Amen. We'll please remain standing for the reading of God's Word this evening. We will continue reading in 2 Samuel 2, beginning in verse 8, and we will read the entirety of the chapter. This is God's holy Word. But Abner the son of Nair, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Manahem. And he made him king over Gilead, and the Asherites, and Jezreel, and Ephraim, and Benjamin, and all Israel. Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Manahem to Gibeon. And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, let the young men arise and compete before us. And Joab said, let them arise. Then they arose and passed over by number 12 for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and 12 of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helketh Hazarim, which is at Gibeon. And the battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift as a foot, as a wild gazelle, and Asahel pursued Abner, And as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, is it you Asahel? And he answered, it is I. Abner said to him, turn aside to your right hand or to your left and seize one of the young men and take his spoil. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of the spear, so that the spear came out his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still. But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah. which lies before Gea on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Amner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. And Amner called to Joab, shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers? And Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning. So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. And Abner and his men went all that night through the Ereba. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Maanaim. And Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants 19 men, besides Asahel. But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the living God shall stand forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our God and our Father, we thank you for this, your word. And by the power of your spirit, we would ask this night that you would bring to bear more than just history and facts. Would you show us the gospel and give to us Jesus? We pray in his name. Amen. You may be seated. Upon further reflection, I should have asked Bobby to read the second half with all those names and I should have taken the first half, but we will continue. If you were with us this morning, you heard Pastor Joel, he referenced 2 Samuel chapter one. We were there a couple of weeks ago and we looked at that lament, the grief that David had, the sincere grief over the death of Saul and of Jonathan, of his other sons and of the men And we said that, well, grief has a word. It's not the final word. Chapter two bears that out. It begins by saying, after this, it has a word, but it's not the final word. And yet I do want to kind of bring about a pause, because sometimes I think when we're sad, or better yet, when other people are sad, what we really want to do, even if we've given our best effort, is we want to sit in silence and we want to say to them, everything's gonna be okay. And so I think sometimes we can have that kind of lens as we look to the Bible. And we can say, you know, things look really bad right now, but just wait till tomorrow. It's going to get a lot better. And I think sometimes we need to come to the truth of the matter. Yes, there is a better day to come, but we cannot guarantee our brothers and sisters that it will be tomorrow. History sometimes is not like fairy tales. It can be very messy, and that is what takes place in chapter two. We get a little bit of the messiness of what will unfold. It's easy to think that, well, Saul's dead. Things should kind of, well, calm down. Things should kind of smooth out a little bit, and that's not at all what our text bears out. It gives a hint of that, and it's just a hint because it takes very short amounts of time before we learn there is indeed great, opposition. And so what I want to do tonight, you can see it in the title Kings and Kingdoms. I want us to look at two kings. We'll finish with a third king, but I want you to see their kingdoms because something of what takes place in chapter two really does matter for you. Even this day, it demonstrates the pattern of what it means to be a Christian in the world. How do we live in a fallen world? Part of what we need to know is that the Lord has set up His kingdom, and yet we should not be surprised at all, there is always opposition. And so how do we live in a world in which there is opposition? So I want to break this text down in two big points, and we'll finish, perhaps, you might say, with the conclusion of a third point. The first is, there's a new king, and you can see it in verses one to seven. You were expecting that king, his name was or his name is, excuse me, is David. Saul is dead. He's lamented sincerely over it. But don't you find it striking what he does? Look in verse one. After this, David inquired of the Lord. And in fact, what you're going to see in just a couple of verses, verses one, two, and three, is you're going to see a variation of this phrase, but it will say something to the effect of, shall I go up? Go up. What you're finding out is there's this ascension of David. Five times you're going to see it in three verses. That David himself is ascending. And I don't think it's simply geographic. It is geographical in the sense that where he is going is going to require a 3,000 foot above sea level hike. But that's not exactly what I think the writer is trying to say. David himself is inquiring of the Lord. He's doing something that Saul himself did not. David is beginning his kingship by asking the Lord, what shall I do? And I think there's something here that demonstrates a pattern of good kings moving forward. And it's this pattern that says, I take counsel in the Lord. I seek the