Milo

8 APRIL

The name of Jesus

‘Thy name is as ointment poured forth.’ Song of Solomon 1:3
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Peter 2:4–10

I knew nothing about the fear of God. I never had a hearty desire to keep his commandments, till I began to know a little of Christ. I was starving and he fed me; I was sick and he visited me; I was naked, destitute of all good, and he clothed me with his own righteousness; I was shut up in the prison of sin and he came and burst open the doors and set me at liberty. How great is his goodness; how great is his beauty. In comparison of this tree of life, all the tallest of the sons of men are empty and barren. He is the chief among ten thousands and altogether lovely. The soul ranges, as it were, through the whole creation to find some worthy similitudes of her Lord, but all are scanty and insufficient. Let us consider this in my text. It may lead our thoughts not only to the excellency that is in Christ, but to his suitableness to us, and afford a glass in which you may see yourselves and be able to judge by the light of the Holy Spirit whether you are indeed worthy the name of Christians.
Thy name. This in general means his person (as in Revelation 3:4), or rather the manifestation of his person, that by which he is known. The name of Christ includes the whole revelation concerning him, who he is, what he has done—all that we read of his love, his power and his offices, make a part of his great and glorious name. The soul that is taught by the Word and Spirit of God to understand a little of these things, receives such a sense of love and joy, that the very sound of his name is sweeter than music to the ears, sweeter than honey to the taste. He is named a Saviour, to save from guilt, sin and hell. This implies a Mediator. There is an important concern between us and God—but how shall we approach?—who shall interpose? This name affords a comfortable answer. He is named a Husband. Our wants, debts and fears are many. But he is made known by this name (Isaiah 54) and he is rich enough to supply all.
FOR MEDITATION:

Dear name! the rock on which I build,
JESUS! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
My shield and hiding place;
My Prophet, Priest and King;
My never-failing treasury filled
My LORD, my Life, my Way, my End,
With boundless stores of grace.
Accept the praise I bring.

SERMON: SONG OF SOLOMON 1:3 [1/5]

April 7th

Why are we not told plainly?

He charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. Mark 9:9.

Say nothing until the Son of man is risen in you—until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you understand what the historic Christ taught. When you get to the right state on the inside, the word which Jesus has spoken is so plain that you are amazed you did not see it before. You could not understand it before, you were not in the place in disposition where it could be borne.
Our Lord does not hide these things; they are unbearable until we get into a fit condition of spiritual life. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” There must be communion with His risen life before a particular word can be borne by us. Do we know anything about the impartation of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His word is becoming interpretable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His Spirit. An obstinate outlook will effectually hinder God from revealing anything to us. If we have made up our minds about a doctrine, the light of God will come no more to us on that line, we cannot get it. This obtuse stage will end immediately His resurrection life has its way with us.
“Tell no man …”—so many do tell what they saw on the mount of transfiguration. They have had the vision and they testify to it, but the life does not tally with it, the Son of man is not yet risen in them. I wonder when He is going to be formed in you and in me?

April 7

“Their strength is to sit still.” (Isa. 30:7)

IN order really to know God, inward stillness is absolutely necessary. I remember when I first learned this. A time of great emergency had risen in my life, when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety, and when the necessity for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering; and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could, would not stir.
For a little while it seemed as if I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil, when suddenly the still small voice whispered in the depths of my soul, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The word was with power, and I hearkened. I composed my body to perfect stillness, and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness, and looked up and waited; and then I did “know” that it was God, God even in the very emergency and in my helplessness to meet it; and I rested in Him. It was an experience that I would not have missed for worlds; and I may add also, that out of this stillness seemed to arise a power to deal with the emergency, that very soon brought it to a successful issue. I learned then effectually that my “strength was to sit still.”—Hannah Whitall Smith.
There is a perfect passivity which is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety.

Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame;
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the prophet came.

O Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb around thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.

All fellowship hath interludes of rest,
New strength maturing in each poise of power;
The sweetest Alleluias of the blest
Are silent, for the space of half an hour.

O rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile;
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.

Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown,
Not taking Heaven by violence of will;
But with thy Father as a child sit down,
And know the bliss that follows His “Be Still!”
—Mary Rowles Jarvis.

7 APRIL (PREACHED THURSDAY 6 APRIL 1774)

Have you a Counsellor in heaven?

‘Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is thy counsellor perished? For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.’ Micah 4:9
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 16:1–11

But is thy counsellor perished? thy advocate? thy friend? Have poor sinners a manager in heaven or have they not? If Satan would object to purpose, he should prove either that Christ did not die, or that death had full dominion so that he could not rise again. But see Romans 8:34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Well, if he is not perished but still lives, see what follows:
(i) He pleads for us. How? In general see John 17, in particular see Luke 22:30–31.
(ii) He answers for us (Zechariah 3:2).
(iii) He makes our prayers (poor as they are) acceptable (Revelation 8:3).
(iv) He obtains and bestows every needful blessing (Psalm 68:18).
In consequence of all this, he is able to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25), and as willing as able. Why is not his Word worthy your credit? See John 6:37. Why then dost thou cry and refuse to be comforted? It is because your heart still cleaves to the old covenant—because you do not look simply to Christ, but are labouring for something in yourself, which you will not be able to find.
To some I might change the question—Why do not you cry? Your lives, your language proclaim there is no King in you—unless I should say, the prince of darkness. But Jesus is not your King, or Counsellor. He lives and pleads, but you have no good hope that he pleads for you. On the contrary, you crucify him afresh and put him to open shame. Is it not time to stop? If you have him not for your Saviour, he will be your Judge. If you do not cry now, you will cry for ever. Yet despair not—there is still hope. There is forgiveness with him.

FOR MEDITATION: We have indeed no sufficiency in ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. May this good and great Shepherd ever be your guide, your guard, your counsellor, and your consolation.
John Newton to William Wilberforce (the MP’s uncle), 19 October 1767

SERMON: MICAH 4:9 [2/2]

April 6th

The collision of God and sin

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. 1 Peter 2:24.

The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.
The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the enigmas of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.
The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened—but the crash is on the heart of God.