Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the book of Psalms, Psalm
122 and verse 1. This is a song of degrees of David. Our text, I was glad when they
said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. And it's specifically, though
I want to speak of all the verse, but it is the first three words,
I was glad. If we think of the meaning of
glad or gladness, it is when one is pleased, or happy, to
be cheered up, brightened up, to have joy or rejoice. God sees the heart. When Moses was called to go into
Egypt and bring the people of God out, and he was so backward,
he making all manner of excuses The Lord said to him that Aaron
his brother would be coming to meet him and that when he saw
Moses that he would be glad in his heart. So the Lord knows
what is felt in the heart and there he told Moses of the effect
that it would have on his brother when he came to meet him. And the Lord was using that to
further encourage Moses to do as he had been bidden and to
go and lead the children of Israel forth. One mark of the people of God,
and I know there's many times we brought several marks and
tokens and evidences of being the Lord's people, but one is
that they are brought to be glad, glad in the things that before
they were not glad, to rejoice in what they once did not rejoice
in, and it is the Lord that has made that change and that difference. So I want to Look with the Lord's
help, firstly at feelings. This is a feeling that we're
speaking about, gladness. I want to consider things under
that heading. And then secondly, I was glad
when. Now in our text it is, when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord, I want
to look at that, but at other occasions as well, when the people
of God are glad. And then lastly, a gladness and
rejoicing forever. I'm thinking of that which is
written in Isaiah 65. Firstly, a word on feelings. Our feelings change, even naturally
they change throughout a day, and spiritually it is so as well. We're not to rest on our feelings
as for our hope of heaven, because our feelings change. Our trust,
our leaning is upon the word of the Lord. It is upon what
the Lord has said, what the Lord has put in his word. We rest upon that. The passage that we read was
about our Lord and his sufferings and what flows from that. Paul says in Acts chapter 13
verse 38, and this is following where he says that, He whom God
raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified counted free from guilt, from all things from which he
could not be justified by the law of Moses. And there is the foundation is
upon what Christ has done, and believing and trusting in what
Christ has done. By grace you say through faith
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. When we know
that, then we're not tossed to and fro on every wind of doctrine. Then we are not cast down as
if we weren't the Lord's people at times when we are sad and
low and walking through the tribulation. Peter says that, if need be,
ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. That doesn't mean
when we get into those Places that we suddenly are not the
child of God, but God's people do have changes. They that have
no changes fear not God. God's people, though they're
not resting on their feelings, must have a feeling religion. is not just something in the
head, is not something that doesn't engage their affections, that
doesn't really move and touch them. You know, if we have someone
that we love and they are hurt, then we don't just register that
as just a fact in our head. We feel it, we are anxious for
them, we are concerned for them, If there is something that happens
that we're pleased about, we know that joy, we know the feeling
of gladness and joy. And our feelings are very much
a part of us, and that applies also to the things of God. And what is the important thing
about our text and the subject here is what actually are those
things that move us, that move our feelings, and especially
bring us gladness. In Nehemiah's day, when the walls
were broken down, Nehemiah the builder building the walls of
Jerusalem, but when they met together, he exhorted them to
joy and to gladness in the Lord. And he said this, that the joy
of the Lord is your strength. And the people of God, Psalm
110, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. The day of the power of God,
it touches the hearts of the people of God. They actually
feel, they respond to what the Lord does with them, And what
they go through, they are not stomachs. When they have painful
experiences, they feel the pain. When they like a Joe, and passing
through the great trial he had, oh that I knew where I might
find him, that I might come even unto his sea. And he speaks about
that burden being greater than he could bear. the times he expresses
that he wished that he'd never been born. These things are the
feelings of the song, and it's good for us, especially in books
like Jonah, in books like Job, in books like the Psalms, where
we can really see the expression of feelings that we might say
are unfiltered. Sometimes we might say or make
expression of feelings and we are unguarded. We say exactly
how we feel. But you might have someone ask
you, how are you today? And you say, oh, I'm all right.
And that person that knows you a bit better say, are you really?
