This sermon is one of Charles Spurgeon's most famous sermons. It offers a good example of the kind of motivational exhortation that preachers ought to aspire to in their sermons. Most of all, Spurgeon shows us passion. He clearly cares about what he is saying and he will press it upon the listener.

Songs in the Night by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This sermon was preached sometime in the mid to late 1800s. Our text for this evening comes from the book of Job, Job 35, verse 10. No one says, where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night?

Elihu was a very wise man, though not as wise as Jehovah, who finds order in confusion, Therefore Elihu, being very puzzled at seeing the afflictions of Job, studied him to find the cause of it, and he very wisely hit upon one of the most likely reasons, although it did not happen to be the right one in the case of Job. He said within himself, Surely if men are tested, and tried, and extremely troubled, It is because, while they think about their troubles and distress themselves about their fears, they forget to say, Where is God, my Maker, who gives songs in the night?

Elihu's reason was right in the majority of cases. The great cause of the Christians' distress, the reasons for the depths of sorrow into which many believers are plunged, is simply this. While they are looking around on the right hand and on the left to see how they may escape their troubles, they forget to look to the hills where all real help comes from. They forget to say, where is God, my maker, who gives songs in the night?

We will, however, leave that question and dwell on those sweet, sweet words, God, my maker, who gives songs in the night.

The world has its night. It seems necessary that it should have one. The sun shines in the day and men go out to their labors. But they grow weary and nightfall comes, like a sweet blessing from heaven. The darkness draws the curtains and shuts out the light, which might prevent our eyes from slumber. while the sweet, calm stillness of the night permits us to rest on our beds and there to forget for a little while all of our cares until the morning sun appears and an angel puts his hand on the curtain and draws it open once again. He then touches our eyelids and commands us to rise and proceed to the labors of the day.

Night is one of the greatest blessings men and women enjoy. We have many reasons to thank God for it. Yet night is, to many, a gloomy time. There is the pestilence that stalks in the darkness. There is the terror by night. There is the dread of robbers and of sudden disease. With all those fears that the timid know when they have no light with which they can discern objects. It is then that they imagine that spiritual creatures walk on the earth Though if they really knew the truth, they would find it to be true that millions of spiritual creatures walk on this earth unseen both when we are asleep and when we are awake, and that at all times they completely surround us, not more by night than they are by day.

Night is the time of terror and alarm to most men and women, yet even night has its songs. Have you ever stood by the seaside at night? and heard the pebbles sing and the waves chant God's glories? Have you never risen from your bed and opened your bedroom window and listened? Listened to what? Silence, except now and then a murmuring sound, which seems like sweet music. And have you not imagined that you heard the harp of God playing in the heaven? that every star was singing God's glory, singing as it shone its mighty maker and his lawful well-deserved praise.

Night has its songs. We don't need much poetry in our spirit to catch the song of the night and hear the planets and stars as they chant praises which are loud to the heart, though they are silent to the ear. The praises of the mighty God, who holds up the arch of heaven and moves the stars in their courses.

Man too, like the great world in which he lives, must have his night. For it is true that man is like the world around him. He is a little world. He resembles the world in almost everything. And if the world has its night, so has man. And we've had many a night, nights of sorrow, nights of persecution, nights of doubt, nights of bewilderment, nights of anxiety, nights of oppression, nights of ignorance, nights of all kinds, which press upon our spirit and terrify our souls.

But blessed be God, the Christian can say, my God gives me songs in the night. It is not necessary for me to prove to you that Christians have knights, for if you are Christians you will find that you have had them, and you will not need any proof, for knights will come quite often enough. I will therefore proceed at once to the subject, and I will speak this evening on songs in the night, their source God gives them. Songs in the night, their subject, what do we sing about in the night? Songs in the night, their excellence. They are enthusiastic songs, and they are sweet ones. Songs in the night, their uses, their benefits to ourselves and to others.

First, songs in the night. Who is the author of them? God, says the text, our Maker. He gives songs in the night. Who is the author of the songs of the night? Our text says, God our maker, it is he who gives the songs in the night.

Now anyone can sing in the day. When the cup is full, one draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around them, anyone can sing to the praise of a God who gives an abundant harvest. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight. But the skillful singer is the one who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by, who sings from their heart and not from a book that they can see, because they have no means of reading except from that inward book of their heart, their living spirit, where notes of gratitude pour out in songs of praise.

