The scripture reading for this morning is from
Psalm 144, Psalm 144, a
psalm of David.
Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teacheth
my hands to war and my fingers to
fight, my goodness and my fortress, my high
tower and my deliverer, my shield and he
in whom I trust, who subdueth my people
under me.
Lord, what is man that thou takest knowledge
of him, or the son of man that
thou makest account of him?
Man is like to vanity, his days are
as a shadow that passeth away.
Bow the heavens, O Lord, and come down.
Touch the mountains and they shall smoke.
Cast forth lightning and scatter them.
Shoot out thine arrows and destroy them.
Send thine hand from above.
Rid me and deliver me out of great
waters from the hand of strange children, whose
mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is
a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song unto thee,
O God, upon a psaltery, and an instrument
of ten strings will I sing praises unto
thee.
It is he that giveth salvation unto kings,
who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful
sword.
Rid me and deliver me from the hand
of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and
their right hand is a right hand of
falsehood, that our sons may be as plants
grown up in their youth, that our daughters
may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude
of a palace, that our garners may be
full, affording all manner of store, that our
sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands
in our streets, that our oxen may be
strong to labor, that there be no breaking
in nor going out, that there be no
complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people that is in such
a case, yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
Here ends the reading of God's holy word.
Let us now turn to the Lord in
prayer and seek his blessing.
Lord God in heaven, we bow before thee,
the great creator and preserver of all thou
hast created, of all the works of thy
hands, and we confess, Lord, that we have
done a terrible thing, for thou hast made
us as the highest part of thy work,
wholly set apart to bear thy image, and
we have ruined ourselves in sin, in unbelief.
When we had to choose between thee and
thy word and the devil and his word,
we went wrong.
We called thee a liar and entrusted ourselves
to that which is against thee.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, forgive us,
for we have not only sinned in our
father Adam and all our fathers before us,
but we ourselves have continued in sin.
And worse yet, Lord, we have found pleasure
and we have sought after our life in
things that are apart from thee.
In those good things thou hast given for
our help, we have sought to make ourselves
as thee.
We have made idols of so many things,
even lawful things.
O Lord, we need thy salvation.
We need deliverance from our sin, from our
heart of sin, from our love for sin.
We need a complete change, and we have
ruined ourselves so utterly, we can find no
good and no wisdom in ourselves that we
would change ourselves.
We pray for help from above, from without.
And we have seen in thy word and
thy gospel thy salvation.
For the worst one, though we have sinned
much, yet it is still the day of
grace, and we plead upon thy character and
upon thy word, upon thy salvation in Christ,
that thou would come down and be with
us, and even, for Christ's sake, to bless
us, to show us thy favor and thy
goodness, especially in the preaching of thy word,
that thou would use it to show us
the evil, the wickedness of sin, how ruinous
and harmful it is to our souls that
it is not honoring or pleasing to thee.
But there is one that has done all
things well, and thou hast sent him as
a substitute, and we plead upon the name
and the words and the work of the
Lord Jesus.
Help us, we pray, for his sake, to
find a new life in him, a life
to live for thee and for thy kingdom,
and no longer for sin and self and
the devil and his kingdom, which will one
day be destroyed.
We pray for our little flock.
Lord, thou knowest each one, each need.
Give us a heart to look to thee
in all of our troubles and miseries, looking
to Christ.
Give us faith, Lord, that we may believe
that thou art so willing and so good
and strong to help us, though we deserve
to be cast out.
We pray for the families, how hard it
may be to have a home full of
sinners, but how good it may be where
we see thy grace and thy mercy subduing
our sins and working love in the hearts.
We thank thee, Lord, that thou hast given
the gift of love also in thy common
grace.
May thy goodness lead us to repentance.
We pray that thou would bless thy church
wherever she gathers this day.
Bless thy servants as they bring thy word.
Lord, we confess we have become so worldly.
Also and especially in our denomination, there are
even those amongst us whom thou hast called
us to be united with in the one
true and living church that is going in
the way of the world this day, thinking
with evil music and worldly lusts that thou
can grant thy blessing and thy saving work.
Oh, Lord, take away our blindness.
Revive us and grant repentance that our only
hope would be in a crucified Savior and
only things that would point us and draw
us to him would we have in thy
holy house, in thy holy worship services.
We pray for thy servants sent to the
mission field.
Bless them and help them.
Use them for the preaching of the gospel
and the extension of thy kingdom wherever thou
hast thy people that must be brought in
and will be brought in.
We pray for our nation, our president and
our leaders.
Oh, Lord, give that holy fear, that humble
heart to know and to act upon the
truth that we are nothing if we do
not receive from thee all that we need
for our life, for our callings, for our
duties, for our offices.
We pray that thou would be with us
now.
Give us strength and clarity of mind to
listen to thy word and by thy grace
in Christ may it be mixed with faith
that we would praise thy great and holy
name for thou art worthy of all honor
and glory and praise.
We ask it with the pardoning of our
many sins.
For Jesus' sake, Amen.
