I'd like to welcome you all to our worship here this evening. Let us come before the Lord to ask his blessing upon our worship. Lord God of heaven and of earth, Lord, we seek to worship thee in spirit and in truth this evening. Pray for the help of thy spirit, Lord, that thou has grant us that we might close this year in services in thy house with thy felt blessing and with thy word made precious to us, and that we might join with thy dear saints of old, and give thee the praise and honour and glory of our salvation. O Lord, do grant us to see that we are numbered with them who have gone before us. Help us then to worship thee, O Rhine, and do bless our souls, we ask through thy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Hymn, 975. Tune, St. Saviour 228. Let us read together from the Holy Word of God from Hebrews and chapter 11. If you have one of our free Bibles, that is page 1117, 1117. Hebrews chapter 11, reading through the whole chapter. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead, as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly, Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall I see be called. Accounting that God was able, to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was head three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. The Lord bless to us that reading of his holy word and help us as we come before him in prayer. Let us pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, We come to thee through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and seek, Lord, those blessings that thou hast said, if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? And, Lord, we do seek that we might have that great gift of thy Spirit that for which that is charged the disciples to wait and tarry at Jerusalem for, until they were endued with power from on high. Lord, we seek that same power, the same blessing, the same unction and savour in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We do thank Thee for the mercies that we have known in this past year. Thy care, Thy keeping, enabling us to continue here, supplying our need in the ministry and in every way. The answers to prayer that Thou has given, we thank Thee for them. Lord, we do beg of Thee that Thy word that has been sent forth this year that Thou hast blessed each one who has received it. And Lord, whether it be through the ministry here in the chapel or online, or those that hear the recordings afterwards, or those who have received Bibles from us, that Thou hast blessed Thy word. Yea, that it might be that already Thou hast blessed it. We have not heard of it. We have not known of it. that Thou dost know where Thou hast sent it. And we do plead Thy promise, that Thou hast said, My word shall not return unto me void, not empty. It shall accomplish the thing whereto I sent it. O Lord, we gather to worship Thee, but in worshiping Thee, Lord, we come oft times like the woman of Canaan, who worship Thee, saying, Lord, help me. O Lord, do send us help from the sanctuary and strength out of Zion, and help us each time we gather to be mindful that we do gather in the attitude of the worship of the true and living God, the God that hath made heaven and earth and all things that are therein. that we come according to thy appointment and in thy way. O Lord, we would seek that we might hear thy voice, that we might follow thee, that we might have the marks of those that we have read of, of true and living faith, and that thou has blessed thy word before us this evening. that we might hear thy voice through thy word, and that thou hast grant us to see him whom those have gone before us did not yet see the fulfilment of the promises, but we have them recorded in thy word. Do grant, Lord, that same faith as they had looking forward to look back and to view and to believe in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We say, Lord, that Thou hast blessed each gathered. May each soul be precious in Thy sight. We thank Thee for the children and young people and pray Thy blessing in their souls while they are young. Be with each parent to give them help to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. O Lord, help us to go on, Lord. Help us to raise in Ebenezer. as one year is closed, and that we might look forward and do grant us that prayer and belief that they are able to do far above all that we can ask or even think. We pray, Lord, that we might be given patience and endurance, that we might be made true servants, servants who do not question who do not go against thy appointments, but seek to trust all in thee and thy divine arrangement and appointment. But Lord, that thou hast bid us to seek that there might be blessing, that there might be prosperity, that there might be those that are called by thy grace and brought into the liberty of the children of God. And we pray, Lord, that blessing on each here and that thou hast gathered others in and fill this house with hungry, thirsting souls. You bless the ministry here, grant, Lord, that continual anointing. And we do pray that we and each of thy servants might be kept close to thee, live in thy fear, delivered out of Satan's hand and from our own wicked, evil hearts. Leave us not to bring a reproach upon thy name and cause, but Lord, do grant that we might be useful as vessels sanctified and made for the Master's use. And Lord, be pleased to give prayer in the pew and power in the pulpit. We do say that thou shalt remember each that gather this