Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous ones, and praise His holy name. Sermons I. WE ARE COMMANDED TO DO THIS - to "give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness." 1. "His holiness. It means not alone his righteous deeds, but yet more his righteous character; not alone for what he does, but for what he is in himself. He cannot be tempted of evil, cannot be moved away from perfect righteousness. God is holy in all his ways. 2. We are to give thanks for this. We are ready to give thanks for God's providential love and for his redeeming grace; but for his holiness we commonly cherish reverence and awe rather than joyful praise. This is wrong, and we are bidden here rejoice and give thanks. 3. And this whenever we remember his holiness. We do so in retrospect, looking back upon the righteous acts of the Lord. And we do so in prospect, anticipating the time when his will shall be done on earth as in heaven. We are to stay ourselves on the faith that he cometh to judge the earth, and that he shall judge the people righteously. II. IT IS ASSUMED THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS. Such, in the first part of the verse, are distinctly appealed to. For only such can obey this command. To the ungodly the holiness of God is hateful; it is to him a constant and awful threatening, a dark cloud lowering over his life; he shrinks from coming into contact with it. How fearful are, often, the deathbeds of such men! And until we are regenerate, and know that we are accepted in Christ, the holiness of God must excite in us fear rather than thanksgiving. III. And that THERE ARE GOOD REASONS FOR SUCH THANKSGIVING. And there are; for: 1. The holiness of God is the sure pledge and guarantee of our redemption. The atoning work of Christ, on which our redemption rests, is no plan whereby God's love may be satisfied at the expense of his holiness. For nowhere is that holiness more conspicuous than in that atonement. It magnifies the Law, and makes it honourable as nothing else could (cf. Romans 8:1, 2). The tables of the Law in the ark of the covenant, on which the mercy seat rested, symbolized the eternal fact that God's mercy rests on righteousness; his love is sustained by and based upon his holiness. 2. And it is the assurance of our own holiness, that we shall be made like him. For whatever be the character of any man, one sure effect of it will be that he seeks to make his surroundings like himself. And so the holy God must seek to make his people holy; he cannot be satisfied until they are holy as he is holy. 3. And of our eternal blessedness. Could sin enter heaven, it would cease to be heaven - it would be the world over again. But nothing can enter heaven that defileth. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." 4. And of the kingdom of God upon earth. The curse wrought by the Fall shall be banished by the redemption of God. Not in us alone, but in humanity at large, shall God's blessed holy will for our sanctification be done on earth as it is in heaven. IV. AND THAT THERE NEED RE NO REASONS WHY ANY OF US SHOULD NOT "GIVE THANKS AT," ETC. For the two essentials for our thus giving thanks are ours in Christ. 1. We can be reconciled to God in him. Until we are we cannot be thankful for his holiness. But if we will come away from our sins, and confess them, and believe in him, then we shall be reconciled to God, and to us shall be given the new nature, the regeneration, without which we cannot even see the kingdom of God. 2. And we may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Not forgiven only, but saved from sin itself (see Ezekiel 36:25, 27). And when this is done, then the very thoughts of our heart will be changed, and whereas we could not heretofore do aught but tremble at the remembrance of God's holiness, now we shall rejoice and give thanks. - S.C.
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY OUR REJOICING IN THE LORD.1. It signifies that cordial pleasure, which the serious and devout mind takes in the meditation of God's existence, perfection, and providence. 2. It signifies our receiving a very great delight from the discoveries of His will to us in His Word. 3. It imports our rejoicing in the interests which He has been graciously pleased to give His people in Himself; and in those comfortable and honourable relations which we stand in to Him. 4. We rejoice in the Lord when we rejoice in His continual protection, guidance and influence. 5. Rejoicing in His gracious intercourses with us in the duties of Divine worship, is another thing intended. 6. The lively hope, to which all those are begotten who love God, of fulness of joy at His right hand, and of rivers of pleasure for evermore, makes them to rejoice in the Lord with joy unspeakable. II. Rejoicing in the Lord signifies that OUR JOY IN GOD IS SUPERIOR TO ALL OUR OTHER JOYS; otherwise it is a joy unworthy of Him, and no way, or not savingly, profitable to us. We can build nothing on such a feeble joy; we have no ground to regard that joy as a grace and fruit of the Spirit, which is extinguished by the joys and pleasures of sense; or so suppressed and overpowered by them, as to have no considerable and lasting effect. III. WHATEVER ELSE WE REJOICE IN, WE ARE TO REJOICE IN SUCH A MANNER THAT WE MAY BE PROPERLY SAID TO REJOICE IN THE LORD, EVEN WHEN OTHER THINGS ARE THE IMMEDIATE OCCASIONS OF OUR JOY. 1. We rejoice in the Lord in the use and enjoyment of other things, by considering those things which yield us an innocent satisfaction, as the gifts of God, the effects of His unbounded munificence, and the marks of His creative and providential goodness. 