As he continueth ever hath an
unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing we have lived,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such
an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens. Who
needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice
first for his own sins and then for the people's? For this he
did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmity, but the word of the oath, which was since
the law or before the law, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Now the things which we have
spoken, this is the song. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. Let's pray together. Our glorious Heavenly Father,
what great hope we have in knowing that we can come into thy presence,
having our Savior, our sin bearer, your sacrifice, our substitute,
seated at thy right hand, making intercession for us. Father,
we pray that you would increase our faith, we pray that you would
forgive us of our sin. We pray that you would enable
us in this hour to worship you in spirit and in truth and to
find our rest and our hope and all our salvation and all the
forgiveness of our sin, all our purpose and joy and glory in
the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Let's all stand together again.
Number 126 in the hardback teminal, Rock of Ages. Let's all stand. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. ? Could my tears forever flow
? ? Could my zeal no longer know ? ? These for sin could not atone
? ? Thou must save and Thou alone ? ? In my hand no price I bring
? ? Simply to Thy cross I cling ? ? While I draw this fleeting
breath ? ? When my eyes shall close in death ? ? When I rise
to worlds unknown ? ? And behold thee on thy throne ? ? Rock of
ages, cleft for me ? ? Let me hide myself in thee ? Please
be seated. Augustus, top lady, learned by
experience the reality of that hymn very early in life. I think
he was 27 when the Lord took him home. The man that wrote
that hymn we just sang. We're going to be in Genesis
chapter 22 this morning, or this evening, I'm sorry. Genesis chapter
22. several Wednesday nights, we
looked at the names that the Lord has given of Himself. In
His Word, there are seven or eight, depending on how you understand
these references to Jehovah. We saw in 1 Samuel chapter 3
Jehovah Sabbah, the Lord of hosts, and rejoiced in knowing that
our God is Lord over the armies of heaven and over all the inhabitants
of the earth, that he is absolutely sovereign. We also looked at,
in Judges chapter 6, where Gideon calls him Jehovah Shalom, the
Lord of peace and how comforted we are to know that we have peace
with God. We have peace with God. We often
have conflict in this world. We have conflict in our own flesh.
We have conflict between men. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious, glorious name
he has revealed himself through. And then you remember in Exodus
chapter 17, when Moses was fighting the Amalekites and Aaron and
Ur were holding up his arms and Joshua was down in the valley
defeating the enemy. And Moses called the place Jehovah
Nisi. The Lord is my banner. He's the
one that got the victory over sin. He's the one that leads.
He's our commander. He leads his army and he got
the victory. over death and hell and sin. And the Lord reveals himself
by these names. In our text, in Genesis chapter
22, very, very familiar passage to, I think all of us here, where
Abraham is tried or proven by God to offer up his son Isaac
as a sacrifice. And the Lord provides a substitute
on Mount Moriah. And that substitute is Christ. And Abraham calls that place
Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord shall provide. You see
that in verse 14, and Abraham called the name of that place
Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. What did the Lord provide? Well, let's look at the text
together. Genesis chapter 22, look how the Lord begins with
this very familiar phrase, and it came to pass. Everything that comes to pass
in time, was ordained by our God in eternity. And so we can
say that of every event, of every day, of every situation, it has
come to pass, just as God purposed it in providence and in salvation. Our God is sovereign, He's wise
and he's good and he brings to pass his perfect will and his
perfect purpose. We're not understanding of what
he's doing, but we know who's doing it. Turn to me to Joshua
chapter 23. Scott texted me today and said this was his favorite passage
right now. I told one of our kids the other
day, I said, you know what my favorite hymn is? And they said,
what? And I said, the one we're singing. The one we're singing. So For today, this is Scott's
favorite passage. And it speaks to how the Lord
has brought everything to pass. And it came to pass, look at
verse 14 of Joshua chapter 23. And behold, this day, I'm going
the way of all the earth. Joshua was saying, I'm gonna
die. I'm gonna leave this world. And
you know, in all your hearts and in your souls, that not one
thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your
God spake concerning you and are come to pass unto you and
not one thing has failed thereof. Now that can be said of every
believer. Not a single thing has failed. It has come to pass
exactly as God purposed it. And we rejoice in that. We're comforted in that. If it
wasn't for that glorious truth, we would be overwhelmed with
our circumstances as most men are. And we'd be looking for
some false hope and some escape and some explanation for these
things. But it's so simple and it's so
clear it came to pass. And our God works all things
together for good. for them that love him, those
that are called according to his purpose. Not one thing has
failed. Our God can't fail. He just can't
fail. Now look at the rest of this verse.