No one can create a song in the night by themselves. They may try. but they will learn how difficult it is. Let all things go as I please, I will weave songs, weave them wherever I go with the flowers that grow along my path. But put me in a desert where there are no flowers and how will I weave a chorus of praise to God? How will I make a crown for him? Let my voice be free and my body be full of health and I can sing God's praise. But stop this tongue, lay me on the bed of suffering, and it is not so easy to sing from the bed and chant high praises in the fires. Give me the bliss of spiritual liberty and let me mount up to my God, get near to the throne, and I will sing, yes, sing as sweet as angels. But confine me, chain my spirit, Clip my wings, make me very sad, so I become old like the eagle. Ah, then it is hard to sing. It is not in our power to sing when everything is difficult. It is not natural to sing in times of trouble. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name, for that is a daylight song. But it was a divine song which Habakkuk sang when in the night he said, though the fig tree does not bud, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my savior.

I think while walking through the Red Sea, any Israelite could have sang a song like that of Moses. The horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea. The difficulty would have been to compose a song before the Red Sea had been divided and to sing it before Pharaoh's army had been drowned, while yet the darkness of doubt and fear was resting on the people of Israel.

Songs in the night come only from God. They are not in the power of man. But what does the text mean when it asserts that God gives the songs in the night? We think we can find two answers to that question.

The first is that usually in the night of a Christian's experience, God is his only song. In the night of a Christian's experience, God is his only song. If it is daylight in my heart, I can sing songs touching my graces, songs touching my sweet experience, songs touching my duties, songs touching my labors. But let the night come. My graces appear to have withered. Though they are there, are hidden. And I cannot clearly read my title to my mansion in heaven. And now I have nothing left to sing about but my God.

It is strange that when God gives His children mercies, they normally set their hearts more on the mercies than on the giver of them. But when the night comes, and he sweeps all the mercies away, then right away they say, Now, my God, I have nothing to sing about but you. I must come to you, and to you only. I had wells once, and they were full of water. I drank from them then, and now the wells are dry. Sweet Lord, I drink nothing but of your own self. Yes, child of God, you know what I'm saying and if you don't understand it yet, you will in time.

It is in the night that we sing of God and of God alone. Every string is tuned and every power has its attribute to sing while we praise God and no one else. We can sacrifice to ourselves in the daylight. We only sacrifice to God at night. We can sing high praises to our dear selves when everything is joyful, but we cannot sing praise to any except our God when circumstances are troublesome and providences appear adverse.

God alone can furnish us with songs in the night. And yet again, not only does God give the song in the night, because he is the only subject on which we can sing then, but because he is the only one who inspires songs in the night. Not only does God give the song in the night because he is the only subject on which we can then sing, but because he is the only one who inspires songs in the night.

When a poor, depressed, distressed child of God comes to our church, I come into the pulpit I seek to tell him sweet promises and whisper to him sweet words of comfort. He doesn't listen to me. He is like a deaf snake. He does not listen to the voice of the charmer. Send him around to all the comforting preachers and they will do very little. They will not be able to squeeze a song out of him no matter how hard they try. He is drinking the bitterness of suffering. He says, O Lord, you have made me drunk with weeping, I have eaten ashes like bread. And comfort him as you may, it will only be a woeful note or two of mournful resignation that you will get from him. You will get no psalms of praise, no hallelujahs, no sonnets, but let God come to his child in the night, let him whisper in his ear as he lies on his bed, and how you see his eyes flash fire in the night. Don't you hear him say, it is paradise if you are here. If you depart, it is hell. I could not have cheered him. It is God that has done it. And God gives the songs in the night.

It is marvelous, brothers and sisters, how one sweet word of God will make whole songs for Christians. One word of God is like a piece of gold, and that golden promise lasts for weeks. I can testify. I have lived on one promise for weeks and need no other. The Christian gets his songs from God. God gives him inspiration and teaches him how to sing. God, my maker, who gives songs in the night.

So then, poor Christian, You needn't go pumping up your poor heart to make it glad. Go to your maker and ask him to give you a song in the night. You are a poor, dry well. You have heard it said that when the pump is dry, you must pour water down it first in order to prime the pump, and then you will get some up. And so, Christian, when you are dry, go to God. Ask him to pour some joy down you, and then you will get some joy up from your heart. Don't go to this comforter or to that one, for you will find them Job's comforters. But go first and foremost to your maker, for he is the great composer of songs and the teacher of music. He is the one who can teach you how to sing. God, my maker, who gives me songs in the night.