Let us now sing together from Psalter 89.
I would also, before we sing, read the
text for the sermon from Psalm 144, verse
15.
Happy is that people that is in such
a case, yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
Psalter 89, all the stanzas.
Children, have you ever felt the help of
the Lord in singing the Psalms, the Psalters,
where by nature we are careless and our
mind wanders?
But we just sang, and I hope you
may have heard those words.
Ye children, come, give ear to me, and
learn Jehovah's fear.
He who would long and happy live, let
him my counsel hear.
Or did you notice the title of the
Psalter?
Did it draw you to think?
The secret of a happy life.
That's the theme for the sermon this morning.
The title of the sermon is Happiness.
And again, I'll read the text.
Psalm 144, verse 15.
Happy is that people that is in such
a case, yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
Children, do you remember the report we heard
of that young man that said to his
father, Father, you taught me well.
I know what the truth is.
And you also taught me that knowing the
truth doesn't save my soul.
Isn't it true, children, that if you're in
a sinking ship, it isn't knowing that the
only safe place is in the lifeboat?
Knowing that doesn't help you, does it?
It's being in the lifeboat.
May God help us to listen to His
Word, and to hear that, as you've been
taught many times, the Lord Jesus is the
lifeboat.
Happiness.
An atheist, which, children, means a man who
believes that there is no such thing as
God.
An atheist was once addressing a crowd of
people in the open air.
He was trying to persuade them that there
was no God, no devil, no heaven and
no hell, no resurrection, no judgment, and no
life to come.
He advised them to throw away their Bibles,
and not to pay attention to what preachers
said.
He recommended them to think as he did,
and to be like him.
He talked boldly, and the crowd listened eagerly.
It was the blind leading the blind.
They were both falling into the pit, as
we read from Matthew 15, 14.
In the middle of his address, a poor
old woman suddenly pushed her way through the
crowd to the place where he was standing.
She stood before him.
She looked him full in the face and
said, Sir, she said in a loud voice,
are you happy?
The atheist looked scornfully at her and gave
her no answer.
Sir, she said again, I ask you to
answer my question.
Are you happy?
You want us to throw away our Bibles.
You tell us not to believe what preachers
say about Christ.
You advise us to think as you do,
and be like you.
Now, before we take your advice, we have
a right to know what good we will
gain by it.
Do your fine ideas give you a lot
of comfort?
Do you feel really happy?
The atheist stopped and attempted to answer the
old woman's question.
He stammered and shuffled and fidgeted and endeavored
to explain his meaning.
He tried hard to return to his subject,
but he said he had not come to
preach about happiness, but it was of no
use.
The old woman stuck to her point.
She insisted on her question being answered, and
the crowd took her side.
She pressed him hard with her inquiry and
would take no excuse.
And at the last, the atheist was obliged
to leave and sneak off in the confusion.
His conscience would not let him stay.
He dared not say that he was happy.
The old woman showed great wisdom in asking
the question that she did.
The argument she used may seem simple, but
in reality, it is one of the most
powerful that can be employed.
Whenever a man begins to speak against and
despise the old Bible Christianity, ask him whether
he can say with honesty and sincerity that
he is happy.
The grand test of a man's faith and
religion is, does it make him happy?
Let me now warmly invite everyone to consider
the subject of this sermon.
Let me warn you to remember that the
salvation of your soul and nothing less is
closely bound up with the subject.
The heart cannot be right in the sight
of God which knows nothing of happiness or
feels nothing of peace within.
There are three things which I propose, and
I pray the Spirit of God will apply
it to the souls.
All the souls of those who hear this.
The first point, let me point out some
things which are absolutely essential to happiness.
The second point, let me expose some common
mistakes about the way to be happy.
And the third point, let me show the
way to be truly happy.
First of all, I have to point out
some things which are absolutely essential to true
happiness.
Happiness is what all mankind wants to obtain.
The desire of it is deeply rooted in
the human heart.
All men naturally dislike pain and sorrow and
discomfort.
All men naturally like ease, comfort and bliss.
All men naturally hunger and thirst after happiness.
Just as the sick man longs for health
and the prisoner of war longs for liberty.
Just as the parched traveler in hot countries
longs to see a cooling fountain.
Just in the same way does poor mortal
man long to be happy.
But how few consider what they really mean
when they talk of happiness.
They think some are happy who in reality
are miserable.
And they think some are gloomy and sad
who are really truly happy.
They dream of a happiness which in reality
would never satisfy their nature's wants.
Let me try this day to throw a
little light on the subject.
True happiness is not a perfect freedom from
sorrow and discomfort.
Let that never be forgotten.
If that were so, there would be no
such thing as happiness in this world.
Such happiness is for angels who have never
fallen, but not for man.
The happiness I am inquiring about is the
kind that a poor, sinful, dying creature may
hope to attain.
Our whole nature is defiled by sin.
Evil abounds in the world.
Sickness and death and change are doing their
daily sad work on every side.
