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Let’s turn now to the reading of God’s Word.
And this evening we’ll be looking at, again,
Hebrews chapter 11.
The focus of our sermon this evening will be on verses 32 through 40.
But to fill out the context, I’m going to read the whole chapter of
Hebrews chapter 11.
So starting in verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 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.
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 commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting
his gifts.
And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
By faith, Enoch, when he was taken up so that he should not,
he was taken up so that he should not see death
and 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 by God 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.
By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living
in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,
whose designer and builder is God.
By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past
the age, since she considered him faithful, who had promised.
Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants,
as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains
of sand by the seashore.
These all died in faith, not having received the thing’s promise,
but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged
that they were strangers in exiles on earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear, they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out,
they would have had opportunity to return.
But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for he has prepared for them a city.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac,
and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead,
from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph,
bowing in worship over the head of his staff.
By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus
of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents
because they saw that the child was beautiful
and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God
than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,
for he was looking to the reward.
By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king,
for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood
so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch him.
By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land,
but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
By faith, Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient
because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
And what more shall I say?
For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Sampson, 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 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 the 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 commended 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. You may be seated.
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we come to you this evening.
We come and ask for your blessing, for your spirit, Lord.
This word, which is life in and of itself,
is dead to us apart from the working of your spirit.
We ask that you would send your spirit,
that your living word might become alive to us,
that our hearts might hear it, receive it, believe it, accept it, treasure it, obey it.
We ask that you might bless the preaching of your word,
that it might be done in power and in truth.
Lord, we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
One of my favorite scenes in Tolkien’s Return of the King,
the Lord of the Rings, is partway through the Battle of Minas Tirith.
Pippin and Gandalf are catching their breath as they prepare to make a stand
to fight back the forces of Mordor, but Pippin has begun to despair.
And he says, I didn’t think it would end this way.
And Gandalf looked at him curiously. End?
No, the journey doesn’t end here.
Death is just another path, one that we all must take.
The gray rain curtain of this world rolls back,
and all turns to silver glass.
And then you see it.
What, Gandalf? See what?
White shores and beyond,
a far green country under a swift sunrise.
Well, that isn’t so bad.
No. No, it isn’t.
Although the orcs were on the doorstep,
and much remained unrealized, Gandalf had hope,
because he knew that there was more to the story.
He had made sense of his fear, his horror, disappointment,
even death, by remembering that there were more pages to come.
He, unlike Pippin, knew that this was not the end.
Gandalf’s faith enabled him to fight for victory,
while at the same time to die well, if that were necessary,
knowing that something better was coming.
Pippin was beginning to despair because he lost sight
of what was currently not visible.
In that state, he would be unlikely to achieve either victory or to die well.
But Gandalf’s words, of course, restored Pippin’s faith.
This evening we come to the climactic close of Hebrews 11,
the great hall of faith that has marched us from Abel’s altar
to Abraham’s altar call,
from Moses’s exodus to Rahab’s scarlet cord.
The writer has been building a case.
Faith is not a feeling.
It’s the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
And now, as time runs short,
he crams centuries of heroism into a single breathless paragraph.
We’ll consider what this passage has to say about three aspects of faith.
Number one, the conquest of faith.
How frail, flawed, even foolhardy men and women toppled kingdoms,
stopped mouths of lions by looking to the invisible god.
Number two, the suffering of faith.
How the same faith that quenched fire also endured the back,
the sword and the cave,
because it prioritized a better resurrection.
And number three, the incompleteness of faith.
How every Old Testament saint, though commended,
still waits with us for the final crown,
because God has planned something better for us all together.
So number one, the conquest of faith.
As we look at our passage this evening,
we see the power of faith particularly highlighted.
Up to this point, faith’s power has not been very prominent.
We have seen it undergird sacrifice, miracles, blessing, obedience,
and facing fears.
But the power of conquest has been downplayed until now.
Verses 32 and 34.
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.
The writer of Hebrews has been detailing stories of faith,
but now he begins to run short on time.
