Take the Word of God please and turn to John chapter 20, John chapter 20 for our Bible reading today. We'll begin at the verse number 11 of John chapter 20. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping, and as she wept she stood down and looked into the sepulchre and And seeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto him, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master, Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day or evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Amen. We'll end our reading at verse 20. Let's just engage in prayer, please. Our loving Father, we thank Thee for this place of worship and worship that has already been rendered onto Thee. Worship in song and praise, worship in prayer, worship in the giving of tithe and offering. God, worship as we have sat and listened to Thy word being read in our hearing. My Lord, help us to continue to worship Thee as we sit under the preaching of Thy word. Grant, therefore, the help of the Holy Spirit for preacher and for hearer alike. We pray for the preacher that he might know the infilling of the Holy Ghost with wisdom and power. Grant, Heavenly Father, that we might know the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Save us from just formality and save us from just going through the structure of a message. Pray, Lord, that the truths that we will present today might be fastened into our hearts like a nail in a sure place. Drive it home, Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thou does know that at times we're dull of hearing. Lord, our minds are filled with so many other things, taken up with so many other issues, dear God, but shut out those things. Let every thought be brought into captivity and into the obedience of Christ, we pray. Grant, Heavenly Father, the help and the assistance and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in this house. We believe, Heavenly Father, that when that occurs, then profit will be for our souls to be found in such a place. And so answer prayer, leave me not to myself, O God, but help and assist, we pray, for we offer these our prayers in and through Jesus' precious and all-prevailing name. Amen and amen. The knowledge of God is ultimately the sum of all other doctrines. There is no sense, there is no meaning or purpose In any other doctrine apart from this great central all-inclusive doctrine of God himself. There is no point in considering the doctrine of salvation or the doctrine of sin unless we have started with the doctrine of God. This doctrine is all-inclusive. We are face to face with an endless theme, a theme that cannot be possibly exhausted. So stated Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones in Westminster Chapel. He came to preach on the existence and the being of God. It was Mr. Spurgeon who said that the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. What other subject matters could so consume and thrill the heart of the Christian than the study of God? Last Lord's Day we commenced a series of messages entitled Behold Your God, and on that occasion I began to present a number of benefits that flow from such a study. Certain things that are produced or cultivated in our lives as we begin to contemplate and consider the only self-existent independent being that exists within the entire created universe, namely God himself. He stated on that occasion that whenever The believer, the child of God, beholds their God. Such a view, such a sight will produce within that person not only comfort but humility and worship. Now I want to finish off what we began last week. I want to consider again then what a beholding of our God produces or cultivates within our lives and what benefits there really are as a result of this series of messages that we're going to preach in the will of God in future days and weeks and possibly even months. We behold our God, or to put it another way, when we come into a true biblical knowledge of our God, such will produce faith and trust. Faith and trust. When Thomas failed to behold the Lord on the evening of his resurrection due to his absenteeism, Thomas found himself wracked with doubt and certainly full of unbelief in the days that followed. It wasn't until he beheld the Lord some eight days later that his unbelief was banished and his faith was strengthened. Is it not true, brethren and sisters, when the things of time and sense take up our vision? They relegate God to the back of our minds. And as a result, our faith is weak and our trust in God is not as it ought to be. Whenever we behold our God, when we see Him in His Word, then our faith is strengthened and our doubts and unbelief are banished, leading us, I believe, to a greater trust in God and faith in our God. Let me ask you this question. What was it that inspired the saints of old to attempt great things for God? What was it that made them build arcs? What was it that made them walk around walled cities? What was it that made them go out against giants with stones and a sling? What was it that made individuals like David Livingstone and Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, Mary Slessor, John Patton, and many others like them? What was it that made them leave their loved ones and their homes behind to serve in ill-equipped and primitive mission stations across the world? Why was it that churches and missionary organizations took great leaps of faith and saw their faith rewarded in a by God age? How