Joy in Salvation (Charles H. Salvation, 1871)

Psalms 9:14

“That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.”

I desire to continue the topic of the morning,* only we will look at another 
side of the same important matter.

We spoke this morning, as you have not forgotten, upon these words, "Your own 
salvation." I trust most of us-would God I could hope all of us-were earnest 
about our own personal salvation. To those who are earnest this second text 
will be the complement of the first. They desire that their own salvation 
shall be secure; it is their own salvation when they obtain it; but here is 
the guide as to what is the right salvation-what our own salvation ought to 
be. It is not our own in another sense; it is God's. "I will rejoice in thy 
salvation." While it becomes our own by an act of faith, it is not our own so 
that we can claim any merit or take any part of the glorying to ourselves. 
The only salvation that is worth being our own is that which is God's. "I 
will rejoice in thy salvation." Having this morning somewhat at length 
explained what salvation is, showing that it was not a mere deliverance from 
wrath to come, but from the present wrath of God, and yet more essentially 
from sin, from the power of evil within us, there is no need that we should 
go over that again, I trust; but we shall begin by noticing the speciality 
which is in the text, dwelling upon the divine salvation. "I will rejoice in 
thy salvation." So, then, we look at once at:-

I. A DIVINE SALVATION.

The salvation we have already spoken of is God's, and it is God's salvation 
in many ways. It was his in the planning. None but himself could have planned 
it. In his infinite wisdom he devised it. The salvation which is revealed in 
the person of Jesus Christ, in the gospel is every part of it in all its 
architecture the fruit of divine skill. We may say, "Or with whom took he 
counsel, and who instructed him, and who taught him knowledge?" In every part 
the divine hand may be seen; it is of God's planning and ordaining, or ever 
the earth was. So is it of God's providing. You have salvation wrapped up in 
the gift of the person of Jesus Christ. All of it lies in Christ. Because he 
died, our sin is put away. Because he lives, we shall live also. And Christ 
is the pure gift of God. All salvation is in him, and, therefore, all 
salvation is thus procured by God. It is God's salvation. And what is more, 
God not only plans and procures, but he also applies salvation. I believe in 
free agency, but I never yet met with a Christian man who was able to say 
that he came to Christ of his own free will without being drawn by the Spirit 
of God. Whatever our doctrinal view may be, the experimental fact is the same 
in every case. All believers will confess that they are God's workmanship, 
created anew in Christ Jesus. "No man can come unto me except the Father 
which hath sent me draw him." There is a want of power. "Ye will not come 
unto me that ye might have life." There is a want of will, and the Spirit of 
God, therefore, applies the salvation which God has planned, and which God 
has provided. And as the first application of this salvation is of God, so is 
it all the way through. I do not believe, dear brethren, that our religion is 
like the action of a clock wound up at first by a superior hand, and then 
left to go alone. No! every day the Holy Ghost must continue to work upon us, 
and in us, to will and to do according to God's good pleasure. And if you and 
I should ever get right up to the gate of pearl, and should hear the songs of 
the blessed within that gate, we should not be able to take the last step, 
but should turn back to our sin and folly even, if he that began a good work 
in us should cease to carry it on. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the ending. "Salvation is of the Lord," from first to last. He makes the 
rough draft of it, in conviction, upon our conscience; he goes on to complete 
the picture; and if there be one touch in the picture that is not of God, it 
is a blot upon it. If there be anything of the flesh, it will have to be 
wiped out; it is not consistent with the work of God. Of God is it in all 
respects. Now we know that this salvation is of God, not only because we are 
told that he planned it, and provided it, and applies it, but because it has 
the marks of God upon it. There is a certain line of poetry; I know it is 
Shakespeare's. Well, you know, I cannot quite tell you why, but yet I am sure 
no one ever wrote exactly in that way. I am reading the Psalms through, and I 
read and I say, "That is David's." I observe certain critics who say, "No, 
this belongs to the time of the captivity." I am certain it does not. And 
why? Because there is a Davidic ring about it, you know. The son, of Jesse, 
and he alone, could have said such things. Now in salvation there are the 
marks of divine authorship. I once saw a painting by Titan at Venice, and he 
had written, "Fecit, fecit Titian." He claimed it twice over, as if to make 
sure that someone else should not claim it. And God has put it three times 
over that there should be no doubt whatever that salvation is of God, and he 
must have the glory of it. Now observe the marks of God-what I may call the 
broad arrow of the King-set on salvation. It is full of mercy. Here is 
salvation for the blackest of sinners-salvation for all manner of sin-
forgiveness for all manner of sin-salvation so full of grace that only God 
could have conceived it. "Who is a pardoning God like thee?" But this 
salvation is equally congenial with justice, for God never absolutely 
forgives a sin. There is always punishment for sin in every case. Jesus 
Christ, the Substitute, comes in and satisfies Justice before the word is 
spoken to the sinner, "Thy transgression is blotted out." In the salvation 
which God has provided on the cross by the death of his dear Son there is as 
much justice as there is mercy; and there is an infinity of both. Now this is 
God-like. Man, if he brings out one quality, usually clouds another with it; 
but God exhibits his character in harmonious completeness-as merciful as if 
he were not just, and as just as if he were not gracious. In the gospel, on 
this account, five see also divine wisdom. Whatever some may say about the 
doctrine of substitution, Christ is still the power of God and the wisdom of 
God. The way, so simple, yet so sublime, by which God is just, and yet the 
justifier of him that believeth, exhibits the infinite wisdom of the Most 
High.

