Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2543
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful inn my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10.
Without any preface we will go straight to our text at once. In the words of the Prophet, we have two things brought before us—first, a resolution to be glad and, secondly, the reasons for being glad. Whenever a man makes a resolution, it should be because he has a good reason for doing so. And when he has a good reason for it, he ought to adhere to his resolution and carry it out to the fullest possible extent. I want you, dear Friends, because there are good reasons for it, to resolve that you will be glad in the Lord. Perhaps you are of a mournful spirit—it may be that you have peculiar trials just now—possibly the very heaviness of the atmosphere makes you feel dull and sad. Never mind those things which would drag your spirit down, at least for tonight! Let us be glad and if we can make that gladness overlap tomorrow and if the stream should be sufficiently strong to flow right through the week to another Sabbath—and if the torrent should be vigorous enough to run right to the end of the year—and if the mighty flood should be broad enough to cover all the rest of our lives, it will not be, even then, an unreasonable thing! I wish we could, each one of us, with such a Divine inspiration as would enable us to continue it throughout eternity, say, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.” But if we cannot reach to such a full attainment ofjoy all at once, let us at least take a good mouthful of it even now—let us kneel down against the wellhead of heavenly bliss and drink a deep draught of holy joy at this glad hour!
I. First, we are to think about A RESOLUTION TO BE GLAD.
I notice, first, that the Prophet’s determination to be glad in the Lord is made without any reserve whatever. ’ ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.” He says, “I will, “and then he says, “my soul shall” He makes quite sure of it with his, “will,” and his, “shall.” It is with him a firm, fixed, steadfast, unquestioned resolve that his soul shall be full of delight in the Lord! Come, dear Friends, and let us make the same resolve by the help of God’s Spirit! “I have a bad headache,” says one, “but I will rejoice in the Lord all the same for that.” “I have but very little at home, I am very poor,” I think I hear another say, but I trust you, too, will be able to add, “yet my soul shall be joyful in my God. If I cannot rejoice in earthly good things, I will rejoice in the highest good, even in God, who is Goodness itself.” “I fear,” says another friend, “that I shall have trouble as soon as I return home. I am afraid I shall hear some very bad news.” Let this message of the Psalmist comfort your spirit—“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” Do not keep any portion of what your hear so as to leave room for grief or fear, but, if you are a true Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, surrender yourself completely to the highest form of enjoyment and say, here and now, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.”
While the Prophet’s resolution is wisely unreserved, notice how hearty i t is. He says not merely, “I will rejoice in the Lord”—he is not going to be content with a cup full ofjoy—he means to have a wellfull of it, so he says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.” The Lord is such a great God that if we rejoice in Him at all, we ought greatly to rejoice in Him. Little sources of blessing may well produce little joy, but when we think of the great goodness of the great God to such great sinners as we have been, each one of us who has been greatly pardoned through the great Sacrifice of Jesus may well say, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.” Then the Prophet adds, “My soul shall be joyful in my God.” “My very soul, my truest and best self, shall be joyful in my God. Not only my lips, or the jubilant Psalms which I shall sing, but my very soulshall be joyful in my God. I will sing as much as I can, but what I cannot sing, my soul shall feel. There shall be great waves of expressed joy, but there shall be vast unstirred deeps of heavenly calm within my innermost nature—‘My soul shall be joyful in my God.’”
We have sometimes seen people joyful just as far as the surface of their face. They tried to look glad, but underneath the smiling countenance there lurked a cruel grief. Have I not seen sparkling eyes which could not help betraying the inward fires of sorrow that burned in the heart’s inmost depths? Have I not heard men sing when their singing was almost a mockery, for had they expressed themselves as they felt, they would have groaned rather than have sung? But, O my God, there shall be with me no mere semblance of joy, no feigning praise, no misrepresentation of the real feeling of my heart—“my soul shall be joyful in my God.”