Passage: 2 Chronicles 16:9; Luke 1:30-38; 1 Samuel 17; Romans 6:5-11

The Big Idea

God’s eyes search the whole earth for hearts fully trusting Him, so He can show Himself strong on their behalf. That kind of heart says, “You said it. You do it.” Mary had it when the angel promised the impossible: “Let it be to me according to your word.” David had it when he faced Goliath: “The battle is the LORD’s.” And the result of that simple faith is always new life. Easter is the ultimate “You said it, You did it”: Jesus died and rose, and everyone united with Him by faith shares His resurrection life.

God Is Looking (2 Chronicles 16:9)

The LORD’s eyes roam throughout the whole earth, looking for those whose hearts are fully His, so He can show Himself strong on their behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9).

All through history, God has been on a mission, looking for people He can rescue, deliver, and fill with life.
People who are lost. People who are weak. People who are dead.
Any man, woman, boy or girl who will simply let God be God can be the one His eyes rest on.
Just let God be God. Let God be the Hero. Let God be the Savior.

“Those whose heart is loyal to Him.” What does that mean?

A heart that says, “You said it. You do it.” Or, “I trust You.”

We call that heart that trusts God alone faith: You said it; You do it.

And the result of faith is always new life.

Mary: “Let It Be” (Luke 1:30-38)

Let’s look at a young girl, perhaps only a teenager, who shows us what that simple faith looks like.

The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

When did Mary find favor with God? Remember, the eyes of the LORD had been searching, looking for someone who would simply trust Him.

The angel told her she would conceive and give birth to a son and name Him Jesus. He would be great, called the Son of the Most High. God would give Him the throne of His ancestor David, and He would reign over Jacob’s descendants forever. His kingdom would never end.

Wow. A huge promise. Crazy, amazing news.
She was going to play a part in the story of how God saves the world!

Mary asked the angel, “How will this be, since I’m a virgin?”

She had only one simple question: How?
And the angel’s answer is the same answer that’s always given when we ask how God’s promises will come to pass: by the Holy Spirit.

The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. That’s why the holy child would be called the Son of God.

The answer, Mary, is very simple: God will do it.
It’s His promise and His power. He Himself will do everything needed to make it happen.
God Himself would bring new life into the world through her.

The angel added that her relative Elizabeth, whom everyone called barren, was already six months pregnant in her old age, because nothing is impossible with God. And Mary answered, “I’m the Lord’s servant. Let it happen to me just as you’ve said.”

The angel encouraged Mary with another “impossible” thing God had already done: elderly Elizabeth was pregnant!
The lesson: nothing is impossible for God.
And what exploded from Mary’s heart? You said it. You do it.

This young woman had learned to live as if God were able to do everything, and would do it. Able and faithful.

God had been searching for someone with a simple, sincere “You said it; You do it.” Mary wasn’t shocked, because her heart expected God to come through.

Why is it that I so often expect God to fail? Most days I don’t even have enough faith to ask “How?” like she did.

So many days my spiritual life looks dead, because my simple faith is dead.

So often I get stuck on how God will do what He promised. The answer is always: God. If I would simply bow myself out and bow Him in, I’d walk in the new life of simple faith.

David: “The Battle Is the LORD’s” (1 Samuel 16-17)

Now let’s look at a young boy, around the same age, who shows us simple faith too.

David’s life is recorded so we can learn to humble ourselves and simply trust God.

One of the first things we learn about David is that as a young shepherd he killed a lion, and then a bear, defending his father’s sheep.

God’s eyes were searching. And when God looked at David, He saw a king. Not because David was strong and tall, but because when he saw a lion and a bear, he looked up to God, and then looked back at the lion and the bear, and they just weren’t that big anymore. God saw that in David’s heart even as a boy.

When Samuel came to anoint a king from Jesse’s sons, the LORD told him not to look at outward appearance or height, because God doesn’t see as people see. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

See? The LORD was looking! He’s still looking at hearts. Where will He find simple faith like Mary’s and David’s?

Then came Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, over nine feet tall (1 Samuel 17:4). A huge, hulking enemy. No way to defeat him. No way to make him go away.

Goliath said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today! Give me a man, and let us fight!” When Saul and all Israel heard this, they were dismayed and terrified (1 Samuel 17:10-11).

Saul and Israel were supposed to be looking at God. Instead they were looking at Goliath.
They should have been enjoying life. Instead they were afraid of death, which made them as good as dead, all because they didn’t have simple faith in God.

But David said to the men around him, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26).

Guys! He’s not that big! David was looking at God, and after looking at the living God, Goliath just wasn’t that big.
The others hadn’t learned the lesson of the lion and the bear.

David told Saul not to let anyone lose heart; he would go fight the Philistine himself. Saul said he couldn’t: he was just a youth, and Goliath had been a warrior since his youth. But David explained that he had been keeping his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear carried off a lamb, he went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb. He had killed both lions and bears, and this Philistine would end up just like them, because he had defied the armies of the living God (1 Samuel 17:32-36).

David was full of faith: God said it. God will do it. You said it; You do it. David wasn’t afraid of dying. He was alive, living an exciting, abundant life by faith.

Then David told Goliath that he came with sword, spear and javelin, but David came in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom Goliath had defied. That very day the LORD would hand Goliath over to him, so the whole earth would know there is a God in Israel, and everyone gathered there would know the LORD doesn’t save by sword or spear. The battle belongs to the LORD (1 Samuel 17:45-47).

David shows us what it means to trust not in self, but in God alone.
His trust brought new life to his people, and defeat to God’s enemies.

“That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

You thought you were dead. But no! You can be alive, because God is alive, and God is here with us.

There’s a God alive! A God alive in Israel. A God alive in me. A God alive in every follower of Jesus.

Simple faith is still the path to new life: resurrection life.

United with Him in Resurrection (Romans 6:5-11)

Paul says that if we’ve been united with Christ in a death like His, we’ll certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

Jesus died on the cross, but He wasn’t alone. God united our sinful lives with Him there. Our sin was judged in Jesus on the cross.
But Jesus didn’t stay dead! He rose on the third day. And everyone who died with Him by faith gets to share His new life too!

Paul continues: we know our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so we’d no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died has been set free from sin. If we died with Christ, we believe we’ll also live with Him. We know Christ, raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Living for God isn’t something we can do on our own. Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Living for God is nothing less than an entirely new life poured into our hearts by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who does God pour this new life into?

Simple faith. Believing. The heart that says, “You said it. You do it. I trust You. Do what You said, for me!”

How does God pour this new life into us?

The Holy Spirit.

Why does God pour this new life into us?

So the world will see that there is a God alive! In Israel, in our nation, in our town, in this broken body. God is alive, and God loves you.

Grace Takeaway

God is still searching the earth for hearts that simply trust Him. Mary didn’t need to figure out how; she said, “Let it be.” David didn’t need to measure Goliath; he said, “The battle is the LORD’s.” On Easter morning, God proved once and for all that what He says, He does: Jesus rose, and everyone united with Him by faith rises to new life. Stop trying to work out the how. Bow yourself out, bow Him in, and say, “You said it. You do it.”

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Easter: You Said It, You Do It