Our God Provides

I did not place my faith in the Savior Jesus Christ until I was a freshman in college. And after that, I thought, you know, I need to go to Bible college for at least a year, probably not more than a year, just to learn the few things I haven't already understood about God's word. Well, 13 years later, I realized there were many things I'll never know. As I learned more about God and learned more about His Word, I learned there were many things I can never wrap my head around. After 13 years of studying God's Word in the academy and in the church, one thing I walked away from was this. I have learned that God's Word necessarily causes me to believe things I cannot understand and be obedient in circumstances that I often feel are impossible. I have learned that God's Word necessarily causes me to believe things I cannot understand and be obedient in circumstances that I often feel are impossible. For instance, I will never wrap my finite brain around the infinite beauty and glory of God. It's too much for me. I once thought I could understand everything about God, but now the more I've studied God, the more I realize He's more than I can ever consume. He's more than I can ever comprehend. I must also confess things with absolute certainty that I cannot comprehend with absolute clarity. I must be able to confess things without absolute comprehension. The Doctrine of the Trinity is one. My last five years were doing nothing but studying the Doctrine of the Trinity. And I walk away with more mystery and with more lack of absolute clarity of what this God is, but with an absolute certainty and clarity that God is triune, with an absolute certainty and clarity that He is worthy of our worship, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You see, what I'm talking about here is what I walked away from in all my education, I think, is an appreciation for tension. Tension is essential in understanding God's word and living by faith. There's tension in our understanding and obeying God's word. There's tension in our lives. Tension is necessary as we live as Christians in a fallen sinful world. This morning, we will see a great tension in Abraham and tension really doesn't do it justice. There's pressure. There's anxiety. It's the most difficult tension. It's a personal tension because it's Abraham and his son. It's an emotional, personal tension, but it's also a theological tension because God is going to cause him to hold in tension his promise, the child, and the command to sacrifice him. Let's read chapter 22, verses 1 through 19. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. He said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. 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. So, they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself The lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which 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. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am I. 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. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day on the mountain of the Lord, it shall be provided. 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 I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heavens 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. So Abraham returned to his young men and they arose and went together to Be'er Shavuot. And Abraham lived at Be'er Shavuot. Here we have, really, I think the climax of the Abraham narrative. This is the bookend. This is the end of the great journey of faith for Abraham. It wasn't the promised child being delivered just a chapter earlier. This is it. God called Abraham out of Ur in chapter 12. This is the final stage. This is what completes The story of Abraham, not the child being born, but here the child being put up as a sacrifice by Abraham himself. Here we see God putting Abraham to a great test. But let's remember here all the journey thus far. God calls Abraham out of Ur with a promise. Abraham left all of his prosperity, all of his security, and he goes on a faith journey following God, not knowing where he's going or how it's going to work out. A famine comes. Abraham goes down to Egypt. Lies about his wife. Gets the town under a curse. God delivers him. God delivers Abraham and Sarah and reminds them of the promises. Then Abraham separates from Lot. God repeats the promises again. God helps him in a battle. He rescues Lot. And then God blesses him through Melchizedek. Chapter 15, Abraham doubted and tried to adopt a son to fulfill God's promises to him. And there God reminded him of the promises again. God repeated the promises while performing that great ceremony where he cut the animals in half and said, I swear by myself unto death. Chapter 16, Sarah doubts. She sends her concubine and says, go lie with her. This is how you'll have the promised child. God responds to this by repeating the promises yet again and then giving the covenant sign of circumcision. God repeats the promises over and over again, over a span of 20 plus years, God repeats the promises over and over again in the midst of his failures, in the midst of his lapse of faith, God keeps his promises and carries Abraham through his trials of faith. In here, in chapter 22, we see that come to what James will say is completion. Let's look at verse 1. After these things, this is just saying, after a period of time, this is starting a new section of the story. God tested Abraham. Now, what does it mean for God to test someone? Because James 1 says God does not test His children. Well, there it's an interesting argument that James is putting forth, because what James is really saying is God does not tempt us to sin. God does not cause us to sin. What causes us to sin is our own sinful desires. That's what causes us to sin. It's what's inside of our hearts. God doesn't cause us to sin. This is very similar to Exodus 14, where Israel's in the desert and they're saying, God, did you bring us out here to tempt us, to test us so that we would sin? The answer is absolutely not. I brought you out into the desert to test you, to purify you. You see, God's tests do not lead us to sin. When God tests us, it leads to purification of our faith. When God tests us, it leads to a stronger, more courageous faith. The end of this test is Abraham's clear fear of the Lord. His clear faith in God, the provider. The next thing we see here, and this is where it heightens. He calls Abraham. Abraham responds as every prophet responds. Here am I, ready to serve. But I don't think he was ready for these words. Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." Here, God tests our faith, not our reason. God is testing Abraham's faith, not his reason. This seems like an unreasonable request to take this son, your only son. Ishmael is not in the picture. He only has one son. It's Isaac who's going to be the line of Abraham. It's Isaac who's going to be the fulfillment of all the nations and promises and kings. It's Isaac who's going to be the promised son through whom the Savior comes. Not Ishmael. Take your son, your only son. Whom you love. Very strong intentional language of the family. This is introducing the deep emotion of the passage. This is introducing the great care and love that Abraham has for Isaac. He's waited 20 plus years for this child. Now he's somewhere around 13 years of age. He loves him. All the promises have been for this child. And then, God says, sacrifice him. Should leave us asking the question, what? The promises all built up over 20 plus years, and now you're going to say sacrifice him? How can God ask this? How is this command possible? He's the miracle child. He's a child that was born of a woman who should never have had a child. How is this command possible? Because not only is he a miracle child, not only is he the only child through which his line will be blessed, I believe Abraham knows this is a child through whom the Savior of the world has to come. When Abraham is commanded to sacrifice his child, he's putting to death his own lineage, but he also is putting to death his hope of salvation. When Abraham, if Abraham were to kill Isaac, he's not just killing his son. He's killing his salvation. Because it's only through Isaac that God will send his son to reverse the curse. So there's great emotional tension here. The most extreme tension in his desires and his hopes. His son, whom he loves. He is called to sacrifice. There's also a great theological tension. Is God trustworthy? Is God going to provide for me? Is God going to care for me? God has promised Abraham this child, this only child whom he loves. Now he's told to sacrifice him. It's almost as if Abraham is being told he has to choose between either the promise or the command. There's a tension. Is he going to trust the promise or the command? Is he going to say, no, I need to cling to the promised child and not sacrifice him? Or am I going to trust and obey God and follow the command? Of course, it's not an either or. But when you're Abraham sitting there on the day that he's told to sacrifice Abraham and to sacrifice Isaac, Is the promise or the command, is it the gift or the giver that I'm going to place my faith in? The test is very special. It's counterintuitive, it's unnatural. Most of all, it appears to be opposed to the promise of God. Friends, this test should challenge our faith. This test should be a challenge to how we trust and obey God. There's no reason why. There's no explanation. There's just the command and the call to obey as one of God's children. Do we have this kind of faith? This is a hard command. Let's make sure we're taking it as personally as possible. Ida is about the same age as Cooper or Rebecca. Think about your child. Think about your child at that age and God telling you, you are to sacrifice that child. This is very gripping. Emotionally, the theological, how is the promise going to be fulfilled, God? Well, Abraham is able to obey because he knows that God is good because he's had a long journey with him. He knows that his promises are good. He knows his instructions are good. He knows his commands are good. Everything God does is good. So not only is the great weight of the tension, how is God going to keep the promise and fulfill the command? How is God going to care for my only son? There's the added weight. He doesn't know where he's going. It's like being told, if you live in Virginia, go to Kentucky and then I'll show you then where you'll sacrifice your child. He's put on a journey and he doesn't know how far it's going to be. He doesn't know how long it's going to take. He knows where the general land is, but he doesn't have the specifics. And yet he still obeys. And of course, Abraham's already obeyed once in this situation in chapter 12. God said, get up out of there and go. But now he's being told to get up and go and sacrifice your son. Third thing I want to see is that we are called to obey quickly. This is my instruction to my daughter Lillian regularly. When I hear Lisa tell her to do something and she's sitting there kind of smiling and goofing off and waiting. Obey quickly. Obey your mother quickly. Obey your father quickly. It's a good thing for your children to learn because it shows a healthy relationship of submission and respect. Obey quickly. Well, Abraham, he obeys quickly. Look at verse 3. This actually floors me further after verse 2. So, Abraham rose early in the morning. Not me. You ever have those mornings where you just feel like you're magnetically tied to the bed? You have something weighty to do that day and you don't want to roll out of bed because you feel heavier that day. You feel more tied into the bed. That had to be one of those mornings where you want to lay there and contemplate and think and rest more because it's so tiresome of what you're about to do. It's amazing. Abraham, he rose early. And then he rose and he makes all the preparations. He cuts the wood. He saddles the donkeys. He gets the