Milo

28 NOVEMBER (PREACHED CHRISTMAS MORNING 1769)

Precious is the death of his saints

‘And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.’ Genesis 49:1
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 48:1–49:2

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints; the season and every circumstance is under the appointment of his wisdom and love. Our times are in his hands and to him we may cheerfully refer them. Some have an early dismission and perhaps are suddenly called away. These escape many a trouble and pain, and when the state is safe, and we are firmly assured of his interest in the covenant, we might be ready to say, if we think only of ourselves, ‘May this be my lot’. But they likewise are highly honoured, who, after having borne testimony to the goodness and faithfulness of God in the sense of a long life, are enabled to administer to the edification and comfort of others in their dying moments. The sun in his noonday height does not behold a more glorious spectacle than that of an aged believer, strengthened in the close of life to declare his own full assurance of faith, and, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, advising and blessing his family and surrounding friends, and commending them with his latest breath to the care and keeping of his God and their God—which was good old Jacob’s deathbed scene. In the presence of his children and dependants he expressed the confidence with which he waited for the Lord’s salvation. And being endued not only with the Spirit of grace but of prophecy, he delivered in a few comprehensive words the future history of the twelve tribes.

FOR MEDITATION: Mr Webb is gone—fully ripe I doubt not, like a shock of corn in due season. I knew him chiefly as a Christian; as such I thought him eminent, solid, humble, spiritual, peaceful in himself, and of course a friend of peace. Grace reigned in his heart, and out of the abundance of his heart his mouth spoke. In his last illness he did not speak of any remarkable consolations, but expressed an edifying, encouraging example of a calm, unshaken confidence in Jesus Christ crucified, as the alone and sufficient ground of his hope. I have lost for a season a valuable friend, but I hope by and by to see him again. Blessed are the dead who die thus in the Lord, they rest from their labours and conflicts, and are now before the throne.324

SERMON: GENESIS 49:10–12 [1/3] [ALSO PREACHED CHRISTMAS 1780]

November 27th

The consecration of spiritual energy

by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Gal. 6:14.

If I brood on the Cross of Christ, I do not become a subjective pietist, interested in my own whiteness; I become dominantly concentrated on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord was not a recluse nor an ascetic, He did not cut Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was not aloof, but He lived in another world. He was so much in the ordinary world that the religious people of His day called Him a glutton and a wine-bibber. Our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with His consecration of spiritual energy.
The counterfeit of consecration is the conscious cutting off of things with the idea of storing spiritual power for use later on, but that is a hopeless mistake. The Spirit of God has spoiled the sin of a great many, yet there is no emancipation, no fullness in their lives. The kind of religious life we see abroad to-day is entirely different from the robust holiness of the life of Jesus Christ. “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” We are to be in the world but not of it; to be disconnected fundamentally, not externally.
We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual energy. Consecration is our part, sanctification is God’s part; and we have deliberately to determine to be interested in that only in which God is interested. The way to solve perplexing problems is to ask—‘Is this the kind of thing which Jesus Christ is interested in, or the kind of thing the spirit that is the antipodes of Jesus is interested in?’

November 27

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37.)

FAR up in the Alpine hollows, year by year God works one of His marvels. The snow-patches lie there, frozen with ice at their edge from the strife of sunny days and frosty nights; and through that ice-crust come, unscathed, flowers that bloom.
Back in the days of the by-gone summer, the little soldanelle plant spread its leaves wide and flat on the ground, to drink in the sun-rays, and it kept them stored in the root through the winter. Then spring came, and stirred the pulses even below the snow-shroud, and as it sprouted, warmth was given out in such strange measure that it thawed a little dome in the snow above its head.
Higher and higher it grew and always above it rose the bell of air, till the flower-bud formed safely within it: and at last the icy covering of the air-bell gave way and let the blossom through into the sunshine, the crystalline texture of its mauve petals sparkling like snow itself as if it bore the traces of the flight through which it had come.
And the fragile thing rings an echo in our hearts that none of the jewel-like flowers nestled in the warm turf on the slopes below could waken. We love to see the impossible done. And so does God.
Face it out to the end, cast away every shadow of hope on the human side as an absolute hindrance to the Divine, heap up all the difficulties together recklessly, and pile as many more on as you can find; you cannot get beyond the blessed climax of impossibility. Let faith swing out to Him. He is the God of the impossible.—Selected.

27 NOVEMBER

Receive his help by grace alone

‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ Isaiah 41:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Isaiah 30:15–21

Are some saying, ‘These are good things indeed, but I fear not for me.’ Why not? Where are you excepted? They are for you, if you truly desire them and will be content to receive them of grace, without money or price. They are freely given but cannot be bought. Do not expect that you must do a great deal for yourself, and that then the Lord will make up the rest. It is his own work and he will not suffer you to share the glory. But remember, none have a right to apply it who do not feel themselves empty, poor, blind and naked. Take notice it is not your holding with the truth and assenting to what others say, will make you a believer. There are some who will think well of themselves and when they hear of the troubles and fears of exercised souls are ready to say, ‘I pity them, poor things, but for my part I dare not distrust the Lord’—when yet they never knew what it was to trust him. They affect to talk like the Lord’s people, but every word betrays their ignorance. To such the Lord’s word is not, Fear not, but, Take heed lest you are deceived [Luke 21:8]. Examine, there are many false pretenders—you are healed before you are wounded, lifted up before you ever were cast down—you talk of being filled when you have never been emptied. This is not the Lord’s methods.

FOR MEDITATION: I know that I cannot make you truly religious, nor can you make yourself so. It is the Lord’s work, and I am daily praying to him to bless you indeed. But he has a time; till then, I hope you will wait upon him according to your light, in the use of appointed means. I do not wish you to affect more of religion in your appearance than you are really conscious of. There is some danger of this in a family where a religious profession is befriended. Young people are apt to imitate those about them and sometimes (which is abominable) to put on a show of religion in order to please, though their hearts have no concern in it. I have a good hope that the Lord will teach you and guide you, and that the many prayers and praises I have offered on your behalf will not be lost.
John Newton to his niece, Betsy Catlett, 17 October [1781?]

SERMON: ISAIAH 41:10 [5/5]

November 26th

The concentration of spiritual energy

… save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:14.

If you want to know the energy of God (i.e., the resurrection life of Jesus) in your mortal flesh, you must brood on the tragedy of God. Cut yourself off from prying personal interest in your own spiritual symptoms and consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God, and instantly the energy of God will be in you. “Look unto Me,” pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will be there. We lose power if we do not concentrate on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these, we are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s centre in your preaching, and though your crowd may apparently pay no attention, they can never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it is of no more importance to you than your talk is to me; but if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again and so shall I. We have to concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy, the Cross, to keep in contact with that centre where all the power lies, and the energy will he let loose. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings the concentration is apt to be put not on the Cross of Christ, but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the churches is being criticized to-day, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this concentration of spiritual energy; we have not brooded enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of Redemption.