Milo

21 MARCH (PREACHED 21 MARCH 1773)

Much to be observed

‘Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.’ 1 Timothy 1:16
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Ezra 6:19–22

When Moses has related the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, he adds, It is a night much to be observed, and they were accordingly directed to keep it in solemn remembrance. Much to be observed and remembered likewise is the time where it can be clearly known, of the Lord’s appearance to deliver his people from Satan’s bondage. I say when it can be known, for many are brought in so gradual a way, that they cannot distinctly mark the beginning. Others can certainly tell when he signally appeared in their behalf. The return of this day has I believe never been wholly forgotten by me, for twenty-five years past, though I have never thought of it with a thousandth part of thankfulness and sensibility which it demands. It is the day when the Lord sent from high and saved me from sinking in the deep water. It is the first time since I came to Olney that it happened on a Sunday, and as the Lord has been pleased (which is rather more than I could have hoped for two or three days since) to enable me to stand before you this afternoon, I would hope he will graciously fulfil my text amongst us at this time. And that I shall not speak of such an amazing instance of his mercy, and stand up as a pattern of his longsuffering before you in vain.
My manner of life till that period and the dreadful extremity to which I was then brought is pretty well known. Surely there never was one to whom a part of the Apostle’s words were more applicable than myself. I was indeed a persecutor, a blasphemer and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. O to say from my heart, I thank Christ Jesus my Lord.

FOR MEDITATION: My subjects today were suggested from my own circumstances. This being the anniversary of ye day in the year 1748 when the Lord delivered me from sinking at sea, and made the first impression upon my heart after my dreadful apostasy, I preached upon the occasion in the afternoon, and was favoured with liberty. O that I could preach effectually to my own heart. Lord do thou make it soft and sensible.
Diary, 21 March 1773

SERMON: 1 TIMOTHY 1:16 [1/4]

March 20th

Friendship with God

Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Genesis 18:17.

Its Delights. This chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and all your commonsense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.
Its Difficulties. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly on until God granted his desire, there was something yet to be desired in his relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say—‘Well, I don’t know; perhaps it is not God’s will,’—there is still another stage to go. We are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to be—“That they may be one even as We are one.” Think of the last thing you prayed about—were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? “Your Heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” The point of asking is that you may get to know God better. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

March 19th

The way of Abraham in faith

He went out, not knowing whither he went. Hebrews 11:8.

In the Old Testament, personal relationship with God showed itself in separation, and this is symbolized in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and from his kith and kin. To-day the separation is more of a mental and moral separation from the way that those who are dearest to us look at things, that is, if they have not a personal relationship with God. Jesus Christ emphasized this (see Luke 14:26).
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us ‘go’. The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.
The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character. There are many passing transfigurations of character; when we pray we feel the blessing of God enwrapping us and for the time being we are changed, then we get back to the ordinary days and ways and the glory vanishes. The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely further on than sanctification, of faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test. Abraham is not a type of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith, a tried faith built on a real God. “Abraham believed God.”

March 20

“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Cor. 6:10)

THE stoic scorns to shed a tear; the Christian is not forbidden to weep. The soul may be dumb with excessive grief, as the shearer’s scissors pass over the quivering flesh; or, when the heart is on the point of breaking beneath the meeting surges of trial, the sufferer may seek relief by crying out with a loud voice. But there is something even better.
They say that springs of sweet fresh water well up amid the brine of salt seas; that the fairest Alpine flowers bloom in the wildest and most rugged mountain passes; that the noblest psalms were the outcome of the profoundest agony of soul.
Be it so. And thus amid manifold trials, souls which love God will find reasons for bounding, leaping joy. Though deep call to deep, yet the Lord’s song will be heard in silver cadence through the night. And it is possible in the darkest hour that ever swept a human life to bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you learned this lesson yet? Not simply to endure God’s will, nor only to choose it; but to rejoice in it with joy unspeakable and full of glory.—Tried us by Fire.

I will be still, my bruised heart faintly murmured,
  As o’er me rolled a crushing load of woe;
The cry, the call, e’en the low moan was stifled;
  I pressed my lips; I barred the tear drop’s flow.

I will be still, although I cannot see it,
  The love that bares a soul and fans pain’s fire;
That takes away the last sweet drop of solace,
  Breaks the lone harp string, hides Thy precious lyre.

But God is love, so I will bide me, bide me—
  We’ll doubt not, Soul, we will be very still;
We’ll wait till after while, when He shall lift us—
  Yes, after while, when it shall be His will.

And I did listen to my heart’s brave promise;
  And I did quiver, struggling to be still;
And I did lift my tearless eyes to Heaven,
  Repeating ever, “Yea, Christ, have Thy will.”

But soon my heart upspake from ‘neath our burden,
  Reproved my tight-drawn lips, my visage sad:
“We can do more than this, O Soul,” it whispered.
  “We can be more than still, we can be glad!”

And now my heart and I are sweetly singing—
  Singing without the sound of tuneful strings;
Drinking abundant waters in the desert;
  Crushed, and yet soaring as on eagle’s wings.

—S. P. W

March 19

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you … you are sharing what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it.” (1 Peter 4:12.)

MANY a waiting hour was needful to enrich the harp of David, and many a waiting hour in the wilderness will gather for us a psalm of “thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,” to cheer the hearts of fainting ones here below, and to make glad our Father’s house on high.
What was the preparation of the son of Jesse for the songs like unto which none other have ever sounded on this earth?
The outrage of the wicked, which brought forth cries for God’s help. Then the faint hope in God’s goodness blossomed into a song of rejoicing for His mighty deliverances and manifold mercies. Every sorrow was another string to his harp; every deliverance another theme for praise.
One thrill of anguish spared, one blessing unmarked or unprized, one difficulty or danger evaded, how great would have been our loss in that thrilling Psalmody in which God’s people today find the expression of their grief or praise!
To wait for God, and to suffer His will, is to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So now, if the vessel is to be enlarged for spiritual understanding, be not affrighted at the wider sphere of suffering that awaits you. The Divine capacity of sympathy will have a more extended sphere, for the breathing of the Holy Ghost in the new creation never made a stoic, but left the heart’s affection tender and true.—Anna Shipton.

“He tested me ere He entrusted me.” (1 Tim. 1:12) (Way’s Trans.)