Nehemiah 8:10
“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Nehemiah 12:42-43
42 And Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.
43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.
Last Sabbath day in the morning I spoke of the birth of our Saviour as
being full of joy to the people of God, and, indeed, to all nations. We
then looked at the joy from a distance; we will now in contemplation
draw nearer to it, and perhaps as we consider it, and remark the
multiplied reasons for its existence, some of those reasons may operate
upon our own hearts, and we may go out of this house of prayer
ourselves partakers of the exceeding great joy. We shall count it to have
been a successful morning if the people of God are made to rejoice in
the Lord, and especially if those who have been bowed down and
burdened in soul shall receive the oil of joy for mourning. It is no mean
thing to comfort the Lord's mourners; it is a work specially dear to the
Spirit of God, and, therefore, not to be lightly esteemed. Holy sorrow is
precious before God, and is no bar to godly joy. Let it be carefully noted
in connection with our first text that abounding mourning is no reason
why there should not speedily be seen an equally abundant joy, for the
very people who were bidden by Nehemiah and Ezra to rejoice were
even then melted with penitential grief, "for all the people wept when
they heard the words of the law." The vast congregation before the
watergate, under the teaching of Ezra, were awakened and cut to the
heart; they felt the edge of the law of God like a sword opening up their
hearts, tearing, cutting, and killing, and well might they lament: then
was the time to let them feel the gospel's balm and hear the gospel's
music, and, therefore, the former sons of thunder changed their note, and
became sons of consolation, saying to them, "This day is holy unto the
Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. Go your way eat the fat, and drink
the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared:
for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the
Lord is your strength." Now that they were penitent, and sincerely
turned to their God, they were bidden to rejoice. As certain fabrics need
to be damped before they will take the glowing colours with which they
are to be adorned, so our spirits need the bedewing of repentance before
they can receive the radiant colouring of delight. The glad news of the
gospel can only be printed on wet paper. Have you ever seen clearer
shining than that which follows a shower? Then the sun transforms the
rain-drops into gems, the flowers look up with fresher smiles and faces
glittering from their refreshing bath, and the birds from among the
dripping branches sing with notes more rapturous, because they have
paused awhile. So, when the soul has been saturated with the rain of
penitence, the clear shining of forgiving love makes the flowers of
gladness blossom all around. The steps by which we ascend to the
palace of delight are usually moist with tears. Grief for sin is the porch
of the House Beautiful, where the guests are full of "The joy of the
Lord." I hope, then, that the mourners, to whom this discourse shall
come, will discover and enjoy the meaning of that divine benediction in
the sermon on the mount, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted."
From our text we shall draw several themes of thought, and shall
remark: first, there is a joy of divine origin,-- "The joy of the Lord;" and,
secondly, that joy is to all who partake of it a source of strength-- "The
joy of the Lord is your strength." Then we shall go on to show that such
strength always reveals itself practically--our second text will help us
there: and we shall close by noticing, in the fourth place, that this joy,
and, consequently, this strength, are within our reach today.
I. THERE IS A JOY OF DIVINE ORIGIN--"The joy of the Lord."
Springing from the Lord as its source, it will necessarily be of a very
elevated character. Since man fell in the garden, he has too often sought
for his enjoyments where the serpent finds his. It is written, "upon thy
belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life," this
was the serpent's doom; and man, with infatuated ambition, has tried to
find his delight in his sensual appetites, and to content his soul with
earth's poor dust. But the joys of time cannot satisfy an undying nature,
and when a soul is once quickened by the eternal Spirit, it can no more
fill itself with worldly mirth, or even with the common enjoyments of
life than can a man snuff up wind and feed thereon. But, beloved, we are
not left to search for joy; it is brought to our doors by the love of God
our Father; joy refined and satisfying, befitting immortal spirits. God has
not left us to wander among those unsatisfactory things which mock the
chase which they invite; he has given us appetites which carnal things
cannot content, and he has provided suitable satisfaction for those
appetites; he has stored up at his right hand pleasures for evermore,
which even now he reveals by his Spirit to those chosen ones whom he
has taught to long for them.
