Seeking once more the Lord's
gracious help to grant me the words to speak to this morning,
I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the chapter that we
read together, Genesis 22, and the text you'll find in verse
2. 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 therefore a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains which I tell thee of. I'm well aware that Andy preached,
I think a couple of Lord's days ago, and I think he spoke from
verse 13, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham
went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son. We all know this passage of scripture,
we're all well aware of the way in which Abraham had to obey
God and to take his son Isaac and to to the place of Moriah
and to go up to the mountains and to build an altar, put the
wood there and as he was just about to slay his son, the Lord
intervened and spoke to him and stopped him from slaying his
son. and offered that substitute,
that lamb, that ram that was caught in the thicket and that
ram was offered up in the stead of Isaac or as a substitute. And that speaks to us as he almost
acted out something that was going to take place a few thousand
years later when God gave his son. And he was the substitute,
the Lamb of God. And he was slain. There was no
substitute for him because he was the substitute. But he did
not remain dead. He was raised up on the third
day. What struck me is verse two. The day after Daniel was born,
Elsie was still in hospital and pulled off the calendar thing
and the text was this text. Take now thine only son Isaac
whom thou lovest and get thee to the land of Moriah. And I
thought to myself, well, just had a baby, Daniel, and
how we love him. Just one day. And if God spoke
these words to me on that day, how willing would I be to take
my son, to offer up my son, to give my son to the Lord? There are some people who have
had it revealed to them as their children were young that one
day the child was going to be a missionary or was going to
be a preacher or was going to be used of God in a certain way
and they have been made at that moment in time when the child
is young to give them to the Lord as his Think of Hannah when
Hannah prayed for her child and she lent him to the Lord. The
Lord has answered my request therefore I have lent him to
the Lord as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord
and that means to be returned back. She gave him to the Lord. The Lord gave and she gave back. But there's also a natural aspect
to this. It's very easy isn't it for us
to read it and we know the end. We know that the Lord did intervene
and provided that substitute and we can read in the book of
Hebrews where it tells us that Abraham believed that God was
even able to raise up Isaac from the dead because he so trusted
in the promises of God. But there's still that natural
aspect to the test that God gave Abraham. And it seemed to me
that God almost pointed it out that you love this boy. Take
now thy son, thine only son. I know that you love him and
he is your only son. But I want to prove that you
love me more than you love your son. I want to see that the love
that you have for me is greater than the love that you have for
your son. Isaac was Abraham's promised
child. We know that That promise was
given to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth
would be blessed. And that could only happen if
Abraham was to have a child or children. In chapter 12 when
the Lord first appears to Abraham and tells him to go out from
his father's house and to a land that I will show thee. and I
will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make
thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless
them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee and in thee
all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Abraham was
75 years old when he left. And it's very interesting that
the Lord keeps a tab or makes us aware of the age of Abraham
as we go through those last years of his life. We're made aware
that he was 75 when he leaves his home and his family and he
goes in obedience to God to the promised land. But God promises
him, I will make of thee a great nation and I will make thy name
great and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now that could only happen if
he had children and he had lived for 75 years and he still had
no children with his wife Sarah and they obey God, they move
out and they follow the law. Chapter 13 After he leaves Lot
and Lot goes to Sodom and pitches his tent towards Sodom, Abraham
is now blessed again with another visitation from God and God promises
again that he was going to bless him and multiply his seed. In verses 15 it says, And all
the land which thou seest, to thee I will give it unto thy
seed forever and i will make thy seed as the dust of the earth
so that if a man can number the dust of the earth then shall
thy seed be also be numbered arise walk through the land the
length of it the length of it and the breadth of it and i will
give it unto thee and abraham removed his tent and came and
dwelt in the in the plain of Mamre which is in Hebron and
built there an altar unto the Lord and so he tells him that
thy seed, that thy children are going to be as the dust of the
earth and if a man is able to count the dust then he can count
all of your children. But he's still childless It's
still totally impossible for this to take place. Naturally speaking as he looks
about and as his wife looks about they see that here is a great
promise of God that we are going to be blessed but if we look
at our bodies it is totally impossible for this thing to take place.
