If you would turn your Bibles
to Genesis 22. Genesis 22, we'll start in verse
one and we'll read to verse 19. and said, it came to pass after
these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And 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. And Abraham 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 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. And Abraham said
unto his young man, abide ye here with us, and I, the lad,
will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son,
and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both
of them together. 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's the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham
built an altar. there, and laid the wood in order,
and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the
wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, took the knife to slay
his son. And the angel and the Lord called
unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said,
here am I. And he said, lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thy only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went, took the ram,
and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. And Abraham called the name of
the place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in the mount
of the Lord it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself
have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son, that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore. and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies, and thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." So
Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up, went together
to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Abraham, prior
to our text, he experienced many trials. meaning trials. Back
in Genesis 12, God commanded Abraham to leave his father's
house and the land that he knew, and to go to the place that God
would show him. God told Abraham, I'll make thee
a great nation. I'll bless thee, I'll make thy
name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Just imagine leaving
your home, leaving everything you know, and going to an unknown
land. It'd be kind of scary, but the
Lord commanded him to do it. He was commanded, took his wife
Sarah, all their people, their substance, and took his nephew
Lot, and they went into this new land called Canaan. In Genesis
13, Abraham and Lot are here in this new land, and they have
a lot of cattle, a lot of herdsmen, but the herdsmen aren't able
to keep together, so Abraham said, you take the left, and
I'll take the right, or vice versa, and Lot found this land
called Sodom, and it was well-watered. It would be good for his cattle
and oxen. Well, it was well-watered, and
it looked pleasing to his eyes, but this world can also look
pleasing to the eyes, and the kings of this world, men, will
snatch you so easily. In Genesis 14, Abraham's nephew
Lot, once again all his goods, they'd been captured in this
great war of the kings. And when Abraham had heard of
what had happened, he took some of his servants, about 318 men,
and they went back and they saved, they caught Abraham, his people. all of his goods. And this is
just a picture of Abraham, a picture of Christ, and Lot, a picture
of the sheep. Not a single one will be lost.
And just time and time again, Abraham is caught in these trials,
and the Lord is testing him. How are you going to respond
to these trials? And you would think, trial after
trial, man, like, have I really, am I done yet? But no, he's not. In Genesis 15, after these things,
the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying,
fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. Such a comforting word when we
read the Lord, saying, fear not. If I'm looking to myself, if
I'm looking to my sinful nature, I have much to fear because I'm
not capable of any true safety in myself. but the God is our
shield. In Psalms, it says three times,
trust in the Lord. He, thy Lord God, is our help
and our shield. Abraham received this vision,
a great reward. Numbers 18, it says, I am thy
part and thine inheritance. In Psalms, it says, verily, there
is a reward for the righteous. Verily, he is a God that judges
the earth. In Proverbs, it says, worketh
a deceitful work, but to him that planteth righteousness shall
be a sure reward. Continue on Genesis 15, Abraham
said, Lord God, I have no heir in my house. And the Lord directs
Abraham to count the stars and says, count the stars and so
shall thy seed be. And Abraham believed in the Lord
and it was counted unto him righteousness. this habit of believing in, he
reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. And then this brings us back
to our text in chapter 22. And we read that verse one, and
it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and
said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am.
God tempt Abraham, he tested him, he tried him. God made a
trial of Abraham's faith to try Abraham's obedience unto God. Truly every day we are met with
trials and tribulations, small and great, and what say you?
Are you looking to yourself or how you can get through this
life? Or looking to Christ, looking to him, looking to his promises,
and I'm often reminded, I've said it before up here. He said,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's a true promise right
there. I truly believe the same way
God tested Abraham is how he tests us, showing us that we
are nothing and he is everything. We can achieve nothing in this
life without him. When the spirit of God places
the fire of gospel in a man or woman's heart, they are made
to believe, they are made to see. They are made to truly see the
sin, the sin they inherited from their father, their first father,
Adam. And they have nowhere to hide,
nowhere to turn, nowhere to go, but to Christ, Christ and Christ
alone. The Spirit of God breathes life
into a sinner through faith, and they are made to believe.
The faith of Christ gives the believer a hope, a true hope,
the only hope, not in themselves, but faith in and of Christ Jesus.