Let us endeavour to analyze that special and peculiar pleasure which is
here called "The joy of the Lord." It springs from God, and has God for
its object. The believer who is in a spiritually healthy state rejoices
mainly in God himself; he is happy because there is a God, and because
God is in his person and character what he is. All the attributes of God
become well-springs of joy to the thoughtful, contemplative believer; for
such a man says within his soul, "All these attributes of my God are
mine: his power, my protection; his wisdom, my guidance; his
faithfulness, my foundation; his grace, my salvation." He is a God who
cannot lie, faithful and true to his promise; he is all love, and at the same
time infinitely just, supremely holy. Why, the contemplation of God to
one who knows that this God is his God for ever and ever, is enough to
make the eyes overflow with tears, because of the deep, mysterious,
unutterable bliss which fills the heart. There was nothing in the character
of Jupiter, or any of the pretended gods of the heathen, to make glad a
pure and holy spirit, but there is everything in the character of Jehovah
both to purify the heart and to make it thrill with delight. How sweet is it
to think over all the Lord has done; how he has revealed himself of old,
and especially how he has displayed his glory in the covenant of grace,
and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How charming is the thought
that he has revealed himself to me personally, and made me to see in
him my Father, my friend, my helper, my God. Oh, if there be one word
out of heaven that cannot be excelled, even by the brightness of heaven
itself, it is this word, "My God, my Father," and that sweet promise, "I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." There is no
richer consolation to be found: even the Spirit of God can bring nothing
home to the heart of the Christian more fraught with delight than that
blessed consideration. When the child of God, after admiring the
character and wondering at the acts of God, can all the while feel "he is
my God; I have taken him to be mine; he has taken me to be his; he has
grasped me with the hand of his powerful love; having loved me with an
everlasting love, with the bands of lovingkindness has he drawn me to
himself; my beloved is mine and I am his;" why, then, his soul would
fain dance like David before the ark of the Lord, rejoicing in the Lord
with all its might.
A further source of joy is found by the Christian, who is living near to
God, in a deep sense of reconciliation to God, of acceptance with God,
and yet, beyond that, of adoption and close relationship to God. Does it
not make a man glad to know that though once his sins had provoked
the Lord they are all blotted out, not one of them remaineth; though
once he was estranged from God, and far off from him by wicked
works, yet he is made nigh by the blood of Christ. The Lord is no longer
an angry judge pursuing us with a drawn sword, but a loving Father into
whose bosom we pour our sorrows, and find ease for every pang of
heart. Oh, to know, beloved, that God actually loves us! I have often
told you I cannot preach upon that theme, for it is a subject to muse
upon in silence, a matter to sit by the hour together and meditate upon.
The infinite to love an insignificant creature, an ephemera of an hour, a
shadow that declineth! Is not this a marvel? For God to pity me I can
understand, for God to condescend to have mercy upon me I can
comprehend; but for him to love me, for the pure to love a sinner, for
the infinitely great to love a worm, is matchless, a miracle of miracles!
Such thoughts must comfort the soul. And then, add to this, that the
divine love has brought us believers into actual relationship with God,
so that we are his sons and daughters, this again is a river of sacred
pleasure. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my
Son." No minister of flame, though perfect in obedience, has received
the honour of adoption; to us, even to us frail creatures of the dust, is
given a boon denied to Gabriel, for through Jesus Christ the firstborn,
we are members of the family of God. Oh! The abyss of joy which lies
in sonship with God, and joint heirship with Christ! Words are vain
here. Moreover, the joy springing from the spirit of adoption is another
portion of the believer's bliss. He cannot be an unhappy man who can
cry, "Abba, Father." The spirit of adoption is always attended by love,
joy, and peace, which are fruits of the Spirit; for we have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of
liberty and joy in Christ Jesus. "My God, my Father." Oh how sweet the
sound. But all men of God do not enjoy this, say you. Alas! we grant it,
but we also add that it is their own fault. It is the right and portion of
every believer to live in the assurance that he is reconciled to God, that
God loves him, and that he is God's child, and if he doth not so live he
has himself only to blame. If there be any starving at God's table, it is
because the guest stints himself, for the feast is superabundant. If
however, a man comes, and I pray you all may, to live habitually under
a sense of pardon through the sprinkling of the precious blood, and in a
delightful sense of perfect reconciliation with the great God, he is the
possessor of a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
But, beloved, this is not all. The joy of the Lord in the spirit springs also
from an assurance that all the future, whatever it may be, is guaranteed
by divine goodness, that being children of God, the love of God towards
us is not of a mutable character, but abides and remains unchangeable.
