Conditional or Unconditional
Transcript
How we doing? I'm Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. This September 11th, we are having baptism, so we're going to have a baptism party. I wanted to remind you of that so you can go ahead and be inviting your friends. We're going to celebrate that Jesus is alive, that he saves people by dunking people in water to represent the fact that Jesus died for them, that they're dead with him, that they're covered.
He died for their sin, and then we're going to pull them out of the water because Jesus rose from the grave and they have new life in him. And if you are getting baptized or want to get baptized or are not sure whether or not you should get baptized, our baptism class is next Sunday. So immediately following what we do next Sunday, we'll have our baptism class. So we'll be walking through what baptism is, why we practice it, why you should be baptized. And so if you're interested in being baptized, if you've signed up to be baptized, you need to be there. And if you just have some questions, show up and we'll talk about it.
We're in our 10th week of our covenant series. We spent the whole summer walking through the Old Testament covenants and kind of how that helps us understand the Old Testament, how it helps us understand kind of where we are in God's story, and how it helps us understand Jesus, where he came from, what he was doing, why he had to die, why he had to die on a cross, how he was fulfilling these promises to us that God had made. That's what we've been spending our time doing. So grab your Bibles, go to 2 Kings chapter 17, and here's where we are today. We've been walking through the covenants and we've taken our time to really kind of dive into some of the pictures that have been given to us.
We've taken our time to kind of unpack for us to understand more clearly what the covenants were about and why they existed and what God was saying when he talked to Moses and Abraham and Noah and David. And so we're kind of, here's where we are in the story. God made everything and he made it good. The reason why that we react so negatively to all the bad stuff going on in the world, the reason why we scream out, this isn't right, this is injustice, this shouldn't happen. The reason that happens to us, the reason that our hearts break over this stuff is because we were designed for things to be good.
There's something in us that screams out whenever it's bad, whenever there's injustice, whenever there's racism, whenever there's genocide, whenever there's just natural disaster, there's something in us that says, this isn't how it was supposed to be. And that's because it's not how it was supposed to be. God made it good. It was beautiful. It was like a honeymoon period where nothing was bad. Everything was magical.
And there was just giggling and unicorns. And it was amazing. There weren't actually unicorns, but there was like, it was beautiful. In the garden, God had his people in his presence, in his place, in the garden. Like, we existed in a good relationship with him. And then our enemy, Satan, comes along and lies to us.
And humanity believes his lies. And we rebel against God. And it's, God's children are torn from him. The relationship is broken. The world is never the same again. There's been multiple movies that have had some high quality people in them, like Steven Seagal, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, and Liam Neeson.
About people's children being taken away from them. And then the parents' response is, I'm going to get them back no matter what. You see, we rebelled against God. The relationship was broken. His children were ripped from him. And God has the same response.
I'm going to get you back no matter the cost to myself. That's the first kind of promise we looked at when the fall happens. And we've got a slide we've been kind of following along this entire time. When the fall happens, when we rebel, God promises the serpent, you're not going to win. I'm going to get my children back. It's the phone call from Taken where he says, I have a very specific set of skills.
Like that's what he looks at Satan and says, like this isn't going to work out well for you. You picked a bad battle to fight. Like I'm going to get my children back. And then in Noah, we see that sin isn't ultimately going to win. And God makes this promise. He rescues Noah from a flood.
And he makes this promise that I'm not going to destroy the earth again. I'm going to come up with a different way to keep sin from ruling and reigning here. Then he promises Abraham, I'm going to make you into a people. I'm going to bring you to myself. I'm going to bring you to my place. You're going to be in my relationship with me.
You'll be my people in my place in my presence. Like he's going to get them back to where they were in Eden, where everything was magical. Then with Moses, he says, okay, here, let's do this. Let's go. I'm going to bring you out. I'm going to take you to the land.
He says, I'm going to give you the law. And if you'll just remember the covenant, if you'll just follow this, if you'll just believe and remember and worship just me, everything will be great. And over and over again, he says that in Exodus 19, right before he gives the law, he says, I'm the only God. Just follow me. He says it in Leviticus. He says it in Deuteronomy.
