Milo

13 DECEMBER (PREACHED 13 DECEMBER 1767)

Foundations under trial

‘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: Mark 4:35–41

If the first clause had stood alone, I might have considered it under many particulars, for, not only the first work of conviction, but many things that follow in a believer’s path may be compared to a mighty wind from which they need a strong and safe hiding place and must perish without one. But here are four different views given of this Man, and the benefits derived from him by faith, and we may therefore with more exactness refer some things to one heading and some to another. In the English this seems much the same with the former—a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the storm are not very different, but there is a difference in the Hebrew. The word signifies properly a flood and is so rendered in 28:2 and Psalm 90:5. The wind tries the strength of the building, the flood tries the foundation, and threatens to sweep all before it. Now when a soul has felt the mighty wind of the Spirit and bows in conviction, and sought and found a hiding place in Jesus, the difficulties are not all over. It is not indeed easy to persuade those who are rejoicing in their first love that they shall ever be otherwise, but experience convinces them.
Believers will know more or less of two floods which, if the Lord permits, will make them cry out for a refuge or covert: indwelling sin and temptation.
FOR MEDITATION:
When, like a baneful pestilence,
The angels’ LORD, himself is nigh,
Sin mows its thousands down
To them that love his name;
On every side, without defence,
Ready to save them when they cry,
Thy grace secures thine own.
And put their foes to shame.

Angels, unseen, attend the saints,
Crosses and changes are their lot,
And bear them in their arms;
Long as they sojourn here;
To cheer the spirit when it faints,
But since their Saviour changes not,
And guard the life from harms.
What have the saints to fear?

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

December 12th

Personality

That they may be one, even as we are one. John 17:22.

Personality is that peculiar, incalculable thing that is meant when we speak of ourselves as distinct from everyone else. Our personality is always too big for us to grasp. An island in the sea may be but the top of a great mountain. Personality is like an island; we know nothing about the great depths underneath, consequently we cannot estimate ourselves. We begin by thinking that we can, but we come to realize that there is only one Being Who understands us, and that is our Creator.
Personality is the characteristic of the spiritual man as individuality is the characteristic of the natural man. Our Lord can never be defined in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of personality, “I and my Father are one.” Personality merges, and you only reach your real identity when you are merged with another person. When love, or the Spirit of God, strikes a man, he is transformed, he no longer insists upon his separate individuality. Our Lord never spoke in terms of individuality, of a man’s ‘elbows’ or his isolated position, but in terms of personality—“that they may be one, even as we are one.” If you give up your right to yourself to God, the real true nature of your personality answers to God straight away. Jesus Christ emancipates the personality, and the individuality is transfigured; the transfiguring element is love, personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the out-pouring of one personality in fellowship with another personality.

December 12

“The last drops of my sacrifice are falling; my time to go has come. I have fought in the good fight; I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:6, 7.)

AS soldiers show their scars and talk of battles when they come at last to spend their old age in the country at home, so shall we in the dear land to which we are hastening, speak of the goodness and faithfulness of God who brought us through all the trials of the way. I would not like to stand in the white-robed host and hear it said, “These are they that came out of great tribulation, all except one.”
Would you like to be there and see yourself pointed at as the one saint who never knew a sorrow? Oh, no! for you would be an alien in the midst of the sacred brotherhood. We will be content to share the battle, for we shall soon wear the crown and wave the palm.—C. H. Spurgeon.
“Where were you wounded?” asked the surgeon of a soldier at Lookout Mountain. “Almost at the top,” he answered. He forgot even his gaping wound—he only remembered that he had won the heights. So let us go forth to higher endeavors for Christ and never rest till we can shout from the very top, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

  “Finish thy work, then rest,
     Till then rest never;
  The rest for thee by God
     Is rest forever.”

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.”
Of an old hero the minstrel sang—

  “With his Yemen sword for aid;
  Ornament it carried none,
  But the notches on the blade.”

What nobler decoration of honor can any godly man seek after than his scars of service, his losses for the crown, his reproaches for Christ’s sake, his being worn out in his Master’s service!

12 DECEMBER (PREACHED 1770)

Under the dispensation of the Spirit

‘And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.’ Mark 9:9–10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 16:5–18

The disciples were only restrained till Jesus should rise from the dead. In the meanwhile they understood not what he meant. You see they had an extraordinary privilege upon the mount, above anything that we can expect, and yet, in point of knowledge, they were below the lowest of us. Peter could not bear to hear of Christ’s death, and none of them could conceive what was meant by his rising again. But the rising of Christ from the dead was properly the beginning of the gospel kingdom. Then he opened their understandings, gave them his Spirit and commanded them to proclaim, as on the housetops, the things which they had heard in secret. Under this state which was established at his resurrection, we live. Under the dispensation of the Spirit now, all things are made known to us—his transfiguration, his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension. What was once hidden from the apostles for a season is made known to us. Say not then, ‘Though the love of the world now keeps me from professing the gospel, if I had lived then I should surely have followed Jesus.’ If any perish here it will not be for want of evidence. If what you hear and say does not affect you, neither would you be persuaded though one should rise from the dead. Let not the troubled soul say, ‘If I could have seen him and been permitted to touch him and cast myself at his feet, surely he would have bid me go in peace; I should have believed.’ Nay, indeed you have in some respects greater advantage than those who saw him in the flesh. His Word is himself—when you hear the promises, you hear him speak. He is now in the midst of you. Lift up your heart to him. If his time is come, he will surely give you peace. If not, continue waiting, and you shall surely find. He never bid any seek him in vain.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me’ (John 15:26).

SERMON SERIES: ON THE TRANSFIGURATION, NO. 13 [4/4]

December 11th

Individuality

If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself. Matthew 16:24.

Individuality is the husk of the personal life. Individuality is all elbows, it separates and isolates. It is the characteristic of the child and rightly so; but if we mistake individuality for the personal life, we shall remain isolated. The shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering for the protection of the personal life; but individuality must go in order that the personal life may come out and be brought into fellowship with God. Individuality counterfeits personality as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-assertiveness. It is the continual assertion of individuality that hinders our spiritual life more than anything else. If you say—‘I cannot believe,’ it is because individuality never can believe. Personality cannot help believing. Watch yourself when the Spirit of God is at work. He pushes you to the margins of your individuality, and you have either to say—‘I shan’t,’ or to surrender, to break the husk of individuality and let the personal life emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (cf. Matthew 5:23–24 ). The thing in you that will not be reconciled to your brother is your individuality. God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “Let him deny himself”—deny his independent right to himself, then the real life has a chance to grow.