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Paul Mahan

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Genesis 22:1-14
Paul Mahan October, 31 2021 Audio
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In Paul Mahan's sermon titled "The Greatest Story Ever Told," the main theological topic addressed is the typology of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac as a foreshadowing of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Mahan emphasizes that this Old Testament narrative, found in Genesis 22:1-14, serves as a profound illustration of God’s love and redemptive plan for humanity, showcasing the themes of faith, obedience, and substitutionary atonement. He highlights key moments, such as Abraham's unwavering faith and God's provision of a ram, which parallel the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Mahan draws upon various Scripture references, including 1 Peter 1 and John 3:16, to support his arguments, demonstrating that God’s trials are purposefully designed for His glory and our ultimate good. The practical significance of the sermon lies in reinforcing the Reformed doctrine of assurance of salvation through Christ’s finished work, reminding believers that, just as God provided for Abraham, He provides for His people through Jesus, the true Lamb.

Key Quotes

“This is a true story of a man. His faith, his fear proved his fear of God and his love.”

“God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”

“When Abraham was preparing this his son and to sacrifice and all of that, something else was taking place...the unseen hand opened that gate.”

“Substitution and satisfaction...you see it all right here. In the stead of.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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By the grace of God, I can say
from the bottom of my heart that I love the Lord that you preach. I love that message, don't you?
I love the messenger. I love the man. I love your pastor,
by God's grace, I love Darvin Pruitt. If Mindy said it once,
she said it a thousand times, don't you just love Darvin Pruitt?
It's unanimous. Our Lord said, by this shall
all men know you're my disciples, that you have love one to another,
didn't he? John, the beloved disciple said,
we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. They're all so different and yet the same, but from different
walks of life and different ages. We've got people from New Jersey
and we've got people from the Deep South. How can you get the
North and the South together? The love of God, the grace of
God, the mercy of God just draws us together as fast friends and
brothers, inseparable. And so it was wonderful. Love
this church. Thank God for this church. He
goes way back, Brother Watson. And now you're a faithful, precious
pastor. I know you're glad to have him.
I repeat all that Gabe said on behalf of Mindy. We're just so
thankful. It's been a blessing. Thank you
for everything you've done, all the service that you've done,
Darwin. the cook, and I thought, Cindy Swartz has taken up right
where your wife left off. She really is a servant, isn't
she, of this church and Kingsport, isn't she? And the Whiteheads,
you know, they fished all night. Caught 153 catfish. and baskets full and I took some
of the fragments. I took some of that fish back
to the motel. Thank you. A lot of work in all this. And
I thank you. I know you do it in love and
a privilege. Go with me to the gospel of Genesis. I said it right. The gospel of
Genesis and I want to try to tell the untellable, speak the
unspeakable. Brian asked me for a title, and
if I had one, it'd be the greatest story ever told, or perhaps the
greatest picture of the greatest story ever told. Genesis 22, this is a true story.
Genesis 22, true story, an amazing story. Many, if not most, of you have
heard this. It's a gospel story. As said, I don't think there's
a clearer picture of the gospel in all of the Old Testament.
It's a true story of a man. We miss a blessing if we don't
see that this is a real story of a real man who was really
tried by the Lord and he came out. His faith, God gave him
God-given faith that enabled him to do the impossible. True
story of a man. His faith, his fear proved his
fear of God and his love. He wouldn't have done what he
did if he did not love the Lord. The sacrifice that he made, which
I say is impossible with man, but not with God. Through Christ
we can do all things, like Abraham here. But this is the story of
the God man. His faith. who feared God, his
love, his sacrifice. That's what this is a story of.
