May I please God to bless his
word as we meditate in it tonight. Let's turn to the book of Psalms,
Psalm 118, and we'll read verse 24. Psalm 118, and reading verse
24. This is the day which the Lord
hath made we will rejoice and be glad in
it. There are many days which the
Lord hath made. Days which the Lord hath made
collectively and days which the Lord has made individually. But whatever that may be, whatever
situation it may fall into, the word is this, we will rejoice
and be glad in it. We might perhaps commence by
thinking of the day that the Lord has made and that refers
to what we refer to as the Lord's Day now. Of course when this
was written it was the Sabbath day, And then of course when
the Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week, it
changed to the Lord's day. And so here we have this statement,
this is the day which the Lord hath made. So today, this very
day, we might say is the day which the Lord hath made. And
can we all say, we will rejoice and be glad in it. wake up on
a Lord's Day morning, and what do we think? Do we think, well
this is the Lord's Day, wonderful it is, and do we rejoice? And are we glad in it? Or do
we wish it wasn't Sunday? Do we wish it was perhaps Monday
already, so we could carry on with the things that we wanted
to do in the world? and that we don't really rejoice
in the Lord's day. We're not really glad because
of it. And yet, this is the truth of
God where we are told this is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And surely that is a very significant
evidence of the life of God in our souls when We wake up on
the Lord's Day morning and we are so glad it is the Lord's
Day. And it's a day set apart. It's
a day separated from the working week when we can legitimately
leave aside all the things that may stress us and be a problem
to us and come and gather together and worship the Lord. It's a
great, blessed privilege, as we have in our country, of the
freedom and the liberty which is ours. But do we really rejoice
in it? And are we glad because of it? Well, only the Lord knows our
hearts. The Lord knows whether that is
true or if we just while away the time and long for the end
of the Lord's day. Perhaps when we're younger, we've
often been like that. But what a blessing if even when
we're young, the Lord has graciously touched our hearts so that we
are pleased to come to chapel on the Lord's Day. Pleased to
be able to gather to worship, pleased to go to the Sunday school,
whenever it may be. And pleased to not be involved
with our daily work, and not perhaps play with our toys and
not play with the things that we want to do but that we are
willing to not do them because this is the Lord's Day. If we think of the Old Testament
the fourth commandment was remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
and it was an extensive command And there was no room to maneuver
really. And there was that case in the
Old Testament when a person went out to gather some sticks to
light a fire. You might think that was a pretty
minor thing. But he was judged for it and
the people stoned him to death for disobeying the word of God. Well I know that we don't have
to live quite like that today, but nonetheless it's an illustration
of the Word of God. And what a blessing therefore
for us today if we're found rejoicing and glad that it is the Lord's
Day. And let me say this, if we don't
like Sunday, if we don't like coming to chapel, and if we wish
it was a Monday quickly, You might say, what am I going to
do? Well, I'll tell you what to do. Pray to God that the Lord's
Day Sunday might be very attractive to you, so that you really are
pleased to come together to worship. And it's not a hardship. It's
something you want to do. And you recognize it as not the
worst day of the week, but the best day of the week. How important
it is, therefore, that we have a right priority in our thinking
with regard to these days and to recognise that the Lord's
Day is a very different day. It's a separated day. It's a
day that the Lord has granted us for our bodily benefit and
also for our spiritual benefit. It has a double benefit and therefore
let us remember the wonderful favour It is of God right from
the very beginning when God rested on the seventh day. We have that
testimony and it's continued right through until we live today
and it will be so until the end of time. So that's one of those
days. This is a day which the Lord
hath made. We will be glad and rejoice in
it. Let me just stay on this theme
as well for a moment because it's very relevant. When we think
of the Lord's Day, as we know it now, the first
day of the week, and why was it changed to the Lord's Day
from the Sabbath? It was the day that the Lord
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. a very glorious day in the history
of the world. And the early church, they went
about on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, and what
did they say one to another? Wonderful words. They said, the
Lord is risen. What does that do? That directs
us immediately to the Saviour. It directs us immediately to
the great victory that the Lord Jesus Christ had done in satisfying