Thus we have dwelt upon the first point, now for the second. What is the normal subject of a song in the night? What do we sing about? What is the normal subject of a song in the night? What do we sing about? Why, I think when we sing in the night, there are three things that we sing about. Either we sing about yesterday that is over, or else about the night itself, or else about tomorrow that is to come. Each of these are sweet themes when God our Maker gives us songs in the night.

First, in the middle of the night, the most usual subject for Christians to sing about is the day that is over. The most usual subject for Christians to sing about in the night is the day that has just ended. Well, they say, it is night now, but I can remember when it was daylight. Neither moon nor stars appear at present. But I can remember when I saw the sun. I have no evidence right now, but there was a time when I could say, I know that my Redeemer lives. I have my doubts and fears at this present moment, but it has not been long since I could say with full assurance, I know that He shed His blood for me. I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

It may be darkness now, but I know the promises were sweet. I know I had blessed seasons in His church. I am quite sure of this. I used to enjoy myself in the ways of the Lord, and though now my paths are strewn with thorns, I know it is the King's highway. It was a way of pleasantness once. It will be a way of pleasantness again. I will remember the days of old. I will meditate upon the years at the right hand of the Most High. Christian, perhaps the best song you can sing to cheer you up in the night is the song of yesterday morning. Remember, it is not always night with you. Night is a new thing to you. Once you had a joyful heart, a buoyant spirit. Once your eye was full of fire. Once your foot was light. Once you could sing with joy and ecstasy of heart. Well, then remember that God who made you sing yesterday has not left you in the night. He is not a daylight God who can't know his children in darkness, but he loves you now as much as ever. Though he has left you for a little while, it is to make you trust him better and to serve him more. Let me tell you of some of the sweet things a Christian can sing about when he is in the night. If we are going to sing of the things of yesterday, let us begin with what God did for us in the past. My beloved brothers and sisters, you will find it a sweet subject for songs at times to begin to sing of electing love and covenant mercies. Electing love and covenant mercies. When you yourself are low, it is good to sing of the fountainhead of mercy, of that blessed decree in which you were ordained for eternal life, and of the glorious Son of Man who undertook your redemption, of that solemn covenant signed and sealed and ratified of that everlasting love which, before the universe was created, chose you, loved you firmly, loved you completely, loved you well, loved you eternally. I tell you, believer, if you can go back to the years of eternity past, if you can, in your mind, run back to the years of eternity past, if you can, in your mind, run back to that period before the universe was created, And if you can see your God writing your name in his eternal book, if you can read in his loving heart eternal thoughts of love to you, you will find this a charming means of giving you songs in the night. There are no songs like those which come from electing love. No love songs like those that are dictated by meditations on discriminating mercy. There are some to be sure who cannot sing of election. Oh Lord, open their mouths a little wider. There are some who are afraid of the very term election. In our darker hours, it is our joy to sing. We are God's children through God's election, who in Jesus Christ believe by eternal destination, sovereign grace we now receive. Lord, your favor will both grace and glory give. Think, Christian, think of yesterday. I say, do that and you will receive a song in the night. But if you don't have a voice tuned to so high a key as that, let me suggest some other mercies you may sing of. And they are the mercies of what you have experienced. Can't you sing a little of that blessed hour when Jesus met you, when as a blind slave you were sporting with death, and he saw you and he said to you, come, poor slave, come with me. Can't you sing of that rapturous moment when he broke your chains and threw them to the earth and said, I am the breaker, I came to break your chains and set you free. Even though you are so gloomy now, can you forget that happy Sunday morning when in church your voice was loud, almost like an angel's voice in praise? For you could sing, I am forgiven, I am forgiven, a monument of grace, a sinner saved by blood. Go back, go back, brother and sister, sing of that moment, and then you will have a song in the night. or if you've almost forgotten that, then surely you have some precious milestone along the road of life that is not quite grown over with moss, on which you can read some happy inscription of His mercy towards you. Did you ever have a sickness like that which you are suffering now, and didn't He raise you up from that? Were you ever poor before, and didn't He supply your needs? Were you ever in trouble before, And didn't He deliver you? I beg you not to forget what God has done for you. Find your diary. I beg you. Look into the book of your remembrance. Can't you see some sweet moment with Christ? Can't you think of some blessed hour when the Lord met with you? Have you never been rescued from the