The story of faith, because faith must be tried. Faith will be
tried with fire. Gabe read that, 1 Peter 1. Faith,
though it be tried with fire. Fiery trial, difficult trial. Abraham was tried like he'd never
been tried before. And it came out, what? Under
praise, honor, and glory. Not his, but his Lord. Faith's
gonna be tried. Look at verse one. It came to
pass after these things that God did tempt or try Abraham. After what thing? After many
other trials. You know, Abraham is 100 and
some years old by now. He's 120 years old and he'd already
been severely tried, hadn't he, Brother Darwin? Perhaps he thought,
now I'm an old man and my trials are over. But his hardest trial was in
his latter years. Faith will be tried to prove
fear, to prove love. Faith will be trialed. He had
already left his father's home and kindred. He had already wandered
for some time. His wife was barren, and that's
a trial. The Lord gives life, gives children
to whom he will, and some he does not give that, give children. That's a trial. He went through
this trial. So did Sarah. He had that strife
with his nephew, Lot, that division, separation. That's a tough trial
to be separated from your brethren. For the brethren to have disunity,
that's a hard trial. And then Lot was captured. And he thought Lot was going
to die in captivity, and he had to go rescue him. And then he
had to cast out his son, Ishmael. Remember? That was a tough trial. Tough trial. After these things,
we just don't know what tomorrow holds. We just don't know. But this is the one thing we
can know, and this is the one thing we can have assurance of,
and this is our source of hope and comfort. We know who holds
tomorrow. We know that all things have
been predestined concerning us, everything, good, bad, what we
think is bad, but the scripture said, no evil shall befall God's
people. It's not bad, though it may seem
like the worst thing that could possibly happen. God did it.
God does it for his glory. That's what trials are for. What Abraham did glorified God,
didn't it? No questions asked. No questions
asked. Now the Lord said to him, he
said in verse two, or verse one, Abraham, he said, behold 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 burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which
I will tell thee of. Take thy son, thine only son
Isaac, your true son, God-given son, and offer him on that mountain,
the mountain that I'll show you, as a burnt offering, a fiery
trial. Turn with me to Luke 14. Gabe
read to you or quoted to you what our Lord said, but this
is also what he said in a different way. Remember he said, if any
man love not, or love his father and mother, husband and wife,
son or daughter more than me, cannot be my disciple. Look at
Luke 14 with me, Luke 14. This sounds like hard language,
doesn't it? Luke 14, verse 25, there went
great Luke 14, 25, there went great multitudes with him. Now,
there are many, many who follow Jesus, who claim to believe Jesus. Multitudes of people don't. And
he turned and said to them, all of these people that were supposedly
following him, believing him, and loved him. And it just goes
right along with what you were saying. If any man come to me,
if it's me you're after, it's me you need and follow. And hate not his father and mother
and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, his own life
also. He doesn't say you're a poor
disciple, he says you cannot be my disciple. This is exactly what you were
saying. It cannot mean much, meaning
that the love you have for me to the world, it will almost
seem like hate. The Lord's not telling us to
hate. He doesn't tell us to hate anybody. He says, hey, love your
enemy, doesn't he? What's he saying? He's saying
that the love, this supernatural love that God puts in his people
will be so revealed, it will be so known, like our Lord said,
this is how they're gonna know you're my disciple. That if you
leave home, you leave family, you leave friends, you lose children,
you lose a husband, a wife, and you say like Job, it's the
Lord. The Lord did it, blessed be the
name of the Lord. He does all things well. Job,
the Lord, killed not one of his children, all of them. Didn't he? The Lord did it, what
Job said. Blessed be, it's the Lord. That's
super, that's not natural, is it? You know, some in here have lost
loved ones. The Lord has taken a spouse. Can you bless the Lord for that?
He's taken children. My parents have lost two, their
first son and their only daughter. It's the Lord. And the world can't understand
that. How can a loving God do that? They don't believe that.
They don't believe that. They don't believe that at all. I heard
a preacher on TV quote Romans 8, 28, all things work together
for good to them that love God. He didn't read, I don't think
he read the second part. But he said, I don't believe
that. He flat out said, I don't believe that. He said, I have
a friend that the Lord, he lost his son or daughter. And I said,
I just don't believe that. That was good for his good. But
God's people do, don't they? Though we don't understand it,
we know it's so. We know it's so. He's too loving
to do evil. He's too wise to do wrong. He's
too good to do us harm. He said, no evil shall befall
you. Everything works together. We're
just gonna have to wait and see. God's telling Abraham to take
his only son and burn his body, Russ, to God. And he didn't give him
a reason. What did Abraham do? He did it. Against hope, against reason,
seemingly against the promise of God. And God said, your seed
is going to be as the stars of the sky. Abraham said, I don't
know how if I'm going to kill my son. But he believed God. Like Job,
Job said, it says in all these things,
Job sinned not or charged God foolishly. Didn't sin with his
lip, didn't charge God foolishly. He said, it's the Lord. And Job,
oh, don't you love this statement? This is the statement of a true
child of God. He said, though he slay me, I
will trust him. Though he kill my son, I'll trust
him. How do we know that God loves
us? He spared not his only son. Spared not his only son. Now
here's the story, okay? That's a true story. How could
a man do this? Can't. I wouldn't do it, would
you? That's my only daughter. I would
not do that. But if God's doing it, we'll
do it. If God did work within it, you'll
do it. You'll do it. But here's the
story now. Here's the story in our text
in Genesis 22. It says, it came to pass after
these things, God did tempt Abraham and 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 burnt offering upon one of
the mountains which I shall tell thee of. This is the story of
how God sent his only begotten well-beloved son to this earth. to offer his body as a sacrifice,
a burnt offering unto him. That's what this story's all
about. It's a real story of a real man, and faith will really be
tried, and fear will be known, and love will be known, but here's
the love of God known to us, and how he took his son and made
him a burnt offering unto himself for his people. how he sent his
son down here, his well-begotten, only beloved son. God didn't
speak out loud at all, did he? But he could not contain himself
when his son was on this earth as a man. This is my well-beloved
son, whom I will. Was what God did to his son good? Was it evil? All men with evil
hands took and crucified the Lord of glory. But was it good?
