Dear friends, as it may please
Almighty God this evening to grant his need for help, teaching
and direction, I'd ask you to turn back into the Old Testament
to the book of Genesis chapter 22 and verse 13. Genesis chapter
22 and the verse 13. 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. 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. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said, to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Dear friends, I have felt the Lord give me this part of verse 13. and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns. We come perhaps to most of us
to a very well-known part of the Word of God. The names well known to us and perhaps this account and
that which took place is well known to us. But may God by his grace and by the power of his Holy
Spirit use this little time together for our soul's profit, for our
soul's good and above all for his honour and for his glory.
And so we have Abraham, the Lord God of heaven, calling him by
his name. Abraham answered, and this was
that which the Lord spoke to him, take now thy son, thine
only son, may remember that Isaac was born
to Sarah when she was about 90 years old. This was their son,
their firstborn. This was the promised son and
now the voice from heaven from Almighty God is clearly speaking
in Telheim. to take him up to Mount Moriah
and there to do as was commanded to offer him up for a burnt sacrifice. It's wonderful we have in the
account in the first chapter of Matthew that list of genealogies
And there is Abraham and Isaac down through to the line of Christ. Isaac's life must be saved. But
first of all, God would try the faith of his servant. And we
may say, try it almost to the very limit. Abraham, take your
only son, take him up into the mount, a few days journey, and
there put him on an altar for a sacrifice. One thing to read these things,
another to understand them. But those who have been gifted and blessed with children, could we but enter in to that
which Abraham was commanded he must do. We know the end of this
account. We know the blessing of the substitution
of his son to that ram. But Abraham's walked the path
first. He had to go through it. He literally
had to take his young son and the wood and the fire and he
had to take the question from his son. Here is the word, here
is the fire father, but where's the lamb for the
burnt offering? What a gracious response. My
son, in verse 8, my son, God, will provide himself a lamb for
the burnt offering. And so they went, both of them
together. But we see the face of Abraham
in verse five. They came to a place And there
he said to his young men, abide here with the ass, you wait here,
I and the lads, we will go yonder and worship. And hear this great faith of
Abraham and come to you again. The faith of this man. that he would
come again, he would bring his son back to the lad with the
ass and they would go on therefore afterwards to Beersheba. Here was the path of Abraham,
here was the path of Isaac and so it was they came to the place Abraham, he built the altar,
he put the wood in order, and now he was to bind his son to
that wood upon the altar. And then we find Abraham with
an outstretched arm, with a knife in his hand. He was ready. He was willing
to be obedient to that which the Lord had spoken to him. Abraham,
take your son and offer him for a burnt offering. Here he was. By faith, Abraham, we read in
Hebrews. By faith. True living God wrought
faith. enabled him to hold that knife
above his son. And it was not until he was almost
in the very act of slaying his son that the angel
of the Lord called him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he answered, Here am I. They knock thine hand upon the
lad, neither do him any harm. For now I know the place he had
to come to, for the Lord to speak to him.
Now I know that thou fearest God and God's people. They have to prove sometimes
these times of great testing. And to trust in the name of the
Lord. Not to trust in ourselves, somebody
else's. How often now we have so much
information available on the internet, we can look up just
about anything, can't we? Trust in the Lord, lean not to
our own understanding. What I'm meaning is, sometimes
we can conjure up a mine of information about pretty much everything. And we put our own hand to a
matter, the matter, a situation, complaint or trouble, and we
perhaps look for information, we look for answers, we look
for that which may bring a result about. But God will have us trust in
him. God will see. to us that we trust
in him, and test us, and try us, that the trial of your faith,
here Abraham is proving that same word, that the trial of
your faith, which is much more precious than
gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, Abraham, Abraham, with that voice
from heaven. May the Lord be pleased to use
his holy word for our instruction, for our good, perhaps even to
challenge us tonight, to test our faith. Do we love the Lord
or no? Are we willing to be Obedient? Are we willing to trust in the
Lord and that which He has spoken? That's the Lord has spoken. And we've disobeyed. We've drawn back. I cannot do that. You may have
even gone further and said, I will not do that. Trust in the Lord. What a gracious God is displayed
here. What a merciful God, a God of
love, a God who is so faithful and kind. But he will test us. Do we love
the Lord or no? Are we His or are we not? There is a hymn, it's similar
to that. Do I love the Lord or no? Question, isn't it? Question. Perhaps that question. may touch our hearts this evening. Where are we? What are we? How are we in our journey of
life? May the Lord grant his spirit. And to use this account of Abraham,
and Isaac, and to show you, to show me that God is faithful
to his word. God is faithful that promised.
