Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Genesis chapter 22, and reading
for our text the last part of verse 7. We continue this evening
with the questions asked in scripture, and this evening it is the question
that Isaac asked of his father, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And now we look at the whole
question first, yet then I want to combine our thoughts to the
question that relates to today. And reading that is, but where
is the Lamb. Where is the Lamb? The whole
verse reads, And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and
said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the Lamb? For a burnt offering. And Abraham's answer was, Abraham
said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Dear Isaac knew there was something
missing. There was fire, there was the
wood, but where was the lamb? I wonder how many of us would
realize if the Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
was missing. Missing in their life, missing
in the church, missing in the ministry. Would we? Abraham had an answer for Isaac. And Isaac had a real concern. The lamb was missing. We know
in a literal way, God provided that ram that was caught by his
horn so it was spotless as required to beautifully typify the Lord
Jesus Christ. But this was a trial. We read
in Hebrews, Abraham, when he was tried. He went unto the place
that God told him of and offered up his son and received him in
time as from the dead. He believed that even if he had
died, that God would have raised him from the dead. These things
are set forth in Hebrews 11. And there was a great blessing. that
God attached to this. They are beautiful words as Abraham
did exactly what the Lord said, trusting in the Lord alone. The angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, verse 16, and said,
By myself have I sworn saith the Lord, For because thou hast
done this thing, and hast not withheld thy Son, thine only
Son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven. Now, and
then in verse 18, in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. And Paul, in his letters, makes
it very clear that this promise was not unto seeds as of many. In other words, it wasn't saying
that in the Hebrews or the Jews or Israel was every nation to
be blessed. But in thy seed, which is of
one, which is Christ, in Christ shall all nations be blessed. So our Lord says of Abraham,
Abraham saw my day and was glad. He rejoiced at it. He could see
the beautiful type that was set before him here. The type of
the lamb provided by God. The type of the substitutionary
offering. Isaac taken off the altar, the
lamb put in his stead. Christ in the stead of his people,
him slain, him made an offering acceptable unto God. John Baptist was sent before
our Lord. And John Baptist clearly pointed
out Jesus of Nazareth and said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. That which was typified in all
the sacrifices of the Old Testament, from Abel through Abraham, right
through Israel and all the ceremonial laws, was all pointing to the
Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary. Again in Hebrews,
God tells us that He took no delight in the blood of bulls
and of goats. They could never take away sin. They were only given for the
time to point to the coming Christ. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And with all that shedding of
blood, there is no remission in that, but there is in the
precious blood of the Lamb of God. In the Passover, the Lamb
was shed, the blood was put upon the doorposts and the lintel
of the door. The Lord gave the promise that
when the destroying angel passed over the houses in Egypt, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. We have also the beautiful
prophecy in Isaiah 53, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ that
was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
is done, so he opened not his mouth. Philip preached from that
text to the eunuch, and the Lord revealed himself to the eunuch
in that way so that he could bear witness and testify that
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was baptized
on that profession. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lamb. He is the Lamb of God. He is
the one that was set forth here and typified here. And the question
that Isaac asked, where is the lamb for a burnt offering? The lamb of God was provided. He suffered, he bled, he died
on Calvary's tree. He endured the wrath of God.
