Teaching Resources International

“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” — Philippians 4:4

There is a marvelous medicinal power in joy.  Most medicines are distasteful; but this, which is the best of all medicines, is sweet to the taste and comforting to the heart.  We noticed, in our reading, that there had been a little tiff between two sisters in the church at Philippi — I am glad that we do not know what the quarrel was about; I am usually thankful for ignorance on such subjects — but, as a cure for disagreements, the apostle says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  People who are very happy, especially those who are very happy in the Lord, are not apt either to give offense or to take offense.  Their minds are so sweetly occupied with higher things, that they are not easily distracted by the little troubles which naturally arise among such imperfect creatures as we are.

Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord.  Should it not be so?  What is this joy but the concord of the soul, the accord of the heart, with the joy of heaven?  Joy in the Lord, then, drives away the discords of earth.

Further, brethren, notice that the apostle, after he had said, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” commanded the Philippians to be careful for nothing, thus implying that joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life.  The cure for care is joy in the Lord.  No, my brother, you will not be able to keep on with your fretfulness; no, my sister, you will not be able to weary yourself any longer with your anxieties, if the Lord will but fill you with his joy.  Then, being satisfied with your God, yea, more than satisfied, overflowing with delight in him, you will say to yourself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”  What is there on earth that is worth fretting for even for five minutes?  If one could gain an imperial crown by a day of care, it would be too great an expense for a thing which would bring more care with it.  Therefore, let us be thankful; let us be joyful in the Lord.  I count it one of the wisest things that, by rejoicing in the Lord, we commence our heaven here below.  It is possible so to do, it is profitable so to do, and we are commanded so to do.

Now I come to the text itself, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.”

I. First, consider THE GRACE COMMANDED, this grace of joy; “Rejoice in the Lord,” says the apostle.

In the first place, this is a very delightful thing. What a gracious God we serve, who makes delight to be a duty, and who commands us to rejoice!  Should we not at once be obedient to such a command as this?  It is intended that we should be happy.  That is the meaning of the precept that we should be cheerful; more than that, that we should be thankful; more than that, that we should rejoice.  I think this word “rejoice” is almost a French word; it is not only joy, but it is joy over again, rejoice.  You know re usually signifies the re-duplication of a thing, the taking it over again.  We are to joy, and then we are to re-joy.  We are to chew the cud of delight; we are to roll the dainty morsel under our tongue till we get the very essence out of it.  “Rejoice.”  Joy is a delightful thing.  You cannot be too happy, brother.  Nay, do not suspect yourself of being wrong because you are full of delight.  You know it is said of the divine wisdom, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”  Provided that it is joy in the Lord, you cannot have too much of it.  The fly is drowned in the honey, or the sweet syrup into which he plunges himself; but this heavenly syrup of delight will not drown your soul or intoxicate your heart.  It will do you good, and not evil, all the days of your life.  God never commanded us to do a thing which would really harm us; and when he bids us rejoice, we may be sure that this is as delightful as it is safe, and as safe as it is delightful.  Come, brothers and sisters, I am inviting you now to no distasteful duty when, in the name of my Master, I say to you, as Paul said to the Philippians under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”

But, next, this is a demonstrative duty: “Rejoice in the Lord.”  There may be such a thing as a dumb joy, but I hardly think that it can keep dumb long.  Joy! Joy!  Why, it speaks for itself!  It is like a candle lighted in a chamber; you need not sound a trumpet, and say, “Now light has come.”  The candle proclaims itself by its own brilliance; and when joy comes into a man, it shines out of his eyes, it sparkles in his countenance.  There is a something about every limb of the man that betokens that his body, like a well-tuned harp, has had its strings put in order.  Joy — it refreshes the marrow of the bones; it quickens the flowing of the blood in the veins; it is a healthy thing in all respects.  It is a speaking thing, a demonstrative thing; and I am sure that joy in the Lord ought to have a tongue.

When the Lord sends you affliction, sister, you generally grumble loudly enough; when the Lord tries you, my dear brother, you generally speak fast enough about that.  Now when, on the other hand, the Lord multiplies his mercies to you, speak about it, sing about it! I cannot recollect, since I was a boy, ever seeing in the newspaper columns of thankfulness and expressions of delight about the prosperity of business in England.  It is a long, long time since I was first able to read newspapers — a great many years now; but I do not recollect the paragraphs in which it was said that everybody was getting on in the world and growing rich; but as soon as there was any depression in business, what lugubrious articles appeared concerning the dreadful times which had fallen upon the agricultural interest and every other interest!  Oh, my dear brethren, from the way some of you grumble, I might imagine you were all ruined if I did not know better!  I knew some of you when you were not worth two pence, and you are pretty well-to-do now; you have got on uncommonly well for men who are being ruined!

From the way some people talk, you might imagine that everybody is bankrupt, and that we are all going to the dogs together; but it is not so, and what a pity it is that we do not give the Lord some of our praises when we have better times!  If we are so loud and so eloquent over our present woes, why could we not have been as eloquent and as loud in thanksgiving for the blessings that God formerly vouchsafed to us?  Perhaps the mercies buried in oblivion have been to heaven and accused us to the Lord, and therefore he has sent us the sorrows of today.  True joy, when it is joy in the Lord, must speak; it cannot hold its tongue, it must praise the name of the Lord.

Further, this blessed grace of joy is very contagious. It is a great privilege, I think, to meet a truly happy man, a graciously happy man.  My mind goes back at this moment to that dear man of God who used to be with us, years ago, whom we called “Old Father Dransfield.”  What a lump of sunshine that man was!  I think that I never came into this place with a heavy heart, but the very sight of him seemed to fill me with exhilaration, for his joy was wholly in his God!  An old man and full of years, but as full of happiness as he was full of days; always having something to tell you to encourage you.  He constantly made a discovery of some fresh mercy for which we were again to praise God.  O dear brethren, let us rejoice in the Lord, that we may set others rejoicing! One dolorous spirit brings a kind of plague into the house; one person who is always wretched seems to stop all the birds singing wherever he goes; but, as the birds pipe to each other, and one morning songster quickens all the rest, and sets the groves ringing with harmony, so will it be with the happy cheerful spirit of a man who obeys the command of the text, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  This grace of joy is contagious.