2. Our joy in the Lord should be the chief spring of our joy in all the blessings and advantages with which His goodness hath supplied us. 3. The good man's joy in the Lord regulates his joy and delight in other things; being at once an incentive to it as far as it is lawful, and a restraint upon it when it would pass beyond its proper bounds. 4. Then do we rejoice in the Lord, when other joys lift our hearts to Him, are considered and improved as motives to greater diligence and zeal in serving Him here, and increase our desires of enjoying Him hereafter. IV. OUR REJOICING IN THE LORD, TO BE WORTHY OF HIM, MUST BE CONSTANT AND PERMANENT: it must not vary as our outward circumstances vary, but subsist the same in all the changes of life. It may be we are deprived of health, or perhaps have trouble in the world; however that be, we are still to rejoice in God. V. THUS TO REJOICE IN THE LORD IS BOTH THE PRIVILEGE AND THE DUTY OF THE RIGHTEOUS OR SINCERELY RELIGIOUS. 1. It is their privilege.(1) It is a very great privilege and happiness to be able to rejoice in the Lord. The object of this joy is the most excellent in the whole compass of being; the joy itself resides in the highest region of the soul; and the effects of it are of all most extensive, beneficial, and lasting.(2) This privilege is peculiar to the righteous, or sincerely religious; they only can rejoice in God, and they only have a right to do it. 2. To rejoice in the Lord is the duty of those whose distinguishing privilege it is that they can do it. Let me name some of those things which Christians should practise, in order to their being in an actual disposition or preparedness of mind to rejoice in the Lord.(1) It is their duty to make their calling and election sure, and by an impartial inquiry into the state of their souls, to decide the great question upon which their peace so much depends, viz. Whose they are, and whom they serve; for if they are the children of God, and serve Him in sincerity, nothing else is necessary to their rejoicing in God, but their knowing it.(2) It is their duty to remove out of the way whatever things they have found, or their reason tells them are hindrances to this holy joy; particularly these two, a multitude of worldly cares, and a too free indulgence to worldly joys and pleasures.(3) It is the duty of Christians to call upon their souls to rejoice in the Lord. They are not to allow themselves in a heartless melancholy frame; they must not give way to it, as if it were a temper of mind acceptable to God, and creditable to religion; but must endeavour to chide themselves out of it, expostulating with their own souls as (Psalm 42:11).(4) They must make this a frequent petition in their addresses to the throne of grace, that God would uphold them with His free Spirit, and enable them to rejoice in Him: they should entreat Him who is the Father of lights to dart some beams of heavenly light into their souls, that they may not sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death; but walk and rejoice in the light of life. (H. Bonar, D.D.) (H. Melvill, B.D.) I. WHAT IT IS TO REJOICE IN THE LORD. It implies our making God the chief, the supreme, and adequate object of our joy. The true nature of joy consists in that agreeable serenity and satisfaction of mind, which we feel upon the presence and fruition of some good. Good, therefore, is the proper object of our joy; good, not in itself alone, but good to us; such as repairs, preserves, advances, exalts, perfects our nature. The good we are to rejoice in must be full, sufficient, and satisfactory; proportionable to the desires, the wants, the necessities; and suitable to the inclinations, the condition, and circumstances of those who are to be delighted with it. It must be an effectual, prevalent, and sovereign good; able to remove from us, not only the present pressure, but the danger, the possibility, or at least the fear of evil. It must be a substantial, lasting, durable good; immortal, like the soul, that is to be satisfied; ever yielding fresh delight, and yet never to be exhausted: in a word, it must be our own proper good; a good, which we may be able to attain, and sure to hold fast; a good always present with us, and never to be taken from us. Now, on all these accounts God alone is the proper and adequate object of our joy. It is He only whom we can truly look upon as a pure, perfect, suitable, sovereign, eternal, and, what is still more, our own, proper, peculiar God. Our joy must be fixed on Him, as our universal, chief, and ultimate good; and upon other things as occasional, subordinate, and instrumental to that. II. WE LAWFULLY MAY, AND ARE IN DUTY BOUND, SO TO REJOICE. True joy, when it is founded upon a right principle, directed to its proper object, kept within its due compass, and not suffered