Our passage is found in Luke chapter 11 verses 14 through 20 this morning. Luke chapter 11, starting in verse 14. And he was casting out a demon and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Others to test him were demanding of him a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. We started this short passage verses 14 through 24 last week. We dealt with verses 14 through 16. And we noted that Jesus was going to go to the cross in about five months. He is in the Judean wilderness. He's devoting the last six months of his life mostly to educating his 12 disciples and others. And he is also going from town to town, about 35 of them at least, where his 70 disciples went out two by two and established themselves in these different towns in the Judean and the area beyond Jordan to pave the way for Jesus' arrival in these small areas. So it was a very fast pace, busy, few months left in his ministry. He is in an unknown place, an unknown synagogue probably, and Jesus heals a man who is a deaf-mute. He was demon-possessed, and we are told from the original language that the man What caused the deaf-muteness was the demon possession, meaning the demon actually caused this man to be a deaf-mute. So he was fine, the demon entered him, took away his ability to speak, to communicate, and to hear. And Jesus healed him of this, and he was able to speak again, and the demon was cast out. The key to this passage, I believe, is the history of the last three years of our Lord's ministry. He had been ministering up and down Israel for all of these three years, healing countless thousands of people. preaching, visiting the temple on many occasions. No one in Israel could have not known about him. Many had witnessed the things that he had done. It was impossible not to have an opinion about Jesus Christ. And the only legitimate opinion that you can have about him, even today, is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the son of the living God. He proved himself, and that was his humiliation. His humiliation ultimately or primarily is that God became man, the creature, the creator became the creature and entered into time and history and took on flesh and God became a living soul. Jesus Christ will forever be the God man, fully God and fully man. But then he condescended himself to us and lived among us and proved himself to us through doing these signs and these wonders. No man can heal a man that was blind from birth. No man can raise another man up from the dead, from the grave. And yet he did all of these wonderful things over and over and over and over again. And we find that there was nothing but confusion, for the most part, and opposition to him. And that is... what perplexes the world. It perplexes me. I can understand it theologically, but on an emotional level, I don't understand how anybody could not flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason, really, theologically, why men oppose him is because it's the natural state of man. It is your natural state when you come into this world to oppose the Lord Jesus Christ, to oppose the revelation of God, to walk away from him, to hate him. This is why salvation must be a gift from God. It cannot be from your will or mine because it is not our natural state. Our passage reveals how sin sick the world really is, how we truly are. Last week we learned that there were three groups represented in verses 14 through 16. And all three of the groups had witnessed the healing of this demon-possessed deaf-mute. Each group reacted differently, but they all had one thing in common. They were all unbelievers, watching the miracle, knowing of Jesus for three years, listening to the preaching possibly in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles just weeks before. And they were unbelievers. The first group that we found in verse 14, we're told the multitude was astonished that Jesus could do something like this. Well, how could that be? It's just another miracle. It was almost becoming routine. They tried to act as if they were confused. This perplexed them that he could do something like this. They didn't want to openly discount that it is possible that Jesus is the Messiah. So they attempted to be neutral about it. They attempted to be agnostic about it. Well, we just don't really know. We just don't have enough information to really know if he is the Messiah. And yet they had just witnessed a demon-possessed man be completely healed right before their eyes. So the reality is for these people, And this is the harsh reality, is they refuse to commit themselves to whom Jesus is. Because that's what it comes down to for everybody. It's an unwillingness to commit to whom Jesus is. Because whom Jesus is, is a fact. The next group are overt slanderers, we find in verse 15. Now these were the worst of men. They accused Jesus of colluding with Satan to cast out the demon. They accused Jesus of originating from the foulest and vilest of all spirits. They were motivated to do this, not because they actually believed what they were saying, but because they wanted to make sure that the common people, the hoi polloi, who they controlled, would never be confident in whom Jesus is. Again, look what they said about Jesus. But some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. They wanted to make sure that people never believed who he really is. They never wanted the people to say, these signs and wonders, these miracles that only this man has been doing for all of these years, except for on a few occasions when he gave his disciples power to do these things. can only come from his father in heaven. It is impossible for anybody else to do it unless he comes from heaven. When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, what did he say? Master, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles except God be with him. And so they called him Beelzebub. That was the worst insult you could give a Jew. It was the God of the Samaritans. In second Kings chapter one, Baal Zebub was the God of Ekron, the Lord of the flies, the Lord of dung. Ahaz worshiped Baal. Sacrificed his own son, killed his own son on the fire of that altar so he could have a good crop the next