Besides, dear brethren, joy in the Lord is influential for good. I am sure that there is a mighty influence wielded by a consistently joyous spirit.  See how little children are affected by the presence of a happy person.  There is much more in the tone of the life than there is in the particular fashion of the life.  It may be the life of one who is very poor, but oh, how poverty is gilded by a cheerful spirit!  It may be the life of one who is well read and deeply instructed; but, oh, if there be a beauty of holiness and a beauty of happiness added to the learning, nobody talks about “the blue stocking” or “the book-worm” being dull and heavy.  Oh, no, there is a charm about holy joy!  I wish we had more of it!  There are many more flies caught with honey than with vinegar; and there are many more sinners brought to Christ by happy Christians than by doleful Christians.  Let us sing unto the Lord as long as we live; and, mayhap, some weary sinner, who has discovered the emptiness of sinful pleasure, will say to himself, “Why, after all, there must be something real about the joy of these Christians; let me go and learn how I may have it.”  And when he comes and sees it in the light of your gladsome countenance, he will be likely to learn it, God helping him, so as never to forget it.  “Rejoice in the Lord always,” says the apostle, for joy is a most influential grace, and every child of God ought to possess it in a high degree.

I want you to notice, dear friends, that this rejoicing is commanded. It is not a matter that is left to your option; it is not set before you as a desirable thing which you can do without, but it is a positive precept of the Holy Spirit to all who are in the Lord: “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  We ought to obey this precept because joy in the Lord makes us like God.  He is the happy God; ineffable bliss is the atmosphere in which he lives, and he would have his people to be happy.  Let the devotees of Baal cut themselves with knives and lancets and make hideous outcries if they will; but the servants of Jehovah must not even mar the corners of their beard.  Even if they fast, they shall anoint their head and wash their face, that they appear not unto men to fast, for a joyous God desires a joyous people.

You are commanded to rejoice, brethren, because this is for your profit.  Holy joy will oil the wheels of your life’s machinery.  Holy joy will strengthen you for your daily labor.  Holy joy will beautify you, and, as I have already said, give you an influence over the lives of others.  It is upon this point that I would most of all insist, we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord.  If you cannot speak the gospel, live the gospel by your cheerfulness; for what is the gospel?  Glad tidings of great joy; and you who believe it must show by its effect upon you that it is glad tidings of great joy to you I do believe that a man of God — under trial and difficulty and affliction, bearing up, and patiently submitting with holy acquiescence, and still rejoicing in God — is a real preacher of the gospel, preaching with an eloquence which is mightier than words can ever be, and which will find its secret and silent way into the hearts of those who might have resisted other arguments.  Oh, do, then, listen to the text, for it is a command from God, “Rejoice in the Lord always!”

May I just pause here, and hand this commandment round to all of you who are members of this church and to all of you who are truly members of Christ?  You are bidden to rejoice in the Lord always; you are not allowed to sit there, and fret, and fume; you are not permitted to complain and groan.  Mourner, you are commanded to put on beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning.  For this purpose your Savior came, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him for this very end, that he might make you to rejoice.  Therefore, sing with the prophet, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with a robe of  righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

II. Now we come to the second head, THE JOY DISCRIMINATED: “Rejoice in the Lord.”

Notice the sphere of this joy: “Rejoice in the Lord.”  We read in Scripture that children are to obey their parents “in the Lord.”  We read of men and women marrying “only in the Lord.”  Now, dear friends, no child of God must go outside that ring, “in the Lord.”  There is where you are, where you ought to be, where you must be.  You cannot truly rejoice if you get outside that ring; therefore, see that you do nothing which you cannot do “in the Lord.”  Mind that you seek no joy which is not joy in the Lord; if you go after the poisonous sweets of this world, woe be to you.  Never rejoice in that which is sinful, for all such rejoicing is evil.  Flee from it; it can do you no good.  That joy which you cannot share with God is not a right joy for you.  No; “in the Lord” is the sphere of your joy.

But I think that the apostle also means that God is to be the great object of your joy: “Rejoice in the Lord.”  Rejoice in the Father, your Father who is in heaven, your loving, tender, unchangeable God.  Rejoice, too, in the Son, your Redeemer, your Brother, the Husband of your soul, your Prophet, Priest, and King. Rejoice also in the Holy Ghost, your Quickener, your Comforter, in him who shall abide with you forever.  Rejoice in the one God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; in him delight yourselves, as it is written, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  We cannot have too much of this joy in the Lord, for the great Jehovah is our exceeding joy.

Or if, by “the Lord” is meant the Lord Jesus, then let me invite, persuade, command you to delight in the Lord Jesus, incarnate in your flesh, dead for your sins, risen for your justification, gone into the glory claiming victory for you, sitting at the right hand of God interceding for you, reigning over all worlds on your behalf, and soon to come to take you up into his glory that you may be with him forever.  Rejoice in the Lord Jesus.  This is a sea of delight; blessed are they that dive into its utmost depths.

Sometimes, brethren and sisters, you cannot rejoice in anything else, but you can rejoice in the Lord; then, rejoice in him to the full.  Do not rejoice in your temporal prosperity, for riches take to themselves wings and fly away.  Do not rejoice even in your great successes in the work of God.  Remember how the seventy disciples came back to Jesus, and said, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name,” and he answered, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”  Do not rejoice in your privileges; I mean, do not make the great joy of your life to be the fact that you are favored with this and that external privilege or ordinance, but rejoice in God.  He changes not.  If the Lord be your joy, your joy will never dry up.  All other things are but for a season; but God is forever and ever.  Make him your joy, the whole of your joy, and then let this joy absorb your every thought.  Be baptized into this joy; plunge into the deeps of this unutterable bliss of joy in God.

III. Thirdly, let us think of THE TIME APPOINTED for this rejoicing: “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

“Always.”  Well, then, that begins at once, certainly; so let us now begin to rejoice in the Lord.  If any of you have taken a gloomy view of religion, I beseech you to throw that gloomy view away at once.  “Rejoice in the Lord always,” therefore, rejoice in the Lord now.  I recollect what a damper I had, as a young Christian, when I had but lately believed in Jesus Christ.  I felt that, as the Lord had said, “He that believeth in me hath everlasting life,” I, having believed in him, had everlasting life, and I said so with the greatest joy and delight and enthusiasm to an old Christian man; and he said to me, “Beware of presumption!  There are a great many who think they have eternal life, but who have not got it.”  Which was quite true; but, for all that, is there not more presumption in doubting God’s promise than there is in believing it? Is there any presumption in taking God at his word?  Is there not gross presumption in hesitating and questioning as to whether these things are so or not?  If God says that they are so, then they are so, whether I feel that they are so or not; and it is my place, as a believer, to accept God’s bare word, and rest on it.