God does not, will not, cannot fail because he is the eternal
God. He is the refuge of his saints.
He is that strong tower, he is that hiding place. He loves his people. He gave
his own son. And as we shall see in just a
moment, we have in the text this substitution. God had already provided a substitute
for his son. Unknown to Abraham, caught by
his curly horns in a thicket, was a ram. It was there ready. And as I thought, dared to think
much about this ram this afternoon, how amazing it is. But yet it bears
out that text, that word, we mentioned this morning from
Jeremiah. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? God can even bring a ram to be
in the right place at the right time and there to be caught up. Abraham didn't go out to have
to find a substitute Lord will provide, in the mount of the
Lord it shall be seen.' So he proved the goodness, the faithfulness,
the mercy and that miracle, that ram in that time, at that moment,
placed to be a sacrifice instead of his son. Therefore we have
this great and wonderful doctrine of substitution. That ram that
was caught in a thicket by his horns. And so he laid that ram
on the altar for a burnt offering to the Lord his God instead of
his son. And Abraham named that place.
What a wonderful blessing tonight, friends. We know their same Jehovah-Jireh
experience. But that which is required, that
which is needed, that which is necessary is there already in
place. But it's a testing time. The
time we may feel so greatly burdened, so tried, so troubled in such
a deep way. May God give us the grace and
the faith of Abraham and we will come again to you. Sorry, it doesn't say will come.
It says I am allowed will go yonder and worship and come again
to you. That faith, that a wonderful
faith. May the Lord strengthen perhaps
our weak faith to trust and obey. For there's no other way to be
happy in Jesus. We must trust and obey, to be made willing
in the David's power, to follow him at his will, to follow him
at his command. And that which the Lord has spoken
that he will perform it. And it came to me this morning
as we were going out. It was in 2012. The day that Jonathan Buss came. He preached in the afternoon,
Feed My Sheep. There were two of us in this
congregation that I know of for sure that felt such an overwhelming power of the living God. It was one
of those unmistakable blessings. power that was felt, as it were,
hit us in the chest so very hard we wondered whether we should
stand up. Your dear pastor was one and I was the other. Dear James, in that moment he
knew. And in that moment, so did I.
And I may have told you before, it's not to raise James up, it's
not to elevate James up, it's just that you may know, you may
hear something that was actually done and performed in this chapel. that James obeyed the call to
the ministry of the Word of God. He said to me afterwards, Andy,
I've got to go. I said, so have I, but I can't. He was exercising faith. I was exercising my weakness. to my shame. And thus that was the beginning
of some blessings and a blessed
time that James had in this. And thus there is that love that's knit in our hearts because of the blessing of the
Lord. I was hindering the work of God.
I was saying that I could not do this. And friends, I still
feel that same inability, same weakness, that same fragile state. But it's to prove the faithfulness
of God, the Lord will provide. The Lord will help. The Lord
will strengthen. There is living proof this night
that we can stand and we can say, for God's honour and for
God's glory, that He has done these things. He's done them
here in this very place. And it's a miracle. And it's
an honour. And it's a privilege to come
again this evening to minister the Word of God. The very place
in which God spoke. And how we can humbly thank God that the Lord has provided time
by time. And that is how we have to go
on. There is that testing. There is that trying. But in
it, there is that wonder to prove the faithfulness and graciousness
and goodness and love of the Lord God. Obedience then to his will. There's
much more we could bring but we must move on. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket.
