Trusting God Without Understanding

Well, before we dive into God's Word today, it is a very, very special weekend. And Amy and I have been praying for every single one of you that you would genuinely feel the love of our Father and that you would feel our love and love from the family of God. And so I just wanna personally celebrate a few people. Shout out to some friends of mine that I was honored to invite. Jeff, my flying buddy, welcome to you, to Life.Church and your family. Jorge, my new friend from the hospital, man. It's great to meet you. I'm glad you're at Life.Church. Cameron, shout out to you. Congratulations on three years of sobriety. Today, we celebrate that. And then next weekend, Piper and Kaylee, along with many of you are getting baptized. We're so thankful for the work of God in your life. I'm praying that God speaks to every single one of you because today we celebrate the best news in the history of the world. The stone was rolled away. The tomb is empty. Christ our Savior is risen from the dead. And we believe that and we sing about it and you're here today because of it. But some of you, if you were really, really honest, you are clapping on the outside,

but some of you, you're more confused on the inside because in some area of your life, you believe that God can, but God hasn't. It could be for some of you that there's a relationship that you're praying for God to restore and that relationship is still broken. For others of you, you've been praying for something for a very, very, very, very long time. And it seems like that prayer hasn't been answered. The miracle hasn't come yet. And so you may be worshiping today in faith and you're not doubting God's power, but some of you may be wondering about his plan. And that's probably about where the disciples were when they believed that Jesus might be the Messiah, the one who would change everything. And then they saw him crucified and die on a cross and everything that they believed died with him. Then day one, like for some of you, there was silence. Day two, more silence. The one that they had trusted and believed might save them was now dead and it felt like all of their hopes were buried with them. And so today, if you're clapping on the outside, but maybe hurting on the inside, we're gonna wrestle with a very real question. How do you trust God when you know he can and he doesn't? Father, we thank you for the empty tomb. We thank you for the promise of your soon returning. We thank you for the victory that we can have

in the risen Christ, freedom, forgiveness, and the abundant life. We pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would meet people exactly where they are today and you would do your perfect will in their lives. We pray this in the name of Jesus and all God's people said, amen, amen. Type it in the comment section, say amen. We're starting a new message series today. It's gonna be different. The message series is called Jesus Always. And the reason is because Jesus didn't actually start in Bethlehem. Jesus has actually always been. We talk about the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus in the Trinity as the Father and the Son has been with us always. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna start a message series and we're actually going to see glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament, which will be surprising to some of you because many of you thought the Old Testament was just a boring bunch of lies, laws, and big names that you try to skip over to get to the good stuff in the next chapter. We're gonna look and notice that all through the Old Testament is actually God pointing forward to Jesus. And we're gonna see sometimes Jesus physically appears in the Old Testament, that the fancy term is Christophany. We're gonna see that next week.

Other times, God gives us. It's a preview, a foreshadow. And today we're gonna see that, a foreshadowing of Easter in the Old Testament before Easter ever happened in the New Testament. And we're gonna look at one of the most intense. I'm gonna tell you, we talk about a difficult story to read. It's one of the most intense faith-building stories in the Bible. It's in Genesis chapter 22. Who thought we'd talk about Genesis 22 on Easter weekend? Well, we're doing it today. And we're gonna see a story when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. That alone is a very difficult assignment. But when you realize that Isaac wasn't just an ordinary son, but he was the son that God had promised, the promised one, the one that God said would carry the covenant forward. And now God asked Abraham to lay down the very blessing that God had given him. Now, it's Easter. Some of you don't go to church regularly. Some of you haven't been here since Christmas. Welcome back. Glad to have you again. And so if you didn't grow up around the church, you may not know the end of the story. God asked this father to sacrifice his son. Spoiler alert, if you don't know it,

