Written On His Hands

6 · The pastor uses a childhood memory of being forgotten at basketball practice to evoke the emotional experience of abandonment—the feeling at the heart of the first question

Now, I remember years ago, one of the traumatic experiences of my young, you know, elementary school age basketball at the YMCA life, one of my traumatic experiences was that through a miscommunication, No one picked me up from basketball practice. I waited by myself near the front desk of the YMCA and waited. And then the next sport of kids came in and then they left.

And then the next sport came in and they left. And the sun's going down and the receptionist begins to be nervous for me thinking, but little, little boy, do you know where your family is? And what I said was, "No." And they're like, "Weren't they supposed to pick you up?" "Yes." You know, she's asking me like I've got answers here. I don't know. And I said, "They must have forgotten me."

7 · The pastor applies the illustration by drawing the congregation into self-examination—do we secretly believe God has forgotten us in our suffering?

I wonder how many of us think that about the Lord in moments of trial, in moments of of difficulty, of depression, of darkness, of anxiety, I wonder how many of us in our heart of hearts really think, "The Lord has forgotten me."

8 · The pastor expounds Isaiah 49:14-16, establishing the historical context (exile, judgment, rubble) and identifying the core human accusation against God: You have forgotten me

Look at Isaiah 49:14.

"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me.'"

Can— this is the Lord's answer— can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually 'Before me.' Isaiah 49, it comes in a section of Isaiah specifically addressed to those in the exile and after the exile. So God's people, as a judgment for their sin, have been taken into exile in Babylon, and they are either reading these words and hearing these words, looking around at the city of Babylon, this foreign city that they are taken so far from their homeland, or they are reading this Standing in the rubble of Jerusalem and in their ruined nation, and they are asking the question that we so often ask, but we don't want to admit that we're asking, which is this: Has the Lord forsaken me?

Or even in this case, a statement, not even a question: My Lord has forgotten me.

9 · The pastor unpacks God's response by way of analogy—God's awareness of His people exceeds even a nursing mother's awareness of her infant

But listen to the Lord's answer. Answer. As much as we could say, he begins by saying, he uses analogy saying, look, if a woman with a nursing infant, a little tiny child, a little helpless, you know, imagine a 3-month, 4-month-old baby. If you know a mom with a baby that's 3 or 4 months old, they are constantly aware of them. They're, even when they're not crying, in my wife's case, she's hearing him cry and checking on him.

Like, is he crying? Right? There's a constant awareness. And the Lord says, even these may forget. A mom might fall asleep.

A mom might sleep through her baby's cry. Yet I will not forgive you. And the Lord makes this statement of how aware he is of his people when he says, behold, he says, look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

10 · The pastor clarifies the meaning of 'engraved on the palms of my hands'—this is not a memory aid because God might forget, but a permanent symbol of unchanging love and attention

Of my hands. Now, probably what he's referring to is a puncturing or a tattooing of a symbol.

Some ancient peoples in the ancient Near East would tattoo or puncture symbols onto their hands or wrists to mark themselves, to remember something. And the Lord is saying, similarly, I have a constant 'unerasable reminder of my people.' Now, the Lord is not saying this. He's not saying, 'Listen, you're engraved in the palms of my hands,' because he's worried he's gonna forget something. I don't know if you do this, but I write right here in this part of my hand. If I need to really remember something, I'll write it right here.

Now, the only problem with that is in COVID era, every time I wash my hands, I end up with like half a note. It's like H-O something, you know, and we're just like, "What is this?" You know, "Don't forget," and then it's washed away, right? So we put this on our hands because we are worried we will forget. Now, that's not what the Lord's doing. He's not worried he's going to forget.

11 · The pastor illustrates the point with a contemporary analogy—mothers tattooing children's names on their wrists as symbols of love, not memory aids—to clarify that God's engraving is a declaration of love, not necessity

I've seen some moms in particular— this is a cool tattoo. I'm sorry, I'm not endorsing tattoos, but I think it's a cool tattoo. Some moms will write the names of their kids on their wrist. Now, you think about that and you're like, the mom is not writing, she's not tattooing a child's name on her wrist because she's worried she's gonna forget the kid, right? It's not like she's gonna be at the grocery store and look down at her wrist and go, "Oh, you know, Carlos.

