 All right, the faith of Sarah, this is Hebrews chapter 11 verses 11 and 12. Now it helps us as we come to chapter 11, helps us to remember why the author of this letter to the Hebrew Christians is writing in the first place, right? He's writing to Jewish Christians who are Jewish believers who were facing tremendous persecution, persecution that is unknown to us. We just don't go through this kind of persecution here in this country. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32, they had already endured a great struggle with suffering. They were made a spectacle, our author says, by both reproaches and tribulations. Their goods were plundered. I don't know if there are anyone here who can claim that their goods have been plundered recently. They've gone through a severe persecution. Hebrews chapter 12 verse three, there are many here, no doubt, who have become weary and have become discouraged in their fight for faith and their fight to live the Christian life. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse seven, they were enduring a difficult chastening from the Lord. Difficult chastening. Chastening as sons, but chastening nonetheless. And that with the expectation that it would yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. But it's painful while it lasts. And this was a painful chastening. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12, they're described there as having weak or tired hands, feeble knees, all of this symbolic of spiritual strength and vigor. Here specifically, spiritual weakness, spiritual discouragement, spiritual lethargy. They've become weary of fighting, weary of striving. They feel the weight of the persecution upon them, the weight of the need for perseverance. They are in need of endurance and they are at risk here of faltering and of turning back. And so our author, letter to the Hebrews, the intention of our author is to spur them on in their faith, to bolster their faith, build them up in their faith, and to flex their spiritual arms, so to speak. Strong knees are gonna be needed if they are gonna finish the race that is set before them. Same goes for us, right? There are times when we can become discouraged in our faith, when we can have difficulty, we can become weary in the fight. Sometimes weary in the battle with sin. I've talked to brothers, maybe you have too, where a guy comes to you just struggling in a fight over sin and he's ready to throw in the towel. Ready to throw in the towel. You can't throw in the towel. We have to strengthen the hands which hang down. We have to strengthen, tighten up those weak knees. You know, flex your spiritual arms, so to speak, with faith in the Lord and keep battling and persevere to the end that we might be saved. Our perfect example of that patient endurance, that perfect tested obedience through suffering is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We saw this morning in Hebrews chapter five verses eight and nine that though he was the Son of God, the Son of God Himself learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Having been perfected, the author says there, he became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. Remember the Greek saying, right? Empathon, emethon, epathon, emethon. I learned and I suffered. I suffered and I learned. As we endure trials in our Christian lives, like our Lord who endured suffering at the hands of sinners, we learn, we grow. Our faith is matured and frankly, listen, you have to be prepared for this in the Christian life. The chief and principal way in which your faith will be bolstered, in which your faith will be matured, the chief way is through suffering, is through trial, is through difficulty, in the soil of suffering we grow. So as we come to Hebrews chapter 12 verse three, our author says for consider him, consider Christ when we face difficulty, when we face discouragement, when we face weariness, when we face the temptation to turn back, to shrink back. In the battle with sin, when you face the temptation to give in, in the battle with people, persecution, when you face the temptation to shrink back, not take a stand for God. When it's difficult, when times are sometimes, circumstances are sometimes fearful, rather than shrink back, our author here says consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, lest your hands become weak and hang down, lest your knees become feeble, right? As we learn from our perfect example and we imitate him, our author in Hebrews 11 gives us one example after another of those who faithfully endured by faith in him. So as we come tonight to the faith of Sarah in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 11 and 12, our text isn't pointing to Sarah, per se, our text is pointing to the faith of Sarah and that faith, the faith of Sarah, working by the grace and power of the author and finisher of it. It's not our faith in and of itself that is victorious over anything, but it's God working in grace and power through our faith that gives us the victory and we're to be victorious in him. And if you're in him through repentant faith in Christ, then you can take all of these promises and rest in them, be strengthened as Sarah was, be strengthened by them, be bold and confident and courageous in them. Why? Because he is faithful. Not because you and I are faithful, but because God in grace through faith is faithful to us. Now we're to look, as we look at this passage, we're to look at what God does through a working, thriving, healthy, arm flexed, knee strengthened faith, a strong need of faith. In other words, in the trials that you face as you live the Christian life, don't give in to weariness. Don't give in to defeat. Don't give in to fatalism. You can't wave the white flag. Don't pull the ejector handle, right? You can't turn back. We are not those, as our author says here, those that turn back to perdition, but we press on to the saving