lion's den? Have you never escaped the jaw of the lion or the paw of the bear? No? Oh, I know you have. Go back. Go back then a little way and take the mercies of yesterday. And though it is dark right now, light up the lamps of yesterday, and they will glitter through the darkness, and you will find that God has given you a song in the night. Yes, someone says, it is easy for you to tell us this, but we cannot get a hold of them. I remember an old Christian speaking about the great pillars of our faith. He was a sailor and we were on board ship and there were a number of huge posts on the shore to which the ships were usually fastened to by throwing a cable over the post. After I had told him a great many promises, he said, I know they are good strong promises, but I cannot get near enough to shore to throw my cable around them. That is my problem. Now it often happens that God's past mercies and kindness would be good strong posts to hold on to, but we don't have enough faith to throw our cable around them and so we go slipping down the stream of unbelief because we can't secure ourselves by our former mercies. I will, however, give you something that I think you can throw your cable over. If God has never been kind to you, one thing you surely know. and that is, he has been kind to others. He has been kind to others. Come now, if you are experiencing great trials right now, then you can be sure that there were others with greater trials. Are you in a more serious situation than Jonah was when he went sinking down to the bottom of the ocean? Are you worse off than your master when he had no place where he could lay his head Do you conceive that you are in the worst of all possible situations? Look at Job, look at him scraping himself with a broken piece of pottery and sitting on a pile of ashes. Are you as bad off as he was? And yet Job rose up and was richer than before. And out of the depths Jonah came and preached the word. And our Savior Jesus was mounted to his throne O Christian, only think of what God has done for others. If you can't remember that He has done anything for you, yet remember that He is a merciful God. Our King is a merciful King. Go and try Him. If you are down and out over your troubles, look to the hills from where your help comes. Others have had help from there, and so may you. Look at the many hundreds of God's children around you, who can show us their hands full of comforts and mercies, and they could say, the Lord gave us these without money and without price, and why shouldn't he give them to you also, seeing that you also are a king's son? Thus, Christian, you will get a song in the night out of other people if you can't get a song from yourself. Never be ashamed of taking a page out of another man's book of experience. If you can't find a good page in your own, tear one out of someone else's. And if you have no reason to be grateful to God in darkness, or can't find reasons in your own experience, go to someone else. And if you can, sing his praise in the dark. And like the nightingale, sing praise sweetly when all the world has gone to sleep. we can sing in the night of the mercies of the past. I think, beloved, no matter how dark the night is, there is always something to sing about, even concerning that night. No matter how dark the night is, there is always something to sing about, even concerning that night. There is one thing I'm sure we can sing about, even in the darkest night, and that is, it is because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. If we can't sing very loud, still we can sing a little low tune, something like this. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Oh, says one, I don't know where I'm going to find my dinner for tomorrow. I am a poor wretch. So you may be, my dear friend, but you are not so poor as you deserve to be. Don't be offended about that. If you are, you are no child of God. For the child of God acknowledges that he has no right to the least of God's mercies, but that they come through the channels of grace and grace alone. As long as I am still out of hell, I have no right to grumble. And if I were in hell, I still would have no right to complain. For I feel, when convinced of sin, that no creature ever deserved to go there more than I do. We have no reason to murmur. We can lift up our hands and say, Knight, you are dark, but you might have been darker. I am poor, and if I could not have been poorer, I might have been sick. I am poor and sick. Well, I have some friends left. My situation in life is not so bad, but it might have been worse. And therefore, Christian, you will always have one thing to sing about. Lord, I thank you. I thank you it's not all darkness. Besides, Christian, however dark the night is, there is always a star or a moon. There is hardly ever a night that we have when there are just one or two little lights burning in the sky. However dark it may be, I think you will find some little comfort, some little joy, some little mercy left, and some little promise to cheer your spirit. The stars are not forever extinguished, are they? No, even when you can't see them, they are there. But I think one or two must be shining on you. Therefore, give God a song in the night. If you only have one star, bless God for that one. Perhaps he will make it two. And if you only have two stars, bless God twice for the two stars, and perhaps he will make them four. Try then. to see if you could sing a song in the night. But beloved, there is another thing that we can sing about and even more sweetly, and that is we can sing of the days that