Good morning. Please open your Bibles with me to 1 Samuel chapter 21. A new phase of David's life has begun, and with it, a new phase of the kingdom of Israel, because at this point, there can be no peace, and there will be no peace, between David and Saul. David is gone, he has fled, and he is not coming back. But more than that, David's life is in constant danger. He is in danger at all times and in all places because he lives in a kingdom where the king wants him dead and the king has servants and resources, forces to use in order to accomplish that goal of ending David's life. And so David is going to live in suspense and fear every day and everywhere that he goes. Just one chapter earlier, he said to Jonathan that there is but a step between him and death. In our chapter, chapter 21, David's on the run, he's a fugitive, and he's on his own, he's desperate. Let's read 1 Samuel chapter 21. Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "'Why are you alone and no one with you?' And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "'The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, "'Let no one know anything of the matter "'about which I send you and with which I have charged you. "'I have made an appointment with the young men "'for such and such a place. "'Now then, what do you have on hand? "'Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here.' And the priest answered David, "'I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread. If the young men have kept themselves from women, and David answered the priest, truly, women have been kept from us always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Now, a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen. Then David said to Ahimelech, Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here. And David said, there is none like that. Give it to me. And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another a hymn and dances? Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands? And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? First Samuel chapter 21 is strange for a number of reasons. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and this chapter is full of such things. It's full of oddities, actions that normally one would not do, and some actions that one should not do. We see that David goes to the current high priest, Ahimelech, who is the great-grandson of Eli. And it appears that the tabernacle had been moved to Nob instead of Shiloh at some point. Clearly the tabernacle is there, the bread of the presence is there, and in Ephod and the high priests, the tabernacle is there. Why is it there instead of Shiloh? We don't know. But it's there and David knows it's there, and David goes there. Why does David go to the tabernacle? He doesn't end up there by chance and say, oh, hey, look, the tabernacle. He has a purpose. And David wants two things. He wants food and he wants weapons. David knows that there will be food there. And you might think there's food anywhere, right? But David knows that there is ready food. He asks, what do you have on hand? He needs fast food. in and out. Although, in and out isn't very fast, is it? But it's worth it. Anyway, David needs fast food. What do you have on hand? I just need to take it and go. I don't have time to sit down and chit-chat while someone makes some food for us. What do you have that I can take and that I can eat in this moment? And David also seems to have known that there would be a sword there, in particular Goliath's sword, because he asks if there are any weapons, which is not something that one ordinarily keeps at the tabernacle. But we were told when David defeated Goliath that he took Goliath's weapons, and it says, and he put them in his tent. which the meaning of that was a bit unclear, but the point is David was the champion. These were the trophies of his victory. It makes perfect sense that he knew where they had been lodged. He knew there's ready bread at the tabernacle. He knew Goliath's sword is there. And so he goes to the tabernacle to get these things because he needs them. And when he arrived, Ahimelech, which means my brother is king, Ah is brother, so Ahi is my brother, and then Melech is king. Ahi, my brother Melech, is king. Was his brother king? No, but that's just his name. Ahimelech was very afraid. He was trembling. And that's because everyone knew Saul and David were not just at odds, but Saul wanted David dead. And here David shows up and Ahimelech wants to know, what does this mean? Are you bringing that conflict to me? Are you bringing disaster and danger to me and to the tabernacle here? What is your purpose? And David deceives him. David lies to him, which he should not have done, but he lies to him in this case, to put him at ease, to just calm Ahimelech down so that he can get from him what he wants, which is the bread and the sword. And David makes up this tale saying he's on an errand for Saul, an errand of secrecy, to just get straight to where's the bread, where's the sword. He deceives Ahimelech. And what makes this all the more unusual is that the bread that David knows will be ready at the tabernacle is not just some kind of emergency rations that they keep at the tent of the Lord. It's the bread of the presence, which was placed outside of the Holy of Holies on that table, golden table, and the law of Moses, the lampstand would shine upon the 12 loaves so that the light of God is upon the people of Israel, the tribes, And the Law of Moses specifically says that the only people who are allowed to eat this bread are the priests who serve in the tabernacle, which would be the high priestly family, or