“We count checks as cash,” said one who was making up accounts.  Good checks are to be counted as cash, and the promises of God, though as yet unfulfilled, are as good as the blessings themselves, for God cannot lie or make a promise that he will not perform.  Let us, therefore, not be afraid of being glad, but begin to be glad at once if we have hitherto taken a gloomy view of true religion and have been afraid to rejoice.

When are we to be glad?  “Rejoice in the Lord always;” that is, when you cannot rejoice in anything or anyone but God. When the fig-tree does not blossom, when there is no fruit on the vine and no herd in the stall, when everything withers and decays and perishes, when the worm at the root of the gourd has made it to die, then rejoice in the Lord.  When the day darkens into evening, and the evening into midnight, and the midnight into a sevenfold horror of great darkness, rejoice in the Lord; and when that darkness does not clear, but becomes more dense and Egyptian, when night succeedeth night, and neither sun nor moon nor stars appear, still rejoice in the Lord always.  He who uttered these words had been a night and a day in the deep, he had been stoned, he had suffered from false brethren, he had been in peril of his life, and yet most fittingly do those lips cry out to us, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Ay, at the stake itself have martyrs fulfilled this word; they clapped their hands amid the fire that was consuming them.  Therefore, rejoice in the Lord when you cannot rejoice in any other.

But also take care that you rejoice in the Lord when you have other things to rejoice in. When he loads your table with good things and your cup is overflowing with blessings, rejoice in him more than in them. Forget not that the Lord your Shepherd is better than the green pastures and the still waters and rejoice not in the pastures or in the waters in comparison with your joy in the Shepherd who gives you all.  Let us never make gods out of our goods; let us never allow what God gives us to supplant the Giver.  Shall the wife love the jewels that her husband gave her better than she loves him who gave them to her?  That were an evil love, or no love at all.  So, let us love God first and rejoice in the Lord always when the day is brightest and multiplied are the other joys that he permits us to have.

“Rejoice in the Lord always.”  That is, if you have not rejoiced before, begin to do so at once; and when you have long rejoiced, keep on at it. I have known, sometimes, that things have gone so smoothly that I have said, “There will be a check to this prosperity; I know that there will.  Things cannot go on quite so pleasantly always.”

“More the treacherous calm I dread

Than tempests lowering overhead.”

One is apt to spoil his joy by the apprehension that there is some evil coming.  Now listen to this: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”  “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Do not anticipate trouble.  “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  Take the good that God provides thee and rejoice not merely in it, but in him who provided it.  So mayest thou enjoy it without fear, for there is good salt with that food which is eaten as coming from the hand of God.

“Rejoice in the Lord always.”  That is, when you get into company, then rejoice in the Lord. Do not be ashamed to let others see that you are glad.  Rejoice in the Lord also when you are alone; I know what happens to some of you on Sunday night.  You have had such a blessed Sabbath, and you have gone away from the Lord’s table with the very flavor of heaven in your mouths; and then some of you have had to go home where everything is against you.  The husband does not receive you with any sympathy with your joy, or the father does not welcome you with any fellowship in your delight.  Well, but still, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” When you cannot get anybody else to rejoice with you, still continue to rejoice.  There is a way of looking at everything which will show you that the blackest cloud has a silver lining.  There is a way of looking at all things in the light of God, which will turn into sweetness that which otherwise had been bitter as gall.

I do not know whether any of you keep a quassia [a South American tree] cup at home.  If you do, you know that it is made of wood, and you pour water into the bowl, and the water turns bitter directly before you drink it.  You may keep this cup as long as you like, but it always embitters the water that is put into it.  I think that I know some dear brethren and sisters who always seem to have one of these cups handy.  Now, instead of that, I want you to buy a cup of another kind that shall make everything sweet, whatever it is.  Whatever God pleases to pour out of the bowl of providence shall come into your cup, and your contentment, your delight in God, shall sweeten it all.  God bless you, dear friends, with much of this holy joy!

IV. So now I finish with the fourth head, which is this, THE EMPHASIS LAID ON THE COMMAND: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say Rejoice.”

What does that mean, “Again I say, Rejoice?”  This was, first, to show Paul’s love for the Philippians. He wanted them to be happy.  They had been so kind to him, and they had made him so happy, that he said, “Oh, dear brethren, do rejoice; dear sisters, do rejoice.  I say it twice over to you, ‘Be happy, be happy,’ because I love you so well that I am anxious to have you beyond all things else to rejoice in the Lord always.”

I also think that, perhaps, he said it twice over to suggest the difficulty of continual joy. It is not so easy as some think always to rejoice.  It may be for you young people, who are yet strong in limb, who have few aches and pains, and none of the infirmities of life.  It may be an easy thing to those placed in easy circumstances, with few cares and difficulties; but there are some of God’s people who need great grace if they are to rejoice in the Lord always; and the apostle knew that, so he said, “Again I say, Rejoice.”  He repeats the precept, as much as to say, “I know it is a difficult thing, and so I the more earnestly press it upon you.  Again I say, Rejoice.”

I think, too, that he said it twice over, to assert the possibility of it. This was as much as if he had said, “I told you to rejoice in the Lord always.  You opened your eyes, and looked with astonishment upon me; but, ‘Again I say, Rejoice.’  It is possible, it is practicable; I have not spoken unwisely.  I have not told you to do what you never can do; but with deliberation I write it down, ‘Again I say, Rejoice.’  You can be happy.  God the Holy Ghost can lift you above the down-draggings of the flesh, and of the world, and of the devil; and you may be enabled to live upon the mount of God beneath the shinings of his face.  ‘Again I say, Rejoice.’”