year. They accused Jesus Christ of worshiping Baal, being in league with him. Verse 16 was the third group. They were just as obstinate in their own belief as the second group. They were confederate with those blasphemers, I would say. They were mocking Jesus, openly mocking Jesus. They were yelling at him over and over and over again. Show us a sign. Show us a sign. Show us a sign. Not this piddly sign. We want a sign, a big sign. We want a sign that is at such magnitude as manna coming down from heaven for 40 years by Moses. Or Elijah raining fire down from heaven by the hand of God. You do that, we might believe you. But all three groups all had one thing in common. Whether you were trying to be neutral and nice or an overt blasphemer or an obnoxious skeptic, the one thing they all had in common was they all carried the banner of unbelief. The miracle of Jesus proves that He is the Savior of the world. That's why He did them. Will those miracles prove to you that He is the Savior? No. They didn't prove to them. Because if evidences could save a man, we would all, as rational creatures, would logically follow Jesus. But we don't. And so it takes the hand of God to convict you of your sin and show yourself for who you are. God makes a man and a woman and a child come to himself, come to know himself. And then he's convicted about his sin nature, his opposition. And he cries out to God, what must I do to be saved? That's how God saves sinners. And yet he still did all of these miracles to prove himself, to credential his ministry as the Messiah, the anointed one, the sent one. So in our next passage that we're going to study this morning, verses 17 through 20, we will be witnessing the calm the calm determination of the Lord Jesus Christ as he forces us, as he forces them to think about what they had been doing and to think about what they were saying actually. Because now they're going to have to actually think about what they just accused Jesus of. Because these are very, very serious charges. Jesus' response is what every generation needs to hear. Because the methods that we use to not believe the gospel, to not believe in the Savior, have never changed. The same arguments that they used back then are the same arguments that people use today. Men either say, I'm neutral, I'm agnostic, I just don't really care. I go to church at Christmas and Easter and I'm okay. Everything's fine. Or there's another group that is just overt blasphemers and mocks God at any chance they get. And then there are those who say that they're just skeptical. They just don't have enough evidence to decide on whether God exists or not. And so men will say, if God would come down and prove himself to me, to show himself to me, then I will believe. But there's just too much bad things going on in the world for me to believe in God. Again, willful unbelief characterizes all three. You can't escape it. You might think you're safe in your neutrality. But there is nothing. There is no neutrality. There are unbelievers and there are believers. That's the facts of life. So I want us to focus on the sovereignty of God in verse 17. This is what it literally says, I think to the best of my ability, I think this is how this passage should read. But he, that is Jesus Christ, knowing their thoughts, said to them, any kingdom once divided against itself is laid desolate, and a house once divided against itself falls. This was his answer to the charges of being in league with the devil, of being Confederate with balls above. I think that the contrast between Jesus and his antagonist is unpleasantly profound. But he knowing their thoughts said to them. He knew they were attempting to entrap him with their charges. Even I would know that. That doesn't take God to understand that. But that's not what the passage says. He said he knew their thoughts. Jesus knew their thoughts. And that's what's amazing to me because the futility of these men, the attempts of these mere mortals to try to outwit the very Son of God. After all the attempts for the last three years, they kept at it. They kept trying and they always failed. Jesus knew all about each and every one of them. The darkest secrets in their hearts and souls, he knew. And that means he knows everything about you and me. There's nothing that Jesus doesn't know about you and me. If he can count the hairs of your head, you can be sure he knows your heart. He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts. If you will, turn to Hebrews chapter four, just for a second. I want to read two verses. Hebrews 4, verses 12 and 13. The writer to the Hebrews is unknown. Many think it's Paul. I don't know. It doesn't matter what I think anyway. It's the writer to the Hebrews. I think that God sometimes doesn't give us the names of the authors of some of these books on purpose to remind us that it's the inspired word of God. That's my opinion on why God doesn't give us the authors of some of these books under inspiration. Okay, Hebrews chapter 4 and verses 12 and 13. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and opened under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. I think the most wonderful thing about coming to Jesus and admitting our sins and repenting of our sins and fleeing to him, savingly, resting in him, is that he already knows everything about us. Even when Christians pray, we do our best sometimes to omit certain sins because we're so ashamed. He already knows. He already knows. And so for the sake of the gospel and for all future generations, Jesus gave them this answer that we find in verse 17. He patiently and politely, do you notice how calm he is? He doesn't get to their level. He doesn't scream back at them or tell them to shut up. He simply said, but he knowing their thoughts said to them, any kingdom once divided against itself is laid desolate and a house once divided against itself falls. He patiently and politely responded to their illogical and wicked charges. It simply isn't true. He didn't defend himself, in other words. He just showed their folly. Jesus confronted them with the universal axiom that no experienced man or woman in this earth can deny. Civil war destroys a nation. That's a fact. A country that is divided against itself for a long period of time cannot stand as a nation. Once it's divided and continues in that state, it falls. We almost lost our country. 