Milo

30 SEPTEMBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S MORNING, 1770)

‘Very much better’

‘I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.’ 1 Corinthians 15:31
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Corinthians 5:1–10

The second meaning [for the first, see from 2/6] of to die daily is practically to improve [grasp more fully] the doctrines of faith, to weaken and overcome the natural reluctance we have to death. The soul has a natural unwillingness to leave the body because it has hitherto been the instrument of all its operations. The bodily senses are the inlets of perception to the soul, therefore the thoughts of parting with them seem strange. There is nothing like this union in all the works of God. From death to the resurrection, only one part of our nature shall act. This is a great mystery. Now these difficulties must be opposed [withstood] by faith. To die daily is to consider the death of Jesus; this throws light upon darkness. We follow him. But O how different his death from ours! For a believer, to die is to be with Christ. Is not this far better? To die is to cease from sin. Cannot some of you say, ‘This alone would make me willing to depart?’ To die is to be free from all grief and infirmity. What can the coward flesh plead against such arguments as these? This is to die daily.

FOR MEDITATION: In short, only the man who upon scriptural grounds is prepared to die, is properly qualified to enjoy the life that now is. A sense of the evil of sin and of his own heart once greatly distressed him, till he was able to approve and accept God’s method of saving sinners by faith in the Son of his love. He has seen, with the eye of his mind, the necessity and the efficacy of the Saviour’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Weary and heavy laden, he has complied with his gracious invitation to come to him for rest, and he has found it. And if sudden danger appears, he has a sure hiding place, and is warranted not to be afraid for himself, though the earth should be removed and the mountains cast into the sea. Thus he is glad to live while the Lord has any employment for him, and he is glad to think he shall not live here always, but in due time depart to be with Jesus, which is πολλᾦ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον [very much better].
John Newton to William Wilberforce, 2 October 1794

SERMON: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:31 [5/6]

September 29th

The consciousness of the call

For necessity is laid upon me: yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! 1 Cor. 9:16.

We are apt to forget the mystical, supernatural touch of God. If you can tell where you got the call of God and all about it, I question whether you have ever had a call. The call of God does not come like that, it is much more supernatural. The realization of it in a man’s life may come with a sudden thunder-clap or with a gradual dawning, but in whatever way it comes, it comes with the undercurrent of the supernatural, something that cannot be put into words, it is always accompanied with a glow. At any moment there may break the sudden consciousness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life—“I have chosen you.” The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. It is not because you are sanctified that you are therefore called to preach the gospel; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a necessity laid upon him.
If you have been obliterating the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances and see where God has not been first, but your ideas of service, or your temperamental abilities. Paul said—“Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” He had realized the call of God, and there was no competitor for his strength.
If a man or woman is called of God, it does not matter how untoward circumstances are, every force that has been at work will tell for God’s purpose in the end. If you agree with God’s purpose He will bring not only your conscious life, but all the deeper regions of your life which you cannot get at, into harmony.

September 29

“I will give myself unto prayer.” (Psalm 109:4.)

WE are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?
Whitefield says, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer.” “Fall upon your knees and grow there,” is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.
It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.—The Still Hour.

“ ‘Come, come,’ He saith, ‘O soul oppressed and weary,
Come to the shadows of my desert rest;
Come walk with Me far from life’s babbling discords,
And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast.’ ”

29 SEPTEMBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S MORNING, 1770)

An unnatural death

‘I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.’ 1 Corinthians 15:31
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 31:1–24

To die daily: that is, to resign ourselves daily to God in a believing consideration of his adorable attributes such as:
(i) his sovereignty. This sweetly allays all difficulties, fears and objections. So David, My times are in thy hand. Thou art my God, therefore into thy hands I commend my spirit [Psalm 31 verses 15 and 5. As a dying person commits his dearest concerns, the care of an only child perhaps, to his best friend, so to die daily is to commit our soul to God as our rightful, sovereign disperser, and to leave all future events to him.
(ii) his power. I am speaking of an act of faith. It is easy to acknowledge the power of God in words, but O to say upon good grounds, ‘I am persuaded he is able to keep’ [2 Timothy 1:12]. This gives an habitual readiness to depart.
(iii) his faithfulness, with an especial view to his promises—to venture our all upon his word. For his sovereignty is to his people a sovereignty of grace. He has told them it shall be well with them in time and to eternity.
You see these things are not in the natural power of man. If you would die daily you must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and some degree of good hope that your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

FOR MEDITATION: Lord grant that the uncertain remnant of my days may be devoted to thee, and that the prayer which thou hast permitted me to offer for many years, that my close of life may be without any stain unsuitable to my character as a Christian and a minister, may be answered! Preserve me from pride, envy, jealousy, impatience, and every wrong and hurtful temper. Let me retire as a thankful guest from a full table and rejoice that others are coming forward to serve thee (I hope better) when I can do no more. For the rest, I leave all to thee. Into thy hands I commend my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of Truth! Thou hast done and wilt do all things well!
Diary, 21 March 1804 (aged 78)

SERMON: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:31 [4/6]

September 28th

The “go” of unconditional identification

One thing thou lackest.… come, take up the cross, and follow Me. Mark 10:21.

The rich young ruler had the master passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never puts personal holiness to the fore when He calls a disciple; He puts absolute annihilation of my right to myself and identification with Himself—a relationship with Himself in which there is no other relationship. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation or sanctification, but with unconditional identification with Jesus Christ. Very few of us know the absolute “go” of abandonment to Jesus.
“Then Jesus beholding him loved him.” The look of Jesus will mean a heart broken for ever from allegiance to any other person or thing. Has Jesus ever looked at you? The look of Jesus transforms and transfixes. Where you are ‘soft’ with God is where the Lord has looked at you. If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your own way, certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, it is an indication that there are whole tracts of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze.
“One thing thou lackest …” The only ‘good thing’ from Jesus Christ’s point of view is union with Himself and nothing in between.
“Sell whatsoever thou hast …” I must reduce myself until I am a mere conscious man, I must fundamentally renounce possessions of all kinds, not to save my soul, (only one thing saves a man—absolute reliance upon Jesus Christ) but in order to follow Jesus. “Come, and follow Me.” And the road is the way He went.