But I won't keep you by mentioning all the divine attributes. It is certain 
they all shine in the gospel, nor can any tell which of the letters best is 
writ-the power, the wisdom, or the grace. They are all there, proving the 
salvation to be of God.

And there is one other matter. True salvation is of God because it draws 
toward God. If thou hast God's salvation, thou art being drawn towards thy 
heavenly Father, nearer and nearer every day. The ungodly forget God; the 
awakened seek God; but the saved rejoice in God. Ask thyself this question, 
Couldst thou live without God? The ungodly man would be happier without God 
than he is with. It would be the best piece of news in the newspaper to 
thousands, if we could publish it to-morrow, that God was dead. To ungodly 
men it would be like ringing the bells of universal Joy; they would run riot 
after their own will. And where would the believer be? He would be an orphan. 
His sun would be blotted out; his hopes would be dead and buried. Judge by 
this whether thou art saved. If thou art saved, thou art drawn to God, thou 
seekest to be like God, thou desirest to honour God. If there be none of 
these things in thee, then I charge thee see to it, for thou art in the gall 
of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity. God have mercy upon thee! I need 
not further say that the salvation is of God, and God must have all the glory 
of it. All on earth who are saved, and all in heaven who are saved, will 
ascribe their salvation entirely to the ever blessed God, and join with 
Jonah, who in the very depths of the sea made this, his confession of faith, 
"Salvation is of the Lord." But now, secondly, our text (having noticed the 
divine salvation in it) has:-

II. AN OUTSPOKEN AVOWAL.

"I will rejoice in thy salvation." Here is someone springing out from the 
common crowd and saying, "I have heard of God's salvation; I will rejoice in 
it! I will rejoice in it! Some despise it. They hear it, and they turn a deaf 
ear. When they have listened to it longest, they are most weary of it. But I 
will rejoice in thy salvation." Here is a distinguished character, who is 
made so, doubtless, by distinguishing grace. Oh! I hope there are many of us 
here who could stand up and say-if this were the time and place-"Let others 
say what they will, and count the cross a thing to mock at, and Jesus Christ 
to be forgotten, I am his servant; I will rejoice in his salvation." There 
are some that rest in another salvation. We all did so once. But he who 
speaks in the text throws aside self-righteousness as filthy rags. He puts it 
all aside, and says, "I will rejoice in thy salvation." If I were righteous, 
I would not say so. Had I a perfect holiness, I would not mention it in 
comparison with the righteousness of Christ; but being an unworthy sinner, 
without a single merit of my own, I will not be so foolish as to patch up a 
fictitious righteousness, but I will rejoice in thy salvation. You see them 
there!-those worshippers of the scarlet woman-they are resting in their 
priest! He puts on millinery, blue, pink, scarlet, white, and I know not 
what-all kinds of little toys to please fools with. And there be some that 
rejoice in that salvation that comes from an "infallible" sinner-that comes 
from a sham priest of God. But we are looking to Christ, who stands before 
the eternal throne and pleads the merits of his own blood. We say:-

                     "Let all the forms that men devise
                   Assault our faith with treacherous art,
                       We'll Can them vanity and lies
                     And bind the gospel to our heart."

