This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep.
True penitence and spasmodic emotion
Observe the profound wisdom of Nehemiah’s injunction. The distress of the people was not unnatural; neither was it excessive. It might, however, through indulgence of it, have become excessive and unreal. The surest test by which to distinguish between true penitence and spasmodic emotion is to set a man about the common duties of life. If, amid the distractions of these things, he loses his contrition, it is evident that he never was earnestly contrite; that his was mere excited sensibility and not inward feeling. And even a true emotion requires to be directed into wholesome channels. There was hard work for these Jews to do; the whole task of religious reformation lay before them. Their penitence needed to be husbanded for future motive, not wasted in floods of tears and the ecstasy of a common weeping. It may seem strange to us that a cold external commandment should have been the consideration by which they were bidden to self-restraint. But when people have lost their self-control it is only by an external influence that they can be recovered. If you have to do with hysterical persons, it is not along the line of their feeling you restore them, but by definitely settling yourself against it; not by sympathising with their emotion and words of tenderness, but by the quick, sharp rebuke, “Enough of this; you must not give way.” You recover the widowed mother to Composure by bidding her, not indeed forget her dead husband, but remember her living children. We always draw back stricken mourners to hope and usefulness by reminding them of imperative and healing duty. (A. Mackennal.)
Goyour way, eat the fat . . . send portions . . . for whom nothing is prepared.--
Christian sympathy
I. The characters specified in the text. They are said to be those “for whom nothing is prepared.” The Scriptures, when speaking of man’s condition by nature and practice, in the sight of God, very pointedly state the matter. The language of the text speaks of our poverty, destitution, starvation, and ruin.
II. The “portions”--these blessings. Behold the grace and mercy of God! If God meted out to us mere justice, where should we be? and if God left us in our condemnation and ruin, where should wego? If God neglected us, in what condition should we be? Was God under any obligation to us? And yet we are in mercy spared, and instead of vengeance, behold our text speaks of “blessings.” And these are not only worthy of God to give, but blessings suitable to us.
III. The command; “Send.” (H. Allen, M. A.)
For the Joy of the Lord is your strength.
The joy of a Christian
Let us bear in mind three things--
I. A bright and happy walk is one of the greatest ornaments of our Christian profession.
II. Indulgence of sin, carelessness of walk, inconsistency of conversation, will surely bring a cloud over the Christian’s joy.
III. In Christ alone must we place all our hope and confidence. (J. M. Randall.)
Pure joy an inspiration
It refreshes and exhilarates the whole nature. It helps to fortify the soul against the assaults of the devil. See how the joy of a human affection will often lift a young man right out of the range of low, sensual temptations, and fire his soul with noble and worthy ambitions. Can we wonder then, that it should be true of the joy which springs from the revelation of God’s protection and favour?(T. Campbell Finlayson.)
Spiritual joy
I. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called upon to rejoice. Would that this were more remembered by us, and experienced by us, and gloried in!
1. None but the believer ought to rejoice. I do not deny that there is such a thing as natural joy in natural objects. There is such a thing as natural joy oftentimes stirred up on spiritual subjects. It is like the arrow that passes through the air; it is like the early frost--the sun arises and it is gone. Oh! no one can rejoice but the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; the worldly man does not know what true joy is. You cannot explain it to him; he cannot receive it; he calls it enthusiasm, fancy, and imagination. A Christless man, a graceless man, a prayerless man, a thoughtless man, a godless man, a hopeless man, how can I expect him to rejoice. In this one thing thou canst rejoice: thou canst rejoice that the door of mercy is not closed. For their own sakes, the Lord will have His people to rejoice. He loves them; and therefore He commands them to be happy. For the sake of others, He would have them to rejoice. He would have them bring the grapes, to show the fruit of the land. And not only so, but for His own great name’s sake, for His glory’s sake, He would have His people rejoice. As He is Himself infinitely happy in Himself, He would have His people reflect Himself.
II. As this joy is not a natural joy in natural objects, so it is not a natural joy in spiritual objects, but it is “the joy of the Lord.”
1. It is pre-eminently and peculiarly the joy of which the Holy Ghost is the author. Nature gives it not; nature maintains it not. It is the fruit of the Holy Ghost: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.”
2. But observe, it is not only the joy of the Lord, but it is joy in the Lord. That which made the eunuch’s heart rejoice was Jesus. And if you and I see Him with the eye of faith at this moment, we shall rejoice and be glad too. Oh! there is everything in Jesus to make the soul to rejoice. What is there not in His work, to make the soul to rejoice? The completeness of His atonement. Is there not enough cause in the matchless, majestic, glorious righteousness to make the soul rejoice?
III. That this “joy of the Lord” is not for our own enjoyment merely, nor for our self-gratification, but to strengthen us. There are two passages of Scripture, to which I would direct your attention here. In the first place, remark in the first of the Epistle to the Philippians, the twenty-fifth verse--“And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.” See how “furtherance” stands connected with “joy of faith”; icy springing from faith, and that joy furthering, advancing, leading onwards and forwards, in the Divine life. Observe too in the third of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the sixth verse, there is that same rejoicing, “the rejoicing of hope,” and see how it stands Connected with the confidence of hope: “if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” We have some precious instances in the Word of God, to show the strengthening power of joy. Observe one in the thirtieth of the first of Samuel. David was, as you and I often are, “greatly distressed,” “for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons, and for his daughters; but”--ah! that “but,” it is a volume, it is a folio--“but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” Observe how that strengthened him. Do you ask, What is that which strengthens for service? It is “the joy of the Lord.” Take the instance of the prophet Isaiah. Now observe--“Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” “Then” said
I. “The joy of the Lord was his strength”: “whithersoever Thou wouldst send me I go.” And now there are some few remarks I would make by way of conclusion.
1. In the first place, I would say, that the believer is placed by his covenant God and Father in that position that he requires day by day fresh accession of strength.