How are you really feeling? And then you might get a more
truthful answer. And so when you get like in the
book of Jonah and you get Jonah and he's very angry and his feelings
are coming out very much so. But it's a blessed thing when
you get the other side of it and you get those when our Lord
is coming into Jerusalem and they are praising him and the
Lord's saying if they should hold their peace, the very stones
would cry out. And where there's, they cannot
but praise the Lord. They must, they must give vent
in that way. And so with the feelings of the
people of God, it's good for us to be mindful of what does
move us, what does go on within, not making our full rest on our
feelings, But knowing this, that if we are the people of God,
there will be those things that profoundly touch us, move us. You think on the other side from
gladness, with Hebrews 12, under chastening, now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless
afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them
that are exercised thereby." In all these passages they are
speaking of the feelings, feelings of exercise, feelings of a path
that is grievous, that is actually being felt. Now those that are
dead in trespasses and sins, those that do not have spiritual
life, there are feelings that they will never ever have. And
there are those that have been given eternal life that will
have feelings for things that those that know not the Lord
cannot have feelings for. They won't have feelings for
one whom they've never heard or never known or never loved
And so it is important for us to think of what is it that moves
us? What is it that makes us glad? What has the Lord done that may
have changed things? And I certainly, in my own case,
can look back to the days of my youth when the things of God,
if I said to go to the house of God, then I would be sad. I wouldn't be happy at all. And
if a certain minister was given out, it was going to be a red
servant, especially if Philpott was so long. And that wouldn't
be very happy at all. I wouldn't relish that at all. And it's when you see back and
you think, that's what I once was. And to think, well, then
I came to love Mr. Philpott's ministry and love
going to the house of God to go on every occasion I could.
And you get a contrast between the two. And that's where it's
a good thing to really notice where the feelings have changed. Why have they changed? What has
God done to make us feel different concerning the things of God? So it is a token, but together
with that will be the solid foundational truths and doctrines of the Gospel
that we rest upon and lean upon what the Lord has said and done. Remember, of course, if we were
to join both together, we think of the two and the way to Emmaus,
And as the Lord talked with them, they began sad. It's highlighted,
their feelings during that journey. And then the Lord begins, opens
up to them the scriptures. So here is the truth opening
up concerning himself. And then we read of their feelings
there, their heart burned within them while he talked with them
by the way. And so what made the feelings
in their heart, what made their heart leap or burn with that
desire and wonder about those things being revealed to them,
was the things themselves, the truths themselves. That was what
was moving them in their feelings. And then of course that led to
the Lord making himself known to them. So we do need to be
Careful, not just relying on feelings alone, but where those
feelings are based upon the Word of God, and those things that
once didn't move us to gladness now do, then we are to really
take notice of those, because it shows a reality, doesn't it? It's not just an intellectual
saying, well, I know these doctrines, But it shows the reality that
we have a soul. These things are life and death
to us. They're a heaven and hell to
us. And how we are responding to
them, if it's just in a clinical, unfeeling way, you'd question,
does that person really know how much that affects themselves? And so it comes to mind, a lad
years ago that was in the Savannah Education Trust schools, and
he was a very afflicted lad, a lot of deformities, and he
saw the schools being built, but he had no thought, no idea
that that school would actually be for him. But then his joy
when he was told that, no, that school is for you, you can go
to that school, So in spite of his afflictions, he could go. It makes such a difference when
we are involved. Instead of a bystander, instead
of commenting on someone else, it affects us, those things that
are said. There's many things in life that
we can have said in our hearing, but then if we're told, well,
this applies to you, it is something that is very pleasant, very joyful,
then that will move our heart. It'll make us glad. So may we have those right feelings
and notice what it is that moves them and touches them, makes
them come up in our hearts. On to then look secondly at the
when. I was glad when. On to begin with the text, I
was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. Seems to be one of the real sad
things of our day, that even those that say they are Christians,
they don't seem to be glad to go into the house of the Lord. Many churches only have one service
on the Lord's Day. And you think, how is it that
this that is spoken of here, it should make the people of
God glad, but it's not doing that. They're not desiring. They don't sing, they don't say,
they're my best friends, my kindred dwell. They don't have that where
it says that we know that we have passed from death unto life
because we love the brethren. And if we love brethren, we want