Was it evil concerning us? No evil shall befall you. Why? Because God took his son and
offered him as a burnt offering. No evil. A burnt offering. Why
a burnt offering? Every sacrifice was to be burnt,
wasn't it? Burnt. Why a burnt offering?
Because our God is a consuming fire, that's why. That's why.
Because everything will be destroyed. Everything in this world will
be burnt up with a fervent heat, the scripture said, but only
one thing will remain. That offering of Christ. What Christ
has done. And his people. Everything will
be burned up, but only this faith, this life that's in Christ will
last. Burnt offering. Verse three says,
Abraham rose up early in the morning. By the way, Mount Moriah,
most Bible scholars, you wanna call them that, they believe
Mount Moriah's the exact place where the temple was built. He told Abraham, rise up early,
or Abraham rose up early. He didn't doubt the Lord, he
obeyed. He rose up early in the morning,
When did this gospel, when was this gospel purpose, when was
this gospel architecture of this gospel,
when did it begin? Early, before the world began. In the mind, the will, and the
purpose of God before the earth was. God, the Father, the God,
the Son, the Holy Spirit purposed this thing of salvation early.
Yes, this story began early. before the beginning of time.
He rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took
two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and claimed
the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went under the
place of which God had told him. Abraham took Isaac, his son,
and two men with him up that mountain. You remember when our
Lord was transfigured on that mountain. He took three disciples
up on that mountain and showed them his glory. He peeled back
that robe of flesh and they saw something of him who dwelleth
in light which no man can approach. Well, there were two men there
with our Lord. It says they were conversing
with him. What did they converse of? What
were they speaking of? They were Moses and Elijah. That's
the law and the prophets bore witness of what Christ was going
to do on Calvary's tree. It says they spoke of the death,
the decease which he should accomplish. the death of sin, the death of
death, what Christ would accomplish, not try, not attempt, but accomplish
on Calvary's tree. The law and the prophet, to him
give all the prophet's witness, and the law bears witness to
that. These two men were taken by Abraham
up there to bear witness. Now look at verse three, it says
that now Isaac, his son, he took Isaac, his son, and he claimed
the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the
place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off." It's three days. That's not mere
coincidence, but this all took place in three days. And so did the crucifixion of
our Lord. The death, the burial, the resurrection
of our Lord, three days. Our Lord said one sign will be
given to this generation. The sign of the prophet Jonas.
As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three
nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights. This is the sign. This is all
that God has to say to mankind. Look unto my son. And this story
has been told from afar off. From all the way back to Genesis,
Every one of God's people has seen afar off, they've seen that
cross, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. For no man cometh
unto the Father, no one is saved, no one comes to God but one way,
Jesus Christ, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he saw
this afar off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, now he took these two young men with him, he and his son
Isaac, He said to them in verse five, abide ye here with the
ass, I and the lad will go yonder and worship. We're gonna go worship, he told
these two young men who were to go up with them to assist
them. But then he said, you stay here,
you can't go up there where this is actually gonna take place. Now, there were 12 men with our
Lord, chosen apostles, walking with him for three years. In
the garden, he whittled it down to three men to hear his prayer. Three men on the mountain to
see his glory. But when it came to Christ going to Calvary's
tree, that transaction, that event took place only between
the father and the son. Because it's going to be clear
that this thing is between the father and the son. It's them. I and the lad will go yonder.
We're going to go there to worship. You know what the greatest show
of worship by any man has ever been? It's when Christ hung on
Calvary's tree before the father as a willing Sacrifice. He worshipped the Father to death.