the law, the holy law of God. It was a wonderful day and therefore
it's no surprise, is it? Therefore the Sabbath day turned
to the Lord's day for us to remember in a specific way. If you think
of that in these terms, this is the day which the Lord hath
made, a wonderful day, the resurrection day, not only to remember it
at Easter time, but every Lord's day to think of the resurrection. You know it would put our hearts
in tune, wouldn't it? I hope at Easter time we do really
rejoice to remember Easter day, the day when the Savior rose
from the dead. But my friends, every Sunday,
every Lord's Day, may we rejoice in it to realize the Lord is
risen. And because the Lord is risen,
the great truth is this. He conquered sin, death, hell,
and the grave. That was so significant. Yes, the grave could not contain
him. If the Lord had not risen from
the dead, our salvation would not be there. But you see, he
died. He had to die on Calvary's cross
in order to satisfy God's law to take away our sins. He had
to stand and die in our place. He bore the punishment instead. Again, you see, all these things
should direct us to this great truth. So that as we come to
this Lord's Day, this day, to think of the wonder, and it is
a wonder, and it should always be a wonder, to think that Almighty
God so gloriously, so wondrously condescended to come and to stand
in our place and to take that curse which was upon us, the
soul that sinneth it shall die. And to take that curse and die
in our place. And not just an easy death, a
most painful death, the most painful death, that death of
crucifixion. Again we shall begin the day,
shouldn't we rejoice and be glad in it and say, on the north's
day morning from our heart, what a saviour. Surely that would put us in a
right frame, wouldn't it? Surely that would put us in a
godly frame. And we do want to be in a godly
frame, well, every day really, but more particularly perhaps
on the Lord's Day. What a blessing that it is to
think of that this is the day which the Lord hath made. We
will rejoice and be glad in it. Well, perhaps there'll be many
days when that hasn't been the case. But bless God if it is
so today. If perhaps you got up this morning
and you were able to say that, yes, we will rejoice and be glad
in it. I will rejoice and I will be
glad in it. And if you didn't, and we do have to be honest,
and if we didn't, Do pray that you might. So when it comes to
next Lord's Day, you're a different person. You now wake up with
a different aspect, with a different desire. And your mind is directed
to the Saviour. You see, it's so easy to wake
up and still think about the things we did on a Saturday evening
or in the past week. And we almost seem to forget
it's the blessed day that the Lord has provided for us. What
a mercy then if we're able to come and join with the psalmist
and say, this is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice
and be glad in it. And then moving from there, the
day of salvation. The day of the saving of our
souls. We have a wonderful illustration
of that in the Word of God. And I expect you might be able
to tell me if I asked you what it was. It occurs in the Gospel of Luke. It occurs in the 19th chapter.
And it's the account of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, as you know, was a
little man. He was a publican, that means he was a tax collector,
and he was an important, he was chief. He was the chief tax collector. He was a very important man.
But we're thankful that he was a little man, and he wanted to
see Jesus. Therefore he ran and climbed
up into a tree, realizing that Jesus was to pass that way. Now
Jesus knew where he was. My friends, today Jesus knows
where you are. He knows where I am. He knows exactly what we're
thinking. He knew what Zacchaeus was thinking.
He knew where he was. And therefore, we read, and Jesus
came to the place. He looked up. Well, we can imagine
Zacchaeus' surprise. There he was, he wanted to see
Jesus, and now the Lord was looking at him. right at Zacchaeus and
he addressed him very directly. You know if you read the Word
of God you will find that Jesus never wastes words. There's never
kind of any wasted introduction. He's very direct. What a good
thing it is. And this is what he says, Zacchaeus
make haste and come down for today I must abide at thy house. Now, do you think Zacchaeus thought,
well, no, I'm happy up here in the church, I want to come down. He obeyed the voice of Jesus. That's a good point, isn't it?
You know, if the Lord speaks to us, what a good thing it is
if we obey the voice of Jesus. Perhaps there'll be many times
when you've disobeyed the voice of Jesus. Well, The Lord said,
make haste and come down for today. I must abide at my house. And he made haste and came down
and received him joyfully. It's really like this, isn't
it? Very similar, isn't it? We will rejoice and be glad in
it. Zacchaeus was glad. He rejoiced
that the Lord had spoken to him and told him he was going to
come and abide at his house. Now he was very happy for that
to happen. Sometimes we need to just think
if Jesus was to come and say, I want to come into your house. Would we have to tidy it up?