We are made trials every day. We are tried every day. We're
going to look, are we going to look to our works? Are we going
to look and believe in Christ? Believe what he accomplished
for his elect, chosen to him before the foundation of the
world, the ones he paid for when his body was nailed to Calvary's
cross, where his blood was shed for many. I need the blood of
Christ. I need to trust in God, the one and true God. One, one
only. I have nowhere else to turn. I want to be very, very direct
here in where it says that God did tempt Abraham. When God tempted,
when he tested Abraham, he was not giving Abraham a choice or
the ability to make a decision or seeing if Abraham would make
a decision for himself. That would mean Abraham was trusting
in his own works or his own abilities. That would also mean that God
is not all-sufficient, that God is not supremely righteous, that
God needs man's help, and that has never been the case, and
that never will be the case. God is over all things, both
in heaven and on earth. No, God was testing Abraham's
faith and obedience in him, in the Lord God. Would Abraham obey
God's demands? Would Abraham look to himself
or to God? In verse one, God said, Abraham,
what a wonderful thing when the spirit of God calls us. He didn't
ask Abraham, are you there? He simply said, Abraham, he knew
he was. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, 2 Timothy. And John 10, it says, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Abraham replies
back, behold, here I am. In my margin, it actually says,
behold me. In Hebrew, this word behold means
hainu, here. Hainu meaning behold, and then
ani. is I, when the two are placed
together, it becomes a more resounding phrase than location-based. It's a strong phrase. When we
cry upon the Lord, when we seek the Lord in prayer, he says,
through the spirit of the Lord, child of God, behold, here I
am. Here, Abraham is making it to
God in response to God's call to Abraham. Putting the two together,
he, nay, need. Hineni is powerful because it
shows complete availability and readiness to serve. Kind of makes
me think of someone in the military. 24-7, no matter when, they're
completely available and they must be ready to serve. Abraham
is Hineni. You see the difference here,
after Ab and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they heard the voice of
the Lord and they were scared. They hid themselves. The Lord
God called unto Adam, and there was not a Hineni back. The Lord had to call again and
say, where art thou? And Adam said, I heard the voice
of the garden. I was scared because I was naked and I hid myself.
Disobedience will cause a man to hide himself. But faith, obedience
to the Lord, will cause a man to say, Hineni, behold, Lord,
here I am. Behold me, what may I do that
is pleasing you that is an honor to you? Verse two, it says, and he said,
take thou thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, 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. Remember,
Abraham is completely available and ready for whatever the Lord
is about to say. And then the Lord commands Abraham,
take your son, thine only son, the one that you love, and make
him for a burnt offering. What is this burnt offering?
It is a sacrifice. It is a form of worship. This is obedience unto the Lord. The whole burnt offering is entirely
consumed and goes up in the flame of the altar to God expressing
the ascent of the soul in worship. Here we see the requirement of
a human sacrifice by God. An animal will not do. Sin came
in this world by man, and it must be satisfied by man for
divine justice. Such faith and obedience to the
Lord, Abraham displays here. How would we react? I cannot
imagine. Take thy only son. Sacrifice
him. I'm reminded of Genesis 21, 22,
and the end of it says, God is with thee in all that thou doest. Not in some that thou doest,
in all. Imagine this, as with many things,
Abraham's mind and his heart was thinking this. This wasn't
very long ago, just a couple verses. It's like, the Lord is
with me. Throughout all of it, the Lord
is with me. I'm reminded what my mother has
told me in the past in regards to certain situations, and she
says, sometimes silence is the best answer. Abraham stands true
to his original response. Behold me, Lord. I am ready and
completely available to wherever you have for me, Lord. Because
we don't hear from Abraham. The Lord gave him a command,
and he's doing it. There's a saying in sports, when
athletes are faced with difficult situations or victory, it says,
act like you've been there before. That's what Abraham's doing.
This isn't the first time he's been tested. He's been tested
time and time again, and he's gonna act like he's been there
before. We begin to see pictures and types
here. God, our Heavenly Father, commands Abraham, a type of God
the Father. Sacrifice your son, a type of
Christ. the son of God, for a burnt offering.
What a trial Abraham is facing with here. Take thy only son,
that thou lovest, and make him for a sacrifice. For all those
who believe in the one and true living God know they are faced
with trials daily. How will we face them? Trials
are God's way of testing our faith in Christ, our obedience
to God. Are we gonna look to ourselves
or to him? If you would turn to James 1,
James 1. James 1, and we will be reading
in verse 2, where it says, brethren, excuse me, my brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Count it
all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh. It produces patience. but let
patience have her perfect word, that ye may be perfect, that
you may be complete. Perfect and complete,
wanting nothing, lacking nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that give it to all men liberally and without
disappointment, and it shall be given to him. And Jeremiah
29 says, then shall you call upon him, you shall go and pray
unto him, and I will hearken, I will listen unto you. He listens
to us. When we call upon him, when we
go to him in prayer, he's listening. Jeremiah 33, it says, call unto
me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty, inaccessible
things which thou knowest not. I can tell you there's a tremendous
amount I don't know, I will never know, but if we call upon him,
he will answer. I find it often, I've got this
little sheet right here, it's called Message Preparation. Brother
Marvin gives it to some of the men and at the very top it says,
pray, pray, pray. when you're going through scripture
and you're trying to find a message that the Lord will allow you
to preach, his message. It says we have not because we
ask not. We pray he will answer us. Last
verse here in verse six of James 1 says, but let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering, not doubting, for he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For he that
doubts is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed. I was caught in a riptide last year and it was pretty horrible. Back and forth, back and forth,
swimming like nobody's business to get back to shore. That's
what it's like when we doubt. But let him ask in faith, not
doubting. Where's our faith? Is it in ourselves
or in our dead works? Is it in the accomplished work
of Christ, led by the Spirit? Look in Christ, trusting in our
Heavenly Father. He is able. Go back to our text
in Genesis 22. At the very end of verse two,
it says, and offer him therefore burnt
offering upon one of the mountains I will tell you of. I find it
interesting about the mountains mentioned in Genesis 8-4 when
the ark rested upon a mountain. When Lot, a couple chapters previously,
when Sodom and Gomorrah were being held, Lot departed and
he went to the mountain. He knew the mountain was a safe
place. Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him
out of the mountain. Psalm 48, great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised in the seat of our God in the mountain of his
holiness. In Joel 3, it says, so shall
you know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy
mountain. Luke 6, and it came to pass in
those days that when he went out into a mountain to pray and
continued all night in prayer to God. On this mountain, he's
holy and lifted up. The mountains are a safe space.