wood ready. He gets the men ready. He gets the child ready. He doesn't let any time waste. He doesn't let idleness set in, so he starts to doubt. He obeys quickly. The next thing I want us to see is that our faith must trust the Word of God. It's a three-day journey. Think about how many times your mind changes as you're driving from wherever you are around the bridge to get here. Think about how often your brain changes and you think about different things. Three days Abraham had to think about this command. Three days he had to think about if this command was good and right. Three days for Satan to creep in all kinds of lies and doubts. This is illogical. It can't be right. Abraham had a rationale to run away from God. He had a reason to run. It's his son, his only son, whom he loves. Why should he have to sacrifice him? Three days. He remained steadfast. And I believe if you were to ask Abraham, what felt like the longest period? The 20 years of waiting for the Son to be born? Or the three days journeying to sacrifice Him? Those three days felt longer. You see, friends, I think Abraham's able to remain steadfast. Because he knows the Word of God. He trusts the Word of God. God called him, and as his child, he knows God's voice. He knew that this is what God had said to him. He knew God was good. He knew His voice. And he knew it was the only reliable, trustworthy source he has. He has no option other than to trust God and what He said. And then he arrives in verse 7. The tension heightens. His son says, my father. Can you imagine how that vocative, that request, that calling upon his name from his son, how it resounded with a loud ringing into his gut. He's put the wood on him. They're headed up. And the son is smart enough, he's old enough now, to say, alright, there's wood, there's fire, there's a knife. Where's the lamb? He says, my father, where is the lamb? Abraham has the strongest temptation here. I think the tension heightens to a whole new level. Now he has to talk to his son about what's happening. And one of the sweetest, greatest confessions in all of Scripture is right there in verse 8. God will provide. God will provide. This is a great statement of faith. This is a great proclamation of faith. Here, his son is asking, what's going to happen here, Dad? And he gives a confession. God will provide. Now, this declaration, God will provide it. It's tied to the same root as God will see. He is the overseer. God sees. Therefore, He knows everything that's going on. He sees our situation. He sees what's going to happen. He is overseeing it. This is really the root of what we call providence. This is God's providence here. He's relying on God's provident power. His providence. His sovereignty. He knows that God sees. He's not a distant observer who's just watching like a watchmaker. No, He's a personal God who is personally invested and personally caring for Abraham and for Isaac. He knows what is wrong. He knows how to provide. Abraham trusts in God's power to work these things out. He doesn't know how it's going to work out, but Abraham trusts because God has always been provident. God has always been able. He trusts that God will provide. Let's take a second here and weigh in on what's happening. Let's ask ourselves, has our journey of faith led us to make confessions like this? Have we been in a position where the only solution is God, the One who is able to provide? Are we have we have we endured trials long enough? Have we stayed steadfast long enough? Have we persevered long enough to where we can say God will provide? I don't know how it's going to end. I don't know the exact instructions, day to day steps. But I know God. And I know he's going to care for me. I know from his word and from how he's worked in my past, he will provide. Maybe an example will be helpful as to what this looks like. Maybe you look at a loved one and they're not a Christian. You have nothing but a zeal for them to come to faith, and it looks impossible because every effort you give, they seem to get harder and harder against the gospel. Well, friends, are you trusting God with that zeal? Here's the test. Do you have more zeal in what you're talking to them about? Do you have more zeal in your conversation or do you have more zeal in your prayer? Are you as zealous in your prayer for the non-Christian friends and family? Are you more zealous in your prayer for their salvation? Because it's God who saves. It's God who provides the spirit that converts the heart. Are you more zealous in what you say to them? Lord, let's be more zealous. Friends, let's be more zealous in what we talk to God about in converting others than what we say to them. Let's look at verse 9. When they came to that place of which 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, this is really the highest point of tension. This is a high point of climax. He's had the command. He's had the tension. He's had a three-day journey. His son is at the bottom of the hill. Now he gets to the top. He puts the wood in order, bounds his son, and he reaches out his hand and he tucks the knife, ready to slaughter his son. Here we see God teaching us that our faith is made perfect with our obedience. The place that he goes is Mount Moriah. This is the future place that the temple will be built. This is the future location of the temple where sacrifices will be made for the forgiveness of sins. Here, God has intentionally put Abraham and Isaac there to make this sacrifice. Abraham, he stacks the wood. He binds the boy to the wood. What's interesting here is Isaac's old enough to probably fight his father. Isaac is old enough to put up a fight against this very elderly man. But Isaac submits. And then you think of his eyes, as Abraham looks at him, the confusion and the horror in Isaac's eyes. He knows what's going on. And Abraham is still obedient. He raises his knife. His faith is tested. It's what James says in chapter two. Was not Abraham your father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. Abraham