Milo

September 12

“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (S. of Sol. 8:5.)

SOME one gained a good lesson from a Southern prayer meeting. A colored brother asked the Lord for various blessings—as you and I do, and thanked the Lord for many already received—as you and I do; but he closed with this unusual petition: “And, O Lord, support us! Yes support us Lord on every leanin’ side!” Have you any leaning sides? This humble man’s prayer pictures them in a new way and shows the Great Supporter in a new light also. He is always walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm and steady the weak one on “every leanin’ side.”

“Child of My love, lean hard,
And let Me feel the pressure of thy care;
I know thy burden, child. I shaped it;
Poised it in Mine Own hand; made no proportion
In its weight to thine unaided strength,
For even as I laid it on, I said,
‘I shall be near, and while she leans on Me,
This burden shall be Mine, not hers;
So shall I keep My child within the circling arms
Of My Own love.’ Here lay it down, nor fear
To impose it on a shoulder which upholds
The government of worlds. Yet closer come:
Thou art not near enough. I would embrace thy care;
So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.
Thou lovest Me? I knew it. Doubt not then;
But loving Me, lean hard.”

12 SEPTEMBER

A continual supply of the Spirit

‘Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ Hebrews 13:20–21
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Ephesians 1:15–2:10

Make you perfect in every good work. Besides his disposing and preparing us for his service, there is working in us by an immediate and effectual operation. The first is grace in habit; this second petition is grace in exercise. The instrument, though tuned, will yield no music of itself. We need a continual supply of the Spirit, without which we can do nothing—this is needful as wind to the ship, or water to the mill.
The words through Jesus Christ may be understood: (i) that he is the medium of communication of grace. Of his fullness alone can we receive. Or, (ii) that all which is wrought in us is only acceptable through him and for his sake.
From hence observe:
(i) how entirely all is of grace—that we can will and that we can do and that when we have done we can find acceptance—all is of grace.
(ii) what encouragement for those who find they have nothing and can do nothing. Here is all provided and engaged for.
(iii) how great the sin and ingratitude of those who refuse this great Shepherd and the assistance of his grace.
FOR MEDITATION: The power of grace
Happy the birth where grace presides
Thy wondering saints rejoice to see
To form the future life!
A wretch, like me, restored,
In wisdom’s paths the soul she guides,
And point, and say, ‘How changed is he,
Remote from noise and strife.
Who once defied the Lord!’

O thou whose voice the dead can raise,
Grace bid me live, and taught my tongue
And soften hearts of stone,
To aim at notes divine;
And teach the dumb to sing thy praise,
And grace accepts my feeble song,
This work is all thine own!
The glory, LORD, be thine!

SERMON SERIES: HEBREWS 13:20–21, NO. 4 [2/2]

September 11th

Missionary munitions

Ministering as Opportunity Surrounds us. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. John 13:14.

Ministering as opportunity surrounds us does not mean selecting our surroundings, it means being very selectly God’s in any haphazard surroundings which He engineers for us. The characteristics we manifest in our immediate surroundings are indications of what we will be like in other surroundings.
The things that Jesus did were of the most menial and commonplace order, and this is an indication that it takes all God’s power in me to do the most commonplace things in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels and dishes and sandals, all the ordinary sordid things of our lives, reveal more quickly than anything what we are made of. It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty as it ought to be done.
“I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Watch the kind of people God brings around you, and you will be humiliated to find that this is His way of revealing to you the kind of person you have been to Him. Now, He says, exhibit to that one exactly what I have shown to you.
‘Oh,’ you say, ‘I will do all that when I get out into the foreign field.’ To talk in this way is like trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches—you will be killed while you are doing it.
We have to go the ‘second mile’ with God. Some of us get played out in the first ten yards, because God compels us to go where we cannot see the way, and we say—‘I will wait till I get nearer the big crisis.’ If we do not do the running steadily in the little ways, we shall do nothing in the crisis.

September 11

“And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” (Heb. 6:15.)

ABRAHAM was long tried, but he was richly rewarded. The Lord tried him by delaying to fulfill His promise. Satan tried him by temptation; men tried him by jealousy, distrust, and opposition; Sarah tried him by her peevishness. But he patiently endured. He did not question God’s veracity, nor limit His power, nor doubt His faithfulness, nor grieve His love; but he bowed to Divine Sovereignty, submitted to Infinite Wisdom, and was silent under delays, waiting the Lord’s time. And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
God’s promises cannot fail of their accomplishment. Patient waiters cannot be disappointed. Believing expectation shall be realized.
Beloved, Abraham’s conduct condemns a hasty spirit, reproves a murmuring one, commends a patient one, and encourages quiet submission to God’s will and way. Remember, Abraham was tried; he patiently waited; he received the promise, and was satisfied. Imitate his example, and you will share the same blessing.—Selected.

11 SEPTEMBER

Put in tune

‘Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep … make you perfect in every good work to do his will …’ Hebrews 13:20–21
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 40:1–8

Make you perfect in every good work. First, it is not an actual perfection intended—the word signifies to make you meet or fit, to give a right disposition, and might be applied to an instrument of music when it is put in tune. So David says, My heart is fixed [Psalm 57:7; 108:1]—made ready or in tune. It is of the Lord to give to his people this habitual disposition or meetness for his will. It consists of such things as these:
(i) humility, or a due sense of our own weakness and imperfections. Without this we cannot be rightly disposed for the exercise of duty.
(ii) faith—laying hold of the strength, grace and promise of the Lord Jesus. To know that we can do nothing will sink us in despondency, unless we can rely upon him to perfect his strength in our weakness.
(iii) love—that feeling his peace, and considering the means by which we obtain it, we may be animated to cheerful obedience.
Without these principles it is impossible to aim at any good work in an acceptable manner.
The object of this disposition is universal obedience. Every good work may be distributed as respecting: (i) the Lord—his worship, his will (ii) the church—walking in love (iii) the world—in the exercise of integrity, truth.

FOR MEDITATION: Methinks I may compare myself to a harpsichord—how often in tuning, how seldom in tune, and how soon put out of tune again. My imagination in particular is as an instrument which seems not in my own power. Happy am I when it is under a gracious influence. But at times it seems as if an evil genius had command of the keys. Then I am tortured with a medley of folly, discord and confusion, from which I cannot run; nor can I stop my ears against it for it is within me. Wonderful is the grace that can cause the voice of joy and melody to be heard when, but a little before, all was disorder and distress. If the Lord appears, the storm is hushed and calm succeeds.
John Newton to William Wilberforce, 15 November 1786

SERMON SERIES: HEBREWS 13:20–21, NO. 4 [1/2]