to exceed either in its measure, or in its duration, is not only lawful, but commendable; not only what we may, without sin, allow ourselves in, but what we cannot, without folly, abridge ourselves of. Pleasure and good, pain and evil, are but different expressions for one and the same thing. No action is ever forbidden us, but what, upon the whole, brings more pain than pleasure; none is commanded us, but what, all things considered, yields greater degrees of pleasure than it does of pain. And it can never, therefore, be an objection against anything we undertake, that it will cause joy; nor a commendation of any action, that it will produce sorrow. True it is, the great duty of repentance does in the very nature of it include sorrow; but then the end of this sorrow is, that we may be put into a condition of rejoicing the more abundantly. The sense of our sins must make us weep and lament; but then our sorrow will be soon turned into joy. Though our conversion hath its pangs, yet we shall no more remember the anguish, for joy that a new man is born into the world. Whatever reasons we may have for our grief and sorrow, they are mightily overbalanced by those motives that recommend joy and gladness. If the sense of our manifold infirmities, our heinous sins, our grievous sufferings, our violent temptations; if the prosperity of our and God's enemies; if the calamities of our brethren, and His faithful servants lie hard upon us, and may seem to justify and require a more than ordinary degree of grief; yet in the Lord we have still sufficient matter of rejoicing; of rejoicing in God, who is our Creator, our Preserver, our Father, our Friend; of rejoicing in Christ, in His person, in His office, in the graces He vouchsafes us, in the light of His countenance, in the hopes of His glory, in the greatness of His love, in the exceeding riches of His pardoning mercy, in the fidelity of His promises, in the efficacy of His intercession, in His readiness to assist, in His power to support us in time of need. (Bishop Smalridge.) Give This command is addressed to the "righteous," not because they only ought to obey it, but because they only can obey it, and because, indeed, only they can understand it. If one thing more than another can show the entire and radical change which the Spirit of God, in the hour of regeneration, works upon the hearts of sinners, it is, that after this change has passed upon them they are not merely reconciled to God's holiness — cannot merely bear the thought of it, even when apprehended far more clearly and powerfully than before — but regard it with complacency and delight.I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS DUTY. 1. Our being in a state of reconciliation with God. Before we can delight in, and give thanks for the holiness of God, we must be at peace with Him, — we must believe that the flame of consuming wrath which His holiness kindled against us for sin has been quenched by the blood of His own Son poured forth on our behalf, — we must believe that His holiness, which was so awfully against us for sin, is now for us and on our side, because all its demands have been gloriously met by Him who was made "sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" — in short, we must be persuaded that, pacified and propitiated towards us through the atonement of Jesus, God's holy eye no longer rests on us with the unpitying fury of an avenging Judge, but beams on us with the purest kindness and love of a merciful Father. 2. That we have a new and holy nature; for otherwise we can neither understand nor appreciate the holiness of God. And such a new and holy nature has been wrought by God's own Spirit in all who have been born again. They "have put on the new man which, after God," — that is, in the likeness of God, — "is created in righteousness and true holiness." They have been made "partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the pollution that is in the world through lust." Possessed of this Divine nature, they begin, in their own finite and imperfect measure, to hate sin as God hates it; they begin, in their own finite and imperfect measure, to love holiness as God loves it; and therefore they remember God with supreme complacency and delight, because they see in Him the perfection of that which their nature loves and approves — the perfection of an absolute and ineffable holiness. 3. The remembrance and contemplation of God's holiness as this is exhibited in the person and cross of His Son. It is when we behold God subjecting Him who is the partner of His glory and throne, by whom also He made the worlds, to the awful humiliation of taking the nature and the place of His guilty creatures; it is when we survey the sufferings of the world's Creator and Lord under His Father's hand, — the sorrow unto death, the bloody sweat, the strong cryings and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, the slow death of shame and woe; and it is when we remember that such suffering on the part of the Divine Sufferer was all absolutely necessary ere God could pardon a single sin, or allow a single sinner to approach the footstool of His mercy: — that we learn how holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. II. THE GROUNDS OR REASONS OF THIS DUTY. Why may the righteous well give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness? 1. They may well praise God for it, as that which gives lustre and glory to all His other perfections. His holiness is the crown of all His perfections. It ensures, if we may so say, that they shall be exercised in a way worthy of Himself. Oh, when we think that our God is holy, that His wisdom is holy, that His power is holy, that His mercy is holy, that His providence is holy, that all His acts and manifestations of Himself in His government of the universe are, and ever must be, perfectly holy, and worthy of Himself, — well does it become us to join with every creature in heaven, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. 