If he were to continue at his previous pace
and continue through the whole Old Testament,
the book of Hebrews would probably be the longest book in the Bible.
So he sums up his thoughts by briefly mentioning some key figures.
He mentions three pairs of figures from the time of the judges
to the time of the kings and prophets of Israel.
And while the pairs are arranged chronologically with each other,
within each pair we find them reversed.
Chronologically we would have Barak, Gideon,
Jephthah, Samson, Samuel and David.
A likely reason for the odd ordering that we find here
is that the more well-known or prominent of each pair is mentioned first.
Gideon is more well-known than Barak,
Samson better known than Jephthah,
and David better known than Samuel.
Both Gideon and Barak are unlikely candidates to be mentioned
in this lineup of faith,
because their faith was frankly quite frail.
Barak refused to go to fight unless Deborah went with him.
And Gideon tried to reject God’s calling and tested God over and over.
But their fragile faith and their commendation here
can be an encouragement to us when our own faith is weak,
because still God used them to conquer kingdoms and bring victory.
Samson and Jephthah are unlikely candidates for different reasons.
Whereas Gideon and Barak lacked courage,
Samson and Jephthah have plenty.
In fact, Samson and Jephthah’s boldness might be said
to surpass courage and become foolhardiness.
But the surprise of finding them in this hall of faith
comes from their lack of piety.
Jephthah was an outlaw,
turning his ruthless battle savvy upon Ephraim
as soon as his battle with the Amorites was over,
not to mention his senseless sacrifice of his daughter
in fulfillment of his foolish vow.
Samson was of course a womanizer
who couldn’t seem to control his lust or his temper,
dying kamikaze style as he killed thousands of Philistines.
And yet despite their moral failings,
they sought God’s help.
They depended on him.
And thus their superhuman achievements of strength and victory
are demonstrations of the power of faith.
While David and Samuel make a lot more sense
to be included in this hall of faith,
they were not blameless in their piety either.
David’s most famous fall involved adultery and murder,
but he also issued a prideful census
incurring God’s wrath upon the entire nation of Israel.
And Samuel, while in many ways exemplifying piety from his youth,
apparently failed quite badly in the raising of his sons
and still insisted on appointing them to rule after him,
prompting Israel to ask for a king instead.
But once again, as we saw with the patriarchs earlier in chapter 11,
the writer of Hebrews has his own specific point in mind.
He’s ignoring flaws and he’s focusing on faith.
And we can see it as we look at his description
of what these heroes did by faith.
Verses 3 and 34.
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, and put foreign armies to flight.
Now all the individuals just mentioned
demonstrated the power of faith to gain victory
because instead of looking to what could be seen all around them,
they looked to what was invisible.
And they trusted the invisible God to bring that victory for them.
All the previous mentioned figures
could be said to have conquered kingdoms through their faith.
And certainly David and Samuel in particular
are those who enforced justice.
Obtaining promises goes back to Abraham, most certainly,
but also covers many of those others who obtained promises,
as was already mentioned.
And while David and Samson both are those who stopped the mouths of lions,
most likely the author is thinking of the prophet Daniel,
one of the prophets as we see mentioned after Samuel in verse 32.
And immediately following the lions,
we find the phrase quenched the power of fire,
which most likely refers to Daniel’s three friends,
which we read about earlier from Daniel 3, earlier in the service.
Escaped the edge of the sword could refer to many individuals,
including David, Elijah, Elisha, and notably Esther,
with her the whole Jewish nation.
Made strong out of weakness seems most obviously to be a reference to Samson,
but to a lesser extent could be said of many of the others as well.
The last two descriptors became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight, are exemplified in David,
but can be seen in many kings that followed him,
like Hezekiah with the Assyrians when the Lord put to death 185,000 in one night.
All of these are impressive descriptions of the conquering power of faith.
Faith is important for many things,
but the writer especially here wants to focus in
so that we don’t overlook its power to achieve victory.
Now even secular psychology has recognized the importance of envisioning success for yourself
and the role that that mindset has in determining your success.
It might not guarantee a positive outcome, but it does make it more likely.
