Islam, Judaism, Christianity?

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews. Throughout this year, we've been looking at Hebrews 11, looking at the various individuals which make up this chapter. This chapter, of course, is a listing of what we might call the heroes of the faith or people from the Old Testament whose faith was worthy of mention.

The writer of Hebrews is reminding us of what genuine faith looks like and what it consists.

Of.

We have looked at already the person of Abel, who offered up a faithful sacrifice to the.

Lord.

We looked at the person of Enoch, who the Bible says walked with the Lord, and we spent a few weeks looking at the person of Noah, the great faithful architect of the Ark, which saved not only his family, but animals during the time of God's judgment in the flood.

Now, we also took a little detour from Hebrews 11 and we looked at the story of the Tower of Babel, because we said that the Tower of Babel really is the dividing point between Noah coming off the Ark, or rather, it's the connection between Noah coming off of the Ark and God calling out a specific individual family to be his chosen people.

Abraham and the Question of the True Heirs of Faith

And that's what we're going to begin talking about this week. We're going to begin talking about the most preeminent figure of the Old Testament. In fact, I would go as far as to say he is the most preeminent religious figure in history, maybe being superseded only by Jesus Christ himself.

Yet we will see today that there are three particular religions, all of whom claim Abraham as their ancestor. So in that respect, we could say that Abraham has the most religious affection of any character in history.

Prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, Abraham was obviously by far the most significant religious figure in the Bible. Most Christians are very familiar with his life and his connection to biblical history.

And we know that outside of Christ, there is no person who is considered to be more important. Moses, Elijah, David, all of these people have a special place of importance in the.

Scripture.

But at the same time, if you were to ask Moses or David or Elijah, who is the most important person to you in the history of the faith, they would all likely have said Abraham. This is why I want to ensure that even though we're doing this examination of Hebrews 11, that we do not leave out aspects of Abraham's life that we need to focus on.

We don't want to we don't want to just read a little bit about Abraham and run on. We want to see what makes this man such an important character in the Old Testament. So we're going to spend quite some time looking at the person of Abraham.

And we're going to also take some time looking at the person of Sarah. So I'll give you an idea of how this is going to go. Today, we're going to look at a very specific aspect of Abraham, and that is how Abraham has influenced the three largest religions in the world.

That's what today is going to be about. We're going to sort of do a history lesson. Now, I'm going to be gone next week. And the week after that, we're going to look at the person of we're going to look at the call of Abraham, what we would call the Abrahamic Covenant.

Then the week after that, we're going to spend a week, maybe two on the person of Sarah. And then we're going to look at their relationship with Isaac. So we've got many, many weeks ahead to look at this person.

So if I don't get to all of the aspects of Abraham's life in one sermon, you'll understand those things are coming. But today, as I said, we're going to be looking at a very specific aspect of the person of Abraham.

And that is how Abraham has influenced the three largest religions in the world. Or we would say the three largest monotheistic religions. And we're going to ask this question. And this is the question for the morning.

And if you want to make a note of it, this is what we would call the sermonic question of the day. Why do we as Christians believe that we are the true heirs of the faith of Abraham? I'll ask that again.

Why do we as Christians believe that we are the true heirs of the faith of Abraham? That is our question for the morning. And we will stand together and read our first read our opening text, which is Hebrews verse chapter eight, verse 11, chapter 11, verse eight.

I'm sorry. Chapter 11 and verse eight. It says, 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.

Our father and our God, we thank you. We thank you for this awesome opportunity to be in your house and to be studying your word together. And I pray, oh, Lord, for your mercy upon us. I pray first and foremost that you would give me the strength and conviction to preach the truth.

That you would forgive my many errors. And Lord God, that you would keep me from error as I teach. I pray for our congregation, I pray that you would open their hearts to hear the message and receive it.

And Lord God, that this sermon would be used to not only instruct the people, but to exhort us all in righteousness. We love you, Lord, for all that you have done and are going to do. We ask your blessing upon this service in Jesus name.

Amen. This is going to be one of those messages where I wish I had a whiteboard behind me because I'm going to be giving a lot of information this morning, so I would encourage you, if you are a note taker, to keep up because I'm going to be giving a lot of information about three particular religions.