2. Then the question now arises, How comes it to pass that there is so much feebleness amongst many of the real children of God if the “joy of the Lord” is our strength? May we not at once answer, Because they do so little enjoy “the joy of the Lord”?
3. Remember that this is a joy which the Holy Ghost alone can give; ask it, then, of Him; wait on Him for it; use every means for it. (J. H. Evans.)
Joy of the Lord
There is a joy that enervates one’s powers. The joy of the miser, the joy of the worldling, the joy of all carnal gratification. The strength of a good man is “the joy of the Lord.” Observe--
I. The nature of religious joy.
1. It is pure.
2. It is elevating.
3. It is solid.
4. It is durable.
5. It is heavenly.
6. It is Divine.
II. The conditions of religious joy. (Homiletic Review.)
Religious joy
I. The joy here spoken of is said to be “of the Lord,” and it is so in a twofold sense.
1. God imparts it--it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal_5:22; Rom_14:17).
2. God Himself shares in it (Isa_65:19; Jer_13:11; Jer_33:9; Zep_3:17).
II. The joy of the Lord is to be a strength; and it is so.
1. Because it is of God.
2. Because, as such, it enables us to bear up against the ills and disappointments of life (Psa_4:7). Witness what it did for David, Daniel, Paul, and Silas.
3. Because, when earthly joys fail, the “joy of the Lord” remains (“your joy no man taketh from you”); and on the very ruins of the former the latter ofttimes finds the soil most fitted to its growth.
III. To whom the “joy of the Lord” is given. It is imparted to those only--
1. Who are in union and communion with Jesus Christ; this is its true source.
2. Who ask for it by earnest prayer. “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (Joh_16:24).
3. Who love God, and keep His commandments (Psa_19:8).
IV. For what purpose it is given. It is imparted--
1. To be as “oil to the wheels of our devotion.” Joys are our wings, sorrows are our spurs.
2. To be an inward testimony to ourselves that we have the smile of God’s approval coming down upon our efforts to do what is “pleasing and acceptable in His sight”; and--
3. To be an outward testimony that our religion is not the “joyless “ service that the world judges it to be; but that all its crosses and calls for penitence and self-denial lead, even in this life, to an inward joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. (C. G. E. Appleyard, B. A.)
Joy our strength
Thejoy of the Lord is that sensation of gladness and happiness which the Holy Spirit conveys to the soul, and maintains in the soul, through the knowledge of God in His true character towards us.
1. It has nothing to do with worldly joy. It is substantial, eternal, shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day of its consummation in the saints around God’s heavenly throne (Gal_3:22; Rom_14:17).
2. It belongs to the people of God to rejoice in a sense of their reconciliation; to know their salvation is sure through Christ’s life; to rejoice in the glorious Creator Himself (Rom_5:11).
II. Many a time have these short words delighted the believer’s ear, and cheered his heart.
1. Mark their excellency. Sound like a sentence uttered in the full knowledge of the gospel rather than under the law. Weak and helpless in yourselves, the Spirit can strengthen you, and supply you with new motives and ability to please the Lord. God has given His only Son to be our joy and our strength. We have a strong city (Isa_26:1; Heb_6:18; Eph_6:10).
2. But how does joy act in rendering us strong--strong to deny ourselves, to suffer, to labour in the cause of Christ? We know our privileges in Christ. This makes us joyful and happy.
3. The Christian rejoices in the past work of Christ, who died; in the present work, intercession; in the future work, returning again in majesty, to endow His servants with eternal bliss (Rom_8:32).
4. Again, joy inthe Lord will enable the Christian to accomplish works for the glory of God and the good of others. We know that “heart” or “spirit” will enable the competitor for a prize to go through extraordinary exertion. It is the same with the soldier, the labourer, all who have to exert themselves with their bodies or minds. So with the Christian. (F. Trench.)
Christian joy
That few men are profoundly happy is but too true. Nor is it difficult to account for the universal failure on man’s part to compass the desires of his soul.
1. The sources on which he draws may be drained dry.
2. The satisfaction which these resources yield is a measurable quantity.
3. Men are not happy, because they seek happiness as an end, and not as a means. Now, if Christianity be Divine, it will accomplish for me what I cannot do for myself. It claims to give men true lasting happiness, because it opens a perennial fountain. In other words, the source of Christian joy is God. This joy is the secret of Christian strength.
I. The source of Christian joy is God. Not without significance that one of Divine attributes is “blessedness.” God is absolutely happy in Himself, and happy in relation to His creatures.
1. We can tell something of a man’s character and disposition by his works. Now God’s works are full of gladness. There is joy in the streams, the woods, the meadows, the cornfields.
2. As in nature, so in grace. The Bible, from cover to cover, warrants the conclusion. The Old Dispensation a much brighter and more beautiful scheme than many superficial students will allow. Law, Prophets, Psalms are full of declarations that God’s people are a happy people. Moses: “Happy art thou, O Israel, O people saved of the Lord!” David: “Blessed are the people that Know the joyful sound!” Isaiah: “With joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation.” And when we turn to the New Testament the wittness becomes over whelming. The, Man of Sorrows” went to the house of feasting to hallow it with the sunshine of His presence, and to the house of mourning to make it radiant with His everlasting joy. One of His last bequests was this: “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
II. The joy of God is strength.
1. The joy of the Lord is our strength for service. No man can work well unless his heart is in it. The three essential elements of successful service are fitness, enjoyment, enthusiasm. God has a work for all that is in harmony with the best powers of each.
2. The joy of the Lord is our strength against temptation. We are tempted to doubt, but the joy of the Lord will afford a sufficient answer to all anxious questions. We are tempted to fear, but fear is the child of doubt or suspicion. We are tempted by the pleasures of sin, but God’s ways are the ways of pleasantness.
3. The joy of the Lord is our strength for endurance. Christ: “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer,” etc. (Joh_16:33). Paul: “I am filled with comfort,” etc. (2Co_7:4).