He says it in Joshua. He over and over again is just follow me. You'll just trust the covenant, believe the covenant, but remember, it'll work out well for you. They get into the land and throughout the Judges, they kind of go through the same cycle where they forget. They don't worship just God and they get pummeled. And then they repent.
They're like, oh yeah, we should just worship you. And then God rescues them again. And that happens over and over again in Judges. It's kind of like a sitcom. Everything's good. Everything gets bad.
Everything gets good again in a cycle. Like the end of the sitcom, everything's magic again. Like that's how it works. And then we get to the end of Judges and it does a to be continued, where it's like they needed a king. It's really bad. And you're like, what?
And then we get into 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and they get a king. And then God comes to David and he says, I'm going to give you a king forever. To sit on the throne and reign forever and keep this together. Because the job of the king was to protect the covenants and lead his people in covenant faithfulness. So this is where we've gotten so far in our series.
So today should be happily ever after. That's what today should be. Today should be us just being like, Israel crushed it. God sent the king who was going to last forever. He's still there doing his thing. It's great.
It's beautiful. They're still there. Everything's been magic ever since. I don't want to be the one to have to break this to you. That is not how that happens. Over and over again, they're told, just remember the promises.
Just stay faithful. And they don't. Not even close. He says, I'm going to give you a king and he's going to keep you faithful. He's going to lead in this. He's going to keep the covenants together.
There. Second Kings chapter 17. Let's pick up there. Let's read. So what we've got is all the covenants have been given.
All the promises have been given. God's made all the covenants. And now he's got his people in his place, in his presence. They've got kings. So where we're picking up in second Kings, here's what's happened.
Saul was the first king and he was, he was okay for a little while. And then he was unfaithful. And so God says, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to anoint David. David becomes king. God tells David, I'm going to give you a son to reign in your place. He's going to be a son to me.
He's going to be a king forever before me. You will never lack a man on the throne forever. Forever, ever. For real. That's what he says. Something like that.
It was a paraphrase. But he says, it's going to be a king on the throne forever. So David has a son named Solomon. By the end of Solomon's reign, Solomon has the rules for kings, which were don't get a lot of horses, don't get a lot of money and don't get a lot of wives. Solomon, I don't know if it says specifically about the horses, but he got a lot of money and a lot of wives. And the wives led him to worship other gods.
So by the end of Solomon's reign, he is not faithful to God alone. The one thing he's supposed to do. And so God says, okay, not under your reign, but under your sons, I'm tearing the kingdom in half. But because of David, I'm going to keep somebody in Judah. And Judah is the place now where he's saying, I'm going to keep the promise. And there's two kingdoms, Israel and Judah.
That's where we pick up in 2 Kings. Look at verse 6. In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. That's the capital of Israel. And he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah and on the harbor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. So Israel's just been captured by Assyria.
So God had said, I'm going to bring you here. I'm going to defend you. You're going to be my people in my place. And then the kingdom's broken in half. And the Israelites are taken. 7.
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. So the one thing they were supposed to do, remember the covenant, keep it the covenant. Remember that I'm the only God. They don't do. They begin to do secretly things they ought not do.
They think that God won't notice. And then it gets not so secret. They built for themselves high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and ashram on every high hill and under every green tree. And there they made offerings on all the high places as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger.
And they served idols of which the Lord had said to them, you shall not do this. Okay, so they're supposed to have one temple. That's the presence of the Lord. They're supposed to go to that temple whenever they had to have sacrifices. But what they start doing is they start building totem poles and ashram poles and high places and sacrifice places in every town they have and on every hill and under every green tree.
They're not even close to being faithful to God alone. It's not even close. They got side gods all over the place. It's bad. It's bad. And I love that what it says was they had idols and of this God told them, you shall not do this.
That was the rule. Pretty straightforward. What's the rule on idols? Don't do it. Simple. Like, I feel like it's the conversation you have with a three-year-old.
