May the Lord bless us together
this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let us turn to
the prophecy of Zachariah chapter 9 and we'll read verse 17. The prophecy of Zachariah chapter
9 and reading verse 17. For how great is his goodness
and how great is his beauty. Corn shall make the young men
cheerful and new wine the maids. It will be a great blessing for
each one of us if we are able to confirm the words of the Prophet
when he says how great is his goodness and how great is his
beauty. And we should only really be
able to say that honestly from our heart if we have the evidence
of the work of the Holy Spirit in our heart. Because such words
otherwise would just be mere words. But may we find that we
do have reason to say how great is his goodness and reason to
say how great is his beauty. Now surely, firstly, if we consider
his great goodness, we need, do we not, to consider ourselves,
consider our lives, consider our life really from the time
we were born and realize how God's hand has been Watching
over us how God's hand has been guiding us how God's hand has
been protecting us how God's hand has been helping us especially
in all those years when We did not know the Lord. That's if
we do know the Lord now all those times We didn't realize God was
watching over us his mercy was toward us and And so as we look
back, can we not say from our heart, I hope we can, and that
with a true heart and a full heart to say, how great is his
goodness? Because none of us deserve any
goodness. None of us deserve any goodness
from our God. You may say, well, why do you
say that? I say that because we disobeyed
God. We haven't followed him, we turned
our back upon him. And we walked in opposite direction. We've been no better than the
Israelites of old. We murmured, we complained and
we rebelled against God. Is that true? Well, it's a good
thing if God gives us grace to look into our hearts. And, well,
it's not a very pleasant sight, is it? And you may say, well,
I don't know how to look in my heart. Well, you ask God to show
you yourself, and that will be looking into your heart. Because
it's that which is inside us. It's that which is in our mind.
It's not that which other people see on the outside. and to see
what evil there is, what sinful things there are there. Yes,
that we might be delivered from them. That was a very suitable
hymn that We just sung that hymn 1075, and well, I expect you
realize that as John gave it out, he said it was a prayer,
and so it was, and it's a very beautiful prayer. And I wonder
how many of us tonight, as we sang it, really sang it from
our heart as a prayer, or whether you just sang it as words. It's
very sad, isn't it, if we just sing hymns as words. We don't
actually understand or recognize what we're reading, or what we're
singing. Well, the hymn writer said here, and he said this in
the third verse, Oh crucify this self, our self. It means put
our self to death. And the crucifixion was a very
painful death. You know, to put to death some
of those things that you and I want to do is painful to our
flesh. We don't like having to give
them up, to tear them out, to throw them away. That's what
this means. I crucify this self that I know
more, but Christ in me may live. Well, I wonder if we can explain
and tell that Christ dwells within us. I hope he does. But if he
does, you know, there will be a real battle there to divide
those things which are good and right and those things which
are wrong. And so the hymn writer goes on to say, Be it all my
vile affections die, nor let one hateful lust survive. Now, it's a wonderful blessing
if you and I can pray such a prayer as that. And it will only be
if the Lord has a great goodness toward us, because naturally
we hang on to some wrong things, some evil things, some lusts,
we don't like to give them all up. And it's a great blessing
when the Spirit of God enables us to come and to pray in this
way, bid all my vile affections die, nor let One hateful lust
survive in all things. Nothing may I see, nothing desire
or seek but Thee. That's a very wonderful prayer. It's a very comprehensive prayer. It's great desires, but what
a blessing it is if you and I can follow it and recognize the truth
of it and to bow down under it and say, well, May that really
be my prayer. It may not have been tonight.
You may not have even realised it was a prayer as you were singing
it. But it was a very beautiful prayer. And if you haven't, then
go home and read it. Go home and read it carefully.
And go home and read it prayerfully, so that it might be your prayer. Now, if the Lord has given us
an understanding of that truth, it'll be because of His great
goodness. So that we haven't been left
to ourselves to just carry on in this world in an aimless way,
just hoping somehow everything is going to work out alright
at the end and somehow we should get to heaven. The word of God
gives us no encouragement with such an attitude as that. If
that's our attitude, the awful consequence is that you will
fall into hell at last. with no hope of salvation. The
work of the Holy Spirit of God has an effect. Let's realise
that. It has an effect upon our hearts. It moves our spirit. It produces
a change so that we're not what we once were. The Lord has given
us prayer. He's given us concern about the
condition of our soul. Hasn't them been just come in
the chapel and wasting our time and just going home and getting
on with the world tomorrow? You come then with a desire.