Do you not think that this was intended also to impress upon them the importance of the duty?  “Again I say, Rejoice.”  Some of you will go and say, “I do not think that it matters much whether I am happy or not, I shall get to heaven, however gloomy I am, if I am sincere.”  “No,” says Paul, “that kind of talk will not do; I cannot have you speak like that.  Come, I must have you rejoice, I do really conceive it to be a Christian’s bounden duty, and so, ‘Again, I say, Rejoice.’”

But do you not think, also, that Paul repeated the command to allow of special personal testimony?  “Again, I say, Rejoice!  I, Paul, a sufferer to the utmost extent for Christ’s sake, even now an ambassador in bonds, shut up in a dungeon, I say to you, Rejoice.”  Paul was a greatly-tried man, but he was a blessedly happy man.  There is not one of us but would gladly change conditions with Paul, if that were possible, now that we see the whole of his life written out; and tonight, looking across the ages, over all the scenes of trouble which he encountered, he says to us, “Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”

Did you ever notice how full of joy this Epistle to the Philippians is?  Will you spare me just a minute while I get you to run your eye through it, to observe what a joyful letter it is?  You notice that, in the first chapter, Paul gets only as far as the fourth verse when he says, “Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy.”  Now he is in his right vein; he is so glad because of what God has done for the Philippians that, when he prays for them, he mixes joy with his prayer.  In the eighteenth verse, he declares that he found joy even in the opposition of those who preached Christ in order to rival him.  Hear what he says: “The one preaches Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.  What then?  Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”  And he does not finish the chapter till, in the twenty-fifth verse, he declares that he had joy even in the expectation of not going to heaven just yet, but living a little longer to do good to these people: “And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.”  You see it is joy, joy, joy, joy.  Paul seems to go from stave to stave of the ladder of light, as if he were climbing up from Nero’s dungeon into heaven itself by way of continual joy.

So he writes, in the second verse of the second chapter, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”  When he gets to the sixteenth verse, he says, “That I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.”  But I am afraid that I should weary you if I went through the Epistle thus, slowly, verse by verse.  Just notice how he begins the third chapter: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.”  The word is sometimes rendered “farewell.”  When he says, “Rejoice,” it is the counterpart of “welcome.”  We say to a man who comes to our house, “Salve,” “Welcome.”  When he goes away, it is our duty to “speed the parting guest,” and say, “Farewell.”  This is what Paul meant to say here. “Finally, my brethren, fare you well in the Lord.  Be happy in the Lord.  Rejoice in the Lord.”

And I do not think that I can finish up my sermon better than by saying on this Sabbath night, “Finally, my brethren, fare you well, be happy in the Lord.”

“Fare thee well! and if forever,

Still forever, fare thee well.”

May that be your position, so to walk with God that your fare shall be that of angels!  May you eat angels’ food, the manna of God’s love!  May your drink be from the rock that flows with a pure stream!  So may you feed and so may you drink until you come unto the mount of God, where you shall see his face unveiled, and standing in his exceeding brightness, shall know his glory, being glorified with the saved.  Till then, be happy.  Why, even —

“The thought of such amazing bliss,

Should constant joys create.”

Be happy.  If the present be dreary, it will soon be over.  Oh, but a little while, and we shall be transferred from these seats below to the thrones above!  We shall go from the place of aching brows to the place where they all wear crowns, from the place of weary hands to where they bear the palm branch of victory, from the place of mistake and error and sin, and consequent grief, to the place where they are without fault before the throne of God, for they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Come, then, let us make a solemn league and covenant together in the name of God, and let it be called, “The Guild of the Happy;” for the–

“Favorites of the Heavenly King

May speak their joys abroad;”

nay, they must speak their joys abroad; let us endeavor to do so always, by the help of the Holy Spirit.  Amen and Amen.

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” — Psalm 5:11

“The Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.”  There is an ancient difference which he has made in his eternal purpose; and this is seen in every item of the covenant of grace.  “The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself;” but it is also written, “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”  You that have believed are of the house of Israel, and heirs according to promise; for they that are of faith are the two seed of faithful Abraham.  See that ye make manifest this difference by the holiness of your lives.  “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.”  Evermore display this difference by the joyfulness of your spirits.  Let not noisome cares invade you; for we read, “I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there.”  Fear not that the wrathful judgment of God will fall indiscriminately; for we read, “Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.”  The servants of the Lord should wear the royal livery: that livery is made of the fine cloth of holiness, trimmed with the lace of joy.  Take care that you exhibit both holiness of character and joyfulness of spirit; for where these two things are in us, and abound, they make us that we be not barren nor unfruitful.  To us there should be joy, strikingly to contrast with the unrest of the unbeliever.  Over all the land of Egypt there was darkness which might be felt, even thick darkness, for three days: “They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”  If it be so with you, that the Lord has given you the light of joy, let your faces shine with it.  If you walk in the light as God is in the light, go forth and let men see the brightness of your countenances, and take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of him his gracious calm, as well as his holiness. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Your Lord desires that your joy may be full.  He gives you a joy which no man taketh from you: it is his legacy.  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

The subject for this morning is joy, the joy of faith, the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit from the root of trust in God.  May we not only talk about it at this hour, but enjoy it now and evermore!  It is pleasant to read, and hear, and think about joy; but to be filled with joy and peace through believing is a far more satisfying thing.  I want you to see not only the sparkling fountain of joy, but to drink deep draughts of it; yes, and drink all the week, and all the month, and all the year, and all the rest of your lives, both in time and in eternity. “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.”

I. First, let us speak a little upon THE KIND OF JOY WHICH IS ALLOTTED TO BELIEVERS: “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.”

Note, first, concerning this joy, that it is to be universal to all who trust: “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.”  This is not only for the healthy, but for the sickly; not only for the successful, but for the disappointed; not only for those who have the bird in the hand, but for those who only see it in the bush.  Let all rejoice!  If you have but a little faith, yet if you are trusting in the Lord, you have a right to joy.  It may be, your joy will not rise so high as it might do if your faith were greater; but still, where faith is true, it gives sure ground for joy.  O ye babes in grace, ye little children, you that have been newly converted, and sadly feel your feebleness, yet rejoice; for the Lord will bless them that fear him, “both small and great!”  “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.”  “Fear not, little flock.”  There is a joy which is as milk to nourish babes — a joy which is not as meat with bones in it; for the Lord addeth no sorrow therewith.  The little ones of the flock need not vex themselves concerning the deep things of God; for there is joy in those shallows of simple truth where lambs may safely wade.  The joy of the Lord is softened down to feeble constitutions, lest it overpower them.  The same great sea which floods the vast bays also flows into the tiny creeks.  “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.”