to be with them and to gather with them. In heaven, it shall be all together,
the people of God. And here below, we want that
blessing as well to see one another, to be with one another, to gather
for worship. Now this is, as I mentioned before,
one thing that in my own case changed remarkably. It was the very first thing that
changed. I went from wanting to get away
from the house of God, to stop going, week by week, making resolutions. It was only because I didn't
want to grieved my parents, so I went just one more week. And
then the Lord was pleased to call by grace and bring me into
a concern instantly. And from then, from that moment,
every service, and we lived three quarters of an hour drive from
the chapel, But every service I would go to, every prayer meeting,
and in the week, not only just on the Lord's Day. And the difference
was amazing how I viewed the house of God. Now maybe with
some of the Lord's people, there's not a distinct difference like
that. Some may feel that they've never
had a time, that they haven't quite liked to go to the house
of God. But I believe in some degree,
it will be so, that the Lord makes His house to be precious,
desired, and to be glad when it's said that, let us go to
the house of the Lord. And there's not that thought,
well, I'd rather go somewhere else. I'd rather do something
else. And so a feeling, and it is a
vital one here, really, a blessed beginning, a point, because if
we were to go back to Psalm 46, we have in Psalm 46, verse four,
there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city
of God. the holy place of the tabernacles
of the most high. God is in the midst of her, she
shall not be removed, God shall help her, and that right early. And that river, the river, the
gospel, the love of God, that which was to flow from Jerusalem,
half to the high into sea, half to the former sea, half to the
Jews, half to the Gentiles, that gospel river, the provision for
the people of God. We read of it as well in the
Revelation. It is a provision for the people
of God. And the first step, as it were,
the first what the Lord will do for a soul that is quickened
into life, or make them love where they find the pastor. If they come in with David, The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And that shepherd leads
them beside the still waters in green pastures. Those green
pastures, those still waters, they are where the gospel is
proclaimed. That is where they'll find food
for their souls. Can you imagine the sheep not
wanting to go to a nice pasture, not wanting to go where they
would feed, where the Lord's given an appetite? then we'll
want to go. And there's that desire for the
things of God. So it's a very, very important
gladness. How do we respond? How do we feel the prospect of
going to the house of God? And if the Lord has made a change
with us to make it very clear that we are glad now, or we do
feel a gladness to go to the house of God, don't pass over
that token as something that is insignificant and not worthy
of a true token of the work of God. God will bring his people to
be glad to gather, glad to hear the word of the Lord. We think then of the word that
is in the Song of Solomon. And in the first chapter of the
Song of Solomon, we have one that was drawn to the Lord. Draw me, verse four, we will
run after thee. The King hath brought me into
his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine, the upright love thee. Now, our Lord said that none
can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him. And the Song of Solomon a love
song between Christ and His Church, the bridegroom and the bride,
and the effect of being drawn, the effect of knowing something
of the beauty and attractiveness of the Lord, we will be glad and rejoice in
Thee. In that sense, it is when the
soul is blessed and when the soul is favoured in the house
of God, it produces that gladness and rejoice and it centres in
a person, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Thee. And there is another
token. We're not just coming to the
house of God but we want the master to be seen. We want the
bridegroom, we want the Lord to be seen. And we may say, well,
there's several other passages that are joined with that. You
think of what our Lord said of Abraham, all those years before
Christ came, and we are after Christ has come. We look back,
we look forward, But our Lord said that Abraham saw my day
and was glad. He saw Christ's day. He saw it
in the provision of the lamb, the substitutionary offering,
the promise that was given to him, that thee and thy seed shall
all nations be blessed. And that made him glad. It touched
his heart. So we have our Lord testifying
of that of Abraham. After our Lord rose from the
dead, when he appeared in the upper room to the disciples,
they were fearful, they were afraid at first. But when the
Lord assured them who he was, showed them his hands and his
feet, that he truly was risen as he had said, then we just
read them were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. A glimpse of the Lord, a risen
Saviour, a living Lord, made them glad, made them happy, made
them pleased. We may put it in this way as
well. Do we want to know whether a
visit from the Lord, a blessing from the Lord, a view of the
Lord in His Word? as he reveals himself in the
Word like the eunuch. Remember, he didn't see the Lord
with his literal eyes, but through Philip's preaching he could see
him in Isaiah 53. Where we have seen the Lord,
then the token of that is how it affects us, how it makes us
glad. And in effect, we are told this
in the Word. If my people, if they see me,
then they are glad. It will affect them in that way.
