May it please almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of John, chapter 8, and we'll read verse 56. The Gospel
of John, chapter 8, and reading verse 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Such a verse as this is really
very fundamental for us to have in the Word of God because it
directs us to this very important aspect of an Old Testament saint
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there are those who say,
well, of course, what happens to all those Old Testament people
who never were privileged to see the Lord Jesus Christ or
to have the New Testament to be able to read, to learn of
the Lord Jesus Christ? The simple fact is that God gave
faith to Abraham and to the Old Testament saints to believe in
the coming of the Saviour. And today Almighty God gives
faith to believe that the Saviour has come. and that we trust and
believe in him. So whether, therefore, we were
an Old Testament person or a New Testament person or are living
today, one thing is paramount, that we all need the gift of
God, of faith, to believe the great and glorious truths of
the Word of God. And what a favour it is to know
that as God gave Abraham faith, so indeed he still gives faith
today. What a wonderful blessing that
is for us. You know, in that wonderful chapter
in Hebrews, the 11th chapter, we read there of that gift of
faith and the wonderful blessing it was. And the He tells us about Abraham, he
says, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out, that's
the eighth verse, called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing
whither he went. You see, that was an amazing
gift, an amazing blessing. You know, we can read it very
casually, perhaps, but to think there was Abraham in Ur of the
Chaldees, And of course, the world wasn't like it is today.
People knew what existed. It was very much the unknown
place to go to, and to a place which he should after receive
for inheritance. And he obeyed. And he went out
not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. And again, it's a wonderful statement,
isn't it? To think that here was a man
blessed with faith to look beyond the things of time to that eternal
place of glory. Through faith also, Sarah has
received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age. because she judged him faithful
who had promised, therefore sprang there even of one, of him, as
good as dead, as many as the stars of the sky in multitude,
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. And then
he comes down to this important verse. These all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.'
Well, we should be thankful that the Lord in his great mercy and
goodness has granted us such statements in the Word of God
to encourage us today as we now walk by faith. All God's children
have walked by faith. What a blessing it is for us
today to be favoured, to be found walking by faith. And we have
of course the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Abraham didn't
have any scripture as such. He only had those words which
had been passed down from mouth to mouth from the people, generation
to generation. And that was, of course, through
many, because he lived sometime after the flood. So there were
at least 2,000 years, really, from the beginning until this
time. And yet, you see, God gave Abraham and God gave the patriarchs
living faith to believe. We go back, don't we, as I often
refer to that foundation text in Genesis 3.15, where we're
told the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. That was the first glorious prophecy,
really, with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we think
of that, how the Old Testament saints must have laid hold of
such words as that. And remember, that would have
been a word passed down by mouth to mouth and ear to ear. What
a wonderful blessing that it was for them. What an encouragement
for them. And so now we're able to come
into the New Testament. Of course, the Pharisees were
still questioning and still not believing, really. The Lord Jesus
Christ was the true Messiah. For those we read in this chapter,
there were those who did believe His words and what a great blessing
it was there were those. And it's exactly the same today.
