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.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