You, Miss Much-afraid, over yonder, you are to rejoice! You, Mr. Despondency, hardly daring to look up, you must yet learn to sing.  As for Mr. Ready-to-halt, he must dance on his crutches, and Feeble-mind must play the music for him.  It is the mind of the Holy Ghost that those who trust in the Lord should rejoice before him.

This joy, in the next place, is to be as constant as to time as it is universal as to persons. “Let them ever shout for joy.”  Do not be content that a good time in the morning should be followed by dreariness in the afternoon.  Do not cultivate an occasional delight, but aim at perpetual joy.  To be happy at a revival meeting, and then go home to groan, is a poor business.  We should “feel like singing all the time.”  The believer has abiding arguments for abiding consolation.  There is never a time when the saint of God has not great cause for gladness; and if he never doubts and worries till he has a justifiable reason for distrust, he will never doubt nor worry.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again” — what? “always,” and yet does the apostle say, “and again?”  Yes, he would have us rejoice, and keep on rejoicing, and then rejoice more and more.  Brethren go on piling up your delights.  You are the blessed of the Lord, and his blessing reaches “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”

Next, let your joy be manifested.  “Let them ever shout for joy.”  Shouting is an enthusiastic utterance, a method which men use when they have won a victory, when they divide the spoil, when they bear home the harvest, when they tread the vintage, when they drain the goblet.  Believers, you may shout for joy with unreserved delight.  Some religionists shout, and we would not wish to stop them; but we wish certain of them knew better what they are shouting for.  Brethren, since you know whom you have believed, and what you have believed, and what are the deep sources of your joy, do not be so sobered by your knowledge as to become dumb; but the rather imitate the children in the temple, who, if they knew little, loved much, and so shouted in praise of him they loved.  “Let them shout for joy.”  A touch of enthusiasm would be the salvation of many a man’s religion.

Some Christians are good enough people: they are like wax candles, but they are not lighted.  Oh, for a touch of flame!  Then would they scatter light, and thus become of service to their families.  “Let them shout for joy.”  Why not?  Let not orderly folks object.  One said to me the other day, “When I hear you preach I feel as if I must have a shout!”  My friend, shout if you feel forced to do so.  (Here a hearer cried, “Glory!”)  Our brother cries, “Glory!” and I say so too, “Glory!”  The shouting need not always be done in a public service, or it might hinder devout hearing; but there are times and places where a glorious outburst of enthusiastic joy would quicken life in all around.

The ungodly are not half so restrained in their blasphemy as we are in our praise.  How is this?  They go home making night hideous with their yells: are we never to have an outbreak of consecrated delight?  Yes, we will have our high days and holidays, and we will sing and shout for joy till even the heathen say, “The Lord hath done great things for them.”

This joy is to be repeated with variations. One likes, in music, to hear the same tune played in different ways.  So here you have it.  “Let them rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy.  Let them be joyful in thee.”  There is no monotony in real joy.  In the presence of mirth, one grows dull; but in living joy there is exhilaration.  Commend me to the springing well of heavenly joy: its waters are always fresh, clear, sparkling, springing up unto everlasting life.  Joy blends many colors in its one ray of light.  At times, it is quiet and sits still beneath a weight of glory.  I have known it weep, not salt drops, but sweet showers.  Have you never cried because of your joy in the Lord?  Sometimes joy labors for expression till it is ready to faint; and anon it sings till it rivals the angels.  Singing is the natural language of joy; but oftentimes silence suits it even better.  Our joy abides in Christ, whether we are quiet or shouting, whether we fall at our Lord’s feet as dead, or lean on his bosom in calm delight.

This joy is logical. When I was a child, and went to school, I remember learning out of a book called “Why and Because.”  Things one learns as a child stick in the memory; and therefore I like a text which has a “because” in it.  Here it is: “Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them.”  Emotions are not fired by logic; and yet reasons furnish fuel for the flame.  A man may be sad, though he cannot explain his sadness, or he may be greatly glad, though he cannot set forth the reasons for his joy.  The joy of a believer in God has a firm foundation: it is not the baseless fabric of a vision.  The joy of faith burns like coals of juniper, and yet it can be calmly explained and justified.  The joyful believer is no lunatic, carried away by a delusion: he has a “because” with which to account for all his joy — a reason which he can consider on his bed in the night-watches, or defend against a scoffing world.  We have a satisfactory reason for our most exuberant joy: “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.”  Philosophers can be happy without music, and saints can be happy despite circumstances.  With joy we draw water out of deeper and fuller wells than such as father Jacob digged.  Our mirth is as soberly reasonable as the worldling’s fears.

Once more, the happiness is a thing of the heart; for the text runs thus — “Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee.”  We love God.  I trust I am speaking to many who could say, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”  Is it not a very happy emotion?  What is sweeter than to say, with the tears in one’s eyes — “My God, I love thee!”  To sit down and have nothing to ask for, no words to utter, but only for the soul to love — is not this heavenly?  Measureless depths of unutterable love are in the soul and, in those depths, we find the pearl of joy.  When the heart is taken up with so delightful an object as the ever-blessed God, it feels an intensity of joy which cannot be rivaled.  When our whole being is steeped in adoring love, then heaven comes streaming down, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.  I feel I am talking in a poor way about the richest things which are enjoyed by saintly men.  Many of you know as much about these matters as I do, perhaps more.  But my soul doth even now magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior.  Although I feel unworthy and unfit to speak to this vast throng, yet I have a great sympathy with my text, for I am “glad in the Lord.”

“Oh, what immortal joys I feel,

And raptures all divine

For Jesus tells me I am his,

And my Beloved mine!”

If you sit before the Lord at this time, and indulge your souls with an outflow of love to God and his Son Jesus Christ, and at the same time perceive an inflowing of heavenly joy, it will not much matter how the poor preacher speaks to your ear, for the Lord himself will be heard in your soul, and heaven will flood your being.

II. Now I come to the second head, wherein we will consider THE GROUND AND REASON OF HOLY JOY. I am bound to speak upon this matter; for I have told you that the joy of the believer is logical, and can be defended by facts; and so indeed it is.