evening as we do. to grant thy blessing, to send forth more labourers into the harvest, be with thy dear aged servants and those who often labour in infirmity and weakness, and O Lord, to be pleased to strengthen our churches and shine upon us as a group of churches. And wherever thy truth is faithfully set forth in this land, O Lord, be with thy people, whether small gatherings or larger, May, Lord, there be that prosperity. Send thou now prosperity. We do seek, Lord, to commit the week that we've entered upon unto thee. We pray, Lord, for those who gather throughout the week. May thy blessing be upon the services on New Year's Day and each service of gathering of worship this week. And Lord, do give journey mercies to those who travel and do give help to those that return again to their labours. And Lord, be with friends and dear brethren in other lands. We commit them unto thee, especially those in affliction and passing to another year with sorrows, with bereavements, with afflictions. Be with those who must meet for funerals early in this year and do comfort them and do help them. We do thank thee then for every blessing, we thank thee for one another in the Lord, we thank thee for thy holy word, we thank thee for the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we do thank thee that we are still found We haven't cast away our faith. We haven't given all up. Lord, thou hast still enabled us to look to thee. And we do plead that word, that he that endureth unto the end shall be saved. And Lord, we would not wait until the end to give thee thanks, but give thee thanks for each day and each month and each year. that we've been helped to continue still looking unto thee, still desiring thy salvation. Lord, do save us then with thy great salvation. Magnify thy name of Jesus in us, for he shall save his people from their sins. We pray again for all in authority over us, our King and Queen, Our Prime Minister and Parliament, open their eyes to the Gospel, open their eyes to their need of the Saviour. Deliver us, Lord, from unrighteousness as a nation, and do grant, Lord, that thy word might again have a place in our parliaments. Those that are professed Christians, do give them grace and take away the fear of man. they might be salt and light and faithful witnesses where Thou hast placed them. O leave them not to discard their own job, their own position, their own importance, but Lord, may they truly esteem that Thou hast raised them up where they are, that they might speak Thy word faithfully. Do help us then as we turn to thy word now, and grant us that same grace. Bless, Lord, with hearing ears to what thy spirit saith unto this church. Wash and cleanse us from our every sin. Sanctify us wholly. May thy word have a gracious effect in our heart and lives, and do grant us godly discernment. Help us, Lord, to be. not only like thy people, but to be thy people, that we might not be just found amongst them, but to be them. O Lord, do bless us with a portion of thine here below, and to know that thou art our eternal portion. We ask thee these things through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. The announcements, God willing, I'm expected to preach here on Thursday evening at 7 o'clock and next Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. We do not hold a New Year's Day service here, but there are those in the area, there's prayer meetings at Maidstone, and at Rotherfield in the morning of the 1st and services at Tenderton in the afternoon and evening. Details of those are on our notice board here and on our website notice board. There is also a list of the special services throughout the whole of 2025 of churches in the locality here, quite a wide circle round where you can look at in one place on our notice board see all of the special services. May the Lord's blessing be upon those gatherings. Today is the fifth Lord's Day and so we hold a special collection. The collection today is for the Christian Institute. Lord bless you in your giving. Hymn, 80. Tune, Innocents 474. Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the epistle of Paul to the Romans. Romans chapter 15 and verse 10. Romans 15 and verse 10. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. Romans 15 and verse 10. In the section of this letter, the Apostle Paul is speaking of that which the Gentiles have with the people of God. And we, of course, are Gentiles. And it is a great blessing to see how clearly through the Word of God that the blessing in the Lord Jesus Christ is to come to us. There are those of us that know that the Lord has blessed us with that same faith as his ancient people. Our Lord said that he was a shepherd, a good shepherd. and that he had other sheep that he must bring that were not of this fold, not of the Jews. Them also I must bring, there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And Paul speaks in his letter to the Ephesians, how that in the Lord Jesus Christ there is gathered together in one, both Jew and Gentile. Now, what is upon my spirit this evening? We have in the Word of God, and we have read in Hebrews 11, a list of those that have walked by faith, believing that the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, would come to this world would put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself. They lived and they died by faith. We read at the end of that chapter that those did not live to see that event actually happen, but they were saved by faith in that it did happen. They were of the Jewish nation, some of them, like Rahab, of Gentiles. And it's good for us and especially as we come to the close of a year and we think of that tracing through the history of time, we are adding one year after another. History is being made all the time and we are bidden to remember the way, to remember that which is before us. And really the whole scripture is a reminder of that. that that which is written for time is written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. And it's good for us then, when we think of ourselves as Gentiles, to look at that which the Lord has blessed his people with, and to rejoice with them, and to be glad in what they saw and what they trusted in. And it is a reminder that the blessings of the gospel are indeed blessings. They are for sinners, and it is good news for sinners. And to those that feel themselves undone, feel themselves lost and ruined in the fall, the word of the gospel brings a Solved from under-condemnation to being not under-condemnation. To be those that are without hope in the world to have hope. And to not only have hope, but rejoice in what they have and what they see. And so we have the word before us, rejoice ye Gentiles with His people. And this evening I want to just briefly go through some of those characters that we read of in Hebrews 11. the gifts that He gives, that makes known who are His people. All are lost and ruined in the fall, those that are God's people, those that are not. There's without exception that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Without God's plan, without His covenant, without His provision, none would be saved. And God has made certain that there shall be a number that are saved. And so he has chosen in Christ an election of grace, whom the Lord Jesus Christ would suffer, bleed, and die for, pay their penalty, pay their sin, and that he also would ensure, as the mediator of the new covenant, executor of his own will, that those for whom he died will come in time, when they are in time, they will come to faith, they will come to trust, they will come to believe in him, and they shall be saved. They shall all know me from the least even unto the greatest. They shall all be taught of God. The election hath obtained it, the rest were blinded. the election, none would be saved. With it, the certainty of those for whom Christ died is assured they shall be saved. And this gospel of the grace of God and of the only way of salvation is to be proclaimed throughout this world to the end of time. And those that feel themselves sinners, those that under the law of God feel condemned and lost, they are welcome to this gospel table. They are welcome to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust in him. It is to sinners, not that don't know they're sinners, but those that do know and those that feel it, that the gospel in all its beauty in all its loveliness is to be proclaimed and set before them. The Lord Jesus Christ commends his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And really God's people are the only ones on this earth that really will ever feel sin as what it is and know themselves as sinners. And yet many of them will say, well, I don't feel that I feel my sin enough. But if it's enough to make the Lord Jesus Christ precious and indispensable, it is enough. So I want to look at these characters and especially those things that God has commended in his word as being the result of saving faith. The first one I would mention is not really a character but an observation, that through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And it's such a thing today when the creation is undermined Or there are those who seek to bring the holy word of God under science and be subjective to what science teaches of millions of years or a long earth. But the word of God is very clear that from the beginning of the world, the Lord has had his prophets and that the world began with our Lord creating it. And death entered into the world through sin, and that there wasn't death millions of years before that, it all began at sin. And so it is a great blessing, a great mark of faith, when contrary to what is so universally either discredited or not believed today, that we have eyes to see, and to believe in God's creation. The very first mark here or evidence of what is faith. And when we see men sometimes enthusing over the wonders of creation, but as soon as you suggest that it was God that formed it and maintains it, then they turn hostile. And then you can see they just do not want to acknowledge that. And there are many characters that are like that, many that we have come across in our lifetime. And so it is a great thing, a blessed thing, if the Lord has opened our eyes, given us faith to understand the creation, to believe that it did come about by the word of God. The next thing I bring is the case of Abel. We read that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Again, we have a contrast. Those of you that hear my ministry often, you'll know I often highlight how contrasts are used in the Word of God. Our Lord used them all the time with the parables, and right from the very beginning we have not one but two worshippers, Cain and Abel. One worshipping in a way that God had respect to and is stated here as by faith that was given him and the other of his own devising, work and fruit of his own hands. And so set before us Abel saw the need of a blood sacrifice. And we may ask ourselves, has the Lord shown us this? Do we have faith to view this? That what is absolutely vital, what is taught right through the Word of God, and what our soul needs, is an interest in the sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, on Calvary's tree. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There is no doubt that as Abel offered that sacrifice, he is looking past that blood of bulls and goats and looking to the promised seed of the woman. And it is absolutely vital for us that we have that same faith. The Apostle Paul says, I determine to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And if we're tempted to think, well, as Christians, well, we all believe this, don't we? Well, you have the contrast there, Cain and Abel, but we have many that will say that they're Christians, but they're allowing some other way of getting to heaven, some other faith as well. And what is vital with this is that it is a faith exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his sacrifice alone. There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. All of the people of God, all that go to heaven, their sins were put away at Calvary through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The next one I'll mention is with Enoch. We are told in the actual account in Genesis that he walked with God and was not, for God took him. In the account here in Hebrews, he had this testimony that he pleased God. And immediately that is clarified in verse six, that without faith, it is impossible to please him. So he not, he had faith. He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Again, beautiful marks of faith. A poor sinner who is coming to God, who believes in God, and as he comes, he comes diligently seeking the Lord. Do we have been brought to seek the Lord while he is to be found? to call upon him while he is near. Has the Lord drawn us to seek after him in this way? Going back to what was said in Genesis, how that he walked with God, and then we think of what Paul says before the Romans in the earlier chapter than where our text is in Romans 8, the whole emphasis of what he is speaking is of the walk. And he is saying that those that have no condemnation, they are those that walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the Spirit. And so, when we think of Enoch, we think of one that is walking, walking after the Spirit, walking after the things of God, seeking after God. James, in his epistle, he says that faith without works is dead. It's not just enough to say, well, I believe. I believe in God. Our Lord had those that came to him in John 8, They believed in him, but his message to them was that if ye continue in my word, then you shall be disciples indeed. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And so with Enoch, a disciple indeed, not just in word, but he walked in the ways of the Lord. He walked with the Lord. Does our faith, does our walk testify of a faith in God? Then we have Noah. You might say, well, how can we derive a comparison or lesson for us with Noah? We're told with Noah that by faith he was warned of God, things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. And our Lord said that in the last days, as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the last days. The days of Noah, they bought, they sold, they married, they gave in marriage, they built it until the flood came and took them all away. There was no sign of it. The only warning that Noah had was God's word and his belief in it. And Peter says, there are those that say, where is the promise of his coming? All things have continued as they were from the beginning of the world. And he says in this that they are ignorant for the, and then he speaks of the flood. The earth standing in the water and out of the water being overflowed. He says, they're ignorant of this that happened. With Noah, if we have the spirit of Noah, we will believe in the word of God that this world shall perish. We shall die. There shall be the judgment after death. We shall stand before God. And in actual fact, in our lives, in faith, we will do the same thing as Noah, not building an actual ark. We won't be saved by an ark at the last day, but being found in Christ, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of faith in him, and a soul that is seeking after him, an interest in him, and to know the Lord, to walk with him. They, in effect, are building a refuge much better than the ark. The ark, of course, served its day, but a beautiful type of Christ, that when the end of the world comes and when we die, it is to be found in Christ. And so if through our lives, in actual fact, we are walking after the Lord, we are doing like Noah did, not with wood and nails and pitch, making an ark, but in seeking after the Lord, seeking to know him, whom to know his life eternal. and a shelter beneath his precious blood. What we do, how we seek the Lord, very important. You take a comparison. Those who just come in and out of the house of God, just as a door upon its hinges with not a thought, no prayer, no concern, no thought of their death or the judgment to come, or whether their sins are blotted out or not, A very different case than those who come to worship and they come anxious and concerned and want to know of the Lord and know the interest in Him and to feed upon the Word of God and to be brought to trust in Him. What kind of hearers are we? Hearers, as it were, like Noah, building that ark, building up yourselves in your most holy faith as the Apostle would put it. But then I want to speak of Abraham. In verse 8 we read, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should receive for inheritance, obeyed. And really I thought with Abraham, that was the one thing that marked him out, obedience. He left heir of the Chaldees, not knowing whether he went, but he knew he wasn't to stay there. When he had to offer up Isaac, and that's later on in verse 17, then again he obeyed. God was going to show him upon what mountain. The giving of the substitute, the ram caught in the thicket, that was all withheld until the last moment. He just followed the law. How often with us we, in effect, would say, well, what will this man do? What will happen here? We want to know the next step before we will make a step without knowing. But in Abraham, we're reminded of venturing, of obedience, trusting in the Word of God without understanding, without knowing the next step, but knowing what we should do at the present time as obedient children. One of the great marks that people have got on the evidences of faith is obedience to the Lord. As obedient children, may we be like Abraham in that. of obedience. The next one is Sarah, Abraham's wife. And I always find this one an interesting one, an encouraging one, because we know with Sarah, when Abraham was told by the Lord that Sarah should conceive, she laughed in the tent behind. And yet, The record here of faith is in verse 11, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. It makes me think of the hymn writer, dream not of faith so clear shuts all doubtings out. when we actually read of the life of the people of God, and we read of their doubts, their fears, their laughing even at the possibility that God could do this, and yet to read that God actually did give faith. She would not have conceived if he had not have given faith. But she did, and that should be a real encouragement to us. If we may feel well, we're like Sarah. We're an unbeliever. We laugh at the Lord's possibility of doing these things. They seem impossible to us. But it was what the Lord said, that which is impossible with God is not impossible with men, is not impossible with God. And so Sarah is a great encouragement for where we may begin, You might say feeling faithless and much unbelief, and yet the Lord is pleased to raise up faith and there is that done in spite of all of our unbelief. May the Lord make us to be like Sarah, to be brought from all our doubts, our fears, our limiting of the Lord, to be blessed in spite of with this faith that Sarah had. The next one is that of Moses in verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And as those two words, choosing rather. You know, by nature we do not choose the people of God. We do not choose affliction and trouble and sorrow over against ease and pleasure. The lifestyle Moses would have had in Pharaoh's palace, we would choose rather than going on the wilderness journey and being with the people of God. It is by faith that that choice is made and is a great mark of faith. Again, we have contrasts, not in Moses here, but certainly in the book of Ruth, where we have two of Naomi's daughter-in-laws. And one, she chooses to cleave to Naomi, and the other, she chooses to go back to her own country and her own gods. And the mark of Ruth's faith, it began with love, began with a cleaving to the people of God, to her in-law, Even in adversity, widowhood, sorrow, bereavement, and loss, she claimed to her, went with her, and went with her to a strange land, and there the Lord blessed her. And so with Moses and this mark of the choosing, being let go, the apostles, they went unto their own company. Very many of the Lord's dear people have, when the Lord has begun with them, they've changed the company that they keep, not with all, but with some. There is a real mark of a difference with those that they spend their free time with, those that they like to be, and in evidences, What John says in his epistle, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He says here, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Again, there is a contrast. Those riches in Egypt and then the reproach of Christ. And faith here, it looks to the reward. It looks beyond this life. It doesn't look at the present and what we have now. It looks for that which is eternal. And again, do we have that faith? Do we have that which puts a value on which the world does not? We put a value on that which is not seen by the natural eyes, but is believed in the heart and read of in the word of God. And if we follow after that, even though in that path may be affliction and trial and disadvantage in the things of this life. Moses then is an example to us of how faith works in the hearts of his people. a difference that is made, a change in direction. Then I want to think of what is said here of the children of Israel and led by Moses passing through the Red Sea as by dry land. Here again we have the children of Israel going through and that passage is a passage of life we have the Egyptians trying to go through, and it was a passage of death. It was exactly the same passage. And so we may say, concerning our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our Lord says that whosoever shall fall upon this stone, fall upon Christ in seeking mercy and grace and salvation, so we say, But upon whom this stone shall fall, he shall be ground to powder. The Lord Jesus Christ shall at last be the great judge upon his father's throne and shall be a terror to those outside of him. But to those that in time have been given faith in him and from him, Those are saved by the very same way as those that are lost. It is, as set forth in another place, the stumbling stone, a rock of offense, a stone that the builders have rejected. That same stone has become the headstone of the corner. Those in our Lord's day, like the man born blind, to him the Lord Jesus Christ was a means of opening his eyes and of salvation. But the Jews, they turn, they crucify the Lord of life and glory. The very difference, and it all centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. On one side, There is hostility and hatred and replying against him, or just using his name, cast in the scale and virtually serving how he's like to. And on the other hand, there is a salvation in him according to his word. It is a great contrast. how that same passage was salvation to one and death to another. Verse 31, we read of Rahab. We have a picture of what Rahab said when the spies came to her, that the whole city, not just her, all of the people there, They had heard what the Lord did in drying up the Red Sea, in parting the Red Sea. That was 40 years before they remembered that. And their hearts failed because of the children of Israel. But only Rahab was brought to, by faith, not perish, and we're told here, with them that believed not or were disobedient. It was the providence of God that brought the spies there. It was faith in Rahab that brought her to plead for her life and for the life of her family, to ask for a true token, to look for help when, naturally speaking, you wouldn't think there was any help. God had said that they had to destroy all those in Canaan, all those nations. But here is one pleading for mercy and help and that she might be saved and obtained that. There's a real lesson to us in that. We could think back to the Ninevites. They were told the city there would be destroyed in 40 days. They didn't just rub their hands and say, well, there's nothing we can do. God is determined to destroy it. But God had given them 40 days. He'd given them a time. And so they repented with a who can tell. And no doubt Rahab had something of that, who can tell as well. However much you might have, Satan's saying, there's no hope for you. There's no mercy for you. Your sins are too great. The Lord will pass you by. He has done already for years and years. He'll never visit your soul. He'll never bless your soul. May we remember the faith of Rahab. And may we remember how the people of God, they catch upon the hope set before them in the word of God. that the vilest sinner, as the hymn writer says, out of hell, who lives to feel his need, is welcomed to the throne of grace, a saviour's blood to plead. Rahab, a type of the Gentile church, of what we are thinking of here, and there she was, so bless not only her, but her house as well. She saw what others did not see, and she believed what they, yes, they believed that, and they feared and trembled, but they didn't seek for mercy or for a place of refuge and hiding. What a miracle it was. She was on the wall, the walls fell flat, but not that part of the wall. And then we have in verses 34 through to 38, we have those that they acted according to faith and they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his coming. They put their trust in him and saw more value in that than even in their mortal bodies, how that they suffered so much. Many of us, we've read the account of the martyrs in the early church and in the time of the persecutions of the Church of Rome, and we have the list here of those that were martyred, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And here is faith that sees the value of the soul so much more than of the body. Fear not, says our Lord, them that kill the body, and after that there is nothing more they can do. But fear him, that after he hath killed, hath power to cast both body and soul into hell. And you see those here and this mark of faith upon them all, they were looking past this world and all of its sorrows and they'd much rather suffer in this way and obtain heaven and attain the glory set before them than have ease here and deny their Lord and deny that faith of which they and brought to trust in. In these Gospel days, we look back to Christ. Our faith still, as theirs was, is to be based upon the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And it is still, in the new birth, the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith. In the next chapter, from Hebrews 11, we have a wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, and then it applies it to ourselves, applies it to us. May it be as we venture into another year that we remember this. We have a race that is set before us as well. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin with dust so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We may say, with all that cloud of witnesses, the Lord Jesus was the author and finisher of their faith. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. May we have that same like precious faith and to rejoice as Gentiles with his people in what the Lord has given us, done for us, set before us, that hope beyond the grave, a hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, he said, rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. Amen. Hymn, 9. Tune, Alfred 287. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and evermore. Amen.