Oh my gosh, I forgot, you know, like, I gotta go back for that kid." No, she's writing it as a symbol of her love, affection, and care. Constant awareness of her child, right? Similarly, the Lord is telling his people that they are the recipients of his constant, unceasing attention.

12 · The pastor moves from exegesis to theological claim: God's attention to His people is not earned but given as grace

Now, this in itself is a grace gift because it says in the Old Testament repeatedly that the Lord has set his affection on his people. There's nothing in ourselves that would attract the attention of the Lord or would attract, you know, would— in other words, God's people are only God's people because he has decided to make them his people.

He, as a grace gift, has set his affection and attention on his people. And everything he does through the long history of the Old Testament, through the long history of the New Testament, through the long history since his ascension, is done with a constant awareness, an unceasing awareness of his people.

God's people might look at the rubble of Jerusalem around them and think, "This has happened because God has forgotten us." But read the history of the Old Testament and you see this: they are only back in their homeland because God has never forgotten them. They are only existing as a people because God has never forgotten them. They could have, should have been swept away by the currents of history, and yet the Lord in His sovereign care and His constant awareness has preserved them.

13 · The pastor applies the exposition directly to the congregation, inviting them to embrace the image of their name engraved on God's hand as a source of comfort in moments of doubt and darkness

Christian brother, sister, do you think today that God has forgotten you?

In the middle of the night, do you wonder if he is even aware of you?

Use this picture. This picture has been a gift to me in the last couple years in particular. Imagine your name, child of God, tattooed, as it were, on the hand of God himself.

He could not forget you if he tried.

14 · The pastor transitions to the second sub-question, distinguishing remembering from caring—God's awareness is established, but does His awareness include love?

Second question, does God care? Does he care? Now, one thing, it's one thing for God to remember us, but does he really care about us? Does he really love us?

15 · The pastor illustrates the importance of knowing you are loved in moments of suffering with a personal story of reassuring his child during a painful COVID test—the knowledge of love enables trust even when circumstances are painful

Now, listen, we recently have had to get all the kids COVID tested because we had COVID in our house and we've had numbers of COVID tests over the last 2 years and they are not fun.

Kid in particular that just flips out, right? Every family probably has one, the flip-out kid. And when the swab comes out, this kid's like, "Nope," right? He's just— no reasoning will help him.

The last time we did it, though, I kind of took— locked eyes with him and said, "Look, buddy, do you know I love you?" And he said, "Yeah." So I told him, "Trust Dad. Trust us. We love you." Did it help a little bit? Right? I was hoping it would be this dramatic moment where he was like, "All right, Father, I entrust myself into your care," right?

No, it wasn't like that.

But it's so important in moments of difficulty or doubt or distress to remember the answer to that question: Does God love us? Does he care about us?

16 · The pastor transitions to John 20, setting up the congregation to observe two specific things about the resurrected Jesus

I want you to flip over to John chapter 20 if you can. If you can't get there quickly, it's okay. We'll be there for a minute.

You can find it. John chapter 20. We're going to look at one encounter between Jesus and his disciples after his resurrection. And there are two things I want you to notice about Jesus after his resurrection, okay? I want you to be looking for these two things.

17 · The pastor reads John 20:24-29, the encounter between the resurrected Jesus and doubting Thomas, setting up the two observations about Jesus' resurrected body

John chapter 20. John 20:24 says this, "Now Thomas, one of the 12," this is, yeah, verse 24, "called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We've seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.' 8 days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.' And Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you've seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen.' And yet believed.

18 · The pastor makes the first observation about Jesus' resurrected body: He has power (walks through locked doors) but is still fully man, not a disembodied spirit

Now, just like us sometimes, Thomas is full of doubts. But despite his doubts, Jesus in his kindness appears to him. And what do we notice about the body of Jesus? Well, we first noticed that this is Jesus kind of without a diminishment to his power.

He immediately, the doors are locked, doesn't matter. He just appears. He walks straight through them, appears among his disciples. But notice the second. So, you know, we expect that, okay, now, Jesus has risen from the dead, now he's sort of full of power.

