Milo

15 FEBRUARY (PREACHED 13 FEBRUARY 1774)

What a portion!

‘The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.’ Lamentations 3:24
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Lamentations 3:19–24

What a portion! The word implies two things:
(i) excellence. None account anything a portion but what is (in their esteem at least) valuable.
(ii) propriety. However excellent a thing may be, if it is not ours, or if we have no hope of attaining it, we cannot look on it as our portion.
Now the Lord is deservedly a portion to believing souls, for he is most excellent in himself, and he gives them a right to call him their own. Compare this with the portions and desirable things of this life. They are:
(i) hard to get.
(ii) unsatisfactory when obtained. The want of one thing will spoil the sweetness of many, as Haman [in Esther].
(iii) hard, nay impossible, to keep.
But the Lord is:
(i) a free portion. None that sincerely desire him shall be rejected. Grace reigns, and sinners, though vilest and most unworthy, are welcome.
(ii) an all-sufficient portion, exceeding all their capacities, wants and desires.
(iii) an everlasting portion: in life, in death and for ever.
FOR MEDITATION: We had a full house and I hope a good time in the evening. The subject, death—it being the first time of our meeting there since Betty Abraham was removed; I had made a hymn upon the occasion.
Diary, Sunday evening 20 February 1774

From pole to pole let others roam,
JESUS, who on his glorious throne
And search in vain for bliss;
Rules heaven and earth and sea;
My soul is satisfied at home,
Is pleased to claim me for his own,
The LORD my portion is.
And give himself to me.

[hymn prompted by Betty Abraham’s death; first used 20 February 1774]

SERMON: LAMENTATIONS 3:24 [3/4] [FOR BETTY ABRAHAM’S FUNERAL]

14 FEBRUARY (PREACHED 13 FEBRUARY 1774)

It’s all of grace

‘The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.’ Lamentations 3:24
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 119:57–72

Happy indeed are the people who have the Lord for their God. Let us consider how the Lord becomes a portion. If the holy angels should use these words they would not seem strange, but when sinful worms are not ashamed or afraid to say so, it seems wonderful indeed. How different our portion by nature: sin our choice, misery our state, wrath our inheritance. Such were once all those who have now the Lord for their portion. They did not obtain their portion as that which Jacob speaks of: by his sword and his bow. It was all of grace. It pleased the Lord to make them his people, to choose them for his portion, and then he gave himself to be a portion for them.
(i) He spared and waited for them (Ezekiel 16:6).
(ii) He opens their understandings, to look upon themselves and desire him.
(iii) He gives them faith—then they claim him as their own.
FOR MEDITATION:
Once perishing in blood I lay,
At length the time of love arrived
Creatures no help could give,
When I my Lord should know,
But Jesus passed me in the way,
Then Satan, of his power deprived,
He saw, and bid me live.
Was forced to let me go.

Though Satan still his rule maintained,
O can I e’er that day forget
And all his arts employed;
When Jesus kindly spoke!
That mighty Word his rage restrained,
‘Poor soul, my blood has paid thy debt,
I could not be destroyed.
And now I break thy yoke.

         Henceforth I take thee for my own,
         And give myself to thee;
         Forsake the idols thou hast known,
         And yield thyself to me.’

SERMON: LAMENTATIONS 3:24 [2/4] [FOR BETTY ABRAHAM’S FUNERAL]

13 FEBRUARY (PREACHED 13 FEBRUARY 1774)

When every creature comfort fails

‘The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.’ Lamentations 3:24
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Acts 27:13–44

The prophet Jeremiah and the spiritual worshippers of God in his time lived in a cloudy and dark day. Though the Lord set a mark upon them for good and gave them their lives for a prey, yet were they deeply affected with the common calamity of their people. It is no small trial to the people of God to live where wickedness prevails, suppose they suffer no more than from what they see and hear around them, but when the Lord arises to take vengeance, when he sends his desolatory judgements, when he breaks the staff of bread and water, or says to the sword, Sword, go through the land [Ezekiel 14:17], his people, as well as others, have a share in the trouble—and that justly, for they have not been so faithful as they ought in bearing a testimony against sin, neither have they been so deeply humbled before God on this account as became them. However, at the worst they have two consolations: firstly that his providence is with them to support and bring them safe through all they meet, and secondly that he himself is their friend, their God, their portion—a portion which no change of circumstance can deprive them of. And here we see the triumph of faith that can rejoice in the Lord when every creature comfort fails and can claim an interest in him when all things seem against them. The believers at this time saw their country laid waste, their cities destroyed, their temples burnt by fire, their neighbours and friends cut off by sword and pestilence, they themselves rooted out from their pleasant dwellings and sent captives into a strange land. Yet in the midst of all this desolation they could say, The LORD is my portion, therefore though cast down, we are not destroyed—I will hope in him.