The sins of his people were laid upon him and he bore those sins
away. And then on the third day, he
rose again. Remember, in this account here,
in this 22nd of Genesis, Abraham, he was told to go to the mount
which the Lord would tell him of. In fact, it is the same mount
that the temple later on was to be built upon. But it was on the third day he
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, verse four. A third day religion, how vital
that we have that. And how necessary it go to that
third day. You think of how this day, that
third day began with Abraham. On the first day, it would have
been as good as that Isaac was dead. The second also, the third,
coming closer and closer. But by the end of that third
day, what joy, what gladness, what blessing, what a finish
of that trial! We think of how the third day
began with the dear disciples, after the Lord had been crucified
and slain and buried, began with sadness, perplexity, they've
taken away my Lord, I know not where they've found Him, as if
Mary would say, where is the Lamb? But at the end of that
day, the Lord had showed himself to his disciples again and again,
and then in the upper room, and we read, then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord, no longer needing to ask, where
is he that we're slain? They now knew, and he'd shown
himself to them. But this is a question that we
also need to ask in our day, where is the Lamb? Or putting
in our time, where is Christ? Where is Jesus Christ? For Isaac, he must add, but where
is the Lamb for a burnt offering? For the Church of God, the offering
has been made. There is no more need of any
burnt offerings or any further offerings. There is that by that
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. But we still need to ask and
be able to answer this question, where is the Lamb? I want to bring before you seven
points to answer this question, where is the Lamb? The first answer is in heaven. The blessing of the resurrection
and ascension into heaven of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
is a vital doctrine. In our Articles of Faith and
Gospel Standard, we have an article stating that the very bones and
flesh that hung upon the cross are now glorified in heaven.
They're not on earth, they're not buried on earth, they're
in heaven. The disciples, they saw him bodily
ascend up into heaven, the same as what Elisha saw Elijah bodily
ascend up into heaven, and the same as it will be with God's
children when he comes a second time at the end of the world
with power and great glory, The dead in Christ shall arise first,
and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them
in the air, so shall we forever be with the Lord. We shall be
changed, but it is the same body, but glorified. And so, with our
Lord, we have not a dead Christ, we have not a dead Lamb, but
a risen Lamb, an ascended Lamb, We have that beautiful word in
Revelation, that John saw in the midst of the throne a lamb
as it had been slain, still bearing those wounds, right
in the midst of the throne, before God. And we are told this, that
he ascended up into heaven to appear in the presence of God
for us. He is our advocate with the Father. He said, I will pray the Father
and He will give you another comforter which shall abide with
you forever. I must needs go away, if I go
not away the Holy Spirit shall not be sent unto you. That the Lord's presence in heaven
is a vital, vital doctrine. Dear Stephen, the first Christian
martyr who was stoned and the witnesses laying their clothes
at Paul's feet or saw as he was then. And Stephen was calling
upon the Lord and he testified looking up into heaven that he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing to receive him. What a condescension
it is when the Lord ascended up into heaven We read that he
sat on the right hand of the throne of God. When his dear
people are brought, as he has prayed, Father, I will that they
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. When they are received into heaven,
he receives them. He stands to receive them. And
so the answer, the first answer, but where is the lamb? The lamb,
even as it had been slain, is now exalted at the Father's right
hand in heaven, the firstfruits from the dead, a token that all
of the rest shall be gathered. There shall be a harvest. There
shall be those that, according to his prayer, be with me where
I am. So it is a vital answer, a blessed
answer. Where is the Lamb? The Lamb is
in heaven. But secondly, the Lamb is in
all the Scriptures. We have Him here, and our Lord,
when He rose from the dead, appeared to the two on the way to Emmaus,
and He gently reproved them. He said, Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things? and to enter into His glory. Beginning at Moses and in all
the Scriptures, He opened up to them the things concerning
Himself. A suffering Christ, Christ in
all the Scriptures, the Scriptures, the Word of God, the Bible testifies
of the Lord. Do we often think of that? Whenever
we read, whatever passage we read, Whether it is those little
small books by Lehman or Obadiah, do we read it and think, where
is there in this short book, in this book of one chapter,
where is Christ here? Where is he set forth? And he
is in all the scriptures. Sometimes not very clear. but
other times beautifully set forth in times and in shadows. Moses, he says, a prophet, shall
the Lord thy God raise up unto you like unto mayhem, shall ye
hear? We have a time in the book of
Esther. Esther come to the kingdom for
such a time as that. And again in Mordecai, speaking
peace to all his seed. A type in Joseph, gone before
to preserve his brother's lives by great deliverance. And in
Judah, as being surety for Benjamin. Our Lord spoke of Jonah as being
a type and a sign, as Jonah was three days and three nights in
the whale's belly. So shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. In all the
Scriptures we are to expect and we are to look for the Lord there. And precious are those times