The only way in which we can multiply is that if we have children. And if it is naturally impossible
for us to have children then it must mean there must be another
way. We've got to intervene, we've got to alter and try and
bring about the plan of God in our own way. In chapter 16 that
is what happens. Sarah, she had no children and
so she gives Abraham her maid. In verse 16 it tells us that
Abraham was four score and six years old. 86 years old. So he's gone from 75 to 86 waiting for God to bring about
this great promise. 11 years he's waited, he sees
nothing and then his wife begins to tempt him and say it's obvious
that it's not going to be this way It's obvious that God is
not going to do it between me and you so we're going to have
to intervene. We're going to have to do our
own thing and perhaps God has another idea and so take my maid. 11 years of waiting and a panic
And they decide to do things themselves to go against God's
law and to cause Abraham to commit adultery and to force God's hand
to work. They act. Abraham listens to
his wife. Waiting is difficult. Even just waiting for a train
that's delayed is hard. It tests our patience. And it
may even be only five minutes late. Stuck in a traffic jam
and we become irate. It makes us argumentative and
touchy and angry. And we don't like to wait, especially
in our modern society that's fast paced and everything is
done immediately. But Abraham had to wait and his
wife 11 years. And it's like in the end they
cracked. They said, I can't wait anymore. Our bodies are getting
older and older and older. And they cracked. under the pressure
of waiting and Abraham listened to his wife and he had a child
with Hagar. We know the book of Galatians
tells us that that child is a type but also it is the child of the
flesh. Galatians 4, verse 22 and 23, For it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, which is
Hagar, or a slave, and the other by a free woman, which was his
wife. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Ishmael was the child of the
flesh, a constant reminder of Abraham's weakness, of Abraham's
failure to act as the head of his family and to listen to his
wife and in desperation he disobeyed God and instead of waiting he
acted in his own desires and he brought about great misery
for Hagar, for himself, for Sarah and for many many generations
to come. Today the Muslims trace their
line all the way back to Ishmael. They say that Ishmael was Abraham's
firstborn son, which he was, but he was the son of a sinful
act, a son of weakness, a son of disobedience to God and failure
to wait was Abraham's son and because of Abraham's pleading
God blessed the son and has made him into a great nation but that
son and the children of that son have been at war with the
son of promise ever since and we see it even in Israel and
in Gaza there is an in-built hatred to
one another because one is the son of the flesh and one is the
product of the son of promise and we as Christians would trace
our line to Abraham through the Lord Jesus Christ all the way
down to Isaac and Isaac. In Isaac shall the promise be
fulfilled. Take now thy son, thine only
son, Isaac. And so Abraham, he failed. Although he is set before us
as the friend of God and the father of the faithful, Yet in
his weakness he failed in the leadership of his family and
he listened to the pleadings and the pressure of his wife. Who does that remind us of? Adam. Eve first took the fruit. Eve listened to Satan. Eve gave
to her husband who took of it also. It was the woman who was
first deceived and Adam listened to his wife and he took of that
fruit. As a man he failed in his leadership
role. He should have rebuked his wife
for listening to Satan. He should have rebuked his wife
for eating of the fruit. Instead, he joined her in the
sin. Abraham listened to his wife. Take my maid. He should have
said no. I'm waiting for the purposes
of God. He should have said no. If I am with her, that is adultery. I am married to you. But instead
he listened to his wife and brought misery on thousands and thousands
of people. If we believe that Christ is
the only way to heaven, and that everybody who rejects the Lord
Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, and rejects him
as the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, will be in hell.
Then every false religion that is made up by man, and every
false religion that traces their line back to Ishmael, they will
be in hell on that great day of judgment. How did Ishmael
come? because Abraham listened to the
pleading of his wife, failed in his leadership responsibility
and acted contrary to the will of God, contrary to the word
of God, which is that a man should have one wife and have no women outside of that covenant
relationship. So Abraham, though was the friend
of God, the father of the faithful, and the father of the faith,
yet he sinned. And he had to wait again another
14 years before God gave him the son of promise. You see he went outside of his
marital relationship and God said it's Sarah that
is going to have a child. And it didn't matter that Abraham
went out or it did matter that he went outside of that relationship
but that did not change the ultimate will of God that it was Sarah
that was going to have the child. Although that was impossible
naturally speaking yet that proves to us that that was the right
way. Chapter 21 verse 5 And Abraham was 100 years old
when his son Isaac was born unto him. So he was 75 when he left. God promised him, I'm going to
make you a great nation. And if a man is able to number
the dust of the ground, then he will be able to number your
children. And she had to wait from 75 years
to 100. 25 years had to wait for the fulfilment
of that promise. And we can naturally imagine
how impatient it would be. How impatient you would become.
Especially as you see the impossibilities becoming greater and greater
and greater. The lack of faith would be constantly
undermined by what he was seeing going on round about him. And
we can understand why. They did take matters into their
own hands but it was not right. It was a moment of complete weakness,
a moment of failure on Abraham's part. And many have suffered
even today because of that disobedience to God. Also, we can understand why he
loved him so much. You see, in Isaac, he was that
link or that bridge to the promise that God gave. And you could
understand that if God had blessed him so much with this miraculous
child born to him at 100 years old, you could understand how
protective he would be of him. How he would try to preserve
him from any harm and any danger. How he would try to do his best
for Isaac and how his devotion and his love would be constantly
on the child. You see without Isaac there's
no way in which Abraham could be the father of many nations. There's no way that could happen.
Isaac was that bridge to go from having the promise fulfilled. And he loved him. And we could say, I think, that
he loved him a lot. Because God says, take now thy
son, thine only son, Isaac. And if you look at the wording
in the original languages, it says something similar to as
in the New Testament, my beloved son, the only son that you completely
love. And it's like God presses it
home. He's the only one that you've
got. And you love him completely. but I'm going to test you to
see whether you love me more than you love Isaac. In Matthew chapter 10, tells us there of those who follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 34 it says, Think not
that I am come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. and
a men's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he
that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy
of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loses
his life for my sake shall find it. So there is a similar command or similar statement. God tempted Abraham, tested him. Do you love Isaac or do you love
me? Are you going to obey me? Or are you going to listen to
the voice of conscience, love and rebel? Jesus says, If you
love father or mother more than me, you are not worthy of me.
He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me. Abraham proved that his love
for God was greater than his love for Isaac. Abraham was able
to see through the act that God had told him to do and to almost
view the promise behind it. Like he looked through an image
on a glass, yet he was able to see the promise behind. He understood that Isaac was
the link. Now God has told me I've got
to go and kill the link which would sever that promise. And
so he says, God is able to do everything. And so if I am to
go through with this, God is able to raise up my Isaac from
the grave. And so his love for God and his
faith in the promises of God enabled him to go through with
what God had called him to do. And those who follow Christ are
called in the same way to look beyond natural love and to love
Christ with all of their heart, soul and mind and as they look
through that natural love and see a greater love beyond they're
enabled to obey the Lord Jesus. Yes we are called to love our
neighbours as ourselves and we're not called to hate our mothers
and our fathers but it's to compare that we would rather obey Christ
in doing his will and in that the comparison of the love that
we have for Christ is far greater than the love that we have for
our mother and our father. As the apostles were called weren't
they? as they were fishing, they forsook all, they left their
father. And so the love that they had
to Christ superseded that natural love that they had to their father.
They didn't hate their father, they loved their father, but
they loved Christ more. And Abraham, he didn't hate Isaac,
he loved Isaac. He was his only son, that link
to the promise. Yet he loved God more and he
had that faith to believe that what God had said, God was able
to do. We turn to Matthew 19. There's the story of the rich
man. Verse 21. And we see an opposite
here. that this man was not willing. He says, and Jesus said, if thou
wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and
follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Where did his love
lie? His love was towards the things
of this world. and his love for Christ was smaller
than his love for the things of the world. He was not willing to depart with the things of
this world and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it does
not mean that even if he had turned around and said yes I'm
going to do that We see that Abraham didn't actually have
to kill Isaac but he acted in obedience to the voice of God
which showed that his love was greater to God than it was to
Isaac. And this rich young ruler showed
by his actions that his love for material things was far greater
than his love the Lord Jesus. Take now thy son, thine only
son Isaac, whom you love, and get thee to the land of Moriah
and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of.' And we know that Abraham went and
those mountains of Moriah were in the were a three days journey
and would later become Jerusalem and the temple and the place
of crucifixion for the Lord Jesus Christ and as Abraham almost
acted out God giving his son and offering him upon the cross
for the salvation of his people, for those who follow Christ are
called to deny themselves, to take up their cross and to follow
that thought led me to this. What is our Isaac? You know Abraham could have said
no he's my son I can't give him
up I love him too much that would have made him disobedient. What
is stopping us from being obedient What do you love more than Christ? What is that door, that barrier
that you and I have put up to stop us from wholly following
the Lord Jesus? Maybe it's your sin. Maybe your
sin is the barrier. You say, well, I love my sin.
I don't want to leave it. I don't want to deny myself and
forsake all and follow Christ. I'm happy where I am. Maybe it's
your sin that is your Isaac, your beloved sin that is stopping
you. Well, it is stopping you from
having fellowship and being obedient to the Lord Jesus. Maybe as Christians, what is
it that we are holding on to? What idol do we have in our lives
that we say to God, you know, you can have everything, but
just not that. Just please let me keep that
one little thing in my life. I enjoy it so much. I don't want
to get rid of it. Take now thy son, take now thine
idol, that idol that you love and get rid of it. What have we put in the place
of God? You see, it was a test. It was
a test. God did tempt or God did test
Abraham. Do you love Isaac more than you
love me? There are many things, aren't
there, in our lives that we love more than God. We say you can have everything. just not that. Just allow me
to keep that. Abraham took his son Isaac and
went to offer him up as an offering. When we were saved the Lord Jesus Christ brought
his people with a price. his own heart's blood. He redeemed
them which means he paid a price to set them free, to bring them
to himself and they became his property. You are not your own,
you are brought with a price. And he didn't just buy a little
part of us. He didn't just buy our Sunday. our time on a Sunday. He brought
every aspect and every part of us. We are his. In the olden days and in the
Bible there were slaves. In the Roman Empire it said that
one third of people were slaves. Now in our minds when we think
of slaves we think of Africans being transported in slave ships
and chained and beaten and abused. But in the Roman world it was
not quite like that. You could be a doctor and still
be a slave. It doesn't mean that you had
a hard life. It just meant that you were owned by somebody. and
that you had no right or will of your own. And so when the
Bible says that Christians are bond slaves or bond servants
of the Lord Jesus, we are owned by him. He has brought
us, we belong to him. Not just a little part of our
life, but all of us, every part. We cannot say that Christ has
half and we have the other. Take thy son, thine only son
Isaac, all of him and offer him on an altar there. What is it that we're holding
back? You can have that, but not that. You can have half of
my life. Let me keep just a little bit
of sin. Let me just keep a little bit
here for me to enjoy. I don't want to get rid of everything. All of it is to be placed on
the altar and to be crucified as it were. Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him therefore
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains. I will tell thee
of. May our love be like the love
of Abraham, that he loved God more than he loved even his beloved
son. That they may be the same the
love of God. This is my beloved son whom he
gave as a substitute for sinners that he, through the giving of
his son, he snatched those who were on the brink of hell, undeserving
sinners, to himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord
add his blessing. Amen. Well, let us sing the hymn number
1010 to the tune Lloyd, number 172. Father, what air of earthly
bliss thy sovereign will denies, accepted at thy throne of grace, Let this petition rise. Give
me a calm, a thankful heart from Every Murmur Free, No. 1010. I shall bring with delight, Accepting
that the throne of grace, Let its verdigris rise. from every man of great. The blessings of thy grace, dear
Lord, have made me live. ? Thy life and death attend ? ?
Thy presence through my journey shine ? ? And crown my journey's
end ? Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we
do thank Thee for Thy Word and we pray that Thou would tear
each idol down within our hearts and that Thou reign supreme. We ask that Thou grant us a greater
love to Thyself and to Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that our
lives may be affected by that love. We pray, Lord, that Thou
be with us now as we separate from this service and do be with
us as we meet together later on in the afternoon and as we
sit around Thy table. do bless us and draw near to
us, we pray. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each now and forevermore. Amen.