I guess it's my turn now. Let's
go to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And I want you to look at just
a couple of verses. And if the Spirit of God would
enable me, I want to speak to you on looking unto Jesus. And I'll direct your attention
to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. And you know these verses
really well, those of you who've been under the sound of the gospel
for quite a while. These are not unusual verses
to you. These are not verses that are
new to you. But I hope they'll be fresh to
you again today. Wherefore, seeing we also are all so compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us. What is that? Well, I think in light of chapter
11, I believe it's our doubts. I think that's the one that gets
us all as God's people. The weakness of our faith. And
it's for sure the one that gets me. It may not be your besetting
sin, but I'll guarantee you it's mine. I wouldn't confess my sins
to you, but I'll acknowledge this one's mine. And I've got
a sneaky feeling it's yours. In fact, I'll just tell you,
it is yours. This is the besetting sin of
all of God's people. It's the weakness of our faith.
It's not the weakness of our God. It's the weakness of our
faith to believe. Aren't you happy that your salvation
is not dependent upon the strength of your faith but the strength
of your God to keep you. For we're weak, aren't we? We're
just so feeble. But the Lord's strong. What we
ask Him is, Lord, strengthen our faith. I want to believe
you more. And I do, don't you? I don't
like the doubts. I don't like the fears. I don't
like the murmurings. I don't like the worries. Do
you? And I know they're wrong. I believe in divine providence.
I believe God's ordained all things, and you do as well. You
believe God's working all things together for the good of God's
people, and you know deep down in your soul God's working all
things for His glory and your good in your life. Why do you
have doubts then? Why do you worry? Why do you
have fear? You say, I don't know. I don't
know. That's our besetting sin. Our
besetting sin. Let's run with patience this
race that's set before us. Now listen, every believer, our
life is a race that's set before us. It's set. You know what that
word set means? It's fixed. It's ordained. It's appointed. You can't change
it. And we don't all have the same
race. It's not the same length. We don't all have the same obstacles
in the race. I know to look at me now, you
wouldn't know that I was kind of a track star when I was in
high school. That's right, you go back, well
you can't go back and find it on the computer because that's
for computer days. If you go back in the old newspaper
clippings, I wrote two minutes and a half mile. Yeah, I did
that. I run 5.26 in the mile. I run different lengths in races,
but in the track team, there's short distances and long distances. And you know, in the lives of
believers, some believers have a long race to run. Some believers,
their races are not quite so long. And in the race that you run,
your obstacles and your difficulties and your troubles and your trials,
they're not like mine. Those hills that you've got to
go over, Those mountains you've got to climb, those valleys that
you've got to go through, they're not like mine. Those rocks you've
got to climb over, they're not like mine. So all the races are
different. All the trials are different. But they're all set. Your race
is set. You can fuss about the race, You can murmur about it, you
can worry about it, but you are not going to change it because
it is set. God has already ordained it. It is fixed. Well, you say, how
should I run this race? And he talks about laying aside
every weight. How am I supposed to lay aside
every weight? Am I supposed to quit this and
quit that? How am I supposed to run this
race? Well, look at the second verse.
Here's the way you run the race. Looking unto Jesus. That's the
way you run the race. You keep your eye on the Lord
Jesus. The eye of faith. Even when it
gets dim, you keep your eye of faith on the Lord Jesus. Just like all of these people
in chapter 11 did. That's the way they ran the race. See, these are the great clout
of witnesses. How did they run the race? They
ran the race the same way we're supposed to run the race. And
if we're God's people, we do run the race this way. Because
all of God's people have this in common. I know we all have
a different race to run. It's a different length. We have
different obstacles. We have different trials. We
have different troubles. But we all have this in common.