was it and how could it be that the early New Testament Christians took joyfully the spoiling of their goods? How was it that the martyrs were able to go gladly to the stakes for the cause of Christ? How could the Covenanters happily worship God in bleak and inhospitable places? I believe the answer to those questions is given to us in the words of Hebrews 11 verse 27. They attempted and they endured such things because they saw him who is invisible. They saw him who is invisible. That's what caused Moses to forsake the treasures of Egypt. That's what caused him to say no to his rightful heirship to Egypt's throne as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. because he saw him who was invisible. He got a sight of his God and that is what caused the saints of God to do great things for God. These people, I believe, got a glimpse of their God and as they beheld him, their faith was emboldened and their trust in him was galvanized. We ask ourselves the question, how will you and I How will you and I live for God in this godless society? How will we live in this hostile world? How will we live among our family members who are so skeptical, who have little or no time for God? How will we ever see great things done for God? Such things, I believe, will only ever come about when we behold something of the greatness, the power, and the majesty of our God. You see, how we see God? How we see God will determine what our faith and trust in Him is like, how we see Him. As we behold Him, our faith, I believe, will be strengthened and then it will lead us to a greater trust in God. As we behold our merciful God forgiving others their sins, such a sight, I believe, will engender faith on the part of the sinner to trust Him also to forgive them their sins. As we behold our just God justly governing all things within his created universe, I believe that that will lead us to trust him to vindicate our names before our enemies rather than taking matters into our own hands. As we behold our wise God, as he in wisdom exercises his divine purposes throughout the world, it will lead us to faithfully trust him whenever we cannot understand the trying way that he has ordained for us to walk in this life. As we behold our powerful God as He raises and He stills the physical storms on the seas of this world, it will lead us to trust in Him when we find ourselves in the midst of life storms. So may God then give us a sight of our God in these messages. A sight that will cultivate engender faith in our God, that ultimately then leads to us to trust in God. Because trust is the byproduct of having faith in God. As a result of having faith in God, we then trust God. Trusting in God. I believe that if that happens, if our faith and our trust is increased, then this series of messages will be well worth it. Well worth it indeed. A beholding of our God not only cultivates or produces trust and faith in our lives, but it'll produce a second thing. It'll produce gladness. Gladness. The record of John 20 that we read together proves and affirms that to be true. the case. Notice the words in the verses 19 and 20, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands on his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw, when they saw the Lord These words remind us that joy and gladness are the definite results of a believing apprehension of our God. Prior to the sight of the risen Christ, these men were troubled. Their minds were full of fear. Their hearts were full of despondency. One that they had so closely followed for three years and had given up all for to follow after was now lying in a borrowed tomb under the power of death, at least in their minds, they thought. Now he comes to stand in the midst of them. Comes to stand in the midst of his believing people there in the upper room. He displays to them his wounded hands and side. A glimpse of those wounds were a reminder to those disciples of Calvary and of God's love for them, his redemptive purposes for them. And surely such a sight it was that sight because it tells us then, then Only when they saw his hands and when they saw his sight, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Their hearts were filled with sanctified ecstasy and joy. Sanctified ecstasy and joy. They were glad when they saw the Lord. So glad. Now we ask ourselves the question, why were they glad? Why did this sight of Christ have such a gladdening effect upon the hearts of these despondent believers? Why were they so gladdened by seeing the risen Christ this Lord's Day evening? Why were they glad? Well, there are a number of things. Can I say, first of all, they were glad when they saw the Lord because it gave them proof that Christ had escaped the fury of His enemies. Christ had now escaped the fury of His enemies. If you remember back to Luke chapter 22 and the verse 53, you'll remember that Jesus Christ, whenever those men came to arrest the Savior, he spoke about that this was their hour and the power of darkness. He said to them, this is your hour and the power of darkness, but now Christ is standing before them. That hour is now past. The power of darkness has been broken and overthrown as Christ has come forth from death as its conqueror. You see, the last time these men had seen the Savior, he was arrested. He had been taken away, tried, and sentenced and crucified. Now this sight of the risen Christ, it reminded these men that they'd been delivered, that he had been delivered from