For, first, the believer’s joy arises from the God in whom he trusts. “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.”  When, after many a weary wandering, the dove of your soul has at last come back to the ark, and Noah has put out his hand and “pulled her in unto him,” the poor, weary creature is happy.  Taken into Noah’s hand and made to nestle in his bosom, she feels so safe, so peaceful!  The weary leagues of the wild waste of waters are all forgotten, or only remembered to give zest to the repose.

So, when you trust in God, your soul has found a quiet resting-place, a pavilion of repose!  The little chick runs to and fro in fear.  The mother hen calls it home.  She spreads her soft wings over the brood.  Have you never seen the little chicks when they are housed under the hen, how they put out their little heads through the feathers and peep and twitter so prettily?  It is a chick’s heaven to hide under its mother’s bosom.  It is perfectly happy; it could not be more content; its little chick nature is brimful of delight.  Be this thy joy also, “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”  My nature gets all its wants supplied, all its desires gratified, when it rests in God.  Oh, you that have never trusted God in Christ Jesus, you do not know what real happiness means!  You may search all the theatres in London, and ransack all the music-halls, and clubs, and public-houses, but you will find no happiness in any of their mirth, or show, or wine.  True joy dwells where dwells the living God dwells and nowhere else.  In your own home with God, even though that home be only a single room, and your meal be very scanty, you will see more of heaven than in the palaces of kings!  Have God for your sole trust, and you shall never lack for joy.

Our joy arises next from what the Lord does for us. “Let them shout for joy, because thou defended them.”  God always guards his people, whoever may attack them.  “The Lord is thy keeper.”  Angels are our guardians, providence is our protector; but God himself is the preserver of his chosen.  “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that dieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”  No fortress guards the soldier so well as God guards his redeemed.  The God of our salvation will defend us from all evil, he will defend our souls.  “Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.”

Further, our joy arises out of the love we have towards our God. “Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee.”  The more you love God, the more you will delight in him.  It is the profusion of a mother’s love to her child which makes her take such delight in it.  Her boy is her joy because of her love.  If we loved Jesus better, we should be happier in him.  You do not, perhaps, see the connection between the two things; but there is a connection so intimate, that little love to Christ brings little joy in Christ, and great love to Christ brings great joy in Christ.  God grant that in a full Christ we may have a full joy!  Do you see what I mean?  When a man comes to God in Christ and says, “This Savior is my Savior, this Father is my Father, this God is my God forever and ever;” then he has everything, and he must be joyful.  He has no fear about the past — God has forgiven him; he has no distress about the present — the Lord is with him; he is not afraid about the future — for the Lord hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”  If you understand my text and put it in practice, you possess the quintessence of happiness, the essential oil of joy.  He that hath joy in his barn floor may see it bare; he that hath joy in his wine vats may see them dry; he that hath joy in his children may bury that joy in the grave; he that hath joy in himself will find his beauty consume away; but he that hath joy in God drinketh from “the deep which lieth under;” his springs shall ever flow, “in summer and in winter shall it be.”

I have pointed to the deep sources from which the joy of the believer wells up; but I must also add, it is by faith that this joy comes to us.  Faith makes joyful discoveries. I speak to those of you who have faith.  When you first believed in Christ you found that you were saved, and knew that you were forgiven.  Some little while after, you discovered that you were chosen of God from before the foundation of the world.  Oh, the rapture of your soul, when the Lord appeared of old unto you, saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee!”

The glorious doctrine of election is as wines on the lees well refined to those who by faith receive it; and it brings with it a new, intense, and refined joy, such as the world knows nothing of.  Having discovered your election of God, you looked further into your justification; “for whom he called, them he also justified.”  What a pearl is justification!  In Christ, the believer is as just in the sight of God as if he had never sinned: he is covered with a perfect righteousness, and is accepted in the Beloved.  What a joy is justification by faith, when it is well understood!  What bliss also to learn our union to Christ!  Believers are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.  Because he lives, we shall live also.  One with Jesus!  Wonderful discovery this! Equally full of joy is our adoption!  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God;” “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”  Faith thus heaps fuel on the fire of our joy; for it keeps on making discoveries out of the Word of the Lord.  The more you search the Scriptures, and the nearer you live to God, the more you will enjoy of that great goodness which the Lord has laid up in store for them that fear him.  Though “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;” yet “he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit;” and thereby he puts gladness into our hearts more than increasing corn and wine could bring.

Furthermore, faith gives cheering interpretations. Faith is a prophet who can charmingly interpret a fearsome dream.  Faith sees a gain in every loss a joy in every grief.  Read aright, and you will see that a child of God in trouble is on the way to greater blessing.  Faith views affliction hopefully.  Sorrow may come to us, as it did to David, as a chastisement for sin.  Faith reads — “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”  Better to be chastened with God’s children here than to be condemned with the world hereafter.  Faith also sees that affliction may be sent by way of discovery, to make the man know himself, his God and the promises better.  Faith perceives that affliction may be most precious as a test, acting, as doth the fire, when it shows what is pure gold and what is base metal.  Faith joys in a test so valuable.  Faith spies out the truth, that affliction is sent to develop and mature the Christian life.  “Ah, well!” saith Faith, “then, thank God for it.  No trial for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it worketh out the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those that are exercised thereby.”

Faith sees sweet love in every bitter cup.  Faith knows that whenever she gets a black envelope from the heavenly post-office, there is treasure in it.  When the Lord’s black horses call at our door, they bring us double loads of blessing.  Up to this moment, I, God’s servant, beg to bear my unreserved testimony to the fact that it is good for me to have been afflicted.  In spiritual life and knowledge and power, I have grown but little except when under the hand of trouble.  I set my door open and am half-inclined to say to pain and sickness and sadness, “Turn in hither; for I know that you will leave a blessing behind.  Come, crosses, if you will; for you always turn to crowns.”  Thus faith glories in tribulations also, and in the lion of adversity finds the honey of joy.  I have said that trial comes to us as chastisement, as we see in the case of David; as a discoverer of grace, as we see in Abraham; or as a test, as we see in Job; or as a preventive, as in the case of Paul, who wrote, “Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”  In every tribulation, God is moved by love to his people and by nothing else.  If he cuts the vine with a sharp knife, it is because he would have fruit of it.  If he whips his child till he cries like David, “All the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning,” it is for his profit, that he may learn obedience by the things which he suffers.  All things work together for the believer’s good, and so faith interprets sorrow itself into joy.