However, with no belief in a divine creator,
secular psychology attempts to explain all the benefits physiologically.
It makes you more focused, calm, relaxed, poised for action, able to perform your best.
But in the end, all it can offer you is a maximized you.
But biblical faith is more than a positive outlook,
more than a positive outlook on the situation or the confidence that you will succeed.
David had some reason to have confidence in his abilities with his slingshot against Goliath,
but in 1 Samuel 17, verses 45 to 47,
his reason for fighting and his predicted victory was the invisible and powerful God of Israel.
1 Samuel 17, verses 45 and 47,
Then David said to the Philistine,
You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin,
but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand,
and I will strike you down and cut off your head.
And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air,
to the wild beasts of the earth,
that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into my hand.
The faith mentioned in Hebrews 11,
displayed in the actions of these heroes,
is not mere wishful thinking,
hopeful projecting,
or positive manifesting.
It was a clear-eyed view,
it is a clear-eyed view,
of the invisible God whom they knew existed,
and was willing and able to save them and give them the victory.
Many of God’s victories involved his command for Israel to wait and see,
wait and see what the Lord would do for them.
But other times,
fearful fellows like Gideon,
were commanded to go into battle with inadequate forces.
While the victory belongs to the Lord,
Gideon calls his people to engage in the obedient fight of faith.
The conquest of faith comes from the way that faith
connects believers to the all-powerful, invisible God.
Victory comes to those who put their trust in the God who saves.
But there is another side of faith.
While faith empowers impressive conquests,
it does not always prevent suffering.
Number two, we see the suffering of faith.
Now, while the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
is impressive in the miraculous outcome,
a conquest over the power of fire,
they also serve as an example of the kind of mindset which faith gives,
which enables endurance of suffering.
Look again at Daniel chapter 3, verses 16 through 18.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If this be so, that you will throw us into a burning fiery furnace,
our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace.
And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King.
But if not, be it known to you, O King,
that we will not serve your gods or worship your golden image that you have set up.
They had locked on to God’s ability to preserve them.
But that same vision of the invisible God
made them equally willing to endure the fiery furnace if necessary.
And this is particularly what we see in Hebrews 11, verses 35 through 38.
Women received back their dead by resurrection.
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release,
so 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 the 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.
It would not do justice to the biblical stories or the original audience of Hebrews
for the author to only mention the impressive victories achieved by faith.
We saw a few weeks ago how Abraham received Isaac figuratively back from the dead in verse 19.
But here the author mentions literal resurrections.
While the author might have in mind some of the resurrections,
which Jesus and some of the apostles performed,
in this context it’s likely that he’s thinking of the Old Testament resurrections,
like the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17,
or Elisha and the Shunammite son found in 2 Kings 4.
Much like Jairus would later deal with Jesus,
even after her boy had died the Shunammite ran to find Elisha,
believing that hope was not lost and God’s prophet could even raise the dead.
Verse 35 serves as a bridge between the conquering power of faith
and its willingness to endure suffering.
Faith brought a boy back from the dead in Elisha’s case,
but for many others they were looking for a better resurrection.
Verse 35, women received back their dead by resurrection.
Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so they might rise again to a better life.
Now the ESV says rise again to a better life, which is a fine translation,
but the expression in the Greek is actually more compact, more terse.
It’s literally to obtain a better resurrection.
We’ve already seen in our study of Hebrews that the term better is a key term for the author,
a key expression which often means heavenly.
Look back at verse 16, but as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.
We’ve seen this word better quite a few other times as well.
One commentator says, these examples allow the author to employ one of his favorite terms, better,
and introduce the idea of a better resurrection.
He’s already reminded his audience that they have a better and lasting property
than their earthly possessions in chapter 10, 34, and they’re looking forward to a better home.
Chapter 11, verse 16.
The superior quality of their reward corresponds to the status of their high priest,
who is better than angels, chapter 1, verse 4, and offers a better sacrifice than those in the tabernacle,
chapter 9, verse 23.
The future resurrection is better for the same reason that Jesus is better.