In such a state of things, the highest
happiness man can attain to on earth must
necessarily be a mixed thing.
If we expect to find any literally perfect
happiness on this side of the grave, we
expect what we will not find.
True happiness does not consist in laughter and
smiles.
The face is very often a poor index
of the inward man.
There are thousands who laugh loud and are
merry in the company of others, but are
wretched and miserable in private, almost afraid to
be alone.
There are hundreds who are solemn and serious
in their demeanor, but whose hearts are full
of solid peace.
A poet once wrote that our smiles are
not worth very much.
He said, a man may smile and smile
and be a villain.
And the eternal word of God teaches us
that even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,
and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
Don't tell me of smiling and laughing faces.
I want to hear of something more of
that when I ask whether a man is
happy.
A truly happy man no doubt will often
show his happiness in his face, but a
man may have a very merry face and
not be happy at all.
Of all deceptive things on earth, nothing is
so deceptive as mere fun.
It is a hollow, empty show, utterly devoid
of substance and reality.
Listen to the brilliant talker in society and
mark the applause which he receives from a
company.
Follow him to his own private room, and
you will very likely find him plunged in
sad despondency.
I know a man who confessed that even
when he was thought to be the most
happy, he often wished that he was dead.
Look at the smiling beauty at the party,
and you might suppose she never knew what
it was like to be unhappy.
See her the next day at her own
home, and you may probably find her angry
at herself and everybody else besides.
No worldly fun is not real happiness.
There is a certain pleasure about it, I
do not deny.
There is an animal excitement about it, I
make no question.
There is a temporary elevation of spirits, I
freely concede.
But don't call it by the sacred name
of happiness.
The most beautiful cut flowers stuck in the
ground do not make a garden.
When ordinary glass is called a diamond, and
tinsel is called gold, then and not until
then can people who can laugh and smile
be called happy men.
Once there was a man who consulted a
physician about his depression.
The physician advised him to keep up his
spirits by going to hear the great comic
of the day.
You should go and hear Matthews.
He will make you happy, said the doctor.
I'm sorry to say, sir, was the reply.
I am Matthews himself.
To be truly happy, the highest wants of
a man's nature must be met and satisfied.
The requirements of his curiously wrought constitution must
all be met.
Animals are happy as long as they are
warm and fed.
The little infant looks happy when he is
clothed and fed and well and in his
mother's arms.
And why?
Because it is satisfied.
And just so it is with man.
His highest wants must be met and satisfied
before he can be truly happy.
All needs must be met.
There must be no void, no empty places,
no unsupplied cravings.
Till then, he is never truly happy.
And what our man's principle wants?
Does he only have a body?
No, he has something more.
He has a soul.
Does he only have the five senses?
Can he do nothing but hear and see
and smell and taste and feel?
No, he has a thinking mind and a
conscience.
Does he have any consciousness of any world
but that in which he lives and moves?
He has.
There is that still, small voice within him
which makes itself heard.
That this is not all there is to
life.
There is a world unseen.
There is life beyond the grave.
Yes, it is true.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
All men know it.
All men feel it.
If they would only speak the truth.
It is utter nonsense to pretend that food
and clothing and earthly material wealth alone can
make a man happy.
The soul has needs.
The conscience has needs.
There can be no true happiness until these
wants are satisfied.
To be a truly happy man, a man
must have sources of happiness which are not
dependent upon anything in this world.
There is nothing on earth which is not
stamped with the mark of instability and uncertainty.
All the good things that money can buy
are but for a moment.
They either leave us or we are obliged
to leave them.
All the sweetest relationships in this life are
liable to come to an end.
Death may come any day and cut them
off.
The man whose happiness depends entirely on things
here below is like him who builds his
house on sand.
To be truly happy, a man must be
able to look at the past without guilty
fears.
He must be able to look around him
without discontent.
And he must be able to look forward
without anxious dread.
Do not talk to me of your happiness
if you are unable to look steadily either
before or behind you.
Your present position may be easy and pleasant.
You may find sources of joy and gladness
in your profession, your dwelling place, your family
and your friends.
Your health may be good.
Your spirits may be cheerful.
But stop and think quietly over your past
life.
Can you reflect calmly on all the omissions
and commissions of bygone years?
How will they bear God's inspection?
How will you answer for them in the
last judgment?
And then look forward and think of the
years yet to come.
Think of the certain end towards which you
are heading.
Think of death, of judgment.
Think of the hour when you will meet
God face to face.
Are you ready for it?
Are you prepared?
Can you look forward to these things without
alarm?
Oh, be very sure that if you cannot
look comfortably at any time in your life
but to the present, then your boasted happiness
is a poor, unreal thing.
It is but as a fancy and decorated
coffin, fair and beautiful on the outside, but
nothing but bones and decay within.
It is a mere thing of a day,
like Jonas Gord.
It is not real happiness.
I ask you to fix your minds on
the things essential to be happy.
To be truly happy, the wants of your
soul and conscience must be satisfied.
To be truly happy, your joy must be
founded on something more than this world can
give.