when we find Him. Yet dear Jacob, there wrestled
a man with Him to the breaking of the day. And it was a precious
time when I first saw that that man was none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jacob was blessed, given the
name of Israel, because thou hast wrestled with God and with
man, and hast prevailed, one of the pre-incarnation appearances
of our Lord. So in the second place, the answer,
where is the Lamb now in these last days, in these Gospel days? He is in all the pages of the
Scriptures of truth. The written and the incarnate
Word in one thing, in all things, are the same. The third place where is the
Lamb is in the midst of the church gathered together. The Lord gives
a promise that where two or three are gathered together in my name,
There am I in the midst. He promised when he ascended
up into heaven, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. God is a spirit. He dwells everywhere. He is everywhere. The Father
is God, Jesus is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God,
three distinct persons in one Godhead. The bodily presence
of our Lord is in heaven, but His Spirit and His grace are
with us. The Holy Spirit was promised
and is given. He shall not speak of Himself. He shall receive of mine. and
shall show it unto you, so that the Lord may say that, Lo, I
am with you always. So we have this beautiful promise,
when the people of God are gathering together in his name, unto him
shall the gathering of the people be, that the Lord's presence
is there. Now he said at the very beginning,
would we notice if he wasn't? Would we say like Isaac, we have
a building, we have a pulpit, we have a Bible, we have pews,
we have people, but where is the Lamb? Is Christ here? Is the Spirit
here, or is Ichabod written over the door? The glory of the Lord
is departed. How vital for the Lord's presence. How vital that it be known and
felt. Without that, without the power,
the disciples were not to go away from Jerusalem, tarry in
Jerusalem, Until ye be endued with power from on high. Where is the Lamb? That should
be the question that we each ask as we come into the house
of God. Just because we have all the
outward appearances doesn't mean to say the Lord is there. leave solemnly, there's many
assemblies that profess that they are a church or a gathering,
even a God's people, yet the Lord is not there. He's not sanctified
in that place. There's no separation from the
world. There's no evidence of the Holy
Spirit's work. There's no evidence of true spiritual
life. Not to take it for granted. It's not seen in just the external
things, but in the power. Paul was able to say of the Thessalonians,
that the word came not unto them in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And when that is the case, then
we know the Lord is there. But fourthly, where is the Lamb? He is in the preaching of the
Word. We preach Christ crucified. The Apostle Paul says, I determined
to know nothing among you, that is amongst the Corinthians, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A Christless sermon is a useless
sermon. If Jesus is not there, if He
is not lifted up on the pole of the gospel, if He is not extolled
and set forth, then that will never do sinners any good. He is to be their meat, He is
to be their drink, He is the manna from heaven, He is to be
everything to the people of God. It's an easy thing to have a
religion that is outside of Christ. The flesh loves it. In one sense,
in a carnal way, it's easy to preach a sermon that is just
frames, feelings, doctrines, all devoid of the life of Christ. but to preach Christ and to preach
Him as a living Saviour and as the one thing needful and the
one that is most precious to the people of God. That we need,
the Holy Spirit, that we preach Him. The Lord deliver us from turning
away from that one central message of the Gospel pointing to our
Lord Jesus Christ. May we be like those on the way
to Emmaus. May we be like the eunuch and
we have Christ preached to us, set before us. It is incumbent
on hearers to try their ministry that they hear in this test. Are you hearing Christ preached? Is He set before you as the Way,
the Truth and the Life? Is He set before you in all the
fullness of the Gospel? It hath pleased the Father that
in Him, that is Christ, should all the fullness of the Godhead
dwell. When our Lord preached Himself
In John 6, except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of
the Son of Man, ye have no life in you. In those that were naturally
inclined, they said, how can this man give us his flesh to
eat? They said, this isn't hard saying. They went back, they walked no
more with him. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, they are spiritually
discerned. He will not relish, he will not
like, he will not feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. He will have to have something
else. Sadly, many churches, what they
feed upon is really their bands and their music and their social
clubs. And it has been said by some
who've sought the things of God, and they've gone from one church
to another, They've said it's just a religious social club. Most solemn thing. If Christ
is not central and sought after, that won't satisfy a living soul. If Christ is not there, they
will say, where is the Lamb? For natural souls, they us when he's withdrawn. May it be then, especially among
us here, that the answer to the question,
where is the Lamb? He is in the preaching. He is
extolled, he is set forth in the preaching of the gospel. But then we have in the fifth
place, the answer that he is in the ordinances instituted
by himself. The two ordinances that our Lord
gave to the Church of God, both set forth himself, believers'
baptism by immersion and the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. The Lord said and commissioned
his disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. In Acts 2, we read of 3,000 that
pricked in their heart, they believed they were baptized and
they continued in the breaking of bread in the Lord's supper.