Isaac the son doesn't die on that mountain. But centuries later, another son would. We're gonna look at the story in Genesis chapter 22, when God says to Abraham, take your son, I want you to watch this. See if you see any of the New Testament in the Old Testament. Take your son, your only son whom you love. Isaac, your son, your only son whom you love. Raise your hand if that sounds familiar. Any of you recognize that? God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, your only son whom you love. Now, if you read the story carefully, it's pretty mind boggling because Abraham actually gets up early the next day with this assignment, no delays, no hesitation, no arguments, and he just trusts God to take his son to sacrifice his son. You say, how in the world would you do that? Well, I'm gonna tell you, this was not blind faith. How and why did Abraham trust God like this? The Bible tells us that Abraham was a friend of God, that he had walked with God so intimately and so known the character and the nature of God that he trusted God wholeheartedly. He could look back in his life and remember when God had called him out of Ur and when God had delivered him when a famine hit and when God gave him victory in battles that he shouldn't have won

and when God gave him Isaac when it was biologically impossible. Abraham could trust God because he knew firsthand the goodness and the faithfulness of God because he had walked closely with God. He was a friend of God. And so he trusted God so much that if God said, sacrifice your son, he's thinking to himself, well, if Isaac dies, if I take his life, God would raise him from the dead. You may say, well, how do you know that? How do you know what he was thinking? Well, the New Testament actually tells us that he had the faith that God would do that. Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11, 19, Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. So if you can imagine in like total faith and trust in God, Abraham walks for three days, three days of carrying the tension that God asked me to sacrifice my son. Three days of trusting God when he didn't fully understand. Then what's crazy is Isaac, the son, he's strong enough, old enough to carry the wood up the mountain for his own sacrifice. Raise your hand if you know of anyone else in the New Testament who carried wood up a mountain for their own sacrifice. Genesis 22 tells us this, as the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father,

are we there yet? Didn't really say that, but that's what you think he was gonna say, because that's what you said on a three-day car journey, wherever you're going. No, he didn't say that. He said to his father, father, yes, my son. Abraham replied, the fire and the wood are here. We have those things for the sacrifice, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? We have everything else for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb? Where's the answer? Where's the prevention? vision, where's the miracle, where's the lamb? And suddenly, if you see yourself in the story, it's not just Isaac's question, but it might be yours. God, where is the miracle when the diagnosis hits? Where are you, God, when the relationship is falling apart? God, what are you doing when it feels like the promise is dying before me? And in verse eight, Abraham answers more with faith than with understanding. Daddy, daddy, where's the lamb? And Abraham says, God himself will provide the lamb. Not just send a lamb, but God will provide the lamb. Provide the lamb, God will, God will provide the lamb. Abraham has no idea how, but he just knows who, God will. And so you can imagine the emotion, the promised son, that the pinnacle of Abraham's answered prayers, walks up a mountain, and in faith, Abraham takes a knife

and is preparing to sacrifice his son. And as he lifts up his hand, an angel of the Lord stops him and says, do not lay a hand on the boy. And in verse 13, we read this. Abraham looked up, and there in a thicket, he saw not a lamb, but he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it instead of his son as a burnt offering. It wasn't a lamb, but a ram, and he sacrificed it instead of his son. And I wanna slow it down, and I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you revelation in this powerful truth. Abraham said, God will provide the lamb. But on Mount Moriah, God provided a ram. So the question still hangs in the air. Where's the lamb? Remember, all through the Old Testament, God points forward to Jesus, because nearly 2,000 years later, on another hill that you could see from that very spot, another son would carry wood up a mountain, that wood in the shape of a cross. And this time, the angel didn't stop the sacrifice, because this time, the son was the lamb. Yeah. John the Baptist tells us this. He saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, when he saw Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,

God will provide the lamb. And all this time, Abraham had to think, I'm gonna prove my love for God. I'm gonna do what he asked me to do. I'm gonna prove my love for God. And he had no idea that God was previewing his love for him and for every single one of you. Don't miss this. It's always been about the love of the Father. It's always been about love, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. It's always, this is how they'll know that we're his disciples, by his love, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And whosoever, it doesn't matter what you've done, believes in him, that you would be saved, forgiven, and made new. It's always been about his love. He loves you, and there's nothing he can do about it. There's nothing you can do to earn more of it. There's nothing you can do to take it away. He loves you, not because of what you do, but because of who he is. That's who he is, he's love. Now that you got me all worked up, let me tell you some seminary stuff. I went to seminary four years and studied a bunch of stuff that I don't use.

