I invite you to turn this morning
your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah chapter 8. The book of Nehemiah
chapter 8. I hope this morning that the
Spirit of the Lord will enliven our hearts and grant us to have
a word in season this morning for each one of you here. There
was a preacher that met up with one of his church members and
the church member hadn't been to church for quite some time,
and the preacher said to him, he said, well, I've missed you,
you haven't been to church for a good while. The fellow said,
well, he said the children have been sick, and he said then,
of course, it's been raining, it's rained, it's rained, it's
rained. And the preacher said, well,
he said it's mighty dry down at the church. And the fellow
said, well, that's another reason why I haven't been coming. because
it's been mighty dry down at the church. Well, we trust this
morning that the Lord will quicken our hearts and enliven our hearts
and give us a living word for you that have come out here this
morning. If you've turned in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah
chapter eight, I'd like to read a few verses here in this chapter,
beginning with verse 1. And all the people gathered themselves
together as one man into the street that was before the water
gate. And they spoke unto Ezra the
scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord
had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the
law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all
that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh
month. And he read therein before the
street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday. before the men and the women,
and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people
were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra, the scribe,
stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. Then we'll skip down here to
verse five. And Ezra opened the book in the
sight of all the people, for he was before, or above, all
of the people. upon this pulpit of wood and
when he opened it all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the
Lord the great God and all the people answered amen and amen
with lifting up of their hands and they bowed their heads and
worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground Then we'll
skip down to the middle of verse 7. And the Levites caused the
people to understand the law, and the people stood in their
place. So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to
understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershithah,
and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the
people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord
your God. Mourn not, nor weep, for all
the people wept. when they heard the words of
the law. Then he said to them, Go your
way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto
them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto our
Lord. Neither be you sorry, for the
joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the
people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither
be you grieved. And all the people went their
way to eat and to drink, and to send portions, and to make
great mirth, because they had understood the words that were
declared unto them." As we enter into this Message this morning,
we see that the Lord's people have been under the sound of
the reading of God's Word. They've been under the sound
of the reading of the Law of Moses. And they've come together,
the Bible says, as one man into the street. that was before the
water gate. And Ezra the priest had brought
the book. They had asked that he bring
out the book and that he read from the law of Moses. And as
he would read, there was an understanding given. The Levites caused the
people to understand the law. and the people stood in their
place, so they read in the book, it says in verse 8, the book
of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused
them to understand the reading. And then we read where in verse
9 that it says, this day is holy unto the Lord your God, it says,
mourn not nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the
words of the law. There was conviction brought
on their hearts because they had not been walking in obedience
to the mind of God as it was revealed in the law of Moses.
The law of Moses had been given to the children of Israel, and
the children of Israel had not been walking in obedience to
that law, and so when they heard the words read in the power of
God, then they began to weep because of their disobedience
and lawlessness. Then he said to them, in verse
10, I want you to go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for this
day is holy unto our Lord. You people have gathered in solemn
assembly and have asked that the Lord's word be read, the
word of the Lord's been read, you've grieved over your mistakes,
you've grieved over your sins, and now, he says, this day is
holy unto the Lord, and I don't want you to be sorry, I want
you to be joyful in the Lord because, he said, neither be
you sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength." The joy
of the Lord is your strength. Now then, beloved, we see that
the Lord had dealt with these people, he had dealt with their
hearts, and he had brought them to the place of surrender and
submission unto him and to his word and to his will. Now we
know that these people in the Pentateuch, in the first five
books of the books of Moses, that the Lord had given promise
of a Messiah. In Genesis chapter three and
verse 15, there's plain revelation given. I'm sure that there were
many in the days when these words were read by the servant of God,
Ezra, to the people that they were mindful that the Lord had
made a promise of a coming Messiah. And in verse 15 of Genesis three,
it says, and I'll put enmity between thee and the woman. and
between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. Now the seed of the woman is
the Lord Jesus Christ and the seed of the woman is going to
bruise the head of Satan and that heel of the Lord Jesus would
be bruised in the process but the seed of the woman is going
to destroy Satan and they expected a Messiah to come. They believed
in a Messiah. Now according to the Word of
God, the way that God uses the law in the hearts of men and
women is that he prepares their heart for the gospel by enabling
them to understand the law as it was given, the law of God.