And you might ask, why? Why start here? Well, there is a lot that is said in our world that some people just sort of take for granted and it's just not right. And one of the most prominent things that people say nowadays that's just not right is, hey, man, all religion is the same.

You've heard anybody say that? You've heard somebody say, hey, they're all going to the same God. They're just going from a different direction or everybody's trying to get to the top of the mountain.

They're all just taking different roads.

Well, that's not true.

It's not true to say that all religions are the same. It's not true to say that we're even all trying to get to the same God. In fact, it doesn't take long to distinguish between the religions that we see in our world and their affections and how they worship the God that they espouse.

And it's not hard to see the differences in those gods when you simply take the opportunity to study. However, it is easy for people to confuse the three major monotheistic religions in the world. What are the three?

First of all, what is monotheism? Monotheism is the belief in one almighty creator who is the supreme ruler of all things. It is different and distinct from what is called deism. Deism is simply a belief in a deity or some form of deity.

It doesn't exclude the possibility of monotheism and doesn't include things like sovereignty and grace and mercy and things like that. Monotheism specifically says that not only is there one God, but he's the one God who created all things.

He sustains all things. He is in and through and by all things are through him and by him and to him. And this is agreed upon by three major religions. Christianity is the largest monotheistic religion in the world, having almost two billion.

Adherents.

But if you think before you get all excited that we include such a large number, remember that includes a large number of groups that we would call cult groups such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, things like that.

All of those would be lumped together under the umbrella of Christian and also would Roman Catholicism be lumped together under the umbrella of Christian. So when you get all excited that there are two billion, remember that's two billion.

That's not two billion reformed Christians. That's not two billion Protestants. That's two billion people that have the name or title of Christian. But still, because of that, we have the largest number of people that would call themselves followers of Jesus Christ.

The second largest group is Islam. Islam has the second largest number of adherents. And at the time of the when I put these notes together, the information that I was able to find said that it was one point four billion adherents to Islam.

That's a lot of people. And if you notice, that's pretty close to Christianity. And if you consider the fact that what I said about Christianity is that the overwhelming majority of Christianity that would fall into that category is made up of people who we probably wouldn't define as Christians, biblical Christians, it would probably fall well under the one point four billion that are the adherents of Islam.

The frightening statistic. Now, the third and oldest of the three monotheistic religions is what?

Judaism.

Judaism is the smallest as well. It has only about 15 million worldwide adherents. Now, it's important to point out that while all three of these religions claim that there is only one God, they are all very different regarding their understanding of this one.

God.

This becomes even more interesting when it is discovered that each of these monotheistic religions focuses on a singular source for the introduction of that deity. What do I mean by that? All three of the major monotheistic religions in the world today trace their faith back to the person called Abraham.

Islam does it. Jews do it.

Christians do it.

All three groups say Abraham is the ancestor of our faith. The question is, who's right? Now, obviously, I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't believe that Christians were. But it's not fair for me to just say, well, Christians are right.

We have to be able to make a case, make a defense. Why do we believe that Abraham is the ancestor of the Christian religion? Why do we believe and why would we take a stand and say Abraham is not the ancestor.

Of Islam?

Why would we say that Abraham is not the ancestor of what is today called Orthodox.

Judaism?

Well, we're going to see the answer to that question, because that answer to that question is very important, because God made a promise to Abraham. And we believe that if we are Christians, that we are partakers in that promise, specifically the part of the promise where God said to Abraham, through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed because the book or the Apostle Paul tells us that that promise was the gospel.

And because we are participators in the gospel, participants in the gospel, we are made participants in the promises of Abraham. So this morning we're going to look at the history of these three monotheistic religions and specifically show how the patriarch Abraham is claimed by each of these religions.

But yet at the same time that only Christianity upholds the faith of Abraham, which is described in Scripture. So let's look at the history somewhat of these three religions. We'll begin with the first one, the oldest one, and that is Judaism.

Judaism, though the smallest of the three monotheistic religions of the world, is by far the oldest, at least in practice. Modern Jews believe that their faith actually began with Abraham, who is believed to have lived sometime around 2000 BC.