But one of the problems, I think, when we think about Jesus is sometimes we fall into a heresy, an ancient heresy, in which we sort of, Nestorianism, where we think that Jesus is just sort of a God inside a machine, right? A God inside of a robot. And so God is inside this human robot body, and he's not really human, he's just like inside the human, right? And he's just kinda controlling his body as he's walking around. And then once he rises from the dead, he's like, "Okay, done with that human body.

Now I'm like full spirit power Jesus," right? No. When Jesus became incarnate, he was fully God and fully man together, one of the most paradoxical, glorious divine mysteries. And that means this, that Jesus really was a man. And when he rose from the dead, he rose as still a man.

19 · The pastor draws out the implication of Jesus' full humanity: Jesus experienced the full range of human suffering—sickness, loss, grief—and therefore understands and cares about our suffering

And what that means is this: when we think that Jesus does not care or does not understand, he does. He felt what we feel. He dealt with the ravages of sickness, probably in his own body, with the people around him. Most scholars believe that Jesus, before he begins ministering— you wonder where Joseph, his adoptive father, is in the gospel. The Gospels' most likely explanation is that Joseph had died.

Just like all of us, Jesus grew up, loved his dad, and watched death take him. He wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. He felt everything we feel. If you wonder, does God care about you? Does he understand your situation?

Yes.

20 · The pastor makes the second observation: Jesus' resurrected body still bears the marks of crucifixion

But there's a second and even more powerful thing we notice here, which is this, that somehow In his divine wisdom, Jesus has been healed, in a sense, from his crucifixion. He's walking around, he's alive, but he bears the marks of his crucifixion. Do you notice that? He bears the marks of his crucifixion.

In Revelation 5, we see in imagery Jesus appear in Revelation. He appears in different places of Revelation as a kind of a rider on the white horse ready to make war against the evil nations. But we see in Revelation 5 that Jesus appears as a lamb looking as if it had been slain. What does that mean? Listen, I don't totally understand this, but what I do understand, what Scripture seems to say, is this: Jesus in his resurrected body for all eternity will bear the scars of the cross.

21 · The pastor explains the theological significance of the scars: they are permanent proof of God's love

Why does that matter?

Because the cross answers forever the question, "Does God care about His people? Does God really love me?" And the marks of crucifixion on the hands of Jesus say for all eternity, "Yes." Yes, those scars are on his body because of us. Sin brings death. The reason the world is full of darkness and evil and hurt and suffering is because of sin. We as humanity, we have wrecked this world.

We have done it. Sin brings death. We see this over and over and over again. We experience the effects of sin and its a terrible cost. But one day what was facing us is that we would experience the justice of God against our sin fully.

That means separation from God. That means justice. That means wrath all pointed at the unjust, and we are included, God's people included among the unjust. So what does Jesus do? Jesus goes to the cross.

The marks on his hands speak to the trade he made. His life for ours, our life for his death, his death for our new life.

22 · The pastor quotes 2 Corinthians 5:21 (though he says Romans 3), restates the gospel, and then brings Isaiah 49 and John 20 together: the name engraved on God's hands and the scars of the cross may be the same thing—our names written in His scars

Romans 3 says, "He— God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him." Jesus didn't deserve those scars.

He bears those scars because he loves his people, because he traded his life for his people. So look, church, if you can in your mind's eye today, look at Jesus holding out his hands to you. Your name written on his hands, the scars of his love written on his hands. Some believe that Isaiah 49 and, and the crucifixion and this passage actually overlap in a sense in this way, that the scars of the cross are the same as the marks on his hands, that the name of God's people is written in and scars.

23 · The pastor illustrates the permanence of love-proven-by-scars with the story of a boy who was mauled by a dog protecting his sister

Look, I don't know if you've seen this the last few years, but there was this little boy a few years ago that had a little sister and there was an attacking dog. You probably may have seen this dramatic picture of this little boy holding his sister, kind of with giant stitches down his face, with his face swelled up.