In the next place, for our second point,
let me expose some common mistakes about the
way to be happy.
It is an utter mistake to suppose that
position and fame alone can give happiness.
The kings, presidents, and rulers of this world
are not necessarily happy men.
They have troubles and crosses which none know
but themselves.
They see a thousand evils which they are
unable to remedy.
They have burdens and responsibilities laid on them
which are a daily weight on their hearts.
The Roman emperor Antonine often said that the
imperial power was an ocean of miseries.
Queen Elizabeth, when she heard a milkmaid singing,
wished that she had been born to a
lot like hers.
Never did the poet write a truer word
than when he said, Uneasy lies the head
that wears the crown.
It is an utter mistake to suppose that
riches alone can give happiness.
They can enable a man to command and
possess everything but inward peace.
They cannot buy a cheerful spirit and a
light heart.
There is anxiety in the getting of riches.
Anxiety in the keeping of them.
Anxiety in the using of them.
Anxiety in the disposing of them.
Anxiety in the gathering.
Anxiety in the scattering of them.
He is a wise man who said that
money was only another name for trouble.
It is an utter mistake to suppose that
learning and science alone can give happiness.
They may occupy a man's time and attention,
but they cannot really make him happy.
They that increase knowledge often increase sorrow.
The more they learn, the more they discover
their own ignorance, from Ecclesiastes 118.
The heart wants something as well as the
head.
The conscience needs food as well as the
intellect.
All the secular knowledge in the world will
not give a man joy and gladness when
he thinks about sickness and death and the
grave.
They that have climbed the highest often have
found themselves solitary, dissatisfied and empty of peace.
The learned Selden, at the close of his
life, confessed that all his learning did not
give him as much comfort as the four
verses found in Titus 2, 11-14.
For the grace of God that brings salvation
has appeared to all men, teaching us that
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous
of good works.
It is an utter mistake to suppose that
idleness alone can give happiness.
The laborer who gets up at five in
the morning and goes out to work all
day in a cold clay ditch often thinks
as he walks past the rich man's house,
Oh, what a fine thing it must be
to have no work to do.
Poor fellow, he does not know what he
is saying.
The most miserable creature on earth is the
man who has nothing to do.
Work for the hands or work for the
mind is absolutely essential to human happiness.
Without it, the mind feeds upon itself and
the whole inward man becomes diseased.
There was no idleness in the Garden of
Eden.
Adam and Eve had to dress it and
to keep it.
There will be no idleness in heaven, for
God's servants shall serve Him.
As we read in Revelation 22.3, Oh,
be very sure that the idlest man is
the man most truly unhappy.
It is also an utter mistake to suppose
that pleasure seeking and amusement alone can give
happiness.
Of all roads that men take in order
to be happy, this is the one that
is most completely wrong.
Of all the weary, flat, dull and unprofitable
ways of spending life, this exceeds them all.
To think of a dying creature with an
immortal soul expecting happiness in feasting and merrymaking,
in dancing and singing, in dressing, in visiting,
in party going or gambling, in races or
fairs, in hunting and shooting, in crowds, in
laughter, in noise, in music, in wine.
Surely it is a sight that is enough
to make the devil laugh and the angels
weep.
Even a child will not play with his
toys all day long.
It must have food.
But when a grown-up man or woman
think to find happiness in a constant round
of amusement, they sink far below a child.
I place before everyone these common mistakes about
the way to be happy.
I tell you that if you believe that
any one of them can lead you to
true peace, you are entirely deceived.
You are like the one pouring water into
a sieve or putting money into a bag
with holes.
You might as well try to make an
elephant happy by feeding him with a grain
of sand as to try to satisfy that
heart of yours with position, riches, learning, idleness,
or pleasures.
Do you doubt the truth of all that
I am saying to you?
I dare say you do.
Let us then turn to the great book
of human experience and read over a few
lines of its solemn pages.
A king will be our witness.
I mean Solomon, king of Israel.
We know that he had power, wisdom, and
wealth far exceeding that of any ruler of
his time.
We know from his own confession that he
tried the great experiment of seeing how far
the good things of this world can make
men happy.
Yet, what is Solomon's testimony?
You have it in his melancholy words from
Ecclesiastes 1.14. I have seen all the
works that are done under the sun, and
behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
I want no greater proof than the corruption
of human nature, than the determination with which
we seek happiness where happiness cannot be found.
I'll read that sentence again.
I want no greater proof of the corruption
of human nature than the determination with which
we seek happiness where happiness cannot be found.
Century after century, the children of men will
declare that they know the way to happiness
perfectly well and need no teaching.
They cast to the winds our warnings.
They rush everyone on his own favorite path
and wake up when it is too late
to find that their whole life has been
a great mistake.
Are you a young person?
I implore you to accept the tender warning
of a minister of the Gospel and not
to seek happiness where happiness cannot be found.
Don't seek it in riches.
Don't seek it in power and position.
Don't seek it in pleasure.
Don't seek it in learning.
