Milo

December 5

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jer. 10:23.) “Lead me in a plain path.” (Psalm 27:11.)

MANY people want to direct God, instead of resigning themselves to be directed by Him; to show Him a way instead of passively following where He leads.
—Madame Guyon.

I said: “Let me walk in the field”;
  God said: “Nay, walk in the town”;
I said: “There are no flowers there”;
  He said: “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the sky is black,
  There is nothing but noise and din”;
But He wept as He sent me back,
  “There is more,” He said, “there is sin.”

I said: “But the air is thick,
  And fogs are veiling the sun”;
He answered: “Yet souls are sick,
  And souls in the dark undone.”

I said: “I shall miss the light,
  And friends will miss me, they say”;
He answered me, “Choose tonight,
  If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given;
  He said: “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven
  To have, followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,
  Then set my face to the town;
He said: “My child, do you yield?
  Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine,
  And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light Divine,
  The path I had feared to see.

—George MacDonald.

5 DECEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS EVENING 1769)

To seek and to save

‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ Luke 19:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 80:1–19

He came to seek and to save—to restore man to God and to restore life and peace and happiness to man. This magnifies his grace. He did not come to save those who, sensible from their misery, were imploring his compassion, but he must seek them as well as save them. It magnifies his power. Had not this ruin been under [his] hand, we must have been lost for ever. For none less than Almighty could save us. Nor could he save by speaking; it was necessary he should come, that is, take our nature upon him, take our sin upon him and stand in our place for obedience and atonement. He came for these purposes and he effectually fulfilled them. Thus he saves by price and redemption. Farther, he saves by power—this is the seeking spoke of. They are insensible of his love and their own misery—in seeking he employs his providence, Word, ordinances and Spirit. May I not hope that he has come thus here to seek and to save some of you tonight? When he saves, he saves completely, he removes the curse, restores access and power with God, renews the divine image upon the soul, and thus reclaims the rebel and teaches him to reverence, love and serve the God of his life.
The Lord is now seeking. O may you be willing to be found of him, or else you are lost for ever. And let those whom he has redeemed out of the hand of the enemy, praise and magnify his name and renew their engagements in his strength to serve him and walk before him in holy obedience all their days.
FOR MEDITATION:
Sinner, hear the Saviour’s call,
Raise thy downcast eyes, and see
He now is passing by;
What throngs his throne surround!
He has seen thy grievous thrall,
These, though sinners once like thee,
And heard thy mournful cry.
Have full salvation found:
He has pardons to impart,
Yield not then to unbelief!
Grace to save thee from thy fears,
While he says, ‘There yet is room;’
See the love that fills his heart,
Though of sinners thou art chief,
And wipe away thy tears.
Since JESUS calls thee, come.

SERMON: LUKE 19:10 [5/5]

December 4th

The law of antagonism

To him that overcometh.… Rev. 2:7.

Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life.
Health is the balance between physical life and external nature, and it is maintained only by sufficient vitality on the inside against things on the outside. Everything outside my physical life is designed to put me to death. Things which keep me going when I am alive, disintegrate me when I am dead. If I have enough fighting power, I produce the balance of health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a vigorous mental life, I have to fight, and in that way the mental balance called thought is produced.
Morally it is the same. Everything that does not partake of the nature of virtue is the enemy of virtue in me, and it depends on what moral calibre I have whether I overcome and produce virtue. Immediately I fight, I am moral in that particular. No man is virtuous because he cannot help it; virtue is acquired.
And spiritually it is the same. Jesus said—“In the world ye shall have tribulation,” i.e., everything that is not spiritual makes for my undoing, but—“be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I have to learn to score off the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness; then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.
Holiness is the balance between my disposition and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

December 4

“He went up into a mountain apart.” (Matt. 14:23.)

ONE of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace. There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires.
Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away from them for a brief season. He tried every little while to withdraw from the crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seashore, but He loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths.
The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh, for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God!—Selected.

“It is well to live in the valley sweet,
  Where the work of the world is done,
Where the reapers sing in the fields of wheat,
  As they toil till the set of sun.
But beyond the meadows, the hills I see
  Where the noises of traffic cease,
And I follow a Voice that calleth to me
  From the hilltop regions of peace.

“Aye, to live is sweet in the valley fair,
  And to toil till the set of sun;
But my spirit yearns for the hilltop’s air
  When the day and its work are done.
For a Presence breathes o’er the silent hills,
  And its sweetness is living yet;
The same deep calm all the hillside fills,
  As breathed over Olivet.”

“Every life that would be strong must have its Holy of Holies into which only God enters.”

4 DECEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS EVENING 1769)

Lost in ourselves

‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ Luke 19:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 15:1–32

If man is lost to God, is he not lost in himself also? Yes, he that sinneth against God wrongeth his own soul. The utmost meaning of the word lost in a worldly sense, falls far short of its meaning here. O think what you have lost and how are lost, if Christ has not saved you and repaired your breaches.
You have lost the image of God—all spiritual knowledge of righteousness and true holiness. This loss perhaps does not affect you—the loss of health or money would trouble you more, but it will not be always thus. If you do not lay it to heart sooner, you will at least in that solemn hour when you render up your soul to God.
You have lost his favour and communion. Do you pity a blind man? You have lost the eyes of your soul. Would you pity a man banished from all that comfort and do him good? While you remain in your natural state, you are in the case of Cain, driven from the presence of the Lord. Ah, poor blind, banished, wanderers, where can you go for good, if he that has made you will have no mercy upon you, if he that formed you will show you no favour? But still more:
You are lost under his curse—you are not only excluded from his presence, but exposed to his wrath. You hear not from him now, only in his ordinances and providences, but ere long you must see him face to face. He will reprove you and set your sins in order before your eyes. Think of that dreadful sentence (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Thus we are utterly lost except Christ seeks and saves us.
FOR MEDITATION:
Thou didst once a wretch behold,
Once a sinner near despair,
In rebellion blindly bold;
Sought thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Scorn thy grace, thy power defy,
Mercy heard and set him free,
That poor rebel, LORD, was I.
LORD, that mercy came to me.

SERMON: LUKE 19:10 [4/5]