A desire for what? To hear what God the Lord will
speak to us. A word of encouragement. Perhaps
a word of correction. A word of instruction. Whatever
it may be, we will be on the stretch after the things of God. And if the Lord grants this to
us, it is because of His great goodness. And you will then acknowledge
it is so. How wonderful, how kind, how
merciful of Almighty God to condescend to come where you and I are.
Yes, you know, sometimes God finds his people in very bad
places, very wicked places. But no one can escape from God's
look. And God watches over his people.
And perhaps the Lord has followed us into such places. Perhaps
the Holy Spirit has touched our hearts and told us we shouldn't
be there. We shouldn't be in such a position. We shouldn't
be there. and perhaps given us courage to leave and to come
away and come out. Reason to acknowledge the great
goodness of God. Yes, because the Lord in his
love has looked upon us. It's great goodness, isn't it?
In declaring that love to us. He has loved us everlastingly. but it becomes a time, a time,
perhaps a period, when love is declared to us. We have the evidence
of God's work in our heart to show to us something of what
we are, not in our eyes, that's bad enough, but in the eyes of
a holy God. And that will bring us to a place
of trembling, a tremble before God. Because of your sins, because
of your iniquities, because of your vile thoughts and evil lusts
and to think that God hasn't dealt with you as your sins deserve. Great is his goodness. Is it
not true? Well, it is true. And all God's
people can confirm it to be so. And all God's people desire to
be able to acknowledge it and to thank and praise God for it. Great is His goodness. We read together that chapter
in Isaiah, which speaks of that. And the prophet tells us, he
says, I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises
of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on
us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he
hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies, and according
to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses." It doesn't mention anything there
about what you and I have done, because it's of no value. It
tells us here what it is, and it's because of His loving-kindness. And the Prophet tells us, I will
mention. It's good, isn't it? When the
Holy Spirit moves us because of His great goodness to testify
of His loving-kindness, to be able to say, yes, the Lord hasn't
dealt with me as I deserved. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here
today. It's because of His great goodness. I will mention the
loving-kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord. Well, if the Lord has dealt with
your soul and dealt with my soul, there is reason, there's great
reason to praise Him. It's because of His great goodness
toward us. And such a view and such a consideration
is very humbling. Because the effect is that the
Spirit of God then humbles us under the mighty hand of God. Because God's hand has been upon
us. It stopped us, perhaps, doing
certain things. Have you had that in your life?
When God's hand has stopped you, God's mercy towards you, preserved
you? It's his hand. His hand is because of his loving
kindness. Can you not confirm, yes, his
great goodness? It says here, the great goodness
toward the house of Israel. If you and I, therefore, know
something of this, we are part of, blessed be God, part of this
house of Israel. These blessed people, these who
will at last be found in glory, And so remember these, the loving
kindness of the Lord and the praise of the Lord, according
to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us. Well, what has the Lord
bestowed on you and me? What has he bestowed? Well, count
your many blessings. What has the Lord bestowed on
you? Just pause, just ponder, just
think. What has he given to you? Well, he's given you a good measure
of health and strength, hasn't he? So you're here tonight. He's given you clothes to wear. He's given you food to eat. He's
given you friends. He's given you a Bible. He's
given you a place you can gather and worship in. Must you not say, great is his
goodness? It is of his goodness, and it's
good if we can say it, and it's good if we mean it. So it's not
just weasel words, just to kind of appease our conscience and
think we're just joining in and saying the right things. That
won't be of any virtue. You and I need to have the personal
personal experience of the work of God in our hearts to confirm
his goodness and his loving kindness toward us in that which he has
bestowed on us. God has given it. He's bestowed
on us. Look around. Look at the world at large and
think how many mercies God has bestowed on us. And may such
a recognition be so humbling in our hearts. We have to say, why me? Oh, blessed
God, why such a wretch as me? Who must forever lie in hell? We're not salvation free. We're
no better than anyone else, are we? Indeed, we're worse than
others, like the apostle. less than the least of all saints.
