Milo

December 1

“There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God.” (Heb. 4:9.)

The rest includes victory, “And the Lord gave them rest round about;… the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.” (Joshua 21:44.)

“He will beautify the meek with victory.” (Psalm 149:4.) (Rotherham, margin.)

AN eminent Christian worker tells of his mother who was a very anxious and troubled Christian. He would talk with her by the hour trying to convince her of the sinfulness of fretting, but to no avail. She was like the old lady who once said she had suffered so much, especially from the troubles that never came.
But one morning the mother came down to breakfast wreathed in smiles. He asked her what had happened, and she told him that in the night she had a dream.
She was walking along a highway with a great crowd of people who seemed so tired and burdened. They were nearly all carrying little black bundles, and she noticed that there were numerous repulsive looking beings which she thought were demons dropping these black bundles for the people to pick up and carry.
Like the rest, she too had her needless load, and was weighed down with the devil’s bundles. Looking up, after a while, she saw a Man with a bright and loving face, passing hither and thither through the crowd, and comforting the people.
At last He came near her, and she saw that it was her Saviour. She looked up and told Him how tired she was, and He smiled sadly and said:
“My dear child, I did not give you these loads; you have no need of them. They are the devil’s burdens and they are wearing out your life. Just drop them; refuse to touch them with one of your fingers and you will find the path easy and you will be as if borne on eagle’s wings.”
He touched her hand, and lo, peace and joy thrilled her frame and, flinging down her burden, she was about to throw herself at His feet in joyful thanksgiving, when suddenly she awoke and found that all her cares were gone. From that day to the close of her life she was the most cheerful and happy member of the household.

And the night shall be filled with music,
  And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
  And as silently steal away.

—Longfellow.

1 DECEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS EVENING 1769)

The coming of Christ

‘The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ Luke 19:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Matthew 9:9–13

Attentive observers of divine providence may often remark that very great events often arise from small and unthought-of occasions. What an important moment, when a soul is first converted to God. What a change then takes place, yet how suddenly, and as it were accidentally, is it brought about. We have here an occasion which has been often made successful—curiosity. Zacchaeus did not press through the multitude to Jesus; he only wanted to see him from the top of a tree as he passed by. But behold Jesus, whom he thought a stranger, looked up and called him by his name—divine power accompanies the word, grace reached his heart, and that day salvation came to his house. O that it may be so with some present. Our Lord was often reproached by the blind Pharisees for the mercy he showed to the unworthy, and probably upon this occasion, as the publicans, or tax gatherers, of whom Zacchaeus was a chief, were the objects of their scorn and hatred. It was perhaps to prevent or answer their usual objections that he intimates how agreeable his conduct to Zacchaeus was to his own character and the great design of his coming into the world, which was not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance—to seek and to save that which was lost.
FOR MEDITATION:
Zacchaeus climbed the tree,
His long forgotten faults
And thought himself unknown;
Are brought again in view,
But how surprised was he
And all his secret thoughts
When JESUS called him down!
Revealed in public too:
The LORD beheld him, though concealed,
Though compassed with a crowd about,
And by a word his power revealed.
The searching word has found him out.

’Tis curiosity
While thus distressing pain
Oft brings them in the way,
And sorrow fills his heart,
Only the man to see,
He hears a voice again,
And hear what he can say;
That bids his fears depart:
But how the sinner starts to find
Then like Zacchaeus he is blest,
The preacher knows his inmost mind.
And JESUS deigns to be his guest.

SERMON: LUKE 19:10 [1/5]

November 30th

By the grace of God I am what I am

His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:10.

The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t like to say I am sanctified; I’m not a saint.’ Say that before God; and it means—‘No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.’ That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say—‘Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,’ is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.
There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfil His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purpose, and yours may be that life.

November 30

“And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” (Jer. 45:5.)

A PROMISE given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life “for a prey.” It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the Tribulation times.
What is the meaning of “a life for a prey”? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not removal from the noise of the battle and the presence of our foes; but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure: Paul’s healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired of life; Paul’s Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me today to be victorious.—Days of Heaven upon Earth.
We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as long as they last, in the consciousness that we are held and sheltered by the Lord, and can therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as they continue, without any hurt. For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children were kept a season amid its flames as calm and composed in the presence of the tyrant’s last appliances of torture, as they were in the presence of himself before their time of deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken up out of the den, “no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” They dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God.

30 NOVEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS MORNING 1769)

Our Deliverer

‘The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come …’ Genesis 49:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 72:1–20

To apply the passage to ourselves, I shall speak a little concerning this name of the Redeemer, Shiloh. Many of the Hebrew words have various significations. So has this, and it will bear different translations that are applicable to Christ. And to help you judge for yourselves, I shall mention some suitable passages where the root occurs. The root signifies ‘to loose’ as in Exodus 3 and may be taken more generally to release from any bond or confinement. Thus Shiloh signifies the Deliverer, he who was anointed with power and authority to break open the prison doors and set the prisoners free—to take the prey from the hand of the mighty and to deliver the lawful captive. It denotes a state of prosperity and success. Thus it is used, in Job 12, of the prosperity of the wicked. And the same word occurs in Psalm 122:6–7. Thus it is applicable to Christ in two senses:
(i) to intimate the success and prosperity of his undertakings on behalf of his people. He not only fought but conquered for them, and subdued his and their enemies under his feet, and now he reigns in peace.
(ii) He is the giver and author of peace, prosperity and success to his people. Happy and glorious is the change, when they are freed from the dominion of Satan, and translated under his mild and gracious government. From him they derive all comfort, and by his power they are made more than conquerors.
Believers, fix the eyes of your faith upon this glorious Shiloh.
FOR MEDITATION:
Fervent persevering prayers
Glad the summons they obey,
Are faith’s assured resource,
And liberty desire;
Brazen gates, and iron bars,
Straight their fetters melt away,
In vain withstand their force:
Like wax before the fire:

He can break through walls of stone,
By the word of him who died,
Sink the mountain to a plain;
Guilty prisoners to release;
They, to whom his name is known;
Every door flies open wide,
Can never pray in vain.
And they depart in peace.

SERMON: GENESIS 49:10–12 [3/3] [ALSO PREACHED CHRISTMAS 1780]