What did I say about that? You said not to do it. Yeah. What was confusing? I don't know. I did it.
Like, they had one rule. Don't do this. 13. 13. Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes in accordance with the law that I commanded your fathers that I sent to you by my servants, the prophets. But they would not listen, but were stubborn as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves metal images of two calves. And they made an Asherah, and they worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divinations and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. They don't keep it together. They don't remain faithful to the covenant. The king who was supposed to keep him faithful, he's not here in Israel. And God removes him from his sight.
But what we know is that he left Judah. Only Judah was left. So we got Judah. So God can keep his promise. Verse 19. Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers until he had cast them out of his sight. That's kind of a summary statement for the rest of the book of 2 Kings. It ends with Judah being hauled off into captivity as well. At one point in the coming story, a priest in the temple finds the book of the law. He finds it. They had lost it.
They had a book that was due to what this book says and they lost. Like you misplaced the book? Like that's the one thing y'all were supposed to do was like consistently read this book. The king was supposed to have a copy of the book that he read every day. The priest, what is he doing if he's not following the book? Is he just in there winging it?
They're like cleaning stuff out in the closet. They find the book. And the priest was like, oh, let me read this. This is interesting. He reads it. He takes it to the king and he's like, you might want to read this.
The king reads it and he's like, we're in trouble because we're not even close. We're not doing any of this. And he actually leads in some reforms that last basically while he's alive. And then it falls all apart again. And eventually there's no Israel. There's no Judah.
There's no temple. There's no wall. There's no king. There's no throne. There's no people. There's no place.
There's no presence. Here's what happens on our timeline. Now, fall is terrible. God's not going to let it win. Noah, he says, I'm going to make you into a family. And you're going to begin to do what you're supposed to.
Like I'm going to save you out of, and I'm not going to destroy everything again. And Noah doesn't really do that as well. So eventually he comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to make you into a family. I'm going to make you my people, my presence. You're going to worship me. He goes to Moses and says, I'm going to bring you into the land.
I'm going to teach you what it's like to follow me. If you'll just remember my covenant. Finally, he comes to David and says, you're here. You're here and it's going well. And I'm going to give you a king that will last forever. And then they just derail.
Like we had been taking steps. We had been getting closer. And it just, we just, it just, it just falls apart. They're in captivity. The 10 northern tribes of Israel, like they knew they were Israelites. They lost all the tribe heritage.
And here's what, what's the worst. They should have known better. They should have known. That was, that's who they were. That was their story. That was their history.
We're the people that God loves. We're the people of the covenant. We're the people of the promise. They should have known better. My dad is a, is an intense guy. He's a good dad.
He's an intense guy though. So I think that part of what made him a good dad. So like I've been practicing being super intense so I can raise sons. Cause I got a boy. So everyone's, I just look at him.
Like I'm just trying to, he's working on it. Um, but there've been a couple of times in my life where I would just have done something that was, um, the opposite of intelligent. Uh, so I'll give you a couple of those stories and kind of how this worked with my dad. Uh, we were playing one time in our, in our upstairs room. We had a room that we had, uh, I think we slept on sleeping bags on the floor at this point. Maybe we, we kind of had some different setups in that room, but this, at this point, the room was just open.
And, uh, older brother Logan, we were playing like a, uh, Nerf gun game or whatever. And he would run and there was these little doors cause it was like one of those above a garage attic rooms or whatever. So there was like those short doors or whatever. And he would run and kick off of them and roll. And we try to shoot at him. It was really cool.
So I tried to do this and I ran and kicked off of the drywall. So those of you who know things about, yeah, I'm in the future also, you know, things about drywall. So, uh, my foot just went straight into the closet, like just through the drywall. Cause it couldn't handle me. Um, and so, uh, so, so I had to, we had to go talk to my dad. There was another time when, uh, uh, when I was helping, uh, we were moving and I was helping pack all this, the stuff up.