It'll have that effect. And so though Satan might say,
well, that really wasn't a blessing, or that wasn't of the Lord, you
would say, well, how was it then? It turned my sorrow into joy. How was it it took my mourning
away and gave me gladness? How was it that it changed I
felt under that word. Psalmist says in Psalm 42, 43,
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. He anticipated a change from
being cast down And that didn't mean he wasn't a child of God,
but a change when the Lord appeared, when the Lord blessed him, then
he would be lifted up, then he would be glad, then he would
rejoice. And it's those changes. Remember
we said earlier on, they that have no changes fear not God. But God's children, they do have
changes. You've only got to read Psalm
107. and we find them falling down and there's none to help.
And then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivers
them out of their distresses. But the next morning they're
in another trial and in another trouble. And then they're crying
to the Lord again, he delivers them again. You see the children
of Israel, when Moses first comes to them, they are pleased, they
give thanks to the Lord. Then come their hard labour.
Pharaoh's dealing hardly with them. They won't even listen
to Moses trying to tell them of anything peaceable and good. But then the Lord brings them
through that time, brings them out of Egypt, brings them to
the Red Sea, and then they are fearful. They think they're going
to be destroyed with Pharaoh pursuing after them. The Lord
wonderfully delivers them. And afterwards we have the Song
of Moses, then they're glad, then they're joyful, then they're
praising the Lord. Three days later, they've got
no water, and the waters they can't drink, Mara, and they're
murmuring and complaining again, and then Moses is shown the tree,
cast into the waters, made sweet, and they can then drink. Those
differences, Israel's a typical people, And as they go through
these things, you see how they are changing. Yes, some things they're not
praiseworthy, other they murmur and they rebel. But then the
Lord appears for them in spite of their murmuring, in spite
of their unbelief. And then they rejoice in the
Lord, and then they are blessed, then they are glad in what the
Lord has done. So it's good for us to know these
changes, know these differences that the Lord brings about. There are those times that we
would rejoice in the day that the Lord hath made, Psalm 118,
that we read, this is the day, verse 24, this is the day which
the Lord hath made, we rejoice and be glad in it. And we could
apply that to the day of the Lord's sufferings and death.
It's in the context, the stone which the builders refused has
become the head of the corner. What was accomplished at Calvary
in the gospel day, or a day of blessing for the house of God,
a day when the Lord's people are able to put him on in open
profession, we might apply it to. a couple being brought together
by God's providence and a marriage day. This is the day that the
Lord hath made. We rejoice and be glad in it.
You see God's appointments and for answers to prayer and see
that this didn't just happen by chance. This is the Lord's
doing, marvellous in our eyes. And when we see that, then that
makes us glad. The psalmist says that the Lord
has made us glad through thy work. I think of the psalm that
we often plead here, that was preached at my induction service
back in 1998, and Psalm 126, when the Lord
turned again, the captivity of Zion, where we were like them,
that dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the sound. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bring his sheaves with him. It's when the Lord does those
things, and when we're able to see that he's done great things,
there whereof we are glad. So in that way, the blessing
of the Lord that makes rich, that adds no sorrow within, will
bring about a gladness, a happiness for the people of God. I remember
that time coming back from giving testimony when I was asked to
attend the manager at my work and have an evening with him
and his family. Went reluctantly at first, rather
just having a quiet evening in the motel, but he started asking
at my faith and we spent the whole evening. speaking of the
things of God and coming back to the motel that we're lying
to the hymn of the happiness arising from the life of God
within. And it's a blessed thing to be
able to just speak well of the Lord and to have those you can
share the blessings of the gospel with. But thinking of that, there's
another source of gladness that we may also Shall we say judge
of our state or how we are? And that's when we view others. We read in Acts 11.23 of Barnabas
when they heard that in Antioch they had believed and they sent
him from Jerusalem. And we read that when Barnabas,
he saw the grace of God, he was glad. And what he saw was the
change in effect that the preaching and that the believing of the
gospel had on those at Antioch. It was at Antioch where they
were first called Christians, there at Antioch. And so, we're told that he was
a good man, a gracious man, and that is a good token for us when
We see the grace of God in others. We see God's work in others.