We've been brought by the Spirit of God to look unto Jesus for
all things. Haven't we? Sure we have. He of God has been made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We look to Him
for all things. Do we look to Him as much as
we should? No. Do we look to Him as much as
we're going to? No. But I'll guarantee you this,
we look to Him. Now don't we? And we look to
Him. We do believe Him. We do rest in Him as our all
in all. We have no other hope. We have
no other plea before God. When we come before God, we do
not plead our righteousness. We plead His righteousness. We
do not plead any merits of our own. We have none. We plead His
merits. When we come before God, we come
before God like Gary came before God, calling upon the Lord in
prayer through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator. Because
there's one God and one Mediator, and we know this. We look to
Him. He's the God-Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We look to Him. We look to Him
for all things. We've been taught by the Spirit
of God to look unto Him and be ye saved. We're saved through
Him and we look to Him. We have looked to Him. We are
looking to Him. And by His grace, we shall continue
to look to Him until we shall see Him face to face. But this
is the way we live our lives. Looking unto Jesus. And you know
and I know those times when we get into trouble is when we cease
to look to Him. When we look within. When we get to looking at the
obstacles, like Simon Peter did, when he was walking on the water,
when the Lord said, well, come out and join me. And Simon Peter
got to walking on the waves, and then he got to looking around.
And then he began to sink. Have you ever been sinking? Huh? How many times have you begun
to sink beneath the waves? And then you cry it out. Lord,
save me! Has He? Of course. Because He's
always there. Lord, save me. This is the way
we live our life. Looking unto Jesus. Now, in this
message, I've got two questions I want to ask and answer. You
say, oh, he's only got two points to this message. Now wait. I've
got two questions, but they're long answers. Here's the two questions. Here
they are. Who are these witnesses? It says
in verse 1, this great cloud of witnesses. Who are these witnesses? And secondly, in what way do
they witness? Or what do they witness? Now
first of all, who are these witnesses? Well, they're people who believe
God. They're people who Believe the Lord Jesus. Go back to chapter
11, verse 13. And we know these two chapters
are connected because that word, wherefore, at the beginning of
chapter 12 ties it together. Go back to chapter 11, verse
13. These all died in faith. These all died in faith. Now,
we know this. They were sinners. They were
fallen sons and daughters of Adam. guilty of transgressions
against a holy God, but by the grace of God they were brought
to believe Messiah, the Son of God, and they were justified
by God's grace. That is, they were declared to
be righteous in the Son of God, based upon the obedience that
the Lord Jesus would accomplish way in the future. You say, do you have an illustration
of that? Yes, like the Apostle Paul told Philemon concerning
Onesimus. He said, if he oweth thee aught,
put that on my account, I will repay. And God justified, God
accepted, God declared the Old Testament saints to be righteous
based upon the death and the resurrection that the Lord Jesus
would accomplish hundreds and hundreds of years in the future. And God justified those folks. Like it is said of Lot, you can
say what you want to about Lot. He made some very unwise choices. Yes, he did. He was a very foolish
man. Yes, he was. But the Bible says
he was a just man before God. He was a righteous man. The Lord Jesus Christ God's only
begotten Son would stand for, and indeed He did stand for,
these Old Testament saints who were brought to believe Him.
He stood for them in the covenant of grace even as He stood for
us and took responsibility for them. And these Old Testament
saints who were brought to believe Him were accepted by God based
upon Christ's blood and righteousness. Though He had not, that is, the
Messiah had not yet come into the world. They laid hope of Him by faith. And the way they lived their
life was Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. Though He
had not yet come, that's how they ran the race. They ran the
race looking unto Jesus. Look at chapter 11 and verse
39. 11 verse 39. And these all, and you've read
this chapter many times, most of you, and these all, having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. That is, they believed though
the Lord Jesus had not yet come. He had not yet come into the
world. You see, He is, that is the Savior, He is the grand and
glorious promise of God. He is the one they looked for.
He is the one they longed for. In every sacrifice, in every
sin offering, in every Passover lamb that died, they saw Him,
they looked for Him, and they longed for Him. He was the message
of every prophet that preached. When they listened to the prophets
of God, when they listened to all the predictions of Messiah,
He was the one they were listening for, He was the one they saw
with the eye of faith. Look back at Acts chapter 10.
Look at Acts chapter 10. Look at verse 34. Acts chapter
10 verse 34. It says, Simon Peter in the house
of Cornelius, and Peter opened his mouth, He said, of a truth
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, and in every nation
he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with
him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is the Lord of all. That word,
I say you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began
from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, How God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.