It is of an eternal quality.
Those who came back to life through the ministries of Elijah and Elisha would eventually die,
but the better resurrection is secured by Jesus’ decisive victory over death, end quote.
Willing to undergo suffering unto death requires a sight of unseen realities.
That courage comes from desiring a better resurrection.
The original audience to the letter of the Hebrews were facing challenges to their faith,
perhaps not physical harm, but certainly mocking, theft, vandalism, and potential imprisonment.
There was only one way they were ever going to be willing to undergo suffering for their belief in Jesus.
That was if they got in their heads that Jesus was worth more than anything else in this life and even life itself.
We see the descriptions of those who endured great suffering by faith in verses 36 and 38.
Others suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the 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 dens and caves of the earth.
Some escaped the edge of the sword by faith, but others were killed with the sword by faith.
But the final verdict on them comes in verse 38, of whom the world was not worthy.
We might have expected this to be said of the heroes who accomplished astonishing feats of strength,
performed miracles, or sent hordes of enemies packing.
But the author offers this evaluation in the midst of a painful and shameful existence.
I think of how John describes Jesus’ arrival in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 9 through 13.
He says, The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born not of blood, not of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The same world that didn’t recognize the worth of its own creator also didn’t recognize the worth of those who have faith in him.
The sinful world didn’t deserve to be visited by Jesus Christ, and it does not deserve to have believers who are salt and light.
If you are a believer, you are a gift to an undeserving world.
Of course, you are an undeserving recipient of grace yourself, which comes to you by faith.
But you are a gift to a world that will mock you, insult you, hate you, possibly even kill you.
If you are a believer, if you are one who has faith that Jesus is better than anything you gain or lose, up to and including your life,
you are a present, tangible part of God’s gift of his one and only Son, who was given so that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life.
Are you a member of this community of faith?
Are you one of those who is commended to God by faith, or are you still condemned in your sins?
Because of what Jesus has done, providing a better sacrifice that can offer real cleansing and forgiveness from sins,
it is not too late to become one of those who will obtain a better resurrection.
Everyone will be raised from the dead one day, but some will be raised to everlasting punishment, and some will be raised to everlasting life.
God gives faith as a gift, and then he gives those who have faith as a gift.
If you are a believer, you are a gift to a world that does not deserve it.
The world didn’t appreciate the gift of Christ, and it didn’t appreciate those who believed in him.
It rejected them, and it even killed them.
But as one commentator says, their miserable status in this world is evidence, therefore, not of their lack of worth, but of the world’s lack of worth.
The world fails to appreciate that which God does appreciate.
When looked at by faith, by the world’s evaluation, those who hold on to faith appear worth nothing.
But when looked at by faith, according to God’s evaluation, they receive the highest commendation.
Yet, there is something missing.
And so, number three, we see the incompleteness of faith in our passage.
Look at verse 39.
And they even remain so today.
Well, why is that?
Verse 40.
As one commentator says, one would expect a Christocentric statement as an explanation for why the ancients did not receive the promise.
Instead, the author makes an ecclesiocentric statement.
The fundamental claim of the letter is that God’s climactic revelation has taken place in Jesus Christ.
The implication is that the audience, those who believe in Jesus, are the recipients of God’s greatest work.
The something better that God has provided by means of Jesus’ better sacrifice is for the whole people of God to reach their eternal goal together.
We would expect the author of Hebrews to say something specifically about Jesus as the reason the Old Testament believers didn’t receive their full reward.
But instead, the author of Hebrews says it has to do with the Church.
The essence of God’s covenant of grace with those whom he saves is, I will be your God and you will be my people.
While God knows and loves each of his children individually, his covenant is never expressed, I will be your God and you will be my person.
His covenant with Abraham includes Abraham’s offspring from the very beginning.
God’s covenant is particular, but it’s not small, it’s corporate and big.
In the Jewish culture, that of the original readers of the letter to Hebrews,
Old Testament figures like Adam, Moses, Abraham, Aaron, and David were highly esteemed.