All these are bright and splendid fountains.
Their waters taste sweet, but, oh, remember what
God has written.
From John 4.13. Remember this and you
will be wise.
Are you poor?
Are you tempted to daydream that if you
had the rich man's place, you would be
quite happy?
Resist the temptation and cast it behind you.
Do not envy your wealthy neighbors.
Be content with what things you have.
Happiness does not depend on houses or land.
Silk or fine clothes cannot shut out sorrow
from the heart.
Mansions and villas cannot prevent anxiety and care
from coming in through their doors.
There is much misery riding and driving about
in cars as there is walking about on
foot.
There is as much unhappiness in elegant houses
as there is in humble cottages.
Oh, remember the mistakes which are common about
happiness and be wise.
Let me now, for our third point, point
out the way to be really happy.
There is a sure path which leads to
happiness if men will only take it.
There never lived a person who traveled in
that path and missed the object that he
sought to attain.
It is a path open to all.
It needs neither wealth nor position nor learning
in order to walk in it.
It is for the servant as well as
for the master.
It is for the poor as well as
for the rich.
None are excluded but those who exclude themselves.
Where is that path?
Where is this road?
Listen and you will hear.
The way to be happy is to be
a real Christian.
Scripture declares it and experience proves it.
The converted man, the believer in Christ, the
Child of God, He and He alone is
the happy man.
It sounds too simple to be true.
It seems at first sight so simple a
statement that it is not believed.
But the greatest truths are often the simplest.
The secret which many of the wisest on
earth have utterly failed to discover is revealed
to the humblest believer in Christ.
I repeat it deliberately and defy the world
to disprove it.
The true Christian is the only happy man.
What do I mean when I speak of
a true Christian?
Do I mean everyone who goes to church?
Do I mean everybody who professes an orthodox
creed and bows his head at the belief?
Do I mean everybody who professes to love
the Gospel?
No, indeed, I mean something very different.
Not all are Christians who call themselves Christians.
The man I have in view is the
Christian in heart and in life.
He who has been taught by the Holy
Spirit really to feel his sins.
He who then really rests all his hopes
on the Lord Jesus Christ and His payment
for man's sins on the cross.
He who has been born again and really
lives a spiritual, holy life.
He whose religion is not merely a Sunday
show, but a mighty, constraining principle governing every
day of his life.
He is the man I mean when I
speak of a true Christian.
What do I mean when I say the
true Christian is happy?
Has he no doubts and no fears?
Has he no anxieties and no troubles?
Has he no sorrows and no cares?
Does he never feel pain and shed no
tears?
Far be it from me to say anything
of the kind.
He has a body weak and frail like
other men.
He has affections and passions like everyone born
of a woman.
He lives in a changing world.
But, deep down in his heart, he has
a mind of solid peace and substantial joy
which is never exhausted.
This is true happiness.
Do I say that all true Christians are
equally happy at all times?
No, not for a moment.
All have their ebbs and flows of peace,
like the sea.
Their bodily health is not always the same.
Their earthly circumstances are not always the same.
The souls of those they love fill them
at times with special anxiety.
They themselves are sometimes overtaken by a fault
and walk in darkness.
They sometimes give way to inconsistencies and besetting
sins and lose their sense of forgiveness.
But, as a general rule, the true Christian
has a deep pool of peace within him
which, even at the lowest, is never entirely
dry.
I use the words, as a general rule,
advisedly.
When a believer falls into such a horrible
sin as that of David, adultery and murder,
it would be monstrous to talk of his
feeling inward peace.
If a man professing to be a true
Christian talked to me of being happy in
such a state before giving any evidence of
the deepest, most heart-abasing repentance, I should
feel great doubts whether he ever had any
grace at all.
The true Christian is the only happy man
because his conscience is at peace.
That mysterious witness for God which is so
mercifully placed within us is fully satisfied and
at rest.
It sees the blood of Christ, a complete
cleansing away of all its guilt.
It sees in the priesthood and mediation of
Christ a complete answer to all its fears.
It sees through the sacrifice and death of
Christ God can now be just and yet
be the justifier of the ungodly.
The Lord Jesus Christ has amply met all
requirements.
Conscience is no longer the enemy of the
true Christian.
But his friend and advisor.
Therefore, he is happy.
The true Christian is the only happy man
because he can sit down quietly and think
about his soul.
He can look behind him and ahead of
him.
He can look within him and around him
and feel all is well.
He can think calmly on his past, however
many and great his sins, and take comfort
in the thought that they are all forgiven.
The righteousness of Christ covers all as Noah's
flood covered the highest mountains.
He can think calmly about things to come
and yet not be afraid.
Sickness is painful.
Death is solemn.
The judgment day is an awful thing.
But having Christ for him, he has nothing
to fear.
He can think calmly about the Holy God
whose eyes are on all his ways and
feel and know He is my Father, my
reconciled Father in Jesus Christ.
I am weak.
I am unprofitable.
Yet in Christ, He regards me as His
dear child and is well pleased.