Lord's will. As I said, there's this idea of His ascension, and I don't mean to parallel that with, say, the ascension of Christ. He's not climbing a ladder. David is not seeking some title. He's being positioned to a title. You remember, he was chosen. He was anointed by God in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel. And he's been awaiting this throne. And he's had to wait, not just simply patiently because of time, but he's had to endure a great deal of opposition. And so he begins with saying, Lord, what shall I do? Shall I go up? This is the opposite of Saul, isn't it? But this is exactly what Samuel said a king should do. Kings should inquire of the Lord. They should seek to listen and obey. And we can just fundamentally say of Saul, he did not seek out the counsel of the Lord. He did not obey, and it cost him the kingdom and his life. And David begins here by saying, God, what shall I do? He doesn't begin with some kind of political persuasion. He's not trying to win a party of people. He doesn't do it by military might. And you could be scratching your head because perhaps he could have done that. This is David. Saul is gone. He's dead. The majority of his family line is gone. In fact, there's only one left. David, you have the favor of the people. You have all the military success. You might even say, hey, I was anointed way back when. Why don't I just go ahead and take my place? But he doesn't do any of those things. He begins with inquiring of the Lord. He begins by faithfulness. He begins by obedience. By saying, God, what shall I do? John Calvin in his sermons on 2 Samuel I appreciate how he kind of captures what David does here. He says, even though the time was ripe for him to enjoy the crown, nevertheless, he asked God to tell him what he should do. Why? Because although he was on the way, he still knew he could err seriously if God did not guide him. Let us learn through all of life to go to the Lord, especially when we are facing an important decision. Did you catch what Calvin was saying there? It's quite clear that God had made it His throne. And yet, David is aware, just because it's there doesn't mean I can't err on my own. I need the Lord's help. Can't we all say that this night? You don't need a throne to be able to say, I need the Lord's help. I must inquire of God. Now to be sure, we're not quite clear exactly how David inquired of the Lord. Perhaps he used Abiathar, the high priest. But I don't think his method is really what is most important. It's the fact that he went. It's the fact that he said, I can't do this on my own, and I need help. Christian, do you know the kind of blessing you have this night that you don't need in Abiathar? You have Jesus. You have instant access to the Lord. We can inquire of Him any moment of any day for any reason. And we have many reasons to inquire of Him. We ought to seek His counsel. And to be sure, we have ways in which we can do that. We can use the Word of God. We can use prayer. And sure, none of the Word of God is going to tell you by name who you should marry, what company you ought to take the job with. But we can be very clear, can't we? It gives us the proper attitudes and the priorities by which we ought to live our life. It tells us how to love the Lord and how to follow Him. And so David is asking of God, shall I go up to the cities of Judah? And God tells him very clearly, go to Hebron. And what David does here I think is quite significant. Because the question could be simply stated, what do you want me to do? Should I just go by myself? That's not what David does here. This is a defining moment. When David decides to leave, he's leaving with everybody. This is not just David going to Hebron. You can read it. Who goes with him? Everyone, even his wives. This is a complete breaking off because you remember where he's been. He's been in the land of the Philistines. Can I go back into Israel after all that I've done? And God says, you go back and you go to Hebron. And so he takes his wives, he takes his men, he takes everybody and he's moving to Hebron. Now, I am lucky enough to have only had one time, maybe twice in my marriage, once notably, in which we had to have that conversation. We're going to have to move. I could only imagine what this one would have been like. Don't you wish you would have been there when David came home, came to his tent, or whatever it is that he was living in. I guess you couldn't say, hey sweetie, it would have been to have sweeties, but we're moving. We're leaving. To Jerusalem? No, not Jerusalem. A little bit further south. We're going to Hebron. Now you hear that and you go, man, that sounds like the short end of the stick. This is where I wish I would have been there. I want to know, how did they respond? You see, to you and to me, we can read this and go, this sounds like a very insignificant place. If you know anything about your Bible, this is a very significant city. Don't turn there right now, but you're happy to go and check me here. You can begin in Genesis chapter 13. Genesis chapter 13 is where Abram, he's not Abraham yet, he's Abram. Abram and Lot, they're moving, they're leaving. And they see a land and they're going to divide, they're going to separate. And you remember, Lot looks out and goes, that land looks wonderful. I'm going over there. That was Sodom. Where does Abraham go? Abram. He goes to Hebron, and there he builds an altar. Hebron is the place where Sarai, at that point, learns that she's gonna have a son. Hebron is the place that Sarah, in fact, dies and is buried. Hebron is the place where Abraham is buried. Did you know Hebron is the place where Isaac is buried, where Rebekah is buried, where Jacob is buried, where Leah and Rachel are buried? Did you catch anything in there? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You were talking about a city of covenantal significance, aren't you? You see this writer is trying to draw your attention. He's trying to connect you to someone. He's saying, here's David, but he's connected to Abraham. And in fact, if you know anything about your New Testament, you can read something very similar and say Matthew chapter one. Luke chapter 3 gives a genealogy that takes all the way back to Adam. Matthew wants to say something a little bit different. Matthew says it this way, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, son of Abraham. I think what you're getting in bite-sized form is here's the kingship. Pay attention. If you were with us when we had our first Samuel series, we often referenced chapter 16. Not simply because David was anointed, but there was that verse in there. It was how David was chosen. They were looking for everyone else in the family. And it was what? God has to tell Samuel, I don't look on the outward appearance like you do. I look on the heart. And then we started to see how does that pattern play itself out? How quickly we look at outward appearances. Saul's appearances are often mentioned. But the Lord is always looking at the heart. This is a similar kind of passage. This is where you're going to begin to see this pattern in 2 Samuel. Do you want to see the kingdom of God grow? Do you want to see how God positions His kings? Pay attention to chapter 2. This is what He is beginning to do. Here is this new king. His name is David, and he begins at Hebron. Now, what would he do? Isn't that a good question? What would the king's first thing be? Well, he hears of this report, Jabesh, Gilead. They were the ones we've just recently talked about them. They were the ones who took down the body of Saul and his sons and the men from being postered onto the wall after they had been killed. Why did they do it? Because these were the people that had been saved by Saul earlier in 1 Samuel, when Nahash wanted to kill them. Saul was the one who brought them relief, who you might even say redeemed them. How is David going to address Jabesh Gilead? David and Saul haven't been on great terms. You could quickly say, well, Saul's friends are David's enemies. It would be very difficult to say, let's meet in the middle here. For everyone who has supported Saul, they've always been after David. How will David address Jabesh Gilead? Well, he offers them quite a blessing, doesn't he? One in which we will take far greater notice in a few moments. But he says to them, Join with me. Come with me. Be a part of what God is doing. How He's building His kingdom. And so He invites the men of Jabesh-Gilead in. And you can see it in verse 7. Come and join with me. You have this new king. The one you've been waiting for. David. But it doesn't take very long. Verse 8. before another king rises to power in another land. That is Ish-bosheth. But isn't it interesting how he took the throne? Did you see what happened? It's Abner himself who makes Ish-bosheth the king. You see, David was chosen by God. He was anointed by the people. But Ish-bosheth, he is Saul's final son. He's not the one who was in battle. He was not fighting at his father's side. Nobody knows where he was. But Abner chooses him alone to be the king. Now you might say, well, isn't that just what you should do? He was, I don't know, he was the commander. Maybe that's part of his job description. No. What Abner does, you'll see it in chapter 3. He is demonstrating this is hostility. This is the Saul-like hatred of David. It's still very much alive. Abner is choosing someone to oppose David. And in fact, I would go as far as to say it's not simply that he's choosing one to oppose David. He's in fact opposing God. Chapter 3 will bear it out. You'll find out quite quickly in chapter 3, Abner knows that David is to be the king. Abner knows that God has chosen him. And Abner says, no. I want one for myself. I think about that passage in Luke chapter 19. It was a parable that Jesus was telling. The parable of the minus. And you remember the unfaithful servants who didn't want to do anything. They said, we don't want this man to reign over us. There's an Abner. We don't want this chosen one of God to reign over us. Now you might say, you only need a couple of verses to make that clear. Why is it that we need all of this extra text? Couldn't you have just said, Abner doesn't like David and he doesn't like God, so he chose another king and let's move on. No, I think what you're getting in narrative form is this is what opposition to the kingdom of God looks like. You can see it. Abner's an aggressor. What is he doing? He's sitting beside a pool. Of course, it's not a swimming pool like you and I are thinking. You can think more like a pond or a lake. And what is he saying? Well, let's just have some kind of gladiator-like event. We'll choose twelve, you choose twelve, and let's see how it goes. That's their entertainment. That's Abner's idea of what we should do. And now, I want you to pay attention to where he does it. Because as significant as where David was enthroned in Hebron, it's significant where this is taking place. Me'anaim. What that means in Hebrew. It literally means two camps. Divided camps. And what you're seeing here is what is about to creep into Israel, and it's going to be very, very, very difficult for Israel to overcome. In fact, you won't see it overcome until Christ. Certainly, you'll see a united kingdom with Solomon, but you'll find out, as soon as Solomon is done, the very next king, you have a very divided kingdom. And it stays that way until Christ Himself comes. And so what I think we can say about Abner, Calvin again says something quite helpful. He says, he is a mirror to show us how pride and haughtiness is a mortal plague which is bound to dissipate the church of God of which the reign of David was a type. Abner is hostile towards David because he's hostile towards God. And he says, let's fight. And so he begins with that event. You see that David's men win. But I think it's at that time where we ought to be honest about things like this. This is