The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Mount Moriah – Do You Live As Though You Can Save Yourself?

Episode Date: March 6, 2022

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. – John 3:16

Amen and amen. How we do it, church? Doing good? You look good. You sound great. Let me ask you this. Do you trust your Heavenly Father? That's what we are talking about. The way that we know that he is trustworthy is because the tomb is empty and we are seven weeks away from celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen? And I can tell by your trepid applause, you're not ready. That's why we do this season of preparation. If you got your Bibles, dive into Genesis chapter 22 is where we are going to start. And I can tell. By your trip and applause, you're not ready. That's why we do this season of preparation. If you got your Bible. Let's dive into Genesis chapter 22 is where we are going to start. And I'm going to start. And I'm and what we're going to be doing over these next seven weeks is we're tracking our way through seven different mountains. Today we're going to start on Mount Mariah, and we're going to end up seven weeks from now on Mount Calvary. Turns out it's the same exact mountain. And I don't know about you, but God tends to display his glory up on the mountaintop kind of events and his grace and his mercy down in the valleys. And every single one of us is either on top of a mountain down in a valley or somewhere in between. Amen? And as it's already been pointed out to you about 100 times, It's in line with my first book

If the Tomb is Empty and I know it's been pointed out but there's a family discount for you if you're here in person at any of our campuses and one of the things I just want to be clear about is if you buy any if you buy a book at any of our campuses

all of the proceeds of that book stays at the church because I did not write this to make money I wrote this to make disciples all right so we want to get it into as many hands as we possibly can't now if you look at the cover of the book there are three names there The first is mine.

And I promise you, if my English teacher growing up would see this, she would say, well, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible, okay? Because. And then the second name there is Charles Martin. Charles is a New York Times bestselling author. He's written a whole bunch of books. He's also a deacon at our church and a dear, dear friend of mine. And so he helped me take this message and get it into a book.

And then the third name, if you have a book, you'll see there. The foreword was written by, we have a picture of the guy that wrote the forward if you want to take a look at that guy. That guy wrote the forward. Look how he was so cute when he was young, wasn't he? And a part of the reason I want you to see that picture is because when Timmy was playing for the Denver Broncos, he put John 316 on his eye black. And you've probably heard this story before because it's legendary around here because you

people are fanatics. And he's playing for the Denver Broncos. It's a playoff game. He puts John 316 on his eye black. and John 316 is the point of what we're going to be studying today. That's why I pointed out. And after the game, after they won, I think they beat the Steelers, which God hates the Steelers.

I don't know why you're willing. The Bible literally says thou shalt not steal. I don't know how you like that team. So anyway. So after the game, a reporter comes up to Tebow and is like, do you know what just happening? He's like, of course I know what just happened. I won the game and we're getting to play next weekend.

And he said, they said, well, I don't know if you know this, but during the game, you threw for 316 yards. Your yards per rush were 3.16 yards. Your yards per completion were 31.6. The ratings for the game was 31.6. The time of possession for your team was 31 minutes and six seconds. And during the game, 90 million people have already Googled John 316. And it was the number one thing trending on Facebook and Twitter. To which some people say, that's just a big coincidence. And Tebow says, I say that's just one big God. Amen. Amen. So, So the people that were Googling, what does John 316 mean, that's what we're going to do. We're going to dive in to understand it.

And you can't really understand the most famous Christian verse ever, which says, for God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. To really understand what that verse is all about, you've got to go all the way back to Mount Moriah, Genesis chapter 22, and the account of Abraham and his son Isaac. So the Bible says this in Genesis chapter 22, verse one. It says, after these things. Well, I got to tell you what these things are. Because these things cover about 10 chapters of the Bible.

These things are that there was a man named Abram. His name's going to be changed to Abraham. And he's married to a lady named Sarah, and it's going to change her name to Sarah. So we'll just call him Abraham and Sarah. And so they're just kind of minding their own business. And because God is good and God is gracious, he just chooses Abraham.

And he chooses him to make a covenant with him and he makes this everlasting covenant with Abraham, and he gives him this promise. He says, from you, you are going to be the father of many nations. That's what Abraham actually means. Abraham means dad, and Abraham means the father of many nations. There's only one problem with this. At this point in their life, he's 80 years old.

Sarah's a little bit younger than him, but she's not young. And they have zero kids at this point. And God says, don't worry about it. I promise you, I'm going to give you a son. and through this sun, the entire world is going to be blessed through this son of yours. And not only am I going to give you a son and make you a people, I'm going to give you a place to live, a promised land. And so I need you to move from where you are. He lived in this place called the Erd the Caledites, and I need you to go to where I'm going to show you.