Not my will, but that be done. And God the Father surely worshipped
the Son right there also for doing what he did. Don't you
think so? And look at what Abraham said.
We're going to go yonder and worship. Then we're going to
come again. Did he believe God? Did Abraham
believe God? We're going to come again. God
can't lie. He told me, I'll see my seed and be satisfied. I'll
see my seed as the stars in the sky. It's got to happen. God
can't lie. I don't know how he's going to
do it, but I just know it's going to happen. We believe God. I
killed my son. He must be going to raise him.
He can't stay dead. Didn't our Lord, how many times
did our Lord say that to his disciples? How many times? He
kept telling them over and over again. They're going to take
me. They're going to, they're going to crucify me if I'm going
to rise again. It must be. He must suffer according to the
scriptures, he must suffer these things, he must die, he must
be a burnt offering, just like God said, it must be so. Scriptures
must be fulfilled, but all through the scripture, it testifies of
his resurrection. Every time Paul preached, he
preached the resurrection, didn't he? Because that's our hope.
Our hope's not in a dead sacrifice, but a living Lord. And so our Lord kept saying that,
we're gonna come again. We're gonna come again to you. Oh my, our Lord, and our Lord
had to do this by himself. Abraham and the father and the
son, this was between them, I and the lamb, together. Didn't our
Lord say, I and the father are one? We're in this together.
Sacrifice for sin. He said, we'll come again to
you. So Abraham, verse six, took the
wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac, his son. Our Lord literally carried his
own cross, didn't he? He literally carried his own
cross to Calvary's tree. There's an old fable, and it's
just not true, that Christ fell under the load of that cross.
That is not so. You won't find that in the Bible.
That's Catholic doctrine. He did not fall under that load,
and he didn't need help. They didn't put that on Simon
the Cyrenian because the Lord needed help. No, sir. That's
another picture of how we're going to bear his cross. That's
a picture of how everyone that follows Christ and is apprehended
by God, God's going to put on you his cross. But our Lord didn't
need help. And he didn't fall under that
cross, David, did he? No, sir. But he had a much heavier
weight than that cross on his shoulders, didn't he? Did he
fall under that load? No, Isaiah said he shall not
fail. And bless God, Simon the Cyrenian
didn't hang on that cross, Christ did. But he's gonna bear it,
he's gonna feel something of the burden of it and the weight
of it, but Christ bore his cross and Christ is gonna hang on it.
And Christ bore that cross for old Simon and his people. But who laid that cross on Christ?
The Romans? No, God did. And God laid on
him the iniquity of Esau. And he laid on him the iniquity
of us all, and Brother Russ, he laid all our hope, all our
salvation on the shoulders of one that's able to bear it. You
see, our Jesus doesn't fall, he doesn't fail, he bore it all
the way away, as far as east is from the west. And it says he took a fire in
his hand. The Father had this fire in his hand. Our gods are
consuming the fire, he really is. You know the difference between
the God of this world that men believe in, the false God that
men claim to believe in, the God who is God? Their God doesn't
answer by fire. You remember when Elijah was
up on Mount Carmel? Remember, and all those prophets
of Baal, 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of the grove, 850
false prophets, and one true apostle, prophet. Much wider now. And he said,
Elijah said, the God who answers by fire, he's God. A burnt offering. A holy, righteous,
and just God who will by no means clear the guilty. And there's
one way for him to put away our sin. One way. And it's death. And it's bloodshed. And it's
fire. God took in his hand the fire
and laid on his son the cross and the knife of his justice.
Somebody's gonna die up on this mountain, Martha. Somebody's
got to die. And they went both of them together. And Isaac, don't you love this
verse? Verse seven. Is anybody in here who never
heard this before? I envy you. Isaac spake Unto Abraham his
father verse 7 said my father. He said here am I my son, and
he said behold? The fire and the wood, but where's
the lamb for a burnt offering? We've got the fire we got the
wood now. He'd been taught from a child
hadn't he? And all of God's people have been taught from a child
and Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.
And what God told all the children of Israel, all the sons of Jacob
know that you must have a lamb, a lamb for a burnt offering.
Every man must have a lamb. And Isaac knew that. And our
children are taught that, aren't they? From a child. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You must have a lamb.