I remember a professor in cemetery telling
me, telling the class one time, that Abraham came from a pagan
culture and he just misunderstood what God was saying because there
wouldn't be any way that God would tell him to do something
that was wrong. The Lord had already made it
clear that they were not to sacrifice their children unto Moloch as
the pagan nations did. And that's not true. God is proving Abraham. He's
proving his faith. And for Abraham's sake. Our God is omniscience. Omniscience
can't learn anything. It already knows everything.
And so the Lord's not doing this to discover something for himself.
He's doing this for the same reason that he tries you and
me. James put it like this. He said, how's that passage start
out? Let's turn to it, James chapter
one. Count it all joy, I remember now, count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trying of your
faith worketh patience, and when patience is complete, it shall
make thee perfect and entire, lacking nothing. The trying of
our faith is for the purpose of causing us to depend upon
the Lord for everything. That's the only way we're going
to be perfect. And, and, and in need of nothing, we're in
need of nothing. When Christ is everything to
us, uh, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want of anything.
That's what David was saying in Psalm 23. And so the Lord
proves us and test us and tries us through the providential circumstances
of our lives in order to make us dependent upon him. And that's
what he's doing here with Abraham. He's proving his faith, he's
showing it to be genuine. Now, if we read the Bible thinking
that God is altogether such as we are ourselves, then we might
think that God did this for his benefit or to discover something
that he didn't know. But the eternal I am is in need
of nothing. And as I said, omniscience can't
learn anything. So the Lord's not doing this
for something that he needed. He's not doing this to discover
something in Abraham. He's doing this for Abraham.
Same reason He tries us in our faith. And what we're seeing
here is the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice. You think about these pagan nations
that would sacrifice their children You go down to Mexico and you'll
find cenotes down there where they say the Mayan Indians threw
their children in as a sacrifice to their gods. And the ziggurats,
the temples are still there, where they climbed up the stairs
and they sacrificed their children on the top of that pagan place. And this is a practice that's
been done all throughout the history of man. And we look at
it and we think, how pagan, how unsophisticated. But think about it like this. All men know that God has to
be appeased, that sin must be atoned for. What is the ultimate
sacrifice? You see, these pagans knew that
God's not gonna be pleased just with something that I do. He's
not going to be pleased with some offering that I make. There
is a very real sense in which these pagans had a greater fear
of God than men today do. They knew that if God was going
to be, if their sin was going to be atoned for, if God was
going to be appeased, if they were going to be reconciled to
God, they were going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice. That's what the sacrificing of
your children's all about. What we ignorantly did not know
in religion is that we were sacrificing our children to Moloch when we
brought them into a false gospel church and involved them in religious
activities. We didn't know any better. Did
it in ignorance. Abraham needed to know that the
faith that he had came from God. And that God saw it as such,
that it was the Lord's, it was the Lord's faith. These trials
prove the genuineness of our faith and You know, think about this, and it came
to pass, let's read this verse together. And it came to pass,
verse one, that after these things, God did tempt Abraham and said
to him, Abraham, and he said, behold, I am, here am I, here
I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah and offer him there for a burn offering upon
one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. There it is. This is the Word of God. This
is God trying Abraham with the ultimate trial. I'm thinking,
observing my own life and the life of others. More times than
not, difficulties in life cause people to become more spiritual
and more religious. And in the life of a believer,
the difficulties of life cause a person to seek after God more
sincerely. And so, the trying of your faith
is not necessarily the hardships of life, it's the hardships of
life that drive us to the Lord. When faith is proven to be unreliable
and untrue, It's when men are drawn away from God by good things.