There are many who do not believe the truth of God's Word. They
classify it as just an account of various fairy tales with nothing
of any real significance apart from possibly some historical
fact and therefore today can we come and bless God if our
eyes have been opened we've been blessed with spiritual eyes those
eyes which were blind have been opened and we're able to say
one thing I know that whereas I was blind now by the grace
of God I see.' Well what a mercy that is and how important it
is for all of us to be blessed with spiritual sight, to indeed
by faith as John says in the first chapter, to behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And by
faith for us today to behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
our sin. We've sinned. We've sinned with
an evil heart of unbelief. How much, how many times perhaps
we disbelieve the great and glorious truth of God. What a mercy then
if God has given us faith to believe. Well, Abraham was blessed
indeed to receive that faith from God to believe. And of course, he was wonderfully
favoured with some amazing occurrences in his life. You know we often
perhaps read these accounts and we know of course the sequence
and we know the sequel from them but of course in his day what
faith he needed to believe the great and wonderful truths of
the gospel and perhaps we can think of that wonderful occasion
when Abraham was told by God to go and to offer up his son
Isaac Well, we read it, don't we? We know what happened. But just ponder it carefully. Think of the faith that Abraham
received. There, he'd been promised a son. Naturally, an impossibility. That had come to pass. After a good few years, it hadn't
just happened. A good few years had to pass
by. until that promise which had
been given and we can read about it in the 18th chapter of Genesis. And now that promise has been
fulfilled. And now he has his son. And now
the Lord has told Abraham to go and to offer him up. And he tells him very clearly,
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 bird's offering upon one of
the mountains which I will tell thee of." Well, that was a great
command, wasn't it? Surely that was a great temptation
for Isaac. And we're told God did tempt
Abraham But we see how obedient he was. And Abraham rose up early
in the morning and sat on his ass. He didn't say, well, let's
just think about this, let's meditate upon it, let's see whether
this is truly a direction from God or perhaps I've mistaken
what I heard. No, he didn't doubt the Word
of God. And as we read further on, He
believed that God could raise Isaac up from the dead, even
if he was sacrificed. Wonderful faith, isn't it? Wonderful
example for us. And so we're told that Abraham
rose early in the morning. But this wasn't just some vague
and some chance situation. It was in the history of the
world. a very wonderful and a very relevant
occasion because what it was to set before Abraham and to
set before the Church of God the wonderful doctrine of substitution. Yes, because instead of Abraham
having to offer up Isaac the Lord appeared and we remember
it wasn't until the last moment his faith was tested right to
the very last moment we might think in our lives well perhaps
that's a testing time for me and perhaps I won't have to walk
that path well we may have to walk the path And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, took the knife to slay his son. 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 child, upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto
him. For now I know that thou fearest
God. seeing now it's not withheld
thy son thine only son from me see what a testing time it had
been and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind
the 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. Substitution, a beautiful picture
for us today to look back and we see the Lord Jesus Christ
being offered up in our place. But just don't forget, Abraham
here didn't have the benefit that we have of all this wonderful
history. God gave him faith. And we're
told, 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. Well, it was seen, wasn't it?
And it was a very, very clear illustration and a very wonderful
picture that was given to Abraham. So perhaps we have a little understanding
now of how this word is so true. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And apparently this
word rejoiced in the original really means to be greatly, greatly
rejoicing, gratefully thankful rejoicing indeed for the wonder
of it, not just a little small thing, because here was Abraham's
hope. His hope of eternal life was
resting not in what he had done, but in what the Lord was to do
in that great and glorious plan of redemption. Going right back,
you see, again to Genesis. Just think of it. The seed of
the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. He looked forward. Well,
my friends, today we can look back, can't we? He looked back
many years, forward many years. We can look back many years. But how important it is for us
today, in a similar way, to rejoice greatly in that which occurred
on Calvary's cross when the Lord Jesus Christ so gloriously and
so willingly paid the price, the cost, to redeem us from all
our sin. Now, we today, the same as Abraham, need the grace of God to receive
God-given faith, to believe the great truth that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. What a great, glorious theme it is. Can we not then imagine? Abraham,
therefore, in the day in which he lived, rejoicing to look forward
to that day. And by faith he saw it. There wasn't just a position,
well, perhaps something will occur. No, God gave Abraham faith
to look forward to that great day of redemption and to believe
his sins. would be taken away through the
glorious death of the Messiah. You see, being given the privilege
of being involved in that wonderful possession of that description
and that symbol of substitution. It was amazing, wasn't it? And
to think that there was Abraham walking along, and you know,
I often think on that journey, when the sun set, when Isaac
said, here's the wood and the fire, but where's the lamb? Where's the sacrifice? And Abraham again said, God will
provide himself a sacrifice. Abraham didn't know how that
was going to be performed, did he? And perhaps in our little
lives, we don't always know how the Lord will go before us and
open up his word to our understanding and bless us with spiritual sight
and bless us with the glorious light of the gospel. But nonetheless,
it's good if the Lord gives us faith to believe. to believe
that the Lord will indeed reveal himself unto us as our great
salvation, as our glorious Saviour. You see, these things are very
real and they're very positive and they're very necessary. Real religion is the truth of
God's Word. Real religion has a gracious
and blessed effect in our very spiritual lives. It's not just
something that passes our natural understanding. It's that which
does us eternal good. It's that which abides with us. It's that which we truly thank