is demonstrating his faith. Abraham is demonstrating his faith in God. Whatever you say is right and good. I know you will have an answer. I know you will make a way. The author of Hebrews says that Abraham probably believed that Isaac would be raised from the dead. Here we may have actually see in chapter 11 of Hebrews, Abraham believed that God, if Abraham killed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead. God will provide. But God delivers the child another way. As he rares back the knife, God says, Abraham, Abraham. What relief this must have been. Yes, God, here I am. How? Well, what are my next instructions? And they're sweet. Do not touch the boy. Don't harm the boy. Now I see your faith in me. Now I see that you fear the Lord. What sweet relief. What sweet rejoicing Abraham must have had. What peace from God Abraham received with those words. Now, we have to ask ourselves, now I know you fear me. Now I know you fear the Lord. But first, we need to talk about what fear is. I believe fear there is the same concept that we have in the New Testament as faith. It's the same thing. Fear in God is having faith in God. Fear is seeing Him as a supreme ruler who's worthy to be trusted and worshipped. Did God learn anything with this event? Did God actually now see that He had faith? Or did God already know he had faith? I don't believe God learned anything technically here. I believe what this is pointing to is that God now sees the testimony of Abraham's faith. Abraham now had an opportunity to give testimony to his faith in God. And then we see God repeating his promises again, very important throughout the entire Genesis narrative, the repeating of these promises. Well, friends, let's talk about the application from this text. First, we must trust God to provide. In the midst of the test, Abraham says, God will provide. He waits on God to provide. He doesn't try to come up with his own solution. He doesn't try to figure out a loophole out. He has a long, painful wait. Again, I think this is probably felt longer than the 20 years waiting. James says this waiting, this trusting, it completes his faith. Have you ever experienced the relief and peace of God that comes when God says, I have provided? That same peace and relief that God gave to Abraham when He said, Abraham, Abraham, do not touch the boy. Have we remained under a trial? Have we remained under a burden long enough For God to show us His sweet and powerful deliverance. Friends, how do you run the race under this kind of pressure? How do we run the race in this kind of tension? In the midst of the testing, in the midst of temptation, we must turn every sense we have to God's Word. This is the foundation of our faith. God calls us to be obedient. And that obedience is hard. We are called to take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow Him. This is difficult. It's uncomfortable. Sometimes He doesn't tell us exactly what's going to happen. He rarely does. Or else it wouldn't be called walking by faith. It would be called walking by knowledge. He calls us to walk by faith, trusting in Him, not our own ability. If you want to rejoice like Abraham, or maybe you want to talk about another way, rejoice like Paul. Are you putting yourself in God's provision? Are you putting yourself under God's providence? Are you waiting and trusting God? His word is the most foundational truth we have. Are we going to trust our wisdom or the only true wise God? God's Word says, acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and He will direct your path. This is faith. This is trusting God. See, when we talk about faith as if it's a feeling, it doesn't accomplish this. If faith is a feeling, Abraham would have never obeyed God. He didn't feel like sacrificing his son. He didn't feel like killing the only son he has, the one he loves. Faith isn't a feeling. It's a commitment. It's a steadfast trust. It's an intentional desire to put your affections on God, to put your trust in God. If we want to have a faith like Abraham, where here we are supposed to in Genesis 22, You have to give this concept that faith is a feeling, just an emotion that serves us up. No, it's an intentional desire to put your affections, your mind, your trust only in God. You don't have faith only when you're in a convenient place. We don't have faith only when we feel like it. It's not just when it's convenient. We have faith in God all the time because we know that God is always good. Friends, persevere in trials, trusting God's Word. As we look to how to trust God's Word, let's look at the second part of the application. We see two beautiful pictures of the gospel. The Gospel is what drives us back to His Word. The Gospel is what drives us back to God. The Gospel is what drives us to realize God is absolutely sovereign. He's absolutely good. He's absolutely loving. There's two pictures of the Gospel in Genesis 22. As one great theologian said, the New Testament is contained in the Old, and the Old Testament is explained in the New. What we have here is the gospel is contained here. If we look in the New Testament, it explains what's really happening. Let's look at the language. Your only Son, whom you love. This echoes the great language of the triune God of the Father and the Son. We can look to John 1, where Jesus is described as the only begotten Son of God. We can look to His baptism in Matthew 3. This is my beloved Son, the Father declares. We can look to Matthew 17, at the mountain of transfiguration, when Jesus is put up there with other prophets, and He's separated with the Great Declaration. This is my Son. He's the firstborn in Colossians 1, the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn of all salvation. He's the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead. So the father, Abraham, is called to sacrifice and kill his son. What the difference is between Abraham and Isaac and the father and the son of the Godhead is that God stops Abraham from killing his