The LORD has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Sermons
Polybius, in describing the joy of the Greeks when unexpectedly rescued from the Macedonians, says, "Most of the men could scarcely believe the news, but imagined themselves in a dream as they listened to what was said, so extraordinary and miraculous it seemed to them." I. JOY AND GLADNESS MAY BE FITTING RESPONSE TO CIRCUMSTANCES. There is a natural and proper response to every set of conditions in which we are placed. We need never restrain those responses. Religion tones them, but does not arrest or crush them. Joy and gladness were befitting to the restored captives. Laughter is the expression of joy; and "Is any merry, let him sing psalms." Some phases of Christian life are too decorous, too restrained, too cold. True religion only flourishes in a warm atmosphere of feeling. And we should find abundant cause for joy and song, if we did but read our lives aright, and recognize the loving-kindness of the Lord. "The redeemed shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads." II. JOY AND GLADNESS MAY BE EXAGGERATED, AND BECOME A PERIL. There was a degree of extravagance in the joy of these returned exiles. They were over-excited. In their excitement they imagined a future which could never be realized; and were tempted to play with their new-found liberty as with a toy, instead of being solemnized by its obligations, and urged thereby to high and noble endeavor. 1. Times of overjoy make the prosaic work of everyday life very trying and hard. The beginnings of religious life are often a skipping and dancing and singing of the soul, and it is almost overwhelming to discover that it must pass into a persistent, humdrum walking the pilgrim-path of righteousness. We cannot be always in ecstasy and song, either here or in heaven. Israel found the actual life in restored Palestine soon changed excited song for the quiet strain of daily service. 2. Times of over-excitement are followed by times of undue depression. Israel bravely sang on the shores of the Red Sea, and murmured, ere three days were passed, at what redemption involved. Overstrain of religious feeling in times of revivals and missions, is oftentimes a most serious peril to young souls, because it suggests a false idea of Christian life. And, to some dispositions, it is no less than absolute ruin. - R.T. The Lord hath done great things for us. I. THE FACT PROPOUNDED. Note the personality of the statement. "For us." 1. As regards our country. Where is there country so fair or land so fertile as ours? Where is such freedom and peace enjoyed? 2. As regards our religious privileges. We have a pure faith, an open Bible, and freedom to worship God as we think best. 3. As regards our individual wants. Homes, friends, food, sustenance, health, etc. 4. As regards our spiritual welfare. We were vile — we are made pure. We were far away — but are now brought nigh. God has done His part in all this, and if our eternal happiness is not assured the fault is ours, not His. II. THE FEELING. "Whereof we are glad." These Jews had been deprived of their privileges for some considerable period, and then, in the desolation of their spirits and in the misery of their servitude, they began to realize the mercies they had so thanklessly enjoyed. Do we not often tempt God to take away our privileges and to deprive us of our mercies? () Helps for the Pulpit. : —I. A PLEASING STATEMENT. What "great things" God hath done for His people — 1. In redemption. 2. In conversion. 3. In the bestowal of Divine freedom. 4. The enjoyment of Church fellowship. 5. By providential interpositions and deliverances. 6. By spiritual advancement. II. A JOYFUL STATEMENT. This gladness implies — 1. Sensibility. 2. Real enjoyment. 3. Heartfelt gladness. 4. Social gladness. "For us." III. APPLICATION. 1. Mourn your ingratitude and forgetfulness. 2. Pray for quickening grace. 3. Anticipate the time when you shall be made eternally glad. () The Study. : —I. THE LORD'S WORK ACKNOWLEDGED. God is at the head of all our affairs. Many will not give God the glory. Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:30); Herod (Acts 12:21, 23). II. ITS GREATNESS RECOGNIZED. 1. Greater things than we deserved. 2. Greater things than we knew. Greater things than we expected. III. AN INTEREST THEREIN CLAIMED. What advantage is there if we cannot say "for us"? The Jews knew what God had done by the edict of Cyrus. They must take advantage of it. God only opened the way, and constrained them to walk in it. IV. JOYFUL GLADNESS EXPRESSED. 1. Why are we glad? (1)The work is so great.(2)The work is done.(3)The work is done well.2. How should we show our gladness? (1)By a cheerful countenance.