of our souls. We press on in faith. Don't turn back in discouragement. Don't shrink back in unbelief, but exercise here the faith of Sarah. Exercise the faith of Abraham, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Abel. Exercise faith in Christ. Base your faith on the same foundation that Sarah based her faith on. If you look at verse 11, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age, why? Because she judged him faithful who had promised, persevere based on him, and persevere to the end and be saved. So now the root and ground then of Sarah's faith expressed there in verse 11, she judged him faithful who had promised. So we can have hope because he's faithful. We can press on because we're strong. No, but because he's faithful. We can be strengthened. Why? Because we're strong? No, because he's faithful. We can endure because we're smart? No, but because he's faithful, right? Sarah was strengthened because she embraced the promises of God because she judged him who had promised as faithful. As with all of these accounts now in Hebrews chapter 11, it's not as much about their faith as it is about the one in whom they have put their faith. So Sarah's story here, Sarah's account in Hebrews chapter 11, so it's looking at the text this week, reminds me of one of my favorite hymns and we sung that tonight, great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. You remember verse three, pardon for sin in a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. So I thought about verse three. I think that makes an ideal outline for our text in Hebrews chapter 11, looking at Sarah's faith. Point one on your notes, looking at Hebrews 11 verses 11 and 12, we'll see God's faithfulness. Great is his faithfulness. One, pardon for sin. Two, strength for today. Three, bright hope for tomorrow. And four, great is thy faithfulness and honoring and looking at the faithfulness of God to his promise. Let's look first at point one, point one from verse 11, a pardon for sin. Verse 11 says this, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. It says there in verse 11, it begins that Sarah received strength. She received that strength through faith. Now prior to this, prior to this, Sarah was weak. Let's take a look at that. Go back with me to Genesis chapter 11. We're looking here at God's gracious pardon for sin here in the life and example of Sarah. We can begin that look at Genesis chapter 11. It's Sarah's weakness. It's Sarah's sin. Sarah's unbelief. If you look at Genesis 11, drop down to verse 27. Here, Moses records in Genesis 11, 27, this is the genealogy of Tara. Tara begot Abram, Nahor and Heran. Heran begot Lot and Heran died before his father, Tara, in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans. Then Abraham and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai. The name of Nahor's wife, Milka, the daughter of Heran, the father of Milka and the father of Iskah. But Sarai was barren as she had no child. So here, Sarah in her weakness barren by the providence of God, barren. Look at Genesis chapter 15, flip the page there. In Genesis chapter 15, beginning in verse one, despite Sarah's weakness, despite her age, God makes a covenant with Abraham, a promise with Abraham. We see that in Genesis chapter 15, beginning in verse one. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me? Seeing I go childless in the air of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, verse four, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body. In other words, from Abraham and Sarah, Abram and Sarah, one comes that comes from your own body shall be your heir, verse five. Then he brought him outside and said, look now Abram toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord. He put his faith and trust in God and he accounted it to him, God accounted it to him for righteousness, the righteousness that was required by God to stand righteous in his sight to be saved. This was the promise, this was the covenant. Flip the page and look at Genesis 16, 16 and look beginning at verse one. And again, the weakness of Sarah here. Verse one, now Sarah, Abram's wife had born him no children. She had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So Sarah said to Abram, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children, taking matters into her own hands, not exercising faith in God for his promises. Sarah I told Abram verse two, please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarah. Oftentimes, right in our own lives, because of faithlessness, because of unbelief, we're tempted to take matters into our own hands. Oftentimes that comes in the form of financial, where we will compromise to financially provide for ourselves when we know that God is the one who provides wealth, the ability to make wealth, when God is the one who provides many, many times over the years, you see folks who will cut corners, will compromise in order to take a job. They may pay more, take hours, they don't really need so that they can make more, all compromising their relationship with the Lord, compromising service to the Lord. We're not to compromise, God is the one who provides. And so what our responsibility is then is to be faithful. And if we're faithful, he is faithful to his promises. We put our faith in him. We judge him to be faithful as Sarah did later. We follow him by faith and God provides. We can't take matters into our own hands and cut corners. We must be faithful. The Lord says, Matthew chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So we've got to make a commitment to follow the Lord. Here, Sarah, she took matters into her own hands. If you think about this particular sin, the consequences of the sin have lasted through the centuries, haven't they? We see that part of the world in utter disarray today as a consequence of Sarah's sin here. These consequences, in the same way, if you think about Hebrews chapter 