III. The joy of the Lord, therefore, becomes a Christian law of life. Ingratitude not to accept rich provision God has made for profoundest needs of human spirit. And, further, this provision stands in relation to our duty as means to an end. To neglect our joys is to leave our work undone. But it maybe said that our emotions are the creatures of circumstances. But then we are not the creatures of circumstances. The man who turns his thoughts in upon himself creates for himself an atmosphere in which there can be no joy. Look away from self to God. “Walk in the light, as He is in the light.” Or if you must look at sell, let it be as “accepted in the Beloved”; if at the past, as forgiven; if at the present, as full of Divine favour; if at the future, as bright with all the promises of God. (J. W. Burn.)
Strength and joy
The physical strength of a man as a labourer is not unfrequently regarded as the measure of his worth; but mental strength is as much superior to the physical as the soul is to the body. Physical weakness often co-exists with mental might; but both bodily and mental strength may be found in combination with the utterest spiritual weakness.
I. Human joy is identical with Divine joy.
1. The joy of atonement with God. God and man atoned by Christ’s death, de facto as well as de jure, produces joy in God and man. “We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have received the atonement.”
2. The joy of reciprocated love. Antecedent to reconciliation with God, His love to us is love of pity and compassion; but atoned in Christ, God’s love to us is that of moral esteem, and our love to Him is the re-percussion of His love to us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” “If any man love Me,” etc. (Joh_14:23).
3. Joy of assimilated character. As an element of the kingdom of God joy is a Divine attribute, inherited by those who are “one with Christ.” “That they might have My joy fulfilled” (Joh_17:13). “That they all may be one,” etc. (Joh_17:21). Divine strength and joy are our everlasting inheritance.
II. Human strength is generated by Divine joy.
1. As experienced in freedom from man-fear. “Only fear the Lord” is one of the first lessons of Christian manliness. God-fear annihilates man-fear, which ever “bringeth a snare.”
2. As experienced in freedom from death-fear. Really in birth we take up death; but in Christian decease death dies. “That through death He might destroy, etc. (Heb_2:14-15.)
3. As developed in all holy action and endurance. The strength of health must be operative. To use is to gain strength. “They go from strength to strength” (Psa_84:7). (Homilist.)
Strengthening influence of Christian joy
Amorose man is generally morally weak. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,” and medicates itself. Men weary with sombre thoughts, and are disposed to get rid of them; hence the danger of lapsing from harsh theology into infidelity Christ came with “glad tidings.” Strengthening influence of Christian joy shown in the elements of it.
1. The joy of faith is strengthening. Faith is enlargement of mind, seeing man in relation to the Creator, a system of providence, redemptive love, immortality, etc. It is intellectual patience--the “truss-beam” of the soul.
2. The joy of a free conscience is strengthening. No man has courage for high duty who does not know of a forgiven past. The Cross has done more for building up character than did the law.
3. The joy of Divine companionship and help is strengthening. Dependence upon God does not destroy the courage of self-reliance; just the reverse. Bismarck said that without his faith in God’s purpose with him, he would not have courage to keep the German portfolio a single day. Read Froude’s “Calvinism” for the influence of Divine faith upon the enterprise of nations. Gibbon explains the fulfilment of prophecies by assuming that the belief in God’s presence and plan for them gave men the ability to accomplish the predictions.
4. The joy of love to Christ is strengthening. We always serve willingly, patiently, unswervingly, according as we put our hearts into the duty. (Homiletic Review.)
The duty and utility of Christian joy
Inall human systems of theology the terrible has preponderated over the lovable, the severe over the kind, in the conceptions of the Divine nature. The outlines of the Eternal face, as imaged by the creature, have been stern; as disclosed by the Creator, they are unspeakably gracious. Hence in the Bible descriptions of heaven, the increase of happiness and of nearness to the Almighty go hand in hand. Hence again, joy, not grief, is the frame of mind in which we are encouraged to come before the Lord. The connection between gladness and God is strikingly brought out by Nehemiah. A reunion with God must not be sullied with weeping, for God is a God of gladness; and the gathering in His presence on earth is to be a forepart of the heavenly meeting. Therefore does he, who in Babylon at the king’s table could not repress his own tears--what a strange shadow of a great truth was that heathen tradition that no sign of grief must be shown in a monarch’s presence-chamber?--therefore does he allow no wailing in Jerusalem.
I. The joy of the Lord--what is it?
II. How does it constitute the moral strength of a man? It has been well remarked that even cheerfulness of animal spirits is of great aid to virtuousness. There are certain temptations to which a joyous temperament is at once a bar. For example, hardness in judging others, malice, pride, can scarcely coexist with brightness and cheerfulness of heart. Many temptations at once flee away when cheerfulness is enjoyed within. The power of exertion revives after sorrow from the habit of looking at the brighter side. There is one special way in which gladness in God is essentially strength. What, it may be asked, is to be the uneducated man’s guard against unbelief? What shall garrison his soul against the infidel tract? I reply, the “joy of the Lord,” that secret complacency which he consciously gathers from the practice of the commandments of Christianity, and from the resting in the doctrines of Christianity. Teach a man to find a happiness in his Sundays, a gladness in the going up to the house of God, knitting the pleasures of hie life with the mysteries of his faith, and the wave of unbelief will only break itself upon him. It is when you separate pleasure and duty; giving to the things of time all the bright colours, and to the things of eternity all the dark; calling men away from what they like, to pay the debt of a dull, forced uninteresting homage to God, instead of making the rendering such homage in itself a delight--it is then that you create a temptation to withhold the homage, and a temptation to the unbelief which comes in secondly to justify such withholding. When the lamp is gone out in the temple of the Lord, what marvel if the world stands aloof? (Bp. Woodford.)