He knew what he felt before God. It's good when the Spirit of
God brings us there and doesn't leave us in thinking, well, I'm
not too bad. Yes, you are bad. You're really bad. And you won't
throw stones at anyone else. You won't say, well, of course,
I'm not as bad as that person. When the Spirit of God opens
your heart to see the blackness in it, you won't be looking around You'll come realising you are
the sinner, the sinner that needs salvation. The sinner that needs
forgiveness. And to realise that the Lord
Jesus came to save sinners. Yes, not the righteous. He came
to save sinners. How great is His goodness. I think the Lord has come. has
come where you've been, met with you, touched your heart, so that
you've been able to know a little of what dwells within, and made
you plead for mercy. Plead for mercy. The line of
the hymn says, Mercy is welcome news indeed to those that guilty
stand, And as the Spirit of God convinces us of our guilt before
our Holy God, we plead for mercy. Yes, you will have to pray for
mercy. And that won't be just words, it will be from your heart,
that He will have mercy upon you. And why? His great goodness. His great goodness toward the
house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them. He gives it. The Lord gives His goodness. We don't merit it. We can't say,
well, if I do this and I do that, then I shall receive it. No,
God gives it. He bestows it on us, His great
goodness. And it's real reason, isn't it,
to praise Him, to thank Him, praise Him for all that He's
done, for His wonderful mercy. and for his great love wherewith
he hath loved us. Now, love is something that we
need to covet. The love of Christ is rich and
free. My friends, may our hearts be
moved by the blessed spirit of God to know something of his
great love toward us. That love was so great that he
was willing to come to save our souls. He is great goodness. What a blessing to be found in
that position. For how great is thy goodness. Well, the Prophet knew it and
so did the Psalmist. He knew it as well. It's good,
isn't it, just to realise these wonderful favours and these wonderful
blessings that we have set before us in the Word of God. In the
31st Psalm, we're told the psalmist tells us. Psalm of David. David
had reason to be able to say this, to expound it, and to tell
us. Oh, he said, oh, how great is thy goodness. Just flows out
of his heart, doesn't it? Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. And again, the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's that which God
gives to us. It's not something which we suddenly
develop. It's because of his loving kindness, it's because
of his great goodness. It's that which God has wrought in us,
God's provided us with, given to us. Yes, this fear of the Lord,
the tender fear of the Lord, that you don't want to offend
God. This is the fear, the right fear. Because of His great love, because
of His great mercy, the Spirit moves us so that we don't want
to offend God. Are you willing to offend God?
Are you willing to offend God rather than offend people? Are
you willing to offend God rather than offend your friends? It's a blessing. to know the
work of the Holy Spirit within us like this, to direct us in
a wonderful way. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them. It's there. It follows us. It's there for us. We receive
it again and again, the goodness of the Lord, right through our
lives. The goodness of the Lord today,
the goodness of the Lord yesterday, the goodness of the Lord tomorrow,
the goodness of the Lord never fails. What a mercy it is for us to
realise that favour. And so may we be able to agree
with David and say, yes, oh how great is thy goodness. towards
such an unworthy sinner. That which thou hast given to
me, the fear which thou hast wrought for me and given me that
great blessing to trust in him. The worldly man does not trust
in the Lord. What does he do? He trusts in
himself. He trusts that somehow Well,
if there is an afterlife then everything will be alright. In
any way, he hasn't been too bad and he's been pretty good and
he's done some good things in his life and therefore he's resting
upon those things for his salvation. Well, that's not trusting in
the Lord. That's trusting in ourselves.
And that won't be of any virtue. That won't be of any benefit.