the hands of his enemies, never to be under their power or control again. That's what brought them gladness. Christ had triumphed over the foe. But that sight of the risen Christ had also afforded them an evidence of Christ's character, and it confirmed his mission and doctrine. Christ was declared to be the Son of God, we're told in Romans. He was declared to be the Son of God by what? His miracles? No. By his teaching? No. By his resurrection? By his resurrection. All that Jesus Christ claimed to be and he made some serious claims when he was here on the earth. Claims that the Pharisees and the scribes called blasphemy. because he claimed himself to be the very Son of God, or that Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of the Most High, was ratified when he came out of the tomb. It was ratified. Everything that Jesus Christ taught, everything that he preached, every doctrine that he expounded was verified by his resurrection from the dead and gladdened by such a sight that affirmed the veracity and the truthfulness of Christ's teaching enabled now these eleven men to go abroad with unflinching boldness to establish Christianity in the world on the basis of the resurrected Son of God. That's what gladdened their hearts. All he said he was, he is. And that's why their hearts were glad. All he claimed to be, he is. All that he preached is true because he said that he would rise again from the dead. It would be the vindication and the verification of all of his preaching that it was truth, truth and nothing but the truth. But that gladdening sight of the resurrected Savior, it proved to these men the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice on behalf of his believing people. Without the Savior's resurrection from the dead, his death would have been like any other man's death. Without being raised from the dead, or but being raised from the dead, it proved the merit and the power of his death. Romans 8, verse 33 and 34. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. We have no charges to answer because Christ has died and has risen again. And as a result of His rising from the dead, He is now seated at the Father's right hand. And as Christ stood before these men, the living Christ, it proved to these individuals that Christ's sacrifice had been accepted by the Father. With the Father raising Christ from the dead and His subsequent exaltation to the right hand, God the Father was declaring that He was satisfied completely with the work of His own Son. That thought that Christ has satisfied all the law's demands caused gladness to thrill through the hearts of God's believing people that first Lord's Day evening service. As they stood and they viewed, looking physically with eyes of faith, as they viewed the very bodily presence of the Son of God before them, this living Christ before them. Ah, how it encouraged and gladdened their souls, such a view of Him. And thank God we can, by faith, look to the right hand of God today, where Christ sitteth. Majesty and power at the Father's right hand. declaring that the Father is satisfied and has accepted Christ's work on our behalf. But fourthly, the sight of Christ gladdened their hearts because it was a pledge of his future protection of his church from its enemies, and thank God its final triumph over them all. As they beheld the risen Savior, the disciples were now assured that greater is he that is in the church. and he that is in the world. Greater is he that is in the church than he that is in the world. To them, their risen head was a great source of gladness to know that he who once died for the church has now risen to defend the church. And thank God he'll continue to defend his church until all ages end. and beyond. Thank God he has secured our final triumph over all his foes and our foes. That's why they were glad. Christ is living. He's living to pray for me, he's living to preserve me, he's living to defend the Church of Christ. Thank God that he continues to build his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Child of God, these things should gladden your heart also. You should see your Savior by faith. You should behold your risen God today to realize that He has escaped the fury of His enemies, that He has what He said He is, that He is. His mission, His doctrine is confirmed by all that He did. And thank God He is risen from the dead, that Christ's sacrifice has been accepted and that we are preserved and we will be preserved until the day we see the King. What a gladdening sight these men had. What a gladdening sight they had. When a child of God comes to know their God, by beholding their God, not only is comfort and humility, worship, faith, trust, gladness produced, but there is another thing that is produced or cultivated within the life, and it is service. Service. That's another byproduct when we behold our God, service. Daniel chapter 11, you can turn there if you wish, Daniel chapter 11 verse 32. We read these words, Daniel 11 verse 32, and such as do wickedly against the covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries. Shall he corrupt by flatteries? It's the second part of the verse. Daniel 11 verse 32b. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits. The word know in the verse here in Daniel chapter 11 is the English translation of the Hebrew verb yada, Y-A-D-A. And exactly and properly translated from the Hebrew, the verb means to ascertain by seeing, to ascertain by seeing. We could read the verse like this, but the people that do know or ascertain their God by seeing him shall be strong and do exploits. Thus it is a knowledge that stems from a beholding, that's what the word know is. We know something because we have seen that particular thing. We ascertain, we know a thing by seeing a particular thing. To know our God by beholding him and seeing him in his word will make us strong, I believe, in faith and will consequently inspire us to do exploits for him. Service for God will be stimulated. by a sight of God. Service for God will be stimulated by a sight of God. Is the reason why we give no? Is the reason why we give little? Is the reason why we give half-hearted service to our God because we haven't seen Him as we ought to have seen Him? Surely it is to all of our shame, preacher included, It is to all of our shame that we render on to our God such timid and faltering service. It is to our shame that our service is more as a result of duress and pressure put on upon us by a minister than it is an outflowing of devotion and passion for the master. To give no service to the Most High, To give no service to the one who is glorious in his holiness, who is invariable in his justice, who is irresistible in his power, who is excellent and amicable in all of his perfections, to give no service whatsoever to such a one should be the cause of grave concern. Grave concern to those who say that they know God. Because how can we know such a one and not serve him? and not serve Him. Folks, how you and I behold our God will determine how we serve Him. How we see Him will determine how we see Him. You know, some people, they behold God as He is revealed in nature. But to do so is to behold a God that is above us. And then some people, they behold God as He is revealed in providence. But that is to behold a God who is beyond us. Others, they see God and they behold God as He is revealed in the stringent law. But to behold God in such a manner is to behold a God who is against us. But to behold God in Christ. That is to behold a God who is for us. That is to behold a God who is with us. And that is to behold a God who is in us. if we see him in Christ. If we behold our God in Christ, well then we'll behold him in the right manner. A God who is for us, a God who is in us, and a God who is with us. When the disciples beheld the Son of God on the evening of his resurrection, And during those subsequent days before his final ascending into heaven, that sight propelled this once fearful, now fearless band of men. It now propelled them into a godless world as heaven's heralds of the gospel message. Because I read that having seen Christ ascend back into heaven in Mark 16, 20, I read, and they went forth and preached everywhere. The Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following. What did the sight of the risen Christ do in Mary Magdalene's heart? We have read it together in John chapter 20. Mary Magdalene, verse 18, came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. She carried the message to the saints of God. that Christ was risen, she served the Master because she saw Him. Fellow believer, can you stand under the shadow of the cross today? Can you fix your eyes upon the spittle-drenched, crimson-stained body of your Lord and Savior? And that sight not propel you to serve Jesus Christ in some way? Can you do that? Can you behold the Savior and the cross as He gives His very life for you and that sight not convict you in how you have held back your life from Him in service, loyal, faithful service for Him? Then can you raise your eyes to heaven and behold your God reigning on heaven's throne and that sight not inspire you? to do all that you can for Him gladly. You know, folks, if we only knew a little of the excellencies of Christ, what He has done for us, what He is doing for us now, I believe that would cause us to gladly and wholeheartedly serve Him. You ask the question, how do I know a man or a woman, a young person, a child knows the Lord? How do I know it? Well, I know it because they serve Him. They serve him at home. They serve him in school. They serve him in their place of work. They serve him within the local church. That's how I know a person knows the Lord. They've seen the Lord. They serve him in some way. They serve him in prayer. They serve him encouraging the saints of God. They serve him encouraging the pastor. That's how I know. That's how I know people have seen the Lord, that beheld the Lord. Those who have seen God by the eye of faith, they serve Him. Because seeing leads to serving. Seeing leads to serving. I have seen Him. I have seen Him by the eye of faith. Behold one hanging on the cross in agonies and blood. Thank God I've seen Him. And the sight of Him has caused me to serve Him. May I ever see him, ever, until the day that faith gives way to sight near the cross. Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day with its shadow over me. May God help us to see the Christ today. May God help us to see our God today. You know I could go on and speak about love and surely love is a byproduct of seeing the Savior. I think of that woman that we find in the Song of Solomon, her Her beloved withdraws himself. She cannot find him, but eventually she does. And we find there in the Song of Psalm, I believe it's chapter 2, maybe chapter 3, she now holds on to him. I have found him whom my soul loveth. I have found him whom my soul loveth. And surely whenever we see our Savior, and all that He has done for us, and all that He is doing for us, and all that He will do for us, surely one of the most powerful byproducts of such a sight, such a beholding, is love, love for Him. I don't have time to develop that thought. I want to develop one final thought. We've thought about the many things that are a result of beholding our God. Can I say in the final place, one final benefit of beholding our God? Beholding our God is transformational. If you turn to 2 Corinthians, and this is the last reference that I ask you to turn to, 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We're going to the final verse of the chapter, so the verse number 18. Can I say that this verse sits within the context of Moses whenever he stood before the Lord there on the mount, whenever the law was being given. Verse number seven, it speaks about how the children of Israel behold the face of Moses, or they could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. And whenever Moses came down, you'll understand that he had a place of veil over his face, you should know that. Verse 13, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face. Well, these words sit within the context of this glory, having seen God, he's seen his Lord, he's seen his Savior, he's seen the God of heaven. Verse 18, but we all, with an open face." That word, open face, it means an unveiled face, an unveiled face. So not like Moses, who had to veil his face, but we all with an open or with an unveiled face, beholding as in a glass or in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, you become like the people you associate with. I'm sure you know that. I'm sure young people, your parents have said that to you, your friends. They have a great influence on you. A great impression can be made upon you by those people that you associate with. It is just part of human nature that we are molded and shaped by those people that we spend our most time with. We imbibe their opinions. We copy their habits. We imitate their manners, we fall into their customs, those that we have daily association with. Their sentiments become our sentiments, their convictions become our convictions, their ways become our ways, their language becomes our language. We are, by nature, impressionable beings. And so, the longer that we spend with an individual, the more we take on the likeness of that person. Well, as the Christian beholds their God, as they contemplate the glory of God, as we've read here, as they spend time with God in prayer, in the reading of the word, that sight is transformational. By beholding God in this way, the apostle, he states that we are changed. The word literally in the Greek is metamorpho. It is from where we get our English word metamorphosis. The young people know all about that. Biology class, the caterpillar changing into the butterfly, it metamorphosizes. We have this word, it is the word here, changed, metamorpho. We are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God. Brethren and sisters, it's just very simple. We become what we behold. If you want simply summed up, we become what we behold. So if you desire to sit before some television screen and watch some dirty soap, you'll imbibe its convictions, its respect with respect to sin, its flaunting of sin, you'll accept that because you become what you behold. So then what do we behold when we behold the glory of God? It speaks here about beholding the glory of the Lord. What is this referring to? I believe that this is referring to Christ. We beheld his glory. John 1, the glory is of the only begotten. And so the glory of God, we're seeing Christ, we're looking at Christ, we need to go quickly. What then do we behold when we behold the glory then of God in the person of Jesus Christ? I say, we behold his meekness. We behold his meekness. Moses was meek above all men which were upon the face of the earth. That is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. But his meekness was infinitely lesser. than the meekness of Jesus Christ. The Savior said, I am meek and lowly of heart. What is meekness? Well, meekness, as Thomas Watson put it, is a grace whereby we are enabled by the Spirit of God to moderate our angry passions. He says it consists in three things, the bearing of injuries, the forgiving of injuries, and the recompensing good for evil. That's what meekness is. Think of Christ, the bearing of injuries. He was reviled, and he reviled not again. The forgiving of injuries. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, is what he said from the tree. The recompensing good for evil. We who were once rebels, made children of the Most High. Surely in Christ we see meekness personified, and as we behold Him, well then we in our lives by the Spirit of God are changed into that same image. We behold His meekness, we ourselves become meek. Then I think about the gentleness of Christ, The mothers with their infants must have discerned, must have discerned the gentleness of Christ when they were willing to bring their little ones to have them blessed by him. Remember, suffer little children to come on to me. How his gentleness stood in stark contrast to the harshness of his disciples as those disciples attempted to chase the mothers and childrens away on that occasion. But then you see Christ was filled with the Spirit without measure. And what is one of the fruits of the Spirit? Gentleness, and also meekness. Gentle Jesus, the