Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Genesis chapter 22 and reading
for our text part of verse 14. Verse 14, the name that Abraham called
that place, Jehovah-Jireh. This is one of the eight redemptive
names of our Lord, the Lord our provider. In the margin it says,
this is the Lord we'll see or provide. But it is the Lord our
provider that is especially upon my spirit this evening. The whole
verse reads that 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. And when we go back to verse
eight, Abraham's answer to Isaac's searching question, behold the
fire and the wood, but where is the lamp of burnt offering?
Abraham's answer, my son, God will provide. himself a lamb
for a burnt offering, so they went both of them together. Now before I come to several
points, I want to draw your attention to what scripture draws attention
to in this passage and especially concerning Abraham. The first is this. It is a passage
of the instance of Abraham's faith. Abraham had a long life,
but this is one of those things, along with not being able to
have children, and given faith to believe that the Lord would
provide in that way, and this is given as the instance that
Abraham believed that even if, even if Isaac had been killed,
God would have raised him from the dead. He was so full of faith
that that was, Isaac was the promised seed and he could not
be destroyed. And scriptures, they come to
this point and they say this, is such an instance of Abraham's
faith. The second thing is our Lord
said that Abraham, he saw my day and rejoiced at it and I
believe it was here that he saw Christ's day, especially, I know
there were other times the Lord did appear to Abraham, certainly
when Sodom was destroyed and Abraham was speaking with the
Lord, and in other instances as well, but here especially,
Christ's day. It was the sin atoning sacrifice. It was the one provision, the
providing, what is spoken of here. of not the lamb, the ram
that was caught in the thicket by its horns, but what it set
forth. This was the provision at this
time, but it pointed to Christ, the spotless lamb. The Passover
lamb had to be, and any of the offerings had to be spotless.
And the fact that it was caught by its horns, it emphasizes this. It wasn't torn at all by its
coat or anything like that. It had to be this spotless lamb. And so Abraham, when he saw Christ's
day, I believe there were many aspects of what he saw. Our Lord
speaks of the blessing that shall follow. In thee and in thy seed
all the earth shall be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. I believe he would have seen
God's provision in his beloved son, obeying the Father's voice. And because of that obedience,
even unto death, the death of the cross, wherefore God hath
highly exalted him." You know, Paul, he says the promise was
unto, not as the seeds of many, but seed, which is one, which
is Christ. And if Paul saw it, Abraham saw
it, and he saw it as God's provision that was to come those thousands
of years later. The Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes
this point. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
at it. There were many that were looking
at the Lord Jesus Christ that did not yet understand. They
weren't rejoicing at it. But how many of them after, when
our Lord had suffered and then risen from the dead and appeared,
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then
there was a time of rejoicing. Then I often felt this, we need
this third day religion. You know, this was the third
day when this happened, when he rejoiced, at the end of it.
At the beginning, the first day when God told him, Isaac was
as good as dead. And yet he ventures on by faith,
he goes on. In the second day, in the beginning
of the third day, there's no lamb. He's still walking by faith
in this way. And it's not until the end of
that third day that then there is the blessing. I've often been
so encouraged in whatever trials you're going through, remember
this principle of the third day and the blessing at the end.
Think of another side to this is when King Saul was fearful
because of the Philistines, and Samuel had told him he would
come, but he delayed coming. Not past the time he said he
would come, but Saul was frightened. He forced himself, he offered
the sacrifice, but before he'd even finished, before he got
to the peace offering, Samuel came. The king should never have
offered the sacrifice, he should have waited. And there's always
that danger, isn't it? You think of Abraham, given the
promise to the child he doesn't wait, and we have Ishmael and
all the troubles and trials. And there's a real need for us
to be looking at the Lord to provide, but waiting for him
to provide. And waiting for that third day,
the Lord to finish it. And on that third day, then he
would have clearly seen Christ, clearly seen what the Lord had
brought him to do and to walk in this way. There's another
instance that's brought to us in the epistle of James, because
whereas we're told by Paul in the Romans, Abraham is justified,
by faith, by faith that God would raise up Isaac and faith in Christ. Yet James takes another way and
he says that faith without works is dead. And here is Abraham,
a picture of actually acting. He doesn't stay at home and say,
Lord, I believe that thou art able to raise my son Isaac if
I slew him. But he didn't go. The actual proof of it, that
he was a doer of the word. He actually was walking it out. And if our faith is real, then
we'll walk out that trust and walk out that faith, though we
might not see beyond it. And how often that is the case.
Dear Jacob, he couldn't see what the end was with Joseph taken
from him. He didn't even know he was alive.
And many times, the people of God, sometimes you're told part. Abraham was told, thy seed shall
be a stranger in a strange land. They shall afflict them 400 years. Well, it's 215 years from the
time of that promise, the time they went into Egypt. Another
215 years, they came out. But 430 years from that first
promise to Abraham, they're brought out. But Abraham didn't see how they
were going to go down in. He only knew part of it. And
we can't expect any different in our lives. You might know
a part. And we act, we walk on that part
that the Lord has revealed to us. It is not for you, says our
Lord, to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath
put in his power. And so we have it in this passage,
those things that are referred to, and no doubt there are others
as well you think of, that go back to this time that the Holy
Spirit has said, now this is what I want you to learn, to
think of in this chapter and in this account. But what is on my spirit is this,
This beautiful name, this name, redemptive name, Jehovah Jireh
of our God, the Lord is our provider. The Lord our provider. It may be this, some of you come
in this evening and there's something upon your spirit that you need
providing, the Lord to provide for you. and we know of course
the most important thing is concerning our soul and be able to see what
is set forth here in Christ. But in natural things as well
as spiritual things we need Jehovah, Jireh, the Lord will provide. So I want to look this evening
at three points. Firstly, the provider. Secondly, the provision. And thirdly, the provided for. Firstly, the provider. You know, in many things, the
Lord will provide using means. And because of that, many will
not trace that provision up to its ultimate source. Even the
Lord's people do that. They just stop short at the means
and don't look as to where that actually has come from. Now,
the scriptures are very clear as to who provides and where
God makes provision for his people. I want to just quickly look at
some of those passages. And of course, in Deuteronomy,
I do it in the order it comes in this scripture. In Deuteronomy
chapter two and verse 17, We have the, verse seven, sorry. The warning
to the children of Israel. For the Lord thy God hath blessed
thee in all the works of thy hand. He knoweth thy walking
through this great wilderness these 40 years, the Lord thy
God have been with thee, thou hast
lacked nothing. Thou hast lacked nothing. The
Lord had been with them. And when we think that the Lord
gave them their manna, he gave them the water, he gave them
what was not there even naturally, it was miraculously, given and
provided. And then when we go on to chapter
eight, we're then looking to what is to come in the promised
land, what they are to remember when the Lord has provided or
given them wealth. And we have in verse 17, 18,
when the Lord has done them all the good, And they say in their
hearts, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this
wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord
thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that
he may establish his covenant, which you swear unto thy fathers
as it is this day. How easy it is when we have things,
when we are blessed with provision, And we just see the means, and
we forget the Lord. We forget the giver of every
good and perfect gift that cometh down from the Father of lights,
in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. We have a beautiful word in Psalm
146, 145. Both of those Psalms are very
beautiful Psalms. In Psalm 145, thou openest thine
hand, thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing, verse
16. And he is good to all, his tender
mercies are over all his works. And then in Psalm 146, verse
five, happy is he that hath the God of Jacob, for his help whose
hope is in the Lord his God. And it brings us straight to
the creator who made heaven and earth. Those that are before
us all the time and what the Lord has done. And then there's
the description of what he does, opening the eyes of the blind,
raising those that are downcast, those things that the Lord does
and he is the provider. When we think of our Lord's word
in Matthew 6 and he warns against the anxious care and burdens
of things and maybe This evening, there's that which you come to
the house of God full of anxious care and burden and things that
should be provided and the Lord puts it in perspective and he
says, therefore, take no thought saying what shall we eat or what
shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek For your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
shall be added unto you. And it is the provider that is
speaking this. He is the one that's setting
before us, that he is the one that has power and is able to
provide. We might think, well, it's only
God's people that the Lord takes care of, even in a natural way. But when the apostles go forth
and they preach in Acts 14 and 17, then they direct and they
direct to this provider. And so in chapter 14 verse 17,
nevertheless he left not himself without witness. Have you really
noticed what the Lord has chosen to be a witness of himself? And it is as a provider in that
he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons
filling our hearts with food and gladness. And then when the
apostle is speaking in chapter 17 to those that were worshiping
the unknown God, an altar to the unknown God, how does the
apostle, how does the Holy Spirit choose to set before them the
true and the living God? where it is in that he is a provider,
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he
is Lord of heaven and earth, while not in temples made with
hands, neither is worship with men's hands, as though he needed
anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things
have made of one blood all nations. a man for to dwell on all the
face of the earth. He says, for in him we live and
move and have our being. And he's pointing to those who
would give credence to some idol, some work of their own hands,
as to their providers, to this unknown God. And what a thing
it may be, and I know In unregeneracy, we are like this. You might come
to the house of God all your lives until called by grace,
your heart is not set upon the Lord as provider. You are not
looking to him. You are looking to self or something
like that. You know the apostle in Philippians,
he says to those there that had been praying for him, that have
been sending things for his needs, but my God shall supply all your
need. And what measure? According to
the riches in glory in Christ Jesus. That is the provider that
set forth in the word of God. May we be renewed as a people
of God in looking to the Lord to provide. Whatever may be your
burden, your need, whether it be in a temporal way or a spiritual
way, the Lord help you to look past the means, though we use
the means rightly, and look to the hand that gives, look to
the provider, to God himself. I want to look then secondly
at the provision And we divide that into natural and spiritual. The Lord is good to all. We must
never think that there's one force in the world that is supplying
the needs of the ungodly and another supplying the needs of
the godly. He is the one that heals, commands
healing. He is the one that provides the
food and everything that we need. And when we think of some of
the things that may be a burden to some of you, and I think of
the young people here, perhaps seeking jobs, employment, or
a partner in life, a spouse, a husband, and It may be your
great concern and great burden. When we think of Abraham and
then his son Isaac, and that was a burden, but he sends his
servant. And what a matter of prayer.
And you see in that account, Genesis 24, both are using the
means. He doesn't just stay at home
and think, well, Isaac, the wife, will just come to me. He goes
out to seek a wife, but he's going out with prayer. and desiring
that the Lord would provide in that way. The two things go together. And you might think for a home,
or a place of worship, or a place made room for you to dwell where
you can fit in, whether it be in employment or in amongst the
families as well. There's many things that may
be, especially for young people, that there is a felt need of
a provision for them. And maybe your prayer, Lord,
do provide for me a husband, a godly husband. Provide for
me a godly wife. And we have to remember these
things for this life, till death us do part. They come from the
Lord. They are some of those things.
in everything. Be a sad thing if there was something
that you needed providing for and you thought I've got to look
somewhere else other than the Lord for this. And so then we come to in a spiritual
way. Peter says, if so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. I mean many of the Lord's people
before ever that they are called they have tasted the Lord is
gracious, they've found it in secondary things, they've noticed,
the Lord's answered their prayers, the Lord's helped them, and they
start to understand the goodness of the Lord. You know, when Moses
wanted to have the Lord show him his glory, he says, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee in the way. That is the
Lord's glory, is a good a gracious, long-suffering God, and his great
delight is to provide for his people. And the provision that
he gives them will be very much a token of whether we are the
people of God or not. and where he's made a felt need
of the provision of a saviour, of a redeemer, where we feel
our sin, where we feel our shame, where we know and we prove that
what Paul says in Romans 8, what the law could not do and that
it was weak through the flesh. That is where we need the provision
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul proves this in Romans 7.
The good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. A wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And there is the provision of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Right in the law, right in the
commandments, we have the Lord saying that he is merciful, showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. How can those two things go together? The keeping commandments of God
and mercy. Those that are shown mercy, they're
not looking to their keeping of commandments for their acceptance
with God or anything from God, but those that are truly looking
for mercy won't be sinning the grace might abound. They'll be
walking as far as they're able in the ways of the Lord, but
their hope is so The provision in the Lord Jesus
Christ is set before us in the Gospel, in the finished work
of the Lord, in his perfect righteousness, his whole life worked out to
be imputed to those that believe, and his blood shed at Calvary's
tree. That is where sin is put away,
and in the Gospel, Those that are brought to feel their sin,
like those in Acts 2, are appointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is God's provision. And it is that faith that God
himself gives that lays hold upon that provision, that lays
hold upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. There is the
provision. May we think of the gospel in
this way, and the preaching of the gospel is to constantly be
setting before sinners God's provision for sinners. The way
of escape from the wrath to come. One of the hymns says, sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. It's not provided for self-righteous,
is not provided for those that are not the Lord's, it's provided
for those that are the Lord's. How do we know they're Lord's?