And, uh, I packed up all of our furniture in a truck and then we drove it over to our house and we rolled the thing up and my dad hadn't been there for the packing process and we roll it open and he looks and we had just stuck all this furniture in there all up against each other and all up against the walls and we hadn't used any blankets. Cause furniture gets cold when it travels. It needs blankets. No, it needs blankets so that it doesn't rub up against stuff and look terrible. It had rubbed up against stuff and looked terrible. So I had to talk to my dad about that.
Um, and then when I was in college, I came home and I made, uh, a, a homemade fuse bomb out of safety fuse. So it's just supposed to make things safer, but not if you make a bomb out of it and lit it and threw it into a field that was broom straw and it blew up and I caught an entire field on fire. There's the second broom straw field I'd caught on fire, uh, and had to have a conversation with my dad about it. And in all of these moments, there would be this, there's, there's come this time where my dad would be looking at me. And he'd be looking at a hole in drywall or he'd be looking at what used to be his pretty dresser that I'm sure his great grandmother gave him.
And he'd be looking at a field that was charred as smoke was rising. And he would go, you don't know any better than to kick off of a wall. You, you don't have any better sense than that. What'd you think was going to happen when you stuck two dressers next to each other and rode down the road? He would look at me and go, what, what, what, what, what happens with fire and broom straw and wind? And he'd look at me and go, don't you, you don't know any better.
And every time I so badly wanted to say, yeah, I do. Because when you're looking at the hole in the drywall and, and you're, you're looking at the furniture and you're looking at the, you're thinking I should, I should have known, I should have known that this wouldn't hold my weight. I should have known that that was what that was going to happen. If I didn't put blankets there, I should have known about fire. Like I'm in college. I should have picked this up by now.
I've run a fire. I've worked in a fire store since I was like 13. Should kind of know how fire works. And every time I wanted so badly to say, yeah, I knew better, or I should have known better, but there was a hole in the drywall and there was, there was messed up furniture and there was a giant field that was no longer broom straw. Every time it's like, I should have known better, but I don't know. I don't, I don't know.
I don't know what happened. And the reason I think it matters so much for us right now to see what happens with these covenants and what happens when this, that Israel derails this is because I have these moments where I feel like I'm standing in front of God. He's going, you don't know any better? And I want so badly to say, yeah, I know better. Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't. But it's like, I don't know.
I don't know why I did this. I don't know why I believed that this would make me happy. I don't know why I chased after this thing. I don't know why I ran headlong into sin and stuff that you've shown me so clearly isn't your will and doesn't glorify you. I don't, I don't know. All I can see at this point is that it's derailed.
All I can see now is my wife crying. All I can see now is the people I've heard. All I can see now is, is like, I don't, I don't know how I got here. I feel like I should have known better. All I know now is that consequences are coming. All I know now is that.
Turn to Psalm 89. See, the question becomes, in the midst of God's stubborn, unrepentant, rebellious people who should have known better. What happens to the covenants? What happens to God's promises? What happens to God's faithfulness when it meets humanity's unfaithfulness? What happens to God's promises when it meets our rebellion?
What happens to his strength when it meets our weakness? What happens to his holiness when it meets our sin? That's the question. We're going to, we're going to read this Psalm where Ezra, not Ezra, Ethan, the Ezra height is asking this question of God. He's in the middle of this moment in history where we just read in second Kings. And he's coming before God in this Psalm and he's talking to him about what's going on here.
We're going to skip some of it because it's a long Psalm. We're going to stop and sum it up every once in a while, but I just want us to, to dive in a little bit to the emotions of Ethan as he's looking at God in the middle of this and saying, what, what's going to win? What happens to your covenants? Verse one, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever.
In the heavens, you will establish your faithfulness. You have said, he's talking to God. You said this. I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David, my servant. I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations.
Starting in verse five and going through 18, he just begins to say, okay, he reminds him of this promise and then he says, okay, here's how big you are. Here's how strong you are. Here's how good you are. Here's how massive you are, God. He just reminds him of how big he is. And then pick up in verse 19.
For of old, you spoke in a vision to your godly one and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen from my people. I have found David, my servant. With my holy oil, I have anointed him so that my hand shall be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him.