We speak of the law of God, we speak of not only the ceremonial
law, We speak of the moral law of God. The Bible says that the
law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. Meaning that
the first thing that we generally hear is not good news, but it's
bad news. It is that we've broken God's
holy law. It is that we stand as sinners
before God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. Cursed is that man who infringes upon the law of God,
who breaks any one of the laws of God. The Bible says that if
a man breaks one of God's laws, he's guilty of all of the law. He's a lawbreaker and he deserves
the judgment of God upon him because he has broken the law
of God. He has sinned against God. You, my friend, are a sinner
in that you were born with a nature contrary to God and you have
become in practical life a breaker of God's law. You've become a
law breaker. Now God will convict you by the
Holy Spirit of the fact that you have sinned, that you've
come short in regards to obeying him perfectly and in your responsibility
toward doing that which God has commanded that you do. And you've
broken that law and therefore the penalty must be paid either
by you or by a substitute, someone who would stand in for you. Now the Bible teaches that by
the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified in God's sight. Now then we said that the news
that we hear first of all is not good news. It made the people
weep. And then the Levites and the
prophet of God Ezra the priest he said you people he said I
want you to go And eat the fat drink the sweet, and he says
I don't want you to be sorry neither be you sorry I want you
to have the joy of the Lord I want you to have the joy of the Lord
now beloved if we're going to have the joy of the Lord then
we must come to the gospel feast we must come to the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and And we must come to see that in Christ
our sins have been dealt with, that our sins have been put away,
and that Jesus has been made a curse for us. Cursed is everyone
who continues not in all the things that are written in the
book of the law to do them, but Jesus was made a curse for us
because cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And the Lord
Jesus Christ hung on a tree between heaven and earth to satisfy the
justice of God upon our behalf. And so that brings joy, to know
that wherein we were sinners, wherein we were destined to face
a holy God, at the judgment now. Now, beloved, our sins have been
removed and the curse has been removed. The curse of the law
has been taken away in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and
God is satisfied on the behalf of his people. The justice of
God does not hold one thing against us anymore. Now the holy law
of God is our best friend in that that the Lord Jesus lived
in perfect obedience to that law and satisfied every jot and
tittle of that law and then went to the cross and paid the ultimate
price. He paid that price. The soul
that sinneth, it must die. And Jesus went to the cross and
died, did he not, in order to satisfy the law of God and to
pay our debt in full. Now the law can only stand and
say, I'm the friend of these people that believe in Jesus.
We don't make void the law through faith. Paul said, no, we establish
the law. Beloved, the law of God is our
best friend in that that it cannot condemn us anymore because Jesus
has satisfied every jot and tittle of it. Now that will bring joy
to an individual's heart if they believe it. Now, one of the first
things that I would like to establish when it says here, the joy of
the Lord is our strength, is that this joy, that it must be
based, it must be bottomed on the joy, on the Lord himself. There is a joy of divine origin,
and this is the joy of the Lord. we read in Philippians chapter
3 and verse 1. Let me just read a couple verses
here to you. I believe these verses will establish
what we want to say here at the outset of our message and will
give us a foundation for the message. It says in chapter 3
of Philippians in verse 1, finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. You've waded
through. You've got to this place. You've
come through the condemnation of the law. You're out on the
other side of that now. Your sins are pardoned. They're
put away. I've blotted out your iniquity
as with a thick cloud. I've cast your sins behind my
back as far as the east is from the west. Never remember them
anymore against you." Now he says, finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord and then in the fourth chapter of Philippians and verse
4 he said rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice
rejoice in the Lord always And again, I say rejoice. Do you remember that chorus?
