Milo

18 OCTOBER (PREACHED 1770)

Build upon the Word of God

‘And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.’ Luke 9:33
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Judges 8:22–27

A person’s being in a lively state of mind and near the Lord will not exempt him from the danger of making great mistakes in what they would propose and determine to do in such a state. Some people are ready to think that any purpose that comes into their minds, when their spirits are lively and they have liberty in prayer, must therefore be right and proper. They will say, I trust the Lord was surely with me when I purposed it, and therefore it must doubtless be from him. The Lord was surely and sweetly with Peter at this time, but he did not put it into his heart to build tabernacles. Satan may be near at such a time likewise and many plausible motions may arise from Self. If we would be wise builders, we must build not upon feelings and suggestions, but upon the Word of God. Is your spirit quickened by a taste of his love and a glimpse of his glory? Then to the law and the testimony to learn his will concerning you, and do not think your human temperament will warrant you to do anything which you are not directed to by the Scripture. Innumerable enthusiasms and offences have arisen from a want of caution in this respect. The zeal of young converts is very apt to spend itself in singularities and things not commanded.
FOR MEDITATION:
Once I thought my mountain strong,
When my friends have said, ‘Beware,
Firmly fixed no more to move;
Soon or late you’ll find a change’;
Then thy grace was all my song,
I could see no cause for fear,
Then my soul was filled with love:
Vain their caution seemed and strange:
Those were happy golden days,
Not a cloud obscured my sky,
Sweetly spent in prayer and praise.
Could I think a tempest nigh?

Little, then, myself I knew, Little thought of Satan’s power;
Now I find their words were true, Now I feel the stormy hour!
Tell him, since I know thy name, Though I change thou art the same.

SERMON SERIES: ON THE TRANSFIGURATION, NO. 7 [3/5], LUKE 9:33

October 17th

Greater works

And greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. John 14:12.

Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work. We think of prayer as a commonsense exercise of our higher powers in order to prepare us for God’s work. In the teaching of Jesus Christ prayer is the working of the miracle of Redemption in me which produces the miracle of Redemption in others by the power of God. The way fruit remains is by prayer, but remember it is prayer based on the agony of Redemption, not on my agony. Only a child gets prayer answered; a wise man does not.
Prayer is the battle; it is a matter of indifference where you are. Whichever way God engineers circumstances, the duty is to pray. Never allow the thought—‘I am of no use where I am’; because you certainly can be of no use where you are not. Wherever God has dumped you down in circumstances, pray, ejaculate to Him all the time. “Whatsoever ye ask in My name, that will I do.” We won’t pray unless we get thrills, that is the intensest form of spiritual selfishness. We have to labour along the line of God’s direction, and He says pray. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.”
There is nothing thrilling about a labouring man’s work, but it is the labouring man who makes the conceptions of the genius possible; and it is the labouring saint who makes the conceptions of his Master possible. You labour at prayer and results happen all the time from God’s standpoint. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

October 17

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal. 6:14.)

THEY were living to themselves; self with its hopes, and promises and dreams, still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and had surrendered for it to be given them at any cost, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they had asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by “as a refiner and purifier of silver,” until they should reflect His image; they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them it lacerated their hands.
They had asked they knew not what, nor how, but He had taken them at their word, and granted them all their petitions. They were hardly willing to follow Him so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought that they had seen a spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. They could almost pray Him to depart from them, or to hide His awfulness. They found it easier to obey than to suffer, to do than to give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon it. But they cannot go back, for they have come too near the unseen cross, and its virtues have pierced too deeply within them. He is fulfilling to them His promise, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32).
But now at last their turn has come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery, but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and they can but choose to follow.
Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of His cross shines out upon them. They behold Him lifted up, they gaze on the glory which rays from the wounds of His holy passion; and as they gaze they advance, and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for He dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship; willing to lack what others own (and what they might have had), and to be unlike all, so that they are only like Him.
Such, are they in all ages, “who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”
Had they chosen for themselves, or their friends chosen for them, they would have chosen otherwise. They would have been brighter here, but less glorious in His Kingdom. They would have had Lot’s portion, not Abraham’s. If they had halted anywhere—if God had taken off His hand and let them stray back—what would they not have lost? What forfeits in the resurrection?
But He stayed them up, even against themselves. Many a time their foot had well nigh slipped; but He in mercy held them up. Now, even in this life, they know that all He did was done well. It was good to suffer here, that they might reign hereafter; to bear the cross below, for they shall wear the crown above; and that not their will but His was done on them and in them.—Anonymous.

17 OCTOBER (PREACHED 1770)

A steady, habitual exercise of grace

‘And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.’ Luke 9:33
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Kings 3:5–14, 28

Peter was afraid, surprised and confused, so that he forgot himself and spoke without thought and, as it were, without being aware of what he said. Perhaps this is one reason why perceptible manifestations are so sparingly vouchsafed, considering the weakness of our animal frame; they would too much engage and swallow up our thoughts, indispose for the services of common life, and deprive us of the power of sedately using our judgements. Several observations may be made upon this passage applicable to our general use and especially to young converts. Peter here seems to judge, talk, feel and mistake, as many since his time have done in what is called their first love. We may note therefore that the growth and attainment of a Christian is not to be estimated by perceptive comforts and manifestation. Peter was warm hearted and lively; he was happy for the season, and if he had been at leisure could have told a wonderful story of his experience. Yet at this time he knew but little experimentally either of himself or his Saviour, in comparison of what he knew afterwards. Some poor souls are apt to be discouraged when they see others comfortable and taken up upon the mount, and ready to say, ‘O that I was so’—but there is a difference between pleasant frames and a steady, habitual exercise of grace.
FOR MEDITATION: [‘to a favourite tune of Mrs Newton’s—in Arne’s Opera of Eliza’, Liverpool 1763].
When my Saviour, my Shepherd is near,
By these changes I often pass through,
How quickly my sorrows depart!
I am taught my own weakness to know;
New beauties around me appear,
I am taught what my Shepherd can do,
New spirits enliven my heart:
And how much to his mercy I owe:
But alas! what a change do I find,
It is he who supports me through all,
When my Shepherd withdraws from my sight?
When I faint he revives me again;
My fears all return to my mind,
He attends to my prayer when I call,
My day is soon changed into night.
And bids me no longer complain.

SERMON SERIES: ON THE TRANSFIGURATION, NO. 7 [2/5], LUKE 9:33

October 16th

The key to the Master’s orders

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest. Matthew 9:38.

The key to the missionary problem is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work, that is, not work as the word is popularly understood to-day, because that may mean the evasion of concentration on God. The key to the missionary problem is not the key of common sense, nor the medical key, nor the key of civilization or education or even evangelization. The key is prayer. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.” Naturally, prayer is not practical, it is absurd; we have to realize that prayer is stupid from the ordinary commonsense point of view.
There are no nations in Jesus Christ’s outlook, but the world. How many of us pray without respect of persons, and with respect to only one Person, Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced by distress and conviction of sin, and this is the harvest we have to pray that labourers may be thrust out to reap. We are taken up with active work while people all round are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father’s life, in your brother’s life, are you there as a labourer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? ‘Oh, but I have a special work to do!’ No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ’s own, one who is not above his Master, one who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,” and He will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.