there is nothing in heaven or upon earth that I hold in competition with thee. I seek my happiness only in thy favour and propose thy glory as the great end of my being.
Annotated Letters to a Wife, 27 October 1794
SERMON: JEREMIAH 24:7 [3/4] [FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE]
Milo 