And so Abraham comes home from his meeting with God, and just think about this for a second, wives. And he comes up to his wife and he says, honey, God was talking to me today. Okay, what did he say? He said that we're moving. Now wives, what's the first question you're going to ask? Where are we moving? And he said, I don't know, God will show us when we get there. Now Abraham is really the father of faith. The New Testament is going to say, and the Old Testament is going to say that his faith was credited to him as righteousness. But what about the faith of Sarah? Sarah moved with her husband, packed up all their stuff, moved with her husband to a place that she didn't even know where it was going to be. Husbands, I can't get the people that live in my house that share my last name to get in my truck if we don't clearly articulate exactly where we're going and how long we're going to be there. You understand? And so by faith, Abraham and Sarah pack it all up and they are on the go. Now, there's just one problem with this promise from God. For over 20 years, there's a promise, no pregnancy. Over 20 years, there's a promise, no child. And so,

Anybody ever noticed that God's timing and our timing ain't exactly the same? Can I get a witness? Right? And so the problem is, is they begin to kind of give up on God and they start doing a couple of shady things. Three that I'll point out. One is two different times as they're wondering around trying to figure out where they're going to live. They go into another land and the king has his eye on Sarah. So even though she's up in age, she's still got it going on. And so this king has his eye on Sarah. And in order for Abraham to, save his own skin, check this out. He lies to the king, says she's not my wife, she's my sister, you can have her. Twice. Let me just put this in 21st century language. He pips out his wife two times to save his own skin. And somehow they stay married. Can you imagine the conversations at home? Hey, Sarah, can you get me some sweet tea? You can get your own sweet tea. You're going to tell the king. Oh, you don't understand, okay? So that's what's happening. Then it gets even worse. then what happens is Sarah because she doesn't have a child and they know they've got this promise from God.

Here's the problem. They don't trust God to come through on their promises so they say we're going to take matters into our own hands. And Sarah says, why don't you just sleep with my servant? Her name's Hagar and we'll just create our own little promised child. And that causes all kinds of problems. And yet, and yet, I'm just going to tell you, if Abraham worked on my staff, any one of these three things,

I would fire him. Do you understand? You did. What? With your wife? You're out of here. You don't get to work here anymore. But how many of you know, I hope you know this, I hope you know this, that our past does not define us, that our past does not disqualify us? You see, the enemy wants you to be defined by your scars, but Jesus says, no, no, no, you'll be defined by mine. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, even our unfaithfulness never nullifies the faithfulness of God. God still comes through. You see, in fact, if you look through the scriptures, if you look at the people that God uses to do glorious things, they have some pretty shady past. And the reason I bring this up is, listen, man, God could use you no matter what your past is, no matter what your past is. He could

use you to do immeasurably more than you've ever thought, dreamed, or imagined. Don't believe me? Noel was a drunk, Jacob was a thief, Joseph was a convict, Moses was a murderer, Samson was a bully, Gideon was a coward, David was an adulterer, Solomon was a womanizer, Elisha had some pretty serious anger issues, Jonah was a racist, Jeremiah was depressed, Mary was a pregnant teenager, Peter was a hypocrite, James and John were power hungry, Matthew was bad with money, Thomas was a doubter, Paul was a terrorist, and Tebow was a gator. God can use anybody. And so, I threw one in there for you. Okay, so, 24 years, after mistake, after mistake after mistake,

God sends an angel, and an angel shows up to Abraham. And his wife, Sarah, is listening in and the angel says, all right, it's finally time. A year from right now, a year from right now, book the bouncy house, make a reservation at Chuckie Cheese,

you're going to have a baby boy. And Sarah laughs. She doesn't even believe it. So they named the kid laughter. That's what Isaac means. So that's what has happened. those are these things that have been going on. And after these things.

And then also, there's about, I don't know, maybe 16 to 18 years after he's born that we don't get any income. Like things just seem to be going right along, right? And I'm sure Abraham and Sarah are thinking, you know what, we've been through some serious trials, but now everything's going to be up and to the right. After these things, God tested Abraham.

I hate test. Don't you hate test? Nobody ever told me this explicitly, but I thought when I got saved from that moment on, everything was going to be up and to the right in my life. I just thought that's how it's going to go. Maybe it was because every, like, FCA event or Campus Crusade for Christ event I went to or every church I ever went to, the testimonies that they showed were, my life was wrecked, I met Jesus, and look at me now.

Well, I hope you know that we don't follow Jesus because he makes life better. We follow him because he is better than life. and that we serve a God that would love us enough to test us. He would love us enough to discipline us. He would love us enough that he would put us in a desperate situation knowing the best thing for us is that we would be desperate for him. In fact, the way Hebrews says it is this. Hebrews 12 says,

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as son. for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. So what he is saying that discipline means that you're a legitimate son of God. And so if that's the case, I'm going to tell you what.

My dad and his discipline was super legit, okay? He disciplined me. I mean like crazy. And here's the thing, man. He did not mind me experiencing some temperament. pain then to avoid a whole bunch of pain now. And I would get home, well, he would get home. He traveled a bunch and worked a bunch, and I would get in trouble a lot.