He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all
things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the
third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, But a
witness is chosen of God, chosen before of God, even to us who
did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. And He
commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it
is He which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick
and the dead. Now watch verse 43. and to Him give all the prophets
witness." He's the one they witnessed of. He's the one they testified
of. "...that through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive remission of sin." From Moses? All the way through to Malachi,
every time the minister of the Lord preached, every time the
prophet of God set forth the Word of God, the people of God
knew who He was speaking of, and they looked for and they
longed for that one of whom He was speaking. And they understood
that in the sacrifices and in the offerings, It was the Lord
Jesus. That is, it was the Messiah.
It was the Son of God. It was the seed of the woman
who was being set forth. And they looked unto Jesus. This is the one they longed for.
They desired for Him. And whenever the prophets preached,
they were listening for that message. They were listening
for the Gospel. Even as we listen to the Gospel
now, and we listen for the Gospel, we listen to the Lord Jesus. We listen for the message of
redemption. From Genesis chapter 3, recorded
by Moses, Genesis 3.15, that prophecy of the seed of the woman. From then on, every prophet of
God spoke of Messiah. In fact, even there in Genesis
chapter 4, I believe Eve When her firstborn son was born, she
conceived and bare a son. And many commentators say this,
she bare a son and she said, I've had the Lord! I've had the
Lord! Meaning, of course, it was Cain
that was born to her, but she knew Messiah would be the seed
of the woman and that's who she was looking for. Throughout the Old Testament,
The saints of God were looking for him. And as the years went
by, more and more prophecies were given. And more and more
information came in describing what he would be like, where
he would be born, that he would be the son of Abraham, the seed
of David, the rod of Jesse. All of this information came
in. And then that he would be from
Bethlehem. And as all this information was
collected, more and more pinpointing, more and more, where Messiah
would be born and under what circumstances the saints of God
were looking for Him, looking unto Jesus. And then, even when only a few
believed, those few still looked for Him. Look at Luke chapter
2, the second chapter of Luke. Look at Luke 2. Even these people, they waited
and they longed for Him. He's the promise of God. There's
no hope without Him. Just as you have no hope without
Him. You have no hope before God.
If you're without the Savior this morning, you have no hope. For you have no mediator. Where
is the sinner that has not Christ Jesus? What kind of shape are
you in? To go out and meet God without a Redeemer? Without a
Mediator? Without a Savior? These people said we must have
Him and they looked to Him. Even as we look to the Lord Jesus.
Look here in Luke, the second chapter. Luke chapter 2. Look at verse 25. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon. The same man was just. Here's
a justified man. Here's a righteous man. He's waiting. He's a devout man. He's waiting for the consolation
of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. He came of
the Spirit into the temple when the parents brought the child
Jesus to do for Him after the custom of the law. Then He took
Him up in His arms. He blessed God. He said, Lord,
now let us Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word.
For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. He had been looking for Him.
He had been waiting for Him just like all the other Old Testament
saints. He'd been looking unto Jesus
for all these years. He's an old man, just like those
Old Testament saints hundreds of years before Him, and they
never saw the realization of the promise. But He does. He does. And you drop down to
verse 36, and there was one Anna. And she is a prophetess. the daughter of Phanuel of the
tribe of Asher. She was of great age. She had
lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. She
was a widow of about fourscore and four years. And she didn't
depart from the temple. Served God with fastings and
prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant,
she gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of Him to
all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. To others who were
looking, So there were some others who were looking. They were looking for Him and
they were looking for the redemption that He would accomplish. You
see, those Old Testament saints, they weren't ignorant. They weren't
seeking to be justified before God by the law. They were looking
for redemption. Redemption by the blood. They
were looking for the Redeemer. And by the way, that word looking
is the same word as waiting in verse 25. Just like Simeon was waiting,
she's looking. They've all been waiting and
looking. They've been waiting and looking. Waiting and looking. And there were a lot of others
who were waiting and looking. But of this much we know about
them all, they died in faith. That's what it says here in Hebrews
chapter 11. They died in faith, looking unto
Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. Go back to
our text in Hebrews. Look here at the last verse of
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Let me show
you this last verse, verse 40. God, having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
What's better than having the Son of God in promise? Well,
having Him in reality. In reality. The inspired writer
of the book of Hebrews is speaking to all believers, but he's speaking
immediately to the Hebrew believers. And he's setting forth, as we
know, the grand superiority of the Lord Jesus. and of His covenant
of grace. The Lord Jesus is better. That's
what He's saying throughout the book of Hebrews. He's better. It's the theme of the book of
Hebrews. You see, the Old Testament believers, they did have the
Lord Jesus. They had Him in type. They had
Him in picture. They had Him in figure. They
had Him in prophecy. They had Him in prediction. The writer of the Hebrews says
we have Him in reality. He has come. He's the fulfillment
of the promise. See, in the Old Testament, you
have Him in shadow. And all those feast days and
Sabbath days and washings, all those sacrificial offerings,
they were shadows of Christ Jesus. But now the shadows are gone.