2000 BC would have been about 4000 years ago from from our time now. The story believed by the Jewish community is contained in the book of Genesis. And for the most part, the story that is contained in the book of Genesis is accepted.

I mean, we accept the whole book of Genesis. And for the most part, the history of the Jews and the history of the Christians is very similar. We would hold to the same books as having authority from God.

And we believe that Abraham was called by God to leave his extended family, to take his wife, Sarah, to a land called Canaan. And in exchange for that act of obedience, God gave Abraham's descendants, specifically the Jews, the land that they live on as a reward.

God promised to be on Abraham's side. He promised to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. And that covenant between God and Abraham was called the Abrahamic covenant. We will study that in our next session in two weeks when we look at the call of Abraham.

It's found in Genesis 12. If you want to be looking at it between now and then, Abraham would go on to have two sons, actually go on to have many children through his second wife, Keturah. He had one son through his first wife, Sarah, and he had one son through a concubine.

Or it was actually his wife's handmaiden. Her name was Hagar. Hagar had his first physical son, and that was a boy named Ishmael. So you have Abraham had one son through Hagar. His name was Ishmael. He had a second son named Isaac through Sarah.

A familiar and important story from the life of Isaac is very important in the Jewish faith, as well as in the Christian faith. And that is the story of when Abraham was commanded by God to offer up Isaac on the mountain.

God told him in Genesis 22 to go and take Isaac up onto the mountain. And when he got him up there to sacrifice him as a sacrifice to God. Yet when they arrived on the mountain and the young boy was tied onto the altar.

And Abraham was ready to thrust the blade into his son's chest. God stayed his hand and told him not to lay a hand upon his son and instead substituted his son with a ram. And thus, Isaac would not die, but go on to live.

And he would go on to have children of his own. Two twin boys, Jacob and Esau. God would choose one of those boys, Jacob, to be the father of 12 tribes. And those tribes would go on to be called the tribes of Jacob, or also known as the tribes of Israel.

And today, Jews try to trace their lineage back to their tribes so that they can distinguish who am I from? Am I from Benjamin or am I from one of the other tribes? Thus, this is the important aspect among the Jewish people today, more so than a religion.

Modern Judaism has been focused upon heredity. It's upon being born into being a Jew and less about the relationship between God and.

The individual.

It's the promise of God to Abraham that they all say we're attached to this promise because of our heredity. We're attached to this promise because we were born into the family of Abraham. Thus, it has become about national blessing.

Very important among the Jewish people is their nationality, that they were born and raised and are Jews by birth. That is very important because when we go into the book of Romans and we see in Romans chapter nine, the Apostle Paul makes this very important point to his Jewish brothers and sisters.

He says, look, not everyone who is born of Abraham is of the faith of Abraham and not everyone who is a Jew by birth is a Jew in the heart. And he makes the argument just because you are born a Jew does not make you a person who has the faith of Abraham.

And you see, that is where the great problem is with Orthodox Judaism. Not only have they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah, that is a problem in and of itself and obviously the most important problem.

But the second problem in Orthodox Judaism is that they have they have come to believe the idea and they have believed the idea that because of their national heredity, that this has established for them salvation.

And that, beloved, is obviously not true. If it were true, then Paul would have been a fool to say, I would gladly give up my salvation if it meant the salvation of my brethren, according to the flesh, Israel.

Why would he say those words if they were saved by heredity? It would have been foolish for him to say that. We have to understand Orthodox Judaism claims because of their physical lineage with Abraham, that they are automatically accounted his blessings.

And beloved, what we will see later is it's not physical ties to Abraham that bring the blessings of God, but it is sharing the faith of Abraham that brings the blessings of God. And we'll see that when we look in a little further.

But that is the very quick and very, very shallow history of Judaism and how they see their relationship with Abraham. But now I want to look at another religion that also claims Abraham as its ancestor, and that is the religion of Islam.

Islam, Ishmael, and the Five Pillars of Works-Based Salvation

Obviously, Judaism is the oldest. Islam is the youngest. Islam only came on the scene in the 7th century, around 632 is when Muhammad died. So you imagine it was before 632 that Islam rose to preeminence in Saudi Arabia and in the areas around there.