We could just do a whole series on Jobi's troubles growing up, okay? The list would be long. And so my mom would say, you wait until your dad, he gets home, and he would get home, and he would walk into my room and sit down and say, boy, is there something I needed to know about? Which is a really dangerous open-ended question. Because in my mind, I thought, well, there's like six things you probably need to know about, but I'm not sure which ones you do know about, so why don't you go first?

and we'll go case-by-case basis, okay? And there was no, let's go think about it in my house. There was no timeout. The only timeout was when my dad, in between whippings, would take some time out and, like, smoke a cigarette and then come back in to finish the drill, all right? And he had this move, man. He could go straight to his belt, one hand and go,

like Indiana Jones. If I hear a car backfire, I still kind of whew sometimes, all right? And listen, I know I'm going to get the email. It's like, we don't spank Timmy. We are fully aware. We are, we are. didn't even have to say it, okay? So it's part of the problem.

All right, but I don't have time. But what he's saying is, is that any good parent loves their kid enough to discipline them, help them experience a little bit of pain now so as to avoid a whole lot later. When I was in the, when I was a kid in, I don't know what grade,

probably first, second, third grade, somewhere in there. I'm riding my bicycle, Dillon, South Carolina, right in the road, right out in front of my house with my best friend Joey Peel. Remember that name? It'll matter at the end. into the service. Joey Peel. He's riding around with me. Mama comes out on the front porch,

slings the door open, and she wasn't really a yeller. She wasn't. She was pretty calm most of the time. She sees me riding in the street, and she screams out, Joseph Perry Martin III, you better get in the house, get out the road. And I was like, whoa, mama, you don't love me. Why are you yelling at me? If you love me, you wouldn't yell at me. And as quick as lightning, she says, if I didn't love you, I would let you ride your bike in the road. Then immediately right behind me, I hear, and I look, and it's my best friend, Joey Peel, trying not to cry. You ever seen a little boy try not to cry, and he's trying to hold it in? And he gets all the quivers, you know?

And then he just breaks out. I'm like, dude, what is wrong with you? Why are you crying? And he goes, my mama lets me ride in the road. Okay, so. Yeah, man, sometimes you're going through the trial, and you're like, Lord, help me. And he reaches down and plucks you up from the muck in the mire and put your foot on the safe spot.

some pounds. More often in my life when I'm like, Lord, help me. He says, I've got you, my son, takes me by the hand, and drags me through the mud under the water until I'm desperate for him

like a drowning man is desperate for air. Because that's what you need. That's what I need. And so Abraham is tested by God. J.I. Packer says it this way. And still, he seeks the fellowship

of his people, and he sends them both sorrows in joy in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to himself. And so God's going to test Abraham. And he says to him, Abraham, and he says, here I am. Now, have you ever noticed in the Bible? The Bible just comes right out and says, just God just communicates with people.

He just talks to folks. He never says exactly how it goes down, which I'm glad, because we get all hung up on the how it happened instead of who's talking. But I've had people at our church say, does God ever speak to you? Oh, yeah, for sure. Out loud? Mm-hmm. You hear the audible voice of God?

I do. You can too. If you will just open the word of God and read it out loud, I've got good news for you. This is God speaking to you, which is why we do Lent. The reason that we're fasting and praying on Wednesdays in preparation for Resurrection Sunday is because what if God is still speaking to his children just like he was back then, but our world has gotten so loud that it drowns out the very voice of God. And a major part of what Lent season is is just to turn down the noise in our ears so that we can turn up our hearts to hear the voice of God.

And so God says to Abraham. Abraham says, here I am. Verse two, he says, take your son, your only son, underline that, it matters. Isaac, whom you love, underline that, it matters. And go to the land of Mariah and offer him there. You can underline offer as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell. you. Now, during this time in ancient history, it would not have been out of order in every other major world religion for child sacrifice to be a thing. And so just to be clear, God is going

to shut that down once and for all. He says, not in the kingdom of heaven. Every life matters, especially the life of a child. There are no unwanted children. God wants every single one of them. But that is not the primary thing that's going on here, but he's going to tell him, take your son, your only son. Now, which, by the way, if you say, well, I thought you said he had another He did, but he's never called the son of his love, the son of his promise, and Isaac is called his only son. Why? If you go to Romans chapter 9, you'll find out that Ishmael is a picture of works-based

righteousness. When you don't trust God and you say, I'm going to make this happen by my own works. But Isaac is this son that came as a promise, that came as a miracle that is a son of faith. And so he says, take your only son whom you love to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering. Now, let me just ask you this. You see, here's the problem. If you've been around Bible study a minute, you already know how it ends.

But Abraham does not know how this is going to end. Could you? Could you? Can you trust God with what he's put in your hands? I know it makes it weird if you think about your own kid like this. But think about, can you trust God with the things that he has put in your hands? Because one of the things that the enemy loves to do is take a good gift of God and then begin to twist it.

we take a good thing and we begin to treat it like a God thing, and that's a really bad thing. I mean, it could be money, it could be your job, it could be a dream, it could be a relationship. And what begins to happen is that God is not the one that is before all things. God is not the one thing driving everything, but we are worshipping the created instead of the creator. We are worshiping the gift instead of the giver of the gift. You see, you can't pick up your cross and follow Jesus if you won't lay down your Isaac. You see, when we begin to hold on to these things, then they grab hold of us. And so Abraham, look what he does.

