Milo

December 20

“Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” (John 16:32.)

IT need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. But he who will fly, as an eagle does, into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must be content to live a comparatively lonely life.
No bird is so solitary as the eagle. Eagles never fly in flocks; one, or at most two, ever being seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however it forfeits human companionships, knows Divine fellowship.
God seeks eagle-men. No man ever comes into a realization of the best things of God, who does not, upon the Godward side of his life, learn to walk alone with God. We find Abraham alone in Horeb upon the heights, but Lot, dwelling in Sodom. Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt must go forty years into the desert alone with God. Paul, who was filled with Greek learning and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life with God. Let God isolate us. I do not mean the isolation of a monastery. In this isolating experience He develops an independence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith or attention of his neighbor. Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in the Christian’s development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual’s faith and welfare. God knows how to change the circumstances in order to give us an isolating experience. We yield to God and He takes us through something, and when it is over, those about us, who are no less loved than before, are no longer depended upon. We realize that He has wrought some things in us, and that the wings of our souls have learned to beat the upper air.
We must dare to be alone. Jacob must be left alone if the Angel of God is to whisper in his ear the mystic name of Shiloh; Daniel must be left alone if he is to see celestial visions; John must be banished to Patmos if he is deeply to take and firmly to keep “the print of heaven.”
He trod the wine-press alone. Are we prepared for a “splendid isolation” rather than fail Him?

20 DECEMBER (PREACHED 20 DECEMBER 1767)

Oh, lonesome me!

‘And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’ Isaiah 32:2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 143:1–12

We have spoken of Jesus as the refuge from storm and rain—the sure and welcome retreat for every convinced, tempted soul. The next clause sets him forth in a very acceptable view. And here we may enquire what is meant by a dry place. The dry place signifies a wilderness, as Psalm 105:41. The believing soul is in a wilderness in a twofold state and must perish without these refreshing streams. Such is the prayer of David (Psalm 143:6). A wilderness is barren, lonesome, uncomfortable. Such a state is applicable:
(i) to the world: it does not appear to us so by nature—rather fruitful and pleasant, and the poor soul says as Psalm 132:14. But when the eyes of the mind are opened, the false appearance vanishes and it is all a wilderness. A right view of God and divine things puts us out of conceit with the world, and its poor pleasures are no longer pleasing. A Christian, except he has some believers with him, is alone in a multitude—as a man would be counted solitary if he had none of his own kind, but only wild beasts of the forest around him.
(ii) to the heart: this likewise is known to be a wilderness when known aright. It is indeed full of wickedness—full, as it were, of serpents and dragons, but nothing good or pleasant. By nature we think ourselves rich and increased in goodness, but, when awakened, we find ourselves poor and destitute.

FOR MEDITATION: I have little new to say of myself. My wanderings and wildness when I would attempt praying in secret, are beyond description and would seem impossible to be the lot of a heart in any degree right with God. And yet I am enabled still to hold by the promise, and to say, He is my God and in him will I trust.
Diary, 24 November 1774

SERMON SERIES: ISAIAH 32:2, NO. 3 [1/2]

December 19th

What to concentrate on

I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34.

Never be sympathetic with the soul whose case makes you come to the conclusion that God is hard. God is more tender than we can conceive, and every now and again He gives us the chance of being the rugged one that He may be the tender One. If a man cannot get through to God it is because there is a secret thing he does not intend to give up—‘I will admit I have done wrong, but I no more intend to give up that thing than fly.’ It is impossible to deal sympathetically with a case like that: we have to get right deep down to the root until there is antagonism and resentment against the message. People want the blessing of God, but they will not stand the thing that goes straight to the quick.
If God has had His way with you, your message as His servant is merciless insistence on the one line, cut down to the very root, otherwise there will be no healing. Drive home the message until there is no possible refuge from its application. Begin to get at people where they are until you get them to realize what they lack, and then erect the standard of Jesus Christ for their lives—‘We never can be that!’ Then drive it home: ‘Jesus Christ says you must.’ ‘But how can we be?’ ‘You cannot, unless you have a new Spirit’ (Luke 11:13).
There must be a sense of need before your message is of any use. Thousands of people are happy without God in this world. If I was happy and moral till Jesus came, why did He come? Because that kind of happiness and peace is on a wrong level; Jesus Christ came to send a sword through every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.

December 19

“It shall turn to you for a testimony.” (Luke 21:13.)

LIFE is a steep climb, and it does the heart good to have somebody “call back” and cheerily beckon us on up the high hill. We are all climbers together, and we must help one another. This mountain climbing is serious business, but glorious. It takes strength and steady step to find the summits. The outlook widens with the altitude. If anyone among us has found anything worth while, we ought to “call back.”

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back—
’Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say He kept you when the forest’s roots were torn;
That, when the heavens thunder and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

Oh, friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your face;
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim,
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you’ll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you’ll say He saw you through the night’s sin-darkened sky—
If you have gone a little way ahead, oh, friend, call back—
’Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.
—Selected.

19 DECEMBER

He honoured the law

‘Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ Isaiah 7:14
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 2:5–11

The wonder rises unspeakably—this son of the virgin, shall be called Emanuel, God with us. The human nature of Christ considered alone, was not sufficient for the great undertaking of reconciliation. Two things were requisite which exceeded the utmost capacity of any mere creature: dignity and power. As sinless and perfect, he might have yielded a complete obedience, but it could have been only for himself. The most excellent creature cannot exceed the law of his creation. He is bound to serve God with his all, and his obligations keep pace with his ability. An obedience acceptable and available for others, for thousands and millions, for all who plead it, must be performed by a nature not necessarily bound. It was therefore a divine person in the human nature who engaged for us. He who was before all, by whom all things were made, assumed the nature of man. The lawgiver himself submitted in this way to be under his own law. This gave a value and dignity to all that he did, to all that he suffered; thus he not only satisfied but honoured the law. We may boldly say the law and perfections of God were more honoured by the Messiah in his obedience, in submitting to the death of the cross, than it could have been by the unsinning obedience of all mankind to the end of time.
FOR MEDITATION:
He bears the names of all his saints,
The blood, which as a Priest he bears
Deep on his heart engraved;
For sinners, is his own;
Attentive to the state and wants
The incense of his prayers and tears
Of all his love has saved.
Perfume the holy throne.

In him a holiness complete,
In him my weary soul has rest,
Light and perfections shine;
Though I am weak and vile
And wisdom, grace, and glory meet;
I read my name upon his breast,
A Saviour all divine.
And see the Father smile.

SERMON SERIES: MESSIAH, NO. 5 [4/6], ISAIAH 7:14