Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2489
“Sing to the LORD, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.” Psalm 30:4.
DAVID had been seriously ill and the Lord had graciously restored him to health. He says, “O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me. O Lord, You have brought up my soul from the grave: You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” As soon as he has recovered his health and strength, the holy instincts of the man lead him to praise the Lord. The first thing to do, when the throat is clear after an illness, is to sing praises to God! The first thing to do, when the eyes are brightened again, is to look up to the Lord with thankfulness and gratitude. Some people need to be told this, but the Psalmist did not—it came to him as a matter of course. Now that he was restored, he would take his place among the heavenly choristers and sing to Jehovah. He was not satisfied to sing alone, what child of God is? Among the birds in the springtime, when the first one wakes in the morning and begins to sing, does he not call up his fellows? Is not his song an invitation to all the feathered songsters of the grove to join with him and pour out their united harmony? In like manner, it is characteristic of a praiseful heart that it naturally desires society in praise. We do not like to praise God alone—we can do it and we will do it if we must—but our heart often cries aloud to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ, “Praise to the Lord.” Our very, “Hallelujah,” is intended to stir up others to this holy exercise, for it means, “Praise you the Lord.”
My one desire, just now, is that those of us who have received special mercy from God should praise His name and then that all the rest, if there are any who have not received such remarkable mercies as others of us have, should also feel exhorted to join in the sacred song of thankfulness to our God!
This is a duty which is pleasant—there is nothing more delightful than to sing praises to the Lord. It is also a duty that is profitable—it will be as blessed to yourself as it will be pleasing to God. Singing has a curative effect upon many of the maladies of the soul. I am sure that it lightens the burdens of life and I was about to say that it shortens the weary way of duty if we can but sing as we travel along it. This holy employment is pleasant and profitable and it is preparatory for another world and a higher state! I like to sing with Dr. Watts—
“I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise: Oh for some heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies!”
We are on the way to Glory, so let us sing as we journey there and, as the lark, ascending up to Heaven’s gate sings as she soars, her wings keeping time with her music and mounting in her song as she rises through the air, so let it be with us— every day a Psalm, every night a day’s march nearer Home, a little nearer to Heaven’s music and a little better imitation of it! Let us sing, now, in our hearts if not with our lips, and when the time comes, let us join our lips with our hearts and sing to the Lord! That is our text, “Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.”
It strikes me that our text is very suitable for a communion Sabbath evening. We are about to gather at this table whereon are spread the memorials of our Savior’s death. And there are three things about the text which make me think it a very proper one for such an occasion. They are, first, the peculiar fitness of the exhortation to our present engagement—“Sing to the Lord.” Secondly, the special suitability of the subject for our meditation—“The remembrance of His holiness.” Then, thirdly, the admirable suitability of the company invited to join in the song for they are the same people who are invited to sit down at the table—“Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
I. So, first, let us consider THE PECULIAR FITNESS OF THE EXHORTATION TO OUR PRESENT ENGAGEMENT—“Sing to the Lord.”
You are to come to the table where you remember your Savior’s death, where you are to feed upon the memorials of His passion. Come there with a heart prepared for song. “Oh,” says one, “I thought I had better come with tears.” Yes, come with tears—they will be very sweet to Christ if you let them fall upon His feet to wash them with your penitential streams. “Oh, Sir,” says another, “I thought that surely I must come with deep solemnity.” So you must. Woe be to you if you come in any other way, but do you know of any divorce between solemnity and joy? I do not. Levity is akin to sorrow and soon curdles into it—the laugh is but superficial—and just below the surface lies the sigh. But he who is calmly, quietly, soberly thoughtful, is the man in whom there may be deeps of joy which can never be fathomed. There is a little shallow joy that goes prattling over the pebbles of the brook and is soon gone. I invite you not to that sort of mirth, but to that deep solemn joy which godly men feel and which can be fittingly expressed in holy song. “Sing to the Lord.” That is no frivolous music! “Sing to the Lord.” That is no ballad or ditty—it is a Psalm—deep, solemn, profound. And the joy of it is great. “Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His.”