Abraham rose early in the morning. Now that's faithfulness. That's obedience. I don't know about you, but whenever God asked me to do a hard thing, I always always. need to pray about it for a while. You know what I'm saying? And listen, I'm pro-prayer, but not if it is an excuse or a time to delay the obedience from what God has called me to do. But Abraham, he rose early in the morning, and he saddled his donkey, and he took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and he arose, and he went to the place of which God had told him,

and on the third day, that matters to. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place from afar. And then Abraham said to his young men, all right, when you think about this, when I just said, could you sacrifice your son? Listen, all of us is like, I don't think I did that. Okay, I get it. I get it. In this next first, we find out how Abraham was

able to be willing to walk through this. Here's what it says. And it's not as nuanced in English. Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. And the boy, I and the boy will go over there and worship and

coming in to you. In the Hebrew, what it's saying is, if you look at like the verb tenses, what it's saying is, you guys stay here with the donkey, the boy and I will go up on the mountain and worship, and we will return. The boy and I will return. You see, Abraham is in what feels like an impossible situation. How is this going to happen? Abraham, what are you going to do? I'm going to do exactly what God tells me to do. He told me to take my son to this mountain and sacrifice him there. And then I'm telling you, we will be back. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, how, Abraham? How can you believe that?

A little Bible study suggestion. I've said this a million times. Always use the Bible as commentary to itself. Before you read what some very smart person with their Ph.D. Thinks about this. See what the Bible says about itself. And the faith of Abraham has talked about all throughout the New Testament, that three places in particular talk about this moment in Abraham's life.

In Hebrews 11, 17 to 19, Romans 4, 16 to 25, we find out what Abraham was thinking. In Hebrews and Romans, we find out that Abraham believed in the promise of God, that Abraham believed that one day a serpent crusher was coming, that one day there would be a Messiah that would show up on the scene, and that God is the God of resurrection and that God is the God of the living. So even if Abraham follows through with this, that God would have the ability to resurrect his son, and here's why his faith was that strong. Because he knew God is who He says he is and God always keeps his promise. And the promise, the covenant God made with Abraham is this, I am going to bless the entire world by making a whole bunch of babies. I'm actually going to create a nation through your son, Isaac. And so he's looking at this promise, his son, and then he's looking at God's call to sacrifice

his son. And he's saying, the reason that I can go through with it is because God never breaks his promise. And somehow this boy has to live in order for God to keep his promise. So he looks at the people standing by the donkey and says, we're going up there, we're going to do what God says, and we're going to go back. How, Abraham, I have no idea how. I'm not into the how.

Here's what I'm about to tell you, this is an impossible situation, but with God, all things are possible. So that's why he's going up. And then in Galatians 3-8, we find out, I don't even know how this happens, somehow the gospel was preached to Abraham all the way back here. that what we believe by name Jesus Christ, crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, somehow Abraham knew by faith that God was going to send a substitutionary atonement in our place. And so, verse 6, and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.

And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And so they went both of them together. And then Isaac said to his father, my father, and he said, here I am, my son. And his son said, behold, the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. Now, I'm not sure why this was, but up until, I don't know, not very long ago, I always thought when I heard about this account of Abraham and Isaac, I thought Isaac was like fresh out of pull-ups. You know what I mean? Like, he's taking his kid, his kid doesn't know what's happening, but most,

theologians and commentators will say that Isaac is at least a teenager at least the teenager, at least 16, 17 years old. Because he's going to cut wood, he's going to carry this wood up this hill, he's going to carry fire, and if you see him, you know he's a teenager because he asks about a million questions.

He's looking around, he's like, all right, dad, so I see, so we got, we're missing something. Where is the lamb? And then Abraham says, God will provide for himself the lamb for burnt offering my son. And again, even though Abraham feels like he is in an impossible situation,

he knows that all things are possible with God. And so by obedience, they begin to make their trek up Mount Moriah. Verse 9, and when they came to the place of God that God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Now, there's no way Abraham does this by force. force. Why? Because if Isaac is 16, Abraham's 116. You ever wrestle a 116-year-old guy? I don't even know one, but I'm pretty sure you could whip him. You understand? Or if you're 16, you can at least outrun him. Look, I have a 16-year-old son, lives at my house. He thinks he's tough. He is tough. He thinks he can get me. He can't get me. Now, what I will tell you this is he's going this way. He's a football player,

weightlifter, and jiu-jitsu fighter, all that. And I'm, I'm beyond my peak years. You understand what I'm saying, all right? I don't know why you laugh. You're going to hurt my feeling. All right, anyway. We're, but I'm going to tell you what, man. I got a couple more in me.

But before, in just a couple years, one last time I'm going to put him on a mat, and he's going to feel it well into his 30s. That's what I'm going to do, okay? Because y'all got, you know about that dad power, right? Remember I grabbed on my daddy one time when I was in high school and all that sausage turned into, like, steel. And he cheated, too.

he like break your fingers and poke you and out. He didn't care, right? All right, that's what I'm going to do. One more time. And then by the time he knows he can get me, hopefully he'll be mature enough to not want to. All right, but I'm only 48. If I was 116, so here's what this means,

that Abraham is not forcing Isaac to do this. Here is this son, the son of Abraham's love, who has taken this wood on his back up this hill and he is going to lay down on this altar and ultimately what this son of this father that loves him is going to say is not my will but your will be done. And he lays himself down on this author. Verse 10 and then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. And again, you say, how could he do this?