Muslims who are the followers of Islam argue that Islam did not begin with Muhammad, but they say Islam began with Abraham. They say Abraham is their ancestor. They say Abraham was the one who was the original Muslim.

He was the original faithful one. He was the original one who led the people of God as a Muslim. And what's interesting about that is that they have an entirely different look at history than what the Bible provides.

The Bible provides for us that in the history of the godly line, we have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 tribes, and from those 12 tribes, the tribe of Judah gives us the person of.

Jesus Christ.

That's how we follow the godly line in Scripture. Yet in Islam, the line is different. In Islam, the line goes from Abraham to Ishmael. And from Ishmael comes the Arab people, and out of the Arab people comes Muhammad.

And see, that is where they find their lineage. They say the religion of Islam is based on God's promises to Abraham, which go to them through Ishmael. In fact, it is in the religion of Islam that they believe that God did not offer up Isaac on Mount Moriah.

But that God instead offered up Ishmael. They believe that God called Abraham to offer up the son whom he loved and the son whom he loved, according to the Islamic religion, would have been Ishmael. And he would have taken Ishmael up to sacrifice him.

As a result, it is believed in Islam that the Jewish leaders have corrupted the Scripture. They believe that the Bible that we have is not the true word of God, but instead that the Bible that we have, particularly the Old Testament in this particular instance, has been corrupted in that the Jewish people hijacked it, took it for themselves, changed it wholesale so that they would be in preeminence and the line of Ishmael would be under a curse.

So we see this entire divide between the Muslims and the Jews, the Arabs and the Israelis. We see the divide there and where the divide comes from. Now, just looking at those two religions as briefly as we have and looking at their relationship that they claim with Abraham, I want to take a moment to examine what we've seen so far.

There are three monotheistic religions in the world. All three claim that theirs is a different God from the others, which is true. The God that modern Jews, what we would call Orthodox Jews, worship, which they would call by the same name that we would call God, which is Yahweh, is not the same God as the God of the New Testament, the God of the Bible.

Neither is it the same God as the God of the Koran, which would be called Allah. But all three of them claim that their God was the God who spoke to Abraham. That's what's important, because we all believe God spoke to Abraham.

The question is, whose God spoke? All three to be claiming all three claim to be serving the God of Abraham. But all three are serving a different God. So all three cannot be right. That's very important.

But I ask this question, why cannot they all be serving the same God? Why cannot they all be serving the same God? And this is important, and I want you to consider this because you may be asked that question one day, you may be sitting across from a group of people that are universalists, or you may be sitting across from a person who says, I think all the gods are just the same.

They just have a different name. How would you answer that question? Here is some things to consider. Number one, if God is one God with one mind and one purpose, he cannot and will not contradict himself.

Thus, when these religions contradict one another about the person, character and nature of God, they prove beyond doubt that they are serving different gods. And because each would espouse that theirs is the only one God, then the gods of the other two religions must by necessity be false gods.

I have no problem standing behind the pulpit and proclaiming that Allah is a false God. I don't say it's another religious system. I say it's the worship of a false God. It is a pagan religion, because if I believe that there is only one God and I believe that that one God is the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is proclaimed in both the Old and the New Testaments, then I can clearly say that Allah is not God, nor is he a God.

He is a false imaginary God that was produced in the mind of a man named Muhammad in the seventh century. I'm not afraid to say that. Because the Bible is very clear on that issue. But for a moment, let us see why we can proclaim such things with such strength.

Let's see how these religions worship God and how vast the differences really are. It is obvious that though these religions all claim their origins in the God who revealed himself in Abraham, they're quite different in their understanding of God and how he is.

To be worshiped.

Consider Judaism, modern Orthodox Judaism. What is worship based on in modern Orthodox Judaism? It is based on the scriptures, the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. It includes specific dietary practices, the observance of holy days, including the Sabbath and acts of benevolence.

At the same time, Judaism is also not only a religion, but as we said, it is a heredity. It's an ethnicity. Jews are not Jews by faith alone, but also by birth. So we ask the question, how do Jews practice their religion?