By good things. We see someone getting an offer
for a job away from the gospel and that's the try and they take
it. They've proven that their faith
is not God. We see someone involved in a
relationship with an unbeliever, and they forsake the gospel for
that relationship, whatever it might be, father, mother, brother,
sister, husband, wife. You see that it's a good thing. They're enjoying this relationship,
but if it takes them away from the gospel, then it's the trying
of your faith, which proved that faith to be unreliable. So trials are not always the hardships
of life. Oftentimes the Lord will try
us with opportunities for things in the
world that would take us away from Him if we follow them. Oftentimes trials can be very,
you know, they don't have to be bad things. They can be honorable
things. But if they take us away from the Lord, then. Now, Abraham needed to learn what was the centrality and the
necessity and the source of worship. And that's sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice is the centrality
of worship. Sacrifice is the necessity of
worship, and sacrifice is the source of worship. People come to church for lots
of reasons. They come out of habit. They come because it's
the right thing to do, or they come in order to get something
from God. Or they come because it makes
them feel better. Even the good things in church,
the fellowship of believers, people will come just for that.
Or they'll come for the, singing or preaching or prayers or ordinances
or whatever the things are that we do at church, but those things
are not central in worship. What is central in worship is
sacrifice. Always has been. And it is with
every culture and with every religion. All men know that there
is a God with whom they must do. And all men know that that
God is holy. They know that by nature. Men
know that there's a God and that that God's not like me. He's
holy and he has to be reconciled with. And all men know that he's
omniscient, that he knows everything about them. And so all men know
by nature that they're sinners, that they have a debt to pay
this God. And so every religion of the
world seeks to atone for those sins and reconcile themselves
to the God that they perceive to exist with sacrifice. You know, you go to India and
you see them making these great sacrifices. You go to Africa,
they're making sacrifice. You go to the Muslim world, they
make the ultimate sacrifice when they blow themselves up as a
suicide bomber for Allah. Everybody, you know, to enter
into heaven and to win the 72 virgins, you know, everybody's
making sacrifice in order to atone for their sins before the
God that they perceive to exist. Sacrifice is the central theme
of all worship. And it's the central theme of
our worship. I'm not talking about the sacrifice
that you make or the sacrifice that I make. I'm not talking
about sacrifice of time or sacrifice of money or sacrifice of talents.
No, those aren't sacrifices. The believers delight in being
able to do those things. They don't see those things as
a sacrifice. When they do those things, they
consider themselves to be but unprofitable servants. All men know that this God who
is omniscient, this God who is holy, is also just, and he must
punish sin. And so sin has to be atoned for. This God has to be reconciled
with. And so men know innately, inherently, by nature, that they've
got to bring a sacrifice in order to be made right with God. So you see men bringing burning
candles and reenacting the the sacrifice of Christ with
formal ceremony, or you see them bringing gifts and flowers and
animal sacrifices. And as I said, these uncivilized
pagan people were not heartless. You know, you think about how
could a person sacrifice their child? Cultures have done it
all throughout the history of man. How could they do that?
Because they had a great fear of God and they knew that that
was the ultimate sacrifice. If this doesn't atone for my
sin, then I can't be atoned for. And it didn't. It didn't. They had a greater fear of God
then somebody who thinks they can appease God with a decision
that they make, or a prayer that they pray, or an act of obedience
that they can... Do you see that? This is the ultimate sacrifice. And this is the lesson that God
is teaching you and me. This is the lesson that Abraham
needed to be taught. This is what the proving of Abraham
was all about. To show Abraham the centrality
of sacrifice in worship. If you're gonna know God, there
must be a sacrifice. And Abraham, making the ultimate
sacrifice, your son, your only son, the son whom you love. What greater, what greater sacrifice
could you make than that? But Abraham needed to learn that
even that would not atone for his sins. Even that would not reconcile
him to God. He needed a more perfect sacrifice. Abraham needed to learn the necessity
of sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. The wages of sin is death. Lord, if I sacrifice my son,
will that be sufficient? No. We see that the necessity of
sacrifice in the first worship that is made between Cain and
Abel, don't we? Cain brought as his sacrifice
to God to atone for his sins, the fruit of his labor, the things
that he had produced with his hands. God had no regard for
the sacrifice that Cain made. Abel brought a blood sacrifice.