FOR MEDITATION: We have had a great blow at Olney. Betty Abraham is gone. We prayed for her continuance, but the time when Jesus had prayed she might be with him to see his glory being come, we could not keep her, nor is it fitting we should. My soul desires to say, Thy will be done. Yet I feel as if I had lost a right hand.… I preached her funeral last night from Lamentations 3:24, which were some of the last words she spoke.
John Newton to John Ryland jnr, 14 February 1774

SERMON: LAMENTATIONS 3:24 [1/4] [FOR BETTY ABRAHAM’S FUNERAL]

12 FEBRUARY (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S EVENING 1774)

Certain deliverance

‘How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!’ Jeremiah 50:23
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Jeremiah 50:1–10

Babylon was the great enemy of Israel, and by God’s permission triumphed over it for a season, laid Jerusalem in heaps and led the people into captivity. But the prophet in this chapter foretells the destruction of Babylon, and that in consequence of it, Israel should return to their own land in the manner described in my text [50:5]. But the Scriptures principally testify of Christ. The prophecies concerning Israel are not to be confined to the literal and immediate sense; they are typical, and receive their full accomplishment and signification when referred to gospel times. Mystical Babylon is the kingdom of Satan—Jesus, the true Cyrus, triumphed over him and destroyed his power by his death. Then he spoiled principalities and powers, broke the gates of brass asunder, and effected the deliverance and redemption of his people, which now is not suspended upon any conditions on their parts, but wholly depends upon the efficacy of his grace and promise. He has made their deliverance not only possible but certain. He has said, They shall ask the way and he has likewise said, ‘They that seek shall find’ [Luke 11:9].

FOR MEDITATION: I began to pray. I could not utter the prayer of faith: I could not draw near to a reconciled God, and call him Father. My prayer was like the cry of the ravens, which yet the Lord does not disdain to hear.… One of the first helps I received (in consequence of a determination to examine the New Testament more carefully) was from Luke 11:13.… Here I found a Spirit spoken of, which was to be communicated to those who ask it. Upon this I reasoned thus: if this book is true, the promise in this passage is true likewise: I have need of that very Spirit by which the whole was written, in order to understand it aright. He has engaged here to give that Spirit to those who ask. I must therefore pray for it; and if it is of God, he will make good his own word.… About this time I began to know that there is a God that hears and answers prayer. How many times has he appeared for me since this great deliverance!
Narrative, 1764, Letter 8

SERMON: JEREMIAH 50:5 [2/7] [TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE]

11 FEBRUARY (PREACHED 6 FEBRUARY 1777)

He hears the feeblest cry for mercy

‘What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men).’ 1 Kings 8:38–39
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 35:1–28

[contd from 5/6]
The plague of your heart includes:
(i) temptation. This takes in all the foregoing. Satan strengthens unbelief, stirs up corruption, and fixes guilt upon the conscience. ‘He has near access to my heart and I feel that within which agrees with all his proposals. My mind is filled with hard thoughts of God, blasphemies and evil imaginations.’ A part of Solomon’s prayer was for Israel when smitten before their enemies.
(ii) deadness of spirit. ‘I know and believe the truth, but it seems not to touch me. I pray without life, I hear without pleasure, my mind is wandering to the ends of the earth and I cannot fix it.’ There is relief in this place also. A coal of fire from the golden altar of this temple will warm your heart, and quicken your affections to divine things.
(iii) impatience. ‘I am in trouble and my heart rebels against the Lord. I do not find affliction sanctified.’ Look to the temple, to him who drank the cup of wrath for us. I cannot mention every case; whatever it be, here is provision.

FOR MEDITATION: But what is it to direct the prayer to the temple? It is to pray in the name of Jesus, as King, and expecting—for his sake only. See what is asked: hear, see and do. He will hear the feeblest cry, forgive the greatest sins, and do the hardest things. For thou only knowest. He knows before you ask; he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. We are going to the Lord’s table. May he enable us to carry with us a sense of the plague of our own hearts and of his abundant love, compassion and power. May he show careless sinners the plague of their hearts, that they may cry for mercy.

SERMON: 1 KINGS 8:38–39 [6/6]