Well, Isaac was taught, well, Father, where's the lamb? We've
got wood. We've got the fire, but where's
the lamb? That'd be a good question for
modern religion, wouldn't it? We've got all this wood, hay,
and stubble. We've got all this acquire the fire, you know, but
where's the lamb? If there's no lamb, there's no
worship. If there's no lamb, there's no salvation. If there's
no lamb, there's no acceptance with God. If there's no lamb,
there's no putting away of sin. If there's no burnt offering,
there's no holy God. There's no sin. It's the shams. Where's the land? Look at that. Verse seven, verse
eight. Abraham said, I'll never forget
the first time I ever heard anybody preach it. I think it was Scott
Richardson. And he brought this out. Do you remember when, first
time you ever heard this? My son, God will provide himself
a land for Barnabas. God will provide salvations of
the Lord. They didn't have it. Abraham
didn't have it. Isaac didn't have it. They didn't
have the lamb. Who had the lamb? God did. God will provide salvations of
the Lord. He provides everything through
Christ our Lord. It's all provided for us. You
don't provide anything. He provides it all. He's made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all
that we need. Christ is all. What does that mean? It means
He's all. That you don't need anything else at all. God will
provide himself a land. God will provide for himself
that he may be just and justify. How's God gonna put away sin
and yet forgive the sinner? One way. Somebody's got to die. Somebody's
got to pay for it. The soul that sins must surely
die, right? Well, God made Christ his soul
an offering for sin. That's how. God will provide
himself as the Lamb. He's the Lamb. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. In the next chapter, John says,
behold, the Lamb. Who is that? That's a man named
Jesus. No, that's God manifesting the
flesh. That's God, he's provided himself
the land. A mere man can't put away our
sins, can it? The blood of bulls and goats
can't put away our sin. A man's got to die though, but
a man's blood won't do it. Well, it's a God man, okay. He purchased the church with
his own blood, didn't he? The blood of God. That's why
it put away sin, holy blood, without sin. God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. He is the lamb. Provided for
himself, just and justifier. Well, they came to the place.
Look at verse nine. They both went together. They came to the
place which God told him of, and Abraham built an altar there
and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son. What bound
Isaac? Who bound Isaac? You know, Isaac's
about 20 years old by this time. He's a strong young man. Abraham's
120 years old. Could he have bound Isaac if
Isaac wasn't willing? Hmm? No, no, no. Isaac was an obedient
son. Isaac was a willing son. Isaac
said, my father knows best. It's not my will, but his that's
gonna be done. I'm gonna do what my father says. And he willingly held his hands
out there to be bound. And that's our Lord, isn't it?
That's our Lord. He was bound. You know, it says
it pleased the father to bruise him. Do you think the father
took great pleasure in our Lord's suffering and his son's suffering?
Do you think so? Do you think Abraham, can I speak
as a man here? That's all I am. But do you think
that Abraham's heart is not breaking here? But he did it. He bound his son. He's going to kill him. He has
to. God said so. You think our Lord was pleased
with what men did to his son? He allowed it to happen. It wouldn't
have happened if he didn't allow it to. You think he was pleased
with it making his son to be sent for us? It was his pleasure
in making us his people. It pleased the Lord because the
only way we're going to be his people is for Christ to be made
sin for us. You understand it's not just
a doctrine. We're talking about substitution here. Somebody's
got to die. It's either us or him. You understand? And I wouldn't
do that. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't
sacrifice what God did. Is there any greater love than
that? We talk about our love and we do, but oh, Now we're
talking about love here. How? How did God do this? Not for a good man, not for a
righteous man, but sinners God committed his love to. But he did it. Abraham did it. Love to God. Isaac did it. Love
to his father. It says, Abraham stretched forth
his hand and took that knife I was gonna plunge it into the
heart of his only begotten well-beloved son. That's unimaginable. Unimaginable. He's gonna do it. And the angel of the Lord cried
out, called unto him out of heaven, Abraham, Abraham. He said, here
am I. He said, lay not thine hand upon the lad. Don't touch
him. Not a hair of his head's gonna
perish. Every single precious promise
I made is gonna be fulfilled. Don't touch the lad. Don't put a finger on him. He's
got a substitute. Somebody else is gonna do it
for him. Loose him. Let him go. He's got a substitute. You know what the law of God,
you know there's a preacher, these preachers are telling you
That if you look to Christ, if Christ is your burnt offering,
if Christ is your sacrifice, if Christ is your mediator, your
substitute, God's not going to lay a hand on you. Not a hair
of your head is going to be buried. Not one single sin is going to
be found on you. You're going to be presented
faultless before his presence. Why? You've got to substitute.