So every now and then I can find something I use, I like to throw it out. This I learned is in seminary. There's something in Bible study that's called the law of first mention, the law of first mention. And what it means is, whenever something is mentioned for the first time, a topic or a theme, whenever it's mentioned for the first time in the Bible, you give more weight to it there and it sets the tone for that theme whenever you see it somewhere else. This is called the law of first mention. It's a principle, when you see something mentioned the first time, you put more weight on what it says, how it's mentioned, and you interpret other verses based on the first time it's mentioned. Question, when is the first time that love is mentioned in all of the Bible? The answer is the first time that love is mentioned in the Bible is in this story in Genesis 22, when God tells Abraham to take your son, your only son, whom you love, and sacrifice him. So the first time that love is mentioned in God's Word, it's not about romance,

and it's not about marriage. It's about a father and a son. When is the first time that love is mentioned in the New Testament? The first time that love is mentioned in the New Testament is when Jesus was baptized, and heaven opened up, and the voice of the Father said, this is my son, whom I love. With him, I'm well pleased. The first time love is mentioned in the New Testament is not about romance, not about marriage. It's about a father and a son. When is the first time love is mentioned in John's Gospel? John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, the love of the Father and his Son. Fast forward to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, who gave his life, and they buried him, and the tomb was sealed, and the sky went dark, and the disciples were confused. But I thought he was gonna be triumphant, and I thought he was gonna be our king,

and I thought everything was gonna be changed. For you, it might be, I thought the marriage would be better. I thought my teenager would come back to God. I didn't think that would happen. I didn't think I'd end up unemployed. I didn't think I'd be struggling to pay my bills. God, I don't understand. And so they waited, like you might be waiting. The first day, they saw nothing. And the next day, they saw nothing. And as they were waiting, it looked like God wasn't doing anything. But God, in his love, had provided the Lamb. And the Lamb of God was slain. Why? Because he paid the price for our sins, for our filth, for our shame. Why did he do that? The Bible is so clear, and if you've never heard it before, lean in and listen now, because Scripture teaches us that every single one of us, including me and including you, we've all sinned. We've all lied. We've all taken something that didn't belong to us.

We've all hated somebody. We've all been unkind and gossiped. We've all sinned. And the Bible teaches us that the wages for our sin is death. Scripture teaches us that our God is a holy God. Our God is a righteous God. Our God is a loving God, but he's also a just God. And justice requires payment for wrongdoing. So in the Old Testament, a Lamb would be sacrificed as a temporary covering for our sin. It was a covering, but not a cure. But in the New Testament, there was another Lamb, and this was the Lamb of God. who finished the work that God sent him to do. So we could no longer wonder, have I been good enough? And does this work for me? Am I forgiven? What I want you to understand that it's always been about God's love. It's always been about his love. Scripture tells us this, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, the Lamb of God, Christ died for us. Before we deserved it, before we earned it, before we were good enough,

the Lamb of God was slain in our place. And if I ever get emotional, it's because he did that for me. He did it for me. While I was still without Christ and lying, he died for me. When I was full of deceit, he died for me. When I was stealing, habitually, he died for me. When I was addicted and lying about it and couldn't find my way out, he shed his blood so my sins could be forgiven. God will provide the Lamb, and the Lamb was his son. And the son looked up to heaven and said, Father, it's finished. I did what you sent me to do. Into your hands, I commit my spirit. And he breathed his last breath, and he died. The Lamb of God was slain, and the sky went dark, and the earth shook, and the veil was ripped in two. And three days later, when the stone was rolled away, the Lamb stood up. The Lamb was risen from the dead. And what I want you to understand is, Jesus always, like Jesus always, back before you, Jesus, always, it's always been about his love. Always, always, he's always been there. He's been there in your waiting. When you're hurting and desperate to ask him questions, he's with you. In your greatest fears, he's with you.