The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. He's reminding him of the covenant to David. He's saying, we had it.
We had, we were, we were there. We had your people in your place in your presence. We had, we had the promises and you told him there was going to be a king forever. I'm reminding you of this covenant you made to David. 25. This is still God talking about David.
I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me. You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever. And my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever. And his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules. If they violate my statues and do not keep my covenants. Then I will punish their transgressions with the rod.
And their iniquity with stripes. But I will not remove from him my steadfast love. Or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant. Or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness.
I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever. His throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever. A faithful witness in the sky. So he's saying, God, this was your promise to David.
If his children rebelled. You'd punish them. But you wouldn't forget your covenant. You'd punish them. But you wouldn't remove your love.
You might punish them. But you wouldn't lie to David. Verse 38. But now you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant.
You have defiled his crown in the dust. You've breached all his walls. You've laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors. You've exalted the right hand of his foes.
You've made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword. And you have not made him stand in battle. You've made his splendor to cease. And cast his throne to the ground. You've cut short the days of his youth.
You've covered him with shame. How long, oh Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. For what vanity you've created all the children of man. What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Lord, where is your steadfast love of old? Which by your faithfulness you swore to David. So, he's looking at God and he's saying, You've rejected your covenant. The crown that was supposed to be on his head forever is in the dust. The throne he was supposed to sit on forever has been thrown to the ground.
And you've rejected your covenant. How long, God? Do you see how small I am? Do you see how weak I am? I don't know if he's mad. I don't know if he's just sad.
I don't know his tone here. But he's looking at God and he's saying, You said you weren't going to do this. You promised you weren't going to lie to David. And you've reneged. You've pulled all this back. You've cast your covenant out.
And here's the question as we get to this point in the Old Testament. Were God's promises conditional or unconditional? The promises he made, were they conditional or unconditional? Is he going to be faithful no matter what? Or can we make him take that back? And here's why this matters for us.
When all we've done is run it into the wall. When we've sinned again. When we don't want to pray. When we don't want to read. When we don't want to talk to God. When we don't even want to get out of bed.
When we feel like there's no way he can love us. Because of the circumstances of our life. Because the diagnosis came back and it's cancer. Because the person that we can't live without. We're going to have to figure out how to. When we're in this moment when we can't see him.
And it seems as if there's no way he cares. And when we've messed it up. When it's our sin that's ruining our marriage. When it's our sin that's driving our children away. When it's our sin that makes us feel like we can't go home and talk to our parents. Can't even pick up the phone when they call.
When it's our sin that makes us want to hide every time we hang out with our community group. When it's our sin that makes us not want to show up on a Sunday. And if we do we just hope nobody talks to us. Does our sin win? Is his covenant conditional? Or is it unconditional?
What happens when my weakness is matched up against his strength? What happens when my smallness, my frailty is matched up against his bigness? What's God's answer? What happens when his faithfulness has to face up and match up with my unfaithfulness? That's the question the psalmist asks. Is it done?
Did you really cast it off? Is it over? You want to know God's answer to this question? It's the same answer for us. 1 John says that God took on flesh and lived among us. That God became a man.
Is the covenant unconditional or is it conditional? God's answer is yes. Is it conditional or unconditional? Yes. You see, what God does is he becomes human so that he can keep his faithfulness and make up for our unfaithfulness. God becomes human so that he's fully God and fully man when he goes to the cross so that he's making up for God's faithfulness.
He's keeping his promise. You see, when God looked at the serpent and said, you won't win, there's going to be someone born of a woman who's going to crush your head. That was Jesus. When God looked at Noah and said, I won't again take out my wrath on humanity. He took it out on Jesus on the cross. When God looked at Abraham and they cut up the animals and they walked through the middle in the blood.
And God didn't let Abraham walk through the middle because he signed both sides of the covenant and said, if I don't hold up my end of the bargain, you can kill me. And if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, I'll kill me. Jesus fulfills that promise. When God looked at Moses and said, you're going to sin and you're going to need to follow me. But if you can't, I'm going to make a way for sacrifice.