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, again
I say rejoice. So beloved, this is a joy that
is based and bottomed on the Lord. It's based on His character,
it's based on His work, and especially that this God is our God, and
that He shall be our God even unto death. Now beloved, when
one is redeemed, By the grace and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when one is regenerate, what we call regenerate, in that that
they've been born again from heaven above, the joys of time
cannot satisfy this undying nature that we have within us. And when
a soul is once quickened and made alive by the eternal spirit,
it cannot be satisfied itself with the common enjoyments of
life. We can only be satisfied with
the joy of the Lord. Now then, this joy must have
God for its object. Rejoice in the Lord. There's
a lot of times there's nothing else. to rejoice in. There are
times when we do have various joys that we experience in life,
but not always. Every once in a while these joys,
they change, and they go away, and we long for them, we mourn
for them, but they are not to be had. Somebody said, why should
the children of a king go mourning all their days? Come, cease to
groan, and loudly sing a psalm of gladsome praise." Because
the people of God are regenerate, they have an undying nature,
they're going to live forever in eternity. things of time, their soul must
be satisfied with God. We have every reason to be happy
as a child of God, and if we're not, it must be because we do
not remember the privileges and the blessings which our Lord
has bestowed upon us. There would be fewer broken hearts
if hearts were more completely the Lord's. I mean, if we'd ever
really come down to base and bottom the joy of our hearts
on the Lord. Now then, there would be less
rebellion, I believe, in our hearts. If when we had our joys,
we used them lawfully and did not build our hopes upon them. of life he's going to be disappointed
because those blessings as we said may be here today they'll
be gone tomorrow. Either those blessings will leave
you or you will leave those blessings. It's bound to happen. I'm trying
to establish that you need the joy of the Lord. You need to
have a joy based upon the character and work of our God. All beneath
the moon is going to wane. Everything in these shores It
ebbs and flows like the sea, like the waves of the sea. You'll
have a good time and then a bad time and there'll be times of
prosperity and times of blessing and then there will come the
times of want and the times of discouragement and the times
of bereavement, the times of sorrow and of trial. Everything
beneath the sun will be finally eclipsed. and you will not find
in time that which only is to be discovered in eternity, namely
an immutable and unfailing source of comfort. There is none like
the God of Jessarim, beloved our God. We can build our hopes
upon him. We cannot build our hope upon
things in the sinking sand of this world. Now God then must
be the object of our joy. The believer is happy because,
number one, there is a God. Number two, because God in his
person and character is what he is. We believe there is one
God. And we believe that this God
is thrice holy. And we believe this God is a
God of love, and a God of justice, and a God of holiness. And we
believe that all of the attributes of God are wellsprings of joy
to the thoughtful believer. That if a believer will meditate,
if a believer will study, if a believer is thoughtful when
he begins to look toward his God, then I believe that he'll
find a wellspring of joy in his thoughts. These attributes of
my God, and this is the wonderful thing, are mine. They are mine. They belong to every believer.
The attributes of the God of the Bible belong to every believer.
His power is my protection. His wisdom is my guidance. His
faithfulness is my foundation, and His grace is my salvation. So how charming is the thought
that he has revealed himself to me personally and made me
to see in my father, made me to see in him my father, my spiritual
father, my friend, my helper, my God. I will be to them, God
says, I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. I have taken him to be mine.
He has taken me to be his. And so we're in fellowship with
the God of the Bible. We know the God of the Bible.