Sources of happiness
Happiness in the highest sense of the word is not a quality brought into the soul from without, but music that flows from qualities already existing within the soul. Circumstances, environments, possessions, and pursuits may affect the harmony, but it is the attuning of the soul’s capacities to the key-note of the music of heaven that is the secret source of happiness. There can be no happiness without religion. The most truly religious man ought to be the happiest man. The object of the religion of Christ is sanctified service; the end of that religion is nobility of character, honesty of conduct, purity of heart, veracity, self-sacrifice, high aims, Godlike pursuits. All the happiness of a Christian man will come from the exercise of his faculties, in the attuning of all his capacities and energies to me Divine will and to the eternal laws of truth, rectitude, justice, and righteousness. Thus the music of life is evolved by our own fingers from capacities that we ourselves possess. To ensure the highest happiness--
I. Have high aims and pursue them with avidity. Our faculties are only productive of happiness when they are in motion, just as the string of the harp only makes music when it vibrates. Many lives, therefore, are wretched because they are passed in indolence; many more are tuneless and musicless Because they are frittered away in unworthy pursuits.
II. Cherish the spirit of contentment.
III. Always maintain an abiding faith in God and in the providence which governs theworld. (W. J. Hocking.)
Joy
The goodness of God in His providential dealings with us, and in the general economy of the world, is shown not so much by the supply of what is necessary as by the provision of what is in excess of the bare necessaries of life. To call creatures into existence, and then to make no sort of provision for their existence, would argue not so much want of benevolence as despotic inconsistency and capricious ineptitude. In our Zoological Gardens, with their regulation allowances to the animals, there is just enough to meet the claims of necessity; but God makes that wonderful environment in which, when left to themselves, these animals find not only a bare sufficiency that makes life possible, but a profusion of favourable conditions and features that makes life worth living. The lark soaring heavenward; the herd of hippopotami disporting themselves in an African river; the school of whales shooting up their foam-fountains, or placidly basking on the sun-warmed surface of the bay--these and a thousand other objects all seem to bear the same witness that God has made provision, not only for the maintenance, but for the enjoyment, of His creatures. If He shows His goodness towards the lower animals by surrounding them with all that seems necessary for their enjoyment of life, it is only reasonable to suppose that He will make a similar provision for man. Such provision is made in the gospel revelation. Man asks for happiness, and God proposes to give him joy; he asks for security, and God proposes to give him peace; he asks for permanence, and God proposes to give him eternal life; he asks for satisfaction, and God offers him nothing less than Himself. If men could be persuaded that there is more real happiness to be found in serving God than in serving self, in doing right than in doing wrong, Satan would be robbed of his favourite weapon, and we should soon see the whole world transformed. But how is this to be brought about? Happy lives that are happy because they are holy are more likely to speak forcibly to the hearts of the children of this world than any amount of theological theorising. This was one of the mightiest arguments employed by primitive Christianity. Real joy in religion--a joy that followed men into their daily life, and lit up all their experiences; a joy that was unspeakable and full of glory--all this was entirely new in the history of the world, and it must have seemed just what the world wanted. What a weary world wants as much as anything to-day is the testimony of bright faces and bounding hearts as well aa joyful tongues, to the fact that the kingdom of God is not only righteousness, but peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Church of Christ is weak to-day because there is so little joy in it. Joy, then, is designed to play an important part in Christian experience. We shall do well to consider--
I. The source from which it proceeds.
1. Joy is mentioned next to love amongst the fruits of the Spirit, and this order is usually illustrated in spiritual experience. Joy is one of the earliest signs of the new life; if there is joy in heaven over the sinner saved, no wonder that there is joy on earth in the sinner’s consciousness of salvation.
2. It is also the product of the new and wondrous influence which stirs the soul to its depth when we are restored to our proper relations to the Divine, the mighty impulse of renewed vitality. There is always something essentially joyous in the bursting forth of new life. As in nature, so it is in grace. The new life that is born is indeed an Isaac--a child of laughter. When the Divine Spirit enters and takes possession of our quickened nature He necessarily brings His own joy along with Him.
II. The characteristics that belong to it.
1. As joy flows from a renewal of our proper relations with God, so it is dependent upon the maintenance of those relations. St. Peter tells us that it is in Him “whom having not seen we love “that we “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,” and Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Twice he speaks of joy in the Holy Ghost.
2. There is always something in God that we may rejoice in (Hab_3:17-18). It is this characteristic of true spiritual joy that raises those that possess it superior to the circumstances with which they may be surrounded, and which makes it possible for them to realise in their experience what may seem a paradox--“sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”
3. This joy is enhanced by all that is in accordance with the mind and will of God. What causes joy to Him, causes joy naturally enough to those whose joy is in Him. Thus we have--
(1) The joy of calm acquiescence in the Divine will.
(2) The joy of co-operation in the Divine work.
4. The intensity of this joy will be in proportion to its purity. Conclusion: It may be asked, How are we to get this joy?
I answer--
1. Cease to seek joy for its own sake. Self-abnegation is the condition of the higher joy, and when we are pursuing joy for its own sake, we arenot complying with this condition.
2. Remember that joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and you can’t make fruit grow. It is the life that produces the fruit; but you must see to it that the life has fair play. Beware of loss of communion. Guard against disobedience. Exercise yourself in contemplation, in praise, and in adoring worship. The tree needs to be bathed in sunshine if its fruit is to be ripe and perfect; and nothing must some between us and the light of His face if our joy is to be perfected. In heaven it will be all joy, because in that fair land God has His way. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A. )
On religious joy, as giving strength and support to virtue
I.That in the practice of religious duties there is found an inward joy, here styled “the joy of the Lord.”
1. Joy is a word of various signification. By men of the world it is often used to express those flashes of mirth which arise from irregular indulgences of social pleasure. It will be easily understood that the joy here mentioned partakes of nothing akin to this; but signifies a tranquil and placid joy, an inward complacency and satisfaction, accompanying the practice of virtue, and the discharge of every part of our duty.