Abraham went and took the ram and offered himself up for a
burnt offering instead of his son. As I was reading that word, Yesterday this 10th chapter of
Hebrews came to me. We have read a part of this evening
together. We've read here of the shadow
of good things to come. We have read of the sacrifices
which they offered year by year. But in those sacrifices, in verse
3, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sin. How many animals were slain upon
altars, lambs and heifers, their blood was sprinkled upon the
altar. Those different sacrifices and
places and times, they came to make those sacrifices unto God.
But in these sacrifices and all the blood of bulls and goats on Jewish altars
slain, could never cleanse away a sin or wash away a stain. but Christ, the heavenly Lamb. At Calvary, in that substitution,
He came down to earth from heaven. He came in humility. And we looked
together at Christmas time. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth, this glorious lamb, he came forth
to be slain. He came at his father's will. He was obedient to the will of
his God. And he, in that great love, wherewith
there's no other love that has ever and could ever be like it,
that a man lay down his life for his friends. That chapter
in John 15, it continues. Ye are my friends. I think it's
verse 15. It'd be just... Sorry, verse 13. The Gospel of John, chapter 15. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends? And then there is an if. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever
I command you. So there are those commandments
There are those ordinances in the Word of God to which the
Lord calls his people to be a friend of Jesus. Jesus is a friend of
sinners. He alone could do helpless sinners
good. And by our very birth, we are called nothing greater
than a sinner. we've all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. We've all come short in our birth of that which is good and right
because of sin. That sin that may have led us
or is leading sin to those paths of wickedness Paz are those things
that are against the will and the word of God. We love to do those things that
are not right. We love the things that we can
perhaps touch and feel and see. And that's all our hope is. on temporal things, temporary
things, things that rust and rot and decay. Things where the moth can make
those holes in them. And that's all an unconverted
soul has a hope in. But Christ, the heavenly lamb, washed and cleansed and put away
on Calvary's cross and in Gethsemane's garden where he sweat as it were
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. There is that agony. agony over sin. Christ must taste
death. Christ Jesus the Lamb of God
was spat upon. They smote him. They mocked him. put on him a robe, and then a
crown of thorns was placed on his head. And then they smoked that crown
of thorns with the reed that was in his hand. The Lord Jesus Christ had also,
before all this, by Pilate, was scourged with that wicked, awful
Roman scourge. that lashed in his back, that
ripped the flesh, that was the idea of it. That Roman scourge
was broken pieces of animal bones or stones and it was tied up
with sinew and then they used it as a lash and they would have
thrashed the back of the Lamb of God. He who came to be a sacrifice
and as a substitute for sinners. He came to put away sin. He came to bear in his own holy
body sins and shame and iniquity and vileness and wretchedness
and wickedness that he hadn't committed. There
was no sin in him. pure and he was holy and he was
just the Son of the Living God. He was despitefully treated,
a man of sorrows, he was acquainted with griefs. This is Jesus, this
is the glory, a substitute for sinners. At Calvary, hear him
cry, it is finished. He came to do the will of his
Father, and he finished it and completed it to the very end.
To the most bitterest of dregs he drunk up that cup. It is finished
and he bowed his head in death. It is not possible that a blood
of bulls and of goats could put away sin. But we read further down in this
chapter 10 of Hebrews. It's reverse 11 and 12. Every priest and his daily ministering
and offering sometimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sin. There was that continual offering
day after day, time after time. Friends, hear the Word of God. But this man, the saviour of
sinners, the Lamb of God, God's only dearly beloved Son, this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever The sins of his people were obliterated. They were put away forever, put
behind his back and seen no more. Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded by the fall. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity joined with power. Alleluia. What a saviour this man, after
he had borne the sufferings and the shame and the violence of the cross, he
willingly laid down his life for his friends. And as Christians, and as believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ, accounted to be a friend of God's dear son, who bore and
paid the price of sin. He came to redeem, to buy back
You see, the blood of these bulls and of goats could never put away sin. But
the precious blood of the lamb, he was spotless, pure and holy. The power in his blood. I remember dear old Mr Wood that
was a dear pastor at Croydon. A loving, gentle, lovely man. Memory of the just is blessed. I remember him saying this, invaluable
blood. In that sweet voice that he had,
in that tone, invaluable blood. There was no value, there is
no value, there is no price that can be put to the cost that his
blood that was shed for many, for the remission of sins and
the agony that he bore. What Christ went through, no
tongue can tell, to save our souls from death and hell. That ram then in her thicket
typifies that substitution. The God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him
will not perish. but have everlasting life, that
is eternal life, that is heaven, that is glory, to be with the
saints in light, to be there as we read of in the book of the Revelation, in chapter 22. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, nor
the light of the sun, for the Lord giveth them light, and they
shall reign for ever and ever. I am Alpha and Omega. And then in chapter 21, we read,
and the city had no need of the sun, in verse 23. The city, this glorious abode,
this heaven that awaits, that heaven that's prepared, This is glory. This is the abode of sinners saved
by grace, by His immutable love, by His obedience and willingness
to pay the cost that otherwise is due to every sinner born upon
this earth. By his grace there is this city
that has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
on it. This is the reason why. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the land is the light thereof. That is Jesus. And the
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it,
and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into
it, and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day. For there shall be no night there,
no darkness. It's a hymn, it says, for it
will be forever, ever noon. That time of the day when the
sun is shining in its strength and its power and its greatness.