The believer feels an entire satisfaction in leaving himself in the hands
of eternal and immutable love. However happy I may be today, if I am
in doubt concerning tomorrow, there is a worm at the root of my peace;
although the past may now be sweet in retrospect, and the present fair in
enjoyment, yet if the future be grim with fear, my joy is but shallow. If
my salvation be still a matter of hazard and jeopardy, unmingled joy is
not mine, and deep peace is still out of my reach. But when I know that
he whom I have rested in hath power and grace enough to complete that
which he hath begun in me, and for me; when I see the work of Christ to
be no half-way redemption, but a complete and eternal salvation; when I
perceive that the promises are established upon an unchangeable basis,
and are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, ratified by oath and sealed by
blood, then my soul hath perfect contentment. It is true, that looking
forward there may be seen long avenues of tribulation, but the glory is at
the end of them; battles may be foreseen, and woe unto the man who
does not expect them, but the eye of faith perceives the crown of
victory. Deep waters are mapped upon our journey, but faith can see
Jehovah fording these rivers with us, and she anticipates the day when
we shall ascend the banks of the hither shore and enter into Jehovah's
rest. When we have received these priceless truths into our souls we are
satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord. There is a
theology which denies to believers this consolation, we will not enter
into controversy with it, but sorrowfully hint that a heavy chastisement
for the errors of that system of doctrine, lies in the loss of the comfort
which the truth would have brought into the soul. For my part, I value
the gospel not only for what it has done for me in the past, but for the
guarantees which it affords me of eternal salvation. "I give unto my
sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck
them out of my hand."
Now, beloved, I have not yet taken you into the great deeps of joy,
though these streams are certainly by no means shallow. There is an
abyss of delight for every Christian when he comes into actual
fellowship with God. I spoke of the truth that God loved us, and the fact
that we are related to him by ties most near and dear; but, oh, when
these doctrines become experiences, then are we indeed anointed with
the oil of gladness. When we enter into the love of God, and it enters
into us; when we walk with God habitually, then our joy is like Jordan at
harvest time, when it overfloweth all its banks. Do you know what it
means--to walk with God--Enoch's joy; to sit at Jesus' feet--Mary's joy;
to lean your head upon Jesus' bosom--John's familiar joy? Oh yes,
communion with the Lord is no mere talk with some of us. We have
known it in the chamber of affliction; we have known it in the solitude
of many a night of broken rest; we have known it beneath
discouragements and under sorrows and defamations, and all sorts of
ills; and we reckon that one dram of fellowship with Christ is enough to
sweeten an ocean full of tribulation, and that only to know that he is
near us, and to see the gleaming of his dear eye, would transform even
hell itself into heaven, if it were possible for us to enjoy his presence
there. Alas! Ye do not and cannot know this bliss, ye who quaff. Your
foaming bowls, listening to the sound of stringed instruments, ye do not
know what this bliss means--ye have not dreamed of it, nor could ye
compass it though a man should tell it unto you. As the beast in the
meadow knows not the far-reaching thoughts of him who reads the stars
and threads the spheres, so neither can the carnal man make so much as
a guess of what are the joys which God hath prepared for them that love
him, which any day and every day, when our hearts seek it, he revealeth
unto us by his Spirit. This is "the joy of the Lord," fellowship with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Beloved, if we reach this point, we
must labour to maintain our standing, for our Lord saith to us "abide in
me." The habit of communion is the life of happiness.