2. In order to ascertain this, let us consider the disposition of a good man with respect to God. When we consider in what manner religion requires that a good man should stand affected towards God, it will presently appear that rational enlightened piety opens such views of Him as must communicate joy. It presents Him, not as an awful unknown Sovereign, but as the Father of the Universe, the lover and protector of righteousness, under whose government all the interests of the virtuous are safe. With delight the good man traces the Creator throughout all His works, and beholds them everywhere reflecting some image of His supreme perfection. Amidst that Divine presence he dwells with reverence, but without terror. Conscious of the uprightness of his own intentions, and of the fidelity of his heart to God, he considers himself, by night and by day, as under the protection of an invisible guardian. He listens to the gracious promises of His Word. With comfort he receives the declarations of His mercy to mankind, through a great Redeemer. All the various devotional exercises of faith and trust in God, all the cordial effusions of love and gratitude to this Supreme Benefactor in the acts of prayer and praise, afford scope to those emotions of the heart which are of the most pleasing kind. But it may here be objected, Are there no mortifications and griefs that particularly belong to piety? What shall we say to the tear of repentance, and to that humiliation of confession and remorse which may, at times, be incumbent on the most pious, in this state of human infirmity? To this I reply, first, that although there may be seasons of grief and dejection in s course of piety, yet this is not inconsistent with the joy of the Lord being, on the whole, the predominant character of a good man’s state; as it is impossible that, during this life, perpetual brightness can remain in any quarter, without some dark cloud. But I must observe, next, that even the penitential sorrows and relentings of a pious heart are not without their own satisfactions. A certain degree of pleasure is mingled with the tears which the returning offender sheds.
3. When we consider, next, the disposition of s good man towards his fellow-creatures, we find here the joy of the Lord exerting its influence fully. That mild and benevolent temper to which he is formed by virtue and piety; s temper that is free from envious and malignant passions, and that can look with the eye of candour and humanity on surrounding characters, is a constant spring of cheerfulness and serenity. With respect to that part of religion which consists in the government of a man’s own mind, of his passions and desires, it may be thought that much joy is not to be expected, for there religion appears to lay on a severe and restraining hand. Yet here also it will be found that the joy of the Lord takes place, To a person just reclaimed from the excesses of sensual indulgence, the restraints imposed by virtue will, at first, appear uncouth and mortifying. But let him begin to be accustomed to a regular life, and his taste will soon be rectified, end his feelings will change. In purity, temperance, and self-government there is found a satisfaction in the mind similar to what results from the enjoyment of perfect health in the body. A man is then conscious that all is sound within. There is nothing that gnaws his spirit; that makes him ashamed of himself, or discomposes his calm and orderly enjoyment of life. His conscience testifies that he is acting honourably. He enjoys the satisfaction of being master of himself. He feels that no man can accuse him of degrading his character. From this slight sketch it plainly appears that there is an inward satisfaction, justly termed “the joy of the Lord,” which runs through all the parts of religion. His is a very different view of religion from what is entertained by those who consider it as a state of perpetual penance. But what it concerns us at present to remark is, that some experience of this joy of the Lord which I have described enters as an essential part into the character of every good man. In proportion to the degree of his goodness, to his improvement and progress in virtue, will be the degree of his participation in the pleasure and joy of religion.
II. To show in what respects the joy of the Lord is justly said to be the strength of the righteous.
1. In the first place, it is the animating principle of virtue; itsupports its influence, and assists it in becoming both persevering and progressive. Experience may teach us that few undertakings are lasting or successful which are accompanied with no pleasure. H a man’s religion be considered merely as a task prescribed to him, which he feels burdensome, it is not likely that he will long constrain himself to act against the bent of inclination. It is not until he feels somewhat within him which attracts him to his duty that he can be expected to be constant and zealous in the performance of it. Was it ever found that a person advanced far in any art or study, whether of theliberal or mechanical kind, in which he had no pleasure? A sense of duty may sometimes exercise its authority, though there be no sensations of pleasure to assist it. Belief of those religious principles in which we were educated, and dread of future punishment, will, in cases where no strong temptation assails us, restrain from the commission of atrocious crimes, and produce some decent regularity of external conduct. But on occasions when inclination or interest prompt to some transgression of virtue, which safety or secrecy encourages, and which the example of the world seems to countenance, is it to be thought that conscience will then stand its ground with one who never was attached to virtue on its own account, and never experienced any joy in following its dictates? But these are the occasions when the joy of the Lord proves the strength of the righteous man. Accustomed to take pleasure in doing his duty; accustomed to look up to God with delight and complacency, and to feel himself happy in all the offices of kindness and humanity to men around him; accustomed to rejoice in a clear conscience, in a pure heart, and the hope of heavenly bliss, he cannot think of parting with such satisfactions for the sake of any worldly bribe. There is something within his heart that pleads for religion and virtue.
2. In the next place, the joy of the Lord is the strength of the righteous, as it is their great support under the discouragements and trials of life. From the view which we have now taken of thesubject, it must clearly appear, that to every one who wishes to possess the spirit, and to support the character of genuine goodness and virtue, it is an object most desirable and important, to acquire a prevailing relish for the pleasures of religion. To attain this spirit, of considering the discharge of our duty as our pleasure and happiness, is certainly not incompatible with our present state of infirmity. It is no more than what good men have often attained, and have testified to it, that their delight wasin the law of God; that His statutes were sweet to their taste; that they had taken them as an heritage for ever, for they were the rejoicing of their heart: “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy law is within my heart.” It is therefore of high importance, that all proper means be employed to form our internal taste to a proper relish for this joy of the Lord. (H. Blair, D. D.)
The gospel of joy
The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin, but that is by no means His only work. It is only in preparation for another and more blessed work.
