Milo

September 18

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Prov. 29:18.)

WAITING upon God is necessary in order to see Him, to have a vision of Him. The time element in vision is essential. Our hearts are like a sensitive photographer’s plate; and in order to have God revealed there, we must sit at His feet a long time. The troubled surface of a lake will not reflect an object.
Our lives must be quiet and restful if we would see God. There is power in the sight of some things to affect one’s life. A quiet sunset will bring peace to a troubled heart. Thus the vision of God always transforms human life.
Jacob saw God at Jabbok’s ford, and became Israel. The vision of God transformed Gideon from a coward into a valiant soldier. The vision of Christ changed Thomas from a doubting follower into a loyal, devout disciple.
But men have had visions of God since Bible times. William Carey saw God, and left his shoemaker’s bench and went to India. David Livingstone saw God, and left all to follow Him through the jungles of dark Africa. Scores and hundreds have had visions of God, and are today in the uttermost parts of the earth working for the speedy evangelization of the heathen.—Dr. Pardington.
There is hardly ever a complete silence in the soul. God is whispering to us well-nigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear the whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on.—F. W. Faber.

“Speak, Lord, in the stillness,
While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen
In expectancy.

“Speak, O blessed Master,
In this quiet hour;
Let me see Thy face, Lord,
Feel Thy touch of power.

“For the words Thou speakest,
‘They are life,’ indeed;
Living bread from Heaven,
Now my spirit feed!

“Speak, Thy servant heareth!
Be not silent, Lord;
Waits my soul upon Thee
For the quickening word!”

18 SEPTEMBER (PREACHED OLNEY FAIR DAY)

The majestic Judge

‘And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ Revelation 20:11–12
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Daniel 7:9–14

A throne: intimating the King himself will preside in person. An appeal lies from the judge, but not from the throne. A criminal may sometimes escape by the favour of the judge, or through some defect in the law, or for want of sufficient proof, but nothing of these can happen then. The King is Judge—he of whom it is said, His eyes are a flame of fire [Revelation 1:14; 19:12]—he whose presence none can avoid, whose knowledge none can deceive, whose power none can resist, whose sentence none can revoke. If the pomp and solemnity of an earthly assize is suited to impress an awe upon the spectators, what heart can conceive the terror and majesty of this Judge? My text in one single sentence expresses more than any exposition can reach: before him the heaven fled away.
Can the solemnity be heightened by numbers? See what a concourse—all that ever lived, small and great. The greatest not excused, the least not overlooked. But of all this immense assembly, not one will be a mere spectator, but all parties—every one has a cause of his own, a cause for eternity, before this Sovereign Judge.

FOR MEDITATION:
Can I bear his awful looks?
Shall I stand in judgement then,
When I see the opened books,
Written by the Almighty’s pen?
If he to remembrance bring,
And expose to public view,
Every work and secret thing,
Ah, my soul, what canst thou do?

SERMON: REVELATION 20:11–12 [3/6] [EASTER MONDAY EVENING]

September 17th

What’s the good of temptation?

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. 1 Cor. 10:13.

The word ‘temptation’ has come down in the world; we are apt to use it wrongly: Temptation is not sin, it is the thing we are bound to meet if we are men. Not to be tempted would be to be beneath contempt. Many of us, however, suffer from temptations from which we have no business to suffer, simply because we have refused to let God lift us to a higher plane where we would face temptations of another order.
A man’s disposition on the inside, i.e., what he possesses in his personality, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted, and reveals the possibilities of the nature. Every man has the setting of his own temptation, and the temptation will come along the line of the ruling disposition.
Temptation is a suggested short cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim—not towards what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good. Temptation is something that completely baffles me for a while, I do not know whether the thing is right or wrong. Temptation yielded to is lust deified, and is a proof that it was timidity that prevented the sin before.
Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man. Beware lest you think you are tempted as no one else is tempted; what you go through is the common inheritance of the race, not something no one ever went through before. God does not save us from temptations; He succours us in the midst of them (Heb. 2:18.)

September 17

“It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” (1 Sam. 3:18.)

SEE God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou dost see!” It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, “HE will compass us about with songs of deliverance.” To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will be to us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessings they bring us. Nothing else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.—H. W. Smith.

“Give me a new idea,” I said,
While musing on a sleepless bed;
“A new idea that’ll bring to earth
A balm for souls of priceless worth;
That’ll give men thoughts of things above,
And teach them how to serve and love,
That’ll banish every selfish thought,
And rid men of the sins they’ve fought.”

The new thought came, just how, I’ll tell:
’Twas when on bended knee I fell,
And sought from HIM who knows full well
The way our sorrow to expel.
SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, great and small,
And give HIM praise whate’er befall,
In life or death, in pain or woe,
See God, and overcome thy foe.

I saw HIM in the morning light,
HE made the day shine clear and bright;
I saw HIM in the noontide hour,
And gained from HIM refreshing shower.
At eventide, when worn and sad,
HE gave me help, and made me glad.
At midnight, when on tossing bed
My weary soul to sleep HE led.

I saw HIM when great losses came,
And found HE loved me just the same.
When heavy loads I had to bear,
I found HE lightened every care.
By sickness, sorrow, sore distress,
HE calmed my mind and gave me rest.
HE’S filled my heart with gladsome praise
Since I gave HIM the upward gaze.

’Twas new to me, yet old to some,
This thought that to me has become
A revelation of the way
We all should live throughout the day;
For as each day unfolds its light,
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.
Life will, indeed, a blessing bring,
If we SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING.”
—A. E. Finn.

17 SEPTEMBER (PREACHED OLNEY FAIR DAY)

The awesome Judge

‘And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ Revelation 20:12
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 21:25–36

There is something awful and solemn in a day of Assize. The news of the judge coming to town awakens a general concern for the unhappy prisoners who are to stand their trial. But especially the prisoners themselves, those who have been guilty of some capital crime and know that the law is against them. How are they affected! How dejected do they appear in earnest—they know their facts will be proved and that the forms of law to which they must be present will issue in their condemnation. The concourse of people, too, adds something to their distress, but especially when they hear their sentence read, how do their hearts fail, their limbs fail, and their eyes flow—they cry for mercy, but in vain. The judge cannot, the law will not, afford it, and the small remainder of life is spent in a comfortless expectation of their sentence. Most of the circumstances I have hinted at are borrowed in Scripture to remind us of the great and terrible day of the Lord, when all who ever lived upon the face of the earth shall stand before the Judge, the One Lawgiver who alone is able to save and to destroy. But the concourse, the solemnity, the event of the most important cases that come before a human judicature, are mere shadows and children’s sports compared to that tremendous judgement which we must see and hear, each one for ourselves.

FOR MEDITATION: I visited the prisoners under sentence of death on Friday morning and again on Saturday. I spoke amongst them with all the earnestness and affection that I could—told them my own story, and that I was sent to them as a proof that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Poor men! I suppose this morning launched them into an eternal unchangeable state. The wealthy, the proud, the gay, and even many who are benevolent and useful in their connections, are likewise to be pitied. Some, because though they have a religious character, and are in some respects exemplary, they do not effectually receive the record which God has given of his Son.
John Newton to William Wilberforce, 1 July 1789

SERMON: REVELATION 20:11–12 [2/6] [EASTER MONDAY EVENING]