(2)By willing labour.(3)By generous gifts.V. APPLICATION. 1. Has the Lord done aught for you? 2. Have you acknowledged His hand? 3. Has it made you glad? 4. What are you expecting in the future? () I. WHAT THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE FOR US?1. National. 2. Domestic. 3. Personal. II. WHO HATH DONE THEM? III. HOW CAN WE, FOR WHOM THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS, MOST PROPERLY EXPRESS OUR JOY, AND MOST PROFITABLY EVINCE OUR GRATITUDE? Those, certainly, may rejoice in benefits received whose consciences only testify to them of judgments deserved. Every one whom God has spared may warrantably believe that he has been spared for purposes of mercy. () : — In most of the reviews of Mr. Morley's "Life of Gladstone" attention has been called to the fact that whilst the whole work is a literary masterpiece, the third volume is far above the two previous ones in picturesque and stirring power. The events it records took place under the writer's own eye, and in them he took a prominent part, and this has given an ease, a freedom, and a force of description that no secondhand reports or most reliable documents can give. That which we have for ourselves seen, tasted, and handled is the part of our testimony that tells and brings conviction to others.()
People Psalmist, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Glad, Joy, Joyful, Rejoiced, WhereofOutline 1. The church celebrating her incredible return out of captivity
4. Prays for and prophesies the good success thereof
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 126:1-3 7271 Zion, as symbol Psalm 126:2-3 1060 God, greatness of
8287 joy, experience Library The Lost Silver Piece
But, my dear friends, the three parables recorded in this chapter are not repetitions; they all declare the same main truth, but each one reveals a different phase of it. The three parables are three sides of a vast pyramid of gospel doctrine, but there is a distinct inscription upon each. Not only in the similitude, but also in the teaching covered by the similitude, there is variety, progress, enlargement, discrimination. We have only need to read attentively to discover that in this trinity of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871The Scattering of the People
[Illustration: (drop cap A) The Fish-god of Assyria and Babylonia] At last the full punishment for their many sins fell upon God's chosen people. The words of warning written in the fifth book of Moses had told them plainly that if they turned aside and worshipped the wicked idol-gods of Canaan, the Lord would take their country from them and drive them out into strange lands. Yet again and again they had yielded to temptation. And now the day of reckoning had come. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making The Seed Growing Secretly.
"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come."--MARK iv. 26-29. This is the only parable that is peculiar to Mark. The subjects contained in …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord The Comforts Belonging to Mourners
Having already presented to your view the dark side of the text, I shall now show you the light side, They shall be comforted'. Where observe: 1 Mourning goes before comfort as the lancing of a wound precedes the cure. The Antinomian talks of comfort, but cries down mourning for sin. He is like a foolish patient who, having a pill prescribed him, licks the sugar but throws away the pill. The libertine is all for joy and comfort. He licks the sugar but throws away the bitter pill of repentance. If …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 Death Swallowed up in victory
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory! D eath, simply considered, is no more than the cessation of life --that which was once living, lives no longer. But it has been the general, perhaps the universal custom of mankind, to personify it. Imagination gives death a formidable appearance, arms it with a dart, sting or scythe, and represents it as an active, inexorable and invincible reality. In this view death is a great devourer; with his iron tongue …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Of the Necessity of Divine Influences to Produce Regeneration in the Soul.
Titus iii. 5, 6. Titus iii. 5, 6. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. IF my business were to explain and illustrate this scripture at large, it would yield an ample field for accurate criticism and useful discourse, and more especially would lead us into a variety of practical remarks, on which it would be pleasant …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Psalm 126:3 NIV
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