We put all those things away. He's the substance. He's the
substance. He casts the shadow. Now we put
the shadows away. This is not Sabbath day. Yesterday was not the Sabbath
day. Those are shadows. He's the reality. He's already
come. And He's already died and put
away our sins. See, the Savior has come into
this world. He's already accomplished redemption.
But those folks were saved the same way we're saved. Did you
know that? They weren't saved by law, and
we're saved by grace. I grew up in a church where if
you didn't have a Scofield Reference Bible, you needed to sell your
boots and buy you one. That's what I was taught. And
in the Scofield Reference Bible, there's every indication that
in the Old Testament, they were saved by obedience to the law.
And in the New Testament, you're saved by grace. No, in the Old
Testament, they're saved by grace just like we're saved by grace
now. There's no difference. See, they were justified by imputed
righteousness just like we're justified by imputed righteousness.
They were forgiven by the blood of the Lord Jesus just like we're
forgiven by the blood of the Lord Jesus. They were accepted
in the Beloved just like we're accepted in the Beloved. And
by the grace of the Spirit of God, they looked unto Jesus just
like we look unto Jesus. But they only had Him in picture
and in prophecy and in promise. We have Him in person. And we
have Him in reality. In reality. So who are these
witnesses? They're believers. That's who
they are. They're believers. Now here's
the second question. In what way Do they witness? It says
in chapter 12 and verse 1, we're encompassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses. Now, that they're witnesses,
there's no doubt. But does this mean they're spectators
of us? This is what a lot of people
believe. There's a great cloud of witnesses in heaven. All these
Old Testament believers, so we've established who they are, are
people who look to the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. for salvation
as their all in all. There are a lot of people who
believe now that they've gone to heaven, there are a great
cloud of witnesses who are spectators of us. That they're witnesses
of us. They're not witnesses of us. They're not looking at us. Listen,
they're occupied with the Savior. You see, they were looking for
Him. Now they're looking at Him. They're in His presence. Why
in the world would they want to look at us when they can look
at Him? They've been looking for a Redeemer.
They've been looking for their Savior. They've been looking
for the One who is their righteousness, the Lord their righteousness.
They died with Him now. Why would they look at us when
they could look at Him? They're now enraptured in His
presence. in His glory, in His beauty. He's the Lamb of God. He's the
Son of God. Oh, how glorious to be there
with Him, the Lamb of God who was slain for them. They're looking
at Him. They're worshiping Him. They're
thrilled with Him. They're overjoyed with Him. They
can't take their eyes off Him. So don't think that these people
are witnesses of us. They're not witnesses of us. They are witnesses to us. They're witnesses to us. What
do they witness to us of? Well, let me just go through
and show you a little bit. Go back to chapter 11 and verse
4. Chapter 11 and verse 4. I'll
just start with Abel. I'll take a few minutes and just
show you what they witnessed to us of. Here's Abel. Chapter 11 and verse
4. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent, a superior... What does that mean? Excellent,
superior sacrifice than Cain. By which he obtained witness
That he was righteous. That he was justified. God testifying
of his gifts. And by it, he being dead, yet
speaking. He's still speaking to us this
morning. In other words, Abel is still
a witness to us this morning. And I would say then to brother
Abel, who is yet at the throne of Christ Jesus, worshiping the
Lamb, I would say or ask to brother Abel, what do you witness to
us of, brother Abel? What do you have to say to us,
brother Abel? And Abel says to us, I am a witness
of the sufficiency of the suitable sacrifice to make me righteous
before God." That's what he witnesses to us of. And you remember the
story of Cain and Abel? Cain brought up the labors of
his hands, and God rejected him. And by the way, there's a sense
in which even Cain himself is a witness to us. He's a witness
to us of this. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. Isn't He a witness? Isn't
Cain a witness to us? He witnesses to us from hell
itself. As he perishes, he's been perishing
in hell below these hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
years. And he still testifies to us this morning. And he says,
by the deeds of the law, by the works of righteousness, you cannot
be saved. I tried it. And God rejected
me. And he says, if you try it, you'll
be rejected too. Abel testifies to us. Abel is
a witness to us of the great sufficiency of the suitable sacrifice
to justify a sinner. Note the language. It says, God, in verse 4, again,
by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
King. By which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. He was already righteous. God testifying of his gifts.