the family of Aaron. David is not supposed to eat that bread. and perhaps even more, Ahimelech is not supposed to give it to him. But he does. And then it's a little bit strange. Another one of the oddities is he's giving this restricted, forbidden holy bread to David, but he insists on ceremonial purity of the men who are going to eat it, David and the young men. David said that young men were coming to meet him. So Ahimelech says, are you and these young men, are you purified to eat this? He's worried about that. He doesn't seem too worried about the fact that David is not a Levite, and even within the Levites, he's not of the family of Aaron, but what happens is what happens. Meanwhile, we are told in a very ominous manner in verse 7 that there was someone there watching, that there was a witness to all of these events, and something very important for later chapters is noted here, namely that Doeg the Edomite was present. And when you read the description of Doeg the Edomite, you are supposed to understand very quickly, this is not a friendly person. This is an enemy on multiple levels. First, he's noted as a servant of Saul. That right there says, okay, if you're loyal to Saul, you are 100% anti-David. And so a servant of Saul witnesses David being at the tabernacle, receiving the bread and receiving the sword. But he's also called an Edomite. Do you remember who the Edomites were? The Edomites were the offspring of Esau, the older brother of Jacob. And the Edomites lived in Edom, just outside of Canaan in the southeast. The Edomites are the descendants of Esau, which means they are the cousins of the Israelites. And that's not a good thing. Many people like their cousins, love their cousins, have fun with their cousins, but if you're the descendants of Esau, the cousins of the descendants of Jacob, you live with the constant memory that the sons of Jacob stole our birthright and our blessing. And now they enjoy this promised land that should have been ours by right of primogeniture, by right of firstborn birth. And so the Edomites and the Israelites throughout their history have conflict. Sometimes it's a low scale conflict. Sometimes it's total war and complete conflict of violence to one another. which means that Doeg has multiple levels of motivation to not be nice to David. On the one hand, he's chief of Saul's herdsmen and a servant of Saul, so based on loyalty to the current king with all of the power of the kingdom, he is motivated to betray David and to do harm to David. But then he has a national ethnic motivation to just do harm to Israel, to cause trouble, because he's an Edomite. He's not actually an Israelite. He's a son of Esau, not a son of Jacob. So he probably wouldn't be all that upset if there was conflict and harm in the kingdom in general, the kingdom of Israel, because he's a servant of Saul and he is an Edomite. He's an enemy on multiple levels. Well, David leaves Nob, he leaves the tabernacle with Goliath's sword. And where does he go? He goes to the last place that you would ever expect him to go. He goes to Gath. And why is that the last place that you would expect? Well, first of all, it's Philistine territory. Second of all, it's one of the five fortified cities of the Philistines. And third of all, who else was from Gath? Goliath was from Gath. And David goes directly to the city of Goliath in Philistine territory. And what's he carrying? He's carrying the famous sword of Goliath. What does he say about it? David says, there is none like it. If anyone's going to recognize Goliath's sword, it's probably the people of Gath, which is the city from which Goliath came. And yet that's precisely where David goes. And it doesn't take long at all for David to be recognized. In chapter 18 we're told that David's name was famous among the Philistines. Word had spread because David was a victor, a conqueror over the Philistines and his prowess in battle was well known. But it's interesting how quickly news spreads in the world before our own. We have social media, we have phones and all kinds of methods of rapid transmission of information, and you would think, how could news spread so fast back then or in such things? It's because people talked and they got together and they talked to each other and word spread at the, when you're drawing water and the ladies are chit-chatting. When you're in the marketplace and the ladies are chatting and the hens are clucking and you know what I mean. People talked and then the men are standing at the gate or the men are here and they're talking too. That's what people would do. They would stand around and they would talk to each other. It's very strange to think about speaking to people in public space places and social situations, I don't understand. But it was another place, another time, and it was very different. They didn't have mirrors commonly. A mirror would be a luxury. You would go most of your life not even seeing your own face unless you looked in very clear still water. Anyway, a different world. The point is, they did spread the news very quickly. It spread all around the region. In fact, it spread so well that they knew the song that the Israelite women had sung when they were dancing. When David came back from battle and they sang their song about Saul slaying his thousands and David his ten thousands, the Philistines learned that song. It was very catchy, apparently, and they knew it. They quoted it. All that matters is that they knew about David They wouldn't have known what his face looked like. They don't have newspapers. They don't have photographs. But they could figure it out. This man is David. They could recognize