We see the effect in others. And that makes us glad. That
makes us joyful. We think of repentance. Our Lord
told the parable of the prodigal son. And when that son returned
and they made merry, they were glad. The eldest son wasn't. He was very unhappy. The Father,
He said that it was meet, that we be glad, that we rejoice for
this, my son was lost and now he's found. And the Lord was
telling these parables to tell of that repentance. There's joy
in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 99
just persons which have no need or feel no need of repentance. And so, not only is there a gladness
when the Lord blesses us, but when we see others blessed, when
we see God's work in others, that as well produces feelings,
has an effect in our own soul. So may we know something of these
things, be able to say with the psalmist here, I was glad when,
and then be able to add, Yes, add what is in the text. Let
us go into the house of the Lord. And other things as well that
the Lord has done for us, how He has appeared, what we have
read, what we have understood, the things of God. What is it
that makes us glad? Now, on to look lastly at the
gladness, and rejoicing that shall be for ever. This is in the prophecy of Isaiah
and chapter 65. And we read in verse 17, for
behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former
shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and
rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice
in Jerusalem and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. And much
more is said of that new heavens and new earth. But what a remarkable
thing, the Lord himself says that he will be glad. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and
joy in my people. And shall the people of God not
joy and not be glad? Why, where we have known that
joy here below, is little foretaste of what shall be known above.
I often think of this, of two of the Lord's dear people who
I was favoured to know, and to know them when they were blessed.
Alice Robinson in Australia, I'd seen her when she was full
of the blessing of the Lord, and it's not hard to imagine
what it would have been like when she first saw the Lord,
when she was with the Lord. When you've seen the joy on earth
in the midst of afflictions, and the blessing of the Lord
that makes rich, and then you can think, this is what this
soul will be like when they see the Lord. How if they've been
joyful here, under a blessing on the word, how they shall be
joyful above in heaven. And the other one was Sam Mercer
from Red Hill, a deacon at Red Hill. He used to, many years
I took the Good Friday services at Red Hill. And he has now been
taken home, same as Alice was. But I've seen him, so blessed. I've seen him, his tears of joy
and such gladness in the Lord. And I've often thought, well,
what it must be, how he would react as he is. I've seen that
effect under the blessing of the word. What joy he must have
in the presence of the Lord and being brought to heaven. Truly, God's people are prepared
people for a prepared place. That anticipation of heaven and
the Lord's assurance that we are and we will be glad and rejoice
forever in what the Lord will do. And if we've known those
foretaste, we'll know it shall be precious, it shall be a lovely
thing. It's a blessed thing where that
which moves our hearts here moves us not earthward, but heavenward. Remember the two thieves on the
cross, the one was saying, that the Lord should show his power
and who he was by saving himself and them and coming down from
the cross. But the other, Lord remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He was looking for that
which was above, that which is beyond the grave. And that should
be the effect of blessings that we have. Loosen our hold on the
earth, Make us to look for that which shall be eternal, that
shall never fade away. Changes we will have here, but
not in heaven. That is the wonderful blessing. No sorrow there, all joy. But the Lord does give those
foretastes and does bring us to say with the psalmist, I was
glad and it's a blessed thing if we can come this evening and
think back to when the Lord has given us those times under the
word coming to the house of God and you can say before the Lord
who knew Aaron's heart that he would be glad to be able to say
I was glad. May the Lord then at his blessing.
Amen.