Would we have to put a few things away? Perhaps a few books or
perhaps some of the games that we had or whatever. We thought
they weren't too appropriate. Well, Zacchaeus clearly was happy
for the Lord to come into his house. And he made haste and
came down and received him joyfully. And then we read, and when they
saw it, they all murmured saying that he was gone to be a guest
for the man is a sinner. Well, bless God, the Lord does
come to be our guests. We're sinners. What a mercy. We have a savior who comes and
condescends to come to us. And Zacchaeus stood still and
said, Lord, behold, Lord, The half of my goods I give to the
poor. If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, this
is the word that Jesus said unto Zacchaeus. And this, my friends,
is the word that all of us need to hear on a wonderful day. This was the words that Jesus
spoke. And Jesus said to him, this day,
this day, salvation come to this house for as much as he also
is a son of Abraham for the Son of Man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost that surely is a very blessed and
glorious gospel statement and so may we desire to have and
bless God if we have had an occasion like that in our lives when that
day of salvation has come to us. Zacchaeus started off in
the morning, we're not told how it was, but probably we're not
very much concerned. Out of curiosity he wanted to
go and see Jesus. What a day that was in his life. Perhaps there have been days
like that in our lives. When we started off, Perhaps
in one way, perhaps we started off utterly unconcerned about
our soul. The Lord has come and spoken to us. And that is the evidence of salvation
to us. What does it mean? It means the day of our spiritual
birth. This is the day which the Lord
hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Now note this,
it's not the day that you made, not the day that I've made, it's
a day the Lord's made. A never to be forgotten occasion
perhaps, when there was the beginning to realise God's grace upon us, producing that desire. The Lord
would indeed say unto me, indeed, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. These are not words which are
irrelevant to the true born again soul. They are so necessary that
you and I need to hear the same words. In essence, the Lord spoke
to Zacchaeus, that we might know that salvation has come to us. And we read in this chapter in
the earlier part, in the 14th verse, the Lord is my strength
and song and has become my salvation. What a blessing if you and I
have had a day like that. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And we will rejoice, and we will be glad. There's no greater
blessing to receive, which is the gift of eternal life. You
see, we might want many things in this world, many things which
we think will bring enjoyment and bring pleasure. They may
for a little time, but they'll all fade away. They'll all perish. But the gift of eternal life
is what it says, eternal. And so the Lord has come and
spoken to our hearts in this way. This day is the day which
the Lord has made when he speaks to us, the day of salvation. And we are born again of his
spirit. And that day has changed us. Changed us from what? A condition of unbelief. You know, you may say, well,
I think I've always believed. Well, there's a difference. Because
when the Holy Spirit works within us, we believe with our very
being, our heart. It's not just then an acknowledgement
in our brain, because we've read the Bible and recognized that
it says, that we should believe, and therefore people say, well
I believe, but they don't really. They haven't had the effect of
this glorious occasion, a day which the Lord has made, when
salvation has come into their heart, into their soul, and they
have indeed been born again by the Spirit of God and they've
been changed. They are a new creature. Old
things have passed away, behold, all things are become new. What a mercy it is if you and
I have a testimony, which it is, a testimony of God's dealings
with us. And days perhaps, a day when
we had the new birth, but perhaps many days, perhaps we can't always
actually, as it were, put our finger on a specific day. But
that day may be, as it were, a few days, perhaps a period,
which really culminates in there being a day. And when that work
comes to a blessed conclusion, that we do have the evidence,
the Lord has called us out of darkness into his marvellous
light. And we're able to say, one thing
I know, whereas I was blind, But now I see the day of salvation,
the day which the Lord has made. You and I can't make it. We never
will. But the Lord does. And if he
gives us to realise that we've received that gift of eternal
life, what a day of blessing that is. Oh, my friends, rejoice
in it. What does it mean? It means a
day of deliverance. Deliverance from the power of
Satan. Satan, you see, endeavours to
hold us, to lock us up in his cage, in his jail, so that we
can't get free. And a blessing when God comes
and unlocks the prison door. See, God has the key. What a
mercy when that occurs. He opens the door and we're set
free. What a day that is. This is a
day which the Lord has made. A day of freedom. Freedom from
the power of Satan. We may still be tempted, but
the blessing is that we are free in Christ. And the Lord tells
us, doesn't he, If the Lord has made us free, we shall be free
indeed. What a day of deliverance. Perhaps
we thought we never should be free. Perhaps we thought we always
would be chained down and never be able to escape. Well, you
and I won't be able to escape ourselves. But you see, the Lord
comes and opens the door. He makes the way. And then we
recognize it is his work and therefore we rejoice and are
glad in it. We can't claim, well, I was a
clever person and I was able to open the door. No, you weren't.