And when we're found in Christ, we are safe in him. The Lord
says, upon one of these mountains, which I will tell thee of, I
believe the spirit of the Lord is gonna lead Abraham to this
mountain, because this land of Moriah is about 45 acres. It's
a big space. And there's mountains all around,
but he doesn't tell him specifically where. He's gonna lead him by
divine revelation exactly to the designated location that
he is to be at. Verse three, it says, and Abraham
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 unto the
place of which God had told him. To this point, we still haven't
heard from Abraham verbally, but his actions are speaking
louder than his words. His actions are speaking of his
faith in God and of the Son. He rose up early, began to prepare,
And we begin to see pictures before us in this passage. Abraham,
a picture of God, the heavenly father, carefully preparing everything
for the sacrifice of Isaac. The father carefully prepared
everything for the sacrifice of his son on Calvary's cross. Isaac, a picture of the son of
God, Christ Jesus, the faith of the son and his father, his
will, his purpose, not complaining, not murmuring. The son trusts
the father. There is no mention of Isaac
questioning Abraham. He took those two young men,
and there's not much mention of there, but they were to help
in this three-day journey from their home to the land of Moriah.
I believe these two men are witnesses to Isaac carrying the wood up
the mountain, the same way the Son, God, carried the cross of
Calvary. He took Isaac, his son, to sacrifice. He split the wood, he got the
wood ready, and the journey began to the land of Moriah. In verse
four, on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the
place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, abide ye here with us, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Abraham tells those men
to stay behind, the son and I, we're going to worship. Why just
Abraham and Isaac? Why not all of them? What was
to take place at the altar was a transaction between the father
and the son only, no one else. At the end of verse five, it
says, and come again to you foreshadowing of the spirit of God through
Abraham. The son of God said, I will come again. He said in
John 14, and if I go and prepare a place For you, I will come
again and receive unto you myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. In verse six, he says, and Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son,
and he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and they went
both of them together. The father lays the wood upon
his son. The son will bear the load to Mount Moriah. This is
a picture of how the son of God bore his cross. cross of Calvary
where he would fulfill, where he would obey and complete his
father's will. John 19, and he bearing his cross
went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is
called in the Hebrew Golgotha. Abraham took the knife. This
symbolizes the truth of faith and the potential for sacrifice.
It's foreshadowing the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He
took the fire, Hebrews 12 says, for our God is a consuming fire. The fire symbolizes God the Holy
Spirit. The intent of the symbol was
to show that the Holy Spirit would illuminate those he reached
as fire gives light. Additionally, fire and flames,
the Holy Spirit of the Lord inflames a man or woman's heart when he
pierces her heart with his word. But when the knife and the fire
are together, it represents the necessary tools for this burnt
offering, the willingness to obey God's command, even with
all the difficult. So all the pictures of the triune
God are present. We have Abraham, a picture of the Heavenly Father.