and in fellowship and in doctrine with the Apostles. Again, with
the sermon that Philip preached to the eunuch, it led to the
eunuchs desiring to walk in the ordinance of believers' baptism.
They went down, both of them, into the water, and Philip, he
baptized him. A beautiful time that has set
forth of the burial and death and rising again of the Lord
Jesus Christ, setting forth that the believer also is dead to
himself, dead to the law, and risen in newness of life in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says that when Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him.
It is an ordinance of a believer's baptism that is an ordinance
of obedience. willing, freely, lovingly wanting
to walk in the ways that the Lord has set before the church
and in obedience to his word. In the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper his word is, do this in remembrance of me. It is not
a sacrifice, it is not a setting again the A sacrifice of our
Lord. No, it is an ordinance of remembrance. This doing in remembrance of
May. As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show
forth the Lord's death till he come. It is an ordinance where
we look back to his death. In the presence, we are showing
forth his death in that ordinance, and we are to do it until he
comes. So he's looking forward to his
coming. It is an ordinance in which all
of the Church members are one together. However differing their
experience will be of calling and the Lord's teaching and blessing
in their souls, every one of them, their sins were laid upon
the Lord at the same time. He suffered at the same time
for every one of them. He rose again at the same time
for every one of them, and they are justified. through our Lord
Jesus Christ, His life, His death, and this is set before us as
making all the people of God as one in Christ. No difference in their standing,
no difference in how their sins were put away. And so those ordinances,
those two ordinances, no more, were instituted by our Lord and
He is the centre of those ordinances. If we were to take away the Lamb,
take away our Lord from those ordinances, they would mean nothing.
They all set forth Christ, and the Church is to be reminded
again and again of our Lord, who died and rose again. In both
those ordinances are set forth those precious truths. The sixth answer to this question,
but where is the Lamb, is in the hearts of His people. He has formed in their hearts
the hope of glory. When the Lord says He is with
His people always, the Church of God, of course, is not just
bricks and mortar. It is people. It is His people. He comes, He lives in them, He
dwells in them. They have that union and fellowship
with Him. Hymn writer speaks of it, that
His people bring Him to the house of God and going they take Him
again to their homes. It's a sacred realisation of
the Lord's presence. We need to ask ourselves in this,
do we have the Lord with us? Do we have His presence? Is His
fear before our eyes? Do we walk in the Spirit? Are
we mindful of Him? And those two on the way to Emmaus
again, when the Lord first drew near, they didn't know Him. He
was with them, but they didn't know. But they did, as He began
to speak to them, have their heart burned within them by the
way. And then that led to Him revealing
Himself to them. It's a blessed thing to realise
and to know the Lord's sacred presence as He warms our hearts,
as He speaks to us. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. The Lord's presence, as He comes
and we're able to say, He knoweth the way that I take, following the Lord. It's a great blessing to have
the Lord in our hearts. Where is the Lamb? Has the Lord
made His residence there? Is He with us? Does He dwell
with us? The seventh answer Where is the
Lamb? He is in the way, going before
His people. In John 10, when the Lord speaks
of Himself as the Good Shepherd, He says that, when He putteth
forth His sheep, He goeth before them. When Moses wanted to see
the glory of the Lord, The Lord said that he would make all his
goodness pass before him in the way. And Paul's message for his
people is that we are to run the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The
Lord chose that he should ascend up into heaven and give his spirit
here. so that our sights, our thoughts