That's Jesus. When he looked and said, there's going to be a king on the throne forever. That's Jesus. And when he looked and said, you're going to need to follow and you're going to need to obey. And we couldn't. God became a man so that we could.
So that we had a representative on humanity's side. To hold up the conditions of the conditional covenant. That's God's answer to this song. He says, don't you know how weak I am? Don't you know how short my days are? And he says, I'm going to.
If you want to see God's strength matched up with our weakness, you'll see Jesus. You'll see his bigness matched up with our smallness. You'll see Jesus. If you want to see God's power and glory and his holiness matched up with our sin. Sinfulness. You'll see Jesus on a cross.
That's God's answer. To are the covenants conditional or unconditional? The answer is yes. And I'm going to keep the conditions for you in Christ. So when we're plagued by our sin and all we feel like we've done is earned the right for God to revoke all of his love from us.
Earned the right for God to revoke all of his blessings from us. When we should have known better and all we've done is run it into the wall. The response for us is the same response that Ethan could have had when he wrote this Psalm. Which is look to Jesus. Because he's the one who's going to keep it together for you. He's the one who's going to be strong for you.
He's going to want to hold up your end of the bargain for you. Hebrews chapter 12 says, Let's throw off every weight and every sin that entangles us. And let's fix our eyes on Jesus. Let's run the race marked out for us. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus.
The founder and the finisher of our faith. Jesus started it. And Jesus keeps it together at the end. Our hope is in Jesus alone. When you don't want to pray, you need to pray. When you don't want to read your Bible, you need to set some time.
You need to get up. You need to force your eyes onto the text. And you need to go line by line reading the Bible. When you don't want to hang out with your group, you need to hang out with your group. And you need to tell them what's going on. When you don't want to be here on Sunday, you need to be here on Sunday.
Because, not because it earns anything from God or it makes Him love you. But because you need to fix your eyes on Jesus, some of you need to begin journaling. Some of you need to begin getting an MP3 player that has Christian music. That reminds you to worship. That reminds you of what Jesus has done. Because you've got to remember that Jesus is the one who holds up your end of the bargain.
Fix your eyes on Jesus. He's the founder and the finisher. When you've derailed it, Jesus died for that. He loves you. He suffered alongside of you so that suffering one day can end. He wept alongside of us so that one day He could wipe away all our tears.
He died so that one day death won't have a hold on us. We've got to look at Jesus. And remember that He's the covenant keeper for us. Matt's going to come back up here. Some of you have been chasing after sin. Some of you have just gotten to where you don't feel like you know Jesus anymore.
You can't see Him anymore. You don't know how He loves you anymore. You don't know how He's at work anymore. Some of you right now, it was all you could do to get out of bed this morning. Put on some clothes. Brush your teeth.
And make it here. I want you to know that Jesus is strong and big and mighty. And you get to be weak and small and frail. Because He's the one who keeps it together. He's the one who fulfills both God's faithfulness and our unfaithfulness. He dies for our unfaithfulness and makes us faithful.
You get to fix your eyes on Jesus. I got an 18-month-old. He's a year and a half. I was cutting his hair yesterday. And the clippers. And he was in the bathtub.
And I turned the shower head on. And then I cut it off real quick. And he lost it. I scared him to death. He was stark naked. Screaming his head off.
I picked him up. And he's just clutching onto the back of my shirt. With all he has. Because all he knows is if I'm holding him, he's going to be okay. Whatever it was that was terrifying, he's going to be okay if I'm holding on to him. And when Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
He's saying it the same way. I would say that to him, which is just come here. Just come here. All we have to do is hold on to Jesus for dear life in the midst of, we can't see anything else. We can't fix this. We don't know how we're going to take one more step.
Jesus doesn't need you to be strong. Jesus doesn't need you to be smart or to be powerful or to know the next move. You just need him. You just need to fix your eyes on him. So here's what we're going to do.