In other words, he was already righteous even before he offered
his gifts. You see that? He was already
righteous even before he offered his gifts. Actually, the reason he offered
his gifts was because he was righteous. Well, when was he made righteous?
I thought, preacher, he was made righteous by his faith. Well,
see, you need to learn something this morning. You're not made
righteous by your faith. Faith doesn't have that kind
of power. Faith receives a righteousness already established. That's what
faith does. But faith doesn't make you righteous.
Only God can make somebody righteous. And He does it through the obedience
of the Lord Jesus. His obedience unto death. But
the reason Abel offered the correct sacrifice unto God is because
God, before the world began, chose him in Christ Jesus gave Him to His blessed Son,
and the Son of God accepted Him, received Him, He was in union
with the Son of God, justified in Him, made righteous in Him,
and therefore faith flows out of that, regeneration flows out
of that, and therefore Abel gives evidence of having been justified
by God. Is this eternal justification?
Well, I guess it is. That's what this is. This is
eternal justification. Well, you say, is justification
eternal? Well, does God justify? Yes. Is God making any new decisions?
Is God doing anything new today? Is God executing any new counsels
today? You say, no. They're as old as
He is. Is that right? It's got to be
eternal. Therefore, Abel offers to God
these gifts. And it says, God testifying of
his gifts. How did God testify of his gifts?
Well, most writers, and I think this is right, indicate that
God, or believe that God sent down fire from heaven and consumed
the gifts. Fire indicating the wrath of
God, the judgment of God. The judgment of God must fall
upon that sacrifice to which sin was not literally imputed
or charged, but figuratively. As Abel brought an innocent sacrifice
in his stead, and this is just what I think Abel brought on
behalf of himself and his family, he being the head of his family.
He brought it as a substitute. and the sacrifice died. He killed
the sacrifice and then God sent the fire, the wrath of God, because
the judgment of God's got to fall upon the sacrifice, the
substitute, because the soul that sinneth must die. God's
got to get death. He's got to get death. And listen,
He will get death. The death of the sinner or the
death of the substitute. a suitable substitute that's
satisfying to Him. Well, let's go further. What about Enoch? Look at verse
5. What's Enoch got to say to us? Enoch is a witness to us. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. Was Enoch a sinful man? Certainly. Oh, he must have been a holy
man to walk with God. All of God's people walk with
the Lord in fellowship because of God's grace to them. But Enoch by nature was a son
of Adam, defiled like all men. But like Abel, he was a justified
man. He's brought to believe God. He's brought to look unto Jesus.
Right? He had to be. He had to be. Well, in what way does Enoch
witness to us? He witnesses to us God's power
over death. God's power over... that's what
he witnesses to us. He tells us God has power over
death. He tells us that in Jesus Christ,
there is no death for the believer. There is no death. You read again
that passage Gary is dealing with in Ephesians 1 and 2. We're blessed in Christ. We're chosen in Christ. We're
accepted in Christ. Redemption's in Christ. We have
an inheritance in Christ. And in chapter 2, we're quickened
in Christ. We're raised up in Christ. Listen,
when Christ died, we died. When He was raised up, we were
raised up. There's no death for the child
of God. You say, but my body is decaying
and I'm going to die. I believe that's called falling
asleep. You know what it's called? Christ said, He that liveth and
believeth in Me shall never what? Die! Because the Lord Jesus came
down here and He destroyed him that had the power of what? Death. And Enoch testifies to us in
the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no death! Isn't that... I like that witness, don't you?