And the news carried this story of how this dog had come to attack his little sister and the little boy. Brave little dude, got in front of it and was torn up by this dog. And by God's grace, survived, and surgeons were able to help kind of fix his face as best they could. And I saw a follow-up to the story that was like the little boy and the little girl, you know, I don't know, it was a couple years later, a year later or something. And the little boy, you could tell he's obviously still scarred.

And so the reporter was asking, "Hey, do the scars bother you?" And he said, "No.

I would do it again because I love my sister." And here's what I thought. I thought every Thanksgiving for the rest of their lives, every time that little sister sees her brother and sees the scar, running down his face, she will never need to ask, "Does my brother love me?"

24 · The pastor applies the illustration: just as the boy's scars are permanent proof of love, Jesus' scars are permanent proof of His love for His people

Christian, look to Christ, look to Jesus, look to his scars, and when you see his scars, you never need ask, "Does he care?"

25 · The pastor transitions to the third question, acknowledging that knowing God remembers us and cares about us is good but insufficient if He cannot fix what is broken

Question number 3 then: Can Jesus fix this? Revelation 19, go to Revelation 19 if you would, our third passage, third answer to the question. We see the hurt and pain and loss of the world and it is a comfort to know that God is mindful of us. It is a glorious comfort to know that He cares about us, that He traded His life for ours.

But there is a remaining question. Question that we will have.

Over the last 2 years, I asked those first 2 questions many times and realized there was a third unspoken question hanging out that I often did not want to think about. And that is, the third question is, can Jesus fix all of this?

26 · The pastor diagnoses a failure of much contemporary evangelical teaching: emphasizing Jesus' love and kindness without addressing His power and justice

Because it's a comfort to know that he cares about us. It's a comfort to know that he's always mindful of us. But when we look out at the pain and destruction and hurt of the world around us, We wonder, can this be fixed?

Can the broken places of my life be fixed? Can the wounds of this life be fixed finally and fully? And this is where so many people, I think, give up on Jesus. This is one of the disservices that the evangelical church, that the Christian church has done in the last couple of decades is some churches have emphasized over and over again that Jesus is nice, that he is compassionate, that he loves us, and we're like, yes and amen to that. But has not— they have not answered the question, what about justice?

What about the wounds of life? What about the hurts of life? What do we do with these things? And it's not enough. You can, for a few moments, kind of come and sing a worship song and be like, okay, God loves me, that's good.

He traded his life for me. But the question still hanging over us is, can he fix it? Look, if Jesus is just a nice guy that cares a lot about you and that loves you but can't do anything to fix eternally and fully what's wrong in this life and for eternity, then it's insufficient. Then he's just a nice guy that feels bad for you.

27 · The pastor explains why people trade faith in Jesus for something else: they conclude Jesus cannot fix what is broken, so they will fix it themselves—through self-discovery, power, pleasure, or technology

And this is where I think many people trade away their faith in Jesus. They look at Jesus and think, Jesus is not fixing it, so I'm gonna fix it. I'm gonna trade my faith in Jesus for self-discovery or self-expression. I'm gonna trade faith in Jesus for something more tangible like power or lust or romance or comfort. Meaning whatever little bit of happiness or pleasure or comfort or safety I can grab now, I'm going to grab it now because I can't trust that Jesus will fix it, right?

And over and over and over through history, people have tried to fix what ails the world. Emperors have tried, nations have tried, scientists have tried, inspirational figures have tried. Now billionaires are trying. I don't know if you saw the story about Jeff Bezos trying to discover the secret of eternal life so we can live forever.

Everyone's asking the question. Can anyone fix it? Can anyone reverse the curse? Can anyone stop death? Can anyone make us whole again?

28 · The pastor reads Revelation 19:11-16, the vision of the rider on the white horse—Jesus as conquering King bringing judgment and justice, called Faithful and True, the Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Revelation 19 gives us the answer. Behold, church. Verse 11: Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges. And makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, meaning many crowns. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to to strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron.

He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

29 · The pastor answers the question: Yes, Jesus can fix what is broken—He is the rider on the white horse, fully man (He knows our weakness) and fully God (He has the power to set everything right)

Can anyone fix what's wrong with the world? Does anyone have the power to make things right? Can anyone bring justice where there is injustice?