Moreover, faith believes great promises. This opens other wells of joy.  I cannot stop to quote them to you this morning: the Book of the Lord is full of them.  What more can the Lord say than he hath said?  The promises of God are full, and as varied as they are full, and as sure as they are varied, and as rich as they are sure. “Exceeding great and precious promises.”

When I wrote “The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith,” I was at no loss to find a promise for every day in the year; the difficulty was which to leave out.  The promises are like the bells on the garments of our Great High-priest forever ringing out holy melodies.  When a man gets a promise fairly into the hand of faith and goes to God with it, he must rejoice.  The children of the promise are all of them worthy to be called Isaac, that is, “Laughter;” for God hath made him to laugh who lives according to promise.  To live on the promises of man would be starvation; but to live on the promises of God is to feed on fat things full of marrow.

Above all, faith has an eye to the eternal reward. She rejoices in her prospects.  She takes into her hand the birds which to others are in the bush.  To be with Christ in the glory-land is the joy of hope, the hope which maketh not ashamed.  Our hope is no dream: as sure as we are here today, we who are trusting in Christ will be in heaven before long; for he prays that we may be with him where he is, and may behold his glory.  Let us not wish to postpone the happy day.  Shall our bridal day be kept back?  Nay, let the Bridegroom speedily come, and take us to himself.  What a joy to know that this head shall wear a crown of glory, and these hands shall wave the palm branch of victory!  I speak not of myself alone, my brethren, but of you also, and of all them that love his appearing.  There is a crown of life laid up for you, which the righteous Judge will give you.  Wherefore, have patience a little while.  Bear still your cross.  Put up with the difficulties of the way, for the end is almost within sight.

“The way may be rough, but it cannot be long:

So we’ll smooth it with hope, and cheer it with song.”

May the Lord give us the ears of faith wherewith to hear the bells of heaven ringing out from afar over the waters of time!

Faith has always reason for joy, since God is always the same, his promises are the same, and his power and will to fulfill are the same.  In an unchanging God, we find unchanging reasons for joy.  If we draw water from the well of God, we may draw one day as well as another, and never find the water abated; but if we make our joy to depend in part upon creatures and circumstances, we may find our joy leak out through the cracks in the cistern.  Last Sunday morning, I cried out to you, “Both feet on the rock!  Both feet on the rock!” and the words led one poor heart to try the power of undivided faith in God.  This is the road to joy, and there is no other.  Drink waters from thine own fountain, and do not gad abroad after others.  Is not the Lord enough for thee?  Is it not sufficient to say, “All my fresh springs are in thee”?  Neither life, nor death, nor poverty, nor sickness, nor bereavement, nor slander, nor death itself, shall quench thy joy if it be founded in God alone.

III. We will look, for a minute or two, into a third matter, which is THE FAILURES REPORTED CONCERNING THIS JOY.

I think I hear somebody say, “It is all very well for you to tell us that believers are joyful, and have logical reasons for gladness; but some of them are about as dull as can be, and create dullness in others.”  I am obliged to speak very carefully here, for I am afraid that certain Christians give cause for this objection.

Let me say to some of you who love to raise objections, What do you know about this joy? Are you unbelievers?  Well, then, you are out of court: you are not competent to judge.  The griefs of believers you do not know, and with their joy you cannot intermeddle.  You have no spiritual taste or discernment, and what judgment can you form?  A genuine believer may be as happy as the angels, and yet you may not know his joy, because you are not in the secret.  You have not a spiritual mind, and the carnal mind cannot discern spiritual things.  I would have you speak with bated breath when you talk on this matter.  When a blind man goes to the Royal Academy, his criticisms on the pictures are not worth much; but they are quite equal in value to yours when you speak of spiritual things.  You cannot know what joy in the Lord may mean; for, alas! you a stranger to such heavenly things.

Alas! some professors of religion are mere pretenders, these have no joy of the Lord.  To carry out their presence, these persons even imagine that it is necessary to pull a long face and to talk very solemnly, not to say dismally.  Their idea of religion is, that black is the color of heaven.  But, dear friends, we cannot prevent hypocrites arising; it is only a proof that true religion is worth having.  You took a bad half sovereign the other night, did you?  Did you say, “All half sovereigns are worthless, I will never take another”?  Not so: you became more careful, but you were quite sure that there were good half sovereigns in currency; for else people would not make counterfeit ones.  It would not pay anybody to be a hypocrite unless there were enough genuine Christians to make the hypocrites pass current.  Therefore, do not say too much about hypocritical weepers, lest you slander true men.

Next, remember that some persons are constitutionally sad. They cried as soon as they were born; they cried when they cut their teeth; and they have cried ever since.  Their spirits are very low down and, when the grace of God gets into their hearts, it lifts them a great deal to bring them up to a decent level of joy.  Think of what they would have been without it.  Many would have died in despair, if it had not been for faith.  The grace of God has kept them up, or they would have lost their reason.  I am sorry there should be persons who have bad livers, feeble digestions, or irritated brains; but there are such.  Pity them, even if you blame them.  They must not so pity themselves as to make an excuse for their unbelief; but we must remember that often the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.

When you have met with Christians who are not happy, did it never strike you that their depression might only be for a time under very severe trial?  You may go to the South of France, where the days are so sunny, and you may happen to be there for a couple of days only, and it may rain all the time: it would be unfair on that account to say that it is a gloomy place.  So it may be that the Christian is under extreme pressure for the time, and when that is moderated he will be very joyful.  I do not excuse his loss of joy; but, still, there is a November of fogs in the year of most men.  Judge no man by the day, but watch his spirit on a larger scale, and see whether he does not usually delight himself in God.

Moreover, I would like to say a very pointed thing to some people who charge the saints with undue sadness.  May you not be guilty of making them so? There is an unkind, morose, wicked, drinking husband, and he says, “My wife’s religion makes her miserable.”  No.  It is not her religion,but her husband.  You are enough to make twenty people unhappy: you know you are; and therefore do not blame the poor woman, if, when she sees you, the tear is in her eye.  Alas! when she thinks of your going downto hell, and knows that she will be parted from you forever, the more she loves you the more sad she is to think of you.  “Oh,” says some wild boy here, “my mother is wretched!”  I do not wonder; I should be wretched too, if you were my son.  If any of you are living ungodly lives, it makes your parents’ hearts ache to see you going headlong to perdition.  Is it not abominable that a man should make another miserable, and then blame him for being so?  If you were but saved, how your mother’s face would brighten up!  If your father saw his boy turn to the Lord, he would be as happy as the birds in spring.  Speak tenderly on this matter lest you accuse yourself.