God accepted that blood sacrifice. Not because of what Abel did,
but because of what it pointed to. Now, Abraham knew. If we read
on in this story, Abraham told the young men, his servants,
he said, the lad and I are gonna go up to the mountain and we're
going to worship and we will return unto you. Turn to me to
Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11. We'll begin reading in verse
12. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead,
so many as the stars of the sky and multitude of the sand of
the sea. Abraham believed the promises of God. Here we are, verse 17. By faith,
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, And he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it is said
that in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Abraham believed
the promises of God. He believed that Isaac was the
child of promise from which was going to come the multitude of
descendants. In verse 19, accounting that
God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
also he received him, in a figure. He believed that God was going
to raise Isaac from the dead. But what the Lord was teaching
Abraham and teaching you and me is that the ultimate sacrifice
of your own child will not be sufficient to atone for sins. You're there in Hebrews, let's
look together Let's look together at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning at verse one. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things can
never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the comers there unto perfect. No sacrifice that you bring to
God will make you perfect. And perfect is what you must
be in order to stand in the presence of a perfect God. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered because that the worshiper once purged
should have no more conscience of sin? If these sacrifices that
were brought, all these blood sacrifices, I mean, the rivers
of blood that flowed from the tabernacle and from the temple, it was a slaughterhouse. But
these blood sacrifices never ever put away sin. They pointed
to the one sacrifice that would put away sin. But in those sacrifices,
there is remembrance, again, made for sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he sayeth,
sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou
has prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifice
for sin, thou had no pleasure. You see, the centrality of worship
is sacrifice. It's sacrifice. It's not fellowship. It's not, you know, it's not
getting God to do something for me. The centrality and the necessity
of worship is sacrifice. But all of these sacrifices that
men make, even in sacrificing their own children, are not sufficient
to atone for sin. Verse five, wherefore, when he
cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offerings thou
wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. In burnt offerings
and sacrifice for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, lo,
I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to
do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice
and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither had his pleasure therein, which are offered by
the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the witch will we are sanctified. Now there's the purpose of sacrifice.
The purpose of sacrifice is to be found holy, to be sanctified,
to be made perfect, to be able to stand in the presence of a
holy God. And what the Lord is telling
us here is the ultimate sacrifice. Oh, sacrificing your will or
your works or your life. I mean, what have men done over
the years? They live and they commit themselves
to a monastic life of poverty and chastity in order to try
to earn favor with God. No, sacrifices, that won't be
sufficient. Won't be sufficient. Sacrifice
their children, lay down their life. No, these things won't
be sufficient. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
There's the sacrifice. There it is. What is Jehovah
Jireh? God will provide himself a lamb. Look back with me to Hebrews
chapter nine at verse seven. Hebrews 9 verse 7, but into the second went the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood. not
going to go into the presence of God without blood, which he
offered for himself and for the heirs of the people, the Holy
Ghost, thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was
not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing.
which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood
only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation, but Christ being
come a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle. That's the tabernacle of his
flesh, not made with hands. That is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of bulls and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The central necessity of worship is sacrifice. That's it. And we come here to be reminded
of the sacrifice that God has made to atone for the sins of
his people. Or the only hope I have to stand
in the presence of a holy God is to know that you are satisfied
with a sacrifice. And no sacrifice that I make
gives me any comfort. It gives me any hope. This passage
in Genesis chapter 22 is not about the obedience of Abraham.