In fact, all it will be is to give us black marks. Yes, to
realize that we're going in the wrong path. We're relying on
our own ability. The children of God, by the grace
of God, and because of his great goodness, don't rely on themselves. They rely upon what Christ has
done. Oh, relying upon what Christ
has done. And so, that's why the prophet
goes on. tell us, oh how great is thy
goodness and how great is his beauty. What's he doing? Who's
he referring to? He's referring to the great and
glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a mercy it is
that we have Zachariah. And you young people, you know,
Zachariah, it has a number of references to the Lord Jesus
Christ when he comes, when he came into the earth. And it's one of One of the prophecies
which perhaps has the most prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ evidently
set forth, and we read it together, about the Lord coming into Jerusalem. And the ninth verse tells us,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem,
behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. And of course, and so it came
to pass. And there are so many references
to encourage us and to encourage you, you young people to know
that the word of God is true. Because one of the things that
people will tell you If you say, well, I believe in the Bible,
well, they'll ridicule you and say, well, fancy you believe
in that, that book of fairy tales. It's not of any value and it's
not true anyway. Well, one of the proofs is that
so long ago, long before Christ came, there were those prophecies
made which clearly spoke in detail of how he would be born, where
he would be born, what would happen in his life, how he would
die. All those things are revealed
to us in the Word of God. And do we not have to say how
great is his goodness in giving us this wonderful information,
wonderful truth to establish us and to give us those answers
to be able to speak to people who criticize. Now you need to
perhaps go home and search out Where those? evidences are where
those verses are because there are many in the Word of God which
are a great strength and support to us which will therefore Prove
that the Word of God is true. How great is his goodness and
how great is his beauty? Naturally speaking there is no
beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ people, you know produce a these
wonderful pictures of the Lord Jesus and they make out that
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ looked like. Well of course they're
far off the mark. He wasn't like that at all because
we're told in the 52nd and the 53rd of Isaiah something of what
he was like and in the 52nd chapter of Isaiah And the 14th verse,
we're told, as many were astonished at his visage, he's speaking
about the Lord Jesus, was so mild more than any man and his
form more than the sons of men. So there wasn't anything outwardly
attractive to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you think of
that, when you ponder that, It's good that it was so, because
it means that there wasn't some natural beauty that attracted
the people. It was because of what they saw
in Him as the Son of God, as the Messiah, as the true Christ. And the 53rd chapter of Isaiah
tells us Again in the second verse, for he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. So, you may ask the question,
so why does Zachariah come and say, and how great is his beauty? The reason for that is that it's
not a natural beauty, but it's that which we are blessed to
view in Christ as that one who is so lovely insofar that he
has so willingly given himself to redeem our souls. That's why,
as we mentioned this morning in that Song of Solomon where
the Bride of Christ gives that description of the Lord Jesus
Christ and It was a good description And that she was able to give
when asked asked the question What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou dost so charge us well? We have this
picture here of the beauty of Christ and And it's good if you
and I have some view by faith of the beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because he is so suitable in everything, suitable to our
needs. See, not in a natural way. We
must not try and bring natural view to these spiritual views. Because the spiritual mind, the
spiritual soul, looks beyond the natural things. It looks
to those things which are spiritual, those things which are eternal.
And we see therefore, in the Lord Jesus Christ, that which
we need for our salvation. That which is essential for our
salvation. not something which would satisfy
our flesh, you see. That means that we wouldn't look
on him and say, what a wonderful, beautiful person. But you see,
our faith goes forth to see there the Son of God in human form,
taking our nature in order to stand in our place and to pay
the punishment that was due for our sins, to take all our sins
upon Himself, all our vile sins, all our lustful sins, all the
sins of every day, the sins of today, the Lord has taken upon
Himself. Now, as we view that by faith,
what do we see? How great is His beauty! Oh,
what a Saviour we have! What a great and glorious God
we have, who has condescended to so gloriously and graciously
come into this world at the appointed time, at the appointed time,
a time ordained from before the foundation of the world, a time
agreed between Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, when the Lord
Jesus would come into this sinful world. And of course He was born
in such humble circumstances. No room in the inn, laid in a
manger, in a stable, couldn't be more humble could it? Our
saviour, my saviour, your saviour. The hymn writer tells us he was
contracted to a span, contracted from his greatness to come down
into this world and to humbled himself unto death, even the
death of the cross. He was willing to live all those
years in that village and go about
daily until he was that 30 years of age when he was to be shown
as the true Messiah, apart from of course that one occasion when
he was 12 years of age, when he was in the temple there, speaking
to the able men, and his mother and father came and sought him,
and found him. But otherwise, we don't read
anything of him. He lived those 30 years. You might think, you young children,
you might think, well, 30 years is a long time. Well, it is a
long time. When you think that he lived really without people
realising who he was, And yet you see in that life he lived
a perfect life. He never complained. No, he never
did anything wrong. Never told any lies. And he did
everything that he should do. Everything he was asked to do
he did. Didn't complain. Didn't say any wrong words. Didn't
have any nasty thoughts. Was kind and gracious for all
those 30 years. And then of course he was revealed. to John the Baptist in that amazing
way. John the Baptist had that revelation.