150 years ago. Spain almost destroyed itself before World War II. And a family, a mom and a dad and a few kids where there's turmoil and division and anger and hate that goes on and on and on and dad is too much of a wimp to take control of his family. and stand for that family will be destroyed. If it stays like that for a long period of time, the family will be destroyed. You cannot stand in a continued state of division for a long period of time and survive. This is why there has been, and I'll just make a commentary on our country just for a minute, because I think it's important. It's why there has been this relentless display of slander, hate, and violence in our country for the last many years. Because the people that hate our country, Satan, who hates this country and hates the gospel is doing its best to divide our country through division. We never hear of love and compassion and forgiveness and unity. We only hear of retribution and disunity, us against them. So now Jesus is going to explain what he just said This is his thesis statement. When you go to college, you'll learn what a thesis statement is, because then you're going to have to prove your thesis. And then you're going to have to conclude your arguments. And if you can't make sense of it, or your teacher can't make sense of it, you're going to fail. So he wants to make sure that there's no misunderstanding about what he's saying. Look at verse 18, because this is his premise now. He says, and if Satan also was against himself, this is the example he's giving, because they just accused Jesus of casting out a demon by another demon, by himself, by Beelzebub. And if Satan also was against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For you say that I, by Beelzebub, cast out demons. Look at the first two words. And if. I don't know what your versions say. And if. That is, Jesus said, and if it were true, as you say it is, you've just claimed that this is a true statement, that I cast out demons by Satan himself, by Beelzebub, And if it were true, as you have just claimed, that I by Beelzebub cast out demons, then Satan has just expelled Satan. Jesus is arguing that if an agent of Satan has cast out a fellow demon, then the result is that Satan has purposely divided himself and his kingdom. Now who would do that? No one. Certainly not Satan. He would not cause his own civil war in his own division, in his own domain. Believe it or not, there's unity in hell. So Jesus goes on to ask them, how then will his kingdom stand if what you were saying is true? If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, how is it possible that the kingdom of hell will be maintained? Jesus exposed the irrationality of their slanders. He focuses on them. He's explaining to them that their illogical, wicked behavior should not be tolerated by themselves, much less anybody else. Because if they are telling the truth, and they're not, Satan's kingdom just fell because it's divided, because he's at war with himself. Because then Jesus went on and reminded them So there would be no misunderstanding about what he's saying because these are hard things to understand. I understand that. And that's why we're slowing down so we can understand why Jesus would use this argument. He wants them to understand that they just accused Satan of attacking his own agenda. And nobody's going to do that. For you say that I, by Beelzebub, cast out demons. That's a first-class conditional sentence. It's a statement of fact. That is, Jesus reminded them that they made the accusation as fact. They were the ones that decided to lie in their slanderous behavior towards Christ. He let them know that their insults were absurd. In fact, the opposite is true. And that's what he's getting at. He wants us to understand, and we can see here in this passage that you never find him upset at the charges themselves. Because he understood that they couldn't attack the miracle. It's impossible to attack the miracle. The miracle happened. So they have to go with the character of the miracle worker. Jesus proved himself by his works, by his signs, by his wonders, by his sinless life. Who were they damaging? Themselves. And that's what Jesus is getting at here. We're harming ourselves when we attack God like this. They were doing great harm to their souls by doing this. And so he wanted them to know that there is no inner strife in the kingdom of Satan. Believe it or not, there's unity. They're not at odds with one another in hell. They are all on board with one mission and one purpose. They act in unison without dissension. They're not in civil war. They serve their master, these demons. and they serve his designs without question. What is their primary design? What is the primary work of Satan in this world? To oppose the works of God that are manifest in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all. And they're very good at it. So the reality despite the malicious lies from these men was that the act of Jesus casting out a demon proves he came to destroy the works of the devil. That was his job. He wasn't part of the kingdom. He was outside of the kingdom, obviously, as the son of God, and he came to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 8 says, he that committeth sin is of the devil. You can't say it any more bluntly than that, can you? The apostle of love was the harshest writer in the New Testament. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Okay, now he's going to ask a question. And it's going to confound them, but it shouldn't confound us. And if I, by Beelzebub, cast out demons, By whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. That's one of those verses that when you're reading it, you just kept going, and you don't want to think about it, because it's difficult to understand. And so we're going to slow down and think about it for a minute, because it's not that difficult to understand if we think about it. I'm going to read Mark chapter 9, verses 38 through 40. And John answered him, saying, Master, We saw one casting out devils in thy name. They were watching a Jewish man who was not a follower of Jesus. We saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followed not us. And we forbade him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. I don't want to comment on that per se. I want just using this as a historical reference that the Jews employed people to expel demons out of their fellow sons of Abraham during that period. There was a lot of demonic activity during this period in Israel's history because the son of God was walking on their soil. And I think Satan sent his armies into that region and cause as much havoc and harm on the people of that country as he possibly could to stop the work of Jesus Christ from going to the cross. And so we ask this logical question. And if I, by Beelzebub, cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? It's another first-class conditional sentence. It's a statement of fact. He was reminding them of their accusations against him and that they gave them as fact. If it's true, as you say it is, that's what he's saying to them, that I by Beelzebub cast out demons, is it also true that the sons of Israel are also in league with Beelzebub, your sons? These exorcists that you approve of, are they also sons of Beelzebub? Because it was accepted Jewish practice in those days to help people that were afflicted. And if it is true as you say, and if that's the case, Are you going to ascribe demonic origin to those men as you just did to me? Or are you going to make an exception? Only I come from a satanic origin and these are holy men. Make up your minds which is right, which is true. Because it cannot be true for both. Either everybody is on the side of God that is casting out demons, or nobody is. Pride had driven them to this level of insanity. They would just say anything they wanted, in other words. They didn't care. They just wanted the slanders out there. But Jesus is getting them to think, because there's a lot of innocent people out there listening to this argument. So they stayed in their irrational behavior. They insisted on their inconsistent logic. They didn't care about their contradictions. All they cared about was slandering and smearing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. That's all they cared about. And so Jesus went to this pretty sophisticated argument to destroy them. at least destroy their arguments. They persisted in their stubbornness, the text tells us. So Jesus declared in the end, therefore they shall be your judges. Who? The sons of Israel. The people that were doing the very same things that he allowed. That is, they will be your judges on the great day of judgment. That's when they're going to judge. They're going to be used as witnesses against these slanderous people. It's amazing that he went that far, that he took us to the great day of judgment, but he did. Okay, the final verse, because now he's going to give us this bold statement of fact. But if I, but if by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has already come unto you. The fact of the miracle was unquestionable. It's impossible not to recognize that this man was healed, in other words. So they attacked the miracle worker. They attacked him by saying that he was unworthy to perform the miracles because he comes from hell. He comes from Satan himself. But Jesus is telling us that he is worthy. That is humiliation. To actually try to explain to these people that he is worthy to be praised. Because he is worthy. He said in this passage that the healing of this man came from the highest moral order in the universe. Jesus told us exactly how he was able to cast out the demon. By the finger of God. God was with him. It's a very powerful statement. And it didn't go unnoticed by the crowd, these Jewish people who knew the history of Israel, who knew of Moses on Mount Sinai and the writing of the Ten Commandments on tables of stone. And the fact that they know it, knew it, means that we should know what this means too, because this is a very, very profound and powerful statement that he's making. And it should not be passed off by us. We should all understand this, even before I explain it to you. Exodus 31 and verse 18. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of commuting with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, the Ten Commandments. Tables of stone, written with the finger of God. God actually wrote the 10 commandments with his own finger. I can't explain it. I'm just telling you what the text says. And Jesus is attributing the miracle as being done by the very finger of God. The miracle is so convincing that only God can accomplish this. That's what he's saying. And you have the nerve to attribute this wonderful sign and wonder from heaven itself to Satan. Jesus' ministry was everything Israel had claimed to have been waiting for all those centuries. But what they really wanted was a political messiah, a warrior king that would come in and fix their economy, and kill their enemies, make them a superpower again like in the days of Solomon. They were bitter and angry, full of hate, and they wanted to be on top again. They wanted Rome out of their streets, and they wanted Greek influence out of their schools. They wanted a political messiah that would crush their political enemies. And you say, well, who would be foolish enough to want that when you could have the messiah? Our country wants that. We want a political messiah. And we just got one, by the way. His name is Donald Trump. He's our political messiah. You say, why are you bringing him up? Well, because it's true. I love. I'll be honest with you, I love Donald Trump. He's my president. I pray for him and I want him to do well. I hope he can accomplish one third of the stuff that he says he wants to accomplish. Because I want our nation to stop being divided. And I want our nation to be preserved. And so I want us to continue on and not fall in civil war. Because it doesn't have to, you don't have to shoot bullets to divide a nation. So, what am I saying? Jesus Christ did not come to fix our economy or to crush our political enemies. It's okay to have rulers like that, but you can never