If there be any starving at God's table, it is the fault of that
person who comes. The feast is superabundant, is
it not? When we come to the Word of God,
when we come to the attributes of God, when we come to the character
and work of God, the feast is superabundant. The believer feels
an entire satisfaction in leaving himself in the hands of the eternal
and the immutable love of God. And however happy I may be today,
if I'm in doubt concerning tomorrow, there is a worm at the root of
my joy, a worm at the root of my peace. If my salvation be
a matter of uncertainty, then unmingled joy is not mine, and
deep peace is out of my reach." If you're here this morning and
you say, well, I'm not sure this God is my God. I'm not sure that
this God has ever revealed Himself to me, and I'm not sure that
He's my Father. I'm not sure that He is my friend
and that He's my Savior. I'm not sure that He is. then
you cannot have unmingled joy. You cannot have the joy of the
Lord until you are assured in your heart that the Lord has
indeed said into your soul, I am thy salvation. I am your God. I am your God. David said this
God is our God and shall be our guide even unto death. So if my salvation be a matter
of uncertainty, if I do not know whether I'm saved or not, Then,
beloved, I cannot have that deep peace that I could otherwise
have. Philippians 1 verse 6 says he
has power to complete the work. It says that he that hath begun
a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now the promises are established
upon unchangeable basis. and are yea and amen in Christ
Jesus, ratified by oath and sealed by blood. What am I saying? I'm
saying the promises of God that brings a certainty to the soul
that we are indeed His and that we belong to Him, they are based
upon unchangeable truth. They are on an unchangeable basis. What I'm saying is that what
God has done Nobody can add to it and nobody can take away from
it. And if God in eternal purpose
has laid our sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ and He went to Calvary
and He bore that sin to Calvary and suffered death for us, on
our behalf. Beloved, nothing is going to
change. Christ has already paid the debt. My sin debt has been paid in
full. Not only what I've done in the
past, but also my present sin and my future sin were all laid
on the Lord Jesus Christ and they were all paid for when he
died on that cross. God's not going to put him up
there again. God's not going to hang him on the cross again
to satisfy whatever need you think you might have. God's needs
were all met and he was completely satisfied once for all when the
Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross. So the promises are established
upon unchangeable basis. David, when he came to die, And
you know it's wonderful to listen to the testimony of men when
they come to die. And David was about ready to
leave this world. He was an old man. And he was
ready to go out of this world and he said that the Lord has
made a covenant with me. that is unchangeable. It's an unchangeable covenant.
It's ordered in all things. And you know what he said? He
said, it's sure. And he said, this is all my salvation. I'm not looking to anything else.
I'm looking to what the Lord has done on my behalf in making
a covenant with my soul that's ordered in all things and are
sure. Now, beloved, I value the gospel
not only for what it's done for me in the past, but for the guarantees
which it affords me of eternal salvation. The Lord said, I give
unto my sheep eternal life, John 10. And he said, they're never
going to perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.
Now if you want joy, you begin to believe what God says. You
begin to believe the promises of God. You begin to trust the
word of God and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, I give unto my sheep Eternal life and they will never perish. They'll never perish. They'll
never perish Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand
and so beloved if we come to bottom if we come to bottom We come to hope in the Lord,
and trust in the Lord, then we will have joy in our God. Because this joy is based on
the fact of our acceptance with God, and our adoption into His
family, and our reconciliation with God. The atonement has reconciled
us unto God. I told you a few minutes ago
that the law now is our best friend, because it don't have
anything against us anymore. It's been satisfied. It said,
you break me and you must die. And so our substitute died in
our place. It's our friend. And now we've
been reconciled unto God. We're no longer enemies with
God. Friends don't need to be reconciled.
Enemies need to be reconciled. And God has reconciled us unto
himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we have a union. One Spirit with Christ, we're
joined unto Him, and then we know that this is a great final
blessing, this business of being joined to our Lord Jesus Christ,
as it were. married unto the Lord Jesus,
and that it's based on the assurance of future perseverance, victory,
and perfection by reason of the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the immutability of divine grace. And so we have
joy, the joy of the Lord. And it's based also upon the
present personal fellowship that we have with God, present personal
fellowship that we had with God. Have you ever thought about how
it might be to be in the world the only person in the world?
