June 28

And joy in the Holy Ghost.—Romans 14:17.

PAUL tells us in this verse that the kingdom of God, consists in Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And this joy of the Spirit is grounded upon every passage of a Christian condition, from the entrance to the end.

First, The Spirit worketh joy in discovering, and bending the heart to mourn for corruption. For it is the Spirit of grace and supplications which makes sinners mourn, and loathe themselves! And such a sorrow as this, is the seed and matter of true joy: our Joseph's heart was full of joy, when his eyes poured out tears upon Benjamin's neck. As in wicked laughter the heart may be sorrowful, so in holy mourning the heart may rejoice; for all spiritual afflictions have a peaceable fruit! This was the first glimpse and beam of the prodigal's joy, that he resolved, with tears and repentance, to return to his father again. For there is a sweet complacency in an humble and spiritual heart to be vile in its own eyes, as to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. Sacrifices, we know, were to be offered up with joy; and of all sacrifices a broken heart is that which God most delights in. "There is joy in heaven at the repentance of a sinner;" and, therefore, there must needs be joy in the heart itself which repents, inasmuch as it has heavenly affections begun in it. Therefore as the apostle saith, "Let a man become a fool that he may be wise;" so may I truly say,—Let a man become a mourner, that he may rejoice.

Secondly, The Spirit doth not only discover, but heal the corruptions of the soul; and there is no joy to the joy of a saved and cured man. The lame when he was restored by Peter, expressed the abundant exultation of his heart, "by leaping, and praising God." For this cause, therefore, amongst others, the Spirit is called "the oil of gladness," because by that healing virtue which is in him, he makes glad the hearts of men. "The Spirit of the Lord," saith Christ, "is upon me, because the Lord anointed me to preach the glad tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind the broken-hearted:" and again, "I will bind that which is broken, and will strengthen that which was sick." Now this healing virtue of Christ is the dispensation of his word and Spirit; and, therefore, the prophet saith, "The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings;" where the Spirit in the word, by which he comes and preaches to men, is called "the wing of the Sun," because he proceeds from him, and was sent to supply his absence, as the beam does the sun's: and this Spirit the apostle calls "the strengthener of the inner man."

Thirdly, The Spirit does not only heal, but renew, and revive again. When an eye is smitten with a sword, there is a double mischief; a wound made, and a faculty perished: and here though a surgeon can heal the wound, yet he can never restore the faculty, because total privations admit no recovery;—but the Spirit does not only heal and repair, but renew and re-edify the spirits of men. As he heals that which was torn, and binds up that which was smitten, so he revives and raises up that which was dead before: and this the apostle calls "the renovation of the Spirit," whereby old things are not mended and put together again, but are done quite away, and "all things become new:" the heart, mind, affections, judgment, conscience, members, changed from stone to flesh, from earthly to heavenly, from the image of Adam to the image of Christ. Now this renovation must needs be matter of great joy; for so the Lord comforteth his afflicted people.

Fourthly, the Spirit not only renews and sets the frame of the heart right: but being thus restored, he abides with it to, preserve and support it against all tempests and batteries. And this farther multiplies the joy and comfort of the church, that it is "established in righteousness," so that no weapon which is formed against it, can prosper. Victory is ever the ground of joy; and the Spirit of God is a victorious Spirit. His judgment of the heart is sent forth unto victory. "And before him, mountains shall be made a plain, and every high thing shall be pulled down, till he bring forth the Head-stone with shoutings." To Stephen he was a Spirit of victory against the disputers of the world: to the apostles, a spirit of liberty in the prison: to all the faithful, a Spirit of joy and glory in the midst of persecutions.

Fifthly, The Spirit not only preserves the heart which he has renewed, but makes it fruitful and abundant in the works of the Lord; and fruitfulness is a ground of rejoicing. Therefore "they which are born of God, can not commit sin;" that is, they are not "workers" or artificers, or finishers of iniquity, because they have the seed of God, that is, his Spirit in them, which fitteth them to bring forth fruit unto God: partly by teaching the heart, and casting, as it were, in the mould of the word, fashioning such thoughts, affections, judgments, in the soul, as are answerable to the will and Spirit of God in the word; so that a man can not but set his seal, and say "Amen" to the written law;—partly, by moving, animating, applying, and most sweetly leading the heart unto the obedience of that law, which is thus written therein.

Lastly, Those whom he has thus fitted, he seals up to a final and full redemption by the testimony of their adoption, which is the earnest of their inheritance: and thereby begets a lively hope, an earnest expectation, a confident attendance upon the promises, and an unspeakable peace and security thereupon; by which fruits of faith and hope there is a glorious joy shed abroad in the soul, so full, and so intimately mingled with the same, that it is as possible for a man to annihilate the one, as to take away the other. For according to the evidence of hope, and excellency of the thing hoped for, must needs the joy, therefrom resulting, receive its sweetness and stability.

Then let us not grieve, but love, cherish, honor and obey the Spirit, that we may constantly experience the delight and joy of his various workings and fruits in our hearts. For there is no joy, like joy in the Holy Ghost.