Milo

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]

February 15

“Fret not thyself.” (Psalm 37:1.)

DO not get into a perilous heat about things. If ever heat were justified, it was surely justified in the circumstances outlined in the Psalm. Evil-doers were moving about clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day. “Workers of iniquity” were climbing into the supreme places of power, and were tyrannizing their less fortunate brethren. Sinful men and women were stalking through the land in the pride of life and basking in the light and comfort of great prosperity, and good men were becoming heated and fretful.
“Fret not thyself.” Do not get unduly heated! Keep cool! Even in a good cause, fretfulness is not a wise help-meet. Fretting only heats the bearings; it does not generate the steam. It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance. When the axles get heated, it is because of unnecessary friction; dry surfaces are grinding together, which ought to be kept in smooth co-operation by a delicate cushion of oil.
And is it not a suggestive fact that this word “fret” is closely akin to the word “friction,” and is an indication of absence of the anointing oil of the grace of God?
In fretfulness, a little bit of grit gets into the bearings—some slight disappointment, some ingratitude, some discourtesy—and the smooth working of the life is checked. Friction begets heat; and with the heat, most dangerous conditions are created.
Do not let thy bearings get hot. Let the oil of the Lord keep thee cool, lest by reason of an unholy heat thou be reckoned among the evil-doers.—The Silver Lining.

Dear restless heart, be still; don’t fret and worry so;
God has a thousand ways His love and help to show;
Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know.

Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God’s own smile,
His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile;
Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile.

Dear restless heart, be brave; don’t moan and sorrow so,
He hath a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow;
Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver grow.

Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this hour,
His grace is strength and life, His love is bloom and flower;
Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender power.

Dear restless heart, be still! Don’t struggle to be free;
God’s life is in your life, from Him you may not flee;
Just pray, and pray, and pray, till you have faith to see.
—Edith Willis Linn.

February 14

“And again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4.)
IT is a good thing to rejoice in the Lord. Perhaps you have tried this, and the first time seemed to fail. Never mind, keep right on and when you cannot feel any joy, when there is no spring, and no seeming comfort and encouragement, still rejoice, and count it all joy. Even when you fall into divers temptations, reckon it joy and delight, and God will make your reckoning good. Do you suppose your Father will let you carry the banner of His victory and His gladness on to the front of the battle, and then coolly stand back and see you captured or beaten back by the enemy? NEVER! The Holy Spirit will sustain you in your bold advance, and fill your heart with gladness and praise, and you will find your heart all exhilarated and refreshed by the fullness within. Lord teach me to rejoice in Thee, and to “rejoice evermore.”—Selected.

“The weakest saint may Satan rout,
Who meets him with a praiseful shout.”

“Be filled with the Spirit, … singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:18, 19.)

Here the Apostle urges the use of singing as one of the inspiring helps in the spiritual life. He counsels his readers not to seek their stimulus through the body, but through the spirit; not by the quickening of the flesh, but by the exaltation of the soul.

  “Sometimes a light surprises
  The Christian while he sings.”

Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for thus we may give wings to leaden feet and turn weariness into strength.
—J. H. Jowett.

“At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” (Acts 16:25.)
Oh, Paul, thou wondrous example to the flock, who could thus glory, bearing in the body as thou didst “the marks of the Lord Jesus”! Marks from stoning almost to the death, from thrice beating with rods, from those hundred and ninety-five stripes laid on thee by the Jews, and from stripes received in that Philippian jail, which had they not drawn blood would not have called for washing! Surely the grace which enabled thee to sing praises under such suffering is all-sufficient grace.
—J. Roach.
“Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,
When darts of the tempter are flying,
For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,
Our singing much more than our sighing.”

February 13

“The hill country shall be thine.” (Josh. 17:18, R. V.)

THERE is always room higher up. When the valleys are full of Canaanites, whose iron chariots withstand your progress, get up into the hills, occupy the upper spaces. If you can no longer work for God, pray for those who can. If you cannot move earth by your speech, you may move Heaven. If the development of life on the lower slopes is impossible, through limitations of service, the necessity of maintaining others, and such-like restrictions, let it break out toward the unseen, the eternal, the Divine.
Faith can fell forests. Even if the tribes had realized what treasures lay above them, they would hardly have dared to suppose it possible to rid the hills of their dense forest-growth. But as God indicated their task, He reminded them that they had power enough. The visions of things that seem impossible are presented to us, like these forest-covered steeps, not to mock us, but to incite us to spiritual exploits which would be impossible unless God had stored within us the great strength of His own indwelling.
Difficulty is sent to reveal to us what God can do in answer to the faith that prays and works. Are you straitened in the valleys? Get away to the hills, live there; get honey out of the rock, and wealth out of the terraced slopes now hidden by forest.—Daily Devotional Commentary.

Got any rivers they say are uncrossable,
Got any mountains they say ‘can’t tunnel through’?
We specialize in the wholly impossible,
Doing the things they say you can’t do.

—Song of the Panama builders.