And it seems as though the audience was tempted, perhaps, to long for the old days and feel like their own time, their own lives were inconsequential in redemptive history.
They came late to the game. Everything significant had already happened.
We’ve seen the author of Hebrews spending a lot of time from the very first verse to establish the amazing significance of the time in which his first audience was living.
In these last days, God has spoken to us by his son, he opens the book with.
Rather than insignificant, his first readers were living in the most significant era of redemption.
Christ, the fulfillment, the hope of all the Old Testament has come and done what all of the Old Testament types and shadows,
who were pointing to him, never fully could do.
I think sometimes we can have a similar nostalgia, even for, say, the time of Christ, when Christ walked the earth during his earthly ministry,
and consider our own time, our own existence as boring, inconsequential in redemptive history.
Everything significant has already passed, but that would be a mistake.
While Jesus’ ministry on earth was powerful, and his death and resurrection are, of course, the focal point of all of history, God’s not done.
Jesus said to his disciples that it was better that he went away, since he would send his spirit.
We’re not living in a post-faith age, when everything significant has already happened.
When the credits are rolling and the cleanup crew comes in, turns on the lights and starts vacuuming.
We might not be putting foreign armies to flight, killing lions with our bare hands, conquering kingdoms, but the party can’t start without us.
A pastor living in the late 300s, A.D., named John Chrysostom, preaches sermon on Hebrews chapter 11.
And he elaborates on this idea. This quote is a little long and the language is old, but I think it is well worth our attention.
He says, What then is the reward of so great a change? What is the recompense?
They have not yet received it, but are still waiting. And after thus dying in so great tribulation, they have not yet received it.
They gained their victory so many ages ago and have not yet received their reward.
And you, who are yet in the conflict, are you vexed?
Do you also consider what a thing it is and how great that Abraham should be sitting and the apostle Paul waiting till you have been perfected?
That then they may be able to receive their reward.
For the Savior has told them before that unless we also are present, he will not give it to them.
As an affectionate father might say to sons who were well approved and had accomplished their work, that he would not give them to eat unless their brethren came.
And are you vexed that you have not yet received the reward?
What then shall Abel do, who was victor before all, who is sitting still uncrowned?
And what Noah? And what they who lived in early times, seeing that they wait for you and those after you?
Do you see that we have the advantage of them?
For God, he says, has provided something better for us.
In order that they might not seem to have the advantage from us being crowned before us, he appointed one time of crowning for all.
And he that gained the victory so many years before receives his crown with you.
Do you see his tender carefulness?
And he did not say that they without us might not be crowned, but that they without us might not be made perfect, so that at that time they may appear perfect also.
They were before us as regards the conflicts, but they are not before us as regards the crowns.
He did not wrong them, but he honors us.
For they also wait for the brethren, for if we are all one body, the pleasure becomes greater to this body when it is crowned altogether and not part by part.
For the righteous are also worthy of admiration in this, that they rejoice in the welfare of their brethren as on their own.
So that for themselves also, this is according to their wish, to be crowned along with their own members, to be glorified altogether is a great delight, end quote.
It is a humbling thing, a humbling thought, that rather being late to the party as believers 2,000 years after Christ has died, we are part of the invited guests of whom the final consummation, of whom without which the final consummation will not come.
And we’re not the only ones, so let us continue inviting others so that the wedding hall may be full. Amen.
Let’s pray.
Our Lord and our God, what a humbling and wondrous thing that you would write such words that those saints who have gone before us and done mightier acts of faith and deeds of conquest,
conquered their fears, suffered unto death to receive the crown of glory that you would wait until all had been gathered.
As you told the martyrs below beneath the altar to wait a little longer for the full number of their brethren had not yet come.
Lord, we ask that you would empower and embolden us to invite those that your wedding hall might be full, and that we would not despise this time that we live in, but we would understand your purpose is on the cutting edge, that we are those without whom the party will not start, the great consummation, the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Lord, we pray these things and give you thanks in Jesus’ name. Amen.
In response, let’s turn and sing hymn number 469, and let’s stand as we sing hymn 469.