Milo

17 JULY

The promise confirmed

‘Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ Genesis 18:14
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 145:1–21

The design of this visit [by the three men] was to give a final confirmation to the promise, which was now near to an accomplishment and took place the next year. Abraham and Sarah were now both old and Sarah expressed her unbelief in a manner which showed she thought it was now impossible. For this she was reproved and weakly attempted to deny what she had said. The words of my text are added to satisfy both Abraham and Sarah that it should surely be so.
The observation that offers is this: the consideration of the power of God to make good his promises, is the great stay and support of faith under all difficulties. This was actually the support of Abraham. He staggered not because he considered that he who had promised was able also to perform [Romans 4:20–21]. And most of the fears and mistakes of the Lord’s people are owing to their not knowing or not considering the Scriptures and the power of God. Our expectations from the Lord’s power must, however, be limited by his promises, or we shall surely be disappointed. We are often so inconsistent that while we give up the hope of what is promised, we are looking for what is not. Some disquiet themselves because they cannot attain to such a complete deliverance from the effects of indwelling sin as the Scripture does not warrant us to look for. Some expect to be led just in the way they think others are led, or else suppose they cannot be right. But where has the Lord promised this as to particulars? Let us then notice how the promises run, how objections rise against them, and how we should arm ourselves with the question in my text.
FOR MEDITATION:
Yes! since God himself has said it,
As to all the doubts and questions,
On the promise I rely;
Which my spirit often grieve,
His good word demands my credit,
These are Satan’s sly suggestions,
What can unbelief reply?
And I need no answer give;
He is strong and can fulfil,
He would fain destroy my hope,
He is truth and therefore will.
But the promise bears it up.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 37 [2/4], GENESIS 18:14

July 16th

The notion of divine control

How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? Matthew 7:11.

Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God’s control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember—Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle—God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God’s will is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it shall be given you.”

July 16

“Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son.… I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven; … because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Gen. 22:16–18.)

AND from that day to this, men have been learning that when, at God’s voice, they surrender up to Him the one thing above all else that was dearest to their very hearts, that same thing is returned to them by Him a thousand times over. Abraham gives up his one and only son, at God’s call, and with this disappear all his hopes for the boy’s life and manhood, and for a noble family bearing his name. But the boy is restored, the family becomes as the stars and sands in number, and out of it, in the fullness of time, appears Jesus Christ.
That is just the way God meets every real sacrifice of every child of His. We surrender all and accept poverty; and He sends wealth. We renounce a rich field of service; He sends us a richer one than we had dared to dream of. We give up all our cherished hopes, and die unto self; He sends us the life more abundant, and tingling joy. And the crown of it all is our Jesus Christ. For we can never know the fullness of the life that is in Christ until we have made Abraham’s supreme sacrifice. The earthly founder of the family of Christ must commence by losing himself and his only son, just as the Heavenly Founder of that family did. We cannot be members of that family with the full privileges and joys of membership upon any other basis.—C. G. Trumbull.
We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes He takes in fire; and that the only way to the resurrection life and the ascension mount is the way of the garden, the cross, and the grave.
Think not, O soul of man, that Abraham’s was a unique and solitary experience. It is simply a specimen and pattern of God’s dealings with all souls who are prepared to obey Him at whatever cost. After thou hast patiently endured, thou shalt receive the promise. The moment of supreme sacrifice shall be the moment of supreme and rapturous blessing. God’s river, which is full of water, shall burst its banks, and pour upon thee a tide of wealth and grace. There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.—F. B. Meyer.

16 JULY

Practise hospitality

‘Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.’ Genesis 18:4–5
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 18:1–16

We may briefly note Abraham’s hospitality and the reward he found it. The apostle refers to this and to the case of Lot (in Hebrews 13:2) where he says, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have received angels unawares. It seems Abraham did not at first know his guests, but it was his usual custom to welcome strangers. We are not bound to open our doors to all, nor would it be prudent, but we should be hospitable and kind, especially to the Lord’s people. We know not what a blessing they may bring with them. The kindness we show to the meanest of his, he will accept as done to himself. These three men were three angels, or rather, one of them was the angel of the covenant, the Lord, who afterwards assumed a real body on behalf of his people. This was a greater honour and happiness to Abraham, but such honour have all his saints. He still walks with them and dwells in them.
Observe the simplicity of the times. Abraham was a great man, he lived in plenty. But the idle pomp and luxury of aftertimes was not then practised. His entertainment was plain. And he and Sarah, though they had many servants, were not above a concern in it. Abraham fetched the calf and Sarah made the cakes. So we find Rebecca drawing water. I do not say it is necessary or would even be proper for persons of rank and destination to employ themselves so with us. But the pride and vanity which grows in our times as people are raised a little above the lowest state of life, appears doubly contemptible when compared with the manner of Abraham’s living, whose wealth, honour and influence were very great, and yet he had no regard to the things of the world, but for their real use.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms’ (1 Peter 4:9–10, NIV).

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 37 [1/4], GENESIS 18:14

July 15th

The point of spiritual honour

I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians. Romans 1:14

Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent himself to express it. The great inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul? The spiritual honour of my life as a saint is to fulfil my debt to Christ in relation to them. Every bit of my life that is of value I owe to the Redemption of Jesus Christ; am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His Redemption into actual manifestation in other lives? I can only do it as the Spirit of God works in me this sense of indebtedness. I am not to be a superior person amongst men, but a bondslave of the Lord Jesus. “Ye are not your own.” Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ. He says—‘I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the Gospel of Jesus; I am free to be an absolute slave only.’ That is the characteristic of the life when once this point of spiritual honour is realized. Quit praying about yourself and be spent for others as the bondslave of Jesus. That is the meaning of being made broken bread and poured-out wine in reality.