It was all of grace. It was all of his mercy. It was
all of his wonderful love. Surely this is the day which
the Lord has made when these things are made over to us. when we realise there was nothing
in us that could merit esteem or give my Creator delight. No,
but we must ever sing because it seemed good in thy sight,
and it was because of the wonderful love of God. It really is beyond
our natural comprehension to appreciate that God should have
so loved us. And when that's revealed to ourselves,
what a day that is. What a day to rejoice in, to
realize that the Lord has set His love upon us. And because
He set His love upon us, He has redeemed us. And because He's
redeemed us, He will come again and receive us under Himself,
that where He is there, we shall be also a wonderful day then
of deliverance. And there may be then those days
when the Lord reveals himself, perhaps in special ways, reveals
himself to us, perhaps as our great and glorious High Priest. Again then, the Holy Spirit directs
us to see that the only way we can approach under the Majesty
on High is through our glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That will make the Saviour precious.
Because you realise, we have no access ourselves. And when
the Lord comes, perhaps in a special way, perhaps in a special day,
what a day that will be, to rejoice Him. Because it's as though we
see then, with spiritual eyes, the new and living way. We see
access to the Father, the Holy God, a day when the Lord has
revealed these truths to us, the revelation of God. We will
rejoice and be glad in it, we must do. There's no alternative
to stand before God and to bless him for such a revelation. You know, it's a wonderful thing
to realise that God is teaching us and God is dealing with us. And it's strengthening to realise
the Lord deals with us in this way, here a little and there
a little, line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept. And you see, if the Lord tells
us that, it'll be a day. a day which the Lord has made,
a day when he's shown us that he is dealing with us. We haven't
had tremendous revelations, we haven't had wonderful visions,
but we have had the evidence that God's hand is upon us. If
you can look back in your life to perhaps a day when the Holy
Spirit revealed this to you, that He was taking you by your
hand and leading you on day by day
in the right way. Yes, just a little here and a
little there. The Lord's hand upon us. Oh,
how very humbling if we find a situation like this. This is
the day which the Lord has made. It's not something that you would
make. No, but it's that which God makes. And why is it? How do you know it's that way?
You know it's that way because it brings into your heart this
rejoicing and gladness. Because you have the spiritual
evidence that God is dealing with you in love to your soul. It is really It comes together
in this, the day of grace. The day of grace. His grace. His superabounding
grace. His grace which comes, that unmerited
favour that comes into our hearts, we may not recognise it at the
time, but as we ponder and look back, we rejoice in His grace. in His favour which has been
toward us. It's another revelation of the
greatness of our God. What is it? It's a growth in
grace. It's a growth spiritually to
come to this revelation. The Lord is dealing with us in
His way. Grace, it is a charming sound. Oh, it is. If you're a true believer,
The Day of Grace will be a charming sound to you. You'll bless God
for it. You'll rejoice. You will be glad. It's not something which will
pass you by. It's something which will be
worthy of remembering, worthy of consideration and worthy of
praise. Well, What a mercy then to have
this wonderful blessing of God's grace and God's favor. And there
may be other situations in our lives. Amazing days, perhaps,
when the Lord helps us. David had days, didn't he, in
his life when the Lord helped him. Helped him in wonderful
ways. And my friends, the Lord helps.
in providential things. Don't think he doesn't. The Lord
helped David to destroy the lion and the bear. The Lord helped
David to speak of those deliverances. The Lord helped David to destroy
Goliath. You see, it was a day he would
not forget those days. And it's good for us in our natural
life to also remember days. The Lord has helped us. Perhaps
you're young people, in days when you've taken examinations,
and the Lord has helped you. Perhaps you've found questions
you couldn't really answer. And perhaps you prayed in the
middle of the examination, and the Lord gave you an understanding.
And you had to say, this is the day which the Lord has made.
The Lord's heard my prayer. Did you not, were you not thankful?