11, we'll get there in a moment. But as you see the fruitfulness that comes through Abraham's and Sarah's faith in the Lord and that fruit that God provides through their faith, we can also see the fruit and the consequences of sin that come generation by generation by generation here from Sarah's sin in Genesis chapter 16. So Sarah, I said then in verse five, said to Abram, my wrong be upon you. I gave my maid into your embrace. And when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes, the Lord judge between you and me. Turn the page and look at Genesis chapter 17 now. Genesis chapter 17. And again, we're looking at the weakness of Sarah, the reason that she needed to be strengthened by faith, by grace through faith. Genesis chapter 17, we see that again beginning in verse 15. And here again, discussing the covenant that God has made with Abraham. God said to Abraham, verse 15, as for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples shall be from her. Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? And shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? Neighbor said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before you. And God said, no, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son, verse 19. And you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I've heard you. Behold, I've blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. Turn the page and look at Genesis chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18, we see there a glimpse of the weakness of Abraham's faith, the weakness of Sarah's faith. Now look at Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse nine. As these men have now come to Abraham, Abraham hastens to make provision to provide a meal for them. And they said to him, verse nine, where is Sarah, your wife? So he said, here she is in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life. And behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. This is an understatement, they were old. They were old, well advanced in age. And Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I love that statement. At the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son. Verse 15, but Sarah denied it saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid. And he said, no, but you did laugh. She laughed here within herself. Sarah was old, Sarah was barren and Sarah was unbelieving. There was sin involved here. The Lord's graciousness is Sarah, right? Sarah expressed her unbelief, not in scorn, not in prideful anger or prideful rebellion. She expressed her unbelief and weakness and she needed strength, she needed faith. In chapter 18, verse 12, it was Sarah's worldly reason that opposed the promises of God. She reasoned within herself, this is not possible. Shall I have a child when I'm old? After I've grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also. So here we see in Genesis chapter 18 again, Sarah's unbelief. She laughed within herself, doubting, distrusting God. She sinned and then she attempted to cover it up with a lie. She had taken matters into her own hands already with Hagar. Now she again sins against God in unbelief and then attempts to cover it with a lie. But God sees all. He said, verse 15, no, but you did laugh. Now God sees our heart. He sees our weakness. Praise God, he knows our frame that we are but dust, right? And God sympathizes with us in our weakness. In all ways, he was tempted as we are yet he was without sin. We can put our faith and trust in him because we have a faithful high priest who stands in the heavenlies and he is to be trusted. She laughed, she lied. She tried to cover it up. But God saw her heart. It's so gracious back in Genesis, or back in Hebrews chapter 11, so gracious here, you think about it, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 11, God doesn't expose her sin here. As he doesn't with all of these examples of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, he doesn't expose their sin. He graciously pardons their sin and then holds them up before our eyes as an example of faith, as an example of his grace working in power through faith. She laughed at first, but afterwards she believed. This was a gracious pardon for sin, a gift of God's grace of the faith to trust him for his promises. So it says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 11, only here that she received strength. Don't let your worldly reasoning get in the way of faith. Don't let your own worldly conception of things stand in the way of the promises of God. God will provide. God will see you through it. God will strengthen. God will give you strength to overcome sin. God will provide. God will act in accord with his word. God does not lie. He's not like a man that he should lie. He's not like a man that he should change his mind. God will be faithful to his word. It's just for you and I to believe him, to judge him faithful and live according to these glorious promises. That's the Christian life. And in the Christian life that faith is going to be tested. It's going to be tried. It's gonna be put into the crucible of suffering. All so that we, not God, God knows what he's done. God knows his work so that we can see that our faith has been tried and that we've learned obedience through suffering. And that faith being perfected builds perseverance, builds proven character, builds our hope that we can persevere to the end and be saved. Don't let worldly reason get in the way of faith. So we see point one, a pardon for sin. We also see point two, strength for today. As we consider our hymn, strength for today. Verse 11, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength. By faith, we're strengthened. Right in verse 11, it says there by faith, Sarah herself also. Those words herself also is a reference to the example of Abraham in verses eight through 10. Verse eight says by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. So