No matter what you're going through, at this moment, in this time, he is with you. And you may not see him now, and you may not feel him now, but our faith is not based on feelings. It's based on the empty tomb. He is the Lamb of God who is risen from the grave. You can find him in Genesis. You can find him in every book. You go all the way to the last book in God's Word. In Revelation chapter five, there's a vision. Then I saw a lamb looking as if he'd been slain, standing at the center of the throne. I saw a lamb looking as if he'd been slain, not on the ground, but standing. Not dead, but standing, because the lamb who was slain is alive, and he reigns. is alive, and he reigns. And so when I tell you we've been praying that you would feel the love of the Father, that's all I know how to do. Because I can say it, I can say it louder. I can hit my Bible harder, and I'm doing it all. Everything I can, everything I can. But I can't convince you, only the Father can convince you that he loves you now, and he cares about you now, and he's always been with you. If he was there before the cross, if he was there before the grave, if he walked down alive, I promise you, you can trust him now.

So well, what do you do? Well, some of you, you feel like Isaac. You're under pressure right now. You're carrying something that you did not choose. And I wanna tell you, he's with you. Others of you, you feel like Abraham. You're trying to trust God with something that doesn't make sense. And I wanna tell you, he is trustworthy, and he is always good, and he's always there. What's really, really good news is you do not have to prove your love for God. God, He's already proven His love for you. God, in His loving mercy, provided the lamb. And the lamb was slain, and three days later, the stone was rolled away, and the lamb was not there, because He's alive forevermore. And because He's alive, it doesn't matter what you're going through right now, you can trust Him. And here's what I've been praying for so long, because here's what's interesting about Easter. Let me just tell you who's here. There's those of you that were here last week, and you're gonna be here next week, because you're always here. There's those of you that come when you can, because your life is busy, and you haven't been able to make it for a while, and you probably won't make it again later on, but you come because this is Easter,

and because it matters to you. But life is busy, and you're not always walking with God. And then there are those of you, you've been polite to someone, and you came, and someone invited you. And I was one of those last two growing up. I'd be there on Easter, I'd be there on Christmas, or I'd come to be polite. I believed Him here, but I didn't know Him here. And my prayer is for those of you that may know enough here, but don't know Him here, that there'd be an 18-inch move in your life. That it wouldn't just be something you intellectually know about, but it would be a spiritual truth so real, that it changes everything about you. Because if the tomb is empty, it calls us to total loyalty. I wanna follow the one who died for me and rose again so I could know the one who loves me, and that is worthy of every part of my life, and it is worthy of every part of yours. Not here, here, with everything in you. I leave my desires alone, and I wanna live for Him. So Father, today we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would do what I cannot do, but you would draw people to know you. And God, with everything in me, I pray for your Spirit to work. I wanna pray for two groups of people today. First of all, some of you that are carrying something

that you didn't choose. You're trying to trust God with something that you don't understand, and you have a burden, and you may lift up your hands in praise, but your heart is heavy because there's something in your life that's not easy, it's hard to carry, and sometimes you don't even know what to do. You need help, you need hope, maybe you need healing, maybe you need faith, you're walking through something that you don't understand, you need the power and the presence of God. If that's you today, would you just by faith lift up your hands, and I wanna pray for you. All of our churches today, every single one, if there's something you're going through, you need help, you need faith, you need hope, would you just lift up your hands right now? Online, you can type in the comment section, just say, please pray for me, and I'm honored to. And when I pray for you, would you do the same for me? I'm gonna pray for you, would you just pray for me because I need help and hope in my life as well. Father, thank you for our family, our church family, that we're never alone in your presence. And God, I pray for those that are hurting, confused, and need faith. I pray that God, as they hear your word, that would build their faith. I pray for miraculous provision. God, I pray that even when we don't understand