are yet to come. Another thing that we can sing about and even more sweetly, and that is we can sing of the days that are yet to come. I am preaching tonight for the poor people of Spitalfields. Perhaps there is not to be found a class of people in our city who are suffering a darker night than they are. For while many classes have been acknowledged and defended, there are very few who speak up for the poor people of Spitalfields. They are generally ground down within an inch of their lives. In an inquiry by the government last week, it was given in evidence that their average wages are less than a man's basic subsistence. and they still have to furnish themselves with a room and work on expensive articles of clothing, which many ladies are now wearing, and which they buy as cheaply as possible. But perhaps they don't realize that the clothing that they buy was made with the blood and sweat of the Spitalfields clothiers. I met with some of them the other day. I was very pleased with one of them in particular. He said to me, Well, sir, it is very hard, but I hope there will be better times coming for us. Well, my friend, I said, I'm afraid you can't hope for much better times unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns. That is just what we hope for, he said. We don't see there is any chance of deliverance unless the Lord Jesus Christ comes to establish his kingdom on earth, and then he will judge the oppressed. and break the oppressors in pieces with an iron rod. I was glad my friend had found a song in the night and was singing about the morning that was coming. I often cheer myself with the thought of the coming of the Lord. We preach now, perhaps with little success. The kingdoms of this world are not the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. We send out missionaries. They are, for the most part, unsuccessful. We are laboring but we don't see the fruit of our labors. Well, what then? Wait a little while. We will not always labor in vain or spend our strength for nothing. A day is coming when every minister of Christ will speak with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when all the servants of God will preach with power, and when the massive systems of heathenism will tumble from their pedestals. and mighty gigantic delusions will be scattered to the winds. The shout will be heard, hallelujah, hallelujah. The Lord God omnipotent reigns. For I look to that day. It is to the bright horizon of that second coming of Christ that I will turn my eyes. My anxious expectation is this, that the sweet sunshine of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. that the oppressed will be set free, that tyranny will be destroyed, that liberty will be established, that lasting peace will arrive, and that glorious liberty of the gospel of God will be extended throughout the entire known world. Christian, if you are in the dark night, think of tomorrow. Cheer your heart with the thought of the coming of your Lord. Be patient, for look, He is coming with the clouds. Be patient. Jesus is coming. Be patient. For you know who has said, behold, I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. One more thought on that point. There's another sweet tomorrow of which we hope to sing in the night. Soon, beloved, you and I will each lie down on our own deathbed. and we will need a song in the night then. And I don't know where we will get it if we don't get it from tomorrow." Kneeling by the bed of a dying saint last night, I said to her, well, sister, Jesus has been precious to you. You can rejoice in his covenant mercies and his past love and kindness to you. She put out her hand and said, ah, sir, don't talk about them now. I want the sinner's Savior as much now as ever. It is not the saint's Savior I want. It is still a sinner's Savior that I am in need of, for I am still a sinner. I found that I could not comfort her with the past, so I reminded her of the golden streets, of the gates of Pearl, of the walls of Jasper, of the harps of gold, of the songs of bliss. And then her eyes glistened and she said, yes, I will be there soon. I will see them tomorrow. And then she seemed to be so glad. Oh, believer, you may always cheer yourself with that thought. For if you are ever going through a dark night, remember that A few more rolling suns at most will land you on heaven's sweet coast. Your head may be crowned with thorny troubles now, but it will wear a starry crown soon. Your hand may be filled with cares. It will hold a harp soon, a harp full of music. Your clothes may be soiled with dust now, but they will be pure white in the future. Wait a little longer. Ah, beloved, how despicable our troubles and trials will seem when we look back on them. Looking at them here today, they seem immense. But when we get to heaven, our earthly trials will seem to us to have been nothing at all. Let us go on, then. Let us go on, therefore, and if the night is very dark, remember there is not a night that will not have a morning. and that morning will come soon. When sinners are lost in darkness, we will lift up our eyes in everlasting light. Surely I need not dwell longer on this thought. There is plenty enough here for songs in the night, in the past, the present, and in the future. And now I want to tell you very briefly what makes the songs in the night more excellent than all other songs. What is it that makes the songs in the night more excellent than all other songs? Well, first of all, when you hear a Christian singing a song in the night, I mean in the night of trouble, you may be quite sure it is an