God for as a as Abraham was, and saw it, and was glad. Well today, are we glad of our
redemption? Are we glad of what Jesus has
done? Abraham was glad of what Jesus
would do. And bless God today, if we're
glad of what Jesus has done, yes, and we can thank him for
it. Praise should be to our God. We live in a day, don't we, of
not much thankfulness, not much praise. And I suppose it's often
because people don't have much to really praise God for. seem to just muddle on in life. Don't seem really to have any
real concern about the positive evidences of the Word of God. And yet you see, it's those positive
truths that you and I can rejoice in. We can go on our way, rejoice
in. Yes, to see the Lord's day and
to be glad. to be glad of it, to think that
it was done for us. You see, we do want to have the
evidence of these things in our own hearts. We don't want just
to be an imagination. The Apostle Paul, by the grace
of God, who was gloriously blessed, but none less gloriously blessed
than any true believer. Paul had that wonderful vision
on the Damascus road. But the Lord comes to all of
his people in various ways. It may just be, I say may just
be, it's no less so in the case of Lydia, whose heart the Lord
opened to receive the truth of God. sometimes we perhaps wrongly
look for wonderful and great revelations well we should be
very thankful for the day of small things and to not to despise
it and to be very very thankful if God has opened our hearts
to receive his truth Abraham's heart was opened to receive the
truth of God and all God's people's hearts are opened to receive
the word of God. What a mercy there for today
if you and I can find in our spiritual life the wonderful
blessing of God and that by his grace we're able to receive it
and because of it we rejoice there is a rejoicing in the things
of God there must be a rejoicing in the things of God because
of the great things he has done great things he has done has
he done great things for you and me? do we rejoice in it? Do we thank
God for it? Well, I hope we do. And I hope
we can truly be thankful for it. And because of that, to be
like Abraham. And what was Abraham like? Well,
again, if we turn to Hebrews, And again, that same 11th chapter,
we read about what he did and what he believed in. It's good
to have living faith like this man, Abraham, had because we're
told in that important chapter, we're told he looked for a city.
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We're told him by faith. He sojourned
in the land of promise as in a strange country. Well, the
true Church of God are sojourners. That means we're just passing
through. This is not our rest. This is not our home. We are
pilgrims. All of God's children are pilgrims. And so Abraham, we read, by faith
he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him in
the same promise, for he looked for a city. which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. What a blessing for us today
is we're found on the earth. And it's the same earth that
Abraham walked upon. It may be very different in reality,
but it's the same earth. And Abraham was looking forward
to that heavenly city, like all the saints of God. And it is
really a wonderful encouragement and wonderful strength to the
saints of God if we are blessed with faith to be looking forward
to our eternal home. To not be found settling down
in this earth as though it is our home. Because it's not. It's
fading. It's vanishing. It's decaying. And yet there is set before the
Church of God this wonderful and glorious inheritance. What a mercy it is to know that. Peter. in his first epistle was
blessed with this wonderful view really because it was reveals
to him these great truths and in the first chapter we're told
the it's all about Peter and Peter had a trial of faith don't
think that your faith won't be tested don't think it'll be a
just a smooth run to heaven no it won't be because The reason
that our faith is tested is to burn up the rubbish and that
we might retain that which emanates from the good hand of God. You
see we can sometimes produce a picture in our own
minds and perhaps a view in our own minds perhaps we might even
take scriptures to our heart which may not emanate from God
because they just happen to suit our situation well the Apostle
tells us that the trial of your faith be much more precious than
a gold that perishes though it be tried with fire might be found
unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen ye love. See, here was Abraham. He hadn't
seen the Lord. Well, not in the way that we
know. He may have seen him, of course,
when that person appeared with the two angels into Abraham in
the tent door. It may well have been the Saviour
himself. but nonetheless, generally speaking,
in whom having not seen ye love, in whom thou now ye see him not
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Surely there is a rejoicing in
our hearts. as we have the evidence of God's
love toward us. And that love is not something
that you and I have produced ourselves. It's something that
God gives. Not that we love God, but that
God loved us. And so, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you. You see, we look back
and we can think of all the prophets, all the saints of God, and here
we have this truth regarding them. They searched diligently. It wasn't just something passing,
a passing phase. It was something they searched
diligently. searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that I preach the gospel
unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which
things the angels desire to look into. These are glorious views
of the saved sinner who rejoices in the wonderful work of Christ. Rejoice in it and praise God
for it. And so he says, wherefore gird
up the loins of your mind? Be sober and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Well, what a mercy it is then
if we are blessed with these wonderful favours. And as the
Apostle goes on to say, for as much as ye know. And again, it's
a good thing to have these things made over to us. and to rejoice
in them. You see, the devil will come
in and he comes in like a roaring lion sometimes to dissuade us
of anything that God has done. He wants you and me never to
believe the truth of God. He wants us always to doubt it,
and yet we're told, the evil heart of unbelief. What a blessing
when God gives us grace to believe the great truths of the gospel. And therefore he tells us, for
as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by
tradition from your father's butt, with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe
in God. It's wonderful truths, aren't
they? Great to believe. Great grace to receive such wonderful
words as this, to think that this gracious God who shed his
most precious blood in order to redeem us was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. It's therefore no wonder,
is it, that Almighty God was able to speak those great and
glorious words to Adam and Eve, and what a mercy it is then.