2. The righteous may well give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness, because the display and vindication of it in the work of their redemption pacify their conscience, and secure their everlasting safety. If He were not absolutely holy, I might well tremble in perpetual terror, lest, after having punished sin in Christ, my Surety, He should refuse to pardon it to me; and lest, having received the price of my redemption from Christ, He should yet deny some of its blessings to me. But well may I give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, when I think that His absolute holiness is my security, — a security strong and abiding as His own unchangeable nature, — that, having accepted the price of my redemption at the hands of my glorious Surety, He will assuredly bestow on me all its blessings, from the pardon of my sin, to my full investiture with all the riches of glory. 3. The righteous may well give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness, when they remember that, however mysterious and trying God's dealings towards them may be, they are all holy, and designed to promote their holiness. 4. The righteous may well give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness, because it is the security and pattern of their own ultimate holiness. You hate sin, O Christian, and long to be delivered from it. Think, then, that the God of your salvation infinitely hates sin, and that His infinite abhorrence of sin is a pledge that He will destroy its power and its being in every soul whom He loves. What comfort, when you are using the means of holiness, — often, as you fear, vainly and with little success, — to think that this is the will of God, even your sanctification; and that, when your will is thus coinciding and co-working with the will of the Omnipotent God, it cannot fail to reach the summit of its highest endeavour! O then, give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness! It is the pledge of the progress and perfection of yours. And not only so, but, — most elevating and ennobling thought of all, — it is the pattern of yours. Your duty is always your privilege; and God commands what He will certainly give, when He says, "As He who hath called you is holy," etc. Jesus Christ is the brightness of His Father's glory. He is the living manifestation of the brightness of the Father's holiness; and is it not said, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is"? (James Smellie.). O sing unto the Lord a new song. Homilist. I. GENUINE PRAISE IS FOUNDED ON THE STRONGEST REASON (vers. 1, 2). Why should man be so urgently called on to praise God?1. Because of the extraordinary deliverance which was vouchsafed to him — from the bondage of ignorance, carnality, prejudice, and guilt. Unfallen angels should always sing praises unto the Lord, and they always do; but we have no reason to believe that they have such deliverances to celebrate as we have. 2. Because all the extraordinary deliverances vouchsafed to him originated in the mind of God. "His mercy," "His truth, .... His righteousness." As transgressors of His laws and rebels against His government, men, instead of having any just reason for expecting deliverance, have the strongest reasons to apprehend eternal bondage. It was of His free love and compassion that He interposed. Therefore "sing unto the Lord a new song." II. GENUINE PRAISE SHOULD BE RENDERED BY ALL WITH RAPTUROUS ENTHUSIASM. 1. By all. This means all mankind. Praise should be as wide as the race. Its spirit, like the tide in ocean, should heave and swell, and rule the mighty mass. 2. By all with joy. True praise is not a ceremonial service, not an irksome duty, still less a moan of sadness, it is the soul breaking out into the transports of delight. 