Milo

9 SEPTEMBER

Because he lives.…

‘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: 1 John 1:5–2:2

The act ascribed to the God of peace: brought him from the dead. This does not mean merely his resurrection by power, but his restoration and exaltation by authority, as Philippians 2:9 [Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name]. These are two affecting thoughts of his people, that:
(i) he was dead. Such was his love he willingly died for his sheep. And they remember how he died—not in peace with his friends about him, but upon the cross.
(ii) he is alive. Hereby their justification is confirmed; they have a pledge of their own resurrection; they have an Advocate and Protector, and because he lives they shall live also.
To sinners I would hint:
(i) he is now exalted—therefore not to be trifled with. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh from heaven [Hebrews 12:25].
(ii) he is exalted to save. There is forgiveness with him. He can pardon and sanctify the vilest. To faith in his name, all things are easy.

FOR MEDITATION: When believers look unto Jesus, the representative of his people, as rising from the grave on their behalf, they are enlightened and strengthened and comforted. They find his promise, because I live you shall live also [John 14:19], sweetly and wonderfully fulfilled in their souls. What is your hope with respect to your present and final acceptance before God? Is it founded on what Jesus did and suffered in the flesh, and in the glorious testimony God gave to his obedience in raising him from the dead? This is the only plea which the Scripture affords or which will be accepted in the great day.
Church Catechism, Lecture 22, 12 January 1766

SERMON SERIES: HEBREWS 13:20–21, NO. 3 [1/2]

September 8th

Do it yourself

Determinedly Demolish some Things.

Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. 2 Cor. 10:5.
Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavour or compromise (v. 4).
It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.

September 8

“Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” (Psalm 4:1.)

THIS is one of the grandest testimonies ever given by man to the moral government of God. It is not a man’s thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering. It is a thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering: “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” He declares the sorrows of life to have been themselves the source of life’s enlargement.
And have not you and I a thousand times felt this to be true? It is written of Joseph in the dungeon that “the iron entered into his soul.” We all feel that what Joseph needed for his soul was just the iron. He had seen only the glitter of the gold. He had been rejoicing in youthful dreams; and dreaming hardens the heart. He who sheds tears over a romance will not be most apt to help reality; real sorrow will be too unpoetic for him. We need the iron to enlarge our nature. The gold is but a vision; the iron is an experience. The chain which unites me to humanity must be an iron chain. That touch of nature which makes the world akin is not joy, but sorrow; gold is partial, but iron is universal.
My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph’s dungeon is the road to Joseph’s throne. Thou canst not lift the iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee. It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered thee; thy fetters are wings—wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding of sorrow’s chain.—George Matheson.
If Joseph had not been Egypt’s prisoner, he had never been Egypt’s governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the golden chain about his neck.—Selected.

8 SEPTEMBER

His eye is upon them

‘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: Ezekiel 34:11–16

The Shepherd seeks the sheep out while wandering upon the dark mountains and brings them into his fold. Not one shall be lost or overlooked. When they know him, then they shall experience:
(i) his care. Though his flock is large and widely dispersed, he has his eye upon them all at once and every moment. He never slumbers nor sleeps, and is as present to each one as if he had but that one. I am with you in all places.
(ii) his tenderness. O this good Shepherd has an especial regard to the weak and wounded of the flock (Isaiah 40:11 [He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young]).
(iii) his bounty. He provides well for them. The eyes of all wait upon him; he gives them their food in due season [Psalm 145:15]. He leads them to green pastures, living waters, promises, ordinances, manifestations, so that they are satisfied as with marrow and fatness.
(iv) his power. He shall stand and feed in the majesty of the Lord. He is able to protect them in the midst of wolves and cruel enemies. Once when the wolf came, because they were his own sheep, he laid down his life for them, but now he dieth no more, but lives to save them to the uttermost.
O that I could commend him to sinners. The fold is not full, the Shepherd is waiting—yet there is room. Unless Jesus is your Shepherd the wolves of hell will prey upon your souls forever. You that are seeking, take courage—think of his tenderness. Let his people look to him and rejoice in him continually.
FOR MEDITATION:
When Satan threatens to devour,
There, ’midst the flock the Shepherd dwells,
When troubles press on every side;
The sheep around in safety lie;
Think of our Shepherd’s care and power,
The wolf, in vain, with malice swells,
He can defend, he will provide.
For he protects them with his eye.

SERMON SERIES: HEBREWS 13:20–21, NO. 2 [3/3]

September 7th

Springs of benignity

The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water. John 4:14.

The picture Our Lord gives is not that of a channel but a fountain. ‘Be being filled,’ and the sweetness of vital relationship to Jesus will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. If you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to blame; something has obstructed the flow. Keep right at the Source, and—you will be blessed personally? No, out of you will flow rivers of living water, irrepressible life.
We are to be centres through which Jesus can flow as rivers of living water in blessing to everyone. Some of us are like the Dead Sea, always taking in but never giving out, because we are not rightly related to the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive from Him, He will pour out through us, and in the measure He is not pouring out, there is a defect in our relationship to Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything that hinders your belief in Him? If not, Jesus says, out of you will flow rivers of living water. It is not a blessing passed on, not an experience stated, but a river continually flowing. Keep at the Source, guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for other lives, no dryness and no deadness.
Is it not too extravagant to say that out of an individual believer, rivers are going to flow? ‘I do not see the rivers,’ you say. Never look at yourself from the standpoint of—‘Who am I?’ In the history of God’s work you will nearly always find that it has started from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.