not one of those, hey, let's just see what happens. Let's use a term that we're all very familiar with. This is what you call civil war. Do you really celebrate a victory in a civil war? It's your own kinsmen who are dying. And this is what is taking place amongst God's people. A civil war. It tells us something, doesn't it? The opposition of the Kingdom of God, it's going to require battle. Fight. There's a cost to godliness. It requires opposition. Here you can see it amongst their own people. You might say it's nation versus nation. But is that really ever left? Do we not see that same fight in pulpits needing to provide truth where falsehood has been presented? Do we not see that in the home where we live in a society that doesn't know what marriage is? Do we not see that in the family in which we need to define what is family and how do we operate You see, you already know something of this. The battlegrounds are many, and it requires opposition, but there ought to be measures of aching in your own heart that says, this is like a civil war. We're fighting at times against our own. And you can see it here. You can see it in verse 12. It's a fierce battle. That's the language. This is not an entertainment. This is not a fun thing. This is not a short thing. It's fierce. And you can read later on in 17, the end result. It doesn't go well. You're going to see the score, as it were, at the very end. But it's not something that anybody wants to, in fact, celebrate. And before you even get that end result, what do you have? Well, he learns this is not going well, and so he runs off. And Asahel, he takes off after him. And you get this description of him. And I think that there's a reason why the writer is doing that. He doesn't want you just to know that there are athletes in the Bible. He's not just trying to say, look at this guy, he's so fast. No, I think he's trying to say something of his boldness, something of his giftedness, and something of his foolishness. He takes off. We don't even know why. Is it perhaps because he wants the glory of taking him down? But Abner kind of stops and says, is it you? And he says, yes. And what does he say? He says, just take one of my other guys. You can take his life and everything with him. But he doesn't stop. Actually, in our language, it's probably Abner saying something like, why don't you pick on someone your own size? But he doesn't stop. He keeps going. And how does it end? It cost him his life. Being gifted, even being willing to say, it's God's gift to me, doesn't give us permission to do what we want with it. There's a way to use how God has made us still to our detriment. And that is what takes place. Abner finds himself up on the hill, You might even say he's at a military advantage and he wants to call a truce. He says so. Shall the sword devour forever? I think he's beginning to see this is not looking good. We're clearly on the losing end. Maybe we could get a truce out of this. What is it that I think is taking place? If you were with us this morning, you heard something like this. You really don't know the limits of where sin can take you. and you aren't the one to put the limits on it. And so what you see is sin keeps spiraling down. It's never satisfied with just one transgression as we heard this morning. It's a costly fight. 316, or 360, excuse me, to 19. And it doesn't matter which side you're on because you have to say, Those were fathers. Those were brothers. Those were sons. Friends. And why did they lose their life? For pride. To oppose the Lord. I wonder if you can see anything of Abner in your own heart. The Abner nature that just says, I'm going to go against what the Lord wants. There's something dangerous of Abner that we don't often talk about. Again, you'll see it in chapter three. To have someone who knows what God says, what God wants, and still to go against it. That can infiltrate even the church and our own hearts. Because you can quote scripture and you can know scripture. It's not the same thing as submitting to scripture. And so just to act as though you know and not do it is very much an Abner nature. It's an opposition to the Kingdom of God. You have a new king with King David. You have another king with Ish-bosheth, the puppet king of Abner. But I wonder if you're just reading this text, if you just wanted to read it for face value, does it not send you to another king? Can you not see that this is saying there is a far greater king and a much better kingdom that's on its way. Can you see Jesus at all here? If you were to consider those first seven verses, what is it that you see in there of David that is demonstrated in a way superior way in Christ himself? Consider David's ascension to the throne. It was a pathway of obedience. He had to obey the Lord, even by saying, I see Saul, I can touch Saul, but I'm not going to harm Saul. I will obey and I will wait. You might even want to go as far as to say David's exaltation came in humility. And there it is, isn't it? Can you hear Paul's words ringing behind the scene in Philippians chapter 2. He humbled himself, speaking of Christ, by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The Lord exalts those who are humble. He looks to the heart, the humble and contrite heart. Isaiah says that the Lord looks to the contrite heart. Or perhaps you heard the wonderful blessing that David gave Jabesh Gilead. We said something of this in Sunday school this morning. I'm trying to do it from my own heart. There are words, could we just say Christian words, that sometimes we use and we don't reflect on. We don't give consideration to. But what does David say to Jabesh Gilead? that Christ himself says in a far better way to you and to me. Look with me in verses five to seven. David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, may you be blessed by the Lord because you showed this loyalty to Saul your Lord and buried him. Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. He says, may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. Christian, are those terms a little bit too familiar to you this night? When you think about the Psalms, and they have the repetition, the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Do you skip those verses to kind of find out what else is in the Psalms so you can kind of finish it? Because you just know it's there. Have you become too familiar that God shows His steadfast love and faithfulness to His people. His people are to never lose the kind of awe that should come when you hear such terminology. That steadfast love of the Lord changes everything, doesn't it? It changes everything about you, about your life, even about how you see your circumstances. Charles Spurgeon when he was 23. I wish I had the mind of him when I was, well I wish I had the mind of him now. His 23 year old mind would do me well. He was trying to tell his church, wanting to help them in understanding God's love. What it means to humble themselves before God's love. This is what he says to them. He says when you're considering who God is, and Spurgeon is thinking about the Trinity here. He's trying to say immerse yourself in the Godhead. Because it ought to humble you that the God of all things, the Triune God loves you. It ought to humble you. But he says it ought to expand how you see Him. And this is what he says, Oh there is in contemplating Christ a balm for every wound. In musing on the Father, There is a quietus for every grief, and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balm for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea, be lost in His immensity, and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. That quote is actually what J.I. Packer uses in part of his introduction for knowing God. He's saying something in his introduction as to say, we ought to drown ourselves in who God is. It ought to overwhelm us. It's the kind of statement that says, well, when you put your head down on the pillow at night, you can say, everything's going to be okay. Because the Lord has showed steadfast love People, because it endures forever, those special verses should flood your mind. Tomorrow morning, the mercies of God are coming, and they're new. They're on time every time, and they're never ending. Oh, we ought to remind ourselves of things like that, how we would see our life and see the world. But I wonder if you heard even more of what David was saying there. He says this blessing to them. But he says, I'm going to do good to you because you have done this thing. You know, I think about Romans 5. Remember who he's talking to. This is Jabesh, Gilead. These are friends of Saul. How is David to understand it? And I wonder, can you hear Paul in Romans chapter 5, while you were still an enemy? Christ died for us. Or in David's words, while you are an enemy, I'm showing you my love. I want you to be a friend. Or perhaps we can think about the song that Mr. Bino taught us. Once your enemy, do you remember it? Now seated at your table. Jesus, thank you. Can you hear Paul when David is speaking to them? It's in this insignificant place. Actually, Davis, that is Dr. Dale Ralph Davis, he calls it the Hebron stage. He says so much of ministry is found in the Hebron stage. He's liking it to the kingdom of God being a mustard seed. You can say, I've never heard of this city before. And look at what's happening. It's tucked up in the hills or the side streets of Judah somewhere. And yet what God is saying, but it's there. it's visible, and it's going, in fact, to grow. Because that's how God works, isn't it? He takes insignificant places and insignificant people, and He does glorious things with them. And I think what you're going to see in 2 Samuel, what is taking place here, is if you want to understand unity, because that's not what's taking place. This is disunity. If you want to understand unity, Israel needs to hear this and the church needs to hear it. It's always and only under the Anointed One of God. It always comes under God's chosen King. Israel is going to see that in chapter 5. But you can see that tonight in Christ being a part of His body. Because underneath chapter 2, you can say and you can know Kings and kingdoms will come and go. But you remember a prophecy, don't you? There is a child that is born, a son that is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. I think you know that part. Do you remember what He says at the end of verse 7? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This is God's promise to His people. My Son is given, and He will reign, and it will never, in fact, end. And you can see that in chapter 2. Where does chapter 2 end? In that insignificant city called Bethlehem. Bethlehem, in which you'll look forward to in hundreds of years, because there's going to come one out of Bethlehem, isn't there? One in which enables you and me, even this night, to pray such a prayer. Thy kingdom come. What does 2 Samuel 2 say to us? Do not look to the kings and kingdoms of this world. Do not trust in the governments of this world. Put your trust in Christ, who is enthroned, who will be enthroned, and who will never be dethroned. For it is His kingdom, and He welcomes and He wins people with His own steadfast love and His faithfulness to you and to me. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank You that Paul is going to say in 1 Corinthians that we need to be a people who learn from history. It's written down so that we remember and that we don't do the same things that they did. 2 Samuel, O Lord, it helps remind us who is in fact our King. Who should we put our trust in? And what does that trust look like? It's one who gave His life for us. It's one who gives to us blessing. It's one who wins us with His promise and His person. And so help us even this night, have our hearts turn towards Him, to gaze upon Him, and to be held and sustained by Him. All this we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.