The reason he could do this is because he knows God can be trusted and God always keeps his promises. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. And he said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Just before we planted this church, I was having lunch or something with this seasoned pastor that pastors is here in our city on the other side of town. He's been a pastor for decades and decades and decades.

And he looked at me and he said, remember this, don't do what God told you to do. And I thought, hold on. I thought that's exactly what you're supposed to do, okay? I thought you're supposed to do exactly what God told you to do. He said, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do what God told you to do. Do what God is telling you to do. And he was thinking, he was referencing Genesis 22.

He said, God told you to be a youth pastor, and that's what you should have done. But if you only did what God told you to do, then you wouldn't be able to say, step into what he is telling you to do now. And what he is telling you to do now is plan of church. And oftentimes what happens with Christians is we take a big step of faith when God told us to do something and we do that thing. But then we get really, really comfortable in what he told us to do yesterday and we're scared to take a step of faith in what he is telling you to do right now.

And so thank God. Abraham still has his ears open to hear what God is telling him. And so he raises the knife and goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't do it. There's a ram caught with his horn. in the thicket. This is a miracle. It's a miracle. I mean, when did it get caught? Did they, did they walk by it on the way up? They're like, well, that's interesting. I wonder how that'll play into the story. Like, when, went, did he, like, while they're building the altar, did he get caught? And this is a miracle. My deer hunters know this to be true. Any deer hunters in the house?

If you're a deer hunter, come on, testify, raise it high, good, good, good. Anybody have their own land that you deer hunt on? If that's the case, raise your hand high? Come on. All right, See that hand. We might need to prayer walk it later, okay? So, have you ever seen this? Have you ever been walking to your stand and be like, golly, there's a ten-pointer with his head in the thorns? Oh, man, this is a miracle of God.

And so there is a ram, an adult male lamb, with thorns all around his head. And Abraham went and he took the ram and he offered it up as a burnt offering. The key words of the text. instead of his son. There was a substitute. It is a picture of the gospel. And so Abraham called the name of that place,

the Lord will provide Jehovah Jira. That's how you say it in Hebrew. As it is said to this day, on the mountain of the Lord, it shall be provided. Talking about the mountain he's standing on. Mariah is what he calls it, which means foreseen by God. And an angel of the Lord called to Abraham

a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Abraham had no idea what hung in the balance for this step of faith and obedience that he took. There's no way Abraham could have known that this son of his Isaac was going to have two sons, and that younger son was going to have 12 sons, and those 12 sons were going to become the tribes of Israel,

and then they were going to end up in Egypt for 400 years while God was building a nation. And then one day Moses was going to show up and look at the Pharaoh and says, I'm here on behalf of God, and he says, let my people go. and then they were going to march on dry ground across the Red Sea, and then they were going to be given the law on Mount Sinai, and then they were going to make their way through the leadership of Joshua into the promised land. And then the craziest thing is they found themselves back on this exact mountain.

How in the world do you do that? I don't know. I don't think Abe left the, you know, dropped the pen on Google Maps for them for multiple generations later, but they come back to this exact mountain, and they build the temple. And year after year after year, were slain for the covering of sin right here on this mountain and maybe Abraham could not have foreseen that out of this people would come a Messiah, Jesus Christ, the son of God, and that John the Baptist would look at him one day and say, behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take

away the sin of the entire world. Not just another Lamb of God here to cover over the sin of the Jewish people for one year, but the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. You see the point. The only way to understand first of the Lord. fully, Genesis 22, is you got to know John 316. You see, the whole Bible is about one thing. And I hate to break it to you, and it ain't you. It's not, okay? Don't worry, snowflake, you'd be all right, but listen, God's for you.

He's for you. It's just not all about you. I mean, anybody that dies for you is for you, and he demonstrated his love for you in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. But it's not all about you, it's all about Jesus. And so everything that was happening in Genesis 22 is actually pointing to this substitutionary Lamb of God that was going to show up on the scene and be sacrificed instead of us.

And the reason I say this is because if you go to John Chapter 3, Jesus says that this is all about him. You see, in John chapter 3, we studied this last year. In John chapter 3, Jesus is having this conversation with a guy named Nicodemus, who is a religious Pharisee. He's an expert in the law. He's an expert in the Bible. And he recognizes that Jesus must be from God because he's done some miracles.

And so he meets him at night because for whatever reason, he comes at night. And he goes, all right, teacher, you must be from God because nobody could do these miracles if he weren't from God. And then Jesus knows that he's a Pharisee. Jesus knows that he is an expert in the scriptures. And so he just jumps to the top shelf, man.