Another form of "the joy of the Lord" will visit us practically every day
in the honour of being allowed to serve him. It is a joy worth worlds to
be allowed to do good. To teach a little child his letters for Christ, will
give a true heart some taste of the joy of the Lord, if it be consciously
done for the Lord's sake alone. To bear the portion to those for whom
nothing is prepared, to visit the sick, to comfort the mourner, to aid the
poor, to instruct the ignorant, any, and all of such Christian works, if
done in Jesus' name, will in their measure array us in Jehovah's joy. And
happy are we, brethren, if when we cannot work we are enabled to lie
still and suffer, for acquiescence is another silver pipe through which
"the joy of the Lord" will come to us. It is sweet to smart beneath God's
rod, and feel that if God would have us suffer it is happiness to do so, to
fall back with the faintness of nature, but at the same time with the
strength of grace, and say, "Thy will be done." It is joy, when between
the millstones crushed like an olive, to yield nothing but the oil of
thankfulness; when bruised beneath the flail of tribulation, still to lose
nothing but the chaff, and to yield to God the precious grain of entire
submissiveness. Why, this is a little heaven upon earth. To glory in
tribulations also, this is a high degree of up-climbing towards the
likeness of our Lord. Perhaps, the usual communions which we have
with our Beloved, though exceeding precious, will never equal those
which we enjoy when we have to break through thorns and briars to be
at him; when we follow him into the wilderness then we feel the love of
our espousals to be doubly sweet. It is a joyous thing when in the midst
of mournful circumstances, we yet feel that we cannot mourn because
The Bridegroom is with us. Blessed is that man, who in the most terrible
storm is driven--not from his God, but even rides upon the crest of the
lofty billows nearer towards heaven. Such happiness is the Christian's
lot. I do not say that every Christian possesses it, but I am sure that
every Christian ought to do so. There is a highway to heaven, and all in
it are safe; but in the middle of that road there is a special way, an inner
path, and all who walk therein are happy as well as safe. Many
professors are only just within the hedge, they walk in the ditch by the
road side, and because they are safe there, they are content to put up
with all the inconveniences of their walk; but he who takes the crown of
the causeway, and walks in the very centre of the road that God has cast
up, shall find that no lion shall be there, neither shall any ravenous beast
go up thereon, for there the Lord himself shall be his companion, and
will manifest himself to him. You shallow Christians who do but believe
in Christ, and barely that, whose bibles are unread, whose closets are
unfrequented, whose communion with God is a thing of spasms, you
have not the joy of the Lord, neither are you strong. I beseech you, rest
not as you are, but let your conscious feebleness provoke you to seek the
means of strength: and that means of strength is to be found in a pleasant
medicine, sweet as it is profitable--the delicious and effectual medicine
of "the joy of the Lord."
II. But time would fail me to prolong our remarks upon this very fruitful
subject, and we shall turn to our second head, which is this: that THIS
JOY IS A SOURCE OF GREAT STRENGTH.
Very rapidly let us consider this thought. It is so because this joy arises
from considerations which always strengthen the soul. Very much of the
depth of our piety will depend upon our thoughtfulness. Many persons,
after having received a doctrine, put it by on the shelf; they are
orthodox, they have received the truth, and they are content to keep that
truth on hand as dead stock. Sirs, of what account can this be to you, to
store your garners with wheat if you never grind the corn for bread, or
sow it in the furrows of your fields? He is the joyful Christian who uses
the doctrines of the gospel for spiritual meat, as they were meant to be
used. Why, some men might as well have a heterodox creed as an
orthodox one for all the difference it makes to them. Having the notion
that they know, and imagining that to know sufficeth them, they do not
consider, contemplate, or regard the truths which they profess to believe,
and, consequently, they derive no benefit from them. Now, to
contemplate the great truths of divine election, of eternal love, of
covenant engagements, of justification by faith through the blood of
Christ, and the indwelling and perpetual abiding of the Holy Ghost in
his people, to turn over these things is to extract joy from them; and this
also is strengthening to the mind. To press the heavenly grapes by
meditation, and make the red wine flow forth in torrents, is an exercise
as strengthening as it is exhilarating. Joy comes from the same truths
which support our strength, and comes by the process of meditation.