Were you not glad that you were able to answer the question which
perhaps you thought you wouldn't be able to? Reason truly to remember these
occasions because they are God glorifying. You say there are
days in our lives, in many things aren't there, Days perhaps when
we are seeking a husband or a wife, and the Lord makes a provision
in an amazing way. That's good reason, isn't it,
to recognise that that was a day which the Lord had made. A day to rejoice and be glad
in. Yes, there are those occasions
to be really thankful for. And in our working life, To remember
those times when God has remembered us. He's heard our prayer. A day to remember. Many days,
aren't there? This is the day which the Lord
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And then also there will be days,
perhaps, of adversity. Days when things don't go well. Days when things go the opposite
way. Not things that we like, but
things perhaps that were very necessary. And what a blessing then when
things have gone wrong. And we're able to say, this is
the day which the Lord has made. Because I've been corrected. Because I've been shown where
I was going wrong. Perhaps shown that I had a wrong
attitude. A day to bless God for. And again it's an evidence that
his hand is upon us for good. He hasn't left us just to carry
on wildly. No, he's put a stop on it. He's
brought adversity into our life. And we realise, yes, this is
a day the Lord has made. The Lord has ordained it for
my spiritual good. Very humbling, wonderful evidence
of God's love toward us. Life is not plain sailing. The
Christian's life is not like that. A Christian's life is a
life of being corrected, a life of being directed to the great
and glorious God, a life to be able to thank God and to praise
God for days which have occurred. The Lord has brought them about.
This is a day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and
be glad in it. And then, of course, we move
on to that which we'll speak of as an eternal day. Well, we know, of course, in
eternity there is no time. But our finite minds can understand,
perhaps, the eternal day. And what a blessing that will
be to the Church of God when they arrive safely in glory,
when they enter in to that eternal day. And that really will be
the day which the Lord hath made. A day which the Lord hath ordained
from before the foundation of the earth. A day when his people
will pass out of time into eternity. A day when the Lord will receive
them into that heavenly home. Well, the prospect surely should
make us rejoice and be glad that day will come. It must come if
we have the evidences in our life of these blessed days when
the Lord has been gracious to us. The Lord's made these days
for us individually, and we can remember them and praise him
for it. And you see that gives us a good
hope to believe, therefore, that the end will be good. There will
be an end and it will enter into that eternal day of eternal blessing. No more separation, but complete
unity and union with the Saviour and the whole Church of God forever
and ever. It's a glorious thought, isn't
it? When we have finished our course on this earth, with all
the difficulties and the trials and temptations, to enter into
our heavenly home, as the hymn writer tells us, a place where
congregations near break up and Sabbaths have no end. Well that
brings us back, doesn't it really, to the beginning. When we spoke
about the Lord's Day, Sabbath day as a day of happiness and
a day of joy, a day of rejoicing and a day when we are glad. And
we must conclude like this, if the Lord's day are not pleasant
and joyful and rejoicing to us, then we shall never be happy
in heaven, in that eternal day. You will never be at home there,
If you ever got there, which of course you won't, you will
wish you weren't there. What a blessing it is then to
have the evidence in our life as we journey on. The Lord is
dealing with us by granting these days, these spiritual blessings,
these temporal blessings, to realise that by the grace of
God, his hand is upon us, his love is toward us. And His glorious
mercy is there. And what a blessing it is to
know the mercy of God when we stand guilty before God and we
realise we have come to that place where the publican came. God be merciful to me a sinner. That's a good day in the experience
of the people of God That may not be something that you recognize
at the time, but as you may, by his grace, look back to see
there was a time when the Lord caused me to plead for mercy. My prayer was very short, but
it was very real. And it was a day that the Lord
has made. It was a wonderful occasion.
and bless God for it, rejoice in it, and be glad for it. And so as we meditate upon these
many things, many occasions of these days, and there's plenty
of room for thankfulness to our God, if he's brought these days
to our attention, and that we recognize God's goodness to us
to believe, therefore that he has helped us hitherto will help
us all our journey through. And the hymn writer says, and
give us daily cause to raise new Ebenezers to his praise. You know, every day we have reason
to rejoice and be glad in what the Lord has done. Every day. May we be granted more grace
to acknowledge the Lord's goodness to us and truly desire to be
amongst those who desire to honour and glorify the great God and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, for all that he's done to redeem our
souls. Amen.