attribute that to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He came not to defeat Rome. He didn't come to defeat Russia either, or China for that matter, as like we are the favored nation of God. Jesus Christ came to conquer sin, to conquer death. He came to conquer what fallen man loves the most. He came to conquer our love for ourselves. He came to conquer our love for our sin. and he came to conquer our love for death. Did you know that death is loved by lost people? Death is something that's secretly loved by lost people. Most people will say, yeah, I admit to loving myself and loving my sin, but you can't tell me that I love death. But I can. I can say that. because God says that you do, if you're lost and you're an unbeliever. Proverbs chapter eight, I'm gonna read four verses. Verses 32 through 36, that five verses actually. Five verses, starting in verse 36. The Proverbs are full of good news and bad news. Starting in verse 32, Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. That's good news. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life. and shall obtain favor with the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul, and they that hate me love death." This is how deceived fallen humanity really is. It's a true statement, a hard statement, and yet, It reveals the true depravity of man. And that's why it's so important we understand our true hearts. Because if we don't come to terms with who we really are, we are never going to flee to Christ. The expulsion of the demon, and I'm almost done. The expulsion of the demon from his victim also reveals that the kingdom of God has already come. We're not waiting for the coming of the kingdom of God. The work of Jesus Christ before, during, and after the cross at Calvary reveals that the kingdom of God has already come. I'm not talking about the second coming here. I'm talking about the crushing, overpowering work of Christ in his kingdom over the power of Satan. The kingdom of God had overtaken the kingdom of Satan at that point. How do we know that? Because he cast out the demon by the finger of God. That's how we know it. If the demons are not cast out by the finger of God, it means the kingdom has not come unto you. And that's a really bad scenario for all of us. But, The demon had been expelled by the very finger of God himself and therefore the kingdom of God has come. He established his kingdom by coming to this earth and doing all those wonderful works, especially the death of the cross and his resurrection and his ascension, of course. It means that because the demon was expelled, Satan's kingdom was also expelled from that man. And that expulsion leaves a void in a man's soul. When God saves you, he has to fill that void with something. And what God fills the void is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into a man like that and he fills him up with his kingdom. Colossians chapter one, verses 12 and 13. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Do you see how he fills that void? It's wonderful. So I'm just gonna close here in a minute. Verse 20, I'm going to read it again. But if I, with the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come unto you. This is a very precise picture of what happens to a man when God saves him. That's how I want you to picture this miracle that Jesus did upon this man. Did you notice that we don't know the man's name? The man never spoke. But God has used this as an illustration of true saving faith. When a sinful man is lost, he has no appetite for the things of God. Men are born in depravity. Depraved men, lost men, natural man lives for himself. He lives for his own desires. And he focuses on his life only. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to tell you how the natural man lives in this world. That's how men live. I got to get the most out of this life. I've only got a few years left, a few years. I'm going to do my best to make myself as happy as I can and surround myself with people that can make me happy. And they never get beyond their own lives. That's what it means to be lost. That's what it means to live in darkness. You think you're free and you're doing your best to be happy, but in fact, you've missed the whole point. But when God visits a man, everything changes immediately. The lights get turned on. The kingdom of Satan is expelled. And at the same time, the kingdom of God enters into the man. It's an amazing thing, the work of God. That man becomes a new creation in Christ. He sees things completely different. He sees things through the eyes of God, through the word of God. He can reason and think. Those are all gifts from God. He thinks God's thoughts after him, which are found in his word. That's an incredible gift that God has given us. When a man is saved by God's grace, what he before hated, he now loves. And what he before loved, he now hates. It's really that simple. It's a complete transformation of the personality. I'm out of time. Can I just read one more verse and I'll quit with a really small comment? Thanks, Jake. Okay. I'm going to read 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 17 through 20. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 through 20. Therefore, very, very wonderful verse, we're all very familiar with it. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Ask yourself, in closing, did the miracle come from Satan or the finger of God? That's the issue. You are now the crowd. You are now the people in that crowd. They've been dead for 2,000 years. You are now witnesses of the miracle. And believe it or not, you're just as responsible to God for your reaction to that miracle. You can either be a so-called neutral unbeliever or a blaspheming slanderer or an obnoxious skeptic. Or you can bow before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and say, Lord, what must I do? Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your blessings in your word. We thank you that you have been so gracious to us in revealing yourself and reconciling the world to yourself by your son. May you bless everyone in this room with true saving faith and knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ's name we pray, amen.