I. What is meant by the joy of the Lord.
1. Much is said of the joy of theLord in sacred Scriptures; sometimes the Lord Himself is said to rejoice over His people; of Christ it is said, “For the joy that was set before Him,” so also in prospect of His death, He rejoiceth over the truly repentant sinner. When the Lord assures His people of their salvation from every danger and every enemy, He says,” The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy.” In like manner they also are exhorted to joy in Him: “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Indeed, the gospel itself is a gospel of joy. As such it was announced by the angel to the shepherds: “Behold I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” And we find that the preaching of that gospel was a matter of joy to the poor sinners to whom it was sent. Philip, we are told in the Acts, “went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them,” and the consequence was that there was great joy in that city. Now we shall find that their joy arose from a threefold source--
1. What the Lord had done for them. The Lord had brought them back from a miserable and degrading captivity. He had brought them from under the yoke of Babylon; they had been protected and delivered in a more marvellous manner; they were restored to Zion, the city of their solemnities; the king’s heart had been softened towards them, and under his authority and protection they were obtaining a secure settlement in their own land. Surely this was a cause for joy. When they looked at the difficulties that stood in their way, and the steps by which the Lord had led them, they could not but rejoice.
2. What the Lord would do for them. Why, even before they took possession of the land of Canaan, while they were under the guidance of Moses, and under the Lord’s special care in the wilderness, in the foresight of their future dangers and sins, the Lord had declared, even in their greatest straits and most pressing difficulties, though those very straits and difficulties were occasioned by their sins, that He would never forget His covenant, and would still receive them with mercy (Lev_26:40-45).
3. That the people understood all this. When Ezra read in the book of the law of God, he did it “distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (verse 8).
II. Its happy effects. When Nehemiah called upon the people thus to joy in the Lord, he told them at the same time what effect it would produce in them. It would be their strength.
1. It will support the Christian under all difficulties. This world is not one of ease and prosperity to the children of God.
2. It will sustain him in all his temptations.
3. Encourage him for the performance of all duties. It will make duties which without it would be burdensome and irksome, pleasant.
4. It will encourage him in prayer. He who has the joy of the Lord for his strength, does not live upon his joy, nor upon his strength. His life is in the Lord, and in proportion as he lives upon Him, he has joy and strength both in and from the Lord.
5. Incite him to hold on to the end. He who has the joy of the Lord for his strength will not rest in present attainments. The joys that are in store for the people of God are far greater than those already tasted.
(1) How greatly are many people mistaken as to the nature of true religion.
(2) Learn what you should be anxious to obtain. No man can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ till he has received the atonement.
(3) What a vast difference between the empty joys of the world and the solid joys of the gospel! (G. Maxwell, B. A.)
The joy of the Lord is your strength
I.Our joy in the Lord is the effect of His joy in us. As, for example, the brightness of the stars of night is derived from the unseen sun, so the light of our joy beams from the face of the Sun of Righteousness, which is the God-Man, Christ. Now, God’s joy in His people is most wonderful, as we find in the hundred and forty-seventh Psalm, the eleventh verse. In the moral world all happiness and joy are but reflections of heaven’s light. Peace and order are but the echoes of His Holy Spirit, amidst the tumultuous tossings and confusions of this world. Again: other and unfallen worlds might cause joy to God; for remember, God must rejoice in His own image, which is reflected more perfectly in unfallen creation; for example, angels are a perfect mirror, in which His image is reflected. They have larger capacities for comprehending God’s perfections. But mark the littleness of man’s mind. If we compare our own modes of feeling towards one another, we shall find that the philosopher delights not in the company of the unlearned, but rather despises it, and seeks the companionship of those who move in a more congenial element. Hence it is wonderful that God should delight in us, fallen sinful creatures. But the measure of God’s joy in us is the more wonderful when we come to consider the language of David in the hundred and thirty-fifth Psalm and the fourth verse, wherein it is written of His rebellious children, “For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.” God’s people are also called His portion, as we read in Deuteronomy, the thirty-second chapter and ninth verse--“For the Lord’s portion is His people. God’s joy in His people, as we read in Ephesians, the first chapter and the tenth and eleventh verses, is the cause of the rich inheritance which He has provided for them--“that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” But we must remember also the other and numberless sources of glory to God, namely, the glory of the kingdom of nature stretching along infinity which is only filled with the beauty and majesty of the Deity itself. But it is not wonderful that God should joy in us, when we reflect upon it, for He is more glorified in us than in any other portion of His creation, considering that the work of redemption stamps a value upon us; for human nature, and none other, was taken up into the Godhead, so that our fallen condition opened up a way for glorifying God. Whether we consider His mercy or His justice, His long suffering or His love, all of which were exercised and glorified by the redemption scheme, God rejoices over the theatre where His own glory is exhibited amongst His redeemed children rather than over angels, just as a parent rejoices more over the sick child restored to health than he does over the naturally robust and strong one. God blesses other worlds through the medium of ours.
II. Let us now consider our joy in the Lord. We have greater cause to rejoice in the Lord than the Jews, for our deliverance is from s worse captivity, namely, from the bondage of sin. Nehemiah could not set before his people anything but a distant hope of things to come. For how indistinct must have been their views of the promised Saviour compared with ours!
III. The joy of the Lord is our strength. A broken spirit disqualifies us for action. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth up the bones”; while, on the contrary, a joyous spirit disposes man for action, as may be seen in Psalm fifty-one, and the twelfth and thirteenth verses--“Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit: then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.” The condition of the animal spirits is admitted to have a powerful influence upon all our faculties. Sorrow and dejection unnerve the body as well as the mind, and take away the power of exertion. The discharge of our several duties depends upon the spirit in which they are conducted; for an earthly servant, brooding over his misfortunes, would be unfit for his position in life. The soldier entering the battlefield must have a spirit and courage to encounter the enemy. So likewise must a Christian feel competent for the encounter with his spiritual duties and enemies. No man can diligently and cheerfully apply himself to any duty unless he has the hope of success in the performance of it. In conclusion, let us consider, how this strength is to be attained. It is not to be procured by any intellectual process of reasoning, nor is it the creature of imagination. We must move into an atmosphere of holiness in order to secure it; for the Christian’s joy is the fruit of another clime. We must embark for a foreign land. It is the fruit of the tree of life, and must be plucked by the hand of faith. We must yield ourselves up to the guidance of the Holy Ghost; our souls must be tuned and re-tuned to heaven’s harmonies by Him. Joy is the voice of order, and peace, in the soul; and God the Holy Spirit, who moved over creation’s dark waters, must breathe over the angry passions of our fallen nature to produce this result. (G. F. Galaher, M. A.)
