Milo

19 MAY

The sweet savour of Jesus

‘And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.’ Genesis 8:21
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 8:13–22

The Lord’s answer of peace to Noah: here is a gracious promise, I will not again curse the ground. The reason is assigned: for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth up. This seems a reason of the same kind as that before assigned for the destruction of the earth—the for may be rendered though.
(i) Sin is so deeply rooted that judgements cannot remove it. If the aboundings of sin were to be always followed with a deluge, there must be a new flood at least in every generation. God, having once shown his displeasure this way, will wait to be gracious. But this we owe to the sweet savour of Jesus. The Lord saw and knew that the new race of mankind would be no better than the old.
(ii) The evil of man cannot frustrate the grace of the Lord. Vile as they are, he will have a people out of them that shall show forth his praise.
(iii) The continuance of the seasons is an earnest and pledge of the Lord’s faithfulness to every part of his Word. We expect harvests and obtain them because he thus was pleased to engage himself to Noah. So all that his people hope for, from his Word, shall be surely fulfilled, and so likewise the weight of all his threatenings shall fall heavy upon the heads of the wicked, for he is not a man that he should lie or the son of man that he should repent [Numbers 23:19].

FOR MEDITATION: The gospel gives a blessed freedom from the power of outward sin, but the root of sin in the heart still remains and will yield bitter fruit: unbelief, self-will, self-righteousness and pride, a wandering heart, a vain, ungoverned imagination, a numbness of spirit amounting to an almost total indisposition to divine things.… But though sorrowful, we may be always rejoicing, for we have a mighty and a merciful Saviour, and in him we have righteousness and strength. In him we are complete and he is full of compassion. He knows our frame and remembers that we are but dust.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 19 [1/1], GENESIS 8:21

May 18th

Careful unreasonableness

Behold the fowls of the air … consider the lilies of the field. Matthew 6:26, 28.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars and the moon—all these are, and what a ministration they exert. So often we mar God’s designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. Jesus says that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentration on God. ‘Do not bother about being of use to others, believe on Me’—pay attention to the Source, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. We cannot get at the springs of our natural life by common sense, and Jesus is teaching that growth in spiritual life does not depend on our watching it, but on concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows the circumstances we are in, and if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies.
The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us.
If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live.

May 18

“I was crushed … so much so that I despaired even of life, but that was to make me rely not on myself, but on the God who raises the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:8, 9)

“Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

“Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.”

THE pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them.
There is a shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly, and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never does this, but is very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, “Death worketh in you.”
Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold of that mighty ship give force that moves the piston, drives the engine, and propels that great vessel across the sea in the face of the winds and waves.
—A. B. Simpson.

“Out of the presses of pain,
  Cometh the soul’s best wine;
And the eyes that have shed no rain,
  Can shed but little shine.”

18 MAY

Sweet messenger of rest

‘And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.’ Genesis 8:11
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Isaiah 51:12–16; Matthew 11:28–30

Noah sent forth first the raven, which returned no more, then a dove, which, not finding rest, returned to the ark—but the second time brought an olive leaf. It was probably from an imperfect tradition of this circumstance that an olive branch has been considered an emblem of peace among all nations. The raven is an unclean bird. A bird of prey, it was confined in the ark and glad of its liberty, for it could find subsistence abroad. But the dove could not live upon ravens’ food and therefore returned till the earth was fully dried. Thus the carnal heart can find satisfaction in the world, but the believer can find no rest but in the ark. As Noah put forth his hand to receive her, so Jesus graciously receives the weary soul into his rest.
The dove, though it came back unsuccessful, is sent forth again and at last brings the token. The peace of God is revealed to persevering prayer, and when the heart has been humbled by the Word and brought into a meek and gentle spirit. The peace of God is made known not to ravens but to doves. At last the dove likewise took its flight and returned no more. The earth was dried and the fruits ready for its food. Believers go forth upon the wing of faith and prayer; they receive tokens of good and are witnesses and messengers of the Lord’s mercy. But in time their hope is exchanged for possession and they take their flight from the church below to the land of eternal rest, from whence they shall come back no more.
FOR MEDITATION:
Does the gospel-word proclaim
Safely lodged within thy breast,
Rest, for those who weary be?
What a wondrous change I find!
Then, my soul, put in thy claim,
Now I know thy promised rest
Sure that promise speaks to thee:
Can compose a troubled mind
Marks of grace I cannot show,
You that weary are like me,
All polluted is my best;
Hearken to the gospel call;
Yet I weary am I know,
To the ark for refuge flee,
And the weary long for rest.
JESUS will receive you all!

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 18 [3/3], GENESIS 8:11

May 17th

His ascension and our union

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51.

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord’s life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord’s life was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards—Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection—everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.
On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.
The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God: He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now.