son. God doesn't stop when he commits himself to killing his son. You see that the father son relationship, there's the only begotten son, Abraham's called to kill his only son and God stops him. But God kills God, the father kills his eternal son. When Martin Luther was doing his devotions with his family in Genesis 22, his wife, Catherine, said, no, no, this story can't be true. I don't believe it. And she reasons God wouldn't do this. Martin Luther responds, no, Katie, but he did. He did. How sweet it is that God did not keep himself from killing his own son for us. It's interesting here in Genesis 22, 16, God says, I now know that you fear me. because you have done this if you have not withheld your son." The Greek word there, which would be from the Septuagint, that Paul would have known for holding back is the same word that Paul uses in Romans 8.32 that we read earlier. Abraham did not hold back his son. And Romans 8.32 said, The Father did not hold back His Son. God stops Abraham from completing His task, but God Himself, the Father, He doesn't hold back His Son. He does not spare even His own Son. He put Him to death. You see, just as Abraham bound Isaac to the wood, so also did God the Father bind His Son to a cross. He does not stop. The Eternal Father kills His Eternal Son. And it's not just putting Him to death, friends. It's not just the fact that the Father killed His Son. The Father poured out every bit of wrath against sin on His Son. Here the Son of God, who came to be just like us. The Son of God who left His glory of heaven. Who left the glorious trappings in the eternal heavens. And took upon Himself a lowly nature. He took upon Himself humanity. He walked a perfectly righteous life. And God the Father said, you're going to die on the cross. And He submitted to Him. And on that cross, That One who is perfectly righteous, who is perfectly God, He received the punishment and the wrath that we all deserve for our sin. The Father who loves His eternal Son with an infinite love we can't understand. We can take all the love from all the parents, from all the children in this room, and it would not equal the great infinite love the eternal Father has for His eternal Son. We look at that and we say, why, God? Why did you put your Son to death? And the answer is in the Word. It's because He loves us. It's because He loved us that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. You see, our sin was going to destroy us. We had no hope. So, the Son said, I will be that hope. I will be that substitute. We had to have someone stand in our place for our sin. And that gets us to the second picture of the Gospel. Not only does this Genesis 22 show us the father giving his son to die for us. Most of all, most clearly, it shows that God has provided a substitute for his children. God provides a sacrifice for Abraham's children. Abraham's child, Isaac, he should have died. He was a sinner. It would have been just for God to tell Abraham Sacrifice your son. He was a sinner. He was worthy of death, just like everyone here is a sinner and worthy of death. We're supposed to get death. We're supposed to get judgment. But God showed grace. Instead of the boy dying, God provides a lamb. God provides a substitute for him. This clearly foreshadows the sacrificial worship of Israel that's going to take place on Mount Moriah. It clearly foreshadows Isaiah 53, where that Savior figure, that prefigurement of Christ, He's going to go to the slaughter like a lamb without a word. He's going to submit to death. He's going to be numbered among the transgressors. He's going to take upon our iniquity. If you don't hear it in Isaiah 53, hear it from John the Baptist. When Jesus Christ comes, behold, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist knew what was coming. He knew who the Savior was and he knew how he would save us. He would become the lamb that dies in our place. But let's read in full the passage that John read to call us to worship. Revelation 5, 6 through 14. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns, with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out in all the world. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, which is always a song of salvation, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God. From every tribe and language and people and nation, And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth. and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down to worship." This is the only response we have to this story. worshiping the Lamb who was slain. The only response we can have to this story is to put our faith and trust in the God who did not hold back His Son. The only possible response we can have to this message is to believe in Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain for sinners and worship Him. Let us now go to God and continue to worship him. Friends, if you do not know the Savior, Jesus Christ. Please don't leave here before hearing and talking to someone else about the lamb, lame, who was slain for our sins. Let's pray. Oh, great God, our Father who would not hold back His own Son, our Father who gave us salvation in His Son, our Father who loves us and has given us such a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. You have sworn. You have given promises and you have kept those promises. There is nothing more sure in this world than your word and your love and your power. There's nothing more sure in this world than your gospel. Let that be what guides and directs. Let that be what saves our souls. Let us praise you. Let us leave this place seeking to walk by faith, seeking to know that the God who has provided so abundantly in Jesus Christ, you have provided your spirit now and you will provide for our every need. Let us have a courageous faith. Let's have a courageous faith that you are able. Thank you, Father, for the great love you had for us, your children. We thank you, Jesus. We worship you, our Lamb who was slain. You know, I pray. Amen.