Again, "the joy of the Lord" within us is always the sign and symbol of
strong spiritual life. Holy vivacity betokens spiritual vigour. I said that
he who had spiritual joy gained it by communion with God, but
communion with God is the surest fosterer of strength. You cannot be
with a strong God without getting strength yourself, for God is always a
transforming God; regarding and looking upon him our likeness changes
till we become in our measure like our God. The warmth of the South of
France, of which you often hear so much, does not spring from soft
balmy winds, but from the sun; at sunset the temperature falls. You shall
be on one side of the street in Italy and think it May, cross the street into
the shade and it is cold as January. The sun does it all. A man who walks
in the sunlight of God's countenance, for that very reason is warm and
strong. The sunlight of joy usually goes with the warmth of spiritual life.
As the light of joy varies so does the warmth of holy strength; he who
dwells in the light of God is both happy and strong. He who goes into
the shade and loses the joy of the Lord becomes weak at the same time.
So the joy of the Lord becomes our strength, as being an indicator of its
rise or fall. When a soul is really vigorous and active, it is like the
torrent which dashes down the mountain side, which scorns in winter to
own the bonds of frost: in a few hours the stagnant pools and slowly
moving streams are enchained in ice; but the snow king must bring forth
all his strength ere he can manacle the rushing torrent. So when a soul
dashes on with the sacred force of faith, it is hard to freeze it into
misery, its vigour secures its joy.
Furthermore, the man who possesses "the joy of the Lord," finds it his
strength in another respect, that it fortifies him against temptation. What
is there that he can be tempted with? He has more already than the world
can offer him as a reward for treachery. He is already rich; who shall
ensnare him with the wages of unrighteousness? He is already satisfied;
who is he that can seduce him with pleasing baits? "Shall such a man as
I flee?" The rejoicing Christian is equally proof against persecution.
They may well afford to be laughed at who win at such a rate as he does.
"You may scoff," saith he, "but I know what true religion is within my
soul, and your scoffing will not make me relinquish the pearl of great
price." Such a man is, moreover, made strong to bear affliction; for all
the sufferings put upon him are but a few drops of bitterness cast into his
cup of bliss, to give a deeper tone to the sweetness which absorbs them.
Such a man becomes strong for service, too. What can he not do who is
happy in his God? By his God he leaps over a wall, or breaks through a
troop. Strong is he, too, for any kind of self-sacrifice. To the God who
gives him all, and remains to him as his perpetual portion, such a man
gives up all that he hath, and thinks it no surrender. It is but laying up
his treasure in his own peculiar treasure house, even in the God of his
salvation.
A joyous man, such I have now in my mind's eye, is to all intents and
purposes a strong man. He is strong in a calm restful manner. Whatever
happens he is not ruffled or disturbed. He is not afraid of evil tidings, his
heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. The ruffled man is ever weak. He is
in a hurry, and doth things ill. The man full of joy within is quiet, he
bides his time and croucheth in the fulness of his strength. Such a man,
though he is humble, is firm and steadfast; he is not carried away with
every wind, or bowed by every breeze, he knows what he knows, and
holds what he holds, and the golden anchor of his hope entereth within
the veil, and holds him fast. His strength is not pretentious but real. The
happiness arising from communion with God breeds in him no
boastfulness; he does not talk of what he can do, but he does it; he does
not say what he could bear, but he bears all that comes. He does not
himself always know what he could do; his weakness is the more
apparent to himself because of the strength which the Holy Ghost puts
upon him; but when the time comes, his weakness only illustrates the
divine might, while the man goes calmly on, conquering and to conquer.