Wonder what your thought would be if you were to discover under
all the starry sky of the world that you were the only person
left. You were the only person. Well,
I think my thought would be number one of God and number two of
myself. God and me. in the world. Do you know that when our fellowship
with God is what it ought to be, that's the way it is really? It's only God and us. God and
us as an individual. And the Lord Jesus said, you
go into your closet and you pray, and you pray unto God who sees
in secret and you'll be rewarded openly. In other words, you come
as an individual, you get along by yourself, and you come. And beloved, there's real joy
in that. Somebody said one dram of fellowship
with... ocean full of tribulation. Is
that right? One dram of fellowship with Christ
is enough to sweeten an ocean full of tribulation. And the
habit of communion is the life of happiness. If you want to
have joy, then you communicate with the Lord Jesus Christ. and
you fellowship with Him, you get along with Him. And then
also I believe joy is based on the honor of serving the Lord,
serving our God. Now, beloved, it's a joy to be
able to speak His Word, to testify of His Word, to know His Word,
and to be able to give out the Word, and to be a messenger in
God's hands to give a word of comfort in season when folks
need it. It's a blessing, it's an honor
to serve the Lord, and there's joy, joy in serving our God. And then also it's based on the
assurance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in providence. in our afflictions, in disappointment,
all things that still work together for his good. But we have this
certainty that the Lord is doing all things well. God's people
know that the Lord is in control. He that ruleth waves and water
is standing by us. He's the sovereign of the universe. I heard of an old man, he was
a preacher, And his wife passed away at, I believe it was 2.10
in the morning, and he was well past 70 years old. And at 11
o'clock he got up to preach. And he preached out of Luke chapter
7 and verse 23 where it says, blessed are those who are not
offended in me. It is spoken of as being the
forgotten beatitude by some. Blessed is the man who is not
offended in me. John the Baptist, remember, was
in prison and he sent two of his disciples and said, you go
and say, are you the one that should come or do we look for
another? and uh... so the lord jesus explained to
these two disciples how that that the poor have the gospel
preach to them and uh... they they're sick are healed
and the lame walk and and so on and so forth and and uh... so uh... at the in his last statement
jesus said blessed are those who not offended in me and what
it means is blessed is the man who never gets upset and bent
out of the way by the way God runs his business. What it means
is that God's sovereign in the universe. Here's John the Baptist,
he's about to have his head taken off at the shoulders for his
testimony for Christ. And God is sovereign, and God
says, this man John's going to decrease, time for him to go
out of the world, perfectly healthy man, but he's going to be killed
for the gospel's sake. And Jesus said, blessed is the
man who's not offended, in me. Other words, whatever I have
for him, he responds to it, he obeys me, and he follows me,
he walks in my steps, he does as I tell him to do, and he surrenders
all of his rights unto my claims, he bows his knee to my will,
and he follows me. Blessed is that man who's not
been out of shape by the way I run my business. Oh, haven't
we oftentimes thought we ought to have a word, you know, to
say about how God runs his business? Especially when it affects us
and when it affects our livelihood, when it affects our health, when
it affects our ways, when it affects what's going to become
of us. We say we ought to have a word to say about this. Jesus
said, blessed is the man who is not offended in me. So what
I'm talking about is when it comes to real joy in the Lord,
if you're going to have it, my friend, you're going to have
to bow your knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and say, Amen,
and not be offended at the way God runs his business. bow your
knee, submit yourself, quit this rebellion, take your flag of
rebellion down and submit to the Lord and walk in His ways
and follow Him. Somebody said, well, you know,
this preacher over here, he talking all the time about grace, grace,
grace, and he didn't give anybody anything to do. I'll give you
a whole lot to do, my friend. Don't be offended at the way
God runs His business. And you, some of you never got
close enough to the Lord to where you know anything about what
I'm talking about. But if you ever really bowed
your knee to the Lordship of Christ, have you done that? The