There in glory, the light of Jesus Christ will shine forever.
The redeemed that were redeemed in his precious blood. Those who are the followers of
the Lamb, they will be there. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I, the Lord Jesus Christ, will give
you rest. But there's a yoke that we have
to take. That which is put on, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Come unto me. What a glorious,
blessed invitation. Can be no sweeter sound. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. Nothing to boast about, is it?
Paul himself could call himself He was the chiefest of sinners.
Yes, the very worst of sinners who, upon his grace, rely well
of endless bliss be winners and will reign with him above the
sky, there to sing eternal praises to the Lamb that once did die,
who once offered himself for sins forever. There is no more. Payment demanded. The price was
paid. He bowed his head in death. But Christ came forth from the
tomb. He came forth victorious. Dare
tell him the grave had no hold over him. Had that almighty power,
that sovereign power to save. Oh, the love of Christ the sinner. May we be able to abide in that
love a little tonight. And may we be so blessed just
like the eunuch was. Philip had preached unto him,
Jesus. And when they had come to that
certain place, he saw that water and he said to Philip, does hinder
me to be baptised? And Philip saith, if thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest. And the two of them went down
into the water. The Spirit of God took Philip
away and he was found at Azotus. But here we see the happy state,
the blessed state, of the eunuch that had been reading Isaiah
chapter 53 in his chariot on the way back to Jerusalem, that
place where it was desert. He went on his way, rejoicing. May the Lord bless us with that
sweet meditation of Christ, the glorious Lamb, who laid down
his life for his friends, that we may entrust thankfulness and
real thanksgiving and praise from our soul this night. Thank
God for his unspeakable gift, his
glorious substitute, this Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God, John
said, Behold the Lamb of God, who was slain from before the
foundation of the world. Jesus Christ himself in his earthly
ministry, he came preaching this. Repent. And why? For the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And are we ready to meet God?
Are we made a real Christian? Washed in the Redeemer's blood? Have we that union with the church's
living head? There was a ram caught in her
thicket. But this man, he paid that price. In that sacrifice, once the sins
forever. Amen. May the Lord help us as we sing
our final hymn, number 340, from Gadsby, the tune 737. 340, a debtor to mercy alone,
of covenant mercy I sing, nor fear with thy righteousness on
my person and offerings to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. my Saviour's obedience and blood,
hide all my transgressions from view. 340 Fulfill with Thy righteousness,
Son My person and offerings to bring The terrors of war and
of God With me they have nothing to do My Saviour's obedience
have not I know my transgressions from here. From the pitch His goodness began. The young of his strength will
compete. It promises yea and amen, And
never was forfeited yet. Things future, not things that
are now, Not who thinks better, nor and make him his purposeful goal,
or sever my soul from his love. I came from the paths of Israel,
kings and elders, Rest on his ardent remains In
acts of indelible grace. Yes, night to the end of winter,
As sure as the earth is thin, More happy, but not more secure, Now may the grace of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the love of God, our Heavenly Father,
the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, rest, abide and remain
with us each now and forevermore. Amen.