Yes, Revelation 19 says, and his name is Jesus. We rejoice, church, that he is fully man, that he knows every frame of our weakness. He probably knows what it's like to get a cold. He probably knows what it's like for a pandemic to sweep through. We rejoice.

In his sympathy, that he knows he's like us, as Hebrews says, in every respect, yet without sin. But we must not forget he is not just fully man but fully God, that he comes one day to set everything right.

30 · The pastor traces the biblical-theological arc from Isaiah to Revelation: God has a plan, and the plan is good

And Isaiah to Revelation unveils that God has a plan, and God is working all things toward the fulfillment of his plan, and that his plan is good. And the New Testament outlines this. The plan is this: the gospel of God is being proclaimed to every corner of the earth.

The resurrected King, through the proclamation of the gospel, is giving life to nations and tribes and peoples and continents. And the people of God are being gathered, according to Revelation, from every tribe and nation and people. And right now, until Jesus' return, the Spirit of God is here sustaining believers, building up the church. And one day the fulfillment of the plan of God will be seen by all. And the fulfillment of the plan is this: that God's people be fully reunited with him, fully healed, and fully whole.

This is what the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19 He comes to do.

31 · The pastor illustrates the difference between human planning and divine sovereignty with the sci-fi series Foundation, in which a mathematician tries to navigate humanity through chaotic forces to a good outcome

Now, I love this science fiction series called Foundation. It's a super nerdy science fiction series, and you might think, "Oh, I like science fiction." No, you like Star Wars. This is just people sitting in rooms talking about, like, the universe, right? And the hero of this science fiction series Foundation is this mathematician, Hari Seldon, and his superpower 'cause everybody has to have a superpower. His superpower is essentially he's a brilliant mathematician and he can see what's gonna happen in the future.

And so Foundation is basically his attempt to see all these forces going on in the universe and in the galaxy and kind of threading the needle and navigating humanity through all of this darkness and conflict to come out the other side whole without succumbing to destruction. And so the suspense in the series of Foundation novels is can he do it? And he dies, spoiler alert, in the beginning of the first book. But his plan kind of continues. And so you're like, man, can this guy do it?

And so every book is like, okay, can he dodge this current? Can he dodge that current? And it's almost like he's on this ship and he's trying to pilot through big waves and storms and around this coral reef and around there. And can he make it home? Can he get them to where they need to go?

And you're like, I don't know, I don't know.

32 · The pastor contrasts Hari Seldon's precarious navigation with Jesus' sovereign control: Jesus is not dodging currents—He is the Lord of the waves

Jesus is not like that in one important respect. Jesus is not dodging currents of history and time and culture. Jesus is the Lord of the waves. What you see from the perspective of Revelation 19 is that Jesus is bringing history to its conclusion. Jesus is working his plan.

In Revelation 19, you see this contrast over and over again, that down from the perspective of earth, everything seems chaotic and crazy, but you rise above a level and heaven is utterly serene. Jesus is not sweating. He is bringing all things to conclusion to the day when he will be reunited with his bride and with his people, and every tear will be wiped away, and every hurt will be healed, and every person among his people people be made fully whole. This is what Jesus comes to do. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

He is not just a nice guy who feels bad for you and wants to sing you a love song. He is the rider on the white horse bringing history to its culmination.

33 · The pastor synthesizes the sermon's three answers into a threefold summary: your name is written on His hand (He has not forgotten you), the scars of His love are on His hands (He cares about you), and He is King of Kings (He will fix what is broken)

So, church, when you in watches of the night feel grief sneak up on you and wonder, "Can He fix this?" Remember 3 things: your name is written on His hand, the scars of His love are on His hands, and on His thigh is tattooed King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and He will surely do it. Amen?

34 · The pastor transitions to application, addressing those whose trust in Jesus is fraying, and makes the argument that everyone trusts something—the question is what

Well, this is— I want to bring just a couple points of application before we close. Let's answer that question, "Do you trust Jesus?" Do you trust Jesus? And I want to talk to those who, let's just be honest today, may be feeling a fraying trust in Jesus.

