Milo

December 30

“Peter was kept in prison: but prayer (instant and earnest prayer) was made for him.” (Acts 12:5, margin.)

PETER was in prison awaiting his execution. The Church had neither human power nor influence to save him. There was no earthly help, but there was help to be obtained by the way of Heaven. They gave themselves to fervent, importunate prayer. God sent His angel, who aroused Peter from sleep and led him out through the first and second wards of the prison; and when they came to the iron gate, it opened to them of its own accord, and Peter was free.
There may be some iron gate in your life that has blocked your way. Like a caged bird you have often beaten against the bars, but instead of helping, you have only had to fall back tired, exhausted and sore at heart. There is a secret for you to learn, and that is believing prayer; and when you come to the iron gate, it will open of its own accord. How much wasted energy and sore disappointment will be saved if you will learn to pray as did the Church in the upper room! Insurmountable difficulties will disappear; adverse circumstances will prove favorable if you learn to pray, not with your own faith but with the faith of God (Mark 11:22, margin). Souls in prison have been waiting for years for the gate to open; loved ones out of Christ, bound by Satan, will be set free when you pray till you definitely believe God.—C. H. P.
Emergencies call for intense prayer. When the man becomes the, prayer nothing can resist its touch. Elijah on Carmel, bowed down on the ground, with his face between his knees, that was prayer—the man himself. No words are mentioned. Prayer can be too tense for words. The man’s whole being was in touch with God, and was set with God against the powers of evil. They couldn’t withstand such praying. There’s more of this embodied praying needed.—The Bent-knee Time.
“Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.”—C. H. Spurgeon.

30 DECEMBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S EVENING 1774)

Joined to the Lord

‘They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.’ Jeremiah 50:5
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Timothy 1:1–14

The desire which animates and encourages them is Let us join … in a covenant. This covenant is not the creature’s engagement to the Lord, but a laying hold on the Lord’s covenant engagement to the sinner. This is established in Christ. He engaged to fulfil all righteousness for those who come to him, and to work all their works for them and in them. Our part is to consent to it, to choose it, and to venture ourselves. All promises and resolutions of our own will come to nothing without this. But when this covenant is known, it draws the soul to a willing surrender. Then the sinner gives himself away, and commits himself to the Redeemer, as the Apostle speaks in 2 Timothy 1:12. By accepting, yielding, to this covenant, the soul is joined to the Lord—in one spirit, one interest. Then Christ dwells in the sinner and puts forth his life, power, and grace in the soul, and the sinner dwells in Christ as in a strong tower of defence. This covenant shall not be forgotten. The effects and purposes of it are abiding and unchangeable. The Lord will remember it in every turn of life, at the hour of death and the day of judgement. It will not be forgotten by the soul. The hour, the place, will usually be remembered, the surrender often renewed and ratified. O that this may be the hour and this the place with some of you—that the glory of this covenant may win your hearts before you go hence.

FOR MEDITATION: The anniversary of my great deliverance in 1748 calls for my grateful acknowledgement.… I remember when I stood trembling, to appearance upon the brink of eternity, and thought it impossible I could live a quarter of an hour. Since that memorable day thou hast added twenty-eight years to my life … My time is shortening apace. O that the remainder may be spent for thee. Be my Shepherd, my Saviour, my all, and may all that I have and am be devoted to thee and employed for thee.
Diary, 21 March 1776

[anniversary of John Newton’s conversion in a storm at sea]

SERMON: JEREMIAH 50:5 [6/7] [TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE]

December 29th

Deserter or disciple?

From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. John 6:66.

When God gives a vision by His Spirit through His word of what He wants, and your mind and soul thrill to it, if you do not walk in the light of that vision, you will sink into servitude to a point of view which Our Lord never had. Disobedience in mind to the heavenly vision will make you a slave to points of view that are alien to Jesus Christ. Do not look at someone else and say—‘Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why cannot I?’ You have to walk in the light of the vision that has been given to you and not compare yourself with others or judge them, that is between them and God. When you find that a point of view in which you have been delighting clashes with the heavenly vision and you debate, certain things will begin to develop in you—a sense of property and a sense of personal right, things of which Jesus Christ made nothing. He was always against these things as being the root of everything alien to Himself. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth.” If we do not recognize this, it is because we are ignoring the undercurrent of Our Lord’s teaching.
We are apt to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we have had. If there is one standard in the New Testament revealed by the light of God and you do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding, because it means your conscience does not answer to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you for going on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ, or for going back as a deserter.

December 29

“Arise … for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and are ye still? Be not slothful to go, and enter to possess the land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.” (Judges 18:9, 10.)

ARISE! Then there is something definite for us to do. Nothing is ours unless we take it. “The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.” (Joshua 16:4.) “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” (Obad. 17.) “The upright shall have good things in possession.”
We need to have appropriating faith in regard to God’s promises. We must make God’s Word our own personal possession. A child was asked once what appropriating faith was, and the answer was, “It is taking a pencil and underscoring all the me’s and mine’s and my’s in the Bible.”
Take any word you please that He has spoken and say, “That word is my word.” Put your finger on this promise and say, “It is mine.” How much of the Word has been endorsed and receipted and said “It is done.” How many promises can you subscribe and say, “Fulfilled to me.”
“Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine.” Don’t let your inheritance go by default.

“When faith goes to market it always takes a basket.”

29 DECEMBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S EVENING 1774)

Set your faces Zion-ward

‘They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.’ Jeremiah 50:5
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Timothy 4:9–16

They ask, with their faces thitherward. Too many are content with talking of the way, but they may talk themselves into hell, while they amuse themselves with talking about Zion. They who are sincere will set their faces Zion-ward. That is:
(i) they will give all diligence to make their calling sure, by attending to the means.
(ii) they will abstain from the wicked ways in which they once walked. While the perishing pleasures of sin are desired, and the company of the ungodly chosen, people cannot be in earnest in asking the way to Zion.
(iii) though they meet (as they surely will) discouragements from within and without, they will keep their faces the right way and dread the thoughts of turning back.

Diary, Saturday 18 December 1773:
I desire to be kept from a party spirit but I hope I may and I think ought endeavour to prevent the young ones of the flock from being staggered and puzzled by fine words and artful speech, which are employed to turn them out of the way in which the Lord has led them. Some of my leisure employed in hymn making.

FOR MEDITATION: [Asking the way to Zion, written to be sung after this sermon]
Come, set your faces Zion-ward,
The sacred road enquire;
And let a union to the LORD
Be henceforth your desire!

SERMON: JEREMIAH 50:5 [5/7] [TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE]