Let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis
chapter 22. Our subject this morning is what
I think that everybody will be interested in, every believer
at least. Our subject is trials, works,
and their purpose. Trials, works, and their purpose. Now, you who have been taught
know that the Bible is a photo album of the Lord Jesus Christ. From cover to cover, especially
the Old Testament scriptures, we're given many types, figures,
shadows of Christ to come. Hebrews 10 says the law having
a shadow of good things to come, not the express image of the
things. could never, with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually, make the comers
therein too perfect. They were given to give pictures,
to show us a picture of Christ. Whenever the Lord was speaking
to some men one day, He said, you search the Scriptures, for
in them you think you have life. You're looking for a way to save
yourself. And He says, and they are they
which testify of Me. When he met those men on the
road to Emmaus, the scripture says he started at Moses and
all the prophets. He went through the whole Old
Testament scripture. And it says he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. I pray this morning he will be
the teacher. I pray he will teach us this
morning this word. We have here in Genesis 22 one
of the best pictures of Christ in all the Scriptures. It begins
in Genesis 22, 1, and it came to pass after these things. Abraham had been sent the gospel,
he had been quickened to life, he had been called to faith in
Christ, and he had been through a lot of trials. Abraham at this
point believed God. And it says, and it came to pass
after these things that God did tempt Abraham. That means He
put him through a trial. He called him to a trial. And
he 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. Now you just think about that.
You just think about what it would be like. This has never
been heard of before. And God calls Abraham to offer
up his son for sacrifice. His only son whom He loved. Now
the first thing I want you to behold is God our Father and
Christ His Son. He says, take thy son. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He said, Thine only Son, Christ,
is God's only begotten Son. He says, Whom thou lovest. God
said, This is my beloved Son, the Son I love, the Son I love. And I offer Him for a burnt offering,
He said. Jesus Christ was chosen of God. God chose His own Son to be the
offering for God. for His people. He chose Him
to be offered up for His people. Do you understand why the Son
of God had to lay down His life? We were guilty. His people were
guilty and the only way for God to be just and show us mercy
is for Christ to come and fulfill the law of God and that by laying
down His life on the cross. The only way that God's people
could be redeemed from the curse of the old covenant law, that
covenant that was given to Adam in the garden. The only way we
could be redeemed from that covenant, the only way His Jewish elect
people could be redeemed from the curse of that law given at
Mount Sinai. Gentiles were not under that
law. But the only way His Jewish elect people could be redeemed
from the curse of that law was for Christ to fulfill that old
law. And that's what Christ came to do. And He did. And so, Hebrews
10, 9, it says this, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. This is
what Christ said. I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. He takes away that first covenant. He takes away that law. He takes
away that curse. He takes that away. And He says
that He may establish the second. The covenant of grace. The everlasting
covenant of grace. He takes away the one that He
may establish the second. It says, by the witch will, by
Christ's will, by His doing, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. By the offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that's what Christ came to
do. Now look at verse 3. 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. Then on the
third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place afar
off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, About you here with the ass and I'm the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you Abraham had three full days
to think about this He had three full days to think about the
fact he was about to go to offer up his only son But brethren
in eternity God chose his son He chose His Son in eternity.
In eternity, from the foundation of the world, God wrote the names
of every sinner He will save in a book. Actually, it's in
the purpose of God. It's in the mind of God. God
doesn't need a book. But for you and me to understand,
He wrote the names of everybody He will save in a book. And He
gave these people to His Son, and His Son entered covenant
to save us from our sins. Look at Revelation 13. And when
Christ did that, right then, Christ became, in the will, purpose,
mind of God, Christ became the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Look at Revelation 13. This is
speaking about the dragon. It is speaking here of of anti-Christ,
he's speaking of free will works religion, he's speaking of the
philosophies of men, he's speaking of everything that's against
Christ. And it says here, look at Revelation
13, it says there's coming a day, and it says, and all that dwell
upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written
in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now those whose names are written
in this book are not going to worship Antichrist. They are
not going to go that way because Christ is going to save them.
But what I want you to see there is their names were written there
and when Christ entered the covenant to save them, He became the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Now notice here, Abraham
provided everything necessary for this sacrifice. He provided
everything, the wood, the knife, the fire, everything they needed.
Well, God provided and prepared everything needed for the cross
at Calvary. God at Calvary was in full control
of everything that was taking place there. This was God making
full provision, saving his people from their sin. Acts 4, Acts
2, 23. Look there with me. Acts 2, 23.
Pick up your Bible. Now look with me. I know that
some of you sit there and you're not looking and paying attention.
I want you to look. Acts 2, 23. You know, if you
was, if you was hurt, had some sporting injury and you had to
go through physical therapy, you wouldn't want to do it because
it hurts. It's painful. But, but that physical
therapist would make you do it because it's the best thing for
you. And this right here might be hurtful and painful for some,
but I'm going to make you look these scriptures up, because
this is the best thing for you. Pick this up and look at Acts
2, 23. It says, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. You see there, this was according
to God. Look at Acts 4, verse 27. It says, Of a truth against thy
holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, Jew and
Gentile, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. Now, there is something
else we see back there in Genesis 22. Abraham commanded his servants
to stay behind while him and his son went forth to the mountain
to sacrifice Isaac. He said for his servants to stay
behind. Me and my son are going to go forth and do this. The
eternal redemption of Christ's people from the curse of the
law was the work of God the Father and God the Son alone. God the
Father and God the Son alone. The scripture says, God was in
Christ reconciling the world of his elect unto himself. God was in Christ doing that.
When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the
right hand of God. He said, I've trodden the winepress
alone. He said, and of the people there
was none with me. You see, the glory of God in
declaring God just and justifier and saving His people, it goes
to God alone. So, He did this alone. God the
Father was in Christ doing this work alone. Now, let's consider
Abraham for a moment. I want you to look at Abraham
here for a moment. We see in Abraham that God shall
try those to whom He's given faith. He will try those He's
made to believe on Him. Verse 1 tells us that God did
try Abraham. This was God that did this. Now,
is your union to Christ real? You who believe, is our union
to Christ a genuine, true union? Is it a God-made union? Well,
this is for certain. God will prove that true faith,
the faith that He's given, is true faith. And the way He's
going to prove it is by sending us through trial. He's going
to do it. Now, works, these are what Scriptures
are speaking about when it says works in James, particularly
James 2. Without works, by works Abraham
was justified. He's talking about works of faith,
what he's talking about. Works have nothing to do with
our justification, with our legal justification. Works, our works,
have nothing to do with that whatsoever. Our works do not
contribute, they do not diminish, they do not have anything whatsoever
to do with our legal justification before God. God alone is the
justifier of His people. God alone. We're justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through
faith in Christ. That's how the free justification
of God's people is given to us. Now, wherever God gives true
faith, though, God's going to try that faith. Now, why is that? The chief reason is this, to
bring God the glory. is to bring God to glory. If
you go through a trial, and you begin to suffer because of a
trial, you who believe, know this, God's bringing glory to
His name. Now, everybody suffers. Everybody
in this world suffers. The difference between this world
suffering and the believer suffering is this. God is going to bring
you to an end. He is going to bring you to a...
He has a purpose to end for you. I am going to show you that here
in a moment. But the chief thing God is doing is He is glorifying
Himself. He is justifying before heaven
and earth. that the faith that he's given
to his child is real faith, that he's the giver of it, that he's
the sustainer of it, that he's the keeper of his children, so
that God gets the glory. That's why he gives the trial.
And so the works whereby that we're going to be justified,
that our faith is genuine, is works that are going to prove
we believe God is able. The way that our faith is going
to be proved to be genuine faith is the works that God's going
to put us into in a trial are going to be works that show we
believe God is able to save. Rahab hid the spies. And the
reason she hid the spies was she believed God was able to
save her. Daniel. We looked at Daniel not
too long ago. Daniel believed God He continued
to pray to God even when the law was passed in the land that
if he did he would become guilty and be thrown to the den of lions.
But he did it because he believed God was able. Now Abraham here
is going to offer up Isaac and he's doing it because he believes
God is able. God is able to save. So you see
works that prove that faith is genuine. They're not these works
that men usually speak about. They're works that are sacrificial
works. He's going to offer his son.
God's going to call you to have to give up something. And these
are sacrificial works. They're works that remove all
our hope and our ability. Abraham got no ability to make
this outcome turn out in a good way. He has none. It's works
that show that we trust all the ability is in God. Now, faith
in Christ is obedience, and that's true worship. Faith in Christ
is obedience, and it's true worship. Look here in verse 5. He said,
I and the lad will go yonder, and we'll worship. You see, Abraham
didn't object when God called him to do this. He didn't say,
but now God, this is my only son, this is the boy you said
Christ is coming through. He just believed God, and so
he obeyed Him, because he believed Him. That's the result of true
faith. You're going to obey Him. Faith
is obedience. Faith is worship. He didn't look
to his wisdom. He believed God. He didn't have
to have God lay out all the reason and explain everything to him.
He believed God. So he followed God. He believed
Him. Now, do you want to glorify God? Men are always talking about
glorifying God, religious folks. They are doing all these great
sacrifices and all these things. You remember Saul, whenever Samuel
told him that God says, go to this place and destroy everything
there. And Samuel went there and instead of destroying everything
there, he came back with the fattest lambs that they had.
He came back and said, I saved these lambs. First Samuel said,
did you obey the Lord? And he goes, oh yes. And Sam
said, why do I hear these lambs in the background? And he said,
well, I brought those back to offer to God. And he said, do
you think God's going to be pleased with that? Oh, look at these
lambs. They're big. They're fat. They're
going to be nice to sacrifice to God. No, God, he said, obedience. Obeying God's better than sacrifice. Believe in God. Believe in God.
Abraham believed God. True faith believes not only
that God is able, But that God will save. He says there verse
5, I and the lad will come again to you. We're going up there
and I'm going to slay my son. Me and my son are coming back
to you. Why did he say that? He believed God was able to save
him and that he would save him, that he would save him. Abraham
knew that Christ... Now look at this. How did Abraham
have this faith? Was it just faith? What was it?
Abraham was believing Christ because it was for Christ's sake
that Abraham knew God would save Isaac because he knew God had
promised that Christ was coming through Isaac. Christ was Abraham's
righteousness. He was Abraham's hope. He was
Abraham's surety. So he knew Christ was going to
have to come. And Christ is the surety of all
God's elect. And he knew Christ was going
to have to come and do the work. And so he, looking to Christ,
knowing that God's promise was in Christ, he knew. I don't know
what's going to be, how He's going to do it, but He's going
to save Isaac. He's going to save Isaac, for Christ's sake. And that's what true faith is.
It's knowing, I don't know what God's going to do, I don't know
how the outcome's going to come out, but I do know this, for
the sake of Christ, God is going to do it. He's going to save
me. He's going to keep me. That's what true faith believes.
Now, God only calls us to do what is reasonable service, considering
what God has done for us in His Son. Everything He calls us to
is reasonable when you consider what God has done for us in His
Son. It was reasonable for God to
command Abraham to offer his only son because that's what
God did. That's what God did. When God calls you and I to sacrifice
that which is most dear to us, it's reasonable because that's
what God did to save us from our sin. It's reasonable service
for God to call you to walk in a way which adorns the doctrine
of Christ. That's what Christ did for his people. That's what
he did for his people. Remember, wherever you are, this
is for the believer, wherever you are, whatever you're doing,
remember this. You represent, you show, what
you think of and how you are taught and what you understand
about this gospel that you're taught week in and week out.
You represent this place and this people wherever you are,
whatever you do. And more important than that,
you represent Christ. You represent Christ. And that's why I said to you
last week, knowing how folks are going to misrepresent us
and are going to twist what's going on. That's why Paul said,
abstain from even the appearance of evil. Because folks will do
it. Folks will twist it. They will. But this is the point. This is
the point. We're serving Him. We're adorning
Him. And it's reasonable because He's
called, He's done it for us. He's done it for us. Now thirdly,
I want you to see that Christ is the Lamb God provided. Look at verse 6. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering, and he laid it upon Isaac his
son. And he took the fire in his hand,
and a knife, and they went both of them together. Now just like
Isaac bore this wood right here, he's a young man. Isaac's not
a little boy. He's a young man. And just like
He bore this wood that He's going to be sacrificed on, the Lord
Jesus Christ bore the cross that He's going to be sacrificed on,
that He was sacrificed on. So is it reasonable for Him to
call me or you to bear the cross for Christ's sake? Of course
it is, because He bore the cross for us. Whatever cross He calls
us to bear, it's not going to be as bad as what Christ bore
for us. It's not going to be, because He's done that work for
His people. But it's reasonable. But look
at verse 7 now. Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father, and he 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? Abraham, Isaac's been walking
along here, and he's looking this situation over, and he said,
We're going to offer a burnt offering. The wood, we got the
fire, where's the lamb? Isaac knew there was no coming
to God except for through the blood of a lamb. You can't come
to God except in the blood. The blood, the blood, the blood.
There's no acceptance with God. There's no justification before
God. There's no communion with God
except through the blood of Christ the lamb. Leviticus 17 11 look
there with me Leviticus 17 11 This was what God was teaching
He formed Israel. He gave him the law He gave him
this law and he gave him the law of sacrifice and he told
him this is why I'm doing it He was teaching him teaching
him and he's teaching us and he says this He says the life
of the flesh is in the blood Leviticus 17, 11. The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. It's the blood
that makes us at one with God. It's the blood. Look at Exodus
12, verse 13. Remember on the night of the
Passover, whenever the Lord passed through and He poured out judgment,
the Lord brought all these plagues upon Egypt. And He says
in Revelation, He's bringing a certain number of plagues on
this earth. And when He got finished, He
said, Now I'm going to pass through. And He said, I'm going to slay
all the firstborn in Egypt. And he told his people though,
he said, you get under the blood of this lamb that he provided.
And he said, when I see the blood, look here, Exodus 12, 13, and
the blood should be to you for a token upon the houses where
you are. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the land of Egypt. Now what God did in Egypt,
he's going to do again. He's poured out plagues on this
earth, and there's just so many Read about him in Revelation
when it's done. He's gonna pass through and he's
gonna smite Everybody in this land of Egypt and only those
who are under the blood of Christ through faith in him will he
pass over? He passed believe on Christ.
This is gonna come to pass. I feel so sorry. I've genuinely
Think it's the saddest thing in the world When folks think
this is nonsense and folks think this is just foolishness, the
joke's going to be on you because it's going to happen. It's going
to happen. Everything that happened in the
Old Testament has been proven that it's true, that it happened.
Noah's Ark, the flood really happened. When we were out there
in the Dalles, you could see. You could just see where the
rocks had shifted and where everything had changed. And there was fossils
all in the rock. And scientists say that happened
billions and billions of years ago. It didn't happen before
Adam sinned in the garden, because there was no death before Adam
sinned in the garden. Death is the result of sin. It
happened during the flood. That's how it got there. And
it's just so clear the ice age came from the flood. That's just
so, that's plain. That's just obvious. And men,
men are just fooled. They're just fooled. You'd sooner
believe a scientist who's getting paid to have, and corrupted by
money to be able to say what it is, than to read the word
of God who says, no, this is the truth. God doesn't have reason
to lie to you. You can't profit God. Nobody
can. He's going to tell you the truth.
A scientist is going to... He can't keep on doing what he's
doing and he can't keep on going on his archaeological studies
and all these trips and all these things and keep getting paid
and getting grants to do these things unless he comes up with
something. So he comes up with something. Now, not all of them.
Some of them are true. But some folks find a dead body,
they can't tell what happened to him when he died last week.
You're going to tell me you can tell something happened to somebody
that died, what you say, 14 million years ago? Get real. But read
God's Word. Here it is. It's plainly stated.
The fact of the matter is you don't believe God. And that's
what's going to land you in hell. Now look here. So does that mean
I need to run out and get a lamb? God won't receive anybody but
in the lamb. Do I need to run out and get a lamb? No, there
is one lamb and God has provided him. Look at Genesis 22 and verse
8. Abraham said, this is what Abraham
answered Isaac. He said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together.
This is the gospel. God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. God provided himself as the lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God
the Son. He's God. God provided Himself
as the Lamb. Therefore, God is the justifier. He's the one that did the justifying.
And God will provide Himself a Lamb. For Himself, He'll provide
a Lamb. It was for God that His people,
and for His people, and Christ shed His blood for God and for
His people. It was God providing a Lamb for
Himself. Now, God will provide. He will
seek to it that redemption, the honoring of His law, the satisfaction
of His justice, the fulfillment of His covenant. He will seek
to it that all redemption shall be accomplished in full for all
is left by Christ the Lamb of God. That's what Abraham said,
and he's done it. I'm here to tell you He's already
done it. He's done that. It's finished, the Savior said.
There was nothing left undone. That's why Abraham later on in
the chapter here, he calls this place Jehovah-Jireh. It means
in the mount of the Lord it will be seen. It means the Lord will
provide. The Lord will do this. You look
to Mount Calvary and you'll see the Lord did this. Look to the
cross and that mount and you'll see the Lord did this. He did
this. Look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. Oh, I wish God would just come into
the heart and make those that don't believe to just You got
to have life. You got to have Him to give you
an understanding. Look here at Hebrews 9.22. Almost
all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
ease. That is the patterns, the figures,
the types were purified ceremonially by the blood of bulls and goats.
They were just patterns. So he just used the blood of
bulls and goats to purify those things. But, he says, the heavenly
things themselves must be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the pictures, the figures
of the truth. But he's entered into heaven
itself. He's entered into the true tabernacle. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Not nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered the holy place every
year with the blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. God put away the sin of a particular
number of people. He purged a particular number
of people of their sin before the law of God. Oh, wouldn't
it be something if it was you? Wouldn't it be something if it
was for you? How do I know if it was for me? God calls His
people and they believe Him. He calls them through this gospel
and He brings them to believe that He did it for them. Do you
believe Him? Do you believe it? Nothing is
standing between you and this but you. That's it. Now look,
here is the fourth thing. Let's see a picture of substitution.
Verse 9. They came to the place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there.
Genesis 22. 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." Now again, Isaac's a young man. He's
not a little boy. This man, he's a young man. Abraham
here's old. Abraham's over a hundred years
old. He could have given Abraham a run for his money if he wanted
to. But Isaac willingly laid himself on that altar. And he
willingly. allowed himself to be bound.
And he willingly did this knowing that his father had a knife and
was about to slay him. He willingly did this. And it
shows us, brethren, that Christ Jesus the Lord willingly laid
down His life for His Father and for His people. He did it
trusting the Father's promise that He would arise from the
dead. Christ willingly was bound by
the justice of God. He was willingly made sin for
us. He willingly did that. He willingly
watched as His Father stretched forth His hand to slay Him. The
Scripture says, God said, Awake, O sword, against My shepherd,
against the man that is My fellow. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I'll turn My hand upon the little
one. He said, Therefore does my Father love me because I lay
down my life for the sheep. He said, No man takes it from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment I received from
my Father. Christ willingly laid down His life. Now believer,
considering that Christ willingly gave Himself for us, is it reasonable
to willingly believe God? Is it reasonable to willingly
lay down our lives, and our thoughts, and our ideas, and our wisdom,
and willingly believe God? It's reasonable. But you're going
to have to be shown Christ to see it's reasonable. It's reasonable. When you forsake your own mercy,
How foolish does a man have to be? How ignorant? How insane? How depraved? How wretched? How blind? How miserable? How undone does a man have to
be to forsake his own mercy? Now look here. I want you to
see substitution. Genesis 22, 10. Abraham stretched forth his hand.
took the knife to slay his son. You know this had to be right
here. This had to be... I mean, Abraham... This thing
is done in Abraham's heart. The scripture says in Hebrews
11 that by faith Abraham offered up his son. God, to God, Abraham
did this. He did it. It was in his heart.
Just like you don't have to actually go through the act to sin for
it to be sin. He didn't have to go through
for this to be done because God sees the heart. And Abraham and
his heart was fixed to slay this boy. Now look here at verse 11. 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 that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine 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 and took the
ram, and offered him up for burnt offering. Now catch these last
six words. in the stead of his son. Now this ram pictured Christ.
This is the believer's substitute. It was a lamb. Just as Abraham
had said, God provided himself a lamb. And it was caught. just like Christ was caught by
His covenant promise. He struck hands with God and
He was caught by that promise. He couldn't get out of that,
didn't want to get out of that, but He was bound to that. And
He was bound by divine justice on the cross when He was made
sin for His people. And look, this ram was in a thicket,
just like Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns. Here
was this lamb surrounded by thorns. And it was offered in the stead
of His Son. God took Christ and He offered
Christ, His Son, in the stead of all His elect sons. That's
what God did. Sinner, you're under the condemnation
of the law. You're where Isaac was. You're
bound on the altar. The fire's built. The fire's
of justice. And it's just a matter of you
reaching that hour God has appointed and after this the judgment.
And you'll perish under the condemnation of God forever. Now this is where
you are. This is where you are. The law's
got you bound. But God has provided himself
a lamb and his son. God has satisfied justice for
His people in His Son. God has provided a Lamb in the
place of His people. Why won't you call on the Lamb?
Why won't you trust the Lamb? Why won't you believe that God
has done what He said He's done? Why do you continue to call God
a liar? Why do you say, no God? Why do you continue to be the
fool? Why? I'll tell you why. I'll tell you exactly why. Put
yourself in Abraham's shoes. Put yourself in Abraham's shoes.
That boy, his only son was as dear to Abraham as Abraham's
own life was. That's Abraham's life right there,
bound to that altar. And when Abraham looked up, and
he saw that ram caught in the thicket, And God said, this one
right here is going to take the place of your son, and he's going
to die in the stead of your son. The reason Abraham didn't have
to be talked into taking that ram, the reason he didn't have
to be talked into believing God and laying hold of that lamb
is because he had a desperate need. His life was fixed to perish
on that altar. That's why he didn't have to
be talked into it. And you won't have to be talked
into it either if God shows you your life. Your life is laying
on that altar. Your life is under the justice
of God. Your life is under condemnation. You won't have to be talked into
laying hold of the Lamb. You'll lay hold of Him. You'll
grab hold of Him. Look here now. Look at this.
Notice the angel of the Lord called Abraham out of heaven.
Christ calls His people affectionately to life and faith in Him. And
we hear His voice in our heart through the gospel that's being
preached. And also Christ calls us to the
trial to grow us in grace and in faith. But then when Christ
has proven us, when He's reached the end for which He gave the
trial, Christ calls for the trial to end. Look here in verse 12. He said, Lay not thy 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, thine
only son from me. You mean God didn't know this?
Yes, God knew this. God knew that Abraham believed
God and feared God. He gave him the fear. He gave
him the faith. He knew him from before the foundation
of the world. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. He knew him. He gave him this. What he's saying is, now I approve. Now I approve of what you've
done here, of your faith and of your love and of your obedience. He's saying, now I've made known
to the world that you fear me. He said, that's the reason that
I gave you this trial. I gave it to prove that the faith
I've given you is true God-given faith. That it's faith that trusts
Christ, that it's faith that believes God's Word, that it's
faith that's looking to God alone. That's why I gave it, to bring
glory to my name. He says here, I brought you into
this to bring... He brings us there to make us
look to Christ. God the Father knew from eternity that Christ
His Son feared and reverenced and believed God. He knew that.
But by Christ coming forth to accomplish the work of redemption
for His people. You just think about this. God
knew from the beginning, from eternity, that Christ was faithful.
Why did He send Christ into the trial? Why did He send Him forth
at the time appointed? Because now he's manifest that
he approves of Christ's faith and Christ's fear of him. Now
he's manifest that to the world that Christ is the faithful one,
that he's the holy one. He's manifest his glory in Christ
Jesus by Christ coming forth through the trial and doing the
work. And so it is that God tries his child to make his works of
grace in his child known before heaven and earth to glorify himself. That's why God does it. And the
end of the trial is always the same. It's always the same. God does it to bring His child
nearer to Christ our substitute. Look at verse 13. Abraham lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns. The trial of our faith is to
make us lift up our eyes to look and behold Christ on the cross. That's what he did. It says verse
13, Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the stead of his son. The trial is to make
us lay hold of Christ by faith. He went and took that ram. It
says there, verse 13, He offered Him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of His Son. The trial is to make us offer
up to God Christ in the stead of us and anything we've done
is to bring us to believe Him. That's the purpose of the trial,
always. And see, that's the difference
between the believer's trial and everybody else's afflictions
and troubles that they face in the world. When a believer faces
trials, he's brought to the hold of Christ, to rejoice in Christ,
to offer up Christ to God, to thank God for Christ. He brought
nearer to Christ. When the man, unregenerate man,
suffers in this world, he just goes further and further away
from God. He's trying to save himself. He blames every secondary
cause and everything else. He doesn't do a thing to him.
Lastly, here's the trials to bring us to this resolve right
here. Here's where it's to bring us.
Verse 14. Abraham called the name of that
place, Jehovah-Diara. As it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Abraham started out. He got his boy and God is telling
him to go offer up his son. And you know Abraham believed
God. He believed God. From the beginning he believed
God. That's why he obeyed God. But you know there was something
in Abraham too that's thinking, I hope he does this. I hope he
does this. And when Isaac asked him, where's
the lamb? He said, God will provide himself
a lamb. And you know that sin was mixed
with what he did. He was thinking to himself, I hope and pray God
provides himself a lamb. But when he brought to the end
of this trial, right then Abraham said, I know for certain it will
be seen in the mount of the Lord God will provide. He will provide. Isn't that where you're brought
to? There's been a few times in this world, in my life, that
I've been brought to the place where I knew God will provide. Now I believed Him since He'd
given me faith and I trust Him. But there's so much sin mixed
with it. So much sin mixed with it. So much doubting. But there
have been a few times I've been right here where Abraham was
brought. I know He will provide. And that's a good place to be.
That is a good place to be brought. Through faith we behold Jehovah
Jireh and all his fiery wrath against our sin we see it at
Calvary's Mountain. We behold Jehovah Jireh and all
his justice and all his mercy on Calvary's Mountain. And we
behold Jehovah Jireh now and all his glory in heavenly Mount
Zion. In the Mount of the Lord it will
be seen. He will provide. Now, believer, because Christ
has quenched the fire of justice against us, because He has quenched
it, because Christ has made righteousness and peace, peace and harmony,
because Christ is risen and reigning far and in each of His people,
we shall see Christ's glory both now and forever in the mount
of the Lord. Now, that's the beginning of
God-given faith. That's the object of God-given
faith. That's the end of God-given faith. That's the end of every
trial is to bring us to this resolve. It shall be seen in
the mouth. The Lord's faithful. The Lord's
faithful for Christ's sake. And ultimately, at the end of
this life, this is where we're going to be brought. We're going
to be brought to the Mount of the Lord and we're going to see.
We're going to see. It shall be seen in the Mount
of the Lord. The Lord has provided. He's done
everything. Wouldn't it be something one
day, I don't know if God will do this, maybe I suspect He will,
but wouldn't it be something one day when He says we're going
to know as we're known. When you look back, are able
to look back over your life, over every minute detail, and
see just how fully God was providing for you every step of the way. We were talking about this Thursday
night, Eric. We get, you miss a plane, or
you miss an appointment, and oh, you fret and fuss and blame
every secondary cause, you know, for it. Then the plane crashes. or there's a wreck on the highway
or something like that. And you think, that could have
been me. God was saving me from that. You know, everything God
takes away from us in this world, He's saving us. He's saving us
from it. Job said, when I came into this
world, I came into this world naked, and everything that I
have, God's given it to me. And he said, and everything that's
been taken away from me, God's given it to me. God's taken it
away from me. And he said, Blessed be the name
of the Lord. Thank God. And Paul said, in
everything, Whether he's giving or taking, thank God. Why is
he doing it? He's giving it and taking it
for Christ's sake. To keep you looking to Him, trusting
Him, nowhere else. And in the mount of the Lord,
it shall be seen. Our Lord provides. Now that's
the reason for the trial. That's what these works of faith
are. And that's the purpose of them. I hope that's helpful.
Amen.