There's no death. Oh, this body. Yeah, the soul's
got to take off this body. Because it's becoming worn out.
And this body's going to have to be laid aside for a while.
But that's not the end of it. It's just going to have to take
a dirt nap. But someday the Lord's coming
back. And He's going to raise it. And mortality shall put on immortality. and corruption shall put on incorruption."
That's why He said to His disciples, because I live, you shall live.
That's what brother Enoch says. Enoch says, listen to me! This
is what I've got to say to you in Christ Jesus. Everybody who
looks unto Jesus, there's no death. There's no death. Don't be afraid. Children of
God, don't be afraid. There's no death. You just fall
asleep. You don't even lose consciousness.
Your soul doesn't lose consciousness. Wake up in the presence of the
Lamb of God. Isn't that a pleasant thought?
See Him face to face. Oh, my soul. That's glorious. Well, let's go on quickly. I've
got to go real quick. What about Noah? Look at verse
7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith. In what way does Noah witness
to us? Well, he tells of the certainty
of the salvation of those that God brings into the ark of His
salvation. You see, that ark meant the saving
of all the souls that were within. It meant their salvation. Now,
did that ark avoid the storm of God's wrath? The ark didn't
avoid the storm. When the rain began to fall,
it fell on the ark. When the water from beneath began
to boil up from the earth, as it were, it pressed up on the
lower parts of the ark and raised it up. Oh, the ark felt it all! But those inside were safe. Oh, behold our union in Jesus
Christ. The wrath of God fell on him. And we're in him and we're safe. And brother Noah says, all who
are in Christ Jesus are safe. Because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. He bore the
wrath. He bore the hail of God's fury. And twice payment God will not
demand. First at my bleeding shirtless
hand, and then again at mine. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owed. Sin had left the crimson stain. Bless His name. He washed it
white as snow. God put me in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. What's the evidence of that,
preacher? He brought me to look to Him. He brought me to look
to him. That's the evidence of my election,
isn't it? That's the only evidence I got.
I looked to him. That's how I know I'm in the
ark. I'm safe. And Brother Noah testifies to
us. He's a witness. He says everybody who's in the
ark is safe. Because the wrath of God fell
on the ark. And then there's Abraham, verse
8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should afterward receive an inheritance, obeyed. He went
out not knowing whether he went. Abraham, what do you witness
to us of? He said, I witness to you of
the sovereign choosing grace of God and the effectual call
of grace. God chose me out of all the Calvaries
as a heathen worshiper of idols. God chose me. And he called me
out. He left others down there. He
left a bunch of my family down there, but he didn't leave me
there. He could have left me down there.
He'd had every right to left me down there, but he didn't. Abraham's a witness to us. And
Sarah, verses 11 and 12, you know what Sarah's a witness to
us of? He quickens the dead. You read over in Romans chapter
4. Her womb was dead and Abraham was like a dead man. And Sarah
witnessed to us of this. When I couldn't have any kids,
there was no possibility of me having a son. And when my husband
Abraham, his past the age to father a child, God brought forth
a life where there was nothing but death. I tell you, God quickens
the dead. That's the message of Sarah. And we could keep on going. I'm
going to give you one more. I'll give you one more. Look
at 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 was said that
in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able
to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received
him in a figure." What does Abraham and Isaac witness to us? Abraham
and Isaac, what do you have to say to us this morning? They
say, oh, the reality and the blessedness of substitution.
Is that what they tell us? I can almost hear them, can't
you? Oh, how glorious is the truth of substitution. And Abraham
says, I took my son up on the mount where God said, offer him
up as a burnt offering to me. And I can still hear my son saying,
Father, here's the wood and the fire and the knife. Where's the
lamb? Can't worship God without the lamb. God said, my son, God
will provide himself the lamb. So they went both together. Abraham
made the altar. The wood was laid in order. Isaac
was bound. A voice from heaven said, Abraham,
Abraham!