Here we have these truths today, who by him do believe in God
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. It's nowhere else, no different
to Abraham's. Abraham's faith was in his God.
And it was evidenced when he offered up his son Isaac. My
friends, you and I today need the same gracious and glorious
faith. And what a mercy it is when God
gives it to us. And we go on seeing you purify
your souls in obeying the truth. Through the Spirit, unto an unfeigned
lover of brethren, say that ye love one another with a pure
heart, fervently, being born again. Fundamental. Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible. That seed, that new birth is
incorruptible. It can never be taken away. God
has given us this new birth. It is the birth of that life
which lives forevermore. And so he says, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is grass
and all the glory of man is a flower of grass. The grass withereth
and the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. It was the same word because
the Lord is the word and he gave the word and it's a word which
Abraham rejoiced in. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." Well, aren't such
words really, I hope, strengthening to us, soul-strengthening to
us to believe that, yes, the Lord hasn't changed. He still
gives faith today. He did right back in Old Testament
times. He did in the time of the Savior.
The people who saw the Saviour still needed faith to believe
He was the Saviour. And so down through the ages,
up till now and to the end of time, God will give faith to
all of His children to believe the great and glorious truths
concerning Himself. and what truths they are, what
truths they were for Abraham to behold, what truths they are
for us today to behold, to think that this great and glorious
Jesus Christ made himself man, took our place, stood in our
place, bore the punishment instead. Yes, that which was due to us. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
We read about it in the earlier part of this chapter, verse 36. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed. It's a very positive word, isn't
it? And it emanates from the Word of God. If the Son therefore
shall make you free. You shall be free indeed. Of course, he goes on to speak
about Abraham's seed. I know that you're Abraham's
seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place
in you. Yes, they didn't understand. And my friends, people today
don't understand. But wonderful truth, if The grace
of God has come into our souls and enlightened us. The glorious
light of the Gospel has shone and shown to us that we are a
debtor, a debtor to mercy, a debtor to the Saviour. We owe a great
debt we can never repay. because of our sin and yet to
think the Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much it's really something
which is naturally impossible for us to comprehend but it's
a blessing when the Holy Spirit shows to us that great and glorious
love of the Son He loved us so much that He came in this sinful
world to die that sin atoning death, to set us eternally free
from the condemnation of sin, and therefore today to rejoice
in that finished work of salvation. And therefore what does it mean?
Surely it means this, that we never tire of coming to Calvary,
We never retire of viewing by faith the Son of God, suffering
all incarnate God could bear, with strength enough and none
to spare. It's a mercy, isn't it? It's a mercy that we will never
really comprehend until we get home to glory. But what a mercy
if, as we journey through life, We have a glimpse, we have a
little taste, we have a little foreknowledge of the mercy and
the goodness and the grace and the love of the Saviour towards
such unworthy sinners. And we'll come and say, why me,
O blessed God, why such a wretch as me, who must forever lie in
hell, were not salvation free? Well, may we Bless God today for the glorious
Gospel and bless God for the truth of the Word of God. Bless
God today. We have such a word of encouragement
as this. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Amen.