only way to have real peace and joy in this world is for a man
to have no will of his own. is for him to bow his knee to
the Lordship of Christ. Lord, your will be done. Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And my will not be
happy unless you do what you deem is best, O Lord. I submit
myself to you. Thy will be done, not my will. Thy will be done. Now if you
want some joy, you gotta come to that. But I'll tell you what,
it'll take a while for you to get there. Because there's an
awful lot of pride in this old heart. And there's an awful lot
of rebellion in this old flesh, nature. And we don't want to
bow our knee. We don't want to submit. We don't
want to say, Amen. Amen, Lord. Amen. We don't want to do that. We're
offended in Him and in His ways. But if you want joy, If you want
the joy of the Lord, which is the strength of a child of God,
then we must bow our knee in the time of affliction and in
providence and disappointment, because all things still work
together for our good. Don't mean that God's about to
do us in. It just means that God's ways
are not our ways, and we need to submit to Him if we're gonna
be happy. A lot of people are long-faced and have no joy, and
it's all because they're rebels. That's what they are. They say,
well, I'm a believer, but you're an unbelieving believer, because
a believer says the Lord's ways are right, and I bow my knee
to the Lord, who's bound to be doing what's right. That's what
old Eli said when God took his sons. He said, it is the Lord,
let him do what seemeth good unto him. It's the Lord. And
if it's the Lord, then it's gotta be right. Okay, so then we've
tried to show you that the joy of the Lord, it must have God
for its object. It's got to be God. It can't
be anything else, because everything else is on shift in the sand. And it's bound, sooner or later,
to be eclipsed. And you won't be able to see
it anymore. But if your joy is based on the Lord, it'll still
be there when hard times and difficult times come into your
life. But the joy of the Lord is a
source of strength, we're told here in this verse of scripture.
Don't be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Now
then, let me say that the same truths which make us glad will
make us strong. It is sustained in us by the
Holy Spirit of God, the joy of the Lord. The Bible says that
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. I heard about this Catholic school,
and every morning they would have The young fellows stand
up and one fellow would say, I believe in the Father. And
another young fellow would say, I believe in the Son. And another
fellow would stand up and say, I believe in the Holy Ghost.
So one morning, they were up and sounding off. And one fellow
said, I believe in the Father. Another said, I believe in the
Son. And then there was a dead silence. and then there was a
little pipsqueak voice spoke up over here and said the boy
that believes in the holy ghost is not here today and so you
see beloved let me let me point out what i'm talking about this
joy of the lord is sustained in people's hearts by the holy
spirit by the spirit of god believe that the Spirit of God works
in people's hearts and makes these truths about God that we've
been talking about here this morning alive and precious in
the soul. That's by the Holy Spirit. There
isn't any other way to do it. The Bible speaks of being strengthened
by might, by the Spirit in the inner man. And the Holy Spirit
must continue to feed your heart, your soul, on these precious
truths about God in order that you would be joyful and be able
to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. And I
believe this strength will fortify us against temptation and persecution
and affliction out here in the world. If you got the strength
of God in your soul through the joy of the Lord, then you'll
be able to endure. And it fits us, I think, for
the service of God. I do not believe that a man has
anything to tell anybody else. If he is under the juniper tree
and if he's discouraged and despondent and he doesn't have the victory
in his own heart, what's he got to tell anybody else? If there
isn't any victory in Christ, then let us all just shut up,
burn our Bibles, and go home and go out of business. Take
the shingle down and go out of business. But there's joy in
the Lord. God's on the throne, and He's
done great things. The psalmist said, well, we're
glad. God has made us joyful in the Lord. And so we've got
something to give out if we have the joy of the Lord. And God
will strengthen us to be able to do it. I could stand here
and I could tell you how many times I didn't feel that I could
hold forth anymore. But the joy of the Lord, the
strength of God always enables you to come back and come back
and preach and preach again and preach again and preach again.