If you say that some Christians are unhappy, must you not also admit that many of them are very happy? I was once waited upon by an enthusiast who had a new religion to publish.  Numbers of people have a crack which lets in new light, and this man was going to convert me to his new ideas.  After I had heard him, I said, “I have heard your story, will you hear mine?  “When I talked to him of my lot and portion in the love of a covenant God, and the safety of the believer in Christ, he said, “Now, sir, if you believe all this, you ought to be the happiest man in the world.”  I admitted that his inference was true; but then I said to him, what rather surprised him, “So I am; and I am going to be more so all the rest of my life.”  If a man is chosen of God from before the foundation of the world is redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, is quickened by the Holy Ghost, and renewed in the spirit of his mind, is one with Christ, and on his way to heaven; if he is not happy, he ought to be.  Surely, we ought to rejoice abundantly, dear friends, for ours is a happy lot.  “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”

If God’s people are not happy at times, it is not their faith which makes them unhappy — ask them.  It is not what you believe that makes you unhappy, it is your want of faith, is it not?  If a man begins to doubt, he begins to sorrow: so far as his faith goes, he has joy.  Oh, for more faith!  Faith does create joy.  We can answer all objections by the fact that “we that have believed do enter into rest.”

IV. I close by mentioning THE ARGUMENTS FOR ABOUNDING IN JOY. You cannot argue a man into gladness, but you may possibly stir him up to see that which will make him happy.

First, you see in my text a permit to be glad: “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.”  You have here a ticket to the banquets of joy.  You may be as happy as ever you like.  You have divine permission to shout for joy.  Yonder is the inner sanctuary of happiness.  You cry, “May I come in?”  Yes, if by faith you can grasp the text, “Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.”  “But may I be happy?” asks one. “May I be glad? May I?  Is there joy for me?”  Do you trust in the Lord?  Then you have your passport; travel in the land of light.

But the text is not only a permit, it is a precept. When it says, “Let them shout for joy,” it means that they are commanded to do so.  Blessed is that religion wherein it is a duty to be happy.  Come, ye mournful ones, be glad.  Ye discontented grumblers, come out of that dog-hole!  Enter the palace of the King! Quit your dunghills; ascend your thrones.  The precept commands it: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”

We have here more than a permit and a precept, it is a prayer. David prays it, the Lord Jesus prays it by David.  Let them rejoice, let them be joyful in thee!  Will he not grant the prayer which he has inspired by causing us to rejoice through lifting upon us the light of his countenance?  Pray for joy yourself, saying with David, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.”

The text might be read as a promise: “All those that put their trust in thee shall rejoice.”  God promises joy and gladness to believers.  Light is sown for them: the Lord will turn their night into day.  Listen to the following line of argument, which shall be very brief.  You only act reasonably when you rejoice.  If you are chosen of God, and redeemed by blood, and have been made an heir of heaven, you ought to rejoice.  We pray you, act not contrary to nature and reason.  Do not fly in the face of great and precious truths.  From what you profess, you are bound to be joyful.

You will best baffle your adversaries by being happy.  David talks about them in both these psalms; but he does not fret, he simply goes on rejoicing in God.  “They say; they say:” let them say!  “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.”  But the attack is cruel.  No doubt it is, but the Lord knows all about it.  Do not cease to rest in him.  If your heart is full of God’s love, you can easily bear all that the enemy may cast upon you.  Abound in joy, for then you will behave best to those who are round about you.  When a man is unhappy, he usually makes other people so; and a person that is miserable is generally unkind, and frequently unjust.  It is often dyspepsia that makes a man find fault with his servants and wife and children.  If a man is at peace with himself, he is peaceful with others.  Get right within, and you will be right without.  One of the best specifics for good temper is communion with God, and consequent joy of heart.  You yourself also, if you are happy, will be strong: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  If you lose your joy in your religion, you will be a poor worker: you cannot bear strong testimony, you cannot bear stern trial, you cannot lead a powerful life.  In proportion as you maintain your joy, you will be strong in the Lord, and for the Lord.

Do you not know that if you are full of joy you will be turning the charming side of religion where men can see it?  I should not like to wear my coat with the seamy side out: some religionists always do that.  It was said of one great professor, that he looked as if his religion did not agree with him.  Godliness is not a rack or a thumbscrew.  Behave not to religion as if you felt that you must take it, like so much physic, but you had rather not.  If it tastes like nauseous physic to you, I should fear you have got the wrong sort and are poisoning yourself.  Believe not that true godliness is akin to sourness.  Cheerfulness is next to godliness.  “When thou fastest,

anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast.”  Weed out levity, but cultivate joy.  Thus will you win other hearts to follow Jesus.

Remember, that if you are always joyful, you are rehearsing the music of the skies.  We are going there very soon, let us not be ignorant of the music of its choirs.  I should not like to crowd into my seat, and hear the choirmaster say, “Do you know your part?” and then have to answer, “Oh, no, I have never sung while I was on earth; for I had no joy in the Lord.”  I think I shall answer to the choirmaster, and say, “Yes; I have long since sung, ‘Worthy is the Lamb,’”

“I would begin the music here.

And so my soul shall rise:

Oh, for some heavenly notes, to bear

My passions to the skies!”

With joy we rehearse the song of songs.  We pay glad homage now before Jehovah’s throne.  We sing unto the Lord our gladsome harmonies, and we will do so as long as we have any being.  Pass me that score, O chief musician of the skies, for I can take it up and sing my part in bass, or tenor, or treble, or alto, or soprano, as my voice may be.  The key is joy in God.  Whatever the part assigned us, the music is all for Jesus.  May some of you that have never joyed in Jesus Christ learn how to praise him to-day by being washed in his precious blood!  You that have praised him long, may you learn your score yet more fully, and sing in better tune henceforth, and forevermore! Amen.