All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Genesis 22. Genesis chapter 22. The Lord
has tempted Abraham not to entice him to sin, but to prove the
Lord's love for Abraham, to prove the reality of the faith that's
been given unto Abraham, and to prove the Lord's faithfulness
to keep his people in the time of great, great trial. Abraham
has heard the Lord's command concerning Isaac. He rises the
next morning obediently, making all the preparations necessary
offer his son as a burnt offering unto the Lord. And he takes Isaac
to the place where the Lord said he'd show him in the land of
Moriah there to offer him. Well, arriving at the place,
Abraham, Isaac, picture and type of the father and the son, go
up together. And the work of redemption is
a work that's done with God only, the Father and the Son. 2 Corinthians 5, 19 says, God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. You know,
when the Lord laid down his life at Calvary, there were two thieves
there, one on either side of him. There were some Roman soldiers
that were there, physically carrying out the crucifixion, and there
were many Jews that were also there, some that loved him, some
that didn't, some that were standing afar off, some that were hating
him, wagging their heads. But salvation and redemption,
the finishing of the work, is a work that was done only by
the Lord. A lot of them were there, but
only the Lord. Well, Isaac going to the place,
he sees the fire, he sees the wood, he asked his father, he
said, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham answers,
being moved by God's spirit to say this very thing, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. They get
there, Abraham builds an altar, binds Isaac, lays him on the
altar, stretches forth his hand, takes the knife, taking that
knife to slay his son, Isaac hears the voice of God speak
out of heaven, and this is what the Lord said, Abraham, Abraham,
lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything, unto
him, for now I know that thou fearest God. That is, God caused
that which he knew to be seen and proven. I've made a point
of this. God never learns anything. God
is omniscient. God knows. He knows. So he tells
Abraham, don't harm the lad. Do the lad no harm, seeing that
thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. With God's faithfulness being
shown, Abraham's faith was found to be real. Abraham was a man
just like all of us. Abraham was a man. He was a sinner. But here is the blessed truth
of redemption that is set forth. And Almighty God gave Abraham
faith. Abraham believed God. He stops
him at that last moment, do the lad no harm, and Abraham lifts
up his eyes and beholds a ram caught in a thicket with his
horns. He takes the ram, prepares that
ram for a burnt offering and offers him up. And it was there
that Abraham was moved of God to name that place Jehovah-Jireh,
the Lord Actually, it means the Lord will see. The Lord will
see. He saw, having beheld the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, but He saw to it. He saw to it. God's going to
have to be satisfied. God is just. He's just. The justifier of sinners, but
not at the expense of His justice. He saw the law's demand for justice. He saw it being satisfied, redemption
of his people by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
So it means the Lord will see, but it means also the Lord will
provide. He provides all that was needed
for the redemption of his people in Christ. And we need to be
found without sin. Therefore, God's going to provide
a lamb for there to be no condemnation. Wrath has got to be poured out.
Wrath of the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. Where sin is found, death must
be found. But thirdly, it means the Lord
will provide, and He said through Abraham's mouth, All scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Abraham didn't just say that.
He said that being moved of God. He said the Lord will provide
Himself. Great blessing in beholding the
truth of God Himself being the Lamb. All that was required of
our redemption, salvation is in His hands. The Lord provided
Himself. Well, having seen Isaac's deliverance,
a fit, beautiful picture of the deliverance that all God's people
have in Christ, let's read what the Spirit of God has to say
in Genesis 22, verses 15 to 18. The angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, by myself,
I have 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 heaven, 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. Now, as we consider this chapter,
this portion right here, may the Lord give us some understanding
here. I want you to consider the marvelous promise and blessing
that the Lord has given Abraham. And when we read these words,
go back to what we look at all the time. Those two on the road
to Emmaus, and beginning with Moses, and all the scriptures
the Lord expounded unto them, all those things concerning himself. So when we see Abraham being
spoken to here, and the words of the Lord, I'm gonna show you
this in a few minutes, it's gonna be in Hebrews 6. But if we don't
see Abraham as a type of Christ here, then we missed it, we missed
it. We read, this promise in the
Old Testament, and when we read that, you'd have to conclude
that God's blessing upon Abraham was based totally upon Abraham's
faithfulness, that God's blessing was based on Abraham's blessing. If you just read the words, that
last verse 18, in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice. Well, we know that it's not by
works of righteousness that we've done, but it's according to his
mercy that saved us. Now, there's a blessing concerning
this particular passage script that I just read. There's a blessing
found in the New Testament. I want you to take your Bible,
hold your place right there, and I want you to take your Bible
and turn over to Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6, and we're gonna read
verses 13 to 20 and comment on them for a few minutes. And here's
the true blessing in this passage of Scripture. I just read in
the Old Testament what God said to Abraham. I read it, you heard
it, you read it. And if you read it, it does appear
as though because you've done this thing, because you've obeyed
me, I'm going to bless you. Now, the blessing found in Hebrews