God’s joy our strength
The truth to which I would call your attention is this: that notwithstanding the misery, the shame, the conflict of human life--a misery and shame and conflict which are keenly felt by Him whose nature is sympathy, and whose name is Father--there is in God a deep, abiding, essential joyousness; and that this joyousness is the strength of His people.
I. The essential joyousness of god. This is seen-1. In nature. All simple things in nature are joyous--flowers and fruits, woods and streams, the meadows and the breezes, the song of birds, the movements of animals, the irrepressible mirth of children. All the strong things of nature are magnificently joyous. The sun, the sea, the tempest, etc. What are we to think of Him, what must He be like, who has so constituted man that the very aspect of the world in which he lives furnishes him with quenchless impulses of gladness. The maker is known by his work; his thoughts will be in it; as he is so it will be.
2. In the Christian revelation. The Jewish system enters into the history of the Christian revelation. This system was in the main a festal, joyous service. Its restrictions were for the well-being of the people, and added comfort to their life; itsfestivals were more numerous than its fasts. If anywhere we should find an incident typical of Jewish history, we should find it in our tart, where we see a grave preacher calling on remorseful and broken-hearted penitents to be more glad for God’s sake than they were mournful for their own, because the Lord was still joyous, and the joy of the Lord was their strength. Christ is the Christian revelation; the Son and manifestation of God. Although we call Christ a “man of sorrows” yet it should be impossible to speak of Him as an unhappy, a wretched, a miserable man. “He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows”; but He was not daunted by them, not worn down by them. Sadness oppressed Him, but never gloom; care, but not despondency. He was a welcome guest at feasts. Mothers brought their children to Him; little ones sang around Him, and He was glad to hear their singing. There broke from Him signs of a quenchless joy: “At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” He has no better thing to leave His disciples than His own joy. He was sustained under the tribulation of His mission by the deeper joy of His achievement. The deep, unquenchable joy of Christ is itself a revelation of the essential joyousness of God.
3. In the spiritual life. Speaking doctrinally, joy is the “fruit of the Spirit,” and a direct result of the gospel: “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” God intended to give to the penitent the joy of pardon; to the defiled the icy of holiness; to thefeeble the joy of strength. God intended by His promises to lift our hearts to exultation; and therefore He sent His Son for our acceptance. Christian history and experience confirm the testimony. Witness the writings of Paul to the buoyancy of his spirit. Strong Christians are always gladsome men; they find inspiration in their mission, bliss in their work. “The voice of rejoicing and thanksgiving” is in their “tabernacles”; they “rejoice in the Lord alway”; they “rejoice with them that do rejoice,” and thus give full play and scope to the spirit of their Father who dwelleth in them. The inspirations of the indwelling Spirit declare the essential joyousness of God.
II. The blessedness of apprehending the essential joyousness of God. It is too much forgotten that joy equally with sorrow enters into a true human development. “Tis held that sorrow makes us wise”; but it needs a strong soul to endure the discipline. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Joy is the tonic of the mind. There are some households into which it does us good to enter; the inmates are so happy, so frank, so loving, that only to be with them refreshes the weary spirit. We thus see how the joy of others may be our strength. It is a refuge for the distressed, a hiding-place from the storm, as “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” And “the name of the Lord” is above all others the “strong tower” into which “the righteous runneth and is safe.” To turn from the contemplation of a smiling world, and smiling men and women, to the thought of a joyous God: what inspiration is bevel (A. Mackennal.)
On religious joy
A few years ago a fierce and violent dispute was carried on between the chief physicians of Europe concerning antimony. And while some maintained that this mineral was a most valuable medicine, and extolled it to the skies, others asserted that it was injurious, and ought to be classed among the deadly poisons. The debate at length subsided; and it is now admitted that the article in question may be useful when administered with sound judgment. The opinions of men have always been greatly divided on the subject ofreligious joy--some extol it in the highest strains; others reprobate and condemn and labour to extinguish it.
I. The nature and source of religious joy. An able writer on the passions says, “Joy is the vivid pleasure inspired on our receiving something peculiarly grateful; something evidently productive of advantage, or something which promises to contribute to Our present or future happiness.” The worldly man exults in the acquisition of wealth, power, titles, and honours. When religion enters the mind it both informs the understanding and moves the passions. Among the passions joy holds a conspicuous rank.
1. Religious or holy Icy arises from a sense of the free favour of a merciful, covenant God.
2. Religious joy arises from a sense of the special presence of a merciful, covenant God.
(1) While hecontemplates the grand and beautiful scenes of visible nature.
(2) In the ordinances of His worship.
II. Holy joy tends to invigorate and sustain those who are the partakers of it. There are certain states of mind which we are accustomed to express in figurative terms and in the form of maxims. Thus we say knowledge is power, and ignorance is imbecility; hope braces, and fear relaxes the soul. If there be any aptness in such contrasts, we may assert, that as melancholy is weakness, joy is strength. Joy has a manifest tendency to invigorate andsustain--
1. The Christian’s resolutions, in prosecuting all the arduous labours of virtue and piety.
2. The Christian’s faith under the afflictions and trials he is called to endure (Hab_3:17-18).
Conclusion: We have an express warrant to rejoice: “Rejoice in the Lord alway.”