His inner light makes him independent of the outward sun; his secret
granaries make him independent of the outer harvest; his inward
fountains place him beyond dread though the brook Cherith may dry
Up; he is independent of men and angels, and fearless of devils; all
creatures may turn against him if they please, but since God himself is
his exceeding joy, he will not miss their love or mourn their hate. He
standeth where others fall, he sings where others weep, he wins where
others fly, he glorifies his God where others bring dishonour on
themselves and on the sacred name. God grant us the inward joy which
arises from real strength and is so linked with it as to be in part its cause.
III. But now I must hasten on to notice in the third place that THIS
STRENGTH LEADS TO PRACTICAL RESULTS. I am sure I shall have your earnest
attention to this, because in many of you I have seen the results follow of
which I now speak. I would not flatter any one, but my heart has been full
of thanksgiving to the God of all grace when I have seen many of you
rejoicing in the Lord under painful circumstances and producing the fruits
of a gracious strength. Turn then to our second text, and there you shall
observe some of the fruits of holy joy and pious strength.
First, it leads to great praise. "The singers sang aloud," their ministrelsy
was hearty and enthusiastic. Sacred song is not a minor matter. Quaint
George Herbert has said--
"Praying's the end of preaching."
Might he not have gone further and have said, praising's the end of
praying? After all, preaching and praying are not the chief end of man,
but the glorifying of God, of which praising God vocally is one form.
Preaching is sowing, prayer is watering, but praise is the harvest. God
aims at his own glory so should we; and "whoso offereth praise
glorifieth me saith the Lord." Be ye diligent then to sing his praises with
understanding. We have put away harps and trumpets and organs, let us
mind that we really rise above the need of them. I think we do well to
dispense with these helps of the typical dispensation; they are all inferior
even in music to the human voice, there is assuredly no melody or
harmony like those created by living tongues; but let us mind that we do
not put away an atom of the joy. Let us be glad when in the
congregation we unite in psalmody. It is a wretched thing to hear the
praises of God rendered professionally, as if the mere music were
everything. It is horrible to have a dozen people in the table-pew singing
for you, as if they were proxies for the whole assembly. It is shocking to
me to be present in places of worship where not a tenth of the people
ever venture to sing at all, and these do it through their teeth so very
softly, that one had need to have a mircroscope invented for his ears, to
enable him to hear the dying strain. Out upon such mumbling and
murdering of the praises of God; if men's hearts were joyous and strong,
they would scorn such miserable worship. In this house we all try to
sing, but might we not have more praise services? We have had a praise
meeting every now and then. Ought we not to hold a praise meeting
every week? Should not the prayer meeting be more than ever cheered
by praise. The singing of God's people should be, and if they were more
full of divine strength would be, more constant and universal. How
sinners chant the praise of Baechus in the streets! You can hardly rest in
the middle of the night, but what unseemly sounds of revelry startle you.
Shall the votaries of wine sing so lustily, and shall we be silent? We are
not often guilty of disturbing the world with our music; the days in
which Christian zeal interfered with the wicked seem to have gone by;
we have settled down into more orderliness, and I am afraid also into
more lukewarmness. Oh for the old Methodistic shout. Brethren, wake
up your singing again. May the Lord give us again a singing-time, and
make us all praise him with heart, and with voice, till even the
adversaries shall say, "The Lord hath done great things for them;" and
we shall reply, "Ay, ye speak the truth; he hath done great things for us,
whereof we are glad." Perhaps there has not been so large a blessing
upon the churches of England, because they have not rendered due
thanksgiving. In all the time in which we are in trouble we are anxious
and prayerful; when a prince is sick bulletins are issued every hour or
so; but ah, when the mercy comes but few bulletins are put out, calling
upon us to bless and praise the name of God for his mercies. Let us
praise the Lord from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the
same, for great is the Lord, and greatly is he to be praised.