It's about sacrifice. It's about the sacrifice that
God requires in order for us to stand in his presence. It's
about the forgiveness of sin. It's about sanctification. It's
about holiness. It's about comfort and hope and
salvation and forgiveness. That's what's being tried here
for Abraham. Abraham is, God is proving to
Abraham that I will provide the sacrifice. And no sacrifice that you provide
will be sufficient. God has to provide it. Father,
here's the wood and here's the fire. Isaac was carrying the
wood that was gonna be used of the altar to consume him as the,
but Abraham was carrying the fire. And so it is with God Almighty. He was the one that rained fire
down from heaven on the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the sins
of his people on Calvary's cross. And Isaac said, Father, here's
the fire and here's the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the
sacrifice for the burnt offering? God will provide himself, my
son, a sacrifice. God has to do the providing. Nothing we do, no will that we
have, no work that we perform, no wisdom. You know, people come
to church so they can learn more about the Bible and learn more
about Scripture. No, that's not what we're here
for. We're here for the sacrifice. Sacrifice has always been and
always will be the central necessity of worship. And until God becomes
the source of that sacrifice, worship hasn't happened. Throw your children into a Sinatra
or burn them on a temple. Live your life in a monastery. Strap a bomb around you and give
your life for Allah. You know, you hear people say, well,
you know, their whole life was a life of service. Oh, they sacrificed
so much for people. Surely, surely that earned them
a place in heaven. No, it didn't. But see, all men
know, or someone suffers greatly in this life. with a horrible
illness, and it's like salvation through suffering. Well, you
know, they've made their sacrifice, so God's gonna reward them for
that. No, he's not. No, he's not. Sacrifice has to be made, but
it's not our sacrifice. The only sacrifice that God's
pleased with is the one that he makes. God will provide. Jehovah-Jireh, God will provide. There's our hope, brethren. Turn
with me to 1 Peter 2. You've got to see this. This
is such an encouragement. 1 Peter 2. This is why we're here. Look
at verse four. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Why do men disallow the Lord Jesus Christ as their atoning
sacrifice? Because they're trusting in a
sacrifice that they've made. And what the Lord, what the gospel
says to them is that all of your sacrifices are insufficient. You know, there's a God, you
know, he's just, you know, he's holy. You know, you've got to
be made right with him. You know, your sins have to be
atoned for, you know, all of that. And I'm hanging the hopes
of my salvation on the slack on the sacrifice that I've made. And the believer says to whom
coming, I'm coming to Christ. In verse five, you also as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
What is a spiritual sacrifice? It's a sacrifice you can't see. It's not anything to do with
walking an aisle or praying a prayer or being baptized or joining
the church or making some great, great sacrifice, even to the
extent of sacrificing your own children. These are spiritual
sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices are the
only sacrifices that God's pleased with. It's the only thing that
he accepts. What is the spiritual sacrifice? Well, the scripture refers to
it as the calves of our lips. It's expressing that a calf is
not, you know, you can think of an old Testament sacrifice
being an animal and the calves of our lips are the expressions
of our thanksgiving and praise to God for the sacrifice that
Christ made. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 13
says to him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. Let me read that again. To him,
therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually. That is
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. What is his
name? Jehovah Jireh. God shall provide. God provides the sacrifice. Yes,
God told Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering.
And Abraham, in obedience, was gonna do what God said to do.
And God taught Abraham and he taught me and you, the centrality
and the necessity of worship is sacrifice, but the source
of sacrifice is God. The source of that sacrifice
is God. We were reading there in 1 Peter
chapter two, look at verse six. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is priceless, he's precious, but unto them which be disobedient. In other words, they don't believe.
The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense,
even to them that stumble at the word being disobedient where
also they were appointed." They're not interested in God's sacrifice
because it takes away their sacrifice. God will provide himself a sacrifice. That's what the Lord told. That's
what Abraham told Isaac. The only sacrifice that God's
pleased with is a perfect sacrifice. And the only way that sacrifice
could be perfect is if God himself was the sacrifice. The central theme of all worship
is sacrifice. You look across the world, sacrifice. Men know there's a God. They
know they're sinners. They know their sin has to be
atoned for. They know that they're going to die. They know there's
a God in which they must do. And so they, they've come up
with innumerable means of making sacrifice, even unto sacrificing
their children. And God said, no. I need a perfect
sacrifice. A perfect God can only be satisfied
with a perfect sacrifice, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that
sacrifice. He's God incarnate. He's the
God-man. He's the perfect man who went
to Calvary's cross and bore our sins in his perfect body, made
his soul an offering for sin, He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He is the Word that became flesh. God will not be satisfied with
any less sacrifice than the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the
good news, brethren. God will never require more sacrifice
than the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't add to what Christ did.