1. Our personal interest is wrapt up in this duty.
2. The welfare of our brethren is in a certain degree involved in thisduty.
3. The honour of our Master is implicated in the right discharge of this duty. (Congregational Remembrancer.)
The strength of Divine joy
Christianity asserts with great emphasis and illustrates with all its light the olddoctrine of Nehemiah and the priests, that Divine gladness is power.
I. Its nature. There is a broad distinction between mere gladness and spiritual joy. Spiritual joy rises from within the soul, and does not depend on the outward circumstances of its life. It wells like a fountain from the inner soul it is con fined to no place. It is bounded by no time. It may grow where earthly gladness would perish. It is a joy springing from the inner communion of the spirit with its God.
1. It is the joy of self-surrender to God. True joy can only begin when theself-life has been surrendered. Until this surrender has been made the consciousness of a guilty past hangs like a burden on the heart. Men know that their gleams of joy are only like flowers growing on the edge of a dark volcano, which when they are alone and outward excitements have passed away will waken in lurid glare and thunder, and distract their repose. They want a joy that shall pierce deeply into the region of self and rise from the consciousness of self-surrender and forgiveness. At the Cross of Christ the burden of the past falls, for at the Cross he yields himself.
2. The joy of fellowship with the Father. All profound gladness springs from sympathy with a spirit or a truth higher than ourselves. Why do our hearts bound on spring mornings with the joy of nature? Why does the beauty of a summer evening calm us? Why do we feel a “glory and a joy” as we tread the mountain sides? Why do we feel a deepening peace as we walk amid the splendours of the golden autumn? Is it not because we realise the presence of s spirit of beauty surrounding us, and inspiring us with an emotion which no words can describe? Or why is it when a truth breaks in upon us through clouds of doubt, and a clear vision of its beauty is gained after long and fruitless searching, that we feel a thrill of joy deep and unspeakable? Have we not after communion with some greater soul felt our own darkness dissipated and our own isolation broken down? In that hour has not the touch of a greater Spirit made us feel nobler, stronger, wiser? And if this be true of earthly communion, must it not be supremely so when we realise the fellowship of God as our Father? It is this which makes “ourjoy full.”
II. The power of this joy of the Lord. We may trace it in three ways.
1. It is power to resist temptation. It forms in itself the fulness of emotion, and surrounds us with a heavenly atmosphere in which the assaults of evil fall powerless away.
2. It is strength for Christian action.
3. It is strength for patient endurance. We are too weak to endure the discipline of life unless we have joy--the present earnest of the future reward. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The joy of the Lord
George Whitfield, it is said, once addressed a great gathering of colliers. As he discoursed to the rude, rough men who stood there in their working garb, and with unwashed faces, the Spirit of God touched their hearts. Tears filled their eyes and ran down their faces, making channels for themselves through the coal-dust there. And so here. As the priest made plain the Word of God, the people wept and could not help it. As Nehemiah saw them weep, he exclaimed, “Weep not,” etc. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
I. There is joy and happiness in living with and for God. I can well remember the first time I saw an engraving of the picture, “The Pursuit of Pleasure.” In the picture was the beautiful figure of a woman, with butterfly wings gliding through space. Following hard after her were all ranks and conditions of men, so arranged by the artist as to suggest many forms of enjoyment and excitement, but all eager to get the goddess. In the haste and whirl, and rush, some had fallen and were trampled, but all who could were pressing on, eagerly on, to the abyss. Men pursue that goddess still, forgetting that peace, joy, real happiness, must arise from within, from the state of the mind and heart, from union with God and all that is purest and best men rush blindly off into a thousand outward diversions, all which fail to give rest to the troubled conscience, ease to the sore heart, or anything of the nature of permanent joy and happiness. This is only realised by those who will live with and for God.
II. There is joy in working for God.
1. All work for the good of man is work for God.
2. Those have greatest joy who work in a godly spirit, and put heart into their work.
3. God has a work for us all, and can give us joy in it. I know what it is to have the good word of one’s fellow-men, to have the confidence of one’s companions and helpers in toil, to have some of the honours which men have to bestow, to enjoy the comforts of home andto share the advantages and blessings of travel, but not all these equal the blessing which God gives me when I am used as the instrument to make one sad heart happy.
III. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
1. In temptation.
2. In suffering and loss.
3. In all your life. (Charles Leach, D. D.)
The joy of the Lord
Alldeep religion ought to be joyful, and all strong religion assuredly will be.
I. Joy in the Lord is the natural result of Christian faith.
1. Because of what it gives us.
(1) A sense of acceptance with God.
(2) God for the rest of our spirits.
(3) Communion with Him.
2. Because of what it takes away from us.
(1) The fear that lies before us.
(2) The strifes that lie within us, the desperate conflict between conscience and inclination, our will and our passions.
(3) The sense of sin. Faith in Christ naturally works gladness.
It also produces sorrow--solemn, manly, noble, and strong. This is not contradictory. All great thoughts have a solemn quiet in them, which not unfrequently merges, into a still sorrow: “As sorrowing, yet always rejoicing.” These two states of mind, both of them the natural operation of any deep faith, may co-exist and blend into one another, so as that the gladness is sobered, and chastened, and made manly and noble; and that the sorrow is like some thunder-cloud, all streaked with bars of sunshine, that go into its deepest depths. The joy lives in the midst of the sorrow; the sorrow springs from the same root as the gladness. They blend into one another; just as, in the Arctic regions, deep down beneath the cold snow, you shall find the budding of the early spring flowers and the fresh green grass; just as some kinds of fire burn below the water; just as in the midst of the undrinkable sea there may be welling up some little fountain of fresh water that comes from a deeper depth than the great ocean around it. The Christian life is all like one of those spring showers in early April, when the rain-drops weave for us a mist that hides the sunshine, and yet the hidden sun is in every sparkling drop, and they are all saturated and steeped in its light. The joy of the Lord is the natural result of Christian faith.
