Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, December 31st, 1871, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"The joy of the Lord is your strength."–Nehemiah 8:10.
"And the singers sang aloud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. 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."–Nehemiah 12:42-43.
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.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Nehemiah 8.