He just gets right to the point. And he says, he goes, Nicodemus, you're right. but unless one is born again, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And when he says born again, here's what he's saying. He's like, Nicodemus, I know you're a religious man, but you don't need to be a better version of you. You need a new you.

You need a brand new life. You need to die to yourself and be born again in me. And unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And it just goes right over his head. And Nicodemus is like, I don't get it. What do you mean born again? Can a man enter into his mother a second time? And then Jesus is like, what in the name of me?

Are you talking about? No, man, stop. What? What? So he's missing it. So then Jesus does what a great rabbi would do. Jesus knows that Nicodemus has the entire Old Testament memorized. You see, because if Nicodemus is a Pharisee, that means that when he first went to school,

what the good little Jewish boys and girls would do is they would go to Hebrew school and they would be taught the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. And on the first day of school, like kindergarten age, they would come in and they would get a tablet. all right and if you're 1825 it's not electronic it was like chalk all right and this tablet would probably have the shemaah written on it from Deuteronomy 6 shima israel the lord our god the lord is one but on this tablet it would be covered with honey and most of these little kids from jerusalem and the galilee they wouldn't have enough money to have ever tasted honey but they had heard of honey before and this thing is covered in honey and the rabbi would hand these honey soaked tablets out to all

kids and say, have at it kids. And think about this, these kids start licking the honey off of the tablet. And just imagine the mess. It gets all over them. They're licking their hands. They're licking their neighbor. And they're thinking, this is the great, I love school so much. And then at some point, at some point the rabbi would stop the chaos and he'd go, well, kids, kids, kids, just like your tongue craves the sweetness of that honey. May your soul crave the sweet word of God. And they would start memorizing the Bible. And so if you were the best of the best of the best and made it to like graduate level school, Pharisee school kind of thing, you would memorize the whole Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. That's not the order in Hebrew, but you would memorize the whole

thing, the whole Old Testament. So I know many of you probably have several verses memorized. Cool. they would memorize from Genesis all the way through every book of the Old Testament. And I know some people are like, well, I'm not good at memorizing. Well, then how come you knew every word to the Super Bowl halftime show? We were a bunch of 40 years old,

we were watching it with a bunch of kids, and when it came on, and we were all like, one, two, three, and two of the four. My son's like, how do you know that? I'm like, well, let's memorize Bible verses. All right, so. Yeah. And so here's what Jesus is.

Jesus is gonna do, okay? So he knows this about Nicodemus. He knows that Nick knows the Word of God. And so he goes, all right, man, you remember Moses? Which is a bit of a shot. Because Nicodemus is like, dude, I've been teaching like Sunday school for 50 years. Of course I know Moses.

He's like, all right, well, you remember the one in numbers where all of the Israelites wake up one day and they are snake bitten? And the venom is running through their veins and they're gonna die. And then God comes to Moses and says, fashion a bronze serpent or put together this snake and put it on a stick,

a pole and lift it up and whoever will look at that snake that is high and lifted up they will be cured because it's not the snake bite that's the problem it's what's running through their veins that's the problem he's like you remember that you see because what you need is not ointment from the outside what you need is new blood on the inside and then jesus says that whole snake thing they're looking at the thing that they need to be cured of that's me bro that i am going to be high and lifted up and god is going to make him who is without sin to be sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of God. At this point, I think all the lights on Nicodemus' dashboard are starting to go off. He's like, oh, wait a minute. And then right on the heels of that, right on the heels of that.

Jesus says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Now, this was a rabbi trick. You see, in Greek it's called proto-logos. It means first words. And one of the the things that Nicodemus would have known, he would have known the very first time the word love was used like that in all of the scriptures. And the first time the word love is used in the scriptures is to describe the love of a father for his promise, only begotten son. And so as soon as Jesus says, what is the most famous Christian verse, John 316, then Nicodemus goes back to Genesis 22. He's thinking, this is like the same thing.

There's a father who has a son who is promised, who's his only begotten son, his one and only son, whom he loves. And he put wood on his back, and he climbed up this hill. And when he got there, there was a ram caught in a thicket.

And that ram was used as a substitute for his son. And Jesus is going, yeah, man, right. And that is me. And so a few years later, Nicodemus is going to see this play out. Nicodemus is going to see the Lamb of God with the crown of thorns. He is going to see this son of God crying out to his heavenly father.

He is going to see wood on his back climbing the exact same hill. Mount Moriah is Mount Calvary. He's going to watch all of this happen, and he is going to do exactly what Jesus says in John, chapter 3, verse 16. For God, so loved the world that he gave. his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. You see, the first time that ever made sense to me, that verse, and I'm going to tell you, man, I grew up in the South, so I'd heard that verse, it's the only one I knew. The first time it ever made sense to me, I told you this a hundred times, but when I was at camp, when I was a kid,

