Milo

14 MAY (PREACHED 1770)

Partakers of the resurrection

‘And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.’ Luke 9:30–31
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Deuteronomy 34:1–12; 2 Kings 2:1–12

In one thing Moses and Elijah differed: Elijah was translated without tasting death. The circumstances of Moses’ death were uncommon and honourable, yet he did die. Now he appeared in glory upon equal advantage with Elijah. I see no reason to suppose that he assumed a body upon this occasion, or the appearance of a body only. I rather think that he was partaker of the resurrection of Jesus, before the great day of the general resurrection, as it is certain several were soon afterwards (Matthew 27:53). Though they left this world in different ways, they now appeared in the same glory. Various are the dispensations through which the Lord’s people pass in the present life, and by which they pass out of it, but they shall all appear at last in the same glory. And thus their redemption draweth nigh. How the disciples knew Moses and Elijah, we are not told. Perhaps our Lord informed them, either when they appeared or after they departed. Or, for ought we know, an impression attended their appearance that satisfied the disciples who they were. It seems not at all improbable that when we mingle with the world of spirits, we shall know as we are known—without needing information. How sweet will the communion be which believers shall have with each other, not only with those whom they walked with here below, but with all who have died in the Lord. O to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in our Father’s kingdom. But these things, as yet, are hid. We cannot order our speech concerning them by reason of darkness.
FOR MEDITATION:
In vain my fancy strives to paint
Thus much (and this is all) we know,
The moment after death;
They are completely blest;
The glories that surround the saints,
Have done with sin, and care, and woe,
When yielding up their breath.
And with their Saviour rest.

SERMON SERIES: ON THE TRANSFIGURATION, NO. 5 [2/3], LUKE 9:30–31

May 13th

The habit of a good conscience

A conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. Acts 24:16.

God’s commands are given to the life of His Son in us, consequently to the human nature in which His Son has been formed, His commands are difficult, but immediately we obey they become divinely easy.
Conscience is that faculty in me which attaches itself to the highest that I know, and tells me what the highest I know demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either towards God or towards what it regards as the highest, and therefore conscience records differently in different people. If I am in the habit of steadily facing myself with God, my conscience will always introduce God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The point is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I walk without offence. I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God’s Son, that in every circumstance the spirit of my mind is renewed, and I ‘make out’ at once “what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, will of God.”
God always educates us down to the scruple. Is my ear so keen to hear the tiniest whisper of the Spirit that I know what I should do? “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.” He does not come with a voice like thunder; His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore it. The one thing that keeps the conscience sensitive to Him is the continual habit of being open to God on the inside. When there is any debate, quit. ‘Why shouldn’t I do this?’ You are on the wrong track. There is no debate possible when conscience speaks. At your peril, you allow one thing to obscure your inner communion with God. Drop it, whatever it is, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.

May 13

“We know not what we should pray for as we ought.”
(Rom. 8:26)

MUCH that perplexes us in our Christian experience is but the answer to our prayers. We pray for patience, and our Father sends those who tax us to the utmost; for “tribulation worketh patience.”
We pray for submission, and God sends sufferings; for “we learn obedience by the things we suffer.”
We pray for unselfishness, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice ourselves by thinking on the things of others, and by laying down our lives for the brethren.
We pray for strength and humility, and some messenger of Satan torments us until we lie in the dust crying for its removal.
We pray, “Lord, increase our faith,” and money takes wings; or the children are alarmingly ill; or a servant comes who is careless, extravagant, untidy or slow, or some hitherto unknown trial calls for an increase of faith along a line where we have not needed to exercise much faith before.
We pray for the Lamb-life, and are given a portion of lowly service, or we are injured and must seek no redress; for “he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and … opened not his mouth.”