The next result is great sacrifice. "That day they offered great sacrifices
and rejoiced." What day is that in which the church of God now makes
great sacrifices? I have not seen it in the calendar of late; and, alas! If
men make any sacrifice they very often do so in a mode which indicates
that they would escape the inflection if they could. Few make great
sacrifices and rejoice. You can persuade a man to give a considerable
sum; a great many arguments at last overcome him, and he does it
because he would have been ashamed not to do it, but in his heart he
wishes you had not come that way, and had gone to some other donor.
That is the most acceptable gift to God which is given rejoicingly. It is
well to feel that whatever good your gift may do to the church, or the
poor, or the sick, it is twice as much benefit to you to give it. It is well
to give, because you love to give; as the flower which pours forth its
perfume because it never dreamed of doing otherwise; or like the bird
which quivers with song, because it is a bird and finds a pleasure in its
notes; or like the sun which shines, not by constraint, but because, being
a sun, it must shine; or like the waves of the sea which flash back the
brilliance of the sun, because it is their nature to reflect and not to hoard
the light. Oh, to have such grace in our hearts that we shall joyfully
make sacrifices unto our God. The Lord grant that we may have much
of this; for the bringing of the tithes into the storehouse is the way to the
blessing; as saith the Scripture: "Bring ye all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in thine house, and prove me now
herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough
to receive it."
Next to that, there are sure to follow other expressions of joy. They
"rejoiced, for God had made them to rejoice with great joy." It was not
all singing and giving. When the wheels of the machine are well oiled
the whole machine goes easily; and when the man has the oil of joy,
then in his business, and in his family, the wheels of his nature glide
along sweetly and harmoniously, because he is a glad and a happy man.
There are some professors who imagine the sorrow of the Lord to be
their strength; they glory in the spirit of bondage and in an unbelieving
experience, having great acquaintance with the corruption of their
hearts, sometimes of a rather too practical character. They make the
deformities of the saints to be their beauty-spots, and their faults to be
their evidences. Such men denounce all who rejoice in the Lord, and
only tolerate the unbelieving. Their strength lies in being able to take
you through all the catacombs of nature's darkness, and to show you the
rottenness of their evil hearts. Well, such strength as that let those have
who will, but we are persuaded that our text is nearer to wisdom: "The
joy of the Lord is your strength." While we know something of our
corruption, and mourn it, know something of the world's troubles, and
sometimes lament as we bear them; yet there is a joy in the perfect work
of Christ, and a joy in our union to him which uplifts us far above all
other considerations. God becomes to us such a strength that we cannot
help showing our joy in our ordinary life.
But then the text tells us that holy joy leads to family happiness. "The
wives also and the children rejoiced." It is so in this church. I have lately
seen several children from households which God has blessed, and I
have rejoiced to see that father and mother know the Lord, and that even
the last of the family has been brought to Jesus. O happy households
where the joy is not confined to one, but where all partake of it. I dislike
much that Christianity which makes a man feel, "If I go to heaven it is
all I care for." Why, you are like a German stove which I found in the
room of an hotel the other day--a kind of stove which required all the
wood they could bring up merely to warm itself, and then all the heat
went up the chimney. We sat around it to make it warm, but scarce a
particle of heat came forth from it to us. Too many need all the religion
they can get to cheer their own hearts, and their poor families and
neighbours sit shivering in the cold of ungodliness. Be like those well
constructed stoves of our own houses, which send out all the heat into
the room. Send out the heat of piety into your house, and let all the
neighbours participate in the blessing, for so the text finishes, "The joy
of Jerusalem was heard afar off." The joy of the Lord should be
observed throughout our neighbourhood, and many who might
otherwise have been careless of true religion will then enquire, "What
makes these people glad, and creates such happy households?" Your joy
shall thus be God's missionary.