I was in high school, and I was attending the Southern Baptist camp, and my counselors reenacted the crucifixion of Christ. And they were in no time. danger of winning any academy awards. Okay, a bunch of southern kids with like togas and torches with southern accidents, right? And yet, we started with Pontchus Pilate, with Jesus, and Pontchus Pilate and Pontchus Pilot asked the crowd, what should I do with this man named Jesus? By the way, the most important question you'll answer in your life is that one. What are you going to do with this man named Jesus? And the whole crowd yells crucify him, kill him, and then they take him down, and they took him down this little dirt road, and we heard them flog Jesus. And then they

took him on the other side of this lake. There was no lake in Jerusalem like that, but that's what we had in Venezuela, South Carolina, so you work with what you got, and they went on the other side of this lake, and we heard the nails be driven into his hands and feet, and then they lifted up Jesus on the cross, and he said seven things, and the first thing he said is this, he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and the last thing he says, it is finished. And I know this was the mid-80s, and I was sitting in Beneathville, South Carolina, but somehow in my mind I was transported to Jerusalem Mount Calvary 2,000 years ago. And Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and he says, it is finished.

And when he did, my heart was about to beat out of my chest. Now, my coach, Coach Bulley, stands up in front of us and says this, for God, so love the world. And then he pointed at me and said, that means you. for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, and that means you, I must have real lost, he just pointed right at me, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but would have everlasting life. And then he said, anybody that's ready to ask Jesus into his heart, that's the language we used by then. Anybody that's ready to ask Jesus into their heart, come down here

and meet me. Now, this was a Baptist church. So we were under contract. I think it's in the bylaws or the Baptist faith and message or something. There's only one song you can close with, right? You know what it is? That's right. We got some Baptist on the front row. All right. Y'all are lost. Just sit in the back. Okay, so, yeah, man, just as I am. And unless being the copyright or something, you can only, you got to sing it 14 times. You can't just sing one verse. At 14. Is the minimum number required. And so there we are, man, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. That's what we were saying. And my heart is about to beat out of my chest. And I knew in that moment somehow I couldn't explain it. I didn't know any theological terms. I didn't know Hebrew or Greek.

I didn't even know the Bible's written in Hebrew or Greek. Okay. I didn't know any of that stuff. All I knew somehow for the very first time is that when that man Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And I'm sitting there. And the other thing about Baptist, Coach Lee said, you got to come down here. Got to walk the aisle. Now, it's crazy, man. In the Baptist church, you can't get saved by there. You're going to hell back there.

You only can get saved right here. It's the only place, salvation takes place. Now, that's how it works. I'm just telling you, that's how they did it, all right? And I'm getting all weepy, man, and I'm sitting on my stool, and I'm like, I ain't getting in front of these people. It ain't no way. And I wrap my feet around the little stool I was sitting on.

And I was like, ain't no way. And then on verse 13 and a half, Coach Lee comes up. Here's what he said. He says, I think there's one more. All that one more language you use around here, coachily said, I think there's one more. And I was the one more. And so I don't know what happened.

Because I was locked into that stool. I determined I am not getting up. And somehow I levitated to the front and asked Jesus to come into my heart. I surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in that moment. Okay? when Jesus says that whoever believes

whoever believes makes me just a little bit nervous a little bit nervous because there's a big old difference between believing in and believing that and I'm afraid there's a whole bunch of people in churches all especially the South and you believe but have you ever

have you ever did this thing Jesus is talking about the Greek word is Pistuo it means to believe in It means to trust in. It means to put your whole life into. Have you ever done that? Have you ever trusted Jesus for your salvation? Not your good works.

Not I'll do better, but have you ever put your faith in him? This week, I got an email. One of the things that we did in the book is at the end of the first chapter, we just share a gospel invitation with a prayer of salvation to pray. And anybody that does that, I put my email there and I just asked them to email me

so that we can get people connected. in local churches. Well, I got an email on Tuesday, and the name of the person that wrote it caught my eye, and his name is Jess Peel. Remember Joey Peel? It's his youngest brother. Youngest, there's five of them.

There was Joey, Jan, Jenny, Jody, and Jess. All right. And so he sent me this email. Open it up, and it says, I don't even know how to start this email sitting here in my house in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. with an 11-week-old puppy. And he says, I've been spot following you for a while now,

almost as if hiding in the woods, scared and embarrassed for you to see me. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Our families were really, really close. I called him this week, see how he's doing, and he kind of told me what's happening in his life. And I asked him, I said, bro, when's the last time I saw you?

He said, I think I was eight years old, you were 18, and you were my camp counselor. Well, he graduated high school. He joined the Marines, went and did a few tours in Iraq. And when he got home, he just couldn't cope. Multiple addictions, several DUIs, spent some time in prison.

All of his relationships were just shattered. Less than a year ago, he attempted to take his life. So when Jess was saying he was embarrassed, that's what he was talking about. He says, almost as if hiding in the woods, scared and embarrassed for you to see me, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. But by happen chance or divine intervention, or let's just say a work of God,

he put me in a situation after attending church for the third time in about 10 years this past Sunday, where I would walk by your book in a Books of Million in Destin, Florida, right down the road from where I live. And without a second thought, I bought it. Excited, scared, nervous, and a whole range of emotions poured out of my heart as I sat down to read the first chapter. What a rush of emotions flowed through and out of my body. you mentioning the pool and dillon your dogs hulk and daisy coach bully camp pine hill i knew them all by name obviously then he says i want to let you know i said that prayer i meant that prayer with my whole heart that's right man and then he says there has been so much that has happened around me over the

past few months that the need for christ in my heart and life might as well been tattooed on my forehead so i could see it every time i look into the mirror i want to thank you for your God-given strength and beliefs, the way you speak and interpret the Bible is exactly what this Dylan South Carolina boy needs to read. I'll finish your book, and I'll pass it on to someone else when the spirit presents itself for me to bless someone.