and affections are set on things above, where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. And all the way through this
journey here below, Christ is the way, I am the way, we are
to be followers of Him. Those in Thessalonica, when they
were converted, became followers of us and of the Lord, says the
Apostle. Be ye followers of me, as I also
am of Christ, says the Apostle Paul. And we are to be a follower,
following his footsteps, following him in his word, following his
people, following his directions, following him wheresoever he
goeth. The Lord said, if they have done
these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry,
if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they
have received My words, they will also receive your words. Whosoever shall be ashamed of
Me and of My words, the same I shall be ashamed of before
the angels and My Father in heaven. If we are a follower of Him, It means that we're not following
the world, we're not following Satan, we're not following your
own wicked heart. Hymn writer says, his track I
see, the narrow way I will pursue till him I view. This is one of the precious promises
the Lord gives for his people. They'll see providence opening
up. They'll see provision in their
lives. They'll see Him providing their
homes, their place of worship, their partner for life. They'll see those appointed places. There's very evidence the Lord
has gone before and He's made that provision. There'll be those
Places where the timing of events is so clear, it has been noted
that in the book of Esther, there's no mention of God, but His handiwork
is everywhere. Whosoever will watch providence
will never lack a providence to watch. And in Psalm 107, we
come to the end of that psalm with all of the Why have the
people of God mapped out? Who so is wise and will observe
these things? Even they shall understand the
lovingkindness of the Lord. The beautiful words in that psalm,
He led them forth by the right way, that they might go unto
a city of habitation. Do we know what it is to be led
of the Lord, the Lord to go before us? Like He did the children of Israel,
let the fiery, cloudy pillar lead me all thy journey through. Was there a track through the
desert? Was there a way marked out? The Lord led them in the
right way. And we need the same. Let the
Lord show us the way. You know, when the camp settled
in the wilderness, while the fiery cloudy pillar rested, they
did not move, they could not move. But as soon as that presence
of the Lord moved, then they moved with it, and they followed
it. That's how they knew their way. The answer here, where is
the Lamb? If we are watching, watching
the Lord's presence, knowing His presence, Then we would discern
and know, like the children of Israel did. When that cloud,
when that presence, when His blessing moved, then they were
to follow that and go with that. But all the while it didn't move.
All the while His presence was known and felt and dwelt over
their camp and over their dwelling and where they were. Then they
must not take it upon themselves to get up. and to move, because
where would they go? Where would they go? It's a blessed
thing then, the answer to where is the Lamb? He is going before
his people in the way. May we then be followers of him.
We will not miss the way then, and it will lead at last to heaven,
lead at last to be where he is. It will be a right way, it will
be the narrow way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. It will be the way of the Lord's
own choosing, in whatever tribulations and trials and disappointments
may be in that way, to balance it all will be the truth known
and felt. It is the way the Lord went.
And here's the way the Lord has led us and directed us. Third
thing, when we go out of the way, we're no longer following
Him. So this question, where is the
Lamb? Abraham, Isaac in his day, realized
there was something missing. And he had to add the last part
of the question Where is the lamb for a burnt offering? That
is what they needed then. That has been wonderfully supplied
in the great anti-time in our Lord Jesus Christ. But in these
seven ways, still this question is to be asked by us in the Church
of God in these last Gospel days. Where is the lamb? May we be
able to answer it in each of the answers who is set before
you this evening. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.