We pray for gentleness, and there comes a perfect storm of temptation to harshness and irritability. We pray for quietness, and every nerve is strung to the utmost tension, so that looking to Him we may learn that when He giveth quietness, no one can make trouble.
We pray for love, and God sends peculiar suffering and puts us with apparently unlovely people, and lets them say things which rasp the nerves and lacerate the heart; for love suffereth long and is kind, love is not impolite, love is not provoked. LOVE BEARETH ALL THINGS, believeth, hopeth and endureth, love never faileth. We pray for likeness to Jesus, and the answer is, “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” “Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong?” “Are ye able?”
The way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance, every trial, straight from the hand of a loving Father; and to live up in the heavenly places, above the clouds, in the very presence of the Throne, and to look down from the Glory upon our environment as lovingly and divinely appointed.—Selected.

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile
  All sense of nearness, human and divine;
The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,
  The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine;
But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,
The everlasting arms upheld my own.

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds,
  The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,
The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,
  And all my little candle flames burned out;
But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,
The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,
  A slumber drugged from pain, a hushed repose;
Above my head the skies were black with storm,
  And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;
But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew,
I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

I thank Thee, Lord, Thou wert too wise to heed.
  My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought,
Since these rich gifts Thy bounty has bestowed
  Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;
Giver of good, so answer each request
With Thine own giving, better than my best.

—Annie Johnson Flint.

13 MAY (PREACHED 1770)

The true meaning of Scripture

‘And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.’ Luke 9:30–31
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Corinthians 1:17–31

Why were there any witnesses summoned from the heavenly world? Why saints rather than angels? Why only two? And why these two, preferable to the cloud of witnesses who had lived upon earth? Some of these questions are perhaps best referred to the divine will. God does not see fit to acquaint us with all the reasons of his proceedings. We may safely rest in a persuasion that all his appointments are wise and expedient, and hereafter, perhaps, we shall clearly know what at present is not revealed. To give the disciples and to give us, from their testimony, a confirmation that there is a blessed state beyond the present life, two persons who had once been partakers of our afflictions and infirmities, now appeared with Jesus in glory. I know not that there is any stress to be laid upon the number two. These two were selected, and we may observe concerning Moses and Elijah, their resemblance. There had been a resemblance in several parts of their history, in which they had been particularly differenced from all other servants of God. Both had seen the glory of God in the Mount, both had been supernaturally sustained without food, forty days and nights. Both had been eminent instruments in their day. By Moses the law had been given—by Elijah the knowledge and practice of it had been restored in a very degenerate time. The Scriptures which were then known, were generally summarized by two sections—the law and the prophets. Moses the lawgiver and Elijah as a representative of the prophets appeared, to signify that all that was written in the law and the prophets terminated in Jesus. The Jews professed a great regard to the writings of Moses and the prophets, yet they rejected their testimony in favour of Christ. The disciples, by this interview, were convinced how little their professed teachers knew of the true meaning of the Scriptures.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘And he said unto them … all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures’ (Luke 24:44–45).

SERMON SERIES: ON THE TRANSFIGURATION, NO. 5 [1/3], LUKE 9:30–31

May 12th

Make a habit of having no habits

For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful. 2 Peter 1:8 (R.V.).

When we begin to form a habit we are conscious of it. There are times when we are conscious of becoming virtuous and patient and godly, but it is only a stage; if we stop there we shall get the strut of the spiritual prig. The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so practised that there is no conscious habit at all. Our spiritual life continually resolves into introspection because there are some qualities we have not added as yet. Ultimately the relationship is to be a completely simple one.
Your god may be your little Christian habit, the habit of prayer at stated times, or the habit of Bible reading. Watch how your Father will upset those times if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes—‘I can’t do that just now, I am praying; it is my hour with God.’ No, it is your hour with your habit. There is a quality that is lacking in you. Recognize the defect, and then look for the opportunity of exercising yourself along the line of the quality to be added.
Love means that there is no habit visible, you have come to the place where the habit is lost, and by practice you do the thing unconsciously. If you are consciously holy, there are certain things you imagine you cannot do, certain relationships in which you are far from simple; that means there is something to be added. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there anywhere where you are not at home with God? Let God press through in that particular circumstance until you gain Him, and life becomes the simple life of a child.