when we come to verse 11, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength. So in addition to Abraham, in other words, Sarah wasn't hanging here on the coattails of her husband, Sarah exercised faith, her own faith, and her own faith was credited to her for righteousness. Abraham believed the promises. Sarah believed them too. She herself is a trophy of God's grace here, an example of grace that worked through faith. And so when Abraham went out believing the Lord and the Lord credited to him as righteousness, Sarah went out with him. She left the Chaldeans and walked in the desert. She lived in tents. She was a part of the same promises and was used by God for that plan for their accomplishment. First Peter chapter three, verse five says this, for in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, also adorned themselves in this manner with the faith of Abraham, with the faith of Abraham, holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. You think about Sarah? Was Sarah's faith in Abraham? Did Sarah follow Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldeans, out of Ur of the Chaldeans because she trusted in Abraham? No, because she trusted in God. We know the answer to that question, right? So ladies, when you submit to your husbands, are you submitting to them because they are so infallibly trustworthy? No, don't laugh, ladies. No, it's not what he's, no. You may have loving husbands and well-intentioned husbands, but your husbands are not the God of the universe. Your husbands are not God Almighty who is infallible and faithful to His promises. You submit, as Sarah did, because you judge God to be faithful and it's God who calls for your submission. God is the one, God is the one. By faith, Sarah here is the blessed free woman of Galatians chapter four. It wasn't Abraham's faith, only Sarah had faith. She herself also received strength by faith. And what does it mean that she received strength in verse 11? This is a divine passive. She received it. It was a gift to her. In other words, God is the one who is giving her strength and God is giving her strength through the means of her faith. And not just a spiritual strength thing. You can't take this only spiritually here in verse 11. This is physical strength as well. Verse 11, it was strength to conceive seed. If you think Sarah is old, Sarah's old, old, way past the age of childbearing here and this strength that she received, not only spiritual strength, but also physical strength to conceive seed and bear a child when she was past the age. Have you ever experienced a spiritual trial or a difficulty, tribulation, adversity that was so intense that you waxed away physically? Like it just sapped your strength. You feel run down, right? You feel oppressed. You feel weak. You feel weary. You feel like you've got a ton of bricks on your shoulders. You just, you feel it physically, don't you? That's when we need strength. We need strength and God is faithful to give it. God works through his power by grace through faith here to strengthen Sarah and he will strengthen you. There are those trials and difficulties that many of you have gone through that I've gone through that are so intense. They take a physical toll on us. Just weighed down with it in pain, in agony over it. Here, how do you receive strength? How are you lifted up as on eagle's wings? By faith, God's grace in power working through faith. You take strength from faith when you're drained physically, when you're weary, when you're distressed, look at Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse three. When you are weary, when you are feeling discouraged, when you feel weighed down, verse three, consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. In other words, by faith, look to Christ. By faith, look to Christ. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You've not yet resisted the bloodsheds driving against sin, I think the reasoning here, right? The reasoning renewing our minds, making us think rightly about our circumstances. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as rebels, as sinners, as reprobates? No, as sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves he chases, whom the Lord loves he chases and he scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, all of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us, we paid them respect, shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us has seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Don't grow weary in well-doing, right? You will reap a harvest if you faint not. So by faith here, verse 11, Sarah herself also received strength and it was by that faith that she bore a child when she was past the age, past age here magnifies the miracle, intensifies the miracle. It's an understatement. It's intensifying the miraculous thing that happened here, God working through her faith. It's in the situations of life that look hopeless where there is the greatest opportunity for faith to shine to the glory of God. She was sustained by her faith from beginning to end, so to speak. And what God began in Sarah, what God began with Abraham, he finished. We just have need of endurance. What God began with you when you first started out, God will finish. You just need endurance. That grace at work in your heart at the beginning will continue until you are in glory. You just need perseverance. We have need of strength. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse 35. Therefore, knowing that we need this strength, we need endurance, we need perseverance. Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise for yet a little while. And he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the souls. Saving of the soul. You need to press on, you need to press on. Think of the example of Sarah and her pregnancy, right? I'm thinking maybe that by way of analogy spiritually, like the seed of faith is planted. And you may go through a long period of waiting. What is nine months pregnancy? Maybe nine years in your trial. A long period, it may be a long drawn out and prolonged difficulty, but we are to wait on the Lord to fulfill his promises because the Lord is faithful. Doesn't always come in our timetable. Doesn't always come when we expect it, but God is faithful. And while waiting, while enduring, you may go through increasing birth pains along the way, contractions, pain, difficulty, but God will deliver, amen? Thirdly, bright hope for tomorrow, a pardon for sin, strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow. Look at verse 11, second half there, because she judged, because she judged, she considered, she reckoned him faithful who had promised. This was both the overflowing spring and the sure foundation of Sarah's faith, the faithfulness of God, because he is faithful. The fuel that fires her faith is him who is faithful. He is faithful according to his word, faithful in her experience. She experienced him as faithful. And she judges him faithful and that becomes the foundation for her thriving faith. God always keeps the promise. If you think about it, we are to, as Sarah does here, we're to look past the promise to the one who promises. We're to look past the promises to the one who is faithful to keep his promises. He is the object of our faith. So the way that we need to exercise our faith in, if we exercise the faith of Sarah, we're first, first and foremost, we're to look on him who is faithful. We look on him who is faithful, having our eyes fixed on him by faith. We judge him faithful to his promises and we rest embracing the promises that he's made to us in Christ. Rest because of who he is. Rest because of the promises that he's made. That's how we trust. We trust without doubting. We obey without compromising. We walk without worry. That's how we trust with bright hope for tomorrow. Bright hope for tomorrow. Lastly, point four, great is thy faithfulness. Look at verse 12, great is thy faithfulness. Here, the therefore that begins verse 12 speaks to the reward of her faith. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore. Turn with me to Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter seven, all these connections in scripture, glorious threads woven through the fabric of the Bible from beginning to end. Beautiful how it all just comes together. This is the reward of her faith. This is the reward of Abraham's faith. Now, they were used of God for his own glory, for his own purposes. Don't you want to be thought of that way? Don't you want to be used by God? I wanna be used by God, right? I wanna be useful to him, used for his purposes, used for his glory. And we don't know what the outflowing of that will be. What the fruits of that will be. We just need to be faithful. We need to put our faith and trust in him and exercise faith and follow him. Look at this in Revelation chapter seven, beginning in verse nine. After these things I looked and behold, a great multitude, right? As many as the stars of the sky, as innumerable as the sand, which is by the seashore. After these things I looked and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number of all nations, all tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, amen. You know, from her faith, from the faith of Sarah, we have Isaac. And from him, ultimately, we have Christ himself, the seed, and from him, the seed, as in one, many, many in him. So who can estimate the fruits of faith? You know, I'm sure you've probably had this experience before too, but you walk away from a conversation with somebody thinking or believing that it had absolutely no effect whatsoever. Maybe the guy got angry, you know, guy just reacted in complete hostility and stormed off and you think to yourself, ah, I was a waste of time. It's never a waste of time. God's word never, never goes out and does not accomplish what God sent it out to do. It never doesn't accomplish God's purposes. And we, maybe it'll be in glory that we finally see the fruits of our faithful obedience to him, right? It'll be in glory when you'll come to understand all that God did through, by his grace, in his power, through your faithful obedience to him. And that will bring glory to you? No way. That'll bring glory to God. We will praise and glorify God for all eternity because we judge him faithful who promises great is thy faithfulness. Hebrews chapter 12, verse one says this, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise you and we thank you for your grace working in power through faith to accomplish your ends, to do all your good pleasure. And we rejoice, Lord, in, we revel in the thought that we can be a part of that work that by faith in Christ, you would condescend to work through your creatures to accomplish your purposes. That is a tremendous joy to me. I pray it would be a tremendous joy to my brothers and sisters. We see evidence of that joy here, Lord, because we've got so many brothers and sisters who are faithful to you, Lord, in preaching the gospel, faithful and loving their brothers, loving their sisters, loving their husbands, loving their wives, Lord, loving their kids. We praise you and we thank you and we worship you and rejoice in you to see your grace at work through faith for your glory. I pray, Lord, that you would continue that, protect us, Lord, from drawing back. I pray that no one here would draw back to perdition, but would press forward in faith. I pray, Lord, that you would strengthen us as we go. Give us strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow to see your great faithfulness come to its ultimate fruition, to its ultimate end, the consummation of all things as we behold your glory with those innumerable multitudes on the shore, worshiping and praising the Lamb for all eternity. I pray, Lord, that you would be honored and glorified in it. In Jesus' name, amen.