him. They could identify him. But once again, what's he famous for? Why is he so well known? He's quite literally the Philistine slayer. He's public enemy number one. And he's in Philistia. He's in the territory of the Philistines. I don't think this example is in any way insensitive, but I think it's very real to say it would be like Osama bin Laden coming to live in New York. Obviously, he's dead now, but when he was alive, you'd say this is the most wanted man, the worst enemy of these people, and he has come here to live. I don't understand. What are you doing? Well, whatever David's motivations were, clearly he's desperate, but also very clearly, he fears for his life there. He does not feel safe. And justifiably so, he's not safe. So once again, he uses deception, he deceives others. the Lord of Gath, Achish, and the other Philistines by pretending to be out of his mind, pretending to be insane, so that they will draw the key. He needs to lodge in their minds this thought, I am not a threat. That's the inception that David is going for. Lodge in their minds, David is not a threat. And so if he is behaving like a madman, they're going to say, okay, this once powerful warrior, who was slaying his thousands and ten thousands is spinning on himself and carving things and writing things on walls. He's out of his mind, just forget him. And the king clearly says, why are you bringing him to me? He's just a crazy person, take him away. So as I said, 1 Samuel 21 is full of strange things, oddities and peculiarities, which leads us to ask, how do we apply this text to our own lives? What does this text have to say to us? Is this just a flyover text? You just say, well, we saw it, it was there, let's move on. And the answer is no, not just because it's the Word of God, but because it may be surprising to you, or perhaps not, that there are three other significant portions of Scripture that are directly drawn or related to this very chapter. And so what we can do is have three points in an outline, each one looking at one of those other portions of scripture that references 1 Samuel 21 or draws something from it so that scripture interprets scripture and teaches us what is there to see in 1 Samuel 21, what God will teach us through three other passages. So as the rain begins, let's begin our outline. And the first of the things that we're going to see is the distinction between the spirit and the letter of the law. The distinction between the spirit and the letter of the law. Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse one. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, have you not read 1 Samuel 21? what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." And we need to keep reading just to preserve the overall teaching of this section. He went on from there and entered their synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? He said to them, which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand, and the man stretched it out, and it was restored healthy like the other. Jesus takes 1 Samuel 21 and he says, there's a lesson here that you, having read this, should have known. You should have understood. 1 Samuel 21 teaches us something. He uses the example of David eating the holy bread of the Levites from the tabernacle to teach the lesson that though we look at the letter of the law and the command, yet there is sometimes, there is often, something more fundamental or something greater and larger than the very specific words of the law itself. And in particular, there are certain necessities and priorities that supersede ceremonial duties especially. So the point is, if one is faced with two options, don't eat the holy bread or die, The law of God that teaches us to preserve life, you shall not murder, supersedes the law of God that says do not eat the bread that is only for the Levites. But the letter of the law says this is only for the Levites to eat, but there's something greater, there's something more fundamental than this ceremonial duty. And so Jesus uses that for larger teaching in the context of the Sabbath. He's saying God did not give us the Sabbath and say keep the Sabbath even if it kills you, or keep the Sabbath even if it kills someone else. No, mercy is more important than sacrifice, Jesus says. You should have understood what is it that God truly wants. And this is why in our teaching on the Lord's Day and the Fourth Commandment, we acknowledge works of necessity and works of mercy. God has set aside a day, the first day of the week, for us to rest and to gather together and to worship Him. And yet there are certain necessary things that have to be done on the Lord's Day, as well as certain merciful things that ought to be done on the Lord's Day, necessary things, as was mentioned by Pastor Campbell this morning, police personnel. We need protection on the Lord's Day. We need protection on the first day of the week and response to violence and other problems. We need medical personnel and emergency workers to not just do necessities, but mercies. There are people who need help, who need medical care, who need someone to preserve their life and to rescue them and to give them medicine. And so we need doctors and nurses and other related staff. to be taking care of those persons on the first day of the week. We need infrastructure workers, we need the plumbing to work, and we need the energy to work, and so on, on the first day of the week. There are other related jobs of necessity, things that need to be in place for life to continue, and works of mercy, things that protect us from harm and bring us back from harm, like lifting the sheep out of the pit, or helping someone who has had something happen to them. Now, remember that we're talking about necessities and mercies. We should not, the Lord, God did not institute the Sabbath such that it kills us, but this can be easily abused where people say in their minds, Okay, so God doesn't want me to keep the Sabbath in a way that I wouldn't like. He doesn't want me to keep the Sabbath in a way that would make me unhappy. So football, yeah, I'm not gonna miss football for church. Baseball game, I'm not gonna miss a baseball game for church. God wouldn't want me to miss out on what makes me happy on the Lord's day. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about life and death. and necessities and mercy and sickness and cures. So be careful here. If we had more time, I would explain in more detail the ways in which we can seek to discern the spirit of the law and the letter of the law, but we have to acknowledge it. There is a distinction between the spirit of the law, what God intends and what God wants, and the letter of the law, the specific words and the specific way in which a command is delivered to us. Here we see that the law forbade the eating of this bread unless you were of the house of Aaron, and yet it's given to David because there's something more important, which is the preservation of his life. Secondly, if God is for you, who can be against you? If God is for you, who can be against you? I'd ask you to please turn with me to Psalm 56. Psalm 56, look at the superscription. To the choir master, according to the dove on far off Terabiths, and you say, okay. Amiktam of David, now what's the context of this psalm? When the Philistines seized him in Gath. So this psalm represents the thoughts and the feelings, the words of David while he is in Gath and in danger because the Philistines have seized him and they're bringing him to Achish to say, this is David, this is the guy, this is public enemy number one. So 1 Samuel 21, Psalm 56 represents what David was thinking and feeling during that time. Even if he's writing it after the fact, this is what he felt during that time, Psalm 56. Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me. All day long, an attacker oppresses me. My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise. In God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long, they injure my cause. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps. As they have waited for my life, for their crime, will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God. You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God whose word I praise, in the Lord whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, O God. I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Look at verse three, what can flesh do to me? Verse nine, this I know, that God is for me. Verse 10, what can man do to me? We see in 1 Samuel 21, David's surrounded by his enemies. And Psalm 56 describes their persecutions and their provocations. But verses nine and 10 teach us how to trust in God in the midst of difficulties. This I know. David says, this I know, that God is for me. What can man do to me? If God is for you, who can be against you? What can man do to you? And remember that David is saying that he knows God is for him. Does this mean he knows God is for him because he lives free of all problems? No, he's currently seized. He's currently been captured by the Philistines. So it's in the midst of his affliction, in the midst of his pain and his difficulty, he knows that God is for me. Because what David understands is that when he asks, what can man do to me? You could say, well, David, they've tied you up and they could kill you. But he would know that even then, God is for him because God has permitted those things for a purpose. Man cannot do anything to David apart from God's sovereign and wise permission and purpose. So even the bad things that happen to him, God is still for him and God is working through those things to accomplish greater purposes. When we trust God is for me, who can be against me? That's not a confidence that nothing bad will happen to me. It's confidence that God will deliver me from everything that he wants to deliver me from because he loves me and that everything that he permits me to enter into by way of affliction has a good and wise purpose. So what can man do to me apart from God using it for good ends? Man can never do evil to me where God says, I'm sorry I missed that one. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. No, when I am afraid, I will trust in you. Are you ever afraid? Are you anxious? David says, I trust. When I am afraid, I will trust in you in God, whose word I praise. This I know, it reminds me of lamentations. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. David says, this I know that God is for me, but I'm in pain. This I know that God is for me. but my body is failing, this I know that God is for me, but there are difficulties I'm facing, this I know that God is for me. We need that lodged in our hearts, don't we? We do. We need that lodged in our hearts, don't we? Thirdly, and lastly, we've seen that 1 Samuel 21 teaches us to distinguish between the spirit and letter of the law, drawing from Matthew chapter 12. We've seen that 1 Samuel 21, drawn from Psalm 56, teaches us that God is for us, and no one can do anything to us apart from his permission and his providence. Thirdly, we learn, first the cross, then the crown. First the cross, then the crown. Turn with me please to Psalm 34, the third passage in conversation with 1 Samuel 21. Psalm 56, which we just read, was from the perspective of David while he is captured and in danger. Even if he's reflecting on it after the fact, because I doubt they gave him, he said, could I have a pen? No. He's writing about it later, but it reflects the mind of one in the midst of capture and danger. Psalm 34 is written as a response after the fact, reflecting on, I have been delivered, I have been freed, So let's read Psalm 34. And again, notice the superscription of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, that's Achish, so that he drove him out and he went away. David has been freed and liberated from that danger. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, oh children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Psalm 34 teaches us a number of things but what I want to do is just quickly see how it points us to Jesus Christ. We just read in God's providence in John that when the soldiers came to break the legs of Jesus, they did not. They pierced his side with a spear, but they did not break his legs. And this was done to fulfill the scripture of Psalm 22, but also Psalm 34, that his bones would not be broken. Which is to say, When David describes his own experience in 1 Samuel 21, writing in Psalm 34, the scriptures then apply this to Jesus Christ, which we wouldn't even need all of this to make the argument, but it solidifies it that 1 Samuel 21 teaches us and shows us a picture of the suffering and the death, but also through Psalm 34, the exaltation and the glory of Jesus Christ. And what was the name of this point in the outline? First the cross, then the crown. Psalm 34, the psalmist speaks about being delivered from all his troubles, delivered from all his afflictions, raised up from his death, his bones not being broken, being delivered from all of his enemies. And what 1 Samuel 21 depicts is Jesus Christ in a number of ways. First, he is rejected by his own people, and then he is in the hands of a foreign people, just as Jesus was rejected by the Jews, and then he was surrounded by and captured by the Romans. But, as always, the parallels are not equal. Jesus is far superior to David in many ways. For example, Jesus did not feign madness to escape his enemies. Jesus did not deceive anyone to escape by the skin of his teeth just barely getting away. No, to the contrary, first of all, Jesus with all calmness and submission gave himself to the initial mob that captured him and then to the Sanhedrin that interrogated him, and then to Pilate, and to Herod, and to the Romans that crucified him. He gave himself. He delivered himself. He quietly did not open his mouth. He went as a lamb to the slaughter. But in his humble submission, What was he doing? He was overpowering his enemies. He was not a victim, he was a victor. He was triumphing over them. So Psalm 34 describes David who says, I did nothing, God delivered me from all these troubles, is unequal to Jesus because Jesus is God doing everything to deliver himself and us from all of our troubles. And so we see in Psalm 56 and 1 Samuel 21, the cross, the humbling, the shame, the capture, the danger, the pain. And then we see in Psalm 34, the deliverance, the exaltation, the lifting up, the glory. And that crown of Jesus Christ is the crown that he gives to all of his people. God has made this life a cross for us. and he has placed the crown just on the other side, just through the door that is death. God has made death the end of all trouble. If you were here yesterday to remember our dear sister Dana, this is something we saw from the word of God also. God has made death the end of all trouble, the cross all the way, the cross all the way to death, but on the other side of death, The crown, rest, glory, triumph, victory, the end of all affliction, the end of all trouble. As Psalm 34 says, he has delivered me from all my afflictions. He has delivered me from all my troubles. And the end of Psalm 34, the Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. In Jesus Christ, we have that hope and we have that joy. We will not be condemned. Our lives have been redeemed and we can take refuge in him that we might not be condemned. First the cross, then the crown. We suffer afflictions in this life. Now, you and I are not surrounded by Philistines currently, but there are people in our area who are suffering terrible things with the fires and the loss of property and life. Many afflictions. There are those in our midst who are suffering great sickness and disease. But all of these crosses have an end. And God has placed a crown on the other side. Jesus has won it. He has obtained it. And it is there for us to inherit and enjoy and receive by faith in him. So 1 Samuel 21 teaches us about Jesus Christ. It teaches us, first we saw about the distinction between the spirit and letter of the law. It teaches us about God's good purposes in sending us through affliction, but man being unable to do harm to us. If God is for us, who can be against us? Even the things that they do to harm us, God uses for our good. And we've seen that 1 Samuel 21 shows us a picture of our Lord and His suffering and agony and our Lord and His glory and exaltation. Praise God for His Son, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that the cross has brought an end to death for all of the people who belong to Jesus Christ by faith. It has transformed death into a chariot, into a door that leads us and takes us to everlasting life and rest and peace and glory, the crown that Jesus has won for us. Help us to be good soldiers, to persevere to the very end, to endure that cross and despise the shame following in the footsteps of Jesus because of what he has done. We thank you and we pray to you in Jesus' name, amen.