Oh, what a blessed privilege it is to
be able to think and not be afraid.
The true Christian is the only happy man
because he has sources of happiness entirely independent
of this world.
He has something which cannot be affected by
sickness and deaths and private losses and public
calamities.
He has the peace of God which passeth
all understanding.
He has a hope laid up for Him
in Heaven.
He has a treasure which moth and rust
cannot corrupt.
He has a house which can never be
torn down.
His loving wife may die and his heart
may feel torn in two.
His darling children may be taken from him.
He may be left alone in this world.
His earthly plans may be crossed.
His health may fail.
But all this time, He has a part
of him which can never be hurt.
He has a friend who never dies.
He has possessions beyond the grave of which
nothing can deprive him.
His springs of water on this earth may
dry up, but His springs of living water
never run dry.
This is real happiness.
The true Christian is happy because he is
in his right position.
All the powers of his being are directed
to the right ends.
His affections are not set on things on
earth, but on things in Heaven.
His will is not bent on self-indulgence,
but is submissive to the will of God.
His mind is not absorbed in wretched, perishable,
insignificant things.
He enjoys doing good.
The heart of an unconverted man is like
a house that is a mess.
But grace puts everything in that heart in
its right position.
The things of the soul come first.
The things of the world come second.
He sits at the feet of Jesus and
is in his right mind.
He loves God and loves man, and so
he is happy.
In Heaven, all are happy because all do
God's will perfectly.
The plain truth is that without Christ, there
is no happiness in the world.
He alone can give the Comforter who abides
forever.
He is the sun.
Without Him, men never feel warm.
He is the light.
Without Him, men are always in the dark.
He is the bread.
Without Him, men are always starving.
He is the living water.
Without Him, men are always thirsty.
Give them what you like.
Place them where you will.
Surround them with all the comforts you can
imagine.
It makes no difference.
Separate from Christ, the Prince of Peace, a
man cannot be happy.
Give a man a sensible interest in Christ
and he will be happy in spite of
poverty.
He will tell you that he wants nothing
that is really good.
He is provided for.
He has riches in possession and riches in
restoration.
He has meat to eat that the world
does not know of.
He has friends who never leave him nor
forsake him.
The Father and the Son come to him
and make their home with him.
The Lord Jesus Christ has supper with him
and he with Christ.
From Revelation 3.20 Give a man a
sensible interest in Christ and he will be
happy in spite of sickness.
His flesh may groan.
His body may be worn out with pain.
But his heart will rest and be at
peace.
One of the happiest people I ever saw
was a young woman who had been hopelessly
ill for many years with disease of the
spine.
She lay in an attic without the warmth
of a fire.
The roof was less than two feet above
her face.
She did not have the slightest hope of
recovery.
But, she was always rejoicing in the Lord
Jesus.
The Spirit triumphed mightily over the flesh.
She was happy because Christ was with her.
Give a man a sensible interest in Christ
and he will be happy in spite of
abounding public calamities.
I know well that Satan hates the doctrine
which I am endeavoring to press upon you.
I have no doubt he is filling your
mind with objections and reasonings and persuading you
that I am wrong.
I am not afraid to meet these objections
face to face.
Let us bring them forward and see what
they are.
You may tell me, you know many very
religious people who are not happy at all.
You see them diligent in attending public worship.
You know that they are never missing at
the Lord's Supper.
But, you see in them no marks of
the peace which I have been describing.
But, are you sure that these people you
speak of are true believers in Christ?
Are you sure that with all their appearance
of religion, they are born again and converted
to God?
It is very likely that they have nothing
but the name of Christianity without the reality.
A form of godliness without the power of
it.
Yes, you have yet to learn that many
people may do many religious acts and yet
possess no saving religion.
It is not a mere formal, ceremonial Christianity
that will ever make people happy.
You may tell me, we want something more
than going to church and going to the
Lord's table to give us peace.
There must be a real, vital union with
Christ.
It is not the formal Christian, but the
true Christian that is the happy man.
You may tell me that you know really
spiritually minded and converted people who do not
seem happy.
You have heard them frequently complaining of their
own hearts and groaning over their own weaknesses.
They seem to you all doubts and anxieties
and fears.
And you want to know where is the
happiness in these people of which I have
been saying so much.
I do not deny that there are many
saints of God such as these whom you
describe.
And I am sorry for it.
I allow that there are many believers who
live far below their privileges and seem to
know nothing of the joy and peace in
believing.
But, did you ever ask any of these
people whether they would give up their Christianity
and go back to the world?
Did you ever ask them after all their
groanings and doubtings and fearings whether they would
be happier if they ceased to follow after
Christ?
Did you ever ask these questions?
I am certain if you did that the
weakest and lowest believers would all give you
one answer.
I am certain they would tell you that
they would rather cling to the little scrap
of hope in Christ than possess the whole
world.
I am sure that they would all answer,
our faith is weak if we have any.
Our grace is small if we have any.
Our joy in Christ is next to nothing
at all.
