welcome to fantastic fabulous friday it's friday the 10th and what a joy it is to be starting the weekend i'm sure that you're excited about that as i am and sometimes it feels like you're in a flurry heading towards the end and you're in a race but run it well today may the lord be glorified through the work of your hand may you do it well and to his glory and we give thanks to the lord that he has given us the ability to be able to serve Him, even in this life, with the things that we do. I'm Rocky Stephenson, pastor of Benoni Bible Church, and I'm your host for Let's Talk. And so let's talk, let's get into another hymn. It's a joy to look at some of these hymns. And here's a bit of a theme passage for the man that we're looking at today named Bernard of Clorvox. Now Bernard of Clorvox was alive around 1090 BC to 1153. So he was alive a number of years ago, almost nearly a thousand years ago, 900 or so years ago, and he wrote a number of marvelous hymns. And he has a bit of a theme passage as we think about this man's life. 2nd Corinthians 4 Verse 16 to 18, Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Oh, what a wonderful passage! Illness plagued Bernard of Clorvox the most of his life, but as his health worsened, his spirituality deepened, and his marvellous hymn-writing even increased. He lived as an ascetic, that was kind of like a monk, and yet he had a very busy life, which reduced him almost to a skeleton. However, nothing in this world dampened his zeal for Jesus. This man was born in a noble family in France, and his father was actually a Bulgarian knight. So he had all the advantages of a high birth, and Bernard was gracefully mannered, and he had great eloquence, He was handsome even apparently, even though he was thin. I guess thin is handsome sometimes. Some of us don't skinny dip, some of us fat plunge. But anyway, both his parents modeled a high standard of behavior to this young boy. His mother taught him the Christian faith and he grew up loving the Lord. And because of the influence that his mother had on him, he actually entered a monastery after her death. That's one of the reasons that he took the vow to become, in a sense, a monk. And this is again, I just want to remind you that there was so much brokenness in our world. Much of our past, as far as Christianity, was lived out in the Middle Ages with various views. And one of the reasons he went into monastery life was just because of the rampant wickedness that he saw in the world around him. And so he sought out an ascetic kind of a life where he would deny himself many of the pleasures that others would pursue. He chose to have a life that he put aside some of the wealth that he grew up in and that which he received from his parents. So when only 24, he actually founded a monastery and then eventually that grew very famous. He called it Claravillus or that was the name that he gave to this monastery which is beautiful valley and it became Clorvox. That's why we call him Bernard of Clorvox. And bandits actually terrorized that valley during the construction of the monastery. I think it kind of makes you think of something like one of these old western movies or something. But there he was being terrorized and Bernard and his companions nearly actually starved to death in the process. That's how bad it got with the bandits that were terrorizing the place. So though there were always pressing claims of his time, the abbot Bernard regularly devoted parts of his schedule to study, and particularly he studied the Bible. His knowledge of scripture was remarkable, and he became one of the most influential religious men in Europe. He was gifted extraordinarily with eloquence and spiritual fervor, and this is one of the reasons that he was such a famous preacher, he was famous when it came to his hymn writing. He had many pupils and he would take them out and he would sing with them as well and he would write hymns. So even kings and spiritual dignitaries would seek out his counsel. This is how his fame seemed to grow. And throughout the ages, Bernard's mystical poetry has become really much of a comfort and an inspiration. The famous Scottish missionary to Africa, David Livingston, you might remember David Livingston said, the hymns of St. Bernard on the name of Jesus rings in my ear as I wander across the wide, wide wilderness." So somebody like David Livingston as he came into Africa sharing the gospel would be singing Bernard's hymns. He's considered even today one of the most prominent personalities of the 20th century. And even in the entire middle ages of the church history in general, 300 years after Bernard's death, Luther writes about him saying Bernard was the best monk that ever lived. Can you imagine Luther writing that to Luther himself was a monk at this stage? Luther says Bernard was the best monk that ever lived. whom I love beyond all the rest put together. It's quite a funny statement. You think all the monks that he knows of history says I'll put them all together. I love this guy Bernard and I love him more than all of the other ones put together. So undoubtedly Luther also loved Bernard's three magnificent hymns. And listen to some of the I mean, these are such beautiful hymns. You could go and look them up go listen to them There's actually somebody named Paige. I think it's page 360 That you could go and look up if you've got Spotify or if you've got Apple Music, you could probably even found her find her on YouTube and she does a marvelous job of these hymns in particular Jesus the very thought of the Jesus, thou joy-loving heirs. And then there's that marvelous hymn, O Sacred Head Now Wounded. Man, that is a beautiful hymn. I wish I could actually play that to you even this morning. O Sacred Head Now Wounded. And this last sublime hymn had another admirer. It might well be considered the theme song of Johann Sebastian Bach. And so Bach loved that last hymn, O Sacred Head Now Wounded. I'm actually singing it in my head and you can be grateful I'm not singing it aloud at this moment. Maybe you've got your speakers on too loud. Bernard represented the best as well as the purest of monistic life in his time. His monks loved him as a father. He was in the true evangelical succession as well as he has followers of the doctrine. He was a follower of the doctrine of Augustine. And so he delighted to even share with all people that Christ is the sinner's only hope and salvation. And that's the beautiful reality of much of the hymns that he wrote. It would show that Jesus is the one that the sinner must hope on. He's the only hope of salvation and that's true for you today. Even as you think about Friday and the weekend that is to come. Jesus is the only hope for sinners. Won't you turn to Jesus that you might live? It's Jesus' perfect work and his perfect person that we can have any hope at all. In the darkest of spiritual decay and even moral depravity within the Middle Ages, this pious monk's wholesome life shone so brightly. And I want you to think about that for a moment, about your own life. What legacy is your life leaving, even in the world that we're in? And we live in a dark, depraved, broken world, even in our days. Listen to this marvelous hymn that was written by Bernard of Clovis. Jesus, the very thought of thee, with sweetness fills my breast, but sweeter far thy face to see, and in thy presence rest. Isn't that amazing words? It's in the presence of Jesus that we find our rest. That's why this is part of our fantastic Friday, because these hymns are so fantastic. Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, Nor can the memory find A sweeter sound than thy blessed name, O Saviour of mankind! O hope of every contrite heart! O joy of all the meek! to those who fall, how kind thou art, how good to those who seek. But what to those who find? Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can show the love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know. O Jesus, light of all below, thou fount of life and fire, surpassing all the joys we know and all we can desire. No other source have we but thee, soul thirst to satisfy. Exhaustless spring, the water's free, all other streams are dry. Jesus, our only joy be thou, as thou our prize wilt be. Jesus, be thou our glory now and through eternity. Isn't that marvelous? Isn't that fantastic? Jesus, the very thought of thee, with sweetness fill my breast, but sweeter far thy face to see, and in thy presence rest." You just think about that for a moment. For all those that believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ we will see him one day face to face and the book of Revelation says that he will wipe away every tear. Isn't that an amazing thought to begin your weekend with? May the Lord bless this to you as you think through this. If you wish him to get a hold of me you're welcome to at pastor at benonibiblechurch.co.za But until Monday, have a wonderful time. I pray that you will go and enjoy the preaching of your pastor and your local church. And if you're not part of a good local church that is preaching God's Word where the marvelous hymns are being sung, then you're welcome to pop me an email and I'll help put you into one. And we praise the Lord for the ability to sing to him. And what a glory it is to think upon this marvelous hymn. I hope that it will fill your mind. Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fill my breast. And better than the thought of Jesus is that day when we will see Jesus face to face. So may the Lord bless this to your own hearts as you think through this talking point today. Blessings.