3. By all with enthusiastic rapture. (Homilist.) These words, this Easter Sunday, will find an echo in every Christian heart and congregation. The hymns of Lent, and the passion songs, are beautiful, and touch the heart; but if they were not to be followed by any Easter hymns our condition would indeed be sad. It would be a night without a morning. But today, everywhere, the Church resounds with this song, "O sing unto the Lord a new song!" For the great Easter message is —I. A MOST ASSURED WORD. 1. It bears the bloodstained seals of many witnesses. See the Gospel histories, listen to the impassioned arguments of St. Paul, who brands himself as a false witness if his message be not true. 2. Upon it rests the massive building of the entire Church of Christ. If it had been founded upon imposture or falsehood, would it be standing now? 3. And if this also testifies the heartfelt experience of all true Christians, in themselves they have the realized presence of Christ. He speaks to them, they to Him. They know He is with them. II. IT IS A MOST PRECIOUS WORD. For it enables us to believe properly, to live godly, and to die happily. (Charles Von Gerok, D. D.) According to the language of the "royal singer," God's great cathedral of nature is full of magnificent harmonies. The heavens rejoice; the earth sings; the sea and the fulness thereof roar in deep-toned bass; the fields with all they contain, and the trees of the woodland with their ten thousand tongues, peal forth melodies. This chorus we have in creation; and the laziest in the song is man, who should be loudest, noblest, heartiest. Oh, it is time for us to be roused to duty by an inspired voice! We have been musicless too long, prosaic too long, dormant and mute too long, ungrateful and selfish too long. We want the summons to song, to action, to thankfulness. "O sing unto the Lord a new song," etc. And why a "new" song? Because new mercies, new deliverances, new gifts, new triumphs demand new songs. God's "marvellous things," or doings, are many and multiform. They are to be seen in creation, in providence, in redemption, in grace, in the world, in the Church, in nations, in families, in individuals. Everywhere in His theatre of action are His wonders manifest. It is impossible for us to be praiseless, if we only pause and recount our Father's gracious dealings, and manifold mercies, and wondrous goodness towards us. But interpreters of the Scripture refer this psalm to Jesus Christ. Its prophetic finger points to Him who was not only marvellous in doing, but likewise marvellous in person. From the manger to the ascension-mount, the cloud of mystery enveloped Him. At times He seemed near, intimately near as a brother-man — at other times distant, infinitely measured off as the awful and the "mighty God." Every privilege, every blessing, every gift, every enjoyment, every mercy crowded into our daily lives, flows to us through that Divinity which, blending with humanity, satisfied the claims of holiness, and instituted peace between heaven and earth, God and man. Have we, then, no song to sing unto Him who has done such "marvellous things"? Yes, thank Heaven, we have a song; and while the redeemed on high chant it, we join in the chorus, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb." Once more, not only are we called upon to break forth into joyful song because of the doings of "marvellous things," but also because of the achievement of splendid victory. "His right hand and holy arm hath gotten Him the victory." This unquestionably has specific reference to the sternest battle and grandest conquest ever fought and won on the world's great carnage-field. Through Christ's victory we shall be victorious. Our life in grace is a prolonged battle — a succession of engagements. We are on the winning side, and shall be "more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us." Awaiting us, in the not far-distant heaven, is the crown, the palm, the robe, the kingdom, and the welcome song! Let our onward march be brightened by the music of martial songs and celebrations of our Captain's praise, whose "right hand and holy arm" will assuredly secure for us the victory.(J. O. Keen, D. D.) People PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Glad, Holiness, Holy, Memorial, Memory, O, Ones, Praise, Praising, Psalm, Rejoice, Remembrance, Righteous, Thanks, UprightOutline 1. The majesty of God's kingdom7. The church rejoices at God's judgments upon idolaters 10. An exhortation to godliness and gladness Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 97:12Library August 13. "Clouds and Darkness are Round About Him" (Ps. Xcvii. 2). "Clouds and darkness are round about Him" (Ps. xcvii. 2). The presence of clouds upon your sky, and trials in your path, is the very best evidence that you are following the pillar of cloud, and walking in the presence of God. They had to enter the cloud before they could behold the glory of the transfiguration, and a little later that same cloud became the chariot to receive the ascending Lord, and it is still waiting as the chariot that will bring His glorious appearing. Still it is true that white … Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth June the Thirteenth Clouded but not Lost! Righteous Hatred We Too are Thine. The Morning Light Sixth Day. Holiness and Glory. Man's Chief End The Second Commandment The Ascension of Messiah to Glory Being Made Archbishop of Armagh, He Suffers Many Troubles. Peace Being Made, from Being Archbishop of Armagh He Becomes Bishop of Down. Messiah Despised, and Rejected of Men Psalms Links Psalm 97:12 NIVPsalm 97:12 NLT Psalm 97:12 ESV Psalm 97:12 NASB Psalm 97:12 KJV Psalm 97:12 Bible Apps Psalm 97:12 Parallel Psalm 97:12 Biblia Paralela Psalm 97:12 Chinese Bible Psalm 97:12 French Bible Psalm 97:12 German Bible Psalm 97:12 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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