Does that mean we don't make sacrifices and commitments? Yeah,
but believers never see it that way. You don't see what you're
doing as a sacrifice. Oh, Lord, I'm just an unprofitable
servant. Well, I was hungry and you fed me, and I was thirsty
and you gave me to drink, and I was naked and you clothed me,
and I was a stranger and you took me in. Lord, when did we
do that? When did we do that? Believers don't take notice of
what they're doing in life as a sacrifice. No, they're looking
in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only sacrifice that God's
pleased with. God will provide himself a sacrifice. God does all the providing. He
provided himself, which is the only sacrifice he could be pleased
with. And thirdly, he provided that sacrifice to himself, to
himself. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
go to Calvary's cross to make himself an offering to us to
be accepted or rejected. Look at what a sacrifice I've
made for you. Won't you, won't you receive
me? Won't you believe on me? See
how much I love you. Begging men to let him have his
way. Trying to get folks to feel sorry for him. God was dealing
with God on Calvary's cross. God the Son was making himself
an offering for sin as a sacrifice to the Father. That is so critical in the gospel,
isn't it? God. Let's read that verse from
the text. Turn back with me to Genesis
chapter 22. Verse eight. And Abram said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. This is the message of Genesis
22. How is God going to be worshiped?
Only by sacrifice. Only by sacrifice. Only way you're
gonna come into the presence of a holy God is through a perfect
sacrifice. God will provide himself a lamb.
The Lord stopped Abraham and Abraham looked behind him And
he saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket of thorns. Well,
you know what that's a picture of. The horn is a symbol of strength
in the Bible. The horn of the animal is its
strength, its power. The horn of the Lord is my strength. And here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ being caught in the thicket of our sin on Calvary's cross.
His power being set aside. We've got to look behind us to
see that, don't we? We don't look at our lives in
order to find some evidences of salvation. We don't look to
the future and think, well, I'm going to believe God and that
somehow is going to be my sacrifice to God whereby he's going to
save me. No, we look behind us. We look a long way behind us.
We look 2,000 years behind us. We look further than that. We
look back to eternity. We didn't have anything to do
with that. What do you have to do with what happened 2,000 years
ago? What do you have to do with the covenant of grace that happened
before Adam was ever created, before the worlds were made,
before the angels were created? What do we have to do with any
of that? Nothing. God will provide himself, to
himself, a lamb. And that's what he did. And what do we say today? Exactly what John the Baptist
said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of
the world. We come to worship Because we've
got a sin problem. And we need a sacrifice to atone
for our sin. And we can't provide it. And our God already has. What
hope? Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for being Jehovah Jireh. the God who provides. Bless your word to the souls
of your people, we ask it in Christ's name, amen. 232, 232,
hardback hymnal, let's stand together. ? Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross ? ? Died for the sinner, paid all his due ? ? Sprinkle
your soul with the blood of the Lamb ? ? And I will pass, will
pass over you ? When I see the blood When I see the blood When
I see the blood I will pass, I will pass over you ? Chiefest
of sinners, Jesus will save ? ? All he has promised, that he will
do ? ? Wash in the fountain, open for sin ? ? And I will pass,
will pass over you when I die ? see the blood, when I see the
blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over
you. ? Judgment is coming, all will
be there ? ? Each one receiving justly his due ? ? Hide in the
saving, sin-cleansing blood ? ? And I will pass, will pass over you
? When I see the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood
I will pass, I will pass over you ? O great compassion, O boundless
love ? ? O loving kindness, faithful and true ? ? Find peace and shelter
under the blood ? ? And I will pass, will pass over you when
I die ? see the blood when I see the blood when I see the blood
I will pass I will pass over you