Here's the reality. If you feel your grip on Jesus slipping, if you begin to trust him less and less and begin to trust something else, the reality is you have to trust something in life. You're gonna trust yourself, you're gonna trust the culture, you're gonna trust somebody in a relationship, you're gonna trust power, right? And here's the reality, all the things that American culture tells you to pursue and says these things will make you happy, I don't know if you've looked at the top of the pile, the top of the pyramid where people are supposed to be happy and they're not and they keep killing themselves.

You have to trust something.

35 · The pastor invites the congregation to trust Jesus rather than themselves, arguing that self-trust is insufficient and that Jesus—who knows us, made us, and died for us—is the only one worthy of trust

And I want to invite you today, brother or sister, to trust Jesus.

Look, maybe you think, okay, well, if Jesus is not as trustworthy as me, I'm going to trust myself. I'm going to dig way down deep on a journey of self-discovery. I'm going to find out who I'm going to be and I'm going to express that and then I'll be happy and safe. No, you won't.

Instead, trust somebody who knows you, who made you, who died for you. He's the only one that's worthy of your trust. Listen, man, every year that goes by, I trust myself less than I did the year before. Right? I'm like, yeah, at 25, I was like, yeah, I got life figured out.

And you're like, no. When I got married, I was like, this seems pretty straightforward. No. Right? Had my first child, shouldn't be that hard.

No.

If your trust in Jesus is fraying, look at him again. Maybe it's possible that you haven't really seen the real Jesus.

36 · The pastor corrects distorted views of Jesus—either an angry taskmaster or a powerless nice guy—and calls the congregation to look to the biblical Jesus who is both strong and kind, lion and lamb, God and man

Look, if the Jesus in your mind you're struggling to trust does not line up with the 3 passages we just read, I don't know who is in your mind, but it's not Jesus. Some of you might have in your mind a Jesus that is strong and powerful and tells you to do lots of things. And is always kind of low-level angry at you?

Especially, let me just be frank, especially if you're coming from a Roman Catholic Church background, that can often be what you think about Jesus. Jesus is always mad. You go confess. Maybe he won't be as mad at you next week. Or, on the other hand, you may have grown up in a— if I could say this— a softer Christian church where everyone just talks about the love of God all the time, and you're just, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here's the thing. One or the other of those will ultimately be unsatisfying. Because on this side, you're never going to know the love of God. You're just going to hear God telling you to do more and try harder all the time and has no love for you. Or on the other side, he's going to be a really nice Jesus, doesn't have any power to do anything about the things that are wrong in life.

What the Bible lays out is a Jesus strong and kind, a Jesus who is a lion and a lamb, a Jesus God and man. Look to him, look to Jesus.

37 · The pastor summarizes the corrective with a memorable contrast: Jesus is neither an angry schoolteacher nor Bono in a bathrobe—He is the resurrected Christ with the scars of His love

We are not talking about an angry schoolteacher ready to smack you with a ruler, nor are we talking about Bono in a bathrobe. We are talking about the resurrected Christ with the scars of his love for you.

38 · The pastor addresses those who grew up in church, warning that knowing about Jesus and doing Christian things is not the same as knowing Jesus personally

And let me just speak a word, too, to if you've grown up in church— man, I grew up in church, I love church, I was saved in that classroom over there, super grateful for kids' ministry. Here's one of the things I've noticed about guys and girls that have been part of this exevangelical movement, people who said, look, I am not a Christian anymore. If you dig in to them, I was noticing in a conversation online that there was, they were listing, here's all the things I did.

I used to be a Christian and I went on mission trips and I went to church every Sunday and I read the Bible sometimes and I did this and I did that and I did this. And then one person commented, But did you ever feel like you really loved Jesus?

And the person was like, well, no. Meaning that they knew a lot about Jesus and they did a lot of stuff with Jesus or for Jesus, but they never in their heart of hearts felt like they had a personal relationship with Jesus. And that is a danger. That is a danger of growing up in the church. You can know a heck of a lot about Jesus and not know Jesus.

Maybe today God's calling you to know Jesus, to come to Jesus.