"I will rejoice in thy salvation." There may be some tonight to whom I shall 
speak who are rejoicing in God's salvation through his abundant grace who 
have very little else to rejoice in. You are very poor. Ah! how welcome you 
are to this house! How glad I am that you have come. I feel it always a joy 
that the people have the gospel preached to them. Well, you have no broad 
acres, you have no gold rings on your fingers; you come in the garb of toil. 
Never mind, my brother, lay hold on eternal life and say, "I will rejoice in 
thy salvation." Perhaps you are sick to-night-your poor weak body could 
scarcely drag itself up to the assembly of God's people. Well, well, it is a 
heavy thing to have to suffer so, but if you cannot rejoice in a hale body, 
yet rejoice in his salvation. Look to-night to Jesus; put your trust in him 
alone, and you will have a sufficient well-spring of joy, if you have nothing 
else. Possibly some of you who lay hold on Christ and rejoice in him will 
have hard times of it at home your father will mock at you, your mother will 
not sympathise with you; your workmates to-morrow, if they hear that you are 
converted, will laugh, and jest, and jeer at you. What say you? Are you a 
coward? Will you back out of it because it demands a sacrifice? Oh! if it be 
so, then you are indeed unworthy of the name, and you count yourself so; but 
if you are what you should be, you will say, "Let them; laugh at me as they 
will, and spit upon me as they please, I will rejoice in thy salvation."

                      "If on my face for thy dear name,
                         Shame and reproach may be;
                    I'll hail reproach and welcome shame,
                          For thou'lt remember me."

It takes some pluck, but we ought to have it in the cause of Christ. Your 
mean, miserable wretches that will only go out to follow Christ in sunny 
weather, and get them gone again when a cloud darkens the sky, deserve well 
the wrath that comes upon them. They are like the Nautilus, very well on the 
placid sea, but the first billow that arises they furl their sails and drop 
into the deep, and are seen no more. Oh! beware, beware, beware of a sunny-
weather religion; beware of a religion that will not stand the fire; but be 
you such that, if all the world forsook Christ, you would say, "I will 
rejoice in his salvation"; and if you were turned out of doors, if you were 
turned out of the world itself, and thought not fit, to live, you would yet 
be content to have it so, if you might be numbered with the people of God, 
and be permitted to rejoice in his salvation. Does this, as I try to speak 
it, awaken a holy emotion in any soul here? Is there someone who has been a 
stranger to my Lord who to-night can say, "I desire to rejoice in his 
salvation"? I cannot forget, when I sat as a young lad under the gallery of a 
little place of worship, hearing the gospel simply preached-the blessed 
moment when I was led to resolve to follow Christ. I have never been ashamed 
of having done so. I have never had to regret it. He is a blessed Master. He 
has handled me roughly lately, but he is a blessed Master. I would follow at 
his heels if only like a dog, for it is better to be his dog than to be the 
devil's darling. He is a blessed Master. Let him say what he will, and do 
what he will. Oh! is there no young man here, no youth, no child, no girl; is 
there no gray-headed one who will say, "I will rejoice in thy salvation" O 
eternal Spirit, come and touch some heart, and make this, their spiritual 
birthright, that they may say, "I-I-I will rejoice in thy salvation."