But we cannot give up what we've got.
Though the Lord slay us, we must cling
to Him.
The root of happiness lies deep in many
a poor, weak believer's heart where neither leaves
nor blossoms are to be seen.
But you will tell me in the last
place that you cannot believe most believers are
happy because they are so solemn and serious.
Did you think that they do not really
possess this happiness I have been describing because
their faces do not show it?
You doubt the reality of their joy because
it is seen so little?
Wait until you are a converted man yourself
before you pass judgment on the seriousness of
converted people.
See them in companies where all are of
one heart and all love Christ.
And so far as my own experience goes,
you will find no people so truly happy
as true Christians.
I am now going to close by a
few words of application.
In the first place, let me entreat everyone
to apply to his own heart the solemn
question, Are you happy?
High position or low position?
Rich or poor?
Master or servant?
Farmer or laborer?
Young or old?
Here is the question that deserves an answer.
Are you really happy?
Man of this world who cares about nothing
but the things of this world, neglecting the
Bible, making a god of business or money,
providing for everything but the day of judgment,
scheming and planning about everything but eternity?
Are you happy?
You know that you are not.
Foolish woman who is throwing life away in
flippancy and fickleness, spending hours after hours on
that poor, frail body which must soon be
fed to the worms, making an idol of
dress and fashion and excitement and human praise
as if this world was all there is?
Are you happy?
You know that you are not.
Young man who is bent on pleasure and
self-indulgence, fluttering from one idle pastime to
another like the moth about the light, fancying
yourself clever and knowing and being too wise
to be led by preachers and ignorant that
the devil is leading you captive like an
animal that is led to the slaughter.
Are you happy?
You know that you are not.
Yes, each and all of you are not
happy.
And in your own consciences, you know it
well.
You may not admit it, but it is
sadly true.
There is a great empty place in each
of your hearts and nothing will fill it.
Pour into it money, learning, position and pleasure
and it will still be empty.
There is a sore place in each of
your consciences and nothing will heal it.
Immortality can't.
Free thinking can't.
They are all quack remedies.
Nothing can heal it but that which at
present you have not used, the simple Gospel
of Christ.
Yes, you are indeed a miserable people.
Take warning this day that you will never
be happy until you are converted.
You might as well expect to feel the
sun shine on your face when your back
is turned to it as to feel happy
when you turn your back on God and
on Christ.
In the second place, let me warn all
who are not true Christians of the folly
of living a life which cannot make them
happy.
You are hewing out for yourselves cisterns, broken
cisterns which can hold no water.
You are spending your time and your strength
and your affections and your labors on that
which will give you no return.
Spending your money on that which is not
bread and your labor for that which does
not satisfy from Isaiah 55-2.
You are building up babbles of your own
contriving and ignorant that God will pour contempt
on your schemes for procuring happiness because you
attempt to be happy without Him.
Awake from your dreams, I beg you, and
show yourselves men.
Think of the uselessness of living a life
which you will be ashamed of when you
die and having a religion only in name
which will fail you when it is most
wanted.
Open your eyes and look around the world.
Tell me who was ever really happy without
God and Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I warn you plainly that if you are
not a true Christian, you will miss happiness
in the world that is now as well
as in the world that is to come.
Oh, believe me, the way of happiness and
the way of salvation are one and the
same.
He that will have his own way and
refuses to have Christ will never be really
happy.
But he that serves Christ has the promises
of both lives.
He is happy on earth and will be
happier still in heaven.
If you are neither happy in this world
nor the next, it will be your own
fault.
Oh, think of this.
Do not be guilty of such enormous folly.
Who does not mourn over the folly of
the drunkard, the drug addict, and the person
who commits suicide?
But there is no folly like that of
the unrepentant child of the world.
In the third place, let me entreat all
who are not yet happy to seek happiness
where it alone can be found.
The keys of the way to happiness are
in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is sealed and appointed by the Father
to give the bread of life to them
that hunger and to give the water of
life to them that thirst.
Oh, if you want to be happy, come
to Christ.
Come to Him confessing that you are weary
of your own ways and want rest, that
you find no power and might to make
yourself holy or happy or fit for heaven
and have no hope but in Him.
Tell Him this unreservedly.
This is coming to Christ.
Come to Him imploring Him to show you
His mercy, to grant you His salvation, to
wash you in His own blood and take
away your sins, to speak peace to your
conscience and heal your troubled soul.
Tell Him this.
Tell Him all this unreservedly.
This is coming to Christ.
You have everything to encourage you.
The Lord Jesus Himself invites you.
He proclaims to you as well as to
others, Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from
Me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest for your
souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden
is light.
From Matthew 11, 28-30 Wait for nothing.
You may feel unworthy.
You may feel as you did not repent
enough.
But wait no longer.
Come to Christ.
You have everything to encourage you.
Thousands have walked in the way you are
invited to enter and have found it a
good way.
Once, like yourself, they served the world and
plunged deeply into folly and sin.