He was just three months older than the Lord Jesus Christ. And
of course he lived all those years until that time when it
was ordained that he should show forth the Son of God. He was able to speak those wonderful
words, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. that time when Jesus was baptised
and set before us a wonderful example. So that was really the
beginning of his revealed life as the saviour of the world.
It's a good thing, isn't it, you know, if God's people desire
to follow him in a like pattern and take up their cross were
baptised in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, as a
true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here was the Saviour. How great is His beauty. And by faith, you see, we look
to what He did. We look to what He accomplished. And we're thankful to know that
the Lord Jesus Christ he performed the will of his father. All those years on this earth,
he never stepped out of line. He never disobeyed his father.
Whatever he had to do, he did willingly. And even as you know,
when he was faced with that time of crucifixion, when he very
wonderfully Institute of the Lord's Supper in the upper room
and just ponder that for a moment think about it the Lord Jesus
Christ on that Passover night What was the Passover night?
The Passover night was when Israel remembered when God delivered
them brought them out of Egypt when they were under the blood
when that lamb was roast in the fire and And they were to remember
that day, the Passover. And so on that Passover night,
the Lord Jesus Christ partook of the Passover and then instituted
the Lord's Supper. No longer was there going to
be any need of a Passover, because the Lord Jesus Christ was to
take that place Take that place. He was to bear the wrath of God,
like fire, the wrath of God, against sin. Not for his sin,
but for our sin. How great is his beauty, the
suffering Saviour, who was guiltless, undefiled, perfect, enduring
the wrath of God for our sins. Well, does that not draw us to
Him, to think, why should the Son of God suffer for me? Why should He suffer for me? Shall I tell you why? because he loved you. He loved
you with everlasting love. Oh, we see this, don't we? His
beauty. His beauty and his love. And when you and I think what
we do, how we repay such a saviour with such unbounded love, His
great goodness toward us. How do we react in our lives
today? Well, the word of God directs
us very clearly as to how we should act in our lives today. To acknowledge that all our hope
for time and for eternity is based upon what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done in order to redeem our souls. If the Saviour has
not redeemed us, there's no hope. There's no hope of salvation,
there's no hope of heaven. We shall be eternally lost, and
therefore how important it is that we have the blessed, wonderful
evidence of the Holy Ghost's work in our hearts, revealing
to us that what Christ did was done for us. Everything. And that great work
was to fulfil the commands of His Heavenly Father and to satisfy
the Holy Law of God. The Holy Law of God which you
and I have broken time and again. Sin after sin. And the Saviour
kept that law on our behalf, on our behalf. And not only did
He keep the law on our behalf, but the price that was required
to free us from the punishment for our sin was His death. He bore the punishment instead. Great is His beauty. Surely there is a great beauty,
is there not, in Christ? As we view Him as that One who
was so willing to die that we might live. Wonderful words the
Lord spoke in the 15th chapter of John. If the Son therefore
shall make you free, that means free from condemnation, free
indeed. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. Oh, what a blessing that is,
isn't it? No condemnation. For those who
are in Christ Jesus, they're free, because the Son has made
us free. how great is his goodness and
how great is his beauty well my friends what a mercy if you
and I can be truly thankful for these blessings and praise God
for them and not to be found turning away from them and he
goes on to say For how great is thy goodness, and how great
is thy beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new
wine the maid.' You may say, well what does that really mean?