39 · The pastor steps out of the expositional flow to directly shepherd those who are weary and fighting to hold on, disclosing his prayers for them and offering pastoral comfort: you are held by Jesus, your name is written on His hands, His love is in His scars, and He is bringing all things to good

And third application category is just this: maybe you're fighting to hold on to Jesus. Look, I've been really praying that this message for those who just are feeling weary, feeling anxious, feeling beaten up by the last couple of years, by everything that's gone on pandemically and culturally and politically and whateverly, I've been praying that this would breathe life into your heart. I've been praying that right now you would experience and feel held by Jesus, that you, as God meets you through his Word, would know that your name is written on his hands and that his love is written in his scars and that his power is written all over him and that he's bringing all things to a good place. All things working together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes, as Romans 8:28 says.

40 · The pastor diagnoses how pandemic life has turned people inward, fostering distrust of all authority figures, which bleeds into distrust of God

And here's what I think can happen. Pandemic life— pandemic life has in the last couple of years turned many of us inward. Because, you know, we had those however many weeks where we weren't allowed to go out or weren't supposed to go out. I know some of you guys did, but I didn't report you. But just pandemic life begins to turn us inward.

What do I think? What do I feel? What do I want to do? What do I feel? And in some ways, the more inward we turn, the more that we begin to say, you know what, I'm not gonna trust this person or that person, I'm not gonna, and here's the thing, we've had radical distrust about figures of authority, right?

We're like, I don't know if I can trust that guy, he changed, you know, what he said to do from last week to this week. I don't know if I can trust this government official, I don't know if I can trust this person, I'm not gonna trust this church person, I'm not gonna trust this. And so you begin to distrust all authority, and here's the thing, all of that can bleed over into our relationship with God. All that can begin to help us. You know what?

I need to take care of myself. I'm not going to trust any— I don't even know if I can trust God. I don't know if I can trust church figures. I don't know if I can trust church authority. I got to take care of myself.

And we begin to little by little by little begin to say, I can only trust myself.

And that's a path to falling away from your commitment to Jesus. Because one day you'll wake up and realize you don't trust God at all.

This is an invitation. This passage, these passages are an invitation to trust someone better than ourselves who loves us, who will never change his plan or his advice, right? You're like, "What's the advice of this week? Oh, now it's 5, now it's 10, now it's 0 days. I don't know." Jesus has never changed anything he has decreed from the beginning of this book to the end.

41 · The pastor offers the first of three concrete practices for encountering Jesus: spend time in His Word

And so here's what I wanna encourage you as we close with. I wanna encourage you that you can encounter Jesus this year. In 2022, make it a priority in your life to encounter Jesus because the way you grow your trust in Jesus is by spending time with Jesus, right? 3 quick places to grow your trust in Jesus by spending time with Jesus. First, in his word, right?

John 20, the passage we just read about doubting Thomas and talking about, "Only believe, don't disbelieve." And Jesus says, "Blessed are those who believe and have not seen." And the very next section is that the Gospel of John is written so that you may believe. Meaning, if you wanna trust the Lord, if your trust is fraying, spend time with Jesus. It's written so that you may believe. And there's something else about this book. Ephesians 6 says that this book is breathed out by God.

By God himself. You may not be able to trust anything else in life, right? You're like, "I don't know if I trust the government." Okay. "I don't know if I trust this health official." Okay. "I don't know if I trust my boss." Okay.

Trust this. This has the breath of God in it. You want to encounter Jesus? Spend time here.

42 · The pastor offers the second practice: spend time in God's presence through meditation and prayer

Second, spend time in his presence, meaning just times of meditation and prayer.

If we have a constant buzz in our lives, we should not wonder then why it's hard to hear the voice of God when we never have a silent moment. I remember in the pandemic, as I got more and more anxious, I needed more and more stuff to fill the time and create noise. Like I'm doing the dishes and I'm like, nope, I don't want to think about anything. I'm just going to put a show on. I've already seen the show.

It's okay. I'm going to watch it again. Right? I'm in the shower. I'm listening to a podcast.

Right? I'm driving. I'm listening to the radio. Right? I don't want any silence.

Church, in that kind of environment, it's really hard to take time to spend in prayer and to be in the presence of God. Let me just encourage you, as we rebuild priorities in life, if you are too busy to spend time with God, you are too busy.