6 is that the Spirit of God interprets for us what was said in Genesis
22. God's going to interpret it for
us. And I'm so thankful for that. We can read this and we say,
okay, this is what the Lord said. You say, well, this is what it
said in the Old Testament. Well, the Spirit of God said,
this is what I said. This is what I said. So let's
look at Hebrews 6, verse 13 to 20. For when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore
by himself, saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying,
I will multiply thee. Now, before I go any farther,
I'm gonna tell you what God just said. I'm gonna bless you. I'm going to bless you, and I'm
going to multiply you. And so after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them and the end of all
strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within
the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Now,
the Spirit of God has revealed something that we desperately
need to know. Based on what we read in Genesis,
we would conclude that Abraham's actions, Abraham's faith was
the basis of God's blessing. Because you've done this, I'm
gonna bless you. Well, God's blessing toward Abraham, his
good pleasure to bless Abraham was totally in and for the sake
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And according to God's counsel,
Now here was God's counsel. When I say God's counsel, this
is what I mean. God's will. God's will. So God's counsel
to Abraham was this. Surely, blessing, I will bless
thee. I am so thankful that God's blessing
to his people, especially to this needy sinner right here,
is not based on me. Why don't you laugh at that,
friend? I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that God's blessing
is not based on what I do, but rather on Christ. So his blessing
was toward Abraham in and for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 19.21 says, there are many devices in a man's heart.
Many devices, many plots, intentions. Nevertheless, the counsel the
prudence, the purpose, the will of God Almighty, that shall stand. The angel of the covenant himself,
the Lord Jesus, our Lord, seed of Abraham, the one through whom
the Messiah would come, would come through the loins of Abraham,
the Lord of glory, he spoke and he made a promise made a promise
to Abraham and all like him, all vessels of mercy, objects
of God's grace. And he made a promise that was
as sure as God is sure. His word is sure. A promise that
would not change. Surely, surely, blessing, causing
to prosper. I will bless thee, and multiplying,
increasing, I will multiply thee. We read in Genesis 22 of the
Lord speaking to Abraham concerning Abraham's faithfulness, but again,
unless we behold Abraham as a type of Christ. You think about this. If it was the Lord Jesus Christ
he was talking to, you'd say, well, now I see that. I'll show
you something. That's what the Lord's saying
in Hebrews. If we read and miss the New Testament
interpretation of Revelation, we miss the blessing. Galatians
3, 13 and 14 says this, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree that The blessing of Abraham. What was the blessing given to
Abraham? Well, I can just sum it up by saying this. Salvation
through the Messiah. that was promised to Abraham.
That's the blessing. I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna
bless you and my son. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. What do you mean? That
we might receive the promised Spirit. Galatians 4.6 says, because your
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Yes, blessing and multiplying
was promised to Abraham by the Spirit, not according to Abraham's
faithfulness, but the faithfulness of the one of whom Abraham was
a type. Hebrews 6 verse 15 says, And
so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Now,
this is what the New Testament revelation, God's Spirit, says. Abraham patiently endured. Well, you say, yeah, but When
Abraham went into those cities, wasn't he afraid? And didn't
he tell Sarah, he said, you say you're my sister. You tell them
I'm your brother. And didn't, whenever God told
him that I'm going to give you a son out of your loins, didn't
he hearken to the voice of his wife? And didn't Sarah say, take
Hagar, my handmaid, and we'll have a son, for me, for Sarah,
for us, through Hagar and Abraham hearkened to her voice and didn't
they have a child? The scripture says, and so after
he had patiently endured, you see anyone with any hope,
and you try to see them outside of the person of Christ and His
faithfulness, as He is, so are we in this world. Outside of seeing us in Him,
there is no faithfulness. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Abraham was a man just like all
of us with struggles. But you hear what the Spirit
of God says in the New Testament, and it says, so after he had
patiently endured, being found in Christ. Hold your place here, I'm going
to turn to Galatians 2.16. This just came in my mind, Galatians
2.16. I'm going to, it says knowing
that a man, I'm going to just say knowing that Abraham, knowing
that Marvin, knowing that Ben, Neil, whoever, knowing that a
man is not justified by the works of the law or what he did, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified." Robed in the righteousness of Christ,
that's what God sees. Robed in Him. The Scripture says,
And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. God Almighty said to Abraham
in Genesis 15, 1, Abraham, I am thy shield. I am your hedge. I'm your protector
and exceeding great reward. I looked up that. I'm your wage. I'm what you'll receive. I'm your pay. Well, here was
one I thought, I am payment of the contract. I'm the payment
of that covenant. I'm the payment. Abraham, I am
thy shield and exceeding great reward. Well, after all the trials
sent by the Lord, the scripture says Abraham patiently endured
because he was found in Christ. He was God's. And he obtained
the promise, not because of what Abraham did, but Christ. He received
it. He received it. Why? Well, verse 16 says, for men
verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. You know, men. It used to be
you'd go to court. I don't know if they do this
anymore or not. Do they still make you put your
hand on the Bible and they just die? I didn't think they did
any of that. Used to, you had to put your hand on the Bible.
Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth? You know what they're doing? They're giving
an oath. Do you solemnly swear? Men would put their hand on that
Bible, and what they were doing is, verse 16, for men verily
swear by a greater, They put their hand on the Word of God
and they say, this is greater than me, right here. Men swear
by the greater. And an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. What they're saying is this.
I'm telling you that I'm going to tell you the truth. If I tell
you I'm telling you the truth, then I'm telling you the truth.
I'm not gonna lie to you by the grace of God. If I do, shame
on me. That's why they say men swear
by the greater to end all the controversy. They swear by something
greater than themselves. Attesting, I'm telling you the
truth. But 17 to 20 says we're in God. willing more abundantly to show
under the airs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,
which hope we have. as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, in which entereth into that within the
veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Men
swear by one greater than themselves. That's what he's saying. Because
God could swear by no greater. no greater than himself, and
being willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of his
promise the unchangingness of his counsel, of his purpose,
of his will. He confirmed it by an oath. The scripture says, verse 18,
that by two immutable things, You read commentators, and the
commentators, they're not in perfect agreement, and I do understand
it. It means unalterable deed or
matter by two immutable things. You know what immutable means?
It doesn't change. Nothing changes. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed by two immutable things. I will tell you, you
look up all the definitions, it means unalterable deed or
matter. Two immutable things. And the
things that come to my mind is this, number one, he could swear
by, no greater, he swore by himself and by two immutable things.
Number one, here's the first one, God. I just quoted Malachi 3.6, I
am the Lord, I change not. The other thing, God's word.
God and his word, God never changes and his word will never pass
away. Some men say it's his promise and his oath, but it's the Lord. Two immutable things. Therefore,
if God be for us, who can be against us? By these two immutable
things, we've been given a strong consolation. What does that mean? We've got great comfort. God
has said this. God has said, I'm telling you,
swearing by an oath, we have a strong consolation. Who does? Those that have fled for refuge. Remember the story of the refuge,
the cities of refuge there in the Old Testament? There was
three on one side of Jordan, three on the other side of Jordan.
These were cities. If anybody had accidentally had
killed somebody unawares, an axe head fell off, hit him in
the head, killed him, and it was an accident. Then they could
go inside the city of refuge until the case was heard. And
they were protected from the avenger of blood. But we have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge. Well, who is
our refuge? Well, it's the Lord. We flee up to the Lord to lay
hold upon the hope that is set before us. We lay hold upon Him
who is our hope of glory. He's our good hope through grace.