Because the same spirit that will reveal Christ and make that
provision known has already convicted of sin. Nebuchadnezzar says to
his wise men, when they couldn't tell him The dream he knew he
had, but he'd forgotten. He says something that is so
true. You show me the dream, and I will know you can show
me the interpretation thereof. You show me a person that has
been shown their sin and convicted of their sin, and I will show
you the same person with the same spirit that that will reveal
in his time and way. God's provision in his beloved
son. He's the same work. He's the
same person. He's the same God that has not
only suffered in his beloved son at Calvary, but will make
that known to his people and will make it known in this way,
the same as Abraham. We picture Abraham on the mount
there and his son there bound and to be slain. And suddenly,
he has stayed, and he's turned and pointed to God's provision,
and he sees God's provision, and he puts that on the altar
instead of Isaac. There are sacred times when a
poor sinner sees God's provision, where God shows it to him through
the Word and through the ministry of the Word. I want to come then,
lastly, and I'll refer back a little bit more to the provision in
a moment, but the one that is provided for. And we already
have intimated that God is good to all, his tender mercies over
all his works. He even sets before us that he
feeds the sparrows, feeds the ravens, he does all of that. But when we think of what Paul
says to Timothy, and he says, and he's speaking concerning
the church and to people, that a man that does not provide for
his own house is worse than an infidel. And whenever I read that, I think,
well, yes, there's a direct teaching there to every husband to provide,
to work, to be diligent in providing for their house, providing for
their children. But then you look at who's saying
this, and we think of the Lord Jesus Christ and his house and
his people. Shall the Lord not provide? Of
course he will. He won't neglect his people.
Could we think of a father or a husband, and they're providing
for their household, but the Lord is not gonna provide for
his? Of course he will. The Lord will provide. And so
those that he provides for are of his own household. Every blessing,
every word received. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. Man shall not live by bread only.
Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. They are,
every one of them, evidences of a provision that has come
from the Lord. No, when the Lord first started
to speak to Samuel, he didn't think that word came from the
Lord. He thought it come from Eli. But he is brought to know
that word came from the Lord. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. When the Lord gives his word,
he gives it to his people. When the Lord rose from the dead,
who did he appear to? It wasn't to all the multitudes
like he did before he suffered. It was just to his people who
determined when he revealed himself to his people. Not his people,
him. He sovereignly came to them and
met with them and blessed them. And we have to remember this,
that bound up with the provision of spiritual blessings and blessings
through the ministry of the word, They come, they are provided
by God. The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of them
that published it. And he's tracing it right back.
What if we only stopped at the minister and said, well, poor
minister, he's given the word. No, no, no. He's preaching the
word of God. Yeah, but that's just Peter or
James or Paul. They're giving. No, they're not
giving the word. It's the inspired word of God.
It's coming from the Lord. The channel is the minister and
those that have been inspired to write the word. But it's my
word. thy words were found and I did
eat them and in that provision there's that realization that
the Lord is my God. You know when the Lord does provide
and his people realize that Then they glorify him. It was like
that with the one leper that was healed. Where are the nine?
Only one returned to give glory unto God. Where the spirit's
work is, and that spirit's work is to reveal Christ, to reveal
this provision, then it will be to the glory of God. I want
to just think of this too. The one provided for. You know, there'll be first,
there'll be changed characters. Instead of hardened, instead
of worldly, carnal, the Lord would have already given them
a hearing ear, a teachable spirit, humbled them through a sense
of their sin. Very often, when we're thinking
about the provision and what is being provided, we must think,
what are we? receiving these things. You think
of what a difference it would be in a household with children,
they're still being fed, and we read with the children of
Israel, he withheld not their manner from their mouths, but
they're rebellious. They did many things to grieve
the Lord. What a difference it would be
if there's a real gratitude and real wanting and desiring for
those things that are being given. And the Lord does say to his
people to learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, eager
for unrest and to your souls. The blessings that the Lord gives
those characters, the Lord has made them to be what they are. They are sheep. They're not those
that are not sheep. They are sheep. And the mark
of the sheep is they follow the Lord. Another thing will be,
and it's so vital in this provision, I will be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them. And you'll come like dear
Hannah, for this child I prayed, the Lord hath given me my petition
that I asked of him. And when she goes to praise the
Lord, Samuel is not mentioned at all. The provider is, he is
praised, he is glorified, but the actual thing is paled because
she traces where it's come from and that will be more precious
to us when we trace where our blessings come from and when
we're able to say the Lord's given this in answer to prayer,
I've asked and he's given it. Then one last thing then on the
provision The Lord says in John 14, I go to prepare a place for
you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. The Lord has provided not just
here below. He's provided a heavenly home,
a desired haven, not just a haven. And there it brings the receiver
or the one that's been provided for. They have desires for that
haven. They have it in Hebrews 11, where they confess their strangers
and pilgrims here below. And they that say such things
declare plainly they seek a heavenly country. And so where those desires
are, where the world is seen and we're strangers and pilgrims,
it's a beautiful assurance by the Lord. This is a people prepared
by me to be with me forever. Father, I will that they whom
thou has given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. And so we have the provider We
have the provision and we have the provided for. May the Lord
bear witness that some, many of us here, if not all here,
are those that are provided for by the Lord, not just for time,
but eternity. Amen.