enthusiastic song. Whenever you hear a Christian singing a song in the night, and I mean the night of trouble, you may be quite sure it is an enthusiastic song. Many of you sang very beautifully tonight before the sermon began, didn't you? I wonder whether you would sing beautifully if you were condemned to be burned at the stake for your faith in Christ. If you sang while under pain and penalty, that would surely show your heart to be in your song. We can all sing very nicely when everybody else sings. It is the easiest thing in the world to open your mouth and let the words come out. But when the devil puts his hand over your mouth, can you sing then? Can you say, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him? That is hearty singing. That is a real song that springs up in the night. The nightingale sings most sweetly because she sings in the night. We know a poet has said that if she sang in the day, she might be thought to sing no more sweetly than the sparrow. It is the stillness of the night that makes her song so sweet. And likewise, a Christian song becomes sweet and enthusiastic because it is sung in the night. Again, the songs we sing in the night will be lasting. The songs we sing in the night will be lasting. Many songs we hear our fellow creatures singing in the streets will not be a song for the future. I guess they will be singing a different kind of tune soon. They can sing today any rowdy drinking songs, but they will not sing them when they are on their deathbed. They are not exactly the songs with which to cross the Jordan waters. It will not do to sing one of those light songs when death and you are having your last tug of war. It will not do to enter heaven singing one of those impure, unholy songs. No, but the Christian who can sing in the night will not have to stop singing their song. They may keep on singing it forever. They can put their foot in Jordan's stream and continue their melody. They may wade through it and keep on singing and land themselves safe in heaven. And when they are there, there need not be a gap in their song. But in a nobler, sweeter tune, they will still continue singing Jesus's power to save. There are a great many of you that think Christian people are a very miserable group, don't you? You say, let me sing my song. Yes, but my dear friends, we'd like to sing a song that will last. We don't like your songs. They are all foam, like bubbles, and they will soon evaporate to nothing. Give me a song that will last. Give me one that will not melt. Oh, don't give me dreamer's gold. He hoards it up and says, I'm rich. And when he wakes up, his gold is gone. But give me songs in the night, for they are songs I will sing forever. Again, the songs we sing in the night are those that show we have real faith in God. The songs we sing in the night are those that show we have real faith in God. Many men and women have just enough faith to trust God as far as they can see Him. And they always sing as long as providentially everything goes right. But those with true faith can sing when they can't see. They can maintain faith in God when they can't detect his presence. Songs in the night also prove that we have true courage. Many sing in the daytime who are silent at night. They are afraid of thieves and intruders. But the Christian who sings in the night proves himself to be a courageous character. It is the bold Christian who can sing God's songs in the darkness. He who can sing songs in the night too proves that he has true love to Christ. He who can sing songs in the night also proves that he has true love to Christ. It is not love to Christ to praise him while everybody else praises him. To walk arm in arm with him when he has a crown on his head is no big deal. but to walk with Christ when He is in rags is something. To believe in Christ when He is shrouded in darkness, to stick close to the Savior when all those around you mock Him and forsake Him, that is true faith. They who sing a song to Christ in the night sing the best song in the entire world, for they sing from the heart. Now lastly this morning, I will show you the use of songs in the night. I will show you the use of songs in the night. Well, beloved, it is very useful to sing in the night of our troubles first because it will cheer us up. It is very useful to sing in the night of our troubles because first it will cheer us up. When you were young children and had to walk alone at night, Don't you remember how you used to whistle and sing to keep your courage up? Well, what we do in the natural world we ought to do in the spiritual. There is nothing like singing to keep your spirits alive. When we have been in trouble we have often thought ourselves to be nearly overwhelmed with difficulty and we have said, let's sing a song. We began to sing and Martin Luther says, the devil cannot stand singing. That is the truth. He does not like any Christ-honoring music. It was that way in Saul's day. An evil spirit rested on Saul, but when David played on his harp, the evil spirit left him. This is usually the case. If we can begin to sing, we will chase away our fears. I like to hear people sometimes humming a tune while they are working. I love to hear a farmer in the country singing as he plows his fields. Why not? You say he has no time to praise God? Surely he can sing a psalm. It won't take any more time. Singing is the best thing to purge ourselves of evil thoughts. Keep your mouth full of songs, and you will often keep your heart full of praises. Keep on singing as long as you can, and you will find it a good way to drive away your