What it really means is this. It's directing the Church of
God, and here we can see the young men and maidens, they are
cheerful and they are happy because They are partakers of this spiritual
food, this heavenly food. It has been revealed to them
that they are the children of God. They possess the life of
God in their soul. And as we refer to the Passover,
and as we refer to the Lord Jesus Christ instituting then what
we refer to indeed as the Lord's Supper. And that sets before
us in a very simple and yet very beautiful way how the Church
of God feeds, how they are cheerful, how they are happy because of
the corn, the spiritual food, and the wine, the flesh and blood,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this evidence, we have
this opportunity to remember his dying love. That's why the
Lord Jesus instituted that wonderful Passover night, the Lord's Supper. So that he said, do this in remembrance
of me. It's not something to be lightly
passed over. And Lord Jesus, really on that
last night, there He was, His great love, His great goodness,
in granting us this blessing of the Lord's Supper, so that
we might remember Him. Remember Him. Is he to us? Great is his beauty,
great is his goodness, and can we rejoice tonight in that which
is set before us, in corn and new wine, to be thankful for
that which the Saviour did in giving his life. Yes, it's food
you know, it's that which the Church of God feed upon, There's
nothing else that will do us real good. It's not superficial. It's that which strengthens our
faith to remember what Christ did in order to redeem our souls. We are blessed with this wonderful
favour and this illustration, recording the Word of God for
us of that wonderful occasion in the upper room, how it should
strengthen us to follow Him who was so willing to die for us. Try and think of your sins. Try and think how great they
are. You'll never be able to actually work it out. But however
great they may seem to think, the Lord Jesus Christ nevertheless
came. He took all those sins, all those
sins, every single one. He placed them upon himself. He stood before his Father with
all those sins. And in order for those sins to
be taken away, the requirement was that death should occur. The Lord Jesus Christ therefore
gave his life. He gave his life. Don't forget
that. There he was on the cross. He
gave up the ghost and he said, it is finished. It is finished,
and that death was satisfactory to pay the price of the sins
of all these people from beginning of time until the end of time.
It was an all-sufficient sacrifice. Oh, blessed be God. Can we not
praise him tonight? come and say with the psalmist,
with the prophets, how great is his goodness. Oh, how great
it is. And how great is his beauty,
the loveliness of Christ, in dying for me. Undone, lost, and
ruined in the fall. That Jesus loved me. notwithstanding
all. Call and shall make the young
men cheerful, and you wine the maids. And it is, my friends,
a wonderful blessing to know that we are redeemed with the
blood of Christ. Something that you and I need
to know. We need to know. The apostle knew what it was,
didn't he? He said, I know whom I have believed. And you and I need to know whom
we have believed. Don't just go on your way saying,
well, I hope it'll work out all right in the end. The Lord comes,
and the Lord blesses. The Lord hears prayer, and he
grants that assurance, an assurance which is of his grace, which
is of his mercy, and it's because of his great goodness. so that
we do have the evidence that Christ has died to atone for
our sins. We have those wonderful words
in the word of God to encourage us and to testify that if the
Lord has given us that true life to seek, then we shall find. Those that seek shall find. Perhaps we may have found and
we don't think we have. Sometimes we need to just examine
the work of God in our hearts and to recognize that that which
God has done, we could not have done. That's the evidence of
God's work. His work is something you and
I couldn't have done. We couldn't have made ourselves
spiritually alive because naturally we were dead in trespasses and
in sins with no life. that God has given life to realise
where we are, what we are, and directed us to himself as that
one who came to seek and to save that which was lost, then we
have great cause, do we not, tonight, to come in and say,
yes, I can, from my heart. And that's the great, wonderful
emphasis, with our heart. Not just a theory. Theories come
and go. The work of the Spirit in the
heart will never go. How great is His goodness and
how great is His beauty. Oh, meditate on it. It's a glorious
theme. It's a soul-strengthening theme.
The beauty of Christ. How great is His beauty. Call
on the young men, cheerful. and new wine, the maids. Amen.