This is going to be a process for me to start breaking down some of the spiritual walls I've built around myself, but I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he has my back and will not let me drown. And the reason it says, the reason he closed, us with, it will not let me drown. He will not let me drown us because that's just how we

closed the first chapter. I did not intend to close the services way until Jeff sent this on Tuesday. But the illustration I give of belief, and I've done it 100 million times, it's like when I was a kid and Daddy would take us to the Dillon Pool. We didn't do swimming lessons when I was growing up. It was very Darwinian. If you didn't make it, well, it's all right. That's why my generation is tougher than y'all, okay? Because the snowflakes all melted. But, so he would just say, you go get on the diving board, and I'll get in the pool, and you jump. off and swim to me. And so I would go climb on the diving board at Dillon Pool and make my way out to the edge, and then my dad would get into the deep end. And there I am standing on the edge

of the diving board, and my dad in the deep end says, come on, buddy, jump. I got you. Just jump. I got you. And as I'm standing there with just fear and trepidation because I don't know how to swim. And I know if he doesn't get me, I'm a goner. And meanwhile, there's a line of not very encouraging young people behind me. Now here's the thing. I recognize that he's my father. I rode here in the truck with it. It's obviously him.

He's got the Southern Sloot, the Magnum P.I. Mustache, the shorty short O.P.'s, remember those? I recognize his voice. He's got a cigarette in his mouth in the deep angle. Come on, boy. Anybody? And I know because he came with that lady over there. There's my mom right over there.

I recognize her, okay? She's covering baby oil, drinking a tab, smoking them all of our light. people right there. I see them. Here's the problem though. Like with what Jesus is talking about when he says whoever believes, whoever trusts, whoever pastuos in me will not perish but have everlasting life. At that moment when I'm standing on the diving board, I am not trusting in my father. I'm just acknowledging that he's there. Here's what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of our church is full of people that aren't trusting in Jesus for your salvation. You just acknowledge that he's there. You see, in that moment, man, I am standing on my own two feet and my life is up to me.

And the imitation of my father is, come on, buddy, jump, I've got you. And so what it means to believe, to believe in, to trust in, to bestuo like Jesus is saying, is that I would take that step of faith off of the diving board into the loving arms of my father and trust that he is who he says he is and I trust that he'll keep his promise. and I will put my life in his hands. Have you ever done that? Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation? For God so love the world.

That means you. That means you. For God so love the world that he gave his one and only son. That whosoever, and I've got good news, if you're in the whosoever category, you could be saved. No matter if you're as religious as negamus, or if you're as rebellious as Abraham was at first, that you could be saved, that whosoever,

whosoever would believe, would trust, would Pistuo, and the only begotten Son of God, then you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life. I want to give you the opportunity to put your faith in Jesus, like I did over 30 years ago at that camp, and like Jess Peele did on Tuesday before he wrote this email, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Would you bow your heads?

Would you close your eyes? And if you would say, for the very first time in my life, I admit it, I need somebody to do for me what I cannot do for myself. I don't need just a new version of me. I need a new life. And you believe that somehow, even if you can't fully explain it, but right now you believe that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, then right where you are, you confess him as your Lord and Savior.

And the Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. and if that's you in this moment right now that you were confessing Christ as your Lord and Savior for the first time, would you lift your hand high in the air and would you just say, Father, here I am, save me? Put your hand high in the air and say, Father, here I am, save me. Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, we love you more than anything. God, we thank you that we can love you because you first loved us and that you did not send your son, Jesus Christ, as a mere example for us to follow, but you sent him to save sinners like you. us. God, we thank you that when he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and he says it is

finished, that that debt is paid in full for anyone who would believe. And, God, I thank you, and I praise you that there is salvation in your house today. God, just like you saved me 30-something years ago and you saved just this week, God, that you were saving men and women and students in this very moment. And God, we give you all the glory because you're the only one that deserves it. The Lord, we love you because you loved us for. and we pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And all God's people said, amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond?

We get to respond, and I hope you will. And we respond by bringing our ties and our offerings, our first and our best. Not because of any religious obligation, but out of a sense of gratitude, because God gave his first and best through the life, death, and resurrection of his son on our behalf. and so we bring and we pray and we invite you to pray God is a good dad he is a good father he loves you and he wants you to pour out on him everything that's going on in your life so we invite you to pray

and we sing and we're going to sing this song that is just basically the gospel and I don't care if you Baptist or not when we get this one part where it says it counted for me it counted for me I want both hands in the air if you believe that it counted for you So let us pray, let us sing, let us bring. Let's respond.