He is the only hope that we have. We have no other hope. but him. Verse 19 says, which hope we
have, actually hope is in italics, what you're saying is, which
we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which
entereth in, that within the veil, when we have an anchor
of the soul. Christ is the anchor of our soul. You know, you take an anchor
on a ship and As long as you can see that anchor, as long
as you can see the anchor, it's not doing you a whole lot of
good. I mean, if you see the anchor, but when they drop that
anchor and it hits bottom and sets, that's secure. It'll hold that ship. It'll go
around, but it ain't going far. It's there. We have an anchor. It is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the anchor of the soul of His people. We flee to Him for refuge. We lay hold upon Him by faith,
He who is sure and steadfast. He that entereth into that within
the veil, our hope, is anchored in Christ, who's in heaven. He's
entering into that veil, the very presence of God himself,
who is God. That's where he is. Come up and
sit in my right hand until I make your entrance, your footstool. He's our forerunner. He's entering
into heaven for us, before us, and coming back to get us. He's
a high priest, the scripture says, forever. after the order
of Melchizedek. Just look in the next chapter,
Hebrews 7, verses 1 to 4. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all, being, by interpretation,
king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which
is king of peace without father, without mother. without descent,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like
unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider
how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham
gave the tenth of his spoils." I'm convinced Melchizedek was
the Lord Jesus himself. But we have an anchor. We have an anchor of a soul. as I wrap this up, having seen
the New Testament revelation of what God said in the Old Testament,
the Lord, the Spirit of God said, this is what I said, this is
it. I want you to turn back now to Genesis 22 and just look at
these final verses, verses 19 to 24. 19 says, so Abraham returned
unto his young men, and they rose up, went together to Beersheba,
and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Now, we've seen the miracle of
God's grace. The Lord has been magnified,
having shown the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't harm the land. Turns around, he sees a ram caught
in the thicket. And the scripture says, he returned
to the young men. He told them he'd come back.
He said, the lad and I are gonna go yonder and worship. We're
gonna worship God and come again to you. Abraham believed God. Remember, the Messiah was coming
through Isaac. He was coming through Isaac.
And God told Abraham, that's in Isaac. All nations gonna be
blessed through Isaac. Talking about Christ. Abraham
believed it. Lad and I go worship and we're
coming back. I'm coming back with this boy.
And here he is. He returned under these young
men. They rose up together and went to Beersheba and Abraham
dwelt at Beersheba. I'll tell you the blessing. It's
saying that whenever Abraham, look back at 21, chapter 21,
verse 33, Abraham, after he had dealt with the Bimelech, settled
the issue they had, and Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba.
It was a place of rest. He planted a tree, but it was
a place of rest, and called on the name of the Lord there. I
told you, when he says he called on the name of the Lord there,
God raised up a place to worship. Raised up a place, a church,
and that's where he dwelt. He went back to Beersheba. He
dwelt at Beersheba. Why? Because God raised up the
gospel there. That's where God's people want
to be. I want to be where the gospel is being preached. I want
to be where God's honored. I want to be where God's praying.
I want to meet with God's people. That's what I want to do. And
it came to pass, verse 20 to 24, after these things, that
it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she's also born
children unto thy brother Nahar, who is his firstborn brother.
Kimuel, father of Aram, Chesed, Hazar, Pildash, Jedlap, Bethul,
and Bethul begat Rebekah. These eight did bear to Nahar
Abraham's brother and his concubine, whose name was Rumah. She bare
also Tebah, and Gaham, and Tehash, and Meachah." Now, we're told
of the lineage of Abraham's brother. Nahar, and I looked up these
people, find out who they were, and some of the children that
was born to Nahar, his brother, they're mentioned one time right
here. Some of them, not all of them,
but some of them. And some were known according to their lives
that happened later. Uz was a son, it's said that
gave the name of the land of Uz, That's where Job was from. And another son, Buz, was said
to be the father of the Buzites, of which Elihu. Elihu was the man in the book
of Job that thought that Job was justifying himself rather
than God. That's Job 32.2 if you'd like
to look up. He reprimanded, but that's who
Elihu was. But most of those that were mentioned
were surrounded with pretty much speculation, except for one. There was a granddaughter born
to Nahor She was a granddaughter to Nahar, and her name was very
familiar. Bethuel, who was the son of Nahar,
Abraham's brother, begat Rebekah. Now, this Rebekah was the woman
who would later be Isaac's wife. This was Isaac. She was gonna
be Isaac's wife, the one that God had just delivered. And this
Rebecca, turn over, this is the last passage right here, Romans
9. This Rebecca, she'd have two sons. She's gonna have two boys,
I'll just read Romans 9, 9 to 13. Let's just read this and
I'll close. Romans 9, 9 to 13. This is the word of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And she did. And not only this,
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. The Spirit of God was pleased
to introduce, having spared Isaac. He then introduced the woman
that would be Isaac's wife, through whom Jacob and Esau would be
born. the marvelous work of God as
it's just unfolded before us. God Almighty does as he will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. He
told Moses, he said, I'm gonna have mercy on whom I'll have
mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So
it's not him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God that
showeth mercy. I pray God bless this to our
hearts tonight for Christ's sake. Amen.