The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-08-21

| SplTlI ne lOuS6d 4OT Tic JOY WHICH,
had surged and swelled in his soul as
he realized that 1.-THE Lord is Ny light
and My salvation" His songs out on
the mountain side thrilled and pull
sated with the inner strains of faith
which made ever fresh and new the
way of salvation. "The joy of Thy
salvation" On, how real! Oh, how
full and at times well-nigh overwhelm-
ing! Every redeemed soul knows that
experience. When the angels begin to
| sing in Heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, there is new song break
ing out in that sinners soul which is
new and blessed and real, and which
he will never forget. The joy of sal
vation is not abiding, because sin en-
| ters in to dim the vision and dull the
heart wayward to the Heavenly music.
! David longed to hear those strains
| again. He longed to feel the touch Of
His Lord as He drew music from his
soul The joy of the Lords salvation
had vanished from his soul. Oh, that
he might feel that joy again! Is not
that the yearnings which you have at
times, dear Christian? You recall the
fervor with which you sang:
20 happy day, that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my Godt
| Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad.
Happy day, happy day.
When Jesus washed my sins away;
| He taught me how to watch and pray,
| And live rejoicing every day;
| Happy Gay, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away"
And you long for the joy which
swelled in your heart then and made
you anxious to lead others to Christ.
You have lost that Joy and sense OF
nearness of your Saviour because you
have allowed other things, sin and the
desires of the heart, to come between
yourself and your Lord. That joy of
salvation may be restored to you even
as it was to David.
l(TOY of salvation" and a willing
spirit" David wanted joy of SAL
vation restored to him. He wanted God
to uphold him with willing spirit This
was the fourth petition of the Psalmist.
A willing spirit is that which makes the
Christian obedient to the leading of the
Holy Spirit. The spirit of man is
naturally willful and disobedient. 1t
takes long schooling and earnest effort
for the Christian to stif1e the self spirit
and give place to the willing spirit The
willing spirit is always the blessed twin
of the joy of salvation. The two go hand
in hand. While the heart sings Of Jesus
and salvation, the life yields willing
obedience to the indwelling Spirit and
the exalted Christ. But when the Chris
tian is far away from God and has lost
hic Of alf 1iyit &c in,
control. God wants the Christian to
walk upright. How sad is the picture Of
the Christian who is all twisted and dis
torted in his life because the self spirit
has carried him hither and thither, ire
spectfve of Gods will and desire con-
corning him. 1t takes the willing spirit
to make a Christian walk upright Da-
vid pleads: Uphold me with willing
spirit" Hold me up with spirit which
will make me willing to abide in the will
of God my Father, and Jesus my Saviour.
TWO other things David pleaded for
L that he might be again equipped for
his Lords service. Because of unfaith-
fulness he feared that God might cast
him from Him and that He might with
draw His Holy Spirit. Against these
two awful conditions he pleaded. The
guilty soul always realizes that If it re-
ceived it's just due it would be banished
from the presence of the Lord and cease
to feel the working and leading Of the
Holy Spirit. Being cast off by God
means the hopeless despair of the outer
darkness; the Withdrawing of the Holy
Spirit means utter and final deafness to
sin and righteousness and judgment to
come. The prodigal son in the far coun-
try, while he was enjoying life there,
did not dread being cast off by his father,
but when he came back the penitent the
dread was in his heart that his father
might cast him off, because it was no
more than he deserved. The soul in the
presence of God realizes what an awful
thing it would be to be cast off by God
and to have Him withdraw His Holy
Spirit. And God lets the anguish of
this fear sweep over the soul that it may
learn more clearly how blessed it is to
be near the Lord and to have the Holy
Spirit as the indwelling presence to
lead us and strengthen us and plead with
God for us for those things which the
natural self does not realize are needed
blessings and treasures until they have
vanished. God lets the soul feel that it
it has lost God and His Holy Spirit by it's
faithlessness, that He may awaken it to
a realization of what fellowship with
God and the possession of the Holy
Spirit mean.
A ND all that David pleaded for were
n essential to service for his Lord. He
wanted to teach transgressors the way
of the Lord: he wanted to lead sinners
to salvation. He must be restored
Yielding to his own desires untitled him
for service. He could not go on making
a pretense of his religious life. One
thing, David never was hypocrite. The
satisfaction of his religious life was not
in outward service, but in inward rela-
to God. And so in order that
he might render again unto the Lord an
acceptable and efficient service, he asks
for a clean heart, a steadfast spirit,
new sense of the Joy of salvation, a will
ing spirit, and these are what every
Christian needs. If sin has stripped you
of your harness, if it has driven you from
the yoke which Christ has invited you
to wearowith Him, then, oh, Christiani
do not so blindly on in your Christian
life and service, do not strive by fleshly |
zeal to get back into the harness again,
but let David teach you how you may be |
revoked with Christ and again teach |
the way of the Lord and |
lead sinners unto Him.