Modern Jews practice a religion today which is basically a works based righteousness type.

Of faith.

In fact, they don't even have in modern Judaism what they had during the time of Christ and prior to Christ, which is the act of sacrifice. This is the one major problem for all modern Jews is that they say we hold to the Pentateuch.

They say we hold to the the Old Testament, which they would call the law, the word of.

God.

They hold to that. But yet that Bible that they have, that Old Testament scripture that they have commands the practicing of sacrifices for the propitiation of sin. Yet since 80, 70, there has been no practice of sacrifice among the Jewish people because there has been no place to practice sacrifices.

So the question is, how then does a Jew, a modern Jew, an Orthodox Jew claim that they are saved? How do they claim that they are saved? Well, it may differ if you ask different ones, but the general account of answer would be that we are saved by our keeping of the law to the best of our abilities and to acts of benevolence.

If you ask, what about sacrifices? The answer that I was given in asking that question, I said, well, what about the required sacrifices? They say, well, those sacrifices were never meant to take away sin.

The sacrifices were simply there as a picture of God's mercy. I said, wait a minute, the text clearly says that you place the sin upon the animal, you sacrifice the animal and you put its blood into the temple, onto the mercy seat as a picture of God's forgiveness.

Yes, I believe it's a picture, but you're telling me that this is no longer a necessary.

Thing to do.

Why?

Well, they say their sacrifices have been replaced with acts of benevolence. So what have they done? They've established a works based system. They couldn't do the work that the scripture commands them to do, which is a sacrifice.

So they've replaced that work with something else and they've created a meritorious system. It is not by faith, but by works. Likewise, the religion of Islam, how do they find salvation in Islam? How does an Islamic person find salvation?

They must practice their religion wholeheartedly and they must do so understanding that what they do merits salvation. There are five things that a Islamic person must do in his lifetime. There are five things that he must do to maintain his faith as an Islamic person.

And if he does not do these five things, he does not maintain his religion. And as such, he does not maintain his standing as a person who has an opportunity for salvation. There is no promise of salvation in Islam.

The only promise of salvation in Islam is given to the one who dies in jihad, which is why so many are willing to strap upon themselves bombs or to run out into a field to kill, because that is the only way that they can be certain of salvation is to give themselves up in what is called jihad.

Outside of that, the only way for an Islamic person to know that they're saved or to have any confidence in their salvation is if they keep up with the five pillars of Islam, which is first the statement of the faith of God, which is where they would say there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.

That is called the Shahada or the statement of faith in the Islamic faith. When you become a Muslim, you must say there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. And you have to say that in Arabic, by the way.

They teach you to say it in Arabic because they believe Arabic is the language of God. Once you've said that, you enter into your Islamic faith. The second thing is you have daily prayers that you must do every day and you have to do those prayers in a specific way, in a specific stance, and you must face Mecca.

Mecca, of course, is a place in Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the place where it is believed by Muslims that Abraham and Ishmael went and there was a stone there and they built the Kaaba around the stone. The stone is actually the Kaaba.

They built this place of worship in Mecca. And they must face Mecca and pray towards Mecca. The third is the giving of alms. Whereas we would give it where Christians and Jews have long seen 10 percent as what we call a tithe, they give 2 .5 percent of their annual income.

And alms.

The fourth is fasting during Ramadan, which is an Islamic holy month, and the fifth is the pilgrimage to Mecca. That is a pilgrimage to that place where the Kaaba is. And if you can make a pilgrimage there in your life, you're required to in Islam.

The only way that you don't have to is if you have physical or financial limitations that would keep you from going. So those are the five pillars of Islam. What do we have in Islam? Works based righteousness.

What do we have in Orthodox Judaism? Works based righteousness. Now, I said there's three. There are three that claim the faith of Abraham, Christianity, Islam, Orthodox Judaism. But I want to show you something that's very important, because when we look at the pages of Holy Scripture, what we need to understand is though all of these religions would claim Abraham as their father.

Only one follows in the faith of Abraham by saying that justification is by faith alone. I want to show you something in the New Testament and then quickly jump back to the Old Testament. Turn with me to Romans four.

We looked at this as our opening text. Romans chapter four asks this question, says, What shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? Now, just stop there. Don't even go any further into Paul's argument.

Just ask yourself the question. What can we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? Now, when it says according to the flesh, what it means in our modern vernacular, what can we say that Abraham earned by what he did?

What can we say that Abraham earned by his works? Now, if you are a Muslim, if you are an Islamic person, your answer to that question would have to be Abraham earned his righteousness by fulfilling the rules of the five pillars.

Abraham earned his righteousness by what he did because that is what is required in Islam. So your answer to Romans chapter four in verse one, what shall we say was earned by Abraham because of his works or what shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, the Islamic person would say everything.

Everything was gained by what he did because that's how he gained it. You ask the Orthodox Jew. What shall we say was gained by Abraham because of his works? Well, let me ask you this. How do you think a Pharisee would have answered that question?

Pharisee would be a good example of Orthodox Judaism. What would they say about Abraham? Abraham was a righteous man. Abraham gained much by his works. But look how Paul answers the question. What shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

He doesn't answer right off, but he goes on and says this. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. You see what he's saying, if you're saved by what you do. Then in some respect, you could stand before God and be proud of what you have done.

In some respect, you could stand before others and be proud of what you have done. If you are saved because of what you do, then beloved, you are saved by works and not by grace. That's why he goes on to say, but not before God.

If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Abraham has nothing to boast about before God. For as it is written. Verse three, for what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Now, what is that?

That is a trend. That is a quote of Genesis 15. Go back to Genesis 15 very quickly. This is not something Paul is pulling out of thin air. Paul is not inventing the doctrine of sola fide. Paul is not inventing the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

He is simply pulling from the Old Testament text and demonstrating that salvation by grace through faith has always been God's way of salvation. It has never been justification by works, but it has always been justification by grace through faith.

And he says in Genesis, he quotes Genesis 15. If you go back to Genesis 15, God is making his covenant with Abraham. He's reaffirming the covenant. He gave the covenant in Genesis 12. He is reaffirming it in Genesis 15.

And in Genesis 15, six, it says, and he's speaking of Abraham, believe the Lord. And he counted it to him as righteousness. Beloved Abraham did not go to heaven because he was righteous. Abraham went to heaven because God counted righteousness to him.

And that is so important for us to understand, because only Christianity holds to the belief, the true belief, that righteousness does not come from us, but righteousness comes from God. This is why I can firmly say that I believe that as a Christian, we are the only ones who are holding to the faith of Abraham.

Because we're the only ones who say, it is nothing in my hand I bring, only to the cross I cling. I bring nothing to the table. I bring no righteousness of my own. As Paul says, I stand before God, not having a righteousness of my own, but a righteousness which comes from God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is how I'm saved. And beloved, that same way is how Abraham was saved. The Islamic people who claim Abraham as their forefather are denying Abraham by what they are teaching. The Orthodox Jew who claims Abraham as their forefather may have him as a spiritual, or physical forefather, but do not have him as a spiritual forefather.

Only the believer in Christ can say that they are fulfilling the faith of Abraham. Which is why when the Pharisees came to Jesus, and they were angry with Jesus, and they said to Jesus, our father is Abraham.

Jesus looked at them and said, if you were truly of your father Abraham, you would believe in me. But you are not. You are of your father the devil. Beloved, the faith of Abraham is faith in Christ. The faith of Abraham was the belief that God would bless the world through him.

And God did bless the world through Christ, the descendant of Abraham. This is why Jesus said, even Abraham longed to see my day. And the Pharisees laughed at him and said, you're not even 50 years old.

How can Abraham long to see your day? And Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am. He said, even Abraham longed to see my day. Beloved, as Christians, we share the faith of Abraham. As Christians, we are descendants spiritually of Abraham.

There may be three religions that claim Abraham as their ancestor, but only in Christ do we have the faith that we can say was shared by him.

Closing Prayer and Appeal for Faith in Christ

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this opportunity to have been in your house today. We thank you for this opportunity to have heard your word preached. I pray, O God, your mercy in our understanding. That as we consider what we have learned in this message, that we will take it and that we will apply it to our lives as we go about our business and our day and our life.