We have Isaac, the picture, son of God, and we have the fire,
a picture of the Holy Spirit. As Abraham and Isaac walk up
Mount Moriah, the fire, the Holy Spirit, leads and illuminates
their pathway. In verse seven, and Isaac spake
again, excuse me, 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? This is the first time we're
hearing from Isaac. They've been on this difficult three-day journey,
and he's following the father. The father, same as God Almighty,
commanded Abraham. Abraham commanded Isaac, said,
we're going on this three-day journey, let's go. And now he's noticing
something. He's been here before. This burnt
offering is a sign of worship. And he said, but we have fire
and we have wood, but where is the lamb? Where is the lamb? We can't worship if we don't
have a lamb. And Abraham says, my son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. So they both went together. We
see the faith of the son and the father. He shows his obedience
to the father, no bickering or questioning. He said, God will
provide himself a lamb, and he's good. God will provide himself
a lamb, the same way God Almighty provided Jesus Christ, his only
begotten son, the sinner's substitute. The lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world, John 1. If we could only recognize
more in our own lives and say, God will provide. I just wondered
myself what this journey was like for them together. They've
already been three days on this journey, and now they get to
the base of Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is 2,438 feet high. That's about half the elevation
of Spruce Knob. And, you know, they're just walking
up there. Isaiah's, or Isaac, excuse me,
is carrying this wood. And what worship they're having
together, like how they're communing together, and their prayer, and
making it to the top of Mount Moriah. In verse nine it says,
and they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham
built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac
his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. They've arrived
here, they're not pitching a tent and gonna make a fire and get
some food. No, Abraham didn't miss a beat.
He built the altar, he prepared it. He laid the wood in order. Building an altar was a common
practice for worship and sacrifice. His action signifies, once again,
his readiness to worship God through his obedience at the
cost of sacrificing his son. Laying the wood in order indicates
a careful arrangement for the preparation of the burnt offering.
He bound Isaac and he laid him on the altar upon the wood. In
James 2, it says, was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou
how faith wrought? Faith was working with his works,
and by works was his faith made perfect. It was made complete.
Man can take this scripture out of context and say Abraham was
working on his own, his works. No, Abraham was applying his
means by faith through the work of God. Verse 10 through 12 says
that Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to
slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called
unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said,
here am I. And he said, lay not thy hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I
know, now I know that thou, fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thy only son from me. Abraham's going for the sacrifice,
and right before he's gonna do it, the angel of the Lord calls
out. In 1 Samuel 15, it says, and
Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice. and to listen than the fat of
rams. The Lord has a great delight
in the burnt offering and sacrifices, a great delight in worship, but
to obey is better. Right here, I went right by it,
but before I preach, I go to Brother Marvin, and I go through
my entire message with him, and he kind of pointed this out to
me, and I'm glad he did. It says, for now, that now means at this
time, also means already. I already, I know that thou fearest
God. I heard a message by Brother
Nyburn a long time ago, and it was basically now, and now is
right now. Five seconds ago is in the past,
now is now. And that's neat to me, where
he says, for now I know thou fearest God. Now could be, from
the very beginning, because he created all things, he designed
everything, he ordained, he edified all things. Now is in his time. Now I know thou, fierce God. It also says in the Blue Letter
Bible about now, it says, for sometimes the idea of time is
lost on us. But he says, now at this time.
Verse 13, it says, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. We're seeing a transition here
now. The Lord hath provided a substitute for Isaac. And Abraham saw the
ram. He grabbed the ram and offered
him up in place of his son. The ram fulfilled Abraham's need. A.W. Pink said, a beautiful foreshadowing
of Christ dying in the stead of sinners who are as Isaac was,
already in the place of death, bound, unable to keep themselves,
with the knife of divine justice suspended over them. Verse 14, it says, and Abraham
called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said
to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. The
margin, it actually says, the Lord will see or provide. The Lord will see or provide.
God's ability to see and provide for his people. And there's actually
a reference there in the margin also, where it refers back to
the eight where Isaac asked He asked Abraham, where's the lamb?
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for
this birth offering. So they went both together. God
will provide. If we could only get that through our fixed goals. Verse 15 to 18, it says, and
the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time 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, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou
hast obeyed my voice." That is actually, I didn't say in the
beginning, but that's why I entitled this message, Obedient Unto the Lord, Obedient
Unto the Lord. because thou hast obeyed my voice.
The angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham again. The Lord blesses
Abraham and his seed. The Lord has provided a great
reward for Abraham's obedience to God. It will show forth this
day and for ages to come. His seed is gonna continue, and
tribes are gonna be formed off of Abraham's seed. In verse 19,
it says, so Abraham returned unto his young men, and they
rose up, went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. The trials we face, we're facing,
we will face, but we have been shown here when we trust, believe,
and we have faith in Christ, obey our Heavenly Father, that
we truly learn who the trying God is and what his capabilities
are, his grace, his faithfulness, his all-sufficiency, all his
mercies. These trials are important in
the believer's life because they show them that their only shield,
their only stronghold, is our Lord God. We must continue to
look to Christ. Seek Him, keeping our attention
fixed on Christ and not on this world. I believe our Heavenly
Father sends us these trials to show us we have no ability
to save ourselves. We have no ability to work ourselves
out of anything. And He is our only hope. Christ
is our faith. We learn true obedience when
we look to how the son was obedient to the father from beginning
and satisfying his father's will. I pray the Lord blesses this
for his glory and his people's good. Amen.