Nothing gives the believer such joy as fellowship with Christ. Yes, we enjoy life's common mercies. We can be glad in God's gifts and God's works. But in all of these separately—yea, and in all of them added together—we do not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of our Lord Jesus!

He gives us wine that no vineyard on earth has ever yielded! He gives us bread that all the cornfields of Egypt could never bring forth! Where can such sweetness be found as what we taste in communion with our Beloved? Listen—the joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared to Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights.

What is the chaff to the wheat? What is sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time's mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in his most despised estate?

If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. No spring yields such sweet water as that well of God which was dug with the soldier's spear. All earthly bliss is of the earth, earthy, but the comforts of Christ's presence are like himself—heavenly.

We can review our communion with Jesus and find no regrets of emptiness therein. There are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity has not looked upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abides the test of years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called "the only true delight."

For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening!