Hebrews chapter 11, the first seven verses, and then 32 through 40. So Hebrews chapter 11, one through seven, and then 32 to 40. This is a word of God. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commanded as righteous, God commanding him by accepting his gifts, and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God, and without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. And then verse 32. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by a resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with a sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commanded through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Amen. And we know that God blesses his word. to us. I've entitled this sermon The Faith of the Fathers. I'm not sure if that's the same as it is on the bulletin. Probably not, but faith features either way, it works. Every Bible passage has important truth to teach. doesn't it? We would say, in spite of maybe what we feel about a book like Leviticus, that every word, in fact every syllable of every word in the originals is important. None of it's redundant, none of it's a waste of time, it's all God's truth. We would, I hope this morning, all affirm that and believe that and that's actually a sign of faith that we believe it is God's word. That's an invisible thing which we've taken to heart and we build our lives on that foundation, on that truth. But there are some key chapters that really stand out. If you were to ask me honestly, should I learn Leviticus? I would probably say yes, but learn other chapters first. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing? And it's certainly from my own experience, it's not something I've done, but I know I could have done if from my childhood I had learnt a chapter of scripture a day, I would probably now know the whole Bible verbatim. It's interesting that there were Moravian missionaries sent out by Count von Zinzendorf from Moravia in Central Europe, who, before he sent out missionaries, because he knew they would be persecuted, they couldn't go unless they had learned the whole of the New Testament verbatim, verbatim, off by heart, word for word, they could parrot it out. and take it to heart, of course, and the Psalter, the Book of Psalms, because he knew under persecution their Bibles might be burnt and confiscated, and what use would they be then? So it's just to say all of Scripture is important, but there are key chapters. You should learn Genesis 3, John 3, Romans 3, Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, Revelation 21 to 22, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7, and chapter 11 in Hebrews, that's really what I'm coming to, is really important because it speaks in the most marvelous, exalted, beautifully ornamented way of the gift of faith and the grace of faith that we have, which causes us to have a better hope in Christ. And so this is one we really need to focus on, learn, but also preach. So I haven't a clue how long I'll spend in this chapter. I kind of thought I'd do it quickly, and then I've minded to go a little bit more slowly, but I'll probably, I'm sure, fall somewhere in between. Hopefully not falling between two stools. The context of the chapter, as Calvin is keen to point out, he laments the fact that some monk or scribe put a chapter division in at this point and separated chapter 11 from chapter 10 because it's really a continuation and the building up to a conclusion of an argument all about faith that holds firm, that stands tall, that does not shrink back like Habakkuk. He stood on God's word, he waited on the ramparts, he prayed in the anguish of his soul, these Babylonians are coming, so I'm going to pray about it to God, why are you allowing this? And I'm going to wait and hope until God answers. Because the righteous shall live through faith. So we're like that, the writer of the Hebrew says, and not like those who shrink back disappointedly to themselves, to the mockery and ridicule of the world, to the delight of Satan, who would love nothing more than for Christians to drop off or fall back. And of course, most importantly, because it's what God thinks really matters of our lives and our faith, God will be displeased with us. But we are not, verse 39 of chapter 10, of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. And then the chapter on faith is really a continuation of this, explaining what he means by that statement more deeply. So is chapter 11 a kind of handy definition and summary statement of faith? Some have thought it is, some exceptionally good commentators put it like that, and that was my first reaction as well, but reading a little more, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's not, because a definition of faith would include clarifications, many more key things, even the object of faith, Christ. How could we possibly define faith without saying it's faith in Christ? And he doesn't do that directly at least. So it's not a strict definition. It says nothing about the importance of the intellectual content of our faith, the mental ascent of our will, or the trust of our hearts, which are key concepts in faith. A definition tends to boil things down, doesn't it? Give us the distilled essence of something. And while I suppose chapter 11, 1 through 2 does that a little bit, it doesn't really do it fully. So I think this is better thought of as a description of the kind of faith, as Harold Jones describes it, that keeps on trusting and does not lose heart or give up. That's the faith he's talking about here and describing, so it's less of a definition and more of a description. And let's hear the description. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation. And it's those two verses I want to think about this morning, just in a few ways. The first thing is this. The faith that is talked about is an assured faith, an assured faith. Faithless people think that people of faith, and I mean Christian faith, because that's what we're talking about. We're not talking about false faiths, but genuine, true, saving faith. They think they are foolish. But the faithful are so convinced of the truth, and so persuaded of the truth, and so, it's so impressed on the inside of their own souls. That these things are the ultimate realities and the ultimate facts and the real things that count. They're unshakable in that conviction. They know them to be true. They're like Paul who said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded he is able to keep me from falling and keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He didn't doubt. He didn't hesitate. He didn't halt. He was sure. absolutely sure in himself that the things on which he fixed his hope and his faith were truth and reality. He's not like Thomas. Unless I see, I will never believe. Now remember, close family member saying to me, well, God just has to show me. But that statement might have been sincere, but revealed a great depth of ignorance of what the Bible's all about. It's about believing in the unseen things that God has promised in his word. Thomas saw Christ said, put your fingers in the Prince, in the hands, in the feet, in the side. And Thomas said, my Lord and my God. But you see, the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ didn't depend at all in any way on what Thomas' daughter felt about it. It was objectively true. It was an established historical fact. The fact that he doubted didn't make it questionable in any sense. He was the fool not to have faith and believe the report he heard from the rest. And so Jesus says, Thomas, you're blessed because you've seen and believed. but blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. They have been convinced and persuaded and assured of the truth. Now, there's a couple of things here in terms of words that are quite hard to get your heads round. When it says faith is the assurance, It can mean that. It can mean the thing we believe in is objectively true, or it can mean we have a deep assurance in our own hearts that it's true. Those two things, it can mean both. But the word is actually substance. Substance, now if you're a chemist, that'll completely confuse you, a chemical substance. We sometimes use this idea of substance in ways like this. That was a really substantial meal. meaning it was a real, proper meal. It wasn't a piece of lettuce and a stick of celery. You know, occasionally you might go to a UK house, we'll say, and you get served a piece of lettuce and a piece of celery, and it wasn't a real meal. But a good dinner or supper, that's a substantial meal. It's something that is weight, and it really counts and meets the description of the thing. Or we say, well, he's a person of substance. We might refer to his personal wealth or portfolio, but what we're really meaning, he carries a dignity and a weight. He's a major player. He cannot be discounted. He can't be written off. But when he enters into debate, he's a person of substance. When he speaks, you listen because he's something to say. You can't just write him off and say, well, let's forget about him. Or we can use it in this sense, maybe in a court case or a debate, and a person makes an argument and puts forward evidence. And you say, well, his case has substance. He really has a case. There's truth underlying this. And I think that that's a way to help us understand this idea of substance. In other words, the things God teaches us and says to us and proclaims to us, the things we believe in, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, the truthfulness of scripture, you can't just discount them as if they don't exist or have no weight. They're things of substance. And actually, that substance is impressed upon our own hearts. We believe these things to be a case with substance. It's a bit like Abraham. There's a correspondence between reality and fact. Go to land, I will show you." What did his relatives and family think? Well, we know the close family went, maybe thinking, like, will he be proved wrong? Well, at least we'll go along for the trip. I don't know what they thought. But his neighbours and friends, Leave this in Ur of the Chaldees, the most magnificent city in the whole world, and go to some backwater, which is dangerous and fraught with travel problems and sickness and all the obstacles, and God's going to give you that land. Yeah, sure thing, Abraham. And yet, there's people planning trips to the Holy Land now. where Abraham went because that substance so registered on his heart that he believed it to be true, which was in fact the case. It sounded far-fetched and ridiculous to those who had no faith. But with faith, The land loomed large in his mind and soul, and in such a way, it moved him and constrained him and compelled him to leave everything behind. You see the same thing in Moses. God had promised greater treasures of heaven and Canaan, and so he forsook all the wealth of Egypt. because it impressed this deep assurance of the reality in his heart. And it was like that for Joseph. Remember his dream, these dreams, these revelations from God of what he would become, that his parents and his brothers would bow down to him as some great leader and ruler figure. Do you really expect us to believe that, Joseph? But this conviction in his heart, this substantial reality impressed upon his soul, let him go through the pit and the prison and the false accusation, the jail term, many years. the exaltation to the throne, and finally the famine came and his family came down and they bowed down. Because it was all true. There was no way he could have given a step-by-step account of how it might work out, but it was true, and he knew it was true, and he staked everything on it. And that's what faith is. That's what he's saying. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. And then there's this other word here, the conviction of things not seen. Again, this word can mean conviction. It can also mean basically, an argument, where something argues the case for and against. In other words, every time faith meets an obstacle or objection that it can't be done or it is not so, faith says, you're wrong. It knocks down the obstacles. You get a great example of this, don't you, with Abraham and Isaac. Finally, the son of promise is born, as God said he would be. This is the seed, the hope of the whole world. It's encapsulated in this one child, Isaac, and he grows up a little. And then God says, sacrifice him. Put him to death, this beloved one. And so he and his father make the three-day trip up the Mount Moriah. He's bound to the altar and the daggers raised. Because Abraham, it's not that he didn't waver in his conviction of the truth of the promise that Isaac would be the heir of the promise who would lead to the world blessing. But he now meets this obstacle, but how can it be? And he reasons out. God can raise this boy back from the dead. If that's what God wants me to do, I'm not going to doubt. I'm not going to disbelieve. I'm not going to disobey God. I'm going to do what God wants. And I don't know how, but God will work it out. I'm going to trust and obey. And so at the last moment, the angel of the Lord appeared and the ram was provided instead. But you see how he knocked the obstacles down. He didn't say it's too hard, it's too difficult, it's too problematic to try to get him a different route and a way out, but rather he trusted God. In other words, What we're seeing is this, that the only way we can hold on in hard times is by being certain and having firm convictions. We do live in a time when many Christians in many ways, and I don't think any of us have entirely escaped this, and if we have, it's only by God's grace, but only Christ was perfect, we are compromised in a whole variety of ways. It's not a day for men and women of robust faith. It's a day for compromise. But we're not. And we're reminded here not to yield, not to cave in, not to sully and spoil and defile our conscience by disobeying it or not healing it, but we're to stick to our guns, we're to hold our ground. Because the word of God, and we're to make sure that it is the word of God we're trusting and not our own ideas, of course, But once we are persuaded on the truth, we're to be immovable, steadfast, and firm, Paul says. Because faith is not like And I say this with a sense of seriousness and gravity, obviously, but it's not like the air traffic control organised by the FAA will never crash and burn, if we trust the word of God. It might not work out exactly as we expected in the details. It will be better in the end, of course, but we are to trust God and be firm and not doubt. We're to cultivate a faith, we're being urged by the writer to the Hebrews, that is fully assured and argues obstacles down. We're not to be like Peter, because doubters are sinkers. And we're not to be like James says, because doubters are surfers, they're blown like the waves of the sea, tossed this way and that, and try us. We're to be steadfast and firm, and we're to develop these convictions. And that's what faith is, and that is a God given thing, but it is something we can cultivate. by God's grace. Christ has not saved you to hesitate or to halt, but to hope with all your heart and to love him with all your heart. Get deep convictions. Get full assurance. Have resolute persuasions. It's interesting that the world, as I said, will taunt faith. Your classmates will laugh, young folks. But when you shrink back, they will mock you with even greater derision and scorn. He said he believed, but look at him now. Of course, when we do things for God and attempt great things through faith, that's great, but often we do weaken, don't we, temporarily. and we're chastened and we learn and we grow. And the shining example, of course, for us is the cross where Christ, for the joy that was set before him, despised its shame and sat down at the right hand of God. So we're to fix on him for faith to be grown and strengthened, but also then for forgiveness, for pardon and cleansing. Because He was the one with impeccable, perfect, complete faith. And his faith is imputed to us so that it covers all our doubts and defections. And he was punished for our doubts and defections to wash us and then by the Spirit to strengthen us. So that's the first thing. It's assured faith, it is a substantial faith, and it's an arguing down faith. The second thing, then, is it is an anticipating faith. How do we get this deep assurance? Well, we're told, aren't we, faith is the assurance or the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We will waver and wobble if we take our eyes off Christ and if we focus on our circumstance. Faith takes its eyes off what's around and looks up to the things that have been promised, these unseen hopes. Things can be invisible, John Owen says, in three ways. They're unseen by nature, like God, who is a spirit, who is invisible. You can't see God. Like Christ, who is exalted at God's right hand, like the Holy Spirit. These are naturally unseen things. There are things that are unseen in their cause, like heaven and earth. We can't see how they were created, but nevertheless, we believe in these things. And there's things unseen in time and space, things that God has promised us, growing grace, as we trust His promises and the fruit of the Spirit and the likeness of Christ is worked out in our lives, that's an invisible thing we're trusting God for. It lies in the future. We're separated from it by time and also then glory, the bright, radiant hope of glory through the resurrection of Christ from the dead as the crucified Lamb of God. All our hopes and our dreams that we're to fix on are taught in and pledged by the Word of God. Isn't that what Noah discovered? God said, build an ark, I'm going to flood the world. He, his wife, and his three sons and their wives, that's all it. saved in the ark. Year after year after year after year preaching the flood. I guess it's a kind of response you would get if you stood in the street corner in Ridgefield Park, Main Street and preached of the judgment of God coming on the world. People would think, by and large, There'll be some who take you seriously, but most people would just ease off his head. That's what Noah did. God is going to punish you for your wickedness and drown the whole world, and everyone will be wiped out. All you can see will be washed away in the anger and fury of God at your rebellion. The only safe place for you is this ark, and when I say, get in, get in, and they mocked him and ridiculed him. He couldn't see that. It lay many years ahead. But it was the faith that sustained. Each plank he cut and sawed and nailed. Every aspect of that plan, that blueprint God had given him. It fuelled all of that, and the weariness, and the exhaustion, and the ridicule, and the doubting, and the scorning kept him building. Can you imagine who would have looked foolish if he had stopped halfway through and said, I've been at this for 70 years now, this is just too much. The flood hasn't come. Let's just use it for firewood and go back to the world. And then the flood came. He would have been the foolish one. It was an unseen reality that lay in the future. And that's like all the promises of God. whosoever believeth in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And he who does not believe is condemned already, and the wrath of God abides in him. That's what Jesus said, the loving Christ, because he loves your soul. He loves my soul. So we're to trust in him. The word of God tells us hell has been prepared for the devil and his angels. And those who disbelieve will be cast into eternal flames where the worm dieth not. That's the reality of which we're warned to drive us to the heavenly city. That's what Abraham focused on, you see. The city, whose foundation's an architect, is God. For God has prepared a city for them. We'll meet Abraham one day in the holy city, the heavenly Mount Zion, by the grace of God. And we'll say, Abraham, you know, you were right. and by God's grace, we have also had the faith to trust. How do we receive this grace that comes to us in this anticipating faith? Well, through the mingling of the promises of God with the reality of them. So when the word is preached, you say, God spoke to me. I remember a lady in Saltersland Church years ago, one of the three charges I had at the start of my ministry in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and she had been an unbeliever for many, many years, and one day she went in, and obviously God was working on her, but she said, when Willie Orr preached It was as if I was the only one in that congregation and God was speaking directly to me and I went to him and I knelt down and by God's grace I trusted in Christ and I made my peace with God. That's a reality. and the promises mingled with the means of grace that God has provided, and it happens to us as Christians as well. I remember in those same charges, I thought maybe my time is through, and I went down to Trinity one Lord's Day evening where Professor Donnelly was preaching, and he was preaching on Psalm 11 or 12, Might have been 13 anyway. I'll get it for you instead of guessing at it. Psalm 11. I went in and sat down. I was a couple of minutes late. And the second I sat down, Professor Donnelly stood up and he read out the psalm. In the Lord I take refuge, Psalm 11. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain, I thought. And he looked at me. How did he know? You see the promise and the substance was mingled. So that's what God does, and by God's grace, we taste Christ through faith in the sacrament, not physically, but spiritually, because he comes to us in his word. Then also we taste the sweetness, taste and see that God is good, who trusts in him is blessed, Psalm 34, and we taste the living God as we trust and we get the sweetness. Is there anything sweeter than Psalm 121? I'm sure you can think of one. But the comfort that comes to us. He will not let your foot stumble or slip. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. Or Psalm 139. knowing that God knows everything about us. And we sense him around us. Lord, you've searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and coming in before a word is on my tongue. You know it completely, oh Lord. We know that to be true. It's sweetness. Or the psalmist says, how sweet to me are the words of your mouth, in Psalm 119. We can taste its power as well. When we trust Christ, when we look to Christ in the word of God, and we behold him in the scripture with an unveiled face, the people around us begin to say, oh, he's, getting a bit more like Christ than he used to be. He doesn't speak in the same way. His attitudes are different. He's more willing to serve because the power, the transformative power of faith is at work in our souls. There's fruitfulness as we receive the promises of God and trust them, we find actually that the joy he has promised through the forgiveness of sins comes to us. We know what it is that he has put a new song in my mouth. And we see also the beauty and excellence of the things that are promised. So the psalmist says, whom have I in the heavens high? There's none on earth that I desire besides you. Or David, he seeks God's face to behold the beauty of the Lord in Psalm 27 and inquire of him in his temple. or Psalm 29 with the angelic host worship the Lord in the splendor or beauty of his holiness. Remember many years ago and at the time I kind of thought this is a little bit superficial but there's a movement of God's Spirit of sorts. Certainly in some people's life in my final year in what you would call high school and all of a sudden the Christian union went from about three to about a hundred and people crammed into the class and they sang, you're beautiful beyond description, from the bottom of their hearts, and they really meant it. And at the time, I thought that was kind of a bit superficial and light. But you see, that faith in Christ, and they saw these things as beautiful to them, That's evidence, I think, of the reality of anticipating and hoping in the unseen things that change us. They don't leave us like we are. So let me urge you, if you want to grow in this assured faith, this confident faith, Read the Word of God. Hear the Word of God preached. Learn the Word of God. Put the Word of God into practice. Trust the Word. Sing the Word. Pray the Word. Gaze on the Christ of the Word. Take what God says as promises to you. And believe the word of God, taste and see, and it will be sweet to the mouth of your soul. It'll change you. It'll transform your life. Because this reality, and I'm not generally a pragmatist, I don't say, well, it works, therefore do it. But this does work. That's what I want to say to folks in Ridgefield Park who I talk to and I say, well, how do I know it's true? Well, it's not just because it's true for me, but it has changed me. As I think I said to someone a number of weeks back, come and you'll see how people change and their lives are shaped by the power of Christ through his word. That's what we have in Richfield Park. And we long for it more and more, don't we? The third thing we see is an approved faith, an approved faith. Look back at there, verse one and two of Hebrews 11. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it, the people of old received their commendation. Actually, the word is testimony or testimony. God bore witness to them. In other words, God testified to them. They received a testimony from God that he was pleased with them. Or I think maybe in the older versions it has, by faith they received a good report. I was thinking this morning about my school reports and parents close your ears, but the first couple of years in high school I just didn't get it at all. But in my third year, I remember myself and one other girl, Karen McCune, who was actually a reformed Presbyterian, who sadly died in a hang gliding accident in Australia. Her dear parents were just devastated then. But I remember getting my report in third year. And my reports, and back then, of course, if you got 70, 70% was like an amazing score then. Back in the UK, it wasn't 90s or 100, except in maths, math. But I remember physics, myself and this other girl, came first in the year. I got a good report. Commendation. I don't think I ever got 93 in physics after that, but that time. But to get a good report from a school teacher or a headmaster is nothing in comparison. What does it really matter to getting a good report from God? receiving commendation from him. By it, the people of old received a good report or commendation. Where did they receive that good report? Well, they received it in scripture, of course. their acts and deeds are recorded. We can read of those again. And what more shall I say for time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, made mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release. Others suffered mocking and flogging, even changing in prison. They were stoned, sawn in two. You see their commendation, the world was not worthy of them. God approved them. What did he say about them? It wasn't so much their exploits, because these exploits were done through taking God at his word. Abram believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Isn't that the amazing thing? I was thinking about this, really the one thing that mattered above all on the last day when we stand before God, David believed me. Hun took me at my word. Debbie didn't doubt, she trusted. Hazel was a believer in these promises and realities that I announced to them and taught them. Glen and Joe took hold and stood firm, and didn't waver. That's the commendation. Isn't that an amazing thing? All we did, well, we did nothing because the faith was a gift, but we exercised the faith given to us, not as our own work or anything in which we can pride ourself, but we believed the God who does not lie and who cannot lie, and always tells the truth. And now we've received those promises in full, which we tasted as sweet. Most amazing thing. So, Finally, we see that it's an ancient faith, also an active faith, but we can save that until the next time. We're told by this the fathers received their commendation. We could really go down this chapter then and read of Noah and Abram and Moses and David and Gideon and Jephthah and Samson and Barak and Isaiah, probably the one who was sown in two. Rahab, who trusted, who heard what God had done, and she believed and was saved. all exercising the same faith. We may have no friends on earth. Thank God we do. Our family might turn against us and forsake us. Our classmates, well, Many of them will just leave us feeling like the odd person out. Just treating us as strange. But we have to understand that we're part of this family of faith. There's only been ever one way that any person has been saved, and that's by faith, through faith, in the word of God, in Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ and trusting his words, we cannot be saved. If we disbelieve in Jesus and the gospel, there is damnation. if we trust in his word, there is glorious salvation and the inheritance of all the promises of God. And so, let me encourage you, whatever difficulty, mockery, loneliness, or isolation you face, it's not easy in a small congregation in North Jersey, in Bergen County, We would love that there were thousands joining with us. It would just feel so much easier and not so hard and difficult. But whatever is the case, we're part of this amazing family of God. And finally, by God's grace, amazingly, As we trust the gospel and hold to his word, we will sit down at the banquet table of God and enjoy the delicacies and the eternal joys and sweetnesses of the glory of God. We'll feast, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Gideon, We'll all want to sit beside various people, whatever it'll be like, and find out about their faith and tell them about our struggles and how their example of trusting God helped us. And so the rest of the book of Hebrews besides maybe verse three of chapter 11, sorry, the rest of chapter 11, is going to introduce us to these inspirational examples. Men like Job, who James tells us had patience, and men like Elijah, who was a man just like us, of like passions as ours, who prayed, and God heard his prayer. We'll be encouraged by David that, well, if a sword was put in my hand, surely I could chop off a giant's head, spiritually speaking, if that was God's will. We'll be able to endure great difficulties for God. We'll be able to forsake all the treasures of this world, things we can see and touch and feel and taste that everybody in this world is addicted to and trusts in. If I have this, I'll be happy. We can say, if I have none of this, I will be eternally happy, for nothing can touch the grace and glory that God has stored up for me in Jesus. So let me encourage you to focus on the means of grace as we come to the table this morning. Let's remember as we look to the bread and wine as symbols and seals of Christ's death for us, the atonement and the saviour that God has provided for us as we look on his broken body, and looking as shed blood symbolized to us, may this assure our hearts that we have and know and taste sweetness of the forgiveness of God in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the gift of faith.