For the next little while, if you're in that moment today, where you really just, it's all you can do, put one foot in front of the other, it's all you can do to breathe in and breathe out. If you're in that moment today, I just want you to know that Jesus is big and he's capable and he loves you more than you could ever imagine. When God, at the beginning of time, looked at the serpent and said, you will not win. And for those who are in Christ, he had you in mind and he has bent heaven and earth and time and space to die for you, to bring you back to himself. Not so that you could be strong, not so that you could be good, not so that you could be powerful, not so that you could know what to do, but so that you could run to him and rest in him and fix your eyes on him and he could be the king and the rescuer and the promised one forever.
He is the promise of the covenant and God keeps it in Jesus. If you're in that moment today, I just want to encourage you to fix your eyes on Jesus. He's big and good and capable and loves you. That's going to play and I just want you to pray that Jesus will help you see him so clearly and he would give you more of himself. If you're not in that moment today, you're doing okay. You're doing pretty good.
I want you to do two things. I want you to take a minute to go before the king on behalf of those in this room and in our church family. We need so much to see Jesus right now. And I want you to just ask. God, I'm asking on their behalf. We show up.
We help them fix their eyes on you. We help them remember your promises. We help them remember your cross. We help them remember that you rose from the grave and that you are good. And then I want you to take a minute to pray for yourself. For the day that you don't know how to put one foot in the ground.
God, I want you to continue to see Jesus. Continue to fix your eyes on him. And remember that he's the founder and the finisher of your faith. I'm asking to play. I'm going to pray. After you've prayed for your brothers and sisters and after you've prayed for yourself, why don't you stand?
We'll sing. God, we thank you. God, we thank you that you saved those who are weak and you saved those who are small and you saved those who have really only run it into the wall and derailed it. We have nothing to present before you. Maybe we should have known better. Maybe we shouldn't have chosen what we chose.
But God, we're standing at you at this point and all we have is bustedness. All we have is broken. We have nothing to present to you that would make us lovable. We have nothing to give to you that would make us be redeemable. And God, you became a human to represent humanity. You can swap out with us.
God, you became a human because you are faithful and you did not lie to David. You will keep your covenant. But you had to pay for our rebellion and our weakness. God, we thank you that you're strong on our behalf. And I pray, God, that you help us to see you today. That you would help us to grab on with everything we have to your word.
Grab on with everything we have in prayer. Grab on with everything we have with our last ounce of strength just to see you. Just to remember your sacrifice. And that you keep the promise. You keep the covenant. You make good on your word.
You are faithful so that our faithlessness is overwhelmed. That you're holy such that our sin is overwhelmed. That you're strong such that our weakness only highlights your strength. God, that you're good. And we can trust you in the midst of everything. Because you've already given up everything just to make us yours.
That you did come to rescue and to redeem and to keep your promises. God, we ask that your Holy Spirit would work so that our hearts can see you so clearly. That you would speak, God, to those of us who are hurting and weak and small. And we would know that you hurt alongside of us. And that your strength is ours. And that your life is ours.
We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. My heart is heavy. My soul is weak.
It seems I can't traverse the trail before me. I survey your glory. I survey your glory. Of your agony. And I find the will to fight for what's before me. Because you ran the race, enduring for your glory.
I fix my eyes on you. I fix my eyes on you. I fix my eyes on you. The founder and the finisher of our faith. I fix my eyes on you. And you train me to delight in all that's holy.
You're my broken body. You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. Throw off every wave and sin that gleams. So closely.
You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. You're my crooked stride. And you train me to delight in all that's holy. You're my broken body. Kill my crooked strife.
Throw off every wave and sin that gleams so closely. I will run the race enduring for your glory. I fix my eyes on you. The founder and the finisher of our faith. I fix my eyes on you. The solace in your suffering is my strength.
The solace in your suffering is my strength. You help me breathe. You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You help me breathe.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You died for me.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. You're the only life I need. You help me breathe. You're the only life I need. You died for me.
You're the only life I need. You died for me. The solace in your suffering is my strength. The solace in your suffering is my strength.