fears. Secondly, sing when you are in trouble because God loves to hear His people sing in the night. God never loves His children's singing as much as when they give a serenade of praise to Him when He has hidden His face from them and will not appear to them at all. They are completely in darkness. but they still come to him and they begin to sing. Ah, says God, that is true faith that can make them sing praises when I will not look at them. I know there is some faith in them that makes them lift up their hearts even when I seem to remove all my tender mercies and all my compassions from them. Sing, Christian, for singing pleases God. In heaven we read the angels are engaged in singing Do you want to be engaged in the same way? For there is no better way that you can delight the Almighty God, who stoops from his high throne to observe the poor creatures of the earth. Thirdly, sing again for another reason, because it will cheer your companions. Sing again for another reason, because it will cheer your companions. If any of them are in the valley and in the darkness with you, it will be a great comfort to them. John Bunyan tells us in his book, Pilgrim's Progress, that Christian was going through the valley of the shadow of death, and he found it to be a dark and dreadful place, and terrible demons were all around him. And poor Christian thought he would perish for certain. But just when his doubts were the strongest, he heard a sweet voice. He listened to it. and it was from a man walking somewhere in front of him, singing. Yes, when I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Now that man did not know who was near him, but he was unknowingly singing to cheer and encourage a man following behind him. Now Christian, when you are in trouble, sing. You don't know who is near you, sing. Perhaps you will help and maybe even get a good companion by doing it. Sing. Perhaps there will be many hearts cheered by your song. There is some broken spirit, it may be, that will be lifted up by your songs. Sing. There is some poor, distressed brother, perhaps shut up in the castle of despair, who, like King Richard, will hear your song inside the walls and sing back to you, and you may be the means of getting him a ransom. Sing, Christian, wherever you go. Try, if you can, to wash your face every morning in a bath of praise. When you wake up in the morning, never seek out another human until you have first sought out your God. And after you have spent time with Him, then seek out others with your face beaming with joy. Carry a smile, for you will cheer up many a poor pilgrim by it. And when you are fasting, dear Christian, When you have an aching heart, don't appear to others that you are fasting. Appear cheerful and happy. Wash your face. Dress with a sparkle. Be happy for the sake of other Christians. It will tend to cheer them up and help them through the valley. One more reason, and I know it will be a good one for you. Try and sing in the night, Christian, for that is one of the best arguments in the entire world in favor of your religion. Try and sing in the night, Christian, for that is one of the best arguments in the entire world in favor of your religion. Many theologians today spend a great deal of time in trying to prove Christianity against those who don't believe it. I would like to have seen Paul trying that." Elemas, the sorcerer, opposed him. How did our friend Paul treat him? He said, and I quote, You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? End quote. That is about all the politeness such men ought to have towards those who deny God's We start with this assumption. We will prove that the Bible is God's word, but we are not going to prove God's word. If you don't like to believe it, we will leave. We will not argue with you. The gospel has gained little by discussion. The greatest piece of folly on earth has been to send a man around the country to debate with a false teacher who has been lecturing on sin and infidelity just to make himself notorious. Why let them lecture on? This is a free country. Why should we follow them around to try to debate them? The truth will win the day. Christianity needn't wish for controversy. It is strong enough for it, if it wishes it, but that is not God's way. God's direction is to preach, teach, and to express yourself dogmatically. Don't just stand there disputing. Claim a divine mission. Tell men and women that God says it and there leave it. Say to them, he that believes will be saved, and he that does not believe will be damned. And when you have finished that, you have done enough. Why should our missionaries argue with the Hindus? Why should they be wasting their time by attempting to refute first this dogma and then another of heathenism? Why not just go and say, The God whom you failed to worship, I declare to you. Believe me and you will be saved. Do not believe me and the Bible declares you are lost. And then having thus declared God's words, say, I leave it there. I declared it to you. It is a thing for you to believe, not a thing for you to try to reason about. Religion is not a thing merely for your intellect. It is a thing that demands your faith, As a messenger of heaven, I demand that faith. If you don't choose to give it, then your own doom will be on your own head. I have done my duty. I have told you the truth, and that is enough, and there I leave it." Oh, dear Christians, instead of arguing with unbelievers, let me tell you how to prove the truth of your religion to them. Live it out! Live it out! Give the external as well as the internal evidence. Give