IV. And now I have to close. THIS JOY, THIS STRENGTH, ARE BOTH WITHIN OUR
REACH! "For the Lord had made them glad with great joy." God alone can give
us this great joy. Then it is within the reach of any, for God can give it
to one as well as to another. If it depended upon our good works or our
natural abilities, some of us could never reach it; but if God is the source
and giver of it he may give it to me as well as to thee, my brother, and to
thee as well as to another. What was the way in which God gave this joy?
Well first, he gave it to these people by their being attentive hearers.
They were not only hearers, but they heard with their ears, their ears were
into the word; it was read to them and they sucked it in, receiving it into
their souls. An attentive hearer is on the way to being a joyous receiver.
Having heard it they felt the power of it, and they wept. Did that seem the
way to joy? It was. They received the threatenings of the law with all their
terrors into their soul, they allowed the hammer of the word to break them
in pieces, they submitted themselves to the word of reproof. Oh! That God
would incline you all to do the same, for this, again, is the way in which
God gives joy. The word is heard, the word is felt. Then after this, when
they had felt the power of the word, we see that they worshipped God
devoutly. They bowed the head. Their postures indicated what they felt
within. Worshippers who with penitent hearts really adore God, will
never complain of weary Sabbaths; adoration helps us into joy. He who
can bow low enough before the throne shall be lifted as high before that
throne as his heart can desire.
We read also that these hearers and worshippers understood clearly what
they heard. Never be content with hearing a sermon unless you can
understand it, and if there be a truth that is above you, strain after it,
strive to know it. Bible-reader, do not be content with going through the
words of the chapter: pray the Holy Ghost to tell you the meaning, and
use proper means for finding out that meaning; ask those who know, and
use your own enlightened judgment to discover the sense. When shall
we have done with formalism of worship and come into living
adoration? Sometimes, for all the true singing that there is, the song
might as well be in Latin or in Greek. Oh! To know what you are
singing, to know what you are saying in prayer, to know what you are
reading, to get at it, to come right into it, to understand it--this is the
way to holy joy.
And one other point. These people when they had understood what they
had devoutly heard, were eager to obey. They obeyed not only the
common points of the law in which Israel of old had furnished them
with examples, but they found out an old institution which had been
buried and forgotten. What was that to them; God had commanded it,
and they celebrated it, and in so doing this peculiar joy came upon them.
Oh, for the time when all believers shall search the word of God, when
they shall not be content with saying, "I have joined myself with a
certain body of Christians, and they do so; therefore I do so." May no
man say to himself any longer, "Such is the rule of my church;" but may
each say, "I am God's servant and not the servant of man, not the servant
of thirty-nine articles, of the Prayer-book, or the Catechism; I stand to
my own Master, and the only law book I acknowledge is the book of his
word, inspired by his Spirit." Oh, blessed day, when every man shall
say, "I want to know wherein I am wrong; I desire to know what I am to
do; I am anxious to follow the Lord fully." Well, then, if your joy in
God leads you to practical obedience, you may rest assured it has made
you strong in the very best manner.
Beloved brethren and sisters, we had, before I went away for needed
rest, a true spirit of prayer among us. I set out for the continent joyfully,
because I left with you the names of some eighty persons proposed for
church-membership. My beloved officers, with great diligence, have
visited these and others, and next Lord's-day we hope to receive more
than a hundred, perhaps a hundred and twenty fresh members into the
church. Blessed be God for this. I should not have felt easy in going
away if you had been in a barren, cold, dead state; but there was a real
fire blazing on God's altar, and souls were being saved. Now, I desire
that this gracious zeal should continue, and be renewed. It has not gone
out in my absence, I believe, but I desire now a fresh blast from God's
Spirit to blow the flame very vehemently. Let us meet for prayer
tomorrow, and let the prayer be very earnest, and let those wrestlers who
have been moved to agonizing supplication renew the ardour and
fervency of their desires, and may we be a strong people, and
consequently a joyous people in the strength and joy of the Lord. May
sinners in great numbers look unto Jesus and be saved. Amen, and
Amen.
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