Once, like yourself, they became weary of their
wickedness and longed for deliverance and for rest.
They heard of Christ and His willingness to
help and save.
They came to Him by faith and prayer
after many a doubt and hesitation.
They found Him a thousand times more gracious
than they had expected.
They rested on Him and they were happy.
They carried His cross and tasted peace.
Oh, walk in their steps.
I implore you by the mercies of God
to come to Christ.
If you ever hope to be happy, I
entreat you to come to Christ.
Do not delay.
Awake from your sleep.
Arise and be free.
This day in the fourth place, let me
offer a few hints to all true Christians
for the increase and promotion of their happiness.
I offer these hints with reluctance.
I desire to apply them to my own
conscience and as well to yours.
You have found Christ's service happy.
I have no doubt you feel such sweetness
in Christ's peace that you would desire to
know more of it.
I am sure that these hints deserve attention.
Believers, if you would have an increase in
happiness in Christ's service, labor every year to
grow in grace.
Beware of standing still.
Let your aim be to know more, to
feel more, to see more of the fullness
of Christ.
Do not rest on old grace.
Do not be content with the degree of
Christianity to which you have been given.
Search the Scriptures more earnestly.
Pray more fervently.
Hate sin more.
Mortify self-will more.
Become more humble the nearer you draw to
your end.
Seek more direct personal communion with the Lord
Jesus.
Strive to be more like Enoch, daily walking
with God.
Keep your conscience clear of little sins.
Grieve not the Spirit.
Avoid arguments and disputes about the lesser matters
of religion.
Lay more firm hold upon those great truths
without which no man can be saved.
Remember and practice these things and you will
be more happy.
Believers, if you would have an increase of
happiness in Christ's service, labor every year to
do more good.
Look around the circle in which you live
your life and determine to be useful.
Alas, there is far too much selfishness among
believers in the present day.
There is far too much lazy sitting by
the fire, nursing our own spiritual diseases and
croaking over the state of our own souls.
Up and be useful in your day and
generation.
Is there no one in the world that
you can read the Bible to?
Is there no one that you can speak
to about Christ?
Is there no one that you can write
to about Christ?
Is there literally nothing that you can do
for the glory of God and the benefit
of your fellow man?
Oh, I cannot think it.
I cannot think it.
There is much that you might do if
you only had the will for your own
happiness' sake arise and do it without delay.
Believers, if you would have an increase of
happiness in Christ's service, labor every year to
be more thankful.
Pray that you may know more and know
more and more what it is to rejoice
in the Lord.
From Philippians 3.1 Learn to have a
deeper sense of your own wretched sinfulness and
corruption and to be more deeply grateful that
by the grace of God, you are what
you are.
Yes, there is too much complaining and too
little thanksgiving among the people of God.
There is too much murmuring and pouring over
the things that we do not have.
There is too little praising and blessing for
the many undeserved mercies that we have.
Oh, that God would pour out upon us
a great spirit of thankfulness and praise.
Finally, I desire to end with our verse.
Happy is that people that is in such
a case, yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
Amen.
This sermon was written by J.C. Ryle.
And in closing, just a reminder as we
heard in our last point for the people
of God that we were called to do
many things.
Let us not return to the law and
the works of the law and the strength
and the ways of the flesh and the
seeking of our own glory to do those
things we have been exhorted to do.
But let us seek Christ and God for
grace that we may do them out of
love, out of a fulfilled law, out of
a completely paid debt.
It's not that we have a different creditor
when Christ paid our debt.
We have no debt now.
And what is in your heart?
Is it that you would pay back a
little something to show thankfulness?
As much as you possibly could.
And then do you find that you have
nothing of self even to pay back a
penny of that priceless gift that was given?
But, did you hear that word?
Gift.
It's given freely.
There's no debt anymore.
And when you just want to show thanks
and you don't find thanks within you, there's
thanks in Christ.
God has given Him to be our all
in all.
And we may give Him back to the
Father for He's been given and He's in
us.
And then we may give Him as a
perfect thankfulness, well-pleasing to the Father.
May God give us grace to bear fruit
from His Word.
Amen.
Let's pray.
O Lord, it is Thy Word and we
are Thy people.
Thou knowest our resistance, our deadness, our stubbornness,
and how our conscience is also accusing us
and the law is accusing us.
May it be different now that Thy law
would be as a schoolmaster to bring us
again to Christ.
Or may it be, Lord, by Thy wondrous
working with Thy Word and Spirit, that one
would be brought to Christ for the first
time.
That we together may be amazed that Thy
grace is so great.
Let us not shrink from examining ourselves.
That we may trust that though our sins
be greater than we thought, that we may
confess them and find Thy forgiving love in
Christ is greater than we thought.
And being received in Him that His righteousness
was more perfect than we thought.
O Lord, work, we pray, in our midst
for Thy glory and honor that we may
not be only hearers of Thy Word, but
through Christ that we may keep it.
Help us, we pray, forgive our sins in
speaking and listening and hear us for Jesus'
sake.
Amen.