Because there's some strength in the joy of the Lord. And it
forbids all fear. by giving a sense of ability
to face every enemy. It's calm, constant, humble,
real, deep-seated strength in the soul, the joy of the Lord. Now then, let me hurry because
the time is really getting away from me here. The strength which
comes by holy joy, I think it leads to some practical results. Take your Bible, if you have
it, and look at verse 6. First of all, I'm saying that
it leads to practical results. In verse 6, we see where it leads
to praise. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God. He blessed the Lord, the great
God. And all the people answered,
Amen and Amen, and lifted up their hands, and they bowed their
heads, and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the
ground. And so it caused them to have
a praise meeting. They begin to praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Now my friend,
if you are in the doldrums, and if you get down, if you begin
just to simply reflect upon the mercy and the goodness of God
toward you, and begin to praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And
begin to praise God for the things He's done for you. And ask Him to forgive you for
your ingratitude. I believe it won't be long before
you'll have a little measure of happiness and contentment
and joy in your heart. if you just begin to praise the
Lord. Praise Him. That'll be the practical
result of God giving you His joy in your soul. Now the second
thing is in the 12th chapter of Nehemiah. Hold your finger
here in this 8th chapter. Look over in chapter 12 and look
at verse 43. And also that day they offered
great sacrifices and rejoiced For God made them rejoice with
great joy. And so they offered some sacrifices
unto the Lord. This is the practical results
of a man having the joy of the Lord in his soul. He makes some
sacrifices if God calls on him to do it. The book of Hebrews
says that to offer the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. That's a sacrifice. And then
the book of Hebrews also speaks of sacrifices unto God that are
well-pleasing to Him. God's people making sacrifice. We don't make any sacrifice to
God that He'll forgive us of our sin, because Christ made
that sacrifice once for all. But sacrifices. Somebody well
said that you cannot live for God without making a sacrifice. And it's true in this life. You
must die out to yourself to be able to serve God. The Bible
says that if a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abides alone. But if it die, it will bring
forth much fruit. And so this dying is the sacrifice. It says in Hebrews chapter 12
that we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is our reasonable service. That we might prove
that which is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, we lay
down ourselves before the Lord. Dead fish cannot swim upstream. God does not want a dead sacrifice. He wants a living sacrifice.
And your body is to be presented unto God as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable unto God. It's your reasonable service
to do it. These people, that day they offered great sacrifices.
and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. That's the practical result.
Now also in this 43rd verse we see where they had family happiness.
Also it says, the wives and the children rejoiced, so that the
joy of Jerusalem was heard even for all. Their joy was noticeable
by the neighbors. Can you get the picture of how
that these people were rejoicing and having a great praise meeting
and the children entered into it, the wives and the children,
and then the neighbors heard it by far off and I'm sure they
wondered what's going on over there in that camp today all
of that joy all of that praise the wives and the children and
the men all everybody involved giving praise and thanksgiving
unto God well how wonderful that is, that's the practical results
of all of this Wouldn't you like to have a little joy around your
house? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a few people that were
joyful in the Lord and had some spiritual strength? Had some
joy and the wives would begin to pray and they'd begin to sing
and the children would enter into the songs and they'd learn
the hymns. and you get in the car to go
someplace or be singing in the car and pull up the stoplight
and people are hearing you singing those old hymns of the faith
and they look and they wonder, what's going on over there in
that car? Well, these people have the joy of the Lord in their
hearts and they're praising God. Now then, next, the joy is within
reach, I think, of every believing soul. I want to impress that
on you and we'll close. It was God's gift But it came
by, and I want you to get this, it came by, if you look at verse
3 back in the 8th chapter, and we'll stay right here in this
chapter and finish up. In verse 3, it came by them hearing
attentively. It says, and he read therein
before the street that was before the water gate from the morning
until midday. I mean he read several hours
before the men and the women and those that could understand
and the ears of all the people were what? Were attentive. They were attentive. That means
they listened to what was being read. They were attentive. Now
then beloved if you will listen to the Word of God and pay attention
to God's Word as it's being read and as it's being preached I
think that you'll be in line to get some of this joy of the
Lord which is your strength and then also they worship devoutly
in verse 6 we read this a few minutes ago and the last part
of the verse says and they bowed their heads and they worship
the Lord with their faces to the ground are you a worshiper
of God? Do you worship the Lord? Or do you reverence God's name?