43 · The pastor offers the third practice: spend time with Jesus among His people, the church

And third thing, spend time with Jesus in his Word, in his presence, and then with his people, in his people. Jesus says he will be uniquely present in and among his people. That's what Jesus says. Where two or three are gathered in my name, he is there. That Jesus dwells among his people.

He is the chief cornerstone in the church, right? He is the head of the body, which is the church, right? All of these metaphors— Jesus is not like over here and the church is over here. This is why I think it's insane when People who are leaving the evangelical church say things like, "You know what? I gotta find Jesus, so I'm leaving the church." That's like saying, "I'm gonna go find my friend Frank, but I'm not gonna look in his house." "Where are you, Frank?" "I'm in my house." "Not gonna look there." Can't look there.

It's like saying, "Jesus, I really wanna know you. I really wanna encounter you. I really wanna know the real you." Jesus says, "I'm with my body." I'm with my temple. I'm with my people in and among them. Does no good to leave that and look somewhere else.

44 · The pastor qualifies his argument, acknowledging that some have been hurt by the church, but argues that giving up on the church because of one bad experience is like refusing medical care because of one bad doctor—the body of Christ is where healing is found

And look, I know that some folks have had bad experiences in the church. I'm not meaning to diminish people who have been hurt or had very difficult experiences with local church, right? With a local church. But there are many faithful local churches. There are some that I would not recommend, but there are many faithful, local churches.

It's almost like saying, listen, you know, you have a bad experience. A doctor prescribes a medication at the hospital and you take the medication, it causes an allergic reaction. And then, you know, the next year you get appendicitis and your intestines are about to explode. And you're like, I'm not going to the hospital. They gave me a medication and I had a terrible reaction to that.

And you're like, you're going to die of appendicitis. And you're like, I don't trust doctors. Right?

Because you have one bad church or one bad pastor, one bad leader, doesn't mean the body of Christ is worth giving up on.

There is healing there.

45 · The pastor transitions to the closing song, inviting the congregation to make the song their prayer and encouraging physical expressions of surrender—raising hands, bowing, holding hands out—as appropriate for those who are wrestling with trust

So here's what I want to do. Would you stand? We're going to end in prayer and singing. And as we sing this song, I just want to encourage you, if this is connected with you, if you have been in that fight of answering that question, can I really trust God?

God, if you've been in that fight, I want to encourage you to make this song your prayer and ask that God would meet you in this moment, and he will. And I even want to further encourage you. One of the things that God's word does is it gives us a variety of expressions in the Psalms so we could express our hearts physically. And sometimes it's helpful if you're in that moment to have an expression, a physical expression of that surrender to God. And so maybe you're the person that's like, man, I— listen, man, this is how I worship right here.

This is where I feel comfortable. Maybe here, here, here, somewhere in there.

As an expression of surrender, it may be helpful to raise your hands and just surrender and say, Lord, help me to trust you. Help me to encounter you. Help me with these doubts I have. Help me with the hurts I have or the grief I have. You may even want to bow down.

You may want to hold your hands out. It doesn't have to be expressed physically, but I think sometimes it can be helpful to express our surrender to the Lord and our need for him physically.

46 · The pastor closes in prayer, thanking God for His Word, asking that the congregation be honest about their doubts, and praying that they would see Jesus clearly—name written on His hands, scars speaking of His love, body speaking of His authority—and find hope and healing in Him

So let's pray. Father, we are grateful for your word. We are grateful that this book is God-breathed.

We are grateful that when we open your word, you breathe on us. Your Spirit is active in and among us. God, you do work. You go to work on our hearts through the opening of your word. And Lord, I pray that as we think about this question, can we really trust you, I pray we'd be honest about where we are.

Maybe over the last 2 years, maybe the loss of a loved one, maybe a battle with depression, maybe being hurt by a friend, maybe something else has put us in that place of wondering, can we really trust we trust you. I pray that looking at you and seeing that our name is written on your hands, if we are your people, seeing that your scars speak of your love for us, seeing that your, your very body speaks of your authority and power to bring to a good culmination all things. Lord, I pray that we would see that, and in the hands of Christ our King, we would find hope and healing even today. In Jesus' name, amen.