Isn't that the gospel? There is no other gospel. took the knife of his justice,
literally, and plunged it in the heart of
his son. He really did. And that's never been preached,
and you can't, but he did. He killed his son, and he died,
didn't he? He died. Why? My, my. He wasn't in vain, he
was a victor. Well, our Lord said, God seeing,
he says, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son from me, and Abraham lifted up his eyes, here's salvation,
lifted up his eyes and look, behold, behind you, there's a
ram. Now, when Abraham was preparing
this his son and to sacrifice and all of that, something else
was taking place. When they were below the mountain preparing
to go up to take this journey, three days journey, something
else was taking place. Down in the valley, there was
a sheep fold full of goats and sheep, and there was a shepherd
who owned all these goats and sheep. And there was one in there
that was without spot or blemish, a yearling of the first, a male
of the first year, a sheep, beautiful, lovely male sheep, a lamb, a
ram in that pen. And an unseen, that night, an
unseen hand opened that gate. This happened. An unseen hand,
the hand of God, opened that gate. And out of that sheepfold,
that ram walked. and the gate shut behind him.
And that ram began to walk up Mount Moriah as led by an unseen
hand. This happened, Jeff. And that
ram walked all the way up on that top of that mountain, Mount
Moriah. And like its face was set like
a flint, headed straight for that thorn bush. and stuck his head in that bush
and got caught by his head with a crown of thorns waiting to
die. And that ram was there before
Abraham and that's Isaac ever got there. The substitute was there before
the son arrived. Isn't Christ called the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world? Every single sinner
that's ever been saved is saved one way, a substitute, and that
substitute is one, Jesus Christ the Lord. From Adam, Abel, Enoch,
to Zerubbabel, they're all saved one day, one way, by one sacrifice,
put away sin, forever cry, before the world began. And they looked,
verse 13, looked behind them and there was a ram caught in
the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took that
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of, there
it is, there's the gospel, in the stead of his son, substitution. Substitution, I talked about
a sin needing to be paid for. Burnt offering, God is just,
God is holy. He must punish sin, that's satisfaction. His justice must be satisfied.
The law must be fulfilled. The gospel is in these two words,
substitution and satisfaction. You see it all right here. In the stead of, and Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will
see to it, the Lord will provide. My dad used to say, when I'd
ask him things, I'd say, Dad, what about this? He said, I'll
see to it. I'll see to it. It's an old Southern saying,
it's an old Bible saying. I'll see to it, and he did. Did
our God, did he accomplish salvation? Did Christ, did God do what he
said he'd do? Did Christ do what God said he
would do? He did, he saw to it, and he did it. His last words
are, Now this is not the end of the
story. Not by any means. This is the beginning. This is
the beginning. Isaac has to get married. Isaac
has to have children. God said, you'll see a seed and
be satisfied. Abraham thought, if he dies,
he's got to live again for me to be satisfied, to see the seed
as the stars in the sky and the sand in the sea. Look down with
me. Now they left, they went down that mountain. You know
what they were singing? Salvation's up for the Lord. Oh, how merciful. Free at last. Free from the law,
oh, happy condition. Substitution, saved by the blood. Same things we say rejoice our
Lord said Abraham Rejoice to see my day and he saw it and
he was glad Abraham saw Christ in the second Well, they came
back in verse 20. It came to pass after these thing
verse 20 It was told Abraham said Abraham somebody said to
Abraham behold Milka. I She's born children, your sister-in-law's
born children under your brother Nahor, see that? Tell them they
said children, I got a nice family. Got many children, Huz is firstborn,
Buz is brother, Camule, aren't you glad we have names like Joe
and Bill and Joe? And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash
and Jidlap and Methul, got a big family, all boys. But wait, verse
23, Methul, Bagat, But Rebekah, Abraham, Methuselah had a girl
and her name's Rebekah. Hmm, Abraham thought. Hmm. Just might be my son's bride. And she was. She was. Do you understand that while
the son was being sacrificed, the bride was being born? Oh, he's got to live, and he
did. And this thing goes on forever now. It'll never end. World without
end. That's the greatest story ever
told, and I just didn't tell it. The half wasn't told. I tried,
but it can't be done. And you've preached this how
many times? You've preached it. We've all tried, haven't we,
Brother David? We fail, but he shall not fail. He hath not failed. His word will not fail. It was
accomplished. Oh, may the Lord bless his word.
Thank you for having me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Lord bless you.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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