But we must pass on, for time presses. We have, in the third place, to 
consider in the text:-

III. A DELIGHTFUL EMOTION.

We have noticed the divine salvation, and the outspoken avowal; now we will 
notice the delightful emotion. "I will rejoice in thy salvation." It is an 
unfortunate thing that Christianity gets associated with melancholy. I will 
not forbid the banns, for they are not very near of kin, but I wish they were 
further apart every day. It is a good thing for the melancholy to become a 
Christian; it is an unfortunate thing for the Christian to become melancholy. 
If there is any man in the world that has a right to have a bright, clear 
face and a flashing eye, it is the man whose sins are forgiven him, and who 
is saved with God's salvation. In order for any man, however, to rejoice in 
God's salvation, he must, first of all, know it. There must be an intelligent 
apprehension of what it is. Next, he must grasp it by an act of faith as his 
own. Then, having grasped it, he must study it to know the price at which it 
was bought, and all the qualities-the divine qualities that follow from it. 
Then he must hold it fast, and seek to get out the sweetness from it. What is 
there in God's salvation that should make us rejoice? I do not know what to 
select, for it is all joy and all rejoicing. It is enough to make our heart 
to ring with joy to think that there should be a salvation at all for such 
poor souls as we are. We may well hang out all the streamers of our spirits, 
and strew the streets of our soul with flowers, for King Jesus has come to 
dwell there. Ring every bell; give him a glorious welcome. Let all the soul 
be glad when Jesus enters and brings salvation with him, for the salvation of 
Christ is so suitable that we may well rejoice in it. Dear brother, if you 
are saved, I know the salvation of Christ suited you. It did me-exactly-it 
was made on purpose for me. I am as sure of it as if there were no other 
sinner to be saved. It was the gospel that brought power to the weak, nay, it 
brought life to the dead; it brought everything to those that had nothing; it 
is just the sort of gospel for a penniless, bankrupt sinner like myself. We 
rejoice in the suitability of the gospel; we rejoice in the freeness of it. 
We have nothing to pay; we have no price to pay, neither of promise, nor of 
anything that was our own. Salvation was freely given to us in Christ Jesus. 
Let us rejoice in it, then. Oh! rejoice in the richness of that salvation. 
When the Lord pardoned our sins, he did not pardon half of them, and leave 
some of them on the book, but with one stroke of the pen he gave a full 
receipt for all our debts. When we went down into the fountain filled with 
blood, and washed, we did not come up half-clean, but there was no spot nor 
wrinkle upon us-we were white as driven snow. Glory be to God for such a rich 
salvation as this. And he did not in that day save us with a perhaps and a 
chance salvation that set us on a rock, and say, "Keep yourself there-you 
must depend upon yourselves", but this was the covenant he made with us, "A 
new heart also will I give thee, and a right spirit will I put within thee." 
It was a complete salvation, which would not permit a failure. The salvation, 
which is given to the soul that believes is on this wise, "I give unto my 
sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them 
out of my hand." "The water that I shall give him shall be a well of water 
springing up unto everlasting life." I believe the perseverance of the saints 
to be the very gem of the gospel. I could not hold the truth of Scripture if 
this could be disproved to me, for every page seems to have this upon it, if 
nothing else, that "the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath 
clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger." In this my soul rejoices, that 
I have a salvation to preach to you which, if you receive it, will 
effectually save you if your hearts are given to Christ, and will keep you, 
and preserve you, and bring you into the eternal kingdom of his glory. I will 
rejoice in the certain and abiding character of that salvation. Oh! there is 
enough in the salvation of Christ to make heaven full of bliss; there is 
enough to make us full of praise. Let us take up the theme; let us talk by 
the way to one another about it; let us talk to sinners about it; let us 
recommend religion by our cheerfulness. Levity be far from us, but happiness 
let it be the happiest sphere in which we live if we have little else to 
rejoice in, we have enough here. Whatever may be our condition or prospects, 
we may still rejoice in God's salvation, and let us not fail to be filled 
with this most blissful emotion.

And now I must close. The text has in it a word of the future which we must 
not quite overlook. Here is a joyful gospel, "I will rejoice in thy 
salvation." You may read it if you like, "I shall"-"I shall" or "I will"-it 
would be quite right. The Hebrew has no present. It seems to have given up 
all tenses-like God himself who was, and is, and is to come. I shall rejoice 
in thy salvation. Now here is:

IV. A BLESSED PROSPECT.

You may live to grow old; well, we shall never grow weary of Christ. If we 
are his people, we shall never have any cause to part from him; "I will 
rejoice in thy salvation." I could bring up to this platform an aged brother 
whom all of you would know, who has infirmities and has age creeping upon 
him, but there is not a happier soul in this house than he; and when I had 
made him speak to you, I could bring you many more aged women too, and I 
would ask them what they think of Christ, and I am sure they would say with 
greater emphasis than I can, "I will rejoice in thy salvation." I almost wish 
my grandfather were alive and behind me to-night, for on one occasion I 
preached with him in the pulpit, and when I came to speak of experience he 
pulled my coat-tail and came to the front, and said,"My grandson can tell you 
that he believes it, but I can tell you experimentally," and on the old 
gentleman went with it. Well, many an aged Christian can tell you he has 
rejoiced in God's salvation. He does rejoice, and, instead of age making the 
joy of his youth to become dim, it has mellowed and sweetened the fruit, 
which was sweet even at the first. Oh! that we may, when these hairs grow 
hoar with years, and the snows of many winters lie white upon our head, may 
we still rejoice in God's salvation. But then, whether we reach old age or 
not, there is one thing that is certain-we shall assuredly die, and when we 
come to die, what shall we do? I know what you are thinking of. You say, "I 
should groan." Ay, sinner, you are thinking of the friend that is wiping away 
the clammy sweat from the brow and those closed eyes. Now those may never 
occur. We often hear them mentioned in reference to dying beds, but they are 
not so constantly there as to be, necessary. And if they were there' if we 
did lose sight itself before life fails-what then? Why, the vision of the 
Christ, who is our salvation, and in whom we rejoice, shall then be more 
gloriously clear and radiantly beautiful, because the sights and sounds of 
earth have vanished from us.

Now, instead of looking at these outward parts of dying, think of this, "I 
will rejoice in thy salvation." When I parted from our dear brother, Cook, a 
few days ago, he could not say much. He was very, very weak, but what he did 
say was just this, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is all." Well, I talked, and read, 
and prayed, and so on, and when we had done, he simply said, "The blood-the 
blood, the blood-that is all my hope." Why, he looked as calm in prospect of 
dying as any of you do in sitting here, and was as delighted with the hope of 
being where Jesus is as ever bride was at the coming of the marriage day. It 
was delightful to see the blessed calm and peace that was upon that man of 
God. And when I come to die, whoever I may be, however little my standing in 
the Church of God is, if I am in Christ, I will rejoice in his salvation; I 
will make the dark valley ring with his praises; I will make the river of 
death itself to roll back as the Red Sea did of old, with my triumphant 
songs; I will enter heaven with this upon my heart and upon my lip,'I will 
rejoice in thy salvation! Worthy is the Lamb that was stain to receive 
honour, and power, and dominion, and glory for ever and ever!" And, brethren, 
if that is what we may do in dying, this is what we shall do for ever and 
ever, "I will rejoice in thy salvation." Millions of ages, throughout all the 
cycles of years that interpose ere Christ delivers up the kingdom to God, 
even the Father, and then onward, even through eternity, this always shall be 
our own ground of rejoicing, "I will rejoice in thy salvation."

Now I cannot come and stand at the door and speak to everyone as the 
congregation withdraws, but if it were possible I should like to stand there 
and shake the hand of everyone that has been in the house to-night, and say, 
"Well, friend, how fares it with you?" Can you say, 'I will rejoice in thy 
salvation?" If I cannot do that, I wish it were possible to speak in the 
silent shades of night to you when you awoke, so that you might hear a voice 
ringing in your ears, "Do you rejoice in God's salvation?" Perhaps some of 
you may have come a long distance across the sea. You may be by-and-by on 
shipboard again. It may be that you will be in peril, or it may be that 
afterwards you shall be in sickness. Well, may this evening's congregation in 
this day of July rise up before your minds, and if you forget the preacher 
(and that will not matter), yet if you hear a voice that says, "Can you 
rejoice in God's salvation?" I hope that, even if it is twenty years to come, 
it may then be as the voice of God to your soul, and bring you to the 
Saviour. But better far would it be if you would come to him tonight and you 
may. May the Spirit of God bring you! Whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus 
Christ hath everlasting life. The whole of the gospel is wrapped up in 
Christ's message, which he has sent by his apostles, "He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved." To you each this-this-is the word, "Believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." God add his 
own blessing, for Christ's sake. Amen.

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