the external evidence of your own life. You are sick. There is your neighbor who laughs at religion. Let him come to your house. When he was sick, he said, Oh, please, hurry, send for a doctor. And there he was fretting and fuming and whining and making all kinds of noises. When you are sick, send for him. Tell him that you are resigned to the Lord's will. that you will kiss the chastening rod, that you will take the cup and drink it because your father gives it. You needn't make a boast of this or it will lose all its power, but do it because you can't help doing it. Your neighbor will say, wow, there is something in that. And when you come near to your grave, he was there once, and you heard how he shrieked and how frightened he was, give him your hand and say to him, I have a Christ that will be with me in my death. I have a religion that will make me sing in the night. Let him hear how you can sing victory, victory, victory through him that loved you. I tell you, we may preach 50,000 sermons to prove the gospel, but we will not prove it half as well as you will by singing in the night of your troubles. Keep a cheerful disposition. Keep a happy heart. Keep a contented spirit. Keep your eyes looking up and your heart aloft, and you will prove Christianity better than all the wise men that ever lived. Give them the analogy of a holy life, and then you will prove religion to them. Give them the evidence of internal holiness developed externally, and you will give the best possible proof of Christianity. Try and sing songs in the night for they are so rare that if you can sing them, you will honor your God and bless your friends. Well, so far tonight I've been preaching this sermon to the children of God. Now there's a sad turn that this subject must take. Just one moment or so and then we'll be done. There's a night coming in which there will be no songs of joy. a night in which no one will even attempt to lead a chorus. There's a night coming when a song will be sung of which misery will be the subject. Set to the music of wailing and gnashing of teeth, there's a night coming when misery and unutterable despair will be the subject of an awful song of gloom. When the orchestra will be composed of damned men and women and howling fiends, and yelling demons, and mark you, I speak what I know to be true, and testify the truth of the scriptures. There is a night coming for a poor soul within this church tonight, and unless they repent, it will be a night where they will have to growl and howl and sigh and cry and moan and groan forever. Who is that, you say? It is you. You, my friend, if you are godless and Christless. What, you say? Am I in danger of the fires of hell? In danger, my friend? Yes, and more than that, you are already damned. So says the Bible. Then you say, and can you leave me without telling me what I must do to be saved? Can you believe that I am in danger of perishing and not speak to me? Oh friend, I trust not. I hope I will never preach a sermon without speaking to the ungodly, for oh how I love them. Oh you blasphemer, your mouth is black with cursing and swearing and if you die you will go on blaspheming throughout eternity and will be punished for it throughout eternity. But listen to me blasphemer, will you repent tonight? Do you feel that you have sinned against God? Do you feel a desire to be saved? Listen you, you can be saved. You can be saved as much as anyone that is here right now. There's another one here. She has sinned against God enormously and she blushes even now while I mention her case. Do you repent of your sin? There is hope for you. Remember it was Jesus who said, go and sin no more. Drunkard, just a while ago you were reeling down the street and now you need to repent. Drunkard, there is hope for you. Well, you say, what must I do to be saved? Then again, let me tell you of the old way of salvation. It is this. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. We can get no further than that. Do what we will. That is the sum and substance of the gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be willing to be baptized and you will be saved. So says the scripture. Do you ask, what is it to believe? Am I to tell you again? I can't tell you except that it is to look at Christ. Do you see that Savior there? He is hanging on the cross. There are his dear hands, pierced with nails, nailed to a tree, as if they were waiting for your tardy footsteps, because you would not come. Do you see his dear head there? It is hanging on his breast, as if he would lean over and kiss your poor soul. Do you see his blood gushing from his head, his hands, his feet, his side? It is running after you because he knew that you would never run after it. Sinner, to be saved, all that you have to do is to look at Jesus Christ. Can you do it now? No. No, you say. I don't believe it will save me. Oh, my dear friend, try it. And if you don't succeed when you have tried it, then I will willingly share your doom. I promise you. If you cast yourself on Christ and He deserts you, I will be willing to go halves with you in all of your misery and woe, for He will never do that, never, never, never. I beg you, therefore, try Him, and you will not try Him in vain, but you will find Him able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. You will be saved now and saved forever. May God give you his blessing. I can't preach as earnestly as I could wish, but nevertheless, may God accept these words and send them home to some hearts this night. And may you, my dear brothers and sisters, have psalms in the night. Amen.