hymn writer said, meek and mild. Look upon the little child. And as we behold the gentleness of Christ, I believe that we too will be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God. If you're an individual in this house, and you're harsh, dad at home, you're harsh, your words are harsh. Speaking to the ladies, speaking to others, if you're harsh in your language, you haven't been changed into the same image. Jesus Christ was gentle, so gentle. And I believe that as we behold the gentleness of Christ, it will make us sweet-tempered and it'll make us gentle-spirited. It'll make us honest in our dealings with our fellow man. It will make us kind to all about us. It will make us godly people to live with within the home. It will make us good neighbors and faithful friends. As we behold the gentleness of Christ, we'll be changed into his image, we'll be metamorphosized. Then I think about the patience of Christ. Slow learners. Slow learners were how he described those men on the MS road. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And yet behold his patience as he speaks and unfolds to those two students the truths about himself and all the scriptures. Luke 24, 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded onto them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. How longsuffering and patient he has been with us. Why then are impatience with our fellow brothers and sisters? Now as we behold God patiently working with us, Let us then be changed into the same image and exhibit similar patience as God works with others within his family. Finally, as we behold the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, we behold his humility. He'd taken our humanity. God the Son was humbled. View him as he kneels before the dusty feet of those proud disciples. See him as he takes a pitcher of water in a bowl. Behold him as he washes their feet and then wipes them dry with a girded towel. How he humbled himself. He made himself of no reputation, but humbled himself and was made in the likeness of man. He was made a little lower than the angels for a little time. How he humbled himself. Which one of us would not need to behold his humility? Not be changed into that same image. I could go on and I'm not going to. I could go on and I could speak about the Savior's love. His compassion, His tenderness, His forgiveness, His goodness, His truthfulness, and many other of His attributes and His graces, but time does not permit me today. But let me ask you as I close, brethren and sisters, do you bear any resemblance to your Lord in these aforementioned things? Is the image of Christ stamped on you? Is it stamped on me? Are you being changed into the likeness of Christ by beholding Him in the Gospel, and in the Word, and submitting yourself to the sanctifying power of the Spirit of God, because that is the agency whereby we are changed. It is not by us trying to be humble, it is not by us trying to be gentle, by trying to be meek, trying to be patient, trying to be loving, it's not that. No, it is by the work of the Holy Ghost. We are changed in the same image from the glory of God, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. by the power of the Holy Ghost, by asking God, the Holy Spirit, to sanctify your brother, sister. That's how you'll be changed. Not by getting yourself into some legal bondage, but by the blessed operating of the Spirit of God within your soul. Go home today and pray, Holy Spirit, change me into the image of Jesus Christ. change me into my Savior's likeness. You know one of the saddest things in the Christian ministry? It is witnessing sinners beholding Christ in the gospel and never being changed by such a view. Is it not the case, sinner, that Christ is held up before your eyes in this meeting house from place to place, from week to week? and you behold him in the gospel. And yet the tragedy is that such a sight has done nothing to bring about that internal and that radical transformation that is required to fit your soul for heaven. May God be pleased to remove sin's blinkers. It will enable you to behold the lamb for sinners slain and having seen him, you'll fall in love with him. and you'll be changed by him and by the grace of God. May God, as we go through these messages, change us. And may all of these things become evident in our lives as we sit under the preached word. God himself will work in our hearts. And as a result, we'll be changed into the likeness of our God. That we will resemble the children of the king. That's what we find in the Old Testament. They resembled the children of the King. May God help us to be like the children of King Jesus. Royal seed. Part of the family of God. May we behold our God. Let's bow in prayer, please. Thank you for your listening. We are beyond our time, we understand that. We thank you for your listening. Our loving Father, we do cry to Thee that we might know the blessing of Thy word to our souls. Lord, use it to sanctify us, we pray. Help us to be changed into the same image. Oh God, this image of Christ. Help us to be Christ-like in our conduct, in our behavior, in our thinking. Pray, O Father, that you'll take away all worldly tints from our lives. Help us, O God, to resemble the children of the King. Help us to be like Him. and may others see Christ in us and Christ through us. And so finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind. Live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen and amen.