that we could start to see your hand and your goodness, and just like Abraham, God, we could be so close to you that we would trust you even when we don't understand. Holy Spirit, do a healing work in the hearts of people today. We need you, God, and we cry out to you. As you keep praying today without looking around, there are those of you, kinda like I was growing up, you know about Jesus, but you're not walking with him. Others of you, you've been kinda maybe waiting for God to prove himself to you, and I wanna tell you right now, he already did. The lamb was slain. Three days later, he stood back up. Why did he do this? He did it because all of us were broken and dead in our sins, and if you're here today and you recognize you're not walking with God, I wanna tell you the best news ever that it's all about his love, and his love is for you, that God so loved the world that he sent his only son, the lamb of God, who died in our place because we needed a permanent covering for our sins, but he didn't stay dead. Three days later, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, no matter what you've done, no matter how dark your life feels, no matter what you're ashamed of. of what you did last night.

When you call on His name, He forgives all of your sins and He makes you completely brand new. Today at all of our churches, there are those of you, you need forgiveness, you need grace. When you call on Him, He doesn't just forgive you, but He fills you with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead so that you can have life and life more abundantly today at all of our churches and online. Those of you who say, I need His grace, I'm stepping away from my sin today, it's not in my head, it's in my heart. I wanna know you, I wanna serve you. Jesus, be the Lord of my life. That's your prayer today, not in your head and your heart, with your whole life. Yes, Jesus, take my life, that's your prayer. If that's you today, would you lift your hands high right now all over the place and say yes right here. Praise God for you. Others say, lift them up and say yes, Jesus. I surrendered you right back over here. Others say, I need His grace. Lift up your hands and say yes, I call on Him. God bless you. Online, just type in the comment sections, I'm surrendering my life to Christ. Just type that in, I'm surrendering my life to Christ. And now together, as the family of God, would you just pray with me and those around you,

just pray, Heavenly Father, would you forgive my sins? Make me brand new. I believe Jesus died for me and He rose again so I could know you and live for you. Fill me with your Spirit so I could serve you, so I could trust you, so I could share you. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Could somebody celebrate the resurrection power of the goodness of our God? Jesus is risen from the dead. Amen. Hey, it's Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel with Life.Church. And if you just made the decision to give your life to Christ, this is the most important and life-changing decision that you'll ever make. And all of heaven is celebrating right now because of your decision and we're celebrating with you too. That's right. And we want you to know that God sees you, He's with you and He loves you. He has a purpose for your life. And incarceration, it doesn't define you, it doesn't confine you because you are free in Christ. You are new in Him. Chains have been broken today. And so as a follower of Jesus,

God wants us to be on this journey together. And I want you to know you don't have to do this alone. And that's why we, as your church family, we're here for you and we want to help you grow in your faith and find your next steps. So first of all, just keep joining us for church every single week and worshiping through the Pando app. We're so thankful that you're here. When we draw close to God, He draws near to us. And so I would also encourage you, read God's word if it's available to you. And as you do, just start to pray and invite God into every single aspect of your life. And then if you feel led, you might even share your decision with somebody else. There might be a family member or a friend and they're gonna want to hear your story and your spiritual journey. We'd love to hear it as well. And you can send us a letter if you'd like to. The address is on your screen. And our team will write back to you and help you grow in your faith with Jesus. And so we'd love to mail you some content about who Jesus is and help you grow in your relationship with Him now that you've chosen to follow Jesus. That's right. And God's plan for your life, it's greater than anything that you could ever imagine.

In fact, Ephesians 3.20 says, God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. Trust Him with your whole life. You will see Him work in ways you have never thought possible. Congratulations on this decision. We are your family and you're part of the family of God.