Do you bow in the presence of God and worship Him? You know,
who was it that leaned on his staff and worshipped in the Old
Testament? Anybody know that? Who was that?
Well, I forget right now what his name was, but anyway, he
leaned on...it wasn't Jacob, was it? Maybe it was Jacob. He
leaned on his staff and worshipped the Lord. I'll tell you, you
don't have to go off to some nice church building to worship.
You don't even have to go any place. You can worship standing
at the fence post with your hand on the fence post. You can worship
in your heart. You can be grateful in your heart
for God and for his word, for his truth, for his son, for his
salvation. You don't have to be in any certain
posture. That's what that meant when he
said he leaned on his staff and he worshiped. And so I just say
to you that you're in line to receive this joy if you're a
worshiper of God. Worshippers of God will have
this joy. And then in verse 9 we see where
that they mourned over their sin. Have you ever mourned over
your sin? Have you ever had any godly sorrow?
Worked repentance in your heart? Where that you repented of what
you are and what you've done? You ever had any mourning in
your heart? mourning over sin well and then
in verse 12 it said they understood clearly look at that because
they had understood the words that were declared unto them
they made great mirth because they understood the words you
know it's one thing for you to hear preaching and for it not
to mean a thing to you And there's another thing for it to get a
hold of you. And you feel the power of it.
And you understand it. And it's a blessing to you. It
encourages you. And it causes you to rejoice
in your heart. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for His mercy
and His goodness. And then in verse 10 and 11 and
12, it shows how they obeyed the Lord. How they obeyed. You know, God asks us to do things
in His Word. He asked us to do things. And
if a man is a believer, if a boy or girl is a believer, God says,
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Somebody said,
don't make too much of this baptism thing, preacher. Well, we'll
make something of it because the Lord said, if you're gonna
believe me, I'm gonna ask you to be baptized and identify yourself
with me. I'm gonna ask you to publicly
declare that you believe in the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna ask you to do that.
If you believe God, you'll have to say amen, I'll do it. I'll
do it. It's just like we told you last
week about Rahab. And if those spies would have
left and she said, I'm not gonna hang that cord out there. I'm
not gonna hang that red cord out that window. I believe everything
I told these spies I believe, but I'm not hanging it out there
for everybody to see. What do they think of me? There
you are, brother. There you are, sister. You say,
well, I won't be baptized. Then you would have been just,
you would have been, Ray had a different view. She hung it
out there so that everybody could see it. And God's going to ask
you to do that. And you better not say no to
the Lord when the Lord says you do this. I'm not asking him,
I'm not trying to talk to anybody and do anything. I'm just telling
you the Bible says that he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned. But if you
believe, you will be saved and you'll be baptized too. Because
God is going to ask you to do it. So obeying the Lord. Obeying
is better than sacrifice, the Bible says. Obedience unto God
is better than you giving an offering. Better than you laying
down your life. Obedience. Whatever God asks
you to do. Don't cloud the issue. Somebody says, I don't know what
the Lord wants me to do. Then wait till you do. Wait till you
do. Like I said, I'm not here to
talk you into anything. I just talk you into obeying
the Lord if I can. I want to leave this little poem
with you, and then we're done. This was overheard in an orchard. Said the robin to the sparrow,
I should really like to know why these anxious human beings
rush about and worry so. Said the sparrow to the robin,
friend, I think that it must be that they have no heavenly
father, such as cares for you and me. Ain't that good? I thought that was real good.
And then these words of a song says, finding, following, keeping,
struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
answer, yes. Father, in the name of Jesus,
give us the joy that you are the originator of. Give us that joy, the Lord, that
we may be strong in the Lord, faithful unto our God, until
the day you call us from this world. We pray it in Jesus' name,
for his sake. Amen.